EP 91. The Second Act: Resilience and Renewal with William Fanene.

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good evening everybody.
Welcome to another episode ofBehind the Lava Lava.
I'm your host, milford Tiafala,joined by the crew, michael Tan
and Atimu Aminye, and tonightwe are honored to have with us
the one and only Will FaneneWilliam find that a goldsmith?
Or really, I'm finding it, orI'm.

(00:28):
So some of you might know himas husband, father, entrepreneur
, content creator and DJ.
A lot of things, a lot of hats.
This man is the jack of alltrades.
I welcome will.
This man is the jack of alltrades.
Hi, welcome Will.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Thank you for that beautiful, awesome opening.
I appreciate it.
Thank you, guys for having me.
Thanks for the invite.
I really appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
Anytime.
Man, we're just glad to haveyou join us, so with us.
You know we like a lot ofSamoan kids.
We love our parents and I knowfrom your documentary you know
you gave a lot of love towardsthem and sort of spoke on them a
little bit.
So would you take this time togo ahead and tell us about your

(01:15):
parents?
You know their names, wherethey're from and you know the
influence that each of them hadon your life.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
OK, so my mom, malia Fan um.
She's now.
She's married, so she's MaliaEmo and she lives up in um in
Spokane, washington, so I visitthere frequently throughout you
know the year.
And, um, my dad is, uh, joeGoldsmith.
So he's not, obviously, he'snot a Samoan guy, he's an

(01:45):
African-American guy.
He lives not far from me.
And then I also have twostep-parents.
Both of them are Samoanstep-parents.
So my dad married a Samoan ladytwice, two different Samoan
ladies.
So my step-mom she passed awayseveral years ago.
Lucy, lucy Anga I don't know ifanyone is uh, no, no, lucy, but

(02:07):
uh, my sister, my, my stepsister, I don't, we don't say step and
all that.
You know we don't need, wedon't do that in in our culture.
So she's my sister.
So, daniela anga she's alsomarried now, so she's a siofeli
and she lives out in um, insouthern california.
And then, uh, that's my, mystepdad again, we don't say

(02:30):
stepdad, that's my, that's myother dad and he's up in spokane
, washington too.
So all of them had intricateparts to play in my life growing
up.
And, um, you know, it's, I meanit's bad, just not, it's not
bad.
But you know, I don't want tosay that I would.
It's, I mean it's bad, it's notbad, but you know, I don't want
to say that I would.
It's good, everybody.
You know they got divorced orwhatever.
But if they didn't get divorced, I wouldn't have met all of
these wonderful people and theyall helped to shape my life and

(02:54):
make it to be what it is.
So I mean, you only know whatyou know in a divorced military
family that traveled around alot and you know things weren't
always perfect, but you know Iwouldn't have it any other way
and you know this that's my life.
But yeah, those those are myparents, all four of my parents,

(03:15):
and I have a whole bunch of uh,other siblings, bonus siblings,
extra siblings and and all ofthat, and I appreciate all of
them.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Awesome man.
Thank you for telling us aboutthem.
And you got some similaritiesbetween myself and Michael Tan,
with Michael he, this wholepodcast deal he handles, you
know, the editing, marketing,pretty much everything.
And then, uh, same thing withyou, how you, you know, you're
like the one man behind it.

(03:43):
All you know.
Same thing with you, how you,you know, you're like the one
man behind it all you know.
You, you might use your, yourother aliases, you know.
And credit it may seem likecredit goes to somebody else,
but people don't know like, hey,the person that's making this
whole show run it's will.
You know, yeah, that's prettydope.
But at the same time, I'm alsoan army brat.
Yeah, my, my father was in thearmy, moved around a lot, and I

(04:08):
don't know if you can tell by myaccent that both my parents are
from Western Samoa.
By the way, okay, I wasn'treally taught.
You know customs and traditionsand the language as much as you
know a lot of my counterpartsare.
You know, I was ignorant to alot of it and I mean some picked

(04:28):
up the hard way.
But that's why, as soon as youstarted posting your content, I
was like, oh heck, yeah, this isawesome, we got this going on,
so did any of that moving around.
I know I might reference thedocumentary a lot, but I don't
want to give away too much.

(04:48):
So I'm going to ask you, youknow, like we're just meeting
you moving around a lot, as thatyoung child you know, did it
bother you at?

Speaker 2 (04:59):
all.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Picking up and moving all the time, making new
relationships.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
No, that's all I knew .
So to me that was normal life.
And the funny part about it is,everywhere we moved to it was a
Samoan community.
So we moved to.
It didn't matter if it wasGermany different parts in
Germany, you know, if it wasHawaii or you know all
throughout, you know California,even in Missouri, like
everywhere we went to.
So I thought most of the worldwas Samoan.

(05:25):
I thought most of the world wasSamoan, until you know then
some of the places we moved to.
I was like man, where'severybody at?
Like, what's all these blackpeople doing here?
What's all these white peopledoing here?
Like, where, you know where,where's our people?
And so it took a littleadjustment to know that the
world is a big place with awhole different you know type of

(05:46):
, you know a diversity of people.
And that's really what Iadapted to and that's what I
like.
I like being around.
You know I love being aroundsome more people.
I love being around, you know,black folks.
I love being around.
But I like being aroundeverybody.
I want to have that exchangewith everyone.
So to me that is the perfectworld where everybody is

(06:08):
together, Everybody's gettingalong, everybody shares with one
another.
So whenever I get into anenvironment where it's not like
that and people are not it,things just seem kind of
stagnant.
I get bored, I get, you know, Idon't like being there, you
know.
So I want to leave.
So, even though it's like that,you know it's like that, here

(06:32):
it's mainly like black folks andwhite folks.
Still here there's not thatmany Samoans, but I travel a lot
.
Well, I used to travel a lotbefore I got on probation and
all of that.
But you know, I just, wheneverI get too bored, I just go and
just I want to see other people,I want to have other

(06:52):
experiences that are outside ofthe norm.
You know where I'm at, so Ilove, if anything, the military
experience and traveling a lothelped me just to be someone
that craves diversity and craves, you know, culture and
experience, and not just my own,and I appreciate other people's
experiences.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Man.
So in watching the documentaryreferencing it again, it seems
to be like a tale of or at leastthe words that resonate with me
while watching it and thinkingabout it are adaptability,
perseverance and accountability.

(07:34):
And you're kind of alreadyspeaking on that adaptability
part right now, speaking of howyou you know, crave different
experiences and diversity, sothat's pretty cool At this
moment right now.
Michael or Ate, you have anyquestions?

Speaker 4 (07:49):
Oh, yeah, definitely, hey, well, hey, appreciate you,
Uso, man, hopping on and takingyour time to, you know discuss
a lot of part about your life.
You know with us, Fiopoco Usos,over here, so I could relate to
what you were mentioning.
You know about.
You know not putting labels.
You know in our culture, youknow in Samoan, and you're like,

(08:10):
hey, that's my mother-in-law oryou know step, you know all
that.
You know titles and stuff,because you know I'm the same
way.
You know growing up, you know Iwas.
You know that's cousin overthere, that's cousin over there,
that's uncle and that's auntie.
And then all my, my, uh, mypalani friends.
You know they're like, hey,well, what do you mean by by
that?
I'm like, uh, that's, that's,uh, that's my uncle.

(08:31):
I was like, yeah, yeah, but isthat uncle on your mom or dad
side?
You know, try to get specific.
I'm like, nah, man, that'suncle right there, you know.
So I know what you mean.
I know growing up, you knowyou're moving a lot and, uh, you
said, everywhere that you guyswent to, you know almost a
Samoan community and you know Ican relate to that.
You know, because you knowgrowing up too.

(08:54):
You know the only place thatI've, outside of Samoa, that
I've been to, was in Californiaand you know it was a big.
You know, to me growing up, man, there's a big world and then
you know, the only people that Ikind of knew in California was
like, you know, samoans.
And then I'm like, oh, you know, this is this, is this must be,
you know how everywhere is.
And to me, you know, now thatI'm growing up and now that I'm

(09:24):
here in El Paso you know I'm inTexas, by the way, in El Paso,
all places, and there's a,there's a Samoan community here,
and then we kind of discuss itamongst ourselves.
Like man, I think there'salmost every Samoan have been to
all the states, you know, evenin Maine, you know, I know, you
know there's Samoans over there.
But for yourself, growing up,you know, going to all these
places, how important was it toyou to establish an identity?
Important was it to you toestablish an identity?

(09:46):
You know, I know you, you, youmentioned that.
Hey, you know, I feelcomfortable with you, know sort
of the mix with everybody else,but how important is to you to
establish your own identity?
How was it important to you tolike, learn, learn the language?
Uh, you know, being samoan, youknow, I know it's it's kind of
hard coming from a place whereyou know you don't really have
that, that kind of like, youknow, centered.

(10:07):
You know I mean I'm I'm just,you know, generalizing here, you
know, but you know, moving fromplace to place is kind of hard
to have like establishedidentity.
But how important was it foryou growing up, you know you,
and specifically for you, youand you know specifically for
you.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Well, I mean, that's a really great question, because
growing up in primarily samuelcommunities all over the world,
I kept forgetting I'm also halfblack until, like you know,
somebody reminded me hey, youknow, and so then they have the
black jokes.
So I, I was used to thatgrowing up and it was like dang
all right.
So every time I would have likea step back.
So it's that that was one thingthat I was always like trying

(10:50):
to.
It was one thing where I wasalways trying to figure out well
, dang, ok, I am, I'm half black, but I don't really know that
much of my culture.
My dad it wasn't because my daddidn't want to teach me, but he
was always gone, like he was inthe field, if you know anything
about like military parents,like they're always gone.

(11:11):
So my mom was always gone too.
But then you know, I don't knowhow they work it out, but if
one is gone then they try tokeep another one back.
You know they have kids.
So my mom would stay back andthen she would take us naturally
to the Samoan community.
Why would she take us over herewhen you know this is what she
knows over here.
So that's all I knew.
But then when people like kindof shunned you out, then it's

(11:32):
like man, ok, now I'm trying tofigure out again who I am.
So that was a constant strugglethe whole my whole life.
But you know, it only lasts forlike maybe a few days and then
after that you get back to.
Ok, I got over it.
So it wasn't until I got tohere, you know, I mean, it was

(11:54):
several years ago and um, that'swhen I got in touch with my, my
black side, my african-americanside, and that's when I start
learning about different stuffand they're like man, you, bro,
you, you know, you wear, youwear funny clothes and you walk

(12:15):
around with a dress on.
I'm like no, let me tell youwhat this is.
This is, you know, it's a lava,lava, you know.
So I was educating peoplearound here about who I am,
where I'm from.
They didn't know nothing aboutSamoa, nothing.
This is way back when the Rockwas like what is your name?
It doesn't matter what yourname is, that's all they knew.
They knew nothing about it.
You know nothing about anything.

(12:37):
So I was the, the, the go toperson for for that kind of
education.
But it was.
My mission was to understandblack culture, understand who I
was, you know, my, my other half.
So, um, when I got to college Ilearned about like the black
fraternities and the um, likeblack history, like I'm here

(13:00):
living in an area where, like,there's an underground railroad,
all this of stuff, all thiskind of black history.
So I got in contact with all ofthat and I really like
inundated myself with juststraight everything black and
just kind of I never shut it,you know, shut myself more
inside out because that's all Iknew, you know.
So, but that was when I cameback home, because nobody wanted

(13:22):
to talk about it.
They didn't even know what theywould say, say Somalian and
stuff like that.
So when I came home, that'swhen I was like, ok, I put my
lava lava back on, you know, andyou know, eat my calo, you know
, and the foods that I made.
That's all I knew.
So it took a while, like I guessI was in my 20s.

(13:43):
I was like probably in my mid30s, so that's like 15 years
have passed where I was like, ok, I don't care, I'm going to
Walmart with my lava lava on.
And there are people like, well, you know what's black dude
doing with the.
Why is he dressed like that?
And it was literally like Iheard somebody say that one time
.
I'm like, wow, ok.

(14:04):
But after a while I was like Idon't care, you know, there's a
whole world out here.
The way that I grew up iseverybody did their own thing.
They were unique, some people,they might have been, you know,
mexican and Samoan, they mighthave been Caribbean and Russian,
like everybody, and they justdid what they did.

(14:24):
But here, a place like here,they didn't understand that
people would express themselvesand the cultures that they were
brought up in.
And it's a melting pot.
That's how I was, like you knowwhat?
I'm going to do my own thing,the way that I was brought up.
If you don't appreciate it, youjust don't appreciate it,
whatever.
And that just came withmaturity and not caring anymore,

(14:53):
because you know in your 20syou care about what everybody
thinks.
So you know, but I just got tothe point where it's whatever,
like I'm just I'm going to do me.
So thanks for asking.
That's a great question.

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Speaker 4 (15:52):
Uh, on top of that, do you think you know, compared
to everywhere else, that youstayed outside of america?
Do you think we as americansare more ignorant, or are we
just, you know, just kind oflazy?
You know, what I mean is, in asense of, like you know how,
like these, these folks are like, oh man, what's this guy
wearing?
You know, it's kind of askingyou and kind of you know, like

(16:13):
all that terminology, do youthink?
Because even even here, likefor me, growing up in samoa, we
were, we were kind of educatedto like to the point where, like
you know they're, this is whatthe Mexicans were, this is what
blacks were, you know, this is,you know, we learn about
different cultures.
So when I got here, a lot offolks were kind of like asking
me, like, hey, you know.

(16:33):
Well, they would come up to meand it just talks, you know
Mexican.
And then I will tell them no,you know, educate them, you know
, do my part.
Oh, no, no, I'm from a teeny,tiny island in the pacific, you
know.
And then they were like, ah,okay, we get it now.
But the thing is, how come Iknow your culture?
How come I know what you are.
You know, like I kind of, Ikind of already understand, like

(16:54):
you know.
So, is there an ignorance thatplays there, or is this just
that's all people are?
What do you feel about that?

Speaker 2 (16:58):
I think it was definitely ignorance.
But I think it's like when,when you're coming from a place
where you're exposed to all ofthese things and then you go to
a dominant culture, like soyou're down in texas, like I
mean, they got the cowboy hat,they understand all, they
understand the dominant culture.
But then when you come with youknow you're, you know you're
brown, you know you got a nicesize and handsome, they're like,

(17:22):
oh yeah, must be a mexican dude, I don't know, no, nothing else
.
So they're ignorant, they don'tknow, so they only know they
can only put you in these fewcategories.
But when you're already exposedto all of these things, like
man, he kind of got some morefeatures.
For in my experience, like um,only people that knew that were
like the military kids, becausethey were exposed to all of

(17:46):
these different kind of people.
They moved around.
But if this is the only placeyou grew up, you only grew up in
.
You know Austin, texas, or StLouis, missouri, you only know
these boxes of people.
Is it black, white, mexican orthat's it?
So if you come in, you knowbeing a Samoan.
Oh, here comes a big gay dudewith a what it's?

(18:08):
A lava, lava.
And I'm a Samoan.
What are you talking about?
You know, they just don't know.
So it is definitely ignoranceand exposure.
So yeah, that's all.
It is Ignorance and exposure isignorance and exposure.

Speaker 5 (18:28):
Yeah, I recently was doing research because I thought
in utah there was a a largerpercentage of african americans
that reside here I thought itwas in the 20s but I just found
out that only two percent abouttwo percent of utah is
african-american and only 0.9percent are pacific islanders

(18:48):
here in utah and you can competeand you can look at the chart
across the whole us.
Most of the states are like oneto two percent.
The only state that's that's upthere in regards to like af
Americans and other minoritygroups are California.
But, that's an interesting factthat here in Utah only 2% are

(19:13):
African American.
So that kind of blew my mindbecause the whole time I was
challenging my, my, my whitefriends that hey, I've been out
to the community and I actuallysee black folks out there, so so
and they were like challengingme.
So until until I I looked upthe census and all that

(19:34):
information, that's when my eyeswere open oh man, there's
actually less of minorities herein utah and and that's just
across the whole US.
So I'm along the same boat asyou will.
I'm half Chinese, half Samoan,born and raised in American

(19:56):
Samoa.
So I felt disconnected with myChinese heritage until recent
years, like in my late 20s.
That's when I started wantingto find out more of my dad's
side, the Chinese side, becauseI grew up knowing the Samoan

(20:18):
heritage, knowing Fasaamua, thatI thought in my head that I was
Samoan.
But people kind of checked meand said, oh, you might think
you're Samoan, but outside youlook Asian.
So the whole time people werethinking I was Asian, but I was
identifying myself as a Samoan,mostly because of the way that I

(20:44):
was thinking of who I am.
So that was kind of the samestruggles that I went through as
yourself, trying to find ourown identity and where we kind
of belong in society.
So I want to ask thesequestions because you kind of

(21:07):
reinvented yourself over theyears.
I know you mentioned that inyour documentary.
But first can you please letour listeners know what the name
of the documentary is and wherethey can find it, and then
answer this question of who isWilliam Fannini today?

Speaker 2 (21:28):
OK, ok.
So the name of the documentaryis Nameless, unmasking the
Anonymous Life of a Sex PillGuru.
So nameless is, you know, themain thing, and then you know
the rest of it is like asubtitle.
And then the second part waswho is Will Fanene today?

(21:50):
Well, for me, who I am today iswho I've always been, and it's
just somebody who.
I love people, I love all of mycultures, you know, I love my
family, I love, you know, fasaAmor.
That's the way that I wasbrought up and I think a lot of
these things that I was tryingto explain, like I literally was

(22:12):
on, couldn't understand, likethe mentality of the things that
I did, like I made all of thismoney and they were like, well,
what did you do with the money?
And you know, and all of thatis like it's, you know, five
times more.
You just, I don't know, um, Idon't know, I gave the money

(22:37):
away and, um, they just couldn'tget it.
So today, as I said, I'm thesame person as I was yesterday
get it.
So today, as I said, I'm thesame person as I was yesterday.
I love, I like love to helppeople, I love my family, and
that's it.
That's I mean, that's really ina nutshell.
I mean, yeah, that's prettymuch sums it up.
Yeah, I forgot where I wasgoing with that, but I mean that

(23:00):
they kept.
I'll say it like this my, evenmy lawyers were like what did
you do with all of the money?
What were you doing with that?
I don't know.
Well, you, you want me to, youwant me to list it out, I don't
know.
People ask me for stuff and Igave it to them.
So I think that that to me,they thought it was a bad thing
to me.

(23:20):
I was like you know, what doyou need money for?
To me, I was like you know,what do you need money for?
You need it to for resources.
And at the end of the day,you're just gonna.
What are you going to do withit?
You're going to pass it on tosomebody else.
So for me, I don't care if yougive me a billion dollars right
now.
Most of that I'm just going togive away.
Like, are you going to?
Um, people buy flashy things orit means nothing.

(23:45):
So I've been at the point whereI bought this, I bought that
and bought that.
It did nothing for me.
None of that stuff did anythingfor me, everything that I did
that actually is sustainable.
That made me feel good.
That lasts is because whensomebody sends me a note and
says you said this and it lasted, you gave me this, that meant

(24:10):
the world to me.
You did this, and it's alwaysabout giving and that the output
is oh, wow.
You know that's not something Iget online, I'll be bragging
about, but I feel good about it.
That's what does it for me.
So, okay, you get a billiondollars.
What are you going to do withit?
I don't understand the whole.
You know the greed thing.

(24:30):
So when I was in, it wasn'ttrial, it was like a sentencing
hearing and you have aprosecutor telling you he's so
greedy, he's so this and he's sothat, no, I wouldn't.
You know the stuff that I didwith the money that you said I
got.
I have no idea what I did withit because I don't remember who

(24:51):
I gave it to.
I was just giving it away andit's.
You know I was good at home.
So what?
What do you do with the excess?
And to me, that's just um, ifyou you want to sum up who I am,
the excess goes to other people, me, I.
I need what I need my family'sgood, okay, everybody else can

(25:11):
get the rest.
That's just how it is.
That's how I was brought up.
So I don't know.
I don't understand.
If you know, define who I am.
I don't understand what whatthey're doing over there with,
with all the greed and, you know, kill people, take all of their
land and do all of this stuff.
I don't understand all of that.
So who I am is take care ofmine and then after that, if you

(25:35):
need it, then you can have it.
If I got it, that's that's me.

Speaker 5 (25:39):
I don't know how to explain it.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
So it's not you, we got it and the way you are, you
know well, at least from that,an outside perspective, from a
distance, just seeing youdigitally, uh, you seem like
some of the people I know, likemichael the homie frank.
Uh, you're not.

(26:02):
You know your, your emotions.
You're never too hype, you know, never too low, too mellow,
pessimistic, you know you.
You're just right there in themiddle.
I'm even like that too, for Icould tell to an extent, you
know, unless we're likecompeting in sports, then you
know, you see, you see the uglyside.

(26:23):
But you went through some things.
You went through your parents'divorce.
You went through yourdepression with the struggling
relationship, with your firstmarriage and the distancing in
your relationship with your son.
But you made it all the way outto the other side, still with a

(26:44):
giving heart.
Is there anything you canrecall or anything that comes to
mind that helps you, you know,with your mental health?
Because that's one big thing wetalk about a lot here is the
mental health aspect and dealingwith it, which I think you
touch on greatly in yourdocumentary as well.
But even when you recall yourexperiences, you don't show that

(27:09):
kind of like panicky or, youknow like the world's ending
type of emotion.
You just like, all right, thisis happening and I need to get
through it.
So is there anything from yourlife that you think contributes
to that greatly, any big momentor teaching throughout your life
that happened that you knowmade you and continues to make

(27:29):
you the way you are today?

Speaker 2 (27:31):
Oh well, I think.
Um, so what my dad told me andyou got the sign is over there.
But I had a podcast one timeand, um, I do want to start it
up again, but it's calledaccountability first.
I got that from my dad, so itdon't matter what happened, what
you're involved in, because youbrought up my divorce.

(27:52):
So my dad was like you know, Iwould go complain to him.
Yeah, she did this, she did.
He was like I don't want tohear that.
What did I teach you?
Accountability first?
What did you do?
It don't matter if it's if theydid 99%, you know it's, it's
always in any situation it'sgoing to be.
You could have did something,even if you were a complete

(28:17):
victim.
Somebody came up and didsomething.
What did your dad teach you?
What did your mom teach you?
To avoid stuff like that, justidentify that first, identify
that piece of what you couldhave did and then start from
there.
Because if you're alwaysstarting at I'm a victim, I'm
100% victim, don't have thatmentality.
So that's one thing, from thatvantage point, like this is what

(28:47):
I should have done and then allof your emotions should have
been from that point.
That way, you don't be blamingeverybody else for this and that
sometimes you're you're waymore accountable, for you know
whatever happened.
But, like I said, sometimes youcan look at a situation.
It's like man, they were anabsolute victim.
Well, there's something, youknow.
Sometimes it's, yeah, there'snothing you could do.
But in most cases there'ssomething you could have done.

(29:11):
You had some part to play in it.
So, in terms of like, again, youbrought up my divorce.
So it's like there were so manythings I could have did I could
have.
You know, he said I don't likeher, you shouldn't don't have
did I could have.
He's, you know, he said I, I, Idon't like her, you should have

(29:31):
, don't marry her.
I did it anyway.
Uh, hey, you, you should have.
Um, you should have did this,should have did it, I did it
anyway.
Those are all things on me.
So that helps me out in a lotof situations, because it's it
just um, it takes me away fromlooking at you Well, you did
this and you did that.
No, look at yourself first andthen I mean that really just
makes everything like man had Idid this situation.

(29:55):
It's a different conversationwhen you start with yourself
first.
So accountability first.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
Man, I forgot one of the YouTube videos I watched and
one of the usos on there was,like you know, we're not really
a product of our environment,but we're a product of our own
decisions.
You know, like, whateverdecisions that we make, you know
that's who you end up going.
You know going to be, becauseyour environment is always going
to be your environment.
You know, no matter where yougo, and you know, at the end of

(30:27):
the day, you know you take blamefor your own actions and if you
make your decisions, you gottalive and die on that sword.
You know that that decision isyours to make and at the end of
the day, you know that was yourdecision to make.
So I could relate to, to whatthat, uh, what your dad was
saying.
So I just wanted to make acomment on that.
But you know, uh, appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (30:42):
yeah.
So I did a lot of um, there'slike gang.
A lot of the people that arelike really pro gang culture are
, um, when I was doing thosekind of posts for that, for that
amount of time they were, theyturned against me.
They were like no, this iswhere we're at, this is our
environment, it is what it is.

(31:02):
But you know, if you Samoan,don't tell me, because I live
there, I lived in thesecommunities.
Nobody went against the Samoanslike that.
So you do you, and this was mymessage at the time you be you
and they're not going to botheryou, you know.
So why be this gang or why bethat gang?

(31:25):
You know, and I never couldunderstand that, even growing up
in it, like I would run aroundwith the I don't want to say the
different gangs or whatever,but you know, I was affiliated
with them but I neverparticipated in that stuff
because if they didn't mess withyou, so I don't understand why.
Why are you all in?
You're in these people'sbusiness?

(31:46):
They left Samoans alone, theyleft the Tongans alone.
They left, you know, they leftthe, the Pali's, fijians, like
they didn't mess with anybody.
They mess with the people thatgot involved.
So just be, you do, your doyour own thing.
So I I'm glad you said thatbecause I never, I never, could

(32:08):
understand that in our communityto we have all of these, these
support structures.
Our parents are bringing downthe culture that even if they
didn't teach the language, youstill had to do.
You know Samoan things.
You still had to do you knowthese Polynesian things, the
culture.
So why get involved with all ofthat if nobody's going to

(32:31):
bother you?
I never could To this day.
I don't understand that whenpeople give me the backlash and
it just sounds like excuses tome, nobody's going to mess with
you, do you and give them theculture.
There's a dude over here.
Everybody wants to be like him.
One Samoan guy, right, his sonis in the NFL right now.

(32:55):
There's not even that manySamoans around here.
He has everybody coming over tohis house in the backyard is
you know?
Is you know black folks, whitefolks, mexican, all these, all
these different kind of peopleback here doing Samoan rituals
in his backyard.
They want to be like him.
Just because you know theSamoan culture is so rich and

(33:18):
radiant, they come to his house.
The Epinesa's you can look, theeight is AJ Epinesa's dad.
They go, everybody goes over tohis backyard and you know, and
his document is all thenewspapers around here, but they
don't know how to explain it.
They don't know what's going onaround here, but they don't

(33:38):
know how to explain it.
They don't know what's going on.
But it's like this man, he'sgenuine and he just emulates.
Love Doesn't matter, you cantake that to Carson, you can go
to New York or any any anywhereand take this culture.
People want to emulate thatbecause they feel man.
It's something about this guy.
You know what, what?
So what I don't understand iswe have people just like epinesa

(34:01):
all over the place.
So, and some of these peopleare crips, some of them are
blood, some of them are gds orwhatever be you.
You don't have to be, you don'thave to do what they're doing
in the street.
Just be that.
And you know you.
And you know you'll attractthat to.
You know you'll attract thatpositivity.

(34:22):
And the next thing, you know whoknows who, your impact, and
that's why I say just do as muchpositive things as you can.
You never know who your, yourimpact.
And um, yeah, I forgot thequestion, but that's, that's.
Uh, I really appreciate, Iappreciate him.

(34:42):
He the, the.
Just the way that he sticks towho he is, even here in this
country, you know, uh, it's Imean, it's mainly white folks
here, but in this town he's juststicks to who he is and he's
got black folks, white folks,walking around with my uso gang
all this kind of stuff, you knowon t-shirts, like they walk

(35:04):
around with t-shirts.
They don't even know whatsomeone is, they just know this
big mexican looking dude iswalking around and he's they got
uso shirts on.
They don't know that that'sbrotherhood.
It's us.
We're over here doing our thing, we're training and, yeah,
that's AJ Epinesa's dad.
They live, like you know, notfar from here.
That's what I want for ourpeople to do everywhere.

(35:28):
Don't get involved in nobodyelse's stuff.
We have our own stuff.
We got our own.
We have our own.
It's not a gang, but we haveour own culture.
We have our own.
It's not a gang, but we haveour own culture.
We have our own thing.
Do that.
Stay away from everything else.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
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Speaker 5 (36:16):
Yeah, that's similar to.
I want to shout out a certaingroup here in Utah.
They're called Day One, soD-A-Y one.
As in W-O-N, it's mainly thosewho have been incarcerated and
they've come back and they kindof help a lot of people in the

(36:36):
former group and a group andwent and help a lot of people in
the community, even thoughthey're their circle.
They have a circle, they holdbasketball camps for the youth,
feed the homeless and all thesethings.
But they're all about positivityand because of that positivity

(36:58):
that they put out in thecommunity it attracts a lot of
people who want to do more andcontribute to their cause.
So I was recently at one oftheir openings at one of the
tattoo shops called EvolutionTattoos here in Salt Lake City

(37:18):
and I saw that sense ofcommunity that our people have.
You know the Tongans, samoansand all Basically the minorities
here in Utah.
They come together, they throwa huge barbecue just for a grand
opening and I usually don't seethat amongst our people here in
Utah.
Yeah, you'll see little pocketsof Polynesians here and there,

(37:41):
but their influence, I think, isa very positive influence.
It's similar to the fullmovement down in California.
They're out there doing theirown thing and trying to impact
the community out there.
Even though they wereincarcerated, they've been given
a second chance in life tocontribute to society.

(38:04):
So that's what I admire withthe types of people who are out
there.
We shouldn't look down on thethings that they've done in the
past, but in life we moveforward and we continue to make
an impact and leave a legacy forourselves and, if not, just do

(38:25):
it for our kids.
That's mainly why we do thingsas fathers now is leaving a
legacy so that our kids canfollow, and that's what the main
thing that I want to do forthis podcast.
Kids can follow, and that'swhat the main thing that I want
to do for this podcast, andhopefully our kids will carry on
what we're trying to accomplish.
It's already tough for men totalk, but here we are creating a

(38:46):
platform so we can shareeveryone's story, because
everyone's story is unique, justlike yours will right.

Speaker 2 (38:55):
Right, you said something about, uh, the second
chance.
Man, I'm so, I'm still on mysecond chance high.
I don't use drugs and do nostuff like that.
But when somebody tells you yougo into a room and they say,
well you, there's a good chance,80 chance, you're not coming
out, you're gonna go away, andthen when you come out of that

(39:18):
room, man, that second chance,that's.
So I'm still on that high.
I'm so grateful, like I justwant to do everything that I
thought that I thought I wantedto do and didn't follow through.
I'm going to do it now.
So I mean, I got a whole bunchof things that you know.
I have lined up things that Ididn't think all the way through

(39:39):
.
I'm just gonna do it, you know,because, um, I got a second
chance and there's no, I can'tthink of anything more high.
Uh, I don't know if that's theright word, but more um,
exhilarating than that than thanthen to have a second chance.
So I definitely understand.

(40:00):
You know, like in my offense,like you know, they were
breaking down like somebodycould have died and all of that,
and I was like, oh, my God, forreal.
And I, you know.
So other people were like when,when people bring up these sort
of opportunities notopportunities, but when people
bring up these sorts ofsituations like somebody could
have did this and somebody coulddid that I actually go through

(40:22):
that in my brain like well,somebody could have died, oh my
God, somebody died.
Oh, somebody could have felloff the building or whatever.
You know, I'm just throwingstuff out there In my mind.
It happened.
So I take myself through all ofthese things.
You know, some people call itempathy.
I empathize with everysituation or possibility that

(40:43):
could have happened and that'sjust a real roller coaster.
Like I'm too old to be goingthrough all these roller
coasters like that.
So I'm like, and by the end ofall of it it's like, oh, none of
it happened.
Oh God, I feel so relieved.
It's like none of that stuffhappened.
You know, nobody you know wasaffected by.

(41:04):
You know, besides headaches andstuff like that, I was so
relieved and that I have asecond chance that I just want
to do everything.
So now I'm going to tell mystory.
I don't care.
Like you know, I do have a lotof people like saying bad stuff,
like I wish you know you werelocked up and this, and that you
know.
So people say stuff like that.

(41:24):
But I'm used to that for eversince I got online.
If you're online, people aregoing to talk bad about you,
period.
I'm used to that.
But now it's like, really likeyou know you, you shouldn't be
here, this and that I get it.
But I'm glad nothing happenedand even more than that, I'm
really grateful for a secondchance and exactly what you said

(41:48):
.
I don't look down on people whohave a second chance.
If they got it and they'reactually using it to do
something with it, then Godbless them.
But keep doing it, don't stop.
So to me, it's just moremotivation.
The hate is more motivation.
Just thinking about a secondchance is more motivation.
So nothing's going to stop menow.

(42:09):
I'm just going to keep on going, and you're going to see more
of me just doing different stuff.

Speaker 5 (42:15):
So yeah, I'm glad you got, we got the chance to to
chop it up with you.
Um, thank you for for sharingyour journey.
I want I want to targetsomething that is important,
especially for us who areafakasi, considered afakasi, in
the either the salmon or tongan,whatever pacific Islander
community.

(42:36):
A topic that you well not atopic, but a word that you
brought up in your documentarythat you defined that I really
understood was the word plasticthat's used amongst our
Polynesian Pacific Islandercommunity.
You defined it very good inyour documentary Polynesian

(42:57):
Pacific Islander community.
You defined it very good inyour documentary and could you
define it again for ourlisteners?
And what have been yourexperience so far with that word
?
Because the word plastic?
I never heard of the wordplastic until I came to the US.
It wasn't widely used back in.
I don't know about ATI, but theword plastic never really came

(43:18):
up.
I was called all these racialslurs because I was chinese, but
the word plastic never reallycame up.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
So or I've heard plastic my whole life.
So plastic meuli, well, mainlywasn't like all like that, but
well, that's a whole nothertopic.
So plastic is a a fake.
You're fake, you're not.
You're not someone, someone,you're a plastic someone.
You are artificial.
And I think I first heard it inhigh school and it, you know it

(43:46):
, takes me aback, cause I well,man, I do more than a lot of
y'all, do you know?
So I'm plastic because I'm halfblack.
I'm plastic because I can'tspeak the language.
I'm plastic because you knowwhat, what makes you authentic,
you know so what makes meartificial?
So that is, this adds moreinsecurity.

(44:08):
So one of the things that, um,you know, when I started doing
this work is, I know, noticedthat a lot of people were being
called plastic.
That was one thing that pushedpeople away from the culture,
and I wish people wouldunderstand, like, if we could
have, we would be a muchstronger presence in the world

(44:29):
and we would have a muchstronger movement.
Everything that we do would bea much stronger movement if you
just get rid of the plasticstuff.
People want, they want to, theywant to come to the culture,
and when I say, I got hundredsand hundreds of people that have
emailed me or or what do youcall it?
Instagram or an email.
They send me messages and say Iwant to be part of the culture,

(44:52):
I want to do this, but I getcalled plastic, I get called
fake, I get called this and that.
So they have their owninsecurities.
Because the people, thegatekeepers that don't want you
know who say who's authentic andwho's not.
They drive everybody away.
Why would you do that?
You're weakening your own army.
So we're stronger together.

(45:13):
We're stronger together.
So I propose let's get rid ofthe whole plastic thing that's
it's.
It's not a, it's not productiveto our society at all, our
culture at all.
So bring these people in backto the culture.
So and I do mention this in adocumentary as well Like the
whole language movement was like, okay, if you teach these
people the language cause myinsecurity was the language

(45:34):
learn the language and then soyou can, you can send a lot of
these people the language,because my insecurity was the
language.
Learn the language and then soyou can, you can send a lot of
these people because they can'tspeak it or they know, like the
slang language.
But if you come and you canspeak on a Tusi Pai level or
like a more formal level, then,ok, does that make me a better
Samoan?
Does that make me more, lessplastic?

(45:56):
Or whatever?
It doesn't matter what you do,they're going to call you
plastic because that's how theydon't.
Let nobody put you in a box.
Just do, just do you so figureit.
If you want to learn thelanguage, whatever makes you
feel like you are closer to yourculture, do that.
People are going to call youplastic anyway, but you're not

(46:18):
going to define who I am.
And I just think if we get ridof that, we can be a much
stronger culture, strongersociety.
And I don't know, I don't thinkpeople understand.
Oh, to define it, plastic is a.
Oh, to define it plastic is ais, to me, is derogatory.

(46:38):
You're putting people down andyou're either Americanized or
maybe you're, maybe you grew upin New Zealand I don't know if
anyone here from New Zealand orAustralia or Australia anywhere.
So you just, you don't knowSamoan culture, all like that.
So they, they just kind of putyou in this culture, like, oh,

(47:00):
you're not, you're not a realSamoan.
So I think if, if the people,the gatekeepers of the culture,
if they just, well, you knowwhat.
It's not even so much on them,it's on yourself.
You are Samoan If you, if yousay you're Samoan, if your mom,
your dad is Samoan, then you'reSamoan.
If they're both, both of themare Samoan.

(47:21):
I've had even notes from peopleborn and raised in Samoan.
They're called plastic becausethey can't speak the language.
You're still Samoan.
So don't make, don't let allowsomeone else to make you feel a
certain way.
Just learn your culture, learnyour language, get up on that,
but don't let anybody define youand um, that's a insecurity

(47:44):
that that I developed on myself.
I allow people to tell me thatI was not Samoan, even though
that's all I knew.
That's how okay If, if that'sall okay, if that's all I know,
and you're telling me I'm notSamoan, dang well, what am I?
You know?
So I allowed somebody else tomake me in that headspace.

(48:06):
That's a crazy thing to do.
Don't let nobody make you feellike that.
And if I showed you, I couldjust lines and lines of notes of
people that just told me.
That same thing is my samestory over and over and over.
So what I wanted to do, mymotivation to teach the language
was to um, to make people feellike you are who you are.

(48:30):
If, uh, the language helps youbring you closer to the culture,
then learn your language.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
Whatever you need to do, just just do that and um,
yeah, don't let anybody put youin a plastic box I don't, I
don't want to get philosophicalhere, but, um, a lot of the
issues that I feel that stemsfrom.
You know, all this animositygoing on in our own culture, in

(48:56):
our own Samoan is because, youknow, if you really think about
it, going back into our history,right, samoans are even the
Hawaiians, even the Tungans were, it's uh, we're a class society
, meaning that in our in growing, you know, back in the day,
there used to be just workers.
You know these, farm the land,and then in the middle you got

(49:17):
the, you know the, you knowinside the house, and then you
have in our, in our culture, wehave the, the matai system.
So you have the high classmatais, you know the li'i, the
chiefs, the kulafales, and thenyou have the working class and
then even in our culture, if youreally think about it, there's
two, there's two types ofdistinct languages.
You have the regular samoanspeaking language and then you

(49:39):
have the Matai speaking language.
So that's when you hear, youknow, during ceremonies and fall
of love is a lot of theseMatais.
They're speaking almost a wholenother language.
That's actually parables.
You know words that that I feeltoday are are being gate, uh,
are being gatekeeping, uh, orgate kept.

(50:01):
You know, because you knowthere's only a certain class
that, hey, they, they want to beknown for.
You know, we, our family, wespeak, uh, the matai language.
Oh, like, even even in ourtattoo, you know, to tell
there's only specific familiesin in samoa.
That only does the top, youknow, and they don't want to
share their, you know their artbecause, hey, nowadays if we

(50:21):
share our, then you know we'renot gonna.
You know, everything is kind oflike money nowadays, but back
in the day that's how it was.
You know classism.
You know you got the specific,the people that went to do
fishing and all that stuff.
So, coming here, a lot of ourfamilies, like back in the day
when they traveled, know,because we're also known as the
Navigator Islands.
You know, when they initiallycame to the States, they wanted

(50:43):
a better life for their kids.
So, ie, they never wanted theirkids to speak the language,
they wanted them to learn thewhole new language of English.
You know, because to them,learning like learning, you know
, samoan for them going.
You know, I'm just, I'm justthinking this.
You know, in a general sense oflike, how our peoples came to
the, to the States and you know,even to New Zealand, they

(51:15):
wanted to incorporate thatculture because to them, you
know, living in Samoan, you, you, in Samoa, you know, we were
living in the poverty line, youknow, like below the poverty.
And so then they thought, oh,you know, you know, we were
farmers, we're fishermen, andyou know, this is all we know.
So when we came to the States,we want something, a life better
for our kids.
So, ie, they wanted them tojust, you know, move away from
the Samoan way, because this ishow we live back home.
And so we want something betterfor our kids.
But now, you know, they didn'tgive that decision to the kids.

(51:37):
You know now, like you know,our cult, you know, like you
know we're, we're, we're aproduct of that.
You know, our, our, our, ourparents came to the States.
They didn't want us to do this,but they didn't give us that
decision.
They, to me, I feel like it, it, it, it should have been, you
know, taught anyhow, you know,instead of just like, hey, you

(51:58):
know, learn English, you know,don't speak Samoan in the house.
And I feel like, because a lotof my cousins that lived in Cali
, a lot of them don't even they,you know they're, they don't
even know how to speak Samoan,you know, and to me I don't, I
don't feel like, uh, that that'snot their fault, but at the end
of the day, I don't want toblame the parents too, because
they had, you know, a picture intheir mind where, hey, I want
something better for my kids.

(52:19):
I don't want them to go throughthe things, the same things,
that we grew up in Samoa back inthe early 70s, you know, 80s or
even going back way further,60s.
So you know, but today, nowthat we've grown up, we see this
and that's kind of like adetriment in our, our part now,
because you know, now the kids,hey, we want to learn the

(52:39):
language, we want to beincorporated in our, in our
culture, because that'simportant for for establishing
identity, right.
So you know, and identity isvery important, because without
identity, man, you don't evenknow who you are.
You know, like.
So, when, when you mentioned,uh, the dad, epinas, epinas' dad
, doing that to him, that'sgenuine, that he's doing you

(53:00):
know exactly what our culture is, even though, if you don't know
how to speak our language, youknow.
You, showing love is whatSamoan is all about Love to me,
at the end of the day, samoanpeople are one of the most alofa
.
You know we use alofa as veryimportant in our culture.
Like no matter what language,if you don't even know how to

(53:21):
speak the language, you knowthat love is always key in our
foundation as Samoan.
So what do we do?
What do we do as kids?
You know that there areAfakasis and you know kids that
are born and raised here in theStates.
Our option, your own decision ifyou want to dive into it and
learn the language.
And I think that's where, kindof like, the issue is.

(53:41):
There's not a lot ofuniversities aside from hawaii
university of hawaii thatteaches samoan like there's
different levels of samoan thatyou could actually go there and
you'll learn the culture and youknow.
But at the end of the day, Ithink it comes down to each
individual.
If you want to learn thelanguage, you have to do it.
You have to do it becausenobody else is going to teach

(54:02):
you.
You know adding on to whatyou're saying will.
So you know the the the mainimportant thing is just
understanding that you know ourhistory and knowing that you

(54:24):
know at the end of the day, youbecome who you want to be, but
you have the decisions that thatyou want to make.
If you want to learn samoy, andif you're a fakasi, learn both
sides, you know, uh, that's whyI, I love Terran because he's
embracing both of his sides, andI love your, your, you two as
well, you guys are all embraced.
I'm, I'm from, uh, uh, you knowI'm, I'm straight up full

(54:47):
Samoan.
Both my, my parents are Samoan,but I, I would say this, you
know, I would say that you guysare more culture than me, and
the reason why is because youguys have both.
You, you know both sides of thespectrum.
You know you're more culture.
You have the Me'uli or theblack side.
I don't want to say Me'ulibecause you know kind of
offensive to.
You know the woke folks, but youknow that Afakasi side, you

(55:07):
know you guys have that.
You know more culture, in a way, because there's two sides.
For me, I'm only, there's onlyone side.
You know I only got the samoanside, you know I, you know so.
You know, at the end of the day, I agree, brother, become who
you want to be, do it with love,though, you know, do it with
love, you know so, and that's,that's key well.

Speaker 2 (55:28):
To me there's nothing wrong with even just the samoa
side.
But it's like the thing is like, and you brought up our parents
so when they they came here somy mom, first generation to
America, you know.
So it's like she didn't want toreally push it off.
Or it's better just not tospeak Samoan period, because in

(55:51):
their mind it's a better life ifyou know English and you know
this English ways.
But then, like you said, theback side of that is well, the
kid wanted to know someone.
The kid now, the kid's insecure.
Now the kid don't know none ofthat stuff.
But their intentions were good,their intentions were to to
have so for you can have abetter life over here.

(56:12):
But you know, we're saying wewant to know.
You know we're in our 30s andour 40s and we're trying to
figure out how to be Samoan.
We don't know the culture, wedon't know this, and that we
don't know the language.
This is what we want.
So I think, just moving forward, if you are Samoan and you know
these things, pass them on toyour kids.

(56:33):
Pass the language, language on.
When they come home, just speakSamoan, you know.
When they do, do you know, takethem to some more cultural
things.
If you're not around that kindof stuff, you know, you can
still share what you know.
That way they don't have to goon the Internet and learn this
and learn that People complainabout the stuff that I teach.
And it's like when you'reteaching to an entire diaspora

(56:57):
and you have differentgenerations, you have different
locations, people are going tocomplain.
They do it all the time and I'mlike, well, what am I supposed
to do?
So you know, there's words thatthe younger generations don't
use, that the older generationsuse.
It don't matter what I say,people say, oh, that's not,
that's not right, that's, oh,that's, that's incorrect.
Well, my mom told me that shetold you gonna tell her she

(57:20):
don't know what she's talkingabout.
And and my uncles, everybodysay this with this word, but you
, you don't know the word, soyou might have got c's and d's.
What am I supposed?
You know, I'm supposed tolisten to you so, but there's a
generational difference, there'sregional differences.
I don't understand a lot ofwhat people in australia and or
australia, new zealand, whenthey the, the way they speak,

(57:41):
the words they use, sometimes itit throws me off.
So when you try to, when you,when you make one lesson for
everybody in the world, peoplewill say, oh, that's not right,
that's not Well.
So I make myself just kind ofstandard, based on textbooks
that are.
You know, that everybody cansee.

(58:02):
So I'm not making this stuff up.
You call me plastic, okay, well, I'm telling you this came from
this source right here.
If you don't believe what I say, you go go there and then you
can see.
That's where it came from.
But that's kind of why I'mgoing off into something else.
But that's kind of why I didlike a sentence structure sort
of thing, as opposed to like, ok, just say this and just say

(58:23):
that and just memorize this andmemorize that.
If you know the sentencestructure of it, that to me that
was kind of more universal.
But you know, I get a lot oflike I said.
I get a lot of correspondencefrom people all over the world
Samoans all over the world andthey'll say you know, this word
ain't right or that word ain'tright.
One thing nobody reallydisputes is this is the way that

(58:45):
we put our sentences together.
So that's kind of how I stickto the teaching.
But you know, they'll useexpressions in New Zealand that
they don't use over here.
They'll say things in Australiathat we don't use over here,
but I went all the way off ofwhat you were talking about.

(59:07):
But, yeah, we have a verydiverse community within our
worldwide diaspora, and so wehave things like classism, like
you talked about, communitywithin our diet or worldwide
diaspora and um, so we, we havethings like classism, like
you've talked about.
We have um colorism in our, inour community.
We have everything thatminority communities have around

(59:29):
the world.
We have it here, which is areason why I kind of backed off
of a lot of of public speakingabout different things related
to our community.
Because if you, if we, don'teven understand it here and then
we try, then here I am tryingto speak it out and trying to
say it on Tik, tok or somethinglike that.
Well, everybody, noweverybody's, oh, some ones are

(59:52):
all they don't understand thisor they're racist or that, that.
Well, they don't.
We don't understand this orthey're racist or that, that,
well, they don't.
We don't understand a lot ofstuff in our own community.
So for me to be talking aboutit over here, man, my bad I'm,
I'm like I'm jumping all overthe place, but uh that's a whole
other topic.
Let me, I'll stop right there onthat.

Speaker 4 (01:00:13):
Like I said, I don't want to get too philosophical
here, because we could go allday, man.

Speaker 5 (01:00:19):
But you hit it right on the head, man.
I was thinking of the wordplastic and I just remember the
word that was widely used inAmerican Samoa was palangitoy or
palangitoy, so that was a wordthat was mostly used.
So that was a word that wasmostly used.
It made no sense, even thoughwe weren't Palangi, for the

(01:00:41):
Afghans to be called Palangitoy,or those who were born in the
American Samoa went to the USfor a little bit, came back.
Now they know how to speakEnglish, they get paid, they get
told they're Palangitoy.
Told their palangitoy.
So any minor fluctuations fromwhat someone thought a Samoan

(01:01:02):
was.
You know, we were calledpalangitoy, so that was a word
that came to my thought.

Speaker 2 (01:01:09):
That's equivalent to plastic.
Huh yeah, Palangitoy.

Speaker 1 (01:01:15):
I know plastic's widely used over there in New
Zealand and Australia butluckily my cousins never threw
that my way whenever we go visiton that side of the world.
But I mean, even if I heard it,I'm like that and you know

(01:01:37):
there's clowning roastingsessions all day long,
especially since I didn't wearbrand name clothes.
So whenever I don't know,people try to be mean.
It's like man.
All right, let's say there's ayoung Samoan kid or an adult,
any type of Samoan never raisedin the culture and they want to

(01:01:59):
take that first step to learningthe language.
Are there any resources thatyou know of Will that they could
access or look at to beginlearning sentence structure or
some of the foundations of thelanguage?

Speaker 2 (01:02:13):
Yeah, I mean there's a lot of people online now.
When I first started therewasn't any, because initially,
when I came to do all of thisstuff, I just wanted to be a
student, I wanted to figure outand I didn't.
I didn't see anybody.
So I made, you know, a workbook.
So if you look at, like MatoM-A-T-O-U, samon Soan, so like I

(01:02:35):
got a workbook and then I madelike flashcards and stuff like
that and I have also a class.
I don't know when I'm going todo the next class, but it's a
Zoom class, it's like an eightweek course.
So I did that.
But then over the years Istarted seeing other people do
stuff.
There's like Samoan Made Easy.
There's Say it in Samoan, likeif you there's others and

(01:03:04):
they're easily defined.
Now you can find them easily.
There's a kid, someone resourceon YouTube.
So I mean there's a few onthere and I always try to point
them that way.
But the first thing I would say,like if you would learn
sentence structure and then, asyou're learning the sentence

(01:03:26):
structure, like maybe learn justthe basic words, learn like
maybe 20 nouns, like you knowpeople places things like wall
house, dad, slap.
You know, fit out, you knowfight, stuff like that, and then

(01:03:49):
learn like you know.
And then when you learn thesentence structure, it puts
everything together.
So to me, that is how I wasable to put all of these words,
like I knew the words growing up, but I didn't know like when it
would.
So I'm goingoa started speakingreal fast.
I was like, okay, okay, I'm alittle lost now.
And then not only that, they'respeaking in abbreviated form or

(01:04:12):
they're speaking in slang, soit's almost like you know.
I teach it the formal way.
So, like I said, you can lookit up yourself.
And then also too, when I wasgrowing up, they say just read
the Tusi Pai'i or read the Bible, you'll get it.
I never got it.
I did it, you know, my wholelife and I couldn't get it.
But if you learn the sentencestructure of it, you can look at

(01:04:35):
the Tusi Pai'i and then breakit down.
Even if you don't know thewords, you can break it down,
break down the sentencestructure of it, break down the
sentence structure of it.
And then, if you don't know aword, just go look the word up.
And then from there you justpractice every day and the next
thing you know, instead of okay,I broke the sentence down.
I don't know this word, don'tknow that word.

(01:04:56):
Then you look the word up Nowyou got it.
So now, instead of stopping andgoing, you're going through
pages and pages of the Bible andit's like it's easy now.
And next thing, you knoweverything, you're fluent, but
then, like someone said before,when you get to the slang it's

(01:05:16):
almost like a different language.
So you know the higher level ofSamoan, but then you get into
the conversation it's like, oh,what are they talking about?
Because everything isabbreviated.
Then they got slang words, soit's almost like a whole other
language within the language.
So to me, the easiest thingjust learn it the harder way and

(01:05:40):
then when you get around peoplewho are speaking, going back
and forth between English andSamoan, to me that's a whole lot
easier.
If you know, just learn it thatway, the higher way, and then
you know, get the slang andeverything after that.
So that's just my method.
Everybody doesn't agree withthat.

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
I just want to, and I think I kind of, I kind of
mentioned it before.
But when you're saying higherlevel Samoan, I just want to
break it down to listeners andthis is my opinion.
I don't claim to be a languageexpert, but I know of Samoan
language enough to know thatthere's two levels of Samoan the

(01:06:18):
Matai level language and thenyour regular language.
And when you mean your regularlanguage, you're adding all your
sl in there, everything thatyou know.
You could even throw pigeon inthere.
But when you're talking abouthigher level, where you're
specifically talking about thematai language, when we're, you
know our orators, when they'respeaking publicly, and you know
your matais, your chiefs, yourhigh chiefs.

(01:06:40):
That's the language they'reusing.
It's it's not a language, it'sSamoan, but what they're
utilizing they're utilizingparables that we've learned from
our history.
And when I mean parables, Imean like little mwaka'u or
muanganganga or alanga'upu,muanganganga, alanga'upu.
It just means a phrase oflanguages that were derived from

(01:07:06):
our observation in nature.
So they use that in their talksor when they're speaking
publicly.
And what's so funny about it?
It's so eloquent, it's sobeautiful that you really have

(01:07:27):
to really think about nature tocome up with stuff like that.
You know especially that thematai level language and I'm I'm
kind of sort of like, kind ofimmerse myself in that, because
as we come to our father's age30, 40s you, we are now becoming
the leaders of in our ownfamilies, and now we're going to
be responsible for, you know,the, the family, and then the

(01:07:49):
matai titles are going to bebrought down to us, and now
we're going to you know we'renow we got to represent our
families and in back in samoa,even till today, you know,
speaking that level it's.
You know a lot of you.
You're not going to get paidwell for it too, because you
know I don't know if you'reseeing the foul lovers.
You know a lot of you.
You're not going to get paidwell for it too, because you
know I don't know if you'reseeing the foul lovers.
You know those guys with thecocos and then you see, hey, hey

(01:08:12):
, uh, you know, you're, you know, so you know, uh, that's what
I'm saying, you know.
But, um, and I'm not thinkingabout that saying, I'm just
thinking in a sense of, like,you know, that's that's where I
strive to, to try to get mylevel of expertise in our
language.
So, you know learning, you knowreading the Bible, you know all
the stuff that you mentionedare key to having a foundation.

(01:08:35):
But once you get thatfoundation and you say that's
okay for you, that's fine.
But now, when you want to takeit to that next level, uh, you,
you get a kusi called afalupenga, and falupenga means,
uh, you know, your, your, yourvillage's, uh structure of how
it was, it was formed and hasall those big names in there.

(01:08:57):
And then that's where thefoundation of a speech in in
Samoan culture is.
You know the falupenga, andthen from there you build on on
how to do a launga or you know,speech, and so that's where I'm
kind of like, you know, kind ofmoving towards, but I'm not
there yet, I'm just a few pocoguy on the you know, behind the
level level here.
But hey, thank you.

Speaker 5 (01:09:16):
So appreciate it, man yeah, yeah, one way that is
overlooked and I even overlookthis, the way of learning Samoan
is simply those who are closeto you your, your dad, your mom,
your, your cousins.
Because we, we overlook this,because there's a difficulty in

(01:09:37):
communication.
This reminds me of a story fromthe Uso Uptown Suite, when he
said he wanted to learn Samoan.
So after work, every day hewent over to his dad's place and
he took down notes while hisdad taught him Samoan.
So that's one way of learning alanguage is from the people who

(01:10:00):
are close to you.
It's difficult because you kindof need that collaboration and
commitment between both parties,but that's another way to learn
the language.

Speaker 2 (01:10:17):
Right, and this is what I always tell the people in
my classes.
I'm going to show you just thebasic sentence structure.
The best way to learn andpractice your Samoan is the
people around you every singleday, because the way that we're
talking about it in here or youknow in class may not be exactly

(01:10:38):
how the people around you speak.
They're incorporating English.
You know because they don'tknow the words you know, so
they'll go back and forthEnglish you know because they
don't know the words you know,so they'll go back and forth.
Ultimately, the goal is to beable to communicate in Samoan
with the people that are aroundyou, period.

(01:10:59):
So I and when we're talkingabout an entire diaspora I can't
do that.
I don't know how to make aclass for every single place in
the world, so I'm going to giveyou the basics for every single
place in the world.
So I'm going to give you thebasics.
Take this you have to practiceit, otherwise I took four years
of Spanish.
I don't know much of anythingbecause I didn't practice it,

(01:11:19):
and I always tell them when youleave here today, every single
day, every Tuesday, thursday andSunday tutoring you leave here,
go practice with the peoplethat are around you.
But again, like you said,michael, you have to have that
commitment from the other people, because for them it's just
easier to speak in the languagethat you already know, which is
English.
I'm trying to speak Samoan,though, so speak to me back in

(01:11:42):
Samoan the way that you speak itevery day.
So, again, my ultimate goal isto be able to talk to you and
mom and uncle and auntie and thepeople around me, period.
It doesn't matter what Ilearned.
I mean, it does matter what Ilearned in class, but ultimately
I want to be able to adapt thefoundation of what I learned to

(01:12:03):
what you guys are speaking.
So that's, I'm glad you broughtthat up.

Speaker 4 (01:12:07):
You know what's so funny is, you know, and, uh, you
know Mike brought that up.
You know so funny is, you know,when you, we have a lot of
gatekeepers within our own.
You know that's, that's a sadtruth.
There's a lot of gatekeepers,you know, and, um, you know, in
my situation, you know my, bothmy parents are Samoan, my dad he
doesn't.
He had a big surgery back inthe day and you know I told this

(01:12:31):
on our podcast about whathappened and he has a sort of a
speech problem.
So for me, I'm trying to learnthe higher level Samoan.
I can't really rely on my, mydad or my mom.
You know, because you knowthere it's just.
You know I have to seek otheravenues.
You know I have to go like, forexample, get the you know that

(01:12:54):
kusita falupenga or have to buy,or you know, or even like to me
.
My mindset now is like, hey, Idon't want to just learn from
anybody else, I actually want togo to university, you know,
like, for example, university ofHawaii.
They have a really good Samoanprogram and you know which I
looked at and you know it's justbut immediately just touching
to you know your folks that youknow, speak the regular language

(01:13:16):
you know, and just you know,just kind of like feeding back,
going back and forth and kind oflearn, you know that's one of
the perfect, perfect levels.
But when you have you know thatthat's one of the the perfect,
perfect levels.
But when you have, you know,situations like in, like that,
where, hey, you try to reach outto somebody and they're like,
oh no, you know, uh, just stick,stick to what you know.
You know, kind of likegatekeeping type of thing.
It's really hard, you know.

(01:13:36):
So now you know, now you know,like what you mentioned before,
there's a lot of other.
You know we're using technologynow to our advantage and I, I
just, you know, want to put thatout there.
Don't get dismayed or, you know, feel bad that, hey, you know
your immediate people are nottrying to help you.
Just reach out.
I'm just, you know, talking onbasis.
You know, on our listeners, hey, don't feel discouraged once

(01:13:59):
you reach out to your, you know,your cousin or your mom or's
all other, you know there's tonsof other avenues for you to.
You know, keep on learning.
So, you know, going forward,you know that's, that's what we
got to do yeah, and also too, isit is is hard to.

Speaker 2 (01:14:14):
it's easy to speak you know or do what you know.
So if you know someone, it'seasy to just speak someone, but
then it's like to teach someoneis a whole different thing.
So so not only and everybody'sdifferent, so you have to like
communicate in a way where theyunderstand it.
That takes patience and a lotof times we just speak English

(01:14:34):
because that's I just want to goto the store.
Why are you, you know?
So then they just speak English.
So it takes patience and a lotof people don't have that.
So they just they make iteasier for themselves and that's
just human nature.
You want to make things thatare easy for yourself.
And if I already know English,you know English, you're trying
to learn someone, but it's hardfor me to.

(01:14:56):
You know, I don't have thepatience for you to figure this
thing out, so let's just speakEnglish.
That's been my experience.
Like most people just take thatroute and that's why a lot of us
, you know, don't learn thelanguage.
And, um, if we can just say,wow, you know, take, just take a
step back and say there's abigger, there's a bigger, uh
goal here, and this this personreally wants to to, to learn my

(01:15:20):
culture or our culture.
You know they, they want totake part in this.
That's really big if you thinkabout it.
So that's enough to invest inthat person, to give them that
time.
But we're just so in a rush.
You know every single day thatwe don't want to just say a few
words and teach them thelanguage.

(01:15:41):
But I think if just take a fewmoments to teach your kids, or
teach, uh, you know, your friendSamoan or whoever there's a lot
of people in the class now.
They don't, they don't have noties to someone, or some people
want to get a Samoan man, or,you know, they just they're
around Samoans, they just joinedthe class because they want to
learn Samoan or whatever.
So, um, whatever, I appreciateit, it just people, just they

(01:16:06):
just want to, they want to knowthe language.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
so take the time, show them all right, one quick
life lesson I want to highlightfrom the documentary which you
can find on what was it?
Toto, lua, toto lua, okay, yept-o-T-O-L-U-Acom.
You can purchase it there for$4.99 and it's very well put

(01:16:32):
together.
I didn't know what I wasexpecting when purchasing it or
even seeing the trailer, butwatching I was very impressed on
on how well your storytellingand everything was put together
greatly.
But one quick life lesson Iwant to highlight from there is
be kind.
Be kind to everybody you meet,because you never know when

(01:16:54):
they're going to be a key partto your criminal defense team.

Speaker 2 (01:16:59):
Man, hey, that, not only that, I think some people
and I don't want to say well,I'm just, uh, one of those
people like the angels camearound.
I really feel like that.
Like so I, before going inthere, so my mom, so I'm on, she
, all the time she calls me upand she'd be like is something
wrong?

(01:17:19):
She knows, she already knows,she don't know the specifics,
but she always has these dreamsand she said well, you know,
your grand, you know grandfather, called me in my dream and he
said this.
And he said that she didn't sayanything last week.
Now any other time she calledme up and she warns me.
Last week she didn't sayanything and I was like, ok, I'm

(01:17:40):
good, because otherwise she'smy earth angel between her and
other other people, becauseotherwise she's my earth angel
between her and other people.
Like you know I don't think Imentioned it in the documentary,
but you guys know El Chapo.
Yeah, so the prosecutor was mydefense attorney, my frat

(01:18:05):
brother.
He's like one of the topprosecutors in the nation.
I didn't grow up with him butlike I met him in college and he
put everything together.
So I mean how.
I still can't believe it when Ithink about.
You know all of the stuff, thatkind of put it.
You know, if it weren't forthem, I'd be gone, like you
wouldn't see me for a long time,because initially they were

(01:18:27):
talking 20 years and I don'tknow.
Of course they were trying toscare me because a lot of people
I think they got anywherebetween three and eight I got
probation because these guysjust knew their stuff.
I mean, the law doesn't reallywork for people that don't know
or don't have these kind ofresources.
I didn't have these resources.
The only reason I got them Ican only attribute to to God and

(01:18:50):
just you know things that justhappened for me.
There was nothing that I wentout and did myself.
Things just kind of fell intoplace.
And, um, if last week I wasn'tso much of a you know I'm not, I
don't go to church and thingslike that anymore but like, um,
you know I, I just believe in ahigher power, and things fall
into place for you If you justput things, put things good out

(01:19:15):
into the universe, kind of likewhat you were saying, and things
just come back.
So that's what I want to doright now.
So someone like today, I woke upand someone called me a snitch
you give snitch vibes orsomething.
So I made a video about thatand it's not to me, it's not
even about that.
Nobody knew about mydocumentary, like it wasn't

(01:19:36):
something that the governmentknew or anything like that.
I feel obligated to to put thatback.
I should be gone right now If Iwas any other, anybody, anybody
else I would be gone.
But these things that wereextraordinary were in my favor.
There's I.
I had no, no hand in that.

(01:19:56):
I take no credit for none ofthat.
So I say that I give all gloryto god that stuff happened for
me.
Glory to God that stuffhappened for me.
I didn't do anything to deservethat.
So I got to put that energy backout there.
So if that means dismantlingthis whole industry that I was
involved in, I'll do it,whatever, whatever.

(01:20:18):
So every day I wake up I saywhat do I need to do now?
And you know I don't put a nameon God or no time or history.
I don't put no color on God,nothing.
I just it's a spirit.
So I just I want to move withthe spirit.
So that's what I do everysingle, every single day now,
don't care what nobody say, I'mgoing to do me, and that's what

(01:20:41):
it is.
I'm going to teach language,I'm going to bring down this
industry, whatever.
Whatever it is I got to do,that's what I'm moving with that
, and every day in the morning Ifigure out the next step.
So seven hours from now, I'mgoing to find out what I'm going
to do tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:20:58):
I'm going to do it.
Yeah, it's such a blessingbecause I've studied criminal
justice and what I've learned isa lot of cases a high
percentage, probably around the90s enter a plea bargain,
especially within the minoritycommunities.
And I'm glad that you weren'tsuckered into entering a plea

(01:21:24):
bargain, because that's usuallyhow most cases, especially here
in the US, end that way, becausea lot of our people don't know
much about law and the criminaljustice system.
It's basically I wouldn't sayaltered or kind of moved or
what's the word manipulated towhere a lot of these lawyers and

(01:21:49):
attorneys.
They want a quick and efficientway of handling cases, because
a lot, thousands of cases gointo the to the court system and
they're trying to like pushthem out quick.

Speaker 2 (01:22:01):
so I'm glad that you were fortunate enough to come
out on the good end of things,especially with your situation,
right right and so and anotherthing about, like mine, a lot of
people did just go intoprobation so but they were
trying to make an example out ofme for whatever reason, but

(01:22:23):
it's.
I found out that this stuff isalso political too, because the
prosecutor maybe they want to bea politician one day or they
want to do this, so it's abouttheir record and like I mean,
she was really, she was reallygoing in.
I'm like, oh man, if, if Ididn't, if I had like a public
defender or something like thatgone, I'd be, would not be here

(01:22:44):
right now.
And um, so after I told mystory, there was, so I had some
samoa people.
Um, a whole lot of people weresending me notes like, can you
help me do this and get and dothat?
And all I could tell him was,like I don't even know how I got
this stuff.
You know, these are just peoplethat I just so happened to meet
because you know, uh, like twas saying, like you know, I was

(01:23:06):
cool with this guy and he justthings just kind of worked
themselves out.
You know, from that it hadnothing to do with me, so I
can't get you, you know, a halfmillion dollar lawyer,
representation or not, like that, the the system is not really
fair like that.
Only because you got all, justlike you said, all these people
are coming through and they wantto handle things really fast.

(01:23:29):
The people are taking pleas that, um, that are unfair, but
they're you know.
Someone tells them that, okay,well, if you don't take this
plea, you're gonna get 20 yearsinstead of one, you know.
So, just just take the plea,take one year, well.
And they're trying to tell them, well, well, I'm innocent, I
didn't do this.
Well, the public defender don'treally feel like defending you,

(01:23:50):
you know.
So, because there's a lot ofwork that they that they need to
do went in and said, okay, well, he said he's guilty, we want
to be.
Give him what's fair accordingto the law.
So if I were to go into thatsituation with a public defender

(01:24:12):
, they would have just gave mewhatever and say, okay, yeah,
you know, but yeah, I believemine was an extraordinary,
extraordinary case, only becauseof my representation.
Everybody don't have it likethat, unfortunately.

Speaker 4 (01:24:31):
I just want to make a quick comment.
You mentioned man.
I think we are kind of like ablessed people.
That's our motto.
It means God.
First, I was just going to say,man, I don't know.
Man, Like you mentioned, likeyour mom, you know, saying that
she had a dream, and I'm justsaying like, are we going to

(01:24:53):
have that?
You know, like that type ofstuff, Because my mom, you know
so, back in the day, right, Iused to live in Cali, and from
95 to 2000.
And I was going through somerough patches, you know, after
my grandfather passed away, andyou know I was about to get into
the streets back in Cali, man,but when my parents came down
for the funeral, my grandpa'sfuneral, and they left to go to

(01:25:15):
Samoa, I initially thought theywere going to take me with them,
but they left me there, right?
So, long story short, my dadhad a dream, and the dream was
that I had a hole in my back andso he mentioned that to my mom.
And then the next week my dadflew up to Cali and then he

(01:25:37):
grabbed me and then brought medown.
But I'm just saying, man, isthis something that we're going
to get into?
We're going to have stuff likethat happen to us.
We're going to have dreamswhere our kids are like, hey,
something's going to happen toyou.
You got to do this Because youmentioned to your mom and I'm
thinking about my dad and how hehad that dream.
It's just kind of like thatforesight type thing which is

(01:25:58):
interesting, man, man, that'scrazy.

Speaker 2 (01:26:01):
I think we all have different gifts.
Yeah, man, I have the dreamstoo.
I haven't talked about them yet.
When you start speaking aboutthese things to people, you're
crazy.
But no, I see things about justrandom people and I'll call them
up out the blue and I'll justtell them.
Sometimes I don't say anythingat all, I'll just say how are
you doing and they're thinking Iwant something from like.

(01:26:22):
Sometimes I don't say anythingat all, I'll just say you know
how you doing and they're likethinking I want something from
them and I don't.
It's just, I saw something andthen I just want to make sure
you're good and everything.
That's happened several timesand for real for me.
The closer, the more pure inheart that I am.
So like, if I'm all aboutmyself and I'm just thinking

(01:26:47):
about every day grind and all ofthat.
I don't really have them kind ofdreams, but when, every day,
just in my mind, if I'm all youknow thinking about you know how
is this person if I put otherpeople first, that's when I get
that gift to me.
You know it's a gift and nowI'm able to see more clearly
about it could be one of you.
And if I hit you up, you know Imight not say anything.

(01:27:08):
I just be like man.
You good and you're like man,what's the dude want?
You're like that's kind ofweird, what's wrong with this
guy?
But no, I just want to makesure you're OK and then maybe
give you a word of encouragement.
That happens where it used tohappen a whole lot.
It just depends, like I've beenstressed lately.

(01:27:34):
So in these kind of situationsI don't, you know, don't really
have it like that, but now Ifeel like that gift is gonna
come and it's like clockwork,and when I start putting other
people first and not thinkingabout myself we're not thinking
about my situation I just it's agift and it comes and just like
my mom, that those dreams andyou know, like your people too,
like that it could be dreams, itcould be, I don't know, it
could be a whole bunch of stuff,but that's, um, that's my
particular.
I, like I said, I haven'ttalked about it much, but that

(01:27:55):
it's a real thing, it's a.
You know, what we see is notall real.
It's like sometimes that extradimension, like that's where I
want to get to.
I want to be able to see thatall the time and I I backed away
from that, that gift, for awhile, because sometimes you see
stuff and like man I didn't, Ididn't want to see that.
I don't, because now I feelresponsible if I don't tell you

(01:28:19):
and um, and a few times I'm likeyou know god, I don't, I don't
want to, I don't want thosegifts?
I don't want that, whatever itis, don't show me these things
no more, cause now I feelobligated to say something that
people think I'm crazy.
So now you know it's like adouble whammy you think I'm
crazy and I gotta be burdenedwith your, with your problems.

(01:28:39):
You know what I mean.
So, but I'm at the point nowwhere I just I want it all and
it's not money to have nothingto do with money or anything.
I just want to be able to tooperate in, uh, in a place where
I'm helping, helping people,you know.

Speaker 1 (01:28:55):
So Revelation very powerful.
We're running low on time here,so we in closing, or at least
the closing question what do you, what are your hopes, hopes and
goals for yourself down thefuture and also for your family,
for your wife and children.
What do you hope to see?
And that's pretty muchstraightforward.

Speaker 2 (01:29:18):
I think my hopes you know, kind of like what I was
just saying.
I just want to go with the flow.
I want to be obedient to youknow what I'm told in the spirit
, you know, whatever it is, Ijust want to do that and you
know, for my family, I hopeprosperity and and good health
for everybody, for all of youbrothers right here, I want

(01:29:39):
great things for everybody.
You know the Samoan community,the people that I talk to on a
regular, like I want them.
I just want great things foreverybody and I want to play my
part.
The best way that I can, andonly way that I can, do that, is
just to be in tune whatever thespirit tells me to do.
That's what I want to do.
So yeah it, I want it to beless about you know just all the

(01:30:01):
extracurricular.
I just it to be less about youknow just all the
extracurricular.
I just want to be in tune withwhat I'm supposed to do for
everyone.
So that's it.

Speaker 1 (01:30:14):
Right on.
Thank you, Michael.
Did you have anything?

Speaker 5 (01:30:18):
Oh, this will be our last question, so it's a nice
field of last questions, but welike to to ask our question
Cause here in beyond, love lover, we like to learn and and and
listen also.
But do you have any questionsfor us?

Speaker 2 (01:30:37):
Um, man, I didn't think about that.
Well, I think you guys aredoing a great thing.
I think that, um, you know,just continue, just be
consistent in what you guys aredoing a great thing.
I think that you know, justcontinue, just be consistent in
what you guys are doing and whatyou are Like.
I see you guys, you know younever slacked off.
So I don't have any questions,I just have admirations and just

(01:30:58):
like, not even words ofencouragement, because you're
already doing the things thatyou're supposed to do.
Yeah, I don't, I don't have anyquestions, for real.

Speaker 5 (01:31:07):
Yeah, and I really appreciate you coming on board
and chopping it up with us.
I really feel moreunderstanding of you now, mainly
because I've seen you on socialmedia, and what I've seen is a
totally different vibe from oursession today.

(01:31:27):
What I see on social media isthat you're stern and completely
I wouldn't say a differentperson, just a different kind of
like a persona.
But what I see when I talk toyou is more authentic in the way
that now I got to know you, nowI admire what you do on social

(01:31:48):
media.
So that's what what I'm tryingto say.

Speaker 2 (01:31:51):
So thank you very much yeah, well, social, like I
say, um, well, I said in adocumentary, I, it's really hard
for me to, um, you know, torecord myself and to talk to a
camera, you know, know, bymyself, and then to know that
everything you say is going tobe scrutinized, every every
little word, somebody's gotsomething to say about it.

(01:32:14):
And sometimes in the middle ofwhat I'm talking about, even
even tonight, I lose my train ofthought, is because I'm
thinking about okay, don't go,don't go off rail, you go off
the rails, don't say this, don'tsay that.
And then so I lose my train ofthought.
So I try to when I'm on camera,you know, and I post something

(01:32:38):
that's very, it's not scripted,but it's like if I said
something bad, I cut it out andthen, you know, go back and do
it again.
So it's really like, oh, whoa,whoa.
But you know, this is a naturalconversation, you know.
So this, this, this is morereal than as opposed to online,
but I mean, it's still me, butit's like a more calculated
version of myself as opposed tojust regular conversation where

(01:33:01):
I don't feel as, uh, judged orwhatever it is that makes me
feel like, okay, stop record,stop.
You know that sort of thing.
I like this format much better.

Speaker 4 (01:33:12):
Well, I don't have much to say, will?
All I want to say is man,continue to be blessed.
Spirit on you, you know, andall your future endeavors,
everything that you're doing,and this goes with all of us,
you know there's spirits outthere that bring us down, but as
long as we walk within thelight and stay within the light

(01:33:33):
and, you know, bring prosper andjoy to everybody that we meet.
And that's what I like to do toyou know, to anybody that I
meet, you know I just, you know,just give them, you know,
strength blessing.
You know I don't have that, youknow, just give them, you know,
strength blessing.
You know I don't have that, butfrom the spirit above God, you
know, continue to put his handson you and you know everything

(01:33:54):
that you're doing going forward.
Brother, thank you for takingout your time out of your day,
your busy schedule, to you know,come up on here and chop it up
with us and sharing yourthoughts and your, the deep
situations that you've beenthrough, and you know it's it's
for anybody that's reallydifficult and really hard to
even share.
You know their personal livesand you know, coming on here and

(01:34:15):
doing that with us, that'sreally appreciated and you know,
hopefully you know we'll seeyou again in the future.
We are looking for an MC forour dinner coming up.
Just a hint hint Other thanthat.
Thank you, brother, I'm notserious.

Speaker 2 (01:34:36):
Yeah, I can't go nowhere, Unfortunately, all
right.

Speaker 1 (01:34:41):
All right, nameless Unmasking the anonymous life of
a sex pill guru at TOTOLUAcom.
Go and get it and watch it Will.
The way you assemble everythingis genius.
I hope to see more, a lot morecontent from you in the future,

(01:35:02):
and I hope people hit you up formore deals.
Shout out to the Goldsmithfamily, to the Fonene family, a
shout out to Mark David Hunterand Adam Fels for keeping the
Uso off out of prison and free.
Thank you very much.
All right, this has been Behindthe Lava Lava signing off.

Speaker 6 (01:35:30):
Good night, pasa 4.
Working on my interests it'swho I am.
I'm trying to make these digitslook like EINs.
When the help ain't free, youall help me.
Salute to folks who turn theirnames to LLCs.
The wealth is in itself.
To help a nonprofit To bebetter women or better men with
a business, by veterans orcommon folks with a dream.

(01:35:52):
We're all born with the samestrength.
We tread waters and we'reuntouched.
Let's be on the same wavelength.
Behind the lava, lava front ofour eyes, let our legacy live
off it.
When we're up in the sky, allsigns point to us to help
someone make a difference.
With God as my witness, let'stalk business.

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