Jim Jones On Nas Comments, Chrissy Lampkin Relationship, Music Career, Going Viral

Jim Jones joins Angie Martinez and unpacks what he recently said about how he compares to rapper Nas. They go on to discuss Jim Jones’ music career and his family upbringing leading to that. He also talks about his relationship with Chrissy Lampkin, and their time on reality television on ‘Love & Hip Hop.’ Plus, Jim Jones lays out what it takes to be a hustler and how to go viral.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jimmy out here just you know, get in the streets,
rattled for no reason, just out here, just poking bears
for no reason.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
You gotta wake up. Ain'tn't sleep too long. No bears
hideen Nate.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Let me give you an intro card. Harlem born rap legend, entrepreneur,
one of the founding members of the iconic hip hop
collective Dipset. Over the years, Jimmy has done many, many things,
from music to fashion to real estate, reality TV. Yes,
that's probably a good time cultural commentary. Yes, sometimes he

(00:44):
pokes bears for no reason.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Sometimes Broadway plays.

Speaker 1 (00:49):
Broadway plays One Man Shows. The resume is very long.
The amazing Jim Jones is my guest today. I think
One Man Played. I was so good. I was at
that premiere. Yes, we're gonna talk about we'll get to that.
Let's start first with time and a place that we
are in right now. When I book you on my show,

(01:10):
because I said to myself, I was like, you know,
people underestimate the journey of somebody like you, like what
you've had to do in your life, what you've had
to experience and door uh hustle your way through to
get where you are from where you come from, and
I really wanted to have that conversation with you, So
I was like, Yo, we should have Jim on the pod.

(01:30):
I think there's a lot of things about how people
could learn from and then we book you and then
the next day Jimmy's viral. Yes, and I watched the
clip of you talking about you versus NAS, and I say, oh,
that's just Jimmy trolling. That's just Jimmy getting the people going.

(01:51):
But people bought all the way into it. So once
that was I correct, Was that what it was or what's.

Speaker 2 (01:56):
What was the definitely correct, but let's speak career. I
didn't start it. There was a young gentleman that they
asked a question too, and his viral clip wasn't viral.
It was a young kid from Atlanta. He was on
a podcast and they asked him what was more relevant
Jim Jones and NAS and that viral clip. That clip
was super viral. And I let all of these people

(02:18):
that platforms to ask that questions. And naturally, if you
go and talk about me, I'm always talk my shit.
You know, I know, I know how this game goes,
but I don't want nobody think that anything that I've
done was me starting. I was just me being asked
a question and me answering as a man. Even from
the beginning, like from the beginning of the year when

(02:40):
I did the Justin interview, I didn't start it. They
asked me how I felt about what was said about
me on another platform from some other people. You know,
I'm not a troublemaker, but I like trouble if that's
the case, you know, I mean, if that's what we're
going into, and not to say it like that, but
you know, I'm for it. I'm built for this is
what my whole thing was built on, was that was
that type of engagement. So here we are, and I

(03:01):
told I get people a prerequisite, Yo, I know how
to go viral. This is easy to be in an
easy society where it's very.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Easy to people take that bait so easy, too easy.
It's a little scary. But you seem to like not.
I mean you clearly you're not afraid of it, but
I see you also seem to lean.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Into it sometimes.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Yeah, if what do you get out of that? And
then what and why.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
We're we're in a community where everything goes viral, and
actually everything viral turns digital and digital and is up
with streams and turns into a revenue stream for me.
Of course on I'm so on everybody's Explorer page. I'm
at the top of this page. I'm at the top
of that page. So whether if you like me, don't
like me, know who I was and now find out
who I was one click away from making me some money,

(03:43):
you know what I mean? And that aspect. And then
I also have a record label, well have artists. I
have records out, I have music out. It makes it
that much easier to know who Jim Jones is. It
makes it that much easier for you to become a
fan of Jim Jones. Like I'm worried about myself when
I make all of these moves. At the end of
the day at work, I turn I know how to
turn my negatives into a positive. Man, I didn't know

(04:03):
how many people love now and I'm watching I'm watching
people go absolutely crazy. But it was it's what hip hop.
I mean. It's the people that I do it as
a fan too, that I probably would go bashit crazy

(04:25):
in the same situation and things like that. I love it.
That's what the game is built on, and things like that.
But that's not making no mistake. I put a lot
on a lot of work in and I did a
lot of incredible things that a lot of people have
not gotten to do in this industry.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Yeah, the fact that you're still finding ways to be relevant.

Speaker 2 (04:40):
But I left a long trail of good things that
the generation now of gravitating too, more than when we
actually did it. It's who I've made myself to be
is more prevalent now than when I started. As I'm
looking at these younger kids coming out here and fashion wise,
some of the lingo like, it's this incredible see what

(05:01):
I left and how these young generation is holding it up.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
What are you most proud of me?

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah? Oh now, I mean I'm proud to still be here.
Perseverance as a testament of the game. You know, this
is a young game, is what they say. I've seen
so many come and go. So for me to still
be able to hear, to feed my family and live
the life that I want to live without complaining and
acting anybody for no help and things like that, it's

(05:26):
a great place to be. It's not easy, So I
had to learn a lot along my journey, or it
wasn't an easy world. It's still in the easy world.
It's an uphill battle for everybody that's a hustler trying
to get money or a businessman. It don't stop.

Speaker 1 (05:37):
Yeah, there's so much about your journey that I'm sure
we can learn from. I want to get to all
of that. But what is your relationship with social media
right now? Like it's like a scary place, but clearly
you're not scared of it. Clearly you dive in, you
baite it a little.

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Bit, like baby, I look at it, and then I'll
probably go jump in the pool be laughing, like, yo, bro,
you gotta stop. They just go jump in the pool,
just wait till the click up. Then I drop some
music and then they go, oh.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Like you really don't care about the perception of how
things are fed or the received or the contents or
you know.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
I expect that whether you do something good, whether you
do something bad, they're gonna talk negative about you. They're
gonna try to damn play accomplishment no matter who you are,
and things like that. But it's cool. I know that
I'm greater than a lot of things that people would
love to be great at. I accepted that a long
time ago in life. You know that's not gonna start
my greatness. I'm gonna continue to excel and who I am.
I'm comfortable with that. You dig like I've never seen
somebody hate and do the same thing. Across that a

(06:33):
line of discreptions. So it's like, Yo, do you like that? Though?

Speaker 1 (06:36):
Do you like the idea of somebody underestimating you or.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Of that you do? I love that because I can
see it from a long away. I can see you
don't know me from allaway. I can see you don't
know my strengths and my abilities or I got the
ability to do anything I want to do. In like,
I'm a jack of all trade. I'm not the master none,
but I'm better than the master though. Won like it's
a whole thing that goes with me. And I really
mean that, you know. I mean like if I feel
like if I wanted to be a doctor, I probably
could be a doctor like four or five years right now,
if I was to go to cop That's how my

(07:00):
brain is and things like that. I ain't. I'm not
the most naturally talented person. I have the ability to
learn anything I want to learn. As people are seeing today,
I've learned myself how to wrap. I've taught my lessons
and I taught myself you dig, and I put myself
in this position, and I have no problem with learning
other things in this life. I'd rather be a learning
in a person that thinks they know it all.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
People probably don't realize that you didn't start in your
career as a rapp where you started at all.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
I started it was their partner. My first job in
this thing was a hype man for Camp, you know
what I mean. But I started as camp partner, became
in this mission wholeheartedly. I knew what my job was.
He knew what his job.

Speaker 1 (07:36):
What was your job?

Speaker 2 (07:37):
My job was to make sure nothing happened to that
man while he was trying to be successful, because I
knew that if he be successful, then you turn around
and make me successful. And that's exactly what happened. He did.
Everything else doesn't even matter how much knows it.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
And I know I was gonna say, how much do
you credit you being successful to Camp?

Speaker 2 (07:54):
I credit a lot to Camp, but I also credit
a lot to us, because behind closed doors, it was
us that put them in that position.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
So it was the combination one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
I mean, he was doing music a long time and
things like that, but it was a pitual moment where
before he got signed them two years was very crucial
to everything that we did together and his journey of
becoming who came is And that's along with Befeltwo and
things like that. And I take nothing away from the
story that they had as friends and all that before me,
but I know that pivotal time and them two individuals
got kicked out of school. I came in as a lifesaver,

(08:24):
you know what I mean. I gave them niggas food
and shelter when they didn't have it. And I say,
and they couldn't get it, but they know the situations
that they were in, you know what I mean, at
school kids and.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
They went to school, they got kicked out. You said,
both of them got kicked Both of them got kicked out,
and you gave them food in shelter. How did you
have money for food and shelter?

Speaker 2 (08:39):
I learned how to do it. You did. My grandmother
had passed when I was a teenage job been on
my own, you know what I mean, since when about
seventeen seventeen, like by myself in an apartment. They came
to live with me in the projects from my grandmother house.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
In your grandmother's house. Oh, but she was gone, passed
away at seventeen.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, seventeen eighteen.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
So you got that apartment to yourself. They come, but
you still got to pay the rent.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, I paid the rent. I paid PU the love right,
that was Mace manager. I was a hustle.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
I always been here in the streets.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
I know how to make money. He did. I don't
know if you want to call it the streets, but
I know how to make money. And I was saying
they don't know how to make money and not saying that.
There wasn't times where Cam had to do what he
had to do to make a dollar and things like that.
But from the beginning I always had to make a
dollar because I always been on my own. Yeah, I've
raised my whole family since I was a teenager. I
used to hustle and get my mom's money. You heard, well,
me and Cam got together. We figured out different ways

(09:30):
to make money together, and Cam put us in a
great position to be where we at right now. So
I took no credit away from him, but it was
a pivotal time that.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
That's crazy when you think about it's funny because you
you have how was your sign right twenty two? But
as a parent, you think of a seventeen year old
kid in the projects in an apartment by himself, paying rent,
taking care of other people, it's not it's kind of crazy.
Like when you think about that age and what I

(10:00):
don't know as a parent, like do you look at
your sons sometimes and think, yeah, it's about the seventeen
year old version of you.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
One hundred percent, And also try to tell them on
the flip side, is that what I didn't do what
I did for you for to spoil you. I do
what I did what I did for you to give
you a better opportunity than I had at achieving anything
you want to do in life. We didn't have the
opportunity to achieve anything we wanted to do in life.
We had that back against the wall. We had to
learn how to survive, to get ourselves out of certain situations.

(10:26):
About a grace of God, some kids were talent enough
to end up to where we're at right now, but
nothing was promised. We didn't have anything. We didn't have
a platform to bounce off of. Nobody knew financial literacy.
Nobody didn none of that. Most of us was on welfare.
Most of us are getting fool stamps. Like I'm from
the bottom of it, like you did. Like my moms
usually take me and fight with the social worker. Like
I know what the ins and outs of the welfare system,

(10:47):
Like I'm one of them babies. Wow, you know what
I mean? Like I don't know if people get this
picture of painty, like I'm from the real, real bottom
with nothing. I've been traveling on the train since up
in eight and nine. I've been telling people this for years,
Like I'm a real anomaly, like I'm different in New
York's city. I was a man long before I was
supposed to be a man, and I had that mindset
because of where we grew up at and what was
in front of me at a young age, and what

(11:08):
I was seeing. All I seen was hustlers in my
life at a young age, or from my moms to
my uncles. So I seen what the drugs could do
when you make money off it. I seen what the
drugs could do when you start to abuse it and
tear a whole family apart. I've been in the middle
of it. If everything I know what drugs could do wholeheartedly.
Those are one of the reasons why I never did
anything but weed in my life. I never tried the ecstasy,

(11:29):
I never tried any of that shit, the perkoset, I
got injured and shit like that painkiller. But I never
did any of that, any of that. And I pride
myself and that because I was scared straighted that from
when I was younger watching my family get torn apart
by that same drug her. But I have addicted behavior.
I got caught up in marijuana, and not to say,
that's no better than anybody else's vices. And I learned
that as I got older, I'm no better than anybody

(11:51):
else because we all have some type of addictions that
are bad for us, you know what I mean, no
matter what it is. And I had to learn a
lot of things about how to handle that and my
family alone, to accept certain things and shit like that
that I once was embarrassed by.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
What is the history of addiction in your family?

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Everybody?

Speaker 1 (12:06):
What do you mean?

Speaker 2 (12:07):
It's addicted in my family? Everybody, everyone except for my grandmother.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
How did she pass?

Speaker 2 (12:15):
My grandmother passed a cancer that ninety five.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
That must have been.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
Broke every bit of soul I had. I mean, like
every bit of that was my mother. I lived my grandmother.
She raised me from a baby. Not to say my
mother didn't raise me, but my mother was a baby
when she raised me. When she had me, so she
was so young and she still was outside running the streets.
And my grandmother took the responsibility of really raising me
and my sisters from a young age. And you know,

(12:45):
I go and she uh. When I think about how
early she passed. She passed when she was fifty five.
I'm forty eight.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
That was young, especially if everybody else in your family
is addicted to drugs, do you have this one person?

Speaker 2 (12:59):
She really she was an angel or she was a
goldfair of lady. She showed you are going to church.
Her church habits led to my church habits. And even
though I was running the streets, I used to take
cam and everybody to church once a year in New
Year's That led to him taking everybody else to church.
Like these things that my grandmother has still give me

(13:19):
a really a lot of the reasons why I'm able
to still be here today, you know what I mean, Like,
I'm very realistic in who I am and very realistic
in life. I'm mostly a goldfair of man. I'm not perfect.
I make mistakes, and when I make mistakes, I want
to you know what I mean, Pardon me. I'm very
emotionally everybody I wouldn't haul on my sleeve. So here
we go with tears and ship.

Speaker 1 (13:38):
You want to tea, We get you. It's crazy because
those are the things, right, those are the things that
shape you. Take a moment like that, you're seventeen. Your grandmother,
the one person that's not addicted the drugs that you
could rely on, that's been raising you, she's gone like.

Speaker 3 (13:56):
That.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
You could have went in a very different direction, going.

Speaker 2 (14:01):
In a different direction.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
What do you mean?

Speaker 2 (14:04):
I was gone? The music saved me from the streets. Really,
the opportunities that music presented to us really saved me
from the streets. And I mean I was stuck in
it for of every long time, way after we signed
that ideal, just because I didn't know no better. I
had to teach myself better.

Speaker 1 (14:24):
What do you tell? What do you tell that kid
right now that seventeen year olds in that same space
that you were in at that time?

Speaker 2 (14:31):
Shit? I mean it worked for me, So now should
I tell them to stick to your ground, stick to
your heart, and be careful. You know what I mean.
If I had somebody tell me about certain things that
was gonna happen in life, shit, I would have been
grateful for that, But I had to go head on
with everything that I had to handle from a young age.

(14:53):
And just thinking about that now with shit like that.
You know, I don't really talk about my grandmother. So
right now you mentioned this on that I try to
not talk about it. I know she hurts a lot.
She got there, yeah, because she didn't get to see

(15:13):
her dope of how dope of a person her grass.
So it came to be.

Speaker 1 (15:19):
You don't believe that, and let's get you a tissue. Baby.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
I don't want you to even You know, people would
have been watching over, but physically you would have liked you.

Speaker 1 (15:28):
Probably would have liked to spend some money on her,
let her feel it.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
The money would give everything that got right there, I
would be comfortable living on the streets. In fact, they
did two seconds with her.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Mm hmm. This is your mom's MoMA, your dad's.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Mom my mom my dad mom is still a lot.
She's a Kangst ninety four right now.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
Where she she lips. I'm sorry I got you emotional
so early in the conversation that it doesn't Usually it's.

Speaker 2 (16:00):
A cool little bits of things that humble me. What
do you mean, because I'll be moving so fast and
sometimes I forget about what's more important in life, and
it's easy to get caught up in this game. You
just bring me back to reality. But it's cool.

Speaker 1 (16:19):
What do you think it's important?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well? With life? Living it to the folks. You know,
I've learned that people are more important than currencye to
me in my life. You could always make some money,
you can't make a good person, and you can't get

(16:42):
them back once they're going, so cherished them what they're here.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
If you love anybody, you've had Christie around for a
long time, Yeah, that's Ride and Die right there.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
I bet you that's her.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Probably probably she'd be on it.

Speaker 1 (17:07):
And it is here, Chrissy. We're just talking about you.
And I said thank you, mama, I said, Chrissy, And
you called like he was like you heard, you knew
he was talking about you. Said you're better be talking

(17:30):
right you back bye? Mama? So cute, So yeah, silent,
Come on.

Speaker 2 (17:43):
I don't even know how to draw all up. I've
being conferences. Everything on my phone be ringing, so we.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Don't need that. We're having a real one over there.

Speaker 2 (17:53):
I think I got it all right. So yeah, cool,
she made me smile. I feel a little bit better.

Speaker 1 (18:01):
Oh she made you smile, Chris.

Speaker 2 (18:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:05):
How long you guys been together?

Speaker 2 (18:06):
Oh? My son is twenty two twenty one. Is that
the longest relationship in my life I've ever had? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (18:14):
Yeah, of course, yes, of course, of course, I mean yes.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Besides, I haven't had too many relationships in my life.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
What is it about her? Because you talk about people,
how people are important, good people, you had this example
of this, this woman who took care of you and
your grandmother, and I don't know, when Christy comes, how
is it her? Like, what is it about her?

Speaker 2 (18:35):
No? She just makes me. She just it's something about it,
Like when I'm talking right now, she makes me smile.
She's a dope person. She's very solid, and she's been
through a lot herself, from the same place that we
come from, from Harlem. You know, I've had a crush
on hers since I was younger, So you know, it's
a lot of different variables to it, and things like that.
But besides that, she's a very solid person and very

(18:58):
milageable person. She was there at some of my worst
times where probably other people may have not stuck around
so long. You did like then, and when you have
people like that that's in your life, you got to
treat them right, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
It's interesting because whenever somebody is able to maintain a
long term relationship with somebody, usually somebody had to teach
you how to do that right. And usually people have
their references are their parents or their dope, aunt and
uncle who stayed married for ten years or had a
relationship for twenty years or whatever. It's like, what were
your examples of how to do a relationship? Did you

(19:34):
have any good ones?

Speaker 2 (19:35):
No? I have my grandmother and I have my all viola.
I watched them to stay down with their husbands, do
all types of stuff, you know what I mean, And
they value what the bond of marriage meant from the
Bible perspective, and things like that's a death toust part
through thick and thin or whatever may have you. When
I watched them do that, you know what I mean.

(19:56):
And the part of me is that that comes from
my DNA I've watched those are the only two people
in my life, and probably all of these sisters, like
my Daisy, all of them have like the same relationship
with their husbands. I've never seen anybody who is married
from that hierarchy in my family get divorced.

Speaker 1 (20:14):
M that's interesting, you.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
Know what I mean. And I kind of kept a
bit of that, plus the fact of two kids from
Harlem that came up very hard and deserved something better.
Like we you knew what we could do together, I mean, And.

Speaker 1 (20:27):
Did you know each other young?

Speaker 2 (20:28):
You did right?

Speaker 1 (20:29):
No, you had a crush.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
I know who she was. She didn't know who I was.
She started to know who I was when we started
doing music, and she would see seeing me and pick
on me every now and then when she would see
me outside.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
She said, she would pick on you.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Tight enough, do your hair ship like that?

Speaker 1 (20:44):
That is so oh my god, she said, tight enough,
do your hair.

Speaker 2 (20:51):
Like that?

Speaker 1 (20:52):
So what was the confidence? Why did you thought that
you had a shot with that? How did you?

Speaker 2 (20:59):
I didn't. I didn't think I had a shout at all.
I met it at Miami, you know what I mean, Like,
we didn't even meet in New York City. I met
it in Miami, was in the same proximity, and she
turned to white nigga, nigga you know who I am.
I'm like, oh my god, I was fingered, well, herd
up was faded. I felt like Diana Roys turned around

(21:22):
on me.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
So that is so cute. Come on, Chris, So what
was how do you think you got her?

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Then?

Speaker 1 (21:30):
What do you think it was? How did you convince fly?

Speaker 2 (21:33):
Now, let's not get that right. I'm not I'm not
a bad look.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
So you talk that talk a little bit, the talk,
but she.

Speaker 2 (21:42):
Kind of let me. She she kind of let the
conversation that night.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
And did you know you'd have to treat her differently?

Speaker 2 (21:47):
One hundred percent? One hundred percent you know what I mean.
I knew that from off top. I know I know
what came with it, you know what I mean. And
if anybody that knows who she is and things like that,
but understand what I'm saying, ship like that, you know
what I mean, Like, no matter what, every woman needs
to protect her, you know what I mean? And I
knew that I had to beat that for her, for
who she was, and I didn't let niggas know, do

(22:09):
not play with me? I'm gonna go above and beyond.
Oh you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
She probably does the same for you, you.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Know, every day, every day, every day. Don't play with
What does she.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Do when you say something on that damn what did
you say something of social that goes crazy to her? Oh,
she doesn't care.

Speaker 2 (22:31):
She like what did you do? Like she's it's not
part of her life.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
It's not in real life.

Speaker 2 (22:37):
My business is not a part of the real life.
It's not part of it. Telling me go to the
grocery still go to, uh, what's the supermarket? We go
to the organic joint, Like, it's not part of that
old fools, the whole foods organica. Like I got chores
to do, like Nigga take you the garbage, y'all? Fuck
all this other shit you talk about, you know what
I mean? Like her like their builses do? How about that?

Speaker 1 (22:57):
Well, what about when you guys were on the reality show?
Because you did, I mean, you guys would like them
blueprint kind of right, love and hip hop and that
whole that whole thing. And what was that time like
for you?

Speaker 2 (23:09):
Wow?

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Like what did you learn about it?

Speaker 2 (23:11):
Like? I mean, well, for the most part we knew
how to sell dysfunction. I mean sometimes it would go
a little left and it would it would come, it
would meet, it would be home before we before we
got back home, like you did, like whatever we was
going through. But for the most part, we knew what
we were doing. We knew we were selling dysfunction, and
we knew how to do that clearly, very well, you know.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
So you stepped into it knowing that we went.

Speaker 2 (23:33):
What the plan was. My mama knew what the plan was.
I know what the plan was. Christy knew what the
plan was. But in the midst of that crazy shit
that we sell us sometimes we forget that we're selling
shit and it goes into a real place that we
will Yeah, let's bring it back. People forget got real too,
We got weight all the way to far we started
living the real characters like, no, that's not who we are.
I mean, it's a bit of us in every character

(23:54):
they see, but it's a lot exaggerated. It's like music
and people put the ten on the two of music
and people, you know what I mean, Like they might
have only sold the ounce in their whole life, but
in their music they sold five keys, you know what
I mean. So It's the same thing with reality TV,
Like it's really not reality TV. It's a premeditated television
show that you're pretty much washing. They put a scenario

(24:16):
in front of you or they everything is written down.
But for us, we didn't do that, Like our method
of reality TV was our method, you know what I mean.
And that was a bit of the power struggle with
them because we knew what we wanted people to see,
and we knew what they were trying to exploit, you
know what I mean, and shoulders walk away from it.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
It's tricky because you even think about that time, like
and you guys are starting and Yandy worked with you
that all kind of unraveled on TV. That was real.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
No, yeah, I got into a real play that got.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
Real And then what else just relationship stuff like even
even the proposal, because some of that stuff stays with you, right, Like,
so you did it as a show, you played into
these characters, this function.

Speaker 2 (25:01):
A lot of that does stay with you. But as
you know, everything everything becomes numb boid after a while,
you kind of just put that, I mean, it kind
of just put it behind you, yeah, like you know
what I mean. Like there's a lot of things that
we'd be done on that show. That's just for TV
and it's going to stay there, you know what I mean.
We don't revisit those problems. We don't look at those problems.
You don't even look at the show. We never even

(25:21):
looked at the show while we did it, you know
what I mean, Like if people ain't tell us, or
we saw a little Christ and things like that. But
we never constantly sat down and watched one of our episodes.
Not about shit. We was already living. It's not like
we made a movie or anything, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (25:35):
But what about the what about the storyline about about
getting married? That's a real story, you know.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
It was a real thing at that time. It was
a lot going on between us in our relationship and
things like that, you know what I mean. And God
bless everything worked out, you know what I mean. And
TV seemed to put a lot of it, had a
lot of pressure, stressing, press and stress on us at
that time and things like that. I mean, it's a
double that short, especially for where I was at in
life and the money that the TV was paying. It

(26:01):
just was a lot going on. But once again, I
don't regret anything I got through it, we faced it
to happen, and now we're in a better place. We're
in a way better place.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
And when you think about like you were saying, who
you are, what you come from, and that you had
to learn to survive and learn to make money, Like
to me, I look at you as somebody like all
of these things, by any means necessary, are an opportunity
for a hustle. Like I feel like, like even to
go back to what we were talking about before, in
this whole nas thing, I'm looking at you like he's

(26:31):
just stirring shit up.

Speaker 2 (26:33):
Just to be stirring shit up, or you give me
your lane, I'm gonna stir it up. Right, I'm gonna
talk about it now. Somebody mentioned it. Now we're gonna
talk about it, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (26:43):
But even like so even the reality show, it's like,
but then I just wonder, like what is because now
you're also talking about the people you really care about.
So what if there was any blowback for you? You
said no, you said you kept it moving, but even
your mom, I mean.

Speaker 2 (26:57):
There was a time where it caused a lot of confusion.
But like I said, that was the time, you know
what I mean, This is the time that we love
them way much more. The way that my family is
even tighter, nd a few times tighter, and my mom
is good, you know what I mean. But everybody is
in unisonse you and I love, I love the I
love where we're at right now as a family.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
How did you do that? What was the biggest thing
to help fix some of that?

Speaker 2 (27:23):
Me Me being a man, me growing up, me growing
up and and acting like a man within my family
because I know I am the leader of my family
no matter if my mother and ever involvement things like that,
I know they're looking upon me for that leadership and
things like that, you know what I mean? And I perfect, No,
there's some things in my family that we still can
make tighter. Yes, you know what I mean, But we

(27:43):
working it every day. We work consciously and show each
other love and pray for each other and things like that.

Speaker 1 (27:47):
How did you feel about Sierra running up on.

Speaker 2 (27:51):
You at the once again? That was a pre major
thing for my premeditator from my side about what I
know could go viral. She was walking by, she was
all the way out. She said, I said, what's up?
She said, what's up with my sister? I was like,
she good. She's like gonna make me come over there.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
You invite it.

Speaker 2 (28:08):
Yeah, come on, I know anything Sierra's gonna say, it's
gonna go super viral. Next to me, I'll take it.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
Be like, let's get it.

Speaker 2 (28:15):
Let's get it. She's a married woman, one of the
few marriages that we see publicly that looks very good.
We don't know the ins and outs, but you know,
they show a lot of love and things like that.
So one of the few people that I would allowed
to even perform to talk to me about anything that
had to do with relationships because they living in her truth.
So I gave it a floor. Don't have to listen

(28:35):
to anybody, know, but she's one of the few people
that should have the floor when it comes to talking
about she figured it out. Yes, yes, you know what
I mean a pers so you did, so whatnot? And
that was the whole thing in my mind, Like it's
gonna work for me, It's gonna work, We're gonna go viral.
Let's take it. She's on she be doing Oprah and
things like that. What come on over, sit right here? Well,

(28:55):
and Christy said, she loves me, like well, like what
I'm just going viral, all right, cool whatever, just here
viral DEI viralocity. We needed. That's how we make the cash.
Right now, I'm still in the game and people I don't
want people get too I do a lot of business,
but as a music executive and a music artist, this
is one of the ways of marketing that's working right

(29:17):
now in today's music. I'm only following what is being
done successfully by the youngsters. There was a time where
we would dictating how music runs, and now at the
time is they're dictating how music runs. And for you
to make some money, you got to find how to
find your medium in the midst of what these youngsters
are doing, in the midst of what I know how

(29:38):
to do, so that I can stay current, stay relevant,
and stay making some relevant money. I want the nostalgic
money you heard, I don't want. I don't want the
nostalgic money. I'm not selling nostalgia out here. I'm selling life.
I'm living life. I'm not a storyteller. I'm a life liver.

Speaker 1 (29:53):
Doing the weather.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
Whatever you did, like almost stay current. So I don't
think people get that, but I know you get the
whole hall. Yes, first thing you said when I'm working.
I was like, you out here because she said yes.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
I knew right away, because I know what that is.
I came up with that the norm. I came up
with flex by the way, let's stir it up. He
was the kinging too quiet, like it's nothing going on,
let's let's make some noise.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
Yeah, why not?

Speaker 1 (30:18):
I was like, here you go. But we're at a
different time where it's like if people are scared of.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
That, to see how it works, and to see how
people are scared to do certain things, so in caging
certain things or talk about certain people, or like, it's
just wild to me how nobody really has a backbone
when it comes to certain shit in this industry. Do
the fear of getting canceled or fear of being talked
about by their peers or social media and a negative light.
I don't give a fuck, not one fuck, not one

(30:48):
they got. I couldn't even buy a fuck to give
you did like, I don't care. This ship is all make.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Literally, somebody paid you to give a fuck.

Speaker 2 (30:55):
They paid me to give a fuck. Maybe I can
act like I gave a fuck. I'm gonna tell on
shit like that and look like I give a fuck,
but I could give a kid two fucks and shit
like that, you do. I care about my business. I
care about making my money. I care about staying current
and relevant so I can keep making my money and
keep getting these business opportunities that comes to me. You
know what I mean? It starts with the music. Above all,

(31:16):
if you're an artist and you're doing business, the business
will slow up if you don't got some music that's
still popping. You know what I mean. I it starts
with the music.

Speaker 1 (31:24):
What is that though? Because you've done well in your life,
you've made money, Like, what is the thing that keeps you?

Speaker 2 (31:30):
Like?

Speaker 1 (31:30):
When is it enough?

Speaker 2 (31:32):
I mean? Shit? For me, I made money, lost money,
was rich, was poor, was rich, was poor. I had
to figure out that money wasn't in I had to
learn how to make business. So every money, most of
the money I made in my career, I said, I
definitely spent over twenty million dollars.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
How bugging.

Speaker 2 (31:50):
That ain't even ball And that's bugging your bugging didn't
know the value of a dollar. This living life every
day in this sixth expecting more money to come and
not knowing that man, that shit could stop at any moment.
I had to learn so much. Man, there's so much
in this industry because they give you so much. When
you lift, they will let you do any and everything

(32:11):
you want to do, you know what I mean. And
it depends on how you carry that. And if you
gave your ass, people your ass that kiss going up,
they all know sooner or later you're going to come
back down. Word you hear, and you're going to see
everybody asks on your way back to hell you're and
I had to and and to be able to still

(32:32):
navigate through that from the top floor back down to
the bottom floor and come back up. It's not easy.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
You know. There's a thing that they say, like also
if if you go up, grow up with like the
trauma being poor or broke, that even as you get
older you can make a lot of money. You could
be a millionaire, a multi millionaire. That that fear of
going back being broke again. Like it's like trauma. It's
like money traumas.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
It's super trauba. And it gets even worse when you
get on this level or living life because everything is
so expensive, you know what I mean. People think you
got all this money. Yeah I do got money, But
if I don't hustle every day to pay these bills,
the same way you got to work every day to
pay your bills. It'd be detrimental for me the same
way it be detrimental for you, you know what I mean.
So it's like I'm constantly on the hustle to make

(33:21):
more money. That's what life is about, you know what
I mean. Money, Money fixes a lot of things, you
know what I mean. They say money don't buy happiness,
but it's shit. It made me smile a lot of times.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
Money is nice. It's better to have it than not
got it.

Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yeah, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
So it's like it doesn't rule my life, but I
prefer to have it than not have it.

Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah, sure, yes, for sure.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Wait before we move on, where are you at with
marriage now? What is your what are your thoughts your
philosophies about it? You've clearly made a decision not to
do it. You clearly love me.

Speaker 2 (33:54):
I haven't made a decision not to do it. And
that's a very touchy thing because when you talk about
it and I say the wrong thing and then it
goes crazy. And that's one thing I don't want to
be in social media about talking about you know what
I mean, because I don't that involves her and I
don't want her to feel that type of way. Do
we have a thing that's working right now? We do

(34:15):
know what we want to do, and you know what
I mean, And that's not for everybody. You know, you'll
find out and you'll find out what we have to
But right now we're in a great place.

Speaker 1 (34:22):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
And we've been together longer and seeing a lot of
people be married, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (34:27):
And you're not afraid of commitment.

Speaker 2 (34:28):
No, obviously not yea, you know what I mean. Obviously
not because usually that's the thing. Obviously not Like I'm
not even the boss in my household. I'm permitted her.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
But did you because I hear men say that. Not
all men are comfortable doing that right away. Sometimes it
takes a while to fall into the role of like.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
I'm the man in my household.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
Yeah, you know what I mean, don't get it twisted.

Speaker 2 (34:53):
I don't get it twisted there. But I ain't the boss.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
But you like it. I love it.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
We all work for somebody still gangs up.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
What is the difference between man of the house and
boss of the house.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
The man of the house is once who provide, who
takes care of make sure everybody is dead, everybody is
taken care of. That's the man of the house. The
boss at the house is usually the person who runs
the house, and she runs the house. You know what
I mean?

Speaker 1 (35:20):
All right? What is the definition Jimmy? Because when you think,
if I ask anybody on the streets of New York, like,
give me some adjective or definition of Jim Jones, what
do you think one of the words will.

Speaker 2 (35:30):
Be, I will hope, A survivor, a visionary, a philanthropist,
a person with a big heart, person that stand on
ten toes. Not perfect, here's a perfect example of what
could happen for you in life if you believe in yourself.
I will hope. It's some of them type of things
that's being said, because that's what I'm showing. I've definitely

(35:54):
been leading by example for a long time. Forget everything that,
all the things that's surrounded around me. Look at what
I'm doing. Actually, look at what I've done. Actually, you
know what I mean? Like, I'm leading by example as
a man, as an artist, as an executive, as a visionary.
That I've been doing that for a long time. Whether
you're noticing or not.

Speaker 1 (36:12):
What about a hustler?

Speaker 2 (36:13):
Who is he? He's too much of a hustler. You
had to learn how to be a businessman. He's so
much of a hustler. Definitely, That's one thing I can do.
Hustle circus circles an average person.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
What is the definition of a hustler to you?

Speaker 2 (36:28):
A person that knows how to get to a doubt.
A hustler and drug dealers two different things. I've been
a drug dealer too, but I've been more of a hustler,
you know what I mean. I've hustled all types of
things in my life to get money. They keep it
to stay afloat. So like what whoa I would tell
you this, I won't go to high school before we

(36:52):
started selling packs of drugs, were selling oreoles and candy
in high school. My knife in tenth grade me I
would work on Sunday at the grocery store about my church,
and I would rob them of all the candies of
only snick of balls. And then the next day and

(37:13):
then my uncle worked at Red Cross. He would come
with a bunch of box of oriel crea. Next day,
y'all go busted, Danz. We probably clear, like five hundred
dollars a piece at the end of the week selling
your house and cakes fourteen fresh and high school fourteen
to fifteen. Then after that they got got a little older,
try to go outside a little bit. But yeah, I'm
a hustler, so that's a mean.

Speaker 1 (37:35):
I mean since birth, I feel like, yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:38):
And I saw so many other things and things like that,
so you know, I mean, whatever, it's gonna make a dollar,
I don't care. I told a person before listen, if
I knew how to make a million dollars off of
taking cans back, I will pull up in a rose
voice with cans in the back and ask them do
you'll take cans and cassh you heard? Because I'm like
that when it comes to my hospital, doesn't matter what

(37:59):
it is. If it is if it's gonna equal a dollar,
then I'm not ashamed of it.

Speaker 1 (38:03):
But what is the goal? Like, is there an end
goal to that? Or is that or you gonna do
that for the rest of your life.

Speaker 2 (38:08):
You're definitely gonna hustle for the rest of my life. Really,
I'm definitely gonna hustle on. Oh yeah, I love it.
I love it. I mean even if I'm hustling between
my guys like I will. Whatever it is shit like that,
I like it, like you give my money.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
That might be one of your addictions, by the way, Yeah,
I just like the hustle. You might be addicted to
the hustle.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
I mean I addicted to work here. Somebody told me
long time ago. Bro, if you I don't care, if
you don't got a job, get your ass up every
day and go outside like you got a job. Get
to it, because sitting down is not gonna get you
nothing at all. I'd rather you stand outside on the
block than staying inside of your house.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Do something.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
Something's gonna come from it. Maybe you might not be good,
maybe even be bad, but something is gonna come from it,
you know what I mean. It's gonna get you into something.

Speaker 1 (38:55):
Can you sit still?

Speaker 2 (38:56):
No?

Speaker 1 (39:09):
Never? Like never, like it's a holiday weekend? You with
the fan?

Speaker 2 (39:13):
Do I sit still? Jazz?

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Never?

Speaker 2 (39:16):
Christy gotta make me sit still sometimes?

Speaker 1 (39:18):
How does she do that?

Speaker 2 (39:19):
Going outside today? Bugging chill out.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
When there's nothing to do with you still outside, chill out,
get some rest so you don't have a thing. Like
everybody has to have an unwind.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Yeah, we don't have. It's time for that when I
get ready to go, But you never do that. I'm
not on winding Now.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
You do vacations, Yeah, we do vacations.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
I work on those two. But be on vacation.

Speaker 1 (39:45):
That's not a vacation, that's a work trip.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
I mean, while you say that is the work benefits
of a vacation, I'm just making sure that the money
is secured.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
No, there's a vacation is supposed to be when you
don't work, when you're having just downtime. A work trip
is where you're working and on a trip.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
But who got time to not work?

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Really, it's a lot of people. Some people need it.

Speaker 2 (40:07):
I need it.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
I need to I love to work. I mean clearly,
I'm at work. I'm not afraid to work, clearly, But
I get to a point where I feel like I
need I need some quiet.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
What it is I don't go on vacation. I mean
I spent a lot of money go on vacation. While
I'm on vacation, I'm trying to get the money back
that is spent, that is spent on a vacation. That's
how my brain is thinking, Like what a fifty piece
I needed back quick year. What we're doing. We get
on this vacation. You gotta line up the money and
we need to get it back.

Speaker 1 (40:35):
Christy must love that.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
I mean, I mean it has its pros and cons.
Oh over, hustling could be a straining inside of the
household sometime that bat you know what I mean, doing
too much cool out.

Speaker 1 (40:48):
I wonder what a therapist would say about that.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Therapy therapist?

Speaker 1 (40:51):
Have you ever done it?

Speaker 3 (40:52):
No?

Speaker 2 (40:52):
I tried it. The lepists actually came to a house
when time and never came back. I was like, maybe
it's not gonna work for us, like bad. Everything never
ever came back, like she came to speak to me
and Chrissy, and then she started with Chrissy and then
she started with me and she was like, yoh, we're back.

(41:13):
I got to go to the car, gone left her
coat everything. If I'm lying, I'm flying, called Chrissy back
right there. Never came back for any of it, said
fuck this, they ain't got enough money to me. I'm out.
Oh my god, I don't think it's that bad. I

(41:35):
think our norm must be very heavy on other people.
Do you mean, like me and her norm must be
very heavy on other people, because if you don't know
us and you see it's interacting, you'll be like, you
might get like, what the fuck is gone? But we
really joking, like we really joe, like we're too comedians
that like at all times. But a lot of people
don't get it.

Speaker 1 (42:00):
You never tried therapy on your own?

Speaker 2 (42:02):
No, I did, like I had, like I had to
do some anger management shit one time I got locked
up like that. I just kept getting locked up for
self charges when I was younger, and the judge was
gonna lock me up for a year if I didn't
take anger management and therapy some shit like that. So
I had to do that shit for like eight weeks.

Speaker 1 (42:22):
How was that it was cool? Did you did you
learn anything?

Speaker 2 (42:27):
No? I was more on on on defense than I
was about learning anything because it was court mandated. Felt
like he was an undercover officer trying to learn about me.
So I just did the beer minim woman and things
like that. But I do know a few people that
do have therapists and things like that, and they say
it does pretty good for them. But my thing is

(42:48):
you just like it's like finding a girlfriend.

Speaker 1 (42:51):
Yeah, you gotta I always say that finding a therapist
is like the whole lifetime, but.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
It's like dating these therapists for the next three years,
trying to find it right there. I'm like, no, bro, no,
I ain't got time. You got chrissy, Yeah, go through it,
We figure it out.

Speaker 1 (43:06):
Do you have it? Did you do you feel like
you had an anger problem at that time, like an
anger management issue?

Speaker 2 (43:13):
Yeah? I definitely definitely grew up with a lot of
anger issues. Definitely, definitely definitely. As we can see, Yeah,
I'm very, very aggressive. I will tay more than anger.

Speaker 1 (43:26):
Like what does that mean?

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Like trying to keep my emotions inside, like you know
what I mean? Like I got to work on that daily,
Like I could crash out at any moment, Like you
know what I mean. Like I'm a master crashing, and
I had to learn crashing is not the best thing
for you and what you've got going on, not right now,
you know what I mean. So it's been it's not
been the easiest thing.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
But so you've had to self fiel because you didn't
really do anger management and you don't do therapy, so
you've had to self figure out a way to manage
the anger. Yes, what do you do is there? Tell
yourself something that you bring.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
Wake up on it now. Yeah, you gotta be y'all,
move through this day smooth as possible. Don't let things
rather you up too easy. Give people the space they
need the same way you want people to give the
space you need, and things like that, like you know
what I mean, Like don't engage because if you're engaged,
you can go further. It's just a lot of things.
I try to stay away from this shit like that
because I know how fast things can go left and

(44:24):
what I'm trying to accomplish right now that's definitely not needed,
you know what I mean. So it's been one of
the hardest things that I've been learning to do, but
also one of the most rewarding things that has happened
to me.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
What are you trying to do right now? Me?

Speaker 2 (44:39):
Yeah, man, it's so many things I want to do
well right now currently currently.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Like in business, like or what just like what are
your goals in life? Like where do you want to
see yourself in five ten years?

Speaker 2 (44:51):
I mean, oh, I don't know. I can tell you this.
I want people to know that I gave more than
I took and I was able to take a lot
and I'm still taking right now, you know what I mean.
They don't give a second chance. I took it, you
know what I mean. So that's what I'm at. But
I want to make sure I gave way more than
I'm able to take in things like that. And I mean,
so these are the things that I'm doing now and
prepping for. So I just I just I invested in

(45:17):
a large piece of property inside of New York City,
a huge piece of property, but I'm turning into full
content production and creative facility and not only for my
business and for my label, but open it up to
kids that need these opportunities and they don't have these
places to go. So from podcasting to streaming to gaming,

(45:43):
filming videos, photo shoots, green screens, forty foot ceilings, fifty
foot ceilings, this open air space like it's just got
a studio already in there, building more studios, and this
is something that I invested in like.

Speaker 1 (46:00):
That, you just want to teach people and you want
to give people resources to be able to.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
One hundred percent. That's been my whole thing, Like regardless
of who I am, if you know me, I've always
been giving back and helping people through my whole career.
Even when I didn't have it to give or have
it to help. But I knew sometimes in certain situations,
my help can help other people go to places that
I can't. And I've been doing that my whole career,
and this is just an opportunity that kind of sat

(46:24):
on my lap and it was felt like God was like,
what you're gonna do? You're always talking about this, You're
always talking about this big willy shit, nigga, You're gonna
boss up and you're gonna do what what you're gonna do?
I chose to boss up, And that's how God talks
to you. Yeah, that's how you're talking to me. The
only way he gonna get through to me. Her, you
can't be nice to me. Got to talk slick to
me to her, and then I got to answer, like,
now I bossed up? What's up? Now? Well, what's the

(46:45):
next test?

Speaker 1 (46:46):
You hear?

Speaker 2 (46:47):
So this is where we at with it. An incredible
group of people that's helping me go through it. I'm excited.
I'm super excited for this place and things like that.
What's happening now? It's now it's a real thing. Show.
I got like set designers coming by.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Who did that? For you, What like who taught you things?
Who put you on the game?

Speaker 2 (47:11):
Who like?

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Who did you.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Learn the industry from a dishustle? But whatever? Well, I
learned a lot from my moms, learned a lot from
my uncle Riki, learn lot from the hustlers, and from
my building. Learned a lot from people that I've seen
hustle I learned. I learned a lot from real live
hustlers in my lifetime. What about the business, the business,
I learned a lot from Cam. I learned a lot
from Dame. I learned a lot from being next to them.

(47:33):
I learned a lot from being able to be in
all the meetings. I was able to soak up everything.
And that's that's always been me. You put me in
the room, I'm gonna figure it out, and just to
be next to these people, I've I've learned everything in
the industry. The biggest the biggest lessons that I learned.
The biggest school I was able to be a part
of was with Kevin loud Kevin Louds gave me that

(47:54):
bigest executive position and won a music group, and I
was able to learn so much of it because as
an artist, you don't see what they doing in back offices,
and it was just really are and me, you know,
I mean in that order like Todd moscol Is, Joey.
They all worked for me, even though I never played
it like that you did, because I wasn't that I
was new in that position. I was learning everything, but
I was so future forward that they Kevin understood what

(48:16):
I could do and bring to the table and things
like that. So between being right under him of the
law is how I learned so much of the back
office stuff that most of these artists don't see. And
a lot of that is why I'm still able to
be here today, because I understood a lot of the
business side of it and understood what can happen, and
me being able to be an independent artist. I'm able

(48:37):
to go in whatever direction at any time that I
want to go, which a lot of these major artists
don't have the opportunity to do. So I'm not going right,
I can switching and fix it and go and every
So it's like I took a lot of that and
put it into who I am and helped my independent
artistry so much. Being able to be in these different positions.

Speaker 1 (48:54):
That's I didn't even know that too. I never realized
you was there doing like you. I never understood year
role there. I didn't know.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
I was the director of music for Warner Music Group Atlantic.
Any record label that was other than had to report
to me and then report to Kevin, even though you
didn't go like that. But Diet, that's how it what.
Maybe I was trying to get the deal call me
this office. I'm like, I'm trying to get this deal

(49:22):
and this is right before ball and I'm like, I
have certified gangs to someone. And Ken was like, I
see something bigger for you than that. You you a
wrap out here, you and all that. I felt like
he was trying to disrespect me at the time, Like, now,
how about you take this job position we all moving
over the Warner Music Group, and I believe in what
you could do. Come take this job is trust me,
it's going to be way better than you be an artist.
You can still figure out to be artist while you're there.

(49:43):
And that's what happened for me. He opened the doors
to the building for me and I took that and
ran with it. I was able to get like three
labels in the building. The success that I was garnishing
at the time led me into going into the ball
and record. I used half of the building to help
me do that. Along would be in the catching things
like that.

Speaker 1 (50:02):
So yeah, because Boland wasn't just a great record, it was,
but also how it rolled out. I just remember it
being on the NBA and the commercials and the it
was everywhere. And yes, because it was a great record,
was big, but it was catchy and it was also
I don't know, it just hit the sweet spot of
like the marketing of it and the street of it.

(50:26):
You just hit all the right buttons. And that makes
sense now, why right?

Speaker 2 (50:29):
I had a little cheat code change your life, right,
It definitely changed and changed my life to this day.
And it's crazy because I've done a lot of records
and I had a lot of big records, but it's
like help broke still to this day. Oh forever by
the way for us, Michael Jackson hit and I appreciate it.
Be like, oh, you only got one hit. I know
A put a lot of people that don't got nothing

(50:50):
near this in this industry, you know what I mean,
And can still perform that record at a high capacity.
Right now, they're paying me great money to come do
shows you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (51:00):
Right now, Right now, I have been in real life.

Speaker 2 (51:03):
Bowl Okay, comes up with all of this stuff.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
You know, combination me, Britt, Me and Britt mostly.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
If you were the leader of the world, what's the
first thing you would do? Make health care free?

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Yeah, Jim, I heard you.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
You did.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Definitely shouldn't have to pay for that, and it's been
figured out. It's not like there's no blueprint nowhere, and.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
It shouldn't have to pay for that at all, you
know what I mean. And then I would make education free,
or what's left of it. I mean, education doesn't hold
the same value as it did once when we were
coming up, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
I know because there's so much out there's.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
So much information. It's so easy to make a dollar.
So these kids are wrapping circles around who he was
when we were coming up at the age.

Speaker 1 (51:55):
Because they write rhymes on CHAGBT, they.

Speaker 2 (51:58):
Do whatever they want to do, and they skip because
as you go, as we go into the future, like
these kids are learn how to become doctors on chat GBT.
You heard that, is, become lawyers on chat GBT. They
can pass any test they want on chat GPT so
now it's like you got a young doctor. You gotta think, like,

(52:20):
do you know what you really do? Like I need
all my doctors to be about my age and a
little bit older right now, And you know what I mean?
Like and I know this is but it's I think
about it a lot of different wadship like that.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
I feel like we should do one more as to
a bold question. You can pick anyone. What is it?

Speaker 2 (52:41):
What's your go to self care ritual when you're bummed up,
when you're burnt out?

Speaker 1 (52:46):
He has no self care ritual?

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Workout? I work out when I'm burnt out.

Speaker 1 (52:52):
Okay, all right, you do have one.

Speaker 2 (52:54):
Yeah, that's the That's my therapy is the the therapy.
If you want to know, what's the most therapeutic thing
I do is the gym That takes me off my
edge every day. That's why I try to work out.
It gets that aggression out of me. It helps me
start my day fresh. That's why I try to make
sure that's the first thing that I do.

Speaker 1 (53:08):
It probably helps too with are used talking about your anger?
It probably helps that too, right, takes you off the edge.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
It helps me with strength.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Yeah, you've been diligent about that for a long time.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
Definitely, it's been a part of my life. I mean,
I want to be able to live as long as possible,
and I know that working out as one of the
show ways to help you with that.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
You know for sure I envy that.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
No, I just gotta get up and do it. I
don't mean you gotta be an athlete, don't mean you
gotta be Let me just get up and do some.

Speaker 1 (53:36):
G to live. I used to live a few blocks
away from you, and I would drive by your house
on my way to play golf, and I would see
you would have tires, you would have like a CrossFit
on the lawn.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
Yes, I still do it now. I got the biggest
I got the biggest rott. But the funny thing was
the neighbors used to start lining up to watch you
work out. I'm like, that's weird, weird, but it was cool.
Christy be like, Yo, you gonna have to start keeping
your shirt on. Oh god, oh man, neighbors. Man, this

(54:16):
good though. Man, it's a good life. Man, good life. Yeah,
it definitely is. Mane you got another one. There isn't
good or no what this says home, Let me see
it says what something you spend money on that actually
changed your life.

Speaker 1 (54:30):
That's a good question for you because you said you
spent twenty million.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
Dollars none of it changed one money stuff?

Speaker 1 (54:36):
No, something have to change your life. I mean, what
is your best way you spent money, like the best use.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Of it spending on my family? I mean the size
of little investments and shit like that. You know the
houses I brought, those are those those are the good.
My mom's probably was the best thing. My mom's house
when I was able to buy my mom's a house
that I always promised her I would buy her when
I was able to complete that mission. And that was
the best piece of money I was able to spend.

(55:03):
Because that house is still standing right there. That is
sheltered forever. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
That's beautiful. He told her that when you were young.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Yeah, I told her I promised a prot my mama
house in the bands.

Speaker 1 (55:16):
In a bends. Did you get a bull?

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Yeah? It's all good.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
What kind of father are you?

Speaker 2 (55:23):
I'm a great father, I would think son one son,
I would think I'm a great father. I tried to
do would be there in a ways for my son
that I know. I wanted my father to be there
for me, because I didn't get a chance to experience
that at all. A few times I want to say
that I didn't know my father, didn't get to be

(55:43):
with him, but it was very few times in my
life that that happened. And not to take away any
love that half him, because he was my father. I
thought him all the way into the day that he
passed away. But there were things that I wish that
he had been there for me, or things that I
wish that he would seeing. And I was just like,
you know what, when I get a sign, I'm gonna
make sure I pull all my energy into that. And

(56:05):
when that's what I did, I mean, I try to
be there as much as possible. When he plays sports,
I'll try to leave by example even right now, like
we get up, we go to the gym, if I mean,
like he goes to the gym every day, Like I
go to the gym. Sometimes you can't work out with me,
Like so I'm not. Yeah, Like it's it's a great
feeling that it's urging him to try to What I
urge him to do right now is to live life

(56:30):
overly abundantly because you have it. If you want to
go to the Air Force. If you want to go
live in Italy. You might want to go chill in Germany.
You might want to go on a fucking voyage, like
do it, do it right now while we got it,
and I could do that for you because I didn't
have that, And this is my gift to you. You

(56:50):
know what I mean, Like it ain't it ain't all
about you going to college, ain't all about like I
live life. It's gonna it's gonna come to you, you,
my son. I do believe soon a lady, you're gonna
find a passion of something that you're gonna love. But
right now, go be a sofar retrainer in Africa if
you want. You know what I mean, Like call me
from the submarine. Like, yo, bro, I'm on the submarine.

(57:12):
Like do anything make you happy? Anything would make me happy,
just to see him doing anything. He knows that it's
not no specific one thing. But don't do nothing regular.

Speaker 1 (57:24):
You want him live in a good life.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
That's what I'm here for. You could do ship regular
on your own. He ain't taking nothing to do nothing. Nigga,
go be James bond out this motherfucker be batman. I'm
gonna be out for it.

Speaker 1 (57:36):
Is that his personality.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
He's just got a cool personality. But like our bond
become very close in this past couple of years, and
I'm starting to understand a lot, understanding better around me.
His music taste, who I mean, like it's this, it's
a lot, but it's it's great, you know what I mean.
But I still encourage him to whatever direction you go
and go for it because I'm here. I'm here to hold.

Speaker 1 (58:06):
Parenting will expose you in like a you gotta be
in a vulnerable type of way, you know what I'm saying,
Like you're got to be your kids.

Speaker 2 (58:18):
And we leave that room for them to take full
advantage of us too, full advantage like just walk all
over me? Why don't you?

Speaker 1 (58:25):
But how do you manage that? Because that's probably being vulnerable,
Like that's probably.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
Grateful that he's not that kid that takes advantage. He
has his own ways, all kids do, but he's not
the kid to take it for he could be I
just you know what i mean, Like he could be
a monster.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
Yeah, like.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
He could. It's like but I and I'm grateful for
how humble he is, who he's growing and be how
he doesn't let dislife affect him, you know what I mean. Like,
and I know as he was younger he had to
learn how to kind of control that it was a
problem for him and shit like that. And now was
I mean, it's it's cool. It's a dope kid. I

(59:05):
just want him to go.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
I mean, like you want to hit that James Bond?

Speaker 2 (59:08):
Yeah, Like what's up? What's up? Uh?

Speaker 1 (59:13):
What does respect mean to you? In real life?

Speaker 2 (59:16):
Respect is definitely something you got to respect to someone
might not give from everybody, but you're definitely not going
to disrespect. That's how I feel about disc That's how
I feel about respect.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
You have to stop your foot.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
Because it's a touchy thing because I know how I
feel about certain people and certain things and ship like that,
you know what I mean. And I know everybody has
their own respect level with it. But what we what
we're not going to do is start the disrespect, you
know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (59:46):
Now, I feel that what do you think is what
do you and this is the last like two or three,
what do you hope that people learn from your life?

Speaker 2 (59:59):
Like?

Speaker 1 (59:59):
What what do you what do you think your legacy
will be?

Speaker 2 (01:00:04):
My legacy?

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
I guess that's two separate questions.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
What you can learn? What can a person can learn
from my life? Perseverance, person that understands except no person
that I figured it out, Like I'm a testament of
what finding your purpose in life is and continue to

(01:00:27):
live in that purpose. And I don't know what totally
it is, but the discipline that I have in me
continue to go down that path of where I need
to be going. I do believe that this music shit
is the smallest percent of what I have to offer
this world. But I do believe it's has opened so

(01:00:49):
many doors for people to be able to listen and
hear and see what I am about to give to
this world, you know what I mean. Like music is minimal,
it's great as artistic, it's about the energy, It's about
a feeling. I do believe I gave millions of people
that energy and that feeling, you know what I mean.
But that's not the end all be all for who

(01:01:09):
I am. You know what I mean, And I do
believe that wholeheartedly. You did. Like I'm not here this
long for a reason. God ain't put me through all
these childs and trip relations for no reason, Like there
got to be an endoor be all for my purpose
is and that's why I keep dialing to who I am.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
I love that and you don't know yet all the
way with that purpose is right?

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
Who knows what it is?

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:01:31):
I don't know, Like I'm like, I'm like every night,
like you know, I say in my prayers, I'm just
trying to figure it out. I ask God all the time,
like what is it? What is it? Because you obviously
keep me inside of psych. I don't know. I don't know,
but I know it's definitely not music, as I've done
so many other things besides music, but inside my music journey.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
So you're still trying to figure it out.

Speaker 2 (01:01:52):
Yeah, other shit to do, like my music, my music journey.
And I don't feel like it Willever, but I do
feel like it was. It's going to come to a
point where I had going somewhere else.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
And you know what's so interesting you were telling me
about and I know we're supposed to wrap it up,
but I had just had to start because once you
become famous and like you get some money, people just
think you got you're good and you got money, but
you've been honest about like I got it. I lost it.

(01:02:26):
I got it. I lost it. Like, was there a
point in your life that people wouldn't expect or wouldn't
know that maybe they was looking at you like you
you that guy and me Meanwhile in your real life,
that wasn't the case.

Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
I'm always that guy. That's why I always get the
money back. There's people that need money to be who
they are, is why they fail. I don't need money.
I just told you. People will worth more than currency
to me. A good support system makes you richer than
anything in this world. You know what I mean. You
can't do nothing on your own. I don't care what
nobody said, I did this some wrong or now. There
was somebody to help you put you there. There's a

(01:02:59):
support system around you that's helping you go there. And
that's more value than me than any dollar jag. So
no matter whether I had the most money or least
amount of money, I'm still me when you see me.
The power that I have never go anywhere. I still the
stame person. Money does not make me make the money.
So it has been like that.

Speaker 1 (01:03:19):
So why is it so important to you?

Speaker 2 (01:03:21):
Then? Money? Yeah, money can help you change a lot
of things for yourself, for people, it can help people.
It could do a lot of things that put different
people in different position. Like you need money to change
the shit in the world, you know what I mean?
Like these activists, activists can't help you. If he ain't
got no money, he could talk to you make it change.

Speaker 1 (01:03:44):
Thanks.

Speaker 2 (01:03:44):
Do you understand what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
I do? I do?

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
I do?

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
All right? We usually asked this at the beginning, but
I guess I'll ask it at the end in real life.
What's your full name?

Speaker 2 (01:03:56):
Joseph K. J. L. Jones Junior.

Speaker 1 (01:04:00):
That's pretty good in real life. How happy are you
on a.

Speaker 2 (01:04:05):
Scale of one to ten in a real life?

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
In real life?

Speaker 2 (01:04:09):
Hm?

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Like today?

Speaker 2 (01:04:11):
Like today, I'm extremely happy. Today, I'm like out of
ten today. Yeah, wow, I'm like out a ten. Some
days I'm a little bit lower. For overall, in life,
I'm very happy. I'm I'm extremely happy if what I've accomplished,
who I've become, what I've overcame, what I had the

(01:04:34):
ability to do, and I got nothing but the future
in front of me. She mm, I don't know, man's you.
I'm just proud of this being here. I mean, like
I could have been so many other places in this world.
I could have failed a thousand times before. I could

(01:04:54):
have not been like is this. We are in the
lottery of life, and that's a double lottery for us
because just on us being able to wake up, just
us being conceived in this world is one lottery in itself.
For us to be at this table is a whole
nother lottery in itself. We're in an elite game that
not too many people are allowed in for.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
A long time too, you know what I'm saying. What
I'm saying, we talked about that. When you walk in
and we've seen a lot of people come and a
lot of people go, it makes me sad.

Speaker 2 (01:05:24):
Take your membership from you, like you're not allowed back
in the club. Not to say that in a way,
like but like once you whilch you out, you know
what I mean, and wait you at you from the window.
I'm not with that. You're gonna wait at men from
the window when you're coming in.

Speaker 1 (01:05:38):
Also, we've lost people, people pass people.

Speaker 2 (01:05:40):
We lost so many people, I mean, and in this
past five six years, we have seen so many artists
pass away, do natural causes and do the bike getting
killed or whatever. It's just we're out of place where
we've never seen that before. I don't believe I can't
remember too many rappers dying when we was coming up,
or you know what I mean, like too and big.

Speaker 1 (01:06:01):
The game was younger, because the game was younger.

Speaker 2 (01:06:03):
And now it was just out of controls. Like wow,
I mean, I guess you know you know how it is, Ma,
It's crazy. I'm just blessed to be able to be
here unscathed. I've been through a lot. I got so
much shit that I still want to do, you know
what I mean? Part of me sometimes being erradick on
these cameras, but it's part of the game. You love it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:22):
We were talking about social media before and we also
had a conversation about clips.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
I just wanted to show how to like, you know,
like whenever I do my interviews, I'm I'm very rial
with myself, you know what I mean, Like, I know
the whole playing field. So when you hear me making
these rants, so always bring it back to a point
of reality.

Speaker 1 (01:06:42):
You're aware of the clip.

Speaker 2 (01:06:43):
Yeah, But with these clips, what they do is they
take the most vicious piece or the piece that they
can make you look the most craziest inside of that
viral moment and then it goes whoy, which I'm aware
of you heard, and then everybody goes crazy and now
so but surely all the rest of the clips that
explained all the stuff comes out and everybody sets to
feel crazy. But it's like, that is a great strategy

(01:07:05):
that they started to put into this whole thing, and
I seen It's something I'm watching in the recent like
how they clipping and viral click baiting all this shit
from just the smallest amount of words that I can say,
And that's what created this this whole moment, right, it's
just going crazy right now?

Speaker 1 (01:07:21):
So is that you leaning into that? No one?

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
You knew that I was about to hire a clipper?

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
So in that moment though, that you're saying this thing
with no So, do you know this is going to
be a clip one?

Speaker 3 (01:07:30):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (01:07:31):
I was like, yeah, oh yeah, you just bugged out.
You want to you want way beyond the the line
of discretion with this one, this one, because.

Speaker 1 (01:07:39):
You're just like a badass kid acting up.

Speaker 2 (01:07:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:07:42):
I don't know why people don't see that about it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:44):
I don't know why I see it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:45):
The clips is a vicious game, though, because nobody cares
if it's truthful. Nobody cares if it was taken out
of context. It doesn't matter. And then there's no integrity
with the outlets that share the clips because there it's
just it's just a wild, wild West out here. So

(01:08:05):
sometimes I see things and I'm like, that's not.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
How nobody has. Nobody takes the responsibility of being a
journalist serious, and you have for so many so.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Many I try, but sometimes it's not even in my control.

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
Its way out there. But I'm just saying that this
this very few journalists like you than most people are
clickbaiting for that. That's their whole existence. And I get it.
I'm here for everything. We're gonna we're gonna running down line,
We're gonna have fun with you. Like this is not
too much seriousness, you know what I mean? Like this
is entertainment. Yeah, stop being so serious. Loosen up a

(01:08:40):
little bit. We're having fun. You're gonna continue to give
your opinion and I'm continue to pop my ship. Just
how the game go?

Speaker 1 (01:08:47):
What do you think our clip should be today? Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:08:51):
What should be the clip? What did we talk about?

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
It's so many? What are your takeaways from our conversation today?

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Is this so many clip? It up. I mean, let's see,
but now we got a lot of beautiful gems. I'll
put me in a great place. Actually, Like you know,
I don't really kids have these these types of conversations.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (01:09:10):
That's why I wanted to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
I was like, everybody want to see the mantra side
of Jim Jones. They just want to see the superhero
side of Jim Jones. They don't really want to dive
into how diverse I am. So I'm glad for that,
you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:09:22):
Jim Jones in real life, in a real life