Harness the Hustle with 2 Chainz

0:00I don't remember things that don't mean a lot to me. Like, if I'm out, I mean, hey, how you doing? I'm whatever, okay, I don't really need to remember this name. I don't have to waste room in my mind to try to remember. You know what I mean? I mean, I mean, you know what I mean? But then the music chase, that sounds like getting old. No, it's getting wild. That's it. It's getting wild. You don't need to remember, Natalie. Don't mean nothing to her. I have to remind you, Craig, you remember, man. I remember that. I remember him. I remember him. I remember him. If you're saying, I know my daughter. I'm proud of this weekend. Exactly. And I need to make sure she got her life. Everything she needs. I don't need to remember. You need to with all the reasons. Yeah, I love to put everything they need. The car, the driver, everything. This episode of IMO is brought to you by progressive insurance. Hey, how you doing today? I am doing great. I am so excited. Our guests today, I mean, a bunch of people just, their minds will be blown.

1:06Yeah. Yeah. Let me tell you. Different level. We've got two chains here today. We've got two chains. And I know a couple of brothers living in my house who are going to think I'm like the coolest dude. Yeah, because they, I have no credibility in my own. No, no. So my nephews don't think that I'm cool. No, no, your nephews think you're cool. They don't think I'm cool. Oh, but you're with me. Don't they think you're cool with me? See, this doesn't count. This is what I'm saying. Well, why don't we just just get right to it? Let's just get right to it. So our guest today is two chains who is a Grammy award-winning rapper, songwriter, actor and entrepreneur. He is known for his platinum-selling music that has garnered more than 11 billion streams as well as his business portfolio that spans restaurants, hospitality, tech and beyond. His New York Times best-selling memoir, which is sitting right here next to me, is called

2:06The Voice in My Head is God. Everybody should go out and grab one of these. It is a great read. It's a truth teller. It's a truth teller, but it's a, it's a fun read. And without further ado, let's bring out our new pal. Two chains. Two chains. I'm in a blast, man. Thank you. Kisses are honor. You're busy. You're a busy dude. No, busy. You got a tour going on. You got a prom going on. You got college graduate getting ready to go to college. Not one not college, high school graduate getting ready to go to college. You juggling a lot of stuff. So this is my daughter. I got it. I don't need your help until I need your help. When really, we could have fixed this in the first place. So my daughter, now is on her second prom dress. Oh, made no sense. The first one came, I never even knew this.

3:08The first one she ordered from overseas. The man at the door said he need money for tears before he can even give, I didn't know you paid a tear at the door. You even know that? You probably don't. I just saw him. I never heard of that. He came, he said, or I could just take the box with me. So now this is my daughter's dress from Lord, I don't know rush. I don't know where she ordered this dress from. You get the dress. You don't even like the dress. But you really get the dress based on a picture, which I understand. Cool. And then you get another dress that you love. So I'm happy about that. And then today, you go get some lashes. And I've never heard of this. You get your all your lashes done, but then you don't like them. So then you got to do, you know, so I'm just really going to do that. But I'm not there going through it. But well, hold up, let's back up for a minute. When did you start getting prom dresses without going to the store and trying it on? Wake up, Ripman Wingle. Wait a minute. They tap and then zap and then stuff, That is different, man.

4:08You know how they'll be using, you know, AI in a minute to put the, they probably already are to put different dresses on with the different, House, House of House, so you know kids, we all have them, we all love them and you know, that's the, here's the thing about that though, the fact that she's a self starter, right? That she does wanna do stuff on her own. That's, that's, you know, that, can't be mad at that. That's a good sign. Can't be mad at that. You know, that's a sign that mom and dad did something right. Well two chains, we wanna get into all your history and we really wanna talk about your best self and mom. And congratulations, you told me you didn't even know you were on the best cellar's list. I mean, I knew when I knew. But you were looking for it. But I didn't know, I didn't know when other people knew maybe, you know, because I just really had my head down and a very hectic schedule. Maybe a little bit more ramped up than when I'm promoting a project. Definitely if it wasn't more ramped up, it was in different, on different platforms that I wouldn't normally went to.

5:09And I mean, it just, it just paid off. I guess my transparency, my honesty, of course, my Devonare, into, you know, intellect, other things, you know, you're shining through it. It could net it. It means a lot for you to embrace your story and to be able to tell it in such a clear, you know, it's just you bring clarity to stuff in a very special way. What was the process of writing your first book like? So I came up with the idea to talk about intuition and how it's like my gut feeling in this divine guidance that I've been using for a very long time and really hadn't talked about it or shared it in any music, in any platform, in any interviews, almost like this secret sauce that I had, right? For example, when I started working on the book, I found my father was incarcerated a good part of my life, which we talk about in here. And so I found a stack of his letters. I don't know how I found this,

6:10but they were from 2003 and they were around the holidays. My father's birthday is on Christmas. So these letters were from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Now, when I read them now, they're over 20 years old, but now when I read them, now I have a way different understanding for some of the things we were talking about from the things that they were eating, the language that he was using, comparing, you know, you know, the things that he was saying as far as like, he wasn't calling himself an inmate. It was another term he was using what they ate on Thanksgiving, what football game was going to read and all this. But it was something that I noticed on the back of it. I always noticed this on the back of every letter, it was God's love on the envelope. I ripped the envelope, I read what's inside, but it was on the envelope the whole time. It would say God is love and it really hit me one day that maybe that's just what it is. It's that simple. God is love. If you got love and it has God in it. And so I started, that's when the title came,

7:11the voice in my head, it's got to be God. You know, you hear God, you're made in the image of God. God is inside of you. God is, so I'm thinking, you know, Doug, it just felt like it hit me. So then I got really excited and started using a bunch of my like musical resources to put the book together, even with the audio part. Of course, I read my own book. I love reading. I added like production. So on some of the scenes that I describe, you're here, tire screeching or you're here, sirens. And it's just, it just, I just made it really fun to do put together. A little bit of that comes from somewhere. Can you tell us about your mom who I got to meet on FaceTime? Yeah, just now. She was, she was gardening. Yeah, she was on the, she was on the, yeah, flip a phone around the shoulder. You know, you're not supposed to, you're not supposed to face down women without telling them, but I was like, you know, I don't, she didn't seem like she's hiding. But she, she, look, when you left the room, she's like, you got to see my yard. I got black mocks. We on that time, like, you know, you're going to need some

8:13more that black mocks, you know, it's cool to have yard talks with your mom, you know what I mean? Like, you know, that black mocks, you're going to last some. You better get some, because we had this, I did this for you. I grow up, you know what? I got a hay now. So anyway, we just had that conversation. But on my mom is, she'll be 76 in July. Her and my oldest are born on the same day. Yeah. Is this, is this, is, is insane. And, um, growing up with my mom, he's always been there for me. She's always been there for me. She's always been a support of anything that I've done. But a lot of my growth came from the nature aspect of just being outside, playing sports, riding the bus, meeting friends. It just, you know, like my life, my elementary was different from my junior high school. It was just different from my high school. I played on all these teams. I even went to college. So all of these are like chapters in my, in the book of life. Yeah. And you, and, and all of those situations, I, I, I assume,

9:18gave me this resilience and stuff like that, you know what I mean? Um, gave me a perspective. You got coaches that if they are good, coach, they could act as far the figure sometimes they have, you know what I mean? So just like those things, when I look back, teachers, it's some teachers that know how to be impactful, you know? So in my upbringing, there was a lot of that too. It wasn't just my mom. My mom was there. She didn't abandon me or anything like that. Put a lot of the, my teachers really came from like people outside of my family. We, we are definitely going to talk about who says some point here. But, um, I am pretending to be my sister now. And I want to know what was little two chains like, like, like, like your first memories and, uh, what that was like, what, what the smells were, what you ate, what, how, how you grew up when you were little. Yeah. When I grew up, my, my mother and father were together.

10:20I want to say to maybe six or seven. So I can actually remember some of those times. My daddy had a yellow catalac with a yellow leather. And he had a black catalac. Yeah, two catalacs. He wore cowboy hats. Um, he was a hustler. My mom, um, Eris and I can remember, dabbled in real estate, like property, um, long management, long officer, whatever. Me always the only child, um, and my mom, my mother told you that she didn't, she don't tell you this with a smile on face that she didn't want to have me. Like, this is my dad's idea. She, she didn't want to have kids, but have kids. Yeah. And she said, I hurt really, really bad. And my dad didn't want to help her. Yeah. So she say he like puts it. She like you come, she turned to the ex you come push.

11:21And, uh, she says, uh, so you know, I've been asked for like a brother or whatever. So she says, you know, she went on and told me when I was young, like, baby, you heard me so bad that I have my tubes tie, clip and burnt. How do I know this exact brain that they had you and burn? They know it is no way. I'm like, man, you didn't think she was like that day. I didn't want to see you. I was mad at your dad. But obviously, you know, when it became just me and her, we became best friends. We became locked in and, and, um, those memories are just like, you have those sabbibless stories, but it's not like any of the, nothing that you can, a hurdle that you can come across. You know what I mean? We had encounters with, um, the law we had encounters with, um, you know, maybe the neighborhood that we were standing in and what age were it just, was it just the two of you from probably eight nine, all, all, you know, and my mom, we stayed in,

12:25um, so when I explain certain things that are, are urban, like on this show, I will talk about like the word trap, right? It's something that you hear. And I feel like you have to, you know, just, you know, just be me, right? Yeah. It always works. Yeah. You know, we know what you're talking about. You're talking to us. You're not talking to the audience. Okay. So a trap, that's good. It's not a lot of audience in here. It's right. So the trap, um, the trap is a place where, uh, people come and they solicit. They buy things from this place. It's normally on the apartment complex. They come and buy most notably drugs or whatever. They come from that place. What I would like people to understand is that my mother lived in the trap, like in paid rent or a sectionator, whatever the heck we had in the place where people would come

13:26in college students, get whatever they need at league, whatever whatever. So I lived in a neighborhood. And so I say that to say that the neighborhood, it just automatically influenced you, you like any other neighborhood. And my examples are that if I was born in Hawaii, I would be like a surfer. Yeah. I promise you, like I think the whole neighborhood would like, let's go. You be the best surfer. You be like, be five, you know? All right. And if I was from Colorado, we'd be like, great. Let's go skiing and swinging. But I'm from a place where this is all they did. And when I try to explain like, you know, who I am and what I am, it's actually knowing that I'm standing in a place and my mother is paying rent at a place where people come and they solicit and they buy drugs and they want stuff. And now normally in a neighborhood like this, if the older people in the neighborhood, they notice something, they notice like a bright light in a kid, they'll tell them, you stay away from this. They didn't notice that with me.

14:28So they told me you need to come on out here and you need to do this to help take care of your family so far. And then I just like, I think the next time what I was doing didn't feel like it was wrong at all. It didn't feel like it was wrong. I did it. I did it in my neighborhood. I did it in school. I just hustled. I trapped. I did that. And that will put, that will grow up faster than a lot of things. You know what I'm saying? Just, just, just, just, period. The loss of innocence at a, at a, at a early age really helped develop who I was when you at 14, 15, you learn how to do money orders at the time to pay this Georgia power bill, whatever it is. And you got, you're responsible for this. And also I'm someone who just enjoyed school. So I wasn't going to drop out to try to, which was like a trend when I was coming up a lot of kids. I ain't going to school. I enjoy dressing. I enjoy the women. I enjoy learning. I enjoy literally learning. I didn't make a seed of college.

15:31I talk about that a lot too. Like on purpose. Let me say I feel, be normal. It was a lot of seed. It's what you mean. It was, you couldn't do better than this. You feel average, like, but for the most part, I enjoy school. I'm like, love a school. But still like, got this dark side where I'm a boy on that, I'm outside. I'm sitting on an abandoned car, but I'm reading my book for tomorrow. You could do it with your eyes. Yeah, I'm still reading this to both of you. I can see it right now. I'm sitting on the back of a car. Street light. I'm reading to somebody. Like, let me get this. I'm doing this. It's still like, and then people the next day, they like the teacher. They asked the question. I'm like, oh, man, you're on. Yeah, I'm excited. I know the amus. I can't wait to tell you. So music to my ears. But you know, I hear you talk about this and who you were. See, this was the part about me. Like, you said no adults saw the special in you enough to tell you not to be in the trap.

16:36But you had to have known that they were wrong. Now, you had to go out there and do it because that was the way of life. And you could do it because you could pretty much do anything. If you put your mind to it, you know, you could ski, surf, whatever it was before you. Didn't instinct tell you I better than they think I am. One of my favorite parts of traveling is seeing how locals actually live. You could hit all the famous touristy spots, but I always remember the little neighborhood coffee shops or restaurants or parks even more. That's the stuff that sticks with me long after you get home. I was back in one of my old neighborhoods for a visit. I was able to take my family to some of my favorite spots. We went by a couple of restaurants I love and the bookstore I frequented. And that's why I want to tell you about listing your space on Airbnb.

17:37If you're traveling at all this year, listing your home on Airbnb is not just a practical option for your space. It can also be a fun opportunity to show off your neighborhood. You can earn a bit of extra income all while providing an authentic local experience for travelers from all over the world. And on top of that, listing with Airbnb means your home won't be sitting totally unused while you're away. Triple win. Every time I travel and opt for booking a space on Airbnb, I always end up discovering parts of a city I would have never found otherwise. It's the little unique touches that really add up and make a trip truly memorable. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, a company committed to helping people move forward and live fully. Mesh, I've been thinking about how overwhelming big life decisions can feel these days between

18:38the endless stream of information, social media, and that constant fomo that kids talk about. Do you feel like people are overthinking things more than they used to? Or is it just harder to make a choice when we have so many options? No, I think it's a little bit of both. I think with so much information coming in, we just have so much more to process. And there's only so much the human brain can take in. And then, yeah, we feel inundated with choices. We feel like there are too many options. But most importantly is having a strong team. Learning to let go that I can't make every big decision by myself and I shouldn't. So I sit around myself with really smart people that I can count on. I let go of a lot and trust that they're going to do their job and bring me the information that I need to do my job. So I've just learned that it's no victory for me to do these things alone, making these

19:43big decisions alone. As the kids say, facts. For me, knowing I have a solid circle to talk things through is usually what helps me get clarity. Progressive knows that big decisions at any stage of life can feel daunting. That's why having the right support and resources makes all the difference. This up payment program falls under their broader open the House initiative. A multi-year effort focused on helping more people achieve home ownership. Right now, they're expanding the up payment program offering up to $13,500 each in down payment assistance to at least 200 eligible first time buyers. They've already committed more than 16 million since 2024 to help make home ownership more accessible. At the end of the day, progressive wants people to feel seen and as individuals whose needs matter. Because this is your life and it should be taking seriously.

20:48Learn more about the up payment program and progressives commitment to first time home buyers at progressive.com slash open the House where home buyers can access more housing resources and support to empower them in their housing journey. This episode is brought to you by Duluth Trading Company. I've realized there are two kinds of clothes in my closet. They're the ones that feel good until you actually have to do something with your hands and the clothes you end up reaching for over and over because they can handle whatever the day throws at you. Duluth Trading Company makes gear that's built to last. Whether it's their durable work pants, moisture wicking shirts, comfortable everyday layers or even their famous underwear, every detail is thoughtfully engineered for the way people actually work and live because you work your butt off. You deserve a brand that does the same. I'm wearing one of their shirts right now.

21:48I always reach for it when I've got to get some yard work done, but I still might need to pop inside every now and again to do some recording like today. They're here for the people who work their butts off just like they do. Duluth Trading Company shop online or visit one of their 60 plus stores nationwide today. What happens is when you're immature and young, sometimes people doubt it can sleep until you. Yes, you know, I can't see hands say that my self-confidence has been at a high level my whole entire life. I have felt like I had something different, apart from for sure because I attracted people. I could sit on the lunch table by myself and everybody want to come eat around. This is eighth grade. So I saw that part, but someone can project some doubt on you. You can feel that sometimes. You may listen to it sometimes, but when I became up because I'm around people, my upbringing

22:50I used to hang around older people too. I didn't even feel like when I was 15, hanging around a 15 year old would have been, there's no way I could have hung around a 15 year old when I was 15. I'd already went to juvenile. I was already like, I was like, you grown man. No, I'm a grown. I was standing and hanging over. I remember telling my kid that I went to somebody house, we like grown kids, whatever that means. I said some about center cloud. These people don't kick me out. I didn't know this man is like, he might have been 12 or 30 still pigs. So this late I never get it. Jonathan, if you watching, I haven't even been over. I go over there and we talk about this. My mom looked at me so mad. And my daddy been unto me. My daddy one time sent me to the truck to get some on and gifts in the truck. And then we stand in the apartment complex. So I said, he might have a chimney. Right. Nobody needs to leave this. Doesn't make sense. You know, it's just him. And you thinking everybody should be able to figure this out? Yeah.

23:50I mean, you want to play along with it cool, but like you series, you really, you're really believe. So I'm like, I say this. No folks. No folks sent me home, you know? So when I'm coming up, I'm hanging with people two or three years older than me just because I feel like I'm in a 10 grade hangover seniors or someone out of school. It's more of my speed or whatever. So when you graduate and you just out of school not doing it, it's easy for you to project someone. Me as a sophomore, a junior because you ain't really doing that with your life or whatever. Yeah. Are you working at a warehouse or whatever you're doing? You know what I'm saying? Let's go back to when you said you're talking about how in most communities, people would see somebody like you and say, hey, you don't need to be going over there. You got too much going for you. That was me. Yeah. I would you and I are not that different. Wow. I just had the folks in the neighborhood because we, Michelle, tell you we grew up in the same type of a neighborhood.

24:50It was, it was, I'm older than you are obviously, but I want our listeners and viewers to know that because people might think we're like close to the same age. He's old. He's 60, 100 years old. I was supposed to be a joke. No, I get what I get. So they steered me away. They were like Craig the same for you. You come up to the courts, gang guys playing everybody's playing. You be on this team. Stuff's about to pop off Craig. You better go home. Let's get you out of here. You somehow didn't have that and dealt with all the stuff you dealt with, but you circled back around on your own or with the help of some other people. How did you circle back around because you circled back around and was a good enough student straight A, you know, A and B, like you said, good enough ball player to be recruited, which I want to talk. What A, you team did you play for? I played with team Georgia. I'm sure I saw you play.

25:52Yeah, coach outlaw. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then like I, like team sports, help keep the team. Yeah, like teams sports, I've been seeing stuff go viral. Like don't put your kid on the air. You tell that stuff like man, but social development with man, you, man, some kids, you know, some parents got more groceries at the house. It's just like it's a part of like for me. It was a, it was a depth of the a part of my upbringing. And then another thing, when I was playing basketball, it was a God given talent. Like how my son has God given talent and I'm taking them and trained three, four times a week. It wasn't like that with me. It came out. I started playing when I was seven years old for an MLK in Atlanta. They had an eight and under team. I started playing when I was seven. By the time I was nine, I remember when I, by the time I was 12, I was like, I could hoop, but what happened was when I got in high school, I was doing the one foot out, one foot in and thing. So I was still playing ball, but I was still trying to like hustle for me and my, whatever,

26:57whatever the excuse is. You know what I mean? I was still playing ball and I did that. I did one foot in and one foot out all the way until I started doing music literally. And it took me that long to realize that you can't do both. You have to let something go. You have to share it all. You can't have one foot in and one foot out and do this and like, it's just not going to pay off. So with basketball, even though I got 11th grade out, I had boxes of letters from D1. You know what I mean? It was like me and my other guy, D.C., we would get letters. You know, it would be so cool. Coach would come out. And I remember lavender or Northwestern letters. I remember Tennessee, that Tennessee orange. I remember Memphis. I remember the tiger. I remember these schools. I'm getting these different letters. South Carolina, South Carolina State, Maryland, Maryland, Eastern Shore. But I'm still one foot out. I'm still like. I'm literally having days where I have a friend and I say, hey, you go to the court today. I'm going to stay here and I'm going to sell drugs all day. And then you have your one foot in, one foot out because you weren't sure if you could

28:02make it or was it a survival thing? It was absolutely survival. So you had to do this. I had to do this. I had to do this. I had to do this. And then like, when you, when you, it becomes like a brotherhood thing, this may be too much information. No, it's never too much information. You start going in on packages with your friends. You're like, me and Greg, you know, we going on a package and now this is ours. You know, you know what, Craig, man, you know, I hope yesterday, man, you go. I'll stay here and handle this spot. And you know, you go now, now, Greg is not better than me. And I suppose to be the basketball star, but I got to give him like a day off to go do some. And then the next day, it's crazy how organized it is. Next day, crazy. You know what, man, I hope, man, you going out there with the boys, I stay here and I'll sell the stuff that we went in on there. This happened to me. I'm talking about all the way through college, all the way through college, all the way through. I start rapping. I'm still one foot in, one foot out.

29:02And it was this, it was this one thing that happened, one thing that happened and it was, I went on tour with, with Lotto Wayne. And after two months of being on tour with Wayne, when I came back to Atlanta, I went cold turkey. People thought I was, man, stop slamming. I was like, I'm going to do it. And they did that for like a week. And I was just like, I don't do that. I don't do that. You can't be, I hit me. I had to actually see like, oh, this, this how you become a, I had a studio at the time. I had a Porsche, I had a, I had a, I had that. But I was still like doing it kind of having the same concept going on the road, leaving this with somebody. And just same concept, just, and I like this thing. Literally. What did you see? What was Lotto Wayne? What did you see with Lotto Wayne? Structure, discipline, very habitual. Same thing. Over and over. So full work all night. Work, work, get some good news.

30:05Thank you. Work. So work. Make sure to family good. Do this. Work again. No extra, no, no, no, no, and it's just like a level of professionalism. Man. And I had, I mean, I'm a, I'm a great at observing too. Like I learned a lot of stuff and just watching too. I learned how to drive a fire speeder. Stink from watching my cousin. I just, like watching the, the, the, the, the, the first time I took the trash out, I couldn't get over the speed bump. Like, but I learned a lot from observing. So when I'm, when I'm with him and I'm just seeing how he move, I'm talking about from having a chef. So you don't have to eat bad, right? You don't have to eat, right? So you got a chef. You got somebody that like can drive you somewhere. So you don't have to, to the lot of times with creators, we write a lot of stuff in our head or think of stuff. So just driving could be a problem. You just like, I don't miss my eggs. I don't miss the time on the one way. So just having those things when I got back, man, I got all that stuff in there. I mean, I got me a show. You know what I'm saying? This is what I'm in.

31:06You know what I mean? You got to put the right stuff in you, put the right stuff to come out to you. You know what I'm saying? I started just making things more convenient and I started being able to focus just on this and my whole life changed. And what age did music sort of, you start thinking and I know it's one foot in, one foot out, but you were thinking music might be a way for me. That's a good question. No, another good question. That's a good question. He's racking up. That's a good, that's the reason that's a good question is because most artists you see, they started very young and I had a childhood. I actually like, it was like, I had a, you had a childhood. A lot of rappers can't say they were going, so I had a childhood. So on one of these podcasts, I can't remember. They made me call like a teacher. Like I had to call a teacher on the spot, right? It was very informative. It was one of the most sweetest things that I ever heard about myself because she's never told me that her name is Miss Love. And when I, I got kicked out of school in my 12th grade year for selling cannabis. So six teachers wrote letters to get me back in school.

32:09I remember Miss Love's letter. Clear. About not letting a child go to waste and how much I mean, whatever. So I was, I called Miss Love and she remembered the letter and she remembered what the other teachers said at the time. And she said that I made her teach differently after I left. And she threw up a scenario that I only remember when, you know, they used to ask us, what we want to be when we grow up. Yeah. For my own, whatever. And she said that I said, I'm going to work for myself. And she said, I don't think, you know, I don't, I basically said, I don't you for new it. I'm not even sure if I had this word at the time. But I knew for a fact that the thing that I was hearing, and I didn't want to do that. So, you know, we would say basketball player just to get them off by a tear. Like, yeah, basketball, you know what I mean? But deep down inside, I didn't feel like I was going to the NBA. Like you feel.

33:09That's what I'm trying to tell you. Like you know inside, like if you were out here, like, like you obeyed you lolly got like, think I'm going to like you know inside with. Yeah. So, I'm not going to the NBA, but I know I'm not going to like being traffic at seven in the morning on the way to work with like a coffee thing. I've never seen it. I never, I never saw that in my mind. I'm not going to be like running late, grabbing a briefcase like being in traffic or coming home. Like I never with a cup. Yeah. I never, I never, I just never saw that in me. So, right. So it's older, I'm hanging with older guys once again. They rap. I'm just around and interested like this is so cool. So you got, yeah, you're watching again, man. They rapping, they rap, they taking photos, you know, I'm just selling stuff at this car. You know what I'm saying? But I'm watching these guys and they say, so then sometimes I would like play around like kind of try to like freestyle and they're like, man, you ought to come to the studio

34:10and you know, lay some ass down down. Okay. So I'm learning again. I see how you do it. And like the second time I ever recorded, I got so much great feedback that I told myself, huh. You might be able to do this for a little. So who gave you the feedback? It was just like, so we put a compilation, I was called Play Us. So we put a project out in a neighborhood and I also took it down to college. I went to school at Alabama State University. And this is CDs. CDs, this, you know, yeah, we were just talking about CDs, you remember this? Young people. Yeah, CDs, you know, we would try to sell CDs out the trunk. I was just trying to make you know what I mean? And I swear to you, people would say, you only rapping, man, I got it. It was I'm like, well, I'm, I think it's like I don't know if it's that way. You're here. Come on, boy, I can't wait. I ain't no lie. They started coming back. That was all, that was, that was what I started being like. Here we go.

35:11You know, so I started hearing. And so I got all the friends that's been rapping before me. And then, you know, they were talking to me like, oh man, what made you say this? It made you come that way. And I was just like, you really just kind of like talk about your life, right? You know, man, everybody's time. I've been through so much. I can do this. I can do this. I can do this one now, you know, and I had you ever kept a journal? Had you ever did you und, you know, I don't even write rhymes. Yeah. Yeah. I work every night. So I don't, yeah, I write every night. I mean, I work every night, try to record every night. So, so I go on, I go through my whole day. This is this time, I'm thinking about this. I think my mind worked. I go through all day and it just takes these little secret screenshots. And then I hear a beat and then it'll just make me say something about Michelle Obama for some reason. You know what I'm saying? Just put me in your neck. Yeah, just be safe. Just remember the screenshot. Yeah. It'll just be something. And so a lot of my creativity comes from just being literally outside my house, moving

36:15around, going places, going out, seeing stuff. And but I saw something where somebody had a journal. And all though my handwriting sucks, I was like, it would be cool to like just be able to jot it down. Just stop down. But right now, that's not your problem. I use, okay, so we go to the gym. We work out on our muscles. We do this right here. What's a brain exercise besides like a crossword puzzle, right? So for me, my brain exercise or my brain push up or pull up is that I remember this stuff that I'm putting in my head. It's like I still try to remember, use my mind. Like you know what I'm saying? And I talk about my brain a lot like gigabyte and how I don't have as much room left. So I don't remember things that don't mean a lot to me. Or like, if I'm out, I mean, hey, how you doing? Whatever, okay, I don't really need to remember this name. I don't have to like waste room in my mind to try to remember.

37:19I mean, I hate nights of year old, but then I was like, that sounds like getting old. Now it's getting wild. That's it. It's getting wild. I don't need to remember. Don't mean that until I have somebody you create, you remember, man. You're like, I don't remember that. I remember him for this. If it's important, I know my daughter got a problem this weekend. And I need to make sure she got her. Everything she needs. I don't need to remember. You need to with all the reasons. Yeah, I'm not with everything they need. The car, the driver, everything. But I'm not wasting my storage. Something that just don't mean that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you rely on the storage in your head. I try to work my, I try to use my brain and try to remember. And do you still do stuff every night? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. I mean, I do stuff and it may come out of you may not. But I feel like, create is we're so delusional. We go to the, we go to studio. No, nothing. Just a speaker and an engine, like news.

38:21And we go in there and we, we go in there and we tell ourselves, we're going to make a, we're going to make a song. It's going to change our life. People life. And we go in there and we swing hard every night. And sometimes it, sometimes it's a foul. Sometimes it goes or sometimes, but the weird musicians, like myself, I don't, people don't write for me. So I have to go in there and create. But like, most people if they write for you, just come in and I just say this over. But if you're in there doing your own work, you're one of the most delusional people on the face of this earth. You just like, okay, buddy, you like, all right, all right, all right, first of all, you know what I'm saying? And then you hope for hour, two, and a half. Just go in my little case. Or you know what I mean? So that's very, that's very delusional for real. That's a delusional job to have kids that keep wanting to be a rapper. Think about that. Go in and work every night. Okay. We need one. All right. You've done pretty good with your delusions. Yeah.

39:27This episode is brought to you by Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Again? If you haven't checked out the series, Why Did I Get Married, now's the time. The first tour on Netflix right now. And this next one is going to be so much more than just a movie. It's an event because finally, after 15 years, Tyler Perry is bringing everyone back together for Why Did I Get Married Again? This time, the crew reunites in Italy as the next generation prepares for a wedding. What makes these movies stick with people is that they're honest. Nobody's pretending marriage is perfect. The relationships get tested. People say the wrong thing. Emotions run high, but that's real life. And now you've got the next generation getting married and looking to these couples as examples, which is something we all do. We grew up watching the relationships around us and they certainly shape our own definitions of love. This movie is going to offer a perfect balance of wit and heart. Whether you grew up with these characters or you're just looking for a story about real

40:28love, this one's for you. You're cordially invited to the celebration. Watch Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Again? Now playing Only on Netflix. This episode of IMO is brought to you by our sponsor, Midi Health. I was always surprised at the notion that as a woman, our health stopped after childbirth. We joke at Midi. There's pediatricians, there's obstetricians, and then there's geriatricians. And then there's whole middle ground. This is whole middle ground where we need specialists. I remember, it was first term in the White House. And they just would come on. And I talked to my doctor about it. It's like, oh, you're in. That's what's going on. And I wasn't sure. I didn't feel like I needed to start taking hormones. I wanted to feel it out and see what it felt like. But these hot flashes were happening every 15 minutes. And it's this rush of a feeling. I think it's really important that women are talking about it because we're helping

41:31each other navigate the many, many challenges that come. And that's really why I helped found Midi and why we treat all these women at Midi Health. So you can go to our website, which is joinmidi.com. That's joinmidi.com. And really the website helps you navigate. You can book an appointment right there. We have availability in all 50 states. And you start your journey there. You can come with one question, one issue, or some women come and just say, what should I do? This back to school season spend less on your kids with Amazon. You know, one thing nobody prepares you for when you have kids is how quickly they go through school supplies. I cannot imagine when I was growing up going through backpacks as quickly as my kids do nowadays. But somehow once a year, it's back to the store we go, or to two stores, or three. Not to mention how fast it all just manages to disappear. The school year isn't half over and somehow we're out of pencils, erasers, notebooks,

42:36and 30 other things. That's why I really appreciate Amazon during the back to school season, whether you're shopping for school supplies, backpacks, lunch gear, clothes, or all those last-minute items that I know you don't want to be running around for, Amazon has it all. You can compare brands instantly and read reviews knowing that what you buy will actually last. Basically, Amazon makes it easy to get what you need and get back to your life. So remember, with Amazon's low back to school prices, just spend less on your kids because every dollar you don't spend on them is a dollar you haven't spent on them. When, how did you meet Keisha? I met Keisha in college. She was standing up. Out of Amazon. Out of my estate, out of around my boy, Twan. She was sitting up there on the hill.

43:37But she in school? She was in school. Pretty little bolegate thing, miss her mom. I said, man, he told me something, I know. Keisha, she from Atlanta too. I said, from real. She just had this complexion. It looked like, it looked like she would have on makeup, but she never wore makeup. And we started dating and then she would go to church. How'd you approach her? Like I'm him. Like, hey, you ready for this ride? I'm not sure what the word was, but I approached him. And she, she, she, she went, she bit. And you know, at this time I'm in school. I'm still like, obviously like hustling. I'm like, I'm in Alabama, but I'm like well known in Atlanta. Her mom at the time, you know, man, her mom are very cool and close now. But at the time she like, she won't handle this is the guy for you. You know. So then I like probably about Keisha car, you know, did something like that. Little get around, little pay a little cell phone bill.

44:38So the mom like, I'm not going to pay your stuff. I like cool. I got it. So I had my own places she had her own. And then eventually it didn't make sense. And like, Pam, to bill. So we moved in together against like older people with, you know, like, shacking up and all of that. We were in college. So while you were at school, you moved in together. We were in college. And then she would go to church. This was really still to deal. She would go to church and take notes. And then like, how light the notes. And then like, look at them later on. Like it was like a class. Like later on doing the week. I have a spiritual background as well, you know, I very much believe in God, you know, and going to church all the time is something I don't normally do. And especially now I can't last time I went to church was. Mother's day maybe a year or two ago and lower before the church was over. It was a photo line down. I'm like, and then they tell my mom, she just saw me in there and did that same look. We face on.

45:38Oh my God. You know, I just snuck in there in the back. With Keisha, we met then, you know, great friends. We laugh every day. People ask me to see like we laugh every single day. It's something that we're just going to laugh about every day. We came close, built this union, had this little family. They all look like us. So that's a good thing, you know, that's a good thing. And man, you know, really I'm skilled to be. I want to say that everything has been perfect, obviously, because nothing can be perfect. I'm I'm I'm never leave. Like you did, right? Like you say you you pick a good partner. Yeah. And I say this all the time to young men, you know, it's like don't pick easy, you know, pick somebody that's going to help you win, right? Because if you were picking your pick and your pick up basketball team, you would get somebody that could do everything. You're not going to pick somebody that just shoots and doesn't dribble. You know, everybody's got to be able to shoot dribble score, defend, right?

46:42And some I think some men, you know, you cute. And it's like, well, that you know what? Yeah. Cute ain't going to help you when you, you know, trying to raise good kids, you know, she got to have sense, you know, she's got to have her own hustle. She's got to have her own confidence. That means she has a voice and it may not be easy. She might not just yes you to death, you know? So, you know, excellence is hard on both ends and some guys want easy and easy doesn't help sometimes, you know? And it sounds like Keisha is a all around player. Let's let's let's note and two chains. Thank you very much. You got my sister to use a basketball analogy. It was really good. I mean, it just she said you pick in a team. You want to win. It was a good, it was really good. And if you watch, if you watch this show anytime, I do that. It's like, why are you always talking about that?

47:42You know, rubbed off or that was a good one. That was a really good analogy too. Like you got to pick the right team. You want to win and and and I wear her on it. And he's from a family aspect. So, so now I'm going to be my sister. So, talk about your fashion because I'm, you know, I'm trying to, you know, tall tall, you got the, you know, we are red. That's you, that's already a W in the column. You tall. Yes. You know, I'm saying you tall. You should be able to look good and everything. Yeah. So, you tall. Now it's about finding out as we age and body does different little proportions and stuff. It's about you finding out what, what kind of lay on you the right way and make you feel comfortable. You know what I'm saying? And is it tight bag is it swears is it t shirt is it just, you know, what it is. And for me, I'm tall. Dark has some smart all those things. And I have just always been into fashion ever since I was a kid. I've just always been in, I've always cared. Like a lot of people like don't care with it, but I've always just cared today.

48:47I went, you know, a little green, little pop. That little brown too. I mean, that was a creative, that's a creative, put that together right there. I gave myself a high five. I went in the mirror. I was like, this is good because I know I was coming on the shore. So, I didn't want to be, I didn't want to be. You know what I'm saying? You know, I know because they sent something out to my, don't be wearing jurid and plain and make noise. When I say, who jurid that is? Because my jurid don't make noise. That stuff come like the bubble gum scene. If it's making out kind of, my stuff don't, I said they must have sent in that to some other rapper. I mean, I'm going to separate myself early on on my stuff. Don't make that kind of noise. But, you know, it's just a day. It's a beautiful day out here in Southern California. So I, you know, I did about 40 push-ups this morning. So, it's like, we're going to let the guns out. It's like, you're so much lighter. You're going to do this, you can do this, you can do this at the foot of your bed. And, but I, the voice, it's crazy because I listen to the voice in my head when I'm putting

49:49clothes on. I listen to everything. It probably could be annoying to a, and that was for about listening to it for everything. Like, man, listen, I'm just telling me to do this. My, I can see my closet in my head. I can go, it's just like, it's the widest thing. So with this, I guess circling back to the book, I use, or this voice is just a part of most decisions that I make. So the voice literally, literally told me to put this on today. And I guess it, it worked out. Right again. Some are maybe close to ending, but I'm still spending quite a bit of time on my feet, walking around, traveling, trying to squeeze every last bit out of this nice weather. So I appreciate anything that makes all of that a little more comfortable. Bombuses my go-to for socks. They're soft and cushioned where you need it.

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52:54Taking Foundeo with an insulin or sulfonyluria may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include diarrhea, nausea and vomiting which can cause dehydration and may cause kidney problems. Once daily Foundeo is available by prescription only in 0.8 milligram, 2.5 milligram, 5.5 milligram, 9 milligram, 14.5 milligram and 17.2 milligram tablets. Learn more at foundeo.lily.com or call 1-800-LilyRx. Now is perfect to talk to your doctor about Foundeo. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance, a company committed to helping people move forward and live fully. When I first became a homeowner, I was just absolutely racked with nerves. We waited until we saved up every single penny for that down payment. We weren't taking any chances. And today's home buyers are dealing with even bigger challenges than we had back in the

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54:58I've always admired people who bet on themselves, the friend who starts roasting coffee in their garage, the side hustle cake decorator, my wife Kelly, she loves flipping my old sports merch online. It's very fun to watch. Inevitably anyone who wants to sell something online comes across the big question, how do I actually do this? That's where Shopify comes in. Shopify is a platform built to help people start, run and grow a business. You own your storefront, your brand and your customer relationships, but Shopify helps put your products in front of people wherever they're already shopping. From Google and YouTube to social media, the shop app and more. The hardest part of entrepreneurship is usually taking that first step. The tools exist, the customers are out there, sometimes all that's left is deciding to go for it. Take advantage of the fact that this is the easiest time to start your business in history.

55:59Head on over to Shopify.com slash IMO and do something that millions of people wish they could have done. Well I know you brought a song for us to listen to, but before we get to the song we have a listener question that we tend to. We try to offer some help. We try and give some advice, some help. Some opinions. That's the, that's the O in IMO. And this question is from Leo. I've been interviewing for jobs for the past few months and the last opportunity I got pretty far in the interview process before being told I didn't get the job. Myself confidence has definitely taken a hit and now I either overthink everything or avoid trying all together because I don't want to fail again. I keep wondering if this says something about my abilities or if I'm just not cut out for what I'm aiming for. Even though I know logically that failure is a normal part of growth, I can't seem to shake the feeling that I've fallen behind or let myself down.

57:02How do you reframe failure in a way that actually helps you grow instead of letting it chip away at your confidence and how can you get back to taking risks when failure starts to feel more discouraging than motivating from Leo who's in his 20s in Ohio? First of all, I would tell Leo that that is normal to feel to have some type of feeling. If you don't get something that you that you want it, I can also tell Leo that he was qualified enough to be on their radar but may not be what they needed at the time. I can also tell him that a company should not let him know what his value is. The company didn't define his full potential.

58:04They literally could have been looking for something else. Also, the confidence comes when you're short for yourself. It's not about the wins. You make these promises to yourself and you really follow up on your promises. I think that's how you build confidence. You will qualify. That's me about the civil line. You got to take optimism even from the nose. Even with that, you will qualify. You will on the radar. It's not a complete loss. It's a lesson. It's something that's also an experience that you can take with you. It's something that you can look back on and say, I don't know if it's like how you came to the young time. The smaller things, I think you start looking at the smaller things when you don't get something that you want. You take that and you just add to it. Really, the failure part is something that just don't be on resumes.

59:07Everybody that you see up here has failed before. Everybody that you look up to has failed before we just don't like. Life is about highlights. That's how social media has. You're looking at even the people that you look up to fail more than you. Me, I fail more than I can even count. So you know that the people that you look up to fail too, but they didn't let that be permanent and they didn't let that define them at that moment. At 20 something years old, are you serious? You know how much stuff and how much growth and how much opportunity and the way you don't get the opportunities by being down on yourself, feeling sorry for yourself and just staying in the house. Get out, lose your mingle, meet and greet. Man, God just may have something else that's better for you, but you can't quit and give up right now. This is a part of life. It has to have these little moments that discourage you. It's like it's called life. I know people don't get it, but that's the legit part of life. This is the discouraging part that let me down, feeling that's so much part of life.

1:00:07But you come out of this way stronger than you come in and you learn and you don't, the fact that you were considered, let's you know that you have a place in trying to do whatever you're trying to do. Well said. Yeah. That's my opinion. That is a beautiful opinion. That's my opinion, y'all. It is. It's good when you quit some years old. It's like, quit. Like, don't do that. Don't. Boy, boy for real. What? Don't tell it, man. You know, and you be excited. You, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, rent your book. Man, I prayed. Didn't work, you know? Don't, don't, don't do that. Like, it's something in there. Even the whole experience of going through that, you got to take that and add it to everything moving forward, like the whole experience, the whole process, you know, it just, honestly, that's your, it's, it's character builder. That's what it is. The failure is good. For character builder. That's how I got here, I think.

1:01:09It lost. Se Goth House Bill character. Yeah, it sure does. And you pray, you know, life is like a big muscle. And you know, you, you got to build it up and every failure is like a push up. Okay. You know, it's a rep. It's a rep. You know, and the more reps you get, the stronger you get at life. And you don't get the strength without the reps. You know, you don't, you know, use another basketball analogy. You got to practice your shot. Yeah. You know, and for every shot you take, you're going to miss something. If you consider that a fail, then you stop practicing. You know, so a lot of us get through because we build up the muscle for life. And then we have a muscle for failure too. Because you got to learn what's your process for getting through failure. We all figure it out, the older we get, you know, and some of it is, like you said, is disappointment. It is. Okay.

1:02:09That's the first step in your process is to be disappointment. That's normal. Maybe to play in quitting. You know, maybe you tell yourself that because you mad. That's normal. All that's completely normal. You know, it's like that's good. And that's part of your process. But you can't stay in that phase. You better be moving on to the, okay, now let me give myself together. I pouted for a day, you know, and I was ridiculous in thinking that it was just me. You did that, you know, you know, what was you now you moving to what's your plan? You know, now start thinking about what you're gonna do. You know, first of all, I got to start thinking a different way. I got to turn that around. So I think we at this table, we've just been old enough, we failed enough that we know that it's gonna take a second. But we will come out of it. And then you, you know, now you know how to do it. You know how to fail. You know, you're good at it.

1:03:09And everybody's got to get good at it. And the more you do it, the better you get at it. And then the fear goes away, you know, because it's the fear that keeps you from the opportunity. The fear endowed. You know. And then when that gets involved, it's hard to shake that. Yeah. Because we can't hear that either. Only you can hear that. Yeah. And Leo's so young, I'll say one thing. And this is for the parents out there. Don't protect your kids from having failures all the way up until they're 20 so that they're first failure. Yeah. That's attached. That's better than me. That's it. We protect them from that. Now when they get it, it's such a traumatic experience. They told me no. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Tell them no, you hear that, Kisha, that's why they don't ask me now. I don't make sure they know what no fails like. You know what I'm saying? I'm talking to you. This is what I know. Actually daddy. Nope. I was just saying that the girls tell me that you know mom, you used to sell us no.

1:04:10I would be like, why? Because you need to know what no feels like. Yeah, you need to feel that. Especially for kids like ours who, you know, there's no natural no. Nipple Bay. We grew up with a lot of nose. It was just nose. You can't afford it. No, we can't. Yeah. That was the true answer. No. It was the craziest thing. I have a aunt. I have a aunt. And she used to say, y'all can't go outside. It's too hot out there. Y'all can't go outside to too cold. But that's like, yo, when is a good time to go outside over here? Because you know, if it's weather period, you can't go out in the rain. I can't go out. It's too hot. I can't go out. It's too cold. But it's like, man, they just had to tell us not to say. But you can't go out in too hot. I'm like, say, when kids run up and down the page. Yeah, I'm preparing you. So, yeah, it's the little things. It's the little things. But you brought us a treat. You know, you're going to make me cry. No, so this next song, I want this next song for my dad. So this song that I'm going to play for you, I'm going to play a piece of this song.

1:05:12Y'all, it's the hardest and easiest song that I've ever recorded my whole entire life. In my whole entire life, it was the hardest and the easiest. It's a song, it's called Pops. It has the Lute de Vendras. That's my father's sample. And I talk about what I didn't really get to finish telling him before my father passed in front of me in 2012 in the hospital. And I put this song out because after opening up this portal and doing this book, I realized even in his absence, how much he meant to me and how much he's still a part of everyday activities in my way of thinking. And so I put this song out. It's been out maybe a week. And I've been getting some very long text messages from men.

1:06:13I didn't know men very, very long, but I've read them. And it's been some good feedback. And it's just like a song for the fathers. I know we have so many songs about our mothers because that's just like Black Boy Joy at his peak. But like, I had to do something for my father. I just had to, you know. I have a list, listen to it. I know a lot of men out there don't express themselves. I miss my pops because to me he was a hell of a man. He taught me how to box cook and shoot out of kin. Don't know if I can drive the little grains. I went to my father's father's house, popped up. I asked my granddad where my dad locked up. He said he went to court. They kept him and let him go home. Now, I'm out here all alone. It wasn't the first time I ain't crying over spilled milk. How lad me when he seldom would you need, pal? I'm getting older now. I'm just trying to be a witch.

1:07:15I can't wait to I can cheer, which you give me your release date of coming to get you. Like expedition me, my mom and Keisha told pops you stand with me and he thought about it. Got him a suit, cell phone and got him a whip. That's when I was a child. So from this point on, I'm ready for the whole thing. Yeah, man. Yeah, so my dad, he's been going to prison. It's really suck. So I'm going to tell you these two little instances. And I'm just telling you, it just makes me feel the certain way. So my dad, the last time he went to prison, he was like in the 60s, little legit. So I was just went to part of my granddad. They were like, your dad, you know, your dad went to court and they kept him like, really? Like, man, it's too old to keep getting that. I'm saying, so my dad go to prison like, I don't know, maybe two or three years. So I'm like, by this time, I got a house. I got my own house. And I'm doing the right, and I've been right here telling them about, I'm doing this rap thing.

1:08:18But he not really getting it. And I'm really not probably explaining it well because I'm not a superstar. But you know what I'm saying? But I'm still hustling too a little bit and I'm doing my rap thing. So when he get out, me and Keisha, my mom, we go pick him up and bring us. And he got like stuff he want to do. Sometimes he get out. He need a cell phone. He need a suit. He just need, you know, he need a bank account because he got some money for all this stuff. So he gets out. You know, I'm moving with me. Like so the first seven years, we stayed together. And like the last seven years of his life, we stayed together. So he, you know, he's staying at the house and my, my pop started like hanging with my friends. And my, the studio I'm telling you about when we hustling all this, I would literally get there and my pop car already be there. When my friends come to the side, you know, your dad is, he do, he back hustling again. I'm like, this is just really crazy to me. You know what I'm saying? Like he, he taking it, getting his little package, driving out of town with it.

1:09:19And so when my daddy got out, I bought him like this. It was like $35, it was like a Ford tourist, like whatever. I'm going to road and I come back. And it's this cowlack in my driveway with a red boat. I'm so naive. I don't know who caught it. It can't be. So I'm walking the house. He should've caught it in. She said, I still don't get it. Of course she mad because pop ain't paying no bills. And he and here come, come back with new cowlack CTSs. Now come up, man, who caught his e like a mouse? What a car bought you? He snaps on him. Well, seven is on me on my run, round the four, dirt. But you think this is a barb in a jail? I'm trying, you know, he gets on me like I'm trying to live. I ain't going to be living too much longer. I'm like, hey, brother, congratulations on your car. You know what I'm saying? He gets his car doing his hustling. You know, he gets a black one. He trades that and get a white one. Pop doing good guy. He's doing very, very good. And then he go through, I don't know what he went to like Alabama

1:10:20for like two weeks did not tell me why. I just said, I'm straight. Don't come looking for me. When he gets back, my dad always kept his shirt off. Like he, so he has his long, hard on this side. He has his long incision from like on his chest. He laying down. So I'm looking, I'm like, where you get that from? You know, I have a little procedure done. Oh my goodness. All right. It was weird, but so he had this red pillow, heart pillow that had signatures on it. I'm looking at the pillow. They like, you better not come reading. They has nurses saying all this looks up about him on this pillow. So fast forward that I have a friend that's a doctor. And for some reason this little red pillow came up. And she says, basically that's not a good sign. I hear it in order to get that pillow, you have to go through a real procedure. Like this is like, you don't just get this from going in. And usually people who get that don't live that much longer.

1:11:23I lose this friend, not friends with them. I don't think we talk. No, you talk about, you know, get mad. Get back, pop star, go on through whatever you're going through. He ended up being in the hospital. So I talked to him, I say, I mean, they wouldn't put like, I don't know, a week or two. And maybe a week, it was a week. And I had a show in Savannah, Georgia, which is a couple of hours from Atlanta, Georgia. I sent my whole team and I said, I've been living and standing in the hospital with my dad. I said, if he says, cool, I'll be down there later. I'm in the hospital with him, I say, eight pops. I got a show down in the Savannah. He said, oh man, you know, he says, I ain't about to die no time soon. This is where he came out of his mouth. He says, my ain't about to die no time soon. So I said, okay. And then the next thing he says is, because he's sarcastic, he says, the dope man is my model, role model because I had a song that said, the dope man is my role. So when he say that, I'm like, oh man, I give him a fist pound.

1:12:25I give him the fist pound, he says, do it big, EPS. That's our last name. I never, I can see the fist in my head. I remember bissing him down, he said, do it big, EPS. I go do the show in Savannah. When I come back, the man on a breed, I never talked to him again, he breed on some, so I come in, I was having this around two o'clock, he started losing oxygen. It was just weird to say that because he just told me at 10 and 11, right? Mm-hmm. I come back and so this where he got really hard for me. He's trying to take the tubes out his mouth. And if you take the nurse is saying, if you take him out, you could die this way. So they want to do what? Hand cuff him to the bed. I know this man don't want to be hand cuff because I just know he don't, right? To this day, and I can't really even put myself there. I can see him looking at me saying, don't do that. If you don't have him, take the, but he can't say he did. But I see him looking at my reading his,

1:13:25so I say, take him off, man, take it off. And they say, you should take him, take him hand cuff. You know, literally real, I've never seen it for real handcuffs. Like he don't, you know, take him out. And it's a natural reaction, I guess, because some of this throat, they go back and try to get. And Mr. Obama, I do this like four or five times. Put the handcuffs back on. Take the handcuffs off. Says don't even know what to do. I'm like, you know, I tell y'all, I'm listening to the bus of my head. It's time I've known. I'm looking, I'm trying, I'm looking. I don't know what to do. And it was just that emotion. But some of the, I never just want to recreate, but that emotion eventually, you know, he started losing oxygen. The nerves came in and did everything they did. And you know, she comes out and she says, you know, if we keep doing that, he's not gonna be with a vegetable, you know. He won't be able to cognitive this. And we already broke a couple of his ribs.

1:14:26And I don't care. And you know, she come out the next time she said, listen, I lost my father too. I don't want to hear it, you know, I knew what she was going. Yeah, yeah. And it's just me. I don't have my mom, you know, so I'm mad at my mom. Like why you ain't come up here and keep you asleep? And I had this like deal with that whole thing alone, just a hymn going from. Yeah, making that call. You still going from zero to 60s, like breaking, going from 60 down to zero. And you know what I'm saying? And just being a part of that. And so that's why I felt like it was appropriate to align that song with this book because I use a lot of his lessons and some experience that we share together and there. And so I mean, I come up with this idea. I'm like, man, I really like that looped the song. And it feels like, you know, me and my dad never danced together anything like that. But we smoked together, we hung out together, we laughed together. And so I did that song and my mom was like, a moment. I'll let you try and do you know that that was my husband.

1:15:27Now you trying to make me cry over here and stuff like that. So it's been like, you know, a little joke in the house. And then I played it for my kids. Heaven met my dad. The other two kids did not meet my dad. So like my 10 year old son like, oh, man, that's the whole story right there. You know what I mean? So it's just something that I feel like I feel like it to do well because it's relatable. But I didn't necessarily do the song for it to be a club. Yeah. That wasn't this is your fourth therapy. Yeah, it was. I mean, it just flow. It just flows straight through. It flows the second versus it flows the same way. It just flows straight through. And I guess always this song is, you know, I would say considered my. Well, it's another thing that, you know, it's like even normalizing how you found out about your, I mean, that's a crazy way to find out that your father was dying. You know, that he never, ever fully told you that he was having heart failure and, you know,

1:16:30and so you didn't have time to process, you know, so of course you're going to be like, he was just alive. Yeah, he just told me we just fine. It's like how, how could this happen? What y'all, you know how it is? Y'all killed him. You know, black folks, almost. So this is how they built out a, they say this hospital, and I know I should have just everything, man, when it really just be daytime, going in and like, a lot of times like I've lost. So it's, you lose, you lose, you've lost people with that situation. My dad was like the boys don't cry type of dude. Yeah. You know, what you crying, this holding back to you, but the pants out holding back tears around him. And then just like when that happened, man, that just was bad. Everything that was bad. I need a windshield wipe. I need a, I literally cannot see. I just, I'm just sitting in the car just be like, like cause he's really like my best friend. I ask my dad questions that I want, I ask him something,

1:17:31cause I know you want judgment, that I won't even like say to a friend of mine, you know what I'm saying? So anyway, that's been missing. I happened and I buried, well, you got cremated, but we had his funeral on July 4, 2012. So it's been, July 4 is my oldest daughter's birthday. Really? I was in, I was in some church just blew on the way. I don't even remember how I put up. They say people was, and that, there's the thing. I learned stuff about that. They tell me, yeah, man, he played football, like he played football. And we didn't, you know, he just being here and stuff coming in. And I'm hearing some people talking, I heard cause he never, he's one of them people, you know how the dad is was so hard back then. They couldn't really say, they couldn't tell you, they was proud. He just bragging to all these other folks. Yeah. I'm like, the man ain't never told me this, like boy, your dad used to come to the house and boy, and I'm just sitting there just like, so that was, let's like, it was an experience that I never, I wouldn't wish that I don't know about it, but it's inevitable, you know, saying it was inevitable had to happen. And it may, it definitely made my strong, and we appreciate you sharing it, man.

1:18:33It's a, Man, you are, whoo. I think I got something for y'all, though, because it's, it's a thing. I got this book that deals with art, and I got the song that I just played. And where is this Ernest around? I'm gonna have something for y'all. Cause I wanted to leave y'all with something like this before I go. Oh my God. So this is art too, and I think I wanted to share this with you guys, because all the day is a piece of it. Oh, oh, oh, dude. Yeah. So, Oh man. Yeah, man. So you trying to make me cry, Hey, bro, they say if they're a pew to get one out here and there. So I think this is dope. I named it. She's one of our favorite. Oh, mommy. That's one of our favorite, favorite folks. Yeah. And he looks like the guy that did centers a little bit with his mustache, a rock hookler. That's me.

1:19:33Yeah. He kind of looks, but at the end of the day, I wanted to give you guys something because honestly, I never thought I would be on a platform like this from my book. I never, you never crossed my mind. Oh, man. That's too kind. You are, you are one of one. Thank you. You really are. I mean, this is one of our favorite pictures with some. This is one of our favorite pictures. You can see, we got everything in it. Mm-hmm. That everything in it. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I'm gonna be teared up. Thank you for that. Thank you for that. You're welcome. Man, it's, it's, it's been a gift just been this time with you. Thank you. This was a gift. This was a gift. It was a gift. Thank you. It's gonna be a gift to everybody who's gonna see this. You are a special man. Congratulations on everything. You know, and just keep being you. Thank you. Keep sharing your wisdom. You're gonna help a lot of people.

1:20:34You know, in another format, you're already do that through your music. Yeah. And it's just been a real pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hey. Hey. This episode of I AMO is brought to you by Koola Guard and non invasive colon cancer screening test. There are certain things in life you keep meaning to get around And for me, health screenings always ended up on that list. But I was surprised to learn that colon cancer is on the rise. It's now the number one cancer killer for people under 50 in the US. The good news is it's also one of the most preventable cancers, which is why getting screen matters. I've actually done the cologar test myself, and what surprised me most was how

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