May 29, 2025 • 72 mins
Episode 25: "From the shadows with love"
Quie, 32
Los Angeles, Ca
What defines real success in the music industry? Quie Francis joins me from the Velvet Room in Los Angeles to share his remarkable journey from New Orleans to becoming an independent artist carving his own path.
Quie opens up about his childhood in Louisiana, where gunshots were a nightly soundtrack and many friends ended up dead or in prison. With a Trinidadian mother who instilled entrepreneurial values and a father who played piano alongside James Brown, music was always in his blood. When Hurricane Katrina forced his family to relocate, it became the first step in a series of life-changing moves that would eventually lead him to Los Angeles.
The conversation takes us through pivotal moments that shaped Quie's perspective – from sleeping in his Jeep Wrangler after driving cross-country to chase his dreams, to studio sessions with A$AP Ferg, to the recent release of his EP "From The Shadows With Love." He shares how mentorship in the industry taught him to observe and learn, while also navigating the darker aspects of the business with integrity.
What makes this episode particularly powerful is Quie's philosophy on personal growth. "If a fish is in a small bowl, it doesn't know about the ocean," he explains, emphasizing how travel and new experiences have expanded his worldview and created opportunities. His insights on authenticity, mental health, and defining success on your own terms will resonate with anyone pursuing their passion.
Ready to expand your perspective and hear from someone who's living proof that hard work, authenticity, and vision can overcome any obstacle? Listen now, and let us know which part of Quie's journey resonates most with you.
Much love to my bro Q, Appreciate you fam.
Los Angeles to ATL, Let's get it.
Go check my bro out for sure.
https://www.instagram.com/quiefrancis
https://music.apple.com/us/album/from-the-shadows-with-love/1811443284
https://open.spotify.com/album/1CgcjU4Wv9ufzKUbw0SiMl?si=jkey9DesRMuF8sPgl7KO4Q
Contact & Info:
www.hangingwithhumans.com
https://poplme.co/hash/P5oM9JFj/1/dash
Support the Podcast:
https://gofund.me/2a99e9b7
Video Podcast :
https://www.YouTube.com/@hangingwithhumans
https://rumble.com/c/c-2507620
Social Media:
https://www.instagram.com/hangingwithhumans
https://www.tiktok.com/@hangingwithhumans
Thank you so much for taking the time out of your important life to listen, It means the world to me.
#HangingWithHumans #Podcast #HWHP
In honor of those who served our country. During times of peace and war. Those who gave the supreme sacrifice, Those still missing and those who came home both whole and broken.
In honor of those still fighting everyday to keep their head above water.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, welcome to the Hang With you podcast.
This is your host, rj.
I'm here in Los Angeles,california, a place that I lived
for a few years over the courseof my life.
I'm here visiting my sisterright now, but a big reason why
I came out here is to do aninterview, and I'll be doing
that with my boy, Kwai.
What up Kwai?
What up bro?
How we doing?
(00:20):
How we doing?
Dude, I'm great, why?
What up Kwey?
What up Rosie?
How we doing?
I'm doing good.
So, kwey, I came to move outhere to live with my sister and
we were looking it up.
I met him on a Ty Dolla Signmusic video Shoot and, yeah, we
just met on set.
We started talking and westayed in contact ever since
(00:44):
then and he just came out hereto chase his music dreams and I
came out here just to findmyself, kind of.
So I'm here visiting my sisterdoing all that catching up, and
I was like my boy.
He just dropped his new EP,which is going right now, and so
you know, if you get a chance,go check out my boy.
(01:05):
A new ep he just dropped, uh,but but yeah, it turns out.
2017 is when we met and, uh,our lives have just gone in
completely different directionsand we've we've gone through a
lot and, uh, you know thispodcast a lot has to do with
mental health and so, you know,we're gonna kind of dive into
the things that we went throughon his come up and what he's
(01:27):
doing now in life and thingshe's gone through and how
everything's working out for himright now.
So, with that being said, I'mgoing to interview you and learn
a little bit about you.
Yes, sir, let's do whatever youwant to do, man.
Yes, sir, so we're here in theVelvet Room.
Yes, the Velvet Room, theVelvet Room.
How did you even stumble uponthe Velvet Room to begin with?
(01:51):
So I have this producer, danielRicher.
Shout out to Daniel, bro, wewere collabing a little bit.
He got replacements on this EPand I remember one time he
invited me into this deep camp.
(02:13):
It's just like a group offriends just producing, right?
I'm like, yeah, bro, I'm goingto pull up Because he's a young
producer.
He's fired.
He was in this room.
Come up in this room.
I'm up in this room and theowner of the studio is basically
one of his good friends.
Shout out to Hoppy, you feel me?
(02:34):
Ever since then, I've beenlocked into this room because
it's such a vibe in here.
We've been going through myprocess a little bit.
We've been here for a few hoursand the energy, bro, it moves
in here.
It feels good.
Whatever kind of art you wantto make in here, you got the
space to do it.
I feel like you can be in yourthoughts and not have anything
(02:54):
else enter in.
That's what I get from the vibe.
It's very punctuated, it's verymuch a vibe.
It's very much my getaway.
I've learned that you only letcertain energies into that space
as well, because you don't wantnothing to disrupt the flow.
(03:17):
Exactly, this is really myfulcrum.
It used to be like fur, righthere.
They changed it a little bit.
They be like Ferg, right here.
They changed it a little bit.
They changed a few things inhere.
Since the night I've been inhere, it's still the same.
All the memories, 2017, that'swhen you first came down here,
right?
Yes, sir, that's crazy, bro.
(03:39):
It's been a long time.
It's been a long time.
I know A lot of things I talkabout on the podcast.
I'm kind of going through mytravels and going back to the
places I live and meeting thepeople, talking to those people
that made an impact in my life.
I feel like everybody I talk to, I take a little bit of it,
(03:59):
whether it's the do's, thedon'ts, the bads.
I ain't going to make thatmistake, because I heard it.
You know that's real and yeah,man, it's good to see that
you're doing good.
So now I want to, you know, getinto the nitty gritties and
kind of get your story out there, and then we'll end on some
questions and some shout outsand then we'll both get back to
(04:23):
work like we do.
Let's get it, bro, alright, bro, alright, and some shout outs,
and then we'll both get back towork like we do.
Let's get it, bro, all right,bro, all right.
So you're 32.
Yep, and you were born inLouisiana.
Yes, that's home.
New Orleans, louisiana yes,that's home, that is home.
I just came back from therelast week.
Yeah, you were doing agraduation.
Yeah, you're doing up to thegraduation.
(04:49):
Oh, yeah, mom, cousin, hegraduated law school.
Okay, yeah, I've been backtwice this year, once for the
Super Bowl and then for thisgraduation.
I plan on going probably likeone or twice more.
Okay, same one for every season.
Yup, yup, celebration.
(05:10):
We turn that down like half anotch, half a notch.
So Louisiana, that's where youlived first, and then we'll get
into Atlanta and Los Angeles andthose travels.
What age was it when you leftNew Orleans?
That was your first move, right?
Yeah, like, as a grown, like,you know, that was 2014, 2015,
(05:38):
ish.
So I want to say I was probably23, 24, around that age.
Okay, so up until that,louisiana, that's all you know.
I wouldn't say it's all I know.
My mom, she's from Trinidad,okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, my
grandparents are from Grenada.
My earliest memories like, likeyou know, we were talking about
(05:58):
this talk.
Yeah, I wanted to get down andyou know time, I wanted to get
down and learn about your familyand everything.
So, like my earliest memoriesof me being in Grenada with my
mom and I used to think I wasfour, my whole life.
I thought I was four years oldwhen that happened Recently I
asked her and she was like thatwas 1995.
I was born in 93.
So I was two years old, noteven probably two, who knows how
(06:22):
, probably was one going on too,you know, but that's like my
earliest memories.
And yeah, grenada, trinidad.
I went to Trinidad in 2008 forthe first time and I think, just
doing that at a young age, justlike show me that there's more
you know.
So, yeah, new Orleans is likemy upbringing, but I did have
(06:46):
different things.
Okay, so you got family in bothplaces Trinidad, green Bay, up
here.
I love the place, I love it, Ilove it.
So what's life like growing upin Louisiana and where you grew
up?
You know, take me through, youknow neighborhood, your family.
(07:09):
You live with your mom.
How did that live?
I lived with my mom, my dad.
He went about his business, youknow, around the time I was
born or whatever.
You know how us men and womenwe go through things.
It was my mom.
(07:30):
You know a lot of islandinfluence, a lot of island music
, so I didn't really, let's say,grow up American.
They're best friends withTrinidadians, so I grew up
listening to that music.
But you know I'm outsidehanging out with my friends, so
I got that also.
My father he's actually fromMichigan, they're from Flint,
(07:53):
grandparents from that side ofTennessee and I just learned a
lot about them last year Sharedproperties Gone into a whole
bunch of stuff.
Yeah, it was mainly my mom.
And in New Orleans, man, where Igrew up.
I grew up on the west bank ofNew Orleans and gunshots every
(08:18):
night.
A lot of my friends, some ofthem dead, some of them killers.
You know, and it's crazy, Igrew up, let's say, in Harvey.
They call it White Harvey whenI grew up, but there's a skinny
(08:39):
canal that separates us fromBlack Harvey and that's where
everything's going down.
You know so it's.
That separates us from BlackHeart and that's where
everything's going down.
You know so it's.
And my friends over there too.
You know so.
We all got to go to schooltogether and all of that stuff.
It's just that, oh, this iswhere the white people live.
This is where the Black peoplelive.
They make this much money overhere.
(09:01):
You know, my mom was blessedenough to buy a house on this
side and bring us up the bestway she can.
You know, because you heardthat anybody.
No, it's not, but it's stillbringing poor kids, Poor, not at
all.
Single mother, you know, always, yeah, so, yeah, moms play a
(09:24):
big role in your life.
Yeah, hustler mentality Alwaystold me you want to own your own
business, you don't want towork for nobody.
We talked about theentrepreneurship and that level
of shit.
Yeah, it comes from that.
It comes from that.
What's wrong with the hustlers?
Yeah, music, entrepreneurship,that's kind of your avenues
(09:49):
right now.
When did you develop those typeof things?
Did that come from theLouisiana ring up or did you
develop like, when did the musicstart?
When did yeah, when did thatstart?
It's funny, man, because, yeah,let me ask that.
It's funny man because lastyear I found out my dad used to
play golf with James Brown.
Really, yeah, so like, growingup I got like this old picture
(10:13):
of my dad.
You should have used a moattown, yeah, you know for sure,
for sure.
And my dad, he was a masterpianist.
He like could play anythingwith his eyes closed, like hands
moving so fast.
It's like, how is that possible?
But from you know, from littlehe had us playing instruments.
(10:35):
You know Every instrument.
I grew up playing the violin.
You know that type of stuff andthat's where that influence
comes from.
And he always used to like sendmy tapes of Michael Jackson,
like his old videos and stuff.
It was always there.
And then on my mother's side wegrew up in a church.
My grandmother had a church inLouisiana and my grandmother was
(10:59):
a singer.
Like me and my brother are theonly guys that can sing in the
family.
We're the only ones that canreally sing in the family.
We're the only ones that canreally sing in the family.
But other than that, it was mygrandmother and she used to
always sing in church.
So you know the gospel notesand hymns and stuff like that.
I think that plays a part in it.
Also, I love when that poursinto hip-hop too as well.
(11:19):
You know what I mean.
Those are some of my favoritetracks, those old samples from
that type yeah, real shit,that's the best thing.
It's so soulful.
You know I love mixing thoseboys together.
So, louisiana, let's seeLouisiana, you go to Atlanta.
(11:41):
I know a job there.
Right, that's how we got there.
Katrina, the first time I wentto Atlanta was Katrina.
That's the first time.
Yeah, Shit, I'm in middleschool.
Shit.
You know, in Louisiana me andFlorida people we always have
(12:05):
this joke.
It's like we used to hurricaneevery year, every year.
It's not like an earthquakethat comes out of nowhere, it's
like, nah, we know we're on thistime, you feel me?
So it's just like Trina coming,and they're like man, we ain't
worrying about this shit, andthen it started getting bigger.
And they're like man, we ain'tworrying about this shit, and
(12:25):
then it started getting biggerand they're like, man, we ain't
alright, we just gonna get outof here, just for you know, just
to be safe.
You feel me?
So, yeah, we boarded up thehouse, packed everything.
My brother wanted to stay.
So we went to Houston, stayedthere until, like, it did what
it did.
Then we picked up my brotherand we went straight to atlanta.
Yeah, you got family at thisspot.
(12:48):
No, no, not really.
You know, like louisiana folks,we got family in houston.
We got family throughout thesouth.
You know, yeah, but, um, thatexactly, but to think of like
immediate family, not because mymom's, like first generation,
I'm the first, you know.
(13:08):
So we don't really got thatmany people.
We're all soldiers, bro, justtaking the kids.
We gone, yeah, we gone.
We got to do what we got to do.
That was the first time.
That was the first time.
Was there any major events inyour life of living in Louisiana
(13:30):
?
You grew up in where you grewup.
You happened to be on the otherside of that line, which is
good.
You lost a lot of friends andthen, on the other side, same
thing.
I have that familiar sort ofpath of growing up.
What kept you from going downthat road.
I know your mom was a strongguide for you and your siblings,
(13:54):
but what else, like, kept youfrom, like, getting in the
streets?
What was it that kept you fromgetting in the streets?
Disease to get rid of?
Um, you know, I got pulled intoit at another age, but like
early on.
Let's just say this parentshave a way of controlling things
(14:19):
.
They can control that withtheir child if they want to.
So certain strings were pulledwhere it's like I just strayed
away from it, I got stabbed.
I was in a fight.
I got stabbed in my head and onmy neck.
After that I just like I wasjust, I fought a lot.
I was in martial arts and stuff, yeah.
(14:39):
So I always been like a fighter.
But after that it was like, letme chill for a little bit and I
started playing baseball Nice.
So I think, like the baseballseparated me from hanging out
after school doing some othershit that I didn't have no
business doing.
You know, I think that that waslike a big part of it.
(15:01):
But also just having thatself-knowledge, it's like I
don't want to do this.
Yeah, I don't want to do this.
You know what the consequencesare.
You see it, yeah, it's just alot of us.
You know, absolutely,absolutely.
What took you to Atlanta?
Oh, because we went over it alittle bit.
(15:25):
It's you're 13 and it's 2008.
Yeah, that's when we first wentto Atlanta for the treatment.
Yeah, and then you're in your20s when I go back to Atlanta.
What takes you back to Atlanta?
Some shit happened like, uh, thestuff we were going all year we
were going, yeah, I dropped outof.
I dropped out of college.
(15:48):
I was at Nichols State inLouisiana.
We went to Nichols nah, not atNichols State.
They actually got a really goodprogram.
Yeah, they do.
That's what I'm talking about.
Yeah, I wanted to walk on, butlike, honestly, like I think I
stayed at Nichols for a year,sat out, went back and like
(16:12):
that's when, like maturity Iwouldn't say maturity hit, but
like it's just like I know whatI want.
Now Shit started to click dropout.
You feel me, we could gothrough that whole little
process.
We ain't gotta go through allof it.
But you know, yeah, just goingto college, separating from the
(16:35):
city, doing your mischief incollege, you know, you see the
ropes of that.
And then it's like man, I'mlike.
You know, a lot of people dropout.
I wasn't in my classes.
I used to minor in music but Iwould skip class and I would be
making beats in my room.
(16:56):
I'd have a bitch in my bed, butyou know.
But I'm in my room making beatsand my fucking teacher mad at
me like you got so muchpotential, but why?
It's because you're really notteaching me.
It's like us as sponges, likewe gain what we need and then
after that it's like I don'tneed it.
(17:16):
You know, I don't.
It's excess shit.
So that's why my grades slipped.
I left out of school.
I moved to New Orleans.
Man, shit, I got in the street.
You feel me?
I see shit happen.
I was like fuck this shit.
I got a job offer in Atlanta.
(17:37):
I said all right, shit, I wasgone.
But before we go to Atlanta, Igot a couple of questions about
the roots of Louisiana a littlebit.
How did the culture ofLouisiana shape you personally?
Do you take any of that?
Is it your music?
(17:57):
Everything, man, being from NewOrleans, I wouldn't.
You know every place that it'swhat's going on, but New Orleans
is, I wouldn't.
You know every place got itswhat's going on, but like, new
Orleans is just a different,it's just a different monster to
me and it it, it shaped thehustler in me, it shaped.
It shaped the hard work in me,it shaped like the chip on my
(18:21):
shoulder.
You know it, cause that placeis a tough place, that ain't.
That ain't no easy place.
No, not at all.
It's a very tough place and, um, very high rates in a lot of, a
lot of things.
And, um, but, like the music,the culture, the food, it's all
flavor.
You know, like the PowerpuffGirls, you know, and he just
(18:46):
putting all this shit in the pot, you know, there's a whole
bunch of shit in the pot thatfucking shapes you.
And um, yeah, man, it'severyday In my music, in the way
I walk and talk, the pieces.
You know, you know, thehospitality, there's so much
shit, that's a big one.
Yeah, people are missing that alot these days, unfortunately.
You know.
(19:06):
Yeah, you know, it's likethere's this divide.
Now it's like since thecomputer came, it's like, you
know, it's a detachment.
Now it's really hard to connect.
Yeah, like, when you're soconnected to this, how do you?
You know, you know this is thereality that we're supposed to
(19:29):
be in.
Now we have a matrix.
Now, you know, you gotta escapeit.
That's what I'm trying to say.
That's what I'm trying to sayyou gotta escape the matrix, bro
.
Oh yep, so alright, what'ssomething about growing up there
that people outside of theSouth don't understand, about
what you do?
That's hard.
(19:51):
That's hard to say because Idon't know the perspective of
someone that's outside.
Well, I know some perspectives.
I'm living in California.
I see how some people don'tlive off the west side.
You know, there they hold life.
That's a different world.
Sometimes, if I had anything, Iwould just say to the people
there it's just like there'smore here, there's more to the
(20:15):
world than where we at.
Like I said from a young age,my mom bring me to Grenada when
I'm two.
It's like it shows me thatthere's more.
My first memory is of thewaterfall there.
There's no waterfalls in theworld.
So of course I want to go tothe waterfall.
I want to know what, and a lotof us get stuck where we at.
(20:40):
There's a lot of shit that goeson in life that makes us stop
and be stagnant or be complacent.
But there's way more in thisworld than what we know.
If you don't grow and you don'texpand your mind to try and
learn that your world is goingto be so just Real shit.
(21:06):
You know what I mean.
Yes, waking up like that everyday and just being like I'm cool
, knowing what I know, andsometimes it's like, but we're
not aware that that's what we'rein.
You know, it's like.
It's like the analogy with thefishbowl, like if a fish is in a
small bowl, it's only going togo to put it inside the big ass,
(21:29):
you know.
And sometimes the fish don'teven know it's in the fishbowl
Because that's all it knows.
That's all it knows.
It don't know it's an ocean.
It's the perfect fuckinganalogy For real, about life,
growing and traveling toexperience those things.
We got to experience people.
We really got to be aroundother people, other cultures,
(21:50):
that's everything.
Because everyone does itdifferent.
Everyone does it mostlydifferent, like other countries.
We got to get in here.
Some people do it wrong.
It's up to you, us, as humans.
One of the main goals is likereproduction.
Yep, we should want to gain theknowledge, to give that to us,
(22:16):
pass it down, you know.
But if we know only this, andwe can only teach this, how can
we expand?
How can anything?
How does the culture go?
You get it, bro, the job.
What was the job there?
(22:36):
In Atlanta, there was a momentthat will take you out of
Atlanta to go to Los Angeles.
How was your experience inAtlanta that time?
Before you know, things wentbad.
I was working, man.
It's like I dropped out ofschool man.
(22:57):
I was making fast money.
Well, I dropped out of school,I started working at Jimmy
John's you know Drew Brees, shit, learn shit and some
knowledgeable shit.
And I worked somewhere else,got in the street and it was
like fuck this.
My brother got me the job inAtlanta and, um, that was, I was
(23:20):
taking pictures of cars.
Um, and it's just like my firstreal job.
I'm making like 50 bags a year.
He sent me a nice, basically,we'll take pictures.
We had a set of dealershipsthroughout Atlanta.
We'll pull up, we'll takepictures of the cars.
I had to go do training inJacksonville Hot as fuck.
(23:44):
But to do that and you know youmaking good money, you take like
20-30 pictures of cars a daywith a video, probably doing
like 20 cars.
You get paid per car.
That was the job.
But you know, you with a son,yeah, you hustling.
But me as a young man is like Idon't know the value of it.
It's very valuable, but I don'tknow the value of it.
(24:05):
You feel me, it's very valuable, but I don't know the value of
it, because that's not what Iwant to be doing.
You know, I want to do what Iwant to do to get where I want
to go.
But uh, you sure of that?
You know not even sure, becauseit's just that I want to do it
my way.
And even with that job, they hadme fly out here.
(24:26):
We went to, we flew out here,flew me to Orange County, yeah.
And because I wanted to move toCalifornia, when I was in New
Orleans it was like, do I wantto go to New York or do I want
to go to California?
I visited out here like, ohwait, do I want to go to
California?
I visited out here like, ohwait.
(24:46):
After I came from Trinidad Ivisited my uncle out in Compton,
long Beach, and I just was likeman, I want to go to Cali.
So when I was leaving NewOrleans I was telling my homies
I was like man, let's go to Cali, let's go to Cali.
But you know, they got family.
I got family too, but I don'treally give a fuck.
(25:07):
It's like I know there's moreout there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you look good, yo.
But uh, oh, yeah.
So your uncle was out here,yeah, but uh, oh, yeah, so your
(25:28):
uncle was out here, yeah, sothey flew me out here.
Nah, nah.
Well, I got two uncles out here, but, um, like one of my uncles
, he gave me a few apartments tofill me up, but, um, yeah, so
they flew me out here.
But it was like so far awayfrom Hollywood I'm like I can't
do what I want to do.
I'm out here working.
(25:49):
If they move me out here, I'llbe out here working.
So it's like man and it's hot.
I was in Orange County and theone person that was like rude to
me was a black person, reallyCrazy.
And I was like crazy, yeah.
So he really crazy.
And I was like crazy, yeah.
So, um, he was trucking anddriving, he trying to suck up to
his, yeah, whatever.
(26:09):
Well, um, I went back toatlanta and some some racist
happened or whatever.
I ended up quitting that job.
But in the process of mequitting that job, on that job,
I met a homie and, like ourwhole group, I clicked with the
whole group.
You know one of the homies fromNew Orleans.
He was a producer homie to rapwith.
(26:30):
Then my brother to this day,zay.
He's from Chicago, he knew themthrough Twitter or whatever.
He moved from Chicago orwhatever you know he's.
He like he would he done, tookphotos for like Tiana Summer
Walker he was her sister andlike um, a few shits, but uh,
(26:53):
but this was like the beginningof it.
You feel me, it's like we alljust like clicked and it was
right before I quit or whateverI had quit that job and we was
just on the hustle bro.
We was on the hustle bro, likewe'll pull up on Gucci man.
We'll be on Snapchat trying tofigure out where DJ Khaled at
(27:15):
Like no, for real.
Like we was.
We chilled Me and Zay wastalking about it earlier today.
Like we chilled in the Lowe'sHotel for like for like.
We got there at like 2.
You know we ain't seen Caliuntil like 1 am.
You feel me Like we was in thelobby just chilling and running
across people and then, like a10, 11-inch dude come in.
(27:43):
He fly as fuck.
My homie was like man, that'ssomebody.
I'm like man, that ain't nobodybro.
He was like man, that'ssomebody.
I'm like man.
That ain't nobody he's like.
Let me charge my phone, charge.
His phone came back.
This him.
It was fucking Lenny S KodakLens.
He used to like yo.
He was like I'm nobody.
I'm like, yeah, that nigga gotall fake Yeezys, bro, that ain't
(28:08):
nobody.
He was like yeah, I'm nobody.
But then he showed me up.
We walked up to him.
We was like you letting us.
He was like ching ching and wesat there and had like a
30-minute conversation with him.
Khaled came down, talked itover with him.
That was our little click.
We pulled up on Ross and myhomie.
(28:32):
He posted it on Twitter.
Ross hit him up come to thecrib.
He was at Ross' crib for likethree months.
You feel me.
So, yeah, that's how I met ourmentor.
So basically, so that's how Imet our mentor.
So basically say, we droppedthem off at Ross Cribb.
You know shit happened.
(28:55):
I moved here, I moved to Caliand in the process of that
happening, I know that's, youknow that's Ross' producer.
He sees that and was like comeon, come with me, I need you to
do some shit.
And they ended up flying toCalifornia.
They introduced him to me.
He started bringing me to thestudios, sitting in writing
(29:17):
sessions, seeing him make beatsfor Block Boy, jv and all this.
You know I don't really carethe name drop, but yeah, you
know, he just brought me in theatmosphere, you know, and
teaching me a lot of shit aboutthe game and that was my
introduction into the musicindustry.
(29:39):
But it started from moving to,you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, I
know we skipped a whole bunch ofsteps.
I'm just very interested in itall for sure, like how it came
to be, like we've been onfriends' social media since then
so I could always, you know,see, you know you don't really
(30:00):
post them like that, no more,which is like I think it would
get me.
I'm on the same shit.
A bunch of years ago I was likeI'm done.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, for sure you get over it.
Yo, I think it's maturity,because a lot of people, a lot
of this shit is fake man.
A lot of people want to be infront of a camera showing their
(30:21):
lifestyle but that's not reallywhat's going on behind the
scenes and you know it goes withthe mental health.
Everybody want an image.
Sometimes you got to beauthentic.
You know I didn't even want torock none of this shit, but you
was like man and a couple yearsago it was way heavy.
It's already heavy, but it'slike I don't really like.
(30:44):
You don't need to show, youdon't need to, you don't need to
show nothing.
It makes the hard work that youdo show at the end that much
more beautiful.
And and the surprise that comesbehind you know what I mean.
Yeah, you work for it.
Yeah, exactly everybody,everybody faucets everything
they have, like nobody had it,but like when you got something
(31:05):
special, like you don't evenknow what I'm doing in this
place.
You know what I'm saying, right?
Hey, this is like.
You know, I post those storieshere and there, but this is like
people getting to see a realglimpse of.
I really wanted to show you therecording process, show you the
recording process.
You feel me One day.
One day, the next thing I dowhen I come out here, we'll be
(31:25):
like a little mini-document andwe'll go through, we'll do it
and we'll catch up again and seewhere you're at.
We'll do it like that, becauseI still gotta go work with the
boy out in Atlanta.
Oh, yeah, for sure, we gonnamake that happen.
And also, shit, not to get off alittle subject the bro right
here.
So he used to ball overseas?
Yeah, like.
(31:46):
But now he's a designer.
Okay, bro, he made some pantsfor me.
So fucking cold bro.
Oh man, if he had them bitcheson him right now, I love it bro.
Yeah, yeah, like this.
Hey, shout it out, bro, I'mtelling you, I just want to put
people on that that deserve it.
I see the hard work that goes onbehind.
(32:08):
You know, like I've beenfriends for a minute, bro, and
like you were just grinding,you're grinding the same, you
know, even though you put yourproduct out.
You know, like that mentalityis the same.
It's crazy, but they don't getto see before, they don't get to
see the rough days.
You know, they don't.
You gotta hustle every day tobe able to afford to even try to
(32:32):
look forward to it.
There's so much they can dowith it.
Man, I actually was thinkingabout a week ago.
I was like if I added up likehow many times I've been in this
room, so not to you, feel me,yeah, I usually get this from 12
hour sessions, right, like, soit's only 12 hour sessions in
(32:54):
here, yeah, and I used to dothat like two, three times a
week and I did that for like ayear, just like just grinding.
You know, and it was not onlythis studio, it was my homie,
xander.
We was at Trace Studios, that'smy main engineer.
And then my uncle, he got astudio also.
You know, just going from placeto place and putting that work
(33:16):
in, you feel me For real.
And when you go like let's justsay you're going to go do a
feature somewhere else, I meango in some other booth, like
it's nothing.
It's nothing like let's justsay you're gonna go do a feature
somewhere else, I mean goingsome other booth, like you know,
and it started way before it is, it's like in new orleans, my
brother, you know, the truthhappened.
(33:36):
Yeah, my brother ended up goingto jail in atlanta and, uh,
when he came back to new orleansin his crib when I was in high
school, he ended up building abooth.
You feel me Got the Pro Tools.
So me and my homies, we all inhis crib and he doing tattoos
and shit and we just likeplaying around.
You feel me With a basicfucking auto-tune.
(33:58):
You feel me we was just FruityLoop.
I still use Fruity Loop, that'swhat's on there.
Fl Studio all day, fl Baby.
So Los Angeles, that's when wemeet.
Yes, sir, you're grinding, sowhere you're at right now.
(34:19):
I got some questions.
You know, mental health is alittle bit about this too right,
for sure, you've been in theindustry.
Like we'll say that I got somequestions.
Mental health is a little bitabout this too right, for sure,
you've been in the industry,like we'll say that right,
you've been out here for morethan a handful of years, right,
I think I got into the musicindustry, like I started to get
around that like 2019.
Alright, so you've been around,you've seen things, you've been
(34:43):
to places, you've been toparties.
You've been to whatever Not noditty parties, ain't no ditty
parties.
But man, shit, you already know.
But about the mental healththing how has the music industry
affected your mental health,like positively and or
(35:04):
negatively?
You know, I've been around alot of shit too, and I was
partying my ass off when I wasolder.
See, this is the thing, like allof us got different upbringing
and this world makes us intowhat we are, right, yeah, but
the way we are kind of likehelps shape that, and you got to
(35:28):
be able to like sometimeswithstand things.
It's about how tough are you.
Do you have thick skin or thisextra shit?
Yeah, yeah, there's so manyvariables.
So with the music industry,like you know, there's bitty
parties, or like there's justshit out there.
Like you know the bitty parties, or like, um, there's just shit
out there.
Like, easily all the time, like, nah, nah, it's not even in a
(35:52):
negative way, it's, it's justlike you just see humans, you
know, and the way humans behave,you know, yeah, have you ever?
You know um, have you ever likejust people watch all the time?
You feel me, it's just the waypeople, people behave.
So, like to be in those rooms,you gotta be a fly on the wall
and just see like people watch,you know, um, like I used to
(36:16):
take martial arts right and whenI was like a white or yellow
belt, I still used to watch theblack belts like do they forms
and stuff.
I wasn't allowed to do thattype of shit but I used to watch
it.
You had my mom like I learnedthe form by just watching it and
they were mad at me that I wasdoing it better than them.
But I wasn't even a black dogyet.
(36:37):
You can't do that yet, you know.
But you're kind of cultish withthe rules of like when you can
learn.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, being in the rooms, I'm, Isit back and I observe and I I
watch, and that's one of thebest ways of learning and, um,
you know, just learning the waypeople.
(37:02):
My my first studio session wasA$AP Bird.
Yeah, beat Billionaire.
He took me in the studio withA$AP Bird and he did jet lag.
That nigga did jet lag in like15 minutes, bro, really Like I
seen him cook the beat and thenhe went in the booth and he made
that motherfucking song so damnfast.
But it was his creative method,you know.
(37:23):
And then being in othersessions with other artists that
made music that were signed,they also they didn't do it just
like him, but they did it sortof like him.
So that, like that influencedme to make music a certain way.
But you, your question was likethere's also that aspect of like
so many motherfuckers in theindustry is creeps.
(37:46):
You feel me A lot.
How did that influence me?
I ain't, I ain't, you know, Iain't dealing with that type of
shit, you know.
So it influenced me in likemany different ways.
Yeah, you're aware, it makesyou more aware.
Yeah, my question is like, inwhat ways are you saying like
(38:09):
specifically?
Like, I guess if you're notlike drinking, like every night
in the studio, like smoking youknow a lot of people do that
right, like that's never been.
Nah, nah, we up in here to work, there you go, we up in here to
work.
Now, when we in here, we gonnabuy a bottle, we might sip some
(38:35):
weed.
We gonna definitely smoke someweed up in this motherfucker.
Other than that, it's like whenI'm outside of here, I not
really like I'm not no drinker.
Yeah, that's good.
You, how did?
How did the so?
Martial arts?
Um, now I'm starting to kind offigure it out, because you guys
, you and beats you.
(38:57):
You guys put this placetogether boxing, or oh, okay, so
we missed that part.
Oh shit, nah, cause, that'safter.
That's like, yeah, cause,alright.
So you gotta connect the dots.
Let me connect the dots,alright.
So where we at I moved out, wentto Atlanta, shit happened in
(39:22):
Atlanta, but I got my team movedout here.
We was doing that, we was doingthe casting, I was doing the
casting, shit.
That's how I met you.
I met you two months into beingout here on the Ty Dolla $ign,
hit the ground running and thenSave and Beat Billionaire flew
(39:42):
out here in 2019.
That's when we started to makethe music shit.
And then you know Beat, he's alegend already and he don't
really need to really work.
So you know, as a family man andas a man, should, you should
focus on your family.
(40:03):
And his son got into boxing andwith that, like I went down to
Atlanta and we went to thefucking like their gym.
It was in like the farm behindthe crib, but it was cool Like
(40:23):
they training the kids how tobox.
But you know, being like liketheir gym.
It was in like this barn behinda crib, but it was cool like
they training the kids how tobox.
But you know, b's, like man, Iwant my own shit.
You feel me, it's just someball shit.
Like I want my own shit and formy son, he can come in here
whenever he want and he can boxwhenever he want.
So he found a spot, man and shitgot the spot.
(40:46):
We tore it down, bro, like wetore down the whole motherfucker
.
Like it had like the officeceiling with the white tiles
yeah, yeah, yeah.
And next door it was like thisAfrican spot.
When I went in there, like thewhite tiles was gone.
All you seen was like the baretop.
Yeah, yup, um.
And I'm like, well, you know,he got like the sprinkler system
(41:12):
and shit, so it looked like aloft or some shit.
Yeah, I'm like, bro, we gottatear down the top.
He said hold on, let's ask.
We asked like two more.
They said, yeah, yeah, we gottatear down the top, tore down
the top, we broke down walls, wepainted the whole thing.
He painted like Muhammad Alibefore it may well go on the
wall.
We drove down to South Georgia.
(41:33):
We picked up a ring like it waspouring rain, bro, we in a
fucking Jeep, gladiator likesliding like with the fucking
shit on the back.
We had the.
You know it's raining, so wehad the packet on the back and
shit like.
But just thinking about thehard work and it's been like two
years and that the gym is fire,it's been over two years.
(41:54):
Yeah, two years it's been goingon.
Three man, it's called um, Ithink it to take that spot out.
I wasn't able to do it my lasttrip to Atlanta.
I did get some good interviewsand shout outs to Young Lottie
in Atlanta yes, sir, and butyeah, beat Billionaire, that was
(42:17):
the boxing gym.
That the I, the.
I guess that's the boxing gym.
Yeah, we're going to learnabout that.
I'm going to go over there andinterview people there.
But yeah, so that's the boxinggym.
Yeah, and there's a lot ofscreens.
Let me pull it up.
My bad, I just had to do somecrazy ass stuff.
(42:38):
Oh good, all right.
You know, I checked my phoneand I'm like, oh, what the fuck?
Yeah, billion dollar box,billion dollar box.
Yeah, we're going to check themout and yeah, so it's just like
(43:01):
that was for his son and, butyou know, he that was for his
son and uh, but you know, he gotlike his son was fighting with
like golden glove winners andshit.
So he got some young, I thinkthey're they're not amateurs,
they got some pros.
That's awesome.
(43:22):
Yeah, so you have them.
Rip it off, yeah, yeah, yeah, Ifeel like I'm part owner, but
that's my brother, you know, andyou know it's just like we all
just want to help each otherbuild something.
Yeah, a legacy, you know.
(43:42):
Yeah, yeah, it takes a team.
It takes a legacy, you know, ittakes a team, it takes a
village, you know, and I'm justgrateful that he brought me on
the team.
I remember the night I met him,I was in the Jeep Wrangler.
I played him some music that Imade you feel me and I brought
them from the studio.
You feel me.
It's kind of like a movie, likehow everything just fell into
(44:05):
place.
You never know who you're goingto meet, where you're going to
meet them and what thatrelationship can turn into.
Business, friends, becomefamily.
Yeah, it's just like how youtreat people and also being a
good person.
And it's just like how youtreat people, you know, and also
(44:26):
you know being a good personand keeping your name good.
It's like when people couldvouch for you.
Like it was my homie, zay.
You know, he met Zay first.
Zay introduced him to me andit's like, okay, zay is a.
Yeah, zay introduced him to meand it's like, okay, zay is a
cool nigga, so you must be acool nigga.
(44:48):
Oh, and you make music.
Zay take pictures, so you makemusic.
Okay, let me I and like whatcan you do for me?
It's not like what can I do foryou?
It's like what can you do forme on some shit?
Yeah, you know, uh, there'salways a trade-off with I want
to say if you're not useful tosomeone, you're useless.
(45:11):
Yeah, you know, when you startwith trying to be a good person
first, then that's how you endup with any situation.
Yeah, you know for sure,because you gotta be authentic.
People see past the bullshitvery fast.
Yeah, once you see it, one timeit's like Radar.
I ain't dealing with that.
No, you're already a couplesteps ahead and you can see it.
(45:34):
Like you said, people watchingIf you do that long enough,
you're gonna figure some shitout, exactly exactly.
But I feel like a lot of peopledon't keep a watch.
I guess it's like my motherwould be oblivious, oblivious.
They're just walking around,living like the way they live.
Yeah, it's crazy.
(45:55):
It's crazy.
But you know like if it waseasy, everybody would do it and
everybody would be successful.
But it's not easy.
Easy what you're doing, youknow, like how many, like you
said, just the cost of beinghere, it's the hours, like, yeah
, it's a process, and then likeit's like starting a business.
(46:17):
You know, yeah, um, you know,other than music and shit, I got
like two companies or whateverI do on the side.
But it's like a lot of peopledon't start a business because
they're afraid it's going tofail.
But that's where, like themusic, they don't try but which
(46:39):
I have a friend out here, agroup, and he said what you are
in one thing is what you are ineverything.
And basically, if you're afraidto try in one thing, you're
afraid to try in everything.
If you're mediocre at one thing, or if you put mediocre effort
(47:02):
into one thing, you're going toput mediocre effort into one
thing, you're gonna put mediocreeffort into the rest of these
things.
You know your whole life.
That's who you are.
You feel me.
So.
So I like, from leaving NewOrleans to like investing in
myself, going broke, like when Imoved down here, I didn't
contact my uncles, I packedeverything in my Jeep Wrangler
and just drove out here, a JeepWrangler that get 11 miles per
(47:25):
gallon.
So Atlanta, that out here, youfeel me.
And then like we didn't getinto the part of like sleeping
in the whip and all that extrashit.
You feel me.
But to do that, but you have inyour mind like the outcome of
where you want to be and if youbelieve in yourself, like
(47:49):
starting the business, you gonnasee that shit through.
And when you do that, I feellike God sees it and he's like
I'm gonna help you out becauseyou see that you're striving to
do something.
But if you're not, you know, ifyou're not trying, nothing ever
(48:10):
gonna happen.
You know you can't be likestepping on people to try to get
to get where you want.
Don't't throw nobody under thebus.
You know, and that's a lot ofpeople do that.
But see those gatekeepers orthose people at the top, see
that shit and they see, oh you asnake.
I'm not about to let you getover here because you're going
(48:32):
to try to snake me once you getto this level, you feel me.
That's why I go back to keepingyour name clean and being a
good person and just do thingsthe right way and don't force
things.
Your village, your tribe, isgoing to come to you.
You don't fall into y'all.
Both come together becausevibrations meet like vibrations.
(48:53):
You know they say in space.
I forgot because the absence ofwhatever, like if a light metal
sees another light metal, itgets the legal attaches and it
doesn't.
It can't be taken apart, nomatter what.
Yeah, and you know that's whatvibrations are.
(49:15):
You feel me.
That's what vibrations are.
You feel me A lot of peopledon't know about how important
that is and just like everythingthat goes on around a player,
yeah, and energy in that way isthe same way you talk to it.
You know how much energy you putinto this.
You know, like dictates, howsuccessful this is.
(49:36):
You know, if all you thinkabout is this, if all Michael
Jordan thought about wasbasketball, that's why he was
that good.
Exactly, you know, exactly,it's very missing from like
culture these days.
I don't know, I think I feellike this culture is like a
little too kind and lazy alittle bit.
I'm lazy a little bit, you know, it's just like I just feel I'm
(49:59):
lazy as fuck too sometimes.
I'm not even wrong, I'm justsaying, overall, I'm really out
here just like I'm fighting forlike this, because I know how
much it helps people and whatI'll be able to give my legacy
and what I'm going to beremembered for and what my kids
are going to look up to.
For me, that's where I'm atwith the whole thing.
(50:23):
Everybody's journey is theirjourney.
While we're on the music Fromthe Shadows with Love.
How did that name come up andhow did the whole thing come
together?
You said it to me right when it, when it came out, bro.
Very good, thank you, bro.
Thank you so, um, you know, uh,me and my, my bro xander, like
(50:49):
we, I think like since 2022,late 2022, we like been just
locked in.
We really locked in 2023.
We just grew a sound.
So we've just been building awhole bunch of songs we always
talk about.
We've never really talkeddefinite of how I'm going to
(51:10):
release any of the music orwhatever.
I got a laptop full of songsbut I've been teasing that I'm
going to release music and ofsongs.
But I've been teasing and, likeyo, I'm going to release music,
release music.
But a few weeks ago I got abusiness.
I got a car rental companyright and, like in the past two
months, one renter I don'treally care that he rented the
(51:36):
car because he's from Russia andhe was escaping.
He was like they were, they dothe draft over there.
So once Putin was like he's notthe awardee, yeah, yeah.
So he's that over here, youknow.
So he ended up in one of mycars.
He told me this afterwards buthe ended up wrecking my whip and
I really don't care for thatone.
(52:00):
But like a week ago, two weeksago, three weeks I forgot how
many fucking weeks ago therenter yeah, I just bought this
car in January, got everythingstraight, got it on the road.
A week go by, he's like, yeah,I'm going to extend the car.
An hour go by, he's like, yeah,I'm gonna extend the car.
An hour go by and he didn'tsend the money.
So I track my car and like Isee the voltage is like 4.
(52:24):
I'm like, oh fuck, text him.
You wrecked my fucking car.
So this is two cars.
Man, what?
That night I went to sleep.
I woke up like 4 am.
I was like man, fuck it, I'mabout to release some music.
Man, that's what happened.
I was like, bro, I'm about to.
(52:45):
So in that instant I had allthe R&B songs in one album.
So I just listened to each oneof them and was like, okay,
these are the ones I want, chosethem, released it.
Like.
Two days later, man, I was likeman, fuck it, I need to.
And I've been holding on to itfor so long.
I needed to just let this out.
(53:06):
And then this I've beenlistening to like Party Next
Door.
So I've been on some R&B vibeslately and I've been dealing
with this chick man she just man, she a fucking headache, and a
lot of these songs.
Like I made these songs beforeI met her, but they kind of like
fit the criteria of what'sgoing on with her.
(53:28):
So I was like, let me just putthis out here.
Well, it's been really good,bro, I'm proud of you.
You said you were like lookingfor your sound, like a long time
ago I don't know how long ago,but we were talking and you you
played something.
I listened to it and I'm like,oh, that's tight.
And we were talking do you feellike you have a good grasp of,
(53:52):
like, what your sound is, orlike what you want it to be, or
where you're gonna go next withit?
A little bit autotune, is thatalways?
Yeah, I'm a, you know.
Like at the beginning, likepeople tell me like I don't need
autotune and I really don't,yeah, but for aesthetics, um,
for the times that we're in,yeah.
(54:13):
And then, like it's Like whenyou think about space and the
future, auto-tune is kind oflike that song that you remember
that there used to be a movieon Disney.
I think it was like is itZoolander or something like that
, zoom?
So it's something like they'relike some futuristic shit, but
(54:34):
it's like that's what Auto-tuneis to me.
So I really felt with it.
And, like music, it changeswith time, yeah.
So I can't just say that like.
This is my song, you know,because I wanted to some of the
shit I was playing earlier andI'm not going to play it on here
(54:55):
.
We probably can play a song,but anyway, next time.
But it's a different song.
This is an R&B album.
The next album is going to belike a rap trap album and then,
who knows, I might do a countryalbum one day.
Shit, there's money to be madein that too.
You know what I mean.
Like crossover shit.
It's like really a thing.
(55:17):
Dirk and Morgan Wallen yeah,you're right, you're right,
you're right.
It's like not to get kind oflike I'm not making it, you know
like, yeah, it's like I wantthis shit to stand up.
I do want to be like on thatlevel, yeah, but I want it to
(55:41):
stand alone because it's likeyou make I'm not making music
for like mainstream.
Yeah, I'm not to like.
Oh, this is just when I makethese beats, it's like this is
just a feeling like, and I'mmore like I could take some
country guitars, but I'm a morphthose guitars to make them
(56:02):
sound how I want to slow themdown, whatever you know.
So it's like creating your owngenre.
Yeah, you got like Playboyparty sounds nothing like oh my
gosh, bro, that's a whole new.
You know what I'm saying?
That's a whole.
Yeah, he is right, but I don'twant to go there.
Yeah, that's a lot.
Yeah, I'm going to do somelightning questions.
(56:25):
Let's go Five years from now.
What are you going to be doing?
Maybe career-wise, or just youhave multiple businesses.
What are your goals for you?
Where are you going to be infive years?
In five years, I will be 37.
That's young.
(56:46):
Yeah, I would say by that time Iwould want to have my crib in
New York, in Manhattan.
That's a dream right.
I would want to have my crib inNew York.
That's a dream right.
That would be fire.
But honestly, like owningproperties, owning properties,
(57:09):
multiple places Me and you weretalking about, like Sponsor,
portugal, you know, I'm workingon my dual citizenship Trinidad
and Grenada.
That's two potential places.
But Grenada opens me up to alot of stuff.
I could go to Europe andprobably buy a property.
I've got to look more into thattype of shit.
(57:30):
That's the wave.
It's like building up enoughequity to start to play Monopoly
around the world, you know, andthen we're in Europe.
(57:50):
Traveling through Europe is somuch cheaper to do that.
Man, man, I hear I hear you cantake the train from wherever to
wherever.
You probably could take theplane, everything.
That's one thing I realized onthis last trip.
I went to Portugal last year.
I'm going here in less than amonth and, yeah, you got to come
(58:12):
check it out.
I'll definitely take that trip.
You said it's in June, though.
Right, yeah, I'm come check itout.
Nah, I'll definitely take thattrip.
You said it's in June, though.
Right, yeah, I'm going in June,but I'm going to go twice a
year, every year.
Okay, what am I planning?
If you go later in the year,let me know, I'll take that trip
.
What does it look like?
(58:33):
If you're going to get popularor something in Trinidad or
Grenada or something like that?
What's the landscape look like?
What would you look like?
I've never been out there.
It's like mountains.
We have property in both places.
Trinidad is real close to thebeach, you know, but that's not
really too many mountains, okay,but you know that's not really
(58:56):
too many mountains, okay.
Northland, but you know it'scool to like own shit.
Yeah, but I just came fromTulum recently and, like you
know, they're building up Tuluma lot right now, like it's still
like slums, yeah, but they'rebuilding up resorts and stuff,
because, you know, the Americandollars are there and there's
(59:20):
more places like that all overthe world than just the homes.
You know, in Trinidad there'sthe vehicles.
You know, well, today was thehome, second half, but you know
what I'm saying.
So it's like investments, likewhere can we park our money?
(59:40):
That'll make us more money,more passive income, because
that's, you know, that type ofstuff, yeah, we talked earlier
about like you know, yeah,that's really like when you ask
that question.
We talked earlier about likeI'm on a scene, you know, yeah,
that's that's.
That's really like when you askthat question, like where do I
(01:00:01):
see myself in five years?
But, you know, establishing,establishing wealth, interest,
that's the mindset.
Mindset, bro.
Yeah, I'm going to see wherewe're at Life lessons,
(01:00:24):
perspective questions.
All right, we're going to finishoff.
There's another question foryou and then we'll do shout-outs
.
Good, if you're younger, selfcan see you now, self.
What would you do, younger self, any of the things you
(01:00:45):
accomplished?
Were those?
Any things that you would like?
As a young age, I experiencedthings I thought I would never,
you know From, even like ridingin the Rolls Royce, that type of
(01:01:08):
shit, like it's the littlethings.
And like my younger self,looking up to me, is like yeah,
you've done something.
You've been in the rooms,you've written for people you
know these people but the jobain't over.
Kind of like it's just likefinish the job now.
(01:01:31):
It's like you've come this far,you've got this far, you got
the experience.
Now it's time to capitalize.
If my younger self saw me rightnow, it's just like yo finish
the job.
You feel me, you made it, bro.
(01:01:52):
Not yet, but the finish line isit's a rest.
I just talked to my bro likeit's like it's right there.
It's like we god put us inthese positions, you know, for a
reason.
So it's like it's right there,it's up, but it's up to us.
(01:02:13):
It's like going back to themessage earlier, it's like do
you have that thick skin?
Do you have that mind?
Do you have that mentality tofinish that job?
It's so easy to get there andjust be like you feel me.
Yeah, what's next for you?
(01:02:34):
Music videos, marketing, likejust figuring it out, you know,
because you're your own boss.
We were talking about itearlier.
(01:02:54):
It's like you own yourself, youknow.
And this, like we were talkingabout it earlier.
It's like you own yourself.
You own your.
You know you're a star in yourown right.
You there's instagram now.
You know you're your own mediaout there.
So it's just getting morecontent and just releasing it
and um, that's about it.
I really want to just like forthe rest of the year.
I'll probably release the restof my music.
(01:03:16):
I want to go into 2026.
Let's start off some new shit,because I'm tired of holding on
to it.
It's a lot of good shit, so Ineed to give it out.
You're doing your thing, bro.
How do you define for yourselfsuccess today?
(01:03:42):
What does that look like to you?
What does success mean to youin this moment?
Being well off, being takencare of man.
You know we live in crazy timesright now, you know.
(01:04:07):
But that's life and I bet inthe 1800s it was like we're
living in crazy times.
You feel me, but you got totake care of yourself and I've
seen my mom work, I've seen oldpeople work and it just it.
I don't want to be an oldperson working.
So at a young age you gottatake care of what you gotta take
(01:04:30):
care of to be well off whenyou're holding right.
So that's how you know.
That's what I'm on.
It's just like this taking careof self and saving money and
putting it in the right places.
And you know I, like you know Iown my time.
(01:04:51):
Like I don't clock in.
You know, every day when I wakeup I'm clocked in, you feel me.
So that's what it's about.
And when I'm 40, I want to beable to like I got 500K saved up
, like it's easy to talk aboutthat type of shit, but that's
(01:05:13):
really like the mentality,because if you had $500,000
right now, what would you bedoing?
Making more off of that$500,000.
You feel me Not fumbling thebag, not fumbling the bag, and
it gives you the wiggle room toit.
We travel a lot.
(01:05:34):
We do what we want to do.
It's at a cost right now, butthat cost is going to pay for it
.
You know you got to pay thatcost.
The currency, like if you lookat currency, money, whatever
material things, I think thememories I have from traveling
and the relationships that I'vebuilt from just leaving home far
(01:05:57):
outweighs any dollar amountthat I can make and for their
own self, I feel like thatbrings you the wealth.
Yeah, Opportunity, your networkis your network who?
(01:06:18):
Yeah, opportunity, your networkis your network, who you know,
and it's not getting money from.
I'm not saying in that aspect.
It's like when you touchdifferent places and you touch
different people and you openyour eyes to different things,
you open up more opportunities.
That's facts.
That is probably the bestfucking information I've ever
(01:06:40):
been on this shit ever.
That's right there, q.
Before I go, I want to say thankyou.
I appreciate you for doing this.
Do you want to shout anybodyout?
Let anybody know you know yourfinal words or whatever, or
where they can find you andlisten to your music.
Oh shit, yeah, damn.
(01:07:00):
All right.
You can find me on Instagram,anything.
Just type in Q-U-I-E FrancisF-R-A-N-C-I-S.
I should pop up.
That should just be the name.
If you're looking for my music,it's just under QI, q-u-i-e.
You can type in Q-U-I-E fromthe shadows, with love, and that
(01:07:24):
should come up for you to allof my music.
Shout out to you, bro, forcreating this platform, you know
, and really caring to go out,because how many people really
do that and you travel on yourown time to do that?
I do, bro.
You called me a journalist today, bro, and I appreciate that,
because the more and more I dothis, the more I'm like, all
(01:07:46):
right, yeah, that's what I'mdoing.
I'm just out here showingwhat's really going on.
You're a life journalist, bro,and you caring about going to
people with some stories thatjournals, bro, and you caring
about going to people with somestories that shit's important,
bro.
Me on those travels and allthose situations, you know,
whatever it may have been itcould have been four in the
morning, a rooftop in LA.
(01:08:08):
It could have been in themountains somewhere in Montana,
fishing in Minnesota.
No matter what, bro, I'veconnected with so many people
and I've just like taken alittle bit away from all of them
.
But their story, bro, like youwent through that and you're
just like living your dreamright now.
Like you have to hear it though, to be able to like either know
you can do that or capable ofdoing that.
(01:08:30):
You know, but it was me beinglike fuck it, I'm full set and
I'm just rolling the dice.
I'm going to this state andgoing to this state For sure,
just what's in my car right now?
Right, and just doing that, bro, it opened up so many
opportunities and changed mymindset to the point where, like
I'm cool with so many peoplethat I can pull up here and do
this with you, like same thingwith people in New you know
(01:08:52):
wherever, in another country youknow, and that's what it's all
about, bro.
Yeah, we should probably likeget an episode in London or
something in Portugal, bro, I'mgonna do one.
So, like, at the pad, there'slike a rooftop.
I grew up on this littlerooftop my grandma used to.
(01:09:15):
And just like bro, it's justtrees, beautiful mountains,
vineyards as far as the eyes cansee, and the sunset, bro, nuts,
it's like a little mushroom.
It's chill, man.
That sounds amazing.
I'm telling you that's what itis.
It's like all the people thatyou know have brought me in.
It's like the same way, I'm justreturning the favor.
You know what I mean.
Like that's what that place isthere for.
(01:09:36):
I can't be there every singleday and take.
You know, like most of thepeople I pull up, they want to
help me around the house or dowhatever.
I'm like you're here two weeks,do whatever you want.
You got a place to stay.
You want an authenticexperience, bro, like that's
what it is.
That's where my dad just wantedto show everybody around and do
(01:09:59):
all that.
So you're more than welcome.
You know what I'm saying.
You've been real good to me,bro.
So, yeah, I want to say thankyou, bro, I appreciate you and
we're going to catch up heresoon.
Thank you, everybody, and I'llsee y'all next time.
Peace, boom, that was perfect,that was fire.
Oh my, yeah, I appreciate that.
(01:10:19):
Well, you've been doing this,bro, two years, bro, all night.
Yeah, two years.
I've been on my grind for twoyears.
Honestly, it don't even feellike that was like this real
conversation.
That's what I like, bro, like Iswear my whole life.
That's what I was, thank you.
Hello, welcome to the Hang With you podcast.
This is your host, rj.
I'm here in Los Angeles,california, a place that I lived
for a few years over the courseof my life.
I'm here visiting my sisterright now, but a big reason why
I came out here is to do aninterview, and I'll be doing
that with my boy, Kwai.
What up Kwai?
What up bro?
How we doing?
(00:20):
How we doing?
Dude, I'm great, why?
What up Kwey?
What up Rosie?
How we doing?
I'm doing good.
So, kwey, I came to move outhere to live with my sister and
we were looking it up.
I met him on a Ty Dolla Signmusic video Shoot and, yeah, we
just met on set.
We started talking and westayed in contact ever since
(00:44):
then and he just came out hereto chase his music dreams and I
came out here just to findmyself, kind of.
So I'm here visiting my sisterdoing all that catching up, and
I was like my boy.
He just dropped his new EP,which is going right now, and so
you know, if you get a chance,go check out my boy.
(01:05):
A new ep he just dropped, uh,but but yeah, it turns out.
2017 is when we met and, uh,our lives have just gone in
completely different directionsand we've we've gone through a
lot and, uh, you know thispodcast a lot has to do with
mental health and so, you know,we're gonna kind of dive into
the things that we went throughon his come up and what he's
(01:27):
doing now in life and thingshe's gone through and how
everything's working out for himright now.
So, with that being said, I'mgoing to interview you and learn
a little bit about you.
Yes, sir, let's do whatever youwant to do, man.
Yes, sir, so we're here in theVelvet Room.
Yes, the Velvet Room, theVelvet Room.
How did you even stumble uponthe Velvet Room to begin with?
(01:51):
So I have this producer, danielRicher.
Shout out to Daniel, bro, wewere collabing a little bit.
He got replacements on this EPand I remember one time he
invited me into this deep camp.
(02:13):
It's just like a group offriends just producing, right?
I'm like, yeah, bro, I'm goingto pull up Because he's a young
producer.
He's fired.
He was in this room.
Come up in this room.
I'm up in this room and theowner of the studio is basically
one of his good friends.
Shout out to Hoppy, you feel me?
(02:34):
Ever since then, I've beenlocked into this room because
it's such a vibe in here.
We've been going through myprocess a little bit.
We've been here for a few hoursand the energy, bro, it moves
in here.
It feels good.
Whatever kind of art you wantto make in here, you got the
space to do it.
I feel like you can be in yourthoughts and not have anything
(02:54):
else enter in.
That's what I get from the vibe.
It's very punctuated, it's verymuch a vibe.
It's very much my getaway.
I've learned that you only letcertain energies into that space
as well, because you don't wantnothing to disrupt the flow.
(03:17):
Exactly, this is really myfulcrum.
It used to be like fur, righthere.
They changed it a little bit.
They be like Ferg, right here.
They changed it a little bit.
They changed a few things inhere.
Since the night I've been inhere, it's still the same.
All the memories, 2017, that'swhen you first came down here,
right?
Yes, sir, that's crazy, bro.
(03:39):
It's been a long time.
It's been a long time.
I know A lot of things I talkabout on the podcast.
I'm kind of going through mytravels and going back to the
places I live and meeting thepeople, talking to those people
that made an impact in my life.
I feel like everybody I talk to, I take a little bit of it,
(03:59):
whether it's the do's, thedon'ts, the bads.
I ain't going to make thatmistake, because I heard it.
You know that's real and yeah,man, it's good to see that
you're doing good.
So now I want to, you know, getinto the nitty gritties and
kind of get your story out there, and then we'll end on some
questions and some shout outsand then we'll both get back to
(04:23):
work like we do.
Let's get it, bro, alright, bro, alright, and some shout outs,
and then we'll both get back towork like we do.
Let's get it, bro, all right,bro, all right.
So you're 32.
Yep, and you were born inLouisiana.
Yes, that's home.
New Orleans, louisiana yes,that's home, that is home.
I just came back from therelast week.
Yeah, you were doing agraduation.
Yeah, you're doing up to thegraduation.
(04:49):
Oh, yeah, mom, cousin, hegraduated law school.
Okay, yeah, I've been backtwice this year, once for the
Super Bowl and then for thisgraduation.
I plan on going probably likeone or twice more.
Okay, same one for every season.
Yup, yup, celebration.
(05:10):
We turn that down like half anotch, half a notch.
So Louisiana, that's where youlived first, and then we'll get
into Atlanta and Los Angeles andthose travels.
What age was it when you leftNew Orleans?
That was your first move, right?
Yeah, like, as a grown, like,you know, that was 2014, 2015,
(05:38):
ish.
So I want to say I was probably23, 24, around that age.
Okay, so up until that,louisiana, that's all you know.
I wouldn't say it's all I know.
My mom, she's from Trinidad,okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, my
grandparents are from Grenada.
My earliest memories like, likeyou know, we were talking about
(05:58):
this talk.
Yeah, I wanted to get down andyou know time, I wanted to get
down and learn about your familyand everything.
So, like my earliest memoriesof me being in Grenada with my
mom and I used to think I wasfour, my whole life.
I thought I was four years oldwhen that happened Recently I
asked her and she was like thatwas 1995.
I was born in 93.
So I was two years old, noteven probably two, who knows how
(06:22):
, probably was one going on too,you know, but that's like my
earliest memories.
And yeah, grenada, trinidad.
I went to Trinidad in 2008 forthe first time and I think, just
doing that at a young age, justlike show me that there's more
you know.
So, yeah, new Orleans is likemy upbringing, but I did have
(06:46):
different things.
Okay, so you got family in bothplaces Trinidad, green Bay, up
here.
I love the place, I love it, Ilove it.
So what's life like growing upin Louisiana and where you grew
up?
You know, take me through, youknow neighborhood, your family.
(07:09):
You live with your mom.
How did that live?
I lived with my mom, my dad.
He went about his business, youknow, around the time I was
born or whatever.
You know how us men and womenwe go through things.
It was my mom.
(07:30):
You know a lot of islandinfluence, a lot of island music
, so I didn't really, let's say,grow up American.
They're best friends withTrinidadians, so I grew up
listening to that music.
But you know I'm outsidehanging out with my friends, so
I got that also.
My father he's actually fromMichigan, they're from Flint,
(07:53):
grandparents from that side ofTennessee and I just learned a
lot about them last year Sharedproperties Gone into a whole
bunch of stuff.
Yeah, it was mainly my mom.
And in New Orleans, man, where Igrew up.
I grew up on the west bank ofNew Orleans and gunshots every
(08:18):
night.
A lot of my friends, some ofthem dead, some of them killers.
You know, and it's crazy, Igrew up, let's say, in Harvey.
They call it White Harvey whenI grew up, but there's a skinny
(08:39):
canal that separates us fromBlack Harvey and that's where
everything's going down.
You know so it's.
That separates us from BlackHeart and that's where
everything's going down.
You know so it's.
And my friends over there too.
You know so.
We all got to go to schooltogether and all of that stuff.
It's just that, oh, this iswhere the white people live.
This is where the Black peoplelive.
They make this much money overhere.
(09:01):
You know, my mom was blessedenough to buy a house on this
side and bring us up the bestway she can.
You know, because you heardthat anybody.
No, it's not, but it's stillbringing poor kids, Poor, not at
all.
Single mother, you know, always, yeah, so, yeah, moms play a
(09:24):
big role in your life.
Yeah, hustler mentality Alwaystold me you want to own your own
business, you don't want towork for nobody.
We talked about theentrepreneurship and that level
of shit.
Yeah, it comes from that.
It comes from that.
What's wrong with the hustlers?
Yeah, music, entrepreneurship,that's kind of your avenues
(09:49):
right now.
When did you develop those typeof things?
Did that come from theLouisiana ring up or did you
develop like, when did the musicstart?
When did yeah, when did thatstart?
It's funny, man, because, yeah,let me ask that.
It's funny man because lastyear I found out my dad used to
play golf with James Brown.
Really, yeah, so like, growingup I got like this old picture
(10:13):
of my dad.
You should have used a moattown, yeah, you know for sure,
for sure.
And my dad, he was a masterpianist.
He like could play anythingwith his eyes closed, like hands
moving so fast.
It's like, how is that possible?
But from you know, from littlehe had us playing instruments.
(10:35):
You know Every instrument.
I grew up playing the violin.
You know that type of stuff andthat's where that influence
comes from.
And he always used to like sendmy tapes of Michael Jackson,
like his old videos and stuff.
It was always there.
And then on my mother's side wegrew up in a church.
My grandmother had a church inLouisiana and my grandmother was
(10:59):
a singer.
Like me and my brother are theonly guys that can sing in the
family.
We're the only ones that canreally sing in the family.
We're the only ones that canreally sing in the family.
But other than that, it was mygrandmother and she used to
always sing in church.
So you know the gospel notesand hymns and stuff like that.
I think that plays a part in it.
Also, I love when that poursinto hip-hop too as well.
(11:19):
You know what I mean.
Those are some of my favoritetracks, those old samples from
that type yeah, real shit,that's the best thing.
It's so soulful.
You know I love mixing thoseboys together.
So, louisiana, let's seeLouisiana, you go to Atlanta.
(11:41):
I know a job there.
Right, that's how we got there.
Katrina, the first time I wentto Atlanta was Katrina.
That's the first time.
Yeah, Shit, I'm in middleschool.
Shit.
You know, in Louisiana me andFlorida people we always have
(12:05):
this joke.
It's like we used to hurricaneevery year, every year.
It's not like an earthquakethat comes out of nowhere, it's
like, nah, we know we're on thistime, you feel me?
So it's just like Trina coming,and they're like man, we ain't
worrying about this shit, andthen it started getting bigger.
And they're like man, we ain'tworrying about this shit, and
(12:25):
then it started getting biggerand they're like, man, we ain't
alright, we just gonna get outof here, just for you know, just
to be safe.
You feel me?
So, yeah, we boarded up thehouse, packed everything.
My brother wanted to stay.
So we went to Houston, stayedthere until, like, it did what
it did.
Then we picked up my brotherand we went straight to atlanta.
Yeah, you got family at thisspot.
(12:48):
No, no, not really.
You know, like louisiana folks,we got family in houston.
We got family throughout thesouth.
You know, yeah, but, um, thatexactly, but to think of like
immediate family, not because mymom's, like first generation,
I'm the first, you know.
(13:08):
So we don't really got thatmany people.
We're all soldiers, bro, justtaking the kids.
We gone, yeah, we gone.
We got to do what we got to do.
That was the first time.
That was the first time.
Was there any major events inyour life of living in Louisiana
(13:30):
?
You grew up in where you grewup.
You happened to be on the otherside of that line, which is
good.
You lost a lot of friends andthen, on the other side, same
thing.
I have that familiar sort ofpath of growing up.
What kept you from going downthat road.
I know your mom was a strongguide for you and your siblings,
(13:54):
but what else, like, kept youfrom, like, getting in the
streets?
What was it that kept you fromgetting in the streets?
Disease to get rid of?
Um, you know, I got pulled intoit at another age, but like
early on.
Let's just say this parentshave a way of controlling things
(14:19):
.
They can control that withtheir child if they want to.
So certain strings were pulledwhere it's like I just strayed
away from it, I got stabbed.
I was in a fight.
I got stabbed in my head and onmy neck.
After that I just like I wasjust, I fought a lot.
I was in martial arts and stuff, yeah.
(14:39):
So I always been like a fighter.
But after that it was like, letme chill for a little bit and I
started playing baseball Nice.
So I think, like the baseballseparated me from hanging out
after school doing some othershit that I didn't have no
business doing.
You know, I think that that waslike a big part of it.
(15:01):
But also just having thatself-knowledge, it's like I
don't want to do this.
Yeah, I don't want to do this.
You know what the consequencesare.
You see it, yeah, it's just alot of us.
You know, absolutely,absolutely.
What took you to Atlanta?
Oh, because we went over it alittle bit.
(15:25):
It's you're 13 and it's 2008.
Yeah, that's when we first wentto Atlanta for the treatment.
Yeah, and then you're in your20s when I go back to Atlanta.
What takes you back to Atlanta?
Some shit happened like, uh, thestuff we were going all year we
were going, yeah, I dropped outof.
I dropped out of college.
(15:48):
I was at Nichols State inLouisiana.
We went to Nichols nah, not atNichols State.
They actually got a really goodprogram.
Yeah, they do.
That's what I'm talking about.
Yeah, I wanted to walk on, butlike, honestly, like I think I
stayed at Nichols for a year,sat out, went back and like
(16:12):
that's when, like maturity Iwouldn't say maturity hit, but
like it's just like I know whatI want.
Now Shit started to click dropout.
You feel me, we could gothrough that whole little
process.
We ain't gotta go through allof it.
But you know, yeah, just goingto college, separating from the
(16:35):
city, doing your mischief incollege, you know, you see the
ropes of that.
And then it's like man, I'mlike.
You know, a lot of people dropout.
I wasn't in my classes.
I used to minor in music but Iwould skip class and I would be
making beats in my room.
(16:56):
I'd have a bitch in my bed, butyou know.
But I'm in my room making beatsand my fucking teacher mad at
me like you got so muchpotential, but why?
It's because you're really notteaching me.
It's like us as sponges, likewe gain what we need and then
after that it's like I don'tneed it.
(17:16):
You know, I don't.
It's excess shit.
So that's why my grades slipped.
I left out of school.
I moved to New Orleans.
Man, shit, I got in the street.
You feel me?
I see shit happen.
I was like fuck this shit.
I got a job offer in Atlanta.
(17:37):
I said all right, shit, I wasgone.
But before we go to Atlanta, Igot a couple of questions about
the roots of Louisiana a littlebit.
How did the culture ofLouisiana shape you personally?
Do you take any of that?
Is it your music?
(17:57):
Everything, man, being from NewOrleans, I wouldn't.
You know every place that it'swhat's going on, but New Orleans
is, I wouldn't.
You know every place got itswhat's going on, but like, new
Orleans is just a different,it's just a different monster to
me and it it, it shaped thehustler in me, it shaped.
It shaped the hard work in me,it shaped like the chip on my
(18:21):
shoulder.
You know it, cause that placeis a tough place, that ain't.
That ain't no easy place.
No, not at all.
It's a very tough place and, um, very high rates in a lot of, a
lot of things.
And, um, but, like the music,the culture, the food, it's all
flavor.
You know, like the PowerpuffGirls, you know, and he just
(18:46):
putting all this shit in the pot, you know, there's a whole
bunch of shit in the pot thatfucking shapes you.
And um, yeah, man, it'severyday In my music, in the way
I walk and talk, the pieces.
You know, you know, thehospitality, there's so much
shit, that's a big one.
Yeah, people are missing that alot these days, unfortunately.
You know.
(19:06):
Yeah, you know, it's likethere's this divide.
Now it's like since thecomputer came, it's like, you
know, it's a detachment.
Now it's really hard to connect.
Yeah, like, when you're soconnected to this, how do you?
You know, you know this is thereality that we're supposed to
(19:29):
be in.
Now we have a matrix.
Now, you know, you gotta escapeit.
That's what I'm trying to say.
That's what I'm trying to sayyou gotta escape the matrix, bro
.
Oh yep, so alright, what'ssomething about growing up there
that people outside of theSouth don't understand, about
what you do?
That's hard.
(19:51):
That's hard to say because Idon't know the perspective of
someone that's outside.
Well, I know some perspectives.
I'm living in California.
I see how some people don'tlive off the west side.
You know, there they hold life.
That's a different world.
Sometimes, if I had anything, Iwould just say to the people
there it's just like there'smore here, there's more to the
(20:15):
world than where we at.
Like I said from a young age,my mom bring me to Grenada when
I'm two.
It's like it shows me thatthere's more.
My first memory is of thewaterfall there.
There's no waterfalls in theworld.
So of course I want to go tothe waterfall.
I want to know what, and a lotof us get stuck where we at.
(20:40):
There's a lot of shit that goeson in life that makes us stop
and be stagnant or be complacent.
But there's way more in thisworld than what we know.
If you don't grow and you don'texpand your mind to try and
learn that your world is goingto be so just Real shit.
(21:06):
You know what I mean.
Yes, waking up like that everyday and just being like I'm cool
, knowing what I know, andsometimes it's like, but we're
not aware that that's what we'rein.
You know, it's like.
It's like the analogy with thefishbowl, like if a fish is in a
small bowl, it's only going togo to put it inside the big ass,
(21:29):
you know.
And sometimes the fish don'teven know it's in the fishbowl
Because that's all it knows.
That's all it knows.
It don't know it's an ocean.
It's the perfect fuckinganalogy For real, about life,
growing and traveling toexperience those things.
We got to experience people.
We really got to be aroundother people, other cultures,
(21:50):
that's everything.
Because everyone does itdifferent.
Everyone does it mostlydifferent, like other countries.
We got to get in here.
Some people do it wrong.
It's up to you, us, as humans.
One of the main goals is likereproduction.
Yep, we should want to gain theknowledge, to give that to us,
(22:16):
pass it down, you know.
But if we know only this, andwe can only teach this, how can
we expand?
How can anything?
How does the culture go?
You get it, bro, the job.
What was the job there?
(22:36):
In Atlanta, there was a momentthat will take you out of
Atlanta to go to Los Angeles.
How was your experience inAtlanta that time?
Before you know, things wentbad.
I was working, man.
It's like I dropped out ofschool man.
(22:57):
I was making fast money.
Well, I dropped out of school,I started working at Jimmy
John's you know Drew Brees, shit, learn shit and some
knowledgeable shit.
And I worked somewhere else,got in the street and it was
like fuck this.
My brother got me the job inAtlanta and, um, that was, I was
(23:20):
taking pictures of cars.
Um, and it's just like my firstreal job.
I'm making like 50 bags a year.
He sent me a nice, basically,we'll take pictures.
We had a set of dealershipsthroughout Atlanta.
We'll pull up, we'll takepictures of the cars.
I had to go do training inJacksonville Hot as fuck.
(23:44):
But to do that and you know youmaking good money, you take like
20-30 pictures of cars a daywith a video, probably doing
like 20 cars.
You get paid per car.
That was the job.
But you know, you with a son,yeah, you hustling.
But me as a young man is like Idon't know the value of it.
It's very valuable, but I don'tknow the value of it.
(24:05):
You feel me, it's very valuable, but I don't know the value of
it, because that's not what Iwant to be doing.
You know, I want to do what Iwant to do to get where I want
to go.
But uh, you sure of that?
You know not even sure, becauseit's just that I want to do it
my way.
And even with that job, they hadme fly out here.
(24:26):
We went to, we flew out here,flew me to Orange County, yeah.
And because I wanted to move toCalifornia, when I was in New
Orleans it was like, do I wantto go to New York or do I want
to go to California?
I visited out here like, ohwait, do I want to go to
California?
I visited out here like, ohwait.
(24:46):
After I came from Trinidad Ivisited my uncle out in Compton,
long Beach, and I just was likeman, I want to go to Cali.
So when I was leaving NewOrleans I was telling my homies
I was like man, let's go to Cali, let's go to Cali.
But you know, they got family.
I got family too, but I don'treally give a fuck.
(25:07):
It's like I know there's moreout there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you look good, yo.
But uh, oh, yeah.
So your uncle was out here,yeah, but uh, oh, yeah, so your
(25:28):
uncle was out here, yeah, sothey flew me out here.
Nah, nah.
Well, I got two uncles out here, but, um, like one of my uncles
, he gave me a few apartments tofill me up, but, um, yeah, so
they flew me out here.
But it was like so far awayfrom Hollywood I'm like I can't
do what I want to do.
I'm out here working.
(25:49):
If they move me out here, I'llbe out here working.
So it's like man and it's hot.
I was in Orange County and theone person that was like rude to
me was a black person, reallyCrazy.
And I was like crazy, yeah.
So he really crazy.
And I was like crazy, yeah.
So, um, he was trucking anddriving, he trying to suck up to
his, yeah, whatever.
(26:09):
Well, um, I went back toatlanta and some some racist
happened or whatever.
I ended up quitting that job.
But in the process of mequitting that job, on that job,
I met a homie and, like ourwhole group, I clicked with the
whole group.
You know one of the homies fromNew Orleans.
He was a producer homie to rapwith.
(26:30):
Then my brother to this day,zay.
He's from Chicago, he knew themthrough Twitter or whatever.
He moved from Chicago orwhatever you know he's.
He like he would he done, tookphotos for like Tiana Summer
Walker he was her sister andlike um, a few shits, but uh,
(26:53):
but this was like the beginningof it.
You feel me, it's like we alljust like clicked and it was
right before I quit or whateverI had quit that job and we was
just on the hustle bro.
We was on the hustle bro, likewe'll pull up on Gucci man.
We'll be on Snapchat trying tofigure out where DJ Khaled at
(27:15):
Like no, for real.
Like we was.
We chilled Me and Zay wastalking about it earlier today.
Like we chilled in the Lowe'sHotel for like for like.
We got there at like 2.
You know we ain't seen Caliuntil like 1 am.
You feel me Like we was in thelobby just chilling and running
across people and then, like a10, 11-inch dude come in.
(27:43):
He fly as fuck.
My homie was like man, that'ssomebody.
I'm like man, that ain't nobodybro.
He was like man, that'ssomebody.
I'm like man.
That ain't nobody he's like.
Let me charge my phone, charge.
His phone came back.
This him.
It was fucking Lenny S KodakLens.
He used to like yo.
He was like I'm nobody.
I'm like, yeah, that nigga gotall fake Yeezys, bro, that ain't
(28:08):
nobody.
He was like yeah, I'm nobody.
But then he showed me up.
We walked up to him.
We was like you letting us.
He was like ching ching and wesat there and had like a
30-minute conversation with him.
Khaled came down, talked itover with him.
That was our little click.
We pulled up on Ross and myhomie.
(28:32):
He posted it on Twitter.
Ross hit him up come to thecrib.
He was at Ross' crib for likethree months.
You feel me.
So, yeah, that's how I met ourmentor.
So basically, so that's how Imet our mentor.
So basically say, we droppedthem off at Ross Cribb.
You know shit happened.
(28:55):
I moved here, I moved to Caliand in the process of that
happening, I know that's, youknow that's Ross' producer.
He sees that and was like comeon, come with me, I need you to
do some shit.
And they ended up flying toCalifornia.
They introduced him to me.
He started bringing me to thestudios, sitting in writing
(29:17):
sessions, seeing him make beatsfor Block Boy, jv and all this.
You know I don't really carethe name drop, but yeah, you
know, he just brought me in theatmosphere, you know, and
teaching me a lot of shit aboutthe game and that was my
introduction into the musicindustry.
(29:39):
But it started from moving to,you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, I
know we skipped a whole bunch ofsteps.
I'm just very interested in itall for sure, like how it came
to be, like we've been onfriends' social media since then
so I could always, you know,see, you know you don't really
(30:00):
post them like that, no more,which is like I think it would
get me.
I'm on the same shit.
A bunch of years ago I was likeI'm done.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, for sure you get over it.
Yo, I think it's maturity,because a lot of people, a lot
of this shit is fake man.
A lot of people want to be infront of a camera showing their
(30:21):
lifestyle but that's not reallywhat's going on behind the
scenes and you know it goes withthe mental health.
Everybody want an image.
Sometimes you got to beauthentic.
You know I didn't even want torock none of this shit, but you
was like man and a couple yearsago it was way heavy.
It's already heavy, but it'slike I don't really like.
(30:44):
You don't need to show, youdon't need to, you don't need to
show nothing.
It makes the hard work that youdo show at the end that much
more beautiful.
And and the surprise that comesbehind you know what I mean.
Yeah, you work for it.
Yeah, exactly everybody,everybody faucets everything
they have, like nobody had it,but like when you got something
(31:05):
special, like you don't evenknow what I'm doing in this
place.
You know what I'm saying, right?
Hey, this is like.
You know, I post those storieshere and there, but this is like
people getting to see a realglimpse of.
I really wanted to show you therecording process, show you the
recording process.
You feel me One day.
One day, the next thing I dowhen I come out here, we'll be
(31:25):
like a little mini-document andwe'll go through, we'll do it
and we'll catch up again and seewhere you're at.
We'll do it like that, becauseI still gotta go work with the
boy out in Atlanta.
Oh, yeah, for sure, we gonnamake that happen.
And also, shit, not to get off alittle subject the bro right
here.
So he used to ball overseas?
Yeah, like.
(31:46):
But now he's a designer.
Okay, bro, he made some pantsfor me.
So fucking cold bro.
Oh man, if he had them bitcheson him right now, I love it bro.
Yeah, yeah, like this.
Hey, shout it out, bro, I'mtelling you, I just want to put
people on that that deserve it.
I see the hard work that goes onbehind.
(32:08):
You know, like I've beenfriends for a minute, bro, and
like you were just grinding,you're grinding the same, you
know, even though you put yourproduct out.
You know, like that mentalityis the same.
It's crazy, but they don't getto see before, they don't get to
see the rough days.
You know, they don't.
You gotta hustle every day tobe able to afford to even try to
(32:32):
look forward to it.
There's so much they can dowith it.
Man, I actually was thinkingabout a week ago.
I was like if I added up likehow many times I've been in this
room, so not to you, feel me,yeah, I usually get this from 12
hour sessions, right, like, soit's only 12 hour sessions in
(32:54):
here, yeah, and I used to dothat like two, three times a
week and I did that for like ayear, just like just grinding.
You know, and it was not onlythis studio, it was my homie,
xander.
We was at Trace Studios, that'smy main engineer.
And then my uncle, he got astudio also.
You know, just going from placeto place and putting that work
(33:16):
in, you feel me For real.
And when you go like let's justsay you're going to go do a
feature somewhere else, I meango in some other booth, like
it's nothing.
It's nothing like let's justsay you're gonna go do a feature
somewhere else, I mean goingsome other booth, like you know,
and it started way before it is, it's like in new orleans, my
brother, you know, the truthhappened.
(33:36):
Yeah, my brother ended up goingto jail in atlanta and, uh,
when he came back to new orleansin his crib when I was in high
school, he ended up building abooth.
You feel me Got the Pro Tools.
So me and my homies, we all inhis crib and he doing tattoos
and shit and we just likeplaying around.
You feel me With a basicfucking auto-tune.
(33:58):
You feel me we was just FruityLoop.
I still use Fruity Loop, that'swhat's on there.
Fl Studio all day, fl Baby.
So Los Angeles, that's when wemeet.
Yes, sir, you're grinding, sowhere you're at right now.
(34:19):
I got some questions.
You know, mental health is alittle bit about this too right,
for sure, you've been in theindustry.
Like we'll say that I got somequestions.
Mental health is a little bitabout this too right, for sure,
you've been in the industry,like we'll say that right,
you've been out here for morethan a handful of years, right,
I think I got into the musicindustry, like I started to get
around that like 2019.
Alright, so you've been around,you've seen things, you've been
(34:43):
to places, you've been toparties.
You've been to whatever Not noditty parties, ain't no ditty
parties.
But man, shit, you already know.
But about the mental healththing how has the music industry
affected your mental health,like positively and or
(35:04):
negatively?
You know, I've been around alot of shit too, and I was
partying my ass off when I wasolder.
See, this is the thing, like allof us got different upbringing
and this world makes us intowhat we are, right, yeah, but
the way we are kind of likehelps shape that, and you got to
(35:28):
be able to like sometimeswithstand things.
It's about how tough are you.
Do you have thick skin or thisextra shit?
Yeah, yeah, there's so manyvariables.
So with the music industry,like you know, there's bitty
parties, or like there's justshit out there.
Like you know the bitty parties, or like, um, there's just shit
out there.
Like, easily all the time, like, nah, nah, it's not even in a
(35:52):
negative way, it's, it's justlike you just see humans, you
know, and the way humans behave,you know, yeah, have you ever?
You know um, have you ever likejust people watch all the time?
You feel me, it's just the waypeople, people behave.
So, like to be in those rooms,you gotta be a fly on the wall
and just see like people watch,you know, um, like I used to
(36:16):
take martial arts right and whenI was like a white or yellow
belt, I still used to watch theblack belts like do they forms
and stuff.
I wasn't allowed to do thattype of shit but I used to watch
it.
You had my mom like I learnedthe form by just watching it and
they were mad at me that I wasdoing it better than them.
But I wasn't even a black dogyet.
(36:37):
You can't do that yet, you know.
But you're kind of cultish withthe rules of like when you can
learn.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, being in the rooms, I'm, Isit back and I observe and I I
watch, and that's one of thebest ways of learning and, um,
you know, just learning the waypeople.
(37:02):
My my first studio session wasA$AP Bird.
Yeah, beat Billionaire.
He took me in the studio withA$AP Bird and he did jet lag.
That nigga did jet lag in like15 minutes, bro, really Like I
seen him cook the beat and thenhe went in the booth and he made
that motherfucking song so damnfast.
But it was his creative method,you know.
(37:23):
And then being in othersessions with other artists that
made music that were signed,they also they didn't do it just
like him, but they did it sortof like him.
So that, like that influencedme to make music a certain way.
But you, your question was likethere's also that aspect of like
so many motherfuckers in theindustry is creeps.
(37:46):
You feel me A lot.
How did that influence me?
I ain't, I ain't, you know, Iain't dealing with that type of
shit, you know.
So it influenced me in likemany different ways.
Yeah, you're aware, it makesyou more aware.
Yeah, my question is like, inwhat ways are you saying like
(38:09):
specifically?
Like, I guess if you're notlike drinking, like every night
in the studio, like smoking youknow a lot of people do that
right, like that's never been.
Nah, nah, we up in here to work, there you go, we up in here to
work.
Now, when we in here, we gonnabuy a bottle, we might sip some
(38:35):
weed.
We gonna definitely smoke someweed up in this motherfucker.
Other than that, it's like whenI'm outside of here, I not
really like I'm not no drinker.
Yeah, that's good.
You, how did?
How did the so?
Martial arts?
Um, now I'm starting to kind offigure it out, because you guys
, you and beats you.
(38:57):
You guys put this placetogether boxing, or oh, okay, so
we missed that part.
Oh shit, nah, cause, that'safter.
That's like, yeah, cause,alright.
So you gotta connect the dots.
Let me connect the dots,alright.
So where we at I moved out, wentto Atlanta, shit happened in
(39:22):
Atlanta, but I got my team movedout here.
We was doing that, we was doingthe casting, I was doing the
casting, shit.
That's how I met you.
I met you two months into beingout here on the Ty Dolla $ign,
hit the ground running and thenSave and Beat Billionaire flew
(39:42):
out here in 2019.
That's when we started to makethe music shit.
And then you know Beat, he's alegend already and he don't
really need to really work.
So you know, as a family man andas a man, should, you should
focus on your family.
(40:03):
And his son got into boxing andwith that, like I went down to
Atlanta and we went to thefucking like their gym.
It was in like the farm behindthe crib, but it was cool Like
(40:23):
they training the kids how tobox.
But you know, being like liketheir gym.
It was in like this barn behinda crib, but it was cool like
they training the kids how tobox.
But you know, b's, like man, Iwant my own shit.
You feel me, it's just someball shit.
Like I want my own shit and formy son, he can come in here
whenever he want and he can boxwhenever he want.
So he found a spot, man and shitgot the spot.
(40:46):
We tore it down, bro, like wetore down the whole motherfucker
.
Like it had like the officeceiling with the white tiles
yeah, yeah, yeah.
And next door it was like thisAfrican spot.
When I went in there, like thewhite tiles was gone.
All you seen was like the baretop.
Yeah, yup, um.
And I'm like, well, you know,he got like the sprinkler system
(41:12):
and shit, so it looked like aloft or some shit.
Yeah, I'm like, bro, we gottatear down the top.
He said hold on, let's ask.
We asked like two more.
They said, yeah, yeah, we gottatear down the top, tore down
the top, we broke down walls, wepainted the whole thing.
He painted like Muhammad Alibefore it may well go on the
wall.
We drove down to South Georgia.
(41:33):
We picked up a ring like it waspouring rain, bro, we in a
fucking Jeep, gladiator likesliding like with the fucking
shit on the back.
We had the.
You know it's raining, so wehad the packet on the back and
shit like.
But just thinking about thehard work and it's been like two
years and that the gym is fire,it's been over two years.
(41:54):
Yeah, two years it's been goingon.
Three man, it's called um, Ithink it to take that spot out.
I wasn't able to do it my lasttrip to Atlanta.
I did get some good interviewsand shout outs to Young Lottie
in Atlanta yes, sir, and butyeah, beat Billionaire, that was
(42:17):
the boxing gym.
That the I, the.
I guess that's the boxing gym.
Yeah, we're going to learnabout that.
I'm going to go over there andinterview people there.
But yeah, so that's the boxinggym.
Yeah, and there's a lot ofscreens.
Let me pull it up.
My bad, I just had to do somecrazy ass stuff.
(42:38):
Oh good, all right.
You know, I checked my phoneand I'm like, oh, what the fuck?
Yeah, billion dollar box,billion dollar box.
Yeah, we're going to check themout and yeah, so it's just like
(43:01):
that was for his son and, butyou know, he that was for his
son and uh, but you know, he gotlike his son was fighting with
like golden glove winners andshit.
So he got some young, I thinkthey're they're not amateurs,
they got some pros.
That's awesome.
(43:22):
Yeah, so you have them.
Rip it off, yeah, yeah, yeah, Ifeel like I'm part owner, but
that's my brother, you know, andyou know it's just like we all
just want to help each otherbuild something.
Yeah, a legacy, you know.
(43:42):
Yeah, yeah, it takes a team.
It takes a legacy, you know, ittakes a team, it takes a
village, you know, and I'm justgrateful that he brought me on
the team.
I remember the night I met him,I was in the Jeep Wrangler.
I played him some music that Imade you feel me and I brought
them from the studio.
You feel me.
It's kind of like a movie, likehow everything just fell into
(44:05):
place.
You never know who you're goingto meet, where you're going to
meet them and what thatrelationship can turn into.
Business, friends, becomefamily.
Yeah, it's just like how youtreat people and also being a
good person.
And it's just like how youtreat people, you know, and also
(44:26):
you know being a good personand keeping your name good.
It's like when people couldvouch for you.
Like it was my homie, zay.
You know, he met Zay first.
Zay introduced him to me andit's like, okay, zay is a.
Yeah, zay introduced him to meand it's like, okay, zay is a
cool nigga, so you must be acool nigga.
(44:48):
Oh, and you make music.
Zay take pictures, so you makemusic.
Okay, let me I and like whatcan you do for me?
It's not like what can I do foryou?
It's like what can you do forme on some shit?
Yeah, you know, uh, there'salways a trade-off with I want
to say if you're not useful tosomeone, you're useless.
(45:11):
Yeah, you know, when you startwith trying to be a good person
first, then that's how you endup with any situation.
Yeah, you know for sure,because you gotta be authentic.
People see past the bullshitvery fast.
Yeah, once you see it, one timeit's like Radar.
I ain't dealing with that.
No, you're already a couplesteps ahead and you can see it.
(45:34):
Like you said, people watchingIf you do that long enough,
you're gonna figure some shitout, exactly exactly.
But I feel like a lot of peopledon't keep a watch.
I guess it's like my motherwould be oblivious, oblivious.
They're just walking around,living like the way they live.
Yeah, it's crazy.
(45:55):
It's crazy.
But you know like if it waseasy, everybody would do it and
everybody would be successful.
But it's not easy.
Easy what you're doing, youknow, like how many, like you
said, just the cost of beinghere, it's the hours, like, yeah
, it's a process, and then likeit's like starting a business.
(46:17):
You know, yeah, um, you know,other than music and shit, I got
like two companies or whateverI do on the side.
But it's like a lot of peopledon't start a business because
they're afraid it's going tofail.
But that's where, like themusic, they don't try but which
(46:39):
I have a friend out here, agroup, and he said what you are
in one thing is what you are ineverything.
And basically, if you're afraidto try in one thing, you're
afraid to try in everything.
If you're mediocre at one thing, or if you put mediocre effort
(47:02):
into one thing, you're going toput mediocre effort into one
thing, you're gonna put mediocreeffort into the rest of these
things.
You know your whole life.
That's who you are.
You feel me.
So.
So I like, from leaving NewOrleans to like investing in
myself, going broke, like when Imoved down here, I didn't
contact my uncles, I packedeverything in my Jeep Wrangler
and just drove out here, a JeepWrangler that get 11 miles per
(47:25):
gallon.
So Atlanta, that out here, youfeel me.
And then like we didn't getinto the part of like sleeping
in the whip and all that extrashit.
You feel me.
But to do that, but you have inyour mind like the outcome of
where you want to be and if youbelieve in yourself, like
(47:49):
starting the business, you gonnasee that shit through.
And when you do that, I feellike God sees it and he's like
I'm gonna help you out becauseyou see that you're striving to
do something.
But if you're not, you know, ifyou're not trying, nothing ever
(48:10):
gonna happen.
You know you can't be likestepping on people to try to get
to get where you want.
Don't't throw nobody under thebus.
You know, and that's a lot ofpeople do that.
But see those gatekeepers orthose people at the top, see
that shit and they see, oh you asnake.
I'm not about to let you getover here because you're going
(48:32):
to try to snake me once you getto this level, you feel me.
That's why I go back to keepingyour name clean and being a
good person and just do thingsthe right way and don't force
things.
Your village, your tribe, isgoing to come to you.
You don't fall into y'all.
Both come together becausevibrations meet like vibrations.
(48:53):
You know they say in space.
I forgot because the absence ofwhatever, like if a light metal
sees another light metal, itgets the legal attaches and it
doesn't.
It can't be taken apart, nomatter what.
Yeah, and you know that's whatvibrations are.
(49:15):
You feel me.
That's what vibrations are.
You feel me A lot of peopledon't know about how important
that is and just like everythingthat goes on around a player,
yeah, and energy in that way isthe same way you talk to it.
You know how much energy you putinto this.
You know, like dictates, howsuccessful this is.
(49:36):
You know, if all you thinkabout is this, if all Michael
Jordan thought about wasbasketball, that's why he was
that good.
Exactly, you know, exactly,it's very missing from like
culture these days.
I don't know, I think I feellike this culture is like a
little too kind and lazy alittle bit.
I'm lazy a little bit, you know, it's just like I just feel I'm
(49:59):
lazy as fuck too sometimes.
I'm not even wrong, I'm justsaying, overall, I'm really out
here just like I'm fighting forlike this, because I know how
much it helps people and whatI'll be able to give my legacy
and what I'm going to beremembered for and what my kids
are going to look up to.
For me, that's where I'm atwith the whole thing.
(50:23):
Everybody's journey is theirjourney.
While we're on the music Fromthe Shadows with Love.
How did that name come up andhow did the whole thing come
together?
You said it to me right when it, when it came out, bro.
Very good, thank you, bro.
Thank you so, um, you know, uh,me and my, my bro xander, like
(50:49):
we, I think like since 2022,late 2022, we like been just
locked in.
We really locked in 2023.
We just grew a sound.
So we've just been building awhole bunch of songs we always
talk about.
We've never really talkeddefinite of how I'm going to
(51:10):
release any of the music orwhatever.
I got a laptop full of songsbut I've been teasing that I'm
going to release music and ofsongs.
But I've been teasing and, likeyo, I'm going to release music,
release music.
But a few weeks ago I got abusiness.
I got a car rental companyright and, like in the past two
months, one renter I don'treally care that he rented the
(51:36):
car because he's from Russia andhe was escaping.
He was like they were, they dothe draft over there.
So once Putin was like he's notthe awardee, yeah, yeah.
So he's that over here, youknow.
So he ended up in one of mycars.
He told me this afterwards buthe ended up wrecking my whip and
I really don't care for thatone.
(52:00):
But like a week ago, two weeksago, three weeks I forgot how
many fucking weeks ago therenter yeah, I just bought this
car in January, got everythingstraight, got it on the road.
A week go by, he's like, yeah,I'm going to extend the car.
An hour go by, he's like, yeah,I'm gonna extend the car.
An hour go by and he didn'tsend the money.
So I track my car and like Isee the voltage is like 4.
(52:24):
I'm like, oh fuck, text him.
You wrecked my fucking car.
So this is two cars.
Man, what?
That night I went to sleep.
I woke up like 4 am.
I was like man, fuck it, I'mabout to release some music.
Man, that's what happened.
I was like, bro, I'm about to.
(52:45):
So in that instant I had allthe R&B songs in one album.
So I just listened to each oneof them and was like, okay,
these are the ones I want, chosethem, released it.
Like.
Two days later, man, I was likeman, fuck it, I need to.
And I've been holding on to itfor so long.
I needed to just let this out.
(53:06):
And then this I've beenlistening to like Party Next
Door.
So I've been on some R&B vibeslately and I've been dealing
with this chick man she just man, she a fucking headache, and a
lot of these songs.
Like I made these songs beforeI met her, but they kind of like
fit the criteria of what'sgoing on with her.
(53:28):
So I was like, let me just putthis out here.
Well, it's been really good,bro, I'm proud of you.
You said you were like lookingfor your sound, like a long time
ago I don't know how long ago,but we were talking and you you
played something.
I listened to it and I'm like,oh, that's tight.
And we were talking do you feellike you have a good grasp of,
(53:52):
like, what your sound is, orlike what you want it to be, or
where you're gonna go next withit?
A little bit autotune, is thatalways?
Yeah, I'm a, you know.
Like at the beginning, likepeople tell me like I don't need
autotune and I really don't,yeah, but for aesthetics, um,
for the times that we're in,yeah.
(54:13):
And then, like it's Like whenyou think about space and the
future, auto-tune is kind oflike that song that you remember
that there used to be a movieon Disney.
I think it was like is itZoolander or something like that
, zoom?
So it's something like they'relike some futuristic shit, but
(54:34):
it's like that's what Auto-tuneis to me.
So I really felt with it.
And, like music, it changeswith time, yeah.
So I can't just say that like.
This is my song, you know,because I wanted to some of the
shit I was playing earlier andI'm not going to play it on here
(54:55):
.
We probably can play a song,but anyway, next time.
But it's a different song.
This is an R&B album.
The next album is going to belike a rap trap album and then,
who knows, I might do a countryalbum one day.
Shit, there's money to be madein that too.
You know what I mean.
Like crossover shit.
It's like really a thing.
(55:17):
Dirk and Morgan Wallen yeah,you're right, you're right,
you're right.
It's like not to get kind oflike I'm not making it, you know
like, yeah, it's like I wantthis shit to stand up.
I do want to be like on thatlevel, yeah, but I want it to
(55:41):
stand alone because it's likeyou make I'm not making music
for like mainstream.
Yeah, I'm not to like.
Oh, this is just when I makethese beats, it's like this is
just a feeling like, and I'mmore like I could take some
country guitars, but I'm a morphthose guitars to make them
(56:02):
sound how I want to slow themdown, whatever you know.
So it's like creating your owngenre.
Yeah, you got like Playboyparty sounds nothing like oh my
gosh, bro, that's a whole new.
You know what I'm saying?
That's a whole.
Yeah, he is right, but I don'twant to go there.
Yeah, that's a lot.
Yeah, I'm going to do somelightning questions.
(56:25):
Let's go Five years from now.
What are you going to be doing?
Maybe career-wise, or just youhave multiple businesses.
What are your goals for you?
Where are you going to be infive years?
In five years, I will be 37.
That's young.
(56:46):
Yeah, I would say by that time Iwould want to have my crib in
New York, in Manhattan.
That's a dream right.
I would want to have my crib inNew York.
That's a dream right.
That would be fire.
But honestly, like owningproperties, owning properties,
(57:09):
multiple places Me and you weretalking about, like Sponsor,
portugal, you know, I'm workingon my dual citizenship Trinidad
and Grenada.
That's two potential places.
But Grenada opens me up to alot of stuff.
I could go to Europe andprobably buy a property.
I've got to look more into thattype of shit.
(57:30):
That's the wave.
It's like building up enoughequity to start to play Monopoly
around the world, you know, andthen we're in Europe.
(57:50):
Traveling through Europe is somuch cheaper to do that.
Man, man, I hear I hear you cantake the train from wherever to
wherever.
You probably could take theplane, everything.
That's one thing I realized onthis last trip.
I went to Portugal last year.
I'm going here in less than amonth and, yeah, you got to come
(58:12):
check it out.
I'll definitely take that trip.
You said it's in June, though.
Right, yeah, I'm come check itout.
Nah, I'll definitely take thattrip.
You said it's in June, though.
Right, yeah, I'm going in June,but I'm going to go twice a
year, every year.
Okay, what am I planning?
If you go later in the year,let me know, I'll take that trip
.
What does it look like?
(58:33):
If you're going to get popularor something in Trinidad or
Grenada or something like that?
What's the landscape look like?
What would you look like?
I've never been out there.
It's like mountains.
We have property in both places.
Trinidad is real close to thebeach, you know, but that's not
really too many mountains, okay,but you know that's not really
(58:56):
too many mountains, okay.
Northland, but you know it'scool to like own shit.
Yeah, but I just came fromTulum recently and, like you
know, they're building up Tuluma lot right now, like it's still
like slums, yeah, but they'rebuilding up resorts and stuff,
because, you know, the Americandollars are there and there's
(59:20):
more places like that all overthe world than just the homes.
You know, in Trinidad there'sthe vehicles.
You know, well, today was thehome, second half, but you know
what I'm saying.
So it's like investments, likewhere can we park our money?
(59:40):
That'll make us more money,more passive income, because
that's, you know, that type ofstuff, yeah, we talked earlier
about like you know, yeah,that's really like when you ask
that question.
We talked earlier about likeI'm on a scene, you know, yeah,
that's that's.
That's really like when you askthat question, like where do I
(01:00:01):
see myself in five years?
But, you know, establishing,establishing wealth, interest,
that's the mindset.
Mindset, bro.
Yeah, I'm going to see wherewe're at Life lessons,
(01:00:24):
perspective questions.
All right, we're going to finishoff.
There's another question foryou and then we'll do shout-outs
.
Good, if you're younger, selfcan see you now, self.
What would you do, younger self, any of the things you
(01:00:45):
accomplished?
Were those?
Any things that you would like?
As a young age, I experiencedthings I thought I would never,
you know From, even like ridingin the Rolls Royce, that type of
(01:01:08):
shit, like it's the littlethings.
And like my younger self,looking up to me, is like yeah,
you've done something.
You've been in the rooms,you've written for people you
know these people but the jobain't over.
Kind of like it's just likefinish the job now.
(01:01:31):
It's like you've come this far,you've got this far, you got
the experience.
Now it's time to capitalize.
If my younger self saw me rightnow, it's just like yo finish
the job.
You feel me, you made it, bro.
(01:01:52):
Not yet, but the finish line isit's a rest.
I just talked to my bro likeit's like it's right there.
It's like we god put us inthese positions, you know, for a
reason.
So it's like it's right there,it's up, but it's up to us.
(01:02:13):
It's like going back to themessage earlier, it's like do
you have that thick skin?
Do you have that mind?
Do you have that mentality tofinish that job?
It's so easy to get there andjust be like you feel me.
Yeah, what's next for you?
(01:02:34):
Music videos, marketing, likejust figuring it out, you know,
because you're your own boss.
We were talking about itearlier.
(01:02:54):
It's like you own yourself, youknow.
And this, like we were talkingabout it earlier.
It's like you own yourself.
You own your.
You know you're a star in yourown right.
You there's instagram now.
You know you're your own mediaout there.
So it's just getting morecontent and just releasing it
and um, that's about it.
I really want to just like forthe rest of the year.
I'll probably release the restof my music.
(01:03:16):
I want to go into 2026.
Let's start off some new shit,because I'm tired of holding on
to it.
It's a lot of good shit, so Ineed to give it out.
You're doing your thing, bro.
How do you define for yourselfsuccess today?
(01:03:42):
What does that look like to you?
What does success mean to youin this moment?
Being well off, being takencare of man.
You know we live in crazy timesright now, you know.
(01:04:07):
But that's life and I bet inthe 1800s it was like we're
living in crazy times.
You feel me, but you got totake care of yourself and I've
seen my mom work, I've seen oldpeople work and it just it.
I don't want to be an oldperson working.
So at a young age you gottatake care of what you gotta take
(01:04:30):
care of to be well off whenyou're holding right.
So that's how you know.
That's what I'm on.
It's just like this taking careof self and saving money and
putting it in the right places.
And you know I, like you know Iown my time.
(01:04:51):
Like I don't clock in.
You know, every day when I wakeup I'm clocked in, you feel me.
So that's what it's about.
And when I'm 40, I want to beable to like I got 500K saved up
, like it's easy to talk aboutthat type of shit, but that's
(01:05:13):
really like the mentality,because if you had $500,000
right now, what would you bedoing?
Making more off of that$500,000.
You feel me Not fumbling thebag, not fumbling the bag, and
it gives you the wiggle room toit.
We travel a lot.
(01:05:34):
We do what we want to do.
It's at a cost right now, butthat cost is going to pay for it
.
You know you got to pay thatcost.
The currency, like if you lookat currency, money, whatever
material things, I think thememories I have from traveling
and the relationships that I'vebuilt from just leaving home far
(01:05:57):
outweighs any dollar amountthat I can make and for their
own self, I feel like thatbrings you the wealth.
Yeah, Opportunity, your networkis your network who?
(01:06:18):
Yeah, opportunity, your networkis your network, who you know,
and it's not getting money from.
I'm not saying in that aspect.
It's like when you touchdifferent places and you touch
different people and you openyour eyes to different things,
you open up more opportunities.
That's facts.
That is probably the bestfucking information I've ever
(01:06:40):
been on this shit ever.
That's right there, q.
Before I go, I want to say thankyou.
I appreciate you for doing this.
Do you want to shout anybodyout?
Let anybody know you know yourfinal words or whatever, or
where they can find you andlisten to your music.
Oh shit, yeah, damn.
(01:07:00):
All right.
You can find me on Instagram,anything.
Just type in Q-U-I-E FrancisF-R-A-N-C-I-S.
I should pop up.
That should just be the name.
If you're looking for my music,it's just under QI, q-u-i-e.
You can type in Q-U-I-E fromthe shadows, with love, and that
(01:07:24):
should come up for you to allof my music.
Shout out to you, bro, forcreating this platform, you know
, and really caring to go out,because how many people really
do that and you travel on yourown time to do that?
I do, bro.
You called me a journalist today, bro, and I appreciate that,
because the more and more I dothis, the more I'm like, all
(01:07:46):
right, yeah, that's what I'mdoing.
I'm just out here showingwhat's really going on.
You're a life journalist, bro,and you caring about going to
people with some stories thatjournals, bro, and you caring
about going to people with somestories that shit's important,
bro.
Me on those travels and allthose situations, you know,
whatever it may have been itcould have been four in the
morning, a rooftop in LA.
(01:08:08):
It could have been in themountains somewhere in Montana,
fishing in Minnesota.
No matter what, bro, I'veconnected with so many people
and I've just like taken alittle bit away from all of them
.
But their story, bro, like youwent through that and you're
just like living your dreamright now.
Like you have to hear it though, to be able to like either know
you can do that or capable ofdoing that.
(01:08:30):
You know, but it was me beinglike fuck it, I'm full set and
I'm just rolling the dice.
I'm going to this state andgoing to this state For sure,
just what's in my car right now?
Right, and just doing that, bro, it opened up so many
opportunities and changed mymindset to the point where, like
I'm cool with so many peoplethat I can pull up here and do
this with you, like same thingwith people in New you know
(01:08:52):
wherever, in another country youknow, and that's what it's all
about, bro.
Yeah, we should probably likeget an episode in London or
something in Portugal, bro, I'mgonna do one.
So, like, at the pad, there'slike a rooftop.
I grew up on this littlerooftop my grandma used to.
(01:09:15):
And just like bro, it's justtrees, beautiful mountains,
vineyards as far as the eyes cansee, and the sunset, bro, nuts,
it's like a little mushroom.
It's chill, man.
That sounds amazing.
I'm telling you that's what itis.
It's like all the people thatyou know have brought me in.
It's like the same way, I'm justreturning the favor.
You know what I mean.
Like that's what that place isthere for.
(01:09:36):
I can't be there every singleday and take.
You know, like most of thepeople I pull up, they want to
help me around the house or dowhatever.
I'm like you're here two weeks,do whatever you want.
You got a place to stay.
You want an authenticexperience, bro, like that's
what it is.
That's where my dad just wantedto show everybody around and do
(01:09:59):
all that.
So you're more than welcome.
You know what I'm saying.
You've been real good to me,bro.
So, yeah, I want to say thankyou, bro, I appreciate you and
we're going to catch up heresoon.
Thank you, everybody, and I'llsee y'all next time.
Peace, boom, that was perfect,that was fire.
Oh my, yeah, I appreciate that.
(01:10:19):
Well, you've been doing this,bro, two years, bro, all night.
Yeah, two years.
I've been on my grind for twoyears.
Honestly, it don't even feellike that was like this real
conversation.
That's what I like, bro, like Iswear my whole life.
That's what I was, thank you.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
True Crime Tonight
If you eat, sleep, and breathe true crime, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT is serving up your nightly fix. Five nights a week, KT STUDIOS & iHEART RADIO invite listeners to pull up a seat for an unfiltered look at the biggest cases making headlines, celebrity scandals, and the trials everyone is watching. With a mix of expert analysis, hot takes, and listener call-ins, TRUE CRIME TONIGHT goes beyond the headlines to uncover the twists, turns, and unanswered questions that keep us all obsessed—because, at TRUE CRIME TONIGHT, there’s a seat for everyone. Whether breaking down crime scene forensics, scrutinizing serial killers, or debating the most binge-worthy true crime docs, True Crime Tonight is the fresh, fast-paced, and slightly addictive home for true crime lovers.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com