One Filmmaker's Commitment to Turn Passion into Purpose (Without a Script for Success).

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
There was a time people put in me out, but
they're mocking me. I'm walking sid out. I got to
know to know what that says. But what I believe
that God's that day. I don't need you to bother me.

(00:36):
I know who I help.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
I'm created be a lie. Reflect what my eyes there
to see? All the bigness eye possess unless as.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Ability want us see bad shine fifty I can read.

Speaker 4 (01:15):
Is no time really spend before the outside.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Doll any stain though bad.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
Boys the insults still isself paid.

Speaker 3 (01:30):
The dish scs say all these simple monad bye something
not take your.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
Mind the pat you'll buy your pleas and think you
what following this play had we not die all.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
With the Loness nine either.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
St reflect man.

Speaker 5 (02:02):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome to another segment of Seek Elevation, the
sekh Elevation experience with your truly attorney Alakisha O Kelly.
I may not be your attorney. So the information that
I am giving today, the topics that we're covering today,

(02:24):
if they include at any moment legal information, it's not
legal advice, but they are legal gems for you to
apply to your Jews of life.

Speaker 6 (02:36):
But on the seek elevation experience.

Speaker 5 (02:38):
This is where real issues, real people, and real conversations
take center stage.

Speaker 7 (02:44):
I know you know.

Speaker 5 (02:45):
Change doesn't happen in silence. Change for yourself individually, change
for us collectively. But we talk about topics from sports
and entertainment to business and community. Here we just elevate
voices that need to be heard. But we don't just talk.
We empower, we inspire, and we challenge the status quo.

(03:08):
Today I'm excited about our topic, the Real Journey are
ee l one filmmaker's commitment to turn passion into purpose
without a script for success and should I say not
just a filmmaker, a multi talented creator. So that's what

(03:30):
we're going to talk about today, and we're going to
keep it real about the real journey. So make sure
if you are tuning in on whatever platform you're on
or ither it's YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, go grab somebody,
grab somebody to come in, because today's episode is for

(03:51):
every dreamer, every dreamer who has ever felt stuck between
their calling and survival, all of us. I know you
can raise your hand. That is that is all of
us at some point, and I don't care what level
you make it too. We have all felt that way
or are feeling that way. This is for every creator

(04:13):
who is juggling side gigs, long nights, quiet prayers, just
to keep our vision alive, and dare I say, just
for us to even have more clarity in our vision
where we can have that twenty twenty. We're not distracted,

(04:34):
we're not confused in any way. So we're sitting down
with this inspiring creative who's not waiting for the perfect opportunity.

Speaker 6 (04:48):
He's building his.

Speaker 5 (04:49):
Dream while holding down real world responsibilities and everything else.

Speaker 6 (04:56):
He's not just chasing the spotlight.

Speaker 5 (05:00):
He is earning it, shocked by shot, scene by scene,
microphone by microphone. And this is someone that I can
definitely attest to. And if you know me, I don't
do that very easily. I don't at all. This is
someone I completely can get behind and and behind. So

(05:25):
if you have ever wondered how to keep going when
the odds feel heavy and those listening, can I ask
you right now? Even if the odds felt heavy for us,
can we all concur that they feel even heavier now?

Speaker 6 (05:42):
So we need each other now, We need to see
each other in each other.

Speaker 5 (05:46):
We have to see each other defying the odds, being
more than a conqueror. We have to see that in
each other in order for us to fuel each other,
to shine light on each other. So if you ever
felt the odds of feeling heavy, or how to turn
passion into a platform, this conversation is gonna be for you,

(06:09):
Yes it is. So I'm gonna go ahead and introduce
my guests. I know you probably thought all that was
even an introduction, right, No, No, that was just laying
the tablecloth out. So let's go ahead and start putting
these plates out in these several words, let's eat today,
Let's eat. So today's guess that I'm bringing on is

(06:34):
is definitely a visionary and like I said, not just
in storytelling, but in sound and actually in storytelling that
comes through sound and also through the lenses. This guest
is someone who was making waves on the screen, behind
the scenes, in front of it, on stages, and is

(07:00):
continuing to build an accredited career. This guest right here
is not just leaving his mark. I didn't get a
chance to watch all of the BET Awards yesterday. I'm
gonna go back and watch. I just stopped watching those
awards because, yeah, it was just not for me, but

(07:20):
I'm hearing that this one was actually pretty good. I
didn't watch it, but I did see a snippet of
Tyler Perry's acceptance speech, and he talked about the footprints
and making sure our footprints are not covered wiped away
so someone else can replace their footprints there where our

(07:44):
guest today is doing that, leaving footprints a contributor to
that for our existence. But he's not stopping there. This
multi talented creative is right now stepping intwo his executive

(08:04):
producer role, his act and role, so doing the dual thing.
And those of us in film understand that if you
under in film, you understand how that goes. And he
is developing his debut feature film, Bounce Back. So although
he showed up in many roles on TV shows like
p Valley, Wicked City, will trend on films like Pride

(08:28):
and Black Diamond, he is now working on his feature
film and this project is inspired by his own powerful memoir.
So I don't just want you to come and hear
the story and anything else that we get into or
how you engage. I want you to also connect All

(08:50):
of you listeners and viewers know that when you come
to seek elevation. The way that we elevate is figuring
out how we can connect and elevating each other. But
with no further ado, please welcome the storyteller who was
bridging creativity with impact. Jay four gathers, I'm bringing to

(09:15):
the stage.

Speaker 6 (09:20):
Hello. Hello, Can you hear me nice and clear?

Speaker 8 (09:24):
Yes? Yes, yes?

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yes?

Speaker 8 (09:25):
How are you?

Speaker 6 (09:27):
I am awesome? How are you? I hear you nice
and clear as well? See you nice and clearly?

Speaker 7 (09:32):
Yes?

Speaker 6 (09:33):
How are you doing on this day?

Speaker 8 (09:36):
And about I got breath of my body. I'm doing amazing.

Speaker 6 (09:41):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (09:42):
That's where it starts at, right before anything else is
at it upon us. We start with breath. So it
is amazing. All right, Jafour, We're gonna get into it.
I am excited to finally have you on. This has
been a time in the making.

Speaker 6 (10:05):
In general.

Speaker 5 (10:05):
Before we get started, though, I want to ask you
just a problem solving question to think about it. I
want you to answer right now, because as we go
through we'll circle back around. But as we're talking about
this real journey, right we see a lot of times
the glitz and glam side of entertainment. We see finished products,

(10:27):
but there is this grit and grind that goes behind
it for us to be committed to our passion. And
I want you to think about what you can leave
with individuals or something that could help them to not
walk away from what is in their heart. But they're

(10:53):
fighting what is coming up against that. So I want
you to think about that as we're going through this. Okay, yes,
absolutely all right. So before we get all the way
in it, I do believe, as you are a storyteller,
I do believe before we get right into the brunt
of things, let's kind of talk about let's go through

(11:13):
this journey before we get to the right to the thing.

Speaker 6 (11:17):
So tell us a little bit first of all, who
is J Foad? Yeah? Is give us a little.

Speaker 7 (11:27):
Well for those of you all who don't know me,
I am to some people on four G. To others,
I'm jfour G gathers a well a lot of different hats.
I am the ce owner and founder of Grandmouse Entertainment,
which is my multimedia film and production company and music company,
which was initially established in Panama City of Florida, prior

(11:52):
to relocated here to Atlanta, Georgia in twenty twenty. I'm
a rapper I'm an actor. I'm also a first time
book author. I'm also the brand ambassador to my clothing
brand g SWAG, which is an acronym that stands for
God's Spiritual Walking Guidance, where the subtitle is it's more

(12:16):
than just a brain, it's actually a lifestyle. I am
a family man, husband, father of three. I'm a businessman.
I'm a visionary and as Alakeisha is so elqually stated,
I'm also a storyteller. I think that was a perfect

(12:39):
description of me as a whole storyteller through music, through film,
and even through my memoir.

Speaker 8 (12:49):
And so that is me in a nutshell that is beautiful.

Speaker 5 (12:54):
I can tell you get that question. You know how
to answer it all the time. Look at you, Look
at you nice. So you said you're a storyteller, and you,
first of all, when you just told a little bit
about yourself, you can relate.

Speaker 6 (13:06):
Well, a lot of us can relate to you.

Speaker 5 (13:07):
Somebody can find something in you, from being a family
person to being a dreamer, all that great stuff. When
did you decide or when was that moment that Jay
four realized I am this creative by this creator and
this is not just something that is a hobby, but
I know for me that this is a compelling calling

(13:32):
kind of when was that moment? But walk it up
and then try to get me to that moment.

Speaker 7 (13:39):
Well, so, as far as I can remember, when I
first started doing a music piece, I was a much
younger I might have just become a teenager, and I
actually started out writing poems.

Speaker 5 (13:55):
Really I'm surprised, but yeah, yeah, So in high school
where I used to write poems from a my homies,
you know, they give it to the Huntings book.

Speaker 7 (14:06):
Females thought was them, but it was always me behind
the pen, and so I started out writing poems. The
poems turned in the lyrics, and the lyrics later turned
into songs. Because of my upbringing and a lot of
my family dysfunctioned child dysfunction, I learned early on that

(14:30):
music became an outlet for me and became actually extremely
therapeutic something I became extremely, extremely.

Speaker 8 (14:43):
Good at and it began to consume me.

Speaker 7 (14:48):
And so, to answer your question, I think when it
got to a point where music was all I could
think about, that's when I knew that it was what I.

Speaker 8 (15:00):
Was actually boring to do.

Speaker 5 (15:02):
I hear a common theme from speaking to many many people.
A lot of times there's some type of I don't
want to use the word trauma for the lack of
a better world, But there's always something there that has
motivated us or opening open or given us an awakening

(15:23):
to walk towards this vision or this calling that we
feel a healing. It not just a healing for ourselves,
but somehow we know what we're doing is also healing.

Speaker 6 (15:38):
Others.

Speaker 5 (15:38):
So you said you started with poetry, which it sounds
like to me poetry never goes away. But isn't it
all still poetry because it's poetry to like you said,
lyrics to sound song.

Speaker 6 (15:49):
But isn't that all that poetry? Like life is poetry
in emotion.

Speaker 8 (15:54):
Yeah, it all goes hand in hand. I mean, it's.

Speaker 7 (15:58):
Just different ways of expressing it. Okay, So but yeah,
I mean like theater. You know when any of us
who've taken theater and h clatt you know, high school,
middle school or whatever, even college, you know Shakespeare? You
know that's that's poetry. And I mean you may one

(16:19):
might wonder, you know, how does you know Shakespeare?

Speaker 8 (16:22):
You know? Plan to what it is that I'm doing. Uh,
it's it's it's the hiding gems within the whole.

Speaker 7 (16:34):
Backstory of each theatrical piece, and the same you know
with our lyrics, whether it be through music or whether
it be through the film side of things. Uh, there's
always a methodical approach to a message that you're trying
to convey. So yeah, they all kind of.

Speaker 6 (16:56):
Go hand in hand, and that message you're trying to convict.

Speaker 5 (16:58):
I want to go back to me. You said you
knew it was calling pretty much. I'm gonna suth that up.
You knew it was a calling when you couldn't walk
away from it, like when you couldn't shake it. It
felt like an essence of you. What was that message?
What was what were you sharing in your music as
at that time or even now?

Speaker 1 (17:18):
What was it?

Speaker 6 (17:19):
And how did you feel? How did it make you feel?

Speaker 1 (17:21):
Well?

Speaker 7 (17:21):
I think the very first time, like in real time,
that it really, like really really occurred to me. I
had written quite a few musical compositions throughout the course
of you know, the years, but when I was actually
getting ready to release my debut album, there was a

(17:43):
project that I wrote entitled Inner Me and and of
Me spoke about all my trauma.

Speaker 8 (17:52):
It was just as gritty as it can get.

Speaker 7 (17:56):
And at the time, I was working an overnight position
at a hotel, I was going through undergrad working on
my bachelor's and so I was juggling a lot of
different hats then. But I remember sitting down writing this
particular musical piece, and I found myself reliving those moments

(18:17):
of the things I was talking about and literally sitting
there writing the lyrics and crying tears at the same time,
because I had suppressed so many of those memories for
just a number of years. And I believe that it
is the first time there that I felt that that

(18:39):
was therapy for me in more ways than one. I mean,
like I said, prior to that, I had, you know,
little like glimpses of it or whatever. But in that
moment there I said the tears I cried that night,
it was different. And as I began to grow and
continue to you know, write musical a composition after another

(19:04):
after another another, I became better at it. I became
more methodical with it. I became more creative with it.
It became like second nature to me. So I can
literally now whether it's something even aside from myself, I
can take any topic and I can basically make it

(19:25):
make sense in more ways than one.

Speaker 5 (19:28):
And yeah, is was there any time throughout that time
leading up to now that Okay, you know this, you
cann't shake it. This was obviously your calling to be
a creative you constantly developed through it anytime that it
just felt like to you, man, I just been I'm

(19:49):
doing it, I'm doing it, I'm doing it, I'm releasing albums,
but things just feel so out of reach for me.
And if so, how did you keep showing up to
and make it all the way to now?

Speaker 1 (20:03):
Well?

Speaker 8 (20:07):
Yeah, the biggest thing to kind of get to a
particular level.

Speaker 7 (20:15):
I think as artists, we all want to be recognized
for gifts and talents. But early on, you know, it was,
you know, trying to do music and do it on
the minimum budget. You know, it's really not going to
get the exposure that you may want to have. And
then obviously, I mean one of the first things that

(20:39):
I had to learn the hard way was early on
I didn't even know.

Speaker 8 (20:45):
Who my demographic audience was. I thought I did, but
I was wrong. You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (20:53):
You know the lane I thought I should have been
going down, or the ones that I thought would actually
support me on the musical journey, and they end up
in that way because I wasn't walking in my authentic self.
I was doing music early on, and I was trying
to kid my music to an audience where I felt
like I wanted.

Speaker 8 (21:11):
To be accepted.

Speaker 7 (21:14):
But taking that approach, it failed me and I failed myself,
you know, by even trying to even, like I said,
take that approach.

Speaker 8 (21:27):
But like I said, as time went on, I beginning,
like I said, become more.

Speaker 7 (21:36):
First, then you know obviously what I should be doing,
you know, like, hey this, you know this here didn't
work for me. Let me do this here and entirely
different way. And these people here, you know, they they're
not conducive for what it is I'm trying to do.
Let me switch lanes. And like I said, the more

(22:01):
I grew into what it was that I knew I
was supposed to be doing the thing that was evident
to me to be on the shotter.

Speaker 8 (22:11):
But doubt is my love for what it was that
I was actually doing. You know, I felt like.

Speaker 7 (22:19):
I'm pretty sure like at some point or another, when
you decided you wanted to become an attorney, there was
a probably a few other things that you probably entertained, but.

Speaker 8 (22:30):
We all have the aha moment. And you know, I
worked a bunch of.

Speaker 7 (22:35):
Like dead end jobs, you know, or careers that you know,
I just kind of felt like, okay, just for the status.
But it got to a point where I felt like
I was just existing and not actually living.

Speaker 8 (22:52):
So me as a creative makes me feel alive.

Speaker 7 (22:58):
You know, the money from nine to or whatever has
never given me fulfillment, never because they have never valued
me or.

Speaker 8 (23:08):
You know, obviously the love just hasn't been there like
it is for, like I said, being a creative.

Speaker 5 (23:16):
So let me ask you this because I want to
go back because you said you discovered I was not
performing to the demographic that I thought I should be,
and then I, you know, kind of figure it out
and switch it up. When did it change though, Because
in the beginning, like you said, it was the authentic voice.

(23:37):
It was the voice that was speaking from your own experience.
When does it has to When do you have to
focus as a creative, as an artist on my authenticity
to now I have to kind of understand business and
I have to worry about this demographic target market.

Speaker 6 (23:55):
I got to appease them. How do you.

Speaker 5 (23:59):
Do that needs to be from your authenticity of why
you're even doing this, You're healing process, speaking your message
to Now I have to since I have to survive,
I need to tweak something to hit a demographic or
target market.

Speaker 6 (24:13):
Like, how did you manage that?

Speaker 5 (24:15):
Because you started off with your authentic voice, but you
said it wasn't landing, so then you have to switch.

Speaker 6 (24:21):
What does that look like? What did that feel like?

Speaker 7 (24:27):
It was challenging because there's a rebranding process that has
to take place, so it definitely became challenging.

Speaker 8 (24:37):
But I honestly think that what I did early.

Speaker 7 (24:40):
On, I kind of believe I did it backwards, meaning
I mean, I don't think early on I was.

Speaker 8 (24:45):
Being my authentic self, you know, I was.

Speaker 7 (24:49):
I was trying to take an approach and within a
genre of music where I felt like I would have
been accepted, and like I said, that was it was
the total opposite. Me being my authentic self now has
given me so much freedom, you know, just being able

(25:10):
to stay true to myself really not caring anything about
any type of backlash or opinions or others, you know,
within the reason of course. But yeah, like I said,
just any time it felt like or it feels like

(25:34):
I am losing myself to a piece others, there's no
peace within myself with that. One of the very first
things I learned about music early on at age ten,
One of the very first birthday gifts I remember my
mother giving me was an Atlantic Star tele Pentagrass and

(25:54):
Witnes Houston tape.

Speaker 8 (25:56):
I was ten years old. And so what I learned
about Yeah.

Speaker 5 (26:02):
For those who don't know where the tape is, yeah,
square two holes in it as I guess you call
it tape, but this film thing that go through and
you put it in a box and you just play
in it in the rows. And we used to use
that to record, Like I used to listen to radio

(26:23):
stations and I would tape over tapes to record whatever
song come on the radio station.

Speaker 6 (26:30):
So we may have lost some new school people, but
go ahead.

Speaker 8 (26:34):
And so one of the things I learned earlier on
about R and B.

Speaker 7 (26:39):
When it comes to R and B, rhythm and blues
that comes from the soul, that soul music, all those
particular artists were being their authentic selves. Once I was
able to actually tap into that and just kind of
get the grasp of just stay true to yourself, then
everything else becomes easy. And I will honestly say that

(27:02):
most of the music that I've done up to this point,
ninety nine point nine percent of the music, it's stuff
that I've actually personally experienced or have some first.

Speaker 8 (27:11):
Hand knowledge of.

Speaker 7 (27:13):
And it feels good to, like I say, to do
things organically and to be extremely honest with yourself about
what it is that you're trying to convey, whether it
be through music, film, or any other creative process.

Speaker 5 (27:30):
Okay, and so now that you're saying you feel more
authentic now than even when you started, And you also
talk about your demographic, how does that look business wise
versus staying real wise? Are you how did you manage that?
And how are you managed that? Especially being social media?
How you managed that? Are you just saying I'm going
to write for my heart? Am I demographic? Are the

(27:52):
individuals that gravitate towards it? Or I'm finding certain individuals.
I'm still writing for my heart, but I'm writing from
a place where I see where there's a gap, something missing,
or something that needs to be said. How are you
navigating the two the business and keeping it real?

Speaker 1 (28:10):
Well?

Speaker 8 (28:10):
Honestly? So, when it comes. So let's let's focus on
music for just a moment here.

Speaker 6 (28:16):
Okay, So let's.

Speaker 7 (28:18):
Talk about the last three musical projects that I've done.

Speaker 6 (28:26):
Okay, So.

Speaker 8 (28:29):
I did a project entitled My Fatima.

Speaker 7 (28:32):
I did a project entitled Knock Knock, and there's one
that I'm getting ready to release right now titled grind Times.
I'm at talking to about one about one. So when
I wrote My Fatima, I was actually sitting down watching
a TV show.

Speaker 8 (28:48):
Sisters with my mother half and uh, you know, growing up.

Speaker 7 (28:53):
In a household with a bunch of sisters, I was
the oldest son or you know, the brother. I'm a customer.
Just you know, watching a bunch of chick flicks. It
doesn't seem normal to me. So sitting there with my
wife and I said, hm hmm, I said, Fatima. She
she could be a hot commodity. And I looked at
something and write a song about her. So she kind

(29:14):
of looked at me, gave me the little side out,
and I said, look, I said, I'm very creative. I'll
put my own spin on it. And I did it
for two reasons. The very first reason was, shortly after
I saw the show, they made an announcement that we're
going to do a spin off Zuo team, and so
I listened to the soundtrack for there was a team

(29:36):
of Sean like I. You know, I wasn't feeling out
like I can. I want to picture the taller pair
of studios for the new soundtrack for the spinoff. And
on top of that, there what I did is I
took all the characteristics of Fatima on screen and I
personalized it, and I said, on screen, she's a fictional

(29:56):
being ill real life, she's my everyday wife. I talked
about all the things that go on said with her
in Zact and the spin on. It was on screen
she used that fictional band. But I'll see her in
real time because Fatima is that the supportive black woman
that holds her man down. You know that she she

(30:18):
se passed or smoke, you know, the spiders past circumstances.

Speaker 8 (30:22):
She ain't focused during that. You know she she see
the king where everybody to see him as it's worthless,
no good dude. Uh.

Speaker 7 (30:29):
So that's the place that I came from with that
Knock Knock. I'm pretty sure for me with the Brionna
Tellor case. And so when I was just sitting around
just being in my little creative zone and the nursery
and now the nursery rhyme knock knock came to me

(30:52):
and I was kind of playing around with some you know,
just freestyling or whatever, and it hit me. A light
bulb went off my head. Knock Knoah, Okay, Breonna Taylor
got killed as a result of a no knock order,
And so I put a spin on that there, and
that particular song is about her story, you know, because

(31:16):
I'm an advocate. I'm an advocate for social injustice as well,
and so that particular song there, it has like the
original now one one call on it, It has the
actual auto audio recording of her boyfriend screaming in agony.
Like I personalized it. I took a real subject and

(31:37):
I made it meaningful to me. And of course, you
know the one grind Time, which is unreleased and for
those of you all listening, set to be released on
June and twenty third, it actually talks about it comes
from a place of.

Speaker 8 (31:54):
Just my.

Speaker 7 (31:58):
Trying to navigate a nine to five while trying to
become self fulfilled with what my true person purpose and
passion really is, which is to.

Speaker 8 (32:10):
Excuse me to be my own boss.

Speaker 7 (32:13):
And so in grind time, you can't depend on your
nine to five to get it to where you want
to go. You have to go out there and you
have to pretty much do that on your own terms,
which is what we're discussing right here.

Speaker 8 (32:31):
This is where I'm not hearing in real time right now,
And yeah, I really want to.

Speaker 7 (32:39):
Encourage people to grind with me in real time because
I'm literally walking through that whole scenario right now, just
going out.

Speaker 8 (32:48):
There to live out my God given.

Speaker 7 (32:51):
Purpose, you know, turning that pain in the purpose, trying
to inspire the people, trying to be that living and
real time witness that no matter what you've gone through,
you can come back from. It ain't nothing you can't
bounce back from. So those are the type of approaches
that I've taken. When it comes to my creative process,

(33:12):
it all starts with an idea, but it as always
starts with something that's actually relevant and something that people
can relate to. And because it's something that people can
relate to, my demographic audience is already there, because there's
always certain people passionate about certain things that I'm already
referring to now.

Speaker 5 (33:35):
If people didn't just guess or pick up what you
just put down as a storyteller, the way you just
answered my question about how do you say authentic while
managing the business side of this demographic target market you're
talking about that story you just gave tied it all
together because you talked about use three different songs, and

(34:00):
it showed how am I staying authentic and also looking
at this demographic I stay with real, relevant and raw.
Three different types of stories, but all came about like you.
Like you said, I'm a social activist. I'm someone who's
living something in real time. I'm spewing that and you
use three different songs to answer that question and tie

(34:21):
it all together. You did not have to change anything.
That's all I wanted to hear. Did you have to
change anything to do the business side?

Speaker 6 (34:29):
You said no.

Speaker 5 (34:29):
On the business side is me just being aware of
what is relevant. Me being authentic is staying to whatever
may be raw or real. I appreciate that, see storyteller,
just the way you answer that question, that is what
I'm talking about.

Speaker 6 (34:47):
So what sacrifices or shifts in your life?

Speaker 5 (34:51):
Since you're talking about that, you said, we're gonna ease
right until we are right now the real What sacrifices
or shifts in your life have you had to make
in order to keep your creative vision alive. That's what
a lot of us are struggling with. That's the real
thing right there. Right We see all the the reals
and the snippets on social media, and why is it

(35:13):
working for that person? Why is it working for me
this way? But it's a lot more going on behind
the scenes. What does that sacrifice or shifts for you?

Speaker 8 (35:23):
Well, the first sacrifice, it always starts the family.

Speaker 7 (35:28):
Unfortunately, you know, they're always the first to suffware a
lot of times, you know, they don't quite understand the
time that it actually goes into.

Speaker 8 (35:40):
Basically, you.

Speaker 7 (35:44):
Just putting in the work and that isn't always pleasant,
but it's one of those things that's kind of like necessary.
One of the people that kind of reminds me a
lot of them as Michael B. Jordan, Michael B. Jordan

(36:09):
is a straight workaholic. And one of the things he
said that I think he and I are on the
same page concerning work now, play later. You know, that's
just my mindset. I work now, I'll enjoy everything else

(36:31):
on the back end, and it has to be that way.
And but like I said, the sacrifice is always made
at home first. And then you know, of course, there
may be some things that you can't quite participate in.
You can't go everywhere, you can't open yourself up to

(36:52):
everybody and everything. You have to be very disciplined with
your lifestyle. You have to be very strategic with what
you're trying to convey in the public eye at all times.
I mean, because of higher you go, I mean, there's

(37:13):
more people sitting there to ridicule you and discredit you.

Speaker 8 (37:18):
So you have to definitely be very wise and you
approach it all times. You have to be wise enough
to surround yourself with people that are smarter than you.

Speaker 7 (37:31):
That's why I hired you. I hired you, and I
hired myself a publicist, Miss Janelle. If you're out there watching,
I love you, But you have to surround yourself around
the right people because they make life so much more
easier for you, and they yourself Janelle and you know

(37:53):
the rest of my team. They kind of keep me
in line because I'm not a one man show, and
brings me to another point. Even with all the people
that open myself up to even being a grown man,
I still have to be teachable, you know what I'm saying.

(38:13):
It's like, because I don't know it all and if
myself or anyone else ever comes off of that matter
that you're doing the people that around you a total disservice,
you know what I'm saying. So I definitely have never
taken that approach because I want to be the very

(38:34):
best at what it is that I do. I would
to do everything at the highest level. But the one
thing that I refuse the sacrifice, it is my happiness.
And like I said to me, just existing does not

(38:54):
give me any type of fulfillment. And so I do
everything I have to do right now in real time
to reach my expected then and I'm pretty sure you know,
from a branding standpoint, they said the rule of thumb
is it actually takes ten years to build a brand.
I started Grandmouse Entertainment back in twenty seventeen, so right now,
I'm all.

Speaker 8 (39:13):
Like number eight a year eight and a half, and
I'm right. I mean, I'm right on time with you know,
obviously the math what math says, but uh.

Speaker 7 (39:26):
Yeah, but I continue to make the necessary sacrifices to uh,
so I finish what.

Speaker 8 (39:33):
It is that I started.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
I love that because one of the things you said
was sacrificing and to reasepoint that's on there, yes, that team,
but sacrificing the comfortability of operating an old belief so
which is just comfortable to us, and putting people around
us that can elevate us and show us something coachable

(40:01):
and bring their strength to the table of what we
may not know, and that can create a discomfort, right,
you could become uncomfort the vote in that because anywhere
where there is change, there's always this uncomfortableness. And to
be honest with you, a lot of people, even though
we say a lot of times we want change, we
want this, we're more familiar with the you know, chaos

(40:25):
than to be uncomfortable to kind of change that chaos.
So you sacrificed, even you sacrifice at all that I'm
sacrificing my ego. I'm sacrificing everything to say I know
I can possibly go higher. I'm gonna put those people around.

Speaker 7 (40:38):
Me to do it.

Speaker 6 (40:40):
And that is huge.

Speaker 5 (40:41):
But I want to go back to when you said
sacrificing with the family, how do you know when too
much is too much?

Speaker 6 (40:48):
Enough is enough?

Speaker 5 (40:49):
Because I know it to your point, like even I
remember when I was in law school back then, they
will always tell us that no one matters anymore, like
you have to completely sacrifice your family. You have now
a mistress or whatever it is forever, which is your degree.
Nothing else matters. And I was sold on all of that,

(41:12):
going that route, and to your point, I became more unhappy.

Speaker 6 (41:18):
It didn't work for me.

Speaker 5 (41:20):
And as so for a professional athlete, I understand sacrifice right.
I even was doing things the way I was told
you should do it as a professional athlete, sacrificing the
way I'm told you're supposed to sacrifice in those respective industries.
But as I learned me, I started rethinking that it's
still a sacrifice, but not in the way that I

(41:41):
was told you was supposed to do it. That was
for me, So for you, when do you know this
sacrifice is this is the limit for that, This is
the ceiling for that, This is the floor for that?

Speaker 7 (41:53):
Or is it?

Speaker 6 (41:54):
I mean, what does that mean for you when to
come to family in sacrificing.

Speaker 7 (42:02):
So this is one of those transparent moments. But you know,
my wife is watching. I mean, she knows I'm just.

Speaker 6 (42:09):
Brutally love wife.

Speaker 5 (42:10):
I'm speaking for us, and no, no, I'm actually speaking
on the other end because I wasn't. I'm the wife,
but I was the one who was buying into.

Speaker 6 (42:20):
I have there.

Speaker 5 (42:22):
I'm going to tell you how to sacrifice. You're sacrifice,
but I'm telling you how you have to do it.
And I was like, I gotta do it. This is
the way I gotta do it.

Speaker 7 (42:29):
Well, we have some very very real, hard, tough conversations,
and she knows who my passion is a lot of times,
not just my spouse, but I'm sure there's others that
were your significant others. Just they don't see things through

(42:51):
your lenses. You know, that's what God gave you the vision.
You know a lot of people they're not going to
see your vision. But I bluntly told my wife one day,
I said, look, I said, you either support me, walk
by my side, or get the hell out of my way.
Those are my exact words. And I said, don't make
me have to be choose between the woman I love

(43:13):
and what I love to do. That's how much what
I'm inspired to do and what I love to do
means to me. Now, I don't mean I don't love them,
but that's the only way I can convey my message,
Like this means that much to me, you know.

Speaker 8 (43:29):
I think at one point.

Speaker 7 (43:34):
I remember having a casual conversation with a mutual friend
and they referred to my music as just a hobby.
And it took me off, like, nah, this that's an
insult to me. That's that's not a hobby. I love this,
you know what I'm saying, Like, I literally love this.

(43:55):
I mean, if you think about it, for so many centuries,
music just has this this this power is what I
refer to it as, Like.

Speaker 8 (44:12):
There's reasons why music is as powerful as it is.
You know what I'm saying. Like, and I literally I
love my family. I love what I do too, you
know what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (44:26):
And again, I never want to get to a point
where I'm just living and existing because one thing that
will happen for people that have to make sacrifices.

Speaker 8 (44:39):
You never want to sit back and ask yourself, what if?

Speaker 7 (44:42):
What if?

Speaker 8 (44:43):
You know, what if I never do this here?

Speaker 7 (44:46):
And now I'm sitting around and it's all I'm thinking about,
And now you're resenting a person that you're with because
you didn't accomplish what it is you set out to do.
And to me, that's a person just existing. They're not
gonna be happy. And when you used to say it
better than anyone could ever say, she said, the greatest

(45:09):
love of all is easy to achieve. Learning to love
yourself is the greatest love of all. And so we
all have to find that that thing that gives us
that happiness.

Speaker 5 (45:23):
That.

Speaker 8 (45:25):
Or the one thing that helps us love on us.
Once you get to that point there where.

Speaker 7 (45:33):
You're actually fulfilled within yourself, then you can give to
us other people. But you can't pouring the other people
with an empty cup. And to me, just for me,
I can't speak for everyone else. Before Jane Ford g
gathers if if I'm not fulfilled, I can't point.

Speaker 5 (45:52):
To other people, Well, I got it there it is
I know for me and I agree with you definitely.
I believe whoever you are, or whoever's put in your life,
whether it's a companion, whoever family, right, they definitely should
be supporting in a line whatever you're doing. And to

(46:12):
your point, you're right, everyone's not gonna understand your vision
because it wasn't given to them for their sight, just
as we won't understand their vision and they're gonna absolutely
we should absolutely.

Speaker 6 (46:22):
Support them in theirs.

Speaker 5 (46:23):
But for me, I just had realized when someone told
me what sacrifice was, I didn't realize I was being
sold on what sacrifice was supposed to look like. And
then when I dropped that base on the industries that
were feeding me what sacrifice was supposed to look like,
it's just almost like an entrepreneurship. Right, you'll pull up

(46:44):
in your hair. All these people, you know, Gary Vee,
I like people with stuff like that, All these people
that's hype.

Speaker 6 (46:49):
You don't sleep at all. There's no such thing as vacation.
And I get it right.

Speaker 5 (46:53):
And then you turn around and you see these people
dropping dead, or you see people that did all the
things that they were to do. At the end they
have nothing left. They have that thing that they chase
and still feel empty and they ran everything and everyone
else away.

Speaker 6 (47:07):
Or it's so for me, I agree with the sacrifice.

Speaker 5 (47:12):
I definitely agree with I'm not giving up something because
someone doesn't support it.

Speaker 6 (47:16):
That's a whole church story.

Speaker 5 (47:17):
I know a lot of people that because of church,
they walked away from so much talent, they could have
had they sacrifice from that. But what I'm saying is
I learned to tune into myself to define what sacrifice
is versus what entrepreneurship tells you what sacrifice is. Entertainment
tells me what sacrifice is, sports tell me, you know, education.

Speaker 6 (47:38):
I just had to learn that.

Speaker 5 (47:39):
So I wanted to know if your sacrifice is something
that's learned from music industry and film industry, you hear
what Michael B. Jordan did, or is it something that
you started realizing in your journey that I started this way.
I still do sacrifice, but it may look differently.

Speaker 8 (47:58):
A little bit of both, a little bit of both.
But a lot of my.

Speaker 7 (48:07):
Approach comes from a place where I'm not waiting for
anyone to extend opportunities to me. You know, I'm cream
my own opportunities. So that's that's where I am. That's
where thing pretty much comes from with me.

Speaker 5 (48:28):
That's a good segue to my next question, what is
the biggest challenge? And I want to talk about filmmakers now,
I want to go We've talked about music a lot.
You have a project coming out, so I want to
kind of segue and this is a beautiful thing about
being multitalented. We can talk about both. We talk about music.
These questions I just want to dress towards your filmmaking.
Like you said, you're not waiting for opportunities. You're going
to create them or you're going to go out there

(48:50):
and make it happen. But what is the biggest challenge
you see for aspiring filmmakers who who want to uh,
you know, turn their art into a full time situations,
full time business. Because you said, this is where I'm
at struggling with that.

Speaker 6 (49:07):
So what is the struggle? What is the challenge for
aspiring filmmakers.

Speaker 7 (49:12):
Well, what I've seen, what I've have personally experienced, is
it appears that you alwould have to prove yourself first
before the real support actually presents itself. And I mean
it starts with things as simple as let's just say,
with funding. You know, you know, people want to see, hey,

(49:38):
what have you done up to this point here your
startup business? I mean that what do you mean what
I've done? You know, everyone has to have their starting point,
but the lack of support that's not there early on

(49:58):
it's always the biggest which is why myself and individuals
like myself. You have to bet on yourself and you
have to be willing to invest in yourself because if
you don't invest in yourself while with anybody else. So
that's the first thing that I pretty much learned. On

(50:19):
top of that there, I mean, there's been a lot
of patients that I've had to exercise too, a lot
of patients, a lot of temperance.

Speaker 8 (50:31):
Because you're gonna.

Speaker 7 (50:32):
Hear a lot of knows You're gonna deal with a
lot of nacaers, and you're gonna actually be faced with
a lot of individuals that are just waiting to say
I told you so, I told you you couldn't do this.

Speaker 8 (50:53):
And the thing about me is I'm a different breed.

Speaker 7 (50:57):
Like one of the things that no one ever wants
to tell j Ford g gathers is you can't do
this or that because you're gonna take me off and
I'm approve you wrong in the worse way because I
have a different type of mindset. One of the scriptures
that I kind of live by is the Earth is
the Lord in the fullness thereof That mean he owned everything.
I tell people all the time, Like God loves the

(51:18):
chocolate brother here, he love everybody but he love him
from Jay Gallers, he loves.

Speaker 8 (51:23):
And I don't say that the arrogance.

Speaker 6 (51:27):
No, we all should be saying exactly what you're saying.

Speaker 7 (51:29):
I said that confidence. Yeah, of the time, all the
times he showed up for me time and time again.
I understand that people, places and things are just resources.
But when a person really understands and grasp that anything
that I need, God and give it to me because

(51:49):
I'm his son, you his daughter.

Speaker 8 (51:52):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 7 (51:53):
You have not because you asked now and he you know,
His will is for us to be prosperous, that is
well for our lives.

Speaker 8 (52:03):
And it looks that looks different to a lot of
different individuals. You know what I'm saying. But I just
know with me that I was never built to be
metrocre uh. That's just not my mindset.

Speaker 7 (52:19):
Like one of my biggest philosophis is when people, when
you hear people say that the sky's the limit, I'm
here to put everybody on notice that that is a lie.
Be all a free game here. The sky is not
the limit. When you get out of space, there are
other planets and dimensions. We ain't even talk Captain too
and we ain't even talking about touching the heavens, the

(52:42):
other planets and dimensions out there. You got the audacity
to say the sky's the limit. Nah, there are no limits.
The only limits are there are the limitations that will
allow people to put on us.

Speaker 8 (52:53):
And that's something that I absolutely refuse to do.

Speaker 6 (52:57):
And so and I agree with you.

Speaker 5 (53:02):
Definitely on we have everything that we need within us
already to accomplish whatever.

Speaker 6 (53:07):
And you say you have not because you ask not.

Speaker 5 (53:09):
And I would like to go farther with that, because
a lot of time we ask for things and we
don't get that thing we ask for. It's because we
got to look at the totality of the prayer and
meditation that we're asking. Right, we may ask to be
the highest version of ourselves and then ask for something
we're not going to get that something that doesn't align
with being the highest version of ourselves. So sometimes the

(53:31):
things that we ask for and we don't get is
because we're getting the highest thing we ask for, which
is the best for ourselves. So those nose may have
saved our lives changed in a different direction, have cultivated
that seed that's within us and made us become that
nurturing ground to continue to grow that seed so that

(53:53):
no is constant soiling for another seed. So a lot
of times people say, oh, I ask this, and I
believe what unweah wavering faith in this that that doesn't matter,
like please, all that prayer is not happening. One is
because you already ask for your best life. Though you
already ask for the best situation. You already ask for

(54:13):
your freedom. And that other thing you may be asking
for in your limited human mind is a thing that
will cancel out for the highest ask that you've made.
That's what I've learned personally in my life, and I
learned to start saying thank you for that that didn't
happen this way. That means that one that highest ask
I still have is still right there for me to

(54:36):
live my best life yet and the yes is and
also my condition that I become. When I'm ready for that,
those other things will come. I just wanted to add
that part to it. When people say, oh, I ask,
and you said, what's the most challenging thing, And I've
been asking it didn't happen. But you also ask for
their best opportunity. So that's why you probably didn't see
that all right, So I like that you said proof

(54:57):
of concept. I've been This is what I tell individuals.
I don't care what what arena you're in. When you
see or you deal with some of those challenges, it's
because you got to show proof of concept and to
your point, and that'st in yourself.

Speaker 6 (55:13):
A lot of times we just say I know I'm talented.
I want this out here. Someone come see me.

Speaker 5 (55:18):
I'm talented. It doesn't that's not how it is. Show
your proof of concept. That's you know, like study, show
yourself approved.

Speaker 6 (55:26):
But also.

Speaker 5 (55:29):
What I'm seeing it's not new, but it's more now
and so than ever because we have social media and
you can see tons of talent now. It's also when
you have those opportunities and you in those rooms and
you start those conversations of those people to put your
eyes on don't let them get don't let them walk
past you or get past you. You're put in rooms
for a reason to keep eyes on you, to show

(55:51):
that proof of concept. But it's also who knows you
and not who you know sometimes that knocks that door
down to give you opportunity or speak on your behalf
in those rooms. Have you had any situation like that
where you like, Okay, this was because of this relationship
or the situation that happened, and I necessarily didn't show

(56:11):
proof of concept yet, but this particular opportunity happened because
it was divinely orchestrated that way.

Speaker 8 (56:20):
Oh, I got so many of those counts.

Speaker 7 (56:23):
So I want to piggyback off a few things you
said started with what you just asked me.

Speaker 8 (56:28):
And so there was a point where I remember when
I first started.

Speaker 7 (56:37):
So I've been kind of meeting celebrities since I came
out the gate when I released my first debut album.
I remember doing my first album release and I ain't
at hauling any support, I mean even from.

Speaker 8 (56:53):
My own church, and I was hurt.

Speaker 7 (56:58):
Well, two weeks later, God had been down in North
Carolina opening for Leander Johnson and the event was hosted
by Saul Shine Anderson. I mean, like that was from
the moment I came out the gate, I've been in
the room celebrities, and I remember early on I'm like, oh, wow,
you know I'm meeting this person.

Speaker 8 (57:19):
You know, I'm I meet.

Speaker 7 (57:24):
Scrappy, I mean bow, while I meet Ah Chris. Rene's
a team uh oh man, The list just go you know,
Darren Hints, and I'm meeting all these celebrities, I mean,
just countless, and it got to a point where the

(57:48):
light bulb went off my head. Like I I initially
I felt like it was, you know, just a blessing
to being a room. But I quickly learned that I'm
supposed to be in these rooms.

Speaker 8 (58:07):
And so that was that's how my career kind of started.

Speaker 7 (58:14):
And going back like two years ago, just getting to relationships,
I met this one gentleman.

Speaker 8 (58:21):
I was a car salesman at this one particular place.

Speaker 7 (58:25):
And he and I talked about him being my personal trainer,
just do small talk whatever. He told me about this
individual by the name of Jay Jones, and so me
and Jay connected by phone. We briefly chatted text, but
we had never actually personally met. And so almost like

(58:49):
eight nine months ago by and I do my book relaunch,
and I reached out to him and I did.

Speaker 8 (58:56):
I had like a.

Speaker 7 (58:58):
Guest, a group of guests, panelists, celebrity guests, uh, you know,
and film book offers. I even, you know, brought in
a license therapist because obviously the place I was coming from,
I understood that, you know, a safe space need to
be created. You know, hey, information that you say here
you protected because they they're covered by patient.

Speaker 8 (59:22):
Client confidentiality. So I created a safe space for him.

Speaker 7 (59:27):
But I reached out to Jay and told him what
I was doing. Hey, can you He pulled up. He
didn't charge me one die his status whole and he
didn't charge me one dying. Well, well, interesting enough. What
happened during that moment was, I remember I was part
of this acting group, this class, and uh, paying money

(59:51):
to go out there and basically trying to hone my craft.
And so the instructor reached out to my manager at
the time, you know, hey, let me know what he
got going on next, But she sent him information, no response, nothing,
whole class and information. Nobody show up but Jay did.

(01:00:14):
And so Jay is also a one on one acting coach.
And so Hold the Spirit told me, support those that
support you. I said, I refuse. I refuse to give
my money to anyone that doesn't support me in return,
because one of the things that my late spiritual leader talk,

(01:00:34):
he said, money is a matter of the heart.

Speaker 8 (01:00:36):
You get a personal heart, they'll get it. Money.

Speaker 7 (01:00:39):
Money is a matter of the heart. And I worked
too hard for my money, just to you know, just
to for a relationship to not be harvested and love
being reciprocated.

Speaker 8 (01:00:52):
I just can't do that.

Speaker 7 (01:00:54):
And so Jay became a personal one on one coach,
acting coach, and doing that, he helped my confidence go
to an entirely different level.

Speaker 8 (01:01:05):
And because of that relationship, now.

Speaker 7 (01:01:09):
The Loss on the Reefing, he's the lead outside myself
in my film, He's playing the lead villain. And like
I said, that all came from a genuine, organic relationship
that wasn't forced. He love on me, I love on him.
That's my brother, you know what I'm saying. And other

(01:01:31):
relationships you know, recently here I brought on my director,
going back two years ago when you and I first
met the first time that I was getting ready to
do my film. Things fell through. Thank God for that,
because I didn't have the right people around me. I
didn't even have the right attorney.

Speaker 6 (01:01:53):
Yep, I didn't, and so I.

Speaker 8 (01:01:57):
Didn't have the right people around me. And now it
is a little over a year and a half later,
I got the right director. My director is Ryan Comes.

Speaker 7 (01:02:06):
He did the original straight out of Compton, you know
what I'm saying, worked with a lot of Hollywood mainstream talent,
Ben Rains, Pam Grill, Blair, Underwood List kind of goes
on and on and and the thing about where I'm
at now, you know miss you know Latanya Pops, you

(01:02:30):
know what I'm saying. She's she's another one of my EPs.
Car It Raymond. You know, she works over at Tyler
Perry Studios. She wrote rewrote the script for me. You know,
I just I got a lot of solid talent around me,
and I was very specific with my prayers. Little put
me in contact with all the right people that helped
me accomplish what it is that you called me to do.

(01:02:51):
I met you a little over two and a half
years ago, if not longer, and I remember putting your
card in my back pocket because at the time I
already had the entertainment attorney.

Speaker 8 (01:03:02):
But there was just something in me like I made
it hold on to this.

Speaker 7 (01:03:06):
And I remember I having a conversation with you when
things kind of fell apart, and then it took a
year for us to connect.

Speaker 8 (01:03:13):
You know, everything in God's time. Recently, you know, my
publicist Janelle, and so.

Speaker 7 (01:03:23):
God is so good because even with Janelle being my publicist,
she's well versed in not on of the music, but
the film industry as well. And I can't even tell
all the things she's been kind of helping her brother
out behind the scenes whatever.

Speaker 8 (01:03:37):
But you know, in all due time, everything will be
shown in real time.

Speaker 5 (01:03:44):
But yeah, no, I agree, And I want to go
back to what you were saying about the support. And
Debra also said, you know, I support businesses who support
my business in the comments. And that's one of the things,
you know, I prayed about and meditated on a lot before,

(01:04:05):
and I was directed to the answer of those prayers
and meditations just reading this scripture, not just.

Speaker 6 (01:04:13):
In the Holy Bible, but in other scriptural books. It
was aligned.

Speaker 5 (01:04:18):
But just to use the Holy Bible as an example,
any time that the most High had our you know,
exalted one, our profits, or whoever do what they're supposed
to do, they were instructed to go to the foreign land.
It wasn't in the place that the individuals knew you
even to your shoe to Jesus Christ said that was

(01:04:39):
a question asked on the family and friends would be
the least to accept you first.

Speaker 6 (01:04:43):
Abraham had to leave.

Speaker 5 (01:04:44):
They're gonna laugh at you, you, oh man, you're not
gonna have any My plans aren't for you in this place.
These places served where they needed to serve for you
to be where you need to be. You're going out
here to show, you know, my glory where everybody else
is now going to see it and can't question it.
So that's why I was directed to is that, yes,

(01:05:05):
within my circle, I have those that are supporting me.
But it can't be always thinking everyone who knows you
are you put out there are the ones who to
support you.

Speaker 6 (01:05:13):
That's not where you were meant to be placed.

Speaker 5 (01:05:16):
You're going to be in a foreign land to do
the things that you were directed to do, and you're
gonna exalt the ones that even those now that see
you cannot deny that light. So I started letting go
quickly of why don't you know me? And you were
close and you're supporting or you're hating. No, you're just
falling right in your place. And so I have to

(01:05:38):
make sure I focus on the place that I supposed
to fall in and where I'm supposed to be placed.
And it's going to be those foreign people that are
going to speak my names that's going to give the opportunities.
And then everyone who do know me is going to
see that exalt to light. I just wanted to share
that that was my answer to that prayer, and I
was lead led again to the scriptures. But in so
many other books it was all deale with profit everyone.

(01:06:01):
The people that knew them aren't the ones that supported
the visions and calling of their life.

Speaker 6 (01:06:07):
It was always the ones that didn't.

Speaker 8 (01:06:09):
And you know what, on the same note, it's Alakeisha.

Speaker 7 (01:06:12):
Two things that I have learned from me reality to
breede disrespect, and that's always the people around you. Yes,
that's the first thing. And the second thing was this
here I understand now why when people get to a
certain level of status quo, why they cut people, cut

(01:06:35):
off people's access to them, because while you out here
grinding getting from the mud, they don't understand all the sacrifices,
all the tears you don cry, all the heart breaks
you that experienced, they don't understand that. I understand that
more than anything now, and I have boldly told people

(01:07:00):
like I'm going to make it. Don't ever think that
my success or lack thereof, is contingent on you doing something.

Speaker 8 (01:07:08):
For a jade or not. I'm going to make it
with or without you, But understand this here.

Speaker 7 (01:07:15):
I even told another friend of mine a while back,
I said, look, you know was talking about a certain
level of support, and I said, look, there's absolutely nothing
that you can do to make me stop loving you.
Whether you choose to support me or not, I'm going
to still love you, and I stand by that there.
But understand this here also. If you don't support me,

(01:07:39):
just understand that when I do make it, keep that
same energy.

Speaker 8 (01:07:45):
Because.

Speaker 7 (01:07:48):
Now you have put me in a position where I'm
not going to really say I'm in I would be
in my feelings. I really think it goes beyond that,
because I guess something different, Like the Bible talks about
not withholding anything.

Speaker 8 (01:08:09):
Good from any woman is in your power to help them.

Speaker 7 (01:08:11):
So when people actually have the power of the ability
to help you are comfortable a particular goal, and they
choose not to because they're too familiar with you, or
they got their own personal biases, or they just generally
just kind of want to see you fail, that's kind
of like a problem.

Speaker 8 (01:08:30):
And when I see that, when I've seen that, keep
that energy.

Speaker 5 (01:08:37):
But the scripture also says when you when individuals went
into towns to preach the word to get that support
to say open the doors, let me stay here, and
they rejected them. The scripture also said that they're supposed
to wipe the dust off the bottom of their feet,
turn away from that town and never come back.

Speaker 7 (01:08:51):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:08:51):
And so yes, we don't withhold the good.

Speaker 5 (01:08:54):
But also when you don't have, when you don't have
those people that's not there and didn't understand at that time,
there's times you're supposed to wipe that hurt off the
bottom of your feet and say this is out of
my hands. Now I'm going to where I need to go.
So you're right, And it's not about, you know, being
in your feelings. It's being in your faith and wherever
you're directed to. And honestly, a lot of times that's

(01:09:14):
showing you the true fruits of those people. You don't
know if they're trying to change the fruit once you
make it. It could be those very ones that's trying
to deceive and destroy all of a sudden that you
do make it.

Speaker 6 (01:09:26):
So I do concur with that wholeheartedly.

Speaker 5 (01:09:31):
Vonda asks how do you stay motivated when your assignment
requires others and you get those nose and closed doors?
How do you stay motivated. Do you feel your assignment
requires others?

Speaker 7 (01:09:45):
Well, I was just kind of repeat something I said earlier.
The Earth is the Lord in the fullness thereof a
lot of times your blessings people, places, and things and resources.
God is your swords. He's gonna always bless you through

(01:10:05):
people you know here on the earth. That's that's just
kind of the way things work. But not out of
ten times that's gonna come from toward the strangers. And
I'm gonna take it a step further. And most of
my supporters have been a different skin tone than me.

(01:10:28):
I've had different races have supported me before my own half.

Speaker 8 (01:10:33):
And what do you make of that? I mean, I mean,
I could go on and on about that one.

Speaker 6 (01:10:42):
There why I think it answers.

Speaker 5 (01:10:44):
I think we kind of already touched on that when
we talked about it's not supposed to be the ones
that's you know, it's it's not supposed to be ones,
but it may not be the ones that's familiar with you,
And then the assignment is going to happen whatever is
supposed to make it too as well, whatever it's not's
not as long as we completely unshakably believe that what's

(01:11:06):
supposed to happen. Will we'll get those ones who hate
say no, But it's gonna be that time, and it
only takes one. It doesn't take ten. It's that one
time that it take that those things open up. But
to your point, if we're gonna be completely transparent, like
I said we are on the stage, you are one
thousand percent correct when you say it comes from other

(01:11:27):
skin tones, because one of the things I see that
I will be honest with, and I have this conversation
over and over with so many different people when we
talk about the fight and who we have to deal
with negotiating this and who's not gonna take all the
ownership rights, who's gonna do I'm more fighting with those

(01:11:48):
who are of the same skin tone of those who
want the opportunity with those very things we're talking about there.
And honestly, they're the ones who are put some time
on the front line to do certain deals or if
they break off their ideal is I.

Speaker 6 (01:12:03):
Went through this, this was my experience.

Speaker 5 (01:12:05):
Ain't no way I'm gonna let you come in a
different way instead of looking at it that I made
it through this. I'm here to make sure you don't
have to go through this. We'd be the first ones.
The most challenging negotiations I have had the most pushback,
the most condescending things I have her said about clients

(01:12:26):
and I had to put people in check came from
those we had the same skin zone. So we have
to be real on this. So I'm happy you brought
that up. And the opportunities came from others. A lot
of times opportunities came from others who wasn't because all
they were looking at was the deal, like we're just
about to make money or a situation, or sometime they

(01:12:47):
just have that thing that I just want to be
tied to that I gave somebody else this particular opportunity. However,
it comes a lot of times that happens, and it's
not happy that you brought that up.

Speaker 8 (01:12:57):
And it's the second part to her question about the
clow those doors.

Speaker 7 (01:13:03):
Make your own or walk through your own, or create
your own opportunity, you know, and if you have to
take baby steps doing that doing you know what I'm saying,
But don't ever just always remember this here One things
I learned that if you give a personal power to
feed you, you're also giving the power to start.

Speaker 8 (01:13:24):
You, and so.

Speaker 7 (01:13:27):
You kind of go out there and no, it's just
not something I'm willing to accept. You can tell me
no ten thousand times, but I'm gonna keep coming back.
Or I can continue doing what I've you know, been

(01:13:47):
doing the last couple of years and just creating my
own paths.

Speaker 8 (01:13:51):
Which one it's less stressful? You know which one brings
you more peace? No one.

Speaker 7 (01:13:58):
No one likes to ever feel like they're begging for
opportunities or feeling like they're not being seen, or feeling
like you're being unvalued or unappreciated, or feeling like your
italent is and being recognized. Nobody wants to feel that way.
So I would encourage you and anyone else listening. Don't
never let anybody minimize you. You know, God said we

(01:14:20):
little Jesus, and we can do greater gifts, or we
can do greater things than what Jesus Christ do when
he walked the earth here, And I mean that I
believe that if he said we can do greater things
than what he did when he walked the earth, I
believe that because he's not a liar. And so it's
all about your mindset. You know, what are you willing
to accept. You teach people how to treat you based

(01:14:41):
on the things you allow them to do to you.
Disrespect is not an option. It's not negotiable when it
come to me, because we're not doing mass. We're kings
and queens. We walk as such. We want to be
treated and respected as such.

Speaker 5 (01:14:57):
Bottom line, or maybe those were the doors we weren't
supposed to walk through. I've seen some people walk through
some doors and their lives are different. They were very
ecstatic and happy to be able to walk through the
doors that they seen were doors of opportunity, and they
literally were life changing doors that they walked through that

(01:15:19):
sucked the soul out of them. They thought they were
getting something else and it turned different. And then secondly,
a lot of times we get those nose and those
doors closed because sometimes we say we believe in things.
And I'm speaking like even for myself, right, sometimes I
may say I believe this, I believe this, and then
when something don't happen, it showed that I believed in
that thing that didn't happen versus the thing that creates everything.

Speaker 6 (01:15:43):
And it's so those doors not.

Speaker 5 (01:15:46):
Opening, it's constantly for me to look in the mirror
and say, are you really in that place? You don't
put your hopes and belief into the thing, and you're
really walking with your hope and faith into the thing
that created the thing. And so that's why I think
a lot of times for me there were those nose
because when I looked in the mirror and realized that

(01:16:07):
and I stopped putting my faith in that thing, something popped,
something just happened. It's this person just said this, or
something bigger came because I'm now I'm not gonna say
pass that test, but I had an awareness or awakening
in the reason why that thing was happening, and then
made a shift in that thing. And we're gonna constantly
go through that. There's things that constantly go through that

(01:16:28):
continues to strengthen me in that do you really believe
or do you believe in this situation? Or sometime it
could be either one of those things that happened.

Speaker 6 (01:16:39):
In your journey.

Speaker 5 (01:16:40):
We're because we're talking about supported unsupported. What do you
have where have you felt the most unseen, are unsupported,
the most unseen or unsupported and you realize, I'm gonna
tap into I don't need this, I'm going higher.

Speaker 6 (01:16:52):
Where do you where have that been?

Speaker 7 (01:16:54):
In my hometown which is alre relocated here to Atlanta, Georgia.
I was limited it there, family, so called friends, dealing
with a group of small a small minded people, you
know what I'm saying, couldn't think outside the norm. I'm

(01:17:18):
a numbers guy. One of the things that I learned
early on it was about public relations. And it's I
remember being in Florida and down there they have this
event annually called the Gulf Coach Jam, and so weekend
comprived like a three day weekend comprised of like country

(01:17:41):
music sayings you know what I'm saying, on Panama City,
the beach. And so I had this labrion idea. I'm like, okay,
like you know, Christians should be like the largest group
out here in the world. I mean, if a bunch
of a country Western singles can come together for a weekend,

(01:18:03):
you know, surely the black churches and you know we can.

Speaker 8 (01:18:09):
Nobody combine to it, not understanding that.

Speaker 7 (01:18:14):
It benefits all the businesses, the hotels, running car businesses,
I mean, the airlines, I mean the restaurants, I mean
the list goes on and on. Over the course of
a three day weekend. I think the revenue that came
in down there was at least a good one hundred

(01:18:36):
million dollars on the low end over the course of
three days. Like I said, the black community just they
just didn't get it, couldn't bind to it, or.

Speaker 8 (01:18:53):
You know, I don't know.

Speaker 7 (01:18:56):
I was limited there, Like I said, I just I
saw things through different lenses. I knew what was attainable. Uh.
And on top of that, there is like even for
myself as an artist, I didn't have a platform there.

Speaker 8 (01:19:09):
You know, I was performing on a high level. Then
I'm downhill work.

Speaker 7 (01:19:13):
I had made billboards as an independent artist, as a rapper,
as a rapper on a gospel billboard chart, billboard chart,
as a rapper independent label. Did that my own money,
but a lot of what I learned early on too
definitely contributed to my shift. That's another conversation for another day.

(01:19:36):
Needless to say, I was I was limited there. You know.
The lack of support was from the people, family, so
called friends, just a community in general. And I just
I refused to be limited or minimized by anybody. So
that's why I decided to move my family down here.

(01:19:59):
Since I've come here. There have been no limits to
nothing my hand has touched. There's been challenges, right, but
there have been no limits.

Speaker 6 (01:20:06):
Challenge is still always be there.

Speaker 5 (01:20:08):
So how are you using your current projects or your
platforms right now to you know, to push your career,
to make it sustainable, to have ownership? How are you
using projects and platforms? I mean, you've dealt with a lot,
You've been there, You've had opportunities and stuff. So how
are you currently trying to use those projects or platforms
like your movie about to come out, your debut, So

(01:20:30):
how are you using that to build sustainability and your
career and ownership.

Speaker 7 (01:20:35):
Well, the biggest thing with men's the relationships. It always
starts with relationships. And just going back to what I
said early on, to surround myself with the right people.
You know, I believe a little over year and a
half ago God knew that where he wanted me to go,
where he wanted to take me. I couldn't have done

(01:20:55):
that with a group of people that were around me.
And uh, like I said, you know, he gave me
ah more than what I'm bargained for. What's so interesting
is so let me let me talk about my.

Speaker 8 (01:21:14):
Director for a moment, I'm going somewhere with this here.
And so I went through a very strict that in
process when I chose my first director.

Speaker 7 (01:21:28):
Told me all the right things whatever, no disrespect, I
still got mad love for them. But a lot of
the things that he said doing the the interview process
just wasn't I didn't see none of that. I didn't
see initiative. I didn't see leadership, none of them above.
And so I decided to go in a different direction.
And so me and uh, one of other team members,

(01:21:50):
we were, you know, just kind of playing around the
different ideas about who we kind of want to see
for the project. And so she talked to one individual.
Nothing happened. One particular individual. His mom actually wrote the
original script and the way I'm big on Lord to you,

(01:22:11):
I'm I'm a very lower individual. So my initial thought
process was I wanted him. I wanted to get extend
the opportunity to him. And needless to say, you know,
the plan was to do it like a teaser trailer
and you know, go through the process of actually directing

(01:22:35):
the film. But he emailed me back he said, you know,
he wasn't gonna do either one. And my response to
him was, I said, I'm at peace with your decision.
I was literally at peace with his decision, because in
that moment, I said, no one can ever come back

(01:22:57):
and say I didn't do right by you. I did
what I was supposed to do. We all offered more agents.
You made your choice. I was at peace with the decision.

Speaker 8 (01:23:06):
So lo and behold. Not even three days later me
and my EP I told her, you know, hey be
the director.

Speaker 7 (01:23:20):
And so she put me in contact with Ryan and
I told Ryan my vision and we hit it off.
It just blew my mind how much we were alike
and how we saw out of out everything and the
thing with Ryan and what you asked me about the

(01:23:42):
path forward with longevity. I was very strategic about what
I asked God to give me the right people, because
God know I wanted tenure and I wanted longevity, and
I wanted to do things the right way, and I
wanted to do things on the highest level. And he
is an individual that has done it going through the

(01:24:04):
same path I have, you know, with the naysayers and
having to do everything you know from the ground up
and do it on your own terms, and constantly educating me,
grooming me just you know, showing me all the things
that need to be done and doing it the right
way and doing it with integrity.

Speaker 8 (01:24:26):
And the biggest thing that I want to kind of
highlight with this here too is.

Speaker 7 (01:24:36):
A few years back I was I invested in this
project where I put like a couple of thousand dollars
of my own money to this film project.

Speaker 8 (01:24:46):
And that particular director he he did me during and
he kind of screwed me. And I'm talking about, you know,
I got a family, and I'll put out a lot
of money.

Speaker 7 (01:24:57):
And so I remember riding downtown Atlanta and I look
up at the billboard and I see the movie poster
on a big billboard.

Speaker 8 (01:25:10):
What And I said, what the hell?

Speaker 7 (01:25:14):
And so but in that coffee, so in that moment there,
God reminded me that if he was able to do
the film with no intaggty, sure I can do it
with intagty.

Speaker 8 (01:25:32):
And of course, you know, I looked at I.

Speaker 7 (01:25:37):
Went back, and I see how much the film gross
than it did very poorly, and I said, you know,
I said, it ain't even worth me even going after
for my money because I wouldn't get anything. But I
planted good seeds back then, and so the law and
so on, the reefing still exists. I've done good about people.

(01:25:59):
Good has to come back to me, you know what
I'm saying. That's what God's world say. Otherwise that make
God a liar, and he ain't that Our planet good sees.
I've done right by people, and so I believe wholeheartedly
now that I have the right people around me.

Speaker 8 (01:26:16):
You know, me and you we locked in for life.
Me and Janelle we locked in.

Speaker 5 (01:26:22):
Uh see, did you freeze up? Someone type in the chat?
Do you see the camera frozen?

Speaker 6 (01:26:42):
Or is that I might end someone type in the chat?

Speaker 7 (01:26:56):
M h.

Speaker 5 (01:27:03):
If you can hear me, Jay, your screen is furroze.
And you see how when good information is trying to
get through us, try to beat that blockage. Go away
from the comeback in. All right, he was frozen away
from the regenerate come back in.

Speaker 6 (01:27:25):
That is not gonna stop us. That that's yeah, that
is not gonna happen.

Speaker 5 (01:27:34):
And I'll let him answer your question about the genre
of films that he produced when he comes back ree
But I hope we're hearing the thread through this, even
from j For's interview. Those who know who's been here
who's been listening, coming in and out. Those who haven't,
go listen to you know, previous interviews. Connect with those

(01:27:56):
individuals is the common thread, right, We hear relationships that's
really huge. We're hearing, you know, believe in something higher
and not just believe though that's that word is so
watered down, like have faith in it because it's easy
to say believe. I'm not going to sit here and
pretend like that's what it is. Sometimes there's a lot

(01:28:17):
of questions, things that happen, and we question. It's okay
to question, but have the strong faith and whatever it
is that you have your strong faith in, and for.

Speaker 6 (01:28:26):
Me it is the Most High.

Speaker 5 (01:28:29):
And the Holy Savior and all of the teachers and
prophets that were sent to stay in that unshakably because
I have in my life right seeing the actual results
of that.

Speaker 6 (01:28:43):
But you know, stay locked in. It's not None of
this is easy.

Speaker 5 (01:28:47):
And that's why I want to bring people on, not
who just accomplished it, not who's just starting, but those
who's literally in the midst of it and seeing it
happen and know that whatever your vision is, whatever it
is that you are set out to do, you were
given it to actually do it, and you're not going
to be given anything that you cannot do if it's

(01:29:09):
not happening. It's not happening for certain reasons that thing
the way you think it should happen, it's not supposed
to happen. Or is there still something that you need
to become the condition of, or you know, just timing,
Like he said, we knew each other. I met him
over two years ago, and he's right. He was in
a situation where he was being represented and those who

(01:29:31):
watch remember I told you don't always just go by
people's titles and roles in any form or fashion that
they're providing a service to you. That the individual and
he was going through situations. We met talking on one level,
and then you fast forward to a year and we

(01:29:55):
connected that way, but it took a whole other year
for this either like you're the one. You know, we've
been having these conversations, You've been pouring you know, into me,
but you're the one, and we end up locking in.

Speaker 6 (01:30:09):
He had us signed back in.

Speaker 5 (01:30:11):
I wonder, let me see he was about to give
it to you good right there too, And I wanted
him to answer your question about the genre but I
also had a question for him to see how he's
currently you know, funding what he's doing right now in

(01:30:33):
the unconventional way, or how is he funding and fueling
his dream especially making this project that he's going to debut.
I wanted to hopefully have him share whatever he could
with you all to learn something.

Speaker 1 (01:30:47):
There.

Speaker 5 (01:30:51):
Yep, there he goes, we got you back. I was
telling him everything. I kept him going because I knew
he was gonna come back and said, that's a lie.
Try to cut us, try to things, try to get
cut off right when you were answering and giving it,
we're gonna stay right here, and you was gonna give it,

(01:31:12):
I said.

Speaker 6 (01:31:13):
He'll be right back.

Speaker 8 (01:31:16):
Yeah, the power went out.

Speaker 5 (01:31:18):
You see, there's too much power you have in there.
You was dropping that power. I think said, can't hold you,
boy with hold up? What genre of film do you make?

Speaker 6 (01:31:27):
That's what we wants to know.

Speaker 7 (01:31:31):
So my first film project is actually a horror film
slash supernatural superna horror film slash psychological thriller.

Speaker 6 (01:31:42):
And that's the one that's actually going to be the
debut one. Correct, Okay, And so.

Speaker 7 (01:31:46):
The reason I chose that particular genre though with this
particular film is because in my book, our reference having
to overcome a lot of demons, so I wanted to
personify that metaphor.

Speaker 8 (01:31:57):
So that's why this particular film is actually a horror film.
I will be doing. You know a lot of inspirational
type films.

Speaker 7 (01:32:10):
I really don't want to particularly refer to them as
quote unquote faith based, even though I am a believer.
And here is why I feel like what I've seen
is there are a lot of creators who create those
types of films specifically for one particular demographic, and there's

(01:32:34):
a whole world or a talent, another audience out there
that needs to hear that same message. But because of
the way that it's written or delivered, they kind of
put limitations on themselves.

Speaker 6 (01:32:50):
And I agree with you on that. I don't know.

Speaker 5 (01:32:53):
It's about our existence. I think we get I don't know,
it's this weird energy for me when we get to
certain labels. It's about our existence and that story has
to be told where everyone actually hears it. But I
like how you said about the demons I had to wrestle,
and that's why I mentioned when you were gone. You know,
it sounds easy. Anybody's always thrown this. You know, you

(01:33:13):
just pray, you just believe in God. That the human
side is there's questions, there's things, there's real battles. And
I'm happy you brought that up. It's showing there's there's
the other side. Everyone wants to make this seem like
everything is okay, you know, and just do this or
just do that, and you shouldn't be worrying.

Speaker 6 (01:33:30):
No, you have questions.

Speaker 5 (01:33:32):
I've questioned, I have real conversations. It be the real
thing and like you said, struggling with the demons and stuff.

Speaker 6 (01:33:38):
So I absolutely love that. Oh ah, yes, right when
we get to oh no, wow, did you see that?

Speaker 1 (01:33:56):
Jay?

Speaker 6 (01:33:57):
You see right when we get to the juices, that
was too much power holding in there?

Speaker 1 (01:34:02):
That that is that?

Speaker 5 (01:34:03):
But wait before because I don't want to lose you.
How are you like, how do you go about funding
or even if it's unconventional, how do you go about
like you got the project? Now, what are some things
that you can give as much as you can give
advice some people who's thinking about that, Like, what are
some of the things that just think about when you
think about you know, funding conventional unconventionally, Well.

Speaker 8 (01:34:29):
The first funding actually, like I said, came from myself.
I invested in myself.

Speaker 6 (01:34:36):
Tyler Perry was huge on that. Did you hear about Yeah.

Speaker 8 (01:34:39):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have to invest in yourself.

Speaker 7 (01:34:41):
And those are the actually type of questions that most
other potential investors, even some of the financial institutions are
going to ask you. You know, how much have you
or you know, not only the sweat equity, but how
much actual.

Speaker 8 (01:35:00):
Money have you brought to the table yourself. That's the
first thing.

Speaker 7 (01:35:03):
The second thing is you definitely got to make sure
that your pitch deck is on point. You know that
it doesn't just look good in the pilling, but the
numbers actually have to make sense. Uh. In addition to that, day,
you have to have a solid business plan. And then
of course, you know we've gone that extra step, you know,

(01:35:29):
seeking partnerships, sponsorships. Yeah, you know, all the necessary things
that are are required to actually get the ball rolling.
And it's a NonStop job. You know, it's a NonStop process.

(01:35:51):
You know there are days where you know we're kind
of on the phone or just you know, working from
sun up to sundown. Me uh, Latania, you know, Ryan
carl It we'll work in double time to make sure
that this thing comes to fruition, and like I said,
is it is an ongoing, nonstar process. But I think

(01:36:13):
at the end of the day, once it's all over
said and done, we're all gonna sit back.

Speaker 8 (01:36:17):
We're all gonna be gratified.

Speaker 7 (01:36:19):
You know What's everything is actually completed, It's gonna definitely be.

Speaker 8 (01:36:24):
Worth the work that we put in.

Speaker 5 (01:36:26):
And I like you highlight at the point that even
when you reach out to other people, other investors and
things like that, and police also know a lot comes
with when you're doing bringing in investors, but the one
thing that they're going to look at is how much
are you investing in yourself? What do you have on
the table for yourself. We have to realize before there
is this asks you are the first investor into yourself.

(01:36:47):
You're the first one to show I believe in me
before I ask someone else to believe in me.

Speaker 6 (01:36:51):
You are the first one that they actually look at that.

Speaker 5 (01:36:54):
And even for those who possibly I've seen this of
course move forward without you doing that, they're already building
a perception of who you are for yourself, how you're
showing up for yourself. So they're already going to plan
on treating you the way they think how you are
are not showing up for yourself, so you already want

(01:37:14):
to be doing that investment to yourself. So you're letting
the world know, oh, I believe in me. Don't even
come at me sideways. But when you don't, they're like,
I'm coming at you. I'm gonna try to come at
you and get everything that you own because you don't
believe for yourself.

Speaker 6 (01:37:26):
That is how they're thinking. There was something, what is
the device? What would be? And you get ready, but
what would be the device? Feedback?

Speaker 8 (01:37:41):
Are you?

Speaker 7 (01:37:43):
So?

Speaker 6 (01:37:44):
What would be the device?

Speaker 7 (01:37:45):
You give?

Speaker 6 (01:37:48):
You hear feedback?

Speaker 8 (01:37:51):
Hey Google power.

Speaker 6 (01:37:57):
Testing testing? Okay, yep, it's gone. What advice would you
give the viewers or listeners who.

Speaker 5 (01:38:09):
Are grinding silently behind the scenes and they want whatever
the dreams that come to you, whether that I mean,
this could be universal, it's filmmaking music, just making it
that moment of breakthrough. What advice would you give another
creator that is transcendent in that advice who's grinding silently

(01:38:30):
for that moment of a breakthrough.

Speaker 7 (01:38:35):
You definitely got to stay the course, and you definitely
got to stay patient throughout the process.

Speaker 8 (01:38:39):
As well, like I said, it's work is it's definitely
a grind and it's definitely hard work, but.

Speaker 7 (01:38:52):
You got to stay the course. I mean, we're all
human beings, so you know, don't get a twisted up.
I mean, frustration is can probably set in. I mean
you may have your your days where you may feel
like you know how them guy's name, IM gonna get
this here done, but.

Speaker 8 (01:39:14):
You can actually you can do.

Speaker 7 (01:39:17):
What. But all that there starts having the right people
in your corner. I cannot stress that enough. And just
because someone is family because their blood, I don't mean
that the right person to basically be handling those certain
type of responsibilities for you. Matter of fact, I may

(01:39:38):
take it a step further. The best piece of advice
I was ever given was when you start seeing red
flags is trying to get the water with them sharks.
Don't don't do yourself a disservice by giving individuals more
credit than what you should when it comes to how

(01:40:01):
you run your business, because your brand is the most
valuable thing that you want.

Speaker 8 (01:40:07):
So you can't have the.

Speaker 7 (01:40:08):
Wrong people out there speaking on your behalf, you know,
making certain type of businesses. It's just for you because
that's a reflection of you. It's not reflection. It's not
gonna tak them as much AS's gonna affect you. So
you gotta be very mindful of that there having the
right people working on your behalf. And yeah, that's the

(01:40:35):
first thing. The second thing is you gotta stay prayed
up every Wednesday and me and my team we fast.

Speaker 1 (01:40:43):
We packed.

Speaker 7 (01:40:43):
We're fast from seven am the three pm. Now they
can tell me no and give me the middle finger,
but everybody's all on board, like we fast, even some
of the cast members. On Wednesdays we packed, were fast
from seven am to three pm.

Speaker 8 (01:41:02):
And we do that.

Speaker 7 (01:41:03):
Consistently because that's a big part of the process. You know,
a lot of prayers they.

Speaker 1 (01:41:13):
They they.

Speaker 6 (01:41:17):
What we see you here?

Speaker 7 (01:41:21):
Yeah yeah, okay, yeah, I don't know what happened there.
A lot of prayers come through. Uh, praying and fasting
is it's necessary. You have to pretty much. You gotta
stay focused. And the one thing I hate that I
didn't say from the own stot is is vision boards

(01:41:44):
are very powerful. I did my very first vision board
years ago and everything I wrote on it was like
twenty five plus items I put on that they all
manifested themselves. And the scripture I wrote on that was
so Becca chapter two, verses two through four. I was
about writing a vision, making the plane, you know, doing
militarian sure that would come surely is basically as a promise,

(01:42:08):
basically saying it will happen. And so I did the
in this one back in like twenty ten. Everything I
wrote on there, twenty plus items, everything happened, literally, And
so I did the second one.

Speaker 8 (01:42:20):
I dated it October the thirteenth, twenty thirteen. I put
two generic million dollar.

Speaker 7 (01:42:26):
Bills on there. I dated it same scripture. I stuck
them my refrigerator. Now I'll put all y'all here on notice.
I don't know how, I don't know when, but it's
gonna happen. You can put me on record saying that
now right here for all the public in all the
world to see. It's gonna happen. Because everything I've already

(01:42:46):
positioned him for, he's already done and already. So why
wouldn't he do that there? Because again, money ain't nothing
to God, you know, when it comes to topics of
like a million dollars, too many people think that's a
big deal to God.

Speaker 8 (01:42:58):
When he owned everything and I don't see things that way.
I just don't. So start with the vision board.

Speaker 7 (01:43:08):
You definitely got to start with a vision board because
with our vision people perish.

Speaker 8 (01:43:12):
You got to have an idea of what it.

Speaker 7 (01:43:15):
Is you want to do, where it is you want
to go, what it is that you want to do
for your life, and what you don't want for your life.
I mean, you got to be able to kind of
uh distinguish between the two.

Speaker 8 (01:43:28):
And do everything with it. Take it. You got to
do things the right way.

Speaker 7 (01:43:32):
There is no shortcut to successy under no circumstances, and
you may get it a little closely, you know what
I'm saying, But it's worth it when when it's all
over said and done, it's worth it.

Speaker 8 (01:43:44):
All the individuals that I know that i've you know.

Speaker 7 (01:43:48):
Set back and I've just kind of observed and studied
over the course of the past couple of years.

Speaker 8 (01:43:52):
The millionaires, the billionaires, you know, the taller peerage you know, uh,
you know, the jay Zs, the the Rick Rawls, the
Master p They did thank t I.

Speaker 7 (01:44:08):
They did things on their own terms. They ain't doing
working on nine to five. They did it on their
own terms. And I'm pretty sure, like myself, they got
to a point where, you know, there was just something
within them that was a void and they needed a
certain level of fulfillment that wasn't.

Speaker 8 (01:44:31):
Clothes and being meeter ocre. I just don't.

Speaker 7 (01:44:38):
I think we all come to that place where we
won't more for ourselves. And there's nothing wrong with being
ambitious and wanting more for life. You know, don't never
let any want to tell you, you know that just
because you want to leave your mark on the world,
there's something wrong with that. There Are you selling your
soul to the devil.

Speaker 8 (01:44:58):
That's a.

Speaker 6 (01:45:04):
That's a life from hell. That's the sets. No, we're
where we're We have our riches where we're supposed to have.

Speaker 5 (01:45:12):
We own everything, like we're supposed to be fruitful, we
posed to multiply, like this is the thing. But wait,
I wanted to back up. I didn't get the memo
about the Wednesday fast. You know, I do the stuff
with my clients so well. I have a client that
also was an inter entertainment industry and I did Ramadan
with that client. I went through the whole things I
wanted to learn, first of all, and second of all,
I wanted our conversations to be intentional and listen, I

(01:45:36):
lock in and I believe those who are a part
of your teams, those who are touching, you know, be aligned,
you know, be equally yoked. That means even mindset alignment, whatever,
however however you're moving. Only thing I will not align
with is anything that's not aligned with my most high
But I do those things. I did the Ramadans at

(01:45:56):
all that I focus. So you you didn't give me
that memo.

Speaker 8 (01:46:01):
But we fast on Wednesdays from seven am to three pm.

Speaker 7 (01:46:07):
And even once we secure all the final funding and
every thing want, we're gonna do it to the project
is over said and done. That's just kind of what
it is that we do. I felt like as a leader,
I want to kind of set a standard because I
don't want I don't want to. I can't do this

(01:46:29):
without God, and I don't want to do this without
God under any circumstances.

Speaker 8 (01:46:35):
That's just kind of what it is. And so like
I said, from the time.

Speaker 7 (01:46:40):
Now until it's over said and done, that's just kind
of what it is, and probably even continue after that
there because it's something that I had kind of did
throughout the course of over the years as far as
long as I can remember, and for a short time
I kind of got away from it and I sort

(01:47:01):
of need to kind of, you know, go back to
what I knew to actually work. And yeah, and like
I said, I can tell every day things are just
happening progressive.

Speaker 8 (01:47:15):
I'm meeting all the right people. I was at an
event last night.

Speaker 7 (01:47:19):
I met a distributor, you know, we got out our
cars at the same time, got to walk and she say.

Speaker 8 (01:47:26):
Where are you from. I'm from Florida' from Florida too, Well,
I'm from Atlanto.

Speaker 7 (01:47:30):
I said, Well, Alanto has my legal middle name, which
it actually is, Orlanta is my legal middle name.

Speaker 8 (01:47:34):
And so we got to talking.

Speaker 1 (01:47:36):
What do you do?

Speaker 8 (01:47:37):
Told her, well, I'm I'm told many production company she
worked for us. I'm actually a fan.

Speaker 7 (01:47:45):
And so within the first ten minutes out of connected
with this young lady, I put it in contact with
Latania through a group chat. They got to talking and
I took myself out there quasing, and the funny thing about.

Speaker 8 (01:47:58):
It was so I need you all to hear me
with this here.

Speaker 7 (01:48:02):
I wasn't going to go to an event yesterday because
yesterday was actually my wife's birthday. I went to a
networking event on my wife's birthday. Shit didn't trip. I
wrestled with it. I said, Janelle, gives me this opportunity,
is I need to see this the moment I came

(01:48:22):
to see this opportunity. It was some more time, and
you know, and I'm glad I went because it actually
it paid off in more ways than one.

Speaker 8 (01:48:32):
I mean there's a lot of other things that actually
transferred there too.

Speaker 7 (01:48:35):
But my point then is any opportunity that you're giving,
you can never despire small beginnings, you know, with regardless
of how small the event was for the divorce Wise premiere.
I mean, you do the math life right, you know
it was, but it was I met all the right

(01:48:57):
people I needed to meet in that moment there, you
know what I'm saying. So we can't lean our own
understanding think, you know, like you know, something may uh
play out one way and you know obviously there's something
entirely different waiting for you on the other side.

Speaker 8 (01:49:14):
So I see a message on the screen here.

Speaker 5 (01:49:16):
From a miss about I was gonna say, Debora saying,
you know, are there investment opportunities for any of your
music or film projects?

Speaker 8 (01:49:27):
Absolutely? Absolutely, we have a few. When I say this loosely,
we do have so we.

Speaker 7 (01:49:36):
Have sponsorships, we have product placements opportunities, and we also
have a few EP slots executive producer slots, uh, depending
on the level of investment or whatever.

Speaker 8 (01:49:47):
But that's something you know obviously that.

Speaker 7 (01:49:51):
You can you know, lead information with miss de La
Keisha or or email me and I can pass that
information onto my other EP.

Speaker 8 (01:50:02):
She's pretty much the one who handles all the logistics
side of that there because right now.

Speaker 7 (01:50:10):
I'm trying to get out production mode playing the lead
in my film. It requires a lot of time and energy,
and so the production side of things I particularly don't
want to deal with. However, I would definitely make all
the right connections to make sure that you know, everything

(01:50:36):
pans out the way it needed to. So yeah, you
more to welcome to reach out to me directly on
I G forgrap for g rap music, or you can
email me at j Y gatherers at for g rap
music dot com. That's j Y gathers At for g

(01:50:59):
Rap Music, r E P m U src dot com.
And yeah, I'll definitely.

Speaker 1 (01:51:08):
Be very.

Speaker 6 (01:51:12):
All right, sounds good.

Speaker 5 (01:51:17):
I thank you so much for sharing, but before I cuse,
I wanted to go back and say I agree with
you on the vision board really quickly when you share
with them as that advice is good. Vision board, write
the vision down, be clear, not just it's clearly for yourself,
because you're already giving the vision, so for me, writing
it down is just getting clear. But anytime I write
anything down for me that that is downloaded within me,

(01:51:39):
I always say this or better. So sometimes we limit
ourselves on what we can even see until it's absolutely
completely clear, So I say this or better. So that
way you're not limiting yourself to your your limited belief
in vision. So I always put this or better.

Speaker 6 (01:51:58):
Wow, I like that.

Speaker 5 (01:52:02):
Like that absolutely, And Debra says she'll lean into me
to lead that investment groups. So we'll make sure we talk,
loop you in, keep you posted, and please whoever else
is on here. That's why I said, when we come
on here, make sure we're not just here to engage you,
here to hear other people's story, hopefully to inspire you

(01:52:22):
to hear yourself in it, but also for you all
to connect my dream. My vision that I wrote down
is to create a platform, a stage, not to just talk,
but to continue to have building blocks like legos, and
it's going to be a community of like minded individuals
that are seeking to elevate. So make sure you connect.
Gave the Instagram, gave all the information there, and make

(01:52:46):
sure you make those connections because I also have as
viewers and I know I have as listeners here and
who couldn't make it tonight.

Speaker 6 (01:52:53):
But it goes audio. There's individuals that are in different industries.
You all connect, you all become your bild think that empire.

Speaker 5 (01:53:01):
Those entertainment industry leaders that we hear, they all started
like this using the talent. All the talent can start
coming together and creating their own thing, such as Tyler
Perry did.

Speaker 6 (01:53:15):
So make sure you're all connecting.

Speaker 8 (01:53:17):
And that's what happened.

Speaker 7 (01:53:18):
And that's one of the things I'm actually inspiring to
do more than anything when it's all over, sitting done,
what I want to do is I want to become
a blessing to others.

Speaker 8 (01:53:29):
I want to be able to give people jobs.

Speaker 7 (01:53:31):
You know, I want to be known as a reputable
business owner down here in Atlanta, Georgia that gives jobs
to people.

Speaker 8 (01:53:42):
Here in the state of Georgia. That's what I want
to do. I want to pay them a very good salary.

Speaker 7 (01:53:49):
Because I believe, you know, time is money, and I believe,
you know, obviously people need to be recognized for that
God given talents and abilities.

Speaker 8 (01:53:57):
But it all starts here. It all starts now. One
of the things that I.

Speaker 7 (01:54:01):
Love more than anything, it's people that grow with you.
One of my favorite models has always been less grow together.
When I win, we all win. And you know, one
of the things that I kind of use as a
blueprint when it comes to not putting limitations on what

(01:54:24):
I know is possible. You have other ethnicities from other
countries that come into this country with limited resources, absolutely
nothing or limited resources, and they able to put up
businesses from the ground.

Speaker 8 (01:54:42):
Why is that because they work together? That's not able
to do it? Because they work together.

Speaker 7 (01:54:51):
It's in the same sense, if a lot of like
minded individuals get together and work together, we can accomplish
the same. Thank God, there's no respect of a person.

Speaker 8 (01:55:02):
The same grace that he extends to these other.

Speaker 7 (01:55:08):
People to get their businesses off the ground, that same
grace is extended to us.

Speaker 8 (01:55:14):
The problem is what do we do what our give
some talents that's given to us.

Speaker 7 (01:55:18):
To reward it do it say you know, nah, I'm
a bary mind in the ground, or you know, I'm
not invested in nobody but me. We're blessed to other people,
and you know, none of us are one man shows.
We can't do it on our own terms. We have

(01:55:38):
community exactly. We have to have a community. And like
I said, a lot of these other innicities, you know,
the Orientals, you know, they come in. They have these
Chinese restaurants that we all go to ain eat, these
hotel brands that we all go and lay our heads at.

(01:55:58):
I mean, the list kind of go on and on.
But why can't we have those same type of luxuries.

Speaker 5 (01:56:07):
A lot of them come in because they still have
their culture in place. Us as a group, speaking of
Black Americans in general, we're figuring that culture out.

Speaker 6 (01:56:15):
People have defined to us what culture mean. It's everywhere.

Speaker 5 (01:56:20):
So when they come from these other countries, they're coming
with culture intact.

Speaker 6 (01:56:24):
So they get it. But we are learning it now.
And that's one of the things that I'm in charge.

Speaker 5 (01:56:29):
One of my charges is to contribute to that community
as a reset contribute and that is what this platform for,
not just to come on and just hear something, we're
literally connecting.

Speaker 6 (01:56:40):
What you hear is your proof of concept.

Speaker 5 (01:56:43):
Now we all make connections because you don't know how
you all end up working together.

Speaker 6 (01:56:48):
And I'm building a community.

Speaker 5 (01:56:50):
So what a powerful reminder today that the role to
purpose isn't always pretty, but it's definitely worth it. It
has to be worth it because you're worth it. The
vision we're given is worth it. And our guest today,
Jay four, showed us that you know, you don't need
all the answers to take the next step. You just
need You need your vision, You need your faith, you

(01:57:12):
need your grit to keep showing up even when no
one's watching or no one's supporting that you think is
supposed to be supporting. We already know about that whole
support thing now, right, So whether you're writing your own script,
you're editing you know, life's plots and twist, or just
trying to make it through every day while holding on

(01:57:33):
to that dream, I want you to know this, Your
breakthrough is being built in the in between.

Speaker 6 (01:57:42):
And I'm speaking from real experience.

Speaker 5 (01:57:45):
And if this episode, you know, this segment of CEK
Elevation moved you, inspired you, or reminded you of anything,
I hope it reminded you that you're not alone.

Speaker 6 (01:57:56):
You're not alone.

Speaker 5 (01:57:57):
Let's continue to build a community. Share this, continue to
share with someone who needs to hear this and who
needs to be a part of our community. So with
that said, that's a rap for today's episode of Seek
Elevation Experience. Connect with J four J four connect with
those who connect with you, Deborah, I'll be looking out

(01:58:20):
for that conversation about the investment. Thank you all for
tuning in and engaging adding value. Once again, this was
a powerful conversation. But please remember the more you know,
the more you grow, the more you learn, the more
we're gonna all we can all earn. But when you
share your show, care so don't keep this knowledge to yourself.

(01:58:40):
Continue to spread the Seek Elevation stage tag friends, and
let's elevate together until next time. Keep striving, keep growing,
and most importantly, keep seeking elevation until next time.

Speaker 6 (01:58:55):
Peace and progress, all right, and thank you for having me.
Welcome

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