The Wolf Of All Streets - Baseball and Bitcoin – Micah Johnson on his transition to crypto artist

Episode Date: August 27, 2020

Micah Johnson was a baseball star, playing for multiple teams in MLB and enjoying an incredible career. While competing, he discovered that he had a talent greater than sports - painting. Micah dropped the bat and picked up paint and charcoal and began to pursue his passion, quickly finding success outside of baseball. Micah finally felt free, as he could voice his frustrations and aspirations to the world and be his own boss. Now his craft is inspiring disadvantaged youths everywhere, proving anyone can do anything. Micah Johnson and Scott Melker further discuss having one dream your entire life, learning how to play as the last man on the roster, batting for the first time in the pros, discovering a talent you never knew you had, painting black children as astronauts, balancing a newborn with a new career, painting the blockchain, battling depression during the season, learning how to compete as an artist, the stages of discovering Bitcoin, and more. --- CHOICE IRA by KINGDOM TRUST Don’t be part of the 7.1M Bitcoiners who have bitcoin and a retirement account but don’t have bitcoin in their retirement account. With Choice IRA by Kingdom Trust you can hold bitcoin in your retirement account. The first 1,000 users to open a Choice IRA will receive $62.50 in free BTC - visit RetireWithChoice.com/WOLF to join the waitlist and secure free BTC. --- VOYAGER This episode is brought to you by Voyager, your new favorite crypto broker. Trade crypto fast and commission-free the easy way. Earn up to 6% interest on top coins with no lockups and no limits. Download the Voyager app and use code “SCOTT25” to get $25 in free Bitcoin when you create your account --- If you enjoyed this conversation, share it with your colleagues & friends, rate, review, and subscribe.This podcast is presented by BlockWorks Group. For exclusive content and events that provide insights into the crypto and blockchain space, visit them at: https://www.blockworksgroup.io

Today's episode is brought to you by Choice, by Kingdom Trust, and Voyager. We'll learn more about them later on in the episode. What is up, everybody? I'm Scott Melker, and this is the Wolf of All Streets podcast, where twice a week I talk to your favorite personalities from the worlds of Bitcoin, crypto, art, finance, sports, music, politics, basically anyone with a good story to tell. This show is powered by BlockWorks Group, a media company with over 20 podcasts in their network. You can check them out at blockworksgroup.io. If you like the podcast and you like following me on Twitter, you can check out my website at thewolfofallstreets.io. You can also sign up for my newsletter there and basically catch

all my thoughts on markets and beyond. Now let's get into what's more important, and that's today's guest. He's a former Major League Baseball player turned artist. After discovering he needed a new platform to express himself, both vocally and artistically, he left the dugout and swung for the fences in the world of art. His transition has inspired people around the globe to achieve any dream they can imagine, regardless of race, background, or ability. So, Micah Johnson, man, it's a pleasure to have you here. Thank you for taking the time.

Yeah, man, that was a great intro, man. Glad to be here. You know, gotta do it right. Phenomenal. So I just, you know, as we discussed, the premise of this podcast is really just to have a conversation with interesting people. And you've done so much and in seemingly like sort of opposite worlds, right? I mean, sports and art, I don't find kind of cross so often.

So start from the beginning, man. Who are you? Where are you from? You know, how did, how did this all begin? Yeah. From Indiana. Art was never a thing in our lives. Like baseball was always like the obsession and like beyond obsessed.

Like when I was four years old, I i was like i want to be a major league baseball player and every single day like that was my dream there was no plan b and every teacher you know it's like you got to have a plan b you got to have a plan b i was like no i don't need a plan b when i know like this is what i want to do so like you know my whole life was just centered around baseball and eventually actually in 2016 with the dodgers um my manager i i just got traded over there and he called me to the front it was like you know what do you want to oh he's like what do you like to do and i was watching around and i saw a lot of players like say hey uh i like to fish and then dave would be like you know all right kershaw and

justin turner you take this kid fishing or something right so i was like man i don't want to go up there and say, I play piano. Like he didn't want me to play piano. That'd be weird. You know? So I, I'd be like a pain sip class, uh, right before I went with my girlfriend at the time. And, um, I was like, I like to paint man. Like that, you know, he's like, great. Do a painting of Maury Wills and Maury Wills was like a Dodger legend. And me and him had breakfast and lunch every? Like you didn't grow up. I mean,

it wasn't even a hobby. Like I can't even draw stick figures. You couldn't teach me to paint. If like your life depended on it, it would be impossible. I mean, right. Right. No, no, I was not. I'm the same way. Like I had no art. I was like, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I was like, I'm going to do it. And I was like, I'm going to do it. And I was like, I'm going to do it. And I was like, I'm going to do it. And I was like, I'm going to do it.

And I was like, I'm going to do it. And I was like, I'm going to do it. And I was like, I'm going to do it. And I was like, I'm going to do it. a hobby like i can't even draw stick figures you couldn't teach me to paint if like your life depended on it would be impossible i mean right right no i know i was not i'm the same way like i had no artistic ability at all so like i never painted you know just like messing around or whatever um never painted knew nothing about it um and then that season like during the whole season i just kept working on it you know here and there and then that off season we had an exhibit at dodger stadium like the first art exhibit they ever had um and it was with this duo named shelby and sandy out of la like probably one of the top like premier pop artists like they should not have done a show with me but like they're the best dudes in the world uh and it was wild and ever since then i just like i gotta paint man that's what i gotta do

i mean it's that's so crazy because it's not like art is not usually something I find that people come to, you know, like in their twenties and thirties, like you, you hear about people that kind of come back to, like, I played the piano when I was a teenager and when I'm 60, I'm retired and I want to do it again, but to find a new hobby and then choose to make it a career is a pretty huge thing. What, what do most professional athletes do when they retire? I mean, I know that coming from a town like Gainesville where like I am, they all become like the local insurance agents or they do the commercials and stuff. And that's right. You guys have so many down there. They're like,

yeah, every year. Um, no, I mean, I think it's changing now. I think players are becoming more like worried about like their brand and like investing in certain businesses. And like, you see that more, like when I was playing, especially in baseball, baseball is kind of like a more conservative demographic, but you see a lot of NBA guys with their portfolios and like different businesses, you know, like Duran and Iguodala. And I think you're starting to see that more in baseball too.

But I think, you know, guys, I talked to a lot of players who retire and like, who made a lot of money. And they're like, you know, they still are hustling, you know, doing other stuff. I think it's that nature, you know what I mean? That's it. That touches on something really interesting. When your whole life is competing, how do you let that go? It's hard, man. You get a lot of trouble. Like, um, you always have to compete at something. So like for me, like if I'm, I go to the casino, I don't have, I don't stop.

It's like not because the money or anything like that. It's because like I'm competing. So you got to find like a way to like channel this. So for me, it's art now. Like I see, okay, this, this i sold this i reached this high price point right or like this painting i did is better than my last i'm always trying to like one up myself so i like i kind of like internalize that competition and at the same time like i'm trying to push the limits creatively so like i had this like internal composition uh competition i guess but for other guys like you look at like what kobe bryant built like after had this like internal competition, uh, competition, I guess. But for other guys, like you look at like what Kobe Bryant built,

like after his career, like he, one thing about athletes is when we come out of our sport, we're behind because business guys, you know, they build this like this wealth of knowledge and experiences and they get like, they get their ass handed to them like early on right come out in like you know our 30s or whatever you're way behind eight ball um so like that competitive nature that he had to build that so quickly is like incredibly impressive you know what i mean i yeah i mean i as i mentioned to you before, like I was born in L.A.

My parents were Dodgers fans back to like my family, my grandparents, great grandparents back to the 40s and 50s. And so and I was born in L.A. So I was a huge Laker fan and Dodger fan as a result. And I mean, obviously a huge Kobe fan. And like to me, the saddest part, obviously, besides the death of his child, was that we didn't really get to see that entire second act play out because rarely do you see a person who can achieve greatness at that level in multiple fields and he was one of the rare ones who it seemed was setting up for that to happen I mean do you think that really was just his competitive nature I mean yeah yeah you have to like

you have to have something to expedite that like another example is like um like I don't know I think you'll see a lot more players like that like yeah Kyrie Irving's and like I can say like Iguodala Ron yeah Ron right like you don't see a lot of players like that but Kobe was doing that you know social media, before like you could just check with people through video conferencing, right? Like he built this like empire. And I think, you know, a lot of players are doing that. Like one of my good friends, Adrian Gonzalez, like I played a long time and now he has different businesses like all around. And it's like,

I think Kobe was a big inspiration for a lot of us athletes for sure. Yeah, I think so. Did you ever feel like when you were an athlete that your voice was somewhat silenced? I mean, in that now you're channeling that creative energy. I mean, I've heard from a lot of people I know who played sports were sort of like, you know, you have to toe the line and obviously like, it's always the team narrative and you know. Yeah. That's one thing I've struggled with, um, post playing and especially now like why i'm

trying to like i feel really blessed that i have a second opportunity with another platform that i think has surpassed my platform as a baseball player that's crazy to use my voice yeah like i think i'm still incredibly fortunate because like when i played i was always that guy on the cusp you know like he might be the last guy on the roster or whatever so i was just like head down like i'm gonna follow all the rules and i'm gonna work every single day you know what i mean and there was still this stuff going around going on around us like i played in the game in baltimore right after the right during the riots um and we had no fans and looking back on like no no reporters like we don't really talk about it you know we talked about how weird it was to play a game with no fans, even though there was a bigger issue going

on, like right outside the stadium. So like, yeah, ours is kind of like my avenue now to like, say whatever I want to say. And so, and you like consider yourself a crypto artist. So obviously there's a story there with Bitcoin as well. I'd love to hear like your Bitcoin story, how you got into it and then maybe how if it does I mean I'm just kind of assuming here but that has something to do with also you know using your voice and that and that freedom or at least that's how I view it yeah I mean I just got into it like everybody else gets into it right like oh this you see the price of money and you know okay I'm gonna sell this and this I see these

artworks right and then you start looking at other trading them and all that everybody tries a day trade everybody gets you know smacked so like it's like the evolution of joining crypto right um and for me what i noticed a lot that i really admired about the community crypto is like how close niche it was right like it seemed like a lot of people were very inclusive and it was a time in my life artistically where I didn't know what I wanted to do so like they kind of welcomed me and kind of like I was able to see what the people were doing and like versus like the real art world you know artists are kind of like on their own you know all over the place so I feel like I learned a lot from it and

now like we have a I was able to kind of take those lessons and now i have this clear path on what i really want to use the blockchain for right like before it was just like let's make money you know right but these current projects we're working on now are like real use cases to bring like real world you know eyes and like okay that made sense like this like block you only can do this on blockchain. You know what I mean? That's kind of like a really cool evolution for me because I see the power of like blockchain, not necessarily like trading crypto and stuff, but like the underlying technologies and the benefits of it.

Can you talk more about specifically what you're doing and what you're talking about then? Yeah. I mean, so like it's probably the first time we talked about it publicly, but like one thing that we're working on and I'll be flying out here probably tomorrow, um, to work on for about the next two weeks is my whole thing is I want to inspire children and give children an opportunity.

Right. Um, you know, I think black kids especially are behind the eight ball. Um, but like I just speaking from my personal experiences, right? Like our resources were very limited growing up. So we didn't have like certain opportunities.

Like I really wanted to go to the University of Arizona and they offered me a really good scholarship, but we didn't have enough money to even cover the rest of it. So I went to Indiana University right so right now we're creating an initiative to my subjects and my paintings are going to be actual kids in underserved areas and we're going to identify certain kids so right now we have three kids that we're going to start with and what we're going to do is I'm going to paint them and then work on another bigger project with photography that will kind of be like a computer like computer program so this artwork will have these kids and they can change over time and it's really cool use of the blockchain technology and with that people can donate to their this this fund for these kids so when they turn 18 they have access to this trust

and for me that's really important because now they have options. You know what I mean? Like they have actual options. Why, I mean, why are you so concerned with doing charity and with, with helping kids? I mean, you could be doing anything with your life. You know, what is it that makes you sort of compelled to give back? Yeah, for me, I mean, I just look back on my life and I had a lot of help, you know, a lot of coaches.

I didn't get to where I needed to be without them. You know what I mean? And a lot of these kids don't have that around, you know. A lot of these kids might not have a dad or don't have the resources to do this. So I feel like I want to do my part to give access and options really and you know art i've been blessed that you know i can give back you know with my art you know i've worked really hard to earn the price points that i do so i want to

ensure that my art can give back to them and I think seeing them like these kids be able to see themselves in an artwork, like it's truly inspiring. Cause like they can look at their dreams and they can see themselves on these massive paintings or these massive artworks. Right. Um, and like always like, you know, like that's like, that's me up there. You know, I'm just average kid, you know, I might have all these tough circumstances, but I can look at myself on this painting or something

and to give back to them, it's just makes sense. And to use the blockchain for that, um, you know, uh, it just, it's going to be really cool. That's awesome, man. So you said that you knew you wanted to be a professional baseball player when you were four, like why baseball? I mean mean i always think of like hoosiers and everybody being a basketball player in indiana yeah yeah i mean the height they mattered like i mean i was like i'm like 5 11 you know like sometimes i stand on my toes on my car my baseball cards get that six yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah no i mean i don't know why baseball man um just something i was obsessed with like and it's so funny because like even to like my last game my parents still didn't know how to talk about baseball like they didn't know like that was a good thing or a bad thing even though they watch every game you know so it wasn't

a family thing this was like you totally totally self-inspired no yeah and it's really my parents were really cool about that like they're supportive but they also like don't care you know what I mean like like with art for example like I'll send my mom a picture of pain and everything all the times like all I get back is one word text nice I mean yeah like nothing to her right and so I guess how it was a baseball I could hit you know two home runs or three home runs right nothing and it was cool because like it keeps hit, you know, two home runs or three home runs, right? Nothing. And it was cool because like it keeps you grounded. You know what I mean? Like to them, I wasn't doing anything special. I was just.

Playing, doing what you do. Yeah. Like I was supposed to do this, you know what I mean? And my mom listens to all my podcasts and then she always like hits me up with questions. She's like, I really, you know, I try to listen, but I really didn't understand anything you were talking about for the last 49 or 53 minutes. But it's, I mean, she really listens to all of them. And my parents were always very supportive of, you know, obviously I had a long DJ career. They would fly around and come to my shows and yeah. And whether they love the music or not, you know, they were always kind of there. That's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. It was really cool. But like, I, you know, I just, like, I listened to you talk about the things that you've done. And it's sort of like resonates with me, obviously, because I had that DJ career, which certainly was not like on the level of being a major league baseball player. But, but it was great. You know what I mean? And then transitioning out of that and not having, I guess, that level of attention from people. And that was a competitive in its own way too. It was always like the bigger gig, the better gig.

And then transitioning to something that's so like personal is you would think that music would be more personal, but when you're actually out there, it's not, but trading is very personal to me. Like in crypto and stuff, it was a very interesting transition. And I always kind of joke that traders, your competition is yourself, not everybody else. And that's interesting that you said that about art for you because like you know if i said hey how do you compete i would have thought you'd go play pickup ball or something like but you're like nah it's

like it's my art it's my art you know no that's funny today about trading and like crypto like for i feel like crypto is good for certain people that can keep that discipline and that like, they can like tone down that competitiveness. Like for me, like when I first got in and like, I was like, no, I gotta, I'm going to push the limits. Right. Yeah. Especially everybody you can't push the limits of crypto. Like the limits are there, you know, whether you like it or not, there's never going to be like, like you can't go 10 X and try to get 11 X cause you'll be back to negative

here in no time. In 10 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm the king of that. You know? So like one thing that's interesting about crypto, these artists,

like you can make a lot of money in crypto, right? Like you see some artworks like one day a day sold for like $55,000. Right. So you give all these guys and girls like this Ethereum, right. Or whatever, but there's really no like financial planning for them. Like, like for me, like I was, somebody would just say like, here, like some companies is here, here's my Ethereum. You just, you invested how you,

you know what I mean? Like, yeah, I feel like that would be a good business. Yeah. I mean, I think, I still think that there's a sort of like this overriding idea that it's all monopoly money. Like I was joking with my friend the other day. I was like, I'll throw like, you know, 10 grand, whatever, into some coin I've never heard of. I know nothing about the team, whatever, but it's like, one of my best friends was like, I got this brilliant business idea. I need 10 grand. Get out of here. You know what I mean?

So like, what is it that makes it seem like it's not like real money? I don't know. I think it feels that way to a lot of people. And that's the reason. Yeah. Yeah. I guess you're right. Maybe it's like the volatility that it keeps us like going. Right. Like any moment it can just go to, you know, to act on you and you're just like oh great you know like it's maybe that instant satisfaction i don't know i mean there's always

a chase in it i think too like you there's always something like i don't know i just think that you know for me like there's some artists that have a lot of ethereum you know and like to have somebody like say okay this is probably the best play for you. Like, I think that crypto art world or NFTs in general are just going to keep going up. Like the more mass adoption there is, the more Ethereum is going to be spent. Um, and like, I just feel like, you know, we, we artists, we just want to create, you know, you're doing, you're primarily selling physical paintings, correct?

So like, how does, I mean, I think a lot of people maybe don't really even know about create you know right you're doing you're primarily selling physical paintings correct so like how does i mean i think a lot of people maybe don't really even know about nfts but how does that play into your future plans and i mean i guess you've already talked about that a little bit but like you know i think a lot of people have a hard time jumping to like the value of digital art like what do i put it on as a screensaver like how do i use it yeah um and for me too with like my gallery and people that i work with like pr manager and all that like they're very not like i wouldn't say not they don't understand it either so like what we've been doing is identifying solutions to bridge the two because they see like the potential there like they see that like

part of it made sense but they wanted to be able to sell it to their collectors right and i think with this upcoming project um is it you can you're going to be able to access it on your tv if you have apple tv right so you're going to see my art on apple TV and you can also see a change. Like I have control over, over, over aspects of this, this artwork, the owner of it has control over it. So that's like something that is like smoothing it towards that mass adoption. You know what I mean? I think this is going to be my first real go at like, we're going to get a lot of this next month and a half. We're going to a lot of this next month and a half we're gonna a lot of like

pushing it so talk about the art that you've done that you've been selling obviously i think everybody is seeing you're the astronauts i mean that's like that immediately that's how i associate you it was funny because like i i mean i have to be honest i didn't even put together that you were the baseball player i love that yeah when we originally like linked on twitter and stuff i was like this dude is a cool artist i was like that's the michael johnson you know what i mean so like can you talk about your early art why you were painting the astronauts and what what the inspiration was there yeah that's really i'm really glad to hear that actually man because i tried really for a long time to have art not be that baseball like i never wanted to be good at art and people buy my art because I was

a baseball player. Right. I was on this journey to buy my, my, buy my art. Cause it's really good on its own merit. Yeah. Yeah. So the Ashton came about, honestly, dude, a couple of months ago, I would say like in February or March, I was like wandering around like aimlessly as a creative, like doing projects here and there, but like never had a distinct style. Like you said, you identify me with the astronaut. Like I've fought for years trying to figure that out. Like I've had exhibits and just been random stuff, you know, and as an artist, you have to have something like to be like, no, you have to have something that people can identify

you with. Like whether it's like Jay-Z can't go make a country album and think it's going to sell. So like, you have to stick to like something that people identify you as with art. So, um, a couple of months ago, like this randomly, my, my nephew asked his mom if astronauts could be black. And I said like, something just sparked, like, like this kid's four years old, but he feels like there's limitations on his dreams.

And I remember like when I was four, I never thought limitations. Like I never saw limitations until I retired. Like never. So like, I was like, I just wanted, I just started just painting him, you know, just to inspire him. I would send him pictures. I would, you know, him in his astronaut outfit, like massive. And he was like, this is cool. And he was like, you know, take pictures and stuff. And then it just kind of just took off from there like astronaut helmet kind of became that symbol for me like of like chasing your dream whatever it is right because astronaut is one of those things that's

like so far out there to be yeah like who's an astronaut you know literally limitless yeah yeah so that's kind of how it came about. Yeah. Had nothing to do with like crypto moon memes. No, no, no. Cause I, my stuff wasn't moon in it. I don't think anybody was in March. No, no, no. Yeah. March was a, uh, was a rough, rough time. Definitely. So, I mean, your plan now is art. I mean, that's what you're going to do do that's what you're focusing on but it's still interesting to me that you focus on like being a crypto artist because inspiration

can come from anywhere as an artist right i mean do you paint other things i mean do you you know i know that when i did music i'd be working on like i have 80d but like i'd be working on like 97 beats at a time and it would be like i would do something for like 30 seconds i'm like no i don't like those oh let me pull up at a time and it would be like, I would do something for like 30 seconds. I'd be like, nah, I don't like those. Oh, let me pull up that other project and it was just really scattered. That was just my artistic process. So you were efficient like that, right? Yeah. I was always working and then I would eventually get them done,

but I definitely couldn't, I could never like sit down and be like, I have to do this song in a week and it's the only thing I'm going to work on this week. Yeah. No, I think that I used to do that, right? I used to like, I kind of push this. I got like, you know,

I'll send the same paint. No, it's like, you know what? This is getting ridiculous. I'm just throwing everything away. So now I only paint when I feel like paint. Like if I'm not in the mood to paint,

I don't paint because it's just going to be bad. So then I'll go into the studio and usually I get in about five in the morning, sometimes like earlier, maybe six. Cause that's when I'm just, you're bright you're good you know um and I'll just go I'll go until about 10 o'clock and I'll text my daughter like yo uh tomorrow night I'll do bad you know bad time with our daughter and all that but tonight like I'm gone you know and I'll just i'll be gone for 14 15 hours sometimes straight and yeah i want to talk

about that so how much has having a kid affected your artistic process and um i guess even your lifestyle i have a lot of thoughts on that myself obviously so i'm curious as a new dad it's hard because you can't go you can't go 48 hours no you have to do tomorrow yeah like i um i'm really bad at working so like i work i can work every single second of every single day like i don't sleep so like i have a million different things going on so like works i don't know it's not like work to me, you know, like I just, you just do it. So like when she was first born, it was really hard because like I had, I didn't adjust properly. Right.

And I'm sure like I wasn't like the best beginning, but now like, I'm trying to get in a group where it's like, you know, only paint, I get up early. So like before she's up, I need a couple hours. She takes a nap in the morning. I'm still gone. But then I don't work on weekends anymore. So that was always my thing. I always work on weekends.

So I said no more on the weekends. And then I try to take her to lunch by myself. That's really hard to do. Yeah, impossible. So just trying to find that balance, I think, is really tough, especially if you're really into what you're doing. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's, I mean, it's any parent who like is involved in the crypto market knows that, right. Cause it's 24 seven. And so, I mean, I just have to like set hours and set stop losses and hope for the best. I think, you know, there's no stop losses on Uniswap.

I do use Uniswap, but I just positioned my, like literally my entire position would be equivalent to a like one or 2% loss portfolio. So like I, when I approach Uniswap or anything that has no stop loss, I just assume it's going to zero and plan accordingly, you know? So it's just way smaller positions and kind of more for fun, but I do do it, but it's going to zero and plan accordingly, you know? So, um, it's just way smaller positions and kind of more for fun, but I do do it, but it's really challenging. It was, it was challenging to be with music too. When I had my daughter, um, man, it's so funny looking back at how oblivious you are to what life's going to be like. First of all, when I thought I was going to have my

studio in her bedroom, that's how dumb I was thinking I was going to like, she was going to nap while I was going to like sit there and make beats. But I had, it was South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Like I had a gig on like March 19th opening for future. And I was like, am I going to be able to go? She's going to be born. And she was born on the 16th and I left the 18th. Like we got her home and I went to the airport,

like from the hospital dropped her off and I went and it was just horrible Like I was there for three days and I didn't like I felt so guilty and terrible Striving to find that balance. It was like from that day. I knew that whatever I was doing was not gonna work anymore You know and so like even artistically with this It's always been a struggle for me to like put away whatever i'm doing and focus on those other things in life yeah i think to keep it in perspective like i started seeing myself go down that path like right now with this project like i said i'm gonna fly out tomorrow i'm gonna be on it for a while um but like she'll come with me you know like we'll hang out and i try to like i just try to remember like this isn't last like she's not gonna be this young forever no like we go to lunch the other day she throws her plate across the restaurant she's like 10

months but she has a lot of attitude and I'm like you know that sucks and I'm stressed out from here but you know it's not gonna last forever like I can paint whatever you know so yeah I think the problems just evolve that That doesn't last forever, but then you got like a teenage daughter and a whole other world of problems. Yeah. I mean, that's what I'm going to be at the studio. So like having been an athlete for so long, how do you like, I mean, keep in shape, like, and I've always been interested to ask someone who played baseball. Cause like, I know dude, you played basketball go play pickup basketball but you can't like go

pick up baseball right so like the minute you're done with baseball you're kind of like done with baseball right unless you like go to the batting cage or like go practice stealing bases or something i mean what do you do no dude i couldn't like if i go hit it if i try to hit baseball right now it wouldn't work too well. I haven't thrown, I haven't thrown a baseball since my last game and not even like, I picked it up. Nothing. I haven't touched a bat either. I don't, I don't have a bat. I don't, I don't. It was your whole life. Like nothing. Like my daughter will never know I play baseball.

Like, like ever. Cause I don't have anything like no, like memorabilia, no likes. So like physical exercising, like I always knew it don't have anything like no like memorabilia, no, like, so like physical exercising, like I always knew it'd be tough when I got done because like, I was so used to having someone like a trainer every day, like. Someone driving you, right? Yeah. Now like I wake up at five and I'm like, all right, I gotta go work. I gotta go do this. You know what I mean? So like, I've been awful, awful. Cause it's just like, I admire every normal human that isn't training to like be an athlete

that works out. Cause I'm like, you have to have so much motivation, you know? Yeah. Yeah, you do. Don't be a part of the 7.1 million Bitcoiners in the United States who have Bitcoin and a retirement account, but don't have Bitcoin in their retirement account. Seriously, you can hold Bitcoin in your retirement account and not just GBTC. How can you do this? Through a self-directed choice IRA by Kingdom Trust. The first thousand users to open a choice IRA will receive $62.50 in free Bitcoin. Visit retirewithchoice.com slash wolf. That's R-E-T-I-R-E W-I-T-H-C-H-O-I-C-E dot C-O-M slash W-O-L-F. Podcast listeners receive extra points to move up the waitlist and get their choice IRA first. Do it right now. It's time to take control of your financial future and free yourself

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investvoyager.com or search for Voyager on the iTunes or Google Play store and get $25 in free Bitcoin when you use the promo code SCOTT25. That's investvoyager.com, promo code SCOTT25 for $25 in free Bitcoin and start trading today. For me, it's like it centers me. Like I said, I have ADD. I think that's the best medication for me is just to turn it all off and go exercise in some way, shape, or form. But it's interesting.

I would have never thought that you literally hadn't touched a baseball or a bat. I mean, do you miss it? Are you the kind of person who are like, that's done, on to the next thing. I'm passionate about something else. I don't even have time to think about that no i mean do i miss it i don't know man like i i don't touch music yeah same same those are those turntables back there might or might not be plugged in i'm not even sure i haven't touched them in probably a year besides

just playing a record yeah i feel like with the same, that's just like, I don't miss it. I don't like have any disdain for it. Nothing. It's just, I'm just locked in on what I'm doing. Like, that's it. Like I just, like I said, I look at like, I saw an old picture of me, like training double play, like in Cincinnati or something. This guy was like taking me out, like in the air. It's like, I don't remember anything. Like it didn't seem like it was my life you know like like i saw like i was like playing opening day in 2015 it's like that doesn't even seem like that wasn't the thing it's like i'm so locked in every day on this art and like i don't know sometimes i'm like i don't think i enjoyed it as much you know like when you're in it like like the music for example like you're like opening for future.

Right. Yeah. So like locked in, you don't enjoy it. So like now, I'm trying to like, that's really dope. You know, like you should like be like kind of like not boastful, but like, yo, like this is dope, you know? Um, so with art, I'm trying to do that a little bit better, like be more in the moment. Like, like I had an exhibit just opened up in LA, um, a couple of weeks ago and things were selling really fast. I was like, you know what? I'm so fly out there. I want to see this. Like, yeah. There's it in the gallery right there on like, uh, uh,

Beverly Boulevard. So we're right there on the corner. I have my, like right on the corner. I was like, you know, I'm going to go fly out and see this, you know, I'm trying to just enjoy things more now. Right. But do not like, I mean, describe to me that feeling like your first major league at bat. Dude, it was, it was really, really cool because it was kind of crazy. But the guy at first base, he died in a car

accident in the Dominican Republic I think it might have been that off season or the year after he was like the star young pitcher man and I remember facing him he was very loud and we used to go at it all the time and my first at bat I think it was like 13

or 15 pitches man and it was in Kansas City right after they went to the world series. So like Kansas city was shit, like for the wrong, right. Like winning like 50 games, but then it was that world series that year. So we opened up there sold out and I was like, Whoa, and I never seen something like that. Right. Yeah. I mean, it's a whole other, yeah. You know, like you don't see the faces, but you look and it's like, this is really loud.

Like this is really loud. And you see like, so my new, and it was 15 pitches, man. And he just kept throwing it. He was yelling at me. I was laughing at him. Um, it was just like, it was really, really, it was really cool. I wish I kind of slowed things down a little bit, but it's hard, you know, you're around 50,000 people, you know,

like hard to be in that moment. Right. And how about that lifestyle? You know, like half the year on the road hotels, I think people think it's so glamorous, but I'm assuming that it's not at all. Yeah. That's one thing I was thinking about a lot is like, and I've done that with my daughter, right? Like if I work 14 hours a day, like I miss her a lot, you know, I feel guilty, you know, like I need to be helping out.

So like there's guys, you know, they go 10 days, we go up 10 day road trips, 12 day road trips. And it's like spring training is like, you know, two months. And that's why when sports is coming back and talking about that bubble, we're doing, you know, like family and stuff might not be able to go and stuff. It's like, they're not going to see family for like two or three months, man. That's crazy. Do you think that these, do you think that sports are going to happen?

I mean, like you think NFL football is going to make it through a season? Yeah. We're talking about hope, man. I'll be too right fantasy yeah i know man that's a good question i think so it's it's too big not to like yeah baseball did it the baseball's traveling and you got it we have a lot of people that travel with us, you know, travel secretary, medical, like I know NFL is 53 guys and a lot of people too, but I think if they're smart and responsible enough, it can be done. It's just going to be weird if no fans in the stadium, right. Of any game NFL is most impacted by crowd noise. Yeah. I mean, like you go to play in Seattle, you know,

it's not the 12th man, whatever. It's not a joke. It's a real impact on the game. So I wonder if that would it be the same if they even do come back, you know? Yeah. I think it's going to be a different sport. I wonder if they'll just like pipe in extremely loud noise to make the players feel like it's not just a scrimmage. I don't know. I think NBA NBA has been fun to watch with the bubble and all that. Those guys,

like you say, pick up basketball. Those dudes are going to play hard at LA Fitness. Yeah. That's the nature of the game. Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry. I was going to say, I don't know. I think the NFL can do it. I do. They got the resources to get it done.

Baseball is so interesting because it's, it's a team sport in theory, but no aspect of it really matters who your teammate is besides maybe like pitcher and catcher. Right. None. Yeah. Like, so like, that's one thing, like when I come to art, I'm in art now, like, and I'm really trying to build my art out as like a brand, right. I'm not just focused on paintings. Like this project coming up is strictly photography like conceptual

photography another one is like I'm working on a sneaker deal right so like I'm trying to build this whole message out where it reaches as much people as possible so right now like we're working on building a team right and like it's so funny because in baseball you're right like not you can have mike trout on your team you don't make the playoffs ever right so like i'm trying to instill that with us is like even though like i'm doing all this like i still can't make myself a brand by myself right like you gotta have people to do this and that. People ask me, you really need this and this. I'm like, yeah, because at the end of the day, I can't move the needle on my own.

Just like Mike Trout can't move the needle on his own. LeBron James in the NBA game for sure can carry his team as far as he can. But I think just playing baseball helped me learn that. Even if I go four home runs, we lose five to four like i did nothing you know what i mean right if you're on second base it doesn't really matter who's catching the ball on first exactly i mean it's just it's the only sport where it seems like players are so interchangeable in a team sport with that many players i mean like the the dynamic you, like you would think it would be that way in the NFL, but like the dynamic of losing even like one lineman can like blow up a team

completely. Right. Yeah. That's what I think about the NFL. Like when you really watch it, it's the same things like baseball, like if you lose that lineman or if the chiefs don't have Patrick Mahomes. Yeah. It's a wrap. Right. I think of the Steelers last year without Roethlisberger. Yeah, man.

So, I don't know. I think my life path has been really planned out before me. To play baseball, to understand how important teams are, to understand, I don't know. I think it's been a really cool journey. Like I'm like really just so. Do you think that art is like, it's the, what you're going to do until the end? Or you think that this is like the intermediary of three acts or four or five? Or is it just not how you think? No, I think it's, I think it will always be there in some shape or form,

some form of creativity, but like I work with, I work with people who are just not how you think no i think it's i think it'll always be there in some shape or form some form of creativity but like i work with like i'm a co-founder of a company right now that we're getting ready to build out that's really cool and um i don't know i just always have to have something else new to learn you know what i mean like my philosophy is if i have one life like i want to try to do everything try everything out and I'm okay with failing that's one thing yeah it's like I failed I don't know my average I felt 80% of the time my career and I played seven years you know so like I know how to fail so like now if I

fail like it's just like whatever it means like you know i hope i fail a lot of times because then i learn you know okay and that then the next one's gonna be bigger and better you know what i mean what's it like like being an athlete and you're not like the big star on the team you know what i mean because like you're always fighting for a job and you're always like like you said head down you're kind of hustling all the time i mean you know i think again i think people think that being an athlete is so glamorous but most of the time you're just working your ass off at your job to make sure that you have a job right yeah yeah it's hard man um for me like i was always like that star guy right like coming up

high school of course minor leagues even though even when I was on the White Sox in 15. Then you get traded to the Dodgers and it's like, boom. There's Kershaw, there's Adrian Salas, there's Karl Crawford, there's Chase Upley. I'm just over here in the corner. Just give me

a number, man. I don't care what it is. If it's 103. You have to have that intrinsic confidence in yourself. I don't care what it is if it's 103 you know you have to have like that intrinsic like confidence in yourself and I didn't have that kid like I think like my that's my career really turned because I didn't really I was used to being a guy now like I'm not the guy like at the very end of the total you know I mean so like having that confidence and whatever you do you have to build it before you have success. I don't think confidence should come after you have success.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Every professional athlete basically in the world was like the man until the time when they became a professional athlete. Right. Which is kind of crazy to think about, but it's like every single one of them was a superstar. Yeah. Every single one's like every single one of them was a superstar yeah every single one not every single one during the major league given the nba everybody was a star on their team everybody yeah it's just crazy to think about so what was what was the like final uh you know nail in the coffin for baseball when you hung it up and said

that's it i mean to be really honest and transparent uh in 2018 i got traded to tampa that's a great opportunity for me the year before that i had missed most of the season with atlanta uh basically shattered my entire hand like one of the last games of spring training and i came back i just kind of sat the bench and i don't have a role anymore um and i got traded to Tampa, and I said, okay, this is a good opportunity. I worked really hard, went with that spring training, and just went off, like went out of my mind.

And it was weird because I was playing at a level that I'd never played before in my life. Like every time I got to bat, I was like, I'm either going to get a home run, a double. I was playing second base, third base, shortstop, center field, left field, and making plays. I was like, I'm going to make this team. Like, not even a question. But at the same time, I'd go home, and it would be, like, the most, like, depressing time of my life.

Like, I wasn't sleeping. I lost about 20 pounds that spring training. So, I went from, like, 200 to, like or like 179 the number i haven't been since like college and i was i finally thought maybe i just have adb or whatever it was and i went to see my um team doctor to get some adderall you know let me get some adderall you know this is it this is where my symptoms are man i feel down all the time even though i'm having the best spring of my life and like you know um i go home i don't eat i'm asleep just really depressed so he sent me to another guy and it's like you know i think he might be suffering from like bipolar disorder i said

you know that's interesting because i don't think i never heard of this i thought it was bipolar has a stigma of like one minute you're screaming and one minute you're happy. Next thing you're laughing. Right. Right. I'm like, yeah, whatever. So he's like, you know, I'm going to give you some medicine. And I said, all right, man. But he gave me this medicine that messed me up to a point where like, I, I, it just numbed me. It took all like lithium or something. Yeah. Like something. Yeah. Lithium. Give me lithium, give me lithium and Debra coat. So he gave me that right at the beginning of the season.

So I didn't make the team, even though I had this race green, I didn't make the team. They needed a right-handed bat. They're facing. I forget who it was like the Yankees start the season. I had a bunch of lefties. So I was like, I'm sending you down, but you'll be back up. That just set me down. I was done. I didn't sleep for a couple days,

nothing. He gave me that lithium and depakote. For me, I was such a high energy guy. I'm going full speed every game. Every game. Just fun. I was done like that lithium and that depakote man like it i missed like like seven games to start the season just from that medicine

like just wow didn't they say that like mike tyson was like i think his story was kind of the same thing like he was such an incredible boxer and so ferocious but he had like you know like i don't know if it was bipolar or something it so ferocious but he had like you know like i don't know if it was bipolar or something it might have been lithium but and then like the choice basically was like do we medicate him and let him like live a happy life or do we like yeah keep him as a good boxer because he couldn't fight when he was medicated basically basically that's what it came down to like my last year i played like medicaid i don't think i've ever really talked about it so like that was like my last year i played completely medicated and it was the worst year

of my life like i think i don't even know what i hit i didn't hit anything almost like i forgot how to play baseball i would throw the ball away like not care um never worked out never practiced and looking back like sure like i could say like like, I'm upset because, like, I had this great opportunity. I was with the Rays. I had, like, four-something in spring training. Like, they would call me up. I just played normal, you know. And then my only love in my life was baseball.

So, like, just gone because of this medication, man. And I don't think I would have quit, honestly, if I wasn't on that medication, that medication just put me in a place where I didn't care about anything. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I went, I, like I said, I have ADD, but I didn't really deal with it until I was an adult and I started taking meds in my thirties and it was great for a while. And then after a while, I kind of felt like it wasn't me as well and transitioned myself off of it and just kind of learned to live with it. And that's, I think I've been much happier in that regard, but it's weird. I mean,

it fixed, I guess it fixes you in some way, but also just kind of can depending on what it is can fundamentally change who you are. I think there's people that need it, man. I really do think it's people that need the lifting, but they need a dental coach and stuff like that. There's other people like myself who I don't think i was really that like it was just a moment and looking back on i did have periods where like

i would go i would stay up for like seven days six days maybe six like an hour an hour a night go play a game fall out and come home and do that again and never be tired so i showed signs but it wasn't like i wish i would have had an opportunity to figure out you know recognize it acknowledge it and okay let's figure out a plan without this medicine that's going to just make you a zombie you know like let's figure out a way to you know work on this together you know it's weird that they didn't like give you warning that that could happen and i wonder makes you think about how much it's a totally separate topic but i think it's a huge problem that a lot of physicians like medicate first and ask questions later

it seems like you could have just like had some psychiatry sessions for a month or something and seeing if you can work it out but do you think it was because you were an athlete that they were like we got to fix this and they went right to medicine? I don't know. I don't know why that was it. And the dosages were like, they were extreme. I didn't feel well at all. I didn't feel well at all. Like, very nauseous, very sick.

Zero emotion to anything. Like, nothing. So I was like, you know, like I said, I think some people definitely do need it. Some people do have that chemical imbalance where it's like, so extreme that, you know, that is a really proper solution, but you know, for other people like myself, like, like Mike, like he said about Mike Tyson, like we fed off that, like no sleep, like you need, yeah. You need to be like, you gotta have emotion to play sports. I mean, you should

got it. Yeah. It's something to go. You gotta get mad. You strike out four times, you gotta have emotion to play sports. I mean, you gotta, yeah. It's something to go. Yeah. You gotta get mad. You strike out four times. I was striking out four times and nothing. Yeah. That's crazy. Yeah. So that's interesting though. Cause hearing that that's the way that I guess things ended for baseball, that kind of actually seems like a story that makes sense for transitioning into art right I mean taking that

passion and they're taking the emotion and pouring it into something you think that was part of the reason that you got so into painting and were able to, it was still tough though, because I left baseball not ready to leave. So like, I didn't really prepare myself as an artist, you know, to make that transition. So like, we had a baby and had all these new stresses in your life. Now I'm jobless essentially. Right. Like I don't know what I'm going to do next. So I was pushing all these creative like options, you know, like blah, blah, blah. And you know, it was, it was really, really scary, like really scary. Um, but I don't know. It just, it works out. And that's why I don't, I don't take any of my success for granted. And I don't like, I don't because I worked my ass off to sell paints and I worked my ass off to be in magazines. You know what I mean?

Like I wasn't like this was just like handed to me cause I played baseball. No, like I, I really went through like a really rough time and a lot of failure, a lot of like fear and I'm going to enjoy it. Like I'm going to enjoy this this you know what i mean i don't know when it'll end like will it end prematurely again like you know like i mean art in every form is you know it's it's not fickle i guess when it comes to like your passion for it you'll always be able to do it but it can and as a business i mean i can tell you i was rinsed by the music business more times than i can possibly talk about it all the time like all these times i thought i

was at my bank i was there man i was on the cusp this was my big breakout moment and then just completely got screwed or messed something up or you know just like it just never seemed to like yeah get over that edge i mean it a, it's a vicious business, but I don't know anything about the art world that you're in. I mean, I'm sure it's really similar. It's like, you don't have control. Like if someone likes your shit, you know, someone's going to like it. If not, you're not. And if a lot of people don't like it, what are you going to do? You know,

you're creative. You a lot of people don't like it what are you gonna do you know you're you're creative you can't sacrifice your style like you can't go try to emulate somebody else because people aren't gonna like you know authentic yeah i mean right like if you played something you know that you didn't like or maybe something you didn't like for somebody else how am i used to do it i used to do it however i mean I used to there came a time where it was like, you know, someone would say I need a song that sounds like blah. And I'd be like, that's not what I do, but I can make it. And I was always unhappy. So what artists inspire you? I mean, obviously as a visual artist, I mean, you know,

I don't, I don't look at artists anymore. When I i became amazing when i figured out what i was doing like when i figured out this is what i want to do like i don't for example i don't use paint brushes anymore i just paint my hands i work with all hands and i finally realized that by not looking at the artists like the artists i worked with for that exhibit they can paint the most straight lines you have ever seen like freehand standing on one leg and their work is their work looks like it was on a printer right it's the most amazing thing of all time that's not me so social media you go look at this you go look at that you try to you know when you're creative you can't be going on social media and going on the internet because you're going to lose your creativity but try to

emulate this thing and that thing so like once i figured out that okay i'm gonna do my hand i'm gonna paint with charcoal and oil whatever it looks good to me and this is what i'm gonna do like i don't i don't look at other artists anymore. I respect other artists, you know, but like, I just know myself, I go look at them. I'm always, you might see something of theirs and like emulate it, you know, I don't know. Yeah. But that's, I mean, that's exact, that's described music to the T, right? Everybody's just copying or trying to find the next trend. So like, but you, I mean, you just like tried painting one day and now you're a

great painter. Did you take classes? did you watch youtube videos i mean or did you just like buy a whole lot of canvas and paint and figure it out i had the resources financially to be okay for us a year or two right so i was able to give it a shot and fail you know what i mean like i was able to give it a shot and fail. You know what I mean? Like I was able to give a shot. So like I was extremely fortunate in that sense. You know, like if I hadn't told somebody like how to be a, you want to quit your job and be an artist, like,

okay, that's going to be hard if you don't want to like really take classes because you're going to have, you're going to have to try for years until you find your style. You know what I mean? That's signature style style so like you have to be prepared to not make any money for this you sound like you just sort of just boom this is my signature style that's right you know what i mean unless you've been doing it your whole life

yeah but that's exactly so for me it was just you know i used the resources i had from baseball extended them as long as I could, painted, you know, see what I could do with paint. And luckily, for my family's sake, you know. But you were willing. I mean, that's a huge gamble. You were willing to take, like,

everything that you had from a very successful previous career and risk it on the idea that you might be able to like turn painting into something or art into something dude because i'll tell you what man i'm a gambler straight up like if you will say like let's play war for a thousand dollars i won't play war because not because like i just like gambling i like money or anything i just don't bet on myself every single day of the week like that's it it. So like if someone, if my girl was like, you know, and this is, I want to quit my job and do this. Right. I know her now.

So I'd bet on her, you know, cause I'm around her every day. But like, for me, like, I also know what's in my brain. I know, I know how I go. So like, even though, you know, she, it was, she's amazing because she was watching me fail. She's, you know, carrying our baby and like, it was like, yo man, like what's, what's up, dude? Like you got to figure this out, you know, but she was cool about it because she was just like, you know, like, okay, he'll figure it out and figure it out. And she was getting stressed out

eventually, you know, but I just kept the faith, man. I just better myself, man. That's it. So, I mean, so you already feel, you said that you're kind of more successful at art than you even were at baseball, which is a pretty big statement. So that means Sky must be really the limit.

And by the way, I feel that way about my, about what I'm doing now versus music, even though I did it for so long yeah i don't know at least i have a lot more confidence in it and uh yeah what do you measure so how do you measure your success though like is it by profit loss happiness no like i think it's happiness and just like stability which are like two things i didn't really consider it that other times of my life i guess but my i mean my situation is so similar to yours it's unbelievable because like you know our child was unexpected my my first kid my our daughter my music career was like i was the old

dude in the room you know like i was already in my late 30s when we had her so like it's you know like in that movie uh what is it dazed and confused from matthew he's like you know i get older they stay the same age that was me with my dj career right everybody else was in their 20s and i was just getting older so i was already like on my way out of my music career whether i wanted to admit it or not so like when she was pregnant and stuff i was really trying to figure it out you know and trading came even after so i had not had it figured out when my daughter was born getting a trader though like i've been i was something i'd already done but i never had the balls to like go full or into it and like you know because that's a that's a big risk kind of like the risk you took and saying listen i'm just gonna spend all my money for the next two

years to see if this is going to be a career that's what becoming a professional trader is to whatever degree you know but uh i don't know i mean i think success just comes with like knowing that your family is taken care of and uh feeling like you're not gonna like fall off that cliff and be completely like useless tomorrow like i've got something set up where like i think i have stability and that's something that you don't find really in like an art a music career at least for me like I had major highs and lows so I don't know if it's the same for you I don't know if are you gauging it money or after hearing you talk I think that's how I gauge you like like the money provides that stability plain and simple like you have to have a house you know the daughter has to go to

school you have to provide and you have this certain level everybody has a certain level of comfortability like some people like more high upscale stuff you know like it's okay like everybody has different levels of yeah comfortability um so i think hearing you say that yeah like that stability like right now like i wouldn't say like i'm at optimal happiness because I'm still like pushing to get that stability. Right. It's just this, I, you know, my exhibit just launched. Yeah. I mean, my exhibit just launched not but, uh, like a month or two ago, like literally, we came up here to Maine and I, uh, had this brand new studio, massive, no idea like what, what I wanted,

what I wanted to do. Like no gallery presentation, no manager, nothing. And, uh, I was like, I'm going to, no idea what I wanted to do. Like no gallery presentation, no man, nothing. And I made a painting and I said, I'm ready. So I called this gallery that reached out to me years ago. And after, if I had any paintings to show, I had nothing. So I was like, you know, I'm not ready. And I said, I think I'm ready. I was like, I know I'm ready.

Like, this is what I got. Yeah. Like, let's do this. So like, it wasn't until like, honestly, this summer that, you know, this just started. So like once I build this to build it and I have this like infrastructure in place, then I feel like I would be at that. Okay. I'm successful right now. I'm still in that grinding stage. I think. I mean, I think you got to always be in that grinding stage because I definitely want more.

You know what I mean? And I think that most people do. But I think it's like this last few years, the first time where it's like, I'll be good in a year from now, no matter what. I definitely never necessarily felt that no matter how well I did because I knew that it just always felt like it could fall off a cliff. And listen, I mean, COVID and all this crazy stuff. I mean, you never know with life, but at least I think that the things that I can control, I'm doing well at controlling. Yeah. Yeah. This is impressive in that market, you know, I have a lot of other things, you know, the podcast helps and have, you know, all these

other things, these other streams of business, it's very hard to rely just on trading. And I think that, uh, that's, you know, there's a, there's a, there's sort of this like fallacy of thinking that if you're a trader, you should do nothing else and you should just be able to see that way. But anyone who's really done it for a long time knows that, uh, it's going to be bad moments no matter what you do and to have other things, you know? So. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely, man definitely man especially you don't want to ever do just one thing either like not me and you're gonna have different streams coming in you know and they eventually all benefit each other just because you know you might make it

something else but you realize i suck at this i'm a grinder so you keep grinding in different areas yeah i keep trying new things do you think you'll ever come back to sports? I mean, not necessarily professionally, but like, do you think that you'll ever like get that itch where you need to? Yeah. I've been asked a few times. Um, the company we're building right now has a lot to do with sports. So yeah, I mean in some shape or form, I would be in sports, but not like, I don't watch sports. I don't, unless i've been on a game which is like

now i don't have time to look what like the spreads are i just don't watch sports so um i think i think i'll be involved with sports in a more of a how can we provide better access to black kids in baseball stuff like that you know like how can we improve in the creativity of this campaign and the marketing and stuff like that, you know, more of like this. You said that you never felt there were any barriers for you. Right. Right. Um, yeah. Cause I grew up in a place where Indiana is very kind of like rural. Right. grew up in a place where indiana's very kind of like rural right yeah same time when we grew up like we kind of had we had a lot of help like a lot of help a lot of people paid for me to play

travel ball you know right and the members and stuff and i was really lucky you know but that just proves what access can provide these kids like i I wasn't getting any money. We didn't have money, but I had access to these travel ball teams. You know what I mean? And just be able to have kids get that access. Like I remember one time I couldn't go to baseball practice because we didn't have enough money for gas to go to work there that week. My parents had to play. So like, there's a lot of kids in that situation on a daily basis, you know, they don't have the resources to do that. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to do it.

And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it.

And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it.

And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. And I'm like, I'm not going to do it. that's really interesting and you got to think about how many i mean certainly music but like how many incredible young artists there are out there that have no platform and i guess the i mean i guess now that at least the internet is somewhat and social media is a great equalizer to some degree i mean when i was growing up if people were music and stuff you didn't it was literally just about access right you couldn't even share your stuff with anyone unless you physically had a person to show it to. But now, I mean, I guess, you know, sky is kind of the limit with social media.

Yeah. Social media is big for kids. You know, like I don't understand it as much, you know, I haven't, I got Twitter. That's it. And I can't do that. You gotta like, it seems like it's just, youizing, you know, post. So I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like,

I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like me I'd like creating I like doing stuff like I don't really like publicizing I come you know maximizing you know oh yeah so yeah but there's also artists out there that are like I like the dope artists that like don't have that big a following but you've seen them like in these massive collections and institutions follow a following and talent have two very like disparate ideas right i mean it's that way with everything but yeah yeah like there's something cool about it like even in music you see like some guy you know just he makes crazy viral videos got all these like followers but

the music's trash like but yeah my gang gangnam style wasn't the best song that was ever made but it was like the most viral at the time right i mean and that's the thing about art i mean the most famous artists are not the ones who were necessarily the most talented or whatever they just either were in the right place at the right time or they had access kind of like you were talking about it's i mean you have to have a certain base level of like talent i think to to succeed in art, but then you have to have that lucky moment and capitalize on it. Yeah. And then you gotta be a businessman. Art's about selling. You can't be an artist and not sell. So like you, I gotta have this business habit about you. You know,

like there's a lot of artists out there that are really good at art, but they'll sell. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe that's their pride, but I don't know. I like eating, you know, like I that's a bribe but i don't know at the end of the day i like i like eating you know like i gotta eating's fun yeah like i gotta eating school like i'm not gonna just make something just to fulfill myself i do you know i just keep it aside or something but at the end of the day this is my job you know how much of your art is hanging in your house um so do you make stuff and you're like i'm not

selling this this is mine um everything in my world got a price tag except a few days you know but like i'll make something with the idea that it won't ever hang in someone's house so like presented you know but at the same time you know knowing that i want to keep this you know what i mean something personal to me that like no one else would care that's kind of how i do it if they buy it they buy it you know or i put a high price tag on something you know that's kind of how i operate yeah this is mine and unless yeah right yeah right unless yeah exactly unless should be my like slogan yeah exactly so where could everybody like after this obviously i know we're up against it like where can everybody find you follow you and what should we be looking for like you know in the coming months to years

yeah so artangels.net is um all my current works that are available on there um instagram mike underscore johnson 3 same as twitter um and i would say september is grind mode for me a lot of pr pushing for uh a launch in early october of a this new kind of art i'm doing that nobody's seen been planning it for a long time never talked about it um big plans for it but that's gonna be early october then we'll finally be able to release it so just september might just be dead for me but that's good calm before the storm i think nft i think the nft space is so so interesting and i've've had a lot of companies of I'm starting to hear it like bubble for sure. You know, that's sort of the future of the kind of crossover between crypto and art.

Certainly. So there's a lot of companies that are, you know, doing it where, you know, you don't have to get a metamask wallet and you don't have to get a, you know, go to Uniswap. There's, there's companies that are making simple use of the technology, the underlying technology of it all, which is the blockchain. Like that is like what provides like uniqueness to all of this, you know? Right. I look forward to seeing what you're going to do with it, man. And thank you so much for taking

the time. It's a crazy story. And thank you so much for sharing, I guess, things that you hadn't sort of shared before. I never talk so much on my podcast either i'm usually listening but you ask me questions now i put all my crap out there as well so i'll have to do this again and follow up in a couple months and see where you're at thank you very much