Gringo's Guide To: Leveling Up (Mentally, Spiritually and Financially)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
All right, let me let me talk about talk.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
There we go, He said, you live in life as
a ringle, where you question where you fit in every
time you mingle, and.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
They say you do this would not that.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
This life as ale.

Speaker 4 (00:21):
Yes, hello, and welcome to another episode of Life as
a Gadingle.

Speaker 5 (00:25):
I am dramas, of course.

Speaker 4 (00:27):
And if you're watching the video of this, you notice
that I'm not in my set. I'm currently in my
living room right now. We're coming off of a holiday weekend,
and I was like, I was gonna do a whole
other different episode for today, but I was literally just

(00:48):
like going down memory lane, if you will, I'll kind
of rewind a little bit here. I got an email
the other day and it was from a I don't
know what, like a website that is Latino based, and
they did like a ranking of like the hundred most
influential Latino centered podcasts, and to my surprise, I was

(01:16):
on that list for this podcast, Life is a Gingle.

Speaker 5 (01:19):
Very grateful.

Speaker 4 (01:21):
But then I randomly got another email and it turns
out an old podcast of mine called First Generation Talks,
which is actually the first podcast that I pitched when
the micro thro podcast network was created before life is
a gadingle was even really an idea. I was originally
trying to get that podcast picked up, and it was

(01:46):
a podcast I did with this incredible hip hop artist
named radam Is. He's of Dominican descent, originally from New York.
He lives in La now.

Speaker 5 (01:54):
But we.

Speaker 4 (01:57):
Started it literally I don't even know, like a month
before what ended up happening with becoming the pandemic essentially,
I think we did two episodes in studio and.

Speaker 5 (02:05):
That al sudden the pandemic happened and it was short lived.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
I don't even I think we maybe did ten episodes
or something like that, but it was always a really
insightful and therapeutic experience. I think for me, I really
appreciate Radams. He's been on the show before, on some
of our Thursday Trend's episodes. I think last season was
the last time he was on.

Speaker 5 (02:28):
But yeah, just something I really fucked with.

Speaker 4 (02:31):
And I to make a long story short, that email
coming in, I kind of went back and I was
walking my dog outside and I was just listening.

Speaker 5 (02:43):
I was like skimming through old episodes and.

Speaker 6 (02:46):
I was really taking it back in a good way.

Speaker 4 (02:50):
By one of the episodes, and it was an episode
we did with a hip hop artist.

Speaker 5 (02:56):
Named Andy Mineo. And this was, you know.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
In the thick of the pandemic, so it was all
done via zoom. And he had just moved from New
York to Atlanta. And I remember, like in retrospect how
impactful this conversation was for me just to kind of like,
I don't want to too long setting this up because

(03:21):
it's a long episode as is.

Speaker 6 (03:22):
But Andy had left New York moved to Atlanta.

Speaker 4 (03:30):
And by the way, Andy is an independent hip hop artist,
so he's not signed to a label.

Speaker 5 (03:36):
Everything he funds, he does it himself.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
And he had a viral hit with this song called
coming in Hot, right, The song was called coming in Hot.
And he was somebody who has been very forward thinking
in his career with the independent stuff, but also with

(03:57):
thinking what happens when the music stuff drives up up,
And he essentially read the book Thinking Nothing Girl Rich.
He read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad like I did,
or I might have read it after I even talked
to him. I kind of probably started and then finished
it after I talked to him, But essentially he was like,
I got to start thinking about my future, my legacy,
what happens if and when this music stuff dries up.

(04:21):
And he was living in New York at the time,
like I said, and basically said to himself, like living in.

Speaker 6 (04:26):
New York has become a liability.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
And he'll explain this year to you know in the interview,
and he basically picks up and moves to Atlanta, ends
up buying a couple of properties out there, and sets
himself up with like you know, basically properties that now
pay for themselves and he no longer has to worry
about rent or income. And he just has a couple
of different interesting stories that for me changed my perspective

(04:52):
a bit. And I think we're the motivating factor that
pushed me across the finish line of getting out of
the city, buying my first property and really like taking
the reins on wanting to be independently a creative and
my own business person and you know, take life into
my hands with trying to make financially savvy decisions. And

(05:16):
it was a really inspirational conversation for me, from his
spirituality to you know the fact that he's a married
man and talks about you know, that relationship with his
wife and how he balances that with being this artist
and all these different things, and I'm listening back to
it and I'm like, man, this was and I didn't
necessarily recognize it at the time, but I think this

(05:37):
was a pivotal conversation that really I think helped me
out during that time period and really subconsciously motivated a
lot of the decisions I made, you know, for the
next few years after that that conversation. So with all
that said, it's a long window with saying I'm going

(05:57):
to share that podcast episode because I feel like I
know for a fact by the numbers, very few of you,
if any of you, who listened to this podcast, actually
heard that conversation.

Speaker 5 (06:07):
But like I said, it.

Speaker 6 (06:07):
Was so incredibly impactful.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
For me, I have to share it. And yeah, again,
it's happened during the pandemic. I think we recorded during
May of twenty twenty, so what we're still pretty much
the world was shut down for the most part, so
some of it might be you know, a little age
as far as the information, but overall, I really was like,

(06:33):
still motivated and inspired by this conversation so much, even
here in twenty twenty five, and it was a great
reminder and a great way for me to reflect on
where I'd come from. And I think at times like
I always use that reference of like the Bowling Alley,
those bumpers. Sometimes we need things that provide the bumper
to kind of knock us back on track. And this
sort of had a bit of that effect on me

(06:55):
as I was listening to it, and I really just
wanted to share it.

Speaker 5 (06:57):
I thought it was a great conversation.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
So with that said, yeah, I'm gonna share this conversation
via Army Hint that segment. This is an episode of
my old short lived podcast called First Generation Talks with
my guy radam Is and our guest Andy Mineo.

Speaker 1 (07:24):
First Generation Talks episode of is it eight? At this point?

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Eight?

Speaker 2 (07:28):
I think it's eight myself dramas radam Is, Yes, special
guest today man hip hop artist Andy Mineo.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
What's good, dude? How you doing?

Speaker 7 (07:36):
You're good?

Speaker 1 (07:38):
How feeling or we're good?

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Bro?

Speaker 2 (07:40):
I mean we were talking off Mike before we get
on here. You just made the what to move to Atlanta?

Speaker 7 (07:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (07:46):
How are we feeling?

Speaker 3 (07:47):
Man?

Speaker 7 (07:47):
I'm down in Atlanta. I just don't think I'm coming back.

Speaker 8 (07:54):
I remember, I remember we were talking about that a
little bit like right before you move, because we were
talking about some stuff, just like the difference and pace.
So I know, like you're from Syracuse, but you were
living in NYC. Like where like in was it uptown
in the Bronx or like what was.

Speaker 7 (08:08):
That uptown Washington Heights? So it was Harlem Washington Heights
Inwood So I kept moving up everything.

Speaker 8 (08:14):
Yeah, h you're moving up that a train okay, yeah, yeah,
what was the position?

Speaker 3 (08:20):
Like yeah, uh, what was the move to Atlanta for you? Yeah,
like what was the purpose of that?

Speaker 8 (08:26):
Like, because that's a big difference, man, like you central
uptown and moving your way on up and like, yeah,
it was crazy.

Speaker 7 (08:32):
So I started in Syracuse, like you said, grew up there.
Then I went to college and stayed. So it was
like half my life Syracuse upstate, half my life in
the city. And then I basically, you know, me and
my wife just started you know, leveling up mentally and
and financially and just thinking like, Yo, what's what's legacy
look like for us? You know, like we're gonna own things,

(08:54):
We're gonna own property. Like I'm making good money off music.
How long is it gonna last? How am I gonna invested,
what am I going to do? So a lot of
those conversations happen, and it just began with like rich dad,
poor dad, just reading that our finances, understanding what assets
and liabilities are. And I realized in a lot of
ways that living in New York was a liability because

(09:17):
you can't own anything for real unless you got crazy paper.
And if you don't own anything, then what do you have?
You know what I'm saying. So I love that jay
z Lyric He's like, y'all killing each other over the block,
that your mama's ranting.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
Like.

Speaker 7 (09:34):
Yes, crazy, Like we really, you know, we we think
places like this is going to get super deep, super quick.
But even like conversations, well it's conversations about gentrification is crazy.
Like I am I'm I am all for people maintaining

(09:54):
their culture, their their space, and like their dynamic because
that's what makes New Or City is such an interesting
and dope place. But if you don't own anything, you
can't say anything. Yeah, and that might be a controversial
of you, but I'm like, damn the case. The truth
is we don't own anything, so how are we supposed
to be able to say someone else can't come in

(10:14):
and buy up or do whatever whatever else. And so
I realized, like, buying in New York is just such
a crazy, you know, difficult things. So I was like, man,
what if we moved to Atlanta and we bought two houses.
I got down here and bought a crib amazing, it renovated,
and we bought another one. It's like, now I might
never have to pay rent again in my life because

(10:35):
the properties are paying for themselves the way I set
it up. And you know, that's just a financial burden
to free you of two three thousand dollars a month,
and it's like, why would how could I not? And
on top of that, they got the major airport here,
so I can get around the world right right, And
they have you know, the studios here that I get
to work out of. So it made a lot of

(10:56):
sense for us, a lot. And I got people down
here too, so right, it was just it was the
right move, man. And I kind of feel like towards
New York.

Speaker 8 (11:05):
Some day you dropped the whole There's a lot to
unpack even in just that real quick one of the topics.
And this is something that me and my parents talk
about a lot, because I think nowadays, especially like low
income houses housing families. You know what I'm saying, if
you were raised on like hoods, if you were raised

(11:27):
just displaced in the sense of you don't come from
money and you don't come from knowing ownership in the
United States specifically, like I said, the Tri State Borough
and we talk about, you know, living in Bushwick, like
I grew up in best I slash Bushwick, meaning I
lived in best I basically my whole life. I was
really born in Williamsburg, so like southside Williamsburg and then

(11:47):
but a lot of my family, just being Dominican, all
lived in Bushwick. And my grandmother definitely owned a building
in Bushwick off of the L Train. And I had
other cousins and family members that own property all around
the areas that you know, have like risen.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
Up and made a whole bunch of people rich.

Speaker 8 (12:05):
What we were talking about is back then, at least
like for immigrants or just people new to the country
or new to the system and new to like and
to really understand what New York was back then in
the seventies and eighties and nineties, Like it's not like
now where you kind of have the liberty to and
you have more knowledge of like where to hide out

(12:27):
in the city, and neighborhoods are safer because of gentrification
or whatever the case. Back then, if you bought those buildings,
you had to live in those neighborhoods, and that shit
was not safe, you know what I mean. Like Southside
was just like a lot of drug addicts and gang culture,
Bushwrick the same thing to a lot of like like
warehouses and just empty blocks like you know what I'm saying,

(12:48):
where there's a lot of violence and a lot of
drugs and a lot of danger, and specifically for my
parents and I think a lot of immigrants that come
into the country and those times and nineties, all of
that is that you have won a lack of information
and you're still like, not only do you have lack
of information on the areas that you're living, but you
have a lack of information on the paperwork and the

(13:10):
contracts and what banks and whatever systems may be setting
you up. Because you have a language barrier, you don't
actually know how to defend yourself. Even if you have
the idea, you don't have the linguistics and the you
know what I mean. Like, so it's like yeah, like
my father told me, like a lot of the bodega
owners and families had money, they were too scared to
invest it because the neighborhoods whack even though it was cheap.

(13:33):
And they also didn't want to get caught up in paperwork,
like you know somebody one of their peers who got
themselves fucked up because they knew a little bit of
English and thought, you know.

Speaker 3 (13:41):
What, it'll already out.

Speaker 8 (13:43):
So it's like it's a lot and that mindset has
carried over where nowadays. Now we're like your ownership, ownership,
ownership and realize like damn, like the city right that
we love is like I'm like bull from under them.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
It's a trip, man, it's a trip. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (13:56):
I mean if you don't if you don't own anything,
you kind of don't have have to say and any
like people could just screw you, you know, like what
are you gonna do? I feel like in that time
it was harder to access information. But I feel like
if you need, if you yeah, like if you are ignorant,
now it is your fault because you have Google, Like

(14:16):
fam you can learn a lot. If you can learn
a lot, you can go to a library and get
a book, you learn a lot. And you know, sometimes
it's the voices that we're listening to that who's pointing
us in the right direction. I'll tell you this, I
grew up on hip hop. Nobody was talking about this.
So hip hop is aging up, and now you're starting
to get oh geez, like you know, like Jay Who's like, okay, now,

(14:39):
I'm a fifty year old man.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
I know.

Speaker 7 (14:41):
I was telling y'all like, right, pimp and spending cheese,
I'm never getting married. But sidebar, I'm married now and
I love it. And then like letting so you don't
have you don't have a lot of you don't have
a lot of resources growing up as a kid who
loves hip hop, or you're a minority in a in
a in a city you like New York in the eighties.
It's it's different times, man, But I had to I

(15:04):
had to shape you know.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
I love it. It's a good move.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think it's just like a
leveling up, you know.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
And I think that having these conversations people seeing that
and hearing the experience about it, it allows you to
place your priorities in the right place, you know, because
I think it's like what you're saying. You know, hip
hop when we were coming up, it was talking about
jewelry and you weren't shit. If you don't have a car,
you have a you know, this flashy lifestop. And now
you know, we have that next generation, you know, people
like yourself talking about this and the Nipsey Hustles of
the world talking about ownership and how important that is

(15:32):
and and you know how that's real power, you know
what I mean, Like, that's what's really cool.

Speaker 1 (15:37):
That's what was dope.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
It's owning shit and not just having jewvivers for the
sake of jewelry. But you got no money in the bank,
you know, but you're still wearing a dope chain. It's like, nah, owner,
it's dope, and you actually own something. You can leave
something for your kids and legacy. I love when you
you said that you thought about your legacy when it
came to this move.

Speaker 7 (15:50):
That's right. And let me tell you this real quick.
I'm I'm a obviously I rap for a living, right
and oh yeah, like you know, I feel the temptation
to do rapper things right and pretty often like this.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
Like the Gucci man, he said a temptation.

Speaker 7 (16:11):
But you know, I really wanted to testing. And I'm
like Tesla, like Elon Musk, like this technology is crazy.
This is the key here, like the iPhone of cars.
So I go. I go to the Tesla dealership. Like,
I talked to my financial manager, I talked to my wife, everybody.
I was like, oh, I'm gonna cop like he's joints
to really drop in value too too much. They're gonna

(16:33):
save on gas. So I justified all these things and
I get there to the dealership and let me tell
you this. It was the end of I think twenty seventeen,
twenty eighteen, when they had incentives. If you bought before
the end of the year, they give you like ten
thousand dollars rebate or whatever. So it was like December
twenty eight, twenty nine. It was getting right around that
time where if I waited a few more days, I'm
gonna lose.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
You're gonna git money on it.

Speaker 7 (16:55):
So I was like all right, so I go and
basically I came to the counter and Buddy rang me
out and he was like, all right, this would be
like I just got like the three, the Model three,
and it was like five k. It was after tax
everything fifty five thousand. He's like, I said, yo, I
don't know shit. Can I think about it or something?
And he was like, well, if you don't get it today,

(17:15):
like that's it. So I was like, damn, because I
want to go talk to my wife. I said, hold on,
let me talk to my wife. I go over there.
I talk with her and she's like, babe, you work hard,
like get it, do your thing. And I was like, yo,
now I'm not getting it. Let's go. I got the
I got the right off for everybody. Everybody was like, bro,

(17:36):
you got it, just get it. I left and I said, yo,
I don't own a crib.

Speaker 3 (17:42):
I'm supposed to.

Speaker 7 (17:43):
I'm supposed to pull up to my rental property in
a sixty thousand dollars car for half a clown. So
I decided at that moment, I was like, no, hold
on second, let me take this same fifty five k
and go put it to work. Came down here, I
closed on this property. I put down I think I

(18:05):
only put like thirty forty thousand dollars down. And now
when we finished renovating it three months later, the joint
appreciated fifty g's I made the fifty g's to buy
that car by investing it somewhere else first, And now
I could I could take it out of just that

(18:26):
and go pick it up. What I'm saying is it's
a priorities thing where it's like, damn, nobody ever told
me if I got a four hundred dollars car payment
a month, five hundred payment money, go spend the money
not on the car, but on a piece of property
that'll give me four hundred dollars a month to pay
for it free. Like It's just it's rewiring the way
we think about, you know, stuff. But here's the thing.

(18:50):
I had to buy a car still, So I had
to buy a twenty ten Honda Civic for six grand.

Speaker 3 (18:56):
From my brother just to like drive around.

Speaker 1 (19:00):
I mean, I love them.

Speaker 7 (19:04):
If I care too much about what people think about me,
I'm gonna feel like the clown that.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Would hinder you. That's the opposite, right right.

Speaker 7 (19:11):
I don't because I feel like my kids are going
to own this property. I'll be into twenty ten Civic
for a little bit, you know. And it's those these
are these are like the things that that I just
don't feel like hip hop has a lot of like
the culture. It's we're really force sped a lifestyle of
luxury to like buy things we can't afford to impress

(19:33):
people we don't like just madness. So anyways, I'll get
off my soaf buch now.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
I love that.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
But I like because it's kind of like coming face
to face with your vices, you know what I mean,
and not allowing them to dictate what you do and
put you in bad positions, you know, because I think
even outside of that, I mean, we talk about you know,
obviously you like doing rapid things, whatever the case may be.
Sometimes we all have those things. We do it, but
being able to come face to face with that vice
and be like, you know what, I'm gonna walk away
and do something smarter with it. It's the same thing
concept of like the idea of where like marriage wasn't cool,

(20:01):
you know what I mean, like as a as an artist,
and it was all about sleep with multiple women and
like you know, messing around with your girl and that
was like considered cool. And I was actually talking about this,
I'm like a live I did where somebody was like
nobody's meant to be one person for the rest of
their life kind of thing, and I don't believe that.
I think that to me, that is you giving into
your vice, you know what I mean, you allowing that
vice to dictate what you're doing, and then now you're
just making excuse for it, you know.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
So I'm curious for you, man.

Speaker 2 (20:24):
Obviously you know you're married, that that whole thing being
in this world, like what is sort of the mindset
that allows you to kind of be focused on your
marriage and keep that healthy being in a world that
is not you know, uh, sort of healthy to that?

Speaker 7 (20:36):
I guess yeah. Yeah. First I say to each his
own man, like I don't because I'm married and because
I drive a civic you know, and I invested. Probably
don't mean that I'm the standard. Like anybody can do
whatever they want to live out they want. I don't,
you know. I'm just telling you, giving you game if
you want to hear it.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
Right.

Speaker 7 (20:54):
So I ended up getting married five years ago, So
I got I've been married five years and I absolutely
love it, man. And the reasons why I love marriage
is because it does three things for me. One, there's
a level of security and safety that that you can't

(21:16):
really get anywhere else. Like I remember when I was
run around and just try to bag whoever and just
you know, wild out. Like there was always that that
sense of like nothing's really safe, Like you don't know
like when Shorty's gonna be out, or when you're gonna
be out, or like share because you don't know if
that information is. It's always this thing of like I

(21:37):
trust you to a degree. In marriage, there's this thing
where like you have both come to the table and
said that I'm one hundred percent in and like I'm
rocking with you no matter what, And it real leaves
that pressure of like constantly having in the back of
your mind, you know, so like I don't have any
any secrets, Like my wife got my pass codes to
my phone you can check because we have a trust

(22:00):
and like, man, that level of that trust is just
something that is It's like I don't need, it's irreplaceable.
It gives me a piece in my life that is irreplaceable.
And also it forces you to just get face to
face with some of your crap. Like most of the
time we spend a majority of our life running away
from our crap. That's why guys are so emotionally unhealthy

(22:24):
to just shove everything down. We don't deal with it, and.

Speaker 3 (22:26):
We're taught to do that.

Speaker 8 (22:27):
That's supposed to that's an indicator of strength, not showing feelings,
but in a relationship, that's the that's the that's the
opposite of what is necessary for it to work.

Speaker 7 (22:36):
That's right, and we're taught to push it down if
you have feelings, emotions, that's considered a female trade like
the clown for it's all these things. And so I'm
just realizing, like my idea is about manhood, about success,
about uh whatever, what people think about me. It's just
it's changing more and more with the years, and so
I become face come face to face with my crap

(22:58):
more often, because when you're in a relationship, you say,
the back door is closed off, like nobody's leaving. We're
in here together. You got to work through your issues
and working, which makes you a better human. So I
love growing with my wife. Man.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (23:15):
Man, Wow, are gonna pop in here real quick, will
take a quick break and they'll be right back.

Speaker 5 (23:23):
All right, we are back, and now back to the conversation.

Speaker 8 (23:26):
Because you have someone whom you love, cherish are aiming
to build a better future with all the all of
the good things. I mean, from what I've heard of
you for years, you've always been transparent and like how
you mentioned in the jay Z stuff and I mean
you speak about this on your last album of work
in Progress, during which was Dope. The EPs are dope,

(23:48):
the arrow of the Sword, all of that, I feel
like you And it's also why I invited you to
the show.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
That you're a transparent person.

Speaker 8 (23:55):
You can tell that you've sat with yourself, you can
tell that you sat in the mirror and if something
is still a question, then let's find the answer as
opposed to throw it away. But when you have some
something like a marriage and you're forced to face yourself
because someone else is a direct result of that, and
then now you're an artist though, so it's like you

(24:17):
have also the responsibility and music. I mean, I don't
know about how it is for you, but for me,
if I'm not as real as I can be for
whatever the song needs from me, I've let it down.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
So it's like sometimes the.

Speaker 8 (24:27):
Illes the illest findings of my evolution I find on
a beat. I find on the beat, I'm like, wow,
Like here are the words for the evolution that I've
been going through in my regular life and whatever.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
The case may be.

Speaker 8 (24:40):
Is there a relationship between the transparency, Like the more
transparent you're becoming your relationship, the more transparent you're becoming
your music and vice versual or how do you like?

Speaker 3 (24:49):
Just what's your view on that?

Speaker 7 (24:51):
Yeah? I think like as you grow as a person,
and marriage is one of the things that's really forced
me to grow one because my wife is modiqua she
you know, and I grew up an Italian kid from
upstate New York. So one being married to a woman
who is also a minority, who is also you know,
from New York City, and I like, I'm already learning

(25:14):
a ton about my own masculinity that's been jacked up,
about my views of race, my views all these things.
So she has been helping me shape those things, which
has evolved who I am as a person. That's come
out with my music too, is you know, I've accessed
more things like when you have to deal with it,
you access more things inside of you. And that's not
just from her, but it's also from things like therapy,

(25:37):
where I don't know if I would have ever gone
to therapy if my wife hadn't pushed me towards it, like, Yo,
I think you need therapy, And you know that's super
taboo in most communities, where it's like, oh, what's wrong
with you? And it's kind of bugged out because when
you think about it, if I would have said, like, Yo,
you should go to the doctor, we wouldn't blink twice.

(25:57):
We'd be like, oh, yeah, I need to go do
my checkups to make sure that my body is running good.
We also have an emotional being that we never check
in on it, and so like, I feel like a
therapy and working through your crap is like getting a
PhD in yourself. It's like understanding who you really are underneath.

(26:17):
Because we have this external man, but we also have
this spirit man inside of us, and we have to
carry that person around with us every single day inside
this physical body. And it's bugged out that we care
so much about other people but so little about our
actual self. You know what I'm saying. When I have
to live with this person every day. But the people

(26:39):
in high school I cared about impressing or whatever, I
don't even know them no more, Like, but I'm still
walking around within and so you know, it's just that
that's the evolution of me as a man is like
you know, growing through marriage, growing through therapy, and then
I'm unlocking stuff. And as I unlocked that stuff, I'm
pulling it into the music. That's all I know how

(27:01):
to do. You know, my real life experience has become
you know records.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Yeah, I love that that.

Speaker 2 (27:07):
Perspective talking about your girl being a woman of color.
I'm Puerto Rican and my girl's actually Italian, so I've
had a similar dynamic, right, I have to sometimes I
think kind of put her on some game of like
you know, like about racism and and you know how
it really does exist. And you know, she's she's blessed.
You know, she didn't have to experience a lot of
those things. And you know, was born in the in

(27:28):
the suburbs of standing outand so she doesn't know that,
you know what it's like being in certain areas in
New York City and and experiencing, you know, people hating
on you just because you are a person of color
and those things. And you know, I love to talk
to about because she's just curious and she wants to know.
She wants to understand, you know, come from a place
of understanding and wanted to learn about those things. So
I'm curious for you man, like growing up. You know,
you're talking about upstate New York. Obviously it's not as

(27:49):
diverse of a place as New York City, you know,
So I'm sure there was like a little bit of
a learning curve. I'd love to he kind of expound
upon that a little bit, like the things you kind
of learned and how to come face to face face
with about culture, you know, and about our society as
a whole.

Speaker 7 (28:01):
Yeah, that's right. I think in general there's a because
we have access to more information now or conversation being like,
can you get to anybody very quickly? I think the
conversation has allowed me to understand more over time. And
also because I'm deeply surrounded by my friend group and
my peer group with people that don't look like me

(28:24):
or think like me, and that helps, you know what
I'm saying, to broaden the way you think about the world.
So I remember one time we did a show at
the Palladium out in La right, and we sold out
the palladium and the promoter comes in and the promoter
is like, yo, we sold out the palladium. Last person
to sell this I was jay Z and we were

(28:45):
like wow, like we're bugging. He's like, yo, and I
know I heard y'all talking earlier today about how much
you love Roscoe's chicken and waffles. Because we went to
Rosco's Chicken Waffles down the road. It was on people, No,
it's on a palladium in Hollywood. Okay, there was one

(29:07):
down the road from the palladium. So we went there
and he was like, yo, we got ross whatever, and
the promoter was like yo, because y'all sold out and
I know that y'all loved Rosco's or whatever. He's like,
I bought everybody Rosco's chicken and waffle T shirts right,
and now listen. I was like Fire and everybody else

(29:31):
who was on the show with me, they were all
black men. The promoter was a white guy. I was like, YO,
asked Fire, right, and the promoter left the room and
he was like, what the hell is wrong with this guy?
This guy? And I was like, what are you talking about.
I was like, we got T shirts and the Roscos
like I'm wearing it on stage tonight. He was like, Andy,

(29:55):
you think I want a white guy to give me
a T shirt with chicken and bopfles on it. Damn,
I don't understand. You said you liked it, and he
was like, no, Andy, you don't get it right. And
so I was missing a layer of what was happening
there because I just I don't think about that right.
And and those are some of the same group of
people that are around me now. So I have these

(30:16):
experiences where I'll say something, I got a d M today,
a DM literally today from a kid. He goes, Hey,
I got a Latino question for you. He said, I
know you're married to a Hispanic woman. Is it true
that they're a little more crazy and emotional than other people?

Speaker 8 (30:37):
And he's thinking about your wife, like, even if he
has innocent intentions.

Speaker 7 (30:41):
It's like water like white kid, white kid text me
and I'm dating a Latina? Is it true? And I said, hey,
you're white. Are you a mass shooter?

Speaker 3 (30:53):
Right?

Speaker 7 (30:54):
And he's like mass shooter? What are you talking about?
I said that's a dumb question, right, and he's like yeah,
And I was like yeah, because I would never pin
on you a stereotype. So I worked through that a
little bit with him. But you know, I come in
with like assumptions and I'm not saying I'm better nobody.
I said dumb things and not understood certain things. I'm
grateful that people were patient enough with me off with

(31:16):
me through those things.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
That's the case.

Speaker 7 (31:18):
But just understanding for me, a lot of it is
understanding my privileges as a white heterosexual male, and so
just like knowing that the world isn't balanced, it's not even,
and so I have certain privileges as a man like
first of all, then I have privileges as a white man.

(31:39):
Then I have privileges as well as a white Christian
heterosexual man like. It allows me to move in certain
circles other people can. So when I realize that I
have some of those advantages, I just try to leverage
those advantages to help my friends and my family and
my people that might not have those things, and try
to level the playing field as much as I can.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
You know, I love I love that you had people
around you that other patient, you know what I mean,
Like you said, that's the key right there, and that
is our responsibility as people of color to not just fly,
you know, fly off the handle when somebody says something
or has a question that we deem you know, maybe
offensive or you know, because a lot of times people aren't.
Necessarily there are obviously some really disgusting people in the
world that are just racist people.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
You know, and and you know, lead with hate.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
But then there is the majority who just aren't you know,
didn't grow up around a diverse group of people, you
know what I mean. They lived in a bubble and
it wasn't their fault, and they're trying to figure this out,
just like anybody else, you know. And it's our responsibility
as people of color that when it does come from
just a place of innocence, we have to have patience
and sit down and just say, hey, you know, this
is why this was offensive, this is why that mentality
doesn't work.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
You know, this is what the problem is.

Speaker 7 (32:40):
You know, that's right, It's right. A lot of times
it's ignorance. Like I didn't even, like Dave shoul Pat,
I didn't know. I couldn't say that, right, right.

Speaker 8 (32:49):
No, it's true, it's like, but it's like they say,
the answerdote to ignorance is traveling, you know, Like like
ignorance is, but that doesn't just mean getting on a
plane at your local airport and moving around. Sometimes it's
just traveling through different countries and coaches with your friend groups.
It's like even for me, like I mean, everybody to
a certain extent, even though I'm from New York. It's

(33:10):
like I still group around Latinos and black people all day.
Like only white people I really met were like teachers
and police officers and just some kind of office work
whatever the case may be.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
It wasn't until I really got to college, you.

Speaker 8 (33:22):
Know what I mean, or like let's say high school,
where I really started having like adult conversations with like
white men and women who were my teachers, but they
were young enough to know, you know, they weren't that
much older than me. And then in college that's when
I first like really got busy, you know what I mean,
and diversifying who I'm having conversations with. So that's I've
never really spoke to like somebody of like the Muslim faith.

(33:43):
I never spoke to somebody who was Jewish. I never
spoke to somebody who was rich, like super rich, you
know what I mean, but was cool about it, and
it broke down like just the just how small the
world really is, you know what I mean, And how
like so much of us are even though you take
into consideration, like you know, by a graph up differences,
and then I think, I think as an artist and as.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
Somebody who's communicator with the world, because.

Speaker 8 (34:05):
That's who we are, like even on this platform, like
we're here and we're not in control of who presses play,
and me as an artist, I'm always I'm always aware
that I'm not in control of who presses play. I'm
not in control of who loves my music. That is
not up to me. That's up to them to perceive that.
But I want to speak to the entire world, and
I feel like I can talk to the entire world,

(34:26):
So let me make sure, like I have love for
everybody in the world as much as possible, and it
comes with that, you know. But it's like you said,
it's very important, like to be educated by your peer group,
because it's.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
Okay to not know.

Speaker 8 (34:37):
And every time you are, anytime something offensive comes at
you in the direction and you're like, wait, like is
this person informed and intentionally trying to like discredit my
human being this and whatever the.

Speaker 3 (34:49):
Case, or is this person really just not know what
they're talking about.

Speaker 8 (34:52):
And now that it goes back to what is it
revenge versus what is revenge versus healing like you were
talking about.

Speaker 3 (35:00):
It's like, I definitely want you to expound on that
a little bit.

Speaker 8 (35:03):
But he has this concept where it's like it's true
like so many moments in our lives, like you can
either like get revenge and you can be justified in
your anger, or you can wait, what's gonna make me
feel good at the end of this?

Speaker 3 (35:16):
What's gonna like?

Speaker 8 (35:17):
How am I gonna walk away from this not justified
with my anger but a better person from this situation?
And it's like, that's very wise thing to be the
same man. I want you to get into that lit
bit more.

Speaker 7 (35:27):
Yeah, that was I talked about it in the podcast
when it came from a lyric in the song I
Have nineteen eighty eight in the And if you don't yeah,
in the end, if you don't get healed, you get revenge.
And even though it feels sweet, you never really win.
It's hard to sleep, lay in bed and have peace
when you became the very thing you hated just to
get even tell me what you believe in it's not

(35:49):
and that you're doing every day that like that whole
thing is like getting revenge. You have to become the
thing you hated it just to get even So it's
like getting revenge, it is it feels good because you
feel justified by being hurt. Right, So, like hurt is

(36:09):
the core emotion that you're feeling. Like I've been hurt.
I've been wronged by somebody, and so the only way
that I feel like I'll be okay is if I
can put them back. That's revenges, right, But healing is
a different route to it because revenge doesn't actually give
us the results we want, which is peace. Right, Like

(36:31):
that's why you'll hear all these people say like, yeah,
this person killed my family member, and then I came
to their their death sentence, you know, and then it happened.
It's like, yeah, it feels like justice was served, but
it doesn't bring them back.

Speaker 3 (36:44):
Does it.

Speaker 8 (36:45):
Right.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
Revenge pretends to be resolution.

Speaker 7 (36:48):
Right, right, And so what what healing does is is
that changes the trajectory of the hurt, you know what
I'm saying, Like, you can you can put to bed
the hurt, you know what I'm saying. So if you
if like if you were to hurt me, right, I
could hold a resentment towards me, or I could and
or I could hold resentment towards yours, or I could

(37:10):
have a conversation with you about it, and we could
have an opportunity to apologize to each other, and then
there could be healing. And then when healing happens, now
I can let go of all that hurt and I
can my life with peace. But you know, a lot
of us carry around resentment, bitterness, anger, And what's funny
about it is, I think my mom said that she's

(37:31):
like bitterness resentment from hurt is like drinking poison and
hoping the other person dies because they're going to bed
and sleeping chill, and they're not even thinking about your
day or your actions or whatever being tore up because
you can't let it go. So I think healing is
the harder thing to do. But I think that's the

(37:52):
direction I've been trying to pursue with the hurts of
my life because I got to sleep, I gotta live
with myself, I gotta go to sleep. So my wife
always says that phrase he's in Spanish, like let them
say what they want, do what they want, but they
don't live with you.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's it's really kind of
the the ethos of what you're about. What you're speaking
about is like unlearning a lot of those bad habits
that we grew up.

Speaker 1 (38:13):
On, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
And and a lot of the big themes that radaman
Is and I end up talking about is breaking generational curses,
you know, and not allowing the past, you know, whether
it's our parents or you know, society to dictate how
we move, you know what I mean, not allowing what
we're told how we should be, or those you know,
whatever ideas, whatever thoughts are being told to us that
we're pre programmed to think. Not allowing those things to

(38:34):
control us, you know, to be able to force ourselves
to think independently and move in a better way. And
one thing that I found really moving, I think it
was was a family photo.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
You were talking about your dad. Yeah, and you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
Your wedding day and I guess you get a text
from your mom that he's not coming, you know, and
and the whole time that's on your mind, you know,
going through the whole wedding process and things like that.
I kind of want to hear your perspective how you
feel like going forward. You talked about, you know, making
a lega for your kids one day. How do you
kind of approach that thinking about, you know, the situations
you went through with your father and then now not

(39:06):
allowing that to be something you bring on for another generation.

Speaker 7 (39:09):
Yeah. I actually I address this in like a new
song that I have coming out on the New House.
But it's basically what I say is like the opening
line of the song is like I've been waiting for
the day when my father come around, like waiting for
the moment when we're paying the town. Then it all
hit me last night, Nobody's coming. And and then I've

(39:32):
been waiting for a moment when my heart heels, waiting
for someone to take away the pain that I feel.
Then it all hit me last night, Nobody's coming. Like there,
if you spend your time and your life waiting for
that apology or waiting for someone to be the thing
everything that you want them to be, they be waiting
a long time because nobody's coming. And that might feel

(39:53):
like a like a dismal approach to things, but what
it does is it actually frees you from the expectations,
like putting expectations on others and constantly being disappointed. So
if I can't control that what cannot control I can
control me the way I'm going to live as a husband,
the way I'm going to live as a father. Right,

(40:13):
And so what that song ends up concluding is saying
is like, like what if what if I'm the one
that I've been Like, what's the lyric I saw? You know,
my own lyrics? I feel like, what if I'm the
answer for things that I prayed? That was one of
the lyrics, And so it's like, what if we're the

(40:34):
ones that were waiting on What if I just became
the things that I wanted when I was growing up
for somebody else? And I really think that's the only
thing that we can do, is become the very things
that we knew we needed, because that's how the world's
going to change.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
You Know.

Speaker 7 (40:48):
What I'm saying is like each person taking responsibility for
the way they want to see the world being. And
it's not sexy, it's not like an easy answer because
it's like a life time or commitment to to b
reaching your potential. So that's that's why it's a difficult
thing to do. But I think me and my wife

(41:09):
are already starting to have conversations about having a kid
and you know, I'm just like, I want to make
sure I prioritize my kid the same way I prioritize
that on the right make sure I can't the right
things in order.

Speaker 2 (41:26):
Yeah, it's holding yourself accountable and holding yourself to a
higher level, you know what I mean, Because I think,
unfortunately what happens with these cycles is I think a
lot of people allow themselves to justify. Well, my dad
was like that, so you know, this kid's gonna be
just fine, you know what I'm saying, Or you know,
you kind of say to yourself, it's like when when
they tell you that when your parents can't tell you,
like back in my day, we used to have to
walk five miles to school in the snow and this

(41:47):
kind of thing. But the idea is that you don't
want your kid to have experienced the same pain that
you had, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (41:52):
So the justification isn't the same.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
You shouldn't be making those correlations because you want your
kid to have better than what you had, you know, right, But.

Speaker 7 (41:59):
It's hard when you don't have models. We don't have
all right, Like, all right, I just know I don't
want it to be that like, what do I exactly?
So I think that's why I've taken, you know, as
much as I can some sort of personal responsibility to
be like, all right, I'm going to try to model
my life in a way people could even though I

(42:20):
couldn't mentor people like I took one on one, I
could be a model from a distance to a degree.
And I think the for like guys like me didn't
grow up with a dad. When I peaked people who
are living a life that I wanted, I tried to
get around it and make them my mentors, you know
what I'm saying. So there's one dude, Dave. I was

(42:41):
just like, man, this guy's got a wife, kids, family,
He's a cool dude. He loves God. I'm like, I
like that. I want to be like that. I'm going
to the grocery store. Can I go with you? Just
hang out, walk with you, help, you know what I'm saying.
And I put myself in the way of people that
I wanted to be like. And I was just willing
to be like, yeah, no, I'll just the car, load
the car up, like whatever you need. So I could

(43:03):
get around that and soak that up. And so you know, now,
there's things like eleven am every morning with me and
a buddy of mine, Steve Weatherford, he's the punter for
the Giants. We're doing a zoom call at eleven am.
It's called man Academy and we do like a thirty
minute talk on whatever thing we're trying to work on,

(43:25):
and then we work out. So I'm doing that every day,
and you know, it's just like when I think about
what manhood is, right, basically, what hip hop told me
is like how many girls can you sleep with? How
much money do you have? And like how much can
you achieve? You know, like on the baseball field, football field, wherever.

(43:48):
When I think about who I want to be like
as a man, I think about Jesus. Right, Jesus was homeless,
was not married, and you know, he just didn't have
any of these things that what we consider manhood today.
And so I'm like, yo, but that's that's kind of
backwards it. He was the ultimate man, right, Like, then

(44:08):
what is my faults? You say about manhood? Like disconnected?
So I'm on that pursuit and on that path right now.
I'm trying to understand who he is to be more
like him, you know.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
I'll pop in here one more time and take a
quick break and then we'll be right back.

Speaker 5 (44:26):
All right, we are back, and now the rest of
this convo.

Speaker 3 (44:28):
You're one of the artists.

Speaker 8 (44:30):
Obviously I really rocked with that joint Donuts, Off, the Off,
the EP the Sword, Yeah, with Fonte and Fonte is
one of those MC's jay Z we keep bringing up,
and just hip hop in general. I think we're all
just kind of tired of the archetypes that we were.

(44:51):
So the ownership of material things is the is the
highest place to be and vulnerability is a sign of weakness,
like we already stated. But it's one thing to know it.
It's another thing to start the change. It's another thing
to start enabling a difference and being conscientious of the

(45:11):
information that we're recording. Because when you're speaking about fathers,
and you were speaking about, you know, your father not
being in your life, like I grew up with my father,
but my father wasn't my own father. The music that
I listened to parented me, My teachers parented me. The
anybody who was two years older than me was some

(45:33):
kind of figure that I looked up to. And you know,
the realer I think I get with my music. I
got with my music, or at least started that path
was like me really having to reflect and be like,
man like, how many people's feelings for today am I
responsible for when it comes to like what I say
and how I say it and the perspective that I

(45:53):
decided to share.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
And lately I've been on that tip as well, just
like man like if.

Speaker 8 (46:00):
I am like, because I also believe you should enjoy
what earth has to offer.

Speaker 3 (46:05):
And that's the thing.

Speaker 8 (46:06):
Like it's not that, you know, jewelry is terrible, investment
in cars are like terrible, and you shouldn't be happy
about what you own and work for, Like that's not
the thing. It's just that it's not as important as spirituality.
It's just not as important as love. It's not just
it's not as important as legacy and taking care of

(46:26):
your family and and ingesting good into the world, you
know what I mean. So it's like it's beautiful that,
Like I feel like that's been on the front of
your mind and and I'm curious as to how that
continues to elove because I.

Speaker 3 (46:40):
Feel like you're ready.

Speaker 8 (46:44):
Are aligning yourself within that even through music and one
thing I wanted to talk to you about if you're
comfortable with it. And I always love and I always
keep this from like back in the day, like I
remember when you're on Sway like years ago and just
like starting to crack through you know what I mean,
Like you're how I find out about Beach Records all
of that stuff, and you know, there's this label of
Christian rapper, right, And what I love about, at least

(47:08):
what I gather from you and listening to your music,
is that God is present. There is references to loving God,
there's references to Jesus, there's reference your faith, and there's
references to the effect that that has had.

Speaker 3 (47:23):
In your life.

Speaker 8 (47:24):
But never do I feel like, if you don't agree
with what I'm saying, then don't listen to me. Never
do I feel like if you don't, if you aren't
aligned with my specific faith and my Christianity, then this
music isn't for you. And I'm just very first of all,
I commend you for that because it's something that I

(47:44):
think I try to I work on as well in
my music. I want my spirituality present. I speak about
God and Jesus and religion and faith and all of
that in my music, and one thing I've fought hard
to do in my writing was to never make it
limited to somebody who like doesn't believe in what I believe,
not to not feel like they can touch into the music.

(48:05):
So like, can you tell us, like, just tell me
about your process in that and your writing and your
perspective and all that, because I think it's a very
unique one and I think you do it really well,
and you if you already get your flowers for it,
you deserve more, you know what I mean.

Speaker 7 (48:18):
Thank you man, appreciate that this is a nuanced conversation. Uh.
And most people dismissed the conversation pretty early on because
they'll just say, oh, that's the title of that, like
Christian Rabinson, Oh that's not for me a mom. So
you know, I think it does a disservice to the
actual art in a lot of ways, that title, because
it shuns people away from even thinking there's something good

(48:40):
there for them. So that's kind of the double edged
short of that title is is one it can rally
people who are like, oh, I want to hear that
because I'm a Christian, right, I want somebody who is
gonna help me listen to hip hop that's not gonna
be crazy all the time, and then it's also deterrent
at the same time. So it's this weird thing. And

(49:03):
I used to get really upset about it. I used
to be like, yo, fam, just stop saying that. Like
I'd be doing interviews and they'd be like so, and
I'd be like, Yo, cut the interview, bro, are you
trying to bury me? Like nobody's gonna listen to my
giants if you just saying that, Like stop. What I
realized is like, sometimes these things are out of your control,

(49:24):
you know, Like it's just it is what it is
at this point, Like people have come with that title
and they're gonna always have a time, and I'm like, whatever,
do what you want with the title. I'm gonna I'm
gonna focus on what I can control, which is making
the best music possible. If that's gonna be the tirer
you give me, we're gonna say, well, but damn, buddy
could rap. But you know what I'm saying, I'm gonna
change your perspective. So I think I wasn't always as

(49:51):
fluent in my conversation about faith because I'm growing and
changing as a person, you know, what I'm saying, so
early twenties, when you're in your life like most idealistic
phase and you're like, we're gonna check over the world,
you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 9 (50:04):
Like I was very like Jesus, you know, and you know,
I think all of us go through a phase when
we're like, whatever our thing is, we believe in, you know,
it's like we just going.

Speaker 7 (50:17):
Hard for it.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
And then you get a little older, you get.

Speaker 7 (50:19):
Punched in the face a few times and you were like, oh,
the world ain't black and white. There's a lot of
gray area, and people don't agree with me or don't
understand where I'm coming from. That's cool because they're on
a journey, like they're traveling, they're discovering. So I become
more gracious. Like even in that song nineteen eighty and
so I said, it's like I'm a little bit older,

(50:41):
les Le's eager to prove something more confident who I am.
It doesn't make for good TV, but it makes me
a better man man.

Speaker 3 (50:48):
Yes, yes, I was just listening to that.

Speaker 7 (50:49):
Yeah, Like it doesn't make for good TV. Someone who's
patient and gracious and understanding good TV is like y'all
want to be.

Speaker 3 (51:00):
What I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (51:00):
So that's but that's really where I'm at. It's like, yo,
if I know I was bugging at one point in
my life, like how could I not be gracious towards
someone else? So that has evolved into my writing process.
Whereas I'm creating, I always want to speak genuinely from
my heart, but I also have a little consideration in
them where I don't think Christians are very conscientious often

(51:23):
of what they're doing and how it relates to a
real world that that might be trying to understand just
the basics, right, and so like I feel like I
see Christians do this a lot, and this is the
hate on Christians life at anyway. There's this thing that
like a lingo or terminology, right, that can start to

(51:47):
become very common among them that if you're not inside
that group and you don't know that terminology, then you
feel left out. And so I try to in a
lot of ways in my writing and my creating is
consider someone else who might not understand that lingo, that
terminology and give it to him in a different way.
So you know, like those are those are simple things.

(52:08):
But that's not just in my music. That's in how
I do like real life exactly real life.

Speaker 8 (52:13):
And the thing is with me, it's like I don't
I never The reason why I even brought up is
because you don't sound like what you would consider a
Christian rapper to be like. And hip hop is like
one of the most like like God is probably the
most popular word in hip hop. When Jesus in praying,
and like Kendrick Lamar, how does he start his album?
J cole jay Z from the beginning to now has

(52:35):
expressed his growth and his faith and even I don't
know if you checked out. I mean, you should just
check this out because I'm a shout it out like
Peter Kintontail. I don't know if you're wearing him like
he's on a social experiment, but he just dropped this
album Pray, and I'm just like, yo, like this album
is heat, you know what I'm saying, Like the music
is beautiful, and I think it's like this it's like

(52:56):
a negative stereotype because it pretends to like only service one,
but in reality, like it's okay for me to listen
to tap into what somebody else's perspective is, you know
what I mean, Like why is that a deterrent? Like
if anything that should be that should generate interests, you
know what I mean? Because and for some reason, I
don't know why, it's like, oh that's bad music. It's
like for some reason like that it isn't like up

(53:18):
to par. It's like what does that have to do with.

Speaker 3 (53:20):
The quality of the music. You just need more people
keep rocking, you know what I mean?

Speaker 8 (53:24):
So I also wanted to let you I also wanted
to ask you a bit of a funny question, but
what do you did you listen to Jesus King and
did you listen to like the whole Kanye projects and
all that? What's your perspective on I have my own ideas,
but what's your perspective on him? Being like, you know,
starting from where he's from, he's always been vocal about
his faith. Kanye's been a Christian rapper to us to

(53:44):
a degree, to an extent his entire life. I think
now he's just taking the firm step of like now
this is the only specifically down to the verbiage everything,
The only thing I'm speaking about, like, what's your perspective
on that?

Speaker 3 (53:55):
You know what I mean? Because this is somebody who's.

Speaker 8 (53:57):
Like, you know, one of the most popular men yeah
in the world, you know what I mean, like taking
this stance.

Speaker 7 (54:03):
I mean, he's one of my favorite artists of all
time period. Like I just I just love his creativity,
his fearlessness. So if you would have dropped like a
Satan worship project, that probably would have been listening. Just
I just love seeing what he's up to because he's
a fearless creative and you know, I try to be

(54:23):
more like that hm as well. So he's also producer, rapper,
Like that's my bad too. I just love that dude.
And then when I find out he like he's team Jesus,
I was like dope, you know, like uh, you know,
like I'll just say this, like one I thought the
music was dope. Like I enjoyed it. I had this

(54:45):
funny conversation.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
That's one of my favorite Dress album.

Speaker 7 (54:48):
Like here's the thing. When it first came out, most
people was like ah, and I was like, yo, I
could see that. But as we were sitting around breakfast
talking about it, everyone's started talking about the little parts
that they like. It was like, yo, but the saxophone crazy,
you know, It's like yeah, and then you hear the
on water, you know, or like when when ty Dollas

(55:09):
sign does like the harmonies to over, Yeah, that part's
crazy too, And I was like, how about the choir,
yeah part, And then when we got to the end
of the conversation, I was like.

Speaker 3 (55:18):
Exactly right, exactly.

Speaker 7 (55:21):
So I thought it was dope. I mean, is it
his greatest work ever? Like, you know, I don't think so,
but I just thought it was dope piece. And here's
the thing, Like, the guy is on a journey himself.
I think, like I told you when I first, when
you're first overcome by the idea that like, yo, I
have a new life, I have a new path, a

(55:41):
new direction, like God saved me. Like you're so extended.
It's kind of like when you fall in love for
the first time and you're like this girl is just fire,
like it's the greatest thing ever, and it's goosebumps and
that's all this stuff. But over time, those goosebumps and
some of those things fade. But it doesn't mean that
the love is real. It just looks it's deeper. It

(56:03):
might not just be like bubbly feelings, but it's a
deep feeling of peace and commitment. You know, so I
think that same thing happened with me creatively. It is
like I was so hoorah at the beginning, and then
I was like, oh, there's numance to this, and I
feel like that's kind of what he might be going
through as well. Like the way he's rapping about God
now might be different three years from now. I know

(56:26):
it's right from right, and that's okay. He's allowed to
be on his journey. Like he's like literally rapping Bible versus.

Speaker 3 (56:34):
He's like, Yo, that was crazy and Jesus cleaned the music. Jesus.

Speaker 8 (56:39):
I was just like yo, Like if somebody doesn't pray
but memorize the song, they'd be praying like that was
a it's a it blew my mind, you know what
I mean. Like and one of my homies said that too,
like we were talking about it. You know, he dropped
to film the same Kanye production. You know, He's going
around doing everything and obviously people have back. Like for me,

(57:00):
I love seeing the evolution of artists I love and
even if I'm not in like it doesn't rank.

Speaker 3 (57:08):
I don't even like ranking albums anymore.

Speaker 8 (57:09):
I'm just like, yo, that's a phase in that person's
life and my memories are attached to it. So when
I'm listening, like Jesus is King and at first the
same thing, I was like, all right, Like it's because
it's similar to yay, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (57:19):
It's similar. It's just like the subject matter is much
more firm.

Speaker 8 (57:23):
One of my homies was like, yo, man looks just
changing the game again, Like when's the last time the
whole world was looking forward to twelve to am for something.

Speaker 3 (57:29):
That was labeled Christian music.

Speaker 8 (57:31):
I'm just like yo, Like he's like taking it on
his back to kind of like debunk the same thing, debunk.
Subject matter has nothing to do, like it's part of it.
But it's like the musicality and greatness the intention is
most important, you.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
Know what I'm saying, And the evolution of the man.

Speaker 8 (57:46):
We just need more examples of that, and that's how
that's how our culture is going to continuously evolve, because
we have more examples of how different paths can go
and arrive to what their idea of successes, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 3 (57:59):
Beautiful And it's and.

Speaker 7 (58:00):
It's an interesting thing too because a lot of people
be like a lot of people when they have the
Kanye conversation with me to be like, Yo, Andy c
he rapping Bible versus doing that. I'm like, yeah, but
you do realize he had a completely different path than I,
like Man Made, Gold Digger and all these other records, like.

Speaker 3 (58:24):
A lot of those. Yeah, he came up.

Speaker 7 (58:27):
This way and then he went back and so it's
the different the way he's gonna be received is different
where for me, if I come in with that label,
I received differently off the bat. So it's made a
much more difficult path for me. I didn't realize it
was going to be that when I set out, Uh,
but you know, it was like, oh, this is kind

(58:47):
of the card I've been dealt in, but the path
I've called myself. But it is funny because people were like,
so when y'all doing a record, I was like, when you.

Speaker 3 (58:59):
Do it, But.

Speaker 7 (59:04):
I'm excited that another person is on their journey with Jesus,
and I think it'd be kind of It's kind of
weird too, to just hold certain people be more excited
about one person than somebody. So it's it's it's kind
of conflicting as well. But I'm glad he's making good music.
I'm glad he loves God and he's on his journey
and I'm here to I'm here to watch. You know that.

Speaker 1 (59:26):
We'll let you get here a second.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
But I think one thing that's important is, like, it's
the idea that when even when you say something like
you're a gigantic Kanye West fan, uh and.

Speaker 1 (59:36):
You're a Christian, it breaks that stigma.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
I think that a lot of people have where they
would be like, oh, well, you're a Christian rapper. That
means you only like secular music, you know what I mean,
you can't appreciate anything outside of it. And I think
that those kinds of conversations are important because it's like, no,
just because I'm Christian faith doesn't mean that I can't
support or appreciate the art behind things that aren't the
said a Christian.

Speaker 3 (59:54):
You know.

Speaker 7 (59:54):
So I think it's huge absolutely. Yeah. I mean I
barely listening to music. Yeah, I had a tough time
with it.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
Yeah, but.

Speaker 7 (01:00:07):
Yeah, no, I agree, guys, And I'm glad that like
y'all like are are willing to like dive into the
nuance in that conversation because it just I think that's
what that's what it needs, you know more. And compassion,
more understanding in general, it's.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
The same thing as like on your on your on, on.

Speaker 8 (01:00:27):
The last project work in progress, you have to join
the country joint that you're.

Speaker 3 (01:00:32):
Just like this in a country.

Speaker 8 (01:00:34):
It's like wait, wait, Like I was always told country
was why, but I never tuned into it. It's like,
let me decide it was if it wack or not.
And then the same thing when I got to college
and started listening to like Hank Williams and and Hank
Williams Junior and just like just Willie Nelson all of this,
So I'm just like, yo, like this music is crazy.

Speaker 3 (01:00:53):
You know, it's not just the Nelly over and over
again remixed, you know what I mean. Like it's like
there's a lot of there's a lot of he in
all genres.

Speaker 8 (01:01:01):
There's a lot of there's a lot of great things
in like all countries and all music preferences and whatever
they chant be as long as we're down to life.
And that's the thing that's the nuance of like sure
of your sureness of yourself that you can like what
you like no matter what anybody else likes to think,
and and you have your own taste. But then be
willing enough to accept somebody else's well for a minute.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
I mean, it's even you being a rapper of Dominican descent,
you know what I mean. It's like you don't have
to make Latin music, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:01:29):
I don't like all Dominicans who make music, you know
what I mean. It's like, yeah, I'm a Dominican, like
like you see the flag in the back. But it's
like you could be wha can be Dominicans. You could
be be from Brooklyn, you could be whacking grow up
with me, Like, yeah, we have to do with anything, and.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
We can all have our own backgrounds or own belief systems.
But doesn't mean we can't co exist in different worlds,
you know what I mean, Like there is a niche
for us in each thing and we can all still
have an opinion and it should be you know, accepted
and listen to.

Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
Regardless of what our background is, we can all still
co exist.

Speaker 8 (01:01:53):
And that's that that's hot to do, right, that's the
world real quick, before you bought something, you said, be
about to cut.

Speaker 3 (01:01:58):
I know, I want to make sure you know you
get back to what you're.

Speaker 8 (01:02:00):
Doing coming in hot yo. That's that joint is crazy, bro,
like can let me let can you? And and even
even something like that, I feel like you continuously are evolving.
If I'm not mistaken, that's the only joint you dropped
this year or like that's the last song that you
released so far, And it feels like you just continuously
are finding ways to like expand what your role is.

(01:02:21):
Because if somebody does, like take the minute to just
tap in with you for a minute and go through disciography,
like you're not really doing one thing all day and this,
you know what I mean, Like you're playing with sounds,
you're playing with the with the with the vocal performance
you're mixing is like, oh, you know, I pay attention
to mixing. So I'm like, yo, he's paying attention to
mixing and voice and sounds and where the drums are

(01:02:41):
hitting in the effects and whatever the case may be.
And it's like then you come in to drug coming
in how way y'all just turning up And I'm just like, yo,
like that's crazy, bro, Like I just wanted to tip
my hat to that, and like I kind of want
to know a little bit about that real quick before
you bounce out, Like the idea and yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:02:57):
So Lcray and I were heading on a headline tour
together called Better Late Than Never, and we were like, yo,
we should do a record for that that tour, just
to like promote it. So he was in he was
in Cali. I was in Cali at the same time,
and we were like, all right, let's just get the
studio session. So I I was on the tour bus
at the time, and I pulled up like five or

(01:03:20):
six beats and I just started laying like demos and ideas.
Sometimes that pressure like you have to be there tonight.
I started scrambling and putting down ideas. We showed up
at the studio and I started playing four or five
ideas and that beat came on and he was like, Yo,
this dun is crazy, shout out who made the beat?

(01:03:43):
And I thought that was a lib.

Speaker 3 (01:03:45):
I didn't even know that was a tag. I gotta
I gotta take off of it.

Speaker 7 (01:03:48):
Yeah, he's dope.

Speaker 3 (01:03:49):
He did.

Speaker 7 (01:03:50):
He did a lot of work on washing the Throne. Actually,
he's like so he he made that beat, he sent
it through and then I just had all these mumbles
and I was like, I'm coming in hot, you know,
And I played that fro him. He's like, Yo, that's crazy,
let's do that. So right there in the studio that night,
we all started like penny bars, and I couldn't really
write anything. I'm weird where I got to kind of

(01:04:12):
go off to the side and be dolo and I'm
not like everyone's in the studio. I'm just writing wraps
in the corner. Like I didn't do that. So they
wanted us to turn it in and I had a
European tour like the next day. Two days later, I
had to fly out. So I get on the plane

(01:04:33):
and I was like, yo, I'm gonna have to literally
record this somewhere in Europe. Like I didn't know how
am I get this done? So I brought my little microphone.
I brought this this one. I just threw it in
my backpack and my little Apollo, And between shows, I
was setting up the little laptop in the hotel room

(01:04:54):
and I was rapping. So I got a good chunk
of it done in like Hamburg, and then another chunk
where I finished it was in Amsterdam, so I was
I worked on half the verse and I was working
out k and I got there and I finished in
the rest and I actually got video. My man was
like filming me, and I like, I got my shirt
off and I got like a pizza box next.

Speaker 3 (01:05:14):
To me doing your thing. Yeah you go deepen up.

Speaker 7 (01:05:20):
On the Instagram, I posted that video and so I
finished that verse. I sent it in. I finally figured
out what the lyrics were for the chorus and I
maybe coming to hot Pies, and so we put it
out just as like a lucy to promote the tour
and lo and behold you know it just like like

(01:05:40):
I got a video this week of freaking Steph Curry
and his kids like wrapping the whole thing.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
Was that the video of the post that was that was.

Speaker 7 (01:05:50):
Online. It's like, Riley, it's my favorite song and he
used it on his Facebook special and it was played
at the NBA Finals. So you never know, man, like
you could be one song away from people discovering who
you are.

Speaker 3 (01:06:05):
M M.

Speaker 4 (01:06:06):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:06:07):
I think that song Ticked Off a Few Boxes is
like one that had a really catching beat to it
had a phrase that you want to remember and say
right and uh three. I think it was just executed
well you know, so it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:23):
We can do that every time.

Speaker 1 (01:06:27):
That's fire. What do you got going on like the
rest of the year. What can people expect? What do
you got going on for people? Check out?

Speaker 7 (01:06:32):
Yeah, So I'm working on an album as we speak.
I'm supposed to finish it this month, but I'm a
little behind. So that's what I'm doing every day, every
night I'm here. I had to move my setup from
the studio to like in this extra bedroom we have
according in here, and just you know, it's not perfect,
but it's it's you do the best you can with
what you have and you make the most of it.

(01:06:55):
Like what are you gonna do? You're gonna make excuses
like Corona and I can't got It's like, bro, that's
figure it out. So that's what we're doing. And yeah,
we got to get a joint on there, man.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
Y'all let's do it. I'm ready. I'm ready when you are, Bro.
You know what it is.

Speaker 7 (01:07:09):
I find the right bee, man, it's gotta be a
sweet spot.

Speaker 8 (01:07:12):
Yeah, I'm proud of you, bro, Yo, keep rocking, making
make sure you keep putting your evolution out there for
the people, because you don't know, and I know people
hit you up because people hit me up, and it's
like you you'd be surprised who you're speaking for, who
you're speaking to, who you're relating, and and it takes
digging deep and doing what you love. We were kind

(01:07:33):
of speaking about it before you jumped on, like it's
one thing to get love and it's another thing to
get love for the thing that you love doing. And
it's like, I love growing and I love showing that,
and I love when people show me that because it
inspires me.

Speaker 3 (01:07:45):
And it's just a sick with the thing. So you
know what I mean, Keep rocking, and thank you for
tuning in with us, bro, you the man.

Speaker 7 (01:07:52):
Yo. Appreciate y'all for having me. Man, it was great combo.
Feel like these don't happen often, so there's dope y'all
doing it. And y'all congratulates also on the movie and
everything else you bro.

Speaker 3 (01:08:03):
You know, be hustling, man, I'm trying to keep up.

Speaker 7 (01:08:06):
Bro, come down see me in the A soon.

Speaker 3 (01:08:10):
Now. I got you.

Speaker 8 (01:08:10):
I'm supposed to tap tapping in the minute of my
managers be you know, you know what it is, studio
culture and all that stuff is out there, so I'll be.

Speaker 1 (01:08:17):
Honest, beautiful, bro. Appreciate you man.

Speaker 2 (01:08:19):
First Generation Talks another episode down and many appreciate you bro.

Speaker 1 (01:08:24):
Take care of mam man.

Speaker 4 (01:08:25):
I hope you guys got something out of that that conversation,
Like I said, it was, it was great to revisit it,
and I'll touch on that for our conclusion to too,
But first we'll take one more quick break and then
we'll be right.

Speaker 8 (01:08:36):
Back time for come.

Speaker 3 (01:08:47):
All right.

Speaker 5 (01:08:48):
So I'm a big fan.

Speaker 4 (01:08:51):
If you haven't been able to tell of at times
revisiting old things that I've done, I think there's wisdom
in it. I think there's wisdom that at the time
you possessed that you weren't even able to recognize.

Speaker 7 (01:09:04):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:09:04):
I don't even know if that's wisdom per se, but
you were thinking in a lot of different ways, particularly
in the pandemic during that time as crazy of a
time periods was as dark of a time periods as
it felt like.

Speaker 5 (01:09:19):
There was also, Like I think about it, I'm like.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
Man, I was having a lot of really introspective conversations
with myself. The people that I talked to, we really
were just like stopped for a second, and we're really
trying to figure shit out and had the luxury you know,
for better or worse to kind of have a very

(01:09:42):
slow day to day life as a result of the
world being shut down, and we had a lot of
time to really just fucking think about life and think
about what we really wanted out of it. And I
think that that conversation is a reflection of that.

Speaker 5 (01:09:56):
And again I think about now.

Speaker 4 (01:10:02):
To kind of I guess put a pin on why
I think I was touched by this particular episode. Again,
I feel like I got very comfortable over the.

Speaker 5 (01:10:13):
Last two years.

Speaker 6 (01:10:15):
To a degree, I think.

Speaker 4 (01:10:20):
I think I lost a little bit of that edge
that I had of, like, you know, always being prepared
for what's next and or always working towards the next thing.
And let's steny, it's a balance, right because I think
also mentally, I'm healthier than I've maybe been in a
long time, and physically healthier.

Speaker 5 (01:10:42):
But with that.

Speaker 4 (01:10:43):
Said, I think I've allowed outside factors now as a
result of not being as sort of hyper present or
hyper hungry, I've allowed outside factors to now have far
more control over me than I would like. And as

(01:11:05):
we sort of go into these uncertain times, particularly with
this next four years.

Speaker 5 (01:11:09):
Donald Trump was just inaugurated. We'll talk about that on Thursday.

Speaker 4 (01:11:11):
But there's a lot up in the air, emotionally, spiritually,
and economically, and with technology and the way that it's
moving so fucking quickly and changing and trends are moving
so fast and all these different things. There's a tremendous
amount of uncertainty, just like there was during this time

(01:11:31):
period in twenty twenty, during the pandemic. And it was
a reminder for me hearing that conversation, hearing what he
was speaking about his mindset, you know, a further reminder
and a further little push of like, let's get back
to stop being to not being so comfortable and not

(01:11:53):
being unhealthy, but thinking about the future and moving in
a way that that continues to set us up so
that we can maintain the level of control that makes
us happy. You know, for me this, you know, when
I first bought my property, that was really supposed to

(01:12:15):
be the first start of many things like that.

Speaker 5 (01:12:17):
And to a degree, I've you.

Speaker 4 (01:12:19):
Know, I've opened other entrepreneur ventures and you know, done
stuff rental wise and blah blah blah. But I do
think I sort of stopped that that movement of like
setting up these little I don't want to say fail safe,
don't think anything really is, but setting myself up to

(01:12:41):
be in a position where I didn't have to rely
on my creative work, my art to be the main thing.
And I think I got a bit comfortable, a bit complacent,
and sort of allowed that to be my reality more
and more, and and I think now again, as we

(01:13:04):
go through more uncertain times, there's a level of discomfort there,
the fact that I don't feel as diversified economically as
I once aimed to be, as industries changed, as like
nightlife is ever changing right now, and you know, it's
it's really getting harder and harder playing gigs, and you know,

(01:13:30):
as the entertainment industry continues to shrink and there's less
and less opportunities and and just so much going on,
and a lot of the money that was being spent
on podcasting and all these different things from like the
pandemic on they've cut back. Now, you know, there's like
a correction happening now. And then again, I don't know
what the fuck's happen with this president. So for me,

(01:13:52):
it's like, you know, realigning with a bit of that urgency,
I guess is what I'm trying to get at. And
I loved this conversation, hearing him talk about it during
that time period, hearing me, you know, almost five years
ago before he was ever a property owner, and at

(01:14:13):
a point where I was probably the most loss I've
ever been in my entire life, but like at a
place of also like beginning to figure out what the
next steps were for me, Like twenty twenty was a
huge jump for me personally and career wise. And it's
just interesting to go back to that conversation, and yeah,

(01:14:35):
I thought it could be incredibly inspiring for a.

Speaker 5 (01:14:37):
Lot of people to just hear.

Speaker 4 (01:14:42):
How someone like Andy thinks and to maybe even just
reminder of like that weird time period we were in
twenty twenty as we again prepare to enter unknown times
here for the next four years with this president. So yeah,
I just wanted to share that that episode again, I
was like in my backyard my dog, and it was

(01:15:02):
like making me like, hmm, you kind of forgot some
of the things that you learned there that you were
applying to your life at the time, or you lost
some of that hungers, or you forgot to implement some
of those plans you were looking at. So maybe you
can start getting that in the back of your head again,
I think again, like the universe, God sends these little
reminders to you in certain ways, And that random email

(01:15:23):
I got that then made me kind of.

Speaker 5 (01:15:25):
Like revisit this old podcast.

Speaker 4 (01:15:27):
That I've forgotten about completely for the most part, and
now I think kind of like gave me something to
think about for you know, the foreseeable future. So I
wanted to share that with y'all. With that said, I'll
catch you on Thursday as we break down. Oh man,
interesting times. There's a lot to talk about, Like what

(01:15:49):
the fuck is Elon Musk doing? Like what what is happening?
It's like it's you expected to be crazy, but it
almost feels like it somehow manages to be even crazier
than even your most wildest expectations. We'll talk about it Thursday, Trends.
I'll catch you all then. In the meantime, be safe,
we'll talk soon. Life as a Gringo is a production

(01:16:13):
of the micro Thura podcast Network and iHeartRadio.

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