There is nothing more important in life than being honest with yourself. Be true to thy own self. It's truly a season. Very few people can stare into the mirror and see what they need to see versus what they want to see. Those that see what they need to see, they change, they adapt, they evolve to the highest form of themselves because they strive to be authentic. Authentic is the word that describes major recording artist Chris Craig. His soul, his spirit, his honesty, everything about this young king represents the highest form of authenticity. Nothing about him is fake. His smile, his tears, his passion. When you meet him, you meet a rare soul of righteousness and faith and integrity. Life hasn't been easy for Chris Craig, but like a true leader, he's learned how to charter those troubled waters of confusion and darkness and uncertainty, and he swam so he's strengthened his body to be able to withstand that and ride with the wave. Because you know, the ocean is so unpredictable. Only a few of us can really swim through it the right way and survive. His story will move you, it will bring you to tears. It will also make you smile. That's the beautiful thing about Chris Craig. The most beautiful thing about him is his smile. It's a million wide light bulb. Chris Craig, house of his radio pushers, Doreen, Serge, Vinny, this story will make you understand why you should never stop smiling and pursuing your dreams. Let's get it. People who are live inside the house of his studios in Miami, Florida, you know, these hallways, a lot of people have walked down these hallways of unique and magnumous talent. You know, Buster Rimes, Migos, French Montana, Drake, DJ Khaled, the game. Kanye West was right here, Marjorie Blige, Buster, Jack Harlow, I'm shot to Lewisville, that KFC commercial dope I like, that rock with the heavy. Heck yeah, heck yeah. But this studio is not your average studio. This environment is not your normal environment because different environments breed different things. In my writings a lot, I use championship DNA. Yeah, heck yeah. Championship DNA means that a person has a certain mindset to go beyond, to conquer things that in some people mind are incongruable. I can never do that. I can never dream of doing that. But when you're an artist, that's the lane. Chris Craig, you're doing something that a lot of people dream about. It's hard to live your dream. You can dream all day, but it's hard to live it. You're living that. You're an artist, it's hard work, got the normal job, trying to balance this, but you're here. A lot of sacrifice, a lot of things behind the scenes. Man, maybe nobody even know yet. One day the world may know, because one day you may be at that level. What you like, Kendra, at the Super Bowl, dancing on the field. I'm hoping to see you there. I'm honored to be interviewing you today at the House of Hit Studio. My man, Vinny De Leon, his brother, Serge, have created this masterpiece that we're in right now. And I hope you see it. I feel like I'm in a spaceship, man. It's crazy. Right, and we gonna go to warp speed in a minute. Hitch out the Star Trek. Let's go. Welcome to the House of Hit, welcome to the podcast, Hype Fresh Magazine, 99.7 to Heat. How you feel, man? Man, I'm so thankful to be here right now. Jonathan, thank you so much for this opportunity. Radio pushers, thank you so much for this opportunity. I'm just blessed, I'm happy, and I'm almost in awe because when I walked in, the energy was so clean, it was so pure for creating, and for creative minds like myself. So to be in this area and soaking up this energy with everybody here, it's really serene. And like you said, living that dream is something that when I woke up this morning, I felt like I was living that dream. And I don't wanna ever wake up, you know what I'm saying? I wanna keep doing this, I wanna keep being here, and putting on for spiritual as the movement, and Chris Craig is the artist, you know what I'm saying? Cause spiritual is what we're trying to do. It's a wave of healing for all the artists in the industry, for all the people in the industry who have taken loss and have to deal with all of the young talent that's been taken too early on this earth, and even some of the current talent that's been taken like take off, RIP to take off, that was a huge hit. I've been listening to the Migos for a long time as a creative, and since I've been listening to them, that's a huge part of how I like to flip flows and structures, and it's so magical what all three of them were able to bring the hip hop and the culture, and that's really what I wanna do is give back to the culture. Let's tap in a little bit about you, and that was very introspective what you said, beautiful way that you elicited your points. I wanna talk about this, Chris. The first article, actually I wrote about you about three, four years ago. Yeah, it was great too. Yeah, and when I pulled it up this morning on my phone, I was thinking about the words, I said, man, we were there then, and then here you are four and a half years later, we're here. You speak from a very divine, sacred, spiritual perspective. Normally that comes from a place of darkness converted into light, because now you're on healing. Correct. Briefly, I want you to speak about what made you transition to that direction of life. Definitely. At the age of 18, I was doing a lot in the streets that I shouldn't have been doing at that age. I should have been focused on my music as opposed to focused on the street life and trying to maintain when I had a foundation, when I had backing, when I had a family that I could have had instead of trying to be on my own, rip myself away, and put myself in a situation that wasn't for me, because after I was incarcerated, after I dealt with the trials and tribulations that come with that street life, it definitely was a wake-up call. It was something that I want everyone in this industry to know that there's a different path, there's a better way to go about creating your image, creating your rap career, and creating this business that it is, and hip-hop. And for me, hip-hop is culture, it's love, it's unity, and that's what I believe hip-hop music should be. It should not be violence, it should not be taking people's lives, and I just wanna help set that trend. So when I was incarcerated, it was a dark time for me. It put me in a position where I didn't feel that I was gonna be free, where I was gonna see the light of day again. So I really found faith, and it allowed me to shift my beliefs and shift my energy from that street mentality to a mentality of God, to a mentality of a higher power and trying to save those around me as opposed to just save myself. Let me ask you this. I want you to tell me this in the most clear way possible. When you were locked up, what did you hear? What did you hear? I heard a voice in my head that was not my own, and it helped wake me up. It showed me that there was more to life than being in the streets. Yeah, I feel you on that. That's why I asked you that, man. That voice you hear sometimes now? Yeah, every day, every day. But it sounds different though, right? Yeah, it keeps me humble. It reminds me that I gotta stay focused. That's real. Now the reason I said, because a lot of people don't take those experiences, and my grandma say, boy, you gotta let stuff, you gotta let stuff kill you to heal you. And I said, girl, what you mean? She said, you gotta let it destroy all of that pain, and then you'll heal. Get, go down there and then come back up. So that's what I feel with you, and that's why I can speak to that. Because we all do that, so you're not alone. And that's the biggest thing, you're never alone in that. Because a lot of people don't even have the courage. It takes more courage to go down and come up than to always stay up. I'm gonna do that. In conclusion, your music, your style, what you do, you're here for a reason. I think the thing with you, Chris Cray, that I love, and I always appreciate it, anytime I speak to you, I don't speak to you a lot. I go, I speak a lot through your management team. But the thing I love about you, there's always a light on with you. Yeah, definitely. And don't lose that. But what I want you to do is magnify that light. And the way you're gonna magnify that light is through putting the organic hustle around everything. So people can feel your movement. Because whatever message you wanna give, whatever energy you wanna spread to the world through the spiritual movement, which I support. Heck yeah. This is positive. I want you to remember there's a kid that's Chris Cray in jail fighting for his life. What's one thing about you that you're definitely gonna do differently in 2023 in order to be a better person? Literally, I just wanna reach out to everybody that needs that help, that is asking for that help. I want them to know that they're not alone in that fight. Because when I was there, that was really what saved me to acknowledge that I'm not alone, and that I have people with me. So. Chris Cray, House of Hit Studio, Radio Pushes Man. I want you to walk in that booth and do what you do best, rip it down. You and Wes Will and the Hispanic Dr. Dre, the eyes of the genius, the goat. We gonna rock it. Thank you for being a part of Radio Pushes. Thank you for trusting the process. You and your team, Alexis Ross. Thank you for being a part of this, man. We were out with you 100%. House of Hit is for the skittiest people. Chris Cray, let's go. Peace.
