The Breakfast Club - Gangster Chronicles: From Likwit to Legacy: Xzibit Talks King T, Kingmaker & West Coast Cannabis

Episode Date: June 21, 2025

The Black Effect Presents... Gangster Chronicles! In this exclusive episode of The Gangster Chronicles, MC Eiht and Steele sit down with West Coast heavyweight Xzibit for a raw and insightful conversation that traces his journey through hip hop history. X breaks down how he first got put on by King T and Tha Alkaholiks, how the legendary Wake Up Show sharpened his pen game, and what it meant to land a deal with Loud Records at a pivotal time in rap. He details the major turning point in his career—Snoop Dogg tapping him for “B Please”—which set the stage for the historic Up in Smoke Tour alongside legends like Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Ice Cube. We also get into a convo about the Nation's immigration issues. But Xzibit isn’t just surviving off the past—he’s thriving. We get into his booming business venture Xzibit's West Coast Cannabis, one of the most respected brands in the retail weed game. 🎵 Tap in and stream his latest album Kingmaker—out now on all platforms.🔊 Listen, subscribe, and stay locked into The Gangster Chronicles wherever you get your podcasts.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Christian, a fully black, fully queer, fully human, fully divine podcast from I Heart Media to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. Why is a soap opera western like Yellowstone so wildly successful? The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the MeatEater podcast network. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Fogarty, Lil Wayne, LL Cool J, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Sammy Hagar, Tate McCrae, The Offspring, Tim McGraw. Tickets are on sale now at AXS.com. Get your tickets today, AXS.com.

Over the years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned no town is too small for murder. I'm Kathryn Townsend. I've heard from hundreds of people across the country with an unsolved murder in their community. I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murderer is still out there. Each week, I investigate a new case. If there's a case we should hear about, call 678-744-6145.

Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to the Gangster Chronicles podcast, a production of iHeartRadio and Black Effect Podcast Network. Make sure you download the iHeart app and subscribe to the Gangsta Chronicles. For my Apple users, hit the purple mic on your front screen, subscribe to the Gangsta Chronicles, leave a five star rating and comment. I guess y'all see what's going on, see and hear what's going on right about now. Gangsta Chronicles, another episode. Hey, what it do, man?

I see you got you a nice joint in your hand. First thing you did was find you a joint, huh? Yeah, cause I was sleeping in the car on this Vegas drive and shit. So, you know, I had to, you know, get out and relax a little bit. You know what I'm saying? You got to go do your shit, man.

You know, of course, I guess y'all know, if y'all hear me talking about weed and all that other your shit, man. You know, of course, I guess y'all know if y'all hear me talking about weed and all that other good shit, man, we kicking it with the Homeboy exhibit tonight, man. Yeah, man. What's happening, man? What's up, man? Thanks for having us, man.

First of all, man, thanks for allowing us to come in this beautiful spot. This the spot right here, man. Yeah, hell yeah. I feel like I finally done fucking made it, man. Yeah, yeah. Bank arts videos. Fucking run up here with all these fancy people and shit.

I'm gonna snag over here, man, Yeah, yeah. Bank Art Studios. Fucking run up to you with all these fancy people and shit. This nigga over here, man, glasses, man. Tell him to stop already. Man, this what I do. Gee, you already know I'm gonna show my ass everywhere I go. Rap cities. Yeah, yeah. Man, first I wanna give you salute, man, on that album. Man, the album, Dope is a motherfucker, dog.

Thank you, man, appreciate it. Dope is a motherfucker, dog. You just came out and just hate-maked their ass real quick. I love when OGs come out and just, Dope is a motherfucker. Thank you man, appreciate it. Dope is a motherfucker dog. You just came out and just hay-maker they ass real quick. I love when OGs come out and just, you know, a few of them just, you know what I'm saying? Definitely, hay-maker, you know, king-maker. That's what it's called. So you know, if you ain't up on it, man,

I don't know where you been for the last 30 days or wherever you been, but my man been moving, you know, got some good work out there. It's hard to come by good work from us, you know. Legacy artists. Forefathers of this shit. What they call it now, legacy artists? I say legacy.

Yeah, that's a good thing. That's a good name for it. Because ageism is real, and they try to put that only in hip hop. It don't exist in any other genre of music. But I don't believe that we need to be put in that box. I think legacy artists is fine. There's no new West Coast.

It's only West Coast. You know what I'm saying? Let's get into it. Why do you feel that us legacy artists are put into that age discrimination box? Because they make it, they try to make it so that they, we think there's only ten seats to success. They try to make it seem like it's limited spots, like there's only so many spots that could fill that space in hip-hop, but I think the opposite I think it's so many That hip-hop has grown so much that it needs to be broken up now We shouldn't be not shouldn't be in the same box of sexy red or or machine gun Kelly or you know saying

Like like like, you know, we've had people come in, use hip hop and then move on, post Malone. You know what I'm saying? Like, so now it's become something that is bigger than where it started. So I think adult contemporary hip hop needs to exist. I think alternative hip hop needs to exist. I think pop, you know what I'm saying? Like, R&B hip-hop, like

all of those things, we need categories and subdivisions. And I think that is going to serve better than trying to age people out of hip-hop. And I think, to answer your question, legacy artists are looking at the pace and the growth of this thing when we had only one or two things to get to the public and we had Gatekeepers and labels and shit we had to deal with and people invested in our music So so that was when people invested in your music and you were signed to a major label That was how you got to the masses So now we got these people that that you know are looking at going for physical copies and now we got streaming

We got all these different things. It's weird. I don't want to do tic-tacs its niggas doing weird shit on there and then Niggas don't even rap but then they sell rap records because they doing weird shit on tick-tock. I'm not doing that shit You know then so so so what what I have to do is kind of figure out where I fit in that And I think that me putting out Kingmaker it inspired a lot of people It got a lot of people thinking like oh like we can do it a certain way it may you know saying and if we consistent and we we don't have to chase the algorithm we don't have to chase a sound I think we just got to do what we do really well right and what when we when we elevate our sound and make sure that everything is flawless,

then I think the public is gonna gravitate to it, and I think that's what we did with Kingmaker. Well, you know what the illest thing I've heard. Now, I had to call at 8, like 10 o'clock at night. I saw a dude online saying, why don't the old motherfuckers just get out the way and let us do our thing? Get me out the way. I said, what does that mean? Because hip-hop is a competitive thing. No, I mean it. Get me out the way. I said, what does that mean? Cause hip hop is a competitive thing.

No, no, I mean it. Get me out the way. Is it that? Is it the fear of competition? Is it the fear of feeling that legacy artists have a solid foundation that if me as a new artist tried to come out and say my record don't stand up to a X record, you know? It don't stand up to a Snoop Doggy dog of the past.

It don't stand up to a straight up menace. Yeah, that's just like, that's like when they started giving out participation trophies at fucking Little League games. You know what I'm saying? Everybody gets a trophy. No nigga, you don't get a trophy, we won. You know what I'm saying? So you gotta go back and work harder

and come back and get me out the way. But I think it got weird when people were like, you know, I don't like the lyrics. I just like the beat. And that opened the door to a whole bunch of other shit that made it acceptable in hip hop to be whack. You know what I'm saying? And then when Niggas was making whack shit, and you said it was whack, now you were a hater.

Wait a minute, I'm not hating, I don't think you have skill. I don't think, compared to what I like, I don't think you have skill. I don't, I don't, I don't think, compared to what I like, I don't think you are making what I like. So I think it's whack. Well, you know what it is, man. I noticed with this generation, it's like this entitlement thing, like we was talking about on the way up here.

You know, you got these kids, it's a group that's like from 16 to 23, 24, and now they think shit is supposed to happen automatically. Before it into this thing, it was a barrier to entry. It was a barrier of entry. You had to go through some things before you, you had to kind of do your shit before you got put on, right? Same with you.

You was, you know, out there battling everybody. You was doing your thing, doing whatever you was, you was doing it, then you kind of got the, you got on. Red man had to pay his dues, everybody had to pay their dues. Now, you can fuck around and just get a record, man. It's fucking around in your phone, in your room, and have a record. And that's, you said it right there.

This generation has grown up with convenience and it's become a handicap. So you can order a bitch, a sandwich, a motherfucking, some shit from Walmart, all within 15 minutes. And it'll come to your house. So why don't they think start them in hard work and shit, you can get it out the phone and land at your house?

They grew up with that mentality. It's the situation of, still you'll find this very fitting, just like dealing with the sports of, you know, still, you'll find this very fitting, just like dealing with the sports world, right? Yeah. When you grew up, when our age, you know, we came from sports teams or you joined a team or you tried out, you didn't make the team, you didn't make the team.

Work hard and come back again next year. Right. Today, you don't make the team, you don't make the team work hard and come back again next year, right? today You don't make the team. You don't make the team. You can just go start your own team. Yeah So I'm gonna be guaranteed to play because now I don't have to go through the you know I'm see like you said it was a certain criteria Everybody can't make it to the NFL but But now you can go to arena football, you can go to USFL, you can go to XFL.

Yeah, there's different opportunities now. There's a lot of different opportunities. And a lot of them are presented by their own artists. But I just feel that I don't know, like you said, in no other musical genre do they exclude once you reach a certain point. Rolling Stones will be done. They're a-clamp-ed into be done.

You know what I'm saying? A lot of them are. That shit is really fucking a lot of the homies up. I ain't gonna get the name of the homies' names, but I'll talk to some of my people and be like, man, what you got going on? Oh, man, I'm trying to do this, but I don't think they're trying to hear me no more.

Oh, come on, man. I'm talking about legendary dudes. Don't, we don't need to get in our own heads. And we definitely can't let other people's opinions about what they think is gonna be the perception of your art from other people. Fuck that. Like, we just gotta, we gotta focus, lock in,

do what we do really well, and then let the world decide. You know what I'm saying? And then you have to also be understand what your, what is your perception and what is your success? What does success mean to you? What does that look like? It don't have to look like what everybody else is or what the next man is doing.

Like I have certain things that, you know, I want goals that I achieve, and that's how I feel like I've been successful. That may not look like nothing else that you guys are looking like. And it ain't just about material shit. Time is the most valuable thing we have. So how do I wanna spend my time?

How much time do I wanna spend doing this? Because once I hit that, then I'm gonna do this, and then I'll be good. And sticking to that and living with that. And if you overshoot that motherfucker and get there faster That so be it But my goal has always been the same and I always plan things five years out

So once I hit my five-year plan and boom there it is some things work some things didn't I know I know what the next Thing is looking like, you know because I play I use I play using time So I know I want to keep doing music as long as I feel it. And as long as it come out my spirit the right way. But when I got what I'm doing music because I wanna do it, not gonna have to do it. And that's what feel good. That's why it's a key maker sound like that.

I love this shit. So when I do something that makes it shake the room, I know it's gonna work. You know what I'm saying? Man when I do something that makes everyone whoo and shake the room, I know it's gonna work. You know what I'm saying? Man, let's talk about this, man, cause I wanna go back, cause I've been a fan for a long time. Like, I know all the motherfucking records.

You know what I'm saying? So how did you make the, I wanna talk about the transition when you started out with Tila and those guys, you know, with King T and them. And I used to hear you on the wake-up show every Saturday and like getting it in, grinding. First of all, let's start with,

what was the first rap record you ever heard? What made you want to go, oh, this is some, you know, because, you know, I know your father was an educator, and so what made you go, nah, this is, this, I got to get to where I got to get okay the first rap record I ever heard was the rapping Duke the hud the hud that's the first rap record I ever heard and it was also jam on it nucleus so those were the kind of my introductions to that then my brother

run DMC but the first one I ever ever heard was it had to be between Jam on it and Rap and Duke. What made me stop in my tracks and be like oh shit it was Rakim. You know what I'm saying? Rakim, his whole style and delivery was unorthodox and it was different than anything. I was a fan of Big Daddy Kane, you know what I'm saying? Or EPMD, All them Dudes, LL, you know. Rakim was on that shit, though. Of course, you know what I'm saying?

NWA, Eazy E, Compton's Most Wanted, you know what I'm saying? Like all of these records were Poor Righteous Teachers, they were all the kind of wheelhouse where I was listening to everything. You know, even down south I would listen to Poison Clan and you know motherfucking DJ Magic Mike bass, Miami bass, you know, the mini truck movement. So I would listen to everything, but Rakim was the one that made me like, that's rap, that's some elevated shit. And you was always lyrical.

That's what I was gonna say because you was getting it in on the wake up show, I'm talking about because you was up there tearing cats out the frame. What makes you, what makes you decide like later on, you pivot, you had, you know, you went through your whole thing with loud records, you had a very critically acclaimed album was received well, and then you hooked up with Dre. You was already a monster at making records. And it's like, when you hooked up with him,

it's like, it just went. Pfft. Yeah. Did you get any backlash from the homies at first? Cause you know, people got a tendency to want to make you kind of stay where you at. Nah, see, I wouldn't call it backlash.

I think, you know, we all get, when we were younger, we all had dreams and aspirations. And you know, seldom do you speak something into existence. You know what I'm saying? It's like when something actually worked and it shocks the, oh shit, did that shit work? You know what I'm saying? Like it was more like that.

You know what I'm saying? Because we were, me, Ras, and Safir, we were kind of the group that we, you know, even though I was with Keen Teeth and Alcoholics, we were kind of the group. Even though I was with King T and the Alcoholics, I was never in the Alcoholics. Right. You know what I'm saying? It was the trio, King T, and it was like the liquid crew.

I was in the crew with them. But I always wanted to be in the group. So me, Ras, and Safir, I remember we'd sit in Ras' house and be writing together. And we all had different outlooks on how we was gonna make it, right? So Ras was super anti wearing khakis. He was like, you niggas look like

you about to go clean some shit up, fuck you. You know what I'm saying? I was like, nigga, this is the, this nigga, this nigga. This the attire. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This the attire, yeah. And so he had his, you know, I'll never beat you niggas, you know what I'm saying? And then I was like, nigga, this nigga West Coast rollin',

we outta here, you know what I'm sayin'? And then Safir was like, but now, you know, I'm from the Bay, you know, we say blood, but we don't mean blood, you know what I'm sayin'? Like, so it was like the perfect kind of representation of all of California right there, you know what I'm sayin'? And so that's kinda how we built it. And then when after the battle stuff

and the wake up show and Unity and all that shit, and Snoop called me to do the, that's how we got connected with me, Dre, Snoop, and the whole camp. This was, we did Bitch Please for the No Limit Top Dog album. And then from there, it was just like, boom, okay, we like what that happened.

It blew up, it hit, okay, you gonna be on 2001. You wanna be on the Upsmoke Tour? And then from there, it was just do, do, do, do, do. So the homies around, you know, I tried to include them, you know what I'm saying? But I think it was just more of a, you know, they, I don't know, I don't know. It just got weird for a second and then it got better.

That's how it always is. It's just growing, you're growing pains. Growing pains, yeah. You know. Yeah, yeah. It's always, it's unfortunate, but you know, there's always a standout, you know Same situation with me and chill, you know, we started off together. Everything was a grind, you know, whatever whatever but then

when you when you putting in a little more effort then you know, maybe you know somebody else might be or you know, your delivery might be standing out, or the way you present yourself in front of other motherfuckers. And so people start noticing, like, they call her eight, eight. You wanna get on something? Or, you know, and it's not like Compton's most wanted. Do y'all wanna come?

It's eight, it's eight, it's eight. And then attention, attention grows. You know who did a really good job of having a collective and then branching out and all the members was Wu-Tang. Wu-Tang Clan did a tremendous job

of having a collective and then being able to outsource the standouts. People knew Method Man from that one first song was going to be, he was going to have some shit. You know what I'm saying? ODB, I mean, all these people that came together, but they had some kind of working method that was able to branch out and do what they did.

I don't have to say that. They did a good job, but you knew that Method Man unequivocally was gonna be the shit when he came out. You knew that ODB was so different and dynamic that he was gonna blow up. You knew that ODB was so different and dynamic that he was gonna blow up. You knew everybody else was dope. They whole, you know, everybody in the Klan is dope. Ghostface on down the raid, to business,

all them dudes is tight. But you knew that Method Man had star power. But you are, even in their individual endeavors, they still represented Wu-Tang Clan. Oh yeah, for sure. You know what I'm saying? And so I'd like to see that out here too. You know what I'm saying?

But I mean, I know the game rules and everybody feel like they wanna be the CEO of every goddamn thing. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, for real. For real. So yeah, a little more unity, a little more cooperation. You know, just cause a nigga win don't mean you can't and that you're not, you know?

Show me how good it can get today, God, and show the rest of the world what we already know. It can't get no better than being hella black, hella queer, and hella Christian. My name is Joseph Rees. I am the creator and host of Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian, a fully black, fully queer, fully human, fully divine podcast that explores society, culture, and the intersections of faith and identity. Listen to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian to hear conversations about what

it means to sound the way you look. I think what I've had to make peace with is that every iteration of my voice is given to me by God, and I love it. Books that validated our identity. The library now for me is a safe space as someone who is writing books that they're trying to take off of shelves. And how we as Black queer folks relate to our Christianity. Listen to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun?

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I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two, and three on May 21st, The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the MeatEater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores, and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else.

Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and best-selling author and meat eater founder, Stephen Rinella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here. And I'll say, it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand

how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our iHeartRadio Music Festival presented by Capital One is coming back to Las Vegas. September 19th and 20th. On your feet! Streaming live only on Hulu. Ladies and gentlemen.

Brian Adams, Ed Sheeran, Fade, Glorilla, Jelly Roll, John Fogarty, Lil Wayne, LL Cool J, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Sammy Hagar, Tate McCray, The Offspring, Tim McGraw. Tickets are on sale now at AXS.com. Get your tickets today, AXS.com. Do you think that today, man, because we missing something. I always tell Glasses we be talking and I say, bro, man,

I feel sorry for you, I'm sad for you because you missed the whole experience. I remember, man, going to go to Tower Records, man, to wait for the Ghetto Boys album to come out. You know the one after Willie D came back, you remember Big Mike came in on the second one, the Def Doers Depart. No, not the Def Doers Depart,

the first one when Homeboy Big Mike came in, where he took Will's place, cause Will left the group. Then when I saw the ad and the motherfucking murder dog with the source badges on, to where they was in the caskets, it was like, oh shit, and you just saw a date. I went up to Tower Records, man, and I stood outside with all the people, man, going in and get what I got, and I got the record, man.

And I sat in the parking lot to like, maybe three in the morning. Just listened to it and reading the liner notes and just, you know, reading it. Doing end stores, going to end stores, seeing your favorite rapper. That's how I met Mr. Mix. I met Mr. Mix at the end store,

the homie from 2 Live Crew, right? And he wound up helping me out a lot. You know, we had a bond. You know, it don't always start off like that, but it was just, you know. And I think today they missing that, it's not the same experience it's not it's not the same experience do you think man um what the way streamer kneels and everything it kind of diluted everything man do you think it's still this you

know it's not the same aura no more you know, it's not the same aura no more. Let them have it. We are Jedis, people that have survived getting here through the time we had, because we were hip hop then, like then these niggas couldn't survive then and work through what was done here, right? Exactly. So we can't abandon that, right?

So, yes, we have to agree with the algorithm. We have to go, we have to participate because that is part of it. But we can't forget where our strengths are. We got people that went and bought our shit, just like you said, hard copies, read the notes. Those people are still, there's millions and millions of people that bought into that, right?

Around the world. So, our bread and butter is getting in front of these shows, organizing ourselves, stop waiting on people to come and pull us together, pull the homie off the couch, pull the homie out the woodworks, put together something that we can go out and get in front of these fans, rock these shows, fill out rooms,

put packages together, put merch packages together, use the algorithm to advance and let people know we coming, we'll go. You know what I'm saying? People depend on all the success and all these numbers, but nigger, having a bunch of followers and social media people is like having a bunch of Monopoly money media people is like having a bunch

of Monopoly money. It really doesn't do much. You know what I'm saying? For real. You know, I think it's, awareness is important. Popularity is important, but the 1%, the new payola is the playlist, the 1% is getting billions of streams.

You know, we don't know who's buying that or who's doing that, or that's real, whatever, but the money that come in is gonna be the one, you know what I'm saying? I think people are depending now a lot on streaming. That's a whole new culture that is outside of the realm of what we do and create. But I think that's what we can learn from that is not trying to copy them,

but come do it on our terms. You know what I'm saying? I can't do something every day. But if we organize 12 of the homies that want to do that, then maybe that stream makes sense because it'd be me this day, ate the next day, quick the next day, da da da da, and then that's, you know what I'm saying? Like now we have to funnel. But the thing is that we have to funnel, but the thing is that, you know, we have to work together.

Like the legacy artists, we gotta work together because combined audiences together, if we lock arms, then we go platinum every time. Oh yeah, for sure, 100%. But everybody wanna be the leader. I don't want, okay niggas, okay, you know what I'm saying? Like, let's just organize. Nobody has to be the leader, you know what I'm saying?

Let's just make some shit happen. People just gotta have that title. People just gotta have that title. Yeah, fuck that, man. Like, I've become comfortable to where, nigga, where you want me to go, first or last? I don't give a fuck. Like, am I getting paid tonight?

That's all that matters. So, nigga, shit. Find the like-minded guys. That's how I work it, shit. Find the like-minded guys with the same business acumen that you have is the key. And it starts with two, three, four, fives, and then you'll find the right folks.

And then when they start working, then you can decide and choose to expand or not. But that's what we need, you know what I'm saying? And algorithm is part of that. But I think that we as legacy artists just gotta fucking get out there in front of our people. You know what I'm saying? Like you said though, it's about man really dropping the

eagle because one thing I will say, from the first time I mixed you, to now you've always been the same dude. Like always been just like- I've grown up a little bit. I've grown up a lot. You know what I'm saying? You ain't never been Hollywood. Oh yeah, yeah, I've grown up a lot. You know what I'm saying?

You ain't never been Hollywood. Oh yeah, no. You ain't never been Hollywood. She was always like, hey, how you doing? You know, what's happening? I think today, like you saying, man, I think it just got to start out with a few people. It don't necessarily have to be a whole bunch of people.

Cause I tell you, like, I talked to Too Short all the time, but Too Short is one of my favorite rappers. Probably cause he just one of them real genuine cats, he's always the same. You feel what I'm saying? And I think people can feel that. And I think right now, everybody is kind of caught up in this thing

to where they have to have an image, this character. Rap has always been professional wrestling to a certain extent. You know, you come up with these big dynamic characters. Like you got the Buster Rhymes, you got the MC8s, you got the exhibits, you got the Glasses Malone's. I think it's always been that way, man. But now it's all the authenticity is no longer there. Where do you think that comes from? Um,

I agree with you. I think, um, I agree with you. I think Mike the antics became bigger than the sound and I Don't know what a disconnect happened, but that became a selling point And You know somewhere along the lines. I'm not trying to be funny or nothing, but Niggas stop reading books. Comprehension levels, you know what I'm saying? Like niggas making records with six words and shit.

You know what I'm saying? Real talk. Like that became the norm and the standard. And you know, if I walked in this room and started speaking Swahili, and none of you niggas is Swahili, you'd be like, what the fuck did he just say? That's what, when you try to use metaphors, punch lines, dah dah dah dah dah, these niggas

ain't, they don't get that shit, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, but they don't want to hear that because they make them think. And that's why I said, we don't do the same drugs either. You know? Like I couldn't imagine a cocktail of lean and pills and ups, downs, all these other things. You know, we did 40s and weed. You know what I'm saying? And we had some money, we had some Hennessy. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wait, but 40s was good, nigga. Like that was the shit. Well, do we know? Seagram 7 or some- Yeah, yeah, I said some bumpy face, nigga. Seagram's Genos and shit. Why you have to think about it? Hennessy, nigga, you would be rich as a motherfucker if you had some Hennessy. Yeah, doing the- Yeah, yeah, that's a bumpy face, nigga. What you have to think about it, yeah. Hennessy, nigga, you would be rich as a motherfucker if you didn't have Hennessy.

Sure, this nigga's selling dope. We get two-fifths of Christian brothers from Savon's or some shit, nigga. During our time period, it was an embarrassment to be a fiend. You didn't want to be a dope fiend. You was a cluck. You didn't want to be a smoker. That was, no, you don't want to be that now. You don't wanna be a smoker. No, you don't wanna be that.

Now. We live differently, man. I said it the other day. The story of my life is, I just grew up different than what you see today. A lot of things we frowned upon as young men growing up in the hood. It was just, it was detrimental to our character

of trying to be that nigga from the neighborhood. Like, smoking dope. You're fucking crazy. You niggas pop, what kind of pills you pop? Other than some motherfucking aspirin mama a day before a headache. Like pills and you niggas is drinking. Nigga, I hated cough syrup.

You feel me? I tripped over smoking weed for the longest. Cause I was always worried about somebody putting some shit in it. I think our, like you said, our character and not to say that everyone is like that today because there's a lot of young men who grew up on that role model character of frowning upon,

but our generation frowned upon, you know, drugs and shit like that. Like you said, you be called a cluckhead in a minute or some shit like that. You be disgraced. Yeah, you got frowned upon not being who the fuck you said you was. I'm not, I came out to California in 1988, man, from Cleveland, Ohio.

And that's when gang banging was at its full peak. And half the niggas on the football team, I'm not here to play football, but I'm running with insane's and 20's. I don't have no money, so the homie shout out to the homie Fonby. He says, hey man, Ohio. That was my name for the longest, Ohio.

Cuzz, I'm gonna take you to go see the homie today. We gonna get you some money. I'm gonna take you so the homie shout out to the homie, Fonby, he says, hey man, Ohio. That was my name for the longest, Ohio. Cuz I'm gonna take you to go see the homie today. We'll go get you some bread. And them niggas hand me a motherfucking napkin with a thing, and I'm like, what the fuck is this? He said, I got you, let's go, we bouncing. We go back to Crete, he chopped that shit up.

Next thing you know, I'm coming home. I got $100, right? And so I'm in the game right now. And I'm out here to play football, dog, but these are the people I'm surrounded with. I saw how easy it was to actually get caught up in being from a gang because them is homies, right? They're your friends, right?

I think nowadays, man, that shit is so manufactured, dog, that whole experience, it's almost like they find these dudes, okay, we gonna put some khakis on you, we gonna put some of this for you, we gonna let you hang out, we gonna go get you this record with Xzibit, we gonna get you this record with 8, and you gonna be on from there.

I think a lot of that shit though is mixed with what the realization of social media has really upped the ante. Like my nigga, Galeazza say, social currency. And you know, it's content, I think, for half the dudes who do it. Because if I can be loud and boisterous and gang affiliated, it only helps my content when I'm turning on these cameras.

Because that's what I'm trying to, the bottom line is I'm trying to sell something right here, right? I'm trying to sell this image of being this hard gangster nigga and you know, I'm from here and I'm from there. And now I want to introduce you to my world of rap, you know, because that's the bottom line.

At the end of the day, I'm trying to put out a record, right? You know what I'm saying? So I think it uplifts their social content to the fact that that's what niggas aim for today. You know, everything is turn the camera on and let's get some content. But at what expense? To their expense.

But you see their expense because a lot of them will be returning back to jail. A lot of them still don't significantly put out any music worth even fucking with, you get me? And so I say it's a lot of content because a motherfucker just, what I tell you, nobody wants to be normal today. Everybody has to be famous today.

Like, when I came up, I didn't think I was gonna be a quote famous rapper. My goal was nigga, my father working at General Motors, maybe I can get in nigga, rookie room or that was something along the lines. And there's nothing wrong with that. You get me? Yeah, I had no problem lines. And there was nothing wrong with that. You get me? Yeah, I had no problem with it. You had nothing wrong with that? If I didn't feel like, no, I'm finna be the next NFL star

cause you know that's the route we take. You either go do music or play sports. Nigga, I was like, nigga, I'm okay in sports and I can't play a fucking instrument. So I'm finna be a normal nigga around this. It was fine with me, shit. It was fucking fine. Nigga, I wasn't like, goddamn, I need to go out here

and start running circles butt-ass naked just so people can find me and be famous and shit. I wanted to be an architect. That's what I wanted to go to school to be for architecture. That's what I was doing. And ain't nothing wrong with that. You know, me and him talking about that one day, every new rapper you see, you ask them what they were doing before.

Oh, you know I was out in the streets. I said, which streets? I said, I don't think they sell crack, no, why ain't you see me cracking? What was you doing? Nigga, just come and say you had a job somewhere. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Yeah, that nigga hate being a nigger. That nigga hate being a nigger.

That's why I really fucked with you, because I think while I was reading some shit, you was telling a nigga, you worked at the car wash. Man, man, what? I had regular jobs. Nigga, I had regular jobs. Nigga, I had regular jobs. I had regular jobs. I had regular jobs.

I had regular jobs. I had regular jobs. I had regular jobs. I because I think, I was reading some shit, you was telling a nigga, I worked at the car wash. Man, man, what? I had regular jobs. I had regular jobs, nigga, shit, what the fuck? I was a horrible drug dealer. Horrible, horrible. I told nigga that, my same shit, nigga. I would buy dumb shit, you know what I'm saying?

Like, we bought a gold BMW with some gold Dayton's in the little ass town, like we were very obvious. You know what I'm saying? It was like, it was, it was, you know what I'm saying? Like we bought a gold BMW with some gold Dayton's in the little ass town. Like we were very obvious. You know what I'm saying? It was like, it was, it was. I don't even think I bought a car for my dope deal. And I was just written cluck cars and able to go to the Vermont drive in and buy some khakis from the Swineys.

We was going to get cross-color clothes. Them big ass green pants. It was a horrible drug deal. It was horrible. Exactly. But I had a room with a whole bunch of stereo equipment in it, training for the rocks and shit. It was horrible. Man.

I had no... I just wish... Like that didn't work. Yeah, yeah. Like wait a minute, I spent this. I'm supposed to make back this, but goddamn I only got this. I fucked up my re-up or something.

You know what I wish though, man? These shoes look good as a motherfucker, I got over right there. You know what I wish though? We in a real ill time right now, man, because I think about the last 10, 15 years of my life. We've seen our black president come in. We've seen all these different things just happen.

And it's like, man, when you sit back and think about it, you're like, damn, man, we done saw COVID. I never saw no shit like that. And I'm always a dude. I love the dystopian movies. You know, the shit. And I'm thinking, that's about the time now. This is about to happen.

Now the world about to end. I'm glad I got all my guns and shit right. To the point, I'm buying the car. I'm moving down to Texas. I keep telling them I'm going down there bro just to build me a bunker. Seriously I'm gonna build me a bunker because I think that I think we on the precipice man is some evil shit happening like I see all the stuff that's happening like it just started with the COVID stuff and then I see the stuff

that's happening with them trying to you know get all the Latinos out with no due process. And now don't get me wrong, I do think of you in this country and you whacking motherfuckers and running back across the border to get rid of his ass. But the dude that has his green card here, I know him working here for 20 years, and you know, like I like the dudes that cut my grass, man. I don't know them cats, I don't know why them, man,

for the last 20 years, they come over, man. I give them water and shit, we just sit out there and talk. I don't know them cats. I don't know why them, man. For the last 20 years, they come over, man. I give them water and shit. We just sit out there and talk. They don't see my sons. Like my son play professional football. He's just at home, wanting something. Hey, I'm very proud of you. It's almost like he want to take pictures, you know,

with my son and shit. And I think that's dope, right? I'm just mad at the fact we don't have no thinkers out here now documenting all this shit. And if you do have no thinkers out here now documenting all this shit. And if you do have the thinkers out here, they not getting no attention because that's boring. Like, I'm gonna tell you, like, even with this podcast shit,

me and him always have conversations because I see dudes, man, that just kinda just come up, right, because they stay on the bullshit all the time. They, you know, trying to embarrass motherfuckers, trying to come in and ask you fucked up questions to get you into some shit, man. I think right now, man, everybody is kind of doing whatever it is they have to do.

I think if a nigga tell a motherfucker tell a nigga, hey, suck your mama's titty and you go be famous, they gonna be trying to suck their mama's titty, dog. I think we're in some fucked up times. I think just to talk about what you was saying about going to Texas and building a bunker. I think we are witnessing a lot of distractive things from the root of really what's, what's trying to happen, the power struggle behind scenes.

And it's way bigger than religion and politics. You know, there's a shift that's happening. And, you know, I'm not a religious person. I'm not a political person. But I do notice that things are being fed to people that are willing to take it. So, you know, when they program 80% of the Earth to look down at these phones

and not even pay attention to their surroundings. That's a big thing and when COVID happened, you know, and they were, they actually got everybody in the world to go home and economy boomed in different ways and all that other things. This is an experiment and then the way that people have been positioned here in the United States, everybody got guns, everybody watching the fucking walking dead, motherfucking The Last of Us, and you know what I'm saying, all these survival thoughts that are happening, and then they flip a switch and then a nigga go

and all the toilet paper, niggas fist fighting in fucking stores the toilet paper, niggas fist fighting in fucking stores for toilet paper. And I'm looking at all this shit and people are actually scared to death and they're raising the temperature, raising the temperature, something's gonna pop, right? You're absolutely correct.

Something is gonna happen. But what I think what was dangerous about it is that we haven't started the discussion, especially through hip hop. People want to be so popular, but hip hop used to be the voice of rebellion. Exactly. It used to be where you could send things

and say things in hip hop that you couldn't hear anywhere else. Not just about pussy holes and butt popping and fucking money and shoot niggas. Right? That was part of it too, but there was other things that we kind of, if we needed to hit the message, the message was sent. You know what I'm saying?

Like no matter if he was gang bang or a motherfucking grassroots, you know, roots chewer, you was listening to fight the power. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, definitely. You was listening to P.E. So I think that people are scared to speak about what's happening because they don't wanna

fuck up their algorithm. People have been punked into like not saying what they feel and believe and group thinking and finding their way through group thinking. But that's a dangerous place to be, man. Like so yeah, man, you know, is it fucked up? People are being pressed against each other and divided and singled out. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? It's crazy.

But don't get distracted by that. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's something happening that's going... It ain't just happening to the Latino and Hispanic community. You know what I'm saying? It's happening to all of us but there's something bigger coming and they doing all this shit because that whammy is coming. So I would rather look for the big whammy. I'm gonna tell you something and you probably see you a student of that you probably noticed this. Did you notice maybe about a year ago they say it's something about our life in outer space?

Like pretty much all but confirmed it. And it was so ill the way they did it. I had to rewind that shit, I said hold on. And nobody gave a fuck. And nobody gave a fuck, but then when they say it's something about, cause I've noticed my kids, they didn't say nothing about that,

but when some other dumb shit came up, oh did you hear about this? It was almost like they was programmed just to look past that. And it shit came up, oh, did you hear about this? It was almost like they was programmed just to look past that. And it's almost like, man, I'm thinking what's happening between these phones, between television and all this shit. I was noticing, man, like I go in to check on my kids

every night since they was little, right? I noticed that my daughter sleep on her bed with her phone right next to her. My son sleep on the bed. It's almost like they programmed these motherfuckers. I didn't tell everybody at the table. When we had the table eating together the family put your fucking phones down as a matter of fact, put them up there, get the fuck

out the house. Because I want to be able to talk to y'all. I don't want to sit the table like this. We just eat and everybody is just kind of like, no, put the fucking phone down. Like even with all this technology, like glasses is like my little brother. I even tell him sometimes, bro, call me by yourself. I don't want to talk to you with 20 niggas on the phone all the time. There's some shit I want to just talk to you about. You know what I mean?

He's talking to us. You know what I'm saying? He's talking to us. And so we on the phone. I think so. It's like, but it's like it's like, bro. We're not paying attention to what's going on. If motherfuckers actually paid attention to what's going on, they would be scared as a

motherfucker. I'm at an age right now that where June 18th, five be 55 years old, right? Our 55 is much different than our father's 55. That dude had on slacks, he had, you know, his pin up here and this and that. I still dress like I'm about to go to a fucking rap concert or do something. Be the bodyguard or something. I don't know, but you know,

I look at this shit right now, man, and everybody is falling for the dumb shit. And I think it's almost like we being programmed by something. You know, whether it's television, whether it's streaming shit. I don't know if you remember this movie. It was one of my favorite movies.

It was called The Guy That Did, Beavis and Butt-Head Did. What's the dude's name that did Beavis and Butt-Head from Texas? Mike Judge. Mike Judge, yeah, Mike Judge. Good looking out, dog. He had a movie called Idiocracy. And when you watch Idiocracy,

Idiocracy came out years before the OTT, like the Netflix and the Hulu and all that. These people had huge TV screens, like you can go to fucking Best Buy and buy a gazillion inch TV for $600 now. It's not like it was, you know, when we first got your motherfuckers, right? They had TVs on the wall.

A motherfucker would literally be watching people kicking each other in the balls. That was the thing. You didn't see it in the entertainment. Did you see the ideocracy? I have, yeah, yeah, yeah. Shroffit was in that movie. Yeah, it pretty much talked about what's going on today.

We just a bunch of brain dead dumb motherfuckers out there, dog. And if it ain't no shit, me talking about a motherfucker, dog. I'm gonna tell you what one of the homies told me one day. I'm not gonna say his name, but he told me. I said, man, I like your new album, dog, I'm about to talk about it on the show.

He said, no, don't do that, bro, say his whack. I said, what you mean, dog, say his whack? I wouldn't, I'm not gonna do you like that. He said, no, say his whack. You get more attention that way. Oh, no, come on. They playing the content and algorithm shit. Motherfuckers is retarded now.

I'm not gonna manufacture a beef with my brother Glasses or I'm not gonna call you exhibit before we come in and say, hey man, I want you to hit eight in the hell with the microphone and then I want you to tear some shit up but this will be all cool. You saw me in the society. You saw that big ass Devin Eagle. Hey, whip that shit off.

I'm a motherfucker, you're a piece of shit. But that's the thing, no joke. Show me how good it can get today, God. And show the rest of the world what we already know. It can't get no better than being hella black, hella queer, and hella Christian. My name is Joseph Rees. I am the creator and host of Hella Black,

Hella Queer, Hella Christian. A fully black, fully queer, fully human, fully divine podcast that explores society, culture, and the intersections of faith and identity. Listen to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian to hear conversations about what it means to sound the way you look. I think what I've had to make peace with

is that every iteration of my voice is given to me by God, and I love it. Books that validated our identity. The library now for me is a safe space as someone who is writing books that they're trying to take off of shelves. And how we as black queer folks relate to our Christianity. Listen to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian

on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple.

Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story about what happened when a multibillion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. Listen to new episodes of Absolute Season One, Taser Incorporated on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge episodes one, two and three on May 21st and episodes four, five and six on June 4th. Add free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the MeatEater Podcast Network, hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode, I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West.

I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian, Dr. Randall Williams and best-selling author and meat eater founder Stephen Rinella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here and I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday May 6th where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today.

Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Over the past six years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned one thing. No town is too small for murder. I'm Catherine Townsend. I've received hundreds of messages from people across the country begging for help with unsolved murders. I was calling about the murder of my husband

at the cold case. I've never found her and it haunts me to this day. The murderer is still out there. Every week on Hell and Gone Murder Line, I dig into a new case, bringing the skills I've learned as a journalist and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking. Police really didn't care to even try. She was still somebody's mother.

She was still somebody's daughter. She was still somebody's sister. There's so many questions that we've never gotten any kind of answers for. If you have a case you'd like me to look into, call the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Motherfuckers, you know what a dude told me one day? And I was mad as a motherfucker. I'm looking at this penis-shapped head motherfucker online talk about me like a dog, right? After I gave him all kind of money and shit, dog, and I'm mad at the motherfucker, right? I called this motherfucker. He like, ain't nothing.

Oh, what's happening, dog? I'm like, man, motherfucker, you know, you like, dog, this content, you supposed, I'll do you the alley-oop, bro. He spoke, I'll do you the alley-oop, bro. He said I'll do you the alley-oop, my nigga. I said, what the fuck you mean playing with me? Nigga, don't play with me like that. That's how it go nowadays.

Niggas feel that they need to establish more monetary success with social media by creating content that's, whether it's negative or positive. I don't care. But long as I can get somebody to focus on it, then they gonna focus, then they gonna focus. Shit, my son gonna be calling me talking about, hey dad, so and so and so and so.

And I'm gonna be like, you know, but it's the creation of the content that these dudes have figured out now. Like, I don't give a fuck if I start, aw, nigga, I didn't mean that shit, nigga. Like he said, I'm throwing you the hell of you, nigga. I'm gonna call you a dumb motherfucker, say you stupid and all kind of motherfucking shit.

And if you run up, nigga, it's gonna be this and that. Nigga, come get this fade. Come get this fade. And the error I come from, we don't do all that because I'm never gonna come back online, go get the camera, let me say this to, it's professional wrestling. Yeah.

It's professional wrestling. It's like, bro, what the fuck? Because to me, I'm not gonna allow a motherfucker to play with my family. You say something about my wife and my kids, I'm gonna go to war with your ass. Well, it's not professional wrestling because even though it is what it is,

they still getting the ring. Yeah, these motherfuckers not gonna fight. Out here, these niggas, it's the wolf ticket show. I'm not playing that game though. I got a lot of good will out there and that's because of my character, the way I carry myself. Am I liked by everyone? No, but I don't like everyone either. So it's good. I'm cool with the people that's cool with me and I'm good with that. So like I said, man, I focus on just what works for me.

And you gotta look objectively at this stuff because technology, it depends on who's the user, right? So some people could sit up and figure something out and work out a whole fucking graph and be able to build businesses from a laptop. Other people are just going to be taking pictures of their food and sending pictures of their dicks to everybody. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's the user.

So you got to look at your brand, your equity, your assets, figure out exactly what works and who you're trying to target. If you want to target everybody, you're gonna be swimming in the sea, you know what I'm saying? But if you could target where you want to contact your people, the most effective use of your time, then that's shit. There's tools that you can use to get there, you know what I'm saying? But you gotta focus and target your audience.

And I think that's the overwhelming part, because we all need people. I don't want to produce. I don't want to do this. I want to do that. I just want to rap. So your job is to find people that can come around and actually facilitate those things with

you, if that's the way you want to go. Some people want to do it all themselves. You know what I'm saying? But if you're going to do it yourself, you've got to focus on what your target audience is and spend your money wisely. Don't just throw it on there buying ads because like I said, it's just, you can't,

how do you get a ROI? How do you get a quantifier whether it's working or not? You can't tell by the numbers, you know what I'm saying? So we gotta trust our intuition. And my intuition says, let's go and get in front of the crowds and do our merchandising immaculately. And then the people that we meet in person, now we can see physically.

That's what's going to make a legacy artist feel better. You can physically see who's there and now your job is to use the algorithm and now you take the people that you actually meet face to face and get their information there. That be one of the things that you do everywhere whether it's a festival or you should have a designated person going out Emails phone numbers emails phone numbers contacts contacts contacts mailing lists mailing lists. That's what the data is We collect enough of those man And then a city nigga you'll be able to send now you could use the algorithm the way you want you can send that motherfucker Out to the people you've contacted over the last, however much you've been doing it.

Thousands of people that you already hit, and now you can hit them directly. You can sell directly to them, which is better than streaming. You can make them exclusive drops. You can do, you know what I'm saying? That's using the technology in a way that's comfortable for us. Well, you know the one thing I've been on with the homies too, like I always tell my guys, man, let's own our own shit. Let's stop trying to look to take shit to Tubi, to Hulu,

or whatever else like this. We got all these fucking cameras. I got all kinds of drones and cameras at the house. Let's go shoot our own fucking movie. You know, let's go shoot our own shit and start doing our own things. The next thing I'm on is like starting to really, I'm gonna tell you what really fucked me up back in the day.

You remember that MySpace shit? I remember the publishing company I was working for, man, they went and spent all this money on my MySpace page. I had the coldest MySpace page ever. I had a hundred thousand motherfuckers on there. I remember, I remember Joey and dudes, homies from the Giants, used to send me shit on there, trying to get me to listen to their songs and shit, right?

And them motherfuckers, cold as a motherfucker. Now go figure, right? I remember we spent all this money on there, bro, and I looked up one day and my shit was back the same as it was. And then the next day it was gone. And we just spent $10,000 on that motherfucker, dog. I see it from that point on right there, I would never build my business on somebody else's platform.

Don't get me wrong, I say we need to utilize the YouTubes and the Instagrams and all that, but they have so many fucking packages that you can get. Now you can make your own fucking Instagram. You can make your own YouTube. I think we need to have things like you said, information is key, right? Information, knowledge is power.

They always say that, right? If you can get motherfuckers data, if you can get their phone number to send them SMS messages, if you can get their email to send them emails when you got that new shirt that's coming out, if you can fucking text 15, 20,000 people, hey, I got a shirt out.

And if you can convert 5%, 10% of those people, you winning. And it's not always about selling them shit. When you having that kind of connection with the fans, it's your obligation to give them an experience. Exactly. Right? And so what I plan to do is, you know, not only reach out and bring this, you know, use

the new data that's coming in from Kingmaker and the people that are coming in and out going out to the shows, building that kind of database that I'm going to be able to say, okay, cool, if I'm sending you this, you've won this experience, this address, this time. What? You know what I'm saying? Let's do it. this, you've won this experience, this address, this time. What? You know what I'm saying? If you don't be there, come there, it'll be like some food shit, some fucking dope ass concert,

you know what I'm saying? Like in their town, you know what I'm saying? Like you gotta create the experience. And then, you know, I've seen a lot of people do a lot of cool shit with merch. You know, send them motherfuckers a free shirt when they didn't order it. That's one thing. I mean, that kind of shit, and you that kind of fan, motherfuckers gonna be like, oh, I'm shit with merch. Sending motherfuckers a free shirt when they didn't order it, that's what that is.

I mean, that kind of shit, and you that kind of fan, motherfuckers gonna be like, oh, I'm fucking with this. Man, that goes a long way. That reciprocation is like, we got back stock of all kinds of shit. If we can just like, yo, if you get an address, we send you shit, you know what I'm saying? You don't gotta be mandatory, but if they do do it, and then you do send them something, nigga, that shit's gonna, you know what I'm saying? You don't gotta be mandatory, but if they do do it,

and then you do send them something, nigga, that shit's gonna, you know what I'm saying? Like, you just gotta be consistent with it. You know, and you know, we done, I don't know if you guys tour or that, but if you a legacy artist and you still going out there trying to go to after parties and fucking drinking and fucking around with bitches and all that shit,

then you playing Russian roulette with everything. Yeah, for real. And business, business, business, you know, I'm pretty sure everybody got the, you know, the shit together at this point that want to go forward and be professional. But that's what we got to be on. We got, we're the first of our kind.

You know, we've transitioned from physical copies into streaming and to now, you know, we are legacy artists. You know what I'm saying? We've seen transitions and now I don't know who's been in front of us that had careers like us. You know, so we gotta, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta set the standard. We gotta set the bar.

And that don't mean sitting down, you know what I'm saying? Some people wanna expand, some people wanna still do music, but music is the catalyst of what makes all this work well. Music is the commercial for everything else that we create. But you gotta choose what you create. You can't just create what everybody else does. What do you do really well that you can bring to the table and be the Avenger that you're supposed to be on the Avengers? You know what I'm saying? You know and and and I think

that's that's what that's what you know I did. It took me a long time to figure out that just that simple shit right there. You know what I'm saying? And make some decisions. Change my circle. Focus on things, you know, let some things go, take some chances, take some risks, you know, go without for a while, you know what I'm saying? Now, if you could tell, you just said something that's real key, man, about changing your circle. I always tell my children, man,

and just like the little homies, whoever the addicts you are, who you hanging around, if you hanging around motherfuckers that's telling you all day what you can't do, instead of somebody saying, hey, man, let's figure out a way to do that. Right? You need to let them motherfuckers go though, because they're going to keep with like, I don't think people believe this man, but the tone

does speak life and death. If you got somebody constantly telling you what you can't do, or how it's not going to work, how it's not go that I'm gonna tell you, man, I don't say a glass of wine two or three times. You know why me and him fuck with each other? It ain't no, we not, let's go figure out a way how to do it. Fuck we not go do it, let's figure out a way to do it. To do it, can't get it done, yeah.

Exactly. Yo, I think, well, I didn't have to let people go. You let yourself go? Yeah, you'd be amazed at what happens when niggas think it's over. You know what I'm saying? Ah, yeah. You'd be amazed.

You'd be amazed how much space you get. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, the only guy, come on. It's gonna have to end at some time, shit. Like, what were you thinking? It's gonna have to end some time. You'd be surprised how much space you get when niggas think it's over.

And so I learned a lot about myself, the people that, you know, I had around the people that are still around from then. I think there's, I said it on a key maker, I think there's royalty and loyalty, you know, for sure. I think there's there's something about, you know, having a disagreement and then figuring out if you want to figure out a solution you can if you love the person if you if you really see that person as somebody of value not to use them but you value

who they are not everybody move like that you know what I'm saying and so I'm pretty sure if I was a vicious motherfucker I put it I could have really fucked some shit up and I'll be a lot further than I am but I'm pretty sure if I was a vicious motherfucker, I could've really fucked some shit up and I'd be a lot further than I am, but I'm happy where I'm at and I still got my soul intact. I can still look people in the eye when I talk to them. And I'm not worried about keeping up with the lie that I told the nigga, the other nigga, to not do the other nigga, to out-fuck that's too much.

My bandwidth is not that tight. You know what I'm saying? I mean, I got a bunch of raps and shit up here and they own fucking want to remember that shit like who what Forgot who you're saying? so so I don't move that way my nigga and and I feel like a lot of people are In a position where they feel like they gonna use people up or do all that shit But I've never had to do. And so my circle got really tight. You know what I'm saying?

I'm not out there in the street. I'm not partying. I'm not moving. I don't, I got a lot of goodwill out there and I don't take that for granted. You know what I'm saying? I see it as a strength, you know? I don't have to prove shit to nobody.

I wanna do my art. I wanna be a standout person when it comes to things that we build outside of music. I don't put my personal shit in the street, even though, you know, whatever was happening with my fucking divorce shit that everybody was talking about that nobody gave a fuck, you know what I'm saying? You know, like nobody gives a fuck. You know what I'm saying?

You know, like nobody gives a fuck about exhibits, fucking personal life. Like, let them rap straight up. You know what I'm saying? Like I'm not, nobody gives a fuck about that. It's not, it's not that interesting. Trust me. Um, but yeah, man. And so now going forward and just coming out the blue and having been planning this for so long and talking about it and strategizing about it and if to actually come

out and do what it did and now we got to put the elbow grease behind it. Nigga, no new niggas. I was sitting here for a long time, nigga. Sitting in our kites. Like, nigga, I'm out here like motherfucking Tom Hanks, nigga lost, nigga help me. Until it was just like oh, silence. Got it. Okay, let me get back to work. So nigga, Iron Man built my suit out of this motherfucking shit I had laying around. That motherfucker worked. Like a charm.

For sure. Motherfucker worked. You know what I'm saying? Now we out there and now we building them to mark two. Yeah, man. and show the rest of the world what we already know. It can't get no better than being Hella Black, Hella Queer, and Hella Christian. My name is Joseph Rees. I am the creator and host of Hella Black,

Hella Queer, Hella Christian. A fully black, fully queer, fully human, fully divine podcast that explores society, culture, and the intersections of faith and identity. Listen to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian to hear conversations about what it means to sound the way you look. I think what I've had to make peace with

is that every iteration of my voice is given to me by God, and I love it. Books that validated our identity. The library now for me is a safe space as someone who is writing books that they're trying to take off of shelves. And how we as Black queer folks relate to our Christianity. Listen to Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian on the

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the MeatEater Podcast Network Network hosted by me, writer and historian Dan Flores and brought to you by Velvet Buck. This podcast looks at a West available nowhere else. Each episode I'll be diving into some of the lesser known histories of the West. I'll then be joined in conversation by guests such as Western historian Dr. Randall Williams and bestselling author and meat eater founder,

Stephen Rinella. I'll correct my kids now and then where they'll say when cave people were here and I'll say it seems like the Ice Age people that were here didn't have a real affinity for caves. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th where we'll delve into stories of the West and come to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

wherever you get your podcasts. I know a lot of cops, and they get asked all the time, have you ever had to shoot your gun? Sometimes the answer is yes. But there's a company dedicated to a future where the answer will always be no. Across the country, cops call this Taser the revolution. But not everyone was convinced it was that simple. Cops believed everything that Taser told them. From Lava for Good and the team that brought you Bone Valley comes a story

about what happened when a multi-billion dollar company dedicated itself to one visionary mission. This is Absolute Season One, Taser, Incorporated. I get right back there and it's bad. It's really, really, really bad. June 4th, ad free at Lava for Good Plus on Apple podcasts. Over the past six years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned one thing. No town is too small for murder. I'm Catherine Townsend.

I've received hundreds of messages from people across the country begging for help with unsolved murders. I was calling about the murder of my husband at the cold case. I have never found her, and it haunts me to this day. The murderer is still out there. Every week on Helling on Murderline, I dig into a new case, bringing the skills I've learned

as a journalist and private investigator to ask the questions no one else is asking. Police really didn't care to even try. She was still somebody's mother. She was still somebody even try. She was still somebody's mother. She was still somebody's daughter. She was still somebody's sister. There's so many questions that we've never gotten any kind of answers for. If you have a case you'd like me to look into, call the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.

Listen to Hell and Gone Murder Line on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I think what you're saying, man, is some real spill, man. I think energy is very important. I'm an energy person, man. If I sense something even off with a motherfucker, dog, I don't fuck with him. And because I was always one of the type of dudes that do right by people. Like I pride myself on doing right.

If we making some money together, dog, I'm gonna give you half up to the point where she be telling me, man, why you giving them niggas all that money and they don't do shit? You know what I mean? And I always thought that was me doing a good thing, but what I realized, dog, is that you can't cash your pearls on swine, on the next swine.

Because everybody not gonna appreciate you, dog. We did it with a genuine spirit, and you thought it was gonna be reciprocated. You know what I'm saying? But it seldom is. But it's some people that, you can't hand nobody a lifestyle. So that's number one.

You can help, money is a tool, you know, but niggas don't want money. They want your position. You know what I'm saying? And that's weird to me. It's like nigga, why the fuck? It's just different personality types that come around and different intentions from different people.

You know, if we walked into a room with a whole bunch of producers, rappers, and ask them, why do you want to do music? You know, you get a thousand different answers. Some niggas want a, you know, some niggas want a car. Some niggas want to get their mama a new something. Or I want to get my family out the way. Or, nigga, I'm, you know, on the run, and I got to, you know,

you know what I'm saying? Like, it's a thousand different reasons, you know what I'm on the run and I got to, you know, you know what I'm saying? Like it's a thousand different reasons, you know what I'm saying? So we got to understand, like we dealing with a whole bunch of people that, you know, in this industry that, you know, not necessarily here for the same reasons. So finding those like-minded individuals and keeping that in line, you know what I'm saying? It takes a long time to get to know somebody, right? But how we move around this industry and we meet different people, you know,

and especially the gang rules of how California is broken up, you know what I'm saying? Everybody clicked up and you know what I'm saying? Everybody has this group thinking idea when it comes to doing it, but it's certain people that move differently and have a different type of level of understanding that I get along with.

So I ally myself with those people. You know what I'm saying? Where before, or when I was younger, it was like, oh, let's go with the herd. You know what I'm saying? Let's go with the herd. I'm not there now. And so that's why when I say no new niggas, it's like, if, if you didn't, if you weren't around what we was building over the last 20 years, and if you definitely weren't around what

we've built in the last five years, for whatever, I don't care if I know you or not nigga like the car is going the train left the station and I know who's on it now you know I'm saying like can we build and expand but it's gonna come from the like-minded individuals and the nucleus of what we have going now there's a lot of good shit happening right here and a creative shit is really dope I'm protecting that like with everything I got because that's what's making everything feel so good.

You know what I'm saying? Right, that's what's valuable. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, the way the music is coming out, the way the motherfucking spirit is, the way this motherfucking, you know, the public is receiving it, it feel right. You know what I'm saying?

I feel strong and the people around me are here for a reason and a purpose and they qualify to do the things that they're being done, you know what I'm saying? We don't have the homeboy hookup. Right. You know what I'm saying? Nigga, I love you man, but nigga, you can't be a manager, nigga.

You can't do it. Unless you go bring some of this fucking table. Nigga, you can't do it, nigga. You can't be a merch person. You're not even a people person. You know what I'm saying? Like you, you gonna punch niggas in the face. You know what I'm saying? For saying, this nigga can't hear you. You know what I'm saying? He's not gangbanging. He's deaf.

Nigga, you hit him in the face. For what? I'm not taking no liabilities on the road. These niggas, are you gonna come to the album release party? You understand? You will come to the motherfucking last show and then we gonna, I'm gonna see you come back and we gonna hang out. You know what I'm saying?

And that's it. That's it. I wanted something I wanna ask you, man. Something I really applaud you. Every rapper has seen like this out here. I'm talking about like from the Dirty Birdies man, to the Giants, to all these other rappers. It seemed like you always put your hands like you reach out

and touch them kind of and fuck with them a little bit. What made you decide, man, I'm a mentor motherfuckers? That's where I come from. Are you real genuine with it too? That's where I come from G, like, I come from backpack rap. That genuine with it too? That's where I come from, G. I come from backpack rap. That's what they used to call us. You know what I'm saying?

Like, we're backpack rappers. Because we would set lyrical or whatever. And so I understand the grind, you know what I'm saying, to try to be unique or diverse in that sound. Especially coming behind Death Row, G-Funk, Roofless, you know what I'm saying? The classic G-Funk sound, classic West Coast sound. It's hard to step away from that. And you know what I'm saying?

Try to start something different. So when I see Dirty Birdy and the guys from the IE and you know, C4 and the rest of the groups out of there, you know what I'm saying? And I see people that have a lot of potential and talent and a sound. I definitely put my hands on it, you know what I'm saying? Because nobody, if Keen T didn't do that for me and like see something in me and be like, all right, nigga, come on.

Cause I didn't know how to write a verse, a hook. I just had a whole bunch of battle raps. It's like pages and pages, just long ass raps. You know what I'm saying? That's how I started. So King T was the first one to see something that raw. You know what I'm saying? I wasn't polished.

You know what I'm saying? I was just battle rapping. So he was the first one that gave me an opportunity to figure it out, right? So why wouldn't I take that same energy and give it to somebody else? You know, you never know who you're talking to. You know what I'm saying?

Let's do it. Yeah, it's okay to pass the torch. You never know who you're talking to. And then even about passing the torch, if somebody come to me and ask me something or see the value on what I do and want to know how I did it, and you really want to come and actually sit face to face

and get something done? Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? Absolutely, fucking literally. Because you don't know what that conversation is gonna turn into and what that person that you helping is gonna turn into. That shit may turn around and be some motherfucking other shit, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, for real. Some words to live by. Yeah, man. Don't be afraid to actually help someone. For real. You man, don't be afraid to actually help someone. For real. Don't be afraid to help somebody. You know what I'm saying? It ain't all about giving up your resources or money

or doing lending something, but if you can help them learn something that's gonna benefit them and they actually use it and go forward, then that's what it's about. Hey man, you know, before we get up outta here, man, I gotta ask you about this, man. You like the dawn of the marijuana game. No I'm not. Do not put that. Don't you put that evil on

me Ricky Bobby. Don't you put that evil on me Ricky Bobby. No man but when you talk about you know when you talk about good weed brands people who have survived you know who's been here for a while right. You think about, you know, you, and you think about the homie, Be Real. Why do you, and you, you know, you told us about this earlier, why do you think you've been able to sustain in that game? Well, I think it is hard to have celebrity brands. People don't believe in that.

Hip hop doesn't sell weed. Like hip hop can sell clothing, hip hop can sell concerts, hip hop can sell alcohol, number of other things. But seldom do celebrity brands work in cannabis because first of all, cannabis has to work and people buy cannabis for different reasons.

And to manufacture a brand, it takes a lot of capital. And the licensing, especially on the legal side, is really difficult. You know what I'm saying? And if you're going to be under the microscope, people will fuck with you. You know, it's hard. There's a lot of competition. There's people that undercut you. You know, do all this. There's a lot of competition. There's people to undercut you, you know, do all this.

I thought the record business was tough. Cannabis is fucking rough. You know what I'm saying? So, you have to learn how to pivot. And because I built a few brands and, you know, I was up at three in the morning moving pallets. I did distribution. I learned every aspect of cannabis and how to get it from seed to sale. I never most mess with cultivation because I just, not my wheelhouse, but we know marketing. And we done marketing for a long time through our own music and other things.

And those ideas still work in cannabis. You know what I'm saying? Targeting your audience, knowing how to speak to them, speaking their language when they hear their song or they hear their words and they hear, and it's built into the marketing. That's, ooh, oh, that's my PO. They saying, it's bright shit over here.

I'm going over here. We going over there. Oh shit, this is great. It's built, you know? But I said, I'm going to stop competing in this market with one brand and I'm going to go to the retail side because why sell one brand when I could sell everybody shit? And that was the that was the pivot for me. It was it's really difficult to start a brand in California. It's easier to start in other places because the laws and the tax structure is different.

And you have to think globally now because now cannabis is not just legal in the US, it's legal in Spain, it's legal in Taiwan. You can go for the Taiwan and get blowed now? Yeah, absolutely. You know what I'm saying, Taiwan. You know. You can go over to Taiwan and get blowed now? Yeah, absolutely. You know what I'm saying? A lot of the laws are changing towards cannabis. It is becoming a billion dollar industry.

And you know, just like when alcohol became out of pro-emission, there was brands that was on the black market that exists today. You know what I'm saying? Like Jim Beam, motherfucking Seagrams, you know what I'm saying? These brands were 150 year old brands.

As well as distributors. Correct, so they was already bootlegging and everything and then they just maintained great marketing. Yeah, they probably was getting beat. Seagrams and all them was probably getting beat by niggas who had the brown paper bag with the XXX on it. You know what I'm saying? Selling them motherfuckers like water,

you know what I'm saying? But they didn't have a brand and that shit died out. And eventually had to soak into something that did have branding. So you have to look at cannabis the same way. You know what I'm saying? And like I said, it goes back to the people that always want to do stuff they self. You know what I'm saying? And like I said, it goes back to the people that, you know, always wanna do stuff they self.

You know what I'm saying? I think that there's only a few black owners and real owners in cannabis, you know what I'm saying? Al Harrington, you know, there's a couple other guys that are moving around really well. But really, it's the network. They want our culture. So people that get behind, like even Snoop stores, you know, it's the Smoke Weed Everyday store. Like, it's important to support these brands, because it's too easy for somebody

to come and try to wipe it out. And then, you know, we have no representation. And now here we are, you know, creating another billion dollar industry that we have no position in. You know what I'm saying? We gave away our spots and then we hated the rest of the niggas out the way. You know what I'm saying? I'm like, I gave away the seat too.

Like, you know what I'm saying? There's no reason why these stores, you know, as we get back into these corners, you know, and then people are selling weed out the back door, you know what I'm saying, by the thousands and thousands of pounds on the black market and then the state does nothing to shut down the black markets and even if they do get shut down, they open up the next day across the street and there's no taxes being paid, you know what I'm saying. So it's a really tough place there's no taxes being paid. You know what I'm saying? So it's a really tough place to be, to be competitive.

You know what I'm saying? So all that being said, man, it's like, I think cannabis is a great place. But if you want to really get into the game, I think organizing behind people who already have the licensing, already have the stores, already have the brands, is where the next step for us to actually do something is going. Because we're competing against people that don't have to pay the same bills that we have to pay.

You know what I'm saying? But if we can drive our community to support these brands, support these stores, and we get 200, 300 people through the store a day, and then now we become like the first ones that get bought out when the motherfucking, the people come through. You know what I'm saying? Like that's the play.

You know what I'm saying? A lot of people want to say, oh, I'm starting a brand. I think it's 1,050 brands already out in the stores, distributed, not to discourage you, but what are you going to sell in cannabis that's not already on the market? What, some good weed? Niggas have got good weed.

Is that what I'm saying? Niggas got their own, niggas got little closet grows, say grow good weed. Exactly. You know what I'm saying? For sure. It's widgets. We all selling the same widgets. But how cool can you make your widget commercial? And how cool can you make your widget experience? That's what cannabis is Everybody got good weed

But how can you bring in your people and I think that's that's that's the play that's that's what I'm trying to organize and make People to retail. Yeah for retail, you know You know these people build but you know wing stops and franchise days out shit out to their homies. Like, you don't think I'll put an exhibit of West Coast cannabis with the homies in they place and then we build some shit so then when pharmaceutical monies come through here, nigga, we all got a piece of this motherfucker,

your store do this and, you know what I'm saying? I'm gonna tell you this. You're like, what? Nigga, boom! It's more people smoking weed than ever, I'm gonna tell you, like I said, I didn't smoke weed for the longest, dog. I didn't people smoking weed than ever. I'm gonna tell you I was like I said, I was I Didn't smoke weed for the longest though. I didn't start smoking weed dog. I was in my late 40s

Seriously when you start getting them little pains in your body Shit the homie let me hit the joint one day. I thought it was the most amazing shit And on that note we gonna end this cuz we gonna stop talking about these old niggas when we start smoking weed at fucking 50 years old. Next episode, Akes and Paints on Gays to Chronicles. X-Men, I appreciate you, man, sitting down with us, man. And man, y'all make sure, man, y'all go, man, I can't say it like that. Kingmaker, man. Kingmaker, man.

Kingmaker, yeah. Y'all make sure y'all go knock that motherfucker door. And we about to announce tour dates. You know, we gonna stay out, you know, for the rest of the year. And really, man, just work hard, brother. I can't wait to see people out and live, and I can't wait to be able to experience this record the way we love making it. So thank you for having us.

Yes, indeed. It's all day. Y'all ain't know. And on that note, we gone. Yeah. Well, that concludes another episode of the Gangster Chronicles podcast. Be sure to download the iHeart app

and subscribe to the Gangster Chronicles podcast. For Apple users, find the purple mic on the front of your screen, subscribe to the show, leave a comment and rating. Executive producers for the Gangster Chronicles podcast are Norman Steele, Aaron MCA Tyler. Our visual media director is Brian Wyatt and our audio editor is Taylor Hayes. The Gangster Chronicles podcast is a production of iHeart Media Network and the Black Effect Podcast Network.

For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you listen to your podcasts. Show me how good it can get today, God, and show the rest of the world what we already know. It can't get no better than being hella Black, Hella Queer, and Hella Christian. My name is Joseph Rees. I am the creator and host of Hella Black, Hella Queer, Hella Christian, a fully Black, fully Queer, fully human, fully divine podcast from I Heart Media to Hella Black, Hella Queer,

Hella Christian on the I Heartio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Why is a soap opera Western like Yellowstone so wildly successful? The American West with Dan Flores is the latest show from the Meat Eater Podcast Network. So join me starting Tuesday, May 6th, where we'll delve into stories of the West and come

to understand how it helps inform the ways in which we experience the region today. Listen to The American West with Dan Flores on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Over the years of making my true crime podcast, Hell and Gone, I've learned no town is too small for murder. I'm Catherine Townsend. I've heard from hundreds of people across the country with an unsolved murder in their community.

I was calling about the murder of my husband. The murderer is still out there. Each week, I investigate a new case. If there's a case we should hear about, call 678-744-6145. Listen to Hell and Gone Murderline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Our iHeartRadio Music Festival, presented by Capital One, is coming back to Las Vegas. Vegas! September 19th and 20th. On your feet! Streaming live only on Hulu. Ladies and gentlemen.

Brian Adams, Ed Sheeran, Fade, Chlorilla, Jelly Roll, John Fogarty, Lil Wayne, LL Cool J, Mariah Carey, Maroon 5, Sammy Hagar, Tate McCrae, The Offspring, Tim McGraw. Tickets are on sale now at AXS.com. Get your tickets today! AXS.com.