E453: Chef JJ, James Lopez, Mali Music & Anthony Dirrell

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This podcast is sponsored by Better Help Online Therapy. I'm
Michlene Maloof and I'm Nadi Adessi, licensed therapists and hosts
of Getting Better Stories of Mental Health. Join us for
discussions with Megan Trainer, Chris Bosh, Rebel Wilson, and more,
from discussing motherhood to immigrating to general mental health. Our
guests are awe inspiring. We all struggle with the same things,

(00:20):
so let's talk about it and de stigmatize them. Find
our new podcast, Getting Better Stories of Mental Health on
iHeart Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Still living in manually taking notes,
there is a better way to start the new year
with auto dot ai automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot
ai works for virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and

(00:40):
Google Meet. Sign up on the web for free or
download in the app stores auto dot ai. That's O
T T E R. Dot Ai. At ADP, we work
with more than eight hundred and sixty thousand companies worldwide.
That gives us a pretty good idea of how to
help businesses grow stronger. Whether it's through data insights that
help you make informed decisions about bill thing, a team
that works better as a team, or by keeping you

(01:03):
ahead of thousands of changing regulations so you can keep
ahead of everything else, like building that better team, grow
stronger with a dp HR, talent, time and payroll. Welcome
to money Making Conversations. It's the show that she has

(01:24):
the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and Brandon
expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's given me advice
to many occasions. In the case you didn't notice, I'm
not broke, you know he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs, entrepreneurs
and industry decision make because it's what he likes to do.
It's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
hear from my man, Rashan McDonald money making conversations. Here

(01:46):
we go. That's right. Welcome to money making Conversations. I
am the man. As Stephen A. Smith would say, I
am Rashaan McDonald. Each money Making Conversation talk show is
about entrepreneurship and entertainment. I feel I am the leading
bars of entertainment and entrepreneurship in this country because I'm
geared to help people. I'm geared. It's not to show

(02:07):
about what I'm trying to get you to make money
or make donations. I'm about supplying you with information so
you can win. I provide the consumer and business owner
access the celebrities, CEOs and entrepreneurs and industry decision makers.
Some of these people I do know. Some of them
I met for the first time during the interview, which
is really awesome that let's we know that the brand
and I'm trying to put out there is starting to

(02:28):
spread and more people are recognizing the value that I'm
bringing to this show through Money Making Conversation. It is
important to understand that everybody travels a different path to success.
That's because your brand is different. The challenges you face
in your life are different. So stop reading other people's
success stories and start writing your own. Now you can
be motivated by their success because their stories can offer

(02:48):
direction and help you reach your goals through your planning
and your committed effort. My guests don't money Making conversations
as is the one right now, will have the same passion.
They have shared the same information about their career, their motivation,
but they're promoting how they live in balance life and
their secrets to success. Now, my next guest, my next

(03:09):
is a James Beard award winning Chef, which is one
of the top honors is you can get as a
chef best known for his barrier breaking cuisine connecting the
food ways of West Africa and Asia to the America's.
My man hails from the cultural mecca of Harlem, New York.
Is the host of Cleo's TV just Eats with Chef JJ,

(03:29):
founder of Field Trip Restaurant in Harlem, creative BuzzFeed Tasty,
and author Between Harlem and Helen. The second season of
Just Eats with Chef JJ premiers on tv Ones network
Cleo TV Saturday, February twenty second, at twelve pm noon
Eastern Standard Time on TV Ones Again Cleo TV, Please
welcome back to money making conversations, my man, Chef JJ,

(03:54):
How are you pretty good? My man? You know he's
you got so much going on. You have to be patient.
You have to be patient. I mean, I I love
each other from I'm from the Mecca, and you know
I'm moving and shaking. I like those things. But the
thing is, you know, I lived in New York. I
know exactly what you are. The Harlem is it has
changed because I first moved to New York and eight

(04:14):
and then I moved back up there. You know, there's
a many TV shows up there and the Deaf Company
Jam and nanty two and I moved up there, Steve Harmon.
I moved up to do It Radio showing WBLS one
or seven point five in two thousand five. And that's
when hard I started to change. You know that that's
say change. I'm talking about the racial change and the
building instruction change. You know, I'm trying to keep. I'm

(04:35):
trying to I'm trying to be one of them. You know,
we're a new business here on Harlem called Filter with
Rights Bullshot between one fifteen, the one six season, Malcolm
Ex Boulevard right in front of the two and the
three trains. You know, my goal here is people to
know that, you know, it's the black business and uh
and we're in the Mecca and hopefully other black businesses
were confidence to move into Bacon spaces. And that's why

(04:57):
I feel like we keep the narrative going regards to
moving to the neighborhood that has showed what our cultural
excellence is. And that's that's correct, and that's you know
when you let me ask you this, uh, you know
you're New York guy, to hallm what what do you what?
What is the brand of Halem? You know it's been
so transitional, wanted to entertainment to play a big role.

(05:19):
Has always been a place for style. What do you
think harm is evolving into now? Jeff j J You
know how you know that's a hard one. You know.
I think Harlem, you know, as much as the people
in the streets are changing, I think the people that
are are are able to create the narrative or holding
onto the narrative really well. Um, I think Harlem will

(05:41):
always be a place for for excellence and for black people. Uh.
And it'll be the mecca whe you'll find things. Um.
I feel like fashion right now is big back in
Harlem right now with Dapper Dan. You know, here's a
couple of blocks away from the restaurant here, you know,
celebs and people going into his affiliation and getting something fashionable. Um.

(06:03):
So I feel like fashion is coming back to Harlem,
and and he's in the forefront of that. Um. And
then I think food culture, Uh, in many different ways,
Harlem has always been that that community for you to
be able to express yourself. We're seeing a lot of
different culture and it's Indian food in Mexican or African

(06:24):
American or global um starting to sprout up from Harlem
because you know, the community really respects everybody, UM and
it will always talk back. It really is interesting, Like
before we get into the TV show and also the
restaurant what what? What drives your passion? Because I'll see
you on TV out seeing your post on social media
and uh, you always seem happy. You always seem like

(06:45):
there's a gleam in your eye when it comes to
food and watching people eat your food and serving the
product that you've made. I would tell people that my
my definition of food is art, art that you can
eat because it can look so beautiful and then it
can be consumed. What is your what? What? What is
your passion? What drives you to that that world? Because
I'm a foodie, you know, just could just being able

(07:06):
to connect people is really good. And knowing that they're
connecting over the food that I'm making and I'm bringing
a smile right right? Uh? Really great? And you know
I just love to cook. Uh, He's really in my
DNA and for me, cooking is a safe space. Right.
You could be You could be anything and anybody. You
could try to be somebody else. You could try to

(07:27):
throw that flavor in the pan. Uh. You know, you
could say bang boom, whatever you want. Um. And you know,
at the end of the day, you have the happiest
moments around food, regardless if you're worth millions or you
know you're struggling. Um. And that's why that's what really
brings joy to me, knowing that, um, that I'm really

(07:48):
able now to project my you know, my culinary some
of my culinary plv on this the mainstream folks that
I'm in their kitchens now, which is really uh exciting
for me because as a young kids is one of
things I've always dreamed about. Well, you know, it's really
cool because I'm a I'm a baker. You know, the
people have told Coast I'm an award winning baker. And
I know that you told me that. I remember that,

(08:09):
and so it relaxes me. You know, like I get
up in the morning, I generally get up at foward
and I make a couple of desserts, and uh, I
want dessert and bring it to my staff because they're
just a moment where my mind can't think about I
can't think about anything, I can't do talk about deals
in my mind, I can't think about other TV shows
because you have to be focused when you when you
are in the kitchen, because that's why mistakes happen. And

(08:31):
sometimes especially when you bake. You can't fix a mistake.
You gotta go away. Yeah, you can't know once you
beg if you messed up, you gotta started all over
the beginning. I think for me, music is that key
right right right. Music. Music helps you block in and
brings that vibe. It gives you that other emotion that
you're looking for. So for me, when I'm in the kitchen,
like in the test kitchen, like really working on recipes,

(08:53):
kind of get something really right, I'm throwing on something
that really um really bring me there to a focal
focal point. I'm talking to Chef JJ. He has a
show on Cleo TV, which is all part of these
TV ones networking Coach just eats with Chef JJ. Yet
season one and now I went to season two. Let's
talk about season one, what you enjoyed about it, what
you and then we're leading to the expectations of what

(09:15):
we can expect from season two. Season one. You know
that that was that's my that was my first show
episode something. I'm not gonna lie on that, but it
was great. You know, it was great getting to know
some people that I didn't know before, really cooking and

(09:36):
talking about some interesting things. Um. And you know, you know,
I'm so excited that you know, TV one and Cleo
uh bringing Jesse's back to the season two means that
people were watching. So I want to thank everybody. Uh,
people like you were spreading the word for us. For me,
I'm a fan. You know that, you know that I'm

(09:57):
a fan. Thank you very much. So first season two.
I'm really excited about season two. I'm really bringing like
really amazing flavors, some fabulous gas. You know, we're shaking
and we're moving. Uh, we're in. We're my new beautiful kitchen.
Uh and the conversation Okay, okay, a new kitchen now okay,

(10:17):
now you you just can't slide that by, you know,
and you used to word beautiful. Okay. I'm a kitchen
guy now, Okay, so I know you used to work
beautiful too. So because the kitchen was kind of tight
in season one. Okay, so it was tight, you know,
kitchen was a little tight. Yeah, correct, And that's luckily
I don't. I'm a little I'm a swim guy, so

(10:38):
it worked out right. Well. The great thing, you know,
the interesting thing about you know, being a TV producer
and watching the talent you are a talent, you know,
watching you evolve, you know, watching how you because your
number one skill is cooking, like you know, number one
skill of anybody who who's a specialist. And then when
you're starting to interact and keep those individuals who to

(11:00):
be engaged, some of them you do know, some of
you don't know. So that the evolution. I love watching
you become the star, a TV star that you become
to tell us about some of those steps that you
had to go with and started, you know, make sure
the meal came out right, but also make sure the
people you had on your show stay engaged in the process. Yeah,

(11:20):
you know most TV shows that the shop doesn't really
cook right, they just do a couple of things. You know.
Sometimes I guess a nervous because I'm like, oh my god,
Like this season I had to hear you on, like
to hear he's about to eat this dish and did
I put enough salt? Like I don't have enough time
to taste and like re change like they're gonna she

(11:41):
don't really judge me on this dish. So it really
pushes me to a different mental limit of like cooking
on television that I'm really cooking alongside of entertaining. Um,
you know, my goal this season was really you know,
listening to the to the fans and hearing what they
wanted and really bringing them that through, bringing that through

(12:03):
the TV screen. So you know, you'll see you'll see
something like Kyla Green Lasagna, um that I'm doing a
little bit of you know, uh you know cast I
tier pork chops. I'm even working with the veggie with
the veggie ground beef. It's the first time I ever
worked with it that I'm doing it on the TV
show and I make it chilly with it, uh you know.

(12:26):
And and then on top of that, I have some
really great guests like watch Jazzy the comedian. Okay, we're
gonna go hold that for the next break. We can
hold that for the next prepare. The great thing about
it is that you're You're amazing. I'm a fan and
I want to start this year posting if you don't
mind posting some of your stuff on my Facebook. I
got like almost I want to do that because I
want to support you, my man. You know, I've been

(12:48):
up there to your restaurant at the previous location. I
love the food. I sent people to that location. I
want to I'll be in New York February ninth, which
is a Sunday. I'm gonna see if I can drop
by if I have time, just you, I to be there.
I just love going into your place and supporting you.
You know. So again, we'll be right back with more
of my man. He has a hot new TV show
going into his second season called Just Eats with Chef

(13:09):
JJ on TV one's network, Cleo TV. Right back, We'll
be right back with more from Marsan McDonald and money
Making Conversations. Don't touch that. Money Making Conversations continues online
at www dot money Making Conversations dot com, and follow
money Making Conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ladies and gentlemen,

(13:30):
it's time you stop thinking about your dreams and put
some plans into action. Hi, just ra Sean McDonald and
you're listening to Money Making Conversation. I'm the host. We're
talking to my man, Chef JJ. He has a hot
news show going into his second season on TV one's network,
Cleo TV. It's called Just Eats with Chef JJ and

(13:53):
it premiers Saturday, February twenty second and twelve noon on
Cleo TV. Now Chef before we went to the break,
he's about to dive into these gas and we know
the gas can be just exciting. This is the meal
that you're cooking, so talk about something that gas like
I said, Raheem Divine, who was my man? He's the
same right. Divine was on there and uh, he's turning up.

(14:16):
He was on the episode. We watch Jazzy and you
know they was having some intimate conversations, you know, those
things happening around food. She's she's she's a funny individual.
I don't know if you know watch Jazzy, but she's
hilariously improv Yes, Leela James, you know My food had
her humming, which was really great. You know for me,

(14:37):
she's a icon. So uh and then you know we
had to hear it from Love and Hip Hop. We
had an Influenzer Ray holiday and Graze has always been
a supporter of mine. Um and then then also this season,
I wanted to bring some like um, you know, some
some young talent that's really crushing it, uh in different

(14:57):
parts of the industry. So he brought in this young
lady tell some healthcare, facial products and hair products on
natural out of the DC area. That's that. That's a
that's an immigrant, right, A big, big story of a
conversation in America today. So you know, also as we
have some of the big guests, you know, we have
some of the smaller guests have some really good stories

(15:18):
that I think could relate to people that are that
are watching the show. Well, you know, the thing about
it is that you're a good conversationalist and that because
it was really making me laugh when he was talking
about making food live and then then you actually cooking it,
because I know I've done some episodes on TV where
I've had the bake live. You know, something that just
do you know and then all of a sudden, I go, Okay,

(15:39):
you know you can do for some reason, you can
like hit the point or did I do that? Did
I do that right? Did that do that right? Because
you know people at home, they're watched he forgot that,
he forgot the vanilla extract. What are you doing? He
forgot the vanilla extract and so that is pressure, you know,
to make sure that you know because sometimes when you
when you cook something, you add a little extra salt
or extra pepper or extra kanyane. Just get it right.

(16:00):
But you know, some people don't want you tasting food
and then putting a spoon back into the food on TV,
you know, you know, so you have to really play
it by ear and then hope for the best. So
so I commend you, my brother, because I see your eyes.
I see you going okay, okay, this is good. So
so that that helps you to be on point on
your game when you take the show's correct. Yeah, I

(16:23):
mean it's a different flow when you're taking the show
and you're cooking. So uh, definitely mental pressure. So when
you see me, do do it? Or look up into
the sky. You know, judgment, I'm not judging you. I'm
really relating to your pains at that point creatively because
I know that you know perfection. I know you understand
I'm saying. You know you're listeners when they started watching

(16:45):
the show. Make sure they don't be judging up. Absolutely absolutely.
Now let's shift gears and go to field trip. You know,
the community based dining experiences celebrates cultures through the shared
experience of rice. Okay, that's first of all the name
of the restaurant, field trip, and then sharing the experience
through rice. Let's start with the name field trip, the
field trip and votes fund field us for all the

(17:08):
rice fields tripped off, all the trips I've taken uh
in my career. UH cooked in place like India, Singapore,
Ghana in those places you then see in the right
bowls that then invoke the flavors of those places. Okay.
Now when you when you talk about casual dyning and

(17:28):
then you talk how how what does the seed in capacity?
Can I ask that to see you after the wall
field trip is twenty seeded and then four high top
tables that you can stand at. The plenty of space
for a large group, small groups. We we we we
love to see everybody. It's a place you can bring
your kids, wheelchair acceptability, all the above. Now, what is

(17:49):
the hours of operation. We're open Tuesday to Sunday eleven
and nine, eleven and nine. So Tuesday through Sunday, you say,
see there, do Sunday eleven am to nine pm, so
I might be able to it might see me February night,
coming in and grab a hit off. Well, you know,
like I told you, JJ, you don't have to be there.

(18:10):
I'm coming in and grab me something to go and
hit on up to the Gordian and well you took
care of me last time and so and it wasn't.
And my whole thing is that I'm a foodie and
I love food. And as soon as I eat, soon
as I eat, I'm sure I'm gonna put this in
my rushawn eats recommendation of restaurants, and that's on my website,
on my social media, and that's because that's where it

(18:30):
really is. Because food to me is a it's a culture,
it's a it's an experience. And and when you have
a gifted person like you chef J J J, who
out there just just laying it down, man landed that
putting down the food right, you know, and then then
you then you're you're happy doing it because a lot
of people you can watch some people that look like
it's a job, but it doesn't look like a job

(18:52):
to you. Talk about that, you know, I mean, look
in this time and era, a lot of people want
to be cooking on television, and um, I'm mistankful for
it every day It's not something that anybody can get.
And I think the hard work really has got me
the opportunity to to be uh friends and family of

(19:12):
Cleo TV and TV run now with the second season
coming up, and you know, I worked really hard on
something that I was never trained to do. You know,
I didn't go to acting school. I didn't do any
of that stuff. So, um, this is this is new
and uh, I have to work a lot harder and uh,
you know, the key is just making sure I have funds,

(19:33):
be entertaining and gives you food that you want to
cook at home. Cool. Here's a quick question before I
get I'm talking to Chef JJ. Uh starve the hit.
Um it's a cooking entertainment show called Just Eats with
Chef JJ on TV once network Cleo TV. It premiers
season two does Saturday February twenty two at twelve New
and Eastern UM as an encore that plays a TEMPM

(19:56):
on that same channel. Uh. The great thing about you
coming on my show it was something that I missed
last time. It was a good miss because but I
found at this time they said that you are the
creator a buzz feed tasty. Is that correct? Well, I'm
not the creator. I am a creator. Okay, we're called
tasty creators and you create videos on buds feed tasty channel.

(20:19):
So if you go to buds Fee Tasty you can
see some of my videos on there as as one
of the bunch feed creators. I called my tough Budsfee talent.
They like to call me a creator, but I wish
I created a bunksfe Tasty. Well, you know it was
gonna be another conversation now as Yeah, I mean, you
know you talk about you know, from from from a
business standpoint. You know, my goal is that I have restaurants.

(20:43):
You know, I have a television show or shows hopefully,
and you know, as a chef now you're able to potentially,
you know, drive in revenue in different ways than back
in the past. Well, you know, the interesting thing about
it just about just a quick business question. The show
is done in the professional kitchen. Why didn't you do
the show at your restaurant? You know, you need to

(21:04):
have the right lighting, the right touches. There's just certain
things of what you want in a in a in
the uh in in a certain kitchen feeling. Um, and
if I wouldn't shot to show my restaurant, I would
have to shut it down for ten days, which was
displaced my customer base, the people that truly supported me
on a day to day base, and I didn't want
to do that. Well, I can understand that because of

(21:26):
the fact that you know, I was talking to my nephew.
Here's a barbecue place, barbecue a food truck trailer in Houston, Texas,
and he and I got him to own Kelly Clarkson
Show today, and so he shut down his Yeah. Great, yeah,
and they got him over there and they came to Houston.
He's based in Houston, and so he shut down his
restaurant it's a lower street location to take it over

(21:47):
to a show that called him and go did you
shut it down? I said, no, no, No, you can't
ever do that because your customers think that you close.
That's the bad news travel faster than good news. So
you're not being there. That's a lot of bad news.
I say, if you ever shut down like that, just
put your other trailer there and put a limited menu.
At least you rather serve a limited menu. Didn't come
by to the way he's taping the class, which builds

(22:08):
your brain, so I know exactly what you're talking about,
because yeah, you know, it's a hard thing because like
that Kelly Clarkson shows like a one time in a lifetime, right,
You're so excited for that, but then at the end
of the day, you want to make sure that there's
you either let putting a message out about the restaurant
to let people know that they can't come today or not.
You know, I've learned that through my career. I used

(22:28):
to say before all people would come back. People won't
come back because don't feel so offended that you've displaced them.
So um, that's why I keep the restaurant closed on Mondays. Now,
that's our day. If we're gonna do TV things in
the restaurant or shoot um or if people do want
to do some TV things, that has to happen before
we open and they have to be done by that
time because I'm in the business of displaying people. Here's

(22:51):
an interesting thing they sent this over to about your show,
Chef JJ. Chef JJ loves to introduce exciting global cuisine
cuisine to France and this season turns up the heat.
When a friendly cook off Okay makes a comforting one
pot meal creation, it's cozy with a breakfast and bid
meal and gives viewers a two of his new restaurant

(23:13):
Field Trip Hollo. Now you just say none of that
che j j. That some great stuff, right, It's a
great episode about breakfast in bed. I think a couple
of a couple that doesn't cook. He doesn't cook for
his his loved one and told me to get a
little cookie. Point. I showed that. You know, I'm all

(23:34):
about the global world and the cuisine to connect with people.
So when you get a little bit of that from
one pot stuff, but you know that that's that's the
notes they gave you. You know, I'm giving you my notes.
These guys expecting what I want you to tune in
and it's really no. This season is truly exciting, great conversation.
I think there's some great insight. You know, my my

(23:55):
biggest guest and my biggest fan on this season is
Shaun King. Um he comes on and with his wife.
Is that quarterback Sean Farmer? Quarterback Shaun King No, Sean
King the activist? All right right right right? Um, I'm
a big fan of hand and what he what he's doing.
And he comes on with his wife and they cook
a lot at home, um, and you know, we had

(24:17):
a great one. What I think is one of the
best conversations. And you know it's very lighthearted. We got
a little bit in the politics, and I love politics.
My thing on the love and so you know, I'm
telling you this one right here like making or breaking
for um. No, I'm not gonna let that go down

(24:37):
like that. You'll be back with season three talking to
me about what you're doing. You just gotta let me
know about these breakfast and bad scenes and these little
cook offs that you're doing and these one pot meals.
But that's my job. That was Chef JJ. My job
is to promote your brand and push you to the
next level. And your great restaurant called Field Trip that
you that you're doing it up. But again, your show
just each with Chef JJ on TV Ones Network, Cleo TV.

(25:00):
He's exciting. I'll consider you a friend, man, I really do,
and I'm will always support you and I'll just get
those just get those banners to me and these sizzle
reels that you want me to post prod to premier
in February twenty two. Okay, I appreciate that. Thank you,
Thank you, my friend. We talked soon. It's finally here,
the season of celebration, and no matter how you celebrate

(25:20):
with family and friends, whether you're preparing for reys, magos
or Karamu lighting the Manura, are going to midnight mass,
Coals has just what you need to make those traditions special.
Plus you'll find gifts for all your loved ones. Send
warm wishes with Cozy Fleece's sweaters, loungeware, blankets and throws.
Support minority owned or founded brands by giving gifts from

(25:42):
Human Nation and Shame moisture, or treat them to everyone's
favorite active wear from top brands like Nike, Adidas, and
under Armor. And in the spirit of giving, Coals Cares
is donating eight million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide committed
to the health and well being of our community these
No matter how you celebrate, when you shop at Coals,

(26:03):
you're right where you belong. So this season, give with
all your heart with great gifts from Coals or coals
dot Com. Whether your event needed one room or an
entire conference center, Hoppin has revolutionized the way people come together.
With hoppin, you can host a fully fledged digital meet up,
complete with one on one meetings, hands on sessions and

(26:24):
expo booths. And because everything is hosted in a single,
easy to use platform, it can be as big or
small as you want, remain convenient for anyone who wants
to attend, and give you access to data you never
would have known otherwise. Visit hoppin dot com to learn
more and get started. Still living in and manually taking notes,
start the new year with auto dot ai to generate

(26:46):
automatic notes for meetings, interviews, or lectures. With auto dot ai,
you can search the meeting notes, insert images, play back
the audio, and share them with your friends or coworkers.
You can capture action items, remember meeting details and keep
everyone informed. Auto dot ai works for in person or
virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google meet. Sign
up for free at auto dit ai or download the

(27:08):
app for free auto dot ai. That's O T T
E R dot Ai. My next Us is a former
senior Vice president marketing for Atlantic Records. Now he is
the president of Will Packer Productions and is responsible for developing,
overseeing productions on all film projects through the company's first
Look deal with Universal as a producer. His films that

(27:30):
grows more than eight hundred million dollars at the box office. Today,
he's on the show to Day to talk about his
career and his new movie, The Photograph. Please welcome the
money Making Conversations, my man, James Lopez Mashan, thanks for
having me, brother, Well, well, thank you. I know you're
busy because this promotion week, another movie, another another line

(27:54):
of promotion. This is great. Got no wheels out there,
so I see you getting out there a lot more
promoting projects. Is that part of the growth of James Lopez. Yeah,
you know, I've been told several times in the past
that I need to get out there a little bit more.
You know. You know me, brother, I'm when it comes
to promoting and publicity and doing the press. I like

(28:16):
to stay behind the scenes and be quiet. But I've
been told that I need to let the people know
what I do and and uh that I definitely have
an inspiring story to tell, and that uh you know
that I provided an example for some folks. So I
kind of have decided not to be as selfish. They

(28:38):
talk about my story a little bit because it might
be helpful. It really is helpful. That's what the format
of money making conversation is all about. I started in
twenty seventeen, uh, and it was supposed to only last
six weeks. And then I realized that through the conversations
and bringing a different type of people I had on
the show and verst it was just people I know.
And then all of a sudden, now it's just individuals
in the industry to realize so to positive uh, you know,

(29:01):
format that allow them to tell their story. And also
it's really about helping people. And when we talk about
helping people, you know, I have to talk about my
relationship with you, and you know you you and when
I was with Steve Harvey, you know, you broke it
our first ring tone deal. And I gotta say that
because you know that was that was a skill that
you have and had, you know, because I didn't know you,

(29:23):
but you had a lickability and use a professional And
I remember when Steve said, should we sign this deal?
I said, yeah, yeah, James, James a little bit. I
trust him. And for me to say that, it's a
lot because that means that you understand the value of
communicating the honesty of the deal and also the value
of a relationship. I'm sure you've been told that a

(29:44):
lot over the years. Correct, James. Yeah, you know, I
I've been told that that I'm a kind of a
no nonsense type of guy, and I think a lot
of people take my load to me, my my quiet. Yes, yes,
he's quiet, y'all. He is quiet. They take my quiet

(30:05):
demeanor as a sign that maybe that I might be
angry or maybe I'm not really trying to mess with folks.
It's not that at all. It's it's that I'm constantly thinking.
I'm constantly observing the room. And you know, I believe
that if you don't have something additive to say in
the moment, just don't say it. But when you do

(30:25):
have something to say, it carries more weight. So that's
just the way I operate in life. Um, And I'm
you know, I admitted, Rashan, I'm a little bit socially
awkward to you. That's why I quiet. Well tell you something, man,
you know, I've been around your lot, you know. And
and then because you know it was in the music business,
so yet always are all this that's how we connected.

(30:47):
And uh and that's when you told me he Rashwan
t I making a lot of money on these rain tongs.
Y'all probably want to look into that, and so you
understood that that rain tongs are popular. Back there, there
was a lot of way that it was a quick
way just using your force and ring tones, and people
were buying them. And then but of course all things change,
and all things you have to make a transition. And
at the time you use the senior vice president marketing

(31:09):
for Atlantic Records. What did that job entail? Well, back then,
you know, I was largely responsible for the urban roster
of artists signed to Atlantic Records. So artists like t
I Chat, Joe Fabulous, Trick, Daddy Trenim, M c Elliott, Sean,
Paul Naview's little brother, and the list goes on on.

(31:30):
So I was responsible for the imaging, packaging and bringing
to market those artists, whether it be album packaging, whether
it be promotional touring, put it together their stage show,
award show performances, all the way up to like you know,
music video productions. I was kind of like, um, what

(31:52):
a quarterback in to a football team is what I
was in the building Atlantic Records when it came to
that particular artists, kind of like an in house manager.
Yes I wasn't the artist manager, but I was the
person most involved in their life and in that project
within the company. Um and kind of like leading the

(32:12):
company's charged to bring that album or that artist to
the marketplace. That's what I was absolutely so. Then in
your intro, I make this statement as a producer. As
a producer, his films about his career, during his career
have exceeded eight hundred million dollars at the box office. Now,

(32:33):
that's from music to film, which we know, I can't
say they're similar because they're different because once visual, you know,
even though you might say music videos or visual, but
that's not a movie or film. That's a beginning, middle
of the end. That's casting, that's being at the right publicity,
being at the right moment. How did you make that transition,
because I remember you made it. I told Steve at

(32:54):
the time, I said, my boy doing films now. And
I really was happy because I know that that that
you know, music was changing, you know, record stores were
dying out, you know, yeah, a lot of more independent
thought process was being put into how you released labels.
Did you make a decision looking at the industry, or
you said, hey, I really want to do film. It

(33:15):
was it was a combination of both. To be honest
with you, I'd always had the passion for film and television,
to be honest with you, Rashaan. Early on in my life,
in my career, I just didn't think it was possible
for brothers to be honest, you know, like coming and
I'm a boy from Houston, Texas and so like to
be involved in film intelligion. There was no examples for

(33:38):
us going up in Houston that there was no one
I could point to and said you could do that.
Like I knew obviously, we all know of actors and directors,
um you know, like the Spike Leaves and John Singleton
and you know, being in college and watching those guys
do their things. But I knew I wasn't gonna be bad.
I had no idea what the producer did. I didn't

(34:00):
know that there were people behind the scenes, predominantly caucases,
that were behind the movies. So I just took the
natural route into music because there were several examples, uh
that that we as black man could point to and say, Okay,
well Russell Simmons did it, and this one did it
and that one did it. I could do that. I

(34:20):
could do that. But once I got into the music business,
and got in and was more immersed in the culture
of entertainment and meeting different types of executives and then
getting involved in soundtracks. In the music business. I started
interacting with studio executives and producers, and then I started

(34:41):
to get exposed to the possibilities of where where I
wanted my life to go. So it was it was
in the mid two thousands, I would say, two thousand
and four, two thousand and five when I consciously made
the decision that this is what I want to do next,
and I'm gonna work my tail off to get there.
Let me district in there. I remember you started telling

(35:03):
me you were writing scripts at that time. Well, I
was coming up with pitches and decks for ideas and
when I look when I look back at them, they
were terrible. But you had energy. You had energy that
had I had the energy and what I was doing
with conceptualizing projects as well. And that's that's where my

(35:27):
strength lies, is coming up with concepts or or discussing
with other creatives concepts, concepts for movies and then bringing
them to the marketplace, figuring it out, you know, finding writers,
finding a director, starting starting projects from scripts. But yeah,

(35:48):
I made that decision in two thousand five, and it
took me five years. It took me five years of networking,
of reading tons and tons of scripts and kind of
building my chops so that when I got the opportunity,
I was ready and until five years later. Correct, correct, Yeah,

(36:10):
I was hired by a gentleman name Quinn Colepepper who
gave me a shot. I had done a soundtrack at
Screen James when I was in Atlantic, and that's how
I do with my relationship with him. And then I
got even closer to him on the set of Takers.
Uh p. I introduced me to Quint again on the
set of Takers, and that is the evening that I

(36:33):
met Will for the first time. My mouth producing party.
Now eight hundred million dollars when I say that, what
runs through your mind at the box office? Um? Eight
hundred million dollars. Now here's a lesson for your listening audience.

(36:58):
Box office numbers are great if you have a piece
of ownership. I don't have a piece of ownership at
any of that eight million dollars. That's what my movies made.
I didn't own those movies, and studios owner those movies.
When you got brothers like Tyler who owned their films

(37:22):
and they get a majority of that dollar that comes back.
For every single dollar that goes out, he's getting a
large percent of that money coming back. And that's what
we got to strive as people to work towards as
the ownership. We are formidable, we are based when it
comes to create a content and providing entertainment for the audiences.

(37:46):
We create culture, but we have to start having a
stake and ownership in that culture. And right now that
is what Will and I are striving towards, is more
ownership of our catalogs UM but you know none. Nevertheless,
it is impressive that so many people have enjoyed our films,

(38:08):
but we and well you know where the company is
headed and building up that library of titles ownership or
that library is a goal and also diversifying what we do. UM.
The movie that's coming out this weekend, it is our
first drama like it is a romance drama. It's not

(38:29):
a romantic comedy, it's not a comedy, it's not a thriller.
Is a straight up adult black love romance and that's
something new for us as a company. And we're working
hard to make sure that we diversify the types of
movies that we're making so that we're not just eating
off of comedy but offer everything. Right, I tell you,

(38:50):
I'm talking to James Lopez. He's the president of Will
Packer Production. Has a new movie out this weekend called
The Photograph. We'll come back. We get more details because
and had a movie out here like this, like says
love Jones Born Loren stay kneel long. That's what he's
talking about. Money Making Conversation. Be right back with more
from Marsa McDonald. The money Making Conversations don't touch that dog.

(39:13):
Money Making Conversations continues online at www dot money Making
Conversations dot com and follow money Making Conversations on Facebook, Twitter,
and Instagram. Ladies and gentlemen, it's time you stop thinking
about your dreams and put some plans into action. Hi,
just ra Sean McDonald. You're listening to money Making Conversations.
I'm talking to James Lopez. Long time, long time gentlemen.

(39:35):
Met him when he was senior vice president marketing for
Atlantic Records. Now he's um breaking down information about my listeners,
about about the aut of the deal and being a
bigger player in the deal. More importantly, he's on the
show to day to talk about his new movie. Like
he told before we went to break, he said, they've
diversifying the portfolio, moving out of the comedy laden drama

(39:57):
where they had so much success in to a romantic drama.
What really pushed this envelope beside a great script and
opportunity to diverse diversify your portfolio, I think the reason
why we sparked to the photographs. First of all, I
started off, yes, with a great script like Sella McGhee wrote,
a beautiful project. Um, she is also a director of

(40:22):
This is a very personal project for her and we
wanted to jump on boards and help her fulfill her
vision and bring the screen. So we're very proud of
being a part of this. But um, we just felt
like it's been such a long time since the core
African American audience has received a love story. Um, and

(40:46):
you mentioned Love Jones. You know that was twenty plus
years ago. So we loven okay seven and you know,
we we just felt like it was time to make
another black love story that wasn't based around trauma. You know. Unfortunately, Um,
you know, there's a lot of great films that are

(41:07):
created and cater to the African American audience. But when
it comes to love, there's always a betrayal or out
of wed like child or somebody got killed, stalker. You
know this is straight just two black folks loving each

(41:28):
other or trying to figure out love. I just say.
But it also is about generations. It's about UM gets
to raise character who has just lost her mother and
through a series of letters, is finding out more about
the woman her mother was and the mistakes and love
that her mother may have made, and to make sure

(41:51):
that she's not going to repeat the same mistakes her
mother made. So we are watching When you watch the film,
you're watching two stories separated by thirty years. So it's
about generational love as well. And it's a very movie
and touching. UM. And you know, I think, uh, I
think folks will enjoy it. It's a great date night.

(42:14):
It's a perfect, perfect date that the movie is coming
out on Valentine's Day. It's a long weekend, so you know,
everyone listening to take your special someone to go check
this out because you're gonna love it. And the music
is phenomenal. Absolutely, Um, it has to be another another
fellow Houston Natives, Robert glasp Uh, the score awesome. Congratulations.

(42:36):
You know we get not that spread that way. You know.
The beauty of listening to you talk, James. First of all,
you sound just the same. You sound just as uh,
you know, you give our information. Uh. That's what always
impressed me about you is that you're informative and you
and you really know how to hit all of the
right deal points of the conversation. But one thing I
always liked a boy, Will because when I did the

(42:58):
first movie with him, I think like im and he
always knew how to select talent that was on the
rise about the pop. He was always good at that.
You look at his movies. He always gets that talent
right when it's about to because he does that really well.
And like in that case, it was it was Kevin Hard.
I knew about Kevin Hard, and I know when we
sold the movie Steve and Steve Harving, I sold the

(43:20):
movie to screen. James was just Clint and he was
because I told Will know. At first I said, no, Will,
I'm not gonna do the movie with you. And then
he brought in Clinton and they came down to Dallas
and we rode around on Steve's property, convinced me and hey,
this is the right people, We got the right idea. Well,
we will make this, make this be a winner. And

(43:41):
then he said, I said, who goes, Who's gonna do
the lead? He said, Karen Hard. I said, Kevin Hard.
He said, Sean, He's he's about to break. Man, He's
he's about to break. He's about to do that. And
so I turned on. I look over the two stars
that are at the top of your list here Sa
Ray and the Ki Stanfield. Yeah, okay, now Stanford, let's

(44:02):
could go back a little bit the Atlantic series. Okay,
that's when I first discovered him. And I went and
I was telling my friends, I said, this do right here,
this dude is talented, this dude this funny. Yeah, I mean,
you know mckith thought, you know, he wasn't get out
as well. Um, he was in Uncut Gems with Adam
Sandler that that had a nice run a couple of

(44:25):
months ago. Keith been mckith has been working, I mean
who he has been working? I mean, but but all
platforms though, all platforms. Oh, yes, yes, he has been working.
And obviously you know he's used to used to raise
the Queen, like you know, creating the show Insecure for
HBO and all the things that she's been doing. Um.

(44:48):
But we yeah, we we take pride on on, you know,
making sure that in every one of our movies we have,
um people who are about to pop or or or
or have have recently come on the scene. In this
particular one, I think you guys are gonna really enjoy

(45:08):
an actress by the name of Chante Adams. She played
Ray's mother in the past thirty years in the past.
And when I tell you this girl put his work,
her performance is amazing. Um. Your listeners may or may
not know her from a Netflix movie on the rapper

(45:30):
Rocksman Shante. It was a Netflix movie called Rockman Roxtan.
Remember that chant played the Roxanne in that movie in
that Netflix. Um, and she is just an incredible performer
and she does such a beautiful job of a rack
in this film. So let me ask you this. Let

(45:50):
me ask you this because your producer on the movie.
What exactly does a producer do on this especially this
particular movie with the photograph. Well, I'll tell you my
role in this one. Um. When when Will and I
first started producing together, Um, before I joined the company.
He took the meeting with Star regarding this particular project.

(46:11):
She had not written it yet, it was just a treatment.
And um. When I joined the company, which was like
a year later, she had written the script and it
was floating around town and uh, I've read it, and
I was like, oh man, we need to be doing

(46:32):
this movie. This this could be this generation. And I said,
word for it. This could be this generations, love Jones.
We should be making this movie. So I go to Will,
I'm like, I read the photograph. I know you took
a meeting with her about a year ago, but you
should read this script. It's really good. He read it,
He was I agree. I said, we need to take

(46:52):
this in the universal and fight for it and set
it up. So we did. They brought the script and
we spent the next year and a half and two
years developing it from several drafts and got it to
the point where we got the studio of the Green
like this now. Um. So during that process and producer

(47:14):
and working with the writer to hone in on the script,
get it to the you know, get it, get it,
addressing notes, getting it ready to share with cast. We
talked about cast who's available in the time frame that
we want to shoot the film. You know, who, who
do we think would have the best chemistry. You go

(47:35):
through that process. You know, I'm you know, I'm hiring
a line producer who comes up with the schedule and budget.
We're making decisions about where we're gonna shoot the film.
You know, the New York plays a character in the film,
so we you know that it was a filmmaker's vision
to shoot the film in New York. Not a lot
of films shoots here, um, and you know, so we

(47:59):
won that. Then then it's about putting the crew together.
You know, who's going to be the director of photography,
who's going to be the cost and designer. You know
who's going to be the production designer, who's gonna help
cast the movie? The casting direct there, so we you know,
you put all those people together, get them approve, get

(48:21):
them on on the team, and you start building your
crew to execute the script all the time while you're
sharing the script with agents and managers to get the
cast one. As you get through all that, you go
into pre production. Pre production on this film was eight weeks,

(48:44):
and in that eight week time period, you're scouting your
building sets if needed. You know, the costume designer is
showing options for the characters. You have your director, photography,
who building their crew, their camera operators. With the lighting
is gonna look like your story boarding shot. Listening, so

(49:06):
much goes into it before you start, and then you're
on set. We shot this movie over seven weeks six
which we're in uh New York in one week in museum,
and then you go into post production, which is a
twenty two week period where you're editing your sound mixing.

(49:30):
During that time period, our director she had expressed, um
the desire to have Robert Glass for score the film.
So without her knowing, I went off and got Robert Glass.
You know, I got a whole of them. We had
a meeting. I'm like, look with you ashtown boys do this.

(49:51):
I took him to the studio. Robert had never scored
a movie. Um, so I convinced the studio, hey give
this brother, uh um, he's the world of now jazz musician.
He could score it, he could score his music. He
could score this film with his ice clos um. And
then I, you know, once the studio approved, and then

(50:14):
I haven't sit down with Sella and they worked out
the vision for what she wanted the sound to be
in this movie. Um, and now we're here that is
producing my Man. That's a journey A lot of people
needed to hear for the first time on my show
because the shooting period is just seven weeks. You know,

(50:34):
free was a post pre was eight and then post
was twenty two. That was thirty weeks, and then there
was almost two and a half years to get it
approved right and when you first when you first walked
through was introduced to it. She didn't even have a script.
She said, she had her treatment, our concept. So so
there's a lot of trust in that process to get

(50:56):
to the point that we see the movie photograph. But
I don't want to link on the process. A couple
of there's more people in this movie my man courting
to be advances in this movie where I love and
even though there was a drama, you got my man.
Little Real, who everybody knows from get out, one of
the funniest comics, one that has a specialized last November
that was outstanding called Little Real my Man. He plays

(51:17):
mckith brother in this movie, and then uh and then
and Lookeith. He's funny too, and so then you have
Issa Ray who I saw a little and I became
a bigger fan. I actually became a bigger fan of
her in the movie Little that you guys also did
and did very well at the box office. I think
last May and uh and it's playing right now. If
you don't know, it just goes to it's on pay

(51:39):
for viewers also the many HBO Little And so when
you when you see a movie like this being put
out there, you still have a little touch of I
think that you know you can you can bring You're
not trying to do a comedy movie, but you do
have guys who can bring that comedy moment just to
break the ice. Correct, Yeah, correct, there's moments where you know,

(52:04):
the audience, we break the ices. It's not a drama
all the way through. Um. So every every once in
a while you'll get a chuckle, you'll get a laugh
in the right places. Um, but it does tug at
the heartstrings another after I want to bring up who's
in there. There's two of them actually, Um, Calvin Harris Jr.
Who the audience may not be familiar with the name,

(52:26):
but you are familiar with the face. He This young
brother is I say, I feel it's going to be
up for Academy Award one day. He is. He's done
phenomenal work in so many other movies this past two years.
But he's working literally nonstuff. I believe the photograph was
its fifth movie that he shot in twenty nine nineteen. Sorry, Um,

(52:51):
he did five movies last year. Um. He was in
a movie called Ways, He's in another movie called Rise,
in a movie called Loose opposite. Uh, I tell you
miss Spencer. But he's just a phenomenally young actor. He's
in the movie Jasmine sessas Jones within the movie, and

(53:13):
so is my boy Rob Morgan. Right, I don't know
if I don't know if you've seen Just Mercy, but
Rob if y'all seen it, Robber was the one that
went to the electric chair. Oh yeah, oh yeah, when
they when when you were clanking all the the let
him know that they were with him, Let him know
he wasn't he was not down there by himself. It's

(53:34):
a very good movie. There was a powerful moment that movie. Yeah,
that brother has some powerful moments in our movie. U
reading emotional uh moment. Well, you know my biggest takeaway
when I listened to your projects and watch your project again.
Congratulations graduations, Will and I will know. I've been a
fan before he brought any movie project to him, to me,

(53:54):
to Steve, and I'll just start promoting on our radio
show for Matt. And that's why I kind of I
built this format to be able to have power, to
be able to put another layer of information of not
only about the people who are who are starting in
front of the cameras behind the camera, but you guys
all have stories, you know, samm Let's say, but Sammy,
just State University is proud of what you're doing. Four
years playing football over there before you roll out to

(54:17):
l A, realized that you can your dreams can't be possible.
And then this movie again, the photograph. I want to
call my friend because of the fact that I trusted
him and we we've known each other over years and
I followed him and he's followed by my success. And
we were on the phone that they just talk about
another great moment, a great moment in our lives where
we're about to, you know, set a different pattern for

(54:39):
what the movie could be. I know that they always
project have they put a projection on what the box office?
Maybe this weekend. Yeah, I don't even like to talk
about it now. Don't talk about don't talk about it,
don't talk about that, don't talk don't all. I don't
wanted to do well, and I want I want our
folks to come out and support and really talk about
this film. And I on them walking out with a

(55:01):
greater sense of love for who they're with, who they
want to be with. But also I think a lesson
that's learned from this film is we learned how to
love from our parents. And when you watch this film
and you're watching the Parallel Stories thirty years apart um,
you know, we pick up a lot of positive things

(55:23):
from our parents as well as negative. And we learned
how to love because we've watched them love and that's
what this movie're talking about. That's a beautiful the statement
again starting the Easter ray a man uh like Keith Stanfield.
It's called The Photograph. It's coming out this weekend for
all you couples out there, for all you people who
want to sit down and hold hands as we can,

(55:45):
this is the movie to watch. James Lopez, thanks for
coming to my show talking about your talking about your
pass and talking about your future. My friend eight hundred
million dollars in counting, because they're gonna start counting this weekend.
Man again. All right, next, you're coming to bad On. Yep, honey,
I'll be right there. Just gotta turn out the light.
Oh oh, some thing's never change, like your kids always

(56:14):
leaving tiny toys on the floor for you to step
on and gango saving folks lots of money on their
car insurance. Sweetie, I think I left the downstairs light on.
Please don't make me go. Fifteen minutes could save you
or more. Look for your children's eyes to see the
true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them.

(56:35):
You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled
face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky.
They see treasuring pebbles. They see a windy path that
could lead to adventure, and they see you. They're fearless.
Guide through this fascinating world. Find a forest near you
and start exploring and discover the forest dot org brought

(56:56):
to you by the United States Forest Service and the
ad Council. And live here outside the Perez family home,
just waiting for the And there they go, almost on time.
This morning, Mom is coming out the front door, strong
with a double arm kid carry. Looks like dad has
the bags. Daughter is bringing up the rear. Oh but
the diaper bag wasn't closed. Diapers and toys are everywhere.

(57:20):
Oh but mom has just nailed the perfect car seat
buckle for the toddler. And now the eldest daughter, who
looks to be about nine or ten, has secured herself
in the booster seat. Dad zips the bad clothes and
they're off. Ah, but looks like mom doesn't realize her
coffee cup is still on the roof of the car
and there it goes. Ah. That's a shame that mug

(57:42):
was a fan favorite. Don't sweat the small stuff. Just
nailed the big stuff, like making sure your kids are
buckled correctly in the right seat for their agent's eyes.
Learn more n h t s A dot gov slash
The Right Seat visits h s A dot gov slash
The Right Seat Brought to you by Mitza and the
Ad Council guest. It's on the It's about music, y'all.
He's reaching fans across R and B, hip hop, gospel,

(58:06):
urban contemporary platforms. He's garner recognition from the Grammys with nominations,
delivered powerful performances on numerous stages from the BT Awards
to American Island. He's on the show today to talk
about many of his ventures, including the release of his
new single, let Go Please. Welcome to Money Making Conversation
for the very first time, three times Grammy nominated Artists,

(58:27):
Songwriter and musician Molly Music's been going, Man, hey, they
got I have to set you up. Man. You know
when when you're on my show for the first time,
I let you know I got love, I got respect
for you, and I'm about to catch the love from
the free throw line, Like, hey man, how you doing that?

(58:48):
I'm done really good right now where you where you're
sitting there talking to me? Talking to me at I'm
in Los Angeles right now, cooling off and getting my
bones rested back up from shooting a video yesterday and
now with Jonathan mc renolds. Awesome, awesome, ye'all. I was
in the l A. In fact, I was in like Friday.
You know that I said it was still mourning the
passing of Kobe. You know that it it was crazy,

(59:11):
you know, just left and left. You know, it just stays.
It's crazy. It's really crazy. Because you know, the busses
in front of them to say rest in peace, Kobe.
When you drive by every every every billboard is available
that hasn't been bought. It's been flipped out to some
type of commentary about what this young man did. And

(59:31):
then when I you know, I only only bring that
up because you move your music, and because I listened
to your new cut let go, and then and then
I went back and I stepped back and listened to
some of your earlier cuts. And you you're a storyteller,
but your your story is also tap into emotions that
anything is possible, you know, And where did that come from?

(59:53):
Because I looked at your background, your your Phoenix boy.
You're born in Phoenix. Okay, that's that's hot hot dessert
over there. And then you grew up in the in
the Southern South. Good food Savannah, Georgia. Talk to me
about that. Well, yeah, my mom being in the military
and before. It's just a pleasure to be on the show.
Thank you so much. I'm already such a fan. And

(01:00:15):
all the cultivation and the fertilizing that you're bringing into
the young and old minds, I really appreciate it. I'm
glad to be a part of this. Thank you. Um
but yeah, Phoenix, Arizona, and you know that on a
flight straightway to my grandmother, uh great grandmother Rose Lax.
And she had a church name Loving Faith. She operated

(01:00:38):
under the Apostolic which I didn't really understand the depth
of until really later. You know, because you have preachers, pastors, teachers, healers,
you have many different sextions inside of it. But it's
a gift and a rare thing when somebody embodies many
of them with humility. That was a lady who kind
of raised me and also who kind of broke me in,

(01:00:59):
so she saw the gift in me early. I'm I'll
tell the story to my family all the time. I'm
six or seven years old, shaking in front of her
congregation by her commanded me to come up there, and
I'm crying and my sisters and cousins getting tired of
like boy, just come on, and I'll cry and I'm
looking at her like can I get down? And She'll
say no, just say no, and then she'll give me
the like like you ready, And I'll go into this

(01:01:22):
song and I'll saying I still have joy, I still
have joy? I said all the things I've been too
still have joy and you know, and then I'll get finished,
thinking that she'll be proud of It's just say sing
it one more time with feeling. And I think that
that's kind of what changed it, because by the time
I wouldn't finish singing it again, I would open up

(01:01:43):
my eyes and it wouldn't be a dry in the room.
Mom won't be crying. Mom my sisters and my my
cousins would be paying attention and proud of me, and
there was something that would come out. So she just
always taught me to get over that fear and let
me know that it wasn't real. It wasn't gonna do
nothing but stop me, and uh and and me breaking
through that and singing was really good. My mom identified

(01:02:04):
that gift early, and they cultivated it and caught it,
caught it quick, and I was able to get busy early. Man. Well,
you know, it's really interesting because I had a very
early church experience. I was seven years old, and you know,
they called me to the front of the church. You know,
I remember the church, Sunlight Baptist Church. That's the church
right at the corner, you know, because it's like trauma
you know, they called me up there and and I
couldn't sing, so I can only talk. And I remember

(01:02:26):
I told him that, I just said, I want to
be a place where you can change my life, because
if you change my life, I can make somebody else
life better. And then they went did this come from
a seven year old boy? All? I was just speaking.
I was just speaking. I was just speaking. And uh.
But but like you, I didn't have mentors that kept
me straight. You know, I just went out into the
world just learning on the fly. And I learned on

(01:02:48):
the fly and and and nothing wrong with the path
that I've taken, because I've done nothing wrong. But but
what I hear is your storytelling is these mentors, These
these people who these important values that females put into
your life. It gave you a soul or suftness to
be able to share with us do music. Absolutely, and
it was also a lesson inside of it too. You

(01:03:11):
say mentors, I say like gatekeepers. And these are people
who kind of helped me through, like um, get through
certain access points. You know, I'm on top of it.
There was was a vicarious blessing inside of me that
they didn't want to see tainted thwarted exploited are are

(01:03:32):
used negatively, so there was kind of responsibility on people
around me to protect me. Um I guess in them too,
especially with me doing it young, so they kind of
took it upon themselves. The hard part was getting over
and passed when that, when that security and council and
mentor ship was done, when I was actually at the

(01:03:52):
at the end of that, and that the cusps and
the precipice of what was actually supposed to happen with me.
It's kind of like everybody, if they're blessed, you get
reared from like you know, going into school and when
you graduate to twelfth grade, but then when you go
on your own that's actually the beginning of your responses life.
You get what I'm saying. So all the all the

(01:04:13):
things that you were saying were really good, but I
never got nothing done and I never actually made no
real money because those were the people who were actually
the minds over it. So they were kind of caught
the fish right before it fell into my mouth, you
get what I mean. And the only thing I was
getting at that time is what was dispensed to me.
That right there made me very eager to get out
there and learn the things that I needed to myself.

(01:04:35):
That taught me the contractual information that I needed to
know to find out why they were so drifting to
do what they were doing, and to make more we
couldn't operate in fear. You know, it's really interesting just
hearing your voice and hearing that tone. And you know,
because I like to listen to music, especially artists I've
never heard before in the dark room, because I was
like just being a dark space, because I don't want

(01:04:57):
visuals to interfere with the lyrics, because it really people
do that. They realized that, you know, music is really powerful,
you know, you know, and and it moves me to tears,
you know, it can move me to laughter, it can
move me to understand. And and then I then I
then I started going to your bio and I'm going
your influences, Sam Cooking, your influences, oldest reading. I'm going like,

(01:05:22):
what this young board, nobody, this, what this young board
nobody that Molly music? What you know about old this?
Come on now saying well, I always loved music, and
and I was blessed to come up in like a
hip hop era and um and also I was like
classically influence on piano. So there was a version of

(01:05:45):
my piano playing when my soul was just happy, when
I'm out there slapping doing what I loaned. And then
that was a version that came when I would be
able to implement and showpin and different things that would
give me techniques that would bring class and flare. Then
church runs will start to sending, the jazz runs, and
then art tatum would start to come out of it,
and then there will be these different tones like so

(01:06:07):
if I would do things on the piano, the people
that would hear it mentors before we say, boy, you
need to listen to this, And that's how I got
turned onto it. But one of the biggest things was,
like I said, coming up in the hip hop era,
all of these samples, everything was sample crazy like, and
I would be the one that will look and want
to hear the original song. So I would. So there
would these type of artists that would get simple consistently,

(01:06:30):
and those would be the ones that went. That's how
I got really big on James Brown, really big on
Ray Charles, really big on Aretha Mahellia, you know, and
just started going back. And then as I would look
and compare, there will be no black singers that would
have that type of electrifying sect for people now, and
I wanted to replicate that in what I did. Well,
you know the thing I love about, you know, not

(01:06:52):
only the music, but the business side of these individuals.
Raych Hall, you know right right right when you read
this story and how he contin that's why they had
to take him out. You get what I mean. He
was right at the beginning of what I'm trying to
push forward. You get what I'm saying. I understand what
was going on, but you know, man, because you know

(01:07:12):
they were dealing with racism, strong open racism, and the
year these brothers going in there saying I gotta have this,
I want my rights, I want my I want all
back to me or that percentage isn't enough because they
know they could just stop playing your music right there.
You know, that's when Paola was blatant back then and
then and then and to hear you I just got

(01:07:33):
and what it excites musicid Rihan, I know about that.
It's music, but I also know the business side of
what you're about to talk about. That that part of me.
Our relationship just started. Mr Music. Mr Music, eminem M
just started brother because because you know, because your culture.
You know the thing about my show, money making Conversation.
I gotta talk to you. I gotta talk to you

(01:07:55):
because of the fact that I got forty five and
up on Lockdown. You know what I'm saying. But you're
my future. You're the next twenty years. You're gonna change
the face of music. The way we walk and where
we talk, clothing styles, all those things are being accepted.
Now they're crossing over. You're growing up in the era
where you look on TV you see yourself. When I
grew up, I had to see I didn't see myself.

(01:08:17):
You know, you see yourself and now you see yourself
with with with with with cross racial relationships in commercials
and and mixed couples and commercials and all that stuff.
So there's a journey you're gonna take with your music
that's incredible. On the phone, I'm talking to a man
who's reaching across all platforms. R and B, hip hop,
gospel and urban contemporary. We'll be back to talk about

(01:08:37):
this new single, Let go my man. Don't you go nowhere,
and y'all don't go into where money making conversations be
right back with my man Molly music. We'll be right
back with more from Mars McDonald the Money Making Conversations.
Don't touch that dial. Hi, this is Rushan McDonald, the
host of Money Making Conversation. You say to yourself, who
calls Rushan Shell, Please walk on the Money Making Conversations. Anthony,

(01:09:01):
we met you know us always can you give always
talk to you about everything? Everything and looking at you
and Steve Harvey. You know that motivated me too because
I would see all the amazing things you guys are
doing it not just being on the radio like at
that time, and even now you know people want to

(01:09:21):
put people in boxes. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations.
The incredible Nick Cannon. You truly one of them our
mentors and one of the people that showed me that
you can be most compassive. You know for a fact,
now that you're about to capture the audience, it's going
to have a spending power for least another twenty years,
three years. Like my happiness, money doesn't make you happy,

(01:09:41):
but happy makes your money. Money Making Conversations continues online
at www dot money Making Conversations dot com. Well you
know this is a money making conversation. I'm your host
with Sean McDonald. It's really great to get an artist on.
You know, he was birthen of the hot deserts like
a phoenix, he rolls up and he took him on

(01:10:02):
over to get that little like like a good gumbo.
Took him to Savannah to know, put some shrimp in
there with him, put some oakre in there with us,
some corn and and and put some some some shrimping
that some people chicken in there, pump people crab legs
and there, and they shaped the young man who came
out of here with this storytelling the ability put him
in front of the church when he's younger, and they said, hey,

(01:10:24):
that's not come on, don't worry about those people. Give
us what God can can deliver out of you right there,
and it's set stage for you who you are today.
And I have on my show telling them his side
of the story because I can only describe. You know,
I'm a I'm a visual communicator, but you have the
emotional you have the journey. Mr Music talked to us

(01:10:45):
about why did you do the song this song let Go?
All right, Well, I'm really excited about the song let Go.
I feel like it is a necessary part UM. My
last album, the transition of the music that I was
released the end of two thousands Things, and Um I

(01:11:08):
was really I was wanting to release another album once.
I didn't want to in the circumstances I was in
at the time. I was with Sony the Way of
by Storm, with the Mark Pitts and and those guys
over there whoever to help me with the initial album
Molly is Um. But there was some understanding issues, or

(01:11:29):
some release issues, or just some conflictual things that was
going on that I didn't want to destroy my career,
on my future, on my opportunity. There was some love
and some understanding there too, so we had to do
some things I had to let go there That turned
into a lot of business and you know, legal stuff
that was going on. And as I was coming out UM,

(01:11:50):
I recognized in order to get back into the groove,
I needed to heal first. I needed to extract all
the things that I had UM brought in to get
where I us. For example, we may see a movie
where there's a person who goes to war and and
there's a mindset or a level of uh, just a

(01:12:11):
heightened attention spand that they need for their own lives
to keeping their head on the swivel in a sense.
But once you come back to a place of peace,
you have to relearn and readapt peace techniques and and
you know, not not fixing your guard, not sharpening your sword,
not looking over your shoulder recognizing that it's there. So
the let go represents that Um, the fact that you know, Molly,

(01:12:34):
you're out. You know you've made it. God has given
you success. Don't be Um. You don't be a prisoner
in your mind, even though you were casting into prison.
You know, don't be um murderer in your mind, even
though God gave you, you know, the head of your enemies.
You know, for you to get to where you are.
You know, don't be um. Anything negative inside of your
mind got equipped you to get where you are now,

(01:12:57):
assigning for you to shake those things off and stand
as a king and champion and the representation that God
will have me to be. In order to do that,
I had to be honest about the things that I
had accumulated going up. And it was just very candid
and cool, like in the verse I say, it's just
the force of the habit. It's right in my way,
so I grab it. It's right in my way, so
I passed. It's right at the boss saw a glass.

(01:13:19):
It It's a classic attack, like an attic all of
the time. I gotta have it. It's right in my
way as I passed, you know, and I talked about
all of the temptations and all of the reasons why
I wouldn't want to go forward. But it luckily and
beautifully lands in the phrase right to the altar to
cast it on the shoulders of my Lord. And like
all things, that's where I find deliverance. And I believe
that all people can get a chance to be set free,

(01:13:40):
because you can't make any money making decisions with bad
things on your mind, especially like guilt, anxiety, haste, I fear.
Got to be clear headed. You know, it's really great
here in your the honesty and of your tone. You know.
I I'm you know, Steve Harry and I started to
a radio hip hop and R and B in Houston, Houston,

(01:14:02):
Los Angeles in two thousands and uh. We've met many
artists over the years, and and so one of the
key artists that we met early on was Anthony Hamilton.
Another storytelling another story Charlene is one of my all
time great songs, my one of my favorites absolutely, and
then move forward and my money making conversation platform. I've

(01:14:22):
come to be introduced to my man, Travis Green, and
then my boy looked crazy, you know, so to see
see see, that's that's you, my man, in the sense
that y'all coming forward music that's taking the older generation
and bringing us down, you know, bringing us down, you know,
because what happens is we got to accept the fact

(01:14:43):
we can't keep listening to old music. We can't listen
to keep listening to old jay's and it's hard not
to keep listening to Now this is what I'm saying,
is that because they won't allow them make any new music.
You know what I'm saying. Uh, you know they won't.
They won't, they won't. The industry plays it like that,
you know, they go, hey, you can't make no more
music you want. They'll tell you don't know what, I
want to listen to your music. We will keep playing

(01:15:04):
your old music. And so so when we have tality
individuals like yourself and I mentioned some earth but just
interviewers about you know that your journey is important because
it provides a support system for somebody like me to
continue to enjoy new music, continue to be emotionally attached
to something that can motivate me and get me out

(01:15:24):
of my bed. M I think about UM to communicate
to that as well. If there's somebody that's left out,
then I don't know if you did a good enough
job in the music. So there's a song on my
album called Molly. On the album Molly is called heavy
Love that really I feel resonates with all the generations,
just from the first note, the first flap to the end.

(01:15:46):
I feel, you know, from Age to Age of Gold
is another song of that name, Beautiful, and I feel
that's the same thing, and I look to do a
lot of those um you know, tell those stories. It's
a song on the transition of Molly name. You should
sit down for this, which is what came out of
me in the studio in London when I got the
phone call that I lost my father from the doctor
and it was a really cool moment and I was

(01:16:08):
just linking with Anthony Hamilton's on Grammy Weeks. I went
up to the c a a party has a difficulty
at the door, and he the one that got me in,
so you know, it's really cool that you would say that,
and to speak to the honesty coming from coming from
the church and coming from the heart of love. I
always looked forward to meeting a person that probably would

(01:16:33):
come at living for God like I'm doing now. I
guess I always look to do it, but I never
saw it. I always would see people take the responsibility
to dress God up. They would take they would think
that He would be not good, so they would put
a tie on it or or put a wash rag
on the things that I would want to see on
them to be able to identify with them, which would

(01:16:54):
give God more glory. So instead of going forward and
living a double life, they the God categorized me as
an R and B or hip hop or slash neo
gospel somebody not just gospel, just because I will not
succumb to leading mebons of people to believe that I
live with life that I do not, or or that
I'm interested in things that I am not or are

(01:17:17):
not interested in things. So it's not about that. To
God be the glory. And I trust that God is
big enough to get the glory and he doesn't need
me lying to get bold so his goodness, if it
works on me, then it can work on other people.
And his goodness, it's gonna work on my bad He's
gonna fix my my my hurt. He's gonna he's gonna

(01:17:37):
bring um, he's gonna heal my my pains, He's gonna
heal my mind. In order faim to be the same
instrumental God that he is in everyone else's life, I
need to have my own version of anxiety, my own
versions of fears, my own versions of hesitations. And once
I bring them to him, and he can not only
be a good God in my mouth, but a good
God in my life. I can have receipts from the

(01:17:59):
time for me yielding to him recently, like I just
got off my knees about this and he answered it.
That couple with wealth and success is unstoppable. Love it.
Love it. Now you are. I'm on the phone with
a man he's influenced by Sam Cook and others reading
us three time Grammy nominated Artists, Songwriting Musician. And now

(01:18:22):
let's talk about the because we kind of dipped in
a little bit. We was talking about what Dame James
Brown was doing and Sam Cook was down in Rachel
and many other artists use the CEO of your own
business or care Pass enterprises. Tell me why you started
that and what is the focus of your business. Well,
I'm really excited about care Food because it's a dream
come true for me. I was the young boy getting

(01:18:44):
in trouble at school for doodling my production company symbol
when I'm supposed to be taking spelling class notes or something.
So I always was anticipating being a house that could
deliver a specific type of content to the world. As
I was coming up, I had to recognize that I
was willing to partner and move and negotiate things, and

(01:19:07):
you know where, I would be lending portions of percentages
of myself to partners and companies in order to get
an opportunity to advance. But if you offer a good portion,
it could be very difficult to get off of that. So, um,
I never intended on being an artist, but I was
glad to open up my mouth to be able to

(01:19:29):
show my colleagues and other artists who were scared that
it could actually happen. So I just kind of was
the brave one when the more talented people were just
more afraid. So I'm like, man, if you just do this,
and I would do it and it will happen. So
that so bravery and or just confidence you know that
what you have is good is a is a big

(01:19:49):
deal as well. But artists like my sister and KP
and people who are come in contact with Christian Mason,
Angelina a re Artists like Travis Green who who would
be coming up under the two religit mentoring of what
we would be doing in Savannah, Georgia as well, John
Den mc reynolds as we would be touring in Chicago,

(01:20:12):
Tousha Cobbs who would be connected with us in the
of what we were doing. Dion Kipping who would be
connected inside of the surge of what we're doing. He
was the first person that traveled me from Savannah, Georgia
and my full band up to his surprise birthday party
in Connecticut, where I meant youthful praise and and those
guys and I just started to trickle up to Hezekaya Walker,

(01:20:33):
Donna Lawrence. My life just completely changed, you know, just
from this honesty and this walk. So I'm excited about
all of it and just really want to encourage everybody
to get to that point of openness and forwardness inside
of what they're doing. But there was only so much
that I could do because I did not earn enough
to be able to impact my own life to be

(01:20:53):
able to help anyone else. So I had to find
out where the money was going. Why was I are
you able to companies? How did I accumulate wealth? And
could I apply that to my own self? Once I
recognized that I could, I needed to attain ownership a
game of what it was that was achieving Landing was
for me clear the name you know now, I put

(01:21:16):
it inside of a house. That house as K Approved,
I will be flagshipping as Molley Music. But it's not
about me. It's proof that we can do it. And
there's a way that my colleagues and partners and artists
and creators can come that we can kind of shortcut
a lot of the roundabout ways of searching for the
right place. If it's urban, beautiful, inspired by God, spirit breathed,

(01:21:42):
and you have a plan, we can do something with it.
And that's why I built K Approved to be able
to to create another developmental area where people could be
uh recorded, put out, have an opportunity to make mistakes
in the community of people of love that loved them,

(01:22:02):
and we can create successful uh artists that do different
types of music, creators that do different types of visuals,
and photographers who shoot different types of pictures. I can't
change the culture if I can't influence it, and I
needed to influence it from my house that I owned awesome.
All I know is this my friend. You're special. I got,

(01:22:26):
like you said with Sean Gotta, I gotta do my homework.
I gotta go back to Molly Is. I gotta listen
to Beautiful, Gotta listen to Heavy Love, Gotta listen to
Walking Shoes, Gotta listen to Yalty, gotta listen to Johnny
and Donna. I gotta listen to I Believe because what
you will not do to me Molly, Mr Molly Music.
It's come on my show next time, and I can't

(01:22:46):
break down some lyrics to you during the end. If
you let you know I believe in you, and I
let you know how much I believe in you. I
said some names to you by artists that you just
threw back at me, So I know that's how I
know that it was right. Then the same flow let
go is out all the digital streams Molly music, My man,

(01:23:07):
I'm calling you my nephew, young and nephew. Whenever you
need you come on my show because it's for real.
It's for real about you. And don't you change? Don't you?
Molly is? I gotta downloaded so it canna be on
my phone? Hi everyone, I'll roker here as a guy
with his own catchphrase. I appreciate that Smokey's only said
only you can prevent wildfires, but I'm filling it because

(01:23:30):
there's a lot more to report, like when they're parched
or windy conditions out there. You gotta be extra careful
with things like burning yard waste. After all, wildfires can
start anywhere, even in your neck of the woods. Go
to Smokey Bear dot com to learn more about wildfire prevention,
brought to you by the U. S. Forest Service, your
state Forester, and the AD Council. What grows in the

(01:23:53):
forest trees, Sure you know what else grows in the forest.
Our imagination, our sense of one day, and our family
bonds grow too, because when we disconnect from this and
connect with this, we reconnect with each other. The forest
is closer than you think. Find a forest near you

(01:24:14):
and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot org brought
AD Council. Look to your children's eyes to see the
true magic of a forest. It's a storybook world for them.
You look and see a tree. They see the wrinkled
face of a wizard with arms outstretched to the sky.

(01:24:34):
They see treasure in pebbles. They see a windy path
that could lead to adventure, and they see you. They're fearless.
Guide through this fascinating world. Find a forest near you
and start exploring. I Discover the Forest dot org brought
AD Council. My next guest is from Flint, Michigan. Yes,
Sir Ree is a two time w BC super middleweight

(01:24:57):
champion and activists of philanthropists, sports analysts with Fox Sports,
and the epitome of a champion whether he is inside
or outside of a boxing ring. They also tell me
that he makes a mean sweep potato pie. Really okay,
let's hear about that. He's talking to the baking expurp
please walking to money making conversation, my man, Anthony Durrell.

(01:25:18):
How you guys doing now? How they're gona how they're
gonna put a mean sweepertato in your credit And I
don't see those sweepertato in your I can do it.
If you could do it, I got my grandma rest. Okay,
that's all you can do is just to sweepertato pie.
Can you do it? You know I can cook up.
My mama raised me to be a uh independent guy. Okay.

(01:25:40):
My mom and my grandfather. You know, I went to
little with my grandfather when I was like thirteen. I
think he took us over because my mom, you know,
we had six we had I got five brothers and
sisters and six kids for her was a lot lot.
And I understood, you know why we did that. Just

(01:26:00):
being around the ladies in my family, my grandmother, my
my mom, sisters, hunts. You know, I learned, you know,
all I gotta do is watch. If I watch, I
can learn how to cook. My uncle can cook. I mean,
I don't know a guy in my family that can't.
So I cook it all. So I went, it's almost
kind of like you know, you said, you know, you're

(01:26:20):
kind of bragging here in front of me. We're nothing
in your hands, like listen, I was, So I went
to camp one time. It was Thanksgiving time, and like
I wanted foods, so I cooked some sweet potatoes. The
only thing I didn't cook with the turkey. You know
I usually cook at turkey. I cooked the sweet potatoes,
I cooked the greens. Yeah for sure I couldn't. So,

(01:26:45):
you know, because I know a lot of people use
that can stuff that ain't what I do. What kind
of meat you put in that's just a smoked turkey.
I'm I'm a bacon guy. I mean, you know you
can do that too. You know you can do that too,
but that smoked turkey give it that smoke taste. So
my mama told me that, like you said, you she

(01:27:09):
shaped you to be an independent man. And but your
whole life is tied to being independent, being yourself, following
your voice. Tell me a little bit about who you are,
Anthony Durrell. I'm a I'm a professional fighter. You know,
that's not what I want to I want to be known.
That's just the helper, you know, somebody that goes out
there to help people, you know, especially before you is

(01:27:30):
a professional fighter. I'm a boxer. I I've been doing
this since I was nine years old, So that's really
you know what people think, I just know, but I
love boxing, boxing, what is my life? You know, that's
how you know I got to the position that I'm
in and I'm grateful for my grandfather got me in
when I was like I say, nine, and I'm just

(01:27:51):
so happy that to be in this position, I had
to fight for everything. You know, when I lost the
world tighter to when I got it back then just
lost it again. But you know, good things and how
do you deal with those highs and lows? As Because
my show Money Making Conversation tells people about overcoming the
odds that you know, you have to have a plan

(01:28:11):
when you get knocked out and to come just sit
back up or walk straight when people think you should
be you're running. You just you just have to keep
you have to believe it in your mind that you
know you can keep moving forward. A loss is just
something to get you to the next step. Everybody takes
a loss. Of the grades took a loss, absolute Mohammed
Ali took a loss. And that's not even it. If

(01:28:32):
you look at the successful business owner, they took a
loss and some time, but they still persevered and got
past that that that hurdle, that was in front of
them and then succeeded to be million or a billionaires.
I only put boxing glows on one time in middle
school when out there swinging, I did my forces for

(01:28:53):
swings and my arm just dropped to my sides. I
couldn't pull them up no more. That let me know
that this is not what I what you can do.
It's not easy. It's not easy, but but you you
make it look easy. Is that just okay? Nine years old,
you put on the gloves. How much did they weight?
They were? Uh, that's that's pretty heavy because you're swinging,

(01:29:15):
and I learned that when you miss, it takes a
lot more out of you. It definitely does, definitely does.
It's it's you know, I've been doing it for twenty
six years, so since I was nine years old. Thirty
five now, so twenty six years. It's it's a long time,
specially give use of something. You know. I can't if
I go play basketball, I can't compete with a guy

(01:29:35):
who've been doing it twenty six years. I just you know,
I'm picking. I know how to do it, but I'm
not as good as that person. So when somebody perfect
their craft, you know, it's it's tough to get them
out or it's you know, it's easier for that guy
too to keep going. Like I can go into the
ring now me not throw a punch since my last

(01:29:57):
fight and still go probably in rounds. Just knowing how
to get through the process. The technique that too, and
and you know, you gotta know how to conserve. You
gotta make that fighter on the other side think that
you're not tired or something that's coming if you come in.
You know, it's just it's just stuff. Like it's just
little things. If you do the little things, and this

(01:30:20):
is not just boxing and anything, you can get fired.
The little things matter. It's not the big things that
everybody sees. The little thing. Well, it's really interesting because
I'm talking to you and you know your you know
your strength and weaknesses, and your opponent knows your strength
and weakness, and I know somethime. Okay, good like that?
Like that now, because and you use the analogy about

(01:30:40):
business a lot too, and in your sports and about
overcoming the odds, about knowing how to market yourself, knowing
how to prepare, knowing how they and even business people
make mistakes. Nobody has a perfect business No, Apple has
not put out a product that walked off the stores.
That's why they keep coming off phones every year. Absolutely.
And so with that being said, you as an individual, uh,

(01:31:02):
you know, we all know with athleticism, is you know
the biggest champion or that you have to fight this age?
Does that? Does that work in your mind? I have
that that that's setting your mind. That are You've already
prepared to say, Hey, I'm going to do this. So
I'm planning to do this with my life when I'm
for the fifty sixty or whatever. So my plan when

(01:31:22):
I when professional to retire at thirty five, I'm thirty five.
Now I lost my I lost my last fight. But
me being the competitor that I am, I can't go
out on the loss and I have to I want
another fight. If the championship fight comes this year, it comes,

(01:31:44):
but after this year, I'm done. And I already have
my mind made up of what I wanna do. I
want to I want to start multiple business, not just one.
And I want to push other people and motivate other
people to do the same. You know, when they retire,
like in athletics, in any sport, I think it should

(01:32:07):
be mandatory that you take a class on how to
manage your money because because there there there's no help
like you give these kids. And I when I say kids,
it's kids. It's nineteen and twenty year olds, millions and
millions of dollars. They only can do one thing, but
that's spending because they didn't go to school or don't

(01:32:29):
have nobody with them to show them the correct way
to go. If I can take if I can go
back to my beginning of my career right now, I
would invest in so much more than I am now
that I wouldn't even need I wouldn't need to do
nothing else for the rest of my life. And we
have to admit we all and I was in I

(01:32:51):
was a mortal, you know, and that I forty seemed
so far away, you know, It's like it's not ridiculous
how far away forty was that that number wouldn't even
exist here, you know. So so we play on the
on time because we see time as okay, I have
end this time. We're thinking you're gonna do something forever
and you're not right, and that's what that's what you've done.

(01:33:13):
You're gonna get that next And with the athletes like
you live like, oh, I got a meant to come back,
but if you get hurt, that's gone. So you gotta
have something to fall back on. And me being like
you said, us being nineteen and twenty years so we
didn't think of that then we thought we can get hurt,
Oh we'll just come back. No, it's gonna you gotta

(01:33:35):
put some money aside or rainy day. Yes, then that
that's that's something that everybody can relate to who made
a mistake or realize I should save that monem because
it's as successful. That's I am. I would, man, I
show I just started saving like that guy told me
when I was twenty four, because he told me, he said, hey, hey,

(01:33:56):
just fifty dollars every pai per and I kept saying
fifty dollars, man, you know what I could do? I
ain't got time for that. And if I don't just
listen to him, that fifty dollars may have been a
maybe an ib im stocked twenty times triple and guess
what we would need to be talking right now. And
I believe it. I believe, But that's where I think.
You know, when you grow up, you learn so much

(01:34:19):
more because you look back on the things that you
did and reflect like if I would have did this,
now I can do it, and I'm gonna go do
it now, or give it to my kids or another
kid that's coming up in the game, or just want
to do the same thing that I'm doing. You know,
you can teach them, you know, the correct way, if
they listen or not, you can just put it in
their ear. Well. You know the thing about it. One

(01:34:41):
of the reason I wanted to bring us just like
the third we kind of missed you came to town
and because of the fact that you had setbacks in
the early age and so and that's why I always
tell people, you know, you don't know what your future.
Even as a young person, you might seem like, hey,
endless opportunities, but every every day you should feel an

(01:35:01):
understand it's a blessing. Now I'm a cancer survivor. You know,
I was diagnosed that I had cancer in my fifties
and it was it was it was it was a
major when they told me I had cancers, Like you know,
it was. I'll tell people when somebody tell you have cancer,
you you you don't understand what that word does to you.
You know, you can walk around read about the newspaper.

(01:35:23):
You can read about the statistics and people are surviving.
But when they tell you you have it, that's a
different conversation because you start thinking immediately death. You meediate,
I don't. I don't care what the stats are out
there all you because for some reason, that's all you
think about. Oh my god, it's all my loved ones.

(01:35:43):
I want to live a long time. How did you
react to it, Anthony? So when I had it, I
was it was two thousand six, so I think I
was twenty one. Uh. I didn't really know much about it,
honestly true. And when I started reading up on it,
that's when my I started getting down and down and down,

(01:36:06):
because like you say, when you think of cancer, you
think of death. I mean that's only that's true. Yeah,
and that's true. And when I went to the doctor,
he said that it was a nine percent curable rate.
Kind of brought me up, but that medicine still brought
me down. Uh. It was. It was tough cancer. It's

(01:36:29):
no joke, you know. I was talking to this. I've
seen the kids smoking. Uh couldn't have been. I don't
even think there was eighteen and I said, why you
smoking because I know what cancer, I know what I
know what chemo feels like. And they said it doesn't matter,
I'm gonna die. I was like, yeah, but that's not
that's not it like when the chemo is just it's

(01:36:52):
like it's just worse and death to me. And I
don't even know what death feels like, but it just
seemed like it's worse. It just had me just down
the time. His body wasn't feeling right. It just had
me going through things that that was a challenge. Then
you recover correct and then motorcycle without the twilt. So

(01:37:14):
at you the point in your life on what that
what's going on here? You know what, when I did
get into the motorcycle accident, the first thing I thought
about was just me living or walking again, just to
play with my kids. Uh, that was the first thing.
But when I knew that it will be okay, like
I will recover fully it Uh you know what was damage?

(01:37:40):
So I broke my leg So this finger was here,
this one was here. I mean you can still see it.
So your finger moving it cut on your left hand, Yep,
it could from this thing. You know, my index fingers
where my thumb was my thumb is where my risk

(01:38:00):
so and they didn't even know at the time. Oh no,
they knew about my hand. They didn't know about my
leg my leg. I had my bones. They got my
leg and they didn't they say there's anything else. So
I said, yeah, my leg is broke. They cut my
pants and I went into I think I was in
surgery four hours maybe, so they got a ride and
my leg is still in with your hand and my

(01:38:24):
leg is broken. So you just dealing with the pain
at that time. Yeah, I said, y'all gotta give me something,
and then they hit me with the more. I just
went into heaven like I could, and I was literally
like when they say your life flashed before your eyes
before death. Honestly, my life literally I've seen everything, Like

(01:38:47):
this is no joke, but right before I hit that car,
I've seen everything. Just I mean, it was like a
split second, but everything. You can see it clearly. Everything.
And then I hit the car. But I got up.
I never blanked out. I got up, but I fell
back down and my leg was broke. I got back
up again because I didn't know what was wrong, and
I fell back down. They said stay down, your leg, bro,

(01:39:08):
But my leg was twisted in the back, so my
my front, my foot was in the backwards and I
had to flick it back or whatnot. But yeah, it
was It was bad. But I think everything happens for
a reason. You know, was I supposed to get that?
Should I have been on the motorcycle? Don't know? But
I was. You know, everything happens for a reason. I

(01:39:29):
think it just makes you a better person, you know it.
It makes your story better or your story strong. And
and if I could take something back that in my
life that happened, I will take I would change nothing,
because everything happens for a reason. It molded me into

(01:39:49):
who I know. Because when I hear you talk and
I'm talking to two times world middleweight champion, super middleweight, super,
they just put world. I was super. I put super
right there, super middle super middleweight champion, Anthony Durill. You
know I talked about, you know, my lung collapse, you know,
stay in hospital thirty days. I'll talk about you know,

(01:40:12):
I'm telling tires I probably shouldn't have been driving a car.
And I woke up and I'm going I'm five miles
down the road. Don't remember the five miles and I
did and I don't even drink, just doing stuff, pushing
myself physically where I shouldn't have not have pushed myself.
And so so that's those are the stories I have
to tell people that, Okay, what I did was stupid

(01:40:34):
and I'm alive to tell you it was stupid. So
that's my role that I played. So when I listened
to I'm asking you to tell your story because of
the fact that as we as young people who listened
to my show, we put a time long lying on
I wait, I do that later, and you really don't
know what later is or what later can bring you.
So when people talk about saving money, people talk about

(01:40:56):
get that education, people talk about living your life, pursuing
opportunities to be given to you and not realizing that
blessing because you think you can wait. Your experience is
being chronicle right now for us on this show says
do it now, right, You have to live every day
in that moment. I don't think because tomorrow is not promising.
You know. We see that from Kobe Bryant and and

(01:41:19):
and rest in peace to her and Condos. This goes
out to his family, but we see that in that,
but you have to live for the day. You can't
live for tomorrow. You can't live for the week. You
have to live for the day. And and that's the
big thing. That's the thing I don't think you know,
younger people uh understand about about life. It's life. You

(01:41:42):
have to you have to live it in I think
you live it. You know how you want to live it.
You know you you you you do things that you
want to do. If you don't explore this world or
get out and get out your comfort zone, sometime it
would be I mean, it's just be. It would be that.
I know some people you know, from my city, Flint, Michigan,

(01:42:02):
who haven't left Flint. We want to talk about that
in the next break, because that's really why we have
you on the show, because I wanted to be a
part of that. You know, I got a lot too
many people surrounded me from Flint, you know, Mama Soul,
that's my girl out there, you know, And so just
let you know how deep I go up there. Okay, Uh,
now you said your titler is really uh two times
super World mill super middleweight champion Anthony Durrell. We're right back.

(01:42:27):
He's flisted missing and ball. We will come back and
we'll talk about some causes. He's a you know, he
got his own day up there and everything every year
come around. He got this day in the ram day.
Everybody know him up there. He's a bad man. He's
a bad man. Be right back with more money Make conversations.
We'll be right back more from mar McDonald The Money

(01:42:48):
Making Conversations don't touch that dog. Money Making Conversations continues
online at www. Die money Making Conversations dot com and
follow Money Making Conversations on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Ladies
and gentlemen, it's time you stop thinking about your dreams

(01:43:09):
and with some plans into action. I just re Shan mcgonald.
I'm sitting next to two times super middleweight champion Anthony
Durrell out of flat Michigan. You still stay in flat
Grand blank on the oscar. I still stay in Michigan. Okay.
I don't think I'll move when it when something feels right,
you don't want to change to your whether. So I
lived in Chicago five years. So I got closed and

(01:43:29):
I got clothes I can't wear nowhere else but in Chicago,
because you know it hits some snow yesterday before. But
I was ready. I was ready. I got from ready,
come up and they got with your brother, and you
might be a lot more colder than that, being it's
all right, But so why do you stay up there?

(01:43:51):
Why is Michigan part of your just part of your
your lifestock because you have the money and the success
to live anywhere while you're why are you staying in Michigan?
Just it feels right. You know, when something feels right,
you you kind of stay put. But I can go anywhere.
You know, I can vacation any Uh. When it starts
feeling wrong, that's when you know I'll have to pack

(01:44:12):
my things and move. But until then, you know, I'm
a I'm I'm from Flint, you know that's I'm from Michigan.
So that's where you know I'll be for I think
the remainder of my life. Like I said, I can go,
I can travel anywhere, and I think just other places,
just vacations. You know, home is home. No matter where
you're at, You're always going to think of where you

(01:44:34):
was born and where you grew up. It's it's home.
Nothing can beat beat home. You this um oh boxing
you have you know you have UFC out there now,
you know, and then you have a wrastling is always
out there because in the end, boxing, like any football
about it's entertainment. Yeah, it's entertainment. It's entertainment. So so

(01:44:54):
do you consider yourself an ambassador a boxing as you
as you as your career transition because you're doing Fox
Fox Sports. You know, what story are you trying to
tell about why boxing is not only a good sport
for young people to get involved in, but also why
it should be a highly rated entertainment sports. I think

(01:45:17):
you know when you got two competitors in their boxing
risking their life to entertain millions. Uh. And for me,
it's a it's adrenaline rush, It's it's something that I
love to do. I've been doing it, like I said,
since I was nine. And uh, it's just and plus

(01:45:39):
your family member. Yeah, I mean my grandfather, boxer Muhammad Ali.
You know he was friends with them. Uh that's where
we got into boxing and my grandfather so for us
to do it, and it's to make him proud. He
loves seeing us when he loves seeing us happy. If
if I can just make him happy, I give all

(01:45:59):
this to him because without him there will be no
You gotta have the talent, though you do, but he
got that talent out of us. And if you don't
have somebody pushing you and getting it out of you,
it just I don't see it work. You gotta have
a backbone, and you got that backbone, everything will float, right.
I mean he told he told me and my brother
at a young age when we kind of first started,

(01:46:21):
that will become world champions. And I'm a two time
world champions, so what he said was true. It's really
I always tell people we got to have the relationships
that breathe positivity, you know, not negativity, because you know
there are people out there you can tell them say
you go up you ten years old, eleven years old
and say hey I want to be or excuse makers. Yes,

(01:46:42):
I called him. I could complain the club, you know,
because when you come up with excuses all the time
and you're not trying to look for solutions, you will
never make it. It was just like Patrick Mahomes. He
wrote that little note saying, Hey, I wish I could
say that I was I went to Digneityland. You know
what I'm saying the world when he was with sixteen, Yes, yeah,
you know, and so that's why I always tell people that.
And I like the thing that really stands out to me,

(01:47:05):
you're so positive and I and I'm a positive person,
but I know crisis has been in your life. When
you're going the ring, that's a crisis situation. And I
know people who you know, I don't like. I I know,
I knew one person who it's paralyzed, probably for fifty
dollars just because he was in the boxing ring. But
multiple people died, like I think it was six or

(01:47:27):
seven people died in their boxing last year. So it's tough,
you know. And this is my first time witness not witnessing,
but knowing that people died in the ring. You know,
since I've been boxed, I've never heard of it. And
I you know, when I think I'm thinking, like what
went wrong? What happened? They yeah, Like I I really

(01:47:49):
don't understand because everybody is doing the same thing. Or
maybe they're just getting hit more. I don't know. But
boxing is something that you have to, uh really pay
attention to your corner. You have to have a good
team around trust. Yes, you have to. Like my so
my last fight, I was cut big over my eye.

(01:48:12):
I couldn't see blood out of my eye, and I
got one of them and my basketball, and the guy
was kind of getting off because I couldn't see. I
was worried about the cutting, said to worry about him.
D hurt me some. No, but my corner knew that
I was at a disadvantage anyway because of my cut
and I couldn't see, so he stopped the fighting. Not
it was I mad. I know, I would never be

(01:48:33):
mad at that looking now for me, you know, when
people don't know about that cut, because I, like I said,
I got I hear the guy's head when I was
playing basketball, and it's nothing but bone here. So when
you cut his skin, a very thin layer of skin
hidden bone. As soon as that bad ball opens up,
it's just yeah, it's just blood everywhere. And so like
I said, it's uh, you have to trust, like you say,

(01:48:55):
and I say, you have to trust in your team.
If you can't trust in your team, I think you
probably need to find a new team because that that's
where all the foundation comes in. That because they're on
the outside looking in, and you can kind of see
more from the outside than you can you know, when
you're in there. Let's talk about Flint. You know, a
few years ago a lot of controversy about the drinking water.

(01:49:19):
Um as an individual who cares because you can't save everybody.
Let's talk about the initial announcement, then the travesty that
was that was information that was made available to everybody,
and then what you're attempting to do now, it's just
the announcement. You know, we had lead in the water.

(01:49:39):
That was a travesty and own for us, for the
governor of Michigan to change the water from like it
was a Detroit water to Flint River water. And I
think that was bad because if you look at the
Flint River water, it's it's bad. And I know they've
got chemicals and stuff to change it. But when have

(01:50:00):
lead pipes, and that's I think anywhere in any city
and you put some type of chemical in it, it
starts to rust and start to you know, get lead
in it, and not only lead, but changing the color
of the water, right, And we had that in ours.
So we had to change. And he still thought it
was okay to drink, but it wasn't. So we're going

(01:50:20):
through that and still going through it to to this day,
to the day So it's been had going on since
April fourteen, two thousand fourteen. So that's a long time
to not have clean drinking water in a city. Uh
in America? Still, okay, help me. So you're saying the
situation is though, so they not too long ago. I

(01:50:43):
think I was in camp for my last fight. They
sold the people to boil the water again. But they
what they don't understand is boiling water will not make
leg go away. Lead don't go away. You can't even
really get a filter to filter off the legs still
going to be there. You need to change the pipes.
And and this is what I understand. Why wouldn't they

(01:51:05):
give volunteers to come in and fix the pipes. I mean,
I know it's all around you as volunteers would come
in and fix these pipes without like if you put
one word out there. And that's why I don't get
about the president either to uh both of Well, it
was when they came and had the the debate in Flint,

(01:51:28):
they said they will do this and do that for Flint,
and nothing still is done. So I think that's where
and what is the governor saying? I don't even watch politicism.
I'm so sick of them, honestly am because I don't
think you can trust them, Like they give you one
thing and and they do another, and that's all the time.

(01:51:51):
I don't uh, I don't agree with the way they
get into office. They feed you this fairy tale and
once they get in office, it's just flatlines. Well you
know that. Here's the thing. I understand the frustration, But
you are an influencer. Try to be no, no, no,
you are an influence. That's why we're talking because I'm

(01:52:13):
trying to see how I can get into your head.
That's let you remind you of your power. If you
just posted videos of people still poem ward out of
these sinks and it's brown and talking about this this
conversation of why you can't bawl away lead. You know
that people think you can do that, you know, but
that information that's where the power of social media comes

(01:52:34):
into play. Anthony, and I have to remind you that
there's no pressure on you, just letting you know that
I don't care about President Trump or him not going
and him not saying. But they can be reminded. They
can go viral, it can you can you can always
tell people social media is your individual press conference. And
so here I am Russia mcdonaldown in Atlanta. George just

(01:52:55):
also live in Houston, Texas. Thinking you guys are good
and you're telling me, Richard, excuse me, excuse me, still
not good. Problems is up there. So so what are
you trying to do? Do you have any causes or
any foundations set up? And I do have a foundation.
I have a Derails Trance Foundation. It's my foundation is
help to find a cure for cancer. That's one of them.

(01:53:16):
I mean, with all the people up there with cancer
and Flint, they still can't drink the water, and then
their immune system are is so low that if they
drink the water, they'll be sick for sure. So my
foundation help find a cure for cancer, helpe boys and
girls their education enter and out of city, and help
stop bullying. But my foundation is helping that too. I'm

(01:53:39):
trying to open the boys and Girls club. You know,
it's in the in the heart of where the water
crisis happen, that's on the north side of Flint. And
the donation pages up, you know people want to donate,
but just trying to put some positive there and you know,
give the kids something to look forward to, because if

(01:53:59):
if they have nothing, it's nothing to look for, it's
nothing to smile about. But I'm trying to give everybody
in the community something to smile about. And once I
do it, maybe it's like a domino effect. What everybody
else does, it does it, and it goes from there.
It takes off from there. Do you do you're doing
the galas you's in the events in the Flint area
or the Michigan area to raise money, or it's just

(01:54:21):
making people aware. You have these donations pages, making people
aware of your causes using some of your money. I'm
sure to move forward. These are these actions that I'm doing.
I'm doing that. I'm in the process of doing everything.
I want to do a golf auting to okay, knocking
the mint in golf. That's like I said, I want

(01:54:43):
to do a golf audience to raise money for that
uh and for my foundation to like help people with that,
with the situation that's going on in I want to
do more events. I I give away turkeys when it's
UH Thanksgiving. I giveaway gifts on Christmas, you know, on
every Hoiday. I try to give people something to smile

(01:55:04):
about because That's that's what it's about. You know, it's
about making people happy. If you can't make anyone happy,
it's it's like I'm doing nothing and I see everything,
so I'm I'm just out here just trying to make it.
Here's a beautiful thing about this conversation. You have a family,
talk about your family, and you out there taking care
of kids you don't even know. Talking about your families
you don't even know they are important you as much

(01:55:26):
as your family and how your family inspires you. I'm
talking about your media family, wife, talk us about how
they relate to actually push you to even further correct
the wrongs that these young people are our families are facing. Yep.
So I have ye, I have a wife, three boys.
They're gonna know they they won't, they won't, they want

(01:55:47):
and I told them that. One of them got mad
at me. But I just I just think you know
that and I understand that. But we risk our life
in the ring for little of money. You know, it's
only a few that get you know, I get paid.
So in that case, you know, it's basketball players making more.

(01:56:11):
They dribble the ball and they're making hundreds of millions. Yeah,
Tennis I mean even golf, you know, but uh, I
really don't want them doing like I say, the three boards.
They can do anything, they can't do football. Football is no, no,
no questions. Ye concussion because of the CT. I I
try to brush up on my you know, whatever they

(01:56:32):
want to do. No, I I get down and see
it's you know, it's safe. But my wife helps me
out tremendously. She she's a teacher, she teaches at a college.
She's uh, she liked teaching, helping kids to also. So
it's just me surrounding yourself around good people. And like
I said, he goes the backbone thing. The foundation, you know,

(01:56:55):
it's it's a wonderful thing. And if you can you
can have that stern foundation, you can make it well.
You know. Um, I know we're wrapping up this interview,
but if you I love to go out lunch and
talk to you about just some ideas. That's us an
influencer and I could help because I'm sadden that the Flint,
Michigan situation, it's not even according to you, it's not

(01:57:15):
even close to being It's like, I'm not gonna say
close because there's still trying. But I don't I still
I don't even see nobody out there now, like even
fixing pipes. But you know they're not gonna be out
there in the wintertime. So but like I say, it's
it's like we're a third world country, Uh, not having
drinkable water. You can't you can't do anything with the water.

(01:57:38):
But let it run right. We'll give out your foundation again,
give out your social media information, and again thank you
for coming on my show. Anthony Durrell, two times Super
Time Super Middle eight champion. There you go, Flip Michigan.
Give out your information. It's a Durrell trans Foundation. Uh.
And my website is Athony Durrell dot com. My social

(01:58:00):
media is Athony Durille on every platform. Okay, cool, I'm
gonna donate a thousand dollars to your founding appreciated. Good,
thank you, Okay cool. Just for Sean McDonald, we want
to hear more episodes. Go to Money Making Conversation dot com.
I'm your host in this season of giving Coals has
gifts for all your loved ones. For those who like

(01:58:22):
to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware, blankets and throws.
Or support minority owned or founded brands by giving gifts
from Human Nation and Shame Moisture, and in the spirit
of giving, Coals Cares is donating eight million dollars to
local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your heart this season
with great gifts from Coals or coals dot Com. Still

(01:58:44):
living in manually taking notes, there is a better way
to start the new year with auto dot ai automatically
get meeting notes. Auto dot ai works for virtual meetings
like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Sign up on
the web for free or download in the app stores
auto dot ai. That's O T T E r Aire.
You coming to bed hunt? Yep, honey, I'll be right there.

(01:59:04):
Just gotta turn out the light. Oh oh, some thing's
never change, like your kids always leaving tiny toys on
the floor for you to step on and Gango saving
folks lots of money on their car insurance. Sweetie, I

(01:59:24):
think I left the downstairs light on. Please don't make
me go. Fifteen minutes could save you or more.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Host

Rushion McDonald

Popular Podcasts

United States of Kennedy

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}E453: Chef JJ, James Lopez, Mali Music & Anthony Dirrell