My Dad Taught Me How to Rip and Run in the Streets of Detroit | Ep 84

In this powerful episode, host Louis sits down with Johnny Jermani, a Detroit-area rapper whose life has been shaped by the streets, music, and the constant pull between the two.Johnny grew up in the heart of Detroit, where lessons about survival came early. His father, a product of the same unforgiving environment, taught him the ways of the street when he was just a kid. Those lessons made Johnny wise beyond his years—how to hustle, how to read people, how to stay one step ahead—but they also set him on a dangerous path that few escape.Music was always in his blood. Even as a teenager, Johnny’s rhymes carried the raw energy of his neighborhood, and before long he became a respected name in Detroit’s underground rap scene. But staying out of trouble was never easy. “If you break the law, trouble will find you,” he says—and for Johnny, it found him again and again. Drugs, robberies, and the relentless pull of the streets led to numerous prison numbers, each sentence a reminder of how hard it is to leave the past behind.Yet through every setback, the music never left him. Behind prison walls he kept writing, honing his craft, and dreaming of a different life. When he finally walked free, Johnny made a promise to himself: to dedicate everything to his art and carve out a future defined by beats and lyrics instead of crime and chaos.Today, Johnny is pouring every ounce of himself into music with the hope of making it out of the hood and inspiring others to chase their own way forward. He’s a testament to the power of talent and perseverance in a city where dreams and danger often share the same block.This conversation is raw, intense, and unforgettable. Johnny opens up about his childhood under his father’s tough guidance, the street lessons that shaped him, the prison bids that tested him, and the passion for hip-hop that ultimately gave him a way forward.🔥 Expect emotion. Expect truth. Expect hope.🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more powerful stories on addiction, recovery, and resilience.Get a Grip Podcast Social Media: Find our TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeart Radio links, a more on our Link Tree below!Get a Grip Social Media Links: ⁠https://linktr.ee/officialgetagrippodcast⁠👇 Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Drugs has always been in my life, you know, since I was a
kid, since forever. And being around my dad and
like, it was like a way we were showing love to each other.
Like this is my last little bit of heroin, you know, I love you
so much that I'm going to give it to you.
And it's just crazy to think. It's like trauma bonding.
Yeah, yeah. And we were like fighting people

(00:20):
together, you know, ripping people off together.
We're ripping and running together.
Committing crimes together. The whole thing I I love my dad
and even ever since I was a little kid, I've always known
that I love my dad more than anybody else in the world, you
know, and it's like my, he was my hero always.
And since a little kid looking up to him, you know, somewhere
in my subconscious, it was like,you know, they had he's cool.

(00:43):
Like I want to get high to be cool like him.
OK, we are back with another episode of Get a Grip podcast.
We have Johnny Germany with us from Michigan.

(01:06):
Yeah, we're at Michigan. Metro Detroit.
Metro just just so just outside of Detroit.
Right. Yeah, I know you heard of like
Eight Mile or whatever from Eminem.
Yeah. And the music video, we're just
north of Eight Mile. OK, Eight Mile up to like 32 is
metro Detroit, Macomb County. And you grew up there your
entire life. Yeah, so I was in foster care a

(01:28):
lot of my childhood. You know, my mom lost us to
foster care three times. So I bounced around to like a
bunch of different cities in Macomb County.
Was that young? How young were you?
My first time my mom lost us to foster care.
Well, just me. I was three.
My grandpa got shot at Macomb Mall and by the police.

(01:49):
Grandpa, My grandpa. How old was your grandpa at the
time? I'm not exactly sure.
My dad was only three and so hisdad got shot at Macomb Mall by
the police. They killed him.
My dad got $1.5 million. So once my dad turned 18, he got
the check, got 2 checks, one when he was 18.
And then he met my mom, whateverthey had me.

(02:10):
And then he just that kind of fueled his addiction because I
come from a long line of drug addicts on both sides.
So when I was three, they were coming home and they seen the
house getting raided and I was in the back seat.
My mom was driving, my dad was in the passenger seat.
They're coming down the street and my dad hurried up and hit
the lever back and put his seat back.
And he's like go, go, go. And then my mom tried to drive

(02:33):
away, but the cops got right behind them.
They're raiding the house for like, you know, drug what?
They're selling drugs, doing drugs, having a drug house.
So they took off. My mom tried to pull over.
My dad put his foot over the thing and drove from the
passenger seat and got in a highspeed chase.
So there's like, I don't know, Idon't know the whole I just what
I've been told, you know, like alook.

(02:54):
At the I. Was in the car you.
Were in the car yeah 3. Yeah, three years old.
So he got to a fence. He said he was looking just for
somewhere he could, like, get toa fence and jump or whatever.
He got to a fence and he said hewent and he tried to jump.
And he was so weak from using for so long that he couldn't
even pull himself over. And he had sweatpants on and
they grabbed and they pulled hispants down.

(03:16):
So like his Dick was hanging outand stuff with a handcuffed and
put him in the back of the car. And they said, my mom and dad
both said this. When I got pulled out of the
car, I was going bad boys, bad boys, what you going to do, you
know? And then I went to foster care.
Jesus Christ. So that's.
Wow, Yeah. That's what you were exposed to
at that young of an age. Yeah.

(03:39):
OK. So there's a lot to unpack
there. So you said you have addiction
on both sides of your family. Yeah.
Start with your dad's side. So my dad's side, you know, I'm
not really sure much about it. I don't really know, you know?
Other than your dad? Other than my yeah, I never met
my grandpa so or his mind. They both died, you know, my

(04:01):
grandpa got shot and then my grandma, I think she might OD or
something, I don't know. And then my dad was using drugs
his whole life and then. Is he still around?
Is he in prison? He's.
Still using. He's just out.
There. Yeah.
He's just living in Detroit somewhere.
I don't know. But my mom, she passed away, you
know, she killed herself. I came home and found her dead

(04:21):
on the couch. So that's right after that is
when I started using, you know, I I was in foster care at from
3:00 to 8:00. And then she lost us again from
like, we came back. I came back when I was 8 and
then she lost us again when I was like 13 and then got us
back, got me back when I was 16.And then when I was 16, I got
locked up and went to juvie and then got out when I was 18.

(04:44):
But while during that, while I was in there, she lost my little
sister. So that was the third time, but
I was already in juvie. I only have two sisters.
One of my mom's had one of my dad, Yeah.
So that was the third time whileI was already locked up.
But when I was 18, I came back to her anyway, 'cause I got out
of juvie and I went, I went overthere and then I was living with
her. And then when I was 21, came

(05:06):
home and found her dead. God almighty I I lost my mom to
an overdose, but I didn't find her.
My dad did. And I mean, I can't imagine
finding my mother like that. I'm sorry, that's awful and I
have to imagine that like you said, you started using after

(05:29):
that, but that had to have really fucked with.
She was like schizophrenic and she was doing really bad.
She's only 42 and she was schizophrenic doing really bad.
She would like follow. This is when I was started
rapping and all that and, and she was like following the
radio, thinking that I was hanging out with like Eminem and
stuff like that, 'cause she was so out of it.
And she tried to kill herself like 6-7 times.

(05:53):
And I kept having her admitted, you know, 'cause I wanted to
help. And she would go to the mental
hospital and I'd come up there and visit her.
I'd even sneak her cigarettes inand whatever, just trying to
ride with her through it. But she told me like she knew
she couldn't say she's going to kill herself to me because then
I would get her admitted. So she started saying, I'm going
to be gone. You need to learn how to do

(06:15):
this. Do you know how to pay the bills
at the house? You know how to do this?
I'm like, you're not going anywhere, man.
I'm like, what are you talking about?
She's like, I'm about to go to prison for 18 years, so I need
you to know how to do all this stuff, you know, like trying to
show me in advance. I was like, why are you going to
prison? She's like, I threatened
somebody on Facebook. And I was like, you know, she
was just trying to let me know. So I went to a concert.
And then that night, she withdrew all of her money out of

(06:37):
the bank, had it sitting there for me.
You know, she gave the night before she had like, gave away
all of her jewelry to my little sister and then she killed
herself. But she Od'd.
But she did it on purpose, you know, like just lay down and did
it. Like had the money there for me
and she prepped me before it andall that.
So yeah, it was crazy. God, dude, so you're what age

(06:58):
when that happens? 21 What what happens next?
I mean, what do you what do you do?
Because now you're parentless at21.
I know I I was parentless at 33,which is still young, but 21 is
much much younger than 33, right?

(07:19):
I mean, you're barely an adult. Right.
What do you do? Well, I feel like naturally, I
just wanted to be around my dad now because, you know, my mom
was gone. I and I got the house and oh
his. Dad still kind of.
He was getting high the whole time he was well, I was in
contact. I'm still in contact with him to

(07:40):
this day but he's been getting high his whole.
Life I got you. You know, it's not like I don't
know where he's he's he's somewhere in Detroit getting
high. That's all I know.
And then so I I was like, Dad, where you at?
You know, let's hang out. And I mean, this is just the
truth of what it is. He's not going to like hearing
this, but this is the truth of what it is.
He knows it's true. Starting to hang out with them.
You know, he introduced me to crack.

(08:02):
He got me to smoke crack for thefirst time.
And then I did it and I was up all night and I was just like, I
don't like this feeling, man. I was so mad.
He's like, you know what you need to do.
When he was standing there in a hotel, he said you need to come
do this and point to the table. I knew instantly it was heroin.
And I was like, I mean, I don't want to do that.
He's like, man, I'm your dad When I tell you do anything

(08:22):
that's bad for you. And I'm just like, I felt, I
felt safe, you know, So I did it.
And then that was what I fell inlove with was heroin.
You know, I'm like this feeling is awesome.
So you skipped straight over thepills?
Well, I had been dabbling with pills since I was little.
My mom's mom. Yeah.
She would give me pills. You couldn't tell her anything
You said. Oh, I got a stomach ache.
She'd give you a pill. I'm.

(08:43):
I'm so tired. She'd give you a pill.
Oh, I got a lot of energy. She'd give you a pill.
I was IODD off of Oxycontin whenI was 12 for my grandma giving
me pills. So I had been taking pills from
my grandma already forever, so Iwas already familiar with that,
you know? Wow, take me back to the first
time you used. First time I used anything.

(09:04):
Anything. Or drank or smoked or whatever.
I know when I was in 3rd grade, they 3rd or 4th grade, they put
me on add a or a Ritalin. I think it was at first consent
or Concerta, whatever. Yeah, we went on that.
I hated it. That's the first time I did like
a narcotic. But that wasn't really, like
recreational right prescription.And then I think when I was like

(09:28):
about 13 or 14, I was smoking weed, stuff like that.
But even before then, like just my grandma had a top drawer full
of pills, you know, and I would just go in and.
We're talking like pain. Pills like, well, these were
narcos, the one that were Tylenol threes and narcos she
had all in her top drawer. And you could, I was so little,
you know, I'd reach up and I'd be like, and I could feel them

(09:49):
all loose in the drawer and I'd grab them and just eat them.
Damn. So I'd say around like, yeah,
like so 4th grade Concerta and then probably like 6th grade
started doing that, like so 12, probably taking those pills and
then third or twelve, yeah, that's when I overdosed off the
oxy, gotten 2. And then, yeah, from then on,

(10:11):
then I just got into weed. Then I started taking pills with
my friend Ecstasy. We started drinking and you
know. Selling drugs.
Was I selling drugs? Not during that time as a kid.
I mean, I sold little weed as a kid.
Once I got older and I got into my addiction, I was selling meth
and heroin. But everybody says there's a
fine line between being like a gangster drug dealer and being a

(10:34):
desperate drug addict. I assume you know what I'm
saying. So like, you, you, you do what
you have to do to stay high. It's not like I was like selling
bricks like Scarface or anythinglike that.
Thank you. Thank you for admitting that
because I was the exact same way.
I sold drugs and I was good at it, but I was not moving bricks.
I was just saying this was like early on, like 18/17/18, still

(10:58):
in high school. I did it after high school too.
I was pretty good at it, really.But the addiction eventually
just took me down. Yeah, kill.
Kill off all my customers. RIP them all off.
Absolutely, yeah. Fucking you got to do what you
got to do to survive. That's how it went.
I got told on one of the last times I got arrested, I was
selling, I had a, a warrant for my arrest and I was on the run,

(11:22):
you know, and I was selling methand heroin and Xanax, cutting
the shit out of it. I'd put Seroquel in it.
I'd put white Xanax bars in it. I'd put stand back, you know,
stand back is no, I know we got it in Detroit.
A lot of people aren't familiar with it but it's like a headache
powder you can buy at the gas station by $0.50 and it's white.

(11:42):
I was cutting it with that. You know, if you know who your
snorters are, you know who your shooters are, there's a lot more
you can get away with. Sure.
So cutting it with all that, these two twins set me up and I
gave sold them to him the night before.
The next day I re upped and I would get a 8 ball of ice for
like 40 bucks, 45 bucks and I sell a gram for like 180 a

(12:03):
hundred. So I was like, yeah, I re upped.
I got some stuff I'm getting. I was cutting some stuff up on
the on the little table, giving some heroin too.
And all of a sudden they're likeWarren Narcotic Warren's a place
in Macomb County, Warren narcotics department.
Boom. So right when they did that I
flipped the thing over, I grabbed my 8 ball of ice and I
threw in this tall zip lock baggie like this in the baggie

(12:24):
it had they ate ball of meth, two other grams of meth, a gram
of weed, a gram of heroin, Seroquel, Xanax and Neurontin.
Because I knew I was on the run and I had this baggie on.
I knew if I'm getting arrested I'm putting this in my ass crack
you know what I'm saying, to bring it into jail so I don't
got to be sick. So that's what I did.
Luckily they went to my dad's room first because me and my dad

(12:45):
were hanging out getting high. Went to my dad's room first.
I had enough time to put in my ass crack.
I came out the room like what's the problem you know he put me
on the floor. All I had was my phone and my
wallet on me. And every time I'd get arrested,
I'd say, oh, I'm Odeon. You know what?
Truth time, truth time. I took 17 fentanyl bars when you
guys ran in. I'm Odeon.
So then you got to act like you're Odeon and they try to

(13:07):
wrap your chest and they're going to hit you with Narcan,
which sucks too. I don't know if you ever been
hit with Narcan. I've been hit with Narcan many
times. Yes, and.
They're like this girl's tellingme we're all sitting in their
handcuffs. They're going to hit you with
Narcan. I'm like, I don't give a fuck,
you know? I got to, I got to do it and
went in the hospital. They handcuffed me to the bed.
I had dreadlocks at this time and I had a bandana around my
head and I'm all tatted up. They pulled because I was

(13:29):
freaking out. Once they narcaned me handcuffed
to the bed, they pulled my hoodie up over my head until
they could find a spit Max then pulled that behind like my
hoodie behind me, put the spit mask on me.
I'm handcuffed to the bed freaking out and they're
Wheeling me in the hospital. But I had all the stuff in my
ass crack. Now it's a good thing you can
do. You can say, oh, I'm suicidal
and they'll keep you in the hospital.

(13:50):
You know what I'm saying? But they strip you when you say
that. Make sure you don't got nothing
on you. So I'm like, what do I do?
Do I say I'm suicidal? Then I go to jail and then and.
Eventually I'm going to go no matter what though, right?
Well, they let you go and then you just have the warrant.
Oh, really? Yeah, at least that's how they
do in Detroit. OK, You know, so I'm like, I'm
not even going to say that. I'm just going to go to jail.

(14:11):
And I had all the stuff in my ass crack brought it right in
the jail. You know what I'm saying?
No problems. No problems.
Not gonna lie man, I had to shove it up my ass once I got in
the holding cell because we havea body scanner.
I've been there too. But I do what I had to do and I
shit it out in the cell, you know what I'm saying?
And then I was, I didn't sell none.
I mean, I mean, I probably gave somebody like a couple little
hits or whatever, but I was trying to not be sick.

(14:32):
No, keep that shit for yourself.Yeah, really.
I'm shocked you told somebody, because once word gets out in
jail that somebody's got shit onthem, that gets it can get
dicey. Yeah, people come after you and
shit. In Macomb County Jail, a lot of
people bring are bringing stuff in.
How, how was that experience foryou, Your first was that that?

(14:53):
Wasn't your first time? I was a veteran at that time,
learning everything from my dad.He's like, you got to put it up
your ass and bring it into jail if you get pulled over,
whatever. So I already knew the game, you
know? Go back to the first time you
went to jail. Your first time you were
incarcerated. First time I went to jail, I got
caught with a gun. Oh really?
Yeah. I'd already been to juvie and
stuff when I was a kid, but the first time I went to jail I was

(15:16):
arguing with my girlfriend. I had my gun on me at 9:00 and
we were arguing in the basement of her apartment complex.
Make a Long story short. And then she had gave me triple
C's. You know what that is coracid
and cough medicine. It makes you sleepy.
So I thought she meant like triple stacked ecstasy.

(15:36):
You know, I was only like 1819 or whatever at this time.
So I took on and then I got super sleepy.
What did you give me, triple C's?
I'm like, like ecstasy. And she's like, no, it's like
cough medicine. I'm like, wow, so I'm so fucked
up and I got my gun on me. I'm just trying to leave.
She found out I was hooking up with another girl.
And yeah, we're arguing about it.

(15:56):
So it's an apartment complex, basement.
So a couple comes down out of the room and you guys are, I'm
like, man, get the fuck out of here.
Go upstairs. Mind your business.
Well, he went upstairs and called the cops.
Cops came down there. I'm, I'm so out of it.
I'm still arguing with her. I'm like, da, da, da, da.
Cop comes up to me and he tries,immediately tries to pat me
down. And I smacked his hand.
I'm like, are you detaining me? And I step back and I pulled my

(16:18):
pants out like this. Oh boy.
And so, so the gun would go out,jeans on and went down to my
shoe. The gun went, it's a big ass
gun, though. I was like, what are you
detaining me? And he's, I guess we are trying
to make me smack his hand. I was like, what are you
detaining me for? You can't detain me without a
reason. Put the handcuffs on me.
But the gun's right here now. It's not in my waistband, which
is what they're reaching for. You're lucky man when you grab

(16:38):
for your waistband. They didn't fucking.
Well, I end up getting caught anyway, but so I'm handcuffed
and then I now I know that they know I got something because how
I'm acting. So I'm like, all right, I got a
fake ID in my wallet. I didn't want you guys to find
it, you know, quick thinking, which I did have somebody else's
ID. So they're like, OK, stop
searching me, sat me down, got the ID out and they're like,

(16:59):
what are you on right now? Where's the dope?
I was like, and that time I hadn't done any dope yet, you
know, I was like, look, I took triple C's, you know, the
Baggies right there. I drink it with that drink.
Da, da, da, da. The one cop, he's looking right
at my 1 standing up, one's on his knee in front of me.
And they sat me down in the plastic chair and one cop's
looking right at the gun. Dude.
I'm just like, oh, shit. And the other cops like trying
to talk to me. Gotta change your life.

(17:20):
You're out here doing these drugs and stuff like that.
What's wrong with you? You know?
And I'm just like, yeah, yeah, you're trying to go with it.
And other cops like take off your right shoe.
And I'm just like took my shoe off and guns like clack, clack,
clack. Fall straight out.
And cops like, are you serious? He's like, I'm like, man, he's
like, you're going to prison. I'm like, well, let's go now.
Fuck, we're caught now. I'm like, let's fucking go, man.

(17:41):
What the fuck is talking about it?
Obviously I'm caught. Let's go.
But I wasn't a felony yet at that point.
So I just got a carrying concealed weapon.
So, but I still had to do a yearin jail and then three years
high to probation. You did a year in the county.
Yeah, well, I got, I went to jail for a couple of days,
bounded out, fought it for like 7 months.
And then when I got sentenced, they made me do a year in the

(18:02):
county with three years high to probation.
A lot of people don't know the law now.
They think that like, oh, you could call it the gun.
No matter what happens wherever you go, it's automatic 2 years.
That's not the case if you're ifyou get if you get convicted and
that's just convicted. Not sure if you get convicted of
a felony firearm, then you get have to do it too flat.
If you're convicted of a felony firearm and I just got a CCW

(18:25):
because I wasn't a felon yet anda felony firearm is a felony in
Commission of a felony. You know with the firearm you
could have felon in possession of weapons under.
Disability. Right.
It's different. I know the law because I've been
through, I got 13 felonies, you know what I'm saying?
So yeah, that was the first timeI went to jail, did that year
there. And then when I got out, you

(18:46):
know, my buddy was the one telling me like, oh, everybody's
talking about crack in jail and stuff.
And I'm like, damn, Siri's listening to our conversations,
dude, what the hell? No shot.
And no surprise there. Oh, wow.
But yeah. And then he was the one who
suggested, doesn't your dad like, smoke crack or whatever?

(19:07):
Let's hang out with him. And then that's when I hung out.
My dad smoke crack into the dopeand stuff.
But I went to prison too. You know, prison is way
different than jail. Yeah, but still a year in county
is I would have rather go to prison than the year in county
jail. I mean, but when you go to jail,
you have. So I don't know what your kind
of jail is like over there. Ours is fucking 24 hour lockdown

(19:28):
here in. Front of Oh yeah, See if it was
that, then that's a whole different story.
We don't have 24 hour lockdown. You guys can't come out of the
cells or nothing. No, you don't go outside.
No fresh air, no gym, no wreck, no nothing.
Yeah, we don't get no gym or wreck or nothing like that, but
we got a unit. We can come up like cards, watch
TV, we got tablets with music and you can call.
We got visits and stuff like that, like over the screen

(19:51):
visits in the. Visit Box.
But yeah, when I went to prison for the first time, I was on
probation for that, that Hida. And then I was just started
getting high with my dad and we were ripping and running and I
remember I violated one time. Thinking like, OK, it's not
going to be no big deal. Well, they're like, all right,
this is what we're going to do. We're going to terminate the

(20:12):
height of probation, put you on regular probation with 0, you
know, opportunity. If you fuck this up, you're
going to prison. So I was like, OK, whatever.
A month later, you know, I got aretail fraud and went in front
of the different judge. It was a sit in judge.
What would you get retail fraud for?
Stealing baby formula. You, you steal baby formula just

(20:33):
like $30 a can common. And then yeah, you sell it in
the hood. It's all that like a Rab dudes
there and they they give it to you $5 a can.
Yep. Yeah, been there.
Yeah, so you come in with like 30-40 cans though, you know what
I'm saying? You're making you're straight
for the day. Good.
So I only had stole like 3-3 cans just to like get right real

(20:54):
quick, 15 bucks and then got flicked getting on the highway
and then I bonded out. Actually the next day it was
like $100. My dad came and got me.
But they so they knew it was youand they pulled you over on the
highway and. Man, I was, this is in the midst
of my music too. You know, I've been making music
this whole time. So like I had some fans online.

(21:16):
I was like, I need a ride. And they didn't know I was going
to steal. So I went to the Walgreens and
then went inside and we stole real quick and we left.
Actually, the lady came outside from the Walgreens like, hey,
you know, I'm like, what? I'm like, man, you're crazy.
And I just got in the car and they're like, did you steal
something? I'm like, no, man, just go.
But like, hurry up, you know what I'm saying?
They're like, you didn't see another.
We're fine. They're just jamming out to
music and stuff. I'm just like, ah, stressing

(21:37):
out, you know? And then like they're slowly
taking their time. We finally go to get on the
highway, and then the cops pulled us over.
Dad got me out, but a month later I went in front of the
judge and they see what I'm on probation for, which is my
carrying a concealed weapon. And it was a home invasion at
the time too. Like I had both the cases and
they're like, oh, you're violating probation on a felony

(21:58):
probation, you're going to prison over with.
So for that retail fraud, violating probation, I went to
prison for 1:00 to 5:00. And then how long?
Did you say for? I waited a little bit over a
year and I had to do a program and all this stuff.
Got out and was out and then like went on the run
immediately. Was out for a year on the run.

(22:20):
Was prison cool I mean. Man the prison I was at was
cool. You could have dogs there.
People are walking on the yard with dogs.
You have ATV at the end of your bed with cable.
You know you can. It was you could walk outside
whenever you want. There's different units.
I was in JCS. What?
What's the gang scene like? There's like Latin kings,

(22:43):
maniacs, GDS, cobras. I'm a maniac.
Latin disciple. I became when I went to prison,
I became a maniac. And that's like, that's what the
baby blue, you know, all my stuff's a baby blue.
That's our color. And started doing that when I
got to prison, you know, they, they became fond of me and I was
standing up for myself and they're like, you got, you know,

(23:04):
you got hurt. So started messing with them and
then making music with other maniacs and stuff.
They got they're really big in the music scene, you know what
I'm saying? I got a couple of Bros that are
like getting millions of views and stuff.
So I fit in perfectly over there, you know, so.
It worked out. Yeah, so and then every time you
go back now after being in the gang, you got to announce

(23:24):
yourself, you know, you're like,oh, what's up?
Where's my Bros at? I'm a maniac.
This is my name. Whatever you run down your lit,
all that stuff. They started in Chicago, you
know, But we got a Michigan chapter in Grand Rapids
Southwest, in southwest Detroit.You have a what?
We have like a chapter for maniacs.

(23:46):
It started in Chicago. We have a chapter Maniacs in
southwest Detroit and in Grand Rapids, OK.
Gotcha. Gotcha.
So you get out and you were saying you went straight back to
it. Straight back to it.
Yeah, man, I was. I was doing some crazy stuff.
Actually. I got a story I want to tell you
when I was out there getting high.

(24:07):
So this is one of the craziest stories I got, man.
When I was out there getting high, we were like, I evolved
from doing fentanyl, you know, we're doing what was her heroin.
Now we're doing fentanyl, smoke and crack and shooting meth.
So I'm snorting fentanyl, smoke and crack and shooting meth.
We're shooting meth. Like all the girls that you're
shooting meth with, they're trying to fuck, you know?
So yeah, that was just like a thing we're doing, shooting meth

(24:30):
together, fucking. I'm having a threesome with
these two girls and the one girlthat she's going to hear this
too. She's still on my Facebook, but
she's clean not too. So she's doing the right thing.
But had a threesome with these two girls.
We shot some meth. We started having threesome.
The one's giving me head and then I stand up really quick and
I get some heroin and and I likeheaded on this little shelf

(24:51):
about I'm standing on the bed and there's a shelf on the bed
and I snorted this line of heroin.
I laid back down and the girls giving me head and the other
girls ride in my face and I Od'dwhile she was riding my face
bro. And then the girl that was
giving me heads said that she's the one that noticed 'cause I
was like my Dick went soft and like I was like making a noise
or something. And then she was like get off of

(25:13):
him. He's he's Od'd and they
narcanned me and I just rememberwaking up and I'm like, and then
like the dope man's there. Like we were out.
We weren't in the hood, but we had a dope man living there
selling dope too. And we're just like a party
house, you know? And I woke up and the doe man's
in the doorway standing there and both the girls are naked
covering their titties and shit.They're like, and I'm the 1st

(25:35):
and I got ice. I'm Naked too.
I got ice just covering my Dick.And I'm looking.
And I immediately realized I'm like, you guys fucking Narcan me
first thing I said, yeah, like we had to.
I'm like, motherfucker and just start punching the dresser, you
know, And realized I still have that heroin.
Got up and did the rest of it tofeel better because the Narcan
sucks. Yeah, it's bad.
It's bad. Yeah, so.

(25:55):
Straightened up straight into withdrawal.
Yeah, dude, And you're like yawning.
I got an idea for some content, man.
It's horrible. We should go around and Narcan
people in the hood, just unsuspecting victims, you know
what I'm saying? I don't know if that's.
Legal. I don't know.
Is that legal? Like what?
Just random fucking homeless people?
What? Yeah.
What the fuck you? Go to the people you know are

(26:17):
addicts. We know who's addicts.
You go, you put your hey, man, what's going on?
You want to take a picture with me?
How? The fuck are you going to hit
that? Hit their nose with that.
Put your arm around them. You're like get them really
quick. That would go viral.
Get your motherfucking ass beat.Yeah, for real.
People are not going to like that.
No, yeah. No, not at all.
So. Pretty sure.

(26:38):
Hell of an idea. Or you offer them money, say hey
man, I'll give you $100, let me Narcan you.
You know what I'm saying? They're going to go for it.
For 100 bucks they would. Yeah, probably.
OK, so all that fucking crazy shit happens.
Keep going. Keep walking me through this.
OK going through that I am getting in the high speed chase

(27:01):
and you can see the video of it's on YouTube if you type in
Johnny Germany gets tased there's a video.
I'm up for like 4 days on ice just driving my friend's car and
I was about to drive to my friend's dad that's in jail and
give him some money for his commissary.
And all of a sudden a cop gets behind me and it's actually the
girl I'm dating at the times cousin that hates me because

(27:23):
we're getting high together and her cousin's a cop.
I'm a street away from her house.
I'm not even really going over there, I'm just passing by.
But that's how I knew it was hercousin.
He got behind somebody else, pulled over, seen me and got
behind me and I like I had just been in a high speed chase where
my friend was driving. So at this point I seen him get
away and I was like oh you can do it.
If you just drive erratic, you can get out of it, you know.

(27:44):
So in my head I had it like I'm I'm driving crazy and going to
get loose on. So I just psyched myself up and
I'm sitting there at the at the wheel when he's behind me.
I'm just like just like that. And I look, I know you probably
going to hear me. I'm like, let's go bitch, cuz I
ain't stopping. You know what I'm saying?
Just to psych my own self up. And I turned, I was at 9 Mile
and 9 Mile and Kelly or Stevens and Kelly, I turned down Kelly,

(28:08):
headed towards Detroit. You know, 'cause we're right
north of Detroit. If you go in Detroit, the cops
don't care as much. But I go down and I act like I'm
doing a turn around and I drive on the incoming lane of traffic
and I'm flying and there's a redlight and I just closed my eyes
and blasted through it, you know.
But when I went over like the median, I popped at least one of
my tires one or two. It felt like all of them are

(28:29):
flat, but at least one of them are popped for sure.
And my hatch flew open. So laundry baskets are coming
out and it's insane. And I'm just flying like this.
Little that I know, once I read the PSI later on, they radioed a
head to Harper Woods, which is in Detroit, and they radioed a
head like we got a, you know, whatever, But they turn their
lights off and fell back. So I'm like, oh, I might be

(28:49):
good. I'm just trying to find
somewhere to park the car and and and run but there's a white
truck following me and I'm like what the fuck?
So I just get over 'cause he's like flying.
I'm like maybe he's just trying to get around me.
So I Nope, he's sitting next to me.
He might have been undercover, who knows?
I'm marked. So I take off again and I get to
a red light and I'm just like man, dude.
And there's like a bridge 94 seven mile.

(29:12):
There's like a little bridge. You go over 94 over by Ross and
the light was red and I'm behindthis Jeep and turns green and
then he doesn't go. He stays right there and that
white truck comes back from behind me and they both lock me
in. So I'm trying to push him off
drive reverse trying to push this guy off.
I was in a black SUSUV, like an envoy or something like that.

(29:34):
Two. Bad tires.
Yeah, at least at least one for sure.
But it felt like all of them, you know, it felt like maybe a
cup, I don't know. But for sure something popped
because you could feel it. And I said fucking got out on
foot and I ran out. This when people started
recording because I just happened to have a knife in each
pocket. OK, So when I ran on foot and I
ran over the bridge, I got to the other side.
Harper Woods police, East Point police, Detroit police all got

(29:58):
their guns out on me. And I popped the knives out of
my out of my pocket. I put them in my throat and I'm
like, I'm going to kill myself back up, you know, I don't want
to go to jail and like what? Are you thinking?
Here, you know what, I'm just like, I'm going to kill myself.
Everybody back up now. This is when they start
recording. People are like, what the fuck?
So this is what you see. And for like 15 minutes, dude, I

(30:18):
had a standoff with the police and you can even see in the
video that it's going on for a while.
And I'm just trying to, I'm justmaking up a story.
I'm like, you don't know in my life, man.
I was on my way to kill myself and you guys stopped me.
You ain't going to stop me from killing myself.
My dog chewed my baby's face offand killed my baby.
And then my wife left me before and they put my dog down.

(30:38):
I got nothing to live for and I made all that up.
Just pulled it out my ass. All of a sudden I like dropped
my knife, the knives down a little bit and they hit me with
a Taser and I fell. They handcuffed me, but they put
me in an ambulance. So I'm like, oh shit, I'm about
to get away with this. And they took me to the
hospital, had a girl sneak me some dope up there, you know,
while I'm, because I'm in the hospital now at this point,

(30:58):
they, they told me, tell the doctor, tell the doctors what
she told us. I told them I'm in the hospital.
I, I, they let me make phone calls or treat me like a normal
person in the hospital. Let me make a phone call, call
this girl like bring me some dope up.
And we do a prison style. She's got the dope in her mouth
for eating chips. She brought me some chips and
she puts the dope in the bag of chips.
And then I'll take it. Like I mean, I put the dope in
my mouth and I go to go to the bathroom so I can do some of it.

(31:21):
And then I realized I don't got nothing to break it up or
whatever. It's a whole grand and I'm like,
I need a card or something or soI turn around.
I'm like, hey, let me use your card so I can make a line.
You know, powder. Powder OK China.
It was like brown, tan and I'm like, let me use your credit
card or something so I can she gives it to me and I put it
under my armpit and walked out. They seen that hand, hand to

(31:42):
hand transaction and they were watching me.
They didn't see the dope in my mouth.
So they all ran up on me for thecard.
What did you got? What do you put in your armpit?
And I was like, it's just a card, man.
Whoa. And then I they're like, why are
you giving? Why are you giving him a card?
And I just backed up and let them all like interrogate her
for a second. And I walked to the phone in the
hallway and I called my dad and he's like, you're on the news.
What did you do? And they're all just paying

(32:04):
attention to her as I'm on the phone.
I just hang up and walked out. You know, so had had that
warrant on me and I was just going crazy, always telling the
cops I had I had the I was OD inand they take me to hospital and
just get more and more warrants racked up.
Finally all that caught up to meand I went to jail and they were
like your last chances You can put on drug court, you know, and

(32:26):
I was like, I didn't want to in my head, I'm like, I'm just
going to get high right when I get out and and somewhere I
decided I'm just like, man, it'stime for a change.
You know what I'm saying? I I like I told you, I had the
dreads. I in jail.
I stole a razor, cut all my dreads off with a razor just to
like symbolize my change. You know what I'm like I'm

(32:46):
changing everything about myself, you know what I'm
saying? I'm actually giving this a
chance. Went on drug court and I ended
up doing and completing it and staying clean the whole time.
Drug court's tough. I did drug court too.
Yeah, I completed. It's very intensive, the most
intensive type of probation you can.
Oh my God, you got to go to court once a week.

(33:06):
You got an. Officer, once a week you're
pissing in a cup. 5 * a week, yeah. 90 meetings in 90 days.
It's a lot. It's insane.
So yeah, I ended up just sticking with it, man.
And I was like, let me just see,you know, I got forever to get
high. And I've always been smart, you
know what I'm saying? And I was like, I'm just going
to stay clean for this little bit of time and end up getting a

(33:28):
good job, you know? And I'm actually kind of making
some money and I'm like, OK, I like this feeling.
I'm at least can I'll get high when I get off probation.
That's what I'm thinking. And I'm like, fuck it, whatever.
I actually started saving up drugs and having them in my, in
my place, you know, like ready to go.
Yeah, for when I got off probation.
I got crack, I got heroin, I gotmeth.
I'm like saving pills, you know,still kind of hanging out with

(33:49):
some of the same people a littlebit.
And I saved up like a little bowl.
And then at some point, like after a few months go by, you
know, I'm like, what am I doing?I want to stay clean, man.
I'm like, look at everything I'maccomplishing.
I'm start getting a vehicle. I'll get my own place, you know,
making some money, get back intomy music, you know, and I just
said, fuck, I gave away those drugs, threw them away and then

(34:12):
stayed clean. And now I'm never looking back,
you know, changed everything about my life.
God damn, what was I going to ask you about drug court?
What was what was the drug court?
How were the phases? How did it work?
It was like phase one, you go tocourt once a week, OK, you got
to do 90 meetings in 90 days. You're dropping like every day.

(34:35):
You got to do one-on-one group therapy with a counselor and a
group counseling once. So, so both of those a week.
And it's just like you always have something to do.
You're like, what about a job? They're like, we don't care
about a job. This is your job for right now,
you know. First phase, yeah.
Yeah, for the first phase, second phase, to give you a
little bit more leeway, you know, you got to come to court

(34:56):
every other week and then go to meetings, you know, 10 times or
whatever. Who know?
I don't something like that. Phase three, you come to court
once a month and then you're dropping less.
Do they make you get a job at any point?
Is that like a part of IT employment?
I think you're supposed to, like, it's part of it, but I

(35:16):
just got a job right when I got out anyway.
I've never had a problem gettinga job or making money.
I've always wanted to make moneysomehow.
So yeah, it's probably a part ofit for sure.
But I already, I got it right when I got out.
And so that wasn't a problem. I was working for my godfather,
doing concrete raising, you know, And then Phase 4 is just

(35:36):
like, we know you're about to graduate, you know?
Yeah. And especially if you're doing
what you're supposed to do at that point, it's cake honestly.
So you never fucked around? I fucked around and tried to get
high during drug court for the first year and it was miserable.
And they were some. Miserable hell trying, you know,

(35:57):
trying to beat the drug tests and all that shit.
It sucked. So it sucked so fucking bad,
dude. Tell me about getting high with
your your dad, because I use with my mom a lot and my mom
passed away from an overdose. So talk to us about that, about
what it was like using with yourdad, because there's, there's a

(36:19):
lot of people out there, more than you would expect that got
high with their parents. They just don't talk about it,
you know? Well, I don't know what it is,
man, but you know, this like drugs has always been in my
life, you know, since I was a kid, since forever.
And being around my dad and likeit was like a way we were

(36:40):
showing love to each other. Like this is my last little bit
of heroin. You know, I love you so much
that I'm going to give it to you.
And it's just crazy to think. It's like trauma bonding.
Yeah, yeah. And we were like fighting people
together, you know, ripping people off together.
We're ripping and running together.
Committing crimes together and the whole thing.
I love my dad and even ever since I was a little kid, I've

(37:01):
always known that I love my dad more than anybody else in the
world, you know, and it's like my, he was my hero always.
And since a little kid looking up to him, you know, somewhere
in my subconscious, it was like,you know, they had he's cool.
Like I want to get high to be cool like him, you know, and
even playing with toys as a kid,I had a little Dalmatian was my,

(37:22):
my toy named Spotty. And I, I would, I would be like,
all right, you guys, I'm going to, I'm going to be over here
and I'm going to be mad. And you guys tell me not to use
drugs. And they'd have their action
figures and they'd tell me, yeah, it's body.
Don't do. I'm like, leave me alone.
No, no, no. And that's so crazy to think of,
ain't it? Wow.
So. Wow.
So getting high with my dad, we were just ripping and running

(37:43):
together, you know, like he showed me a lot of the ways of
like how you stay out of troubleor where to get dope and like
what to be aware of and stuff and showed me the ropes of the
streets. And then I, I was off and
running and I actually, man, it's just, it's actually crazy
to think of, man, I love my dad so much.
They're sitting there talking about it.
Just, I honestly look back on itwith like fond memories, like we

(38:06):
had a good time together, we were having fun and that was
like the only time we've ever spent together.
I. Was going to say when when did
the fun stop because you let's see 2021 No 21.
You said you started really likePedal the Metal.
Yeah. So when did the fun fun part
stop? OK, the fun part stopped once.

(38:26):
Like, you know, you start getting a habit and you're sick
without it and then like, which is cool.
I understand. You know that was coming.
Yeah, I was prepared for. That like you knew that you were
going to be physically I'll without the heroin.
I was completely prepared for that and then I knew it.
But once like like my dad started like to steal stuff from
me and stuff like that. And then that just to me was

(38:48):
just like, so like, like, I knowyou could never have been a dad
to me, like, 'cause you got yourown problems and stuff, but you
could be like my dog, like my homeboy and like, we could be
solid with each other. So that just like blew me back.
Like man. What was he stealing?
Do you steal dope from me or like razors or like money or I'd
give him like I got $100 dad here, get us some dope like you

(39:10):
know what I'm saying? And then and then he'd give me
like a, a dime bag out of the dime.
You know, I'm like what? Like we're supposed to be riding
together, man. He's not going to like hearing
this either, but man, that's thetruth.
Then we got to a point where like we were on bikes together.
This is the last time I was, I was ripping and running, getting
high with my dad. We're on bikes together and we
crossed eight mile from Detroit into Macomb County into Warren

(39:32):
over on 8IN Van Dyke. We we on mountain bikes.
I'm actually editing a music video on my phone 'cause we were
shooting my music. We does on my phone at that
time. We're all fucked up.
And then I'm like this looking down all of a sudden a light.
We just copped. You know, I just got an 8 ball
of ice to go sell and a, a cop hits a, a spotlight on me and my

(39:52):
dad. And like, I looked up, looked
back and seen it was a cop and Ihad that stuff on me.
So I put it, I grabbed it out ofmy pocket and I tucked it.
I stood up on the bike and tucked it under my nuts and took
off. You know, like I knew they're
on. We just jaywalk.
So that gives me the right to stop us now and search us, you
know? Yeah, I mean, they'll figure
something. Out yeah, so I knew what time it
was put it on and I took off butthrough standing up like on the

(40:14):
bike and and and crotch in the dope, I flipped off the bike,
you know, and smashed and my dadwas right on the side of me.
I checked this out like when I had my dreads, I used to have
bandana around my forehead earlier before we left to go
cop, I had a blue piece of construction paper and me and
this girl I was with had a little bit of dope and my dad
was like, I'm sick I need something.

(40:34):
So what I did was split the dopeup put in the construction paper
ripped it in half made a fold for him blue fold.
You'll never see that blue construction paper fold.
Gave it to him and I had one andI put mine in my bandana.
OK, so I still got in my bandanaas I'm on the ground, you know,
flipped off the bike and they'relike, where's the dope?
Where's the dope? I don't got any dope, man.
I was just scared. My dad comes up and he knows

(40:56):
he's going to get searched too, and he throws the dope on me.
He throws the dope on me in a blue fold.
You know, he comes up and he goes, Oh my son, Oh my God, is
he OK? All this And at the time I'm not
registering it. I'm just like, why is he making
this such a scene? Like I fell on the bike.
It's not a big, I'm not a littlekid, you know what I'm saying?
So it was just to play it off sowe could get close to me and
throw the dope on me so that he wouldn't get caught with it.

(41:19):
So all of a sudden they go, you know, we found some dope and I'm
thinking they didn't find any dope 'cause I got it crotched,
you know, and they're like, we found a blue folded.
Dope. And I got the other fold in my
bandana. They didn't take my bandana off
and I'm thinking like a blue folded dope.
It's not. It's just so much is happening
at once. I'm not registering it and I'm
just like what the fuck, and I'mjust trying to and they

(41:40):
eventually they start. They seen that like we know you
crouched something. The cop goes in my literally
under my underwear with his hand.
I'm like man stop touching my Dick man, stop touching my Dick
stop I'm like wiggling out of it.
He goes in there three times andthen finds the ice pulls out the
8 ball meth puts in on the thingbut he was alerted to it because
of the dope and the blue fold. And then once I read I go to
jail, my dad gets out of it. He doesn't get into any trouble

(42:03):
you know what I'm saying? I go to jail and then I read in
my paperwork that the blue fold and I see the pictures of it in
my PSI and then it all like I started getting I'm like this
mother fucker man, you know whatI'm saying?
There's no loyalty in the streets.
Nobody's got your fucking back. There's not.
You know what I'm saying? My own dad.
With blood. No, dude, it was the same thing
with my mom. It was.

(42:24):
I'd RIP her off. She'd RIP me off fucking back
and forth. You know what I mean?
Like, it's just it's just how itgoes when you're out there.
It doesn't matter who it is, right?
It really doesn't, you know? Parents, uncles, aunts.
Doesn't matter one bit. Yeah.
How many numbers did you say youhave?
Numbers how? Many times have you been to
prison. Oh, so I'm only an 8 prefix,

(42:47):
which I, if you know what that means, that means that like I've
been to prison three times technically, but I went back for
violations, you know what I'm saying?
So like I got out of parole, went back to DRC, which isn't
around anymore. But you used to be able to like
you could be in the streets and that day you go back to prison.
You could be in prison that by that night, instead of going to
jail and waiting, they had a place called DRC.

(43:09):
And I did 13 months there doing programs over and over.
And so I went three times. What's?
The The craziest shit you saw when you were in prison or some
of the craziest shit. Some of the craziest shit I saw
in prison. Check this out.
All right, so we're in ARSAT in DRC, which is on Six Mile and
Ryan in Detroit, and everybody in there was getting high and

(43:32):
they were all sharing one needleto shoot up, you know what I'm
saying? Yeah, well, they were shooting
up Suboxone. They had dope sometimes, ice
sometimes, you know, but mostly Suboxone runs the joint.
And in order to not get caught 'cause they'll come and piss
test you, we're in a drug program.
This is not, not only are we therejects of society because we're
felonies and prisoners and we all, you know, criminals, they

(43:55):
took their drug addict criminalsand I'll put them in one
building, you know, to do a drugprogram.
So we're the drug addict criminal rejects of society.
So we're thinking of all these ways how to not get caught.
And I seen people in there, you know, like if they call you for
a drug test, you got to have they would take a, a staff like
AC OS glove. OK, that was in the trash.

(44:15):
Take it out, fill the fingers upwith water, cut them off, make a
little balloons and then you'd have to keep a balloon on you
and like some Vaseline or something in case they came
around. Oh, they're doing drug tests,
they're doing drug tests. Everybody be freaking out.
You'd have to shove the balloon of water up your ass and go in
the dry cell 'cause if they watch you piss, But if you say,

(44:36):
oh, I'm, I got a shy bladder, I can't, I literally can't be in
front of you. They legally have to give you a
dry cell so you could shit out the balloon of water, open it
up, put the water in there, let it register as clean, peel the
sticker back, look, see that it registered as clean.
Then you piss on top of it because the lines ain't going to
go away. It already says all clean and
you piss on top of it and show them.
That was some crazy shit. I see.

(44:56):
Yeah. So on Instant cops, I didn't
know that. Yeah.
I didn't know you could put water in first.
Yeah, it would register as cleanand then you could piss on top
of. It.
Yeah, I've seen people doing that, yeah.
Damn, I didn't know that. That's crazy and or they were
throwing it up. I mean, that's, that's like a
solid way to beat a beat an instant test.

(45:18):
Like, really? Yeah, they were there.
You drink so much water and you throw it up.
There's all kinds of things we do to get out of the drug test.
What I did was you drink so muchwater.
If you're literally drinking like a Mountain Dew bottle
filled of water, like you're just filling up, drink and drink
and drink and drink. And I stood in the shower one
time and they're coming around, drug testing, head in the
shower, button like this, my mouth open, like pushing the

(45:38):
button to make it keep going, drinking and drinking and
drinking. You're peeing out just straight
water. And that's how I'd be mine.
But I seen him doing all kinds of stuff and they're throwing it
up, all that shit. Any brutal fights or?
Man, I got in so many fights, dude.
I was like, I got in five fightsmy last five months in there
because like I said, you go straight from the street to the

(46:01):
joint back when DRC was open. And so I still had a habit.
I was on methadone and they brought me to, they brought me
to pretty straight to DRC. So I, I got in five fights,
which doesn't sound like a lot, but I got in five fights my last
five months. And so I was in there stealing
TV's like, you know, whatever totry to sell it for dope in there
'cause. You're going to get sick.

(46:22):
'Cause I can't be sick, right? It was always my biggest fear
was going to prison and getting hooked on drugs.
And then being sick in there. Yeah, being sick, 'cause then
you're going to start doing fucked up shit, then you're
going to get your ass beat fucking over and over and over.
You can't win them all either too, and they got numbers people
to jump you in there, you know. But yeah, I've seen.
So was every one of those five fights for you doing something

(46:45):
that. Every one of those fights
because I was on some bullshit getting high in there.
So you go to steal TV out of someone's cell.
How the fuck do you do that? All right, I'll tell you how it
went. Me and my boy Chuck, shout out
to Chuck. That's my homeboy.
We were like on straight bullshit the whole time and
they're together, you know, walking around with knives,
whatever, like whatever we had to do because we were getting
high every day regardless. And then we knew the ways to

(47:05):
beat the test too. So me and Chuck, this guy goes
out to out the yard and then we get word like, oh, that dude,
that dude country went and got awhole Suboxone strip and a sack
of tobacco because he had money like that.
And me and Chuck were like, bet we're on it.
So we and everybody's seen us, knows what time we're on.
They see us like around. They're like, oh man, these

(47:27):
guys, you know, and you can lockyourself in your room and they
got a button to pop it open. You got keys to your room and
stuff in DRC. OK.
It's like a level 2 security. So we're sitting outside of his
door and and we're like, like we're playing cards and stuff.
But he knows we're out there andhe knows we're on some bullshit.
So we get this guy named Spike. I'm a maniac land disciple MLD.
So we're Bros with like the GDS and we rock with the boa

(47:50):
sometimes. They were rocking with us at
that time at least. And Cobras, we all knobbed
together. So we got this older GD named
Spike. He was like 70 something years
old. He's unsuspecting old white
dude. You know, we're like, if you go
knock on his door, he's not going to think and I'm going to
be standing right on the side. But he's one of our Bros.
So he did it with us. Just the old dude.
He knocked on the door and then the dude answered it and soon as

(48:11):
he popped, cracked the door up and I slid in there and I'm
like, Oh yeah, we're going to need that.
We're going to need that shit you got on yard, you know, And
then he tried to like, just bulldoze me out the door, you
know, like just get out straightout.
But Chuck came right in behind me.
And Chuck was like the biggest dude on the yard at that time.
You know, I'm not like some hugedude or nothing, but Chuck had
the size, you know, and I had the heart.
Chuck came in with with me and he pushed him back in.

(48:33):
He's like, if you try to do thatshit again, I'm blowing your
shit out, you know what I'm saying?
So he's like, come off that Suboxone you got off the yard.
He's like, I don't got it, man. I swear I didn't get any.
I didn't get any. So I'm like, all right, well,
we're going to need this TV thenbecause we got to get straight.
And then he had his combination lock on it.
We're like take it off. He sit there, took it off and I
got my Blues on like a, you know, blue pants and the blue
button up. And I put the TV in my pants

(48:55):
like this, put my shirt over. It's on camera when I walked
out, you know what I'm saying? I don't have a TV.
I'm not walking out the TV because that's instant.
You know, you're fucked. So walked out.
And then what we did was you can't leave your unit either,
you know what I'm saying? You have to stay in your unit.
You have to wait till they, the other person I told you about
that was a level 1 where you just walk outside whenever.
This one you have to wait till they call moving 'cause it's
level 2. So but we would sneak out of our

(49:18):
unit anyway and go in other people's unit, which is a huge
no, no man. They're they're snatching you
up, but they catch you. But there's yeah.
And there's so many different prisoners though, and different
staff for different places. If you can just get out into
another unit, you're good. So me and him both went out, had
to go up a whole stairwell and go to the unit on top of us.
So we did it though. We got in there and because we

(49:39):
had ATV for sale and the dope was upstairs and we wanted to
get straight, you know, So we'rewalking around the unit.
As soon as they seen it, they'relike, these motherfuckers just
came in our unit, you know what I'm saying?
They're like, they're crazy. We're walking around like TV for
sale, TV for sale, but nobody wants to fuck with us 'cause
they know we're on bullshit. One guy is like, oh, he's like,
oh, OK, I need ATVI. Got you.
What do you guys want? You want like a piece?

(50:00):
Yeah, we're like, give us like 1/2 strip or whatever.
He's like, I know your dad telling me like he used to get
out of my dad or whatever. So he's like kind of trusting me
at this point. I'm like, yeah, I got you, man.
Can we get it right now? He's like, yeah, gives it to us.
As soon as he walks out the room, me and Chuck look at each
other like he ain't getting thatTV, you know what I'm saying?
We just did it and then we fucking went.
Up. And went sold it to somebody in

(50:21):
our unit. So we double sold it.
But this, this other guy that's in our unit, he's like, Nah, you
got to give us ATV. So we actually got double the
shit. And then we went out to yard and
we seen the dude and he's like, what's up with it?
We're like, ah, got popped by the CEO.
They took it man, you know what I'm saying?
He's like, man, you're on some bullshit, Alright, well what the
fuck you want to do about it, you know, saying 'cause I way
rather fight you than pay you, right, You know?

(50:42):
I'm saying even if you beat my ass, I'll take an ass beating
overpaying you, you know, so that's what type of time I was
on. Or you store some shit out,
don't pay it back. This is all don't do not follow
these rules when you go to prison because this is the way
to not move in. Terrible advice.
Yeah, this is, you know, I don'tsuggest and, and plus my Bros, I
was in a gang in there too, you know, and my Bros were giving me

(51:03):
violations. You know what I'm saying?
They're like, you know, you you sit there and you take a
punishment. They beat your ass.
You get like mouth shots, they punch you in the mouth, all that
shit. I'm getting violations from my
Bros. Body shots.
Well, I've never seen a violation get body shots, but
like you can go like just sit down and get a few mouth shots
or do PT like where you just work out.

(51:25):
Like one time they made me work out till I threw up over doing
some bullshit like that. Like I didn't think it was
possible. Like I'm not going to throw up
man. And they really made.
Me throw up doing like. Not only are you worrying about
the CE OS getting caught by them, but your gang can also
implement discipline of some sort.
And they were, they were on my head about it.

(51:46):
That's one of the big no Nos Being in a gang, you cannot,
you're not supposed to do any drugs, any addictive substances,
you know what I'm saying? So, but there are, you know,
gang members that do it. You know, you got to think like
we're all criminals, you know, you just have to deal with the
consequences from it. And my Bros stuck by my side
until I got clean, you know whatI'm saying?

(52:07):
And then the ones that didn't, you know, and they just kept
fucking their life up. I, I kind of lost contact with
them. They just fucking went on to
wherever. And it's just like, dude, I'm on
the, I'm on my right path in life now, you know, right.
We were together all at a time, riding together when we were
fucking up and doing bad. But I'm trying to better my life
right now, you know what I'm saying?
So but there are, I do have someBros that are on the same thing

(52:28):
as me and we're all like moving towards better shit and
bettering our lives and stuff like that.
And they, they luckily I had those type of people that were
on me to say, what the fuck are you doing that cared about me?
You know, 'cause the people likemy actual family, like my dad
and stuff was just getting high with me.
So yeah. And then what's crazy is once I
got clean and I like decided like I'm staying clean and I

(52:50):
started making my music again. I started making my music like I
first blew up off being on JerrySpringer, you know, So what?
Was that, what was that like being on Jerry Springer?
What was it for? Like what was the side?
Storyline I made a song called Everybody getting Ratchet so and
Jerry Springer's a ratchet show and through like knowing people

(53:11):
and stuff, they heard my song called me like, hey, would you
want to go perform that song on Jerry Springer?
You know, I'm like what? You know, just make sure it's
legit call and they're like, yo,we really like your song.
We think it's fitting for the direction our show is heading
in. You know, we want to use it.
This is how they presented it tome.
We want to make it our new themesong, you know, honestly.
So I'm like, oh shit, you know what I'm saying?
Yeah. Paycheck time.

(53:32):
Yeah, so they're like, we want to show you we're legit.
Go on the website, look at this.Look at this.
They're like, no, you can type in the number.
And I made sure it's all legit. OK, cool.
So now they want, like to fly meout.
And I'm like, well, I want to doa storyline too.
I don't want to just perform thesong, you know, let's do a
storyline. They're like, well, what are you
thinking? We came up with a little story
together. I mean, everybody knows Jerry
Springer's fake right now. I'm not exposing nothing.
So we did, like, me and my baby Mama did a thing where we had

(53:56):
like, my #1 fan there and I hooked up with her, allegedly,
but I never hooked up with her, you know what I'm saying?
And and they fought on stage andwhatever.
And then we, you know, me and mybaby mom made-up.
Oh, you know, that was it. But I performed the song when I
first came out. Jerry Springer's like, we first
wanna welcome our first guest. Rapper says he's bringing drama

(54:17):
into his relationship. Let's welcome Johnny Germany to
the show. Yeah.
And then performed. Yeah.
And that was before I even started getting high.
That was like right before I started getting high.
That's on YouTube too. You can look it up.
Johnny Germany and Jerry Springer that.
Had of been like one of your bigger.
Performers that was that was my like breakout moment, you know
yeah, I started rap with Afroman, you know I got a

(54:40):
contact with him then I developed my name Johnny
Germany, my brand of that yeah the.
One song. Because I got high.
Because I got high, yeah. Which?
Is ironic I'm. Trying to think God damn did he
have any other singles? Or Colt 45 and two zigzags.
Maybe that's the same. Fucking song.
It's no, it's two different songs because I got high in Colt

(55:01):
45, yeah. Is that two different songs?
OK. Yeah.
So those were. His and then he's got Palmdale
and like he's got a few, you know, so well, I, I'm biased
because I was performing with them.
Well, yeah, I mean, that's stillthat's a celebrity.
He's. Paid man because his songs are
in movies, bro, so he's got to check forever from like

(55:21):
paramounting royalty. Yeah.
Thing. Yeah, yeah, that's the way to
go, you know, But yeah, so that was my little bit of first buzz
was me and him. I was opening up for him.
Then once I got on the Jerry Springer show, you got to think
that shows on all over the world.
So yeah. And this one, he was still alive
and stuff. So.
Yeah. And every time they aired the
episode when they first aired and my phone was just like,

(55:43):
ring, ring, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding.
I had to turn it off because it was so much notification.
Everybody found me immediately. Johnny Germany typed me up.
So then after that, then my namestarted buzzing.
And then, like, we got some. You listen to rap.
Yeah. OK.
You know, I swear Bezo, well, he's kind of he's he's really
big in Detroit. I did a song with him.
I did a song with Cash kid. He's big in Detroit and I'm like

(56:05):
1 after another banging him out.Then I started getting high,
fell off after that. I was still making music while I
was getting high, but it was, you know, you're really you, you
really got to focus on being a drug addict when you're a drug
addict, especially on heroin andall that stuff.
And I got clean and then I made my comeback song after getting
clean. It was really nice.
It's called switched on me. It's like nice visual.

(56:27):
Shout out to Matt Santia, He's the director, the genius behind
that video. But it looks really nice.
Boom. And once I started doing that, I
got linked up with the Cipher Society.
And what's crazy is like, I justseen that they were doing like
ciphers together and somebody hooked me up with them.
I went there, all these guys, you know, they're in recovery
too, a lot of the guys that are in the cipher.

(56:48):
So our paths cross, we're on thesame mission.
Like we both got clean and started following our dreams,
making music, you know, not everybody, but there's like a
few guys that I really related with and we were on the same
mission and we started making recovery songs together.
Did a recovery song called Relapse or recovery.
It was in a cipher and got 1.4 million views.
So, you know, I, I'm really hoping to help people and share

(57:10):
my message through that and hopefully they can get clean
too, you know? Yeah, that'll be sweet.
If you could do a whole album like that, that'd be dope.
Tell Muncie that shout out to Muncie.
People really, Yeah, you don't. You don't hear a whole lot of
that. I mean, Eminem talks about it
obviously a lot, but a lot of the mainstream rappers, they

(57:31):
just glorify drugs and then we'll talk about quitting.
Yeah, well, I do a lot of concept rap too.
Like I do like, you know, from this angle, this is what a drug
addict would be like if he was sick or, you know, this is what
I did. Like a Trump supporter would rap
like, and you know, got 500,000 views on that one.

(57:51):
Like, so it's from different angles.
So some of the stuff like I'm not rapping isn't like about my
life at that time, but I'll do different concepts just to like
this angle and this angle just to like try to challenge myself,
you know? You've lived experience to to
work with too, right? Right.
You've been through some shit so.
Yeah, for sure that. Helps a.
Lot right? And I can rap about like stories
I've been through too. You know you're not faking it.

(58:13):
Right. Yeah, absolutely not.
That's what I said. Like the beginning of this
podcast. There's a fine line in between
being like a drug dealing gangster and a desperate drug
because you're hand in hand doing a lot of the same things.
You guys are both running in front of the police.
You guys are both selling drugs.You guys are both living in the
hood, you know what I'm saying? You guys both have guns or
whatever, you know? So yeah, man.

(58:38):
Outside of the blue constructionpaper thing your dad did you,
Was that the most fucked up thing that he did to you?
Was there more? Did you ever get him on anything
or was there? I I never did nothing like that
specifically to like that to himtrying to think.
I just know how I can get. Yeah, man.

(59:00):
I mean, just stuff like stealingmy dope and stuff like that.
And then like, we did this thingwhere, like, I went to jail, he
would hook up with one of my girlfriends.
I'm like, OK, motherfucker, and I'll hook up with his
girlfriend. You know, we were doing that
shit to each other a little bit.You know, I wish my dad would

(59:21):
get clean though, man. You know, he's like 50 something
years old, 55 years. Old.
It takes a toll on your body too.
And God doing that your whole life.
Yeah, it was sad. I know.
I worked in corrections for two years after I got sober.
Yeah. Oh, wow.
I know. It was fucking nuts.
You doing counseling or something?
No, I was Co and you were ACO security and then.

(59:45):
I was. So you don't got any felonies
in? Manager, I have.
They're expunged now, but they weren't then.
I had a couple judges that wroteme reference letters and oh wow,
they hired me. So that's awesome.
Dude, it was fucking, it was crazy, but it it was sad to
watch like the 6070. 80 year olddudes come in that just their

(01:00:07):
entire lives. Yeah.
They never stopped, right? They never stopped career
criminals. Yeah, you know, that's what I'm
saying. And like, but there's on the
other side of that, like what? What can you do?
What can you really do? Like, I couldn't stop my mom,
you know what I mean? She had even died.
I there's nothing I could do. Set an example.

(01:00:30):
Yeah, I mean, I know he tells meall the time.
He's like, you're like the dad and I'm like the kid, you know,
especially now because I'm cleanand I'm trying to show him like
I just got a new truck, you know, I'm like, really like
doing it. Like really being successful,
especially with my music, is like reaching so many people.
We keep in million to million, million views every time.

(01:00:51):
This is like something famous people do, you know?
And I got a good job. I'm taking care of myself.
I pay for everything myself. And I'm like, dad, you can do
this too. He's he's not, he's not dumb.
You know what I'm saying? He's a smart guy.
Fuck no. We normally, we normally aren't,
no. Just cuz you're 50 something
years old and I don't hate him for anything that he's done with
all that stuff. I understand man, being a drug
addict, the stuff that you do. You understand that I don't.

(01:01:13):
Hold none of that against him. I just want him to get clean,
you know, and come do this with me.
Yeah, cuz he could really work with you.
Yeah, straight up. A lot of people like meeting
him. You know my buddy Beard Music,
the guy you met with the beard, shout out the Beard music.
He's got a lot of dope stuff too.
But he met my dad. I remember he was so interested

(01:01:34):
in me to my dad, like want to know the story behind where I
came from? He knows my music and stuff.
And my buddy Nick was there too.And it's Nick with the VNVCK.
He met my dad and that's where Irecord all my stuff at his
Nick's house. A lot of solid guys, man, but
they all wanted to see my dad, you know, and see where the
stuff I talk about, my music came from.

(01:01:56):
I'd be, I mean, shit, I'd be interested too, honestly.
Yeah, see him and Shit interviewhim just because I can only
imagine the type of stories he has.
But he's still like Heavy in it.We normally don't do people who
are like Heavy. Oh yeah, yeah, just.
You know. He would have to be clean to
come on. Clean ish.

(01:02:17):
OK, something at least a time thing.
Yeah, I mean. Yeah, California sober or
something, like, OK, because, you know, now you know where I'm
at and we got equipment. Yeah, what is California sober,
exactly? People will like drink once in a
while and like smoke weed once in a while, but they quit like

(01:02:37):
the meth or they quit the heroinor they quit the cocaine or they
quit the fucking whatever. That's that's like my boy Ozzy.
He Ozzy. Ah fuck, Nah, he he smokes weed
or drinks or whatever, but he don't do none of that.
You know he's being a responsible dad, you know?
Demi Lovato, like really startedit.
She came out and announced that she was California sober.

(01:02:58):
And I remember at the time, I think I had like 2 years and I
was raised around like old timers who like taught me the,
you know, the right way to do things.
And I was like, what the fuck are you talking about?
California sober? But again, now that my mom's
passed, it's like, I wish she was California sober because
she'd still be here, you know? So yeah, that's, that's what

(01:03:23):
that is. Do you have a message you would
like to deliver to anyone out there who's still struggling,
going through it, wants to get clean, they can't anything like
that? Well, I just suggest that you

(01:03:44):
give it a chance because really once I just took that idea and
was like, I got forever to get high.
You know, I could get high whenever I want.
Let me just see what it's like to be clean and actually give
real life, like talking about like building your credit,
getting a house, you know, getting a vehicle, taking care
of something, being financially stable.

(01:04:05):
Give that a chance, you know, and then if you figure out like,
oh, whatever, you know, I don't like this, I can't do it or
whatever, always go back. You can go back to get in high,
you know. So once I gave it a real shot
and I seen how successful I can be and like taking care of
myself, I'm like, I like this. I feel way more comfortable
doing this then that little highyou get for like just a little

(01:04:25):
bit and you're high and then that shit goes away and like,
oh, you're sick. Most of the time when you're
getting high, you're sick, you're in jail.
You're you're, you're trying to,you're ripping people off, you
know, like just give it a chance, You know, try to listen
to some music. Those I know there's a lot of
artists out there that are, you know, struggling with addiction

(01:04:47):
and stuff too. People need to hear your
message, man. I like sharing that message
through my music. Got some recovery songs, man.
Please, just, you know, give it a shot.
You know? I want to be a shining beacon of
hope for my community and give back to people, you know what
I'm saying? It's great.
And then and a city like Detroit, which is, I mean, I

(01:05:07):
don't know how it is nowadays, but you know, it does come with
a stigma. Obviously Detroit, it's rough,
right? That at least that's people who
don't come from there. I'm speaking for myself, you
know, like to me when I hear Detroit, I think like, it's
fucking rough. It's rough out there.
And so for you to really like show people there's a better way

(01:05:29):
to live in that area is super fucking dope.
Yeah, for sure. I drive around and I pass out
free T-shirts and water and socks and stuff to all the
addicts that are still struggling right now, and they
know who I am, they're familiar with it.
You're Johnny Germany. You know, when I drive down
there, I used to sleep in a bandon Seven in Bandyk, and all the

(01:05:49):
guys down there still know me and stuff.
So I like to show them that you can actually change.
Any of those dudes still there from when you were sleeping down
in the bandos and shit? Same as I'm sure they are, I'm
not letting. Them run into any of them.
I mean a couple of them I have passing out shirts and stuff.
Just one or two, but such a chaotic life.

(01:06:10):
They're everywhere, you know, you could be anywhere.
They could be in another state, get in there or something.
But to what you said, Detroit, you know, is pretty rough.
But after, like, being there, you know, kind of feels like
home. Yeah.
You know, so I feel comfortable you.
Get it? Yeah.
You know the city. Yeah, thinking of another state
in my head though, like LA or something where it's dangerous.
I'm sure it's like just as dangerous.
Detroit, LA, Chicago, New York, they're all like their same, you

(01:06:33):
know, it can get crazy, but think about the other ones.
It just sounds crazy because it's something the unknown as a
motherfucker. Well, I mean, Columbus, dude,
there's parts Columbus that are fucked up.
Oh, I seen it being here. Bad bad.
Like the West side, specificallythe Hilltop.
The east side is, well, they're gentrifying it now, but it used

(01:06:53):
to be fucking terrible. So I think it's probably an
everywhere thing, not just, you know, Detroit or Chicago or
whatever. Dude, I appreciate you coming
on, man. For sure.
Hell of a story if you want to plug your music one more time
before you sign. Off Johnny Germany, that's
JOHNNYJERMANI. I'm with a group called the

(01:07:18):
Cipher Society. We do ciphers every two weeks.
We got a lot of dope artists that are in our catalog and we
we we're we're really like blowing up right now.
Go follow us on Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, you know
what, whatever. And then shout out to like O
Z100 and junior junior, the demigod.

(01:07:42):
We got a lot of dope people working with us right now.
Shout out to Danny G beats yeah,check out my videos.
Johnny Germany switched on me asone of my dope ones.
Yeah, that's about it. Right on.
Thanks for coming out man. We appreciate it.
Yeah, for sure. All right, All right, cool.