From growing up in Vallejo and signing his first deal as a kid to engineering platinum records and acting on 13 Reasons Why and Always Be My Maybe, Louie Valentino’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and relentless hustle.

In this episode of Unquestionable the Podcast, Louie shares his journey through music, engineering, and acting—plus the lessons he’s learned working with legends like From growing up in Vallejo and signing his first deal as a kid to engineering platinum records and acting on 13 Reasons Why and Always Be My Maybe, Louie Valentino’s story is one of resilience, reinvention, and relentless hustle.

In this episode of Unquestionable the Podcast, Louie shares his journey through music, engineering, and acting—plus the lessons he’s learned working with legends like Boosie, Snoop, and Mr. Fab, while reflecting on the importance of branding, perseverance, and lifestyle-building in today’s industry.

In this episode, we cover:

🎶 Early inspirations and the journey into music

🎚️ The transition into engineering and mastering the craft

🎭 Breaking into acting on Netflix & Hollywood lessons learned

💡 How Larry June built a brand and lifestyle that changed the game

🏆 Working with icons like Boosie, Snoop Dogg & Chingy

📈 The turning points that shaped Louie’s career and mindset

🌍 The changing landscape of the Bay Area’s music scene

Timestamps

01:00 The Journey into Music and Early Inspirations

08:43 The Journey to Engineering Mastery

13:46 Breaking into Acting: The Journey Begins

25:27 Reflections on Acting and Its Impact

29:25 The Evolution of Music Passion

33:41 The Journey of Larry June: From Barbershop to Brand

43:16 The Turning Point in My Career

49:53 The Role of Engineers in Music Production

55:55 Navigating the Music Industry: Lessons on Collaboration and Self-Preservation

57:53 The Journey of Self-Focus and Success

01:04:05 The Importance of Branding and Marketing in the Music Industry

01:08:17 The Importance of Making Connections

01:13:29 The Changing Landscape of the Bay Area

🔔 Subscribe to stay tapped in:

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Follow Us:

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unquestionablethepod

🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@unquestionablethepod

🌐 Website: https://www.noquestion.co/

📩 DM us with guests, topics, or stories—we’re here for the real conversations. 🎙🔥

#LouieValentino #MusicEngineering #Netflix #LarryJune #UnquestionableThePodcast

I'm watching them cast people.

They're not casting no black people.

And then if they do want you to be on the show, they want you to be gay.

Ain't gonna happen.

I'm watching the wardrobe that they're giving these extras.

If you wear an extra large or you wear a large, they want you to wear a small.

If you wear 36 and jeans, they want you to wear a 32.

Hell no.

They want you to play the feminine role.

So at this.

What's up, everybody?

You are back with another episode of Unquestionable, the podcast.

And you are here with your very own Louis V. Yes, sir.

Thank you for coming on Bronchino, bro.

Thank you for coming out this way, bro.

For real?

Hell, yeah.

It's all good, man.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

We started all off pretty similar.

We want to hear a little bit about yourself, where you're from and what it is you do, man.

So for me, you know, grew up in Vallejo, California.

Okay.

Started music at an early age, like 7, 8.

I signed my first deal when I was like 7 or 8 to Atlantic.

Oh, really?

Yeah, you know, come from a single household only.

Mom raised me.

Dad was in jail my whole entire life.

So, you know, I had a good support system.

I didn't come from the mud.

I didn't have to get it out the mud.

None of that.

Like, I was fortunate to, you know, have a mom who worked and, you know, provided for what I wanted to do.

You know what I'm saying?

So started off with music from there, you know, kind of just work my way up through the ranks, man.

I didn't.

Did everything from promoting graphic designing videos, photos, DJing A&R, and designing clothes.

I didn't.

Did it all, bro.

You know, even acting.

So I done been through it.

Well, definitely, definitely been seeing that, bro.

Commercials and everything.

That's dope, bro.

That's dope.

No, well, let's talk about that a little bit.

You said you got signed at 7 or 8.

How do you even start?

How do you even get started?

Was that like from an artist standpoint?

Was that.

Did you get started from more production side?

And how do you make that connection to sign so early?

I started from an artist standpoint.

I don't know, man.

I was just always infatuated with music.

I think when you, you know, being black, you know, your parents always be playing old school music and shit, you know, 24, seven.

So, you know, my mom used to, on the way to school, be playing oldies, the Al Greens, the Luther Vandrosses you know, the Michael Jacksons, as well as my grandma.

So I just kind of always, like, took a liking to it.

And I think when I got to, like, elementary school, I was going to Maryland at the time, and they had like, a talent show.

And this one, this one, Usher had let it burn.

That was the confessions album.

And then B2K had bump, bump, bump.

And then bow wow had that take you home on that be aware of dog album.

And I was like a major Bow wow fan.

So I'm like, you know what?

Let me enter this talent show.

So I entered it.

I did.

I ain't gonna lie.

I think I did B2K.

Bump, bump, bump.

And they was like, man, this really inappropriate for school at this age.

I'm like, well, either you like it or you don't.

You know what I'm saying?

So it moved me to the next round, and I did lil bow wow take you home.

And then this other dude did.

He did Usher let it burn.

And I think it was just the whole little package that I came with that was just more spectacular.

I ain't gonna lie.

I think he personally beat me.

He had his down a little bit more.

But I came with the little package, and yeah, I won that.

And then after that, my mom invested in the karaoke machine.

Like a.

Like a.

You know, back in the day, you can go on Amazon and get a karaoke machine 20, 30.

This was back in the day where it came with the screen, the two cassette players, the CD player, the mics.

It was like three, four hundred dollars she invested in that, bro.

And I would just sit there and just perform other people records.

Like the little bow wows, the Romeos, yada, yada yada.

I would do that over and over and over again, bro.

And then I just started learning how to use the Internet and being outside as much as I can, and it just.

It just kind of like hit.

That's dope.

And what were the steps forward?

How did.

How did, like, you get involved with Atlantic?

Just being outside, just meeting people.

Like I said, the Internet was only so far back in the day.

Like, it was.

It was little.

You know, it was a little seed at that time.

So, you know, just being outside, meeting people, shopping my music around.

I used to spam the hell out of people, email accounts with music.

And one day I just got a hit back, and it just kind of just like moved from there.

That's lit, bro.

That's lit.

Jumping in the industry, bro.

Like, I. I really never look back.

And my bad go Ahead.

I was gonna say like, at what age, what age do you actually start like actually messing around like engineering and like all that stuff.

So at least timeline wise.

So for like engineering, bro, for me it probably wasn't until I was in, I want to say maybe I was in middle school, going into high school.

My cousin, he was back in the day was silly.

The man shout out to him.

I didn't grow up like around weed smoking, nothing like that.

So you know, I used to have to lie to my mom.

He used to smoke, he was a chain smoker.

So I used to go over there and he used to have this little two story house and downstairs he had a whole little setup, you know, to be hella like backwood guts everywhere, like real stoner vibes, right?

So you know, back in the day with Pro Tools, they had like the little digi design thing like with the little faders and stuff like that.

So you know, I'm thinking I'm like I'm in a real legit studio or whatever.

And I used to go over there and just record and I used to just watch him.

Until one day my mama came over there and picked me up, boy.

And I smelled like a gang of weed.

And it was rap.

You would never go over that nigga house again.

Yada yada yada, right?

So from there, fast forward, it was a guy who worked at the gym.

I used to go to this gym called Millennium.

It's currently in shape now.

That's who bought it out.

His name was, his name Brian White.

He went by the name of Henny C. Martini.

And then he went to he Martin.

I used to just follow him around the gym like I was a pest to him.

Like I get there, I just wanted to just go follow him.

I was sitting there just talking to him for two, three hours, damn near from the time he clock in to the time he clock out, you feel me?

And I remember he told me one day it's like yeah man, like you know I be rapping.

I'm like, for real?

So he was like, yeah.

So he gave me his flyer, gave me a cd and I'm like oh, this hard.

But he was in a group called Go Big and Go Big was a Filipino oriented group back in the day.

He was probably like maybe the only dark skinned black one.

He was black and Filipino, but you know what I'm saying in the group.

So they brought me along and I used to do promo for them and stuff like that.

And it was a guy named Chariz Charisma and I think he.

Young careers now, or.

No.

Matter of fact, he.

Chris Cash from Vallel, he had a studio and I used to just pull up on him.

And that's where I really learned how to engineer, bro.

Like, I just used to sit there and watch him do every single thing.

And back in the day, you know, we put sessions on flash drives or hard drives.

Now, back in the day with Pro Tools, if your computer had a CD burner, you had a Macintosh back in the day, you burnt your sessions to a cd, to a blank cd.

So, you know, as I got older, I remember I went over there, I was like, man, bro, you think I can get my sessions?

He gave them to me on a cd and I wound up pulling them up on Pro Tools.

My people had let me use their whole entire setup.

Him and his wife was going through something and it was just bad.

And I don't know if she was gonna put him out or something, but whatever, he gave me the setup and I went to my grandma house, set it all up, and it was easy peasy because I had been watching Bruh for so long.

And then what I did is I was copying all the presets that he had already there, and I ran off of that for so long, bro.

And that's kind of like how I learned how to engineer.

And then, you know, being an artist, like all the little partners in the hood and, you know, school who wanted to do music, they was coming to my grandma house or coming to my.

And I was recording everybody back then.

So that's kind of like how the.

The entry level of engineering started for me as being an artist and engineer.

That's dope.

And was there a time where you were doing, kind of doing both or once that started taking off, was it like, all right, no, this is my path.

Engineering for me, bro, really didn't come until I had my daughter five years ago.

So if it wasn't for my daughter, I wouldn't be no injury.

I couldn't tell you where I'll be right now, to be honest with you.

I don't know if I'll still be an artist.

I don't know if I'd be, you know, a top tier actor.

I couldn't tell you the engineering came from that I was coming off of, you know, being on Netflix.

I was coming off of 13 reasons why the OA always be my maybe.

And at that time, we was filming the Matrix in the city.

They had called me to do, like, stunts for the Matrix and stuff like that.

And I went out There, I ain't gonna lie to you.

For like two days.

And Covid had officially hit, and production went downhill.

And then I found out I was having a kid.

And I'm like, man, what can I do to keep the same amount of money that I'm getting or more on my own time without going to get a nine to five?

Cause I've had nine to fives.

I don't knock nobody that had a nine to five.

But that just wasn't really for me.

And at the time, you know, I was rocking with Mr. Fab.

Hella tough.

I was the cameraman, I was the clothing designer.

I was doing everything for him except the engineering.

And we was going to this spot in San Rafael called.

I think it was called the Legion Studios.

It was a guy named Gabe, and Gabe was probably the fastest engineer I ever seen in my life, bro.

I'm talking about, bruh.

Be writing emails, recording the song, and mixing it.

All three things in one.

By the time you walk out the booth, the song is mixed and matched.

It's done.

But he'd be writing emails at the same exact time.

Like, shift tab.

Like, bro, I'm talking about.

He'd be switching.

I'm like, how?

So I went home and I was like.

I just started kind of like practicing, you know, I was always more of the, let's just get the.

The recording done.

Not the fast, proficient, you know, type of person.

So I remember one day I told Fab, I'm like, yo, bro, like, I know how to record.

He like, man, hell no, you don't know how to record.

Book a session.

So we went to the studio in East Oakland, Slap wagon, where I'll be at now.

And I did a session with him.

He was sitting there like, oh, you really do know how to do this.

From that day on, bro, I talked to the owner.

I'm like, yeah, you know, I be.

I be doing music.

I know how to record.

I put it on a little bit thicker than what it was.

Cause I really knew what to do, but I ain't no what to do.

I didn't know no terminology.

I didn't know nothing, bro.

I knew how to go in there and make the song sound good.

Yeah, that was it.

I couldn't tell you what an EQ did.

I couldn't tell you what a compressor did.

I couldn't tell you none of that fast forward, bro.

Like, he gave me a couple clients, bro.

Them clients grew so quick, and this one covert really hit.

That's when they was getting that money off Them.

Them bank cards, bro.

I was doing 11 hours a day.

I probably was leaving with like 500 to a thousand dollars a day.

I ain't never looked back.

Bankroll.

I ain't never looked back.

Decision was easy.

I got my first, like, gold plaque right after that, bro.

Like, it just started.

It just.

The game just changed for me, bro.

And I was just, like, I got comfortable.

Then I finally went home and I sat down for maybe like, two to three months, and I really started fresh.

Cause I had like, a template at that time.

Deleted it.

I started fresh, got a book, got on YouTube university, and really figured out what everything was, bro.

Like, it was kind of like being a Men in Black.

You get that thing and you just hit that flash and reset your whole mind and start over.

That's what I did, bro.

And when I did that, it just took off.

Because, you know, you no longer had the restriction of the templater.

I didn't have a restriction.

I didn't even know how to fly a hook, bro.

Like, I. I didn't know how to just grab it on the grid and just.

I didn't even know how to count bars.

I knew the count.

Count bars as far as rapping, but I didn't know how to count bars on the software.

Yeah.

So once I learned how to do everything, bro, it was a rap after that.

Yeah.

You know, that's dope.

It was a rap.

That's dope.

And it shows that, like, you can really, if you put your mind to it, you can become elite at anything with the resources that you have right.

In front of whatever you want, bro.

Like, I tell somebody all the time, they'd be like, man, that's hard as well.

Everything hard in life until you learn how to do it.

You have to learn how to crawl before you walk.

Not for real.

You know what I'm saying?

You had to go through kindergarten all the way to 12th grade to be able to learn different tools and different resources.

Resources.

So it's the same in life.

Anything that we want to do.

If you want to pick up a camera, you want to start a podcast, well, you have to get on YouTube or you have to go pick up a book and learn how to use that camera.

100.

But you give it 60 days, you could be an expert.

Oh, yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

So we talked about that last night.

Oftentimes, motherfuckers are always sitting there finding a reason why I could do that.

If I.

Rather than just being like, no, I could do it, just do it.

The resources are in front of you.

Just do it.

Figure out a way there's people who did more with less.

You know what I'm saying?

Come on, now.

So sometimes I feel like, you know, that's a consistent theme we see with people who are excelling in their fields, is that, you know, they just got off their ass and did it.

Facts.

Because that's.

That's what gets you closer to the end, you know what I'm saying?

So that's.

That's inspiring, bro.

And I. I also want to ask a little bit more about Netflix.

That had to be a dope opportunity.

How'd you get into acting, bro?

How'd you.

How was the experience with 13 Reasons why?

And acting came from my mama.

I was driving somewhere and she hit me, and she was like, hey, man, I was reading the paper and I see they filming something in Belle.

I'm gonna send you the article.

I'm like, all right.

So I'm driving, then I get to the light, going back to South Valle or whatever, and I look at the article and it say, like, selena Gomez, executive producer, this brand new show coming to Valle.

13 reasons why.

Instantly, the light bulb went off in my head.

I'm like, shit, we ain't got no actors from Valle that I know of.

You feel me?

So, man, I went and jumped on it hella quick.

And, man, I went to the little.

I called a couple people that I knew who was in the production business or whatever, and they got me right in.

I went to go holl at a couple people.

Then I still showed up and went to, what you call it.

They had the.

You know, the casting.

That's cool, man.

Listen, I go to the casting on purpose.

I didn't already went through what I needed to go through.

I just wanted to just see, man, when I say I ain't never seen that many people in Valle in one spot a day in my life, Brian, I ain't gonna lie.

It was probably like three to 4,000 people.

That's how long that line was.

That's crazy.

Let me tell you what I learned, though.

So when I go in there, I'm playing it off like I don't know nothing.

You know, everybody in the city know me.

So they looking like, man, why you even standing in line like you should be?

I'm just, whatever, playing it off.

I ain't telling nobody nothing.

So I go up in there and they hand.

And people really think they coming to this to audition me.

In my mind, I'm thinking that people really coming too Nah, they walk in the office just like this and they give you a card and said, fill out the stuff on this card, we'll be at you.

That was it.

So it was like an extra call almost.

You didn't stood in line for four to five hours.

That's it.

It was an extra call.

They didn't already had the actors that they wanted.

They just wanted to see if they seen anything visually that they like.

All the actors was already picked.

Damn.

Yeah, that's actually wild.

So from there, you know, the first couple emails go out and man, you know, I'm nervous because I ain't, I ain't got no acting experience.

You know, as a kid, you always grow up and you say you want to be this, you want to be that.

Acting was on the list, but it wasn't supposed to happen that quick, you know what I'm saying?

I just jumped into it, man.

I ain't know how to read no lines.

Like, I ain't know how to do nothing.

So fast forward, you know, it was cool, man.

I'm like, you know, in my mind, I'm really like the first person out of a lil to be on something super, super major on this level.

And it was crazy.

I actually wind up running into a dude who, I don't know him, but he went to school with me at Valel High.

His name, I think his name box or something like that.

Long story short, they gave this like the lead role to be a Hooper and he came up off a bag off of that.

But bro whooped his career because later on he was working at a, like a care home.

And even think about this, bro, you on the biggest show on Netflix, the biggest show, and you going back to the care home or the retirement home where you was working at stealing money from the old folks.

How you gonna do that?

How you gonna go from Netflix to go to that?

And it's like they opened the door for so many opportunities.

You just fucked it up.

Because guess what?

All American about to come up, bro.

All of these shows is leading up.

So I knock out season one.

Now this is where it gets tricky and this is something I haven't really talked about and touched on.

The production company at that time was ran by a gay man.

The company was based out of New Orleans.

This man is.

I ain't got nothing towards no, no, you know, gay people, whatever.

Whatever you do is what you do.

But this dude was like super flamboyant.

He was sweet 100%.

Sometimes working with those kind of people, they're Real life divas.

They're super cocky, arrogant, and it's.

They way or no way, I'm watching them cast people.

They're not casting no black people.

And then if they do want you to be on the show, they want you to be gay.

Ain't gonna happen.

I'm watching the wardrobe that they're giving these extras there.

Get.

If you wear an extra large or you wear a large, they want you to wear a small.

If you wear 36 and jeans, they want you to wear a 32.

They want you to play the feminine role.

So at this time, I don't think LGBTQ or whatever you call it was, like, popular at that time, but I think it was just now coming up.

This is something that they was trying to exercise.

Yeah.

So I'm sitting here, I'm like, man, this ain't right.

Y' all ain't casting no black folks.

Y' all want everybody to be on this, you know, this feminine, you know, hype.

Whatever I go to, I want to say this season two or season three, there's a company called Game Changers.

Game Changers is a casting company for any sports.

When it comes to, you know, movies, TV shows, yada, yada, yada.

They had the casting.

I want to say it was at one of these colleges.

It was at a college somewhere in the Bay Area.

I can't remember.

I go out there, I go sign up for the quarterback position and then the wide receiver position.

The quarterback at the time that they had, you know, they had the regular people, and then they had, like, people who are really in it.

He went to San Jose.

Well, I out threw him by a long shot, so.

Okay, cool.

We do the first tryout, then they bring me back for the second one.

Go to the wide receiver position.

Killed them.

Not faster than me.

Don't have better hands than me, but they was nice.

But I'm not there to compete, really, with nobody.

I'm just there to just do what I'm supposed to do.

Either I get picked or I don't.

Yeah, man.

They picked me for the.

They picked me for the quarterback position, and they grabbed me for the wide receiver position for secondary.

Cool.

This season, we're going to Sebastiapool.

All right.

A lot of people think that the whole entire show was filmed in Vallejo.

It wasn't.

It was from Belle to Sebastian Pool.

The main school also was in Sebastian Pool with the field.

This is what you see in season three and then season four.

So one day I get out there, man, you know, I'm hella late.

It's raining, it's storming.

So I had to get on another bus.

We go through production, they give you, I want to say at that time, they gave you like five jerseys, five blue ones, five white ones.

Because on this particular day, this is where they throw the paint confetti, yada, yada, yada.

This is home opener.

They had hella different helmets for us.

Cleats.

I wear a size 16.

I'm the only person that wear a size 16 on set.

Right.

Pants, yada, yada, yada.

So we had multiple outfit changes, whole wardrobe.

I get to production, bro.

And I don't even know why my was with the extras.

I go to makeup.

They like, nah, we need you on the field because I got tattoos.

At the song they have to make, they have to put makeup over your tattoos.

Every single.

That was the only thing about every single day.

Yeah.

You got to get to set like an hour or two early because if you know you got a certain role, they gonna put makeup on all your tattoos.

Yeah.

So I go to go in the little area that where they say that the.

The clothing is.

They moved it.

I get over there.

I ain't got no helmet and I ain't got no cleats.

But the night before, I had helmet and cleats.

Yeah.

So I'm like, yo, what's up?

Where my stuff at?

We asked some new production people.

They like, I don't know.

What do you mean you don't know?

I got a filming 20 to 5 to 30 minutes like this.

This is opening day for me, man.

Listen, I go around, I'm asking the ladies, you know, the ladies like, man, what are you talking about?

Your stuff is going.

I'm like, listen, it's gone, man.

Them was the most racist white folks I ever met in my life.

Yeah.

I said, all right, cool.

Y' all get me back on that bus.

Because I was ready to fight at that point.

It wasn't now y' all playing with me.

Yeah.

And I knew what it was.

They really wanted old boy to be the quarterback, but that's not who they picked.

So they went and they took my hit it just so I couldn't get that right.

Yeah.

So, man, I get back on that bus, I'm steaming.

I'm still young minded at that time, you know, so I'm ready to quote, unquote, crash out.

Yeah, man.

I get on these blogs, I'm sending emails.

I'm hitting the dude who over the casting company first shoot him a long text message like, if you don't get this right, this will hit the media.

I'm gonna tell them how y' all trying to make all these black men be gay, how y' all trying to make everybody be feminine.

Y' all hella racist.

How y' all be talking to people.

And y' all don't cast no black folks.

Barely no Mexicans.

It's only white folks.

I'm finna tell it all.

Oh, man.

As I'm sitting there writing.

Ding.

I don't answer.

I get off, get to my car.

I get home.

My mom like, man, what's up?

I remember I got.

I got home.

I'm mad as hell.

I'm like, I'm done with acting, bro.

I drive all the way to the dope area.

We had just moved the store from, you know, the hood to Broadway.

I'm in there sitting with Fab, and the dude called me of the cash company.

Yo, I'm so sorry, man.

Blah, blah, blah.

If you come back, we have make sure that this never happens again, and we will up your pay.

You never got to worry about me.

It ain't about the money for me.

Yeah.

It's more about it.

It's about that was the last time I was.

That was the last time 13 reasons why was ever a thing for me.

That's wild.

You don't hear.

You don't hear any of that on the backside of it.

Like, all you see is 13 Reasons why.

The people, the casting, all the crazy stuff that's surrounding it and stuff like that.

But getting some insight on some, like, actual, like, stuff that was going on, real life, real time, that's pretty wild to hear.

And then from there, it just kind of fell apart.

Like, you know, they wound up having the major lawsuits.

Like, a lot of the episodes I was in, season one got taken down because, you know, it was causing a lot of kids to commit suicide.

Suicide.

Yeah.

And I really, you know, at that time, acting like, I tell everybody when they be like, what episode are you in?

Or what was the show about?

I don't know.

I never watched it.

When.

That's crazy.

When it came out on Netflix, I would literally take my remote and scrub through it to the part where I was at screenshot.

It put it on the gram.

I never watched it.

I can't tell you nothing about 13 reasons why.

I can't tell you nothing about the OA.

I can't tell you nothing about Always Be My maybe.

I can't tell you nothing about the Matrix.

I was there to do a job.

I Never watched.

I never paid attention to the script.

I paid attention to what I had.

That was it, bro.

I was never interested in nothing else until I found out, Dick, 13 reasons why I kind of basically was manipulating your mind to tell you when life gets hard, give up.

Yeah.

That if I didn't knew that that's what it was, I'd have never did the show.

I'd have never did it.

That's insane.

So, yeah, man.

You know, it was a journey.

The OA was probably one of the best experiences.

You know, they brought me up there to do, like, a feature part for some basketball.

I wind up meeting this girl named Robin Hood, which actually is Dre on the Chi right now.

And she's on that show Power with Tommy or whatever the hell his name is.

Whatever.

She's the lead detective.

So it led me to meet people that, you know, took off and blew up way bigger than me in it later on down the line.

That's dope.

They still my, you know, my friends to this day.

That's dope.

Yeah.

Do you see any future going forward with that, or do you feel like some of those experiences have.

Have kind of made you shy away from trying to keep going down the road?

They can come back, you know, I've had conversations with Tyler Perry in the past of doing stuff.

Tyler Perry?

Yeah.

That's wild.

That's my boy's favorite director.

Yeah.

Tyler Perry on FaceTime with Tyler Per.

Before I've been to the studio, you know, at that time, I think I was just getting full custody of my daughter.

So it wasn't a thing that was like, hey, let's do it.

It was kind of like, I'll revisit it in the future if it makes sense.

But is acting like.

On my.

Up there in the scorecard for me?

No.

No.

Okay.

No.

Well, being.

Well, not to kind of go off topic, but, like, you know, being a jack of all trades, you have your hands in this place.

This place.

This place.

You kind of gave, like, your background and stuff on, like, the acting and stuff.

What.

Honestly, because everybody kind of has, like, their favorite, like, what.

What has your heart the most out of all music.

Yeah, that's what I was gonna.

From the outside looking in, I was.

Guessing, being a music artist for sure.

Even that, bro.

Like, my passion was so heavy for that, bro.

I've been out of it so long, Brian, not gonna lie to you.

If I took you to the studio, I got probably, like, six or seven albums.

Oh, yeah.

I used to record, like, five, six songs a Day.

Damn.

Yeah.

Like.

And I'd be wanting to drop.

I just know if I'm going to get back into it now with the knowledge and the information in the game that I know now, I would have to quit every single thing else I do.

Why?

Because I know I have to give it six months to a year of consistency, something I have never done.

Yeah.

Back then, because I did so much.

One thing that I did learn from Tyler Perry, and this is why I've been so successful, and where I'm at now is look at your career as a planter box.

Look at it as having a garden.

You can take multiple seeds and put them in your garden and you can water them all, but they don't all grow at different levels and different rates.

Right.

So that one plant that you might want, which might be, you know, daisies or whatever you'd be watering, be like, man, why this one ain't growing, but this one over here growing?

Well, because you've been watering this one more than you've been watering that one.

So I had to look at that and take that and say, hmm, let me find something that I really like out of everything I do.

Let me just plant that seed and water it until it grow.

And when it fully blooms, the rest of them will grow.

And I've lived by that for the past five to six, seven, eight years, bro.

And it's worked.

And this right now, being an engineer, that's really, like.

It's not all I know, but this is really, like, what I've been focused on and interested.

Yeah.

Dj, from time to time.

Am I your best dj?

Hell, no.

Do I know?

How could I be better?

Yes.

But I don't put the time and the energy into that.

It's just a hobby.

Yep.

You know what I'm saying?

So, yeah, no, that's dope.

And I. I want to ask because coming from, like, the creative side, obviously, in, like, you know, you.

You obviously still make music, but I. I wonder, does engineering for you, does it almost scratch the same itch?

Like, does putting together these records feel the same way?

Like, does it scratch the same itch from when you had that first initial passion?

Or is it almost a different feeling or a different interest now?

It's a different feeling for sure.

Okay.

I think writing for people.

Yeah.

Kind of gives me the same exact thing because I'm just doing, you know, the production side of it.

I don't have to get out and go do this and go do that, but I want to come back into it, bro.

It's just hard.

But I think now it's just a whole different level.

I think for me, next is really pushing the A R and in like the management side of certain things.

Like, it's just levels, you know what I'm saying?

Like, going back to being an artist, bro, that's a lot of work.

That's a lot of work.

It's a lot of work.

It's a lot of time and consistency and just being real with you, bro.

Music ain't in the same space it's been.

Yeah, I can agree with that.

It's not the same money invested in differently.

And hip hop is probably the lowest on the pole right now genres of music.

So if I'm coming back, I need to come with like some country or something.

Pops come back.

Oh, yeah.

Is that world music right now?

Country?

Like you said everything.

How many black people we got in country right now?

You know what I'm saying?

Like, it's.

It's for a reason.

Yeah, they shows, they checks, they money, they fans.

It's different.

You don't.

You can't get on the Internet and.

And see.

Scroll down your timeline and see two country artists funking and beefing.

But we can get on this or we can get on NorCal next up and see, hey, this person got.

I don't want to be in that limelight, you know what I'm saying?

So, yeah, I come back into it, man.

It's got to be a for sure a different approach, man.

It's got to damn near be that Larry June approach right now.

Yeah.

And that's just doing what he do and getting the hell out of people's way and just staying, staying true to yourself, doing what you want to do.

And yeah, creating like almost a lifestyle associated with the brand and the music that, like, people are buying into that life, not just the mu.

You know what I'm saying?

They're buying into that whole brand.

That Larry.

Yeah, Larry Jones to me is a genius, bro.

He's a pinnacle of music marketing right now.

I think if you look at it.

He killing it right now for the Bay area and just artists in general, man.

Like, he might not be on that top tier Drake or whatever, Kendrick status, but he don't got to, bro, because he created his own lane and, man, he make lifestyle be cool.

He makes you want to get up and go buy a vacuum cleaner and go buy a juicer, go buy a.

Bike and get out there and get active.

You'd be happy to go wake up on Friday and get.

Get that Paycheck.

I'll be honest.

I'll be honest.

Like, when he talking about buying all these expensive furniture and stuff like that and architecture and all this other.

I actually was like, you know what?

Like, when I get to that point, like, let me actually do a little bit of research on some type of, like, crazy.

And he, like, literally, like, kind of lets you, like, think about it.

Immerse yourself into these different avenues that you could, you know, not that many people like, talking about it or some.

Or into it, but it's like, it's real life.

It's lifestyle.

Just like these walls right here.

Yeah.

Even this lamp.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Different.

Like, yeah.

He make you.

He make you appreciate life.

Oh, yeah.

I.

With Larry.

And he shows you a different side of flexing that isn't.

You know what I'm saying?

It isn't to the detriment.

It's like, bro, go put your money up.

Go get.

You know what I'm saying?

Go outside.

Go on a run or something.

Like, I've been knowing, like, I don't.

I know Larry June.

Like, we not cool and close like that, but I've been around him a couple times.

Like, when I was growing up in Valle, it was this group called.

They was called like J, I think, Jay and Banger, something like that.

They went to Hogan, but they 99 now.

Long story short, I used to shoot videos for them.

And Larry June used to be pulling up in his BMW Ball player and chill, yada, yada, yada.

And I'd be like, man, who is bro?

Because, like, he's just hella player, like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, you know, Larry be with these shenanigans.

Like, you know, he.

And over the years, you know, I used to see him at the barbershop that I used to go to and stuff like that.

And he just never gave up.

Yeah, he created his own lane and just kept it going.

And it's just so crazy to watch him go from, you know, going to Bethel, being Young June to, you know, seeing him out in the streets and then seeing him at the barbershop doing his thing, and then, you know, going from Warner Brothers to Empire and then just building what he got now, bro.

It's.

It's crazy, bro.

You know, in life and with music, you know, you always feel like you want to give up, but they always say you don't know if you could be right there.

And with him, he never gave up, bro.

So like I tell artists nowadays, if you're going to pay attention to anybody's blueprint.

Pay attention to Larry June.

Because it's not just the music.

It's the lifestyle, it's the music and it's the merch.

Even his merch.

His merch is crazy.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

He did something where his brand became bigger than him.

And not many people are.

Are good at doing that, but it's like when you do it and you do it right.

Like he symbolized himself with a orange.

But think about Midnight Organic threw that.

All together about his merch.

When you look at it, it's color schemes, everything.

The black people.

Yeah.

Every day.

It's the Filipinos, it's the Asians, it's the Koreans, it's the.

The fashion gurus who buy that shit.

I'm not making clothes for black folks like that.

Yeah.

I'm gonna go, I'm gonna look and see what the Asians in the Philippines look at the keychains, look at the glasses, the water bottle.

Look at who go buy that stuff.

Yeah.

The boba shots, bro.

He could have went and opened up a soul food spot or a chicken spot.

Like.

Yeah.

It's only gonna go so far.

I'm gonna go do something that's international that everybody's gonna gravitate to.

Definitely.

So he's a student in the game, man.

He pay attention.

He not cocky, he humble.

And he has a vision that's bigger than just being here.

And when you got a vision that's bigger than being here, man.

Come on, Annie.

A great father, bro.

Every day, every time you look up, you got a son with you.

Exactly.

He's always been like that.

It's dope to see that because it's like he's one of those artists that you could tell is passionate, but at the same time, he's businessman first.

And you see that just through the decisions.

He makes his pop ups, like the little 5Ks and he'll do the bike rides.

And he's creating, too.

He's creating a whole healthy lifestyle to go behind this symbol that literally symbolized Larry June.

It's all bigger than him.

It became a community.

Yeah.

Larry June, like you said, is bigger than just that.

Larry June makes you think of Nike.

Yeah, yeah.

Makes you think of Under Armour.

Makes you think of Jordan.

It's a brand.

Porsche like, you know what I'm saying?

It's a brand he knows.

Okay, Boom.

Like you just said.

Porsche, Ferrari.

Like you just went and bought a Ferrari.

Now you doing the commercials.

You come on, bro.

Ain't too Many people who do that.

And he understands brand association.

He understands so many different things.

Like, look, bro, he had that lakai deal before he was even popping like that.

You know what I'm saying?

He had them look Kai shoes out back when we were kids.

The he was doing.

Yeah.

When they were out in Atlanta going crazy and we, we weren't even seeing him like that.

Like I said, his business has always been right and I think that's why the longevity is just.

Is there, bro.

He always be.

He always be posted up in some type of scenic ass.

Like it's too.

It's too beautiful the way that he be.

He be like doing his thing, you know, riding healthily in like nice area.

It's like peaceful.

Almost take a picture of his water bottle right here and make it look so clear.

You be like, man, I need to start drinking sprout spring water.

He had everybody thinking Salito is like the place to be.

You know what I'm saying?

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, he'd be talking about bro, just the way it even resonates like how he talks about like his sack girl or his.

And it's like everybody regionally like be like, oh no, like feeling that or like, you know what I'm saying?

Like he's really.

It's any keeping player.

Yeah.

It just translates to everybody.

I feel like it's dope, bro.

He's a player.

But you might not understand it if you don't got a job.

That's it.

That too.

Nah, bro, but not for real.

Watching that, it's a breath of fresh air.

Because we were, I was talking to Daniel Ali last night and we talked about it that like not enough people care, you know what I'm saying?

They're not putting that extra effort to package something and put it together the way, you know what I'm saying?

Some of these guys actually do and it's a breath of fresh air, bro.

Yeah.

So, you know, we talked about Larry June and artists and stuff like that, man.

I'll be honest, you know, I've.

I know you engineer.

You be, you know, working and stuff with a bunch of people, you know, let's list some, you know, notable people.

That you enjoy working with.

You know, maybe some type of projects you got in.

In the works with people right now at least, you know, just going down the engineering, you know, one lane as far as you, you know, just being a pretty good ass engineer.

Yeah.

And also, also something that they might recognize you from but might not know.

You had a Hand.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying, man?

The engineer world, man.

You know, it's so crazy, but I didn't work with so many people to the point where it just be like, I hear something, I'll be like, damn, I don't even remember.

Yeah, remember doing that.

It comes out.

I did that.

I forgot.

Yeah, bro.

I think probably my best or my favorite experience as an engineer was probably working with Boosie.

Okay.

And just, you know, that must have.

Been like fun action session right there.

Being honest, it was crazy, bro.

Let me explain to you why I'm gonna take it back to DJing, and then I'm gonna tie it into this.

How it came about.

When Boosie first got out of jail and came home, he had this show in Stockton at the arena, okay?

Sold out.

I was him.

It was OMBZ on the card.

It was fab.

It was a couple different people at the time when we had moved dope era to Broadway.

We had the turntables in the back and stuff.

And it was a DJ by the name of DJ Tessie that used to come through there and DJ and you know, stuff like that.

So I remember one day, I'm like, hey, bro, teach me how to dj.

He like, man, hell nah.

Cause if I teach you, I know you're gonna get good at it.

You're gonna take, you know, you're gonna be.

He was just playing, but I'm like, nah.

For all really want to know gatekeeping, bro.

He gave me like a 30, 45 minute segment on how to DJ, bro.

And I was like, cool.

I think I went to.

I told my mom about it, and she was like, yeah, just take my credit card and just go.

Go get what you need.

All right.

Go to the guitar center.

I go get a little.

The little serato boards, three, 400, whatever, grab the bag, yada, yada, yada.

So I go home and I'm, you know, I'm two, three days into it, learning it, right?

Well, this show coming up now with me, when I was doing photos and I was doing videos, one thing about me is I always kept the camera bag in the car no matter what.

Because you never ever know.

I've been in plenty of situations where I've got calls.

Hey, such and such need to shoot 30 minutes, though.

Yeah.

All right, let's make it happen.

So I go to the dope era, and at that time, fab DJ was Tito Bell.

Shout out to my dog, man.

And I don't think Tito was coming to the show.

So, you know, we Getting ready to go out there and Fab like, damn, I ain't got no dj.

You got your stuff?

I'm like, yeah, bro, but I don't really know how to.

He was like, it's all right.

You'll figure it out in the car.

So I'm like, all right, now remind you, I don't got no sound effects.

I ain't got the area, the horns, the.

The boom.

I ain't got nothing.

I barely know how to crossfade and blend.

I don't know how to do nothing.

I know the basics, man.

Oh, man, we get to that arena, man, and we go in the room with Booyah, and you know, Fab, he.

He always be like, he.

He always used to, like, vouch for me when we get in these big rooms.

So Boosie like, who doing your set?

Like, oh, my son Louie doing my set.

He was like, all right, for sure.

He pull out this flash drive and give it to me, this booy.

I'm like, oh, here we go.

I don't know if this going to be a. I don't know, man.

The only thing that saved me that night was when I got on the stage with him.

His son had got in a fight with some people from Stockton.

They tried to jump him.

And you know, Boosie all about family.

Whole show over with.

They cleared that stage.

It was over with.

That was the only thing that saved me that day.

After that, man, I went home and I learned it.

So regrouping back, this girl wanted to get a verse from me, and it was me, her, and Fab.

We was in the studio.

He was cutting, cutting a verse for.

And Boosie was out here.

So she didn't really have what he wanted for the verse.

But he, you know, Boosie was like, it's good.

He come into the studio, man, and I'm like, man, you remember me?

Woo, woo.

And we chopping it up.

And, bro, the energy and just him just being him that night was just.

Just crazy, bro.

We outdid that record, and then we wind up cutting, like, three other records, right?

He was so clear to every verse that he cut.

Not only did he pay for studio time, he broke me off every single verse.

So whatever he was getting, I got a split of that.

Brian gonna lie.

He was out here for like, two days, bro.

It'd be times where it'd be two, three in the morning.

Hey, bro, where you at?

I got a verse.

I'll be there, pay for that studio time.

He'll pay for that verse, bro.

I remember he had One, dude, they pulled up in a bucket, bro.

They was in a Honda Civic.

They drove all the way from Washington.

Cars, smoking all year.

Yeah, bro, Just for a boosie verse in the video.

They gave him 10,000.

They pull up to the studio, it's like two.

Maybe like one or two in the morning.

He knocked that verse out in two to three minutes, punched it in, and then that was it.

I'm like, damn, y' all drop.

They were serious about their craft.

I wouldn't even matter.

If I'm not mistaken, bro, I'm keeping 100.

I think he gave him that money back that night.

Really?

That's a real one.

Yeah, because you.

Hey, if you're gonna go drive all that way.

And I'm talking about.

It was in a bucket, though.

I'm talking about it.

Pull up the car when they stopped, man.

What the hell?

Like, you need this more than I do, bro.

You need to go put a down payment and go get you another whip.

Don't even fix this one.

Just get this to pick and point.

Nah, just after that, bro, like, he told me something that really stuck with me.

We was in there recording this one record, and he was like, man, you the best engineer I done had since Wipe Me Down.

Damn.

I got it, bro.

I think I still got it on footage somewhere, bro, when he said that, but, yeah, that was.

That kind of was like, here go your roses, your flowers.

There's gotta be a driving force, especially growing up, like.

And Boosie being boosie, bro.

And then I think the turning point for me, bro, like, I, I. I really don't have nobody that I'm that, you know, that's a favorite.

I would just say this growing up, you know, having the Snoop Dog posters, the Bow Wow posters, the Chingies, the Nellies, the Having all of these, the Ja Rule.

Ja Rule is my favorite artist.

Growing up, having all of these posters on my wall, and then years later, getting to work with every single one of them, whether it's on stage, whether it's in the studio.

Like, come on, bro.

Like, I grew up listening to Chingy right there.

Now I mix all chingy.

Yeah, that's dope.

I grew up listening to Snoop Dogg.

Drop it like it's hot.

Boom.

Now I'm mixing verses for him on Fab Records.

I grew up listening to TI now, you know what I'm saying?

So have these people be my idols, and then, you know, years later, turn around and work with them, bro.

That.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

Surreal experiences.

It's almost like full circle.

Like this was the.

That got me into this and now I'm impacting the that got me into this.

You know, that's beautiful.

And it's crazy because you know these are the hit makers.

But then they asking you your opinions.

You know what I'm saying?

They want you to help them.

Right.

It's crazy how this game let me like right.

So you know.

Yeah, bro.

The engineer game is definitely fun.

I think I'm at like 200 million streams just off record.

That's awesome.

And it's a lot of records that light work.

Yeah.

Put on there yet still need to give me my numbers.

You feel me?

But yeah, bro.

Bro, I' ma say it.

We talked about this last season.

If you remember one one of our guys episodes, bro.

Engineers are the saving grace for a lot of you.

A lot of you records a lot of everything.

Engineers is everything, man.

They make or break the record.

And I don't think that they get enough credit on that.

Let me explain that and.

And I'm glad that you know that, bro.

It starts with the producers.

The producers of courses set the tone.

They set the tone.

The artist comes in and they do what they do.

If your engineer, if it pro.

If it wasn't no mix by Ali, it probably wouldn't be a Kendrick pimp of a butterfly.

When you listen to those effects, how great it sounds.

Yada yada, bro.

That's Ali.

He took it to another level, bro.

Without us, bro.

Before it hits the A R's table.

Before it hits.

You know, the DSPs.

The engineers are the ones who set the tone for the whole entire record.

Oh, yeah.

All day.

One thing that I struggle with in this Bay Area game is oh, you.

You cost too much.

I ain't even charging what I can be charging right now.

I got multiple platinum plaques.

Yeah.

I got multiple goats.

I ain't even charging what I could be charging right now.

I'll be cutting people to jug and it'd be crazy.

People come to the studio, they'll record with me.

And then they hit you with the.

Oh, yeah.

I don't think I'm come over here no more, man.

You know, you kind of.

You too expensive.

Yada yada yada.

I just ran into that with a client a couple weeks ago and it's just like they just don't be serious.

Yeah, but you can go spend two or three hundred dollars on some Jordans.

You can go buy some Gucci.

You're going to buy some Prada.

You go take trips.

But when it comes to spending Money on your craft.

That's where you're hesitant.

What you think?

Let me explain this to y'.

All.

What you think is gonna be if you get on and you get a popping record, you go sign a nice little deal, whether it's a distro deal or whether you go sign a label deal.

And they want you to go to these Jason Joshua's.

They want you to go to the Manny Macrons.

They want you to go to the Tzos, the Banes, these big engineers who are today's premium engineers.

But then they tell you like, maybe a Jason Joshua might say, hey man, I might want $5,000 a record to mix.

What you gonna say?

Because yeah, that label gonna give you that 2 or 300,000.

But let's say you got 10 records on there, and it's $5,000 a record that's just mixing, then the master engineer might charge you 500 to a thousand.

So that might be $6,000 a record.

What you gonna say?

It's coming out your budget.

I ain't going to them because we now you got to.

These are the people who gonna elevate you.

This is the people gonna they the Bay Area.

One thing about the music out here is everybody want to go to these.

They either want to record at home on cheap software, Band lab and all of that.

That shit's horrible.

Or they want to go to these 15 to $25 an hour studios.

Yeah, they template based, man.

They what I was a long time ago.

You don't even know how you really sound.

You know, the biggest pet peeve that I hate with this game is somebody can go to one of these studios and they got a template squashing the hell out of their vocals.

It's effects and stuff everywhere, right?

Then they come to you as the professional who's been in this game, who's paved the way.

You'll mix their record, get it sounding nice and clean, and then they be like, oh, man, I don't like it.

It sounds.

No, this how it's supposed to sound.

Yeah, it don't sound.

Where's the autotune or something?

Something like that.

Or it be crazy.

I didn't have be like, man, I love this record.

But where was these ad libs?

Because I didn't even know I did these, man.

You ain't know you did them because they were so tucked by this template to where you didn't even know.

Yeah, but I didn't bring you life.

But it'd be crazy because artists will sit here and try to tell you, as an engineer, you're wrong.

But how many records?

How many platinum plaques you done got?

No, you're 100% right.

And how many Grammy nominations you done got?

How many times you done been on the radio?

Who paying you for a verse?

Who even looking for you now?

I'm trying to help you get to the next level.

Exactly.

Teach you that there's structure behind this.

And this is how you structure your.

Structure your record.

Yeah.

And that's something I want to point out, is they don't even sometimes understand how much you guys restructure records.

It might.

You know what I'm saying, it might change certain things to make it a better record.

And at first.

You know what I'm saying?

This is why.

Let me explain something to you.

This is why Old Heads is still winning.

Jermaine Dupree.

Shout out to Jermaine Dupree just dropped Magic City.

The album, what's today?

Yesterday.

Go check it out.

If you ain't heard it, it's slapped front to back.

Why?

Because he's still producing records right there on the spot.

He's picking the artist that he wants, and he's making sure that the cadence, everything, he's putting together the package.

We so in a world now to where they want to record at home and they want to send it to you.

And then it just be like, man, like, what is this?

When artists come with me and they get in the studio, if you're a singer especially, I'm a coach you all the way.

This is a service that I could be charging you.

I'm a coach you all the way through it.

From the vocal production to the arrangement to the stacks, the harmonies, everything, we gonna make it as a full package.

Artists don't be liking that with me, though.

Some of them do, but they don't be liking it because they ain't never been pushed like that.

They can't handle the criticism.

It's controlling, too.

Yeah.

They just be like, oh, man, I don't really want it.

I think it sounds fine.

I think it sound.

Sound like.

Yeah.

That's how I talk to people sometimes, too.

I didn't have an artist stop working with me before because, you know, she was in there trying to sing the note over and over, and I'm like, yo, listen, you wasting my time now.

It's a difference between you paying me my time.

More valuable than money now.

You wasting my time.

Either fix the note and sing it differently or come out the booth because it sounds like after that session, I ain't See her no more.

She was like, man, you're hella disrespectful.

You, man.

Now, I just come from that.

I come from that era where you got to have tough skin.

This is why records was made.

See, here go the thing with music right now.

Artists out here in the Bay Area and surrounding cities, bro, they not making records, they just making songs.

It's a difference.

When you go to the Grammys, do you ever hear them say, oh, you're nominated for these songs?

No, they say you're nominated for a record.

It's a difference between a record and a song.

A record is a hit.

A record is what's been playing on radio.

A record is what's getting playlist placement.

A record is what when we go in the club, we can dance to for the next 20, 20 years.

None of these songs right now that's coming out is really records.

The next 10 years.

Our kids, whatever, ain't going to be dancing to that.

But I guarantee you think about this.

Cupid Shuffle.

Oh, yeah, has been around for forever.

That's a record that you can go play anywhere and then you can go to an all Latino club that don't speak no English and come on, they gonna dance to it, right?

But you ain't never seen what he looked like.

You ain't never even seen him perform a day in your life.

You'd have had all of these BET Awards.

You've never seen the dude who do Cupid Shuffle perform that song a day in your life.

The record's bigger than the artist.

The record's bigger than the artist.

We got to get back to that time.

Why?

Because they paid it.

They, they, they, they took the time.

They paid attention to what they was doing.

And they had a formula.

The music game ain't got no formula.

Jermaine Dupri, in my eyes, is a legend.

Why?

You got two albums, right?

You got Usher, Confessions To Me, the best R and B album of all times.

Ain't no Skips.

Yeah.

Then you got the Emancipation and Mimi, which is by Mariah Carey, right after that or before that, however it went, no Skips.

Why?

Because, bro, they put the time and the effort into those albums.

It was multiple, multiple hits.

The old heads is always gonna win over us right now.

Why?

They got countless records.

Look at E40, looky short.

Every single week you go on their Instagram, they got a big sold out show every weekend.

But your hottest artists right now can't even get a hundred people to fill up a new parish or whatever.

Yeah, it's crazy.

The only person I'm seeing from here that's selling out and we gonna go back to it is Larry June.

Larry June.

He can go international and do it.

He can come here and do it.

Ain't nobody else doing it.

I think another thing, though, is like those.

Those old heads that you're talking about, they valued the collaboration, they valued your perspective.

They valued the different people, where there's almost a toxicity of, like, independence going on, where people want to be too, by themselves.

You know what I'm saying?

Oh, his bro.

Love it, Love it.

I travel would be legit almost every other week or whatever.

I love it.

Why?

Because every city we touch down and we go to hell, if you smoke weed, them pounds gonna be there for free.

You eat food, that food gonna be there.

We gonna have chauffeurs.

We ain't got to spend a dime.

Yeah, they treat him like a king.

Everywhere he go, bro, it'd be.

People be like, oh, man, you rocking with.

Be legit, man.

That.

Oh, why.

Why are you still doing music, man?

Why are you still hating?

He getting money every single weekend.

You not.

He traveling every single weekend you not.

You work a 9 to 5 job and barely.

You ain't even got no money to go to Reno.

You can't even make Vegas.

You go to Reno, you gotta stay at that.

You stand at Circus Circus.

Exactly.

You ain't even hit the jsr, you feel me?

So it just be like, man, the old heads, bro.

Hey, man, if you in this music game and you trying to be serious, go hang around the whole head.

Oh, yeah, they'll teach you a thing or two.

They gonna teach you all the positive things to do.

They gonna keep you away from the mistakes.

And oftentimes it's gonna be, you know, feeding into the people around you, listening to the people around you, valuing the people around you.

Right now, it's a popularity contest, and people only want the people around them that value them.

Know what I'm saying?

Rather than the other way around.

Whereas like you said, when they were the one in the crew, they were valuing the people.

They were building teams.

They were building bigger than just.

Whereas now it's.

It's all.

And it's a.

It's a.

It's a hate cycle, man.

Yeah, it's like a solo focus, kind of just popularity contest, me against you type thing rather than, let's get some money together.

Exactly.

And then the area.

Then we sit there and hate on other areas that do that.

Like, you know what?

I'm saying it's crazy, bro.

Yeah.

And it happens right in front of us.

Like we.

We could do it right here.

Come on.

Yes.

It's that easy.

That's crazy, bro.

But before we get on out of here, I wanted to ask you what's one piece of advice that you have encountered throughout this whole process, throughout your journey that is something that stuck with you and made you who you are that you think could be valuable to somebody watching right now.

Stay true to yourself, you know what I'm saying?

Trying to help somebody else, man, in their career and putting them first.

You're gonna burn yourself and you always gonna find yourself back at square one.

I didn't did it, bro.

I didn't.

I didn't helped a lot of artists achieve a lot, a lot, a lot of things.

And I didn't got burnt time after time after time, bro.

I'm in a bag and I'm in a place in my mind now to where I put me first.

You know, you can.

We.

We get so wrapped up in life, man, trying to look out for each other and trying to help somebody because they're a friend, they're a brother, man.

Listen, that.

That's gonna get you burned every time.

Focus on yourself.

Believe in yourself.

Do what you want to do.

Stop trying to put your time and energy and trying to make somebody else, you know, be successful and be happy, bro.

Cause you're gonna.

You're gonna find yourself in.

In.

In a.

In a negative bubble.

24 7, man.

I didn't, I didn't.

I didn't did it, bro.

I didn't Stayed up all night and jumped to other artists needs when they needed 20.

Oh, I need this mix right now.

I need this video done.

I need this.

I didn't did it, bro.