Son of a Boy Dad - DUMBFOUNDEAD - Son of a Boy Dad: BONUS Episode #115

Episode Date: May 22, 2023

-- It's just Rone today, but with a very special guest. Awesome convo between two battle rap legends, Enjoy! -- Follow us on our socials: https://linktr.ee/sonofaboydad -- Merch: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/son-of-a-boy-dad -- SUBSCRIBE TO THE YOUTUBE #SonOfABoyDad #BarstoolSportsYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/sonofaboydad

Hey, Son of a Boy Dad listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Son of a Boy Dad, special edition. Right here, this one is just me, no sass, and we have a kind of cool-ass guest from my perspective, a luminary in the battle world one of my favorite battle rappers of all time dude crushes it in acting dude crushes it in music and he and i just had a rap battle against one another which is like kind of like a cool ass new age way to do

a podcast just like uh we haven't been able to talk about it too actually which is why i'm super interested in having the conversation. Dumbfounded. What's up, brother? Oh, I said avoid that, bro. Guy Rone. Thank you so much for coming through, bro. We're super fired up to have you here, dude.

I'm stoked to link up because right after our battle, you had to leave, actually. Yeah, yeah. For some emergency. And pretty much we haven't gotten to talk about it or even celebrate, you know, the battle and everything. So because that is a ritual of battling, like afterwards, you kind of hold this hate for somebody for so long. You're like, fuck this pussy, like I'm about to fuck this dude up. And then afterwards, it's like, wait, like we're on the same team making the same piece of art with each other. Yeah, it's like very collaborative.

So it's like the the chance to like enjoy that never existed. To be fair, like it was never like the collaborative. So it's like the, the chance to like enjoy that never existed. To be fair. Like it was never like the hate. It's always like homies around you. That's just kind of like, you got this bro. He ain't shit. And you gotta like,

you gotta have them really sell you on that. Hey, you know what I mean? Cause I mean, we've hung out with friends and mutual respect. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like you,

uh, for people that don't know, like dumbfounded started battling when he was like a teenager running around in L.A., has been through every phase of battling from like freestyling to like the two on two type of battles in the park where it was half written, half freestyle to like this new fully written era. So you've kind of have seen it all and you've been in the game, like millions of views, like tons of accolades have battled around the world, like so decorated. It's crazy because I remember too,

when, you know, that viral video or audio of you battling Charles Hamilton. Right, right. That was like a thing. Yeah, yeah. In like, you know, the timeline of battle rap history. That was like 2008 probably. Yeah, that. In like, you know, the timeline of battle rap history. That was like 2008 probably.

Yeah, that's crazy. That was probably around 2008. That's what I'm saying. That's mad early too. You know what I'm saying? Like I would have graduated high school in 2004 and that was right around the time things were kind of starting to happen for me. So 2008 is still early. Like we're still coming up around the same time. So when I was before that Charles Hamilton battle, the way I like dipped my toes into battle rap was watching something called the World Rap Championship.

Yeah, that was big during that time. They would come off on jumpoff.tv and they would be released like two battles a morning or four battles a morning. And I would watch them in college. And you were doing these two on two battles. That was one of my first kind of entry things into the national battle scene, I would say. You know, not local, you know. So that was crazy. But I was in the, I was studying. I was just like this.

That's like how I kind of learned. I was too. I was learning about all the regional dudes, you know. Like you had Hollow. He was in the Houston League or some shit. Yeah. And one of the biggest battlers in the world. Marv won Quest McCodey.

Like, you know, they were Detroit. We were learning about like the Canadian scene. We were learning about like the West Coast guys, you know. So I was learning about all the national dudes too at the time. Like I didn't know about the New York Cats and, you know, all that. It was a stylistic jambalaya. Like everything was kind of being thrown. Really cool.

Really ahead of his time. I don't think there's been anything like that even since, you know. Yeah. Like I don't even know how they paid for it. Like, where did the money come from? Like, they had like, they were live streaming or like not live streaming, but putting out fresh battles every single day on a non-YouTube platform. I still don't know where any money from battle rap comes from, to be honest. You ever think about that shit? You're like, how the fuck do they pay everybody?

Are they really making money? I always think about everything like that not to shit on anything i'm just curious you know same because i think that comes with like you're all you you have to like fund some of your own shit you're on the business side now you know what it costs to make something and i feel like i'm in the same place where it's like damn like where what like is it sponsorships is it ticket sales is it pay-per-views? Right. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, but I'm seriously like, it's an anomaly because like, I've always thought about it as over the past 10, 20 years of battle rap, you've had these big mainstream rappers. I've always thought they're just kind of throwing their money at it.

Like they want to see a cockfight, you know? Yeah. And the money dries up once they get the blood less satisfied yeah exactly that's what i think it is you know what i mean and it's just like one night at a strip club except it's like dudes spitting bars yeah these hobbyists these dudes that just get off on like some multi-syllable yeah during the time where like drake was coming in and all that i was just that's what i thought it was he's like i'm just gonna take this l to satisfy my own lyrical perversion.

Which kind of see you sick. Like that is just like your play thing. It's like very rich to be able to do that. That's what I'm saying. That's some real rich guy shit. And respect for them doing it, you know. Keep doing it, please. But that's why I think you see so many like flash in the pan or like one-off type of leagues or whatever.

Yeah. And, you know, where we did our battle, King of the Dot is definitely one of the more established leagues. But even so, they were. I also think everybody's lying about how much money they get. Oh, 100 percent. I feel like anybody has ever told the truth. Nah, man, you got to you got to gas up the culture bigger than it actually is.

You know what I'm saying? I mean, you know, everyone is lying in a pitch deck somewhere. Oh, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Big time inflated numbers. You have to. You have to to get the brands and sponsors and all that, you know? I almost want to like lay bare like how much money I made on a lot of battles because like

the answer was zero dollars. Yeah. On almost all rap battles. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm for sure. You know, like how much I have to lie in pitch decks like,

I got all of Asia on deck right now. I say the word, and that's billions of people in China ready to invest right now. You know what I'm saying? Population charts. Yeah, yeah. Everyone in China, everyone in India, that's $4 billion. You want Asia? I'm your man. It's like, what? India, that's $4 billion. You want Asia?

I'm your man. It's like, what? That is. You need to be able to lie a little bit. It's part of the game. It is. It's part of the game. You think they're not lying to you?

On the other side of the pitch deck, we only have X, Y, Z. We only have this much money. We're only able to pay this much or whatever. Yeah, no, for sure. For sure. You got to gas up your own shit. And I feel like battle rap is still one of those things that I still think could be bigger and should be bigger, in my opinion. Yeah.

I think as a brand, somebody who has experience in branding things and marketing, even just as an independent business, which my name myself, like I, I, I would tweak things differently. So like, talk, we'll talk about it. What, uh, what? Yeah. Like I would make the rounds shorter. Okay. You know, I, one minute, two minutes, maybe two to three, you know, no more than that though. Like a timer? Maybe a timer. But more than that, I think each individual battle rapper has to make changes in their writing style. Like, I think we can't be too insular with, like, just the culture in itself. We have to think about, like, viewers that aren't battle rap fans watching this. You know what I'm saying? And people do that in television writing, film writing.

Why aren't we doing that in this? It's got to be accessible to people. A hundred percent. I mean, I always think about that when I'm writing. I want people to like everybody of all, you know, like the mom hovering over the battle rap fan,

you know, is watching this on YouTube too. And I want her to get it. You want to be like the one person she likes. You know what i mean like it's like i don't understand it but like i like that but a little something where it is a little bit more accessible i'm not gonna lie there's a lot of battle rappers i even watch and there's lines i don't understand at times you know what i mean and that's fine but i'm just looking at it

for the culture. I want it to be bigger. I think it's incredible what motherfuckers can do in this, you know? But if you don't know the backstory, and even as I was trying to prepare against you, I think a lot of times when I try and go against somebody, I'll try and like mirror their style a little bit. Right, right, right. It'll be like, oh, this is the type of shit he does. I would like to do that so some that was one of the things i took try to paint painting things in like universal accessibility but also uh economy

of language was something i thought can i say something uh you just reminded me of a line that you said that um the homie danny or homie danny chung our mutual friend mentioned that you said like a deep cut asian thing and he was like that's some shit like the president of the Asian student association would have brought up. And it was like, it was something about like, um, I leave you like Japanese breakfast crying in H Mart or some shit like

that. And it just went over like everyone's head, but like the Asian heads were like completely. Right. Because H Mart is, so when I worked with Danny, we would go to H Mart, like go to the H Mart in like Northeast Philly. mart's like a korean grocery store i think that's

the best way to put it and he would just it would be like blood sausage and like just a bunch of food i'd never seen but also on top of that like a hair salon yeah like a really tight but the book is like also like heralded in the asian community the crying in h mart right japanese breakfast yeah that was a super deep cut it was a deep cut bro so i wasn't even trying to get super deep into it but that was i think it can't it was in the right like uh no i appreciate it that's the kind of shit i appreciate it yeah but it was just so funny because like that's that was definitely like okay it was something that would have been brought up in me and versus tantrum or some shit in the modern day you know like it was a little bit too yeah a little bit too inside but in in retrospect

uh i think i wish i wrote more like more inside stuff or more like referential stuff to um my in your like uh relationship and times that we linked up like in your third round you talked a lot about me going to la or whatever and seeing you oh you did the same shit you're talking didn't you say something about going to cafe blue and i was like fucking doing drugs in the bathroom and shit all right did i say that arthur maybe i was that in the battle or did i was that in the like the interview or something maybe or something i don't even know yeah maybe it might have been in the interview yeah at the time like when you were visiting la i was still drinking heavy doing a lot of drugs and shit and there was like a bar i frequented and um you were tagging along with us and fucking doing eight ball

with friends in the bathroom and all types of shit and i and i was just like but it was the illest spot dude it was in like the way that la is set up everything's obviously in strip mall so it's like kind of like the corner of a strip mall and you go in and it's like very dark but also like blue all accent lighting is all the accent lighting is blue all around and they just run shit there dude he has like a group of friends and they had like a little corner booth and like they would just post up get some drinks like whatever uh like maybe some bottles or something like that but dudes would even just come up just like try to like sell in like little bits of drugs and like just like kind of like floating back to the background battle i was just talking to danny like i know he's gonna mention that i'm some kind of coke head and they're going to the spot like i know he's gonna

bring that shit up i was like yo i need some cocaine rebuttals that's what i was asking him give me some cocaine rebuttals bro oh my god yeah so that was that's funny i just it was just a cool ass atmosphere but also like uh you just roll everybody was very accomplished that we were around it was like uh it seemed like it just like it's it's like the spot like you know if italian community has their spot like in like a restaurant or some shit it's like the korean like mob spot you know but uh yeah like a lot of um asian artists hang out there like celebrities and shit like that so it's cool yeah i was out uh writing for um that dropped the mic uh show that's why i was living out there so it was like it was like a six month and like a five month

period or something where i was living out there and so I would just kind of tag along and like. With what was his name? Jensen. Jensen. Yeah. Who had a very interesting. We were just talking about how, bro, you do not want to find shrimp in your cinnamon toast crunch, dude. It could lead to a lot of problems.

That was a wild, wild, was a couple of weeks that that was going on. Yeah. Where the virality of Jensen on Twitter. Yes. Leading up to a cancellation of sorts yes it was a fucking roller coaster bro and some of the cancellation like was like due to stuff that happened on the show it was like people being like i work with him on this show like you do not want me to get into like like that's why we yelled or like he yelled for me to get in his office or something that was a case study bro of unwanted attention yeah that is a fucking case study he he was loving that shit bro milking the virality of it but you don't want too much attention bro i'm telling you they always say

that about the internet like you there's always a main character for a day and you don't want to be that main character no bro it'll all people from your everyone you ever met will be coming out of the woodwork 100 cancellation was also at an all-time high there and people were almost like testing the waters of like what type of infractions could they get someone like uh canceled for it was almost like broader and broader infractions where it's like can we get him for this can we get him for this oh man can we get take him down for this yep where it was just like sometimes workplace stuff or argumentative stuff where it's like damn like it's not necessarily like criminal or even like uh sexual or like oh they're just waiting i know motherfuckers are waiting for me to yeah somehow do something big like because i got you know we all you got skeletons we have no not skeletons but like once you start getting a level of success

even dudes have petty beefs with you yeah are waiting for something to get you and find like ways to start a movement to to destroy you people hate you somebody hates you out there yeah no matter who you are you know know, somebody fucking hates you. And it's even like the movie Oldboy. I don't know if you've seen Oldboy. Yeah. So that was a petty beef that dude had. I mean, maybe it wasn't petty in hindsight, like, but he didn't know about that shit. The main dude, you know, got locked up in a room for years and all this shit. And winds up killing everybody in his path exactly and what that was was in the movie the main character gets locked up out of nowhere for like 10 years

plus or whatever and gets released and he finds out why somebody did this to him and all it was was him like seeing something and told the whole school in high school and that's why he that the guy did it damn bro all i really like just remember a lot of like the barbaric nature of that movie as opposed to like the fucking intricacies of the pop that shit is i mean it is a case study dude it's very it's dangerous and the thing is it's like you know we both have famous friends right like a lot of these famous friends i've seen there's times like i want to achieve their level of success and fame you know and then after years pass and seeing them go through all types of shit in the press and all that I'm like I feel like

this is the perfect place to be you know what I mean I've had people say that to me they're like you're kind of at like an awesome level of like notoriety where like people will come up to you while you're out drinking and like you can like say what's up to them but you can also like carry on your conversation with your friends where it's not like hell for you like you have to have friends where it's just like tough to even be around them in public because you have to rush from one door to the other people are like snapping pictures are always like trying to grab them or rip them it's like you you're not living a life oh yeah 100 it's just like i've seen it the loneliness you know even sometimes like friends will hit me up just to hang out

and it just sounds like i'm like is this coming from this guy with this position and yeah you know he's just trying to chill yeah man i just see the sad emojis i get sent man yeah i'm like i can't believe a man of your stature is using these emojis it's sad this is soft as hell bro tighten the hell up it's a sad man what do you uh does your uh way of hitting somebody up once they get a new level of fame change or how do you make sure that it doesn't you know what i mean like you don't want to be like hitting them up like like you're not like i've had this inner monologue where i'm like, dude, am I like dick riding? It's like, no, like, wait, I'm, I'm friends with this person.

I think I usually just wait for them. Cause you know, I think when you get to that point, your schedule gets crazy and you, they don't make plans like a week or two weeks in advance. You know, they're just like, yo, let's do lunch in like 20 minutes. And you either got to pull up or nah, like I can't, you know, but i accommodate sometimes like some really busy friend who's you know doing press all the time and shit like that

if he wants to do lunch in the next 30 minutes like okay like i'll make it work i wouldn't do that for many people though you know right but you know but if danny flies in from singapore trying to get a cup of coffee yeah come on come on, you know. This guy moved to Thailand, changed his life. Is that where he's in Thailand, bro? I see him all over the fucking place. He's in Thailand? He's in Thailand, yeah. What the fuck? What brought him out there? It's usually like 62-year-old Australian

guys going out there and they're looking for something different. Yeah, if you're an Asian dude in your 30s, you're just doing business there. You're not there for sex tourism. Yeah. So he's actually he's our friend who's in the K-pop business and they're expanding into Southeast Asia. And that's what he's doing there.

He's just been he just has his hand in fucking all businesses. The way that you described him to me, like one of the first times that like I knew that you guys knew each other and you were like dude he's the swaggiest asian dude a lot yeah yeah he's found himself where he's become almost like a consultant to um korean uh record labels for american culture almost you know and he had to go in there with his rick owens and shit and be like yeah yeah, I know shit. Yeah, I know culture, bro. I'm cool. He has boots. But yeah, I think people are looking for these consultant types, you know. So did he produce or write? Like, what's his relationship with Blackpink and shit like that? Yeah, he's a writer.

He's a songwriter for them. He tends to write a lot of the raps for the artists over there. Like, so when they're doing a k-pop song and they got a quick eight bars in there of rap that's him that's him yeah it is always clean dude it always has a little bit of rhythm bro yeah he has flows yeah he definitely has some flows it's so funny from like knowing danny's rap style and now listening to k-pop songs i can totally tell that's danny's raps which is like a funny little why what are his uh giveaways is it like the pocket that he's in no this is like cool type of shit metaphors and analogies i'm like there's no way this 18 year old korean girl doesn't speak english out of this

metaphor these nuanced like american turns of phrase yeah i'm like did she say there's some like a local philly spot on the corner i'm like, Max's cheese steaks or something like that. Like, what the fuck? There's no way she knows Max. She can't know Max's. But Danny was always smooth with it. And it's just impressive to find someone who he was making music and doing well on his own. But just like seeing the guy who winds up being behind like Blackpink.

I don't know if son of a boy that listeners know, but it's like one of the biggest like acts in the world. They just headlined Coachella. I think they were like the first international Asian group or whatever, or Asian artists to headline Coachella. So, I mean, that just tells you, I feel like K-pop is already kind of been lit now.

It's almost like, you know, not, not to say it's on its way out. It's just kind of just part of the culture now. Like all, it's just a genre. It is like you know not not to say it's on its way out it's just kind of just part of the culture now like all it's just a genre it is you know yeah music it's not weird or it's not you know it's just like it's amongst like latin music i guess like bad money or something you know yeah it's just gonna be here and that's just the type of music yeah yeah it's yeah can you explain why

uh like k-pop like why korean culture like uh wound up being like the one you know i i think about that all the time you know like i i feel it's weird still like i'll turn on the radio and there's like korean song in korean language um i think we packaged it really well so beyond the language it's just like the packaging and the look and the visuals of it all but it's so funny because like i'm when i first started early on i was one of the earlier like asian american musicians in america like finding some success and i was like hell yeah i'm one of the three four artists like doing it you know yeah and then like all of asian artists break out you know

and like no one gives a fuck about asian american artists they give a fuck about asian artists they do they don't give a fuck about asian not as much as asian asian artists you know like damn it's just funny it's just kind of like one of the thought i i think about this sometimes like my parents coming to this country for like a better life for us but i'm like korea ended up thriving you know what i'm saying left my ass y'all should have stayed there what the fuck we're struggling still here you'd be averaging a billion views my dad might have like instead of getting an alcohol like problem he would have like started has a ceo position at samsung right you know it would have been like r Samsung. Right. You know, it would have been like Rick Perlman. Yeah.

My sister would have been part of Blackpink. I would have been a huge rapper out there. You know, dude, you got fucked. Yeah. My mom's starring in a Korean drama. Like just everything. Dude, I need to start chasing that Korean dream, dude. I don't know.

Yeah. I don't know. Maybe you could find a way in there somehow. Dude, I mean, there were like a handful of like white K-pop groups, dudes over there who were like trying to band together and like copy the look, right? Who? I just saw I remember like seeing the like New York Post article about like five white dudes. Oh, yeah, that was funny as fuck. That was funny as shit. Yeah, they were roasting them. I mean, that was just like a funny.

They weren't bigger at all, but it was just like a funny thing. So they were like, let's, let's interview these guys. I wanted, I think I actually like DM'd one of those dudes, like try to get them on my pod. Cause I thought it was funny as fuck. Yeah. They definitely check out your pod. One of the things, as I like studied the battle, I watched a lot of your pod and fun with them.

Definitely check that shit out because it's just good ass funny conversation, bro. Cool aesthetic. You know what I mean? Cool. Yeah, it's it's fun. It's funny. And my boy Rick that we know, too. He's amazing rapper, actually.

Yeah, we did like a pilot for this MTV show. It was like a rap, the new show, like a learning through rap show or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, he's he's he's a he's a great topical rapper you know what i'm saying you give him a topic and he's like lyricist lounge with that shit you know um he's a beast yeah what other korean guests have you guys had here at bar school not many yeah i'm just curious like what who who it would have been you know would it be like maybe uh maybe aquafina's been on maybe she

she came through and did some shit maybe i wonder like if there was like a fighter or something maybe um who's yeah i don't i don't think that i don't i don't know maybe a celebrity you might be a pioneer in this bitch though i was hoping that would be yeah that's fucking fire bro what's your uh so you kind of came through the uh halls of barstool um what's your perception of what you've seen as far as uh your perception from the outside because you had hilarious bars in the battle and i think people were waiting for like the sports boy like you suck off the portnoy the funny thing about that whole shit is like okay you know the clip of that portnoy thing and stop Asian,

hate black lives matter. Like it's, it went viral and under the car every day, there's a fucking race war going on under that shit. I know. And it's like, and the funny thing is, it's like,

I love it. Yeah. I can't like, of course, like I care for the causes, like a black lives matter, stop Asian hate. But the biggest thing is like the rhymes worked great.

You know what I'm saying? So that's what I'm thinking about while every day under the comments, everyone is fighting each other under there, you know? And I'm just like, uh... It was clean. It's a great rhyme scheme. That's why I had Japanese breakfast with Applebee's section. Like, it rhymed good.

Like, you know what I mean? That's the funny thing about it. It's like, yes, of course, the we all believe, like, we should all get along, you know? Like it was like, it rhymed good. Like, you know what I mean? That's the funny thing about it. It's like, yes, of course the, like we all believe like we should all get along, you know, but it's like the, the most important is like the rhymes matter. Yeah. People have no idea that you're like saying stuff cause it rhymes as opposed to like, this is the exact word I had to choose right here because it's like represents like what I feel so deep down. I know, man man i feel bad to people who are just too consumed with like being in i don't feel bad that conversation is so good for it's great for the algorithm it is good comment comment comment bro fucking that's you

can't buy comments like that yeah yeah no it's just like i just feel bad sometimes that they're just checking in every day while i'm just having my coffee and I'm just going about my day. Bro, they're the same thing under the like, when I'm like the real minority here is me. Every day there's like new people are just arguing it. It's like, dude, I was saying that jokingly.

But I guess that's the whole point. It's like you want that to happen and you want people to have conversations under it. Oh yeah, it's part of it. But back to just as you walk into Barstool and you want people to have conversations under it you know oh yeah it's part of it but back to just as you walk in the barstool and you kind of uh like describe describe it in uh because you're you're pretty concise and if you need to you know what i mean roast it a little bit no no no i would say you guys are hoarders um there's a lot of shit a lot of stuff it's insane yeah but to be fair like i i'm somewhat of like a horror collector

or you know i love just collecting that's probably intentional though it is intentional this is like an unintentional collection right right but i love having like little toys and action figures things like that around my place like stanis gloves and shit yeah yeah that kind of shit but that's it's an excessive it's a lot of shit it really is it's a lot people should have be limited to like types of flair that they could have on your on your desk yeah there's a lot it is insane um i mean but it seems like you guys are just a content kind of machine yeah a lot of studios and uh sets and stuff and yeah and and the most like you know like creator types that i've run into like they're messy. You know, I think they said that in a study or something like creators and creative people tend to just be more messier. Yeah. Yeah. Probably like a cluttered mind that has just like a lot going on. Like there's just like this over here. You can kind of like focus hyperactively on something and then we don't prioritize like folding up clothes and shit.

Like I don't hang up a lot of shit at all. Like in my house, you know, it just all ends up on totally. Yeah. And it's funny. Cause like, uh,

going to like, you have, like you said, a lot of like famous friends, like go sometimes go into really successful people's houses. It's like, uh, it's like,

it looks shitty. It's like all like shits all over the place. Or like some rooms, like no one goes in and there's like uh it's like looks shitty it does it's like all like shit's all over the place or like some rooms like no one goes in and there's like no furniture and shit like that or like they're eating like using like empty pizza boxes like a table like on a folded no no for sure for sure i mean my house is yeah it's a mess um i i still like kind of have my suitcase with the clothes i pack for a trip, and I just get stuff out of there. I don't hang it up because you might go on another trip.

You travel a lot too, right, for work? A hundred percent. I still have suitcases from last week that I just haven't opened. I have no idea when I'm going to, but I don't even want to attack that right now. Do you like traveling? I do like traveling. Yeah. It scratches an itch for me.

I just like to see different shit every day. Like if I see the same shit every day, I kind of get like a little bit restless. How do you like living in like New York? I like it. It charges me up. Like people being around charges me up. I think a lot of this office is going to Chicago because they're like, fuck New York. I don't like New York.

But like I enjoy riding like the subway and like, like fucking rushing up the stairs. I'm like this, like, it's like a person to person competitiveness where I'm like, let's fucking go. How about LA? What were your thoughts of LA? Not a fan. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't love it. It's interesting. Cause my friend rec he's from New York. He lived in, he's lived in la for the last like four or five years and he he doesn't even want to come back here he just loves he was raised here his whole life you know really he just loves la he's like it's comfortable he's like i hate i hated taking the subway and all this shit you know it's for some people you know but it's like that but also a lot of new yorkers in la they can't get used to it they're like i still

love the city i I get it. New York's an amazing city. There's nothing like it in the world, for sure. What's your perception? You still like living in L.A.? Obviously, you've been in, have you lived in Koreatown? Yeah, my whole life. Yeah. And L.A., I'm just like really immersed in L.A. culture.

But I'm just, it's comfortable to get around. It's nice weather. Like, I don't have to, you know know dress up throughout the day i think that's why mad people just wear fitness shit throughout the whole fucking day until like night time where they have to go to a bar or look presentable yeah like over here it's tough because like you're gonna run into like a thousand people a day so you probably should put yourself together a little bit you know yeah it's like i'm riding the subway with everybody like there's like it's people are having little fit wars, dude.

Oh, my God. But the drip is incredible. Like everyone out here is dressed really well. Wait, I still as we were going around the Barstool office, I wanted to get your impression of like the way that the people around here dress in Barstool. I didn't really get a glance at that, you know, but I did. It does seem like an environment where people are just like in front of computers editing for fucking hours and shit so it's gonna be a little shitty a lot of basketball shorts and like right free t-shirts yeah yeah no it felt like a white people sweatshop that's that's how i would describe it you know what i mean like like what you would imagine as like a

chinese sweatshop in asia but a white people's sweatshop is how i'd explain barstool and they're like cranking out like hopefully viral content yeah yeah yeah that's what it is but some rooms no windows like fake windows but they're like stickers instead of like making up on the iphones it's like editing sports content yeah like editing to make it uh vertical yeah yeah that's a good scroll through on the shit yeah dude it is um it's a very it's an interesting place to work bro it's a it's a very fun place to work but uh i think a lot of people got sick of new york like the way barstool like when it first got sold it blew up everybody had to come to new york and since then we've grown exponentially but now

like a lot of people are going to be in chicago some people can kind of work remotely and they can uh you know explore different parts but i still like new york dude i still fuck with new york i love new york man i love new york i i chicago is cool but it's not new york you know yeah i don't even know so much going on what chicago is fully like just day to day life. Yeah. It's still Midwest. Yeah. It's different.

I mean, I think it's cold as fuck for nine months of the year. It's like bad. I can't. I mean, I guess it's cold. You're from Philly and shit, too. I mean, here. Yeah. So it's the same shit.

Would you ever live in a different city or are you fucking Koreatown until you. I mean, Koreatown is just LA, you know? It's just... And it's a great part of LA. It's central, you know? Dude, let me list some of my problems with LA, dude. Oh, yeah. I'd love to hear it. I didn't have a car.

That shit sucked. Yeah, you can't. Yeah. That was terrible. I was just taking Ubers to work every day. All of the parties and shit like that seemed so inaccessible to me. Inaccessible. That shit just wasncessible to me. That shit just accessible.

Like that shit just wasn't available to me unless I was like sucking dick and networking, like just being like, what's up? Like, like I feel like it was like I had to be a fake version of myself to have like even a, a shot at like trying to be part of a quintessential like Hollywood social scene.

Yeah. You don't want to do any of that. You want to be yourself. Yeah. You are all the time, which I respect. You don't like the schmoozing of it all i was just uh it just didn't uh come that i don't know i feel like i i do small talk well but it just made me feel a little bit weird i don't know i but i like you're like i feel like your scene of like everybody hanging out was was

like fire like that was like more way more approachable but it felt like a more of like a neighborhood like vibe like it's a neighborhood spot you went to k-town is like you know they're like asian like like bostonians or something you know you know what i'm saying like what you would imagine local like boston yeah kind of like to other asians you know what i mean like uh but it's just like that's what i compare to it's like that local vibe you know like boston has what they're you know how boston types all the stereotypes oh 100 it's kind of like that but like the asian version because you have a neighborhood where it's like predominantly koreans you know or other asians and you know that's not the place like we're fish out of water getting called like chank or gook like no you'll get like stomped out you know what i'm saying

person doing some shit like that so there is like a level of like they're wearing the culture on their sleeve there you know and they're they're comfortable in their neighborhood their signs only in korean you know it's like that's divide yeah it's insular it's like uh it's it's safe in in a way like it's your own safety it is and also like korean culture ended up thriving on an international level. So it's like less businesses get gentrified. There was a sweet green in Koreatown that opened up two years ago. They just shut down because they couldn't last. A sweet green wasn't lasting. You know what I mean? Damn, bro. I've never seen. I never heard of a sweet green. And I was so pissed

because I frequent the sweet green. I'm I'm like helping out. I'm not helping out the places that are gentrifying, but I was like on my health kick. And it's like the only salad spot in Koreatown. So I'm going to sweet green and going to the blue bottle next door. I'm like wearing a hoodie just to make sure no one sees me. Who is that? You didn't see me here. You didn't see me here. Oh, my God.

But yeah, they shut down because they just couldn't last because all the Korean businesses, you know, they're thriving and people want to go to Korean restaurants, not sweet green in K-Town. Is karaoke a Korean thing? Karaoke originally is from Japan. But is it big in K-Town? Yeah. In K-Town, that's part of the things to do in a nightlife. Like you hit a soju bar restaurant and you ended in karaoke, you know? It was like, I feel like it were,

it was places that I would go to that were just like, it was like a Texas roadhouse it looked like, but people were just singing karaoke, like fully well lit, but it's just like part of it. A lot of it. That's the difference. It's like there's white people karaoke and there's Asian karaoke. You know the difference. Like white people karaoke, you go to a full on bar. It's open.

It's not private rooms. And you sign up and you're singing in front of everybody. Asian karaoke is you get, there's 12 private rooms. And you have, yeah, there's one in Philly called Yakitori Boy. You get your little room. That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Those are the differences, you know, like Asian people.

That is better to do it with your friends asian people are not gonna sign up and open mic sheet and go up and sing to the whole restaurant voice like that hell nah bro old as hell yeah nah they're not doing that shit damn dude uh but you even the fact that you're going on going to sweetgreen and stuff like that is kind of emblematic of this health journey you've been on. And I was even like, as I'm preparing for this battle, I'm like, how can I make fun of him for being healthy? You know what I mean? And I really, I don't even think I did. I don't think I landed on, on like a good way to like, I mean, it's hard because people are, you know, if you're trying to get healthy, like when, you know, my friends try to roast me all the time because they're not, they're still drinking and partying and they want to eat whatever, which is fine.

But when they try to roast me, like, I don't feel shitty about it. Like, I feel great. You know what I mean? You're glowing. Yeah. I mean, I've been sober for six months now. You know, like there's a lot of shit I've changed in my life. It was right when the battle got announced that I think he started getting sober.

And I was like, oh, his brain, his brain is going to be on a whole nother level, dude. He's going to he just cleared out the top like 25 percent of his brain. He's about to be optimized. There is a feeling of like my brain healing a little bit, you know, cause like just drinking and doing drugs since I was really young, I, I got, gotten used to this lifestyle. And then like, I don't know, there is this feeling, I feel a little sense of clarity, you know? Um, and my town is like where I'm from. My neighborhood is like, that's what we're known for. We're known for like the nightlife of it all drinking and partying and all

that. So it was like a tough kind of switch to turn off. But what pushed you towards it? What was, was there like an event or were you just like feeling, cause I know you were like running for years before that. Like you were in like a running club. So slowly, like, yeah, it's like, I was slowly slowly making changes to like my lifestyle with exercise and stuff so remove a bad habit put in a good habit yeah it was it was a lot like i

was drinking led to a lot of drugs for me so cutting out that is a huge thing for me for a lot of different things you know um because that's what it is my favorite cocktail was just alcohol and drugs you know what i mean it's not it's not like a vodka soda whiskey and jack jack and coke it was jack and coke it was jack and coke yeah so um yeah and i think there was a there was a i didn't like what i was turning into you know i i get fucked up on some shit i'm screaming in somebody's face about the asian plight really i'm just an asian or a non-asian both you know actually more to asians yeah um but i think that was a part of me that i just didn't like i was getting this glaze in my eyes and you know just i don't know i just didn't like who i was becoming you also kind of lived a lifestyle

that um you're like like you're creative and you probably you didn't probably have to get up for a nine to five job like where you're like i had to do this like you probably had the availability to party a lot of nights i think my thing was like i i was able to do make a living off of what i love at a very young age so there is this kind of like child star element i wasn't like a huge child star but like by 19 i was able to tour and make money off of people who knew who you were music and locally yeah k-town i go out i'm getting free drinks weed at a young age and drugs and you know i, oh, it's lit. I'm freestyling for coke at 19, you know, like some like rich kid comes by and he's just like chopping it up while he's like dance,

just wrapping my ass off, you know? It's sick though. Yeah. So it was fun. And I wouldn't say I was very functional too, you know, I wasn't like rock bottom. I was still able to do that and tour and all that, but I still think I wasn't able to reach my full potential at that age. And I had opportunities. And I think I got kind of sucked into the hometown love of it all. And of K-Town showing me love. And I was like happy with that. You're describing it as Boston completely like contextualizes it for me is that what

it is like the kid from fucking yeah like the kid this kid's fucking sick that's what i'm saying you go out of here in freestyle yeah and and that's not what i started i i always wanted to i had bigger dreams you know i want to be on television and do all these bigger projects and i'm coming back now now i'm ready to do it all you know what i'm saying but i i got sucked into the hometown shit for a while 100 um you but you i mean it's not like you haven't been on tv dude one of my favorite tv shows that you were on or i don't know if it even counts as a tv show but i think i watched almost every episode of that fucking roasting the roast oh yeah i love that show was so fucking funny bro me too i agree

i i watch that shit all the time he was like like uh who is who is like the the the fucking like craig smith craig smith craig smith is maybe why have i never heard of him outside of that show that's his shit you know i mean like that's what he does it was perfect yeah it's i don't think that's outside of that i don't think he's as big. I think he does stand up and all that. But that's his shit. Like battle rap or something. People might not know these battle rappers for music or whatever.

But the GOATs, you know they do this. And Craig is like the GOAT. He's one of the funniest. He'll just be on some crazy shit. He'll be like, you look like your next thing. Like he'll start laughing at his own shit and it makes him funnier, bro. But he was just like a genius level roaster.

I've never seen anything like it was the funniest shit. He was one, uh, like we were in one of those sessions and he just started going down a row of just roasting everybody quickly with one thing. And he got to me, he was like, your mama killed somebody in the riots.

And it was just like the funniest shit ever, bro was that show where how did it what what like what uh channel or even even was that on it was on all def digital like yeah uh russell simmons like digital platform with when def cham like he split from def cham or whatnot and um i remember whoever came up with that programming was definitely super creative man i was watching that and that's how i ended up on the show i was watching the show weekly like i loved it you know and then one of my boys like was a producer on it so i just like messaged him i was like yo let me get on this please because i love roasting you know and i wanted it totally that's one of the things that attracted me to trying to like battle you because you just that's your style you just roast the fuck out of people but you get on that and like these dudes man they're next level they're savants for every one

roast i get they get tenon you know what i mean it's just like so fast i know you know i think with black culture it's like so much more embedded into your upbringing you know what i'm saying so they're just like 10 20 rows for every one i'm just like processing it's crazy yeah it seemed like that world of uh entertainment was almost like not a counterculture to um the wild and out world but it seems like it's like they're kind of like analogous like kind of pushing towards the same type of thing i know that you had um like auditions or you were getting close to wild and out what's your kind of perception of how that was for you and and how do you see the show in general i mean i got so much respect for

wild and out you know what i'm saying and i think what nick cannon has created with that it's like this is embedded into our culture now you know what i mean um the whole idea of him grabbing internet celebrities and comedians and also throwing him into the mix of it all i think he really helped internet comedy thrive i feel totally i mean don't you agree like pick guys up and it like really gave where he was just so broad with his uh perception of what like good was you know what i mean he grabbed people from so many different walks of life and like going from like was kevin hart a cast member i think he was like part of that like d ray davis afion crockett afion crockett cat williams like yes and that was like one class and then the next class was like had like all these battle rappers but also like the dude uh

the the dude who gets like 80 million views on every one of his TikToks Matt Rife and now he's like the fucking biggest TikTok comedian and shit he just was able to find so many or bro 85 South DC Young Fly like all those dudes massive superstars along with Hitman and Conceited and Charlie

I got so much respect for what they do for Nick Cannon, too. Like, I don't care what anybody says. That shit is very culturally impactful. But at the same time, didn't you not want to do the show because they almost tried to over or like. No, I wanted to do it. I auditioned and Tim just got it over me, you know.

Is that what it came down to? Tim Chakdarangsu, formerly known as Tim DeLaGhetto. Right. That's the homie. He's also Internet OG. just got it over me, you know? Is that what it came down to? Tim Chakdarangsu, formerly known as Tim DeLaGhetto. Right. That's the homie. He's also internet OG, but it made more sense that he got it, to be honest, because-

But why was there only one spot? Maybe at the time, it was more like one Asian can be the, you know what I mean? Or maybe I just underperformed, but either way, it's like,

I think there was a time in entertainment where like, they, you know, most producers and stuff saw like one asian person being in a thing not anymore maybe you know what i mean but like at the time you know yeah yeah dead ass no but um yeah i could see that you know not but me and tim are like two different types of asians too so we could totally be on the same thing. Yeah.

What? Dude, you definitely could. Yeah. Yeah. He's in a whole different world. So I think that you probably got a similar call that I did last week from like New York Magazine. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Did you talk to Jay? Jay? Yeah. Jay Caspian. Yeah. Yeah. Jay Caspian did a piece on Barstool.

And then he hit me up last week. And he wanted to talk about battle rap. And like, what was kind of his pitch to you? What was the way that he presented it to you? And by the way, he's like a legit, legit writer. I've been following his stuff for a long time. Oh, massive. Yeah, yeah.

For a long time. This is for the New Yorker, I think, right? The New time massive this for the New Yorker I think right the New Yorker his whole thing was talking about how battle rap is one of the last arenas where you gotta be politically correct and I've been thinking about that where you don't have to be

I'm sorry and like no one's getting like cancelled or anything like that but don't hold your breath. One day all this shit will serve us. But you get too many Disney movies. Yeah, exactly. But I've been I've been thinking about that, too.

What I guess his thought process with this whole thing. And yeah, that's what we were talking about. We were just talking about how race is brought up and how you handle that. And I mentioned the same thing about like the earlier with my rhymes and all the race war that's going on. Like we're thinking about, you know, the sport and the craft of it all. You know what I'm saying? And how does it fit in this like equation we're trying to make? And it reminded me of like this interview that i saw dave chappelle dude um he was talking about when kramer went at the laugh factory and he dropped the n-bomb on stage and do you remember this of course yeah yeah and he said that when he saw kramer do that set

um that's when he knew that he was 80 black and 20 20 percent, 8 percent comedian and 20 percent black, because instead of him being offended by the end bomb being dropped, he was like, dude's having a bad set. He's bombing. He's bombing. He's bombing. Yeah, exactly. He's bombing. And I was like, that's interesting because there's a lot of times I feel that way in the battles that I'm in. You know what I'm saying? Because I could also appreciate a great racist joke against me. When the rhyme is overpowering the racistness. One of the funniest jokes

that I'll say, maybe Asian motherfuckers are going to start getting mad at me right now, but one of the funniest things was when Kid Twist was, I was battling Kid Twist and he said something along the lines of it's funny you're an Asian rapper but can't make tracks. Just referring to like Chinese building a railroad. Chinese enslaved Chinese.

And it was like the most clever, funny, like simple ass lines. You know what I mean? So clean. And I was like, that's funny. That's what I mean when I talk about your economy of language. Like, I feel like you make the joke in the fewest amount of words possible. Or like you just go rhyme scheme to rhyme scheme. And it's just like, it's very clean.

And you just don't like, no wasted movement, no wasted words, like no real showboating. It's just very succinct. And I think that's probably why you also have success doing stand-up, because you have to write succinct jokes when you're doing that. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, there's a little bit of laziness attached to that too. You know what I mean? Because you're in the other hand, you're like putting in like four rhyme schemes more than I am in between, you know, but I think it's also like kind of that it's always been my kind of my style in general. Yeah. But yeah, I think there's something about when something rhymes so good, you don't need any extras on that. Yes. You know, like when I was like Chad GPT, Smack DVD.

That was like when I heard that rhyme scheme, it just went. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So it's like Portnoy, Sportsboy, George Floyd. You're like, you don't need anything else. I barely even squeezed in Sportsboy. I was like like you don't need anything else i barely even squeezed in sports boy i was like i don't need this but then i put it in and actually people loved it you know yeah but like a little extra what else do you need when you got that fucking perfect joint you know it's like it lines up perfectly um but uh back to the jay caspian thing like when i talked

to him he was like uh it was almost me referencing when i was like i went through i was like you did like this stereotype or that stereotype and i thought that she was beautiful and it was i think it's coming from the a place of like uh wanting to like be able to make fun of each other in like from a place of like uh acceptance and mutual roasting the way that like the the way that on like the show you know what i mean like like the way uh with like craig smith and everything like that is just like mutual roasting where like everybody's laughing you know what i mean like it's fun and shit like that and you're just like snapping on each other that i don't i i didn't feel offended or nothing like i'm most of my battles you know what i'm saying i appreciate the the

craft and what it is like i battled we talked you talked about this in your round against me like i battled an asian dude you know what i'm saying and i went in on him about stuff but the cool thing is is like when you battle certain cultures and you are really familiar with it like you might when you use like crying in h mart and stuff like like that stuff means something. Cause you can go into the nuanced lines of things of certain cultures. And I think that's amazing. And the only people who are able to, like, we have an opportunity to do that. Like there hasn't been a lot of Asian battle rappers in the last 10 years, 20, 15 years. Totally. So I'm sure you're also in a position like, oh yeah, I get an Asian dude.

I do right to archetypes, bro. I really was like, oh, you're fat? I'm on your ass. I mean, think about my last, all my battles in my career. It was like Tantrum, Asian dude, Illusion Z, Latino dude, FLO, like fat black dude, PH1,

older dude, rest in peace. You know, older guy. So I was able to- Disaster. Disaster, Middle Eastern. Yeah, so I had like a little, that's how I choose my battles. You know what I mean?

I had a little Rolodex. And I remember you've always said to me, you're like, dude, just like plain old white guys, do you give me trouble? You're like, there's something about these plain old fucking white guys. No one gives you more trouble than a plain old white guy. I'll tell you that. Give me something, bro.

Be gay or something, bro. I knew that was going to be a dangerous battle. I was a little bit nervous going into the thing. So I had to approach it in a certain thing. So I think people in the comments will start going at me about the big thing is like, oh, this woke guy. I promise you, I'm not as woke as you think I am. But I have to have an angle. I mean, what the fuck you want me to do?

People are like, George Floyd did it actually. Like trying to like hash out the details of the George Floyd case. It doesn't like just being like, Oh, I'm a white guy. It doesn't hit as hard anymore. You know what I'm saying? It's like, yeah,

you're a virgin. I'm a white guy like that. Even for comedians, when they try to impersonate a white guy, doesn't hit no more, you know, you need the extra. I drive like this.

Like no one's doing that no more. You know, you need the extra twist, but I also like appreciate that you look for something like that because it's like plays into your overarching goal of making the battle accessible to people. Like you don't get like fucking like millions of views on something from like being like this time you did this and like have like four bars of exposition so you can start making jokes. It's like you're joking about something that people can appreciate, but you're doing it in a nuanced way. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

I mean, I think it's it's like it's clear, like you work at Barstool, like I got to mention Barstool, you know, and and sports. I'm not even a huge sports head like that. You know what I'm saying? Like I have to do research on sports to battle you. Watching sports. like i have to do research on sports to battle you're watching sports but i was watching your podcast like i was about to like start making fun of like your like relationships like i see you and how you speak to the people with like your closest friends like they're beneath you and i

was like bro no one wants to hear that i appreciate that though like i was like trying to do research but it's like man i'm just gonna keep it more of like a surface more fun loving level but i will say dude i think you got me shut the fuck up man i think you got me bro i and i think it's because like i know how it feels like when you when you win win and it's like i didn't really have that feeling i i don't to be honest i didn't have it either i i think that's the thing like we got really close but i don't think there's any, there was no clear, like I, if I felt like I won, I'd be like out here fucking bragging about it all the time, but I don't feel like that. Um, and it's weird. There was a time, like, I think even in the battle, when I heard your first round, maybe I felt a little more comfortable, but then I think

your second and third, like, it was like, okay, now a little shook you know so that was a shift you know what i mean like i i think there's a little bit of i don't know like no one was like had had the the real the knockout no one had the knockout yeah yeah and i think it's because uh like i think it was probably some of the circumstances like a charity event and shit like that like uh and also like i find it harder to um try to like like really like belittle someone to the point of like them hating themselves and shit like that like i don't really i like like i i don't know like if i'm a pussy now yeah but it's like i i like am so grateful for like the successes that i've had that I don't even want to like,

you know what I mean? Really? I don't know. Do you, does that resonate at all? I think the, a big thing is like, we had reached the level in culture.

So if you're coming at me as like with Asian stuff, it's like hard because Asians are having like a huge moment right now. It's massive to be Asian. Right. And it's like, I'm coming at you. It's like, there's like hard because Asians are having like a huge moment right now. It's massive to be Asian. Right. And it's like, I'm coming at you. It's like, there's, you know, everyone's hit the white guy angle. So we got caught in this little stalemate situation in culture. Right. People didn't want to hear the shit.

Yeah. Like, what do we, it was hard. You know what I mean? It was. It was. Especially like, just like even the nature of it i was like trying to just be like ha ha ha like i didn't have a killer instinct and then so i want my boy mike uh saw the battle and he he like hit up my other boy mike and he was like

he told me this all right that's how i know this dude's a real friend but he was like bro maybe ron doesn't have it anymore oh my was like, bro, but at least I appreciate, I appreciated this dude saying this so much to me because it's like, all right, you're not saying it behind my back. You're saying it to me. But I also just, I feel like I did it. Not, I don't believe that about myself at all, but I was just like, I don't feel like I was trying to like, take your head off. I was like, I'm trying to like, uh, fill, fill this like void. I'm trying to like, uh, write to this like style. Nah, I mean, honestly, I, I felt like, I'm trying to like fill this like void. I'm trying to like write to this like style. No, I mean, honestly, I felt like, you know, I just been out the loop for so long in battle rap.

I was nervous. You know, I just, you know, I've watched it from a distance for a while now. Like I, you got to understand, like in between the last three battles, I've had years in between each one, you know, from Conceited to Disaster to this one. I've had years in between each one, you know, from conceited to disaster to this one. I mean, I feel very lucky that I get to have opponents like you guys who are the best of the best. You know what I'm saying? And I'm and I'm thrown into the conversation, which I really appreciate. But I do understand, like the levels things have gotten.

Yeah, it is. People just really do it as their full time job. And we know they're not making any money. So it's like a fucking like going back to that. We know, we know you're lying. You're lying, man. And you're just they're doing like 12 battles for fucking twelve hundred dollars a year. And it's like, damn, like you are grinding out here. It's a fucking steady ass grind but even you know i do feel like even if it's not as much as they say i do see them doing tons of battles so they have to be making i could see them an average battle rapper making about a 50 to 100k a year you think an average one i think you have to be very i think you have to be cream of the crop to be making let's say 200 if you're made if you're like one of the top battle rappers I would say you're making about $5,000 a battle, at least. Yeah.

Right? So if you're doing, what? 12 battles a year would be $60,000. $60,000. So, yeah. But that's like you're headlining once a month. Right. But I think that's a small percentage of them.

Yeah. I don't know. Because I even see, besides even the big leagues, I see smaller leagues. There are a lot of leagues. There are a lot of leagues. Yeah, but I'm like, these fools have money too? Yeah. People just have bread like that, dude.

Who the fuck is sponsoring this? Some barbecue restaurant in Wisconsin or some shit? People are just stacking up money off an old PPP load or something like that. Yeah, I see small leagues like, yo, this battle's sponsored by Jim's Hardware. Like, who the fuck is Jim? And why is he sponsoring this battle? How much, like, business is going to Jim's Hardware off

of a fucking rap battle that's gonna be seen, like, in very niche communities throughout the world, bro? Dude, another thing I'm super curious about with your career is the acting shit, but especially like the voiceover shit, dude. Yeah, I mean. You were in a Disney movie.

I was. I had a small part of that. But let's be fucking bold about this shit. You were in a fucking Disney movie, bro. Yeah, yeah. Raya and the Last Dragon. I was able to like do like a quick voice thing in it, which was dope. That's crazy.

That's like, that's a very like benchmark. It was. it was actually really cool i mean i i i can at least say i did that you know and then like i did a voice in adventure time which yeah that's crazy that was dope so i mean was that like a rap what was it like a rap battling uh yeah yeah but i mean that's why rap battle has took us to some interesting places you gotta admit for you too you were like fucking in that drop the mic thing, writing as a writer on this show.

Weird places, yeah. That's what I'm saying. I think it's amazing, man. This whole job wouldn't have existed without that. If I can't be like, I am a champion of battle rap

with King of the Dot. I think it's one of those interesting professions that places like advertising agencies and this, like, they're like,

we should hire this guy. It works for this too. Yeah. It's like edgy or like to them, they're like oh that's different it's it's i think my whole thing is when there's jobs that involve um creativity where it's all about like your observations and i think we display our we're in battle rap we're able to show interesting perspective and observations on massively. Yeah.

I also think battle rap is like eight different production jobs in one, because you're like conceptualizing, researching, writing, rehearsing, performing, like producing, doing your own business. It's like, if you can do all those things, you probably have a decent sense of like savviness about yourself if you could do it at a relatively high level. I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I think that like there's a lot of like there's good business people and talented people within the battle rap world.

Yeah. It's just like Nick Cannon is good at grabbing them up. You know what I mean? You've had success and kind of being snatched up all over the place. Yeah. They're still cranking out music too, bro. Yeah. I mean, it's hard man i

think what's your main thing that you're focused on right now or do you is that a is that like uh like a fallacy of a question because you are doing so many no no no i think the main thing i'm focused on is is um writing like uh you know scripts and stuff like that because i i want to start in my own shit i don't want to wait around to audition for like a dream role you know what are the odds that like that dream role is going to come to your table you know what i mean i'm not going to wait around for that so like little dicky had the right day no one else was going to be able to write that exactly so i think a lot of it starts from writing you know what i mean um even in battle right what we've done is like it

starts from writing you know and you we have the power to do that so that's what i'm focused in what story are you trying to tell is it like the like uh the asian eight mile or yeah yeah because all the battle rap there's been like three battle rap movies and they all have like a white main character no no no i would love to uh there's something i'm developing based around battle rap but it's not eight mile-esque um but but i tend to lean towards more like slice of life stuff just regular life type of shit um i think a lot of people like especially in the asian community like we're gonna we have to get that off our chest before we go into like fucking game of thrones type shit you know that's why we have all these asian stories that's grounded

a little more and then we couldn't be like jk rowling and get fucking dragons and wands and shit involved you know what i'm saying but um i don't know i tend to lean towards like just self-deprecation stuff to roast yourself like i feel like that's like a good, it keeps you in the same, like joking about things type of world, but you could turn it on yourself showing like you're not malicious. Yeah. I think it's because we've gotten older

in something that we've dreamt about long time. Like when we're first starting rapping, we have these huge dreams. And the next thing you know, I'm performing at the Asian Student Association at the community college and opening up for like a Taekwondo demonstration, you know? So it's like it gives you like the reality version of your life.

And it's funny and it's great. It's still a blessing. Not a lot of people still get paid to do shit. So I find it a blessing. But it's fun to like laugh at yourself and take a look at like what you're doing. And there's so many ways to make money in this world. You know, it's insane. People will like enjoy it too if they can laugh at you as well because it gives them permission to laugh at you too. Like, I don't take myself this seriously. Like this is kind of a contract that we're under. We can both laugh at me. I'm not like holding it to this crazy standard. The people that make fun of you for even those small accomplishments are dudes who dream of even slightly making money off of what they love. You know, we're able to do it and

we fit in so many pockets. You can be a commentator on like a boxing match in this league, battle rap here, be on a podcast. Like really, that's the ultimate dream, man. You know, do what you want to do and we could do everything. That's the ultimate dream man you know to do what you want to do and we could do everything that's the amazing thing you know you literally do what you want it like you're in like power and shit like you just like are acting but you're like also like headlining shows and like you also can just battle rap whenever you want to i love it and then i think that's the thing we forget that we're that lucky because we're just focused on this one thing you know and as corny as we've heard this all like the journey is the reward but it really is like we forget to take a

look at everything we're doing along the way because we're just dreaming of this fucking thing and having more journeys is more rewarding 100 we still get into that that action movie or what bro that was my favorite part from you actually because i was like that was some shit off the fucking that was funny that and making fun of your head were both things i took from the podcast because that like i just heard you and rick going back and forth being like you got a big head you got a fucking big head i will admit that was the one thing that hurt me the most which one the the head being big and like funny jaw looking like a pop, a Funko pop, Funko pop,

all that. That was funny because I've always been insecure about my big head and shit. That's funny. So I'm like, God damn it. I'm like looking in a mirror. Like it's like, what's going on?

Yeah, that is the worst. It was so funny. The worst. But yeah, that in the action movie, I was like, bro,

I could see it, dude. You, you, you've, you've been running, bro. You're fucking in shape,

bro. I don't think it's far fetched. It's just like, I, I did realize because I also don't have boobies you're not five six and a half in the moment you were like no no i'm not it's just uh it's a it's a tough thing it's like you know we're all getting older and i and i don't have any martial arts training and bobby it's bobby lee in the podcast said something funny because it makes sense like if i'm an asian dude like

going into hollywood about to do action movies, it's like, what? You're an Asian dude that doesn't do martial arts? Like what are the odds they're going to cast me in that shit? But write that action movie.

Right. Because like all the jokes, you know what I mean? Like you write that action movie, that's fine. There's space for it now, I think, you know,

to be the comedic dude who can't do the martial arts. Even just seeing like Simon Rex just pop up in like the- Bro, I'm so happy for him, man. That was so fire fire just him like popping up and just being like yeah i'm just gonna like win a couple awards just like on the strength been hilarious and genius with his fucking content like that motherfucker's been funny funnier than fucking 90 of hollywood yeah

it's just genuinely hilarious he just has the appreciation for the same shit I was such a fan of that dude like beyond just acting shit just on social media and he's just cool as fuck so cool yeah um dude well you're the man bro

appreciate you so much for coming in here love you brother thank you so much for rocking with us dude and uh yeah bro you're the man I think people will enjoy

hearing your side of everything thank you bro thanks for having me of course peace