SYRUP - Episode: 164

From Fresno hip hop artist to finding his calling to heal the youth and his community...His story to the path he took to get where he's at today is inspiring.  Let's talk to SYRUP!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
This could give me fire podcast?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
What up?

Speaker 1 (00:09):
I'm just so that is John Magic and we are back.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
As as we've been doing for the past few episodes.
We use AI to write up an introduction, so let's
keep it going so farward three for three with these
AI introductions. And I'm interested about this introduction.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Because doesn't seem like it's right.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
I don't know, so I can't wait till, like you know,
after we get it done to see how accurate it is.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
But here we go.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
And I'm not trying to say what it says is
not him. I just thought there would be more detailed.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
It's vague. It's vague, all.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
Right, So a I wrote this, it's not me here
it is. He is a Fresno based hip hop artist
known for his smooth flow, sharp lyricism, and authentic storytell
telling that reflects life in California's Central Valley with a
sound that blends classic hip hop vibes with modern energy.
Syrup has been making waves in the local scene, building

(01:12):
a loyal following through his raw honesty and undeniable talent.
His music speaks to hustle community and staying true to
your roots. Ladies and gentlemen. Super syrups sah.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yes, is that accurate?

Speaker 4 (01:30):
That's I is getting upgrade more and more. I'm getting scared.
I'm about to do it out of top.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
No, because you know, on the other AI intros it
would say certain like certain specific songs or this person
just did this event, like why do you know? So
I guess that's what I was hoping for. That's why
I said this.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
Is all probably true.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah, always get into that right now? Actually, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
all right, So I guess we could just take this
from I don't know, you should we take it from
the beginning, Yeah, because I mean, sir has been around.
You know, a lot of people know suruh, but there
might be some people that don't know him. And honestly,
maybe not his story. I'm not too familiar with this
story of Syrup.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
So yeah, like when I met Syrup years ago, it
was I mean, he was already performing and had all
these songs. So yeah, so maybe we could start from
the beginning.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
All right, brother, let go from the beginning. First of all,
from Fresno.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
From Fresno, southwest of the exact.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Okay, born and raised Fresno. And then uh, basically I
think when I first met you. I want to say
it was at the Fresno Fair.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I knew it.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
I think I'm pretty okay. So remember how we used
to get down at the fair. Right, we'd have the
big booth area and it was literally at the time,
was like the popping spot.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Like everybody would come.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
It was like a lot of teens, young teens, young adults,
and they would come to our spot at the big
Fresnoe Fair and we would just DJ and throw a
party out there. But Syrup always came.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
To the booth. Yeah, and what I liked about.

Speaker 1 (02:59):
So sometimes we would do like the rap battle competitions
and Syrup would join. And I like when Syrup would
join because he he would do it how I wanted
it to be done. He was very comical with it.
He was doing punchlines. He would just make fun of
the other person. He was wrapping them too. And uh,
that's kind of like where I started to get familiar

(03:20):
with Syrup. And then we would fast forward a few
years and then obviously he was in the music scene.
So that's one of that's how I remember Syrup. But
let's just start from there. How did you get into
the music scene?

Speaker 4 (03:30):
WHOA how I got into the music scene. Was well,
first of all, you remember when we come to the booth,
to the to the B ninety five booth and uh man,
we were teens.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I think it was like my it was yeah that was.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Oh three, yeah, yeah, that's at three and uh we
had this dance group called the super Freaks.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Okay, I remember that.

Speaker 2 (03:54):
So the dance group to the super Freaks.

Speaker 4 (03:55):
We used to always uh at that point, we was
like the Transetters and friends though, right, so we uh
we wherever we would go, like the crowd would follow.
And then uh we always go to the B ninety
five because they played good music, right and so, but
being there and being a trench, I just got to
the point where I wasn't dancing anymore, getting older, you know,

(04:15):
so started rapping and my group started rapping. I was
probably like always like the fourth best at everything we did.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
So you started off in the group. Was it the
super Freaks with the group?

Speaker 4 (04:27):
Yeah, we was on the Homegrown Show. Yeah not that
y'all remember, Yeah. So yeah, just just just being there
for the fourth best in the group, seeing my potnas
just make off.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
Who was in that group?

Speaker 4 (04:46):
Remember Kool Aid? Yeah, you remember Kool a E hug. Yeah,
all the homies of them all you had a B
star h you had was It was so many just
good rappers that was in the group that I was
just trying to keep up. And I knew I had
a different personality, so I brung my personality. And I
was always good at marketing, so I just always marketed

(05:07):
a different way. So you know, you're here the you're
here to serve up. So just waiting for those cues
to come. People be like I ain't going.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
I was. I al would say.

Speaker 4 (05:16):
The thing about me is that I just stay consistent,
Like even on a bad day, I still got up
and showed up for work.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
You know, got you So when did you decide to
do the solo thing?

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Then the solo thing came on his own.

Speaker 4 (05:27):
I never wanted to go solo, like I said, A
life like we all come from poverty, so like you know,
we was at the bottom of the bottom, and certain
things are happening. You know some of us will just
fall off, like or we have a kid and just go.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:40):
I was the type of person I was just like
me and my kids gonna go to the studio like yeah,
I just kept going like so It's just the consistency
was just kind of what got.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Me through during that stage.

Speaker 3 (05:50):
Was it were you was the mindset lest it's just
for fun or was there something in your mind like
I gotta take something?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (05:59):
We I think we treated everything like that, even dancing, Like, uh,
the only reason why people followed us with dancing is
because we want to go battle some of those guys
in LA. And then they seen us some pictures with
Chris Brown. It was just like, you know, we took
it to a wholenother level. Was just like homie to
be on top.

Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah you guys, wait, hold on, I don't know you
guys were with Chris Brown at one point.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Yeah, when we went to LA and we start doing
a crumb dancing and everything like that, so like we'll
go out there, He'll we'll we'll have like we'll battle
his group and things like you know him like that,
you knew him like that? See y'all believe in the lies.

Speaker 2 (06:32):
No I don't.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
I didn't even know about the whole Chris Real situation.

Speaker 4 (06:35):
Yeah, like we was, we were around him, but like
sir up like nah, I like it was like it'll
be like one hundred and twenty people in one session,
but we'll dance. He'll be like, Okay, the Fresno dudes
like you know, so by us doing that, but we'll
go still like they whole swag out there. Like even
we came back to the point where we had the
lip rings. At one point, the slip ring was a
thing for a minute. Then we was the first people

(06:56):
that wear skinny jeans. They're like, okay, y'all kind of
you know, but we we did that just because we
knew that they were doing that.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
And by time, you know, the next uh T.

Speaker 4 (07:08):
Paying video or the next Little Wayne video or the
Chris Brown video come out, you'll see them in the
liver ring or skinny jeans and they'd be like, wait,
how did.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Y'all and like, yeah, we'd be with them.

Speaker 4 (07:17):
That's why everybody's like, oh so, like we were like
the new magazines in Fresno. So whatever we was doing,
people just start following. And it started making sense.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
You can't get a chance to be in like a
video or anything music video dance, and we went that.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Close with it even though we were just in.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
We knew people that knew we we knew, we knew
somebody knew somebody that knew somebody that knew.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Them, so we got a chance to be in the circle.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
But it was probably like the biggot from that dance
crew beginning starting off. What was the biggest thing you
think you guys did.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Oh Man, Probably showing up to the house parties or
just taking over huh nah, not repos Repos.

Speaker 4 (07:52):
Sorry, I know everybody gonna get mad at me for
not saying that just from the jump, but repos It's
Repos had a boxing gym here and on the southwest
off fred No Street. Literally we had the biggest team
jams you would ever see. Or literally everybody would try
to go spend the night at their grandma house on
the west side just so they could make sure that
they got to Repos the next day.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
And that's what we did, our battle.

Speaker 4 (08:14):
Zones and uh we'll we'll, we'll slow dance and all
kind of stuff like that, right, and unsupervised was just
collecting the money.

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Didn't care about nothing, no security, no nothing.

Speaker 4 (08:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Now he working with Mayweather, so yeah.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
So yeah, back to okay, so back to the rap game.
The whole you said the solo thing kind of came
out of nowhere. I think that's where we left off.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Yes, So did you just go into the studio solo
and just start knocking them out? Is that when Cowabunga
came about?

Speaker 4 (08:46):
Yeah, like, uh, lover boy it was a guy named
love BOYD that sings in rapp and uh, he started
going to the next level. He sounded like Lloyd, so
he was part of Super Freak. So then we were
just trying to keep up with him. And then some
days he'll just be like, Man, I'm at the studio.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
Who'll show up? I always just show up.

Speaker 4 (09:01):
Kul Aid was probably the best rapper him and he
Hug that was like the best rappers that I ever
could even be around. But me, I'll go and I'll
do a song. We'll all do songs together. But then uh,
then kool Aid moved the sack. He Hug like start
going back in the house for a minute or probably
fell in love for something. I don't know, but that

(09:22):
started happening and I'm still outside and I was like, man,
it's just me and LB you know lover boys. So
and then uh, I got he connected me with Draft.
That's where it happened. And at this point, like we
talk about we talking about kids and like high poverty.
Like Draft just had like had a home invasion from
a friend that he knew, like type deal, Like it

(09:44):
was bad. So Draft wasn' even coming outside and he
let us actually in his house. I'm like, if I
was him, I wouldn't trust nobody. He like dropped out
of school everything, like I don't care about the world
type deal. But he let us still be around him,
and uh, next thing you know, I was one of
the Draft good friends. So now me and him start
making music together and whoever show up just could he'll
start making beats and because I mean, as you all know,

(10:04):
music is therapeutic, so we just started just having basically
therapy sessions, me and Draft and then that's kind of
how calibunga.

Speaker 2 (10:11):
We just started.

Speaker 4 (10:12):
I'm like, no, switch the beat like this and then
do the beat like that. Traf is like what you
can't do that? I'm like, why not?

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Why not?

Speaker 4 (10:18):
And I think Draft like reversed the beat. So however
the beat was, he reversed it, and it was like, whoa,
this is weird, and so we actually our single was
supposed to be a song called Red Cup. It was
a New Year song and it was my favorite song.
But I had little homies from the Super Freaks and
they was like.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
No, Calibunk is the one. We're like, I'm.

Speaker 4 (10:40):
Gonna do it for y'all, you know, And that's kind
of how it took off. It literally wasn't me that
made the son take off. It really was my little
homies being in the videos and stuff like that, and
they were the popular ones. So that's kind of how
it went up.

Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I just remember when Calabunga was like, Yo,
what is this? It was just so different sounding. It
was one of those records where just people gravitated towards it,
and that you kind of stuck with that style your
entire time that you were rapping, for sure. But that's
one thing that I always liked about surface he stood out.
His style was different. It was it just sounded like

(11:10):
you were kind of not fucking around, but you were
having fun rapping right, Like you almost didn't take yourself serious,
but you were able to put out these records that
people just gravitated to. And I know during that time
with Calabunga, it was just going crazy with the youth.
I had no idea that the beat was reversed. That's crazy.
It makes sense. Now because it does kind of have
that sound to it. And then I know it went

(11:32):
on was it YouTube when it kind of really just
started to take off?

Speaker 4 (11:35):
And it was it was the video man, the video man.
The video was like the hardest process ever, like because
people were even putting out videos like that. So we
try to get a video with BC. He tried to
charge me twenty thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Serious, there's no way he charged okay fifteen or something
like that.

Speaker 2 (11:51):
It was crazy. I hate it the attempt. You know,
I could have stayed BC, but we see, that's my guy.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
Damn.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
But during that time, because they had like Rye daf
it was like of him that he already had signed.

Speaker 2 (12:04):
To but I was the super black guy, so it
was like not.

Speaker 4 (12:09):
He from the hood, Like, no, we're not We're not
gonna take that risk, right I'm like, damn, I'm actually
a cool person. But you know, it's hard to see
from the house side. So so I actually had this
manager named Larry Bowler from Bakersfield, and he came down
and he was just like, I know somebody I know's
why that shoot your video right now?

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Man? You know my shoot my video right now.

Speaker 4 (12:26):
You're gonna be my manager, and he really came back
with somebody shout out to young CALLI that's in Bakersfield,
and he came down and really shot the video in
the do house that we was supposed to use. He
ends up like faking on us. He's like what the
So we end up going to the Jefferson Commons Is
it Jefferson Commons?

Speaker 2 (12:43):
It was something like that.

Speaker 4 (12:43):
We just went to the parking lot and we was
like everybody meet here, and man, it just that's that's
what it was. It was a video like they never saw.
The Superfriens was already popular, but the fact that we
came out with a video and people get to watch
the video and be like there I am, There I
am Yeah, it was like yeah, it was like cross promotion, man,
before even people even kne about cross motion like that.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
Wow, was that song playing on Homegrown at the time?

Speaker 4 (13:09):
Yes, yes, it played a couple of times. It played
a couple times because.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
I know that song actually came out a little ways
before the Sinkou scene like really popped off. Because when
the Sinkou sing popped off, you kind of weren't you
were kind of done with caw Bunga during that.

Speaker 4 (13:23):
Kind of going out, Yeah, and they wanted, uh to
make another another song, you know kind of that was
that was similar and I was like, well, what's wrong
with the one that we have, you know, and I
was kind of rebellious towards that, and uh it was like, no,
we need something fresh.

Speaker 2 (13:41):
I'm like all right, And then that's when they came
out with Bounce.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
I was like, take us through the mentality of that
stage when col Bungo was making so much noise, what's
the mentality? What were you doing at that point? Were
you trying to shop it? Were you trying to look
for the labels?

Speaker 2 (14:01):
Yeah, that people will reach out to you. During that time,
it was more like it was more like what do
you call it?

Speaker 4 (14:10):
It was more like a hood celebrity thing, like where
you see people from like different hoods. I was reaching
out like all the way from l A to the band. Yeah,
but it never was like labels.

Speaker 1 (14:19):
So it was It definitely took off, maybe regionally underground
a little bit, but definitely not mainstream, I guess is
what you're saying. Yeah, but man, that song just like
had the city going crazy at the time.

Speaker 3 (14:32):
Yeah, But were you were you trying to do things
like to be noticed by the labels, like where.

Speaker 2 (14:39):
Was her head?

Speaker 4 (14:39):
I didn't I didn't really know the the way the process, Yeah,
the process. It was more Dreda Most that knew more
of anything than all.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
Of sut out to Dreda. Most shout out to Dreda Most.
He knew everything.

Speaker 4 (14:51):
Dray and Draft was probably like my managers during the
time when he was young.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Dre knew a lot. Uh.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
He was like one of those guys that's like he's
the nerd friend, right everybody, everybody, please get you a
nerd friend. He would get you further. Please don't try
to be nothing else. Be if you a nerd, please
be the nerd because without Dre, there would be no syrup, honestly,
like it wouldn't be like Dre us we're talking about dancing.

(15:17):
Dre was in the whole opposite group from us dancing,
Like he was an opposite group.

Speaker 2 (15:22):
Like we even got into fights and all was Drake.

Speaker 4 (15:27):
So we were the street dancers. Dren was like the
professional dancers.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Like they did choreography. Damn pack like it was going somewhere.
We were just trying to get a couple of.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
But yeah, they had it, and then so I was
surprised Dre would even mess with me just on the
simple fact that we'll see them in a party and
be like what y'all looking at and they'd be like, man,
we not even know that, like you know, and then
my group would make up something and just try to
just fight, like you know, like we were just that
horrible as as kids.

Speaker 2 (15:57):
That's who we were.

Speaker 4 (15:58):
So but then Dre and the and one of my
closest people, and now he end up helping out all
those guys everything you know that was on his side
that didn't like that just had a problem with him
for no reason, like you know, So I love Dre
for that.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Man, was he already he was engineering at that at that.

Speaker 4 (16:13):
Was just yeah, he was just good at everything at
that point. Like I said, he was just the nerd
guy that just like if he wants to know it,
he's gonna get. He beat every game, every video game,
won the challenging video games. He's good at all, every
single one of them.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
That was just Dre. I just want to mention this.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
This is more on like the personality side, you know,
if you really knew, like Gisel knows this about me,
but if you really knew how I am around people,
I'm like very almost anti.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
It's weird.

Speaker 3 (16:39):
I'm like anti social. I have like a lot of
anxiety like being with people, especially if I don't know them.
Just imagine if you knew somebody, I still have anxieties.
I usually around the crowd, I start panicking. I get
really quiet. I don't I'm trying to remember the story
or maybe uh, Dre Most might have to remind me.

(17:01):
But I started chopping it up with Dre the Most
and he invited me to the studio to just hanging.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
I think you were there too.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
It was in downtown Presnol, I think, and we're just
hanging and just your guys's personality of just it was
just chill.

Speaker 2 (17:18):
I did it.

Speaker 3 (17:19):
I felt relaxed, comfortable, just because you guys have always
been these cool cats that like never pressured me to
do anything or we were just hanging.

Speaker 4 (17:29):
Yes, I appreciate that, man, because I think you know,
doing the work that I do now of course, like
being this community leader that I am and doing so
much for the youth. Everybody always asked me, like when
did you start setting spaces to where it's like safe spaces?
And it's just comfortable like that.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
I'm like, ah, that's a great way of putting it.
I don't know, Like, I don't.

Speaker 4 (17:48):
Know, like if you ever like see me doing like
a financial literacy class or something like that for the
youth and we call it economic helling, but just sit
in them spaces and they like, how do you get
the space for everybody to feel so comfortable and be
ready to listen? Like just I'm like, man, I just

(18:09):
I don't know, Like I just I try to be real.
I meet them halfway first of all, like I'm gonna
get you to know me, and I'm gonna be very
vulnerable most situations you can't. Like we come from a
place where you can't be vulnerable, and it might come
with a from a lot of trauma or something like that,
right where it's like, nah, last time I was vulnerable,
somebody took advantage of me. So I'm gonna keep this
wall up at all times. Why would I even have to, Like,
you haven't gave me your trust yet. You have to
earn trust, and me I already come out with trust first.

(18:31):
That's just who I am. Like, I just jump with
trust from again. I trust you until you get.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
Me to not trust give you a reason.

Speaker 4 (18:36):
Yeah, right, So that's just kind of how I don't
It's funny that you say that, because everybody always asks me,
like when did that start?

Speaker 2 (18:43):
I still don't know to this day.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
Sometimes I think that some people just have this aura
around them that they just you can They're easy to
go up to, they're easy to hang around. I do
feel that some people just have that about them, that
good energy, and I think Syrup has just always been
one of those people. But I do want to get
into the community stuff and everything you've been doing with
the youth. But I just want to continue on this music.

(19:04):
Was it gangst the Boogie? The one that they wanted
to push was that the one?

Speaker 2 (19:09):
Okay right?

Speaker 3 (19:10):
The next one was was this during the time where
you had a listening party that came later?

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Okay, I got time.

Speaker 3 (19:21):
I got invited to that one, and I remember you
packed the house and we're just vibing in there.

Speaker 2 (19:26):
Yeah, I'm heet that you.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
But I do want to get back to the Gangster
Boogie because I know, I think that was during the
era where the Sinkow push was like really heavy, and
that's kind of like that was blending in with the
young California scene.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
And that's when like.

Speaker 1 (19:38):
Me, you Rich Draft, we were we were going on
these like California Tour essentially La to the Bay and
just trying to help push the Fresno guys. And I
just remember, you know, I remember the time we were
in San Francisco when we was walking around. We went
to an event out there, and uh, we were helping
pushing these sinkhow records. And I do remember the Gangster

(20:00):
Boogie was supposed to be the one, and I just remember, like, nah, man,
Cali Bunger still has juicycause really outside of Cali know
where had heard it. So I felt like cow Bunker
could have still been the one. And you hear stories
all the time about records being like two years old,
you father finally popped. But I think that the team
was like, no, it's gotta be Gangster Boogie.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
It's newer.

Speaker 4 (20:19):
And I can I say this real fast, So I
want to say, y'all fucking blew it.

Speaker 2 (20:26):
That's what I want to say.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Bro.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
I wanted the Cowa Bunger record. No, no, I want
to I wanted the cow Bunker. But I know, but
get with that being said, gangst boogie was it was
a good song and I'm saying it had to dance,
and you know records had danced at the time, but
there was just something about that COWI Bunger record. But uh,
you know during that time now as that record was

(20:51):
being kind of pushed, where people hitting you up during
that time, now that you're meeting different DJs and record
labels where you where you're getting some some notariatory at that.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
Time, where.

Speaker 4 (21:01):
Having y'all backed me up on that, uh, it was
it was it was a it was a different kind
of crowd that it that it that it touched open
up different kind of doors. Yes, I started getting people
hitting me different left and right. If you remember right
after that, that's because that's when the Young California movement started.
Right after that, remember Ghazi has signed me.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Oh no ship Okay had sign and I was part
of Young California. And then when I was part of
Young California.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
And by the way, if you don't know Ghazi, he's
like head of Empire and they work all types of records.
I mean they're they're like huge now but a super
huge now.

Speaker 4 (21:39):
But uh, they start putting me on remixes. Remember that
I was on the d LO no whole it was
no whole remix. It was a wasn't a whole remix.

Speaker 2 (21:49):
No get Her Though.

Speaker 4 (21:50):
It was get Her Though remix with him and Tiger,
and then they end up putting me on Don't Drop
That thunder Down remix. Yeah, and then uh and it
was the California Remix like California Remix, and they pushed
it and I was like, oh snaps, like I was
supposed to be like the next next thing.

Speaker 2 (22:06):
I'm like, yeah, this rap thing is take it off.
And then I went to jail.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
Damn.

Speaker 2 (22:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:13):
So I went to jail and I blew it for everything.
I was just like, you know, I'm a firm believer
in the Lord, so I'm just like, what are God?
What am I?

Speaker 2 (22:20):
Like? What did I do wrong? Like I help? I
do it? Like you know, you start to have this
conversation with the Lord like I never do it again,
like you know, and.

Speaker 4 (22:30):
Man, I mean now today I know, like what was
my purpose meant for it? Because I would have people
like say Gemini slip on my couch and the next day,
next day he make it you like, what the wait?

Speaker 2 (22:38):
What?

Speaker 4 (22:38):
Like he was just opening up for me? How did
you make it like what and he's like you're my
favorite rapper and then you make it like okay, now
you gonna put me on no all right? Then the
next person that happened to and then you got like
Love Rants, who's like man him and DJ Head they like, sir, uh,
you're your next up for sure, like we know it,
like if you need anything from us. It just wasn't

(23:00):
clicking after that. It was just like what the heck
is going on? So like I just knew like.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
It felt like that window was closing.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
I don't think it was closing. It was just like
do I supposed to be doing? Like I don't know,
like a jingles or something like it. Like I knew
music was in my path, but I just was like,
what way do you want to go? As soon as
it gets so close, it's like then it gets so far,
then it get back closed and it gets so far
like even to the remember Get Doe came out here,

(23:28):
Get Dough, Remember that they came out here, Get Doe
came out here. And then they wanted to sign me
for a crazy amount of money. And then the manager
that I had like was like, oh no, he's a
he's a thug, like you can't control him without wanting,
so sign me and then you can sign him.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
And then I was like, what that happened?

Speaker 4 (23:46):
And yeah, so I had to fight him, and then
it was just like, okay, what is going on? Every
time something happens, it just keeps pulling away. But when
we give to the things, it'll make more sense now.

Speaker 1 (23:59):
I mean even when I said about like I felt
like calif Kywa.

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Bunga was the song that should have went.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
I just even as an artist, I felt that Syrup
was the most marketable you could sell them because his personality,
how people just are attracted to him, the energy that
we were talking about, so not even just the music
that he was putting out, but I just felt like
as an artist he was just right, you know, like
everybody knew who Syrup was, even if you didn't know
all his music. But obviously unfortunate things happened. But I

(24:28):
do remember the remix era. One of my favorite remixes
that you did was the iMac Booty remix. That was
I mean that to me, I still listened to that
verse to this day and I was and even when
Draft redid the beat, like just the remix itself was
just so dope to me. The music video was funny,
by the way, I make a couple of cameos in
that video.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
But yeah, that was this is crazy. That was That
was an era.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
Man.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
If you know you outen push these guys with with
their records.

Speaker 2 (24:54):
You know, we already talked about We already talked with
Draft during that time, and Syrup he was he was
in the car too. Man.

Speaker 1 (24:59):
We was just pushing to lay into the bay and
just trying to get these guys heard with the other
DJs and record labels out there.

Speaker 2 (25:04):
So that was definitely a fun time.

Speaker 1 (25:06):
And and like how I gave Drafts credit, I have
to give Syrup credit.

Speaker 2 (25:10):
Dude is always on time.

Speaker 1 (25:11):
Dude is never fucking around, always professional, and I've always
appreciated that part about Syrup. So I'm glad you're here
on the pod Man, But you got anything else before
we go in this other direction?

Speaker 3 (25:22):
Well, I just kind of side note, just got of
curiosity just because of because I know your personality was
why'd you go to jail?

Speaker 2 (25:30):
Like was that like during an era? So like like
how did that? This is good? How did that happen?

Speaker 4 (25:38):
Because like, well, first of all, I want everybody to
know this. This is my favorite thing to tell all
the youth that's out there. Is like when when people
think that you are on a radio, they instantly think
you're a millionaire. Yeah, so when you show up in
a sweatsuit, they like, you know, and we come from

(26:01):
a culture if when you down like that, you have
to look apart. Like I mean, like I got to
a point where I was doing like everything under the sun.
If you want me to go ship some packages of weed,
you want me to go, I don't know what's in
the trunk, but if you want me to go down
there and drive it, I'm gonna drive it because I
need some money to make sure I look apart because
my thing was image right with this image, Like I

(26:21):
remember I bought this fat chain, right like I bought
this fat chain. When I bought this fat chain, everybody
like I got into places for free, like backstage concerts
where they thought like I was somebody just because of
my chain.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
And it was like I remember.

Speaker 4 (26:33):
Going to south By Southwest in my chain and they
was like, hey, bro.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
You rat somebody I ain't even go to.

Speaker 4 (26:40):
Like that's what I need, right, That's what I And
that's what I got, so I did everything under the sun.
So what I did was with this popularity. A girl
comes and approaches me and she says the homie says, man,
leave her alone. She is a prostitute.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
M M. I said, hell, she won't want me.

Speaker 4 (27:00):
She comes up and says the best thing that I
can ever sound good to my ear. She said in
front of the girl I was talking to, and said,
why are you messing with her? She's not bringing nothing
to the table. I bet not when I can bring
to the table. You trying to invest your career invest
in me.

Speaker 2 (27:16):
I don't got nothing to invest in. I don't got
nothing to invest in. She was like, all you need
is you, I said. Girl walked off, like come on,
grab the girl that I was with it like she's funny.

Speaker 4 (27:26):
Double back again. It was crazy because I was with Hyb.
Remember misters sexy and katch your Hyb. I was a yb.
YB was like I used to talk to her, man like,
she she'll really get you right though, I'm like.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
Huh, I'm like all right, cool.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
So then I wait for her to come back in.
She's staring me down in the club. Everybody was like, bro,
you acting like a simp.

Speaker 2 (27:46):
Bryan.

Speaker 4 (27:47):
I was like, Nona, go talk to her, go talk
to her. And I didn't know how serious she was.
She would have been a full fledged day walker. And
she's like, let me help you build this empire. I'm like,
I'm so well, first of all, my lover boy, let's
get that out the way. I have seven kids me

(28:09):
right right, right right, I am tender. So she instantly
comes and was like if you think I'm playing and
slaps a nice amount of money in my hand. I said,
what do I need to do? And that's how I
ended up getting the chain. I didn't go to jail yet.

Speaker 2 (28:27):
I end up.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
We end up trying to make the uh uh people
end up fighting out like oh syrapent. Oh he's not
he's not feeling, he's not fee investing, no drugs and
alcohol and things like that.

Speaker 2 (28:39):
I'm looking he's not gonna beat me up for really
like I'm going over there. So I was like, oh, oh,
this is getting out of here. I don't want nobody
to know this, like I'm kind of low key. I
just trying to put this music thing.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
And I remember I was down to like, uh like
two girls, but she like rend the whole thing. It
was her right, but she started talking talking crazy to me,
like like.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Like I'm looking like I'm just girl. I'm like, later
a minute, hold on, hold on.

Speaker 4 (29:03):
First of all, I could do this without you, Like,
don't don't act like I done caught on to this thing.
I know what I'm doing now, like, don't try to
And then she was like oh yeah, and then she leaves.
I'm like, whatever, going to this other girl? Hey remember me,
remember you asked me? Yeah, now, hey, let's take it
to the next level. Yeah, I go to jail. She
was right about everything was sold, but I was trying

(29:23):
to prove a point and wasn't built for it. You
thought I would have went to jail for everything else
that I've probably been involved in. And going to jail
was the best thing that ever happened to me. Literally,
it was the best thing that happened to me because
I was a road runner, never stopped and thought about
nothing about life for real, Like it was just always
I gotta get to the next leve, I gotta get
to the next level. I gotta get to the next lefvel.

(29:44):
Whatever I'm doing, I gotta get some money. I gotta
get some money. It brings money to the table, okay,
And then it got turned into that.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
And then.

Speaker 4 (29:51):
I guess the Lord was trying to sit me down
the whole time, but I'm not listening to that. Like
I don't even have room to collect my blessings because
I'm so much on a moving I just got to move.
I just got to move. And then I sat down,
got to read my Bible more, got to see who
I am, like just sitting there not having a phone
all right, I'm like, oh shit, this is the real quarantine,

(30:11):
like right like and then just got to see who
I am.

Speaker 2 (30:14):
And I remember I'm like, Lord, what are you doing
to me? What do you want me to do?

Speaker 4 (30:18):
And then the whole time it was this guy Marcel
woodruf like and Marcel was the person that was in
my ear for like two years straight telling me to
be a part of this community work like in my like, hey,
brod you want to do this? Hey, I'm like, you know,
like God, what are you.

Speaker 2 (30:33):
Offer for me? And God, what do you want? Excuse me?

Speaker 4 (30:37):
You know?

Speaker 2 (30:37):
It was just like that.

Speaker 4 (30:38):
And then uh, when I got out, Uh, I went
back to the music thing. I was like little boosy
When I got out like it was parties going on,
like release parties for me and things like that, and
then COVID happened.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
When COVID happened, it was like this.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
Is almost like getting walked up again, right, Yeah.

Speaker 4 (30:55):
Like damn, I'm I'm ready to go catch it whatever
it is. At first, they had a little rumor going
around that black people can't catch COVID.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
There were so many wild things that were said during
that song, like you get it, you automatically died, Like,
I mean, I'm not surprised that that was one of them.
But yeah, people thought if you drink a corona you
would get it. Yeah, we were, we were living oddly enough.
That's when we started this podcast, was like right before
the pandemic had happened, and we actually kept it going
through the pandemic. But yeah, man, it just it felt

(31:25):
like every time you were getting momentum, something just like
stopped you.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (31:30):
Yeah, that's how I go though. Yeah, I got gotta
gotta listen, gotta listen to all the songs.

Speaker 1 (31:34):
So when when we were when Magic brought up the
listening party, was that when you were trying to bounce back?

Speaker 2 (31:39):
Was that during that era?

Speaker 4 (31:41):
Yep, that was the bounce Back era. Right there, I
think I had just did a song with dmc r
I P d Mat Yeah, yeah, I think I just
had did a song with him. And then I think
I was just releasing the song little Smoker.

Speaker 2 (31:56):
That's what it was, Okay, a little.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
Smoker, And I think that was like that song actually
made it on B ninety five to like the I
forgot how the list goes. Yeah, like it jumped off
of like from the bottom and kind of like went somewhere.
But it was crazy because the streets didn't like it,
but everyone that was in the music industry loved it.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
And I was like, you can never get two things. Imagine.

Speaker 4 (32:18):
Right at that moment, I think that's when I start
to fall out of love with making music because it
wasn't therapeutic no more for me.

Speaker 2 (32:26):
You were chasing something.

Speaker 4 (32:28):
Yeah, it's like once it's I don't know if you
ever heard the saying, like, you know, if you really
love something, when it turns into a job. So it
was like, I love making music, but I noticed I
wasn't making music for myself no more because and I
was like, no, this is the music you need if
you want to cross over, if you want to make
some money. If you want to get it like this,

(32:48):
you have to do it like that. And I'm like, damn,
that's kind of switching my whole thing. Like I love
doing it like this, but it's not about what I love.
It's about what the people love. If you want to
get rich, and that's the goal to take care of
my family. So it's like, I don't really like this
that much no more. And I remember our last tour.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
It was the Hennessy and Plan B tour.

Speaker 4 (33:12):
Rich it was Rich see a Plan B tour and uh,
I remember I was just like, this is what I this,
this is this is what I like about about the
music is I love the touring part, gonna go see
other people. And then we were on like a like
a six day tour or something like that, and we
were just going from like place to place to place
to place. Sometimes it was two days in one place. I

(33:34):
was like, I remember Beyonce saying like she didn't have
time to spend with her kid and things like that,
and this gets stressful with that, I'm like, am.

Speaker 2 (33:40):
I built for this? I love my kids.

Speaker 4 (33:44):
I don't like And I think that was the moment
where I was like is there anything else I would
be willing to do?

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Oh wow, yep, Okay, So is that when you started
to transition into like the community stuff. Because I gotta
be real with you, bro, Like I see what you post,
I see what you're doing, but I have no idea
you like what you're part of or yeah, exact.

Speaker 2 (34:02):
Got to do better at that. I see these winging
out with.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Kids and I'm doing stuff, but I don't know, like
is he part of something or what is this?

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Is he gonna go to jail? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (34:18):
Respectfully, respectfully saying, man, I promote healing, Bro, promote healing
definitely from the community that I come from. Man, Like
I feel like where I come from, like you have.
Like they always talk about the black community coming together
and were so divided, right, and it's like, yeah, we're

(34:38):
gonna always be divided because we're still healing. Like, if
you got a bunch of hurt people, how do you
expect them to come together? Like, the only way we're
gonna come together is if we trauma bonding. You know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (34:48):
So we in there.

Speaker 4 (34:48):
If we're in there trauma bonding, we're gonna be on
the corners ready to shoot. Each other and stuff like that,
because once you start catching somebody that want to move
up a little bit, it's gonna be like, what do
you think you're better than us? Like, you know, because
even the work that I'm doing, like I ain't never
been really seen before. So when you don't see it,
the close thing you think of is the police. So
they like the police, like what you're doing? Why are
you doing all this positive stuff? Like what is that?

(35:11):
So I don't even get mad, he would be like,
I mean, I do I be feeling this type of way,
like damn you think me? I got everybody like but
at the end of the day, it's like you might
see the police at my event, and I'm like, yeah,
we gotta keep it safe because it's a lot. I
care about the youth more than anything, and they work
with the police, Like you can't even associate with the
police in our in our community. But like I want
to change that though, Like you know, I want to

(35:32):
change like the man, the perception of just everything right like,
but right now, while I still got the juice, because
I might not have it next year, right like, while
I still got the juice, I want to make this
positive stuff like the new thing to want to do,
you know, like I want to make it the new
popular thing, is the new cool thing to do. So

(35:53):
by doing that, like, but I need everybody to heal first,
So that's what I'm promoting. So I do a lot
of healing circles man like I do and juvenile hall.
I do them in the prison right now at Valley
State Prison, just doing that type of stuff for just
even people that's in the inside, like they still need
to heal too. So the healing circles is just like
at an all time high right now. I'm gonna start

(36:14):
putting them out there more like find a group of
men that are okay with being vulnerable on camera so
people can understand what healing circles actually do. Right now,
I'm a certified mediator through the juvenile justice courts. Yeah,
so like instead of kids instead of like so like
let's say if a kid rob Walmart and then they

(36:36):
take him to juvenile hall, they'll let him out he
has to do a mediation. Well, he has the opportunity
to do a mediation. I would be the mediator. So
if you see a kid come in and they see
me as a media, I'm dressed just like this as
a media.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
They come in there like what the.

Speaker 4 (36:49):
Hell, like you know, and then it's like I gotta
go through you to not go to jail, and it's
like nah, but the process really works, you know, shout
out to Community Justice Center. They're the ones that put
me through the training. And you'll see like the person
out of Walmart have to come and then the youth
has to come right, and then the youth I would
be the mediator and we have to come up to

(37:10):
an agreement to not let this kid go to juvenile hall.
It might be like, man, I need you to pay
all the stuff that you stop from us. Well, how's
he gonna do that? He don't have no money. Well
why did you still in the first place because of this?
Because I don't have any money. That's why I stole them. Okay,
Well the agreement is we need you to work off

(37:31):
everything that's your stole and Walmart, and then the opportunity
comes like man, actually dude is a really good worker.

Speaker 2 (37:37):
Now they hire them, oh, you know, and that's restorative justice.
Things like that.

Speaker 4 (37:42):
I mean, we got some other things where it's like
mom getting into it with the foster daughter, you know,
and Falster come in like I don't care. I don't care,
and it's like, do you want to go to jail? Well,
you know what, like what are you doing? Like, okay,
let's follow the process. But it's a lot of things.
It's a three point process though, right, Like when you
first do the first process, we have to do with
your family time in the family. What's the biggest thing
in the household is that the kids just don't be

(38:03):
speaking to the parents. So the youth is in the
room the whole time and learning stuff off tiktoks and
things like that. You don't even know your kid for real.
Now when we sit you down in this mediation, you
got to talk to your kid for your kid not
to go to jail, right, that's embarrassing to the family.
So you're like, man, what I gotta do? I don't
know why she did that stupid stuff? You like, well,
how about you here? And it was like, mom, because

(38:24):
you don't never pay me attention, why would you say
something like that? And it's like they never had a conversation.
So we got to make an agreement to them inside
the household too. And the agreement might be y'all need
family time every Tuesday, once a week, you know, for
two hours, just find something to do with really y'all
baking you said you like baking, right like, you know,
and that's the agreement for this. Then you go to
the person to party harm and then you make an

(38:45):
agreement there. So two agreements. Agreement in the household and
agreement with the people that you harmed. So and that's
what keeps you out of jail. So that's what I've
really been doing, you know, for a living. But now
I got my own nonprofit, which is Breadth of Evolution.
Now you see all the events that's going on like
that that we do, that's Breadth Revolution. We got a
team of twelve just all volunteers. Man, nobody nice right now.

(39:07):
I hope somebody hear this that is a funder, please
help us out because we do events that come up
to like twenty thousand dollars out of our own pockets.
It's twelve of us, and then we might get like
nine people that's like in the community to be like, man,
I help with that, or I help with that, like.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
Not even donations, not like what not not.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
Cash time time maybe like yeah, if I know somebody
that do that that doesn't like for instance, like we
got the Christmas shout out the Christmas event. They gave
us the whole Manchester on the twenty first this Sunday,
So if y'all can come out for the Christmas event,
we giving out five thousand, four hundred toys.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
Oh nice, yes, wow.

Speaker 4 (39:47):
So I know a lady that has a connection from
Toys of Tots. I know, shout out sister Stephanie k
something to eat or her stuff.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (39:58):
And then you got Aaron Foster who's at Event Peace.
He come in with the expungement clinic. And then somebody
else is doing the life scan, so we're helping people
get the expungements as well. So you show up there,
we're giving out ten Christmas trees because that came from
Saint Rest Baptist Church. You know what I'm saying, just
a lot of people from the Southwest is just coming

(40:19):
together and just just donating. I'm sorry, I'm leaving out
a lot of people, but there's so many people that
just bringing stuff to the table and no funding. They
just coming in and being like man, sir, if I
know you really do the work, I know you really
care about the youth. I got this connection. Do you
think that's a help. Heck care out of help. And
then I got I got, I got ten gift cards.
You know the churches they're giving in the gift cards.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
You know b T.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
Lewis, you know people like that that's just coming in
and being like, here go some gift cards, bro, Like,
I know they will get used here.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
You know, bikes, you.

Speaker 4 (40:48):
Know from I think it's like Mary that's with Neighborhood Watch,
Like they coming in with bikes and they're just like,
I know you find he's a good home. Like people
like that, and they'll be like, man, how did you
get all this stuff? Like you don't get funding. People
really believe in the work I do because I'm going
for the I know we're not allowed to call them
at risk youth no more, but they're really at risk,
like you just at risk when you just from poverty period.

(41:10):
But you know, so we call them at promise youth,
but they really show up. I just did an event
all nighter. We kept these kids from nine pm to
six am in the morning. Wow, all these little kids
that's been through here doing the shootings and doing all
that stuff. I said, I'm gonna bring them all into
one building. It was one hundred and twenty of them

(41:30):
in one space, and I kept them from that long,
fed them. Did I let them perform because some of
them like to, you know, do rep like music is
definitely like the culture that everybody want to be a
part of, like and that they really telling their story
through it. I do a lot of storytelling, you know,
help them work out on doing their storytelling. So they came,
they get to perform, so they like, Hey, Kia, the
kids actually want to see them perform, So they came

(41:50):
to and it was just like that and it's happening.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
But then we also like to let y'all perform.

Speaker 4 (41:54):
We also need y'all to be speakers, so we need
y'all to be motivational speakers. Motivate these kids. These kids
think all the hardest gang members in the world. Tell
them that other side be vulnerable for me yeaes, sir,
I got you gonna have to perform, yeah, for sure,
And then you do stuff like that, and now all
these kids in here is like, oh, I got a
different view of them, or dag, I got a different
And it's really artist development, you know what I'm saying.

(42:16):
But also it's healing our community too. So then you
got somebody like wool Stacks who comes and he's part
of the organization and he does financial literacy, which we
call economic healing, but we tell them in a different way,
like as far as assets and liabilities, it's like we'll
bring up something like, okay, it's a gold chain, an
asset of liability. If it's an asset, go to the left.

(42:37):
If it's a if it's a liability, go to the right.
They like, oh, if it's in the middle, just stay
in the middle. They're like, ah, everybody run to the
right cause they like, man, that's a liability. And it's like,
why you think it's a liability, man, because somebody can.

Speaker 2 (42:48):
Snatch your chain.

Speaker 4 (42:49):
Man, you wear in a big chain like that, like
you know, dude Wood, It's like, oh, that's a we
know where you're from, other than it's somebody else like, nah,
it's not. It's actually an asset because what if my
grandma gave it to me, Like oh, that's good. And
then somebody else says something like you know, and it's
now turned in to a debate, and then we'll bring
Woo in and he'll be like, actually, it's both because
you can go get insurance on your goal chain, like

(43:10):
you know, and if somebody takes it or anything happens
to it, you get the money right back, you know.
Or you know a lot of a lot of people
from different countries they actually like marriage mean something different,
Like you put that wedding ring on them that costs
a lot of money because if something ever happens to
me as a husband, at least my wife got that
wedding ring to go ahead and get money for it,
you know. Or I can transfer this money, this necklace

(43:32):
that I'm going with, I can go to a different
country and it's worth it's gonna the value is not
going to change, like you know, just things like that
to make them understand. They on the edge seat, like
different ways of looking at right.

Speaker 3 (43:44):
Learn things we didn't learn when we were come on.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
So we just try to make learning fun, man. And
that's just the main thing we're doing and bringing them motivation.
Vational speakers like like Leonard Smith, you know who came in.
He did twenty three years in prison. You know, he
coming in like, man, have you ever have you ever
been in a position where somebody your mom died and
they say real fast, like you know, I'm not huh,
what are you saying? And it's the guard and I
don't even know how to, like, I don't know how
to battle with that pain. Like you know, I don't know.

(44:08):
I don't even know if he really said that or not, Like,
but somebody got that much control over your life. And
everybody's like, Okay, I don't want to go to jail anymore. Okay,
I need to think about what I'm doing. You know what,
Like two weeks later, the the one of the kids
that I had speaking ends up going to a juvenile
hall for what like juvenile life because they said he
did a murder like a month before that, and he

(44:30):
was just there speaking positively to the other kids, like
you know, stuff like that. That's so impactful that we'll
never get paid for because you got to be from
there to understand that, right. So that's just what I'm doing, man,
Just just just providing healing and you know, doing healing
circles and then bringing other people in from the community
that really that really respects this side of the of

(44:50):
the work.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
Man. That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (44:52):
Yeah, man, I mean, I, like I said, I had
no idea, but I'm glad you laid it out because
that's dope, and I think that's honestly, maybe that's what
you're calling was all along, man, you know what I'm saying, Like,
just because like I said, you've always been a likable person.

Speaker 2 (45:04):
You got good and energy around you.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
People seem to trust you, and it seems like that's
all working to what you're doing now.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (45:13):
Yeah, absolutely, Like that's exactly what I was talking about, Jizoll,
Like just the fact that I knew I was gonna
do something with music, I just didn't know what it was.
And now I had a studio program. When I'm bringing
these kids, I went to each neighborhood and I'm like
when I was working with Advanced Peace, I'm going to
each neighborhood and I'm like, hey, who's your best rapper?

Speaker 2 (45:31):
They're like, oh, sir, what you're doing here? I'm talking
about bulldog hoods. It no matter. I'm going to all
the hoods and they're like, sir, what you're doing here?
Oh man, yeah yeah yeah, da da da.

Speaker 4 (45:37):
I've been on the radio ten times, so it's like,
you know what I'm saying, Like, what you're doing here? Man?

Speaker 2 (45:41):
Like, oh man, you got the studio.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
We can go through the studio like, yeah, man, I'm
come coming here to try to see like who the
best rapper is. No, it's me, now, it's him over
there and all that. Okay, I'll get both, y'all'll do
y'all different. So I'll bring the rapper to the studio
and I tell him he can bring his entourage. My
thing is that usually when you bring in a rapper,
who comes with the rapper the shooters, right, So that's

(46:03):
how we stop the gun violence. So I bring them
both into their But the only thing I tell them,
I'm like, they like, how much? How much do it cost?
And it just costs a healing circle?

Speaker 2 (46:11):
What what's that? I don't care what it is.

Speaker 4 (46:14):
She sign me up and they come in here and
then we do a healing circle and they just be like, damn,
that felt good to get that out, Like you know,
like I'm talking about real thugs, gang members, like they
feel good, like come out and sometimes we don't even
get to the music. They sat there and we stayed
in the hilling circle the whole three hours, and they
come in there and they just like I remember, I

(46:35):
remember when I had some dudes from Walnut man in there,
and they was.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
Like, Hey, why you don't even tell me or nothing
about that? I know you do that.

Speaker 4 (46:41):
He was like, well, I'm gonna tell you ain't everything.
The only time you want to call me is when
you have some trouble and you want me to shoot somebody.
I'm like up there, like you know. They was like
they want to change their conversations now, right, because when
have they ever had the space to be vulnerable. I
can't show weakness in the environment that I'm in. They
gonna take advantage of that. I have to keep my
board up at all times. I remember they told me

(47:02):
something that was just so like heartbreaking but but but
understandable at the same time. It was like, in this life,
you have to be paranoid. What I because if I'm
not paranoid, that might cost me my life. I was like, oh,
why do you want a gang bang man? But I'm
not even gonna tell you the answers to the not
gangbanging because I have a movie coming out. It's a

(47:23):
documentary of everything that I just said, and all the
youth are on there explaining that story.

Speaker 2 (47:30):
It's called post traumatic growth.

Speaker 3 (47:32):
When do you think that's gonna be out.

Speaker 4 (47:34):
I'm doing it with Breakbox Thought Collective. They actually been
helping me with the editing process. I think it's it
should come out uh this summer, man.

Speaker 3 (47:43):
So it's all shot, ready to go, and just adding
the little pieces.

Speaker 4 (47:47):
Man, it's uh. We got therapists on their psychologists. We
uh man, just just kind of breaking it down for
like maybe you're this and your son is just like
attracted to this hip hop music that you hate so much,
and it's like, how do I get my kid to
get away from this type of watch this movie? And
then your kid will watch this and be like, oh no,
these are the real guys. And they told you that

(48:09):
they've actually been stuck in it, like you know, my
mom was a prostitute and like that's how I got
caught into this stuff. Like I want to help her
get out of it, like you know, like and then
you know, I've asked the questions like what would you
say to the thirteen year old you if you could
say anything, like you know, and it's stuff like I'm
gonna give you one of them, Like one of them
was like a matter of fact, shady HS. I don't
know if y'all know shady HS. He wanted the big

(48:29):
rappers out here. But he says, like, man, I wish
I could. I wish I knew that all these responsibilities
that was going on wasn't like my fault, Like all
the things that was happening to me wasn't my fault.
I was just a kid. I wish I was able
just to be a kid. Damn you know de man, Yeah, yeah, no, no,

(48:50):
it's gonna be nice.

Speaker 2 (48:50):
Man, I can't wait.

Speaker 4 (48:52):
I think it has changed the way that the fundinginess
dropped as well as far as sponsoring people like like
like me, that that that care about the that a
promise you that just looking for a way out, looking
for some some some something to love, right like just
anything like and and and we got to stop stop
thinking about like that. The gang culture does not bring anything.

(49:15):
It bring everything when you're in survival mode. It brings
all the the right things, like as far as a
place of belonging when you don't got that that that
that place of belonging in the house, when you don't
feel wanted and things like that. You come out there,
they give you a place of belonging. They give you brotherhood,
you know, they give you fake love even but it's
still love rather than no love at all. They give

(49:37):
you fake love like you know and and all those
They give you money, right like, yeah, you can go
try to go get a job at pipe is and
they can deny you.

Speaker 2 (49:47):
The hood ain't gonna know you.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
They're gonna give you the sack right there and be like,
hung go sell this, and you gonna be like, oh,
they give you protection. At the age of fourteen, I
remember the first time somebody put a gun in my hand,
I said, man, I could.

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Protect my mama.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
Yeah, I wish somebody would come here, or I wish
to dude will put his hands on her. I could
protect my mom. So you give me a gun, I
do anything for you. You give me a pair of
shoes where don't gotta go get made fun of at school?
I do anything for you. So just those kind of
things that we need to to to find alternatives for
the gang culture that we don't have alternatives. What could

(50:21):
What's something in the world right now that can compare
with the gangs? We don't have nothing. I'm going to get.
I'm going to go gang bang because they provide everything
I need, even though there's way more out there.

Speaker 2 (50:34):
But I don't have the resources for it.

Speaker 4 (50:36):
So I want to be the person that actually had
the resources to find an alternative from gangbanging, right, and
definitely to the fact that it's changed, like me going
to jail, I think I wouldn't be the person I
am today to be able to tell you, like, man,
a girl trying to hand you some money and you
don't even know, Like yeah, because don't nobody even know
the the what is that culture called, like the the

(51:01):
I guess they call it like the pimp culture, right,
Like nobody knows that you can have a girl that
flaunted all day and like I know, I'm gonna give
me a man because I know I got this money
and that's her confidence. And then you have weak men
who will be like for show, I'm taking that because
I need it. You had me like that point in
my life, you had me five thousand dollars, I probably

(51:24):
would have killed somebody for five thousand dollars and all
I do is be with you for five thousand dollars. Yeah,
there was no other alternates for making five thousand dollars.
And I remember the group T and O. Right, You're
talking about like having a goal, make a trip to
make some money and carrying a load for somebody. I

(51:46):
don't care what's in the trunk, but I'm gonna go
make this trip because I have to be the person
that people think I am, because if I'm not, then
I lose everything I worked hard for. So just being
in survival mode where we're five thousand dollars can change
your life. I'm gonna go risk it. So you're telling them, man,
you're gonna gang bang? What you gonna be?

Speaker 2 (52:08):
You know what you do?

Speaker 4 (52:08):
What happens if you go on gang bang, You're gonna
either go to jail or hell? Right, And people like, shit,
I'm living in hell right now? What could be worse
than this? Then having to go in there with my
grandma who's just nagging all day, and this is messing
up my vibe. I'd rather go to jail with some
people that's probably like minded like me. Yeah, so you're
telling me jail or hell. I actually wanted to commit
suicide the other day, but I'm not brave enough to

(52:31):
do that. I'm not strong enough to do that. So
what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go out the
right way. What's the right way? Take couple people out
with me, take up my ops out with me. What
so people coming and being like stop gang bang, you're
either going to jail or you're gonna die.

Speaker 2 (52:48):
They cool with that. Yeah, that's okay.

Speaker 3 (52:50):
Damn gems gyms bro man, We appreciate your time doing this.
But in case they're listening to this before the twenty
first December twenty first let them know again about the
whole event.

Speaker 4 (53:04):
Yes, man, Christmas event man, Uh giving out toys. Uh,
pre registration is already over, but we are doing walk
ups after we give out all the preregistration uh toys
for the leftover toys. We have face painting, We have
expungement clinic. We have pictures with Sanna, we have U man,

(53:29):
it's so much. Oh we got Christmas trees. Yeah, oh
we got some Christmas trees. We also have the food
pantry where you give out the box of box of food.
You can come get you a box of food to
take home as well arts and crafts. So we have
like the craft tables, like if your kids wanted to
say down, do craft We have so many crafts. Shout
out to Bonnie House too, because Bonnie House uh works

(53:51):
at the park and she always makes sure she give.
I appreciate her so much. Yes, so we have all
these things just going on. Pretty sure there's a lot
more things that I'm missing, but yeah, we have all
that there. The twenty first. Yeah, doors open at one
o'clock on one pm Manchester Manchester Mall. That's on a

(54:12):
Sunday on the twenty first. If you guys want to
look for any future events, please follow us at fresh Yeah.
What is it b O E Fresno b O E
as in Breadth of Evolution b O E Fresno dot
com b O E Fresno dot com.

Speaker 2 (54:31):
So yeah, just go ahead. All our information is there online.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
Yes, any any other plugs, I know you said you
got that events, any anything else coming up or just.

Speaker 2 (54:39):
Oh yeah, we always got stuff coming up, man.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
Like I said, we try to make sure we bring
community together because it's the next best thing close to family.

Speaker 2 (54:48):
Right.

Speaker 4 (54:48):
It's out here that just probably moved out here and
don't have family, or separated from their family, or probably
just don't like their family, right, But yeah, the best
thing in the family is community. So we try to
make sure bring community.

Speaker 2 (55:01):
We are. Our Easter events is really big. I know.

Speaker 4 (55:04):
We did a radio interview before with the Eastern event.
A lot of people showed up and they had a
great time, good feedback on that. I think we had
three hundred and fifty people that came out to that.
So yeah, we have the football and cheer camp. That's
real near dear to my heart because just even going
to the fact of you know, working for the gun
violence production program, We'll go to a funeral and it's

(55:27):
always that same picture that we seen, like if somebody
got killed to gun do the gun violence, they have
that same football pitcher in there. Man, we're using Pop
Warner on that one knee with the helmet in the
other hand and the football crowing up in the other hand,
you know, and it's like, damn, where do we lose
them at? Like, you know, from from football to gag banging.
So we truth be told, our future game bank is

(55:49):
that Pop on that Pop Warner football field. Right. So
it's like, man, these these football camps are important, but
in our football camp, we don't really. You won't get
an award for being the best player. You'll get an
award for saying thank you probably to the greeters that
came that that was giving you the ticket at the door,
or thank you for getting your food or man, he
didn't play well, but he got hself back up. He
cried and got his stuff back together. Like we're giving

(56:10):
out awards for that because you will never forget the
time where that kid got an award for saying thank you,
you know, and things like that. So yeah, this event
is just kind of just being different but still creating
healing in all the spaces.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
Nice. I like it. Yeah, appreciate y'all.

Speaker 1 (56:25):
Yeah, man, well, hey, appreciate you, sir up. I'm glad
that you're finally doing what you were meant to do.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
You know what I'm saying. It's good to catch up
with you. I'm glad you're doing well. Man.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
We appreciate you dropping knowledge on us. We appreciate you
what you're doing for the community because obviously we're in
this community too, and you being one of the leaders. Yeah, man,
And until next time, this can give me five podcasts