No Jumper - The Nems Interview: Beating Drug Addiction, Bing Bong, Brooklyn, BBLs & More

Episode Date: September 6, 2022

Nems talks about all the ups and downs of his life, and how everything turned out for the better after he stopped using. ----- 00:00 Intro 3:55 Came home in 2007, met Necro who took Nems on tour, showed him how to make money independently 8:29 Nems used to be homeless and an add*ct 12:27 Never was an issue for him to say the n word, until he started traveling, now he kinda stopped 16:04 Nems discovered all the different types of p*lls 19:09 Nems was robbin people E V E R Y D A Y! "I was a piece of sh*t" + Was on the run for like 4 years and kept doing battle rap 21:13 Shady Records almost signed him, but he was way too reckless at the time so they turned him down, Nems gave up on music after that and hit rock bottom 22:50 Nems was stealing from his friends, from his friend's kids 24:21 His mom said she wished he'd just _ so she can stop worry 27:11 Nems just stopped on his own, it's been 13 years, life's been up since then 31:11 Saved his street money and developed his merch hustle 36:00 Nems explains why he says "FYL", he minds his own business and stay in his lane 38:20 Falling out with Necro, coz Nems was on dr*gs and Necro doesn't do anything 44:09 The "Big Bong" viral video and how it organically took a life of its own 46:55 It went so viral that even Biden did the "Big Bong" skit with the Jonas Brothers 49:34 Nems doesn't like BBLs 56:13 Nems says people don't celebrate legacy rappers anymore and that's foul ----- 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

No Jumper, coolest podcast in the world. And today I'm in here with a great American, a great Brooklynite. Yeah. NIMS is in the building. Your life. How you feeling, man? I feel stupendous. Yeah.

It's great to have you in here. It's an honor and a pleasure, bro. Thank you. And like I was just telling you, I just spent a week in Williamsburg preparing for this. Sorry to hear that. When did that change take place to that? When would you have respected a Williamsburg resident as a true New Yorker? That changed in the 90s?

90s? That long ago? Holy crap. Yes. Biggie was hanging out on Bedford in the 90s. That was Bed-Stuy though. Right. Bedford turns into Williamsburg, you know.

Right. Bedford, yo, Bedford crosses the whole Brooklyn, actually. Bedford, they got right by Coney Island, which is at the bottom of Brooklyn, and it goes across the whole Brooklyn. Oh, okay. So it goes through all the neighborhoods. So the Bedford in Williamsburg that has all the delicious food and all the greats, the hot hipster chicks and everything like that. You don't respect it? I mean, it is what it is.

It's respectable. Do you feel at home there? No. It's a different world. No, no, no. I don't feel at home in any parts of the north side of Brooklyn. Really? I'm from the south side of Brooklyn, which is like a whole different world.

I know, because when I lived in New York, I used to pedal my freaking bike down to Coney Island and go swimming on the beach. I had these two girls that I would kick it with. And they were the only people I knew who didn't have a job. So on like a Wednesday afternoon, they'd be down to go kick it on the beach. And I remember, like, kind of getting turned off to the Coney Island experience because I think two times I went there in a row. I was walking on the beach and cut my foot open on a corona bottle that had been broken the night before.

Inside the sand. Inside the sand. That's how they get you, right? Yeah, that's happened to me many times. Back in the days, you know, now it's a corona bottle. Back in the days, it used to be needles. Oh, God. I'm really not ready for that.

Yeah. Real fuck your life shit. That's real. And I've known about you for a long time because I remember bagging the day in the Scavenger BMX video. I saw you. And that's how I knew of you from so long ago. So then when you started going viral more recently, I was just kind of astounded.

Yo, shout it to Edwin De La Rosa. Edwin. He just, he came to me one day. It was like, y'all, I'm a big fan. I was like, you know, I thought he was just a regular guy. And then people would tell him, you know, this guy's the man when it comes to the BMX scenes and all of that. And I tapped in with him.

I wanted to being a great dude. You know what I'm saying? When I was 16, he was like 16, but he was from Brooklyn and he was like the most influential BMX rider lived. That's what they were telling me. Yeah. He changed the whole game. That's crazy.

It was. He was. He's a good. man humble dude he always show love came by Coney Island would always just chop it up like a like you would never you would never know that like see I didn't know that about him and from me hanging out with him you would never get that vibe he was always just down the earth but how'd you how do you approach you what he I think he came to a show one day and was just like y'all I'm a fan and and then like I said people who told me oh that's that when they're

like oh who the fuck is that this guy's like ESPN had like top 30 most influential athletes and he was like on that list and I was like, word, never even heard a dude Right And then he would just Yo, then he hit me Yo, we want to do a scavenger video We want to come by a conal, come through

Right And I, you know, I'm big on energy man I give back the same love that I receive Whether it's a fan, whether it's another artist If you show love, I show it right back Man, there's no, I try to put the ego down You know what I'm saying? I try to and especially as I get older

It's more like, you know, love is love man I mean, seeing you in the videos and stuff and how you are when you're in your neighborhood and everything, it's just so blatant that you're a man of the people. And in some ways, you've really kind of built your fan base one by one. Shaking hands,

saying what's up to people, selling somebody a T-shirt, which is kind of a classic way of thinking about it. Now it's streaming and everything. It's like, no, you're supposed to get signed by a label and get a little baby feature and all of a sudden everybody just knows who you are. You can, like, feel the grind and how long you've been building this thing up.

I mean, that was always the That was always the blueprint was just how you said it. But when I came home from jail in 2007, I only did like a year and a half. But when I came out, MySpace had started. Before I went in, there was no MySpace YouTube. It was like AOL chat rooms. And I came home and Necro. Necro.

Hits me up on MySpace, never met him. Never even heard his music. I heard of him, but all I knew was I need drugs. hit me up, was like, yo, I fuck with your shit, man. I want to take you on tour and sign you to my label. Wow. And I was like, all right, you know what I'm saying? And he took me on tour all through the West Coast,

my first show coming home out of jail. We did House of Blues on Sunset. Best show I ever, porn stars, naked chicks. It was like, it was some shit. Just coming out of jail was like, yo. And then just being around him, I saw that. You don't need to be on the radio or do what you just said to be successful and be a million.

All his shows were sold out at that time. So before that, you had never had any kind of flirtation with celebrity or a show business at all. No, I was battling. I did the fight club shit, and I was the champ of that. I beat everybody, but how many years were you doing that? Probably like a year or two. Okay.

But I didn't know what it was. Like, I didn't, I thought it was like a, at that time, how you got your name known in New York City was, like right before the social media thing. So it was just like you had to go to events almost every night there was a battle in New York City so I was outside you know and if you rhymed I was let me hear something and then I go

and then somebody took me to this battle and it was like oh this thing called fight clubs not open to the public only industry I went I won a battle and they hit me yo we're having another one in two weeks and I won that and I just kept winning my I won like 20 times in a row and this wasn't like you knew who you were going to battle nah they just would be like oh all right next we call it to the table

nims and next up we got fucking 40-calf from Dipset or this person and I just kept winning every week and then it became when I got locked up it became a show on MTV too and they were showing it every night when I was locked up so I came home I already had a fucking buzz right but what made you want to cut ties with that shit

at a certain point because it's still probably a bag for you to begin doing that right? It's not as much of a bag as people think it is and also after I came home it started getting you know the person like when I battled it was just like I don't know who I'm battling it's just my rhymes versus your rhymes, whoever's better, it's better. And most of the time, I'm more animated, I'm more disrespectful,

just in my regular rhymes, so I would just beat everybody. And then it just became, you have to study somebody. I'd rather write an album than study somebody for fucking three months. And I was just like, you know, you see people talking shit to each other, and then behind the scenes, it's like WWF. When I went to, I went to one battle, and I just realized like, oh my God, I just spent my whole life thinking that these motherfuckers hate each other. Yeah, and they don't. Yeah. It's like,

a little community. Sometimes here and there there might be some tension. But yeah, but not really it's nothing crazy. So I was like, you know, I've rather spend my time making music.

That's my love and was my passion of just doing songs. And I would use most of the verses from songs and beat people in battles. Right. So it was just second nature to me. It was different when everything wasn't documented online.

Because you do that now, everybody, oh, this is this song from this mixtape, what a fucking piece of shit. Y'all was beating people with the same verses every week. I would spit the same.

same verse that the whole crowd heard the week before and still beat somebody. I think that's iller. You can't do that now because it would be documented. You know, you know, it wouldn't work. Dudes used to have like one freestyle and then we go to every radio show and just bust it over and over and over. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a good era. Now, I mean, there's something about, like, just being back in New York and realizing I know so many people,

New York just being there is such an amazing experience and the energy of just walking outside. And obviously, like, every different neighborhood is different. They all bring different energies, but there's something about that. I know so many people who are still, like, trapped in that vortex of just going out, hanging out on the block, doing something here and there, going to some events, getting fucked up, doing graffiti, whatever it is. And it's like when I went back, I just realized like, holy shit, if I never moved to L.A., I would have never broke out of this mentality.

Because I know people are still in it because it's so amazing being part of it. Yeah, but you get stuck in it. And it just, you know, 10 years in my life just got wasted. What the fuck happened? Just hanging out outside the bodega. Yeah. And that's also why I had to make a change. You know, during the time of the fight club and all that time, I was heavily into drugs.

I was homeless. I was a stone cold drug addict. And then, you know, I had to make that change. Like, I had to change in my life or I was going to die or be in jail. Right. So tell me a little bit about your childhood. So my childhood, I'm Puerto Rican and Irish. Right.

Good combo. Cool. My father's Irish. My mother's Puerto Rican. My father passed away when I was four from HIV. He was a drug user. Both my parents were drug users. They got clean and met each other.

And then they got married. My mother got pregnant. And by four, my father had HIV through using needles. Luckily, I didn't get it. My mother didn't get it. And at that time, that was like a death sentence. You catch HIV. It was like, yo, you know, there's no, you can't live with that shit.

It's not like Magic Johnson. and that was in the beginning, but you got it, you was dead in a couple months. Wow. So he passed away. And I grew up in Coney Island my whole life. My whole family was heavy out there,

drug dealers, robbers, burglars, killers, well respected. Right. And I grew up there until my high school years. Moved to Staten Island. Went to high school out there.

Got kicked out of, I set a fire in a public high school. Couldn't go to New York Public High School. What are you like on fire? Oak Tag. I was talking to a girl just playing with my life. and the shit went up on fire.

I was like, oh, shit. So it was a total accident? Yeah, yeah, I didn't do it on purpose. You got banned from every high school? For one year. Oh, for a year. So I had to go to the Poconos and stay with my Irish side, my father's, my grandparents on my father's side,

and that's why I started writing raps because I didn't have nothing to do. I would just go to school. I was on the honor roll. I was always good at school. It was just, I never went. Once I got to high school, it was like, oh, it's my choice? I'm not going to smoke weed and hang out. Right.

But in Pennsylvania, there was nothing to do, so I would just go to school when I come home, I was just write raps all day. And that's when I started with the music shit. Right, definitely. Who were you influenced by? What was the sound of your childhood and what you really loved? Onyx, Staky Fingers, Big Pun, Big L.

The mid to late 90s is when I was coming up. And that's when I was heavily influenced. Right. But I'm also, you know, I went to Catholic school, so I was also influenced by Nirvana. and Pearl Jam and like the Grunge Rock era because that's when I was like 6th, 7th grade. So I was into everything.

Right. But, you know. To me, that's like a real New Yorker as somebody who can really take in all these different influences because there is so much different shit around. I remember one thing, can you kind of remind me of Action Bronson a little bit with the way that you just have appreciation

for so many different things? I remember when I first listened to Bronson and I realized this guy has wrestling references. He's making jokes about, Bodybuilders that I fucking heard about shit like that. Like I love a person who's not afraid to just have like a lot of different interests. Absolutely. Well-rounded.

And I feel like when you grow up in New York, you have to kind of be a chameleon. Because wherever you go, every neighborhood is your next door. I'm Puerto Rican Irish. My neighbor might be Indian. My other neighbor might be from fucking, you know, El Salvador. Right. You know what I'm saying? So every, and you grow up with.

friends of every culture, every creed, every religion, every, you know, ethnicity. And it's just like, it's a melting pot and you just become, you know, well-versed in everything. And that's why LA is so different is that, like, Beverly Hills and Compton are, like, 30 miles apart. And it's night and day. They never fucking see each other. If you're from Beverly Hills, you've got no reason to go there. Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, you're in a black neighborhood. There's a Puerto Rican neighborhood next door.

There's a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood next door. It's like, and you all just get on the train together, and you got some guy that. that's like completely fucking different from you and you're just around each other. You think it makes people a little bit more tolerant. 100%. 100%. And that's why, even in New York,

even saying the N-word. Right. You know what I'm saying? I came up. I said that shit. I'm Puerto Rican. I'm from the hood. Never was an issue.

Right. Never. Nobody ever, even to this day, nobody's ever said nothing to me in person. But you see it online. And then when I started going out to Detroit battling, I would see like their faces would be like offended. And I'd be like, I was confused.

Right. You know, I never thought, you know, but it's either black and white out there. There's no Puerto Ricans. Even when I went recently a couple weeks ago to Atlanta, you know, most of my crew, were real Puerto Ricans running through. They're like, yo, guys are aggressive. We're like, this is just how we talk. Yo, you're mad Puerto Ricans.

There's not. So that's when I started seeing that, oh, okay, this is not how everybody talks. Right. This is not like, because in New York, you got white guys saying it. You got Chinese people saying it's just how people talk. When I first moved to New York, that was one of the things that really stood out to me was every fucking person said it, including white kids with rich fucking parents and every Spanish kid, every Puerto Rican kid, whatever, couldn't believe it, you know, at the time.

But I feel like that maybe has changed a bit just because the Internet has informed everybody, you know? 100%. And that's why if you listen to my earlier music, I say it, and then I just came to a conscious effort, like, I'm not saying that shit no more. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like even if I just a lot of things back in the days were were tolerated and accepted that aren't now. Right. You just have to change with the times.

And also, I don't want to give anybody a reason not to listen. First of all, I don't want to offend nobody anymore. That's how I live. Before, I used to really be fucking life. I'm going to fuck how you feel. Fuck your life. I was searching you up on YouTube last night. I've seen some good examples.

Yeah, no, 100. I want to know why you smack the shit out of this barber. Oh, he didn't pay the rent. I mean, he was working for you, right? Yeah, yeah. So you own the barbershop? I had two barbershops in Staten Island. Me and my cousin owned it.

And there's just, the kid was a habitual line stepper. Right. Like, always would come late on the rent. He was a good kid. I liked them. But it just comes to a point where you're like, you're not going to keep taking advantage of me.

You think it's a joke because I'm nice. You know, sometimes you just got to. And that's a communication style. But me as like a boss. You can't do that. If the editor is fucking up. You know, I just got a fire. or yell at him, I can't smack them upside the head.

Also, that was over 10 years ago. Right. You know, you learn from your mistakes. Right. You know what I'm saying? Well, I just solve a lot of problems with violence. Absolutely. You know, it's the best way.

I mean, ideally, this whole, you know what? I was just driving through it. We're looking at the mountains. I'm like, yo, imagine back in the days before all these builders or anything, you're just riding your horse through here. Like, this whole country, they probably killed mad Indians. You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, this whole country is built on debawing people.

Right. You know what I'm saying? And that was just the way of the world at that time. It's pretty amazing that people have gotten to the point where when Russia invades Ukraine, the whole world throws up its hands and says this is inappropriate because that was just every other fucking day, I'm sure, but throughout all of human history. And it's funny that something like taking America from the Native Americans, everybody could agree that that was wrong, but it's also like, well, we ain't giving it back.

We want it. We need it. So we're still playing by those rules retroactively, which is. It's kind of weird. Oh, I didn't say Native America. I said Indians if you felt a way about it, fuck your life. But also, I tried not to do that, but I just, at the moment, I didn't realize what they were, you know, what the proper term. I knew what you're going for.

I don't think anybody expects, like, extreme political correctness from NEMS, guerrilla NEMS. All right, so you start towing NECRO. He sees the vision, which is kind of amazing because you're making it sound like you were basically on nothing when he found you. Yeah. Yeah. And so then you're seeing everything. Did this help get you more into doing? drugs or were you already into drugs?

I was already, I was, I started, that was when I came, when I came, I spent my whole 23 locked up, 20, when I turned 24, got with Necro. But I started getting into drugs, probably when I moved to Staten Island. And my beginning high school years, I would, it started with ecstasy and Xanax. And this is before, like, the hood knew about it. And so I was oblivious because when I moved into the suburbs, I'm like, ecstasy. all in the hood is just crack. You know what I'm saying? And I'm like,

I'll take this little half a pill. It made me feel great. And then Xanax said, oh, I love Xanax. Zanx was my thing. And then that turned into heroin. I was a heroin addict for eight years. Why are you shooting up? No, I never shot up. I was sniffing it.

Okay. And again, if somebody, see, this is what happened. When I moved back to Kony, I did my high school years in Staten Island and the Poconos, and then when I was 18, moved back to Kony Island. Island. Right. So when I moved back to Coney Island, my mother had relapsed, right? And so she's in the streets getting high, going to rehab, so I'm living with my uncle. And you're a kid and you fully understand this, or is it still? I didn't understand it at the time. You know, I look back

at life and you understand it. So I'm 18, back in the hood. My mother owned that. We bought us a house. She was living in a house in Staten Island. She relapsed, lost the house. Now I'm back in the projects in Coney Island, living with my uncle. I would see people come to his door, him served him. I knew where his stash was at. I didn't know what it was, though. And Stateni and I was doing ecstasy and X-Sandex, smoking mad weed, drinking 40s.

When I go back, I dip into a stash and think it's cocaine. Now, if somebody would have came to me and said, yo, this is heroin, I would have been like, get the fuck out. I knew what crack looked like, so I never smoked crack. You know what I'm saying?

Somebody would say, yo, this is heroin. I would be like never I dipped into a stash thinking it was Coke did it I started doing it I loved the way it makes me feel right it takes away all my inhibitions makes me you know boister and now I'm back in the hood so I got to put

on a mask and I got to be a gladiator because now I'm back in the hood you know what I'm saying and and when really I'm a I'm a hurt child at this point my mother my father's dead my mother just everything I knew about my mother being clean for 18 years is now out the window

She's in the streets. I've never seen that before. And I'm just like, I don't know what the fuck is life. So I guess that's a, it was a coping mechanism. Me getting high is the only way that I could get my feelings. Because I'm a loner. I don't talk to nobody about my problems, even throughout my whole life, even now. I don't talk about my problems.

I don't, you know, I don't fucking bother people with my shit. I keep it all inside until I fucking explode sometimes. So, you know, I'm doing heroin for a couple weeks. I guess the people I'm around is like, sees the difference in me. So I'm hanging out with a girl one day. She's like, yeah, you do more than weed? I'm like, yeah, I do coke.

You want to try something? She's like, let me see. I pulled out. She was like, yo, that's not Coke, man. That's dope. It's heroin. At this point, I was already hooked on it. Right.

I was like, you know, and then it was off to the races for eight years from 18 to 26. Right. So what do you start doing? You start robbing people and doing all kinds of fucked up shit to get heroin? Every day was robbing people.

Every single day I robbed everybody in my building. Everybody in Connie Allen. Everybody I met. through music. I was, but I was just a piece of shit. And you were good at it, so you meant this is not get caught for a long time? Yeah, yeah. No, I, so I, at 19, I had robbed a cab, beat them up, took all the shit, probably a couple, a couple hundred dollars. Um, and I got arrested, but when I bailed out, I was like, I'm not turning myself in. I went on the run for four years, and that, during that time, I was doing the fight club every, I just, I wasn't hiding. I just

didn't, they didn't catch me. Right. Um. But were they trying? Would you hear about that? I look, my malls would be like, yo, they came by the house, and I wasn't there. Yo, they came my girlfriend at the time. Yo, they came by the house. I wasn't there. I know some New Yorkers who managed to live on the fucking lamb for a long-ass periods of time. And I did the whole fight club shit, so when they finally caught me, the judge was like, yo, you stayed out of trouble for four years, so I'm going to drop it to a nonviolent crime,

and that gave me the opportunity to do shock, which is like for first-time felons. And it's like boot camp. Him rewarding you for going on the run. It's pretty funny, right? It's crazy. So instead of doing the one and a half to four and a half year term, I wound up doing like, probably like 13, 14 months. And I come home.

I'm good. I didn't get high for maybe 10 months while I was locked up. Okay. But it was an option? No, I wasn't. Because in the shock program, that shit is like boot camp. There's nothing. It's not like regular jail.

So I came home. I'm good for two weeks. And I go right back to the same shit. I was like, you know, I made the mistake trying it one day. Like, I could just do one. I've been good. shit sent me right back to the races. And I was fucked up. And at this time,

I had deals with Shady. Well, they wanted to sign me. They was like, yo, NEMS, we love your music. We want to sign you to a development deal. But you're going in and out of jail. You're robbing people outside shows. You're living crazy. Like, you're more of an asset than, I mean, a liability than the ass, and they just stopped

returning my calls. And I just was like, that was my one fucking shot. And then when that happened, they stopped returning my call. I was like, fuck it. I just gave up on the rap shit and just like, yo, I'm just going to be a fucking bum being feeling. And that's when I really became homeless, sleeping in the lifeguard chairs, the Coney Island, and the project staircases. But I was really vicious.

I was robbing everybody, everybody. And it wasn't because I wanted to. It was just like, you know, it was either me or you. Right. I wake up every morning. I'm sick. If I don't rob you, I have a $700 day habit. If I don't go out there and get this money, I'm going to be fucking.

six fucking throwing up on myself so it was just like you know you're marching to the fucking beat of somebody over you know got the gorilla on your back and um how'd you break out of that? How long did that last? Eight years. Eight fucking years. Eight years and you're in and out of jail during us?

In and out of jail going to rehabs going to detoxes. It just I couldn't stop. I had people praying over me, my mom would take me to church because right when I started again my mother got clean again. Wow. And my mother been clean ever since. That's great. So she, and she was a drug counselor.

So once they found out what I was doing, they was shipped, y'all, go to rehab, go to details, people praying over me, jail, nothing stopped it. And then, uh, I just had like a moment of clarity, bro. I just, I knew when I was at the end, I was homeless. I was, oh, I had no friends. I didn't, I, I was just bottom of the bathroom, bottom. Like, you would look at me and be like,

you know, this guy's a piece of, stay away. Did you have a lot of people who cared about you and loved you? And then at a certain point, you had just kind of burnt out. Burnt all the bridges. Absolutely. Absolutely. Everybody that let me close, I would rob from them.

I was steal from them. You know, in the beginning it started. I was doing a lot of gangster shit. I would stick people up, dude. But by the end, it became cowardly. Where I would, you let me close to you. I'm fucking taking your phone. I'm taking your kids' PlayStation.

And it was just, yo, I was a shame. I was ashamed of myself, the person I had become. And I just had this moment of clarity where I was just like, like I saw myself, I was on like a three week run. I stole a prescription pad from a doctor. It was already, all the pages were signed. So I was writing myself scripts selling them.

The pad had ended. I'm on a three week run where I didn't sleep. I didn't, I probably didn't shower. I don't know. And I just saw myself from the outside. I don't know what it was. But I was like, yo, I could keep going how I'm going. I'm going to be dead very soon.

I know it. I felt death on me. I'm going to be in jail the rest of my life. or I could stop right now and live my fucking dreams. Because I still had hopes of being the rap, I still wanted to do that, but I just had given up. Right. And I begged, my mother was a fucking,

my mother who had come to every visit in jail, came to a point before, was like, y'all wish you would just die so I could stop worrying about you. You know what I'm saying? It had become that bad. How'd that feel when she said that? Horrible.

It was like the one person you always have, had in your corner no matter what no matter you stole from them you matter you lied to them they still had your back yeah when they tell you that it's like all bets are off it's just like you know I failed that life that's heavy you know what I'm saying but you really were able to just snap out of it and just start living your life differently it wasn't like it was like a one-time thing like I told you I was trying for all the years I didn't want to fucking be a heroin addict I didn't want to steal from people I didn't want to be a piece of shit I just couldn't stop I didn't know how.

I didn't have it in me. I don't know. I don't know what the fuck happened, but... But it's like that for everybody who's an addict for a long time, you know? I know people who were a heroin act for eight years. Actually, I'm going to be real with you, though. Most of the people that I know who really beat it at a certain point, it basically became you go to jail or you stop doing this.

Like my friends who had to do a piss test every week. Yeah. The worst drug addicts I've ever seen stopped because they didn't want to get locked up. That didn't stop me. I had the wizernator. Some of them definitely. When parole, I had the wizard. Okay, yeah.

And my man gave it to me from, he just had gotten off fed parole. It was like, hey, take my shit. He gave me the way. But it wasn't even my color, bro. That shit was mad darker to me. I don't know how I got away with the shit, but the wizernator you strap on. Oh, so it's like a little fake penis. So even if they look, they think.

Yeah, yeah, because when you go to parole, there's the toilet, but they got a mirror right here. So the guy's standing behind you and he's looking at your pee. So the wizernator, you strap it under you, you keep the piss along your thing right here. keeps your body temperature, because you know, sometimes they check the temperature. And it's like a fake dick. And you press the button. There's a button underneath, and the pouch shit from the pouch comes out.

And then you give the clean urine. Here you go. So I had it. Well, that shit. It definitely was mad, though. I did have a cool parole officer. Shout to Officer Cohen. I still remember his name.

He either, I don't know. He thought I had a fucking, I don't know what the fucking thought. Got a sunburn down there or something. Something. So One day they didn't take my piss For like a month or two And I didn't change the piss

And I put it on And they took my piss I pressed the button Brother shit came out like Apple sauce Bro that shit was like I was like oh shit He looked

He said He was like Yo what I was like yo my bad bro I haven't fucking I don't drink water It's the summertime He was like yo

I'm tested it Yo it's clean He was like Yo I'm gonna let you go by I need you go Straight to the hospital right now Right

I said, no, no problem. I'm going right now. You know what I'm saying? So, yeah, so, yo, when I stopped, that night had the moment of clarity. I fucking beg my mother to let me stay. Yo, mom, please, let me sleep on your couch. I want to stop. This is it.

And I didn't go nowhere. I didn't go to no jail. I mean, I didn't go to rehab. I just stopped. I scared myself to the point where I knew that what I said was true. I was going to die or be in jail. And from that point on, I never touched now. I don't smoke, I don't drink, I don't do anything.

I smoke my little vape, I stopped smoking cigarettes like last year, smoke my little vape. But yeah, I don't do anything, nothing for probably 13, going on 13 years. November will be 13 years. And ever since that point, but my whole life has been up since that point. By 10 months, I put out my first album, you know what I'm saying, and I went on tour in Europe. And it's just been little progressions, you know, slowly by slowly. And, you know, in the last couple years, I bought myself out, I was about my mother. the house. That's amazing. I feel like a lot of people when they

decide to stop being an addict that they basically need something that they can dump their energy into to replace all the energy that they were putting into drugs. I made a hustle. Was music it or just grinding in general? I always was doing music even when I was fucked up, you know, I had given up on my shit but I still was you know conduct concocting rhymes in my head so I always was doing the music it was the hustle right the hustle yo I need to I need to make up for lost time right and then it with the merchandise, and then it started with just putting out quality projects, and then just, just little by little.

I knew it was going to be, because I can't tell people, I can't go back to Shady Records or Def Jam that I was dealing with, be like, oh, fuck with me now, I'm good. Just, when they see it, they're gonna see it. You know what I'm saying? It's a process. So I just did my thing, like, yo, kept put my head down and just muscle through everything, and then eventually shit bigged up, big up, big up.

Right. So when I seen you in that sketched, I was cleaning there. You were clean by that point. I was like clean for like two years. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.

And so, I don't know, like, did you feel like everybody in the music world, all the fellow emcees and shit, did they kind of write you off, or did you feel like you maintained a bit of a relationship with any of them? I maintained certain relationships, good relationships. Definitely, um, yeah, I just, you know, some people didn't let me that close, you know, some people were just acquaintances, so they didn't see that side of me. Mm-hmm. Or if they saw that side of me.

They didn't really care because they wasn't really friends. You know what I'm saying? We was just doing a song. If you keep you at arm's length, then they don't have to suffer the negative consequences that you stealing their PlayStation. Exactly. Right, okay.

But so when you're wrapped up in all this, okay, you said the hustle became your focus. But like for most people, for a lot of people, the hustle might include illegal shit as well. I did that. Okay, so you were doing the illegal shit still at that point? I stayed away from everything for a while. And then probably about when I had four,

five years clean. I was just like a close person to me had a nice little route going and then I started taking over as the cell phone from Sunday to Wednesday. So from the time I wake up, the phone wakes me up, to the time I go to sleep, I'm moving 50s of Coke,

perk 30s, and Mali. Right. Now all day, driving around Staten Island, bong, man, bung, bung, bung, bung, mung, mung. The statute of limitations is up so I can talk about it. Right. And that was my But that only lasted for like a year. Being a drug dealer in New York, though, like, how careful do you need to be?

Or did you feel like you were kind of bulletproof? In the beginning, it was just like, oh, you know, it's cool, I'm making money, but by the end, it was just like, it was paranoia. I'm either gonna get robbed, or I'm gonna get knocked by the D's, and it just becomes every day, it's just like, now I'm just constantly

looking over my shoulder, and it just became something, it became like using without the high. Right. You know what I'm saying? But everything happens for a reason because what I did with that is that year that I took hustling and getting this money, stacked up enough bread

to get my own place, bottom of my mind. But when I started doing the merch, I said, y'all, I need to do this, but legally, started dropping merch. So I started dropping merch every single week. And then I would go deliver it to people. That would be my husband. Just like I would wake up and drive around the city

and serve people, I would start doing that with the merch. Oh, you're in the Bronx? You got about 300 worth I'll come drop you off this many hats And then that just be created Just a demand And then people that will fuck with me Would also be like y'all

I get to meet NEMS as well As get some dope-ass clothes You know what I'm saying? And then that's kind of how you said Built it fan by fan. You ever see people wearing the shirts To say it's an awful lot of cough syrup? Yeah

That's my boy Desto Dub And he was like almost the exact same story Where he was just selling lean And then it became like I'm making this merchandise At the same time And also So a lot of rappers want lean, so I'm around young thug.

I'm around little pump. I'm going to get them to wear it. It's like a very consistent one because you can transition out of doing purely illegal shit into a more illegal hustle, you know. All you got to do is stay consistent. Same thing I learned in the drug game is the same thing that applies to the merch game or just anything in life. As long as you stay consistent, if they know I'm going to drop a piece of merch every single Friday at 8 o'clock, they're going to be waiting for that. Right. If you miss a week, you fucked up.

Because now they're like, ah, this guy ain't consistent. Next week, I ain't going to be looking for it. But if you stay consistent, even if you take a loss, so what? Stay consistent. Keep banging them and banging them and banging them. And eventually, hey, yo. Eventually, eventually you're going to turn nothing into something. Right.

That's amazing. But in terms of how you view music at this point, you know, hip hop has changed a lot. for sure, but there's definitely still, you know, a hardcore foundation of people who love, like, more classic style hip-hop. Obviously, even seeing Griselda blow up over the last couple years has been a huge sign of that. Like, how do you think about your music and what it means to you and how it fits in with the culture overall? So what I've done with my music is I always made music that I want to listen to, that I like. If other people like it, that's an added bonus. but when the merch came along and everything else

that was my main bread and butter so it was like the music the music I'm gonna keep making I never switched how I made music I stayed in the even when shit was changing and it was going down south and rappers in New York was rhyming like there was down south and switching up

they style I never switched up I always knew that I had something there it might take a little longer but eventually somebody's gonna latch on to it or somebody you know the masses will latch on to it so I just kept doing this I just stayed with my same formula because I knew that I

I knew I could rap Listen I'm not conceited But I knew I had talent I knew that I had something That people liked Because my little core fan base was fucking With it and I just didn't get out to the masses So little by little

Every shit would be Every album I drop or mixtape It would get a bigger response to the last A little bit bigger And then I just never switched up Right And I just stayed true to who I am A lot of artists can't do that

Because they don't know who the fuck they are Right You ask the artists who are you They can't tell you a lot of them Who they are is basically Whatever is marketable or is going to sell At that given moment in time And once the fan base

The fans are not stupid I will say that about hip hop Is that there's a lot of industries and shit Like I look at like the exercise world And shit Sometimes I pay attention to this And I watch these videos These motherfuckers are dumb

Like the fan base is really believing That these motherfuckers were on stage are getting that way just off a straight protein powder. The rap fans are not like that. The rap fans have managed to figure out who every rapper has beef with, etc., etc. They're very in tune with it at large. So it's hard to pull the wool over their eyes. Absolutely.

And that's why it's always been, fuck your life, man. If you don't like me or what I'm doing, I don't care. I don't care and I don't care what you're doing. It's not going to affect me. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. Fuck whatever you're doing. Fuck your life. All of that.

You start fuck your life. Absolutely. Because I own fuck your life. I remember before knowing about you hearing people say it, but in retrospect, I feel like maybe those people got it from you and I just didn't realize you were the source. I've been yelling fuck your life since I was fucking 14, 15, which is what, like 99, 2000. Right. Fuck your life.

BMX dudes in New York City screaming fuck your life at everybody. Edwin told me. Edwin told me. You know what I'm saying? That's where Edwin got it. and I'm sure that he got it from everyone. Right. You know what I'm saying?

What does it really mean to you? It means, like, exactly what I just said. Like, it's not like I want you to fucking die. It's just like, you don't fuck with me. I don't care. Fuck whatever you got going on. I don't care what you got going on. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.

Right. If you don't, if you ain't with what I stand for or me and my people stand for, then get the fuck out of here. Fuck your life. Whatever you're doing don't matter to me. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, it just became a,

a way of life, like, yo, I'm a very, like, I'm out my business, bro. I don't care. Like, what they're doing over there doesn't affect what I'm doing over here. I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing, which is still just like we just talked about. When everybody was switching up, they sound

and doing different shit, I stayed doing what the fuck I'm doing. And look, they had little, maybe success over there for a little bit, but now they're back at the bottom. Me, I stayed little, little, little, little. Do you ever listen to any, you know, auto-tune rap? Anything else? SoundCloud rap, the other tune-ins, all that over the years? I'm not mad at none of that.

I'm not like that. You fuck with the drill? I fuck with drill heavy. They took over New York the past couple years, right? I fuck with drill, heavy. Fabio's my guy. I fuck out. I fuck with that shit.

Like, I'm not... What if Favi hits you and he's like, hey, hop on his track? Just do it. Really? Even if it's some... I'm nice. I'm nice.

You're gonna do your thing. I could wrap my ass off, you know what I'm saying? I could rap over motherfucking Annie Lennox. You know what I'm saying? I could wrap over a system of a down. I can rap. So I used to be in fucking limelight, sound factory, high off fucking ecstasy or special K or coke,

rhyming to the techno beats to my friends, you know when I was 15, 16 with fake IDs, you know what I'm saying? So I'm from that cloth where I can rhyme over everything. That's more important than your commitment to one specific sound. Absolutely. The notion that any beat can get dealt with. Absolutely, and that's what keeps some, like my last album that came out last August, Congo. I tried to make every song a different vibe.

You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, I don't want to hear a whole album where everything's exactly the same. Everything sounds exactly the same. That's corny. By the fucking fifth song, you're done. You don't, the fuck is the point of hearing anymore. Right.

You know what I'm saying? I want every song to be a different vibe and different, you know, different feels and different feelings and just cool shit, man. Did you have an official fallout with NECRO? How long were you running around with him? I was running around with him for, Probably six months.

Because then he's seen in real life the fucking addict that I was. But when he took me on tour, I brought out... He was just doing drugs. He wasn't a full drug addict? No, Neckro don't do drugs. So that song was just entertainment? Neckrod don't do drugs. He don't drink.

Oh, okay. He's a businessman. All right. He's good money. He's a genius when it comes to the marketing and all of that. I DMed him at one point and asked for an interview, and I think he said that... I think he said he's open to it, but he wasn't doing interviews at the time or something.

So maybe I can make that happen one day. Definitely can make it happen. underground legend. Yeah, no, 100%. And Bill, his brother, my guy, ill Bill, I did the album. Bill is my, I became over the years cooler with, nothing with Necros, I always show love and

got respect for Negro for what he did for me. That was real, that was a real individual. You know what I'm saying? And I respect that forever. But I feel like he took me as soon as he got, he know, you know, Nebs, I want to fuck him, he brought me on tour for two weeks. So I brought, in my mind, enough heaven with me

to do three bags a day for the two weeks but I ran through that shit in like the first three days the rest of the tour I was sick and they seen the fucking they was like oh this guy's really a fucking fiend right really addict you know what I'm saying and then um you know shit falls apart when you live like that let me ask you this coney island have you throughout your life had to deal with the reputation that it's a little soft in comparison of the rest of the brooklyn do people get that idea or is that is that a stereotype I mean just because they got a fairer Maybe you hear that over here, but if you ask anybody in Brooklyn, it's grimy there.

Everybody knows. The whole New York knows. Okay. Like, everybody, it's like a New York secret. Like, Coney Island is world famous known for the rods, but the rides is, you get off Steelwell Avenue, right? That's the last stop on the MTA, the train station. You could go five blocks this way, and that's all the rods. Go 21 blocks this way.

It's nothing but projects. Right. And different projects that beefle each other and kill each other. And, you know, anybody in New York could tell you, Coney Island is one of the grimyest neighborhoods in New York City. Right. We used to not let other hoods come through. Like, people used to back when I was a kid,

I remember seeing people get their face sliced. I remember seeing people get beat up in the rides and have the people would just cut off their kid in play fucking flat tops just to be dicks to them, you know what I'm saying? Like, oh, you're from out of town, we fucking you up. But, I mean, people talk about gentification and Brooklyn a lot and stuff. Coney Island is very far from Manhattan, but are you still feeling it out there?

Yes, it's coming. It's a beachfront property. Right. You know what I'm saying? But it is a little far from Manhattan. That's why it's one of the last neighborhoods to get gentrified, but it's coming. Yeah. Is that worried you or is you kind of look at it as a good thing?

Maybe it gets safer. Maybe it loses a little bit of charm, but it, you know. Life. You want your kids going to school in a gentrified New York? I don't live in Coney Island no more. Oh, you don't even stay there. I was a house in Staten Island. I don't want to, you know, you get to a certain.

level, you know, houses, I wanted a backyard. I wanted, you know, they didn't have that at Coney Island, you know? But I'm big, like, my whole blocks, I've put murals, my shit, is like an art district now my block, bro, I make, because once the Byron video and all of that shit came out, I started seeing tourists from fucking Holland, from France,

from all over, come to my block, and I'm like, yo, this shit look grainy out. These motherfuckers think it's a joke, they might get fucking killed out here. Let me make this shit. Did one gate, Bing-Bong, did another gate with my G logo. Now the whole shit is like a whole art district and every I'm trying to do every gate in Coney Island and I there's no

donations I did that shit out my own pocket you know what I'm saying I used to do graffiti in the city my name is respected the graffiti community fucks with me so I know a lot of the artists I'm like yo come to my block I got a wall for you boom boom and it's a double you know um we got beautified the neighborhood without gentrifying it you feel like the cops look at you

as a positive force at this point um it's if you ask the cops on the streets because all the cops in my in Coney Island you know nims what up they know But I just had a show at a Coney Island venue to Artwall And they told me like, yo, the promoters went, you know, to speak with the cops before the show And they had me and 50 Cent on the watch list

And was like, yo, his name is Gorilla Nims. You don't think the cops were telling the promoters, Yo, he has his own block in Coney Island. You don't think he's a gang member? And I'm like, because, you know, guerrilla with the apes And I've never been a gang member in my life. Okay. So I spoke to my assembly.

Because now I'm starting to see, like, this is the avenues you got to go through before. Just be, like, y'all, I'm running up. I'll go on the pre-de-the-fuck as you do now. Go to the assembly woman. Yo, she knows who I am. Yo, what's up? It's about building relationships. Y'all want to have a meeting with the cops.

Right. The cops on the street, they know what's up. They all greet me. They know what it is. But is that, like, hip-hop police shit when they start hitting up venues about shows and shit? Yeah, right? That shit is scary, especially, you know, with all the shit going on with, you know, fucking young, though. You see shit like that.

I'm like, y'all, I don't want to be, you know. Because on the streets in New York, I mean, that's what I feel is like, not, it feels like 80% of the time when I see a cop, they're young and fucking of color. Yeah, they know what's up. You know, the cops know what's up. They know what's what. And, you know, I just pray that I don't get fucking jammed up.

But you're in a weird transition spot, though, because it's like you were a piece of shit when you were a kid and now you want to become, you know, a respected figure in the community and everything. No, in my community, I'm not. But being able to do stuff like do shows and not have the cops worry about it, that's kind of like a different level of like making the cops just feel like you're... And that's the transition I'm in right now. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, it's...

They'll figure it out. But so, okay, what happened leading up to, like, you basically going mega viral? What was the video that made this take off? The Bingball shit. You know, we were to tell Joe Byron right now, so... Right. Basically, it was just... Well, whose video was it?

Side talk. Okay. My guys, Jack and Trent, two kids that just fucking... They just interview people? They know how to... They just know how to do viral shit. And you knew them before, or they just happened to catch you? I don't know how I think either they DM me

or I met them through New York Nico. Okay. So they hit me originally and was like, yo, we want to come do... They do the episode. They just do it all over New York. They meet a character, bring them, do different shit with them.

But me, Tony Allen's my shit. You know what I'm saying? So they was like, You know, we want to do an episode of Coney Island. They came. Now, the kid, Trent usually does the interviews. And so when he came to Coney Island, I was like, yo, we in my hood. Give me this, Mike.

I'm going to do the interviews. And I knew who to bring him to. I brought, you know, Byron was always on the guy, his name is T.J. He was always on the street doing dumb shit breakdance. Yo, Byron, yo, T.J. Do that breakdair shit on the concrete with no shirt you be doing. Go ahead. Boom.

And then we did one episode. The people loved it. And then they came back for, when they came for the first time, I was like, y'all got a dope idea, 4th of July, man. I want to do like a glizzy eating contest. You know, Nathan's does it, but I want to do it on the block with the crackheads and fucking do it. So we did that.

And then a couple months later, it just took a life of its own, bro. Like, they started saying, like, re-saying the shit on TikTok. People just start clipping it and putting it on Twitter. Doing their own shit to it. Right. And I remember just seeing a video with, like, millions of views on Twitter and being like, this motherfucker is violent. again? Like, what the hell's going on?

Yo, I don't know what the fuck. Yo, you can't pay for that. Right. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. Everything happens for a reason, man. Right. I was putting years of hard work. I knew something was going to stick. I didn't know what the fuck it was.

I made, you know, I made Bing Bong, just fucking around. I put merch on my fucking couch and was week by week when I dropped new merch, I bet, yo, check this new shit. Bang, this new shit, check this hat, bang. And one day I was just feeling funny. It was like, Bing, Bong,

check this new shit. Bing, bidi, bedi, being. Fuck bing bong, bing bong. People started laughing, then people in my hood started saying it by the time the Sight Talk kids came, we started saying it in their videos. And then once other people heard us say it in the videos,

they just took it on their own. And the shit created a life of its own. But the shit had nothing to do with the train doors. A lot of people said, oh, it's the train. It had nothing to do with train doors. It just came from me saying bong and just fucking around. Right.

You know, and this shit just took off. And they used over a billion times on TikTok. How did you feel about it? Do you have to really like scramble to make, to get as much as you can in that moment where the shit's going viral? Like, or is it more just like, no, I'm just keep doing exactly what I've been doing?

That, but it's also like, when that shit went viral and everybody's all the notoriety started getting eyes started coming on me, it was like, all right, I've been putting in work for fucking 10, 15 years. So I know I already got this album coming out, me and Scram Jones. So I already know I got shit on deck. the song Bing Bong that just dropped right before the shit went viral. And I did the remix with Fat Joe Buster Stiles' piece.

So I already had the wheels in motion already because I've already been putting in work. So I already knew. But the other guys in the video, like Byron and Mr. Hardhead, I let them all know, like, yo, this shit ain't going to last. Make sure you get everything you could out of this shit, man. Because in a couple months, people are going to forget this shit. I got the rap shit that everybody knows before that I was a rapper, you know, and now they're going to find out.

If they think I'm just a comedian or Instagram guy. just going to build the business. Even the merch. It's like, this is just going to build on that. Exactly. Exactly. So I was like, I got the, you know, I got shit that's going to keep me going, but you guys don't.

So make sure you get shit in order so we could do that, so y'all could keep going. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, as soon as that Bing Bongbong shit, but I already had Bing Bong on shirt, so I already copyrighted that. Was there like? I've owned fuck your life for years already. Right. Was there like TikToks that blew your mind?

You ever see Kyrie Dennis shaking her ass to your voice? To your voice and that freak you out? It was at this, at that point, like probably November when it started. But it was every day somebody knew it was doing it. Like, it was every single day. And then once and every, and I was like, yo, it's cool. It's cool. And once I seen the president doing it, I was like, ah, that shit is over.

The president. Yeah, the president. But the Jonas brothers, the Jonas brothers did it and was like, oh, they did the voiceover. Like, what do you want to tell Joe Byron right now? And then you see the, he didn't say it himself, but he puts his phone down and it's him, the president. Right. Because the shit had gotten so viral, even the fucking president. I was like, yo, there's no, you can't get more viral than that.

You know, you got John Legend singing there. Hey, yo, take me out to dinner. Hey, I was like, I still got a sample that shit and put that shit in the song. Holy shit. Yo, but like every day, then, you know, the women, you know, you would get, every day would be videos of whole strip clubs doing this shit. I was like, yeah, I love this shit. Right.

You still spend a lot of time in the strip club? I get paid to go to the strip club. I love that. You got consistent. strip clubs you work with? Or is it just random dates? Random, sometimes random, but there's also Foxies and Coney Island. There's a certain ones, sweets.

There's a lot of different strip clubs in New York City that just... You hear a lot about the strip club culture in New York, but is the strip club culture in Coney Island a total different world of its own? It's like the fucking... They got the undiscovered baddies or what? It's like the minor leagues. They're on their way up. You know what I'm saying?

I like that better because me personally I'm not a, that fake ass and that don't do it for me. I like, I like natural ass. I'll take a skinny chick

with a little plump ass and a pretty face over that fucking fake hard rock shit. I'm not gonna lie though. There was a girl that was walking through here earlier with a crazy BBL

and I was just like staring at it. Yo, it depends because a lot of them got the fucked up shit too but, you know, I don't hate on anybody but, you know, my choice I like, you know, I'm not a big fan in the BBL shit. A lot of shit don't look right.

You're in a relationship? Yeah. Okay. With my money. Yeah, so my money got a great relationship. I'm never letting that bitch go. Right. But so, did the pussy start flowing in on a different level once the Bing Bong?

Crazy took over? My DMs is crazy. Right. Chicks naked, naked. Yo, shit. This one older lady hit me and was like sent mad naked pictures. Not older, like maybe up a thursday. 30s, mid-40s, and Putney, y'all, yeah, I just want to, please, I'm mad, please don't tell my husband.

Don't send, I don't know who this lady is. I don't know who the husband, and I don't really give a fuck. You know, this shit was just hilarious, just the shit she was saying. And I get that a lot. Right. But you got to be careful because it's just, some of it feels kind of spooky, right? Like, who the fuck knows what their intentions are? I just delete.

I really just delete before they know I read it. Right. You know, I'm not a thirsty individual. I've done my share of things throughout my life, which, you know, I'm not thirsty. I let the shit come to me. Right. I'm not one of these guys that be all up in deep. Yeah, it comes to me.

How old are you at this point? 39. Okay. You got a year on me. 38. 40, scary you at all? Nah. Because when I was about to turn, when I was about to turn 30, I was like, damn, I'm about to be 30.

This shit is all over. Seems real scary until it happens. Right? And then the 30s been the best years of my life. That's a fact. I got made the most money, had the most sex, had the most fun. Fucking bought homes, like, really became comfortable with who I am as a person. The 20s, you don't know none of that shit. Right.

The 20s, you're just... Figuring shit out. Invincible. I'm invincible. Nothing could happen to me. And then the 30s coming and, like, oh, I'm not invincible, and now I'm kind of shook a flying. Now I have to actually primarily focus on doing things that will improve my life.

Absolutely. You know? Like I got to eat a salad instead of a fucking cheeseburger for lunch. When I wake up in the morning, I drink. I hate water, bro. Really? Like, I don't know why. I just, I'm not a fan of it.

I'm fat. You know, whatever. I like soda. Right. But in the mornings, I force myself to fucking drink like two bottles. Well, I just damn the shit. And throughout the day, like, even right now, I was mad that you guys didn't have soda.

I was like, fuck, water. Fuck it. You know what I'm glad I don't have that birth defect because I love fucking drinking water. And people not drinking enough water. That's one of the biggest things I think. I think of when I look at a homeless person sleeping on the street, I'm like, I know they're not drinking close to enough water. Their body must be all fucked up. I hear bacon in the sun.

Y'all, ugh. Yeah. Okay, but when you look at the drill craze, this kind of took over a large percentage of hip-hop and just the fact that they're talking about killing each other and shit, how do you feel about what that means for the future of rap? Do you, does that kind of worry you? It's a lot more explicit than when we were young and we were listening to rap, you know? But I feel like... And anybody can be a rapper now. You can just be some random fucking kid.

Anybody can rap. You got 100,000 views, talking about your ops in a song, whatever. It's crazy, yeah. Kids are killing themselves. But listen, when we were coming up, I'm sure there was fucking people that were saying, yeah, that shit is never going to last this type of music

or this, you know, this era that they're on, you know. I feel like we're older now and we're being like, yeah, that shit, it is what it is. Every generation has their form. And we had Biggie and Tupac. from that. You know what I'm saying? A lot of those lessons seem like

they've been kind of forgotten, right? Exactly. Because hip-hop had like a weird calm period after that where nobody really wanted to be promoting violence because it just seemed so out of control and then that seems like it kind of got lost at a certain point.

Yeah, but that comes back to like, yo, fuck your life, man. What they're doing, I don't give a fuck. What I'm saying? I'm not going to be saying in my song, my ops, this is not, you know, if we got to do something, you'll never hear about it.

The real shit I've done in my life I've never rapped about. Right. You know what I'm saying? Because why would you? Exactly. So, yeah, I like the drill shit, man. I don't pay attention to who's beefing with who. They'd be like, yo, this one's doing a word. That's crazy.

I've never been one for gossip, man. I've always just stayed in my lane and stayed to myself. I'm going to focus. Me worrying about who's ops with somebody else. That shit don't get me money. It doesn't fucking cause any effect in my life, so I don't care about it. How does it feel at this point to be able to like, okay, you have a hot song, so you want to do a remix, and you can just get, you know,

Fat Joe and Stiles P on it and shit like that. As a rap fan, that must be trippy to be like, oh, I'm actually just accepted amongst all these greats. The greatest feeling in the world. It's like years worth, the hard work. It's validity. Because there was years when I was rapping, be a family party.

Yo, when are we going to hear your shit on the radio? In my mind, I just came off touring Europe. You don't know about me? But they don't, the masses, they don't hear it on the radio. Now it's just like years of validation when Fat Joe FaceTime me all. It's a yo, yeah, we talk and Buster. You know, all these, even the locks, like, yo, that shit is people I grew up, listen,

that shit is the best feeling. And it's just like, I still get a kick out of it. Fat Joe FaceTime me that. I'm like, this is crazy. You know, my mind, I'm playing it cool, but I'm like, oh, this is crazy. It's, fat Joe, or Buster. When I was on Joe Budden's podcast the other day, I was just thinking, I'm like, up until maybe like the last year, I would not have even been able to dream

that I would be able to do something like this, you know? Like that, but it becomes kind of normalized to you pretty quickly where, you know, I'm sure you could hang out with Joe, Joe, Fat Joe at this point. And at some point, your brain's going to stop thinking about like, holy shit, this guy's famous as fucking. I've been listening to him since I was a kid. But I let them know, like, you know, like, when I come, like,

when I was coming here, my management team was like, yo, you might throw this and say that. I'm like, yo, there's nothing that anybody could throw at me or ask me that I'm not ready for. because I don't front for nobody. When I meet rappers, I tell them, y'all, I'm a fan. Yo, that shit you did, that shit is fire. Yo, with the older generation,

I make sure extra I pay homage to the legends because I feel like the rap game don't really do that. With the only genre that doesn't pay homage the correct way to the... It's starting to change. But, like, the Rolling Stones and fucking the who, they're on tour and still sell out shit. The Grateful Dead, all that...

At a certain point, it was like, L.L. Nah, we don't listen to that. He's old. Now it's starting to change, but when I meet, like, say, a grandmaster cast, that was before my shit. I don't even know none of the songs, but I make sure I go out my way to be like, thank you, legend. But you know what's part of that, though, that is a good thing, I think, is that hip-hop is such a thriving genre, that there's new and exciting music being made all the time in it. A lot of times when you look at classic rock and why there aren't, like, new classic rock bands on the fucking radio,

is because a lot of those bands really kind of, like, did the best version of that music that's ever going to happen. And in a lot of ways we could say that about rap, too. We can point to a lot of albums from the 90s. When you talk about who are the greatest rappers of all time, you tend to go back to the 90s primarily in terms of naming off the greats. But the fact that there is so much new music, and I mean, rap is, it's the music of young people

to a certain extent. You can stay in love with it as you get older, but- My shit be getting mad grab. You do that? I've been thinking about it. Yo, up here I don't. It's getting great, but over here it gets a little too great So once in over, every couple months, I don't have to do it a lot.

I'll be putting that shit. You don't want to prematurely put yourself in the unc category. Yeah, exactly. So I'll be like, you know, a little touch-up here and there. I'm not going to front for the people, you know what I'm saying? It is what it is. I mean, it's this young man's sport. You know what I'm saying?

And I just want to be, live life happy, man, live my dreams and fucking do the right thing and make sure my people's is good. You know what I'm saying? It's not fun if you're doing it alone. I took a picture with a legendary rapper one time, someone from New York

late 40s never posted the photo because you could see the Just for Men sitting next to him in the photo and I didn't want to air him out I probably could have edited it out but what are your thoughts on the streets in New York

in the sense of like a lot of people are convinced it's a crime wave that the streets are way crazy than they ever been do you think that that's real and what do you think is the primary cause of that? I mean they'd say the same thing about out here Oh yeah, definitely out here. You know what I don't know how it is out here.

It might really be that. But the same thing as in New York. They're wilding out out there, but it's just like, when you present yourself a certain way, and I don't, I don't, you can't live your life in fear, bro. You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, shit happens. It is what it is.

Just make sure you good. Make sure your people are good and be ready for whatever comes your way. And when you think about New York in the 90s, though, is like a million times worse? Yo, way worse. You used to have to fucking put your money in your side. Right.

You know what I'm saying? The train was the grimyest place. Right. You know what I'm saying? That shit is mass safe in New York now. I got some BMX homies who grew up right by you actually, and they told me that like, they were like going to Manhattan was peddling full speed the whole fucking time. And they said especially when you got near Williamsburg in that area, you had to not stop at a red light.

You had to go through every fucking red light because they would take your shit 100%. Absolutely. It is what it is, man. And that scenario was like pretty hard. For the average New Yorker to imagine. It's like everything else is cake. You know what I'm saying? And I've been at the bottom of life.

You know what I'm saying? I've been the, the, the, not the victim. What's the opposite of the victim? The perpetrator. Right. I'm saying? I've lived on that side. I've seen life from those eyes.

You know what I'm saying? And when you live life that way, everything else is a fucking piece of cake. This rap shit is easy. This fucking interviews and this shit is nothing. This shit is light work. This is what I worked all these years for. And it's just like, You know, when you're at the bottom, there ain't no way you could go but up.

And just the way that you can live your life with your head up high, knowing that the shit that you're doing day-to-day is putting good into the world as opposed to, you know, if you're robbing people or if you're selling drugs where you know that the drugs are ultimately going to have a negative impact on people, you can't really be proud of how you spent your day when you're doing that. You know, what you're doing now, you're basically spreading positivity in fucking music. When I'm walking to rooms, bro, I fucking am the fucking being. Bong guy, bro. It fucking lights people's fucking, yo, don't ever disrespect me, guy.

All I do is joke and laugh all day. So when I come into a room, whether there's thugs or old ladies or little kids, they all have the same fucking reaction when I come through, which is 98% positive, which I love. It's like, I'm a fucking rapper who screams out fuck your life. And for years, people told me, you'll never make it yelling how fuck your life. It's too vulgar. Now we got ladies in motherfucking Nebraska, little kids in fucking Alaska,

you know, yelling this shit because I stayed true to my guns. I stayed true to myself, who the fuck I was. The world changed enough that all of a sudden fuck your life wasn't really considered that offensive anymore. Exactly. And I've been saying it for so long. But you say it positively.

Yeah, like, yo, what up? Fuck your life. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's just like a fucking greeting. Yeah, I think you might have said it to me the first thing that you said when you saw me and not for a second did it occur to me

that that was aggressive. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. That's dope. That's fire. Hey, I'm proudy, man. I didn't really, like, know you that well until today, I guess. But, you know, just seeing what you've all been through and everything, it's amazing.

Thank you, bro. I'm hyped. Appreciate it. The music's good, too. So everybody tap in, streaming services and whatnot. Fuck your life, dickheads. Where do they go to get the merch? FyL.

com. Amazing. People have a hard time with that. Oh, it's not dot com. It's like they fucking self-destructing their head. They can't fucking get it. And they spell FYL fly. nah it's not fly dick is you fucking dyslexic bastards it's f yel dot nyc simple no i mean people are

so fucking stupid i realize that every day somebody sends me a fake no jumper account and it's like this is you and i'm like no how do you get the name no jumper uh Gucci 95 air max because i'm a dope runner bawling like an athlete but got no jumper whoo bars fire let's go nems appreciate you man much love my guy yes new york city bang bang stand up no jumper coolest podcast in the world. Check us on YouTube, TikTok, Patreon, Instagram, like, comment, subscribe, nojumber.com if you want to support. Bing Bong. Yeah.