Hustle Hard or Hardly Hustling

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This episode is all about hustle culture! We explore its complexities, share some outrageous quick money stories, and reflect on how hustle shapes our lives and decisions. 

• Defining hustle culture through personal anecdotes 
• Exploring the pressure and rewards of hustling 
• Discussing the balance between hard work and self-care 
• Personal stories about quick money and creative hustles 
• Reflecting on cultural influences on our work mindset 
• Learning from the experiences of individuals in different hustles 

Keep hustling smart and stay tuned for more stories and insights!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
What it do.
What it do, family.
You're now tuning into Trenchesto Trophies podcast.
I am unique.
Check it out.

Speaker 3 (00:12):
Check it out.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Check it out, check it out, check it out, all right
y'all.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
So welcome back to the Trenches, to Trophies
podcast.
Today we're going to bediscussing that hustle culture,
and what are we talking about?
That's that no days off thatget it out the mud type
mentality?
Yeah yeah, but before we getinto it we're going to start it
off a little light for y'all.
So I got some what we call stirthe pot questions.
That's going to hopefully keepthe energy up a little bit for

(00:41):
y'all.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Stir it up.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Dan.

Speaker 3 (00:49):
So I got some scenario questions or like some,
some little icebreakers.
You know I'm saying that's whatwe'll call it today.
All right, so what's thecraziest thing that y'all have
done for quick money, likesomething you had to do real
quick just to get like a, uh, alittle piece of the?
I'm gonna go first so I givey'all a little bit of time to
think, right, all right, so Inever forget I was trying to go
to the movies with this littlechick right now mind you, I'm in

(01:10):
high school broke his head,didn't, didn't have a lick of
none to my name, bro, why I gothrough?
I go through.
Somebody close to me'sbelongings found me a bag and
sold that motherfucker.
It was some niggas outside thehouse running around doing some
fuck shit, but I know them fromfrom school, so I know they, I

(01:31):
know they blow yeah so I waslike, hey, yo, I got this, anise
, bro, mind you, that shit wasstale, it was pale, it looked
horrible, bro, disgusting.
But I sold it to me.
They bought that shit, and Ihad enough to buy me,
motherfucking, to go to themovies, bro, like that shit was
the craziest turnaround ever,nigga.
My heart was thumping fast likeI ain't know how I was finna
get no bread and I this thething, though I ain't tell you

(01:54):
she was coming to get me, so,mind you, a nigga also didn't
have a whip, bro, so she was onthe way to come pick me up so
that we could go to the moviesand I had no money so I had to
literally I really went throughthere, found me a dime bag and
pushed that whole thing.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
That boy had no business even messing with her
bro, and that's the thing thatbro had no business mess.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
But I had no business messing with her in the first
place, just period off gp.
Yeah, that's just so.
That's like the craziest thingI did for some quick bread.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
For me.
We used to work at this placein the airport.
I forget the name of it, it wasa little candy kiosk in the
airport.
So the quickest thing that Idid for money was weigh up some
cashews, charge a motherfucker$10, and put it in my pocket.

(02:45):
But after that 10 it became ahustle.
It became a hustle like I was.
I was making more in a weekthan what I would.
My check, bro, like quick moneybro, like that's hey look, they

(03:07):
couldn't tell, cause I wouldn't.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
I wouldn't sit in there hustling see, that's
similar to me, and when I gotthis, I had the same type of
thing, cause I really haven'thad anything that was crazy
grimy.
I think that's the difference.
I mean.
I think it was grimy for long,short when I worked at grimy.
I think that's the difference.
I think it was grimy for long,short, short, but not worth that
footlocker.
Man, yo J's was $100.

(03:30):
You know what I'm saying.
Tags was like $112.
I'm charging $122.
You know, pocket $8.
That was it Because at the timewe didn't have the thing on the
register that you could be ableto see how much you're paying
as a customer.
So it was really all on me.

Speaker 3 (03:49):
So that was some grimy shit.
It's like a charging niggasextra tax.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
I mean.

Speaker 1 (03:53):
Trump ass nigga Charging niggas extra tax.
It was dirty, you know you know.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
So that was good, that was good.
I got another question fory'all, though.
All right, that was good, thatwas good.
I got another question fory'all, though All right.
So if you had to say so, let'ssay you had to give your hustle
up because it wasn't working.
What hustle was it Music,really?

(04:21):
Why you say that, though, nigga.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Because like my brother he'd be like he the one
who put me on auto-tune.
I was stubborn.
I was like bruh, I can rap, Idon't need auto-tune.
But that's what today is.
It's people using auto-tune anddoing different stuff that I
just wasn't willing to do.

(04:43):
So I felt like my talent I canstill rap, but my talent kind of
fizzled out with the new stuff.
Bro, like I'm just not going todo it bro.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
You feel like you wasn't adapting to the times.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Yeah.
So that's one of my littlehustles that I kind of gave up,
bro, like I ain't really want togive it up at all, like I still
feel, like I still be in thecar rapping and shit, like, but
I just I can't lay down on musicbecause I don't feel like it's
worth it, it ain't worth my timeand you ain't generate no, uh,

(05:17):
enough money anyway, that'sinteresting though.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
so so you feel like just to just to build on what
just said you feel like if youget a hustle, if you feel like
you need to stop, what's goingto make you stop is if you feel
like it's not worth it.
So not that you don't feel likeyou should be doing it, or if
you're even good at the shit, ifyou just feel like it's not
worth your time.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Nah, because it wasn't working.
It wasn't working, it wasn'tdoing what I wanted it to do.
You see what I'm saying.
And then I wasn't putting inthe necessary steps that my
brother would put.
He going to the studio, bigstudios, I make my studio myself
, you know what I'm saying, andthen I try to engineer it myself
.
So I feel like I don't need allof that.

(06:08):
But in actuality I should havebeen doing what he was doing and
marketing my stuff a little, alittle better.
I could have, but the moneythat I saved in not going to the
studio was the shit that I wasusing for my marketing.
So I put more marketing in myshit.
You know, he's just doing his alittle different, you know.
But man, it wasn't working, bro, like, yeah, I was getting fans
and shit like that, like people, when I, when I did a show and

(06:29):
I um, excuse me, when I, when Idid the show and I I uh rap, uh,
go up.
Bro, when I tell you I've neverfelt that feeling to where I
just I had to turn up bro,because they was vibing to my
shit, I was like, oh, yes, it'sgoing down in this bit.

(06:51):
That boy got he got all that.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
Uh, um, what's the word he's looking for?
Euphoric?
Yeah, yeah, it's a euphoricexperience like I.

Speaker 2 (07:01):
I started walking around in a crowd and shit like
that.
I was having fun at that point,but at the end of the day, did
it equate to any streams?
Did it equate to new fans?
It was probably three peoplethat was like man, show me, like
what's your name, and shit likethat.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
So what you do?
You feel like you run out oftime.
Nah, because people still tellme to this day like they like,
bro, you can still do it, youtripping but I remember we had a
conversation before like um,you know, nowadays and this, a
lot of things, occupation, theywant guys and people who's
younger.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, you know, they look at oh, as you get to a
certain age, you not supposed tobe rapping, no more yeah you're
supposed to be going into likeengineering and doing something
else I mean, but tell that tojelly roll, who just won like
some rap.
I'm telling the killer, mike,who just you know what I'm
saying, like yeah, I get.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
I get that.
However, they jelly roll.
Now he's in a differentcategory.
Now, if Killer Mike came outtoday, no, and that's where I
would be I would be on a fresh.
I'd be a fresh start you knowwhat I'm saying.
Like I don't think what KillerMike saying today.

(08:14):
Somebody will be like oh, whois this nigga?
Like who is this new nigga?
I'm finna, listen.
Nah, they gonna play us becausethey.
But it all depends because he'sa very talented artist and it
depends on what he puts into it.
Like I don't, I don't think atthis point I'm willing to put in
what I was willing to put inback in the day.
I don't even have that muchtime to be sitting there writing

(08:36):
this shit like that.

Speaker 3 (08:37):
But so you got to have a heart for the hustle, and
I think that I think thatthat's important, right.
So, to bring it back to the, Ithink that that's what we have
to remember, because I say,niggas, I can speak for myself.
I picked up a lot of hustlesgrowing up.
I tried a bunch of differenttypes of shit, right, and so
there was certain shit thatworked, certain shit that didn't
work.

Speaker 1 (08:54):
Such as Like for me something that I stopped.

Speaker 3 (08:57):
My shit's a lot less serious than my boys here, but
it was like Like flipping snacksin high school, so like we used
to go across to like the BP orlike a Schnucks, and my dumb ass
got caught one time Old schoolcandy.
Yeah, used to go grab all kindof shit though Starburst and I
like the Skittles, Jolly RancherChews.
Tootie Fruities, all the shitthat people fuck with Yup
Fruities in a bag.
You know what I'm saying?
Da, da, da.

(09:17):
And we used to go my cheetosfunyings when them shits first
came out and shit like that'sbecause we was getting for 10
cent.
Yeah, but that's what I'msaying.
But a nigga was flipping it andI wasn't making no money.
I was making an extra 25 cent.
I was making an extra, so itwasn't worth it because the
niggas was stealing.
Like I had homies who was doingit the right way shout out to

(09:38):
my boy jojo but like I alwayshad homies who was doing it the
right way going to get likehaving their parents buy it from
the store or whatever.
Like flipping it like fundraisertype candy you know what I mean
.
But like that's how I knew Iwasn't cut out for it.
I'm like, bro, I'm risking allof this.
And then I got caught.
Once I got caught, I was likeall right, this is a dead
mission.
I was like, yeah, this is dead.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
I lesson one time.
Well, it just was for me I waslike ain't no point, because I'm
not getting no bread from it.
So it's like this hustle isdead.
If I'm finna be getting caught,I mean, that's where that's
what I mean.
Though if it's not generatingwhat you want it to, then it's
not worth it.
You know, I'm saying whetherit's money, whether it's streams
, whether it's um likes anything, if it's not generating what
you want, don't the hustle ain'tworth it.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
Abort mission, you know?
Or at least change it up.
You know what I'm saying.
Try a different approach.
But before we get to the nextquestion, what about you, unique
?
You got a hustle that you triedto start and then ended up like
, yeah, this ain't it.

Speaker 1 (10:35):
Honestly.
Nah, you know, I was justliving.

Speaker 3 (10:40):
Yeah, existing.
I wasn't necessarily.
I ain't had no side hustle, nah.
Nah, I went straight to it.
I'm cool with that, though, butall right, so let me get into
this next question.
So when you think about thehustle mindset just the mindset
of like going to get it, getting, getting it by any means
necessary who taught that to youand in what way did they teach

(11:01):
that to you?
You know, I'm saying do youremember the actual lesson that
happened, or the conversation?

Speaker 1 (11:06):
For me.
I don't think it was taught.
It was something that I wasable to watch and I wouldn't
even my father, so my pops.
He worked on the railroad.
I remember times where we'd beout and he'd get a call you know
what I'm saying and plans wouldget canceled because, he got to
go get the money.

(11:28):
I was very fortunate to see andunderstand to a degree at that
point what sacrifice was,because he would sacrifice his
time with his family you knowwhat I'm saying at certain
points to put food on the tableRight.
So I was fortunate to be ableto see that at a young age and
and watch that.
It wasn't taught.

(11:48):
So I had an example visibly tosee that and I don't take that
for granted because I know a lotof guys, especially my age, did
not see that at all.
Like you know, I'm saying y'all, y'all can speak on it whenever
y'all feel.
But but I mean just topiggyback on what you said.

Speaker 3 (12:01):
I'm gonna go ahead and ride that.
So my mom's was the one whointroduced that to me, right?
So, like I always used to heargrowing up, if you don't work,
you don't eat, you know what I'msaying.
So like that was something Iremember hearing like all the
time.
So it wasn't necessarily like asituation where she sat me down
and was like this is whathustle mentality is.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
I do remember her having a with one of her friends
one time and literally said outloud like I wish my son was a
hustler and I ain't gonna lie, Ithink that hurt me to a core,
to a certain point, to where Iwas hearing that all right, like
I was like.
All right, they hurt you likeyou know what I'm saying.
You in the room and you said itwas like, and I ain't gonna lie
.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
It was like you know the mattress like one of them,
like pillows so it was, but Iain't gonna lie and I was young
bro, I might have been likesomewhere between 9 and 11, type
stuff, but at that point itjust like I started working at
like 14, 14, 15.
And I've been working eversince.
You know what I'm saying.
But what about y'all though?

(13:00):
Like Monte, do you have like astory, or did you have a
specific person who taught youabout like hustle?

Speaker 2 (13:07):
or grinding Hell.
No, it was everybody.
It wasn't a specific collective.
Yeah, cause it was.
It was my dad first, because,same with unique, my dad was a
truck driver.
So my dad would be gone allweek.
I see him on the weekends.

(13:28):
You know, I'm saying it was arepetitive thing um, and my mom,
um, before the divorce, my momprobably was working just a
steady job.
Um, after that my mom wouldwork like two jobs, go to school
, like you know what I'm saying.

(13:48):
So I saw, I saw the hustle, Isaw that grind, I saw her, I saw
her do it, I saw the steps, youknow what I mean.
And then my family, um, like mybig cousins, I mean they
hustled, you know what I'msaying.
He hustled by any meansnecessary.
He going to get that cake, youknow.
So that's, that's, that's all Iwas surrounded by.

(14:10):
So that's where I got thathustle mentality, like I got to
get it by any means.
Any means, bro.

Speaker 3 (14:19):
I rocks with that, though, cause I'm everybody
downloaded differently, you know.
With that, though, because I'meverybody downloaded differently
, you know.
I mean because, if you thinkabout it today, I think that's
what we think about with thisgeneration.
We like, they don't hustle likewe used to, they don't.
They don't like working likethey don't.
They don't get up and go get it.

Speaker 2 (14:32):
The same type of way, you know what I mean.
Just like with the tiktok shitniggas just crying, crying on
the internet talking about oh?

Speaker 1 (14:40):
they lost it all bro y'all don't have no.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
y'all don't have no hustle, Y'all don't have no
hustle.

Speaker 3 (14:46):
That's the one app, bro.
Youtube didn't go nowhere,instagram didn't go nowhere.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
So, nah, I think they ain't got no grind.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
What you mean.
So they got a hustle.

Speaker 1 (14:54):
Right, they got a hustle, they ain't got no grind.

Speaker 3 (14:56):
But the grind is they don't know how to get it up out
of there.
So there hustle and grind right.
So your hustle is what you do,your grind is how you apply it.
You know what I'm saying and Ifeel like you're the one who
taught us that.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, the grind is the footwork pretty much.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
You know what I'm saying I thought, I thought
about this too.

Speaker 2 (15:15):
I kind of off topic because I was listening to
grinding I said these niggas Isaid these niggas, this is
perfect example.
You know what I'm saying.
Um, when I was thinking aboutthe podcast, because I was like
damn, they already got theirhustle.
They talking about their hustle, but they grinding.

Speaker 3 (15:33):
But I think that's why we rocked with it, because
it was like a feeling.
Like subconsciously, you rockedwith what he was saying before
you even knew what was going on.

Speaker 2 (15:40):
Yeah, but back to topic.
You know, I just feel like theydid, I I don't know because
that you say they ain't had nogrind, um, but they, I feel like
they didn't have no hustlebecause they one hustle stopped,
so they felt like that was theend of the world, so they ain't
got no hustle to me, you knowwhat I'm saying they, they was

(16:02):
grinding, but when you run, ifyou're gonna find another way to
make sure that hustle continueswe and look so perfect, so
perfect.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Example do y'all remember the chick-fil-a girl
she was on?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
yeah man shout out to her man.
They fired her.
You hear me?

Speaker 1 (16:21):
y'all know her name.
No, I said, shout out to her,shout out to her, you know who
she is right, you know she'sdoing interviews.

Speaker 2 (16:26):
Now she's doing big celebrity interviews sitting
down with folks so that's,that's an example right there.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
When one, when one grind stops or one hustle stops,
you gotta grind hard enough tofind you another hustle, or like
put your hustle in another lensbecause she's doing similar
things ah see, this is where Iprove the point what you mean.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
So check this out stop right, there stop right
there.

Speaker 2 (16:49):
So old girl, right, what's up?
Her hustle never stopped, right?
You see what I'm saying.
So she kept grinding, theseniggas.
The hustle stopped, theycouldn't, they felt like they
couldn't grind anymore.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
You know what I'm saying, so so that's gone for
like 24 hours.
24, that's it.
It wasn't even like I was likeit was like 16 that she was
gonna be going for like a dayI'll tell you.

Speaker 1 (17:15):
And then they just went off the hinges, bro, like
crying, calling the police right.
You said they were calling thepolice.
Right, you said it was callingthe police calling the boys hey,
no, check this out, check thisshit out.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
I'm scrolling on facebook like the other day.
I see somebody saying anybodywith tiktok on their phone, I'll
buy it right now.
I said what.

Speaker 3 (17:45):
Nigga, so they are selling on eBay for $5,000,
$6,000, bro For phones withTikTok.

Speaker 1 (17:51):
I got one.
I got an iPhone 11 Pro.
That's gold iPhone 11 Pro rightnow, that's gold.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
Oh man, Look at that $5,000.

Speaker 2 (18:02):
I can replace this phone, no problem, I do.
Replace this phone Shit, noproblem, I do not need TikTok,
it ain't in that shirt.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
Fuck a TikTok.
I don't need it.
I bought a new one.
No, look, look To be honest.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
No, to be honest, because I ain't going to lie.
I know it's out of topic, butwe can go back to it.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
The one I am pissed off about was using cap cut for
other things too they weresaying that's the real, that was
the real target you want to buymy phone?
I got on my ipad, nigga butthey said but did you see?
Trump said he'll put it back onthe app store when they sell it
to somebody in the us.

Speaker 2 (18:35):
So his stance is just like if the us don't own it he
don't own us like utilizing it,but why would you do that when
there's so much shit that we usefrom?

Speaker 3 (18:45):
other countries, bro, bro, that's.
We could go down a rabbit holewith that, because we, if we
gonna get on trump's hustleculture, nigga, that's a whole
different episode, bro nah,that's gonna be a motherfucking
series of episodes.

Speaker 2 (18:57):
Nigga, I don't want to talk about that shit that's
all right, so bring it.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
To bring it back around, cause it's supposed to
be like fun, right?
I got a question for y'allwhat's the pettiest hustle that
you've ever heard of?
So, whether your homeboy did it, y'all heard about it online.
What's the pettiest hustle thatyou ever heard of?
I'm gonna let you think, so goahead.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
You got one like it ain't it ain't petty.
It's really smart, but at thesame time it's.
I mean I ain't saying it wasn'tsmart because I got one that
arguably I know a new personthat was using his girl feet on
that OnlyFans and all that Onthat FeetFinder?

Speaker 3 (19:37):
Nah, that's smart bro .

Speaker 1 (19:38):
That's what I'm saying.
It was smart Bro took picturesof other girls.
He was like hey send mepictures of your feet real quick
, and then.
And was running it up on herfeet.

Speaker 3 (19:52):
That's wild, that's funny, that's pornography man I
just gave somebody some idea,bro, bro, that's, that's human
trafficking it is for real.

Speaker 2 (19:57):
No, that's not human trafficking that's, that's
that's wild like what do youcall a feed.

Speaker 3 (20:05):
Ain't nothing getting passed around All right, all
right, what you got, what yougot, ant.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
What you got, ant, you was going to speak on it.

Speaker 3 (20:16):
So the pettiest word I ever heard of was bro.

Speaker 1 (20:18):
So it was this dude at Cis Flags and he was charging
people to skip the line, but hedidn't work there this nigga
was just standing there with aclipboard so he was like that

(20:40):
one dude, that osha dude thatwas going around bro, yeah see,
yeah, that's a good he was likethat before that, bro Bruh, that
mug is hilarious bro.
He hilarious.

Speaker 3 (20:53):
Look you stupid.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
So, lon, that's funny because I wanted to spin it off
into this.
I feel like we glorify thehustle, depending on what the
hustle is.

Speaker 3 (21:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
In our culture we tend to glorify the trapper over
the 9 to 5 hustle.

Speaker 3 (21:08):
But that's because and I think Monte said it
earlier he's quick money.
So we don't.
We don't believe in the likethe long term investment.
It's always been black peopleproblem, Right.
We're not able to hold on tostuff long enough to invest it.
So what we got to do is we wantthe quick turnaround.
I'd rather go steal fivehundred dollars than wait for a
hundred dollar check.
They come.
Then wait for an $800 checkthat come in two weeks.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying,Like it's quick money, I can go

(21:30):
get that $500, put it in my handright now, today.
But I got to go put in work fortwo weeks to go get that $800
check and I ain't willing to doall of that.

Speaker 1 (21:38):
I think that's what we got to change.

Speaker 3 (21:39):
I mean absolutely Absolutely.
But I think that's why we getso many entrepreneurs now Nine
to fives.
Traditionally they ain't reallybuilt for us, Like, because we,
we, we don't grow up in thesame environments that people
who successfully like navigatenine to fives grow up in.
Like you're usually taught howto succeed in a nine to five

(22:00):
based on the neighborhood yougrew up in.
A school you go to shit likethat.
Most of us.
Our first hustle was somethingelse.
And then we go to a McDonald'sor we go to a quick fast food
joint that don't have no fuckingrules and parameters anyway.
So we start off wrong you knowwhat I'm saying Going into the
workforce.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
I'm just saying not the path that you're taking per
se, I'm just saying the factthat the people glorifying it
and putting it out there we givethe flowers to the people who
are in that lane but, the peoplewho are doing the 95, the 95s,
or entrepreneurs.
We're not glorifying them,we're not giving them their
flowers, they're not getting theexposure they should.
You know what?

Speaker 2 (22:37):
I'm saying.
I mean it's a it's for thestreet people, like it's a
cop-out.
It's a cop-out like you can doany.
You could be an entrepreneurand do something that you want
to do, but instead you going tothat job and working for the man
type shit.
That's what they thinking.
Yeah, but if y'all watch themovie the uh the water boys on

(23:01):
tubi with um and I am notsponsoring this- you know what
I'm saying like, but it's a it'sa good movie because the the
main character, he they was um,they were selling waters on the
corner right and making bankright.
They was.
They was getting people like pfrom uh qc and all of that.
They was pulling up, givingthem hundreds of dollars and uh,

(23:22):
benjamin crump I remember that,I remember them uh, them scenes
right.
So they was getting money right.
So his mom wanted him to stop.
No, you need to stop doing that.
I don't want you to to continuedoing that because it's
dangerous.
They was like uh ti son, uhdemani.
He was on the other corner butthey was gangsters.
They were selling water butthey had the heat.

(23:44):
You know what I'm saying.
But the other little dudesacross the street they ain't,
they ain't, they wasn't on that.
So he went and got a job.
He said man, I can make morethan this in like an hour.
So he went back to the corner.
So it makes sense when you'remaking so much money in so

(24:04):
little time and you go to thisjob and you're working eight
hours, and if you're makingminimum wage, bro, in eight
hours and you making, if youmaking minimum wage, bro, you
ain't even making a hundredbucks a day when you go out
there and you could sellsomething for a hundred dollars.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
That type of hustle that type of hustle is, it
should be glorified yeah, youknow, I'm saying, that's what
I'm saying, that that type ofhustle should be glorified, not
the tropics yeah, but okay, soyou'd have to.

Speaker 2 (24:32):
You'd have to go um and be in a situation like me
and aunt, where we go into jobsand we elevate quick.
So when you think about that,um, you don't have many that
have our type of experience.
You got people that have beencashiers for 10 years you know

(24:53):
what I'm saying that have justbeen been looked over and
sometimes, sometimes, those arethe people that these people
that we trying to talk to, arelistening to.
So they hearing them.
Man, I've been working here for10 years, but they ain't gave
me no raise, they ain't did thisand did that.
But you look, on the other hand, and be like man, I was there
for what?

(25:13):
Maybe a year, and I becamestockman.
Then I was, you know, after thatI was this, and then I became
manager, you know you know they,they ain't hearing that type of
elevation, so of course theydon't want to glorify it at this
point.

Speaker 3 (25:30):
I think that's the thing we all right.
So we got to get them morepaths.
So I think that the good thingabout our generation is that we
opened up the entertainer pathright.
So now everybody wanted to be arapper, a basketball player or
not actress, right youtuber yeah, like all these things.
So the good thing is we'reopening up more pathways, but I
do agree with unique and likeoutside of that, we we still

(25:52):
kind of stuck, because we stillstuck in either sports or
entertainment and we need torealize that there are, like you
can go to school and be ageneticist, like go, you know, I
mean you can go to school andbe a pharmacy technician like
that's all.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
That's okay you know, I mean like these trades, yeah,
yeah, like I.
Yeah earlier man he wanted totake a trade, you know it like
be a welder man like we.

Speaker 3 (26:12):
Those positions we need six figures, bro, but think
about things like war right,and I hate to bring bring it
down a little bit, but thinkabout these things.
We're gonna need people whoknow how to rebuild, you know
how to organize, who know how toplan and design things like.
We're gonna need people who tostep into these roles.
Those are the type of jobs wetalk about technology and shit
right, and how they taking somany jobs away, but we're going

(26:33):
to need people to feed in all ofthat information and technology
.
So it's just a matter of knowingwhat your hustle is, because I
think that's another part ofwhat Monte was saying.
At first he was like you got tokind of not everybody got the
same level of experience, so yougot to learn at an early age
that I, outside of being able tosell this, what else can I do?

(26:55):
Like, what else am I good at?
Type shit, you know what I mean.
Like that's.
I think that's partly on theparents, right, you should be
helping your kids figure outwhat they good at.
But even if you weren't in thattype of situation, try some
shit.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
Like we should be playing all the different types
of sports.
We should.
I think that's the thing youjust you just said, but I kind
of ran over it's like you,spending time with your kids and
knowing your kids to be able toum see what they're good at and
put that in their face, feedinto it.
You know I'm saying so.
Like you see your kids good atbuilding stuff, put things
together.
You need to be putting them toengineering, yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
You know what I'm saying?
Don't just go sit them in frontof the TV.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
Bob the builder ain't gonna help you build shit.
You know what I'm saying?
Go to the Y, do someengineering camps and classes.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
Hey, but for real Cause, my oldest sister she put
her, she put my youngest nieceand nephew Through those classes
.
They are legitimately Gettinglike certifications and stuff
and like stem work and stemresearch and stuff like that, so
they're able to be able to takethose things into not only high
school but college and be ableto be prepped for college early
on.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
If you see your kid like to draw on the wall stuff
like that.
They artistic yeah go put themin some painting classes or
something yep, I agree.

Speaker 3 (28:07):
Stop beating the talent out your kids because
they didn't drew on your wall orthey didn't did something.
They got extra energy and theyrunning around the house.
That means they got.
They should be doing somethingelse.
Get in my outlet in some typeof way.
That's why I wish with me andmy wife was talking about it.
Like we need to be thinking howwe live.
Can your kids go outside andplay anymore?

(28:27):
Yeah, like you know, what I'msaying is it is your
neighborhood safe enough for youto have a front or backyard
where they can just go play?
like are you encouraging those,those types of things, like
that's important.
I don't know, man, I think Ithink that there is like a when
I, when I think about hustlementality right, and I think
we've been touching on it a lotthere's like a good side and
there's a bad side to that shit.
Like there's a good sidebecause obviously you learn how

(28:49):
to go from point a to point b,get what you need or what you
want out of a situation.
But also, on the bad side, thatshit is exhausting, bro, like
you know what I'm saying.
And then, depending on yourtype of hustle, you can isolate
yourself, you know.
I mean, you could cut everybodyoff around you, you could do
all kind of shit.
So I think it's important totalk about how, yes, have a
hustle right, have a grindmentality, like make sure you're

(29:12):
going to get what you're outthere to get, but take some time
for your motherfucking self youknow what I'm saying like make
sure you you balance and shitout like everything ain't about
the grind we was talking aboutno days off.
I don't believe in it.
Y'all believe in it, no hell,no, I because I, I was, like I
used to say shit like thatgrowing up, but I don't believe
in no days like I mean, I getsomebody in this room like I get

(29:36):
no days off.

Speaker 2 (29:37):
But yeah, it's no days off.
But then what do you say whenyou're getting ready to take a
two-week vacation?
That means you're taking daysoff.
So there is no no days off.
You know what I'm saying like,even if you on vacation and you
take a couple calls, okay, I getit, no days off, you're still
taking calls, but you're onvacation, right, so you're good,
you know.
So you're taking time off,whether, whether you're taking a

(30:01):
day, four hours, you're takingtime off.
You know I'm saying any littletime to yourself.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
You can't say no days off when you're taking time to
yourself so I think there'speople also say that it's a
mentality, it's not a physicalthing.
They they really trying to say,they trying to put that in their
head as a mentality like a,like a amount of focus that they
have about shit because I, Ithis is why I often go with it
with this, like you're in aplace where you like doing what

(30:29):
you want to do, you're doingwhat you want to do in your life
and you don't have a problemgoing to work.
It's real easy to work everyday, you know, um, because I'm
I'm pretty much at that point.
Um, I've been fortunate to kindof do what I want to do because
I did what I had to do.
So I'm fine with working everyday.

(30:52):
I see I work earlier.
I work every day you know whatI'm saying and I'm cool with it
because I enjoy it.
I'm talking with other people,networking, you know.
So I have a conversation.
It's become therapeutic.
Yeah yeah, but the days I taketime off because I I got into
this hustle for the time to beable to have more time, you know

(31:17):
.

Speaker 3 (31:17):
So that's, that's why I'm able to, I respect it.
I think that's why, like havinga trade right just to give more
of the perspective that you'respeaking from, like having a
trade where you can control moreof your schedule, where it it's
like and I feel like a tradehas always gotten a bad rap.
Like them, people make lessmoney.
I want y'all to Google how muchplumbers make.
I want y'all to just look thatup one day.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
You know what I'm saying.
It's crazy.
If I'm wrong, is that acertification?

Speaker 3 (31:40):
For plumbers?
Yeah, I think so, but I think,it's short, though.
I like six to nine month class.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
Like it's something, don't worry about it.
2026 yeah, I mean, but for real, bro, like because even this
year probably, because why noteven just to learn to fix your
own stuff?

Speaker 2 (32:00):
you know what I'm saying?
Like yeah, the um, what, whatis that shit?
Hvac that's the shit that, yeah, I thought about doing but we
already talked about that, youbeing in the motherfucking attic
in the summertime, bro Woo.

Speaker 3 (32:12):
Them attics in Houston.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
Yeah, no sir.

Speaker 3 (32:15):
That ain't nothing to play with.

Speaker 2 (32:16):
Nah.

Speaker 1 (32:16):
You know what I mean.
And everybody attic ain't thesame bro.

Speaker 2 (32:19):
But I mean, these are the perfect skills, like if
your shit ever go out, you good.

Speaker 3 (32:25):
Bro, and not just that.
Ever go out, you good, bro, andnot just that.
Look at all these disasterswe'll be having, bro, how much
money you could be making on theside, or if you had a business
you know, think about it fromthis standpoint say I got hvac,
you got plumbing you gotelectrician.

Speaker 1 (32:39):
We don't need nobody to do that extra type of work
around the house.
That's money that we all savingand the family and the family.

Speaker 3 (32:44):
Yeah, we helping each other, help, bro, making sure.
But and why you saying that,bro?
I think I am gonna uh go get alook at like electricity and
stuff, like uh being anelectrician, because that stuff
dope, bro, and you make a lot ofbread, I like for projects,
like I don't think peopleunderstand this ain't like a
nine to five every day of theweek.
These people work on projectsthat might last weeks to months,

(33:06):
but like so y'all niggas justgonna leave me to plumbing.
Hey man, hey man.
That's how y'all feel you gottaplay the cards you was dealt.
Brother, Play the cards you wasdealt brother.

Speaker 2 (33:22):
What did you desire?

Speaker 3 (33:23):
my friend hey man.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
I'm sitting here like , yeah, I wanna do electricity
and shit like that.

Speaker 3 (33:27):
He like yeah, I wanna be an electrician, Damn sitting
here like, yeah, I want to doelectricity and shit like that.
He's like, yeah, I want to beelectricity damn, nigga took it.
No.
But like, come on.
But in my opinion, bro, that'sbecause originally I was
thinking about going to barberschool with unique and I'm like,
I think I don't think there'sanything wrong with us learning
some of the same trades andbeing able to, because then we
helping each other in thatrespect too.
Like let me teach you somethingI know or something I picked up

(33:47):
from this person same thing wedo at nine to five jobs.
To bring that conversation backaround too, like, how many
niggas do we need with businessadministration degrees?
like there's like, like you knowwhat I'm saying, like there's a
bunch of people out here whoknow how to run a business you
think it's saturated at thispoint?

Speaker 1 (34:03):
I think that what jobs are saturated?

Speaker 3 (34:05):
we should layer it.
What jobs?

Speaker 1 (34:07):
are what career paths you think are saturated in our
community?

Speaker 3 (34:12):
In our.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Our yes, ooh, mm-hmm, Look at him.

Speaker 3 (34:16):
He like, damn, why you playing fast food workers?
I'm so sick of people, bro, andthis the thing Retiring there.
I'm cool with you being therein the beginning of your career.
I'm cool with I think that wegot to get people out of like
feeling like that's the securityblanket.
I feel like we consistentlyfeel like that's just.
Oh, we can go work atmcdonald's or we can like we, we

(34:38):
run there first.
Instead of, bro, you could goget a quick admin job and make
twice as much.

Speaker 1 (34:44):
You say that, but say that's that person that we get
tired.
Tired of seeing pandering, uh,not pandering.
Yeah, pandering on the corner.
Say that, but say that's thatperson that we get tired of
seeing.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
Pandering, not pandering yeah, pandering on the
corner.

Speaker 1 (34:51):
Say that's that person.
We get tired of seeing wesaying man, they can go get a
job.

Speaker 3 (34:56):
Technically they could.
They can go get a sales jobwhere they'd be outside on the
corner anyway.

Speaker 1 (35:01):
That was really insensitive.

Speaker 3 (35:03):
But I just want you to but I just look.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
I don't know who that was, that said that I don't
know who that was.

Speaker 3 (35:10):
I don't know.
They could be the sign spinners,though To that point, bro, I
think that, depending on who itis, I know some of them people
are autistic.
I know some of them people areveterans who don't have it all
together.
Some of them people are ex-conswho can't get another job
because of depending on thenature of the crime that they
committed.
So I get that there are somepeople who can't fight that

(35:31):
situation.
However, there are a lot ofpeople, unfortunately, who can,
like there are people who chooseto because they don't feel like
they want to fit into the normsof society.
You know what I'm saying like.
So there, I think there's twosides to the coin and I'm not
going to point out who's who.
Just there are opportunitiesthat people could take, but if
not even just people on thecorner, just people in general,
All right, fast food workers.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
I'm going to tell you what do you think, what type of
career path you?

Speaker 2 (35:56):
think is saturated for our culture.
You know, like Stockman andpeople working at Walmart and
shit like that.

Speaker 3 (36:09):
Bro, I'm so sick of niggas with them vests on on the
motherfucking forklift nigga.

Speaker 2 (36:11):
I'm so sick of niggas on forklifts, bro like, and I
know I know they try to make itdiverse and shit like that, but
it's a lot of black people inthere.
But it man, it's, it's thepeople, it's not, it's both,
it's both because, depending onwho you are and what your
credentials are, your resume, um, you might not be able to get a

(36:34):
job at some of the places thatyou want to get a job at.
But it takes a.
It takes.
Like me, I didn't necessarily Iwanted to get into data entry.
Like when I was I was doingretail and shit like that.
I was working for AutoZone andyou know, I worked at Walmart

(36:55):
too.
So, like those type of jobs, Iwas like all right, I'm cool
with that.
But then I realized, like atall of these jobs I was on a
computer doing data entry.
So I was like man, all right,right, let me, you know I'm
saying, let me, let me highlightthat in all of my jobs, you
know I'm saying so, that's whatI was looking for.

(37:15):
So people need to, to highlightwhat they, you know, the job
that they like they need to doresearch on the actual
occupation that they're doingyeah, see how they can task that
they love doing at thatparticular job.
Put it in there like highlightthat's what you like doing and
something that you.

Speaker 3 (37:31):
That's a word, bro no , that's a word like I want to
make sure that people areunderstanding what the fuck
you're saying right now.
Because, like, look at what youare already doing, dissect that
shit.
So you, because I couldn't tellyou how many times I explained
what I did to somebody else andthey was able to kick some shit
back to me and be like oh on youdo.
You will be good at this.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
I'll be like what I never, even thought about that
shit before you know what I'msaying and that's why I got with
data entry when I startedlooking for jobs and shit and I
saw data entry, I was likeentering information what the
fuck?

Speaker 1 (38:00):
that's one thing.
They that's one thing theyteach us when we get out, the
military veterans, when wetransitioning, and they, they
look at your job, your mos forthe uh, you know my veterans out
there, your mos, occupation,and then when you get out, they
see how it translate to civilianlife.
So, whatever job, so like withme.
Um, I drove.
It's something simple.

(38:21):
I drove big trucks and vehicles.
Truck driver translates boomright there.
It would be easy for me to goget a truck driving job, easy
for me to get that certificationquick, or somebody like people
that's in cyber security you'redoing in the military yep
translate directly into thecivilian world.
You know what I'm saying.
So you got to break down yourterminology of your job and see

(38:44):
what translates.
Like you said, highlight ityeah, yeah so do you go research
on your jobs you currentlydoing so you can break it down
and potentially move up into abetter career field I fucks with
that.

Speaker 3 (38:55):
And for my folks who like to google shit, look up
transferable skills.
That's what we're talking about, right?
now we're talking about shitthat you do.
That's going to transfer fromjob to job to job.
If you know how to speak real,real well, you want them.
People who know how to code,switch and shit communications
customer service being at sales.
A lot of people sleep on thesales field.
These people make six figureseasily, selling whatever you can

(39:16):
fucking think of.
Every job, every company thatyou think of, has a sales
department, and I want tohighlight something.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
These are all hustles , hustles.
Every single one of them areall hustles.

Speaker 3 (39:29):
Especially if you already selling.
It's literally a quick transfer, bro.
This is one of the ones.
Outside of what we were talkingabout earlier.
You would be able to make quickmoney in sales.
People don't trip off that, bro.
You can make a bunch of moneyreal fast.
I hated them.
Jobs, though.

Speaker 2 (39:44):
I hated commission, bro.
I hated it too.
Hold on, hold on, because mylazy ass my lazy ass wasn't
willing to work For thatcommission, and that's what it
was.
I wanted to be able to justwork.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
Yeah, just put in what you.
You want to fill out thebubbles.
I want to check the boxes andget my money.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
I ain't trying to hoop and holler and jump through
all these.
When I push carts, I wanted togo get carts, take them in the
store and get my money.
I ain't trying to hoop andholler and jump through all this
.
When I pushed carts, I wantedto go get carts, take them in
the store and go home.
Yeah, yeah, that's it, yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
So are you saying you didn't have no grind?

Speaker 2 (40:17):
No, I didn't no, because I did lots of other shit
bro.
Like the job for me was it'slike all right, I'm going to
this place, I'm getting thismoney, but I got so much other
shit that I'm thinking aboutdoing outside of work, like I

(40:38):
got other hustles outside ofwork that I was kind of focusing
on.
So I want this to be easy,because what I got to go do is
hard as fuck.
You know what I'm saying.
So that's kind of where I wasat.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
I don't blame you.
I think it's mixed with whatunique said earlier.
I think you have to find someshit, you.
You like like a little bit.
You know what I'm sayingbecause, for me, transitioning I
want to make sure we talk abouttransitioning, because I worked
in food service for a long asstime sleeping on my skills that
I could, that I could have beenmaking money with over here a
long time ago, right.
However, I started there andbuilt a lot of my skills there

(41:10):
and then transferred them intocorporate america and now I've
been successful there for thepast, you know, seven years or
so.
However, there's a lot ofpeople, bro, that they don't
know what, that they got thatskill.
Right, you know what I'm saying?
They don't know, they justsitting there, kind of sitting
on it.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
So I want to make sure we talk about, like, how
y'all go there, how you gonna beable to help them identify that
like for me personally, so I.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
So I'll give y'all my story like I remember the first
.
My first job was six flags,working at papa john's my guy.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
I remember that boy bro.

Speaker 3 (41:41):
Yeah, like I worked at six flags bro bro, and like I
was running that mug bro and myhustle was that, bro?
They had me in there by myself,right?
So I'm like I gotta doeverything, but I'm one of them
people In my head.

Speaker 1 (41:53):
I compete with myself .
He hated Going there, causethen you had to Like catch a bus
or something.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Bro, this the thing I used to have to pay my bird To
take me to the station To catchto the work.
But they used to charge us tocatch the bus to go to work, so
I used to pay my bird all thetime he in the black.

Speaker 1 (42:11):
He ain't gonna be in the black bro ps.

Speaker 2 (42:14):
Everyone.

Speaker 3 (42:14):
A bird is a mother sorry guys, the person who
birthed me, um, but yeah, butfor me, like it was, it was
stressful, but at the same timethat taught me some hustle.
Like I was getting up, I had toget somebody to get me to the
station, to get up to go ridethis bus, bruh, bruh, like that

(42:37):
was.
That was different, bro, but Ifeel like for me I learned what
I was good at.
Like at that point I was goodat talking to motherfuckers.
People just like to stop andhave a conversation with me, so
I it kind of started right thereand then every job I had they
was like, oh, we love the wayyou talk and I ain't trip off of
it till literally nigga, all ofmaybe four, five years ago,

(42:58):
that this is what I'm supposedto be doing with my life.
Like, oh, nigga, I'm actuallysupposed to be communicating
with people.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
Like this was a natural skill that I had, that I
was, you know people wasalready telling me did you
figure that out when we wasworking at uh this?

Speaker 3 (43:11):
but uh-uh, so I so, before I left st louis, I was
working at a job, and that'swhere I like, that's where the
seed kind of like sprouted.
It was kind of like because Istarted talking for a living,
like I literally had to trainpeople how to do stuff for a
living and they were like I lovehow you walk me through and
they would refuse to talk.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
You want to know when I saw it.
You know what I'm saying.
When it's crazy, when you canreally sit back and look at
people and lives and you knowthe term or the the phrase.
Yeah, people see it in youbefore you do yeah I saw it in
you when you was interviewingfor putting edge oh yeah, nigga,
what was I?

Speaker 3 (43:46):
what?
17, 16, 17, that's when I sawit in you, because you had to do
various things.

Speaker 1 (43:50):
It was various tasks yeah and in that interview
process and you were the lastone standing out of like a
hundred people I went there, youknow, I went there me and
tables went there with you.
You know, I'm saying it wasreally for you.
They had.
You had me interviewing goingthrough this bs.
They had us making up songs onthe spot like literally making
up raps and stuff on the spot Iwas just doing it for my partner

(44:12):
.
You know what I'm saying, butit was.
I saw it then the way you wasable to.
Just, you know, I'm saying I'mmoving to those different guys,
bro.

Speaker 3 (44:19):
It's so crazy, bro, but to your point, it's some
shit that you do, naturally,some shit that you, that just
comes out of you, bro, talk toyour friends, talk to your
family, talk to motherfuckersaround you.
If you really feeling lost andyou like, man, what's my hustle?
I don't feel like I got ahustle, I feel like I ain't got
a grind.
Talk to people around you, bro.
They'll literally pour into youwithout you knowing.

(44:41):
Like, what am I good at?
What do y'all count on me foryou?

Speaker 2 (44:44):
know what I'm saying, but it takes you to find it
though, bro.
I telling me before I gravitateto it yeah, because you got to
find it because you can't, likeyou have to try different things
.
Man, you got to see what you doand don't like Like I don't
like working in fast food.
I will never do that againbecause I don't like smelling

(45:05):
like fast food.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
What was your last fast food job?
I don't like doing the task,huh.
What was your last?

Speaker 2 (45:10):
one, jimmy Johns, I ain't gonna lie.
See, that was my hustle.
I was hustling sandwiches.

Speaker 3 (45:15):
But Jimmy Johns Felt like cool, cause you ain't got
no grease, like ain't no, youain't smelling like.
Nah, jimmy Johns was cool.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
Jimmy Johns was cool Bruh like I was the manager Up
in there, but yeah, I got aclient that work at Jersey
Mike's.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
But I rock with that Like cause.
I feel like you should knowyour limitations, right.
So I point though, because youmade a really good point try a
bunch of different shit to knowwhat you good at, because, like
now you know, cashier ain't mything, don't put me, I'm not
taking your deposits nowhere.
Leave me the fuck up out ofthat type of conversation.
So now you know, but not, butyou've seen yourself succeed in

(45:46):
other areas, so you legitimatelyknow like, okay, yeah, but this
is so I think that's the thingtoo just some slight, like you
find.

Speaker 1 (45:55):
Identify your hustle, but make sure you versatile
with it, because if, ifsomething happens, you have to
have a backup plan yeah likewith me.
I have to really think about it, bro.
I can't be out here just boxingand doing all that I work with
my hands yeah you know what I'msaying?
Very smart bro.
Yeah, I can't like doctors andshit bro, they don't.

Speaker 3 (46:15):
Like you think about it, them niggas could Probably
break your fucking neck.
They know all your Pressurepoints and shit, but they not
finna engage with you, causethey hands Are their business,
bro Like.
Like A doctor could fuck you up.
He knows where Everything isbro, and he's like bro, like you
gotta think About that shitlike a scalpel.
He'll fuck you up, bro, man.
Like he know exactly what whatpart of your temple does he hold

(46:38):
it just like he's a fist, andboom gonna hit the ground like
leave them people alone but uhbut for real, bro, like I think
that that's important to talkabout the, the hustle culture,
but I also want to talk abouthow we.
We talk about our individualhustles, right, but we also kind
of come from a bigger picture.
So, with all of us being blackmen, right, especially with
those of us who have kids, right.

(46:59):
So you're, you're raising blackchildren.
Let's talk about the hustlelike mentality, because we just
talked about how that shit couldbe positive and negative.
What are you, what are youtrying to pass on?
Like, what do you feel like isgonna be part of the black
experience?
Like I feel like for us, likewhat I said my mom used to tell
us all the time like if youdon't work, you don't eat.
Like I feel like, culturally,son, daughter, niece, nephew,

(47:24):
regardless, that's something I'mgonna instill in them.
Like you have, like even, uh,biblically, faith without works
is dead right.
So everything that life istelling you you got to get up
and go get it.
Do not sit back and let lifehappen to you.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
All I want to teach is like it's the grind.
You know what I'm saying.
There's plenty of hustles, butyou grind for it.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
So whatever it is.

Speaker 2 (47:45):
Whatever it is, you grind for it, because grinding
equates to hard work.
So you know you got to grind.
I don't care what you do, justmake sure you do it to the best
of your abilities.
You know I'm saying I don'twant you to slack off and feel
like, oh, I could chill this day.
No, put your best foot forwardand everything you do, flat out

(48:08):
I rock with that, I rock withthis, so I want to.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
I want to focus on our experience as as black folks
, though I want to focus on ourexperience as black folks,
though I want to like I'mcurious on how y'all feel about
our culture.
Do you feel like the culture,the state of the culture now?
Do you feel like it's positive?
Do you feel like the blackculture or whatever even if you

(48:31):
want to call it hip hop, right,whatever the culture is do you
feel like that shit is helpful?

Speaker 2 (48:33):
in general.
Say that one more time.
The black culture, so okay.
So I want you to think aboutshit like this.

Speaker 3 (48:37):
All right, I'm gonna break it down a little bit.
Uh movies if you watch fridaytemptations fire heartbeats,
right, like you.
That's the black culture.
You raise your kids up watchingsouth central, whatever the
case is, that's black culture,right.
Um, drinking out of the waterholes or going spending the
night over your cousin housemaking a pallet on the ground
Shit like that is black culture.
The music that we're listeningto, glorifying the Trappers that

(48:59):
is black culture, right.
So there's a whole bunch ofshit that encompasses what we
consider to be black, because ifa nigga walking here today say,
hey, how are ya?
What's the first thing we gonnasay?
That nigga sound white, right.
So what I'm saying is, when youtalk about the black culture
and what qualifies you as beinga black person per se quote

(49:20):
unquote do you feel like it'spositive?
Do you feel like it's somethingthat you like?
Yeah, I want my kids to fullywalk.
Welcome the black experience onthe outside from the other on
the outside the other coaches.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
I feel like it's um no.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
Interesting it's not.

Speaker 1 (49:39):
What we're doing now is working towards it being a
better visual presentation of it.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Um, we're trying to put outthat positivity, trying to
highlight different things thatother people in the culture are
doing, you know, but now it'stainted.

Speaker 2 (50:00):
It's too much confusion in the culture right
now yeah and mostly everybodywant to look like a gangster, no
matter what if you're female,if you're a male, no matter what
you are.
Everybody trying to lookgangster tattoos on their face,
dreadlocks, wicks.

Speaker 3 (50:18):
You know, I'm saying braids well, that's what you
really want to get they justwant to get tatted at 15.

Speaker 2 (50:23):
They want to get their sleeve done already
already you know, and the thingabout that is it's like at 15
you don't even know what youreally want on your arm.
So when you're going to get allthese skulls and shit like that
, you don't understand thatthose are demonic things, you
know.

Speaker 3 (50:37):
But I ain't gonna go spiritual like that, because
it's just symbols, symbols ingeneral, what you get a swastika
for, you don't even know what Imean bro everybody that go and
get these, uh, japanese andchinese letters.
You don't even know if that'sfor real what I mean.
Like I, a lot of culture.
You cannot read that shit, bro.

Speaker 2 (50:55):
I literally got this shit on my arm and it's supposed
to be Japanese.
I went to a Japanese lady.
She was like I don't know whatthat is.
Oh well, okay, that's not, it'sjust a design.
Then, huh, that motherfuckersay earth, wind foam, but.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
But I and I feel like that I'll rock with the word
that you use, though as far likeit's tainted, right, because I
think that there's some beautyin the black culture.
I asked that question just toget your mindset on or your
perspective on it, but I thinkthere's some really beautiful
shit about the black culture.
However, it is tainted.
There's a lot of things that weneed to kind of nip in the bud.
I think that there's too manychiefs and not enough indians.
I think that we need to learnhow to listen, man.

Speaker 1 (51:37):
Yeah, these things start getting exposed on a
regular for real.

Speaker 3 (51:40):
But, bro, we need leaders, bro niggas is getting
mad at rappers and sink.
We mad at nelly because heperformed, we mad at snoop dogg
because he performed.
As for trump, why?
These is entertainers?
These are not political leaders, right?
These is not niggas.
Who are we talking about?
Are the gatekeepers of ourculture.
Why are we upset?
Because we put out but we havenobody to actually count on.
That's the problem you know.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
But you know why they upset though.
Why one hey, love snoop.
But when you said what you saidbefore and then did, it
contradict yourself that youknow, that's's it you know
that's not standing on your team.
Yeah, and people look up toSnoop.
You know what I'm saying.
It's the OG.
You know everybody look up toSnoop bro, like he's a legend in

(52:26):
everything he does.
You can say he's up there withShaq, you know what I'm saying
Like damn bro.
So it's just that.
Like I, damn bro, like, so it'sjust that.
It's just that you can't go andsay something eight years ago
and then today you like ah, fuckthat, I'm going to do exactly
what I told other people not todo.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
What if he was like shit?
I just hustled his ass.
That was just part of the grind.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
Well, hey, and honestly, it could be.

Speaker 3 (52:52):
It could, but that's what Nelly was kind of saying
and honestly, it could be itcould, because that's but that's
what nelly was kind of saying.
He was like nigga it's.
And that's what soldier boycame out and said too, he was
like nigga.
Obama ain't called me.
Kamala ain't never tried to putno more fucking money in my
pocket.
Trump called me, them peoplecalled me and put money in my
motherfucking pocket I don'trespect it.

Speaker 2 (53:10):
I don't respect it okay, but here's one point that
I have to make.
They didn't call you, but whenthis man calls you and has a
history of calling people forthose type of optics, y'all
ain't understanding that.
He doing it for y'all to grabour attention, like you they.

(53:34):
Oh my God, I don't get it.

Speaker 3 (53:36):
To confuse the masses .
And I get you, I agree, butthat's why to quote Malcolm X,
right?
That's why we wasn't supposedto believe in these entertainers
.
They too fickle.
They going to go where themoney is.
Yep, that's what they hold.
That's what the whole thing isthey're entertain you for money.
So what are we upset with thesepeople for?
For doing what the fuck theywere getting paid to do in the

(53:58):
first place.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
I'm not upset at them , but you know the culture.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
The culture.
But that's what I mean by beinglike because there's certain
shit I want to make sure my kidsknow.
I want them to be familiar withknowing how street culture
works, but I don't necessarilywant them to be anywhere near
that shit.
Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Like, I feel like I benefitedfrom being around it, but I also
feel like that was just theenvironment we was in.
If I never have my kids nextsession in the first place, they

(54:22):
don't necessarily need to beworried about how to navigate
that shit, do they?
No, not at all.
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
So it's a If they ever go there.
Nah, so all of the good kidsalways have ghetto friends.
You know what I'm saying?
That's a fact, though, nigga,so they're going to end up going
back where they live orsomething like that.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
You want them to be able to adapt.

Speaker 2 (54:51):
You know what I'm saying, like my kids, I'm sorry
they probably ain't even goingto adapt.
You know what I'm saying, likemy kids, that I'm sorry they
probably ain't even gonna adapt.
You know, I'm saying when theygo back home, uh, to st louis,
and they kicking it with mycousin, my cousin be looking at
them like they are very proper,yeah, yeah and well mannered,
goddamn me like they ain't gonnabe running all over like you,
heathens yeah

Speaker 3 (55:09):
but that's the thing I realized, bro.
Like even going back home ortalking to certain people, I'll
pay attention to theirmannerisms.
I'll be like nigga, damn, Iforgot that shit is acceptable
to me Like you know what I'msaying.
Like you actually that shitcool with you.
Like I don't move, like that nomore bro why?

Speaker 1 (55:25):
I feel like you looked at them like they was the
smallest peasant.

Speaker 3 (55:30):
That's why I don't fuck with people.
I be in the cut because I knowhow I talk and I'm going to
sound like I'm above you, butthat ain't it.
But I want to know why youain't swept your flow in three
weeks Like I want to know.

Speaker 2 (55:40):
Like.

Speaker 3 (55:40):
I'm going to be over here vacuuming my shit, mugging
the shit out of you because youshould clean up, Like you know,
but it's just me, so that's whatI'm saying.
Or even going, like ridingthrough certain parts of
illinois, I see how we wasliving and like the houses that
niggas wanted, like I wentthrough some of them
neighborhoods and I look at themnow and I'm like bro, these are
worse than what we living innow, than the houses that we

(56:03):
will rent down here.
You know what I'm saying.
So the perspective just changed.
But bringing it all back, Ithink that that hustle, I think
that your grind it all based onyour exposure.
I think people who grow uparound multicultural
motherfuckers know how to dealwith multicultural shit.
Right, if you grow up around amotherfuckers who all look like
you, you don't know how to dealwith nobody who don't fucking
look like you.

(56:24):
You know what I'm saying.
So I think your hustle dependson your motherfucking exposure
to whatever it is, and usuallygood exposure comes from that
two parent household Normally,Usually when well well not even.

Speaker 2 (56:39):
Well, yeah, a two-parent household, whether
you, it's ideal, yeah, no,whether you are separate, but
y'all come together to raisethem kids that's a two-parent
household to me like.
You know what I'm saying, ify'all, if y'all on the fritz,
and y'all I said on the fritz.
That's what happens when youmove away from street culture
nigga.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
Nigga start saying shit like on the fritz.
We keep showing our age withevery episode.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
If y'all having an issue with you know what I'm
saying your ex or whatever andyou have children, you know,
then y'all ain't coming together.
But I feel like that exposurecomes with that.
You know the two-parent thing,because when you pushing your
kid not even pushing them, butshowing them different things,
like you were saying before no,I said that's funny, you're

(57:24):
talking about the two-parenthousehold.

Speaker 1 (57:26):
So I feel like we we could, we could have talked
about this the relationshipportion of the grind and the
hustle like being in arelationship with a person who
doesn't necessarily have thesame grind as you.
If you're in a grind mode andyou are someone who isn't of
that same ilk or mindset, thatcan do that could be a detriment

(57:48):
or a downfall to you, you knowhell yeah but on the other hand,
if y'all are cut from the samecloth, it could be a beautiful,
lucrative journey.
You know what I'm?
saying Now Go ahead.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
Now if I'm in grind mode and you got a hustle and
you grinding, but your grindain't doing what mine doing, I
don't want to hear nocomplaining.
Don't come complaining to meabout what show your hustle
ain't doing, because all I'mgonna say is you see what I'm
doing, I'm grinding, I'm I'm.
You know, I'm doing this everyday.

(58:24):
It's hard work.
You got to go find you know ifyou're doing her.
You got to find clients.
If you couldn't right here, yougot to.
You have to find clients.
You have to put that contentout, grabbing people's attention
, letting them know that you cando hair.

Speaker 1 (58:39):
You know what I'm saying?
Advertise yourself, market it.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
That's all you got to do.
It's hard work.
It's hard work.
And that's what people don'tget.
They don't get that.
It's hard work.
And you know a lot of peoplelike content creators and shit
like that they do.
They show people, oh this, itlooks easy, but they ain't
showing them the grind.
They don't show them all thethousands of hours of editing

(59:04):
and content that they didn't putout.

Speaker 1 (59:06):
You got to set this up, delete it.
Keep doing it over and over.
How many takes you think ittake?

Speaker 2 (59:09):
Yeah, like they not telling them that, they not
putting them through the process.
They're telling them oh, thisis how you do it and it's easy.
This is how much this costs.
It's easy.
No, that shit ain't easy.
Because one thing for surewe're doing a podcast, but y'all
behind the scenes, nobody willknow how long we've been
recording.
Nobody will know how long ittakes us to edit an episode or

(59:33):
anything like that.
It takes us to edit an episodeor anything like that.
It takes hard work.
Grinding.
This is a hustle in itself.
You know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1 (59:42):
We all still got three lives to live at the same
time, at the same time.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
But we're not hustling for money, we're
hustling for our ears, becauseit's a lot of people out there
that's like man, I don't knowwhat to do.
We just told y'all early in theepisode figure it out.
Not even figure it out, go asksomebody, but try some things.
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 1 (01:00:04):
We just trying to give y'all these trophies.

Speaker 2 (01:00:06):
You know, because those are trophies that we done
had I rise with that, though, Irise with that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:10):
So, like, whatever your hustle is, I think that
it's important to one, identifythat shit right and then execute
.
Don't forget to execute.
So a lot of us tend to sit backand we react.
I heard you say earlier, bro,well, they ain't never give me
no raise.
Did you ask for one?

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
Yes, did you have a review.
Not you personally, this nigga.
I'm not interviewing you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
I'm telling the people I'm saying like right yo,
I did it nigga.
I checked all the boxes, butlook they told me real quick.

Speaker 1 (01:00:40):
Can they be the problem too?
In our community we get, wedon't know how to take
constructive criticism.

Speaker 3 (01:00:45):
Listen bro and I it's so actively listening, which is
taking constructive criticism.
Break down what they said, butwhat was the intention?
Not even the actual words thatcame at you.
What was their intention onwhat they tried to say?
I didn't take Not even theactual words that came at you.
What was their intention onwhat they tried to say?
And then take the mean potatoesout of that shit and apply it
to your life.
We so motherfucking bro, we wanteverything to be respectful.
We don't want nobody to come atus sideways Like everything got

(01:01:06):
to be perfect and accurate.
Bro, the hustle itself is goingto beat you the fuck up, even
if you good at the shit, even ifyou good at the shit, even if
you you bless beyond measure.
Bro, I speak for a living.
I think I'm pretty fucking goodat it, and I begin my ass with
filler words, stuttering,forgetting what the fuck my
point was.
Like that shit comes withpractice.

(01:01:27):
I have to sit up and look atbullet points and look, I'm
literally looking in the mirror.
You ever read some shit orlooked on a TV show and it was
like practice, your speech inthe mirror, work like it really
do, like you sit there and youreally repeat what the fuck
you're trying to say or theenergy that you're trying to get
it'll.
It'll become better over time,but we got to be scared.
I mean, we got to stop beingscared of failing.
You know what I'm saying?
One of the dopest things I everheard of in my life was the

(01:01:48):
ability to fail forward.
Like get your ass up, fail,fall on your face.
Just don't fall on your facelike you did the first time.
Like, get get up and keeptrying, bro.
Like and that's something forme with my hustle, I've always
been a trial by fire type ofnigga.
Like I have always got up andhad to learn some shit.
Fuck it up six times and theneventually on that seventh,
eighth, ninth time, then I getreal good at it and now I'm

(01:02:11):
finna compete with the topniggas because I'm not scared to
lose the first six times beforeI get that shit going.
You know what I'm saying so Ithink that's, that's the, that's
one of my gems, and if I couldleave y'all with anything, it
would definitely be to say keepgoing, bro.
Like I understand, likeevaluating where you are in life
and saying like, okay, I don'tthink this is worth my time at
this point.

(01:02:31):
But if you love it, if you goodat it, if it's some, if people
are telling you that they wantthat thing from you, dedicate
yourself to it, man, study, putsome time in, put your 10,000
hours in and then see what's onthe other side and I guarantee
you'll see some form of success.
May not be the biggest and bestthing ever, but it will
definitely be something that youcan be proud of that you can
show other people about thetrophy hell yeah

(01:02:54):
you know I'm saying, all right,but that's my gym, that's,
that's what I'm gonna leavey'all with today, anything y'all
want to leave with the peopleto make sure that they hold on
to I believe true success isdoing something you enjoy doing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:08):
It takes the minimum amount of effort, but you
receive the income you desire.
So you got to do what you gotto do until you can be where you
want to be in life so keepstriving, keep grinding until
you where you can do what youwant to do.
You know I'm saying so keepthat grind mode.
Um, it's gonna work out inthere.

(01:03:30):
Keep pushing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:33):
I would say let your hustle live.
So, just like a human being, ithas to grow and you need to
grow with it.
And just make sure you keepgrinding, always keep grinding,
and if your hustle stop ticktock, keep grinding.
Find you something else to do,grind I rocks with it.

(01:03:54):
Alright y'all.
So we've talked about the goodTikTok keep grinding.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
Find you something else to do.
Grind.
I rocks with it.
All right, y'all.
So we've talked about the goodand the bad of hustling, all
right.
So just remember, keep thathustle alive and everything you
do be real, be authentic, andyou will see success.
All right, catch y'all nexttime on.
Trench the Trophies.
We out the trophies.