March 14, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of Give It Your All, we dive into the world of music, artistry, and innovation with James H. Scruggs III, better known as "Trip." A masterful instrumentalist, music producer, clinical instructor, and fashion designer, Trip shares his journey from early childhood drumming to composing for major brands like Tyler Perry Studios and McDonald’s. We explore his creative process, the influence of his cultural roots, and how he balances his many talents while staying true to his passion. Whether you're a musician, an artist, or someone looking for inspiration to push your own boundaries, this conversation is packed with insight and motivation. Tune in and be inspired!
Give It Your All Podcast
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Episode Transcript
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(00:03):
Welcome to give it your all, thepodcast where we dive deep into
life's biggest challenges andvictories through a biblical
lens. I'm your host, DarylBaptist junior, and I'm excited
to introduce to you a friend, abrother, somebody I just admire
pretty much a lot of most of mylife. His name is uh, James H
Scruggs, the thirdaffectionately known as trip.
He's a multi facetedinstrumentalist whose talent
(00:25):
span drumming, music production,clinical instruction and fashion
design. Born in the vibrantheart of West Palm Beach,
Florida, and raised in theculturally rich city of Riviera
beach. Trip is the proud son ofthe late James Scruggs, JR And
Gwendolyn Gatlin. Scruggs, froman early age. It was clear that
music ran through his veins. Infact, he began his musical
journey at just one year old,perhaps even sooner, showing an
(00:48):
innate gift that would blossominto an extraordinary career
through his artistic journey.
Is it that verse as it isimpressive, he has worked with a
remarkable roster of talents,including Jan Dan E, blue V,
Michael McKay and the legendaryquartet group the new Christian
airs earning accolades for hisinnovative approach to music
(01:10):
production and performance. Hisskills have also been tap taped
by global brands and notableproductions composing music for
Tyler, Perry studios, McDonald'sand other esteemed
organizations, showcasing hisability to create impactful
sounds that resonate acrossaudiences beyond music trips
creativity extends to fashiondesign, where his unique vision
(01:32):
reflects his dynamic personalityand deep artistic roots. A proud
member of the esteemed Omega scifi Fraternity, Incorporated trip
carries the values ofleadership, excellence and
service into every endeavor. Hispassion for uplifting others and
pushing the boundaries of hiscraft continues to make him a
standout figure in the arts andbeyond. Welcome to the show. My
(01:52):
brother James, oh, man, Iappreciate you, brother, thanks
for having me. Man, it's been along time coming. Man, we're
trying to do this for a minute,bro, so I'm glad we can finally
catch up, man, and get in here.
Yeah. Yes, sir. Man, I thank youso much for coming. Man, you got
James. I met him back in middleschool at the mighty Roosevelt,
Roosevelt Middle School. Andfrom that age, you know, I was
(02:14):
always, well, not even always.
At that age, I was trash and buthey, but I definitely, I
definitely worked my stripes andworked it up.
I became a decent musician atthe at the peak of my career,
decent musician, to say theleast. However, James has
definitely been always one ofthe ones that inspired me,
(02:36):
because he's just naturallygifted. Some people just
naturally have it. I'm sure hecould teach me everything he
does, and I'm sure I'll be ableto learn and play, but I ain't
the one coming up with it. So,so that's that, but he's, he's
just an amazing brother. Man, Ijust watched his journey. Just
proud to be able to just call onhim and just us to connect over
the years, man, so just anyway,I just wanted to introduce the
(02:58):
crowd, the audience, to you,bro, yeah, I appreciate you,
bro. Man, and definitely I'mproud of you. Man, proud of
everything you're doing in thecommunity. Man, helping the
helping the adolescents. Man, alittle, a little tights. Man,
start their careers and drumsand the music. Man, and then
everything else you're doing,bro, for sure, your
philanthropy, your philanthropy,everything you're doing, the
comedian. Man, it's absolutelygreat. I mean, you're helping.
(03:19):
So yeah, man, kudos to you, bro.
I'm proud of you. I'm proud toknow you, proud to be your
brother, proud to be connectedto you, man, and so, Yo, bro,
yeah. Man, from your heart forsure. Man, that's awesome. Man,
alright. Man, let's get let'sget right into this stuff. Man,
so who has been the significantspiritual influence that have
they impacted your journey?
Significant spiritual influence,of course, God, of course.
(03:44):
But as far as my spiritualinfluence, I guess I can go,
I can go to some recentinfluences, some guys that I've
been that I've been reallyhoning into and talking to, and
been trying to hone some thingsafter I really been into the,
you know, African Americanhistory space lately, and then
(04:05):
really honestly diving intomyself, you know, finding out
who I understood as a melon anddominant King, right? And even
as an empath. So I would say DrJohn Herman Clark
is one. Dr Joseph Ben Buchannanis another.
So those two are very, veryinstrumental in, you know,
African philosophy, the originsof, you know, where we come
(04:27):
from, you know, just thepractices of, you know, yoga and
meditation and things of thatsort. You know, from what we eat
to how we do things to ourmentalities. You know, our brain
function, our brainsinfrastructure, our heart
infrastructure. You know, oursouls infrastructure. So
then, of course, you know,growing up and growing up in
church, I've had some some somedifferent figures who I've had,
(04:51):
have a couple couple guys whoI've who I've looked up to,
Doctor, Doctor John Gunns. He'sin Jacksonville, Doctor Rudolph
and kiss.
Is at the Bethel Baptistinstitutional church in
Jacksonville. He's also esteemedbrother of mine, of omega. So
those are, those are some. Thoseare some, some ones who I've
(05:12):
really, really honed into andreally, really, honestly,
like, really wrapped, wrapped mywrap my mind around, but Joseph
Ben Bucha and Dr Clark are twooh and Anthony T Browder as
well. He's also a best sellingauthor the Browder files. Now,
valley, civilization, all ofthose different kinds of things
(05:33):
are very, very they're veryinterested, and they're very
important to me. I'm goinggetting back to the basics and
the basis of who I am as a as ablack man, you know, not just a
man, but as a black and blackman, right? And understanding
why, you know, some of thethings are the way they are. So
if that answers your question,brother, oh, yeah, most
definitely. Man, that was great.
Man, it's awesome to see thatyou have such an array of
influences that just affect yourspiritual journey, you know,
(05:56):
just making you a better personoverall. So that that's awesome,
because it definitely emulatesfrom you. So, you know, it's
good to hear that. You know, somany heavy hitters was able to
pour into you, directly andindirectly. So that's amazing,
bro, yes, sir. Alright, so tellus about the moment or time when
God called you to step into yourpurpose. Then how did you
(06:18):
respond? Whoo, man, um,it's a couple of different, it's
a few did, a few differentscenarios where I'll talk about,
uh, get into one, okay, um, oneI'd say
was I came, I came home, I thinkright after, right after, my
(06:39):
purposes. First of all, I saidmy purpose is, my purpose is, is
healing, honestly, right? And soI think I'm a, I'm a, I'm a
light worker. So I do a lot ofdifferent things. I'm a master
of a lot of different things.
And so it's just like, you know,trying to juggle all of those
things.
But I'm a light worker innature. And so anywhere I go,
(07:02):
illuminate a little bit, andanywhere I go, I, you know, I
just, I didn't embrace that atfirst. I didn't embrace that,
you know, that mentality atfirst. But now I do any
different space I go in, it'slike, I automatically lift it
up, like, no matter where, nomatter where it is, right? So I
think that's been, that's been,that's been my purpose. So I can
go back to a scenario back inback then. Not a lot of people
(07:23):
know this, bro. So I'm gonnagive you a couple scenarios that
I haven't even talked about toanybody. You're getting, like
the first, like, give it all ofgetting the first, the first it
is. So, 2020what year to COVID hit? I'm not
sure. What? 2020 2020, 20 at theright I was in LA, uh, just had,
you know, put a, put a depositon my, on my apartment, um, I
(07:46):
was getting ready to move outthere, you know, I was ready
build my connections. Got thingsgoing, um, you know, just, you
know, just out there. Was outthere for the past few months,
you know, just building, justbuilding my connections,
building my network, just tomake sure when I got there I
was, I was okay. I fell on somekind of, some kind of cushion,
um, the day that I got ready tomove in and pay my deposit, and
everything did, did all thesethings. Um,
(08:10):
next thing, you know, everybodygets an alert over the shutdown.
I mean, COVID is shut down. Thewhole world, everything is shut
down. And LAwas when the first cases had
came out. So then it was like,dang, how can I get out of LA,
how can I, you know, what am Isupposed to do? You know, what
am I supposed to do next? Whatam I supposed to Yo, you know, I
was sitting in my god sisters,um, sitting in my god sisters,
(08:32):
uh, apartment at the time.
Shaquille shout out to her. Ilove her. Okay, yeah, yeah,
yeah, I was, I was sitting in mygosh, this department at the
time, and we was just sittingthere, like, Yo, like,
what is going on, you know,like, what are you going to do?
Like, what am I going to do?
Like, I'm talking about, bro,it's one of the most depressing,
probably next two days in mylife, bro. So, um, flights
(08:55):
weren't going into Houston. Iwas living in, living in Houston
at the time, literally packed upall my stuff, put my stuff in
storage, you know, just gettingready to send out, send most of
my stuff, you know, ship my car,all that stuff, everything. And
soI was like, that was the purpose
in this, you know, like,there's, there's something that
you're trying to, you know,that's something that you're
(09:15):
trying to tell me, not knowingthat, you know, he was going to
send me home for a while to andmy purpose was to heal from my
dad's death, bro. And it was, itwas it was it was a really,
really tough time. I was areally intricate time, really
complicated time for me, um, areally tender time for me. Um,
and so it didn't make sense atthe time, but now it definitely
(09:37):
does make sense. And it wasn't,you know, it wasn't. It wasn't
really, honestly, it wasn'thonestly the time so me coming
home, and that was the purposeof being me starting to work
with, work with kids a lot morewhen I first stopped gotten I
wasn't only in the classroom fora year when I graduated school
in Houston, and I just like,Nah, I can't. I don't want to, I
don't want to get back in theclassroom. I want to work with
(09:57):
no kids. And, you know.
Whatever, whatever. So I askedGod to, you know, kind of, you
know, give me a give me a way,give me a maze. And so, not
knowing that my purpose was, mypurpose was always, I've always
had a heart for young men. I'vealways had a heart for young
men. I've always had a heart forum, so I came home and I had to
heal from bad death, and thengoing into how my dad affected
(10:20):
me, I know I had to affectsomeone else. I know I had to
affect another young man. Sothat was, I knew my purpose was
mentoring. That was, like, oneof my biggest life's works is
mentoring is, you know, beingthere for, you know, my little
cousins, you know, just kids inthe community, if I see, you
know young men not doingsomething
(10:41):
in a respectful way, or doingsomething within protocol or
within bounds. And sometimessome of these kids and some of
these young men are justhonestly misguided. They're not
bad kids. They're not badchildren. They don't have bad
hearts. They just honestlymisguided, and they only do
exactly what they see. So justto go back to my purpose is
being a light worker, bro, mypurpose is is a healer. And I
heal through a lot of differentthings. I heal through music, I
(11:03):
heal through food, I healthrough fashion, right? I heal
through, you know, just justpresence, just my presence. I
heal through, you know, mypresence. Why? Because I create
such an innate and I create suchI foster such a positive,
frequent environment for myselfto where nobody, no matter where
I walk, it'll turn positivewherever I am. So I think that's
my, that's my, that's my, that'smy life's purpose. That's my
(11:26):
life's purpose. No, that'sawesome. Man, that's awesome.
Man, I'm glad that you're ableto to shine the light so people
can be encouraged and uplifted.
You know, because it's a darktime, the dark world we're in,
soany amount of light definitely
helps, and it gives hope. Andthat's the most important thing
to, you know, give people just adifferent outlet. Like, hold on.
It doesn't have to be like this,you know.
(11:49):
So that's great. Man, I'm gladyou you're out there walking and
walking in purpose. Yeah, that'sit. That's it. Man, alright, so
what is your favorite Bibleverse or passage that helps you
stay encouraged duringchallenging times. Then how do
you put that in action? FavoriteBible verse. Favorite
Bible verse would be secondTimothy. He was the second
(12:12):
chapter,third to fifth verse, when, when
Paul told Timothy to him do ahardness, my good soldier and
pretty much what that means,what that means to me is
we should.
(12:32):
We should not allow ourselves tobecome easily discouraged
in tumult, right or in atumultuous situation. We should
not. And so it means we are, weshould always, we should be
prepared for conflict at alltimes of the day. You know,
it'll happen in the week.
Sometimes it'll happen in weare, in the morning, late in the
night. You know, it just meansthat we should not, we should
(12:52):
never back down, you know, fromany threat that is meant to,
that is meant to resist againstus. Because resistance is good,
right? Resistance is, you know,resistance is amazing. It's just
like being, being in a gym, youknow, if you're lifting the same
amount of weight, you know,every week, right? And there's
no, there's no push, there's noresistance against you, you
(13:13):
know, then are you reallygetting stronger? Are you really
building callous, right? Are youreally, you know, if you're
really lifting, you know, if youdon't have the calluses on it in
the middle of your hand, youknow I'm saying, Oh, the middle
of your palm, are you really,are you really lifting? Are you
really doing anything? You knowwhat I'm saying? So that's that,
that would be, that would be oneof my, one of my favorite verses
right now, that I can definitelygo to when it comes to a lot of
(13:35):
different things and a lot ofdifferent situations and
conflicts and discrepancies thatarise in entrepreneurial life
and even in in life itself, noteven in a certain sector. But
that's my favorite one. That'sthe one imma go to No. That's
great, man, like you said, youknow you can't get discouraged
because that. You know thatresistance just produces
(13:56):
character. You know what I mean?
It just blows you up into whoyou were meant to be, because
without no pain, ain't no gain.
You know what? I gotta, gotta gothrough something. This
guy go through some. Gotta gothrough something and get
something. Got to bro, it ain'tif it just give me you don't
(14:16):
even appreciate it. So it's noteven like his years for real,
just some, yeah, you know, justsomething versus what you got
from what you've been through.
Yeah, no, no, you I tell people,I tell people. I tell people all
the time. Man, it's a, it's a,it's a very, very, it's a very
encouraging thing, man, to toactually visualize yourself
coming out of a coming out of adark space, you know, coming out
(14:36):
of a chamber of darkness into alight space and seeing a light
window, or even visualizingyourself, you know, walking into
a patch of wood, you know,strictly naked, but coming out
fully clothed and full Come on.
You know what I'm saying? It's adifferent kind of feeling. It's
a different kind of thing, man,once you do that on your own,
the solitude part about it, youknow I'm saying solitude. Not a
(14:59):
lot of people don't.
Then that solitude and beingalone is is actually healthy for
you. I'm saying a lot of youknow, but that that's another,
that's another, that's anotherday, yeah, Brian trying to get
on the airmen and be, you know,but man, that's a lot of, that's
a lot of what, you know, that'sa lot of what our African
American men are suffering withman now. And so I think that's a
it, you know, yeah, that's adifferent conversation for a
(15:21):
different day. But, you know,yeah, man, that that's, you
know, yeah. No, we go, we willbreak it back. Oh, we, can we
could? We could dissect that alittle more. You know, the
people definitely need to hearthat for the show. So, for sure,
for sure. Thank you, man. So howdo you navigate moments of doubt
or questioning in yourrelationship with God, oh man,
moments of doubt.
(15:41):
A real big moment of doubt. Ihad was back in was back on
September 24 2009 I think youremember this day, very, very
difficult. You should, I don'tthink you do. No, I know what
they're talking about. Okay,yeah, that, that day, that
whole, that whole,that whole day, or that whole,
that whole time, that time, thatwhole, you know, those that two
(16:06):
years that I was, that I wasgoing through, what I was, you
know, what I was going throughfrom like ninth grade to ninth
grade to maybe, like 11th gradewithout everything first started
In like seventh grade with mydad. So I really, really, I
I really, really, I doubted God,bro, when my dad, my dad, passed
(16:30):
away. Man, my dad left me. Mydad left here. Man,
I really doubted God. Bro, I wasreally, I was upset with him,
bro, like, and I'd betransparent, bro, I was upset to
the point where, you know, I wascutting God out every day, bro,
like, like he was one of theboys. Like, I was like, like,
why would you do this? Why wouldyou take my father? You know, a
(16:51):
father who was so present, afather who was, you know, my
daddy. My daddy was there. I cancall on I can see him. I can
touch him. Every day, you know,like, how could you do this?
Like, how could you do this?
Like, there's so many otherfathers. You could've took away
that ain't present, that ain'tdoing nothing, that ain't, you
know, I'm saying, like, there'sso many of them, but you chose
this one.
(17:15):
Why this one? Right? And I thinkat that point it was a it was a
lot for me, bro, it was a lot.
At first. I think I was okay. Ithink I was just so numb to the
whole thing. Think I was just somuch so, so much so being
strong, being strong for thefamily, being strong for my mom
and being strong for my sister,is that I never really, you
know, I doubt it, but I neverreally had a chance to really
(17:38):
honestly, you know, like, figurethat out. And so I dealt with
that, bro, um, I just needed to,I just needed to know. I just
needed God to give me a signthat my dad was, that my dad was
around. And I think I would, Iwould, I would, like, I just
needed to know that my dad was,was present with me. He was
here, like, I know he was, youknow, over time. That's all I
(18:00):
really, honestly wanted. I justwanted to know that my dad was
present. I just wanted to knowthat he was, you know, over my
shoulder, he was with me, thathe was walking with me, that he
was, you know, andI think I didn't that.
That didn't change until aboutfour years ago, when I went
hunting without my dad for thefirst time.
(18:22):
And I ended up, you know, Iended up getting my first, my
first kill without my dad, like,without my dad, and I didn't go
hunting for 12 years prior tothat. Oh, wow, right, so, like,
the day he the day he got sick,like, I'll never forget it, the
year he got sick. He got sickactually, in Georgia hunting, he
wasn't feeling good, which Ifind it funny.
(18:46):
And, yeah, I really, Iquestioned God for years, and
I was just like, man, like,I just don't feel like, I just
don't feel like he's he's like,he exists anymore, simply
because he's not physicallyhere, and that could, that could
have been the furthest from thetruth. My dad lives within me.
He's alive and well, for sure,um, just not physically, right?
(19:09):
He's just not physically, uh,you know, here on Earth, but
he's always around. He's alwayswith me. So I think that was the
point where I really, reallydoubted God, and I questioned
God, you know, like, hey. Like,really? And even now, sometimes
in my career, like, you know, Iquestion God. Sometimes now,
like, God, man, hey, man, whyyou got me going a long way
around,right? Right? Like, dang, why I
(19:31):
gotta like, Why do I have to,like, Why do I have to take the
scenic route around, like, youknow, and it's easy to get it's
easy to get discouraged,especially in this music game,
and it's music industry, I tellpeople, you have to have because
there's so many people who are.
You never know what people aredoing to get opportunities. You
never know what people are. Youknow. I'm saying what people are
doing behind closed doors. Youget opportunities. What kind of
(19:52):
you know, places they're going,what kind of you know? You never
know you know. And so I think,you know, I thank God that I've
had the I've had the heart, andI've had the world with.
Are to honestly, stay strong andstay true and stay true. I'm
sorry to you know what it is toto my integrity, who it is that
I am, you know, I'm humble, I'mhumidity, humility with dignity
and humbleness with pride is, issomething that I always, you
(20:13):
know, I take that I takehonestly to heart, that I take
to heart. And so that is, uh,yeah, man, um, that's one of the
things that I think that's,that's, that's how I navigated
my moment, just honestly facingit, right? That's how I navigate
those moments, uh, facing themhead on, not running away from
it. There's a poem, uh, see itthrough, by Edgar alla. Guess,
(20:33):
you know I'm saying, um, runningfrom it will not save you, yeah,
you have to see it through,right? And so that's, that's how
I get, that's how I get throughit. Um, second, Timothy, second
chapter, three and five, threethrough five, and that poem, see
you through.
Wow, that's amazing, bro,just embracing it, man, taking
(20:54):
it, face on. Man, that's, yeah,that's good, man. That's because
a lot of people are scared. So II hope, I hope someone that's
listening today is able to tofind comfort in that, find
encouragement in that. So whenthey facing something, hey,
listen, sometimes running. Youknow, it just takes you years.
You know, the Israelites, theysay they was in the wilderness
for 40 years, but God only meantfor it to be a few weeks. You
(21:17):
know what? I'm absolutely,absolutely, absolutely. God
always promises the storm. Hedidn't tell us how long a
window, right, right? Hispromise. He said, Oh, James
saying, oh, considering all joy,yeah. So
he's just covered it's coming.
The storm is going to come andimma say it that one more time,
just so they can get that. Godalways promised us the storm. He
(21:38):
just didn't tell us when or howlong.
Wow, man. So that seems like anice transition. So when, how do
you stay calm and balanced andeverything?
I'll say this. I'll say this.
And if you want me to expoundmore, and you say expound more,
(21:59):
I don't walk with peace. Peacewalks with me.
I say thatas you walk, as you, as people,
go through journeys, journeysand as people, as we, as I go as
I even still go through, gothrough things today. There are
still things on a daily thatthat can make me go off left
(22:22):
field, that can make you jumpoff a cliff, especially being
business owners, bro, youalready know what it is being a
bit bro. Come on, bro, being abusiness owner reports,
tax reports, you know a lot ofdifferent things, the different
rigors within a business, whilealso trying to catapult and
(22:42):
while also trying to, you know,get into where you're trying to
get a lot of differentopportunities coming at one at
one time. You know, differentthings are coming at one time.
You still wanting to be at acertain level yourself,
wondering why you're not there.
You know, it's just a whole lotof moving targets and a whole
lot of moving parts, I mean, andit's all about,
(23:03):
but at some point you have tobring yourself up under a barn
ex objection, right? And I thinkeven in 30 seconds, you know,
although I do have a I have awellness hour in the morning,
and that's a four hour four hourband, a four hour
wellness band, and I call it,and that's where I get my peace
for the day, and that's how Istay calm for the day. And if I
(23:23):
don't do it, my bodyautomatically fills me out of
out of balance, like I'mautomatically out of, you know?
That's why I always set thattime aside, yeah, some kind of
degree to kind of get myself ina poise, in a poised place,
right? I call it driving a peaceplane. I'm the pilot to my peace
point, right? And that's just,that's just what that is, and
(23:45):
that's a part of me. You know,starting my engine and start my
propeller in the morning, right?
Is that Wellness Hour? And soyou have to, it's not easy all
the time.
I will not say that it's noteasy all the time, because even
to the most peaceful person likemyself, um, who stays calm no
matter what, through anything.
Like, I'm always the one like,Hey, man. Chill like I can see a
(24:07):
house and burn it right next tome. And I can be like, hey,
like, bro, like, like, thing wegonna, we gonna move, but chill
like we all right. Like, youain't inside are you?
You know, I'm saying like and soI just have a I just have a
sense of just staying poised andstaying just cool, calm and
(24:27):
collected. And I think being inband
has, has, has, you know, hasshown me that just being in
different organizations ishave taught me that to be
poised, especially being in acollege band that Beth, right?
Experience? Yeah, that was anexperience, bro. So if you got
(24:48):
to stay cool, gotta stay calm,gotta stay collected. It's, you
know, it's very, very important.
And staying cool and stayingcalm and staying collected can
get you opportunities like it'llget you out.
Opportunities that that being,you know, being a high head
won't get you come on, you knowwhat I'm saying. So don't always
(25:09):
react. You know, always. I callit reactive versus being
proactive. 99% versus the 1% bethe 1% not the 99 right, right,
right, right.
So be, proactive, not reactive,right? Cuz sometimes that person
within them 30 seconds cancorrect themselves, right,
right, right? But because, youknow already went off, you don't
know you've already, come on,come on, that person is growing
(25:30):
up.
You know, you've already putyourself in a place of or in a
box of toxicity, and now nobodywants to do it, yeah, that's why
that's, you know, that's just anaction that scripture that talks
about, you know, repaypretty much that evil with
kindness. Um,just because it's, it does so
much more. Because, like yousaid, one and within 30 seconds
(25:52):
or so, you know, the personcould just turn around and
change their heart, or even twoat the end of the day, the fact
that you don't respond the waythey expected you to respond. I
do believe on the spirit willwork on their hearts, that even
that evening be like, hey, youknow you was wrong for that. You
know what I mean, and and helpreally set the trajectory. But
like you said, if they wouldhave responded in that, that 99
(26:13):
way, no lesson would ever beenlearned for that agitator. You
know for sure, absolutely,absolutely.
That's awesome, man. So lastquestion for today, can you
share an example of how Godturned a failure or setback into
something good in your life? Ikind of failure setback. Failure
(26:35):
setback, man,we can go to this is, this is a
good one. We can go to a lot ofI can go to maybe shoot this
last week. Actually, this hunttrip was a, wasn't necessarily a
failure. I decided I had asetback. But that was, you know,
and ended up being, it was like,okay, but this year, this
hunting season,is, I'm a hunter, by the way,
(27:00):
guys, everything outdoors,hunting, fishing, also plant and
agriculture, agriculture worldas well. So you know, all of
those things I kind of do, buthunting this past week was, this
has been one of the mostchallenging hunting season yet.
Like I hunted for five days. Andreally, I would, really didn't
(27:24):
see anythinglike for five days, and it felt
like I was, it felt like I wasjust out there, just, you know,
felt like I went up, I went upto, went up to Georgia for
absolutely no reason. It's whatit what it really, honestly felt
like my brother didn't, went upthere and killed and hit two
deer, and, you know, he washarvested, I won't say, kill,
(27:47):
harvested two deer.
And I was just like, Man, oh,you know what? This This isn't,
you know, this isn't purposefulfor me. I don't think this is,
this ain't even the year I hadalready got in my mind, like,
Hey, I ain't gonna so one day Igot in, I it was Friday. Friday
(28:08):
I got it, I figured out howsmart they were. Out I was
getting out smart about someanimals, right? That's the worst
feeling in the world. It's theworst feeling in the world
getting out smart about someanimals. I'm like, Man, I'm
getting all smarted. So I caughtmyself trying to get up, trying
to go, get to the spot a littleearly. As soon as I get out this
spot, get into the spot, stepdown on the on the grass with my
(28:29):
boot. And soon as I stepped downand broke a branch, three big
old head had just look up at meand get out the way and move.
I'm just like, oh my lord, no Iwas like, No way. I was like,
No.
I was like, No way. Yo, no way.
So the next morning, oh, so thatthat afternoon, went to, went to
(28:54):
the store, going to grab somedifferent things that we needed
just kind of put out. So thenext morning, get up early,
pulling out my campsite, andsoon as i veer out to the right,
about 40 yards down the road, Isee the biggest, one of the
biggest eight points I've everseen, eight point bucks. We're
talking about deer, not guys,one of the biggest eight point
(29:16):
bucks I've ever seen in thatarea. He looks up at me in the
streetand just dashes back in the
wood. I was like, Oh my Lord,this gotta be like, Nah,
something just has to somethinghas to give Right, right. Next
day, I get up early, get up, getback into a different spot. And
(29:37):
so, lo and behold, about 745,a bigger, 8.8 pointer walked
out, harvested him,yes, sir, got him. Then right
after that, the morning afterended up getting another you.
(30:00):
Wow.
So it was like within and thenit could have had a third, but,
hey, but it just goes to show,setbacks and plans aren't always
yours.
They aren't always yours. Godalways has a plan. Um, the
Almighty always has a plan foryou, like it's already
(30:23):
written, just can't give up,huh? You just cannot give up.
You just cannot give up. I caneven go back to my dad passing
away, also being a setback in mylife. I could have easily blamed
that for not doing anything. Icould have easily blamed that
for, you know, not fulfilling mydreams, or not doing things, or
not, you know, although I neededthat time to really honestly
(30:44):
heal, like I took four or fiveyears to to heal. Like I'm just
finishing peeling off of that.
So yeah, like, I see this, y'allget you getting real, real
exclusive stuff. So, like, I ittook, it took about three to
five years, man, for me tohonestly, be able to heal from
that man. And what I thought wasthe setback was really,
(31:05):
honestly, time that I really,that I really needed. I didn't
want to, I didn't want to be oneof those guys, you know, playing
the drums in front of 30, 40,000people and then walking off the
stage and, you know, wanting tocommit suicide, right? Although
it's important, I didn't want tobe one. I didn't, I didn't want
to be even in that headspace. Ididn't want to be there. And I,
you know, mental health isanother discussion that we can
(31:27):
have. It's very, very important.
It's very especially in AfricanAmerican, African American men,
we deal with it. We deal with ita lot, and something that needs
to be talked about, or somethingthat needs to be that needs to
be dealt with. You know, therapyis also another discussion that
needs to be, also be dealt with.
Um, and so, setbacks, setbacks,you know, reality of it is the
setbacks cause suicides, bro,yeah, yeah, yeah, right. That's
(31:50):
the reality. That's the realityof it, setbacks cause suicide.
And we don't talk about that. Wedon't talk about it enough. We
don't get deep enough with it.
There's not enough AfricanAmerican diaspora or even men
discussion groups about it. Um,maybe that's something that we
can discuss out the podcast,bro. Um, but, you know, that's
(32:10):
not enough. There's not enoughof these resources and or
gateways, you know, for, youknow, because there's a lot of
people that want to havediscussions. There's a lot of
men that want to havediscussion, healthy discussion,
yeah. And I want to be able tolay everything out on the table
without feeling judged, orwithout feeling, you know, I'm
saying heavy hearted, or, youknow, Ill willed, you know, or
(32:31):
feeling like they're heavy, orthey're burdened upon the group,
you understand. So I just think,um Yeah. That's, um Yeah. That's
a, I would say that's a, that'sa setback. That's bad, that he's
that he's definitely like aBrahm, I'm at peace, man,
honestly, I'm at peace.
Sometimes grief comes to thepoint where I don't know how
grief is going to come and Idon't know how it's going to
rear itself. The actions and thegestures and the mannerisms
(32:53):
surrounded with grief doesn'tmean that you're still hurting.
It just means that you're thatyou found peace to a point where
you can actually, you know,show some kind of positive
emotion, and crying. And cryingis a positive emotion, yeah,
it's a happy emotion. You know,at times it can be a happy
emotion. Doesn't have to alwaysbe sad, you know, or toxicity
induced all the time, right? Andso, yeah, that's, uh, that's
(33:16):
what I would say has been a, youknow, been a setback this last
little Tuesday or Wednesday andmy different trip was a little
setback that ended up being, youknow, that ended up turning out
to be a cooler full of coolerfull of dip. Yes, sir, you know.
You know. You know what I'msaying. So hey, man, sorry to
(33:39):
all my, you know, my animallover got there.
I'm sorry, you know, I'm sorry,but
yeah. Man, so that's what that'sthat's my setback of failure,
that it kind of turned around alittle bit. Man, that's amazing.
Man,yeah, that's a lot. Man, that's
(34:00):
a lot. Man, just overcomingstuff. Man, it just takes, you
know, it takes, it takescourage. It takes strength. It
takes a realness. Like you said,you can't, the longer you run,
the more damage is done, youknow?
And, yeah, man,we gotta, you had, you had that
already before, no man, HolySpirit,
(34:27):
long when you run, the damage isdone. What damage is done? Yes,
sir, man, because you know, sowe gotta, we gotta, you know, we
run our race, we run our stuff,but when it comes to that, you
know we gotta, like you said,you gotta, gotta face it. But
you know, when you, when you,when you encourage me, walk into
purpose, and, yeah, God, withyou, man, it's really nothing to
fear though, though it is scary,yeah, you know. And, and what I
(34:52):
love about it is, once you faceit, it's never as bad as you
thought it was going to be. You.
You know,you know, the Lord, stop saying
they bad, you know. But isusually the thought of facing
something is scarier than whenyou actually face it, right? So
absolutely, and you get thereand you be like, that was it?
(35:15):
That was it, right? Dang, I wasrunning from this, you know,
right, right. So, you know, Ifeel like that's the enemy. The
enemy is good at what he does,man, he's he plays tricks on our
minds. And unfortunately,you know, unfortunately, we fall
victim of that. And like yousaid, you know, we just don't,
you know, you we might beachieving things, but then, and
(35:37):
what do we think about rightafter everybody's clapping for
you, praising you on, liftingyou up. But deep inside you, you
got this trauma that you dealingwith that you know, you're not
even, you don't even know how tobegin to face it to a degree or
you, or most of the time, youdon't even want to face it, you
know, you just don't want it tobe that. That's what it is,
(35:58):
yeah, and that's essentially,that's essentially what it is.
And it goes back to running fromit won't save you, you know, I'm
saying like, you know, and andgoes, which is going to another
topic of, you know, therapy, youknow, mentality. You know, what
do you what is exactly you knowthat you want to, you know, what
is it that you want toaccomplish out of life, but you
want to live your life? Youknow, passing the general a
(36:18):
generational curse of toxicity,onto your kid, onto your
offspring. You understand whatI'm saying is that something
that you you know, just becauseyour mom, your Grandma, did it,
you feel like you have to do it,you know, no matter if it was
wrong. You know. You know, whichgoes back to, you know, some of
us, you know, I'm going back toa point where I've actually
forgiven, you know, my parents,you know, forgiving my mom for,
(36:40):
you know, certain things thatshe didn't know was wrong, but
just because her parents did itand her parents said it, it
automatically became right, justlike in nutrition, just like in
nutrition, bro, I'm, I'm a wholelist of nutritionist as
well, and so just like, youknow, in nutrition, like we, you
know, lard and bacon fat andbacon, greet
(37:02):
and all that. Like, man, comeon, man, like, we ain't got to
do all that. Like, yeah, it wasa time we had to, but we
exactly, there's a time we hadto, there's a time we
definitely, you know, I'msaying, because that was it was
all we, that was all we, thatwas all we, that was all we had,
and that was all we were given.
You understand what I'm saying.
And so, you know, it's and theydo. We just have to, we have to
(37:24):
stick with the same thing that'skilling us. Food is killing us
more than a gunshot everywhere,right? Every day, yeah. And so I
tell people that all the time,it just, it just kills slowly.
Just kill slowly, you know, youknow, just like at a, you know,
I'm about to deviate away fromthis, bro, just like we go to a
funeral. I was somebody who diedfrom a heart attack and then go
to the repass and eat the samekind of food that killed I
(37:44):
never, I never understood it,yeah? And I don't, I God, don't
understand it. That's likeDennis. And afterwards you they
give you candies, like,yeah, they giving the kids a lot
of coffee. You're goingto the trauma center expecting
to get well, and it's not goingto happen. Yeah, yeah. Like
you're living in the traumacenter expecting to get well,
(38:06):
can't get out of it, can't leaveyou, can't discharge yourself.
And so it's going to be, youknow, it's going to be, it's
going to be hell, you know, it'sgoing to be that. It's going to
be exactly that. So, yeah, man,yeah, that's good. Man, I
definitely appreciate you justcoming being vulnerable. Man,
just opening up to the people,just telling me your purpose,
man, and and what you do to staydriven, to stay motivated, and
(38:30):
how do you process a lot ofstuff. So before you go, is
there anything you would like toshare with the audience?
Not, not so much. You guysfollow me on produce by trip, P,
R, O, D, dot, D, y, dot, T, R,i, p, um, just to stay current
with, you know, some things I'mdoing. I don't post a lifestyle,
(38:50):
by the way, but I do post, like,some musical stuff. I'll be
posting some more content soon.
So, um, yeah, definitely. Um,stay in kind of stay in touch.
Um, I'll definitely be lookingforward to interacting with all
of you. Not on social media muchagain, by the way, but I get on
there enough to, kind of, youknow, interact with God. So I
guess I'll be on there enough,right? So, you know, yeah, so
(39:10):
that's about it. That's aboutit. Guys, be well, stay, well,
actually a lot for you.
Stay Daniel, hey, that'sawesome, man. I'll make sure all
his information is in the shownotes. Guys, we just thank you
again for just stopping bylistening and taking time out
your day. We hope that you wereencouraged, motivated, inspired
(39:32):
by our guest. James Tripp,Scruggs, um, again we thank you
brother for coming on today.
We just for having me, brotheranytime. Thank you for listening
to give it your all a podcastsponsored by the Spirit filled
collective. If you found thattoday's episode has been
encouraging in any way, we askthat you like, comment, share,
subscribe or follow so we cankeep giving you this valuable
(39:53):
content. Thank you.
Welcome to give it your all, thepodcast where we dive deep into
life's biggest challenges andvictories through a biblical
lens. I'm your host, DarylBaptist junior, and I'm excited
to introduce to you a friend, abrother, somebody I just admire
pretty much a lot of most of mylife. His name is uh, James H
Scruggs, the thirdaffectionately known as trip.
He's a multi facetedinstrumentalist whose talent
(00:25):
span drumming, music production,clinical instruction and fashion
design. Born in the vibrantheart of West Palm Beach,
Florida, and raised in theculturally rich city of Riviera
beach. Trip is the proud son ofthe late James Scruggs, JR And
Gwendolyn Gatlin. Scruggs, froman early age. It was clear that
music ran through his veins. Infact, he began his musical
journey at just one year old,perhaps even sooner, showing an
(00:48):
innate gift that would blossominto an extraordinary career
through his artistic journey.
Is it that verse as it isimpressive, he has worked with a
remarkable roster of talents,including Jan Dan E, blue V,
Michael McKay and the legendaryquartet group the new Christian
airs earning accolades for hisinnovative approach to music
(01:10):
production and performance. Hisskills have also been tap taped
by global brands and notableproductions composing music for
Tyler, Perry studios, McDonald'sand other esteemed
organizations, showcasing hisability to create impactful
sounds that resonate acrossaudiences beyond music trips
creativity extends to fashiondesign, where his unique vision
(01:32):
reflects his dynamic personalityand deep artistic roots. A proud
member of the esteemed Omega scifi Fraternity, Incorporated trip
carries the values ofleadership, excellence and
service into every endeavor. Hispassion for uplifting others and
pushing the boundaries of hiscraft continues to make him a
standout figure in the arts andbeyond. Welcome to the show. My
(01:52):
brother James, oh, man, Iappreciate you, brother, thanks
for having me. Man, it's been along time coming. Man, we're
trying to do this for a minute,bro, so I'm glad we can finally
catch up, man, and get in here.
Yeah. Yes, sir. Man, I thank youso much for coming. Man, you got
James. I met him back in middleschool at the mighty Roosevelt,
Roosevelt Middle School. Andfrom that age, you know, I was
(02:14):
always, well, not even always.
At that age, I was trash and buthey, but I definitely, I
definitely worked my stripes andworked it up.
I became a decent musician atthe at the peak of my career,
decent musician, to say theleast. However, James has
definitely been always one ofthe ones that inspired me,
(02:36):
because he's just naturallygifted. Some people just
naturally have it. I'm sure hecould teach me everything he
does, and I'm sure I'll be ableto learn and play, but I ain't
the one coming up with it. So,so that's that, but he's, he's
just an amazing brother. Man, Ijust watched his journey. Just
proud to be able to just call onhim and just us to connect over
the years, man, so just anyway,I just wanted to introduce the
(02:58):
crowd, the audience, to you,bro, yeah, I appreciate you,
bro. Man, and definitely I'mproud of you. Man, proud of
everything you're doing in thecommunity. Man, helping the
helping the adolescents. Man, alittle, a little tights. Man,
start their careers and drumsand the music. Man, and then
everything else you're doing,bro, for sure, your
philanthropy, your philanthropy,everything you're doing, the
comedian. Man, it's absolutelygreat. I mean, you're helping.
(03:19):
So yeah, man, kudos to you, bro.
I'm proud of you. I'm proud toknow you, proud to be your
brother, proud to be connectedto you, man, and so, Yo, bro,
yeah. Man, from your heart forsure. Man, that's awesome. Man,
alright. Man, let's get let'sget right into this stuff. Man,
so who has been the significantspiritual influence that have
they impacted your journey?
Significant spiritual influence,of course, God, of course.
(03:44):
But as far as my spiritualinfluence, I guess I can go,
I can go to some recentinfluences, some guys that I've
been that I've been reallyhoning into and talking to, and
been trying to hone some thingsafter I really been into the,
you know, African Americanhistory space lately, and then
(04:05):
really honestly diving intomyself, you know, finding out
who I understood as a melon anddominant King, right? And even
as an empath. So I would say DrJohn Herman Clark
is one. Dr Joseph Ben Buchannanis another.
So those two are very, veryinstrumental in, you know,
African philosophy, the originsof, you know, where we come
(04:27):
from, you know, just thepractices of, you know, yoga and
meditation and things of thatsort. You know, from what we eat
to how we do things to ourmentalities. You know, our brain
function, our brainsinfrastructure, our heart
infrastructure. You know, oursouls infrastructure. So
then, of course, you know,growing up and growing up in
church, I've had some some somedifferent figures who I've had,
(04:51):
have a couple couple guys whoI've who I've looked up to,
Doctor, Doctor John Gunns. He'sin Jacksonville, Doctor Rudolph
and kiss.
Is at the Bethel Baptistinstitutional church in
Jacksonville. He's also esteemedbrother of mine, of omega. So
those are, those are some. Thoseare some, some ones who I've
(05:12):
really, really honed into andreally, really, honestly,
like, really wrapped, wrapped mywrap my mind around, but Joseph
Ben Bucha and Dr Clark are twooh and Anthony T Browder as
well. He's also a best sellingauthor the Browder files. Now,
valley, civilization, all ofthose different kinds of things
(05:33):
are very, very they're veryinterested, and they're very
important to me. I'm goinggetting back to the basics and
the basis of who I am as a as ablack man, you know, not just a
man, but as a black and blackman, right? And understanding
why, you know, some of thethings are the way they are. So
if that answers your question,brother, oh, yeah, most
definitely. Man, that was great.
Man, it's awesome to see thatyou have such an array of
influences that just affect yourspiritual journey, you know,
(05:56):
just making you a better personoverall. So that that's awesome,
because it definitely emulatesfrom you. So, you know, it's
good to hear that. You know, somany heavy hitters was able to
pour into you, directly andindirectly. So that's amazing,
bro, yes, sir. Alright, so tellus about the moment or time when
God called you to step into yourpurpose. Then how did you
(06:18):
respond? Whoo, man, um,it's a couple of different, it's
a few did, a few differentscenarios where I'll talk about,
uh, get into one, okay, um, oneI'd say
was I came, I came home, I thinkright after, right after, my
(06:39):
purposes. First of all, I saidmy purpose is, my purpose is, is
healing, honestly, right? And soI think I'm a, I'm a, I'm a
light worker. So I do a lot ofdifferent things. I'm a master
of a lot of different things.
And so it's just like, you know,trying to juggle all of those
things.
But I'm a light worker innature. And so anywhere I go,
(07:02):
illuminate a little bit, andanywhere I go, I, you know, I
just, I didn't embrace that atfirst. I didn't embrace that,
you know, that mentality atfirst. But now I do any
different space I go in, it'slike, I automatically lift it
up, like, no matter where, nomatter where it is, right? So I
think that's been, that's been,that's been my purpose. So I can
go back to a scenario back inback then. Not a lot of people
(07:23):
know this, bro. So I'm gonnagive you a couple scenarios that
I haven't even talked about toanybody. You're getting, like
the first, like, give it all ofgetting the first, the first it
is. So, 2020what year to COVID hit? I'm not
sure. What? 2020 2020, 20 at theright I was in LA, uh, just had,
you know, put a, put a depositon my, on my apartment, um, I
(07:46):
was getting ready to move outthere, you know, I was ready
build my connections. Got thingsgoing, um, you know, just, you
know, just out there. Was outthere for the past few months,
you know, just building, justbuilding my connections,
building my network, just tomake sure when I got there I
was, I was okay. I fell on somekind of, some kind of cushion,
um, the day that I got ready tomove in and pay my deposit, and
everything did, did all thesethings. Um,
(08:10):
next thing, you know, everybodygets an alert over the shutdown.
I mean, COVID is shut down. Thewhole world, everything is shut
down. And LAwas when the first cases had
came out. So then it was like,dang, how can I get out of LA,
how can I, you know, what am Isupposed to do? You know, what
am I supposed to do next? Whatam I supposed to Yo, you know, I
was sitting in my god sisters,um, sitting in my god sisters,
(08:32):
uh, apartment at the time.
Shaquille shout out to her. Ilove her. Okay, yeah, yeah,
yeah, I was, I was sitting in mygosh, this department at the
time, and we was just sittingthere, like, Yo, like,
what is going on, you know,like, what are you going to do?
Like, what am I going to do?
Like, I'm talking about, bro,it's one of the most depressing,
probably next two days in mylife, bro. So, um, flights
(08:55):
weren't going into Houston. Iwas living in, living in Houston
at the time, literally packed upall my stuff, put my stuff in
storage, you know, just gettingready to send out, send most of
my stuff, you know, ship my car,all that stuff, everything. And
soI was like, that was the purpose
in this, you know, like,there's, there's something that
you're trying to, you know,that's something that you're
(09:15):
trying to tell me, not knowingthat, you know, he was going to
send me home for a while to andmy purpose was to heal from my
dad's death, bro. And it was, itwas it was it was a really,
really tough time. I was areally intricate time, really
complicated time for me, um, areally tender time for me. Um,
and so it didn't make sense atthe time, but now it definitely
(09:37):
does make sense. And it wasn't,you know, it wasn't. It wasn't
really, honestly, it wasn'thonestly the time so me coming
home, and that was the purposeof being me starting to work
with, work with kids a lot morewhen I first stopped gotten I
wasn't only in the classroom fora year when I graduated school
in Houston, and I just like,Nah, I can't. I don't want to, I
don't want to get back in theclassroom. I want to work with
(09:57):
no kids. And, you know.
Whatever, whatever. So I askedGod to, you know, kind of, you
know, give me a give me a way,give me a maze. And so, not
knowing that my purpose was, mypurpose was always, I've always
had a heart for young men. I'vealways had a heart for young
men. I've always had a heart forum, so I came home and I had to
heal from bad death, and thengoing into how my dad affected
(10:20):
me, I know I had to affectsomeone else. I know I had to
affect another young man. Sothat was, I knew my purpose was
mentoring. That was, like, oneof my biggest life's works is
mentoring is, you know, beingthere for, you know, my little
cousins, you know, just kids inthe community, if I see, you
know young men not doingsomething
(10:41):
in a respectful way, or doingsomething within protocol or
within bounds. And sometimessome of these kids and some of
these young men are justhonestly misguided. They're not
bad kids. They're not badchildren. They don't have bad
hearts. They just honestlymisguided, and they only do
exactly what they see. So justto go back to my purpose is
being a light worker, bro, mypurpose is is a healer. And I
heal through a lot of differentthings. I heal through music, I
(11:03):
heal through food, I healthrough fashion, right? I heal
through, you know, just justpresence, just my presence. I
heal through, you know, mypresence. Why? Because I create
such an innate and I create suchI foster such a positive,
frequent environment for myselfto where nobody, no matter where
I walk, it'll turn positivewherever I am. So I think that's
my, that's my, that's my, that'smy life's purpose. That's my
(11:26):
life's purpose. No, that'sawesome. Man, that's awesome.
Man, I'm glad that you're ableto to shine the light so people
can be encouraged and uplifted.
You know, because it's a darktime, the dark world we're in,
soany amount of light definitely
helps, and it gives hope. Andthat's the most important thing
to, you know, give people just adifferent outlet. Like, hold on.
It doesn't have to be like this,you know.
(11:49):
So that's great. Man, I'm gladyou you're out there walking and
walking in purpose. Yeah, that'sit. That's it. Man, alright, so
what is your favorite Bibleverse or passage that helps you
stay encouraged duringchallenging times. Then how do
you put that in action? FavoriteBible verse. Favorite
Bible verse would be secondTimothy. He was the second
(12:12):
chapter,third to fifth verse, when, when
Paul told Timothy to him do ahardness, my good soldier and
pretty much what that means,what that means to me is
we should.
(12:32):
We should not allow ourselves tobecome easily discouraged
in tumult, right or in atumultuous situation. We should
not. And so it means we are, weshould always, we should be
prepared for conflict at alltimes of the day. You know,
it'll happen in the week.
Sometimes it'll happen in weare, in the morning, late in the
night. You know, it just meansthat we should not, we should
(12:52):
never back down, you know, fromany threat that is meant to,
that is meant to resist againstus. Because resistance is good,
right? Resistance is, you know,resistance is amazing. It's just
like being, being in a gym, youknow, if you're lifting the same
amount of weight, you know,every week, right? And there's
no, there's no push, there's noresistance against you, you
(13:13):
know, then are you reallygetting stronger? Are you really
building callous, right? Are youreally, you know, if you're
really lifting, you know, if youdon't have the calluses on it in
the middle of your hand, youknow I'm saying, Oh, the middle
of your palm, are you really,are you really lifting? Are you
really doing anything? You knowwhat I'm saying? So that's that,
that would be, that would be oneof my, one of my favorite verses
right now, that I can definitelygo to when it comes to a lot of
(13:35):
different things and a lot ofdifferent situations and
conflicts and discrepancies thatarise in entrepreneurial life
and even in in life itself, noteven in a certain sector. But
that's my favorite one. That'sthe one imma go to No. That's
great, man, like you said, youknow you can't get discouraged
because that. You know thatresistance just produces
(13:56):
character. You know what I mean?
It just blows you up into whoyou were meant to be, because
without no pain, ain't no gain.
You know what? I gotta, gotta gothrough something. This
guy go through some. Gotta gothrough something and get
something. Got to bro, it ain'tif it just give me you don't
(14:16):
even appreciate it. So it's noteven like his years for real,
just some, yeah, you know, justsomething versus what you got
from what you've been through.
Yeah, no, no, you I tell people,I tell people. I tell people all
the time. Man, it's a, it's a,it's a very, very, it's a very
encouraging thing, man, to toactually visualize yourself
coming out of a coming out of adark space, you know, coming out
(14:36):
of a chamber of darkness into alight space and seeing a light
window, or even visualizingyourself, you know, walking into
a patch of wood, you know,strictly naked, but coming out
fully clothed and full Come on.
You know what I'm saying? It's adifferent kind of feeling. It's
a different kind of thing, man,once you do that on your own,
the solitude part about it, youknow I'm saying solitude. Not a
(14:59):
lot of people don't.
Then that solitude and beingalone is is actually healthy for
you. I'm saying a lot of youknow, but that that's another,
that's another, that's anotherday, yeah, Brian trying to get
on the airmen and be, you know,but man, that's a lot of, that's
a lot of what, you know, that'sa lot of what our African
American men are suffering withman now. And so I think that's a
it, you know, yeah, that's adifferent conversation for a
(15:21):
different day. But, you know,yeah, man, that that's, you
know, yeah. No, we go, we willbreak it back. Oh, we, can we
could? We could dissect that alittle more. You know, the
people definitely need to hearthat for the show. So, for sure,
for sure. Thank you, man. So howdo you navigate moments of doubt
or questioning in yourrelationship with God, oh man,
moments of doubt.
(15:41):
A real big moment of doubt. Ihad was back in was back on
September 24 2009 I think youremember this day, very, very
difficult. You should, I don'tthink you do. No, I know what
they're talking about. Okay,yeah, that, that day, that
whole, that whole,that whole day, or that whole,
that whole time, that time, thatwhole, you know, those that two
(16:06):
years that I was, that I wasgoing through, what I was, you
know, what I was going throughfrom like ninth grade to ninth
grade to maybe, like 11th gradewithout everything first started
In like seventh grade with mydad. So I really, really, I
I really, really, I doubted God,bro, when my dad, my dad, passed
(16:30):
away. Man, my dad left me. Mydad left here. Man,
I really doubted God. Bro, I wasreally, I was upset with him,
bro, like, and I'd betransparent, bro, I was upset to
the point where, you know, I wascutting God out every day, bro,
like, like he was one of theboys. Like, I was like, like,
why would you do this? Why wouldyou take my father? You know, a
(16:51):
father who was so present, afather who was, you know, my
daddy. My daddy was there. I cancall on I can see him. I can
touch him. Every day, you know,like, how could you do this?
Like, how could you do this?
Like, there's so many otherfathers. You could've took away
that ain't present, that ain'tdoing nothing, that ain't, you
know, I'm saying, like, there'sso many of them, but you chose
this one.
(17:15):
Why this one? Right? And I thinkat that point it was a it was a
lot for me, bro, it was a lot.
At first. I think I was okay. Ithink I was just so numb to the
whole thing. Think I was just somuch so, so much so being
strong, being strong for thefamily, being strong for my mom
and being strong for my sister,is that I never really, you
know, I doubt it, but I neverreally had a chance to really
(17:38):
honestly, you know, like, figurethat out. And so I dealt with
that, bro, um, I just needed to,I just needed to know. I just
needed God to give me a signthat my dad was, that my dad was
around. And I think I would, Iwould, I would, like, I just
needed to know that my dad was,was present with me. He was
here, like, I know he was, youknow, over time. That's all I
(18:00):
really, honestly wanted. I justwanted to know that my dad was
present. I just wanted to knowthat he was, you know, over my
shoulder, he was with me, thathe was walking with me, that he
was, you know, andI think I didn't that.
That didn't change until aboutfour years ago, when I went
hunting without my dad for thefirst time.
(18:22):
And I ended up, you know, Iended up getting my first, my
first kill without my dad, like,without my dad, and I didn't go
hunting for 12 years prior tothat. Oh, wow, right, so, like,
the day he the day he got sick,like, I'll never forget it, the
year he got sick. He got sickactually, in Georgia hunting, he
wasn't feeling good, which Ifind it funny.
(18:46):
And, yeah, I really, Iquestioned God for years, and
I was just like, man, like,I just don't feel like, I just
don't feel like he's he's like,he exists anymore, simply
because he's not physicallyhere, and that could, that could
have been the furthest from thetruth. My dad lives within me.
He's alive and well, for sure,um, just not physically, right?
(19:09):
He's just not physically, uh,you know, here on Earth, but
he's always around. He's alwayswith me. So I think that was the
point where I really, reallydoubted God, and I questioned
God, you know, like, hey. Like,really? And even now, sometimes
in my career, like, you know, Iquestion God. Sometimes now,
like, God, man, hey, man, whyyou got me going a long way
around,right? Right? Like, dang, why I
(19:31):
gotta like, Why do I have to,like, Why do I have to take the
scenic route around, like, youknow, and it's easy to get it's
easy to get discouraged,especially in this music game,
and it's music industry, I tellpeople, you have to have because
there's so many people who are.
You never know what people aredoing to get opportunities. You
never know what people are. Youknow. I'm saying what people are
doing behind closed doors. Youget opportunities. What kind of
(19:52):
you know, places they're going,what kind of you know? You never
know you know. And so I think,you know, I thank God that I've
had the I've had the heart, andI've had the world with.
Are to honestly, stay strong andstay true and stay true. I'm
sorry to you know what it is toto my integrity, who it is that
I am, you know, I'm humble, I'mhumidity, humility with dignity
and humbleness with pride is, issomething that I always, you
(20:13):
know, I take that I takehonestly to heart, that I take
to heart. And so that is, uh,yeah, man, um, that's one of the
things that I think that's,that's, that's how I navigated
my moment, just honestly facingit, right? That's how I navigate
those moments, uh, facing themhead on, not running away from
it. There's a poem, uh, see itthrough, by Edgar alla. Guess,
(20:33):
you know I'm saying, um, runningfrom it will not save you, yeah,
you have to see it through,right? And so that's, that's how
I get, that's how I get throughit. Um, second, Timothy, second
chapter, three and five, threethrough five, and that poem, see
you through.
Wow, that's amazing, bro,just embracing it, man, taking
(20:54):
it, face on. Man, that's, yeah,that's good, man. That's because
a lot of people are scared. So II hope, I hope someone that's
listening today is able to tofind comfort in that, find
encouragement in that. So whenthey facing something, hey,
listen, sometimes running. Youknow, it just takes you years.
You know, the Israelites, theysay they was in the wilderness
for 40 years, but God only meantfor it to be a few weeks. You
(21:17):
know what? I'm absolutely,absolutely, absolutely. God
always promises the storm. Hedidn't tell us how long a
window, right, right? Hispromise. He said, Oh, James
saying, oh, considering all joy,yeah. So
he's just covered it's coming.
The storm is going to come andimma say it that one more time,
just so they can get that. Godalways promised us the storm. He
(21:38):
just didn't tell us when or howlong.
Wow, man. So that seems like anice transition. So when, how do
you stay calm and balanced andeverything?
I'll say this. I'll say this.
And if you want me to expoundmore, and you say expound more,
(21:59):
I don't walk with peace. Peacewalks with me.
I say thatas you walk, as you, as people,
go through journeys, journeysand as people, as we, as I go as
I even still go through, gothrough things today. There are
still things on a daily thatthat can make me go off left
(22:22):
field, that can make you jumpoff a cliff, especially being
business owners, bro, youalready know what it is being a
bit bro. Come on, bro, being abusiness owner reports,
tax reports, you know a lot ofdifferent things, the different
rigors within a business, whilealso trying to catapult and
(22:42):
while also trying to, you know,get into where you're trying to
get a lot of differentopportunities coming at one at
one time. You know, differentthings are coming at one time.
You still wanting to be at acertain level yourself,
wondering why you're not there.
You know, it's just a whole lotof moving targets and a whole
lot of moving parts, I mean, andit's all about,
(23:03):
but at some point you have tobring yourself up under a barn
ex objection, right? And I thinkeven in 30 seconds, you know,
although I do have a I have awellness hour in the morning,
and that's a four hour four hourband, a four hour
wellness band, and I call it,and that's where I get my peace
for the day, and that's how Istay calm for the day. And if I
(23:23):
don't do it, my bodyautomatically fills me out of
out of balance, like I'mautomatically out of, you know?
That's why I always set thattime aside, yeah, some kind of
degree to kind of get myself ina poise, in a poised place,
right? I call it driving a peaceplane. I'm the pilot to my peace
point, right? And that's just,that's just what that is, and
(23:45):
that's a part of me. You know,starting my engine and start my
propeller in the morning, right?
Is that Wellness Hour? And soyou have to, it's not easy all
the time.
I will not say that it's noteasy all the time, because even
to the most peaceful person likemyself, um, who stays calm no
matter what, through anything.
Like, I'm always the one like,Hey, man. Chill like I can see a
(24:07):
house and burn it right next tome. And I can be like, hey,
like, bro, like, like, thing wegonna, we gonna move, but chill
like we all right. Like, youain't inside are you?
You know, I'm saying like and soI just have a I just have a
sense of just staying poised andstaying just cool, calm and
(24:27):
collected. And I think being inband
has, has, has, you know, hasshown me that just being in
different organizations ishave taught me that to be
poised, especially being in acollege band that Beth, right?
Experience? Yeah, that was anexperience, bro. So if you got
(24:48):
to stay cool, gotta stay calm,gotta stay collected. It's, you
know, it's very, very important.
And staying cool and stayingcalm and staying collected can
get you opportunities like it'llget you out.
Opportunities that that being,you know, being a high head
won't get you come on, you knowwhat I'm saying. So don't always
(25:09):
react. You know, always. I callit reactive versus being
proactive. 99% versus the 1% bethe 1% not the 99 right, right,
right, right.
So be, proactive, not reactive,right? Cuz sometimes that person
within them 30 seconds cancorrect themselves, right,
right, right? But because, youknow already went off, you don't
know you've already, come on,come on, that person is growing
(25:30):
up.
You know, you've already putyourself in a place of or in a
box of toxicity, and now nobodywants to do it, yeah, that's why
that's, you know, that's just anaction that scripture that talks
about, you know, repaypretty much that evil with
kindness. Um,just because it's, it does so
much more. Because, like yousaid, one and within 30 seconds
(25:52):
or so, you know, the personcould just turn around and
change their heart, or even twoat the end of the day, the fact
that you don't respond the waythey expected you to respond. I
do believe on the spirit willwork on their hearts, that even
that evening be like, hey, youknow you was wrong for that. You
know what I mean, and and helpreally set the trajectory. But
like you said, if they wouldhave responded in that, that 99
(26:13):
way, no lesson would ever beenlearned for that agitator. You
know for sure, absolutely,absolutely.
That's awesome, man. So lastquestion for today, can you
share an example of how Godturned a failure or setback into
something good in your life? Ikind of failure setback. Failure
(26:35):
setback, man,we can go to this is, this is a
good one. We can go to a lot ofI can go to maybe shoot this
last week. Actually, this hunttrip was a, wasn't necessarily a
failure. I decided I had asetback. But that was, you know,
and ended up being, it was like,okay, but this year, this
hunting season,is, I'm a hunter, by the way,
(27:00):
guys, everything outdoors,hunting, fishing, also plant and
agriculture, agriculture worldas well. So you know, all of
those things I kind of do, buthunting this past week was, this
has been one of the mostchallenging hunting season yet.
Like I hunted for five days. Andreally, I would, really didn't
(27:24):
see anythinglike for five days, and it felt
like I was, it felt like I wasjust out there, just, you know,
felt like I went up, I went upto, went up to Georgia for
absolutely no reason. It's whatit what it really, honestly felt
like my brother didn't, went upthere and killed and hit two
deer, and, you know, he washarvested, I won't say, kill,
(27:47):
harvested two deer.
And I was just like, Man, oh,you know what? This This isn't,
you know, this isn't purposefulfor me. I don't think this is,
this ain't even the year I hadalready got in my mind, like,
Hey, I ain't gonna so one day Igot in, I it was Friday. Friday
(28:08):
I got it, I figured out howsmart they were. Out I was
getting out smart about someanimals, right? That's the worst
feeling in the world. It's theworst feeling in the world
getting out smart about someanimals. I'm like, Man, I'm
getting all smarted. So I caughtmyself trying to get up, trying
to go, get to the spot a littleearly. As soon as I get out this
spot, get into the spot, stepdown on the on the grass with my
(28:29):
boot. And soon as I stepped downand broke a branch, three big
old head had just look up at meand get out the way and move.
I'm just like, oh my lord, no Iwas like, No way. I was like,
No.
I was like, No way. Yo, no way.
So the next morning, oh, so thatthat afternoon, went to, went to
(28:54):
the store, going to grab somedifferent things that we needed
just kind of put out. So thenext morning, get up early,
pulling out my campsite, andsoon as i veer out to the right,
about 40 yards down the road, Isee the biggest, one of the
biggest eight points I've everseen, eight point bucks. We're
talking about deer, not guys,one of the biggest eight point
(29:16):
bucks I've ever seen in thatarea. He looks up at me in the
streetand just dashes back in the
wood. I was like, Oh my Lord,this gotta be like, Nah,
something just has to somethinghas to give Right, right. Next
day, I get up early, get up, getback into a different spot. And
(29:37):
so, lo and behold, about 745,a bigger, 8.8 pointer walked
out, harvested him,yes, sir, got him. Then right
after that, the morning afterended up getting another you.
(30:00):
Wow.
So it was like within and thenit could have had a third, but,
hey, but it just goes to show,setbacks and plans aren't always
yours.
They aren't always yours. Godalways has a plan. Um, the
Almighty always has a plan foryou, like it's already
(30:23):
written, just can't give up,huh? You just cannot give up.
You just cannot give up. I caneven go back to my dad passing
away, also being a setback in mylife. I could have easily blamed
that for not doing anything. Icould have easily blamed that
for, you know, not fulfilling mydreams, or not doing things, or
not, you know, although I neededthat time to really honestly
(30:44):
heal, like I took four or fiveyears to to heal. Like I'm just
finishing peeling off of that.
So yeah, like, I see this, y'allget you getting real, real
exclusive stuff. So, like, I ittook, it took about three to
five years, man, for me tohonestly, be able to heal from
that man. And what I thought wasthe setback was really,
(31:05):
honestly, time that I really,that I really needed. I didn't
want to, I didn't want to be oneof those guys, you know, playing
the drums in front of 30, 40,000people and then walking off the
stage and, you know, wanting tocommit suicide, right? Although
it's important, I didn't want tobe one. I didn't, I didn't want
to be even in that headspace. Ididn't want to be there. And I,
you know, mental health isanother discussion that we can
(31:27):
have. It's very, very important.
It's very especially in AfricanAmerican, African American men,
we deal with it. We deal with ita lot, and something that needs
to be talked about, or somethingthat needs to be that needs to
be dealt with. You know, therapyis also another discussion that
needs to be, also be dealt with.
Um, and so, setbacks, setbacks,you know, reality of it is the
setbacks cause suicides, bro,yeah, yeah, yeah, right. That's
(31:50):
the reality. That's the realityof it, setbacks cause suicide.
And we don't talk about that. Wedon't talk about it enough. We
don't get deep enough with it.
There's not enough AfricanAmerican diaspora or even men
discussion groups about it. Um,maybe that's something that we
can discuss out the podcast,bro. Um, but, you know, that's
(32:10):
not enough. There's not enoughof these resources and or
gateways, you know, for, youknow, because there's a lot of
people that want to havediscussions. There's a lot of
men that want to havediscussion, healthy discussion,
yeah. And I want to be able tolay everything out on the table
without feeling judged, orwithout feeling, you know, I'm
saying heavy hearted, or, youknow, Ill willed, you know, or
(32:31):
feeling like they're heavy, orthey're burdened upon the group,
you understand. So I just think,um Yeah. That's, um Yeah. That's
a, I would say that's a, that'sa setback. That's bad, that he's
that he's definitely like aBrahm, I'm at peace, man,
honestly, I'm at peace.
Sometimes grief comes to thepoint where I don't know how
grief is going to come and Idon't know how it's going to
rear itself. The actions and thegestures and the mannerisms
(32:53):
surrounded with grief doesn'tmean that you're still hurting.
It just means that you're thatyou found peace to a point where
you can actually, you know,show some kind of positive
emotion, and crying. And cryingis a positive emotion, yeah,
it's a happy emotion. You know,at times it can be a happy
emotion. Doesn't have to alwaysbe sad, you know, or toxicity
induced all the time, right? Andso, yeah, that's, uh, that's
(33:16):
what I would say has been a, youknow, been a setback this last
little Tuesday or Wednesday andmy different trip was a little
setback that ended up being, youknow, that ended up turning out
to be a cooler full of coolerfull of dip. Yes, sir, you know.
You know. You know what I'msaying. So hey, man, sorry to
(33:39):
all my, you know, my animallover got there.
I'm sorry, you know, I'm sorry,but
yeah. Man, so that's what that'sthat's my setback of failure,
that it kind of turned around alittle bit. Man, that's amazing.
Man,yeah, that's a lot. Man, that's
(34:00):
a lot. Man, just overcomingstuff. Man, it just takes, you
know, it takes, it takescourage. It takes strength. It
takes a realness. Like you said,you can't, the longer you run,
the more damage is done, youknow?
And, yeah, man,we gotta, you had, you had that
already before, no man, HolySpirit,
(34:27):
long when you run, the damage isdone. What damage is done? Yes,
sir, man, because you know, sowe gotta, we gotta, you know, we
run our race, we run our stuff,but when it comes to that, you
know we gotta, like you said,you gotta, gotta face it. But
you know, when you, when you,when you encourage me, walk into
purpose, and, yeah, God, withyou, man, it's really nothing to
fear though, though it is scary,yeah, you know. And, and what I
(34:52):
love about it is, once you faceit, it's never as bad as you
thought it was going to be. You.
You know,you know, the Lord, stop saying
they bad, you know. But isusually the thought of facing
something is scarier than whenyou actually face it, right? So
absolutely, and you get thereand you be like, that was it?
(35:15):
That was it, right? Dang, I wasrunning from this, you know,
right, right. So, you know, Ifeel like that's the enemy. The
enemy is good at what he does,man, he's he plays tricks on our
minds. And unfortunately,you know, unfortunately, we fall
victim of that. And like yousaid, you know, we just don't,
you know, you we might beachieving things, but then, and
(35:37):
what do we think about rightafter everybody's clapping for
you, praising you on, liftingyou up. But deep inside you, you
got this trauma that you dealingwith that you know, you're not
even, you don't even know how tobegin to face it to a degree or
you, or most of the time, youdon't even want to face it, you
know, you just don't want it tobe that. That's what it is,
(35:58):
yeah, and that's essentially,that's essentially what it is.
And it goes back to running fromit won't save you, you know, I'm
saying like, you know, and andgoes, which is going to another
topic of, you know, therapy, youknow, mentality. You know, what
do you what is exactly you knowthat you want to, you know, what
is it that you want toaccomplish out of life, but you
want to live your life? Youknow, passing the general a
(36:18):
generational curse of toxicity,onto your kid, onto your
offspring. You understand whatI'm saying is that something
that you you know, just becauseyour mom, your Grandma, did it,
you feel like you have to do it,you know, no matter if it was
wrong. You know. You know, whichgoes back to, you know, some of
us, you know, I'm going back toa point where I've actually
forgiven, you know, my parents,you know, forgiving my mom for,
(36:40):
you know, certain things thatshe didn't know was wrong, but
just because her parents did itand her parents said it, it
automatically became right, justlike in nutrition, just like in
nutrition, bro, I'm, I'm a wholelist of nutritionist as
well, and so just like, youknow, in nutrition, like we, you
know, lard and bacon fat andbacon, greet
(37:02):
and all that. Like, man, comeon, man, like, we ain't got to
do all that. Like, yeah, it wasa time we had to, but we
exactly, there's a time we hadto, there's a time we
definitely, you know, I'msaying, because that was it was
all we, that was all we, thatwas all we, that was all we had,
and that was all we were given.
You understand what I'm saying.
And so, you know, it's and theydo. We just have to, we have to
(37:24):
stick with the same thing that'skilling us. Food is killing us
more than a gunshot everywhere,right? Every day, yeah. And so I
tell people that all the time,it just, it just kills slowly.
Just kill slowly, you know, youknow, just like at a, you know,
I'm about to deviate away fromthis, bro, just like we go to a
funeral. I was somebody who diedfrom a heart attack and then go
to the repass and eat the samekind of food that killed I
(37:44):
never, I never understood it,yeah? And I don't, I God, don't
understand it. That's likeDennis. And afterwards you they
give you candies, like,yeah, they giving the kids a lot
of coffee. You're goingto the trauma center expecting
to get well, and it's not goingto happen. Yeah, yeah. Like
you're living in the traumacenter expecting to get well,
(38:06):
can't get out of it, can't leaveyou, can't discharge yourself.
And so it's going to be, youknow, it's going to be, it's
going to be hell, you know, it'sgoing to be that. It's going to
be exactly that. So, yeah, man,yeah, that's good. Man, I
definitely appreciate you justcoming being vulnerable. Man,
just opening up to the people,just telling me your purpose,
man, and and what you do to staydriven, to stay motivated, and
(38:30):
how do you process a lot ofstuff. So before you go, is
there anything you would like toshare with the audience?
Not, not so much. You guysfollow me on produce by trip, P,
R, O, D, dot, D, y, dot, T, R,i, p, um, just to stay current
with, you know, some things I'mdoing. I don't post a lifestyle,
(38:50):
by the way, but I do post, like,some musical stuff. I'll be
posting some more content soon.
So, um, yeah, definitely. Um,stay in kind of stay in touch.
Um, I'll definitely be lookingforward to interacting with all
of you. Not on social media muchagain, by the way, but I get on
there enough to, kind of, youknow, interact with God. So I
guess I'll be on there enough,right? So, you know, yeah, so
(39:10):
that's about it. That's aboutit. Guys, be well, stay, well,
actually a lot for you.
Stay Daniel, hey, that'sawesome, man. I'll make sure all
his information is in the shownotes. Guys, we just thank you
again for just stopping bylistening and taking time out
your day. We hope that you wereencouraged, motivated, inspired
(39:32):
by our guest. James Tripp,Scruggs, um, again we thank you
brother for coming on today.
We just for having me, brotheranytime. Thank you for listening
to give it your all a podcastsponsored by the Spirit filled
collective. If you found thattoday's episode has been
encouraging in any way, we askthat you like, comment, share,
subscribe or follow so we cankeep giving you this valuable
(39:53):
content. Thank you.
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