NIKAL FIELDZ - Rice, Beans, and Music Dreams

On this episode of Eating While Broke, host Coline Witt sits down with artist, writer, and producer Nikal Fieldz for a real, unfiltered chat about his career in the music industry. Nikal shares the highs and lows of navigating the tough entertainment world, from hustling for music placements to surviving on rice and beans in LA.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
I'm your host, Colleen Wit and today we have a
very special guest and personal friend of mine, nickel Fields,
artist writer, producer uh is in the building. And this
is a very special full circle moment. A lot of
people when they hear artists, writer, producer, you think of, hey,

(00:21):
someone that you're seeing in your face all the time.
Nick has worn a lot of hats where I feel
like this is gonna be a very educational moment in
regards to like getting music placement, writing on albums, and
what the what the hard lessons can be learned when
you are writing on albums. So this is this is
a really this this will probably be a very entertaining interview,

(00:45):
but I just wanted to highlight all of that prior
to us even starting. I'm trying to like navigate because
he's had to. You've had to navigate some pretty tough
waters being in this industry for as long as you have, so.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Yeah, there's been some roadblocks and noodles. So throw myself
off a bridge.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
Moments, Yeah, definitely, Yeah, for sure. So what are you
gonna have me eating today?

Speaker 2 (01:08):
Today? I'm just going to do quick, simple little rice
and beans, rice and beans and like not like homemade
rice rice like out the package rice and beans that
I lived off for about two months.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
Two months every day, three day.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
You might have you might have got some tuna fish
in there next to it. Here and there, you know,
some chicken if it was a good week.

Speaker 1 (01:31):
Oh my god, I've been making jokes that Nick's dish
is going to be the worst one. No, it's actually
a compliment to you. It's the brokeus dish. But then again,

(01:54):
it's actually not the brokeused dish now I think about it,
because I may have been the Brokeus for today, but
I don't know what would you make humus.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Garbanzo beans can get expensive.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
So all right, well let's get into you cook it
for me, So go ahead, start the rice and beans.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
We're gonna get it going. So you got some red
hot later the sassoon. I'm from New York, so you know,
upstate New York, Rochester. So I grew up with a
lot of Portugan Miinnicans. And this is one thing except
for they make home made seasons. I'm gonna go. I
gotta figure it out as I can.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
So you got so you're gonna do rice beans hot sauce.
And what did you say that was?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
That's it? Yes?

Speaker 1 (02:46):
Seasoning, seasoning, all right, yeah, so take me back to
what was going on in the air of it is
red beans and rice, right, red beans, red beans and beans.
I called them red beans, right, those are red though, right.
M every time I hear you say pencil, I think
of white beans, red beans, and.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Rice guysy beans. Okay, I know all the beans. So
this is just gonna dump that in there, and we're
just gonna let that rot. Ain't much really, you gotta
do little olive oil. Actually, I don't even need that.
I'm glad you had some olive oil because I ain't
have enough. Okay, yeah, I ain't even have no money
for oil. Sticky.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
I've never actually put rice, I mean oil in my rice.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
I mean, I'm just ready to do it. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (03:38):
I'm gonna we're gonna find out together. You know, we're
gonna find out together. Now, I'm gonna I may add
olive oil to my rice.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
Moving forward, listen the directions on the package. Oh, just
put some olive oil or some butter in it, so
you know, okay, Sometimes I follow directions, not very often
but occasionally.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Okay, So take me back to what's going on during
the time of two months of living on This.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Wasn't long after I moved to LA. So moved to
LA with some friends and kind of came out had
a little bit of money saved up from doing some
shit I shouldn't have been doing.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Like what, selling drugs.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
I mean, it's over ten years. Good, good, it's over
ten years.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
And I would say people on eating while broke, we're
a drug.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Dealer under yeah, so you know, I uh, you know,
and coming out here and anybody knows that's ever hustled
drugs and shit like that. It's fast money, easy come easy. Gough,
not really easy because of what you're risking to get it,
depending what you're selling. But yeah, easy come easy. Go
get these beans over here and here real quick. So

(04:49):
a lot of times I used to drain the juice.
Now I just keep it a little extra protein because
when you're broke, you eat all of protein you can get.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
You're hilarious, right, yeah, you know what I'm saying. So,
so continue with your story. What's going on in this era?

Speaker 2 (05:04):
So moved out here, had a little bit of bread,
and you know, you get caught up in the allure
as that everybody does. So and a friend of mine
I moved out here with at the time had been
doing really well. So first, you know, I came out
without the plans of work. I was currently signed to
BMG as a songwriter at the time as well. Ran
blew through my budget or not my budget, but my

(05:27):
advance didn't last long.

Speaker 1 (05:29):
And that sucks because the advance had to be recooped.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Right, Yes, supposed to be supposed to hilarious, Yes, it's
supposed to be recouped.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
So you ran through the advance.

Speaker 2 (05:40):
I yeah, I like, I actually ran through most of
the advances before I even moved out here, because I
was living in New York City prior to between there
in Rochester, had a radio show at Upstate New York,
and then I also was working in the studios. There
was a point where literally squatting in BMG's old offices
at Midtown.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Oh wow, literally did they know that?

Speaker 2 (06:00):
Well, they had moved their offices out of the facility
and the building was still I guess they still had
We still had access codes to the building for like
three months. So there was a bunch of us that
were a bunch of us. I don't let me not
say a bunch, but yes, quite a few of us
that were like signed in all hustling, trying to get
it because you know what it is.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yeah, that's what I was about to say.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
It like glamer and glitz. From the outside, everybody's like, oh,
here's my big chain. I made it, But you don't.
You don't see the ship you had to go through
for you know, ten years of overnight success.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, it's crazy to think that an artist signed to
BMG would be like squatting in the BMG offices and
then they here more than one. Do you think that
was a bad business or just a bad business on
their part or bad business on you guys mishandling your
own money.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
Uh So it's a combination of both in my opinion.
So it's like, I mean, the industry is the industry.
It's it's an entertainment industry. In my opinion, it's very
feast or famine. Either you're fucking scraping to get by
to get your moment or you're getting it. There isn't
and maybe after you get it, like you really crack

(07:13):
something good, then.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
It comes stay with me if you mean stirring a
pot comes stay with me.

Speaker 2 (07:18):
This is it.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
I don't know if we explain to you, but when
you sit down with me, you're gonna have to talk
closer into these mics.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Oh I'm losing my radio. I saw my lapel mic on.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
My Let me tell you something. Nothing I heart hates
more than a lapel mic.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Oh all right, well, I gat by the way.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Thank you. They always they you know me and eyebrows.
God bless me with some great ones. But but yeah,
just try to get as close as possible. So tell me.
Mm hmm, So tell me so prior to you. Now
that I know that this dish originated from the BMG deal,
I definitely am gonna have to go backwards. So tell

(08:00):
me how you got your deal.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
So I ended up signing with Billy Mann after somebody
else originally from Rochester as well, that knew me from
the music scene up there, passed the story and some
demos along to him after I had written lighters.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
We didn't explain this. This is your camera, that's mine.
So still so you looking at me, but you kind
of all got you go ahead. Sorry.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
So I ended up at BMG after the story traveled
through a friend of mine to Billy Mann about and
then some demos went through for the song Lighters I
mean and Bruno Mars Royce nine. So that was originally
the original version of that is a demo that I
wrote with a producer in upstate New York. It was

(08:56):
originally a record for myself and then ended up making
its way to their team and becoming a pretty big record.

Speaker 1 (09:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, it became a pretty big record.

Speaker 1 (09:09):
But they got ahold of you, you approved it, you
cleared it.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Oh, man, I would love it if that's the way
it went.

Speaker 1 (09:14):
So tell us what happened.

Speaker 2 (09:16):
So the producer, after we had an agreement in place,
basically a couple of days later, it was like, yoah,
I want seventeen grand for this song, and I'm like,
what are you talking about? Created it together type shit?
And I'm like, well, that wasn't the agreement we had.
And in my head I'm like, oh, he must have
somebody interested in this thing. Sure enough he did. At

(09:38):
the time we thought it was I thought it was
Drake by the way he was saying.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Some certain things and what year is this?

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Two thousand?

Speaker 1 (09:46):
So Drake was out wait, it was pretty new Yeah,
Drake was very new.

Speaker 2 (09:50):
It was pretty new.

Speaker 1 (09:51):
It was before his mixtape drop.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
No. No, it was after No Drake, Drake Scott Drag Scott.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
But I'm saying, what didn't he drop in like two
thousand and eight.

Speaker 2 (10:02):
But that's what I'm saying. Clarity, Okay, this was two
thousand so well, yeah, it was like because he was
you know, he was alluding to something about Toronto blah
blah blah whatever whatnot, so long and short in that sense. Uh,
I'm like, oh, dope, this you know, this could be dope,
not really much to talk about. I'm pretty green in
the sense of still learning a lot of the business,

(10:25):
like I didn't. Everything I've learned is from trial and error.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
So but he tries to sell you what his half
or what was he trying to sell you?

Speaker 2 (10:32):
No, No, he was he just wanted because he had
worked on this comes up later. He had worked on, uh,
making the band and all that sort of stuff. So
what was the group the boy band that Quanto is
in because Quanto is also from Rochester Q but this
producer worked.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
On, yeah, making that stuff, making the band and.

Speaker 2 (10:52):
All that stuff, and that was kind of like the
end of the conversation between he and I until and
so what say, six months later, I just found out
about some new family recently around that time that was
out in California, and I was out, don't you worry
about my.

Speaker 1 (11:14):
I'm just all right gone.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
I was out in l a visit planning a trip, planning,
like because I was looking into moving out here after
meeting some newfound family. And I heard the song on
the radio, your song song I was a part of.
I heard it on the radio first time I ever heard.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
It in La or in Los Angeles. Oh my gosh,
And who was who was it? It was this.

Speaker 2 (11:41):
Eminem Bruno Mars Royce to five nine and it was
like right around the time Bruno Mars had airplanes and
all that.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
I definitely want to know what that feeling was like
of joy slash.

Speaker 2 (11:54):
I immediately text the producer was like, oh shit, congrats
we got one. Oh well thanks was the response. So
in my head, I'm like, oh, like get a check.
You know that sort of thing never happened. Yeah, So
basically discredited everything anything I had to do with the record,

(12:14):
sold the record off, everything was already done by the
time I heard the record, so I had no parts
in it. I didn't understand then, because, like I said,
I was still learning a lot of the business how to.
I didn't realize then at the time I could, I
didn't have the song registered with a pro which c
sack b a my ra ascap at that time. I

(12:36):
didn't realize once something like that happens, you have two
years Somewhere in that show, I.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
Was about to ask you, like, we can't go after
them now?

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Yah, oh, listen, I've There's been many of conversations, especially
because it you know, it reappeared on his great as hits,
like this song has been Like at this point in time,
I probably owed like one point two two point three
million dollars in royalties.

Speaker 1 (12:56):
So I would be so when you record the record,
it's like two friends recording in a studio, right is that?

Speaker 2 (13:03):
What's friends? Is a loose term? All right?

Speaker 1 (13:05):
But friends? But you know what, what's the old saying?

Speaker 2 (13:10):
And at the time at the time I'm living I'm
how old was I at the time, Like early thirties.
I'm living in my brother's attic in Rochester. It's like
rock bottom for me. My brother's married, got a kid
at ack, ain't got no heat I'm up there.

Speaker 1 (13:26):
And you had this hit song on the radio boom
and well, and you find out about it while you're
visiting in La Yes, and this sounds like a terrible
nightmare slash h. I definitely want to go through all
these emotions that you're feeling.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
Well, okay, yeah, let's do it. I mean obviously there's
some holy shit.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
Yeah yeah, because validate, validation, like yeah, like all of
the things, because it's this isn't something that I hadn't
been working towards.

Speaker 2 (13:58):
So it started out as anartist myself, you know, like
started my first studio with some friends when I was
sixteen technically, So in the midst of all that, it's like,
there's that, but then there's the part of me now.
The producer was a Christian, super Christian, like very godly
youth pastor.

Speaker 1 (14:20):
That's really going to hurt because then you really had
more faith that things are going to go.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
I didn't buy his bullshit from the beginning. Oh yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (14:30):
Why do you mention it?

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Because the part of the struggle that I had then
was being like, Yo, this dude's not a good dude,
and be like, Yo, this is what happened, and nobody
nobody was really believing me, Like, I don't want a
few of my peers that were like witnessed this stuff happen,
but in a big scheme of things, nobody was like.

Speaker 1 (14:51):
No, no one was biting.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
No one was biting. Until years later he got arrested
for some.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Shit and genuinely curious was the producer black white or
he was black? So also, you're this white boy, you
got it. You gotta acknowledge the stereotype for white people,
especially in hip hop. Of course there has to be
a struggle there, but man, it must have felt kind
of good to a white rapper picked it up, you know,

(15:19):
iconic legend.

Speaker 2 (15:20):
It's you know what's funny. The part about it that
makes it really funny is I was a huge fan
of Eminem, so obviously was right well because product, because
I mean, I started rapping before everybody knew who Eman
I was, so before I was like you Vanilla, I
used to ask, motherfucker, that was the clownage that I
would get as a white kid rapp And it was like,
I was rapping before it was cool for white kids

(15:41):
to rap. Yeah, And then he came along, and I'm like,
this dude's dope, like and hearing him and he's dope,
and his album dropped and I was showing people his
stuff prior to his album coming out, and his album dropped.
At a time in my life where I was sent away,
I got caught with coke and crack and I I
got copped out like I was using it, blah blah blah,

(16:03):
first defense, facing one in the third to three years.
It was making an example out of me, and I
copped out, ended up in drug court, long term rehab.
Bullshit because I'm like, I got a drug problem. If
sold drugs to buy weed.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
And just to clarify, though you never touched the stuff, right, no,
I never smoke crack. Hilarious sold back, You're hilarious because
now could you imagine a non drug person in.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
Rehab and well, and the worst part is like, so
I'm in an outpatient and this is terrible. The outpatient
counselor's like I'm twenty three, I'm like sixteen years old,
Like I'm on full top of the world, asshole attitude.
And this is all before this mute this part, But
at this time I'm just talking about it because and

(16:49):
so I think she's hitting on me. So I asked
her out to dinner. Next time I go to court,
I don't arrest my ass, kick me out of there,
send me to long term impatient.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (16:58):
So then I get sent away for a year too long.
Tom in patient basically with people it's like their last
stop before going to prison. So I was in there
with like heroinatics and all sorts of stuff, and I'm
trying to play along. You are like I belonged, like
I'm at like I have this drug problem. I did.
I had a problem selling drugs at the time, and
so I'm trying to play that along.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
And yeah, so you you you passed the acting test
of being a reform drug addict.

Speaker 2 (17:27):
I was there eleven and a half months and then
I got kicked out. They said I went as far
as I could in the program. So I thought I
was about to go to jail anyways.

Speaker 1 (17:33):
Oh but really they were just releasing you because you
were no longer a fake drug addict, right is that.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
What the theoretically? Sure? Yeah, I don't know. I know
they fucked up some paperwork. I was supposed to get
sent to a halfway house. That didn't happen. I got
out patient again this time it was an old lady,
so I wasn't trying to hit on her.

Speaker 1 (17:48):
We was good, okay, okay, got it. So the record
comes out on the on the radio. This man sold
it and his respet bonds is like, thanks.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
What do you want? What did you do on the record?
And I'm just like really and so. And this is
prior to me being signed to BMG, So I hadn't
been Everything I knew about how song splits and things
of that nature worked up to that point was just
of what I learned around people that I was working with,
and we were all figuring that out. There wasn't nobody
that really teaching us how to do this shit. We

(18:23):
were kids, you know, So I didn't know. Like I said,
I didn't know how to protect myself. I didn't know
any of these things. And that was pretty much it.
I had no money to get a lawyer, you know,
and going after so why.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Did you think that to even ask you to pay
for a seventeen thousand record when he knew you didn't
even have that money.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
Because it was his way of sweeping it over and
doing what he wanted with it and trying to find
a way to not entitle me to anything. Yeah, yeah,
but later, like I said, later, you know, and getting
in a songwriting sessions like with bigger artists and things
of that nature. After I signed, I learned rather quickly
what it's like, Oh, this is what you're entitled to

(19:08):
when you're a part of a record like this, Like
somebody can almost be in a room half the time,
not do anything and get a piece of assng on. Say, really,
one word can kind of entitle you to some stuff
because you could say one word that changes the direction
of the entire record.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
So like if you're doing a studio session and I
sit in on your studio session and I say fla
la la la, and you go.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
And that becomes part of the hook and you change
the direction of the record, the right thing to do
is to give you a piece of that.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
Really, even off that, even does it happened?

Speaker 2 (19:40):
Not really. I'm just this is why I don't like
people in my sessions managers, Like, if you're not a
part of this creative process, fuck up out of here.
You're a distraction and I don't want any of your ideas.

Speaker 1 (19:49):
Okay, but just so for educational points, because this just
got real interesting. So if if a girl or you
know how guys like to invite a bunch of chicks
to a studio session, right theoret girl comes in because
this does happen. I've been in the studio. Everybody know
will go down in studios. Well hopefully people know. But okay,
say some girls in there and they're working on a

(20:11):
record and she goes fallow la or she goes oh
I like that part, but maybe I'd say it like this.
If they don't take that advice, does she still option? Okay? No,
but then how can you even prove if if it
did make.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
See and that's where the gray area of creating something
out of thin air and making it a tangible product.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay, interesting, but then it becomes a he said, she
said too. Right yeah, so the best your best piece
of advice is nobody outside of artists and production are
in the room first.

Speaker 2 (20:44):
I mean, and again it's like it varies. Everybody has
their process. So is there an end? A will be
all to that?

Speaker 1 (20:50):
It's like, so to clarify though, for lighters, what role
did you play on that actual co.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Writing concept of the record is mine? There was as
we're going back and forth on production, he's playing keys.
I was a guy in the direction of the keys
and what we were doing, and then writing the hook.
He had the idea of it, and then together we
formulated it into this lighter sting. And mind you, the

(21:16):
original demo when Bruno and the smeusing tens and everybody
got it, they wrote it out even further, so it
was even better when they were done with it.

Speaker 1 (21:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (21:25):
But the so I was a part.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
Of the writing the melody, so Eminem did rewrite his.
He wrote his own. Everybody wrote their own.

Speaker 2 (21:34):
Yes, except for the course. The course is the one
thing that stayed, and that was the one thing. It's
funny because the entire concept of the record, even some
things that were said in it. I to this day
don't know whether they heard the demo with just the
hook or my verses, because there's even some similarities there.
But a hook will guide you, exceptually on a record,
So I wouldn't say that. And and I know some

(21:59):
of that stories got back to some of the folks
in that camp, but at the time I know none
of them had any clue. Yeah, So it wasn't like, oh,
I know, but in talking about prior, like when I
was sent away, like I got a home visit and
Eminem's record came out and like his first album was
some shady and so it's like rock bottom and things

(22:21):
of that nature are on it. And so that was
like at that time, I got this home visit, which
sucked me up because they send you home to fuck
you up on purpose to see if you're gonna do drugs,
And that was a big It was like I was
sixteen seventeen, torn away from everything I've known, thrown out
on a farm in the middle of a country, grew
up in the fucking city shoveling pig shit for a

(22:42):
year and a half. For a year. It was basically
a boot camp, nicely for a boot camp, shot camp
type shit. And so when this happened later on and
then I didn't get anything for it, it was almost
like one of my I don't want to say, like
one of my superheroes, especially for hip hop, and knowing
his story from what I had up to that point,
it was like such a It was like a kick

(23:03):
in the dick because now there's this record that it
was like, Yo, this would be a record that have
not only changed my life, but everybody I had been
working with could have helped my helped me put my
sister's kids and a better school, paid off my mom's house,
which still ain't paid off. But like things of that nature,
so it was it was interesting the effect that it

(23:27):
had on me in that sense as well.

Speaker 1 (23:29):
But in this case though, it wasn't an eminem situation.
This is a this is a produce that Eminem has
no clue. Yeah, not even not even in proximity on any.

Speaker 2 (23:41):
Level, not even close.

Speaker 1 (23:42):
So why did you feel that way?

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Uh? Like shit? You feel how you feel? You know
it wasn't.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
I don't know if I'm ever going to be affected
by jays if if anything has to any peripherals of
jay Z. Just no, I'm a man at whoever played
be but lazy, I'll be like Yo, it must have
been annoyed that our stars would be aligned. And it's
just going it.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
Sound good like and and But when you've been fighting
your whole life to have this validation, have this point,
You're broke, you're living, You're thirty years old, living in
an attic, can't figure out, ain't got like, ain't got
a pot to pissing, selling drugs ain't the way because
you keep doing that and get in trouble. So it's
like there's a there's a bitterness because then I start

(24:28):
counting what I'm not getting. It's like, yeah, there's this vindication.
This is great. Now it's like but now I'm not
like now the opportunity. And it wasn't even always about
the money. It was like that alone, that credit could
have opened the door for me to go in with
somebody else, to going with this person, which then.

Speaker 1 (24:44):
And that's at the moment everybody works, Yeah, and that's
a natural reaction. That would be a total logical, natural reaction.
Everybody would feel that way, right, yeah, and you know.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
And so and it's like and then there's the part
of like, don't go after it. You're like, don't try
to fight for it, chase down the labels and this that,
because then you're gonna get black balled. And it's kind
of like and I fought with that for a long time,
and it's like black ball from what?

Speaker 1 (25:20):
So then how does BMG pick you up from a
non credit?

Speaker 2 (25:24):
So the story travel and it ends up I end up.
It's funny. I was so broke. I had an NPC
two thousand or twenty five hundred at the time, which
is a piece of studio equipment A lot of producers know,
and I had to sell it so I could get
the money to afford the bus ticket to take the

(25:44):
bus down to New York City to have the meeting
for BMG. So I sold a piece of my studio equipment, damn,
so I could go and be able to Yeah, so
I could have Actually, it's funny I think about it.
I sold it. I sold that. I sold that NPC
to thirty eight Speci, another artist out of Rochester that

(26:05):
he's done a lot of stuff with Benny, Griselda and
them guys. So these are all this is all the
kind of the folks I grew up around green Land
and all those folks.

Speaker 1 (26:12):
You go to the meeting and how does that meeting go?

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Meeting is great? Like so I had prior to I
sent over some demos and they liked what they heard.
They saw potential whatever the case and the story had
he had heard the story about this Lighter's record. So
we talked and it was a writing camp that weekend,
so it was kind of like, we want to sign

(26:36):
you and this to this col pub deal. I'm at this.
The first session I have is at Michael Bolton's house.
Oh wow, was a friend of Billy's. Ye so, And
it wasn't with Michael, but it's at his house because
that's where they were holding the camp and they were
like next to each other in different studios. But the

(26:58):
story like he was Billy was advocate of the underdog,
and part of it was like, yo, we can look
into this and go after it litigation, YadA YadA, YadA YadA.
So part of that was, oh shit, I might actually
get what's due to me. So I signed because first
of all, I didn't have many other options.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
So you're selling your producer equipment. So it's like the
options on the tape.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
No no, no, It's like where, yeah, where does it
go from here? And meanwhile, I'm on, I have a
radio show in Rochester as well. I'm on I have
a radio show seven on Saturday nights. At the time
that became one of the highest rated radio shows in
the station's history at one point. So it's like, here
I am in this public perception of like, oh, he's

(27:41):
on radio, have a studio working on stuff like this,
But I'm living in an addict selling a piece of
equipment to be able to go take a meeting to
possibly get a deal, to possibly get me where I
think I want to be.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Yeah, so you get this deal, do you go home
like feeling a little bit more vindicated?

Speaker 2 (28:03):
Yeah, of course, like I was on top of the world,
like in some because there was the vindication. It was
like from this bad discame and it was like, all right,
I'm gonna turn this into something. But I was. I
came from the hip hop side of things, and mainly
everybody that was a part of this team at the
time it was more pop, all rock type stuff, some

(28:23):
dance stuff. So it was a lot of me trying
to figure out where I fit in there. And because
I couldn't really sing, I wasn't the greatest producer either.
It was like my main skill was like I couldn't
come up with some melody, but they're simple, which are
what most hits are. Yeah, yeah, it's like most hits
tend to be simple melodies. So, and I'm a really

(28:43):
really good writer and putting words together in storylines, but
I didn't feel like I had a lot of respect
amongst the people that I was working with or signed
to around with, because oh, here's this guy, here's this story,
here's this record. He can't really sing his records, and now
I'm trying to get people to demo the records because
people don't hear what you want them to hear. They
only hear what they hear.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
So you know, there was a lot of struggles in that.
So I felt vindicated and but at the same time,
it was like another layer of I got to prove
myself even more. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:12):
Like, but you get the deal and it comes with
a check. Yeah, so what's the first thing you do
with your check?

Speaker 2 (29:19):
First thing I did was put a little down payment
on a car.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Okay, you didn't replace the equipment, No, not at that time. Okay, okay,
so you get a car.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yep, I get I put a down payment on a
seven used Forward Escape.

Speaker 1 (29:35):
Oh so that's not even a yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
No, yeah, it's nothing crazy. Usually. I had one hundred
thousand miles I when I bought it. But I needed
something because I knew I was gonna have to be
driving back and forth between Rochester and New York. So
and I was looking in New York, I'm like, oh,
look at all the oh, the taxi cabs, the trucks,
they're all for the escapes. These things gotta last long,
probably should buy one of them. And that's literally how
I decided to buy that vehicle. And then so that

(30:01):
was the first thing. And then I got an apartment
down in New York City with another buddy from Rochester,
Emilio Rojas, So he and I were living together in
Washington Heights, so I was there as well as back,
and I was driving back and forth every weekend to
come to my radio show in Rochester because that opened

(30:22):
a lot of doors music industry wise for me, as
well as being on the radio, you know, a little
ego fulfillment, and I was fairly decent. I was pretty
good at it. And then living down in New York
City and spending as much time as I could getting
trying to get into studios and things of that nature
with artists. But getting into it doesn't matter how good

(30:43):
you are. Getting into the rooms with people is all
relationship based. Yeah, of course, keep hitting my elbow on
this shit.

Speaker 1 (30:51):
Sorry about that, all right, because I'm short? Yeah, are
you done cooking?

Speaker 2 (30:55):
Ready? All right?

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Defeat us? Right, feed us, feed us. So at what
point do you decide to hop on a plane and
after the well, no, tell me how you end up
at the BMG buildings. Clearly, it's not a hard situation
to end up in. But but go ahead, what do.

Speaker 2 (31:16):
You mean, Like, what do you mean How'd I end
up in the BMG.

Speaker 1 (31:18):
Building because you were squatting there, you said.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Oh, oh that part. So BMG was moving offices, and
at the time money was my money started drying up,
the advanced money. You know, it wasn't a big big check, yeah,
and back and forth whatever what not. So that started
drying up. So I literally moved. Instead of bringing all

(31:41):
my studio equipment back to Rochester, I put it all
in the BMG building, and I bought an air mattress
and I would drive down. I would be in Rochester
because now at this time, I started selling dope again quietly,
Oh my gosh, So gotta do what you gotta do.
You gotta do what you gotta do.

Speaker 1 (32:02):
And no hot sauce for me? What no hot sauce
for me? What no hot sauce for me? If I
do it, I'm gonna have to control it.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
That saysn't even this red hot, It ain't even that hot. Yeah,
the white boy out hot sauce. You on your own show.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
It's okay, I'm half white.

Speaker 4 (32:22):
Remember you say your spice level is Come on, it's
the white huh, I got the white side.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
I love hot sauce, you said. My best friend's West Indian,
so I grew up eating all sorts of spicy ship.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
All right, you ready to you ready to try this?

Speaker 2 (32:41):
Did you put hot sauce on it?

Speaker 1 (32:42):
I put a little drop of hot sauce.

Speaker 2 (32:44):
I'm ready. I mean, I know what it tastes like.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
You better have to two months straight.

Speaker 2 (32:50):
It tastes like tears and heartache, hilarious air mattresses and artaches.

Speaker 1 (33:00):
When you start lying air mattresses, you know, like you're
on survival mode. And at no point are you thinking
to I mean, why aren't you thinking to get like
a regular day job. I know you have the radio show,
and I know you have the BMG deal, but why
pick up well?

Speaker 2 (33:16):
I mean, in some cases I did you know, I've
worked my whole life, but it's not a nothing's ever enough,
not a little nine to five ain't shit. Like you know,
there was a point in time I was a catering
manager in Manhattan. So now I'm delivering and this is
prior to this, I'm delivering shit. The photo shoots, meeting
ghost face, killing shit like that, and it's like, you know,
first time, actually the first first week on the job,

(33:36):
I met Russell Simmons at a car wash. Fuck, I'm
gonna say to him, Hey, man, listen to my demo. Yeah,
you know what I'm saying. It's like. And that was
one thing it took me that I I and maybe
some of that was my own pride.

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Yeahs if anybody would understand these dudes.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Because you would think you would think so. But that's
also the other thing that it took me a very
long time because I was really bitter when I was younger,
I was better. I was angry. I still am a
little angry. Still a little bitter too, but with a
different understanding because the people that make it, people that
break through, fight, they fought for it, like and when

(34:18):
you haven't had to fight for it or go through
the things to get certain places, you have no appreciation
for what it takes to get there. You have no
respect for the relationships that you may introduce. It's like
you and I know each other a little bit, so
it's like you'll introduce me to somebody knowing my character,
knowing where I come from knowing I'm not going to

(34:39):
put you in a fucked up position.

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Yeah with that person, yep.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
To where somebody that hasn't earned that or learned that
along the way on their own can fuck everything up
for somebody just off an introduction.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
By the way, I just experienced that in the entertainment business,
and I'll tell you it is off camera and my
first time ever, and I was like, what fuck.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
It's like? And relationships are more valuable than money, yeah,
because the relationships can bring you all the money in
the world, you know. And I have a lot of
long standing relationships. Like there's people at labels now that
I'm friends with that I've been friends with for twenty
years that I met when they were sitting on the
stoop as a street team. They were on the street.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
See, it's so funny you say that, because when I
had Celebrity High magazine, a lot of the people that
were when I was working with all the labels having
that magazine, they were like kind of more at the
bottom level. Now they're running shit like later like literally
like Vice President's President and the one hundred per And.

Speaker 2 (35:38):
That's where a lot of my friends are like, you know,
it's like because everybody's worked to get there. So to
get back to that part of like where the bitterness
and stuff is like, it took me a long time.
I used to be mad at some some I don't
want to say mad, but I used to talk shit
because like, yo, motherfucker, how you can't open the door
for somebody from the same place you're from and things
of that nature when you have the opportunity to do so.

(36:01):
And it wasn't until I started making my way through
some of them doors myself and people started coming to
me thinking I could open doors to where I learned
and realized what it's like on other sides of it.
And I started learning that with the radio station when
I got there, and I was an advocate for independent
artists and getting independent artists songs played on this radio station.

(36:23):
So I'll be playing for a week, they'd be back
next week, like, Yo, I got a new single. I
want you to play. It's like, nah, that's not how
this works, man, Like you need to work this thing.
Take it. Take it from Rochester, go to Buffalo, show
them you're getting you played here, get them to play it,
and then do it in Syracuse and make it regional
like with this one record work that nah, man, this
new record is shit. I'm like, yo, I can't it
doesn't work that way. I'm I can't play that record

(36:44):
for you. Well fuck you. Then I'm like, oh, oh
fuck me, damn. I just focked for two months to
get this record on for you. Now I'm telling you
I can't play your next record and it's fucked me okay,
s yeah, And that I learned that along the way.
That is a very common thing. Like people don't like
to be told no, yeah, and I'm like to tell you,

(37:06):
and I'm pretty straightforward. So it's like, that's why it's
been interesting I transition into LA because a lot of
people it's like, what's the saying, Uh, people in New
York are nice or kind, but they're not nice. A
lot of people in LA are nice but they're not kind.

Speaker 1 (37:24):
I never heard that, but that makes sense, you know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
It's kind of like, you know, you fall down, like
get up you for you know, in New York, help
you get up, you fucking idiot, Like let me help
you get the fuck up, dumb dumb to where you know?
And then they say a lot of people out here
it's like, and I want to be careful because I
don't want to create that separation. But they say like
just okay, keep walking. You know what I'm saying, like
like that fake shit, like oh nah, girl, you so pretty?

(37:48):
Turn around. I can't stand that bitch. Yeah, you know
what I'm saying. But I think that comes in every city,
so I want to be very careful with that. I
think it's just more prevalent out here because so many
people come out here to be this thing. So they
there's this it's the girl from Milwaukee or Wichita that

(38:08):
gives off that I gotta be this sort of way
to where it's like the Natives are fucking dope out here,
same thing, like you know. It's like you know, so, I.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Don't know, it's very rarely you you in LA and
you stumble upon an actual.

Speaker 2 (38:21):
Actually, I've come across a bunch like some of my
closest friends here are Native. Yeah yeah, let me think
about that.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
I have.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
I have like maybe one or two close friends from LA.
I don't know all my my die hard friends. It's
always going to be New York all day. Like literally,
I had maybe one or two solids here in LA.
But I love my girls in LA, but don't nobody
compared to my girls in New York. Girls different, Yeah,

(38:51):
because they different, they ride or die differently.

Speaker 2 (38:54):
But the man, listen, I'm telling you. The friends I've
made here have become family. And it's a lot of
it is it's like people from here because they don't
they've grown up around the bullshit they're not. I don't
give a fuck who you know, don't give a shit.
I don't get like you know. And of course there's
there's exceptions to all that, but that's in every major city.
That doesn't matter. So it's just a matter of finding
your circle.

Speaker 1 (39:15):
So take me to your next big milestone. After the
BMG deal.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
Man, I wish I could. That's, you know, like because
the BMG deal carried on for fuck six years and
I signed the deal right at the time when the
industry was changing, publishing deals were changing, so there was
no there was like then you had to have my deal. Basically,
I had to have three records. Each record is one

(39:41):
hundred percent. If I co write the record with four people,
I only get twenty five percent. So I had to
have three. I had to have three hundred percent worth
of records that placed on major labels in order to
get out of my contract. Oh wow, at a time
when now Spotify and things these nature are taken over
and these are physical some of the deal. It's physical albums,

(40:04):
CDs they stopped, they stopped making them. Yeah, so I
would have been in the deal forever.

Speaker 1 (40:09):
Crazy if you think about it. I ain't seen a
CD in a long ass time. And there was a
point where you'd go to Walmart or wherever you bought
your CDs and you went in there just for CD.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
Now it was the last time we did that.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Every Tuesday. It used to be every Tuesday, Tuesday at midnight,
hit the record store, get the new big punish.

Speaker 1 (40:27):
Your album like okay, damn the good old days.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
All right, now, that's all right. I'm happy. I'm happy
to be here. One of my friends ain't make it
this far. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm actually talking.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
There for six years you're with BMG, and are you
You're saying basically you got stuck in the deal.

Speaker 2 (40:49):
I just nothing ever really landed, you know. There was
a few things that landed. We did a little NFL
network song, there was a bunch of almost had a
lot of one night stands with success. Throughout my career,
a lot of to where it was like this is
the moment, this is it? A lot of the eminem
story things difference I hate. I don't mean to say
that eminem story things, but you know a lot of

(41:10):
like that record situations to where it was like almost,
like I almost had end song in one of the
Fast and Furious movies. Then the end switched because Paul
Walker passed same thing with a record that was in
the running for the trailer for the first fifty Shades

(41:31):
of Gray and you're flipping a record and it became Beyonce.
So I've had a lot of moments like that to
where almost and now I'm on the cusp of another one.
But Jesus, yeah, I'm on the cusp of another one.

Speaker 1 (41:46):
How do you stay not in a quitting place, in
a non non validation place, if that's a such word,
you know what I'm saying, Like where you kind of like,
am I supposed to do this?

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Man? I would? I don't know because it's heartbreaking, And
that's the part. It's like either you get it and again,
like I said, it's a feast or famine thing, but
there's nothing like I don't. I never started making music
for the money, and that's the thing. So it's like,
whether I'm making money or not off of music or
whatever the case may be, or whatever things I'm working on,
it's therapy for me. So I have no choice but

(42:22):
to create.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
It's therapy. I can't understand that. But as an adult
in a major city, these aren't little cities we are
living and we're not talking about Ohio, no disrespect to Ohio.
I can't imagine what it's expensive in La.

Speaker 4 (42:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (42:35):
Yeah, it's so funny because like I look at the
other side and I'm like, wow, that's crazy how much
things are. But at the same time, I could never
fathom living in a in like a city like that.
Like when people are like, you gotta live in Ohio
and life just is a lot cheaper, I'm like, that's.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
But the opportunity. You pay for the opportunity and the
relationships and the network. And that's one of the things
I always tell people, because I have a lot of
friends that are talented as fuck that haven't left home,
have tried a little bit here and there, but don't like,
haven't stuck to it because they wouldn't go through the
two months of eating rice and beans. They wouldn't do
pushed through that extra part.

Speaker 1 (43:14):
So you're saying that that you don't mind the rice
and beans as long as you have your fare well.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
I'm also a hustler, so I'm gonna figure some shit out.
I've also always worked. I have a crazy work ethic,
Like that's one thing anybody will tell you. But I
got a big heart and a crazy work eth it.
So it's like, if I'd not have a big heart,
i'd be a multimillionaire already. But I make sure that
people around me that I work with are taking care
of before myself. And I think that's why a lot
of opportunities do present themselves to me.

Speaker 1 (43:38):
When you say taking care before yourself, what does that
look like.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Say we got somebody that comes in and wants a
record and there's a little budget for it. I make
sure a lot of people you know. It's like, for instance,
I can say I have records that place that I
know paid ten to twenty grand and I got five
hundred dollars for it. But I know the person who's
charge a place in the record got the budget was
twenty thousand dollars for that record. So but it was

(44:08):
either take this little fifteen hundred dollars or don't get
the record at all placed in whatever this film or
TV show is. And those are the things that are
that make it hard too.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
You know what I'm saying when you say, like, take
care of everyone before you, what does that look like?

Speaker 2 (44:28):
Because I will work, I'll work a nine to five,
I'll do all that other shit to where some people aren't.
You know, some of the creatives I work with don't.
So it's like when a budget does come like there's
I'll make sure that they're taking care of to whur
A lot of people say, take care of yourself first.
I need to because that's you know, you really need
to because you can't help anybody if you can't help yourself,

(44:49):
something that took me a long time to really accept
and learn. But making sure that they're getting taken of,
maybe advancing money out of my personal account before the
money comes for shit, so they're able to survive another
week because I know I'm gonna figure it out. Everybody
don't got them, I'm gonna figure the ship out.

Speaker 1 (45:18):
How do you and how do you not get the
point of like I'm enabling.

Speaker 2 (45:24):
It's man, it's family, Like these are good people. I
don't really work with a lot of people. I won't
sit at a dinner table.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
With so.

Speaker 2 (45:33):
And I give tough love. It's not like it's like
I said that nice and that nice and kind ship.
I'm like, no, here, motherfucker, you need to get your
ship together, like figure the ship the fuck out, bro,
I can't do this no more. Like what the fuck about?
Go give me a check? You know, Like there's that
sort of ship. But it all always comes from an
honest place because I want. I want. It ain't no
fun to win a lot. That's the one thing. That
one that that that dude that sold that record off

(45:56):
I ended up getting himself in some trouble later on.
And I mean whatever money he did make from it's gone. Wow.
Had to change his name because it was like, yeah,
I actually made me glad not to be part of it,
because it was like some underage boy charge shit, okay, damn.
And it was crazy because the karma. I'm like, that's

(46:18):
now I'm vindicated. I was like, but I didn't want
that that way. That's not the vindication I want.

Speaker 1 (46:22):
I feel bad for Uh. It's funny because now. You know,
I have a daughter now and people will come up
to me all the time and they're like, hey, but
are in the industry, And I'm like yeah, and you
always you would think that little girls aren't safe, But
in that industry.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
Ain't nobody safe. Ain't nobody? Is nobody nobody, It's not.
Ain't nobody safe. I mean like, we're seeing a lot
of that shit come to the forefront. And it's crazy
because I heard you talking a little bit about it
when I first got in, and it's just like times
have changed so much. Certain shit that maybe wasn't accepted

(46:56):
or was accepted at a time that's just not tolerated
it all anymore. It's good to see that growth, but
it's also crazy to see worlds get flipped upside down
in various ways. It's like, we don't even need to
go into that. Let's let's stay away from that because
that's a rabbit hole of a conversation I already know.

(47:19):
But it's like it's just like because there's like it's
just crazy to see It's like like icons and ship
that people looked up to that and then to start
it's like the opposite side of the facade of I'm
out here looking like I'm doing good, but I'm living
in a fucking addict selling dope, trying not to get

(47:40):
caught because everybody thinks I got it. That a fake it, ty,
you make it ship. That's the other side, like I
made it. I'm a great guy. I'm helping everyone. Know
you took all their publishing, You're doing this crazy shit. Yeah,
it's the complete opposite extreme. Yeah, oh I see what
you see what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (47:58):
Yeah, it is if you had to do it all
over again, and like you had to write a letter
to your younger self knowing everything that you know now
stands cool.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
Motherfucker stands cool. I you know, it's a tough question
because the problem with that and people have asked, you know,
people always ask questions like that, Like there's even I
love who I am as a person, and it's the
combination of everything that I've been through that have led
me to I'm not unhappy. I've made some money, I've

(48:34):
lost some money, made some money back, lost it again.
For me, it's like I'm at the point now to
where I'm really just trying to figure out connecting the
dots so I can actually be able to help other
people the way I've always wanted to, because I'm a
giver at the end of.

Speaker 1 (48:50):
My core, you know me off Like, I hang out
with you a couple of times, and I would definitely say,
there's a couple of things I will saying about you.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
Come on, let's go. Yeah, let's go. Let's go. Come on,
let's go. I want to hear it, let's go, come on,
give it to me.

Speaker 1 (49:05):
There's a couple of things I say about you, but
I would say that the top tier would be, Uh,
you seem very genuine You're very hospitable, which is goes
hand in hand with genuineness. Right, You're you're definitely I
would say giver. Yeah, what else not?

Speaker 2 (49:22):
There's some more shit you got give them the bad
ship too, Come on, bad ship.

Speaker 1 (49:26):
No, I'm not doing that while we're recording.

Speaker 2 (49:29):
Isn't that what this is about?

Speaker 1 (49:31):
The bad Ship? I think you're nervous, Okay. From the
day I've met you, I think you are one hundred
percent dope. One hundred percent dope. I do think though,
if you get to know Nick and you are a female.

Speaker 2 (49:49):
Okay, you got to look a little plug for myself.
There you go.

Speaker 1 (49:53):
Do I get to keep it. That's for you, Okay.

Speaker 2 (49:55):
I just needed you to say something nice about me
telling what she's.

Speaker 1 (49:58):
One, because just gave me a present. I don't know
if i's not talking.

Speaker 2 (50:02):
No, no, not, because now you're going to go into
the women part. Let's go. You can call me a
misogy and hist no.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
If I had to be brutally honest and I uh
and uh and I said this behind your back before.
You obviously never heard this. But I genuinely think when
you get around you're wholesome, like you're a whole person,
You're a giver and all that. But I definitely think
as a female that there may be a possible nervous

(50:33):
stick with you because your mouth can go crazy. It's
almost like the guy that can talk himself out, like
you got me.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
I talked myself into some.

Speaker 1 (50:44):
From my takeaway, it's like you can have that that
three point shot, but your mouth can actually undo it.
That's that's not a bad side.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
That I just said that, not because the part of
it is I'm willing to unpack that.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
That's why I'm like you I should That's why I
said it's got to be a nervous tick. I never
I never say and I say that with respect to you, like,
and I've said this like behind your back, like one
hundred percent dope person. But there must be some kind
of like there's got to be some kind of nervous
tick that causes you to be super dope. And then

(51:23):
like I would say, just knowing you person, like when
you get around a female, you say some stuff that's
like what and so you'd have to assume it's got
to be like a nerd.

Speaker 2 (51:33):
And this sounds terrible because it's funny.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
It's a woman's perspective. If I had to be really
honest to me, it comes off like a nervous tick
because if you know the person, you're like, this person's
a solid person, So why the heck would they be
like Tourette syndrome of the polar opposite, because it's got
to be a nervous tick a lot of it.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
So it's funny because when you've known me long enough,
now I don't bite my tongue. Yeah, like I just
say what the fuck I think you do? But it's like,
but in a lot of times I'll be poking.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
Oh I'm po poke.

Speaker 2 (52:03):
I'll be well, but i'd be poking because there's so
I guess you have to get into some of my
therapy shit. So I grew up watching my mother cheato
on my father, then finding out later my father wasn't
actually my father, and so growing up my entire life.
It made sense a week before I turned twenty nine

(52:23):
when I found out my father wasn't my father, and
my older brother younger sister were my half brother half sister,
and my entire family was lying to me my whole life.
So a lot of me, especially when I have the
love hate relationship with women, because I give my all.
But then there's this I don't trust you. What can

(52:44):
I get away with? How much respect you got for yourself?
Can I say this and get away with this? How
far are you gonna let me go? Is that the
right thing to be doing? No, But that's some of
the unpacking on a surface level.

Speaker 1 (52:55):
For damn. I'm kind of glad I addressed it because
I called today. I didn't know what that was, of course,
and so I did hang out with you during COVID.
I remember, Yeah, you cooked me a nice dinner. I
thought you were super dope, low key guys. Off the record,
I'm Loki wanted to date you, but then we hung
out and you were very respectful of me. I think

(53:15):
I even spent the night at his house and we
didn't smash. We didn't smash, and I thought that was awesome.
I was like, he's really respectful. I don't even know
why I stayed, but I mean not saying it like that,
but I don't know how I ended up sleeping there.
But it wasn't. The intention obviously wasn't that. I'm just
saying very hospitable. But then you would say things abound
me and I'm like, like, is this dude a nutbag?

(53:38):
Like respect hospitable. So that's why I was saying, you
must have a nervous tick. But that nervous tick was
like as a person.

Speaker 2 (53:47):
I was like, like, for you, it's like I get
the fuck away from. So you actually wanted to bring
this up because this was something you was trying to
understand what happened back, No, we hung out. This really
wasn't just trying.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
To because I genuine think you're a dope person and
it can be. And I'm glad you explained that for
even just all women to know this, because you know,
and I get the poking because me and I tell
girls guys have disclaimers. The guy will. You'll be at
a party and a guy be like, would you have
sex with a dog or something something crazy, and you'd
be like, as a woman, you got to just be

(54:19):
able to walk away from you know what I mean,
that's crazy trying to but you know how they'll test you,
like would you have a threesome?

Speaker 2 (54:26):
You know, And there's two sides of that. There's like
there's the we have a threesome like maybe I can
her and her friend, yeah, And then there's a threesome
like I don't really want to have a kid with her, yeah.

Speaker 1 (54:38):
Or or like when I always feel like when a
guy does that, it is such a disrespectful thing that
I'm like, oh, you're trying to test me, Well, here's
the test by deuces. So if I get any sense
of a disclaimer, I'm out because I'm not I'm not
with but we're grown. Yeah. But I just I say
that to say that it didn't for me. I didn't

(55:00):
align with the person I knew, and then those random
whatever the heck do you call them pops?

Speaker 2 (55:06):
But also to like with me, there's a lot of
personality stuff. It's like a lot of women, and I'm
attracted to strong women, So there's that. I can't say
a weak women don't do it for me. I walk
all over you. I get bored because I'm I'm strong.
I've been fighting my whole life. I need somebody that
can help lift me when I'm down, which I don't
want to say isn't often.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
But you know, every like everybody, everybody has everybody.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
Yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's like, let's stop
the tough talk shit. Everybody you know, everybody has their things.
So there's that. But I'm also self like, very like
I'm attracted to strong women like slick mouth. I like
my women a little snak. What slick mouth like my
women a little stak? Yeah, Like like I don't want
every dude that says HI to you for you to

(55:50):
be fucking friendly with you. Don't need to be friendly
to everybody, like be a little stank because I know men,
how you doing and you're attractive? Fuck now I gotta do.
And I've the short white kid my whole life that's
predominantly dated Latin women and things that, so I've been
tested my whole life in that area. So but date
strong women. Y'all talk shit. That's who slick mouth. And

(56:13):
I got a lot of slick mouth too, so you're
gonna get that slick talk right back.

Speaker 1 (56:16):
Yeah. But I just I'm glad that we did identify
your one little minor, not even a flaw. I just
want to say the one thing that was a little offsetting, right,
I do say some crazy shit identified the room. It's
And it's funny because for me, I always feel like
it's gonna be so so ignorant. I always be like,
women don't cheat. That's hearing this ship though, I'm like, oh.

Speaker 2 (56:41):
Well, And the part is then it carries on further,
you know, because yeah, sure that's the idea of what
I based what a woman's supposed to be about. Right,
So then then get into the relationships and things that
I dealt with personally growing up. So then it's like,
you know, it's all these things and now granted, this
is all stuff that as you grow older you become

(57:04):
self aware. You start realizing, like you said, tick, why
do I do this? And a lot of its defense
mechanisms things that and whatnot. So it's like me, you
can always tell there's always some truth in my jokes always, always,
doesn't matter how much of a joke it is, there's
something hidden in that. Motherfucker is like, eh, I'm actually
not joking, and then being self aware enough to know

(57:28):
that I'm I'm always like trying to create laughed laughing
when things become uncomfortable creating jokes.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
Yeah, well all right now that whosos? I hope my
whole couples have. Well, anyways, let's go. Let's catch up
to where you're at now.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
All right, So right now doing multiple things actually, So
actually run a club in Hollywood's Hollywood Apartment two hundred,
which I'm one of the gms over there, which I
ended up doing on accident, same way I ended up
in radio on accident. And I've been doing that for
a few months, which has been great because it's introduced

(58:11):
me to i mean, a week ago, Scissor was there.
So it's like it's opened up the door for some
relationships that I haven't been able to foster just by
being out and about, especially because I'm not a big
club guy, Like I'm over that shit. I'm grown. I'd
rather sit home, say some offensive shit and take a nap,

(58:32):
you know what I'm saying. But and then a lot
of sync film stuff, like there's a one of Skid
Bear Bailey that we just did a couple of records
for that for bats manager is getting behind I have
a placement with I can't get in the specifics per

(58:52):
se right now, but there's a movie coming out in
the next few month that you but.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
Let's you know what, let's backtrack, Let's go back to
House Party. Okay, you got a placement in House Party, right?
How did you acquire that?

Speaker 2 (59:08):
So that's funny. That record is actually me and my
guy Reezy Tunes in Good June. Good June is a
part of the group Overdose that's from out here. Cal
Maddock used to be Overdose's manager, so they're all friends,
grew up in La together, and we had done that
record like two years prior. So. This record was sitting

(59:29):
as a demo on my studio computer at my house
and June hit me and was like, Yo, I'm doing
this thing. And it was during the pandemic. He's like, Yo,
I'm doing this thing. I'm gonna I'm gonna perform this live.
Can you send me I'm like cool, send it to him.
He does his live performance of this and then hits
me the next day. It was like, Yo, I'm about
to put you in touch with this music supervisor. They

(59:51):
want this for this movie. So that was just sheer,
like god working real relationships. This a dope record, right timing,
right person saw it, and none of us have publishing deals.
We're all out of our shit. Nobody was tied to anything.
So we did. We brokeer that whole thing independently.

Speaker 1 (01:00:13):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
So and then that was even crazy because originally it
was supposed to go direct to I think HBO Max
or whatever it was at the time, and because of
the pandemic, things kept getting punted, they're pushing things back.
Then there was a merger, so it was one point
where like, oh, we're not even getting it, Like yeah,

(01:00:34):
it's not like they're not even going to put the
movie out anymore. And then now, mind you, we did
all the deal for a direct to streaming was the
whole deal. So it wasn't a bunch, It wasn't a
ton of money, but great. Look then we get word
that they're actually going to do a theatrical release, so

(01:00:56):
we're like, oh shit, so and I was thinking we
about that, like oh we about it? No, because we
had already had done the deal for this other situation,
so it was like what we got was what we got.
There'll be some royalties, but the film royalties are completely different.
Fortunately we still own the master, but the record didn't
take off on the film. But it was fucking dope.

(01:01:18):
Got to go to the premiere here like great experience.
But it's like, and there's a bunch of things like that.
I've had a couple of things in power a couple
of the Power shows and you know, Mike Tyson, But
how do.

Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
Those when you get those placements, Like do the checks be?
Can you give us a ballpark of how decent they are?

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
They all vary. That's the thing. What the check is
that you get and what the actual budget for the
song is depending on who the person is connecting the
dots can be two different worlds. And that's what I
was saying before.

Speaker 1 (01:01:50):
So it seems though it seems like you're always I
used to call it like I used to always sell
my dad. It's like I'm really hungry and it's just
like thin glass between me and a steak, and for
whatever reason, I can't break through this glass, but I
can see it. I can't even smell it. And I
always used to be like, man, it's like so close

(01:02:11):
but also impossible to break this damn glass.

Speaker 2 (01:02:15):
But you but you gonna get it. Yeah, you ain't stopping.
And that's how. And it's funny because people like it's
because it goes correlates back to what you asked me
earlier about, like the music, what's it like? How do
you keep going? And it was like, I've been asked
that sort of thing because I've had so many almost
moments and I've had some small ones, had some bigger ones,
you know, and it's like they're like, what's it I've

(01:02:38):
been asked, what's it like? I'm like, well, imagine waking
up confessing. I woke up, came do you confess to you?
I fucking love you? You are everything I need. You
look at me and say you're not good enough? Get
up and do it again tomorrow, and get up and
do it again, and get up and keep doing it
until finally you know what you are good enough. That's

(01:03:04):
what a lot of it's like, because you're always chasing
the acceptance in the approval. Yeah, or at least I am.
I don't know, I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:03:11):
Yeah, there's an artist I think his name is Russell
or russ Rush, Yeah, and he had a book. I
put it on my book list. I like to read
a lot, but I had read a couple of pages
out of his book and he talked about that in
his books, and I thought it was like it was interesting.
I was like, man, are we seeking this outside validation?
And it was crazy because he talks about once.

Speaker 2 (01:03:32):
He got it, that it wasn't what you thought it was.

Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
It wasn't like literally didn't cure any depression or anything
he was dealing with, and he had to, like obviously
end up. Everyone wants to say that the quote unquote
you know, you gotta work and you don't battle these
demons internally first or whatever, but shout outs to him.
But I did read a couple of pages and I
was like, you know what, I think I'm gonna check
out his book because I would hate to constantly feel

(01:03:57):
like what you just described just to get to the
end goal, right to end up what he described, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
But I mean that's one of the things where I
guess that comes along with the saying where everybody's like
money doesn't you know, buy happiness, and it's like, well,
I'd like to first of all find that out for
my fucking self. Let's start there, all right, And how
often do you see somebody on a jet ski not smiling?

Speaker 1 (01:04:17):
Well, I agree, I can't agree on. I can agree
on it's weird because I have a nice, cool balance
of friends. I have some friends that are millionaires, and
then I have friends that are broke and I got
I definitely have a buffet of different option of friends.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
But like I just try to just all from New York.
None of them are native La.

Speaker 1 (01:04:40):
Right, No, they're all there's something from it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
You know. You're right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
I do have more friends from my way, but I do,
and a matter of fact, now I think about it,
some of them do write almost as hard as my
New York.

Speaker 2 (01:04:52):
She just can't give it. You can't just you can't
give it though, well he's almost you just can't give
it to them.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
It's okay, man, I ain't nothing like a day one er. Man.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
You can give it to him. It's okay, New York.
And I'm gonna hate you because you love La.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Let me tell you something. A couple of years ago.
It's so weird. I have two best friends that went
to two different. I went to two different high schools,
and for whatever reason, every time I go to New York,
I always kept up separate. And one year I was
hanging out with Tia and I brought her to New
York with me and uh and I put two of
my best friends in the first time ever. And I

(01:05:26):
don't know why it never occurred to me before, but
now it's like a squad of three of us. I'm like, bitch,
you never had to like divide your time between these
two girls. You could have had them all at the
same time the life.

Speaker 2 (01:05:39):
And sharing their friendship. And that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:05:41):
But that's awesome now where our group.

Speaker 2 (01:05:43):
That's what I'm talking about. The circle. You gotta find
your circle no matter where you go. And it's like
you're gonna attract the sort of people that you are.
So it's like, that's why I attract smart ass, smart
mouth ass women because I'm a smart mouth me. Because
because you're a smart as you got a smart ass mouth.

(01:06:06):
You say, you say some slick What the fuck do
you just say to me? Ship too? Okay, it ain't
just me, trust and believe.

Speaker 1 (01:06:11):
Lately, I've been realizing my smartest mouth because.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
Oh you got yourself in some trouble. See, I got
all that trouble out early, so I knew happened yesterday.

Speaker 1 (01:06:21):
I said, oh, man, you need to chill out before
you in a bad situation. I had a rough situation
last night where it was like, you may have to
learn a lesson from this.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
One's always something to be learned.

Speaker 1 (01:06:36):
But okay, I'm gonna We're gonna probably close out because
I know we went over time. But I do want
to circle back to the one question that I know
everybody asked. But seeing your journey has been all of bumpy,
all of bumpy, or what advice would you honestly give
your younger self for the road ahead?

Speaker 2 (01:06:58):
Mmmm, It's gonna be okay, no matter how bad it
No matter how bad it gets, everything's temporary, money, love,
fucking life, it's all temporary. Feelings are temporary. When you
feel like you're at like it's over, it's not over.
Take a couple of naps, push through it, and it's

(01:07:21):
gonna like you can't be happy without being sad.

Speaker 1 (01:07:25):
Yeah, well, I've got into the place at forty. I
tell people all the time, Man, I don't pursue happiness.
I can give a crap about happiness. I'm all about peace.
Give me a flat line all day. I'm good with it.
Like I realized that on the other side of happiness

(01:07:46):
is the polar opposite, and I'll stay. I will gladly
not ride the roller coaster and just take the train.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
I mean, I hear you because it sounds good. And
that's the stability and knowing yourself and how you react
to things and how to handle your feelings because unfortunately
you ain't in control of your happiness and sadness all
the time.

Speaker 1 (01:08:06):
Yeah, is what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:08:08):
There's things way beyond your control that are gonna fuck
with your piece.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
So damn smoggers. You speaking real mature.

Speaker 2 (01:08:15):
Yeah, you it's just it's just you know, just I've
been through some ship, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:08:20):
It just is what it is.

Speaker 2 (01:08:22):
This is a therapy. That's what I always wanted. I
always wanted to do a I think if we talked
about it once and I said, I want to do
a podcast called free Therapy here if you want, that's
one more fucking thing I gotta do. Do you how
much I will work like eighteen hours a day as
it is.

Speaker 1 (01:08:34):
It's up to you tell people how they could keep
up with Nickel Fields.

Speaker 2 (01:08:39):
Well, you can catch me on you know, all social
media stuff Nickel Fields N I K A L F
I E L d Z. You can text me at
ha ha fooled you. I mean that's really it.

Speaker 1 (01:08:51):
You could text me how high fooled you? Yeah, that's hilarious.
Yeah hah, I'm a fool.

Speaker 2 (01:09:00):
Yet not. I mean that's really it's you know, I'm not.
I'm not. I'm not hard to find, not that hard
to find. That's why I have to start watching my
big mouth, because what would be some.

Speaker 1 (01:09:08):
Of the pieces of advice would you give to someone
else that is seeking to get placement and move met
movies or writing credits.

Speaker 2 (01:09:15):
Get out of the bedroom, get out of the like
you can't like you want to spend time owning your
craft and developing it in the studio and things of
that nature. But you see it all the time. It's
it's all about the network. It's all about who you
know you can you can wrap dog shit and tendfoil
and market it properly, which and it's it's the sad truth,

(01:09:38):
you know, it is what it is. So it's like,
don't do it for the right reasons. As far as
the music stuff you gotta eat like this, it's not
everybody looks at the glimmer and glit side of it,
but it's a lonely road, yeah, even you know. And
they say it's lonely at the top, you know, And
my only thing with that is, I think it's only
lonely at the top. If you forget to bring to

(01:09:59):
people with you, or you forget who helped you get there,
then it's only at the top.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
Yeah, yeah, I could see that. That's that's a great nugget. Yeah,
So all right, y'all, Well, thank you for feeding me.
Red beans. Rice tastes good, definitely for balling on a budget.
It's a good meal. It's a good meal, not bad
at all.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
Especially put some hot sauce on it. Yeah, you need
the hot sauce.

Speaker 1 (01:10:20):
The red hot definitely helped it. Thank y'all for tuning in,
piece out.