The School of Greatness - 202 Open Your Mind and Move the World with Prince Ea

Episode Date: July 15, 2015

"I've gotten to where I am from being who I am." - Prince Ea If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/202.

Episode number 202 with Prince E. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Welcome everyone to today's episode.

We've got a very special guest. I'm super excited to introduce you to the one and only Prince E, better known as Richard Williams and his stage name is Prince E, better known as Richard Williams, and his stage name is Prince E. He is an American rapper and activist known for discussing topics like politics, sociality, environmentalism, and life issues. His YouTube videos have garnered over 40 million views, and the guy is crushing it, over 350,000 subscribers there. I first got wind of him and noticed him from videos being shared on Facebook, actually, some of his videos, which get more views over there on Facebook than they do on YouTube.

This guy has been everywhere lately. I had a great conversation with him here in the studio in L.A., really opened up about a lot of insightful things for a young guy. Lives in St. Louis, where I lived for a number of years, going to a private boarding school. So we had a lot to connect on. We also went to go play some one-on-one basketball afterwards, which we've got videos for you back at lewishouse.com slash 202. So make sure to check out the full episode there. Share this with your friends, guys. I think you're going to really enjoy the insights from Prince E. I think you're going to get a lot out of this,

and I think people will love this when you share it with them. So make sure to share this episode, lewishouse.com slash 202. And without further ado, let me introduce you to the one and only Prince E. Welcome, everyone, to the School of Greatness podcast. Very excited about today's guest, my man Prince E. How's it going, brother? Man, I'm good. Thanks for asking. How are you? Doing podcast. Very excited about today's guest, my man, Prince E. How's it going, brother? My man, I'm good. Thanks for asking.

How are you? Doing great. Very excited. I know it's early here on a Saturday morning, but we're making it happen, brother. Absolutely. We're making it happen. Absolutely. And now, Prince E is actually not your real name.

Richard Williams is your real name, correct? Yeah. Okay. Now, why did you change it to Prince E? You know, it's a name. What's really real in a name what's really real in a name you know we're all we weren't born with our names stamped on us it's given to us but uh prince e is a real quick story uh actually the ea is earth it stands for earth um so

abbreviation bridge for earth and the name comes from Sumerian mythology. I was obsessed with this culture called Sumer back in the day before I went to college. This is why I actually got my degree in anthropology. But the culture, 6,000 years ago, they had a lot of firsts. They first people to create the wheel. They first written language. They put 360 degrees to a circle. They knew about all the planets in our solar system without a telescope. How did they know all of these things? Well, if you were to ask one of these people, they would have said that their living gods gave them this knowledge.

And a lot of anthropologists write this off as mythology, but some people on the left say this might be history. There might be something to it. And Prince EA, Prince Earth, was one of their living gods that actually freed them out of bondage through knowledge and wisdom. I like that. Yeah, I gravitated to the name because through my art, I hope to free people or at least open their minds through knowledge and wisdom. Amazing, man. Yeah.

That's amazing. open their minds through knowledge and wisdom. Amazing, man. Yeah. That's amazing. And a couple of facts about you and some mutual facts is you were born and raised in St. Louis. I lived in St. Louis for seven years, which is pretty cool. So I can appreciate your roots and your wisdom. Did you have any influence from Nelly by any chance?

I wasn't a big fan, but of course i had his album of course grammar yeah he was like the pride of st louis when i was in high school he was like so big yeah because he came from nothing essentially and just hustled his way to creating magic and and uh bringing his art to to the world i remember like listening to stories about him or watching interviews where he was like we were just going with our cars cars and CDs in the back of the trunk and just handing them out and just trying to give them away, you know, just hustling.

Um, is there any of his story that resonates with you or, or being from St. Louis and man, you know, his, his music, um,

it touches a special place in my heart. You know, I often just go back and watch his, his videos, uh, like every six months or so, ride with me in country grammar and all of those. It's nostalgic.

Yeah, he's great. A couple of other facts. You've won the Best Hip-Hop Artist in St. Louis. Now, did Nelly win that as well or no? You might have won it. You probably won it back in 1999 or something, right? You're also winning an award. You're getting an award tomorrow.

Now, what's the award for here in LA? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Global Green is bestowing upon me their Environmental and Entertainment Award. So that's a really big, big deal. Nice. Congratulations. That's cool, man. Thank you.

And you also formed a movement called Make Smart Cool. Yeah. Right? And what is SMART? SMART. SMART is an acronym for Sophisticating Millions and Revolutionizing Thought. So we want to – it's an organization that I founded. We want to popularize the notion of intelligence.

So many kids think it's not cool to be smart. Why is that? Probably their peers. Probably the media um you're a nerd you're a geek and i think we're all nerds and geeks you know deep down and we wear these costumes even adults you know we wear these costumes to to appear to be something that we're not and um for me knowledge just totally changed my my state of mind, my state of being. Information did. And I had a passion for it. And I'm here.

You know, the little success that I've attained, I'm here because of the information and the books that I've read, the wisdom that I've gained. What do you credit your wisdom to? What do you credit reaching out to learn this wisdom to? your wisdom too what do you credit reaching out to learn this wisdom too yeah um the the the inception of my um i guess passion for knowledge and information it was through hip-hop hip-hop music totally just changed the game for me you know listening to different artists like uh immortal technique and this guy named Cannabis. And they just, you know, Cannabis, he had a verse. He's like alone in my room looking through the 32X telescope zoom, adjusting the focus of the moon. One should not assume the philosophy of David Hume is nothing more than a subjective conclusion.

What is the maximum field rate application? The runaway glaciation affecting the ocean basin. Like listening to this guy in high school over like these incredible beats. field rate application the runaway glaciation affecting the ocean basin like listening this guy in high school over like these incredible beats i was in the library like researching these concepts and topics and the vocabulary you know and they just kind of inspired me to to pursue education wow so you would listen to the rap songs and then you'd be like what is that word what is that meaning and then you dive into it in the library to go research it. These conscious artists.

Because hip-hop is beautiful, man. You know, hip-hop started out as the voice of the voiceless. It was very political. It was very socially conscious and aware. And then it changed. It got more commercialized and McDonaldized and what you hear on the radio. But what's on the radio is about 10% of what hip hop really is. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a culture. You know, they say rap is what you do. Hip hop is what you live. Man, that's good stuff. Now, did you have any influence from your parents or family to, you know, dive into education and learning as well? Or was it more just self-awareness that,

hey, I want to learn and take my wisdom to another level? Yeah, man. You know, my parents tried to reach me, really couldn't. You know, I was a pretty bad student growing up just because I didn't get it, the chalk and talk. I didn't learn that way. I was more of an auditory learner. And I think so many kids out there, there's a vast array of learning styles and types. And sometimes we only confine it to one. And then if you don't get it that way, you're stupid. You're a failure. But for me, it was listening to the music that catalyzed the part of me.

And yeah, it was beautiful. That's cool, man. Yeah, I'm a big learner from doing, from being, from taking action. And in school, when I went to St. Louis, actually, to this private school, it was a boarding school for kids. And I had to take a number of tests going into the first day to see where my knowledge was at, see if I was smart or not. And I'll never forget how bad I felt because I took these tests and I felt like I didn't know any answer. And the results I got back was you have a second grade reading level in eighth grade. And so I had to go into a special study class the whole time and have a tutor for everything.

And I always felt ignorant because I couldn't understand what was in the books. But put me on an athletic field and I was able to pick up like the wisdom and the vision and the knowledge of the game by moving and being over then just reading the books. Exactly. Did you struggle with books as well? I did. I did, man. I remember the days my mom

sitting me in the kitchen trying to teach me how to read and smacking me upside the head and it's not good memories but uh eventually i got it and now i read books for leisure you know but yeah there's so many types of there's multiple levels of intelligence you know it's just the kinesthetic and like like lebron james i think is a genius you know because of what he can do out there and that's a different type you know of intelligence and so um i just think we've we've confined as a society we've we've kind of just confined the definition um and it doesn't allow people to be who they are and express their talents in the way that they can best

help society. Yeah. And one of the things I love about you and what I love about learning about you is you create these videos that inspire people. You know, one of the things you're probably most well known for is your videos, right? And the videos that you create to open people's minds and imaginations. We're talking about society, the things that are wrong with society, the things that need to be fixed with society, the things that we need to start looking at and focusing

on as opposed to things that we're doing currently, which is breaking us. And how old were you when you first thought something was wrong with society? Well, it was probably into high school, It was probably into high school, listening to the conscious hip hop artists, you know, because because, you know, if anybody that's listening listens to Immortal Technique, you know, he goes in on government and tells you what's wrong with it. And, you know, he goes in on politicians and the world affairs. goes in on politicians and uh the world affairs and so from that is probably the first time where i'd looked outside say hey things are things might not be going the way they should be um or the way they could be so but but i've developed from then too to the you know after after um hip-hop i got into uh spirituality and uh i don't mean when I say, I always got to kind of specify when I say spirituality, because I don't mean like, you know, climbing the Himalayan mountains and meditating with the Dalai Lama. I just mean looking inside to figure out who I am. And so,

to answer your question, now I think the world is fine. I think things are as they should be. Why is that? Because when we argue with reality, we lose. Everything that happened should have happened by the very nature that it happened. And that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be here to change it either. So we have to live in the now and create out of that acceptance of what is. So you believe that the world is perfect where it is right now? Yeah.

Yeah. Then why create videos to open people's minds about change? Yeah. Because that's perfect too. Interesting. All right. I like that. Yeah.

Okay. So it's perfect where it is now, but it doesn't mean it does. It can't improve and be perfect then as well. Exactly. You know, the, the, the, the caterpillar and as well. Exactly. You know, the caterpillar and the butterfly are perfect.

You know, you got to go through these steps to get to that place. It's perfect. You know, there's been so many illnesses and negative things that have happened to people that have gotten them to the point of greatness. That's true. And without these things, they wouldn't have got there. That's true. So these things, it's all perfect. It's all, yeah.

That's true. I believe that one of the principles that I live by is that we should always turn our adversity into our advantage. And that is actually one of our biggest gifts and one of our biggest callings is the things that hurt us the most can actually show others how to feel that much more love and open them up. Wow. And our pain is really what can create the most pleasure in the world and all those different

things. Without those moments, then we may not be as impactful without those. That's it. And without the world probably going through where it is right now, maybe it won't be as impactful to people in the future. Exactly. So I never looked at it that way with your message. That's perfect right now.

I mean, there are no smooth mountains out there, man. There's ridges. You got to climb that thing. If they were smooth, they wouldn't look beautiful either, probably. That's it. If it was a smooth mountain, I wouldn't want to look at it. It's like the ridges and the points that make it look picturesque. Boom, boom.

I like it. Well, you're no stranger to viral fame when was the first time you did a video that just took off when was this that you're like whoa i actually did something that people took notice yeah um and what was the video well okay i'll have to answer this question in a in a different way when I first started making videos, you know, YouTube was less oversaturated than it is now. But still, it was a task. How am I going to get out there? How am I going to get views?

So I started out having to kind of create false titles for my videos. Like, so. Link bait. Yeah, right. Click bait. Click bait. create false titles for my videos like so link eight years clickbait you know it would be like like jay-z versus little wayne and then it would be me rapping it's a trojan horse it's a trojan for something else exactly so some people would just completely go off on me uh other people would be like hey i'm so glad you tricked me into finding this because this was awesome this was awesome right um so i got a lot of views on that sure uh but on my own prince e the first video that really took off it was probably backwards rappers um which is like a p a

palindrome sort of thing where i like the the and the audio both go forwards and backwards. It's tough to explain. You just have to Google backwards rappers. Yeah, and that took off. That got on a bunch of blogs. I was interviewed by Fox News and a bunch of people. That's cool. When was this?

This was about four or five years ago. Wow. So when did you do your first video, the clickbait videos? Yeah, that was about eight years ago. Wow, man. You've been at it five years ago. Wow. So when did you do your first video? First – The clickbait videos. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was about eight years ago. Wow, man. You've been at it for a while.

Yeah. That's a long time. I've been doing it, yeah. That's like – YouTube's what? Ten years old? Ten years, yeah. That's a long time, man. Wow.

You learn a lot from all those mistakes you make and just little tricks you pick up here and there. Yeah. Wow. I think I first learned about you from the Facebook video you did, the Mark Zuckerberg one with the – you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was about a year ago.

Can we autocorrect humanity? Yeah, that was a great one. I think it was on Facebook and just like I got shared somehow and I was like, who is this guy? It was so beautiful and it was poetic and it was, you know, the tempo, the timing, the music, everything was like so emotionally captivating. I was like, this is really powerful. And I know you get that a lot all the time and people always tell you that,

but it's a gift that you have when you create this art, in my opinion. And it's really inspiring to see how you're able to open possibilities for people. And even if it's like, you know, even if it's just for a moment, you get people to think and maybe they shift something in that day. Maybe they forget about it the rest of their life, but if you get them to shift that day and to do something, one little thing better, I think it's,

that's worth it. You made a difference. Yeah. Yeah, man. Thank you. Um, how many,

how many views that one video get? Just curious. Um, well, it's different on Facebook, right? Yeah. On Facebook,

uh, they were using the model where they stopped counting the views after like two months and i think it stopped at like 46 million wow on youtube uh i think it's like 13 million wow now why is facebook just blown up with video yeah like why is it going so much more viral on facebook it's almost irrelevant to be on youtube it seems like right now yeah until they change some of the algorithm again in six months. But yeah, because, because Facebook is still the number one most used social network. Uh, and, and they don't really, uh, I don't think they really like YouTube. So the YouTube videos don't get as much reach as the Facebook ones do. Yeah. Um,

has that shifted your strategy for creating content? Yeah. Yeah. For me, it's about getting eyes on the content. And Facebook has been beautiful for that. Yeah. Facebook has really been the game changer. Game changer. Once they started doing video.

Because it's more easily spread there. You don't have to go. You just click and share. Click and share. That's it yeah that's crazy man um do you feel a sense of responsibility with such a big platform with everything you put out there is it very intentional now can you just put out whatever you want or do you feel like well maybe this won't serve people as much if i do it yeah that's the question man uh i gotta be who i am and i gotta you know i can't i can't try to put out things that

uh i think people like but isn't something that i'm um connected with you know so i i can only be because i've gotten to where i am from being who i am and not really caring about the result right um so i just got to continue that model and everything will be okay. I can only be guided by that inner compass. Sure. You know, I can't be guided by, you know, whether this is politically correct or. Right, right. Yeah.

Yeah. Whatever you feel moved by. How often or how far in advance do you plan the ideas that you want to create for your videos? That I don't know. It just just it kind of comes to me um and i might work on something and then stop and then work on something else and then come back so it just comes together when it comes together sure what's the average length of time it takes from the idea uh of a video i want to create to actually publishing it yeah from the music production to the setting, you know, to filming everything. Yeah.

I'd say maybe a month or two because there's so many moving parts, you know, there's the lyrics. You got to get that right. And I'm pretty, I'm sort of a perfectionist. I want to figure out the best way to communicate these ideas simply. Then you've got, I'm sitting there with my producer. I'm creating the beat. And then I've got to figure sitting there with my producer i'm creating the beat and then i've got to figure out who's going to shoot the video and and you know where we're

going to i got to produce that um and then i gotta figure it i gotta add the i might add motion graphics to it and i gotta get that perfectly right and then we got to do a pre-promotional plan for and figure out where how we're going to market this press for it how you're going to get it which blogs are going to pick it up first? Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Yeah. It's a full on production, man. And do you use local crews? Is it all St. Louis based crews or do you, you know?

Pretty much. Um, the guy, when I shoot out in, in California, um, it's a guy from St. Louis that I, that I, yeah, that I've known for a couple of years, but everybody I'm working with, I've known for, for at least four or five years. That's cool, man. Yeah. Um, if someone could make one change today to be a better human being, what would it be? Someone could make one change today to be a better human being.

Wow. Let's start with you. If you could make one change today to be a better human being, what would you do? Or how would you be? See, this is tricky because I believe that we are where we need to be. We are perfect as we are. And the more that we try to personally develop and not realize what we are behind the person, we'll never be where we want to be. You know, I think we already are perfect

and that eliminates the guilt of what we've done in the past and the projection of the future, the fantasy that we create for the future. So I would be accepting who you are right now at this very moment and smiling is the best step to being improving yourself improving yourself i think accepting who you are who you are right now okay yeah forgetting about the the the past uh don't really worry about what's going to happen tomorrow because you might not be here tomorrow i think you know what has motivated me to create some of my pieces is death you know um i always i always tell people you know if you had five to live, if you knew you only have five more years to live, would you be doing what you're doing today? What about five months? How about five weeks? How about five days? You know, and if you're not doing if the answer is no, I'll be doing something totally different.

You might need to to to rethink your business plan you know right rethink your life plan because life is is is precious you know we have a great opportunity here to to to do amazing things and we've got to be ourselves it's got to come from the heart yeah so what's your vision and if you only had five years months and days would you be doing what you're doing? Yeah. Asking me personally? Yeah, of course. Yeah, man. I'm here. I don't know if I'm going to have five minutes. I'm here. You never know when you're going to see your last sunrise or sunset, man. You've got a limited amount of breaths. And yeah, I'm here. I'm happy. Um, no expectations. Yeah. I'm just being, that's great.

And how do you base your decision making on anything? Like if there's an opportunity that comes your way or, you know, someone wants you to do something or, um, I don't know, a potential relationship you could be in, you know, with,

uh, with anyone, how do you make a decision on what you're going to do? Yeah. Uh, it kind of just comes to me. Like I'm very, I don't, I don't really, I'm a very simple man. You know, I don't do too much. I'm not, I mean, you, you, you, you amaze me all the things that you can do, but I just, I just live a simple

existence, man. And I find happiness in that and creating, um, you know, if somebody reaches out to me and then asked me to do something, then I, I take it from there, you know, one opportunity at a time and see what, see what happens. So what's your vision for yourself right now? What do you want to really create over the next couple of years? Yeah. What do I really want to create? Um, what's the result you want to create? Cause I know you're, you enjoy, you know, your passion is creating this this art yeah uh producing this

music and this art and this poetry but what's the result you want to have with people yeah yeah well see that's the thing all these questions are tricky man you have some philosophical answer for me on every one of them well that's the thing man like you you gotta it's a book called the dao de Te Ching book of the way some people say it's the wisest book ever written written by a guy named Lao Tzu you've probably seen memes and stuff on Facebook with Lao Tzu and um he he talks about we've got to put our all into the action but we've got to let go of the result we don't know what's going to happen and the more you worry about what's going to happen the more neur more you worry about what's going to happen,

the more neurotic you become. The path to serenity is putting your all into what you're doing and letting go. Cause you don't own that. The, the, you put something out to the world owns that you don't have that anymore. It's done.

It's over. Forget about it. And that's how I feel when I create, like I'm, I'm, I forget about my projects. I'm onto the, I'm here,

you know, and I'm creating cause this is all of that. It's dead. It's doesn't move anymore for me. feel when i create like i'm i forget about my projects i'm on to the i'm here you know and i'm creating because this is all of that it's dead it doesn't move anymore right for me but when you have let's say you put out a video do you have a vision of how many you know downloads you wanted to have how many views or you're just like well i'm putting it out and whatever happens happens yeah and if it gets one view then i did my job i try i try to reach as many people as possible man like i've studied like the art of going viral i've had eight years of experience trying to see because i want to reach people i want to i want to create content that galvanizes

as many people as possible to look inside of themselves um so i put my all into that but at the same time you never know you can try to i've got a a recipe and i try to put the the ingredients together but at the end of the day you know it might be a little off you know it might not taste good um so so yeah i i kind of let it go um and and learn from it yeah if it doesn't do well it was an experiment you know what did i what did i do wrong and i i keep it moving okay yeah so my vision i i want to reach i want to reach millions man like i one of my one of my funny dreams is to create something that that reaches as many people as gangnam style reached that was big like two billion or three billion something like that that's all i thought it was more nah nah three billion views on the youtube video right yeah

yeah i think it's was a 7 point something billion in the world. People. Yeah. All right. So what do you think it's going to take from you? Right. What way of being do you need to be in order to create that? Right.

Right. That's the experiment, man. And what's been missing from you so far in order to create that impact? Yeah. Or that viewership, let's say. Yeah. I'm curious. What do you think it is well you know that video i think it actually had a very socially conscious message a lot of people don't know that the game style did uh but we were kind of caught up in the dance

and that so it's a lot of moving parts to to going viral um the something aesthetically uh unorthodox that video was crazy you know i gotta what makes if you want to you want to go viral you got to kind of look inside again and figure out why do i why do i share stuff you know why what makes me want to share stuff usually people want to share for the same reason as you do um so that video was shared because it was crazy it was a dance it was it was being shared um so for me personally i don't know what it's going to take to to create something like that i'm happy with with the view because i've already gotten a lot of a lot of hits man and i'm very i'm very happy with the reach that i have right uh but it would be cool to create like the biggest

youtube video something that could could really shift people like on that like going forth of the planet would be crazy so what do you think it's going to take then what's the what's the message what's the topic what's the everything what's the perfect recipe for that it's got i don't know but it's got to be something it's got to be something that that it't matter what race, what class, gender. It's just on a human level. And it transcends all of that stuff. It's got to be something that resonates with the heart.

I would have thought that Facebook video would have been, you know, it kind of had legs to go that far because it was on the platform of a billion people and everything. But you didn't think it had enough uh i thought it touched to a lot of different people you know with the technology and how we're just like stuck on our phones yeah no yeah it didn't i mean i you know it didn't work so i mean it didn't get a lot of hits. But not a couple billion. Not three billion. So I don't know what it is, man. But I keep trying. And if it doesn't happen, I'm okay. What's something in your life that you avoid? Whatever it is you're thinking right there. Because I saw something in your heart double jump.

Exactly. That's what I want to hear. Yeah. Well, I avoid thoughts that don't serve me uh you know like we because because everything is mine right the whole world exists in our heads um and without without thoughts there is no mind mind is a bundle of thoughts so um i shift my attention from i question my thoughts and shift my attention from from thoughts that don't serve me um so i avoid that avoid uh negative thoughts

about like what could happen and projections how often do those thoughts come in daily hourly weekly i don't know they're getting less and less, fewer and fewer as I progress and become more centered. But thoughts just come. They come from who knows. Nobody knows where they come from. They just come. But the secret is to not relate to them, not to

always question them, to watch them come and go. Because when you latch onto a thought, you give it energy. That negative thought, it grows. Right, right. Who would you say is your biggest inspiration in your industry, the music industry, or the poetry industry? And then also, who is your biggest inspiration in other industries, other walks of life that inspires you to do the work that you do? Yeah.

I always got to say Immortal immortal technique totally just changed me. Um, his music is inspired me to, um, to want to make a difference and to, to, to, to have a positive voice,

um, from the beginning. So I always, I would always say him musically, um, in other ways. Um, there's so many different people,

man, in the, in the, uh, the spiritual realm and and that that i've read books from and and studied and but one guy who uh who i really resonate with is a guy named muji muji is um he doesn't really identify with, with any, any, uh, particular religions, you know, it's just the, it's just the mastery of, of the mind and the self inquiry. Who, who am I? You know, I think the biggest question we can ask ourselves is, is who am I? And he has a lot of content on

that, that, um, that, that really put me face to face with that, with that question. Huh. All right, cool. What about, um, in the sports world? Um, first thing that came to mind was, uh, it was Ray Allen. Cause, cause like I was growing up, I was a huge fan. Like I spent hours in the gym every day working on my jump shot, you know, um, love the movie He At Game as well. Ray Allen is one of my favorite players. So off the top of him, yeah. And if you could only meet one person who is no longer with us, only one person, who would you meet?

And why? Yeah. Wow. Deep questions, man. Need quick responses. Let's see. One person no longer with us. I mean, you got to go with the greats, like the Jesus, the Buddha, the Christian. You know, Siddhartha would be cool. The original? Yeah. OG?

All right. I like it. Why do you think him over Jesus? I mean, they both, they say the same thing. Maybe tomorrow I'll say Jesus. You know? All right. Cool.

I like it. Yeah. What's the biggest fear for you? Fear. Wow. I just keep overcomplicating your questions, man, because I got these answers. Fear. False evidence appearing real.

Once I question the fears, they disappear. So they're not big anymore. They're ghosts. What medicine do you give a ghost with a toothache? Nothing. It's an illusion. It's not real. The fear isn't real.

So, yeah, there's nothing. Totally fearless right now. Right. What inspires you locally right now? What inspires you in St. Louis? Yeah. Or do you get more inspired when you travel? Yeah, man.

There's a pretty good music scene in St st louis um pretty good underground artists uh mme and teff pole and rockwell knuckles and these guys have been doing stuff for a while and making good good music um and you know st louis was the where the ferguson event happened and there was a lot there was a lot of inspiration there. A lot of people stepped up and wanted to see some change. Yeah. How is that going, by the way? I haven't seen as much on the news anymore. It's kind of died out.

The next crazy thing that happened or whatever. The next thing is Baltimore and it's somewhere else. And then, yeah, it's, you know, St. Louis is always one of the most dangerous cities in the nation. My buddy was a cop in, I think it was North St. Louis. What's the most dangerous side? The south side? It's probably north.

I don't know. I live on the north side. The north side is always crazy. Yeah, yeah. He's a cop, but on the north side or the south side, it's like the dangerous spot. Yeah. He said some stories, man. It's pretty nuts.

Yeah. My family is full of police and officers. Yeah, man. It's pretty interesting. But it was also inspirational to see what came out of it and hopefully to see some type of change come out of it. Yeah, exactly. How dangerous is it to compare minds? What do you mean by that? How dangerous is it for people to is it to compare minds? What do you mean by that?

How dangerous is it for people to compare themselves to other minds? Oh, man, that's misery, you know, when you compare. Because I've personally, I've spent a large part of my life comparing myself to others. Really? Why? I don't know. It's kind of ingrained. It was ingrained. You know,

I think that growing up, you, you, and especially as an artist, you know, you, you think you should be somewhere else. You should be them.

You should be that, that guy on TV or why, why are Todd doing this and that? And, um, but you will, you know, and I think that every,

you know, there's flowers grow at their own pace, you know, and I think that every, you know, there's flowers grow at their own pace, you know, they don't grow at the same, in the same time. So just keep, keep at it and it'd be beautiful with flowering, you know,

when you realize that, yeah, it's the, cause the comparing mind is, is, is very bad. Yeah. Very bad.

Cause you never, cause really you're comparing an image that you think that that person is or where that person is. You think that person is happy. That's only an image. You don't have any idea that person is happy. You just see their Instagram page or whatever. Exactly. Exactly. So that leads to a lot of inner suffering.

Okay. Do you feel like you were a sensitive kid growing up? Yeah, I think so. I mean, not too sensitive, but I was probably sensitive, man. I'm very sensitive to my mom's voice, man. Oh, yeah? Yeah, because when she gets angry, it's not pretty. And being not a great student growing up, it was a lot of yelling.

What's something you always wanted growing up but never had? But never had? Wow. Probably like a system or something, like a gaming system. Like Nintendo or something? Yeah, I had a Sega. And then I never had like a tender or something yeah i had a sega and then i never had like a then i had a playstation one but between that i think it was a time where i wanted to play

some games um like dreamcaster sure sure yeah okay cool um let's wrap it up with a few more questions here um how many books have you read oh man, man. Hundreds? Thousands, you think? No, no, no. Probably not thousands. Hundreds. It seems like you've read a lot of interesting books that most people wouldn't read. My question is, if you could leave behind three books to the world, if this was your last

day, and you said here are the three books that everyone has to read that represent you and what the message that you want to have come across, what would those three books that everyone has to read that represent you and what the message that you want to have come across what would those three books be wow wow wow one is the dao the dao de ching um that was that's a great book book of the way okay um i think uh immediately what comes to mind is the second book of the Tao, which is a translation and commentary by a guy named Stephen Mitchell, who just totally like it's just it's a great, great book. He personally gave it to me.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Third would be. Wow. I listen to a lot of audio books, by the way. Well, it could be an audio book. There's a, there's a book by a guy named, I just picked up and I don't know why it's coming to me.

Why I want to say it, but it's a great book. It's, it's a book of his satsangs, which is like his, his teachings, um, like almost classes in that they're transcribed. So this book is called I am that, and his name is, uh, Maharaj. That's a great, a great book.

Uh, yeah, cool. We'll go with those three. I like it. Speaking along the lines of death, because that's coming up for me for some reason, if this was your last day.

Yeah. And you had, uh, three truths that you've known to be true about the world from your experience from birth till now. And, uh, every video you've known to be true about the world from your experience from birth till now and uh every video you've ever created somehow got erased yeah everything work piece of art you've got you've created has been gone and uh you know i say here's a piece of paper i want you to write down the three truths this will be on the internet for the rest of time for people to see what you

believe is true about the world what would you leave behind as those three truths oh my goodness gracious oh man what's funny is um i think it was the buddha no maybe it was maybe it was lauzu again he said i only have three things to teach patience uh compassion and simplicity. But for me, about the world, I would tell people that the world is you. Reality happens from the inside out. You know, the only difference between a weed and a flower is a judgment. If you're a gardener and you like dandelions, that's a flower. You know, it's up to you. You know, whether you want to see a violent person is angry and violent.

Well, if you want to see them, this is there's a lot of pain manifesting. Is this a lot of hurt and they need compassion? So that's one. The world is you. That's the biggest. I might just just leave it with that, man. That's the biggest. I might just just leave it with that, man. But if I had to pick two others just to be verbose, figure out who you are. Biggest question ever. You know, what is this being inside of this body looking at you through these eyes? Abandon your your race, abandon your forget about it. Forget about your race. Forget about your name. Forget about what people told you you are. Just be with nothing for one moment of your life and try to figure out what you are.

Try to go beyond the mind and figure that out. That's two. Three, just be here. Just be present. Now is it. It's all you ever have. Nobody has ever told you what tomorrow looks like. We only

experience tomorrow in the now. We've only been here now and this moment is constantly once you have it, it's gone. Just flow. Just be here. Focus on the present moment completely. Forget about your memories. Forget about your projections in the future.

Just be here and smile. That was great. Final question before I ask it. I want to take a moment to acknowledge you. I like to acknowledge my guests for coming on because each guest brings a different gift to the world, a different inspiration. And I choose each guest very intentionally. I don't just randomly bring someone on. It's very intentional because of what opens up for me when I think of that person.

So I want to take a moment to acknowledge you, Prince, for your consistent curiosity. You have a consistent curiosity over the years and for your ability to use your artistic gift to open up imagination and change in the world. And I really appreciate the gift that you have and that dedication to impacting as many people as possible. So thank you for that gift. Thank you, Willis. And for all that you do to make an impact.

And if I didn't see that video whenever it was a year ago or something, I wouldn't be sitting in front of you now. And I wouldn't have been following up with you and finding ways to get in touch with you and been texting back and forth for the last four months or whatever you've been doing. So I really acknowledge you for your constant curiosity and that curiosity that drives you to create magic in everyone else. Well, thank you, man. Yeah, I appreciate that. Wow. Final question.

Yeah. Is what's. Well, thank you, man. Yeah, I appreciate that. Wow. Final question. Yeah. Is what's your definition of greatness? Having the courage to find out who you are and to be who you are, to live your destiny, you know, from that internal blueprint, not what society is telling us that we should do, who we should be, but from the inside, that's greatness. There you go, Prince. Thanks for coming on, bro. I appreciate you. Beautiful. I appreciate you too. Thanks, bro. There you have it, guys. I hope you enjoyed this episode. And thank you very much to Richard Williams for coming on and sharing his wisdom. Again, share this with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 202.

We'll have all the behind-the-scenes information, some great photos from the day's interview and video as well. So head back to lewishouse.com slash 202. Share this with your friends on social media. Email your friends the link. Get the word out about the School of Greatness. I appreciate you guys so much. Again, thank you guys so much. Thank you to Richard Williams for coming on and sharing his wisdom.

You guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music