March 25, 2025 ⢠50 mins
On this episode of Butternomics, host Brandon Butler sits down with Kenny Burns to talk about how he became the Lifestyle Specialist before influencers were a thing. They get into building culture, moving brands, and why real influence starts with authenticity. From radio to spirits to the streets of Atlanta, Kenny shares how he turned connection into a career—and why the dream is still real.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I found that being more vulnerable with my offering has
made me a superhero because there's a lot of people
that feel like you do. And when you don't share
that along the journey, people don't really know how to
react to the steps of building something right. They think
they could just rush in because of social media. Think
because you know this person, you know gets paid to
(00:23):
stream all day that they can get paid they you know,
being a true leader, you have to show the steps.
You have to give the game along the way. You
have to be present with the people here.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Everybody. Welcome to another episode of button Nomics. I'm your host,
Brandon Butler, found the CEO of butter atl and today
we got the lifestyle specialists in the building.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Mister Kenny Burns. How you doing, Bro, I'm doing great, brother.
Thank you for having me. I've been looking forward to
seeing you in real life and chopping it up.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Hey man, I appreciate it, man, So look, I'm gonna
get right into it, Bro. I just want to say
thank you. And the reason why I want to say
thank you is because I always grew up I always
wanted to be in radio. That was one of my
dream jobs. And you know, but you know, I didn't
really feel like I had a radio voice.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
You do.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Actually, I didn't really feel like I had all the
skills and stuff. And I was a tech guy for
a long time, you know what I'm saying. That was
my background, and so I was, like, you know what,
I started doing podcasts, you know, I started doing internet radio,
and then one day I came across this thing called
behive FM. And when I tell you, I literally watched
every single thing that y'all did. I literally used to
(01:41):
take screenshots and say, like, I'm gonna build a studio
just like this, like and I actually ended up building
a studio and I literally all I had was photos,
and I literally tried to recreate, you know, the same
way y'all had it laid out. I said, I want
a window kind of like this in front of it,
and I had my things push up to the side.
And so so first of all, I just want to
say thank you, because you don't even know this is
(02:03):
years ago, but like, even seeing you do that and
seeing y'all do that kind of gave me the blueprint
that I just had to follow because I didn't know
where else to look on how to like build an
internet radio station how to get involved in podcasting.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Man.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So first of all, I just want to say thank
you for just doing what you were doing, because you
inadvertently inspired me and gave me kind of a north
started aim at.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I appreciate that. And big shot to Mike Johnson, and
that was the first of his kind. Actually, yes, was
before all the podcasts and all the things we're thinking,
and it was on the internet. Yeah, and yeah, we
were onto something very early. So I appreciate those words
because it was a good time. We had some really
great interviews. One that really stands out is the one
(02:46):
with El DeBarge and just got super surgical into what
was going on with him. You know, he's been in
and out of like the drug usage and the things,
and just to tell him how special he was was
like one of the all time favorite moments for me
in any media platform I've ever been on.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
What made y'all start that?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
You know?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I wanted to be in radio much like you and
the gatekeepers were hating. Yeah, yeah, And I remember Frank
Ski was the only Kenny Burns champion in the radio space.
And because you know, when you get into someone else's realm,
they get to get in a little like this is
(03:26):
what I do. I've been in this you know medium
for all these years and I and you didn't go
through what I went through, so I could possibly come
in here and up. But Frank Ski was always the
big bro, the big homie, like nah do that and
so much so I remember telling him, you know, I'm
gonna partner with Mike Johnson. We're gonna do this thing
(03:46):
called Beehive, and I'm gonna go from two to six
specifically to go at Ryan Cameron and which basically tells
you who was hating on me back, but a big
shot to Ryan. I mean, it's all love now. But
it was a thing of like, let me get my chops,
let me you know, format the Kenny Burns show.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Like radio, and we went crazy bro.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And I think it was eight months later, I got
an offer everyone on three and because I was the
party king, you know at all the you know, popping venues,
they wanted me to be you know, the Friday night
live remote guy and all the things.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So it all worked.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
But I literally purposefully intentionally set up that time slot
so I can go get it and we made some history.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, man, And again you've you've had this ability to
kind of you know again just watching from the outside
looking in, right, Like you've had this ability to kind
of you know, build a business and a brand around
Like I say, you kind of call yourself the lifestyle specialist, right,
So like, how did you find that connection from music,
the culture, all the other things you kind of worked on?
Like what's the through line that kind of made you
see that opportunity?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Uh, low hanging fruit version just being present? You know,
I started throwing parties here in Atlanta in the auc
in you know, nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I remember those days.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, and you know I met what would become the
Golden era of artists, right, So you got to imagine,
you know, we bought the big Mac promo here that's
Biggie small than Craig Mac, you know, to the warehouse
in ninety four and shout to the warehouse, Yeah, the Warehouse.
And then you know, brought jay Z to you know
kaya you know, with a single called twenty two two's
(05:26):
and reasonable Dot was being formed. So I introduced a
lot of things to Atlanta and because of those introductions
through the parties, you know, we had solid relationships. And
I didn't know I was great at promoting. I just
knew how to bring people to the club, right, And
then you find out, oh, you can get paid for
street team marketing, Oh say less, Oh you can get
paid for these ideas that come to fruition and become
(05:49):
you know, these these mega programs and platforms for companies.
And that's how I kind of one foot in front
of the other kind of thing. And the Lifestyle Specialist
wasn't creating until mid two thousand, I think two thousand
and five. My friend had the Axe Body spray account
and AX was being introduced to North America, and because
of my relationships, I was placing things like the Sierra video,
(06:13):
you know, the first video she had the dude was
on the porch with the AX.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
We did jay Z's Black album at the same time.
We were doing all these things, and I found out
like how much money she was making doing this for AX,
and I was like, nah, I need to be, you know,
in this world, because if connection is the thing, I'm
the ultimate connector. And sure enough, a year or two later,
a friend of mine named True Pettigrew, who was partner
(06:40):
in a marketing company called Alloy Media or Alloy Marketing.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
He was vying for the axe business.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And so he, you know, came to me, not back
during my friend Regina, but like telling me like, look,
we're up for this business. And they're telling us if
we get you, we'll get to business. Yeah, And I'm like,
I didn't even know how significant my role was. So
I went to Genie, like, yo, my man came to me,
said that they're vine for the business. They're a bigger
(07:10):
company to have bigger back office, this, that and the third.
Not going to leave you hanging, you know what I'm saying,
But what's up? Like She's like, nah's run this course,
blah blah blah, get your money. And sure enough I
was introduced to this new world of marketing and branding.
I felt that I needed that. They used to call
me a lifestyle expert. Every meeting. This lifestyle expert. He
knows how to move culture, he does this. He's in music,
(07:31):
he's in fashion, he's in all the things. And I
was like, I like lifestyle specialists. I like to look
at myself as a person with a unique set of
skills that can be across genre in business. And I
look at myself as a specialist ause experts. You got
to know exactly what you're saying and be one thousand
percent correct, especially you can make a mistake here. So yeah,
(07:52):
it was a it was an eye opening experience to
say the least, and it put me into a realm
of business that I you know, have been very successful
in today. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Man, I mean when you think about it, right, like
you were the influencer before influencer kind of became a thing.
This is right, Like you literally kind of like again
it's just a different way of looking at it, but
you were influencing people culture, brands to go to certain
you know, people to move to certain places, brands and
stuff like that. Like, how have you kind of seen
from your again from your front seat view of it, right,
Like how is the idea of like influence changed over
(08:24):
the years, because especially now with social media, right, like
everybody calls themselff a influence. Yeah, but like you actually
moving culture. Moving culture is how you define an influencer.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You can't just say you're doing something and you have
certain favor in this particular moment and then it fizzles out.
You have to have long lasting, staining power. And I
liken the people that use the word or the term
to describe.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Themselves the lifestyle spress.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I liking that to the best flattery ever, right, because
they see that they have a creative skill set, but
they don't know quite how to implement all their creative right.
And I've been pretty much a blueprint for that for
people to get out your ideas, you know, forge new
paths and different sectors of business. But I think, you know,
(09:10):
everything is starting to weed itself out. When I first
got the opportunity in Spirits, for instance, and this is
a fun story, I was in Washington, d C. At
a club called Love. The guy you mentioned earlier, Mark Bonds,
who wants Sparking fourteenth, he owned Love and the mored
Hennessy guys were in there and I'm just ear hustling,
and they were going back and forth in their deal,
(09:32):
and then they were asking him about Alex Gabe and
God rested Dead Mike, and they were like, this is
these these.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Guys in Atlanta like the Mob.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
They won't sell no Hennessy or no you know Rose
unless you know, we can literally pay them this amount
of money. And so I'm ear hustling and of course
these are my you know, Alix, and I you know,
then We're very, very close and still are to this day.
But I was like, you know, let me hear how
I can get in this mix and get some of
this money. You know what I'm talking about. So I
(10:03):
interject in the conversation. I was like, I could fix
your problem. They're like, ah, I don't know. These guys
are pretty tough. And then I said, well, listen, what's
the number? Where do you need to be and let's
see if I can help you out. And he was
like all right, well, what you gonna want? I said,
I'll take care of that. On the Alex and Them side,
I said, you just do a birthday party for me.
(10:23):
My thirty fifth was coming up. I was like, you
just do my birthday party. When I come asking, I
need you to do this birthday party. So long story
shortened of fixing the deal for them. Didn't know that Alex,
Gave and Mike were the biggest account in the Southeast, right.
I didn't know the gravitas of the situational moment, but
I did it, and that essentially is how you know.
(10:43):
The influencer model started in the spirit world and from
that I got to The favorite was the Vasace Mansion
birthday party, the legendary Vasat Mansion birthday party that I had,
and everybody's like, how is this nigga at the Vasace
Mansion with all these people and he's not a celebrity.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
And I think at the time, Star.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Jones and Al Reynolds were the biggest talk in you know,
in media, and so we had like a billion impressions
with this party. So much so and we had so
much height before the global CMO came like who is
this guy? First time ever multiple brands participated in one
thing because you know, if Moed's doing the thing, Belvidere
is not going to get involved. If Belvidere's doing the thing,
(11:25):
and Tim k Rum is not going to get involved.
So there was this need to pay for this party,
and they were so happy they did because posts that,
I think all Spirit companies knew that there were entities
in these cities that had staining power that could really
move the needle, not just from a show up and
you know, activate standpoint, but actually back in business.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
And that was kind of the model that got all
that started.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Man. You know, so I've worked in the agency space
for a long time too, you know, so I've had
the privilege of kind of being on both sides, right
and kind of seeing it on the consumer side, but
also been in the rooms where they plan some of
these big ideas and campaigns, just you know, from from
your perspective again, like as somebody that has moved culture
and understands how to you know, work with brands and
(12:10):
make things happen. Like what do brands get right but
also get wrong when it comes to, you know, trying
to find ways to authentically insert themselves in culture.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
And it's a great question because there is a such
thing called ageism, and I think brands get it wrong
a lot of the times thinking they need to go
younger just to kind of compete or exist in the space.
And the issue that I have like even with Generation Z,
like millennials to me are the last generation that actually
got the responsibility in bringing heritage and legacy to the
(12:45):
forefront with new and innovative and you know, again the
old model is let's get somebody young and hot.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Well what's young and hot? Right?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Really look into culture and see how you know, this
generation is moving culture because to me, in this new
wave of existing, it's not a thing of you know, consistency.
It's not like back in the day, Alex, you knew
you could in the spirit side of things. You knew
you could sell X, Y and Z amount of da
da da da da. If you did da da da
(13:15):
da da. Right now, you don't know what you're getting.
People want to smoke hookah more than they want to drink.
I mean, if you look at like statistics generation Z,
which is not a problem because I, you know myself
are I'm calming down on drinking and I just.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Don't feel the same no more.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
But there if you look at the statistics, they're down
by some billions as far as participating and buying spirits.
But I think people get it twisted and I don't
think they really dial in enough to how do you.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Want to show up in culture?
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Brands need to really respect how they show up in culture,
because I remember a time where you know, certain artists
wouldn't be in commercials. They don't care, They don't care
what the backstory is, the gang affiliation, none of the things.
And this all has everything to do with your brand.
But not only does it have everything to do with
(14:07):
your brand, it has everything to.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Do with how culture functions. And that's why.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I like, you know, people that are in these buildings
that really know culture, because we have not only a responsibility,
but we also got to watch out for what we're
putting at the forefront. It's like radio playing you know
all this drug rap. Yeah, you know, what do you
think is going to happen if ninety percent of what
people hear is use drugs?
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah? Right? Sexy Red.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I often use her as amused on everything not to
do to young women in the game because you have
an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I'll never forget. I heard of Bruno Mars song recently and.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I'm like, Cardi b is the blueprint Bruno, like, you're
the almighty when it comes to this pop culture music
and you let her be Sexy Red. No, you're supposed
to do what you did with Cardi, But it has
everything to do with sexy because when you start a
song off with pussy, pussy, pussy, what you're getting and
what do you think is being sold? And these young
(15:04):
people don't have discernment because they don't have options. And
this is where we are as a culture. We cannot
continue to allow these things to be played. And it
has everything to do with these big brands. Radio would
have never allowed you to say bitch on the radio.
Ass on the radio. Damn, you couldn't say any of
these things. But you know there's the problem I had
(15:25):
was freedom of speech too.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You you know, yeah, bring up good points man, because
again I've seen it on She.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
And their snapping chot. I know I'm bringing no good
points when you got the youngins in there doing these.
I mean, you know you bring it.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
You bring up great points because again, like even when
you just listen to you know, other other stations and
stuff like that. Again, like I always kind of joke
around and say, like, you'll never hear, like you don't
hear country artists talking about beef and killing and all
this kind of stuff. You don't hear. You don't hear
rocket Like why is it that again when it comes
to just and I'm a huge fan of rapping rap music, right,
I love rap music, but like, why is it that
(15:59):
that's the only thing that gets pushed out so much?
And why is it that, like, again, you couldn't do
that stuff on other stations. You can do that stuff
for the genres, but it's so acceptable in ours.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Right, Yeah, And it's horrible because hip hop was never
stayed where you're at. Hip hop was an aspirational form
of music, and it went from storytelling and truth telling
to imaginary, you know, story scenarios. But it all had
a pathway to success. And when you get success, traditionally
in hip hop, you changed your game, You changed the
(16:30):
way you showed up in culture, which was called growth.
These gang bangers, these crash dummies, these functioning crackheads. I mean,
it is a literal lifestyle, and they don't want to
be successful, and they don't want to denounce things. You know,
I'm a convicted fellow at eighteen years old, but at
fifty two years old, I'm an upstanding NAACP Image Award
(16:53):
winning producer. I'm a father, I'm a husband, like all
these things matter in the story telling of who we
are culturally. But that's where I say, these youngins don't
care about culture. They care about money. And if money's
not the thing, right, it's never gonna be enough. If
money's the thing, then it's never gonna be enough. So
(17:15):
culture goes out the window. You know, I remember a
time where knowledge itself was super paramount if you were
a five percent or not. I remember a time where
you know, we did talk about killing the things that
were going on. It was more reporting versus we want
to live this life. But these men, it's scary because
I have two young men, I have a bunch of
(17:37):
god children, a bunch of people I've taken on to
be nieces and nephews, and I'm just worried about, you know,
how they will function in the world, you know, and
then you have Trump guys and all the other things
going on.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
There's lots of definitions for the word culture, and I'd
love to get your definition the way I kind of
define it. One of my favorite authors, Seth Godin, talks about,
you know, the definition of culture is people like us
through things like this, and so that's how I've always
kind of looked at it. Right, It's like when it
comes to Atlanta, right, like people in Atlanta we do
we eat lemon pepper wings, we you know, we go
(18:24):
to waffle house. There's just certain ways that we move
into me that kind of defines culture as somebody that's
been a part of culture for so long, Like how
do you define culture?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I define culture as traditions and actively, you know, participating
in those traditions. If you pray when you wake up
and go to sleep, if you pray before you eat.
Those are traditions, right, and I think we've gotten away
from traditions. You know, Traditionally we are respectful to our elders. Yeah,
Traditionally we tell stories about the civil rights movement. I've
(18:54):
been in Atlanta since nineteen ninety two, and everything we've
ever done stands on the shoulders of the civil rights movement.
And you know, without an outcast, without a Goodie Mob,
that probably would have never been amplified, because soon after them,
it became about the streets, right, and I think street
culture was universal, so that when Jeezi came into the game,
(19:16):
right and Tip came into the game, those things were
so relative culturally. But then we kind of got away
from the tradition and the beautiful thing about goodie mob
and outcasts who do not get enough credit in music period.
In my opinion, goodie Mob more so than outcasts as
far as the credit.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
But when you think of soul food, you think of
like what them young boys was saying in an era
where everything was flashy, You're finally making them pay for
what they did to the cold crush.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
All these things are going on and you stayed true
to your roots.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
See that's Atlanta, and we've got so far removed from
what and who we are. And people also like to
say that, you know, when y'all moved here, Nigga, I
moved here in nineteen The fuck are you talking about.
I've raised my family here. I'm one of the biggest
contributors to this city that you now want to claim
(20:08):
and shun a person just because I was born in Washington,
DC and I get credit and favorite I get credit
in Detroit because I lived there for two years.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
What the fuck like? It's it's your contribution to a
city that makes it your home.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
But yet a lot of people from Atlanta don't represent
their heritage or their own and it's shocking. You want
to run around here waving the flag because it's convenient. No,
I live this like your city and your city where
you like, because I'm not a grady baby.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
It don't make me at at Alien. I begged to death.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I've I have personally experienced that same thing. I remember
when I started butter atl I literally had people they
found my office and people would show up at my
office like random people and you know, basically try to
question me like what gives you the right to make
content about Atlanta culture. I'm like, bro, I'm making posts
(21:05):
on Instagram, dog like and not even in a negative way.
It's like, you know, this is what we do. We
go here, I love Waffa House, so we do this
and like like, we know, you got to like you
gotta come check in with me. Who were you the
And the funny part about it is let it out.
And in all the years since we've done this stuff,
you know, like we you know, we've it's now grown
to where we do for a four day Now we
(21:26):
have the four to fort day Scholarship. I've given away
over one hundred thousand dollars scholarships in the last three years.
I have not seen a single one of those people
do anything to pour back into the city. It's the
same thing. I was born in Los Angeles, but I
grew up out here that I spent my entire lif Like,
I know Atlanta more than I know La. And your
home is where you become you. Yeah, this is where
(21:47):
I became me. And I tell people the same thing.
Just because I wasn't born at Grady like does not
make like it does not make me any less of
an an at alien than anybody else out here. Because again,
this is what I know. My parents moved me when
my fault. My parents move me out here when I
was one year old. But I've been here my whole life,
that's right. But because I wasn't born at Grady, I'm
not I don't have a right to talk about. But again,
(22:08):
while you're telling me that what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
What are you doing? You're talking. And that's the problem
with this world. Anybody can say anything. That's why I
said I had a problem with freedom of speech sometimes
because just because a microphone is available to everyone, just
because everyone has an iPhone, now everyone's not supposed to
be publicly sharing their motherfucking offering because it's nothing that's
(22:31):
going to be conducive to a way of life or
a way of being. Atlanta was built on all the
people that came here. You want to talk about who's
from Atlanta, go through the history of Atlanta and see
who came here to help build the foundation of bricks.
So this amazing, you know what I'm saying. City, Yeah,
and it's a hajjh paje. Just like you know when
(22:54):
you talk about cultures, right like African culture.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
You know, I'm an investor in Uncle Nier's right.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Jack Daniels, you know, got the you know recipe from
Uncle Nars And you talk about this African tradition of
you know, charcoal, you know, in making whiskey. He not
from Tennessee, but he's the creator of Tennessee whiskey. There's
value in someone's offering that you know, lives and breathes
(23:22):
and dwells in this place.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
I don't understand, and it drives me nuts.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
And I really was about to start cursing more, but
I'm trying not to curse because you know, I get
super ghetto. But it just amazing because when people tell
the story of Atlanta, they like to forget people like
yourself and myself. They like to forget people because it's
convenient to tell their version. That's why Butter atl is
so important because it deals with the actual factual history
(23:49):
of Atlanta, and we have to continue to tell the history.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Man. You know, I was going to go a little
bit further.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
No, man, Look, it gets it gets, you know people.
But again, people try to get their own, you know
what they call revisionist history version of it. And like
I say, man, I just wish that you know, it
took to your point when you talk about microphones, I agree.
But you know, one of the worst things I think
that happened to culture was comments. I think that the
ability of people to leave comments on social media, and
then what made it even worse was the ability to
(24:19):
like comments. Because you know, I was I was joking
and telling my daughter a couple of weeks ago, I'm like,
you know, even though I do a lot of stuff
with social media, I probably leave maybe three to four
comments a year, right, like, just cause one I just
look at stuff, Okay, I keep moving, like and I
don't want to go back and forth with people, and
I don't want to get but like even we you know,
you post stuff, you get this weird thing in the
(24:41):
comments where now people are like either looking for something
negative or they're just saying things just to get a
reaction from other people, right, And like I said, it's
the same thing. It's like everybody, we've we've democratized this
idea that everybody has a voice, but at the same time,
people like it's never positive and it's.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
A problem because there's too more much heavy shit going on,
right to have that be the reason you have anxiety
or have that be the reason you can't function. And
people aren't as strong as you think they are. There's
not a lot of superhuman strength having motherfuckers out here.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
It's a lot of you can.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Say one thing and throw somebody's entire life off let
alone day, and we're not even it's not being regulated.
But that's again my problem with freedom of speech. We
might want to have a forum about freedom of speech
because some people need to shut the fuck up.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
You know, some people do need to shut up, man,
you know, just to kind of change it for a second.
So you've had a chance to work with some amazing people,
You've you've been all over the industry. Just what's something
that you've learned from people that have had like reached
that level of success. You know, the jay Z's and
all these amazing like mogules that you've met. Like when
you meet those people, they I've never met them, right,
So my assumption is they move a little bit differently,
(25:51):
they think a little bit differently, they talk a little
bit differently. Like, what are some lessons that you've taken
away from those experiences that kind of show you, like
why they've reached level of success.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
They've reached.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
You know, I've been blessed to be When I was
in the music business around some real music men, in
particular Andre Herrel, God rested did and La read you know,
to see what La built here in Atlanta, Like at
face value was tremendous and it was really about culture.
It was really about love. It was really about progression.
(26:24):
And that's the thing I love most about Andre Herrel.
It was about black equity. It was about you know,
defining who we were and a feeling and emotion and
I missed that music and so I think from those
two I learned that the most that the way I
feel vulnerability through music, through creative is how I could
show up and be a super you know hero.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
And then you know, I worked.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
With the Puffs and I learned a lot of what
not to do, you know, from guys like him and Damon.
But I also was very inspired by them because they
were and are stewards of culture when we were defining
who we were gonna be and how we were gonna
break bread in this industry and get some real money.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
They were pioneers.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
But you know, again a lot of my frustration with
this businesses that a lot of them couldn't see it
through to the end, and whether it be dysfunction because
no one can tell you anything, whether it's dysfunction because
you spend too much and then budget or balance, you
know your budget. I'm just sad that I don't see
enough superheroes standing tall. I mean, everybody has allegations with this,
(27:34):
that have addictions with this. They're dying literally, I mean,
we have superheroes dying like every year, and it's just
for me. I've been blessed to define my own path.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
You know.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I never walked to Brookly for cheesecake. I never had
any incidents in culture where I was challenged in tech,
you know, with my integrity and I always was intentional.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I never I had my own crew.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I've been married twenty five years, so imagine that, like
I've been married the entire time I've been getting money
and making my name in business. So I've always had
a foundation of what was real, and I stayed true
to that.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Of course, I never got on a private plane sometime
when I didn't like the crew going, or I saw
you know, door number one and decided to go out
the back door. You know, different things, you know what
I'm saying, but I never with my own eyes, and
people ask me all the time about puffus, like I've
never seen none of that because he'd never done nothing
around me, And I find it hard to believe y'all
charge of him with baby all and being a free
(28:30):
you know what I'm saying, So until you can say
this happened, and this happened like we saw the Cassie video,
you know, if anything like that comes out, frime, you
know what I'm saying. But other than that, like get
to the point and we will be on he'll be
on trial suit, so we'll know. But I just hate
how they're crucifying our superheroes for things that have nothing
to do with actual charges.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
And it's just sad, man, you know. So I learned
what not to do.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I learned a lot about who I was and what
I wanted to be, and I thank them all for
the opportunities.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
But I've always spoken truth the power to I've.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Never been one to like be around and be cool
some shit, and just because they're this person or that
they're at this quote unquote level, I've always spoken out.
It's just now that they are microphones everywhere and a
lot of people are hearing it for the first time.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
But yeah, I learned a lot.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
As you kind of, you know, your career has evolved again,
like I said, from the parties and now doing investments
and all that stuff. Like how, you know, what advice
would you give for somebody that wants to kind of
you know, evolve into a bigger things without losing their
self and their authenticity and that growth because growth is
a natural progression part of life. But a lot of
times people they don't want to leave the game, you
know what I mean. It's like it's like an old
(29:48):
athlete or something that's just like like bro, go sit down.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Some people don't want to leave the game. But there
are ways to evolve. There are ways to again, like
they kind of use that continue that example, right, like
you can go from a player to being a coach,
no question, you know, to being a mentor and stuff
like that. So how have you kind of found ways
to evolve yourself in your careers that you can stay
relevant and do even bigger and better things.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I found that being more vulnerable with my you know,
my offering has made me a superhero because there's a
lot of people that feel like you do. And when
you don't share that along the journey, people don't really
know how to react to the steps of building something right.
They they think they could just rush in because of
(30:31):
social media. Think because you know this person, you know
gets paid to stream all day that they can get
paid they you know, being a true leader, you have
to show the steps. You have to give the game
along the way. You have to be present with the people.
So I think number one, make sure people are part
of your process. Number two, make sure that you never
(30:53):
let your expectations exceed your effort. We all can talk
a good game about these lofty things we want to do,
what you got to put into work. And then I think,
you know, for me, it's always you know, having had
a partner along the way, like I think my wife
all the time, because at the end of the day,
it's like, you know, all this sexual energy and you know.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Me from the clubs.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Back in the day, one of my biggest lines was
if you love yourself, touch yourself. I was selling fantasy
every day, you know, but if you have something solid
and firm, you gotta water that. And while you're watering that,
you'll get that support you truly need because there's nothing
like a significant other and I don't I don't. You know,
you don't have to be married to have that, you know,
(31:33):
but you have to have, you know, a partner in life.
I think, you know, and people that speak life in
to you, that can say things other people can't. Because
every superhero I've ever seen falls because no one can
tell them anything because if they listen to people. You know,
Kanye West, pure genius, right, but he can't shut the
fuck up. And it's because no one can tell him
to shut the fuck up and you really here them.
(31:55):
But that's what we're becoming as a culture though, Like
we are becomeing the ones that don't listen. Yeah, and
we've always been the most patient, the most resilient, the
most actionable when it's time, right, but we've also sat
down and listened to what was going on so we
can make our move.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
I mean you could date that back to slavery.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
So I think that if people could just sometimes shut
the fuck up and listen, right, and then when you speak,
speak with intention. No people just talking to talk And
it drives me motherfucking cricy.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
No.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
I mean, as a person that you know has again,
worked in lots of different places. I remember, you know,
I spent some time working in Hollywood, and you know,
Hollywood is you know, people say Atlanta's not a real place.
Hollywood is not a real place. Like you know, I
even tell people a lot of people don't realize, like
even by definition, like the holly tree is the tree
that magicians used to use to make magic wands from,
(32:51):
So by definition, Hollywood is not even real. And like,
you know, I've been to I've been to parties up
in the hills. I've seen some crazy shit, bro, And
you know what's always been interesting to me is like, yeah,
at a certain level, these people live in this bubble
to where everybody around them is just saying yes and
you know, just backing up all kind of crazy stuff.
(33:12):
And that's why you get a lot of the like
I said, that's why you get a lot of the
things that you see people having to deal with and
like them falling is because yeah, they've been in this world.
They've just been surrounded by people that are literally just
you know, empowering their bullshit. Yeah, you know, and again,
you've got to be able to step out of that
and have balance and have people that you know, can
call you out or or even just like I said,
speak life into you.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
But Hollywood, I mean in big shots of the people
from Los Angeles, you know, big shot to people from
the Bay. I think they have their culture, but Hollywood
is not that. And when you get into the Hollywood piece,
it's so funny. As a brand out, I wish I
could tell you the brand because I don't want to.
I don't want people buying it. Because there was a
shirt that I was going to buy, you know, esthetically
(33:55):
is like a workman shirt. It had all the patches
and the things on the back. It said at the
House of Richard and it was like San Francisco blah
blah blah. And what a lot of people don't realize
that Richard. A lot of people named Richard. They called Dick,
and this shirt was actually saying the House of Dick's right.
But because it's a hot new brand, somebody gonna go
(34:17):
put that on. But then the same brand has pictures
of Maryland manson on things and.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Other things like I can't wear that shit. Yeah, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
What I'm saying, but I think that's where we are,
So it's not necessarily a Hollywood thing. It's a mentality thing,
a mentality thing which became a cultural thing because people
are putting on things that they have no idea what
it means, right, They're doing things that are against their
natural feelings. I mean, how many people do you know
in the industry that started out together and ready and
(34:47):
ended up being toothless and on drugs or you know,
having done things sexually that they thought they could deal
with and now they're done blowing their head off because
they done, you know what I'm saying, done something not
ready with.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
That's what culture is.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
And then you have these young girls that see all
this gay energy thinking they want to try it right
and they're not gay, and then they have hard times
dealing with you know what I'm saying, things post a
relationship because they did something their boyfriend wanted them to do,
or they try something their girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Wanted them to do.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
I mean, it's a sickness, bro, And we really have
to do some real therapy with these people because it's
ingrained in their minds that they have to do these
things to be successful. It's ingrained in their minds that
they got to go against who they are to exist right,
and that's a that's a real issue. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
I mean, you know, it's like to your point, I remember,
you know, talking to my daughter about different situations like
that and like telling her, like one, you're young, so
you don't know what you're talking about. And I'm not
saying you're talk talking about sexual but I'm just talking
about different things in general.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
But it's like you're young, you don't know, or you
don't know because you don't have the experience. Your friends
don't know because they're the same age as you, so
they definitely don't know. And to be totally honest, they
parents don't know because their parents is damn twenty years
old themselves. Yes, you know, like I was telling me,
my homeboy was talking about this actually yesterday it was like,
you know, we need we need big Mama to come back.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Man.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
The problem now is like big Mama Mama won't be
outside too man.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Like you know, I was growing up, and I grew
up in the time where you got out of school
for uh for summer. I was in Alabama the whole summer. Yeah,
my grandma house, you know what I'm saying, working on
her farm and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Now these kids be out here running around because again
but so even us. Again, it's like a culture, right,
like you have just young people leading young people leading
young people. And one of the things that annoys me
the most is everybody thinks everything is okay. Everything is not.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Okay because everybody can't deal with the consequences. Right, this
is my point. I get free love, I get all that,
I have a huge gay following. Yeah, but I think
it's some fat gating that's going on. Absolutely, And then
I'm talking about more with women than men. But at
the same time, I don't get why it has to
(37:08):
be a thing where like it's so on top of
you every single moment, every single show, every single thing.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
We lead with it.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
You lead with it, and it's cool. Listen, I don't
think heterosexual. You know, visuals of sex all the time
are good. Yeah, right, but then you have all these
things and we have people that are undeveloped. Men don't
get fully developed today twenty five in the frontal low,
I'm just saying, like we have a world of over immersion.
(37:39):
We have a world of over like in your face,
pressing things on you, and it's like these kids are
breaking it's visual you can see that they're drug addicts.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
They I mean, think.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
About a time in music where you have so many
functioning drug addicts, right, And even if our mama and
them day you know what I'm saying, If we knew
what was going on with the pedophilia, if we knew
what was going on behind the scenes, we probably would
be judging too. But we didn't. That's what's not here anymore.
We don't know what happened then. And that's a great
(38:13):
fucking thing because we can still enjoy the music. But
if you're a fucking pedophile today, I cannot listen to you.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
R Kelly, I saw the tape.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
There's no way I can support you for doing what
you did.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
But it's hard.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
The man made some of the most brilliant music in
the history of the world.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
So who are we and what are we? And who
are we? I'm talking to me and you.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Who are we to have the generation where that comes out?
Where now you can pick apart whoever you want to
pick apart. We can't celebrate our heroes, but clearly they're
our heroes that they're doing those things.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
But where are we? Who are we?
Speaker 1 (38:53):
But we gotta take the reins bro like we are
the gatekeepers. But the problem is there's more hate keepers
than gatekeepers.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Well that's a bar.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
You have people literally in charge that are holding back
culture because of selfish wants, desires and agendas.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
But you got real gatekeepers who care.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
The only reason I say the things I say is
because I need somebody to be affected positively by my words.
And if it hurt a little bit today, and it's
thing a little bit of today, it's gonna make you
think the next time you go act on something you
don't need to be doing, yeah, or something you need
to think twice about. We don't have those hate keepers
don't care about that. They want confusion. Do you know
(39:38):
how many chaos agents agents of chaos? We have a
hip hop culture. It's evident who the agents of chaos are.
All they do is tear down when people die, they
make fun of the death. But these are the people
that are leading our culture. We don't have no culture
with that. We won't, we won't do have any respectability
(40:02):
with that. You think they and I'm talking about day
then people that's got elected that are in this wild
you think they respect us.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
The only thing they care.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
About is the people We converted that are like them,
because that's what we've done traditionally throughout history. We've been music,
we've been fashion, we've been expression, we've been creators and inventors.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
And so people often wonder, like why they going so hard.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
They're going so hard because they want to let you
know you don't matter, and we're gonna protect this race.
We're gonna protect this ideology, this patriarchal system, and we're
gonna let y'all kill each other. And what's happening right now.
Everything we promote that's highbrow in music is death. If
it ain't death, it's misogyny. And that's equal to death
(40:51):
depending on how hard you're going. Because I think people
done forgot about age. I don't know, I don't understand
the mentality, and.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
It only happens on our side. Like I said, you'll
never hear I mean, it's even again. There was a
whole ted talk that talked about that, right, and it
was like, Bro, you can't say the same thing that
a lot of black artists say about themselves and about
black people, but you could never say that about any
other race. Facts I make a song about, you know,
(41:22):
since anti semitic and rap song and watch what happens,
and watch how that community even rallies around it and says, no,
that's not gonna happen. But you can sit here and
make a song about shooting and killing every single black
person that you see and like literally everybody's and it's
played on the radio fifty million times.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
And let's keep it one hundred. The biggest terrorist in
the world is that white man who literally will go
and take over the Indians land, go to African any
other territory that's not you know back then because they
had guns was why they could take some shit, right,
But they are the biggest terrorists. Let them go make
(41:57):
some music about anti anything that them gonna make some music.
Bet how they go up in these schools and kill children.
These are these are not This is a This is
a real thing. Yeah, and I'm not saying all I'm
saying the ones who do it, but this is their
blueprint they call kill and take. When Donald Trump came
on TV, when that in Yahoo, I don't know if
(42:19):
you watched that. In Yahoo's face brou he had a
smirk on his face the entire time and then allowed
Donald Trump to talk about we gonna make this the
new riviera of the Middle East. Do you not see
the blueprint? This is what they do and now they
(42:40):
ain't gotta hide it. This man went on TV and
called Zelenski a dictator. Inside it would pull and they're
telling you who and what they are. But this is
something we can never do. To your point, we can never.
You got a white woman on TikTok the other day
talking about it's time to kill She said this, it's
(43:02):
time to kill Elon musk if a.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Black man said that.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
She also said, in the same sentence, she ain't paid
taxes in eight years, and y'all ain't came to see me.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
What's upright?
Speaker 1 (43:14):
But that's the audacity and mindset of a people, because
I regardless of the people, the white men and women
that aren't with it, there's not enough of them standing
up to this patriarchal system. White women could have saved
the election. White women could have win that booth. They
husband would have known what they did because that's what
they're oppressed too. So I didn't mean to go on
(43:36):
a tandem with that, but I felt it was necessary.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
No, man, no, I mean you're dropping bars. I mean
my question is what all that said? What advice do
you then have for the next generation of you know,
culture entrepreneurs to help figure out where their space is
in the world and kind of navigate through all this craziness.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
I would say make it about culture. I would say,
make it about the generation behind you that's going to
have to follow, you know, the work you did, the
words you put into the universe. We have to have
some accountability and some intentionality into how we're showing up.
And I feel as though leaders are going to start,
(44:15):
you know, rising from the ashes.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Real leaders.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
I mean, you look at this generation and outside of
nineteen Keys and a few others that are gaining popularity,
you don't have a lot of people, you know, even
speaking about things that don't have to do with music
or fashion or sports. We need more thought leaders. Man,
if you want to exist in this world properly, you
have to be a true thought leader. And you can't
(44:40):
be a racist in a world of classism. Classism is
trumping racism in my opinion, and it's going to be
the haves and have nots. You ever seen the hunger Games, Absolutely,
and that is a real thing because the middle class
is weak and there's not enough camaraderie to keep a
(45:01):
middle class functioning. And so we have to be real
intentional about the way we show up and be thoughtful.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Man.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
You know the reason why I always talk about white
women when it comes to elections because they've been oppressed.
Not like us, but they've been oppressed. I mean, imagine,
you know, dealing with all they've dealt with from slavery
to today, and they got to literally stand by this
shit show these people.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
That are you know, and they're saying it out loud, y'all.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
It's only gonna get worse. They're only going to keep
saying the things that they are saying. And don't be surprised,
you know if the government structure as we.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Know it changes.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah, I mean I think you know, there's definitely been
just in general, a like, things aren't going back to
the way they were, Like things that are different. Yeah,
and it's interesting, it's scary. It's a lot of different
things to kind of see where things are going and
how things It's.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Scary for them, though. I want to say that it's
not scary for us. We've adapted and just it the
entire way. It's scary for them because they don't feel
like they have the power they had, and that's a
real thing when you have somebody back into a corner
like that, especially to hold the nuclear codes and the
army and now the government.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
So be careful.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Let me ask you this, from your perspective and all
your experience and all the stuff you've done, what do
you think is just in general, the next big thing
that you know, again cultural entrepreneurs and that we should
be preparing ourselves for. And again I me again, I
know there's a craziness going on, but like, where's the
opportunity for us? Like when you kind of look based
(46:38):
on your experience and what you've kind of seen.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
I think the next thing is the calming down of
all the talking heads. Real speakers of truth are going
to arise because it's needed. And I think anytime in
the history of our culture when it's been poignant and timing,
the timing has been you know right, I think we've
(47:02):
always risen to the occasion. I was saying that about
the Artist's Paradise. He has a new single call Fogging
Up the Windows, and my son who's an artist, prana
Ak Kyle Burns Like they're talking about love and their
relationships and what they want to see and how they
want to show up. And I believe that, you know,
there's a generation waiting to you know, rise to the occasion.
(47:24):
I always have to believe that, and as much as
it hasn't happened yet, I know that it's coming.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I kind of think about
it even with you know, like I was, I was
watching something the other day and it was talking about
it was showing a t I son Buddy rid and demonic, incredible,
and I just think about it. I'm like, yeah, like
you know, it's it's so interesting. I mean, one that's
just an incredibly talented family musically with our question, but
like when you look at like, Okay, the easy thing
(47:50):
for them to do would have been doing what their
dad did, but they both went kind of so different.
But it's a great creative conscious way, right, it's respond
it's all the things.
Speaker 3 (48:01):
And I'm sure that's what they learned from their parents.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Even though you know, Tip was a track rapper and
done all the things, I'm sure he taught his kids
not to be like him on a lot of.
Speaker 3 (48:10):
Levels in the most respectful way possible. And we see it.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
But again, that makes me hopeful for the future because
you see these youngest you know, not all of them,
not the majority of them, and soon to be the majority, prayerfectly,
but you see a lot of them speaking truth of power.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Absolutely before we got out of here. Man, one thing
I love to ask people is if there was a
and I know there have been, but if there was
a Kenny Burns billboard that you can put anything on it,
a message, a piece of advice, what would you put
on the Kenny Burns billboard.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
On the Kenny Burns billboard, I would put love wins.
You know, anything I've ever achieved in my life came
from me showing up with love and positive intention. And
if I ever gotten in some gangster shit, you know
it was because I had to go there. But everything
else with me has always been about love and I
(49:03):
try to, you know, inspire people to do the same.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Hey man, Well look I appreciate it. Like I said,
Ken you, I appreciate you pulling up. I've been a
fan for a long time. Like I told you very beginning,
you inspired a lot of stuff that is taking me
down this journey. So again, thank you for the work
that you've done. In culture. You know, thank you for
again showing people that you can, you know, build a
business and the brand around being a person that influences culture,
(49:29):
being likely again one of the first real influences out.
Thank you. Thank you because you know, whether people realize
it or not, you opened up a lot of doors
and opportunities for people through that work. Man. So you
know again, you know, people appreciate it. I appreciate it,
and you know we appreciate you pulling up the button nomics. Man.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
Yeah, man, thank you for curating a city I love
tremendously the way that you do. I respect it and
I appreciate you for sure.
Speaker 3 (49:51):
Man.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Well yeah, look that's another episode of butter Nomics and
we out the dream is real. You've been listening to
the butter Andmix am your hosts Brandon Butler, got comments, feedback?
Want to be on the show. Send us an email
today at hello at butteronomics dot com. Butter Nomics is
produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by Ksey Pegram, with
marketing support from Queen and Nikki. Music provided by mister Hanky.
(50:15):
If you haven't already hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot Atl. Listen to
Button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
I found that being more vulnerable with my offering has
made me a superhero because there's a lot of people
that feel like you do. And when you don't share
that along the journey, people don't really know how to
react to the steps of building something right. They think
they could just rush in because of social media. Think
because you know this person, you know gets paid to
(00:23):
stream all day that they can get paid they you know,
being a true leader, you have to show the steps.
You have to give the game along the way. You
have to be present with the people here.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Everybody. Welcome to another episode of button Nomics. I'm your host,
Brandon Butler, found the CEO of butter atl and today
we got the lifestyle specialists in the building.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Mister Kenny Burns. How you doing, Bro, I'm doing great, brother.
Thank you for having me. I've been looking forward to
seeing you in real life and chopping it up.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Hey man, I appreciate it, man, So look, I'm gonna
get right into it, Bro. I just want to say
thank you. And the reason why I want to say
thank you is because I always grew up I always
wanted to be in radio. That was one of my
dream jobs. And you know, but you know, I didn't
really feel like I had a radio voice.
Speaker 3 (01:17):
You do.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Actually, I didn't really feel like I had all the
skills and stuff. And I was a tech guy for
a long time, you know what I'm saying. That was
my background, and so I was, like, you know what,
I started doing podcasts, you know, I started doing internet radio,
and then one day I came across this thing called
behive FM. And when I tell you, I literally watched
every single thing that y'all did. I literally used to
(01:41):
take screenshots and say, like, I'm gonna build a studio
just like this, like and I actually ended up building
a studio and I literally all I had was photos,
and I literally tried to recreate, you know, the same
way y'all had it laid out. I said, I want
a window kind of like this in front of it,
and I had my things push up to the side.
And so so first of all, I just want to
say thank you, because you don't even know this is
(02:03):
years ago, but like, even seeing you do that and
seeing y'all do that kind of gave me the blueprint
that I just had to follow because I didn't know
where else to look on how to like build an
internet radio station how to get involved in podcasting.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Man.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
So first of all, I just want to say thank
you for just doing what you were doing, because you
inadvertently inspired me and gave me kind of a north
started aim at.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
I appreciate that. And big shot to Mike Johnson, and
that was the first of his kind. Actually, yes, was
before all the podcasts and all the things we're thinking,
and it was on the internet. Yeah, and yeah, we
were onto something very early. So I appreciate those words
because it was a good time. We had some really
great interviews. One that really stands out is the one
(02:46):
with El DeBarge and just got super surgical into what
was going on with him. You know, he's been in
and out of like the drug usage and the things,
and just to tell him how special he was was
like one of the all time favorite moments for me
in any media platform I've ever been on.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
What made y'all start that?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
You know?
Speaker 1 (03:05):
I wanted to be in radio much like you and
the gatekeepers were hating. Yeah, yeah, And I remember Frank
Ski was the only Kenny Burns champion in the radio space.
And because you know, when you get into someone else's realm,
they get to get in a little like this is
(03:26):
what I do. I've been in this you know medium
for all these years and I and you didn't go
through what I went through, so I could possibly come
in here and up. But Frank Ski was always the
big bro, the big homie, like nah do that and
so much so I remember telling him, you know, I'm
gonna partner with Mike Johnson. We're gonna do this thing
(03:46):
called Beehive, and I'm gonna go from two to six
specifically to go at Ryan Cameron and which basically tells
you who was hating on me back, but a big
shot to Ryan. I mean, it's all love now. But
it was a thing of like, let me get my chops,
let me you know, format the Kenny Burns show.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Like radio, and we went crazy bro.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
And I think it was eight months later, I got
an offer everyone on three and because I was the
party king, you know at all the you know, popping venues,
they wanted me to be you know, the Friday night
live remote guy and all the things.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
So it all worked.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
But I literally purposefully intentionally set up that time slot
so I can go get it and we made some history.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Yeah, man, And again you've you've had this ability to
kind of you know again just watching from the outside
looking in, right, Like you've had this ability to kind
of you know, build a business and a brand around
Like I say, you kind of call yourself the lifestyle specialist, right,
So like, how did you find that connection from music,
the culture, all the other things you kind of worked on?
Like what's the through line that kind of made you
see that opportunity?
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Uh, low hanging fruit version just being present? You know,
I started throwing parties here in Atlanta in the auc
in you know, nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
I remember those days.
Speaker 1 (05:05):
Yeah, and you know I met what would become the
Golden era of artists, right, So you got to imagine,
you know, we bought the big Mac promo here that's
Biggie small than Craig Mac, you know, to the warehouse
in ninety four and shout to the warehouse, Yeah, the Warehouse.
And then you know, brought jay Z to you know
kaya you know, with a single called twenty two two's
(05:26):
and reasonable Dot was being formed. So I introduced a
lot of things to Atlanta and because of those introductions
through the parties, you know, we had solid relationships. And
I didn't know I was great at promoting. I just
knew how to bring people to the club, right, And
then you find out, oh, you can get paid for
street team marketing, Oh say less, Oh you can get
paid for these ideas that come to fruition and become
(05:49):
you know, these these mega programs and platforms for companies.
And that's how I kind of one foot in front
of the other kind of thing. And the Lifestyle Specialist
wasn't creating until mid two thousand, I think two thousand
and five. My friend had the Axe Body spray account
and AX was being introduced to North America, and because
of my relationships, I was placing things like the Sierra video,
(06:13):
you know, the first video she had the dude was
on the porch with the AX.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
We did jay Z's Black album at the same time.
We were doing all these things, and I found out
like how much money she was making doing this for AX,
and I was like, nah, I need to be, you know,
in this world, because if connection is the thing, I'm
the ultimate connector. And sure enough, a year or two later,
a friend of mine named True Pettigrew, who was partner
(06:40):
in a marketing company called Alloy Media or Alloy Marketing.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
He was vying for the axe business.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
And so he, you know, came to me, not back
during my friend Regina, but like telling me like, look,
we're up for this business. And they're telling us if
we get you, we'll get to business. Yeah, And I'm like,
I didn't even know how significant my role was. So
I went to Genie, like, yo, my man came to me,
said that they're vine for the business. They're a bigger
(07:10):
company to have bigger back office, this, that and the third.
Not going to leave you hanging, you know what I'm saying,
But what's up? Like She's like, nah's run this course,
blah blah blah, get your money. And sure enough I
was introduced to this new world of marketing and branding.
I felt that I needed that. They used to call
me a lifestyle expert. Every meeting. This lifestyle expert. He
knows how to move culture, he does this. He's in music,
(07:31):
he's in fashion, he's in all the things. And I
was like, I like lifestyle specialists. I like to look
at myself as a person with a unique set of
skills that can be across genre in business. And I
look at myself as a specialist ause experts. You got
to know exactly what you're saying and be one thousand
percent correct, especially you can make a mistake here. So yeah,
(07:52):
it was a it was an eye opening experience to
say the least, and it put me into a realm
of business that I you know, have been very successful
in today. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Man, I mean when you think about it, right, like
you were the influencer before influencer kind of became a thing.
This is right, Like you literally kind of like again
it's just a different way of looking at it, but
you were influencing people culture, brands to go to certain
you know, people to move to certain places, brands and
stuff like that. Like, how have you kind of seen
from your again from your front seat view of it, right,
Like how is the idea of like influence changed over
(08:24):
the years, because especially now with social media, right, like
everybody calls themselff a influence. Yeah, but like you actually
moving culture. Moving culture is how you define an influencer.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
You can't just say you're doing something and you have
certain favor in this particular moment and then it fizzles out.
You have to have long lasting, staining power. And I
liken the people that use the word or the term
to describe.
Speaker 3 (08:48):
Themselves the lifestyle spress.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I liking that to the best flattery ever, right, because
they see that they have a creative skill set, but
they don't know quite how to implement all their creative right.
And I've been pretty much a blueprint for that for
people to get out your ideas, you know, forge new
paths and different sectors of business. But I think, you know,
(09:10):
everything is starting to weed itself out. When I first
got the opportunity in Spirits, for instance, and this is
a fun story, I was in Washington, d C. At
a club called Love. The guy you mentioned earlier, Mark Bonds,
who wants Sparking fourteenth, he owned Love and the mored
Hennessy guys were in there and I'm just ear hustling,
and they were going back and forth in their deal,
(09:32):
and then they were asking him about Alex Gabe and
God rested Dead Mike, and they were like, this is
these these.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Guys in Atlanta like the Mob.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
They won't sell no Hennessy or no you know Rose
unless you know, we can literally pay them this amount
of money. And so I'm ear hustling and of course
these are my you know, Alix, and I you know,
then We're very, very close and still are to this day.
But I was like, you know, let me hear how
I can get in this mix and get some of
this money. You know what I'm talking about. So I
(10:03):
interject in the conversation. I was like, I could fix
your problem. They're like, ah, I don't know. These guys
are pretty tough. And then I said, well, listen, what's
the number? Where do you need to be and let's
see if I can help you out. And he was
like all right, well, what you gonna want? I said,
I'll take care of that. On the Alex and Them side,
I said, you just do a birthday party for me.
(10:23):
My thirty fifth was coming up. I was like, you
just do my birthday party. When I come asking, I
need you to do this birthday party. So long story
shortened of fixing the deal for them. Didn't know that Alex,
Gave and Mike were the biggest account in the Southeast, right.
I didn't know the gravitas of the situational moment, but
I did it, and that essentially is how you know.
(10:43):
The influencer model started in the spirit world and from
that I got to The favorite was the Vasace Mansion
birthday party, the legendary Vasat Mansion birthday party that I had,
and everybody's like, how is this nigga at the Vasace
Mansion with all these people and he's not a celebrity.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
And I think at the time, Star.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Jones and Al Reynolds were the biggest talk in you know,
in media, and so we had like a billion impressions
with this party. So much so and we had so
much height before the global CMO came like who is
this guy? First time ever multiple brands participated in one
thing because you know, if Moed's doing the thing, Belvidere
is not going to get involved. If Belvidere's doing the thing,
(11:25):
and Tim k Rum is not going to get involved.
So there was this need to pay for this party,
and they were so happy they did because posts that,
I think all Spirit companies knew that there were entities
in these cities that had staining power that could really
move the needle, not just from a show up and
you know, activate standpoint, but actually back in business.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
And that was kind of the model that got all
that started.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Man. You know, so I've worked in the agency space
for a long time too, you know, so I've had
the privilege of kind of being on both sides, right
and kind of seeing it on the consumer side, but
also been in the rooms where they plan some of
these big ideas and campaigns, just you know, from from
your perspective again, like as somebody that has moved culture
and understands how to you know, work with brands and
(12:10):
make things happen. Like what do brands get right but
also get wrong when it comes to, you know, trying
to find ways to authentically insert themselves in culture.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
And it's a great question because there is a such
thing called ageism, and I think brands get it wrong
a lot of the times thinking they need to go
younger just to kind of compete or exist in the space.
And the issue that I have like even with Generation Z,
like millennials to me are the last generation that actually
got the responsibility in bringing heritage and legacy to the
(12:45):
forefront with new and innovative and you know, again the
old model is let's get somebody young and hot.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
Well what's young and hot? Right?
Speaker 1 (12:54):
Really look into culture and see how you know, this
generation is moving culture because to me, in this new
wave of existing, it's not a thing of you know, consistency.
It's not like back in the day, Alex, you knew
you could in the spirit side of things. You knew
you could sell X, Y and Z amount of da
da da da da. If you did da da da
(13:15):
da da. Right now, you don't know what you're getting.
People want to smoke hookah more than they want to drink.
I mean, if you look at like statistics generation Z,
which is not a problem because I, you know myself
are I'm calming down on drinking and I just.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Don't feel the same no more.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
But there if you look at the statistics, they're down
by some billions as far as participating and buying spirits.
But I think people get it twisted and I don't
think they really dial in enough to how do you.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Want to show up in culture?
Speaker 1 (13:47):
Brands need to really respect how they show up in culture,
because I remember a time where you know, certain artists
wouldn't be in commercials. They don't care, They don't care
what the backstory is, the gang affiliation, none of the things.
And this all has everything to do with your brand.
But not only does it have everything to do with
(14:07):
your brand, it has everything to.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Do with how culture functions. And that's why.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
I like, you know, people that are in these buildings
that really know culture, because we have not only a responsibility,
but we also got to watch out for what we're
putting at the forefront. It's like radio playing you know
all this drug rap. Yeah, you know, what do you
think is going to happen if ninety percent of what
people hear is use drugs?
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Yeah? Right? Sexy Red.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I often use her as amused on everything not to
do to young women in the game because you have
an opportunity.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
I'll never forget. I heard of Bruno Mars song recently and.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
I'm like, Cardi b is the blueprint Bruno, like, you're
the almighty when it comes to this pop culture music
and you let her be Sexy Red. No, you're supposed
to do what you did with Cardi, But it has
everything to do with sexy because when you start a
song off with pussy, pussy, pussy, what you're getting and
what do you think is being sold? And these young
(15:04):
people don't have discernment because they don't have options. And
this is where we are as a culture. We cannot
continue to allow these things to be played. And it
has everything to do with these big brands. Radio would
have never allowed you to say bitch on the radio.
Ass on the radio. Damn, you couldn't say any of
these things. But you know there's the problem I had
(15:25):
was freedom of speech too.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
You you know, yeah, bring up good points man, because
again I've seen it on She.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
And their snapping chot. I know I'm bringing no good
points when you got the youngins in there doing these.
I mean, you know you bring it.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
You bring up great points because again, like even when
you just listen to you know, other other stations and
stuff like that. Again, like I always kind of joke
around and say, like, you'll never hear, like you don't
hear country artists talking about beef and killing and all
this kind of stuff. You don't hear. You don't hear
rocket Like why is it that again when it comes
to just and I'm a huge fan of rapping rap music, right,
I love rap music, but like, why is it that
(15:59):
that's the only thing that gets pushed out so much?
And why is it that, like, again, you couldn't do
that stuff on other stations. You can do that stuff
for the genres, but it's so acceptable in ours.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
Right, Yeah, And it's horrible because hip hop was never
stayed where you're at. Hip hop was an aspirational form
of music, and it went from storytelling and truth telling
to imaginary, you know, story scenarios. But it all had
a pathway to success. And when you get success, traditionally
in hip hop, you changed your game, You changed the
(16:30):
way you showed up in culture, which was called growth.
These gang bangers, these crash dummies, these functioning crackheads. I mean,
it is a literal lifestyle, and they don't want to
be successful, and they don't want to denounce things. You know,
I'm a convicted fellow at eighteen years old, but at
fifty two years old, I'm an upstanding NAACP Image Award
(16:53):
winning producer. I'm a father, I'm a husband, like all
these things matter in the story telling of who we
are culturally. But that's where I say, these youngins don't
care about culture. They care about money. And if money's
not the thing, right, it's never gonna be enough. If
money's the thing, then it's never gonna be enough. So
(17:15):
culture goes out the window. You know, I remember a
time where knowledge itself was super paramount if you were
a five percent or not. I remember a time where
you know, we did talk about killing the things that
were going on. It was more reporting versus we want
to live this life. But these men, it's scary because
I have two young men, I have a bunch of
(17:37):
god children, a bunch of people I've taken on to
be nieces and nephews, and I'm just worried about, you know,
how they will function in the world, you know, and
then you have Trump guys and all the other things
going on.
Speaker 2 (18:02):
There's lots of definitions for the word culture, and I'd
love to get your definition the way I kind of
define it. One of my favorite authors, Seth Godin, talks about,
you know, the definition of culture is people like us
through things like this, and so that's how I've always
kind of looked at it. Right, It's like when it
comes to Atlanta, right, like people in Atlanta we do
we eat lemon pepper wings, we you know, we go
(18:24):
to waffle house. There's just certain ways that we move
into me that kind of defines culture as somebody that's
been a part of culture for so long, Like how
do you define culture?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
I define culture as traditions and actively, you know, participating
in those traditions. If you pray when you wake up
and go to sleep, if you pray before you eat.
Those are traditions, right, and I think we've gotten away
from traditions. You know, Traditionally we are respectful to our elders. Yeah,
Traditionally we tell stories about the civil rights movement. I've
(18:54):
been in Atlanta since nineteen ninety two, and everything we've
ever done stands on the shoulders of the civil rights movement.
And you know, without an outcast, without a Goodie Mob,
that probably would have never been amplified, because soon after them,
it became about the streets, right, and I think street
culture was universal, so that when Jeezi came into the game,
(19:16):
right and Tip came into the game, those things were
so relative culturally. But then we kind of got away
from the tradition and the beautiful thing about goodie mob
and outcasts who do not get enough credit in music period.
In my opinion, goodie Mob more so than outcasts as
far as the credit.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Right.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
But when you think of soul food, you think of
like what them young boys was saying in an era
where everything was flashy, You're finally making them pay for
what they did to the cold crush.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
All these things are going on and you stayed true
to your roots.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
See that's Atlanta, and we've got so far removed from
what and who we are. And people also like to
say that, you know, when y'all moved here, Nigga, I
moved here in nineteen The fuck are you talking about.
I've raised my family here. I'm one of the biggest
contributors to this city that you now want to claim
(20:08):
and shun a person just because I was born in Washington,
DC and I get credit and favorite I get credit
in Detroit because I lived there for two years.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
What the fuck like? It's it's your contribution to a
city that makes it your home.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
But yet a lot of people from Atlanta don't represent
their heritage or their own and it's shocking. You want
to run around here waving the flag because it's convenient. No,
I live this like your city and your city where
you like, because I'm not a grady baby.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
It don't make me at at Alien. I begged to death.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I've I have personally experienced that same thing. I remember
when I started butter atl I literally had people they
found my office and people would show up at my
office like random people and you know, basically try to
question me like what gives you the right to make
content about Atlanta culture. I'm like, bro, I'm making posts
(21:05):
on Instagram, dog like and not even in a negative way.
It's like, you know, this is what we do. We
go here, I love Waffa House, so we do this
and like like, we know, you got to like you
gotta come check in with me. Who were you the
And the funny part about it is let it out.
And in all the years since we've done this stuff,
you know, like we you know, we've it's now grown
to where we do for a four day Now we
(21:26):
have the four to fort day Scholarship. I've given away
over one hundred thousand dollars scholarships in the last three years.
I have not seen a single one of those people
do anything to pour back into the city. It's the
same thing. I was born in Los Angeles, but I
grew up out here that I spent my entire lif Like,
I know Atlanta more than I know La. And your
home is where you become you. Yeah, this is where
(21:47):
I became me. And I tell people the same thing.
Just because I wasn't born at Grady like does not
make like it does not make me any less of
an an at alien than anybody else out here. Because again,
this is what I know. My parents moved me when
my fault. My parents move me out here when I
was one year old. But I've been here my whole life,
that's right. But because I wasn't born at Grady, I'm
not I don't have a right to talk about. But again,
(22:08):
while you're telling me that what are you doing?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
What are you doing? You're talking. And that's the problem
with this world. Anybody can say anything. That's why I
said I had a problem with freedom of speech sometimes
because just because a microphone is available to everyone, just
because everyone has an iPhone, now everyone's not supposed to
be publicly sharing their motherfucking offering because it's nothing that's
(22:31):
going to be conducive to a way of life or
a way of being. Atlanta was built on all the
people that came here. You want to talk about who's
from Atlanta, go through the history of Atlanta and see
who came here to help build the foundation of bricks.
So this amazing, you know what I'm saying. City, Yeah,
and it's a hajjh paje. Just like you know when
(22:54):
you talk about cultures, right like African culture.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
You know, I'm an investor in Uncle Nier's right.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Jack Daniels, you know, got the you know recipe from
Uncle Nars And you talk about this African tradition of
you know, charcoal, you know, in making whiskey. He not
from Tennessee, but he's the creator of Tennessee whiskey. There's
value in someone's offering that you know, lives and breathes
(23:22):
and dwells in this place.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
I don't understand, and it drives me nuts.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
And I really was about to start cursing more, but
I'm trying not to curse because you know, I get
super ghetto. But it just amazing because when people tell
the story of Atlanta, they like to forget people like
yourself and myself. They like to forget people because it's
convenient to tell their version. That's why Butter atl is
so important because it deals with the actual factual history
(23:49):
of Atlanta, and we have to continue to tell the history.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
Man. You know, I was going to go a little
bit further.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
No, man, Look, it gets it gets, you know people.
But again, people try to get their own, you know
what they call revisionist history version of it. And like
I say, man, I just wish that you know, it
took to your point when you talk about microphones, I agree.
But you know, one of the worst things I think
that happened to culture was comments. I think that the
ability of people to leave comments on social media, and
then what made it even worse was the ability to
(24:19):
like comments. Because you know, I was I was joking
and telling my daughter a couple of weeks ago, I'm like,
you know, even though I do a lot of stuff
with social media, I probably leave maybe three to four
comments a year, right, like, just cause one I just
look at stuff, Okay, I keep moving, like and I
don't want to go back and forth with people, and
I don't want to get but like even we you know,
you post stuff, you get this weird thing in the
(24:41):
comments where now people are like either looking for something
negative or they're just saying things just to get a
reaction from other people, right, And like I said, it's
the same thing. It's like everybody, we've we've democratized this
idea that everybody has a voice, but at the same time,
people like it's never positive and it's.
Speaker 1 (24:57):
A problem because there's too more much heavy shit going on,
right to have that be the reason you have anxiety
or have that be the reason you can't function. And
people aren't as strong as you think they are. There's
not a lot of superhuman strength having motherfuckers out here.
Speaker 3 (25:16):
It's a lot of you can.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Say one thing and throw somebody's entire life off let
alone day, and we're not even it's not being regulated.
But that's again my problem with freedom of speech. We
might want to have a forum about freedom of speech
because some people need to shut the fuck up.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
You know, some people do need to shut up, man,
you know, just to kind of change it for a second.
So you've had a chance to work with some amazing people,
You've you've been all over the industry. Just what's something
that you've learned from people that have had like reached
that level of success. You know, the jay Z's and
all these amazing like mogules that you've met. Like when
you meet those people, they I've never met them, right,
So my assumption is they move a little bit differently,
(25:51):
they think a little bit differently, they talk a little
bit differently. Like, what are some lessons that you've taken
away from those experiences that kind of show you, like
why they've reached level of success.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
They've reached.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
You know, I've been blessed to be When I was
in the music business around some real music men, in
particular Andre Herrel, God rested did and La read you know,
to see what La built here in Atlanta, Like at
face value was tremendous and it was really about culture.
It was really about love. It was really about progression.
(26:24):
And that's the thing I love most about Andre Herrel.
It was about black equity. It was about you know,
defining who we were and a feeling and emotion and
I missed that music and so I think from those
two I learned that the most that the way I
feel vulnerability through music, through creative is how I could
show up and be a super you know hero.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
And then you know, I worked.
Speaker 1 (26:47):
With the Puffs and I learned a lot of what
not to do, you know, from guys like him and Damon.
But I also was very inspired by them because they
were and are stewards of culture when we were defining
who we were gonna be and how we were gonna
break bread in this industry and get some real money.
Speaker 3 (27:06):
They were pioneers.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
But you know, again a lot of my frustration with
this businesses that a lot of them couldn't see it
through to the end, and whether it be dysfunction because
no one can tell you anything, whether it's dysfunction because
you spend too much and then budget or balance, you
know your budget. I'm just sad that I don't see
enough superheroes standing tall. I mean, everybody has allegations with this,
(27:34):
that have addictions with this. They're dying literally, I mean,
we have superheroes dying like every year, and it's just
for me. I've been blessed to define my own path.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
You know.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
I never walked to Brookly for cheesecake. I never had
any incidents in culture where I was challenged in tech,
you know, with my integrity and I always was intentional.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I never I had my own crew.
Speaker 1 (27:57):
I've been married twenty five years, so imagine that, like
I've been married the entire time I've been getting money
and making my name in business. So I've always had
a foundation of what was real, and I stayed true
to that.
Speaker 3 (28:09):
You know.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Of course, I never got on a private plane sometime
when I didn't like the crew going, or I saw
you know, door number one and decided to go out
the back door. You know, different things, you know what
I'm saying, but I never with my own eyes, and
people ask me all the time about puffus, like I've
never seen none of that because he'd never done nothing
around me, And I find it hard to believe y'all
charge of him with baby all and being a free
(28:30):
you know what I'm saying, So until you can say
this happened, and this happened like we saw the Cassie video,
you know, if anything like that comes out, frime, you
know what I'm saying. But other than that, like get
to the point and we will be on he'll be
on trial suit, so we'll know. But I just hate
how they're crucifying our superheroes for things that have nothing
to do with actual charges.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
And it's just sad, man, you know. So I learned
what not to do.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
I learned a lot about who I was and what
I wanted to be, and I thank them all for
the opportunities.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
But I've always spoken truth the power to I've.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Never been one to like be around and be cool
some shit, and just because they're this person or that
they're at this quote unquote level, I've always spoken out.
It's just now that they are microphones everywhere and a
lot of people are hearing it for the first time.
Speaker 3 (29:14):
But yeah, I learned a lot.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
As you kind of, you know, your career has evolved again,
like I said, from the parties and now doing investments
and all that stuff. Like how, you know, what advice
would you give for somebody that wants to kind of
you know, evolve into a bigger things without losing their
self and their authenticity and that growth because growth is
a natural progression part of life. But a lot of
times people they don't want to leave the game, you
know what I mean. It's like it's like an old
(29:48):
athlete or something that's just like like bro, go sit down.
Speaker 3 (29:51):
Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2 (29:52):
Some people don't want to leave the game. But there
are ways to evolve. There are ways to again, like
they kind of use that continue that example, right, like
you can go from a player to being a coach,
no question, you know, to being a mentor and stuff
like that. So how have you kind of found ways
to evolve yourself in your careers that you can stay
relevant and do even bigger and better things.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
I found that being more vulnerable with my you know,
my offering has made me a superhero because there's a
lot of people that feel like you do. And when
you don't share that along the journey, people don't really
know how to react to the steps of building something right.
They they think they could just rush in because of
(30:31):
social media. Think because you know this person, you know
gets paid to stream all day that they can get
paid they you know, being a true leader, you have
to show the steps. You have to give the game
along the way. You have to be present with the people.
So I think number one, make sure people are part
of your process. Number two, make sure that you never
(30:53):
let your expectations exceed your effort. We all can talk
a good game about these lofty things we want to do,
what you got to put into work. And then I think,
you know, for me, it's always you know, having had
a partner along the way, like I think my wife
all the time, because at the end of the day,
it's like, you know, all this sexual energy and you know.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Me from the clubs.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Back in the day, one of my biggest lines was
if you love yourself, touch yourself. I was selling fantasy
every day, you know, but if you have something solid
and firm, you gotta water that. And while you're watering that,
you'll get that support you truly need because there's nothing
like a significant other and I don't I don't. You know,
you don't have to be married to have that, you know,
(31:33):
but you have to have, you know, a partner in life.
I think, you know, and people that speak life in
to you, that can say things other people can't. Because
every superhero I've ever seen falls because no one can
tell them anything because if they listen to people. You know,
Kanye West, pure genius, right, but he can't shut the
fuck up. And it's because no one can tell him
to shut the fuck up and you really here them.
(31:55):
But that's what we're becoming as a culture though, Like
we are becomeing the ones that don't listen. Yeah, and
we've always been the most patient, the most resilient, the
most actionable when it's time, right, but we've also sat
down and listened to what was going on so we
can make our move.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
I mean you could date that back to slavery.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
So I think that if people could just sometimes shut
the fuck up and listen, right, and then when you speak,
speak with intention. No people just talking to talk And
it drives me motherfucking cricy.
Speaker 3 (32:29):
No.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
I mean, as a person that you know has again,
worked in lots of different places. I remember, you know,
I spent some time working in Hollywood, and you know,
Hollywood is you know, people say Atlanta's not a real place.
Hollywood is not a real place. Like you know, I
even tell people a lot of people don't realize, like
even by definition, like the holly tree is the tree
that magicians used to use to make magic wands from,
(32:51):
So by definition, Hollywood is not even real. And like,
you know, I've been to I've been to parties up
in the hills. I've seen some crazy shit, bro, And
you know what's always been interesting to me is like, yeah,
at a certain level, these people live in this bubble
to where everybody around them is just saying yes and
you know, just backing up all kind of crazy stuff.
(33:12):
And that's why you get a lot of the like
I said, that's why you get a lot of the
things that you see people having to deal with and
like them falling is because yeah, they've been in this world.
They've just been surrounded by people that are literally just
you know, empowering their bullshit. Yeah, you know, and again,
you've got to be able to step out of that
and have balance and have people that you know, can
call you out or or even just like I said,
speak life into you.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
But Hollywood, I mean in big shots of the people
from Los Angeles, you know, big shot to people from
the Bay. I think they have their culture, but Hollywood
is not that. And when you get into the Hollywood piece,
it's so funny. As a brand out, I wish I
could tell you the brand because I don't want to.
I don't want people buying it. Because there was a
shirt that I was going to buy, you know, esthetically
(33:55):
is like a workman shirt. It had all the patches
and the things on the back. It said at the
House of Richard and it was like San Francisco blah
blah blah. And what a lot of people don't realize
that Richard. A lot of people named Richard. They called Dick,
and this shirt was actually saying the House of Dick's right.
But because it's a hot new brand, somebody gonna go
(34:17):
put that on. But then the same brand has pictures
of Maryland manson on things and.
Speaker 3 (34:22):
Other things like I can't wear that shit. Yeah, you
know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
What I'm saying, but I think that's where we are,
So it's not necessarily a Hollywood thing. It's a mentality thing,
a mentality thing which became a cultural thing because people
are putting on things that they have no idea what
it means, right, They're doing things that are against their
natural feelings. I mean, how many people do you know
in the industry that started out together and ready and
(34:47):
ended up being toothless and on drugs or you know,
having done things sexually that they thought they could deal
with and now they're done blowing their head off because
they done, you know what I'm saying, done something not
ready with.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
That's what culture is.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
And then you have these young girls that see all
this gay energy thinking they want to try it right
and they're not gay, and then they have hard times
dealing with you know what I'm saying, things post a
relationship because they did something their boyfriend wanted them to do,
or they try something their girlfriend.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
Wanted them to do.
Speaker 1 (35:21):
I mean, it's a sickness, bro, And we really have
to do some real therapy with these people because it's
ingrained in their minds that they have to do these
things to be successful. It's ingrained in their minds that
they got to go against who they are to exist right,
and that's a that's a real issue. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
I mean, you know, it's like to your point, I remember,
you know, talking to my daughter about different situations like
that and like telling her, like one, you're young, so
you don't know what you're talking about. And I'm not
saying you're talk talking about sexual but I'm just talking
about different things in general.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Right.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
But it's like you're young, you don't know, or you
don't know because you don't have the experience. Your friends
don't know because they're the same age as you, so
they definitely don't know. And to be totally honest, they
parents don't know because their parents is damn twenty years
old themselves. Yes, you know, like I was telling me,
my homeboy was talking about this actually yesterday it was like,
you know, we need we need big Mama to come back.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Man.
Speaker 2 (36:16):
The problem now is like big Mama Mama won't be
outside too man.
Speaker 3 (36:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Like you know, I was growing up, and I grew
up in the time where you got out of school
for uh for summer. I was in Alabama the whole summer. Yeah,
my grandma house, you know what I'm saying, working on
her farm and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Now these kids be out here running around because again
but so even us. Again, it's like a culture, right,
like you have just young people leading young people leading
young people. And one of the things that annoys me
the most is everybody thinks everything is okay. Everything is not.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
Okay because everybody can't deal with the consequences. Right, this
is my point. I get free love, I get all that,
I have a huge gay following. Yeah, but I think
it's some fat gating that's going on. Absolutely, And then
I'm talking about more with women than men. But at
the same time, I don't get why it has to
(37:08):
be a thing where like it's so on top of
you every single moment, every single show, every single thing.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
We lead with it.
Speaker 1 (37:16):
You lead with it, and it's cool. Listen, I don't
think heterosexual. You know, visuals of sex all the time
are good. Yeah, right, but then you have all these
things and we have people that are undeveloped. Men don't
get fully developed today twenty five in the frontal low,
I'm just saying, like we have a world of over immersion.
(37:39):
We have a world of over like in your face,
pressing things on you, and it's like these kids are
breaking it's visual you can see that they're drug addicts.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
They I mean, think.
Speaker 1 (37:50):
About a time in music where you have so many
functioning drug addicts, right, And even if our mama and
them day you know what I'm saying, If we knew
what was going on with the pedophilia, if we knew
what was going on behind the scenes, we probably would
be judging too. But we didn't. That's what's not here anymore.
We don't know what happened then. And that's a great
(38:13):
fucking thing because we can still enjoy the music. But
if you're a fucking pedophile today, I cannot listen to you.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
R Kelly, I saw the tape.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
There's no way I can support you for doing what
you did.
Speaker 3 (38:28):
But it's hard.
Speaker 1 (38:29):
The man made some of the most brilliant music in
the history of the world.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
So who are we and what are we? And who
are we? I'm talking to me and you.
Speaker 1 (38:38):
Who are we to have the generation where that comes out?
Where now you can pick apart whoever you want to
pick apart. We can't celebrate our heroes, but clearly they're
our heroes that they're doing those things.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
But where are we? Who are we?
Speaker 1 (38:53):
But we gotta take the reins bro like we are
the gatekeepers. But the problem is there's more hate keepers
than gatekeepers.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Well that's a bar.
Speaker 1 (39:05):
You have people literally in charge that are holding back
culture because of selfish wants, desires and agendas.
Speaker 3 (39:14):
But you got real gatekeepers who care.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
The only reason I say the things I say is
because I need somebody to be affected positively by my words.
And if it hurt a little bit today, and it's
thing a little bit of today, it's gonna make you
think the next time you go act on something you
don't need to be doing, yeah, or something you need
to think twice about. We don't have those hate keepers
don't care about that. They want confusion. Do you know
(39:38):
how many chaos agents agents of chaos? We have a
hip hop culture. It's evident who the agents of chaos are.
All they do is tear down when people die, they
make fun of the death. But these are the people
that are leading our culture. We don't have no culture
with that. We won't, we won't do have any respectability
(40:02):
with that. You think they and I'm talking about day
then people that's got elected that are in this wild
you think they respect us.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
The only thing they care.
Speaker 1 (40:10):
About is the people We converted that are like them,
because that's what we've done traditionally throughout history. We've been music,
we've been fashion, we've been expression, we've been creators and inventors.
Speaker 3 (40:24):
And so people often wonder, like why they going so hard.
Speaker 1 (40:28):
They're going so hard because they want to let you
know you don't matter, and we're gonna protect this race.
We're gonna protect this ideology, this patriarchal system, and we're
gonna let y'all kill each other. And what's happening right now.
Everything we promote that's highbrow in music is death. If
it ain't death, it's misogyny. And that's equal to death
(40:51):
depending on how hard you're going. Because I think people
done forgot about age. I don't know, I don't understand
the mentality, and.
Speaker 2 (41:00):
It only happens on our side. Like I said, you'll
never hear I mean, it's even again. There was a
whole ted talk that talked about that, right, and it
was like, Bro, you can't say the same thing that
a lot of black artists say about themselves and about
black people, but you could never say that about any
other race. Facts I make a song about, you know,
(41:22):
since anti semitic and rap song and watch what happens,
and watch how that community even rallies around it and says, no,
that's not gonna happen. But you can sit here and
make a song about shooting and killing every single black
person that you see and like literally everybody's and it's
played on the radio fifty million times.
Speaker 1 (41:36):
And let's keep it one hundred. The biggest terrorist in
the world is that white man who literally will go
and take over the Indians land, go to African any
other territory that's not you know back then because they
had guns was why they could take some shit, right,
But they are the biggest terrorists. Let them go make
(41:57):
some music about anti anything that them gonna make some music.
Bet how they go up in these schools and kill children.
These are these are not This is a This is
a real thing. Yeah, and I'm not saying all I'm
saying the ones who do it, but this is their
blueprint they call kill and take. When Donald Trump came
on TV, when that in Yahoo, I don't know if
(42:19):
you watched that. In Yahoo's face brou he had a
smirk on his face the entire time and then allowed
Donald Trump to talk about we gonna make this the
new riviera of the Middle East. Do you not see
the blueprint? This is what they do and now they
(42:40):
ain't gotta hide it. This man went on TV and
called Zelenski a dictator. Inside it would pull and they're
telling you who and what they are. But this is
something we can never do. To your point, we can never.
You got a white woman on TikTok the other day
talking about it's time to kill She said this, it's
(43:02):
time to kill Elon musk if a.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
Black man said that.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
She also said, in the same sentence, she ain't paid
taxes in eight years, and y'all ain't came to see me.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
What's upright?
Speaker 1 (43:14):
But that's the audacity and mindset of a people, because
I regardless of the people, the white men and women
that aren't with it, there's not enough of them standing
up to this patriarchal system. White women could have saved
the election. White women could have win that booth. They
husband would have known what they did because that's what
they're oppressed too. So I didn't mean to go on
(43:36):
a tandem with that, but I felt it was necessary.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
No, man, no, I mean you're dropping bars. I mean
my question is what all that said? What advice do
you then have for the next generation of you know,
culture entrepreneurs to help figure out where their space is
in the world and kind of navigate through all this craziness.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
I would say make it about culture. I would say,
make it about the generation behind you that's going to
have to follow, you know, the work you did, the
words you put into the universe. We have to have
some accountability and some intentionality into how we're showing up.
And I feel as though leaders are going to start,
(44:15):
you know, rising from the ashes.
Speaker 3 (44:17):
Real leaders.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
I mean, you look at this generation and outside of
nineteen Keys and a few others that are gaining popularity,
you don't have a lot of people, you know, even
speaking about things that don't have to do with music
or fashion or sports. We need more thought leaders. Man,
if you want to exist in this world properly, you
have to be a true thought leader. And you can't
(44:40):
be a racist in a world of classism. Classism is
trumping racism in my opinion, and it's going to be
the haves and have nots. You ever seen the hunger Games, Absolutely,
and that is a real thing because the middle class
is weak and there's not enough camaraderie to keep a
(45:01):
middle class functioning. And so we have to be real
intentional about the way we show up and be thoughtful.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Man.
Speaker 1 (45:07):
You know the reason why I always talk about white
women when it comes to elections because they've been oppressed.
Not like us, but they've been oppressed. I mean, imagine,
you know, dealing with all they've dealt with from slavery
to today, and they got to literally stand by this
shit show these people.
Speaker 3 (45:27):
That are you know, and they're saying it out loud, y'all.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
It's only gonna get worse. They're only going to keep
saying the things that they are saying. And don't be surprised,
you know if the government structure as we.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Know it changes.
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Yeah, I mean I think you know, there's definitely been
just in general, a like, things aren't going back to
the way they were, Like things that are different. Yeah,
and it's interesting, it's scary. It's a lot of different
things to kind of see where things are going and
how things It's.
Speaker 1 (45:55):
Scary for them, though. I want to say that it's
not scary for us. We've adapted and just it the
entire way. It's scary for them because they don't feel
like they have the power they had, and that's a
real thing when you have somebody back into a corner
like that, especially to hold the nuclear codes and the
army and now the government.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
So be careful.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
Let me ask you this, from your perspective and all
your experience and all the stuff you've done, what do
you think is just in general, the next big thing
that you know, again cultural entrepreneurs and that we should
be preparing ourselves for. And again I me again, I
know there's a craziness going on, but like, where's the
opportunity for us? Like when you kind of look based
(46:38):
on your experience and what you've kind of seen.
Speaker 1 (46:40):
I think the next thing is the calming down of
all the talking heads. Real speakers of truth are going
to arise because it's needed. And I think anytime in
the history of our culture when it's been poignant and timing,
the timing has been you know right, I think we've
(47:02):
always risen to the occasion. I was saying that about
the Artist's Paradise. He has a new single call Fogging
Up the Windows, and my son who's an artist, prana
Ak Kyle Burns Like they're talking about love and their
relationships and what they want to see and how they
want to show up. And I believe that, you know,
there's a generation waiting to you know, rise to the occasion.
(47:24):
I always have to believe that, and as much as
it hasn't happened yet, I know that it's coming.
Speaker 2 (47:29):
Yeah, I mean, you know, I kind of think about
it even with you know, like I was, I was
watching something the other day and it was talking about
it was showing a t I son Buddy rid and demonic, incredible,
and I just think about it. I'm like, yeah, like
you know, it's it's so interesting. I mean, one that's
just an incredibly talented family musically with our question, but
like when you look at like, Okay, the easy thing
(47:50):
for them to do would have been doing what their
dad did, but they both went kind of so different.
But it's a great creative conscious way, right, it's respond
it's all the things.
Speaker 3 (48:01):
And I'm sure that's what they learned from their parents.
Speaker 1 (48:03):
Even though you know, Tip was a track rapper and
done all the things, I'm sure he taught his kids
not to be like him on a lot of.
Speaker 3 (48:10):
Levels in the most respectful way possible. And we see it.
Speaker 1 (48:13):
But again, that makes me hopeful for the future because
you see these youngest you know, not all of them,
not the majority of them, and soon to be the majority, prayerfectly,
but you see a lot of them speaking truth of power.
Speaker 2 (48:23):
Absolutely before we got out of here. Man, one thing
I love to ask people is if there was a
and I know there have been, but if there was
a Kenny Burns billboard that you can put anything on it,
a message, a piece of advice, what would you put
on the Kenny Burns billboard.
Speaker 3 (48:41):
That's a great question.
Speaker 1 (48:42):
On the Kenny Burns billboard, I would put love wins.
You know, anything I've ever achieved in my life came
from me showing up with love and positive intention. And
if I ever gotten in some gangster shit, you know
it was because I had to go there. But everything
else with me has always been about love and I
(49:03):
try to, you know, inspire people to do the same.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Hey man, Well look I appreciate it. Like I said,
Ken you, I appreciate you pulling up. I've been a
fan for a long time. Like I told you very beginning,
you inspired a lot of stuff that is taking me
down this journey. So again, thank you for the work
that you've done. In culture. You know, thank you for
again showing people that you can, you know, build a
business and the brand around being a person that influences culture,
(49:29):
being likely again one of the first real influences out.
Thank you. Thank you because you know, whether people realize
it or not, you opened up a lot of doors
and opportunities for people through that work. Man. So you
know again, you know, people appreciate it. I appreciate it,
and you know we appreciate you pulling up the button nomics. Man.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
Yeah, man, thank you for curating a city I love
tremendously the way that you do. I respect it and
I appreciate you for sure.
Speaker 3 (49:51):
Man.
Speaker 2 (49:52):
Well yeah, look that's another episode of butter Nomics and
we out the dream is real. You've been listening to
the butter Andmix am your hosts Brandon Butler, got comments, feedback?
Want to be on the show. Send us an email
today at hello at butteronomics dot com. Butter Nomics is
produced in Atlanta, Georgia at iHeartMedia by Ksey Pegram, with
marketing support from Queen and Nikki. Music provided by mister Hanky.
(50:15):
If you haven't already hit that subscribe button and never
missed an episode, and be sure to follow us on
all our social platforms at butter dot Atl. Listen to
Button Nomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you get your podcasts.
Host
Brandon Butler
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