#115 - Topher: Rising Above Adversity Through Music and Mindset - The County Line

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Topher is in the house.
Welcome back to the County Line.
County Line congregation,topher.
What is up, dog?
We were just having a goodconversation there in the front
room prior to jumping on the airand it was like, man, we might
as well go ahead and get thetape rolling and let the people
hear it how you doing brotherman, fantastic man and, like you
said, we almost missed out onthe good stuff you know.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
So we came to get on the mic man, and I'm glad you
reached out.
Like you said, being both fromPhilly man, it was a past time
that we got this done.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
I had no idea until probably I don't know maybe how
long have you been living inPhiladelphia, 2018.
Okay, so I didn't know.
You lived in Philadelphia until2020.
I saw you on Fox News after theelection and I guess you were
talking to them from your housedoing an interview and it said

(00:57):
Philadelphia, Mississippi, and Iwas like hold up, who this man?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
is.
Yeah, I'm not a native toPhilly man, but it feels like
home.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
But I'm glad you're here.
I'm glad you're here, beenseeing what you're doing on
social media and the way of yourBible quizzes and being
involved in the community in amultitude of different ways.
What leads you to have thatinspiration to go and pursue
those interests and those, Iguess, selfless acts?

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well, because I remember being that kid that
needed someone.
You know, growing up in Kilmawg, mississippi, we didn't have
any resources and my mom was asingle parent, you know she did
the best she could, you know,god rest her soul.
And I had to learn to becreative, you know, and it just
kind of fostered thatenvironment where you learn to

(01:51):
DIY, do it yourself.
And that type of environmentshowed me that there was no one
coming to rescue me, right, anda lot of people waiting on
someone to come do something.
But I was like no one's coming,so I'm gonna have to, you know,
pick up my boots, put on mycape and do it myself.
And as soon as I developed thatmindset, I started to develop
the skills necessary to, youknow, bring that to fruition,

(02:12):
and I kept down that path intothe position I'm in today.
So when I'm going out helpingpeople, I just want to remind
them, like, look, no one'scoming to save you.
Only person came to save youwas Jesus, and he came to save
you with, you know, from eternaldamnation.
But on top of that, you know,if you ask him, he'll save you.
But faith without works is dead, so it's going to require you
to do some stuff.
So you got to figure out whatthat is.

(02:33):
So I'm just trying to, you know, tell them like you can do it.
You can do it.
And yeah, I just remembersaying myself and I'm being that
kid, that was one in that hero.
But then I developed a slogancalled every city needs a hero.
And that's because, you know,when you look at it from that
standpoint, you know thatanybody at any time can rise up
anywhere, and you need that tohappen.

(02:55):
You can't be waiting forsomebody coming from all the way
in California to do somethingfor you.
You got to do it right here inthe heart of Mississippi.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, it's a very inspiring message and I'm
encouraged to hear you speak itso eloquently.
We don't have to go to whateverthe hub is, whatever the city
is for, whatever the industry is, that is a hub for that
industry.
In that that's set.
We can do things right herewherever.

(03:25):
If it's in Mississippi, if it'sin Kansas, if it's in Florida,
you name the state, you name thecountry, for the most part
because the technology hasbecome so much more affordable
for the every day American, andthat's a beautiful thing, right?
You know that gives more voices, more opportunity to speak out,

(03:48):
speak back, whatever, howeveryou want to phrase it, but it is
very, very vital to, especiallyin America, the growth of our
democracy.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Right, and that's one thing that's exponentially
grown since you know I was a kidwas technology.
I mean what kids can do intheir phone today is
unbelievable.
When I went to school, I mean,people could literally record a
whole entire song, get it mixedon from the phone and then get
it uploaded to distributors allfrom their phone.
So back then you had to buycomputers, you had to buy mics,

(04:20):
you had to buy, and I did allthese things right.
That's why I tell people, youknow, when I was in high school,
going to the steel wasunaffordable.
So we was like, what can we doto kind of cut down the cost?
So we started to save up money,do stuff ourselves.
Was it great in the beginning?
Absolutely not.
I got some songs that I stillkind of cringe at, but those
cringe beginners is what madethe season veteran that you see

(04:42):
before you.
So I'm thankful for thoseopportunities.
I'm thankful for that drivethat I had back then and anybody
listening you know, if you aretrying to get involved in things
, this is the best time ever.
Not only do you have toolsreadily available, you have
knowledge everywhere, but on topof that you got social media
like social media platforms toshare your content, to share

(05:02):
your ideas, to share what youlove to do is a game changer for
so many people.
And what used to be you had toretire at a certain age because
you age out of stuff is nolonger a thing.
There's no ageism when it comesto technology.
So I got.
I see people from six year old,10 year old making YouTube
channels.
Now you guys see people that's80 and 90, maybe, either either

(05:24):
rapping or they out there justmaking funny videos, you know.
So that's why I tell peopleit's like there's no excuse now
unless you make one.
You know it's going to be tough, you know, but it is very much
more possible.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
Very much more possible and has, I'd say, since
the pandemic, reallyexponentially.
The awareness and the how to,and especially social media, has
increased.
You know so much and so manymore people have called on to
the game or called on to how thesystem is working and how it

(05:57):
can be used for good and for bad.
But it just seems like theengagement, the overall
participation has increased.
And then I mean, in my mind,economically speaking, that
probably has driven down thecost.
You know, overall, if you'retalking about whether you're
talking about technology orsocial media, I mean they're
making Boku money.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
Yeah, the guy I forget his name.
I don't know if you know him,but the guy that never said
anything, now that he's like themost followed person on TikTok
and he's a millionaire at thispoint, but it's just a thing.
He's from the UK.
What's his story?
Well, he was just a guy thatwas a black guy, right, young
guy, and he would people.
I think he got started bymaking fun of people being over

(06:42):
complex and simple things, sothey'll go through, jump through
hoops to try to show you how todrink a drink.
And then he would just do it inthe most simple motion, like
this is already here, why areyou going?
You know, why are you going along route and he wouldn't say
anything.
He would just do that and thenstick his hands out like this as
if, yeah, here you go, neversaid a word, that's all he did

(07:04):
and he's making money.
So I tell people, man, you canmake money without even saying
anything.
If that don't tell you thepotential there is out here to
earn a great living, to live bywhat you love to do, I don't
know what can.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
So how is money made via social media?

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Yeah, so, depending on what platform you go to, but
typically they all got certainrequirements and they usually
involves views, engagement andfollowers, right, and so,
depending on where you are, Iknow TikTok is, I think, a
thousand, no, it's 10,000followers.
I think I get 100,000 views in30 days, and I forget what the

(07:40):
other one is right now I can'tthink of the top of my head, but
it's usually three things.
And then, when you get thosethree things, you get a chance
to tap into the creativityprogram or whatever program you
want to dive into.
You know YouTube same thing athousand four thousand watch
minutes.
You know thousand subscribersand boom.
Then Facebook is, I believe,it's same thing 10,000, 250

(08:05):
frequent returning viewers, andI think I forget to watch time
minutes, but I think it's like100,000, a thousand minutes.
But yeah, so, given that I tellpeople all the time is, once
you get those requirements, youshould really start pushing your
content, you know, but push iton platforms where it really

(08:26):
pays you.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
So where does the money come from?
Once you meet these benchmarkmetrics, Then who's paying you
money?
These companies to attractpeople, more people to your page
and more people to yourfollowing, so that your
advertising space is higher invalue.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
Absolutely.
And then when you really learnhow to capitalize, then you can
just take that same principleand go to the advertisers
directly.
So now you only have a betterman and you make more money in
your pocket.
So that's what, eventually, I'mtrying to get to now.
You know I've netted.
You know, millions and millionsof followers across platforms.
You know I've got severalawards and stuff like that.
So I'm getting to the pointwhere now I need to take it to

(09:03):
the next level and startapproaching people directly
because of the influence andfollowing I've been able to
build.
But yeah, if you want to makemoney from TikTok and or in the
social media platforms, mainthing is it's still got to be
family friendly.
Unfortunately, politics is justone of those things where
people don't really care about.
Even religion sometime can get.
You know, advertisers tend tostay away from those things.

(09:26):
But I've somehow regardless ofnumbers, regardless of numbers
depending- on how you go with it.
I've been able to.
Well, yes, I'll say that I'vebeen able to somehow slip
through the cracks, I guess.
But with me and my going aroundquizzing people about the Bible

(09:46):
, I guess it's not asconfrontational as some other
content could be.
So I guess that's why theyhaven't flagged me for anything
at all.
But when I was on my politicsand I was really going out to
people, man, I was gettingflagged all the time.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
What is their fear in giving something like religion
or politics the airtime, so tospeak, like why did that?
Why do advertisers want to stayclear of that in your mind?

Speaker 2 (10:11):
I just think if you're a company, some companies
right, I won't say allcompanies, but most companies
want to they want to total line,they want to be, they want to
be the end with whatever's goingon.
So if mutilating child genitalsis the way, they don't want to
be seen as opposition to it, allright, they want to be the ones

(10:33):
of like yeah, we know that'swhat we support.
We hear forward.
I'm just looking at them likethat's crazy.
So if you say anything againstthat, then advertisers are going
to get mad and then also thesocial media companies are going
to probably start flagging yourcontent and then that means now
you're not getting theadvertising revenue which they
know that's what you're kind ofon there for.
But that's why it's smart to goahead and start building your
own platforms outside of thatand I could name, like Officer

(10:57):
Tatum, anthony, brian Logan,some people you know, candice
Owens, daily Wide A Holecreating your own platform.
That way you can still speak,you know what's really on your
heart and people that reallyrock with you, because they're
still going to have a lot ofpeople that rock with you.
Now you are in control of thatand I feel like when you got
more of a central focus withyour audience too.

(11:18):
You actually end up making moremoney because it's easier.
Now I'm not out here justthrowing my advertising and that
random people.
I know that people that'swatching me are intentional
about what they're watching.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Absolutely.
Do you think that podcasting,or content creation in general,
will succumb to the overarchingcontrol advertising has on
television now?

Speaker 2 (11:41):
I can see it happen, I mean.
But I will say this when youget too big for it, it don't
matter.
Like they was too big tocounsel, yeezy, yeah, they was
too big to counsel.
You know, joe Rogan.
They tried to counsel Joe Rogan.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
They tried their damnedest.

Speaker 2 (11:56):
They tried the hardest.
I mean, people was pullingtheir music from Spotify and all
this stuff and, like Neil,Young like Neil Young, it's
terrible anyway.
Go ahead and pull it.
I was like I don't know.

Speaker 1 (12:07):
I was like I don't think you're relevant enough to
to hey, do you know that LeonardSkinner, neil Young, had beef?
No, I did not.
They were putting these tracksout.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
I went out and I was real tall.
I wish you had one right now Ican listen to it.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
I'm pretty sure that Neil Young gets dissed in Sweet
Home Alabama, I think.
I think I'm I'm about 99.8%sure that Leonard Skinner threw
that diss at Neil Young on SweetHome Alabama.
Neil Young, well remember, Iforget how it goes, but I know

(12:44):
they called Neil Neil out inthere and in Sweet Home Alabama.
And then Nils got one,something.
He's got a song calledsomething, something Southern
man.
I think it's got Southern manin it.
That may be the name of thesong, but I think that's shaded.
Leonard Skinner and I thinkLeonard Skinner, sweet Home
Alabama was in rebuttal to Neilstarting to shit in the first

(13:07):
place.
So songs that we hold dear isjust why folks got them diss
tracks too cuz.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Oh man, I'm gonna go back and listen to them back to
back after this.
That's pretty funny.
Yeah, I never would havethought about that.
But yeah, so I would say yesand no.
But, like I said, if you gettoo big, it don't matter what
they do anyway, right.
And that's kind of like how JoeRogan is, and that's what the
point I want to get to, where itdoesn't matter.
They can say what they want,they can try to counsel, but
they can't.
When you become uncouncilable,the only thing left to do is try

(13:38):
to tarnish your image or try toget you locked up.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
The only people that could really screw over Joe
Rogan at this point would beSpotify and Apple podcasts.
I mean, if they really wantedto cancel Joe Rogan, and even
then, you know, and you have toassume, that if Apple podcasts
and Spotify shut Joe Rogan down,the YouTube would have shut him

(14:02):
down way before they did.
Yeah, youtube, you know so hewouldn't have anywhere to turn
if that were the case.
Now, that's not gonna happen.
I don't think.
I hope not, because Spotifyseems to be very, very intent on
reaching one billion users by,whatever the date is that
they've thrown out recently, cuzthey're like it.
I think they're at 500 millionright now.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Appreciate them users .
I got 500,000.
Appreciate y'all Listen.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
So when did you start rapping?
I saw in a post the other daythat you were.
I think you were at theelementary school here in town
and you were with children thatwere of the age in which you
started rapping.
What age was that?
10.
10 years old.
And so what is 10 year oldTopher, inspired by to want to

(14:51):
create his own rap lyrics?
Who was 10 year old Topherlistening to?

Speaker 2 (14:57):
People are probably shouldn't be listening to.
I would say Eminem probably wasthe main influence and that's
because my brother-in-law, so mysisters, are much older than me
.
So my older sister that I livedwith was 15 years older than me
and the other one was 10 yearsolder than me, so I'm 10 at 20.
So you know, they're grown andI remember meeting my

(15:17):
brother-in-law and I remembergetting CDs and one of the CDs a
guy was like a curtain callmaybe, or Eminem show, but I
remember listening to some ofthe songs and the way he talked
about cleaning out my closet andhis issues resonated with me
Because I saw when I waslistening to like Little Crips
for Descent and all those folks,they didn't really get personal

(15:41):
right, that was more general,like gang violence and
everything else.
But Eminem to me, took it to apoint where man, this man, this
is his mama.
We don't this our mama's in theblack community.
I don't know if you know thisLeigh Like that.
Just I don't care what you say,I don't care how bad your mama
was, you weren't about to backtalk your mama.
So I knew when I heard this Iwas like it resonated with me

(16:01):
because I did have somefrustration that I felt like I
should be able to voice, andalso to know that I'm not the
only one that's dissatisfiedwith the direction and choice
that my mom made.
My mom for those don't know.
My mom battled with alcoholismfor the majority of my life
until about I was in themilitary.
I was about 23 when she finallycalled me and told me that she

(16:22):
had broken and never tookanother sip, which was about
eight years ago, and I rememberjust rejoicing because I used to
always go, matter of fact, whenI went to church, the main
thing I used to pray for was mymom to be free from that, just
because I saw what it did to herand not knowing.
As a kid you don't get thewhole picture, but as an adult I
can look back on and see why,what was the motivation and

(16:44):
things like that she remember.
I remember one night she didhave too much to drink and she
kind of just told me some stuffI never knew and she had
previously had abortion.
We talk about abortion beingempowerment for women, though
it's not.
Not only do you still gothrough the, your body goes
through the function of having ababy, and you got those

(17:06):
emotions going on, but knowingthat you killed your child
really weighs heavy.
It's not something that peoplejust have a rejoicement about
and my mom really regretted thatdecision so a lot of her
drinking came from that.
Drinking came from having usout of wedlock because my dad
was married at the time and he'sa famous blues guitarist singer
, little Willie Farmer,mississippi native.

(17:29):
He's played with BB King, others, but he's got like the howling
wolf type of blues playing stylemuddy waters if you think about
some people and but anyway, shehad all these things that she
kept balled up inside and I kindof saw that.
And you know, going throughthat, it just made me realize,

(17:49):
man, I want to express my.
I just know she can do better.
You know, as a kid I was likeman, mom, you can do so much
better, why don't you do better?
You know, and I used to talkabout it all the time and to the
point that I was like I can'treally shout at my mama, can't
talk back to my mama, what can Ido to still express those
feelings?
And music became like thescapegoat, that, that pathway

(18:11):
for me to express myself.
And I had a couple songs outthere.
You know that I created.
That has helped me along theway, even with politics, right,
let's say, if I get banned fromspeaking about supporting Trump
on TikTok, right, I went to mymusic.
I haven't got banned yet.
Well, I got temporarily a songtemporarily removed for about
two weeks because I'm adistributor.

(18:32):
But overall, that's a safeplace where I can still express
my feelings and concerns.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Yeah, I can imagine there are many children in
Mississippi who have experiencedsimilar circumstances.
You and I highlight thatbecause it highlights a bigger
issue and that a couple ofissues there.
The access to quality mentalhealth treatment in Mississippi

(19:00):
is atrocious.
Yeah, you know that's somethingthat has to be improved over
time.
Addiction whether it bealcoholism, drugs, drugs of
whomever's choice it's acircumstance in which children
find themselves much too oftenin our state and there are a

(19:22):
multitude of different reasonsfor that, and we could be here
all day long trying to dissectwhy those circumstances exist as
frequently as they do.
But the fact that you had anopportunity to find music, to be
moved by music, and then thatfill a void for you that you

(19:43):
didn't, because it sounds to melike you were liberated once,
you were able to expressyourself in a creative way, as
opposed to just keeping itbottled up, because you wanted
to have respect for your mother,you wanted to show her that you
cared about her and youunderstood, or you're trying to
understand, her, but at the sametime you had some frustration
that you needed to get out ofyour system, right, and that

(20:06):
happens.
I think that's the biggestreason why we have so many
talented artists that come fromMississippi because of so much
struggle.
There's beauty in the struggle,right, you know, and very
strong, creative people come outof struggle and impoverished

(20:26):
situations.
So it's like a blessing thatoccurs.

Speaker 2 (20:30):
Yeah, I agree to that .
And you know that's the reasonwhy I feel like I resonate with
a lot of the youth, because whenI do tell this story, you know
they hear that, they hear that,oh man, he went through what I
went through and that's why Idon't shy away from that
discussion.
It's like, man, I did not havea great upbringing, you know.
You look at my life now andlook what I've been through.
It's just not the same.

(20:50):
And that's not to brag aboutanything.
But if I do have to brag a bitabout the Lord, because, I look
back on my life and everythingI've been able to overcome and
get through, it's been becauseI've been obedient to him.
And yeah, that struggle, man,mississippi has had a lot of it,

(21:11):
you know historically and youknow even now.
You know we still going throughsome stuff and we don't like
change down here.
It's the South man, we justlike our traditions, we like
what's going on and you know,trying to shake away that stuff,
man, it's kind of like been mymission.
It's like sure we can I'm notsaying we have to, you know,
completely get rid of everything, but some stuff that we need to

(21:32):
improve.
All progress ain't bad progress.
You know some stuff, you know Iimagine if we still was on.
You know wagons, you know it's,you know it's not a great thing,
I'm pretty sure you have 450around with the Messiah to see
just a lot better than a wagon,no doubt.
So I think we shouldn't be soadamant about it.
We should, you know, approachit with an open mind and open

(21:53):
heart and really listen.
You know, really listen to theyouth that's coming up, because,
man, I know they're hurting.
You know, especially now, withtimes being how it is inflation,
everything going on, the dollarnot being what it used to be, I
mean, you just can't get muchout of it.
We went from, you know, getting, you know, some water out of a

(22:14):
rag to not always the rag weused to.
You know, used to better getsomething.
Now we only have a rag to getthe water with.
So it's very tough, you know,but it's possible, you know, and
if we listen and we startmaking those decisions and we
think about others as we go outhere, we can make some great
things happen.

Speaker 1 (22:32):
Yeah, we definitely have many areas that we can
improve in.
Why do you think Mississippiansin particular are so resistant
to change of any kind?

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Because my opinion is , when you have a job security
tied to that insecurity, thenpeople are going to resist.
What I mean by that is if Itell you, even for a church,
right hospitals, for example gowith that reason.

(23:10):
Why they want to heal you isbecause if they heal you, you're
no longer a patient.
If you're no longer a patient,they're no longer making money
off you.
Why would they want to heal youwhen they can just temporarily
get you fixed?
Then, boom, you come back andthey can keep that money going.
I feel like it's the same waywith some of our policies, with
some of the stuff that we seetoday and tradition.
It's like they want you to keepcoming back.
They don't really want youwhole, but they want you feeling

(23:33):
like you're whole and thinkingyou whole, so that you always
come back.
And when your job is based onsomebody's need for that, you're
going to do everything in yourpower to make sure they need you
.
And once again, once I realizedthat you shouldn't need
anything, I was able to just geteverything I wanted anyway.
It's like the only thing I needis God and everything I want

(23:56):
will be added to me.

Speaker 1 (23:57):
So are you referencing the relationship
between the citizens andpoliticians?

Speaker 2 (24:02):
Oh, yeah, politicians or just any like it could be a
pastor in a church, so you'resaying that that dynamic exists
at the state level inMississippi, politics, politics,
state level, local level.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
So you think a few people are in control in each
town or whatever and they wantto.
They've got a stranglehold onthat power.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Yeah, I wouldn't disagree with that, because I
mean, think about why we haven'tgot too many restaurants here
in Philadelphia.
Correct Is because we don'thave the people.
We got people, but it's thesmall businesses that saying,
like if that comes in acompetition comes in, then we're
going to lose out, which Idon't believe that I think you
know and I think it helpseverybody and everybody
flourishes.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
I mean, if we've got five Mexican restaurants, well
there's obviously the demandthere for a lot of restaurants.
So I mean you go by theseMexican restaurants and they're
full every day, like people aregoing out to eat.
We've got the demand Right andso you were saying that it's
that could be a symptom of what,Like people, small businesses,
being resistant to yeah, justresistant to change because

(25:07):
they're afraid of thatcompetition.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
But the thing is, you know, in a free market
capitalism which I love is, youknow, as long as your product is
great, it doesn't matter who'saround you, people are still
going to come visit you.
So they don't want to improveon what they offer, because then
they cause time, money,dedication, they just want to
continue to offer the same stuffand then still reap the benefit

(25:29):
.
So the best way to do that isto prevent anything better from
coming around.
And that's what I see a lot oftimes too, and I'm like man, we
got to get out that mindset Ifwe really want to grow and, like
I said, it's for the bettermentof everybody, not just you.
You know I love competition, Ilove to.
I want to say I compare myselfto other people, but it's a

(25:52):
healthy competition and when I'mtrying to compete, like having
a target base when you're doingsomething, or target goal at
least allows you to kind of see,okay, what are they doing that
I'm not doing and why they'regrowing faster Can I do
something to improve?
More of a tool to improveyourself, not a tool to, I guess

(26:13):
, be to down yourself.
You know I don't really lookdown on others.
It's crazy that so many peoplethat I've helped you know
throughout my life, or peoplethat have been around me, a lot
of those people are not aroundme anymore and I just think it's
because I was able to growwithout them.

(26:37):
You know, people like you knowwhat I'm saying.
People are even relationshipright, relational people steal.
They don't like you changingeither.
And I think money, when peoplesay money changes people, I say
no, I think money changes thepeople around you, because then
they start acting funny.
It's like when Tofu was brokeand Tofu was doing this,
everybody you know everybody wascool.
Then when Tofu get out here andstarts pressing himself and he

(27:00):
can kind of do what he want, nowyou got a problem with Tofu but
nothing has changed.
You know, I have friends thatcome back, you know, maybe
months later, years later, likeman I don't know why I was mad
at you.
Man, I'm sorry, because I neverdid anything to him personally.

Speaker 1 (27:14):
Jealousy, yeah, it's you know that's and that's hard
for someone to admit thatthey're jealous of someone.
I've been guilty of it.
I'm still guilty of it.
But I have to tell myself likeLee, chill out bro, just be
thankful for what you got and bethankful.
If you think they're succeeding, be thankful for them

(27:35):
succeeding.
Don't have no animosity towardsnobody because they really
doing or where you at doing whatyou want to do, or they're
where you want to be or wouldlike to be.
Just focus on you, lee.
That's what I had to tellmyself to suppress that, because
we all have that, that nitroinclination to aspire to be

(27:55):
successful at least most of usdo.
And then when you see somebodyachieving or setting the
benchmark that you want toultimately meet, you're gonna
feel some type of way.
If you got any competitivespirit inside of you at least
that's my personal opinion- yeah, that's why, you know, Bible
says one of 10 commandments donot covet.

Speaker 2 (28:17):
So it's there for a reason.
You know it's very importantand it's just human nature, man,
you know.
But the problem is because ofsocial media, we've developed a
mindset of everything we see aperson post to do is all they do
.
Yeah, we don't see the timethey put in outside of what we
see on social media.
We don't see the hours theyspent in the studio, in the
basement.
We don't see how much time theyspent studying and learning the

(28:39):
craft or how many mistakes theysee.
You know, that's what we don'tsee.
We only see what's presented andthen we take that and just
assume you know I've beenputting in work and I know this,
or why they're getting ahead.
It's like you just don't know.
We don't know the conversationthey're having off camera, the
people that are going out tovisit the, how many miles they
travel.
We just don't know.
And so I don't value peoplelike that.

(29:01):
You know, I'm thankful for thepeople that flock to me, but I
always tell people I'm human,don't come over here thinking
that I'm some perfect guy or I'msome dude.
That's just not ever gonna makeany mistakes.
I make plenty of mistakes.
Matter of fact, this will allowme to make great decisions,
because I made bad decisions.
I was like, yeah, that didn'twork out.
I'm not gonna do that, no more,you know.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Yeah, there's also an element in that type of
scenario when someone levels upand they're on another level and
they're looking down at thepeople that they've been around
on the lower level, those peopleit grabs in a bucket, you know.
I mean there's a reason,whoever.
There's a reason.

(29:43):
A person makes it to a certainlevel, right.
I mean, luck is at play, butthat person has a certain type
of makeup, that person has acertain mentality, that person
has a certain work ethic thathas contributed to them being
able to go to that next level.
Well then, a smart person in mymind says okay, well, now let

(30:08):
me surround myself with peopleon the next level, right, so
that you know how to get to thenext level.
And the people still down on thefirst or second level, they
just don't understand.
And I think there's amiscommunication there.
There's just a wall there thatin most cases can't be broken,
plus jealousy, which I mean Iguess what I'm explaining pretty

(30:29):
much is jealousy, but I thinkthere's a lot of that at play
too.
They're just different makeuppeople.
People are made up differently.
Some people can understandwhat's going on, some people not
so much.

Speaker 2 (30:41):
I will say, the higher I've gone.
You know some of the people Imet, like Andrew Fisella, the
first form, the owner of firstform, and others up there they
are, you know, uber millionaires, just really killing the game.
Yeah, Really successful.
They're some of the nicestpeople I ever met in my life.
I mean from a complete strangerjust going up to talk to them.

(31:03):
They enjoy what I do and justthe conversation.
They never treated me less thanthey didn't when they looked in
my eyes.
It was I was a master of what Idid and they was a master of
what they did.
And that's just where it was.
It wasn't about how much eachother had, it was just like I
respect you know for where youat, and I noticed that more
people hate up than they hatedown and I get it.

(31:26):
Like I said, I kind of used tohave that mentality when I was
younger, but I'm glad that I gotout of that mentality and I
said because I don't know if youremember an artist by the name
of Pale, but he came from well,hurricane Katrina brought him to
Mississippi and then we went toMississippi State together
around about 2010.
And we ended up doing we didn'tdo music together.

(31:48):
But we was like together ifthat makes sense, I'm running
the guy.
We did shows together.
He would perform, I'd performwhatever.
And I ended up going to themilitary around 2011 and he
continued to do music.
I left and I remember followingup on with him about three,
four years later and seeing thathe was Red Bull, was doing

(32:09):
music for him.
He was all kind of crazysponsorship.
I'm like I almost got mad athis success.
But then I thought about it.
I was like cause it reallydawned on me.
I was like man, I was doingshows with him.
Why he get this opportunity?
Yada, yada, yada.
I said because he was consistent.
I said I left, went to themilitary, I wasn't doing music,
no more, I wasn't doing nothing.

(32:30):
I said he never stopped.
I'm like, so the opportunitydidn't come because he was more
talented, cause I was like man,we the same level, like we was
stage, I was good.
And then it was because Iwasn't consistent, because I
stopped and I said I can nolonger stop.
I said from day forward Irealized I said I gotta keep
going and the more consistentI've been, the more
opportunities I've had to beexposed to stuff and people and

(32:53):
opportunities, and that's whatpeople got to realize.
And consistency isn't beingperfect all the time, it's just
not quitting.
You know you can be 10% one day, maybe 5%, then the next day
you're 100%, who knows.
But that's what consistency isthat?
No matter what, I'm mad, I'mgonna put some type of effort
into what I'm doing and notstopping, and the more

(33:14):
consistent I've been, my lifehas just been exponentially
better.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
Yeah, you may go in the gym one day and may just not
have your legs ain't there.
You know you got.
You didn't eat what you neededto eat to give yourself the
energy, but you got through thedoors Right and that's really.
You know.
Obviously you wanna go in andgive your 110, you know, when
you're trying to be consistent,you wanna be as efficient and

(33:42):
all that as you can be on a asfrequently basis, a frequent
enough basis.
But, yeah, if you just gettingoff the couch and going walking
down the street, if your goal isto exercise every day, it
doesn't have to be 500 pounds,15 reps, 10 sets every single
day and I don't need to work outwith you.
leave your back on my desk,Somebody sent me a workout

(34:06):
regiment yesterday and they werelike cause I was telling them I
was like Monday's leg day,let's go ahead and get it out of
the way and they sent me a legworkout that someone had sent
them and it was something likeseven sets of 10 on back squats
and then like all the way down,it was some crazy number like

(34:27):
that, with some awful workout,some exercise beside it, and I
was like the only way I would dothat leg workout and I probably
wouldn't even do it then as ifit was with air on air, like so
many reps, so many sets.
I used to be crazy like that.

Speaker 2 (34:42):
I used to be, cause it was myself trying to be I
won't say trying to be abodybuilder, not a pro one at
all, but I definitely wanted tobe of a seat, getting to men's
of a seat and that type of stuff.
So I used to be crazy in thegym doing reps like that High
reps, heavy weights.
On some days you got your lightday, you got your so light day,

(35:04):
you had low reps.
And then you heavy light days,got high reps, heavy days, you
got your low reps.
I used to be in there getting itand I was watching my food and
everything else and you know,that's kind of why I still got
my build today, but that wasn'tsustainable, you know.
You ain't still in the gym.
No man, I've been.
Matter of fact, I just lost.
I haven't been telling peoplestrong people, but people around

(35:27):
me that see me, they can see itbut I lost 45 pounds in the
last four months and that's justbecause I got not been in the
gym and not worrying about whatI was eating and stuff like that
.
And I saw acronym today thatfor diet.
It meant did I eat?
That that's kind of how.
That's kind of how I look backon some outages eating whatever.

(35:49):
And I realized you know we weretalking about how I was raised
and some people may go throughthis and experiences and never
understood, but it was more of asubconscious thing to eat
everything on my plate,regardless of portion size.
And that was because it camefrom a poverty mindset, because
you never knew what you're gonnaeat the next day.
So whenever you got something,you ate all of it regardless.

(36:13):
I was like man, I ain't beenlike that in years and I
remember sitting on my couchabout two months ago thinking
about that.
I was like, why am I justeating these portions?
Cause I remember I used to pay.
You know, I go to a porterhouse and I get the.
You know, get the $40 reb, I orwhatever, and I'm like man, I
pay $40 for the rib.
I'm gonna eat every ounce.
And then I was like that makesno sense.
If I'm full, I'm full, whetherit costs $40 or $5.

(36:35):
Like, I need to know that.
It's okay, I'm not poor anymore.
This is not gonna you know it'sspent.
I'm not gonna get it back.
They're not gonna give my money.
You know what I'm saying.
So once I learned to just breakthat poverty mindset, I've been
able to control my portion awhole lot better and I just eat
to it.
I'm like, feel like I'm goodand I'm good, you know, and it's
just been a game changer.
So people out there strugglingwith that Sometimes it's tied to

(36:56):
something that you went throughas a kid.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
So you just solely changed your diet and that you
attribute that to your weightloss, or did you get in the gym
any?

Speaker 2 (37:04):
Oh no, I've been last month and a half.
I would say about maybe a monthand a half.
I started walking a lot becauseI was up there, so I wasn't
trying to, I wasn't trying tojog or do nothing too heavy.

Speaker 1 (37:15):
You know, get that weight off your joints before
you start going back into ithard.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
I'll probably get back in the gym here soon, but
I'm gonna continue to let thiswork, work me down and also,
when you're trying to, you know,slim up.
I ain't trying to do all thatbecause I want to lose the fat.
You know I don't want to justadd muscles quite yet, but
anyway, you doing a full stripdown, huh, yeah, yeah, right now
, you know, and like I said,I've had the 8% body fat at 195.

(37:41):
Like I've been that beast, butI don't want to get back to it
quite.
You know, I just want to getback to maybe 210, 215, you know
, and just kind of a solid guy.
You know that's going aroundand you know I ain't got to have
to rock hard abs but it's gonnabe flat, you know, it's just.
It takes a lot of hard work anddedication and I got to an
injured from the military to befocused on doing that, quite

(38:03):
like that.
Has it improved your mentalacuity Absolutely.
I always tell people, if youlook good, you feel good.
If you don't look good, youain't gonna feel good.
I know some people say you knowyou still fake it till you make
it.
But sometimes you can't shakeit, you know, and one of the
things I've done is, like I said, I got to make a change, I got
to make a decision.
I know I can do better, so Igot to do better.

(38:24):
And sometimes, you know, whenyou get kids, I shout out to
Post Malone One of the reasonswhy he ended up losing a lot of
weight recently was, you know,because he said I got to be
around for my kids.
Like kids would do that to you.
Kids for men, like I don't know.
You know how women are.
But when men get like kids andthere's something else they got
to protect, you know we all somejust kicks in and then tells us

(38:44):
, like you know, I can't protectthem if I'm not, you know, in
shape, if I'm not doing this, ifI'm not healthy enough to even
get up and downstairs or actquick enough.
So you know, and you won't staythere too long if you living up
to that expectation.
So I got busy, you know, and youknow, when we went over to the
weight clinic and I've beenworking with I don't know if you
have heard of the we Govyshot,but it's a shot that helps with

(39:09):
appetite.
Well, it's not an appetitesuppressant, more so it helps
you feel full longer.
So it helped me until Irealized the mental pressure I
had on my portion size.
They allowed me to control ituntil I got to the point Now
that consciously I can be likeoh yeah, I'm not gonna eat that
or I'm not gonna do this.
So I really haven't beensnacking as much as I used to.

(39:31):
You know, keep.
You know I still drink.
So I don't want people thinkinglike I just got rid of soda.
No, I didn't, I still drink mysoda, one, you know, maybe 24
ounce in a day, that's it.
But most of it's gonna be waterand other stuff.
That's, you know, better foryour body.
But yeah, it's-.
What kind of soda you bedrinking on.
I don't do no Coke man.
They say when you go Coke yougo whoa.
So I've been doing Pepsi, pepsiproducts, I use them out and do

(39:55):
Pepsi and that's about it.

Speaker 1 (39:59):
Coke makes you work.
Is that what I'm hearing?
I've been drinking Diet Coke soI ain't all the way woke.
Well, yeah, there you go what?

Speaker 2 (40:09):
I'm halfway there.
Well, you remember they hadthat.
What was that?
Going back, you know youcouldn't be white if you drink
Coke.
Something was something Cokehad.

Speaker 1 (40:18):
I'll tell you one thing I have noticed Coming up
in a predominantly blackcommunity Not a whole lot of
black folks drink dark, softdrinks.
No we don't really.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
I think it's more of sprites and mountain dudes and
man throwing.
Some found us.
See you really talking to us?

Speaker 1 (40:34):
now Get that orange soda, great so get that cotton
candy, that cotton candy, behidden Lemonade, yes, sir.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Now we do drink our sweet tea, but that's not a soda
.
But that's about.
You know, we would.
That's true, that's true, butyeah, we don't really.
I think all the time you maysee a Coke or something like
that if we drinking bourbon, butI think I got there from like a
white guy.
Anyway, I think most of you dolike Henny and Lemonade, yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
I don't know a lot of black people that just drink
like Jim Beam.
No, no, not saying they're notout there, just saying generally
speaking, you know, and whenpeople speaking of woke get
upset about certain stereoracial stereotypes that are used
, like most common, sensicalpeople understand that a

(41:23):
stereotype exists for a reason.
It's a general generalization.
But most people understand thatnot all people of that makeup
are gonna exhibit thosebehaviors.
Right, right, you know.
But the woke takes it to awhole another level, to where
you can't even say thestereotype anymore Like it's.

Speaker 2 (41:41):
You'll get banned or shut up if you utilize that
stereotypical phrase thatreminds me of Dave Chappelle
when he was telling a joke on ofyour memory.
He was somebody.
He came down to the South andand then, and as as somebody
wanted I ain't putting my orderhe said I already know you want
the chicken.
He's like how did you know?

Speaker 1 (42:06):
What's the Dave Chappelle when he is a black
blind Klansman?

Speaker 2 (42:12):
Oh man yeah, what's his name?
Bigsby.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
Clayton Bigsby.
Yeah, I want there to repeatsome of the things that Dave
Chappelle said, but if you, ifyou've never seen Dave Chappelle
on Chappelle show, claytonBigsby, stop the podcast right
now.
Go watch it, then resume,because it is worth it Shout out
to my man, dave Chappelle.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Man, one of my favorite comedians, for sure.
He's the best of all time thatman's got it.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
He's the best of all time.
So phew, phew, phew, and theRick James bitch, that's a good
one too.

Speaker 2 (42:45):
That was a good one.
What did he say?
F your couch, I'm gonna say Fyour couch.

Speaker 1 (42:52):
That's tough on him, man.

Speaker 2 (42:53):
And his brother man, not his brother, but shout out
to Charlie Murphy man, whenCharlie Murphy give him that,
tell him stories, man.
That used to be some of thefunniest stuff.

Speaker 1 (43:01):
I like listening to the gentleman who was also a
part of the Chappelle show andvery close to Dave.
He comes on, he goes on JoeRogan quite a bit, donnell
Rawlings.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
Oh, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (43:13):
I love listening to that dude.
When he's on Joe Rogan he ishilarious.
Somebody else who's hilariousis Earthquake, earthquake, I
don't know, he's a black dude.
I wasn't aware of him until hewas on Joe Rogan either, but
apparently Earthquake spent likesome years in Atlanta the

(43:34):
Atlanta comedy scene and he ranhis own comedy club and
performed there as well.
But I followed Earthquake onsocial media and it's just too
much Like he'd be posting themost random shit and it's like
50,000 posts a day.
Oh yeah, it's funny and he hasa lot of followers, but he was

(43:54):
just taking up too much of mytimeline.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
You're a world star, that type of stuff.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
But I used to always think why people did that too.
Why would celebrities gothrough the house or just
posting stuff?
I realized it's not even themposting it.
A lot of times they got people.
That's loud because you can getmonetized on Facebook.
Y'all know, if you rememberseeing these videos on Facebook
where it'd be like 10 crazythings and it has Lil Wayne
reacts or something like that.

(44:20):
It ain't Lil Wayne reacting,it's just they took some clips
of Lil Wayne doing something andthey just put these videos
together and put his face on itand then they post to his page
and then everybody watches it.
They get money from it.
Once again, just another way tomonetize that people don't
think about.
And I was like man, this isgenius.

Speaker 1 (44:37):
But yeah, that's interesting, how a lot of
celebrities, I would imagineprobably, once they get to a
certain point, they just theyhire it out.
Just do what you gotta do.
Put stuff on there to get usmore followers, get us money,
Get us more money.

Speaker 2 (44:51):
Yes, that's what it boils down to.
So I, like I said, as a personthat's been a full-time content
creator, I know full well how itworks.
I just wonder why country Waynedid three minute videos all the
time and you would see it belike three minute and one second
.
Three minute, two seconds, Likeit's never like two minutes.
And that's because on Facebookyou get prioritization if it's
three minute video and you getbetter early advertisement when

(45:13):
it's three minutes, versus ifit's not three minutes you get
at the end.
So if you get it in thebeginning of one minute mark,
then you get more eyes on theadvertisement and you make more
money.
So I was like, oh, so when youstart figuring stuff out, it's
like this is why they do this.
It's all strategy and it's justone of the things you gotta
learn when you out here makingcontent, you know, and so if you
need anybody, guys, like I said, I might be starting a

(45:34):
masterclass and I will startdoing social media consultation
for those that wanna know.
But I guess I've been doingthis and making money and making
six videos from social mediasince now.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
How did you get into that world?

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Kind of had to.
As an artist, the only way toget your music out is especially
independent.
Right, I'm an independent hiphop artist.
Some people that don't knowabout who I am.
I got a number one Billboardfor my song the Patriot, and
that's in hip hop and that wasin all the hip hop songs that
week in the country.
I've got a number six BillboardBlack number seven.
I got a number five in rockin'and hard rock.

(46:11):
That was really cool.
Shout out to my boy, tommy Vex,real great guy.
I don't know if you know who hewas, but a former lead singer
of Bad Wolves.
Bad Wolves got the song Zombiesthat did the cover.
So a former lead singer, becausethey don't like free thinking
black men.
But we did the song togetherand we're gonna do some more

(46:32):
collaborations coming up.
I'm glad that he's back on theroad.
But yeah, just learning how tomark my own music, I had to
learn the tools available, andthe cheapest tool to mark your
music is social media.
It's free, you don't have topay anything.
I mean you pay with your timeand you know everything you put
into it.
But everything you do prettymuch is outside of the social
media.
So I had to learn how to useall that stuff and it kind of

(46:53):
became a second nature thingjust down the line.
Like I was, I didn't set out tobe a social media expert.
I set out to get my musicmarketed and make a living off
that, and then all this was justpart of the part of the path.

Speaker 1 (47:07):
What's the saying?
Necessity is the mother ofinnovation.
Yeah, yeah, that's it.
So how long into it did youstart saying to yourself I'm
seeing some things that I'mdoing that are working, you know
, that are getting me a littlemore pop than everybody else
that's on social media.

Speaker 2 (47:29):
I would say music wise, my first video to go viral
, I think, was a Trump 2020 song, and it wasn't like I was
trying to go viral more, so Iwas just making a rap.
It was a trend that CharliePuth put together on TikTok
around I want to say December19th, 20 January 2020, I feel

(47:52):
like when he did it.
But it was around that time andhe created a beat and he just
wanted it was called write thelyrics.
So the beat would play andsomeone would do it at the video
and they'd just write thelyrics and you would just sing
along to the beat in your head.
So I said, man, it was just abunch of singles and no one's
doing rapping.
So I said, let me just do onefor rappers.
And I did it.
If you didn't want viral.

(48:13):
I was like what the world?
It went viral like fast.
I think I had a million viewsin like an hour.
It was something crazy and Iwas like, man, I've never went
viral like that and I wasn'tsure what it was.
But I had people that was onthe opposite side of the aisle
just say like, even though it'sabout Trump and I hate Trump, I
like that song.
So it was like, okay, cool.

(48:33):
So I got something that,regardless of ours, that this is
just talent, this is somethingthat supersedes all that.
So that's what I had a lot towork with.
So then I started kind of likegoing down and trying to create
more videos where I'm justrapping and then write the
lyrics on there.
Lyrics help a lot if you'rewondering with your videos,
cause a lot of people forgetthat there's a large portion of

(48:54):
people who can't really see thatwell and it can't hear that
well.
So if you can't really hearthat well, then you gotta be
looking for something that'sgonna tell you what people are
saying so you can fall along.
So that's why it's great.
And then for the people thatcan't see well, you wanna make
sure your audio's clear so theycan hear well, right, and it
just goes back full circle.
So that's why I always makesure that I got captions on my

(49:15):
videos.
I make sure I record with a highquality mic.
It's mics are cheap.
You can get it for your iPhonewhatever.
They're like 90 bucks on a lowend and you can get a high
quality one.
So it's no excuse to make sureyou got some high quality stuff.
And the distance on the thingsis amazing.
I think I could be like 100feet away from my iPhone and
still pick up.
Wow.
So get you a mic.

(49:36):
And when I started combiningthose things, I started to
notice a significance and ormore consistent of reality from
my videos than it was at the oneand one of Dunn's, you know.
But yeah, that was kind of myfirst, that was my first one,
and then my next one that kindof went viral was the one about
Terry Crews.
I did a song called I Feel LikeTerry Crews and Terry Crews

(49:58):
actually ended up using thatsong in a video he made during a
beef he was having withsomebody else.
It was crazy and he just comeon and he walked up.
I feel like Terry Crews and hewas just doing it and I will say
this shout out to my man, terrywe were friends on social media
and when I come, in Shout outTerry Back, back Terry.
Put it in reverse Terry Backback Terry, put you what you,

(50:21):
what you doing.
Terry Dammit, I'm a man man.
Friday is stupid, but anyway,yeah, he was the first person I
know that I was like.
Not only did he use it, but hetagged me in the video.
You know how hard it is forpeople to tag you in content
that is not theirs, but theyused it and you know for him
being a you know A-listcelebrity and everything he got

(50:43):
going on, he decided to do thedue diligence and tag me in it
and I was.
I was amazed to this day.
I'm thankful for it and itshowed me too that I do have the
appeal to have somebody of thatstature appreciate what I do
and give me that coastline.
But yeah, it's, it's.
I've just been confident goingdown the line and just figuring

(51:04):
out ways that I can prove.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
Since then, it worries me that people will end
up benefiting from just beingable to figure out the algorithm
or the path to virality, asopposed to their work really
being credible.

(51:25):
Not saying that all people areincredible, but it's almost as
if, at this point, not everybody, not everything, nothing is
100%, 100% of the time.
But obviously, if you learnthese tools that you yourself
have obviously caught on to,then your likelihood of going

(51:49):
viral and getting more eyes andmore ears is much more likely
than someone who is not in tunewith how these things, how
social media works, how thealgorithms are built or how
they're programmed and thedifferent nuances of them, and
that gives you a huge advantage.

Speaker 2 (52:06):
Of course, but also gives me the advantage of not
having to do things to go viral.
Right, if you can almostpredict the video because of the
algorithm, because youunderstand the tools, you no
longer hear a subject to justdoing something insanely against
your character or your brandjust to get out there in front
of millions of eyes.
So that's why I encouragepeople now people listening

(52:29):
independent artists like I'mshowing you the way I can tell
you how to get the big boysindependently.
I can show you how to do thesethings independently, because
the labels are gonna want you todo some stuff that are
uncomfortable.
That, more likely, is gonna goagainst your principles, and I
hear it all the time.
This is not something that I'mmaking up, that we see it.
We see the Satanic and Satanismthat's coming through the
lyrics, the videos and thevisuals, and these are not

(52:52):
people that thought that way orbehaved that way.
But if someone's writing acheck and cutting a check and
controlling you, you're gonna dowhat they tell you to do, right
, brr.

Speaker 1 (53:00):
Memphis, memphis.
They making a killing off ofthat shit.
Making a killing, making akilling off of killing.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
It's crazy.
Why would you wanna be in thebusiness of profit for that?
That's one of the things why Istay independent is because I
didn't wanna be forced to dosomething.
I really just couldn't sleepwell with that night.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
I wonder about that same component.
But I think, like you mentionedearlier, free market capitalism
If there's a market there forit, within reason, I mean yes.
Can gangster rap music,especially nowadays, be viewed
as a detriment to society andshould it be held responsible or

(53:40):
liable for acts carried out bypeople that's listening to it?
I do not believe so.
Oh, no, no, no.
That is art for people toconsume and as a society we
should say okay, boosie Badassis telling a story here.
He's not implicating anybody ina crime, he's not telling me to
go commit a crime.
It's art, let's consume it andkeep those two things separate.

(54:02):
But I think a lot of peoplelook at hip hop and just
automatically say that it's likewith video games, that it can
be attributed to mass killingsor violence and things of that
nature, and I think it does playa role.
I think NBA Young Boydefinitely has probably

(54:24):
influenced some child to get thechoppa and the Draco and go
sliding, but I don't thinkthat's the majority of his fans.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
No, no, you're always gonna have those outliers.
And the same reason.
My argument for that is justlike gospel, music doesn't get
many people saved, if we think,a lot of times people are saved
and come to gospel.
So same thing with the hip hop.
Yeah, hip hop is not gonnaconvince most people from going
out committing crimes.
Very good point.
So we shouldn't be holding hiphop to a certain standard and we

(54:56):
just ignore everything elsewhen it comes to movies and
books and et cetera.
But I will say that's why I makethe positive music I made,
because I know the potentialinfluence that it could have on
somebody and if they are goingto be influenced, I want them to
be influenced in a positivedirection.
And also just to remind peoplethere's a time and place for

(55:16):
everything, cause I'm prettysure if I made a whole rap album
literally talking about theBible, it probably rated E, not
E.
But was it rated R, rated R,it'd be rated R, no explicit.
Because think about it, man,there's some very explicit stuff
go down in the Bible Somebeheadings, some sacrifices,

(55:36):
some I mean people slaughtered,about a thousand that we don't
talk about.
Most of the time we would talkabout the Bible, but it's in
there.
I mean, imagine making a videogame about the Bible.
Especially, my favorite story isabout Alasha Cause.
He was a bald man.
He was going up to the hill anda group of young men came out
and they was calling him baldand they was making fun of him

(55:59):
and then he cursed him in thename of God and a bears came out
and mauled him.
I don't know how many it was intotal, but it said 42 was
killed.
Hmm, 42 bears no 42 young menwere killed from the two bears,
oh goodness.
And they all, they said, werecalled the man bald.
So imagine that being in avideo game.
Would that be rated M formature?

(56:20):
Or would that be rated E foreveryone?
That would be definitely mature.
So that's what I'm saying.
We gotta be careful withblaming and labeling stuff just
because of the violence in itslyrics, because, like I said,
the Bible can take a hit fromthat too.
But, most importantly, like, ifwe can install the principles
and the morals that they need tolive by, then there are no way

(56:41):
to place those things Right, andthat's what we gotta focus on.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
So now you don't have to so much think about how your
content's gonna be received, asmuch as it that you're
following the protocol thatyou've identified to ensure you
hit a certain amount of numbersconsistently.
So it's less about hey, let mego jump off of this building and
do something cool so people youknow share my post or video or

(57:05):
whatever, and it's more aboutjust, I guess, posting same time
of day maybe the high qualityaudio video.
What are some other tools forpeople out there?

Speaker 2 (57:17):
I would say, besides the high quality audio and video
, one of the first things I didwas bought my iPhone 14 Pro Max.

Speaker 1 (57:23):
First thing, All the way.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
Cinematic camera on.
That is just is no other phonehas beaten that.
I mean sorry, andrew, I stilluse it most of the day, but then
iPhone cinematic is crazy.
Then, on top of that, like Isaid, I bought me a mic that was
fairly cheap and I got that andit's been great.
And then, on top of that,picking well lit places this is

(57:46):
another thing.
Lighting's good.
So that's why grocery storesare really great, because they
tend to have very brightlighting in the area, so you
don't have to really worry aboutit being dark or something like
that.
On top of that, make sure thatyou got the caption going,
because the caption, like I said, a lot of people don't
understand.
Because you got to think aboutif you're trying to reach a
global market.
You don't just have Americansand Southerners, but our

(58:06):
Southern accents listen to usand you may be talking slang
that they don't understand andthat can be from somebody from
like Mexico or anything likethat that's learning English but
don't quite get it.
But they can kind of fall alongif you put the captions up
there.
So you got to think globallywhen you're making this content
and a lot of times, if you makeit more about give them

(58:27):
something that's gonna make themcome back.
One thing about my Bible quiz Ireally love is not that I'm in
it, but the fact that they kindof get to see a different person
and different experience everytime they come back and watch my
videos.
So it's not like it's the samething over and over again.
It's like, man, they get awhole new experience, they get a
whole new interaction, they geta whole new location sometimes.
So that's why I try to beconsistent and I try to do a lot

(58:50):
of stuff and I really go outand re-quiz and people Now for
people wondering no, all thevideos I post and not all the
videos are done, it's just not.
I've had plenty of audio issues,video issues, stuff that just
go wrong.
Some stuff I don't post isbecause people get super
emotional in it and I'm notthere to make it more about that
.
I'm just there to really Iwanna highlight people that best

(59:12):
.
I've avoided people for certainstuff.
I've been selective about thepeople I speak to, not for
content purposes, but I don'twant the message to be lost.
And there are some veryvoluptuous women that I
sometimes I wish I could go upand talk to them, but I
guarantee you, if I get them onthis camera, all the comments in
the section this is gonna beall about like, yeah, cause men,

(59:35):
right, that's what we do.
So I've avoided these women andI've always debated cause, todd
tell you, I was like man, Ireally wanna get her cause
you're like she would need theblessing.
But I just know this is gonnago wrong.
So I tend to avoid this people.
But I've been praying about it,like I don't want God.
God is for everybody and Idon't wanna not exclude people

(59:55):
just because God has blessedthem in certain areas to others
and I'm blessed in.
So I've been praying about itand I think I'll come around and
do stuff and I can't reallycontrol what everybody does, but
I do try to minimize when itdoes happen.
But yeah, you stay consistent.
Look at your analytics.
That's just the thing abouttools.
It tells you when it's like hey, most of the people are on from
five to nine I ain't posingaround there and don't pose at
12 o'clock.

(01:00:15):
People at work, right, it tellsyou to age group so you can
keep it relevant.
So it don't be, don't be sayingtalking about old stuff and
movies that most of these peoplewould have no idea.
So now you know you targetaudience.
It gives you the information,but it's up to you to use the
information to your advantage.

Speaker 1 (01:00:32):
Have you always been extremely devout in your faith.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
No, I would say, growing up traditionally I went
to church.
I was just like everybody else.
If you would ask me thesequestions at 16, 17, I would
probably be like huh.
I'd say Jesus rose and this isall I know.
I grew up in Liz's springBaptist missionary Baptist
church down on Avastate Road inKimaco, Mississippi, and the
passages was the typical Baptistpreacher.

(01:00:59):
That was just there.
It was great to congregateevery Sunday, but it was milk.
I'm definitely a person that'seating steak In my walk with
Jesus now my spirit's a food,but it was definitely milk then.
Great for a certain amount oftime.
But when you get into the realworld you can't always be a baby
Christian because you're gonnabe facing some adult problems

(01:01:22):
and baby Christians can't dealwith that.

Speaker 1 (01:01:25):
So what would your definition as a baby Christian
be Someone's?

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
new to the faith.
You're new to the faith and youjust got involved and you know
you can be very zealous at thisstage.
You're super excited, but youknow, if you don't watch out,
because you have that new sparkin Satan, that's the perfect
time for him to get you, becauseyou're new and it's in

(01:01:49):
everything out for you and youget frustrated and you just
expect your whole life to change, not knowing that's not how God
works.
You know, now he's giving youthe power to change life, but
it's not an instant thing.
Everything's a journey.
Then, on top of that, babyChristian, I'm still people that
just go to church, hear theword, because I always say this
God is enough, sunday isn't.
So if you're only going tochurch on Sunday, then you're

(01:02:10):
not gonna grow that much.
Come in, just like when we goto the gym and work it out.
You know, if I see a guy thatgoes to the gym two hours on a
Saturday versus a guy that's inthere one hour every day, it's
gonna be a big difference, right, he goes like okay, that man
over there, just from visuallylooking at him and how he
carries himself, that's aveteran, that's a guy that's
really in it.
This guy over here is just aCalzra gym goer, it is so that
would be a person that youprobably wouldn't want to ask

(01:02:33):
advice from, probably a personthat you wouldn't think that
they had to overcome a lot ofordeals, because the more
consistent you are, the more youhad to overcome things that's
trying to keep you from beingconsistent.
So now you're gonna talk to theperson.
How was you able to do this man?
I see you got kids.
I see you got this going on.
I see you switched jobs y'allin a new place.
How were you able to keep goingand still do what you do and
then not they got a story totell.

(01:02:54):
That's just a general notion inlife.
So when I tell people like yougotta get stronger, you gotta
work out that spiritual man,just like you work out their
physical man, and the spiritualman is the only one that's gonna
really gonna bring in theblessings that you think he
should have.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
So that environment in the church from your
childhood Did not cultivate thebreeding ground for a adult
Christian?
No, not at all.
Just going through the motions.
Yeah, you know A formality tobe there at 10 o'clock on Sunday
morning, whatever the time was.

Speaker 2 (01:03:27):
That was fine.
If nobody could you know wewouldn't try to really go out
and reach teach whatever type ofthing.
It just was just there.
It was great to be there.
I'm not knocking that cause.
Everyone's just like babies.
When babies come in the world,they need that time to grow.
So I'm not knocking that.
What I'm saying is we can'tstay there.

Speaker 1 (01:03:43):
So where does what does an environment look like
from a church standpoint thatdoes breed those adult
Christians?

Speaker 2 (01:03:49):
Oh man, yeah, straight straight teaching.
You know a lot of people getcaught up in emotional stuff.
There's nothing wrong withmusic, there's nothing wrong
with shouting, but if that's theonly reason you're there, then
it's a problem.
You know, you should be able,if you're teaching and you're
learning and you're there, toget through a situation.
We need to be going referringback to the scripture.
We need to be sticking to thescripture.
Stories are nice, but they'renot scripture, they're not

(01:04:11):
biblical principles that you cantake with you.
You know, it's just like if youwent to school and all they did
was let you play a recess, butyou went to school, would you
think you learned anything?

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
No, probably not Big good athlete.

Speaker 2 (01:04:24):
How do you?
You would be good athlete A lotof pick them up.
Bust them, man.

Speaker 1 (01:04:28):
That's what happened to us.
They just threw us to theplayground.
That's what we.
We won football games, but wecouldn't read no books.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
No, I'm just kidding.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
I'm just kidding.
We can't read.

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Yeah, yeah, by five of us, but but yeah if you
really want to teach them, thenthey can't just go to school.
They got to get there.
You got to give them some toolsto learn, like you really got
to sit them down and go throughstuff, and sure you can tell
them all day, but they got to beable to go home and do what too
.
You give them homework for what?
Go home and study Justsupplement everything they got
going on.
So we give so much moreattention and time to worldly

(01:05:01):
knowledge and we understand whywe need it, but when it comes to
the things of God, we just belike, oh well, I'm saved, that's
it, I'm good, like no, no, no,no, no, sir, the apostles and
everybody else, they spent timewith the word you know and
that's what we got to do.
The second Timothy says you gotto study to show that
self-approved A workman notneeded to be ashamed, rightly
divided into the word of truth.

(01:05:23):
So I don't have to be ashamedof what I know and things I do,
because I have studied, I knowwhat the Bible says, especially
in a time now where so many ofour principles are being
challenged Men becoming women orwomen becoming men and all this
other stuff and you just likeif you don't have that knowledge
, you'll fall prey to it.
You'll be like well, they wereborn that way, man.

(01:05:43):
What the Bible say.

Speaker 1 (01:05:45):
Yeah, we have a problem in the South with
religion, christianity inparticular, being so ingrained
in our culture, in the way we dothings and really just part of
our routine, that we have falleninto a place of it just being a
formality and it just being apart of the culture and maybe

(01:06:06):
not always taking to the extentthat you're referring to in the
way of teaching and learning andunderstanding, and I attribute
much of my lack of knowledge inChristianity, particularly the
Methodist denomination, to thatcomponent of our culture and

(01:06:28):
just being a place, to yourpoint, that we would go
congregate on Sunday mornings.
For many people it's a socialsetting, it's a social event.
They just want other people tosee them darken the doors of
that church and really what goeson when they're in the church
doesn't matter so much as theywere seen there.
And I think that contributes toa lot of people having, myself

(01:06:51):
included, a jaded view ofChristianity, because as I've
gotten older I've come to formthe opinion that most people go
to church to be seen andbasically that I think a lot of
the people that participate inChristianity in our culture are

(01:07:13):
I don't want to say all of themare fake, but many of them are
not all the way in Right.
The belief is not as sincere asthey would like you to believe.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
Yeah, it's more of the fear of missing out.
It does got a lot of people.

Speaker 1 (01:07:26):
Everybody else does it.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Yeah, I don't want people to be highlighted for not
going to church.
I'm just going to go to churchso people won't yell at me, so
I'll be cool.
Get asked questions, why ain'tyou?

Speaker 1 (01:07:37):
there.
Oh, he must be off the beatenpath because he ain't in church,
all the things that come withthat, the speculation and the
suspicion is like, well, heain't been to church in two
years but like, maybe I've beenminding my own damn business, or
I went to another church, true,so I always tell people that
too, like I want to stick at achurch for too long.

Speaker 2 (01:07:57):
It was not teaching me something, cause, like I said
, it's a real war.
We're fighting a real spiritualwar out here.
You know it's who's winning?
Guy's already won.
That's the thing, guy's alreadywon.
But if we don't walk in victory,then we're always going to be
victims.
It's something that you got towalk in, that we got to walk in
our authority.
If we're not walking into itand in order to walk into it,

(01:08:17):
you got to understand what youwalking in If you don't know
that, you, you most powerfulperson.
Just like the prison thingright, I forget the name of it,
but I remember the story aboutthe guy was in prison but the
door's unlocked.
But he never checked the door,it just assumed, since he was in
prison, it was locked the wholetime he was trying to figure
out how to get out of our head.
Do press the door.
That's how I feel I wouldn'tcome to Christianity and

(01:08:38):
Christians is like we got thevictory, got the power, but we
so focused on everything elsearound us that we don't even
attempt to do that, and that'sbecause of lack of knowledge.
So that's why we got to getbetter in what we know and
that's why I encourage people.
There's a whole point of theBible trivia is like did you
know?
And then, when you don't know,you're just like man, I didn't
know that I need to go back andstudy, right, cause you need to

(01:08:59):
study, and I say that you needthese things for eternal
salvation.
Once again, that's not what I'msaying.
But if you're going to livehere, cause he still wants you
to bring the kingdom of heavento earth, in order to bring that
, you got to understand whereyou stand and what powers you
got.

Speaker 1 (01:09:12):
What do you think is required for eternal salvation
in the way of works and or faith?

Speaker 2 (01:09:18):
Well, jesus said you know, the only work that is is
to believe on the one that hesent.
That was Jesus said himself.
Cause they asked him, I saidokay, lord, what works do we got
to do?
Then he said the only work thatneeds to do is to believe on
the son that was sent.

Speaker 1 (01:09:30):
So if I were to say right now with all of my heart
that I believe in Jesus Christand then I die five seconds
later, I'm straight and you'regoing to heaven, that's a cheap
way to go about things, isn't it?
Is it I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
because, because the only person you say to yourself
would you be cool with that?

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
So works, don't matter.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
Oh, I ain't say words that matter, I'm saying it
doesn't matter towards yoursalvation.

Speaker 1 (01:10:00):
It doesn't matter towards your salvation right,
works matter for those that arenot, and there are some, but
there are some beliefs withinthe Christian community that
hold works in very high regardin the way of attaining
salvation.

Speaker 2 (01:10:15):
And that's the problem.
You know people think that youcan work out to salvation and no
, you can't.
You know you can work throughyour salvation, but you can't
work it out.
Jesus did that.
If you can work it out, why didJesus go?
Why did Jesus die?

Speaker 1 (01:10:27):
No right.
So if you had to place your,your version of Christianity in
a denominational sense, whatwould it align most closely with
man?
I couldn't tell you Because I'massuming you're
non-denomination.

Speaker 2 (01:10:45):
Yeah, I would say I've been non-denomination for a
while, and not that I couldn'tbe part of any church, but when
you start putting, like I said,man, man, religion in front of
stuff and then practices thatwould get you away from the word
of God, you know, I would sayI'm apostolic in my faith, that
I just whatever the apostles ofthem when they were doing and

(01:11:06):
how they were leading, how theyworship and stuff like that.
It's kind of like what I wantto kind of follow out of image,
right.
So if you're listening to this,you know what I'm saying.
To be saved, all you got to dois what?
Confess with your mouth thatJesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised himfrom the dead and you shall be
saved.
That was it.
They didn't say you had to go towork and do anything.
Those are the only requirementto be saved and sent to heaven.

(01:11:27):
And that's the simple part.
The hard part is now, becauseyou are Christian, now you can
get attacked from an enemy.
Now you got a whole other enemythat you didn't know about,
satan, and he got a lot ofpeople on his side.
Third of heaven, right, yeah,what did you say?
It Say when you know the dragonfell, third of heaven came,
went with it.
So you got third of heavencoming down here fighting

(01:11:49):
against you too.
So if you don't get out of hereand actually work out stuff
like work through your faithbecause when it talks about work
without faith, without work isdead they're not saying that
your faith is dead.
What he was trying to say therewas is it doesn't produce fruit
in other people If they can'tsee my faith in my works.
If I say I believe a certainthing and I do the complete

(01:12:10):
opposite or nothing to show youI believe in it, what does that
do for you?
Nothing.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
The interesting thing about that is the Bible is that
the way you interpreted itcould be is totally different
than the way other peopleinterpret it.
There are people who think thereverse of you and so who's
right, and who determines that?

Speaker 2 (01:12:33):
Well, I would say this.
That's why I always tell peoplethe most important thing is
accepting Christ into your life.
Right, that's the mostimportant thing.
That's gonna get you good Now.
I can now down the line.
If we're talking works and whodoesn't do works, and et cetera.
If you wanna line our lives upand kinda do a relay or whatever

(01:12:55):
, it doesn't matter, our livesmay be different on earth, cause
it won't be like this.
If you're out here trying towork for salvation you know what
I'm saying Then you're tellingGod that you're not enough, that
Jesus will lay.
It was not enough, but that'sonly gonna make you work hard on
earth when you don't have to.
When you accept Christ, youenter to his rest.

(01:13:16):
He rested, that's what we weremeant to do.
He did all the works, butbecause we rested, we go out and
obey his commandments and keephis commandments because we love
what he did.
It's more of a gratitude than acommand right.
So I'm grateful for what he didfor me, for doing the things
that were impossible for me todo, no matter how much I try.

(01:13:38):
So I'm gonna go out and show mygratitude by being thankful,
and how you thankful, keepingthose commandments.
Where did you?

Speaker 1 (01:13:46):
find.
Where did you first find asource of Christianity and
Christian teaching that youtrusted was closest to what
really happened?

Speaker 2 (01:13:57):
I won't say source, but sources.
As I say, if you startedlistening to some people and you
start getting a consensus, youkind of be like okay.

Speaker 1 (01:14:05):
I say what you're saying yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:14:07):
One of the people I listened to recently is Louis
Scott.
Louis Scott is pretty big onFacebook I think he has like 1.1
million followers but he's moreof on the apologetic side.
And when I first started reallygetting to my faith and because
I wanted an answer for my faith, I listened to people like man
I can't think of his name rightnow Jimmy Swagger, maybe if I

(01:14:36):
wanna learn how to shoot a snipebut it was Frank Turk, ravi
Zacharias all people that Ithought were really great people
and came to defend in the faithand things like that.
They were able to presentinformation in ways I never
thought.
And then, like you startlistening to word of faith

(01:14:56):
preachers, like back home.
I was at a restorationministries in Augusta, georgia.
I'm under the tutors of MichaelMitchell, talking about Michael
Mitchell, who really taught meabout faith.
And then when you startunderstanding faith and the
principles of faith, I mean youstart.
It's almost like the more youlisten, the more you recognize

(01:15:17):
the good, the more you start torecognize the bad, and I learned
that in the military too.
It's like we spent all thistime telling people what they
shouldn't do, with no timetelling them what they ought to
do and when you don't tell themwhat is expected and they ought
to do, then they don't know whatto do when they're not doing
the things they.
So if you gotta give them thegrounds to make the right

(01:15:37):
decision, and when you know whatto do, you don't do the things
you shouldn't do.
So I just started learningthose principles, started
studying more in my own Bibleand just living around, and then
you start getting thatconsensus like man.
You know what.
That's right Because, like Isaid, if Jesus died and that's
what he said he died for thepast, present and future sins.
And you go back and in his ownwords he said these are the

(01:15:58):
words that you must do.
Believe on the one that he'stelling you.
These are the works.
And they was asking as in works, as in what we do today.
But he told them blatantly,right there.
But when you realize mandoesn't like that so much
because, like you just said, ifyou accept the Christ now and
die five minutes later, you wentto heaven.
They don't like that idea.
They don't like the idea thatsomeone can just accept Christ

(01:16:20):
and go to heaven and out therespend a whole life being a
freaking terrorist and thenthey've been spending their
whole life being the same andthen they get to be in the same
place.
They don't like that idea.
So they're not gonna be okaywith that idea.
So they're gonna find everyother reason to not be okay with
that idea.
But that's why Jesus did that,because he didn't want anyone to
boast in what they did.

(01:16:40):
He didn't want them to boast intheir own works.
So now they can sit back and bejudgmental that, christian,
I've done this, I've done thatand you ain't done nothing.
Now they boast in their ownworks.
He said no one should boast.
So that's why it's all aboutthat and that's why I encourage
you.

Speaker 1 (01:16:55):
I found this on the web for you.
What up Siri?
Check it out.
Sorry, siri, siri's husband.
Well, siri probably doesn'thave a husband.
Siri's probably trans or gay orsomething like that.

Speaker 2 (01:17:09):
Non-binary.

Speaker 1 (01:17:10):
Non-binary.

Speaker 2 (01:17:10):
There you go Non-binary because it's binary
cold right, uh-huh, uh-huh, butanyway, yeah, that's so when you
think about it from thatperspective, man, you got a lot
of people pushing it.
But also it just doesn't lineup with what Jesus said, man,
and what he did.

Speaker 1 (01:17:25):
Yeah, siri just interrupted our conversation
there and actually it is a dude.
I noticed that the other day.
Sometimes my computer for thoseof y'all listening, not
watching I have an iMac in thisroom and for some reason or
another I can be in whateverpart of the house and be talking
, or somebody can be talking andhomeboy will think we're

(01:17:46):
talking to him and he'll bewanting us to search for
something sometimes.
He's awesome, no, he tells ushe can't hear.
I can't hear you, I didn't getthat.

Speaker 2 (01:17:56):
It's like it wasn't for you man, exactly, and so I
tell him every time like broanybody talking to you, but he
keeps on coming back.

Speaker 1 (01:18:04):
That has been something just religion in
general that has piqued myinterest, and not really the
religions themselves, but howpeople frame whatever religion
it is that they believe in theirmind, how they get to the point
of believing in that religion.
They just interest me whatintrigues people enough to take

(01:18:29):
it to the level of believingsomething in the way devout
Christians do?
I'm not saying that there'sanything in the world wrong with
it.
It's just interesting to me howpeople can justify in their
minds to believe in somethingwholeheartedly on the same level
wholeheartedly, but it'd be atotally different religion.
For example, as devout as youare in your Christian walk and

(01:18:50):
your Christian faith, there arepeople just as devout in the
Muslim walk and the Muslim faith.
And now obviously I think thereare some many negative
connotations associated withIslam, as I believe that they
should be.
I think there is concern, butthere are very peaceful and nice

(01:19:10):
, kind people of Muslim faith.
But it's just interesting howwe all find whatever gives us
the warm and fuzzies on theinside and to justify our
existence or justify where it iswe believe, what it is we
believe we need to do right to,I guess, impact the world in the

(01:19:31):
most positive manner.

Speaker 2 (01:19:32):
Yeah, that's why I told people in the world it
don't matter as much, as in theeternal.
Yeah, you know yes, I'm prettysure there's some very nice
atheists out there that don'tbelieve in God at all and that
they believe God doesn't existNot that they just don't believe
in one.
So it's like there's some verynice people out there.
Reason being is cause God wrotethe law on our hearts.

(01:19:54):
So even if you don't believe,you're gonna have those same
kind of beliefs at your corebecause he written on our hearts
.
It takes a lot to have thoseerased and it to be ignored,
right, but he's written on ourhearts and so I would.
My thing is I'm worried aboutthe eternal Sure.
I'm not gonna be here.
I'm gonna be here for a shorttime, not a long time.
Shout out to Drake, but.

(01:20:16):
But I'm here to make sure thatI'm set up for when I'm not no
longer here.
So that's the difference andthat's where you get the
difference between the religionsand stuff like that is what's
gonna happen in the afterlife.
And to me, like I said, fromwhat I've seen, what I
researched Muhammad died, nevercame back.

(01:20:37):
Everybody else that believe insome type of God died.
Only person I know that's stillalive today is Jesus.
We really get to it.
He died and came back to life.
So if I'm gonna listen tosomebody that's doing something,
I'm gonna listen to the onethat actually did something.
That's pretty cool.

Speaker 1 (01:20:53):
Yeah.
Did he really die and come back?
Did he really walk on water?
Did the bush really burn?
Did the sea really part?
Did those things actuallyhappen or are they just
metaphors?

Speaker 2 (01:21:09):
I would say looking through history and everything
else, people are discoveringstuff.
They discovered that at thebottom of the red seat you can
kind of see stuff like that fromthe cherries and stuff in the
Roman armies and stuff like thatat the bottom of the red seat
what else?
Another plot spot where theNoah's Ark, where it's decided

(01:21:33):
and stuff like that, and wherehe did the burnt offerings and
those landscapes.
Over there there are remnantsof that happening.
So, which is important for us,to go out and actually explore
the world because you can seethese things in places where it
took place and there are somethe Dead Sea Scrolls and
everything else that went downand people talking about it.
Jesus was so well spoken ofthat even people like Pilate and

(01:21:57):
other non-religious peopletalked about Jesus.

Speaker 1 (01:22:00):
Is it possible that, like Jesus, was just so well
loved, like Dolly Parton timesinfinity, that he just became
this immortal figure who wasreally once a human and he was
just really really famous andreally really loved at that time
and he's just lived on forever?

Speaker 2 (01:22:20):
I would say that could be a possibility, but it's
not.
And the reason why it's not apossibility?
Because you gotta think aboutdoing that time.
They actually they wasworshiping other guys.
This is somebody that they justdecided to.
Oh man, I really like this guy,so I'm gonna follow him.
No, they was worshiping otherguys, like ball and everybody
else.
So for them to not only likeyou said, you're talking to

(01:22:41):
people they were worshipingother guys, gods, were they.

Speaker 1 (01:22:45):
Is this when Jesus was in human form?
Yes, okay, so there were otherpeople who were like Jesus,
human, no, no, no, no.
God, not like him, but like inthe flesh that people were
worshiping.

Speaker 2 (01:22:58):
No, no, no, like golden calves and stuff like
that.

Speaker 1 (01:23:02):
Like the Greeks their gods were not in human form.
Yeah, not in human form, werethey?
No, okay.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
Just want to say that we're worshiping other gods,
but this was the only one thatactually walked with us and that
we got to see.
So, like you got people thatwas converting, like to me, the
Roman centurion some people gotto see.
Yeah so, but the thing is eventhe evidence for it is
overwhelming.
I mean, no other book has beenwent through with a fine two com

(01:23:32):
than the Bible.
It's the reason why it's themost old book ever in the world
and it's the reason why it'sbeen long for as long as it's
been.
So it's funny that we'llquestion if Jesus walked on
water but we'll believe thewhatever happened from, let's
say, somebody that any otherhistorical book that maybe got

(01:23:53):
one reference and we'll believeit.
But it's so many references toJesus doing stuff and multiple
authors and multiple books.
And then we and multiplewitnesses and we still sit here
and question things.
It's like sure we can questionit, but at the same time there's
witnesses there Like we believeeverything else when it comes
to it.
Why can't we believe he walkedon water?

Speaker 1 (01:24:12):
It's just like anything else.
Religion gets hijacked andpeople find a way to whether it
be profit or grow a following,gain control.
They'll utilize it as a tool tolike someone.
I'm not saying Jimmy Swigertdid this intentionally, but

(01:24:33):
Jimmy Swigert's made a shit tonof money spreading what he calls
the gospel.
People find those little niche,niches in those pockets to fall
into, whether it be from amedia standpoint, whether it be
from a political standpoint, andthey'll use religion as a
vehicle, like they've.

(01:24:53):
I think it could be argued thatthe Klan did that with
Christianity, black Panthers didthat with Islam.
To a certain extent, that's thepoint I'm trying to get across.
There's so much man-madealteration and twisting that
goes on when it comes toreligion.

(01:25:14):
It can become difficult forsomeone to find a source that is
credible or what they believeto be credible, because, just
like anything else with humans,everybody's got their own agenda
and everybody's trying tofigure out how to navigate the
situation and manipulatewhatever it is for their

(01:25:35):
personal gain or for theirteam's gain.
So we have to be careful ofthat when we're out.
Whether it be politics, whetherit be religion, whatever type
of information.
It is history.
We have to be careful aboutwhere we allow ourselves to
trust someone when it comes toproviding information.

Speaker 2 (01:25:54):
Of course.
That's why it's good to havemultiple sources.
I know I used to get mad atthat in high school.
I got freaking nuts.
One source should be goodWikipedia should be able to
cover this but no, you gottahave multiple sources.
For that reason alone, and themore you look at different
sources and get different inputs, you can kind of like, but also
reading the original documents,and much of them want to talk

(01:26:16):
about the Bible beingmanipulated and mistranslated.
It hasn't.
People say this all the time,but we got to death he scrolls
and we got the stuff they canreference and go back to.
It was like this is one of the.
If there was a book that madesure that there was no
discrepancies, it was the Bible.
People really have to betrusting and if you stop
listening to these people,that's telling you that you just

(01:26:38):
don't know.
You do know Now.
Are there words that we havetoday that didn't have back then
.
Absolutely to make it moreclear to what's going on.
But it's not gonna take awayfrom the message and what's
going on Like people think, likethe discrepancy would be Jesus
being God or something like that.
There's no discrepancy in theBible in any type of translation
.
That being that you know, butthey'll try to find a way to get

(01:27:01):
words out.
But you know, the beauty in allthis is you have the tools
available and if you studyyourself and you can kind of
compare it to what you'rehearing and seeing, don't be
fooled, like.
Don't be fooled by the salesman, you know, if you see somebody
this is my thing we feel like wecould be easily fooled with
religion but feel like we'rejust experts on everything else.

(01:27:23):
I know people that ain't neverstudied physics and they'll be
arguing in the comment sectionon social media with a physicist
about something and I just saidback that's how I feel when it
comes to Christianity andreligion.
It's like you have a bunch ofpeople that really ain't took
the time to really study andthey're just out here blurtin'
stuff they don't know, like theBible's contradictory, and they
just bring up stuff and like butdid you even read the context

(01:27:43):
of that?
Like?
Did you even know?
Did you know that that was anOld Testament thing, not a New
Testament thing?
You know why they was doingthat Versus.
You know it's like that was forthe Levites, because they had
to bring Christ through it.
Did you know that?
We don't?
You know?
It's so many stuff that peoplereally don't sit down and study
before they open their mouth andtalk about it.

Speaker 1 (01:28:00):
I definitely would fail your Bible quiz?
I definitely would fail.

Speaker 2 (01:28:06):
Full disclosure.

Speaker 1 (01:28:08):
Like yeah, I mean I'm not.
Like I mentioned, I came up ina golden church Sunday and
Wednesday and not necessarilygaining a whole lot of knowledge
out of it.
Granted, topher, I was a badassso I wasn't paying attention
like I should.
I was bouncing off the walls,getting in trouble, you know,

(01:28:31):
causing commotion.
I wasn't sitting there payingattention, so a lot of that's on
me.
You know not saying thateverybody that comes in through
the church that I came throughis didn't receive an adequate
biblical education.
I think it's also just part ofthe denomination.
I think Methodist from what Ican tell just off of anecdotal

(01:28:52):
evidence and experience,methodist is not.
They are not as hard line asBaptist, so they're more liberal
, if you will.
Of the denominations.

Speaker 2 (01:29:02):
They're extremely liberal, cause I think they just
made on the Methodist nationalcampaign that they allow LGBT
preachers and pastors.
That is correct.
I'm like what, what?
But this is what we get into.
It's like man, how Like I getthat.
We all, we all sinned andfallen short of the glory of God
.
Right, but if you're going tobe put in a position where

(01:29:22):
you're responsible for certainpeople, then that person in that
position should be at leasttrying to live up to the
principles that we were talkingabout.

Speaker 1 (01:29:29):
I agree, but apparently, topher, there must
be people that interpret theBible in a way that they've
twisted it to allow gay peopleto be preachers.

Speaker 2 (01:29:40):
That's sad man.
I wasn't expecting that.
That's my point.

Speaker 1 (01:29:42):
That was like that's part that leads to my point that
I was trying to convey earlieris like but I mean on on that
issue.
I mean, a man is a man and awoman is a woman.
Yeah, and you got to have a manand a woman to have a baby.
Is it Purge?
But once you start so, theylose me.

(01:30:03):
The woke people in the liberalslose me when they start trying
to defy biology.
You can.
You can defy religion.
You can debate religion.
You cannot debate what isrequired to make a human being
and it's too sexist.

(01:30:24):
You cannot, you cannot.
Nobody can make me believeotherwise.

Speaker 2 (01:30:29):
You know, the funny thing is, they used to use
science to debunk religion.
Now, when that religion iscongruent with science, they're
not using science, no more.

Speaker 1 (01:30:41):
I'm hesitant to even use the word, use the phrase
trust the science, because itwas hijacked during the pandemic
.
It was.
I don't even like to sayscience anymore, just trust the
science.
That's why I use biology or youknow a more specific or literal
term, because I don't want itto, I don't want my words to
come off as being wokepropaganda.

(01:31:01):
Yeah, no, absolutely, even ifit's not even used in that
context.

Speaker 2 (01:31:05):
Gotcha.
You know what I'm saying, manyeah, we got people out here
listening, man, and we got tomake sure that we provided them
with the best foot for you know,and that's what the information
coming out, man, and but, likeI said, it's some stuff that, to
our core, it shouldn't bedebatable.
You know, it shouldn't bedebated why men are in different
sports than women, like it'svery common sense, like from

(01:31:27):
sense of kid.

Speaker 1 (01:31:27):
We know that, you know and what I really cannot
understand is how a man can bein a situation in which a man is
kicking a woman's ass in sportsand supporting the man, yeah,
and saying that he should be.
He should have the right tocompete wherever he wants to

(01:31:51):
compete and identify as whateverhe identifies.
I'm look, if you want toidentify as an oak tree, I'm
straight with it.
I'm good, you ain't botheringme, but once you start creating
an unequal, obviously unequalplaying field contributed to by
just biology and anatomy, then Ihave a problem with that, right

(01:32:17):
, and I think a lot of peopleshould have a problem with that
and recognize that that's notnormal.

Speaker 2 (01:32:25):
Quote unquote yeah, you know the thing about it is,
you know, we, we try to benormal so much that we've got
there.
As Christian, we're meant to bedifferent, and by different I
mean distinct.

Speaker 1 (01:32:38):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:32:39):
You know, I'm not saying that we got to go out
here and just look completelydifferent, dress completely
different, but we should bedistinct, we should be able to.
When people see us and see usworking a certain way and do
stuff, it's like man.
That's something peculiar aboutthese people, man, you know we,
they're not followingeverything we're doing, but
they're prospering.
You know to the point wherethey want to, you know, destroy
us, to get rid of you, like thiswhen you're doing something

(01:32:59):
good.
It reminds me when the Pharaohgot mad at the Israelites for
growing so much in Egypt thatthey decided to imprison them.
That was the whole point, likebefore, that was in Egypt.
When they first got there,joseph and his family, everybody
, man, they was doing great, andthen, down the line, eventually
the Pharaoh forgot about whatJoseph had did, and with the
family and all this stuff, andthen they was like man, these

(01:33:19):
dudes are getting too powerful.
If someone came against us andstarted fighting against us,
then their projects joined theother side and take advantage of
it.

Speaker 1 (01:33:25):
Do you think that America would be in existence or
ever formed without theinfluence of Judeo-Christian
values?

Speaker 2 (01:33:35):
No, no, it's at the core.
As much as people want to denyit, it just never would have
been one.
I mean, it's written in theBill of Rights, it's written
there in the Constitution.

Speaker 1 (01:33:46):
Do you think that that should be an established
Christianity, should be anestablished religion in America?

Speaker 2 (01:33:51):
No, the national religion, so to speak.
No, I mean, I'm glad theydidn't create one, because God
wouldn't enforce that on useither.
I think that freedom of choiceis there and should be there,
but how much more powerful isChristianity if people are
choosing it and not being forcedto choose it?
Why would he give?

Speaker 1 (01:34:11):
you the choice.
Why would he give us the choiceto follow whatever religion if
he was ultimately going topunish us if we didn't follow a
certain one?

Speaker 2 (01:34:20):
See, we're focused on the people being punished, but
not the people that's beingloved by them.
You're focused on ones notmaking it, but what about the
people that are making it?

Speaker 1 (01:34:28):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:34:29):
He gave them a chance to actually choose them.
That's how he know he reallylove them.

Speaker 1 (01:34:33):
So Judeo-Christian values?
I do agree with you.
I do believe that without theJudeo-Christian values or
Christian values, that Americawouldn't quite end up the way it
did in the way of formation andorigination.
We have a large swath of theAmerican population who resent

(01:34:59):
Judeo-Christian values.
Do you think that poses a hugeproblem for America over the
next 50 to 100 years?

Speaker 2 (01:35:08):
Depends how big it gets, and that's just for the
country and those things.
As far as me, my family isgoing to be good and prosperous,
no matter what we are, as longas we've got God, but for the
country and the sake andeverything else going on.
Yeah, for the average personI'm no longer the average person
.
Lord is elevating to a pointwhere I'm almost unaffected by

(01:35:31):
high inflation and everythingelse but for the average person,
this is a very big signal andred flag that we need to be
paying attention to, because ifyou don't have these principles
in place, then what principlesdo you have in place?
A lot of our principles arebuilt around being selfless,
loving your neighbor, helpingeach other out, being a good
person.
And if you go to a selfless ora selfish type of mentality,

(01:35:56):
which we tend to see now, I wantto play women's sports by my
man.
I want to play that because Iwant to.
I'm selfish, even though I knowI have a natural advantage and
it should be done, but I want todo it anyway because I'm
selfish.
We continue down the path whereeveryone's being selfish, then
we won't see it.
Nation divided months itself isgoing to fall.
I don't want to see that happen.
That's why I'm out here talking, having these podcasts going

(01:36:18):
out and showing people how wecan come together and forget
about this race and forget aboutour differences.
Let's just focus on one thingthat we all can agree upon that
we suck as human beings.
We don't have it all together,but there's a God that loves us
and we can love him together andhe can bring out the best in
all of us.

Speaker 1 (01:36:37):
Have you experienced treatment from white people?
Have you ever felt like youwere utilized as a pawn in a
political game for some whitepeople?
Oh yeah, probably, but I'mpretty sure I've been used to it
.
Have you ever felt that way,like if you ever left a
situation or a scenario and like, damn, like they really don't
fuck with me I was.

(01:36:58):
Just because of my skin colorand how I believe and what's
coming out of my mouth, I wouldsay that would be more
opportunistic for news likemaybe Fox News or something like
that.

Speaker 2 (01:37:09):
But overall, no, overarching, like day-to-day
people, stuff like that maybe,but I never felt that way.
Now would it be opportunity.
When people try to use me, I'vecalled them out for it and I've
called out.
When they try to use anotherperson, I say, see, look this
black person like this, no, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
Like just don't use my race asa way to justify certain things.

Speaker 1 (01:37:28):
Yeah, I don't like when people do that.

Speaker 2 (01:37:29):
It's like nah, I believe because I believe
because it's right, not becauseI'm black.

Speaker 1 (01:37:33):
And now you got to take that and try to convince
somebody else because I'm black,Like nah, because there are
many, and black people do thistoo, but particularly white
people like to take a blackperson that thinks more in line
with them and utilize them asthe model of how black people
should be.

Speaker 2 (01:37:53):
Right right.

Speaker 1 (01:37:54):
And in my view, obviously that's the wrong
mindset to have when justassessing humans in general,
because to your point, that is aselfish way to contextualize
somebody.
But there are people that do itand I'm just curious as to
whether or not you'veexperienced that directly or

(01:38:15):
noticed someone may have thatmotive.

Speaker 2 (01:38:18):
I've noticed someone may have that motive after the
fact.
Right, can I think about thetimes.
Well, I want to say,particularly because I'm black,
but because of what I'm saying,sometimes, what you saying and
you black, right, right and thecombination of the two.
Yeah, and I feel like so manypeople want to come off as not

(01:38:38):
being racist that they go tooextreme to highlight race.
For sure, absolutely, and Ithink that's the opposite of
what anybody wants, especiallypeople like me.
I'm like man.
I don't want my race to bebrought up, if I can help it.
You know I say I never got tochoose my skin color, so I don't
want to base anything I dobased on something I never got
to choose.
Like I said, I've got.

(01:38:59):
I chose to be a father, I choseto be a husband, I chose to go
to the military.
These are things I got tochoose and select.
I chose to be a Christian, likebased me on those things I got
to select.

Speaker 1 (01:39:08):
Have you had many black people ridicule you for
trying to be white Of?

Speaker 2 (01:39:11):
course, yeah, because apparently, apparently I'm not
black enough to be black, butI'm also a guy, enough white in
me to be used for the white sidetoo.
I guess it's weird sometimes,but I always tell my black
people it's like what does thismean to be black then?
Because if I'm living a lifethat I don't do any crime, I

(01:39:32):
don't do any drugs, I take careof my family, yada, yada, yada,
I'm educated.
I mean, if that's white, thenwhat the heck is black, you know
?
So I always have to be likey'all got to be careful saying
that because we are successful.
Matter of fact, a lot of peoplethink the only reason I'm
Christian is because it wasforced on us.
Like no, christianity was inAfrica way before it came to
America, and there was a lot ofChristian nations in Africa.

(01:39:55):
Matter of fact, ethiopia backthen was considered a Christian
nation, and so it happens thatwe have also been miseducated in
certain areas and people arestill taking advantage of our
lack of knowledge on the racewar.
It's like, well, black peopledeserve this, they need to get
this, and this is how we behave.
And then other white people islike no, it's not, or we need to

(01:40:16):
save them.
They don't know what they'redoing.
Because on the opposite side youhave black people saying I'm
thinking wrong.
Then the white people tell youthat that's how to think.
You know.
I have the people that come upto me like you're black and
you're over Trump.
Then you must be on the top oryou must be ignorant.
You must don't like yourself.
You must not like being black.

(01:40:37):
I'm like what I was like.
How about I just like my moneyin my pocket, like why must I be
voting?
For some reason that has mustbe started with my race.

Speaker 1 (01:40:48):
I think more black men feel like you than we know.

Speaker 2 (01:40:52):
Of course.

Speaker 1 (01:40:53):
Like.
I think that many people whojust pay attention to the news
media and the narrative thatthey try to portray think that
all black men should and do hateTrump.
And that's just not the case,because men in general, in
general, are going to want moremoney in their pocket, I don't

(01:41:13):
care what color their skin is.

Speaker 2 (01:41:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:41:17):
And they want somebody up there that's going
to set up policies and create abusiness friendly environment,
much as he did to put more moneyback in America's pockets.
The green color is what mattersin America, baby.

Speaker 2 (01:41:32):
Exactly, and a lot of times too.
That allows you to notexperience stuff, or you could
experience it, but it don't havethe same impact If you're.
A lot of people I talk abouttoo is like we talk about
justice system and stuff likethat.
I'm like I mean more people.
Black people are on a povertylevel higher.
The rate is higher, so thatmeans that we're going to be
disadvantaged when it comes tothe court system.

(01:41:52):
So one first thing I tellpeople is you shouldn't be
getting in trouble anyway.
There's a lot of stuff that weget in trouble for that could be
completely avoided.
Just stop doing silly stuff.
Second, when we do get to courtsystem like you said, white
people say that an eye is poor,can say that higher, better
lawyers we just get thiscourt-appointed lawyer
representative, public defender,and they're not going to really

(01:42:13):
care because they probably gotlike 100 cases going on and
they're just going to go fornegotiation.
They're just going to go for theplea deal and then a lot of
black people take the plea deal.
So is the system broken towhere it's racist?
No, I just think that it'sbased on how the system is set
up.
It doesn't do us any good.
So people like me, when I getin trouble, or because I don't
get in trouble, but if I was inthat situation I kept fordo

(01:42:34):
turning, so I'm not going tohave the same problem that
you're going to have the samestruggle.
So I try to tell people moneyis only because they really
matter, because even when, atthe end of the day, it gets you
out of more stuff than you, youknow, get yourself out of.
So preach tofer.
I just try to tell people.
I'm trying to educate them.

Speaker 1 (01:42:51):
I agree with everything you just said.
But I will say and I hate toagree with the wokesters, but I
agree with them on this thatdisparity exists because of
slavery.
The white people were ahead insociety whenever slavery ended.

(01:43:12):
So the reason I say that isbecause just lack of education,
lack of knowledge, not havinghaving not been able to read as
a group of people for hundredsof years, that sets a group of
people back.
I don't give a name what colorthey are.
If you take anybody of anycolor and you put them in an

(01:43:36):
environment where they can'tread for hundreds of years, like
that is, that is going to putthem behind a group of people.
All things equal, except thatthat group of people can read,
then they're going to have anexponentially higher level of
knowledge just as a result ofthat.

(01:43:57):
Now, do I think that Americatoday is 100% out to harm or set
back a black man?
I do not believe that.
I do not believe that Got youthat's where you know about me
and the wokesters about 19, well, I'd say about 1866, we split

(01:44:24):
and then they you know they keepon the white supremacy.
But I think once slavery wasabolished that we were then on
that quest to make the nationwhat it ultimately you know,
ultimately set out to be is.
All men are created equal andto have our landscape evidence

(01:44:46):
that and prove that.
But another point that a lot ofpeople do not want to consider
is that, yes, you had thissystem for 200 years or whatever
.
That people couldn't read Iknow it was longer than that,
but I'm going to say a largeswath for 200 years couldn't
read like people during slavery.
I have no idea if that's true,but that's what I'm going with.
But it's going to take a longtime to repair what was damaged

(01:45:13):
over the half.
You know four or 500 years thatblack people were in subpar
conditions in this country inthe way of lack of access to
knowledge.
It's going to take a long timeto basically what I'm saying is
not see any evidence of theinstitution of slavery in
America and we're going throughthat process.

Speaker 2 (01:45:35):
I would say I would disagree, because it probably
takes about four generations tocompletely change the direction
of any race right, and we've hadplenty of generations in
between.
Matter of fact, the worstthings we've done was, to me,
was integration, and at a forcedtime.

(01:45:56):
Not this thing we can naturallyget into integration, but a lot
of the policies that came fromlike the liberal woke people
that want to push stuff.
Today they're doing it, they'reforcing stuff and people are
not ready for it.
And when people are not readyfor it, then you get the
opportunistic people and theneveryone gets taken advantage of
on both sides, because you saidthat if people, we will cut

(01:46:18):
from reading, but then you alsoassume that every white person
could read.

Speaker 1 (01:46:22):
That's a bad assumption too, because there
are more white people definitelycould read, more could read
access to the knowledge asopposed to, obviously, the
slaves Right.

Speaker 2 (01:46:31):
but I'm that's 1865, we're talking 2020, 2023, right.
So even back in the 1960s, whenwe were doing that, we had our
own schools, hbcus.
Today, we still got our owncolleges, but people are still
not getting education andgetting the advantage because
they don't have the same drive.
There's a lot of principlesthat allowed us to do the things
that we did back then that wedon't adhere to, and one of the

(01:46:53):
principles was church back then,marlith King, everybody back
then as church was the place togo.
God was a very pivotal point ora very central point in a lot
of our lives, but no longer is,especially when it came to the
black community, and because ofthat, we don't see the same
results they had back then,because especially when, like I
said, you've been a minority,being where you are, you need a

(01:47:15):
big guide on your side to help,and we just don't see that as
much.
We come to the same parenthousehold when it came to these
liberal policies.
Right, integrating the schools,liberal policy came down.
Right, messed it up and, matterof fact, when they integrated
schools, they did what they gotrid of all the black schools and
moved into the white schools,and the problem is the rules
started to change your policiesand stuff.
I vote for school choice today.

(01:47:36):
That way we can go where wewant to go.
But they don't want schoolchoice.
Liberals don't want schoolchoice.
They don't want me to have theopportunity to go where I want
to go because secretly theythink they know what's best.
And they also don't want me togo to the private schools they
got and we got school choicemoney for all the kids.
I can go to private school now,but they don't want that to
happen.
They don't want the elites,they don't want that to happen.

(01:47:57):
But school choice is the bestoption and now I can go because
a lot of the policy we got inplace back then probably didn't
work for a for black people.

Speaker 1 (01:48:05):
You know, what's strange about that is that in
Mississippi the parties areflipped.
The Republicans don't wantschool choice because the
Republicans send their kids toprivate schools.

Speaker 2 (01:48:18):
Oh no, you got that bad with you.
You could do a survey right now.

Speaker 1 (01:48:22):
I guarantee it.
So you think there are moreDemocrats who send their
children to private schools inthe Mississippi legislature than
Republicans.

Speaker 2 (01:48:32):
Well, you got to think about it.
You talk about in thelegislature or you're talking
about in general, because evenin Mississippi in general, and I
think there's a lot ofDemocrats that go to private
school too, I mean my sisters.
They are very well off and theywere still seeing their kids so
and they're Democrats.
You got to think about it.
Like there's some wealthy blackpeople in Mississippi, but
they're Democrats.
Most of them are notRepublicans at all.

(01:48:53):
So I would say, if it's moremixed, but I would say it's more
of opposition from Democrats ingeneral to the idea than it is
Republicans and, like I said,the reason being because, like I
said here, I wish my girlscould go where school they want
to.
But the only reason why I wouldsay this I think Republicans
are quicker to move to an areawhere they can go to the school

(01:49:15):
they want than Democrats.

Speaker 1 (01:49:19):
Is that because they are more wealthy and they can
afford to relocate on a general,large-scale basis?

Speaker 2 (01:49:26):
I would say on a general, large-scale basis.
But that's what I'm saying.
That's a poverty issue, not avote, not a party issue.
And to erase that poverty issue.
This is why I'm for schoolchoice, so that people can just
go.
I mean, the government is goingto give us money anyway for
that student.
A lot of students go.
I think it's ridiculous thatsomeone can stay right across
the street from the showbizcentral but had to go to

(01:49:49):
Philadelphia, which is down theroad.
I make zero I think it'sabsolutely stupid, it makes zero
sense, and but they go toPhiladelphia now you know.
So you got a lot of peoplemoving out to the country just
to go to the show.

Speaker 1 (01:50:00):
And it's driving real estate values in town down down
.
And we have a dynamic thatexists here in Philadelphia and
in Shelby County where I think,now that blacks have control of
the city school, there are a lotof people in the black
community that don't want them,that don't want to combine the
schools or have school choicebecause they're afraid they'll

(01:50:23):
lose power, yeah, which you know.

Speaker 2 (01:50:27):
I agree with them on that.
But there's some principlesthat are more powerful than just
being in position, because Iknow people, because people
complain about Freddie Grayright, you remember Freddie Gray
?
Yes, people thought there was aracist event, even though the
attorney general, everybody fromthe top down, with all black,
and they still made it a racistand that was like, well, it

(01:50:47):
don't matter who in charge, it'ssystem to system.
So I think, regardless of whathappened, black people around
here still complain about it.
But that's the problem.
It's like there's a principlewe can put in place that, if
they'll listen to, especiallythat I kind of live by that, we
can make the change happen,whether we in charge or not, and
that's what's important.
It shouldn't matter what schoolyou go to.
We should have great teachersregardless.
Kids shouldn't be behaving allcrazy.

(01:51:08):
We should be teaching our kidssome good principles.
I get it.
Some people are in gangs, I.
What are we doing about thegangs?
Are we offering themalternatives to go, hang out and
learn from?
Kids need incentives and we'renot offering those incentives
and meet them where they at.
A lot of teachers and a lot ofpeople around don't want to meet
them where they at they're toobusy or whatever it's like just
want to say, like the church, ifwe'll get rid of the church not

(01:51:30):
all the churches but if we'llcome together as churches and
realize there's about kingdombuilding, we can step in where a
lot of people fail.
If people fail on resources, weshould have resources at every
church.
We shouldn't be.
You know, some people get I'mcalled a black church, get a
white church and give me nothing, this and this and that.
Like we need to get to thepoint where if I call one church
and I ain't got it, that churchshould be able to have a whole

(01:51:52):
network of other churches aroundhere that it can reach out to.
Like we need to have thatsynergy between ourselves so we
can show the community how itshould be, but we don't have
synergy amongst Christiansaround here and that's the
problem.
And also I'm here to tellpeople like I don't know how
they've been doing things, butif Toa was around here, I'm
speaking, I'm going to theseplaces, I'm going to shake stuff

(01:52:13):
up because I'm tired of it, bro.
Like I said, I'm tired of sayingpeople stuck in traditionalism,
stuck in legalism, that doesnothing for God's people.
We are free people, he said.
You know who?
He says free is free indeed.
And so I'm here to tell people,man, we are free from this
stuff.
We are free to go out and getand be, and rise above poverty,

(01:52:34):
to rise against wickedness andeverything else that we see
going on.
But people are so stuck intheir ways, man, that it's
crippling.

Speaker 1 (01:52:42):
We have an issue of being stuck in our ways because
there's not a lot of influx in,there's not a lot of influx out
in the way of population, and sowhen you have people in a
confined space for a long periodof time and there's not a whole
lot of new people coming in atall, then you give you a culture

(01:53:04):
can become stagnant, and notjust in religion but just
culture as a whole.
I think.
I think we suffer from that inMississippi, particularly in our
rural communities, just forthat sole fact.
It's not anybody's fault, it'sjust human nature.
But if we can have people suchas yourself go in and disrupt,
and people from not necessarilydifferent places, but who have

(01:53:27):
gone off seeing other things,experienced life outside of
Mississippi or even the UnitedStates of America, and come back
and build here, then thatinfluence will spread and
there'll be new life and youbreath the fresh air and things
will get disrupted.
I love disruptors.
Whether it's a disruptor to themarket, whether it's a you know

(01:53:47):
, anybody that's going to shakethings up, I don't care how they
think.
If they have an interestingperspective and they're willing
to give their opinion, I love it.
I love it.
Have you received what youwould say is support, since
being in Philadelphia andspeaking out.

Speaker 2 (01:54:03):
I would say I'm still .
I haven't been.
I can't quite say why I standwith the black community.
I would say a lot of whitechurches have reached out to me,
invited me over to speak,wanted to work with me.
I've had any black churcheshere and the thing is I'm not.
I'm talking churches andestablishments, because there's

(01:54:25):
a lot of the youth that reallylove me right, really really
love me and didn't know who I am.
So I'm not blaming the kids andthat stuff, as it's not about
race, but it's these adults andmost likely people in position
of power that just for some ofmy reason, just having said
nothing to Tofer, won't Tofer todo anything.
And then people will be lookingat Tofer like he'll never do
nothing to me because y'allain't ass.

(01:54:46):
I'm trying, I'll go where Ifeel like I'm led to, but
they're not asking me to notreach out, they're not trying to
do anything with Tofer.
So that's fine.
Bible talks about when you goin places and they don't accept
you, then they reject you, thenyou just dust your feet off and
keep it going.

Speaker 1 (01:55:05):
So have you contacted anybody in the black community
or in the black church inPhiladelphia to try to do some
work with them in some form orfashion?
It sounds like you want to.

Speaker 2 (01:55:16):
Well, I'm one of the people I don't go.
I stand in the door and notkind of like Jesus, like I'm
here.
You know I'm mad.
You know where to reach me.
I don't know where you are, Idon't know who you are.
I wait for people to reach outto me because then I know their
intentions are.
If I reach out to some people,they may do it just for the sake
of doing it.
They may just do it justbecause they don't want in the
backlash if they reject it.

(01:55:38):
So you know what I'm saying.
I want people to stand in for agenuine reason, and most people
that reach out to me they're init for a genuine reason.
So I prefer that even when I goto major events.
Sometimes I don't really goplaces that I'm not invited.
If it's a turn of point eventor something like that, I hope
it don't get an invitation.
I don't care what it is, I justdon't like to go.
But there are other events thatdo reach out to me and now I go

(01:56:01):
, I don't know.
I just a principle.
I kind of live by not justsaying everybody should, and I'm
not saying that I shouldn'tjust encroach on people or go
places or make myself known.
And I'm not trying to say thatTofer is big enough that people
will want to, and if they don't,it's the same on them.
That's not what I'm sayingeither.
All I'm saying is I'd like toknow that I'm welcome.
As soon as I know I'm welcomeand I'm invited, boom, I'll be

(01:56:24):
there and it's not a problem.
The show of Accenture has notreached out to Tofer to come
speak to their students.
Only Philadelphia Elementarydon't know what's over that, but
they have it and people it'snot like I'm that hard to get
hold to either, they just haveit and I don't, instead of
coming up with a reason why andtrying to stereotype them or put

(01:56:44):
words in their mouth.
It is what it is.
But when the time come, I'mstill going to treat them with
the respect and love that I havefor everybody and I'm going to
deliver what I can to deliver.

Speaker 1 (01:56:55):
Do you ultimately, where does Tofer ultimately go?
The brand, excuse me the brand,the personality I mean because
at this point that's largelywhat you are in reality is your
personality, and you can take ita lot of different ways.
Once you get to the level thatyou've reached and have attained

(01:57:17):
, where do you ultimately seeyour career going to in 15, 20
years from now?

Speaker 2 (01:57:25):
I really don't know and this that's the fun part,
because I can I'm really fullyreliant on God and whatever he
takes me, I feel like when westart making too many plans
ourselves, then when it doesn'tgo what we think and we tend to
reject ideas and don't go thatpath.
But I'm aware I'm attentive,right, I see what's going on and

(01:57:46):
I would love to eventually getmaybe a game show, whereas Bible
trivia, you know.
Host about Tofer.
I could be the next SteveHarvey.

Speaker 1 (01:57:53):
I can make it happen, so do you want it to be
religiously focused, whatever.
Whatever your career turns into, you know, say, say that family
feud does.
Call Tofer and say hey, tofer,I want you to come replace Steve
Harvey, but you got to leavethat.
You got to leave that guy stuffoff the screen.

Speaker 2 (01:58:13):
Oh no, when we told me if I had to leave it off I
wouldn't go.
If I've never been places whereI can't be myself, you know, if
I ever feel like I can'tultimately express myself, then
I'm not going to go.
It's just.
It's just the.
I sleep good at night.
I tell people all the time likeI got a lot of haters but I got
a lot of people that love metoo.
So I sleep good at nightbecause I know that if they hate

(01:58:35):
me because of who I am, theylove me because of who I am.
There's no.
There's no in between.
It's not like somebody I put aface on for or anything like
that.
Both my haters and my loversknow who I am.
I'm comfortable with that.
So no, I would never turn downGod.
You know putting down God andanything for any opportunity.
But if they call it, I canstill be myself.
Sure, I go.

(01:58:55):
Host.
You've been in the booth latelyWorking on it.
You've been laying them barsdown?
Well, that's what I'm saying.
Working on the studio.
Can we just move?
Oh really.
So I've been upgrading thestudio, so I have not laid in
the bars down as of May thisyear, but the bars are coming,
they are coming.
I got a lot to say too.
I got a lot of stuff I want tospeak on that I think is

(01:59:19):
relevant today and relevant towhere I'm at in my life too.
I never expected to be in thisposition or to be talking about
Bible trivia.
I told somebody, I always tellpeople this is the moment I put
the mic down, my voice becamelouder.
So I went from doing music tonot doing music and just
quizzing people by the Bible,and my voice has reached way

(01:59:40):
more people than my music hasever reached.
And that's just because God,when he pushed you and pushed
you on a mission and pushed youon a path, he's able to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:59:49):
Did you see an uptick in your reach after Musk took
over Twitter?
No, I wonder about that forpeople who have a large
following, because I hear a listcelebrities say oh, you know,

(02:00:10):
joe Rogan, for example.
Also, there are a couple ofother people that are middle or
would consider themselvesmoderate who said they have seen
their reach increaseexponentially since Musk taken
over.
Have you ever had anysituations in which you put
content out and a platformeither deletes it or says that

(02:00:37):
you cannot post it?

Speaker 2 (02:00:38):
Yeah, took that Instagram the both been YouTube
ever demonetized you.
No, I've never got a strike onYouTube and I've spoken about
the whole alphabet community aswell, so I don't know, maybe I
did it in a respectful way, Ihave no idea, but no, I haven't

(02:00:59):
gotten these strikes over there.
But yeah, TikTok man that was.
That would not let me have itand I was being like very
outspoken on politics and stufflike that.
They would not let me get outthere.

Speaker 1 (02:01:09):
That's a Chinese on company, huh yeah supposedly
right, but um, yeah, yeah, and.

Speaker 2 (02:01:15):
but the people running it tend to be Americans,
and those Americans are very,very far left.
I think most people that workat social media are very far
left.

Speaker 1 (02:01:23):
The left did a good job of understanding how it
could be utilized in the future,that being social media and the
social technology and they gottheir people in there.
Oh yeah, I mean they did a verygood job of building out that
infrastructure to ensure thatthey could control the message
and the narrative.

Speaker 2 (02:01:39):
Right, and that's why I was glad when Elon Musk
bought.
X formerly known as Twitter,because he was able to drive out
all those people that was justthere for that purpose.

Speaker 1 (02:01:48):
There's so many bots on all the platforms, though.
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (02:01:52):
Yeah, like I don't understand why they can't get
rid of bots.
Y'all can do everything else,y'all can track when someone
says this, this post, that post,but y'all can't understand when
someone's making a fake profileand spam comment and those
stuff.
It's, it's unknowingly.
I know they know and see it,but they don't want to get rid
of it.
It's, it's, come on, man, itfalsely inflates everything.

Speaker 1 (02:02:12):
Yeah, it falsely inflates all the likes, all the
comments, all the followers.
All that shit is false to acertain extent because there's
fake accounts man.
And it makes it hard to, itmakes it more difficult to
determine which accounts havemerit and which don'ts.
Like you know, look at somebodywho has 225,000 followers.

(02:02:35):
Okay, how many of those arereal people?
Right, and that's somethingthat I see.
Like there's when I, when Ipost content, there's this
account, these random accounts,will tag and say promoted on at
Mississippi or something, yeah,and I'm like I delete and block

(02:02:55):
and restrict those some of thebitches every time they come up,
because I I mean it's just,it's just false, like I said,
falsely inflating, and so thenthat gives a false impression to
just from an analytical datastandpoint, is it makes it more
difficult to discern what's what.

Speaker 2 (02:03:12):
But not only that, but because of how the
algorithms are based.
I know Instagram for sure.
It sends your content out to atleast 10% of your followers and
it's random Right.
They don't if.
If it happened, 8% of the 10%happened to be bots that you
don't want to follow.

Speaker 1 (02:03:28):
And nobody's getting your message.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:03:31):
You know.
So that's one of the things Ihate too is like man get rid of
these bots, cause I don't.
I want real people and that waythat I'm making sure that I'm
reaching real people and gettingthe most potential.
But yeah, it's, it's veryferreting.

Speaker 1 (02:03:42):
Yeah, and you get a more.
You get a true reflection ofwhat, how the people are
receiving the content and thestuff that you're putting up, as
opposed to some robot thatapparently is from India, says,
promoted on Mississippicommunity or whatever that
account is, and then like thataccounts different every time it
says promoted on such and suchaccount and then I'll go to it

(02:04:04):
and then it's different and thenext time the the other bot puts
it on there.

Speaker 2 (02:04:09):
Yes, it's a like.
I said, man, fix it, Whatever Ido Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, I
don't like you, but fix it, man, Just get rid of it.
Is he really going to fightElon Musk?
I don't know what's reallygoing to happen.
I know, if they do, theinternet's going to break.
If Elon and Mark both guys arereigned and the next going to
break.
That's all I know.
Everybody will be tuning in man.

(02:04:30):
You know how much that wouldmake.

Speaker 1 (02:04:33):
I can't imagine, and it would probably be the worst
fight ever.

Speaker 2 (02:04:37):
I don't know man, he may, he may grow some, grow some
fists.
Man I saw, I saw Mark, helooked like he was in shape.

Speaker 1 (02:04:44):
I think Elon will put them paws on Mark.

Speaker 2 (02:04:48):
Real talk.
I, I, I.
Hey, elon, I know you sayyou're on a spectrum, but
hopefully take this joke.
We're like kind of withlightness, but man, you've got
the autism string.
You got that autism string baby.

Speaker 1 (02:05:04):
So a retard, straight that dude.
That shit's real, it is man.
That's another one of thosestereotypes.
I was thinking about that theother day.
I was like every, for somereason, every slow person that
I've ever encountered have beeninordinately strong, I mean it's

(02:05:27):
a stereotype for a reason.
And then you get into sayingget into trouble for saying
retard strength.
Oh yeah, I can't say that, nomore.
So says, says the woke crowd.
Yeah, the the word police.
Have you ever read the book1984 by George Orwell?

Speaker 2 (02:05:45):
Yeah, I haven't read him yet, but uh, so many people
have represented.
I've seen a lot of like umclips and stuff about the book
and he someone said he must havebeen a prophet, because
everything he's saying is likeword for word.
What's going on?

Speaker 1 (02:06:01):
He nailed it and it's a very good book to describe a
lot of the different topics thatare being discussed now and I
guess you could say politicalculture and pop culture when
you're talking about my, youknow, mind control, word control
, propaganda, the differencebetween, uh, free society, uh,

(02:06:25):
communism, capital, capitalism.
It's a and it's a snapshot ofall of those different things
and instead of like for me, itresonated with me because it's
similar to how I see what'sgoing on today.
When you talk about thetelevision and this was just a
screen in general, and thenpeople living through screens,

(02:06:47):
and then in the book in 1984,every citizen has this screen
and they're basically a TV intheir house.
But you could.
The difference is they could,they could see into your house.
So it's a TV that can, they can, whoever's on the other end of

(02:07:08):
the TV can see into your house.
So that was the only differencebetween what Orwell had in the
book and what our TV is today,or our phone or our computer or
whatever, and just how thespeech control, really how that
speech can be controlled andlanguage can be altered and
certain words can take certainmeanings on a mass scale to some

(02:07:29):
people and then it not resonateLike I'm sure there's shit in
Russia or North Korea that meanI'm sure there's many things
that mean one thing to the restof the world and something
totally different to whoever'sin North Korea or Russia.

Speaker 2 (02:07:44):
Man, they got the technology now that all they
need to get forward from you andthey can create a whole, a
whole AI that can speak justlike you and create a whole
vocabulary.
So they got to know where theycan call somebody and, even if
they're just calling, and getyour voice so you pick up and
you just say, you say hello, whois this.
By that time they can take justthat small clip and now they

(02:08:07):
can take your voice, use it andstart calling your family
members.
And that's actually startedgoing on, where this lady got a
call from what she thought washer daughter that has been
kidnapped.
Oh, I saw that and paying ransom.
So it's like that's whattechnology is going.
And then, with the deep fakeand everything else, going on,
so much with the visuals is likeman, what is what is real Like?

(02:08:28):
Is that really someone speaking?
Is that really Joe Biden?
Is that really?
You know, as they say?
I know they're making fun ofJamie Foxx, but it's like
they're really.
Jamie Foxx is a clone.
I was like, nah, it's reallyJamie Foxx, but it's to that
point now you just don't reallyknow.
You think you know, but theirtechnology has gotten to that
point, man.

Speaker 1 (02:08:49):
That's why I'm glad I have a strong Southern accent,
because it's going to be moredifficult for AI to emulate my
country as than, say, someonewith a neutral American accent
from.
You know one of the coasts.
Yeah, okay, I can see that.
Like, think about them.
Think about AI trying toemulate Boosie as opposed to you

(02:09:13):
know.

Speaker 2 (02:09:14):
I didn't know what that means.

Speaker 1 (02:09:19):
Imagine.
Imagine AI trying to emulate,or a little Wayne.
Lil Wayne was like I'm readyfor them, motherfuckers.
He's like they cannot emulateme.

Speaker 2 (02:09:28):
Man, you know what.
He said that.
And then technology get themright down to the T, so they did
the Drake.

Speaker 1 (02:09:33):
Yeah, they got it, created the Drake.
Hey y'all some, yeah, itsounded just like Drake.

Speaker 2 (02:09:38):
Just like Drake until they sued him and got it taken
down.
It's like man they technologyis crazy, but you just got to be
careful, man.
Like I said, this is why it'sgood to have a spirit of
discernment, and that's what theBible and Christ can provide
you with a spirit of discernment, Even when you out here and
you're not quite sure.
It can tap into the spiritualworld and give you the knowledge
that you don't have in thephysical world, man.

(02:09:59):
So it's just one of the thingsthat we got to start using.

Speaker 1 (02:10:04):
Chat.
Gpt is badass, it is.
So you talk about cutting downon some time for, like, research
and shit.
I mean you can.
You can really gather a lot ofinformation in a short period of
time, like from summarizingbooks, like cliff notes on books
or studies and things like that.

(02:10:25):
Like even like we thoughtGoogle was good, yeah.
Yeah, think about where it'sgoing to be in 10 years.

Speaker 2 (02:10:33):
I did a.
I said write a rap song aboutlike American Revolution.
And it did in like 30 secondsand it was funny Like it had the
chorus and everything in it andit was about the American
Revolution.
It was like yo check it.
I say this is hilarious.
I said I might do an album justbased on chat GPT songs and

(02:10:54):
just see what happens.

Speaker 1 (02:10:55):
So at this point in your music career, are you only
doing Christian themed music?
Are you a, would you say?
You are a Christian rapper?
I can say that, but I was likeas a, as a, not a marketing tool
, but like if we had to puttofer in a box if you had to put
me in box.

Speaker 2 (02:11:14):
I have no problem with being a conservative
Christian.
Whatever I tell people, don'tput me in a box.
I'm just an artist, you know somusic is basically speaking.

Speaker 1 (02:11:21):
you wouldn't say you fall into a genre, so to speak,
or a type of hip hop.

Speaker 2 (02:11:25):
I would say I I haven't even shown people how
much I was willing to experiment, but I'm definitely not limited
to just regular, you know, hiphop and everything else.
I mean, the Patriot wasn't atypical hip hop song at all.
Even if I heard the Patriot itwas very, very different.
But I do have songs that's.
You know straight up hip hopand I got us experimental.

(02:11:47):
I like expressing myself inthose creative ways, you know
and pushing, pushing innovation.
That's what we were talkingabout earlier.
So, yeah, I got some stuff onthe way that I can say, once I
get the system up, I'm going tobe pushing stuff on that side.
You know it's it's been a whileI invested in everything else
but my music and now I'minvesting in back into, like

(02:12:10):
upgrading my mic, upgrading this, and now that I got my basement
, I can fly people out or invitepeople to come that I typically
don't get to work with.
I can say, hey guys, you know,come spend a week over here.
Man, you stay in the basement,whatever, you know, shower
whatever, and I can place a, putpeople up that we can sit there
and work on some music that Ididn't have access to do before.
So I'm definitely lookingforward to a higher level and

(02:12:31):
quality coming out.
My next project.

Speaker 1 (02:12:35):
So did your network.
When did your network begin togrow beyond your immediate
proximity in relation to yourvirality?

Speaker 2 (02:12:48):
Let me see.
I would probably say it wasprobably by the same time,
probably the same kind of like.
Going at the same time as Iwent viral, people who had no
people I never seen before gotto see eyes on me and because
they got to see eyes on me nowthey was kind of like oh man, I
support what you do.
Like tell me Vex.
Like you know, I was talkingabout him earlier but he was one

(02:13:09):
of the probably the biggestartists I've ever collaborated
with and we talked about a guywho got platinum records and
everything else.
Like this guy was killing onceagain.
Bad was is a huge band was nolonger now, but during that time
, you know, he reached out to mebecause the Patriot and the
controversy that went around thePatriot and he was like man, I
really like this guy and I'm allfor free speech and he should

(02:13:30):
be able to talk about it and hewas sharing my content without
like he didn't DM me or DM me ornothing.
He would just share my contentand support our calls and I was
like yo, look at this, you know,so I would say something Tangus
.

Speaker 1 (02:13:44):
How hard is it for an artist, an independent artist,
to see a return on theirinvestment in the way of music?

Speaker 2 (02:13:51):
And that's a tough question Because unfortunately,
numbers don't lie right and ifyou don't have many followers,
then you probably not going tohave too many purchases, you're
not going to have too manystreams, and that's why labels
today will take a person withtoo many followers and, even
though they're not an artist,they'll get them and release a
song and and they put moneybehind it because they got the

(02:14:14):
followers to buy versus a personof super talent and maybe got
800 followers.

Speaker 1 (02:14:19):
And it's cheaper for them to take on someone that
already has a platform and afollowing as opposed to taking
an actual talented person.
Not saying that a lot of peoplearen't talented, but I'd say
many artists probably do missout on getting a deal with a
label because they may not be assavvy on social media.

Speaker 2 (02:14:40):
Yeah, so yeah, that's , that's the game.
You know it's naming the gameright now and instead of you
hating it, just get on it.
You got to just become part ofsocial media.
You know, I also also I tellpeople this it helps you with
your branding in general too,Because now all the because.
If you say I'm going to labeland they do all the branding,

(02:15:00):
when you leave them, they takethat with them.
But if you can do all thebranding yourself and you get
people queuing with you, itdon't matter where you go,
they're going to follow you.

Speaker 1 (02:15:10):
So is it like 10,000 streams to 10 cents or something
crazy like that?

Speaker 2 (02:15:15):
No, it's 1000 streams to okay, but like this, 1500
streams is a dollar.
That's better than I thought.
Yeah, well, that's what theyconsider a dollar, right, but
it's right.
Now per stream is 0.004.

Speaker 1 (02:15:31):
Do you put your stuff out through someone like a
distro kid?

Speaker 2 (02:15:35):
I was using distro kid, but they don't want that
band to Patriot, so I stoppedusing them.

Speaker 1 (02:15:39):
Really Yep.
What was their bond?

Speaker 2 (02:15:42):
to pick with the Patriot.
They never gave me a bond, theyjust said they received a
takedown order from they didn'tsay from where.
They said from the stores.
They're very general.

Speaker 1 (02:15:52):
They never was specific, how long was it out
before they took?

Speaker 2 (02:15:56):
it down Three weeks.
It came out December 19, 2020.
I know, yeah, 2020.
And it was taken down January26, 2021.
I wonder why I wonder, why yeahnot sure why, but anyway it was
taken down.
And I went back and forth withthem for a while and I realized
and they said if you attempt tore-upload this song, either we

(02:16:18):
told you we took it down, wewill remove your entire catalog.
So you moved away from distrokid.
Yeah, I went to Ditto Music andthey did.

Speaker 1 (02:16:24):
I never had any issues since I've been with them
Well that seems to me like it'dbe a distro kid decision, being
that you're on the same storesnow with what's the hosting
service you mentioned, dittoMusic.
I mean you're still in all thesame places now that you were
when you went through districtkids, so it sounds like they're
full of shit Pretty much.

Speaker 2 (02:16:45):
And that's what I thought too, and that's when I
started learning that it's somepeople that got their own
political motives.
And so when I tried to workwith people right now I'm going
through two laws I got a distrodeal with Run.
Run is the guy who used tomanage man.
He started what's the name ofthat platform?
I can't think of it.
It starts with A, but it wasalso a distribution label.

(02:17:07):
But he started Run and I'vebeen talking to him and his name
is Diego.
Diego does a really good jobwith what he also offers me what
I wasn't getting with DittoMusic.
So, like recently, my album wastaken down by two laws and I was
like, why was my album down?
So I called him.
He said I'm worried about mylawyers on it.
So now I got people.

(02:17:28):
When something goes bad, you'renot just pissing me off.
I got somebody that's alsoinvested in it.
So now they got actual lawyersin time and it took no time for
them to figure out what theproblem was.
It's.
You got resolve album back up.
So now I got that leverage.
But he's also a type of personthat's profit over politics.
So he's like I don't care whatyou're saying.
If you got an audience thatlisten to this, that's all it

(02:17:48):
matters to me.
I like that guy.
I like that guy.
It's like, bro, they buying it.
I'm here, we're going toenhance it, we're going to put
it out, we're going to have agrow, but that's it.
And I was like that's thepeople I want to work with yeah,
that's the way it should be.
But you know, but some people,like I said, they want their
politics to prioritizeeverything, even to, you know,
to your own detriment.

Speaker 1 (02:18:04):
That's the problem with private industry becoming
private industry, becoming sopolitically opinionated as
opposed to just selling whateverproduct it is that they bring
to the market, they feel thatthey have to impose whatever
ideology they have on the entireAmerican public, and not to

(02:18:27):
mention the social mediacompanies doing the bidding work
of the democratic party andaltering for sure, altering the
election in 2020.
You know people will scream upand down about fraud at the
ballot box or at home, or melonballots this, that and the third
.
I don't think the fraud wasthere.

(02:18:49):
The fraud was on the socialmedia apps.

Speaker 2 (02:18:52):
Oh yeah, it's terrible.

Speaker 1 (02:18:53):
That were shadow banning and closing down content
, not allowing content to flowfreely throughout the virtual
world, and putting their stampon the election in that way.

Speaker 2 (02:19:07):
I told people.
I remember being banned fromgoing live and on Instagram and
I never said anything.
I don't cuss when I'm goinglive, I ain't saying nothing
crazy.
I remember I got banned justbecause right before the
election, 30 days for electionthey made sure and when I got
back it was the day afterelection.
I just banned people that hadinfluence and that was probably.

Speaker 1 (02:19:26):
Think about how crazy that is tofer.

Speaker 2 (02:19:28):
Think about how wild that is, yep.
And then it was like peoplenaked on there not being banned,
but tofag is banned.
I was just like this is that'swhat we had to deal with and
that's why I'm glad a lot ofpeople are here.
You know suing social mediacompanies, you know, just to
make sure let them know thatwe're not falling for it.
We're going to put up a fight.

Speaker 1 (02:19:44):
I think it doesn't hit home with the average person
the level of censorship that'sgoing on, because it's virtual,
Like think.
Think if we if you and I, Tofer, we went to somebody's house
and we just unplugged theirphone from the wall or we just
cut their, cut their cell phoneoff or took away their means to
walk out their front door andgive their message, let's say.

(02:20:08):
To give it any even betterexample or analogy, let's say
you have a guy in town who likesto have his voice heard back in
the day before technology, andhe would take his megaphone up
to the square in town and hewould pull that megaphone out
and that would allow him to makehis messages allow as possible.
And then somebody just takeshis megaphone away or they just

(02:20:29):
put tape over his mouth.
That would resonate with anaverage person.

Speaker 2 (02:20:32):
But the fact that it's done online and through
technology and it's not readilyavailable for people to
recognize that the banning orthe censorship that, like
happened to you, is going on,that's like, if it doesn't hurt
them personally, then yeah, butit also goes to the fact that,
because social media andalgorithm and how things are,

(02:20:55):
how they're creating a shortattention span, that by the time
after two weeks they forgotabout, they moved on and
something else, and even thatperson got banned, even though
it was terrible, they was upset,they found some new creator or
somebody else and they moved onwith it, and so, to our own
detriment, social media alsoplays a part in that and that's

(02:21:15):
why they don't really care aboutbanning people, because they
know that they've Trained us tonot care for.

Speaker 1 (02:21:21):
They know exactly what they're doing.
Yeah, they knew before they putthe shit out Social media.
They knew, before it even cameonline, what it was capable of
doing to the human brain.
Yeah, and they still unleashedit without a Large amount of
guardrails.

Speaker 2 (02:21:36):
Yeah, which is fine.
But once again, that goes backto why we need to be diligent
and do this of our own, becausewe have to know, we have to
Recognize that this is what isfor you know, because you think
about there in the business ofmaking profits, and the more
that, the longer they can getyou still in an app, the more
profit they make and that's whythey make the type of content, a

(02:21:57):
lot of certain kind of type ofcontent they do Because feel
like I feel like if you own, ifyou open your app, see politics,
you might get offended.
You get off, so they're gonnablock politics, but they'll put
a naked later on there with akid's app and that's fine
because most likely not gonnaclose that, it's just gonna stay
on right.
So it's that type of stuff iswhat's going on and people gotta
know this is because they lovemoney, not because they love

(02:22:21):
people, because they love money.
And once you notice, you dobetter.
And that's why I encouragepeople.
You gotta be smart, you gottaknow what's going on, you gotta
know how they think and why theydo what they do.
And then, once you know whatthey do and why they do it with
it.
Do take that and use that toyour own advantage.

Speaker 1 (02:22:35):
Mm-hmm, and that's what I do and Also to piggyback
off what you said about themloving profit.
That is true.
At the end of the day, thesepeople who run these social
media companies and these bigcorporations in general in
America Love money.
That's what America is about.
Mm-hmm about achieving what youcan from a monetary standpoint
and having the liberty, life andpursuit of happiness, right.

(02:22:57):
So I'm good with that.
But there's gonna be a pointwhen their political opinions
and profit Don't agree, right,and they're getting closer and
closer by the day.
So like, at what point are theygonna stop banning tophers, or
shadow banning tophers?
And you know the the majorityof the population is gonna be

(02:23:19):
like hold up, you can't, youcan't do that.
Then they're gonna have to makea decision when everybody's up
on game.
Is it about profit or is itabout political ideology?

Speaker 2 (02:23:31):
when alternative comes up that allows people to
Get away from their platform,but also they're the same people
that's fighting to keepalternatives for coming up right
.

Speaker 1 (02:23:40):
Oh yeah, I've got a monopoly.

Speaker 2 (02:23:41):
Yeah, yeah.
So you also see that you knowCuz we talk about it like.
One of the majors people thatwas trying to get tiktok ban in
America was Facebook.
Mm-hmm.
Why?
Because people wouldn't spendtime on Facebook, mm-hmm, not
because it was some securityproblem or something like that.
Yes, that's the, that's whatthey're selling it as.
But Facebook, like bro, we canget rid of tiktok in the US.
We get all these people back onthe Facebook and now they've

(02:24:02):
got Facebook and Instagram reels.
Yeah, we just be the new tiktok.
That's.
That's the whole idea behind it, and people don't see that side
of it either.
But if they can get that going,man, they make all the money
they can.
But I, once they come up withalternative, because it's just
like and how's the bush learned,you know, for channel push.

Speaker 1 (02:24:20):
That's a great example.
Push this great down there andagainst their cuz.

Speaker 2 (02:24:25):
Their customer base has nothing to do with that.
The customer base which is hardworking blue collar Americans
that don't care nothing.
First of all, that don't agreewith you trying to push.
And then they saw a huge lossin profit, building the dollars
and it has not recovered andit's probably not going to
recover, you know.
So it's like do you want tomake them a steak for what?
Just because you want to go outhere and post, be progressive

(02:24:45):
and Push, push politics?
It's like people just want tobe at the end of the day.
Like you say, if I tell people,man, I'll talk about God, but I
ain't trying to push God onnobody.
You know I'm saying right,right, like if you come to told
for toes on, talk about God,because this is what he does,
what he does.
But I'm not gonna go down yourthroat and get a megaphone and
yell in your ear when you're atyour dinner table and say God

(02:25:06):
loves you.
No, I'm not doing that becausethen it would be irritating.
And that's what they did.
They got this one and said yeah, this and like I, like, no, we
don't want that, we just want todrink our beer and peace.
But you know they're trying torecover by getting hearty fellow
Philodeffin to be a face of thethe bush site.

Speaker 1 (02:25:22):
Yeah, he's a saw where he's with bush like yeah,
same company as his bud.
Like yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:25:29):
So they trying to um, they're trying to get them, to
bring people back, but I justdon't see it coming back no time
soon.
And I see people come out whileturning the beers, which is
cool, but, like I said, eitherwe get fed up and just really
say, no, see these platforms, orthey got to be a better
alternative.
It comes out.

Speaker 1 (02:25:46):
I think it'll come back.
I Don't know if Bud Light,specifically that beer, will
come back.
I don't know if the profitsfrom Bud Light will, but
Anheuser bush is gonna be finein the long run Because I know
people, to your point, stilldrinking bush light.
Never quit drinking Michelob,like people.
There are people on theMichelob Bandwagon.

(02:26:06):
They are tried and true.
They will no matter whathappens, they're gonna.
They drank Michelob yesterday,they drank it today and they
gonna drink that shit till theyput them six feet in the ground.
And but now Bud Light?

Speaker 2 (02:26:18):
I think that beer is, yeah, I think it's pretty much
toast and that's what peoplestarting to get, as like yeah,
you straw one, but and how thebush control, control.
So much like what is?
It gonna do.
It's like, well, yeah, likethey only did it with one brand
you know I saw for it did therainbow truck, which I was
confused by.
I was like what does it evenmean?
Like they did a whole rainbowtruck for private.
I'm like what they got to dowith riding a truck?

(02:26:40):
like you know, it's just one ofthings like this has nothing to
do With the product that youmake.
You're making.

Speaker 1 (02:26:46):
Yeah, it's.
It's indicative of our academiabeing infiltrated by this woke
mindset.
And then the people that areeducated in our Ivy League and
prestigious schools throughoutthe country are now
transitioning half transitionfor a decade into corporate
executive offices across Americaand they're just blasting that

(02:27:08):
bullshit that they've been toldand they've been indoctrinated
with Into the marketing tacticsof our corporations.

Speaker 2 (02:27:15):
Yeah, that's weird and that's why they tell people.
It's like they like to say youknow left or Democrats are more
educated.
You know professionally?
Then, um, republicans, I'm likeyeah, cuz I'm not an idiot and
one y'all the main onescomplaining about student debt
too, because y'all go pay forall these degrees that mean
nothing.
And just because you went toschool does not mean that you're

(02:27:36):
smart Like y'all went there,got educated and y'all still
don't know that a man can't be aboy, I mean a girl.
I know a girl can't be a boy.
So it's like so what's thepoint of your education?
So no, I never fall for thatand I never like Cared.
And I got a couple degrees justbecause but not because I was
trying to be smarter thansomebody's you know just kind of

(02:27:56):
some idea, you know.
But I'm glad that I didn't fallfor that trap of being the most
educated cuz.
Then I probably would have beenmore indoctrinated on some BS,
because they're not reallyletting conservatives come and
talk to students, they're notletting conservatives come in.
You know, a lot of books fromconservatives are being schools.
It's just not like the bookfrom Michael Manning called
colored communism.

(02:28:17):
It's called color Something incommunism.

Speaker 1 (02:28:20):
Michael Malus.

Speaker 2 (02:28:21):
Now, that was Michael Manning.

Speaker 1 (02:28:23):
Michael Manning.

Speaker 2 (02:28:23):
Yeah, michael Manning .
I forget the name of the book,but I read a book but it's about
a black guy that was, you know,back in the 60s that was going
through communism and how theyliterally told him like there
was gonna use the black peopleas the face of communism and get
a push through this country.
And he was one of the peoplethat's there and he realized
this is some BS and he calledyou know it, basically blew
whistle on it and to this dayyou can look back through that

(02:28:45):
book and see exactly what theydid to get us going in the wrong
direction.

Speaker 1 (02:28:49):
Are you familiar with Tana?
He see coats.
No, he's an author, I think.
He's from Baltimore, maryland,and he has written a couple of
different books that have beenheralded as very Intriguing and
insightful Works by the wokecommunity.

(02:29:13):
The name of the book that I'veread by him escapes me now, but
essentially his viewpoint isthat America has, is and will
always be meant to hold a blackman down, and it's blasphemous.
The the narrative I'll allowy'all to read for yourselves and

(02:29:36):
make that opinion foryourselves, but my takeaway was
that he hates America either.
His understanding of America isan idea of America is wrong.
It's certainly different frommine, but the fact that a book
like that is Seen as beingforward-thinking and of the, the

(02:30:01):
academia class, that isdisturbing quite honestly, and I
mean there are a multitude ofdifferent examples.
They could be used, but Iencourage you to, and I've got
the book in my phone.
I can't believe.
I can't remember the name of itright now, but I'll send it to
you and Check it out foryourself.
I'd be interested, afterreading it, what your opinions

(02:30:21):
on it are for real, because it'sit's wild.

Speaker 2 (02:30:24):
Yeah, I'm going to you that this BS, you know, and
a lot of what gets us in troubleis our behavior and what we see
today.
Things that we can control,like we're.
We're held back today From whatwe can control more than what
we can't.
That ever could.
You know.
It's kind of like you know theytook the chains off but now

(02:30:47):
we're enslaved in our minds.
You know, that type ofmentality is like now is they
don't care, they don't have totake us out on lynches like we
lynching ourselves, but we'vekilled each other more than the
KKK ever could have or ever didin America.

Speaker 1 (02:31:01):
Is that factual?
Is that statistically accurate?

Speaker 2 (02:31:04):
statistically accurate.
And then we talk about hangers.
They wouldn't have many peoplehome.
We we thinking like hundreds ofthousands people hung, is you
know thousands like?
I think it was like fourthousand, five thousand total,
something like that.
It's like right is what we makeit seem like it was just a
natural.

Speaker 1 (02:31:20):
Every Sunday we went out and did stuff definitely the
the liberal media is guilty ofdoing that right.

Speaker 2 (02:31:26):
So I'll tell people like what was really really bad
back then and how we portrayedit wasn't as bad as we think.
But also today is even worsebecause we doing all, we're
doing our own bid, like we justgo ahead and do I think about,
when we look at people robbingstores in California as money
mainly black people, right,they're going out there just
just shoplifting, just for noreason.
When we see people twerking ontop of cars, they're doing crazy

(02:31:47):
stuff, black people and it'sjust like why are we the ones?
I don't see Asians out theredoing that stuff, I don't see
Jews out there doing that stuff,but for some reason us, as
black people, got me out theredoing it.
And I'm not saying why peopledon't do crazy stuff.
That's not what I'm saying.
I'm saying majority of timeit's gonna be us acting a fool
for no reason and then we'regonna complain about how the
system got a bunch of us lockedup when all you had to do is not

(02:32:08):
do it.
When I go out and I'm walkingaround and I smell weed, almost
99% of the time is a blackperson, because we just go out
in public smell like we.
It's like I'm not saying whypeople don't smoke weed but they
smoke at the house and don'tleave the house when they Go
home and stay home.
You know, I'm saying like wejust like to smoke and get high

(02:32:29):
the car, go back to work like,bro, what are you doing?
Like, why are you doing this?
Like you're gonna draw theunnecessary tension and then you
gonna get locked up and thenyou're gonna Be blaming it
because I'm black.
Say no, because you stupid.
So I'm saying like a lot of usare making stupid decisions and
I tell people tofu, why notlocked up?
I can say exactly why I'm notlocked up.
I ain't I here breaking the law?
Ain't no police officer evercame to my door say you're under

(02:32:52):
arrest for not breaking the lawbecause you black ain't?
Nobody ever said that.
And Then when I get pulled overby the police, I've I've got
more warnings in tickets.
I'm in one time of the lastthree times I got pulled over
all through warnings and fromdifferent people in Mississippi
and by black cop and white cops,whatever.
But it's like one guy was likewhen you coming from, I mean I
had dead to rights, everythingwas wrong with me.

(02:33:14):
I was going back and forth,remember.
I'll tell you about Malicoearlier.
So I was going back and forthfrom Jackson, I was getting off
work and I had a headlight out.
I didn't know I had headlightout and this on that, just trace
right.
So I had a hoodie on this ishoodie tophi.
Like I said, tophi ain'tdressed like a professional,
whatever it's like I Could beanything at this point.
Hoodie on Black guy, young guy,headlight missing, whatever I

(02:33:36):
get pulled up guy come on.
You know it's a hell of that.
So no, sir.
Then he asked my insurance.
I didn't have my insurance, Icouldn't find my car.
All these things is going wrong.
And then at the end of the dayhe was like so he come from?
I said well, I'm get off work.
I said so where you head to?
I said I'm headed Philadelphia.
He said that's like an hour anda half, almost two hour drivers
.
Yes, sir, I said I drive backand forth every day from work.
And because I was respectfuland he understood I was doing

(02:33:57):
he's, let me go with a warning.
But anybody, were you doing thespeed limit?
Yeah, he actually pulled meover because I have my headlight
out.
Oh Golly, the natural straightnot your trace.
No, it's if you, I Drive 55,five over this, my max because I
feel like a 57 they pulling youover on a natural trace.
Bro, like it's, you don't getto get that 10, 10 over cushion,

(02:34:18):
but yeah, I do 55 at max, but Iwas.
There's why you pulled me overand, like I said, a lot of stuff
was going wrong and he didn't.
He didn't know I'm fighting foryou.

Speaker 1 (02:34:27):
Gave me over the one many, many black people do
believe in the American system,even those that you would think
don't for example, drug dealers,because they understand the
risks that they're taking andthey're willing to take that
shit to trial Real tall yeah youknow, they understand the
importance of being able to justgo get in front of your peers

(02:34:50):
and say, alright, well, let'ssee.
Y'all tell me if I did it Rightright, did nothing, right,
right, good boy you know, mr.
You surely know the last, mrBiggs, was From mobile Mm-hmm.
You familiar with him, mm-hmm,oh yeah, you get you 12 white

(02:35:11):
folks and we'll strike thisbitch up.
That's what he said.
Let's take it to trial.
Boosie's the same way.
Boost his gun case just may goto the Supreme Court, the one
that he just got in California.
Yeah, like, don't get me wrongConvicted felon, he knows the

(02:35:32):
rules.
He definitely should not havehad a gun on it, but it's Boosie
.
Boosie gonna do what Boosiewant to do and he got called as
a convicted felon with a gun.
But there's now precedent,mm-hmm, that's pushing back
against the laws that state thatConvicted felon.
It's unconstitutional forconvicted felon to not be able

(02:35:54):
to Express his Second Amendmentrights.

Speaker 2 (02:35:57):
Yeah, I'm speaking on that.
Actually one of my buddies, agood friend's, craig Long out of
Florida.
He was a convicted felon and heactually fought to get his
rights back and he did.
They gave him right back tobear arms and he's probably one
of the first they're probablygonna say his case too I'm one
of first to get his rights backto own a gun and, matter of fact
, he went to jail for murdersomebody with a gun and he still

(02:36:17):
got his right back after that.
Oh then Boosie's gravy I meanif that's, if that's on the
books and it's a federal charge.

Speaker 1 (02:36:24):
I think it may be a state charge in California, but
even still, I'm sure you getlike a lot of people who are I'm
sure you get like look, thisdude murdered somebody.
He was a convicted felon, hehad a gun and now he's a free
man like Boosie just had it inhis waistband.

Speaker 2 (02:36:39):
Yeah, on a music video.
I think it's stupid that.
That's a thing I think.
Once you out of jail, you knowBarring anything too extreme,
like you should be giving yourrights.

Speaker 1 (02:36:48):
Yeah, if you've done your time.
Yeah, like if you've done yourtime, you should be able to vote
, you should be able to haveyour bear your arms.
Because here's the thing,topher if we as a society are
saying, okay, this man has goneand served his time, he has paid
his debt to society, he's out,he's outside of those walls,
let's give him his full rightsback Come and that should be

(02:37:09):
restored the day to get out.

Speaker 2 (02:37:11):
It shouldn't be like he shouldn't have to go appeal.
He should I do nothing.
That person should be restoredeverything right then when they
get out.
If you don't think they'reready to return back to society
as an operating person, thendon't release him.
Correct that's?

Speaker 1 (02:37:23):
that's almost admitting as a system that we're
not doing enough to deterpeople from committing crime or
Rehabilitating them right?
So another point is is that,like Before people commit
felonies, I highly doubt thatthey're worried that they're
gonna lose their, like they'rewhat they're thinking about?
Losing their right to vote?

(02:37:44):
So it's not like it's adeterrent from people, from
keeping people from committingfelonies.
It's like people really don'tthink about that until after
they've been Rehabilitated andthey get back to society and
they're like I'm not that personanymore.
Plus, I've paid my debt to thesociety for the wrongs that I've
done.
Now Let me go be a fullfunctioning, full participant in

(02:38:05):
our civil society right, andthat's and that's the
opportunity we should be giventhem, you know.

Speaker 2 (02:38:12):
And but there's money to it, right?
Once again, I talked to earlier.
It's the cycle.
They don't want to do too muchbecause they want you to come
back because the money beenpoured into it.
Not saying that private system,private prisons, is the reason
why this is going on, but I dosay private prison tend to be
better off living wise for sure,then state prisons, but there

(02:38:33):
is still some incentive there tomake sure we have some repeat
customers, you know.
So Shout out to everybody.
That's, you know, locked upright now.
I don't know if you can hearthis or not, but oh yeah, they
listen.

Speaker 1 (02:38:43):
they listen in the pen Shout out Parchman.

Speaker 2 (02:38:45):
Hey, what's up Parchman?
Yeah, they need shut Parchmandown, by the way, and that place
is horrific.

Speaker 1 (02:38:50):
They should probably shut Parchman down, and they
should probably also shut downAngola.

Speaker 2 (02:38:54):
Yeah, bees man Mississippi, we got to do better
with our prisons.
Man Like, why would that personget out and want to do better
in society when you treated themlike?

Speaker 1 (02:39:02):
and it is just all of our public facilities schools,
prisons, hospitals Everythingthat's public in Mississippi is
pretty much shit.

Speaker 2 (02:39:12):
Yeah, it's terrible and but you know.
But let's also tell people towe could supplement.
We don't have to just rely onthe government.
We can improve our stuff whenwe come together and just
improve it.
That is very true.
But we can't come together cuzwe so bit out of shape about
small stuff.
Man, I'm like you know, I Seemore people mad at the grant for
when you're restoring the EllisTheater and then I was like,

(02:39:34):
well, what about the Book of TWashington gym?
That's our well, why can we getgrants for them?
I'm like maybe there ain't nogrants for the mayor, there's
not priority, but we can.
Why can we all put a dollar inevery month?
You know, since thousands of uswe call put a dollar in every
month, about two years, we getenough to get enough to.
You know, get along and get itfixed, get it renovated.
But we just sit herecomplaining about Everything and

(02:39:56):
want everybody come in and saveus and do this and that.
I don't know.
Marty Stewart, man, maybe theyjust like Marty Stewart, maybe
he's got some favor, but thatain't what we.
Yet If we'll put our mindtogether and I tell people we
can do that, I'll pledge that,like it was just a dollar month
every person black white,whatever.
We get that joint up andrunning.
But the thing is, once we get upand running, what we're gonna
do with it?
Are you gonna take care of it?

(02:40:16):
Maintaining things is muchharder than acquiring.
I tell people that all the timelike, yeah, so if we got a big
house stuff, got this orwhatever.
But maintaining a joint is whata real work.
Come in, everyone can getsomething.
So if we're gonna maintainsomething we got, make sure we
got the principal's in place,them in the mindset and it goes.
And if we're gonna change thecommunity, man, we gotta make
sure we get people in the rightpath.

Speaker 1 (02:40:37):
Yeah for sure, definitely.
Booker T is Vital and importantto Philadelphia and has been
historically and will be goingforward, and I do believe I know
for a fact that they did comeacross some funding for Booker T
and they've been able torenovate and update.
I know that's been aparticularly, as you mentioned,

(02:40:58):
in the Advent of the LSD aterand revitalization process that
has gone on.
There has had much attentionand there is a narrative Some of
it true, not all of it in inPhiladelphia and Shoeba County
that the LSD ater is is only forwhite people, only for the
affluent white people, and thereis an element of that that

(02:41:21):
exists, I see it, but that'swith anywhere you go, yeah, the,
the affluent, are always goingto be the first to the party.
They're always gonna, they'realways gonna have their hand and
you know, anything that's new,anything that's Involving
potential profits, the wealthypeople are always gonna be the

(02:41:44):
first ones to know and the firstones involved.
However, I Do believe MartyStewart, native in Shoeba County
and in Philadelphia, has hisheart in the right place and
he's doing what he's doing bybringing that collection of
memorabilia and history toPhiladelphia.
He understands the impact thatit can have, not just for the

(02:42:06):
wealthy but for the town and theregion as a whole.
He didn't have to come back toPhiladelphia and drop his
World's largest country musicmemorabilia collection off in
East Central Mississippi.
He didn't have to do that.
He did that out of the goodnessof his heart and, I believe,
with a vision to revitalize andeven help the town and region

(02:42:26):
grow, not for just the affluentwhite but for everybody.
And I think over time that willprove itself out.

Speaker 2 (02:42:33):
Yeah, it will and I'm here for it.
Like, eventually I Would loveto maybe have, like you know how
they got Saturday night live upin the theaters up in New York,
like told for a guy by which ofthe night or whatever, going
down at Ellis Theater.
You know magic and stuff likethat.
We got the cameras, people comein, we got the live audience
for this stuff that we can do ifwe come over the game plan.
You know I'm not, I know stuffis tough and I ain't got a type

(02:42:56):
of money, but if you get a gameplan and you get stuff in place,
people are more convinced whenthey can see stuff in the
numbers and see what's gonna godown.
You know, so I'm, I'm hopeful.
I don't know about other peoplearound here.
I don't know who's been deniedan opportunity because of this
game called around inPhiladelphia, but that won't
happen at all.

Speaker 1 (02:43:12):
I don't think that it's so much that it that it's
actually happened, as much as itis a perception.

Speaker 2 (02:43:18):
Well, oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha.

Speaker 1 (02:43:20):
Yeah, I don't.
I don't believe that there'sbeen anybody that's been
mistreated as a result of color,on a on a Government,
governmental level, on a privatelevel.
I just think that that's adynamic that exists,
particularly in Philadelphia,mississippi we all know our
history.
That's a dynamic that stillexists.
The racial divide, but it'sless overt now, like you don't

(02:43:45):
have people expressing racism inverbal terms or in.
You know, it's more of aperception and it's really lack
of communication, tover.
It's really justmiscommunication people thinking
that somebody thinks one wayJust because of the history of
the, the area, or the history oftheir family or you know some
bullshit like that, when reallyit's just the fact that they

(02:44:08):
hadn't had a conversation withthat person and they, they
assume and as a, as one of mychildhood teachers told me, you
know what happens when youassume Making a ass out of you
and me, baby, you damn right.

Speaker 2 (02:44:20):
So now I don't assume , and that's why I said I'm.
You know we talked aboutdisruptors, man, I'm, I'm,
consider myself a disruptor here.
If there's a stronghold onracism here, I'm here to break
it up.
Man, check it up, because I'mtired of saying it and I'm tired
of that being an excuse for usnot elevating ourselves.
It's like, no, you can getahead and this is not stopping
you.
You know, I see it all the time.
You know, we're going on lateron this evening.

(02:44:41):
We're going on later on thisevening.
We're going to Del Taco thatjust opened up, the first one in
Mississippi, right here inPhiladelphia, and that's high.
His uncle was the owner of it.
Would you think that would beowned by a black person?
You know it's every day likeblack people can't do nothing
around here.
It's like we can do a lot ofthings.
You know we gotta have theright principles and stuff in
place and make the toughdecisions and be then, don't be

(02:45:02):
afraid to be criticized byanybody, right?
You know, across, white orblack, I do, I do what I do and
Ty, watch me do what I do, and Iwas like no one bothers me
because I'm the Lord, is with meat all times and he's making
everything I put my hand to doprosper.
So we can get people into thatmindset that it really doesn't

(02:45:22):
matter what someone thinks aboutyou is about what you think
about you, man.
So many people will have arevelation that will
revolutionize their lives, man,and we can get some things
really cracking around here.

Speaker 1 (02:45:33):
Yeah, there are a lot of there are a lot of good
things about being in a smalltown environment.

Speaker 2 (02:45:39):
Try that in a small.
All that, all that, and thenthe.

Speaker 1 (02:45:45):
The Jason Aldean song and now the rich men north of
Richmond song, like, like.

Speaker 2 (02:45:48):
I get it.

Speaker 1 (02:45:49):
I get it, I understand where they're coming
from and I'm with itwholeheartedly right.
But there are a lot of badaspects of a small town to that
restrain people from Achievingcertain things that they think
they ought to be able to achieve.
One of those is worrying aboutwhat the other people in the

(02:46:10):
community think and group think.
Yeah, good things, you knowbeing afraid to color outside of
the lines.
Because of what a person in acommunity may think, or people
in the community may thinkbecause they're.
Because there are less people.
There are less spaces forpeople to get in where they fit
in.
Yeah, absolutely so.
There's a tendency for peopleto not get outside of the Tribal

(02:46:31):
way of doing things, if youwill, and that's white and black
.
That's just a human naturething in small towns, where we
have to be able to say I'm anindividual, yes, I want to be
respected and accepted by allpeople, but at the same time,
I'm not going to muzzle, put amuzzle on myself to appease the
emotions or beliefs of thepeople that are around me.

(02:46:54):
If I think something's right, Ithink it's right, I'm gonna say
it.
I'm gonna do it in a respectfulmanner, but I'm gonna let
people hear what's on my mindand I think that's healthy.
I think that dialogue is 100%necessary and healthy to the
Improvement and strengthening ofa community.
Cool when you give people theopportunity to reject what you

(02:47:14):
have to tell them it falls tothe environment.

Speaker 2 (02:47:18):
When they do start to agree with you that it's not
forced, I think that's a goodthing to do.
When they do start to agreewith you that it's not forced,
mm-hmm, they're more willing toactually accept your information
Because they don't feel likeyou're trying to deceive them.
That's why I love open, honestcommunication, because if we
both can just be honest, bothtalk from our Perspectives,

(02:47:39):
which we all got our ownperspectives.
Um, we all live live differentlives but I'm giving right, man,
it's yeah, you know, and thenwe can talk through it and why
we have the perceived realitythat we have.
Then we can get to the corestuff.
It's like okay, if this isreally reality or it's just
something that I experienced,that it's kind of rare, you know
, and I think once we start thatpill in back, that and then we

(02:48:00):
start actually looking at stuff,man, so many people will be
like you know, we really justlike, you know, you just grew up
on the other side of railroadtracks, but that's, that's
really it, you know what's wild,also in a small town
environment, is we allow what wesee on these screens to.

Speaker 1 (02:48:21):
I feel like I got a sneeze.
I do had to sneeze, consolidate, excuse me.
All right, so we allow tv media, radio, podcasts, whatever we
see on our screen to form ourperception of our neighbors, as

(02:48:42):
opposed to To communicate inperson with our neighbors.
Now, yeah, and so we live inproximity tofer, you and I live
in proximity, pretty damn closeto one another.
Yeah but and so do you know 7000 other people in this town of
Philadelphia.
But our perceptions are formedmore so Based off what we see on
that screen, as opposed to theconversation we have with our

(02:49:04):
neighbor Right, and that'ssomething that needs to change.

Speaker 2 (02:49:07):
Yeah, we gotta put the phones down, man.
I'll get back to the dinnertable talk or whatever got going
on from porch baby, oh yeah,from porch Meetups, coffee shops
.
Um, just, we got to get back tohaving those conversations and
um, and not always Disregardinga complaint or an issue because
of who it's coming from.

(02:49:28):
You know, because I knowsometimes, you know if Ever like
white privilege.
If a white person complainsabout something, the first thing
they say, well, you white, solong the white complain, right.
Or if you're black, it's like,well, black people have always
complained about that.
It's like, maybe this is not,maybe they have, but this is
really something that's going.
Like, yeah, we may really takeeach situation as it is.

(02:49:50):
And, um, man, I'm telling you Ican see this turn.
You know, town turned all theway around, man, and I wanted to
happen here.
I'm a big believer in if we canget Mississippi turned around,
every other state in Americawill be turned around.
No doubt, no, I have no doubtthat if we can get Mississippi

(02:50:12):
booming and blast and it just inunified and just people, just
like what the heck is going on,every other state will follow
there.
We have to.

Speaker 1 (02:50:19):
I think we can.
As we were talking about,ironically, before we came on
air, we are A cultural creativehub.
I shouldn't say hub.
We are a source For creatives,whether it be writers, musicians
, painters, artists, authors,ballplayers the list goes on and

(02:50:41):
on and on.
We have some of the best inAcross all industries right,
it's particularly when we'retalking about the arts.
But Mississippi lacks A creativehub.
They lack a cultural location,town, city that those creative

(02:51:02):
people from Mississippi can goand recognize that they have a
community there.
Whether it's a comedian,whether it's a musician, whether
it's a producer, whether it'syou name it, you know there are
people that they're going toneed social media marketing
tools.
Artists need those resources,as you spoke to earlier.

(02:51:23):
If we can create that and I'dlove for it to be in
Philadelphia, and I think MartyStewart's Museum and
Revitalization of the LSDatorcan be the embers of the flame
that we just have to put oxygenon Right and we just have to let
people know that hey look,we've got the inspiration, we've
got the initiative and theambition.

(02:51:44):
We just need the creators tocome kick it with us, come live
here, come create here.

Speaker 2 (02:51:50):
Yes, Plenty of land out here, man.
The town is big enough to getwhat you need.
But you're right, I mean itjust so long.
I mean you got Marty StewartHardy, who's killing it on the
country scene right now.
Then you got Tofer, one of thebiggest hip-hop artists in
Mississippi, all in one town.
Besides, everybody else iscreating a lot of cool stuff
here, For sure.
It's like well, the city can saythat, and it's a small town in

(02:52:13):
Mississippi, none.
So it's like we have the peoplecoming out of here.
Why not do something with it?
And I would love to see that.
Maybe, like I told you earlier,when I was in Augusta, we had
to create Augusta, where we kindof put on conferences, kind of
educate creators on the toolsand stuff that's available to

(02:52:33):
them and what they can do tofine-tune their arts and their
skills.
I would love to get that type ofknowledge taught here in
Philadelphia, man.
And then now, like you said, wecould bring in people from
Jackson and everywhere else thatfeel comfortable coming down
here to make that happen.
I mean, and like I said, we gotthe LSD, which is a really nice
place we could put on stuffwith.

(02:52:54):
We got the College of Sam, ifwe really need to bring people
in and have big conferences andthings like that.
So all I can say isPhiladelphia is about to have a
transformation the next fouryears that they ain't never seen
before, and I know that youknow.

Speaker 1 (02:53:10):
Is that you saying you're going to run for mayor
type?

Speaker 2 (02:53:18):
That's what I heard.
No, sir, I mean people ask methat so often.
Man, it's like hope you're notrunning for mayor.
I'm like I'm not, I just don'tfeel called.
I would put like this Right nowI don't feel called to be a
mayor.

Speaker 1 (02:53:27):
I totally understand that.

Speaker 2 (02:53:29):
But if push come to shove and I really feel like
it's my call and I have noproblems stepping into the
position and I would do my best.
It's not about and I alwaysleave with principles first.
I'll never leave with my skincolor first and I will always
leave with principles first andI'm looking out for the best you
know for the lowest man, Likewe're going to make sure we try

(02:53:49):
to get everybody the help theyneed and address the issues that
we can address.
And I think sometimes too, thegovernmental body tries to take
too much responsibility forstuff that goes on in community.
What I mean is a lot of stuffshould be fixed within the
community.
You should never even get totheir doorstep and we should be

(02:54:10):
out there working that andmaking that happen, Because when
they're so busy distracted byor occupied with dealing with
stuff that we can handle on ourown, they don't really get to
the stuff that we really needand what there was elected for.
So I think we, as citizens ofour local town or city, whatever
state, we should be busyhelping them, help us.

Speaker 1 (02:54:29):
Yes, we need to recognize that the government is
not God.
Yeah, like the loss, I thinkit's very important to believe
in something, except for thegovernment.
I mean.
I think religion of any kind isgood, especially, you know, the
one that results in the goldenrule and the basic principles of

(02:54:51):
being a good human being.
But, like, when it goes from areligion to government, when
government becomes a religion,you have a problem, and that's
where we are in a lot of placesin this country right now.
Fortunately for us, we're still.
We're in the Bible belt.
Obviously, the religion is stillvery much intact and dependence

(02:55:12):
on the government is not, orworshiping of the government is
not as is prominent in this partof the world, although I will
say I do believe that theDemocratic Party has implemented
policies that black people havesupported for too long, and
they have become as a group ofpeople in Mississippi.

(02:55:32):
I'm not saying I'm not speakingfor all black people, I'm just
speaking for my personalexperience.
What I've observed they'vebecome too dependent on the
government.
Yeah, and what I mean by thatis from schools to prisons,
black people find themselves inplaces with government too often
.
In my opinion, it's a detrimentto them as people.

(02:55:56):
It takes away their ability, alot of their ability, to stand
on their own two feet as apeople.
Like you mentioned the downfallsof integration.
That was one of them.
Yeah, a government forcedsituation where if, if you know,
if a liberal in the New YorkTimes listens to me say this,

(02:56:16):
then I'm a racist white bigotfrom the south, you know, they
just throw that, that card on meautomatically.
But the fact of the matter isis that there were a lot of
things that were that impactedblack people negatively when
integration happened, and so Ithink you know the black dollar,
for example, killed the blackdollar, the buying power of

(02:56:39):
black people as a whole.
I mean, it blows my mind.
When I go to blackneighborhoods not just in
Mississippi, even when I was inNew Orleans, and even more so
when I was in New Orleans blackpeople don't sell black people
shit.
It's Indians, it's Asians, it'sit's and there's nothing wrong
with that.
But it seems like I would wantto see people of my color, my

(02:57:03):
race, you know, tending to myneeds in the marketplace,
because they know me the best.

Speaker 2 (02:57:09):
Yeah, so there's two things I can.
I can knowledge this.
They said and this is kind ofhistorically proven.
So even though they wouldn'tapprove black home loans or
business loans in blackcommunities because of the code
right, they would still approvefor the Asians to build there.
So a lot of times that's why wesaw a lot of Asians are owning

(02:57:29):
hair stores and stuff like thatwith and stuff like that etc.
But that being said, I wonderwhy they made that distinction.
I have no idea.
Just because of the history ofblack people in America and all
that comes with well, we can saythat, but then again, it could
be, it could be, maybe they justhad better.
It could be a lot of reasons.

Speaker 1 (02:57:50):
You know, do you think it was a?
I mean, obviously it was adiscriminatory practice?
Yeah, but why make thatdistinction between blacks and
Asians in that way?

Speaker 2 (02:57:58):
I have no idea.
I think they still wanted tomake money.
They just didn't want the blackpeople to make it, I see.
So if they give out the loan,they might want to give it to
somebody else.
And, to be fair, asians justhave better credit than black
people.
That's a fact and we can lookacross the United States.
Asians probably got the bestcredit score out of that whole
race.
Broly broly, right, and that'snot something that's out of our
control, that's us making ithappen.

(02:58:20):
And so I also tell people.
It's like, once again, there'sa lot of stuff we can control
and images that we can controland perspectives.
But we don't choose to do itbecause we decided that it's too
hard to fight againststereotypes.
It's better to just live up tothem.
And I was like I'm not going tolive up to a stereotype, I'm
going to fight, I don't care howlong it takes, I'm fighting
against it.
And once you fight against itand you realize that you have

(02:58:43):
power over it, that's when truefreedom comes right, because now
you can create the world thatyou want to live in.
And if we can get to that pointblack people in Mississippi get
to that point and understandthat then we can really start
pulling our money together andbuying stuff.
There's no reason, you know, wecan put money together when Ray

(02:59:03):
Ray gets shot by the police andcome up with millions of
dollars to pay for a freedomthat they don't need millions of
dollars for, but if Ray Ray wassick with cancer, we can't put
money together help them fightcancer.
It's weird, but somehow we'vedrawn.
We're drawn to this.
This happened to us because wewere black, so we're going to
come together, but this happenedbecause we made a bad decision.

(02:59:24):
No one does anything.
It's like that's where it firststarts, but we won't do nothing
about it.
So I'm all for putting up thetime and effort toward these
things.
Like recently my wife got introuble or people got mad at her
because she mentioned that whyis there a Miss Black Neshoba

(02:59:44):
County for the fair and not justa Neshoba County?
Like there's no Miss WhiteNeshoba County, it's just
Neshoba County.
And then everyone was like well, because historically, yada,
yada, yada.
And she was like I get therehistorically, but Neshoba County
never prevented black peoplefrom participating.
That's like, well, we know that, but we just know they wouldn't
pick black people.
Well, how, you know that If youdon't participate?

(03:00:05):
Well, we don't want to take thechances to put our money into
it and never get picked.
I'm like, well, that's what itis.
Like, you have to take theirrisk.
And I said eventually you'llwin.
Eventually you can't complainabout something you didn't
partake in and you have nohistorical reason for why you
got rejected.

Speaker 1 (03:00:25):
I think that dynamic exists, much like we were
talking about with segregation,because historically, whites
have they obviously had theirschools, blacks had their
schools, and some of thosethings continue to live on.
Some of it's just as simple aswhite people want their own

(03:00:46):
thing and black people wanttheir own thing.
Sometimes it's just people arelike-minded and cultures are
like-minded and then everybody'sskin color happens to be the
same because that's just the waywe're made up.
Now, I don't think there'd beanything in the world wrong with
a black girl going to competein Neshoba County or vice versa.
I think it's more about justlike a division, if you want to

(03:01:09):
equate it to sports.
You have your American league,you have your national league,
and traditionally it's been donethat way.
I'm not saying that it shouldalways be that way.
I'm just trying to provideinsight as to why I think that
is, and I think it's.
Black people want to have theirown sometimes, white people
want to have their own sometimes.

Speaker 2 (03:01:31):
But I think it's more so that they live with black
and not anything else, becauseNeshoba County doesn't mention
race, but we want to mention theblack Neshoba County.

Speaker 1 (03:01:39):
Oh, I see what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (03:01:41):
So it's like this one is being race first, not what
you do first.
And I tell people all the timeI don't want to be the black
tophor, I don't want to be theblack rapper I don't want to be.
I don't want to be precededwith the word black.
Not that I don't love beingblack, I just don't need that to
be first.
So I'd rather have other stuffbe first.

(03:02:03):
So when we see that I just don'tlook good, and then, especially
when you're not performing ordoing it at a level to where
it's even close to the next one,for instance, you segregate it
because you just want to besegregated.
But you're, it's poor.
Like this got a $500 budgetversus a $5,000 budget.
Like why don't you just go bepart of the $5,000 budget that

(03:02:26):
you can be a part of?
So my solution to that was nextyear I'm just going to sponsor
two girls from Philadelphia andtwo girls from Neshoba and
reason I'm not doing black andwhite because it's stupid.
But also, if we even doPhiladelphia and Neshoba, most
likely they're going to be blackin Philadelphia anyway.
And it was like I mean, whydidn't show me anyway?
But it can be either or nothing.

(03:02:48):
But if you're going to compete,I'm going to pull it because I
don't want people to have thisexcuse.
So I want them to compete and Iput my dime up.
I put it up and I want peopleto see it.
So okay, if they don't choosethem, they don't choose them.
But if they don't choose,you're not money.
If they do choose them, thenyou could probably be like dang.
I didn't expect them to do that.
So if it takes Toe for a stepin just to kind of shake things

(03:03:10):
up, at least present theopportunity, and we do this for
the next couple of years untilsomebody wins, so be it.
But we got to stop high behindwhat is right and get to the
core of the issues.

Speaker 1 (03:03:22):
I think that's an interesting approach.
I will say and you may havealready experienced some of this
, maybe you haven't there'sgoing to be pushback from white
people in Neshoba County.
I mean, if one of the girls sohappens to be black, if they
enter the pageant, and I'm surethere will be black people who

(03:03:45):
are like oh, kind of like whatyou were talking about early,
uncle Tom or a white favoringblack person accusing them of
that.
Look, if you want to do that, Ithink you should.
I think you should do it and Iwill be interested to see how it
shakes things up.
Like I said, I love disruptors.

Speaker 2 (03:04:07):
I love disruptors man .
I hope it disposes so manypeople.

Speaker 1 (03:04:14):
Well, I think it would definitely awaken and
enlighten a lot of people,because a situation like that is
going to show people's no punintended true colors.
You're going to find out who'sreal and who's fake, yeah, and
that's what we need.
That's what we need, we need,we need to.
It's.

(03:04:34):
America is supposed to be aboutmeritocracy.
It's supposed to be about howcredible you are, based off of
your attributes, based off yourtalents, based off your
intellect, more importantly thanmost importantly, your
character.
As Martin Luther King saidright, you know, a man should be
judged by his character, notthe color of his skin.

(03:04:56):
We've heard that a thousandtimes, but it's so true.
And those types of situations,which obviously there's
historical context that comeswith situations like that, I
mean mainly going back tosegregation, and it's just one
of those things that is lived on.
But that doesn't say that itdoesn't mean that it has to be

(03:05:16):
forever.

Speaker 2 (03:05:17):
Yeah, I'm four-segregated.
I tell people like this I haveno problem with it, voluntarily
segregating yourself fromanybody for any reason color,
religion, whatever, like.
If you just feel like you wantto go be by yourself, cool.
The problem comes in when youtell me that I can't do
something because you want to besegregated.
That's when I started havingissues.
Now, if, also if segregationdoesn't make sense like we

(03:05:40):
haven't if we're segregated andit makes no sense and we're
suffering for it, why are yousegregated?

Speaker 1 (03:05:46):
Like the kids at Philadelphia right now that are
segregated, basicallyvoluntarily and receiving a much
less quality education whencompared to what they're
receiving at Nishoeville Central.
It's not the kids fault.

Speaker 2 (03:06:02):
Right, right and not at all.

Speaker 1 (03:06:04):
It's the system and the adults and the leaders that
either failed to allow schoolchoice or combine schools and
give every kid in the county anequal education, regardless of.
Look, if that education isterrible and it's the but it's
the best that we can provide inthis county, then every kid
should be exposed to thateducation or have an opportunity

(03:06:25):
to that education Right.
There shouldn't be this unlevelplaying field based off of an
imaginary line.

Speaker 2 (03:06:30):
Yeah, and that's stupid.
But yeah, we agree on that, man.

Speaker 1 (03:06:33):
So hey, you came in here and you did three hours
with me, not knowing what in thehell you're getting yourself
into.
I just want to say I appreciateit and I'm going to wrap this
thing up, and I hope that we canlook forward to another TOEFL
experience.

Speaker 2 (03:06:48):
Yeah, I'll be back on after we disrupt a couple of
stuff.

Speaker 1 (03:06:52):
Welcome back and I'll see you tomorrow.
Yes, sir, appreciate it, mybrother.

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#115 - Topher: Rising Above Adversity Through Music and Mindset

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}#115 - Topher: Rising Above Adversity Through Music and Mindset