June 6, 2025 • 42 mins
Meet Omdia Memwequa, also known as "The Candy Man" – a name earned from his addictively delicious pecan candy that customers jokingly call "legal crack." But behind this sweet success story lies an extraordinary journey of transformation that will leave you inspired.
Omdia's story begins with his name itself – a creative combination formed from a monk's chant and a West African word, while his last name emerged during a Scrabble game. This creativity extends throughout every aspect of his life, from his entrepreneurial ventures to his approach to overcoming life's challenges. With remarkable candor, he shares how uncontrolled anger led to his incarceration, and how he used that experience to completely reinvent himself.
What sets Omdia apart is his refusal to be defined by his past mistakes. During his time in prison, rather than adopting what he calls an "inmate mentality," he worked in the law library helping others who had been over-sentenced and fought to keep educational programs available. Since his release in 1997, he's never returned to prison and has dedicated himself to mentoring young people at risk of making similar mistakes. His current project involves teaching entrepreneurial skills to a young man recently released from a group home, showing him legitimate ways to earn money and build a future.
Beyond his candy business, Omdia has expanded into music, creating songs like "Legal Crack" and his latest release, "Yellow Dress" – a heartwarming true story about a song commissioned as a birthday gift that helped spark a relationship. His creativity, resilience, and commitment to giving back make this an episode you won't want to miss.
Ready to experience some "legal crack" yourself or hear Omdia's music? Find him on social media as "Mr Memwequa the Candy Man" or email mrmemwequa@gmail.com to connect with this inspiring entrepreneur who proves that our past mistakes don't have to determine our future.
Want to be a guest on Living the Dream with Curveball? Send Curtis Jackson a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1628631536976x919760049303001600
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, if you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
(00:24):
Where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
Today, I am joined by singer,songwriter, the maker of that
legal crack, and we're going tobe talking about what that means
Mr Amdia Menweka.
I've been knowing Mr Menwekafor a while, been trying to get
him on the show, glad to havehim here.
(00:45):
So we're going to be talking tohim about everything that he's
up to and going to be up to.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So, Amdia, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Appreciate you having me on there Curveball.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Hey, why don't you start off by telling everybody a
little bit about yourself?
Well, as you say, my name isI'm dm and wecker, or to a lot
of people who buy pecan candyfrom me, the candy man or mr
mcwecker the candy man when I'mdoing music.
But basically I'm just a guywho trying to leave, who trying
(01:27):
to leave it better than it waswhen I came here.
Basically, if I can put it in anutshell, Currently I'm doing
music.
Of course Curtis was talkingabout the League of Crack Pecan
Candy.
That's why he didn't say PecanCandy, but he was saying he was
going to talk about what legalcrack is.
Which legal crack is?
They call it pecan candy that Isell and basically they call it
(01:50):
legal crack because once I puta hit of my pecan candy, it
keeps them coming back.
Hence it was a joke that theystarted saying I put crack in
the pecan candy.
That's why they're gettingaddicted.
And it changed.
It changed from the joke ofcrack was in the candy to them
calling it legal crack and Iadopted the name and I ran with
(02:11):
it and that's what everybodymostly called my candy non-legal
crack, and I've been selling itfor a while and actually about
to hook up with my friend Curtisand start shipping some out
there so he can start selling itin his store.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yes, I told him he needed to.
And I remember when I first metAmdia he was telling me about
his candy and I knew about pecancandy.
So I was like, yeah, you know,I like it and stuff, but you
know, sometimes it could be toohard.
And he was telling me, oh well,I make chewy candy too.
I'm like for real Chewy pecancandy.
(02:49):
He let me taste it and he gotme hooked too, even before it
was called Legal Crack.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, yeah, he was hooked way before the Legal
Crack thing, yeah, so tell ushow you came up with the name
Omdia Manweka.
Okay now the name I'm Dear,manweka.
Okay now the name I'm Dear.
It's an acronym, but it startedoff as two separate words OM is
(03:15):
um, the channel of monks andDIA.
I was in uh, it was.
Dia was in a West African book,a book called Names West
African Names.
One time that I had and I waslooking at the book and I always
just liked the DIA.
For some reason I just likedthe deal and I don't know me
(03:39):
being me messing around.
One day, I don't know how, Icame to the conclusion of
putting O-M and D-I-A togetherbut I ended up putting the
channel amongst with the WestAfrican name, per.
The book was saying D-I-A.
I put them together and itbecame Amdia, so Memweka.
(04:03):
A lot of people think it's nottrue, but it's a very true story
.
I had no intentions on having alast name at all.
Like people were like what'syour last name gonna be?
And I was like I don't need alast name, I'm just gonna go by.
I'm D, you know.
So.
(04:26):
One night playing.
I'm just going to go by.
I'm D, you know.
So.
One night playing Scrabble.
Because I used to play a lot ofScrabble and people didn't
never want to challenge mebecause every time they
challenged me on the words thatI put on the board they would
lose because what they didn'tknow.
Since I was a kid, I alwayslove reading dictionaries, so
that's why I knew all a lot ofwords that you don't even
(04:46):
normally see on a regular.
So if a person sees it for thefirst time, they're going to
swear that's not a word.
So I had the letters to spellout Mimweka.
I couldn't figure out what Iwanted to spell, so I just put
M-E-M-W-E-Q-U-A down on theboard and the host said nobody
(05:09):
would challenge, becauseeverybody was always scared to
challenge, because every timethey would challenge a word they
would lose.
When I put it down, they werelooking at it.
Everybody did the normal.
You're going to challenge them.
You're going to challenge them.
I ain't going to challenge them.
I'm always going to lose.
No one challenged them.
So when the game was over, theydid what they normally do when
they don't challenge they ranstraight to the dictionary to go
(05:31):
look up to see if the word wasin there.
Now, every other time prior toMilwaukee, they go to the
dictionary.
They see the word.
They were like uh-huh, see,that's why I'm on a challenge
this night.
They didn't see me and Weka inthe dictionary.
So now they were saying, oh,you got us, you got us, you got
us.
And I'm like, no, I ain't goty'all, that's a word for real.
(05:52):
And they was like, man, that'snot no word, it's not in the
dictionary.
So, me being me, I was like, eh, it ain't got to be in the
dictionary to be the word.
I said, it's a word that I madeand it's going to be my last
name.
So it's a real word.
It's just not in the dictionarybut it's a real word.
And that's how the last name,mweka, came, because I actually
(06:16):
took Mweka and made it my lastname, because it was sounding
cool to me like I'm Dill Mweka,I'm like man, that sound kind of
cool, that sound kind of dope.
You know what I'm saying.
Even if it don't sound cool anddope to nobody else, it sound
cool and dope to my ears, whichis the really the ear that
matters the most, because it'sgoing to be my name.
So I changed it to I'm dear man, welcome now.
(06:42):
I always had a thought process,even as a kid, because my mom
would tell people that in aminute, I think, when I was like
in kindergarten or the firstgrade, maybe the second grade or
something.
I came home from school one dayand told my mom I ain't like my
name and I wanted to change it.
So changing my name was alwaysin me.
But a certain situation came upthat presented itself for me to
(07:04):
go ahead and change it, becauseI actually changed my name to
help somebody else out.
Now I changed my name during myunfortunate period of
incarceration and I had this guyyou know he was an Islamic guy,
muslim, and he went to changehis name.
And he went to change his namebut the state of Florida came up
(07:25):
with something about youcouldn't some kind of rule or
law that was coming up withduring that time, about you
can't change your name.
And the guy was asking me whatcould he do about it.
So I was working in the lawlibrary at the time.
So you know I did some researchon it and I was telling him I
think I found something that Ican get you, you know, on appeal
.
You know you can get you onappeal, you can get overturned
and you'll be able to keep yourname.
(07:45):
But of course I understood hedidn't really want to do it,
because in prison that ain'tlike the most welcoming place
for people who are actuallyfiling motions and stuff.
So they was going to probablycome down on him or something,
(08:06):
and so he didn't want to messwith it.
So I was like, well, you knowwhat, I'm going to go ahead and
file a petition to change myname and of course they're going
to deny it because of that rulewhich gives me the opportunity
to, you know, appeal it, and I'mgoing to fight it and we're
going to win.
I say, and I just take the flag.
You know what I'm saying,because that just was me.
(08:29):
And I really wanted to, becauseI didn't, I didn't, I don't know
.
I really wanted him to be ableto keep his name because I was
like, I found a way that I knowyou can win.
But I understand, because whenwe up in here, this is not
really about rehabilitation.
It's about wanting us to berecidivistic and come back.
But that's a whole differentstory for a whole other time,
but that's the fact of thematter.
(08:49):
So of course they don't try tobring you know, and if you try
to change stuff and challengestuff, they're going to bring
some heat on you.
So I took the heat.
I went, filed a petition tomake my name I'm DM in Weka.
Of course they ruled against it.
I got into the appellate courtand ended up winning, and so now
(09:13):
people was able to change theirnames.
You know that was back like in96, 95, something like that, but
that's how I ended up changingmy name.
I ended up changing my name.
Although I always wanted tochange my name, the opportunity
actually became presented to mebecause of somebody else who was
(09:33):
going through something, and Ifound out a way that they could
actually win and so I just putmyself out there at the test
market and so now my name isAmdielman Weka, and I honestly
can't remember what the otherguy's name was, but he was able
to keep his name, and thenpeople there after that they was
able to change their names andyou know they could keep Because
(09:54):
, you know, I.
I mean, I understand why theywere trying to create the rule,
but at the same time it was asilly rule to me and I was like
man, come on now, y'all alreadytrying to strip us of everything
, although some of us mademistakes and put ourselves here,
and some of us ain't didnothing because there's so many
people incarcerated that theyeven did the crime.
(10:16):
But I understand, you know weput the ones of us who put
ourselves in here.
I understand y'all ain't tryingto make it all good and stuff
for us, but at the same time,come on now, our name change.
So you know that's how thatcame about, though.
So since 1996, I have been I'mDMM welcome and OMDIA I, I.
(10:39):
I even turned it to an acronym,which means one man doesn't
individually achieve.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, that's a good one right there.
So as much as you want to oreven if you don't want to, I
understand you know kind of tellpeople about your incarceration
, what got you there and how youbounce back and what you
learned you know from yourincarceration.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
All right.
In a nutshell, my own stupidityput me there.
I call it my own stupiditybecause I allowed my anger to
get the best of me and then, myanger getting the best of me, I
ended up shooting somebody.
Now, for the record, I'm notgoing to say he was no saint or
nothing that I ended up shooting.
(11:27):
I'm not bragging about itbecause I'm just saying the
person that I ended up shooting,he wasn't no saint, he was all
in some small kind of stuff andthat's how it really ended up
happening, because he kind ofthought he had a sucker, as they
say, in the streets and youknow.
So, you know, tried to play mesome kind of way and all that.
(11:49):
And again, it still didn't haveto get to that point.
You know what I'm saying.
It actually should have been.
Even if it was anything thatshould have happened, it should
have just been a fight.
And I'm going to say, on mypart, he would have deserved the
butt whooping that I was goingto give him Because, like, and
I'm going to say on my part, hewould have deserved the butt
whooping that I was givingBecause, like I said, it wasn't
like he was no saint and he didopen the doors with laid down
(12:12):
the wrong path of me getting soangry I shot him.
But you know I'm glad I didn'tkill him.
I would be lying if I said thatwasn't my intentions at that
moment.
But I'm glad my intentionsdidn't get fulfilled, you know,
because it shouldn't have nevergot.
My anger shouldn't have neverdrove me that far to where I
(12:36):
ended up shooting.
If anything, it should havejust been a fight.
Some people might say itshouldn't have been that.
But nah, because what led up toit?
He deserved a butt whoop, hedeserved that.
But he ain't really deserve toget shot unless he would have
been threatening my life, andreally and truly he wasn't
(12:57):
really threatening my life, itwas just I allowed my anger to
get the best of me and someissues that I thought wasn't in
me was still there.
So it presented me theopportunity to realize what I
thought wasn't there was thereand I was able to work on it.
So you know I have a bettercontrol of that anger that got
(13:18):
out of control that day and ledme to do that.
Plus, it has also allowed me toactually help some other people
because I've been seeing themin situations since I've been
out.
You know people I'm close to orstuff.
I can see where their angerabout to take them somewhere and
I'll present to them my story.
I say, look, you don't want toend up like me.
My anger took me to thepenitentiary.
(13:40):
I don't want to see you allowyour anger to do the same thing
to you, and I can see that fromlive experience of what I would
be.
So I'll be presenting adifferent alternative to them
and stuff like that.
You know, um, but yeah, it wasmy anger.
I didn't have to shoot the guy,but it ended up.
I, you know I didn't have toeven want to have the intent to
(14:01):
kill him, but hey, we all makeour mistakes and stuff in life.
So when I did go to prison, youknow, I just looked at it as
well.
I put myself in the position,but I'm going to make the best
of it.
So I wasn't a royalty prisoneror nothing like that.
Hey, actually, to me I wasrebellious, but I was rebellious
(14:24):
in a good way, from thestandpoint of I rebelled against
allowing myself to adopt aprisoner's mentality or inmate's
mentality, etc.
Is one of the leading causes ofpeople end up recidivistically
(14:47):
coming back because all they'rethinking of themselves is an
inmate or a criminal.
And so they start saying, yeah,when I get out I'm going to do
the same things and stuff likethat, especially with some of
the things they would try to dothe guards and the institutions
try to do to you, because it'sset for you to try to prove a
point to them, like you can'tbreak me.
(15:08):
Because one of the mattressthat used to go through in the
prison, through a lot ofpeople's minds I used to hear
them say, is that, yeah, theycan't break me, I'm going to go
back out and do the same thing.
But they didn't understand.
That was really the game plan.
To make you so mad, to showthem you can't straight me up,
you can't do nothing, I'm goingto still be the same person when
I come out.
(15:28):
And being the same person whenyou come out, a lot of them was
coming back in.
Some of them were doing 10years after they just did five
years.
And here I did one going on mysecond year and some of them
coming back, and I'm like, man,you just did 10 years and now
you back a year later.
Man, you just did 10 years andnow you back a year later.
You did 5 you back.
But I started understanding thementality that a lot of them
(15:50):
was having, because they adoptedthere was an inmate.
They adopted there was acriminal.
They adopted what the prisonsystem wants you to adopt
mentally so that you can, 9times out of ten,
recidivistically come back.
So I rebelled against thatbecause the whole time I was
(16:11):
like, oh, I was stupid and putmyself here, this ain't the
place to be, and I know when Iget out I'm going to make sure
to tell any and everybody thisain't the place to be and I'm
not coming back, which I haven'tbeen back.
I got out in 1997.
It's 2025.
I've never been back.
I kept that promise to myselfbut while I was in there, like I
(16:31):
said, I made the best of it.
I ended up working in the lawlibrary, which I learned.
That makes you an enemy,because that's why I tell people
.
You might have a lot, you mightdisagree, but I went through
the prison system.
So that's why I tell people.
You might have a lot, you mightdisagree, but I was like I went
through the prison system, sothat's why I speak like this
about it.
I knew it's not designed torehabilitate you because of the
things I was going throughWorking in the law library.
(16:54):
It gave me the opportunity tohelp people with their cases and
stuff and I was noticing that,you know, the system had an
over-sentence.
A lot of people, like peoplehad some people would come to me
.
They asked for their medical.
But because the system isalways trying to burn people,
(17:17):
because they know a lot ofpeople don't know nothing, they
don't be knowing the pleas theybe signing, they don't be
knowing this, that and other andjudges and stuff sometimes send
sentence you to what they want.
Because in my case I went totrial and I lost the trial but
the sentence that the judge gaveme was still too much, the
(17:37):
actual.
It was too much based off of meand although when they gave me
the sentence, in my mind Ithought it was right, because
you know, I said I shot somebody, so you know, but I was the
first time a friend, I had norecord or nothing like that.
So in florida they had a certainpoint system and you scored to
(17:57):
a certain amount and that's whatthey got to sentence you to,
unless you was an habitualoffender or if you committed a
crime so heinous that the pointsystem could be thrown out.
Well, I didn't fall underneither one of them categories,
even though somebody might say,well, you shot somebody that
could be as heinous that's notconsidered heinous under.
(18:19):
They're so heinous that youcould just throw the point
system out.
I was a first-time offender, soI ended up getting the over
sentence and I learned all thatwhen I went to prison and was in
the law library and so that'swhere my other rebellious part
of me came, not trying to be atroublemaker, but I was like
okay, y'all want us to in thissociety, y'all want us to abide
(18:44):
by the laws and the rules and ifwe don't, you know we have to
suffer consequences and stufflike that.
But I was looking at it from thestandpoint that the courts
always have this thing calledprocedures of conduct or
procedures of rules and stufflike books that you know that
rules and regulations thatthey're supposed to abide by,
(19:06):
right, but most times theywasn't.
And I know for, particularly inmy case, because the judge
didn't abide by the rules,because the judge used
emotionalism.
You know what I'm saying.
That's why I be telling people.
You know what I'm saying.
When I hear people saying it'sthe only system I got, I say
that's a sorry thing because yougot to think about it.
(19:27):
When you're looking at judgesand stuff, they're saying you're
honoring all that becauseyou're wearing a robe.
How do I know you are anhonorable person?
How do I know you didn't oversentence somebody like the judge
who over sentenced me when heknew he was sentencing me too
much?
And how I know that?
Because here, six months later,working in the law library, I
(19:48):
learned that my sentence was toomuch and I'm like okay, you are
a judge, so that means you donewent to college, law school,
all this.
You been doing this for yearsso you knew you was over
sentencing.
Here I find I know you know thisbecause six months later I done
learned reading y'all rules andstuff.
So you do the emotionalism tosentence me because you was mad
(20:13):
because I wouldn't take a pleathat you wanted to give, a plea
that was really more than what Iscored out to.
Because in the end, even goingto trial and losing, the most
they was able to were supposedto give me was three years.
They exceeded that sentence.
The plea that they were comingto me exceeded the three-year
(20:33):
sentence.
And all this is known by thejudge and the district attorneys
, because you can't tell me,y'all don't know this stuff.
And here I just in six monthsin prison in a law library I
learned all this, so y'all knewall that.
So that's the blatant disregardy'all have of your own rules
and regulations.
So that would make me a rebel.
As far as working in a lawlibrary when I was finding out
(20:58):
people was over sentenced andall that, I was getting them
back in court, and I was gettingthem back in court.
From the standpoint of listen, Iaccept my sentence, and I
accept if you give anybody elsea sentence in here if they did
something wrong.
What I cannot accept, though,is that y'all not going to
follow y'all rules andregulations, but y'all want us
(21:18):
to do the same thing in society.
If we don't follow the rulesand regulations, we have to
suffer consequences.
But y'all don't follow therules and regulations, we have
to suffer consequences.
But y'all don't want to followyour own rules and regulations.
And you just want to just say,well, he's supposed to be
sentenced three years, I'm goingto give him seven, or I'm going
to give him ten, or I'm goingto give him fifteen, and wonder
why a lot of people don't trustthe judicial system, because, no
(21:40):
matter what you try to say,that's human beings, and all
human beings have some kind ofinfallibility to them.
All human beings are subject tobeing a human at some time.
So whether you wear a robe or auniform, whatever, that's what
people get messed up at.
You forget that that personthat is in that uniform or
(22:01):
whatever ain't nothing but ahuman, just like you.
They can make mistakes.
They can be human just like you.
They can make mistakes, theycan be judgmental like you, they
can lie like you.
And all that People be thinkingbecause you wear certain outfits
.
You are supposed to be sohonorable, but I have the
mindset of how do I know you arehonorable just because you got
that uniform or that on?
(22:21):
I've had good experiences withjudges and officers and stuff in
life.
But I've had good experienceswith judges and officers and
stuff in life, but I've had badtoo.
That's why I look at it.
I look at all human beings as ahuman being.
I don't look at your titles, Idon't look at what you wear or
nothing like that.
I say because that what blindsus?
We get caught up in titles andstuff and we forget that's a
(22:43):
mere mortal human being, justlike us, so they can still mess
up too and make mistakes.
So don't just think because aperson has a certain position,
they are just automatically anhonorable person.
You have to see their actionsand stuff like that.
You know what I'm saying.
But so, like I said, I learnedthat.
(23:03):
That's why, when I say rebel,I'm saying I wasn't a rebel
trying to cause problems inprison.
I wasn't trying to be fightingpeople, trying to fight gods and
all that.
I was focused on wanting to gohome.
But I was a rebel because I waslearning that y'all
over-sentencing people or y'allgiving people sentences they
weren't supposed to have, ory'all the carousel people into
signing plea bargains that theyshould have never signed, and
(23:28):
I'm helping them get back incourt.
But what I found out?
That made me an enemy?
Because the institution didn'tlike that.
Same way, they didn't like Imade them have to keep the GED
program open, because I used tohelp two of the students up in
there, but they didn't want usto have GED and all that because
, like I said, it's not aboutrehabilitation, it's about
recidivism.
They don't want you to learn ornothing like that.
(23:49):
So they shut the GED programdown and I had to fight to get
it back up.
But I got it back up, whichmade them definitely didn't like
me up in there.
I wasn't really that liked bythe penal institution because I
was helping people, which I feltgood about.
(24:10):
That from the standpoint of Iwould rather you not liking me
for doing the right things thanyou like me for doing the wrong
stuff.
You see what I'm saying.
So I never felt bad that theinstitution was against me
because I was like I'm not doingnothing wrong.
I'm in the law library learningabout the law, learning that
(24:31):
the judicial system and stuffcan burn some of these people,
so I'm just helping to correctwrongs.
So if that makes me an enemy toy'all, then that's a good thing
, because I'm not doing nothingwrong.
Now, if I was in here fighting,doing drugs, you know, trying to
rape and all this kind of stuff, y'all be patting me.
(24:51):
That's what y'all want me to bean animal up in here.
But I was rebellious againstbecoming an animal because I
felt I made a mistake.
I put myself here.
I ain't blame nobody.
I wasn't running around sayingI was a victim of the system,
even though I was from the senseof they over sentenced me, but
(25:12):
I wasn't going around, oh, I'm avictim, and all that.
No, I was stupid and I gotmyself with him, but I made the
best of it.
I learned some stuff, I helpedsome people and when I got out I
was able to use my experiencesto share with people.
So it's trying to point them ina direction and not go there.
So that's why I got this mentor.
(25:33):
You know I call her a mentor.
You know she one time wastelling me when I was telling
somebody about I have been aprisoner, she's like Ooh.
One time was telling me when Iwas telling somebody about I had
been to prison and all that,she was like ooh, I'll be
ashamed, I would never want totell anybody I've been to prison
or nothing like that.
And I told her well, I'm notashamed about it, I'm not proud,
it's not like it's a proudthing.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I'm proud, I'm trying to present to the people I'm
banned, oh, I've been to prison.
No, I tell the opposite topeople because when I tell
people sometimes they areshocked they be like you don't
even look like you've been toprison, or I can't believe that
and I'm trying to show thembecause it's an image that they
always try to present.
That's why most everybody waslike you don't even look like a
(26:15):
prisoner.
And my response would be whatdoes a prisoner look like?
Because I've been to prison, soapparently I do look like a
prisoner look like.
Because I've been to prison, soapparently I do look like a
prisoner.
But I get what they're saying,because they try to present this
image to society of what aprisoner is supposed to look
like.
And I was just like no, aprisoner can look like anybody.
Any one of us can make amistake and get locked up.
(26:37):
You know what I'm saying.
I said well, I share the storywith them because I show them.
Just because we make mistakesdon't mean we have to be defined
by our mistakes or we livestuck in a stuck pattern by our
mistakes.
You know, we make our mistakes,we learn from them, we elevate
(26:58):
and we rise.
Well, I learned from my mistake, I elevated and I rise.
So, like I said, I use it Evenwith some of the young dudes
around here.
You know, because I got somethings I'm going to be doing
working with the youth.
But I be telling them about,man, you don't want to go to
prison, and I share my prisonstory with them and I be telling
them.
See, you got certainindividuals who come out here
(27:23):
and glorify it to you andthey're doing it injustice,
because they're giving you aglory report and it's looking
beautiful to your eyes and theimpressionable young mind that
you have.
So you will have some thoughtsthat, yeah, I need to go to jail
or go to prison because it'sfun.
But I be telling them ain'tnothing fun about that, Ain't
(27:45):
nothing.
When you there, your goal is toget out, so you can't let your
mind crack and you got to makethe best of it.
You know which is unfortunate.
You got to make the best of it,but you got to do whatever it
is to come out with your mindintact and don't return.
But I let them know that ain'tthe place to be.
I'm not even out here trying tosell no great tales about it.
(28:10):
You know what I'm saying.
I let them know.
This ain't the place to be.
Change your mind frame.
And that's why I'm trying towork with them, Because this
week that's coming up, I got ayoung brother trying to work
with him because this week justcoming up I got a young brother,
finna, be working with me.
You know he got himself in alittle trouble a little young
dude, you know, caught up and hewent to this little group home
(28:33):
thing and I think he spent likeand I know he was in there for
at least six months or somethinglike that.
You know, he out now and hismom and them and all of them,
they always buy candy from meand his mom and them and all of
them they always buy candy fromhim.
And his mom was talking to meabout it and she was like, you
know, her son was saying like hewas wondering if I could have a
job or something for him so hecould make some money and stuff
for the summer.
And I told her, yeah, I coulddo that for him, because I was
(28:55):
looking at it from a standpointof he could work with me.
You know I could try to, youknow, put good stuff in his head
and one of the reasons why hereached out to me because I
always did talk good to him, soI guess you know he was looking
at like I'm an older guy, Likesome other older guys was like
being like a bad influence onhim.
From what I was understanding,I guess he was looking at me
like an older dude that's nottrying to tell him in the right
(29:18):
way.
So I figured if he worked withme for the summer, you know,
because I'm going to be teachinghim how to become an
entrepreneur and stuff like thatand have him under my wing and,
you know, point him in theright direction and put him in a
position to make somelegitimate money.
But he ain't got to be out heretrying to go sell dope and
stuff like that and on a slickit's like a challenge that I'm
(29:38):
doing.
It's like a challenge that I'mdoing.
It's like my own self-imposedchallenge of okay, if we want to
really save our youth, then wegot to actively start doing
stuff.
So I'm like if you see metrying to help a young brother
for the summer so he can makemoney legitimately and teach him
(30:00):
how to grow up to become abusiness owner and stuff like
that, it got another brother toowho reached out to me.
He said, man, if you gotanybody else, send them my way,
because he want to have oneunder him.
When others see another brotherworking with me, they might want
to go take some other youngbrothers under their wings too
and work with them and show themhow to make money legitimately
(30:23):
or teach them how to be abusiness owner and stuff like
that.
That's what I'm working on nowbecause, like I said, I try to
use all my experiences for mybad ones to try to make sure
these youth, especially the oneswho I have the opportunity to
really talk to and I see theywant to listen.
That's why I don't subscribe tothat philosophy about the young
(30:46):
don't want to listen.
I'm like, yeah, you got someoneto listen, we just have to be
willing to talk.
Of course you got to be smart,but sometimes they might not
want to hear.
But if you see somebody, theygot a lot of that receptive out
there and they want to hear.
But if you see somebody, theygot a lot of that receptive out
there and they want to hear goodstuff from them and they'll
gravitate to you.
(31:08):
So I'm working on that for thesummer, so that's part of my
unfortunate incarceration to dosome fortunate stuff with.
So I share my stories and a lotof the dudes be like man, I
can't believe you went to prison, I can't believe you shot
somebody and all that.
I say, nah, don't take thestory I'm sharing with you as a
(31:31):
story of bragging or for you togo running around like rah, rah,
rah.
No, I'm sharing this with youbecause I'm letting you know I
know what it's like.
I know what it's like, I knowwhat it is, I know what it feels
like to be out there and stufflike that.
You know, because that's how Iended up shooting the dude,
because it was kind of like adelayed how would I put this
(31:53):
Delayed some delayed stuff thatwas still in me from being out
there trying to be a so-calledwannabe gangster and wannabe you
know what I'm saying Caught upin that wannabe gangster phase
but, so that's how that part ofme that wasn't in me I thought
(32:16):
wasn't there, no more was there,and that's how I ended up going
so far and shooting that guythat night, but went through it
overcame and now I'm trying touse it to the best of my ability
to try to help others to keepfrom going to prison.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Absolutely, and we got like about 10 minutes left.
But I want to get into yourmusic so we can let the
listeners know you know.
So talk real quick.
You know how you got into musicand what you got out there and
how they can listen to it.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
All right as far as music.
I got into doing music by wayof inspiration no, by way of
inspiring somebody and they cameback and inspired me Back in
the 80s, me and a friend of minewe was calling ourselves
rappers and stuff like that.
So we used to have this thingcalled rap school and in rap
school we had some guys like adude named Tomiko Brock and Fat
(33:08):
Daddy, which is his name, brianBanks, some dudes like that, but
Tomiko Brock was the name Icalled him with because later on
in life he was still doingmusic and recording and stuff.
You know, I wasn't doingnothing, I wasn't thinking about
music or nothing like that.
I said so.
So when I walked up in thereselling pecan candy, tomiko
(33:32):
brock had seen me and they hadlike this, um, rap legends thing
on and they had run dmc onthere.
So he started telling everybodyin the room see how run dmc or
rap legends to them people.
He was like that man rightthere and my partner bug juice.
He said those are rap legendsto me.
He said because them catstaught me how to rap.
(33:54):
And you know everybody was likewhat, what, what?
So from that he would ask mewhat I'm doing with music and he
told me at a studio, at hishouse, and that he always wanted
to see me do music.
I had no intentions on tryingto do it or nothing like that,
but he kept pestering me andkept pestering me, and not in a
bad way, he just really wantedto see me put something out.
So, for the fun of it, I justdecided I'm going to go to your
(34:17):
house and record a song this ishow I had it in my mind Carter
song and then it's going to beout the way.
You're going to finally see mebe the recorder song and that's
going to be that.
But his whole thing, like hetold me, he said he knew I was
clowning at first just toappease him.
He said, but he always knewthat if he get me to come to the
(34:37):
studio and I start recording, Iwas going to end up getting
serious.
And his plan worked.
So it went from playing aroundand then I eventually made a
song about the candy that I sellPocon Candy and we called the
song Legal Crack, put the songout and people were loving the
(34:59):
song and I was like man.
I was like, wait a minute here,maybe.
So I ended up doing a couple ofmore Candyman songs.
I got a song called Legal Crack, which M-R-M-E-M-W-E-Q-U-A.
Mr Mimweka Da D-A, and thenCandyman you type that in, you
(35:21):
can pull all my music up.
I got three different legalcrack songs.
One is called Legal Crack,which was the first song.
The second song was Candyman.
Candyman, which is a play onNWA's Dope man, but I'm flipping
it like I'm the Candyman, thelegal crack dealer.
And the other one is calledCandyman Rock With Me, which
(35:43):
that's my favorite of the three,like the Candyman the League of
Crackdilla.
And the other one calledCandyman Rock with me, which
that's my favorite of the three.
So it went from there andpeople was liking them until I
just started making more songsand more songs, and so now I'm
like I'm not going to say I was.
I'm not going to say I wouldpush my music like I should.
When I first started in 2018, Iwas really pushing, but then I
(36:03):
got lackadaisical with it and myown worst enemy got in the way,
which always used to get in theway in life for me on certain
things.
But now I'm officially not overit, but I'm back to putting my
music.
I got a song that I justreleased called Y'all Address on
May 11th.
It's a true story song.
(36:23):
It's a true story about one dayin May May of last year, when a
guy who saw a woman that wasvery dear to his heart looking
absolutely stunning in a yelladress and the great thing about
this song somebody got me tomake this song as a birthday
gift for a woman that he liked,that he actually saw in the
yellow dress, and he wanted meto create a song to recapture
(36:47):
that moment, to give to her fora birthday gift.
Well, I created the song wepresented to her on her birthday
.
She loved it.
You know what I'm saying.
She was happy she never had asong made about her in life and
the thoughtfulness that the guythought of to actually have a
song made for her to be abirthday gift, which is a
(37:08):
beautiful thing.
You know what I'm saying.
That's like you know.
I don't know if anybody elseever did that before, could have
, but I know in this scenario,to me it was so beautiful
because I'm like man that'sreally thinking out the box.
You know what I'm saying.
You got a song and then you gotthe perfect person to do it
because, hey, it ain't braggingif it's truth.
(37:29):
Lyrically creative, I can'treally be sometimes in this life
.
He came to the right man.
If you ever go anybody who'slistening to this, you go listen
to Yellow Dress.
You are listening to a truestory about a guy who saw a
woman that's very dear to hisheart looking very stunning in a
(37:50):
yellow dress and they are nowdating.
That makes it even morebeautiful to me that I created
something that actually helped acouple to begin.
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yeah, that's beautiful man and there might be
some people out there that wantto link up with you.
Man Might want to be mentoredor you to do a song for them.
Throw out your contact info sopeople can keep up with
everything that you're up to.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
All right.
Well, if you want to contact meby phone, just like I say my
number in my legal crack song225-385-2734.
That's my phone number.
Email I got a Gmail, so it'smrmenwecker at gmailcom.
M-r-m-e-m-w-e-q-u-a at gmailcomand all my social medias are
(38:46):
basically Facebook is well, it'seither Omdia O-M-D-I-A
Menwecker, or you can type in MrMenwecker the Candyman.
That's my music artist page onFacebook.
Instagram is my name OmdiaMenwecker.
Or you can type in Mr ManweckerTikTok.
(39:06):
The same thing, mr Manweckerthe candy man.
So basically you can find me,type in I'm Dillman Wecker or Mr
Manwecker the candy man, or, ifyou want to call me,
225-385-2734.
And make sure to go check outyour address y'all, because
you're going to really love it.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yeah, man, y'all go check out that song.
That song is hot.
If you need anything, you knowany candy, you know any Mr
Mowatka's cooking contact him,hook up with him.
I really like the things thathe is doing.
Man, keep up the good work andyou know, you guys make sure you
follow me on your favoriteplatform.
(39:46):
Visit www.337 orCurveball337.com.
So Curveball337.com.
For more information on theLiving the Dream with Curveball
podcast.
Thank you for listening andsupporting the show and, mr
Menwerker, thank you for tryingto make the world a better place
and thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Well, I appreciate you having me.
I'm very proud Cause you knowwe go way back, so I know you
know what I'm saying.
I've been watching theevolution of you, so I'm very
proud of what you're doing.
You always been a go-getter.
I'm very proud of what you'redoing.
You always been a go-getter,you always been a manifester and
keep on.
Keep on living your dream andhelping people live their dreams
(40:31):
.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.
Welcome to the Living the Dream Podcast with
Curveball, if you believe youcan achieve.
Welcome to the Living the Dreamwith Curveball Podcast, a show
where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
(00:24):
Where I interview guests thatteach, motivate and inspire.
Today, I am joined by singer,songwriter, the maker of that
legal crack, and we're going tobe talking about what that means
Mr Amdia Menweka.
I've been knowing Mr Menwekafor a while, been trying to get
him on the show, glad to havehim here.
(00:45):
So we're going to be talking tohim about everything that he's
up to and going to be up to.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So, Amdia, thank you so much for joining me today.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Appreciate you having me on there Curveball.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Hey, why don't you start off by telling everybody a
little bit about yourself?
Well, as you say, my name isI'm dm and wecker, or to a lot
of people who buy pecan candyfrom me, the candy man or mr
mcwecker the candy man when I'mdoing music.
But basically I'm just a guywho trying to leave, who trying
(01:27):
to leave it better than it waswhen I came here.
Basically, if I can put it in anutshell, Currently I'm doing
music.
Of course Curtis was talkingabout the League of Crack Pecan
Candy.
That's why he didn't say PecanCandy, but he was saying he was
going to talk about what legalcrack is.
Which legal crack is?
They call it pecan candy that Isell and basically they call it
(01:50):
legal crack because once I puta hit of my pecan candy, it
keeps them coming back.
Hence it was a joke that theystarted saying I put crack in
the pecan candy.
That's why they're gettingaddicted.
And it changed.
It changed from the joke ofcrack was in the candy to them
calling it legal crack and Iadopted the name and I ran with
(02:11):
it and that's what everybodymostly called my candy non-legal
crack, and I've been selling itfor a while and actually about
to hook up with my friend Curtisand start shipping some out
there so he can start selling itin his store.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yes, I told him he needed to.
And I remember when I first metAmdia he was telling me about
his candy and I knew about pecancandy.
So I was like, yeah, you know,I like it and stuff, but you
know, sometimes it could be toohard.
And he was telling me, oh well,I make chewy candy too.
I'm like for real Chewy pecancandy.
(02:49):
He let me taste it and he gotme hooked too, even before it
was called Legal Crack.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, yeah, he was hooked way before the Legal
Crack thing, yeah, so tell ushow you came up with the name
Omdia Manweka.
Okay now the name I'm Dear,manweka.
Okay now the name I'm Dear.
It's an acronym, but it startedoff as two separate words OM is
(03:15):
um, the channel of monks andDIA.
I was in uh, it was.
Dia was in a West African book,a book called Names West
African Names.
One time that I had and I waslooking at the book and I always
just liked the DIA.
For some reason I just likedthe deal and I don't know me
(03:39):
being me messing around.
One day, I don't know how, Icame to the conclusion of
putting O-M and D-I-A togetherbut I ended up putting the
channel amongst with the WestAfrican name, per.
The book was saying D-I-A.
I put them together and itbecame Amdia, so Memweka.
(04:03):
A lot of people think it's nottrue, but it's a very true story
.
I had no intentions on having alast name at all.
Like people were like what'syour last name gonna be?
And I was like I don't need alast name, I'm just gonna go by.
I'm D, you know.
So.
(04:26):
One night playing.
I'm just going to go by.
I'm D, you know.
So.
One night playing Scrabble.
Because I used to play a lot ofScrabble and people didn't
never want to challenge mebecause every time they
challenged me on the words thatI put on the board they would
lose because what they didn'tknow.
Since I was a kid, I alwayslove reading dictionaries, so
that's why I knew all a lot ofwords that you don't even
(04:46):
normally see on a regular.
So if a person sees it for thefirst time, they're going to
swear that's not a word.
So I had the letters to spellout Mimweka.
I couldn't figure out what Iwanted to spell, so I just put
M-E-M-W-E-Q-U-A down on theboard and the host said nobody
(05:09):
would challenge, becauseeverybody was always scared to
challenge, because every timethey would challenge a word they
would lose.
When I put it down, they werelooking at it.
Everybody did the normal.
You're going to challenge them.
You're going to challenge them.
I ain't going to challenge them.
I'm always going to lose.
No one challenged them.
So when the game was over, theydid what they normally do when
they don't challenge they ranstraight to the dictionary to go
(05:31):
look up to see if the word wasin there.
Now, every other time prior toMilwaukee, they go to the
dictionary.
They see the word.
They were like uh-huh, see,that's why I'm on a challenge
this night.
They didn't see me and Weka inthe dictionary.
So now they were saying, oh,you got us, you got us, you got
us.
And I'm like, no, I ain't goty'all, that's a word for real.
(05:52):
And they was like, man, that'snot no word, it's not in the
dictionary.
So, me being me, I was like, eh, it ain't got to be in the
dictionary to be the word.
I said, it's a word that I madeand it's going to be my last
name.
So it's a real word.
It's just not in the dictionarybut it's a real word.
And that's how the last name,mweka, came, because I actually
(06:16):
took Mweka and made it my lastname, because it was sounding
cool to me like I'm Dill Mweka,I'm like man, that sound kind of
cool, that sound kind of dope.
You know what I'm saying.
Even if it don't sound cool anddope to nobody else, it sound
cool and dope to my ears, whichis the really the ear that
matters the most, because it'sgoing to be my name.
So I changed it to I'm dear man, welcome now.
(06:42):
I always had a thought process,even as a kid, because my mom
would tell people that in aminute, I think, when I was like
in kindergarten or the firstgrade, maybe the second grade or
something.
I came home from school one dayand told my mom I ain't like my
name and I wanted to change it.
So changing my name was alwaysin me.
But a certain situation came upthat presented itself for me to
(07:04):
go ahead and change it, becauseI actually changed my name to
help somebody else out.
Now I changed my name during myunfortunate period of
incarceration and I had this guyyou know he was an Islamic guy,
muslim, and he went to changehis name.
And he went to change his namebut the state of Florida came up
(07:25):
with something about youcouldn't some kind of rule or
law that was coming up withduring that time, about you
can't change your name.
And the guy was asking me whatcould he do about it.
So I was working in the lawlibrary at the time.
So you know I did some researchon it and I was telling him I
think I found something that Ican get you, you know, on appeal
.
You know you can get you onappeal, you can get overturned
and you'll be able to keep yourname.
(07:45):
But of course I understood hedidn't really want to do it,
because in prison that ain'tlike the most welcoming place
for people who are actuallyfiling motions and stuff.
So they was going to probablycome down on him or something,
(08:06):
and so he didn't want to messwith it.
So I was like, well, you knowwhat, I'm going to go ahead and
file a petition to change myname and of course they're going
to deny it because of that rulewhich gives me the opportunity
to, you know, appeal it, and I'mgoing to fight it and we're
going to win.
I say, and I just take the flag.
You know what I'm saying,because that just was me.
(08:29):
And I really wanted to, becauseI didn't, I didn't, I don't know
.
I really wanted him to be ableto keep his name because I was
like, I found a way that I knowyou can win.
But I understand, because whenwe up in here, this is not
really about rehabilitation.
It's about wanting us to berecidivistic and come back.
But that's a whole differentstory for a whole other time,
but that's the fact of thematter.
(08:49):
So of course they don't try tobring you know, and if you try
to change stuff and challengestuff, they're going to bring
some heat on you.
So I took the heat.
I went, filed a petition tomake my name I'm DM in Weka.
Of course they ruled against it.
I got into the appellate courtand ended up winning, and so now
(09:13):
people was able to change theirnames.
You know that was back like in96, 95, something like that, but
that's how I ended up changingmy name.
I ended up changing my name.
Although I always wanted tochange my name, the opportunity
actually became presented to mebecause of somebody else who was
(09:33):
going through something, and Ifound out a way that they could
actually win and so I just putmyself out there at the test
market and so now my name isAmdielman Weka, and I honestly
can't remember what the otherguy's name was, but he was able
to keep his name, and thenpeople there after that they was
able to change their names andyou know they could keep Because
(09:54):
, you know, I.
I mean, I understand why theywere trying to create the rule,
but at the same time it was asilly rule to me and I was like
man, come on now, y'all alreadytrying to strip us of everything
, although some of us mademistakes and put ourselves here,
and some of us ain't didnothing because there's so many
people incarcerated that theyeven did the crime.
(10:16):
But I understand, you know weput the ones of us who put
ourselves in here.
I understand y'all ain't tryingto make it all good and stuff
for us, but at the same time,come on now, our name change.
So you know that's how thatcame about, though.
So since 1996, I have been I'mDMM welcome and OMDIA I, I.
(10:39):
I even turned it to an acronym,which means one man doesn't
individually achieve.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah, that's a good one right there.
So as much as you want to oreven if you don't want to, I
understand you know kind of tellpeople about your incarceration
, what got you there and how youbounce back and what you
learned you know from yourincarceration.
Speaker 2 (11:06):
All right.
In a nutshell, my own stupidityput me there.
I call it my own stupiditybecause I allowed my anger to
get the best of me and then, myanger getting the best of me, I
ended up shooting somebody.
Now, for the record, I'm notgoing to say he was no saint or
nothing that I ended up shooting.
(11:27):
I'm not bragging about itbecause I'm just saying the
person that I ended up shooting,he wasn't no saint, he was all
in some small kind of stuff andthat's how it really ended up
happening, because he kind ofthought he had a sucker, as they
say, in the streets and youknow.
So, you know, tried to play mesome kind of way and all that.
(11:49):
And again, it still didn't haveto get to that point.
You know what I'm saying.
It actually should have been.
Even if it was anything thatshould have happened, it should
have just been a fight.
And I'm going to say, on mypart, he would have deserved the
butt whooping that I was goingto give him Because, like, and
I'm going to say on my part, hewould have deserved the butt
whooping that I was givingBecause, like I said, it wasn't
like he was no saint and he didopen the doors with laid down
(12:12):
the wrong path of me getting soangry I shot him.
But you know I'm glad I didn'tkill him.
I would be lying if I said thatwasn't my intentions at that
moment.
But I'm glad my intentionsdidn't get fulfilled, you know,
because it shouldn't have nevergot.
My anger shouldn't have neverdrove me that far to where I
(12:36):
ended up shooting.
If anything, it should havejust been a fight.
Some people might say itshouldn't have been that.
But nah, because what led up toit?
He deserved a butt whoop, hedeserved that.
But he ain't really deserve toget shot unless he would have
been threatening my life, andreally and truly he wasn't
(12:57):
really threatening my life, itwas just I allowed my anger to
get the best of me and someissues that I thought wasn't in
me was still there.
So it presented me theopportunity to realize what I
thought wasn't there was thereand I was able to work on it.
So you know I have a bettercontrol of that anger that got
(13:18):
out of control that day and ledme to do that.
Plus, it has also allowed me toactually help some other people
because I've been seeing themin situations since I've been
out.
You know people I'm close to orstuff.
I can see where their angerabout to take them somewhere and
I'll present to them my story.
I say, look, you don't want toend up like me.
My anger took me to thepenitentiary.
(13:40):
I don't want to see you allowyour anger to do the same thing
to you, and I can see that fromlive experience of what I would
be.
So I'll be presenting adifferent alternative to them
and stuff like that.
You know, um, but yeah, it wasmy anger.
I didn't have to shoot the guy,but it ended up.
I, you know I didn't have toeven want to have the intent to
(14:01):
kill him, but hey, we all makeour mistakes and stuff in life.
So when I did go to prison, youknow, I just looked at it as
well.
I put myself in the position,but I'm going to make the best
of it.
So I wasn't a royalty prisoneror nothing like that.
Hey, actually, to me I wasrebellious, but I was rebellious
(14:24):
in a good way, from thestandpoint of I rebelled against
allowing myself to adopt aprisoner's mentality or inmate's
mentality, etc.
Is one of the leading causes ofpeople end up recidivistically
(14:47):
coming back because all they'rethinking of themselves is an
inmate or a criminal.
And so they start saying, yeah,when I get out I'm going to do
the same things and stuff likethat, especially with some of
the things they would try to dothe guards and the institutions
try to do to you, because it'sset for you to try to prove a
point to them, like you can'tbreak me.
(15:08):
Because one of the mattressthat used to go through in the
prison, through a lot ofpeople's minds I used to hear
them say, is that, yeah, theycan't break me, I'm going to go
back out and do the same thing.
But they didn't understand.
That was really the game plan.
To make you so mad, to showthem you can't straight me up,
you can't do nothing, I'm goingto still be the same person when
I come out.
(15:28):
And being the same person whenyou come out, a lot of them was
coming back in.
Some of them were doing 10years after they just did five
years.
And here I did one going on mysecond year and some of them
coming back, and I'm like, man,you just did 10 years and now
you back a year later.
Man, you just did 10 years andnow you back a year later.
You did 5 you back.
But I started understanding thementality that a lot of them
(15:50):
was having, because they adoptedthere was an inmate.
They adopted there was acriminal.
They adopted what the prisonsystem wants you to adopt
mentally so that you can, 9times out of ten,
recidivistically come back.
So I rebelled against thatbecause the whole time I was
(16:11):
like, oh, I was stupid and putmyself here, this ain't the
place to be, and I know when Iget out I'm going to make sure
to tell any and everybody thisain't the place to be and I'm
not coming back, which I haven'tbeen back.
I got out in 1997.
It's 2025.
I've never been back.
I kept that promise to myselfbut while I was in there, like I
(16:31):
said, I made the best of it.
I ended up working in the lawlibrary, which I learned.
That makes you an enemy,because that's why I tell people
.
You might have a lot, you mightdisagree, but I went through
the prison system.
So that's why I tell people.
You might have a lot, you mightdisagree, but I was like I went
through the prison system, sothat's why I speak like this
about it.
I knew it's not designed torehabilitate you because of the
things I was going throughWorking in the law library.
(16:54):
It gave me the opportunity tohelp people with their cases and
stuff and I was noticing that,you know, the system had an
over-sentence.
A lot of people, like peoplehad some people would come to me
.
They asked for their medical.
But because the system isalways trying to burn people,
(17:17):
because they know a lot ofpeople don't know nothing, they
don't be knowing the pleas theybe signing, they don't be
knowing this, that and other andjudges and stuff sometimes send
sentence you to what they want.
Because in my case I went totrial and I lost the trial but
the sentence that the judge gaveme was still too much, the
(17:37):
actual.
It was too much based off of meand although when they gave me
the sentence, in my mind Ithought it was right, because
you know, I said I shot somebody, so you know, but I was the
first time a friend, I had norecord or nothing like that.
So in florida they had a certainpoint system and you scored to
(17:57):
a certain amount and that's whatthey got to sentence you to,
unless you was an habitualoffender or if you committed a
crime so heinous that the pointsystem could be thrown out.
Well, I didn't fall underneither one of them categories,
even though somebody might say,well, you shot somebody that
could be as heinous that's notconsidered heinous under.
(18:19):
They're so heinous that youcould just throw the point
system out.
I was a first-time offender, soI ended up getting the over
sentence and I learned all thatwhen I went to prison and was in
the law library and so that'swhere my other rebellious part
of me came, not trying to be atroublemaker, but I was like
okay, y'all want us to in thissociety, y'all want us to abide
(18:44):
by the laws and the rules and ifwe don't, you know we have to
suffer consequences and stufflike that.
But I was looking at it from thestandpoint that the courts
always have this thing calledprocedures of conduct or
procedures of rules and stufflike books that you know that
rules and regulations thatthey're supposed to abide by,
(19:06):
right, but most times theywasn't.
And I know for, particularly inmy case, because the judge
didn't abide by the rules,because the judge used
emotionalism.
You know what I'm saying.
That's why I be telling people.
You know what I'm saying.
When I hear people saying it'sthe only system I got, I say
that's a sorry thing because yougot to think about it.
(19:27):
When you're looking at judgesand stuff, they're saying you're
honoring all that becauseyou're wearing a robe.
How do I know you are anhonorable person?
How do I know you didn't oversentence somebody like the judge
who over sentenced me when heknew he was sentencing me too
much?
And how I know that?
Because here, six months later,working in the law library, I
(19:48):
learned that my sentence was toomuch and I'm like okay, you are
a judge, so that means you donewent to college, law school,
all this.
You been doing this for yearsso you knew you was over
sentencing.
Here I find I know you know thisbecause six months later I done
learned reading y'all rules andstuff.
So you do the emotionalism tosentence me because you was mad
(20:13):
because I wouldn't take a pleathat you wanted to give, a plea
that was really more than what Iscored out to.
Because in the end, even goingto trial and losing, the most
they was able to were supposedto give me was three years.
They exceeded that sentence.
The plea that they were comingto me exceeded the three-year
(20:33):
sentence.
And all this is known by thejudge and the district attorneys
, because you can't tell me,y'all don't know this stuff.
And here I just in six monthsin prison in a law library I
learned all this, so y'all knewall that.
So that's the blatant disregardy'all have of your own rules
and regulations.
So that would make me a rebel.
As far as working in a lawlibrary when I was finding out
(20:58):
people was over sentenced andall that, I was getting them
back in court, and I was gettingthem back in court.
From the standpoint of listen, Iaccept my sentence, and I
accept if you give anybody elsea sentence in here if they did
something wrong.
What I cannot accept, though,is that y'all not going to
follow y'all rules andregulations, but y'all want us
(21:18):
to do the same thing in society.
If we don't follow the rulesand regulations, we have to
suffer consequences.
But y'all don't follow therules and regulations, we have
to suffer consequences.
But y'all don't want to followyour own rules and regulations.
And you just want to just say,well, he's supposed to be
sentenced three years, I'm goingto give him seven, or I'm going
to give him ten, or I'm goingto give him fifteen, and wonder
why a lot of people don't trustthe judicial system, because, no
(21:40):
matter what you try to say,that's human beings, and all
human beings have some kind ofinfallibility to them.
All human beings are subject tobeing a human at some time.
So whether you wear a robe or auniform, whatever, that's what
people get messed up at.
You forget that that personthat is in that uniform or
(22:01):
whatever ain't nothing but ahuman, just like you.
They can make mistakes.
They can be human just like you.
They can make mistakes, theycan be judgmental like you, they
can lie like you.
And all that People be thinkingbecause you wear certain outfits
.
You are supposed to be sohonorable, but I have the
mindset of how do I know you arehonorable just because you got
that uniform or that on?
(22:21):
I've had good experiences withjudges and officers and stuff in
life.
But I've had good experienceswith judges and officers and
stuff in life, but I've had badtoo.
That's why I look at it.
I look at all human beings as ahuman being.
I don't look at your titles, Idon't look at what you wear or
nothing like that.
I say because that what blindsus?
We get caught up in titles andstuff and we forget that's a
(22:43):
mere mortal human being, justlike us, so they can still mess
up too and make mistakes.
So don't just think because aperson has a certain position,
they are just automatically anhonorable person.
You have to see their actionsand stuff like that.
You know what I'm saying.
But so, like I said, I learnedthat.
(23:03):
That's why, when I say rebel,I'm saying I wasn't a rebel
trying to cause problems inprison.
I wasn't trying to be fightingpeople, trying to fight gods and
all that.
I was focused on wanting to gohome.
But I was a rebel because I waslearning that y'all
over-sentencing people or y'allgiving people sentences they
weren't supposed to have, ory'all the carousel people into
signing plea bargains that theyshould have never signed, and
(23:28):
I'm helping them get back incourt.
But what I found out?
That made me an enemy?
Because the institution didn'tlike that.
Same way, they didn't like Imade them have to keep the GED
program open, because I used tohelp two of the students up in
there, but they didn't want usto have GED and all that because
, like I said, it's not aboutrehabilitation, it's about
recidivism.
They don't want you to learn ornothing like that.
(23:49):
So they shut the GED programdown and I had to fight to get
it back up.
But I got it back up, whichmade them definitely didn't like
me up in there.
I wasn't really that liked bythe penal institution because I
was helping people, which I feltgood about.
(24:10):
That from the standpoint of Iwould rather you not liking me
for doing the right things thanyou like me for doing the wrong
stuff.
You see what I'm saying.
So I never felt bad that theinstitution was against me
because I was like I'm not doingnothing wrong.
I'm in the law library learningabout the law, learning that
(24:31):
the judicial system and stuffcan burn some of these people,
so I'm just helping to correctwrongs.
So if that makes me an enemy toy'all, then that's a good thing
, because I'm not doing nothingwrong.
Now, if I was in here fighting,doing drugs, you know, trying to
rape and all this kind of stuff, y'all be patting me.
(24:51):
That's what y'all want me to bean animal up in here.
But I was rebellious againstbecoming an animal because I
felt I made a mistake.
I put myself here.
I ain't blame nobody.
I wasn't running around sayingI was a victim of the system,
even though I was from the senseof they over sentenced me, but
(25:12):
I wasn't going around, oh, I'm avictim, and all that.
No, I was stupid and I gotmyself with him, but I made the
best of it.
I learned some stuff, I helpedsome people and when I got out I
was able to use my experiencesto share with people.
So it's trying to point them ina direction and not go there.
So that's why I got this mentor.
(25:33):
You know I call her a mentor.
You know she one time wastelling me when I was telling
somebody about I have been aprisoner, she's like Ooh.
One time was telling me when Iwas telling somebody about I had
been to prison and all that,she was like ooh, I'll be
ashamed, I would never want totell anybody I've been to prison
or nothing like that.
And I told her well, I'm notashamed about it, I'm not proud,
it's not like it's a proudthing.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I'm proud, I'm trying to present to the people I'm
banned, oh, I've been to prison.
No, I tell the opposite topeople because when I tell
people sometimes they areshocked they be like you don't
even look like you've been toprison, or I can't believe that
and I'm trying to show thembecause it's an image that they
always try to present.
That's why most everybody waslike you don't even look like a
(26:15):
prisoner.
And my response would be whatdoes a prisoner look like?
Because I've been to prison, soapparently I do look like a
prisoner look like.
Because I've been to prison, soapparently I do look like a
prisoner.
But I get what they're saying,because they try to present this
image to society of what aprisoner is supposed to look
like.
And I was just like no, aprisoner can look like anybody.
Any one of us can make amistake and get locked up.
(26:37):
You know what I'm saying.
I said well, I share the storywith them because I show them.
Just because we make mistakesdon't mean we have to be defined
by our mistakes or we livestuck in a stuck pattern by our
mistakes.
You know, we make our mistakes,we learn from them, we elevate
(26:58):
and we rise.
Well, I learned from my mistake, I elevated and I rise.
So, like I said, I use it Evenwith some of the young dudes
around here.
You know, because I got somethings I'm going to be doing
working with the youth.
But I be telling them about,man, you don't want to go to
prison, and I share my prisonstory with them and I be telling
them.
See, you got certainindividuals who come out here
(27:23):
and glorify it to you andthey're doing it injustice,
because they're giving you aglory report and it's looking
beautiful to your eyes and theimpressionable young mind that
you have.
So you will have some thoughtsthat, yeah, I need to go to jail
or go to prison because it'sfun.
But I be telling them ain'tnothing fun about that, Ain't
(27:45):
nothing.
When you there, your goal is toget out, so you can't let your
mind crack and you got to makethe best of it.
You know which is unfortunate.
You got to make the best of it,but you got to do whatever it
is to come out with your mindintact and don't return.
But I let them know that ain'tthe place to be.
I'm not even out here trying tosell no great tales about it.
(28:10):
You know what I'm saying.
I let them know.
This ain't the place to be.
Change your mind frame.
And that's why I'm trying towork with them, Because this
week that's coming up, I got ayoung brother trying to work
with him because this week justcoming up I got a young brother,
finna, be working with me.
You know he got himself in alittle trouble a little young
dude, you know, caught up and hewent to this little group home
(28:33):
thing and I think he spent likeand I know he was in there for
at least six months or somethinglike that.
You know, he out now and hismom and them and all of them,
they always buy candy from meand his mom and them and all of
them they always buy candy fromhim.
And his mom was talking to meabout it and she was like, you
know, her son was saying like hewas wondering if I could have a
job or something for him so hecould make some money and stuff
for the summer.
And I told her, yeah, I coulddo that for him, because I was
(28:55):
looking at it from a standpointof he could work with me.
You know I could try to, youknow, put good stuff in his head
and one of the reasons why hereached out to me because I
always did talk good to him, soI guess you know he was looking
at like I'm an older guy, Likesome other older guys was like
being like a bad influence onhim.
From what I was understanding,I guess he was looking at me
like an older dude that's nottrying to tell him in the right
(29:18):
way.
So I figured if he worked withme for the summer, you know,
because I'm going to be teachinghim how to become an
entrepreneur and stuff like thatand have him under my wing and,
you know, point him in theright direction and put him in a
position to make somelegitimate money.
But he ain't got to be out heretrying to go sell dope and
stuff like that and on a slickit's like a challenge that I'm
(29:38):
doing.
It's like a challenge that I'mdoing.
It's like my own self-imposedchallenge of okay, if we want to
really save our youth, then wegot to actively start doing
stuff.
So I'm like if you see metrying to help a young brother
for the summer so he can makemoney legitimately and teach him
(30:00):
how to grow up to become abusiness owner and stuff like
that, it got another brother toowho reached out to me.
He said, man, if you gotanybody else, send them my way,
because he want to have oneunder him.
When others see another brotherworking with me, they might want
to go take some other youngbrothers under their wings too
and work with them and show themhow to make money legitimately
(30:23):
or teach them how to be abusiness owner and stuff like
that.
That's what I'm working on nowbecause, like I said, I try to
use all my experiences for mybad ones to try to make sure
these youth, especially the oneswho I have the opportunity to
really talk to and I see theywant to listen.
That's why I don't subscribe tothat philosophy about the young
(30:46):
don't want to listen.
I'm like, yeah, you got someoneto listen, we just have to be
willing to talk.
Of course you got to be smart,but sometimes they might not
want to hear.
But if you see somebody, theygot a lot of that receptive out
there and they want to hear.
But if you see somebody, theygot a lot of that receptive out
there and they want to hear goodstuff from them and they'll
gravitate to you.
(31:08):
So I'm working on that for thesummer, so that's part of my
unfortunate incarceration to dosome fortunate stuff with.
So I share my stories and a lotof the dudes be like man, I
can't believe you went to prison, I can't believe you shot
somebody and all that.
I say, nah, don't take thestory I'm sharing with you as a
(31:31):
story of bragging or for you togo running around like rah, rah,
rah.
No, I'm sharing this with youbecause I'm letting you know I
know what it's like.
I know what it's like, I knowwhat it is, I know what it feels
like to be out there and stufflike that.
You know, because that's how Iended up shooting the dude,
because it was kind of like adelayed how would I put this
(31:53):
Delayed some delayed stuff thatwas still in me from being out
there trying to be a so-calledwannabe gangster and wannabe you
know what I'm saying Caught upin that wannabe gangster phase
but, so that's how that part ofme that wasn't in me I thought
(32:16):
wasn't there, no more was there,and that's how I ended up going
so far and shooting that guythat night, but went through it
overcame and now I'm trying touse it to the best of my ability
to try to help others to keepfrom going to prison.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Absolutely, and we got like about 10 minutes left.
But I want to get into yourmusic so we can let the
listeners know you know.
So talk real quick.
You know how you got into musicand what you got out there and
how they can listen to it.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
All right as far as music.
I got into doing music by wayof inspiration no, by way of
inspiring somebody and they cameback and inspired me Back in
the 80s, me and a friend of minewe was calling ourselves
rappers and stuff like that.
So we used to have this thingcalled rap school and in rap
school we had some guys like adude named Tomiko Brock and Fat
(33:08):
Daddy, which is his name, brianBanks, some dudes like that, but
Tomiko Brock was the name Icalled him with because later on
in life he was still doingmusic and recording and stuff.
You know, I wasn't doingnothing, I wasn't thinking about
music or nothing like that.
I said so.
So when I walked up in thereselling pecan candy, tomiko
(33:32):
brock had seen me and they hadlike this, um, rap legends thing
on and they had run dmc onthere.
So he started telling everybodyin the room see how run dmc or
rap legends to them people.
He was like that man rightthere and my partner bug juice.
He said those are rap legendsto me.
He said because them catstaught me how to rap.
(33:54):
And you know everybody was likewhat, what, what?
So from that he would ask mewhat I'm doing with music and he
told me at a studio, at hishouse, and that he always wanted
to see me do music.
I had no intentions on tryingto do it or nothing like that,
but he kept pestering me andkept pestering me, and not in a
bad way, he just really wantedto see me put something out.
So, for the fun of it, I justdecided I'm going to go to your
(34:17):
house and record a song this ishow I had it in my mind Carter
song and then it's going to beout the way.
You're going to finally see mebe the recorder song and that's
going to be that.
But his whole thing, like hetold me, he said he knew I was
clowning at first just toappease him.
He said, but he always knewthat if he get me to come to the
(34:37):
studio and I start recording, Iwas going to end up getting
serious.
And his plan worked.
So it went from playing aroundand then I eventually made a
song about the candy that I sellPocon Candy and we called the
song Legal Crack, put the songout and people were loving the
(34:59):
song and I was like man.
I was like, wait a minute here,maybe.
So I ended up doing a couple ofmore Candyman songs.
I got a song called Legal Crack, which M-R-M-E-M-W-E-Q-U-A.
Mr Mimweka Da D-A, and thenCandyman you type that in, you
(35:21):
can pull all my music up.
I got three different legalcrack songs.
One is called Legal Crack,which was the first song.
The second song was Candyman.
Candyman, which is a play onNWA's Dope man, but I'm flipping
it like I'm the Candyman, thelegal crack dealer.
And the other one is calledCandyman Rock With Me, which
(35:43):
that's my favorite of the three,like the Candyman the League of
Crackdilla.
And the other one calledCandyman Rock with me, which
that's my favorite of the three.
So it went from there andpeople was liking them until I
just started making more songsand more songs, and so now I'm
like I'm not going to say I was.
I'm not going to say I wouldpush my music like I should.
When I first started in 2018, Iwas really pushing, but then I
(36:03):
got lackadaisical with it and myown worst enemy got in the way,
which always used to get in theway in life for me on certain
things.
But now I'm officially not overit, but I'm back to putting my
music.
I got a song that I justreleased called Y'all Address on
May 11th.
It's a true story song.
(36:23):
It's a true story about one dayin May May of last year, when a
guy who saw a woman that wasvery dear to his heart looking
absolutely stunning in a yelladress and the great thing about
this song somebody got me tomake this song as a birthday
gift for a woman that he liked,that he actually saw in the
yellow dress, and he wanted meto create a song to recapture
(36:47):
that moment, to give to her fora birthday gift.
Well, I created the song wepresented to her on her birthday
.
She loved it.
You know what I'm saying.
She was happy she never had asong made about her in life and
the thoughtfulness that the guythought of to actually have a
song made for her to be abirthday gift, which is a
(37:08):
beautiful thing.
You know what I'm saying.
That's like you know.
I don't know if anybody elseever did that before, could have
, but I know in this scenario,to me it was so beautiful
because I'm like man that'sreally thinking out the box.
You know what I'm saying.
You got a song and then you gotthe perfect person to do it
because, hey, it ain't braggingif it's truth.
(37:29):
Lyrically creative, I can'treally be sometimes in this life
.
He came to the right man.
If you ever go anybody who'slistening to this, you go listen
to Yellow Dress.
You are listening to a truestory about a guy who saw a
woman that's very dear to hisheart looking very stunning in a
(37:50):
yellow dress and they are nowdating.
That makes it even morebeautiful to me that I created
something that actually helped acouple to begin.
You know.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
Yeah, that's beautiful man and there might be
some people out there that wantto link up with you.
Man Might want to be mentoredor you to do a song for them.
Throw out your contact info sopeople can keep up with
everything that you're up to.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
All right.
Well, if you want to contact meby phone, just like I say my
number in my legal crack song225-385-2734.
That's my phone number.
Email I got a Gmail, so it'smrmenwecker at gmailcom.
M-r-m-e-m-w-e-q-u-a at gmailcomand all my social medias are
(38:46):
basically Facebook is well, it'seither Omdia O-M-D-I-A
Menwecker, or you can type in MrMenwecker the Candyman.
That's my music artist page onFacebook.
Instagram is my name OmdiaMenwecker.
Or you can type in Mr ManweckerTikTok.
(39:06):
The same thing, mr Manweckerthe candy man.
So basically you can find me,type in I'm Dillman Wecker or Mr
Manwecker the candy man, or, ifyou want to call me,
225-385-2734.
And make sure to go check outyour address y'all, because
you're going to really love it.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Yeah, man, y'all go check out that song.
That song is hot.
If you need anything, you knowany candy, you know any Mr
Mowatka's cooking contact him,hook up with him.
I really like the things thathe is doing.
Man, keep up the good work andyou know, you guys make sure you
follow me on your favoriteplatform.
(39:46):
Visit www.337 orCurveball337.com.
So Curveball337.com.
For more information on theLiving the Dream with Curveball
podcast.
Thank you for listening andsupporting the show and, mr
Menwerker, thank you for tryingto make the world a better place
and thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
Well, I appreciate you having me.
I'm very proud Cause you knowwe go way back, so I know you
know what I'm saying.
I've been watching theevolution of you, so I'm very
proud of what you're doing.
You always been a go-getter.
I'm very proud of what you'redoing.
You always been a go-getter,you always been a manifester and
keep on.
Keep on living your dream andhelping people live their dreams
(40:31):
.
Speaker 1 (40:32):
For more information on the Living the Dream with
Curveball podcast, visitwwwcurveball337.com.
Until next time, keep livingthe dream.
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