The Jordan Harbinger Show - 513: Charlamagne Tha God | The Opportunities of Black Privilege

Episode Date: May 27, 2021

Charlamagne Tha God (@cthagod) is a radio presenter (The Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM), television personality (Uncommon Sense Live), podcaster (The Brilliant Idiots), and author of Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It. [Note: this is a previously broadcast episode from the vault. For our most recent interview with Charlamagne, check out Episode 171: Charlamagne Tha God | Turning the Tables on Fear and Anxiety!] What We Discuss with Charlamagne Tha God: What transformed Lenard McKelvey from Moncks Corner, South Carolina into Charlamagne Tha God? How Charlamagne went from selling crack in a small town to becoming a radio and television personality — and now author. Why the moment you think you can’t transcend your circumstances — whatever they may be — is the moment you won’t. How Charlamagne reframed his background to become an advantage rather than a hindrance. Why it’s important not to live someone else’s expectations — and how to figure out when expectations are actually your own. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/513 Sign up for Six-Minute Networking -- our free networking and relationship development mini course -- at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here -- even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Coming up next on the Jordan Harbinger Show. We always say these profound things like, oh, I wanted to transcend my circumstances, and I just wanted to be successful. But the truth of the matter is I was scared. I was scared to death. I was scared to be in jail. I was scared to be dead. I was scared to be broke sitting under the tree.

And I think a lot of times we don't realize that fear is probably the fuel that motivates us to do 95% of everything that it is we do. I feel like people should live scared, Because living scared gives you a sense of urgency, purpose. You know what I'm saying? Like I think sometimes people get too comfortable. I think when you get to that point where you're not scared anymore, something's wrong. Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger.

On the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the story's secrets and skills of the world's most fascinating people. We have in-depth conversations with people at the top of their game. Astronauts, entrepreneurs, spies and psychologists, even the occasional Russian chess grandmaster, rocket scientist, or money laundering expert. Each episode turns our guest's wisdom into practical advice that you can use to build a deeper understanding of how the world works and become a better critical thinker. If you're new to the show or you're looking for a handy way to tell your friends about it, we've got episode starter packs, which are collections of your favorite episodes organized by popular topics. This will help new listeners get a taste of everything we do here on the show. Just visit jordanharbinger.com slash start to get started and find something you're interested in or to help somebody else get started with us as a show. show and I always appreciate that. Today, one from the vault. We're talking with my friend Charlemagne

the God. We'll get into why he's called that later on in the show if you're not familiar with him. Him and I met years ago because of Robert Green. He first heard the Robert Green episode that I did something like seven years ago. We've actually been around now for 14, 15 years just to give you an idea of the time frame here. When I started actually getting serious about the show something like seven, eight years ago, Charlemagne caught that. We got in touch and we've been in touch ever since. He is a very, very popular radio show host with a nationally syndicated show and a very popular podcast as well. He wrote a couple excellent books, one of which is called Black Privilege, which includes a lot of legit advice and detailing how he was able to take advantage of opportunities and become successful despite some humble beginnings, which we will go over here today as well. He used to sell crack for God's sake.

We're going to talk about how we broke out of the gravity of that situation and shifted into radio and entertainment. instead of ending up under a tree or dead or in prison, we'll also discuss why Charlemagne thinks it's important not to live somebody else's expectations and how to figure out when expectations are actually your own. We'll also uncover how he reframed his upbringing to become an advantage instead of the other way around. There's a lot to this guy.

There's an absolute ton in this episode. And if you're wondering how I manage to book all these great authors, thinkers, and creators every week, it's because of the network that I've built over time. Doug the Well before I got thirsty, which is what I want to teach you. in our course, it is free, Jordan Harbinger.com slash course.

Most of the guests on the show, they subscribe to the course, they're in the course, come join us. You'll be in smart, talented company where you belong. Now, here's Charlemagne the guy. We got in touch a long time ago

because you heard the seventh anniversary special with Robert Green. Robert Green, yeah. And your book, Black Privilege, was great. There's a lot of real advice in there, which I like. You've used the advice that you give.

You don't find that in books by celebrities, like, ever. Usually the bio's like, I knew that by working hard and keeping my head down, I would eventually win. And it's never really accurate. So props to you for writing something people can actually use. Yeah, I mean, I never consider myself a celebrity. That's number one.

And number two, I think when you come from an area like I come from, you know, monks corner of South Carolina, a rural area on a dirt road, like a small town, when the beginnings are that humble, it's kind of hard to look at yourself as anything other than a kid who's making a living. That's what my mom always used to tell me. My mom says that to me right now. She goes, just be happy to be making a living. And that's just kind of like my mindset.

So, you know, I guess the advice I give is just practical advice because I'm just a kid who came from Maduro and Montcona, who's going to South Carolina who's just out here making a living. What was it like growing up? The place you're describing sounds like a really small town. It is. I mean, the funny thing is, Monk's corner was a small town that seemed like the biggest town in the world to me at the time.

It just seemed like a place. I didn't think I would going to be all my life, but it just seemed like the big city. Like, I know it may sound crazy. Like, if I go to Manhattan or if I'm in L.A., I still feel like I'm that kid on the dirt road in that small town because I became a man there. I didn't move to New York until 2006.

Before that, I lived in Columbia, South Carolina, and I moved there in, like, 2004. So, like, my whole life, into my 20s, I was living in this town, Monks Corner, South Carolina. So it's just a country place. It's a dirt road. It's deer. It's, you know, raccoons.

It's a place where if you work at the factory, you got a job. Once the factory closed, you just got to go find work. It's country. I don't know any other way to describe it. You had a little experience selling some crack back then, too. I mean, I was a small-time crack dealer. Like, I was a guy who sold quarter spoons. If you know a quarter-spoons are there, seven grams of crack.

And, you know, you're supposed to make $100 off each gram. You spend like $250, and you're supposed to make $5, $600 back selling 20s. People are going to wonder why you call yourself Charlemagne the God. and it has to do with the brass knuckles and the crack, right? No. No? Nah. Sort of kind of like with the crack,

because I used to always call myself Charlie or Charles. We used to have this crew called the infamous Buddhaheads. So I would say my name was Charlie Chronic, you know? Like my homeboy would be Matthew Marijuana. My other homeboy would be Iqabodism. And then like when I used to hustle, when the fiends would roll up, I'd have like a hoodie on and like a mask over my face. And I would say my name was Charles because I'm from a small town.

So if I was to say my real name, or if they would see me, they'd be like, oh, that's Larry's son. That's Julie's son. So I would just say my name was Charles. So that, for whatever reason, I don't even know why I picked that name Charles. So it was always Charles or Charlie. And then I was reading a history book in night school and it said, Charlemagne was French for Charles the Great.

And so I was just like, oh, that's a cool-ass name, Charlemagne. But I just spelled it wrong. I spelled it the way I pronounced it. So instead of C-H-A-R-L-E, it was C-H-A-R-L-A. And then, like, the God is just, you know, I was studying 5% teaching where they teach you that the black man is God. So really my name makes no sense because it's Charlemaine the Great to God. But that's what happens.

when you pick names when you're 17, and then they sound cool, and they stick with you forever. And you stick with it, yeah. So Charlemagne, the guy, definitely beats your rap name, which is Dizzy Van Winkle. Do you still use that?

No. That was another dumb-ass name that I just picked up when I was high all the damn time. Because I, for whatever reason, I would listen to people when they told me, like, I was crazy. So I was looking up different words for crazy,

and Dizzy was one of them. And then I was always intrigued about the story of Rip Van Winkle because he just went to sleep and, like, slept for mad long, and then he woke up. And so it was like me. I was like,

I'm dizzy Van Winkle. I've been sleep for mad long. Now I'm woke. But I'm mentally confused. Makes no fucking sense. Yeah, when you were a kid and you high as hell, it sounds like it could be something like, oh, that's so fake deep. And you're 15, 16, and you tell and somebody that thing, like, yo, word.

Especially when they're just as high as you. Yeah, exactly. That's probably a requirement. But how did you break out of the gravity of the situation, right? You're in Mo's Corner. People are under a tree, like you say in the book. How did you break free of that gravity? I mean, you could have ended up in that orbit and ended up under a tree, too.

I was thinking about this other day. My father would always tell me that if you don't change your lifestyle, you're going to end up in jail, dead, or broke sitting under the tree somewhere. So, of course, I just learned from experience because I was looking around and I was seeing, you know, people around me actually going to prison and people around me going to jail all the time. People around me getting killed, you know, I was going to jail. My older cousins who I looked up to and just people I knew from the community

that I looked up to was literally just sitting under the tree, doing nothing with themselves. So that became scary to me. I realized that I just wanted to be something. So in order to change my life, I had to change my lifestyle. But we always say these profound things like, oh, I wanted to transcend my circumstances. And I just wanted to be successful. But the truth of the matter is I was scared. I was scared to death.

I was scared to be in jail. I was scared to be dead. I was scared to be broke sitting under the tree. And I think a lot of times we don't realize that fear is probably the fuel that motivates us to do 95% of everything that it is. do. Like we think we're being fearless, but the truth to the matter is we're scared. And you should be. I feel like people should live scared because living scared gives you a sense of urgency. You know what I'm saying? Living scared gives you a sense of purpose. You know what I'm saying? Like I think sometimes people get too comfortable. And when they get comfortable, they don't have any

fear no more because like they just feel like, oh, I'm good. I can kick my feet up. I can just coast through this thing called life. I think when you get to that point where you're not scared anymore something's wrong. You have to have that fire lit. Otherwise, you got to be hungry. Absolutely. Fear is the fuel to that fire to me. And you write about this in black privilege as well. Nobody's really a victim of circumstance in life, right? You can always recreate that no matter how you were raised. I think you can be a victim of circumstance, but I think that you don't have to remain a victim of circumstance. Nobody wants to be a victim. You know what I'm saying? Some people are just born into poverty. Some people are just born into a family where both parents are drunk.

drug addicts. Some people are just born in the hood. Some people are just born in the projects, but you don't have to remain there. You know, yeah, you can be a victim of circumstance, but you don't have to remain a victim of that circumstance forever. You can transcend your circumstances. I don't give a fuck. I don't care what your race is. I don't care what your gender is. I don't care what your sexuality is. You can transcend your circumstances if you want to. The moment you think you can't is the moment you won't. Yeah, you can kind of decide whether or not you're going to stay there. Absolutely. By inaction. Absolutely. I don't think you should be reduced by your circumstances. That's why I think, like, people who are from the hood or from the ghetto are just from any poor and disenfranchised situation, they end up having these larger than life lives. Because if you don't choose to be reduced by your circumstances, in your mind, you're just going to be large because of your circumstances. Your mindset is going to be, I'm not staying here. I'm going to find a way to get out of this situation. I am bigger than this situation. Like if you don't choose,

to be reduced by him. If you're not going to be Ant Man, you're going to be Giant Man. Do you think that finding things to read outside your own personal experience was key to that? Because right now you're saying, like, okay, visualize something bigger, get your mind wrapped around something bigger than where you are now? But if you don't have any experience with that at all, where do you get it, right? How do you even know there's something bigger out there? Yeah, for me, it was music and books. My mother was an English teacher, so she would always tell me to read things that don't pertain to me. She would keep a book in my face. And she was a Jehovah witness, so I'd be reading all the literature from there. I'd be reading the Bible.

and then it was hip hop music. Like, you know, I'm listening to these people who talk about these places that sounds so dope. I'm hearing Tupac say to live and die in L.A. I've never been to L.A., but he said it's the place to be. It sounds fly as fuck, and it must be because all of these dope people are coming from this area. You know what I'm saying?

Same thing with New York. I didn't know what Shalyn was. You know what I mean? It just sounded like the greatest place in the world because Wutang was from there. Then you moved to New York and realized that New Yorkers don't even like Staten Island. It's just like music and books

was like what helped me to transcend. in my circumstances and just realized that it was a bigger, broader world out there. Are you still reaching out and grabbing experiences that are outside your personal experience? Absolutely. Even more so now, because I get to see more of the world. I get to travel. I'm doing speaking engagements in different places. I'm going over to London to do the podcast, The Brilliant Idias, traveling.

I'm around. So it's like I'm open to that. I got a principle in my book called Give People the Credit they deserve for being stupid, including yourself, because they know it all knows nothing. And I say how you should always remain open in new experiences and new people because that's how you learn. Growth is a constant thing that never stops until you die, as far as we know. Knowledge is infinite.

I can constantly learn new things and unlearned bullshit that I may have always held on to. So it's just like I'm definitely always open to like new people, new places, new experiences. Like I love book recommendations, like always. So you get a lot of flack for doing really candid interviews, actually. It's gotten you fired four times? Yeah, I don't know if the interviews were what got me fired four times, just stuff I do on the radio. Being candid on the radio, I mean, one time I got fired

because one of the program director said that I told a caller to suck my big black dick on the air. And I'm like, I would never say that, number one, because I never described my dick is big. Number two, I would say something a little bit more wittier than just suck my big black dick. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it doesn't sound original enough.

Yeah, so it's just like I got fired for that. But what I've come to realize is, a lot of times when I was getting fired, it simply was just the radio game. That's just the business, you know what I'm saying? People get fired, you know, and I never was one of those people who wanted to compromise because I don't see the benefit of the joy

in getting on the radio and just doing time and temperature and, you know, announcing what the next song is. Like, I didn't want to do that. I like giving my opinion. I like starting conversation, having conversations. You've come super far, especially even compared to other people in radio for the age you are,

you've gotten fired four times, you're four times further along than half the personalities in radio. Who gets fired four times and doesn't quit? Why didn't you quit? I didn't have a backup plan. You didn't have a backup plan? It wasn't no plan B. I didn't go to college. I don't have a degree. I don't have a trade that I can go say, you know what, instead of radio, I'm going to go be a welder. Instead of doing radio, I'm going to go try to get this business degree popping. Like, I didn't have no other choice. That's all I really knew how to do as far as, like, corporate America and, like, something that can actually make me money, like a job, job. Like, I didn't know how to do anything else.

That's always been my gift when it comes to radio. People were like, oh, you don't sound like a radio personality. It's like I'm not. Like, I was really coming fresh off the streets in Monta County, and being that I didn't know how to do radio, I just talked. I would just be me. I'd get on the radio and talk about, oh, I don't like that song. I don't like this artist.

You know, I get regular conversation, answering phone calls, and just talking to people, kicking it with them. I remember a program director telling me one time, you're not supposed to have this much of an opinion. Who said who? I didn't know that. That's why I was such a breath of fresh air when I heard Howard Stern and heard Wendy Williams and starring Buck Wilde and got introduced to Petey Green.

Like, these people got personality. When I would listen to Tom Joyner in the morning or Doug Banks, I'm like, these people got personalities. Like, who said you can't have an opinion on the radio? These people are expressing their opinion. That essentially is the only thing that makes a person on the radio unique is the personality. And the old way of doing things is to get rid of all that and do what is it time temperature and traffic?

Are those the three things? Yeah. Time, temperature, traffic announced the next song. Yeah. Hey, it's that new Kendrick Lamar, be humble. Time is 732, the temperature is 56 degrees, and you're listening to Z-93 James in Charlton, South Carolina. Basically, anybody could do that. Anybody can fucking do that. It's no skill set to that, you know what I'm saying?

Like, contrary to people with popular belief, having a personality is a talent. And being able to communicate that personality via a microphone or via television is an extreme talent. and everybody can't do it. Trust me, I know. I got a show on MTV called Uncommon Sense, and my idea for that show was to have a bunch of the social media personalities as panelists on the show. Like, everybody always uses comedians and different celebrities to be panelists.

I want to use these people that are so funny on social media. Man, we auditioned like 100 plus kids. Nothing. Because they're only funny on social media? They're only funny on social media. They don't even not a communicating person. They can't even look even in the eye and have a conversation. They talk and whisper.

You know what I'm saying? Like, they don't have it. They're not quick. Like, it's easy to, like, be funny when you got time to actually send out a tweet or be funny when you got time to think of a meme. Your writing team is sitting there, like Googling, relevant stuff.

How do you audition for things like that? I feel like I would crush something like that. Maybe I'm 10 years too old for something like that. No, I think we're at a point in time right now where POV is so important. It doesn't matter what your AG is. Like, you look at guys like Cal. Cal is 40-plus years.

old. You know what I'm saying? Rick Ross is 40 plus years old, but they just know how to communicate in a way to where everybody can relate to it. You know what I'm saying? I think that's just what it's really about. Like, it's just about knowing how to communicate with people. How much of your personality that you have now on radio and television is something that you developed when you were younger before any media? And how much of it do you think you've worked on and honed to be presented in the media? My abilities that I display on the radio, I really started displaying And in sixth-seventh grade is sort of a defense mechanism. Once again, I was scared.

I was getting bullied. You know what I mean? I talk about it in the book. I was getting bullied by my older cousins. Like, I was the smart kid that was in the smart classes. Like, my older cousins or cousins that were my age, they was like, nah, bro, you're Larry's son. You're supposed to be over here with us.

So I was afraid. So I kind of like just started like cracking jokes and saying what's on my mind before everybody else or being self-deprecating, saying things about myself, making jokes about myself. before anybody else would. That was kind of like, I was doing it out of fear. So it's just like on the radio, it's kind of like the same thing

because that's what I'm comfortable with. I'm comfortable with just expressing myself or being self-deprecating or cracking jokes on people, cracking jokes on myself, like I'm used to that. That's what makes me comfortable. So I feel like I developed that early. Is the cracking jokes on yourself, that's like the eight-mile theory

where you're like, I'm to take all the ammo that they got against me, drag it out, take the wind out of the city. That's one of my principles, is live your truth, so nobody can use your truth against you. It is the M&M and 8 Mile theory. And the M&M and 8 Mile theory is, like, at the end of 8 Mile, B. Rabbit, set a freestyle about himself to where Papa Dot couldn't even respond.

Papa Dot didn't have anything else to say. He was like, stuck. And that's what happens when you live your truth. When you live your truth, can't nobody use it against you. And that's the type person I am. Like, you know how they always say, your true character is the person you are when nobody else is looking? I like to say the things that I don't even have to tell people.

Like, things that happened to me that I wouldn't have to say because I'm not hiding from any of it. You know what I'm saying? And I'm not afraid to talk about any of it because I'm not putting on the character. I am who I am. So I just feel like that's the best way to be, man. Just live your truth so nobody can use your truth against you.

You got a big mouth, but also big years, which is what you wrote. What does that mean? Why is that valuable? I'm a better listener than I am a talker. And it's valuable because if you do interviews, if you're the type of person that interviews someone, you have to listen to your guests. Like, I go into interviews with 10 prepared questions.

You know what I'm saying? Always. I always got like 10 things. I know I want to ask this person. Just 10 things as a fan. Like we had two chains on another day. And I like his album, Pretty Girls, love trap music. So I had questions for him about different things,

different elements I heard in the album. I had those. But being that I'm listening to the things that he's saying, I might not even get to those questions until like 15, 20 minutes into the interview. I go where to comment. conversation goes, I'm listening to him. Because I don't know what's on this brother's mind this morning. His brother might have some other things he wants to talk about.

We'll get to the music. But let me see where his mind is at first. You know, that's why a lot of times the first thing I say is, how you doing? How are you? And then actually listen to the answer. Actually listen to the answer. You've got to be a great listener in order to be a great speaker. It would be a great interview.

You've been married for how long? I've been married. It'll be three years this year, but I've been on my wife since 1998. The listening part comes into play in the relationship element as well, I would imagine. Oh, absolutely. I mean, the problem starts when you're not listening. You're too into yourself. That's why you have to listen to your partner because a lot of times you're not listening to your partner.

And when you're not listening, you're not communicating. She's talking to you and you're not really paying attention. Next thing you know, your relationship is in shambles. And you was like, you're sitting there like, well, what happened? I didn't know you was upset. Like, I didn't know you didn't like this about me. I didn't know that, you know, you had a problem with. this, you know why? Because you weren't listening, motherfucker.

Gets out of control fast. Absolutely. So listening is key to any relationship. You're listening to The Jordan Harbinger Show with our guest, Charlemagne the God. We'll be right back. Now, back to Charlemagne the God on the Jordan Harbinger show. How long has your book been on the bestseller list now? The book came out April 18th, and it spent seven, eight weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list. This is one of those books that I highly recommend, not just because you're on the show, but because, like I said, advice

from people who've applied it and then turned around and thought about it and then wrote it down is more useful than somebody whose job it is just to give advice that they've never used or that they've never actually tested. A lot of it's cool and counterintuitive. One of the things that was early on in Black Privilege was fuck your dreams. And I was like, wait, what? And I had to hit Rewind, which is one reason why you probably wrote that like that. Explain that. What does that mean? Fuck your dreams when they're not your dream. You know, a lot of times when you growing up in the hood as an African American, the people you see that are successful, who look like you are in entertainment, are athletic.

So everybody wants to be a rapper, a singer, or they want to be the next LeBron James, or Steph Curry, Michael Jordan. It's like, yo, man, that's not your dream. That's just something you see working for somebody else. And I feel like we've lost a whole generation of people to the rap game. Like, of course, you got the people who are, I guess, meant to do it, so they got it done.

are the people who just worked hard enough and got a record to go. So now they're getting show money or whatever, so you look at them as successful. But 95% of people that aspire to be those things aren't going to make it. So for me, it's like, yo, go find out what it is that God really wants you to do.

What's your destiny? Even if you don't believe in God, man, I just like to believe in this analogy of, there's something bigger than us, right? And that's something bigger than us has given everybody on this planet something that can change, the circumstances of their life that can bring in some money or that can just make them happy.

Because success to me is subjective. I'll talk about that in a second. But it's like, imagine it's Christmas and everybody in the world. Have something under the tree. That one thing that can change your whole situation. Man, some people are going to find it before others. Some people are going to get frustrated that they can't find theirs and give up. Some people are going to get jealous and envious of the person that found theirs before them.

Like, it's just all type of scenarios that can stop you from finding what it is that you're good at. To me, that's what you should be pursuing. You should be in pursuit of that dream that can cause you to be happy. I love that kid, Cuddy's on pursuit of happiness, but it's true. Like, you know, happiness to me is what we're all really pursuing at the end of the day. And it's probably a happy garbage man out there. It's literally probably. I guarantee you there is.

I guarantee you it. It's a kid that all his life, he watched the garbage man come through his hood and pick up the garbage and said he looked like he's having mad fun on that truck. That's what I want to do. And he went and did it and he's happy. And that's why I say success is subjective, because success is just what makes you happy. Like, we got this thing in America where we equate success with celebrity or we equate success with money.

That's not always the case. Success is just what makes you happy. Like, if you wake up in the morning and you got a job that makes $30,000 a year, but your wife is happy and your kids is happy and you're able to provide and you're happy with that, that's success. Pursuit of happiness is what the real dream is. All that other stuff, fuck your dreams. How can we tell if somebody is telling us, fuck your dreams, because they want you to focus on what you're good at, which is like what you're telling us right now, or what you might be good at, versus telling you to give up because they already gave up on their dreams.

Well, you just got to pay attention because you got to understand that there is toxic energy. I talking the book about, I had just got my internship with radio, and I think I just started getting on the air part-time. And I was working at this record label called Never So Deep Records, which was subsidiary of MCA, but it was based out of South Carolina. And I was just talking about all of this and how all the great things I'm going to do in the future. And I remember my cousin-a-came in the kitchen and goes, you know, you shouldn't set your goal so high because when you do and you don't achieve them,

you're going to be disappointed. And I remember looking at her and saying, that's this stupidest. shit I ever heard in my motherfucking life. That is the dumbest advice I ever heard. Because to me, she was basically telling me fuck your dreams in a negative way. You know what I'm saying? I'm not telling you to fuck your dreams.

When I'm telling you is fuck your dreams when they're not your dreams. Like, you got to make sure this is what you want to do. You got to make sure that this is what is going to make you happy when you wake up every day for the rest of your life. One way to tell for me was when I became

an attorney was like, am I looking forward to the day to day of being a lawyer, or am I looking forward to being able to tell people I'm a lawyer, have expensive shit. That was how I knew it wasn't for me, because I was like, I don't care about the job at all. Anything that got me to those other steps would be great. Now doing what I do now, I care much more about doing what we're doing right now than I do like, hmm, what kind of car could I get? Because I got money now. I don't care about that stuff as much. I love the day to day of radio. I am a radio guy through and through. I am a radio personality. I care about the culture of radio. Like, this is something that I would listen to radio when I was a kid. And then

after I finished listening to radio and got actually involved in radio as an intern, I knew from the first day I was in there as an intern, I loved this. And I love every aspect of it. See, that's the other thing. That's why I have another chapter in my book called Put the Weed in the bag. Putting the weed in the bag is just about respecting the process. If you ever seen the movie, Belly, great movie. Should have won an Oscar. You know, DMX and Nause are sitting at the table and it's these two young kids sitting by them, and the two young kids are helping them bag up the weed. And so the two young kids are like, yo, fuck school.

I want to go out there and get money with y'all. And DMX is like, man, shut the fuck up and put the weed in the bag first. So he's basically saying that it's a process, it's steps to going out there and hitting the streets and getting the money. First, you got to bag up. So you got to enjoy that process. I enjoyed the process of even becoming a radio personality. I used to be an intern. Then I worked in the promotions department.

I drove the station vehicles. I used to put the signage up for the radio stations at different remote. I did part-time. Then I did full-time. Then I had to go back to doing part-time at different stations. I worked for free for a year and a half for Wendy Williams. Like, I just enjoy radio that much. You know what I'm saying?

If you don't enjoy whatever it is you're getting involved in that much where you know, like you would love the process of becoming whatever it is that you're trying to become, don't get involved. I think a lot of people get caught up looking at the results instead of the process like I did with law, for example. I think now especially, a lot of people don't think they're going anywhere until the check comes, right? They're like, well, this is all BS putting in my time. I'm just going to mail it in. I'm going to sleepwalk through it because then when I start getting a check, then I'm going to care. Doesn't work like that. Dumbest logic in the world. If you got to wait until you

get a check to care, you really don't care. And, you know, that's why I always tell these kids, man, a lot of them don't recognize opportunity unless it's a paycheck attached to it. You know, I worked for Wendy Williams for a year and a half for free. The reason I worked for Wendy Williams for a year and a half for free is because previously I was doing radio at Hot 103 9 in Columbia, Sark & Line. I was there for like three, four years.

That was one of the greatest radio experiences I ever had. Columbia was one of those hubs where mad artists used to come through all the time. Like, everybody came through Columbia. And that's how I got my interview skills up because I'd be interviewing these guys.

Same exact way. Probably worse back then because I was younger and a little more wild, a little more reckless. I was a little naive to the game too. So when you're naive to the game, you know,

you believe all the world start hip hop conspiracy theories and all the bullshit that you see about these artists. So you kind of have that chip on your shoulder, these artists walk in the room, you're already on them. Like, you fake motherfucker. I know you sold your soul to get in this position. When I was working at Hot 1039, I was only making like $7.8 an hour with air, but Wendy was syndicated there. Being that she was syndicated on that station, she used to come down to the market. And me and my guys would just show her mad love. So I got on her radar like that, her and her husband's radar, when they invited me to come to this party one time in New York. I went up to the party.

In the party, she asked me to come on her show the next day. I came on the show the next day, and she offered me a job that night. Her husband did. Her husband offered me to the job that night. Her husband was like, yo, we can't pay you. We can give you a place to stay. I was all for it because, number one, I was on six days a week in Columbia,

but I was making like $7, $8 an hour. And I had got demoted to one day a week because I got sued by this club in Columbia, Sokline. And the club sued me because it was always this rumor that this guy was putting date rape drug and girls drinks, but nobody could ever prove it. So I took the link to that and put it up on my MySpace page and was like, yo, we need to be aware of what's going on in this club that we frequent.

Because there's always been these rumors, now you have some confirmation. So these guys sued me, man, and the radio station settled for like $2,000. And they took me from six days a week to one day a week. So I would have took that opportunity, even if I was on in Columbia six days a week, just because that's Wendy Williams and it's New York City, the number one radio market. I want to test my radio chops here. If you make a lot of you make a lot of, you make a lot of it here in radio, you make it. I took that gig because I recognized the opportunity, even though it wasn't a paycheck attached to it.

That goes back to the whole fuck your dreams thing. When you're doing what you're supposed to do, when you're doing what it is, the universe wants you to do it. When I talk about finding that gift under the tree that can change your life and change other people's lives around you, when you're doing what it is you're supposed to be doing, you're going to have that kind of impact, period. It don't have to be business to be raid. It could be any, like, you could be a doctor, a guy that was destined to be a doctor.

You're going to save lives. You're going to make that kind of impact. Like, the reason I feel like I have the success that I do is because, thank God, I found what it is I'm supposed to be doing. You know what I'm saying? So it just makes sense. It's not a square peg and a round hole at all. Yes, exactly.

And you stayed open to new ideas, mentors from Wendy Williams and things like that. How do you stay open when so many people can't? It seems like once we turn 30 or 25 or 35, whatever, we just kind of wall off. and we're like, I know everything now. I don't need anybody telling me what to do. Sam Roberts was telling me this. People go, how do I get in the radio business? And then he starts talking and they're like, what?

And their eyes glaze over and they start looking up at the sky or at their phone. You got to get that all the time. Yeah, I mean, listen, man, as soon as you feel like you know everything, the clock starts taking. You're about to have an expiration date. I'm getting older. Like, I'm not into this. I'm not in the 90% of what's going on out here in this hip-hop coach. I'm not in tune with the younger artist the way I probably was 10 years ago.

So that's why you keep young people around you. I'd be like, yo, so what's up with this person? What's up with that person? Who's hot out here, blah, blah. And guess what? I listen to some of the stuff that's hot out here right now, and it's just not for me. It's not my thing.

And I'm fine with that. You know, I'm fine with that because you have Jay-Z still dropping music. You have guys that are closer to my age, the two chains. Rick Ross is like there's something out here for everybody. And that's what keeps me going and keeps me motivated. And the fact, I'm not afraid to express that. I'm growing with my listeners every day. You know what I'm saying?

Like, people can remember Charlamagne when he was on Wendy Williams. Some people remember me when I was in South Carolina. Now they can look online and see stupid shit like, Sholomey to God, Networth, isn't true. You know what I mean? Well, maybe it is. I don't even know what Net Worth is, to be honest with you. The point of that is they see the growth.

They see the evolution. They see New York Times bestselling author. They see me executive producing all of these various TV shows and having all these TV shows and being on shows like The View and Dr. Oz. Like, they see me growing. They see me evolving. I'm not afraid to have that journey. First of all, I can't front for them

because they've seen how the food was made, so to speak. They've seen me literally come up. I grew up in the age of transparency. I grew up in front of people, like literally. Like, they've seen my physical change. It's like, oh, Shalomay, damn, you're getting buff. Shalomayoram, what you're doing to your skin? You bleaching?

Like, are they seeing all of that. So I can't front for them in no way, shape, or form. So I'm not afraid to have that journey. I'm not afraid to be honest. I'm not afraid to grow. I'm not afraid to evolve. and I feel like that will keep me around as long as I want to be around. You forced yourself to believe that you have privilege being black.

You can create your own opportunities, your words in the book. What do you do in your face with contradictory evidence, like discrimination or institutionalized discrimination or just people being assholes and throwing that stuff in front of your face? How can you rationalize the belief that you have privilege with the evidence of the contrary? Well, the belief that I have is that it is a privilege to be black. So black privilege is a play on words. I feel like it's a privilege to be black. I feel like even with everything you just say,

like I feel like I still wouldn't want to be anything else. Like if I had to come back and do it all over again, knowing exactly what I know now, I would still choose to come back and be a black man because I just feel like we're that great. I'm be totally honest with you. I think it's a good thing to love the skin that you're in, to love what you are.

And that goes for anybody. I know people hear the title Black Privilely, like, oh, that's a book about black stuff. No, it's a book about human stuff. Number one is a privilege to be alive. You know, when your father is having sex with your mother and he busted off that nut, it's like 400 sperm cells. And one sperm cell gets to the ovary or the egg and created you.

So it is a privilege to breathe. It is a privilege to be a human being. You could have been a cockroach. You know what I'm saying? But you're a human being. So it's a privilege to be alive. Now, what are you? You're a woman, a white man.

You're an Asian man, whatever. but whatever it is you are, embrace it. You know what I'm saying? Tell God, thank you for making me that. But, you know, when it just comes to my blackness, I do truly feel like we are a divine people. Not saying that everybody else isn't divine, but, you know, I just feel like when you're talking about black privilege,

you're talking about something divine. I feel like we tap into a system that helps us to thrive and survive in this country in spite of everything that's been thrown at us. Yeah, you have the in spite of on lock in the book as well. shit is the best fertilizer. Shit is the best fertilizer, baby. What does that mean to you? It means that, like I said earlier,

when you come from the hood or you come from the projects, you come from the gutter, you come from the ghetto, you come from these shit areas. The reason such great things grow from these places is because if you don't choose

to be reduced by your circumstances, you will be larger than life. I love Marvel. I'm a Marvel head. I love Marvel comic books. If you remember the last Avengers movie, Ant Man could turn to Giant Man. When you let your circumstances

reduce you, your aunt, man. When you say, no, I'm not going to be held back by my circumstances. I'm going to transcend my circumstances. I don't believe in these limitations. I am going to get up out of this situation. You become giant, man. That's just the only way to think. That's the only way to get up out of your circumstances.

So I feel like that shit that we constantly have thrown on us is what makes us grow, it, what makes us evolve. Like, that is the black existence. The reason that it's such a big deal when you see first black anything, you know what I mean? It don't matter what it is. Yeah. President, Grammy winner in this category, Oscar winner in this category, whatever it is, doctor,

it's always such a big deal because America knows the conditions we came from. America knows, they know what black people have been through in this country. So being that they know that, they got to salute and acknowledge it whenever we do reach a certain height or reach a certain level. One of the tips that you give, tips is sort of a light word, but one of the principles you give is, look, stop complaining about the geographical space and where you're at physically. focusing on your mental space and where your head is at. What's the first step in that type of process for you? Love, love of thyself, realizing that your first, last and best love is self-love,

you know, realizing that you do control your own destiny in a way. Like, you know, we all know the circumstances that we've been born into, but it is different ways that you can transcend those circumstances. First of all, you got to believe that you can do it. That's why I say love, because believing that you can do it is basically saying that you're worthy of most. You're You know what I'm saying? If you don't love yourself, you're not going to feel like you're worthy of more. You know what I mean? If you don't believe in yourself, you're not going to feel like you're worthy of more.

So I feel like you have to love yourself first and foremost. Once you love yourself, you will believe in yourself and believe in your abilities to be better. So the first step I believe is love. Your first, last and best love is always going to be self-love. This is the Jordan Harbinger show with our guest Charlemagne the God. We'll be right back. Thanks so much for listening to and supporting the show. lot to me that you listen. It means a lot to me that you support the advertisers and support those

who support us. By the way, all those codes, those URLs, we put them all in one easy place. Go to Jordan Harbinger.com slash deals. You don't have to memorize the promo codes. Jordan Harbinger.com slash deals do consider supporting those who support us. And don't forget, we've got worksheets for today's episode. If you want some of the drills and exercises we talked about during the show, they're all in one easy place. The link to the worksheets is also in the show notes at Jordan Harbinger.com slash podcast. Now for the conclusion of our episode with Charlemagne the God. When you were younger and you were like drinking in school,

obviously you didn't love yourself. You're trying to conform to the expectations of other people. Do you remember when that shift happened? Yeah, absolutely, because I think about where my mindset was prior to that. And my mindset prior to, you know, when I made the transition to being a fake thug was I didn't have any expectations for myself except for success. I'm going to be successful doing something. Like, you know, I didn't know what it was going to be.

Like, you know, the typical stuff when you're young, firefighter, police officer, shit. I remember, you know, looking at my uncle Henry, he was a UPS driver. God bless the dead. I remember that was a fly gig, you know? And then Biggie was like, yo, UPS is hiring. But when you actually go look at the UPS shit,

UPS popping. Like the benefits for UPS and everything, and you can make a good living being a UPS man. So all of that was constantly on my mind. Like I just knew I was going to be successful doing something. I didn't start feeling like I was going to lose it. in life until I made the wrong choices. And that's what I always say.

Destiny's not a matter of chance. It's a matter of choice. When I started making poor choices and I was living a lifestyle that I know wasn't beneficial to me being successful, like when I made the choice to sell crack, when I made the choice to start carrying guns, when I made the choice start drinking, man, I made the choice to start smoking, when I made the choice start hanging around the wrong crowd, I knew that anything bad that happened to me in that moment of my life, I, caused it. I remember reading a book call from niggas to gods, and it talked about destiny

and making the right choices and how everything you do in your life today directly impacts what happens in your life tomorrow. And that just resonated with me so crazy. It was two quotes. It was that. You know, everything that happens in your life today affects what happens in your life tomorrow. Smart people learn from their own mistakes. Why people learn from the mistakes of others? Because I had those two things in my head, plus my father telling me you're going to end up in jail, dead, or broke sitting under the tree. So when I actually started seeing that around me, not just happen to me, but happen to people around me. I'm like, are you smart or are you wise?

If you're smart, you're going to learn from your own mistakes. If you're wise, you're going to learn from the mistakes of others. I don't know what it's called when you learn from both, but I learned from both. This reminds me of something else that I'm pretty sure I got from your book as well, from Black Privilege. Never stunt your own growth by dismissing something because it doesn't fit your own...

It doesn't feel familiar to you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of people won't accept new things based off what they believe based off how they grew up, based off what their present circumstances are. I'm a stern believer when you learn new things, when you acquire new information, you may have to change your mind. That's just the way the world works. You know what I'm saying? Like, I'm not going to sit around and argue with you about something. And then when you present me with the facts of the matter and I look at the facts of the matter and I'm like, oh, you're right. I'm just going to be like,

oh, you're right. And I'm going to learn from that. And then I'm going to change my mind about whatever it is I thought I knew based off the new information that's presented. So I don't ever want to stump my growth by ignoring things that aren't familiar to me because that goes into my hold and know it all knows. Right. It affects her ego somehow. Absolutely. I don't give a fuck. You can learn something from a crackhead if you listen. A crackhead can tell you exactly what not to do. Right, exactly. You know what I'm saying? A crackhead can tell you what moves you should make to avoid being like him. You can learn from anybody if you're willing to listen.

How do you catch yourself doing this? How do you catch yourself dismissing something that doesn't fit your experience? How do you know? What's a trigger in your head that goes, man, I don't like that. Wait a minute. I shouldn't say that right now. I know I'm just doing that because I want to be right. Human beings, we hate being wrong.

Even when you know you're doing it, it sucks being wrong. But you got to ask yourself, do you want to be happy or do you want to be right? You can be happy and wrong. You know what I'm saying? And you can be not happy and think you're right. We've all been in arguments with people and we know we're not right. But we continue to argue, continue to argue. Next thing you know, you're maybe name calling and calling somebody stupid.

When actually you're the stupid one because you're just not willing to accept the fact that this person is right. You know what I'm saying? Like it's perfectly fine to acknowledge that somebody else is right. That's why I approach everything with a blank slate. You know what I'm saying? I don't go into any situation, you know, thinking I know it all. I'm an empty cup and I'm always willing to learn. Like, and I'm always willing to share information.

And if I share some information and somebody goes, that's actually not right. Like, you're in the ballpark where this is really actually what it is. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Thank you for getting me on the right path.

Thank you for giving me the right information. I'm guessing you don't have the same friends now that you had when you were growing up. And you probably have had to cut some people out of your life throughout growing up, throughout showbiz and radio. And obviously in the book, in Black Privilege, you also talk about not even hanging out with the same kids as before because they were getting you in trouble. when and why do you get rid of friends? Like, do you have a test for this? Do you have a formula for this? I don't know if it's a test,

but I think you either get rid of friends or the universe gets rid of friends for you. Wax me with me for like 15 years. I got cousins that I'm really close to, you know what I mean? Like my homeboy Frosty, like I met Frosty when I was in Columbia, South Carolina. I've been knowing Frosty for over a decade. Like that's my friend, friend to the end, you know?

Yeah, a lot of people have fell by the wayside. My man Jarrell, God bless the day, rest in peace. You know, he got killed. So that was like a close friend of mine. Either you get rid of friends or the universe gets rid of friends for you. A lot of people aren't growing. A lot of people aren't evolving the way that you're evolving. You don't have nothing in common with people anymore.

Like people are still doing things that aren't conducive to the lifestyle that you're living now. Some people are just negative. They've let life beat them up. And no matter how much you tell them that, yo, you can change your circumstances too or things can get better, they're looking at you. Like, oh, shut the fuck up. You just said that because you quote-unquote made it, whatever, whatever, like, you know, which I never truly believe.

I still don't feel like I've made it. I won't feel like I've made it until, like, I know my kids. Kids are good. And I don't know if that's going to be financial or just leaving them something that I know that they can learn from two generations from now. Who knows? But it just happened. Yeah, you mentioned you monitor kind of the types of conversations you're getting in with these people. What are you looking for in those conversations?

Conversations that can help both of us grow. conversations that can help both of us evolve. In the book, I tell a story about how I had just started doing radio and I had a couple of friends who, well, I caught the rape charge because of something that they did. And it's just like, yo, I'm asking them over and over, did they touch this young lady? And they're like, no.

And I'm like, you sure. If you tell me the truth, then I know what I'm facing. Then I know what I'm up against. But if you're telling me that it didn't happen, and I'm saying it didn't happen. And the police are saying, well, we did a rape kid on her and something happened, then somebody's lying. You know what I'm saying?

And I'm like, yo, don't lie. If you don't lie, then at least I know what. I already got arrested, bro. It's not like I'm going to go to the jail and say, oh, they did it. You know what I mean? I just need to know what I'm facing, what's going on. And so it's just like, yo, people like that, I had to cut off. It's a rap.

Like, we're not growing in the same way. We're not evolving in the same way. I just started doing radio. I could possibly lose my whole radio career based off you guys bullshit and fucking around and lying and doing things. Y'all ain't got no business doing. You've got a great piece, and we'll wrap with this because I know we've been in the studio for a long time. Helping others, if someone offers to

help you, don't beat around the bush. Tell them exactly what you want and take them up on their offer. And that's one of the smartest things that anyone can do in my opinion. Absolutely. I do it all the time. TLC had that song, ain't too proud to beg. I don't know if you want to call that begging, but if you say something to me, I'm going to hold you to it. And, you know, that's honestly how I've gotten a lot of things done. I remember the first time I ever met Wendy Williams, I'm trying to give her mixtapes, and I'm trying to give her parody songs. And she told me, she was in Columbia, South Carolina, Houndup 39 studio. She told me, get the fuck out of her face with that mixtape bullshit and take that

mixtape bullshit to her husband. I didn't, wasn't discouraged. Listen, all right, where's your husband? You know what I mean? He's like, he's in that room over there. Okay, boom. Went and took it to her husband. You know what I'm saying?

And her husband gave me her number, and we communicated. When I met Wendy again, she told me to come on her show. She was in a party. She was drunk. But no, that's verbal. You told me to come on your show. Hey, Wendy told me to come on our show today. Like, what's up?

And I call it a lot. Yeah, yeah. Make sure that happened. I remember meeting Swiss Beats. I talk about that in the book. Swiss is a giver. And I remember him saying to me, you know, if there's anything I can help you with, let me know. Well, you don't say, Swiss.

I just put out this compilation album of rappers from South Carolina. Really trying to get one of these guys signed. What's up? And, you know, I gave him the CD. I remember him emailing me back saying he liked this guy named Little Roo's Tone. And then he was like, yo, bring him to me. You know what I'm saying? Bring him to me.

I'm going to do a song with him. I'm going to take you wherever you want to go. that's the type person in Swiss is. But I had to call a lot. That's an amazing offer. But I had to call a lot that, yo, what's up? Little Roo's up here. Hey, yo, Swiss, Roo's up here.

And finally, Swiss, like, you come to the studio. It took maybe a week. You know what I'm saying? That's not even that long, man. Some of the stuff could take two years. But it was from the time he told me that they finally get Little Roo up here and then get him into the studio, it probably was a three-week process. You know what I'm saying?

But it got done. So all I'm simply saying is when somebody tells you, offers you some help, don't beat around the bush. tell them exactly what it is you want. People insisting on getting that. I'm a man of my word. So if I give you my word that I'm going to do something, I'm going to do it. The only way I'm going to get, really get it done is hold me accountable for it.

I think some people are afraid to help others because they're afraid it's going to blow up in their face. I'm afraid not to help others because I feel like it's going to blow up in my face. And what I mean by that is I don't want to be that guy that misses that next big media personality. I was too into my own shit, are not willing to help others because when that person blows up, I'm going to be sitting there looking at them like, that might be the person that takes me out. You know what I'm saying? You know what I mean? Like that might be the person who has a grudge against me because I fronted on them back in the day.

So now they're shitting on me and making me look less cool. I would rather be the person who helps that next guy up or helps that next girl up or helps that next guy or girl get in position. That's why I big people up so much. People like to always say I'm hating on people coming at people. I like to celebrate. I like the big people up. When they dope, I like to say they're dope. When I'm a fan of what they're doing, I like to say I'm a fan of what they're doing.

I love to retweet people. I love to see people have success. Like people that I've been watching for years and knowing, like, yo, they got talent. And then if you finally see it pay off. Right now, Tiffany Haddish, she's like somebody who I just think is so dope. I think she's super funny. She's smart. She's talented.

Like, that inspires me because I remember doing BH1 talking head shows with her 10 years ago and thinking, damn, she's funny. You know what I'm saying? but just watching her grow and evolve and now she's got the movie coming out with Queen Latifah and Jada Pickett Smith Girl's Trip and I'm reading in Variety and they're like, yo, she's the star of the movie,

she stole the movie, like, that's dope to me because that's confirmation that I was right. You were right, yeah. Like my guy's Deas & Mero. I remember Deas and Meryl was just sitting in the offices at MTV and they couldn't figure out what to do with them. Like, let's put them on Uncommon Sense.

You know what I mean? Like, that was my show. And knowing these guys are funny and just good dudes and now watching them like blow up with their TV show on Vice, like shit like that is dope to me. Like, I love that. You know what I mean?

I love that part of the game. So I just want to be responsible for as much of that as possible. Bring other people up as much as possible. And you're never too big to help the next person out. It don't hurt you to help. It never hurts you. And the bigger you are, it's easier to help people out. Like, the least I can do is bring somebody on the breakfast club and help raise their profile.

I bring them on the podcast. I accept that offer. Yeah. Absolutely. I love the book. I'm not just saying that because you're here. Thank you. I got a book out. Black privilege opportunity comes to those who created. It was on the New York Times bestsellers for like eight weeks. Our boy Ryan Holiday liked the book too.

Oh, that's my guy, man. Salute to Ryan. Ryan is another one who I've developed a great relationship with Ryan based off the fact I read Ego is the enemy. Yeah, he's a great guy. He also helps other people out a lot. And it's no coincidence that people at the top of any game are always helping each other out and always bringing up new people because they don't see it as a threat. They see it as an addition to the pie. Like at the end of the day, it's one of those things

that really makes you live forever. I want later on in life people to look at the Shalameen the God family tree. Zuri just always was super dope to me, super smart, super talented. She was at MTV. I wanted her to be my co-host on Uncommon Sense. She's shining.

She's flourishing. I love being able to say, told y'all she was a motherfucking star, man. Like, I got a new show coming on MTV now called trolling. Basically, we're going around all those little cartoon avies and people hiding behind file cabinets, his profile picks that be talking mad shit to you.

Like, we're going to get those people. And the guy who's my co-hosts, his name is Raymond Brown. Raymond is a star. You know what I'm saying? Raymond is a member of the LGBT community, young white kid. He's super smart, funny in his own way. And I just think America's going to love him. It's going to be fun to watch trolls get theirs, though.

Yeah, exactly. And, you know, I'm on these trolls ass like your pieces of shit. and I'm even sometimes relating to them because I'm going to troll myself at that time. Raymond is being Raymond and trying to talk his way through these people and he's learning a lot about the world because there's certain people that I know from my world

and I'm like, Raymond, there's no getting through to this person but you're going to learn this the hard way. He's a star. So it's just fun to work with new people and bring new people along on this amazing journey that we're on. Is there anything I haven't asked you that you want to make sure you deliver?

Black privilege opportunity comes to those who created is available wherever you buy, books now. And Jordan, thank you for having me. Thank you, man. Yes, sir. I've got some thoughts on this episode. But before I get into that, here's what you should check out next on the Jordan Harbinger Show. You believe human intelligence and AI will essentially be symbiotic in the future. We haven't had the tools that actually allow us to be in experiencing how these new tools of machine learning can help us in ways we care about the very most.

And so these new tools of machine learning and brain interfaces will open up this new era of human improvement that we've never had before. You'd mentioned that the ability to co-evolve with AI is important. If humanity would identify a singular thing to work on, the thing that would demand the greatest minds of our generation, it's human intelligence. That's a big statement. The way we are going to survive ourselves

and create a thriving future is we have to increase the rate in which we adapt. Specifically, the fastest way to do that is our minds. our brain tricks us into thinking that the reality we occupy right now is the only reality that exists. However, I think that could be a false assumption and we need to look back that, for example, homo erectus two million years ago,

that had very rudimentary language, didn't have abstract concepts like math or other right physics. Homo erectus did not have the imaginative capacity to imagine the stock exchange. And so we need to realize we are in the exact same position. We have no reason to believe

we've reached this apex of reality construction. And to imagine that our reality could be entirely unrecognizable to us in 30, 40, 50 years breaks our brains. We could, and we may want to, head in this evolutionary direction. The question is, can we replicate two million years of evolutionary advance with technology? And I don't know why we couldn't. To learn more about how our brains will eventually be able to interface with computers and other machines and about how we may quite literally become cyborgs,

check out episode 223 of the Jordan Harbinger Show. I always love talking to Charlemagne. He is a great guy, and he's just such an interesting, introspective character, man. He's great stories, great takeaways, and that's what I liked about Black Privilege, among other things. The book, there's a lot of useful advice in it,

and you don't really get that often from books that are about celebrities or celebrity life. You just, I don't know, put your mind on it. You can do it. You're good enough. You're smart enough. You get this inspirational BS. This book, Black Privilege, is light on inspirational BS and heavy on real stuff.

I love that. I was not expecting that, candidly. So I like the book. I highly recommend it. And to put a button on it all, here's a cool email I got. When I told y'all that Charlemagne the God was coming on, you said, Jordan, if you were more hip-hop, you'd be Charlemagne. And if Charlemagne were more of a nerd, he'd be you. Not totally sure how I feel about that, but for now I'm feeling pretty good.

So I'm excited to hear what you think about this, as I am with every episode. Big thank you to Charlemagne. Links to his stuff will be in the show notes. please use our website links if you buy the books. It helps support the show. Y'all have been great about that. Worksheets for this episode in the show notes, transcripts for the episode in the show notes as well.

There's a video of this interview going up on our YouTube at Jordan Harbinger.com slash YouTube. I'm at Jordan Harbinger on both Twitter and Instagram, or just hit me on LinkedIn. I'm teaching you how to connect with great people and manage relationships using the same software systems and tiny habits that I use. That's our six-minute networking course. It's free.

go to Jordan Harbinger.com slash course and dig the well before you get thirsty. Most of the guests on the show, they subscribe to the course, they contribute to the course. Come join us. You'll be in smart company. This show is created in association with podcast one. My team is Jen Harbinger, J.Sanderson, Robert Fogarty, Millio Campo, Ian Baird, Josh Ballard, and Gabriel Mizrahi. Remember, we've rise by lifting others. The fee for the show is that you share it with friends when you find something useful or interesting.

If you know somebody who loves Charlemagne or if you know somebody who needs to hear his advice, Share this episode with him. I hope you find something fascinating in every episode of this show. Please share the show with those you care about. In the meantime, do your best to apply what you hear on the show so you can live what you listen, and we'll see you next time. This episode is sponsored in part by Something You Should Know podcast. Finding a new great podcast shouldn't be this hard, so let me save you some time. If you like the Jordan Harbinger show, you'll probably like Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers. It's one of those shows that makes you smarter in a practical, useful way. Same curiosity vibe we go for here,

just in a fast-focused format. Mike brings on top experts and asks the exact questions that you'd want to ask, and the topics are all over the place in the best way. Recently, they've covered things like why we care so much what other people think, the benefits of laughter, why sports fans get so invested, and what makes people like you or not. The through line is always the same. Smart ideas you can actually use in real life.

Something you should know has been featured in Apple's shows we love, and it's got thousands of five-star reviews because it's consistently interesting. So if you want another show that scratches that, I want to understand how people in the world really work itch. Search for something you should know wherever you get your podcasts. Look for the bright yellow light bulb and start listening. You can thank me later.