The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Marco Plus Talks Southern Hip Hop, Touring With J.I.D., New School Influence + More

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Marco Plus Talks Southern Hip Hop, Touring With J.I.D., New School Influence. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hello, America's sweetheart Johnny Knoxville here. I want to tell you about my new true crime podcast, Crimeless, Hillbilly Heist, from Smartless Media, campside media, and big money players. It's a wild tale about a gang of high-functioning nitwits who somehow pulled off America's third largest cash heist. Kind of like Robin Hood, except for the part where he's still,

from the rich and gifts to the poor, I'm not that generous. It's a damn near inspiring true story for anyone out there who's ever shot for the moon, then just totally muffed up the landing. They stole $17 million and had not bought a ticket

to help him escape. So we're saying like, oh God, what do we do? What do we do? That was dumb. People do not follow my example. Listen to Crimless, Hillbilly Heist on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. I live below a cult leader and I fear I've angered her.

Wait a minute, Sophia. How do you know she's a cult leader? Well, Dakota, luckily it's I'm not afraid of a scary story week on the OK Storytime podcast. So we'll find out soon. This person writes, My neighbor has been blasting music every day and doing dirt rituals. And now my ceiling is collapsing. I try to report them, but things keep getting weirder.

I think they might be part of a cult. Hold up. a real life cult? And what is a dirt ritual? No clue, Dakota. Find out how it ends. Listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everybody, it's snacks from the trap nerds and all October long. We're bringing you the horror. We're kicking off this month with some of my best horror games to keep you terrified.

Then we'll be talking about our favorite horror and Halloween movies and figuring out why black people always die further. And it's the return of Tony's horror show, SideQuest written and narrated by your Yours Truly. We'll also be doing a full episode reading with commentary. And we'll cap it off with a horror movie Battle Royale. Open your free I-Hard radio app and search Trap Nurse podcast and listen now. Two rich young Americans move to the Costa Rican jungle to start over, but one of them will end up dead and the other tried for murder three times. It starts with a dream, a nature reserve and a spectacular new home. But little by little, they lose it. They actually

lose it. They sort of went nuts. until one night everything spins out of control listen to hell in heaven on the IHeart Radio app Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts Hold on

Every day I wake up The Breakfast Club Are you all finished or y'all done Morning everybody is DJ NV Just hilarious Charlamaine de Guy We are the Breakfast Club La Rosa is here as well

We got a special guest in the building Yes indeed And on our breakfast club AM Twitch chat as well Ladies and gentlemen We got Marco Plus welcome Yo, this is crazy How are y'all doing today?

How are you feeling, bro? I'm kind of nervous I can't cap Why is this crazy, Marco? Why are you nervous? Bro, what? This is my childhood Like dead serious

I was watching my boy Rubin Up here with Knife Yeah, Luke the Ruben. Yeah, Scott the Ruben And nice said something about how this is like one of the last places where you can come get some credibility for real. Like everything gone, I ain't going to lie.

I honestly didn't think I was going to make it up here. Why you thought we'd be gone by the time you popped off? They took away the BT Award, dog. I was like, what? That's crazy. You don't know, like you never know what's gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, sir.

How old are you? 27, for the turn 28 in a couple days. Yeah, so we've been on half of your life. Yes, sir. Yeah, yeah. When did you first get tapped in, you think? I'm young, but I got the old soul. I've seen the Ray J. Fab joint.

Oh, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. You see this. He wasn't, because he would have been, no, you'd have been your mom would have to go past 14 to the school. I got kept back, right, in like the eighth grade. Me too. For real. Seven to be in.

Yeah. Damn, shaw. That's crazy. I was bad, though. I was bad. Yeah, see, I got kept back for skipping and stuff. Like, I ain't in class. So, when I started doing.

homeschool the next year, I ain't do that work either. I just watch y'all dead serious. That breakfast club raised you is crazy. Yeah, breakfast. That's crazy, man. Well, thank you, Marco. We appreciate you skipping school to watch us. So you are, of course, you're a rapper from Atlanta. Yes, sir. Originally born in Florida. Yes, sir.

And tell us how, what got you into to rap? Because you're unlike, I would say, a lot of the rappers now, you got a different way of doing it. So what got you into what you do now? Honestly, it's kind of like embedded. You know what I mean? My whole family is kind of musical.

My granddad, I think it starts with him. He owned a label in Pensacola from, like, the 80s to the 90s. Anybody big on the label? I think it was like TSM or something. It wasn't really very big. And like some floss stuff happening with, like, co-owners and stuff like that. But, like, yeah, like just the whole family, especially the immediate family, like we're all kind of talented. I think I'm just the one that actually had the chance to get out there and do something with it, to be honest.

I've been rapping my whole life, bro. My, I remember, I remember being a hot boys fan as a child. Like, I have a very, I have a very strong memory. It goes far back. I could say, like, 2000, I was trying to, like, look like Lou Wayne and BG. I see that. Yeah. And what were your inspiration?

So they were your inspirations. Yeah, dumb, tip. Gizi. As I got older, it was probably, like, I like, I like, prodigy from our deep a lot we got the same birthday you name it awesome you name it some heavy hitters i like this yeah man the crazy thing about prodig i think people are starting to find a new respect for them in the last couple of years yeah long live p he was talking a lot of a lot of real stuff a lot of real stuff that's one of my favorite ever i think infamous is one of the best albums ever

definitely is a lot of your music touches on like pain reflection you know you tap into you you know mental health a lot when when you write are you venting or you think healing or just documenting you know it's so crazy i just started realizing that's how i i kind of heal from thing my girlfriend told me i don't talk so like i realize i do most of my talking in my music yeah i do most everything it seems like you don't like too many people either i hate people not not from this interview but listen to your music yeah yeah it's just like i don't know man i kind of have a i have a super sense of what's the word cognizance i could people when people this cap, I know when somebody is kind of being weird

and everybody be weird. So it's like sometimes I rather just stay away. Do you approach people with an open mind though? Yeah, for sure. You got to give everybody grace in every situation. But at the same time, I don't give people too many times to show me. Like, when I first heard the whole fool me once, shame on you, I felt like it shouldn't be no fool me twice.

Damn. Yeah. Yeah, it's a shame on me. you fool me once anyway. I feel like that, especially in a work environment. Boy, we stay getting fooled up here by people. Shut up. Shut up all you time.

So is that how you grew up, though? Like, did you grow up introverted or are you just not a people's person at all? Did anything happen? I got a lot of family. I got a lot of family. So honestly, I don't be feeling like I need friends because it's like I just call my cousin, call my brothers. I wouldn't say I was necessarily introverted up until a certain point.

Up until my whole life became trying to write at 16 every day. Yeah, I got kind of like shut in. Yeah. For the chat, I just want everybody knows, this is Marco Plus we're talking to if you just joined us. Yes, sir. Rapping artists from Atlanta. I was going to ask how you went from,

so your background of music, not really liking people, but finding your way in the industry where you got to deal with people. And then you get co-signed, and you're now distributing your music through Rock Nation. That's a big, you know. Hell yeah. Shout to the gang.

So how did you meet people from Rock Nation and how did that all come about? Honestly, I was leaving another situation and I honestly didn't know where I was going but I just knew that they were showing interest. I think it was one of my friends who was signed there. I think he still signed there. He just told me like,

yo, these people talk about you up here all the time. And I was like, I need something to do. these other do and they was uh they was real quick with it as well um it was like one month we were just talking and then the next month i was on yeah it's pretty cool but it's just distribution so you still got to handle everything yourself yeah for sure and i love it that way though i like it that way i like to uh be able to control my time frame and all of that stuff just be able to like like i could put out a song that i made two weeks ago a lot of people can't do that yeah that's a blessing right there. But it's costly, though, because you got to pay for everything, correct?

They help out? Yeah. Okay. So it's more than distribution, so they help with, okay. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Sixth, seven, six, seven. Hey, I love that. That's crazy. I know, um, you, I know Jid shot you out a lot, chance to wrap, well, how'd you tap into to those guys? Uh, Jid, it's funny. Uh, it was like 20, 21, right? somebody posted something on Instagram

and he was like rapping an unreleased song from his album to Forever Story if I'm not mistaken the song was Crack Sandwich and he ripped it but I'm a rapper so I commented like

yo this is hard but wait till I drop and he's seen that and he just remembered he just remembered it and waited till I dropped like a rapper and then he posted the song

he posted a lately if I'm not mistaken and honestly that's kind of where my career fully started if i wow yeah so he posted it did he say it was hard too yeah okay yeah yeah he hit me up we we we really talk am there every week two weeks uh at this point uh real cool dude the reason i respect that is because a lot of artists on the come up wouldn't embrace another artist on the come up people would be feeling threatened you know what i mean yeah that's a thing for sure he didn't feel like that with you at all yeah nah uh i think it's more so a kinder

spirit type thing because it's like just be in front of a we kind of like the underdog just off-root no matter how hard we is we just the underdog because it's like everybody not going to listen to us everybody not going to want to listen to us so i really think it's one of those things where it's like he just he's seen me wanting to make something more of not just myself but of our scene and he was like all right i got to i got to put on for that you and jenn represent like uh a lane of the A that I'm glad is kind of making a resurgence. Yes, sir. You know, I grew up off the dungeon family.

Goody Ma'i, Alcat, and that, you know, there don't get me wrong, it's fruit off that tree for sure. Like, the kilomites, you know, and lyricists like T.I. But, like, y'all are really in that space of like, man, this is the Atlanta that I grew up on. Yes, sir. I wonder what that's about, though. You know what I'm saying?

I wonder why we, like, because I really don't have no idea of why I, like I was attracted to the style that I do. Like, I'm from, I'm from, like, Atlanta, Atlanta. Like, all I really know is D4L. You know what I'm saying? All I know is young droer. All I know is huge. I mean, D4L was hard, too, but DROD get busy in the lyricists.

Come on, man. I'm so happy you said that. But I guess, and I guess, you know, it's just different ways to do socially conscious music. You know what I mean? T.I. does socially conscious music. For sure. You know, Mike definitely does socially conscious music.

It's just different ways to do it. Yeah, for sure. So the name of your album is Marco Plus versus the underworld. Marco Plus versus the underworld. So break that down. What is you versus the underworld? The underworld is honestly, well, number one, it's dealing with... Your shadow side.

Yeah. See? Yeah. That, it's me coming from where I come from and just the pitfalls of being from the area where I'm from. It's about the underworld is the industry. the underworld is my emotions the underworld is infidelity trust issues

all of that I feel like I chose the word the underworld because all of that shit could feel like or excuse my language it could feel like hell you know what I mean so that's kind of where I was coming with you know what I'm saying

and of course Scott Pilgrim versus the world that was a fire movie yeah I love it so was it depression trauma all of it like a culmination all of it uh-uh you know sometimes you don't know where your depression come from until you actually dig deep why you'll have to be sad like so like just just having to realize that nobody going to do it for me um ain't nobody really going outside of you know your family ain't nobody going to love you for real like you and it's by yourself um and that's i feel like

it's just a journey it's like the project is a journey for me and where did the depression come from. I'm sorry. A few things. I ain't going to lie. I was depressed as hell when I was a kid for some reason. Like, and I ain't, like, granted, I probably didn't even know what I meant, but it was one day at school. I forgot what we was doing in gym. I couldn't do it. A push-up? Right? It had, it was something crazy. I don't know. But I told them folks I wanted to kill myself. Them folks called my mama so fast. And, and they, they, Thought my mama was, was, like, abusing me or something.

Oh, did you really feel that way? Or you just was upset about what happened in gym? Brough, see, that's the thing. I think I was just sad. I think I was just sad sometimes. Like, I don't know if I wanted to die, like, death. I don't even know if I understood the concept of it. But then, like, it was like, like, later on, I kept having, like, just little problems in my head.

You know, like, I don't know if it was coming from, like, having just a tad less than everybody so like you don't got the same type of swag you don't got the same type of things or whether it's like me not seeing my pops a lot just because like we was in different places at the time I don't know where it came from depression is a sticky it's like a weird thing

it's a very weird thing sometimes you just wake up sad I always wonder with depression like what you're dealing with is it because you've seen it and people talked about it so much right when I was a kid that wasn't a thought Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like you can't do pushups.

Either you're going to try or you're going to joke your way out of it or you fail. But nowadays, I feel like that's a reaction that a lot of kids hear and see. So that's that emotion that they go to even like you, even if they don't mean it. Yeah. But when they say it, it opens up a can of worms because you never know if they're saying it because they really mean it. That's real. If there's a problem at home. So I always wonder when you thought it like where that came from, where that feeling came from.

Yeah, man. Honestly, I'm not. I'm not sure. I don't think they'll never got to the bottom of it. Yeah, I feel like it's a lot of people who are trying to figure out why they don't feel full. And I don't know, I've kind of been

one of those people. Sometimes I still am. I don't know. I feel like we all just kind of go through our things and get through them. Sometimes people brain receptors be different. I was going to say, you said you feel like you're one of those people

that still battles with that? Yeah, for sure. So I listened to the opening on the project, and it felt like that. It felt like you're talking about so many different things, but it felt like a battle between you have hope and then you lose it, but you're still pushing through. You say they lost hope, they convinced that God don't listen. At one point, did you feel like God wasn't listening to you, or this is just what you're seeing and then you're recanting it?

That's a very loaded question. Because honestly, I feel like I battle with the idea of faith sometimes. a lot of people probably wouldn't have said that but like dog all right who am I to say that the man

from wherever he's from is wrong because he read another book when he was like younger and his family indoctrinated him into this like I would feel wrong and like

not only that what if I spent my whole life believing in something and then I go to hell like go to another hell yeah yeah like you feel what I'm saying like so it's honestly it's honestly a confusing thing like of course I believe that God is real I just don't understand sometimes but that's fine I don't think that I don't think that it's confusing for anybody as long as you just admit we really don't know we really don't is everybody think they fucking know exactly going on and they don't like you read what you read you believe what you believe and it is what it is you really don't know exactly that's my whole point of life and i just respect your vulnerability

because like you said a lot of people wouldn't say that a lot of people are afraid to to let out the things in their head yeah see i ain't i got country-ass family i'm falling on play about that yeah what man my daddy's i own the church yeah like it's like they and they don't play about that but the higher power gave me this mind for a reason you know what I'm saying You know it's a higher power. Exactly. And that's all, I'm like, I think about, I always think about like, okay, think about before there was anything called religion, right?

And it was just humans here on this planet. Yeah. They just knew that there was a higher power. Exactly. It just wasn't all of these different religions with all these different practices and rituals and you have to be here on this Sunday and you got to do things like this. No, I don't think that's how any of this should be. That's a fact, man.

A lot of it was created for control. Exactly. But that's a whole another story. That's a whole other story. So Markle Plus versus The Underworld is a bunch of storytelling. Basically, you're telling stories about your journey. Yes. From then to now.

Yes. Yes. It's really like, I'm really, I was really trying to paint the picture of a young man coming of age and trying to make a name for himself while dealing with all of these types of issues. Because a lot of people don't understand, like, yeah, we meet. musicians, but, like, we got real life, like, real life things going on. So it's like, yeah, like, this is the main mission, but I got to, I got to kind of conquer all of these other things, and it just becomes a very difficult trip sometimes.

So when do you have fun? What do you enjoy doing? When do you feel full, do you have times that you feel full? When I went my kid, yeah, when I went my daughter, for sure, when I'm with my girlfriend, I smoke a lot bullshit you smoke good shit what

I'm just making sure that's crazy wow I'm from the trio Wednesday man nah for real but yeah

I'll be cooling man I don't I need to figure out what to do to relax I don't know how to relax I feel like my shoulders are tense right now

I literally told my wife that yesterday I went to the dinners and the dentist told me you always clenching your teeth You got to stop clenching your teeth. I just learned I do that in my sleep. Yeah. I learned we're not supposed to rest our tongue at the top of our mouth.

That's crazy. Like, that's a sign of, like, attention. I don't even know I can do that. How you can? Right? You just, it's crazy. Well, he's got a list. His tongue too thick sometimes.

You just put it at the top, just press it at the top of the roof of your mouth. I wear a mouth guard at night, though. I need to start doing that and get a retainer or something. Yeah, grinding my teeth, man. What? But that guy, I don't know. I don't know. I'm figuring it out.

I don't know how you figure that up. Crazy. Do you ever sense of yourself out of fear that, like, being too vulnerable might change how, like, fans will see you? Nah. I got to, it scared me because the rap nigga weak as hell, and they'll try to, like, take advantage of you or, like, play you for a lane, like, just because you, like,

you yourself, I'll fade any one of y'all, me. That's just honestly how I feel. I, like, I feel like your supporters are your supporters for a reason they're going to understand and feel you because they they like you connect from this certain place whether it be one part of the music or the other but yeah sometimes i be like that's kind of why i'd be distant from a lot of people too because it's like i'm a vulnerable guy i'd be i'd be i'd be cool and i'm also like a very like if if i say you my partner you're my partner people people people don't respect that all the time though

So with that being said, right, how does collaborations go? How do you think about that? I got my few friends that I like to rap with, of course. But honestly, when it comes to songs, I'm willing to make music with anybody. It just has to be right. This doesn't mean I have to be friends with everyone. But I have no problem making great music because music is, that's what it's for. Like we're all supposed to collaborate and make something fresh.

and new and like something for people to love. I don't got no problem with none of that. Just respect. Do you have dream collaborations? Like, who would your dream to collaborate with? Kendrick, Drake. Are you still wanting to do some with Drake? What?

Man, I don't care nothing about that. I don't care nothing about that beat. You said Kendrick first, though. I ain't go wrong, I'm a Kendrick fan. I'm a Drake fan, too, though. It's just like, I was a team. Like, I had a partner. this fool gave me take care

like a week old like it was a week old I've never heard it I think the only song I think headlines was out of course all that stuff he just gave me the album and that's really

when I became a Drake super fan for sure but I'm like I think it was like the BET Awards 2011 the Hipop Awards that's the first time

I ever heard Kendrick Lamar it was like the cipher that's what made me a fan of Kendrick for real So, like, I was like 13, 14. Yeah, like, I can't, I can't escape that. I can't escape them. As a rap fan, though, you loved the back and forth between them.

Honestly, I hated it. Really? Brud, you guys should make music together. I don't want you guys to beef. That's not what I wanted. It was, like, it was entertaining. It was entertaining in the moment. Like, it got too nasty.

It got too, yeah, I ain't going to lie. It was like, it was like. loved it. Yeah. He's a drink hater over there. It was a hip-hop for sure. So you thought it was a good thing when Jay Cole was like, no, we don't need to be doing it.

Not at the moment, because I was in the moment like, these niggas fighting, you know what I'm saying? Like, they're in serious. But I ain't gonna lie. That's probably like for his peace and for his sanity, that is the realest thing you could do. We've seen it after. He's seen him for, but we've seen it after. Yeah, you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, get out Kendrick Way. Well, he bust all. I ain't on lie, boy, hey, that's that boy right there. Once it goes that personal, there's no getting back to it. Yeah, for sure. I wanted to ask you, though, you know, I was looking through your videos, and one of the biggest things a lot of your fans say is they feel like YouTube shadow bans you. Ah, yeah, I don't know, man.

Where does that come from? Is that true? I mean, it wasn't just once. I see Matt, like, I don't know what that's about. I be smoking weed in my videos. I don't know. I don't know if it's, like, if it's that. So you see it, too.

You see what people say it. I definitely think I should. be one of those 200,000 views of video artists for sure but I just I don't look at it like that because I just look at it like

I just came out in 2021 you know what I mean like I have a I have a million years to garner these views so I just I don't be really tripping you know what I mean do you chase the mainstream

do you want to be mainstream or do you like your core because your core is strong I want you be the biggest rapper ever I want to be the biggest musician ever I love that I rap great But a lot of people don't understand that this shit is just How I have like how I

How I release my art But I can do everything else Like it's just Everybody has their starting point Everybody has their starting point Michael Jackson didn't start off with Thriller Like yeah He like he started out with his brothers and stuff

Like everybody Jackson Five was fired You feel what I'm saying? Come on But that's what I'm saying It's like tears of greatness Exactly, and I have no problem taking the route I got to take to become one of them. You're taking the stairs. I'm glad you said that, though, because I'm tired of handing these people live talking about,

I don't care about sales, I don't care about being the biggest money. So what you're doing for? I want to be the biggest, hey, I want to be the biggest ever. And that's a, that's a tall ask. But I don't care. But if you set your bar that high, you'll hit a high point. get somewhere. You know what I mean? You may not, nobody going to be Michael Jackson. I live below a cult leader and I fear I've angered her.

Well, wait a minute, Sophia. How do you know she's a cult leader? Well, Dakota, luckily it's I'm not afraid of a scary story week on the OK Storytime podcast, so you'll find out soon. This person writes, my neighbor has been blasting music every day and doing dirt rituals, and now my ceiling is collapsing. I try to report them, but things keep getting weirder. I think they may be part of a cult. Hold up, Sophia, a real-life cult? And what is a dirt ritual?

No clue. But according to this person, contractors are tearing down the patio to find out what's going on with their ceiling and her neighbors are not happy. Well, she needs to report them ASAP. She did. And now they've been confronting her

in really creepy ways all the time. So do we find out if this person survives their neighborhood cult or not? To hear the explosive finale, listen to the OK Storytime podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up everybody? This is Snacks from the Trammer's podcast, and we're bringing you the horror

every week all October long. Kicking off this month, I'll be bringing you all my greatest fear-inducing horror games from Resident Evil to Silent Hill, me and Tony bringing back fire team on Left for Dead too, and we're just going to be going over some of the greats. Also in October, we'll be talking about our favorite horror and Halloween movie, and figure out why black people always got to die further. The umbral reliquary invites any and all fooling, brave enough, to peruse its many curiosities. But take heed, all sales are final. Weekly horror side quests written and narrated by yours truly.

With a full episode read and a commentary special. And we will cap it off with horror movie battle royale. Jason versus Freddie. Michael Myers versus the 80 thing with the little tongue muster. October, we're doing it Halloween style. Listen to the Travener's podcast from the Black Effect Podcast Network On the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the new podcast, Hell in Heaven, two young Americans moved to the Costa Rican jungle to start over.

But one will end up dead. The other tried for murder. Not once. People went wild. Not twice. Stunned. But three times. John and Anne.

Bender are rich and attractive, and they're devoted to each other. They create a nature reserve and build a spectacular, circular home high on the top of a hill. But little by little, their dream starts to crumble, and our couple retreat from reality. They lose it. They actually lose it. They sort of went nuts. Until one night, everything spins out of control. Listen to Hell in Heaven on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here we go. Hey, I'm Cal Penn, and on my new podcast, Here We Go Again, we'll take today's trends and headlines and ask, why does history keep repeating itself?

You may know me as the second hottest actor from the Harold and Kumar movies, but I'm also an author, a White House staffer, and as of like 15, seconds ago, a podcast host. Along the way, I've made some friends who are experts in science, politics, and pop culture. And each week, one of them will be joining me to answer my burning questions. Like, are we heading towards another financial crash like in 08? Is non-monogamy back in style? And how come there's never a gate ready for your flight when it lands like two minutes early? We've got guests like Pete Buttigieg, Stacey Abrams, Lili Singh, and Bill Nye. When you start weaponizing outer space, things can potentially go really wrong.

Look, the world can seem pretty scary right now because it is. But my goal here is for you to listen and feel a little better about the future. Listen and subscribe to Here We Go Again with Cal Penn on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Nobody going to be Mike. But you'll get up except probably young boy is what I learned the past month. NBA Youngboy? Yeah. Numbers-wise?

No, the way them people will have a seizure when they see him. Impact. Yeah, numbers-wise, hell no. Michael Jackson sold, what, what is? 100 plus a million. 100 plus million, yeah. Come on, dog. That's over 10 times diamond.

When you see the impact. That's interesting. Go ahead. No, I was going to say that's interesting. I think what helped young boy is the fact he was on house arrest all those years. Yeah. And, you know, it was an air of mysteriousness about him. I think that that's lost in this era.

People are too accessible. I think he feeds his base well, too. It's kind of like the Kendrick thing when you think about it. Absolutely. But their fans don't realize that they're kind of the same type of artist. Like in terms of how they treat the public, how they treat their public life. It's just young boy kind of erratic. So it's like you're going to see more of that.

I had a question I forgot. It's funny, I'm looking at the chat. And the chat believes it. It was like, young boy is definitely will surpass. It's like for this generation, he is the Michael Jackson. Yeah, y'all got it. But stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. You know, I feel like, I feel like a lot of people conflate the two from, like, musicality standards

and literally how these people treat you when you walk out the house. Constan, that is another guy on that level. Like, these guys can lead a house and they won't get any, like, peace unless they got three security guards with them. But you know what y'all are seeing now? Y'all are actually seeing real celebrity. And there's a couple of real celebrities still left Because of the social media era

Everybody's so accessible Everybody looks so regularly and playing Jay Cole riding city bikes through the damn thing You know what I can't lie That's tough as head, bro So it's different Like some people still get treated like real celebrities out here And I think it's because of how much access you get for

Yeah, for what young artists in their Like a Kaisana, an NBA young boys age Has that celebrity because they're all over social media Like it's hard to do both They're doing both. I've seen constant that, God bless, overseas and nobody can't. That's how I be him. But not for Michael Jackson.

That's why y'all, y'all keep talking about Michael Jackson. Stop comparing anybody of Michael Jackson. I feel you now. Nobody compared to Michael Jackson. That ain't no old-haired stuff. Just go back and watch. You know who has them niggas overseas tripping? Who?

Speed. Oh, for real? Yeah. But it still ain't like Michael. It ain't like Michael. It ain't right. It ain't right. It ain't outside the airport for that man's playing the land.

Yeah, but also, think about how much was steep. Well, when Michael would land in countries, world leaders would greet him. Think about how, like, the level of mystique you just, like, had by design as a top artist in the 80s and the 90s. Like, a lot of people don't got that chance. Like, you have to post on the internet. Michael Jackson, all he had to do was drop a video and his label handle for the rest of it. It was a different thing. And everybody didn't have phones.

Oh, just something more than that. Everybody didn't have phones Or internet like that Exactly But now before you even said I show speed Everybody was saying that in the chat Like speed

Speed to get crazy Get crazy fans out the country Do you like that part of it though The part where they say you have to post You have to be Because people want to know more than just listening to your music You can ask my team

I have the hardest time posting They're laughing behind you Yeah I had the hardest time And it's not because I don't care about posting, but it's because I'd be overwhelmed with it. Like, it's very overwhelming. Like, yeah, I'm a young guy, but I'm also from the era

of right before it got this hectic, right before everything was super duper, oh, you can post a Instagram story. You can post a real. Like, it was just a square. Like, you would literally just be able to post a picture, post a tweet. When you had to retweet,

like, you couldn't quote it. It was like, it said RT next to the tweet. Like, I'm from that era. So it's kind of, it'd be kind of difficult for me to try to latch on you have a go back on facebook now like it's like it looked like a whole different world yeah right it's crazy yeah it's crazy facebook is not the same thing no no it's not talk about um the tension between up next and up now that you explore with this project and what that even means up next versus up now or end so i feel like i feel like up next is kind of like a leash I feel like it's kind of like

a leash for sure because it's like how long am I going to be up next how long are y'all going to keep telling me that like when are y'all going to actually like push you know what I'm saying for the guy to be up

not even just me because this can go for anybody like I just feel like if y'all going to say somebody next up say it once or twice and then just let the guy be the one up that's just how I'd be feeling.

Well, to your point about tears, there used to be a time where you could see it, right? Like you knew, okay, here go Marco Plus in the beginning he got a mixtape or whatever. Yeah. Oh, okay, now Markle Plus just signed.

Oh, Michael Plus now he's on, you know, BET or MTV or whatever it is. Oh, now Michael Plus put out a single. Oh, Markle Plus put out of an album. Oh, he went platinum. Now he's on a award show. Like, you could see it. Nowadays, you can't really see where it starts and ends.

Yeah, yeah. That's exactly. It's such a blur. It is a complete blur. or everybody's career is. Like, it's so, it's weird. It's weird. But I think it might be

for the better for these guys. Well, they chase records to them. Yeah, exactly. They're not, a lot of times, they're not chasing the artist. They're not trying to build a brand and build the artist slow. They see a song on Spotify. They see a song on TikTok, and they chase music. Yeah.

And usually, an artist has one song. They got a year max, and then you never see them again. Somebody in the chat just said the lifespan for rappers nowadays is so short. Max is two years. I think they just talk about the art, not that life. Yeah, no, for sure. I feel like it's two reasons for that. I feel like, of course, the attention span of the fan

and the ego of the artist. I'm trying to practice what I preach by actually making sure I can do all the work. But yeah, a lot of people kind of get complacent, get jaded. If one thing doesn't work, they forget like they forget to keep going but if something does work

they forget to keep going you know what I'm saying yeah and you can't I don't know can't move like that you're from the south side right yeah college park what does the south side

sound like to you honestly all of Atlanta it's kind of like it's kind of like all right so the way the south side is everybody is from I feel like everybody from

the west side for real or like just the center of Atlanta and then they moved out and spread out so I grew up with a lot of folks like yeah

we're from the south side but the folks from the west side where they're from Bankhead or they're from like Zone 6 or they're like from Boulevard

or something like that so honestly the one of the first like outside of Germain DeP one of the first big South Side artist

was Tuchin you know what I'm saying so really what we had we had what we had for real like outside of like the young like the

and coming artists and stuff like that. We're listening to like TIP. We're listening to Gucci. We're listening to Jeasy. We listen to Young Ralph, young school to the future. You know what I'm saying? All that type of stuff.

Yeah, album was described as a major creative leap, right? So how did you sound on, I know, right? So I guess they're basically saying that your sound has evolved from previous projects. Do you agree with that? I do agree with it. And I only feel like that now. because I realized I hate my older music but not because it's bad because I know I've gotten better

I was listening to my music the other day because I'm preparing for a tour and I had to I was really listening I was like yo I hate all this older stuff but this newer album is like it feels timeless like it just feels better and maybe I'm gonna say that the next time the next time I drop an album, but right now, that's just how I feel. Because you only get better and better, but what exactly do you hate about it? Is it the subject matter? Is it, you know, how you were doing it? Sometimes it's my tone of voice.

Sometimes I feel like I just got very, very good at hooks. So a lot of times it's that. A lot of times it's beat selection. A lot of people say I have great beat selection. They've been saying that for years, but my ear changes all the time. So it's usually just things. like that, me being a psychopath. I want to ask you, when you're writing a song,

I look at your songs and they vary. The way I said they vary is before, it used to be 16 hook, 16 hook, 16 hook, right? And then for some reason it just stopped now as the song is a minute, 42 seconds, or two minute the longest. For sure. How do you get everything out in that short period of time?

Is that easy or is that the most difficult thing? Yo, I ain't going to lie. That's a good question, because I used to be the artist, 316. Like one of my biggest... I'm watching. I'm looking about some of your records four minutes long five minutes long but now the last couple of two minutes

they had to figure out how to consolidate it for the younger people man like even for the even for the people who don't got that much time in the day or don't want to listen to the same beat for three and a half minutes I had to figure out oh instead of doing two 16s and a hook I could do a cold 24 I could do a mean 32 you know what I'm saying do a hook in a bridge instead of a bunch of hooks like just things like that even like the song out my way I have I'm only on that joint for one minute.

Smino, I feel like Smino is on the song for more time than I am. It's really just things like that, just trying to figure out how to consolidate the art form for the next generation. Don't that mess with your art, though? No, not if you buy. Not if you buy, not if you're cold.

Not if you cold, because a lot of people, I feel like a lot of people, a lot of people kind of be drawing it out. Like, you could make a long song and it can sound drawn out, or you can make a short song that's compact and you're like,

yo, I want to play this again. Yeah. I want to listen to this like right after this and the next time. I heard the song. You could be dope though.

You could be dope though and you listen to a long song because for real like not like us is long as shit but you can't stop the song like you gotta keep listening to I like to you know

I heard the song from Killing Mike $1003,000 that's not out yet that's like 14, 15 minutes long and that song is incredible. I need to hear that why would you tell us?

You should connect with Mike. You and Mike connected? I have not met him. I know a son though. Okay, okay. Yeah, I'm not going to connect you with Mike. You and Mike need to connect because y'all just, you know, I feel like spiritually, you all have like an artist,

you have a spiritual artistic connection. Yes, sir. You know what I mean? But yes, him and Dre got a song that's like 15 minutes long. And it's just them too. It's just them too. But they're storytelling. It's, the feeling probably go crazy.

Now the beat is changing because the beat is changing because based off what And is rapping about and the things he's referencing the beat changes to go along with what he's referencing. Yeah, that's tough. It's really dope. That's crazy. And I'm like, I just think if something's dope, it'll keep your attention. $150,000 makes me so angry because he's my favorite rapper

ever. Like, Outcast, I don't separate them. They're both, like, the act itself is the greatest rap act ever. I understand what he means when he says he don't think people want to listen to him. Bro, just try it

Like, just try it, gang Try it, bro It's people like me out here In Atlanta who need you Like dead serious Like you think these folks Don't need you And we do

Like it's folks who want to hear you It's folks who want to Like And No disrespect to your Your instrument albums Blue albums Yeah, no like no disrespect to that

But dog We need a big homie, bro Everybody big homie Trying to be in a club Trying to be in a hookah lounge you know like them folks not like nah we need a real big homie you don't like the flute i love the flute out i'd be high as hell but like dog we need we need them bars like what's the last thing we got uh from from from dray life of a party with life for the party with yay no scientists

and engineers that oh yeah yeah yeah yeah they want to gram me for that yeah so who do you feel spiritually connected to artistically when you know i'm really i'm specifically talking about the generation before you this might sound cliche but pop I'm a big pop fan super pop fan this is crazy

Wayne at a certain point of his life because I feel like I feel like I'm in that best rapper a live bag sometimes I just feel like

every time I do a verse it's cold so Wayne um I'm not sure I'm not sure I'm not sure about the rest of that

to be honest those are the two good ones yeah you said you were getting ready for a tour so you're on tour with JID J ID

this man got me calling JID I'm being doing it too no it's both because the period the period's throw me off

I mean it's just like yeah it's JID but okay you did that how did that happen you being on tour with See, it's kind of funny.

I ain't know I was going to be on the tour, but Jay was talking about the tour one day, and somebody said, are you taking Michael Plus on the road? He said, he don't got no choice but to come. I ain't know that I was going, but I thought he was just saying that.

But I found out, I was like, oh, yeah, it's cool. He don't got no choice but to come. Paul. Oh, God. You sound like that. I knew how to happen. I knew y'all. You're checking on and breakfast clubs things up your list.

You're getting gay to you. That's hilarious, bro. Yo. That's all he heard. Yo. I thought he was going to get you with the flute when you said, I love the flute, but I thought you were going to get you with the flute, too. Oh, all right.

We know you do. All right, bro. What? I do want to ask you. What is crazy? What is crazy? You know on for Atlanta meeting to you in 2025. Honestly, just showing folks that is more than what meets the eye,

all these young kids killing each other. all these like and just even like on the rap side like we ain't just stupid now

like everybody think just because like we we got a certain energy or we talk a certain way that we like like they think country people slow

you know what I'm saying I don't know I just want to be I just want to show niggas like it it ain't like that that's really it

that's really it I want to be and I want to show that somebody from the south can be at the top outside of Jay Cole like because

Cole is like the he's like he's low key the real king of Southern hip hop he made it to the high do he make it to the last point talk that's talking why do you not make it to the last point

yeah why you feel that way did he not make it a lot of point I'm from the Carolinas but come on stop so you know he made it to the highest what's the highest point outcast not making to the highest what does they make it high bro cats don't count there what's the number one movie and album

in the same week what is the highest point in your opinion. What is the highest point that you speak up, sir? Are we serious? I'm going to ask us a question. Tiff had a number one album. Tia, do I do like three, four Grammys.

What are you talking about? I think we forget how big Tia was. Maybe you mean for a certain generation. I'm just asking what you mean by. I'm in New York, so you said he's the king of your south, so how, why? Like, what is the King of the Grammys? I'm talking about the king of southern hip hop. Talk about it.

Like, is Atlanta not the South? Bro. Can you look this man finished? What do you mean? Okay, first of all, if you really want to get Taylor, Atlanta is a territory of its own. Let's keep it about it. It's like a peninsula.

Is it about sales? What do we be basing this on? Because it's Scarface? I think it's about... I think it's how people care about you. Like, bro, look at how they treat Tia today. They will never treat Cole like that. Cole will never get treated.

Ti is the most underrated mainstream major act ever. Yes, but at his peak, Ti was the biggest. That's his peak, though. That's his peak, though. Cole, one of them guys where people, Like, I don't even think that the rat beef apology is going to set him back too much. Like, he's cold. He's cold.

Can I say something else? Do you know if you're talking about accolated, future got more accolated than Cole, right? All right, all right. I thought we was talking about something else. Yeah, like, yeah. I'm asking you what we're talking about. What do we mean? What do you mean when you're talking about?

Because you started talking about grandbies and what are you talking about? When you say he's the king of the South, what qualifies you is king of southern hip-hip? People still talk. The test of time he stood. Scarface. bro it's about like I don't know man it's a lot Scarface do one record with DJ Paul that's not good and y'all's acting like space and I thought that was

an ice cube all right literally okay I get what I get what you saying somebody in the chat said it was bad that's important yeah acting my age or something like yeah that was crazy the future has no substance to his music we're talking about lyric that's Scarface face face is that guy you know what's so crazy I just that's crazy the thing about Colley I don't know I look at Coley other way I feel like Why, you ain't no cold? I'm not. I just don't like when y'all make these declarations.

NBA young boys bigger than Michael Jackson. Cole's the king of the South. I'm going to do something. I'm going to do something. T.I.'s career. He came out in 2001 with I'm serious. He had arguably one of the longest primes in the South. I'll give it like, I'll say 12 years because I like Trouble Man.

Mm-hmm. Cole has had the longest run of being at the top in the South it's been Cole came out when when did sideline story come out 2011 it's 2026 what are we basing this I really it's a clever thing I got a chart I'm so happy I'm up here

I got a chart I'm agreeing with this man I got a chart I got a chart I got a chart it's of course longevity it's rap skills It's everything that goes into your rap skills It's metaphors It's lyricability People don't understand

That lyrical ability And technical ability are two different things It's how consistent It's how consistent you are TIA and face check those boxes Relevancy Did they have a Wayne-esque feature run Where they kill everything

TIE absolutely Who you All right TIE absolutely Outside of Stomp I'll give you that Stomp Magic remix

Soldier Remix with Decker Child I'm taking over. Ain't I remit. I'm a T-I-Reed. What are we talking about this? I'm just saying. I think we have recency bias so much.

You know, I might, you know, I'm a newer generation guy. That might be the case. But you're doing the crazy about it. That might be the case. Most people say the opposite. Most people say Cole is underrated and people don't respect him and rate him the way that he should. Yeah, but he's like, people say the same thing about Crip and he's way bigger than Crit. Like, I just feel, I just feel like, I don't know, man.

Cole did a, Cole put in a lot of work that were the average Southern artists wouldn't be able to stance right here still. Like, and I don't count future because Future transcended hip-hop. I can't count future because like, that's like Atlanta rap been around around around. You could say T.I transcended hip-hop at one point.

I could say you. You could definitely say that about Jack Cole too. I was on my love and Robin Think Bird Live. I'm so happy you're a T-I fan, bro. Oh, he's my top five. P.O.S. T.I. G. Z. And Mike, both don't be, man. I feel like this is a generational T.I. fan argument.

Like, both of y'all are fans, but you're just younger than him. So you see it differently. I think they're two different rappers, though. They're totally two different rappers, though. I was like 10 when they are. But I think he's arguing the longevity of the impact and staying power. And both of them have had it. But generation is viewed differently.

And also, I know more people influenced by a cold into age. Like. All right, man. That's a lot. The generation. generation, yes, that was the generation that was influenced by TIP. No.

Yeah. That was influenced by TIP or Cole? Bro, I had every TIE album. You're confusing us now. You just said that Cole, more people are more influenced by Cole. Yeah, they are. That don't mean it's me.

No, no, no, no. I get what you're saying. Bro, these young kids want to rap like Cole. Backpack rap. People don't want to, people don't want to rap like Tiet. I was a lot of, that was based on. Everybody wanted to rap like Tia at one point.

Back in the day, but now nobody wants to do that. Tip was on Thursday. People's like, huh? What is T.I. doing on thugout? Like, about the money ain't against. But as I say, it's a recently biased thing. By the way, that could happen to Cole.

That's not happening to Cole. It could. It could. It could. It could. It could. You say you 40 already. Call 40 already.

I know. He's good. I'm not saying it will. He's cemented. Because you never know what's going to happen in the next five years. He's cemented. I think he's submitted. And he's going to drop his last album.

He doesn't even to play like that. I think Cole is submitted. I think Kendrick is cemented. I think Drake is cemented. You know what I mean? But also T.I. Asimented as well. Of course.

You can't take away who they were and what they did. See, I'm not doing that. But also, I just got to keep it a fact. Bro, these white kids are listening to Cole before they cut on Thub Motivation. Thug Motivation is 20 years old. It don't matter, bro. It was, it was, it was, it was, it was, Nick,

everything is 20 years old that people are like. No. No. No. By the way, by the way, Jay Kaud on got no album like Thug Motivation. You're right. Come on, man. I was there.

I was there. I don't understand your argument no more. See, but also, like, what he said. I'm not, I'm not a biased guy. Okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm not a biased listener. Got you. So I can, I can, I can understand where it's like, yeah, I appreciate this.

I and I understand this, but I also understand the magnitude of these kids. You're right, right? But we, you know who else we keep, we said Scarface, we said tea out? Wayne, bro. I love Wayne. Wayne, Col ain't had no run like Wayne. I forgot that. What did you mean?

You forgot. I forgot. I forgot to. Exactly. But Wayne, bro, what do we talk about Wayne? People be forgetting Wayne from where he's from. Wayne just a rapper. Like, Wayne is one of the, like,

no matter where you're from in the country, Wayne going to be somebody favorite rapper out there. Like, that's, like. But people forget what Cole from? They're in the chat arguing right now that J. Cole is from New York. And the other people are going to jail. I literally was like, he from down the street because I always see him on. Like, I didn't know.

He went to St. John, and he signed to rock. I swear I didn't realize. I didn't realize. I think. You're talking about Wayne, T.I, Scarface. Like, come on, bro. Yeah, all right. So it's Wayne and Cole with the longest.

Did you just say, son, dog? And Wayne been around since he was a kid, kid, like a kid for real. Wayne was bow out. Yeah. Yeah. Me and you and I got two kids. We about to ride. But what about your legacy?

Marco Plus. When it's all said and done, what do you want the Atlanta scene to say Marco Plus contributed to the culture? I want to be the reason that. these young kids want to like say like do more and say more and don't want to get into beef and get shot over nothing essentially i kind of just want to help my my city figure out it's true identity it's kind of been lost upon since like the like a bunch of things that like the whole rico debacle um when shoddy put out the list of like all the gangs and all that stuff it kind of didn't cool nothing down and just made everything hotter um i just i don't know man It'd be, it's 12-year-old kids getting shot and killed. Like, I want people to understand, like, you ain't got to be, you ain't got to be something like that just to, like,

because you're a talented kid. You know what I'm saying? You want to get out and you feel like, oh, we're in this city, I got to do this when you can be everything. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? You don't got to be one thing. The success of a rapper is not linear or the same for anybody.

And I just want to be able to be like, yo, this kid, shifted the paradigm. That's why I want people to do this. Well, we appreciate you for joining this, brother. Absolutely. Come back. Thank you. Absolutely. Mark will be rambling, y'all. And when you become the biggest rapper in the world, don't forget us. Man, how the hell am I going to do that? It's happened before.

I'm going to be done you have a day. One day. I'm going to do the crazy. I'm going to be done your day. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Markle. It's the breakfast club. Good morning. Thank y'all chat for riding with us this morning, too. Hell yeah, chat.

Every day I wake the breakfast club You're all finished or y'all's done Hello, America's sweetheart Johnny Knoxville here I want to tell you about my new true crime podcast, Crimeless, Hillbilly Heist, from smartless media, campside media, and big money players. It's a wild tale about a gang of high-functioning nitwits who somehow pulled off America's third largest cash heist.

like Robin Hood except for the part where he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. I'm not that generous. It's a damn near inspiring true story for anyone out there who's ever shot for the moon, then just totally muffed up the landing. They stole $17 million and had not bought a ticket to help him escape. So we're saying like, oh God, what do we do? What do we do? That was dumb. People do not follow my example.

Listen to Crimless, Hillbilly Heist, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I live below a cult leader, and I fear I've angered her. Wait a minute, Sophia. How do you know she's a cult leader? Well, Dakota, luckily it's I'm not afraid of a scary story week on the OK Storytime podcast. So we'll find out soon. This person writes, my neighbor has been blasting music every day and doing dirt rituals. And now my ceiling is collapsing.

I try to report them. but things keep getting weirder. I think they might be part of a cult? Hold up. A real life cult? And what is a dirt ritual? No clue, Dakota. To find out how it ends, listen to the OK Storytime podcast

on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everybody, it's snacks from the trap nerds and all October long. We're bringing you the horror. Boogity, boogity, boogie. We're kicking off this month

with some of my best horror games to keep you terrified. Then we'll be talking about our favorite horror in Halloween movies and figuring out why black people way die further and it's the return of tony's horror show side quest written and narrated by yours truly we'll also be doing a full episode reading with commentary and we'll cap it off with a horror movie battle royale open your free iHeart radio app and search trap nurse podcast and listen now two rich young americans move to the costa rican jungle to start over but one of them will end up dead and the other tried for murder three times it starts with a dream a nature reserve and a spectacular new home but little by little they lose it they actually lose it they sort of went nuts until one

night everything spins out of control listen to hell in heaven on the iHeart radio app apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts this is an iHeart podcast