Desto Dubb on How He Built a Multi-Million Dollar Brand from the Trunk

Chuck Dizzle taps in with Desto Dubb — celebrity fashion designer, hip-hop artist, and creator of the cult streetwear brand That’s An Awful Lot of Cough Syrup. From selling shirts out the trunk to building a brand worn by Future, Young Thug, and scholars at USC, Dubb shares his real come-up story. In this Home Grown conversation, Desto breaks down:

• How Mac Miller’s merch blueprint changed his life
• Why he doubled down on one design for 3+ years
• What separates Joshua from Desto Dubb
• The mindstate behind never clocking out as a boss
• Lessons from Drakeo the Ruler, Nipsey Hussle & fatherhood

Whether you're a dreamer, hustler, or entrepreneur trying to figure it out — this one’s for you. 🎙️

Stay Connected with Home Grown | homegrownradio.net
 🎙️Subscribe on YouTube & all podcast platforms
 📍Follow Home Grown on Instagram | TikTok | FaceBook | X
 👕 Home Grown Merch

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
All right, were back at it, Chuck dizzle what you're
live and direct, man, keep it in the homegrown as always.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Today we got a special guest, my manh Uh.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
He's a fashion designer, he's an innovator, he's an icon, alright,
the mastermind behind that's awful lot of costs or man,
that's though Dub and a building.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Man, how you doing bro off a lot of it,
your boy, that's th Dub from the gut of the butter.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
We're in the building.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
I love I love your story.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
I love what you bring to the table, what you've
been in Los Angeles, what you bring to fashion.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Man.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
I want to take it back, man, take it back
from day one? Man, how did this all originate for you?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Man?

Speaker 1 (00:40):
I heard there was a story that this kind of
all originated from you not having shit and pretty much
from a ground up story.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
Yeah, so kind of talk to me about that.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
That's the home gird though, you know, like like in
every aspect the life. You know, if you want to
be great, it has to be something. I was pulling
you down and you just pulled up so much and
when it releases, shot up. So the hunger was there
from the lack of you know, but I always in
the lack of having money, lack of having money to
buy the clothes, lack of girls liking me because I

(01:11):
didn't have the money to buy the clothes, just you know,
just the lack of in general. But the clothing journey
really like overall, I feel like somebody told me what
inspired you to make clothes? And I was thinking in
my head, like, bro, like what really? And I'm thinking
of all these fashion designers and I'm like I never
looked at a fashion digner and felt inspired. What inspired

(01:32):
me was one year I was hanging out my homiees Overdose.
It was a big group in La you feel me,
and I'm just trying to figure out where I fit in.

Speaker 4 (01:41):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
I always had like a little background in clothing, you know,
just from fixing my own pants and like, you know,
distressing my own jeans. But I heard Mac Miller say
he made a million dollars in merch Per show, and
I'm just like.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
WHOA, So, like, whre they on stage?

Speaker 3 (01:58):
I could be running the march and I already know
about clothes and screen printing and so and so That's
what really inspired me to go after the clothes, Like
I want to make the merchandise for my boys group,
you know, and then it went from making the merchandise
for them, then wanted to make the merchandise for myself,
and then making merchandise for myself turned into a brand.

(02:20):
So yeah, it was the lack of gave me the hunger.
But it was like that hunger that kept me searching
for a meal. And I seen something, I was like, Okay,
you could do this because you kind of already know
these things, and then it could better prepare you for
when it's your chance to shine.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Now at the time, were you an artist as well?

Speaker 4 (02:36):
Everybody's an artist.

Speaker 3 (02:37):
You put ten people in the room, they all like,
put me on the track.

Speaker 4 (02:40):
I want to do a song. Was I taking it serious?
Was I signed? Was I putting out?

Speaker 5 (02:44):
No?

Speaker 4 (02:44):
But yeah, when I heard songs, did I make my
version of it? Yes?

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Did I Like when I was rapping? Was I kind
of writing stuff down? Was I in the studio? I
was an artist, but I was like, you know, I
was like the guy on the team that wasn't producing.
You know, I was like a part of the team,
but I wasn't the shooter or the point guard or
the center.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
You know.

Speaker 3 (03:03):
But I was on the team. It's just I didn't
do that, you know, I didn't do the wrapping part
so much. I did it sometimes for fun. It wasn't
making me no money, so I was trying to find
other avenues that because you know, fun, and keep money
in my pocket. Tour so called made it. You know,
everybody think they're gonna make it. Every artist that's starting
off like it's either an hour or later. I'm around

(03:23):
all these people, they blowing up. I guarantee it's gonna
make it. So that's where it really started at that
Mac Miller saying he made a meal, and I'm.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
Like, so, was that? Was that a conversation you had
heard him say?

Speaker 3 (03:35):
Or it was like it was on like it was
all over social media.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
It wasn't something was.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
An interview he said or he tweeted or something like
that that went viral on Twitter.

Speaker 4 (03:45):
This is around Twitter and I think my Space kind of.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
But it was enough for you to actually grab that
and be like, Okay, wait, hold on, let me just
stop in my tracks of what I'm doing, let me
let me figure out, and I'm locking in on this.
That was gonna be my next question. Man with with
so many things that you do now like that? Did
that carry on into other things as a kid, right?

Speaker 4 (04:05):
You know?

Speaker 1 (04:06):
He said, the lack of not having over so yeah,
talk about that. What other things were you doing prior
to the fashion? Like what was all.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
Mainly selling stuff? Buying stuff for the low.

Speaker 3 (04:17):
I used to think I had a god giving talent
from being from La. Yeah, and that's having like La.
You know what our gold and our oil is. You know,
out of town people come here for our gold and
our oil, our flowers and our oil.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
Let's be exactly.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
So I just thought, thank you Lord for blessing me
to be in the field where they want something that
I could buy and sell for more, you know.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
And that's closer to over those days.

Speaker 3 (04:44):
But if you want to start way back, I did
anything my hands could do, you know. I never wanted
to go to school or learn anything.

Speaker 4 (04:50):
Not like that.

Speaker 3 (04:51):
I went to high school, but I went there to
dress and be flying, you know. But as far as
like making money, I was trying to do anything that
my hands could touch, okay, buying and selling, trading.

Speaker 4 (05:05):
Building.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
As a kid, I used to go and collect cans
to go to the and then go to the camp
place sell the cans, buy bike parts, put the bike
parts together, sell the bikes, and then after I messed
that money off, I might go and ride around my
homies and still a bike, take it apart, spray painted,
sell that one. You know, I was cutting grass. I
had a lady down the street. She had like a

(05:27):
foster house. I'm over there, like I cut all these
kids here for twenty dollars, get out of here.

Speaker 4 (05:31):
You know, this was like five, six, seven.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Eight, Like you cutting here five years old.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
No, I wasn't cutting here. I was doing the can stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
You said. The entrepreneurial spirit was there.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah at five at five and like at five I
probably was just wiping the windows and cleaning out people
cars and wiping people cars off.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yeah you know what I mean. At like ten and stuff.

Speaker 3 (05:55):
You know, I graduated to going down the street cutting
grass and stuff like that. You know, it was more
so by trade sell. You know a lot of this
stuff all the way up until high school was like
more innocent stuff because I was a real Like my
mom didn't let me spend the night out, she didn't
let me.

Speaker 4 (06:10):
Do a lot of stuff.

Speaker 3 (06:11):
So all the way up to high school, it was
just whatever I could find right there to do with
on that block of one hundred and fourth in Avlyine
and watch. So it's like, whatever I seen I could do,
you need me to do it, I'm gonna do it
for a couple of dollars.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
So what did you pick us up from? Watching other people?
You got siblings? Like, did you see that? Or this
is just all pure hustle, like even even moms. Did
you see moms working different?

Speaker 3 (06:30):
My mom always worked, my dad always. My dad never
had a real job, but he always hustled. Yeah, I
had cousins. Nobody had a real job in my family.
Always gangsters bro like I was raised full of like
you know that nineties gangster hard. I was raised around that.

Speaker 4 (06:48):
You know.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
So all they was doing was, yeah they was buying
and selling, but you didn't know what they was buying
and selling. You just always see them with nice things,
dickie shorts. That's why I'm big on dickies. Like my
family would wear dickies every day. I know my uncle
to this day, all he wears dickies.

Speaker 4 (07:02):
That's five, you know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
So I really just took that and flipped it into
my own stuff. But yeah, my family all was like
minimal hustler. So digging into trash cans. My parents used
to take, like I said, when I was four or five,
that's before like some days I all missed school on
Fridays and want to go with my parents. They'll throw
my ass in the trash can and get the cans out,
and I'm thinking this is fun. Yeah, not even thinking
nothing to it.

Speaker 4 (07:23):
We like little kids, like.

Speaker 3 (07:26):
Going in there searching no gloves, throwing them out. We
pushing the basket down the street, you know what I mean.
The bills was paid, but they still wanted a little
extra money. I'll get some money and stuff. So and
then my grandfather he was it's just always being in me,
bro man.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
So let's let's fast forward to that. That's an awful
lot of coftsler man. So you you the entrepreneurial spirit
has been in you. You fail to figure out, you know,
oh man, merch is my thing?

Speaker 4 (07:50):
Right? Merch is it?

Speaker 2 (07:51):
This is it?

Speaker 1 (07:52):
So coming up with the name and kind of pushing
that lane, was it resistance when you first started doing?

Speaker 4 (07:59):
Oh?

Speaker 3 (07:59):
You know, because I was already like, come on, the
group name was overdose right right right, like y'all not
really dripping we were like big on certain things.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
So it really to tell you people.

Speaker 3 (08:10):
I tell people this story all the time, and they
try to think of, how did you come up with
the name, How did you come up with I didn't
come up with the name.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
The people came up with the name. You know this.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
I can show you my first shirt design. It was
not that's an awful lot of cops serve. It was
a jersey that said actors. Then I made another jersey
that said high Tech. Then I made another jersey that
said another brand, you know. Then I put them all
together on one shirt, and then I made another shirt that
was like my first album I made. You know, I
was like bleaching rock band tees and then dying on

(08:41):
and selling them and distressing them, you know. So those
were all things that I was doing. But as I
was making a lot of these rock band tees, I
just always thought, like I would, like, I'm over here
promoting Iron Maiden and Public like all of these rock bands.
I wish I could just switch it into my name
or something that'll bring it back to me, because I'm
insteadily using these other people's names and artworks, and I'd

(09:04):
rather just be pushing mind. And then It just came
to me just sitting there, thinking like, bro, I gotta
put this on the shirt. And it was really just
a shirt design, and like, let's say we got five
you got just you got five t shirts, right, and
they keep grabbing this one, they keep grabbing this one.
You keep you take this one, you with your homies.
Next thing you know, Adam twenty two is wearing this one.

(09:26):
Now he's tweeting it.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Now.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
He's like, hey, bro, I.

Speaker 3 (09:28):
Want to sell your shirts inside my store. And I'm like, cool,
eighty your pop. But I'm not knowing how it works.
And he's like, okay, eighty cool, here go Fody. I'm like, Fody.
He like, yeah, we gotta take a percentage, you know
what I mean for selling your stuff. I'm not just
selling it front nothing, you know what i mean. I'm like, okay,
we got to raise the price then, you know. So
then just doing that over and over again and just

(09:50):
seeing how they gravitated towards the shirt, it's like, look
y'all want this. I'm just I'm gonna be like Supreme,
I'm gonna keep putting this box logo on different colors.

Speaker 4 (09:58):
They gotta stayed with the same shirt. For three four years.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
I think it's important to talk about the consistency and
understanding what the consumer wants and not being in your
feelings about it, because you could have pivot and been like, well, no,
I want to make sure I want to do this
and push this.

Speaker 2 (10:09):
It's like, nah, let me just go with this.

Speaker 1 (10:11):
How did you take the emotion out of it and
just say like, all right, nah, instead of trying to
push other things, let me just stick with this what
the people want and continue to supply with that demand.

Speaker 3 (10:21):
I'm a hustler. You always won't give people what the
people want. You don't give them what you want. I
can buy five different strands. They want this strand, whether
it's the lowest or not, I'm gonna buy more of
this strand. You know, it's all about analytics, and then
they tell you the truth. One of the biggest ways
I learned that I was selling candy as a kid.
You know, that was my first way off the block.

(10:42):
It was a dude named Tyrone. He would drive around,
pick up the kids, drop them off in higher areas
of the community banks, Westchester, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and from
there you get a sense of people that's buying people.
That's not buying. How to talk to people, how to
approach people? Because you're sitting there all summer every day

(11:02):
just trying to sell some candy.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
What's one of the biggest tips or first tips that.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
You learn, you know, doing that hand to hand, comb
back even let's say it's early as candy, right, what's
one of those big tips that you learned, like, oh damn,
this strategy actually works.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
It's a few. The first one be next to the money.
Got to be next to the money.

Speaker 3 (11:23):
Don't drop me off at the grocery store. Don't drop
me off at the laundry mat. Don't drop me off
at drop me off at the bank. They doing two things,
taking it in or pulling it out. Drop me off
at the bank. Then the next thing I noticed was
how to approach people. You don't just say, hey, you
want to buy something. Hey you want to buy something.
Hey you want to buy something, Hey you want to
You don't do that. Somebody walk past, I like your shoes,

(11:46):
the compliment, have a beautiful day, queen, yeah, grand rising, Okay,
Hey that's your Hey that car clean? Bro?

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Oh thank you brother, Come back out. So what you selling?

Speaker 3 (12:00):
That was the first one right there, Yeah, first big one,
you know. And I teach that to all these little
kids sitting outside my store selling candy. You don't just
go straight on trying to sell them something. Hit them
with a compliment, hit them with something that's gonna have.
They gonna hear in their ear trying to ignore you,
and they not gonna be able to say no, or
if they do, they just really trying to.

Speaker 4 (12:20):
Block you out. Have a beautiful day.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
I just wanted to tell you that then you learn
you don't got to always catch them the first round.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
I love that you give that knowledge to those that
are coming up, you know, somebody that that may have
been in your situation because little things like that, I
feel like it's one of those seeds that's planted.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
Like somebody will probably remember running up on you trying.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
To do the same thing, and it's like, damn, I
got that game from dub You know what I'm saying, Like, oh,
now I know how to do the same thing and
kind of like start their entrepreneurs journey, you know what
I mean.

Speaker 2 (12:48):
That's fire man. So I want to talk about.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Your friendships with with with with Draco the Ruler and
Nipsey hustle man too, you know, keep figures out here.
I've seen in an interview that she said that, you know,
nobody's really paying attention until Draco posted your ship or
was was you know, supporting your ship talk about your
your friendship first and foremost?

Speaker 3 (13:07):
And then I was I was a fan, Bro, I
was a fan. Well, honestly, I wasn't even a fan. First,
Draco was a customer of my Got you. He was
a customer customer of mine who was a great customer,
and he would always tell me I rap, Like I said,
everybody rapp, Bro, I raped too. You want to hear

(13:28):
some ship like everybody rap? But then I heard a song.
I'm like, whoa hold on bringing me? And my boy's
playing it me and overdose even playing it more planning,
and I'm like hearing more songs than my home. I
think it's one of my customers. So then I pull
them on like Bro does you. And then right then
I became a bigger fan, wow, because I'm like, you

(13:48):
really rapping this stuff? Like you know what I mean
a lot of people kind of be bigger than what
they know. So at the point of time, even when
he was a fan, he was huge. I think this
is when Mustard was trying to pick him up and
stuff like that, and I'm still just pulling up on
them in a parking lot or pulling up on them
in a in an alley or something at his mom's house.
You know why he's big bank while he's still doing bitch.

(14:09):
Been the joint, Bitch, I've been the joint. This is
before bitch, I've been to joint. So when that dropped,
I'm like, brou you really are you know? And with
me being so involved with overdose, I always had always
new producers, always new engineers, always knew engineers who mix
and master. So I've always even over there's always been
a type that like if you got to step on

(14:31):
my back to get to the next level, and you
could pull us all up with it, step on my back,
you know what I mean? If all five of us
is on the ship going to Mars, it don't matter
who's driving or who's in the passenger ship.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
It's about us making it to the destination.

Speaker 3 (14:45):
So once I just really like he Once I recognized
the talent he had, I just started introducing them to
some of my higher level friends. That does what he needed,
you know, his first mixtape that was ever mixing mastered
was by some of my buddies that I introduced to
and brought him to. And then with that being said,
he knew he could always lean on me, whether he's
going to jail, calling me coming out, you know, and

(15:08):
I just always mess with him. Now was the last
stretch that he did, Yeah, I had a I was.
I think before he went in, I didn't even have
a clothes line. I was just kind of like I
had a clothing line, but I wasn't on the clothes
you know. I was more still trying to make music
and hustle and stuff like that. So I think the
last stretch he went in after I helped him out,
you know, it's like, hey, when he get back, we

(15:28):
got to protect him. And when he came back out
the last time, he was so shocked because he seen
all of the notoriety my brand was getting, not knowing
that it wasn't really in LA. He'll just seem like
the young Dougs in the futures and all these Atlanta
and out of Miami and Florida artists wearing it. That
he was like, oh, bro, yeah, like you know, I'm

(15:49):
with you. I want to wear everything. I'm only wearing
your stuff. I'm like, you can at it right right,
we wear the same side.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Take this, Take that, Take that.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
And while that's happening, I just started growing more of
a like LA fan base. Like in that parking lot
when I was selling clothes, people from LA wasn't pulling
up like that.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
You know.

Speaker 3 (16:06):
It was mostly people coming from out of town to
pick up things. You know, because during the covidhit was booming,
They'll fly into town and they'll flying weekly. Downtown is
full of people that fly in monthly or weekly. They'll
even have an apartment. So they was flying in buying
the clothes, you know, going back out, I'm reposting, I'm reposting,
I'm doing this. So then when he got out, he
thought it was booming more than what it was. And

(16:27):
it was booming because I was making cash, but you know,
and he started wearing it was just like, oh now
I got this LA support.

Speaker 4 (16:34):
You know.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
I got to deal with fred Siegel's where I dropped
in there and the first person I did to colliud
Well was a Draco.

Speaker 4 (16:39):
We had a line wrapped around fred Siegel, showing these
people what we can do. That's fire.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
That's fine, and talk about that like a lot of
people have a hard time, you know, planning that that
that flag here at home, you know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (16:52):
And what I hear from you is like it's the
love spread elsewhere and then came came here.

Speaker 1 (16:58):
How did you navigate through that and not really have
resentment towards the city because it's like, Yo, I'm somebody
that I'm one of y'all own and y'all not support
me like you probably should, Like.

Speaker 4 (17:08):
Did you have any resentment towards No, I'm not tender
at all. I'm not one of them. Guys.

Speaker 3 (17:12):
I'm from the East Side. You know, we we roast.
We very aggressive with each other. Somebody could be the
best basketball player in the world. His mama gonna come
and be like, boy, but you ain't gooder than me.
His uncle will be like, boy, you think you good
and I'm way better. I Usually, you know, everybody's like
not like that, but everybody putting each other down. Nobody's

(17:33):
like you good, well, you the best, and we want
no They're like, oh, he think he just ship, you know,
So you kind of get used to that. Even when
I was dealing with overdose and stuff like that. You know,
they were like, bro, you can't be doing all of
this stuff. Can't be trying to wrap make clothes, sell this,
sell that, like you gotta stick to one. So you know,
I hear. I'm always surrounded by people that were doubters.

(17:55):
And I don't even take that offensive because that's like
how it was raised. Or if I go right now
on the east side and pull up in the car,
I don't even have to say them you think you
the ship, you ate the ship.

Speaker 4 (18:05):
I ain't say that.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
I ain't said nothing like that.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
What you mean?

Speaker 4 (18:08):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (18:09):
Bro?

Speaker 4 (18:09):
It was so crazy.

Speaker 3 (18:10):
I used to tell people all the time till probably
three four years ago. My MoMA still send me applications,
really still send me applications.

Speaker 2 (18:18):
You need to get a job.

Speaker 4 (18:20):
You know, they hiring over at l AU.

Speaker 2 (18:22):
So she did, did she She just didn't see the
vision or she just like in her your mama, your
mama what she like?

Speaker 4 (18:27):
You could be a rapper?

Speaker 3 (18:28):
She wants you to be something that's solid guaranteed. A
job is solid guaranteed. You know from them, you're just
hanging out doing this, doing that. There's nothing reputable, it's
nothing good.

Speaker 4 (18:38):
About that. You know, you might be having fun, but
from a parent's perspective.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
But I would I would think that that would be
different once you started being able to pay the bills
and you know, some life and sustained.

Speaker 3 (18:49):
Even with it being sustained, I'm like, no, she wasn't
a hater. My mama worked in the parking lot for me,
making the money. But even with that, Rather you have
a job, Joshua, get a job and do this on
the side.

Speaker 2 (19:01):
And I'll tell people that into this day.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
Get a job and have some guaranteed money and do
the other stuff, because if you're relying on this, you're
putting a lot of strain on this, like you're putting
a It's like trying to carry a trailer with a
little bitty for a cylinder. It's better to have the
V eight that like, even you know it can put
this type of stuff. A job gonna keep your bills paid,
keep you smelling good, keep you being able to wash

(19:26):
your clothes. And now with that, you could do this
on the weekend. But I wasn't trying to get no job.
I'm like, it's all in or all out, mama.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
So why how could you give somebody that advice when
you wouldn't follow that yourself.

Speaker 3 (19:39):
I'll give people that advice because I still had a hustle,
you know. She No, No, I had like a hustle
to make the money, and the clothes was my hobby.

Speaker 4 (19:48):
You know, I always have some kind of So why.

Speaker 3 (19:50):
She's like, Okay, replace the hustle with the job and
then do your clothes. I'm like, no, I'm a hustle
with the clothes. You know, they come here to buy
a shirt, come here to buy this. I'm gonna sell
them a shirt. I'm gonna give them a shirt, and
if they come back wearing a shirt, I'm like, give
them a discount on something else next.

Speaker 4 (20:07):
You know. So she wasn't like knocking the clothes. She
was just knocking that.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
I was out here hustling and doing all types of
stuff for money, you know, driving to the Bay Area
five hours to grab come back, and now I'm sitting
in a parking lot with no gun, no nothing, selling merchant.
That shit is dangerous in the middle of covid where
the police are not out you in the middle of
downtown dealing with not the best people. You know, my

(20:35):
brand does not target the scholars at that time. It
was targeting is demographic. So I get her and I
can't knock her, you know. But I tell a lot
of people, you know, these kids is watered down. Bro,
I'm an eighties baby, eighty eight, few of the last.

Speaker 4 (20:51):
You know.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
It's something in us, you know, and freeway ricks and
all of that. That's the stuff we came up around
our parents scene, whether we realize it or not, that's
what we grew up around being born in the eighties.

Speaker 2 (21:02):
You know.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Now, these younger cats, it's a whole different ball game.
They are not cut out for it. When I give
somebody that advice, I'm just trying to give you the easiest,
more sufficient way to get here.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:15):
No, I mean I applauded, and I like that you
do do that. But then there's also people that, you
know what I mean, that don't. Like somebody will look
at you like, how come you can't tell me that
because you did it your way and it worked, But
you also have something in you that that allow.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
I would kind of like raised in a very very
very very different environment, you know, And even in that environment, bro,
I thank god to this day I made it out
the situations I did because a lot of people didn't,
So I wouldn't tell people to take the exact route
that I did because it's a lot of liability in it.

Speaker 1 (21:49):
Do you look at at and the reason why I
asked you about Draco the Ruler and Nipsey. I saw
a video that you did that that you're you know,
on the corner of the Crenshawn slots. I mean you
frequent that are a lot right saying, you know, while
he was here and the last few interviews that I've done, man,
I've really been making it a point to tell the

(22:11):
people that I talked to, like Doug, I appreciate being
able to experience you, you know what I'm saying, because we
I think we take it for granted. We definitely take
it for granted. Like who we you know, especially here
here in LA. It's like, oh, that's the homies, you
know what I'm saying. We grew up with him, we
we came up together. But it's like what this has
shown me, his life is so short, man, And it's
like I just appreciate being able to see people's story,

(22:33):
even me, like we don't know each other, like that,
being able to see the story and the struggle and
seeing what you may, you know, selling clothes out of
a van, and like being able to pop your brand
off and now seeing you said earlier that the scholars
aren't weren't your demographic, but now they.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
Are usc awful lot of ass c you know what
I mean?

Speaker 2 (22:51):
And I think that that's fire.

Speaker 1 (22:53):
And it's like I like having these conversations because it's like, yo,
you need to know how important you are, you know
what I mean?

Speaker 2 (23:00):
For you?

Speaker 1 (23:00):
Did you do you ever kind of step outside of yourself?

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Like damn? Like I really got a chance to.

Speaker 1 (23:06):
And I do experience some amazing people, some amazing individuals
on my journey up.

Speaker 4 (23:11):
Yeah, all the time, bro, all the time.

Speaker 3 (23:14):
This this career path that I had chosen has opened
up so many doors for me to connect with so
many people.

Speaker 4 (23:23):
It's a blessing.

Speaker 3 (23:24):
And I do sit back plenty of times and just
realize the type of relationships I have. But I'm so
used to it because these friendships and relationships I get
paid off of them now. So you know, it's like
you stepping back and be like, dang, bro, you buff
well shit, you're carrying boxes all day. You should be
a little It's like, you know what I mean like
that's what the muscle. The muscle is to help me work. So,

(23:48):
like the bigger I am, I use it to make
more money, you know, So I step back and I
love it, but I know what I got, so I
don't let people play with me. You know, it's not shocking,
you know. I use what I got to leverage a
lot of situations, you know, just because I've been around
people with advantages and I see how they're treated and

(24:09):
how they leverage situations. So I'm never stepping back like, oh,
you're the man. I'm stepping back like, don't let them
play with you, bro, Like I'm stepping outside of myself,
looking at situations and tell them no, they wouldn't do
nobody else like that.

Speaker 4 (24:22):
That to you, you know, that saying they.

Speaker 3 (24:23):
Say, a bottle of water at the store is this price,
A bottle of water at the airport is this price?
A bottle of water at a concert is this price?

Speaker 2 (24:31):
You know.

Speaker 3 (24:32):
So if I'm in a situation and I feel like
people are playing with me, I'm gonna remove myself from
that situation and go to a situation where I'm value more,
you know, because I already know my value.

Speaker 1 (24:42):
Man, Well, let's talk about some of these locations. Man,
you got you know, two locations here in La.

Speaker 4 (24:49):
Right.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
The Houston thing is going big as well. Man, congratulations
on that. Like when you originally started, was that the
goal to get flagship stores and multiple location Like, how
did that actually come on?

Speaker 3 (25:01):
The goal was just to sell a hoodie your day, bro, Damn.
It was just okay, you're going to get a job.
They give me you fucking seventeen fifteen an hour after tax,
you're taking home. I can sell one hoodie for two
hundred a day, and I'm good. That was always the goal.
And I never looked up and really, you know, it's
like one hoodie a day, one hoodie the day. It's
just like you're telling yourself, just do twenty five push ups, right,

(25:24):
do twenty five push up? Now you're doing a thousand
push ups today, off for just twenty five push ups.
And they're like, Bro, you're not gonna do nothing now.
I'm just gonna keep my head down, do my twenty five.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
That's so funny that you use that analogy, because I'm
literally going through that right now. I'm up to one
hundred nowaday. Yeah, right, And before I started off at
twenty five, and then I did fifty and then you know,
now it's one hundred and somebody the push up police
is out there because they was looking at it.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
They're like, hey man, you're not going all the way,
so now.

Speaker 4 (25:48):
It's going over down. You gotta slow down to make it.

Speaker 2 (25:50):
Like all right, I got y'all.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
But you start with the lower reps and then increase
that and then you know, that's how you apply that strategy.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
So that's that's funny that you use that analogy, man, and.

Speaker 3 (25:59):
Then it just goes into like, okay, whatever capital I
got to start off, whatever capital I got, I'm trying
to flip it. You can flip it fast and it
be a risk, or you can flip it slow. It
take longer, but it's a bigger reward for your deposit,
you know. So it's like, okay, right now, we're just
trying to get a profit, got you, you know, but
the more every day every day?

Speaker 4 (26:19):
Okay, now we're trying to get a profit with less liability.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
Which strategy do you like?

Speaker 1 (26:25):
Well, I mean, I'm sure you like the bigger capital one,
but which which strategy do you feel like you lean
more towards the one with less risk in the beginning.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
Or less risk. Le's risk, let's risk. That's what my
whole thing is built about. Less risks, less liabilities. You know,
I pay for I pay for security at my store
so my my customers are safe, so my employees are safe.

Speaker 4 (26:48):
I pay for insurance. You know, we want less risks.

Speaker 3 (26:51):
You know, I at one point in time, I remember
it was a year and I was like, this year,
I'm not focusing on making more money, focusing on not
losing money. You know, that's two different ways to make money.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
You could.

Speaker 3 (27:06):
One of my biggest years has some of my biggest
losses to where it's like bruh, I made this, but
then they took this, lost this, spent that, lost this
lost that. So now it's just like when you go
through like years and stuff like that and you look
at a whole it's not even about trying to climb
the super letter super fast. It's about just making it

(27:27):
to the next step, making it to the net without
slipping or falling or taking the air.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
You know, let's talk about these partnerships.

Speaker 5 (27:33):
Man.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
You got you got four Local, you got ron USA,
the sneaker sneaker situation, and there's a lot of partnerships.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
A lot of things that brand's not friends.

Speaker 1 (27:43):
Hey, look so this what I love about this is
that you've leveraged your whole situation.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
Right.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
What for you?

Speaker 1 (27:51):
What makes you say yes when somebody comes to the
table with a potential situation?

Speaker 2 (27:54):
What's that one thing you're like, Oh, yeah, no, that
makes sense?

Speaker 3 (27:57):
Or capital? The capital like our people come to me,
Oh do you just say? It depends on the situation.
You know, I might be behind in something, or I
need some money where they at let's do it. You know,
I control the narrative most of the time anyway, you know,
I don't look at it as oh, I ain't gonna lie.
At the point of time, bro, I was looking I

(28:18):
was doing pop ups and all these clams, and like
I'm going to these cities, taking these little twenties forties
and stuff from these people, and I'm just being in
more ghetto situations.

Speaker 4 (28:29):
And it's a risk. You know.

Speaker 3 (28:32):
It's like you this money is coming, but it's like
you putting yourself in the trenches.

Speaker 4 (28:36):
You know, so like how.

Speaker 3 (28:39):
Much do you need that money that you're really ready
to risk your life, risk your jury, risk risk anything
for it, you know, And at a point in time
when you early, hell, yeah, people do, people are committing.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
Fela needs to get this money.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
All I gotta do is go to Mississippi and sit
over here for a day and they gonna give me
this inpus.

Speaker 4 (28:59):
Let's do it. Yeah, you know.

Speaker 3 (29:00):
But then, uh, after a while, you kind of start
getting more picky. But it's always the money.

Speaker 5 (29:07):
Bro.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
I'm from the East Side. I'm not having it. Yeah,
we're gonna change the demographic.

Speaker 4 (29:13):
Bro. Remember one time I felt so bad too.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
I did a collaboration with somebody and they paid me
so much money, and it was just a big opportunity
because they had like a real big brand and they
created the design and I printed the design and I'm
just like, yeah, you know, and bros.

Speaker 4 (29:30):
Upside down cross on that. Oh, but I'm.

Speaker 2 (29:35):
Like, I don't work, I don't care.

Speaker 4 (29:40):
I don't care.

Speaker 3 (29:41):
Read it in the Bible, they put the crosses upside down.
It wasn't to knock Jesus, you know what I mean.
It's just most people turned into that. You know.

Speaker 2 (29:54):
That's the hell of a nerve to switch up, though. Bro.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
You go and read it and look it up, and
I'm just like, bro, y'all want y'all know I'm not
on that. But at the end of the day, it's
all about your point of view. You feel me, It's
all about your point of view, and it's all about you.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
So how do you respond to somebody that says, man, look,
all money is not good money.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
It's not all money is not good money. Like, I'm
not dealing with certain people, got you. I don't care
how much money is, and if it is, I'm dealing
with them at a distance.

Speaker 2 (30:20):
I'm gonna deal with you.

Speaker 3 (30:21):
But bro, I miss birthdays, Christmas. I didn't lost a
lot of stuff because we didn't have I've been broke
longer than I've been up. And when I say broke,
I mean underground. You know, I was all the way
up into my thirties. In the back of my head,
I'm like prepared to spend a lot of time in jail. Wow,
thirty five right now, all the way up into my thirties,

(30:43):
that was just in the back of my head.

Speaker 4 (30:44):
So if it happened, I'm not tripping. You're not caught
off guard.

Speaker 3 (30:48):
I'm just like, I'm not ready to jump off and cry.
I'm like, bro, I already knew this was happening. You
know the system, Yo.

Speaker 1 (30:54):
So I'm so glad you said I want to play
something for you. You'll recognize it, but I want to know.
I'm gonna just play it and then well I'll ask
the question in a second.

Speaker 4 (31:02):
I just don't get it.

Speaker 6 (31:04):
Bro, Like when when you got a business, having a business,
It's like when they saying turn it off.

Speaker 4 (31:14):
You just stop.

Speaker 5 (31:15):
You can't stop, bro, Like why would I stop when
everybody else stop?

Speaker 4 (31:20):
Like, I don't get it. Like when y'all clock out,
I'm still clock in.

Speaker 5 (31:24):
When y'all clock in, I'm still clocking in. When y'all
clock out again, I'm still clocked in.

Speaker 4 (31:28):
I'm trying to win this race.

Speaker 5 (31:30):
Bro. It's like trying to crack a safe, like and
they say time and everybody walk away. No, I'm still
there trying to I'm down there trying to crack.

Speaker 4 (31:38):
Two safes before a nigg come back. Bro.

Speaker 5 (31:41):
Like, this is a race and I'm trying to win
this shit, and I to oll wins. And even when
I'm winning this like jay Z that's been winning for
my years, bro.

Speaker 4 (31:52):
Y'all'll be stopping. I can't.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
I don't know. I don't have it in me. I
can't stop. I've been broken for thirty some years.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
I only been.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
So that's why you said that. Just now.

Speaker 1 (32:04):
That just made me thinking of this post and you
put don't ever stop trying, which is you know, acting
in for desks right now that you have.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
But I want to know what triggered that post, like
what did you see? What was going on that day.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
For you to men like, you know, I gotta hop
on and let the people know, because it seemed like
something had This body.

Speaker 3 (32:20):
Was gone at the warehouse. Everybody gone at the warehouse.
I just got up doing all types of stuff. I
come back, everybody gone. And that's the difference between the
owner and the employee, you know.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
And then the movie.

Speaker 3 (32:38):
I just watched some movie where they had so they
wanted to crack this big safe, so they hired all
these people to come in and crack the safe. And
then he like, you know, they all practicing the day before,
and then they like time and most people are stopping,
and he's still there just getting it perfect, just trying
to make sure it's perfect. And then I'm just gotta
watching some chef show. And you know how be like

(33:00):
days first day, then you stop, then you start over again.

Speaker 2 (33:04):
In a business.

Speaker 3 (33:05):
When they say stop, you don't stop right right time,
We'll start getting my You talking about time, I'm not
even done with the sacks. I got a business, bro,
So while y'all sleeping, I'm perfecting. So when y'all wake up,
I'm already ready. Y'all like what we want to sleep? Yeah,

(33:27):
because y'all y'all treating us like a job. Now, y'all
getting off work. I don't get off. My mind does
not let me get off work. Even if I'm not
at work, I'm still thinking of work when I go
and visit these artists. I got a trunk full of
clothes ready, you know what I mean. I'm not trying
to sell them. I'm trying to get some pictures.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
You know.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
If I'm going somewhere, I'm not going somewhere to enjoy myself.
I'm going somewhere to maybe capitalize and enjoy myself. But
that's what my whole life is dedicated to. Especially with
these bills out there and racked up. You can't know
I need to What am I stopping?

Speaker 4 (34:02):
Folk?

Speaker 2 (34:03):
You know?

Speaker 3 (34:03):
Like if you average out how much you pay mortgage
in rent, it's not like you're only paying from nine
to five. You paying for that whole everything, so you
gotta get your money's worse facts.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
So where's the balance into that thought?

Speaker 4 (34:19):
You know?

Speaker 1 (34:20):
Balance family man, your father, Like, how do you navigate
through that?

Speaker 2 (34:24):
Because I understand, like you gotta the bills, gotta get paid.

Speaker 3 (34:27):
That was really for my wife's word, just to let
like I just felt it on my spirit, Like really, baby,
I know I supposed to be coming home right now,
but I just can't stop.

Speaker 4 (34:39):
You want me to come home right now and lay
down and go to sleep.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
The light's gotta stay on.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
What Yeah, come on, I'm thinking about the outfit for
the shoot tomorrow. I'm thinking about what they gonna wear.
I'm thinking about Okay, now, I'm thinking about it so much. Okay,
let's throw it for a loco in there. I'm thinking
about it so much. Let's let's try to cross brand
this whole thing. These businesses take a lot of thought
and work. So when I say get off, I'm not

(35:05):
sitting there printing up shirts while y'all going home. It's
like my mind is still on this business timing, and
you have to think about it, bro, you have to
overly think, and with me, I have so many employees
at high levels, but they're not always the most what
is the word I want to say, Like, they don't
be having a vision, so I'll have to think, like

(35:25):
if this was my company, I'll be thinking about stuff
that you need to ask. I'll be thinking of shots
that you need to get. I'll be thinking of make
sure you get a picture of them together, make sure
he wears his hoodie, make sure he shot the brand
out because if I don't, it's not gonna get done.
And I'm the one that's losing, you know. So I'm
thinking for everybody, and then now it's time for y'all

(35:46):
to do the thinking and think more of it. Sometimes
they don't even think as much into it, so I
have to give them more thoughts like oh yeah, how
about this? How about that? And it doesn't matter. I
just we gotta win.

Speaker 1 (35:57):
Yes, I mean, it's your vision, so nobody's gonna care
more than you at the end of the day. And
and that I think that shows the difference between why
you're successful and why a lot of brands and why
a lot of just people, individuals, like you know, entrepreneurs
fall flat, because like you said, there's a time some
people clock out, and it's like, now, if you really

(36:18):
want this, you gotta stay on, gotta stay on and
you know, but but I do think that there is
a fine line. You gotta figure out that balance and
whatever works out for you, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (36:27):
But right now there's no balance because bro, and what
you think of balance, You got to think of the
whole thing, you know what I mean? Like you want
me to get off early, it stop. That's not gonna
keep you in this type of life.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
Right No, I trust me, I get it. I get it.

Speaker 3 (36:45):
I'll give you a day. I'll give y'all all the day.
I'll give y'all mornings. I'm not staying. I'm not never
spending the night out. I'm always coming home every day.
You know, I'm waking up with my kids and I'm
giving them a day.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
That's that's balance, though, that's your version of balance with that,
So I'm saying, that's what I'm saying. Everybody has their
unique versions of balance. Like for me, I like taking
my kids to school. You know, that's that's my thing.
I love doing that, and but everybody's version is completely different.
As long as that's that's my thing, as long as
you found a way. You know it ain't perfect, but
as long as you're perfect.

Speaker 3 (37:22):
Something type of way. You know, I see a lot
of people that don't even cut it in. You know,
they chase the bag seven. You know, they don't miss
a birthday. They'll miss this, they'll miss that, And it's
just like with me, I'm not missing that.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
You know.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
Luckily, I have a wife that's really on my head,
that's not taking the little stuff at all. You know, like, no,
you wanted to give me a day, you still got
to come home at this time. I don't care if
Cardi and I don't care who call you. But then
that's the fight I'm ready to put up with. You know,
I'm sorry. You know, you don't know how I feel

(37:57):
when the bill come up and you don't have the
money to pay or you gotta wait. That's a hard
feeling the half, you know, like I haven't experienced that
in a long time. And once I once I did,
it's like, okay, gotta cut this off.

Speaker 4 (38:12):
And just what Nip say. Sometimes you gotta get ugly.

Speaker 2 (38:14):
Ugly man, you gotta get cut all all the.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
Fun and you just put you know, how so how
you said it's been a couple of years since you've
been out of like I would say, survival mode, right, well.

Speaker 3 (38:26):
Like, yeah, it's been a couple of years since I've
been in like a lower level survival Moboa.

Speaker 4 (38:32):
Level.

Speaker 3 (38:32):
Yeah yeah, yeah, you know, like, oh ship, we gotta
pay this tab by winning complex complex kind of want
what yeah?

Speaker 4 (38:39):
Okay, Rolling Loud?

Speaker 2 (38:41):
What stop?

Speaker 3 (38:42):
Yeah damn, I just kind of okay, you know we
in Boom. I just spent it all on this. I'm
if this don't work, Oh what, Bro, I didn't did
a I did Rolling Loud.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
One time, this one recently?

Speaker 3 (38:55):
What this twenty four or twenty three we did Rolling
out la or we probably spent over like a quarter
quarter million dollars on it, bro, and it was a
great return.

Speaker 4 (39:07):
But then I didn't pay my taxes.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
I took it all, ye, survival mode, Survival Mode.

Speaker 4 (39:14):
I gotta pay everybody back.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
I gotta pay everybody because I used like just wait,
just everybody hold off.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
And then they.

Speaker 3 (39:23):
Seeing it and I'm like, oh we did good. I'm
seeing the numbers and I'm just wait for it to come,
and it never came.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
They never came. But you can't.

Speaker 3 (39:32):
People still want to get paid these vendors want to
get paid for they blanks, they time. Employees want to
get paid. So now survival mode, you know and hopefully
like of course, sometimes like little things I might not get.
But for the most part I tried to you know,
stay like above water.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Yeah you okay, Uh, It's it's a fire story because
it's just like it shows like the different level in
which you're willing to go for what you want.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
And you know what I mean, not everybody has that.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
But what's the difference between Joshua and Desto Dub Is
there a difference?

Speaker 3 (40:10):
Yeah, what's the difference Joshua. Joshua is like that's still
Dub is international. Joshua is like the little barber's boys,
you know what I mean. You'll know the difference between
when my when my wife called me Joshua, she called
me Dub Dub probably was out working all night. Joshua

(40:32):
was at church trying to cook dinner and breakfast.

Speaker 4 (40:35):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
Sometimes I can't be Joshua. You know, when that'sto Dub,
he's like, you know, he's the image. You know, this
this is Desto Dub on that soda. You know, Joshua
is somebody who don't need who don't have the brand.

Speaker 4 (40:53):
You don't need the brand, you know.

Speaker 3 (40:55):
So it's like, if I go somewhere like right now,
y'all getting Desto right, you know what I mean, gonna
gett You're gonna get a person that's gonna tell your
story that's gonna inspire you. Joshua, Joshua just kicking it
with his kids. I can care less what y'all doing.
Joshua was on the beach. Joshua was at his mama house.
That's Joshua. Joshua's crop crowed up with his girl.

Speaker 4 (41:14):
You know what I mean.

Speaker 3 (41:14):
But Desto dup, he's on the scene. He's an entrepreneur,
He's an outgoer.

Speaker 4 (41:19):
You know. Man.

Speaker 3 (41:20):
What I mean between that is when I walk into
a meeting, you're not getting Joshua getting.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Is there any situations where Joshua has to pull up
for deskto or when the police pull you over.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
You go to court.

Speaker 2 (41:35):
I'm Joshua, take all this all this When you're.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Talking to that mortgage company, when you're trying to get
a house, that's when Joshua come in to play.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Hello, how are you people?

Speaker 4 (41:47):
How y'all doing good?

Speaker 2 (41:48):
Afternoon?

Speaker 4 (41:49):
Nice to meet you.

Speaker 2 (41:49):
So let me talk to Joshua real quick man.

Speaker 1 (41:51):
What what's some dad advice that you can give to
myself and other fathers out there based off of your experience.

Speaker 3 (41:58):
Bro, I run into a lot of people, and this
is just overall that advice. Nobody can keep you from
your kids. Not one person in America can keep you
from your kids, you know. Like so like everybody's saying
all of it, like, oh she won't let me or
your like, you know, whatever the case. You can have

(42:19):
a great girl, bad girl turner, but it's you.

Speaker 4 (42:22):
You can go and see it.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
You can pull up to that school, you can pull
up to the house, even if it's but a lot
of times I'm not doing all that just to see
the bit like that's you did, right. Yeah, well she's
not able to come with me. I can't leave. She's
not She's just gonna let me get it. That's you.
So you know, nobody can keep you away from your kids.
Another good dad advice is I'm learning, you know, but

(42:45):
just based off from my experience, I like to be
tough for all my kids. I like to be tough
on my kids. Yeah, you know, my son or daughter
fall I'm not picking them up. I don't even want
you to pick them up and them get theirselves up.
I don't want them to sit there and be crying. Man,
get up. They bounce right up. You see, my kid
could fall anywhere. They bounce back up. You know that's

(43:11):
a big one. And then I don't know, have them
attached to your family. You know, I'll try to keep
my kids like I thought my darted birthday every year
in the hood. Give her a birthday in the hood
every year, and I invite everybody to come on, every
one and think she better than anybody, y'all all the same.
You know, it kind of scares me that way, so

(43:34):
blessed that she's not gonna have to go through the struggles.
But in my mind, I'm just hoping that means since
she started from ground, she's gonna go up right. You
know a lot of time us starting from underground, you
try so hard to get above ground that you just
keep going. Yeah, you know, with her, she got it all.
So you know, I'll just be trying to figure out

(43:57):
ways to keep her somewhat with some of the things
that I I was raised off of. You going to
your grandma, you're going to your grandma house, you hanging
out your grandma. I want them to be know who
they came from, where they came from, and don't let
any idios materialistic stuff change, which is kind of hard
for a kid, you know, But those are some of
the things I'm trying to plant inside of them. And like,

(44:18):
if I'm with my kids and I'm with anybody, their
cousin's friends or something, I'm getting them all the same thing.
My daughter don't like to share, she's very stingy. But
I don't want somebody thinking that, you know, because I
was that kid.

Speaker 4 (44:30):
I promise.

Speaker 3 (44:31):
I used to be out with people all the time,
and they dads or brothers or uncles buying them stuff.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
And on each side, they're not buying you shit.

Speaker 2 (44:38):
Yeah, yeah, you.

Speaker 4 (44:40):
Know that's that. You ain't my kid?

Speaker 3 (44:42):
You coming back? They got shoes clothed. I've never done
that once. Damn you out with me and my daughter
or my son, the kid getting everything they getting.

Speaker 4 (44:52):
That's fine.

Speaker 1 (44:53):
We got to set up a plated you know. So
you got you got. Do you parent your first from
your second? Like, do you parent them differently.

Speaker 4 (45:03):
Or is it the same?

Speaker 3 (45:05):
All?

Speaker 2 (45:05):
Bro?

Speaker 4 (45:05):
So my first kid, she's for sure, born above ground.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
You know I got the first year, I got my
first throw on mirrows I had her, you know, so
we was already booming.

Speaker 4 (45:15):
You know.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
I started in a house in Burbank. Then we moved
to like the big house in the valley.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
With the gated community. You know.

Speaker 3 (45:22):
So she's a little bit more energetic, more fun, playful.
D My son bro had a nanny since he was born.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Got it. So he's he's he's had.

Speaker 4 (45:33):
He's And I don't know how that's going to turn out.
You know.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
With my daughter, she had to thuget with us at
certain times, you know what I mean, that's what she
My son, he doesn't go nowhere. My boy is in
the house under the eighth c with a nanny. Talk
about come on.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
So do you do you notice a big difference between them.
The reason why I'm asking that is because my first
one no problems, slept, slept through the night, no issues.

Speaker 2 (46:01):
He just he's just the perfect kid.

Speaker 1 (46:04):
My second one is giving me we didn't get plus
some and it's like, oh ship. The way I have
to parent one is different than the other one. I
have to be harder on my youngest one than I
had to be on my first one, so I'm interested
to hear is that now.

Speaker 3 (46:17):
My daughter, my daughter have to be harder on my
first one because the second one was raised.

Speaker 4 (46:22):
Around more structure.

Speaker 3 (46:23):
Got you okay, you know everything is on time, Everything
is on time. He's not on the iPad, he's not
on the phone. He's only one. But my daughter at once,
she was crying over iPad because she was raised even
we always had help, but it was like like my
sister's got my wife's godmom was watching them.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
So she's just spoiling them.

Speaker 3 (46:44):
Right now, we have like a nanny that don't even
speak English, so she's not even watching TV or putting.

Speaker 2 (46:49):
On Yeah, you wake up.

Speaker 4 (46:52):
She's going on a walk with him. You know. He's
on the time schedule. He's sleep by like six seven.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
My daughter, Oh, she's up right now on the eye,
up right now somewhere.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
You got to call a second.

Speaker 4 (47:03):
Yeah, I called you bye. Stop hanging up on me, girl,
you know.

Speaker 3 (47:08):
So yeah, my son, he's more like structured, he's more,
he listens more, but he gets more sad when I leave.
My daughter, she's not tripping. You're like all right, all right, daddy,
tell you bye. Close the door, close, the door.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
Here you go. Now my son is like.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Don't leave, no, No, We're.

Speaker 3 (47:30):
Crying on the floor. He hear the door open. You know,
they got the front door open.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
He's where you're at.

Speaker 3 (47:38):
Start crying because you know I'm about to leave, you know.
But it's all structured. So like he more on the
time schedule, my daughter all over the place. Where my
daughter she gets to go more places because she's like,
you know, she can chill. She'll hop in the car,
put her seatbelt on and be chilling. My son hopping
the car. He tweaking where my parents at all?

Speaker 2 (47:56):
Right, So before before we get up out of here,
I want to ask you.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
You know you been dropping gym, so I want to
ask you you can drop some more A lot of
awful lessons, right, So another lesson I want to know
is what one of the biggest misconceptions that you probably face,
you know, as a as a business owner, as you
know brand, you know, fashion wise, like the what's one

(48:20):
of the biggest misconceptions that you kind of run into
that either people may or may not know about.

Speaker 3 (48:26):
Okay, so it's probably a few, but the first one
that I would bring up because it just happened this weekend.
My boy rio to young o G. He's fresh out
of jail. He came to LA one day. You know,
I put out the red carpet. We ended up doing
the collaboration. When we did the collaboration, it was probably
four or five hundred people outside, and I got him
with about twenty thirty people, you know, him and his buddies,

(48:48):
friends all that. I'm running the whole program I'm talking about.
I'm like, okayal, we're gonna get you in. Hit y'all
in the backyard. Lock the backyard. Now what I'm gonna do.
I'm gonna go outside, tell the security. In five minutes,
we're gonna start letting them in, five at a time.
When the five come in, I'm showing their employees. Look okay,
when they come in, you stick with them, see what
they want. Let them know if you you gotta buy
something to get the picture. Now, when they get done

(49:10):
buying stuff, and I need all y'all to stand over
here in a single foul line, matter of fact, line
up like this. Now that y'all lined up over there,
we got about twenty people over here. I need y'all
to walk over here and stand I'm gonna go to
the back at Grito. I got about two interviews. I'm
gonna bring one. You know, don't make it too long
because they're gonna ask too many questions, you know, get
the interview.

Speaker 4 (49:27):
After that, i'ma come and grab you.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
We're gonna go outside, take about twenty thirty pictures, and
I'm gonna bring you back and knock off the rest
of the line. And this is regular for me, but
one of his guys while we did the shot, they
set bro, I've seen you working and I couldn't believe it,
Like that shit is inspiring. How hands on you are.
You know, most people I see at your level they
just sitting back smoking, chilling, telling somebody else what to do.

(49:49):
You were literally doing everyone's job. You were the security,
you were the host, you were the you were the retail,
you was the cashier. I'm seeing you make sure and
I'm like, yeah, just because at the end of the day,
it's my bread. Y'all not moving fast enough. We're not
getting these customers in and out.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
Rio is gonna leave. Nobody's gonna get their pictures.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
I know how I want my program run because I've
run it plenty of times.

Speaker 4 (50:14):
It's my money.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
And you've probably seen different l's based off of how you.

Speaker 4 (50:18):
Just go to pop ups.

Speaker 3 (50:19):
I see where they have a lot of people just
hanging around that don't bring no money. The customers don't
get a picture. You got a line outside and they
ain't here, just chilling. No, come on, bye bye bye.
You're not buying. Get them out of here. Excuse me?
Are you buying something your friend about something that doesn't
come from You have to leave unless you buy something.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
You know, and it's my money.

Speaker 3 (50:38):
So I'm I'm gotta be the dominant offender. Nobody else
is gonna do that. They don't care. They here to
clock in and clock out. I'm trying to make a
certain amount within this hour because I have to pay
him a percentage, and I don't want him to feel like, damn,
it's all I made with that line out there. They
don't care about logistics, so let's.

Speaker 4 (50:57):
Feel me. Ninety stuff is like my vision.

Speaker 3 (51:01):
And then of the time I'm doing the first steps.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Damn executing the whole time.

Speaker 4 (51:08):
And people don't can't believe that.

Speaker 3 (51:09):
They don't believe that they see me with these tattoos,
the jeries, the double cut. Oh, they think I'm just
like that, right right right, Nope, I picked that one,
pick that and pick that, not knowing I'm the one
finding the references. I'm the one sitting down there telling
them how to do it. I'm gonna used to be attacked
tooo artists. I'm damn there, gonna sketch it out for
you if you don't get it right, man, hands on.

(51:33):
And that's why that's why I tell you, like I
don't stop. It's not like I don't get off work.
Oh no, bro, I'm always working. It's always.

Speaker 2 (51:45):
Yeah, with the product product product brands.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
Come on, what would you tell somebody that's starting up
now that it is trying to do what you're doing,
trying to get to that level? What's the what's one
of the key things that they need to know prior
to getting into all this.

Speaker 3 (52:06):
I'm trying to think of a person. I'm trying to
think of a person. Okay, so you just getting into
this and you're trying to get it, you know what
I mean. It depends on them. I'm trying to give
them inspiration. I'm trying to keep them one hundred. It
depends on the mood I am. But depending on the
person that's trying to really grow their brand, and they
got a brand.

Speaker 4 (52:21):
It just happened. I was doing venice ball.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
They have somebody that's out there every week just like
me with a little table trying to sell shirts, and
they're like, how did you get it this way? I'm like,
you got to endorse somebody, got endorse somebody, you know,
I don't care. Don't have to be the biggest somebody.
You look on your followers, who has the most followers?
Style them, give them clothes, you know, make sure that
you're attached to them. Once you're attached to them, as

(52:43):
they grow, you grow, then you find more people fuck
with them, you know what I mean. So that's what
I would tell any person with anything, because that's the
easiest way. There's other ways of doing it. Being the best,
being a fast, having the best product. Yes, that is.
But even if you want to cut the line, you
want to cut the line, jump on, bro boat watch
what's gonna happen?

Speaker 4 (53:03):
See the way and then you got it.

Speaker 3 (53:05):
And then you can start kind of small with a
like A like a C you know, a list, be
lit se list person. But if you want to go
for the A list, you got to invest you know
you're not gonna get a little baby by just pulling
up giving them a shirt. You're gonna get a little
baby by pulling up in the rose race that you
rent it just for the day, just to meet them
and bringing them a shirt with ten pair of air forces.

(53:28):
You ain't gotta be ten pairs. But I'm just saying,
you gotta make them want.

Speaker 4 (53:31):
To fuck with you.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
You gotta walk in and make them want to represent you.
They want to see you, and you only got a
little time. They not talking to you, They not having
a conversation with you. They don't want to hear all.

Speaker 2 (53:45):
That back to when you first started.

Speaker 1 (53:48):
It's like the compliment or figuring out that one strategy
that's gonna get that person's attention.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
It's all full circle. That's that's wild. Do you have
at this moment of your career?

Speaker 1 (53:56):
Are there any regrets like damn, okay, I should have
done this a little different.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
Or which I didn't buy so many cars?

Speaker 2 (54:01):
Bro? So you you don't need to spend a lot
of shit on your own.

Speaker 3 (54:05):
Bro. I'm like with the like the white people in
the Georgie people now and I went backwards. A lot
of people have a hard time building the brand. You know,
they taking all their money reinvesting, reinvesting. You know, I
was the first three years, I was three cars a year,
maybe even four. And around my birthday, I'm spending like
two three hundred or something. Then Christmas I'm buying my

(54:29):
wife I got You know, I spent a lot of
money on cars when I should have been putting it
up or reinvesting it and stuff like that. You know,
you know, and a person will saying, well that's the image. Yeah,
that's what you say. Afterwards, you know, well you can
write off, you could write off the g Wagon.

Speaker 4 (54:45):
Shouldn't have to write it off.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
Shouldn't even be spending that right right, I wouldn't even
have to be trying to find a way to make
it make sense.

Speaker 1 (54:51):
But is this just spending just to spend or is it,
like you said, is this going back investing you.

Speaker 3 (54:56):
You know in the beginning, I was just spending it.
It was that little kid that used to be at
the bus stop that didn't have that used to see
the cars going by, like that's my car, that's my car, No,
that's your car, or my parents picking me up in
that ninety two Cadillact without the muffler.

Speaker 2 (55:16):
Are your mama here? That's your mama right there, Josh,
that's your mama right there?

Speaker 4 (55:23):
Like what.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
Well, even like bro, we' done been in so many
situations I laugh at them now, Like you're driving all
on the way leaving a birthday party, you get put over,
They putting your mom and mom.

Speaker 4 (55:35):
Off the car.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
Your daddy going to jail. Now, y'all catching the bus
back home? Now, y'all on the bus for like months,
and you like seeing your cousin mom. Why they always
keep their cars when we get well, I can't buy
no car like that because I don't have a license.

Speaker 4 (55:49):
Nigga, I ain't your tea. All right?

Speaker 1 (55:54):
The year can't end without you doing what you've accomplished
so many things, man, you've gotten so many The year
cannot ships and brands and things of that nature. Man,
what's on the vision board for you as of right now?

Speaker 2 (56:06):
The year can't in? Well, we go two ways. The
year came in.

Speaker 3 (56:10):
I didn't have a successful year if I didn't do
my Turkey drive or my Christmas drive at Watts Fire.
You know that's what I judged my year based off
of success. It's not about how many cars I made.

Speaker 4 (56:20):
It's nothing.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
It's about if I'm able to give back, you know.
And these people, you know, I ain't gonna lie.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
They look for it. Every year I was a kid.

Speaker 3 (56:26):
I used to go to the Mission to get shoes
every year with my mom, and we look forward to
it because that was the only time I was going
to get some name brand shoes, you know. But that's
just on a positive note. But with this year, ship
the year came in without me. I want to open
another store.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Is there an idea on the on the fourth location?

Speaker 3 (56:47):
I have few, few, few, few potentials, you know. But
with my recipe, I have to do several pop ups
just to make sure, you know. But Houston, I did
six pop ups and six months. Every but I was
there and every pop up I was learning it are
learning the demographic and I would do within them six
pop ups. Two of them I wasn't there, just to
see if it made money without.

Speaker 4 (57:06):
Me being there.

Speaker 3 (57:07):
I haven't been in Houston in about forty five days now. Wow,
store is still running.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
Okay, So is there a city that's leading the pack
as of right now?

Speaker 4 (57:16):
For you? It's it's not so, It's just just it's different.

Speaker 3 (57:21):
It's different demographics, you know, Like, of course Miami, I
would kill it, but I.

Speaker 4 (57:27):
Don't like Miami.

Speaker 2 (57:29):
That's that balance, you know, right.

Speaker 4 (57:31):
I don't like Miami. Atlanta I would kill it.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
I just don't feel that safe in Alanta, you know
what I mean, going out there trying to set up shop.
It's a lot of haters and robbers. And with me
being there, Like when I went to Houston, it was
so much love that I had to And then the
more I gave to Houston, the more it was reciprocating.

Speaker 2 (57:53):
You know, some places you give you look like a target.

Speaker 3 (57:55):
Yeah, this nigga just given we're gonna take Damn.

Speaker 1 (57:59):
That's crazy that you you you are aware of that
and you think that, yeah, use that cause again, I mean,
it could go two ways. It can go like you said,
oh I can kill out here the money and that
being the thing that drives you versus you know, let
me be logical about this, let me you know, my
safety and now this might not be the best move
for the brand for myself.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
Like, so the fact that you're able.

Speaker 3 (58:20):
So a lot of factors brough at this level. You know,
it's a lot of factors, and safety is number one.
Safety is number one, and then bro, it's not an
amount of money that'll make me want to argue with
my wife every day, you know, Like it's not. It's not,
but I still do gotta make the money. So like
even with Houston, it's like I don't have to go
out there, but I do gotta get it started. So

(58:41):
I'm gonna take it with it, get it started. But
like I'm not there like that, I'm not. I don't
have to be there. I have a team, you know,
So that's always to go not to spend more time
away from them, because that's.

Speaker 4 (58:52):
All they think. You get all these stores.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
You got to go to five stores and fight different
states every month just for them to run it. Like,
I don't want the story to have to go too
forth to run right.

Speaker 1 (59:01):
You don't have to be there, Like yeah, that don't
make sense. That's taking your time away.

Speaker 4 (59:05):
The referee on the foot locker thing. Ain't never been
a cracker barrel. Ain't never been in all them crackled barrels.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Yeah, yeah, facts, Well, Desto dub Man, I appreciate you
pulling up.

Speaker 4 (59:16):
Man.

Speaker 1 (59:17):
Is there anything you want to make sure that people
know that we haven't already mentioned?

Speaker 3 (59:21):
Man, put God first, you know what I mean, Pray,
thank them, always give back, never forget where you came from.
Don't forget, but be aware. Just you know, enjoy life.
You know, work, take care of your family. If you're
not taking care of your family, you probably not gonna

(59:43):
get no blessings. I feel like I'm blessed so much
because I blessed so many people. You know, It's like
it's it's a cheat code. It's like, Okay, I can
hit him, and he gonna hit all of these people.
You winning. Yeah, so that's pretty much it for me. Bro,
And just you know, don't ever stop trying. A lot
of people think they too old do something or too late.

Speaker 4 (01:00:01):
You know. I love different scenarios where people boom late.
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
It's the jelly bean. You remember, like a country singer
he was like Fody pushing Fody and the jelly Yeah,
you know what I mean, stuff like that. I don't
ever think it's too late. And it kind of be
funny in the beginning when you're like, bro, I'm way
older than everybody year. But then when you get some money,
that shit don't matter and I don't matter. You could
be the oldest person in the room. They looking at

(01:00:28):
you like I'm trying to get with him.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
And you got the life experience behind you now yeah,
oh over yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
Should I appreciate you pulling up?

Speaker 4 (01:00:36):
Man?

Speaker 1 (01:00:36):
I enjoyed this conversation, getting a chance to get to
know you more. Like I said, I've seen from afar
so to be able to peep this and get some
wisdom from you. And I know a lot of people
that that's listening or even watching this is getting the
same thing.

Speaker 4 (01:00:48):
Man.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
So I appreciate you, brother, uh Man, chuck dis some
live directly keep it in home wrong, that's so doub
We'll catch you all next time.

Speaker 4 (01:00:55):
Offul lot of it.