Nems From Vandalizing Rosenberg's Office To Signing a Deal, Leaving Battle Rap, Drug Addiction+ More
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
What's angela. Ye, I'm here with my guy beat I
and is in the building.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Finally, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I do that with all females.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
All right, America's Sweetheart is here.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I'm not a gunther check, I'm.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Degenerate from queens.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
From queens already whatever talking about queens.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
But yeah, America's Sweetheart. The album came out on Valentine's Day.
Very romantic album, absolutely so I got to ask you now,
the song Gunther, what exactly is a gun?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The gun is like a chicken Head. Nobody says Chickenhead
no more. But we've been saying, like me and my
my squad even in Cony Allen been saying that since
like Chickenhead was out. It was like, you know, we
with a group of girls, you can't say, like, yo,
this one is, this one is the one?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Right?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You gotta be like yo, you know what I'm saying,
And then they know.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
They know why is your gun? Thro though, like I
don't know, I have no ideatt to be a reason.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, I don't know, Like I really don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Did you that song about somebody in particular?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It's just toxic, you know, A toxic relationship. We all
been through it. We all been through it, and the
beat was like, it reminded me of domestic violence.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I even gonna say that you ain't can.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
That was like I tried to get.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
But I thought about him and then I thought about
Wildflower by Face at the same time. It's one of
those type of songs.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I tried to get Rile on it. He was just
wasn't in rat mode. He's like, yo, I'm scoring movies, man.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
We saw him the other day. He was up here
buttoned up. Try to ask Bang Bong yeah, Bang Bong yeah.
I mean people do need those songs though, because when
you go through some relationship drama, it's the type of
thing that make you feel like, you know, I.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Always got to go through one toxic relationship to make you.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
She said, Was it about somebody regular?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
It wasn't. I mean, I've been in relationship it's like
that definitely one hundred percent. But that one wasn't to
somebody in particular. I had the lyrics and the same
girl that we did that's in that video is the
same girl that was as her voice. And I just
called it one day to the studio, was like, yo,
just go in and she she went in a great job.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Ironically, the album starts are really positive though, absolutely, What
was the motivation behind that that?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You know what it is? It is that I could
go up to anybody and I could go to clue
and rap. I could go like, I could rap and
I could go do a freeestab. But when I'm doing
an album, I want there to be like the total,
you know, range of emotions, which I feel like you
should be. That's what an album is. I wanted to be.
You know, I started off positive. That's what I'm in life.
(02:45):
I'm happy to be alive. I made it out, you
know what I'm saying. I was homeless on drugs. I
made it to you know, to a record deal. And
know from the error I'm in a record deal. As
you being successful, that's that's what measures your success. And
you know, and then you go through the whole range
of a mo oh yo, the toxic relationships, all punch
you in your face music go fat boy, you know
what I'm saying, And there's a whole bunch of different things,
(03:07):
and then you know, we got other songs, depression, we
got we got a whole bunch of range of songs.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I like that. You're right, because that's how life is.
Nobody is one dimensional.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
And if you are, I don't want to hang out
with you.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And you're right, you have been through a lot to
be able to get to where you are today. But music,
and I've seen you say this too, Music is not
what's going to pay the bills necessarily. It's what you
get from being able to do music, because it's not
like streaming.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It's gonna be what's going to keep the roof over
your head.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
We're in like the wild West of streaming. I feel
like like we're in the beginning of it where nobody
really knows what's going on with it. So you know, unfortunately,
streaming ain't paying my bills, at least I don't. I
don't stream like Drake or you know, Pauty next door,
So so you know, that's just the main Music is
(03:53):
what I love. I came into this game as a raper.
I'm a battle rapper. I came into that.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
But then you know you got the belt too.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Absolutely battle rap records, Yeah, nah, that's that's a big deal.
But battle rappers they always be like, oh, they can't
make a whole album, they can't make music.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Absolutely, that's why I shy away from the battle. Now
I think I just outgrew it too. I don't really
watch battles no more. I feel like I tried to
in the beginning. I consciously made an effort to stay
away from it so I wouldn't be classified as a
battle rapper. But you know, I just lost interest in it.
I did it, and that was like fakes man, ww You're.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Like, I'm happy now exactly. I don't want to battle you.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And it is also true that things that you say
in battle rap, like I feel like you can't say
those same things that's all used to be able to
say back in the day, but on this album, I
mean you still say some crazy days must be clear.
But battle rap is like there're certain have you ever
been in a battle and had to like be like,
oh maybe I shouldn't say that.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Like while you were doing it, you got a sense
of yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So probably, like I would say, twenty eighteen, they like
bro me back to battle, Like they was like, yo,
this you want you know, we want you to come back.
So you know, I was like the money got to
be right, the money was and they made me battle.
My man had Ice from Harlem Ice and Ice is like,
you know, he's he's a bully and I'm a bully,
like with the battle rap stuff. But when I was
(05:16):
writing the lyrics, I was like, this is not who
I am anymore. You know what I'm saying and these
things that I'm about to say to him because my title,
I was like, mister disrespectful, like I have to be,
so I had to. I felt like I had to
live up to that title and the things that I
was writing, like I was talking about his daughters and
dead moms and after the battle, man, yeah, when I can't.
(05:39):
I can't even watch that battle because it's so far
from who I am. I wanted. I thought the people
would want me to be like that, mister disrespectful. But yeah,
that turned me off totally from battling because it was like,
y'all would never say this, and I like that Ice
and I still do. He's my man.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
That's crazy. I never thought of it like that.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You gotta really, I mean, I guess that that is
the whole thing because they're expecting that. But wow, you're right,
there's some boundaries. Absolutely, you can't even feel that.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Exactly one hundred percent and it made me just, uh,
it turned it turned me off to the battle rapping
thing because it was like so far from who I was,
and it was became like just really fake and I
didn't like it.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
But now you're mister you went from disrespectful to America's sweetheart.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
You know, as life gets better, we got to embrace
these things.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It came from America. Suite of the title came from
when the whole bing bong thing and everything happened. You know,
I was on tour last year. Wherever we go, people
know like my age demo. My demographic is like all
races four years old to like one hundred years old
from the bing bong stuff. We were in Atlanta, people
yelling out the window, don't ever disrespect me l A.
(06:45):
People are saying bing bom. So it's like I posted
something one time and somebody wrote in the comments that
was like, Yo, it's crazy, how to fuck your life.
Guy has become America's sweetheart. And I was like, yo, like.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Taking, I'm taking that.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I'm taking that definitely.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Has anybody ever said anything in the battle that actually
hurt your feelings?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Oh nah, I'm fixed skined, okay, And I haven't been,
you know, it hasn't been. When I was battling the
fight club stuff, I was on heavy drugs, so nothing
that I had no feelings. It didn't really bother me.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Man, I saw you, you were on.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Heroin absolutely, so like close to a decade.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
How did that even start?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I have to ask because every time I see I'm
always like, I know a couple of people who I
actually grew up with that ended up, you know, going
through a lot and having to kick the habit, and
it's really that's one of the hardest things.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
No, luckily I've been I'm clean now for like fifteen years.
But what started it is so me my mother. You know,
both my parents were drug addicts. My mother got clean
when I was born, and she was clean, so I
was like sixteen from twelve, like my high school years,
my mother bought a house from Coney Island, but my
mother bought a house in Staten Island and we were like, yo,
(07:53):
we're doing it, you know what I'm saying. And then
my mother went into a depression and she relapsed, so
we had to move back to Coney Island. So when
I moved back to Cone, my mother was getting high
running the streets. So I had to live with my
uncle and my whole family. I come from a long
line of hustlers, my whole family, and he was selling shit.
And you know, I wasn't. I was naive because my
(08:13):
high school formative years was in Staten Island. That's all
like xanax or you know, ecstasy. There was nobody was
sniffing heroin or nothing like that. So I dipped into
a stash one day thinking it was cocaine. If somebody
would say, yo, this is heroin, tried, I would have never,
Like I knew what crack looked like. I never did crack,
you know what I'm saying, because I knew what it was.
I dipped into a stash, I sniffed a bag. I
(08:34):
thought it was cocaine for like a like a month
or two, and I already called a habit and I
just liked how it made me feel. And I was on,
you know, I was on that that journey for like
eight years.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
How was the process to be able to kick it?
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It was? It wasn't easy. But by the end, by
the like, you know, by the end of me getting high,
it wasn't. I wasn't getting high. I just was not
being waking up sick, you know. I just it was
just like I was like a robot, like I had
to when I woke up in the morning, I would
have to, you know, go and rob people and do
(09:08):
some to fuel my habit. And it wasn't fun. And
I always would say to myself, Yo, if I could
get some time between me and the drug Like I
just couldn't even put together one day not using drugs.
I tried. I've been to over forty detoxes. I've been
to like ten rehabs, and nothing worked for me. I
went to jail, I was cleaned for like ten months
(09:28):
just because I couldn't get nothing in there. When I
came home, I got high again. It just really got
to the point where I was so sick of myself
and I had like an outer body. I was on
like a three like the end of my road. I
was on like a three week run. I hadn't slept.
I was sleeping on the lifeguard chairs and coney Allen
in the wintertime, not even the summer, and like I
(09:49):
hadn't slept for like three weeks. I was just like
ripping and running and I just had like an outer
body experience or I don't know what it was. I
saw myself from the outside looking at myself, and I
was like, yo, I could stop everything right now, or
I could Oh, i could keep going like this and
I'm gonna be in jail the rest of my life
because I'm gona winnd up doing something. I'm gonna fuck
(10:09):
h I'm gonna die real soon. Or I could stop
everything right now or live my dreams. And I was
still young enough where I was like ya, I still
got a couple of years till I'm thirty, I could
still really live my dreams. And the rapping shit was
was always my dream. And the next day I didn't
go nowhere like I tried, Like I said, I've been
to all these places, and I didn't go nowhere. I
(10:31):
begged my mother let me stay at the house. My
I feel I want to stay. I want to stop.
And from that point I never touched nothing. I don't think,
I don't smoke. I just you know this, this music
shit really helped me stay clean and really drove me
in the direction of stopping using these drugs.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, because you were getting record deals but then getting
dropped absolutely, so talk to me about that because I
can't imagine what it must feel like.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
The first time you get signed.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
It's exciting, but then it's a disappointment when and you
can't live up to what you're supposed to.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
So.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
The first one was when I was doing the Fight
Club I was dealing with They had a label coming
out called Spit Records. It was Stretch Armstrong's label. It
was me and my partner at the time, this kid
George Burns, Joe Butten and this other kid Jinks to
Julie and it was with Depth Jam. It was through
death Jam that like I they just stopped returning to
my clothes where they just was like, yo, damn, we
(11:24):
had enough of this guy. And I lost that when
I was like damn, you know, but at that time,
I was seventeen, I was still young. Then I started
dealing with Shady. We didn't I didn't sign none, but
they wanted to have me as a like develop me,
like a development deal. And I was dealing with Riggs
Morales and then uh, I just I went to jail.
I came home and then I remember I wrote them's
(11:46):
on the door of Shady Records and Paul Rosenberg banned me.
He was like, yo, who's this? And he could never
come back to this office what this.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Is because there wasn't nothing else written on.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
The racks out and them's fuck your life.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Wow, and they bared me and well yes.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And then what what was it? Ten fifteen years later
he signed me.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
That's why that doesn't happen. Ball holes a grudge you
l You.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Branded yourself absolutely absolutely security everywhere.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
How you I made it happen?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Well listen, I think it feels like an aside from
all of that, just not just the music, but being
an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You have a store in Coney Island too. Man.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
This store is hilarious too because it's very you. Like
you said, you want clothes that you would wear, and
you wear it all the time. Then other people wear it.
But just all the disrespectful things. You're not buying nothing.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, there's a sign right on the door. If you
ain't buying nothing, you can't come in.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
You're just browsing.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Ain't no browsing. Man, If you're from Coney Island, you
know what it is. If you come into Coney Islan
for the store, you know what it is. We don't
got time for bullshit. Is people want to come by
touch all the clothes. Get out of here, man with
your dirty ass.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Fingers, come in and touch the I can.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Tell who's gonna buy something or not. As soon as
they walk in the door. Some people come in, I'll
be like, they ain't not buying. Can you tell times
the old lady when they start touching the clothes and
feeling that, nah, they not doing it. If they want
to come in and ask questions, now, get the fuck
out of it.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You buy something or not.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Hurry up and buy here.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That sh it.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
We ain't got time for this.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
And people love this though, right because people like the brashness. Absolutely,
it's very New York.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
It's me.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
It's what I do. It's just like it's brash, but
in like a lovable way, like I'm not doing it
to hurt nobody's feelings in New York. Is like if
I if I like be that, like that's my homie,
and I just meet them, I'm a joke on them. Yeah, Yo,
what's up?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Man?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
You're looking like you're from good times.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
You know what I'm saying. So I did say NeXT's
gonna come in here and dis us He didn't say that,
And look even.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
As signed to live and die in New York.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I was like, I don't know if this t make
me feel like I would want to go to New
York and I've never been here.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
It sounds intimidating.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
It does, it does, But that's just where I was
out with it. You know, we never Tupac had to
them and Dianella. That's one of my favorite, one of
my favorite pop songs. I love that song. So I
just wanted to have some representation representation for New York.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Right, I say, you also talk about the bike lanes.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I agree with you on that and I and I
hate to say that because I understand it's good for
the environment, it's good for people to be riding their bikes,
but it is so irritating that ship to Copenhagen.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Man, get that shipped out of here. I can understand
the bike lanes sometimes, but Yo, they shut down a
whole lane on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, get that shipped out of here.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
I say, you said that Cone is like the last
to be gentrified too, right.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
It is because nobody wants to move there. That got
to go to the city. That shit is so far.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
But I will say I was out there the other
day this developer. They have these buildings that are coming
up by Coney Island and honestly it has a rooftop
pool cabanas.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I was like, this.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Looks very nice.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yes, but in the winter time, corne you know, ain't
nothing popping over there if you're playing on staying home
the whole winter.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
But the inside the building, there's all these amenities.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I mean, I feel like that could be you know,
and a lot of go up front.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
They bit my whole esthetic for my store. Oh for real,
O the got snowman who did my store? They they came,
they came to my store to people from that building,
and they had them due the whole inside and all
of that.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Did they buy anything?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I think they might. They might have at least they
bought something.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Now I want to talk to you about like just
even twenty twenty five. I know you did the whole
summer stage. You had your own festival, which is a
big deal, Gorilla Fest, yep, and that was last year.
What was that like, Because that's a big deal to
be able to put something on like that have it
be as lit as it was. I saw all of
the write ups. Everybody was out there supporting that was.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
A dream come true true, especially to me, Like I
called myself the mayor Coney Island, right, Like, so to
have Summer Stage, some say, if you don't know, summer
Stage is like funded by the city. They thold just events,
you know, the city gotta have art events and they.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
And it's always amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
It's like a big deal for people to get to
even perform on for semester.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Absolutely, So they came to me and they was like, Yo, Nems,
we want you to curate your own concert. This is
the budget we got the Coney Allen Amphitheater. So it
was like a dream come true. It's just basically like
they gave me a budget and I picked who I
wanted to see. So ghost Face one of my favorites,
you know what I'm saying. So I had ghost Face come.
But everybody bun Be came from Texas and they didn't
even tell me, Like they didn't tell me. He just
(16:24):
like right before I called ghost Face, it was like
hold up names. My management shouts to mex and Busy
and my my crew. Bun Be like secretly flew to
the concert and was just like, Yo, you're doing some
dope shit. I want to be a part of it. Man.
I think anybody puts on for the for their neighborhood,
like I want to be there and support and uh
you know Jim Jones were dead, Jewell's we faarro manch
(16:45):
killed it, Smiff and Wesson, uh Ron Browse Capone. Yeah.
I don't want to leave nobody out. But we had
a lot of dope people come out.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
So what you gonna do this year now? Because you
know it's at the standard.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I know, I'm trying to do something for the ladies,
but the expensive. He tried to get Kesha Cole, but
she's way out of our budget.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
She's going to need all kind of cam we love.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
You'd rather take it on the road. Absolutely, can't go
to Canada. Can you go to Canada?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I went to Canada but couldn't get in, and then
I went the next month and they didn't let me.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Oh man, but what's going on right now?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You might never none of us probably can get into
Canada until it becomes part of the United States. Right
speaking that, since you are the mayor and you know
we had this mayor race here happening in New York,
do you get involved or do you pay attention to
any of that, because you see Cuomo is now going
to be running for mayor.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
He made an announcement like that. I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I don't mind. I don't really pay attention, you know what.
I wake up in the morning and I go about
my day and I don't really pay attention because politics
will drive you crazy. Like I've seen some good people
I know turn into fanatics for one way or the
other for one you know, and it's just like, it's
more to life than arguing about these people that really
(18:06):
don't even they both.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Mind you from voting, end up arguing for somebody and
then they disappoint you, and you like, he was right,
going hard for.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Somebody that don't really care about you. They just want
your vote. Man. Eric Adams, though, listen, one thing I
respect about him is that he was like, nah, ain't
giving up my spot that.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
I saw.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I believe, like, yo, don't take no advice from nobody. Man.
Everybody's gonna tell you what they want for you. They're
gonna like give you their fears that they grew up
in life.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You know, learning.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
And they told Eric Adams, y'all get out of here,
you gotta resign. He was like, nah, ain't resigning and
look all charges dropped.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
And he was like, man, yeah, I mean that was
a gift and a curse for him because now they
feel like they're talking crazy.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, you know he's talking crazy.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And when he was up here, I was like, you know,
people don't like your arrogance. What do you say about that?
And he was like, Hi, you gonna be the mayor
of New York and not be arrogant. You could be
a batter rapper all right now you post this. Twenty
twenty four was another success. Did my first tour forty
states in fifty five days. What was that like?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I was super duper fun. I had the greatest time.
My cousin had just came out of jail doing thirteen years. Wow,
he just got off parole and he got to see
all of that with me. A bunch of my friends
got to see that with me. We literally drove, we drove,
We packed up a bullshit sprint of van like the
electric but we got we got from we drove from
(19:29):
New York. By the time we got to Portland, right
all the electric in the van went out. We didn't
have no TVs because plug our phones, and we had
to get back to New York. It was like the Warriors,
you know what I'm saying. We had to come back
to the worst sprinter I've ever been in my life.
But we had a great time.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
See that's how it happens.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, when I look back, that's like gonna be like
one of the And I was telling everybody in the event, like, Yo,
we're gonna remember this for the rest of our life.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Does y'all document it?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Okay, Well that's gonna be. That's a TV show right there,
the worst Sprinter hell facts.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
You got to push it back Tony.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
What you call it? Our photographer and videographer. He couldn't
take our jokes and we had to kick him off
the tour in Atlanta, and we just opened the door
and kicked him out and made him. We don't know what.
I haven't seen him.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Since he's alive.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
People have told me he's alive. Yeah, but we haven't
spoke to him or seen him since telling Listen, we
joke heavy like I'm with it. Don't ever disrespect me.
But the people I be around are even funnier than me,
but they're more vicious. Like to me, I have a
heart a little bit. The guys I'm with they don't
have a heart and if you're not thick skin. We
(20:37):
told him in the beginning of the tour, like, yo,
we're gonna pause. We're gonna make you a man by
the end of the store. You know what I'm saying.
And I guess his manhood was not attacked. And he
got out on a rainy day and smearing at Georgia
and he just disappeared. I don't know what happened to him.
It was hard getting the footage back. That's what made me.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Remember, oh my god, but you did get the fair.
We did get them for the jet to pay him
or something.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I paid him the whole time.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Okay, good because you know them lawsuits.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
To be You didn't know what he was signing up for.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
He knew, but he you know what it is like
I said, I don't drink, I don't smoke. I take
care of business. I expect a certain I don't expect
nobody to do what I want. But I'm you know,
I'm having fun. But I also treat this like a business.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Right, So if you.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Ain't on it like I'm on it, you're probably gonna
get yelled at. You're probably gonna you know people, some
people he wanted to smoke wheedel that he thought he
was gonna have like he thought he was one of
the crew, the cameraman.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
We're cool, but you still gotta work.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Like we can have fun, we joke with each other,
we go out, but it's still a job. And so
sometimes people have a difficult time transitioning from thinking to
your friend and then realizing that they're also an employee.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
That's exactly there's a thin line between them. Yeah, because
on the off time we're cool with you know, but
on the when it's time to go, I expect you
to do your job.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Now, you also got your own show on Shade forty
five Disrespect Radio. You had the mornings, Yes I did,
And I used to have lip service on Shave forty
five two, my nighttime show.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That's Fire. That's when it was good up there. You
could do four hours at night.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It used to be a wild time up there. They
actually put them curtains up because of us. Really, yeah,
because we on lip service. Things used to get really
used to be a wild time. But really, much like
being a battle rapper, certain things you cannot do.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And say nowadays, I love it up there.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Man, we could I play whatever music I want, I
shave whatever I want. It's fun to me. Yeah, day
week I was thinking. I was, you know, at first
I was like, yo, I want to do this more.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
But then I'm like, it's a big commitment.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Five days a week. Yeah, very big commitment.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah. I mean, you have a whole.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Nother job, but one day a week. It's great.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
But they did Actually when I was there, I did
go on the road and so we would do the
show from different steps. I was on tour like with
eminem and fifty and we did the jay Z fifty
cent tour. So I was actually on the road doing
my show from on the road.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You've been in legendary things like from WOA. What's your
favorite tour?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Favorite to it?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Man then moved and rage against the Machine. Tours used
to be crazy back in the day.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Yeah, and a lot I have seen a lot Like
me and Bet.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I was talking about that because I also used to
work for DiAngelo and I was telling about that, Uh yeah,
well yeah, because he actually started working with a trainer
because he had gained a lot of weight and then
he got this trainer and that was he wouldn't show
up to the studio, but he would show up to
those training sessions. Really yeah, he Mark Jenkins, that was
the trainer's name. Shout out to him. And then I
(23:28):
went to go work for for Eminem and I worked
at his clothing line first, and then I went to
go work for his radio station. And you're managed by
Paul Rosenberg, not managed, he manages here.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
You're signed to Shady Records.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
No, I'm shining to Goliath Records. I'm the first AUTI
he started the Live Records.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Okay, you gotta explain this to us, because.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
So what happened is Paul, I'm a big believer. Is
I don't post nothing personal on my on my Instagram,
not like it's all business. Even though it looks fun,
it's business. I feel like once somebody starts following me,
they'll see what I'm about and they really, you know,
they'll see I'll take this shit seriously, even you on
the outside, because a lot of people might see me
(24:08):
on different pages and be like, ah, this guy is
aggressive or braceive, he's an asshole. But if you meet
me in real life, yeah, exactly, I'm American, sweetheart. It's
not like you know. And also it's not an act.
This is really who I am, but it's in a
nice way. So he started following me. So I DMed him, like, yo, Paul,
what's up, manage me? He's like, yo, I ain't managing.
Nobody knew anymore. I'm tired of being a man may motherfuckers.
(24:32):
So when I did the album, my first, the last
album before America, Sweet Always Rising the Silver Back, produced
by Scram Jones. So Scram was cool with Rosenberger was like, yo,
let's play it for him. He loved the album and
I told him, I said, yo, Paul, I got this out.
The next album I got it's fire better than this.
On the low, I didn't say anying front of Scram,
but I was like, y better than this. Yeah, I
(24:54):
love Scraam, that's my guy. But Paul was like, so,
what do you guys want out of this? And we
told him, you know, monitor we want this this this
budget that. He was like, give me six months, I'll
make it happen. And he's a man of his word.
Six months later we put our Riser of the Silver
Back on. He actually started Goliath Records just to put
(25:15):
my shirt out, so it's Goliath slash Virgin that.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
What congratulations on that. That's that's humongous. That's a you know, listen,
look at how life turned out.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Absolutely went from banning me from the buildings. Remember that
he's the one that told me about I don't I
didn't remember it.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
At what lex You left an impact on him?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Absolutely, Like that's how things, you know, go full circle.
Went from a caniva to a provider.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Okay, my lams of house boy. You know that's before
the record deal.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah, I remember that was on you you touched about
that too.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
That's a that's a big moment for me. That's it
went from my mother telling me you know when and
because right when I started getting high, my mother got
clean again. She's been clean since it's been like claim
for like twenty years.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
And she probably was also a low key blaming herself.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
She has cried to me a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, because parents sometimes, you know, they feel bad. They
do the best that they can with us, and we
learned that later in life, like the forgiveness of you know,
they were doing the best that they could.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
At a certain point, you got to stop blaming others
for what was done to you and just handle it. Yeah,
because like I'm a grown man now whatever, whatever, whatever
got me to this point. Cool, Like my mom didn't
know any better. She was just living her life, right,
And there's other people that you know, my pops died
at full Like, yeah, you could go through life saying
oh I didn't have a father or my mom's and
be like, you know, wear it like a you know,
(26:36):
an excuse for yourself. But at a certain point you
got a man to fuck up and handle your life
or you're gonna go through life miserable, right, And I
didn't want that. So my mother once she got you know,
when I was getting high, it had come to a
point where her where she was like, yo, my son,
Like I'm my only son, her only kid. I wish
you would just die ready so I could stop worrying
about you. And and it turned into you know, like
(26:59):
my mother hasn't paid her billing fucking years now. You
know what I'm saying, The roles have been reversed. I
remember I just yelled at it the other day for
fucking ordering some pay per view yellow Stone. I was like, yo, ma,
one episode for because I get the emails. You know
what I'm saying, what are you ordering this bullshit? I'll
get you the Paramount plug or whatever it is. Subscription.
(27:20):
You gotta relax. They jerking you over here. But yeah,
you know when it just switched roles and I'm just
happy to be able to take care of the person
that took care of me.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Man, I love to see it. I'm so glad you
had a chance to come up here.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Hopefully you'll come back absolutely, you know, because we're right
here in New York.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yo.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
You don't have do you have plans of leaving? Have
you left Cornea.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
If I'm out of Cony? Okay, the gold of the hood,
to get out the hood, but uh.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Jersey, that's where y'all be at. In Jersey, everybody makes
it and goes.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
It's far, it's far enough, but it's close enoughs right there.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I tell you what I'm saying. I'm still in Brooklyn.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Oh you boogie in the hood. Boogie right. But I
think I might have picked up your garbage I used
to do.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, you were a sanitation worker. You got suspend it.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah, listen, y'all gotta let me ask you this as
a former sanitation worker. Now that we all have to
put our garbage in bins?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Is that harder?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Because I was thinking about it that actually it's harder
for y'all to like very.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Much, is harder than for us. I like just picking
up the bag and throwing it. Like for a bag,
I could throw it across the call into the thing,
depending on the way. But the bins sometimes, you know,
especially I worked in bed style. That was my style. Yeah,
bed style, the cause you don't have room to walk
through them. You can't take the whole bind. You gotta
put it over the call. That shit is annoying.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, see that's the but less rats, less.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Bags, broken open rats, listen all over.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
It's all over, full legged and leg.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
You gotta come back though, for absolutely. I come a
guest host one day, Come do lift service love all right.
So Nam's America sweet Heart is out now. It came
out on Valentine's Day.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Go fat boy.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Positivity?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah positive? What does them stand for?
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Again? Now everything makes sense? You changed it naturally, evil
mind state never ever your Doug that was now it's
not for your life. It's fixed your life. You are
like that now
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Right his way up, way up,
What's angela. Ye, I'm here with my guy beat I
and is in the building.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Finally, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
I like that.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I do that with all females.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
All right, America's Sweetheart is here.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I'm not a gunther check, I'm.
Speaker 4 (00:19):
Degenerate from queens.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
From queens already whatever talking about queens.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
But yeah, America's Sweetheart. The album came out on Valentine's Day.
Very romantic album, absolutely so I got to ask you now,
the song Gunther, what exactly is a gun?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
The gun is like a chicken Head. Nobody says Chickenhead
no more. But we've been saying, like me and my
my squad even in Cony Allen been saying that since
like Chickenhead was out. It was like, you know, we
with a group of girls, you can't say, like, yo,
this one is, this one is the one?
Speaker 4 (00:56):
Right?
Speaker 2 (00:57):
You gotta be like yo, you know what I'm saying,
And then they know.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
They know why is your gun? Thro though, like I
don't know, I have no ideatt to be a reason.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, I don't know, Like I really don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Did you that song about somebody in particular?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It's just toxic, you know, A toxic relationship. We all
been through it. We all been through it, and the
beat was like, it reminded me of domestic violence.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
I even gonna say that you ain't can.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
That was like I tried to get.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
But I thought about him and then I thought about
Wildflower by Face at the same time. It's one of
those type of songs.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
I tried to get Rile on it. He was just
wasn't in rat mode. He's like, yo, I'm scoring movies, man.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
We saw him the other day. He was up here
buttoned up. Try to ask Bang Bong yeah, Bang Bong yeah.
I mean people do need those songs though, because when
you go through some relationship drama, it's the type of
thing that make you feel like, you know, I.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Always got to go through one toxic relationship to make you.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
She said, Was it about somebody regular?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
It wasn't. I mean, I've been in relationship it's like
that definitely one hundred percent. But that one wasn't to
somebody in particular. I had the lyrics and the same
girl that we did that's in that video is the
same girl that was as her voice. And I just
called it one day to the studio, was like, yo,
just go in and she she went in a great job.
Speaker 4 (02:18):
Ironically, the album starts are really positive though, absolutely, What
was the motivation behind that that?
Speaker 2 (02:24):
You know what it is? It is that I could
go up to anybody and I could go to clue
and rap. I could go like, I could rap and
I could go do a freeestab. But when I'm doing
an album, I want there to be like the total,
you know, range of emotions, which I feel like you
should be. That's what an album is. I wanted to be.
You know, I started off positive. That's what I'm in life.
(02:45):
I'm happy to be alive. I made it out, you
know what I'm saying. I was homeless on drugs. I
made it to you know, to a record deal. And
know from the error I'm in a record deal. As
you being successful, that's that's what measures your success. And
you know, and then you go through the whole range
of a mo oh yo, the toxic relationships, all punch
you in your face music go fat boy, you know
what I'm saying, And there's a whole bunch of different things,
(03:07):
and then you know, we got other songs, depression, we
got we got a whole bunch of range of songs.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
I like that. You're right, because that's how life is.
Nobody is one dimensional.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
And if you are, I don't want to hang out
with you.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
And you're right, you have been through a lot to
be able to get to where you are today. But music,
and I've seen you say this too, Music is not
what's going to pay the bills necessarily. It's what you
get from being able to do music, because it's not
like streaming.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
It's gonna be what's going to keep the roof over
your head.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
We're in like the wild West of streaming. I feel
like like we're in the beginning of it where nobody
really knows what's going on with it. So you know, unfortunately,
streaming ain't paying my bills, at least I don't. I
don't stream like Drake or you know, Pauty next door,
So so you know, that's just the main Music is
(03:53):
what I love. I came into this game as a raper.
I'm a battle rapper. I came into that.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
But then you know you got the belt too.
Speaker 1 (04:01):
Absolutely battle rap records, Yeah, nah, that's that's a big deal.
But battle rappers they always be like, oh, they can't
make a whole album, they can't make music.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Absolutely, that's why I shy away from the battle. Now
I think I just outgrew it too. I don't really
watch battles no more. I feel like I tried to
in the beginning. I consciously made an effort to stay
away from it so I wouldn't be classified as a
battle rapper. But you know, I just lost interest in it.
I did it, and that was like fakes man, ww You're.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Like, I'm happy now exactly. I don't want to battle you.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
And it is also true that things that you say
in battle rap, like I feel like you can't say
those same things that's all used to be able to
say back in the day, but on this album, I
mean you still say some crazy days must be clear.
But battle rap is like there're certain have you ever
been in a battle and had to like be like,
oh maybe I shouldn't say that.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Like while you were doing it, you got a sense
of yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
So probably, like I would say, twenty eighteen, they like
bro me back to battle, Like they was like, yo,
this you want you know, we want you to come back.
So you know, I was like the money got to
be right, the money was and they made me battle.
My man had Ice from Harlem Ice and Ice is like,
you know, he's he's a bully and I'm a bully,
like with the battle rap stuff. But when I was
(05:16):
writing the lyrics, I was like, this is not who
I am anymore. You know what I'm saying and these
things that I'm about to say to him because my title,
I was like, mister disrespectful, like I have to be,
so I had to. I felt like I had to
live up to that title and the things that I
was writing, like I was talking about his daughters and
dead moms and after the battle, man, yeah, when I can't.
(05:39):
I can't even watch that battle because it's so far
from who I am. I wanted. I thought the people
would want me to be like that, mister disrespectful. But yeah,
that turned me off totally from battling because it was like,
y'all would never say this, and I like that Ice
and I still do. He's my man.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
That's crazy. I never thought of it like that.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
You gotta really, I mean, I guess that that is
the whole thing because they're expecting that. But wow, you're right,
there's some boundaries. Absolutely, you can't even feel that.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Exactly one hundred percent and it made me just, uh,
it turned it turned me off to the battle rapping
thing because it was like so far from who I was,
and it was became like just really fake and I
didn't like it.
Speaker 4 (06:14):
But now you're mister you went from disrespectful to America's sweetheart.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Absolutely absolutely.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
You know, as life gets better, we got to embrace
these things.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It came from America. Suite of the title came from
when the whole bing bong thing and everything happened. You know,
I was on tour last year. Wherever we go, people
know like my age demo. My demographic is like all
races four years old to like one hundred years old
from the bing bong stuff. We were in Atlanta, people
yelling out the window, don't ever disrespect me l A.
(06:45):
People are saying bing bom. So it's like I posted
something one time and somebody wrote in the comments that
was like, Yo, it's crazy, how to fuck your life.
Guy has become America's sweetheart. And I was like, yo, like.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
Taking, I'm taking that.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
I'm taking that definitely.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Has anybody ever said anything in the battle that actually
hurt your feelings?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Oh nah, I'm fixed skined, okay, And I haven't been,
you know, it hasn't been. When I was battling the
fight club stuff, I was on heavy drugs, so nothing
that I had no feelings. It didn't really bother me.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
Man, I saw you, you were on.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Heroin absolutely, so like close to a decade.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
How did that even start?
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I have to ask because every time I see I'm
always like, I know a couple of people who I
actually grew up with that ended up, you know, going
through a lot and having to kick the habit, and
it's really that's one of the hardest things.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
No, luckily I've been I'm clean now for like fifteen years.
But what started it is so me my mother. You know,
both my parents were drug addicts. My mother got clean
when I was born, and she was clean, so I
was like sixteen from twelve, like my high school years,
my mother bought a house from Coney Island, but my
mother bought a house in Staten Island and we were like, yo,
(07:53):
we're doing it, you know what I'm saying. And then
my mother went into a depression and she relapsed, so
we had to move back to Coney Island. So when
I moved back to Cone, my mother was getting high
running the streets. So I had to live with my
uncle and my whole family. I come from a long
line of hustlers, my whole family, and he was selling shit.
And you know, I wasn't. I was naive because my
(08:13):
high school formative years was in Staten Island. That's all
like xanax or you know, ecstasy. There was nobody was
sniffing heroin or nothing like that. So I dipped into
a stash one day thinking it was cocaine. If somebody
would say, yo, this is heroin, tried, I would have never,
Like I knew what crack looked like. I never did crack,
you know what I'm saying, because I knew what it was.
I dipped into a stash, I sniffed a bag. I
(08:34):
thought it was cocaine for like a like a month
or two, and I already called a habit and I
just liked how it made me feel. And I was on,
you know, I was on that that journey for like
eight years.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
How was the process to be able to kick it?
Speaker 2 (08:47):
It was? It wasn't easy. But by the end, by
the like, you know, by the end of me getting high,
it wasn't. I wasn't getting high. I just was not
being waking up sick, you know. I just it was
just like I was like a robot, like I had
to when I woke up in the morning, I would
have to, you know, go and rob people and do
(09:08):
some to fuel my habit. And it wasn't fun. And
I always would say to myself, Yo, if I could
get some time between me and the drug Like I
just couldn't even put together one day not using drugs.
I tried. I've been to over forty detoxes. I've been
to like ten rehabs, and nothing worked for me. I
went to jail, I was cleaned for like ten months
(09:28):
just because I couldn't get nothing in there. When I
came home, I got high again. It just really got
to the point where I was so sick of myself
and I had like an outer body. I was on
like a three like the end of my road. I
was on like a three week run. I hadn't slept.
I was sleeping on the lifeguard chairs and coney Allen
in the wintertime, not even the summer, and like I
(09:49):
hadn't slept for like three weeks. I was just like
ripping and running and I just had like an outer
body experience or I don't know what it was. I
saw myself from the outside looking at myself, and I
was like, yo, I could stop everything right now, or
I could Oh, i could keep going like this and
I'm gonna be in jail the rest of my life
because I'm gona winnd up doing something. I'm gonna fuck
(10:09):
h I'm gonna die real soon. Or I could stop
everything right now or live my dreams. And I was
still young enough where I was like ya, I still
got a couple of years till I'm thirty, I could
still really live my dreams. And the rapping shit was
was always my dream. And the next day I didn't
go nowhere like I tried, Like I said, I've been
to all these places, and I didn't go nowhere. I
(10:31):
begged my mother let me stay at the house. My
I feel I want to stay. I want to stop.
And from that point I never touched nothing. I don't think,
I don't smoke. I just you know this, this music
shit really helped me stay clean and really drove me
in the direction of stopping using these drugs.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, because you were getting record deals but then getting
dropped absolutely, so talk to me about that because I
can't imagine what it must feel like.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
The first time you get signed.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
It's exciting, but then it's a disappointment when and you
can't live up to what you're supposed to.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
Absolutely.
Speaker 4 (11:02):
So.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
The first one was when I was doing the Fight
Club I was dealing with They had a label coming
out called Spit Records. It was Stretch Armstrong's label. It
was me and my partner at the time, this kid
George Burns, Joe Butten and this other kid Jinks to
Julie and it was with Depth Jam. It was through
death Jam that like I they just stopped returning to
my clothes where they just was like, yo, damn, we
(11:24):
had enough of this guy. And I lost that when
I was like damn, you know, but at that time,
I was seventeen, I was still young. Then I started
dealing with Shady. We didn't I didn't sign none, but
they wanted to have me as a like develop me,
like a development deal. And I was dealing with Riggs
Morales and then uh, I just I went to jail.
I came home and then I remember I wrote them's
(11:46):
on the door of Shady Records and Paul Rosenberg banned me.
He was like, yo, who's this? And he could never
come back to this office what this.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
Is because there wasn't nothing else written on.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
The racks out and them's fuck your life.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
Wow, and they bared me and well yes.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
And then what what was it? Ten fifteen years later
he signed me.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
That's why that doesn't happen. Ball holes a grudge you
l You.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Branded yourself absolutely absolutely security everywhere.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
How you I made it happen?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (12:18):
Well listen, I think it feels like an aside from
all of that, just not just the music, but being
an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
You have a store in Coney Island too. Man.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
This store is hilarious too because it's very you. Like
you said, you want clothes that you would wear, and
you wear it all the time. Then other people wear it.
But just all the disrespectful things. You're not buying nothing.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
Yeah, there's a sign right on the door. If you
ain't buying nothing, you can't come in.
Speaker 4 (12:44):
You're just browsing.
Speaker 2 (12:45):
Ain't no browsing. Man, If you're from Coney Island, you
know what it is. If you come into Coney Islan
for the store, you know what it is. We don't
got time for bullshit. Is people want to come by
touch all the clothes. Get out of here, man with
your dirty ass.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Fingers, come in and touch the I can.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Tell who's gonna buy something or not. As soon as
they walk in the door. Some people come in, I'll
be like, they ain't not buying. Can you tell times
the old lady when they start touching the clothes and
feeling that, nah, they not doing it. If they want
to come in and ask questions, now, get the fuck
out of it.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
You buy something or not.
Speaker 4 (13:15):
Hurry up and buy here.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That sh it.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
We ain't got time for this.
Speaker 3 (13:19):
And people love this though, right because people like the brashness. Absolutely,
it's very New York.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
It's me.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
It's what I do. It's just like it's brash, but
in like a lovable way, like I'm not doing it
to hurt nobody's feelings in New York. Is like if
I if I like be that, like that's my homie,
and I just meet them, I'm a joke on them. Yeah, Yo,
what's up?
Speaker 4 (13:38):
Man?
Speaker 2 (13:38):
You're looking like you're from good times.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
You know what I'm saying. So I did say NeXT's
gonna come in here and dis us He didn't say that,
And look even.
Speaker 3 (13:48):
As signed to live and die in New York.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
I was like, I don't know if this t make
me feel like I would want to go to New
York and I've never been here.
Speaker 3 (13:54):
It sounds intimidating.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
It does, it does, But that's just where I was
out with it. You know, we never Tupac had to
them and Dianella. That's one of my favorite, one of
my favorite pop songs. I love that song. So I
just wanted to have some representation representation for New York.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Right, I say, you also talk about the bike lanes.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
I agree with you on that and I and I
hate to say that because I understand it's good for
the environment, it's good for people to be riding their bikes,
but it is so irritating that ship to Copenhagen.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Man, get that shipped out of here. I can understand
the bike lanes sometimes, but Yo, they shut down a
whole lane on the Brooklyn Bridge.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Yeah, get that shipped out of here.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
I say, you said that Cone is like the last
to be gentrified too, right.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
It is because nobody wants to move there. That got
to go to the city. That shit is so far.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
But I will say I was out there the other
day this developer. They have these buildings that are coming
up by Coney Island and honestly it has a rooftop
pool cabanas.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I was like, this.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
Looks very nice.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Yes, but in the winter time, corne you know, ain't
nothing popping over there if you're playing on staying home
the whole winter.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
But the inside the building, there's all these amenities.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
I mean, I feel like that could be you know,
and a lot of go up front.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
They bit my whole esthetic for my store. Oh for real,
O the got snowman who did my store? They they came,
they came to my store to people from that building,
and they had them due the whole inside and all
of that.
Speaker 4 (15:14):
Did they buy anything?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I think they might. They might have at least they
bought something.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
Now I want to talk to you about like just
even twenty twenty five. I know you did the whole
summer stage. You had your own festival, which is a
big deal, Gorilla Fest, yep, and that was last year.
What was that like, Because that's a big deal to
be able to put something on like that have it
be as lit as it was. I saw all of
the write ups. Everybody was out there supporting that was.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
A dream come true true, especially to me, Like I
called myself the mayor Coney Island, right, Like, so to
have Summer Stage, some say, if you don't know, summer
Stage is like funded by the city. They thold just events,
you know, the city gotta have art events and they.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
And it's always amazing.
Speaker 1 (15:59):
It's like a big deal for people to get to
even perform on for semester.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
Absolutely, So they came to me and they was like, Yo, Nems,
we want you to curate your own concert. This is
the budget we got the Coney Allen Amphitheater. So it
was like a dream come true. It's just basically like
they gave me a budget and I picked who I
wanted to see. So ghost Face one of my favorites,
you know what I'm saying. So I had ghost Face come.
But everybody bun Be came from Texas and they didn't
even tell me, Like they didn't tell me. He just
(16:24):
like right before I called ghost Face, it was like
hold up names. My management shouts to mex and Busy
and my my crew. Bun Be like secretly flew to
the concert and was just like, Yo, you're doing some
dope shit. I want to be a part of it. Man.
I think anybody puts on for the for their neighborhood,
like I want to be there and support and uh
you know Jim Jones were dead, Jewell's we faarro manch
(16:45):
killed it, Smiff and Wesson, uh Ron Browse Capone. Yeah.
I don't want to leave nobody out. But we had
a lot of dope people come out.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
So what you gonna do this year now? Because you
know it's at the standard.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I know, I'm trying to do something for the ladies,
but the expensive. He tried to get Kesha Cole, but
she's way out of our budget.
Speaker 3 (17:10):
She's going to need all kind of cam we love.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
You'd rather take it on the road. Absolutely, can't go
to Canada. Can you go to Canada?
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I went to Canada but couldn't get in, and then
I went the next month and they didn't let me.
Speaker 3 (17:22):
Oh man, but what's going on right now?
Speaker 1 (17:24):
You might never none of us probably can get into
Canada until it becomes part of the United States. Right
speaking that, since you are the mayor and you know
we had this mayor race here happening in New York,
do you get involved or do you pay attention to
any of that, because you see Cuomo is now going
to be running for mayor.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
He made an announcement like that. I like that.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
I don't mind. I don't really pay attention, you know what.
I wake up in the morning and I go about
my day and I don't really pay attention because politics
will drive you crazy. Like I've seen some good people
I know turn into fanatics for one way or the
other for one you know, and it's just like, it's
more to life than arguing about these people that really
(18:06):
don't even they both.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Mind you from voting, end up arguing for somebody and
then they disappoint you, and you like, he was right,
going hard for.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Somebody that don't really care about you. They just want
your vote. Man. Eric Adams, though, listen, one thing I
respect about him is that he was like, nah, ain't
giving up my spot that.
Speaker 3 (18:25):
I saw.
Speaker 2 (18:25):
I believe, like, yo, don't take no advice from nobody. Man.
Everybody's gonna tell you what they want for you. They're
gonna like give you their fears that they grew up
in life.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
You know, learning.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
And they told Eric Adams, y'all get out of here,
you gotta resign. He was like, nah, ain't resigning and
look all charges dropped.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
And he was like, man, yeah, I mean that was
a gift and a curse for him because now they
feel like they're talking crazy.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Yeah, you know he's talking crazy.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
And when he was up here, I was like, you know,
people don't like your arrogance. What do you say about that?
And he was like, Hi, you gonna be the mayor
of New York and not be arrogant. You could be
a batter rapper all right now you post this. Twenty
twenty four was another success. Did my first tour forty
states in fifty five days. What was that like?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
I was super duper fun. I had the greatest time.
My cousin had just came out of jail doing thirteen years. Wow,
he just got off parole and he got to see
all of that with me. A bunch of my friends
got to see that with me. We literally drove, we drove,
We packed up a bullshit sprint of van like the
electric but we got we got from we drove from
(19:29):
New York. By the time we got to Portland, right
all the electric in the van went out. We didn't
have no TVs because plug our phones, and we had
to get back to New York. It was like the Warriors,
you know what I'm saying. We had to come back
to the worst sprinter I've ever been in my life.
But we had a great time.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
See that's how it happens.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Yeah, when I look back, that's like gonna be like
one of the And I was telling everybody in the event, like, Yo,
we're gonna remember this for the rest of our life.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Does y'all document it?
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Okay, Well that's gonna be. That's a TV show right there,
the worst Sprinter hell facts.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
You got to push it back Tony.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
What you call it? Our photographer and videographer. He couldn't
take our jokes and we had to kick him off
the tour in Atlanta, and we just opened the door
and kicked him out and made him. We don't know what.
I haven't seen him.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Since he's alive.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
People have told me he's alive. Yeah, but we haven't
spoke to him or seen him since telling Listen, we
joke heavy like I'm with it. Don't ever disrespect me.
But the people I be around are even funnier than me,
but they're more vicious. Like to me, I have a
heart a little bit. The guys I'm with they don't
have a heart and if you're not thick skin. We
(20:37):
told him in the beginning of the tour, like, yo,
we're gonna pause. We're gonna make you a man by
the end of the store. You know what I'm saying.
And I guess his manhood was not attacked. And he
got out on a rainy day and smearing at Georgia
and he just disappeared. I don't know what happened to him.
It was hard getting the footage back. That's what made me.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Remember, oh my god, but you did get the fair.
We did get them for the jet to pay him
or something.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
I paid him the whole time.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
Okay, good because you know them lawsuits.
Speaker 4 (21:06):
To be You didn't know what he was signing up for.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
He knew, but he you know what it is like
I said, I don't drink, I don't smoke. I take
care of business. I expect a certain I don't expect
nobody to do what I want. But I'm you know,
I'm having fun. But I also treat this like a business.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Right, So if you.
Speaker 2 (21:21):
Ain't on it like I'm on it, you're probably gonna
get yelled at. You're probably gonna you know people, some
people he wanted to smoke wheedel that he thought he
was gonna have like he thought he was one of
the crew, the cameraman.
Speaker 3 (21:33):
We're cool, but you still gotta work.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Like we can have fun, we joke with each other,
we go out, but it's still a job. And so
sometimes people have a difficult time transitioning from thinking to
your friend and then realizing that they're also an employee.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
That's exactly there's a thin line between them. Yeah, because
on the off time we're cool with you know, but
on the when it's time to go, I expect you
to do your job.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Now, you also got your own show on Shade forty
five Disrespect Radio. You had the mornings, Yes I did,
And I used to have lip service on Shave forty
five two, my nighttime show.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
That's Fire. That's when it was good up there. You
could do four hours at night.
Speaker 3 (22:08):
Listen.
Speaker 1 (22:08):
It used to be a wild time up there. They
actually put them curtains up because of us. Really, yeah,
because we on lip service. Things used to get really
used to be a wild time. But really, much like
being a battle rapper, certain things you cannot do.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And say nowadays, I love it up there.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Man, we could I play whatever music I want, I
shave whatever I want. It's fun to me. Yeah, day
week I was thinking. I was, you know, at first
I was like, yo, I want to do this more.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
But then I'm like, it's a big commitment.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Five days a week. Yeah, very big commitment.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
Yeah. I mean, you have a whole.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Nother job, but one day a week. It's great.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
But they did Actually when I was there, I did
go on the road and so we would do the
show from different steps. I was on tour like with
eminem and fifty and we did the jay Z fifty
cent tour. So I was actually on the road doing
my show from on the road.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
You've been in legendary things like from WOA. What's your
favorite tour?
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Favorite to it?
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Man then moved and rage against the Machine. Tours used
to be crazy back in the day.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Yeah, and a lot I have seen a lot Like
me and Bet.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
I was talking about that because I also used to
work for DiAngelo and I was telling about that, Uh yeah,
well yeah, because he actually started working with a trainer
because he had gained a lot of weight and then
he got this trainer and that was he wouldn't show
up to the studio, but he would show up to
those training sessions. Really yeah, he Mark Jenkins, that was
the trainer's name. Shout out to him. And then I
(23:28):
went to go work for for Eminem and I worked
at his clothing line first, and then I went to
go work for his radio station. And you're managed by
Paul Rosenberg, not managed, he manages here.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
You're signed to Shady Records.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
No, I'm shining to Goliath Records. I'm the first AUTI
he started the Live Records.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Okay, you gotta explain this to us, because.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
So what happened is Paul, I'm a big believer. Is
I don't post nothing personal on my on my Instagram,
not like it's all business. Even though it looks fun,
it's business. I feel like once somebody starts following me,
they'll see what I'm about and they really, you know,
they'll see I'll take this shit seriously, even you on
the outside, because a lot of people might see me
(24:08):
on different pages and be like, ah, this guy is
aggressive or braceive, he's an asshole. But if you meet
me in real life, yeah, exactly, I'm American, sweetheart. It's
not like you know. And also it's not an act.
This is really who I am, but it's in a
nice way. So he started following me. So I DMed him, like, yo, Paul,
what's up, manage me? He's like, yo, I ain't managing.
Nobody knew anymore. I'm tired of being a man may motherfuckers.
(24:32):
So when I did the album, my first, the last
album before America, Sweet Always Rising the Silver Back, produced
by Scram Jones. So Scram was cool with Rosenberger was like, yo,
let's play it for him. He loved the album and
I told him, I said, yo, Paul, I got this out.
The next album I got it's fire better than this.
On the low, I didn't say anying front of Scram,
but I was like, y better than this. Yeah, I
(24:54):
love Scraam, that's my guy. But Paul was like, so,
what do you guys want out of this? And we
told him, you know, monitor we want this this this
budget that. He was like, give me six months, I'll
make it happen. And he's a man of his word.
Six months later we put our Riser of the Silver
Back on. He actually started Goliath Records just to put
(25:15):
my shirt out, so it's Goliath slash Virgin that.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
What congratulations on that. That's that's humongous. That's a you know, listen,
look at how life turned out.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
Absolutely went from banning me from the buildings. Remember that
he's the one that told me about I don't I
didn't remember it.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
At what lex You left an impact on him?
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Absolutely, Like that's how things, you know, go full circle.
Went from a caniva to a provider.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
You know what.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Okay, my lams of house boy. You know that's before
the record deal.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Yeah, I remember that was on you you touched about
that too.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
That's a that's a big moment for me. That's it
went from my mother telling me you know when and
because right when I started getting high, my mother got
clean again. She's been clean since it's been like claim
for like twenty years.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
And she probably was also a low key blaming herself.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
She has cried to me a lot.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Yeah, because parents sometimes, you know, they feel bad. They
do the best that they can with us, and we
learned that later in life, like the forgiveness of you know,
they were doing the best that they could.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
At a certain point, you got to stop blaming others
for what was done to you and just handle it. Yeah,
because like I'm a grown man now whatever, whatever, whatever
got me to this point. Cool, Like my mom didn't
know any better. She was just living her life, right,
And there's other people that you know, my pops died
at full Like, yeah, you could go through life saying
oh I didn't have a father or my mom's and
be like, you know, wear it like a you know,
(26:36):
an excuse for yourself. But at a certain point you
got a man to fuck up and handle your life
or you're gonna go through life miserable, right, And I
didn't want that. So my mother once she got you know,
when I was getting high, it had come to a
point where her where she was like, yo, my son,
Like I'm my only son, her only kid. I wish
you would just die ready so I could stop worrying
about you. And and it turned into you know, like
(26:59):
my mother hasn't paid her billing fucking years now. You
know what I'm saying, The roles have been reversed. I
remember I just yelled at it the other day for
fucking ordering some pay per view yellow Stone. I was like, yo, ma,
one episode for because I get the emails. You know
what I'm saying, what are you ordering this bullshit? I'll
get you the Paramount plug or whatever it is. Subscription.
(27:20):
You gotta relax. They jerking you over here. But yeah,
you know when it just switched roles and I'm just
happy to be able to take care of the person
that took care of me.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
Man, I love to see it. I'm so glad you
had a chance to come up here.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
Hopefully you'll come back absolutely, you know, because we're right
here in New York.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
Yo.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
You don't have do you have plans of leaving? Have
you left Cornea.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
If I'm out of Cony? Okay, the gold of the hood,
to get out the hood, but uh.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Jersey, that's where y'all be at. In Jersey, everybody makes
it and goes.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
It's far, it's far enough, but it's close enoughs right there.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
I tell you what I'm saying. I'm still in Brooklyn.
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Oh you boogie in the hood. Boogie right. But I
think I might have picked up your garbage I used
to do.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, you were a sanitation worker. You got suspend it.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Yeah, listen, y'all gotta let me ask you this as
a former sanitation worker. Now that we all have to
put our garbage in bins?
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Is that harder?
Speaker 1 (28:17):
Because I was thinking about it that actually it's harder
for y'all to like very.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Much, is harder than for us. I like just picking
up the bag and throwing it. Like for a bag,
I could throw it across the call into the thing,
depending on the way. But the bins sometimes, you know,
especially I worked in bed style. That was my style. Yeah,
bed style, the cause you don't have room to walk
through them. You can't take the whole bind. You gotta
put it over the call. That shit is annoying.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Yeah, see that's the but less rats, less.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Bags, broken open rats, listen all over.
Speaker 2 (28:48):
It's all over, full legged and leg.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
You gotta come back though, for absolutely. I come a
guest host one day, Come do lift service love all right.
So Nam's America sweet Heart is out now. It came
out on Valentine's Day.
Speaker 3 (29:02):
Go fat boy.
Speaker 4 (29:03):
Positivity?
Speaker 3 (29:05):
Yeah positive? What does them stand for?
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Again? Now everything makes sense? You changed it naturally, evil
mind state never ever your Doug that was now it's
not for your life. It's fixed your life. You are
like that now
Speaker 3 (29:23):
Right his way up, way up,
Way Up With Angela Yee News
Host
Angela Yee
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