How I Built My Brand from Scratch in 7 Years | Cousin Jay DSH #1781
From painting sneakers to launching viral videos and creating his Girls Love Artists brand, Cousin Jay reveals how he turned creativity into currency, learned the art of marketing and branding, and overcame betrayal, setbacks, and even a YouTube ban to keep going. π‘ Heβs not just building a businessβheβs building a legacy, complete with a Dream Squad House to support aspiring creators. π β¨
Curious about the secrets behind his success? Want to hear about his wildest challenges, the importance of loyalty, and how he plans to keep leveling up? Join the conversation now and get inspired to chase your own dreams. π
Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets. πΊ Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! π
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - Intro
01:20 - How You & Salim Started Starving
03:50 - How You Blew Up On Worldstar
08:50 - How You & Salim Met
11:27 - Cousin Jayβs Biggest Backstab
15:53 - Do You Party A Lot
16:50 - Cousin Jayβs Music Career
19:36 - Truth About Social Media Money
22:15 - Dannyβs Dream Squad House
24:38 - Danny Almost Drowned Incident
27:54 - Jack Doherty Discussion
30:30 - Who Held Kyle Accountable?
32:28 - Jesse Pays You Insights
37:39 - Keep Your Pencil In Your Pocket Advice
39:05 - Most Athletic Full Send Member
40:55 - Working for Free: Advice
43:25 - Girls Love Artist Merch Locations
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https://www.instagram.com/realcousinjay
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Transcript
Um,
that person comes out of the door.
It's like,
like, you know, that scene in get out, like, when the guy's like,
yeah,
gave me that look, didn't say anything.
I was like, okay,
he's like, I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
I'm like, what are you sorry for?
And I'm reading the room.
I'm like, this nigga just fucked my bad.
All right, guys, out here in Miami with Cousin Jay.
Let's go.
The one and only.
Love the outfit, man.
Thank you so much.
Unique.
Styled by Sally.
Styled by Sally.
Let's go.
And got the Make America Snow Again hat.
Yes.
I got to hear the story behind that.
What does that mean?
Well, it has multiple meanings.
You know, for me, it means global warming.
To others, it might mean a brother that likes white women.
To others, it might mean something that people dibble and dabble in their nose.
But,
you know, I don't partake in that.
Yeah.
To me, I took it literally.
Oh, like snow.
Yeah.
It's a fourth me.
It's a fourth one because I lived in Jersey growing up and it doesn't snow as much as it used to, man.
Make it snow some more over there.
Yeah, man.
It's snowing in Florida, too.
Does it?
Yeah.
Damn.
That never happened growing up.
No, I mean.
Oh, that makes sense.
Yeah.
The first meeting.
Yeah.
Is clothing the main focus for you right now?
Yes, a thousand percent.
I mean, it's what I rely on because I just recently got banned on YouTube for 90 days.
Damn.
What'd you do?
Body Blue.
Oh, I saw that video.
That guy you banned?
Yeah, for 90 days.
Like a week after, like, they
gave me an email.
They said, yeah, you're done.
Damn.
I had Lily Phillips on the pod and that episode got a strike.
And what did that do to your like?
I think I, so it was the first strike.
So I'm chilling.
Knock on wood, but was that your second or third?
That was my first strike ever.
And
it really hurt me because also factor in, I'm working with a new editor.
And so his name is Noah.
He's an amazing guy.
Yeah.
He's just a little slow.
So like when people are slow and I'm very fast paced and have ADHD, you know,
it's kind of hard for me to, for people to keep up with me.
Yeah.
Did you regret taking that spring break trip with Bonnie Blue?
Fuck no.
That shit was lit.
That was amazing.
What you mean?
So no regrets about it?
I mean,
she changed the brother's life, man.
For good and worse.
Like, being around her, I gained 6,000 followers.
Damn.
And I also lost 6,000 followers.
You know what I'm saying?
You lost it that quick?
Very, yeah, instantly.
Like, it was like, as the followers are going up, it was going down at the same time.
Oh, oh, God.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
But, you know, as far as like the
notoriety I got from it, I need security now.
So everywhere I go, for the most part, I have security with me.
For real?
Yeah.
It's like that?
Yeah.
God damn.
Actually, like she did, she knows what she's doing.
Wow.
Well, shout out to her, man.
I know
OnlyFans girls get a lot of hate, but
it is what it is, I guess.
Yeah, man.
It's all marketing.
It's like what you put out there, you're marketing yourself.
You know what I'm saying?
Whether you know it or you don't.
And yeah, man.
Who put you onto the marketing game, like branding?
Like, who really taught you those skills?
I watch like a lot of different creators, like just on shorts and like reels and stuff like that.
So, just like the internet.
Yeah.
And also people I work with too.
Yeah.
Like Nelk Boys.
Yeah, I was going to say, because those guys really know how to build a brand and market and unique things, right?
Hella smart, like
elite, so elite.
Yeah.
And that was a wild run for you.
I don't even know where to start, but I guess you and Salim kind of came into it together, right?
Oh, boy.
Tell me about it.
Ah, 2017 is when I got the idea of what I wanted to do, which is make clothing.
Started painting sneakers like the Hirachis.
Used to split splash, paint on there, post it on YouTube, 30,000 views, boom, boom, boom.
And, you know,
kind of
a few months after that, I started like a clothing line, Girls Love Artists, which is one way I support myself.
You know, that's just one way as an influencer, supporting myself with that.
Sorry, I need an IV.
I'm actually getting one right after this.
Yeah, you do those all the time?
Like, I try to do it at least once every other month.
Damn.
Because I just keep going.
I'm like the energizer bunny, but staying on topic, I'm sorry.
No, you're good, man.
I have ADHD too.
I can relate to this.
Like, are you diagnosed with it?
I am, but I'm all over the place.
Sometimes I have to tone it down.
Oh, yeah.
Well, I didn't get a brain scan yet, but.
Yeah.
I mean, you could tell.
Yeah.
If you're building something, doesn't matter if it's a business, a brand, or just a better version of yourself, then you already know.
The work never really stops.
Your brain is always on.
Ideas at 2 a.m., problems at 3, plans at 4.
But here's the truth.
If you never shut down, you're going to crash fast.
That's why I use Sambrosa.
It's not hype.
It's not some trendy sleep hack.
It's a legit syrup that helps you fall asleep when your brain won't let you.
You take it and 20 to 30 minutes later, you're out.
Not groggy, not drugged up, just asleep like you're supposed to be.
Then you wake up clear with no brain fog, no dragging yourself out of bed.
You get your hours in, and you actually feel like you slept.
Sleep isn't optional, it's not self-care, it's strategy.
If you're not getting it right, you're leaving energy, focus, and money on the table.
Sambrosa helps me sleep, it helps me execute.
That's the only reason I talk about it.
You want to get ahead, start by getting real rest, check out the link below in their website: www.s-A-M-B-R-O-S-A sambrosa.com.
Most Most people could tell.
I don't like when people use it as a, like, like, oh, you have
like one of those, yeah, like a victim mentality thing, but you could tell.
Yeah, but
I digress.
Getting back on topic.
Yeah, man, we started
around 2018.
You guys were homeless at the time, right?
I remember that.
No, no, not, not off-rip.
Like in high school, you know, graduate high school.
And I stayed back a year just so he can finish his progress with school.
And then once he graduated, then I kidnapped him, moved to LA
with the whole plan.
Like everything
as to where I am right now was planned as far as like where I would be by the time I'm 25, because everyone in Sacramento would say this,
rich by 25.
And so I had this thing where I used to say,
by the time I'm 25, if I'm not where I want to be, like as far as happiness, as far as financials
and success in like the business world, then I'd just be like a Venice Beach bum painting art, like painting canvases and just creating art and trying to make a living that way.
But I'm glad I don't have to do that.
To give yourself like a seven-year window to make it happen.
Yeah,
100%.
But
we started posting Instagram videos
and I got them connected with WorldStar.
And then
I didn't personally know WorldStar.
I just somehow
my gut told me, since this was like the hottest platform, what is the best way to get on there
without paying?
Because at that time, you needed to pay three grand in order to get a sponsored post on their platform.
Music videos, anything you want to talk about, three grand bare minimum.
And,
you know, with my frugal gut, you know, I got that from my mom.
You know, I I told him, just send your videos
straight to the WorldStar team.
I found everybody who WorldStar followed, and I told them, reach out to these people because I think these three, four people are the ones that would possibly repost it.
And 24 hours later,
famous.
Wow.
Overnight.
That quick.
Yeah.
And that was three to four months into us doing this content creation, which is, you know,
that's something that'll make you keep going to where you're, you know what I mean?
Yeah.
Where I'm at right now.
I've dished that little moment pretty much into it from hard work.
We had 60 videos up, and
it was a surreal moment.
I was graduated, keep in mind, he was still in school.
So I would pick him up every day after school from, and we'd go film, you know, edit at McDonald's and rinse and repeat from even before I graduated, you know.
Yes, you two were super tight back then.
Super close.
Super.
How long were you friends at the time?
Oh, I make friends very easily, very quick,
Especially
like, yeah.
Sorry, I'm about to digress.
Zone out, zone back in.
All right, we're back.
We're activated.
We were friends for like
two months, maybe.
Oh, okay.
But we started off like in a, you know, we didn't really like each other.
It was beef at first.
I'm vegan.
Yeah, I don't beef.
It was.
What's the word?
Conflict.
You could say that.
Yeah, what was the conflict about?
A girl or what was it?
Oh, it's usually about girls or money.
So which one do you think it would be?
Girls.
Girls at the time, right?
Exactly.
But a girl who we didn't really know, her name was like Journey or some shit.
What a name.
Yeah, man.
That girl came.
She sat right next to me as I'm sitting down.
You know, he's posted up here.
I literally have like an image of the day, like
of what I'm talking about right now.
He's standing up here.
like kind of looking down like this and i'm like this doing my little selfie and then that was like when we were just getting to know each other and we were like, kind of like, okay, we could be homies and shit.
Because that was after he called me Bobby Shmurda like two, three weeks later.
And I was like, I'm not fucking with this kid.
And then I've seen that this dude is just like being a character, a clown in front of everybody.
That's just him.
But then, yeah, back to journey.
That girl sat next to me and she was like, hey, what are you guys doing?
Can I hang out with you guys?
I was like, yes, say less.
And so we're both like,
I'm like, yo, she valid on me.
And obviously, who do you think she's probably interested?
And if I'm sitting down and she sat next to me, who do you think?
Probably you, based off the situation.
So if we're reading the room,
that's probably not a valid reason to be jealous of somebody.
However, you know, that's how it started.
He swooped in there and...
No, he didn't swoop in.
It was just like, I didn't hook up with that girl.
I was going to like probably,
you know, do some things with her as far as breaking my virginity-wise.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
And
I didn't because I didn't want to hurt, you know, his feelings.
Damn.
So that's, that's the type of guy I am.
Like, even if I don't know you super too, too well, I just like, until you give me a reason to like,
you know, betray you or like do something like dirty to you.
Then I'm I'm going to just keep it kosher.
That's a respectful trade, man, because there's a lot of guys that are screwing their girls, their friends' girls.
Oh, yeah.
It happened to me, too.
I got my bitch fucked too.
Damn.
Yeah.
By one of your boys?
Yeah, really close boy.
Damn.
And who did you cut off?
Both of them, one of them or neither?
Well, okay, let's break it down.
Let's break it down.
So it wasn't my girlfriend.
Well, she actually.
Let me.
We could.
Tricky situation, huh?
Okay, now there's so many scenarios.
I pretty much, I always end up getting fucked over.
I'll keep it like that.
And I only noticed that,
you know, seven years into this shit, like how shady shit can get.
But, you know, one of my close friends, he fucked the girl.
We were on the two-man, and this girl flew out here to come see me.
Yeah.
Right.
And it hurt because I thought we were friends.
And
it hurt simply because it's the principal.
You know what I mean?
It's
none of these girls are ours.
It's just our turn.
You know, that whole thing?
Yep.
But my nigga, if I showed you these Instagram messages and you know, she's coming out here to see me and I got her friend here for you, we go out, boom, boom, boom.
Yes, he's a cloud chaser.
So typically cloud chasers, they're the type to like homie hop.
You know what I'm saying?
They don't want you.
They want the
lure.
They want the aura, you know, all that shit.
So, I'm not unaware that she's the type to do that, but however, principal,
you know, it's supposed to be bros over, you know what I'm saying?
And
yeah, so his girl, once we get back to the Airbnb, was throwing up for like 15-20 minutes, and I'm taking care of his girl.
Like, and the girl I brought out there,
or she came out there on her own time because, you know, I don't really fly girls out.
She came out there and she asked, Hey, so-and-so, could I use your restroom?
I was like,
Boom.
That person said, Yeah, go use my restroom.
I'm taking care of his girl in the bathroom, giving her water because I'm like, This is a bad look.
And then he's fucked up, too.
So I'm like,
Let me do what a decent human being would do.
And long story short, I come out, she's good.
Um,
that person comes out of the door.
It's like,
like you know that that scene in get out like when the guy's like yeah
gave me that look didn't say anything i was like okay he's like i'm so sorry
i'm so sorry i'm like what are you sorry for and i'm reading the room i'm like just take it just
and it was like he's seen a ghost and i was like so
you know
And I continue to be that person's acquaintance and I look past it because because I'm focused on like the bigger picture.
Yeah.
And I, it ain't worth it to like get in a fight over some shit like that over a girl who's not your girlfriend.
But it's the principle.
Yeah.
And a lot of people I run into, they break the principles
because I'm a really nice guy, but no more, Mr.
Nice Guy.
You're changing.
Yeah.
For a good cause.
Yeah.
Was that the first major backstab you experienced?
Oh, not even, man.
There was some more after that.
Before, there was some more
after
it continues the journey continues damn you know once somebody wrongs you once what makes you think they're not going to do it again
yeah so i guess it becomes the question of at what point do you cut them off right at what point is it enough oh right right right
right
And for you, was there a limit, I guess, or was it oh, there was no limit.
I gave that person
at least 100 chances.
Damn.
So you really wanted to make it work.
Oh, did I?
Damn.
Damn.
Shit.
Yeah.
Damn, you're helping me realize a lot right now.
No, I mean, I appreciate the honesty.
I could see you really wanted to make, I think we know who we're both talking about.
We can move on, though.
I know it's a touchy subject.
Next question.
Jimmy Gambles.
Do you still talk to him at all?
Yeah, he's a homie.
Yeah.
Shout out to him for
flaking a little once or twice.
He's supposed to come on here.
Yeah.
I like him, though.
He's a good dude.
No, yeah, that's Kyle's best friend.
Met him at the 5K.
In Miami or in Vegas.
Really?
They did one out here, too.
That's awesome.
So you read a lot?
No.
That was my first 5K in 10 years.
Oh, wow.
I read a lot.
Yeah.
You a runner?
Yeah, I run every morning.
Okay.
Or going a walk or going a jog.
Health is big for you.
Yeah.
Yeah, I know you're sober.
You don't seem to do any.
Do you party a lot or?
No drugs.
You still don't party a lot as far as like, I network a lot.
Because when you network, you increase your
net worth.
Oh, damn.
So much.
Speak bars out here, man.
Oh, my gosh.
You're transitioning into music, you said?
I would love to learn how to make music.
I feel like that's like
part of the reason why i've started a clothing line because i had a huge liking towards like
the lure of these artists in the music videos like they're telling a story
visually you know and sometimes it may not add up to what what they're saying and this this that but it's just the vibe like i feel like cousin jay as a whole like personality is just a vibe so like
i feel like that's just another way to express my vibe Yeah.
So, like,
maybe I will, maybe I won't.
But
who are your biggest musical inspirations?
Oh,
futures up there.
You know,
there's this artist on the come up in LA.
His name's Party Alone.
You know, he has this song called Attic.
I listen to it.
It fires me up.
Like,
oh, he's like the next juice world.
I love
Young Thug.
I love
hearing fucking Lil Baby's Fire.
Kanye?
His music is fucking
the old Kanye?
Graduation Kanye.
I miss the old Kanye.
I miss the old Kanye.
I didn't hear the new one, the new album he just dropped.
I didn't hear it yet either.
I liked Life of Pablo.
That's probably the latest one that I've liked.
I feel like Pablo.
Yeah.
Yeah, I feel like cousin.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Shout out to Kanye, man.
Going through his battles right now.
Now, aren't we all, man?
I feel like you go through stuff, but you always ask some questions to other people.
What you going through, my nigga?
A lot right now, dude.
Let's talk.
Financial stuff right now.
Yeah.
It's not cheap running a big pod, dude.
It's not.
How many episodes you shoot a day?
I feel like you'd be taking a break.
My dad had six.
Yesterday I had eight, but I film 750 a year, so that ain't cheap.
Fuck no, you got to pay your employees and people that.
Yeah.
You asked me about my bank account.
I'm barely getting by myself right now, man.
Shit.
Hey, the side effects and the truth that people don't talk about on social media is how expensive it is to run this shit.
You're pretty much doing a non-profit.
I mean, people see these revenues.
They think we're keeping a lot of it.
No, nigga.
No.
Pay my editors.
And they're not happy with what they're getting.
So then they get lazy.
But it's about the bigger picture, my guy.
But it's okay.
You can leave me.
You'd be appalled how much i pay my clippers and editors it's more than me i barely eat i'll just say like that i you know but i think it's important to be honest because um a lot of people look up to social media content creators or whatever you want to call their startups influencers and uh it's not an easy lifestyle no i'm telling you it's not but it's i think it's really worth it in the end and i haven't reached the end like
I say this all the time.
Like, I feel like I haven't even started.
So until I feel like I started,
I got another seven years left in me.
I've been doing it for seven years, more or less, but I've been trying to like
get to it.
And that's why I'm creating like the dream squad because I feel like that's what it's going to be to take me to the next level.
And putting other people on who want to do content, I'm going to be getting them into streaming, doing YouTube, and anything they want.
I'm going to be the person to provide that as long as they
do
their one fucking job.
You know, I don't make it hard.
I make it very simple.
If you want to stay, you can stay.
If you want to leave, you can leave.
So simple.
And I'm not the type of boss that's going to like try to, you know,
belittle you,
you know, unless you prompted me to have to do that.
And I'll
consensually and, you know, I'll make it known like behind closed doors with you and I before I like address you in a certain way.
Like say, for example, Noah, who's my favorite editor now and my only editor,
I fired him this spring break and before he even got hired.
And he's not hired yet.
This, this month is where he's being tested again.
He has the next 30 days to post every single day on TikTok for me.
And we got to upload at like 5.30 to 6 every single time.
A quality, high quality vlog.
documenting the process of me getting the dream squad house
you know you're methodical with it yes like i'm not fucking around and it's like i'll be speaking low so people don't hear me lately since i've been really focusing on the gym like instead of going once a week i'll go like every day now until i'm in the position i want to be or somewhere close to it you know so my stylist
we we told each other that we're gonna lock in
in the gym every single day until we at least get the house
you know what i'm saying yeah and the house it's a pretty hefty
down payment.
You know, the first and last month deposit that you don't know about until you're trying to get yourself a house or apartment.
And that's probably the reason why you can't get it and you got to move in with hella people.
Yeah.
So I found the house that I want, and I'm doing a series on YouTube right now, or not on YouTube, on TikTok, because I'm banned on YouTube.
And the only way for people to support me right now is to merchure Patreon.
Thank God for patreon but
i'm digressing now man
i'm digressing no i'm interested so this house yes miami you want to do it in miami miami within 40 minutes of miami i'm not going to say the exact location but it's in the proximity of miami yeah and your whole goal is to get content creators yes and you want to be similar to phase or what you want to do yes i want to be like phase banks like the east coast phase yes and i want to be like steve will do it i want to give back i already do that You know, you know, you're giving back and you're not returning too much yet.
I had an event last night.
It didn't charge a single dollar.
And for something like that with all these people connecting, you're literally throwing like $30,000 in somebody's pocket, $10,000, $2,000.
You just did a lot of favors and people don't even say thank you to motherfuckers that do favors for it.
And what do I did?
You invited me.
I didn't show up.
And I still said thank you anyways, you know?
At least a thank you.
That's worth fucking everything.
You were the only one who did that, by the way.
So I appreciate
your thank you.
No, thank you for appreciating my thankfulness.
Yeah.
No, I can acknowledge it, man.
Seriously, like, people are so fucking ungrateful in this shit.
Like, the other day, this dude who's trying to edit for me, I'm going to say his name, Sean.
This dude had the nerve to say that I deserve to make fucking McDonald's pay.
Damn.
And he said that he could make fucking
300K in computer science when he graduates college i said okay you do that you do that ai is going to replace that job yeah you see see how easy it is to um become a computer science guy fresh out of college my
and you're asking me to work for me yeah go yourself but you can still try to cloud chase off me and work with me that he's the last cloud chaser i'm going to deal with and
yeah
You've been dealing with a lot of cloud chasing, huh?
I guess that's part of getting famous so quick.
People want to ride the wave with you.
Yeah, man.
Like, they want to ride the wave, but they won't, they can't swim.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, how you going to ride the wave, but you can't swim?
You do a lot of swimming out here in Miami?
You know, black people can't swim.
I wish.
I'll put my feet in the water, though.
Swimming ain't easy unless you learn it at a young age, to be fair.
I agree.
You know,
I don't even like swimming.
I'd rather walk or run.
Yeah.
It feels like you're going so slow.
You know, it's not efficient.
I almost drowned in the Atlantic Ocean over here.
Shit.
You got caught in a riptide or what happened?
Like a bunch of seaweed got in my mouth and I swallowed a bunch of salt water.
Damn.
So dehydrated, I didn't even eat anything that morning.
It was like when we were doing a,
not when we first moved to Miami.
It was like two or three years ago.
I was with Kyle and Salim and Austin and a couple other people on the team.
They um
were all swimming to the lighthouse and then I was like, okay, if these guys can do it, no floaty, no vest, i can do it so then my black cast was like okay i'm gonna get in the water and just because you know austin does it doesn't mean you got to do it you know um and my mom told me if you ever go in the water because a lot of people my family actually died from um the stereotype not knowing how to swim damn no cap in the water in the ocean or in the river like fishing and shit like getting caught in a riptide or some shit like that
i won't say a lot but
more than two is that's that's that's for a family yeah yeah that's a lot so but i like to be very exact and literal and punctual with what i say so because i don't lie um
but yeah man i tried it i was screaming for help i'm like yo help help help everyone's like laughing and because they think i'm joking
and you know the security that they had through like a little ring, a ring saver.
Oh, the yeah, I forget what those are called, but the ring of life, whatever you call it.
Y'all know what I'm talking about.
Threw it in the water, couldn't reach it.
He jumped in the pool or in the ocean, tried to save me.
He ended up fucking almost drowning.
Jeez, somebody, by the grace of the highest power in the world, came on a little small boat and like carried that dude inside his boat.
And I was able to get the
ring of life, whatever, for a decent amount.
And I was able to grab the
anchor anchor that they had thrown in there and pulled my way up there.
I like, it felt like one of those scenes in the Spongebob movie when they get on the dry land and shit.
Yeah.
And I just laid out, and they're fucking like, they were like, oh, shit, this guy was serious.
You know what I mean?
And then once I started coughing up water and I was chilling, that's when they started laughing.
And I'm like, okay, fuck you guys.
Did you think that was going to be it for you?
Nigga, the reason why I actually tried to like save myself is because I didn't hit 100k on YouTube.
Huh.
That's literally what kept me going, I promise you.
Really?
I literally said, if I do not get out of this water, I'm not going to hit 100K on YouTube.
That was your thought process.
I said, I haven't even made it yet, my nigga.
So you die, you're a pussy.
That's what was in my subconscious mind because I couldn't say it in that moment where I'm like,
yeah.
Do you ever think you get too caught up in the social media numbers?
Like you're chasing Never Ends or not?
No, I didn't reach.
I didn't pay attention to numbers until recently, like this past year.
You know?
Yeah, because some people get, like, like Jack Doeherty, for example, like, he's been on the show, but like, I feel like when you're live streaming, you're just trying to do crazy shit.
Oh, yeah, I see that.
Like, I've seen a Jack Dherdy party or whatever.
I got invited to one.
Yeah, I think it's hard for that kid to like, Focus on reality.
He's too deep in.
Yeah.
He's like, he's kind of,
no offense, I think he's cooked.
You think so?
Yeah.
He just got robbed.
I don't know if you saw that.
Yeah.
Is that real?
Yeah, that's real.
That sucks, but I think he's like so deep in that he's cooked.
I'm deep in, but I'm also like,
oh.
I don't know.
You didn't build your brand off controversy and like.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Shock value.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's the problem.
Because when you build your brand off that, then you got to keep doing it.
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
And And like starting that way and then ending that way is hard.
Now
look at Vitaly right now.
Yeah, man.
They end up on fucking cocaine and fucking.
Well, he's facing prison time in Philippines.
What now?
You didn't see this?
Vitaly's been in jail for like a month.
They're saying he's going to get five, 10 years in the Philippines because he's live streaming and pranking people.
You know, if Foozies going crazy, like, I think it's just a toxic lifestyle, these streamers.
That's sad.
Yeah, man.
got to be careful and I think the best way to be careful is by building a
a dial team
not fully yes men facts because you know respectfully I even told Kyle like he has a team full yes men like not every single person but if 70% of the team is yes men
like
I think that could be dangerous, but that also stems from hiring the right people.
If you hire all your friends,
then they're going to be yes men.
If you hire people that are trained and have the skills and you don't have to train them to do it,
that's why I don't work with friends.
And I recently realized that you shouldn't work with people you know.
100%.
You know?
It gets too personal.
Unless you're willing to get taken advantage of.
If you're not, then yeah, stay away.
You're always going to be less harsh on them.
naturally.
You're naturally going to fuck yourself over.
Right.
You don't want to hurt their feelings.
You know?
yeah.
Who was uh holding Kyle accountable from what you saw?
I honestly don't know.
I feel like he's very like he holds himself accountable.
I feel like I could be wrong, Jimmy's his best friend too.
Like,
he's pretty dialed,
he's he's a smart motherfucker.
He's just you gotta be to build that brand from the ground up, like that.
Bro, he's elite, he's a man.
Who are you still talking to the most from those guys right now?
Either Jesse, he just sent me a care package from Bloody Sunday.
Nice.
He's giving me every single drop.
I get new clothes.
That's dope.
It's just fire.
I talk to,
yeah, mainly Jesse.
I mean, but he's not in Nilk.
So
Jimmy, I talked to Austin a little bit.
Matt.
Yeah, that's mainly
not Steve?
Oh, yeah.
I talked to Steve.
But, like, technically, him kind of, you know what I mean?
Like, he's not on YouTube.
YouTube ban.
Yeah.
That sucks, man.
They did him dirty.
But Steve is one of the greatest guys I know.
Yeah, they did him so dirty.
I can't believe it hasn't been reversed by now.
Yeah.
Because they've unbanned like Sneeko and like
really trying to get on there right now.
Like, I'm.
The best hopes, best wishes for him to get on there.
Like, he deserves it.
Yeah.
He's so hardworking and one of the most fucking generous people.
This dude gifted me a chain when I felt chained down.
You know what I mean?
You know what I mean?
He gave Salim a fucking new Tesla.
Fucking changed the trajectory of our shit.
We were able to fucking move around, wiggle around.
You know, not having a car sucks.
Yeah, in L.A., that's impossible.
Fuck no, you can't get nowhere.
Everything's 45 minutes away.
Yeah.
At the minimum 20, 30.
Without traffic.
With traffic.
It's like an hour.
What are you talking about?
Who put money in your pocket first out of those guys jesse really yeah not salim
no oh
how did jesse do it was it through merch or what how did that happen no i was like when i first joined when i got unhomeless
again
uh
he noticed me like around the house picking up bottles and cans because they drink a lot of beer and stuff yeah at the time
and i was like
Like this is just what I would do to make I would do anything I could do legally legally to make money So I'll just recycle and he seen me doing that every day and like
Couple weeks to a month in or so he's he noticed that he's like wait, you're not on payroll?
I was like no, you know what I'm saying?
I was like, I don't give a fuck
He was like
Let me talk to Kyle and he was like I'm gonna get you paid.
So shout out to Jesse for that.
Wow.
So you weren't on payroll for how long?
I really don't know, but it couldn't have been longer than two months.
Oh, okay.
Still, a month and a half, maybe.
I don't know.
But at the same time, you can't be upset with that if you fucking got a house for it.
You know what I'm saying?
Right.
Compensation.
They took you in, right?
They took me in and they changed my life.
Was that planned?
Because you said you planned out everything.
Like, was partnering with them part of the plan?
Fuck yeah.
So you have that?
I knew they were going to move us in there.
I told Salim,
so this is going to happen.
That's impressive.
Because a lot of people, that was like, in my opinion, the first peak in Nelk those days.
Yeah.
A lot of people were hollering at them.
Because, like, when we started collaborating with them, I just noticed our synergy was fucking elite.
You know, we were so good of friends.
And
yeah, they started posting stories talking about like, yo, we're getting the content house.
We're planning on moving some creators in.
I'm like, it's a no-brainer.
Every video that we've done with them has passed up the other video viral movie.
Yeah.
So like, do do the math everything's numbers bro you guys were killing it especially thank you those ig prank videos thank you they would get like three mil every time right oh yeah at least like 2.8 yeah you guys would go to like walmart or target or whatever niggas moaning in niggas ears yeah
then crazy man that's so crazy yeah such a long time ago i can't believe that was seven years ago i still remember some of those videos yeah like the moaning in the ear damn am i uncle i know pretty much you might have to change change cousin to uncle uncle jay yeah people call me that.
Oh, yeah, but like, just so I can feel a little young, call me Uncle Cousin Jay.
If you're going, don't go full unknown.
You know what I'm saying?
Go.
You need some white first, some gray to go unknown, I think.
You know,
and I'm wearing slides now, like some African slides, so I can get in my roots and shit.
How'd you get cousin Jay?
How'd that name come about?
I'm a family guy, man.
You know, you're big on fam
one day.
I'll be.
I would like to have like a wife and kids.
kids, and
you know, what I want everything that I never had before,
you know, like the right way.
Like, you don't, I don't think you gotta
be a dad beat, you know, yeah,
but you could beat some shit up.
Yeah, talking about white, white, white.
You know, just do the right thing.
And I think,
yeah, I think bad things will happen, but,
you know, I want to be a change.
Like, my older sister, her dad's in jail for life.
Damn.
you know, my younger sister, her dad
is like down bad, you know what I'm saying?
You know, my dad, you have to flee,
you know, but me,
cousin dad,
he's going to be here to stay.
You dating out here in Miami?
I heard it's rough out here in Miami.
I do have a girlfriend.
Oh, nice.
I do.
How long?
How long have you guys been together?
Well, we've known each other for quite a while, but like I never knew I was going to date her.
You were friends at first?
I don't really have female friends like that.
Rachel and Melissa, my assistant, but
I'd say we were acquainted.
Got it.
You keep her on the low or are you guys public?
Yeah, I don't post her at all.
Same with mine.
I'm eight years in.
Word?
Yeah.
Oh, good shit.
And married this year, bro.
Money.
Yeah.
But yeah, most people don't even know I got a a girl.
I keep her super low-key.
That's the way it should be, I think.
Yeah, no one's going to know who my girl is.
Bro, you see every time you go to public with a girl, people just start hating, and then it gets to her.
And then.
Oh, yeah.
No, like people even think I'm dating Sally.
Oh, really?
It's my assistant.
But it's like, you know, any girl I'm next to, that means I'm dating him.
And, you know, I understand it because, you know,
Nilk highlighted a lot of Riz moments on my channel.
I highlighted a Riz moments on there, Salim's channel.
What you show people is what people think.
And so people like to run with the narrative, even though it may or may not be true.
But yeah, man, my girl, she's not out here.
No, sir.
She's off the green, greed, agree, agree.
What does keeping your pencil in your pocket mean?
That means don't fuck your homeboy's girl, my dad.
That means don't fucking
know when to use your penis.
You know,
that means means you got a boner tug that shit.
And more specifically,
do not commit adultery.
Bars.
I got to ask about this because I saw you did a video with her.
You met Angel Reese.
Yeah.
Who's better at basketball?
You or her?
That girl would dunk on me, man.
She's way better than me.
All right, all right.
But I'll defend her like so good.
If it's like not a fast break, I'll defend her.
But if it's a fast break, she's crushing me.
I'm not going to lie.
So one-on-one, who you got?
Me versus Angel Reese?
Yeah.
Half court?
Half court.
Oh, yeah.
Bye.
You're winning?
Say goodbye.
No shot.
You're going to be a full court.
She got me.
So you could shoot then.
You got a jump shot?
I shot my shot.
All right.
It didn't go too well.
But listen, it's about how many shots you...
you take.
I got to see your game because Steiny says he could beat me, but I've never seen him play.
Yeah, man.
He talks a whole lot.
His game.
Who is it at that?
Who's the most athletic member of Full Send, in your opinion?
Like when you guys were doing a bunch of sports and everything.
Besides myself, I'll say.
Including yourself.
I'll say Cousin Jay.
Like, if you played, like, five sports.
I'll say Cousin Jay.
Really?
So you got speed, you got strength, you got it all?
I am everything.
I love the confidence.
What's your best sport, pickleball?
Fuck yeah.
I love pickleball.
How'd you know?
Bro, your eyes lit up when I said pickleball.
Oh, my gosh.
I love pickleball, man.
I watch shorts on that all day.
Oh, fuck.
That got me through depression.
Damn, pickleball.
Yeah, actually,
that helped, bro.
Fuck.
I didn't even realize that.
How did that help?
This fucking summer, I was in South Carolina figuring my shit out, you know, taking a little debrief of everything because, you know, everybody left me.
Just fucking hitting that paddle.
Hitting something about hitting that paddle.
It just is so liberating, man.
I feel, it makes me feel like I'm him.
And playing against those old fucking people, they're like 60 plus, they can play really good.
And that made me feel really good because I like talking to older people and like listening to my olders.
And they're just so, they're so funny.
And this, it's such a positive thing to do, man.
They got wisdom.
I highly recommend if you'd ever play pickleball,
I thought it was corny at first, but you gotta, you gotta try it before you say that.
You run in singles or doubles, pickleball, both, both.
I like doubles more because if you play someone that's good at singles, they'll just pop it right in the corner.
Back corner, you're sweating.
And you also don't rely just on yourself, so it's less pressure.
Yeah.
But if you got a shitty partner, like I do a lot, yeah, sucks.
Yeah.
Uh,
cameraman advice: a lot of cameramen.
You got to be submissive as a cameraman.
You can't have any ego.
You just got to do it.
If somebody asks you to do this, film this,
you got to be willing to jump in that rock bar pool when Barney Boo's in there.
You know what I'm saying?
You know, you got to fucking just do it.
Let me ask you this because this is a controversial thing in the camera community.
Would you ever advise working for free?
Fuck for a camera.
Why do you think I'm here?
Because a lot of them don't want to do that.
Fuck.
You know what I mean?
Nigga, Nigga,
you don't want to do that because you don't really love it.
I would do this shit for free.
I mean, I have.
And look at where they got you.
And I'm still not where I want to be, but people look at me like I'm where I want to be.
But, dude, this is crazy because I hire a lot of cameramen for my events and podcasts and stuff.
And in their Instagram bio, a lot of them have no free work or something like that.
Nigga, they better.
You better tell them to take that shit out real quick.
Actually, I think that's idiotic.
I'm the same way.
I'll learn from someone, you I'll make someone consistent.
Learn.
You can literally learn so much game if you do free work.
You're literally being an intern.
Being an intern is one of the greatest things you could do.
100%.
When I was broke starting out, I emailed Gary B.
You know who that is.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I said, yo, I'll work for you for free.
Like, I'm down.
I'll take the train in New York.
I live in Jersey.
Yeah.
That's smart.
Yeah, let's run it up.
Cause how else are you going to get in contact with?
They're not going to pay you.
They don't know you.
You have no value.
Exactly.
So why the fuck are you acting like you got value?
You ain't got no resume.
I wish more people thought thought that way, though.
You know?
Because imagine if they were around you for like a couple hours a week learning the game, social media game.
If somebody was around me, they would make $4 million in two years.
I mean, you've probably done it, so you can speak from experience.
You know?
Would you ever get into boxing?
I mean, I train not for boxing, but like I work out every day, as I mentioned earlier, but
I wouldn't be opposed.
I'll knock somebody out.
You got an opponent in mind?
He knows who he is.
We got to hit up Aiden Ross and make it happen.
Oh, that's a good idea.
Out here in Miami, it only makes sense.
You got his contact?
I do.
Let's make it happen.
Let's set that up.
And it's the dude who fucked my bitch.
So, you know who you are.
Oh, dude.
Where can people get the merch?
Where can people keep up with you and everything?
I mean, one one way to support me and keep up with me.
Thank you for asking that, man.
That's so kind of you.
I want to give you some value, too.
Thank you.
You gave me your time today.
Appreciate that.
Girlsloveartist.com.
I mean, a lot of you guys were very interested in these hats during spring break.
Have the red, white, and blue.
They sold out instantly.
This is the best seller.
It's a good design.
And then never restocking again.
Oh, you're never going to restock?
I mean, I might have like a limited edition version fourth of july
a little teaser
but we'll link that below man and patreon cousin jay
you know it just takes one dollar to support a brother dream squad house guys
yeah man june we're getting that dream squad house man and a lot of lives are going to change People are going to be quitting their nine to fives, man.
It happened to me, so it's only right to return the favorite.
I love it, man.
Thanks for coming on.
It was great.
Thank you, Sean.
Yep, check them out, guys.
Peace.
Easy.