The Questlove Show - Questlove Supreme: Will Smith

Episode Date: February 2, 2022

Questlove and Team Supreme present, a conversation with Will Smith. Thank you and you are welcome. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else.

If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends.

Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Questlove Supreme is a production of IHeart Radio. Man, I better make this intro special, right? Okay, ladies and gentlemen, everybody's searching for a hero. People need someone to look up to. No, I'm only talking.

No, actually, to be friends. Frank, our guest is a true hero. There's literally no human being on earth who is not heard of our guest. Like, seriously, you don't even need to hear my voice anymore. But just for, for now, these sakes, yes, we can go hip-hop legend, the first hip-hop Grammy winner, sitcom legend on one of the most beloved, important family shows in TV history. A Golden Globe winner. Yes.

Ooh, yeah. That's new. We're now skipping Fonte. You didn't think that that was on my? No, I'm playing. No, but seriously, like, let's not take it lightly that he has been a premier action hero, one of the most highest paid actors, I believe 17 of his films that have grossed past, at least combined $8 billion, which is nothing to stop at.

You know, when I say this man has his own money, I mean, he has his own money. No, seriously, I swear to God. I'll put it this way. Steve, you remember my infamous rat story? The one I heard a thousand times. Yeah, I think I can remember it. Right. So before you came in the picture, I will say even the foot,

even the footnotes of his life become other people's highlights. And, I mean, he invited me to the millennial back in 1999, December 31st. Something I'm sure he doesn't remember. That, yes. Right, exactly. Bill Clinton inauguration. Do you know how many times I've told the story of Mary Tyler Moore running over Liz Taylor's wheelchair or my Jordan or my corns? That was my original rat story.

Anyway, I can talk and talk, talk, talk about achievements until the cows come home. But literally, what hit home for me personally was his really brave, rigorous. act of complete honesty and vulnerability, which is a word you don't often hear, especially in the black community, and his book Will, amongst other things that he's achieved. This intro is now 90 minutes long and the show's over. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Paul Smith, you're, yes, there you go. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, you're, you're like, wait, have you you set up lights in your apartment? Huh? Yeah. Where you, you set up lights right now in your So here's the thing.

Here's the thing. I took this interview seriously, right? No, this is the cleanest Zoom display I've ever seen in my life. Yeah, I feel very ashamed right now. I was like, it's my man. You know, he asked me to, you know, to come on. It's Philly. It's all of that.

It's like, I got to make, you know, I don't know what he needs or what he wants to use. Like, I want to be, I want to represent properly. Hey, it's just audio, bro. You could have been on the couch. Anyway. So actually, I want to start off, and I'm going to go against format and just sort of make this a free round for everyone on the show, all of us here. Hello, Team Supreme, by the way. Oh, yeah.

What about. Let's go. Let's go. Anyway. So I want to know, what did you do this morning? Me or Team Supreme? No, you. He don't care about it.

Oh, I thought you said you say T. I'm just curious what your average warning is like nowadays. So I usually, I wake up about 4 a.m. So like 4 to 6 is my private quiet time. Like no phone, no nothing. I think I meditate. I read. It is like my favorite time.

of the day that there's very few days I'm not awake at 4 a.m. And four to six is how I get just centered and clear about what I'm going to do in the course of a day. And some days I'll go I'll go back to sleep from six to 7.30 or something like that and start my day. And some days, if I'm energized, I'll get on the treadmill at six and start my day. See, I already feel like I'm doing this wrong. No, because Grace told me, like, Grace's time is 5 a.m. And that's the one promise that I sort of like backtracked on. You know, yes, we'll get up together.

5 a.m. We'll meditate. And, you know, and then I went back to my normal 10 a.m. routine. But, ah, man. Man, you can't underestimate the power of watching the sun. there's something that that energizes a human body about seeing the sunrise it like wakes you up with it it's like you get in sync with with like how the world is moving how long has that been a practice for you probably about three years oh man it started happening i'm not a big sleeper

I rarely, if ever, sleep for, you know, five hours straight. Really? No, yeah, rarely, rarely. You know, I'll sleep for four hours, up for a couple hours, and then sleep for three hours, three more hours. Like, but very rarely will I sleep, I never sleep eight, right? I'll sleep a combination of four up for a couple hours and then back for four, but never eight hours straight.

Okay, so can I ask you? Now, that's where I have excelled in life. If you feel like you've slept eight hours or more, do you feel like you wasted the day? And I know from reading your book, I know that for you, the idea of hard work, performative hard work is like job one. So letting the idea of that go.

I'll give an example. This Saturday, I've never gotten up at two in the afternoon. I slept for 15 hours. Yeah. I never, I've never slept for 15 hours ever. And I don't even feel tired. I just opened my eyes and it was like, wait, it's two in the afternoon. What the fuck?

Yeah. And she let me sleep for 15 hours. Like for you is sleeping eight hours like, ah, that's a wasted. I could have saved the world in the last year. I used to, I used to feel like that. It used to feel like, you know, I didn't want to be sleep. I always felt like I was missing something. That's what they used to say in the 90s.

Yeah. That was a Quincy Jones joint. You know, boy, you have enough time to sleep when you did. You know. So I prefer like I'll, I take naps, right? You know, I'll lay down for 30 minutes at lunch, you know, and, you know, get a 30. And I can, I'll be refreshed. The 30, 30 minute nap at lunch, I'm like really refreshed.

But I don't like the. the feeling of sleeping all the way through in that way. But every couple of months, I'll definitely get one of those 15-hour drawings. Like, you know, if you do that, every couple of months, I'll get that full day where you just shut it down and return that sleep debt.

But that four to six practice is a new thing. I wouldn't miss that for anything. Like, that up and the whole world belongs to me. And it's private and it's quiet. It's like, that's when I do my, my best thinking. And you're still able to do that while you're taping movies and stuff too? Are you shooting?

Yeah. So usually with a movie, if I have an early call, it works perfectly because I'm up a couple hours before anyway and I'll just continue my day. And usually on those kind of days, I'll sleep at lunch. I take a nap at lunch. That's what you get your nap. Gotcha. Yeah.

What does meditation look like to you? Because we talk about meditation a lot on this show. What does it mean to you? The big thing for me with meditation is, pressure. I don't pressure myself to do anything but just watch my mind to just be aware of all of the things that are coming up, to just notice, damn, I hate meditating today. Right. And I just, I kind of, I take the time to just notice what's going on with my mind. I don't wrestle with it. I let it, I let it do what it do, baby. Do you do transmeditation? No, I don't, I don't go that far.

Like, I, you know, I have, you know, you read the book. So, you know, I've done ayahuasca and things like that, which is, you know, it's a form that, you know, for me, that's a form of meditation. I didn't read it. Wait, can you just tell me? Oh, man, don't spoil it. I don't want you to spoil it. But the ayahuasca, I'm so curious. I was going to tell you, Will, I am, what I hit you the last time, I was telling you that.

I was telling you that I was waiting for this very specific. I wanted my first ayahuasca journey to be with this African couple that does it. And a funny thing happened to them, which is they were now like, you know what's happening? This Will Smith book has just come out and suddenly we're in demand. So now I got to want. I love it. Ayahuasca peyote mushrooms, these are all family, right? So ayahuasca is really, really different.

So you know the scene in Black Panther, right? Mm-hmm. Or he goes to the ancestral plane. Yeah, the ancestral plane, right? So that's the African, that's taken from the African version of ayahuasca, Iboga, right? So it is as vivid as they depicted in the movie. You actually go meet, see, talk to people, you come back, right?

Like, the movie is not an exaggeration of what the experience is. Wow. Right? The only thing that was potentially a little bit of an exaggeration is the directing of the experience. It takes you where it wants to take you. You don't get to like pick. Yeah. Maybe at higher levels people can pick, right?

But yeah, I never got to pick. I got dragged, right? So what did it drag you into? Who did you get to talk to? Did you talk to any people from your past or whatever? My father came to me, you know, so that's what I was saying. So I had that experience. My father, he came to me and showed me where he was living, you know.

Wow. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but, you know, It's celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft.

And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by.

Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck.

I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

I will say to you, Laia, that sort of on that path, I think the lightest version of it is, there's sound journeys you can take. For some people who step up from that is sound journeys with mushrooms. Some people do ayahuasca. Mike Tyson talks about doing Toad, which is even more. Yeah, yeah. Extreme. But basically, it's almost like you should really be open.

For me, at least, in trying to heal like a lot of the childhood trauma. First of, I mean, there's literally no human alive, especially black human, that has not dealt with trauma, real trauma. And for, I think for a lot of us, we sort of normalized the trauma. Like I normalize like, well, yeah, your dad's supposed to beat your ass until, you know, da-da-da-da-da-da. I'm a good person now because my dad beat my ass. And it's only, it's really only until like maybe a year and a half ago where I just had to settle that. Yes, even though my dad loved me, that that was.

That was abusive. The highest form, the highest form of abuse and really like, damn. So, I mean, as a result. Yeah, my mom would hear me say that too. Right. But that's the thing. Like, as black people. a lot of what we hold on to for how we were reared,

it comes from slavery. And that's sort of the one aspect that we can't let go, which for me at least, in reading Will's book, the reason why I say like the vulnerability and the honesty is really unprecedented, especially like I really want black people. And I know like people are, you know, attracted to the fact that like, you know, everything that's happened. in the last year or so in Will's life that they're coming there for that like that dirt or

whatever and it's really not about that it's about really coming to grips you guys remember on past episodes where I told you about the laughing song right George Johnson uh yeah yeah how it just hit me that emotions were literally illegal yeah for 300 years yeah exactly you couldn't laugh. And if you, you know, the reason why they invented the terminology, barrels of laughs was because slaves have built a barrel full of water. So if you felt yourself about the laugh on the plantation, instead of meeting the ire and the anger of the overseer, you would dunk your head in the water to suppress the sound. Yeah. Same for anger. Who you assassinate? Who you getting smart with? You better not cry

if I give you something to cry about, like all those things that we attribute you black parents, like all that shit came from slavery. So we literally could not show emotions. It was illegal or else you'd face lashes. And as a result, I think the defensive thing that we invented, like the same way we invented soul food out of the worst food ever, black people invented cool. Cool as a defensive mechanism, like not showing, not showing emotions, not being too affected, holding back. Not, not. We're from Philly.

We said, not drawing. You know what I mean? I'm good. And as a result, it's really damaged us. Like, if you really think about the last black person that I saw really on display of this vulnerability, was the last 30 seconds of she's out of my life. Like, who would,

who's willing to be that open. Right. About their life. And so for me, why did you feel as though now is the time? Because when I read this book, one, I was relieved because someone went before, you know, like in the three stooges where they do the army thing and like, who's the first to volunteer? And everyone steps backwards and leaves someone. Like seriously, like everyone in my life's like, you know, we can't wait to you stop writing these bullshit-ass music books. And really, no, no, for real.

It's like, you know, there are people like, yo, no more music books. Like, tell us some real shit about. about your life. And literally, when Will's book came out, I felt like, okay, maybe it is safe to cross the street a little bit without getting run over it. So why did you feel like now is the time to really share your story and to be as honest and open about it? Yeah, I think I'm sure you all have been watching me publicly for the last, 30 years?

Yeah. But the last couple, yeah, ever since the last couple, yeah. I mean, come on. You know, I think first and foremost, I can feel the wave coming, right? So there's a consciousness shift that is happening right now, right? So a couple of things are happening. More people are realizing that there is, no happiness to be derived from any material conditions that you can put together, right?

People are starting to realize that no matter how great your job is, no matter how great your family is, no matter how perfectly you cultivate your material conditions, they are unsustainable. you have a perfect marriage and family and then there's a storm and three people in your family get killed when there's COVID you know there's COVID and shuts down and you lose that shut everything down right so people are realizing at material circumstances are unsustainable right so if that's the case if it's the case that I can lose anything how can I possibly enjoy my time here, right? And more people are waking up slowly to that idea. And people are starting to realize that you are the only problem you have to solve, right?

That your mind and how you are with this world is the answer, right? Like how to be with your circumstances is the answer, not trying to get your circumstances perfect. Right. Okay. So, and this is the first time I've been asked this question this way. So I'm struggling to like to, to, to say it, right? Is this the first time you've been asked this question? In, in this way.

So I've not, like, I've never been asked a question. The answer I want to give, I'm trying to form it in my mind right now, right? So the realization that I had is it doesn't matter so much what happens to me. It doesn't matter what happens in my life. It doesn't matter what happens with my family. It doesn't matter what happens with my career. It doesn't matter what happens in my life as much as it matters how I think about what happens to me and how I manage myself in interacting what happens to me, right? So the answer that I realized

is you can't create loving interactions from unloving behavior. You can't. You can't. You can't. You can't. You're trying to love and be loved at the deepest part of your being. You want to love and be loved. You can not create it. If you're scared, if you're angry, if you're resentful, if you're hungry, if you're hungry and craven, if you're holding any of those poisons in your heart, you can't create what you want. You can only create the opposite of what you want, right? God, man. That's a hard one, so all of that to say, I knew that if I was going to be happy, I couldn't be scared of what people were going to say, that I had to thoroughly and comfortably be me just as I am with no fucks given about what anybody thinks or memes.

So being, so to that point in terms of being you and then writing this book, how did you decide what to tell and what not to tell? You know what I'm saying? And not necessarily in terms of being, having any shame about any parts of your life, but just as an artist having that line of saying, listen, these are some parts of myself that I choose to keep, to myself and I have the right to own myself, you know, so as to not let these things define me.

You know, how do you decide, what was, take me through the process of deciding how you wanted to tell your story. So the, the only thing, I was prepared and still am prepared to say anything and everything that's true for me, because I only get stronger by being vulnerable. I used to think I got weaker by being vulnerable. I only get stronger. by being comfortable to share who and what I am freely. Come on back. The line that I drew is I didn't want my words to be weaponized against people I love. 100%.

Okay. So I wanted to tell my story and the difficulty I was having was telling my story without telling Jada story. Right. Right. Right. To, you know, to tell. Telling Jeff's story. Yeah, without, you know, telling Alfonso's story or telling Jeff's story, you know.

So what I did is when I finished the book, I had what I was calling a writer's camp. And for two weeks, I called everybody that I mentioned in the book down to Miami. And I read every word of the book to all of the people in the book so they would know what I was saying about them. And then I let them respond and made adjustments and things like that. Everybody? Yeah, yeah. Oh, no, it was a. Ready, Rock, C?

It was a first, well, there were a couple people who declined. There were a couple people who declined. But it was the first time my mother and I had ever talked about my father being abusive. We literally, I was, I was. 52 years old at the time. And my mother and I literally never talked about the fact that my father beat her up. And her hearing me read the chapter was the first time that the conversation came up between us. And, you know, it was, it was gut-wrenching, but it was deeply purifying. And, you know, when I was talking about that idea of blocks to,

love. It's like the fact that my mother and I couldn't talk about that, there was a barrier between us, right? And we loved each other, but we weren't really connecting in honesty and authenticity. Right. So there's always a little bit of a facade because we both know we're just not going to talk about it. So it just creates a little bit of a barrier. And neither one of us wants that. We want to love each other wide open and vulnerably, you know, So for me, it was cleaning out all of the barriers and the blocks that I had to loving the people in my life. You know, and it's those traumas make us close our hearts. You know, the worst crime you can commit against another human being is to assassinate them in your heart.

And, you know, once your heart is close to somebody, as nice as you. you think you're being as cordial as you pretend to be. All I said was, yeah, right. But you said it with a closed heart, which the person understands clearly that you don't give a fuck about them, right? And it's like you can't hide it, right? Because you're not showing that you're open

to seeing them in a different way. Right. You'll be surprised how much your heart is closed, to people you say you love, right? And it's like they know it. And they can feel it. And sometimes we can't feel it. We think if we treat someone nicely and respectfully that we're being loving,

but if your heart is closed to them, it's not. Behind every word is I really don't give a fuck. And they hear it. And they hear it. Right. They hear it no matter what you try to say. and no matter how much you try to cover it up. A win is a win.

A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft.

And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by.

Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck.

I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. All right, so let me ask you something. Because I'm, this is the one, this is probably my major downfall. And the journey I'm in right now. Like I'm literally, I'm in a maze with my eyes with blinders on. And if I could just figure out this one, one thing I think the world opens.

But when I tell you, I literally, now there's a book I just discovered like maybe last week called, I think it's called The Big Step, where the author speaks of how we set limitations for ourselves. And for me, though, I am trying to figure out, and the problem is I'm trying to figure out, how to open my heart. And this is stuff I kind of shared on the show before, but, you know, like when you, when you live, I feel like when you live in fight or flight mode, that you can either go with your brain or your heart. And I found that it was way safer for me to go with my brain.

Like, I got to be the smartest guy. I got to be the most achieving guy. I got to be the provider. I got to be, you know, the hero to everyone. And I'm currently in a situation now where I'm hitting a brick wall because I'm almost like the 10 man. Like I technically don't know the first steps in how to open my heart. So the fundamental premise is flawed. The fundamental premise that you're safer using your head is wrong.

That's not true. Right. So you can only make an intellectual mess with that fundamental premise. Right. I know this. So going all the way back to the beginning, the belief system that has to grow is that the only safety is in your well-wishing and the authentic. care and concern for whoever's in front of you. You see a samurai kill somebody and then pray over the body. The samurai is not like, you know, fuck him. You know, that motherfucker shouldn't have been tripping. Right? It's like the samurai is prepared to kill.

You know, that's what they do. But they spend half their lives learning, you know, the techniques of kill for the purpose. of defending people, and then they spend the second half of their life learning how to not have to. You absolutely positively want to be able to defend people and you want to be able to build and you want to be able to create and you want to do all of that. If you're doing it with your heart closed, if you're doing it where you don't give a fuck about people, it can't go well. And you can have all the money and you can do it.

all that. No, people are your greatest resource. Yes. That's what I say all the time. Watch. People are your greatest resource. When people know that you care, right? They give you so much room to make mistakes and stuff like that.

And your only responsibility is for people to be able to see in your eyes that you legitimately care. And you might have to make hard decisions, you know, and somebody's mind might be so defy filed that they can't respond well and you got to go samurai, right? But you don't do it joyfully. You hate that you had to, you know, cut that person. Check a nigger. You're right. You know what I mean? All right. So let me, let me ask you a question because for me, like I put myself in almost every situation that you spoke about in the book. But there's one particular situation that I felt that you handled with ease that I otherwise wouldn't have handled.

Now, only starting maybe three years ago, really, not even three years ago, like two years ago, I finally decided to do something on my own without, you know, the collaborative narrative that I do. You know, everything I've done has been a collaborative with everything. And so I'm thinking that if I'm getting a phone call in Detroit and it's quite, Quincy Jones telling me to come out to his birthday party. Mm-hmm. And you're asked to audition in front of all those people at his birthday party.

Mm-hmm. And he happens to have your current lawyer still with you now, I believe. Yeah. Like to, you know, drop the papers and make this show happen. I would have instantly not only thought of millions of reasons to say no. Mm-hmm. Chances are, I'm like, thank you very much, but, you know, I, you know, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I'm going back to Detroit to go back to my group and stay with my group. And I wouldn't have even gotten the freshmen at Bel Air because I would have instantly out of obligation chosen that first step in my career, which is just the group.

And so how did, and you, I don't know if you just glossed over or whatever, but did you realize that that. was the first paradigm shift that your life is not going to be the same. Like, once you stepped on that airplane and went back to Detroit, how do you explain to Jeff and, you know, how do you explain to these people that you made a life-changing decision? Yeah. In the course of 24 hours. Well, we were, we were in a really desperate financial.

situation, right? So, like, we were, you know, we had gone from Grammy winners back to one hotel room. Yeah, by the way, I really hate how you sort of separate yourself from Ann in this corner, which is actually my favorite record. I'm sorry. That's so crazy. Yeah, that's crazy. That one, that one hurt bad. That one heard bad. No, I'm not jiving you. Like, I feel like, and then she bit me, was like, that's one of my favorite Halloween songs ever. But I like, and Jeff was on the beatbox. I did fuck with that one.

Jeff was on the beatbox. Yeah, yeah. One, no, like all of the shit. Right. Anyway, I'm sorry. There was one or two on. Unfortunately, the public did not concur. Yeah, but it worked out for you because if Quincy and Benny

don't see that performance of Mike Tyson on Arsenio. That's true. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that album still still. holds heavy for you because that's the moment that changed. You know. Yeah, now, when I look back at it, I can see, I can see the value definitely when I look back. But to the first question about, so for me, I've never been the kind of person that felt

like I had to stay with my friends to be loyal. I felt like my loyalty was to their growth and expansion. My loyalty was y'all got to keep up. Original LeBron. You're right. Yeah. You know, it's like, no, no, no. It's like, what was Robin Harris had a joke.

What was it? What was it? You're talking about Robin. Robin, when you get rich and famous, you're going to change. You goddamn right, I'm going to change. Adder's going to change. motherfuckers. Ain't going to have no change, change.

Right. But the idea, the idea is for me, it's like we got to climb. None of us loved our childhoods. None of us loved what our current situations were at the time. Then if that's the case, we got to climb. We got to grind. Right. And it was always painful for me when somebody couldn't keep up.

But I would much rather keep going and send them some help than slow down and let them pull us all down. Right. Right. So I've always felt like a responsibility to my, to my squad, but we got to go, right? We got to climb, right? And for me at that time, that meant no drugs. Everybody got to train.

if you want to do something different, you can. You just can't do it here. Because like we are a crew of dreamers. And we want to see how close to the sun we can get. You know, so and that mentality, you know, you know Charlie Mac. It was so good to see you, Charlie and Jeff had an IG conversation mid-COVID. It's funny. I wasn't supposed to say this, but I kind of did call Charlie and get some cheating things before we did this conversation.

But I wanted you to speak on that. friendship between y'all three men because really that was kind of like the the greatest way to see the three of you i don't think it was no other interview no big you know networks yeah all three just chopping it up on iG live charlie mac first out the limo could come on charlie you know we talked about that um in the iG live and i talked about it a little bit in the book it's like charlie's a dreamer charlie's a big giant dreamer thank god for it Right. You know, Jeff is a little more cocooned, right? Like, Jeff wants his spot. And if everybody agrees to go, Jeff is going to go, right? But Jeff climbs in another way. Jeff climbs with talent. He spends, you know, 16 hours a day behind his turntable. So his climbing was in a different way. And, you know, J.L. who's my manager is like one of the most well-read people that I've ever met.

We gravitated to each other, you know, growing up in Philly. And it was like we were doing the stuff that everybody else was doing and we was getting into trouble that everybody else was getting into. But we all kind of had our eyes on a different, a different future for ourselves. We all knew we were doing more than this. And, you know, your friends are critical. It's like one bad friend can blow your whole shit in one night. Yo, Will, one time you gave a speech, I never will forget this.

Shout us to your baby sister, Alan, who's a great woman. I came to a party you through for when the Beckham's came to L.A. for the first time. And you gave a speech about friendship and why is it? so important to be meticulous about friends. Can you just, people need to hear that for a second because it ain't just the rich and the famous. It's everybody. It's, it is, you know, there's a couple of quotes I've heard around that.

And it's, it's attributed to Confucius. He says, look, look at the five people you spend the most time with and that's who you are. That's who you are. That's who you are. Yeah. Right. And, you know, I heard that. I was probably 18 the first time I heard that.

And I was like, ooh. And it was like, okay, well, if that's the case, then I want this one, two, three, you know. But it's like who your friends are is, you know, one of the most critical decisions, you know, especially as a teenager, that's one of the most critical decisions that you can make. if the five friends that you associate with are straight A students, you're probably going to learn how to be a straight A student. If the five friends you associate with carry guns and sell drugs, you're probably going to end up carrying a gun and selling drugs, right? So it's like, you know, human beings are creatures of an example. And we fall into those lines of who we're with, who you lay down with, who you're, who you've shared at bed with is probably the most important decision. You were ever making your life.

Ever make. I'm golden. Talk that shit. Listen, you know what I mean? Listen. Right. So it's like choosing your friends and your closest associates. is how you fertilize your dreams, right?

You can't have a life that's better than your associations. Like, it's impossible. Your life is a team effort, right? So you can't have a better life than your team. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clever Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw,

unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast

to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand

the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, Follow Timbo Slice of Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok.

There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. And in this new season of the girlfriends, oh my God, this is the same man.

A group of women discover they've always. all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed.

I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I got to admit, when I finished the book, that part of me felt not quasi deflated, but the fact that I made a decision,

I made a decision like maybe two years ago that, okay, I'm really going to concentrate and get my thing together. I'm going to direct this movie. And then I'm going to go higher and hire and achieve and achieve and earn and achieve and achieve. And then, you know, you told the last six times. chapters, you know, is a dozy of the book. Again, no spoiler words, but, you know, something happens in September of 2011 that sort of changes the whole trajectory of your life and whatnot. And when I read, when I read that you had to take, you know, like you had to

take a total assessment of everything that you were and it wasn't about how much you made and how much you, you know, how many records you broke or whatnot. And you kind of had to start all over again. Like what, I know that that level of achievement and that level of fame can be somewhat addicting. Right. So now in 2021, 10 years after the fact that you had that there's a story you tell about Jada's 40th birthday party in which I kind of feel that's that's your paradigm shift to led you to where you are right now. Well, for starters, it's almost like what are you? What are your life goals right now because when I conquered everything else. Well, more than that, more than that, I think he discovered that none of that matters.

And to me, I actually felt like, oh shit, wait a minute. Like, I'm trying to win this Oscars so I could do more movies and get more power and get more power and get more power and get more power and get more. And then I realized, oh, man, this, that's not going to make me happy because this book is basically like a cheat sheet of, you know, him five years into where I want to be. So for you now, like, what is important? Because I know you're not saying throw the baby out with the bathwater. Oh, no, no, no.

Forget my achievements. Forget my career. Not at all. But what's the priority now? So what happened is all of my climbing and all of my achieving and everything that I was trying to build is. is I was trying to fill an internal hole with external achievements. Right.

And it's impossible, right? You can't make enough money. You can't have enough sex, you know, you can't win enough championships to fill a traumatic void inside yourself. and my traumatic void. So you're saying that internally, at one point, you felt like, well, shit, I made $8.5 billion in movies like, I should have did 20. Right. And so that's the carrot on the stick that with there, there is no end to achieving.

There's no end. It's an infinite, there's an infinite amount of money and beautiful women and yachts. And right, you know, so what I realize is that what I was trying to, to fill is at the end of the day, I didn't like me, right? So at the end of the day, I didn't feel good about me and I needed those things so I could feel good about me. Right. And all the way back to being a little boy in chapter one is, you know, watching my father beat up my mother and I didn't do anything really got me. It really like it really damaged something inside of me. You know, the opening line of the book, you know, that I talk about, I've always felt like a coward.

Right. And people would look, well, dude, you did this and you did that and you did. did this and all that. And none of the external stuff fixes your internal impression of yourself. Right? That initial wound. That initial wound, right? So the journey for me came down to, well, if I don't have all of those things.

Like, who am I if people don't clap with my movie? If people don't cheer when I walk in. What if people booed when I walked in? Would that change who I am, right? And I realized that I had given away my self-esteem. It's supposed to be self-esteem, but I had given away my self-esteem to achievements and to what my woman feels about me,

to how other people view me and what they say about me. And I had trapped myself in trying to uphold an image of who I was rather than being who I really was. I wasn't comfortable being who I really was because I felt like the world would punish me for that. You end up acting in real life. Right. You're just pretending. You're just pretending all the time.

Right. So one of the things for me, every time I've walked out on the Tonight Show and I hear y'all playing. invariably, I have a little bit of a little boy insecurity because the roots are the real Philly group. Oh, really? Roots are the real Philly group. Amir real Philly do.

No, don't say this, Will, because literally, no, no, no, no, no, this is what I have to say. Literally, when I'm in any situation that's fearful, lately it's been giving speeches I hate giving speeches and the moment the thing that I think about you're literally the most confident

curtain walker of the tonight show like literally when you like I know these I know who looks down there are people that run to the couch because they're so insecure there people look down like you're the first person I know that takes

second to walk out, you come out like, you know, like you're in room in a coliseum, like you're ready to conquer. So literally, when I get to my small space before, before I give any speech whatsoever, I think I literally had to vicariously do a what will Smith. So please don't even tell me. Every time, every time I've ever walked. out on that show and I hear y'all playing. I cannot do anything but get myself together to try to look cool for the roots.

So you're psyching yourself up. Wow. That's some big Philly shit, y'all. So we're literally, we're literally Jason Art-Tales here. You always got the poker face, right? So I'm looking at you, I'm looking at you trying to get to like, and you know, you give me the nod and you're right there. And I was like, it's the poker face.

He's doing the poker face. I can't. The worst one of all was remember the one where I did like the five entrances? Yes, that's my favorite of all time. All I could think was you thought I was the corniest motherfucker that has ever walked out on the show. Oh, this is so funny because in my mind, in my mind, I literally- Like Will is killing the shit. All right, so just a recap for everyone.

there was a period after, if you remember the Michelle Bachman incident, where suddenly they understand that, oh, the roots customized walk-ons for people. Suddenly, people wanted to do these epic-ass walk-ons. Like literally, Will Smith and Steve Martin, all their walk-ons are very epic. Now, that's funny because I felt unworthy. Like, when you walk out, I felt like, oh, man, we're just the minions from West Philly that isn't, you know, on his level. Wait, can we for a Philly moment real quick?

Because, Will, how does it feel? You kind of started this wave, I mean, outside of Philadelphia International and Gamalah, but this huge wave of, like, Philly talent, what does it look like fast forward to not just see the roots, right, but to see Kevin Hart, to see... Like, Philly is like killing it. What does it feel like to be like the kind of daddy of all it is?

You know, and it's so funny because, like... And this is why working on your mind is the only work to do, right? We need to talk more. Right? So for me, I perceived myself as an outcast from that group. Right? That it was, right? So to me, AI, AI was the real Philly dude.

But he wasn't from Philly from Virginia. He wasn't from Philly, but he was holding it down. for Philly. That was the look of reping for Philly. Amir is the look of rapping for Philly. But you don't look of making it from Philly. Right. Yeah.

But you know what? I will say this. I will interject as a non-Filly person. Please. As an outsider's perspective, I'd give you a little context on that will. I think for you, you just became to embody like so much other things.

Like you became bigger than Philly. You became bigger than, you became bigger than. you know what I'm saying? Then the United States like you just became Will Smith. It was not though this is Will from Philly. It's just no, this is Will Smith.

So I think and maybe from the standpoint of you know, maybe you may not, didn't see that you were getting that love. And so it like, like you said, the cool factor quote unquote that Amir might have had or AI might have had.

I just think you were just in a whole other stratosphere and people fuck with you. I mean, we all, because even now, like when I have conversations about, your career and stuff. I'm like,

bro, Independence Day and all that shit aside. He's the DJ I'm the rapper. That is a classic hip-hop album. This is a big guy a legit classic under his belt. Like, don't get it fucked up.

And I always wonder, did you ever feel that you weren't respected as an MC, you know what I'm saying? Once you went so crazy in movies and your career really took off.

Wait, let me add on to that and let you answer, Will, I just want to let you know that I was one of those listeners. you and Jeff that went to DAS

the night that he's the DJ and I'm the rapper came out and you had a battle with Steady B Steady B yeah

Man Listen Tarika and I heard that Munchy Chee line I don't know if it was freestyle whatever

but like that's the first time I heard someone like play the dozens and rhyme at the same time yeah yeah and he called

Steady B like you big munchy-chi and that moment was the first bonding that Tariq and I ever had. Like, we called each other like, did you hear that? He called him a munchy-chee. Like, it was all over school the next day. Like, after the end was almost like, you could do no wrong. Like, so there was never a thing like, oh, that boy corny, whatever.

Like literally, that battle, I wish I had that on tape. But answer the question, though, because I want to know what he is. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Do you feel you get those respect, that respect as an MC? More now than during, during that time. Then back then.

I feel like when people look back with with a little bit of history, people would be, yo, that was kind of, that was kind of interesting. Yeah. He wasn't half bad. Were your parents? I don't understand? What it was is Jeff and Ready Rock would body anybody. So that's really, so I was in between Jeff and Ready Rock.

So I felt. supported in that way, like nobody could beat Jeff. Right? And what Reddy Rock was doing was just, you know, he was one of one, right, in terms of B-Box. So there was like nobody really even to battle him. So I always felt like as a crew, we would win. Like if people wanted to go head up, I felt like as a crew we would win.

But I never felt like, because the acting came in so quick, I felt like I never felt like I never developed the level of rhyme skill that I felt like I could if I had had you stuck stayed in it yeah stay in it you know and it's like and then then I got scared so I was trying to make hit records instead of making what I was feeling right so I got I got twisted in there in a way that that jammed me up but Charlie said that nobody was not even trying to battle you on the streets because you was killing it so hard. And then, not to mention the battling lyrically,

but then when he came to Fistocuffs, you wasn't a game neither. That's not. On the street. No, that was, I had to learn how to fight quick. So, you know, that was the one thing that was always a surprise to people.

It's like I had so much, you know, anger and resentment build up. I would sucker punch somebody quit, right? So I was like, just fight me then, fight me then. Right? If I'm soft, right? People think they know they have no idea. A win is a win. A win is a win.

I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for Raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger.

So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects.

From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the player flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that, trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends...

Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed.

I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. I'll budget you. I ask a random Westbrook question, please?

Yep. Because I know we're getting tight with time, but you got a couple of my favorite shows that's either coming on or on right now. I know, right? I just wanted to throw it out real quick. Oh, my God. I forgot about Wolf Smith, the business.

This is, I mean, I'm trying to get light of. I want to start with the most random of randoms, which is cobra Kai. Hey, listen, let me tell you something. Let me tell you something, bro. Hey, let me tell you something, man. Look, Cobre Kai, bro, even without the stop, man, listen, when Holboy, when he went to that draw and he pulled out that goddamn, the day the top of his ponytail. Hey, listen, man.

When Holmber put that scrunchy out, when he pulled out the hair tie, I said, boy, let's go. Let's go. Terry Silver is back. Bro, me and my wife. don't do that. No, I'm not giving no spoilers. I mean, he's in the trailer. Like, no, season four,

Cobra Kyle was the best one. Caleb, Caleb, Pinkett, my brother-in-law brought that in. Yeah, tell me about Caleb. Yeah. Yeah, so Caleb, Caleb is, you know, I trained him for about five years. And now he started his own company. He's producing. So he brought in, uh, Kobe Kai to the family.

So, yeah, that he's, uh, he's, uh, he's going for life, right? They just got nominated. they got nominated for SAG Awards last night Stunt work or something more So Copra guys nominated And 80s babies dreams come true

Oh my God Man that show is fucking great I love that show Because Caleb brought it in I was like Cobra Kai, the karate kid Right Because you know we had done the karate kid

With Jaden We were already working with the IP I was wondering Are we gonna get Jaden in future seasons of Cobra Cye Can we get one? We need a I need Jayden, I need Henry Swain.

That's a great idea. That's a good question. That's a really cool idea. Yeah, Jaden got to show up better than something. The J-Dazzo got to come too. I know, right. Tarasian. That's right.

They're doing a brilliant job. Wait, wait, wait, wait. The world earth. Welcome to Earth. Welcome to Earth. Okay, so just finish all the episodes, brother, brother, brother. First of all, can you break down to the world

how National Geographic makes that shit look like that? Because I know you had to be in all. Me and my boyfriend were like, what in the GoPro do they do? I know. Listen, it looks gorgeous. You know, there's a company called Nutopia that Westbrook we partnered with. And it's just Nat Geo knows how to do it. It's like, you know, they're getting us into some really beautiful places,

some places that are untapped. It was like that the, and they just know how to shoot it. I don't even know what they're doing. And I love your honesty, I love because we can see your fear. So when you circle back on the fear episode and told us about, I was like, thank you. Yeah, I was going to say, have they presented you something that you were like, I'm not ready this season? Like maybe next season. Yeah, there's one that we pushed to next year.

It was a trek to the South Pole. And it takes nine days. And it's tense, tense all the way for nine days to the South Pole. And I was like- I also want to big you up for having so many explorers of color on that show. Yes, yes, exactly. But and you know what? That's all, I'm going to shout out Nat Geo and Newtopia.

You know, that is a part of their demand for the show. They like, they are specifically mandating that all of the, episodes be representative. So, yeah, so they are the truth. And then there's Bel Air. Oh, and the Bel Air reboot. Yeah, the drama banner. Yeah, Bel Air.

It's about to be crazy. As, as evidence by, even though, you know, the gloves have been blacked out. Yeah. Are you ready with your acceptance speech for the Oscars? Hey, man, you're not supposed to talk about that.

That's not kind of stuff. I was talking I was talking earlier about that oh for another thing we had the women of the movement women of the movement that yeah that USA? Yeah that's

with Jay Z produced that with Jay yeah so that that's coming out too but I was just talking about the you know the idea of I'm trying to be spiritually above the desire to win awards that's right

I get it. But I told you, but I told you, I predicted. You did. I believe that Beyonce is going to win that night. Mm-hmm. I believe that you're going to win. Love it. And I won't say no if they, if they call my name.

I won't be joining you three. I won't be like, nah, nah. I believe it don't matter because the people love you. And that's what counts first. So there you know. There you go. I love me, which is the new thing that I've gotten. too. It's like I feel good about me with or without an Academy Award.

Hallelujah. One thing I want to ask you, Will, that I think it would be helpful for a lot of people. When you talk about just your journey of just, you know, growing and, you know, kind of, you know, learning to love yourself and be happy and everything, you know, a lot of people can look and say, well, Will, that's easy. And, nigga, you made I'm legend. I mean, you know what I mean? Right?

You know what I'm saying? You got a team. You got therapists. You got chefs. You got accountants. You got all that. So to someone that's, you know, not in your position, what would you say if just taking, what is step one of wanting to just be better and have a healthier relationship with yourself? What is step one, regardless of money, whatever, what's the first step you can take?

I think the first thing is to take an honest look at your life and how much of it do you like, right? just take a really good look at your life, right? Because it is a journey. You do have to make a journey. And the journey is from, you know, unpleasant and unwanted circumstances to circumstances that you desire, right? And all the learning that you will have to do

will be on your journey, right? So the first thing is, is to commit to transformation, right? There's no easy road. There's no easy road. You're going to have to- No matter how many all the therapists you want or whatever. The work is still yours.

The work is yours, and the work can be done in any circumstance. There's like, you know, my grandmothers used to say, God is everywhere, right? So you can find it anywhere. You just have to commit to transforming your life. First and foremost, you have to decide, you know what? I'm done and I'm making a change. And the first changes are always going to be really obvious, right? The first changes of how you eat or who you associate with or a job you're doing that makes your fucking stomach hurt, right?

You know what I mean? It's like the first couple of changes are going to be really, really obvious. And it's the courage to make the first change, right? That's right. People that are in bad relationships. You're, you know, you're in a bad physical condition. You don't, you're, you're in a neighborhood. You don't like.

You're, you're doing things that you know are hurting yourself. And it's like just the first step. Just find that first thing that you know damn well does not need to be in your life that you're babysitting. Is there a book that you recommend? I mean, there's a couple of things. It's really hard. I mean, other than Will, I think Will is one of the best books on the market right now for the transformation of your life, of everything I read. Let me just let our listeners know.

And for all those, like, nigger, I don't read it, whatever. No, no, no, no. I'm going to let you know what time it is. Weird enough, having written six books myself, I didn't consider myself a reader. However, when I started, you know, when the pandemic started and I started doing my morning walks

versus podcast, man, I've read, I've read so many books, audiobook style, which is still reading, like, whatever for you, snob's like, you have to read it first in order to read a book. No. I believe the way that you should take in Will's book.

Your first thing is I definitely believe that you should listen to the audio book. Because it's different when it's coming from his voice. Yeah. And not to mention he peppers the soundtrack. That makes it feel like it's a podcast or whatever. Like there's sound effects, reenactments, and him imitating Charlie Mac and all that stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel, and it makes it endearing, especially those last six chapters.

So Fonte, I would actually recommend you, once you listen to that, that'll, you know, I think it's important that people really take in this book and hear what Will is saying. And I don't think it's a hashtag like only rich people stuff or whatever. Like it's literally having the will to know you want to change. And especially where we are now, where a lot of us, and what I mean us, the hip hop nation, a lot of lot of these cats are expiring in their 50. Yeah, yeah, man. Before they make 60. And I think a lot of that just has to do with the will to not want to move on.

I think it's one thing that's like, when you get past 20, you're like, okay, I didn't get shot. So now I'm good. And then there's a point where we, you know, try to not have a stroke or make sure our health is right. Now I'm realizing that 60 on is going to be a crazier bad. battle for us to have the will to live and all those things. So I would actually recommend Will's audiobook first as a central reading.

I was just going to ask the craziest question of all. I was just going to say, who's going to battle fresh prince and jazzy Jeff in the verses? What? How do you say who's going to? Who's going to battle fresh prince and jazzy Jeff in the verses? It was a joke. Ah, in the first. Yeah.

Who's going to battle jazzy Jeff? I was like, battle. I was just having that conversation with somebody the other day. And somebody was like, you know, y'all, y'all should go with LL. I was like, L, L, L. L. L. L got a thousand records.

You are not going to have me getting body by L. You know what I actually think? You know what I think your match would be? Oh, I would think that Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince versus naughty by nature would be a good versus. Okay. Okay. That might be fun.

I'm not mad. I'm not mad. I think it's evenly matched. Yeah. It's like, I think that would be. Hell got like 20 albums. Like,

that boy guy. L.L. and Buster, I think, are more of a match. I don't care if they feel if they're outclassed each other, but I feel like L.L. and Buster almost. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was going to ask you will. So do you ever get a point in terms of when you

about like always striving and climbing and like building your team and keeping them like always wanted to elevate do you ever get to a point where you just realize you know what I'm good like does I'm good ever happen in the mind of Will Smith I've looked at the first half of my life I think about it in terms of climbing and collecting and now the second half of my life is going to be given away, right? It's going to be giving it back, right? So it was, you know, all of the things that that I gathered through the, you know, striving and climbing. And now my attention is on developing my heart and developing my mind through giving and relating. Right. So part of the discovery for me is my true happiness was never going to be achieved through collecting.

And I'm realizing that the deepest joy that I experience it is through giving, right? And it was like, that's the real magic of love is giving and it's in helping. It's in using what you are to assist. someone else to become what they were meant to become, right? Do you think that's, do you think that's what's kept you and Jada together for so long? Is that sounds like a foundational part of y'all, yeah. Yeah, we are, we are full on climbers and seekers. We are developing our comprehension of what love is.

and like everybody wants love but nobody knows what it actually is right so you want something but you don't you don't know what it is right and it's like the Marines always there's a Marine quote everybody wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die right and it's like there's a there's a certain amount of self-reconstruction that has to happen in order to have any possibility at love. Your life has to be focused on transforming and correcting the false beliefs, the flawed perceptions, the poisonous ideas in your mind. Your entire life has to be centered on removing those things in order that you can hold the love that you. you're asking for from someone else.

Ooh, wait, can I get away? Ladies and gentlemen. Shit. Yeah, that was Willis Carol Smith Jr. Yeah. That's not as big, man. Yeah, that's big. Let us into right there.

Yeah. That's a mic drop for you. Yeah, that's it. That's it. You're right. Like, literally, I thought, like, you know, okay, Jimmy Jam's episode was six hours, so, no, but we'll literally drop so much potent magic

in this interview. And I really want to thank you for giving us, letting us be the audience, not even giving us this audience. Yeah. Really, no,

man. Seriously, man, and thank you too. I mean, I have no idea what it would be like to have spent, you know, the last 35 years of my life is one of the most famous people on the

fucking planet. You know what I mean? So, you know, just for you, we appreciate you just sharing, just being so transparent about your journey. and you know, you and Jada's like, like everything.

Like y'all have been through shit that would have broke a whole bunch of other people. But I understand that y'all live incredible lives. And just for you to be so transparent about this, man, it's really inspiring. And we just thank you just for everything, bro, for real. And thank you for always coming back to Philly. Because I tell Charlie he's doing those weekends, he hasn't. But still, when he was doing him, you was always there, always cleaning up the neighborhoods. Always getting back.

So, thank you. I appreciate y'all, man. Thank you. Thank you. Well, on behalf of Laia, Sugar Steve, Unpain Bill, and Fonte, and myself, Will Smith, thank you very much. This is Questlove Supreme. We will see you on the next go round. Thank you.

Questlove Supreme is a production of Iheart Radio. For more podcasts from IHart Radio, visit the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new

podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft, and we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galko, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects, from hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the

radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode. Listen to the Sports Slice podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, for wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slical Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, they take matters into their own hands. I vowed, I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this.

He's going to get what he deserves. We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe, on the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.