No Jumper - Sharp & Mark of Soft White Underbelly Gets Emotional & Come Full Circle

Episode Date: April 8, 2022

Since his first interview on Soft White Underbelly, Sharp has been the new polarizing personality of podcasting! Today, Sharp turns the table on Mark to talk about his come up, his goals with Soft White, fatherhood and more. https://www.instagram.com/soft_white_... https://www.youtube.com/c/SoftWhiteUn... ----- NO JUMPER PATREON http://www.patreon.com/nojumper CHECK OUT OUR NEW SPOTIFY PLAYLIST https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5te... FOLLOW US ON SNAPCHAT FOR THE LATEST NEWS & UPDATES https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE STORE!!! http://www.nojumper.com/ SUBSCRIBE for new interviews (and more) weekly: http://bit.ly/nastymondayz  Follow us on SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/4ENxb4B... iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/n... Follow us on Social Media: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/No_... http://www.twitter.com/nojumper http://www.instagram.com/nojumper https://www.facebook.com/NOJUMPEROFFI... http://www.reddit.com/r/nojumper JOIN THE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/Q3XPfBm Follow Adam22: https://www.tiktok.com/@adam22 http://www.twitter.com/adam22 http://www.instagram.com/adam22 adam22hoe on Snapchat Follow Sharp: https://www.instagram.com/tha_sharp_one/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mark, guess what? What's it? We're talking? We're live. Good. This is a turn of fucking events. So I'm going to sound this one off, man. I'm going to tell you something.

This one, this one's a privilege to sound off for you, man, just to even introduce the show and where it's at. Now, you know. So I'm going to sound off, and then we're going to dive on into it, all right? The Sharp Tank. no jumper sharpest coolest podcast in the world

and today I have a man like I'm gonna be honest with you man I feel a little emotional about this one a little bit you know because where me and you started like I said you know

16 minutes and one second really changed my life I got Mark from soft white underbelly in the building today with me. How you doing, man? Good, Sharpie. How are you, babe? I'm doing good, man. I'm hanging in there. How about yourself? I'm great. Yeah. So tell us, so you know, for the viewers that,

that don't know you, because I'm sure there's a lot that do. Can you please let some of the viewers know what soft white underbelly consists of where it originated? I'm a photographer. I've been a photographer my whole life, started out in advertising. But all along, and my career, I was always, thank you, I was always doing side projects, like personal work, which was usually, very often it was like portraits of like, you know, when I lived in Chicago, I'd photographed drunks that were living on the street. I thought that was fascinating. These guys lived in life. I was like, I couldn't even imagine. So that's how I started doing that kind of stuff. And then I was doing advertising and going back and I would keep going back to this kind of, this underworld, this street kind of content. I was always fascinated with dark. interesting stuff like that. So that's where I started, and it did a book called Create Equal,

which was published, I think, 2010 it came out. It's out of print now, so it's hard to find. But it's just portraits of interesting people, again, like Create Equal, but a more varied mix of people. Everything from, there's an astronaut in there, there's a ballerina, there's a homeless man, there's a drug addict, there's everything. Everything you can imagine.

It went to each of the lower 48 states and shot everything you could, you know, everything that exists in the U.S. Ku Klux Klan, everything. And that's where I really kind of just learn my chops and how to deal with these kind of people. They're not just like your regular folks who like, you know, if you make an appointment

with your insurance agent, he's going to be there. The majority of these people that I'm interviewing for Soft One Underbelly, they don't show up on time. They don't, like, even you don't show up on time. Nobody shows up on time. don't you do that Laura Laura Laura said

the man's still the same till this day but it's it's a very different protocol with the kind of people that I'm doing for this project

right they're just they're unreliable they're shady there's a lot of shit going on that doesn't go on with your normal person

yeah but I learned it on that project and now I put down advertising and I just do this this is all I do now yeah

When you start, what made you put down advertisement? I mean, I remember you telling me, you know, there was nothing you really wanted for in the world. If you wanted to get up, you know, you lived across the street from celebrities, you know. I made a lot of money in advertising, so that's really where my money. You say you'd wake up in the morning tell your wife and they may, you guys want to go to Paris? Let's go to Paris. I'll pack your bags. We're out of year today.

No, I was very, I worked my ass off in advertising. I made a lot of money. Yeah. And I saved it, and I bought a couple houses and lived a great life. Right. But at some point, money isn't really that important. Yeah. It just doesn't make you happy.

So what was it that made you go down? Because your studio is in Skid Row. Right in the heart of it. It's right in the heart of it. It's not in some, it's not in some bougie area. It's not where, you know, it's not in the hills. It's not in none of that where you go get these people and you bring them up, you know. You're right in the heart.

I'm right in the action. Tell me, what made you really start to want to create these videos? Because I've seen you do stuff with incest people. I've saw you do it. The list is really abroad. Yeah, it's going to get broader, too. But we can talk about that later. Again, like, I've always been a photographer.

So I had my advertising studio, which was in Culver City in L.A., and it was a nice neighborhood, and it was safe and very different than where I'm at now with this studio. But I want to shoot these kind of people. And they're not going to be able to, I can't relocate them to my studio where I shoot advertising stuff. So I just got a cheap little studio down on, again, on Sixth Street, on Skid Row. And I just started doing portraits. And I was doing lots of them, lots of them. It never turned into a project, but I have lots of great portraits of people on Skid Row.

What was the reasoning of that? Why were you starting to take portraits? Same thing I did when I was a 14-year-old in Chicago shooting drunks on the street. It was just interesting to me. and then I started doing interviews. I did an interview with Caroline, who's a heroin addict, that I got to know. A really beautiful young lady, who's a heroin addict, prostitute,

and I said, hey, tell me your story. I'll videotape it. And she did, and it was just mind-blowing. It was like, wow, that's heavy. That's so heavy. And I just thought I hit a home run the first time at bat, and I was never going to happen again. But I kept doing them, and they were all interesting in different ways,

very different ways. This one was interesting for this reason. that one was interesting for that reason. This one was heartbreaking. That one was just fascinating. And I just kept doing them. And there are all kinds of different people down there. There's alcoholics.

There's drug addicts of all sorts. There's mentally ill people like by the truckload. Transgender. There's prostitutes. There's pimps. There's everything that that whole underworld has is all basically down on Skid Row. And they're just bringing in new ones all the time. You know, the Greyhound stations down the street.

And other cities around the country will get rid of it. to their unwanted people and just put them on a one-way ticket to LA and they drop them off at the Greyhound Station on 7th Street, which is just down the street from my studio, and here they come. Sometimes I just sit outside my door and hear come the people from the Greyhound Station. They'll be, hey, come on in here.

What is normally, and I'm just asking, what would be normally for somebody that comes off the street, comes from off a Skid Row, what would be like that, do you give these people, you give them money? I give them money. Yeah, typically. What would be, what would be like the most, from the least to the most, you would give the average person walking in that you would want to cancel the story.

Just the way, in our first interview, I asked you a question, you said I'd rather not answer that. I'd rather not answer this one. Understandable. Because there's a lot of things I do that I learned on that first project that are important in terms of how I do this. And I just want to protect that. I don't want to tell everybody how I do everything. It's like, then you've got a million people doing. I don't know that what I do is that duplicatable anyway.

It'd be hard for somebody else to do this. Well, I'm sure people would think about you, Mark. They probably think, you know, here's this man shooting. But I'm generous. Of course. I err on the generous side. Of course. But, you know, here's this man, you know, filming these people.

What would he have in common? People probably would try to ask, like, what does he have in common with him? Does he never smoke pot? Never smoke pot. Does he never smoke pot? I've never smoked pot. When I'm around you, I guess. high because there's so much pot in the air like you right of course have you ever done any other

narcotics crack no meth never never nothing no haven't had a drink of alcohol in a while yeah how long shit i don't know two years three years two years three if i'm not against drinking i'm a happy drunk but i just i go to the gym every morning i'd rather be in good shape in the morning rather than hammered so i don't yeah but uh drugs are not my thing right respect that you know because like i said i think people probably think like what is he have in common with these people does Is it drugs or is he tricking with the prostitutes? Are you spending money with him for your own self-sexual gain? You know, I don't think that you do either because you don't come off as that person.

I'm just saying what people think that you, you know, I want to get some clarity with you into what you do. Yeah, I think it's, I'm fascinated with the human struggle. Yeah. And these struggles are intense. They're like the human struggle on steroids. Yeah. A lot of fertilizer on these kids' childhoods. of damage.

You know, it's just like, whoa. Like, you hear some of these stories. Like, man, like nothing like mine. Yeah. I'm sorry, I had two great parents. You're good. Relax. I had two great parents.

And it's almost like it's a thank you to my parents. What I'm doing. Yeah. Why would you, what makes you feel like it's a thank you to your parents? I think my parents did a great job. They did a great job raising me and my sister. Yeah. And, you know, my mom died a couple years ago.

what do you do? You know, you can't, he's gone, but it's like a thank you. Just to, you know, because I think what I'm doing can, if I keep plugging away at it, it can eventually get people to see how important parenting is in the raising of a child or a person, you know. Those first five years, seven years, ten years are super important to have a dad who's, a role model who somebody's going to teach you the difference between a hustler and a good guy to show you the kind of man that you should want in your life as a young girl and to show a young

man how to be a man and the same thing with a mom you know it's super important stuff and it's kind of like unraveling as each generation goes by it's like you see the parenting just getting more lax and more off target and it just seems like things are going haywire i mean there's There's little girls, you know, that know, you know, that we're actual, like, just real makeup, man, seven, eight years old, nine years old. And their parents are just allowing these type of things because they feel like it's cute now in the moment versus what the child might actually end up being later on in life. And, you know, people have to understand something, man, like about maybe 12, 30, about 13 years old to, 18, 19 years old is the most very

the most very vital time of a child's life because that's where they're going to really start picking up things. They're going to start understanding that you know, okay, this is how this goes. They understand when they can hear when mom's mom and dad's arguing and they can kind of they can understand

what they're talking about now versus when they were kid it just sounds like the house is a loud house. It's a lot different. You know, you start to be able to see and you start to be able you start to pick up these these traits man because i'll tell you this you are right when you say that mark like when it comes to children's upbringings it really does shower the child more than they know what the parents are doing around them yeah the kids know you know kids are smart they may not understand exactly but they can sense and feel that there's some

fakery some bullshit some crazy shit going on that isn't right and when a kid's confused they just think that maybe being confused is the way you go through life. You know, I got a divorce five, six, seven years ago, five or six years ago. And I realized, you know, that my daughters didn't know exactly what happened. I have two daughters. And I said, shit, I'm going to sit them down and tell them exactly how dad fucked up. It's not all my fault. Do you feel like you fucked up at more? Well, I'm not saying I fucked up. It's just, it's just, I mean, it takes two to tango, but whatever the case. I got involved with that ended the relationship and I just wanted them to know everything there was to know everything that was

useful for their minds to process that's what happened with my parents I mean we were still great I mean you know cool with your ex-wife yeah everything's cool with my ex-wife you know I spent Christmas with her back and you know go to visitor all the time and it's great we have a great relationship you think we're still married but all I'm saying is my kids you want to respect your kids minds and just make them realize that they're worthy of everything From unconditional love to understanding how the world works, to understanding what a man and what a woman should be when they grow up, all that stuff is super important.

You guys never thought about working it out? You and the kids? Me and Max Y? Yeah. You know, it's like, I don't know. We'll see. Probably not. Probably not.

You accept that pretty much. Yeah, no, I mean, I love her, and she's great. Greatest woman I ever met. But I don't know. I mean, it isn't something I, it was the greatest relationship ever. It was a magnificent relationship. 17 years we were married. People used to say like, you know, man, you guys are like newlyweds.

How long have you been married? We've been married 12 years. It was great. Can't help who the spirit attracts to. No, no. You can't control that. No. No, you cannot control that.

But she was great. You know, she was pre-approved by my mom. She worked with my mom. She was a model. My mom was a model in Chicago, and she worked with my mom, and my mom goes, you should meet my son, jokingly, I think. And they started joking back and forth, and then she showed a photo, and next CNO,

I was coming out to visit, and we went on a date, and we went on one date, and she said, now I'm busy the rest of the weekend. I'm like, what? What do you mean? You're busy all weekend. That just makes you chase. That just makes you chase.

Have you, I'll have to ask you this. Is there any, have you ever like, throughout doing these interviews because you seem like the type of person you don't really attract to looks, you attract to, because I'm the same way, you attract to the vibe somebody gives you. The whole thing. The, you know, but not just necessarily because I feel like, okay, you've had attractive women in your life before, right? Yeah. You know, they can turn out to be pretty bummed, so you start to look into them more as, you know, you've had attractive women in your life before, right? So you start to look into them more as, okay, well, this is somebody that, you know, I want more out of the situation. I don't just want sex.

You know, you're looking for something a little bit differently. Have you ever felt any type of way about any of the people that you have interviewed on your channel or anybody that you've ran into on Skid Row? There's been a few people. You know, I'm a single guy. Yeah. You know, and I don't necessarily get involved. with hustlers like the typical people I interview. But I will admit that some of these people have souls that are interesting and great

personalities and they're attractive. And there's been three or four women that are just like, wow. Tell me and you, me and you had a phone conversation. We have a lot of phone conversation. We do. We have a lot of, you know what I'm saying? We had a phone conversation. And there was this one conversation where me and you had to where you were like,

man, sharp, because you had called me. And you was like, man, there's this one girl, man, and I just don't understand. You know, we don't have to bring up any names, you know, or mention any names. But you were like, man, there's this one girl, man. Like, she just, she just reaches my soul. I liked her a lot. You liked her a lot, man. And you tell us a little bit about that.

I'd rather you explain it versus me explained the story. She was a, you know, I used to go down to Figaroa Street and just look for girls to interview, not for anything else. Never done that. But, uh, Mark. Believe it or not. You don't have to do any disclaimers. Yeah, we're here. No, whatever.

You can ask all these girls what kind of shenanigans I get into. I don't do that. But I was down there and it came up on this girl and she goes, hey, hey, honey, you want to date or whatever? And I'm like, no, no, no, no, I'm good. And I pulled away. I'm like, well, you know when you meet somebody and just like, what was that? It was one of those things. There was something about her that just like, that's just like, that.

That was different. Even though she's a girl that's work in the street. I've never ever, ever done something like that. So I go around the block and I come back and there she is. And I go, just get in. Just get in. And she gets in. Right the fuck on, Mark.

And I figured, right the fuck oh, Mark. No, so I got to know her and we got along great and everything was cool. And it was just like, it was, to me she was fascinating. You know, she was intelligent, seemed to have a really great heart. she was just really a really warm person, like really, like, just had a really special personality. Very unusual for that kind of girl, right? A girl that's work in the streets.

She was very different, but, got to know each other, I would see her quite often, but then she, one day just flipped. What'd she do? She called me once and asked me if I'd help her, like get off the streets and all that stuff. And I'm like, yeah, sure, I'm your guy, but I just want to let you know

there's no strings attached. This is not a sugar daddy thing. This is not anything like that. I'm just going to help you, which is what I do with a lot of these people, right? And that was that. I said, I'm busy right now. Let me call you when I'm done working and I'll talk tonight. And then she never, never answered her phone. Try to the next day, never answered her phone. And I went back to where she works. And there she is on the street. Sees my car and just runs away. What did you? So I think, I think what it is is just sometimes people get scared. Well, what did you, even good things. What do you, and scared, I feel like, is a surface word for what it probably really, really was. What did you make of that when she just

kind of walked off? What was the feeling that came about when you were sitting there? And, you know, this is the same chick that was just asking you for a day, you know, and you came around the corner, you told her to get in and she got in as fast as she could. And then when you went back to, you know, go and try to, you know, because you felt some type of connection, you go back. And she booze you. Yeah, make you a long story short. That was over the course of a month or so, I think.

So you were talking to her for a whole month? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And everything was cool. It was cool the entire time. And then all of a sudden, it turned on a dime. I don't know what happened. But I assumed at the moment,

and I still probably do today, that she just kind of got freaked out at that. Your girls that are doing that kind of work have a real hard time with a loving relationship. You know, they probably had a dad that wasn't the greatest in one way or another. Not true, Mark.

They all look for love, Mark. They all looking for love. And I've said it to you on the very first interview that me and you had. What did I say to you? My famous where I said, man, everybody, all of us, including you, we're all searching for something that we've never had before. And that can even rang in the time of saying even the ultimate love. We're looking for a certain type of love, man.

Everybody's love is rare, man. Whatever makes them tick. Yeah. So maybe mine was a different flavor than what she wanted. What she wanted. Yeah, yeah. So whatever, but her reaction was so strong, it was like, whoa. Like, you know, I mentioned this before in interviews before,

one of the best things I've ever learned, most useful things, of course in miracles, I'm not a religious dude, but it's a religious book based on the Bible, I think. And I know. But one of the best quotes in there, which I just can't forget still to this day, is everything we do is either an act of love or an act of fear. And if you boil down everything you do as either love or fear, that a big percentage of what we do is out of fear.

So when somebody reacts that strongly to me just being kind, I know that she's scared shitless of something. Didn't know exactly what it was, but reacted strongly to just kindness. As a man, because I would consider you a- That was the end of that. But I consider you a wholesome man. You know, so what was it that you naturally,

like because obviously when you saw the girl it wasn't about no money you didn't care about paying or you didn't care about oh I just want to get a quick nut I want to do all this no when you saw her you got a different type of feeling about her what was it that you saw that struck you or listen to her about that struck you that's what love is it's that mysterious thing if you could boil it down you would just put out an app

and list your qualities and somebody would deliver and you'd be done you feel like you fell in love with her Well, it had the possibility for that. It takes more than, you know, there was definitely that initial attraction, for sure. But it never got a chance to take off, and that was that. That happens a lot, I think. A lot of people that could be right, just it never works out.

One of the, because I don't want to keep stabbing at your heart on that one or having you talk about that, you know? And then that's good, you know? So we'll take a change here in events. And I want to talk to you about, man, one of the crazy, to you of all time, what was one of the most craziest interviews you've ever had

the opportunity to witness or to record? There's been a lot, but one of the most extreme that everyone can probably grasp is a guy named James, who was a rapist. I titled it rapist interview, but he actually murdered a girl,

a prostitute in New Orleans, I think it was. He picked her up and murdered her, and he talked about that. And he also talked about how he was, that's an initial interview. He also raped his mom when he was a kid. It's very interesting the way he says it. He speaks super softly.

Everyone gives me a hard time for the audio on that video because he's so hard to understand. But the traffic noise outside my studio is what it is. And you speak nice and loud, so for you, the audio is no problem. But when he's talking like this, and he's mumbling, makes it really hard to understand what he's saying.

The traffic noise drowns him out, but he mumbles something about something with his mom, and I asked him to repeat it, and he basically, you know, I raped my mom, which is heavy. But then, you know, I interviewed him, I think, like five or six times. And in some of the later ones, he talks about how he was, you know, there's websites where you can look up who the sex offenders are in your neighborhood, and down in Skid Row, they're all over.

Every block has plenty of them because they have to be in these neighborhoods where there's no schools and no kids around. Yeah, you can't be in certain zones. Yeah, Skid Row is a gold mine for those guys. Right. Lots of them. And he would find them and murder them.

Pisses me off, man. I got to smoke. Just to even hear the story. It just, it boils me. He said he walked into the police station, told them what he was doing, and they go, we know who you are. So this man that's raping and killing

women walked in rape and killing sex offenders oh this man was killing sex offenders so when he was

on Skid Row he told me he was killing sex offenders earlier in his life he he murdered a girl that was a prostitute in New Orleans

and then he also attempted murder on a girl but she didn't die years later he did less time for that one and then he had

eventually got stabbed and he died on on Skid Row what happened to him on Skid Row he got stabbed and ended up dying. Somebody found out his jacket.

Could be. That's what happens. I'm going to be honest with you, man. When you're out there in the streets, it's like, I've said it before, man, you know, especially being on Skid Row. It's Kangaroo Court. Why do you think you had people that were out there? I think you interviewed somebody that was a debt collector. He was a debt collector. You collect debts on Skid Row. Maybe collect some of them people out there that are debt collectors that are on Skid Row go and collect a life. You know, it's, it's, it's, to hear these type of stories, man, of people and the type of things that they will be comfortable with coming and even sharing with you on camera speaks volumes.

My most, the, the, the one that hit me the hardest from you. I mean, obviously, I'm on your channel. I've done, four. I've done, uh, you know, and they've gotten well watched, you know. You're one of the most popular people on my channel. The one that, I'll tell you this. Well, if I felt like I was ever getting beat, there was one, maybe two episodes that you did that I felt like just touched a different demographic of people was when you went and you interviewed the Whitakers.

The Inbred family in West Virginia. Inbred family in West Virginia. Tell us a little something about that. So they are a family that I discovered when I did that, book I mentioned earlier, Create Equal. I was in West Virginia and came upon a cop and a truck stop and told them what I'm doing. You know, cops are good because they know everybody and everything in their county. And he goes, yeah, I got all kinds of people I could show you. And he goes, you want to meet me here at 3 o'clock? I get off at 3. I'll meet you right here. So I met him

there at 3 o'clock and he took us to this piece, you know, this family, this family, this one. And then it's It rained really hard, and all our equipment got wet, and we had to bail. So we left. He says, you've got to come back. You've got to come back. I've saved the best for last. So we came back like a week or so later.

And he told me before, he said, bring a video camera. And I wasn't doing video at the time. This was 10, 12, 13 years ago. I came back and he goes, you got a video camera? I'm like, no, I don't do video. He got really upset. I said, no, I just don't do video. I just don't do photographs.

He was really upset. But so we go down there, go down on this road. It's just like your mind imagines it. Just a road that turns into a dirt road turns into barely even a road. And then you come on these two houses, one on this side and one on that side of the road. They're shacks.

One's a motorhome and the other one's just a shack. Maybe it was a motor home that was kind of converted into a, it looks like a building. But we come around the bend and there'll be, there's like one guy who's just yelling, like barking like a dog. one guy's staring at you, but the eyes are going off in different directions. Another one doing the same.

It was just like deliverance times five. And it was the craziest thing ever at the time. And I figured out that this is going to be tricky to get them to let me photograph them. Forget about an interview. I wasn't even thinking interview at the time. But just to get a photograph, the way I do it, like a formal portrait is going to be, like these people are too wild. They're like wild animals. You can't get them to sit still.

But I was patient. I set up and had my backdrop up in the camera and lighting and all that, and everything was set. And then they, I wanted to shoot the three brothers together. There's 15 kids, so there's a lot of them. But they're not kids, they're adults now. They're in their 40s probably at the time. Maybe 50s even, I don't know. They were older, but they were fascinating.

And I got the two brothers to stand for it, but Ray would not. He was just too out of control. Like every time I even speak to him. Like he, I had the camera set and he would stand like three inches from the camera. Like no, no, no, Ray, I need you to stand over. Like every time I spoke to him, he just ran off like a, like he got really upset, started screaming and would run off and his pants had no belt. And the pants would fall around his ankles.

And he went in the corner and started kicking a garbage camp. And he did that over and over and over. And then eventually somebody pulls up with a shotgun and a pickup truck and got really upset that I was trying to photograph these people. about what I explained to him, he wanted to shoot this city slicker. But I told them, like, you know, because what happened is when we showed up that first time, somebody had just died in the family, whether there was a grandmother or an aunt or somebody, somebody had passed away, and they were kind of in mourning.

So it was hard enough to even photograph them in the first place because they were dealing with that. But I told them that, because I was shooting 8 by 10 film and 8x10 Polaroids at the time, which are instant, of course. I told them I do these instant photos, and I can give you a portrait of the family that you can put in the casket so the deceased can take the family with them. And they like that idea, so that's what I did.

And that's like the quick thinking that you have to do sometimes in order to make things work out. So it worked out, eventually got Ray to stand for that portrait, and that's the photo that you see in that first Whitaker video. It was it was cringy a bit Yeah it's it's it's it's different It's hard to imagine that exists in the United States

But I think there's more more of it than you think Yeah Well I'm sure there is you know I mean I mean if you look at the beginning of time You know I mean When you say we're all incest If that's the case Yeah yeah

No but people question the They're just different There were more in the family Because when I watched it You know There was only one person that you were speaking to, and I think that was the mother. And she was the...

They're all siblings. They're all siblings. Except for Timmy, who is a nephew, I believe. So there's no mother there. The mother and father are deceased. These are all the offspring. They're all brother and sister except for Timmy. Wow.

Yeah. Some are older, some are younger. So she looks like a mother, but she's actually a sister. Wow. You're talking about Betty. She was sitting in the rocking chair. Yeah, that's Betty. Old Maddo.

She's a sister. So that's just all our brothers and sisters. They're all brothers and sisters. Now, they're not having sex with each other. The parents, now people question the, you know, if you look at the family tree, they say the parents were double first cousins. Whatever a double first cousin is,

I'm not sure exactly sure what that is, but the parents were double first cousins, but then they're also, there's all these genealogy people that have contacted me about the Whitaker family, and they said at one point, for some of the siblings that the parents were brother and sister.

So I don't know what the truth is. And honestly, I heard some stuff recently that the environmental damage from coal mining causes genetic damage and that could explain a lot of what you see in that family too. Because they're in coal country. So you're saying, their father was a coal mine.

So you're saying they're not only incest, they might have coal mining issues from things that were going on in Appalachians. I would bet that that's what's going on there. Combination of both. Wow. Yeah.

But regardless, after you have one kid and they come out off like that and you have a second one, you would think that you would put the brakes on having kids. But there's 14 kids, I think. 14 of them. How many lived right there in that area? In that area? I think most of them. A couple moved to like Virginia, which is just over the border and other counties in

West Virginia, but just in that little immediate, just in that kind of, county. I think most of them were there. When I watched the video, I noticed that even though the houses were ran down and the houses were messed up at a trailer across the street or whatever, it was a very beautiful

area. Virginia is very beautiful. West Virginia is gorgeous. Kentucky and West Virginia is a very beautiful place. And then when I was watching the video, I watched you talk to one of the the one that was barking like a dog. Ray. Ray.

And you asked him where his brother was buried. Yeah. You know, and he, the way that he moved you, you know, and brought you, say, come on, like, you want to go, you want to go see? I don't know that that's what actually happened. I still don't know to this day. I don't, I would guess it's not. I don't know. He took you to a burial ground.

Yeah, if you look at him, it looks like somebody was buried there, and he's pointing to the ground and we're talking about his brother. And we're, you know, so I don't know what the truth is. sometimes you have to accept that you're not going to know what the truth is. You just have to. Like with that girl you mentioned earlier, I don't know what the truth is. Yeah.

You just have to accept that you don't know the whole story. Yeah. Let's talk about the, because this one, this particular case that we're going to talk about, I noticed that this kind of brought you a little bit more of a problem.

And you were having something. I'm going to say issues, but you were just having some complications with the situation with the girl exotic. Let's talk about that a little bit and let's dive into that. Yeah, I don't want to pull anybody under the bus. Of course not. That's not what you're here to do. You know, you're going to tell the truth.

We're in the sharp tank. So, you know, we're going to go as deep as possible as as much as you're, as far as you're willing to go down. Here's what I'll say about that. Because I tend to do things in a way where I'm not. I take the high road. A lot of people, a lot of these hustlers that I interview tend to play

things differently. So helping is not part of my channel. That's not what this channel Soft White Underbelly is all about. But I'm just a sucker slash nice guy, whatever you want to call it. Adam would call me a sucker. Somebody else might call me a nice guy. No, he ain't going to call you that. Whatever. No, whatever. He's not going to. But I'm helpful to a lot of these people.

Some I've been more helpful to, and what what people don't understand, like is Raya exotic? got a lot of help. But the reason she got so much help, her video just took off for whatever reason. She's a very pretty girl, right? And her story was interesting,

but it wasn't more interesting than 95% of the other girls on fig that I interviewed. But there's something about her video that just took off. She got five marriage proposals. She got like countless people saying, you can come live with me. You and your kids can come to Australia,

Belgium, Canada, the United States, all these different places, come live with me. You can live with us for free. So she got all this outreach, people wanting to help her, people wanting to marry her, people wanting to donate money. So I have a go-fund-me, a channel, a general go-fund-me. I don't target it for one person. I'm doing it for the Whitaker family, but that one's separate.

But generally, I have a go-fund me that just collects money, and I tend to spread it amongst all the people that I interview in different ways. But what it was happening with Exotic is everybody was donating money and saying, I want this to go to Exxotic. How about should that generate for her personally? But $40,000. Wow. For a young girl. Off of a fucking go-fund me?

What the fuck? Her video got 10 million views. 10 million views. So that 10 million view video just made everybody in the... And here's the part that's super interesting. So I've got over a thousand videos on my channel. YouTube Analytics, the YouTube studio, which is a great app. that YouTube have.

I have it. Yeah, it's great. And they tell you everything you want to know about a video, including the ratio of likes to dislikes. And generally my videos, you know, if it's a sex offender, it might get 93, 94%. If it's a drug addict, it'll get 95, 96%, 97. If it's a nice sweeter story, maybe 98, Exotics video, first video got 99.6%. Highest by a long shot of anything I've ever done.

crazy it's crazy that's the most interesting detail of this whole thing and if you read the comments on that video before the third video came out before the story

flipped the comments were just unanimous oh my god this is the most heartbreaking story ever we need to help this girl how can we help this girl mark everybody wants to help her I think they tripped

because that bitch has somebody's name tattooed on her face they couldn't understand why something hashtag bunny bunny years something so beautiful to everybody

could have something like that so hideous across their face but see for people out there man and for all the squares and all the people that understand man I'm gonna be honest with you that girl 1,000% chose that she chose that man

don't don't we let's not fucking act like her face got held down oh we're holding her down marker brand her man that bitch laid there with a smile she laid there with a smile while she did that So I just want everybody to know while they sit there and they watch that and they think that, oh, well, this is something that's just so sad and just so, no, this girl laid down, man, the lines are clean on her face. You're exactly right there.

The lines are clean on her face, man. She laid there with a smile. The fucking tattoo artist had to tell her like, hey, don't smile too much. I need your whole cheek. Yeah. That's what I think the viewer sees this really beautiful face. And she's a very beautiful girl, right? Yeah.

with these terrible tattoos of a pimp's name on her face more than one right um that's just more than one yeah there was one up here and another a huge one across her cheek look at that see that's the that's the problem with the game though mark and i've said this to you before that's the problem with the game see you you can't treat being a lady of the night was never to this it's not gang banging you don't fucking throw his fucking name on your face and if that's what you're doing guess what you're letting the police already know who you fucking with you already letting him know who he needs to go deal with or who he needs to go find that's right i hate that about the game man that they're no longer ninjas in it you know

ninjas were never seen you know you don't really see that anymore the game is man it's it's it's been watered down for a while the game is soul never told right hey man and it's but it's been watered down for a while now and that's why I've tried to come back I've tried to resurrect a better image of just what it did stand for versus what they're giving it two black eyes and a fucking bruise on the jaw and teeth missing you know what I'm saying if you're going to do that that's that's what you've decided to do with your life you're doing a great job of that you can question whether being a P is a noble cause or not. But if you're, if that is, which I believe a lot of people misunderstand what that whole game is all about, that's a

whole other conversation. It's a whole, I feel like me and you captured one of the realest moments of what, because you know when I, and I've said this, I said this before to people, because they didn't really understand. Like I told, listen, I told Adam when I first came and did the interview with him, right? I came, I sat down with Adam and Adam was like, you know, I don't think he probably believed me but now that I got you here I can say it like I called you and told you man take that shit down yeah you did

they was talking bad I said I'll give you your money back the day after the video you day after the video dropped you asked me to take it down man I swear I think it was more than one or two days you were telling me this yeah and I told you just let it ride just let it ride give it a few days

and you're going to see was it right I'm right yeah you were fucking right that I'm forever grateful. And you know before, because I want to bring you back, Mark. I like having you around. I need you here with me while I'm moving through this journey.

Because I'm going to bring you back, man, because I feel like there's a lot more for us to dive into. Yeah. But let me finish with this exotic story. Come on. Oh, yeah. No, no, please. There's more to it.

Please, please. I'm not going to get into details. No, please. But these kind of people. I said want to press you, you know, I didn't want to press you too hard to make you feel a certain type of way. I'm not going to say anything. going to get anybody upset.

But you have to understand that these people come from a life that they're hustlers. They're just hustlers. And you don't realize how, like when I'm giving up money, when I'm helping people, I'm doing it with the understanding that there's going to be some rehab, some therapy. You know, if you have a drug addiction, there's going to be rehab, there's going to be some therapy. Yes, there'll be some housing and there'll be some money for food and whatever else you need. And she had kids, she had two sons. So there's money for that too.

Yeah. But it became evident after a month or so. There's not going to be any rehab. There's not going to be any therapy. There's not going to be anything. Yeah. There's just going to be, I just need more money for my kids, more money for my kids, more money for my kids. I don't even think, I don't even know what the details are with your kids, but I've never seen any kids.

But what's interesting about all the people I've helped with considerable, like significant money. they become entitled to that money. They feel like they're entitled to it. Yeah. And they, when it starts to get, when it gets cut off, gets ugly. Who was it that you said went to the apartment? Was it you or was it?

No, it was me. And you said you found a whole bunch of sex toys laying around the apartment. It's your and her boyfriend. So they're, they're, they can do whatever they like, right? That's none of my business. I was being nosy. But here's, here's my. How did you get in, Mark?

No, I got a key from the manager. Hey, hey, I'm paying for the apartment. I'm paying for the apartment. You did it. No, no, no. I told you. I told you. No, but here, understand this.

Learn it. Come on. Understand this. I'm responsible for how that GoFund me money is spent. $50,000. My reputation's on the line with that $50,000. And I find out that, or I'm suspicious that it's being spent, misspent, I got to get to the bottom of it. Quickly. I can't just sit around and wait for her to lie some more and find,

out in a month or three that I'm giving away all this money. And I wasn't giving away thousands every day. It was like it escalated from 300 to 400 and all of a sudden it's 500. Then she needs 700. Then it was not like what the fuck? And I even said to her like you don't you know nobody needs that kind of money even with your two kids. And she would always make an excuse. There's always the kids. Yeah. But it was it was right about that time that I just I had to do something to figure out what was really going on. And the manager says that no, there's a dude that goes in and out of there. there's a black dude going in and out of that apartment all the time. So I just, I needed a key.

I needed to go to the bathroom anyway, so I just got a key and I went in, and sure enough, no sign of any kids. And there was, it was clear that she was having some fun there. But it was just fine. That's all cool. None of my business. Hold on.

I ain't laughing at you. I'm just laughing at because I know you, bro. Here's this fucking wholesome. I know you. Here's this wholesome white man walking in, right? he's believing and you know because you're a genuine guy so you're believing everything that she's saying like i am i'm on a ski trip with the kids you know what i'm saying i'm doing this i'm doing that and to walk in and to see all these fucking sex toys laying everywhere you're probably in your mind

like oh she's up here having a good time you know what you told me you said sharp i walked in and when i saw all the sex toys it made me blush yeah so so now so i mean what's interesting. You're just a wholesome man, you know, so it's different for him. It's a different world. That's a different world for him. That's a lot. Yeah, there's a lot.

But these people that get a lot of that kind of support. Yeah. I'm doing it under the assumption that you're just going to use this as a temporary hand-up so that you can get your life together and take your life to elevate. You can go to another level. You can get a job. You can get your life stabilized. You can get your own apartment and do all that.

that kind of stuff. That wasn't in the plans for her. She just wanted to get a new hustle. And then when the hustle ended for her, she started resorting to all kinds of other. How does you feel when? Crazy stuff. Because I could have swore you said that you, and I won't disclose the money, but I think that once you found that out right, I think that you had paid old boy to come back. We won't even talk about what the money was, but you had paid him to come in with Exotic. I paid both of them a lot of money to do that third interview. To do that third interview and come sit down.

and he pretty much admitted. I mean, do the math. No one's going to want to talk about how they just, how they just puzzled me. And then you're going to be on YouTube and everyone's going to like hate you for it. But it was cool of them to do it. They both did it.

But money is how that happens. Money is how that happens. It's funny that you understand. You know, I think that you're one of the number one key people that understands how money works. And I don't think you even like it. I see it in your face you hate how, what money can make people do. You hate that.

Money shouldn't. You hate that. I can tell you do. I can tell you, you hate even being able to explain that to me right now. You know my favorite thing about this project is when I go to Kentucky. West Virginia a little bit, but Kentucky especially, eastern Kentucky, I can interview somebody. And they'll tell me their life story and all that stuff. And then I'll pull out some money to pay them.

And they jump back. They won't accept it. They won't accept money from a stranger. Wow. And they're broker than broke. the median yearly income there is like $12,000. $12,000. And here's some city slicker who's going to peel off

a $100 bill for them or something even more. They won't, they refuse it. Well, you know, some of these places that you're going to, man, you know, there's people that get up to get recyclables and things like that, man, just to go make $10 for the day, man, and they got a buggy full. So, you know, when you walk up and you give somebody, man, $50, $100, man.

They're looking at you like you Jesus somebody, man. And they don't mean to. It's just that's not what they're used to. No, but those people in Appalachia, except the ones that are drug addicted, which is a big portion of that region now, but the ones who are not are the happiest people I've ever met. The Whitaker family are happy.

Look at them. They're happy. You can tell. That's what made it kind of sick is because they were all in acceptance. They knew because you asked, you asked the girl that was in the rocket chair, what was her name again?

Betty. Betty. You asked her, because I remember you got into detail and you were like, well, do you know why all your siblings? I got it. You know why all your siblings are like that? Yeah. Do you know why? And to see her in her face be like, no, I don't know.

She's like, no, I don't know what's wrong with him. He asked him genuinely. He did. He asked him genuinely. He asked him, do you know why you're, you know, what's wrong? with them. It's wrong with Ray. I don't know. She said that shit genuinely.

I believed her. It wasn't for no cameras, man. It wasn't because, like you said, it wasn't for show. Half of them that were sitting there didn't even know what was going on. Yeah. I mean, it takes a lot of courage for the people to do what they do on my channel. You know, for everybody to come out and talk

about whatever it is, whether it's a pimp talking about what he does, or it's a drug addict talking about their addiction, all the shame that they have. Or it's the Whitaker family talking about their poverty and all that, you know, the crazy situation there. And it takes a lot of courage for these people to do it. Right. You know, that's, I really, that's something that rarely gets talked about is how, how

courageous it is to, to, to have these talks on them. Do you think the Whitakers even understand what, or understood what stepping up to doing something like that even meant? Not at the time, no. No. They do now, though. I mean, you taught them. I'm sure they went and watched.

We've done how many, I think three videos now. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to go back and go film them soon? Yeah. No, the winter's over. I'm going. Yeah.

I'll go back. Say hi to Ray. And the whole gang. Fucking Mark, man. They love me now. Yeah. Mark, I appreciate you for coming in. Coming to see me.

You know you're coming back, right? Yeah, yeah. Because this is just the beginning. No, this is just the beginning, man. You and I have great phone conversations. I have said how many times, this should have been a video. Always. You always have.

And I'll tell you this, man, from when you had told me, I'm going to tell you right now and I'm going to return a favor. Hey, man, you're gold. You're gold, man. You too, man. You feel me? Hey, the Sharp Tank. No jumper.

Sharpest, coolest podcast in the world. And we're out of year. Yerry's girl, shoot us about here. Bye, bye, bye.