No Jumper - Scru Face Jean on Going From Rapper to Youtuber, Opening For Kendrick Lamar & More

Episode Date: June 6, 2023

Sru Face has been one of the most active reaction YouTuber, who also has a rap career on the up and up. Sharp grills him about his upbringing, his fanbase, how he built his Youtube community, and much more! ----- 0:00 Intro 0:05 Scru Face on being a Youtuber and a rapper 2:42 Scru Face on his school days, born in Nebraska and his parents moved him back to Nigeria, then back to Nebraska 5:10 Scru Face on learning English with music and lyrics 6:13 Scru Face details how he started making music, he said his older brother influenced him to rap.  7:38 Scru Face on the type of music he listens to, came up on hip hop but also dabbles in other genres 9:48 Scru Face on diving into his passion, started touring and made it his college experience, selling out shows fresh off high school 11:30 Scru Face talks about Nebraska concert promoters discriminating against hip hop 12:50 Scru Face on getting more love from fans outside of his hometown, local people being jealous sometimes, moving to the west coast to get more exposure 14:40 Sharp asks about Scruface about the feeling he got when he first started getting recognition, and how to deal with negative fans. 15:50 Sharp asks Scruface about his YouTube content, says he got the idea to make content after chilling with his homies and debating hip hop  17:25 Sharp asks Scru Face what his proudest moment as a content creator is, most likely his recent MGK VS. Jack Harlow video 19:22 Sharp asks Scru Face about his favorite battle rappers, going to a live battle in Phoenix and how being there live was an amazing experience 21:30 Scru Face talks about his experience rap battling live in Kansas. He ended up winning a competition but didn’t receive the reward. He was supposed to link up with Nipsey Hustle after winning but it fell through.  23:30 Scru Face explains how he got his name, from his dad and a movie he watched when he was just a little kid 26:43 Scru Face on his relationship with Tech N9ne, getting a feature, mentorship + Meeting Dizzy Wright  29:45 Scru Face talks about opening up for Kendrick Lamar, Rae Sremmurd, YG and more 31:08 Scru Face speaks on remaining independent and doing everything by himself, shooting his own videos, editing, and recording his own music, cover arts, and more 34:50 Scru Face talks about juggling making music vs making reaction videos, Sharp gives Scru Face some advice to stay consistent on the music to please his fans 36:50 Sharp asks Scru Face if he ever procrastinates when it comes to music, while making YouTube reactions is way faster, his music page isn’t monetized yet despite having 30K subscribers  40:45 Scru Face on his future plans and how he is going to create content to make him stand out. Sharp gives him some game about how he can start a team to help propel him to success ----- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Sharp Tank. No jumper. Sharpest, coolest podcast in the world. And today, I got my man in here, man. I'm sorry to have you here, man. I feel the energy, man. I got screw face Gene in the building today, man. How you feeling, bro?

I'm good, man. I'm good. I appreciate it. You in our spirits today? Oh, yeah. I appreciate even the opportunity to come out here, man. Good, good, good. So you are a, not.

Not only a YouTuber, you rap. Yeah, yeah. I do both, basically, full-time. Yeah, I mean, I do YouTube and things like that, media, you know, and I know it's hard to juggle even that, per se, in just a personal life. How do you juggle both of those? Like trying to rap, like I have a rap career in, you're trying to juggle being even on YouTube? Well, I started out as a just a rapper first, like, all throughout high.

high school and stuff and I did my thing and I was like a big local artist and stuff but then it was really when I started doing the YouTube like the reactions and stuff that started getting um more people to know me outside of just like what kind of content were you making I was doing reaction videos and really the reason why I decided to do that was because I really just wanted to give my opinion on music because I would see other reaction videos on YouTube matters yeah but there would be a lot of people who didn't do me music and there be certain things that be like, oh, you're not even catching this part or doing this part.

So I was just like, let me do it from the perspective of an artist. So I just started doing it and it kind of just took off from there a little bit. So it was really just what I wanted to do, but the original question of how I juggle it is not easily, is the easiest way to answer that, I guess. It's just a, you're forever working. There's never really an off button.

You don't never have no, you don't never, You're telling me screw face don't find any time to himself? Oh, yeah. I find time to myself, but it's the problem with doing it like a lot by yourself is that in order to do one thing, you got to shut off another thing. Like, so like when I want to go like I want to go super hard in my music, then I got to kind of like slow down on how hard I go on my reaction videos or how much content I put up because I have two channels.

Then when I want to do the more reactions, I got to slow down to the music, then when I want to find time by myself. I kind of have to slow down both. So it's like, it's just a juggling act. So I do find time by myself, but not a lot, honestly, not a lot. If I could be honest, not as much as I want. Where did you go to school, man? I went to school in Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.

I didn't go to college. Bro, tell me, I'm sure. I'm sure you had to be one of the only people on the Browner side around that day. It was like from elementary school to middle school I was, but then right when high school hit, it wasn't like that. There's like actually a lot of black people and brown people in Nebraska. Most of the time when I tell you're from Nebraska, they're like, you're from what?

Like they don't even know what it is, but like originally I was, my parents are from Nigeria. And they just came to Nebraska just basically to give birth to me. I really, like, grew up my first, like, four, five years in Nigeria, and then I moved to Nebraska, so we was basically so we could be, like, American citizens and stuff like that. I wouldn't have to go through the immigration process like that. So, wait, I'm lost. You said that they gave birth to you in Nebraska? Yeah, so, like, my mom was pregnant.

They flew to Nebraska because my dad was going to school there. Okay. And they gave birth to me in Kearney, Nebraska. Right. And then before even I think I was one years old, we were in Nigeria. So you guys moved back. Yeah, move back. That's why I was trying to pick up on the story.

And then I was like there until I was five and then we flew back and like I still remember learning English, which is like crazy thing. But like it's technically, English is technically my second language. But I don't really remember my Ebo as much as I want to. Yeah. But I could still understand it and like. like speak, like have a little bit of conversation with it. But yeah, basically that's, I don't remember the original question.

I just kind of got in my zone. No, no, hey, I'm here, listen, man, we're here to learn about you. That's what, you know, Sharp Tanks based on is just bringing people through and, you know, real top and just, you know, get to know you, man. Like, open up, it's okay. That's what they want to know. They don't want to just hear the bullshit. They want to hear the real shit.

You know, I do too. Facts. So, you know, you and your family. So they didn't put you, when you was in school, they didn't put you in one of them classes since you didn't know, you know, where you kind of went to, especially like 13, 14 of y'all like. Yeah, I had to go to like the ELL classes,

like the language classes. Now, I would have regular classes, but I had to take, like, learning English classes and be on some of the classes with, like, it wasn't even like 13 people because you got to think it's like Nebraska too, so the population ain't that much. So it's really like five people in the classroom.

And when I came to Nebraska as a kid who spoke Ebo, it wasn't like there was a lot of other. Ebo. Yeah, or like diversity. Like, like, emo. Like, I speak emo. Like, more I start speaking emo. Like, I ain't trying to joke, but I'm just tight,

damn. Like, you know, before I start, I stop speaking emo, you know. So basically everybody, it was just like me in a classroom a lot of the times with learning, like, how to speak English and stuff like that. But then, I mean, I speak it pretty well now, I think so. Were you fucking around with music and shit like that then? Yeah, like, I've been listening. Or were you a late bloomer? Well, like, I've always been doing music because my older brother was doing music and he was big in, like, Nebraska coming up, like, just.

very locally, kind of more in like the high school stuff. And I just looked up to him and he taught me everything about it. So I've always been inside doing music, even when I didn't even know how to speak English. I would just be trying to figure out how. That's a lot of the way I did learn English was listening to music and watching TV. It was like, I learned more from that

than the classes I would take and stuff like. You know why? And I could hit it on the head or not, but it's because you were interested. Yeah. like you were entertained by what you were seeing, you know, or hearing, like, even the radio. So it taught you because you start liking either melodies on the radio

or you like the show that you were watching. And you're like, man, I'm trying to figure out what they're trying to say. Yeah, you know, so I feel like that's why it taught you because you were interested. Yeah. That's the easiest way to learn is when you're actually, like, care about what you're learning.

That's, so like when you're in the class and then making an assignment, you kind of shut off. but when you're listening to a song over and over because you like it, you learn the words and what they mean quicker. That's how I've always been. So I've had a way where I listen to music like to this day and I learn lyrics fast

because I listen to the lyrics and it's just something that's never gone away from. What kind of music do you listen to like on your own? Like, you know, just music when you're riding other than, you know, maybe... I mean, I'm not just saying you don't listen to your own music but you obviously hear it enough when you're in the studio

and you're making it. So what type of music does screw face like on his own time? Like just, what are you into? What genre? Hip-hop is my main genre. Like, I'm hip-hop 100 through, 100% through. I ask, because I seem like you,

it's kind of abroad for you. I listen to, like, a lot of it. I listened to, like, I grew up listening to Blink 182 also and, like, a lot of the stuff that I didn't really have picks when I came to American. and stuff, but I grew up listening to hip hop,

but I listened to a lot of other stuff. My music taste is very eclectic. It's very, like, broad, but it's mainly hip-hop. So that's basically what I'd be listening to in my car or if I'm riding around, it's going to be some sort of hip-hop. It's probably going to be some J-Z's my favorite artist.

So it would be like, Jay-Z. Oh. Yeah. And then probably, I do listen to music a lot of new stuff too. So there's this artist I just found named One Take Timmy. I don't know if you ever heard of him, but he's dope.

He's from Louisville, Kentucky. I just got onto his stuff, but that's, I've been listening to him. I listen to a lot of UK rap too. I ain't go a lot. They should be fired. Yeah, like Fredo, Dave. They should be lucky fire over there. I didn't know a lot.

They'd be snapping. Yeah. I'd be like, damn, okay. I don't know if it's the accent that's doing it or what. Yeah. It just, it hits a little dude. And I understand what he's saying. So it's like, I like UK rap, I ain't gonna lie.

It's different. At first I was, I had a hard time listen to it because of the accents. But once I started, like, let me just actually listen to this. I was like, oh, wait a minute, this is super hard. Like, so there's, I listen to actually a lot of UK rap now, almost probably equal to as much American rappers I listen to. So I got a lot of, uh.

You go to college? No, never did. I went straight. I always knew I was going to do some sort of entertainment. So it was going to be, I was always going to do music especially. So I, instead of going to college, straight from high school, I started going, doing shows and doing tours and stuff. So like right the year I graduated, I opened up for Young Jeezy in Lincoln at the Persian Auditorium. and then it just started going from there.

So I kind of used those years as my college to what I do now. And that was before anybody really knew who I was, especially outside of Nebraska or something like that. So I always say I didn't go to college. We never knew too many niggas from Nebraska. Yeah, nah. Really, not.

Not it. I just had throw that out there, bro. Like, a lot of niggas, they'd be like, yeah, I'm for real with it. Like, we've been doing hip-hop, man, we've been doing rap, but we do all this shit up here. but I do feel it.

It's everywhere, all right? You know what I'm saying? Little do people know. Yeah. It's definitely not easy to get something started like that in Nebraska because you are 100% right. It's not known for that. So it's like you're pushing against the grain a little bit when you do that.

So like it's even harder for like when I was living in Nebraska. It was even hard for us as hip hop artists to book venues or do stuff like our rock. there would be people that were smaller than me because I was a very, I was put in the paper for being the first local artist that sold out a show there. So I was decently big out there. And there would be rock groups

that were way smaller than me. And they would have no problem booking events. But if you were a hip-hop group, you had to like not, when you were booking the venue, you'd have to act like you weren't hip-hop. Like, you'd have to say like you were a different music and then just kind of let them find out once you start pulling out.

It was like, especially, when I first started, it's a lot better now, but like when I first started, it was, they're not used to it. It's not, it's so new that it pushed against the grain a lot, a lot of the stuff we were doing. And the other, like, songs that came from Nebraska before that were very just like about the football teams.

It wasn't like really pushing against any grain. When we really came out, we're like, no, we want to do real hip hop. We're going to be cursing. We're going to be whoop to band, all this on our music and whatever, that starts pushing against, they don't like that because they've kept it out for so long.

But this was in the, this was like 2011-12s type stuff like that. So it's like it's gotten a lot better now. There's a lot. So you're saying they wasn't accepting of that shit up there like, that was black guys? Yep. Rap?

Cursing? No. And anybody who says the words? lying, that is, nope. It was hard. It was very hard coming up. Very hard. So, yeah, the struggle had to be real. Oh, yeah.

When you broke out, like, you made a move and you got to go other places, you see how, like, did you feel like it was a little easier? You're like, damn, hold on. Like, they'll actually let me perform over here? Yeah. They let a nigga in? Like, it was, like, I moved to... I don't got to have edited music.

Like, I can just come in there and got to have no edited music. Like, I can just come in there and play my shit. Exactly. I get more love. I got more love early when I was outside of Nebraska than when I was actually in Nebraska. Like even now, I get recognized and stopped a lot more. I live in Vegas and I get stopped a lot more in there than I ever get stopped when I was in Nebraska and stuff like that. People are like, yo, you're scroof. And I also think a lot of that comes from just people growing up with you. So maybe they look at you a certain way or obviously. there's like that jealousy too that comes with it sometimes when it's like oh why did he

get up there like we grew up together how come he got up there and I'm here so let me just hate on him that effect of that YM and not me exactly it burns them yeah so that's why that's another reason I just had to move too once I really started

taking off with the YouTube I moved to the West Coast I was just like yeah that's I think I've maxed out with everything I wanted to do here. I still go back and do shows and stuff like that. Well, it seems like your YouTube videos have exploded over the last five years. Yeah. Yeah. You know, what's that been like for you just that transition?

At first, I guess it's, oh, it's still crazy, but at first it was extra crazy because I had never experienced something like that before. And that was like something that I was like something that I was grinding for so long. and I guess I experienced micro versions of it through the local scene, but it was nothing like when I dropped the song and it got like a million views and I was like, whoa, what's going on right here?

So it's like the big influx. Yeah, and you got to learn how to handle it almost. I'm still learning how to handle it and stuff. Like you got to learn what you can say, what you can't say, who you can respond to, who you can't respond to. Because in the beginning, I'm still trying to get better at this,

When I get like a negative comment or something, I'll go right back and forth with them. And I got to learn like that's not great to do. It gets to you sometimes. Yeah, I get it. It's like you're still human. We're still human. You're not always going to have a great day.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, when you get on sometimes and you see that bullshit, you'd be like, man, what you want? Like, what you want to do? Like, and little do you know, like, they really just wanted you to acknowledge them. Yep.

And be your friends, bro. It'll throw you off and make you kind of feel dumb. Yeah, exactly. Was this something that you always wanted to do? Like the music or the video, like the reaction videos. Like the reaction videos. The reaction videos was actually something I enjoyed doing because I looked at it as just an evolution of when I would be sitting in the car

with the homies or with my brothers and we'd be discussing music and debating because that's all I would do especially like growing up, but like as we grow up and we move from each other and stuff like that, you don't, or people get, you get busy and stuff, you don't get the time to do that. So I kind of looked at my reactions as a chance to just like kick it

and talk about music with the fans. And it was really just giving my reaction. I was doing it before my page was even monetized. I was just doing it for the, I was doing like, there was times I was doing seven videos a day before my page was monetized, just on some, I didn't have nothing else to do at the time. I was really like on my wits end with the whole like this got to pop off.

Like I've been grinding and invested for so long that, you know, I'm becoming an adult. I got, this has to work. And it really did. So I really was just like, let me just put my head down and push. And that's kind of what got me here. And I'm not even acting like I'm like, I've blowed up or nothing. but it's a gradual grind upward. So, like, it feels good.

What's some of your most proudest reaction videos you feel like you've made up to date? Like, some of you be like, man, I know I'm putting some work in this one. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm, and it probably, I had some to where it's like, it didn't even get as many views as you wanted it to, but you're like, damn, I kind of put. That's a good question.

I put some work in this month, but. Yeah, yeah. Dang, there's a, there's a couple of those. I've done so many videos. that it's like I gotta like think but like um one that just sticks out to you at least two I want to damn I've never even sat back and thought too that you're like man I really put some work into this one and it's like you don't get to really dwell on it because you're like I got to move on to the next one yeah can't sit in here and let this put my wave down okay so I just

did a video okay that's a good question I just did a video about when MG when Jack Harlow dropped that they don't love it yeah and he said he the best white rapper and then MGK came back and dissed them on the Renegade Freestyle. I did a video that was like Jack Harlow versus MGK, but it wasn't a reaction video. Like I wouldn't react to the songs. I was just like breaking it down

and like giving my opinion, but I was putting like edits in it. Like I don't usually do that. So I was putting like a bunch of different edits in it. And that one actually got a lot of love. And I was super proud of that one. That was like, I don't usually go back and watch my own reactions, but that was like a piece of content

And I went back and rewatch myself because I was like, yo, that was dope. Like, just at the end, I did a good job in that one. When you turn it off, you're like, damn. Yeah, like, that was just fire, yeah. Like, that was one of those ones that, even if it would not have got a bunch of views, I was just happy I did it.

I got a couple more like that, but it's hard to, like, think off the top of my head, which are like that. A lot of the times when my favorite stuff to cover is, like, battles and stuff, like, you know, when two rappers go at it and they're, like, dising each other and stuff, That's always good content.

Yeah. It's always good. Controversy, always good sales, man. Yeah, facts. I'm a huge battle rap fan. Yeah. So, I mean, you can't really react to battle rap stuff because they'd be like claiming to some of my favorites.

Some of my favorites? Yeah, you like watching. Oh, wow. That's, we could be here all day with that. Come on, man. You got a couple at the top, man. My favorite, I'm obviously like smack URL. That's what I watch.

Oh, yeah. They go crazy over there. Loaded Lux, all of dudes. One of my favorites would be. chess versus easy to block captain that's a crazy battle uh

dang off the top let me think of some some I haven't even got the chance to watch the battles I wanted to like as much as I wanted to I'm cool with the battle rapper Nunnone he's like he's white and he's for I think he's from

North Carolina and I actually he flew me out to like I came out to a battle one time and he was battling. Who was he battling? I can't remember who was battling, but it was just, the event was so dope. It was my first time coming to a live event.

And I saw like a whole bunch of battles, so I would have to say like that trumps all the ones I've watched. Even if it was like a super dope battle, there's something about being there live that's just like way better. So like those would probably be my top battles. All the battles from that event. And I can't remember where.

the event was either. I'm high. I can't remember. What? It was Arizona. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was about in Arizona. Traffic 3, that's what it was. There we go. Appreciate it. Yeah, Lord of Lux is one of my favorites. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I like watching that dude. That dude's entertaining. He'd be talking. He brought out the casket on the boy,

brought him to his funeral. I was like, these things get animated. They really put in effort into how they're about to come at you. you like it's crazy like you really got to have a mindset on you as a battle rap oh yeah like you really got to think outside the box because you about to try to come like and embarrass this man like strip him yeah in front of a crowd like the crazy part i always look at battle rap too is that because i've done battles also like on stage and stuff the thing is like how much content they have to memorize it wasn't nobody that anybody knew it doesn't matter have you ever really like just Just buried it.

Just buried it. Plenty. Plenty. It doesn't matter, bro. You say you touch the space, you touch the space. Yeah, yeah. Like, I jumped on the stage and battled. Like, I've battled a lot of people on tracks and stuff.

That's easy. But I've jumped on stage, and there's this tournament in Kansas that the winner got to open up for Nipsy hustle. And this was back, rest in peace, to Nipsy. Did you win? I did win it. And the messed up part was, I don't even know if I want to shout out the promoter because he kind of did me dirty.

but he did the event and Nipsey never came. So, and they never hit us up and never did anything like that. And I was driving from Nebraska to Kansas like every night because it was like a tournament. So you had to like beat four people. It was horrible. It was like, it's not the longest drive, but like. How long? How long? How many hours?

It's like, how long is it drive from Kansas to, it's like three hours. Oh, that's a push, man. You get on the phone for a couple minutes, man. Yeah. Yeah. Fats. But the thing that made it bad is like when you're going to for a battle, even though I'm confident I'm going to win and when I could smoke all these people, it's like it's that chance

like, man, if we lose coming back and we drove all this way to do this and we got to the thing. But I had enough confidence that obviously I got to the end, but it gave me some, a little buzz locally and little battle scene in Kansas. Think you was there already? I think I was for the stage, like the big stage? Yeah. I respect that too much.

Like the... Some shit you just don't fuck, you know. Yeah, like there's some things you just look at. Some shit you just don't mess with, bro. It's just, you got to, you can talk about it, but then when you be like, hey, well, you ever felt like you was waiting? Hell, no, I don't feel like I was ready for anything like that. Yeah.

How did you get the name with Screw Faced Jean? Like, how'd that even come about? Well, the movie... Okay, it's kind of a longer... When I was in Nigeria, my dad went to America for a little bit. like he was doing school and stuff so like he left us there make sure we're good and then he went back to america got his education and stuff so he but when he came back he came with these boxes and in these boxes they were like what represented america so it was like boxes of candy

like and this we're kids from the village in Nigeria we've never seen this stuff other than like maybe on certain TVs and stuff and like but we're there's like candies i remember like snickers seen Snickers for the first time, Eminems and stuff like that. I was like, what? I was like, what? I was like what. And then he had a bunch of movies

that he had videotaped. And one of them was, uh, Steven Seagull's Mark for Death. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah, and it was... With screw face in there. Exactly.

So... With the dreads. Yep. Yep. Yeah, screw face with the jerse. Yeah. I remember that shit. I remember that shit.

Yeah, facts. I remember that shit. Yeah. Yeah. Then he had like a twin brother or some shit like that. He had a twin brother in that movie. I think he'd one of the coldest villains of all time. Yeah.

Middle of Scroof. Yeah. I remember that. Yeah. So he had the movie. He played the movie. And when I watched the movie, I was like a little kid, like a little kid. I used to get nightmares of Screwface, like the villain.

Because I was obviously too young to be watching that. So as I grew up and we went to America and stuff, I started doing music. And I was in a rap group. and I had like a stupid name called like Ace or something like that, right? Yeah. And when I split up from the rap group, I was like, I want to change my name. I want to change everything.

I want to do something by myself. And my older brother, because he knew like screwface was like a thing. Like everybody knew like screwface was like a thing with me. And he was like, why did you just be screwface? And at first I laughed like, that sound, like, why would I go about it? But then I thought about it and I was like, it's almost like a metaphor of like overcoming your fears

because it used to be like my biggest fear but now it's like my legacy so like that's why I was like I actually really liked this name and then the Jean, people pronounce a Jean or John I threw that in there for literally no reason

like I have a great story for the screw face part but like I just needed I was writing a song and I needed an extra syllable because I was, it was like, Screwface is a one-man band, a one-man soldier.

It was an old song I did when I was little, and I just needed an extra syllable, and I always like, like, Wycleft, Jean. I always liked that, and I was just like, I'll just be, I'll be screw-faced Jean, and that just has been like that since then.

It just stuck with me. And then, like, I also learned it was a good name because once people heard it, they didn't forget it. That was like something with, when Tech 9, because he's like, my mentor. But, like, when he met me and he was like, what's your name?

When I said, screw face, he looked at me. He looked at me, he was like, I like that. And that's, I was going to ask you, like, how did you secure, you know, features like Tech 9? Tech has been my, like, coming from Nebraska, he's from Kansas, like, we look at him, like, up there. Like, he's like the locally. I ain't going to lock.

Yeah, like. Over Midwest down that area. Absolutely. Yeah, he had it on lock. Absolutely. He was like, he was like a legend, like the boogeyman in our city. Like people would be like, would have fake Tech Nine stories. They'd be like, yo, tech nine will come down here in the summertime.

He used to grow with us and stuff like that. So it was like a crazy thing growing up. And then I remember when I started doing music, there was a company called Two in the Shirts. I don't know if anybody remembers them. Yeah, Tits. Yeah, Tits. They're a clothing brand. And they reached out to me.

and they wanted to do like a sponsorship with me and this was like early this was my first sponsorship or anything like that so they gave me a bunch of the clothes and stuff and they did a show with like tech and well it wasn't a show with tech it was a show with me and Dizzy Wright Yeah, what of Dizzy Wright

Shout out of Dizzy Wright We were doing the show in Kansas Yeah because we had a song He's out of Vegas, yeah We did a song together and we did a show in Nebraska's that come to Kansas with us to do the show. So I went down there with him. I met Tech, but the reason Tech knew me was through the two in the shirts, Brand, because he worked with them too.

So then that's kind of how we got connected. And then when he came and he talked to me, it was like, you know, as a kid from Nebraska in the middle of us, I was just like, whoa, this is crazy. So then we did a lot of shows together. Like I would open up for him. So whenever someone big came into Nebraska, I was a person who'd open up from, especially Lincoln, Nebraska.

So we do a lot of shows together. And then eventually, we just started growing like a relationship. And he was like, bro, you got a lot of talent, a lot of skill. And this was back when I was like 18. And then when I started doing these reaction videos because me and him kind of like stopped talking for a while,

I did a reaction to one of his things and he saw it. And he hit me up. And he was like, on Instagram, he was like, yo, hit me up. I've been trying to hit you for a long time. And I realized what happened was when he hit me up in Kansas, the number I gave him was in my ex's phone.

And we have broke up. So he was trying to hit, he was hitting that phone up thinking it was me. And so. It's got to be fucked up if like the bitch didn't like you anymore. And she was like, no, yeah, this is him. But fuck you.

I don't fuck with you. I don't even rock with you. you, like, just trying to blow your shit up, you know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, I know this is who it is. But fuck that. He ain't getting this plug today. He treated me like shit. That guy, she didn't do that.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hey, man, have no fury like a woman's scoring, bro. Facts. That is a fact. She's not funny with it, man.

So you was able to, anything that came through Lincoln, even if it was, let's say, a main headline or somebody like that that was looking for an opener. They grabbing you off the dribble. I opened up for Kendrick Lamar on the Good Kid Mad City tour. I've opened them for everybody. Like, I've done, I've done, like, six shows with MGK. We did, like, MGK's 23rd birthday.

We booked them in Nebraska. Yeah. Like, literally everybody. You could just name a person. If they've came through Nebraska, I've probably opened, even, like, legends, like, Twista. And yeah, that's live. I can't even, I would literally,

that's live. Yeah, I couldn't even, I would have to sit back on my mental roll of decks and think of everybody. Kid to Inc. when he was first coming out, Taylor gang I went on tour with Chevy Woods and stuff. Ray Schrammered, a little bit of everybody, YG, yeah, a little bit of everybody.

Do you, do you have a team, or do you do everything by yourself, I basically do everything by myself. That's my biggest actual... I think that's the reason I'm not to the next level that... Because I'm, like, big in my own little bubble and stuff like that. Yeah.

But that next, like, outside where things like this... That's why I'm like, I'm so grateful to be here because I know that this is a big opportunity. It's like... It's no jumper. Like, it's interview with Sharp. So it's like, it's a big thing. I've been watching this for a while.

So those things help. But, like... What was the original question? My bad. What did you originally ask? I'm saying, like, do you have a team or do you do everything? Oh, do you do everything by yourself?

Basically, yeah, I don't do, I don't have a team. I have to do everything by myself initially. I mean, I try. I'm, like, in the process of trying to grow a team. So, like, everything I really do besides my producer, Dodo, the hip brainiac, he produces for me, and he'll mix my records. And, like, when I go on tour,

he'll be the one that will call the venues and stuff like, that, but as of late, it's really just me doing most of the stuff too. But if my team would really just be, if I had to anybody else who does it constantly, it would be me and probably my producer. But really, it's just the videos I shoot, the reaction videos I shoot, I edit, I do all the thumbnails, I record the music, I will shoot the videos sometimes, he'll hold the camera sometimes now that I live out in Vegas but I'll edit the video and then Dota will mix the audio send it there I'll do the artwork for all the singles I do all the artwork for everything and then when it comes

to tour we got to go that's why the problem is we got to shut down things to do other things so we'll be like okay it's time to we got to push more reactions so we got to stop doing music so we got to do this oh we got to start doing more music so we got to slow down on the reactions to do this that's why it's hard to get a 360 but a team is the most important thing like that's where one thing i need to work on that's one thing i need to get because i'm also very used to doing everything myself yeah but i got to start delegating other things to other people who know other things yeah and know how to really take a hold of it for exactly to where it takes some of the pressure off your back.

Exactly. It's very important, man, because it's like you got to do all of that and still try to juggle your personal life. You still got to have some type of substance to just you as a person solely. You know what I mean? So, yeah, I think it's definitely time for you to find a team to really help you go to the next level or to wherever you. At least you can say you really tried.

Absolutely. You know what I mean? At that point, like trying it all yourself. at the point that you're trying to go to, it's going to run you dry, man. Oh, it's impossible. It's going to break you all the way down to a place that you're just, you don't want to turn it into something

that you love, you don't want to turn into resentment. Exactly. You know what I mean? Where you resent the situation because you're like, I did so much and it took so much to where I got fucking nowhere. And, you know, you just, you don't even like the craft anymore. You don't want to even indulge in the conversations when you're even sitting at a fucking bar.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a fact. It just, it can actually turn you off and turn you away. Yeah. You know, so I've gotten there with certain things, too, like certain times like that. And I've had to pull myself out from doing it. There would be times like where I'll just be like, man, let me just take a break from all of this for a second. Let me not be on Twitter for a second.

Let me not. Like, I haven't really ever taken a break from uploading videos, but like I took a break from up doing music for like a year almost. And it wasn't even like an official. break. I didn't go like, hey, I'm taking a break, but it just started to seem like my focus started shifting more towards doing reaction. That was last year. And it's crazy because, like, my two albums that I've dropped, Slime Shady, which was like more kind of an EP mixtape thing, and Village Boy are over a million streams. So when I do drop music, I got a fan base that listens to it. It's just for some, and my fans have always, my music fans always tell me

that I need to drop more on it, I just don't feed that fan base enough. So this year, I've been like- They want you on a consistent basis. Exactly. I'm saying? I want you on a consistent level, man. Yeah.

Because I always believe, you know, out of sight, out of mind, right? That's a fact, especially- You know what I mean? So when you keep putting in their face, they ain't got no choice but to take it in, you know, and want to listen. Like, and you got fans and like,

man, that they want to, all they want to listen to the same thing over and over again. Yeah. So they're even looking for your next, single. Yeah. You know? You ain't got to always

try to even put together an EP or a mix tape or album doesn't, just man, even some singles. Just drop them here and there every time you fill it in the studio, man, this is one I want to put

and give to my fans. That's a fact. They're going to love it. I've been trying to work on that a lot more and I've been this year I'm like, yeah, I'm just going to focus on getting back to the music

because I'm a musician first because I always look at my reactions like a musician giving his opinion on something. But if I, I got to keep that musician part. That's what my passion is.

That's what I love doing. The reaction is more just like I'm kicking it with the homies talking about something in music, that drop or something that's going on in the music world. Do you find yourself in this black hole of procrastination sometimes? I've found that with music. Yeah. I found that with, there'll be times where I'd be like,

I'll have a great idea. and I didn't used to be like this when I was doing just the music. But I'd be like, I have a great idea and for some reason I never get to doing it. Like I'm sitting there like, yo, that would be dope if I had a video where I was doing this and maybe I was doing that. And then for some reason, I just never get to it. But it's like the reaction is also like my job too, more like, obviously I make a living off music too, but I make it off the reaction.

and that comes a little easier to me. Not that the music doesn't come easy, but like doing the reaction videos because I don't need a team of people. I need like a team of people to create music. Cheap production. Yeah, I need like a... Cheap production, it's quick production.

Exactly. Once you get it set up and you invest it enough, it's very streamlined. I don't need a producer. I don't need somebody to mix a master. I don't need artwork. I mean, like I do, but not like single artwork. It's just, it's easier for me to do,

but then I've also been like, I can't just focus on that because it's easier for me to do and a lot of people know me from doing that but people knew me originally for doing music so that's what I've been really doing. I started like a new music page that's the Scroofajon Media

and I wanted to separate the music and the reactions on two different pages just because sometimes I buried my music with my reactions like I'd like when you drop and the way that the YouTube algorithm be working they don't like that like when you'll drop a song and then you'll have like a certain fan base will come for the music and then i'll drop a reaction and they'll try to send like the notifications

out to those people again and it's a different group of people so they don't interact the same so youtube takes it like oh people don't like this video so then like that used to happen to me a lot and i'd have to drop a song and wait three days and then start dropping music again but music also works better when you drop it and let it live. Like when you drop it on the channel, because on my music channel, I could drop something and then let it live for a few weeks. That be the only thing that you can see.

So people who are coming to that page, that's what they're going to see. But if I drop a song and then in a week, I upload more. Bless you. And I upload more if somebody comes, if somebody sees like, oh, I got a new song. Say, they see a tweet.

And then they run to my page. but it's buried with six new reaction videos and they never even get to the song. So I had to separate them and I've been doing like a lot of freestyles and stuff. So that's what I've been trying to get that page, monetized and stuff like that. I got like 38,000 subscribers on it so far.

You know how monetized it? Not on the second, not on the music page. Should have added your watch hours by now. Yeah, see, I haven't, that's the problem. That's the only thing I'm still needing is the watch hours because I don't drop, I've only dropped like 36,000 followers on it, right? Yeah, 36,000.

You should have found, I think it's what, anywhere from 4,000 to 7,000, Donnie? 4,000 hours, I think it is before you monetize. Mm-hmm. Yeah, 4,000 before you monetize. You should have had that easy. Yeah. Yeah, by now, for sure. Yeah.

It's like, I only did like three videos. I think I've only done three videos on there so far. Yeah. They're getting like 30,000, 20,000. On my main page, if I drive. it 100,000 easy, 200,000, 300,000, but it's like it's that restarting and moving everybody, all my music fans from one place to another and that's not the easiest thing, but it's a slow but easy process. I mean slow but worth it out of here. Tell the viewers, Gene, where are you

headed? Like what do you want from all of this? Where can we see you? Like what's the next step for screw fees. Oh, my next step is breaking out of that, like, YouTube niche bubble and getting more on the mainstream level of, like, you know, on the, being able to be seen by, like, the people like you or, like, getting learned to seem by the, uh, because you guys represent the actual industry. Not that you're in the industry, but, like, when you guys do something, the world will see it.

You know, like when we do stuff, our world sees it. And there's a lot of people, and I appreciate those people to death, but I've also never been just a reactor. So, like, things like this is the stuff that sets me aside from that stuff, and I really appreciate it. So the next thing is to continue doing things like this. Galvanize, get like a real strong team that's just focused on getting me to the next level and really learning what it takes to,

like I know I got it to get to the next level. It's just I can't do it by myself. So that's the next thing. Well, my advice to you is find a team that really stands behind you, willing to move behind you, you know, and put you first. Because that's what it's really about, man. That's the only way it's going to work.

And if people want to say, hey, well, I want to get in the door too, well, we got to push somebody through, first. Yeah. And allow them to allow us to come through the door behind them. Exactly. That's how it goes.

That's a short. And it takes a village to put people on, man. It's hard to do it by yourself. It's impossible. Like you get to a certain point where... It's possible, but you're going to run yourself ragged. Yeah. You get to a certain point, though, like when you get big enough, you're just a brand and you need,

like, people to push that brand. So when you're just you, you almost... handicap yourself because like I can't just focus on being the art and the creative of it. I got to do all that stuff. And when you look at, when you got to look at your music and everything from both sides of that, it's hard to just keep going to certain stuff. That's what builds like the procrastination. Sometimes you overthink and the stuff.

Like you said, it's possible. But most people who've gone even independently have at least had, two, three other people, even it's just like people that, like homies or stuff that made them get to that next level because we'll see people and not realize they had, like I didn't know Chance had the manager he used to have or the person for the longest time.

It felt like it was just Chance the rapper, like click and upload on all his own stuff and he says, but he had like a team too, like, and I've seen enough of it. Yeah, it's real hard to not, to do it without a team basically. Big chance. shit. He had where he's at today just by his motherfucking self-hill? No. Yeah. That shit

took some planning behind him. Facts. You know what I'm saying? Strategy. He ain't just playing, yeah, he ain't just playing that shit by himself? No. Come on, bro. Yeah. I appreciate your. Screw Fee's. I appreciate you. For coming through, man, and just fucking with me, man. And just sitting down, bro.

And just opening up, man. Hopefully we could do some podcast or something in the future, man. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Yeah. Just call me, man. I'm likingness. I can do this. I feel it. I got you, man.

Yeah. The sharp tape. Screw face. No jumper. Sharpest, coolest podcast in the world. Hey, Donnie, shoot us out the motherfucking gym.