June 25, 2024 • 19 mins
In this episode, Charlamagne Tha God joins Operation HOPE's Chairman and CEO John Hope Bryant to explore 'The Power of Vulnerability'.
They debunk the myth that vulnerability is a weakness, discussing its role in building trust and resilience in personal and professional relationships.
The episode provides practical tips for embracing vulnerability to enhance emotional connection and personal growth.
Follow us: @hopeglobalforum and www.hopeglobalforums.org
They debunk the myth that vulnerability is a weakness, discussing its role in building trust and resilience in personal and professional relationships.
The episode provides practical tips for embracing vulnerability to enhance emotional connection and personal growth.
Follow us: @hopeglobalforum and www.hopeglobalforums.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to Hope Global Forms, thedialogue where we bring exclusive conversations with extraordinary
leaders directly to you. I'm yourHope Essen Scant and you can find me
on Instagram at the Essence of Underscore. This podcast is powered by Hope Global
Forms, an initiative of Operation HopeDesigns to inspire, educate and empower.
(00:21):
You visit us at Hope Globalforms dotorg and follow us on social at Hope
Global Form. In today's episode,we have Charlottmagne, the Guide on the
power of Vulnerability. Weren't you unpacka little bit about this podcast network that
is, I think the largest podcastnetwork for blacks in the country. What's
(00:46):
that about in the world, inthe world absolutely? And why did you
decide to do that? What isyour mission? That's a broad question.
I mean for me, you know, I think at this point in my
life, my mission is just tobe of service, because you know,
I read something a long time agofrom doctor Wayne W. Dye and he
said, your true mission in life, your true purpose in life is service
(01:08):
to others. And so I feellike, you know, anything I create
at this point in my life,as far as you know, business is
concerned, if it only benefits meeting, it's not big enough. And so
when I thought about the Black EffectPodcast Network, I always thought about Malcolm
X. When Malcolm X says,you know, a person who controls the
media controls the minds of the masses. And we always have these conversations,
(01:29):
especially in the Black community, aboutyou know, narratives and what narratives about
us are getting out there. Andwe all know black people aren't monolithic in
any way, shape or form.But if you can create a platform where
you have you know, twenty eightdistinct different voices on it, which the
Black Effect does because we have twentyeight podcasts, you know, under our
(01:49):
network. You may not be ableto get a full grasp of what you
know Black America is, but youcan get you can get damn close with
twenty eight you know, different voices. So we have everything from you know,
comedy to sports, to mental healthand mindfulness to you know, politics
to social justice. And yeah,I just hope that you know, we're
(02:13):
creating something that you know, peoplecan can learn from on a daily basis.
I hope you know, everybody inthis room has a favorite podcast from
the Black Effect you know podcast network, and we probably do whether it's the
eighty five South Show, or youknow all the smoke or carefully reckless or
deeply well with Debbie Brown checking inwith Michelle Williams. I feel like we
have you know something for everybody.And like I said, you know,
(02:34):
you can never go to anyone placeand get the full scope of what you
know Black America is discussing. Butif you come to the Black Effect,
you can get damn close. Solet's get damn close. Let's get close
to your heart, your soul,your spirit, what you're about? What,
where? Where does all this comefrom? We talked backstage about how
(02:57):
there's good capitalism and bad capitalism,and bad capitalism is where is where I
benefit but everybody else pays a pricefor it. Good capitalism is where I
benefit and everybody else benefits more.It seems to me that what you're trying
to do with all of your enterprises, and this is what I try to
highlight with folks that I believe in, is you're trying to practice good capitalism,
(03:19):
doing well and doing good at thesame time. And then you've got
your philanthropist that you're giving back.You're also creating jobs. Yeah, bringing
people like Dolly who is running theBlack Effect networks. A sister who's absolutely
brilliant, who you've empowered to lead, absolutely absolutely knows the black woman doing
(03:39):
it, who you've empowered to havereal equity in leadership, and you defer
to her rightly. So, oh, she's the reason that the whole Black
Effect is successful. I don't donothing. I just can't. I just
come up with the idea and say, hey, this is what I want
to do, this is what Ithink it looks like. But you know,
you got to have some that can, you know, take that clay
(04:00):
and give it shape. And she'sthe reason that the Black Effect has had
the success over the last you know, three years that has had is absolutely
because the Dolly Bishops. She's inthere somewhere, sloth to Dolly. Yeah,
Dolly stands out stand out. Dolly. Hey. So if you if
you think you have a podcast idea, you think you have a pot,
(04:24):
don't go to her. Don't butno, no, go to her with
your idea. So, uh,what makes you tick? Where does this
come from? Why the connection tomental health? Was there something in your
background? We know the promise,we know the intellect, but the fact
you could be and I sort ofset you up with this a little earlier,
saying it's just about it singing anddancing and having for clearly is not.
(04:46):
I mean you you It's really likeI always like to see you like
a translator. On the one hand, you've got the posts of black America,
and i'd argue America. You juston TV last week doing hosting the
Daily Show. You got your postson the creative side of us. But
you also shift from the right braincreative to the left brain and be completely
(05:08):
intellectual. Where do these two veinscome from? And how does that tie
into things like mental health? Mentalwhat's in your background that informs your hope
and your deep concerns at the sametime. Well, for me, the
reason I became, you know,a quote unquote mental health advocate, it
was because I started going on myown journey, you know, because I'm
(05:30):
in dealing with anxiety and depression likemy literally my whole life. And you
know, I first got clinically diagnosedwith anxiety in twenty ten. Now this
is after I had gotten fired,you know, for the fourth time from
radio, and I'm back at homeliving with my mom. I think I
was like thirty one, thirty twoyears old. My daughter's like two years
old at the time, my nowwife, she was just my girlfriend at
the time. She had to moveback home with her parents in Monk's Corner.
(05:54):
And I remember just having like oneof the most intense panic attacks I
ever had in my life, likeone of those ones where you know,
your palms are sweating and your heartis beating crazy, like you really think
it's over, You're about to havea heart attack. And I remember,
you know, going you know,to the doctor, and the doctor told
me the same thing that so manydoctors had told me throughout my life.
All you got to your heart isfine, you got an athlete's heart.
(06:15):
But he was the first person thatsaid to me, it sounds like what
you're describing to me as is ananxiety attack. Do you have anxiety?
And I was like, no,what is that? And then he explained
it to me, and he waslike, well, are you stretched out
about something? And I'm like,hell, yeah, you know. And
so in my mind I'm like,okay, well, all I got to
do is get another job, getanother gig, you know, and then
everything will be fine. And thenext gig I got was the Breakfast Club.
(06:38):
But then you know, five orsix years later, I've got more
money than I've ever had in mylife, more success than I've ever had
in my life, but then moreproblem, more problems. None of that
stuff has went away. The anxietyis still there, the bounce of depression
and everything is still there. Andso I just decided to start going to
therapy for it. And you know, and with me going to therapy,
I get on the radio and I'mjust talking about going to therapy every day
(07:00):
at three o'clock, and I'm talkingabout the things that I'm learning in therapy,
and you know, people started comingto me and having conversations with me
about the same things that I wasdiscussing, the anxiety, the depression.
And then people were coming to mesaying, oh, my brother started going
to therapy because of you, myhusband started going to therapy because of you.
And I realized that it was justsomething that was becoming bigger than me.
(07:23):
And it was a few situations thatreally made me dig deep into it.
I remember it was Thanksgiving of twentyeighteen, and I was home in
Monkst Corner, South Carolina, andmy cousin, who was twenty five,
he had just completed you know,suicide. And he had attempted suicide like
four different times, but you know, this time he completed it. And
he used to do like a lotof odd jobs with my father because my
(07:45):
father does construction, so he wouldgo out and work with him. And
my dad called me and my dadwas like, yoall, I just read
your book. You know, mysecond book Shook on Anxiety, playing tricks
on me. H. I talkedabout a lot of this, and he
was like, you know, Iwas reading your book and then you know,
you know, you know, cousinjust completed suicide. And then he
told me my dad. My dadwas like, yo, I've been on
ten to twelve different medications throughout mylife, and I was going to therapy,
(08:07):
you know, two and three timesa week, and I tried to
kill myself, you know, thirtyyears ago. And I remember going to
my mom and say, Mom,you know, possles going through all of
this, and she was like,I thought he was just playing crazy to
get a check, you know,But I thought about it. I'm like,
man, if he would have toldme those things twenty years prior,
I would have known whenever I washaving those panic attacks and those anxiety attacks,
(08:28):
what I was, you know,dealing with with no stigma, and
then it was that. And thenI had a good friend of mine she
completed suicide, you know, duringthe pandemic. Her name was Jasmine Waters.
And then I had another homeboy friendof the country named Shakhu who committed
suicide. And then also another situationtoo. It was when you know,
the late great Nipsey Hustle got tragicallytaken away from us. And I remember
(08:52):
watching that video because I didn't knowwhat it was. Somebody sent it to
me and I clicked on it andI'm looking at it, and I remember
after watching that guy, you know, gun Nipsey down, he kicked them,
and I remember feeling complete empathy forhim because I said to myself that
(09:13):
man must be in such pain thathe committed such a heinous act against Nipsey
and then felt like he had tokick him afterwards. And you know,
it just made me realize, man, that so many of us are dealing
with with with this hurt and thispain, and we're not talking to anybody
about it. And I just wantedto just dedicate my life to it.
And when I started getting you know, invited to speak on panels about it,
(09:35):
I remember I got introduced as amental health advocate one time and I'm
like, yo, I'm not nomental health advocate. And I remember,
you know Tracy j. You knowshe helps run the Boris Lawn Tension Foundation
with Trogi be Hinston. She said, brother, yes, you are,
whether you want to be or not. You know. So it's just something
that I decided to make my life'swork rainbows after storms, and i'd have
(09:56):
a rainbow out of storm. First, tell you something my first I think
my second book was Love Leadership,and I said in that book that courage
is nothing more than your faith,reaching through your fear, displaying yourself as
action in your life. And whatyou just witnessed on this stage was it
one of the most amazing, vulnerable, transparent examples of courageous leadership I have
(10:24):
ever seen from a public official,a public figure, a celebrity, or
anybody. Love leadership. Vulnerability ispower. Vulnerability is not a weakness.
It's strength, but very few ofIt's a tough enough to be solved.
Give Charlemagne some love, man,John can make you feel good. Boy,
(10:48):
John be up here talking, I'llbe like, who the hell is
he talking about? That's me,you're a bad brother man. Post pandemic
fifty work million just prescriptions for antidepressantsin America. And that doesn't talk.
That doesn't include those who are doingalternative means to other things alcohol. And
(11:18):
you know I was confused. Yeah, uh so, I mean I think
I think the majority of people areclinically undiagnosed, deppressed and don't want to
admit it. And here's the thing. If I don't like me, I'm
not gonna like you. If Idon't feel good about me, I'm not
gonna feel good about you. IfI don't respect me, don't expect me
(11:41):
to respect you. If I don'tlove me, I don't have a clue
how to love you. And ifI don't have a purpose my life,
I'm making your life a living hell. Because whatever goes around comes around and
hurt people. Hurt people. Sowe have got to heal. There is
no other way. And what youjust describe, you saved somebody's life tonight
because you made it. Okay,we have got to remove the stigma.
(12:05):
That's right. There is no perfectit's just the best you can do and
the only way to eradicate the stigmasfor all of us to tell our stories.
That's right, you know, andthat's why I am big on healing.
You know. It's so funny causewhen I was seventeen years old,
I got a tattoo of Wolverine fromthe X Men on my arm. Tattoo
is terrible, by the way,but the reason I used to I gravitated
(12:26):
towards Wolverine because one of his hispower was actually uh uh, the heal,
Like he could heal from any physicalailment that impacted him quickly. And
I always felt like, you know, that's the power that I wanted.
And then that I was seventeen yearsold at the time and I got Wolverine
holding a microphone in his hand,and it represents cause I wanted to rap
too. But that's a whole otherstory. But now when I think about
(12:48):
it, I'm like, Damn,Wolverine has a microphone in his hand.
Microphones are what changed my life.And you know what I would helped me
gravitate towards Wolverine was his ability toheal. And that's what I'm assisting people
in doing for the rest of mylife, you know, telling them where
they can go to find resources toheal. Three ways to live. That's
right. Three ways live, suicide, coping, and healing. There are
(13:13):
people walking around dead. There's alook, we're not human beings having a
spiritual experience. The spiritual beings havinga human experience. You can have the
most dangerous personal world a person withno hope. There are people walking around
(13:35):
blink. They're dead, they're justand they will take you out because they
don't care about their life. Wegotta save them to save us. Then
you got the coping. We justtalked about that. But what you're now
talking about is the most important thing. Love is work healing. We gotta
deal with our mess before it deals. That's right with us. If you
(13:56):
don't do what you're trauma or traumagonna deal with you. So you you've
already you've already dropped the micas you'vesaved so many souls just by just by
sharing. You're not just your promisebut your pains all it's all the same
journey, right. I mean Italk to myself every day and the glass
is half full or is half thewater on your table? It's either half
(14:18):
full or half empty. The pinswas looking at the glass. If somebody
says that glasses half empty, walkbounce. That's a negative person. Whether
you believe you can or you believeyou can't, you're right. So the
case for optimism is what's the choice, Because again, I can't guarantee you
(14:39):
that being positives that will make youa success, but I guarantee you being
negative will make you fail. Youhave decided to be positive and make it
a business case. And you've donethat from what I can see through all
your enterprises. About how many companiesor enterprises do you not run? Uh?
Six? I believe most peop wouldn'tknow that. At Black Effect Podcast
(15:01):
Network SBAH Productions, me and KevinHart. That's our production company with Audible
Black Privileged Publishing with Simon and Schuster. Damn, I'm forgetting some real estate.
Yeah, of course real estate.Oh, me and my wife.
We bought six Crystals franchises that wereopening in South Carolina. Uh. Next
(15:22):
year. I have a dispensary andconsumption lounge in New New Jersey that we're
opening, uh at the top ofnext year. I don't know. I'm
just happy to be here. Godis good man all that's yeah. Yeah,
I don't know, And let's let'slet's end with with this and we
never talked about this. What isthis connection for you? I know what
(15:46):
it is for me. You're mybrother, and we we operated a high
frequency in conversation. We also havesome fun conversation, have some interesting text
back and forth. People would notnecessarily suspect what we're talking about. But
what is it for you? BishopJakes, by the way, who's here.
We'll want to thank him for bringingus absolutely together. Right, he's
here, But what is this connectionfor you? And why did you want
(16:07):
me associated with your Black effect network? Well, I'm an energy person,
you know, and we met atBishop Tdjake's birthday party and it's just like,
you know, you can have alot of conversations with people and it
sounds good, you know, butit was just something about you that was
just very very very authentic, andyou invited me to come here, you
know, last year, and soI came honestly to see if you were
(16:30):
who you say you were, eventhough you know, but you know,
it was that, you know,the fact that you always have something very
positive to say, the fact thatyou have a black wife, you know,
because a lot of people, yeah, a lot of people in your
position don't damn sorry, but itwas by the way, that had nothing
(16:55):
to do with white people. No, no, no, that was about
I understand, we understand what hemeant. Yeah, And I don't know,
man, it's just like like Isaid, I'm just an energy person.
Sometimes you and an individual just click. And I love the way that
you're of service to people. Ilove the way that you pour into people
because you don't you don't have to. You know, you do it because
(17:15):
you that's that's that's what you chooseto do, and you know what's the
right thing to do. And Iappreciate you for always pouring into me because
sometimes, man, you know,you're not even you don't even see what
you're capable of, because there's peopleout there who see things in you that
you may not even see in yourself. And I think sometimes God sends the
right individuals into your life at justthe right time to help you get to
(17:36):
that next level and let you knowthere is the next level to get to.
So so we're out of time,But it was I think I think
I need to unpack something that CharlotMane said, not for any reason other
than I think it's affirming. Mywife has this quote that she educated me
or shape for she is this quote. She said that all behavior is learned
behavior. I put in another andsay, we model what we see.
(18:03):
And what I think Charlemagne was saying, and you quit me if I'm wrong,
is if you want to pick somebodywhite, black, orange, purp,
God bless you, find somebody youlove. All good. He had
nothing to do with that. Whathe's saying is all too often somebody who's
successful who's black, for some strangereason, when they get to a certain
(18:25):
point, they start making different choices. And I think young people, young
people look at that and say,well, does that mean that. I
guess black women are not whatever,killing the blanks. And so I think
what he's saying is pick who youwant. But it's nice to go from
the bottom to the top and takeyour love with you, take your people
(18:49):
with you, and to show theyoung people that you can have it all,
all of it, including my shaptrup. I love you. I
love you too, brother, appreciateyou. Thanks for listening to Hope Global
Forms the dialogue. We hope today'sepisode has inspired you. Keep the conversation
(19:11):
going by visiting Hope globalforms dot organd follow us on social at Hope Global
Forum. You can find mesen Scanon Instagram at the Essence of Underscore.
Join us next time for more insightsfrom leaders who are shaping a better world.
Welcome to Hope Global Forms, thedialogue where we bring exclusive conversations with extraordinary
leaders directly to you. I'm yourHope Essen Scant and you can find me
on Instagram at the Essence of Underscore. This podcast is powered by Hope Global
Forms, an initiative of Operation HopeDesigns to inspire, educate and empower.
(00:21):
You visit us at Hope Globalforms dotorg and follow us on social at Hope
Global Form. In today's episode,we have Charlottmagne, the Guide on the
power of Vulnerability. Weren't you unpacka little bit about this podcast network that
is, I think the largest podcastnetwork for blacks in the country. What's
(00:46):
that about in the world, inthe world absolutely? And why did you
decide to do that? What isyour mission? That's a broad question.
I mean for me, you know, I think at this point in my
life, my mission is just tobe of service, because you know,
I read something a long time agofrom doctor Wayne W. Dye and he
said, your true mission in life, your true purpose in life is service
(01:08):
to others. And so I feellike, you know, anything I create
at this point in my life,as far as you know, business is
concerned, if it only benefits meeting, it's not big enough. And so
when I thought about the Black EffectPodcast Network, I always thought about Malcolm
X. When Malcolm X says,you know, a person who controls the
media controls the minds of the masses. And we always have these conversations,
(01:29):
especially in the Black community, aboutyou know, narratives and what narratives about
us are getting out there. Andwe all know black people aren't monolithic in
any way, shape or form.But if you can create a platform where
you have you know, twenty eightdistinct different voices on it, which the
Black Effect does because we have twentyeight podcasts, you know, under our
(01:49):
network. You may not be ableto get a full grasp of what you
know Black America is, but youcan get you can get damn close with
twenty eight you know, different voices. So we have everything from you know,
comedy to sports, to mental healthand mindfulness to you know, politics
to social justice. And yeah,I just hope that you know, we're
(02:13):
creating something that you know, peoplecan can learn from on a daily basis.
I hope you know, everybody inthis room has a favorite podcast from
the Black Effect you know podcast network, and we probably do whether it's the
eighty five South Show, or youknow all the smoke or carefully reckless or
deeply well with Debbie Brown checking inwith Michelle Williams. I feel like we
have you know something for everybody.And like I said, you know,
(02:34):
you can never go to anyone placeand get the full scope of what you
know Black America is discussing. Butif you come to the Black Effect,
you can get damn close. Solet's get damn close. Let's get close
to your heart, your soul,your spirit, what you're about? What,
where? Where does all this comefrom? We talked backstage about how
(02:57):
there's good capitalism and bad capitalism,and bad capitalism is where is where I
benefit but everybody else pays a pricefor it. Good capitalism is where I
benefit and everybody else benefits more.It seems to me that what you're trying
to do with all of your enterprises, and this is what I try to
highlight with folks that I believe in, is you're trying to practice good capitalism,
(03:19):
doing well and doing good at thesame time. And then you've got
your philanthropist that you're giving back.You're also creating jobs. Yeah, bringing
people like Dolly who is running theBlack Effect networks. A sister who's absolutely
brilliant, who you've empowered to lead, absolutely absolutely knows the black woman doing
(03:39):
it, who you've empowered to havereal equity in leadership, and you defer
to her rightly. So, oh, she's the reason that the whole Black
Effect is successful. I don't donothing. I just can't. I just
come up with the idea and say, hey, this is what I want
to do, this is what Ithink it looks like. But you know,
you got to have some that can, you know, take that clay
(04:00):
and give it shape. And she'sthe reason that the Black Effect has had
the success over the last you know, three years that has had is absolutely
because the Dolly Bishops. She's inthere somewhere, sloth to Dolly. Yeah,
Dolly stands out stand out. Dolly. Hey. So if you if
you think you have a podcast idea, you think you have a pot,
(04:24):
don't go to her. Don't butno, no, go to her with
your idea. So, uh,what makes you tick? Where does this
come from? Why the connection tomental health? Was there something in your
background? We know the promise,we know the intellect, but the fact
you could be and I sort ofset you up with this a little earlier,
saying it's just about it singing anddancing and having for clearly is not.
(04:46):
I mean you you It's really likeI always like to see you like
a translator. On the one hand, you've got the posts of black America,
and i'd argue America. You juston TV last week doing hosting the
Daily Show. You got your postson the creative side of us. But
you also shift from the right braincreative to the left brain and be completely
(05:08):
intellectual. Where do these two veinscome from? And how does that tie
into things like mental health? Mentalwhat's in your background that informs your hope
and your deep concerns at the sametime. Well, for me, the
reason I became, you know,a quote unquote mental health advocate, it
was because I started going on myown journey, you know, because I'm
(05:30):
in dealing with anxiety and depression likemy literally my whole life. And you
know, I first got clinically diagnosedwith anxiety in twenty ten. Now this
is after I had gotten fired,you know, for the fourth time from
radio, and I'm back at homeliving with my mom. I think I
was like thirty one, thirty twoyears old. My daughter's like two years
old at the time, my nowwife, she was just my girlfriend at
the time. She had to moveback home with her parents in Monk's Corner.
(05:54):
And I remember just having like oneof the most intense panic attacks I
ever had in my life, likeone of those ones where you know,
your palms are sweating and your heartis beating crazy, like you really think
it's over, You're about to havea heart attack. And I remember,
you know, going you know,to the doctor, and the doctor told
me the same thing that so manydoctors had told me throughout my life.
All you got to your heart isfine, you got an athlete's heart.
(06:15):
But he was the first person thatsaid to me, it sounds like what
you're describing to me as is ananxiety attack. Do you have anxiety?
And I was like, no,what is that? And then he explained
it to me, and he waslike, well, are you stretched out
about something? And I'm like,hell, yeah, you know. And
so in my mind I'm like,okay, well, all I got to
do is get another job, getanother gig, you know, and then
everything will be fine. And thenext gig I got was the Breakfast Club.
(06:38):
But then you know, five orsix years later, I've got more
money than I've ever had in mylife, more success than I've ever had
in my life, but then moreproblem, more problems. None of that
stuff has went away. The anxietyis still there, the bounce of depression
and everything is still there. Andso I just decided to start going to
therapy for it. And you know, and with me going to therapy,
I get on the radio and I'mjust talking about going to therapy every day
(07:00):
at three o'clock, and I'm talkingabout the things that I'm learning in therapy,
and you know, people started comingto me and having conversations with me
about the same things that I wasdiscussing, the anxiety, the depression.
And then people were coming to mesaying, oh, my brother started going
to therapy because of you, myhusband started going to therapy because of you.
And I realized that it was justsomething that was becoming bigger than me.
(07:23):
And it was a few situations thatreally made me dig deep into it.
I remember it was Thanksgiving of twentyeighteen, and I was home in
Monkst Corner, South Carolina, andmy cousin, who was twenty five,
he had just completed you know,suicide. And he had attempted suicide like
four different times, but you know, this time he completed it. And
he used to do like a lotof odd jobs with my father because my
(07:45):
father does construction, so he wouldgo out and work with him. And
my dad called me and my dadwas like, yoall, I just read
your book. You know, mysecond book Shook on Anxiety, playing tricks
on me. H. I talkedabout a lot of this, and he
was like, you know, Iwas reading your book and then you know,
you know, you know, cousinjust completed suicide. And then he
told me my dad. My dadwas like, yo, I've been on
ten to twelve different medications throughout mylife, and I was going to therapy,
(08:07):
you know, two and three timesa week, and I tried to
kill myself, you know, thirtyyears ago. And I remember going to
my mom and say, Mom,you know, possles going through all of
this, and she was like,I thought he was just playing crazy to
get a check, you know,But I thought about it. I'm like,
man, if he would have toldme those things twenty years prior,
I would have known whenever I washaving those panic attacks and those anxiety attacks,
(08:28):
what I was, you know,dealing with with no stigma, and
then it was that. And thenI had a good friend of mine she
completed suicide, you know, duringthe pandemic. Her name was Jasmine Waters.
And then I had another homeboy friendof the country named Shakhu who committed
suicide. And then also another situationtoo. It was when you know,
the late great Nipsey Hustle got tragicallytaken away from us. And I remember
(08:52):
watching that video because I didn't knowwhat it was. Somebody sent it to
me and I clicked on it andI'm looking at it, and I remember
after watching that guy, you know, gun Nipsey down, he kicked them,
and I remember feeling complete empathy forhim because I said to myself that
(09:13):
man must be in such pain thathe committed such a heinous act against Nipsey
and then felt like he had tokick him afterwards. And you know,
it just made me realize, man, that so many of us are dealing
with with with this hurt and thispain, and we're not talking to anybody
about it. And I just wantedto just dedicate my life to it.
And when I started getting you know, invited to speak on panels about it,
(09:35):
I remember I got introduced as amental health advocate one time and I'm
like, yo, I'm not nomental health advocate. And I remember,
you know Tracy j. You knowshe helps run the Boris Lawn Tension Foundation
with Trogi be Hinston. She said, brother, yes, you are,
whether you want to be or not. You know. So it's just something
that I decided to make my life'swork rainbows after storms, and i'd have
(09:56):
a rainbow out of storm. First, tell you something my first I think
my second book was Love Leadership,and I said in that book that courage
is nothing more than your faith,reaching through your fear, displaying yourself as
action in your life. And whatyou just witnessed on this stage was it
one of the most amazing, vulnerable, transparent examples of courageous leadership I have
(10:24):
ever seen from a public official,a public figure, a celebrity, or
anybody. Love leadership. Vulnerability ispower. Vulnerability is not a weakness.
It's strength, but very few ofIt's a tough enough to be solved.
Give Charlemagne some love, man,John can make you feel good. Boy,
(10:48):
John be up here talking, I'llbe like, who the hell is
he talking about? That's me,you're a bad brother man. Post pandemic
fifty work million just prescriptions for antidepressantsin America. And that doesn't talk.
That doesn't include those who are doingalternative means to other things alcohol. And
(11:18):
you know I was confused. Yeah, uh so, I mean I think
I think the majority of people areclinically undiagnosed, deppressed and don't want to
admit it. And here's the thing. If I don't like me, I'm
not gonna like you. If Idon't feel good about me, I'm not
gonna feel good about you. IfI don't respect me, don't expect me
(11:41):
to respect you. If I don'tlove me, I don't have a clue
how to love you. And ifI don't have a purpose my life,
I'm making your life a living hell. Because whatever goes around comes around and
hurt people. Hurt people. Sowe have got to heal. There is
no other way. And what youjust describe, you saved somebody's life tonight
because you made it. Okay,we have got to remove the stigma.
(12:05):
That's right. There is no perfectit's just the best you can do and
the only way to eradicate the stigmasfor all of us to tell our stories.
That's right, you know, andthat's why I am big on healing.
You know. It's so funny causewhen I was seventeen years old,
I got a tattoo of Wolverine fromthe X Men on my arm. Tattoo
is terrible, by the way,but the reason I used to I gravitated
(12:26):
towards Wolverine because one of his hispower was actually uh uh, the heal,
Like he could heal from any physicalailment that impacted him quickly. And
I always felt like, you know, that's the power that I wanted.
And then that I was seventeen yearsold at the time and I got Wolverine
holding a microphone in his hand,and it represents cause I wanted to rap
too. But that's a whole otherstory. But now when I think about
(12:48):
it, I'm like, Damn,Wolverine has a microphone in his hand.
Microphones are what changed my life.And you know what I would helped me
gravitate towards Wolverine was his ability toheal. And that's what I'm assisting people
in doing for the rest of mylife, you know, telling them where
they can go to find resources toheal. Three ways to live. That's
right. Three ways live, suicide, coping, and healing. There are
(13:13):
people walking around dead. There's alook, we're not human beings having a
spiritual experience. The spiritual beings havinga human experience. You can have the
most dangerous personal world a person withno hope. There are people walking around
(13:35):
blink. They're dead, they're justand they will take you out because they
don't care about their life. Wegotta save them to save us. Then
you got the coping. We justtalked about that. But what you're now
talking about is the most important thing. Love is work healing. We gotta
deal with our mess before it deals. That's right with us. If you
(13:56):
don't do what you're trauma or traumagonna deal with you. So you you've
already you've already dropped the micas you'vesaved so many souls just by just by
sharing. You're not just your promisebut your pains all it's all the same
journey, right. I mean Italk to myself every day and the glass
is half full or is half thewater on your table? It's either half
(14:18):
full or half empty. The pinswas looking at the glass. If somebody
says that glasses half empty, walkbounce. That's a negative person. Whether
you believe you can or you believeyou can't, you're right. So the
case for optimism is what's the choice, Because again, I can't guarantee you
(14:39):
that being positives that will make youa success, but I guarantee you being
negative will make you fail. Youhave decided to be positive and make it
a business case. And you've donethat from what I can see through all
your enterprises. About how many companiesor enterprises do you not run? Uh?
Six? I believe most peop wouldn'tknow that. At Black Effect Podcast
(15:01):
Network SBAH Productions, me and KevinHart. That's our production company with Audible
Black Privileged Publishing with Simon and Schuster. Damn, I'm forgetting some real estate.
Yeah, of course real estate.Oh, me and my wife.
We bought six Crystals franchises that wereopening in South Carolina. Uh. Next
(15:22):
year. I have a dispensary andconsumption lounge in New New Jersey that we're
opening, uh at the top ofnext year. I don't know. I'm
just happy to be here. Godis good man all that's yeah. Yeah,
I don't know, And let's let'slet's end with with this and we
never talked about this. What isthis connection for you? I know what
(15:46):
it is for me. You're mybrother, and we we operated a high
frequency in conversation. We also havesome fun conversation, have some interesting text
back and forth. People would notnecessarily suspect what we're talking about. But
what is it for you? BishopJakes, by the way, who's here.
We'll want to thank him for bringingus absolutely together. Right, he's
here, But what is this connectionfor you? And why did you want
(16:07):
me associated with your Black effect network? Well, I'm an energy person,
you know, and we met atBishop Tdjake's birthday party and it's just like,
you know, you can have alot of conversations with people and it
sounds good, you know, butit was just something about you that was
just very very very authentic, andyou invited me to come here, you
know, last year, and soI came honestly to see if you were
(16:30):
who you say you were, eventhough you know, but you know,
it was that, you know,the fact that you always have something very
positive to say, the fact thatyou have a black wife, you know,
because a lot of people, yeah, a lot of people in your
position don't damn sorry, but itwas by the way, that had nothing
(16:55):
to do with white people. No, no, no, that was about
I understand, we understand what hemeant. Yeah, And I don't know,
man, it's just like like Isaid, I'm just an energy person.
Sometimes you and an individual just click. And I love the way that
you're of service to people. Ilove the way that you pour into people
because you don't you don't have to. You know, you do it because
(17:15):
you that's that's that's what you chooseto do, and you know what's the
right thing to do. And Iappreciate you for always pouring into me because
sometimes, man, you know,you're not even you don't even see what
you're capable of, because there's peopleout there who see things in you that
you may not even see in yourself. And I think sometimes God sends the
right individuals into your life at justthe right time to help you get to
(17:36):
that next level and let you knowthere is the next level to get to.
So so we're out of time,But it was I think I think
I need to unpack something that CharlotMane said, not for any reason other
than I think it's affirming. Mywife has this quote that she educated me
or shape for she is this quote. She said that all behavior is learned
behavior. I put in another andsay, we model what we see.
(18:03):
And what I think Charlemagne was saying, and you quit me if I'm wrong,
is if you want to pick somebodywhite, black, orange, purp,
God bless you, find somebody youlove. All good. He had
nothing to do with that. Whathe's saying is all too often somebody who's
successful who's black, for some strangereason, when they get to a certain
(18:25):
point, they start making different choices. And I think young people, young
people look at that and say,well, does that mean that. I
guess black women are not whatever,killing the blanks. And so I think
what he's saying is pick who youwant. But it's nice to go from
the bottom to the top and takeyour love with you, take your people
(18:49):
with you, and to show theyoung people that you can have it all,
all of it, including my shaptrup. I love you. I
love you too, brother, appreciateyou. Thanks for listening to Hope Global
Forms the dialogue. We hope today'sepisode has inspired you. Keep the conversation
(19:11):
going by visiting Hope globalforms dot organd follow us on social at Hope Global
Forum. You can find mesen Scanon Instagram at the Essence of Underscore.
Join us next time for more insightsfrom leaders who are shaping a better world.
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