September 16, 2025 • 39 mins
In this inspiring episode of You Vs. You, host Lex Borrero sits down with global music icon, entrepreneur, and innovator Will.i.am (Black Eyed Peas) to dive deep into purpose, creativity, and the mindset needed to thrive.
From growing up in the projects to performing at the Super Bowl and studying at Harvard, will.i.am shares powerful lessons on:
- Life Purpose: Why joy and optimism drive everything he does
- Creativity as Currency: How he built a career by trusting his imagination and ideas
- Overcoming Obstacles: The importance of embracing failure as “Professor Failure” and learning from it.
- Leadership & Teamwork: The balance between collaboration, criticism, and lifting others up
Legacy & Responsibility: Why education and discipline matter when trailblazing for others
This episode is full of wisdom, raw stories, and authentic reflections on how to stay focused, build resilience, and never abandon your dreams.
Whether you’re an artist, entrepreneur, or just someone searching for more meaning in your life, this conversation will challenge and inspire you.
🔔 Don’t forget to subscribe to You vs You for more powerful conversations with the world’s most impactful creators and leaders.
#WillIAm #BlackEyedPeas #YouVsYouPodcast #LexBorrero #Creativity #Purpose #Motivation #inspiration
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, what would you define as your life's purpose?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
The overall theme is.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
The black eyes.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
In this context, especially in a society where it's like
the algorithm is pumping you to be hateful just for
fucking numbers. Cloud use fuck. That algorithm is not my pimp.
The difference between me then and me now there's no difference.
I'm still crazy Willie. Anyway, Mom, what would I say
(00:44):
when you change my diaper and you say you would
always say bye?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I got.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
In the black eyed peas I learned a lot from
the piece that's too big for me? Like why is
it too big for you? Who said? Oh, you said
that you're your worst in me? The truth about why
I went to Harvard. I don't want to kick anybody
while they're down, But.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Well, what would you define as your life's purpose?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Over The overall theme is joy and optimism. Finding joy,
sorry not finding keeping joy and joy is like an
optimism those two keeping joy and being optimistic because joy
(01:32):
is a very complex emotion that means at one point
in time you had to have been happy. Everyone was happy,
like aimless happiness just circumstantial. I'm happy, everything's great. There's
a bit of innocence that comes with just happy because
your heart hasn't been broken yet, you haven't seen the foul,
(01:53):
dark parts of life. And then something happens and then
you you have have to journey out of that pain.
And then when you get out of that pain, happy,
innocent happiness you'll never get. You're just joyful because you
(02:13):
have you've been through some thickness and now you're over
the pain, and that feeling you're feeling is actually more
than happy. You're joyful. If you were to weigh happiness
and joy, joy is heavier because you came out of
something you've and so you want to keep that. So
(02:34):
my life's purpose is to keep joy no matter what
I go through. I want to keep whatever that frequency is.
And the only way to keep it is optimism. Optimistic
but not blind optimism. It's like knowing you know dark,
the darkness that comes with you know every time there's light,
(02:57):
there's shade, and every time there's shade, there's some lurkers.
And without being pestimistic, you want to be optimistic about
you know, the terrain, your surroundings, the unfortunates, the unknowings
that might unfold. So you could go into life with
like skepticism and paranoia, or you could go it in
(03:19):
life with this like this purpose of I'm here to
bring joy and I'm here to be optimistic and remind
people to be optimistic, whether that's through music, whether that's
through problem solving, whether that's through just walking in the
room and like shine. You know, the hardest thing to
(03:40):
do is love, especially when you have just like in
a society where it's like the algorithm is pumping you
to do ignorant shit, The algorithm is pumping you to
be hateful just for fucking for numbers and fucking cloud
and views. Fuck that. I don't want to. I don't
(04:00):
want to Algorithms not my pimp, because I got to
have me out there doing something. Wold wiki ship to
the point where it's like you're mean to one another.
I'm like, what's up? What's up? Everybody. That's how I
survived through the projects. I survived the projects being like,
what's up, Willie?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Like you don't just what's up? Like the dude that
you want to be around, the dude that's like so yes,
fucked up, yes, fucked up.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
There's a way to another way to look at it.
You know. I love that. You know.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
One of the things that I always say is there's
there's a very big difference between talking and feeling. What
do you think between saying it and actually applying that
to your daily life? Not right? Knowing that you're walking
into the unknown every single day as you wake up.
What are if I'm an audience or you know, someone's
watching and saying, okay, I love that that description of
(04:51):
how I should live my life, I want to apply
into my life. What are some mantras? I know you
walk every morning. What are some things that you could
do to help Levis say before you are your day
or during the day that allow you to find that
feeling again?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Okay, here's why it's important to have that perspective. If
you put power to pestimistic viewpoints, or you give power
to like pain and fear, then you're never truly gonna
manifest your ideas or dreams. Life doesn't work that way.
(05:26):
It's if you want to plant the seed and soil,
you gotta understand that seed is in the dirt, it
needs as much. Just give me an inch of light.
It means light, and as that seed sprouts, it gives
(05:46):
out fucking little little I was gonna say, feathers, little
fucking leaves, and those leaves are just pulling as much
light as it can get, and that thing's gonna sprout. Bro.
If you were to break down that seed, the one
thing the seed is in sane is like, fuck all
this it dirt around me, fucking heavy and fucking all
this pressure. I feel like if a seed has that perspective,
(06:07):
that shit ain't groin, bro, because it's under dirt, nigger,
It's under the fucking heaviest, dirtiest shit. First thing it does,
it fucking goes down first. Yo, I'm gonna go down
because when I go up, wanna be stronger because I
got my shit down in the ground.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Bro.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It goes two ways at the same time, and it's
not pessimistic. It embraces where it's at. It understands its
dirty surroundings, which is dirt, and it goes down and
up and it's looking for light as it embraces the
scenario that it's in, which is darkness, and sends its
fucking roots down to the fucking depth. And when that
(06:46):
fucking thing sprouts and becomes the redwood, you ain't fucking
pushing that shit down bro haters have to come and
chop that shit down with the acts. The fucking hater
ass lumberjacks. They got a fucking common plow. So that's
why optimism and joy searching for light is important while
embracing your darkness and putting your roots down deep fucking
(07:10):
coming out on the other side like a redwood tree
or a palm tree.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Your creativity and the way you process it from when
you started right with the aspiration of like and the
anxiety and all the things that come with Am I
going to make? What am I doing? I have all
this freedom too because I don't have the restriction. I
don't have people's opinion. I'm kind of just flowing to
compare to where I am today. Has anything changed.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Me and the project versus me?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Now?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah, talking about your creativity and how you impress it.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
So when I was up over there too. Now, see
when I was over there, like, my creativity was my currency.
Creativity is my currency, And I knew I was rich
or creativity. I wasn't like, ah, fuck, what is my
fucking current? What is the currency value of my creativity?
(07:58):
I knew that shit was. My neighborhood told me it
was rich. Fucking Willie Dollar shit feeding at homes. The
fucking neighborhood told me that the difference between me then
and me now, there's no difference. If you were to
go to my neighborhood to be like, fucking Willy hasn't changed.
Maybe my fucking clothes has changed a little bit differently,
but I'm still crazy Willie.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
So when you look at where you sit today, the
value of your creativity, the value of your purpose, what
are the areas of your life that you can say
I'm still working on that. I haven't figured that out yet.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
See when I was a little kid, my room was
always messy. You know, we lived in a project. So
why did I have to have a clean room? Because
if I clean my room out be a little bit
more organized today, my business would be more better. There's
one more. I'm gonna bring my mom in on the
carpet and she's gonna tell you this one thing. I'm
gonna just ask her one thing. It has everything to
(08:56):
do with everything I just said, because like I said,
and I said, I didn't clean my room because I
was like, why don't she keep my room clean? My
height it's dirty outside? And she'd be like, what just
as in that house and clean your clean every damn room.
She'm like, damn, Ma's just gonna get messing anyway, Mama,
I heard you say that. Mama, Mama. You remember when
(09:19):
I was a little kid. Oh, and and then you
would change my diaper. And then I would I say,
when you change my diaper?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
So you used to like to walk around I with
this big load of pee and poop in your diaper,
and I would say, come and let me change your diaper,
and you would say. You would always say you didn't
want to get it changed. And I would say why
and you would say, because I'm just gonna poop again.
(09:52):
And you like the warm feelings.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
By gott I'm the ship nigga sh so had I
You know, ever since I was a little kid, wanted
to get my diaper change and clean my room. I'll
be a little bit more organized. But anyways, just having
(10:15):
fun with your answer, Yeah, but there's some serious to that,
and I truly believe that if I clean my room,
I'll be a little bit more organized. Today.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It's really interesting as we've had conversations with some of
the other guests about the patterns of our childhood and
how those patterns, to your point, affect so much of
what we're living today, right like good or bad. The
traumas or the patterns are filtering the information that we
get today. And I use this example consistently, and I
love to use it because it's a very clear example
of you could love that grape and I can hate
(10:47):
that grape. The grape actually never changed, only the filter
that is going through from that. Is there any patterns
that you're as an adult you're noticing that You're like, oh,
this pattern outside of just coming from childhood, is something
I developed through my adulthood, through my life experience that
now I'm seeing as something that maybe I need to
(11:09):
adjust or maybe I need to apply love to or
enjoy to to start shifting in my life.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I think a pattern that I see even if I
just compare the way I look at the world now
where I'm where, I'm curious and I'm a critical thinker.
When my mom said, boy, get over here, let me
change that diaper, and I responded with, why I'm just
gonna do too. Anyways, that's a critical thinker of a
(11:35):
person who still has diapers on and so, and although
my mom was correct, the answer back of but why,
though you're going to change my figure, how it must
have been not even one to be like, but why
you're going to change my diaper, I'm going to poop
in it again, and then you're gonna change it again.
(11:58):
But she is a mom knows you know all the
uh you know, the hygienic, the hygienes that come with
changing your diaper. The mom knows the order and discipline
it comes with cleaning your room. A child doesn't know that.
But to the credit of the critical thinker of asking questions,
(12:19):
but why, but why? But why? But why? But why?
One of the but whys that I never mastered was
cleaning my room, No matter how logical it was. If
you were to go to my room right now, it's
a mess. I know where it's at, but it's still
a mess. And it's one thing. Every day I come
into my office, I think, Damn, I wish I was
(12:41):
a little bit more tidier. At fifty, I walk into anywhere,
any room where my stuff's at, I'm like, Damn, it's
just a messing. Okay, I'll go I'll do it next week.
But I know where my stuff's at. But I still
have this wish to be a little bit more tightier.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
So one of the things that I've struggled with as
a creative is that the desire to be curious has
made me a great architect but a pretty horrible property manager.
You come in and you say, Okay, I'm gonna build
a great business, and because you have so much curiosity,
you're able to build it, You're able to create it,
you're able to build mass into it. And then once
(13:21):
you kind of feel like, okay, that that's done, then
it's like your mind starts being curious about something else.
And I've historically in my life have had a bad
experience being a manager of that, like sustaining that business
to grow to his full potential without me jumping into
another business or another idea because that curiosity. Do you
feel that that happens as part of that pattern?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yes, you married, Yes, you've been with your girl for
a while four years, for four years. Yeah, how would
your kids too? You're a long term relationship guy, short
term relationship guy, long term relationship and this is the
longest relationshi ship you've been in.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
The most stable relationship I've ever been.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Keep it that way. And the only reason I say
that is because you said, you build things and you
do something else, that's gonna apply to this. So everything
potentially this thing too. Don't let that happen to this.
It took a long time for me to learn to
delegate because I'm like, I could do that, I could
do it. I could do it. I could do it.
I could I could, I could do it. Or but
(14:27):
the moment I learned that, like I need like talent
that is fucking awesome talent that I could hand things
off to start something or spark something and they start something.
That to me, this is the best creative environment that
I've ever been in. HM is where like not everything
(14:49):
is waiting around for like me to start it. I'm
blessed to be in a configuration of talented people that
are like, you'll check this out, like wait, what, oh shit,
that's fucking fire, even biz devs. I'll go in network
and bring what I networked into my network and it
(15:13):
works because you you've delegated to you know, capable people.
And it took me a while to do that. In
the Black Eyed Peas, you know, I learned a lot
from the piece, and I made mistakes in my businesses
and there's nothing better than professor failure. Like a lot
(15:36):
of people, especially in these days, are afraid to fail.
I think that means you don't want that professor failure.
Professor failure is hard and it's going to prepare prepare
you for success. But you have to take that professor's class.
You have to fail and not going in there like
(15:58):
you about the fail like you can't go in there
like wanting to fail, Like yeah, fuck, I'm about to fail.
That's that's what professor failure is all about. You want
to go there, you want to take that course an
attempt not to fail, but don't let the potential of
failing cripple you from trying. There's so many fucking like
(16:20):
punk ass motherfuckers that don't want to do stuff because
they're afraid to fail, Like, ah nah, that's too big
for me, Like why is it too big for you?
Who said that? Oh you said that? Okay, Well then
you're worst. You're your worst enemy. You've already you're you're
your judge and your executor and you've executed yourself, your
(16:42):
your dreams, or your desires before the potential people that
are going to love it. You've abandoned yourself and when
you busted out your daddy's nuts. You didn't have that
mentality in that process. You know, I know, I know
it sounds like I'm all over the place, But yeah,
(17:04):
I'm all over the place because that's that's the whole point.
I want my joy to go all over the place.
Back to the first question you asked me, I saw
that you studied, you went to Harvard. What made you
decide to go to Harvard?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And two? I spoke out Harvard Business School and I
had a question from a student who was about to graduate.
He came to me and said, I feel like I'm
not creative? How do I spark creativity in my life?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
So?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
First, what inspired you to go to Harvard? And what
would you tell that kid from Harvard who asked that question?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
The truth about why I went to Harvard.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Truth and only the truth.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Brother. I don't want to kick anybody while they're down,
and I don't want to add to the to the
uh to the pile. But there's a guy who comes
from where I come from as far as music, and
they transitioned from entertainment to business. And let's say that
person didn't really handle their business appropriate. And when you
(18:01):
handle your business, that way and you're on top. There's
some responsibility that you have as a person that represents
other folks that have come from some type of subset,
some type of skepticism, doubt, and you've made it through
all of the obstacles. There's some responsibility that you have.
(18:24):
You can't just move how you want to move, because
you're going to make it harder for people that you
just made it easier for. Like it's hard if you're
black and brown that come from the inner city, and
you made it in one realm and now you're successful
in another realm. Now you've made it easier for people
(18:45):
through that path. And let's say this person didn't do
the best job in conducting business, and now corporations have
a clause in contracts, especially for people that come from this,
from our realm. And I wanted to go to college
(19:05):
to show that I take business seriously. I conduct business seriously.
So that's the that's the first reason why I went.
It's because business is serious. It's a serious business. Yeah, EPMD,
you know it's a strictly business. Sorry, it's a strictly business, EPMD.
(19:27):
There's no need to take things personal. But then I
take it personal if you are the trailblazer guiding you're
going up the mountain. You should leave a trail for
people that want to hike that hike if you are
and there's people that want to hike that hike. But
if you're like carving a trail but then at the
(19:48):
same time burning the trail, that's irresponsible because you're making
making it harder for whatever reason, for people that want
to hike that hike and transition from their circumstance for
bigger and better opportunities for their families. So for me,
(20:19):
ep m D. So what you're saying is strictly business.
I wanted to get my you know, higher, higher elevated
view on how to conduct how to network better, how
to manage better, how to like discipline better, how to
organize better. And one of the things that I would
(20:41):
think about when I was at Harvard was, damn, motherfucker
should have really cleaned his room. I could apply that
to every everything while I was there, or order my
thoughts a little bit more organized. It's still to be
It's okay to be chaotic. Emotions are chaotic, and then
(21:03):
you come out of it on the other side when
you like articulate what's going on emotionally and do a painting,
write a song, design something. It's like it's organizing confusion,
being the pharaoh as you munch through materializing that ideation
to materialization. So Harvard Harvard was what was important for
(21:27):
me personally, and then me being responsible so people on
the other side in those corporate offices know that we're
serious and not everybody is self destructive.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
And to that kid who says I don't know where
to I don't know where to start. I don't like
he literally was, I feel like I have no creativity
and I can't spark it. How do I spark that creativity?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Save that question, because I want to go back and
be sensitive to other folks and be like, but yeah, yeah,
that was they were coming after. They were making it
hard or they weren't. They were being shady, nigga. That's business.
That's that's that's battle rapping. You think the battles supposed
to be nice. Everybody's supposed to be massaging you. You
(22:17):
gotta fucking gear up, you gotta arm yourself. That's why
you That's why you're supposed to have dopest lawyers. That's
why you have to have dopest biz deav folks, that's
why you're supposed to freaking hire people and trust people
and delegate. It's strictly business and it's teamwork. If you
don't give props to the people on your team and
everything is you, then yeah, you're gonna fill all them hits.
(22:39):
You're gonna fill all them shots. But if you're out
there fighting, you an army bro squad it up, delegate.
You thought this ship was fucking camp snoopy, hommy, you
thought this ship was fucking you know what I'm saying, smurfs.
La la la la la la, No Bro, it is business,
(22:59):
and you got up, arm up, and more importantly, you
got a goal in there with joy. He thinks Steve
Jobs had it easy. He literally called his company Think
Different because they hated on him. They kicked him out
of his own company.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, he came back.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And took that shit to the next level. He didn't
fucking self destruct. This motherfucking Walt Disney was jealous over
his own character, Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse is still more
famous and this motherfucker ain't even real. But he knew
the power of giving birth to something that was greater
than them. It's always a fight, but a fight is
(23:40):
you win fights with a squad, with the team. Even
Mike Tyson had his trainer, Even Muhammad Ali had his people,
Tiger Woods had his people. Even when you're by yourself,
you have to have something behind you, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
One of the hardest things to be the leader, right
is being able to work in a team. And when
your challenged and you are will I am and you've
accomplished all the things that you have and you are
all those things and someone says, uh, yeah, you think
that's blue, but I should be red singing As a leader, yeah,
how do you deal.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
With people saying that that should be read?
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
With the challenges that people give you and your team,
and does that trigger any any self awareness and the
insecurity and the ego because the biggest struggle for a
leader is usually being able to be accepting of the
commentary of this.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yes, if you be prepared to listen to your team. So,
if I got on something blue and you're like, yo,
bro should be red, I'm gonna be like, all right, cool,
no problem, bro, look at I'll do red. Bro. I'll
switch the shit make you happy. Now the shit is red.
I mean it's all good. It's about compromise, about collaboration.
(24:56):
You wanted to be read now it's red. Now, let's
keep it moving. What are we doing. It's okay to listen,
it's okay to hear, and more importantly, it's okay to
prepare for what your team might want to do. That's
why you brought them to your team. You gotta listen
to other people's time. More importantly, you gotta like shine,
light on awesome. That's why I solute, dre, dre, like
(25:19):
Easy birthed a lot of fucking stars and he let
them shine to their fullest. Eminem is fucking eminem bro
and he brought fifty cent in and like Eminem shining
in a dre universe, fifty shine and Eminem's bringing Snoop Dogg.
(25:43):
Snoop Dogg is a fucking bona fide star that takes
ego and ego lists that other stars can pop off
while you shine, and you big them up and you
don't get in a way, you don't shit on them,
you don't fucking you know, when Black Eyed Peas were
at our height and Ferggie Fergie Ferggy Ferggy to me,
(26:03):
it was like hell yeah, it's freggy, that's dope. I
producer wrote a lot of those songs fucking awesome. A
lot of times people like, it's all about me, it's
all about me, it's all about being no bro, it's
about the crew. And you gotta listen to your crew. Now.
If the idea suck, you gotta let Tom know this,
(26:25):
it's just whack. And they gotta know how to take criticism.
You know, like, hey, that that's just really whack. And
if somebody tells you your ship is whack, you'd be like,
I feel like you've mastered that, accepting the criticism. If
somebody's telling me that's whack from the crew, I just
care about the crew. If it's a if it's somebody else,
(26:48):
I don't know, if they're hating, I don't know, if
they're fucking the gassing me up. You gotta you gotta
be careful what information you take. If somebody's every if
somebody's always like, yo, this is dope, it's just dope.
You got a bunch of yes man around you, at
some point in time, you're not gonna be able to
sustain it because they're just hyping you and hype. I
don't like that word hype. It's connected to too many
(27:12):
things that are hypotheticals or hypertension or hyperventilating hype. Don't
believe it, public enemy. You don't want to believe the hype. Now, Spec.
I like that word because it allows you to that word.
You have to inspect the truth. You can't even speculate,
(27:37):
is okay if somebody is speculating you. But at the
end of the day, you have to remember that you're
special and to be specific. You know, spec is an
awesome fucking word and a lot of people don't like
it because it's so small. It's a little spec. But
inspect the deck, nigga, you know what I'm saying. You
(27:58):
got to protect that neck harmony.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, how do you look at hiring and picking and
picking that team right, because it's it's very easy to
fall into hiring yes man in your team because again,
you every all of us deal with things and you're like, okay,
that's yes and man. So how do you say, Okay,
this is someone that should be in my team. This
is someone's whose opinion I value enough to be okay
(28:21):
a challenge, okay, year Nay?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Do you like yes man or no? Na? Na? Kay
year nay honest people year nae.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I noticed when Ya turned his name to Ya. He
just only wanted yes man. Yeah, only wants people to
say yes. He don't like nay. You can't tell him nay.
He doesn't know how to take nay. It's only yeah, yeah, yeah, yah, yay, yes, yes, yes,
yes yes. And when that happens, you start to spiral.
That's a you want to select that team and keep
(28:57):
that team, and you keep that team with your light.
You gotta celebrate, you gotta celebrate the folks in your squad, And.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
How do you select those, Like, how do you know
when you're just meeting that person that they're not going
to be a ya?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Sometimes they select you. Most of the times they're selecting
you because if they're really dope, they got to select you.
Because if you're if you only are selecting folks that
aren't that dope, then you're you're hypnotized by yes men
disguised as good. There's a lot of people that can
(29:35):
bullshit that they're dope, and and the way they bullshit
that they're dope is being yes been to people that
need yes man's and those people feed off of a
squad of yes, I like how Jimmy and Dre. What
Jimmy was able to do is that people that were
dope selected to be with Jimmy, and Jimmy selected them
(29:56):
and he then empowered them to build teams and funded
them to go out and find teams. And Dre did
a fantastic job. Trent Reznor did an awesome job. Gwen
Stefani did an amazing job. It wasn't just dudes. Gwen
Stefani's like, Wow, lamb are Juku girls, you know, no doubt.
(30:18):
Rocking with Pharrell, Pharrell did an awesome job. Rico Way
did an amazing job. Folks that were rocking with Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
But and you see their squads when you see all
those names. Who do you think has been the most
impactful to your life?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And why why don't you minter fight? I mean, I
know you like, can I go back to Blue? The
most influential in my life in music and overall.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
In your career, you know, starting as an artist obviously,
But who has been the most impactful mentor person in
your life that you feel like that.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
The first chapter Apple, the app my first chapter Apple
has been the most impactful because he believed in me.
I believed in him. He didn't speak any English coming
to America. Easy E was was open minded to have
somebody straight from the Philippines signed to Ruthless because I
(31:17):
vouched for him, and Easy wanted me to sign a Ruthless.
You know, he was okay to sign Apple. But Apple's
belief and my abilities motivate the guy that taught me
how to produce. These two cats change my life. And
Apple wasn't a yes man. He was like, I want
(31:38):
to learn, man, I want to learn how to rap.
We used to go, you know, dance against foods and
like battle foods and shit. And Apple was an amazing
like acrobat and an amazing dancer. A lot of Filipinos
are and they sing their ass off and they fucking
dj fucking scratch. The Filipinos are fucking damn. I don't
(31:59):
know what the fucks pop off in the Philippines. Or
maybe it's the chicken of Dobo. They the black Asians,
we like chicken. They like chicken. They Philippines is, you know.
And we started our group in the Filipino community. So
when we were signing of Roofless, there was a squad
of people that that fucked with us because of Apple,
(32:19):
that guy Apple Motivate guy that trought me on to produce,
and then Apple the app Apple the app times of trillion,
and then Jimmy Ivan second chapter of My Life. There's
a song on joints and jams. It goes, uh, we're
about massive pillo nose segregation, got Black to Asian and
(32:40):
Caucasian saying, that's the joint, that's the jam. Like our
whole vision was to like, let's take it to the
next next. Next, there's a there's another lyric on a
song called a eight and then lyric goes Yoma man,
I got a plan to do with all. I got
a plan that none of y'all ever thought about because
underground niggas don't be thinking on going kind of you know,
(33:03):
like Lincoln, how can you make moves when you always
trapped under I'm trying to reach the surface to learn
more about the thunder. I wonder what really makes the
world go around, not thugs, because thugs go around and
bring other brothers down to be in it for a
quick blink. But when you start to sing, you'd be
deeper than you was when you should have stopped and
think about your consequence. Your actually don't make lots of
sense anyways, I forgot my rapping anyhow. That verse from
(33:25):
my first album was like our ambitions on what we
wanted to do, We had a plan to do it. Oh, bro,
coming from the projects seeing mc hammer, this motherfucker emc
hammer my biggest influence, my biggest influence. I love to
this fucking day. I love mc hammer and people would
(33:47):
like hate on them, Like why do they hate on
Hammer so much? Motherfucker got hits, motherfucking dances ass off,
thumps in the bumps. You know, you know, can't touch this.
Like in the projects, mc hammer was especially West Coast
mc hammer. Bro, if you say top ten, what's your
(34:07):
top ten rappers? Top five rappers? You never think of
mc hammer or cadn't play. Why is that? Your mind
only wants to celebrate the drug peddlers like mc hammer
don't come from a hood. Have you ever been to Oakland? Yep?
Have you ever been to Oakland? Mc hammer is not
(34:29):
to fucking play with street Wise and a lot of
rappers would tell you that, well, oh, because he didn't
talk about shooting people. He didn't talk about selling drugs
and getting your auntie and your uncle addicted to some
fucking chemical. He's not dope. Fuck out of here.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
We always end this podcast with an exercise. Yeah, here
you go. The power of words and the power that
they have with how you see yourself, how you perceive things.
If there's a word or a phrase that Will I
Am could tell himself right now that could change the
perception of how his how you take information this week,
(35:09):
how you feel about yourself? Is there something that you
want to tell yourself that centers yourself right now? Could
be a word, it could be a phrase, focus, because part.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Of focusing is order, cleanliness. Love. That my best friend
one of the first raps he wrote when he mastered English.
Here's a guy come from the Philippines. Encouragement goes the
long way. And I'm not talking about gas gassing somebody
(35:44):
up or yes and them just like yo, you could
do it? No, that was that's whack broke. That improve
it here? Really man, He'll go back in and fucking
like you know. I love the freestyle. I love to
fucking be witty, love rhymes. I love metaphors and simply
I speak metaphorically. I speak, you know, with witty puns
(36:07):
and uh one of speaking of the word focus. One
of his first raps when he like mastered English because
you know when out in junior high school and high school,
I had English for high school. This dude had English
as a second language ees L. And in the nineties
people made fun of ESL students in school. I was
(36:30):
a kids, remember that, Yeah, what probably felt like like
fuck you a ESL. America doesn't do a good job
at that. But for some reason, if you go to
fucking France and there's somebody that's from fucking Spain and
they're learning French, they don't got the same problem. If
you go to the UK and you're learning and you
have French, they don't have that same For some fucking reason,
(36:52):
America they treat folks that have to go to school
for a second language. Is like wait, what like anyhow?
So app of the app endued all that stuff. Speaking
of the word focus back to the focus part, the
word that I I selected. This is one rap that
Apple wrote and it's focus on this the ear seductionists
(37:18):
more than lyricists in this rap Metropolis. I'm more like
an activist. I give it to you raw entertainment will
make you have a ball sounds are conceiving, causing you
to meditate, manipulate your mind with hypnotical legislat We're far
from the fakes. We never fake moves. But jealous motherfuckers
(37:40):
seem to disapprove and talk shit. But who the hell
he be having a fit. He don't got shit. That's
why he said trips. I identify what he riffs inconsistent, nonsense,
nothing less than bullshit. Our crew remains as the all
around remainers, real entertainers, revivers of the true art form
(38:02):
of hip hop, explore NonStop entertain you till you drop.
Like yo, Yo, you wrote that shit, bro. He's like, hey,
well it's not dupe, like a focus on this. The
ir seductionists more than lyricists in this rap metropolis. I'm
more like an activist English and a second language student, bro.
(38:29):
And when somebody's coming with that, you encourage the shit out,
like yo, bro, keep going with that. And he focused
his focus his path like focus, I want to rap.
I want to rap, like you know, my best friends
are rapping. I gotta get better. I gotta get better.
I gotta get better. And his accent, his accent was thick,
and they call him a fib cause an accident with
(38:51):
my accent, spontaneous lee repting I be doing verbally. Eventually,
I'm gonna have to punk a whack and see like
I flip his lips over his head and make him
swallow with the hollow point tip pointing at his hip, like, great,
you got a gun. No, no, HaLow point tip my pen.
(39:13):
You flip his lips over his head and make him swallow.
He's gonna swallow himself? What the fuck?
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Bro?
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Whoh, he's seventeen years old?
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Focus, focus, Well, thank you so much for being a
part of you Versus You, You Versus You as a
production of Neon sixteen and Entertained Studios in partnership with
the Iheartmichael to that podcast network for more podcasts, listen
to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Well, what would you define as your life's purpose?
Speaker 2 (00:03):
The overall theme is.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
The black eyes.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
In this context, especially in a society where it's like
the algorithm is pumping you to be hateful just for
fucking numbers. Cloud use fuck. That algorithm is not my pimp.
The difference between me then and me now there's no difference.
I'm still crazy Willie. Anyway, Mom, what would I say
(00:44):
when you change my diaper and you say you would
always say bye?
Speaker 4 (00:51):
I got.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
In the black eyed peas I learned a lot from
the piece that's too big for me? Like why is
it too big for you? Who said? Oh, you said
that you're your worst in me? The truth about why
I went to Harvard. I don't want to kick anybody
while they're down, But.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Well, what would you define as your life's purpose?
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Over The overall theme is joy and optimism. Finding joy,
sorry not finding keeping joy and joy is like an
optimism those two keeping joy and being optimistic because joy
(01:32):
is a very complex emotion that means at one point
in time you had to have been happy. Everyone was happy,
like aimless happiness just circumstantial. I'm happy, everything's great. There's
a bit of innocence that comes with just happy because
your heart hasn't been broken yet, you haven't seen the foul,
(01:53):
dark parts of life. And then something happens and then
you you have have to journey out of that pain.
And then when you get out of that pain, happy,
innocent happiness you'll never get. You're just joyful because you
(02:13):
have you've been through some thickness and now you're over
the pain, and that feeling you're feeling is actually more
than happy. You're joyful. If you were to weigh happiness
and joy, joy is heavier because you came out of
something you've and so you want to keep that. So
(02:34):
my life's purpose is to keep joy no matter what
I go through. I want to keep whatever that frequency is.
And the only way to keep it is optimism. Optimistic
but not blind optimism. It's like knowing you know dark,
the darkness that comes with you know every time there's light,
(02:57):
there's shade, and every time there's shade, there's some lurkers.
And without being pestimistic, you want to be optimistic about
you know, the terrain, your surroundings, the unfortunates, the unknowings
that might unfold. So you could go into life with
like skepticism and paranoia, or you could go it in
(03:19):
life with this like this purpose of I'm here to
bring joy and I'm here to be optimistic and remind
people to be optimistic, whether that's through music, whether that's
through problem solving, whether that's through just walking in the
room and like shine. You know, the hardest thing to
(03:40):
do is love, especially when you have just like in
a society where it's like the algorithm is pumping you
to do ignorant shit, The algorithm is pumping you to
be hateful just for fucking for numbers and fucking cloud
and views. Fuck that. I don't want to. I don't
(04:00):
want to Algorithms not my pimp, because I got to
have me out there doing something. Wold wiki ship to
the point where it's like you're mean to one another.
I'm like, what's up? What's up? Everybody. That's how I
survived through the projects. I survived the projects being like,
what's up, Willie?
Speaker 1 (04:16):
What's up?
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Like you don't just what's up? Like the dude that
you want to be around, the dude that's like so yes,
fucked up, yes, fucked up.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
Boom.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
There's a way to another way to look at it.
You know. I love that. You know.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
One of the things that I always say is there's
there's a very big difference between talking and feeling. What
do you think between saying it and actually applying that
to your daily life? Not right? Knowing that you're walking
into the unknown every single day as you wake up.
What are if I'm an audience or you know, someone's
watching and saying, okay, I love that that description of
(04:51):
how I should live my life, I want to apply
into my life. What are some mantras? I know you
walk every morning. What are some things that you could
do to help Levis say before you are your day
or during the day that allow you to find that
feeling again?
Speaker 2 (05:04):
Okay, here's why it's important to have that perspective. If
you put power to pestimistic viewpoints, or you give power
to like pain and fear, then you're never truly gonna
manifest your ideas or dreams. Life doesn't work that way.
(05:26):
It's if you want to plant the seed and soil,
you gotta understand that seed is in the dirt, it
needs as much. Just give me an inch of light.
It means light, and as that seed sprouts, it gives
(05:46):
out fucking little little I was gonna say, feathers, little
fucking leaves, and those leaves are just pulling as much
light as it can get, and that thing's gonna sprout. Bro.
If you were to break down that seed, the one
thing the seed is in sane is like, fuck all
this it dirt around me, fucking heavy and fucking all
this pressure. I feel like if a seed has that perspective,
(06:07):
that shit ain't groin, bro, because it's under dirt, nigger,
It's under the fucking heaviest, dirtiest shit. First thing it does,
it fucking goes down first. Yo, I'm gonna go down
because when I go up, wanna be stronger because I
got my shit down in the ground.
Speaker 4 (06:25):
Bro.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It goes two ways at the same time, and it's
not pessimistic. It embraces where it's at. It understands its
dirty surroundings, which is dirt, and it goes down and
up and it's looking for light as it embraces the
scenario that it's in, which is darkness, and sends its
fucking roots down to the fucking depth. And when that
(06:46):
fucking thing sprouts and becomes the redwood, you ain't fucking
pushing that shit down bro haters have to come and
chop that shit down with the acts. The fucking hater
ass lumberjacks. They got a fucking common plow. So that's
why optimism and joy searching for light is important while
embracing your darkness and putting your roots down deep fucking
(07:10):
coming out on the other side like a redwood tree
or a palm tree.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Your creativity and the way you process it from when
you started right with the aspiration of like and the
anxiety and all the things that come with Am I
going to make? What am I doing? I have all
this freedom too because I don't have the restriction. I
don't have people's opinion. I'm kind of just flowing to
compare to where I am today. Has anything changed.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Me and the project versus me?
Speaker 4 (07:34):
Now?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yeah, talking about your creativity and how you impress it.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
So when I was up over there too. Now, see
when I was over there, like, my creativity was my currency.
Creativity is my currency, And I knew I was rich
or creativity. I wasn't like, ah, fuck, what is my
fucking current? What is the currency value of my creativity?
(07:58):
I knew that shit was. My neighborhood told me it
was rich. Fucking Willie Dollar shit feeding at homes. The
fucking neighborhood told me that the difference between me then
and me now, there's no difference. If you were to
go to my neighborhood to be like, fucking Willy hasn't changed.
Maybe my fucking clothes has changed a little bit differently,
but I'm still crazy Willie.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
So when you look at where you sit today, the
value of your creativity, the value of your purpose, what
are the areas of your life that you can say
I'm still working on that. I haven't figured that out yet.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
See when I was a little kid, my room was
always messy. You know, we lived in a project. So
why did I have to have a clean room? Because
if I clean my room out be a little bit
more organized today, my business would be more better. There's
one more. I'm gonna bring my mom in on the
carpet and she's gonna tell you this one thing. I'm
gonna just ask her one thing. It has everything to
(08:56):
do with everything I just said, because like I said,
and I said, I didn't clean my room because I
was like, why don't she keep my room clean? My
height it's dirty outside? And she'd be like, what just
as in that house and clean your clean every damn room.
She'm like, damn, Ma's just gonna get messing anyway, Mama,
I heard you say that. Mama, Mama. You remember when
(09:19):
I was a little kid. Oh, and and then you
would change my diaper. And then I would I say,
when you change my diaper?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
So you used to like to walk around I with
this big load of pee and poop in your diaper,
and I would say, come and let me change your diaper,
and you would say. You would always say you didn't
want to get it changed. And I would say why
and you would say, because I'm just gonna poop again.
(09:52):
And you like the warm feelings.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
By gott I'm the ship nigga sh so had I
You know, ever since I was a little kid, wanted
to get my diaper change and clean my room. I'll
be a little bit more organized. But anyways, just having
(10:15):
fun with your answer, Yeah, but there's some serious to that,
and I truly believe that if I clean my room,
I'll be a little bit more organized. Today.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
It's really interesting as we've had conversations with some of
the other guests about the patterns of our childhood and
how those patterns, to your point, affect so much of
what we're living today, right like good or bad. The
traumas or the patterns are filtering the information that we
get today. And I use this example consistently, and I
love to use it because it's a very clear example
of you could love that grape and I can hate
(10:47):
that grape. The grape actually never changed, only the filter
that is going through from that. Is there any patterns
that you're as an adult you're noticing that You're like, oh,
this pattern outside of just coming from childhood, is something
I developed through my adulthood, through my life experience that
now I'm seeing as something that maybe I need to
(11:09):
adjust or maybe I need to apply love to or
enjoy to to start shifting in my life.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
I think a pattern that I see even if I
just compare the way I look at the world now
where I'm where, I'm curious and I'm a critical thinker.
When my mom said, boy, get over here, let me
change that diaper, and I responded with, why I'm just
gonna do too. Anyways, that's a critical thinker of a
(11:35):
person who still has diapers on and so, and although
my mom was correct, the answer back of but why,
though you're going to change my figure, how it must
have been not even one to be like, but why
you're going to change my diaper, I'm going to poop
in it again, and then you're gonna change it again.
(11:58):
But she is a mom knows you know all the
uh you know, the hygienic, the hygienes that come with
changing your diaper. The mom knows the order and discipline
it comes with cleaning your room. A child doesn't know that.
But to the credit of the critical thinker of asking questions,
(12:19):
but why, but why? But why? But why? But why?
One of the but whys that I never mastered was
cleaning my room, No matter how logical it was. If
you were to go to my room right now, it's
a mess. I know where it's at, but it's still
a mess. And it's one thing. Every day I come
into my office, I think, Damn, I wish I was
(12:41):
a little bit more tidier. At fifty, I walk into anywhere,
any room where my stuff's at, I'm like, Damn, it's
just a messing. Okay, I'll go I'll do it next week.
But I know where my stuff's at. But I still
have this wish to be a little bit more tightier.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
So one of the things that I've struggled with as
a creative is that the desire to be curious has
made me a great architect but a pretty horrible property manager.
You come in and you say, Okay, I'm gonna build
a great business, and because you have so much curiosity,
you're able to build it, You're able to create it,
you're able to build mass into it. And then once
(13:21):
you kind of feel like, okay, that that's done, then
it's like your mind starts being curious about something else.
And I've historically in my life have had a bad
experience being a manager of that, like sustaining that business
to grow to his full potential without me jumping into
another business or another idea because that curiosity. Do you
feel that that happens as part of that pattern?
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yes, you married, Yes, you've been with your girl for
a while four years, for four years. Yeah, how would
your kids too? You're a long term relationship guy, short
term relationship guy, long term relationship and this is the
longest relationshi ship you've been in.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
The most stable relationship I've ever been.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Keep it that way. And the only reason I say
that is because you said, you build things and you
do something else, that's gonna apply to this. So everything
potentially this thing too. Don't let that happen to this.
It took a long time for me to learn to
delegate because I'm like, I could do that, I could
do it. I could do it. I could do it.
I could I could, I could do it. Or but
(14:27):
the moment I learned that, like I need like talent
that is fucking awesome talent that I could hand things
off to start something or spark something and they start something.
That to me, this is the best creative environment that
I've ever been in. HM is where like not everything
(14:49):
is waiting around for like me to start it. I'm
blessed to be in a configuration of talented people that
are like, you'll check this out, like wait, what, oh shit,
that's fucking fire, even biz devs. I'll go in network
and bring what I networked into my network and it
(15:13):
works because you you've delegated to you know, capable people.
And it took me a while to do that. In
the Black Eyed Peas, you know, I learned a lot
from the piece, and I made mistakes in my businesses
and there's nothing better than professor failure. Like a lot
(15:36):
of people, especially in these days, are afraid to fail.
I think that means you don't want that professor failure.
Professor failure is hard and it's going to prepare prepare
you for success. But you have to take that professor's class.
You have to fail and not going in there like
(15:58):
you about the fail like you can't go in there
like wanting to fail, Like yeah, fuck, I'm about to fail.
That's that's what professor failure is all about. You want
to go there, you want to take that course an
attempt not to fail, but don't let the potential of
failing cripple you from trying. There's so many fucking like
(16:20):
punk ass motherfuckers that don't want to do stuff because
they're afraid to fail, Like, ah nah, that's too big
for me, Like why is it too big for you?
Who said that? Oh you said that? Okay, Well then
you're worst. You're your worst enemy. You've already you're you're
your judge and your executor and you've executed yourself, your
(16:42):
your dreams, or your desires before the potential people that
are going to love it. You've abandoned yourself and when
you busted out your daddy's nuts. You didn't have that
mentality in that process. You know, I know, I know
it sounds like I'm all over the place, But yeah,
(17:04):
I'm all over the place because that's that's the whole point.
I want my joy to go all over the place.
Back to the first question you asked me, I saw
that you studied, you went to Harvard. What made you
decide to go to Harvard?
Speaker 1 (17:14):
And two? I spoke out Harvard Business School and I
had a question from a student who was about to graduate.
He came to me and said, I feel like I'm
not creative? How do I spark creativity in my life?
Speaker 2 (17:29):
So?
Speaker 1 (17:29):
First, what inspired you to go to Harvard? And what
would you tell that kid from Harvard who asked that question?
Speaker 2 (17:35):
The truth about why I went to Harvard.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
Truth and only the truth.
Speaker 2 (17:40):
Brother. I don't want to kick anybody while they're down,
and I don't want to add to the to the
uh to the pile. But there's a guy who comes
from where I come from as far as music, and
they transitioned from entertainment to business. And let's say that
person didn't really handle their business appropriate. And when you
(18:01):
handle your business, that way and you're on top. There's
some responsibility that you have as a person that represents
other folks that have come from some type of subset,
some type of skepticism, doubt, and you've made it through
all of the obstacles. There's some responsibility that you have.
(18:24):
You can't just move how you want to move, because
you're going to make it harder for people that you
just made it easier for. Like it's hard if you're
black and brown that come from the inner city, and
you made it in one realm and now you're successful
in another realm. Now you've made it easier for people
(18:45):
through that path. And let's say this person didn't do
the best job in conducting business, and now corporations have
a clause in contracts, especially for people that come from this,
from our realm. And I wanted to go to college
(19:05):
to show that I take business seriously. I conduct business seriously.
So that's the that's the first reason why I went.
It's because business is serious. It's a serious business. Yeah, EPMD,
you know it's a strictly business. Sorry, it's a strictly business, EPMD.
(19:27):
There's no need to take things personal. But then I
take it personal if you are the trailblazer guiding you're
going up the mountain. You should leave a trail for
people that want to hike that hike if you are
and there's people that want to hike that hike. But
if you're like carving a trail but then at the
(19:48):
same time burning the trail, that's irresponsible because you're making
making it harder for whatever reason, for people that want
to hike that hike and transition from their circumstance for
bigger and better opportunities for their families. So for me,
(20:19):
ep m D. So what you're saying is strictly business.
I wanted to get my you know, higher, higher elevated
view on how to conduct how to network better, how
to manage better, how to like discipline better, how to
organize better. And one of the things that I would
(20:41):
think about when I was at Harvard was, damn, motherfucker
should have really cleaned his room. I could apply that
to every everything while I was there, or order my
thoughts a little bit more organized. It's still to be
It's okay to be chaotic. Emotions are chaotic, and then
(21:03):
you come out of it on the other side when
you like articulate what's going on emotionally and do a painting,
write a song, design something. It's like it's organizing confusion,
being the pharaoh as you munch through materializing that ideation
to materialization. So Harvard Harvard was what was important for
(21:27):
me personally, and then me being responsible so people on
the other side in those corporate offices know that we're
serious and not everybody is self destructive.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
And to that kid who says I don't know where
to I don't know where to start. I don't like
he literally was, I feel like I have no creativity
and I can't spark it. How do I spark that creativity?
Speaker 2 (21:55):
Save that question, because I want to go back and
be sensitive to other folks and be like, but yeah, yeah,
that was they were coming after. They were making it
hard or they weren't. They were being shady, nigga. That's business.
That's that's that's battle rapping. You think the battles supposed
to be nice. Everybody's supposed to be massaging you. You
(22:17):
gotta fucking gear up, you gotta arm yourself. That's why
you That's why you're supposed to have dopest lawyers. That's
why you have to have dopest biz deav folks, that's
why you're supposed to freaking hire people and trust people
and delegate. It's strictly business and it's teamwork. If you
don't give props to the people on your team and
everything is you, then yeah, you're gonna fill all them hits.
(22:39):
You're gonna fill all them shots. But if you're out
there fighting, you an army bro squad it up, delegate.
You thought this ship was fucking camp snoopy, hommy, you
thought this ship was fucking you know what I'm saying, smurfs.
La la la la la la, No Bro, it is business,
(22:59):
and you got up, arm up, and more importantly, you
got a goal in there with joy. He thinks Steve
Jobs had it easy. He literally called his company Think
Different because they hated on him. They kicked him out
of his own company.
Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yeah, he came back.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And took that shit to the next level. He didn't
fucking self destruct. This motherfucking Walt Disney was jealous over
his own character, Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse is still more
famous and this motherfucker ain't even real. But he knew
the power of giving birth to something that was greater
than them. It's always a fight, but a fight is
(23:40):
you win fights with a squad, with the team. Even
Mike Tyson had his trainer, Even Muhammad Ali had his people,
Tiger Woods had his people. Even when you're by yourself,
you have to have something behind you, you know.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
One of the hardest things to be the leader, right
is being able to work in a team. And when
your challenged and you are will I am and you've
accomplished all the things that you have and you are
all those things and someone says, uh, yeah, you think
that's blue, but I should be red singing As a leader, yeah,
how do you deal.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
With people saying that that should be read?
Speaker 3 (24:21):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (24:21):
With the challenges that people give you and your team,
and does that trigger any any self awareness and the
insecurity and the ego because the biggest struggle for a
leader is usually being able to be accepting of the
commentary of this.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Yes, if you be prepared to listen to your team. So,
if I got on something blue and you're like, yo,
bro should be red, I'm gonna be like, all right, cool,
no problem, bro, look at I'll do red. Bro. I'll
switch the shit make you happy. Now the shit is red.
I mean it's all good. It's about compromise, about collaboration.
(24:56):
You wanted to be read now it's red. Now, let's
keep it moving. What are we doing. It's okay to listen,
it's okay to hear, and more importantly, it's okay to
prepare for what your team might want to do. That's
why you brought them to your team. You gotta listen
to other people's time. More importantly, you gotta like shine,
light on awesome. That's why I solute, dre, dre, like
(25:19):
Easy birthed a lot of fucking stars and he let
them shine to their fullest. Eminem is fucking eminem bro
and he brought fifty cent in and like Eminem shining
in a dre universe, fifty shine and Eminem's bringing Snoop Dogg.
(25:43):
Snoop Dogg is a fucking bona fide star that takes
ego and ego lists that other stars can pop off
while you shine, and you big them up and you
don't get in a way, you don't shit on them,
you don't fucking you know, when Black Eyed Peas were
at our height and Ferggie Fergie Ferggy Ferggy to me,
(26:03):
it was like hell yeah, it's freggy, that's dope. I
producer wrote a lot of those songs fucking awesome. A
lot of times people like, it's all about me, it's
all about me, it's all about being no bro, it's
about the crew. And you gotta listen to your crew. Now.
If the idea suck, you gotta let Tom know this,
(26:25):
it's just whack. And they gotta know how to take criticism.
You know, like, hey, that that's just really whack. And
if somebody tells you your ship is whack, you'd be like,
I feel like you've mastered that, accepting the criticism. If
somebody's telling me that's whack from the crew, I just
care about the crew. If it's a if it's somebody else,
(26:48):
I don't know, if they're hating, I don't know, if
they're fucking the gassing me up. You gotta you gotta
be careful what information you take. If somebody's every if
somebody's always like, yo, this is dope, it's just dope.
You got a bunch of yes man around you, at
some point in time, you're not gonna be able to
sustain it because they're just hyping you and hype. I
don't like that word hype. It's connected to too many
(27:12):
things that are hypotheticals or hypertension or hyperventilating hype. Don't
believe it, public enemy. You don't want to believe the hype. Now, Spec.
I like that word because it allows you to that word.
You have to inspect the truth. You can't even speculate,
(27:37):
is okay if somebody is speculating you. But at the
end of the day, you have to remember that you're
special and to be specific. You know, spec is an
awesome fucking word and a lot of people don't like
it because it's so small. It's a little spec. But
inspect the deck, nigga, you know what I'm saying. You
(27:58):
got to protect that neck harmony.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Yeah, how do you look at hiring and picking and
picking that team right, because it's it's very easy to
fall into hiring yes man in your team because again,
you every all of us deal with things and you're like, okay,
that's yes and man. So how do you say, Okay,
this is someone that should be in my team. This
is someone's whose opinion I value enough to be okay
(28:21):
a challenge, okay, year Nay?
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Do you like yes man or no? Na? Na? Kay
year nay honest people year nae.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
I noticed when Ya turned his name to Ya. He
just only wanted yes man. Yeah, only wants people to
say yes. He don't like nay. You can't tell him nay.
He doesn't know how to take nay. It's only yeah, yeah, yeah, yah, yay, yes, yes, yes,
yes yes. And when that happens, you start to spiral.
That's a you want to select that team and keep
(28:57):
that team, and you keep that team with your light.
You gotta celebrate, you gotta celebrate the folks in your squad, And.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
How do you select those, Like, how do you know
when you're just meeting that person that they're not going
to be a ya?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Sometimes they select you. Most of the times they're selecting
you because if they're really dope, they got to select you.
Because if you're if you only are selecting folks that
aren't that dope, then you're you're hypnotized by yes men
disguised as good. There's a lot of people that can
(29:35):
bullshit that they're dope, and and the way they bullshit
that they're dope is being yes been to people that
need yes man's and those people feed off of a
squad of yes, I like how Jimmy and Dre. What
Jimmy was able to do is that people that were
dope selected to be with Jimmy, and Jimmy selected them
(29:56):
and he then empowered them to build teams and funded
them to go out and find teams. And Dre did
a fantastic job. Trent Reznor did an awesome job. Gwen
Stefani did an amazing job. It wasn't just dudes. Gwen
Stefani's like, Wow, lamb are Juku girls, you know, no doubt.
(30:18):
Rocking with Pharrell, Pharrell did an awesome job. Rico Way
did an amazing job. Folks that were rocking with Jimmy.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
But and you see their squads when you see all
those names. Who do you think has been the most
impactful to your life?
Speaker 2 (30:36):
And why why don't you minter fight? I mean, I
know you like, can I go back to Blue? The
most influential in my life in music and overall.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
In your career, you know, starting as an artist obviously,
But who has been the most impactful mentor person in
your life that you feel like that.
Speaker 2 (30:57):
The first chapter Apple, the app my first chapter Apple
has been the most impactful because he believed in me.
I believed in him. He didn't speak any English coming
to America. Easy E was was open minded to have
somebody straight from the Philippines signed to Ruthless because I
(31:17):
vouched for him, and Easy wanted me to sign a Ruthless.
You know, he was okay to sign Apple. But Apple's
belief and my abilities motivate the guy that taught me
how to produce. These two cats change my life. And
Apple wasn't a yes man. He was like, I want
(31:38):
to learn, man, I want to learn how to rap.
We used to go, you know, dance against foods and
like battle foods and shit. And Apple was an amazing
like acrobat and an amazing dancer. A lot of Filipinos
are and they sing their ass off and they fucking
dj fucking scratch. The Filipinos are fucking damn. I don't
(31:59):
know what the fucks pop off in the Philippines. Or
maybe it's the chicken of Dobo. They the black Asians,
we like chicken. They like chicken. They Philippines is, you know.
And we started our group in the Filipino community. So
when we were signing of Roofless, there was a squad
of people that that fucked with us because of Apple,
(32:19):
that guy Apple Motivate guy that trought me on to produce,
and then Apple the app Apple the app times of trillion,
and then Jimmy Ivan second chapter of My Life. There's
a song on joints and jams. It goes, uh, we're
about massive pillo nose segregation, got Black to Asian and
(32:40):
Caucasian saying, that's the joint, that's the jam. Like our
whole vision was to like, let's take it to the
next next. Next, there's a there's another lyric on a
song called a eight and then lyric goes Yoma man,
I got a plan to do with all. I got
a plan that none of y'all ever thought about because
underground niggas don't be thinking on going kind of you know,
(33:03):
like Lincoln, how can you make moves when you always
trapped under I'm trying to reach the surface to learn
more about the thunder. I wonder what really makes the
world go around, not thugs, because thugs go around and
bring other brothers down to be in it for a
quick blink. But when you start to sing, you'd be
deeper than you was when you should have stopped and
think about your consequence. Your actually don't make lots of
sense anyways, I forgot my rapping anyhow. That verse from
(33:25):
my first album was like our ambitions on what we
wanted to do, We had a plan to do it. Oh, bro,
coming from the projects seeing mc hammer, this motherfucker emc
hammer my biggest influence, my biggest influence. I love to
this fucking day. I love mc hammer and people would
(33:47):
like hate on them, Like why do they hate on
Hammer so much? Motherfucker got hits, motherfucking dances ass off,
thumps in the bumps. You know, you know, can't touch this.
Like in the projects, mc hammer was especially West Coast
mc hammer. Bro, if you say top ten, what's your
(34:07):
top ten rappers? Top five rappers? You never think of
mc hammer or cadn't play. Why is that? Your mind
only wants to celebrate the drug peddlers like mc hammer
don't come from a hood. Have you ever been to Oakland? Yep?
Have you ever been to Oakland? Mc hammer is not
(34:29):
to fucking play with street Wise and a lot of
rappers would tell you that, well, oh, because he didn't
talk about shooting people. He didn't talk about selling drugs
and getting your auntie and your uncle addicted to some
fucking chemical. He's not dope. Fuck out of here.
Speaker 1 (34:48):
We always end this podcast with an exercise. Yeah, here
you go. The power of words and the power that
they have with how you see yourself, how you perceive things.
If there's a word or a phrase that Will I
Am could tell himself right now that could change the
perception of how his how you take information this week,
(35:09):
how you feel about yourself? Is there something that you
want to tell yourself that centers yourself right now? Could
be a word, it could be a phrase, focus, because part.
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Of focusing is order, cleanliness. Love. That my best friend
one of the first raps he wrote when he mastered English.
Here's a guy come from the Philippines. Encouragement goes the
long way. And I'm not talking about gas gassing somebody
(35:44):
up or yes and them just like yo, you could
do it? No, that was that's whack broke. That improve
it here? Really man, He'll go back in and fucking
like you know. I love the freestyle. I love to
fucking be witty, love rhymes. I love metaphors and simply
I speak metaphorically. I speak, you know, with witty puns
(36:07):
and uh one of speaking of the word focus. One
of his first raps when he like mastered English because
you know when out in junior high school and high school,
I had English for high school. This dude had English
as a second language ees L. And in the nineties
people made fun of ESL students in school. I was
(36:30):
a kids, remember that, Yeah, what probably felt like like
fuck you a ESL. America doesn't do a good job
at that. But for some reason, if you go to
fucking France and there's somebody that's from fucking Spain and
they're learning French, they don't got the same problem. If
you go to the UK and you're learning and you
have French, they don't have that same For some fucking reason,
(36:52):
America they treat folks that have to go to school
for a second language. Is like wait, what like anyhow?
So app of the app endued all that stuff. Speaking
of the word focus back to the focus part, the
word that I I selected. This is one rap that
Apple wrote and it's focus on this the ear seductionists
(37:18):
more than lyricists in this rap Metropolis. I'm more like
an activist. I give it to you raw entertainment will
make you have a ball sounds are conceiving, causing you
to meditate, manipulate your mind with hypnotical legislat We're far
from the fakes. We never fake moves. But jealous motherfuckers
(37:40):
seem to disapprove and talk shit. But who the hell
he be having a fit. He don't got shit. That's
why he said trips. I identify what he riffs inconsistent, nonsense,
nothing less than bullshit. Our crew remains as the all
around remainers, real entertainers, revivers of the true art form
(38:02):
of hip hop, explore NonStop entertain you till you drop.
Like yo, Yo, you wrote that shit, bro. He's like, hey,
well it's not dupe, like a focus on this. The
ir seductionists more than lyricists in this rap metropolis. I'm
more like an activist English and a second language student, bro.
(38:29):
And when somebody's coming with that, you encourage the shit out,
like yo, bro, keep going with that. And he focused
his focus his path like focus, I want to rap.
I want to rap, like you know, my best friends
are rapping. I gotta get better. I gotta get better.
I gotta get better. And his accent, his accent was thick,
and they call him a fib cause an accident with
(38:51):
my accent, spontaneous lee repting I be doing verbally. Eventually,
I'm gonna have to punk a whack and see like
I flip his lips over his head and make him
swallow with the hollow point tip pointing at his hip, like, great,
you got a gun. No, no, HaLow point tip my pen.
(39:13):
You flip his lips over his head and make him swallow.
He's gonna swallow himself? What the fuck?
Speaker 3 (39:18):
Bro?
Speaker 2 (39:19):
Whoh, he's seventeen years old?
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Focus, focus, Well, thank you so much for being a
part of you Versus You, You Versus You as a
production of Neon sixteen and Entertained Studios in partnership with
the Iheartmichael to that podcast network for more podcasts, listen
to the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
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