This UNDERDOG Life Story COMMANDS Respect: The Rise of Sacramento's BANGER Producer Q Made The Beat

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
What's popping? Y'all's boy Q Man's beat Turn
our test headquarters in the studio.
We got the homie powwow in the pool.
Cooking up something right now. Your studio is its own presence
in Sacramento. I mean, it is the place in
Sacramento. It's where people come when
they're in town and they want torecord.
I don't even advertise my studio.
It's all word of mouth. I don't think people know that

(00:21):
outside looking in, when you seethe results of what you've done,
people don't understand the grind and the pain and what's
gone into that. I knew how to sing, sing
Vietnamese songs, you know, theywould always come bother me to
come out and sing for the unclesand aunties and I would sing all
over the place like baby showers, BBQ.
They would take my hat off and pass it around and put money in
it. So when I was done with these

(00:42):
two songs, I would have money And I'm like, I'm I was always
broke. I'm like, I like this feeling.
I was stealing food stamps for my parents, you know, to go to
bond fair to buy food. You know, we're all chasing this
dream of music. You know, I think we need a
little more unity and try to collaborate more when we're
powerful and we're leaders in the community.
If we get together, it helps us build value amongst each other.

(01:08):
You've got strength behind your eye and that comes from.
It's crazy. So there's nothing that I
haven't seen or been through man, besides death.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I've been at the lowest
of low, so you know, it ain't nothing that I can't go through.
I like that, you know what I'm saying?
Like I've been abused, I've beenhomeless.

(01:30):
I've been without a car. I've been taking rides, hitching
rides from the friends, hopping in the trunk because there
wasn't enough room. Damn.
Yeah, I didn't want to walk. And you know what?
Do what I got to do. And look at you now, dude, I
want to, I want to hear the story, but let's I want to paint
a personal picture first, man. So man, your childhood, how many

(01:51):
siblings, where did you live? What was your household
environment like? Social life, school.
Start with siblings. That was a lot.
Siblings. I got four sisters and two
younger brothers and we're a very tight knit family now.
Back then, we used to fight all the time.
We used to fight over food. We used to hide food from each
other. You know, my parents used to get

(02:13):
a set amount of food stamps and they would go to pack and save
and they would buy like large, you know, big, you know, like a
24 pack of ice cream and, you know, a ravioli And but we would
literally like hide stuff. From the chairs were hungry.
We were hungry. I mean, we were fed, but we were
hungry. We knew that this stuff was
going to be gone fast because there were a lot.

(02:35):
Of us and then the IT wasn't going to be replenished until
the next round of exams. Yes.
And the crazy thing is it's likewe would hide stuff and we would
pop out like a week later, like,look what I got.
You ready to barter? Or something yes, we would
barter, we would share clothes and shoes and things like that
and and you know, and a lot of times the the mouse, we had
mouse infestation in our house really.

(02:57):
And cockroaches. This is living in when we were
living in West Pittsburgh, that's by Antioch.
For those who don't know, it was, it was 51 O before it came,
became 8.925. Yeah.
But yeah, this was back then, a long time ago in the Bay Area.
I live in SAC now, but yeah, yeah.
You know, that's where we, I wasborn in Stockton.

(03:18):
You know, we lived in Oakland and then we went to West
Pittsburgh. We lived in Oakland, right,
Right by my off High Street, right next to my cousin's house,
My auntie, who is, you know, my mom's older sister.
Their family was little, doing alot better than our family.
They had businesses and their house was very nice, you know?

(03:40):
So safer. You're safer.
I mean, this my auntie's house when when we went over there was
a treat because they always had the newest PlayStation, or I
mean Sega. When we had Nintendo still, you
know, they were on to Sega and they had the nice couches with
the plastic still on in. And most importantly, you felt
safe. Yeah, it felt safe for sure.
But we, we, our house, we had plexiglass at on our windows,

(04:02):
you know what I'm saying? This was in Oakland.
Yeah, but you know, we never hadany grass or any trees around
our house, so it was always dry like.
What was it like in your house that wasn't safe?
Are you comfortable talking about it?
No abuse, you know, physical, mental abuse, you know, I think,
you know, everyone in our familyendured that, you know?

(04:23):
From your mom. From my my dad and it would
trick. I mean, it would be both
parents, but my mom was more mild.
But you know, growing up my parents were very traditional.
And you know, I mean, I'm, I'm open to talk about this now
because, you know, our, my parents and I, we have really
good relationship now and. That's awesome.
You know, I can talk about it now because you know, I'm over

(04:43):
it, but I didn't forget. It's part of who you are.
Yeah, but yeah, I know my mom and dad, you know, we're very
strict. You know, we couldn't talk back
to our parents, you know, especially my mom would just
talk to us and, you know, try todiscipline us.
And we've we've talked back. My dad would come out the cut
and really. Oh, no, put it on us like real

(05:03):
bad, real bad, real bad. Like, like I wouldn't wish it on
anybody or any small, you know, young kids or a lot.
More than just yeah. You know, but, you know, years
later, you know, figured out that my dad had a like an
addiction and, you know, caused him to not be himself, you know,
and you know, I learned to forgive him, you know, because

(05:24):
he wasn't in this right mind state, you know, and he was
dealing with a lot of kids. Wait, you know what I'm saying?
I have two kids myself. Damn.
Bro that's such a wise, mature outlook.
That's so beautiful. Yeah, I mean, I love my dad.
He's always been there for me, though.
Yeah, through all the abuse, he's always been there for me.
I had baseball games, He would be there.
I look over my he's standing right there by the backboard.

(05:45):
He's always been there. On him being.
Yes, he's always been there for me.
My parents are great parents. They raised a bunch of, you
know, wild kids. And we're all doing our own
thing now. Yeah.
And we still come together every, you know, and it's just
like a big, happy family. And I appreciate.
I appreciate that the most. You know, it's like a
bittersweet feeling. But yeah.

(06:06):
Yeah. So it was rough growing up.
You know, I've always, I always felt like I missed out on a lot
of things because, you know, my dad and my parents didn't allow
us to leave the house very much,you know, like for.
Friend stuff for friend. Stuff to to I mean to go to like
water world, my parents didn't have the money.
I would have to borrow secretly borrow money like $20 to get

(06:28):
into water world. And I know I didn't have it.
I know I didn't ask my parents for the money.
I knew I wasn't going to ask. But you know, my neighbors are
coming knocking on my door days later like, yo, your son
borrowed $20 and we need that back.
And I'm like. Oh no.
Now this is very like embarrassing.
And it's like, dude, I feel likeI'm going to get my ass whipped

(06:48):
for doing this, you know? And did you?
I don't remember. I don't remember, but I remember
being scared. Yeah, you know.
But I shouldn't have been though.
You know you. Shouldn't have been scared.
No. How come?
Because, you know, now, you know, it's like my kids want
some. I got you, you know, back then,
you know, my parents didn't really have that, you know, So I

(07:09):
didn't really. I was stealing food stamps from
my parents, you know, to go to Bonn Fair to buy food.
I was opening my Piggy Bank, my little Piggy Bank to take money
out of it 'cause I didn't have no money to eat.
To eat. Yeah.
Yeah. So I would really be in the
stores stealing food like because I was hungry.
Yeah. Yeah, I would.

(07:29):
That would be me. What do you?
What do you think that did to like your psyche?
How do you think that impacted you they.
Messed me up. They messed me up because it
really messed me up 'cause I knew I was doing something that
was wrong, you know, and, and itdidn't feel right, you know.
But why do these kids have everything?
You know, Why, why do their pantry look all bull and

(07:51):
colorful? Colorful and you know, why does
you know what I mean? I had those friends, those white
friends. Yeah, yeah.
Every time we went over there, it was just always a treat.
It would be pizza and it would just, we would go swimming and
it's just like, but I couldn't stay the night.
But sometimes I didn't care. Even if I didn't, couldn't stay
the night, I stayed the night anyway.
So I'll deal with it later. I'm going to have my fun now,

(08:12):
but I'm going to get my ass whooped later.
Dang, so you had to carry that around?
Were you able to? Yes, that's.
Not fun. So after the party's over,
whatever it was, and I'm going to get my ass home, what did
that feel like? I felt.
I don't know what the feeling isman.
It was just like. Anxiety.
Anxiety for sure. It messed with my mental health

(08:35):
a lot, you know, And there were times where, you know, I grew up
break dancing, you know, I was aprofessional break dancer at a
young age, but we practice everyday, like how I am in the studio
now. That's what I was doing back
then, break dancing like every day.
And there was this time where we, we had shirts made, you
know, it was this professional break dancing crew from, from
Vallejo called Crazy Face Crew. But you know, I perfected a few

(08:59):
moves that that, you know, they initiated me that night and I
was ecstatic. Because think about it.
It's like you're skateboarding with your friends and then you
seen Tony Hawk pull up and try to skate with you guys and
you're like, yo, Tony Hawk is doing some moves that is out of
this world. Like, what are we doing?
All these Tony Hawk is doing like, I don't know what the

(09:22):
moves are called, but he's doingsome crazy stuff.
He's flipping. Boards like 10 times before he
lands on his feet. So, you know, that's what these
guys were doing when they came to our garage where we were
break dancing. They were like spinning on their
heads, taking off their shoes, holding it out and just like
doing crazy moves. And back then, you know, we
didn't know of gymnastics. Now I'm like, yo, those guys

(09:42):
were like gymnasts in their garage.
For sure, yes. And I'm like, I want to be like
that, that what we're doing right now is down here.
These guys are up there. And that's when I knew.
So you wanted? To level up I.
Wanted to level up and I, I realized I re evaluated myself
and just figured that to, I havea lot of work to do to get to

(10:05):
that point. And I think that discipline that
I had with my buddies and we all, you know, helped each other
and learn from each other. It really like gave me a, a, a,
a crazy work ethic, you know, dude.
You're known for that like. You're known for like a detailed
oriented perfectionist grinder. Tell an artist you suck, try it
again. Like but also super gentle with

(10:27):
mentees. So you're also known for giving
back and for taking people underyour wing.
You help Aaron Lee find his voice and look at my.
Boy, you know, and I still help him find his voice.
I know he got his wings. He's spreading his wings and
he's flying. But I I really every once in a
while I reconnect with him. Like Aaron, don't forget, like
you still need to work hard. You still need to practice.

(10:50):
I love that, you know, like, youknow, you're not Chris Brown
yet. And.
Even when you are. You still, I just say, hey,
don't forget where you came from.
You still need to record with mebecause I'm going to get the
best out of you, you know, But I'll let him do his thing.
I mean, there are some songs that I think that he has and and
they may like it, but me, I cringe over it because.

(11:13):
You know he can do better. I.
Know that he can do better and Iknow certain riffs and runs and
things, harmonies that he's doing, it could have been way
better. Dude, that's cool and.
Not only I I'm saying this, but I can actually show him how.
So the toughness is with love. Yes, I love that dude.
Yes. I have to, I love with, with,
you know, I carry my heart on myshoulders.
You know, these people that I work with, I feel like,

(11:35):
respectfully, they're like my children.
Like I used to want to be a artist.
I wanted to sing. But, you know, I found what I'm
good at and I lived through themdo.
You did you always have that work ethic or do you think it
came from like what you went through being hungry as a kid?
Well, it came from what I went through and obviously my
parents, they're very hard workers and they're gardeners
and they work every day. They work through the rain, they

(11:58):
work through holidays and I've worked with them, I've went out
there and, and garden with them and they would pay me whatever X
amount of dollars like mom and dad, I can't do this.
This is like really like physical work.
This is like farming. This is like more than farming
in the high heat. I'm like, my mom is like barely
5 foot. She's carrying a leaf blower

(12:19):
bro. Like that would break my back.
My mom, my parents are very strong, like and.
That's before battery ones. So it's heavy, yes.
These are gas ones. My parents are heavy.
Like, yes, well, I, I got my work ethic for my parents, my
hustle for my parents. Like when we were younger, my
dad grew his gardening business.I remember driving, actually, we
had workshops where, you know, it would be all of us.

(12:41):
My, my auntie and my mom would be feeding us porridge and my,
my cousins and, you know, my siblings would be in a circle
like I would be folding pockets.My, my sister would be cutting
the, the templates. And my aunt, you know, years
later, I mean, you know, we realized that my auntie was, and
my mom were making clothes. Wow for my my my auntie family.

(13:05):
Was grinding together. What?
We were making pockets. I was, I don't know what we're
doing, but you know, now that we're older, I look back, I'm
like we were had my mom and my auntie had a a sweatshop in my
auntie. She had a whole a pop up like
she sold clothes in her store and we were making those clothes
back then. You know, we used to put my
dad's Flyers in a plastic bag and we would have mountains of

(13:29):
rocks and we would like like oneof us would put the rocks.
In the. Rocks in the bag.
One of us would put the the the the flyer, fold it, put it the
flyer in. The next person would put a few
rocks in there and then third person would put a rubber band
around it. And we would do big garbage,
black garbage bags with them. And we would drive around all
the neighborhoods and throw themin people's driveway.

(13:50):
Yeah, OK. Well, that explains that.
Explains so. That's the work ethic and then
that 5th gear you have where you're like, hey, I'm gassed,
but I'm going to keep pushing that that that could come from
like the that hunger as a that. Comes from being broke, that
comes from having nothing. And you know, I mean, it's just
trying really. That 5th gear is trying harder

(14:11):
and harder. Like, I don't know, is it just,
I don't know. It's just like we're already
defeated. I mean, at at what point are we
just going to give up, You know?I mean, there's nothing if
you're down here, there's no, there's no more down where she
can go. It's the only up from there.
You know what I mean? That's.
A good positive out What about growing up Vietnamese?
Like did you what what were the hard parts of that and the good

(14:35):
parts of that? Did you embrace your culture or?
You, I mean, it was a lot of racism growing up.
You know, I mean, I, I went to Riverview Middle School and
there was like Asian crew and there was like the, you know,
the brothers and sisters over there and there would be like
the white crew. It was like very segregated, but

(14:55):
it was a lot of diversity thoughgrowing out there.
There's a lot of, you know, Indians.
It was a mixture, you know, of race.
But I think it it all like came together when it it came down to
sports, dancing, arts and crafts.
That's when you know you see in the everybody, all the colors
together. So the arts, there's no color in
all there. Is no colors.

(15:16):
Dude, that's that's awesome. Yeah, there was no colors.
Yeah, but. When did you go from like hey I
like music, I got hip hop background with break dancing to
I want to do this for a living. Dang I I didn't man.
I grew up loving music though. I used to sing in choir.
I played in the band in elementary, saying choir in

(15:38):
elementary. And we used to go around the Bay
Area singing, you know, Christmas carols in San
Francisco, Concord. We'd be all over the Bay Area
singing Christmas carols and, you know, every holiday, things
like that. But that's what helped me like
find my love for music. And my dad used to.
My dad was a singer and my dad, my uncle, played the guitar.
So growing up, you know, my parents and uncles and his

(15:59):
friends, they would eat my mom and aunties and all of the her
friends would cook for all the guys and they would gamble and
they would sing with the live band, play the drums and play
with the live guitar. And I'll be in the room, you
know, playing video games with my my cousins.
But still. Absorbing the yes.
But then and I, I, I knew how tosing Vietnamese songs.

(16:20):
You know, I had a few songs thatI, I've memorized.
I didn't know what it it meant. You know, I was just riding
around with my dad and he would play these songs all the time.
And I just mastered singing them, you know.
And, you know, they would alwayscome bother me to come out and
sing for the uncles and aunties.And I would sing all over the
place, like baby showers, barbecues.
They would always ask me to go sing.

(16:42):
And I would always wear a hat like I am now.
And they would take my hat off and pass it around and put money
in it. So when I was done with these
two songs, the only two songs I knew I would have money and I'm
like, I'm, I was always broke. I'm like, I like this feeling.
I can buy my own Nintendo now ifI keep doing this, I can buy

(17:03):
what I like. I can buy my own candy.
I can buy my own cap gun. You know, just the little
things. You know that you see your
cousins, like I'm not going to lie to you, My cousins that I
was telling you about my mom's nephews.
Well, they're, they're into selling everything.
OK. They, I mean, their mom owned a

(17:23):
sweatshop. They always drove a nicer car
than ours. Our family did you know, they
always had the nicer things whenyou go over to their house, they
would literally be selling candybars out of their closet and
lollipops and stuff like hustling, hustling.
I was like, I didn't like that though.
Like, why are you selling me? I like because.

(17:43):
What didn't you like about it? Because they knew we didn't have
much, OK. So the fact they were selling to
their friends and profiting off that, no.
Selling to their family, I wouldbe in their minds.
So I was just like I was had a devious mindset back then.
I was like, I'm coming. I'm taking all this.
Yeah, you could have charged me.Yes, that was the come on.

(18:05):
That was the time that was on. That was the yeah, I was, you
know, I was, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say rebellious, but I
was. I grew up with a lot of anger.
Yeah, and you? Know I'm not having the nice
shoes and like, and you know, you see everybody wearing nice
stuff and didn't have that, you know, we grew up wearing neon

(18:25):
windbreakers and stuff, you know.
Where did that manifest for you?The anger?
How did that show up? I think it had a lot to do with
my abuse and, and, and, you know, all the parents and the
family members like, like labeling me as a black sheep.
You know, he's like a black person or like, you know, he's
ghetto, you know, So that I, I and, you know, growing up Asian,

(18:48):
being Asian, it was hard because, you know, I have a
Vietnamese name. You know, it's my name is Kwok
and it stands for, you know, country.
You know, it's, it's a very popular thing that you would see
in Vietnam. You know, like my name is Kwok
QOC. But I got made fun of a lot.
But you know, I I battled that with my talent break.

(19:09):
Dancing at that time break. Dancing and I was drawing, I was
an artist, I drew graffiti. I was graffiti.
And then and I had a light bulb moment when I was at a friend's
house and he was a white person,right?
But his dad, nice house, very nice, Right the.
Treats the safety, yeah. And then, yeah.
And then I'll go over there and I would be looking at the family
portraits and things like that. And I would see a signature on

(19:32):
the bottom. And I'm like, bro, the signature
means someone drew it. And I asked my friend, I forget
what his name was, but I was like, bro, who drew this?
This someone drew drawing. He's like my dad did.
And it was like the real, it'll look like a, a Kodak picture.
And at this time, I'm drawing like comics.
I'm drawing Ninja Turtles X-Men.And I'm like, I want to draw

(19:55):
like that. I want to draw like that.
And I swear every now I would draw for like. 7-8 hours and
every piece that I drew out would always bring it out to my
parents. Like dad, does this look like
Michael Jordan? Does this look like Tupac?
Does this look like, you know, all my idols that I, you know,
idolized back then? And man, what do you know?
I got, I had got a like a scholarship to the art Academy.

(20:17):
Oh wow, just. Drawing like damn dude.
So you took in all that pain andinstead of like you channeled it
into something productive, creative that wow, did you ever
get into drugs or anything or? Drinking, smoking weed.
I smoked weed a lot growing up. I mean, I started smoking weed
when I was nine years old, out of a can, a beer can.

(20:38):
You know what I'm saying? Yeah.
But with the holes in the car onthe side, I started like a W
from Pittsburgh. Yeah, I mean, I blame them, but,
you know, I love them to death. But it's like, yeah.
And, and, you know, yeah, I channeled all of that anger and
stuff that I was going through with sports.
I played soccer. I was very good at soccer,

(21:00):
basketball, volleyball. My dad was a volleyball player.
So we would be at the park everyday and I would be out there
selling sodas out of a cooler. And my dad would play volleyball
with his friends. And, and, you know, I got really
good at volleyball. I was very competitive and
everything I did, I wanted to win doing it, you know, like,

(21:22):
like if I go play a pickup game,I would yell at you and tell you
to play some defence, you know, and if you don't pass me the
ball, I'm going to get it just. One speed and everything you do,
no matter what you do, you're going to do your best work that
you can Possibly, yeah. You know, honestly, I've been
asked to be a part of a lot of things and and I felt like it
was a some great opportunities that I was, you know, that was

(21:43):
came across me, but I I didn't go through with it because I
felt like if I couldn't commit fully, then I wouldn't want to
do it because the integrity, youknow, that I have and I don't
like half assing nothing, you know, and if I start something,
I'm going to finish it. You know, it might take me
longer be by myself, but I learned that it's a lot quicker

(22:06):
when you have a team. When did you learn that?
When? Did I learn that?
I mean, a team is really hard to, you know, get together for
sure. It's very hard and I've tried
with countless friends and groups of people that I
respected and I believed in. Teach you a lot about loyalty
and honesty. And it's failed so many times

(22:29):
and I'm still struggling with itnow, you know, but I have a, a
loyal group of friends that are always there for me regardless
what they're what I'm going through.
I mean, what they're going through this, they'll come and
help me when it comes down to it, you know, So, you know, I
wouldn't even say it's a team. It's like a family, you know,
Because I know that if I'm not there, the ship isn't going to

(22:53):
move, you know? I mean, I can't expect nobody to
do what I do and how I do it with my clients.
With the intensity you mean the?Intensity and the intention and
and then the integrity. Yes, and the.
Passion, integrity, meaning likeno shortcuts.
So your best effort when you laydown at night, you have to know

(23:14):
I did my best. Because if I don't do my best
and this artist is coming to me,paying me top dollar for help
and I'm not giving them all thatI got, Yeah.
That's wrong. Where?
Yeah, it would be. I wouldn't feel right about it.
I. Respect that, yeah.
What's the hardest lesson you had to learn on like loyalty or
dishonesty and when building a team or just dealing with people

(23:35):
just. Don't rely over rely on people
and depend on people too much because people will let you
down, you know? And that's tough to say because
I mean, even your closest friends will let you down
because they got their own livestoo.
So I mean, it's not even like letting you down, but it's like
you can't expect. And you know, the entitlement

(23:56):
stuff, you know, I don't feel entitled to anything.
I like to work for everything. It sounds like it.
Selling sodas and yeah, having to make your own clothes.
You, you saw young. Hey, if you want something in
life, it comes with the price. You got to move, you know what I
mean? I was designing clothes.
I was painting on clothes beforepeople started painting on
clothes. You know what I mean?
Like I was doing that a long time ago.

(24:17):
Like, you know, the LED stuff inthe studios.
I was doing that 20 years ago. People just started doing that
now. That's sick, you get.
What I'm saying, Yeah, like, I mean, I, I normally don't come
out and be talking about. Hey.
That's what this is for, man. But I'm.
Just saying I had a vision, you know, and I stuck to it, and I'm

(24:38):
still sticking to it. And my vision's way beyond what
it is now. I feel like I still haven't
gotten to where I want to be, you know what I'm saying?
So that's what's making me, like, even more hungry.
I still work. Work like I have nothing.
Yeah. How old were you when you saw or
formed that vision? Oh, how old were I?

(25:00):
Was I? I remember living in in the
Tenderloins in San Francisco with one of my best friends.
His name is Rolly. But back then I ran away from
home because I was tired of being abused.
And it was my safe place being with him because he always, you
know, picked me up, you know, when I was stranded and when I

(25:22):
was being abused, he would be waiting around the corner for
me. And I would just run outside and
knew that he would be around thecorner waiting for me.
And we would just, we would justtake off, you know, and he was
going through a lot of stuff at the time too.
But when we were together, you know, we, we, we, we smoke weed
and, you know, I'm just like, you know, just like.
Dude, I'm glad you had that man.And you're still friends with
them. You're still close.

(25:42):
Yeah. Is he part of your inner circle?
He. Is part of my inner circle.
I mean, we had our differences in the past, but I know that I,
you know, I don't forget about the people who were there for me
before. You were cute at the beat.
Yeah, and I, I don't know, I just can't forget that.
I don't care what we go through.I've.
I will still love you even if it's from a distance, you know.

(26:04):
But he was somebody that was there for me and we lived in the
Tenderloins and he bought a fourtrack recorder from the pawn
shop. Yeah.
Enter music into your Life, OK? So, and yeah, and he had got a
little bit of money and he went and bought a keyboard.
It was the XP-80, the Roland XP-80 from Guitar Center.

(26:26):
And I swear I was making beats on that thing.
And. And.
And was it natural? Like, did you like it?
I played by ear. OK.
But yeah, I liked it, right? You weren't.
Taught it no. Wow.
I played by ear, made the beats by ear, used all the drums.
That was factory drums. But you know, the years later I
haven't learned that let's not use factory drums.

(26:47):
And I learned that from my friend Cosmo, actually.
OK, he gave me a, you know, a lot of drums that I was like,
bro, I need those sounds. You know, I can, I need those
sounds, the drums and I can playany, any sound or, you know,
synth sounds or like, you know, any sounds on the keyboard and
it'll make my beats sound better, more warm and bigger,
you know, But yeah, that's when I discovered my, my passion for

(27:10):
like recording and, and making music.
And I didn't know that I can make money off of it.
I just knew that it made me happy, you know, I knew that it
helped me. It it made me like.
Another outlet. Yeah, yeah.
It gave me an outlet and it it made me, I don't know, it was
just I just, it just made me happy.
It just helped me through depression.
Music test. It helped me through like

(27:32):
breakups with women. Yeah, it helped me through my
depression. You know, the abuse and all that
stuff. You.
Went through depression, yes, I would imagine yeah.
Heck yeah What did that look like when you would get
depressed? I.
Don't know, it was just dark sometimes.
I I didn't want to live no more.I had those moments, you know, I
had those moments where I'm like, man, I'm an adult.

(27:52):
I'm still living. I was sleeping on my friends
couches, I slept on cosmos couch.
And you know, when I came to Sacramento, I had nowhere to go.
But I, I had too much pride to go back to my parents house
because I'm like, I'm an adult now and I told you came.
Here by yourself I. Came to SAC OR.
Without your parents, I should without.
My parents. Wow.

(28:13):
I was, I was. I was with this one girl.
Respect. Yeah, I was living with this one
girl. We had our our own apartment in
Daly City and you know, yeah, I used to live off of John Daly.
Yeah, behind the a Burlington Coat Factory in those
apartments. So you came here with her?
Yeah. I came here with her, you know,
she was doing the school thing. I was doing my, my producing

(28:35):
stuff, you know, and she would come home from work and school
and I would be in here recordingsome, some guys in the house
having. Fun, yeah.
She would say it, say it was fun, You know, I didn't have a
job. I was just going to school,
getting my little grant money and things like that, but I was
still broke, you know, and I'm recording these people for maybe
$20, you know, it was nothing substantial at all.

(28:56):
You know, it was just a passion of mine.
And I love doing it. And, you know, I was just trying
to make a name for myself, you know.
And, yeah. So I, you know, we both, you
know, the girl that I was with at the time, we both moved to
Sacramento because her parents resided in Sacramento.
She was coming out here for somecourses in prerequisites for her
transfers and things like that. And that thing fell apart.

(29:19):
And I swear, man, yeah, oh, no. And then once it fell apart that
that broke me. I went into a complete
depression. So.
You're in love with her I. Was in love with her.
She was my first love. Yes, that's rough.
She knows who she she knows who she is.
You know, she called me years later on Facebook, I mean on
Instagram and she's like, oh, I see you're still at it.

(29:41):
And I'm so proud of you. And I'm that made me feel so
good. That's awesome.
It's. Weird.
That's really cool, man. It's.
So weird and, and you know when she broke over with me, her
parents, you know, they loved me, they adored me and they gave
me an opportunity to, you know, they had purchased this condo in
Carmichael and it was an empty condo, two-story, maybe 2

(30:03):
bedrooms in there. I remember and I converted one
of the rooms. Well, they gave me an
opportunity to work for them at like $10.00 an hour, stay there,
board free and and. Yes.
They, they let me live there forlike 3-4 months and I just
remodeled their whole house with, with her step dad and I

(30:23):
painted the whole inside of the house upstairs and downstairs by
myself. And they paid me to do that And
I converted one of the two bedrooms into a studio.
I literally had didn't have a bed.
I just woke up underneath my studio desk.
My closet was my booth. I had like maybe like, you know,
some clothes in the suitcase andthat's all I had.

(30:44):
Damn, I swear that's all I had, bro.
I, I at this time I had, I was driving the MX6 like headlights
falling off off of it and it was, it broke down eventually
and I went for a while without acar.
So I was struggling, bro. I was really struggling bro.
How? Did artists find you to come

(31:05):
record? Artists found me because I was
working. I wasn't working, but I was
going to ARC at the time and I I've met a few people you know
that you know, we vied and clicked and I would you know I
was at Hitwork Studio as a studio, a well known studio in
Sacramento back then. My friend Kendrick, rest in

(31:26):
peace. He passed away, but he he he was
AOG and he had the studio and everyone in Sacramento recorded
E40 be legit. Everyone that was notable back
then in Sacramento, they recorded there.
So I would be around there slanging my little beats.
I have my keyboard and I mean, II didn't they already had
producers in there. So, you know, I'm like just a

(31:46):
guy like coming around. Yeah, I make beats too.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean?
But I'd be around, but I would just, I just wanted to be
around. I wanted to be in the space.
I just wanted to admire people and just be like, yo, you're
dope. And, and I would, some people
would look at it as like, yo-yo,you riding this dude too much,
you know, but I was just like, yo, I want to be like you.
And they would laugh it off, ButI was serious.

(32:08):
I was really serious. Like I, you know, there was some
people from SAC that I really was like, yo, you're the guy.
I love the sound that you, you know, that you're creating from
the studio. I'm like, how can I achieve that
with you or how can you teach me?
How can I learn? But I just I don't know.
I just so. Humble.
You stay. You were just hungry and humble,

(32:28):
Yeah. But they never.
Yeah. But I felt like they never
really taught me what I wanted to learn.
So I had to find out my own way.Yeah.
Because, you know, I, I, my friends used to clean the
toilets to get studio time there, you know, And when we got
studio time there, the engineer wasn't there, you know, you
know, the engineer who was running the studio.
Yeah, we were in. So you had to.

(32:48):
Learn how to be an engineer, everything.
Was self-taught. Yeah.
I forgot my first Pro Tools setup after the four track and
the 16 track, you know, analog recorders, you listen before Pro
Tools. Damn.
Like back then I made a beat andI sold the beat and I someone
gave me a whole computer with the logic setup and, and the
mixing board that I'd, I just had it for looks.

(33:10):
I was just happy to have more equipment, you know what I mean?
And I was like, yo, I just made a beat and this guy gave me a
whole computer and a mixing board.
And then I sold another beat after that for a whole Motif ESS
ES-8 keyboard. At that time, that keyboard

(33:31):
$3200 OK. And I and I traded some beats
for that and I'm like, yo, I'm on to something.
Yeah, people are valuing me a light bulb moment that.
Must have felt so good. Yes.
I'm like, yes, I'm like, yo, these people like my beats.
So I'm trading, you know, I'm bargaining.
Yeah. And so eventually, you know, I
started charging and then, you know, that it was a low wage at

(33:52):
the time. I was working at KFCI, was
working at Togo's. I was cleaning swimming pools.
I became the manager at Togo's. I became a assistant manager at
KFC. So I was going hard at
everything I did, you know, while going to school.
But at school wasn't for me. I dropped out in the first, like
second semester, you know, I waslike, bro, I'm driving to
Fremont to go to Aloni when I was living in the Bay Area doing

(34:15):
that. It was a lot of work, bro.
It's like, man, I can't do this.Even going to ARC, that was a
very short lived, yeah. American River College, Yeah.
And you know, my instructor at the time, his name is Eric Chen
at ARC. He's now retired, but he was a
Chinese, a Chinese instructor, amusic instructor.
But he, he was so organic. He wasn't like like like

(34:36):
conservative type of teacher. You know, if you wanted to show
up, you can show up. If you don't want to show up
that he wouldn't be on your helmet like that, you know, But
a lot of teachers would be like,yo.
Oh, for sure, you. Know but he wasn't like that he
didn't pressure you to show up so that.
Probably made you want to go more.
Yes, of course, yes. And, and the fact that he was
Asian and he's showing up, showing us his resume and what

(34:58):
he's done and all the sponsorship that he's gotten
through his career and his studio in Auburn's fully decked
out and. Was that the first time you'd
seen somebody Asian with successin me?
Oh, that must have been a little.
Fire in my ass, I'm telling you.And I'm telling you years later,
I brought business to him and, and I did business with him and,
and I felt so good. I was like, Mr. Chen, I admired

(35:20):
you. Like I'm so happy where he's
came to my studio and he's like,wow, he can't believe what I
built. Like this is my teacher that I
admired to. To fill the audience in, dude.
So you, your studio is its own presence in Sacramento.
I mean, it is the place in Sacramento, Post Malone, Sway,
Lee, Jadak. I mean, it's where people come

(35:41):
when they're in town and they want to record.
It is the sound of sack. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I don't
want to, I'd say I'm the only studio, but yeah, it's one of
the notable studios. You know, there's a lot of
talented people in SAC and I salute to everyone who's trying
because doing what we do, doing what we do is not easy.
And to pay that rent, doing whatwe do is very hard.

(36:01):
And you know, I salute to all the studios, to the littlest, to
the biggest studios and to the hole in the wall studios, you
know, keep it going and, and you, you'll, you will get there,
you know, you will get further than me, you know, if you keep
going harder, you know, 'cause I'm not even where I want to be.
So, you know, catch up because I'm still going.
That's sad. You know what I mean?
Yeah, I'm not stopping, you know.

(36:22):
But you know, I I don't, you know, I'm not confrontational
with my clients. If they go over there, then
that's fine. It doesn't bother me.
It really doesn't because I don't even advertise my studio.
I don't. That's crazy.
I don't. Advertise it's all word of
mouth. I mean I will post on my
Instagram. You'll have a opening today, but
I don't go as far as advertisingpaying for ads.

(36:42):
You know, all my followers are all organic like I know every
almost every single person that I'm following like I you know
what I mean? It's like it's all organic for
me, you know? And you know what was?
Your breakthrough in music like your your moment where you're
like, oh shit, I leveled up. Oh, you want to know?
Yeah. Yeah, you really want to know
it? Definitely do.
It's. It's kind of, I mean, it's so

(37:04):
cool. I think because at this time,
what was I doing? I think I was living in
Roseville off of Gibson here. But this one week and I was in
Las Vegas for a music conferencewith Cosmo and I seen Ron Artest
when he played for the Kings. And I was like, I'm a huge
sports fan. Like, you know, when I see us,

(37:26):
you know, rarely when we do see an athlete in in person, I'm
like, yo, that's so and so, you know, but this time when we were
at the Palms Hotel at this musicconference, I was with Cosmo.
We were just like, you know, hanging out.
We might have been tipsy off some patron or something.
And I'm like, yo, Cos that's around our test.
He plays for the Kings and I think he does music this and

(37:48):
that. I'm going to go give him a beat
CD because, you know, we had ourbeat CD because we're out there
networking. You're going.
To shoot your shot, I. Shot my shot and.
He got to shoot your shot and I.Gave him my CD and you know,
respectfully, Cosmo was like, Nah, you know, I want to give my
CDs, the little couple of CDs I have left to rappers, you know,
So I was like, OK, I'll give my CD to, to run because I'm a huge

(38:09):
sports fan. Even if he just listens to it,
whatever. I didn't think nothing of it,
you know, and weeks later I get AADM in my Myspace and it was
just like this Myspace profile. It only had like maybe 200 to
500 followers and he had the RonArtestis page.
The real page had like a couple 100,000.

(38:32):
So I'm like, why is this bootleg200 follower pages, you know,
reaching out to me about a beat that I made and I didn't believe
that it was him. I didn't believe that it was
him. And, and, and basically he had,
he had to, gave me a number to reach out to and it was his
publicist. And, and, and they were like, Oh

(38:54):
yeah, we want to pay you for this beat.
You know, Ron really likes his beat So and so and so forth,
right? And, and I'm like, wow, that's
cool. I got paid $500.00 for the beat,
right? And I was broke at this time.
I'm, I'm really broke. I'm struggling, you know I think
there was living with a girl didn't wasn't even helping her
out with the rent and. Not to mention like calculate

(39:14):
inflation 500 bucks back then was a lot a.
Lot, yes, yes. So yeah, Ron reached out to me,
you know, gave me the number to the publicist.
They paid me for the beat. And then, you know, that was
that. And just weeks later, on a
random weekend, you know, every weekend back then, I used to go
to my parents house, you know, driving from Sacramento to the
Bay Area to visit them, you know, in the East Bay.

(39:35):
My parents still live in the East Bay, but man, Ron reached
out to me on, you know, he's so spaced out, you know, he you
know, those athletes, I call them aliens because they're on
their own time, you know, and come to find out, you know.
So Ron hits me randomly like, Yo, this is Ron Artest.
I want to come to the studio. And I was like, word.

(39:57):
I, I get off the phone, I quickly call my mom, like, mom,
I can't make it this weekend. I'm.
I'm talking to her in Vietnamese.
She doesn't even understand what's going on.
OK. I'm like mom, he's plays
basketball like he's, he's like a my big.
Yeah. He's like millionaire.
He's plays, he's rich and this and that.
Run our tests. Yeah, but.
But my mom doesn't run our tests.

(40:18):
She doesn't watch sports. And she is almost like I
couldn't even. You know, explain it to her, the
magnitude of it, you know. And Ron pulls up with sandals,
organic, like a practice T-shirtfrom the Sacramento Kings.
He was smoking a cigar from whatI remember.
He had no socks on toes all hanging over the edge of his, of

(40:39):
his sandals and everything. And Ron comes in, I record him.
I took a picture with him on. If you guys go on my page, Q
made the beat on my IG. You will see the picture of him
with me standing next to him all:) and he's wearing a a warm up.
Sacramento Kings. That was the first time he ever
came to my studio, and Ron did not leave me alone after that.
Really. So you guys clicked.

(41:00):
We clicked. Automatically short period after
that, you know, he invited me tohis house and now I'm building a
studio in his house. He's calling me all the time in
the wee hours of the morning andthe night, 2 in the morning,
queue out. When it comes to you, I'll wake
up like this and I'm out OK, Andso I'm on call now.
I'm like, OK, whatever he wants to do, I'm with it grinding.

(41:23):
Yeah. I'm grinding and now this time
I'm living in Roseville. I'm driving from Roseville to
Northgate. Like he doesn't know what I'm
going through. He doesn't know how broke I am.
He doesn't know how far I live. I don't care.
I'm doing this. He's.
Not going to know. So I showed up every time he
called me. Never asked him for money.
I didn't even know what to charge him.
I didn't even know how to chargehim, you know, I didn't know

(41:45):
what to ask for. I didn't even know if I was
going to ask. And did you have mentors at this
time to like so even the business side of this is
self-taught for you? Yes.
Absolutely. I mean, you know, when it came
down to it, I would, I mean, at this time I was close with
Cosmo, but you know, Cosmo is somebody that I love, but I
never, you know, I was never like, yo, Cosmo, what are you
doing? I want to be a part of that.

(42:06):
No, like I always just keep my distance and let people ride.
I never I don't like intruding on people's business too much
unless I'm in invited or, you know, they gave me the
invitation, right. So I'm just doing my thing with
Ron or whatever, recording them,whatever.
And you know, months later, he takes me to Jack's Urban eats.
And this is when they're their their arena.

(42:28):
They played off of Arco off a truck store Arco.
Arena, Yeah. And he takes me to Jack's Urban
Eats for the very first time I've ever been there.
We eat we have lunch great lunch.
It's the first time I had to like like a BBQ chicken sandwich
from there I remember so good with who would like some garlic
fries right. I'm like this is amazing.
This is like a really, this is areal BBQ sandwich you've.

(42:50):
Been broke, I was broke just. Whatever this is I'm eating bro.
I'm eating McDonald's and Wendy's and sharing meals from
Taco Bell with my boys, you knowwhat I mean?
And just eating off my boys plates.
This is like really bad, you know, I'm telling you, I'm
eating at this place Jack's Urban eats in Natomas and this

(43:11):
meal is so good. The chicken was so good, right?
But after this, my point is after eating this lunch with
him, he gives me like a couple $1000.
Wow, it might have been 5000 andhow?
Long have you been working with them at that time I.
Want to say like maybe 2 1/2 three months?
So 2 1/2 three months, you're just on call doing whatever
grinding. Never asked goosebumps again.

(43:33):
Dude. I never.
Asked him for anything because II know that damn it, that's if I
asked him for money that can jeopardize my my position and
you know, his trust maybe for. Sure, that was because.
Money is like a very sensitive subject, especially even now,
now today, I mean, I'm more outspoken now and I demand what
I want and I ask for what I I feel like I'm, I'm deserved.

(43:55):
But you're in that, right? Yeah.
Yeah, but I work for it. Yeah, you did, you know, and I
have, you know, the leverage to to ask.
But back then I didn't know how to.
But when he blessed me that it changed my life.
Like, not like, you know, I I didn't go and buy Ferrari or
nothing, but I was broke. What did I do?
I put it back in my studio. What else am I going to do with
the money? I wanted to buy my next dream

(44:19):
piece of gear. That's.
A responsible decision, yes. I never.
I wear the same clothes every day.
You know, I just wanted this newpiece of gear.
I wanted the newest Pro Tools. I wanted the newest interface.
I wanted a better microphone. I wanted a bigger space.
Yeah. So that moment when I met Ron,
it changed my life because he took me in.

(44:40):
He brought people around me. He would come hang out.
My boy Gotti, shout out to Gotti.
He was mob part of Mobb Deep, you know, their tour manager.
He's part of the whole crew. He had the dragon tat right here
and everything. And you know, and I, I was like,
Gotti is the coolest. And you know, when Ron was in
there, he was there. He would come hang out with me
all the time because he had to drop Ron off at the Arco and he

(45:02):
would come and just pull up off a Pill Pallet St. off of
Northgate, which is really close.
I exit away from the arena. So he would always come bother
me and hang out with me in the studio.
Gotti would. Gotti told Ron one day.
Yo, son, yo, son, you know how New York people talk.
Yeah, yeah. Yo, you got to put you on the
payroll, son. Like and you know this, you know
he never. Asked for it, yeah.

(45:22):
He put me on the payroll. Wow.
I was on the payroll. I'm not going to say how much I
was getting, but I had a check coming in and all I did was
music. Now I'm going to Ron's house.
Everywhere Ron's going now, I'm invited to the club.
I'm going clubbing with Ron. You want to say come to the
house, you leave me there at thehouse by myself sometime.

(45:43):
I'm like, oh, Ron, really trust me to leave me here by myself.
I feel uncomfortable at times but and.
And this whole time you weren't doing this for money, you're
just following what's fulfillingyou and providing you peace.
Yes. I mean, for Ron, I wasn't doing
it. I wasn't doing it for money with
Ron. No, I was doing it for the
relationship, but for the other people, you know, you know, my

(46:03):
peers and the people in the community.
Yeah, I was making 20 bucks, 25 an hour, you know, it was just
something very small to pay my little $400.00 rent, you know?
I mean. When you set out to music, it
wasn't for money. Never.
For I've been doing music way before even the thought of
making money, you know what I mean?
And you know, like, remember thetime I did make money was when I
was singing Vietnamese songs that, you know, the family

(46:25):
recitals and baby showers and things like that, weddings and
stuff. I made a little money.
I got a little taste of what it could be, you know, And I wanted
to be a singer growing up, you know, I performed singing.
I sing at the talent shows and this and that, and I was break
dancing and things like that. My dad said you do too many
things, find one thing and stickto it.
That's actually really good advice, He.
Told me that and I'm like Dad, Ilove drawing like I love drawing

(46:48):
Michael Jordan you know like like real like it's Michael
Jordan like there's no way like so real and my parents like yo
cute he he he's very talented and that.
Was self-taught self. Taught self-taught.
I swear there was no youtubes and how to No no there wasn't.
Self-taught shading the blendingGoogle.
You know, we didn't even have none.

(47:08):
Of that I'm telling you in this same thing with Pro Tools.
All self-taught until I came around Cosmo.
He would show me little tips here and there and then he would
introduce me to other people that, you know, engineers and
his peers that I would look up to.
You know, they were his friends,but they were celebrities in my
eyes, you know what I mean? People like Rick Rock, one drop,

(47:28):
Scott Mack, race producer, you know, a lot of legendary
producers. Tom Capone producer.
I got 5 on it. You know, I'm at Tom Capone's
house like like I'm looking at his HD Pro tool setup and I'm at
home with the inbox. I'm like bro, I want HD set up
so bad. Back then HD's until now the HD

(47:49):
setups are like five, $10,000 still.
Oh wow. Yeah but man, Bron changed my
life and everywhere wrong way from that point on.
I was there with him. And do you think you've been
anybody's big break? I wouldn't say big break, but I
you've. Mentored a lot of I.
Mentored a lot of people and I put a lot of money in other
people's pockets and never askedfor anything because I was still

(48:11):
trying to make I prove myself and I I still wanted people to
value me, you know, and and trust me, you know, like hey, I
got you a two $2500 for this verse.
I didn't ask for nothing. You know, I, I didn't tell now I
didn't even say it like that. I'm like yo, bro wants a verse
2500 or whatever, 15500 here or there, whatever.

(48:34):
They would never be like yo herebro thanks.
Yeah, you. Know what I mean?
I could, I'm like, yo-yo, is there any room to get some money
with you? Now I'm like that and I'm like,
yo, how can we make some money together?
But back then I was just like, yo, do this, do this just so
just to show people that I can make things happen.
You know, I felt like that's howI can help build my value.

(48:57):
Yeah, you. Know and that might have been
the wrong approach maybe in a sense because I was broke and I
could have used that a little extra money that could have
helped me but you know it is what it is I.
I think, I think it's the right approach.
It worked out, yeah. I did.
Did spirituality or religion play a part in your life or does

(49:18):
it now you? Consider yourself now the
spiritual aspect. Yeah.
I always believed, you know, I mean, growing up, religion
wasn't a thing in our family. And my, my, my parents obviously
are, you know, overseas in my Vietnamese side.
My, they're all Buddhists, you know, my, some of my sisters,

(49:38):
they're, they were baptized, they're Christians.
So my parents never really said you're this and you're that, you
know, we just believe me. I, I believe in God.
I, I believe in the harsh power.I, I believe in manifestation.
I believe that, you know, that if I plant a seed, it will grow
in the universe as long as I water it, you know, and believe

(50:01):
in it so much, something's goingto grow out of that thing.
It will. Happen.
You know, I feel like manifestation should that word
should change to believe 'cause that's really what it is.
Sometimes it gets presented as away to cheat the grind, which is
not possible. You cannot take the grind.
Yeah, there you go. But if you change it to believe,
it becomes an exercise of, you know, faith building self.

(50:25):
Confidence. So you.
You believe in the the universe type of stuff and signs and
coincidences all that, but then the order of that is God.
Yes, God for sure. It's God for sure, but I don't
like to use the God too much because not a lot of, I mean, a
lot of people obviously believe in God or whatever, but I feel
like this God that we all worship, I think it's all one
God, you know? I mean, I mean, different

(50:48):
religions have a different picture of God, but I think it's
one spirit, 1 higher power, you know, respectfully, you know,
Yeah. No, I'm, I'm.
Yeah, I totally understand that you.
Know I was forced to go to church when I was younger from
my, you know, my sisters, you know, my in laws and things like
that. You know, some churches were too
like conservative. Some churches were easy to
listen to the pastors and you get the message that you wanted.

(51:11):
And it's like I, I, I appreciatethat, you know, but I, I didn't
really, for me, I just feel likesometimes things, you know, it's
like, I don't know, he's taking 11 rotten apple to ruin the
whole batch, right. And it's like, I just felt like
sometimes people use God and religion as a way to take

(51:32):
advantage of people. And that's one thing that turned
me off about it it. Does happen.
Yeah. So I mean, you know, one cop
will make one bad cop will make all the cops look bad, right?
But there's a good cops out there.
Most of them, just like most people that are religious, are
good, you know? But it does take one bad apple
to give everybody else a bad rap.

(51:52):
Yeah, so. You're not religious now, more
just I. Just believe hard power.
Do you pray at all? I pray.
All the time you. Do Yeah, that's sick.
I. Pray to myself.
I mean, I'm praying to, you know, the, the universe, yeah.
Well, it's all one, right? Yeah.
I mean, God is essentially a God.
Yeah, for sure, for sure. Even when things are bad or when
things are good, I still show mygratitude and my, you know,

(52:16):
just, you know, you can't just pray when things are bad, you
know? Yeah, so.
Do you ever pray for guidance? And stuff all the time.
How? Do you get answers for that?
Like where do you get the guidance after?
It's tough, you know, I mean, it's.
That's different. It's.
Tough, you know, but it's also good to have a a support system,

(52:36):
you know? I had to get a lot of support
that way too, because sometimes I feel like God isn't answering
my prayers, you know, and I think sometimes it may take a
long, a little longer because God is answering a lot of
people's prayers and you're not the first person in line, you
know what I'm saying? He, there's other righteous
people out there that he's answering their prayers.
So you haven't been on a narrow path.

(52:58):
So you're going to have to wait in the back of the line.
So it isn't my turn yet. So, you know, in between time, I
just, you know, reach out to thepeople that my support system
and my mentors, such as Cosmo and you know, Cosmo's like been
like, you know, my, one of my rock friends, you know, you
know, my, my die hard friends from the beginning.

(53:20):
That's. Sex and he.
Moved to SAC, didn't know no oneout here, he asked me.
I reached out. To him, he's always got a seat
here, man, if he wants to come, I.
Told him about you before I camehere, I was talking about you
and I told him that, you know, he should do it because, you
know, you know, everybody loves Cosmo, you know, and he has, he

(53:41):
has so many stories. I don't you, you would have to
do a couple segment segments with him, you know, parts
because man, you know, Cosmo is,he's not a he's such a humble
hippie, you know, and he doesn'ttalk, man.
He doesn't really speak too muchabout what he does.
I mean, this guy has platinum records, acts unopened in boxes,

(54:07):
like 20 billboard plaques sitting in the corner and
collecting dust on the floor. I'm like, 'cause let's put all
these on the wall. Like, let's appreciate your
accomplishments. But he's just so humble.
Like, he lets me do that. I was like, I'll put it up for
him. So is he.
A grinder too, just like grinder.
Screw all that, we're gonna keepgrinding.
Yeah, I mean, he still has like platinum records that I'm like,
yo, can we open this? Let's just get a bottle and pop

(54:29):
this open. Like this is like 3 years old
has been sitting on your floor. Dude, I'll so one thing, sorry I
don't catch here, but dude, creatives that live off being a
creative, that's such a privilege and the backbone of it
for every single one of them is discipline and grinding.
And I don't think people know that outside looking in, when

(54:51):
you see the results of what you've done, or like a like a
Cosmo or a David Garibaldi or Philharmonic or these people,
these people don't understand the the grind and the pain and
what's gone into that sacrifice.And.
It is like, I don't think, at least for me, I thought you wait
for the creative process and then you move.

(55:13):
That's not at all what's going on.
People are showing up at 9:00 inthe studio like a job, and you
start working and then it unfolds.
And that's. Kind of.
Crazy. You know how they say the first
in the gym and the last one to leave?
That's me in the studio. You know I'm there.
Even when I don't have work, I'mthere.
I'm cleaning. I'm cleaning my toy way.
That's still, you know, I'm, youknow, I'm doing the things that

(55:34):
a, a, a janitor would do still. And I take pride in that because
no one's going to clean my bathroom the way I clean it.
I promise you. You know what I'm saying.
When the, when the lady comes in, my, my female client or even
a cute girl goes use my bath. She comes like this guy is super
clean and I'm going to sit on the toilet.
I'm not going to squat over the toilet.
Yeah. And.

(55:55):
It represents how you must run the rest of your life.
Yeah. You know, that's how I really
am. My studio is actually cleaner
than my house, you know, obviously, you know, I have kids
at the house, but I take pride in my space.
I can't work if my space is not clean or smells good.
You know, you have to come by sometimes.
I. Would I'm down you?
Got to I. Got to see you got.
To come have a drink man, I'm inon your off day.

(56:16):
Let's. Do it, Yeah.
This is cool, come vibe out withme.
Where? Do you want to leave with
people? Any other story you want to
tell? Man, I I just want to say, you
know, we're all chasing this dream of music.
You know, I think we need a little more unity and try to
collaborate more instead of competing against each other.

(56:36):
You know, I love that, you know,I just feel like, what would
that? Look like the collaboration.
It would see how I'm wishfully thinking it's just like now.
You're making the vision, I was manifesting it.
Almost feels like asking, you know, Mazzy to get along with
Lavish D, OK. It's like not going to work, OK.
Because, you know, everybody hastheir, you know, their own ways

(56:59):
and that they want to do it. They don't.
They want their own brand and they want to stand on their own.
They don't want to be like, oh, I work out of cues or, you know,
IQ doesn't want to be working out of theirs.
Hey, I don't care. You can take my sign down and
put your sign up in my space, you know, but together, talented

(57:20):
people together, Yeah. I feel like it's way more
powerful than separate, you know, like we're separate
entities, you know what I'm saying?
Because I just feel like, you know, when we're powerful and
we're leaders in the community, we get together.
If we get together, it helps us build value amongst each other,

(57:41):
you know, with your association,you know, with certain people,
it's like, oh, he's dealing withthose people then he must.
Really be up there, Yeah. He's a yes, he's one.
He's one of them. You know, I, I don't feel like
that, but a lot of my friends, they tell me cute, you're a
celebrity. I'm like, no, no, no, no.
He's like, no, I've been out of clubs with you and stuff and how

(58:03):
they just open the ropes and just let you walk in and
everybody's standing in line. That's like a celebrity
treatment, yeah. You're just working I'm.
Just I don't look at it like that.
Yeah, I know, you know, but honestly, I got used to it.
I can't tell. I can't lie about that because,
you know, I mean, you know, my friend played for the Lakers.
I mean, I had numerous friends that played in the league, you
know, and I had I started with one that was Ron.

(58:25):
But I met several different NBA players through different
avenues, not just through Ron. So I mean like NBA players just
from different people, word of mouth and I'm meeting all these
athletes, football players. Eric Armstead been to my studio.
He doesn't rap or nothing. He just popped him out of
studio. I'm like, huh, You know, he
plays for the 49ers at the time.My.

(58:46):
Brother played for the Raiders, yeah.
That's but yeah, that's pretty cool.
You know, I'm like, wow, I'm getting to meet, you know,
famous people, things like that.Yeah.
But it's just, I think it's super cool, you know?
But I don't look at myself as one of those.
I feel like I'm regular and I work hard just like everyone
else does. Yeah, and dude, that's.
That. That's that background, man.
Yeah. Would you change your childhood

(59:08):
if you could? Certain things, you know, maybe
the abuse and the I wanted to bemore free.
I wanted to be able to so it. Wasn't that bad.
Yeah. I I.
Wanted to play the drums when myuncles left the drums overnight
in the morning, my mom would come out and be like, it's too

(59:30):
loud. And when I woke up, that was the
first thing I looked at the drumset in the corner and I would go
and start playing with the drumsand the Toms and stuff and my
mom would just cut it off like I'm like, Oh my gosh, she
deprived me of that. I love my mom.
Hey, mom, don't be mad. But you know, my mom knows I do
music now and I'm making, you know, I'm making away from
myself doing music, but just the, the, it's how how ironic is

(59:52):
that? Like that's crazy, right, right.
Like I wanted to play the drums.Just imagine how good I would be
now if I my mom let me fiddle around with those drums, you
know, And I mean, there ain't much that would change, you
know, I love, you know, I think we all, it's part of the story.
And, you know, we just got to look forward and think of the

(01:00:13):
positive. My my dad's still here.
My parents are still together. And every time we come together,
it's just like everyone's smiling.
Your. Dad's good now, Dad.
'S straight, still worked hard, and my parents are still
gardeners and, you know, I want them to retire someday.
And that's why I work so hard, you know?
I mean, I'm not going to take care of them.
Oh wow, That's what I want to do.
I believe you will. I'm sure I will, you know, with

(01:00:35):
six brothers and sisters, you know, including me, it's like
we're all going to help them, you know, Because, you know,
we're all doing good. That's.
So that is beautiful. It's.
Not just going to be me, it's going to be a team effort.
They birthed all of us, so you better contribute your part.
See that's. Missing in our culture.
I believe in America like, and I'm not trying to nod.

(01:00:57):
I don't give my opinions on stuff like that, but I just
think that's beautiful. I do see that from immigrants or
people in other countries. Like the family is all one unit.
They work. Together, yeah.
And then, hey, we take care of the parents.
We'll just put them off in a home and visit them once a week.
We keep them close. Bring.
The kids over there and when youwant to get out with the wifey

(01:01:17):
and things like that, it's it's a beautiful thing.
Now it's just like a bittersweetthing.
And you know, I I don't know. I wouldn't.
I really wouldn't change it. I really wouldn't.
Yeah, I really wouldn't change it.
It's. So much of your attitude dude,
you, you're very refreshing to be around like you've been.
Thank you to listeners is a verysuccessful man.

(01:01:38):
Well. I I'm not well.
See, there you go, you know. Where I want to be, you know, I
mean what is success? Is it financially or is it like
a is a? What is success being known?
What does it mean for you? That's just what do you want to
I want my parents to not have toworry about working.
That's success to me, you know, and having a trust funds for all
my kids and you know, it has nothing.

(01:02:00):
To do with you nothing. To do with me, I'm the last.
I'm the last one to eat. What do you mean?
And when I'm working, sometimes I don't even eat because I
forget. I'm not worried about me.
I'm always worried about other people, you know?
I know I'm going to take care ofmyself.
That's. Why stuff keeps working out for
you? Yeah, that's what we're here to
do, Help each. Other.

(01:02:20):
That's right. And, you know, that's, you know,
Aaron Lee, he's he was a client of mine, Yeah, you know, and
then, you know, he better workedpoor with me and he became my
assistant. Now he had a key to my studio
and I'm pushing them, you know, and you know, I wasn't holding
his hand the whole way. He was just there for me as a

(01:02:43):
good friend. And and you know, I didn't look
at him as my assistant, but he was doing assistant things.
When I'm out of town, he would go drive to the Bay Area to the
jewelry store to get my jewelry.He would do things that my
friends wouldn't even do. I'm like Aaron, I really, you're
a good dude, man. And so whenever I didn't have
the money to pay him for this, but I would take them to the

(01:03:04):
concerts. We'll go backstage with Chris
Brown, We'll go come through andPost Malone comes, you know,
when, when the when stuff that really happens for my hard work,
you deserve to be there. And that's how I repay.
Sometimes I can't repay people financially, but I will give
them opportunities to make money.
Which is, yes, even more. Man of fish he eats once, Yeah.

(01:03:26):
Man of fish he eats. Yeah, he can go fish his own.
That's what Aaron's doing right now.
Aaron used to pay me. Now he's getting paid.
Yeah. To sing.
He's. Such a nice guy, yeah.
He's such an amazing human being, very selfless, very
selfless. Like I have a client in that
plays basketball. He was in in town last night,
eventually cancelled, but he wasthe basketball player wanted who

(01:03:47):
could and things like that. How's Aaron?
What are you doing? Are you how far are you from the
hookah lounge? Can you go pick us up some
hookah and things like that? Oh, and what do you need?
Send it to me. He he stepped away from being
Aaron Lee for a moment, you know, and, and come back to help
me out. And that just shows his
character. You know what I mean?
That just shows you how much he values our relationship, our

(01:04:10):
friendship. And you know that that's that's
team player right there, you know?
Yeah. So, you know, I know he's Aaron
Lee, but what? You guys see him, but I see him
as a brother. Like, you know, he he, he, he's
he's the truth for sure. Yeah.
He. Did a he did an episode.
It's a ARNONLE. Oh yeah, the last.
Name. I gotta check it out, you know,
I mean, these guys just brought your platform to my attention.

(01:04:33):
Now I got to go watch all the interviews now, yeah.
Well, dude, Aaron's he, he, his.It was so fun meeting with him.
Yeah, yeah, Philharmonic it. Was dull, so.
Brian Yip, His Yeah. Brian, that's the homie.
Yeah, the Brian. It's crazy.
I don't even know How I Met Brian.
And it's weird How I Met Brian. I just remember having a.

(01:04:54):
Grinder man, Yeah. But I just remember having, I
don't know, probably I met him before this, but he was at the
Malone concert and I had like anextra pass and I was like,
Brian, come on. I didn't even know that he was a
producer. Oh, really?
He did what he does now. And I'm you just.

(01:05:15):
Clicked with him I. Just clicked with him.
Yeah. I just, I just seen that he was
nice dude, Yeah. He's so nice, but I.
You know, I mean, I threw him some Alyou's.
He, you know, he's doing his thing, though, man, I'm proud of
him, you know, But Brian always looks out for me.
He put me on to you. And, you know, he's brought a
few plays to the studio. You know, when he has clients
from out of town, he always refers me to them.

(01:05:38):
You know, sometimes they don't show up, but he still thinks
about me and I considers me and I appreciate that to Brian
thinking. Both just yeah, Successful
people are generally thinking about other people more.
Than themselves, yeah, and. I, or I should say, the
happiest, most fulfilled people,yeah.
For for me, when I'm out of townand I have a big client in town,
I call one of my reliable engineers like, hey, I need you.

(01:06:00):
They show up, they do. They take their pictures and it
makes me smile. We and we both made money
together. That's sick.
Then you. Know what I mean?
And, and, and the Bros sometimeslike, yo, Q, you didn't have to
do that. You didn't have to introduce me
to your celebrity client. Like they sometimes they're big,
sometimes they're small paws. But you know, sometimes, you
know, they're, you know, different levels of clients.

(01:06:22):
And you know, I, I would expect for you to show up for my little
clients as much as you would show up for the big ones.
So, you know, you got to treat everyone the same.
So when I call you and I need you for a session, I would
expect for you to show up whether they're famous or not.
Let's see. You know what I mean?
Yeah, That's, man. I think that's important.

(01:06:43):
Come on, man. Thank you for having me on the
show, bro. Great.
Hey, man. Good to meet you.
Thank you for the opportunity. Why you're successful and just
refreshing to be thank. You, man, I appreciate that
there's a. Certain type of person that
comes on this show, man, and they're generally secure in
themselves. They are thinking about other.
I respect anybody that comes on and does.
Yeah, You know, I mean, my success has a lot to do with

(01:07:05):
Sacramento, you know, and, and the talented artists out here.
Dude, we're blowing up. Yeah, blowing up bro let.
Me tell you something, you know two of my buddies, they they
write for Chris Brown and Doja Cat.
Their name is both of their names, Darius and Dominic, but
they go as black tuxedo. They're my buddies, bro.
I'm telling you, these guys, man, they wrote Chris Brown's

(01:07:28):
residual. They just want like two guys.
Those are the is that the ver? No, no, I'm thinking of someone
else. OK, Yeah.
Black tuxedo. Black.
Tuxedo, they just won a Grammy, won a couple of Grammys with
Chris Brown. They wrote his song Residuals.
Yeah, and they. They're from Sacramento and bro,
they used to sleep in my studio,like in LA.
That's great. You know, I mean, I've seen

(01:07:50):
their grind. I'm so happy for them and, you
know, maybe when they're in town, they need to come on your
show. I'm.
In dude. And these guys are always love
to hear. Him.
You. Know Victoria Monet?
You know about her Victoria Monet?
No. Do your research.
I will. She's from Sacramento.
She's written for Ariana Grande.She's just won three Grammys

(01:08:10):
last year. Wow.
Yeah. On her own, with her own music,
she won 3 Grammys. Really.
Yeah. She might have won four.
I wouldn't be surprised. But Victoria Monet, shout out to
you, sister. Yeah.
He's. Big.
He's so dumb. She dances.
She's like a triple threat. She writes and she sings.
She's amazing. Right on, dude.

(01:08:31):
Hey. Shout out Sacramento man, I love
y'all. Yes, Sir.

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