New Rory & MAL - Episode 549 | Akeem Ali

Episode Date: September 24, 2026

Friend of the show, Akeem Ali drops by to kick it with us before he kicks off his “The Texture Tour”. The guys wrap about social media promotion strategy, his alter ego “Keemy Casanova”, and the inspiration behind that. Akeem shares his experience being signed to former NBA player, Lou Williams, and how that connection happened. He also speaks on his upbringing in Jackson, Mississippi, working with Ciara, and fans speculating on his relationship with Muni Long. His newest project, “The Texture Tape 3” is available now, as well as his tour! Visit your nearest Boost Mobile store or https://www.boostmobile.com/promo/25-foreverSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin Unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. There should not be a single law enforcement agency. It does not have body cameras. It's real. Black farmers have been under attack.

This is just the latest example of them just slapping DEI on anything. It's raw. And I'm sitting here going, they are playing y'all for fools. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. And download Roland Martin Unfiltered on. on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts. Or wherever you get your podcasts. Good old Saratoga.

I know y'all just put it in this bottle. Just, you know, for the ambience. That's 100% what we did. I'm on my Icelandic now, though, but... That shit is good. Saratoga, Icelandic actually got two the best sparkling waters, too. Yeah.

Saratoga sparkling water is crazy. Yeah. The Icelandic now in the glass bottle, that's a water game change. Oh, no. They sparkling water and the glass bottle. Yeah. So, no, we can record this one.

It's not an ad. We just believe in this water. I ordered glass bottles. I ordered on Amazon. Glass bottles of this water. Game changer. They sent me to plastic. So it happened before and I was like,

I said, yo, I ordered glass because it's more for the glass bottle. Yeah, of course. So I hit Amazon back. I said, hey, I ordered glass. They sent me plastic. They refunded me the last time I bought like three cases of it. So this time they sent plastic in and I went to go do the same thing, that option no longer exists.

Because they never had it. So even if you order the glass bottles and they send plastic, you can't even be like, yo, but I order the glass, like I want a refund. Like you can't, they did will not refund you anymore. I only see them at my deli. I don't see them at every other deli. Yeah, so now that's what I've got to find like a grocery store to actually go in and buy the glass bottle. Go to Whole Foods

and get that glass sparkling. Icelandic? Yeah, yeah. And it's not like, you know, some of them be like super carbonate. It's like a crisp, clean bubble. Yeah. And it's like not like super bubbly to where it's like Strong as a Coke or Sprite. It's like soft bubbles.

That's just like. That's how you're a strong. Yeah, I'm a fancy nigga now. I can tell by the time. You know what I mean? If you haven't noticed yet, we are joined by the very talented, very charismatic,

the most viral nigger probably on Instagram when it comes to any rapper, any artist. You can't open Instagram without seeing this gentleman. We are joined by Akeem Ali. It's been the bill.

It was in today. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. We've been trying to connect with I keen for a while. Roy, you remember years ago. I played Kimi Kassanova on the old show. And a lot of people hit me after I played a record. Like, yo, is he joking?

Is he for real? Like, I'm like, no, he's rapping for real. This is the character that he created. But the bars are always there. But talk to us about the character, Kimi Kassanova. Obviously, what most people probably know you from. Yeah.

Like, how did that whole idea come about? Was that something you was like, I need to create kind of like an alter ego. Was it intentional like this is going to just grab people's attention because the aesthetic of it all is so different? I just kind of didn't know. It was more so of an active desperation. Okay. And so it was supposed to be the name of a song. I named the song Kimi Kassanova.

Right. And people liked it so much that they thought that's his name. But it was like, no. this is not who I am. It's just like, you know, I'm naming that song that. Yeah. And it just stuck, man. And so I just had to be the character and like do that.

And it was like a let me just create content type of situation. And so like even now where you see me doing like different freestyles for the cities that I'm going to be going on tour to. It was like I had to turn into serve mix a lot. I had to turn into like bone thugs. I had to turn it to like, you know what I'm saying? And take that character wrong. And it was like that type of thing. But it's like it's stuck and it's like most people's introduction.

And it's like, no, you hear it now. like yeah and we don't want shit but that yeah yeah just stuck it man and had to wiggle myself out of that because i had like pigeonholeed myself into it i was how did you get out of that because that's that's tough that's a gift and a curse yeah a lot of fucking work i had to kind of like ooze or ease who i really was back into it you know what i'm saying because for a long time when people would see me out and i didn't have a fro man why you ain't got on the fro why you're having a ass guy where you're your bitch is at and I was just like where your bitches are

yeah it was just like all type of shit I would have led with that question yeah he is yeah yeah nigga I'm in here grabbing milk I can't wear in the jug I'm like what the fuck like sparkling water

yeah I'm just grabbing some sparkling water brother yeah yeah man it was that shit was a lot of work but I maneuver my way back into like regular content and even now it'd be people like he need to go back to Kimi Kassanova

and when I'm doing too much Kimi Kassanova he need to go back to Akim Ali or he needs to and so it's good because it sets the tone for me being able to give everything. And so it's nothing that's too far left or too far right. And it's like, if he puts out Akema Ali music, well, he kind of came out like this first for y'all who didn't know.

Then he'd do Kimi-Cast-Nove, it's like, well, he's kind of been doing that from because we didn't know. And so it's like, boom, perfect. You go through the storm and it's like, like, hectic at first. And then when you get out of it, it's like, now I can do what the fuck I want to do. Right. You know what I'm saying? Drake makes a Caribbean album.

It's like nobody or international albums like, well. So he kind of been doing this. He gave us moments of this. Yeah. So we can't say we didn't know or he's experimenting or losing it. We've had this. You're a Kendrick fan. You can.

Huh? Man. But I want to talk about just that whole moment because this was 2020. Yeah. Right. Now, when I had first sort of video, like a lot of people, that was the first time I had heard the record. Yeah. That sort of video.

And immediately I was like, I understood. I said, okay, I see what he's doing. Yeah. But I'm listening to the lyrics, though, just because that's where I come from the music. I'm listening to what you were saying. So immediately I knew, like, I'm like, no, he can really rap, though.

This is obviously a character that he's created. I like it. Yeah. But I was like, I wanted to see if it was just for the moment, that's who you were going to be, or you were going to transition out of that and really show people who your true self was. Then seeing what you were doing as far as just rapping in the car.

Yeah. seeing all those videos I'm like okay no he can really really rap was that something you feel like took people a while to catch on to like yo but now I'm really because I even hit in your bars you say it a lot like none of these dudes can rap better than me

like I don't know if y'all have caught that yet yeah they can't what I will say is like now the Kimmy Katsanova character did help elevate the branding for me okay on a branding level that shit did numbers once I, I mean, wonders once I learned that like, nobody gives a fuck about how good you rap. It's about how it's packaged or what it looks like. Because there's people who've

come before me who rap really good or people who you've heard rap really well. And it's just like nothing attached to it that people can like attach themselves to or like associate themselves with. And so like it also helped me like rap different subject matter. So it's like when you hear Kimmy Kassanova, you expect fly shit from like a player like a pimp type. boom, boom, boom. So I can just rap about that shit all day fucking long. And I don't have to say shit about nothing else, but that's what you expect from that character.

So when I'm doing my car freestyle, it's like battle rap based or like, you know what I'm saying? Like one minute. And it's just like me just, wham, well, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar. And then over here in my personal, I can rap about something. So it just opens the gate to just prove like, whatever lane is there or wherever I'm at,

like, you do not win against me. Like, you know what I'm saying? And so it just helped me learn how to like, elevate my pen for real, for real. And that's what I, you know, I don't give enough credit to that character for that. Yeah. Because I was forced to talk about different shit

and still make it sound good. Yeah. Like it still has to be like, you know, like your book. Yeah. I think like Ludacris, I think, was similar in that way too. He was packaged so well and his videos were so amazing.

Sometimes I think people forget how good of a rapper ludicrous is. Yeah. And people forget, like, people just want to hear bars or they either want to hear like, relatability. Technique.

is a thing that is like lost, like certain times, like technique is so fucking important. And like I tell people from a technique standpoint, there's like three or four people who are like gods or like dogs when they come to that shit. Like Eminem, a technique god. For sure. Gid, technique.

Like, you know what I'm saying? And I can't say that Eminem or Gid were like outbar Wayne or side how to prince. But they're like, you know what I'm saying? When they come to technique, you have these people who are like, or like a fucking loopie. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

And so it's like. students of the real art of rock. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Now, you've mastered this thing of, like I said, any time I open Instagram, I'm seeing Akeem Ali, whether it's, you know, you're promoting the tour. Yeah.

Was that something that you came up with on your own, or do you have, like, a team of people where y'all just sit down and throw ideas and, like, how do we attack the algorithm? How do we, you know, get more visibility? How do we let people know that, this tour is coming to stores out, but in a unique, Akeem Ali way.

So my book agent called me one day, and he was like, man, you know, the ticket sales ain't doing so good in this market or none of the markets. You know what I'm saying? And I was like, he was like, well,

do you think you could get online and do like a freestyle for just New Orleans and see how that works? If it goes good, you can think about doing more. And I'm like, yeah, so I sit down one day.

I do shit like, I treat this like a job. Like, don't know about how to tell me. the clock in. So I get up some mornings at like 3.34 in the morning and we'll sit at the table and just write all fucking day literally for like eight, nine, 10, 11 hours. And got up, wrote the New Orleans freestyle. And I was like, you know what? While I'm writing New Orleans, I'm going, I'm going to do the Carolinas. I'm going to do Memphis. I'm going to do X, Y, Z.

I'm going. I'm going. I'm going. You know what I'm saying? And so doing that, I did it, dropped it. And people was like, we like, we like this. And I was like, hold my beer. You know what I'm going to be right back. And he gave me that idea. And he was like, just do one of them. And I was like, you know what? I'm just going to do all the shits.

You know what I'm saying? And I had seen one of my partners, Dear Silas, he had done it a couple of times for cities he was going to. But I was like, you know, and I always want to give him credit. You know what I'm saying? We're seeing it there first

because he'd be like going to Dallas and he like turned into whoever he needs to be for that. Or going to Houston and he like takes on that. You know what I'm saying? And so I was like, I'm going to do this shit for every fucking city, though. And every time you open your Instagram, Twitter, whatever, whatever, you're going to see me. Right. Like, once a week I need to have a video, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

Content in between that, boom, boom, boom. And that shit takes a lot. I'm going to 40 cities. And so it had to be like... We did it just for Detroit. You remember. Detroit wasn't clicking, so I had to rap like Eminem for a promo. Yeah, I got my Detroit promo sitting in my phone. Like, I got to do that. I got to do DC still. And they're sitting in my phone. I just got to like, you know, record them and shit. Like, do the videos for them. But like, yeah, man. Is it, is it, I remember, you said to me after I did that,

Eminempshire, say, if this don't sell tickets, we never going back again. Yeah, that's how it be. And I told, I told people, I'd be telling people that from these cities, y'all be like, come to this city, come to my city, come and see us. Nobody ever comes here.

And then I didn't like literally went out. Like, I dropped the EP and a project this year and had to do 40 more songs. These ain't like 30 second freestyle. Exactly. These are full, like I'm happening to engulf. I'm happening to like study, do work. sure these places look at what's there

figure out the culture call people and be like hey such such still open is that a still a thing like I'm having to do dead live research right for motherfuckers to be like great we still won't buy a ticket and I'm like what the fuck did I just do out of this shit for like and then motherfuckers

it's like they don't pay attention they like oh my god you should come to this city I'm like motherfucker I'm telling you I'm going on tour to this city with this freestyle yeah like name and shit in your city And they was like, I could be like doing a Houston freestyle. They'd be like, come to Houston and see us on tour. Yeah.

All right. Just listen to the freestyle. Like, did you hear anything I fucking said? And then I'm like, I'm going on tour. Get your tickets. Then the motherfuckers would be like, see all of the tour dates and be like, come to Ittawamba. I'm like, this ain't enough.

Come to Africa. I'm not selling the tickets where I'm going first of all. Like, give me in. Damn. I'm like, fuck with me. I'm like, what the fuck? Come meet me here. Yeah.

Come meet me here. Then maybe I can get to that shit. The worst shit is. The worst shit is when you do like individual flyers for cities and then all the comments will be from another city. It's like, yo, we in Chicago tomorrow. And all the comments is like, why are you not in Dallas? Yeah. And then I go to Dallas and no one from Dallas came.

I would tell you the worst. I would tell you the fucking worst. Go to Dallas. The show don't sell out or it don't come out how you wanted to. Or it may sell out or a few shorter selling out. Leave. Come to Dallas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Brother, sister. Oh, they didn't know you. They're like, oh, you was here like I just read last night. Christ. But that's, I mean, you know, it's kind of a good and a bad thing because obviously people are engaging, people are saying they want to see you come to my city. But then it is, like you said, I'm sitting here writing all of this, shooting these videos for the promo for the show.

And it's still not connecting to certain people. Is that something that you look at like you're doing something wrong or you're not doing enough or some people just ain't going to never connect to it? All three of them. Okay. It's something that I'm not doing. to win you over. You know what I'm saying?

Because it's like All right, so like we were just talking about the water All the waters that are out there You chose to drink the water you were drinking. But it's like, Ozarka is sitting over here Or you got like fucking pure life like, hey, I exist. And it's something they're not doing To pull you in.

Like you've drinking it before. You subscribed to it. I had a bottle of. But it's like, yeah, no, I just don't want that. So what is it that y'all are not doing? And we can't be mad at you for not drinking our water. Right.

It's just like, you do what you want to do. But if I'm the water company, I'm like, hey, what do we need to double down on? How do we need to, like, capitalize on X, Y, Z markets or, like, target this demographic of people in this area? Like, how do we do the thing to, like, you know, scale our business larger? And that's what I'm always thinking about. Like, it's not that they're not buying a ticket. What am I not doing that's making them not want to buy a business? Yeah.

Okay. I mean, because even... That's a great way to look at it. Yeah, like, even when we fired our previous booking agent, I was a lot of, I was still thinking on the accountability side of like we would put our London vlog out and all the comments to be like damn they was in London i'm like what the fuck are we doing how the fuck did the person that follows us not know we was in London last week that's not a booking agent problem though i know it's not okay so no we took accountability on that regard like even with infrastructure being fucked up

it does fall on us at the end of the day of not reaching our own fans but part of me thinks that's also an algorithm thing too that yeah it's tough to control like how the fuck do you follow us You pay for our Patreon and you still, this still did not get on your phone. That's a battle that I've yet to figure out. I don't understand that algorithm part where I can't even reach the people that follow me anymore. It's an attention game. I learned this. And I think the guy from the who created the Savannah bananas, the baseball team.

Yeah. And so they was trying to find a mascot and it was like, what do we do? How do we make this a thing? And it was like when he decided that the mascot would be like a banana, people were fucking pissed and it was like we don't want to be bananas like oh whatever

he's going to fucking ruin da da da da da and you know what at the time it would seem like such a bad thing you'd be like oh no I'm upsetting to people or somebody's going to say something bad or they're going to send threats it da da da da da da da it's not about whether it's right or wrong it's not about whether it's right

because if you can't bring attention to it gets absolutely nothing right so it's like it's like almost if a tree falls you know what they're there that happened like if it didn't have attention or eyes on it does it even matter and so it was so bad that it turned out to be good like because the banana

idea is fucking ridiculous until we win a game right and we can celebrate or we can have something that's like marketable like everybody we sell bananas at the games or it helps the economy or these are the ways that we can do X Y Z and it's like oh okay I'm a proud banana now you know what I'm saying and it's like no fuck you because at first like you gave me all type of shit about an idea that you just didn't understand you don't know what it takes to get here or how to put some of this shit together. You don't understand a shit that y'all thought about me, said about me, and like try to like shut down, you know what I'm saying?

And so it's like get attention. Once you get the attention for the thing about, you know, the algorithm, once it gets attention, if somebody says something negative in my comments, I respond and I pin it to the top. If they say something negative. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, like this shit is trash.

He can't rap as good as he think he does. He's not better than Kendrick. He's not better than this person. Why does it even matter? He's gay. He's this or he's too flamboyant. He's too, pen it. I don't care about how you feel about me as long as you feel something, right?

Because guess what happened? You just tricked yourself into telling your algorithm. Well, you just tricked your algorithm into like showing you me again. Don't you know when you comment on something? When you like something, enough to comment on it, share it, whatever, whatever the algorithm said, oh, they must like this. They're subscribing to it. They're commenting on it.

Oh, and then what happens is now you've got to come to your own defense in my comments and respond to other people. And the algorithm don't know what. whether it's good or bad, it just keeps saying, oh, they keep responding. They must like this thing. I don't give a fuck what you say about me. Say something, right? So I can make you look bad how you're trying to make me, you know what I'm saying?

And now the algorithm is going to say because these apps are designed to keep you on the app. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's not just like with certain keywords or certain shit that you do. You can't say click the link or do XYZ because it doesn't want you to go to external sources. It wants to keep you in that app. And that's how it's designed, right? You know what I'm saying?

If you're in Walmart, I want to keep you a Walmart sharper. Why the fuck I got shit going on about Target? X, Y, Z. Boom, boom, boom. And so it's like, whatever I got to do, keep you here. If you don't like me, you still got to see me. Yeah. Right? Even shit you don't like sometimes you send it to people.

Like, bro, look at this. Or check this out. Or da-da-da-da-da. It don't matter whether it's right, wrong, up down, purple green, left, right. It just gets attention. Yeah. And that's what the algorithm is based off for these apps is gain the fucking attention and and stop worrying about.

We base shit out. All feelings a lot of the time. I feel like this show. where I feel like, no, get the fucking attention. And that is the base level. If it can keep them on the app, you win them because the app will keep showing it to them. You know what I'm saying?

It may not be this post, but that's how you strike virality for like one post down, three, four posts down because it's showing that. The same motherfucker that said something bad about you or, man, they don't know what the fuck they're talking about that, and you got people on there coming. And we get offended sometimes like, they don't know me.

Why would they say? I don't give a fuck what you say. You talk about my grandma, my dog. You call me what you want. Pint it. And I'm going to say it. something so you can argue with me and I'll sit up and go back and forth in the comments with you just so you can keep on comment coming so you do you do subscribe to that type of interaction is healthy

for the for the for the algorithm as far as your content of going back and forth with yeah for the sake of words getting the job done because and then another thing is too even if some like if you're a fan of me and you see something you'd like hey this's too far on the keen bro like y'all come on y'all don't have to do this what it does is when you're you come and coming, it also, boom, triggers your algorithm. Everybody who was coming under a comment, it triggers your algorithm. Like, and so I'm just, even though you're seeing all types of shit, and that's why I stay in there and stay engaged with those people

because it's going to keep popping up on your algorithm. Yeah. Every time you say something about me, I'm going to be like, somebody was like the most gay rapper ever. I'm like, they say you're gay? Well, so the persona or Kimi Casanova is meant to be like a 70s, like, pimp. And if you looked at the 70s, like, niggas wore makeup. in the 70s, they had high waters on, like, tight pans. They were cropped up, and they were very, like,

um, they had very, like, feminine gestures. It was very like, you know what I'm saying? And so when I'm playing a character, I'm going to play the character. Like, yeah. Now, however it looks to y'all, it's like, whatever, whatever. And at first I used to get offended because I'm like, motherfuckers don't know me from the character. And it was just like, but if you're looking at the character,

you assume that is me. Right. And so I was just like, offended and shit at first. But once I learned, I was like, oh, nigga, that's not, too. You're just playing. I'm like, you're letting people like, troll you into like, and that's when I had to start learning. They're going to keep saying shit.

But you have to figure out a way to flip it and, like, trigger people to say stuff and then keep them there. Because you're reacting. Once you start reacting, I can control you. If you don't do nothing, it's just like, if you look at it and bypass, you never did it come in. I never knew you were there. Once you start reacting, boom,

got you. Yeah. Let's hone in on that. Like, let's see what's going on right here. But I mean, nothing about the Kimi-Castanova. I mean, well, sitting with the leg crossed, maybe. Only, hey, the only two people who see with their legs crossed are women and really rich people. Right. Men with a lot of, shit.

Right. Women. Can you pull up the Jay Z. New York Times interview and just do Google images? When I was young, we were talking not to sit like this because that's for women. The older I got, I was like, every rich white man that I see sits like that or every person that got a lot of money, they'd be like. And they lean into it. And I was just like. Yeah.

See, we hit the motherfucking goddamn like this, you know what I'm saying? See, you got some money. Yeah. But you ain't got this type of money. You know what I'm saying? You got some shit. Now, he ain't got no money.

Right. He's levels to it. You know what I'm saying? No money. Wide open like a slut. But show money? Some more money. Yeah.

You know what I don't see nothing about, you know, I mean, they call anybody gay. But I don't see how people will see the Kimi Kassanoa character and say, you know, oh, he's gay. Like that, to me, that is. But, you know, it ain't for me to decide. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, I just love that you feel something about it.

Maul, you see DeMaris over there just overpaying for wireless? She does that from time to time. It's crazy. Boost Mobile has proven, Demaris, that you do not have to overpay for great wireless. Unlock the savings with $25 a month, forever unlimited plan. Forever. It's a permanent price with no contracts, no price hikes. You can keep the same phone you have right in your hand.

Right now, DeMis. I see that one. But save up to $600 a year compared to the major carriers. DeMaris, please stop overpaying. and switch to a fair price at boostmobile.com today. Demaris, did you know that based on the average annual signal line payment of AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the BoostMobil Limited Planet as of January 2026? For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com.

You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Hello. Oh, my gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish, right inside the free IHard Radio app. Gets the blood going up. Catch every laugh and eye roll on shows like the Tom Green Farmcast. Park the bus. Now with full video.

We're building a ramp for Tony Hawk. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry. With all the hilarious moments you've been missing right on your screen. Cheers. Open the free IHRRadio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed.

And the argument is, do you want to win? If you don't win, you have no power. It's real. Those are the very people. who I always say vote against their own economic interest and they complained about the very thing to receive. It's raw. I knew that the issue of transgender athletes

was not going well with a lot of black men. Roland Martin unfiltered. I went off, I said, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Y'all going to scream at Chanel, but you don't want to see a black luxury company in the same vein. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. seats, those are moving south. So if you Democrats, you don't wait to 2030,

you better be hitting the ground going hard in the south now. And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the IHart radio app, Apple Podcasts. Wherever you get your podcasts. How much of it you feel like is, like, how thin is the line between gimmicky and like really just trying to get visibility, though? Like, how much of it do you battle with like, okay, this may start. feel like too much of a gimmick. I got to be careful.

It was that in the beginning, shit. And it was like an attention thing. And that's why I was like it was a mistake, but people liked it more than I wanted them to. And so then I was just like, shit, I made the mess. Now, how do I clean it up? You know, I got a mop. I got a broom. I got some bounty quicker, picker-picker.

I got a dish towel. Like, what the fuck do I use? And so it's like, with the tools I got, just shimmy all that shit together, to clean it up and, like, make it look presentable. So now it doesn't feel like a gimmick. It just feels like. And I accidentally like superbly trapped myself

into becoming a like a brand master and like branding some shit or like learning how to market because like I was just doing shit pressing buttons and making mistakes and it taught me how to like brand and like you know my director right that same right there he was like we was shooting last week

and he was like yeah you you don't care about looking stupid or failing or shit being wrong he was just like you just have this thing where like because some of that shit don't be looking like you think you'd be looking, but it's like you don't have that button in your head that says, I shouldn't be doing this

because it wouldn't look right to people. It's just like, do it and show people the process, show them like, it ain't always what you think it is in the beginning or it turns into something different. And so if you've seen me before, it's like, you know, you go from rapping in your car to like, I can't stop seeing any nigga. But at first it's just like, you know,

or you got the pimp persona or you got this, this, and then some of the videos or songs I've put out, like, I haven't even liked all of them, but it's like, I don't have a button that says, don't do it. You're willing to just try it. Just try it, you know what I'm saying? And let shit, you can't make it perfect if it doesn't exist.

It has to be a thing first for you to even start nitpicking, removing, putting stuff into place and trying to make it perfect. So people get so caught up in perfection. If you're a perfectionist, you probably won't be rich. Yeah. If you care about what people think or say too much. You feel what I'm saying? And so it's like, get the thing into existence first.

Make it exist and then fix it. like a Tesla didn't just come out like what it is today or the car you drive or some of these shoes that we wear a shit like you know what I'm saying? Worm of twigs on their feet. You know what I'm saying? For shoes.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? In the BC days and it's like now we got boots that come up to here and shit like moon boots all type of shit like to cover you. But just make it exist. We don't wear Jesus sandals but you know it's

people all fucked up. They just care too much about what people think. Yeah. You ever felt like with knowing that I don't want to say, well, yes, negativity to some degree based on your comments of pinning those type

of responses to lean more into negativity. I think you've done a great job of not doing that, but has that felt like maybe easier route? I'm not a negative person. I don't like that. Like, I don't, I don't want negativity, but when it's there, I'm like,

everything that's happening is for me to see things a certain way. So it's like stop fighting against it and, like, start using it. Yeah. If negativity is coming my way, I'm like, come on. Like, what's up? Like, fuck, we're here.

If y'all are going to be negative and if all this is going to be is negative, like find a way to make my negative a positive life. Yeah. I'm not going to fight the negative with the negative. You know what I'm saying? I'm just going to be like, I'm just going to use it. Yeah. For what it's used for.

Like, if that's that energy that's over there and shit, like, capitalize on it. Shit, figure out a way to do that. You know what I'm saying? We got, we got crazy motherfuckers out here. or people like just crazy and like not mentally ill but just like do shit. And we have managed to make a place for those people. Right.

Like you know what I'm saying? And all of the negative shit that they can do. Like people go out to kill people. People go out to cuss people to fuck out, beat people up. Right. Oh, let's create a place to keep all of these people together. Yeah. Like create places for that shit.

Positiveity. Yeah. Like we got spaces for everything. Like, you know what I'm saying? It's like, oh, positive people. Come over here and let's kumbaya in the park and like, you know what I'm saying? Hold up. peace signs and smoke weed together.

We're like, oh, y'all believe in Jesus. We got a place. We got all this church. Y'all can come here, like make a place for all of this shit. You know what I'm saying? So how did the relationship with you and Louville come about? My partner, my barber, we cut each other hair and he went to, he cut Lou hair too. Okay.

You know what I'm saying? So we both, we was both barbers. And he was at Lou House cutting his hair one day. And it was like, my boy, he do music, X, Y, Z, blah, blah, blah. He was like, what shit, play me something. played him something and wow got him and then he wanted to meet me you know what i'm saying he heard the music and it's just like shit all right well i think i want to sign you and i'm just like me all right niggum yeah let's do it yeah yeah and so from there we just kind of like kicked it on some cool shit like homeboy shit like you know what I'm saying just formed a relationship and shit like that and at first i was just like

i was skeptical about all this shit you know signing to somebody or doing business with somebody and there's a bunch of people in your face in one time it's like picking the best stranger. Yeah. I don't fucking know y'all. Like, yeah.

And you're my homeboy's homeboy. That don't mean you're the same person to me. Right. Right.

Or you're gonna be the same way to me that you are to him. You know what I'm saying? So it was just like shit. Doing it was cool starting out and you know,

luckily we became like homeboys or friends first because some of this this shit that we didn't have to tell each other or say to each other or express them been like enough to make motherfuckers like we're not fucking fall out in the street. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. But I don't, you know, I tell people, feelings towards me getting mad cussing me out saying your peace and just being like i was tripping well i'm like all right fuck it you know so you and will so you and lou will creatively have y'all you y'all had your differences on or is it on the business oh yeah on the business tip hell yeah yeah we

didn't have differences like we yeah yeah we bumped heads like a motherfucker but you know when we was just friends or it's like i noticed like at one point of time i could i was calling him he wasn't answering my phone calls And I'm like, I'm your artist. I ain't got no money. I can't do X, Y, Z. Right. You know what I'm saying? And then he'll pick up the phone one day when I call him.

Like, yeah, I ain't gonna lie. You can shit. You didn't blew me. Like, nigga, you just, this shit. You know what I'm saying? I'm spending money on X, Y, Z. And you ain't trying to do what the fuck I want to do because it's my money. It's my investment.

Or like, you know what I'm just like, well, on the other end, I got a child on the way. Or I got this going on. And I can't depend on people to do X, Y, Z. And in no capacity, shit, an artist or anybody be depending on another grown man, unless you're a woman maybe, or a child, another grown man to fund their lifestyle or fund their career. It's not lose dream to be a rapper as mine.

And so I had to start taking accountability, like, stop asking for shit. And if you're going to do shit your way, make your own way. Won't nobody be offended. And that's how I got myself to like right here. And it was just like, okay, shit. I noticed like if, and which is, is logical. Yeah. You're spending money on a project and somebody who don't listen to you.

It's like, why the fuck am I spending money for you to just do what you want to do with my money? You have to learn that, though. Yeah, and it's a gamble. I'm gambling on you because it's not guaranteed. Any of this shit is going to work. Also on the other side, if I'm signing someone, I'm signing them because I think their vision is incredible. Sometimes you've got to leave them the fuck alone. That's part of your investment.

That's true. Literally. To me, that's someone that's work with artists, I'm investing because I think you have the vision that you want to do. Like, I'm going to shut the fuck up and let you do what you want to do. I'm here to fund your vision. Yeah. But when you don't know that, and it's, they're a vision. been, we've sat on the phone day in and day out and just say, hey, we've gotten calls

some labels and we get on the phone like, yeah, I don't know what the fuck going on. Or I don't know what to do. Or I don't know none of the lingo they were talking about. And we get on the phone and say that. Like, he like, I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm like, yeah, me neither. And so that's where it's like, he got the funds. I got the talent.

But we still don't know what if, what, um, what eggs to put in what basket. You know what I'm saying? And so it's like, you can't just, we, we spent a lot of money in the beginning, just throwing eggs in random baskets that and it wouldn't work. And I was just like, fuck it. When he stopped giving me eggs, I was just like, fuck it. I turned into a chicken. I pop my own shit out and just get this shit grooving some type of way.

And so that's where we're seeing the effects of right now. And all this shit you're seeing, it ain't taking like a big budget, a whole lot of money. It's just taking like studying, watching shit, learning, and like capitalizing on it. When you get a moment, like when God give you the ball, ball. Right. Like a ball like a motherfucker. Well, like you just said, too, also we have to first just start and create something and then we work on it and then we figure it out and perfect it and get it to a place that we're all happy. But the fact that, you know, Lou even gave you a shot and was like, listen, I want to invest in you.

Yeah. That takes a lot because a lot of times people don't want to invest in you. They think you got some talent. That don't mean they're going to put you in a position to give you an opportunity to create your dream and your vision. He was smart because he knew labels and shit was calling to at the time. Yeah. This is one of the things where it was like... Absolutely.

There's this motion over. Yeah. He ain't got to do too much work. And then he got in and he was like, bam, got you. Right. There's something happening already. I just want to be a part of it. But even that bump does help too when you're negotiating with labels.

Like, I got a bank over here. Yeah. I have access to some capital. I think that hurt us a lot of times too. Okay. Wow. My motherfuckerger's knowing that you got a bank and it's like... Because they assumed...

Like, so you walk in the labels, some people know who he is. Some people don't know. some people just don't give a fuck. We know, but we don't give a fuck. That's his money. Right. He's not us and he don't have the infrastructure that we have. They see it all the time where athletes or people who make a lot of money

try to invest or get into the music business. They know that you don't know what's going on or how to operate any of this shit. So sometimes it hurt us is like, okay, you got money. We don't have to offer you so much money. Okay, y'all sing like y'all got to figure it out. And then like a lot of times people's like, hey, I thought you had a deal because, and, you know, we're independent. So it's just a person who sees.

the talent and they're spending their money. And then it's like, you're not major or signed until you're signed to a major label for people who don't know. So it's like you saying, hey, bro, I believe in you and I want to sign you to me. But you're not a label. Right. Or y'all ain't a label. You know what I'm saying?

And people would think, I'm signed. But now that I'm signed to y'all, now what? Because guess what? Y'all wanted to get this podcast on a network. Because y'all aren't. It's like independence is like that is separate. And so it's like, even y'all are trying to make strides to like, if I'm I can get my shit on, God damn Hulu, Netflix, Peacock at the same time, that would be

fucking great. Or if I can shine to somebody who's guarantee me X amount of dollars per month or per year, that would be great. And that's the goal. And man, when I tell you, bro, that shit was just so nasty, like on some crazy. Because motherfuckers always was like, we didn't know exactly what we needed or how to ask for it. And we also was just like, you know what I'm saying?

Give us an offer. And then when somebody giving us an offer, it don't sound right. Or it don't sound like something we feel like we can take or everybody. about it be comfortable. And it's also you don't know what the fuck to look for because I have never been in this position.

You're not a music niggily. And that's dangerous because, you know, sometimes those labels they smell that. They're like, you know, they don't know what they doing. Yeah, yeah.

You know what I mean? Like, yes, they have access to some capital but they don't know what they don't. And luckily we didn't sign or didn't do anything because now I would be like, fuck.

Yeah. And I'm glad that I had to like, you know, me and Lou kind of like bumped heads and I had to like do the shit myself or start like executing on my own. It's taught me so much.

so much that now, and he'll tell you, like, I sit back and let, let brother do his thing, and sometimes I'd be like, damn, like, I ain't gonna lie. He called me one time. I was on tour last shit. He was like, ain't gonna lie. You, you're hitting that motherfucker. Like, you're doing your thing. Like, for real. Like, he said, you're putting this shit together for real. You know what I'm saying? And that was just like, whether he gives it to me or somebody else makes it happen for him. It's gonna happen. Like, it's my shit. It's going to happen. Right. Yeah. Because we even saw that with like Meg and Carl Crawford, I think. Yeah, and again, I don't know their personal business,

but you just saw that maybe a label did take advantage of somebody with some money and a very talented argument. You can't say that about Meg, though. You can't say that. You shouldn't say that about Meg. Why? That was just some clickbait so people can look at it in. I was wondering what the fuck you said.

It's about it gets attention. If it gets attention, if it gets attention, if you clickbait that shit and be like, they had an argument about Meg this day and then you see me like, you can't say that. Why? Why not? Let me see what he said. Yeah, exactly. Oh, they trolling.

Jackson, Mississippi. Do we think that rappers from Mississippi may be better at the internet than anybody else if we're going to rank? Right now, yeah, hell yeah. I mean, Soldier Boy started everything. Yes, but I'm like... There's a lineage of... Yeah, like, Soljiboy... I got mixed bills about how Soldier Boy, like, and Soldier Boy, if you're hearing this,

you don't fuck with us, that's fine. But don't play both sides of the defense. I understand. And don't get on the enemy at telling us. Akeem, Ali, you a bitch. Don't do all that. Like, I'm not playing. I know how to fight.

I ain't said I want to fight. Don't take that the wrong way. Don't get on there doing all that. But like, we barely have anything. We'd be so proud to big you up and, like, speak on your name and just say, like, you know what I'm saying? But just fuck with us. Don't fuck with Ali. Give us a little credit.

You know what I'm saying? And like... Okay. So I'm trying for you are you upset with Soulja Boy because he's from Bompton now and he's not from Mississippi. I can't tell him what to claim, but I can't tell people I'm from Jackson, Mississippi, tried and true, proud, born and raised, but I wouldn't be the artist that I am without Atlanta.

Gotcha. I'm never going to misleadjia. And he could be from Leland. I just don't know how he grew up. Well, he's from Bombton. He told Floyd May with that to his face. Oh, man. I can't say where he's from.

I can't say where the man from. Yeah. Mr. Drake. Drake. Drake. Drake. Drake old. Big soldier. Man.

Boy. Soldier boy man. Kiss me through the phone. I can't say where you from, man. I don't tell you none of that. But it's like, give credit or pay homage. And I'm not saying that you have to, but I got to pay homage to Atlanta because I wouldn't be the artist or I wouldn't be seeing here in front of you out without the director

right there shooting and hitting me up with ideas on me back and forth and bouncing ideas off him. My photographer right there, like Latisha Marie Kavana, Kavanaugh, like I can't be without B-flat or without, you know, Roy O'Olland's or without Kilton. I can't be the artist that I am right now without some of these people who've hit. or put me in position. Like, I met Lou in, like, Atlanta. Like, Atlanta has, like, started my career.

Yeah. And so I can't just ever be like, you know, fuck them folks. Like, if you were in Mississippi when this shit started, this is a part of some of the shit that you, like, your friends or your surroundings or the people that were there with you, they helped you do some of this shit. Or this is the reason why you probably was raised in Atlanta and influenced by it wholeheartedly, which same with me and Jackson, right? You don't get the type of nigga that I am without the Jackson in me.

Right. But it's like, at what point do you say, like, shot. out to all my people in Mississippi. And maybe he's done it. I just haven't seen it. But it's just like, we'd be trying to claim Soldier Boy and people were, Solisible Mississippi, and he'd be like, I ain't from no motherfucking Mississippi. And I'd be like, whoa, nigger, what we do?

Is this so bad that you just can't say to this. Like, what's up? Yeah. But we, yeah. If you mean about rappers being the best on the internet from Mississippi, yes, I am. Gotcha. I am the best on the internet. The best rapper on the internet.

Yeah, me and Dersailles and one other rapper, I got to give his credit, La Russell. It's two people that I get a lot of my marketing from. I looked up to how La Russell market. At one point, you could not see La Russell on the internet. Like three, four, five years ago, you could not see that. This month, I said, God, are they paying him to do this? Who's behind this?

And I got so sick to see him. He mastered that. You're a better rapper than La Russell, but he's incredible. I'm a better rap than everybody. It ain't just him. It's everybody. It's you, your best friend, your grandma, your dog, all y'all are in anxiety. Soldier boy.

Salty boy too I'm a better rapping to solie boy I'm not fucking with you I'm not fucking with you I'm good I work very very hard for very fucking long to be this good

and it ain't just like he popped up out of nowhere and it's like he just started rapping you've seen me consistently for six years straight rap this good be this present

and like you know what I'm saying it ain't like like you just said oh okay he can really rap this ain't a facade he didn't just pop down and like pull some shit

and just struck by look You know what I'm saying? No, I work very fucking hard to be this good. And why am I doing it if I'm not better than all y'all niggas? Man, like, what? Come on, though. Is there anybody that you reached out to to work with? I thought people would say to anybody you think.

I'm for the hell now. No, no, no. That's your name. Jesus. No, anybody that you. God, like, you can't. You tried to work with and they weren't as receptive as you would have liked them to be. Like, you reached out to them.

Yeah. I reached out to people. I used to reach out to people all the time. When people didn't get it for me or when people. when people didn't see it. And I see people now who like, I didn't DM them before. Man, listen to my project, but could you check me out? And they didn't see it because I was a nobody.

And then it's like, years later, like, whatever. Hakee Mali. I'm like, shrew bitch, your ass up. Right, right. I'm just like, I'm just glad they recognized it. What's the Sierra record doing for you, though? Because that's a, that's a great look. Man.

And how is that connection happening? Okay, so right here, my photographer, Letitia Marie is one of the people, one of the people who worked very close with KP. KP hit me about the record Kwan Prather He hit me about the record And was just like You know, C got this record

And we thought you would sound good on it Me, I'm just like Because sometimes people would have you do records And not use them Oh yeah And so I'm just in the groove of like I'll be working so much I'm like yeah I do the record

The Sierra and she use it Whatever And she don't whatever I'm so used to writing and putting shit out I'm just like fuck it And I sent it to him He was like oh boy you killed this motherfucker And I was like

Appreciate it and I'm just thinking nothing of it It's sitting in my phone Then one day Somebody hit me And was like hey it's me And C wants to know When can you do content

Or shoot a video or something I'm like Oh yeah And I'm still not thinking nothing of it Even now I'm just kind of like Damn it's so surreal Because I'm like I grew up watching Sierra

On a money car Like you know what I'm saying Doing her thing on top of Money Carlo Yeah And it's just like Now I'm sitting on the back of a Cheval You know what I'm saying

Rapping my verse with her She's driving crazy Yeah I'm just like Fuck you know It's very sweet You know what I'm saying very kindred spirit man like nice um man it was just like damn you know and it was almost just kind of like while i'm sitting on the backseat rapping i just wanted to be like is she real yeah

yeah you yeah you for real what's your last name i'm like shit no the song is dope though thank you i appreciate it yeah yeah yeah yeah i like the visual for the album i mean for the for the song as well. And I just think that's fire that she had the record and wanted you on it, not the other way around. And was ready, willing to, like you said, just shoot a visual full. I think it was a mixture of things too, like meeting people who've known people or who meet people and like they believe in a vision.

I don't think that she just had like, let's put a Kim Ali on it. I think somebody saw a vision for her and said, hey, this guy would be good. But at any rate, she could have heard him and been like, yeah, no, fuck that, somebody else. And she heard it and was like, I like this. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It takes a lot for a motherfucker to just like it. You can like it.

He can like it. That don't mean she's going to like it. She's going to like it. Everybody don't feel the same about it. So for everybody to be in agreeance and like, hey, this is the guy. And like, yeah, I was like, shit. That's dope. Yeah, man.

Do you also got into the joint with money, money long as well? Yeah. Well, it's on her album, but nobody knows that. But y'all will hear that later on. I see what you doing with these features, man, with the women, man. It's still some Kemi Kassanova in there. They get like, do you hate it? What?

What do you mean, man? Everybody's married in that situation, too. No, no, no, everybody's married, but it's a lot. It's just like you in this picture, you money right here in this picture. Money isn't married. Money isn't married. Okay, my bad. People think she's married.

So, like, you know, I don't want to have like a misperception or people be like, you know, isn't she married? Why aren't you? You know what I'm saying? My bad iceberg? Yeah, no. I saw you at the BET Awards on the carpet, you know. The aesthetics was, was very, very nice.

Uh-huh. You know, just putting that out there. Do with that what you will. Uh-huh. But I like the record. Man, hey, what record? But don't you have a record with her? What record have you heard?

I've been seeing y'all. You saw me in a video of hers, probably. Yes. And yeah, so that was a record that was off her album, and it was for a rollout. Okay. So we did the video, and it's just like, you know, the video looks so fucking amazing, so good. The Richest by Money Long go stream that today. All right.

also streamed DeLulu. I think that's out. Yeah, support her. Support her. And support Akeem Ali. Yeah, support me. That's why I'm here. Mall football is back, and it's time to level up your approach to the NFL and college football this season because Polly

Market is here. Polly Market is a legal prediction market now available in all 50 states. Unlike traditional sports books, on Polly Market, you can trade on all things for. football, whatever you want, from the Saturday and Sunday slates to who wins the Heisman, to who's going to perform at the halftime show, which we're talking about on this episode today. You might have to put something down on that. Definitely might have to put something down on that. Polymarker gives you the freedom of cash out instantly.

If the momentum swings, you sell it off in real time, you are in control. No one can lock you out. And you can also buy in any time. So when the market dips Rory, like if a team starts slow and drops to say 40%, that's not a loss. that's when you buy in. Total opposite. At Polymarket, you can buy cheap and ride the momentum back up. Polymarket is so confident you'll never go back to the old way.

They're issuing a challenge. They are giving you a $50 bonus when you deposit just $10. Sign up right now with promo code Rory Mall. That's Polymarket.u.S. And use promo code Rory Mall to get a $50 bonus when you deposit just $10. You've heard the chaos. Now you can see it. Hello.

My gosh. Watch all your favorite podcasts from start to finish. Right inside the free IHAR radio app. Gets the blood going up. Catch every laugh and eye roll. On shows like the Tom Green Farmcast and park the bus. Now with full video.

We're building a ramp for Tony Hawk. It's the same hosts and the same chemistry with all the hilarious moments you've been missing. Right on your screen. Cheers. Open the free IHR Radio app. Search video podcasts and tap watch. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast?

Here's what you missed. And the argument is do you want to win? If you don't win, you have no power. It's real. Those are the very people who I always say vote against their own economic interest and they complain about the

very thing they're receiving. It's raw. I knew that the issue of transgender athletes was not going well with a lot of black men. Roland Martin unfiltered. I went off, I said, this is exactly what I'm talking about. Y'all going to scream

at Chanel, but you don't want to see a black luxury company in the same vein. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. Twelve seats. Those are moving south. So if you Democrats, you don't wait to 2030, you better be hitting the ground going hard in the South now. And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts.

Wherever you get your podcasts. Texture tape. The texture tape three is available now. Yeah, hell yeah. What was that process for you finally getting that together and getting that out on DSPs? I wrote some of that shit on tour last year

just in passing some of those songs. Some of them I had already prepared. Some of them just came up on like, you know, the biggest song off there right now, Mesh wasn't even supposed to be on there. I was trying to find a song that went in between latex and yarn and just got home from the studio one night

and just literally started home and a voice memoir into my phone and just like went to the studio. you recorded that. Stuff like Ray Young was more curated and just writing that and passing while I'm jotting down lyrics every day. Stuff like acrylic.

I think I started writing like acrylic on tour. Spandex was a song that I just kind of like revamped. Wool was something about some crazy shit. Silk was, you know. Velvet, I was coming from a baby shower one day and literally just made the hook to Velvet just on mistake. I was just in the booth doing runs

and just came up with that and was just like, All right. You're doing a lot of that more, too, like, letting people know that you actually have, like, you can, you can, you can rap and kind of hold a melody. Yeah, my name is Talented. Talented. Yeah. Talented.

Welcome to my Ted Talk. Welcome to my Ted Talk. You know what I'm saying? I'm talented. And welcome to my talented talk. Hell yeah. This is my best project out right now, like, as far as, like, uh. Most artists say their latest project is their best.

I don't always say it. Yeah, I don't always say. I intentionally don't put out my best shit. People think they have heard like the pinnacle of me rapping. No. And like not to be funny about it, but to be in all seriousness, you haven't heard me decline rapping.

Or you haven't heard like, like, maybe you don't like it as much as you like something else, but you can't say it's lacking bars or that it's lacking, like, the achim alineeness of it. Like rap-wise, this is good. Songs, this is good. I got shit so wicked sitting in my phone.

I'm like, my ears bleed sometimes when I'm listening. Well, why are you holding it? I'm not. I just put out a project. Nah, but you just said you got some shit in your phone. Yeah, it's going to come out. It's going to come out. Just not text your tape.

I'm thinking about doing a text of the album. And that's going to be the end of that. End of that series. Yeah, the end of that. But this is getting people like in the groove. Shout out to my photographer, Latitia. She shot this. The art, the artwork.

Yeah, and then somebody else put the, the three over it. Shout out to her for that. Shout out to Ari. Kavon, he was there that day. We shot like the velvet visual. That's a whole velvet wall, suede wall type shit.

So like, yeah. How do you time out putting projects? Like, you say you have stuff that's unreleased you want to do the texture album. Like, how long do you wait in between? Do you kind of judge that off algorithm shit too, the way you go with social media? When you're independent,

you kind of just do what you want. And it's like a different structure. set up like I'd be one to take like the young boy or the Larry June approach and just boom boom boom boom but for my shit it's like give it a minute let it settle in like live with it sometime like I don't want to drop another project at least until like another year and a half two years and just let people live with this one yeah I don't want to be hungry to just drop music all the time but when it dropped it needs to be like this what the fuck is he doing or like how is and when you hear it you're gonna be like I thought this

this thing was bullshit like I thought he was playing but he really not fucking playing you know what I'm Man. So far I've been right about everything. I said I was going to do. So far I've been right about everything. What do you think the biggest misconception about you is as an artist? I think a lot of people just think I give a fuck, man. I don't know.

And they just be thinking. I thought it was the gay pimpsing. Yeah. Fuck all that. I would be like, whatever. I don't be giving them fuck about a lot of stuff. And people be thinking I do. But I just be like, y'all do y'all.

thing, man, and I'm just going to sit over here and chill and rap and just vibe, you know. No, but people be thinking I'm somebody they can play with and I'm not. Who be thinking that? Everybody. You seem like such a just a cool, in your own zone type of dude. I don't, I be trying to convince people of that, but they don't give a fuck. And so I just be like, all right. People think I'm just like talking shit when I be saying I rap good or they just be like,

he can't rap this good. I've never heard of him. Anybody that sees your videos or hear your bars can't. They can't not say you don't rap. Like, anybody that listens to rap and the end you rap, they're going to say, yo, this dude can rap. You'd be surprised.

No, that's just, niggas just hating. You'd be surprised. I'm telling you, like, they'd be on some shit, patch. I'm telling you, they're disrespecting me in my own hood. Can't do that. That's just them.

Having that video with Sierra, music come on money long, like, that changes all of that. I will tell you, like a very big misconception that a lot of people have around what I do is that.

They think that I have it all figured out or that I got it all put together or that I have more than I already do or that I'm probably rich or that I'm like, you know, you see people on the red card. I got invited to the fucking BETT Award. Like I'm not rich or famous and like, you're in a video over Sierra. You must have a million dollars. No, I don't have none of this shit figured out. I don't have it like y'all think I do. I'm just one person who just decides not to quit. Keep pressing them buttons.

Like, when you're playing the game, you don't know what to do, you just start pressing shit. I'm that nigger. Like, if I'm losing, I'm going to just start doing. shit and I just press all the buttons at one time and like you know what I'm saying like so I don't have it all figured out or I don't have like this grand you know what I'm saying people be like can you listen to my stuff or give me some advice I can tell you to stop going but then you're going going be like he's trying to be funny I mean uh to don't stop going or don't quit you're going you're going to think I'm being funny yeah keep going that's literally the answer to all of this

shit like don't stop you know what I'm saying and just like make sure you got the right direction right execution I was telling somebody the other day you know what's crazy they was like why people be like why ain't I further ahead than what they think I should be you know if you stand at the top of Madison Square Garden and shoot a basketball into the hoop and make it that shit is so impressive right mm-hmm still two points though right or three it's three no it's not even um it only counts when you're playing inside of this rectangle that's true you know what I'm saying and when you're shooting on the correct goal and when it's your team's turn to like when you've stolen the ball or got the possession it's impressive from way up there but until you learn how to like do execution like you got the fastest car on the track

but you're outside of like you're out of bounds or you're on the fucking side wall riding and you're faster than everybody but you never cross the finish line because the finish line ain't on there like over there and so it's like have all these things and be good but execution matters

and how you're doing it where you're doing it when you're doing it all of that shit matters that's a fair you know what I'm saying and so some of it is very impressive like hot sauce kids put it ball on this shirt and throw that motherfucker around boom boom boom boom but you know what I'm saying

my guy and not that he's fucking phenomenal lethal shooter okay yeah motherfucker could shoot a basketball from out of space right why don't he got Steph Curry money right

you know what I'm saying like why don't he got Kevin Durant money there's other nuances you have to learn before you feel me and so it's just like we could just post this motherfucker up and just pass on the ball and just every time it just don't work that way though yeah you know

absolutely Yeah. Oh man, we really, really Hold on, man, I'm going on tour. Oh, yeah, no. Let the people know. Listen, we want you to plug everything. I'm going on tour, man.

Let the people know where they can find you, when they can see you. I'm going on tour. Y'all buy tickets to see me on tour. Now, let me tell y'all because people tell me. Are you going to wrap it, though? Am I going to wrap it? Yeah. No, no, no, it's too much shit to wrap.

Hold on, let me see if I can. Also send us the image. We'll put it up right here. When you say the dates. When you come into New York, or are you because, y'all, I sound like one of the niggas in the comments now. Right.

Right. What is my New York date? Hold on. Let me look this up because let me tell y'all exactly. I definitely got to make sure I see you. How y'all embarrassing y'all city and state good people? By not showing up the way y'all said y'all would. Where's New York?

November 5th. November 5th? Damn, y'all are you. Okay, it is right there. Yeah, November 5th. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Now, this is missing the, um, the, uh, fucking Las Vegas date.

which is October the 14th. It's missing Las Vegas, which is October to 14th. Okay. Let me tell y'all some of these ticket sales. Columbia, South Carolina, y'all are okay, but you do need a bell on your ass. Out of 1,200 tickets, I've only sold 421.

Okay. Orlando, Florida, you need your ass beat. Out of 816 tickets, I've only sold 135. This tour starts in like a week and a half. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Who else?

I love it. Miami. I know these. 950 tickets need to be sold. Only 265 to sold. Y'all told me to come to Miami. What the fuck happened? Did the promoter say it's a good walk-up crowd?

That's my favorite thing. Oh, it's a big walk-up town. Big walk-up town. It's a big walk-up town. And then when the show ends, they're like, hey, there was a Marlins game. Man, but watch this, though. Tampa Bay, 550 tickets need to be sold.

234 sold. Oklahoma City, 850. 151 tickets need to be sold. 187 have been sold. You need a belt on your ass. You might need to shove a belt up y'all ass. San Diego, 705 tickets need to be sold.

Only 91 sold. Yeah, they need to be. Las Vegas, I built up your ass. Las Vegas, 750 tickets need to be sold. Only 118 are sold. Who else? Omaha, Nebraska. Only 119 tickets out of 600.

Denver, only 124 out of 450. Oh, Portland. You need to be able to be. belt up your ass, pull through your mouth and whoop with the belt, because out of 550 tickets, only 79 have sold. New York, Irvin Plaza. The trailblazers have a game that day.

Watch this. New York, you need a timbling boot. That's the size 15. Shut up your ass. Because out of 1,100 tickets, only 151 tickets have been sold. It's funny now. Thanksgiving, you know. Yeah, Little Rock. Little Rock.

You need the same treatment, New York guy. But somebody need to wrap you upside your fucking head, because out of 1,300 tickets only 85. The Clintons will solve that one. Who else? Birmingham, 182 tickets sold out of 1,000. Huntsville, 133 tickets sold. Only shows that are sold out.

And I had to do a second Atlanta show are Jackson, Mississippi, my hometown, and Atlanta. Right. Y'all tell me to come to these places, and if you're not a fan, I get it. I'm not forcing you to buy tickets. Tickets are only $30. I've been promoting this tour for five and a half months.

It costs five fucking dollars to fart. You poop, it costs you $5. And you can say $5 a month, $4 a month, you spend, come on, I just spend $10. Right. Just then. Just breathe. In New York, maybe $10. It comes to $20 a hour to walk outside of you.

And y'all tell me to come to these cities. And then y'all say, oh, he's complaining. He's a cry, baby, he's doing this. And he's trying to force us. He's trying to pocket. I'm not trying to pocket watch you. If you're a fan or if you know somebody. And this is me advocating for myself because maybe the algorithm isn't showing you.

So the people who got tickets and you do support me, I love you. I appreciate you. You mean a lot to me. I want your business. I want your support. I want to love and I want to reciprocate that to you and for you. I do appreciate it. And I am grateful to be in this position, all right,

that you are taking time out of your busy day, schedule, life to spend effort, time, money, and energy on me. But for the people who haven't seen this, I'm bringing his belt. I'm bringing them Tims. And if you ain't got them tickets, don't hop on my live. Tell me how you're a fan and you ain't got no ticket. If y'all not at the show, I'm coming back up here.

I know where y'all live at. Oh, no. I'll be at the show. I got to see what you do. What's your money bag, man. The algorithm, you got to tack that. It was one last thing. I want to give a shout out to some artists in Jackson.

Okay. All right. I'm going to get a shout out. And I'll leave y'all along. I'll get out to y'all. All right. So shout out to some artists and some platforms in Jackson, Mississippi from the I love. I love that you're doing this, by the way.

Yeah, man. Appreciate it. Ant Toosey, franchise, Hollywood luck, Jay, Skye, King, King, Tricky, T, Hurtie, T, T, Tee, Nawley, Naurley, Nalachie, Fattiexie, Nottie, Nottie, J., Nalachie, Farrie, Norley J, Fat Dilsle, Malik Cash, Casting Boy, Drake, Jewels, Ariel J, Sierra Archie, Lake Forrest D, D, Air Slim, Hershey Black, Flores, Vitamin C, B King of Go, Kenny Pahina, Nogh, Cooke, Cool Jaze, Coke, Coolmoye, Deer Siles, Trulminati, Nileile, Nile, Nile,

L'Hin, Little C, Doe Hicks, Dirty Costello, Slim Pusher, the Joker, Cool KM, RBA, Sko, Joddy Boy, Ray Kincaid, Dono Vegas, DJ Pinnis, Dunwin, that's my DJ, DJ T Lewis, DJ T-Lewis, DJ Reese, DJPM, DJ Pretty Ricky, DJ ScrabDirty, DJ Twigger, Fly Walker as a producer, Markell producer, Rasha Street producer, Seagherty producer, now some platforms that y'all can subscribe to too. Rita Brent, my dog, cousin Tim, John the Net tapped in reviews, bars to blow, Squirrel World, Chrysler's 3rd on that C-Money TV, Fox Codrome, Chronicle, 6-1 in Park, Michaela Fillsills, Big Mooch, Porsche C, Alexis Noble. Shout out to all y'all, my closest friends, you know, Chuck and Javidrick. God damn Brian, BJ, Tim, Rollo, shout out to my dolls, my sister, shout out to you, I love you.

I don't say my sister name, I don't want about knowing what my folks is. Real like that. Y'all nigs be weird. You know what I'm saying? Shout to all my people back at home, man. If you ever in Jackson, if y'all go visit Jackson, go eat at Johnny Tees, go eat at,

go to M. Boar, go to Names and Faces, F. Jones, shit, fourth lounge, trio, a couple of businesses and places you can go to. What is looking like in Jackson? Just go, eat at the places I told you to eat at. They're shaking ass in them places I'll go do When I told you

I don't go to the booty club What? Why? Why? I work hard for my money Yeah All I complain and I do about Not having the money Just to go in there and be like

Take it Yeah but sometimes you need You know, inspiration No and I'm gonna tell you I'm gonna tell you No, I'm gonna tell you something As hard as I work for my money Give me

All my money And a rolls of quarters I'm gonna knock somebody out in this bitch I'm throwing him. I'm throwing rolls a quarter. Don't too much. It's $5 a quarter. Mom are going to knock it up, lumped up.

The text you tore, Akeem Ali. Listen, man, go get them tickets. Have you been to Jackson? I've never been to Jackson, Mississippi. Oh, man, okay. I've been twice. Pige and I got robbed in New Orleans, and then we drove to Jackson, Mississippi.

And got robbed again. Dang. We came home after that. I just had. Barely made it. All of our stuff taking New Orleans robbed, and we went to Jackson, Mississippi with the shirts on our back and somehow made it back to New York.

Fuck you. Jackson took us in. Nicky we made it. No, some of the greatest people, the nicest, most genuine people who were ever meeting your life from Jackson. Yeah,

definitely. Jackson, it was a cool city, the time that we spent there. Yeah. For sure. Akeem Ali, we appreciate you, man. This has been long overdue. It's a pleasure to finally have you in the studio.

Thank you for having me, man. Anytime you back in New York, you want to come through, pull up to November 5th. I'm gonna be back tomorrow. Shit, I'm gonna come. No, definitely for the show. You definitely got to come through

whenever you get to the city before the show. Come kick it with us. Detection tour. Go get those tickets now. Support Akeem Ali. Real talent. Real bars. Yeah, man.

I'm that nigga. He's just ginger. Peace. The gender niggas. Didn't catch the latest Roland Martin unfiltered podcast? Here's what you missed. There should not be a single law enforcement agency. It does not have body cameras.

It's real. Black farmers have been under attack. This is just the latest example of them just slapping DEI on anything. It's raw. And I'm sitting here going, they are playing y'all for fools. Catch Roland Martin's daily commentary on the Black Information Network. And download Roland Martin unfiltered on the IHart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.