Jeezy on Trauma, Fame, Prison, Tupac & Becoming a Man | NXT Chapter With T.D. Jakes

When people hear me speak about like, but I went through my mom and all this stuff. They're like, oh, you went into a relationship with marriage with mommy issues. I had been working on that stuff. So that had nothing to do with my time line with my marriage. Hello, everybody. I'm excited to invite you to the next session of Next Chapter Podcast. This one is going to be unlike any other one that we have done in the past. So sit back and prepare your hearts for a very, very special guest that I have to share with you today with an interesting, profound, prolific life. Let me tell you a little bit about my guest. Today's guest is a multi-platinum selling artist and New York Times bestseller author known to many as a legend and to all as a rap superstar. Beyond the mic, he's a hip-hop mogul who built an empire of philanthropists, a businessman from the neighborhood to the boardroom and even the White House, dedicating himself to empowering youth, uplifting, underserved communities, and giving back every step of the way. The one, the only GZ. What's up, you have me. I don't know where to start your life. Reads like a roller coaster. There's got ups and downs and twists and turns. It's an amazing journey. So we're getting ready to go on a journey. We're going to go on a journey with you. And perhaps glean some staying power and some resurrecting power that we can share with other young people and other people around the world who beat dogs because you certainly beat dogs. Chapter number one, see world as kid. You were raised, I was told in South Carolina, but raised in Georgia. Born in South Carolina. Born in South Carolina. Born in South Carolina moved abroad rather early. OK. So I lived in Japan. OK. And I lived in Hawaii. OK. And that's pretty much where my childhood was at. So my chopstick game is insane. It's crazy. You got to help me. I'm not too good. I'm a little embarrassing. I'm not too poor, style. I still got the food, style. And so when my parents divorced, we moved back to Georgia because that's when the majority of my family was. And that's how I got back to Georgia. You got back to Georgia? Yeah. When I met you, you know, you enjoyed it. You still enjoyed it? Yes. OK. OK. I didn't know you was so international, so real. But being international, being exposed to international cultures, broadens your thinking, broadens your perspectives. And it's in its own way a type of education, I think. It actually, you know, I laugh about it today because I tell people that like, sushi got me back, meaning that I was young. I had a best friend. His name was Cole. And he was Japanese and black as mom was Japanese. That was black as that was also in the service. When I stayed at the house every weekend, because he's like my best friend, it's my made us make our own sushi. We eat chopsticks. I just loved their family experience because my family didn't operate like that. Right. And so they always ate together, you know, told stories or whatever. So when I did move back to the States and ended up in this small trailer with my mother, yeah, the single-wide trailer that I paid $3,500 for at the time. Right. And I remember when I started back going to school, I was telling my friends that like, you know, there's beaches out there and people that don't look like us and talk different languages. Because I had a chance to see all that. And nobody believed me. And so as a grown man right now to the day, I took myself on a sushi date at 8 p.m. Wednesday night, sharp by myself. Really? Just to remind myself of what got me back because I wanted to get back to it. When I got back to the States, it was like, it was no more sushi. Right. It was no more beaches. It was no more this life that I knew. And I'm like, if I don't do something, I'm going to be stuck here forever. So my motivation was getting back to traveling, getting back to being able to eat sushi or do these things that I love to do that's no longer there. So, you know, just to pay homage to myself, I just go out every Wednesday night by myself. No matter what city I'm in, you know, sit there and I just have sushi. And I just remind myself of like, you know, you had to work to get back here. So don't forget that. Yeah. You brought sushi to the South. Yeah. Yeah. That's a hard mixture. Right. But it also fits your profile. You really are hard to define. You've done so many different things. I feel a bit of a renaissance, man. I mean, I thought about it the other day. So the trailer that I bought, my mother was like on this backcountry road. But you know, she loved it, you know, because it was nobody there. She was out there by herself. And so she came into town. But what I noticed is I loved it there too. And I didn't really understand why, but I understand why now, because I have places that are, you know, in rural areas that I just go myself. And I was starting to understand it was like this piece that I can't describe, because you're out with nature. But you're like at one with the universe. And you know, because my mother passed her on COVID. But when I'm there, I get the sense of she's with me. But at the same time, it's just like, this is what peace feels like. You don't need anyone else to, or any outside thing to help you gain peace. You just get away to what you know, and you get in your space and you just be. And that's been like my, my, my sequinsals. So would you describe yourself as a bit of an introvert? Oh, no, I've totally been an introvert. Really? Yeah. I'm why you do it, by the way. Yeah. Oh, no. You do it. It's just like, you know, I go out now entertain, you know, hundreds of thousands of people, you know, throughout the weekend. Yeah. And the minute I get home, I just need to be by myself. I just need to sit and I just need to like process and go through my thoughts. And it's just like, even when I interact with people, like, you know, I'm a pretty savvy business man, but I can only do so many calls a day. Right. You know what I'm saying? Because I'm depleted. Yeah. Because everybody I talk to takes a piece of my energy. Yeah, I get it. But I know people who are like around people all the time. And I'm just like, how do you do that? And, you know, so once I realized I was an introvert and also a light path seven, that's my light path number. Because I was wonder why I like would like get subjects and really dive into them. Like, I like mental health is something I really, you know, became serious about. But I like dive head first into it. And I was doing all this research and I'm like, well, if you can ask people why you doing the research, but it was important for me to get the information myself. Right. So that if I'm ever asked, I can, you know, answer it whole hard, lean honestly. And when I learned about a light path seven, is they have to do the research, they have to know the answers. They don't take answers for anybody else. And that's what fulfills them. So when I take these moments of solitude, I'm in a book. Yeah. I'm in a pie cast. You know, of course, on my Sundays, I got bishops going in the morning. I'm scrambling my eggs. You don't need to be embarrassed. But I had to lean into that because that's what gave me energy. And that's what gave me fulfillment is that I can't do all these things for these people. But then I also have enough sense to know I need to be by myself so that I can recharge, replenish. I learned my own. I didn't always know that I learned that. We have something in common in being bits of a polymath. Polymath. Yeah. OK. People who have diverse interests, and they've got their fingers in a lot of pies all the time. Yes. They're polymaths and the ability to juggle diverse things. Whereas people tend to want to put you in a box and become comfortable in one lane. You're not a person who just sees things in a singular way. You see them in multiplicity and diversity and still can be yourself in different settings in different industries. And I learned as I got older to pull myself back a little bit and recalibrate myself because I am involved in so many different things. So are you? The other thing we have in common, your mother suffered from dementia, I understand. And my mother died of Alzheimer's. Yes, same thing. So I know what that's like. Yeah. What that does to you. And how much it takes out of you. And it's harder. In some ways, I think it's harder on the family than it is on the person. I, you know, it's funny you say that because me and my mom had a really rough relationship in the beginning. She was very spicy. Like she was just, you know, she was from a different cloth. You know, and she just didn't play any games. Like she was very vocal straight forward. She didn't mind, you know. She'd not tune you up. But she loved me. Yeah. But she just didn't, because she was raising me as a man. So she taught me things that I guess she overcompensated for her being a woman. And a lot of that built up resentment over time because I felt like she cared about my sister more. And I'm out here trying to figure it out. I'm a young kid. I'm 14 years old. Hustling, trying to take care of them. I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm just doing what I can. And I wasn't really that good in school. My sister was good. So I really leaned towards the streets. And that drove us farther apart. And we just had this rocky relationship. But when she became sick with dementia, and she was in these homes and these places, I would actually go, and it was a lot of resentment between both of us. And I would just actually go sit with her, feed her, talk to her, listen to music with her. Sometimes she would come in and she would come out and she would say something to me. And I might say, hey, you know, I forgive you for just the times that we had. Sometimes she would act like she heard me. My mom was smart even with dementia. Like she said, right. She said, right. She said, you know, it wasn't something she wanted to hear. So I look at it as two things. I said, I always prepared, because my mom was my heart. So I prepared myself that if something happened to her, they're mentally, I was going to have to deal with it because all the stuff that happened to me in the past, because I've lost so many people I can't even count. But at some point I became numb. And I was compartmentalizing that. I understood that this is what happens. This is the life I chose. You lose people, you know, it just is what it is. But it was like, I was like, when my mom leaves, like, what is that going to put me at? Because she was the foundation for what I knew. But you're my sister. And when she did pass, I really just had this talk with God because I was just like, I'm just glad you just didn't take her suddenly. Yeah. And I had a chance to talk to her, be with her, have those quiet moments when other people went around in the room. And you know, she loved to watch, like, mash and stuff like that. And I was just hit there with her. And we were just watching and she would laugh all of a sudden and she's like, see that? Like, yeah, we might talk a little bit. But those are the moments that I remember more than the moments that she was hard on me. Right. So that kind of gave me this relief. And when she passed, you know, of course, I had to jump in to be, you know, the man for the family. But I also was in a place of peace because I felt like she wasn't, you know, she wasn't suffering anymore. And that it wasn't sudden. So I had time to like prepare mentally, you know. And I thank God for that because I know people have to leave this earth. But I don't know what that's like suddenly with somebody that close to me. Yeah, that close to me. You know, it's an interesting subject because so many people, especially in this generation, have combat of relationships with their parents and don't stick around to work through that so that they can have grief without guilt, you know. What would you say to the person who's had a combat of relationship with their parents? What would you say to them that would help them should their parents pass away that they would have grief but not guilt? I had a wise person tell me one day. I mean, my dad had the same thing, but my dad is like my god now. Very good. So it's great. I never thought we'd be this close. Right. He's always been an amazing person. I just had this picture of my head of he left us. But when I found out what really happened, he did the right thing. So he was so right about it that he never told me what really happened until almost 30 years later. So this whole time that I was angry, I'm not knowing that he's being a stand-up guy. I'm not saying because he wants me to think the best about my mother, you know what I'm saying? And what I would tell people, a wise man told me this once. He said, what's your dad's name? And I said, Jay, and he looked at me, he said, well, he's just Jay. He makes mistakes too. He's a man. I mean, he's a kid being a man. You have to give him, he's just Jay. He's a dad. He's just Jay. Just like your mom is just sharing. They're going to have their things. And when I started to get into the mental health space myself and just started to understand my traumas and the things that I was going through, I had to really sit back and look at their lives and go, I knew my dad's dad. He was a tough guy. Right. He was a different type of kid. My mom's mom. Right now, she's about 90. She's still kicking. Right. You know what I'm saying? You know, we just, God bless and soul. Like she was pulling the sun until she was 85. She was sitting there and right, you coming to house, she got a whole paint right there. She was just drinking. And but she was healthy. She was all the things, but she was spicy. So when I look at that and I love my grandmother, I look at it and I go, if my mom was dealing with that as a young age, then she was the, you know, she was, she was the offspring of someone who was what she became. So that's how she was raised and that's the trauma that she went through. So I got to give her grace there. Right. When I look at my father, he went through his thing and I got to give him grace there because I would hope my son would give me grace. Because I went through my things. But that's what I would tell someone that they're just who they are. And she still got to give him grace because their parents, but even as a parent myself, I don't do everything right. That's right. Right. You know, I have to apologize to my daughter all the time. I'm sorry for even, you know, saying that, but I do want her to see that, you know, you can't apologize and you can't try to, you know, write your wrongs and fix things, but we all go make mistakes and nobody's perfect. Right. So you can't look at that. You can't do the work to work on yourself to understand because if I took what happened to me, my past brought it into my household now, my kids, I would be so far from right. Chapter number two, financial literacy. Let me ask you this. How much do you think being raised with financial constraints and limitations and struggling to make ends meet? How much do you think that played a role in the atmosphere between your parents and your early upbringing? I think it played a lot because, you know, they didn't have the resources or the finances to, and I wouldn't say just live a great life. It's just like the being, they take the time to be great parents. Right. Because when you're set up and things, if you ever seen a unit husband and wife for a partner is together and they all, they both have this common cause of just keeping the family comfortable and making sure everybody's good, but also making sure that they're taking the son, the baseball practice, the daughter's ballet, they're at their recitals, there are certain things because they're building the support system that, you know, you're safe in your NSYNC space. And I think it takes, you know, some type of financial planning to be in the NSYNC space. And when you're not in the NSYNC space, people do die or think, that's why, you know, you got these men to go out here and hustle and you're not going to prison for 20 years, but then what happens to you? Your baby boy that you was trying to take care of, you know, you're gone for 20 years. Now he's basically either being raised by his mother or being raised by, you know, his uncle or the streets. And when you come home, you know, now you're dealing with someone who had to live this life because you tried stepping into the right thing, but it wasn't the total right thing. And now you got to pray that this doesn't happen to his kids. So like a psycho. So I think financial literacy has a lot to do with it because even now I'm grateful that I can take care of my family, but I'm also more grateful that I got time to like really work on myself so that I can become a better leader and a better father and a better parent for them because I am set up financially and I don't have a lot of pressure to like go out and do things that I don't have to do. And that gives me time to work on myself whereas if I didn't have it, I would constantly be having to, you know, get out here and work. You know, when I looked at the research of your childhood, and all the trauma that you went through, the things that you faced and the things that you faced as an adult looking back and becoming more open with your life. I thought about a bow and arrow. And an arrow only shoots as far forward as it was pulled back. You were pulled back in a lot of ways, abused as a child, had to confront that grub but with roaches and poverty and things that you talked about and been open about. And now all I've got was roaches. So other so that's enough. You're a monster. You're a monster. You're a monster. Okay, so relax. Right, relax. Relax. I understand the story. But almost everybody I have sat down and talked to who became extremely successful, especially in our community, has those kinds of traumas that pulled them way back. And I think sometimes it's not what you're running to but what you're running from. They give you the tenacity to work, I think, the commitment to go further because you don't ever want to see that again. You know, do you feel that way, dude? Absolutely. And I feel that, because there was a point in my life where I was just like, just depressed because I just didn't understand what was going on. But the men and I started to understand the life doesn't happen till you, it happens for you. It's like he's not going to put you through like you saying you want this life, right? You want all these things. But if you're not built up for it, once you even get into this life, you can't sustain it because it's tough. Right, right. You can't, you can't, you can't be tough. Yeah, you can't be a leader if you can't endure pain. See, people don't understand being successful is tough. Oh, it's tough. You know, it's advertised to people that are struggling as a utopia, but it is not. When you get into it, the bigger the levels, the bigger the devils, and you have to deal with everything and haters and self-doubt and overcome your feelings of inadequacy and those inner struggles that nobody knows that you have, that you go to bed with and get up within the morning and put a smile on your face, paint it on your face, and go out there and do what you got to do. It is tough. And I don't know whether you feel this way, but I have never seen it tough for time than the time to we're in right now. Yeah, but I feel that is like growing up tough. Yeah, but I think that prepared me for this. Yeah, because now it's even like when my team come in me with stuff and I just laugh because they can be like, it's nine, one, one. And I'm just like, yeah, right. Yeah, this is what we're gonna do. Right, right. All the stuff I don't been through that I had to think on my feet had kept me alive. You know what I'm saying? And out of prison sentences, there was 30 to 40 to 50 years. You know what I'm saying? Like because I was small to my feet, and then at the same time, I endured the pain because I made a lot of unpopular decisions. Right. I don't seem like the thing to do at the time. Right. You know what I'm saying? But as you go on a life, you start to see that it works out. But I got this tolerance for things that I don't think most people can tolerate because I put everybody before me. So I'm more harder on myself to make sure like things get done, even when somebody might drop the ball here and there, because I'm looking at like, that was intentional. But let me be a good leader and have their back. Even though I'm tired. Yeah. Even though I'm stressed out. I just got to go here and make sure this is right for them. And I think that, you know, you, that's, because for me, when I look at it, I look at it like this. I'm small, but I ain't that small. So I know that there's a greater power of moving me in these directions and putting me in these places where it can be like your whole world is about to crash. And I just went through some things recently that I was just like, as a grown man, I'm like, this is crazy. But when I came back into my light, I was like, oh, he was preparing me for this. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Because I needed to take all these restraints off and get off this stuff. I'm going to wear and clear this clutter. So I could see this, this, this path that he wanted me to stay on for my people and the coach and what I do. And when I realized that I was walking in my light brighter than before, but I was just in the darkest light I ever been in. So now when I come back up for it and I see what's going on in the world, I'm just like, okay, let me do my part to help my people. And that's being poised and being calm in this difficult time. And being philanthropic, which is rare rather than selfish. You know, my mother used to say school is a university. Life is a university. And everybody in it is a teacher. When you wake up in the morning, be sure you go to school. That's right. What did hard times prison everything that you went through teach you that turned you into a business man and a mogul? Well, I'm going to tell you what is wise man told me what they on the phone. I said, well, Bishop, how'd you get through this phallet for me to do this, I'm just going to do this. You said, listen, I was an entrepreneur before everything else. Right, right, right. So for me, my passion, my talent was music. I couldn't deny that. But my passion was business because I wanted to be a business man. Because that's what I associated with being able to get into these rooms and to build this wealth that I can go back and help my people. And you know, we all say the billionaire word and it sounds good. But it's not for me. I can only spend so much my family on the knees, so much. But when you have the status, you're able to go and talk to these bigger brands and say, hey, look, I'm doing this and I need you guys support. Because they're looking at the success you had. And they want to put it with what you got so that you so that we can know do something for the people. So the answer to your question for me, I just feel like, you know, everything I went through, everything that I learned in the streets set me up for real life. So if I take a loss, I don't look at it. How somebody would look at it if they only knew business. Right. I knew I came from the school of hard knocks. It's like your mother said, education costs. Yeah, yes, yes. You know, I'm saying if I'm bad dealing, it cost me a few million dollars, I'll just pay for that. Yeah. I've been not doing that again. Right. Same set. So that's the reason you're right. I agree with it. Trust me. We could swap. Oh, wow. OK. But it's rare though to find a creative who is also entrepreneurial and business minded. Most people who are creatives hire somebody to take care of the business because they're so into what they're producing creatively that they don't take care of the business. And I personally believe if you get the business right first, then you do the creatives. I found out too many times I made a movie and didn't have a deal. I wrote a book and didn't have a publisher. You know, let's get the business straight now that I got a publishing deal. Now let's write the book. You know, getting things in sequence in a way where they flow better and where they operate better is very important. But we don't have many people. We have many people that do it, but we don't have many people that teach it. Yeah. Because you know, the thing is, I think it's one of those things. I personally think as a leader, as leaders, you learn about trial and trial so by the time you bump your heads enough time, then you kind of got the formula. Because nobody can like teach you that formula. Like you can't sit down with a business manager or team and they set it up. It's based off of how you think, how you feel, how you move and what kind of culture you're trying to build in your business. And it's like, I've been through a few situations where I had to learn the hard way because I had lawyers that I thought negotiated great deals. But once I, and I tell my team all the time, like, let me get all the data. Right. Don't try to spare me with this. I don't want to tell you everything. Because it's right over. Give me everything. And let me make the right decision based off of what I know. This coming because I am a visionary and I'm already 10 years down the road in my head. So when you talk about your team, what do you look for in the people that you surround yourself with? That's a great, I mean, I look for people that their goals align with my vision. So they're, they're into this and they have qualities themselves. They either a great at managing people. They're a great at detail or they understand they can see around the corner as well. Because if you're dealing with people because we're creative. So it's like, you just got this product and you're just saying we're going to sell this and everybody's focused. Like we're doing, you know, 10, 15 different things. And pretty much people who know how to flow and are not like, because, you know, being a creative and and and and and and being, uh, prolific where you're able to like seat things, everybody's not going to always agree that you got to have people who don't, who understand pivoting is a part of how this works. Yeah. So if we got to change our mind, that's fine. It's okay. We got a plan. Longs we got a plan. We can change. It just longs we got a plan. I like living in the tension. Uh, I like living in the tension. I don't want everybody to be yes man and to say and agree about everything. No. There's something passionate and something powerful that comes out of the tension and I like to see, I see you, I like to see you be passionate. I might not do what you said, but I want you to be passionate about it. I want to hear what you got to say. And I for one have always tried to hire my weaknesses, not my strengths. I get that. Because if you hire your strengths, you get competition. And you hire your weaknesses, you have collaboration. Do you feel that way too? Yeah, yeah, because you got to have somebody to watch your back. Yeah. Because I can go. Yeah. I'm saying I call it the more they're like, oh my God, I got it. I got 30 ideas like, well, it's low down. Yeah. Like what's going to be one of focus on? But also, also proud myself and not being the smartest person at the table too. Right. You know what I'm saying? It's like I, I, I, over the years I've learned the, the skill set of like aligning myself with people who, who, who I admire the way they think. Right. And it's like just processing things with them gives me more of a, a, a 30,000, you know, feet in the air view of what I'm doing rather than just on surface level. Right. Because we have in this conversation and they're, they're smart too. So they can see it and they go, okay, well, what if we put these two things together? How do you feel about that? Right. I was like, yeah, actually, I love that. But let's do this too. Right. Right. Yeah. Now you're on to something. Yeah. And it's just like, and if it doesn't work, we learned. Yeah. And then we keep moving. You know what I'm saying? Okay. So you, you've made some financial good decisions. You've made some financial bad decisions at one point had three laborgenies and had insurance on them, but didn't have insurance on you. Which kind of goes along with what we were talking about. A minute ago, valuing yourself. Right. What have you learned about handling money that you didn't know then? Well, then, you know, I think if I could have got the Lamborghini's off the light without his insurance, I wouldn't have had his insurance on them either. Why? Because, you know, you living for the moment, you know what I'm saying? Like I didn't, you know, you just wanted these things because you wanted them at the time. But then we started thinking about like, insure, yeah, I know. Just from saying back then. But it's back then. Yeah. But then it was almost like, I didn't know nobody in my family had like insurance or medical insurance like that. We just wasn't brought up like that. My dad had it because he was in the service. But once we went back to the hood, it was kind of like, he was kind of like on your own. So that wasn't a thing coming into it. But as I got older and I started to realize that health is real. Like because it is real. And it was easy to think the other day for some more insurance. And it was asking me all these questions and I'm like, nope, nope, nope, nope. And she was just like, you're so healthy and they just hit me. I'm like, wow, I'm healthy. That's crazy. Like I'm taking care of myself, you know, for a change. But to answer your question, like what I learned on the financial level is, you definitely, like you're going to need money until you forever. And your kids are going to need it and things like this. I stop looking for validation for outside things. Like I don't buy things because I want to impress other people. I'm more of an experienced person. Like if I want to go on a trip or do something to take my family somewhere, because I want them to experience this. And I know what this is going to do for them when they're, you know, 25, 30 years old. They've been to France and they've been to these places and that place. Because that's the experience I got from my father. Then I'll do that. And I'm also a minimalist. Like I would think so too. I have things that I'm into like art, you know, wine, watches and stuff like that and cigars. But I'm not like going to go ahead and buy 30 sports cars to prove it for it. You know what I'm saying? I'm not going to go buy a bunch of stuff that I don't need. And as far as money and managing money, it's just like I strive for financial freedom and to be in the place where I don't really have to do anything if I don't ever want to do anything. And I'm set. You know, and I can just live my life and go live where I want to live whether that's abroad or that's here that's there. And I think the get to that is you got to make sacrifices now. So for later on in life, you don't have to work as hard and do as much because you're already set up for that. And that takes like understanding like how money works and the type of people you got to bring around and then what you make is what you save. And it's like you got to figure out how to, you know, get to your tax breaks. As you're scaling, it's like the laws change so much. So the best thing you do is have great financial people on your team so they can help you navigate through that. That's another trust. Do I? Yes, yes. Yes, you have trust. And it's like as you navigate in these things, you know, things come up where, you know, you might not understand something, but instant gratification is what gets you because you want to spend money right now to look a certain way right now. And I don't want to, you know, I tell people it's like, they're calling shopping parapet. Right. You know what I'm saying? I'd rather go for a walk. Yeah, at least I'm going to have my money when I get there. But I tell people that, you know, it starts with you though, like because once you, once you trust in yourself, once you know who you are as an individual and what, because there's difference between wants and needs. You know, I'm saying like you may want something, but you may not need it. You know, I'm saying, or you may want a bigger house, but like just really thinking about it, you know, you're only in two rooms. You know, I'm saying, right, you may, right. You know, it was a time I went to my garage and it was like so many cars. They really have to charge the battery on this one. Like, I don't want to deal with all that, you know what I'm saying? Like, I just want to live a life to where, you know, it's crazy because I sold all the cars and bought the lot next door. Right. You know what I'm saying? I'm just like, they sitting here, we might as well just get that. But it's just like making those type of decisions because, again, you know, not putting an arrow back. I've been in poverty and you can't help nobody when you're doing bad as well. Right. And then I've been in a state of abundance, but abundance only lasts so long when you're being irresponsible with things, right? And then it's just like, I want to be creative and I want to try things. And in order to take these risks, I need cushion. You know what I'm saying? I need to know that if I go out here and just get caught up in this passion project that I want to do that could change the world or not, that I'm not going to break the bank, you know, just going after something that my spirit is telling me I'm going after. And then the last thing I would say is like really taking the time to read like a lot of like, you know, just entrepreneurial books and financial books, it really helps because you're not going to get everything you need out of it, but you become rehearsed with the phrases and how things are said and what things are. So when you're accountings and these money people are running this stuff by you, they're not just throwing this stuff over your head because, you know, they'll get you too. Right. You know what I'm saying? So at least you got an understanding of it and then having other brothers that you can actually sit down and talk to them, go, hey, look, I had a conversation about this. What do you think about that? And then I'd say, oh, no, that's legitimate, but why don't you talk to this person so they can give you a better insight. And I would say the best lesson I could say is stay curious. Right. Stay curious. Right. I asked those questions. Right. And you guys get the rights on a whole lot of front. The Lamborghini's are depreciating. Oh my God. The real estate is an appreciating asset. You're not really wealthy until your money's making money. Money for you. Not when you're making money, but when your money is making money. And so that makes dead drives us toward appreciating assets, which is very, very important. And the reason it's important that we share what we know with each other is because we can never reproduce another generation of successful people if we don't talk to each other. So that cross-pollonization is really good. I'm glad you're coming into your own and you're no longer having to prove to anybody. What is already obvious to you. And that's coming closer to loving you. And that's where real, the Bible says, love your neighbor. She loves yourself. But if you don't love you, you can't love anybody else. So you got to learn how to love you. That goes relationships. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We shout off of that. Chapter number three, Dixon. Yeah. You know, you were talking earlier about your mother and the hardships that you had and how you were relationship developed over time. And I applaud the fact that you stuck to it till you worked it out. Because most people, when they run into a hardship, they throw you away. They just walk away. And you hung in there and worked it out. I understand that she had some kind of a drug addiction problem that you had to work through. How much of the fight was a result of her not being herself in dealing with drugs? Well, she was on drugs when I was a lot younger. And which means we cross paths in the street sometimes. But she was still my mother, so I have respect for her. But this is the thing, like when you say drugs, you know, in the era I came up in, you know, the drugs that people were doing would be like cannabis today. Right. Because it was a regular thing. Okay. Like everybody pretty much was, you know, out here doing, you know, crack and this and that. Yeah. But I was also in the trade. Yeah. So for me, coming up in my family, this was a normal thing, you know, hustle with my aunties. Yeah. Like, also with my uncles and my cousins. So it was like to me, it was regular. You know, I'm saying I didn't really understand the concept of it until people I started to, you know, you know, know started to go to prison or, you know, become, you know, get on the live. And I'm just like, okay, let me understand this. If I stay in this, this is what happens. And my mom was getting in her space where she was getting in the better space. And we moved there in the country. She kind of sobered up. She started, you know, never her life. She wanted to travel. And I just sent her to Vegas, the Bahamas and all this stuff. And she just one day, she just became, you know, sober and she was my mom again. Yeah. But then she got sick right after that. Yeah. And so it was working on our relationship. And then she got sick. But I was traveling and on the road and stuff. And I never forget I was in Europe. And I was doing this, this, this European tour. And she called me. She's like, hey, baby. And this round the time she was sick, you know. He said, hey, baby, what are you doing? I said, I'm getting on my bus. I'm about to drive to Sweden. And she goes, yeah, the president just shouted you out. And you know, I'm thinking she said, I'm like, I'm like, yeah, mama, I call you back. And she said, no, I'm gonna get you sister to say the tea. So I got off the phone, I ain't saying that. And I get on the bus, you know, relax for a little bit. Later I'll get up and look at my phone, show them my sister sent me a video. And it was Obama shouting me out at the Corresponders dinner. Now mine you, I'm thinking she said. You know what I'm saying? Right, right, right. But she would come in and out like that. And that was kind of like, she was well enough to ride that. Okay. And so when I would go sit with her, it was, I'm gonna be honest. It was, my mom was so powerful. She can move room. She was just, she just had that, that it. But when it went from that to me pushing her around in the wheelchair and her holding a baby doll, you know what I'm saying? It just did something to me. It just, yeah, it just brought me to a place when I'm like, wow. I went through it, I know. Yeah. And it was just like, you know, she would, it's just certain things that she would do. And it was just like, even when I would go to the center to feed her, you know, I'm coming off the road. I'm touring, 20, 30, 40,000 people a night. Then I'm coming home and I'm sitting in this cafeteria with my mom and it's like, people in there are the sicker than she is. And I'm like, well, she shouldn't even be here. Yeah. And I'm feeding her, I'm talking to her. And I did that too. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So it was just like this thing, but it was just like, okay, how long is she gonna be the sustainess? And, you know, again, like I say, like the time I got to spend with her doing this thing, I think was God's gift because I had time to like really talk to her. And I know she was listening at some point. Do you miss her? Of course. Of course. Like, you know, it's crazy. I got this picture over in my house when I walked through and I just always laughed because I know she's looking at me. But it, it, one of my properties and the mountains when I go out there, I got this chair by the stream. One of my properties. Well, I mean, by the way, anytime you got the, the Fritzure, which property you're talking about. And you have probably a long way to sort of get around. But the reason, the reason I harp on that is it's like coming in on the end of the movie. Sometimes people catch you on the part of your life and they don't recognize all the stuff you had to climb out of to get to where you are and part of the beauty of accomplishing what you've accomplished. Even with all the setbacks, even with all the mistakes is, is how hard it was for you to climb out of something that most people died of. Well, that's what, what, what, what I'm finishing. So when I was sending the stream, there's a chair and I was sending the chair and it's just one yellow butterfly that comes every time I sit in that chair. Wow. And sweaty it was her. Wow. It'll come in. It's every spring summer, it does it. Wow. So that's how I know we're connected. But to answer your question about, um, that's my superpower. Being in these holes and being able to climb out, that's why I laughed with, you know, my style of brain was stuck with up just like, oh, yeah, I have no idea. Like this is, this is cake and ice cream. Yeah. But it's just like, that's my, I never, and that's how I know it's not me. I've never been in anything. Right. Did I have it being able to get out of? Like I've never been in a situation when I was I going through it with our stress, with our worry, absolutely. But it always works itself out. And it's like, I could be sitting there and something would come over me and then go call such and such. And I'll call this person. I said, hey, how you doing? You got a minute. Can I, can we do lunch? Can we talk? And I'll go talk to this person and then through something similar and we'll just have this conversation. And I'll just get this data and then I'll go processing and I'll come up with my plan. I go, okay, this is what I'm going to tell me about the shooting you witness at your friend's house. Oh, in the book. So going back to what I said about not knowing what the streets was because I was so green coming from abroad, coming from Hawaii and Japan. Right. When I got back, there was a family friend, his name was Marcus Clemens. He was a little bit older than me at the time. He's probably about a teenager then. I was hustling on the street corner with him. Very charismatic guy, probably about six, four, six, three. Curly hair, all the girls, like him. So I just like hanging around him. I was like his little brother. And I left him one night, maybe around 1130 to go home and the crazy things, my grandma never, because I was living with my grandmother that time. She never cared when I came in the house. It wasn't a big deal. So I left about 1130 because I had to go to school. And Montice came to pick me up for school that morning around like seven o'clock and was driving in the town that my grandmother lived in. It's not a big town. So you can pretty much see everything is going on. It was right about the street where we hang out at it. And I saw the ambulance and the police up there. And Montice said, yeah, you know, they shot Marcus last night. And he was actually hustling and he was trying to, I guess he was selling somebody something that they didn't have all the money. And they still wanted it and he didn't want to give it to him because they didn't have all the money. Which he told me all the time, your price don't change. Whatever it is, that's what you get. If it's not that, you don't do it. And it killed them. But they actually shot and killed them. This is the thing. So Montice says to me, yeah, Marcus got shot. I said, oh, okay, cool. I said when I get out of school, I go see him, you know, thinking, you know, yeah, I'm not even thinking that far. I'm just like, you know, maybe got into an altercation. I don't know. I never heard a shot before as well. And she said, no, baby, he's gone. And I said, gone where? She's like, he gone forever. And I like, when I say, I couldn't process that. Right. You know what I'm saying? I had no idea that you can leave this earth, you know, and that put me in this place where I was angry. I was devastated, but also wanted to make him proud because he had taught me so many gifts in the gap. And I immediately, when I came home from school, I went into like this laser focus hustling mode. And I was just like, I'm about to do what I got to do. And I just really started hustling on my own. It just really being smart. And the thing that I pride of myself on was I felt like it was a mistake or how he was handling his business. And I just like pride of myself on getting close to enough to people to learn from them mistakes and not make the same mistakes because only had two rules to myself when I was in the streets. That's don't go to prison and don't get killed. Anything else I can handle. And I felt like I did that. But that was like my motivation. Like, no matter what happens, you just don't go to prison. You don't get killed. And if you could do that, you're going to be high. And that's, I went from there and it just like, it also made my heart cold. And from honest because from that moment on, I didn't really care about nothing else, including myself. You know what I'm saying? So just like I was just so laser focused on just surviving that by the time, you know, you talking years later when you started to hear these things, it didn't even affect me. You see now, you're in dinner, but like, you know what I said, since it's got to keep it up without Dan, it's crazy. All right, cool. Keep it on my life because I learned to come, come, come, come, come, come, come, come and analyze it. Mm-hmm. So going back to up until my mother passed, you know, so I learned to come, come, come and analyze that as well. Mm-hmm. But that's all working on my healing journey. Yes. You know, and hey, you know, come back to your drum. Come on, oh my God. Yeah, that's painful. Oh my God. It was like all that was like everybody I lost, it hit me at one time. Yeah. It was like, I can't tell you how that hurt was. Yeah. And it happened to me in Vietnam. Wow. I went to this retreat and I was in Vietnam and I had this mountain with a king of Vietnam, climbed the mountain. Uh, this like 2000 feet above sea level. And uh, that's where he went and meditated for, you know, as people, whatever. And he's on this and this and this land. Beautiful place. And I climbed the mountain. I did the meditator and I came back and did a meditation session at night. And when I laid in the bed, it felt like my heart was falling from beneath the bed. I thought I was going to, I literally thought I was going to die. You know what I'm saying? And it's just like, I opened my mouth and like this, like, screaming, like it was, it was, like I never felt like it was. Like that before. And I laid there and I just laid there and I hurt for, you know, just the whole night. And when I woke up the next morning, I just laid there and I just, you know, I prayed. And it was almost like I got my feelings back because before that, I didn't feel anything. You didn't feel anything, you know. Couldn't afford to let yourself feel anything. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know. You were scared. They all sparsely. But at the point that you climbed to 260 and I'm a little less than that now, by the grace of God, were you trying to eat your pain away? Yeah. I was, so the first thing that happened around this time is I, I told my vocal cords, I was going to have polyps, so I told my vocal cords, performing. So I really couldn't speak for almost a year. Wow. So I had to get surgery and I didn't have, and this is like a height of my career, like the album is about to get ready to come out. And, you know, I didn't, I didn't have insurance at the time. So I had to pay for it with a brown paper bag, you know, with the money and whatever. And it was all concerned that I would never, I wouldn't sound the same. It actually cleaned my voice up a little bit because my voice was very rasced before, but it cleaned up a little bit. And right after that happened, you know, of course I had things going on in the street that was happening. But I was, I was going through this phase where I was depressed because everybody around me was getting snatched up and going to prison or you were getting killed. And I didn't know if I was going to make it. And around this time when I told my vocal cords that album finally came out, somebody, before it came out, four weeks before it came out, somebody bootleg it and gave it away to the streets and all the bootlegs had it. So in my mind, I'm $3 million in because I paid for it myself. And I'm like, my album's out. I don't even know if the label's going to even support it at this point. So I'm already thinking about what I got to do to get back to the streets. Because now that's the position I'm in. So when it comes out, it does about 189 the first week. Next week it does about another 189. It just keeps going. And things are starting to look on the bright side and I got hit with Bill's paulzy. And I was doing something. I went to marijuana and then my whole face was like cricket. And my arm was a little bit off. I couldn't really move it like I was a mobile, it should be. And my first mind is like, oh wow, I thought I had a stroke. You know what I'm saying? I was just like, okay, this is going to be where my life is like. So how I got up to 260 is I was hiding. Because I couldn't talk. And then I had Bill's paulzy. So it was almost like I didn't want people to see me because I didn't know what was going on. And I was one of those kind of old school guys where it's just like, you think you're going to put some Vixen Maple Robo and everything. You're going to be upset. You stand to wake mom up. You'll be alright. I'm fine. I'm fine. I sleep in it. I can't grab mom or anything. And you know, my mom is just like, you got to go to the doctor, baby. And I went to the doctor and of course, it comes to me. Bill's paulzy. So I worked through that. But I'm going to be honest like this probably one of the scariest moments of my life because I was there. Like the records was selling. I had so booked up that I couldn't even perform it because I didn't have a voice. But I was finally there. And the only thing I kept thinking about was like karma. Because I'm like, what did I do to get this close for it to get took in the weight? And again, that's that boy and arrow because I felt like he brought me back to humble me and said, alright, I'm giving you, I'm letting you borrow this gift. I'm letting you borrow this gift. Now how you go forward is going to depend on how long you keep it. And I knew then it was a position of leadership because when I came out of the rut and I started to come back around, this is around, it took me about almost three albums to get back to myself. And that third album was the recession. And to me, that's one of my best albums because I actually like, you know, studied and watched the news. And I knew so much about the world. That's when I was right. My president was black. And because when I went on my health journey and started that, dropped almost like 70 pounds. And I started doing these shows for the recession tour. And I would literally be on stage and they would be throwing stuff. And I thought it was like trash or something. And my security said, no sir, those are bras. And I was like, oh, this is it. I'm never going back. And I just came this like this, this, this, you know, this culture, you know, sick sip. But I'm just like, wow, this is amazing. And just three years before that, I was in the most depressing, I was like, I'm going to be in the most depressing time of my life. And you know, so if I say anything about the Bill's pauses, just like, you got to take care yourself out here and I learned that because I was like one of those people, like, you know, I don't got drink water. I ain't got to eat and clean. You know, I just was living on the edge, you know, because I didn't really, and I'm from honest, like, I didn't, like my first album, I wouldn't even play any Christmas. You know what I'm saying around that time, like I didn't play any, because I didn't know, I didn't want to have any expectations, you know what I'm saying? Because it's just like things were happening so fast, you didn't know. And around the recession is when I, the recession album is when I started coming to my space. The Bill's pauses was gone. My voice was back. I was talking great. I was looking great. I was feeling good. And that's when I really started to take life. That's when my healing journey started. I started to take life seriously, like eating right, make sure I got rest, you know, just doing the things that I knew how to do before I started expanding it because I felt good. And I felt in a great place, but then I also felt healthy because I was working a lot. I was on like tours back to back. And I wasn't like on tours with like, you know, like, you know, up and coming. I was like Jay Z, Rihanna, you know, Kanye, like it was like I was out there with people who do this for a living. Right. And here I am, the street guy trying to figure it out as I go, but, you know, being healthy was one of the things that got me through it. And then also like connecting with my fans, I don't even call them fans, but my supporters because, you know, they saw me getting the better place too. And it just, you know, kind of brought my spirits up because now, you know, like people are actually seeing me do better. You know, I'm saying rather than what they knew because I was just like this hood guy over polarizing, you know, drinking all day, hanging out, I'm everywhere. And it's just like I really didn't have a sense of what I was doing or what I was going. And it was just like I was just a wreck waiting to happen, you know, and I came out of that. So I'll tell you anybody take care of your star player. Shaptain number five, Peter. Yeah. Do you think that has something to do with your music, your lyrics? How you, did that in some way, vent your soul as you wrote your songs and everything? Well, I think two things. I think the first thing is, again, when I was a white, I just grew up in my home room class, like the first class you're going to. Beautiful girl. And I just try to talk to her. I'm the country kid coming from the south, you know, talk real geeky or whatever. She didn't like me. And I never understood that. And I'm like, you know, I'm used to getting what I want. So I just like, I constantly on this plane to start writing the poems. And every day I be sent at the table, you know, I thought, do my homework. And my dad like, what you doing? I'm like writing this girl a poem. And I'll leave the poem on her desk every morning. And the more poems I love for the more she comes in, she's like, how you doing today? And she ain't gonna be in my girlfriend, right? So I saw what words did because I realized that I was a great writer because I can express myself when I write. And I was putting things together that I normally couldn't put together, but I wanted something out of it. And I think the second part for me was, when I got introduced to two parts of core, like something with him resonated with me because I had never seen someone that was a revolutionary that stood for something like my uncles. They didn't really stand for nothing. They kind of was just like trying to make they win the system, but they wasn't like rebels. They never told me, hey, man, you know, you got to stand up for what you believe in. So when I kind of started to understand what two pop was doing, it just resonated with me so much that it made me want to go be a rebel in a sense. And when I got back to the States and, you know, living my life or whatever, all the things that I went through, I was like, yo, these are stories. And I kind of saw what he did because he was very poetic. And I was like, man, you know, when I started to try to do music at first, I was being a CEO that didn't work. And then one of my friends was like, man, you should write because it's your life is what you're living. And I just started writing. And I went back to what I knew back then of saying the words that I was saying, but this time it wasn't poetry to get a woman. This time it was poetry to connect with my people. You know what I'm saying? Because I knew what to say in this language of the streets that most people can't talk because they don't know the lingo. I understood the lingo because it was like I just spent, you know, 10, 15 years of my life avoiding the law enforcement by being able to talk in a lingo on the phone. Right. You know what I'm saying? Because if you say one thing, you've out of here. One wrong thing. Right. And I was thinking about that. That when it was time to write the music, it was like I was, look, because at first I had an imposter syndrome because I would be in the studio with like the great JZs and the TIs and all these people. But they were great artists because they had been rapping since they've been rapping. Yeah. I hadn't been doing that that long. But what I knew is I had this superpower of this lingo and this understanding of what the street culture was, they didn't. And I didn't have to talk to the masses. I can go over the masses and talk to the people. Right. Because they can't do that, you know what I'm saying? Because they wasn't, they was more so trying to serve the world. I just knew I wanted to talk to those people over there. What's there, I ask you this because I've had this feeling. When you first started doing it, and maybe even now, it's kind of like showing your baby to the world. Yeah. Is there a certain amount of tripletation, the tripletation that you feel as you put it out there, will they like it, will they get it, do they understand it? Do you go through all those kinds of changes? I used to. Yeah. And of course, I'm still reluctant to, you know, certain things I think out. But when I'm in my energy, like it's like I know what I'm supposed to be doing. You know what I'm saying? It's just like you got to do this. Like this is, this is a non-negotiable. But when I'm being creative in the space, what I'm trying to do, new things, and maybe they're like this, maybe they want that's when I get a little, but when it's like I wake up and my spirit is telling me this is what I got to do, I got to go do that. So when lose is draw, I got to go do that. And I can't even like think about it because it's calling me to do this. But when you're being creative and you're trying to like make music, okay, and this one I'm going to say, when I was making music, and I got in the space where I became so successful that the labels and everybody was telling me, you got to make these types of songs, you're going to sell these types of records. When I went for that, yes, and that's when I was nervous because that wasn't me. You know what I'm saying? I've been sold this dream of, I can become so wealthy, it's so great. And then when I bump my head, I start to realize it like, you know, and not putting no things to anybody else. Because I take full accountability. I start to realize that you can't let people manipulate you into doing what they want you to do with what you have built and the stress you have with your people. If you do what's true in your heart, then if it doesn't work, it still doesn't matter. Because it's going to lead you to the next thing, and that's going to work. See, for a lot of people, I think, don't understand about labels or sometimes publishers, if I went to a label and said I wanted to do a song about stabbing cats and skinning them alive. I'm terrible, by the way. There would be no question. Absolutely not. But if I say I want to do a song about shooting people in the street, shooting other brothers in the street, that's okay. And I think in some ways, they want to shape how the world sees us by only showing one dimension of the black experience. And it is a legitimate experience, but it's not the only experience. Well, it's the only experience that's going to bring you, see, this is the thing. And I'll tell somebody, I've never heard a country singer talk about going and hunting, killing another country singer. Right. That ain't with this self. Right. But it's our trauma, like, say for instance, the more trauma you have, the better of a story that you're going to tell. And while you're telling that story and you're incorporating what's going on, the tension builds because you're talking about real people and real things. So these people are doing things behind the scenes that we all know culturally are that are happening. People getting killed and all these things going on, they build for great story overall because you get to see it in real time. And those great stories come with a lot of money. You know what I'm saying? So they're giving these kids with all this trauma. You know, these tens and 20s of me is a dollars for these stories knowing that some point, all this stuff is going to catch up with them. And they're going to be killed, but that doesn't matter because if I own your masters and your publics in there, that means I get this money for, it's like getting it. Getting somebody's real estate portfolio for free. You're going to be paid forever. And they understand that because that's the business. And they don't set you up in the sense of that is because, Munga, you just tell me all the times, you're honestly, I'm going to get a rose for it. He's like, well, if you don't get your mind right, you're going to just be a person in the rose for us with crazy person in the rose for us. Because you still have to work on you. My thing is with this culture, what I don't like about it is, you know, there's so many other things that we can talk about instead of hunting each other down. And the way they're teaching these, this younger generation to be significant is if I can take your life. Because I already got in my mind, I can't go be successful with nothing else. Right. But this is going to give me instant gratification and power because I'm significant because I can do something to hurt you. You know, it's true because look at how it is, Bishop. You know, you grew up, I grew up. You know, y'all come out and had a 38 special. You know what I'm saying? That's six shots. Right. You know, they're giving these kids, you know, fully automatic handguns that can shoot, you know, 70 to 80, 100 rounds in 20 seconds. Like who you're trying to, you know, you over killing, right? So, and the thing, one of my great friends always told me is the money's in the snake spit, the money's in the snake spit. So in order to get this culture of money that is there is there, but you got to stick your hand in this snake pit. And you got to, you're going to get bit, you're going to get, you know, all these things are going to happen to you because the money is there because the money is in our trauma. It is in our dysfunction. It's in our inability to deal with life sober. You know what I'm saying? It's just like there's no poetry anymore. It's really, basically a commercial to go out here and feel it's okay to take somebody away from their family because you felt disrespected. And that to me says that they don't have conflict resolution or anything else to live for because if I looked at it like that, there's a lot of wet pillows in the penitentiary and it's just like, why would I have to harm you? You didn't hurt my family, you didn't touch my kid. You know, you didn't do anything to me personally, but you said something to me on this app. Right. You know what I'm saying? This piece of technology, you said something that was disrespectful in there. My mind, I'm like, I can't let the world see me go out like that. And like one of my great guys saying, bad day for the Eagles, a great day for the soul because it's just like when I had to swallow my ego, probably one of the hardest things I have had to do. But when I tell you when time passed and I saw the things that I escaped and started to understand like, okay, this is the mastery of being a real man. A real man is going to tell you that I'm going to protect my family. You coming to my house? When you're in your house, it's compensation. You know what I'm saying? Come on, y'all, we got to talk about it. Like because I'm still there. Once in line, you're always a lot of going to keep teeth. You know what I'm saying? Like that's not even the point. Right. And I can handle myself physically. I box, you know, at least five, six times a week. Like I'm not, there's no fear here. But then if I'm going to be in a real leadership position, I can look at you just like I would look at my dad and say, that's just Jay. I go to you and say, that's just him. This guy is more to do with him than me. And that's the part that I don't like about the music. Because I feel like it's a commercial for us to go out here and just continue to keep killing each other and not being able to go support events because you're scared of what's going to happen. And you see in these kids going to prison and if you really look at it right now, you've got all these multi-millionaires that are basically running Fortune 500 companies that are in and out of prison because nobody's sitting there telling them like, man, you made it. You out. You're saying you're good. You're safe. You know, you know, you're the brother. You don't have to end if you feel like you need some security to go get some sick service. Yeah. And then a lot of the people that are rapping now didn't come from the hood. No. They're living in Beverly Hills. Yeah. And not even that, but even if they did, they're not old enough to understand what that even truly means. Yeah. That's a blessing. I can't help but keep drawing a line in my mind between you going into a senior citizen's complex to feed your mother and taking that same line and drawing it into developing music to feed the culture. Yeah. Yeah. And drawing that line from feeding the culture as you grow and change and and and and demanded the right to get out of the snake pit to start feeding them more wholesome sides of yourself and business. Your feeder. Wow. I love that. I love that. Your feeder. I love that. So your propensity, your fulfillment comes from feeding because everything you sit here and tell me about in some way, your feeder. I love that, brother. That's really that's really interesting to me. Yeah. Well, you think because you know, when I was young, I'm type of person like if somebody was come on my grandmother's house, like I'm going to make sure they eat before I even say, you know what I mean? Well, I feel rude. Like, by the way, this ain't this ain't what you're doing over pork chops. Like you know, nobody. Right. Right. Right. But I'm just like you also me, you know, but before I even eat, you make sure you straight then I might get a little bit of the scraps and keep them moving. That's interesting though. It's interesting because when you're a feeder, you have a responsibility to make sure that what you feed to the people is life giving and not life taking. The other things about being rough and tough in the mind and the teeth, the line eventually loses this teeth. I know. If you live long enough, you won't be able to come down the steps, shooting everybody in. All that's a season. But the heart that feeds leads and it stays all the way down to the end. What do you think you're performing down here in Dallas? Yes. What are you going to feed the people that come to hear you and what responsibility do you have? Wow. It's crazy. You say that. The first fold is, I'm actually here with an orchestra to celebrate the 20th anniversary of my first album, The Motivation 101. The first fold is to show the generation that's coming up behind me that you can't give yourself permission to evolve and for your art to get better and evolve with you over time so that you won't be boxed in. Because if I was celebrating 20 years of what I'm doing and I'm doing the same thing, that's clear to see that I'm stuck while I was at. But I'm elevating my, you know, I'm elevating the packaging of this, what it is, so that you can see this, that you don't gotta be I.Hunt and your brothers to evolve. Right, this is a whole another. I came from what you came from. This is what evolution looks like. And this is my purpose to inspire the culture to elevate. The second floor would be for people like myself that understand what evolution is and they're accepting and they okay with it. It's to come celebrate 20 years of you. Because this is your journey as well. I just had to soundtrack for it. And I want you to come looking your best. I want you to put on your black tie, your black dress because we celebrate and you and we're doing this together. I'm gonna bring this experience to you that I've never seen until I done it. Which was a symphony in orchestra. Because this is what you- Which is wow, by the way. And I've heard of. Yeah, yeah. So this brings the evolution together. And people get a chance to see how great they look and celebrate themselves. And I'll say the last part is exactly what you said. The feeling is just like, how can I get my people to see that even if it is our music or whatever else we're doing, we can't not- we can't not stop growing. Like we have to keep growing. We have to keep evolving. We have to keep creating these spaces where it's safe for us too. Like if you go into this event, you're not worried about what's gonna happen because you're considered in the rap concert. You're going to celebrate with other like-minded people. And I'm hoping you leave and motivated and inspired to say like, this is us. This is what we should look like. Because every time you see us in the news, all you see is we hurt each other, killing each other. Are we doing something we shouldn't be doing? And this is a celebration of the people who chose to go to the other rap. And they actually live in their dreams and live in their life and doing what they're doing. And they get to celebrate in this moment and they're dressed to the nines. And you get to see this black conductor, this brother conduct this orchestra. And he wrote the music and everything. You see all these people on the stage that are actually helping me again, align it with my vision. Their goal is to be a musician. My vision is to elevate my culture. And we're doing this together. And we actually put out an album of the show, of the symphonic experience, a version of TN 101. It's this $1 symphony? Well, no, this is the color of noise. Okay. So I actually put together a small symphony. You're all a symphony. Right in the ground. And when does this air? We haven't put a date on it yet. Okay, cool. But the thing that's amazing, when a woman is pregnant, one of the first things the doctor tells her is to watch what she eats and watch what she drinks because whatever she and Jess goes and takes a baby. What I think I hear you saying is as you evolve, your milk is becoming more wholesome. Okay. 1000%. And oddly enough, in your world, it takes more courage to be wholesome than it does to be ratchet. Because ratchet is easily... Oh, yeah, ratchet works. Yeah, ratchet works. It's super ratchet. Yeah, yeah. It's good. Yeah. I mean, between that world, but so you're making, when you're making wholesome decisions, yeah, you're gonna get pushed back. You're gonna get pushed back. So if you're the pride, Piper and all of these people are following you, where are you taking them? Where am I taking them? I'm gonna be honest with you, Bishop. I ask God that every morning, where are you taking this? What are you having me to do? Because when I get up, I just know it. I'm just walking. And I'm walking and I'm staying focused. And I'm just listening for the signs and watching for the signs. And if I think it's anything, I think it's to show that there is another route. There is another way. And we can't be afraid of taking that detour. Because we've walked in this path for too long of this destruction and everything that we come into grasp with, it always implodes. It never gets us to where we need to go. And it's just like even with all our leaders and everything that happened, it's always, they take them away. And this happened or that happened or this happened, or that happened. And it's just like, when you look at the world, it is the way it is now, I've never seen, even for my men's group. And when you listen to the men, they'll sit there and tell you, they ain't never been in a safe space where they can express how they feel. You're like, wow. And for me, I feel like that's something I gotta push. Because if I can get men to understand that it is okay to find a group of like-minded men to help you process this thing, then that's something that I gotta do, but that's an unpopular decision. Because if you sit there and tell somebody, you got there, but they look at you like you crazy. But it's just like how my men is in all this stuff and trying to process it on my own besides me and God, but still, I still need mentoring and help too. I gotta call you about certain things, you know what I'm saying? Like, we're gonna say what you think. But if you ask me, where we going, I haven't, like I ask God every day, and I know He's gonna unveil it to me, but I'm just walking in my light because it's like I can't do nothing else. Even if I got up, oh, yesterday I wanted to go, I don't know, I was gonna go hang out with my friend and do some, it was like, I was like, no, bro, we gonna do this. And I had to change my whole day. And I stayed on it, it took me to middle of the night to get it done, but when I laid down and I prayed, I was like, okay, that was it. That's what I was supposed to do today. You know, it's funny, it's okay not to have the answer to every question. God told Abraham to take now His only son, Isaac, to a place that He would show him. So He had to be willing to lead His son without being able to answer the question of exactly where we're going. And that's what I hear you say in my language. I'm here, I'm translating. I can't afford it in my language. So there's a certain degree of faith in the process that He will reveal it, but it's also a responsibility that it's your son, your leading, and you wanna be a better father than you were fathered because they don't have to be blood kin to be kin to you. Let me switch subjects for a minute. Chapter number six, divorce. You went to a real tough divorce. For me, I don't think there are no losses if there is learning. Right, okay. And when you look back on it and you may not have had time to process it because big stuff like that takes a long time to really process what was that all about? What did you learn from it? I learned I was a great husband. I can't. Okay. I got a beautiful daughter out of a situation so there's no regrets there. But I learned a lot about myself. I learned that there's things that I continue to work on. I learned about my preferences for things. The type of space that I need, the type of moments that I need to decompress about certain things. And this just unselfish nature, that I was selfish in my prior life. And I think just going forward in life, it just taught me how to give someone else grace and accidentally listen to understand rather than just to listen to reply. Yeah. You know, because when you're sharing the life with somebody, it's almost like you don't become one, but this is a partnership. And so for me, it's almost like I've never experienced anything like that just coming for what I came from. So I never had to share. You know what I'm saying? I never had to compromise anyway. So I just think it taught me a lot about what compromising was like and then things that, you know, I can just work on as a person. You know, it's a mirror. Yeah. It's a mirror. It's a mirror. It's a reflection. You know, it's a funny thing. If you go deaf, eventually you won't speak clearly. To me, you can't speak right if you can't listen right. So the correlation between the ear and the mouth is so connected that the speech clears when the ear is open. So when I ask you, what did you learn from it? I'm asking you, are you listening? Yes. And as you listen, that should change who you marry. If you marry again, how you communicate, you're a music every aspect of your life. Your life is like blood and then stay in one spot. It goes everywhere. Right. So wisdom is the same way. It goes everywhere. And I think everything that makes you better makes you wiser. Yes. Yeah. Yes. What would you do differently if the choice comes up again? I would definitely take my time. You know what I'm saying? I've learned now that friendship is the biggest key to anything. I mean, I think when you become friends with someone and you're like really invested in the friendship, it just builds a different type of foundation. And I feel that differently, I would say I would build a... I would make sure that the community is as strong as the foundation. Because it takes a community like to keep... You know, to keep you accountable and have people that you can process with. And have like mind that people that you can have conversations with about things that may... You know, just might not be a... And all be all issue. But it's things you might not understand. You know what I'm saying? Because there'll be honors with you. I didn't have a lot of great examples of relationships. And I do want to say this though, because I felt like when people hear me speak about like what I went through with my mom and all this stuff, they're like, oh, you went into a relationship with marriage with mommy issues. I had been working on that stuff. So that had nothing to do with my time, like with my marriage. But as a man and someone who was coming into his own, you know, and someone who came from a world would like, you know, your leadership is ruled with iron fists. Because that's what survival is based on. And then for you to like start living in abundance, rather than scarcity, it was a humbling experience to have to like, actually like make sure that you're present enough to hear with somebody else's. Right. Right. Right. And then you're there should be no judgment there. Right. Because you can't tell somebody something's not true to them. Like they can't tell you something's not true to you. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. It was just understanding things like that. So if I ever did it differently, I think that even in the dating stages, like even like the date, like we could be friends. But even in the dating stages, I would want to do like some pre-marital, like counseling. Absolutely. You know what I'm saying? It's the answer might have said what kind of, but I will say this. My heart and my spirit tells me like now, the space I'm in, I just see life partner. Right. You know what I'm saying? Because I just kind of feel like, when you build a friendship and you build a solid foundation with somebody, like, and I don't know, I don't know what Oprah's statement got going on and I ain't anything to say to any house. Of course, but I'm saying. I'm saying. I'm saying. And I'm quite sure that dating negotiated something if it doesn't work. You know, he's going to be strange. He's going to be straight and he's going to keep on moving. What I don't agree with and because there's new generation of dating marriage and all these things is so quick and so immediate gratification is also for show, is that as somebody that had to come from, you know, the type of background and to take the losses that I had to take. And I'm questioning everybody took losses in their life. Is that I feel that if two human beings can come together and come to some type of understanding and build this bond that doesn't need a piece of paper to validate it and say, hey, look, we're going to do life together. We're going to make this work, but I also want you to be okay if this doesn't work. What does that look like for you? Let's talk about that. Let's get that together. Okay, you go with that. I'm good with that. We sign that, we sign, we do all that. We get to reign, we do all that. What I never want to go through again, I don't want to differ from anybody because I know a lot of brothers that spend going through the court cases. Seeing these people take your money and send their kids to college which is money because you're fighting. Because it becomes adversarial. Well, let's just decide what it's going to be. And if you go with that, if I'm good with that, if it doesn't work, which we want it to work, but at least we got to understand and we can part ways and we can still be okay. It just didn't work, but when we come adversarial and I'm not just speaking on my, just basically I'm talking about overall. Once the lawyers get involved, they smell blood. You know what I'm saying? They just want money. They just make it money. They keep it a fight and go on. I figured that out. This is the one who walks away with God. You know, it's all for you. You know, just off, you know, you're hurting your pain. And if I was to ever be with somebody, I would just hope they were understanding, just coming from the space that I'm coming from that I don't feel like I could be loyal to you without a piece of paper. I could be loyal. I could be, I'm going to protect you without any of that. I'm going to go, you are my person. But I just don't think I can never be in a situation where I'm sitting there watching these people, you know, pick apart my life. Pre-nut? I mean, you know, people challenge those all day. But I would rather agree with it than a pre-nut. Meaning that it's the same thing. We don't got to go in front of a judge to figure this out. It could be in an account. It could be in an escrow picking up. You know, it could be making money while, you know, it could be picking up interest or whatever. It could be doing whatever. But we understand this is what they see is because I'm just saying that when you go through, you know, and I'm not speaking just on my situation, like I taught the brothers all the time, and I'm not, you know, I'm not a relationship counselor and then I'm just telling brothers what I think or trying to help them process it. But what I get from it is you're already in pain, you know, you wanted this to work. You're trying to figure out these things out. But basically, you know, they're basically taking everything that you work for apart and they're leaving with, you know, this generational wealth you built to put it into their family. And then this is money you could have sent your kids through college with. You could have, you know, sent your family out with. And that same financial stuff we was talking about before, that's where that strain comes from. Because if you're giving, you know, these lawyers and all these things, all this different money, you're taking away from that well where, hey, if it didn't work, I love you, you're good, I'm good, we straight. Let's take care of the babies. Y'all need these things, I'm still here and you still got what you need. And we still got this next egg that we just didn't give away to do if something ever happens that we know both know, hey, if you need something, is there, you know what I'm saying? See, at our age, I'm going to do that. I'm flattered about so. That felt good to say. Yeah, so just ignore it. Yeah, this is not color, just real. Yeah. To me, it's all in the choice. Yes. And the person. Yes. Yes. It's all in the choice. I agree with that. And if you don't, you can't do a good deal with the wrong person. That's right. Okay. Absolutely. And the other thing I thought while you were talking that I thought was really interesting. Almost all of your life, you've been deliberate. You raise yourself. You survive the trials by yourself. You overcame the obstacles, the sexual abuse, whatever you did it by yourself. And you went on about your business. Marriage is collaborative. And you choosing, I wrote it. I wrote it in my first book to see how you like this. And there we go. Do something fun. Marriage is choosing whose hand you want to hold when they lower your parents' body into the ground. Okay. A marriage is the person who's got you when all the furniture is put out on the street. Marriage is choosing who's going to be your partner on the red carpet or when the guest is off. And I tried to set some standard as it's not always going to be good. It's not always going to be bad. But it's a chapter called a table for two. And I talked about that. It's a collaboration. So far, don't know what the future is going to bring. Don't think I'm going to get divorced. If I happen to meet somebody, I'm going to bring them through you so you can do the vent for me. I will help you. I've got a 50-50 success. I want to thank you for that from the top. Not everybody that I've heard is Stake Mary. But chapter number seven, what's missing? I hate it when people say what do you give to the person who has everything. Because I think it's an excuse to not give you enough. And it leaves off of the assumption that because you have something, you have everything, when I have never met the man who has everything. That's a fact. What's missing from you? That you wish you had? That's a great question, isn't it? Or I was missing trusting myself. I was missing connecting with myself. Knowing who I am, what I'm doing, why I'm here, what fuels me, what drains me, what takes away from me. And it's not so much that I think now, if I had to answer that, what more could I do for culture? Because what's missing for me is helping us get an understanding that we are really all we got. That's what keeps me up at night. Because I see it. I'm still hearing things going on in the streets. I'm still losing friends. I'm going to push back. I asked you what was missing from you and you gave me another mission for you to go to. Yeah, I did. To escape the vulnerability of admitting a personal need. And I'm not going to let you get by with all of that. Yeah. Yeah. Everything about you is about giving to what they need. Help me with that. Because I'm like, okay, so if I was to ask you, you don't have to answer it. If I was actually the same question, what I'm just trying to get an understanding of. Because when I woke up this morning, I walked the ride, I loved my house, I loved my life. Oh, this is great. This is amazing. So I don't really like there's nothing I truly like want. If I think like, if anything, I can't take it like nothing I want. And I ain't talking about like materialistic, but I like my family life is great. My friends are amazing. I love what I do. I love the city that I'm in. I love, you know, I just really can't think of like nothing that I like personally want a need. I was taking pain shit, but then it's like I don't even got the time. You know, I'm saying so that would be kind of like pushing it. Definitely ain't walking down the aisle no time soon. If you don't know, yeah, I get it. Yeah, I get it. I would have rolled this case for you. If you two things I think would be valuable to you is a clear answer as to where you are going. That way the people who are following you don't go to a cliff. And the second thing is a funeral for the person you were. In the lyrics that you gave me the beer and the champagne all mixed together, I'd like to see them separate to the point that the person that you were was cremated. And the person that you are free to be now gets to spread his wings and fly. And that means being full and vulnerable at the same time. And then you discover what you need. For me, trust is very valuable. It's very difficult to trust people who just match you when you're on your way up. I tend to do better trusting people who were there when I was struggling. And they're still there now. And they've got to resume. It has longevity. But there's lots of little things that I don't have to because I feel my life with busyness, much like you do. And don't often take enough time for me as an individual and then get frustrated because the people around me don't give me what I don't give myself. You teach people how to love you by how you love yourself. Not by how much you give to them. But how much you value yourself, set say standard for them to understand how you roll. And in order to see how you roll, we got to get rid of that guy who we've been talking about today. He did his job. He got you here. The arrow is way down the road now. Okay. Okay. We don't need the bow to still be bent once the arrow is released. And sometimes you talk like the bow is still being pulled. And I think somebody that helps you bring that bow into close proximity. And you really get to enjoy where the arrow landed rather than rehearse how far the bow was pulled back. It's a gift. And I leave that gift with you. I've seen that, but I leave that gift. You know, I'm gonna call you later so we can talk through that. Okay. It's okay. It's okay. It's cool. I need to get in the doubt. Chapter number eight. Beef with Nas. So I read where you had a disagreement with Nas and you were all upset when you called him. He was calm. And you learned the ability to communicate your feelings without being as aggressive as you once were. What do you think it takes for us to teach Black men today how to communicate without rage? Well, the first thing is you're gonna agree to disagree. And going back to the Nas situation, I never forget it. I was just getting on. I was in Chicago doing radio. And there was like, Nas, and I just dropped my album. And then all of a sudden he put out this song called Hip Hop is dead. And everybody's like, oh, he's talking about you. You like a kill hip hop. And I kind of spent out of control at the radio station. And he happened to be on Dev Jam as well. And he called me. And he called me. His first words was, what's up, King? Somebody hit you with the King off top. You're right. You're right. But he was so calm. He's like, hey, man. He's like, I'm hearing that you feel a way about the song. I'm handing it to you. I'm talking about the state of hip hop. He explained it to me. So calm, so poised. And he's just like, nah, man, anytime. You know, you want to calm. We could talk through it or whatever. But I really felt how ignorant I was being. Because I let somebody else convince me that he was saying something about what I was doing. Because my ego was just that beat. You know what I'm saying? And what it taught me going forward is that, and this is the thing I go back to the conflict resolution is, even as black men, what I learned is when I'm ashamed of embarrassed, that's when I get the most defensive. Yes. But he allowed me space to feel that without pouring gasoline on it. Because you know, you're in the black household, you do something wrong. And I told you, and that's why you did it. Because you don't know no matter, you like, you know, they beat little you. He didn't do that. So going forward, and it took some decades, what I did discover is, it's all about mindset. You know what I'm saying? And if you in a group of individuals and their mindset is still that, then that's how they're going to react to anything that they feel. When people are angry, they're mostly the time they're scared. You know what I'm saying? They either scared that you're going to find something out, or scared that you're going to react in a certain way, and they're not going to be able to control the situation. But then when I got into this other space that I had to work hard to get into, because I had one of my art mentors told me the other day, it was like, you had 10 years ago, they said, I want to never let you in my house. You know what I'm saying? So he understands that. You know, there's been a transformation. But what I said is, when I got into a group of like-minded men, I immediately started to understand that you can do something and call somebody back to the next day and say, hey brother, how you doing? You good, man? I just want to tell you, like last night I was a little out pocket. You know what I'm saying? I got a little, you know the conversation was supposed to be like that. That was definitely not my intention. And then the brother and other thing said, oh man, you know, there's no problem. But I know your heart. I know you didn't mean that. And that resolved it and you're going to do bigger and better things when in my prior life, that conversation with the end of it, with them hanging up the phone, me hanging up the phone, being at the top of my voice and being like, I've been not seeing you. You've been not seeing me. And then when you see them, you got to, you got to, now you got to react because you set it up that way. Now everybody's, you know, about the issue, but it's just like, there's no conflict resolution there. So with black men being there to talk to each other and having no judgment, it de-escalates things and it builds longstanding relationships because in any relationship, you're going to mess up. You know what I'm saying? It's like, can you be, can you put your ego to the side, have the heart conversation? And every time there is any type of conflict, that's an opportunity to strengthen the relationship. Right. Because now I can say to you, hey bro, I apologize for that. I had no idea that made you feel that way. And he can go, okay, yeah man, like you're just going forward, man, for me please, you know, just don't say that. You know, I'm sensitive about that. This happened to me when I was young, or this happened then. And then also, too, it builds trust because I've been having conversations when people will, they might ask you something and be surprised that you tell them because you let them in your private space. Right. That's building the relationship. You trust them. Yeah. You know, and then you'll see when they do it to you. I was one of my other guys other day and we was just talking. He was one of my guys, he was a restaurant in Atlanta. And we just had him in a conversation. And he started telling me about, no, this guy never telling nobody about none his plans. He's telling me about his whole other thing. He's about to build and do what I'm just sitting there like, oh, you trust me. Yeah. Yeah. Which is our highest form of flattery in the world. Right. Like you trust me, you're telling me your ideas. That came from having a disagreement before. Yeah. And then he called him saying, hey, did I say this last night? Right. Yeah, yeah, I was like, okay, look, I just want you to know what I meant. Right. Because I said it in passing. But I can't, that's right. Sometimes what you said and what you meant are two different things. Chapter number nine, nearly versus scripture game. It was suggested that we do this game. Okay. And this is the game that you give me some lyrics. Okay. Some beats, some lyrics. Uh-oh. And I have to explain what it means. Oh, wow. And this is going to be fun. And that I give you a scripture. Oh, wow. And you have to explain. Oh, my God. What that means. So, okay. Let's go first. I'll go first. Okay, go. Blessed is the man that walk him not in the counsel of the ungodly, no standard in the way of sinners, no siteth in the seat of the scornful. Oh, wow. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in that law, does he meditate both day and night? And he should be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters that bring it for fruit in his own season. His leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he do, shall prosper. Oh, my God. Whatever he do is so possible. Okay, so I got to bring that down. Yeah. You want me to do it again? You can do that again? Yes, I can do it all day. Blessed is the man that walk of not in the counsel of the ungodly, no standard in the way of sinners, no siteth in the seat of the scornful. But in his law, talk about God's law, does he meditate day and night? And he should be like a tree. This is important part. That's planted by the rivers of waters that bring it for fruit in his own season. His leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he do, shall prosper. Okay. So he's planted by, he's become a tree. He's going to be planted by water because he, and whatever fruit comes from that. Because he might have taken some broths for it. And then that his leaf may never wither, meaning that it would stay strong and healthy. Yes. Okay. You did good. I think you did good. You did good. You did good. Okay. You probably did better than I'm doing so. I'm going to get grace. Okay. I'm going to get some grace. Okay. Who go, you ready? Yeah. I got a million dollar dreams. Federal nightmares. We popped Chris with his champagne. But still drink beer. What did you expect? See, I came from nothing. Real street figure and went and changed from nothing. I got my homies out of the hood such a wonderful feeling. Ten car garage with the 12 foot silence. It ought to be a crime just to be this good. It ought to be a crime just to be this hood. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I got it. I got it. Okay. It's a series. I was saying again. No. It's a series of dichotomous situations that just crustier in the mansions. Doesn't mean that you ever left the hood and just because you drink champagne. Doesn't mean that you don't crave beer. It's saying that no matter how successful you get, that poor guy that started out with nothing always goes moves in the mansion with the ad is. Am I right? You are. You might as well do a soul. Give me some. Give me some. Give me some. I love it. Yeah. I love it. Yeah. I have you up in the booth. Let's do it. Okay. No. In some way, you talked about two-park being like a preacher to you in some ways. We talked about you being a leader in some ways. You reach out to me or we'll have a conversation. There's a thin line. We're both working with words. And people are responding to those words. And making changes and whether you know it or not, in some way you're somebody's pastor. Right. Right. And maybe the only pastor that they will pay any attention to. Yeah. Okay. And sometimes I'm dropping lines as changing lives. And there's not that much difference. You got music behind you. I got music behind me. Yeah. So we can have a conversation and find a bridge. Though my message ends up at a different spot because my message is to end you up close to the Christ. Your message, you're still trying to figure out where it ends up. There's enough synergy for us to have conversation and camaraderie and connectivity. And you like business or I like business. You pull yourself up from nothing. I did too. The same Roaches that was in your bed left behind. My mother had Alzheimer's. She was hit Alzheimer's. Didn't that make us family? Yeah. It makes us family, brother. It makes us family. I mean, even when you call me, though, he's, hey, how you doing, brother Jesus. Yeah. You were just saying, I mean, it's amazing, Bishop. It's just amazing that, you know, I keep thinking about that born arrow. You know, as far as it pulled us back, you know, it's taking us forward. Yeah. Yeah. And I see that. And which is why, you know, I definitely, because you say, you know, like a lot of times, I was able to pick out two pop because he resonated with me directly. I needed that. Sure. And even when I listen to your sermons, you resonate with me directly. You know, I get it because I've been the church, I've listened to sermons before, but some of it goes over my head. And it's the messenger. It's truly the messenger. And that says a lot about, you know, the past we both been on because if you've been on the similar path, you have similar, you know, words and similar phrases and metaphors and you're delivered. It's very similar. And if you ever hear a sermon and you can't figure it out, call me. I will. I will. You can help me with your advice. I got it. Okay. We'll get together. So it's been a real pleasure to have an opportunity to talk with you. Like what? I congratulate you on the things that you have accomplished and the things that you've learned and the things you will learn from day to day. Thank you. I know that 20 years from now, if I'm still around the person sitting in that chair will have a whole different perspective because the longer you live, the more you learn. And you never finish learning because we never are as perfect as we appear. Oh my God. I owe you a thank you. Okay. And I can't let you leave till I give it to you. Oh wow. And I know that people told me that you were one of the first people to call when I had my health and so on. Oh yeah. To see if I was okay. And I would have never thought that I just wanted now that I lived to stay. This is how I did. You know, you got, I want to tell you that I appreciate the thankfulness that means a lot to you. You my brother, man. And I appreciate you always, you know, being a, you know, just a ear and always like saving space for me. I appreciate that. Always. Yes, every time anywhere. Thank you, brother. God bless you. Thank you. Hey, everybody. I want to take this time to thank you for watching the next chapter podcast. If this conversation inspired you, helped you, reflect on an idea or spark something new inside of you. Make sure to like, comment and subscribe so you don't miss future episodes. And remember, life isn't about how you begin. It's about how you're pretty strong. So start your next chapter without right here every week.