The $0 Networking Hack That Landed Me Shaq as a Client | DJ Irie DSH #939

Is that when you got big on tennis?

That is.

It's crazy how life, you know, things happen when they're supposed to happen.

Some of the biggest and best tennis players in the world, and I'm not even following what's going on.

And I'm there taking it in, watching the best tennis players, and I'm just existing to a point where even Federer was like, hey, man, if you want to, you know, go hit, this is in Dubai.

If you want to go hit, you know, we're here.

And I was like, I don't want to waste your time.

Federer hit you up to go hit?

Yes.

Damn.

Yeah, man.

Can you turn that down?

Yes.

I would never turn that down.

All right, guys.

Finally made it happen.

DJ Ire.

You got him in Vegas.

Yo, we're on the pod right now, man.

In my hometown, man.

Man, good things come in time, right?

They do, man.

You've been all over the place.

I've been moving, man.

I've been moving.

I see that.

Out here now with

for Kevin Hart's weekend.

Nice.

So we did it up yesterday over at Resorts World.

And yeah, his timing worked out great, man.

Oh, yeah.

I think if we can do it anywhere, it might as well be be in your hometown.

Might as well, man.

So are you the DJ for K-Hart?

Well, I played one of the, it's a bunch of people.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, it's myself, Akon, Ludacris, Sweetie, Brian Tiller, Bryson Tiller.

Yeah.

Like, yeah,

it's stacked.

Holy crap.

Yeah.

That's all for his show.

Like, this Kevin Hart show?

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

For sure.

So, I mean, it started yesterday.

So it's, you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, day and night.

Janelle Monet, aka DJ Johnny Jane, was with me yesterday.

So she did her thing.

Yeah, it's good.

Nice.

It's good.

Then Kevin's doing his show Sunday night.

Yeah.

How often are you out in the back?

Because I know you got Ari Weekend.

You got Shaq.

You got Gronk.

Yeah, man.

We got a lot of stuff going on, man.

Like, just back-to-back-to-back.

You know, Ari Weekend's coming up actually tomorrow.

It'll be next month.

It's October 9th through 12th.

In Miami.

In Miami.

In Miami.

And that's going to be.

Pretty stacked as well.

I just don't understand how you stay this healthy while going out till 3 a.m.

every night.

You know what?

Shout out to Wifey.

Shout out to Wifey.

She's got me right.

You know, she's changed my life for the better

because things weren't as healthy

before.

You know what I mean?

I mean, this is like, this is not like anecdotally.

I mean, like, this is, this is empirical.

Like, I got my butt work done about a couple weeks ago.

Yeah.

And the numbers speak for themselves.

Like, everything's going in the right trajectory.

So I'm very appreciative of that.

Naomi Jay, appreciate you.

I love that, man.

I love that.

Getting your boy right.

No, that's incredible because you see some people in the nightlife space and they look like they've aged like 10, 20 years.

Oh, no, for sure, for sure.

And I think for me, well, you know, it's funny too is that, you know, pre-COVID, right?

I'm talking, you know,

16, 17, 18, you know, 19, when I tell you, I was probably like in a death spiral.

Whoa.

Seriously,

I can honestly say that

I was not taking care of myself at all, right?

And you know what it is, burning the candles on both ends, you know?

And I'm sure I was literally taking years off my life, you know?

And then COVID hit.

And here's the thing.

I know for a fact, you know, some families got just devastated, you know, between losing loved ones, loss of income,

you name it, right?

You know, people being, you know, very, very sick.

For me personally, it was one of the best things that ever happened to me me because it took me out of that spiral, right?

It took me, you know, having to have everything stripped away to be able to have that experience of like just sitting my ass down,

right?

Just sitting down and being like, okay, well, you know what?

There's nothing else to do, but let me go for a run.

Yeah.

You know,

let me start eating.

better, you know, spending more time with the family, you know, all these things, having those experiences because I just didn't have it, you know, was like, no,

I want this.

right?

I don't want to let this go, you know, and then that's when, you know, better decisions started to come out of that.

Interesting.

So it was good.

So COVID forced you to kind of reflect on yourself.

Yes.

Yes.

In a very, very positive way.

Nice.

Is that when you got big on tennis?

That is.

So, you know what?

Here's the thing about it.

I was, I was, I was, it's crazy how life, you know, things happen when they're supposed to happen because I was on this tennis tour.

It's called the IPTL.

This is back in 2016, 17, right?

And I was on tour with like Nick Kirios, Serena Williams, Roger Federer, some of the biggest and best tennis players in the world, right?

And I'm not even following what's going on because

I'm the DJ for the tour, right?

And someone has to go in my ear and be like, okay, play now.

Because I didn't even know when the point was over, right?

I didn't know when the set was over, when the game was over, you know?

And I'm there taking it in, watching the best tennis players, and I'm just existing, you know?

And to a point where even Federer was like, hey, man, if you want to, you you know, go hit, this is in Dubai because it is in Dubai.

If you want to go hit, you know, we're here.

And I was like, I don't want to waste your time.

Federer hit you up to go hit?

Yes.

Damn.

Yeah, man.

Can you turn that down?

Yes.

I would never turn that down.

I mean, because I just, I just, you know, I had no interest whatsoever.

Oh, you weren't playing at the time.

I would, no, not at all.

Oh, got it.

Got it.

This is like, this is like 20, like, like, like 16, 17, right?

Got it.

And I had no interest whatsoever.

It wasn't until a buddy of mine bought Prince, right?

You know, the bracket and tennis equipment.

Make sure.

Yeah.

And sent me like a whole kit, you know what I mean?

With the bracket and the balls and all that stuff.

And another friend of mine invited me to go play one day, right?

And I was like, man, I don't play no tennis.

You know, that's like, wait a minute, I have all the things.

I said, you know what?

Let me just go ahead and use this stuff because I've been sitting in my closet, you know, for all this time.

And I went out there and I was so terrible.

I was, I mean, I was, I was, I was like, like, Babe Bruth, you know, just hitting home, hitting the homers.

I was so bad.

like we had to leave because we ran out of balls.

I kept hitting him into the water.

I was like, all right, let's go home.

And I felt like, you know what?

I got to do better than this, you know?

And that's when I decided, okay, I'm going to work out it, at least to like, you know, be like decent, you know, getting on the court.

And then I just got hooked, man.

I play every day.

You play every day?

Every single day.

Damn.

Like two, three hours a day, sometimes twice a day.

Like, listen, you know how to get me to play tennis?

How?

Ask.

That's it?

That's it.

Dude, you're nice now.

All you got to do is ask.

And the answer is yes.

I love it, dude.

So tennis over pickleball?

Who, what, what, who?

What is that?

That's a rare opinion these days.

Listen, nothing against people that play pickleball, but there's nothing like the workout you get with tennis.

Yeah.

You know, in my opinion.

And it's like,

you know, I go out there and I'm tracking on my watch and I'm hitting 1,900 calories, dude, which is insane.

Yeah.

Like, insane.

You're never going to do that playing pickleball.

Hell no.

This it's just not gonna happen so do you play like the ratings or do you just play casually um i play i play casually but i'm starting to get into tournaments actually i'm hosting my own tournament during the weekend matter of fact i i uh i would usually do a big pool party um in concert on saturday yeah and i was like you know what scratch that i'm doing a tennis tournament

so now it's it's golf on friday and tennis on saturday damn and i play in it okay of course you know so last year was the first one this should be the second one and uh yeah it's i i take it serious man.

Let's go.

I think, yeah, come on.

Anytime.

What's up?

Just ask.

All right.

Who wins the golf one usually at your event?

You know what?

The 11 team.

The 11 team.

The guy named, so it's,

well, Jeremy Spund, who's not officially with 11, but like he plays on their team.

And what's my, Zach, Zach, Zach Booch.

Okay.

Zach is a beast.

So Zach, Jeremy, and they have like two other scratch golfers that are on their team, team and they crush it every year man plus you allow like pros to compete well i mean they're not like pros pros but they're really really good they're really good man it's probably not fair yeah

they're really good they probably could join the tour but they're they're they're super super good they crush it every year man oh yeah dude and you've been having this irregular end for how long now this year's year number 18.

holy crap isn't that crazy dude dude that's insane 18 it's and it's been a it's been a grind man but man um it's a blessing that we it's been a huge success every year um gets bigger and better every year.

I mean this year I'm doing it on a cruise ship.

What?

It's kicking off on a cruise ship.

Yeah, so our friends from Princess Cruises, they gave us their brand new Sun Princess ship.

And it's serendipitous because

I did the launch of the ship in February out in Rome, right?

And then we put out our Save the Date

earlier this year.

My buddy that works

for the line gets it and he's like, yo, he calls me.

He says, yo, your gala, your kickoff is on the 10th.

And I go, yeah.

He goes, you're sure.

I go, absolutely.

He goes, the date won't change, right?

I go, it's Columbus Day weekend.

It's definitely going to be the 10th.

He goes, because the Sun Princess is going to be in town on the 10th for one day only.

It will never ever be at port again

for the full day, right?

And we want to offer it to you to do your event.

What are the awesome?

Come on.

Destiny.

Right?

Just the one day out of 365, the one day,

and it lines up.

And I was like, all right, let's do a big.

And that's when we just committed.

You got the whole ship.

Got the whole ship.

And I was like, holy shit.

That's crazy.

You know?

How many does it fit?

Well,

we're going to have about 1,500 people on there.

Yeah.

And then because they have their debut event as well, so they probably have another 800 or so.

So we'll have our own spaces to do our stuff.

Got it.

And then they're guests.

And we'll all converge on the Lido deck.

I have uh pit bull performing wow um to kind of like close out the night so everybody will be on the Lido deck for that and it'll be awesome that's legendary yeah man it's gonna be good how's the Miami Heat stuff doing these days the heat the heat the heat heater heating up

the heater heating up they're looking good they're looking good they're looking good they're looking good it's it's crazy because you know thinking about it I mean

They've really, really been one of the more consistent and successful teams over the last decade.

I would put the Spurs first and the Heat second.

I agree.

I agree.

So you really, really follow basketball.

I do.

Yeah.

It's been amazing.

I mean, even 2020, like, who would have thought that we would have ended up in the finals, you know, in the bubble?

Yeah.

Right.

And then, you know, a couple years later, back again.

Like, it's crazy, dude.

It's crazy with a completely different lineup, you know?

So that shows to the culture, though.

It does.

It does.

It does.

And you know what?

When you have an owner like Mickey Arrison, that's all in, right?

That's all in on whatever it takes to win, right?

And then you add that with the insight and the discipline of someone like Coach Riley, I mean, that is a winning combination, right?

You know, and that's where it starts, you know, and then it kind of flows from there.

So, yeah, I think I think big things, I mean, this season, this season, you know, we'll see.

We'll see because competition is.

Celtics are nice.

Celtics, yo.

And they're going to be pissed after what happened with Teddy and Jalen after that.

They are.

They are.

You saw the kid in Miami.

I was like, really?

Like, of all the places,

go to Vegas.

Yeah, they got a chip on their shoulder.

They do.

They do.

They do.

But we'll see.

We'll see.

We'll be ready.

I love it, man.

And they were the first organization to hire a DJ, right?

Of the heat.

Yeah.

Yeah, man.

Yeah.

Not just

in basketball, but in professional sports.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Whoa.

Because I was trying to figure out.

what the deal was.

When I sat down and met with them, I was like, damn, okay, you know, it sounds like a great opportunity, right?

But, I mean, how is this being done, you know, in Chicago or in L.A., you know, in New York?

And I asked these questions and said, hey, you know, we looked into that.

They're not doing it, right?

Like, okay, what about like in the NFL, right?

Or Major League Baseball.

Like, we looked into that too.

No one's doing it.

And I was like, all right, let me go ahead and screw this up for everybody.

So you were at the test on me.

I really was.

I was.

But it was so cool because that's what made me say yes.

I actually, I initially said no.

Wow.

You know, when like keeping it real goes wrong,

that was the situation.

I almost kept it so real that it was a bad decision.

Because I was doing at that time, I had like the number one mix show on the hip-hop station, 99 Jams in Miami, right?

And all my clubs, I was playing like, you know, hip-hop and reggae and people were coming to see me.

You know, it was my name on the marquee, right?

And I was doing what I do.

I would have to do something completely different and off-brand at the time, you know, to be able to,

you know, change my style for the arena.

And I was like, you know, these season ticket holders aren't the people that are coming to my parties, you know, and probably not listening to my radio show, right?

So I was like, no way.

And then, and then when they told me, hey, you know what, this has never been done before.

And I was like, you know what?

I can make this mine.

You know,

I can do this my way and I can figure it out.

And

either I'll be the first to make it successful or still be the first to try it and screw it up.

But I'll be the first.

I love it.

So that's what made me say yes.

And thank God

we were going to make it successful.

Absolutely.

Three rings later.

You know, listen, I would never have even seen an NBA ring.

Have you seen me tribble?

You don't want to see that.

It's ugly.

You know what I mean?

And now every team has a DJ, right?

Pretty much.

Crazy.

It's proliferated.

So you revolutionized the whole professional sports.

Yeah, I can honestly say that.

And that's the biggest blessing of it all.

For DJs, very talented DJs to now have a new lane

for revenue and new opportunities that really wasn't on the table before.

The very first year, I remember the first year, the first full year, full season that I was

in that post for the Heat.

I got a call from the league, and they were like, hey, you know what?

They do this meeting every year called Best Practices.

And they go through through and every team kind of submits, you know, what they're doing new that's really working.

And for the heat, they submitted me, you know, like, hey, we have this DJ and he's great, you know?

Yeah.

And then other teams start calling, you know, like, hey, you know, what are you doing?

How are you doing it?

You know?

And I was like, let me tell you, you know?

And I actually helped some teams get their DJs.

And yeah, it's just really, really awesome.

Like, it's now, it's a mainstay.

And when I'm not at the Heat, there'll always, always be a DJ at the My Meet, and I think there'll always be a DJ at most of the teams now going forward.

I love it, dude.

That's awesome.

Do you travel with the team or do you just do home games?

Only at home.

Got it.

Only at home.

Got it, because they have their own DJs when you travel, I guess.

Correct.

That makes sense.

Correct.

You've built a bond with some of the players, right?

Of course.

Yeah.

I mean, it's really cool because not only

do you build a bond with them, you end up being a part of some of the most important moments in their life.

You know, like I did Yodonis Hasnam's wedding.

Wow.

Right.

Chris Bosch.

What's my man from Cron Butler?

Right.

You know, I did Shaq's kids' birthday parties, you know?

And you start to really, you know, get intertwined

in their lives, you know, all because of this, you know, music post that you have, you know?

And I remember when Shaq first came to Miami, I'd known him before, right?

You know, we were cool, we were friendly, but then...

When he came to Miami, one of the first things he did was pull me aside and he goes, yo, I want to start DJing.

I was like, What?

He's like, Yeah, let's make some mixtapes together.

I was like, All right, well, let's get you DJing first.

And I would go to his house on Starlight and we built out a studio in the house, right?

And I would go over there, like after games, even when he was at an away game, he would get back at like two in the morning, hit me up, yo, you up?

Yeah, I'm on the way.

Yeah, and would put in like, you know, two, three hours of work, you know.

Damn, and he got nice with it.

And today he's DJ Diesel.

Yeah, he's at the wind now, right?

Yeah, yeah, he's crushing.

He's at the wind.

He's He's doing

festivals all over the world.

Like, I mean, he's legit.

But the difference between, you know, Shaq and other quote-unquote celebrity DJs, whatever, the guy freaking loves it.

Obsessed with it.

And he really and truly put in the work.

Right.

You know,

and he has the talent, you know?

So it was really cool to be there at the beginning and work with him.

And being at the heat, you know, is what opened up that.

That's cool to hear because I thought he didn't start that till after he retired, but he was starting before he was retired.

No, yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure.

Actually, if you go online and research it, we have like a series of like four or five mixtapes that we did.

Wow.

Yeah, like

called the season opener, the all-star edition, you know, so all tied back into basketball.

But we were out like, you know, getting exclusives from like Slim Thug and Young Jock and, you know,

at the time, you know, it was really cool.

It was really cool.

He's always been into music.

Always, man.

I mean, the guy has either gold or platinum record.

Right.

You know, I saw that hit, hit, yeah.

Yeah, man, people don't understand.

Like, like, like, Shaq legit.

Yep.

Shaq does this music thing.

Like, he really does it.

Yeah, he's talented.

Is this something you want to teach your kids?

Hand this off to them.

You know what?

So my son,

he's a trip because I obviously wanted to share this with him, you know, from like

he started to understand music.

You know, and he does love music, right?

But.

I had a whole studio set up in my place, right?

The turntables, like everything was all set up, up, you know, really, really nice system.

And I would show him, you know, hey, man, this is how it works.

And he was never interested, right?

And then we decided to remodel the house, right?

So we had to take everything apart, take everything out.

And this was

just over a year ago, right?

The second I take the studio out, he's like, hey, dad, you know what?

I think I want to really learn how to DJ.

I was like, your timing is incredible, dude.

Like,

seriously?

This thing has been there for 16 years.

And, like, the month after it goes apart, he wants to learn.

Wow.

So, you know, when everything gets back, you know, up and going again, I'll try to teach him.

But he'll be in college.

So we'll see.

Damn.

Gotta work on the timing.

He didn't know until he lost the time.

Timing isn't his strong suit.

That's funny, man.

I saw you got him a car for his 18.

I did.

I did, man.

And wow,

it was really a moment, obviously obviously a moment for both of us, you know.

But, you know,

my thing is

I work hard to try to give my son a better life than I had, right?

And my parents worked very, very hard to give me a better life than they had.

Right.

Right.

And, you know, for me, you know, I grew up not wanting.

for everything, for anything, right?

I didn't have every single, you know, amenity and luxury, you know,

and I didn't always get what I wanted, but I had everything I needed, you know?

And my situation was one of, you know, I have an older brother, so it was a lot of hand-me-downs, right?

Didn't get a lot of things new, right?

So I got, you know,

a second or probably third-hand car,

right?

And, you know, for me to be able to be in a position to give him a new car, you know,

and say, hey, man, this is you.

You deserve it.

You've earned it.

You know, you've been a really good kid.

You're working really hard in school

is amazing.

And I keep instilling in him, like, you know, the things that you do get, it's not because, you know,

your dad's able to just give you, you know, whatever you want,

you've earned it, you know,

you know, he's earned these things.

And I want him to understand that his kids should also earn these things

and work hard to be in a position to be able to, you know, give your kids a better life.

You know, so

try to, you know, shed light and make a lesson out of,

you know, almost everything.

What a special moment.

I saw a video.

You two were both very emotional.

emotional.

Yeah, man, it was really cool.

And the setup was even better because he'd used my car the night before.

Yeah.

Right.

And

he's a good driver, but sometimes walls get in the way.

They're pesky.

They keep just jumping out there.

He's hit a few walls.

So, yeah, so

he actually kind of tore up the door on my girlfriend's car.

Poor girlfriend.

So he used my car the night before, and I was like, dude, you scratched my car.

He was like, what?

i go yeah man like you know matter of fact come downstairs i gotta show you right so if you if you if you really listen to the video yeah after he's like oh my god it's so great he's like so i didn't scratch the car

i was like nah man you're good you know the timing on that's immaculate yeah yeah he thought he was getting punished he thought he was in big trouble yeah the whole time he's like holding his head he's like man

like how does this keep happening to me yeah it's tough raising kids growing up in the spotlight and money you know it is man it is because they get influenced by their friend groups.

Yeah, it is.

It really is.

But, man, he's just got a really, really good head on his shoulders.

Nice.

You know,

I knew I was going to be okay with him when

this years ago.

We were out and we're shopping for some stuff.

You can go back to school.

And

there's these shoes that he really likes.

And we were going to go get him the shoes.

And he didn't realize how much they were, right?

And I didn't really have an issue with it.

They were expensive, but I didn't really have an issue with it.

And he was like, no, this is way too much for some shoes I I was gonna wear to school yeah and I was like you're right

this is a test nice I was like you passed I was like god damn

but but but he's conscious about these things yeah you know and um I was like wow like he understands the power of a dollar he understands that money doesn't just you know grow off trees you know and and that's important that's important especially you know in the in the in the circles that that that he's in you know you know he has friends that you know their families are very well off, you know, and it's not really a thing for them to have something, you know, super exclusive or luxurious.

Yeah.

And he appreciates being around that, but he understands the value of a dollar

and doesn't take that for granted.

I love that.

Yeah, it sounds pretty disciplined.

I think he gets it from you, man.

Yeah.

Well, I hope so.

Because I definitely understand it.

Have you always been that way?

I have, I have, and I got it from my family.

You know, my, listen, my parents, they worked extremely, extremely hard.

You know, right?

And I can honestly say that most of what they worked for went to us.

We went to the best private school in Jamaica.

Wow.

Oh, you grew up in Jamaica.

So my family moved to,

so obviously, my whole family's from Jamaica.

If anyone picked up on the Iri thing, you make the connection now.

There we go.

So

my whole family's from Jamaica.

I'm actually the only one that wasn't born there.

Oh, wow.

Right.

I was born in the Virgin Islands in San Carroll.

So my mom was a nurse, and she,

there was a shortage of nurses in the mainland and U.S.

territories.

So they were offering, the hospitals were offering a lot of money to get nurses from the Caribbean and other places to come over.

So she got a great offer for the Virgin Islands.

I popped out, right?

Then they moved to, got a better offer in California.

We all moved there.

Better offer in

Texas, Galveston.

And then they moved to Miami to be closer to Jamaica, right?

So they go back and forth.

So

I did elementary school, all that in

Miami.

Yeah.

And then middle school, you know, early high school is when they sent me to boarding school in Jamaica.

And it was

one of the elite boarding schools there.

So it was strict.

It was strict, but it was also really expensive,

right?

And it's funny because I'm there and the kids that I'm there with, you know, you know, this person's dad is the CEO of, you know, the sugar cane company and this person's dad is the CEO of the

aluminum, a bauxite company that's it's it's a big thing down there

and like like just really really really you know huge families you know and I'm like what the hell am I doing here right

and and and they worked really hard you know to to give me that opportunity you know and and you know the more I started to understand the sacrifices that they made because what they were paying for in terms of

what they were paying for in terms of the the the tuition, you know, they could have bought, you know, many luxury cars.

Oh, is that expensive?

It was really expensive.

Matter of fact,

my bunk mate was a guy named Sean Henrique, right?

And his family was a major family.

They were into banking and bottling.

And he was also a music guy.

Today, people know him as Sean Paul.

Wow.

That was your bunk mate.

That was my bunk mate.

Crazy.

Yeah, right?

No more gods than that.

No, the school was crazy, man.

It was nuts.

It was nuts.

So understanding that they forfeited having a lot of different things that they could have had, you know, in terms of luxuries and amenities and vacations and all these things.

They did without that, you know, and sacrifice for us.

Yeah.

So, you know, seeing that, that's something that I will never, ever, ever forget.

And it's probably helped kind of dictate how I view money

and have a profound respect for it and

a profound respect for sacrifice.

Yeah, I could see why Pat Riley likes you, man.

Oh, yeah.

You fit the system.

Yeah, right.

I'm all good with it, man.

I get it.

You've seen people come and go there.

I have.

You better believe I have.

Speaking of Pat, and this is funny, too, because

here I am thinking I'm doing a great job at the Heat.

This is probably the first,

within the first five years that I was there.

Yeah.

Like, I'm rocking.

I'm doing my thing.

I'm pumping the crowd up, you know?

And I forgot how.

Oh.

It was

when Coach Riley was getting accepted into the Naismith Hall of Fame.

Fame, right?

Right before, right when it was announced,

I was like, man, this is great.

Coach is being, you know, like, like, this is awesome, right?

We're all super happy.

So probably one of the next games, before he actually had the ceremony, when he announced that he was going to make it,

he comes over to me in my DJ booth.

He never comes over there ever.

Okay?

And I'm like, what the hell's going on?

I'm like, he's definitely walking this way, you know?

Am I getting fired?

I'm like, what is going on?

He comes over to my booth and he's like, hey, DJ.

And we'd know each other already, you know, because I did his daughter's wedding and did his daughter's graduation, you know.

And he comes over and he goes, DJ, I gotta tell you something.

And I go, what's up, coach?

You know, I'm like, I'm not gonna suit up today, you know?

So he's like, I gotta be honest with you, man.

You know, when you first got here,

I thought you were terrible.

Wow.

I'm like, wait a minute, this is gonna be the best pep talk ever, right?

He's like, I thought you were terrible.

I thought you were just annoying and just loud.

And I was like, I get the loud part, right?

And he goes, he goes, I didn't get it.

He goes, I didn't get it at first, you know?

And as time went on,

I understood that what you do really brings a different dynamic to this building, you know, and to the fans, you know, and I understand now why the fans love you.

I understand, you know, how important it is to have you here.

Yeah.

right

and

it would be my honor if you'd come out and perform at my party wow you know

and i was like didn't see that coming you know

the way it started it was rough you know but it's it's crazy you know he he he he he laid it out you know he's like man i did i really didn't get it you know because you know pat

Pat's a great guy, but his taste in music is his taste in music.

Okay, it's not necessarily a lot of stuff I play.

Different generation.

It's a different generation.

He's got a great taste in music.

I mean, impeccable taste in music, but it's just a little different than the stuff that I play, you know, at the games.

And, but for him to share that with me and then give me that honor, you know,

was just really, really awesome.

Yeah, that's profound, man.

Yeah.

He's, he, he's, he's, he's, he's the best of the best.

You got to love how blunt he is.

Yeah, for real.

I respect it.

Yeah.

I respect that.

I'd rather be told that than have someone talk to him about it.

You know what you're dealing with.

Yeah.

You know the cards you're being dealt, you know, and I'll take that any day.

Yeah.

Any day.

What are some other lessons you learned from some of the players there?

Any big takeaways from like D-Wade or something?

Um, all of them, but probably most profoundly would be Alonzo Morning.

Alonzo.

Alonzo.

Alonzo has helped shape my career, he's helped shape the person that I am, my outlook on life.

Wow, and yeah, yeah, and

probably most of all,

um, what it means to

what it what community means,

right?

And

man, I'm probably probably gonna get a little teary-eyed on this, man, because

I got very close with Alonzo very early, right?

As soon as I started, he's one of the first guys to really embrace me, you know.

And he would have his Zosa McGroove, right?

And he would always have me out, you know, DJing the events.

And that's what really helped expose me to other players.

I'm like, yo, that guy is nice, you know.

And I started traveling and doing events for other players because he put me in that situation, you know.

But

even more importantly than that, was

you know, we started like hanging out, like doing social stuff together.

And then he got sick.

Right.

And when he got sick,

it was really crazy because I thought he would never be able to play again.

Wow, it was that bad.

It was that bad.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

Listen, he wrote a book called Resilience, and he really lays it out in there.

I didn't even know about this.

Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So he had to have a whole,

I believe it was a kidney transplant, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, yeah.

It was really, really serious, really serious.

He wasn't even supposed to be able to come back and play again, you know?

So, you know, seeing him go through everything he went through and fight back to a position, not only where he was able to play again, but win a championship.

Right.

Just unbelievable.

Unbelievable.

You know?

And then the reason why Ivory Weekend exists is because of Alonzo Morning.

Wow.

You know, I actually...

The parties are the parties in terms of his weekend, but he invited me to come with him to speak to some kids at school.

And I went with him and he's like, he's like, you know what?

The kids would love if you came out and did some music for them and I'm like yeah for sure you know and when I went out there not only did I listen to him you know give his remarks to the kids you know and these kids were like mesmerized because they're like wow Alonzo morning came to our school you know and Alonzo was the biggest thing in Miami you know what I mean

and you know for him to to to do that it was really impactful like and I saw it on on these kids faces yeah you know and

I even asked one of these kids you know like hey man you know, what was today like for you, you know?

And

the young man, and he was like, you know what?

I have to do better.

He's like, I have to do better.

I need to, you know, make my parents proud.

I want to make Alonzo proud.

Like, this kid was saying that to me.

Wow.

And I was like, man, just him taking that time.

He was supposed to be there for, I believe it was 30 minutes total.

He stayed there for an hour and a half

answering every single question.

Like there was no more questions to be asked.

He answered every single question.

You know, even his handles were like, yo, we got to go.

He was like, nope, there's another question.

You know, and just seeing that was just so motivating, you know?

And I was like, wow, you know what?

People can make a difference.

You know?

Right.

It can be, you know, time, resources, whatever you have.

You have to, you have to just use what you have.

You know, if you have resources, great.

But it could just be time.

Time can make a huge difference in somebody else's life just by spending some time with them, you know, and giving them your focus, you know.

And my outlook before that was, yeah, I was always down to help.

Like, you know, when Dan Marino called me to do something or Shaq or Jason Taylor, whatever, I was always down, right?

But I never thought, like, I mean, they're,

they're stars, right?

Like, they're, they're, they're, they're wealthy and they're, they're big celebrities and, you know, they're all these things.

So they can do that, you know?

I'm, I'm just DJ Irie, you know?

And, but being in that situation changed that outlook.

Like, no, I'm DJ Irie,

right?

I can do what I can do right I'm gonna reach out to my network I'm gonna you know I'm gonna I'm gonna pound the phones and I'm gonna do all the things that I know I can do within my power to make a difference you know and that's why I did what I did dude that's an incredible story man yeah and look at it now 18 years later you probably saved thousands of lives of course you know we've raised millions we've we've changed and touched so many youngsters lives like it's it's unbelievable unbelievable because I get emails sometimes out of the blue hey you know I'm such and such I went through this program, you know, with the Irve Foundation or a program that we, you know, help fund or whatever.

And now they're, you know, in college, about to graduate.

Wow, you know, they just got accepted, you know, for a job interview, you know, somewhere.

And it's like, this is crazy, you know.

But it's a beautiful thing.

Dude, that's so inspiring.

I can't wait to get to that level.

I want to start a charity one day, too.

Oh, you absolutely should.

And it doesn't matter.

What I understood, you know, from that time with Alonzo is that you might think like, okay, well, well it might not be the right time or you might think like okay well you know I'm not you know I don't have enough this or enough that

it doesn't matter it's it's it's it's what you have at the moment because no matter how small you think it is maybe it can help one person you know I mean maybe it can help two people doesn't matter but any help puts it puts our whole humanity in a better place.

Absolutely.

I love that, man.

Ari, what events are next for you?

Where can people find you, man?

Yeah, man, we've got some good stuff coming up.

So obviously here right now for for kevin harts you know weekend um after this i'm going to be going to new york um the roommates uh uh podcast guys they're doing

yeah yeah yeah so they're doing a live event oh nice um in new york so i'm going to go and play that uh for those guys and then um heading out to la

my my my my my niece uh jamie fox's daughter corinne

getting married wow yeah yeah so you're djinging up yeah yeah yeah of course man gotta gotta take care of the family

Gotta take care of the fam.

And then I have some other stuff in LA too.

Can't even remember.

But yeah, we're just gonna be, you know, bouncing around, man.

You know, all kinds of good stuff.

Love it, dude.

We'll link yourself below.

Thanks for coming on, man.

That was super fun.

Glad we made it happen.

Let's do it.

Peace, guys.