Locked In with Ian Bick - Troy Ave: How I Survived Rikers Island

Episode Date: February 15, 2026

Troy Ave sits down with Ian Bick for an honest conversation about his upbringing, the path that led him into the criminal justice system, and what it took to survive time at Rikers Island. In this episode, Troy Ave breaks down his early life, the court case that changed everything, the realities of being locked up inside Rikers, and how incarceration reshaped his mindset both personally and professionally. He speaks honestly about accountability, survival, and navigating life after the system while continuing his journey in music. _____________________________________________ #TroyAve #HipHopInterview #PrisonStory #StreetLife #TrueCrimePodcast #MusicIndustry #LifeAfterPrison #rikersislandstories _____________________________________________ Thank you to AVA & LUCY for sponsoring this episode: AVA: Take control of your credit today. Download the Ava app and when you join using my promo code LOCKEDIN, you’ll get 20% off your first year—monthly or annual, your choice. _____________________________________________ LUCY: Go to HTTP://LUCY.CO/IANBICK and use promo code IANBICK to get 20% off your first order. _____________________________________________ Connect with Troy Ave: https://www.instagram.com/troyave/?hl=en _____________________________________________ Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ _____________________________________________ Shop Locked In Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop _____________________________________________ Timestamps: 00:00 Troy Ave on Rikers Island & Interview Introduction 00:32 Growing Up in Brooklyn: Background & Perspective 01:44 Privilege, Exposure & Early Worldview 03:40 Family Life, Brooklyn Upbringing & Environment 06:11 Lessons From Parents & Early Business Mindset 07:27 Teen Years: Discipline, Mistakes & Street Fights 10:39 Gang Life: Attraction, Reality & Short-Lived Appeal 13:05 Life Choices After Gangs: Credit, Jobs & Direction 14:24 First Hustles: Work, Streets & School Balance 17:46 From the Streets to Music: Motivation & Drive 21:40 The Mixtape Era & Early Music Grind 24:45 Drug Money vs Music Money 27:30 Leaving the Streets & Refocusing on Music 33:00 Jail Time, Loyalty & Leveling Up Mentally 36:52 Touring Independently & Music Industry Lessons 41:01 The Real Consequences of Street Life 44:42 The Shooting, Arrest & Legal Battle 52:00 Inside Rikers Island: Firsthand Experience 01:00:32 Life in Jail: Mindset, Privileges & Survival 01:13:12 Locked Up Again: Routines & Mental Toughness 01:19:12 Money, Status & Jail Politics 01:32:00 Rikers Island: Violence, Dominance & Reality 01:46:40 Lessons Learned, Hustle & Life After Jail 02:01:47 Achievements, Missed Goals & New Perspective 02:06:06 Final Reflections & Closing Thoughts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I had people sending me pictures of their violence and, yo, let me know anybody you need. I'm just like, let me get the fuck away from this person because I'm out of here in a few and I'm not about to get an extra charge. I'm not going with you. Harvey Weinstein was my neighbor. So what do you think was the worst thing you saw there? Troy Ave opens up about his upbringing, his criminal case and surviving Rikers Island. Today he breaks down what jail was really like, how the system changed him, and what life

looks like after coming out the other side. Where'd you grow up, Troy? Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. Where'd you grow up? I was actually born in Manhattan. What part? Because I'm looking for a condo of Manhattan. I live there for one month.

Oh, that doesn't count. My dad's from Brooklyn, though. What part? He grew up in Coney Island. Oh, shit, before I got gentrified. Yeah, he's from back in the day. Yeah, yeah, that's a fact. Coney Island.

Damn, good thing he don't live there now. Yeah, his dad was an immigration attorney back in the day. And then they moved up here. They had a house and Danbury a summer house. Oh, and then they end up just kicking it. Yeah. And then when I was born, they renovated the summer house. And I grew up here in, well, in Danbury, the town over.

So the thing that people don't understand about summer houses is that, like, it's really a thing that you don't think. Like, you were actually privileged. You grew up having a summer house, right? Or did his father have a summer house? I lived in his old summer house, yeah. So that's certain shit that we don't think about growing up. Like, when I'm from, you don't, like, you see it on movies.

Oh, we have a place in the Hamptons or a place or whatever. And I never even thought I would be doing that or living like that. I'm like, man, that's stupid. Why you got two homes? But then here I am. Shout to Butch Lewis. I repeat, man. Anybody listen to selling my voice to tune in Google,

Butch Lewis. He gave Bob Johnson start-up money for BET. Butch Lewis had me at Chipmiani's hanging out for dinner with fucking Denzel Washington. Heath Ledger, Roberto Cavali, you know what I'm saying? But anyway, Bush Lewis had a, he had a house in Delaware, like a little mini-manchin in Delaware. Then he had a beach house in Delaware a few hours apart. I never knew Delaware was this big. And then he had an apartment, a condo in Manhattan.

And I'm like, oh, shit, I had to get exposed to certain shit to realize, like, oh, shit, you could actually live like this. You could have two homes in one state. You know what I'm saying? And, like, that's what has me, like, right now I got it on, I'm not trying to style. Again, I always got to say that. Right now I got, we call it the big house, so in the estate. And then I just bought a house on the country club for me like some fly shit, golf course, all that. Then I got my apartment, my condo in New York.

So it's like, you know, you got to see it to achieve it sometimes. just like on a lower level, but no discredit. When I used to work, and I was probably like 17 working, and like some of the guys that was there, they put me on, like, yo, you got to have a convertible foreign car and you got to have an American truck. I never knew that because growing up, everybody in my hood, they just had even no cars or a hoopty, but, you know, the main thing was making sure you had, like, iceberg and fucking some fly clothes,

you know what I'm saying and like have enough money for bottles or on the block in the hood or to go out but like sometimes you see different shit and that sets the ball

like oh shit I could do that and achieve it so what was your upbringing like my upbringing was my upbringing was good I mean

I mean shit my mom's and my pops it wasn't together but my pops was definitely present his whole side of the family for my grandfather I repeat a pop up.

I'm named after my pops and my grandfather and my son's named after them. So my father would pick me up every weekend. It was summers, different vacations. My mom would take me on vacation. My upbringing was good. I grew up in, I went from apartments to moving into a house when I was probably like about 15.

It was cool. I grew up in a, you know, in a rough place, Colonel Heights, Brooklyn, and shit like that. But it was good. I ain't really seen, I ain't really, I ain't grow like a bunch of people that, man. Fucked up. We had roaches in our cereal. We had to eat with a, fucking eat cereal with a fork, like, all that type of poor shit.

I ain't go through that. That's why I don't be making songs about it. I don't glorify that. I just could be me. But I think, I think it was good. There's people better. There's people who were bought up, like, better and more, and more opulence than it was, but it was way more people brought up in less,

like a pyramid. You may not be at the top of the pyramid, but I was definitely not the bottom. What do you parents do for work? Both of my parents worked for Verizon. That's funny because I've seen when you did Bobby Smurdy's shit, his mom worked for a problem. Like, the fuck. Was that a Brooklyn thing?

What are the odds? Yeah, you feel me? Like, both my pies work for Verizon. And funny story. Shout to my grandfather. My mom's in. My mom was about to get fired on my dad's one of them. And my grandfather, Roland Collins, Sr.,

she was about to get fired for whatever. And my grandfather, he was fucking a manager. So he ended up saving her job. So I always joke about that with women. Like, look, the fucking bitches does some good. Because imagine my mom's got fired from that job, then, you know, maybe I wouldn't have been here. So can't complain.

What was a valuable lesson that your parents instilled in you as a kid? Valuable lesson as a kid. That's a good question. Nobody ever asked me. People ask me a lot of questions. I'll tell you one valuable lesson. My mom's instilled in me. Damn, I could say my mom's in my pops,

but I was with my mom through the whole process. It was ownership. I saw them go from. from renting apartments to owning a home. And then not only ownership, people talk about your real estate, all that shit like that. It'd be a bunch of bullshit. But really, I saw them going from paying, I don't know, $1,500 rent living in Park Slope to now.

I buy a home. And I think the mortgage might have been $2,000. But, excuse me, a mortgage was $2,000. but it was a two-family home and the tenants was paying like 1,300. So now you're looking at it like, you paying $700 in mortgage instead of $1,800 in rent, which gets flushed down the total. You could pay rent 20 months in a row. You miss it.

The landlord throws you out in your fucking head. So once I sold that, I'm like, oh, okay, that always was burnt in my head. Like, man, ownership. Ownership. So that's why I only really had an apartment for a year before I actually bought a property. So I could say I learned that from my moms because I was there with the whole process of picking our homes. My pops he just bought a home. He moved from Queens and Long Island.

That's what a lot of people from Queens do when he, like, come up. So that was, that was rich. It's funny how important that was is that I carry that with me in my everyday life. I feel like renting is a waste. Like, even if I'm talking with people with friends or whatever, Like, I try to always push them to, yo, you know, you can own some shit. Like, how much money you make? Okay, well, if you just save or you've just gone for a little bit,

like you could save, you can put money inside and you can own some shit that's better than renting because renting is flush your money down in the toilet. Owning his equity, it's putting your money in the bank. That was a valuable lesson. I don't know about a bunch of other shit. I can sit here and think about it, but... How were you as a kid, teenage you?

What were you like? Teenage meat was fucking bad. Younger me was bad, but not so bad because I didn't have the freedom and I still had the, like, the fear. I feel like, for lack of a better term, fair, I feel like most kids, if you've grown up in harsh conditions, you should have some type of fear of your parents.

And, you know, they act like fear is a bad term. Oh, fear, but, like, you need a father that's going to raise a voice and then you're straighting up. Like, yo, cut you. the bullshit and you know what I'm saying you need a mother to like damn if I get in trouble my mom's gonna whip my ass that's what that's what that's what deter me from selling crack at 13 and you know what I'm saying in 12 and 14 and shit like that just having that but like I was I was bad as far as like getting in the fights I wasn't like bad like certain shit I don't steal I don't

I just starting shit, you'd be like, damn, this person is a piece of shit. Like, I always had integrity with me, but, like, I would love to fight. I love the fight. I love to go to, like, the boxing gym and just try it and fight with the boxes, because I know I was more aggressive and shit. And, yeah, I just like fighting a lot, but not bullying people fighting. But teenage me was, like, horrible because I had the freedom. where it was like

dumb shit like like things that if my sons did this today I would feel like I felt as a parent like certain robberies like me and like we'll be sitting down

like in some shit like this I mean a couple of my friends and they'd be like yo we heard they got this drug spot right here they got a bunch of cocaine and let's go rob it no real recon nothing just like oh where I bet

Get the guns, we out. We're going to rob shit. Smoking weed, like, trying to blow the little circles in the shit. Smoking mad weed in the house getting the hives of kite for no reason. We used to be like, hide in the kite, lower than the flight. Just fucking retarding. What else? Going on, like, stupid gang-banging shit.

It's shit that you'd be like, damn, it ain't. You're going on gang-banging missions, but the OG, I say, quote unquote, the OG is like, if you're 15 and the OG is 21, 22, you like, damn, this is the OG, but the OG we're having gang meetings in his mama's house and he sleeps with his brothers and sisters in one bedroom. Like, damn, if I grow up to be an OG, this is where I aspire to be. That's bum shit, you feel me? So, yeah, I got a little bit. I ran off the track. Got a little bit misguided.

but shit happens you feel what I think that's why like I try to I am more of an active parent you know what I'm saying not taking anything away from my pops but my pops wasn't in the streets I was in the street so I'd be damned if

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I mean, I always had the aggression, like, fighting. And I think just being, like, if you already got aggression, being in the streets, and being in gangs and in different environments, it rewards aggression as opposed to, like being in organized sports and, like, violence, unless you're doing football and you hitting somebody, it doesn't reward aggression. So when you're taking your talents, for lack of a better term,

and you putting it into a negative place that rewards it, it's like a lot of times in the hood, ignorance is rewarded. You could come home from doing four years of college and you're not going to be greeted with the same enthusiasm as you would if you did four years in jail. You feel me?

So, I don't know. I just always been like, I'm the type that just bully the bullies. So I guess that was my aggression. I never liked to, I would defend my friends that might be, not to say weaker, but like, you know what I'm saying, not as aggressive against other people. Like, I don't like that.

What attracted you to gangs? What attracted me to gangs? Damn, I could like, it's two ways to answer that. In one way, and they're both honest, two things will be true. I'll just say I was being a follower. But then at the same time, I end up going into the game with the hopes of being the leader of the gang

and having my own shit you feel me so I went to the gangs as a way to like okay I see the gangs have this certain neighborhood in fair if I join a gang which all of my friends are in

and I know like I'm one of the most aggressive out of them and they're in this shit but then I could get with this gang and I could just start selling my little drugs in here because the gang already got a chokehold in the neighborhood. So it's like, okay, y'all in the violence, y'all invoking fear.

Well, here, I'm going to invoke some money. Come on, let's do this. And guess what? If you don't, here, take this pack and sell it. If not, the gang going to come get you. So I think just the opportunity in it and then, like, all of my people's, not all, but a majority of my people's already like, oh, yeah, we, come on, come on, come on. Come on.

And, you know, yeah, I think that's it because it's weird because I had a couple of my other friends that they wasn't in gangs. They didn't get involved in the shit. So I wonder, like, what was their mindset versus my mindset? You feel me? And I guess maybe, like, the ones that didn't, they were from different neighborhoods or whatever. So I think, then, what really attracted me?

I guess the opportunity and the ignorance at the same time, Because if you knew, if you had foresight, if I had foresight, I wouldn't be attracted to that shit. You know what I'm saying? So just the ignorance and the opportunity attracting me. When you were a teenager, did you see gang life as your future? Or did you see a different career path? Damn, that's another good question.

Nah, it should be short-lived. I never thought about it. That shit was short-lived. I wasn't like, because I wasn't old. While other people was in it, the gangs that we had in New York, they were more so from the West Coast. So I always looked at it like, man, we're not fucking West Coast people, man. Like, I mean, it's cool if we, like, make it ours ours because you might have people that are in fucking Arkansas and they're banging a rich West Coast gangs that originated out there. But like if we make it ours, like I had to kind of have the gang to reinvent itself on something.

Yeah, all right. We don't give a fuck about none of that West Coast shit. This is what we doing right here. You know what I'm saying? Just to like in your mind make you think like this is yours. But or you name it after your street, you know what I'm saying? Excuse me, they don't got that street on the West Coast or whatever. But, damn, that's not, I don't know, man.

I don't know, it's all dumb shit. I'm like, that shit is dumb, but it's in hindsight that is dumb. And I wish that I had more. I wish that had somebody like me. And I wish that because, you know, it worked out for me in the long run. But if I had somebody like me that was successful and be like, Man, that's dumb shit. The fuck.

Look at your OGs, their bums. They broke as fuck. They don't got them bitches. It's not attractive women in gang life. Far and few in between. You feel me? So, like, if I had somebody show me that, like, man, come on, look. Look what I'm in.

I'm in this Lamborghini. Nobody in your gang got this. I'm in this Ferrari. Nobody got this. You see my house? I got six bathrooms. Nobody in your gang got this. Come on, me show you a different way.

Then, I ought to win a different way. But, you know, that's a lot. worked out but it was short term it was it was short lived I wasn't on something once I like got on I had a situation where some shit happened and then I felt like like the gang wasn't like the same they wasn't like there how I thought the gang should be you feel me it's like I had to I had to do some violence by myself and I'm like and then it was one of my homeboys shout to my man Chino he wasn't in a game that he, but he got actively violent with me, like, together.

And I'm like, man, you're not even in the gang and these fucking, fuck his suckers and, you know what I'm saying? So, yeah, I don't know. I can say I didn't see it as, like, grown up life because it was nothing to aspire to. I wanted bigger things. Pals. Bigger things is crazy.

I want to talk about credit for a second because this is something I really lived. When I got out of prison, I didn't just have a fresh start. I had no credit. No cards, no history, nothing. And nobody explains how brutal that actually is until you're trying to rent an apartment, finance a car, or just not get laughed at when you apply for anything. I wish someone had broken this down for me earlier. Eva is a credit building app that's designed to work fast and help your credit score where it really matters. So your credit score can start climbing with almost zero effort. That's why Ava clicked for me. Instead of one of those secured cards where you lock up your own money and wait weeks, Ava can approve you in about five minutes with up to a $2,500 credit limit and no

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control of it. Download the Ava app, ABA, and when you join using my promo code locked in, you'll get 20% off your first year, monthly or annual, your choice. Again, grab the Ava app and use promo code locked in so they know you heard it from me. And you'll get 20% off any plan for up to a year. That's promo code locked in. Thanks to Ava. Now, go get yourself good credit. Were you passionate about music as a kid? Absolutely not. I just listen to it. I just listened to it and um you're good too you need the sky's not reading off a fucking what's the camera this guy's not reading no any index card oh he does no no if i say that was good all right he's not reading off of nothing he's just flying off the cuff kind of like now i mean i used to listen to the music i love like hip-hop shit like that but i wasn't passionate about

music ever thought i would do any music or anything they kind of just like gun not so much fell in my lap because I had to work towards after, but yeah, it was just like the games. I've seen the opportunity and whatever else I said. There was opportunity in ignorance that led me to music, real shit. So did you end up graduating high school? Yeah, absolutely. A lot of these fucking bums, I feel like, I mean, and whatever's, whoever's offended is offended.

I feel like if you don't graduate, you know what, a lot of people are in. graduate ice school but I think it's your parents for at that time a lot of times people don't have a father around and we not just go through those shades on the dads a lot of times you don't have a father guess what the reason is uh because of the mother because your mother's a bitch just the fact just a lot of times is what is it's easy i even tell a lot of dads like i had to go to court and fight for joint custody of my kids he's wrongs be better than they want to keep the dads away and whatever, whatever, and it's all to the detriment of the child. But, um, I, like, no matter what type of bad and mischievous shit I did, like, you know,

in the streets as a teenager, I was always intelligent, you feel me? I feel like, that's how I got me to where I'm at today. You've got to have some, some sort of smarts on you. And I think as parents, like, how to fuck you let your kid wake up at 14, 15, and I go to school. It's one thing to do shit after school, but, like, Listen, you ain't gonna be a bum in my house. Go get a fucking job or go to school.

And I'm getting a twist there. Everybody don't have to graduate high school or go to college. I got a lot of my Italian friends. I got, matter of fact, my contractor. He didn't graduate eighth grade. That was his highest level of education. And he makes more money than most people. You know what I'm saying?

He talks about all the time. Another friend of mine, his son was fucking up in school. You know what? Come on, you're going to be a plumber with me. Just get this bullshit school shit out the way. And come on. But you got to be doing something productive. You can't just be hanging out on the block. Not doing nothing.

I feel like school is a means to, is it means it's like a placeholder until you figure out what you actually want to do in life. You feel me? Like, did you go to college? You graduate high school. I graduate. My parents always said you got to graduate high school. At the minimum. Come on.

And like you didn't go to college? No, never went to prison. I went to prison. Right. Yeah. Prison was a horrible place. But look. You probably earn more than most people went to college.

I know people with their doctrines who are still trying to figure it out. They're too qualified for certain jobs, and they don't have enough experience to get other jobs. They just caught in the middle. I also think that most people. As I speak, that's my kids ordering a bunch of fucking Roblox and shit. You shit and me? My ICloud account is suspended right now.

They order thousands of dollars in Roblox. But if you're a fucking bummer, you don't go to college. You mean I have the money. Graduate high school so you can have money so your kids go out of road bucks and shit. Yeah, and most people that go to college for something don't even end up in that career after. They end up in liberal arts

and just waste people time and money and have student loans. It's bum shit. It's ridiculous. Did you end up going to college? I went. I didn't attend. I went to sign up.

I went for like three days in a row and just and walk the hallways. bagged a bunch of women. What college did you go to? I went to BMCC for three days. I didn't attend the school. I went there. I went signing up for three days.

And like I said, bagged a bunch of bitches or women. And it was like girls at that point and just met them. And then, you know, probably with them. I think I had like a Chevy towel on 22s at the time.

It's fucked with bitches. That was it. I didn't go to any college class. And your money was coming from the streets at that time? Um, a little bit. I had a job. I worked for Verizon.

My mom's finagle me a job with Verizon, and I was selling, I was selling crack like eight balls. Even though you were against crack or drugs for that matter. I was never against drugs. But your parents were. No. So, I'm the, I'm the dealer, not the user. So I'm against the usage of drugs.

all the abuse of drugs. But I'm not against the selling of it. Like, somebody got to sell the shit. You feel me? So, yeah, I was selling my little eight balls, but it was like a low level. At that time,

it was a low level. It was like get wholesale eight balls for $85 from some Jamaicans. And then shout out to Royal. Like, me and him was doing our thing together. Get him from 85. and sell it for 110. And then it just so happened that it's funny.

I had money from working an actual job. So by me working the actual job, I had more money than most people in the streets. So I would get the money from that, and I would use it to buy a bunch of eight balls. I might buy like an ounce, which is eight eight balls, and then I would sell it.

But I'm paying $85. I'm making, what's that? I'm selling for $110. So I'm making like, I don't know, $20, $20,000. $25 bucks, whatever it is. times that I buy eight, that's like $200, but it's going quick. And then you get that adrenaline, like, yeah, I'm selling crap type shit. So that like...

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we was out in the streets together, and then we end up getting, we end up getting like into some shit. We just dumb, young shit doing violence and shit. And then he gets locked up for attempted murder. And when he gets locked up, I'm a part of that at the time. It's so long ago. I'm a part of that, but I don't get locked up. You feel me? So it's like, all right.

Now we go down, you know, just being the real one, I'm like, all right, street code. When your people get locked up, you go down and you bail them out. So I take my little work money, a little bit of crack money. I'm trying to bail my man out. And his brother is like they don't give him no bail for whatever at the time. Like a remand, and his brother is like a military guy. And he kind of like, scares me straight.

I say kind of like because it was like I wasn't scared straight but not trying to be like bravado and shit but it was like it was like an awakening he's like

yo my little brother is going away for life and y'all want to be running around the streets doing this bullshit you need to get your ass in the studio and stay there

now rewind to when he was doing some music shit and he actually put us in the studio he paid for all studio time

shout to Latique Latique had a studio in Brooklyn and that was his man and he said, you let them go in there and work because prior to that

we would smoke weed in the hallways and freestyle whatever, whatever and when I went actually lay down the check like a majority like everybody

like your voice sounds fire and you like you never know your voice so you lay down the check you're like your voice sound fire you sound good and I'm like

word alright back to the street shit fucking around so when now when he gets locked up I'm like my money can't even get him up like we can't get out of this trouble

And so I'm like, all right, his brother, just as me, like, not trying to feel like, yo, my man going to jail for life. I ain't ever been in that situation where somebody got attempted murder. And, like, then, the person's in the ICU, they might die. So I'm like, all right, let me just make his family happy or his brother and go in the studio full time. Because he know I was there. He know I could be locked up to, but I wasn't. So now I go to, I start going in the studio. more and I started recording more songs all while my people's is on the record

record's island fighting his case and shit, you know what I'm saying? But, like, maybe like a month later or whatever, shout to his pops. His pops end up paying a guy that was on life support after he came back to, he paid a guy and the guy didn't say nothing and my man was out free and we didn't learn no fucking lesson. So that was the end of that. So it didn't really, but in that period of time, he was locked up, and we're talking on the jail phone and shit.

Like, you hear about shit like that with Tupac with the jail calls. Until you got somebody who's actually in there, it affects you differently. And so within that time period, I got a bunch of songs out. And now I'm playing it for people and shit. So it's just sounding, it's just like more, I was able to take a little bit more seriously. Were you passionate about music, though? No, fuck no. Were you just doing it for a money perspective at that time?

I was doing it to appease one of my homie's brothers who was arrested because of a crime that me, him, and a few others did. And then also, before that time, or around that time, I can't remember. somebody from my neighborhood ended up getting a record deal where they got like six figures maybe a hundred-something thousand dollars that was more money than we ever seen

and he got that and he was like he was rapping bullshit he rapping about shit that I'm really living so I'm like the fuck how do you get that? I still support it and champion him but I'm like oh shit if he could get that rapping about shit there's somebody else living

and man just somebody who really living it what they could get So those two culmination of things made me more like, okay, well, let me try out some music shit. You know what I mean? It just all came together in the pot. Like, it was like the perfect storm. But not everyone can just do that. There has to be some talent there, right?

Yeah. Well, nowadays, you don't really need talent. You just need hype and buzzer to go viral with some shit, you feel me? But, you know, at these times, yeah, you needed some talent. I was telling to that putting words together that was truthful and telling my story. So as like how we're in Connecticut now, I used to go to Norwich, Connecticut. I was telling my boy, Darren, like, man, I haven't driven up this road with drugs with me in a while. So I used to go to Norwich, Connecticut.

I used to bring two kilos. Shout to pop. I don't know if he's still doing his thing. So unshot out to him. I'm trying to, I want to hot them up. But I used to, like, bring work out there. And one of my people's, my man Dee, put me on out here because I rep, another partner, I was named Gummy.

He went out there first, and he was, like, in the town and shit. And all them towns around Norwich or whatever. And then, you know, we met somebody, and we started coming up here, cooking up work and selling, like, I bring a brick out here. I bring two bricks with me. He'd sell off one brick, cook half a break, whip it up. He'd turn a thousand grams into like fucking 13,400. Some crazy shit.

I'll take half back, leave half on him with him on Gassami and go back and sell all that whipwork. And what I would do at that time is I would still have my mixtapes. So everybody that will buy work from him, I'll bet y'all here make them buy fucking 20 mixtapes. all my people that will buy weight from me if you come and get a quarter brick, half a brick

I'm going to give you hey you take a hundred CDs just give me fucking $100 or some shit it costs me $50 to make a hundred, jewel cakes and everything take that and give it to everybody that buys work from you whether they

buying an ounce whether they buying eight bowls everybody that buys work from you, give it to them or sell it to them whatever you want to do And who's, how the fuck you want to tell me no? You come and buy work for me. Like, I charge you a higher price if you tell me no, you feel me? So that and me talking about the shit that we live in,

well, like, imagine, imagine, like, I start doing music and I'm talking about I'm doing a fucking interview with you, and now you hear it in the song, you're going to be, you're going to be more attached to that music, where it's like, no, this is us. look, he talked about sitting in the couch with me. So that dumb people was pushing it more on their people. And when I came to Connecticut, it went there.

I was pushing in New York. And then that, I guess, with me having some talent and really talking about shit in real life situation, that was like, again, the perfect storm. It just worked out. Before we get back into the episode, I want to shout out Lucy. If you've been watching the show for a while, you know I'm always on the move, recording, traveling, editing late,

and Lucy's just part of my routine now. driving, working, or sitting down for a long edit session, basically anytime I don't want distractions. Lucy's made with 100% pure nicotine and it's tobacco-free, which is big for me. They also make it easy with subscriptions, so it just shows up at your door and you don't even have to think about it. Lucy's the only pouch that gives you long-lasting flavor whenever you need it. Get 20% off your first order when you buy online with Cody and Bick. and if you don't want to wait, just head to lucy.com slash stores to find Lucy near you and grab it today. And here comes to fine print. Lucy products are only for adults of legal age and every order is age verified.

Warning, this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. How long to take for you to get some legs on it for you to really realize, wow, there's something here and maybe even your first paycheck from it? So, I think I dropped the project called. I had a project before called, well, what initially happened was it was like the mixtape era where DJs were doing mixtapes and, you know, shout the big mic and all these type of DJs and, you know, I would, you call the number on the mixtape, yo, I got a song, I want to get on your mixtape, what's up?

And the DJ told me like, 1200 bucks, what that? whatever. At that time, I didn't have 1,200 to blow. I had 1,200, but I was like, the fuck, spend $1,200 on that? What? I had just spent maybe $14,500 on the MPC. I'm like, that's a better investment than getting on B number 30 on your slot. I thought it was just like you put people on off the love. I didn't understand the business of it. And I took that same $1,200, probably a thousand, and I made my own mixtape by myself. I said, well, fuck that. I'm going to make my shit and it might have been called G Unit versus Troy Ave and it was G unit songs and my songs it was it was versus but it wasn't like me dusting them ago I don't even know them

at the time my songs they songs and I'm selling it to people boom so now I became my own mix-a-dj's and I did dipset versus Troy Ave and then um you know I'm selling that and it's starting catch legs you feel me and then um once when I would go out and move that and sell that in different neighborhoods. I would let everybody know. Like, I went and sell it. Like, I'm not a pan-handling in the street. Yo, get my tape.

I'm pulling up. Chevy Taho on 22s. You feel, me? Like, like, new body. And I'm looking like money. Oh, I'm in my bins. After that, I've got the big body bins. I'm pulling up.

Hey, yo, yo, come through. Yo, what's up? Yo, this is my new tape. You got this shit. Yo, support that shit, man. I got my own label. We sell on shit. And people are like, worry, yo.

Yo, I ain't got no bread on me. Somebody said, they ain't got no bread. Man, that shit only $5, boy. I didn't worry about it. Just copped. You know, I'm fucked up. Man, take it for three if you fucked up. All right, I could do three.

Somebody else might, yo, yo, yo, pull up. Hey, yo, it's my new shit. Troy has, man. Got a label, dropping new shit, independent out the streets out of Brooklyn. You're like, oh, where are you? I ain't got it.

Man, that shit ain't about nothing, boy. It's $3,000, you know. No money. It's fucking like, yo, take it for a dollar. Fuck it. Take it for a dollar. If you fuck with it, you know what I'm saying? Just spread the word.

All right, I could do a dollar. Everybody could do a dollar. I'm coming out with 200 CDs every day. Sometimes we tell people, yo, take it for a dollar. If they're broke. Take, yo, matter of fact, yo, huh, take it. If you like it, when you see me, just pay me $5. And I don't have people three, four years later.

Pay me $10 for the shit. But every time I will pull up, I'm selling it everybody. I'm going. So in New York, our avenues are like this. It's the avenues, avenues, and then blocks. So let's say you in Harlem, just because Harlem is number. You might go from first Ave all the way to 12th Ave. And then you might go from 125th Street to 145th Street.

So I'm going through every avenue. Boom, boom, boom. Then I might go from 125th to 140th. Okay, stop. I'm coming back tomorrow. I'm going from 140th to 16th. see if that's when you start go uptown whatever um but i now now in brooklyn i say Harlem because hallam is numbered brooklyn has like names and words so just to make it easier for the audience see

that's me and my podcast thinking how people would think but um shout to the troyd ad podcast you'll go tuning and shit but anyway um when i went in certain blocks like i'm in eastern yoke i'm in kron hays while i'm from certain places you could tell who you out selling drugs, who hustling, who's trapping. And then I'll be like, yo, when they copped, most of the hustlers, they coping, because they got $5, they got $3, they got money. You know what I'm saying?

They might pull up, yeah, yeah, yeah, you. Yo, take a dub, just give me four of them CDs. I just want to get you off my block. They coping and support them, but I'll let people know, hey, yo, boy, I got that weight, too. Weight is, like, you know, hard, like, not broken down. I'm supposed that it'd be, like, eight bowls, ounces, big eight, 62 grams, 125, whatever.

Yo, I got weight too or hard. They'd be like, your heart or soft, false. Soft means coke, hard means crack. But, you all got weight of hard. And now I would, so now not only am I making a little $3, $1, $5 off a CD, but now I got somebody buying some crack off me too. And yo, listen, y'all, I take a half an ounce. All right, cool.

Now, mind you, I told you I was getting it for 85, and I'm selling it for $110 or whatever. You feel me? So I'm making my little 25. So I would do that. And then I would just, like that made me like, oh shit, this shit could be profitable because I'm double working. I'm not working a job.

I'm not letting a job work me. I'm working a job. You feel me? So shit just blew up from there. I don't even know if I answered your question. But you feel me? How do you get the name, Troy Ave? Where did you come up with that?

That's where I grew up at. I grew up on. Union Street between Albany and Troy Avenue. So I just took the avenue and I made it like, Troy Avenue was a long notorious avenue. It's like a neighborhood. Not a neighborhood, it's an avenue that runs from East Flatbush, all the way the best aisle.

Flatbush is the best eye. And through Crown Heights. I'm from Crown Heights. So I'm in the middle. Down here is Flatbush. This is best eye. It runs all the way down. Turner's in the Lewis.

So I took that name. I was like, yeah, how could I be on some New York shit with some Brooklyn shit? And then still just be like, shit regular. I wasn't about to be the fucking, the fucking abominable snowman emcee. Like some cony names of people be having this shit.

Like, man, I'm just Troy. I sound like a regular name, Troy, Choi in his avenue and it's Brooklyn. So that's why I adopted that name from. Now, how old are you when the career starts to take off in the music? Music, I want to say like 2015, 2016. I'm like 28, 27. And are you still actively selling drugs

when you're in the full swing of the music? Well, see, that's the thing. I probably stopped. I stopped selling drugs at a time when I had an apartment. I want to say it was about 2014. A few, like a couple of old DJs started playing my music and shit like that just like random shout to jovon new and wild shout to funk flex just playing it randomly and shit oh some mix tape shit i had no relationships with these people i ain't know

and um it stopped playing my music and then i remember i remember so me i got a brain it's called god is great paper straight god is god is great paper straight dot com y'all go check it out this is one of the or whatever. So, like, I really believe in God. And, um, so something had happened at the time when I was doing music and selling drugs and shit. And then, um, I had me to pack with God. I was like, yo, you, God, if you let me be successful in his music shit, I'm not going

to touch no more drugs, you feel me? And, like, I keep, one thing I'm high on is, is, you know, I keep. keeping your word as a man and you definitely got to keep your word with God, you feel me? So that happened and I kept my worry and I never looked back. So I want to say up until like once I got like the freshman cover, I ain't even touching on drugs again like that. Except for like when I came out of jail in whatever that year was, I had to go, I didn't have to but I sold some jobs just to pay my bills because I was on an ankle bracelet and shit. So I saw a couple birds. But I would never do it again, unless my back was against the wall. But thank God

my back and never be against the wall because I'm smart. You know, where is Daredevil? I'm right. Don't miss the return of Marvel Television's Daredevil born again. So what's next? I'll be liberated. We're to take this city back in an all new season now streaming only on Disney Plus. They're hunting us. It's time we're. started hunting them. I can work with that. This should be tons of fun.

Marvel television's Daredevil, Born Again, now streaming only on Disney Plus. This episode is brought to you by Beneful. Mornings are when the grind starts. Stretches, immaculate, cardio, crushed it, territory marked. Sorry, geraniums. The dog routine is on point,

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visit Purina.com slash Beneful to shop now. It said everything happens for a reason but maybe everything happens for a Reese's take noise cancelling headphones do they block hearing to heightened taste? Hmm. That sound seems to show

everything happens for a recess. I'm financially super literate. Now when you give up the draw and you're all in on music. Is it hard to get rid of some of the people that were around during the drug game? Is it hard to get rid of some of the people? No. I don't know.

So a lot of my people's that was in the drug game with me, I took him into the music game. And then one of my people's, one of my people, excuse me, I just gave him my plug because he was the most responsible. He was more responsible than a lot of my own home board. Homeboys, that was, you know, like this is how I look at it, if I would let all my close people's note, hey, yo, listen, I'm going to go re-up. If I'm getting a bird for 28, yo, here, you could put it on it and you could get your shit for fucking 29. Just give me a point, you feel me, because I got the plug.

Or I could go get all the work, and then you go sell it for, I don't know, four points higher, but I need half. Now, you could just, you work for me instead of really working with me type shit. You know what I'm saying? And a majority of people would just be like, no, I'm going to just, I'm going to take the risk with your money. Pretty much is what they're saying. They'll wait for me to get it and make half. So I knew, like, you ain't that ambitious. And you, like, you're not deserving of the plug that I have.

But my people's at when, you know, I'm going to go get five bricks. Boy, you want to put in with me, you know, I got enough money for another two. All right, cool, maybe I get a lower price. The people that went in with me, at the end, when I was done, washed my hands of the shit, I gave them the plug because they was like-minded, you know what I'm saying? So I didn't really have to get rid of the people. I had some friends till the last day. I was in the game and shit.

The other people, I just said, come on here, now y'all do, y'all rap, y'all do music or something because it's hustling thing ain't for you because you, you, you, you, you, you, You didn't try to level up with it. And there's no knock on them. Some people that just ain't their thing. They're not trying to level up. You feel me? Like, so, for example, when I got my first brick,

I was trying to sell my plug some drugs. I'm thinking, yo, Spanish, nigga. He'd probably sniff some coke. Yo, hon, it's what I got. And he's like, yeah, what you get that from? Oh, p's. Look, he showed me some shit. And I'm like, yo, listen, my first plug was my name.

jeweler, like actual, but he makes jewelry, not one of those jewelers with a showcase. He makes jewelry for David Yerman and shit like that. I'm like, yo, listen, you know I got this Rolex from you. I'll give you this. I had a couple thousand in my pocket. Huh, let me get this brick. I'll be back in fucking three days or whatever. He said, yo, I'll give you two.

I bought that shit back in one that was going at night because all I did was go to all my people that I would put in for, yo, y'all, I need a big eight, a big eight, 125 grand. Yo, you, like, people who was hired in me, they buy half a bird, whole bird. Hey, yo, home, let me put in some money with you. Same way I was employing my other people to do.

Yo, let me put some bread in with you, get me some shit at a better rate. I just went to them. You look, I got this. Look what I got. You know what I'm saying? Like, show what the fuck? And that shit was going that quick.

But I said, I said all that to say that. When I came back with all the money that I got from them, I say, yo, here's all the money that I got from the brick, right? Here's my profit. I might have made $3,000 and whatever the fuck I made profit. Here's my profit. And keep my watch and keep the money I gave you. Can you give me this again? Not, yo, let me get my watch back.

Let me get the $3,000 I gave you. I'm going to keep my profit. Here's your brick. Can you front me again? That's bum shit. You feel me? That's like, that's not the way to do it. You're supposed to try to, you're supposed to always think about leveling up in life.

So it's like, why wouldn't you say, hey, I'm all in again with you. And then so. You feel me? You get what I'm saying? Yeah, he didn't get what I'm saying? He's like, what the fuck? Scott. He doesn't, he's here with me, but he's like, I lost him.

He's like, Rain Man. What's that mean? We should put that meme up with the Rain Man doing this shit. Like, hey, break twigs, whatever. If I was talking about, in your situation, if we're talking about one of your friends' family, they invest in a concert, they say, yo, you like, yo, I need $30,000 to go through this concert, right?

And I'm going to, it's going to be a hit, I'm going to make some money. You say, it's okay, here. Here's $30,000. Go throw your show. You make the money. You might make $40,000, right? Now when you come back to them The wrong way to do it was say

Okay, here's your 30,000 I'm going to throw another show I need another $30,000 No, that's the wrong way, the right way to be Hey, here's $30,000, you let me, I made $40,000 Here's my other $10,000 in Give me $20,000 now to go back and do this. You know what I'm saying? They might be like, I like this young man, he did the right, you know what?

take 40 take 50 because you you got skin what's called skin in the game you're not being like a bum just trying to take all the risks with somebody else's money because then when shit goes bad you just like uh fucky you're screwed you feel me yeah and you're lower

in their risk by giving them the profit and that shows character and integrity and it reverse what you might think normally will happen you might think well shit if I give them if I only give them back their money they might just give me back 30,000 no you put in your money too they might give you

They're myself, shit, here's 50. Go do your thing. You bought that back quick. And you gave me a little bit off the top. So that's how I carry myself. And that was leveling me up. And anybody that was like minded like me, then I felt like they were privy to getting with my plug.

And I put them on and they blew up. I could say like they became bigger than I was. And I was at like eight to ten bricks a month. You know what I'm saying? They way bigger than I was. And like, I feel happy about that. Even though it was like some negative shit, it's really not at the same time. Whoever relates will relate, but I feel happy about that.

Like, I'm proud of seeing how they blew up. You know what I mean? All the shit. Because they were, I always had like, man, I'm doing this as a means to win. They like, man, this is me full time. And I'm like, round of applause. Do your fucking thing. When you started touring and making that show money, was that better than the drug money?

Fuck yeah. Oh, fuck it. If I'm making $8 to $10,000 a month, let's just say $10 for an even up number. Not $8 to $10,000. If I'm selling $8 to $10 bricks a month, I'm doing $4 to $5 every first and $15. And there's my money.

There's no fronting. I'm like, nobody's fronting me. I'm paying his cash. I might be paying $28 to $30 a bird. So let's say $30,000, $120,000, $150,000. That's my real. If. But then shit is going for $35.

all kind of crazy numbers at the time. I come to Connecticut, I'm getting 40. I'm getting 10 points higher. So if I'm making off five bricks, I'm probably making like, let's say I'm doing two points. The average, I would do three points on each, but then I got my homeboys are selling for me. So if I got two bricks that's going to the homies,

I'm probably splitting that. I'm getting one and a half, whatever, just so the peoples could eat. But then I got, I'm coming out of town, I'm getting it remixed and taking work back. So let's just say over every five bricks, I'm probably making three, six, two, maybe like 10,000, sometimes 12, 10,000.

So we're looking at like 20,000 a month. But of music, I'm getting $6,000 for one. one night. I'm making that off work and then I'm going to a club and buying a section for 3,000 in bottles. Now I'm getting in the same club. Not for free. I'm getting paid to be there and getting all the bottles on the house. Like, fuck it. Music is way better. Like, it's infold. You can't make this shit up. So why do you think some rappers have such a hard time leaving the drug game and end up getting jammed up later on when they could just tour? If you look at the rappers that really get jammed up,

I want to say without really thinking into it is, it's not really, really successful ones. If you're really successful, and then, mind you, whole time, I'm independent. So whatever I do is 10 times of what another person that, if they sell, if they go platinum, $100,000 record sold for me is platinum. So I'm getting all the money.

You feel me, they're not getting it. no little money. So you never signed with anyone. You never got the record deal? B.S.B records, baby. Number one, independent on the East Coast. Whole time. BSB record is still BASB record. That's it. I give myself a deal. I give other people deals. Matter of fact, if you got talent in your own money, come holl at me right now. Let's get you a deal. But like, same with the drug game. I only fuck with like-minded people. But I think the people that can't get out the streets, they might. So, like, Throughout my history of my career, like, you never seen me.

I don't have, like, people around on some friendly extorting me or some, like, I'm not, I'm not like a passive. Like, a lot of artists will be, they'll be soft or they'll be, you know, there'll be suckers, which is cool. But then they put the wolves around them. I am a wolf. I don't, you know what I'm saying? The wolves, that's with me. We're running in the pack. You feel me?

Hence, the urban plaza situation. I'm not falling back scared and somebody else is doing a shoot and I'm doing that myself. So me having that with that mind frame doing music is like, why would I get, why would I let somebody else jeopardize my shit? I'm not, I didn't have people like, hey, you listen, man, this person is, I didn't have people try to come to me in the club. I'm in Miami. One of my good friends right now. till this day, my dog. I'm going to say his name, but we met by him trying to buy some bricks from me.

And he like, yo, yo, me, man, I fuck with you. You know, I fuck with you. You know, I'm in the streets. I'm trying to get, like, I'm trying to grab some shit from me. I said, where? I said, what you're trying to grab? He might have said, like, don't. I'm trying to grab, like, two, three.

I said, bro, I'm going to be honest with you. I'm getting like, I'm getting like $6,000 to be here right now. If I sold you two, three birds, I'm only going to make six to nine thousand. It's not worth it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not going to jeopardize the shit I got going on for that. You feel of me? Not saying that you, with the police anything, it's just not worth me even trafficking and

shit or whatever, you know what I'm saying? But if he was talking about 10, and I'll take a quick little 30, 20, 30 piece. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's how we count money. 20, 25 times is 100. That's six figures. But I say, yeah, that ain't worth it. But I never felt the pressure because I was the guy.

I wasn't like I'm not the guy that's being protected. You know what I'm saying? I'm a protector. I'm not the guy that got the big homies that's fun to him. I'm the one funding shit. So I don't feel that pressure of somebody being like, yo, yo, I need to get this work. Like, you're not going to jeopardize the shit I got going on for some petty shit you got going on.

So I never felt that pressure. But most artists, they're not the guys. It's the guy in the background that's putting the chain on them. It's the guy in the background that's paying for their studio time, paying for their videos, paying for the clothes on their back, where they'll feel the pressure of, yeah, you got to still do what I say. Or you got to fly out, yeah, you're in a private jet, but I need you to put these pounds on your private jet

because I'm, you, my artist, I'm my own artist, BASB records, it's me. So I ain't feel that pressure. You feel like? But to each is on. Now, even though you left the streets, the streets still found a way to catch up to you. Yeah. It's just be like that.

Sometimes, unfortunately, coming from our community, this shit is just, like, it's fucked up. What happened? At what point. The, with the shooting.

So I had a male stalker that had been in his court document, everything I'm talking about. This person had, like, tweeted me over 900 times and just like offensive shit was out on social media they made it real public about if they saw me they would shoot me and just all kind of like weirdo shit you feel me and then it just came to a hey well we finally met and that person they backed out a gun and like I'm not you heard of fight or flight I'm always going to choose the fight I'm always going choose to fight at that point in time.

You know what I'm saying? So while they backed out the gun, I punched them in their mouth and went to reach for a gun and they started shooting and then all melee broke out and then, you know, I was able, by the grace of God, to beat the shit out of them and take the gun back and then, you know, all every, all anybody saw that was promoted is me shooting but they didn't see all of the shit that happened until after the fact, you know what I'm saying? So it was really just a fact of a male stalking. and a hater.

It was like weird. It's like anything. If Leonardo DiCaprio went through this, so like it happens all the time of Hollywood. It just so happened. Now, I'm from Brooklyn, New York. I'm black. Like that, it's treated differently and looked at differently.

But this was literally, I had no relationship with this person prior to music. You know what I'm saying? They just had an online feud in their mind. It's like some fanatic shit. Like, I'm going to go at him. And when I see him, literally, you ever dealt with a stalker?

No. Not yet. Not yet. Don't jinx me, man. It comes with success. It's okay. Yeah. So write a passage.

I've had some weird ones that comment, but not to that level now. Right. Yeah. So that's just weird, man. It's weird and unfortunate. But, you know, that wasn't like street shit. The street family, it's like violence, but it wasn't street shit. It was all internet shit.

It was all public shit. Street shit is supposed to be quiet, kept in the shadows. You know what I'm saying? Like, I got a shot on Christmas Day. That's street shit. That shit kept quiet in the shadows. Was that before that shooting? That was after.

That was after. So do you get arrested for the shooting? Yeah, I got arrested. I got arrested. I got charged with, I got charged with the murder of my friend. I got charged with attempted murder on the person that shot me, all the other people in the club, and my friend, R.P. Bangor.

And I got charged with attempted murder on him. But they gave you bail after the shooting. No, I didn't get no bail. They reminded me a couple times. I had to stay in jail for like, I don't know, maybe a month. They kept reminding me like two court days. And then I had to pay. I had to get out on a bell that was far from the normal bail of somebody with attempted murder.

Like, my bell was higher than anyone else. It makes, like, you could go shoot somebody in Times Square. Donald Trump says it all the time. I kill somebody in Times Square. You could go in today and shoot somebody in Times Square and you wouldn't get a half a million-dollar bell. It's the fact. So, but it comes with it. Now, where were they holding you when you were, didn't have bail when you were amended?

I was in Rikers Island. I was in West Facilities. Same place they had Tupac. And, um, he had Tupac. Little Wayne was there. But Little Wayne was like in his own cell. I was in like a dorm. So I was, um, I was shot up and shit.

I was shot up. So I was in a fucking wheelchair and all that good shit. No, but when you were on bail? Oh, on bail? I mean, not on bail. Not on bail. I was in Wright, Gazelle. Right when you got the case.

So you weren't shot yet? No, when I got the case, I was shot. Oh, you already shot? That whole night that is not. Oh, so they waited to charge you. Upside down, like, first principal in there, right then and there. So they waited to charge you for that night closer? They charged me in the hospital bed.

Oh, okay. I wake up, police handcuffs. So tell us about that shooting on Christmas Day. No, Christmas Day was after. I didn't get charged. Like, I got a shot on Christmas Day. I'm in my drop top. I'm going to get, I got a project called White Christmas.

I drop every year. This is White Christmas 4. I'm going to get merch. I was selling these merch, these red hats. Snickskin, Pythony, they say, baking water, what weight again? I'm picking them up from the teller. It's Christmas Day. I'm drinking Rain Nethy with the Taylor because he's Jamaican.

I'm chilling. I got my, like, a red Margarity convertible. I got the shit parked on the sidewalk because I'm just like whatever shit parked on the sidewalk I'm just being unruly and shit and I stayed there for too long and you know

when you stay around place for too long is when people get the drop on you you feel me and that was just reckless on my part but by the grace of God I'm still here and I'll pill off the um

and I go out I go to leave and then somebody walked down on my shit and then I got a bullet in my head right now, and I got a bullet in my back. I'm trying to drive myself to the hospital, crash. Much of the shit happened in between that, but whatever. And I end up, I'm here about the grace of God.

That's what happened. Was this gang related, or who shot you? It was in the streets. Just keep it at that. People understand, some people understand, certain shit is in the streets, you're just keeping in the streets. You don't get the going up on podcasts, social media. and talk about it.

We talk about the public shit that people make public and, you know, internet online shit. But any street shit, that's why I still, like, I'm locked in with a lot of my good people from today. Like, we don't, that's the code. You keep the street shit in the streets. Now, how many months after was this from that nightclub shoot? Oh, it happened in May. This happened on Christmas Day.

And they hadn't charged you for the May incident yet. Oh, yeah, I was charged. I was out on ankle bracelet. I was out on bail on the ankle bracelet. So you're out on bail. And this is why, it's kind of why shit like that would happen because the whole world knows, oh, let's, let's humble it down.

Fuck the whole world. Maybe the whole New York knows that, yo, Troy Hav is out here, but he's on the ankle bracelet. So he on the ankle bracelet, he ain't moving, how he normally move, old extra dangerous, you know what I'm saying? Because if anybody does anything and I'll do violence to them, And I'm going to jail because the bracelet monitor, you were there.

There's no stories. There's no, it wasn't me. You see me anywhere? Like, I'm right there. So, you know, they took that opportunity. They shot. They shot. I'm not mad at them.

It is what it is. You know what I'm saying? Look at the scoreboard. It's what they're supposed to do. And that was it. So I just kept in the street. Now, do you- At least ask me, hey, yo, did you see who did it?

There's somebody in a hoodie. I don't know. Now, do you make it to the hospital yourself or do you crash? I crash and then shout to this guy picks me up. Shout to Queen Wolf Wolf. She puts a towel. She puts a Gucci scarf over my head. And I'm covering in blood just to try to not make me look crazy.

The people were we trying to, it's Christmas Day, it's crowded as fuck. We know, Linden Boulevard. And one person stopped for me out of hundreds of people on that Linden Boulevard strip. And one person when I get in color, She's like, yo, he shot. He's going to go hospital. Hospital, maybe three blocks away. He stops with me.

And when I get in a car, whoever he's talking to, they start praying for me. That's how true it is. They start praying for me. And when we pull up to the spot, I walk into the joint. And I'm telling me, yo, I'm shot in my head. I need y'all to give me with a doctor or whatever, whatever. and they like taking their tongue. I say, yo, this shit is fucking serious.

I might be calm and composed, but I'm shot in my head. I take off the towel. I take off the scarf, the Gucci scarf. They see all the blood, and they stop moving and panicking. You know what I'm saying? So that's how that happened.

Were you awake the whole time at the hospital? Yeah, I was awake the whole time. And did you have to go to surgery? Shit, that's a good question. Did I have to go to surgery? For that? No, all the bullet is still in me, so I ain't have to go surgery.

It's literally about, bullet in my head and it's a bullet in my back. It came through this side and his lodge up in this side. When I get massages, I got to tell him to work around a bullet and shit. Did the doctors tell you, like, if it came, say, a half inch this way, you would have been dead? I ain't going to lie. I don't be asking on like conny shit. It's not how it sounds, but, like, people always say, yeah, if it was just this much further or that much,

like, it's always like that. Like, the only time I remember, the only time I remember, the only thing. only time that resignated with me when somebody said a half inch is because I was saying, I was talking to my pastor. Oh, it turns out the guy that picked me up ended up being a pastor. I didn't know that. I go in a breakfast club. His sister reached out.

She's like, I was the one praying because I was like, yo, if that pastor's around, I'm looking for him or that person is around. I'm looking for him. I want to give him something like whatever, whatever. I appreciate him picking me up. Come to find out he's the pastor. Shout to Pastor Rima. If you want a real pastor, Pastor Rima Duncan, look him.

up. Long story long, I get with the, I'm talking to passing. I'm like, damn, Pastor, I'm going through all the shit, man. I wish I would have just, if I was shooting this, if I was shooting this hater and this fucking stalker, if I just went a little bit more and left off some more shot, I'd have killed him. And Pastor is like, yo, listen, you can't think about it like that. You can't look at it like that. Because if the bullet that hit you on Christmas Day had just went a little bit more to the left, low, to the right, you'd have been dead.

And I shut up after that. I never spoke about it again. I say, you're absolutely right. You say, you can't. God is a plan of all plans. You can't question that. You feel me? Why do you think you survive that day?

Because I'm blessed to be here. I'm chosen to be here for a reason. Most people that, the perfect example, people, but hey, how you doing? And you can say, man, I'm having a horrible day. Oh, yeah, I bet. Hey, when people say, how you doing they don't give a fuck. They just asking. It's just like going through the motion.

When I say that, I really mean, hey, how are you doing? If you tell me you got a problem, I'm going to try to figure even a stranger. Might be a homeless man with it. Man, I only made 32 cents today. All right, you know what? I'm going to give you some money. I'm going to say, hey, well, what are you doing? Paynehill.

What's your approach? Hey, I ask this or whatever. Like, I genuinely care about people. I'm genuinely here to raise my sons. being real men to raise my daughter, you know what I'm saying, not being one of these street people, you feel me? Like, I'm here for a reason. Like, I got a good heart and I help way more people than I hurt.

You feel me? I only do bad things of bad people. So in life, I believe that, like, you see all this shit that's going on in the world. You see all the fucked up people that try to, it's really heartless, reckless people that don't give a fuck about nothing. Like, my presence in the world makes the world a better place. Whether it might be people that don't agree, but they're not in my, they're not within my radius or within my reach.

Anybody's ever met me, and the people could go in the comments. If you met me, you say, man, no, Choi has, like, he showed love. I got people that come up to me and be like, man, yo, because of you, I'm a better father. It's because they see how I am with my kids. Because of you, yo, I believe in. God because of you, you feel me? So you never know. It might be something like as small as

I made someone be a more present and better father and they child might go on to make the world a better place. They child might go on and be, imagine look at it like this. Let's go back

in history. Imagine somebody that, man, they were shot up. They was fucking they was ridiculed they was fucking towed down upon you know what I'm saying

but it's the way they carry themselves with a sense of integrity that made that Malcolm X looked up to that or Martin Luther King looked up to that and he said man you listen

I'm gonna take the good traits from that person I'm gonna go on to do shit for civil rights or whatever the fuck you feel me so we don't know what God's planning is all I can do is deal

with the people in front of me And I know every time I encounter somebody, I show love. I make the world, I try to make my goals to leave the world a better place than I came in it. You feel me? And while most people, you know, they get killed. They just on bullshit. They wasn't doing nothing. They was selfish.

They only cared about them and theirs. Feel me? Like, I'm not on that. And I try to just, my motto is spread love and destroy hate. God is great in the paper straight. I'm here to motivate people. Whoever ain't motivated by me, then you hate it. And it is, if you hate it, I can't do nothing for you.

I can't relate to you. That ain't my bot. Now, you said they charged you while you were in your hospital bed. What was that about? That was for the, all the shit. The shooting on the camera, my friend being dead. I found that shit out on the hospital bed. Imagine how crazy that was to me.

That shit was fucking me up. everything before they knew all the extra shit I got more charges after of course So they re-indicted you like gave you extra charges Yeah they fucked me over I mean they didn't fuck me over it was what it was Now I was on Google there's a bunch of images of you going to court And you're in a wheelchair you got your leg up

You were going through that whole process How long after the shooting did that? What was it a trial? I want to say no that was like the initial That was just old me getting indicted So, I mean, that went on from, I was in jail for, oh, shit. I thought I was in jail for a month. I was in jail for almost too much.

So it was me back and forth to court. That was me, the one with me with my leg up, I was leaving the hospital. Whatever hospital there is in Manhattan, I was leaving there. And then all that was shit was me trying to get bailed. Like, yo, this ain't same with y'all thinking. You know what I'm saying? I ain't shoot all these people. I didn't kill my best friend.

It's saying me. You know what I'm saying? I took the gun from this person who shot me, and I'm shooting at him. But all y'all have is the image of me shooting at him. And then he turns around and goes and says, yo, Troy Havs, he killed his man. And he's shooting at me, like crazy shit, man. This is like the most unique situation ever in the history of... Two Good and Coffey Creamers are made with Farm Fresh Creamers.

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you've got a real shot at getting it. Get started at redfin.com. Own the dream. Hip hop. Facts. And I went through that. I ain't tripping. It comes with the territory.

Who was someone that reached out to you that you were surprised by when all of this went down? You're in the hospital bed. Who reaches out in the hip-hop community? I'm switched out to 50 cents. This is why I still, I fuck with 50. till his day. You know what I'm saying?

He reached out. He sent an attorney. He didn't pay for that fucking attorney. But he sent him. He didn't pay for that attorney, Fifth. I paid for that in my own pocket. But he sent an attorney. He talked to me.

I'm chilling cherries, y'all. I'm drinking old-fashioned, relaxing. I don't know. Ironically, I went to that show to perform to come out for T. He didn't send him a lawyer. He didn't reach out, he didn't come visit a hospital, nothing.

He just got the fuck out of there on some scary shit. You know what I'm saying? He didn't. He said, hey, this is how you deal with these situations, nothing. And he had been in a situation prior where he went to a club,

got into an altercation with somebody. And his friend died. His situation is different because he got an altercation. He was acting tough with the guy. They got on the highway. And then the person filled their shit up, lit it up, and then they died.

It wasn't, my situation is it's a long-time stalker and the hater, and it was all on camera, you know what I'm saying? And they was, soon as we end the club, whatever, whatever, it's different. But he kind of like fake distance itself on some shit, you know what I'm saying? That's just not how I would have handled it. If I was the artist that I was trying to sign and bring on it, you know, act like I had love for, but you can't, I learned in life. When you asked me earlier, what's some things that my parents taught me?

It's something that I'm going to teach my kids that you can't expect everybody to be like you because that would cause you nothing but heartache and hardships. Expect everybody to be themselves and you're you. Don't because you'll be disappointed almost every time, you feel me? So now Rikers Island as someone that's well-known like you and you're also injured as badly as you were. What was that like for you?

Well, they had me in the West facility. So the West facility was like people that was coming there for other injuries, bullshit, like fights, different medical shit. High profile goes there also. And this is all the first time. Last time I went and I did like, you know, what's called the year in jail, but which was way less. It was cool. It was like fucking camp. I went to a shop.

I went to Anthony Mason Camp when I was a kid. It was like Kent. It was like a bunch of fucking criminals. We played dominoes. We played spades. You know, we traded commissary and shit. We bet commissary on basketball games. I think Golden State was in the finals.

We betting popcorn and shit like that. It was cool. The worst part was me not knowing when I'm getting out. It was all the comp, all the, um, getting remanded. I remember somebody in there, he was like, man, I'm getting out on September. And I'm like, damn, excuse me, I'm like, Dan, that's long. But, pose. I'm like, damn, that's long.

But it's fucking June when he's telling me that, you know what I mean? I'm like, man, give me the fuck out this jail. I'm used to living in luxury, you feel me? I got marble in my bathroom. You know, heated floors. This is bum shit. But, um, I end up going in and doing longer than him, Pose. So, it was like cool.

It was, you know, people got into fights, and I got the residual of some pepper spray, it was just fucking whack. But that showed me the power of pepper spray. It was two inmates that they had fucking heated till the death feud, and they ended up fighting and shit like that, shout to them they kept the weapons out of it.

They fighting going at it, and they get pepper spray. by the end of that pepper spraying they're both in one singular sink helping each other wash their eyes out I said pepper spray brings the community together man pepper spray is a peacemaker can't make this shit up

so with that and then you know just a bunch of fake tough guys which is cool they ain't act tough with me but like you know I talked to some of them like yo I chill the fuck out bro you trying to bully this person or whatever you know what I'm saying Even if they're not doing it with me.

Well, one, because, you know, I'm Troy as. And then, two, I'm not going to give off that demeanor that I'm just going to be played with in a wheelchair or not. I'm in his wheelchair, but I can stand. I'm just saying shit. You know what I'm saying? And it was cool. It wasn't bad. I talked on the phone as much as I wanted to.

It wasn't bad. I mean, there's no bitches. There's no money. I don't do drugs. So I wasn't in the bathroom smoking weed with everybody. just eating food shout to some of the guys man they was cooking good food for me

the barber would come to the house it wasn't horrible if I often joke I often joke with my friends like hey you listen how much would they have to pay you to go to jail for a month

and I'm going to ask you this question how much would they have to pay you to go to jail for a month well you know I went back to prison for three months last year for a quarter million for Mr. Beast Oh, that's different. That was real prison. That's a controlled environment. No, that was harder than prison.

Yeah, it was harder than prison, but only probably because they wanted to create those different. No contraband, no books the first 30 days, nothing. Can't get killed? I guess, yeah. Can't get fucking raped. Your butthole was protected. Yeah. Right?

You know what I'm saying? Pause. You say, yeah. I think, I guess. I think for me to go back to a real, right. fine. I'll go to jail. I'll go to jail.

You got to be realistic, right? Like, I'm realistic. I probably, you got to look at what you make a month. Yeah, but times it by two for a safety factor. There's no safety. All right, whatever. It's no real safety factor. You're showing.

No, in a real jail, you're saying you could get raped. Oh, in a real jail. That's what I'm saying. In a real jail. But, like, fuck it. It comes with the risk. Whatever. Why risk it then?

You need you want an extra money. Now you got to look at it. Like, these people out here making $0 a month. Nothing. They're making shit. They're in a negative. They're borrowing from people. You know what I'm saying?

So here's another thing I ask. Like, I remember when BMF went to jail, whatever. Would you trade 25 years of bowling for 10 years in jail? I think so. I mean, like, it got to be super bowling, like out of control bowling. You know what I'm saying? 25 years of bowling for 10 years in jail. Cool.

Would you, like at this point, by the grace of God, I make a lot of money a month. So it has to be something stupid. You know what I'm saying? Like in three months, keep it a buck. I'm not going to make a half a million dollars, you feel me? But in three months, I damn they make a quarter million dollars, you feel me? So I'm not going to go to jail for, I'm not going to jail for half a million for three months when I'm making a quarter million. But if they say, yo, you get a million dollars for three months.

Man, let me get the fuck out of here. Leave all my shit. I'm going in my socks. right now. Fact, though. You feel me? So how much would you go to jail for in three months? For three months?

Forget the Mr. Visa. Real jail. I'd do it for a half a mill, for $500,000. My man, that's what I'm talking. Let me give me your A-Fist point. I would do it for $500,000. Most people are unrealistic.

Only stupid people that I wouldn't go to jail. No, man. Jail is fucked up, but it's not that bad. If you know when you're getting out and you're getting paid. What the fuck ever, whatever. Now, you mentioned that you made sure no one stood on you even though you were in a wheelchair. How do you assert that dominance?

Because you're in a very vulnerable moment injured. You're a target. I think it's really just personality, bro. Like, if you don't have that, like, I don't go in jail trying to. I never try to act tough. Like, if somebody's a bully, then I'm going to bully the bullies. You feel me? And it's certain ways that you could just, bullies look for weak targets.

And even though I'm in the wheelchair, I'm not fucking, I'm not weak at no point, you feel me? And, like, bullies look for easy shit. Like, somebody, if you're into the violence, you could have no legs and still be into the violence and do shit to somebody. So, like, I'm just doing some chilling shit, man. I'm kicking it. Kicking it with the guys.

We pop and shit. We're playing fucking spades. I'm playing dominoes with my Spanish homies. We fucking, some of the homies reading Bible verses. You, read some shit to me, bro. I'm just going in there down the earth I think people know who to play with so even in the wheelchair

he's not going to be easy let's not even play with him you feel me so now you get bail how long does your legal proceedings play out for oh years years it was after COVID happened all kind of shit so years I'm going through the legal shit

you feel me and what's going on with your music career did the shooting derail it or no because you're independent so two things I couldn't do any shows performances the hip hop police The mayor said I was a thugs. I was banned from all New York shit on the front page of the news, right?

And then hip hop police ate at me. Like, I'm trying to go. I remember my first show in North Carolina, they called ahead. Do you know who this guy is? You know, he's on an ankle monitor. You letting him perform there? So that kind of derailed me. But my streams went up.

It's when streams started kicking in. So my streams went up. So again, $25,000 a month from streams. It's chilling. I'm sitting in the house. I'm chilling, doing my thing. So, like, my career took the head from I couldn't be out with touching the people and my core fan base, which was New York.

I think if you, whoever could look at Spotify, I got certain places in New York, California, Phoenix, Connecticut, like, shit like that. I couldn't touch the people. But I was running up the money. And I only got into it for the money. So it really didn't matter. So do you think in a way that made you more valuable because people couldn't see you, they were looking for that music and streaming's popping off?

Oh, no, I never thought about that. I would say maybe, maybe, maybe not. Maybe because sometimes you're out of sight, out of mind. So I think if I wasn't independent, I'd be screwed. I'd be fucked over up Shiz Creek. But because I'm independent, I'm getting 95% of my money. So I could live off all the streaming and chill. I can live off the publishing checks and shit, you feel

me? And I'm always a person that I live underneath my means. Now, my means happen to be very high, but I live way underneath it, you know what I'm saying, which is still on some bowling shit, but I'm living underneath it. So I don't buy nothing if I can buy it four times, you feel me?

If I buy a Ferrari, I could have bought that bitch four times. If I buy a house, I could have bought it four times. So it kind of all worked out for me where I ain't have a bunch of expenses in life and while overhead, like I was saying about rent, I always bought it on my crib. I bought them cash. So I ain't have rent with like,

damn, I'm under pressure. I'm going to get kicked out. So, I don't know. It all worked out. It kind of worked out for the best. So what happened to the legal case? The legal case carries on. And I think in like 20, finally 2024,

2024, I ended up going to jail for it. The FBI does an investigation. They found out that the gun is not actually mine. That they said was mine. Yo, this is his gun. They did their forensic. They found out that, okay, if you're saying it's his gun, how could it be if his fingerprints are not on the clip? Because if you own possession of a gun, you have your fingerprints on the bullets and the clip.

His fingerprints is only on the trigger because I'm firing at the hater and the stalker. So that ends up happening. I'm not charged with the attempt murder on my friend, but I still am charged with weapons possession and attempt murder on the person I took the gun from because in New York we don't have self-defense. You know what I'm saying? So that was it.

I just had to, I had to, I had to, I had to, I had to pay a shitload of money, which, like, kind of, like, pissed me off. You know what I'm saying? And then my defense team had to have a negotiation with the prosecutor like, yo, listen, this guy is fucking, he's not a bad guy how the other person is claiming on court document. Troy Ave is a bad guy.

He shot these people here or whatever. Yo, he comes, he works. He takes care of his family. You don't have no other incidences of him being in trouble past being a little teenager. He's been on a straight and narrow. This is the real story of what happened. Your evidence proves it. anything we gave, your evidence proves it.

Like, let's figure something out better for him. Like, you shouldn't have to go to jail for this time. And so that was it. And how much time do they give you? I got a year for weapons possession and a bunch of shit. And then with the time I already served and shit. Now, do you think if you didn't have that expensive legal team, it would have been a different outcome?

Absolutely. Hell yeah. Everything got a price. You got to pay. You're really paying for the intelligence of the people. say, hey, well, here's a strategy. Here's the case studies on what happened. You know what I'm saying?

But at the same time, I don't want to urge people. I don't want to gas people to be like some people don't have that money. You know what I'm saying? And you're not stuck. You got to get in a low library. You got to ask chat J.B. Motherfucking T. Like, yo, what's up with this shit?

How can I get up out of this shit? I'm innocent. and figure it out. But, like, I had lawyers that was, like, Benjamin Brockman. He defended Jay-Z in the stabbing case. He defended Plexico Burris in the shooting. He told me, like, a quarter million dollars and shit. I didn't have a quarter million cash at the time.

But I ended up paying, like, a buck 25 for my shit, which was cool. Because I was able to have John Stella, one of the best attorneys in the game. He'd be gun cases for me and all of my friends. You know what I'm saying? and like John Stella really cares. He's one of those real attorneys. I think, I don't know, it might be money relationships, whatever, whatever,

but you definitely need some paper. There are some legal aides that give a fuck and then to fight for you or whatever. But, you know, I don't know. I think money would help me a lot. What does that tell you about the criminal justice system? It is what we always thought it was. And I'm not mad at it.

End of the day. We value money. No matter how people say, oh, money is and everything here, money counts because it costs money to be here. Microphones cost money. Fucking computer screens. Everything costs money. So, with there are certain crimes that they say money can't buy,

but, you know, fuck. Shout to OJ. You feel me? Not saying he's guilty. But, like, it's certain shit that, yo, if you have a certain amount of money, you have to pay. You got it not only are you paying for the,

a legal defense, but you're paying for the relationships. You don't know who plays cards with the judge. You feel me? Like, you go to certain attorneys, they're going to tell you, it's going to cost this much to beat it. And then you're like, damn, you had a crossroads. Like, now you start thinking it, huh? I'm like, damn, did I really have to be offended

by this person bumping into me and spitting in my face and now I shot them? And now I got to pay for their legal fees they're suing like a bitch. And now I got to pay for this attorney You know what I'm saying? Like you got to really think about it

And be like, damn, sometimes Let me just avoid the bullshit But legal system is what it is. Everything has a price. Like you run a red light, it costs you this much. You feel me? You fucking, you get caught pissing in public.

It costs you this much. You get whatever. Down to recycling. I don't know if you all recycle out here, but if you get a farm for not recycling in New Jersey, it costs you this much. Which is cool. I'm cool with it.

because everything has a monetary value. You could kill somebody down the streets and go ask their fucking wife, husband. Hey, listen, if I pay you $10 million, will you be cool with this, brushing them? Yeah, sure, no problem. Well, if I pay you $20,000, no, no, no, you got to go to jail. So it is what it is.

I don't try to change the rules. Man, let me play within them and bend them. It is what it is. Yeah, I think every person I've talked to that's gotten a sweet plea deal has always had a paid attorney. You should. It's like, I say this all the time on my podcast. Yeah, go check out the Troy have podcast.

When people say, oh, man, oh, this bitch, she only likes guys in foreign cars and, oh, she's in and shit. Well, guess what? You like her? Go get you a fucking foreign car. Go do that. Don't complain about it. You don't complain about the game. You just adapt to the rules of the game.

It is what it is. So you get a year, you get sentenced to a year at Rikers. What was it like that second time going back? you know, not injured, not in a wheelchair, different circumstances. So the second time was, I want to say it was easier than the first time, pause, but it was longer. It was longer. But at least I knew I was getting out. So what I did to kind of trick myself was I didn't want to know my release date until about May. I think I found out my release date in May. winning in February.

Something to see those would look. You about to get out. No, don't tell me. Don't tell me. Don't tell me. Yo, yeah, you good. How much time you got? Man, I don't, I get in me a year.

They'll try to tell me every time you try to. No, no, don't say nothing. I'm on the phone. Somebody, oh, I looked it up. You about to be out. Don't tell me. I made when they told me because I look at it like if you, if you like a working man, working woman,

and then you're at working now. It's 11 a.m. And you're looking at the clock. You know you don't get out to five. and you're just like, damn, now everything becomes slower instead of just going through the motions. So once I found out in May, might have even been June when I get out,

then it was like, okay, now I'm on the countdown. It's cool. Fucking, I ain't tripping. That one, we had, like, I was high-profile, so they had me in, like, my own single cell. When I went out, it was, like, some Pelican base shit that you see on fucking online, looking at TV with people.

people in jail, everybody in their own cages, but the cages was all together and shit. You know what I'm saying? So it was cool. It was like little, like, for the most part, it was all love, love and respect from everybody in there. Shout to the guys that was in there. And then, you know, here was one and two idiots. Like, just trying to argue over the phone. It's a little different because we in the cell when we get the phone.

If we was out in public, nobody's not arguing with me on the public about no phone. But if you're in a cell, you could, you know, me get the phone. now and tell the CEO and trick it. But, like, if we in public, like, fuck out of here, I'll let it call you. Let me know when you got something important to talk about. And then I'll let you get on respectfully. So, that was cool.

The easiest part was knowing that I and my mother get out. So at a certain point in time, I'm like, man, nobody could bother me. They was coming through, tell me about my pictures up. I got pictures of beautiful women. Not these beautiful women. I remember some inmate. He tried to swaggy Jack

and nobody had pictures up on his cell at first. I'm putting pictures of all the shit. I like doing my kids, my life, different calls, you know what I'm saying? Different vacations, whatever, whatever. And somebody else tried to do it. He put in a bunch of Instagram pictures. Like, bro, you're putting a bitches that I fuck

that you don't even know. You're a weirdo. You know what I mean? But then, like, some of the captains would come through. You're going to take these off? Or a new lieutenant. I don't know what the fuck they call him in there.

You're going to take these. I got to take this. You know what? Cool. I'm on the countdown. I'm out of here anyway. Whatever you say, don't bother me. Like, yeah, take it down, whatever.

But matter of fact, you come here and take it down. I remember they came in, took a lot. I'm not taking shit down because it was just one of those days when I was on bullshit. I'm not taking shit down. You come take it down. They came, took them all down. I had way more pictures. And nothing but pictures.

Films me, pictures and visits. That shit held me down. I had way more pictures. They took it down. They ended up giving me all the pictures at the end. or they had to give me my property. You fucking idiot. It was a big deal for you to take down those pictures.

I forgot about them. I didn't even remember them until I looked at my property on a leaveout. And most of the property I didn't even look at. What's this? Oh, pictures. Oh, I remember this. They'll send me more pictures, whatever. So that was easier just because I was, like, in my own cell.

I didn't have to deal with. Like, one of the funny stories that I talked about when I was in jail the first time is me and a couple of the guys we up talking shit it's late tonight it's like two, three in the morning we popping shit by talking mad loud

and then one of the other guys in the dorm said man would y'all shut up I'm trying to get some sleep and I remember saying we all look at you up said man shut the fuck up you're in jail

you ain't get no good night sleeping here and we all just all laughing and shit but like I didn't have to deal with no dickheads like that I could be as loud as I want and myself turn to

TV up, do my thing. So it was cool. Just isolation and not being able to talk on the phone after like 8.50 p.m. until I got a phone and I could really talk. You know what I mean illegally. But sometimes it's not even worth it to have no shit, no contraband, as they call it. Yeah, did money buy you certain privileges in there? Oh, fuck yeah.

Money buy me everything. Money buy me hot sales. When you buy me phones. I didn't do drugs, so I ain't need that shit. But yeah Hell yeah But at the same time I was always of the mindset

We're like Like I think logical And intelligent So it was like Yo I talked to myself I don't know If anybody watching

Talk to yourself You ever talk to yourself Yeah of course Alright there you go I talk to myself And I'm gonna You bro You're about to be up out of here

Fucking eight months Whatever it is Why even get into all this shit And get an extra charge It shit don't matter You're going back to a real life. Why I have these little amenities in here

when you're going back, you live on an estate. Most people go to jail and all they call is get repoed. You got a Lamborghini and a Ferrari when people ask you, what do you do with the land? What do you do with your cars?

They're in my fucking garage. Where else would they be at? I don't have fake money like you guys. My shit is in my garage waiting for me to come home. So why would you go and try to add extra charges for shit like that?

You know what I'm saying? Like, little certain shit I do with my money or really, I just got shit off the love. Just me being like, me being a solid person, me being like, I represent and did a lot for New York City. So these are New York City CEOs that appreciate that. You know what I'm saying? You just bullshit like getting pens and, you know what I mean? Hot sauce is a contraband. If you don't get hot sauce, bullshit.

Bullshit. But I wasn't at the same time the type of man I am. Excuse me, I'm not about to I'm not about to ask nobody to jeopardize their job for no money. What could I give you? $5,000, $10,000, $20,000.

It wasn't nothing in jail that I was willing to pay $20,000 for. But I'm saying, like, what could I offer you? That's what comes to being intelligent, not being a dummy. I'm an offer a CEO. Oh, yeah, I'll give you $20,000 to get me in or whatever the fuck.

When you probably make you $70,000. $20,000 a year. You do them at overtime, making $100, whatever. I don't want anybody to risk their job because if you lose your job bringing me some shit in, I'm not about to pay you. Facts. But I would feel that, I would feel that, what's the word? I'll feel an obligation like, damn, I got this person lost their fucking job trying to

help me. And really, they was helping himself. So I didn't really act for certain shit. Whatever somebody said they could do for me, if they could bring me some phones from other inmate, y'all, I appreciate that or whatever. You know what I'm saying? If you bring me some outside food, you feel me? Or simple shit, like, if, you know what, don't do shit.

But when my mail come through and they're sending me all kind of fly clothes and shit that you're not supposed to have, just let me have it. I appreciate that. Pictures, different books. Like, I had all, I had designer clothes in jail, you feel me? And I gave me multiple sneakers, like, my shit was looking like my older part. I got sneakers lined up on the floor. Got God's gray paper, straight slippers in my shit.

I'm getting my brain clothes in the spot. So little shit like that, I think it's selfish to, and it shows the quality of a person and try to be like, yo, hey, risk your job, and I'm going to give you, just to get me this. That shit don't matter. Since you went to Rikers before this year's stint, did you do anything to prepare for this last one?

That's the only thing to prepare. A funny story. Shout to A.B., man. One of my people was Adrian Brunner. You know what I'm saying? They said what they want to say about him now. But he was a champ, and he was one of the most dynamic

and provocative champs that we've had. So I say, hey, B, I'm coming down to train, man. I'm about to go to jail. I need some training and shit just in case I got to knock somebody out. But I was just talking shit. I knew, like, I'm good enough for a jail fight. I ain't do shit to prepare.

I just make sure that my finances was in order. A lot of shit was in auto pay. Because no matter what circumstances I'm going through, I feel like real men don't use that as an excuse not to take care of their obligations, you feel me? So my kids still have to get paid for. They still got to be in basketball. They still have to get their birthday gifts.

You know what I'm saying? They still need the pool opened at my house so they can swim. My employees, they still have to get a check because we still got a job to do and we still got to run it up whether I'm in jail or not. Hey, the boss is in jail. Now, nobody gets paid. To me, that's not being a real man and a real boss. Boss is a real leader.

And no matter the hardships, I knew I was going to go here. So what are you saying? I'm like, I'm not on, I need to level up if I'm not on a level where I could go to jail for a year and I still can't take care of all my bills. You got to lose it all. I always looked at people who, when people, the truth comes out when people die, I go to jail. And that's when they lose it all or all the secrets come out and shit.

Like, all my employees got paid. Nobody never missed a mail or missed a check while I was in jail. Because of my actions and whatever happened, you don't got to miss, come on, keep this shit going. You feel me? And that's it. I'm sending birthday gifts when I'm just. jail, you know what I'm saying?

I'm sending Mother's Day gifts, all kind of shit. Nobody, nobody missed shit. I just made sure my finances was in order. Everything was on autopay or I had somebody control of my finances where I'm over the phone every day. We're checking bank accounts. Like, little shit like I had maybe two credit cards and one was like $12,000. So I think the limit might have been fucking, I don't know, $30,000, $20,000, $20,000.

$30,000 on a credit card. I might have had like $12,000 out on it. Then the other one, I got an Amex, which, you know, every month you got to pay that info, so that don't count. Then I had another credit card where it was like another $14,000, and the limit might have been under $40,000. So what I did while I was in jail while I'm talking to my people that's going over my bank shit every day,

I say, you know what, listen, let's take, The $14,000 I own and $12,000. And let's pay that whole shit off. Let's pay that $26,000 because between the two of those, I'm getting hit with a 29% APR. So I'm paying about whatever that is a month, $500,600,000, I don't know. Do the math. I'm like, why pay that if I'm going to be in here for eight months a year? That's $4,800 extra.

I said, let's pay that all off and then let's pay that money back to me every month. So just different shit financially that I did while I was in jail Or like my YouTube I lost my YouTube I came up with a plan to run up my YouTube while I was in jail So like jail jail was actually a good thing for me That shit was a blessing in disguise and I wouldn't take I wouldn't take that experience back for nothing Would you encounter guys in there that wanted to say give you a hard time

Because you were on short time or because you were say successful Nah Not on some Like Hater stuff I remember First time I had COs Like

Oh ACO Asked me like You know how you get those slippers Why are you got on this sweatpants Yeah Fucking rich That's how I got them That's why I got

Javinci slippers on You know Oh where Where's your I forget what they call The jail clothes I mean I don't got them I gave them to another inmate

That didn't have them If you want to go get me some Take time how much a day, cool, no problem Like just serving a little Like, like, a majority of COs, 90 fucking 5% of them cool, solid. You know what I'm saying? They just dare to work their job and get paid.

But then you got the people who feel like, yeah, this is my time to be, it's my time to get one up. Revenge of the Nerds. It's my time to get one up on the guy that's He probably, he can fuck my bitch in the heartbeat. You know what I'm saying? My fucking.

a salary, he spends that on vacation. It's my time to give revenge. You know what I'm saying? And try to enforce rules. So just one of them, like, I remember they were telling me about my slippers and I had on a sweatsuit. You can't really wear a sweatshirt suit.

You got to wear your tans. I'm like, man, I gave my tins with somebody. What are you doing with these slippers? And he's what I like to wear. But I had to tell him, like, one of the other seals like, yo, chel, man. Why you don't worry about that? You know what I'm saying?

One of the cool ones like, why are you tripping on? Like, chill. But it was another one and I had to tell him like, yo, bro, listen, you could do whatever you want to do, whatever you think you want to enforce. Here's the reality of it. I'm only here for a short stay, which means I'll be leaving in a few.

You'll be here for the next 15, 20 years. So nothing that you're going to do right now matters to me. You know what I'm saying? You could be cool about it or you could be a fool about it. But whatever you want to do, it don't matter to me. And then once I adapted that mentality and then that CO was cool from there on out. Hey, you're fighting a lost battle, bro. Why are you going to fuck with me for?

I'm not one of these guys. I'm not saying, yo, CEO, I'll pay you this. Sneak me this in. I'm not trying how you lose your job. But I want to be comfortable. If I'm going with sweatsuits and I want to wear some God's Great Paper Shaded or some gallery department or Jordan, just let me do that. Fuck it. Look the other way.

You're not going to get fired. I think I deserve that But if I don't deserve it, cool You can take all my rights I can have no commissary I'm still gonna be Troy have When I leave here I'm still gonna get picked up

In a Lamborghini with With M's You feel me? Cash Just for the statement Not because I need it But just for the statement Of it

This is not These are things that you cannot stop So why I try to do it And then you might see me on the outside Which I've seen people Man drinks on me Fuck that because you was cool You feel me

Like different little fly shit Man you know what I won't say the other shit I did But I show love to people Who show me grace And love on the inside pulse I show love on the outside You feel me? So it was like

I'm a way better friend than an enemy And that was it Do you think Rikers Island deserves the reputation That it has for being a violent Fucking right it does hell yeah Hell yeah Right because this is a treacherous place Treacherous place

I had people sending me kites like yo boy this is what I do sending me pictures of their violence and yo let me know anybody you need blah blah blah Anybody you need And I'm just like I ain't no doubt

within my head I'm like man let me get the fuck away from this person because I'm out of here in a few and I'm not about to get an extra charge fucking with you with your dumb shit Like, I seen people, the place I was housed at is for, if you was on the news, you were in my place. Harvey Weinstein was my neighbor.

Trump's lawyer, one of them was. Oh, Michael Cohen? Whatever, yeah. Anybody that was on the news, you come to where I'm at. And then anybody that's like a high-ranking gang leader, you know what I'm saying? Or if you get into some shit and you there fall short. So if you get into a bang out, a bra, fucking scalpels and shit, you're going to come there for a short stay and get out. So, like, I've seen all the, I've seen where shit happened to, like, bad things happen to people on Rikers Island.

So, yeah, it deserves that reputation. It's not where you want to be. Righteous Island definitely deserves that reputation. It's not where the fuck you want to be at all. I promise you that. Yeah, I promise you that. What do you think was a word? You ever deal with somebody who's bipolar?

Of course. No, no, in real life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like medication? Yeah. Are you bipolar? No. How?

When you deal with somebody's bipolar, how do you have patients? How do you deal with that? A lot of times I just don't deal with it. I mean, I just, I don't have any, like, close friends that are bipolar. What if is a chick with some fire pussy and she's bipolar? Well, thankful my girlfriend. I'm just saying leisurely.

I'm just saying, like. What happened? Like, would you, how would you deal with it? No, I don't think I would, I can't deal with crazy, man. You can't do with crazy, yeah. I'm in a place of my life where it's just not worth it. Yeah, I had a homeboy in my block. He was bipolar growing up.

I just wanted to bring that up. So what do you think was the worst thing you saw there? My second, my last time. I mean, I've seen a lot of people banging out with COs. Like, they'll bang out like that bit. Man, I'm not locking out or I'm not cuffing up. and they'll bang out on some wild shit. There was a lot of murderers that was in my shit.

People getting 30 years, all kind of crazy shit. I mean, I had somebody that was across with me and they were just, like, annoying. They was trying to get the phone, trying to beat me over the phone. So, like, I think, like, he might have took my coolness for weakness, like, had to remind him or just let him know that, like, I'm really, whatever you think you're in,

I'm really, I'm way more of an animal than you. I just choose to be cool and successful, but whatever the shit you're in for, you just got caught. So I had to be extra to let him know, like, it's not that, whatever you think. And then just so happened that we crossed paths and we was cuffed up,

but maybe I looked like I wasn't with everything I'm with. And then he was very humble when we met and crossed paths. You know what I'm saying? And somebody else was like being disrespectful. over, like, we did a deal where it was, like, a phone that was purchased, and then he had a problem with my man who, middleman to Dale and whatever, and his disrespect rolled over to me, but the person that he's having a problem with is the actual real murderer, like, just the fact is what he does.

You only talk and tough because you're in a cage or whatever, but, like, why he was talking, I'm just like, you know what? I'm not about to argue back and follow. You would pee on, you beneath me. We would never, you would buy a ticket to see me in real life. You know what I'm saying? We just happened me in jail. Cool.

So I just came up with a little plan and I threw piss in his face. You know what I'm saying? That was it. Some slick shit piss on his face. Like I told you he was a peon pussy. And then, you know what I'm saying? Imagine we was out. I got you out of here because you were sleeping.

You were sleeping in jail. Imagine we was on the streets what I did to you. And that was it. So he didn't retaliate when you're supposed to? Fuck, he's going to retaliate dude. Man, these people would be pussy. In real life, the only people that be extra aggressive and shit, they really be pussy.

So you have the exact extreme violence to let them know. Like, I'm staying in your place. You pussy. Go bully the people who are weak. You're not going to play that shit with me. What's he going to do? Yell, oh, wipe his face. What is he going to do?

The fuck are you going to do? Like, that's why I don't like this. I'm never a bully. I don't be with none of that shit. I'd be humble and chill in real life. Real men, real gangsters don't be on bullshit timing or don't provoke people because real gangsters think that other people are like them.

And only in a way that, like, you know how I said I would tell my kids I don't think everybody's like you, but real gangsters think about consequences. Like, yo, if this person puts hands on me, I may kill them. You feel me? So a real gangster will say, well, you know what, let me not provoke this person because I don't want to die for nothing.

And this person may do something to me. But the suckers, the bullies, these people, they don't think the same because they know if somebody does something to them, they wouldn't go that extreme. So they're willing to take those chances and those risks. You feel what I'm saying? Just like, I'm not a thief. So when somebody comes in my house or my condo or whatever I don't go hot and shit

You put this up Because I don't have the mind of a thief Yeah I don't know if you're getting it but No I got that Yeah so that's like kind of like Like what it is like what the fuck would they do You're not gonna do shit to me

It's not like that You Rapping is a professional I chose to get money It's like hustling But before rap If you're from Brooklyn You can ask anybody from Brooklyn

Like, I'm with everything and then some. I was, I tell you, I was out here in Connecticut. I'm not one of those. I'm just cool and just getting money. I'm not one of those type of guys. I'm with all the shit. Money don't make me. I'm not, not, like, I'm not, like, I'm not, like, I'm not, like, I'm not, I'm not, I don't have the wolves around me.

The wolves is in a pack because we're running together. You feel me? Do you think that you're at Rikers hurt your music career? What was it like when you got out? Have you been able to rebuild it? So I got to look at it from, it's different perspectives, right? So I like to equate shit to money. I made way more money, like, out and being in there from just, like, streaming and shit.

But can I do shows as much as I would have been the past? No, I can't do that. So it's like if you equating that to it, then yes. But if you're not, if you're equating it to what matters, it's dollars and cents because it's business. then no. But again, I could put my phone on record memo and record us talking for three minutes and I could put that out on fucking distro kid,

BSB record's distro kid or whatever label. A recording of us talking for three minutes will probably make me $1,000 in a year, just per se, right? I could take that same recording, promote it all over the place and make $10,000. Then I can show it to people

and they'll say, wow, yo, Troy, I've made a $10,000 off recording or for a conversation with him and Ian. But the whole time, I might have spent $9,800 to promote it. So on TikTok, I'm spending money on YouTube ads, all kind of shit, just to promote it to make that money. That's only a profit of $200.

To me, I'm into the real money on what matters. I'd rather make $1,000 and not have to do shit, but just hit upload, then $200, but everybody thinks, yo, he made $10,000. I'd spend $9,800 to make that $10,000. So that's the illusion of with music. And that's the beautiful thing, and the blessing about me being independent, is that I'm still run up the money either way.

I'm in the 3% of artists when it comes to Spotify. That means I got over half a million monthly listeners. That's in the 3% out of all artists in the world, you feel me? So, evil way that money's coming. The YouTube channel, the Troy Ave, it was Troyab BSB, now it was Troy Ave TV. I'm making $20,000 a month on that channel before it got taken down. And you're going to help me to get it back on record. You said that.

Like, I bought mad properties. I was never in, like, you asked me earlier, yo, when you did, when you saw drugs, or when you joined a gang, did you see it as a means to it? Like, that was going to be your life. When I did music, I never seemed that as being in my life. I always bought, when I sold drugs, I fucked in my first bit of money by trying to go straight and buy a property. And, you know, a bunch of shit happened.

I had fake paperwork or whatever. And they, I fucked up the money. They didn't work. I try to open liquor store, laundry mat, whatever. My means to an ain't never been music. That's why I became a CEO. I was never an artist. I'm the owner, CEO of BSB Records.

We sign artists, you feel me? So my end goal wasn't to be an artist. I owned 15 property. I sold two. I sold one while I was in jail. I owned 13 properties. I'm playing real life Monopoly out here. I pass goal every month.

I got several properties in Section 8. I could sit down here with you and talk every day and I'm still going to collect thousands of dollars off rent. You feel me? Like, so me sitting in jail did it hurt my career? And we're talking about musically, yeah, I can't do a lot of shows and shit. But the whole time I'm just collecting streams and money off that. I'm collecting money off this.

I came up with the plan and get 30 bands, 20 bands a month of YouTube. while in jail. I've ran it up over a quarter million dollars, you feel me? So everything happened for a reason, good shit. My man Chamber always said good shit happen for good people. And, like, I wouldn't trade my time in jail for nothing because it made me, it got me in shape.

I lost 30 pounds in there. And I don't know of working out, just off of eating right, knowing what's the calories in this? What you put in your body? You feel, me? Got me thinking more. I had to become more dependent on my outside team. as opposed to me, like, I'm a Sagittarius, so we do a lot of shit ourselves on our own.

Like, man, just get shit done. But I had to become more dependent on other people where, you know, here's the idea I have. I need you to follow through because I can't be hands-on. I'm in jail. And that allowed them to become stronger. So now when I'm out, now we all working stronger as a unit and shit, you feel me? And just like even down to the real estate and shit, I had to disarmes. to contract, you know, I want you to do this and that in this building that I purchased.

I want you to do that in his multifamily. Make it look like the other property we got on Lardette. Do that, you know what I'm saying, without really seeing it. Because you only get to see shit once a month, I mean, once a week on a video chat. So I think that all made me a stronger man and prepared me from going on to the rest of my life. So has it hurt my career? If we talk about monetarily, I make more than I, ever made at the height of my biggest songs right now in the present moment.

You feel me? And I do, I don't, like, if you look, even people looking here on YouTube, everybody want to do interviews. Let me not say everybody. Lots of people want to do interviews. I pick and choose. I don't just, you're not going to see me hold out. I'm on here.

I'm on there. I'm everywhere. No, I go when I got a project to promote. White Christmas 13 out now, New Troy Ave coming out. You know what I'm saying? When y'all see this interview. I don't have to go do shit just because I need some money. You feel me?

Like, this shit is different. I'm stepping in snowing, Louis Tim's. You feel me? It's different. So, I don't know. I can't answer their question. My career, to me, is just a businessman. My career is not just on some music shit.

My career is all the properties I own. My career is being a CFO at a government contracting company. just because I got the money to put up and back certain things. My career is having his GIGP has God's Great Paper Shaped merch, which we make. That shit went higher since I came out of jail. You know what I'm saying? My career is all these different things that I got going on. That's my career in the whole.

My career is the career of a hustler and businesses booming post-gail. What do you think your teenage self would think of you now if you could sit across from each other today? I'd be shocked. I would be like, I was telling one of my people's the other day, like every goal I had set for myself, my goal was coming out of being teenage age of, like being a 19-20-year-old hustler was,

yo, I want to get a bands, I want to get a Rolex, and I want to get a brick, a kilo of Coke. I did that. My career coming in music was, I want to own a building I want to get a Ferrari and I want to get a million dollars

I did that every goal I set for me in life I had to make more goals I would often talk with a partner of mine who had passed away Hovane like while we was in

actively in the me you ever thought you'd be doing all this shit you ever thought you have all these bitches and all this money nah bro I knew I would have a lot but not like this so like I exceeded my expectations by fucking, they say 10-fold, I want to say by 50-fold, 60-fold.

So my teenage self wouldn't even believe the shit. Like, you're doing what? Like, what the fuck? Perfect example. I had one fur when I was teenage 16. Now my shit looked like Pet Cemetery. Can't make this shit up. It's like a Monday fur I got on.

Real shit. Davey Crockett has with the long tail. Like, I had to decide with him. Should I wear the chinchilla? maybe a couple days ago, full length down to the floor. I needed to drag because it was cold. Most people watching this is not going to relate.

Oh, he's so going to, oh, Peter, whatever. But God I understand. You can't be mad at somebody who's talking about in real life. If somebody comes up here with long, beautiful hood, and they look, oh, yeah, my hair is beautiful, Fabio, one of these people, it's there real fucking hell. You can't be mad at them. But, like, I never imagine, bro, I've really got,

I really have a condo that I own that I'm barely there. I'm probably there four times a month out of 30, 31 days. And then I have a house on an estate right that I drive to. It's an hour and 20 for my condo. And I enjoy being there more so in the summer because I got a pool and I import all kind of different plants and different landscaping. shit to make it feel like I don't have to go on much, a lot of vacations in the summer

because my house feels like a resort. I never imagined that. That was never some shit I imagined that I would have. The building, I've been got that on that, have tenants in that. So I would be, my teenage self, not only would I be proud of myself, but I wouldn't fucking believe it. Man, you shit me. Get the fuck out of here.

That's not you. You full of shit. That's not you. I only. imagine having a, I told you, a bends is how the dreams go. That's the ceiling of the dreams and where I'm from. I got a Lamborghini and a Benz. And I'm only about to buy Rose Royce because both my sons' names is Roland and Renzo. One name after me is double R. And I said to myself, like in my mind, I ain't said out to them, but I said to myself, I said, you know what,

I'm going to get a double R just for Roland and Renzo. My little daughter name is Rory. She's named after my Ferrari. Her name is Rari. So I'm like, you know what? I'm going to get a double-law just because just because I got to make up new goals. I just took up golfing.

You know what? I need a house on a golf club and I'm going to join on a golf course and I'm going to join the country club. I need the country club all on my shit. I want some Miralago shit. You feel me? And I'm doing that.

So it's new. Like, to God be the glory. This is all the blessings that is bestowed upon me because I have a good heart. I don't know about nothing else. I did bad things and bad people. But my intention is always being good for it.

You know what I'm saying? And, like, all this shit come with it. And I don't be hiding in it. I shared to people like, yo, listen, you could do this shit too. It's a hard work, faith in God, dedication, and this shit could get done. You feel me?

And so, like, my younger self wouldn't even... You might... I might think my old self was bullshit. Like, get the fuck out of it. You got what? You're right. Yeah, right. Like, when your option is, man, it was a snowstorm.

So, all right, I'll drive the Lamborghini. That's the option. I'll drop the Lamborghini because the Ferrari's not going to get through all the snow. I would never fathom that. When we come from, it's a Rolex and the Big Body Benz. Not a Richard Mill? Like, it's not, this ain't where we come from. from. I exceeded everything. You feel

me? And it's like, I got a boat. Come on, bro, a boat. I never think about having a boat. But I got the boat. This is what always happened. I always say, no fuck niggas formed against me shall prosper. Every time somebody tried to go against me, it always worked out in my favor. I got a boat only because when I came out of jail, I couldn't travel outside the tri-state on my ankle brace to go off and they'll try to violate it.

violate me, whatever. So I'm used to taking vacations, living life. I had to start going on the boat. Shout to my man Johnny and just being in the ocean because the ocean anywhere feels like you're anywhere. So I would start going to boat often. Excuse me, I start asking questions, how much is a boat?

You know, why we can't just get one of these and chill? And just be docking in the ocean. So that all is a direct effect of me going to jail. Now I got a boat I ain't got a fucking boat Like you feel me A boat means break out another thousand Every time you come up

Real shit People don't have that So these are all the things So when you ask me question Like did my career take a hit I'm gonna say Nah it just gave A real hustle

You gonna find a way to adapt Okay how we run up the money And some more Okay how can we do this Let's think about it And it opens you You're not stuck in the box Or you damn

It's the only thing I could do Look same thing with your show So you started, you got to, you showed me a bunch of merch. You had merch before? Merch is a whole other revenue source, you feel me? So I think everything that happened worked out. And I wouldn't have it. I wouldn't change it.

It's beside, like, the people that I lost that, you know, I had love for and still got love for. That's like the heartbreaking parts. The same time it come with it, man. Like, they hated on Jesus. Yeah, die on the cross. To whoever may believe when I don't, like, you know, that's what happened in history. It just comes with the territory. I ain't tripping.

Well, Troy, I appreciate you coming on the show today, man. For sure. I appreciate you having me, man. Yeah, this is an awesome. I appreciate these old-fashioned too. Even though you ain't have no fucking orange pills. Well, got to come back here, I need orange pills. I need real orange pills and I need you to be on the Troy ad podcast.

Yeah, whenever you want, no question. Hey, don't Hollywood. And you know, whatever you want? Then all of a sudden. Hollywood, man, yeah. You're the one by asking to be. bands with the orange pills. I'll give you my rider. Oh, we got orange pills at the

Detroit ad podcast, I promise you. We got everything you need. And my appearance fees 100 grand. Oh, easy, done. Just bill me, whatever. You'll put on the Amex. No, we're going to break it down. It'll be over a 20-year period. Don't worry, by it. Thanks, man. We got you.

Do like a mortgage. I appreciate you, brother. Michelle.