Million Dollaz Worth Of Game - LL COOL J: MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME EPISODE 218

Episode Date: May 7, 2023

This guest needs no introduction. One of the pioneers of rap music and a true icon in film & television, the one and only LL Cool J. He helped define the sound and style of the genre in the 1980s and 1990s, with classic hits like "I Can't Live Without My Radio," "Going Back to Cali," and "Mama Said Knock You Out." He's sold millions of albums, won numerous awards, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But LL Cool J's impact extends far beyond music. He's also a successful actor, with memorable roles in films like "Deep Blue Sea," "Any Given Sunday," and "Halloween H20," as well as the long-running TV series "NCIS: Los Angeles." He's also a savvy entrepreneur, with a range of businesses and investments that have made him one of the wealthiest and most respected figures in entertainment. Tap in to this episode for gems from LL Cool J about creativity, innovation, leadership, and success.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mworthofgame

Hey, million dollars worth of game listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen, ad free on Amazon music. Right. Welcome to that episode of Million Dollars Worth for Game. We appreciate you being here once again, another week, another show. We're not playing no games. Thank you for being a supporter of a million dollars worth of a game.

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All of support us. Your not support us. Your family. Thank you for being here to another episode of a million dollars worth of a game. Like, share, subscribe, buy some merch and it's just like that. Right.

Listen, right now, you're now tuned into me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, million dollars worth a game. Yes. This is important. This is why this important. We're going to establish this shit. Uh-huh.

I grew up listening to the L. Mm-hmm. The hood grew up listening to L. Mm-hmm. Hip-hop was the soundtrack to the struggle in America, and it was a skate when you had no food in your house, when your peoples were getting high, when you were struggling the ups and downs,

when your sneakers had holes in it. Hip-hop is a foundation of, I'm talking about everything that you know now, when you see the chains, when you see the private jets, when you see the drip, when you see the Lamborghinis, when you see the Bentleys, that's what hip-hop. This is the 50th anniversary of this extraordinary thing called hip-hop that fed so many families and gave people the, you know, the ability to escape, the reality of the struggle that they was going through.

This was the music that was playing. He was there. Elle was there. So if you get money, if you're a new school rap, whatever, you're a producer, if you're a party promoter, if you've got clothing lines that represent the streetwear, all that shit come from hip hop. You're making money off of hip hop. It's because of what's going on this year, the 50th anniversary.

Listen, Elle going on tour. You better get them tickets. I'm going to be there. And let's take the record. As officially, Elle said, I'm going to be his hype man. Man, you were L was lying, man, you ain't his fucking right, man, man, fuck out. He came here and said that shit. I heard L, like, he is, all right.

I got you. Did you say you, I could be a hot man? I definitely said it. Look at his face, though. Thank you. El said that shit. Do he really got tears in his eyes? No, El said, listen.

El is not going to be his head man. No, no, no, no, no. This is my part. This is my part of hip-hop. I told you, with certain things I got. This is me on the record now. I'm all the way in the game now. If I hype one show up for Elle, I'm going in the history book.

because I'm connected to the foundation now you can't say damn when they mention the foundation you're wildo man he was El Hight man they're not going to know a year I was El Hight man they ain't going to say what year but what you better do is

you better go get your tickets because this was going on Elle bringing the squad out Elle was bringing some legends out who else bring an iced tea out a Queen Latifah MC Light I'm talking about a goodie mob I'm talking about Elle bringing him out he's not going to be by itself

different cities are the Listen, but listen, you better, you better, he's coming to your city. L is coming and they bring in that energy. Now, for all my people out there that was forgot about, I know there's a lot of people that grew up in that thing, that you ain't had no shows to go through for years. You're like, damn, we ain't got no way to go. Everybody that working the union, doing all the OGs,

and there's a bunch of young people that's tapped into this coach and they know what's going on. This tour is going on. You better get your tickets. They live right now. Don't play no games. Elle coming. And I'm going to be his hype man, so you get that too.

You get that too. Now, Elle, when you first got in the game, right, did you think you will still be in the game today? Well, you know, I mean, you know, first of all, thanks for having me. What? I'm saying, glad to be here, man. Thanks for sure. Now, it came to whatever to get you, Elle, you know what I mean?

I would say, you know, I always believe that nothing lasts forever, but it can last a lifetime. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, that's all I was in. for you know what I'm saying I loved it from the beginning you know what I'm saying like when you love something from the beginning it was always this big in my mind right like it has to be huge in your mind before it could be huge in reality right you know what I'm saying so it was always huge in my mind it was always something like that I just really believed in and loved so

um it doesn't surprise me that the game as a whole a coach as a whole has been around this long you know it's about artists staying creative staying innovative caring about what you do not just doing it just to be doing it but actually doing it for the art form and loving it. And because of that the longevity comes from that true passion and really caring about it and there are a lot of people in the game who do really

care about the art and the game itself the culture itself. So did I see it being like worldwide and as commercial as it is now? Not necessarily but I didn't like, I'd never underestimated

it. You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. Now, when you first got in that booth, who took you to the stew? Like, who put you in the game? Or you just... So it's a few things. So first of all, I became a fan of hip hop at like eight, nine years old.

You know what I'm saying? I was listening to, you know, cold crush, fearless four, fantastic, romantic, treacherous, you know, like Grandma's Flash and the Furious Four before there was a Furious Five, you know, listening to Zulu, Bambada, all the different artists that were, you know, doing tapes and everything, the foursome seas from Staten Island. You know what I'm saying? I was listening to All that. You feel what I'm saying?

That was first. In terms of, I started writing when I was around 11 or 12. You know, at first I started off just kind of rapping whatever I heard on the tapes because dudes were like, yo, we like your voice. You know, let's say this. And I'd be saying the rhymes that I heard on the tapes. And then I started writing my own thing. The first time I went to the studio, actually my uncle took me in the studio.

I was like 14. And he took me in the studio and I did this record in Swahili, Basi, Somali, Nassikia and all that. It was fun. I knew you're going to love that. You can run with that all day. Because when you first are artists, you got to find your way. You got to find who you are. So I went in the studio.

But then, you know, I really, that's when I started striving to make a demo. I started trying to get on at age 14. And, you know, when I was 16, that's when, you know, we started Def Jam. Tila Rock had the song, it's yours. You know what I'm saying? And that was on Def Jam production. It was on a Party Time Streetwise label. I bought that song.

wrote, you know, wrote the name down, wrote the address down, sent Rick a tape called him every day. Rick Rubin, every day called him every day. He had an office in his dorm room, you know what I'm saying, at NYU. You know what I'm saying? So I went up there and, you know, the rest is history. Ad rock and the Beastie Boys, he actually made the drumbeat

on the song, and Rick kind of he executive produced it and put the pieces of the puzzle together, and the rest is history. You know, Def Jam was born and, you know, all of this stuff that we, you know, know, now became, you know, that's what it was. You know, you know what I mean?

It's crazy. When you first did your first show, right? You know, you go into the thing, you know, you had a manager at the time or you was... No, no, no, there were no managers in hip-hop when I started. They were no managers. There were no A&Rs. There were no executives. Think about this.

Hold on. Think about this. Oh, yeah. He's like, ain't nobody can tell us what the fuck we needed to do. I'm forced, niggas. The only manager was at, like, Red Lobster. You know what I mean? But no managers.

It was, uh, look, Russell was an executive. He acted like, you know, a manager. And he was a promoter. Like, we just, like, we were making our way. There was no industry. Like, there was no network of people that new hip hop that understood the culture. You know, so everything was brand new.

Remember, when I started, they didn't even play hip hop on the radio in the daytime. You know what I'm saying? Like, that was when, like, you would only get it for, like, a couple of hours on the weekend. You know what I'm saying? So, like, I'm talking back, like, when Lady B. was making records. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

It was like that. You know what I'm saying? Like when I was going to like after midnight in Philly, that was still, they were still, when I was going to after my head last in the Kevin Hart, damn. Yeah. So when I would go out out there, like that was the vibe. So it was really about you just had to learn your way. You know what I'm saying?

You had to figure out what it is you were trying to do. And we just believed in the beauty of our dreams. You know what I'm saying? And that was it. And so you booked your own first show. So yeah. Yeah, my first show, I don't know how it came about. It was just kind of like word of mouth.

Yo, dude asked me, yo, you want to do a show? I did it at Manhattan Center. It was a high school. You know what I'm saying? They pushed all the lunchroom tables together. Me and my man, Cutt Created was on our way up there. The Axel broke on his car.

You know what I'm saying? When the Axel broke on the car, then we had like, we had to walk like 10, 15 blocks to the joint. He's like, yo, my car. I'm like, man, leave that shit here, man. We got to go. So he's like, walked. You wouldn't rock that joint.

We just walked and rock the show. After the show, you know, it was the first time we signed autographs. He's like, yo, he looked at me. I'm looking at him. He was like, yo, I like this. I'm like, yeah, I like this shit, too. You know what I'm saying? We signed autographs for the first time.

And they pushed the lush room. There's actually some pitches online of that actual event, you know, when I did, I need a beat. You know what I'm saying? And that was actually 84. I had been rhyming for many years at that point. But that was my first professional show. You know what I'm saying in 84? At what point did you know it was real?

Like, hold on weight. I got some. So, you know, it's funny you say that. I mean, honestly, I knew it was real when I was, when I used to look at Grandmaster Flash records and look at, listen to their tapes and imagine myself on the other side of the vinyl and on the other side of the cassette tape

or the Cold Crush tape, it was already real for me. When I knew that I had a real opportunity for me, you know, as an artist, is when I got that first song, I need to beat. We did my first song I need to be. I didn't even have a contract. We just did it. did it on a label, Def Jam, and no contract.

We just did the song. Like, I wasn't even tripping off of that. I just wanted to be on, you know what I'm saying? Because I figured, like, you know, if you put me on, once you put me on, I'm off to the races. All I need is, you know, a shot. That's how I felt. You know what I'm saying? Like, whatever, you know, I got to get it.

You know what I mean? I've always been like that. I'm very aggressive, you know what I mean? So I had to have it. So once I got that shot and then when I got the deal, you know, I remember coming on to my mother saying, Ma, they don't let me do 10 albums because I had a 10 album contract. I'll move through that real quick. Nowadays, that sounds like insane.

Yeah. But back then, it was like, I wish there was 30. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Because that would be like the equivalent of getting an NBA contract, like for 10 years or 20 or three years. Like you would rather, like at that time. Now it's different, you know, people, we're all more sophisticated. There's more information out there.

People understand leverage and options, you know, their options and all that. But back then, there was, that was the way in. Right. And that was the way to your dream. It represented a doorway to your dream. That shit was like having a. golden door, and there was a genie in front of that shit saying, yo, come through here and you're good.

Right. It's like, say less. Right. And then at those times to go somewhere else, it's like, where you going? Where in the fuck I'm going? Yeah, where you're going? Like, you got about four or five independent labels that are messing with the music. Right. It's only about three, like, maybe three, four labels that's really messing with the music.

The rest of them are doing a lot of dance stuff, a little pseudo hip-hop. Right. You know, so it's not, there was no industry. You know what I mean? You're going in a radio station. You know, at that time, You know what I'm saying? Program directors are looking, you're like, fuck is this, where's cameo?

You know what I'm saying? Like, where the Commodore's at? Who are you? Where's Rick James? You know, like, it was that kind of a world we were living in. So it was, it's amazing, man. It's a blessing. I'm very grateful, too.

You know what I'm saying? Like, really, really grateful because I didn't know it was going to become what it became, you know what I mean? And for that, for that I'm real grateful. When it comes to saving money as a small business owner, every little bit help, shipstakes and give you access to discounts of up to 84% off. United States Postal Service and UPS rates, and you can manage every order from one simple-to-use dashboard.

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Go get you one. Now, you say you signed a 10 album deal. Yeah. What was the paper looking like back then? So my first, you know, when I first signed initially, I think, like, just upon signing the album deal, they gave me maybe, like, I put 50 in my pocket, and then, you know, 50,000, and then I, you know, got a budget to do a record. But I think a lot of 50,000 and, like, 88.

no 80 yeah that was 85 85 god damn that was all right like so like like to be to be totally transparent with you dog like I didn't go through I didn't have the financial problems like you know that you hear about and that's just a blessing like I like I own my catalog but it's also too also too you was really part of building that shit well that's true yes and also you know like I watched the show money go from my first show I ever did I got $300. Right? But it felt like $3 million,

didn't it? Bro, it felt like $30 million. I'm not. You know what I mean? It felt incredible. Just because you just wanted to perform. Dog, and I got money for Chinese food? He was like, bet.

I can get sneakers and Chinese food. It's a rap. And a VCR? What? What? What? Yo, Egg Fool Young?

On me? On me? On moi? Oh, what? I'm going to watch a movie. Yo, and we can go to the movies and we good? We good, good. I'm going to show.

I'm going to show. Show A day. It was incredible. So then, but life, it really took on a life of its own. And, you know, I did real well by the grace of God. And, you know, I bought my mother a house when I was 17. You know what I'm saying? You know, I was 85.

How old was you? 17. 17. Yeah, like 16, 17. Damn. And then that should just took off. Yeah, because I made my first record. I started when I was 16.

Like, I became, I turned professional. I became a professional recording artist at 16 years old. You know what I'm saying? And I was, again, like I told you, I was listening as a fan at 8, started writing at 11 or 12, 14 started looking for demos. And at 16, I made, you know, my first song. You know what I'm saying? Right. So it's like, you know, this whole thing for me was like, this is all I've ever done my entire life.

Right. Like, I'm hip-hop. Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, the first time I ever heard, L-L was, oh. Damn bad. I'm bad. Yeah.

No rap we can rap I was like 12 years old Like who the fuck is this The kid you killed that shit That's my second album That was it What year would they have to be like 80? That was 87

87 okay So I was like 11, 12 years old But you say it's something Very important You said you owned your masses When did you inquire them? Yeah I owned my catalog So I got my catalog back

Like You know Just before 2000 Around that time Around the 2000s And, you know, I just, you know, it just worked out well. You know what I'm saying? I was able to, so now when you, like, if you hear L.L. CoolJ.

song in a movie or if you hear my song in a commercial, I've licensed that song. You know what I mean? Absolutely. And a lot of people, you know, but that's a blessing, right? Like, there before the grace of God, you know what I'm saying? Like, it just worked out. I got a lot of bites at the Apple, and I was born to do what I'm doing. You know what I'm saying?

Like, I'm not a dude that's just doing hip-hop. because I'm doing, like, I was literally born to do it, you know what I'm saying? Like, this is really what I do for real, like, all day. Like, I eat, breathe, and sleep this forever. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, I'm glad that that happened, but I had no idea that it would happen. You know, and even, but I got to keep it real. Like, Russell and Rick and them, they didn't bang me out financially.

Like, I didn't go through a horror story. Like, even when I first started, I had, we did 50-50 on my publishing when I started. Now, of course, I own all my publishing now, but think about it. I'm talking about in early 80s at 16 years old. First of all, they could have got me, look, bro, they could have like, yo. First of all, in the 80s, niggas didn't even hear the word publishing. Yeah, exactly.

And so, you know, exactly. So my grandmother, her sister got me a lawyer. And it just all worked out for me, you know what I'm saying? And what can I say, B, like, you know what I mean? And that's beautiful because, because I'm going to, Keep it all the way real. Most of the old rapper stories are horror stories. Yeah.

A lot of it, you know, a lot of it is also choices and decision-making. See, one of the things, though, that's important. Yeah, there definitely is a lot of people out there that took advantage of people. There's also, you also have to make certain decisions, you know what I'm saying? And you got to know your value. And you got to make decisions with long-term relationships and my, and really understanding what it is you're trying to accomplish, you know what I'm saying?

But it's not easy, man. Like, listen, you can't, like, let me put it to you like this. I never heard anybody talk about Miles Davis's bank account. Nobody cares. No. They made art. He made art. So a lot of artists, the one thing that I don't want to see

and I don't like to see is for us to say, okay, you're worth X amount of dollars, so I should, you have value. That's not how it works. Right. You know, just because DJ Cool Herk doesn't have a billion dollars in the bank does not mean that he didn't make a contribution. He started hip hop. Yeah. So, you know, we got to kind of like, like some people have the gift of business.

Right. Some people have the gift of art. Right. Some people have other gifts. Right. So, like, just because somebody didn't monetize something doesn't mean they didn't want to. It just means that maybe they missed the lick or didn't hit a thing or made a decision and it didn't go their way. Right.

You know what I'm saying? Right. So, like, the reason I say that is because me, I'm a dude, I treat the janitor the same way I treat the president. Right. You know what I'm saying? And I treat people, one, because I'm sincere about how I treat them, so I treat them good. But then secondly, I treat people like I'm going to see him again. Right.

And you learn that in the street. Right. But I got to treat you like I'm going to see you again. Right. You know what I mean? And I would like it to be a friendly interaction. Absolutely. You know what I mean?

So, you know, when you walk into out a dude's neighborhood in his block and you turn that corner and he's over there with four. 40 people, this is the moment. How did you treat them last time? Right. I'm like, oh, you fucked up, but you know that, don't you? Like you say, when you speak of dudes like Hurt, right? Yeah.

He's a legend from the beginning. He's still here. He's still moving. Yeah. That's say a lot because you got dudes that was popping probably went platinum in 2019. Ain't around them all they done. They broke.

So it's not no generational thing. It's your business thing. Somebody might not be good at their business. But it is a generational thing, though, because if, like Elle said, luckily, Russell and they didn't get over on them because he just wanted to be on. So if they would have been like, we ain't talk about publishing, we don't know nothing about that. He'll go sign that. We're going to put you on. He might have just signed it.

He was trying to get in. There's no might in it. Right. So now you've got to look at the beginning of something when you don't know what something is. You don't know what to expect. You just got dreams of being famous, man. I come from the ghetto, man. We ain't have nothing.

I'm trying to get on, man. I'm just trying to get my mom or something. So they really took the beating so that now these new artists now could sign for, oh, no, I know my worth. No, I can monetize this. Back then, they didn't know how to monetize. Well, there was nothing to monetize.

Like, you know, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? Right. Well, how are you going to monetize it? Yeah. Because, like, okay, so I did a lot of things like, right? So, you know, like we did, like we introduced Trupe, the clothing line to the world. You know what I'm saying?

And, you know, I wore cangos. I didn't have a deal with Kanga, but I wore cangos and we popularized that, right? Did you? But then we, but then by the time, but I learned my lessons through Troop, I made money with Troop a little bit. It did well. But with Kango, obviously I didn't do anything. I still wear them, no, not a problem. It's all love.

But then by the time I got to football, I loved. learn my lesson, right? So when I, you know, help Damon and them get on and help, you know, that whole thing happen, you know, I'm one of the owners of Fulbo, right? So, you know, that, you evolve. You know what I'm saying? You evolve and you, you learn. You know what I did, though, one of the things I did with Rock the Bells, the company, it's not just the radio channel. It's not just the festival. It's not just the cruise. It's an actual full company with content commerce and experiences. Cool, Herk has equity in the company. He owns a piece. Big Daddy Cain

owns a piece. Roxanne Chonte owns a piece. Run DMC owns a piece. Fafar Freddie owns a piece. Writs, the graffiti artist, Jonathan Mannion, the photographer, salt and pepper on a piece. I made sure that different people had a piece. You know what I'm saying? Eminem actually invested, too.

You know, like, I made sure that people, that people, I felt like the people who started this culture and the people who helped contribute to this culture, deserved to share in the success of the company of Rock the Bell's because I believe from the beginning that it would be a success.

So I made sure that they had a piece. You know, sometimes I'm not even sure they understand what they own a piece of now because Rock the Bells has become something really major. Right. You know what I mean? But it started with me saying, you should have a piece.

Right. Like that's how we got to do with each other. Absolutely. You understand what I'm saying? So the way Russell and them treated me, you know, like Leor, Look, Lear, they see, you know, controversial, this and that. But at the end of the day, I did the deal with Leior to get my catalog back.

The whole thing, though, is just that, you know, one thing about deal-making, like, you got to, um, you got to understand the dynamics of the situation and act accordingly. Right. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, when a rabbit stick his head out, the whole, the hawk strikes, you know what I'm saying? Like, right there. Right. You got to understand that. Like, that's what, that's how you get it.

You know what I'm saying? I want to tap on two things. Shout out to Leor. Because Leior brought me over to YouTube, him and to him to be the cultural advisor. Shout out to Leor. And I want to say this. I want to salute you again. Shout out to Elle.

Y'all don't know this. Elle called us to come have a station on, rock the bells. But the time wasn't, this was years ago. He's seen something years ago. Like, yo, call, yo, what's up? He jumped on the phone. He called me to my L on the phone. I said, get the fuck out of hell.

Why would Elle call you? You ain't no hip-hop of story. What the fuck out of him? I said, Elle, what the fuck? I ain't get Elle on the phone. You start talking some old love his shit. You need somebody carry your bags on tour. I was like, nigga, you're trying to do business with us.

He might need you to hype, man. Nick, you always got to be, that's how you got in back in the day. No, you know what it is, man? I believed in y'all. I believe you from the beginning. You know what I'm saying? Like, I saw it when it was just some shit happening on the gram and just some funny stuff happening.

I believed in y'all. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, that's why I'm here. You know what I'm saying? And I was happy when it happened for y'all. because that's what I wanted to see. So, you know, I didn't happen to do it with me, but you did it. And for me, that's beautiful.

And the only reason we ain't doing it with Elle, because it was time. We had, it was a lot of time, Philly. It was, one thing I can say is, Elle is one of the black people that called us up and tried to bring. With that money. With the money. Ain't been too many, you knickers. But Nadele called.

He said, I love what you're doing. Let's see if we could figure it out. No doubt. No doubt. No doubt. Shout out, damn. He's calling Big L.A. All that shit.

Got that money, too. That's legendary. No, straight up. Lord of mercy. He called with that paper. Yeah, that paper. Oh, shit. Lord of mercy.

And we appreciated it. You know what I'm saying? Now, coming up in the game, Al, was it ever a time? Because you know it was different back then. Right. See, now it's comfortable with dudes because in the game now, you can't just go with somebody because if you go with somebody

is like you hating. Right. Was it ever a moment when somebody came at you or it was like, oh shit this might be, this shit might be serious. You mean like on some streets?

No, no, no, no. In the rap game, was it ever somebody that had you like, damn, I got a uphill battle. Anybody, I'm just saying that this shit that anybody don't know. You look at anybody like...

Look, all of these guys are good. I mean, it's like being in the NBA. I mean, they're pros. You know, so most of them, You know, some of them was just like, you know, they sound like water boys and shit. But a lot of them was guys that had handles that could shoot with both hands and they was nice. Yeah, it was dudes that was nice. But, you know, when you, when you're a professional at something, that's what you are.

You know what I mean? So somebody else being nice doesn't make me feel un-nice. You know what I mean? It's just, yo, this is a real guy. Like, you got to deal with this. This is real. Right. Like, what's in front of you is real.

Right. Right. And I, you know, but since the beginning of the game, like, Being in hip hop, I always knew, like, it was always somebody nice, man. Like, that's, that's regular. Like, you expect that. That's like walking in the gym and ain't nobody going to be nice. Right.

You know, somebody going to be nice. Right. You know, like, you got to, you know what I mean? So, like, I always respect the other artists, other rap artists, their bars. Like, I don't, like, I don't, I'm not, like, looking down at nobody. I'm not fronting on them. Like, yeah, I recognize these dudes as nice. Of course, 100%.

You know what I'm saying? You know, reality is I probably wouldn't have responded if I didn't think they was nice. Right. You know, like, you only respond to somebody if you think it's something being said that needs to be addressed. Well, that's the thing, right? If they irritate the shit out of you, you need to address it. Yeah, you're like, I'm on you. But they can't irritate you if it's bullshit.

Right. Right. Right. You got, you know what I mean? You got to have some shit. Get the fuck out of you. With that old crazy shit. Listen, you know what I mean?

Once you start. Go put a sleeping bag in a pocket lot of something. something of a fucking parking spot. No, hold on. So, what was your roughest battle? Um, I mean, it was all about the same, honestly. They basically said, I got all them niggins out of here.

No, no, no, no, I'm not coming. Because you're going to have people in the comments, they're going, this one, that one, he got him, he got them, he got them. So before yourself, that comments and that bullshit, I already know what you're going to do. So, like, my thing is like, my thing is, Like when we asked Antonio Brown, who the best cornerback that guarded you? I'm still looking for him.

Who you're roughest battle. I mean, all was the same. I mean, look, I think I would say the most, the one that I paid the most attention to would probably be cannabis. Because the other ones, I was so goddamn delusional. I didn't care nothing about none of that shit. They were saying, I was champagne in the limo. That shit was nothing. You could have said anything.

I wasn't listening to that shit at all. But then with cannabis. You was a little older, he was the young boy, so you had to get him out of here. Well, it was just like, you know, with him, I think that was really more my fault, you know. I think that was a little bit more my fault because I could have addressed him a little differently, you know. He, you know, he wanted to, you know, he wanted to get a tattoo like mine. I could have said, you know, good luck with that, you know what I mean? But I didn't understand that bad at that time.

I wasn't there yet mentally. So I'm like, what the fuck you mean? You want to get something like me? Like, you know what I mean? Like, that shit sounded crazy to me at that time. You know what I mean? Like, I did not understand that. Like, my brain was not developed.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, I wasn't developed like that. Like, hey, let me. You imagine a dude telling you, yo, I want to get a tattoo just like you. And you, like, kind of like a little bit removed from the street. You look at that the nigga, like, what the fuck is you talking about? That's just so crazy.

Yeah. What are you, fuck, a couple? Right. You know what I mean? Right. That's how it was in my mind. Now, I understand. it was a compliment, and he was just showing love.

Right. And he was, you know, showing, you know, admiration. That's why I don't go at him now and I don't try to hurt these dudes and, like, you know what I mean? Like, I'm not going to play that. Like, they're going to, like, they're going to take this clip and it's going to be about that. No, it's not. Shout out the cameras. You know what I mean? All love.

Shout out to him. But I wouldn't play him. But that's what the thinking was. You know what I'm saying? It was, you know, but I just loved, you know, I loved every moment of that. Like, all of that was great for me. Shout out the L for knowing when a black man ain't mentally there yet. I wasn't there.

What the fuck you mean? I swear I was that with it. I ain't understand it. No, I just grew up a couple years ago. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? My wife still said I'm a fucking kid. You know what I mean?

I just didn't understand it, man. Now, when was the moment when you're selling these platinum records, you're going, when was the moment you was like, I'm that nigga for real out here? What album was? Well, that he already said that. No, no, it still hit a town when he was 16. When you see the stats, you still got to put the number. on the board. When you see the numbers on the board.

Well, you know, on my first, you know, my first song I need a beat, I said I predict this jam will hit the highest plateau in the world of music, paparazzi and wealth and fame, the total proportion on my name, right? I said that on my very first single. You know, like, when was I feeling myself? I think when I introduced all of the jury and the champagne and all that to the game, when I did Walking with a Panther, if you look at my Walking with a Panther album cover, that was like the precursor to everything that hip hop became, right? I did that in 89 like the moette the champagne I had supermodels on the cover of panther

you know what I'm saying with a rope on it like you know the self the brick phone the briefcases cuffs the 560 bends I got shit from Cali like all that I was doing all that 89 right so it's like hold up when did paid and full come up because they had the ropes on yeah but I did like but the way I did it was another

it was different I was that was like it wasn't even those dots wasn't even connected like that okay you know me because you got to remember who I was running with you know what I'm saying And so, you know, Ra and Eric and them, they was, like, with a lot of Brooklyn dudes, which is all love, right? Yeah. I was running around at Harlem.

So I was, like, running around with the dudes that they made the paid full movie. And that was like, so I guess it would be 88. Like, so I started that vibe. It was like around 87 when I started, like, right after I'm bad, when I started doing the Jags and the, like, I was already in it. But, like, 88, 89 is really when I really got into it. So I would say Eric and Ron them were definitely feeling that energy of the city, too. Yeah.

Definitely, but I absolutely was like, you know, with the Cool J rings and the ice rings and, you know what I mean? Like, let me ask you this question. Damn. Yeah. This episode of a million dollars worth a game is brought to you by Omega Accountant Solutions. Attention to Small Business within, I'm talking about five to five thousand employees. All you small businesses, you are responsible business owners who have continued to pay taxes and employee staff during the pandemic. Omega Accountant Solutions is a small business champion.

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And if you have a gambling problem, 1,800 gambler. Welcome to the next. episode, a million dollars worth of a game, been in the spotlight. We highlight them guys, man, them women, the people that's out there that's making it happen to give you the news you can use and give you some game. Today, we got my man, Andy Buy Houses, and he coming with the 100K play. Listen, what he do, he buy the land

and he built. That's what he do. He's buying the land and he's building on it. He's not going to buy it all rehabbing it. No, no. He's buying the land, and he's building on it. He's going to give you the game on how to do that. Today, you're going to get the free. Listen, for nothing. If you don't do nothing, you're going to get the free ebook right there. I got the physical. I got the You got the physical copies.

But you're going to get the free one, right? The e-book that's going to give you 40 steps to get in the game and how to bust the 100K play. I'm telling me, he's not playing no games. But what I need you to do right now just to get the free e-books, I need you to text MWG for the free e-book, MWG, the 727-8-8-2-607. 7-27-8-8-2-7. Text MWG. Don't play no games, man. Listen, man, the 100K play, play, man.

Now, Andy, you in the game. Big Andy. Big Andy. Big, Ben, Lease. Things wasn't always like this. Things wasn't always like this. like this you did some time you're figuring out life you're growing up you're trying to do but now you're in the game how did you get here man and who put you on game basically what it was like when

i got out you know i just seen um my cousin had her boyfriend you know he was a drug dealer he had like 10 houses and i was like dang you know he ain't nobody special so he was able to get 10 houses like dang well how can i do it so what i did like i bought my first house in like 2011 when the market was down still i bought my first house a duplex like 14 000 So I bought that, had that for like a while. Then I thought about doing wholesale, and I wholesale all the way into like 2016. Then that got slow. Then I just started doing, like, buying, keeping the properties.

I just buy the phones. If I can't wholesale it, I buy it, just go ahead. And then just put a little makeup on it. I just do that to make by 20, 30K doing it that way. Yeah. And I got tired of that because those numbers weren't big enough. So in like 2020, I just said I'm going to go ahead and start building on my own. So I ain't never had nobody to show me how to do it.

how nobody look up to, nobody doing it around there. So I just had to jump out, jump out and do it. You know, it took me like four months because I was scared, paranoid, you know, everybody don't know what they don't know. So I ain't even jump in it. I just said, I ain't going to do it. But then I just figured out I had to go ahead and do it.

So my first one took me like 11 months to do. And then after that, I realized I got that $127,000 check. I said, man, I got to do this more. I don't even want to do nothing no more. I don't want to do no wholesaling, no fix and flip. All I'm going to do is just build from the ground up. And that's what got me in terms. to it and then last year somebody I talked to some people and they were telling me about teaching

other people how to do it and that's what made me come up with the boot camp and the mastermind where I teach people how to do it now and we do it all with credit cards because you know I had the record and you know can't get to go to no banks we ain't got what the banks want to get no loans from them so the easy way for me to do it was with credit cards credit cards don't know how you look all you got to do and have a good report you get that good report then then you win there how you do get the high limit credit card take the money off of them use that to start building then the hard money man gonna give you the rest of the money to finish okay so bam i get i come to you right i get some credit cards you feel first of all i got to have

my credit right no you don't we fix your credit oh so you're gonna repair your credit so you're gonna repair somebody's credit for right right okay pool you get my credit right all right now i'm in what do i need to to start activating these credit cards to be able to start the process what type of credit score 720 we get you over 720 once you get the last 720 we're going to show you we're going to give you a list the cards to apply for okay so okay so i'm out of 730 i'm ready to move right right you're going to give me a list of these credit cards i'll apply for these credit cards right what's the process after that after that you used to get between like 100 to 200k in funding and after that we show you how to take the money off of those

cars and use that to start the building process so we ain't got to use none of our own money we use the credit cards to start and then it causes a hard money land they want to see you with skin in the game So if you ain't got the money to put the skin in the game where you're taking the money off the credit cards to use that. Okay.

Now what's the skin in the game? When you say that I think when I'm hearing you say is that like if you got the foundation you're already building they're like he building something

so that's one of the hard money that's coming at. Yeah because now I see a found the hard money then don't want to take all the risk.

So he want to see some walls. He don't want to risk all his money. So he want to see some walls up. Yeah he wanted to see it up to be like okay well I ain't all in if I lose my money

I still got you know I'm still got something I can resell. But if he ain't got nothing and he got all in with all his money, he don't feel like he could recoup all this money back. So now he got out of you with skin in the game. So you got to take a loss too if y'all do lose. Okay. So basically that's what that is.

That's just like in the street, in the street light. When you go into the plug, the plug ain't finity letting you know money. If he don't know, you don't know if you're going to bring his money back. Right. The plug ain't fin to give you a hundred of them if you ain't buying a hundred a hundred time. Right. You got to purchase. So you got to add some skin in the game.

Right. Okay. So now you get the credit cards, you get the money off the credit cards. Now it was a building process? Yeah, now you start building. Once you get the, we show you out to find your whole team too. A lot of people try to use general contractors

to build a house for them. What we do is we just get the general contractor to pull the permit for us. And after he pulled a permit, you're going to do our inspections. And we don't use them for nothing else. We find our own subcontractors to do the work. That's why we're able to do it so cheap.

Okay. We build in houses that, like, have the prices of other people paying for houses. I build a whole house all in $200,000. Okay. $1,500-square-foot house or $3.2. They sell for, like, $4.50. Okay. So I'm making $2.250 off the deal.

But if you got to, if you're using the G.C., he's going to probably charge you $3.75 to build a whole thing because you still under market value. So it still seems like you're getting a deal. Right. But the deal only $20,000, $30,000. You got a little bit of equity in it already. But with us, we got half, half, equity. Like, we're in $200, $250 at the most. Yeah.

And then we still, we got equity or $200. Okay. So that's how we win, and that's how we're teaching people how to do it. Do it where you know, you're cutting out in the middleman, basically. The G.C. is the middleman. Mm-hmm. Now, the first one, how did the first one pop off for you? Like, the mistakes you made and the errors of that first one that you built yourself.

That first one, that first one was kind of hard because I ain't know the steps. I ain't know what was out the way. Nobody was there to teach you. Right. So I had to figure it out. Like, it was sometimes where I have, like, Like, I complete a job, and then I got to do the next thing. So, I mean, I call the next word. Just say, if I get my electrical done, then I got to call the HVAC guy.

And then the next thing, I ain't know when to call him or how to call him. So it may be another week or two before he could get to me, because they ain't call him ahead of time. Basically, you got to call the people ahead of time. So that way when they get to you, you know, they're not tied up on another job. Absolutely. So you got to know that whole process, the whole step of that. So basically, you crawl so people could run. Right.

Basically, I took the L for them to take the W. Yeah. Yeah. And now you got, I see you do a class, you got, I see your classes be filled the fuck up. Yes, sir. Up top of your students, your mentees. They be in that motherfucker and you really teaching them how to do this shit.

Okay, so now, after you build the walls up, you get some building up, now the hard. All right. Money, then they'll, he'll front you, the rest of it. Okay. It's something physically he could see Before it's just land You know, it ain't nothing I don't want to lend against land

I'd rather lend against something That I could see If the walls up I know I could spend a couple 20, 30 more thousand And get it finished And then I can make the money Make my money back

Okay That's how hard money lend the thinking Okay But he don't want to start From the ground doing the whole thing If he'll lend you on the land And you ain't got nothing there I don't want to do the whole project

To get my money back That's how he's thinking Okay that's beautiful yeah that's major because i understand what you're saying now because it's like it's old thing i get the land but the land that don't mean you're going to start building right and then i might got to finish it finally finalizing and finish it off and all that type of stuff how much the land usually costs in our area we're getting land anywhere between 75 to 100 000 for the lot how big is it that probably between 4 000 to 8000 square feet

Okay. And then you're building maybe at 1,500,000. Yeah, so once you got the land, we're building a house at $150. Okay. $100 square foot. Okay. And then we got another trick, too, that we're doing. I'm teaching them how to do ADUs. You know how they had an apartment garage in back of houses?

Teaching a lot of people how to do them too. So we're doing that to get more, they'll get more income out of your bill. Like on a single family, like a lot of places want you to be zoned, multi-family. to have more than one unit. But all single family lots down there and a lot of other places, people don't know that they could put them ADUs in the back of a house.

That's already there. Like, if you got a house already up, you can put one there or you could build a new house in the front and one in the back, and you can make that ADU in the back pay for the house in the front so you'll be living for free.

That ain't bad. Give them that number again. Listen, man, I want you to get, listen. Shit. You've got to get Andy by houses how to build using credit cards, man. I'm talking about building homes, man. You get this free e-book

All you got to do is text MWG to 727 888-2-2-6-07. 727-88-2-8-26-0-7. You're getting a free e-book that's going to give you 40 steps of how to get in the game, how to build houses using credit cards. And this is the game they're going to give you. It's going to help you fix it. This is the $100K play. They're going to help you fix your credit to do anything.

But it just threw me off, man. But that addition you just told me you can make. So a bunch of people now are probably going to look at this and be like, man, I got to take something to build something. moving on the back of my property and they can pay for the front. Yeah, like they got requirements. All you have to go to the zoning

and see how big they want the lot to be, but they're usually like 4,700 square feet. If you're locked 4,700 square feet, that'll let you build an ADU in the back. Either ADU, that's an apartment garage, accessory dwelling unit. Okay. That's the definition for it,

but a lot of people ain't going to know what that mean. But it's really an apartment garage. It's an apartment out top with a duct two-car garage at the bottom. So all you got to do is up there, put a bathroom, shower. Yeah, it's make it just like apartment. Just like apartment.

And then what we do down there, we Airbnb that apartment. So we Airbnb that apartment and let that pay for the, you know, you're going to make two, three times the rent if you're Airbnb it. And that'll cover the whole mortgage for the whole property. Damn, that's major, man. And you do all of this starting off credit cards, none of your money. None of your money. All free money.

And then you got a boot camp. Yeah, boot camp every three months. That you charge $5,000 to? Yep, $5,000. To come to. And you do everything. for them? No, we don't get to do everything. We do the credit part. Okay.

We're going to repair your credit. We're going to show you how to get the cards. We're going to show you how to take the money off the car. Then we show you how to build with the money. But it's on them to go out and build with it. Like, we're going to give you the game. But it's on you. And that's on you. That's not the boot camp. That's the mastermind. No, that's the boot camp. That's the boot camp. It's like a one-on-one. Like, I walk them through the whole process to build in a house. That's the master-mine. They go on the sites and all that shit with you.

Yeah. Walk on site. You're going to show them. You see it being done in real time? Yeah, they get that at the boot camp. Okay, so they get that at the boot camp. So the boot camp, so right now they get the ebook for free. Got 40 steps show you got to do it, but it's like, okay. That's the first step.

So in order for them to get this ebook, y'all got to text MWG to 727, 888-2-607, 727, 888-2-607. You see the number right there. You're going to get the free e-book, the 40 steps of how to build houses using credit card. Andy Buy Houses. Give them the game. Go ahead. So. So, so, but okay, they get the e-book.

So what if a person say, no, but I need that one-on-one, they could give you $5,000, they come, they be at the boot camp with you, and you just educate them right there on basically how to turn their whole life up. Basically, yeah, we showed them how to do it themselves. Then we got the mastermind where we do it with you. That's the next step.

So it's three different levels. It's the e-book, if you just want the e-book and figure it out on your own. That's free. Yeah. Then we also got the boot camp. If you want to come to the boot We show you the whole game.

You get to ask your questions if you may read the e-book, then you make out other questions like, I don't know how you do this part, how you do that part. Come to the boot camp, you get all that. And then I show you my property tour too on the second day of the boot camp. So you get to see everything that I taught you. So you get to see all the properties

that you actually built from the ground up? That I'm working on now. And that you're working on now. Right. Okay. And then we got the mastermind where we helped them build their own property. When I hold their hand through the whole process. So the mastermind is the one where y'all say, no, we're all the way in.

Yeah. I'm never with you for the whole year until the whole thing built. Oh, okay. Like, it ain't you doing it by yourself no more, if you're doing it with me. Oh, okay. And you can use my contacts. You can use my whole plug. I already got the team already designed.

And I got lots, too, that I'm selling them. So I got lots that they could get or they can buy their own lot. It's up to them. But it just make everything faster and make everything like dummy-proof. Absolutely. And then, you know, after that, I call it the $100K play because we don't make nothing less than 100. Every play. That's why I'm 100K play.

That's beautiful. That's beautiful. What y'all need to do right now. You all need to text NWG for this free ebook. Text MWG to 72788-8-2708-2708-26-07. It's a free e-book with 40 steps. I got the physical copy, but you're going to get the electronic copy. You're going to be able to put it on your MacBook, put it on your phone, do whatever you want to do. You can print it out. Read it. Do whatever you want to do. Mark it. Whatever. But right now you need to get with my man, Andy Buy Housers. Anything you want to say before you get out of here, Andy?

Yeah, like that same number. Like, if they want to come to the boot camp, they can just text 100K to that number. Okay. 727888-2607, and text 100K, you come to the boot camp, and then you can learn the game. Come out here and do it on your own,

or you can just, if you want to do the mastermind, then let me know, and then we can walk you through the process. And you said you do the boot camp every three months? Yeah, boot camp every three months. So when is the next one? June, third, and fourth. Oh, okay, cool.

so listen if you out here and you're a basement warrior a middle room warrior you're not doing shit I mean living with your girl I mean why wouldn't you get down with Andy who's going to show you how to get

money without using none of your money right stop thinking this shit not possible when you sitting here seeing a nigga that was in jail you see another nigga that was in jail who came out of here and turned to the fuck up I'm talking about turn to

up on a different level. When you see this, man, you see all kinds of Bentley's, all kinds of shit. You know he's really doing this. When you see this man, see all types of made backs, Benzes, all kinds of you know he's really doing it. Stop following the niggas that's not doing it. Follow the niggins that's really got proof of concept in doing what they say they're doing out here. Give them that number one more time. Listen, man, right now I need you to text to get this free e-book to 40 steps of how to buy houses. Use the credit cards. Andy, buy houses going to give you the game. And all you got to do is,

text, MWG to 727 888-2-2-8-28-2-0-7. 7-27-8-88-26-0-7. He's giving you a free e-book. I'm talking about I got the physical copy, but this thing is loaded with all type of information in game. They got the pictures to show you how I pose a look, the beginning stage, the foundation. I'm talking about the lot.

It's got everything in here, man. It's just a bunch of information here. Get that book right now and stop playing games. This is another episode of a million dollars with a game, and the day we had Tampa Zone slash St. Petersburg, Florida, Andy Buy Houses, man. That 100K play. It's just like death, right?

Who did you get that sense of, because I've seen a documentary, Supreme Team. Okay. They had the minks on, they had the, you was a young boy. Oh, without a job. You was in a crowd, you was in a document. With a little chain on, a skinny chain. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, did they introduce that to New York?

And you introduced it to the world? So, so I absolutely, you know, Bimmy is my man. And, you know, we grew up together, you know what I'm saying? And Queens and spent a lot of time together, like, you know, like all type of stuff, right? The dudes that, like, but with the Pream team in them, I was, like, I was friends with, like, Bimmy and Just, like, Black Just. Blackie and Bimmy, those were my homies. The other, Prim and them was a little older. So I didn't really interact with them.

I knew, you know, knew them a little bit, a little long distance, you know what I'm saying? With Bim and Just, those were my men. Like, I would go to Just's house, go to Bimmy's house, like the. Those were my people. But at the same time, during that period, I was also, I spent a lot of time in Harlem. So I would be with, I would be with Rich and I would be with Alpo and I would be with A-Z. And I would be, you know, with, you know, my man Chuck and all these different guys. And my man Chuck actually took me up there.

And, you know, I was, so I spent a lot of my formative years in Harlem, uptown around A-Z and a lot of, you know, being around them on 13-2. And that's where I kind of. got a lot of that energy from so that, you know, the Cool J ring, like, you know, Chuck had a big ring, Alpo had a big ring, you know what I'm saying, so I went got me a Cool J ring. You know what I'm saying? Like, that was where

like a lot of it rubbed off. You know what I'm saying? But you introduced it to the world. But I introduced it to the hip-hop game, to the hip-hop culture. Yes. Without a doubt. Like, when you talk about the diamonds and the ice and the rings, that's that's what I did. So, but I got that without a doubt being up in Harlem. And then also seeing,

you know, like Bim and them was more inspiration. Like, Bimmy was like, you know, seeing him with the 325, he had the blow punk with the 325 and the cherry air freshener. And I'm like standing out there with my radio. I'm like, yo shit, crazy. Like, you know what I mean? He'd take me riding and all that. Like, that was a real vibe. And just, you know, he would come pick me up in the Yukon or one of the trucks, take me to his house to eat and all that. And like, just interacting with guys, what you learn is that it's always better to be a gentleman. You know what I'm saying? Like, there are dudes in the street or a cowboy.

boys but that that don't last long no we know that but the real the real vibe is like to be a gentleman you realize like that kindness and that being that generosity and that that spirit and that desire because a lot of guys who are living that life they don't really want to live that life it's just a a hand that was dealt you know what I mean so when somebody deals you that hand right you know what I mean you play it you know what I'm saying but I just learned how to move being around a lot of these guys so that was kind of like my you know that's why I always moved the way I moved because I was molded around like a lot of these kind of guys

my whole life as a youngster. So that's kind of, even though I didn't talk about it as much of my music, my moves outside of my music, if you look at the things I did outside of my music, you would see it. You know what I'm saying? My music, I'm talking about this and that, because I just want to have fun, get the girls, like, I don't care about that shit, man.

But that was where I learned a lot of, you know what I'm saying? And that, and my grandmother, of course, with the spiritual and my mother with the grounded and family and the things that. So those were kind of like my two, the two people will shake me, my home life, and then the hustlers, the street characters

between Queens and Harlem. The only problem I got with this story, man, is L. City got his swagger from some Harlem niggas. You know Jim Jones and Jewel Santana and Cam Ryan, and them niggas is not going to let me ever live that down. You hear me, I told you

Harlem to fly it's in New York, son. It's really Jimmy. It's really Jimmy. Jimmy's going to say that. If there's any help, hey, yo, yo, yo, yo, if it's any help, I put my own twist on it, B. Okay, all right, thank you. I'll need help you out a little bit. I'll put my own twist on it. You know what I mean?

I put my twist on it. Gilly. I put my twist on it. Gillie. You heard LLs. He got his swag from us. We've been them niggas. All of him is the fly-ish niggins in the world.

I love Jimmy. I love him. Jimmy goes to either. Them niggas go argue to argue Dell. But you know what? They wouldn't be lying, though. I ain't mad at them because, you know what? All the niggas diggas in the world.

I'm not going to go into all Latin. Let's not get carried away. Let's not get all outrageously ridiculous and pull out the violence and shit. I'm just saying, you know what I mean? I'm just saying I learned a lot of how to move from them dooms, you know what I'm saying? You know what I mean?

Right. You know, we got a ticket to, you took that shit from the mic to the movies. Yeah. How the fuck was that pivot? Like, how did you? I mean, the real story is that, You know, I went up to the record company one day.

And I say, yo, I'm looking to do a new album. You know what I'm saying? I had a couple of moves I wanted to make financially. I'm like, so I'd like to get in advance on the next album and get going. And the dude I was talking to kind of did this. Yeah. And as soon as he did that, I said, okay. When he did that, I went to did a TV show.

that ain't nothing to talk about. You start adjusting your butt cheeks in a chair like you learn a piano, nigga. Like, I'm trying to get some money. You know what I'm saying? Okay. So all the young is out there, don't skip over that game.

You know what I mean? You're going to all the next and something bigger, just his butt cheeks. You know, they started just looking and repositioning and all that kind of shit. I'm like, you know what I mean? He started repositioning. So when I saw that, I said, you know what?

Okay. And I told him what I want. Oh, we can't. Okay, no problem. So I got with, you know. If you were going to mind, how much you were asking for? I don't even remember at that time. I might have been a million, too many.

I don't know what it was. It was a decent amount. It was a decent amount. I was getting, it was fine at that point. We was getting plenty, you know what I mean? But I went and got with Quincy Jones. Yeah. And I said, you know, told him one of, you know, he said, you know, he had done the TV show with Will Smith, him and David Salsman,

made David Salsman rest in peace. And I was like, Mr. Jones, who was like a mentor to me, you know what I'm saying? He became like a mentor to me. I'm like, you know, he started talking to me. We started talking. One thing led to another. He said, let's do a TV show.

I went and did it. So I went and did the show. Show comes on the air. You know, six months to a year go by. You know, I'm out here. I'm doing the thing. Whatever doing the show. I get a call from the record company.

Y'all, show doing good, huh? I just looked at the fore. I got this. I said, okay, what's up. And that's this old same dude that was the justice button. Same dude. Hey, he told him, re-adjust your ass down to the other side. Same dude, pull this wedge, you're all the way out.

And we had a conference, we was able to have a real conversation like gentlemen, and it worked out for the best. And you know what? And I'm not saying that to be cocky or arrogant or anything, but I'm saying that to say this. A smart rabbit has more than one hole. You got to give yourself options. You know what I'm saying? You got to give yourself options, B. So now I have so many things going on that I have options

So, you know If I quote a number, it's a real number I'm not bluffing I'm flexible, I'm not arrogant I'm not going to ever try to charge more than I think I'm worth In the marketplace but I definitely want that market value Right You know I mean? I'm not a asshole

I'm not a moron I don't play games I don't you know I don't play stick them up Because that won't work either Because your career will be over But okay I just like to be really reasonable with people. How do you calculate market value for yourself?

Well, it's very simple. Okay, so let me, let me, I give you all a, a, a, uh, a negotiating little, it's a billion dollars worth of games. Let me give you a billion dollars worth of game. Look at you all over there. So, so if it was raining, if it was raining on this desk, right? And this was a sidewalk. And let's say the sidewalk was like, like this little thing right here is the sidewalk.

And this rain, the rain is flowing right here, right? And the rain is this high. If you're an ant compared to that rain, you might drown. You know where you're at. If you're a bigger roach or something, compared to that rain, you do a little better. If you're a mouse, you do a little better. If you're a squirrel, you do even better. Now, if you're a cat, you do even better.

If you're a dog, you do better. If you're a bull, if you're a horse, you do better. Camel, you do better. You understand what I'm saying? Giraff, you do better. So the bottom line is you got to understand when things are happening and when it's flowing. and when the rain is flowing in the world that you're in, what are the dynamics?

What are you in this situation? Are you an ant? Are you a horse? Yes. Very simple. Clouds deal. Elephant. You know what I'm a fucking elephant.

You feel I'm saying? So that's in, but here's the thing. You have to be brutally honest with yourself. You got, yeah, you got to be really honest with yourself. You have to be honest and real with yourself, brutally honest. And you know what's the. problem. A lot of rappers do not know how

to be brutally honest with themselves. They still think that they could charge a motherfucker 150,000. It was like, buddy, that was last year. Well, it goes both ways. Sometimes that 150 can become 750 or $750. Yeah. But what I'm saying is

Yes, you're right. You got to know, okay, my shit going down a little bit. Let me take it down to $75. Or just or just look at it and say oh it's going down a little bit let me make some adjustments so that it goes

so that it triples so it's like okay you have to you have to be inspired man like you can't like like true business true success in business comes from loving what you do right it comes from being passionate about what you do it doesn't come from talking slick

and asking for a lot of money but there is a time when you can ask for a lot of money But when you ask for it, it's because you put so much passion and so much energy and so much love into what you do that you're deserving of a certain number. That's the way it works. Absolutely. And you just, now, the key to that is knowing your value, understand your value. So if you're on a job and you're working at, let's say a person's working at FedEx or if they're working at UPS, you know, if you're working the everyday job, the best way to get more money from people that don't want to pay you more is to do more than your job. getting paid for because if they don't notice it and don't want to recognize it,

someone else will. And even if you don't get promoted in that company, you will get promoted outside of that company. Right. You did what I'm saying? So the thing is to put all of your energy into what you do. Right. Because people will recognize it.

You know what I'm saying? And also, no ego. Take the job. Mm-hmm. What's the job? Take the job. Don't worry about the neighborhood. Don't worry about how people are looking at you.

take the job man take the job and turn it into something amazing a lot of the people that be running these record labels used to be people's interns you have a bunch of problems with that Gil was trying to put that shit down oh word yeah you guys please both I don't you know me

I'm gonna fucking weird I'll be on there I can't not do some shit I'm gonna leave it alone though because once I get started be it's gonna be crazy push this down right here okay there you go here you go wham I found it out

there you go yeah take the job and grow with in the system and then grow out of the system. Because a lot of people would start off as people's interns. 100%. And didn't yell. When Kevin Liles started, shout to Kev. He was what up, Kev? Kev was an intern

at the label. Like, I remember I had, I don't know, three, four albums, I don't know how many albums I had. And I see Kev, he's an intern, he's running around carrying records. When I met, let me tell you something. When I met Leorre, and I say this, Leaul's has done a lot in his career. I only say this to

show people the journey, not to like make light of the situation I want to be on a preface it right when I met him his car the passenger door didn't open he was a promoter in L.A and he just we I got in the car I had to get in through the past the steering wheel

I get in the passenger seat and he'd get in he's driving and he's talking to me we're going to change hip up we're going to do amazing things together I'm just sitting there like yeah yeah definitely definitely and this was later I had albums already you know what I mean because he came to Def Jam later right so I watch people do what you're

what you're describing, or what you're describing, going from interns all the way to running, you know, big companies. And so it's very doable. If they can do it, if I can do it, you can do it. And you can do it. And so it's just a matter of finding your niche and believing in yourself, man. You know what I mean? Because he came home from prison.

He was my intern. He used to carry my rap book back in the day when I used to write raps. He carried my rap book when I'm going to a battle. First of all, he was a... Yeah, he's carrying my rap books. With white gloves? He never won no battles. When they first came over from jail

He was my intern, though Go get my backwoods, nigga Fuck out of there The backwoods This dude crazy, man Go get my back It's the regular Don't bring me back

No honey berries, But you know what's crazy About that shit Like you would have people Like we live in the world And where people Will be on some shit Like

This new world Everybody too cool to work They too cool to do anything Everybody They think they pull to start up here Pulls to have This crazy I understand exactly what you're saying

But here's the thing. What you're doing, like, is you're making it easier for somebody who's willing to work. You know what I'm saying? If it's only, if it used to be 90 people competing for the job and now it's only nine people, you know what I'm saying? That increases my odds getting what I want to get. So a lot of people are pulling themselves out of the game. I know that there are other ways to monetize your life.

I understand that. But even in the new era, dealing with the new economics, being lazy, ain't going to, ain't the answer. No, on no level. I don't care on what level you put it. The lazy thing does not work. So you know what you're going to do? You know, you have, you know, people that are, you know, you got some people that are overwhelmed by artificial intelligence. You have other people to understand they got to utilize it as a tool. You know, it's all about how you utilize the moments in your life. You know what I'm saying? You dig what I'm saying? So, like, being too cool, like, I don't

know how to do that. I don't know how to be too cool and not have no paper. Fuck that. Right. Like, I got to get what I got to get. My grandmother used to tell me, Todd, you better get it done if you got to eat shit with a splinter. You know what I mean? Get that shit done. Right. You feel me? Right. You feel me? And that's the whole thing now. When you slid into the movies, was it easy

for you? Was it simple? No, it wasn't. It wasn't easy at all. I had an acting teacher. I went to the Spizer Academy for acting. I've had a teacher the whole time. You know, I read everything from Stanislavski to Uttahagen to, you name it. And again,

you never limit yourself. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's the thing, man. You never limit yourself. Let me ask you this question, though. Did you ever get any any negative vibes? Because, you know, actors take their shit real serious. So for a motherfucker that went to Juilliard

and he did all of these things, to become this great actor and now he's looking at you like oh he just think he could slide in because he's a rapper so now he'll he would be in a movie co-starring with me and shit

I'm sorry you feel that way you know what I mean that's your fault but I ain't going to where you know what I mean I ain't going to where and action sorry you feel that way

that's a family right You know what I mean? Yo, come on, man. Like, listen, listen, man. Like, look, at the end of the day, that's, you know, if you can put, if you can get eyeballs on the screen or get asses and seats, I mean, it is what it is. Right. I don't, I never, ever for a moment didn't take acting seriously and didn't take those other artists seriously.

I completely respect the game, respect the directors, the producers, the writers, the actors that I work with. I have great relationships with all in them. Right. What I'm not going to do is dim my light because you. You got some issues that, some questionable issues you dealing with. Right. You know what I mean? Like, I'm going to be who I'm going.

I'm not going to turn this shit down to make you happy. Right. And in a lot of their defense, though, it probably changed up once you got on set. And it was like, oh, no, this nigga actually good. No, when they see, when people see you take it seriously. And they see you, okay, he actually good. Yeah, he can actually act. You know what I mean?

Like, they give me love. Yeah. I have, I get enough love, you know, in that area. obviously, you know, I'm not looking, you know, I don't look at acting the way I look at my, at music, hip-hop, you know what I'm saying? Like, that's my first love. Right. Like, everybody's clear about that.

However, you know, I do take it seriously. Right. And when I'm on that set, I am taking it seriously. And when I do NCIS Los Angeles, or if I do in too deep, where I'm playing God, or if I, you know, do deep blue sea, or if I do any given Sunday, if I do these movies. Talk heavy, Nick. I'm talking. You know what I'm saying?

You know what I'm saying? I do take it real. You know, it's real. You know what I mean? No doubt. Absolutely. Now, what's going on now is that? You're going back on tour. How do you feel well? I feel great, man. I feel like, listen, man, I feel like, you know, I feel like it's, it's 20, 23.

I want to give people an opportunity to see this, this classic, timeless music presented to them with a lot of energy on a silver platter. A lot of times, half the time, when they see the time, this ax they got a stool with a radio station banner behind them and a rum and coke on the stool and they're sitting there and it's you know I'm like this is going to be like what we did at the Grammys is the reason why I'm taking it on tour I decided after we did the Grammys I said I need to take this on tour and let the world see this and it needs to be you know a couple of hours of this not just you know a few minutes and so the things the thing we did on the Grammys you know with

the roots and you know Philly dudes you know what I'm saying taking the roots out and going out there. You know what I'm saying? Seeing how Quest was able to curate that thing and saying, yo, Quest, now let's put together this force tour. Let's put together this crazy show. Let's put together this unbelievable show with all these different artists. And let's take it to the world. And it makes me feel excited because

I want to show people what's possible. You know, my thing is that, look, man, you can have longevity and you can have a long career and you could be fly forever. You could do dope shit forever. You don't have to like, and you don't have to pretend to be 14 to do it. You could just, you

just got to be true to who you are. That's a bar. And you know what I'm saying? Go get it. So I'm really thankful. That's a fucking bar. You know what I mean? I'm just, I'm going to be straight at.

Because with the young niggas, we don't want to compete with you. We want to eat with you. That's it. It's a difference. That's it. I ain't going to, I don't want to. 100%. So for L, when people see L, they got to understand something.

I respect the new artist. Okay? I'm not looking down at you on you when I see you. You know what I'm saying? Like, I saw a little baby when I was at the Grammys. We had a great. conversation. I have a lot of respect for him.

You know what I'm saying? You know, I want to see him there in 20 years by the grace of God. I want them to do his thing. I want them to win. Right. You know what I mean? Right. So when I see these young kids, when I see the young artists, I embrace them.

So they need to understand that LL Cool J is not looking down on them. Now, I can't speak for everybody and how some of these guys feel. You know, I want to see you win when you get, no matter what you're doing. But if you, if you have a certain age and you looking down on some young niggas that's trying to take their mamas out the ghetto, then you just an old bian, old bitter nigger. And I would say, don't get bitter, get

better. You know what I'm saying? Just one of them niggas sitting around mad at the world. An open? A oban? You got your one seat, you sit in and all that shit, you're maddened. Watch the game in that seat, nobody been not sitting there. With the one hole right here that you never refused to fix it.

You just mad at them? No, because at the end of the day, I never understood Why older rappers don't understand that time's changed, bro. Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing with that. Here's the real, like, the real thing is that, you know, times change, and you got to change. See, hip-hop is not sports.

We make a lot of sports analogies, but at the end of the day, the arts are an intellectual thing. Right. The arts are not, per se, physical. Physical first. Yeah, you got to get on stage. you got to do different things, but it's not physical first. It's here and here first. So you should be able to adapt and do great shit,

but you can't get set in your ways. You can't think you know every goddamn thing, and you've got to stay curious about what's going on in the world. So, like, I give you an example. Every time I talk to somebody, right, and without fail, they always explaining to me how shit is different. They always think they need to tell me that.

Like, I didn't fucking wake up this morning in 2020, and know what the fuck did they is. Dog, like, I'm hyper attentive to what's going on. I watch everything. Right. They just don't think that because they feel, oh, you're famous, you got busy, better things to do. No, I'm interested in our culture.

Right. I'm interested in what we're doing. Right. So when shit comes across that gram or when it comes, I'm watching, I'm swiping, I'm looking, I'm reading, I'm enjoying it. I'm listening to the music. I'm checking out the albums.

I'm listening to what's going on. Right. You know what I'm saying? I'm watching. how they move. I'm watching, you know, dudes running around with silver shit on. I'm seeing all that. Right. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. So

that's what it is. Like, I don't, I want them to know that they need to understand that as one of the guys who really represents the, the, the, the birth of the culture from a distance, because I'm like Generation 1.5, right? You got Mel and Flash and

and Herc and all them was Generation 1. I would say I'm 1.5. And then I would say the Raq Kim's and the Keyes, all. that is generation two, right? Because I'm like before those guys, but after these guys. And I grew up with these guys, though, watching them. I'm telling you, I love y'all.

You know what I'm saying? I'm telling you that I want to see, I don't don't just send your mama to the show. I want to see you there too. You ain't got to be familiar with the music. So what? You go to Coachella and act like you know all that shit. You don't know how and a half of that shit either. Absolutely. Just come down, watch the show.

You know what I'm saying? And enjoy your man, and let me get off and watch all these other artists get off and check out. Maybe you'll learn something. Maybe you'll get introduced. Maybe L.L. won't be the one you like. Maybe you'll love Raq Kim. Right. You know what somebody else will appeal to you. That's okay. Right. You know, that's what the point. That's the purpose. Absolutely. You know what I mean? Because the purpose is for me to put all these dudes and these women on a stage where everybody can embrace them. Right.

You know what I'm saying? Like, that's my goal. So I don't want to separate it generationally. I'm not into that shit. Like, I think that shit is super corny. Right. It's super corny. Right. You know what type of shit are you on? Like, this is a young man. He's trying to get his money or a young girl.

Just in break. Why do you think we had, look, who do you have? Little baby. We had a little, little, little oozy. And we had, um, uh, Glorilla on the Grammys. Right. I'm looking at Glorill. I'm like, this could be my little niece or my little daughter out there.

I was so happy to see her out there on the crampies. Yo, yo, I was so excited to see. Like, me watching her on the Grammy. Like, my favorite quietest kept was just seeing how happy she was. You know what I mean? This is a little girl who five minutes ago, you know, was getting her hair done at the crib. Yeah, we was at the crib.

We was at the crib. We went to her house. The recorder. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. So that's the thing. Like, we got to embrace our culture. So when I call up Quest, when I call up Black Thornton, when I call up the roots, and I say, yo, let's put together a crazy show.

I get my man Sean G. Or I get the different, like, yo, let's put together a crazy show, my man, Scott. Like, we're looking to do something special for the world. Right. Like, I'm not playing games. with this shit. You know what I mean? Absolutely. And I want to say this. I want to give a shout out to Rock the Bells and Live Nation Erdman, showing G&A for coming together and putting this shit together with a

forced live tour. Now listen, I got to break this shit down. L.L. The Roots, DJ, Jaddy, Jeff, DJ, Zip, Zip, Y, Zip, Y, Zip, Whiz, Y, Zip, Will. Zolmpeper. But Zip Trip is some funny shit, too. I got it. You got salt pepper. You got Big Boar. You got Common. You got De LaSoul. You got Dougie Fresh, Slick, Rick, Goody Mom, Ice T, Jada Kids, Juvenile, M-C., MC Light, Mephyman, Redman, Rick Rawls, Rock, him, and more. Listen, and it's going to be different cities.

You don't know who will pop up. Yeah, different cities. You don't know what the fuck's going on going on. Depending on the city we end, the lineups will switch and change and shift because I want it to be dope for the city we in. So, you know, when we announced Philly, you know what I'm saying, we'll do a Philly thing. No, listen. Well, you know.

I'm on the whole tour. We already know that. You know, fuck out of you. You're not this hype man. Shut the fuck up, man. You're a fucking hated. You were a hater because I'm going to do it. doing arenas.

You ain't never do no arena. I'll be doing an arena. He's mad. That nigga really is? Yeah, I'm grown up. I'm going to get my, I'm going to get a shirt. I'm going right on line.

Give me a true sweatsuit. Fuck as you talk. One of them, one of them link me right there, they're going to come out lie to you. Listen, Elle said, No, no, no, fuck that. He said his old hype man from back of the day showed up, so he'll want this back then.

Listen, in Philly, I can get to the stage. I know I get to the security on the spilling. Let me just tell you something about L. L, um, he's a superstar. You jump on that. The fucking stage if you want that security going to tackle this shit out you, slam you on your biscuit.

I got a warm the stage. They're going to warm you the fucker when they drag you all across the motherfuck. I'm just saying, I'm beatie. I don't fucking be talking about it. Oh, God. We're good. You're both good.

That's why I'm saying. Don't be hating on me. Don't try to get this crazy, but fucking run up on stage. No, no, no. Please don't run up on stage. Let me, let me, let me, let me extend my hand, bro. Don't.

Before you get on, I got to hype them up, right? I love that. I got to hype the crowd up. That's my spot. All the stars keep one good, good white boy don't drink, don't do nothing. Security boy. I ain't worry about that. I know martial arts, man.

Get him, Steve. Talk about, come on. Yeah, I know martial arts. I ain't worried about that shit. What a bad knuckle? What a bad knuckle dude? This shit. You got to protect the money.

Yo, that bare knuckle shit is good. Yeah, that's crazy. You know, I'm like a boxing freak. Like, you know, I love the boxing. You be watching that shit. Yo, that bare knuckle shit is brutal. Do you watch the slap joint? Oh, yeah, I'll watch that too.

That shit. Crazy. It's unbelievable. Absolutely. It's unbelievable. Because it's a bomb. It ain't a slap. I used to have a dude named Lamont.

He was security. He used to knock dudes out with his wrist with this. With this part right here, bach! It's just, you know, with this. He keeps up with this. He keeps up to play balls. That's what you go to get on the stage. My man, Lamont.

He always said I get on the stage. If you want, you're going to get one of these backhand from mine. Now, no, I just think it's crazy, right? because this shit you you got Doug hold up you got iced tea 6 in the morning

you got Mepha Man How many people on there you know they rap Because you say you're a hip hopistory Everybody rap From Queen Latifus Say something of iced tea Speed of life

Fast It's like walking barefoot Over broken last It's like Jump a rope on a razor blade All lightning quick Decisions are made Don't play with me man

Don't fuck with me man Oh that was good Don't fuck with me That was good Don't fuck with me. That was good. I'll play no games. That was good.

I'll give you another one, dick. Don't give me another one. Queen Latifah. You in IT, why it stands for unity? Who you calling the bitch? I ain't got to say too much because you know. I ain't got it. I know my shit.

I'm going to be there. You got Queen Latifah coming there. And I know when she's going to come in Jersey, Philly area. I'm going, mm-hmm. I'm going to be there. Soul pepper. Then you got common coming? Damn, the corner.

You got bone thugs. You got big boy coming. Dougie Fresh and Slick Rick together. They're doing the show. They're together. So it ain't just Dougie Fresh. It's them together. Dougie coming right in there.

And he got my boys. He got my boys from ATL. He got my boy. And then you took it up. I like how you miss. He got Jade on there. Then he got my boys from ATL. Who's that creeping in your window, pal.

Nobody knows. Goody mob is going. This shit. Oh, De La So, the stakes is. high. Oh, my God, this shit really get crazy. Elle, don't do that. Don't fucking do that, hell, because you're going to have him

really thinking he knows some shit. I mean, he do. Don't, don't do that, Elle. Because I got to listen to his mom. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. It's the first of the month. Bone thugs. When you say you love me, it doesn't matter. It goes to, like, come on, man.

I know my shit. I'm a historian. Right here where Elle was right here. Listen, all you rap is leading. You know, where Elle came out 85. Bitch, you were six. But I'm talking about, I'm still a historian. Fuck you talking about. a professor's in university

that never did nothing, man. 84, you was fucking five. For what? I'm a historian. I studied this shit. Fuck you talking about. Steve had all the tapes. Fuck as you're talking about.

I listened to all the tapes. Ultra Magnetic. Yo, yo, yo. I remember when Cool Keefe said, I'm the greatest MC in the whole wild world. Ain't nobody say nothing to him, man. I'm enriched with vitamin stun. Cool Keefe was a, he was a legend.

He was crazy. Black Elvis white manager? He was all that shit. Cool, Keith. He was all that. I love ultra magnetic. Listen. And, you know, I'm madge you ain't got my boys on here.

I don't know what they are. I ain't going to lie. I ain't know who the fuck he was talking about. Listen, I hope C-Tip jump out and I hope my brothers, these, these boys jump out. Educated man from the motherland. You see they call me a star, but that's not what I am. I'm a jungle brother, a true blue brother. And I bet you've been any places you never discovered.

All right, now you're just looking for shit. I got L right here. Now he's just looking for all the old reps he know. I hope these niggas jump out too. A hip to the hot. You got to bring. into the hip and he just said all the old No, no, no, I'm saying, man.

You got to bring poor righteous teacher out. Oh, shit. God, if you get the crown rulers, that's another joan. Wow. Kick the, I'm talking about, Wazi. I'm thinking of a massive, like, come on, I know this shit, cuss. I'm a historian. I have to keep this shit alive about here.

You just thought you, you will respect me, man. He did think he wanted to be you when he was growing up, though. Nice love, man. I appreciate it. I love that, man. It's hip-hop, baby. But you know what? That's how I coach it shapes us.

You know what I'm saying? I coach it shapes us like that. Like he tried to, he always argue with me that you, Koogee Rap, Big Daddy Game. Don't forget Chuck, Chuck. Chuck D, all of y'all's his uncles. That's how to get whole. Now, Elle, listen, anybody that grew up in a fucking ghetto,

y'all was family members, too. See, let me tell you y'all something about rap. See, back in the day, we was family members and fans. It wasn't like, like, we was excited. Who you wasn't. The hell didn't knew you today. No, ho, ho, ho, ho, ho. What fuck is you talking about?

He was not his nephew. Listen, listen, this is how I go. It's personal. The journey is personal. Like, you ain't see that time? Listen, I think Kane was mad at me in the airport. I draw it on, listen. Kane was incognito.

He had the mask on. I seen him through the mask. This nigga turned it to a super fucking fan. Kane. He was shit. He was shit. I should have done that. Kane said,

Nick up the fuck the fuck up. Yeah, he was sure. I ain't in the door, but that was just my first time seeing Kane. This man, I ran up morning. In the morning at six in the morning. He hug a hugging him. I love you, Kay. I offered to buy him some coffee and donuts because he's in the donkey donut.

I'm like, Ken, you were a legend. He's like, man. Kane was a little, I think he was, it was too early, man. I think Kay was mad at me, man. I tell him, man. He was ready to slap the shit. He was like, damn, man, because he was just chilling. Yeah, yeah.

I said, I said, I didn't see him. I said, yo, that's Big Daddy Kane. That nigga said, you lying. And I said, Kane. Yeah, yeah, I did it. He walked up. Look. First of all, I could tell Kane might

didn't know who he was. He's like, I love you, man. No, I'm just saying it's Kane, no, man. The fuck. This Kane, man. He had the nigger's shoulders. I love you, man. You're a fucking legend, man.

You're a fucking legend, man. You hear me. You hear me? You hear me? You hear me? That was my man. I'm like, I love it. Yo, you know what?

Let me tell you something. I appreciate that. And I'll tell you why. First of all, my, um, my man, Cornell, God bless his dead. He used to do the hell. Hello, Colerjay, hello, Colerj. He's like, oh, Cornell, shut the fuck.

He's how he's doing, I'm doing a promotion for you. Fuck that. We be in the airport by ourselves, you know what I mean? Oh, Colerjay, come this way. Hello, what the fuck are you doing, dude? That was me. I was trying to get him. He said, he'd do a promo for me, B.

He'd do a promo for me. That was him, man. You know, nah, nah, you know what, though? We all connected to our fans. Like, I feel connected to my fans, connected to the people that grew up on the culture because, you know, we started from nothing. Like, I'm talking about the industry.

I'm not talking about our pockets, and I forget that. I'm talking about the art and the way it touched the people. And we had a conversation through the radio and then through BT, MTV and these different outlets and VH1, you know, not VH1, Ralph McDaniels and them on and all that in the video music box and that was a connection and when I would see the people

the clothing changed I watched the jewelry change I watched the world change I watched everything unfold and everything changed I watched the whole world become something different you know what I'm saying

like I saw it like our you know pre-internet post internet you know what I'm saying like before it was pre-CD you know

like when they had to take the A tracks and shit Well, the eight tracks was like just before us. There was eight tracks, but they was before us. But it was vinyl, cassettes, you know, because originally back in the days, they had the 78 vitals, the 78s. That was like a lot of jazz musicians had the 78s,

and then they went to the, they had the eight tracks, which was a technology. And then, you know, we have this vinyl, and then you have the cassettes, the CDs. And you can track, you know, the changes that happened in the industry by as these new forms of, distribution were introduced to the world and how like the game always switched

and now it's the streaming you know the serious XM with satellite and it's just a whole new world you know what I mean so it's amazing man like or I got like on the tours you're going to have like the merch with like you have merch we're going to have lots of merch it's going to be

like your album covers on it? Yeah yeah like the new album I would say like it's going to be a lot of fun for people right the album is going to be a lot of fun and the goal of the album is just to show people what's possible. You know what I'm saying? Because a lot of times, you know, I don't think we've had an artist who's been out this long do a record that's impactful. So I'm going to show people what's possible creatively too. Because when I work on a record, I look at it like the same

way James Cameron would come out with a movie like Avatar, Spielberg would come out with a movie, you know what I'm saying, or Denzel will go act in a movie. I look at an L.L. Kool-J album in that same rarefied air like that. So this album is not just like, some sort of C-plus attempt to, you know, extract money from the game. This is a piece of art that I'm contributing to the game. And I think people will enjoy it. I just want to know this.

Fuck no, you not being this hyper, man, man. That's locked in. That's a contract because we said it on tape. That's contract law. I ain't worried about that. So this is the whole thing. How do you feel knowing that you was dear at the birth of Death Jam?

And since then, Warren G, Jay-Z, DMX, J-Roo, Onix, Mepheman, Red Man, like the list goes on a, a, jeezy, like, Fab, like, all, like, do you understand, like, everybody, you was there from the beginning and all these legends then went through the system. Yeah, I feel like. Are you still? Still here. You know. Shout out to Def Jam.

That logo is powerful, man. You know, it's like, I mean, the actual fact is that I paid the way for them. You know? They're all part of my, you know, that, like, everything that came on Def Jam after me is part of my legacy. Def Jam is my legacy. I love what niggas say some shit like I heard them to say it.

How many, though? You know why I say it like that, though, Gil? But let me tell you why, let me tell you why. No, but let me tell you why. Let me tell you why I say it like that. It's the truth. Yeah, it is the truth. But I don't want people to take it wrong and think that I'm being cocky because I'm not.

I'm just being honest. That's all. You know what I'm saying? I'm telling you that, you know, me and Rick, we made that first song. And then Rick and Russell decided to start this label. And I was the flagship artist. And we made all of these albums. And then we went and got a deal at CBI.

at Columbia Records and the rest of it is history and all of the things that came to Dev Jam came because of what me, Rick and Russell laid down and made possible. And so it's all my legacy and that's not a funny thing. That's the truth. I'll give you

an example. One of my favorite rappers in the whole wide world somebody who I think has one of, if arguably the best voice, if not one of the best voices in hip hop for rap, which is Chuck D. Let me tell you something. his logo of the public enemy logo is my hype man he love Chuck took his silhouette

took his picture made a silhouette and turned it into a logo I mean that's how far back we go you know what I mean like the public enemy logo was my hype man bro and Chuck is my favorite right you know what I mean

so you know when you look at like I look at guys like KRS won his first song South Bronx he said instead of trying to take out LL you need to take your home girls home boys off the crap Homeboys off the crap right that's his first song

so when you look at when you really when I look at it like a guy like Busy B I took Busy B on the road as my hype man I took Raq Kim on his first tour so how the fuck would you ever go from Busy B to this busy nut you can't do that

I'm never getting on that stage I say all that to say this man I say that to say this we did an amazing thing I had a lot of help along the way though I can't act like I'm the resident genius and I did it all by myself because that would be complete bullshit.

I had a lot of help. I ended up, it was like the Manhattan Project. It's like we split the atom. It's like it's Rick Rubin as a producer, it's LL as a rapper, it's Russell Simmons as an executive and then a little later

as Lear as an executive. And then you have the intern, Kevin Louser who comes in. And I mean, you can't make this shit up. I mean, Julie and, you know, Julie Greenwall. And all of those people are like the Sixth biggest people in the game.

Everybody over? Yeah. Kaiser was, you know, he was running around with Jason, Jason Williams from the Nets, and we used to be laughing in White Castle. That's what I'm saying. You know, like, so when I say it, it's like, I, like, God blesses things, you know what I'm saying? It's just like people up in Seattle when they got with Bill Gates,

and then you have different people jobs, different people working on all of this, you know, all of this, you know, computer stuff. all these technological breakthroughs as well hip hop in the in that time in new york i was there like running around in the city you see madonna in the club and you know around that time you had you know across town you know i never ran into him but you got bosky out running around with fad fire freddie who i did know and like all of these different people like it was a blessing you know you understand what i'm saying so you know we just really like caught a lick that started something that we were all really meant to do.

Like, we really, like, I got with the guys that were really the best. Like, you know what I'm saying? Absolutely. And I obviously did something right because I'm still here. And I'm still having conversations about tours and albums.

I mean, that's pretty unusual. But to say this. Yes, it is. The thing about Def Jam, Def Jam. That's when you knew you, that nigga. From, after you got it to the, they had the hierarchy in New York rap,

JZ, DMX. like a red man I'm talking about Jai like that's major yeah like I put X on my record on 4 321 and it blew up right I put cannabis on my record I put Foxy gave her first song you know what I'm saying

like those all of those artists they're amazing and they deserve it and you best believe it was in them offices like you got a new artist named Foxy you think we could go on the record introduce it to the world well they did I'll give you one better actually Chris Lighty may rest in peace what he did was he took Foxy to the studio

and just threw her and I shot you and with the trackmasters and I walked in the studio and they just played it and wanted to see it and it was up to me to let it stay and I let her stay they didn't ask me see it wasn't even no ego on board he could have been like

get the bitch off my record who the fuck recorded a you're flying I'm saying but a lot of people would oh yeah there's a lot of people that would lose their mind because they you know some people handle their art in different ways. I don't want nobody touching my shit.

You know, you got some finicky motherfuckers out here. Definitely. You know, you got some motherfuckers. You ought to try this shit with the whole room would have been fired. I don't want to work with none of these motherfuckers no more. Definitely. You know, but, you know, that's about your POV with the art, right?

Like me, I'm, I don't mind experimenting with the music. You ain't supposed to. Yeah, I like, so, you know, it could get you in trouble sometimes because you do things that people think is left and outrageous and ridiculous, and then other times it's like the most rewarding shit in the world. But I don't mind trying new shit.

I'm fearless with music. That's why I made I need love in the middle of all this hardcore shit and I made I need love. Because I'm fearless with that. Like, I don't, I never allow the environment to dictate to me what I'm going to do

or what I'm afraid to do. Right. You know what I'm saying? I go with my own inspiration. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely. Like, you know what I mean? Yeah, I knew exactly.

Like I was a little kid. I could watch dude small. smoke weed and I smoke none and they be teasing I don't care. Peer pressure, what? I'm not listening to none of that shit. You know what I'm saying? Like I, you know, I've always been like that. You know what I'm saying? So that's a blessing. Yeah, that's real

because when the first time I seen Gil smoke a crack dust blunt, I said, I ain't doing it. I ain't doing that shit. I ain't listening. I ain't listen. That's on you, baby. Look, you got my man back here. You got, damn. He got naked. Cracking dust, trust? Because when he starts, he started taking your clothes on. I'm like, oh, put you crust, that crack and dust, that crust?

It was crazy. You know, when you start smoking that crust, B, that shit is... You know, that's a little bit. You got the legend on you're talking about I'm smoking crust, man. You do it. Yo, yo, you know, B, a combination of dust. He got crazy. What?

Ran down the street screaming. Ah, get them off me. Oh, man. We got some dust one time, man. We was in the movies, punching each other in the face, laughing, man. That dust wasn't no joke. What? Don't do it.

Don't do it. Don't do it. Then Wiggles ain't nothing to play with it. My man was like, yo, you smoke Zootie? I heard one time years ago when Sean first got the Live Nation, he smoked some dust ran around Live Nation assnaker. Yeah, Sean got crazy. He was on a Roots tour, ran around, ah!

Blackthor was like, oh, put your shit on. Take my shit off. Take it off. Yeah, take my shit off. Yeah, take the shit off. That button-nege. When they called DC the Butt-Naggett. He had a DC called it the Butt-Neggat.

With Quest Love drumsticks. now they're listening to Troublefucking shit Chuck Brown and the soul searching Smoking that butt mecky That go-go That butt-knack getting rigging and raw Smoking that butt neck What up DC? I love y'all

You know I love y'all Now to the young artists out there Or any artists out there Or anybody doing anything in life With some game you could give a man Directly before we get out of it Right so I would tell you First thing

You have to believe you see you got to believe that is possible first you know what I'm saying and then you have to you know there's a saying in business

that you always make sure your objectives match your strategic capabilities right so what it really means is like if me and you got a goal to run a marathon and we got to, you know,

but one of us has one leg, that's not a realistic goal. We might have, we can figure out another way to do it. You could get an electric wheelchair, you get a scooter, but that's a different thing. But if the goal is to run,

I mean, not that it can't be done, but you just have to make sure that your goal and your capabilities line up, okay? I'm not looking to try out for the NBA this week. You know what I mean? That's not going to happen.

Right. It's just not. You know what I mean? Like, forget about it. It ain't even about the knees. If I was fucking 20, it ain't going to happen. If my knees was fucking, if my knees was titanium, it wasn't going to happen.

All right? So my point is like, if I'm fucking lifting the crust, if you got to believe in the beauty of your dreams, you got to believe in yourself, you got to write your goals down, and you got to take action and go after it. And every day, whatever you do should be getting you one step. closer to what your dream is.

If what you're doing ain't getting you one step closer to your dream, then why are you doing it? So the question I would always, I would put out there is before you make any move, is what's the advantage? I mean, that's a pretty simple question. That answers, it helps a lot. Before you do something, say, oh, what's the advantage? Because a lot of you niggas doing shit with no advantages.

It's no advantage. It's zero advantage. So when you make a move with zero advantages, then you're just playing yourself. Yeah, you're hustling backwards. oh boy that ain't yeah hustling down fuck backwards you're hustling down bro you know what I'm saying like you fucking you know what I mean you got the back you know the shovel on the back of your back just hustling down like wilding so that's the thing I would say and then I would just tell people like

don't live your life comparing yourself to other people that's a huge mistake and it can be It could, it could go both ways, right? It could excite you or it could depress you, but at the end of the day, you should not live your life based on comparisons. Because that's not what it's about. You are on your own journey. You have to be comfortable with that. If you don't get comfortable with the fact that you're on your path.

Because, see, remember we talked about people being honest with themselves? Well, every decision that you made in your life got you to this point. You got to be honest with yourself. how can you look at somebody else and say, oh, well, he's up there, or she's up there, or she has a way better job than me, or her husband, or this one has this or that. Every decision you made in your life got you to the point you at. So what are we talking about? So just focus on making better decisions for you.

Focus on making your life better. Focus on getting your, making your dream of reality. Focus on that. And then the last thing I would say is don't be selfish. Be generous. you know what I'm saying be generous you know what I'm saying be a giver

hustler told me a long time ago I even name check him it was Ronnie Bump told me in Queens I walked in the park one day I'm a little kid you know what I'm saying he's the man

you know what I'm saying he said to me you know little man he said you know Bump supports you he said but let me tell you something he said when you come in the park or when you come in any room in this world

he said come like this not like this and I learned that. So when you come, come to give, don't come to take. Right. You feel me? And I think with that being said, and you know that's right, whether you're in the penitentiary, whether you're on the street,

like when you come with, when you live by those kinds of principles and rules, you have a better chance of making your life a reality. All right. You know, and making your dreams come true. You feel me? Absolutely. That's it. And the last but not least, for me, I believe in God.

you know what since the beginning always now you always you know you always say grace be to God you always say that all the time

and how powerful has your relationship be God well I tell you man like me I'm a big believer in tithing you know what I'm saying you know 10% of everything I get I give to the church you know what I'm saying

I always give 10% of anything I get I give 10% to the church I believe in God, you know what I'm saying? And, you know, I know that it's through grace and mercy that I'm able to accomplish the things I've accomplished. You know, I'm not, you can't really engineer what I've done without it. You know what I'm saying? You can't go from a street corner to the Rock and Royal Hall of Fame

in the Kennedy Center honors, you know, without some grace. You know what I'm saying? It's just not possible. be you know what I'm saying so it's like when you when I look at the things that I've accomplished I know that God is in the midst of it and I have to I have to be right I have to recognize that you know what I'm saying so like with Elle it's like yeah I'm confident without a question but I'm not arrogant and I don't move with arrogance I don't believe in that shit right you know what I'm saying I hate that shit right because looking down on

people to me is like a form of bullying almost because it's fucked up and I don't like it so for me it's like I see people I see people I see human beings you know what I'm saying I don't care how much money you got in your pocket don't have in your pocket whether you're famous not famous whether you're sitting on the high fashion or whether your gears twisted it doesn't matter I look at people as people

right you know what I'm saying and you know that's kind of how I live my life you know what I'm saying and that's how I build my company that's how I build and I've done the things I've done you know me that's it absolutely we appreciate you all y'all shout that concert out listen man I'm gonna say this man

the tour out the force I'm the lead hype man on the tours listen the force lot no I gotta put the out there no I got to put that out there

you don't want to the lead hype man you know he's because I'm your hype man you're the lead you're okay okay okay so I'm top billing I'm the top billing

hype man is going down man to four listen go get your tickets right now I'm talking about I'm talking on I'm talking on Queen Lativa

MC Light Ice T Jada kiss Raqam uh Mepid man and Red man you got

Slick Rick and Dougie fresh together But, like, I'm talking about the list goes on. This shit going to be crazy. Bone thugs and harmony. Goody mom, big boy, common. It's like, you know, it reminds me of, like, when I was a little kid and we would go,

we would go to the OJ's, like, my mother would go to OJ's or my mother would want to go to Teddy Pendergrass or my mother would want to go, you know, see that. Like, this is an opportunity for people to see, like, if James Brown was alive right now, I would go to that show. Like, this is an opportunity, like, if Prince was around, I would go to that show. If Michael Jackson was around, I would go to that show. So this is an opportunity for people to see historical figures. Like, you've got to understand like that we're just,

just because we're of this, of these times, you can forget who you're having an opportunity to see until it's too late. Right. So go see, come see the tour. Right. And be in the house and be a part of history. Because everybody that comes to see us is going to be a part of history. Listen, and take your mom, take your pop.

If you really want to know where your mom and your pop is, take them to this show. That's what I'm saying. You're going to see some other shit. You did it. You might have been made off a couple of these records. I ain't know you get crazy like that, Mom. I represent Queen she was raised up in Brooklyn. It's our first time together.

It's going to go down, baby. You never see a bomb. No doubt. You're going to sit the other side of your mom and the other side of your dad. Like, damn, Dan, I ain't know you snapped like that. Oh, man, I ain't see Chuck in them on there, man. I never saw. Trust me.

Say no more. Say no more. But, um, I got to, fuck, Dad. Chuck is my man, so. You can't wait to come on. Base. How low can you go? Off row.

What a brother. No. Once again. Put a word in with Chuck. See, can I step with the S1Ws? Can I step with him? Just go that and just asking. Shut the fuck up, man.

Yeah, that's what I'm going to say. Absolutely not. I can't, yeah, I can't do that. But I can work with you, you know, for me. You know what I can't speak for Chuck. I got to find Chuck then. I got to. No, no, no, no.

He did the show. You know, I'm going to be looking for him? He's stepping all out of place. I'm looking for you looking for. No, I can't get the hype up because Flav will check me. I can't do that shit. Flav, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You're fucking up, you're fucking my name.

I might get, I might get kicked off because if you chuck and Flav come, Flay might be like, who, how you get permission to be a hype man? You guys do the hype man school? I love it. You go to hype man to kind of me. I love it. Spliff Star and all that shit. There's a lot of shit going on, man.

You definitely ain't fucking with Spliff Star. Spliff will be right there. What you're saying, yo. Spliff, Sliff, Lex. He's a legend. Let me be killing that. What? You can't.

You're going to go fuck the hell set all. I got it. Now, get that nigga off stage about a third song. Nick, a security going to come to me. The white ball. Ah, come in. It's all love, man. It's all love, man.

I appreciate you. Listen, make sure y'all get them tickets. I'm pretty sure the dates are going to be sold out soon. So get them tickets ASAP. Buy some merch. Box some merch And it's just like that You can go to

Just go to the site Go to Live Nation Go to ticket master The link at LL Instagram Check it out We got the tickets right there Right in his bio You know what I'm saying

Live Nation is going down Rocking baby And it's just like that Right Get it