NICK CANNON - Layers of Flavor, Stories, and Success - Eating While Broke

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host, Coleen Witt, and today we have a
very very special guest, Nick Cannon is in the building.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Here weird blessing and salutations.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Yes, and you are very nice enough to let us
come to your studio.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
In my kitchen. Your kitchen, Your kitchen is nothing but candy.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yes it's color. I've hit a couple of the M
and ms rated a couple of candies. Try not to
break any seals on the candy that hasn't been open.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
I mean, that's what it is here for. Though we
always replenishing because people go through this because obviously we
film the day, the Cannon Council, culture, Cannons, class everything here.
It's a music studio as well. Started off as a
music studio. And if you've ever been in long nights
in the studio, you always got the munchies and want snacks.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
So I'm a candy crackhead.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
So I got one of these, and like every one
of my offices in every house I got, I always
gotta have like a candy candy room.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
I just have one question. Out of all these candies,
this candy, that's the cotton candy, Hot Tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:12):
Hot to Cotton candy.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Does someone just randomly go places and say, let me
just find the most random candy I could find me.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
I do that.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
So you found that candy?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah? I think that got that in Las Vegas?

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Did you actually try it?

Speaker 3 (01:25):
I always buy one to try and then like one.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah. Yeah, Like I even think, like I usually keep
from like stuff like japan and sweeten and I think
having all types of stuff like don't the word like
easter bunny warheads and like it's I'm literally about this candy,
like like anything that's like.

Speaker 3 (01:47):
Blue raspberry lemon.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
The sweetish fish from swedenh Wow, It's it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:53):
So I'm just curious. How was the hot candy cotton candy?

Speaker 2 (01:57):
I would rather have them separate.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
I like candy like Hot Tomorrow together icy and it's
got centniment in it.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
It's just it's just I mean, it's it's it's cool,
but it wasn't.

Speaker 3 (02:09):
That's why that's up there.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Yeah, I saw it. So my daughter came in here
and I completely forgotten the first thing. She's like, Mommy,
let me get that, let me get that.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
This look like oh yeah, because what I mean Also
I'm a I'm a health freak too, so I do
recognize all this is poison. This is like none of
this stuff is good for you. But you know there's
another section in this place where it's all about health
and wellness. And I do understand that life is all
about balance. So for me, I know how to have fun.
I don't do drugs. I don't drink alcohol. You know,

(02:41):
so like if I had to have, you know, one
major vice in life, it would most likely be candy
and women. That's too right, Yeah that's true.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
But one has me in the dinnist a lot, and
one has me with a lot of kids.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
So now I asked you take me back to what
you were eating when you were broke. I'm guessing you
being broke had to have been in your early teens.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yeah, I mean I still got a broke mentality.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
I'm one of those people you can never take the
hood out of me, and that's why I still eat
a lot of this stuff to this day. But I
know this is you know, I can't cook, so like
it's certain things that because all my life I've probably
been on the grind and working, so I never learned
how to cook. That was always my grandmother, my mom.

(03:38):
I can make simple stuff like eggs. I can make eggs,
you know, like if I have to. I actually love
when it goes comes to my healthy stuff. I eat
at least two to four boiled eggs every day, so
I know how to do that myself.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
The boiled eggs.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, boiler it's just as long as you don't break them.
That's the train.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
I thought that was an earthquake.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Sometimes sometimes because there's an earthquakes, sometimes you can't tell
the difference or was the earthquake or was the train.

Speaker 1 (04:13):
I'm not even gonna lie. Bar Me was like, whoa
that right.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
Next to the train track.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
But yeah, so I still love this stuff that we're
gonna do today.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
I still eat this.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
Stuff as snacks and these technically most of them are
like on the healthier side, especially you know the ones
I have with the fruit.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
So so walk our guests through it.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
It was when we started with a three course meal.
So yes, we got we got the appetizer, we got
the main course, and we got the dessert.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Okay, let's start with the appetizer.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Okay, so the appetizer to me is because you gotta
try this too, right, the appetizers both eating this, I
want to take it, but this one is probably the
only one that you might be like, yo, that's a
little bit out there is the sunflowers. First of all,
in the hood, I'm scared flower seats. And this is

(05:07):
I started this before there were flavored some flower seeds.
Back in the day, you could just get the David
some flower seeds. They would sell them at the ice
cream truck. You had a little bag and then a
big bag, and we just would want them to taste different.
And it was at the time where salt and vinegar
chips were out, so I was like, yo, why.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
Don't they have salt and vinegar sunflower seeds. So went
my mama's cabinet.

Speaker 2 (05:33):
Oh my goodness, I guess I'm regular. I prefer, you know,
the the white vinegar, but you can get the apple cider.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
I didn't know what. I was like, I can't, this
is gonna.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Be behind and usually you gotta maybe you gotta let
it sit and marinate for a while. The only thing
about this because if you let it sit and marinate,
they get soft, and so you can kind of like
it's a vibe.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
I can honestly say I've never in life ever ever
did this.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
So I mean it's some hood this, This might be
some San Diego likes to just literally have vinegar. It's
just like regular some flower seeds. But I would probably
let them sit and something. We would put it right
in the bag and just shake it up and how
your fingers stinking. But it's really delicious, sir, hilarious.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
So I did peek that about some flower seeds today,
that there were flavors. It was almost impossible to get
plain really had everything.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Now they done turned up as you see right there.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
Right when I walked in, I was like, look at
all these sunflower seeds right here eating it.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
I eat some flower seats like crazy, like that's.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
My whole you did you try one right now?

Speaker 2 (06:43):
I did.

Speaker 3 (06:44):
That's why I'm talking.

Speaker 2 (06:45):
It's a little it's right, it's cool right all day,
perfect appetiser snack.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
You know what the vinegar really works? I can, Yeah,
that's impressibly good.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
I'm telling you. Normally you need a paper towel something
to spit it into. But that's just like one of
my favorite hood hood snacks right there to where thank you.
I'm still to this day like no matter all this
stuff I got.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
I'll make this. Go watch a movie.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
I feel like your brother eat this. Huh yeah, okay, okay,
shout outs to this appetizer is a win, yes, okay.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
And it's very ghetto, ghetto fabulous.

Speaker 1 (07:38):
It's good. It's actually impressively good. I would have never
thought to do this wrong. All right, So we survived
the We survived. It survived the sult and vinegar sunflower seasons.
A plus for appetizer. What's the main course?

Speaker 3 (07:55):
All right?

Speaker 2 (07:56):
Now the way we're gonna rock the main course. I
literally to eat this for dinner because I was broke,
so even you know, growing up in.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
The projects in the hood.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
This was like when my grandmother or mom was at
work or doing something and I had to eat and
thin for myself.

Speaker 3 (08:13):
This is this was like my favorite thing I was.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
I didn't want to eat all of the other stuff
that you know, was forced upon me. This was like
my favorite meal. And it was one or two others.
I am a fiend for hot sauce.

Speaker 3 (08:27):
I collect them.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
I got a bunch of different ones, but the crystal is,
as I call it, the crystal is my favorite.

Speaker 1 (08:33):
So they corrected us here. They were like, hey, don't
put it because we put another one out and there
it's like you don't have the crystals. It was like
we do, and it was like only put the crystals.

Speaker 2 (08:40):
For that's the thing too, Like hold on because you
got there's two styles of this, so you could go,
I'm gonna walk over here. You can go crystal, or
you can go a little more Spanish and go. I
would see you guys, probably get a shot of this.
This is literally just just a whole thing of hot
sauce and oh my goodness, oh they bugging they ran out.

Speaker 3 (09:05):
All right, we'll go with this one.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
But I got like ten bottles of ten they ran
out of top of TiO. Maybe, dude, you know what
I was gonna bring type of TiO, but I wasn't
too sure if it would.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
Count somebody it might be upstairs. But anyways, we got
the other one, so you can you can do this
Louisiana style or you could do the Mexican version.

Speaker 3 (09:31):
We canna do the We'll use the Valentina on that one.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
So just because I love hot sauce on any and everything,
and sometimes all we had was either.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Mic awave popcorn and literally we would eat that for dinner.

Speaker 1 (09:46):
So eat that for dinner.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yeah, because I mean, when you think about it, it'll fill
you up, and like you can get like a whole
box of it for like five dollars.

Speaker 3 (09:54):
And kids love popcorn, so I didn't know. I thought
it was a treat. Literally eat a bag.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
Of popcorn for once. Once I was a teenager on
my own. I couldn't cook, so I'll just eat popcorn
for dinner. And I would put hot sauce on it.
So sorry, So I'm gonna do. I'm gonna pip, I'm
gonna put the Louisiana.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
Okay, so this is dinner you never had, you never had.
I'm not a hot sauce fan, Okay, I'm really taking
one form team today.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
This is Pete and poetic Justice.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
Janet Jackson did this. She was eating the hot sauce
and popcorn. I was like, yo, That's why I knew
he was kindred spirits.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
It was my type of woman. So we're gonna do now.
You can still and even I'll put it a little
bit on on the laced potato chips. That's the other
thing we had a lot of. But I'm gonna give you.
I'm gonna give you that the main kind of vibe.
And even if like this is the hot sauce. If
you see the street vendors and they making like whatever,

(10:59):
they have like different type of Mexican snacks, they use
this type or you're like you put this on Tomalwi's
and all of that type of stuff.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
So this, oh, this one looks legit.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Yeah, that's the so I want. I'm gonna want you
to taste one of both. If you don't like hot sauce, I.

Speaker 1 (11:17):
Go my water here, I should have had milk or something, right, Okay,
I'm preparing. I'm prepared.

Speaker 3 (11:26):
Should be easy on that.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Okay, here we go, Here we go. That's not bad
at all.

Speaker 3 (11:36):
I'm a hot sauce lover.

Speaker 1 (11:37):
I feel like Martin Lawrence, remember Martin Lawrence. Just be
like right, like, that's not that bad now. The dark
color scares me.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
Yeah, all right, you gotta just take Here we go.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Jesus be with me.

Speaker 3 (11:52):
That's gonna be hot for you. Your whole pip.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
Nick, you know a lot of the ways to walk.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
I love it. That's our main course. We went. We
went Casun and Mexican, two of my favorite types of foods.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
So that wasn't even that bad though I survived it,
not that bad. Would never do it again in life,
but not that bad.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
All right.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
So now we're trying to you ready to go to dessert.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Man, I'm looking at this watermelon. You keep looking at lemons?
All right, what's dessert?

Speaker 2 (12:27):
Because I'm the you gotta try the limits before the
water because just again another thing. Growing up, didn't have
a lot, but we may do what we had so
paper plated that we don't have no paper places here today,
or do we have a we do?

Speaker 3 (12:45):
I think I think we got paper plates. We still
keep it a little ghetto.

Speaker 1 (12:50):
We had the little ones. Yeah, I thought I thought
to do this, but the table was so small. I
was like, we're gonna try to make it work.

Speaker 3 (12:56):
This is what I used to do.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
I used to take regular sugar sure came by the pound,
C and H back in the day, and get a
whole plate.

Speaker 3 (13:07):
And now I wasn't really allowed to do this.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
My grandmother used to hate when I did it, but
to eat fruit and like fruit, you know, when I'm
not eating candy and stuff, and it's funny enough, like
I'm actually going on a fast next week.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
I do it every year at the top of the
year and.

Speaker 2 (13:22):
Sometimes I can cut sugar out completely for like six months.

Speaker 3 (13:25):
I just I don't set a date or whatever. I
know I got to do at least thirty days.

Speaker 2 (13:29):
But I'll just try to do it as long as
possible because I love it so much.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
It's all about discipline.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
So next Sunday is actually when I start my sugar fast.

Speaker 3 (13:38):
So this is probably gonna be.

Speaker 1 (13:41):
I'm going to try and join you on that because
I need to. I've been like telling myself I'm going
to cut it, but like the second I'm in a
room with it, I'm like.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
It's posy.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
I'm addicted to it, like like I know I'm gonna
add it, but all right. So yeah, So when I
was a kid, I would literally get a paper plate,
fill it with sugar.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
Wasn't supposed to do this.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
There would always be lemons from a lemon tree or
something like that. Cut the lemon in half or you know.
Now I'm a little bit more sophisticated, slice it and
just I would literally be sitting watching cartoons and it's
natural candy.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
Like I feel like my daughter would love this, absolutely
love this.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
It's amazing.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
It's like lemonade.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
I feel like I'm like this.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
If you like sour, it's a vibe.

Speaker 1 (14:28):
This is amazing, right did you come up with this one?

Speaker 3 (14:32):
It was as a kid. This is all I used
to eat.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
Wanted life should have one of these.

Speaker 2 (14:40):
That is amazing fire right, so write before my sugar fast.

Speaker 1 (14:47):
Oh my god, I'm a double dip as you should.

Speaker 2 (14:49):
Normally you would have your own plate so you can triple,
quadruple get and matter of fact, and then you know
now that we really sophisticated.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
Yo, that right there, and you just go ahead and
sprinkle that right there.

Speaker 3 (15:03):
That's the one, right.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
Is the best of the best of the best.

Speaker 2 (15:06):
That is a lot of people don't do desserts right.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
Every once in a while we'll get a guest that
doesn't desert like they'll do like you know, DJ Charismas.
She did like a tortilla. The last one she did
like three courses with one tortilla, and she did a
cinnamon sugar.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, because I was thinking nothing, but I knew you
gotta have an oven for that oven really working on
when I wanted to. But we would take regular wonder
bread and put cinnamon, sugar and butter. I call it
cinnamon nigga crunch.

Speaker 1 (15:38):
But this right here is my favorite. This may replace
my well, I guess this couldn't go on the processed
sugar diet because of the sugar.

Speaker 3 (15:45):
Right, it's better than candy.

Speaker 1 (15:46):
But you could do honey.

Speaker 2 (15:47):
Maybe maybe ave might be fires.

Speaker 4 (15:51):
But just right here, if you like warhead, sour patch, lemonheads,
this is the og.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
This is where all that came from.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Okay, you was winning with this, Okay, all right?

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Number one.

Speaker 1 (16:08):
This is the lemon, the lemon, the sugar.

Speaker 2 (16:11):
Yeah, all right. And now the one that you have
to prepare the most. And I actually eat this every
single day. And when I'm on my sugar fast, I
tap into this. I eat a lot of fruit and
this becomes my dessert.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
I'm the biggest fan of the heim. You can put
this on.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
Any fruit really, from apples, oranges, any fruit, a lot.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
You see it on a lot of drinks and stuff
like that.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
But I grew up with this Mexican candy, out of
all candies, is my favorite candy. Grew up going to
the ice cream truck with you know, penny rolls and
trying to get whatever I can from and I got
it in here. It's like a whole Mexican section, like
the Tamarindo, like all of that stuff. So this is

(16:58):
really where all of it started. And you can see
out here in California there's fruit trucks, you know, fruit
men or women that we are pushing fruit. Uh, and
it's all fresh, amazing fruit. You can buy mango, gave, pineapple,

(17:18):
and watermelon. But this is something I grew up on
and I still eat every single day. And it's literally
to hem, which is a little spicy on.

Speaker 3 (17:32):
Any fruit. But since we black, we gonna do watermelon today.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's no sugar. Now to this, I believe I don't
know which chamoy you can actually get a sugar free chamoy.

Speaker 3 (17:47):
But as you see, it's zero calories.

Speaker 2 (17:50):
Let's see if this one has sugar in it? No,
well zero total sugar zero, So this is zero sugar one. Now,
the thing about this uh chmoy is actually uh it
is it's a fruit as well, and it's mixed in
with normally lemon juice, salt, water and then a bunch

(18:16):
of other stuff a bra pepper's spicy. It does have
a little sweet texture to it. Uh.

Speaker 3 (18:22):
If you're trying to do no sugar, if you don't care.
They have the ones that are like.

Speaker 1 (18:26):
Literally, so this will be in your diet next week.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
I will have a sugar free chamoy next week.

Speaker 2 (18:33):
But sometimes I won't even I'll just do the ta
hem and the fruit because this is kind of hard
to find.

Speaker 3 (18:39):
I'm trying to think. See now you have to be
going back to my going back to the cabinet, because.

Speaker 2 (18:44):
I think we got like, ah, yeah, see this is
this is the one right here?

Speaker 1 (18:50):
Is it the sweet one?

Speaker 2 (18:51):
This is the sweet one.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
That's the one I want.

Speaker 2 (18:54):
Like, because tomoy has to flavor, has the really sweet one,
and then this is this one is kind of like
a little spy seeing hot.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
So let me take this one from you. I'll give
you a fresh one.

Speaker 1 (19:08):
Yeah, because you know I'm gonna want the sweet.

Speaker 2 (19:10):
Yeah, this is the sweet one.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
So just a little fun fact. I'm from New York
and it took me almost till last year to start
putting lemon on my mango. So I've been evolving, you know.
But usually if I see someone on the streets selling fruit,
it's watermelon and mango. But now I'm like, squeeze a
lemon on it. But I haven't graduated to ta heen

(19:39):
and none of the other stuff yet. So here we go.

Speaker 2 (19:42):
Let me make let me make it the taen up
a little bit. That'll probably be the best one for
this one, right there.

Speaker 1 (19:47):
Yeah, yeah, cheers, there we go.

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Bomb.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
I'm telling you, shout out to that one.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
I want sweet. That one's super spicy.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Where did you say if it has sugar or not?

Speaker 2 (20:04):
That one has sugar? I mean you can just look
at this.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
No, But if I were to go in the store
and I try to buy this, how do I know.

Speaker 3 (20:09):
What you well, because it's just like the consistence.

Speaker 1 (20:12):
That one is awesome, darker and.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Thicker, literally bottle of candy.

Speaker 3 (20:18):
But this one is kind of more, you know, spicy.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
Mmm, So I want your special and like they put.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
It in they put it.

Speaker 2 (20:31):
In ice cream out here, they put it on like everything.
So what is that's that's eating while I broke this
is this is.

Speaker 1 (20:39):
Stuff everything horse meal. So, now that I've gotten to
walk in your shoes as a young buck, take me
back to what was going on around this time, like
in your in your home life, hustling you were in
high school.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
I grew up. I grew up interesting.

Speaker 2 (20:57):
My grandpa, my parents were teenagers, so I was a
latch key kid moved all over the place cause my parent,
my dad, moved away to North Carolina, where our family
is originally from, to go to college and be in
the ministry. My mom went to nursing school after she graduated.
I went to like my dad's high school graduation. I

(21:18):
was around, so we were all kids, and so my
grandparents stepped up and help so and you know, I
was one of many of my grandmother's children. She was
also a foster mom, so it was always a house
full of kids in the projects. And this that's kind
of where my I had to find my own identity,

(21:39):
being my mom's only.

Speaker 3 (21:41):
Child, my dad's oldest child.

Speaker 2 (21:44):
And one of many with my grandmother and kind of
like her baby. But there were other younger foster kids,
so I kind of had the experience of everything that
gave me.

Speaker 3 (21:53):
I know how to be a big brother, I know
how to be a little brother.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
I know how to be a spoiled only child, but
I know how to be a house full of kids.
So I got to experience life in such a way
and I think it made me a unique individual. And
then by the time I was a teenager, I was
kind of living on my own by the time I
was like sixteen fifteen sixteen, and that's when I moved
to Hollywood to kind of hustle and do my thing

(22:17):
I've been doing.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
I've been doing stand up since I was like eleven twelve.

Speaker 1 (22:21):
Oh okay, my.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Dad inspired me to do that when I was living
with him out moved back and forth with my parents
all the time, and you know, during the time of
probably like around eleven, my dad was preaching and doing
stuff and he would have let me do stand up
comedy when he was he had public access shows and
was preaching all over the South, and I would go
with him.

Speaker 3 (22:41):
I would help him with all that.

Speaker 2 (22:43):
Stuff, and I you know, he said I wanted to
be a rapper, but he was like, yo, you're funnier
than just every kid in thehood wants to be a rapper.

Speaker 3 (22:48):
You should work on your comedy, work on your hosting.

Speaker 2 (22:51):
And you know cut today probably you know, one of
the most popular and biggest television hosting the game.

Speaker 1 (22:59):
Yeah, well you're also the youngest writer in bad in
television history.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
But was that all started from when me and my
dad taught me how to do all of this stuff before? Like,
I mean, everybody does it now, but back then, like
having a camera and interviewing people like that was rare
and I was a kid doing it. So he trained
me when I was like eleven twelve, that kind of
we had to take workshop courses and things like that
to work in public access. And that's when I learned

(23:26):
about script writing and you know, set design and lighting
and all of that stuff. At like eleven, you get
all these certificates and then that's how you work your
hours on cable vision in North Carolina, and that's I
always just wanted to be a writer from that point
on and wanted to be behind the scenes and produce
stuff for others. And I produced my first show is

(23:47):
called check This Out in nineteen ninety two, I believe,
and we had like twenty episodes or something like that
public Access North Carolina, and I just the bug bit
me from there, the comedy bug and the TV bug,
and you know, came back, went to high school out

(24:08):
out here in California and literally would drive two and
a half hours, catch a ride after school to the
comedy store to the improv wow.

Speaker 1 (24:17):
At that young age.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yes it's fifteen, sixteen years old, stand out there and then.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
You know, was it tough getting into the clubs.

Speaker 3 (24:24):
Of that age, Absolutely, but I was.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
It was tough because I wasn't supposed to be there,
But it was easy for me because I was the
only kid out there. So I was like I was
a novelty. I was thinking like, oh, what is this
kid doing? When I would come on stage, I could
easily rock because I was like it was it was, it.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
Was a gimmick.

Speaker 2 (24:41):
It was like, oh, he's a young pheenom and he's
in the club full of a bunch of drunk adults,
you know, talking about gas money and detention, you know,
so it's like, uh, it worked. I stood out from
all the other comedians, so all the agents and managers
would take notice of me because it was this cute
little kid on stage.

Speaker 3 (25:00):
Jokes.

Speaker 1 (25:01):
Now, what were your grandparents saying at the time and
your family saying at the time when you're like getting
in the car driving Hollywood shooting your shot.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
None of them liked it, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
But one thing that actually saved me because at that time,
especially like fifteen sixteen years old, I had started. I
had there was a huge, you know, influx of gang
violence in my community, and I was influenced by that
pretty big and that's just where we were. It was
where we grew up, you know, Southeast San Diego. And

(25:33):
then by the time I in high school, went to
high school in this area called Spring Valley and just
a lot of neighborhoods wasn't getting along. So a lot
of my friends was getting murdered, getting shot.

Speaker 3 (25:44):
You know, we were selling drugs, you know, nothing crazy big.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
You know, we were selling weed and stuff like that.

Speaker 3 (25:49):
You know, a couple of us were selling crack.

Speaker 2 (25:51):
I never saw crack but my but you know, my stepdad,
my mom's husband, was one of the biggest dope dealers
in San Diego.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
So I was always around.

Speaker 2 (26:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (26:00):
So like my.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
Pops was a preacher and my step pops was a
crack dealer.

Speaker 3 (26:05):
Like that's I was like, I'm all right.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
Instead of rich dad, poor dad, I'm alright, preacher dad,
crack dealing dad. But I was always around it. And
Hollywood saved me because literally I remember going to my
grandfather and there was like, yeah, I'm afraid I'm gonna
get shot. Friend, I'm gonna die, And he was like
We started going to church up here and at Crenshaw

(26:29):
Christian Center in la and he gave me this the
first book I ever read on my own, called Name It,
Claim It by doctor Frederick K. C. Price, and it
was about speaking things into exact, speaking things into existence,
and positive affirmations way back in the nineties. So you know,

(26:49):
still to this day, I think I have it tatted
on me. It's one of my favorite Bible verses. I
can't pull this all the way up, but it's like
tatted right there. It's Mark eleven twenty three to twenty
four or whatever you desire to believe that you receive it.

Speaker 3 (27:03):
And you shall have it when you pray.

Speaker 2 (27:05):
And I just lived that, and that to me opened
the doors for me and got me out of all
the wanting to be, you know, a gang banger and
kind of straighten my life up because and that's where
my parents was like, all right, if you finish high school,
you can go do that because we understand it's safer
for you.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
Because at the time, and we couldn't go. I couldn't
go anywhere without either they was was.

Speaker 2 (27:26):
Getting jumped shot at something like that in our in
our city. Uh So I would leave after school and
go to l A and I felt like a kid.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
You know, I felt like I didn't have to worry.

Speaker 2 (27:37):
About anything because everybody was older than me and I
had to look over my shoulders and none of that
type of stuff. So it gave me the opportunity to
be creative and young and free. And I literally would be,
you know, on stage with Jamie Fox and you know,
doing everything I could ever imagine, Chris Tucker, Eddie Griffin,

(27:58):
you know, Martin Lawrence, all these people, My people are idolized,
and then I have to drive back and go to
school the next day. I was like, about you roll
his weed up bag these nipper bags up.

Speaker 1 (28:12):
But uh so, then your first big break, it's I'm
assuming coming right off the stage, maybe an agent and
a manager. Notice you is that when you get your
first big official break.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
It's funny it always happens on my birthday. So I
said God's gift to me. My sixteenth birthday, I was
on stage at the Improv and my manager is still
to my manager to this day. He was there looking
at some of his clients and I had always looked
up to Keenan and Keal and Keenan Thompson was there
and he had brought his manager and it was kind

(28:46):
of cool where he was like I was just telling
him how big a fan. I wasn't like, yo, they
my manager is checking you out. Man. I was like work,
you know.

Speaker 3 (28:56):
Literally it was my birth and my birthday was that week.

Speaker 2 (28:59):
And then on my birthday, somehow Michael Goldman got my
uh got my information and called me and asked me,
you know, if you.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
Can manage me.

Speaker 2 (29:09):
And then the next year on my birthday, I seventeen,
is when I got my deal with Will Smith and
his company from my own TV show and record deal.
So it's cool wow.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
And then what were you going home? Was the hot
that's because you chose all the hot stuff. You see,
I'm not sniffling nothing.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
Guys probably eating it.

Speaker 1 (29:31):
So you go home like who was the first person
you're calling and telling and what is your family saying?
I'm assuming it's your family, but what is everybody probably.

Speaker 2 (29:38):
Believe me, but it was because even at the time,
like the first job once they started managing me was
behind the scenes. I started being the warm up for
Keenan and Kill and all that. They manded the show
a bunch of shows U and even got a chance
to do like the warm up for like some the
Osen Twins show.

Speaker 1 (29:54):
And dang, I remember the Twins like the.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
Tg IF Night and Sister Sister.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
Like because I was a kid, so the audience would
have a lot of young people in it, especially like
the Nickelodeon shows. So I would entertain the audience for
like four hours while they're filming the show and doing
stuff and telling them what's going on.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
So that was my first.

Speaker 2 (30:16):
So my name would come up, you know, super fast
at the end of the show, audience warm up, Nick
Cannon and like, my whole family would gather around the
TV just to see that, and I gotta be.

Speaker 3 (30:26):
Calling why his name won't come up?

Speaker 2 (30:28):
You won't see his name? So like, that's probably the
most excited my family's ever been for me. Since then,
they're like, I don't care, we're tired of seeing uo TV.
But back then, I remember we would gather around and
like white weight to see my name come up at
the end of the.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Show on Nickelodeon.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Now, at that time, what was the money looking like?
Did you feel like you had arrived? You had made
It wasn't enough money to buy every sneaker.

Speaker 2 (30:53):
Nah, So at the time, I remember I made a
I wanna say a bet ordeal with my mom because
my mom wasn't feeling it.

Speaker 3 (31:02):
My mom was like, you got to go to school.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
My mom would even tell me you're not even that funny, like,
because she wanted me to stick to music, and she was,
you know, she had seen me grinding. Her father was
a musician and had left me all of his music
equipment before he died, so it was a real connection.
My mom just wanted me to be a musician, and
I was like, only a comedian. And then she was like,
you're gonna get a job. She made me get a
job at like Wiener Schnitzel, and I was I fucked

(31:29):
that up. I was like cracking jokes. Yeah, it was
horrible going that freezer cleaning the bathrooms.

Speaker 3 (31:37):
I was like, all right, I quit. But so my
mom was always like you gotta do something. You can
do that on the.

Speaker 2 (31:47):
Side, and she was going through some hardships. She had
like three jobs at one time, and uh, you could
just see the pressure on her. She was just like
trying to do it. Like. She eventually came like, you know,
an accountant for like the major companies.

Speaker 3 (32:03):
But it was hard, you know, and.

Speaker 2 (32:06):
We lost our house and had to get downsize and.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Get an apartment.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
And it was just me and her, and I told her,
I was like, just trust me, have faith, rock with me.
And I said, if you go to church with me
every Sunday, I'll come back and go to church because
she had to because she was mad at the church
from whether it's like her upbringing and you know my
dad and all, he.

Speaker 3 (32:27):
Was so churchy. She was like, forget all of that stuff.

Speaker 2 (32:29):
And I was like, yo, you just go to church
with me and we're gonna have the faith. And I
guarantee you that in a in a year, I'm gonna
buy you a house.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
And then she was and how old were you at
the sign?

Speaker 2 (32:40):
That's what as I was sixteen and so I remember
for the warm up checks I started making, I was
making five hundred dollars a week, so that was enough
to get my gas from San Diego to to LA
and pay my mom's rent.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
So for that first year.

Speaker 2 (32:59):
I was and my mom's RNT and just and then
and then having like pocket a couple hundred dollars of
the pocket at sixteen in the nineties, I was, I
was good and then I got like I said, by
the time.

Speaker 1 (33:09):
Did your mom so your mom didn't take the deal
and go to church with you on something.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
Yeah, she went and still was like she would go
to church with me every every Sunday, U and I
would drop it be me, my mom and my dad's mom.
We would all go to Mount every Baptist church in
southeast San Diego. And it was some of the best
times of my life because that was the come up
and like literally I was just watching God move and

(33:33):
how God worked and it was just like just blessing
after blessing, Like I said. By the time my uh
what seventeenth birthday rolled around, I had to deal with
Will Smith and the first my first big check, I
ain't got the first thing I bought and Will told
me don't do it. But I bought a range Rover
because he had one, and like it's like Keenan had
a four Runner, Kill had an Expedition, like everybody had

(33:53):
these SUVs, and I had my mom's old broke down BMW.
I like, when I get my check, I'm gonna be
Ryan high, just like y'all.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
Uh. And I bought a range over total. Dad messed
that up.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
But the next chunk of money that I got, I.

Speaker 3 (34:07):
Bought my mama house.

Speaker 2 (34:09):
Wow. And I was like I told you. I was
like I told you, and the rest is history. Been
buying her houses since then. And she said good and
behind gates and some million dollars state somewhere.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
So from there you end up, how did you get
the youngest writer?

Speaker 2 (34:25):
Like when I was so so in that so why
I was the warm up. I would watched, you know,
Keenan on doing anything. Keenan literally became my big brother.
You know.

Speaker 1 (34:35):
They said you used to like sleep on his couch.

Speaker 2 (34:37):
I used to sleep on everybody couch, with Kells couch,
Jamie Fox's couch.

Speaker 3 (34:41):
I used to sleep in my car.

Speaker 5 (34:44):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (34:44):
But Keenan was the one that let me move in,
you know what I mean. Everybody else was just like, yeah,
you could have a couch, you know what I mean.
Like it was it was, it was.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
It was a tough tos.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
I was a teenager. Yeah, Like it wasn't like, you know,
no pur suit of happiness. Yeah, it was just it
was the hustle.

Speaker 1 (35:03):
I loved it.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
You know.

Speaker 3 (35:04):
We'd be in.

Speaker 2 (35:05):
The comedy clubs till three, four in the morning and
we go to Jerry's Deli till five and so I
might go close my eyes for a hour or something.
I'll be playing basketball at the Wiveza by seven eight.
So it wasn't like I really I just my closes
in my trump, you know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (35:21):
So you graduated high school earlier?

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Yeah? Yeah, I graduated high school on sixteen because I
was water of the deal that my mom made with me.
She was like, you finished high school. I was like,
I'm gonna finish early. And I had work experience a job.
I had figured out how to get the stuff that
I was doing in LA as work experience. So I
was getting work experience credits and finished all of my
courses and I graduated high.

Speaker 3 (35:42):
School a year early.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
So just because I was like, all right, cool, then
now I can be up there full time and all
of these hours during the day where I'm sitting in
the class, I just moved to LA.

Speaker 3 (35:52):
So I moved to LA when I was sixteen.

Speaker 1 (35:54):
Okay, So you're Will Smith's situation. There's a pivot in there. Obviously,
what happens like to the next level.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
I mean I rolle that for a while. I think
what happened with that I became known in Hollywood and
as like the next Will Smith or Will's protege. So
everybody started to taking notice, especially the people at Nickelodeon,
which I had already been working with, so they were like, Yo,
how do we let this kid get away from us?

Speaker 3 (36:17):
So then that's.

Speaker 2 (36:18):
When they gave me the deal for The Nick Cannon Show.
And youngest executive producer at the time, I think they
probably somebody. I think there's definitely a Zendaya or even
like Marseille Martin or something like that took it because
I think they were younger. But at the time I
was the youngest.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
I don't think so, because I googled it right before
you came and you still the reigning champion. I tried,
I was like he still.

Speaker 2 (36:43):
Yeah, eighteen or nineteen is when I was the younger
because I was really my showrunner. And the crazy thing
if you ever watched a Nick Cannon show, it's funny
because now I do the super dad content with my
kids and I make them watch episodes of The Nick
Cannon Show with me as a teenager and everything that
some people go viral for making millions of dollars on YouTube.

(37:03):
I was doing it in the nineties, so I was
doing the man on the Streets I was pulling up
to the zoo or to the mall, dressed up in
crazy stuff, pulling pranks on people. And they just gave
me a budget and said, go do what you want
to do, and I'll be in character. I'll be like
doing all type of I mean, if you've seen any
of this stuff. I would dress up like Latanya, like

(37:25):
some ghetto girl. I would dress up as Francis Spunkle,
some old school b boy. I had all of these
characters and I would just go out on the street
as its characters, and then I would go to kids
school and be principal for a day Bring Slime.

Speaker 3 (37:38):
To the House. And it was a hit.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
We did two seasons of it, and I probably could
have did it for a lot longer, but I just
started getting more and more popular on Nickelodeon, and I
created a bunch of like interstitial programming where we had
like thing called the Snick House where it's like a
party talk show type of vibe that hosted Snick Saturday
nights on NICK and everybody from like in Sync to Christina.

Speaker 3 (38:02):
Aguilera and like. It was just like a dope concept.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
And then from that I created Nick Records with Jive Records,
which is Nickelodeon's record label, and you know.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
So then I was like, oh, I'm on to my
music vibe. And then the movies came, and.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Then the movies and then the first movie was Men.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
And Black two. Will put Me in min and Black two. Okay,
but it was a cameo. But that was my first
movie that I ever did. And then the first movie
that I ever started, obviously was drum Line.

Speaker 1 (38:29):
Which was like my favorite. I think everyone. I don't
know if everyone can agree, but you can watch drum
Line one hundred times easy movies, right, is that crazy?
Like you watch that movie every time you come on,
you will sit down and watch it.

Speaker 3 (38:41):
I've only seen it once all the way through.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
I've seen it at least one hundred times. Anytime it
comes home to me, I'm gonna watch TV.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
But I can't sit there and watch myself for like
two hours.

Speaker 3 (38:52):
Like I'll catch the scene or something like that.

Speaker 1 (38:54):
But Drumline was amazing. Your acting and Drumline was amazing
and had Yeah. So when Drumline hits, yeah, like what
is yeah? Go ahead, I see you snacking. I can
tell you still eat this. So Drumline hits, it's a hit.

(39:15):
Everyone's talking, how you feeling, what's your pockets looking like?
And at this point is your career completely stable?

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Yeah? And no, I don't think your correct money career
right now ain't completely stable. I think that's why I
hustle so much, because I feel like at some point.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
They can pull the rug from up under me at
any time.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
I love you feel like you did. But I tell
people this all the time because I do know you personally,
Yes that I don't know anyone on earth that works
harder than Nick. Nick. I've seen you sick, hungry, tired,
you know, usually in a circumstance where someone could be

(39:54):
an absolute asshole and you'd give them a pass and
you will be completely pulled. No, no attitude, no attitude,
no nothing, and just back to back three cities in
a day, probably even more since I've last seen. But
I've seen you push the limits like no other.

Speaker 3 (40:12):
I think it's just in me, like when you think.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
I think it's such a blessing and privilege to live
the life that I live and to wake up in.
My job is to be creative, so I got to
get as much of it as I possibly can, And
then it's the hustle in me, you know what I mean.
From my pops, my step pops, and everybody's just like, yo,
you gotta make something out of nothing. And I do

(40:34):
like it's successful as I've been.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
I mean, if you think.

Speaker 2 (40:37):
From the beginning of my career today, i made hundreds
of millions of dollars, but I'm always thinking like this
could be the last check.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
So that's how you move for sure.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Yeah. So I'm like, I'm just always trying to get it.
I hope to one day get to that space where.

Speaker 3 (40:52):
I'm like, all I had enough.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
I'ma just but I'm not there yet, Like I'm trying
to figure out what the next play is. I'm jealous
all the YouTubers. I'm jealous of all the streamers. I'm like, yo,
how they getting I've been doing that? Like I'm the
little Richard of this. I'm the architect. But but I
love it though. It energizes me and the fact that
even now I get to see my kids want to

(41:15):
be a part of it and stuff.

Speaker 3 (41:16):
So I'm having so much fun in that space.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
In the stretch from and I tried to get I
didn't know if Valerie knew your assistant knew the answer
to this because I was like, Nick has had such
a long career. I was like, low key curious if
at any point during this long span of career, if
you actually went broke at any point?

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Face, well, I went broke.

Speaker 3 (41:40):
I went broke a couple of times.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
Tell you tell me them, That's what I'm curious.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
I went. So after my first deal with Will smith
Field somewhere was like one hundred and fifty to two
hundred thousand dollars, and I told you, I bought a
range Rover a bunch of other stuff, attempting to get
my mom a house, and thinking that they were going
to pick up the show had a six episode commitment
produced by Will smith I mean, Quincy Jones is at

(42:05):
my pilot shoot, same creators of Like the Damon Wayne showed,
same creators and created Jamie Fox. I was supposed to
come on right after the Jamie Fox Show on the WB.
So I'm spending money that I don't even have because
I'm thinking I got six episode commitment. I'm gonna be
getting one hundred and fifty episode.

Speaker 3 (42:24):
Yeah, and they didn't pick up the show.

Speaker 1 (42:27):
So after they told you they had the commitment, yeah, yeah,
the whole network.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
And so me and Keenan we have got a house
in the Hollywood Hills. Now, like he was good, you know,
he got his money, and I'm like, I'm trying to
hold my end to the rent. And I ended up,
you know, having to move out of that place. I
couldn't pay pay the rent, lost my Range Rover, literally
started driving my mom's car again.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
But she was able to keep her housing.

Speaker 2 (42:56):
I hadn't bought her I was paying her rent.

Speaker 3 (42:58):
I didn't bought her house.

Speaker 2 (43:00):
I was hoping that you know, yeah, one hundred you know,
even I've bought the race bro what you know, almost
fifty sixty thousand dollars left, I can't buy a house.
But I was like, I figured down pay but again,
I'm spending money before I get it. I'm thinking I'm
about to be making millions of dollars. And Will Smith
everybody warned me to not do all that stuff and
invest wise and listen. So I was literally back sleeping

(43:23):
on people's couches again, driving back and forth this San
Diego went from a range Rover to a cougar.

Speaker 1 (43:31):
Literally, So that's your first time? Was there another time
after that?

Speaker 2 (43:34):
H Yeah, because even though I had. There was some
lawsuits in there too that people, because they thought I
was blowing up, wanted to assume me and all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (43:40):
So lawsuits will always make you go broke.

Speaker 1 (43:43):
And then I think I've actually personally witnessed to go
through a yeah loss.

Speaker 2 (43:48):
It's crazy because you got to they're suing you for
a certain amount of money, and then to help you
not lose that case, you got to pay lawyers, probably
the same amount of money you getting sued for Jesus so,
and then at some point you realize that, all right,
well I'd rather just settle so I can stop paying
you and hopefully we get into a number that's not
as astronomical as they're asking for it, but like something
I can afford. So every time, like lawsuits, whether legitimate

(44:12):
or not, can make a person go broke just because
you go broke trying to defend yourself.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Even if you're in the right.

Speaker 2 (44:18):
So I think the next time, because I learned great
lessons that first.

Speaker 1 (44:22):
Time, I was gonna say, you're very lucky you learned
it on that on that first go round.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
It gets scary every once in a while, people mismanaging
your money. But I said, I was a hustler, so
it gets scary, but I never went broke to tighten
my belt up a couple of times. You know, divorce
is never fun, you know what I mean, because that's
the whole time and the same thing. You're dealing with

(44:48):
the legal system and you know, even living at the
high level of life that you know, I was living
with my ex wife and then not being able to
continue that lifestyle because my finances is tied up in
so many other things.

Speaker 3 (45:04):
Uh, that was a little scary.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
I ain't go broke, but uh that actually created a
lot of stability for me after my through my marriage.
Cause then that was like the first that was probably
no no cause I I did buy like I said,
I bought a house. I did buy myself a house
and lost that house.

Speaker 3 (45:21):
Uh that in like ninety.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
Nine, Okay, between ninety before. Between ninety nine up until
drum line was a very shaky time for me.

Speaker 3 (45:30):
So I lost the house that I I bought.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
But then once Drumline came and everything started coming after that,
I start getting back to the bag and it's been pretty.

Speaker 1 (45:41):
So you are still pretty young when all that was
going on.

Speaker 2 (45:43):
Yeah, so early twenties, I I was al like I
said the next time that it got scary for me,
and but I ended up purchasing my own home and
stuff like. That was after marriage, and you know, being
in my thirties at that time, it's like, alright, now
I gotta figure this out.

Speaker 3 (45:57):
I got kids, I gotta move differently.

Speaker 2 (45:59):
So and then since then, I mean, now my fears.
I got so many kids. I want to make sure
that they can actually be good for the rest of
their lives.

Speaker 3 (46:08):
You know, most people got to worry about two or
three kids. I got to worry about twelve. So I
want to make sure that.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
You know, it's because you know, life is challenging, so
I want to make sure at least they don't have
to worry about anything financially for the rest of that lives.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
I like that because whenever I see like a billionaire
and they're like, I'm going to make sure my kids suffers.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
I'm going to give all.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
My money to all the nonprofits. Crazy, that's hard to
give it all the way to the non profit.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
Yeah, I want to do what Quincy Jones did. He
has always been one of my mentors, and I don't
know the exact amount, but obviously my man was almost
a billionaire and he gave all his money to I
think he had about ten kids.

Speaker 3 (46:43):
So everybody, everybody is sitting good.

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Yeah, I think that's honestly, why.

Speaker 2 (46:48):
Sure it out? You know what I mean. But like
you know, I'm a big advocate for philanthropy and I
do a lot of charitable efforts. But you know, it's
about lineage. Yeah, not legacy. Let people use the word
legac see legacy is tapped into ego and narcissism. But
lineage is something this is this is your family, you know,
and you want to make sure and that's my goal

(47:09):
to me, like having so many children, the goal is
to be able to provide for them in a way
whatever they want to do in life.

Speaker 3 (47:19):
Disguise the limit.

Speaker 5 (47:20):
You know, if you want to be a doctor, I
can help you get to the best medical school. If
you want to be an athlete, I can get you
to the best trainers. You want to be a chef,
I could get you to the best culinary school. And
it's not about the financial things about me supporting your dreams.
So I'm literally focused on my kids and the fact
that I have the means and the you know wherewithal
the big shore that I could put them in positions
to then have the best education in whatever it is

(47:43):
that they want to pursue. They can have the best health,
they could have the best.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
Chance at life.

Speaker 2 (47:48):
Let's do it. And that's why I work so hard.
I work so hard so that my kids could have
the best so that their life is I like that.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
So I knew you pre kid. I met you when
I was twenty one. I thank you were twenty.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
Five, so impressed with all that you were doing.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
I know you were working with the youth, and you
had your own company. She had her own she was
a journalist and had her own magazine. Yes, And I
thought that was so cool, so much so that I
was like I got to be a part of this.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Yes, but you it was funny because we're like so
close in age. I'm literally four years younger than you.
So you had just gotten your deal with willing Out.
I think you were in season one or season two
when you and I actually ended.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
Up working downtown.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Yeah, you were in off Yeah, and you were cool.
You were really nice to the kids. They were nervous
as hell.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
And Nick, you know, it's such an amazing concept. She
created a magazine for students by students, so it's like THEO.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
It was such a brilliant idea lift things up that
it was amazing. It's like a newspaper school newspaper.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
On steroids, like and you had all of the celebrities
on the cover, so it was like literally for publicists,
it was a good look to have your kid or
your client on celebrity high and I just wanted to
kind of amplify whatever I could do to turn it up.

Speaker 3 (49:15):
But it was a brilliant.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Concept you did.

Speaker 1 (49:18):
But now take me back to your original pitch of
wild'n Out, because that to me was like your second
go round at least from Afar, right, your second real
big go round, just doing all you.

Speaker 2 (49:30):
Nobody believed in wilding Out at the beginning because everybody
wanted me to focus on being a movie star, which is.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
A great idea, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
And at the top back then, they only wanted you
to be one thing. And that was why I looked
up to Will Smith so much because he did it all.
But they were like, there's only one him, you can't
you need. Let's go become a movie star and then
you can focus on music and TV. And I've been
doing a bunch of stuff with MTV, like the guest
hosting on TRL and their different game shows, and they

(50:01):
loved me.

Speaker 3 (50:02):
So they gave me a deal.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
And they were like, that's when Ashton was doing punk
and it's like, you want to do a show like this.
I was like, Nah, not really, I don't do a
show with my friends, you know, and like mixing hip
hop and comedy and improv talking shit. And they were like,
we don't understand what you're saying we should do like
a game show or punk. And I was like, nah,
I'm telling you, this is it. So I took my
own money and I rented out of comedy club on

(50:23):
Pico called the Comedy Union and got my friends together.
You know, that was hustling and trying to figure it out.
People that was trying to make a name for themselves
like Kevin Hart, you know, Cat Williams and a bunch
of people that nobody knew. Nobody knew Cat was called
Cat and the Hat back then. Yeah, and yeah, everybody came.

(50:47):
Chris Spencer was like one of the dopest writers and
producers and directors in.

Speaker 3 (50:52):
The game right now.

Speaker 2 (50:52):
He he helped We just got a bunch of people
together and said, yeah, we're just gonna do it. And
I was inspired by stuff that had come before me,
like Death Comedy Yeah, Uptown Comedy Club.

Speaker 3 (51:02):
Whose line is it anyway?

Speaker 2 (51:03):
And I was like, yo, our generation needs something like that,
and that's what we created.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
But you were the one financing it.

Speaker 3 (51:11):
So then when that once I showed yeah, once I
showed them what I shot, they were like, we love it.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
And I was like, good because I own it. And
they had to pay, like they weigh you know what
I mean. And we did a great deal and still
to this day.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
And now when you first did your deal, was it
like a licensing partnering deal?

Speaker 2 (51:28):
It was it. I mean, I'm be honest. Back then
I didn't even understand it. But the fact that I
owned out, I owned a wild in our name. And
so eventually later on, once it became even more successful, Uh,
they came back to me and was like, yo, we
we need.

Speaker 3 (51:42):
A piece of that.

Speaker 2 (51:43):
The shareholders see we went in, so you know, how
can we write you a very large check so that
we can officially be partners so it can be part
of you know, the paramount system. So of course I
appliged you know, every everything got a price, tet, everything
has a price, but I'll never relinquished ownership.

Speaker 1 (52:01):
And that's great. So now around this period, you're doing
really well. You're doing extremely well with while I'm out,
You're well known, you're helping me out. By the way,
I can't even tell you just a short quick story.
I couldn't afford the rent on my office, and I
remember telling Nile like, and now I can't even pay

(52:21):
the phone bill on this office anymore. And I can't
even afford the rent. And I was like, asked Nick,
if you can move in? And what you don't know
is uh, during or someone now has someone had said
you can move in. And so whenever Nick would pull
up to the studio, I didn't know if Nick knew
I had moved in. So you come in and I
like hide somewhere in the corner, and I think one

(52:41):
day you were like, what's up, and I was just like,
I don't know if he knows that I worked out
It was good, But I remember you telling me like, well,
you don't say I was like, I'm not really here.

Speaker 2 (52:58):
But I was definitely a big supporter and fan of
your whole movement.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
But during that ride, we get through a little bit
of turbulence. So you we have success with willing out.
You have a g T which is paying you a
crazy amount. I knew they were paying you an insane
amount because you always had dressers and people coming in.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
The number one show on television.

Speaker 1 (53:20):
Yes, and then you release your comedy special.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Yeah, I not three comedy specials, but the last one
is doing that pissed them off?

Speaker 1 (53:28):
Yes, yes, and the last one pissed them off. The
water gets choppy. I want to know the feelings, the
vibes that everything.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
I was confident. I mean, that's one thing. I'm overly
confident since you know I've been labeled a narcissist and
how much I believe and love myself. So I told him,
they take their job and stick it where they need
to stick it.

Speaker 1 (53:53):
Now, I know Goldman.

Speaker 2 (53:57):
Didn't. No of my team, my managers. They thought I
was crazy. They thought I was having a mental breakdown.
They thought I shouldn't you know, I should. People literally
from Howard Stern CEOs or big giant companies like Man,
opportunities like this don't come around. You're one of the
top hosts in television. You're going to ruin everything and

(54:17):
just over just your a joke and your freedom of speech.
I was like, yeah, And I learned from you know,
big bros. And examples like Dave Chappelle and people I've
watched personally go through stuff, and I'm like, this is
my opportunity to stand firm in my beliefs.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
And I quit AGT.

Speaker 1 (54:36):
Now AGT at the time was it paying you more
than willing out at the time.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
Yeah, at that time, saying as network television, I don't
I'm still but even then I was one of the
highest paid television.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Hosts you were. But now I remember watching you go
through that, thinking I never really get along with Goman
by the way. We made up by the way, so
you know we're friends now we're puddies. But I remember thinking,
like Goman's gonna have like a stroke watching this deal,
this whole situation. Have he gonna turn down crazy amount
of money or whatever on some I'm gonna believe in

(55:12):
myself and freedom of speech. And I remember thinking, oh, okay, see,
you know, and it.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Was so much into that because it was like me
being a black man in Hollywood, me being young in Hollywood, like,
so it was a lot of things. So I ended
up like part ways with a lot of people firing
individuals because I felt like they didn't believe in me.
Because everybody was thinking, like you, you're lucky, you should
you should be grateful.

Speaker 3 (55:38):
That you have this job.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
There's you know, we normally don't let guys like you
in here, like fuck you. Like That's like I got
offended by people. Really, they was just probably looking out
for me, but they were like, yo, you're you're gonna
ruin your career when I was like, well, I'll show you.

Speaker 3 (55:57):
This job doesn't make me.

Speaker 2 (55:58):
I'm gonna go make a bigger and better show.

Speaker 1 (56:01):
Yeah. Now, working with you personally, I think I saw
a lot of that behind the scenes. But but what
I also was able to see was your elevator. Elevator
pitch game was remarkable. I always tell people, like, when
you see a deal, Nick did it from the beginning,
the middle, and the end, and he came up with
it and he sold it himself. I've heard stories about

(56:22):
you writing movies, pitching it and getting a deal and
then going home.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
I got the script, I was working on it, have
it to you next week. Now with chat GPT, you
can actually really do that Back then, I was literally
write up all night writing scripts at something I had
already sold.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Dude, I've been I talked to your dad. We're both
heavily into AI and chat GPT. I've been joking. Chat
GPT is like the word level of where AI is. Now.
There's other platforms that were like annihilated. Yeah, they literally
like downput your brain and you say, write the script
from this perspective and these interviews and done done. It's crazy.

(57:06):
What's your favorite program right now? It's CenTra. Now. When
I first got Central, Yeah, your dad was the one
that showed me a couple of monsts from it. I
was like, can't, But now I kind of understand the concept.
There's in video that I did a little in video
was good, but I want to do a whole compilation
of what based on what. Like I have a password

(57:27):
sheet that I gave to like my family and friends,
and it says like this is what this app is
specifically good for, and so if you use all of
them together, it's heaven. Like I don't want to be graphic,
but like I would, I would have sex with AIM.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
So they're making that possible very soon.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
I'm saying like I'm that and that's all I talk about. So,
but I want to take it back to this error
because there's a couple of scary patches where I feel
like in my spirit I was like praying for you.
There was one part where I even sent you an email.
I looked in my emails and I read that email
back and I.

Speaker 2 (58:05):
Was like, did I say that? It was probably? So
there was so much stuff that I seen that I
might have like, especially because you responded.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
You responded and you were very nice, and I was like,
why house.

Speaker 2 (58:17):
But there was a lot of love out there. And
I appreciated when people when people saw that I was
going through stuff, because sometimes I was going through stuff
health wise and then sometimes I was going through some
business wise. But like it's all eyes on me. So
it's like magnified from the media, the people. They just
be in my business. But people know like, oh shit,
he going through something right now.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
Yeah, And it's hard because you you embody strength. So
during this period you say goodbye to a GT. Now
this is the remarkable comeback that I loved. You end
up all mass mass masked singer, which ends up being
for one again, bigger than A bigger than AGT again, like.

Speaker 2 (58:57):
So we everything they said I could do, you got.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
It was that moment, like.

Speaker 2 (59:03):
Absolutely, I mean that was the plan. I was like
and again because A G T Was on Fox, My
bad A G T Was on NBC and that singer's
on Fox, so I literally was the competition and went
and just you know, show them where they messed up exactly.
And it was like, you know, people like that's never

(59:26):
been done before to where somebody literally tells somebody to
go stick it where the sun don't shine. And then
do you think they could cancel you or you know,
get rid of you and go across the street and
make an even bigger show.

Speaker 1 (59:40):
Yeah, well you showed them. But now the ultimate life
check happens, which is when I think it was like
right before the pandemic or going was a middle pandemic.

Speaker 2 (59:59):
Life check, but I felt like it was a check
from outside looking at people was worried.

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
I was worried. That's my little vulgar email of I'm
doing sent Jamaican. So I'm going to say this. I'm
going to say this delicately, but I feel like my
little brother, you know, Ego, because we had a little past,
because we're we are Jewish, say this, but you got
gin checked by the juice kind, Well, how do you

(01:00:30):
want to worry?

Speaker 2 (01:00:30):
It feel like, I mean, I don't have to be
delicate because I feel it was such a growing experience
for me.

Speaker 3 (01:00:37):
That I learned that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
Even if you're not intentionally trying to hurt someone or
a community, when you have a powerful voice, people can
get scared of it if it's not having if it's
not shedding a light, a positive light. And I always
want to be responsible, and Minister Fairkinn was one of

(01:01:04):
the people that actually shared this with me, is like,
if you don't speak truth, you don't really have power.
You don't want to speak anything that's not the truth.
So if there's something that you have said that isn't
the truth, and someone can challenge you and say this
isn't true, then now I'll never have to say that again.
But if it's the truth, stand firm on it. And

(01:01:27):
that was the lesson that I learned. That was what
I was attempting to project, But it was so much
going on that it felt like ooh, he apologized, ooh
he not going to like It became about what everyone
else thought opposed to what the actual lesson was and
that's even why out of that process I created a
platform called not cancel Culture, but counsel Culture, because that's

(01:01:50):
what we all should be seeking wise counsel.

Speaker 3 (01:01:53):
To where we're.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
All held accountable for the things that we do and say.
But it has to be displayed in a way that
where you can look to others, to other communities to
attempt to understand one another and get to the truth.
That's why when you look at situations like aparth TID,
they had truth and reconciliation. That was a thing where
once we get the truth, then now we can reconcile

(01:02:16):
or even in a Jewish community as well as in
our community. There is a process of atonement in repentance
to where there's steps to it, but the first step
is acknowledging and saying, look, we have an issue, and
then apologizing to where you are wrong, and then taking
that accountability after the apology, and then now offering up

(01:02:37):
what the two of you can do together. And that's
really how that's the process of atonement. And I got
a chance to do that live and living.

Speaker 3 (01:02:45):
Color in front of the world.

Speaker 2 (01:02:47):
Yeah you did, and it's maybe I.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
Made more money that year than I had ever.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
Maybe for twenty twenty, I made more relationships and friendships
with you know now you know myself and the Sea
of the ad L So I saw talking my man Jonathan,
like we literally are not only great friends, but we
have a podcast together and we get to talk in
real time about things that are going on in the world,

(01:03:12):
you know, from our various communities, and it's a beautiful thing,
you know what I mean. Our kids hang out together
and you know it. But it was a learning process
for me. But at no point was I ever scared
or felt threatened. I was more than anything. I was
like I wanted to represent who I was and who
my character because I felt like people were assassinating my

(01:03:33):
character in so many ways.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
And I feel like that's what's going on in the
world right now.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
There's so many figures that you know, in the sixties
and civil rights and before all the way Jim Crow
to slavery, it was a regular thing for us to
be assassinated in public.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
Now instead of physical.

Speaker 2 (01:03:52):
Assassinations, it's character assassinations. And they want to show that
they can get rid of you or assassinate you, tarnish
your name all that you've built to show like hey
know your place, and they tried to assassinate my character
and they couldn't do it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:08):
Yeah, I didn't at the time. I didn't see anything
that you had said that was bad. So maybe maybe
I have the media to go back and maybe, but
I didn't see.

Speaker 2 (01:04:18):
Anything from the perspective like we you didn't see anything
because you know me and you know how it is.
But there were definitely things out there that they could
take an interview, cut it one way, put it in
a perspective, and as I said, the media.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Is so that's kind of what they ran on.

Speaker 2 (01:04:31):
It's manipulated entertainment design or designed to influence all and
that's what it does.

Speaker 3 (01:04:38):
So if one group wants to.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Say, you know, you're anti Semite, they can take this
conversation and say, see, you know. Or but if somebody
wants to say, you know that I'm racist towards this
group or that, like, you can take any interview, any
sound bite, especially today, and manipulated and wait for it

(01:05:00):
to say whatever you wanted to say and have my perspective.
So we got to be responsible for what we say.
We got to stand firm on the truths that we know.
But then at the same time, if someone is offended,
if you've hurt somebody, do this for my kids all
the time, I said, one of the greatest lessons through
this process.

Speaker 3 (01:05:16):
Literally saw my kids outside.

Speaker 2 (01:05:18):
Throwing rocks and somebody got hit with a rock, and
then my kids repeating with me, like, Dad, I didn't
need to hit them with the rock. I was like,
but you still hit someone with a rock. You have
to apologize, even if I know you didn't need to
do it. But the right thing to do is you
hurt someone, and then we'll get to why you were

(01:05:39):
throwing rocks later and if what they mean it, or
let's figure out let's do something different than throwing rocks,
or throw them in the direction where no one can
get hit. But the first thing you must do is apologize.
And through that, as a father, that's the lesson that
I had to step back and say, you know what,
I have no problem apologize. I'm man enough and humble

(01:05:59):
enough to Apoli Joe to anybody that I've hurt or offended.
And you know that that allowed me to grow so
much because I was that guy who I ain't saying sorry, No,
I stand for this, this and this ain't nobody gonna
make me do nothing, But I'm my characters. I never
want to hurt anybody. I always want to be a light.
I always want to be on the highest frequency. I
always want to be somebody that you know, can bring

(01:06:20):
people closer together and build platforms and give opportunities. And
you know, I think people see that from my characters.
I'm never I'm never going to do everything perfect or
the right way, but I'm always going to have the
right intentions and integrity is super important.

Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
To me now. But at the time, with the whole
situation with wild'n Out, there had been some inner inner
battles because you had so many people on payroll. Yeah,
they affected a lot of people.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
I went through so many ups and downs. I went like,
fuck this, I'm walking away. I don't want none of this.
Like I'm done, y'all can have it to wait, No,
that's mine, give me that. I'm like, I do it
on my own. Where like like it was, it was
so much going on, But like I was always thinking
about you know, how many you know, you have a
lot of people, and you.

Speaker 3 (01:07:08):
Know people they were scared.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
So I was never worried, obviously, but I was like, man,
I don't want this thing to go away. So you know,
the hundreds of people that e off of this no
longer get to so again, it was a humbling process.

Speaker 3 (01:07:21):
I'd say it was a character kaleidoscope for me.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
I was able to see everyone's true colors in real time.

Speaker 3 (01:07:27):
And some people rocked with me, some people didn't.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Some relationships are stronger because of it, some are non
existent because of it.

Speaker 1 (01:07:35):
Well, now we take you to now where I turn on? Well,
I want to say turn on. I go on social media.
You're all over social media. But one of the things
now that I'm all the way caught up is I
see you do counsel culture. I see you do class
Cannon's class. But the thing that makes me kind of
oh's And I don't know how you do it because

(01:07:56):
I get defensive if someone like said something. I'm one
of those people that get defense. I'm working on it.
I'm just like me deep and still working on it.
But sometimes people will say stuff to you, at least
in clips. From what I've seen, culture his very very
well like, I don't even know why he opens himself
up to this.

Speaker 2 (01:08:14):
I just I think, first of all, because council culture.
Because I'm in therapy constantly. I go to therapy a
few times a weekend a lot of times. I have
personal relationships with the therapists that are on that show.
And if anyone's ever been in therapy, you're just supposed
to be open, honest, and vulnerable to a point where
even if you're completely wrong, like even with my you know,
narcissistic personality, uh diagnosis, whether I believe it or not,

(01:08:38):
if this is what a doctor said I have, I
have no problem talking about it with the doctor and expressing.
And you know, I've had many Like some doctors say, well,
I don't believe that. I think you're just this, this
and this, or oh I think you know you have it,
But so does the majority of the people in your industry.
They just don't never been diagnosed or don't talk about it.

(01:08:58):
Like so the fact that I'm living my life openly
for others to embrace because it is all about community
and council and you know, culture just means it's where
we cultivate, it's where we grow. So I'm sacrificing my line.

Speaker 1 (01:09:14):
You definitely sacrifice us.

Speaker 2 (01:09:15):
I sit there because I say things and I feel
ways that there's a lot of other men that out there.
Men don't have a space to actually be vulnerable and
ask tough questions and literally challenge themselves. And I live.

Speaker 3 (01:09:28):
My life out in public anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:09:29):
People have so many opinions about me anyway, So if
anything one thing to say, I'm not highing nothing, I'm
not lying. Yeah, you see the work happening in real time. Uh.
And the goal is to just be you know, the
best human being or the best spirit having a human
experience as I can, well I do.

Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
I will commend you on the like owning being on
narcissists because usually if you ever break up with someone,
the first thing they gonna say you was a narcissist.

Speaker 2 (01:09:57):
And you I think everybody has a level of it.
And when you get the test, it takes hours to
do and it's over days and all that stuff. But
you realize there's a spectrum like within anything, and there's
certain things that you know when you think about it, obviously,
like you.

Speaker 3 (01:10:12):
Know, I'm not a Donald Trump level narcissists.

Speaker 2 (01:10:16):
There's a I don't want to put my name on
every building and have rage and you know I'm not
empathetic to you know, whole community are non empathetic to
whole communities. But there's things that when you want to
be the best, when you think you're the best, when
you believe in yourself, when you believe you have the
ability to do something that no one else says, and
especially in business, that's great. In a personal relationship, as

(01:10:40):
a father, that's not good. And so even as a father,
I've said, all right, well, I'm learning what how how
to get rid of some of those narcissistic tendencies when
parenting because a lot of people, like I'll give you example,
something that a lot of a narcissistic thing that a
lot of parents do that they don't know that they do.
That I've learned is that you think your children are

(01:11:02):
an extension of you. That's a narcissistic trait that like
I made you, you gotta do what and if you
don't agree or do what I said or what I
taught you, I'm disowning you or I'm upset with you.

Speaker 3 (01:11:15):
That's what a narcissist does.

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
And you think that's good parenting, But no, your children
aren't an extension. You're actually an extension of your children
if you look at it the way, and they're their
own individuals. So that's why I stop using terms like legacy,
because a legacy is something that you do and build.
Your children are your lineage and they go and do whatever,

(01:11:40):
but you didn't. Oh, I'm making a legacy like, No,
my legacy shouldn't be my children. Like we are blessed
to take stewardship over for probably only eighteen years of
an independent spirit that will go on and be whoever
they are.

Speaker 3 (01:11:55):
That they're not yours in that stense.

Speaker 2 (01:11:59):
You are here to train them and operate, you know,
a safe space and provide for them for God, but
they're not yours in that sense that they have to
do everything you say. Now obviously discipline and all that stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:12:11):
You keep them safe.

Speaker 2 (01:12:12):
But if your child wants to be this, or identifies
as this, or grows up to have.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
This career, that's what they're supposed to do. But and
I'm learning this in real time.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
Where as much as I want my son to be this,
I want my daughter to do this, I just gotta
love them regardless of you know what. I can't project
my beliefs onto them, and the only thing I could
do is be the best example that I can be,
and hopefully they want to be like me, but I
can't force them to be an extension of me. So

(01:12:44):
that's that's stuff I learn in therapy. Because you think
you're sposed to be like, oh, no, I'm gonna make
sure that you do this, and I'm gonna give you this.
You better do this because I said so, Like I.

Speaker 1 (01:12:56):
Just be like, I want you to be a I
say this, but I get correct, I'll be like I
want her to be the best version of me, or
like stronger than me, better than me, like ten times
better than who I was and.

Speaker 2 (01:13:11):
Will be because your gift. But when you start, when
you start saying, when you start projecting your trauma onto
your child, and that's when Now, now that feels like pressure,
you know what I mean, opposed to be like, you
don't have to be anything like me, you I just
want you to be the best version of yourself. Yeah,
And that's you know, but you know we're not preaching.

(01:13:33):
Were eating my book?

Speaker 1 (01:13:35):
And then what made you end up going to get
start getting getting counseling.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
And I mean started in the church.

Speaker 2 (01:13:41):
I mean we always look to the past or different
elements of Christianity too. You know, you seek wise counsel
uh and whether it's relationships. I probably say started with relationships.
Then I started working in the prison systems. You know,
where do you do group therapy? And I watched a
lot of psychologists and professors and stuff come in and

(01:14:02):
I watched group therapy and that's kind of how like
AA meetings.

Speaker 3 (01:14:06):
And I was like, I found myself.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
I was working as a philanthropic process and I was
getting more out of it than you know, some of
the men and women that were incarcerated. I was like, Wow,
this talking things out and sharing like this works. And
so seeing all that, you know, started doing personal therapy
every week, and like I said, I've been in couples
therapy a time from.

Speaker 3 (01:14:28):
Past relationships, and I just grew to love it.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
Groued to love like being open, being honest, and just
hopefully being a beacon and a conduit for mental wellness.

Speaker 3 (01:14:40):
And because it's needed right now more than ever.

Speaker 2 (01:14:43):
So you know, shouts out to all the other individuals
who see it as well. You know, there's a lot
of entertainers that artists that are moving into that space
of mental wellness, and it's just it. Before this started,
it really wasn't something specifically black men spoke about or
even knew about.

Speaker 3 (01:15:00):
So the fact that now we can have platforms, we
can do it openly. I mean, you see it all
all across.

Speaker 1 (01:15:06):
Line, and I see it a lot now. I see
rappers just rapping about being a man in relationships. I'm like, now,
isn't that art as a man?

Speaker 3 (01:15:16):
We feel too?

Speaker 2 (01:15:18):
I see.

Speaker 1 (01:15:19):
I literally was scrolling like three in the morning the
other day. I saw some rapper and all his songs
was like about like, I guess feelings, and I was
just like, you guys have a lot of feelings, a
lot of frustrating what to do.

Speaker 2 (01:15:32):
With it now too, because before we didn't, we bottled
it up and then it turned into other things that
weren't so healthy. But now you know, it's like, you know,
I rather I'd rather meditate than medicate, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:15:45):
I see you doing that a lot of meditation and
all that.

Speaker 3 (01:15:47):
Yeah, I've always done it, but it's like.

Speaker 1 (01:15:49):
You'll be doing it on the camera.

Speaker 2 (01:15:51):
Yeah, you know that's that's really that's like a minute,
two minutes like usually I do like twenty minutes a day.

Speaker 1 (01:15:57):
I thought you had add adhd I do it.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
That's why that helped me fight it, you know, what
I mean.

Speaker 1 (01:16:03):
I tried it. I can't get my mind to sit still.

Speaker 3 (01:16:06):
You're not supposed to sit still.

Speaker 2 (01:16:07):
That's that's a myth that you're supposed to Oh, clear
your mind. No, you allow everything to flow. You just
gotta be still. It's about being still and breathing, and
then you focus on your breath and then you start
you literally get a youthphoric sensation like like then doorphins
and dopamine is released and you're like, whoa, I get
it now, And that probably happens around like minute eight

(01:16:29):
or nine. But it's just just focusing on breathing and
still let every thought happen. Don't try to control your thoughts.

Speaker 3 (01:16:35):
That's not meditating.

Speaker 2 (01:16:37):
You let them thought and they just But what happened
is your thoughts will just slow down. Just focus on breathing.
Or they tell you get a you get a mantra.
So some people say own or you pick a word.
You want to focus on money, it's like money. You
say money for eight minutes straight, money gonna happen. But
it's as simple as that, Like, it's not as not

(01:16:57):
as it's really like, especially because I have ADHD, because
I'm always going like I value quiet time, value stillness,
and I tend to meditate it like four in the
morning where everything else is quiet. Sometimes I fall asleep.
I mean, but as long as I can get fifteen and.

Speaker 1 (01:17:14):
You get up out of bed and sit on you
God to that.

Speaker 2 (01:17:16):
If you stay in bed, you're gonna go back to sleep.
So you got it.

Speaker 3 (01:17:18):
But you find a space the sun's out, if it's like,
get you a little area, okay, and.

Speaker 2 (01:17:23):
Put put your little music on and vibes and just
sit and breathe and talk to God.

Speaker 1 (01:17:31):
Well, I uh, I appreciate your time. I did walk
around your office. I was looking for like chairs and tables,
trying to figure out how to do this station. But
you look far from.

Speaker 2 (01:17:45):
Organized.

Speaker 1 (01:17:46):
No, your brain is the studio. There's is literally so
much going on everywhere. I secretly hoping that you will
allow us to do like a little tour following you around.
If you don't, that's cool. But when I look at this,
this is my really believe your brain operates. He's got
the daily Cannon show, he's got class, the council, the

(01:18:09):
kids room, I.

Speaker 3 (01:18:10):
Got a nursery up.

Speaker 2 (01:18:12):
Did you go in my office? I couldn't find next
to the nursery.

Speaker 1 (01:18:16):
Where is it?

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
It looked like a jump room. Right.

Speaker 1 (01:18:19):
Oh, it was like a bunch of junk. Right next
to it was the one in the corner with the
little teddy bears. It's like the little porcelain teddy bear things.

Speaker 2 (01:18:30):
Oh yeah, that is my office. That's like, wait, yeah,
that's I mean, it's a bunch of junk and you're
talking about the bear bricks.

Speaker 1 (01:18:37):
There was one next to the kids room. It looked
dark and like shadowy in there. I was like, I'm
staying away from that room.

Speaker 3 (01:18:43):
I think that was the one. But again, it's all
over face the conference room.

Speaker 1 (01:18:47):
It's very nostalgic here. I'm surprised that you're able to
meditate just walking a minute.

Speaker 2 (01:18:52):
And then normally don't meditate here though I normally I
like to meditate outside. That one keep me from falling
asleep and like, you know, the sun coming up or
something like that.

Speaker 1 (01:19:01):
I love your gym, Yeah, that's that gym is phenomenal.

Speaker 3 (01:19:05):
And that goes outside like working out outside too.

Speaker 1 (01:19:07):
So thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 2 (01:19:10):
I got to go pick up my kids at school.

Speaker 1 (01:19:14):
Your kids are back in school already.

Speaker 2 (01:19:15):
This was the first week I showed.

Speaker 1 (01:19:17):
Up today with my kid and I was like on
the phone and I was like, well, well.

Speaker 2 (01:19:20):
The preschool started back. I think the older kids start back.

Speaker 1 (01:19:24):
I'm in pre school. I showed up and they was empty,
gates was drawing, and I was like, and this said,
I guess to the six and I thought today, that's
what I thought. And no, apparently when they say to
the six it means six.

Speaker 5 (01:19:39):
Day.

Speaker 1 (01:19:40):
I showed up and I was like, well, I hope
Nick don't mind. He got twelve kids nursery. Thank you
so much, Nick, I appreciate doubt.

Speaker 3 (01:19:49):
This was amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:19:50):
Thank you good, You're good to catch up.

Speaker 3 (01:19:52):
Great conversation, interview.

Speaker 1 (01:19:54):
And now whenever you have a kids party, Oh did
you even know?

Speaker 2 (01:19:59):
I I did not know. It's absolutely you literally just miss.
I've had like what five parties in the last month, and.

Speaker 1 (01:20:11):
Every month every time I was the Riah go I
show her like if they're singing happy birthday, she'd be like, Mommy,
I want to go there. Now, I'm like the riots
three in the morning. What are you talking about? It
already happened, definitely.

Speaker 2 (01:20:21):
So No, I think I got one of my kids'
birthdays in February. He's a little older, and then the twins.
There's is in April, but then after that all the
young kids from summer all the way to the end
of the year party, party, Party.

Speaker 1 (01:20:32):
That's awesome. And then can you just quickly before we
close out, run down a list of everything you have
going on, because there's a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:20:40):
Yeah, so much. I don't even know where to go,
but it's like, we'll be here in another show. Yeah,
we got The Daily every Day that's a show as
well as a radio show nationwide syndicated, all of that
good stuff. Catch me in multiple cities or just watch
it on YouTube or anywhere online. We live, so that's like,

(01:21:01):
that's a platform so many other influencers and creators that
are a part of that. Excited my super dad stuff.
I do a bunch of content with my kids. That's
probably around the most excited about because I have so
much fun doing that. And movies we're still doing those.
We got a couple coming out this year, probably filming
some this year as well. We got we playing spades.

Speaker 1 (01:21:24):
I like that. I really like that we have so
that I don't know how to play spades.

Speaker 2 (01:21:27):
That's fun. We got obviously wilding out twenty year anniversary
is twenty twenty five, so you'll see more of that,
more episodes coming up, tours more we have to wilding
Out Cruise starting, so that'd be fun, and then some
more spinoffs and Offshooter wilding out from the talent there, Are.

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):
You going to do a comedy anything in comedy?

Speaker 2 (01:21:52):
Yeah, like a special or.

Speaker 3 (01:21:54):
Well, you know, I've done a bunch of specials already.

Speaker 2 (01:21:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:21:55):
Now I'm going to be producing.

Speaker 2 (01:21:56):
So we're building a whole new stand up platform that
would be coming up. Man, so much stuff, Cannons, Class,
Council Culture, Kicks and Chicks.

Speaker 3 (01:22:08):
I think all of the those are all podcasts.

Speaker 2 (01:22:10):
Council Culture is also a television show, a panel, a
men's panel show, and uh, we're doing Council Culture con so,
and we're gonna be doing like mental wellness retreats and
stuff from men. Wow.

Speaker 1 (01:22:20):
Is that going to be a nonprofit or is it?

Speaker 2 (01:22:21):
Like it's both, you know what I mean. But it's
like I'm just I'm learning and watching guys I look
up to, like Gary Vee, you know, different individuals that
you know, all like Ted Talk Community and just really
just focusing on mental wellness with that platform. Uh, incredible,

(01:22:42):
the label, the consumer products aspects of the world.

Speaker 3 (01:22:47):
We have a bunch of incredible products.

Speaker 2 (01:22:50):
Man too much, too much, so nast singer like like
all of the stuff that you guys see me on you.

Speaker 1 (01:22:58):
Thank you everyone. You can google Nick follow him anywhere.
It's Nick Cannon. He doesn't really need a whole explanation.
Thank you guys for tuning in. Peace out, We out
for more eating while broke from iHeartRadio and The Black Effect.

(01:23:20):
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NICK CANNON - Layers of Flavor, Stories, and Success

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