Episode #161 w/ Rich Paul

So Rich’s story is a reflection of raw transformation, street survival, and unshakable resilience. Raised in the streets and system-impacted since the age of 15, Rich spent more than 13 years in and out of incarceration—including a decade behind bars on an 11-year manslaughter charge. But what started as a life fueled by violence and desperation would become a testimony of growth, faith, and redemption.

While serving his final sentence, Rich experienced a powerful mental and spiritual awakening that changed everything. He chose a new path—one rooted in purpose, ownership, and service. That decision laid the foundation for a new identity: artist, entrepreneur, community leader.

Today, So Rich is signed to Red Cafe’s Shakedown Entertainment and runs So Rich Entertainment. He also owns The Black House—a creative and cultural lounge in Long Island, serving as a business hub for artists and entrepreneurs. Through his nonprofit, So Rich in Community, he mentors gang-involved and justice-impacted youth, helping them rewrite their own narratives just like he did.

This episode is a reminder: the streets don’t have to write your ending. Rich is proof that redemption is always possible—if you choose it.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Himself.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
That'll be.

Speaker 3 (00:58):
Hope a south darks a over your mouth, du less.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
Clear, that's right?

Speaker 3 (01:29):
What you already know? What it is your boy, Pistol
Pete walking back to the dog in the yard. Today
we got so Rich, so Rich, been getting the problem
since he was thirteen years old, in and out of prison, incarcerations,
quarter to eleven years sentence on a masslaughter. And with
that being said, let's get right to it. You already
know your boy, Pistol Pete, dog in the yard, So Rich?

(01:52):
What up? What up? You already knows your boy, Pistol Pete.
Welcome back to the dog in the yard. And today
we got Rich in the building. What's up? Rich? How
you brother?

Speaker 2 (01:59):
Your peace and blessings? Respect? You feel like I'm doing amazing?
Man's up?

Speaker 3 (02:03):
Man, You're healthy, looking great.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
I'm doing the y'all.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
In the yard. That's your platform. It's our platform, no question.
You know what I'm saying. This is our ship. You
know what I'm saying this. I always said, this is
the platform that you know for us, us that never
had a voice. We was in prison, was in jail,
those guys that we never had a voice, no question.
So this is the voice this is right here, we'll
be able to let the world, let the youth know.
You know what I'm saying that what what what you

(02:30):
went through to to come here? You don't need to
make it back out and.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
Be here today you feeling no question, not no question.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
So would that being said, rich a little bit about yourself,
where you're from, your upbringing, you know, siblings, mom, dad, Uh,
at what age you started getting you know, caught up,
getting getting in trouble.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
Yeah? Absolutely, man, My name is rich, so rich Paul
Rich Paul is my actual name, but so Rich is
the name of my brand. A lot of times when
people think about being rich, they think about money, and
money is necessary for us to survive in society. Like
what my name of my brand stand for is the
fact that we already rich regardless of your financial situation.
We so rich in community. Like it's illustrated right here

(03:10):
at the end of the day, it's come from a
specific community of people. Like you said, it's voiceless, right.
So although so although a brother may not have no finances,
be rich in the community. We so rich in love,
We so rich in family, We so rich in our experiences. Absolutely,
I'm from Long Island, more specifically Freeport in New York.
Shout out to the whole Long Island that so Suffolk.

(03:30):
I grew up in the area that they call the corridor,
which is Freeport, Roosevelt, You and Dale Hempstead if anybody
knows Long Island and more specifically NASA and Suffolk County,
those are two of the most segregated counties in the country.
So you'll have one town that's a million dollar town,
completely rich, and then you'll go maybe like ten steps up,
and then you'll have another town that's completely dust. The

(03:53):
two straight poverty drugs brothers addict to the crack thp
we it's just a completely different dying damage. Yeah, one line,
one line, right, And then what it is is, of course,
just like a lot of America is the town that's wealthy,
it is usually a town that you know, has a
lot of like Caucasians. And in the town that's not wealthy,

(04:15):
he's usually a town that has a lot of Latino
and black brothers. So that's so that's how it was
for me when I was growing up, So in the
Port and Freeport, it was like it was different. Man,
Like my childhood was fun. But looking back, I also see, like,
you know, we had a lot of different issues growing
up in the community. Just my town within itself was

(04:36):
one side was the north side that I grew up in.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
I was the you was being raised by your moms
in your dad year.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, I was being raised by my mom's Like yeah,
I got I got a younger sister, and I got
two older brothers, and I got a sister that's like
right under me, like shut out to my pops. I
got mad love for my pops. I got a great
relationship with my pops now, but growing up it wasn't there.
So I just I was just blessed with the opportunity
to connect on my after like twenty plus years okay, right,

(05:03):
shut after my dad, but growing up, like my pops
wasn't around. It was on me and my mom. So
a lot of wisdom are understanding. I had to learn
from the streets and I had to learn from my
friends at that time. We like m you know, we
kids raising kids, right, yeah, streets raising you, the streets
raising us. So like for me, I I kind of
start at like like the eighth grade. That's when I

(05:26):
really started to realize what was happening. Seventh eighth grade
seventh grade. Really, that's when I really kind of came outside,
jumped off the porch, and I kind of started to
realize what was happening in my community. Cause for me,
it was real territorial mm, right, Like we had the
MS brothers on one side, we had the Bloods on
one side. At at that point, we had a little
bit of crips on one side. So for me, just
a young brother, not into nothing. I I j making,

(05:48):
I'm trying to get to school. I gotta walk through
all these different territories. So, you know, like my MS brothers,
they really a lot of their brothers, they wasn't speaking English.
They you know, they amongst themselves. So they see us.
They had be for the Bloods at the time. So
they see brothers like myself eleven twelve years old. We
got a red sock on, we got a red shirt.
They automatically coming after us. Oh the model, the model, right,

(06:09):
not really realizing that we don't got nothing to do
with that, right. So a lot of times just going
to and coming from school, getting chased with machetes and
batchlor nails and sometimes guns. And that's what kind of
like pushed me. That was one of the things of
many that kind of like you know, at that point,
it kind of like forced our hand, right, like they
forced you to get busy, like they forced you to

(06:31):
step your gun game up. Unfortunately, they forced you to
just be prepared. So I was an honor roll student
before then, before like junior high school, but once junior
high school came, I couldn't really focus on going to school.
I was really focused on making it there and making
it back building with my brothers who were my friends
at the time, and that's what really propelled me into
the streets. So at twelve, we jumping in the store
and cars. Like I said, it was a lot of

(06:53):
different gangs in my neighborhood, but it was one particular clique,
which was some brothers that was just right above me
made and I liked it. I appreciated it because brothers
was doing their own thing. I really ain't want to
be a part of a larger gang, right like, I
just that just really wasn't for me. And I just
felt that I always knew that. So even as time
went on and all my friends, my closest friends, my
right hands, they all went on to join different gangs,

(07:16):
blood et cetera. Like, I always just stayed with all Click,
which at the time was called TP thug out plays.
So once I got involved in that, you know, it's
a brotherhood, right, So I just remember slowly being introduced
to different things. You know, my man was selling weed
at fourteen. It's easier to get a gun than this

(07:37):
to get a job. It's easier to get your hands
on drugs than it is to get a job. So
I kind of fell into that, started selling weed at
fourteen fifteen. Once I started getting into all these different
trials and tribulations, police started bringing me home. My mom
already knew, so she moved. She moved the Queens to
try to see She tried to save my life. Yeah,
she tried to save.

Speaker 3 (07:57):
Me a job man, you know that.

Speaker 2 (07:59):
Yeah, And you know I used to be for the
Mom's real Jamaican, real strict. So she like, don't go outside,
don't cross the street. And I'm like, all right, I'm
going outside. I'm crossing the street. I'm jumping in the
field with the brosh Yeah, guns in the v at
thirteen fourteen, guns in the car, jumping out, jumping into
the beefs of my brothers. I'll fast forward to fifteen.

(08:20):
So when I was fifteen, I was already living in Queens,
but I was out on the island heavy. I was
trying to make it back home the Queens and I
happened to see two of my bros. They passed by.
They pull thought, I'm yo, what I need a rod.
They're like, all right, boom, come on. So as soon
as I jump in the car and I'm really just
trying to get a rod to Queens. But in the
midst of leaving Freeport to Queens, they're like five robberies,

(08:42):
six robberies. One of the robberies ended up being a
gas station clerk and the brother ended up getting shot.
Shot the brother unfortunately in LA and we got arrested.
Show robberies. I was fifteen. I was the youngest person
at the time.

Speaker 3 (08:54):
She was on robbery.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Yeah, multiple robberies. Yeah. When I was fifteen, I was
charged as an adult. I ended up getting to WYO
at that time, but that was the first time that
I was introduced to the cultural system drivenile detention. I
did six months in juvenile detention. I got a six five.
They charged me as an adult, but I got a WYO.
But I was still in juvenile facility. So when I

(09:20):
came home, I was the youngest brother that caught the charge.
At the time, you know, I was just accepted in
a different way just for the way that I carried it,
and that propelled me even more into the streets. But
now you know, like right, like you got a name.
And although I wasn't in it for any of that,
I was in it for the brotherhood. Like I really
appreciated the bond that I had with my friends, right,

(09:41):
like not gang members, not just these my friends, right,
these are my friends. He's my childhood friends, and just
growing up where we're from, Like we had to protect
ourselves at old times from people in our neighborhood and
also from people from neighborhood neighborhoods just due to historical beef.
Right like my town historically beef with Roseve. If anybody
knowing Roosevelt around that time was very dangerous. They used

(10:04):
to call it like little CALLI just because of the
way that the body was dropping and like the shootings
was transpiring, like you like, you know, just coming outside
being a kid having fun. He was never really safe
and unfortunately in those summers, like a lot of people
friends died right, Like, a lot of people got hurt,
and for us it was like, all right, we're in
the space where you gotta protect your net me and

(10:28):
my friends. As time went on, you know, we're still kids,
but we kind of moving like men in certain aspects.
Two years later, I got arrested again. I started selling
crack at sixteen. So now I'm getting money, like I'm
seeing real money for the first time, like grown man money,
Like you know, we're making a thousand dollars a day,
sometimes fifteen hundred dollars in one day, you know. So

(10:52):
now that that aspect that I was mentioning, living in
a a rich neighborhood, living in the neighborhood with poverty
but access to all types of drugs, and then having
these wealthy towns all around. I say, when dudes talk
about long lone of money and reference to like drugs,
that's what they're talking about now, because now you got

(11:13):
all these different clientele from these neighborhood whatever. Right, I
started selling crack. I started seeing the money, and it
was like it was crazy for me at the time.
Holded you, I was sixteen. I was sixteen. I got
my first I got money, man, I got my team. Ye,
I got my first call from an addict right gave
it to me. Uh, gave him some and it was

(11:35):
a lot of money. It was so much money, you know,
I saved up. I got low. I actually made a
conscious decision about a year about a year later to
stop selling crack because I wanted to go to college.
I wanted to go to college, so I stopped selling crack.
I stopped selling crack for about two months. I didn't
realize that the police had a seeking indictment on me,
So they've been watching me for eight months. They were

(11:57):
watching me because they had me on audio video making
two sales to an undercovering informant. So they thought that
in the midst of so, they thought that once they
saw me make those two sales, they were gonna catch
me with more sales. So then when they noted me,
they was gonna get to throw the book at me.
But they didn't. So eight months later, after I caught

(12:17):
those sales, they arrested me. And I always felt like this.
I felt like, listen at this time, a seventeen year
old young man, if you're watching me that men, you
know what I'm doing? If you know what I'm doing.
That means that you show me in the streets, you
show me moving this work hard body. And then you
also showed me make a transition. You show me stop
everything that I was doing. You show me try to
take my life in a positive direction and go to school.

(12:38):
And that was the moment where you decided to arrest
this seventeen year old teenager. Right, So I always thought that,
you know, if our system was betterly constructed, that could
have been an opportunity for intervention. Still give me an opportunity, right,
instead of sending me to the wolves jail. Yeah, they're
sending me to the wolves with the jail. Now, as
I'm old, I understand that that's the nature of the system,

(12:58):
and the system is not constructed the benefit individuals that
look like us. The system is constructed to keep us
in jail so they could make money off of every
single person that's in prison. So I went to jail
for two years with the two crack sales. So that
was like a different experience for me. That was my
first time ever upstate. It was real quick for me.

(13:21):
I was in the county jails. Adolescent you know, adolescents
was wild. That was around the time where I met
a lot of their brothers who were doing the same
things that I was doing, just from different towns. Right,
I was beef with a lot of brothers. I was
beefing with brothers from every town, especially Hempstead. And then
you know, after going through all that, like we we

(13:41):
got tight, we got cool, we built a bond. I
went upstate for like sixty days. I went to green
and I came home. Right, I came home, but I
really knew that Upstate was really wicked. Day before I
came home. Quick story. I I was on my bed, man,

(14:04):
I was on the top bunk. Brother was downstairs with me.
It's from Brooklyn. I was reading my book and the
CEO came in and he was like he's a riotic man,
disrespectful and he like, yo, listen, everybody in they bad now.
And he like, yo, you put your head under the cover.
I'm like, I'm like what. So I'm like, I'm I'm

(14:26):
in the bed, don't I don't gotta put my head
under the cover. I'm not putting my head under the cover, man,
And he started, yo, put your hand under the cover now.
So at the end of the day, like I'm about
to go home to the mall right, So I want
to go home. But at the same time, I'm like,
I feel like he was abusing his power right like
it was like it it And I wasn't even well
versed in my history at that time, but it's something

(14:48):
innate in us that like we carry the wounds and
the scars of our ancestors and those that came before us.
And it's the way that he was talking to me
and dealing with me like it ain't feel or I
couldn't do it, because now I couldn't do it. So
I'm like, yo, listen, we don't do respect my bad.
I'm not putting my hand under the cover. I'm not
doing that. So he came into the queue, and at

(15:09):
this time I thought that's what it was. I wasn't
on my bed. I was on a chair and I
had my other leg on a chair and I stood
up just instinctively. All of this happened within seconds, but
it's instinctively. I stood up. He got in my face
and pushed him. Honestly, I ain't even mean to push it.
It was just instinct, That's just it was just instinct.
I pushed him. He backed up, he fell he looked
at me. He left, He's in green. It's in green, right,

(15:33):
he left green. Especially then he laught like he started laughing.
Now that I looked bad. I think he was on
drugs or something. He start laughing radically. Alright, all right,
you know he pulled the pin. They came to the
beat up squad came as they call.

Speaker 3 (15:47):
What year is that?

Speaker 2 (15:48):
This was in green? Yeah, two thousand and I want
to say, I'm gonna tell you right now, O six,
I got locked in six. You know what I'm saying. Man,
I want to say two thousan eight. This was two
thousand and eight. It was a day before I'll go home,
so whatever. So I pushed the me felled be a
squaw came like ten minutes later, so they caught me outside.

(16:11):
They caught me outside. One of the dudes like, yo,
what happened. So I'm like, oh, listen, same story I
told you. I told him. I said, listen, he's doing
the count. I'm in my cube. He telling me put
my hand under the cover. That's not correct. I'm not
doing that. That's not the rules. That's not that's that's

(16:33):
not how it goes. So he's like, all right, I
guess they said whatever they said to him. So they
called me out in the hall. So you know, I
get on the wall. They pat me down. You know,
I spraad spread my legs from my arms. They pated
me down, and I took that as I took this

(16:53):
as a blessing, but it also like let me know,
like what's really going on out there? Boom so the brother.
So I felt something like on my back, but you
know it felt like that like top. Yeah. So I'm
like so, I look, I'm like what. And then all
of a sudden, like you know, I realized that the
dude is like punching me. The CEO like hitting me,

(17:17):
but like, yo, I promised you. He punched me like
ten times, like in my back, but I promised you,
And it just felt like she was like a top
yeah yeah yeah yeah. I'm like I'm like yo, I'm
like like what. And then this all happened in seconds.
He gave me like ten times and it was just
like and I'm kind of like smiling a little bit,

(17:37):
and he was like a breathflast like you know, he
just went in But no, really, like that was nothing
to me.

Speaker 3 (17:46):
I don't you was enjailed at that time already when
it happened.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
At that time, I was in jail for about eighteen months,
but I was only in Green for about like two months.
So I did a lot of time in the county
jail and I was going home the next day. So
that was a like, honestly, I look at that like
a blessing because, like I said, it was nothing to me,
but it also let me know the way that they moving,
in the way that they playing. And then after that,
one of the honestly, I felt like he was a clown.

(18:10):
And they knew he was a clown too, right like,
and they kind of knew he was out of pocket,
but it was like their little man. So they was like, yo, listen,
try to do whatever it is that you do. And
he thought he did something, but he ain't really do anything.
And that was that. I went home the next day.

Speaker 3 (18:24):
They still let you go.

Speaker 2 (18:25):
They still let me go, but they like, yo, listen, So.

Speaker 3 (18:27):
You you came home in what year?

Speaker 2 (18:29):
I came home in.

Speaker 3 (18:30):
Two thousand and nine, two thousand and nine, you know,
in two thousand and nine, And you did how much.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Time at that time? I had that like a year
and a half. So I came home in two thousand
and nine. At that time, you know, me and my circle,
Me and my circle of friends at that time, like
you know, were like eighteen nineteen, you know, were some
of the most respected individuals in all time through the streets,

(18:56):
like everybody around me like doing their numbers. Now right,
I came home, had I had a decision to make.
I jumped back in the streets. Heavy dude, set me out.

Speaker 3 (19:05):
I set my whole team up. So that time in jail, I.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Didn't do nothing. I just made me. Honestly, I thought
it's a way that I kind of was talking about
my story because I believe I really don't like glorifying
the things that I'm that I've been through, anythings that
I did, right, But.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
It was one of those things that at that time
there that uplifted who you were when you came.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
At that time. Now we came home, we took the streets.

Speaker 3 (19:32):
So that's what I'm saying. We took the streets. I
already did that. I already did a bit and all that.

Speaker 2 (19:36):
Like I'm good, yeah, I mean at that like our
respect was up when I came home. My man was
getting money. We still kids. We we ain't never really
getting no money like that. So dudes just making Earlier,
I was talking about making like a thousand and fifteen
hundred dollars a day, like I got some of my
man's that's making ten ten thousand dollars a week at
that time, right, Like dudes was putting me on. So

(19:57):
you know, we're still figuring it out. But we're moving.
We want to move. We're doing whatever we want to
do the whole island. We're going in the burrows. I
got a love for I gotta love for music. I
started doing my music thing. We start buzzing crazy, we
start taking over with that. At that time, you know,
I was intelligent. I knew how to record myself. I
knew how to fill my own music videos. I know
how to edit my own music videos. And we had

(20:19):
a DVD that was shaking in New York at that time.
So we're putting units all through New York, in Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, all through the East coast. So I
started rising quickly in terms of music. And that's really
you know, I'm skipping a few parts, but that's really
like my live like that's my love. That's what I
love to do.

Speaker 3 (20:37):
So you started getting into that, but you're still in
the street.

Speaker 2 (20:40):
Hard body. I'm still in the street, hard body. But
at the same time, I want to leave the street right,
to be honest, like I'm trying to get out the street.
I feel like I tired of looking over my shoulder.
I'm tired. I was getting tired a little bit, like
I wanted to do something different. I was interested in college.
I had got my GED at that time because when
I was going to high school, they told me that.

Speaker 3 (21:01):
You still had interesting in getting your education.

Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yeah, I got my GED because that time when I
was fifteen, when I got locked up, that took away
from my sophomore year. So when I was supposed to
graduate in six they told me that I would have
to do another year. So I walked out of school.
I never came back. I ended up finding a GED
center and then I got my GED. Actually, before I
did that bit that, I was just telling you, So

(21:28):
I come home.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Doing your music, still doing music, getting brad, but you
still want to get out of it.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
But just yeah, I'm trying to get out of it.
But we're still mobbing, right, Like I got the strongest
team on the island. One of the strongest teams on
the island at the time. And I started shining away
from the streets, right, and something happened with one of
my friends, and yeah, right, like from robberies happened, Some

(22:01):
shootings happened, brother close to mind the shot his house up.
It was just a whole lot of happening. Yeah. And
then at that time, like you don't have to make
a decision, right, It was like a right, do I
just keep shining away from the streets, or like, dudes
is violating the people that I grew up with, the

(22:23):
people that I love, people that I care about. Do
I jump back in and it's trying to get busy,
And I made a decision and I jumped back in.
And when I jumped back in, like that was one
of the biggest wars. That was one of the biggest
gang wars that like my town scene probably like the
past thirty years, right, like thirty forty years, And it

(22:46):
was just it was just a lot, like it was
just a lot back and forth at that time outside
two hammers on me. I'm not going nowhere without the hammer.
Dudes getting shot, dudes getting stabbed, and.

Speaker 3 (22:55):
You young as hell.

Speaker 2 (22:57):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're teenagers what at that time, like
twenty ain't everybody around me hammered up old times. We
got hammers on the side of the bushes, we got
shotguns in the back in the garage. It was just
and the crazy thing about it is we beefing with
dudes from our town. So you might be for the
same town. Yeah, yeah, you might be. One dude he
lived on the on the block behind dudes and all that. Right, Yeah,

(23:18):
so dudes is in. Dudes be laying in the backyard.
Dudes then laid in my man backyard, ran up on
his window, his window out. It just so happened that
he had his pillows stuff. Then riot light. So it
was a lot like that happening, and it was just hacktic. Man.
We was going back and forth for like a year.
One of my man's got two of my men's got
stand for my man's got shot. You know, grades different

(23:39):
things happening. I'm still doing the music at the time,
so we popping out music videos. Hammered up dudes are
shooting the videos out. We haven't shootouts at the video
at the video shoot. And at that time, I was
still a kid, So as a kid, I'm like all right,
I'm only doing this out of loyalty for my man's
but I'm already hammered up, and it's a chance that
I could get arrested at any time. So if I'm
a be doing this and I ain't making no brand,

(24:02):
and I'm risking the rest of my life in prison,
then I might as well be risking. So this was
a flawed way of thinking. But at the time, I'm like, all,
if I'm already risking my life, I might as well
be risking my life for money too. So now I
start like, I started trapping hard body, Like I started
doing home invasions for Brad.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
I like, we're just going, We're just going all the way,
going all the way.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
We're going all the way. And I was going all
the way for a few months until you know, a
situation had, a situation happened, circumstance happened, you know, individual
some things just happen, right, and I ended up getting
I ended up getting arrested. Man, I ended up getting arrested,
And there was at first there was charge of me
with murder. There was attentive to charge me with murder

(24:43):
at the time, right, So I was twenty one with
that twenty I just turned twenty two. I'm in the
county jail, some fighting that, and yeah, I'm still on it.
Hoigh morning. At that time, I was beefing, I damned
with beef with everybody in the jail. Unfortunately, right like

(25:04):
I was beefing with some bloods, I was beefing on
some cribs. And I'm not like at that time, I
was in the street heavy, So I really rock with everybody.
Even we was getting money together, even we put it
in together, even we was in jail together. I got
really good relationships with you. So when I say I
was beefing with some blood I wasn't beefing with everybody.

(25:25):
I was just beefing with certain people that happened to
be representing that I was beefing with some crips. And
I wasn't beefing when everybody. I had a lot of
love for brother and brothers had for me.

Speaker 3 (25:34):
I just beefing with individual Yeah.

Speaker 2 (25:37):
Certain groups, right, But it was like when I was
in the county, it was it was like up at
all moments, dudes trying to hunt me. I'm getting with
those dudes, don't got nothing to do with it, but
they rock with me. They jumping in, we browling in church,
We brown in the hallway, we browling the dorms, going
from doing the doing the dorm And that was what
a lot of my bed was like while I was
fighting the case. I was still smart enough, you know,

(25:58):
I was still in a little library. I was still
like studying, right, but it was, you know, it was
hectic for me at that time. My first offer was,
my first offer was fifteen of life. No, I'm lying.
My first offer was. My first offer was twelve. When

(26:22):
he said twelve, I'm lying. My first offer was fourteen.
He said fourteen. I'm like, yo, listen, man, cause you
get ten or something like that. He like, YO, listen.
Let me go upstairs. See what I could do is
see if I can negotiate. He went upstairs, he came back.
He's like, YO, listen to offers off the table. I'm
the only offer that's on the table right now is
fifteen of life. I'm like, yo, why the offers off

(26:43):
the table? He said that because they said somebody that
you'd be with, somebody that you'd be with, put out
a hit on one of the witnesses, and they're taking
the offer back. So I'm like, I definitely ain't taking
nothing with life, So all right, we're just gonna have
to go back and we're gonna have to make it
do what to do? I was that. That was about
eight months, and so I sat up for about another

(27:04):
twelve months. At that time I had about what Joe
you was at. I was in Nashville County Correction Facility.
So there's still a lot. So at that time I
had about I had about twenty months. In twenty one months,
I started going to pretrial. We're going to pre trial.
And then in the middle of a pre trial, in
the middle towards the end of Preacher, my lawyer came

(27:24):
to visit me and he's like, he's like, Yo, what up.
I'm like, what up. He's like, YO, listen, it's a woman.
She came forward. So I had to pay lawyer pay
one hundred thousand dollars for my lawyer, right, and my
family really stepped up with that right, like to to
to be clear and to be honest, like out the
honor of my family. They really came together put the
bread up. So the lawyer like, YO, listening, we have

(27:47):
a girl that came forward and she's saying that you
was there, but you was trying to break it up,
and she like, yo, listen, you know she's willing to testify.
The dah they give you twelve years. So I'm like, whoa.
He like, YO, listen, Honestly, I think that I could

(28:08):
beat it. He said, But were in Nashau County nine times.
Out attend the jury, your pairs. It's not going to
be a jury ye of peers. You're gonna have a
lot of jury members that don't relate and understand you
and see you as a threat to society rights. It's
very racist out there, is what he was saying. He like,
at that time, I had a I had a hammer charge.

(28:30):
I had a separate hammer charge gun charge, and I
had a separate I had a separate burglary charge. Right
so the gun charge. The gun was inoperable. That's another case.
Another arrest I had allegedly that said I was trying
to do a robbery something a robbery or something like that.
I ran. While I was running this man through the

(28:52):
gun threw one piece on the r one piece there.
Excuse me. They caught me. While they caught me, the
gun was already this man to or an inoperable weapon
is supposed to be a misdemeaning, but because I have
prior felties, they automatically bumped it up to an E felony.
So I had the E felony weapons charge, and then
I had the and then I had the burglary. So

(29:14):
my lawyer like, YO, listen, it's a good change. I
could spank this, Like, I don't really got nothing on you,
he said, but if you beat it, they got you
with the gun charge and and got you with the
burg So you're like, they're gonna try to give you
the gun is an E felony or the felony, so
they're gonna try to give you about five to seven
for that, and then you're got to burn. They're gonna

(29:35):
try to give you about five or anywhere between three
to six for that, and they're gonna run a concurrent.
So at the end of.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
The day, you're.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Gonna get somewhere around on a good day eight nine
or even twelve anyway, And he's like, those day kind
of pretty much those they got you. It ain't like this,
he said. And that's after you already risk the twenty five,
that's after you already rested. So you're like, strategically, listen,
they're offering you twelve. Like that's that's good. So I'm like, yo, listen,

(30:07):
try to get ten. Try to get ten and we'll
figure it out. So You're like, I'm gonna try to
get ten. He went in there, they called me up.
I didn't know what he got. Thought he got ten.
It was a it was eleven. It was eleven. He's like, yo, listen,

(30:27):
you know we met in the middle. It's eleven. So
I'm like at that point, I'm like, all you know,
my heart race, I'm like, all right, whatever, like yeah.

Speaker 3 (30:36):
Me, you know, three hundred and sixty five days.

Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean listen, man. For really, what
I was facing at the end of the day, like
that was a blessing. Like I looked at it as
a blessing because mentally, you know, I'm preparing to spend
the next twenty years, the next twenty five years in
prison if I have to, just mentally, I ain't want
to do it. And I was still young, but I
also knew and understood that this is what came with
that right had to be mentally prepared for everything. So

(31:02):
just in case, hope for the best, prepared for the
worst and if the worst happened, like we can handle it.
So that was that and that really started. So I
was sentenced and that started like my journey behind the wall.
So when I went So when I went behind the wall,
the first place I went to was five points. But
like for me, it was like I was beefing so
much in the county that it was a it was

(31:23):
a blessing when I went upstate and I was still
on points because my mom, I'm like all right, I'm
I'm it's still gonna happen like that because you know
you're gonna run into individuals. But it didn't, like you
feel what I'm saying. It didn't like as soon as
I went upstate, I didn't really know too much brothers.
I was just kind of like tapping in. It was

(31:45):
some good brothers from the island. Tapping in shut out
the most shout out to, you know, so I kind
of just tapped in. As a matter of fact, one
of my man's that you know, we've been bidding for years,
he was there, so you know, he can't set me out.
He gave me the rundown here to drive. Yeah, like
listen this that your phone right there this, that, this,
that this that we over here we're working out. Yeah.
So I was really piling with my man, with my brothers,

(32:07):
and then I kind of was if I was with somebody.
I was with my mans. But I was also like
really in my head a lot, like I wanted to
get my mom right because I knew and understand. At
that point, I knew and understood like this wasn't it.
Like fore me, like I ain't really want I couldn't
dedicate my life to this. This wasn't it. Then I realized, like, yo, listen,
obviously you're doing something wrong because you keep going in

(32:27):
and out of jail for the past six seven years,
and now you're about to be here for a whole decade.
Your whole life is gonna be different. You got a kid.
I had a kid at the time. My kid was full.
I had custody of my kid. My kid was living
with me. Yeah, he was living with.

Speaker 3 (32:41):
Me, So so that should crush me. Her.

Speaker 2 (32:45):
So I'll tell you a quick story.

Speaker 3 (32:49):
The moments like that'd be tough. Man.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
My son was living with me, right, and he's living
me for the past six months, and then he was
going to be with his mom for a little bit,
and at that time, we did everything together. I used
to I used to take in the school. I used
to drop him off from school, and I used to
go to college every day. We used to eat lunch
or dinner together. I used to I used to get
him the store guy always used to give him a
fruit and a chicken the Jews for free every day.

(33:14):
Some time you go to McDonald's, Like we built a
real serious bond. I threw his third in his fourth
birthday party. Fourth birthday party, I bought the power Ranges.
Mad people was there, like I went all in. He
really remembered that. So the last day I saw him,
his mom that very important me and his mom was

(33:34):
was bumping hands at the time. You heard so like
she was trying. It was a lot going on. And
I'm not gonna put our business out there, but it was,
you know, like how like how very young parents get
we bumping hands. I feel like she's trying to take them.
I'm trying to beat there for I'm like, Yo, this
ain't happening.

Speaker 3 (33:50):
You ain't gonna see him today, see tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (33:52):
Nah. She lived in Texas her so I'm like shut
out to it right like, and I'm like I felt
like she was trying to take them. But then I'm like, yo,
you can't do that. And I'm saying I felt like
I was trying to she was trying to take him.
Cause at the end of the day, but we see
she's a very good mother and she hid my son
down while I was doing the big So I'm telling

(34:14):
my story, but at the same time, I want to
honor her, right like I'm I am not trying to
drag her cool to honor her, but we was having
as as young adult as kids. If he was going
to I felt like she was trying to take him Pete,
I'm gonna be honest, yeah, yeah, be like that. So
you know, I had to talk with my aunt and
I don't cry. I don't like but I was like,
my dog is water. I'm like, it's my son. Like

(34:36):
felt some type of way, right, like, you know, shout
out to her pops, that's my brother, man, real good brother.
She's like, I'm bringing my pops. I don't care. They
was outside, her family was outside, and I took him outside.
I have to speak with my mom and my aunt.
Like I didn't want to do it because I felt
like I was being wrong. I took him outside and

(35:00):
I put him in a call and everybody love her family.
That's my family. Everybody saying it was something to me,
and I'm like, I can't even talk, like I put
my son in the in the in the in the chair,
and you know, I walked away, man. And as soon
as I got to the door, I was watching the
car pull out. And the car started pulling out and

(35:23):
then it stopped and I saw my son, at four
years old, jump out the back seat and he's looking
like Superman. Jumped out and ran to the door. He's like, yo, Dad,
and he came he like, come in and a kneil thing,
gave me a hug. He like, yo, Like I love you, daddy.
He's like doing cry be back and give me a care.

(35:44):
He treated me like I was the kid. Give me
a kiss, and ran back in the v And that's
what's different. I'm like, damn like and then like three
days later, I got locked up, right, So I tell
that story because now I'm on the phone. I'm locked up.
I'm on the phone with my son and he like
that he was in Texas. That's when when he's like, Dad,
I'm coming back. I'm coming back. Daddy like, I'm coming back.

(36:05):
He said we were gonna go out, We're gonna rock,
and I'm like, yo, I'm not gonna be here when
you get back. He like why, He's like, what you mean, Dad?
Like you bugging, I'm coming back? It's off split and
I'm like, nah, I'm not gonna be here. And at
that time, his mom told him that I was in Jamaica,
so he like, you know now your mom like your
mom toils in Jamaica. So he like, yeah, but I'm
coming back. You're not coming back. And at that point,

(36:27):
I made a decision. I said, I can't lie to
him and tell him that I'm in Jamaica or I'm
somewhere else, because I didn't want him to think in
his mind that because I'm somewhere else, I'd rather be
there than be with him. So I told him, I said,
listen here, damn made some decisions. Some things happen, and
I want to come back, but I can't. He like

(36:47):
what you like? What you mean? Dad's voice start cracking,
and I'm like, yo, listen, when you come I talk
to you about it more, but I'm not gonna be
there when you get back. But I will get a
chance to see you and we'll talk there all right,
and like his voice star cracking, You're like, okay, but
you could tell you didn't understand. And that was the
beginning of my fight for my relationship with my son.

(37:08):
So fast forward, I'm moving. You know, I'm jailing, and.

Speaker 3 (37:15):
Yeah, now you in jail.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
You know I'm jailing.

Speaker 3 (37:18):
You jailing? You got you got? You got what you
got eleven years?

Speaker 2 (37:21):
I got eleven years. Its twenty thirteen. I'm in five points,
I'm jailing. I'm working out heavy, like I'm jogging.

Speaker 3 (37:28):
What you was doing while you was there.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
So first I wasn't doing nothing. I was just figuring
it out. And once I was figuring it out, Like
like I said, I had my bros from my town
who was strong in the jail, but they were just
you know, respectable individual, respectable men. So those were the
brothers that I was dealing with. But I was also
I was doing a lot of soul searching at that time.
So I used to be dolo a lot, Like I mean,

(37:52):
I used to bigger with my men, and we was
working out, we hit the y'all at the gym. But
then I'm dolo I'm trying to figure this shit out.
Like I'm like, what the going on? Right? So and
said after everybody from the island, you know, like I'm
on a lot of time, like that's just what I'm on,
because you know, that's just what it is. But like
I said, if I'm not, I'm dull. I'm trying to

(38:13):
figure it out. Because I felt like this, I'm like, yo,
when people I knew, my mom told me, she said, yo,
a lot of people are gonna come back around because
they know that you're coming home. She like, but remember
how it was when people do it, you wasn't coming home.
So that shit really stuck in my hand. And I'm like,
word to mommy, cause I lost it. Right at the time,
I lost everything that I love. I was doing music

(38:35):
at a high level. I lost my opportunity. That's really
what I love, that's my passion. I lost my opportunity.
I tasted it. I was getting paid for shows, I
was moving around with the stars. At the time, I
was doing my own thing. I was viral before a
viral wasn't even a thing. I was getting tens of
thousan twenty thirty thousand views on YouTube before Instagram even
came out organically, no ads, no nothing, right, like just

(38:57):
from the work that I was putting out. I used
to go from hood something called her to her cipher.
Three of them are still on the YouTube, but the
rest of them got the leted. But I used to
go from hoods all over Long Island, the Burroughs, Brooklyn, Harlem.
We was going to Atlanta and tap in with the
nicest spitts in that in that town, in that area,

(39:17):
in that hood, and we used to jump out and
get busy right there, and I had Camerman. We used
to film it that the show was viral and all
that shit was snatched from me. You know, my lady
says she loved me. She say she going all the way. Look,
I'm like, yo, listen, you gotta go because I'm monther
to do this time. She's like, no, I'm gonna be
there Withitchie. So after a while I started believing it

(39:40):
because she was doing the right thing. She dipped on me, right,
regular story, A lot a lot of brothers going through,
but this is what I'm feeling at the time. So
I really lost everybody that I like that I love
at the time. So I had to kind of regroup.
So I made. I had to understanding that because of
these feelings that I got on my record, people gonna
judge me in the nigga the way without even knowing me,

(40:02):
because it was on paper. So I needed something that
would enable people to judge me in a positive way
before annoying me. So I made a decision that I
wanted to go to college and all that right, So
I kept signing up for college. I applied for college
three times, and when I applied, they denied me all
three times. But that was perfect because at that time,
I was reading a lot I was reading. I was

(40:23):
reading a lot of black history. I read a start
of Chakaur book and first at first, and that turned
me out because I'm like, damn, hold on, you got
this woman who in these brothers, but it was her books.
I'm like, you got this woman that they all of
that for oppressed people, and I'm over here. I got
an opportunity based on the work that they put in,
and I'm just out here chilling and beefing with brothers

(40:46):
that come from the same struggle that looked like me.
So right right right, so right then and there I
had like an pay for me, like hold on, But
I was still in my early stages, but I was
just reading a lot Malcolm Max, Shout of Chicur, George Jackson,
educating myself, and with that I became more powerful because
now I started to see things clear yeah, more clearly
for what they were. So you know, I'm still jailing though,

(41:09):
like you know, like I'm working out with me. Yeah,
I'm still. Yeah, I'm still and I'm still like, I'm
not gonna say I'm enjoying my time, because I'm not
enjoying my time at all. But I'm still like, I'm
a very optimistic person, so I make the best out
of whatever. So I'm still I'm still grateful for the
chance that I you know, for life, and I'm just
moving around. I'm doing what I'm still blessed. Yeah, I'm
still blessed. I'm doing what I do. We're doing what

(41:30):
we do, you know, we mom, and we're doing what
we do.

Speaker 3 (41:32):
So you get did you finally get into college?

Speaker 2 (41:35):
Yeah? Years later, I got into the Corner Prison Education program.
And when I got in, the first class that I
took was anthropology, and that's when I knew that it
was a problem because I didn't know what an anthropologist is.
And if I don't know what an anthropologist is, and
I'm educated, imagine how much people don't know what an
anthropologist is. And as a kid growing up, if you
don't know what something is, that could ever aspire to
be it. And that's when I knew, like, oh, so

(41:56):
what that means? What anthropology? Anthropology is to study. Anthropology
is to study of culture, to study of culture. So anthropologists,
it's different type of anthropologists. One that we know was
an archaeologist. They study bones and all that. But the
anthropology that I was studying was culture anthropology, where the
anthropologist goes into different cultures, studies the culture studies, the

(42:19):
languge studies the understanding any culture ever, any culture. Right,
it's a it's a sociologist who took who took anthropology
and for her anthropology for her anthropology capstone, Like for
the last project that she had to do, she did
this a study in a in a neighborhood in Philly,

(42:41):
white girl named Alice Golfman. It's a book that I
ran on the run, but let me tell you how
twisted it is for us. So she did an anthropology
in the hood in Philly where she like however, she
did it. She like was you know, she was accepted,
she adapted to the community. She was only there for college,
but she got so drawn in, she got so close,
she got so emotionally invested. And something happened to one

(43:01):
of their friends, and they was about to go spin
or they went to spin and they went to like
go lay somebody down, and she was so angry that
it happened. She jumped in the fee and she like, yeah,
I want him to die, and they brought it with
her and they was about to go chiller, dude, and
it just so happened that something happened, and like, you know,

(43:24):
I don't remember exactly, but like it. They didn't.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
They didn't work out.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
They didn't kill them. They didn't work out. But that
study was so powerful because it shows how powerful the
influence in our communities is. Where you got this white
girl who was only in the community to do a
college to do a college project that lasted a few months,
and after that she was supposed to graduate with her

(43:48):
degree and go off and be good to school. So
she got so invested she was ready to risk it. Hoom,
you feel me. And when it didn't go down how
it was supposed to go down that snapped her out
of it, that writing the book. But I say that,
they say, like, this is what's going on in our community, right,
So I really want to get to the stuff I'm
doing now, but I'm gonna go through like I'm gonna

(44:10):
go through the process. So I went to school, and
then so Cornell started their college program, the Cornell Prison
Education Program. They weren't giving out degrees yet, but they
were offering classes for free. So now I'm starting to
see different aspects of life because now when I'm going
to these classes, it's like every time I do an essay,
I'm waiting for a response. That's like a letter every

(44:33):
time in my head. That's how I'm rationalizing it. Every
time I go to class to like a visit and
I'm studying vigorously. And the cohort of brothers that I
was in was all brothers that I was jailing with.
It's sharp. These are sharp brothers from focus your heard.
So we exchanging the knowledge like they giving it to me,
but I'm giving it to them polls like we're building

(44:55):
you know, I wrap I rap at my whole bit.
I was rapping every jail I go to. I'm like yo,
like I'm going to the y'all whoever the nextest in
jail were getting busy like that was my thing. Like
I love music. I love rap. So for me, it
was like I I'm in my cell, I'm writing, I'm
not doing this for no money. I'm not doing this.
I'm doing this for respect, like on my name. So

(45:17):
it was rat. I forgot to mention it was rap.
And then I'm going to school and going to college
and I'm learning that's just like turning me up, like
I'm getting like I'm figuring it out fast forward. I
ended up graduating with my degree, with my associalateist degree
in about twenty eighteen. I was the first cool Haunt
ever to graduate out of that jail five points and

(45:40):
that really was a blessing. That shift like that gave
me a lot of confidences, me a lot of confidence. Congratulations,
thank you, sh thank you, not thank you, focus, no,
thank you. I appreciate that. And from there, from there,
you know, I start going from jail to jail. I
went to Mohawk. Mohawk was Mohawk was a mess man.

(46:04):
You got them police up there, they you know, they
they moving and jumping out they beating throughs like it
was a lot like it was a lot of tensions.
There was a lot of tension with the police. You know,
I'm moving through. I'm jailing, like I'm I'm real, like militant.
That's just me, period right, like just cautious, like just
just just just life period Like that's what it is

(46:24):
like me. I feel like if you understand that it
can happen, the people that understand that anything could happen,
and it could happen to people who a lot of
times it doesn't happen because you always prepare for it
to happen. So mohawk, I'm moving through. I see a
lot of brothers that I ain't seen in years, Brothers
that I grew up jailing with. I ended up going

(46:46):
to fish Kill. Fish Kill, I see a lot of
brothers that I was jailing with, Brothers that I used
to mentor from back in the day. See my little
browing there like I'm I'm chilling. I'm moving through. And
I ended up going home from Fishkill. I go home
from Fishkill, and then yeah, I came home in the

(47:08):
middle of the pandemic. Shit twenty twenty, best thing that
ever happened to me because the world was at a
stand still. He was able. It gave me a chance
to stand.

Speaker 3 (47:18):
This tastes still. Calm, calm down, and just see what
exactly what it is.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Yeah, so I come home. I come home. I got
my degree. I got this. So all the bros Is
pulling up on me. It's like, y'all got pounds for
y'all got fifty pounds head. You're like, yo, listen, I
know you just came home, but I got it licked
for about three hundred grand heads, Like, yo, listen, I
got the b like everybody that I grew up with,

(47:42):
like everybody that's in position, it's my people's and they
all offering me different things to get on my feet.
They showed me love, and I appreciate that love. But
I was on a different mission, so I turned down
everything that was offered to me that could have got
me a lot of money because I wanted to give
myself a chance opportune. I said, it's people like here
that's rich that ain't doing this, and I don't believe

(48:04):
that nobody could do something that I can't do. So
if they could do it, then I could do. I
just gotta figure it out. So shoot, my mans gave
me like three thousand dollars one one one. I had
three thousand dollars, took a thousand dollars. I bought a camera.
I took a thousand dollars. I bought a computer, and
I had a thousand dollars left to my name for
my pocket. I couldn't get a job nowhere. It's this

(48:25):
program called Ready Willing the Nabel. I went to Ready
Willing and Nabel I did the program. I was working
for them. I was cleaning the streets. She was dumb.
I was very embarrassed because I felt like somebody the
way that I looked at myself, I don't feel like
I should be like cleaning the streets and sweeping the
streets and cleaning up rats and this, that and that.
But I also knew that I was on the mission.

(48:47):
I had to do what I had to do in
order to put myself in a position that I had
to be in. I was making minimum wage, tax free,
fifty dollars an hour. I knew one of the brothers
who was the supervisor. Brother that did a lot of
time too, the like thirty joint shout out to my
brother Mike. He gave me opportunity, put me in position.
I was doing like fifty fifty five hours a week.
I was working six days a week, and the seventh

(49:08):
day the only day that I had off. I would
do something towards my brain. My brain is so rich.
Like I said at the beginning, i'ld do a studio session.
I would do he fuck with your craft, fuck with
my craft. But also I should. I was teaching. I
came home teaching classes about Black Wall Street to the
community for free, because I know that this education uplift me.

Speaker 3 (49:28):
So I wanted to give it back to my big
like you should.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
So I was working at job for a minute. I
did it for like eight months. Couldn't find it or
couldn't find a better job, like a real job, no way.
I was getting frustrated. I saved every dollar that I
made there, accept you know, money that I was putting
into the music. And at one point I got fed up.
I'm like yo, I got I got tired of doing

(49:53):
what I was doing, like I was almost at my limit.
I was traveling with the music too. I started doing
the ciphers. I traveled to the A. I threw an
event in the A. He brought out about two hundred
and fifty people my first time ever in the A.
We started moving and this dude did my footage. He recorded.
This dude in the A recorded my footage. He ain't

(50:14):
like he started dunking me. And I'm heavy in the A.
I got people all around, so they already got a
lens on them. They already they no way live everything.
I feel some type of way because that's what I
invested in my craft. And I gave him. I gave
him probably like fifteen hundred dollars for somebody I just
came home from prison. That's working for that. I'm doing
what I told you I was doing for that. That
fifteen hundred meant something for me. So I was ready

(50:38):
to go down there. Man, I was ready. I did
go down there as a matter of fact, and I
was ready to run in this crib and just gave
me the drop and everything, and I'm like, I had
an epiphany. I'm like, yeah, you're gonna you're gonna respond
in the same way, like you're gonna do the same
shit that you would have did before. He really gonna
really gonna really gonna risk it, Like for how to
talk with myself I said, you know why I charged it.

(51:00):
I charged it and I shot it over. I went
down there and I booked another Cara. Man, I shot
it over. It was good money. And as soon as
I came back, I got a job all for right,
like to work with kids in my community.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
Right.

Speaker 2 (51:16):
They was paying me the doumble almost almost damnly triple
what I was getting paid at my job that I
was working that I hated, And it was an opportunity
to do something. Man. And that's when I knew that
I made the right decision. Mm hmmm.

Speaker 3 (51:29):
So yeah, yeah, God got you to the right decision too.
Yeah you know what I'm saying. Just working with the
kids and all that, and you was getting and you
started making more money.

Speaker 2 (51:40):
Yeah or not? After that, I turned up. So I'm
still doing the music, that's my passion. But now I'm
working with the I'm working listening, I'm working with all
the kids that street involved, getting involved involved with the courts. Yeah,
getting suspended and expelled from school. Working with the kids,
that's like me for me. So we connected and understand.
I remember the first time I went to court, they

(52:02):
just threw me out there. They're like, yeah, you gotta
advocate for a kid. In course, I went to court
and I was in the same detention center that I
start laughing. I was in the same detention center that
you know, I sentenced them, and I was in front
of a judge and I had the power to advocate
for that youth. And I didn't take that lightly, like

(52:22):
I cherished the highnd. And I was scared as hell
right there because I don't want to say the wrong
thing and get them right. But you know, like I just,
I just, I ain't really had to speak too much
that day. I just spoke like, yo, listen, working with me,
I'm working with them, I'm working with such and such program.

(52:43):
And that was that. But that was the first of
many times that I had the opportunity to build my
young people out there. So I was doing that for
about three and a half years. And at the end
when I stopped doing it, like I was leading the program,
that point I had mentored. You know, at this point,
I've mentored hundreds of youth. I've helped tens, twenty thirty,

(53:06):
forty fifty youth get off probation without anything. I helped youth.
I helped ten twenty thirty forty fifty six over one
hundred youth get jobs. I took about ten youth to
a college trip to Cornell University. I got Cornell University
to sponsor it. They stayed up there for about seven days.

(53:27):
They got a full tour to college, They got classes
from all of the different professors. They got classes from
all of the different professors. They stayed in a five
star hotel in Intaca. That's where it's at, right. We
ate at a different culture restaurant every night. And all
of them left with connections to the college. If any
of don't want to go to that college, that they

(53:47):
got people that they could call and connect with up.
So like I've been doing, you know, I've been doing
stuff being I've been doing that type of stuff about
five years now. Now I'm knee deep in the game,
like a minute, a minute. I got kids I'm connected with,
like I said, forty fifty sixty seventy youth and families
where I'm from.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
A good job. Man, that's a blessing man.

Speaker 2 (54:09):
Yeah, so now I do. So Look now I got.

Speaker 3 (54:11):
My God put you in that in that position man.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
That so, look, I got a purpose like a lot
of music. Yeah, that's my passion, but I also.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
Know that's your craft.

Speaker 2 (54:20):
That's craft.

Speaker 3 (54:21):
It's okay, but you got something to.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Really I have. I use my influence to help my people,
help my community. And the thing about it is now
it makes sense because with my respect, I could go anywhere.
My respect, I'll go anywhere I'm going intoday.

Speaker 3 (54:34):
And all you're doing coming up here, this is your platform.
You're able to promote anything you got going on. Anytime
you want to come back up here. You could come
back up here. I appreciate you, know what I'm saying,
And we'll definitely I like to definitely chop it up
with you and do some things with you. I'll be
going to right as Island be able to you know that.
I definitely get you in there one time, coming there
as a guest. You know what I'm saying, going, you know,

(54:56):
so we could we could do what we could do
what we we well we here, well we to do
purpose what I'm saying, that's right going there, you know
and give these give these brothers a different mindset, no,
no question. You know what I'm saying. So what you
think about prison reform?

Speaker 2 (55:13):
What you mean when I think about like, do you
think it's needed. Yeah, I think the prison I think
the whole prison system, the whole judicial system needs to
be destroyed and rebuilt. It wasn't built for us. So
I respect prison reform because it's brothers that's trying to
change up a system that was meant to crush us
as a community and keep us dependent so they can

(55:35):
make money off of us. You know, I respect their
brothers that's doing it. Listen, you just like what you
just said, this is the platform, right and in know honesty,
If brothers and if our brothers in prison, like if
everybody come together and dudes really get on some real
militant sy and we start studying and we start preparing
to come out here, we would be the most unstoppable

(55:56):
demographic out here. That's just what it is. The same
way that we work out our bodies, we work out
our minds, and we work together. Like your fuck all
lot beef and shit, fuck all, I'm beefing with you
for this. Fuck I'm beefing over a phone for you.
Come out here. You can get two three full cell phones. Like,
that's a whole bunch. It's millions and billions out here.
It's a whole bunch of opportunities out here. If if

(56:17):
our brothers, and it's a message to the brothers too, man,
because I believe that that could happen, right, Like the
brothers need to really come together. Everybody learn the skill focused. Listen.
Its banks out here to play with. It's a whole
lot of people that's willing to invest money like it's
brothers like yourself, that's physition.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
Skills, skis, and we come together.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
We don't stop.

Speaker 3 (56:34):
It will stop.

Speaker 2 (56:35):
Especially the demographic in New York feelings for vote. We
could vote with feeling needs. We can shake this whole
ship up. They don't vote where I'm from, they don't
vote where we're from. But if individuals's voting and not
just voting for anybody, we could put our own people
in position. The reality is that dudes be like YOA,
I hate the DA. Fuck the DA. Guess what the
DA gets voted in by the people. So if it's
the DA that's not doing right, but a certain population,

(56:58):
all we gotta do is get together and be like A,
we're going to vote, and we're not voting for you.
We voting you out. You're gonna lose your job. You're
not doing right by my people. You're gonna lose your job.
But it's this type of knowledge with'sdom understanding education that
we're not getting. That's why they do anything to us.
So like I just like getting on platforms like this
and talking to my people and letting them know, like listen,
it's imperative that we stick together. It's imperative that we

(57:20):
value the individuals who are doing something in our community,
and it's imperative that we do what we do to
make a change because nobody is gonna make the change forwards.
We're the ones that gotta make the change. So I
want to invite you June eighteenth, I'm doing what my
organization is doing. What it's called the Day of Bonding,
and our goal is a hundred kids. We're looking to
take a hundred kids or as many kids as we

(57:40):
could get sponsorship from to urban In. We going to
urban In right there in Dix Hills. And that's just
what we're doing. Man. I just came from it. I
just came from an event this past Wednesday where I
bought about thirty kids from my community, street involved kids,
very intelligent kids, and I brought like forty mentors and
I had all the mentors criteria to be a mentor

(58:01):
is just to be an adult that wants to positively
contribute or invest in the mind of a young person.
So whether it's long term, if it's just for that day.
Forty mentors in the building, all from different walks of
life experience the streets, doctors, lawyers, social workers, and they
all came to uplift those youths. And when I brought
I told everybody, I said, listen, I wanted the mentors

(58:21):
there first. Good job man, And I said, listen, when
these kids come in, I want everybody to clap and
go crazy. So I brought the first group of kids
in there, and they walked in there. You know, they
like everybody started clapping. They was just like surprising, like yo, welcome, welcome.
But I did that strategically because I wanted them to
know that they were stepping into a space of love
and acceptance and they weren't to be rejoiced. Everybody was
there for them.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
You gotta, you gotta, you gotta give them.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
They need that, they need that, they need that, So like,
you know, that's what I do.

Speaker 3 (58:47):
That and music keep doing your ding Rich saying Richard
Rich is rich, Rich is rich, and every day, So Rich.
You know what I'm saying, So Rich. And with that
being said, man, he already knows your boy, Pistol P.
Thank you for coming through, My Rich. You know what
I'm saying. I appreciate you know me. We definitely built.
Keep doing your things. Just know the platform is here.

(59:08):
Anytime you want to come, have the kids come here
one day, whatever, have them sit out. I got the
studio across the street. We could we could do. We
could do. You know, Dog in the Yard live, they
can hear, they can hear straight from the straight from
the individuals that been to it. You know what I'm saying.
So because anytime you want to be just we could
get up. We could talk. Because that's signed up.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
And with that being said, you already know it is
your boy, Pristol P. Dog in the yard. What you
already know is your boy Pistol Pete. Walking back to
the Dog of the Yard. I want to thank so
Rich for coming through. So Rich is out there doing
his thing. He's an entrepreneur, he's an artist, and he's
a community leader. And with that being said, keep doing
your thing, my brother. We're here to support you. You

(59:51):
already know your boy. Pistol pete dog in the yard.

Speaker 1 (01:00:02):
Can you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:09):
See out it was flying nigger.

Speaker 3 (01:00:12):
We'd alive and South Shot, niddy, we're alive to South Shot.
We the gods we have got