May 14, 2024 • 35 mins
On this special edition, Stephen A. interviews talented actor, Da'Vinchi, about his starring role on the hit Starz series, 'Black Mafia Family' (BMF), his journey to mental wellness, and his work as a mental health advocate.
On The Stephen A. Smith Show, Smith gives you his renowned point of view, breaking barriers beyond the world of sports, and tackling pertinent issues across entertainment, pop culture, society, business, and politics. Three times a week, you'll hear his LIVE unfiltered opinions on the day's biggest headlines as well as straight-shooting interviews with top celebrities, game-changers, and thought leaders across the societal arena. The Stephen A. Smith Show is sure to entertain, inform, and motivate anyone who tunes in.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
What's up, everybody. Welcome to the special edition of The
Stephen A.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Smith Show, coming at you over the digital airways of YouTube.
You know, a lot of times when we hear about
mental health, it's not something in the past that I've
been too keen on embracing as a topic as a
person that's been inundated in the world of sports for
(00:40):
so many years, spanning three decades now. I've always been
of the mindset that when it comes to mental health,
that's not something that you needed to be overly concerned
about because you looked at it from a simplistic standpoint, thinking.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
That, hey, to the victor goes to spoils, the.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Person is strong enough, that's got the intestinal fortitude to
wherewithal to withstand and offset and push back adverse circumstances
no matter what came in the direction. That's what separated
the champions from the winnabes. It's a Game seven, it's
the ninth ending of a world series. It's the stage
(01:25):
that is in Super Bowl, it's Wimbledon, it's the Masters.
The list goes on and on, no matter what sport
you picked. As the pressure mounted, as prime time arrived,
as the moment presented itself to show whether or not
you had whatever that oof was inside of you to
(01:48):
propel you the heights unseen by many, whether you were
gonna be that next person, or whether or not you
were somebody who was gonna will beneath the pressure.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
As sports people, that's how we think.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
We think along those lines in its very simplistic form,
because we said, hey, that's either an advantage or disadvantage
for a competitor, so much so that we even applied
that in some instances when it came to weed marijuana use,
because if it calms your nerves, it allows you to
(02:27):
fend off anxiety and nervousness, and as a result, could
put you in a position where, damn it, it could be
perceived as a performance and answer because your nerves were
calm and as a result, you didn't have to deal
with all of the nervousness that comes.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
With pressurized situations.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But then you hear about mental health and some of
its remnants, some of the increments of it all, how
it's plagued one individual after another to such a degree
it's assisted in people willing to harm themselves because you
feel like he has lost chords, that life ends now
that there is no tomorrow. Darkness engulfs you and you
(03:11):
don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So as a result of that reality.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
That epiphany, I have to change my thinking, dig a
little bit deeper into this subject, and I had to
make sure I connected with those who hold such issues
near and dear to their heart. My next guest is
one of those people. He's acted on the shows like
Grownish and All American, currently stars in fifty Cents produced
(03:37):
drama BMF Black Mafia Family. The star series now enters
his third season. He's done a lot of great, great things,
and he continues to do a lot of great great things.
He's a young dude, younger than thirty years of age,
but he doesn't care because he believes he has an
awful lot to offer this world that extends far beyond
(04:00):
his ability to act. While those cameras are rolling, his
name is Da Vinci. That is what he is known as,
and we're about to find out why that is. Because
he's an artist in a lot of different ways, affecting.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
A lot of different lives.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Lives and if you don't believe me, take a look
at this for a second.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Damn Ain't that some shit, tu one, That's all that matters.
All this time, I've been trying to outshine Meech and
prove that everyone what kind of man and leader I
could be. But the truth is the Nigga Meech is
always gonna be the face of being math.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
I'm a faver being in shadows. We me stop looking
at it as a weakness.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Turn it into a stress, like moving in shadows, exactly
that I'll never see you coming.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
He's the man right now, make no mistake about it,
and we're about to find out one of the reasons
why DaVinci up next right here on the stephen Ate
Smith Show can't wait for this. Oh my lord, have
(05:17):
you been watching the NBA players, because you know I have,
and yes they've been fantastic, make no mistake about it.
But do you know what else makes watching them even
more exciting, even more scintillating?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Prize Pects. Of course, that's what.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
The hell I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
In case you didn't know you didn't know this, Prizepects
is a daily fantasy ad where you can select two
or more of your favorite players and then pick more
or less on their projected stats for the game. So
with a big event happening each and every single night.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Prospects is here to help.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
You cashing on all that real time action. I make
my picks every night in less than sixty seconds. Then
I sit back, I watch, and I wait for the cash.
But prize picks doesn't stop at the NBA. Oh No,
you could choose from a myriad of sports, the WNBA,
Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, and everything in between.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
To get this, Prospects.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Will match your first depositive up to one hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
You heard me right. Go to Prospects dot.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Com and use code SAS. That's my initials of.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Course, for a first depositive match of up to one
hundred dollars, that's SAS. When you go to Prospects dot
com and use the promo code pickball, pick less, It's
really really that easy. My next guest has had starring
roles on shows like Grownish, All American, and currently stars
in the fifty cent produced drama BMF The Stars, series
(06:32):
now enters its third season. He's an actor who's also
a mental health activist on a mission to help as
many people as he possibly can. The man himself, the
one and only Da Vinci joins the Stephen A.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Smith Show. What's up Big Time? How are you man?
How's everything?
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Hey? Brother, I can't complain. It's a pleasure to be
sharing the stage or this zoom with you right now.
I'm honored. I feel good.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Man, How a man please?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
The honor is all mine. I'm so proud of the
work that you're doing right now. You're really really making
some noise in this business. Major prompts and congratulations to you.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
How are you feeling.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
About where you are at this point in time in
your career with some of the things that have been
happening for you.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Well, that's a great point. That's a great question. The
way I feel right now in my career, I feel
like I'm in.
Speaker 6 (07:21):
A space now to where I've realized I have influence.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
I've realized I have.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
An audience, and I think I need I feel obliged
to influence people in the right direction. Given that you know,
I'm in my twenties and a lot of people from
teams to fifty.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
Sixty seven year olds know who I am.
Speaker 6 (07:41):
It's like, I feel like I need to produce something
that gives people, you know, meaning. I think there's a
lot of craziness that's going on in the world right now,
and I just don't want to perpetuate certain stigmas that
that we are forced that was forced upon us and
a lot of us perpetually unknowingly.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
But I'd rather try to eradicate.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Them as much as possible, because being an entertainer, it's like,
if you play your cards right, you're almost like a
police officer in a way or something like you could
you could really affect.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
People on a level that that, you know.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Just just the system can't, you know, or or other
systems can't. So I just I told God, you know,
if you ever blessed me to be in a position
like this, I'm going to extend the.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Ladder and I'm going to try to help as many
people as it possibly can, you know. So I feel
like I'm in a place that I have that influence now.
So and given where I come from.
Speaker 7 (08:35):
And the stuff that I deubled with my brothers and
my family and cousins, I'm like, you know what, I
know a lot of people go through this, So I'm
just gonna start speaking on mental health and issues related
to it.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well, you know you talked about you know, you alluded
to you being in your twenties. We know better than
the ass ladies their age, but damn it, as men,
we do it with each other.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
How old are you? We're to tell all these how old.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Are you, my brother?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
How old are you?
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Twenty seven?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Twenty seven years of age?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And you talked about avoiding perpetuating stigmas or trying to
work to eradicate those things specifically, what stigmas are you
talking about that you're working to eradicate the specific.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
I think mental health A lot of times in the
black community, there's a lot of stigmas around mental health.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
There's a lot of.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
You know, because we don't have the access and the
proper education to mental health.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
We addresses as if it's this taboo.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
Thing, or it's like, oh, you're slow, or you're crazy,
or they throw these different types of terminologies towards ends
only because we don't know, we don't have educations that
our parents were busy meeting our basic needs of survival
and that's all they knew, but they never met the
emotional need of a child.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Now I'm not saying.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
That that, you know, you got to raise your kid
on a certain level to make them just so emotional,
but I think there's a certain level of emotional awareness
that was never there.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
For black people, given that we're a byproduct of I mean,
the most successful human.
Speaker 6 (09:59):
Trafficking the world probably black people. You know what I'm saying,
were brought from another country, brought here and was just
forced to work, work, work, work, work, and of course
when they freed us, it's like, there's no way, we're
just going to have all our stuff together.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
Right. So when you put that in perspective and really
think about it, you're like, oh my god. You know
all these different activists and one of my favorites there
was w Ev du Bois.
Speaker 6 (10:22):
And he was talking about that the two souls, the
two thoughts and two.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
Bodies of the Africa, the Negro African American in this country.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
And the more I learned about it, I was like,
oh my god, Like people need to stop seeing mental
health as this taboo thing. I look at mental health
now like physical health. The more you work out and
if you have a workout plan or a diet plant,
it just makes it easy to get through everyday life.
If you're walking up the stairs, I'm going to the
NBA game, going to the football game, I can maneuver easy,
I can grab something, I can do this and that
(10:50):
without being out of breath. So I felt that I
need to explain it and revamp it in a different way.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
Like bro, when you focus on your mental health, it
isn't mean that you're crazy.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
It prevents you from having life threaten and mental illness
because you can tap into different type of psychosist like
a schizophrenia, bipolar, or whatever the case may be. Because
all we're doing in our community especially is where.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Because I grew up playing sports, I played.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
Sports, played basketball, football, baseball, band.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
Tracked and all that stuff.
Speaker 6 (11:21):
And you know, that's all we're focused on because that's
what the media is teaching us to just really just
hone in on that. But when you really start to
give think about our history, think about where we're going,
thinking about our brain. Why do we think the way
we think? So what I started doing, I started I
started breaking down the psychology of the human being and
(11:44):
how that works and why black people do the things
that we do. Why do we think it's okay to
do this, and why do we think it's bad to
educate ourselves? And then while I started realizing all that,
it was our programming. So I was like, oh my god, like,
we need to really just break this down.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
And the way I break it. When I went on
a tour last year, which I'm gonna do another one.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Shout out to McDonald's and Capital one Is and all
those great brands that sponsored me on that, I was
just telling them, like, we have to create, we have
to implement routines daily to rewire our brain because what
happens is I was listening to this author and he said,
we do not know how to manage our biochemistry properly
(12:27):
because we have less physical activity than we did back
in the day. Meaning so if you and I came
from the same tribe, me, me and.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
You Steven, like we got to wake up.
Speaker 6 (12:36):
We gotta go thirty miles down the street, down in
the street in the woods to grab buckets of water
and bring it back and forthfile family and do that.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
All that physical labor that exercise.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
Mentally, it's so stimulating in a brain that it's like, Yo,
we're chilling. We don't have time and stress, we don't
have jobs to other words like niggas ain't shit.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know, but we
don't have time to utter these type of words.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
But it's like, because we have mastered the basic needs
of survival, we have so much downtime. And the downtime
is only making a program insteadying more.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
And more and more and more and more in our brain.
Speaker 6 (13:13):
So I urge people to start, you know, meditating, start
reading books, start learning how their brain works. Stop stop
like start limiting the bs on social media that you're
taking in.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
And I'm going. I'm going and going right now, so
you can stop me whateveryone.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I'm not going to stop you here from this standpoint,
I want to get I want to I want to
continue talking about this, but I want to bring it
full circle. And the first thing to do is to
start off because listen, here's the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
When we look at the show bmf.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Right, it's highly successful show. You guys have done, y'all things.
Season three aired already, obviously, season fours already been greenleit,
so major major props to y'all. My man fifty cent,
who's doing great, great things in Hollywood as a producer.
His record, his resume speaks for itself. You know how
I feel about lo La Anthony. She's been a friend
of mine for years, your love interest on the show.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
You know how I feel about Laala. Everybody love Lalla.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Here's the thing when we talk about when we talk
about BMF, let's remind our audience. It chronicles the true
story of the Funnery Brothers and their rise of Detroit
in the late nineteen eighties. Is one of the nature's
most influential drug dealing crime families. You just talked about
making sure to eradicate stereotypes and things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Knowing the role that you play in.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
This show, Okay, Southwest t Flinnery, everybody knows that everybody
knows who you are. When you look at it from
that perspective, how challenging is it for you to be
on this show playing this role when you know you
have the agenda and the objective to eradicate stereotypes, provoke change,
et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
These are the kind of things that you're alluding to.
Does that is that a conflict for you?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Or does that assist and you ultimately accomplishing what you're
aiming to accomplish?
Speaker 6 (14:54):
Right with great question, And it's not a conflict at all,
Contrary to.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
What many people thinking.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
Their only reason why it's out of conflict is because
I'm telling a story right about two brothers who are
victims of one of the most successful human trafficking in
the world, that were dropped into this country that didn't
have a pop the piston.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
On a window to throw it out of them.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
And this is what they were able to do. They
formed a union and able to amass so much money,
and in doing that, it's like, you got to ask yourself,
how did they get access to the drugs? How did
they get access to all these the weapons? How did
they get access to whatever they had accesses? Niggas ain't
bringing that in? Who's bringing that in the country. There
(15:37):
was a submarine that would stopped before that had tons
of cocaine in.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
It, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
And I think, so there's not a dilemma of me
telling the story because one is a true story.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
And I'm just like, I'm showing you guys that we're
a byproduct of this.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
This is where we come from, but we don't have
to stay here, you know what I'm saying. So it's
just like if these brothers had the same type of
access to let's say, the right brothers.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Or steve jobs or anything. I think these.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
Brothers could have could have been a piece of metal
and say, look, let's make an airplane if they had
the access to aero dynamics, that they knew certain laws.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
But the thing is because we were deprived certain.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Knowledge intentionally, you know what I'm saying, don't teach us
how to read, don't tease how to ask ourself. It's
like to see what they were able to amass in that,
I think you see the brilliance in them, and it
was so successful that it's like, even though they were incarcerated,
they served their time, meets you still incarcerated, It's like,
but the influence of what they did is still providing
(16:34):
jobs to this day. So I think I think it
depends on how you look at it. That the reason
why his son, me and the cast, the crew and
like have jobs in this moment right now is because
of what these brothers did. Because I would honestly say,
I don't think they had a choice. I think I
think it's very limited to what a black male could probably.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
Do, especially in that time.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
Now it's been getting better, like for sure, but it's
like when you look at numbers athletes, le's than one
percent athletes make it, right, It's like that's like that's
a new on a haystack.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Being a rapper, that's the same thing. So it's just
like it's like there's.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
Only a certain level of a number of slots that
it's available.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
So just to see what they were.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
Able to do and just you know, like that that
organization is like wow, wow, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
So so I think I see the brilliance.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
In it and and and seeing that, and I get
posed this question a lot, which is which is a
great question. But this is why I advocate so hard
on the mental health because these two brothers, they were
in a shitty environment. It's like there wasn't a terrible environment.
I don't think many people would have escaped that environment.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
So you want basically to use this as an opportunity
to highlight not just mental health, but why mental health
is necessary in the conditions that make it necessary. Because
if these brothers weren't putting these positions where they felt
that there was no other means, no other.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Way out per se to acquired a.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Kind of affluence, the kind of lifestyle that they covered
it in the spot, all right, for you know, what
this might not have happened, is that.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Basically what you're saying.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Absolutely okay.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
So with that being said, I ask you this talk
to me about your upbringing and how that played a
role in it. Because from my from my research, you
had Asian upbringing. Obviously parents, you know, divorced, financial struggles.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
What would you like to say to the audience about
your upbringing and some of the things you experienced and
how it it formulated and framed who you are today
and who you hope to be as time moves on.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
So my upbringing, I grew up in poverty. I didn't
know I was poor. I should have known by you know,
living down the streets from the project, but and I
had it as is home that you know.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
It was a hole in the kitchen floor and we
moved in it from Brooklyn, New Jersey, and we're back
and forth a lot, and there's a lot of moving.
It's your consciousness at that age, you can't even understand
what's going on. But I've seen a lot of struggle.
I've seen a lot of pain. I've seen a lot of.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Suffering in my life.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
And I was in my community influenced me so heavily
that you know, I became a part of it.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
I started selling drugs the first time. I was in
fifth grade.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
And these are things that I'm not proud of. I
don't speak on these things. I don't want to act
like this is cool. It's just all I knew.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
But you know, I just got to tell your story.
I mean, listen, That's how people learn.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
That's how people learn from it when you letting everybody
know what time it is as it pertains to yourself.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And what you at to and doing.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Absolutely, And I broken the homes, I've broken the cars.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
I've done a lot of I think when I was
thirteen years old out of misdemeanor, I moved to Florida.
That I got I was dealing in theft, and I
got the juvenile delinquent program and all this stuff and
whatever whatever. So you know, I was the baby brother.
It was a lot of us in the household. It
was five of us in the house and my mother,
you know, she was probably making the thirty thousand dollars
(19:56):
salary and take care of all five of us, plus
my grandma who didn't speak a linak of English.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
So and them, you know, being fresh off to both
of the Haiti, they never really thought about.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
They didn't have the knowledge and understanding to be like,
you know, let me make sure my kids could fit
into school, let me make sure, let me check on them,
how their days going, Hot, just going. So it's not
like we had the latest clothes and the latest things.
So we had to find a way to make ends.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Me Otherwise we're getting bullied in school.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
Then you start fighting and you get suspended and your
parents beat your ass because they don't understand what's really
going on.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
So we had to learn how to hustle.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
And my oldest brother, he he was my father. Basically,
he was all our dads for a large part of
our life, my dad was around.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
He definitely was coming in out, but because of their dispute,
you know, it was never both from in the household,
and I think we suffered a lot from that.
Speaker 6 (20:44):
But thank god, when I was thirteen, when I started
getting in real trouble, my dad pulled me and my
other brother, we were the two youngest, decided to live
with him and his new family.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
And then that's when my life really changed.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
I went to a predominantly white high school, and I
just started seeing kids living and maneuvering through life in
a different way, and I was like, oh my god,
you don't got to do this. But in the beginning
of my life, it was very rough. It was all
about we looked up to all the rappers, we looked
up to all.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
The gangsters, and and that persona is what I wanted
to be.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
And that's what made me understand the influence that we
have as entertainers, as ball players, as musicians.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Ask what everyone to call it.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
It's like, there's some kids in at home that's probably
going to watch this interview be like, yo, it's cool
to just be.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
You know, a young black male, and you're.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
Preaching something that we don't hear too off because we
don't think it's cool.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
We don't think that's not what the girls like. The
girls like the ball as, the girls like this, this
and that. So you know, I fell victim of that
system for a while.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
But I started seeing as I started getting older and
older in high school, I started watching how I was treated.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
You know. I remember one time I was telling them
my boy and I was like, I'm like, brand shut up,
you nigga, You weak as hell. And then this white
girl was like, you it's your while you were possibly
are e and like the class like started laughing at me.
Speaker 6 (21:59):
And I was just like, I said, big, I said,
this is how vernacular where I come from. You know
what I'm saying. It's just like and you guys love
it so much. That's why you're singing and dancing all
our music. I'm not speaking was properly. In fact, I
speak multiple languages. You only just stuck with your limited
language English, right right, But that was so offensive, and
I realized people really judge out intelligence.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Based off hoblic speak. And a lot of times when
we're watching interviews.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
And interviews that goes the most viral oftentimes is an
interview with somebody that one of us that's struggling to
articulate ourselves.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
And when you have.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
Europeans and different white people that never got so close
in proximity with black people, they have this preconceived notion
of us that we're ignorant, you know, they start looking
at us the way you know, social Darwinism design it
that we're biologically inferior to them, and I was just like, nah,
it's just fucked up.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
So I was like, I don't like what they're doing
to me. You know.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
And then I'm talking to my brothers and I'm watching
the streets just fucked them up.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
Over and over and over and over and over. And
my other brother, my second oldest brother, David, this guy
to him. He came down and he was like, I'm
gonna go to college. I'm trying to do the right thing.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
And he started picking up books and reading books, and
we were fascinating with Tupac, and we was like, you know,
when Tupac was incarcerated, he was reading a lot.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
So he started reading a lot. And I was like, yo,
it's my older brother reading.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
It's making he he's making it look cool. So I
just started reading. And I remember I read this thing.
I was like, they used to say, if you want
to hire something of a black man, put in a book.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
So I was just like, I'm like, let me all
the time.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
Yeah, let me put this ball down, let me put
this down, let me put like and then I just
started getting so effatuated, infatuated and and just in all
by the knowledge that I never had access to.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
I was like, oh my god, this is insane. And
I'm not the only one you know what I'm saying.
So I started reading, thinking grow Rich.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
I Winning the Devil by Napoleon Hill, You're bad Ass
by Jensen Cerro, The Science of Getting Rich Rich that
poor Dad on the list could just go on and
on and on and on and on.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
So I started, I'm reading.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
All these books and I'm just like, Yo, niggas don't
know about this, Like we just don't because it's painted
at if it's not cool like the smart one on TV.
You know what I'm saying, get made fun of, get
smacked in the head. It's that, and it's the athletes.
O's wrong against athletes. But it's just like it's like,
I think with.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
More than that. You know what I'm saying, And because
of what's being.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
Portrayed, it's real dangerous because it's affecting us at such
a mass level.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know what I'm saying, That's what people got, That's
what the youngsters are in pursuit of. And if you
don't get that, you don't you like, what the hell
else is worth it? That's really what it's about. But
I want to transition from this. I want you to
state it because one of the most fascinating in my career,
one of the most fascinating interviews I've ever done. Was
sitting down with fifty cent. I could not believe how
brilliant this brother was.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I knew he was smart, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I know he's small, but when I sat down with him,
I mean, you, you're sitting down in front of somebody,
and you realize how ignorant your ass really is when
you sit next to somebody like him. This brother is
on another level. Fifty cents, smart as hell. I'm thinking
about him, I'm thinking about somebody like l Lah Anthony.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Who I I've known for years.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Obviously, you know Carmelo Anthey is one of my brothers.
I love him to death, and I know Lala obviously
through him. But I look at all the things that
she's trying to do off the set, outside of the business,
but using her cash here and her influence to assist
in addressing recidivism in our prison systems and other things
as well.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
She's phenomenal. What is it like working with those two?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
What have those two specifically been able to do for you?
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Wow, that's a great question.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Shout out to fifty and La La La La is
great and she's a whatever I want to like to
have a question about something.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
She's always makes herself available or call me back in
just drop chams and fifty. This guy, when he's talking,
it's like I be like, when I talk on the
phone with him, I have my.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Phone out and I'm just taking notes because he is
he is truly one of the most brilliant human beings
I've ever met in my life. And to be working
with him this close is insane.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I remember we were doing an interview and this.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Reporter she said, well, how do you feel that you're
perpetuating the violencing in your community that you're trying to
do XYZ and fifty It was just like, well, when
you watch a horror film, when you watch a slasher
film like the Stream series or whatever or CSI mim
or whatever it is, do you think now know how
to stab someone thirty times and get away with it?
Speaker 5 (26:27):
Like? You don't do that? So why are you looking
at our.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
Material and you're judging it a certain standard that you
don't use to judge that.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
But fifty is.
Speaker 6 (26:37):
He is a phenomenon. And just watching how he does business,
how he maneuvers, how he just understands just certain small
things in business and how to go how to have
longevity in his game, it's it's insane. And the way
he gives back what I think one of the biggest
things I learned about from fifty is him giving back
(27:00):
and spreading the wealth and spreading the love. You know,
when I first had a conversation that he said, I
was like, man, I'm a huge fan. It's just so
crazy to be a part of his journey and working
with you. And he said, isn't it crazy that you're
helping it take.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
My career on the next level now? And I was
just like, damn.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
He's so humble and despite what people see when he's
joking around on social media, it's complete opposite.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
He's all business and when it comes to business, he's
all business and he's brilliant that he's brilliant at own business.
Speaker 6 (27:27):
Yes sir, Yes, sir. And he's just teaching. He was
teaching us the art and the one I was able.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
To receive it.
Speaker 6 (27:33):
Of giving back and helping, like this is how you
stay around forever. You know that there's an art, there's
universal laws in giving.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
You get what you give. It's it's a real thing.
And then the way he helps the community out and
look out for his people, it's brilliant.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Lallah it's like her activism in the mental health space
prison reform.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
I think it's brilliant, and me and her we've been
talking about doing work together because.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
It's very unfortunate the people she's dealing with. You know,
it's small little emotional choices.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
That they didn't even know they could potentially.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
Control that that took five seconds and it's costing them
fifty years of their lives. And so what she's doing
in that space is inspiring. So it's great to be
around brothers and sisters that are really you know that's
much older than I am, and they're still influential in
the space.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
And they're doing that it only it puts a fire
on my back, and it just makes you just want
to keep going.
Speaker 6 (28:26):
So what when I am in their age, you know
I'm able to just you know, just just be a
forced r there as.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
An aside, on a softer note, Da Vinci, you do
understand that there's a whole bunch of.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
People jealous of you, you know, because you acting with
La Lah and you you do understand, you understand, I
mean you understand that you understand that jealousy of it.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
You do understand that, right, You're right, right, real.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I'm just I'm just gonna leave it at that lot
because she's my Girlsy's my friends.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I ain't gonna say more than that, but damn it,
everybody's jealous of the Vinchi. Let's get that out the way.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Just get it out the way, all right now before
I let you get on out of here.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Where do you go from here?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I mean you go again season four BMF, we know
that's forthcoming. As you look down the line, as you
as you look at your career, I'm looking at partnerships
you've already got with some major corporations.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I'm looking at how you know you are. Surgeon General
Vice Admiral VIVEC.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Murphy, he was actually a guest on this show talking
about mental health many months ago.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yes, he has been on the Stephen A. Smith Show.
I'm a fan of his as well. And I know
there's a lot of things that you know you've been
talking about it. But you know this mental health awareness
or an awareness tour being launched at HBCUs is that trip.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
Absolutely, We're definitely doing it out of a tour this year,
probably when I finished filming, but yeah, I played on
in about fifteen twenty campuses and just just running it
back because I've.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Watched how effective it was or for myself and people,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (29:58):
So I definitely feel that those conversations need to be had,
and it just allowed people to have that space at
home too to start this dialogue.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
And that's the biggest thing. We just need to start
the dialogue and just keep going.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Have you been to a breakfast club at all with
Charlamagne of God because he talks about he talks about.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Mental health awareness.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
He's real serious about it and a kind of effect
it had on him if you talked to.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Him about it.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
I actually have not talked about Charlemagne yet, right, I've
seen things about him, so I can't wait.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
To sit next to him. You know, this interview with
you and Charlemagne.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
Is probably my two interviews that I'm like, yeah, I
cannot not to say any of the other videos, even
interviews or not, but.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
Those are two interviews and I'm like, oh, yeah, I
got to.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
You got I'm gonna throw something your way. Charlamagne to
God breakfast club. That's definitely an interview you should do
as well. Maurice Bernard State of Mind mental Health. He's
the star and the soap opera General Hospital. I ain't
no damn actor like you, Okay, damn it. I ain't
technic act lessons all right, but I actually act on
the dag on soap opera.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
But he's the star of the show and he's got
a big pot.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I've cast strictly about mental health because he's been struggling
with bipolar disorder for many years. So those two alone,
I think, as you talk about the subject, can you
tackle it? Moving forward, You're going to be surprised at
the kind of receptive and how diversified that audience is
going to be, and how you're going to attract even
more people, believe it or not, I think that's gonna happen,
and I can't wait to see you do something like
(31:21):
that before I let you get on, no question, before
I let you go, you know, in terms of your
acting career and what have you?
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Anything anything else on the horizon.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
I definitely have a movie coming out that I can't
talk about it, Okay, I started doing press.
Speaker 6 (31:36):
I'm definitely gonna hit more projects, more TV shows.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
It's just the beginning, you know. So that's good, and.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
I'm definitely working on my own projects as well, producing
it right in my own projects and like the psychological
filling space.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
So I'm really excited about that. And yeah, man, and
I've also.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Started doing stand up for fun was like therapy for me,
and now I'm starting to, you know, grow a real
love for it. So i might be hearing the stage
showing another small little comedy tour, you know, and I'm
gonna see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
When you run across folks in the street, what do
they say to you about BMF?
Speaker 5 (32:14):
They love it.
Speaker 6 (32:14):
They start they start incriminating themselves and telling themselves, telling
on themselves.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
Look, brother, I have nothing to do with that. Telling
your ass real quick because I'm not trying to go
to prison. But I appreciate the love. And sometimes you know.
Speaker 6 (32:28):
They'll they'll talk about my eye or some people like,
you know, I'll be gangsters coming up, boy, like All
American and all.
Speaker 5 (32:35):
The other shows, who was just girls get a picture,
But now I'm gangst like real street nigga that's coming up, Like, oh,
let me get it. But like the way they come
up on you, yeah, like yo, what's about?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
And then you see and then you see that they
show you love and you go on like.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
This, Well, I better show it back.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I better sho.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
I better show it back. I don't need to be
pushing them away and the whole bit.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
But I'm gonna tell you something.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
As a cat that was that was raised the Hollis Queens,
New York, I've always said this about a whole bunch
of hardcore cats from the streets. What I think one
of the biggest messages that needs to be learned about
them is that when you're not of that ilk and
you don't try to act like that, they respect you
a hell of a lot more.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Than if you act like you are from that When
they know you not, those are the ones they really
want to get after.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
When they know you ain't supposed to be You ain't
about this life. You got no business trying to be
about this life. What the hell your punk ass trying
to do be a.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Part of this life? You should know better. That pisses
them off? Do they tell you that?
Speaker 5 (33:36):
Very true?
Speaker 6 (33:37):
That's real, one hundred percent. When cats are faking and
they trying to wrent being math, they're.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
Really not being math or whatever.
Speaker 6 (33:43):
Like I'll let people know straight up, I'm like, bro,
that's being bro. I booked the roll, I have no
affiliations in this. They like blood that ship nigga.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
I'd be like, all right, brother, appreciate that, you know,
but uh but yeah, but you're right. When they when
they can smell the phoniness, that's when they're gonna fuck with.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
That's when they're gonna rob you. Just cluse because they
just be like, yeah, man, you're not really about this.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
No question.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Listen, man, I'm proud of you, happy for you. Continued
success along the way you and damn good company with
Fiddy and Lilaih and the whole crew.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Keep doing what you're doing, keep.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Doing big things. Man.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
This is the first time we've spoken, but I suspect
it will not be the last. All the best of
you always here for you if you need my my brother.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
You take care of yourself.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
Yes, sir, I appreciate you. Thank you so much for
an interview.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
All right, no problem.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
The one and only Da Vinci right here with Steven
A or the Steph N. Smith Show over the digital
airways with YouTube. Brother got skills. Brother's got a lot
of skills and obviously a conscientious observer. Hearts in the
right place doing some big things, particularly in the mental
health Field.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
We love that, make no mistake about it. I can't
thank him enough. My thanks to the one and only
Da Vinci the Talented Brother. A reminder, Season three A
Black Mafia Family is now airing on Stars. Season four
has already been green lit. Lot of bright stuff going
(35:01):
on in that man's future, and clearly it's well deserved.
It always is for somebody who's talented in their heart's
in the right place. That would be Da Vinci himself.
Thanks again for tuning in to the special edition of
The Stephen A.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Smith Show. See you tomorrow. Until then, be some love.
What's up, everybody. Welcome to the special edition of The
Stephen A.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Smith Show, coming at you over the digital airways of YouTube.
You know, a lot of times when we hear about
mental health, it's not something in the past that I've
been too keen on embracing as a topic as a
person that's been inundated in the world of sports for
(00:40):
so many years, spanning three decades now. I've always been
of the mindset that when it comes to mental health,
that's not something that you needed to be overly concerned
about because you looked at it from a simplistic standpoint, thinking.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
That, hey, to the victor goes to spoils, the.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Person is strong enough, that's got the intestinal fortitude to
wherewithal to withstand and offset and push back adverse circumstances
no matter what came in the direction. That's what separated
the champions from the winnabes. It's a Game seven, it's
the ninth ending of a world series. It's the stage
(01:25):
that is in Super Bowl, it's Wimbledon, it's the Masters.
The list goes on and on, no matter what sport
you picked. As the pressure mounted, as prime time arrived,
as the moment presented itself to show whether or not
you had whatever that oof was inside of you to
(01:48):
propel you the heights unseen by many, whether you were
gonna be that next person, or whether or not you
were somebody who was gonna will beneath the pressure.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
As sports people, that's how we think.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
We think along those lines in its very simplistic form,
because we said, hey, that's either an advantage or disadvantage
for a competitor, so much so that we even applied
that in some instances when it came to weed marijuana use,
because if it calms your nerves, it allows you to
(02:27):
fend off anxiety and nervousness, and as a result, could
put you in a position where, damn it, it could be
perceived as a performance and answer because your nerves were
calm and as a result, you didn't have to deal
with all of the nervousness that comes.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
With pressurized situations.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
But then you hear about mental health and some of
its remnants, some of the increments of it all, how
it's plagued one individual after another to such a degree
it's assisted in people willing to harm themselves because you
feel like he has lost chords, that life ends now
that there is no tomorrow. Darkness engulfs you and you
(03:11):
don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
So as a result of that reality.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
That epiphany, I have to change my thinking, dig a
little bit deeper into this subject, and I had to
make sure I connected with those who hold such issues
near and dear to their heart. My next guest is
one of those people. He's acted on the shows like
Grownish and All American, currently stars in fifty Cents produced
(03:37):
drama BMF Black Mafia Family. The star series now enters
his third season. He's done a lot of great, great things,
and he continues to do a lot of great great things.
He's a young dude, younger than thirty years of age,
but he doesn't care because he believes he has an
awful lot to offer this world that extends far beyond
(04:00):
his ability to act. While those cameras are rolling, his
name is Da Vinci. That is what he is known as,
and we're about to find out why that is. Because
he's an artist in a lot of different ways, affecting.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
A lot of different lives.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Lives and if you don't believe me, take a look
at this for a second.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Damn Ain't that some shit, tu one, That's all that matters.
All this time, I've been trying to outshine Meech and
prove that everyone what kind of man and leader I
could be. But the truth is the Nigga Meech is
always gonna be the face of being math.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
I'm a faver being in shadows. We me stop looking
at it as a weakness.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
Turn it into a stress, like moving in shadows, exactly
that I'll never see you coming.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
He's the man right now, make no mistake about it,
and we're about to find out one of the reasons
why DaVinci up next right here on the stephen Ate
Smith Show can't wait for this. Oh my lord, have
(05:17):
you been watching the NBA players, because you know I have,
and yes they've been fantastic, make no mistake about it.
But do you know what else makes watching them even
more exciting, even more scintillating?
Speaker 3 (05:26):
Prize Pects. Of course, that's what.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
The hell I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
In case you didn't know you didn't know this, Prizepects
is a daily fantasy ad where you can select two
or more of your favorite players and then pick more
or less on their projected stats for the game. So
with a big event happening each and every single night.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Prospects is here to help.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
You cashing on all that real time action. I make
my picks every night in less than sixty seconds. Then
I sit back, I watch, and I wait for the cash.
But prize picks doesn't stop at the NBA. Oh No,
you could choose from a myriad of sports, the WNBA,
Major League Baseball, National Hockey League, and everything in between.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
To get this, Prospects.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Will match your first depositive up to one hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (06:05):
You heard me right. Go to Prospects dot.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
Com and use code SAS. That's my initials of.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Course, for a first depositive match of up to one
hundred dollars, that's SAS. When you go to Prospects dot
com and use the promo code pickball, pick less, It's
really really that easy. My next guest has had starring
roles on shows like Grownish, All American, and currently stars
in the fifty cent produced drama BMF The Stars, series
(06:32):
now enters its third season. He's an actor who's also
a mental health activist on a mission to help as
many people as he possibly can. The man himself, the
one and only Da Vinci joins the Stephen A.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Smith Show. What's up Big Time? How are you man?
How's everything?
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Hey? Brother, I can't complain. It's a pleasure to be
sharing the stage or this zoom with you right now.
I'm honored. I feel good.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
Man, How a man please?
Speaker 2 (06:56):
The honor is all mine. I'm so proud of the
work that you're doing right now. You're really really making
some noise in this business. Major prompts and congratulations to you.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
How are you feeling.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
About where you are at this point in time in
your career with some of the things that have been
happening for you.
Speaker 5 (07:12):
Well, that's a great point. That's a great question. The
way I feel right now in my career, I feel
like I'm in.
Speaker 6 (07:21):
A space now to where I've realized I have influence.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
I've realized I have.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
An audience, and I think I need I feel obliged
to influence people in the right direction. Given that you know,
I'm in my twenties and a lot of people from
teams to fifty.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
Sixty seven year olds know who I am.
Speaker 6 (07:41):
It's like, I feel like I need to produce something
that gives people, you know, meaning. I think there's a
lot of craziness that's going on in the world right now,
and I just don't want to perpetuate certain stigmas that
that we are forced that was forced upon us and
a lot of us perpetually unknowingly.
Speaker 5 (08:01):
But I'd rather try to eradicate.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Them as much as possible, because being an entertainer, it's like,
if you play your cards right, you're almost like a
police officer in a way or something like you could
you could really affect.
Speaker 5 (08:14):
People on a level that that, you know.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
Just just the system can't, you know, or or other
systems can't. So I just I told God, you know,
if you ever blessed me to be in a position
like this, I'm going to extend the.
Speaker 5 (08:27):
Ladder and I'm going to try to help as many
people as it possibly can, you know. So I feel
like I'm in a place that I have that influence now.
So and given where I come from.
Speaker 7 (08:35):
And the stuff that I deubled with my brothers and
my family and cousins, I'm like, you know what, I
know a lot of people go through this, So I'm
just gonna start speaking on mental health and issues related
to it.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well, you know you talked about you know, you alluded
to you being in your twenties. We know better than
the ass ladies their age, but damn it, as men,
we do it with each other.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
How old are you? We're to tell all these how old.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Are you, my brother?
Speaker 3 (08:57):
How old are you?
Speaker 5 (08:58):
Twenty seven?
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Twenty seven years of age?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
And you talked about avoiding perpetuating stigmas or trying to
work to eradicate those things specifically, what stigmas are you
talking about that you're working to eradicate the specific.
Speaker 6 (09:10):
I think mental health A lot of times in the
black community, there's a lot of stigmas around mental health.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
There's a lot of.
Speaker 6 (09:19):
You know, because we don't have the access and the
proper education to mental health.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
We addresses as if it's this taboo.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
Thing, or it's like, oh, you're slow, or you're crazy,
or they throw these different types of terminologies towards ends
only because we don't know, we don't have educations that
our parents were busy meeting our basic needs of survival
and that's all they knew, but they never met the
emotional need of a child.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Now I'm not saying.
Speaker 6 (09:41):
That that, you know, you got to raise your kid
on a certain level to make them just so emotional,
but I think there's a certain level of emotional awareness
that was never there.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
For black people, given that we're a byproduct of I mean,
the most successful human.
Speaker 6 (09:59):
Trafficking the world probably black people. You know what I'm saying,
were brought from another country, brought here and was just
forced to work, work, work, work, work, and of course
when they freed us, it's like, there's no way, we're
just going to have all our stuff together.
Speaker 5 (10:11):
Right. So when you put that in perspective and really
think about it, you're like, oh my god. You know
all these different activists and one of my favorites there
was w Ev du Bois.
Speaker 6 (10:22):
And he was talking about that the two souls, the
two thoughts and two.
Speaker 5 (10:26):
Bodies of the Africa, the Negro African American in this country.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
And the more I learned about it, I was like,
oh my god, Like people need to stop seeing mental
health as this taboo thing. I look at mental health
now like physical health. The more you work out and
if you have a workout plan or a diet plant,
it just makes it easy to get through everyday life.
If you're walking up the stairs, I'm going to the
NBA game, going to the football game, I can maneuver easy,
I can grab something, I can do this and that
(10:50):
without being out of breath. So I felt that I
need to explain it and revamp it in a different way.
Speaker 5 (10:57):
Like bro, when you focus on your mental health, it
isn't mean that you're crazy.
Speaker 6 (11:01):
It prevents you from having life threaten and mental illness
because you can tap into different type of psychosist like
a schizophrenia, bipolar, or whatever the case may be. Because
all we're doing in our community especially is where.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
Because I grew up playing sports, I played.
Speaker 6 (11:16):
Sports, played basketball, football, baseball, band.
Speaker 5 (11:19):
Tracked and all that stuff.
Speaker 6 (11:21):
And you know, that's all we're focused on because that's
what the media is teaching us to just really just
hone in on that. But when you really start to
give think about our history, think about where we're going,
thinking about our brain. Why do we think the way
we think? So what I started doing, I started I
started breaking down the psychology of the human being and
(11:44):
how that works and why black people do the things
that we do. Why do we think it's okay to
do this, and why do we think it's bad to
educate ourselves? And then while I started realizing all that,
it was our programming. So I was like, oh my god, like,
we need to really just break this down.
Speaker 5 (11:59):
And the way I break it. When I went on
a tour last year, which I'm gonna do another one.
Speaker 6 (12:04):
Shout out to McDonald's and Capital one Is and all
those great brands that sponsored me on that, I was
just telling them, like, we have to create, we have
to implement routines daily to rewire our brain because what
happens is I was listening to this author and he said,
we do not know how to manage our biochemistry properly
(12:27):
because we have less physical activity than we did back
in the day. Meaning so if you and I came
from the same tribe, me, me and.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
You Steven, like we got to wake up.
Speaker 6 (12:36):
We gotta go thirty miles down the street, down in
the street in the woods to grab buckets of water
and bring it back and forthfile family and do that.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
All that physical labor that exercise.
Speaker 6 (12:47):
Mentally, it's so stimulating in a brain that it's like, Yo,
we're chilling. We don't have time and stress, we don't
have jobs to other words like niggas ain't shit.
Speaker 5 (12:56):
I don't know. I'm sorry, I don't know, but we
don't have time to utter these type of words.
Speaker 6 (13:01):
But it's like, because we have mastered the basic needs
of survival, we have so much downtime. And the downtime
is only making a program insteadying more.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
And more and more and more and more in our brain.
Speaker 6 (13:13):
So I urge people to start, you know, meditating, start
reading books, start learning how their brain works. Stop stop
like start limiting the bs on social media that you're
taking in.
Speaker 5 (13:25):
And I'm going. I'm going and going right now, so
you can stop me whateveryone.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
I'm not going to stop you here from this standpoint,
I want to get I want to I want to
continue talking about this, but I want to bring it
full circle. And the first thing to do is to
start off because listen, here's the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
When we look at the show bmf.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Right, it's highly successful show. You guys have done, y'all things.
Season three aired already, obviously, season fours already been greenleit,
so major major props to y'all. My man fifty cent,
who's doing great, great things in Hollywood as a producer.
His record, his resume speaks for itself. You know how
I feel about lo La Anthony. She's been a friend
of mine for years, your love interest on the show.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
You know how I feel about Laala. Everybody love Lalla.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Here's the thing when we talk about when we talk
about BMF, let's remind our audience. It chronicles the true
story of the Funnery Brothers and their rise of Detroit
in the late nineteen eighties. Is one of the nature's
most influential drug dealing crime families. You just talked about
making sure to eradicate stereotypes and things of that nature.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
Knowing the role that you play in.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
This show, Okay, Southwest t Flinnery, everybody knows that everybody
knows who you are. When you look at it from
that perspective, how challenging is it for you to be
on this show playing this role when you know you
have the agenda and the objective to eradicate stereotypes, provoke change,
et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
These are the kind of things that you're alluding to.
Does that is that a conflict for you?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Or does that assist and you ultimately accomplishing what you're
aiming to accomplish?
Speaker 6 (14:54):
Right with great question, And it's not a conflict at all,
Contrary to.
Speaker 5 (14:59):
What many people thinking.
Speaker 6 (15:00):
Their only reason why it's out of conflict is because
I'm telling a story right about two brothers who are
victims of one of the most successful human trafficking in
the world, that were dropped into this country that didn't
have a pop the piston.
Speaker 5 (15:12):
On a window to throw it out of them.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
And this is what they were able to do. They
formed a union and able to amass so much money,
and in doing that, it's like, you got to ask yourself,
how did they get access to the drugs? How did
they get access to all these the weapons? How did
they get access to whatever they had accesses? Niggas ain't
bringing that in? Who's bringing that in the country. There
(15:37):
was a submarine that would stopped before that had tons
of cocaine in.
Speaker 5 (15:40):
It, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (15:41):
And I think, so there's not a dilemma of me
telling the story because one is a true story.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
And I'm just like, I'm showing you guys that we're
a byproduct of this.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
This is where we come from, but we don't have
to stay here, you know what I'm saying. So it's
just like if these brothers had the same type of
access to let's say, the right brothers.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
Or steve jobs or anything. I think these.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
Brothers could have could have been a piece of metal
and say, look, let's make an airplane if they had
the access to aero dynamics, that they knew certain laws.
Speaker 5 (16:09):
But the thing is because we were deprived certain.
Speaker 6 (16:13):
Knowledge intentionally, you know what I'm saying, don't teach us
how to read, don't tease how to ask ourself. It's
like to see what they were able to amass in that,
I think you see the brilliance in them, and it
was so successful that it's like, even though they were incarcerated,
they served their time, meets you still incarcerated, It's like,
but the influence of what they did is still providing
(16:34):
jobs to this day. So I think I think it
depends on how you look at it. That the reason
why his son, me and the cast, the crew and
like have jobs in this moment right now is because
of what these brothers did. Because I would honestly say,
I don't think they had a choice. I think I
think it's very limited to what a black male could probably.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
Do, especially in that time.
Speaker 6 (16:54):
Now it's been getting better, like for sure, but it's
like when you look at numbers athletes, le's than one
percent athletes make it, right, It's like that's like that's
a new on a haystack.
Speaker 5 (17:04):
Being a rapper, that's the same thing. So it's just
like it's like there's.
Speaker 6 (17:08):
Only a certain level of a number of slots that
it's available.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
So just to see what they were.
Speaker 6 (17:14):
Able to do and just you know, like that that
organization is like wow, wow, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (17:19):
So so I think I see the brilliance.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
In it and and and seeing that, and I get
posed this question a lot, which is which is a
great question. But this is why I advocate so hard
on the mental health because these two brothers, they were
in a shitty environment. It's like there wasn't a terrible environment.
I don't think many people would have escaped that environment.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
So you want basically to use this as an opportunity
to highlight not just mental health, but why mental health
is necessary in the conditions that make it necessary. Because
if these brothers weren't putting these positions where they felt
that there was no other means, no other.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Way out per se to acquired a.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Kind of affluence, the kind of lifestyle that they covered
it in the spot, all right, for you know, what
this might not have happened, is that.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
Basically what you're saying.
Speaker 5 (18:05):
Absolutely okay.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
So with that being said, I ask you this talk
to me about your upbringing and how that played a
role in it. Because from my from my research, you
had Asian upbringing. Obviously parents, you know, divorced, financial struggles.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
Things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
What would you like to say to the audience about
your upbringing and some of the things you experienced and
how it it formulated and framed who you are today
and who you hope to be as time moves on.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
So my upbringing, I grew up in poverty. I didn't
know I was poor. I should have known by you know,
living down the streets from the project, but and I
had it as is home that you know.
Speaker 6 (18:42):
It was a hole in the kitchen floor and we
moved in it from Brooklyn, New Jersey, and we're back
and forth a lot, and there's a lot of moving.
It's your consciousness at that age, you can't even understand
what's going on. But I've seen a lot of struggle.
I've seen a lot of pain. I've seen a lot of.
Speaker 5 (18:59):
Suffering in my life.
Speaker 6 (19:02):
And I was in my community influenced me so heavily
that you know, I became a part of it.
Speaker 5 (19:09):
I started selling drugs the first time. I was in
fifth grade.
Speaker 6 (19:15):
And these are things that I'm not proud of. I
don't speak on these things. I don't want to act
like this is cool. It's just all I knew.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
But you know, I just got to tell your story.
I mean, listen, That's how people learn.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
That's how people learn from it when you letting everybody
know what time it is as it pertains to yourself.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
And what you at to and doing.
Speaker 5 (19:31):
Absolutely, And I broken the homes, I've broken the cars.
Speaker 6 (19:34):
I've done a lot of I think when I was
thirteen years old out of misdemeanor, I moved to Florida.
That I got I was dealing in theft, and I
got the juvenile delinquent program and all this stuff and
whatever whatever. So you know, I was the baby brother.
It was a lot of us in the household. It
was five of us in the house and my mother,
you know, she was probably making the thirty thousand dollars
(19:56):
salary and take care of all five of us, plus
my grandma who didn't speak a linak of English.
Speaker 5 (20:00):
So and them, you know, being fresh off to both
of the Haiti, they never really thought about.
Speaker 6 (20:05):
They didn't have the knowledge and understanding to be like,
you know, let me make sure my kids could fit
into school, let me make sure, let me check on them,
how their days going, Hot, just going. So it's not
like we had the latest clothes and the latest things.
So we had to find a way to make ends.
Speaker 5 (20:19):
Me Otherwise we're getting bullied in school.
Speaker 6 (20:21):
Then you start fighting and you get suspended and your
parents beat your ass because they don't understand what's really
going on.
Speaker 5 (20:26):
So we had to learn how to hustle.
Speaker 6 (20:29):
And my oldest brother, he he was my father. Basically,
he was all our dads for a large part of
our life, my dad was around.
Speaker 5 (20:37):
He definitely was coming in out, but because of their dispute,
you know, it was never both from in the household,
and I think we suffered a lot from that.
Speaker 6 (20:44):
But thank god, when I was thirteen, when I started
getting in real trouble, my dad pulled me and my
other brother, we were the two youngest, decided to live
with him and his new family.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
And then that's when my life really changed.
Speaker 6 (20:55):
I went to a predominantly white high school, and I
just started seeing kids living and maneuvering through life in
a different way, and I was like, oh my god,
you don't got to do this. But in the beginning
of my life, it was very rough. It was all
about we looked up to all the rappers, we looked
up to all.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
The gangsters, and and that persona is what I wanted
to be.
Speaker 6 (21:14):
And that's what made me understand the influence that we
have as entertainers, as ball players, as musicians.
Speaker 5 (21:20):
Ask what everyone to call it.
Speaker 6 (21:22):
It's like, there's some kids in at home that's probably
going to watch this interview be like, yo, it's cool
to just be.
Speaker 5 (21:28):
You know, a young black male, and you're.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
Preaching something that we don't hear too off because we
don't think it's cool.
Speaker 5 (21:33):
We don't think that's not what the girls like. The
girls like the ball as, the girls like this, this
and that. So you know, I fell victim of that
system for a while.
Speaker 6 (21:40):
But I started seeing as I started getting older and
older in high school, I started watching how I was treated.
Speaker 5 (21:47):
You know. I remember one time I was telling them
my boy and I was like, I'm like, brand shut up,
you nigga, You weak as hell. And then this white
girl was like, you it's your while you were possibly
are e and like the class like started laughing at me.
Speaker 6 (21:59):
And I was just like, I said, big, I said,
this is how vernacular where I come from. You know
what I'm saying. It's just like and you guys love
it so much. That's why you're singing and dancing all
our music. I'm not speaking was properly. In fact, I
speak multiple languages. You only just stuck with your limited
language English, right right, But that was so offensive, and
I realized people really judge out intelligence.
Speaker 5 (22:21):
Based off hoblic speak. And a lot of times when
we're watching interviews.
Speaker 6 (22:24):
And interviews that goes the most viral oftentimes is an
interview with somebody that one of us that's struggling to
articulate ourselves.
Speaker 5 (22:31):
And when you have.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
Europeans and different white people that never got so close
in proximity with black people, they have this preconceived notion
of us that we're ignorant, you know, they start looking
at us the way you know, social Darwinism design it
that we're biologically inferior to them, and I was just like, nah,
it's just fucked up.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
So I was like, I don't like what they're doing
to me. You know.
Speaker 6 (22:49):
And then I'm talking to my brothers and I'm watching
the streets just fucked them up.
Speaker 5 (22:52):
Over and over and over and over and over. And
my other brother, my second oldest brother, David, this guy
to him. He came down and he was like, I'm
gonna go to college. I'm trying to do the right thing.
Speaker 6 (23:02):
And he started picking up books and reading books, and
we were fascinating with Tupac, and we was like, you know,
when Tupac was incarcerated, he was reading a lot.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
So he started reading a lot. And I was like, yo,
it's my older brother reading.
Speaker 6 (23:12):
It's making he he's making it look cool. So I
just started reading. And I remember I read this thing.
I was like, they used to say, if you want
to hire something of a black man, put in a book.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
So I was just like, I'm like, let me all
the time.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
Yeah, let me put this ball down, let me put
this down, let me put like and then I just
started getting so effatuated, infatuated and and just in all
by the knowledge that I never had access to.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
I was like, oh my god, this is insane. And
I'm not the only one you know what I'm saying.
So I started reading, thinking grow Rich.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
I Winning the Devil by Napoleon Hill, You're bad Ass
by Jensen Cerro, The Science of Getting Rich Rich that
poor Dad on the list could just go on and
on and on and on and on.
Speaker 5 (23:51):
So I started, I'm reading.
Speaker 6 (23:52):
All these books and I'm just like, Yo, niggas don't
know about this, Like we just don't because it's painted
at if it's not cool like the smart one on TV.
You know what I'm saying, get made fun of, get
smacked in the head. It's that, and it's the athletes.
O's wrong against athletes. But it's just like it's like,
I think with.
Speaker 5 (24:09):
More than that. You know what I'm saying, And because
of what's being.
Speaker 6 (24:13):
Portrayed, it's real dangerous because it's affecting us at such
a mass level.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
You know what I'm saying, That's what people got, That's
what the youngsters are in pursuit of. And if you
don't get that, you don't you like, what the hell
else is worth it? That's really what it's about. But
I want to transition from this. I want you to
state it because one of the most fascinating in my career,
one of the most fascinating interviews I've ever done. Was
sitting down with fifty cent. I could not believe how
brilliant this brother was.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
I knew he was smart, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
I know he's small, but when I sat down with him,
I mean, you, you're sitting down in front of somebody,
and you realize how ignorant your ass really is when
you sit next to somebody like him. This brother is
on another level. Fifty cents, smart as hell. I'm thinking
about him, I'm thinking about somebody like l Lah Anthony.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Who I I've known for years.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
Obviously, you know Carmelo Anthey is one of my brothers.
I love him to death, and I know Lala obviously
through him. But I look at all the things that
she's trying to do off the set, outside of the business,
but using her cash here and her influence to assist
in addressing recidivism in our prison systems and other things
as well.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
She's phenomenal. What is it like working with those two?
Speaker 2 (25:26):
What have those two specifically been able to do for you?
Speaker 5 (25:31):
Wow, that's a great question.
Speaker 6 (25:33):
Shout out to fifty and La La La La is
great and she's a whatever I want to like to
have a question about something.
Speaker 5 (25:41):
She's always makes herself available or call me back in
just drop chams and fifty. This guy, when he's talking,
it's like I be like, when I talk on the
phone with him, I have my.
Speaker 6 (25:51):
Phone out and I'm just taking notes because he is
he is truly one of the most brilliant human beings
I've ever met in my life. And to be working
with him this close is insane.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I remember we were doing an interview and this.
Speaker 6 (26:04):
Reporter she said, well, how do you feel that you're
perpetuating the violencing in your community that you're trying to
do XYZ and fifty It was just like, well, when
you watch a horror film, when you watch a slasher
film like the Stream series or whatever or CSI mim
or whatever it is, do you think now know how
to stab someone thirty times and get away with it?
Speaker 5 (26:27):
Like? You don't do that? So why are you looking
at our.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
Material and you're judging it a certain standard that you
don't use to judge that.
Speaker 5 (26:34):
But fifty is.
Speaker 6 (26:37):
He is a phenomenon. And just watching how he does business,
how he maneuvers, how he just understands just certain small
things in business and how to go how to have
longevity in his game, it's it's insane. And the way
he gives back what I think one of the biggest
things I learned about from fifty is him giving back
(27:00):
and spreading the wealth and spreading the love. You know,
when I first had a conversation that he said, I
was like, man, I'm a huge fan. It's just so
crazy to be a part of his journey and working
with you. And he said, isn't it crazy that you're
helping it take.
Speaker 5 (27:11):
My career on the next level now? And I was
just like, damn.
Speaker 6 (27:14):
He's so humble and despite what people see when he's
joking around on social media, it's complete opposite.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
He's all business and when it comes to business, he's
all business and he's brilliant that he's brilliant at own business.
Speaker 6 (27:27):
Yes sir, Yes, sir. And he's just teaching. He was
teaching us the art and the one I was able.
Speaker 5 (27:33):
To receive it.
Speaker 6 (27:33):
Of giving back and helping, like this is how you
stay around forever. You know that there's an art, there's
universal laws in giving.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
You get what you give. It's it's a real thing.
And then the way he helps the community out and
look out for his people, it's brilliant.
Speaker 6 (27:48):
Lallah it's like her activism in the mental health space
prison reform.
Speaker 5 (27:53):
I think it's brilliant, and me and her we've been
talking about doing work together because.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
It's very unfortunate the people she's dealing with. You know,
it's small little emotional choices.
Speaker 5 (28:03):
That they didn't even know they could potentially.
Speaker 6 (28:06):
Control that that took five seconds and it's costing them
fifty years of their lives. And so what she's doing
in that space is inspiring. So it's great to be
around brothers and sisters that are really you know that's
much older than I am, and they're still influential in
the space.
Speaker 5 (28:21):
And they're doing that it only it puts a fire
on my back, and it just makes you just want
to keep going.
Speaker 6 (28:26):
So what when I am in their age, you know
I'm able to just you know, just just be a
forced r there as.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
An aside, on a softer note, Da Vinci, you do
understand that there's a whole bunch of.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
People jealous of you, you know, because you acting with
La Lah and you you do understand, you understand, I
mean you understand that you understand that jealousy of it.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
You do understand that, right, You're right, right, real.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
I'm just I'm just gonna leave it at that lot
because she's my Girlsy's my friends.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
I ain't gonna say more than that, but damn it,
everybody's jealous of the Vinchi. Let's get that out the way.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
Just get it out the way, all right now before
I let you get on out of here.
Speaker 3 (29:04):
Where do you go from here?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
I mean you go again season four BMF, we know
that's forthcoming. As you look down the line, as you
as you look at your career, I'm looking at partnerships
you've already got with some major corporations.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
I'm looking at how you know you are. Surgeon General
Vice Admiral VIVEC.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Murphy, he was actually a guest on this show talking
about mental health many months ago.
Speaker 3 (29:25):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yes, he has been on the Stephen A. Smith Show.
I'm a fan of his as well. And I know
there's a lot of things that you know you've been
talking about it. But you know this mental health awareness
or an awareness tour being launched at HBCUs is that trip.
Speaker 6 (29:40):
Absolutely, We're definitely doing it out of a tour this year,
probably when I finished filming, but yeah, I played on
in about fifteen twenty campuses and just just running it
back because I've.
Speaker 5 (29:52):
Watched how effective it was or for myself and people,
you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 6 (29:58):
So I definitely feel that those conversations need to be had,
and it just allowed people to have that space at
home too to start this dialogue.
Speaker 5 (30:06):
And that's the biggest thing. We just need to start
the dialogue and just keep going.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Have you been to a breakfast club at all with
Charlamagne of God because he talks about he talks about.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Mental health awareness.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
He's real serious about it and a kind of effect
it had on him if you talked to.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
Him about it.
Speaker 6 (30:19):
I actually have not talked about Charlemagne yet, right, I've
seen things about him, so I can't wait.
Speaker 5 (30:24):
To sit next to him. You know, this interview with
you and Charlemagne.
Speaker 6 (30:29):
Is probably my two interviews that I'm like, yeah, I
cannot not to say any of the other videos, even
interviews or not, but.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
Those are two interviews and I'm like, oh, yeah, I
got to.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
You got I'm gonna throw something your way. Charlamagne to
God breakfast club. That's definitely an interview you should do
as well. Maurice Bernard State of Mind mental Health. He's
the star and the soap opera General Hospital. I ain't
no damn actor like you, Okay, damn it. I ain't
technic act lessons all right, but I actually act on
the dag on soap opera.
Speaker 3 (30:56):
But he's the star of the show and he's got
a big pot.
Speaker 2 (31:00):
I've cast strictly about mental health because he's been struggling
with bipolar disorder for many years. So those two alone,
I think, as you talk about the subject, can you
tackle it? Moving forward, You're going to be surprised at
the kind of receptive and how diversified that audience is
going to be, and how you're going to attract even
more people, believe it or not, I think that's gonna happen,
and I can't wait to see you do something like
(31:21):
that before I let you get on, no question, before
I let you go, you know, in terms of your
acting career and what have you?
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Anything anything else on the horizon.
Speaker 5 (31:31):
I definitely have a movie coming out that I can't
talk about it, Okay, I started doing press.
Speaker 6 (31:36):
I'm definitely gonna hit more projects, more TV shows.
Speaker 5 (31:40):
It's just the beginning, you know. So that's good, and.
Speaker 6 (31:44):
I'm definitely working on my own projects as well, producing
it right in my own projects and like the psychological
filling space.
Speaker 5 (31:50):
So I'm really excited about that. And yeah, man, and
I've also.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Started doing stand up for fun was like therapy for me,
and now I'm starting to, you know, grow a real
love for it. So i might be hearing the stage
showing another small little comedy tour, you know, and I'm
gonna see how that goes.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
When you run across folks in the street, what do
they say to you about BMF?
Speaker 5 (32:14):
They love it.
Speaker 6 (32:14):
They start they start incriminating themselves and telling themselves, telling
on themselves.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
Look, brother, I have nothing to do with that. Telling
your ass real quick because I'm not trying to go
to prison. But I appreciate the love. And sometimes you know.
Speaker 6 (32:28):
They'll they'll talk about my eye or some people like,
you know, I'll be gangsters coming up, boy, like All
American and all.
Speaker 5 (32:35):
The other shows, who was just girls get a picture,
But now I'm gangst like real street nigga that's coming up, Like, oh,
let me get it. But like the way they come
up on you, yeah, like yo, what's about?
Speaker 2 (32:45):
And then you see and then you see that they
show you love and you go on like.
Speaker 3 (32:48):
This, Well, I better show it back.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
I better sho.
Speaker 3 (32:51):
I better show it back. I don't need to be
pushing them away and the whole bit.
Speaker 1 (32:56):
But I'm gonna tell you something.
Speaker 2 (32:57):
As a cat that was that was raised the Hollis Queens,
New York, I've always said this about a whole bunch
of hardcore cats from the streets. What I think one
of the biggest messages that needs to be learned about
them is that when you're not of that ilk and
you don't try to act like that, they respect you
a hell of a lot more.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Than if you act like you are from that When
they know you not, those are the ones they really
want to get after.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
When they know you ain't supposed to be You ain't
about this life. You got no business trying to be
about this life. What the hell your punk ass trying
to do be a.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
Part of this life? You should know better. That pisses
them off? Do they tell you that?
Speaker 5 (33:36):
Very true?
Speaker 6 (33:37):
That's real, one hundred percent. When cats are faking and
they trying to wrent being math, they're.
Speaker 5 (33:42):
Really not being math or whatever.
Speaker 6 (33:43):
Like I'll let people know straight up, I'm like, bro,
that's being bro. I booked the roll, I have no
affiliations in this. They like blood that ship nigga.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
I'd be like, all right, brother, appreciate that, you know,
but uh but yeah, but you're right. When they when
they can smell the phoniness, that's when they're gonna fuck with.
Speaker 6 (33:59):
That's when they're gonna rob you. Just cluse because they
just be like, yeah, man, you're not really about this.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
No question.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Listen, man, I'm proud of you, happy for you. Continued
success along the way you and damn good company with
Fiddy and Lilaih and the whole crew.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Keep doing what you're doing, keep.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
Doing big things. Man.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
This is the first time we've spoken, but I suspect
it will not be the last. All the best of
you always here for you if you need my my brother.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
You take care of yourself.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
Yes, sir, I appreciate you. Thank you so much for
an interview.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
All right, no problem.
Speaker 2 (34:26):
The one and only Da Vinci right here with Steven
A or the Steph N. Smith Show over the digital
airways with YouTube. Brother got skills. Brother's got a lot
of skills and obviously a conscientious observer. Hearts in the
right place doing some big things, particularly in the mental
health Field.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
That's what it's all about. That's what it's all about.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
We love that, make no mistake about it. I can't
thank him enough. My thanks to the one and only
Da Vinci the Talented Brother. A reminder, Season three A
Black Mafia Family is now airing on Stars. Season four
has already been green lit. Lot of bright stuff going
(35:01):
on in that man's future, and clearly it's well deserved.
It always is for somebody who's talented in their heart's
in the right place. That would be Da Vinci himself.
Thanks again for tuning in to the special edition of
The Stephen A.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Smith Show. See you tomorrow. Until then, be some love.
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