Navigating the Music Industry with Playboy Fresh | DSH #408

As much as we want to not be influenced by the external like views, right?

There's two ways to go through life, right?

There's the monkey bars, which is like you grab one and then you grab the next, but you're not grabbing the next one until you're still holding on to this one until you get the next one, right?

There's the trapeze, right?

Which you can cover much further distance a lot faster, but you gotta let go.

You gotta have faith and trust that you're gonna get caught, you're gonna catch the other side.

You know what I mean?

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And here's the episode.

All right, guys, we are back.

Wayne's in the building today, co-hosting with Playboy Fresh.

Yes, sir.

Playboy in the building.

How are you doing, man?

Have you fun?

Thanks for having me.

Fresh from Miami?

Where you?

China?

You're where you were in the middle of the year.

Nah,

I'm coming from.

I come from LA.

You was in Miami for Art Basil, right?

I was in Miami, Art Basil.

Had fun, man.

Were you performing out there?

I did a, yeah, I had a, so I had a, um,

I threw a listening event at my house.

I have a house out there that I just got, and like

probably four days.

We decided to do it in four days later, we had it, and it actually turned out really well.

It was, uh,

it was cool.

It was a cool chill vibe, like, set up for like before all the chaos, so Art Basil really started.

So it was like some chill shit.

at Hookah set up, had bars, and

I had

this Maybach G-Wagon Londolet, which is like rare as hell.

Yeah, they were painting

in the world.

All Artlin was paying that.

No, no, no, people.

He just had people paint inside.

Yeah, like,

so it's like, yeah, it's like, it's like, it's a crazy car.

It's like the top come off the back, right?

The show front car got glass go up.

You press a button, the glass fog.

You know what I'm saying?

Wow.

And it's like $199.

And yeah, so I I was like, man, it's our bazaar going to do something cool.

So

I had an artist come and paint.

She painted all on the whip.

You know what I'm saying?

And then I had everyone at the party sign it.

So

everyone got to sign it like a yearbook type of thing.

And then just roll around our bazooka the whole week and that shit.

That's dope.

God damn.

That's dope.

You make all this money from the music industry?

Nah, not yet.

Not yet.

So that's going to be even a whole nother level.

I don't know.

I might have them paint the private jet next time.

God damn.

Once this goes, yeah, nah.

Balling out here.

Yeah, you know, I've had, I've had, I'm blessed to come from

a very successful family.

Okay.

And

I'm very grateful and fortunate for the position that's put me in and how it's allowed for me to really follow my dreams and passions relentlessly.

You know, I think a lot of people like,

people will tell me like, damn, that's crazy first.

Like, you work like you broke.

And it's like, nah, I work like I'm passionate, nigga.

And I don't break something for you because it's like a lot of people expect you to just be, oh, you could just be chilling and just be on the beach and just, you know what I'm saying?

It's like,

yeah, I could, but then I'd probably go so crazy.

And

like, you know what I'm saying?

I live, I'm a purpose-driven person, right?

And

I also

think that one of the greatest ways you can show gratitude for what you've been blessed by and given, both from God and from your family, is like to take what was given and and figure out how to give more, right?

So like I had a moment and point in my life where like, so my father's real estate.

So he's built an like a, yeah, he's built a little real estate empire in Oakland, California, right?

And I always kind of felt like that's what I was going to do.

I thought that's what I was going to do.

I did it for a little while and it just wasn't the right thing for me.

Like, and a big part of the why was because

I just felt like if I'm doing this, it's like, okay,

I was born into a family, I have money, right?

And then

I work my whole life and just make more money.

And then I die, right?

And the only thing that I did while I was here was make money.

May money.

Like, what kind of contribution to society is that?

That's a different way of thinking, Steve.

You don't ever hear that.

You never hear that.

Steve.

It's just like, bro, like, I have a lot more to give.

Right.

And it's like, I don't believe that God gave me all this to just make more money for myself.

I just don't believe that.

You feel me?

And so

I made the decision to go all the way against the grain and against what my family.

I'm the black sheep in all ways, shapes, forms, and fashions.

But it's like,

and I still, they still, like, I thought there was a moment where they were starting to like, be like, okay, yeah, we see all right, we should.

They still like, no,

don't invite them this year.

But it's like, but then it's like, I

live live for

not just me, but for

the world, I have a lot to give to the world.

And I got two beautiful kids, twins, seven-year-old twins, who I have, I feel the most obligation towards to show them.

Like, you know what I mean?

You can do anything, right?

Because I wasn't really necessarily told that when I was young, right?

I wasn't told I was going to be a failure or nothing like that, but I was told.

I could be successful, but within these lines, right?

And so

that

is almost like

when it comes to like parental pressure and like that's almost like harder than like

not having no lines and being like this well you like

you're not really gonna do nothing like whatever right anything is you got nothing to lose and you feel me but like for me it was like I step away from some that everyone's like bro why the would you like you could be just keep doing this with your dad and be you know what I'm saying and and it for me it was just like I could but like I also could

go and be brave and go and explore like what I really want to do and what I really want to be and how I really want to, you know, like give

to the world.

Right.

Like, and

but were you initially were you scared to kind of go out on the limb?

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Hell yeah, for sure.

That's all you knew, probably.

Yeah, it's all I knew.

And it was like,

And there was an identity in that, right?

Yeah.

Like, there's, like, that's, that's the biggest thing I think.

Like, Like, when there's been changes in my life,

the biggest things that have been like the hardest parts have been shedding the identity, right?

So I was a basketball player.

I was a Hooper most of my life, right?

And

I went to play in college my freshman year,

ended up having knee surgery, right?

Right.

I thought I was going to be able to come back sophomore year.

It just never was the same, right?

So

it wasn't so much like,

like, yeah, there was, there was like, damn, like, like i loved hoop and it was like i'm i'm losing that but it's more so like okay who the am i now right like like i've identified as a hooper my whole life right so now i don't know who i am right and it was like so so you know in different ways in different times like there's been moments where i've had to

like shed my identity.

And the other thing is like, you can't, you don't always get to know where you're at.

You would never admit that.

Nobody, most people will never admit that at some point you have an identity crisis or you gotta face yourself that's tough that mirror

yeah that's

right i feel like a lot of athletes do with that for sure yeah i think i think a lot of people in general right because it's just like

as much as we want to not be influenced by the external like views right like we are right we're human right for sure so it's like there is that fear of being like okay i identify as this and I feel safe, right?

So like when I'm letting go, it's like I look at like there's two ways to go through life, right?

There's the monkey bars, which is like you grab one and then you grab the next, but you're not grabbing the next one until you're still holding on to this one until you get the next one, right?

Or there's the trapeze, right?

Which you could cover much further distance a lot faster, but you got to let go.

You feel what I'm saying?

And you got to have faith and trust that you're going to get caught, you're going to catch the other side.

You know what I mean?

And so it's like

I've kind of always been a trapeze type nigga.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, like, not always, I sense that always.

Like,

in my adult life, once I got to a certain point, like, where I was like, after I stopped working with my dad and was like, I'm gonna figure it out for myself, that was when I started being a trapeze, like, no more monkey bars.

Like, and it's like, it's always the scariest part because it's the unknown, right?

And so, but once you're able to face the unknown without fear and just

trusting and having faith that that you're going to be good that god's going to catch you or that you're going to catch yourself or that whatever it is if you don't know what's next that there is something that's next

it makes life a whole lot easier and it makes life a whole lot more um

you could take risks without as much but where does that faith come from right how did you establish that faith coming from a family who's well who's well off and technically you don't need to have faith at that that point because your meals, everything's taken care of.

Yeah, yeah.

Also, you know what the crazy thing about that is, right?

When your meals are taken care of, right, and the roof's over your head,

you have to ask yourself more difficult questions, right?

Yeah, right.

Like,

you're not caught up in the day-to-day survival, right?

So, you got to ask yourself existential, like, real deep questions, right?

Like, you got to challenge yourself.

Like, who am I?

What am I?

What's my purpose?

What am I doing?

Like, why?

Why?

Right?

Yeah.

Why?

And who am I?

Right.

And

man, I'm not going to, there was times where I like, I envied my friends who were working and had to think about survival and not, because like, I was going through an existential crisis of trying to figure out who the f ⁇ I was, right?

It's like a version of survivor's guilt in a way, like rich kid guilt.

It's like, no, it's not even guilt.

It was not guilt.

It's like, it's like, okay, so a lot of people think about money as a destination.

Right.

It's not, right?

It's just, it's a, money's a tool.

Money is a lot of things, right?

But it's not a destination.

It's not a place of like, okay, I've got there, I have money, woo-woo, right?

Nigga, you're going to get money and life is going to continue.

So

the journey is not done yet, right?

And so, like, when you, at a young age,

have to,

and at a young age and without it being from what you've done, have money, right?

So it's not like you're like, you know, you're 18, you get drafted in the nba you millionaire right okay that's identity and that woo right

but you have money because your family has money right so you got you from a young age have to

try to understand all right who am i like and what what's important to me right and and i've seen it like with

i've seen with family members who like

kind of have chosen to operate and and live and almost like pretend like they don't have money, right?

And like, that's kind of how my parents wanted me to be, right?

But you see, I put up with the Richard Mills.

You know what I'm saying?

So it's like, so I ain't really, I didn't really listen to that part because it got to the point where I'm like, yo, I'm not going to keep living my life based on the idea of how other people are going to perceive me.

Like, that feels like a prison to me, right?

So,

and I'm also not a person who's really able to just like

tell myself a lie and just be like, all right, cool, I'm comfortable with this.

Nah, like, I, bro, like, I can't, I can't do that.

I I can't just accept something that I know to not be true, right?

And so, um, I had to really ask myself those questions.

Like, for me, distracting myself with like partying or track, that was that's not, it's not gonna work.

Like, my mind is too like hyperactive, bro.

Like, my spirit is too curious, right?

I can't, I can't be that.

And,

um,

and so,

man, I remember like, really, it's, it's funny, and it's not to say, like, I,

when I say I envied that, that, like,

the, the somewhat mental freedom of not having to answer those questions,

it's not to say that I think, that I thought in any way that it was easier or whatever, right?

It's just like, damn, like, I'm having to, like, really

ask myself these tough questions, right?

But like, I grew up interesting because it's like, I'm half black, half white.

My white side is generationally wealthy.

My black side is generationally poor.

And so I grew up seeing vast extremes.

Like vast extremes.

And

I

so I saw my my rich family

like talking about having money as like such a burden and how it was so

difficult, so hard.

And then I see, oh, my cousin just got killed.

Like, my cousin just got 25 of life.

You feel what I'm saying?

And

my uncle just died from crack.

You feel what I'm saying?

So I'm like,

nigga,

y'all niggas up about that shit.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, yeah, I understand it.

There's real shit.

There's more movies that come with it.

Sure, but it's like,

bro, it ain't.

That's a crazy paradox to live in two separate worlds growing up and seeing both sides.

It's wild.

Which side did you gravitate towards?

I'm a rapper, right?

You feel me?

No, like, I always identify more on my black side thing, like, because

I went to school with a lot of white kids right and they always made it a point to make sure that they

like would say you know oh yeah

doug's my real my government doug's half black does have you know so like it never was a thing where

i felt like i was white right because

they made sure to make to tell you that you were me yeah yeah yeah and so um

i I always just like kind of, I was a loner, like a lot of my

young life.

I still am in a lot of ways, right?

But it's like, I never had like big groups of friends.

I never, like, I never felt like I fit in.

And I used to, like,

I used to really dim my, my intelligence, dim my light.

Even like, nigga, I'm still working on my posture today because I spent so long, like, trying not to make other people uncomfortable by my, by who I am.

Right.

And so I would, I would like hunch over, right?

So you want to seem so tall.

Yeah.

Like, cause I just wanted to fit in because that's, cause I never did.

You feel me?

And so, um,

and then,

and then, excuse me, then I reached the point where I realized, like, I never fit in because I was meant to stand out.

You feel what I'm saying?

Like, and so,

um,

but it was

racial identity has always been an interesting thing for me, right?

Because it's like,

and I grew up around white people, but I was not white.

or considered white or treated as white by them, right?

And then, you know, I have the other side of my family who's black.

And then I had like my friends who, I grew up in the bay where it's very, very diverse, right?

So I have friends all different ethnicities, right?

But it's like,

I can't say that I've had the black life, the black experience, right?

Right.

Because like, I'm, I'm fair-skinned.

Like, I'm, you know, sometimes people think I'm white.

Like,

and so.

I don't, I can't, I can't claim to have had the same black experience that you've had.

Right.

And

then when you then take account into account the money aspect of growing up with money and having money, like that's a whole nother aspect because, you know, our culture is very much

rooted in survival from the conditions that we've been in, right?

And so, like,

how do you understand black culture without being related to the struggle?

And I don't like that narrative.

I don't like the fact that

they say that you can't be a good boxer or a good artist because you didn't grow up in a struggle like why does that have to always be a part of everybody's story you know what it is though coming from the mud man but i will say this though right so like bro i have experienced a lot of

a lot of street a lot of a lot of like

as an adult right like as a as a as a

musician and in this space just be like And

I understand now why?

Because in order to go where I'm going,

I needed to be prepared.

There's a certain level of armoring that happens when you deal with certain, right?

And so

there's a certain level of innocence that will get you killed.

You feel me?

It'll destroy you, right?

And so God put me through the things he put me through as an adult

because I had a soft childhood.

You feel what I'm saying?

And so.

In order to go where I'm going, I needed the armor.

And my childhood was soft.

It didn't provide that armor for me right and so i now like am able to look at it and understand

the why right and it's like and and you know there's also that i live my life about it like everything's my fault like the good and the bad right yeah but there's also the aspects of it being like yeah like so each individual circumstance i yeah it's my fault but it's also like It's part of God's plan, what needed to happen.

And I understand now because

I'm grateful grateful and so thankful for all the storms that that I've that I've been able to make it through because every single one of them has made me a better sailor every single one of them made me stronger right and so it's like

um

but my life in a lot of ways like

is the opposite of other people's lives in in music right like yeah like a lot of rappers like they like they they growing up was was like they had the tough and then they got tough money they like got my the opposite, bro.

Yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying?

I ain't, I ain't growing up.

But then also, too, you know, once you're granted money and a certain level of success, a lot of those cats don't know how to escape that street life.

They'll get rich and get life in prison.

Yeah.

Yeah, that too.

Right.

I thought that the whole goal was to you've been escaping prison your whole life, but then you get rich and now you're back to doing

ignorance.

I think it's like,

I think it's a couple things, right?

I mean, a lot of things, right?

But a few general things is like, one, it's like,

it's like there's an entitlement, bro, that comes with like when you have money, people feel so entitled to that, right?

To your money, to your money, yeah, that's that is crazy, and it's like, bro, like, look, I say like this, right?

Look, if you want to lottery for 50 million dollars tomorrow, right?

I bet you there's 51 people who all feel like you should give them a million dollars because you just want to lottery for 50 million dollars, right?

He got it, right?

That's what this would be like, like, bro, that's a million, you just want 50, you can't give me a million, right?

But there's, but there's 51 people at least right who all feel that way right right right and so it's like that entitlement should be crazy right

and it's like and so when you come from an environment like where a lot of rappers come from right it's like

that saying no can come with a whole lot more right you feel me like it can come with a whole lot more for certain people based on where they come from and and like and and it's up right and it's like it's where we as a culture need to improve right because we need to we need to understand one we need to support each other right we need to like want to see success in each other instead of viewing other people's success as something that's gonna

as your as your demise yeah people look at like oh like oh you're successful that means i'm less likely to be successful yeah

that's the stupidest thing i heard right right like every other culture understands that right to be the opposite right it's crap for real like for real but every other culture

They'd be like, oh, okay, cool.

Like, it's great.

Like, you see immigrants come to America, right?

Kill whole family.

They all, they all gonna be on a mission.

They're all gonna be helping each other, right?

Even like you look at black Americans and you look at what I call African, because I don't consider black Americans to be African Americans.

We're different.

We're culturally from here, right?

Our culture, I know my family, the first back we could trace our family roots with slaves in Virginia.

So, like,

there is no Africa, right?

That's a part of our culture or our family like knowledge, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So we're black, right?

But then you have people who

come from Africa and live, like they,

they're like, they do better in school statistically.

They do they have better paying jobs.

You know what I'm saying?

Like it's like

they don't fall into the same traps that black Americans fall into, right?

And it's because of cultural elements that came out of the circumstance that we were forced into, right?

But I also take

pride in that, right?

Because our culture is

one of resilience.

It's one of

overcoming.

It's one of like

dealing with some of the harshest conditions and enduring.

And not only enduring, but figuring out a way to make beauty out of it, make art out of it, make joy out of it, right?

To smile and laugh when

everything's f ⁇ ed up, right?

That takes a lot of strength, right?

So like I've had people say, like, oh, you should take your DNA test to figure out where in Africa.

It's like, bro, it's not going to make any difference, right?

I'm still born here.

Yeah, like, what the fuck?

I'm going to go there and, like, okay, cool.

Now, oh, y'all know me.

So, this is where I found it.

Okay, so now I'm going to adopt all those cultural.

No, like our culture is

here, right?

And, and so, like,

but there's certain things that we need to address within our culture, right?

There's certain things that

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I don't know if you ever read the Willie Lynch letters, right?

I did.

Crazy, you read it, right?

I read it a couple of times.

Oh my god, like evil, the really

genius, it's evil, yeah, genius, right?

And the craziest thing is when you read it and you see how applicable what he's talking about is today, right?

It's still the same.

The same shit.

And it's like, and so

that's the reason why we look at, oh, like, damn, their success means I'm less likely to be successful.

And therefore, then let me try to tear them down because I'm viewing their success as my own failure instead of viewing their success as they can help lift me up.

Right.

And so for me, like, one of the things that I've always felt like I had a purpose wise right was like I always felt based on having that that very very

polar extreme like family dynamic right I always felt like I was supposed to bridge the gap you know

I always felt like there was something a higher calling and a purpose and a reason why God gave me what he gave me and put me in that position and gave me which gave me that perspective right and then on top of that gave me the gift of being able to see things in a nuanced way.

And then the gift of being able to express them in a nuanced way.

Right.

Yeah.

Like there was a moment where I thought I might be like a Cornell West

and write essays and go speak at colleges and type.

But I always knew it was something that I was supposed to be doing that was

going to be impactful and to bring the culture forward.

And so it's like, I,

that's why I work so relentlessly, right?

Because it's not for me.

So how do you, how do you deal with relationships?

What's your take on women in society today, being a man of your status?

I'm taking some women.

I love women.

But

nah, but

so remember I said, like, I take everything as everything, life is my fault, right?

Right.

Okay, so collectively I say as men, the way that the women are acting now, like when women are acting hyper-masculine or having a hard time letting down that masculine shield and having a hard time following men's leads and are thinking about, oh, let's get some money.

It's our fault.

It's our fault, bro.

We've made them be like that, right?

Because through emotional abuse, right?

Like over all this time, women are like,

a man's telling them, like making them feel like they special and they love him, whoa, whoa, this and that.

And then turn around and just dog out of them, right?

And so then they be like, damn, I'm over here, like, just crying and sitting here left with nothing.

And I just been f ⁇ ed over.

So now what is it?

Now, okay, well, I'm going to get something out of it.

So I'm going to try to make it transactional in a way where I'm going to get something.

At least I'm going to get some,

right?

And it's like,

it corrodes society overall, right?

I think it's unhealthy for.

It's unhealthy for women and men for it to be that dynamic.

But it's like award, a war of the template right now.

And I think

it's like, there is a divide.

It's a divide.

And it's like, and it's like, it's literally like,

you you got songs that women rappers are making that talk about like yeah finesse

you got songs that that niggas is rapping talking about like over the bitches right you know what i'm saying it's like bro like ain't nobody talking about no

love each other like yeah bro it's like and so and so it's like when you think about a culture right and and and how you how you move that culture forward it's like and we can't even respect when we can't respect each other enough like nigga like people want to get out and march and protest Black Lives Matter, right?

And one, like, so, first of all, like, I'm from Oakland, right?

The Panthers are starting Oklahoma, nigga.

I ain't going out nowhere and put my hands up and saying, don't shoot, and let them shoot me, rubber boats.

That

what the hell the f ⁇ .

Why the fuck are you going to ask the people who've been killing you for years to stop?

They wanted to stop, they would stop, bro.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

We're going to keep asking them for instead of building and gaining our own power, right?

And I'm not saying it has to be a violent

revolution or a violent response, but if we build economic power, they're going to be able to do that to us, right?

Yeah, if you get an insurance policy and everyone gets insurance policies, and

now the insurance company keeps to pay all this money on life insurance every time.

They're going to, what?

They're going to, nigga, are we going to implement programs in your, in your, in your, uh, police academies to make sure you stop killing black people?

Because we are paying out way too much money in life insurance.

But it's like, it's, it's, it's, so it's approaching and attacking the problems in a way that's like, it's not asking for somebody to help, right?

Not as somebody to give us, like, nah, nigga, you got to take it, right?

And I know I went on a tangent because I'm trying to remember what the f to get back to what the question was.

It was men and women.

I'm like, where the f is that going?

But

like, but yeah, I think it's like, I think, I think we're in a space, oh yeah,

bringing the community forward, right?

And the culture forward, it's like, we, we have to get out of this space of being

adversarial with our women, right?

We have to get out of the space of being at war with them and having it be a situation wherein everybody's just using each other right not misusing each other right

because it's good to be useful to each other like if i'm a man that has no use or value then what are you am i i'm just a waste of your space you know what i'm saying and vice versa right but it's like we be we've been misusing each other for so long now that it's like and now i i i hear men complain about it all the time about oh yeah man women acting this way they have like too masculine they don't understand their femininity

and it's like

and i and i rarely hear men saying

we up we turned our women this way right i rarely hear that accountability right and it's like i think i think when

we

talk about women in this day and age and and we talk about the things that are

issues that need to be improved upon or things that we like would make it to what we would like to see, right?

Like, because I think at the end of the day,

I think, I would think that most people want peace, right?

As opposed to toxicity, right?

Absolutely.

So, okay, so we got to take some steps towards that, right?

And

I think the first step has to be us as men, right?

Because I think naturally, I believe in gender roles, right?

Like, I think that I think gender roles are there for a reason, right?

And so, in order to successfully like lead women out of this space we have to we have to be the ones to do that because we led them to this place right they're in this space as a response to what we've done right and so i think um

and i think there's also like then there's also a lot of like

like this idea of new age feminism as being like the same like women want to be the same as men like equal equal and the same are different they're not they don't mean the same thing right it's like you can be of equal value, but we're not different.

Yeah, like and have different things that are

values that you bring to the table, different values that they bring to the table, right?

And they can be of equal value without being the same.

And right now we have a space where

like women feel like in order to be equal, they got to act like men.

And it's not, it's not,

a woman's never going to be able to be a better man than a man.

Not at all.

Right.

And just like a man's not going to be able to be a better woman than a woman.

You know what I'm saying?

Despite how many people was trying to do that.

It's a whole nother conversation that I'm not going to go down that route.

But

you recently dropped your project, your new project, him.

And it's an acronym.

Haters irritate me.

I like how.

They always have.

They always will.

You let them get to you?

No.

They irritate me.

Nigga, I can fly.

Niggas fuck off my shoulders.

So haters irritate me.

So what was

I like the way your your whole style on this your your energy is like so different.

It's aggressive.

Yeah, so what what what made you come with that

style versus you know you switch it up a lot, bro.

I was coming out of a situation I'm not gonna speak too much on right, but like that wasn't what I was planning on dropping first, right?

I was planning on dropping this project that's coming out in January called the Heartbreak Tape.

Yeah, the heartbreak tape, yeah.

That I really wanted to drop that first because it's it's a much more like vulnerable project right but

i was gonna drop it last february wasn't that was going on with people right with

like by the time i got ready to like you know had it together had the right team to be able to drop it was summertime and i'm like okay this ain't heartbreak season you know what i'm saying but and all the records i've been making at that time were very aggressive because i was

I was tired of people playing with me.

I'm like, man, you can keep playing with me.

And I'm sick of this shit, bro.

And it's like, on so many levels, right?

And so it really was like, I'm naturally such a, I'm naturally a humble person.

I'm naturally not like a person who is

like trying to, I don't do to flex on people.

I don't do to try to stun.

Bro, like,

I like this watch.

That's why I have it.

Not because I was

stunned on.

I was wearing Richard Mills.

People didn't know what they were, right?

Wow.

Because.

I showed a lot of the rappers of this generation Richard Mills for the first time, for real, for real.

Yeah.

But like, because I liked them because I didn't know what they were, right?

I liked it because

if you knew, you knew, but it wasn't something that everybody, you know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And so, like,

I, I, I'm not the person who's like all about stunning under the, I don't believe in that, right?

That's like, that's insecure, right?

I know who I am, nigga.

I don't need to stun on nobody to make me feel like I'm that nigga, you know what I'm saying?

Like I'm him, right?

But, like,

I was so tired of people playing with me, people taking my kindness for weakness, people taking my, you know, my chill nature or my like

like

bro i was just tired of people playing they wasn't they wasn't like i knew i was i knew i was harder than like you know what i'm saying like i'm like bro i'm just gonna come heavy like i was i'm gonna i'm gonna drop six songs that all will go crazy in the club

like

I doubt any artist right now will drop could drop six club records that's gonna compete with that.

I'll put up against, put me on a versus against anybody, whoever in the game, right?

Haven't put put out six songs, you know what I'm saying,

on a

project, a club project.

See, what, bro, I'll put my against anybody.

And it was really on some where it's like, I've been in this, I've been in this game for a minute.

I've been working as for a minute.

And

I don't even want to say I've been overlooked because I don't feel like I was.

But you work with a lot of artists.

I work with a lot of artists.

Like, I'm just now, I'm just now at the place where I really feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be, right?

So I understand

why.

So it's not like, oh, oh, niggas overlook me for a long time.

Nah, because I wasn't him before.

You know what I'm saying?

I couldn't have dropped a project called him before and felt like it was truthful and authentic and I really was him.

You know what I'm saying?

I worked hard.

I put in a lot of hour.

I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into the bro.

And

I earned that, right?

I came into this thinking that money could make this go, right?

And

it doesn't, right?

It doesn't.

You can't just come in and spend money, and nah, so like the verse that I put out, I had a bunch of yes men around me that was talking about it's hard,

it was trash, boy,

it was trash, and it's so up because I'm like, damn, y'all niggas really let me go out like that, boy.

You know, like that's honest, yeah, it's like, bro, because would be like, they don't want to tell you the truth, right?

You take a lot of accountability, yeah, because they feel like it's like they don't want to tell you the truth, they're afraid of how you're going to take it, right?

Yeah, so you're going to go, let me put some out and have the world

with no, like they don't give a f tell you the truth in the most brutal way possible, right?

Nigga, they will enjoy the out of it, right?

I was like, bro, I people call me Malbu's most wanted, like,

right?

So it's like, I already had went through that, that like being like humiliated or you know said on a on a big public scale off the rip off the beginning.

So I'm like, bro, I got some like, I don't really, I don't have nothing to fear in this, bro.

Like, I'm, I've already, I know,

you already went to the ring.

So it's like,

It really just kind of was the place where I'm like, you know what?

Like I'm really there.

I'm actually I'm actually finally there.

I've actually found who I am, who I'm supposed to be.

And I'm so grateful and thankful to God that he didn't allow me to have success at the moment where I just wanted to be famous and successful because I wanted it, because I wanted validation.

Because

I didn't, I had an insecurity that people would be, oh, like he's rich, his parents have money.

I was insecure about that.

So I wanted to have that as a thing that validated me.

Right.

That was my own.

Right.

And the funny thing about the way the world works is like when you seek an external validation, you need it.

You're not going to get it.

Right.

But when you don't need it no more,

I get it all the time now, bro.

But I don't need it no more.

It sucks.

It doesn't affect me.

Right.

And that's why I get it.

You know what I'm saying?

Because I don't need it.

And because I don't need it, I'm able to be so much more truthful and genuine and authentic and real and honest.

And I'm able to see and understand that it's about what I give it's not about me it's about what I give to the world right and that was something that I was blind to when I was focused on getting that validation right for sure and and so I wasn't able to be the artist I am today because I didn't have that understanding of what makes an artist great what makes artists great isn't oh you can rap super well you can sing super nah that what makes an artist great is being able to connect and have songs where like that spoke to me that spoke to you and this emotion and that you know you might not have the exact same experience but i guarantee there's an emotional moment that mirrors relatability there you feel what i'm saying and so it's like because i believe very much in like

as an artist

specificity is very important right like there's like kind of two trains of thought as far as like what makes a hit right some people believe that like the more general it's more likely to be a hit because it's more people can relate to this general right and i couldn't disagree more because i believe that the more specific you are, the more real it feels, right?

And the more that when it's general, it's like, okay, you're just trying to make a song about heartbreak, right?

Versus a song where I'm telling you specifically about this heartbreak and

this bitch did this and then that and

I felt this like and you could tell I'm really talking about some real yeah now you can relate right it don't matter if the experience is different like that emotion is I guarantee you felt that

humans we all feel that right and and for me like I realized too, like, when I first was putting out music, and the people around me was, you know, they was like, oh, well, you actually got to watch this in the cars that these be wanted it up.

So let's show that, right?

And I was, it's like, if you look at old footage, well, you can't look at it because I took it down, but like, if you were to see it, right?

It's like an element of like, you could tell that I'm like uncomfortable.

Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, doing some flex and shit.

This is not my nature.

I be that way.

I wasn't raised to be that way.

Like I said, bro, I come from a family.

Even my, even my rich families are very humble, right?

And I come from,

I've I'm not that person, right?

So it's like you can tell, oh,

it's not really him.

It's not really, he's not really being authentic.

You know what I'm saying?

And so

it doesn't register.

It doesn't connect because people can subconsciously feel when you're genuine and when you're being authentic.

And so

when I got past that point of doing that and trying to do what I thought people wanted me to do and then realize that, nah, they don't want you to be this or that.

They want you to be you like they like him for being a gangster because he is a gangster yeah they like him for being emailed they want you to be you right you represent

right and so when you're truthful and honest to that that's when you really are able to be a real artist and making more of an imp impact yeah

right

and so um

that's because i took some time off i like i stepped away from right from being an artist i was like i'm gonna take a break because i was it was a it was a combination of being in a toxic relationship relationship that like had kind of like over time eroded my self-worth and shit in my own mind

combined with

just being frustrated, man, because I'm like, damn, like, when I put out the first music that I put out that sucked, right?

It was seen by the masses, right?

And then when I was putting out music that finally got better, like, I was like, damn, it wasn't, I wasn't able to even get it.

It wasn't like people were hearing it and not liking it.

People were heard

it, but it wasn't getting heard in the right ways, right?

in the right so i was just discouraged and frustrated and so i kind of like stepped away right and in the time i stepped away i focused on working with the art like working with other artists right and i have artists signing me so i was helping them you know work on

their stuff development branding right and

and as i'm working with them i'm always talking about like okay yeah it's not about you showing off that you could do this or can do that it's about what can you make people feel right and so if when i work with an artist like if i'm a ring them like we'll go in the studio, the first hour probably gonna be a conversation like therapy.

You know what I'm saying?

Because I need to know who you are.

I need to know what the things are that are important to you, that are meaningful.

Anything that you skip over, like, oh, this is happening.

You're trying to go past it.

Hold on, hold on, no, no, no, no, no, what's that?

Because that's what we got to get to.

Because that, that's the little bit right there that's going to make people really connect,

connect, because that's raw, that's vulnerable, right?

And so

that's kind of so as in the process of doing that,

I was totally cool.

I didn't need to be artists.

I i no longer needed the validation of being an artist i was good as who i with who i was as a man

and then that's when god said okay you're up like and i was like

i wasn't even like trying to get back and like that right but it was like what was needed of me for my team my people as well as the world's like

it's like you gotta be kobe right and it was like before i wanted to be kobe just cuz yeah but now you know why now it was like it's like you don't want to be kobe anymore so now you're gonna be kobe you're not forcing it now it's like it's like bro it's not even my choice choice.

Like, I was like, it's hard.

Like, it's harder to be an artist than being, to be an artist and an executive at the same time versus being an executive, right?

But it's like, that's what I, that's what I had to be.

That's what I was called to be.

So it's like,

so I came back in, I understood it so differently, right?

Like, even in the reasoning wise I came back was like, the reason being because that's what was needed, right?

That's what.

That's what the team needed, that's what the people needed.

That's what, so I came back in just, all right, like I'm ready to do this for the world right

and and so when you take that ego out of it and it's not about fulfilling that ego and giving yourself that like

dopamine rush of like acceptance or validation and it's actually about really genuinely giving to the world

it's it's it's so different right and the way in the way that it's received is so different and it's just like it's like i get so i get why now never worked before you know what i mean yes like so that's tough man.

What do you got planned for 2024 and where can people find you, man?

Man, I got a lot planned for 2024.

I got um

I'm dropping a song with my one of my artists, um, Rundown Spaz

from Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

My little guy, he's killing it, bro.

He's like, he's 16, 17.

Like, he's, he's, but he's a grown man.

He really on his and he's he's been killing it.

I'm proud of him and shit.

So we got a song dropping.

Top of the year.

Then you got your mix.

And then I got then I got the heartbreak tape coming.

So I'm going on tour with Fora.

I'm going to do 15 dates on Forrest Tour.

Okay.

It's a nationwide tour.

So I'm going to do that.

And I'm going to drop.

I think I'm going to drop like a song every week while I'm on tour.

Why?

For the heartbreak tape.

You know what I'm saying?

And on Valentine's Day is when I'm going to drop the heartbreak tape.

And then,

man, after that, bro, really just like

just steady.

consistent stream of music bro like just consistent flow like i i really just you know i just focus i record in every day like i go through a whole day of

calls and whatever meetings yeah and then i still make sure i record at night you feel me like just to even if i don't get a whole song out i just start i just i make sure i do it keep that muscle working right and where can they find you as far as your music go and your instagram playboy fresh is instagram um

Playboy Fresh is the name on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, all that.

You know what I mean?

So I shoot videos with my man Jack his Instagram little movies.

Okay.

You know what I mean?

Like, me and him locked in.

We've gotten real, real efficient with our videos, man.

Like, we just lock in and we just like, we just come up with ideas and just kind of just, we have fun with

it.

So, um,

yeah, man, so so we just, we, we come and say, actually, dropped the song today, as a matter of fact.

Okay.

I damn near forgot because it was just like, so shit.

What's the name of you?

It's called Nothing to Say.

Okay.

Yeah, check that one out.

We got the video today, too.

And, yeah, we just, rocking.

All right.

Thank you for coming through.

Thanks for watching.

I could talk to you all day, though.

That was IO thing.

Yeah.

Dive into the music industry.

That was cool.

Yeah, thanks for coming on, man.

No, thank you, guys, man.

Yeah, thanks for watching, guys.

We'll see you next time.

Peace.