Transcript
Speaker: jump back into this. It didn't like I man, here's the thing is that you can wake up old and you look in a mirror and you still feel young. Yeah. So like people go, you know, you didn't make an album for 10 years. And I'm like that 10 years felt like that because the older you get the shorter the years get you know i mean time compresses and in those 10 years so much shit was happening to me i met my wife my father died my wife's mother died had a kid you know you know one of my dogs died like all this shit was happening and it's like was just busy you know i mean and when you're busy like living life and starting a family those 10 years fly by so like to hear that all my last shows in 2016 like
Speaker: I remember the car I was in. I remember the song that I was listening to when I was driving across the bridge. Like it just feels like yesterday. yeah And so, um yeah, time has a weird way of playing with that. And it wasn't that I was like, hey, man, all the guys in their 40s are killing it. I was just kind of like, oh, like I'm inspired again. Yeah, I'm inspired again. And that's all it was. And all of a sudden, some songs started pouring out at me. and
Speaker: What's good, everyone? Welcome back to My First Kicks, the podcast where I use sneakers as a through line to get to know my guests. This week, I'm joined by somebody I asked to be on this podcast years So many years. So many years ago, but big fan. Thank you.
Speaker: Intuition. Yeah, low key. I said no because I was like, I don't know. no Yeah, exactly. was like, I can't be on a sneaker podcast. But like, you know, one thing and I mean, i always give you credit for this, too. But like when I first found Kind of Me and like just like the way you interviewed people, i was always, and your music in general, yeah i was always just like a big fan of the way you spoke and how you just like get to connect with people. Yo man, thank you so much. I love it. I was just like, I take a little, bit i take a lot of inspiration from different people, but like you were always one of, from the jump.
Speaker: That is so humbling and I really appreciate it. I didn't know that. Nah, was saving in this for right now. Yeah, thank you. Man, hey, don't make me cry, brother. yeah You might look you've made me cry a couple of times. I might get you back, bro. I might as well get you back.
Speaker: the The song about your dad and on the second album, bro, I think you made everybody cry. I'm saying, yeah. You know I've been playing shows again recently because i took a long break from rapping and and I didn't realize, but like now I'm such like a rare Pokemon that people thought out they were never going to see perform. that People have been crying at every show. And I wasn't expecting that, because I used to be like kind of a ruckus, more like drinking and partying type of dude. yeah Now that I'm a family man, people are just like crying at the shows. and I don't know, it's crazy. You're like the rap Dallas Green. Because like when whenever, i City in Color? Yeah. Yeah, like whenever I'd go to City in Color shows, Yeah. Because you're used to like, ah he's the other persona, like he's all big, like like um rock and like Alexis on fire and shit. But then you watch it, you go to a City in Color show. Yeah. There's bunch of grown men crying to his music. yeah Yeah. That's an experience. Yeah. It's crazy. But I was, I mean, I'm dying to see you live too. So i'm hoping you got an I'm trying to put together a New York, like a East Coast run for sure. Cause people have been begging for it. But I'm finally, I just announced a a tour today actually because finally figured out how to like book my own tour. I've been im waiting around for like a booking agency and they never did. So I was like, let me just figure out my, my email My cold email game is pretty cold. yeah um Because kind of neat for years and years, I was reaching out to artists. exactly So yeah, I just started hitting up venues and I booked something from Salt Lake all the way through Minneapolis and it'll be cool. So the next one that I do, I'll try to do like, all the markets out here, Boston and I didn't want to be that one under the, yo, what about the New York show? Come to Brazil. I've been enjoying this week's episode with intuition. and of course, do not forget to like, subscribe, and leave a comment on this episode. If you're listening to this on Apple or Spotify, do not forget to write a review and rate this episode five stars. It goes a very long way. It gets me into other people's ears. And of course, I have a Patreon, patreon.com slash myfirstkicks. I have one tier. It's only one tier, $5.00.
Speaker: five dollars $5 is all I need from you. You get an extra episode every month once I record it. And you also get the episode a day early. You're going to want to do this, especially before next week's episode.
Speaker: I am just hinting towards that. I promise you that. So sign up for Patreon, patreon.com slash myfirstkicks. Let's jump right back into the episode. Like what? Yeah. Yeah. You're like, no, these are the shows I booked. Yeah, I know. and its hard and I'll tell you, the funny thing about touring, especially as like a grown-ass man, yeah you know having a five-year-old kid, like I don't want to go out for like four months. yeah you know I want to do like maybe a week here, a week there, go make my money, come home, and um hopefully like while he's in school. So i'm really he's really only missing me a few hours a day, per se. Right, yeah.
Speaker: you know to book even six shows, it takes like three months to book them. And then you gotta promote them for three more months, and then you go out for six days, you know what i mean? And people are like, oh. and you know People get sick of hearing you but about it by by the time you actually start the show. They're like, this had to have already happened. The way social media works right now too, it's like the soon as you, if you're trying to get people to pull up, it's like you got to let them know six months. and so much And money's tight right You know mean? They're like, I was like, oh, let's do like, you know, 20, 25. Nah, people won't come for if it's more than $10. And said, Jesus Christ. Christ. No way. yeah No way. but I don't agree. You're over here like, yeah, you you're like a standup. You're like, yeah, just book book me for like 10 bucks and like two pieces of popcorn and a beer. I got you. I'm like, can I sleep in the venue basement? You know what I mean? Like, yeah. Nah, it's cool. it's It's been cool. And and i haven't, I hadn't performed in, you know, 10 years or something like that. Like, I think the last time I played a show was in San Francisco in 2000.
Speaker: either 15 or 16, I can't even remember. And so coming back and and doing some shows, like yeah I was out with my buddy Wax for- Shout out Wax. Yeah, shout out Wax for Pacific Northwest Run. And the first show, you know the one of the people that was touring with us was like, oh man, crazy. I said, oh, thanks. That's only my third show in 10 years. and they're like, what the fuck?
Speaker: But the thing is, is like when you- Yeah, you were grinding it out. When I was young, yeah. When I was in my when I was like, had just moved to LA or even before I moved to LA, when I was in college in Santa Barbara, mean, I was playing 100 shows a year. know what mean? were trying to play three shows every weekend if we could. And so, you know, when you get your chops up like that, like they don't just go away. It is kind of riding a bike. Yeah, it's muscle memory at that point. Yeah, it is. And then also, and I mean, this is no shade. I have a lot rappers. I've had rappers on here. But like the newer cats, they're very like, I don't know, that back and track shit. And then it's like, yeah. And then it's so it's like I do think when rappers or like like OGs you know, people that grew up with the art form, like the literal art form of it, like when they when they are able to see that now, like the younger cats or even just like. you know, like people in their 20s currently, like, seems like a whole different game. Like, you're just like, whoa, this guy's really connecting with me. Right, right. Yeah, no, it's different. And that's definitely not to take anything away from younger cats. It's totally, it's so different. But yeah, I go up there by myself without a backing track and I have a SP 404 and people are just like,
Speaker: They're kind of quiet. because i'm like a I'm a mic stand guy now. I used to be a jump around, throw your hands up fucking guy. Now I'm like, hey, just clap with me if you can and I'll stand still. And you know the crowds are pretty quiet, but they're looking at they're looking at you like, oh shit. And then you look out of the corner of your eye and there's a girl crying and you're like, oh wow, this is... so crazy it's like a really different experience <unk> doing it as like you know frontal lobe fully developed and family waiting at home yeah it's that i mean it's it's got to be crazy especially because like and yes we'll jump into the question a lot a lot later because i mean i got like a gajillion questions yeah please but like seeing how you started up like kind of neat yeah and like talking to a lot of these younger cats who ended up like blowing up too so many of them yeah yeah but like
Speaker: the way that we've seen the current age of like the scenes that we're seeing now. Like the biggest thing I always throw back to is like the Billy Woods, like Billy Woods blowing up yeah with Arm & Hammer. yeah And like a lot of these, like like even even Open Mic Eagle's been able to to kind of jump into that. It's like this pocket where they're able to sell out venues yeah and book a whole tour well and guys like billy woods and guys like mike who mike who i've known since 2004 you know in 2005 i don't know we met a long time ago definitely inspirational like to see that people can make it a sustainable career in your 40s that you can um cultivate this this kind of um cult-like following right yeah of diehards who who's who's uh
Speaker: you're touching emotionally and who have been following you for that long. yeah Like, you know, I'm sure there's a lot of Woods fans that have been listening to him since he wasn't Zeitgeist. You know what I mean? There's a lot of Mike Eagle fans that people know since he was on swim team. You know what i mean? And so, um yeah.
Speaker: it's like the do But but my question to that was like, how do you see it? How does that really like connect with you now? Like, did it really like... Oh, yeah. Bring you back to be like, yo, I can jump back into this. It didn't like I. Man, here's the thing is that you can wake up old and you look in a mirror and you still feel young. Yeah. So like people go, oh, you know, you didn't make an album for 10 years. And I'm like that 10 years felt like.
Speaker: that because the older you get the shorter the years get you know i mean time compresses and in those 10 years so much shit was happening to me i met my wife my father died yeah my wife's mother died we had a kid you know you know one of my dogs died like all all this shit was happening and it's like i was just busy you know i mean and when you're busy like living life and starting a family those 10 years fly by so like to hear that all my last shows in 2016 like I remember the car I was in. I remember the song that I was listening to when I was driving across the bridge. Like it just feels like yesterday. yeah And so um yeah, time has a weird way of playing with that. And it wasn't that I was like, hey man, all the guys in their forties are killing it. I was just kind of like, oh, like I'm inspired again. yeah I'm inspired again. And that's all it was. And all of a sudden some songs started pouring out at me and i and I moved and I got bored and I had like time to do it. um Work was slow. Like it was a litany of of reasons why I did it. yeah
Speaker: And to be honest, at first, when I started making the record, I was kind of like, I just need to make some money. And I know that putting a record out will make me some quick Gs. And then when I finished it, I was like, this is my best record I put out. What hell? What the fuck did I I was just rerunning it on the way here again. was just like, well, the one about your dad. Well, no.
Speaker: It's a granddad? Yeah, that one's about my grandfather and my wife's mother. That one, I was about to, had to almost stop the bike and be like, right, let me cry real quick. Yeah, that was a hard one. That was a hard one to write. And I cried a lot writing it. And you know, the funny thing about that song specifically, very first bar, you know, my papa used to call me Johnny Bench. Yeah.
Speaker: I had a song or I had that bar in my head. It's literally since 2008. Cause I remember going to see a show with one of my Australian friends. We were going to rock the bells way, way long time ago. And I said, Oh yeah, listen to this weird beat that I have. And I have this line stuck in my head and he kind of looked me. is like, this is too sad. Why would you, why? why And I was like, Oh yeah, you're right.
Speaker: And I just put it off. and I didn't really know what the song was. And then i kind of revisited it it, that line over a different beat and, and was playing with it. And, ah and, and, it it finally clicked that like no matter how old you are the grief doesn't change and the grief never goes away and so it's like this song poured out of me about the first person in my life that died and the last person in my life that died and how they were equally miserable moments know what I mean like you know getting older doesn't make death any easier you know yeah the I mean I'm glad you put your son yeah singing oh yeah yeah because I think that brings you out of it because that is a sad song yeah yeah because I was like because it's like
Speaker: the one thing and the one thing about your music, especially like the first ah You and Equilibrium album. What's the name of that again? ah The new one is called Leave a March. No, no, no. Oh, the self-titled. Self-titled. Intuition and Equilibrium. Yeah, yeah. So that one, and in both, I think i think what I loved about both those albums were that you really tap into, like your like ah your heart is on your sleeve yeah both albums. yeah And so like for you to come back and actually do that again is like, To me, it's just like, yeah, you like all that time and you still were like, people need to, like people can still understand where I'm coming from. Yeah, yeah. Well, and you know, hospital people have been telling me, it's been nice to be back outside and like talking to people again and and touching grass, if you will. But like hearing from the people who have been affected by it, what I've been hearing is like, oh man,
Speaker: I've been listening to you since insert fucking year long, long ago. yeah And every record that you've made has been, has like defined that moment of my life for me. yeah Like when I found you as a high schooler, you were the shit talker, older brother that I needed. When I, when I listened to the next record in my mid twenties, you were like becoming the grownup I wanted to be. And now that you have a family and shit, like this is the same shit that I'm going through. Cause my, my parent just died or my, I just had a kid or what have you. And so it's like,
Speaker: you know i think um this last record that i put out was the first one where i had no delusions of of striking gold as far as like a pop single goes or nothing i didn't have any desire to make new fans per se i just wanted to like make the people who already liked my shit really happy and make a record for myself and i think when you do that you can't help but make something that reaches more people because everyone's going through something that you're going through yeah and no matter how unique you think your situation is there's hundred other people right now going through the same thing and and that's kind of been and even beyond that with the art it's like
Speaker: you write something means something so specific to you and it can mean something completely different to somebody else, which is also what I've been experiencing. People going like, oh, when you said this line, I'm like, that's not what I meant, but that's a nice interpretation of it. You what I Yeah, I'm glad that it means that to you. I definitely think, cause like the way you rap is like a conversation. It's like when you listen into it, it's you're just like tapped in of like talking into talking to somebody's heart from like heart to heart. Man, thank you. And so like even from, yes, the self-titled album. Yeah. Because I don't know why I was. I was literally going to be like intuition and illiquid. Yeah, that's what it is. But like the even from that album, I remember when I when I first listened to it because you were on Get Up On This. Oh, yeah. And so was like. That's how you found out? Yeah, yeah. That's crazy. So from there, and I was like, oh, I need to listen. Because I think Jensen played a track.
Speaker: yeah You played a track. yeah And i was like, I'm hooked. yeah Let me download that album. Told all my friends about you on top of that. Shout Equilibrium. Beats is crazy. Yeah, beats are crazy. um And then from there, it just kind of like, you became this album. Your album just became this thing I listened to at least once a week.
Speaker: That's amazing. Like, continuously. Then when you dropped this, I was just like... Yeah, yeah, you're good. you like this is this is I needed this right now, too. So it's like one thing that like i I think just like latched on to was that you had the ability to show you're in. like It wasn't like this like facade of like, right you know, I got to be hard. I got to be rough and tough for everybody and this and that. It was like in a moment of like me trying to really, you know, open myself up to people because I was very closed off and and I had bad friendships. And, so you know, as you grow up, you still have bad friendships. i just have Like the friend that I put you, I put you or put him onto you. yeah Like we're not even friends anymore. and so. yeah just like he revied but like we But the crazy thing was we used to play you you're out like we used to play it but like in the crib drinking. That's like that crazy. that You guys were sad as fuck. Like, oh man, give me another beer. Well, we would skip the last track.
Speaker: I mean, yeah, that's crazy. I don't even know what to say to that. I'm just very humbled and flattered, man. I appreciate It's amazing to hear people who are also creatively inclined at doing things say things like that. And I'm still at the point, I don't know how to take compliments, you know mean? But that shit means the world to me. I also don't know how to take compliments. I mean, that means the world to me and I love to hear
Speaker: You know, speaking ah speaking of that, like as far as like trying to come out of your shell and stuff like that, like the whole reason I even started a podcast in the first place, in hindsight, now i will I wouldn't have thought this at the time, but I look at it now and I go, that's me trying to figure out how to like be a better person, how to be a better listener, how to talk to people, how to engage with people in a more um responsible way or or a less selfish way. Because I really tried on on all of the podcasts that I've had,
Speaker: to not be the star of it. You know what I mean? And that's what I took from that. Yeah. Cause it's like the way I love that you, you put the, the spotlight on. tried. And their story and why they got into music and you know, their processes. Yeah. And I thought, I thought that was so beautiful. Like, especially with like Deontay, Deontay Hitchcox. Oh man. Man, that was like a, shout out Deontay. Yo man, he, he is crushing it right now. Yeah. Yeah. You're going to sell a hundred thousand copies. Yeah. He's got, I don't know how many that right now. Yeah. Clip it. Yo, look. Because once, I need him on the podcast too. But his freestyle, was it? Free verse or whatever you call it. It was a song. It was a song, yeah. Amazing. I listened to that once a week too. Hey, I don't know. Look, I'm not claiming this, but I do remember...
Speaker: Claim it. um I remember when I had Earthgang on yeah a couple months later, yeah i was talking to you know Barry and Zeke, um who manage Earthgang and manage JID. And I said, man, you guys ever heard of this dude, Deontay Hitchcock from Atlanta? I just had him on. he crazy It actually might have been the week after Deontay came on. And they're like, no, I haven't heard of him.
Speaker: And that could be true or false that they had or had not. like it would I put him on the spot. Yeah. But I'll tell you what, like a year and a half, two years later, he's on he was on but he was at rap camp with J. Cole and J.I.D. and Earthgang and all of them. And I don't know if that put the bug in their ear, but they found out about him eventually because that dude is the truth. Yeah, yeah. He's nice as hell. He ended on the up on the album too.
Speaker: Which album? Wasn't he on oh yeah he was on the on second Dreamville album? Yeah, the Dreamville album. yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought you meant mine. I'm like, no, I wish. I mean, yeah no next album. Yeah, yeah. Next album, bro.
Speaker: yes But you're here to answer the question that I ask everybody each week. And that question is, what's your first kick? What's that first person because you absolutely needed to have? All right, so I've been thinking about this answer because like I told you, I'm not really a huge sneaker guy, but the first shoes that I really remember wanting to get was like maybe sixth grade, fifth or sixth grade. I was playing basketball still. I had not like, um I had not started getting cut from teams back then.
Speaker: And I think I told my grandmother that I wanted this pair of Nikes, right? that i was like, oh, it has a stra it has a strap across the front. And what I think they were was like Nike, Hirachi, like the Hirachi, like the 91 or 92. The ones from like 92 maybe. They were like hooping Hirachis. They weren't like the casual ones that now that that are like a so a sleeve sock. Yeah, you're talking, they went they go up to the ankle. they go up to the ankle and they had a thing across the front. They re-released those recently too, yeah. And so she bought me the wrong ones and she sent me a pair for my birthday or something or or like first day of school or whatever. yeah And they were the Nike Air Raids, the the outdoor. fire They were fire, yes. They had like two straps across, but I wore them things for, I wore those like indoor basketball and they have a big thing on the back. I think that said like for outdoor. yeah for out there was So I was like in the gym just I was puffing floor up crazy, you know what I mean? Squeaking and and everything. But that that was the first pair of sneakers that I really remember being like, oh, these are these are special. cause before that, my my mom and I were like the same shoe size. So she was like, oh, I have a pair of old like high top Nikes that you could wear for basketball.
Speaker: friends were clowning me, like, just like, they were like some, I don't know, white Air Force Ones or something from like the early 90s, late She was OG. Yeah, they were horrible though, they were horrible. And um I just remember being like, oh, these are cool, these are vintage. And then my friends being like, what are you wearing? say I was yo, need to get some like real basketball shoes.
Speaker: but But realistically, my brother was more of the shoe guy. he Yeah, he had the cool kicks. He's younger than me, but he was the one who had the first pair of Jordans when were kids. And he got like the questions and the answers, the Iverson kicks. like He had some pumps, I think. like He was a good hooper, too. So, um yeah, I was always more of just like a...
Speaker: like ah I grew up snowboarding and shit in Alaska. And so I always had vans and air walks and whatever. Like I was never really a sneaker head, but those air raids. I mean, look, snow boots, snow boots was fire. Oh, I had good. Oh yeah. i had good I had good boots. But the funny thing is when you grow up in the the real cold like that, your whole thing is trying to look like you're not cold. So motherfuckers were wearing like Adidas slides from the parking lot. It'd be negative 30 degrees and they'd be wearing slides. Like, yeah, man, I'm chilling. Yeah. Like, oh, I just only got to walk from the car the house, you know?
Speaker: Like, we're not up there wearing muck looks and everything. yeah Yeah. People are wearing flip flops and and dumb shoes. Was Burton like a big, like I'm a big, I'm a big, big Burton guy. Yeah. Yeah. Burton was huge. And honestly, like ah Burton luggage. You have ever have any Burton luggage? Nah. It's like the best luggage, bro. Yeah. I don't know if it is anymore, but it was back in the day. And man, i got ah I've got a Burton suitcase that's like been kicking for me for like 10 years. i have a sick I have a Burton snowboard bag that I got in like 95 that is still in perfect condition. Yeah, i have I have one Burton book bag, but it's the one where it's like, and I think it was made so that you can strap in the the ah snowboard in between it. Oh, yeah, yeah. And so like, it's like a weird, like double strap on the inside thing. It's still fire. It still works. I'm like, course yeah, it's a really good book. Put a skateboard in there or something probably like, yeah, no Burton clothes are fire. and ah Burton outdoor gear, like, or like any of their winter wear stuff, like all my snowboarding is still Burton to this day. You still bored? I do. I, you know, like everything else that has become like, you know the catch, the, the, the trendy word is like in shitification. yeah It's becoming shitified. Like, yeah We were just talking about how bowling is so inaccessible now. yeah i was just talking about that this morning with my wife and like um snowboarding is the same way. It's become completely inaccessible. You know, what used to cost me $100 for the year will now cost, you know, 10 times that for a weekend, you know, to take your kid up to Mammoth or Big Bear or something. I mean, dude, you're looking like ah at a $2,500 weekend. No way, really? Between rentals and getting an Airbnb and Lyft tickets and all that. It's nuts, dude. It's so expensive. i've always wanted to go snowboarding. Yeah. never got a chance. like It sounds like I won't be. I mean, you're too old to learn now. You will be a straight kook. Yeah. You'll be such kook. But hey, try it. It's fun. It's fun. Look, I'm a month or something. you know Yeah. Look, that look, before I turn 40, please, because I think once I hit the broad, the other side of 40, I think that's that's the.
Speaker: spraying acl the ACL as soon as I strap in. Snowboarding is pretty easy to learn to be honest. And the funny thing is is like when I was a kid I used to watch these old skiers. like I started snowboarding when I was I switched from skiing to snowboarding when i was 13. Because I started off skiing when I was a little kid like 4th grade.
Speaker: And um I would watch these old men on skis and and they're just, they're not doing anything, but they're like going down the mountains so smooth. You know I mean? they're And we're like, oh they're not even hitting jumps. They're not doing anything cool.
Speaker: And that's how I am as like an old man. So we're not like, I'm not trying to any jumps anymore, but I'll be cruising around carving and people be like, oh yeah. He was good at one point. You could tell he was good at one point. That's like the hooper that comes up to the park and you just like, mean, he's just too smooth. He's wet, but he can't like, he doesn't have handles anymore, but the jumper is still there. But the jumper is still, yeah, exactly. You know, he did his 10,000 hours on the jumper. I'm the equivalent of that for snowboarding. Yeah, like I used to get up, but now I'm like, nah, my health insurance is not that good. Like, we got to stay on the ground. Stay on the ground. The health insurance is like, it's too wishy-washy. You feel me? Like, yeah, the American healthcare system. They're like, we got your son, but don't know about you. Yeah, yeah. make sure his is good. Mine's like, it's big deductible. Yeah.
Speaker: and Jumping in yet again to remind y'all that I have merch. I have shirts here. i have shirts. I'm doing this every week. I'm letting y'all know I have a shirt to help you represent the podcast, much like I represent the podcast. If you look at older episodes of the podcast, you'll see that I am wearing this shirt.
Speaker: It is wild to wear this every week. It ends up looking like a uniform. I am not with that. So maybe I'll rock it again in the next coming episodes. We'll see. But if you want to be the person that's rocking it on your own time, hit me up in the DMs, hit me up on info at MyFirstKicks and you can cop this t-shirt for $40 plus shipping.
Speaker: And it helps me get more merch out. So once I get rid of these shirts, I'm already in contact with a couple people. to get more merch out and i just need to get through this box of shirts so hit me up in the dms or hit me up on email info at my first kicks the copper shirt for y'all it's plus shipping let's jump back right into the episode um but like when you were younger right like and i mean let's go because i know you talk about go back let's go let's go we going all the way back let's it let's as you want to go. All right. So like, um I do want to know but of like the sneakers in like growing up yeah where you were just like, I mean, you talk about your brother, but like yeah the inaccessibility because you're in Alaska, yeah like the sneakers, like the sneaker store is a thing.
Speaker: So look, it was hard to find sneakers up there. But so the reason I was in Alaska was because my dad was in the Air Force. Right. and So every Air Force base has like a BX or a PX. They're like their base exchange. Right. So it's kind of like a military version of like a Target or something. OK. And so they would have a shoe section there.
Speaker: It would be slim pickings, though. But they did have they had Jordan like all the shoes. I said that my brother got, he got them at the BX. yeah And you get like a discounted rate because, you know, they offer the soldiers socialism so that they'll die to steal capital. That's a bar. That's a fucking And so, like, you know, you get things for cheap on base. And so I'm sure the the Jordans were at a discount. You know, like soldiers from other areas will come to the BX and buy up all the Levi's and like take them back to wherever, ah Australia or some shit. So you can find sneakers there. But we...
Speaker: didn't really have like a mall, but we had a mall, but it was called the ben it was the call the Bentley Mall, but we used to call it the Bentley Hall. There was like only, you know, seven, eight stores. yeah i think there was a I think there was a foot locker. I don't really remember, um but it was pretty piss poor. And so you would have to really, to to really like get fly, you would have to go to Anchorage, which is like a five hour drive away. But what my brother and I would do we would fly to California because in the summer, we weren't really trying to do touristy Alaska stuff. we were trying to visit our family that live in the lower 48. So my grandmother lived in Southern California and then my mom's side of the family lives in Pennsylvania. And so we would like take trips to there and that's where we would do all of our school shopping. yeah So, you know, I started hitting Pacific Sunwear back in like 1994, 95, you know what I mean? And I would come up with like the Stussy gear and the Fresh Drive gear. Oh yeah, he was looking. And people were like, where did you get that shirt? Yeah, you looking. I said, you don't know about this. yeah yeah You got to go to a different state to get this. You can't get this up here. You I mean? um And so, yeah, we would do good, but we would do it out of state and then we would come back up. just Oh, you would fly. Yeah. Oh, billabong when it was popping, rusty, yeah all that stuff. I look like I was like surfing fucking 10 foot waves.
Speaker: You know what mean? And it was all just like poser shit that I got from California. Yeah, when I go on vacation, yeah, yeah, I'm hitting them. I'm out there hanging 10 and shit. Yeah, don't worry about it. That is sick. I mean, so no, I've never been to Alaska. But the only thing I know about Alaska, and for some reason it's always stuck with me, is there is a mall now. I don't know it's not back then. There's a mall now. You can live in it.
Speaker: Really? there its like you you go like The bottom floor is where like the basement. Or you might be thinking about like that real rural city where it's all in one building something. I think it could have been I think that's like way out in the bush or something. Here's the thing, man. Alaska is huge. Right. yeah It is so big. And I have seen very little of it because like I said, when you live up there, and especially if you're a military family, nobody's trying to be like, yeah, bro, I'm Alaskan. We'd be like...
Speaker: Look, my family's from Pennsylvania. I'm Pennsylvania. I root for the Phillies and the Penguins because my mom's from fucking outside Philly. My dad's from outside Pittsburgh. like We root for Pennsylvania. My homie was like, yeah, my family's from New York, so like we root for the Knicks. play You know what I mean? yeah Everybody wanted to be from somewhere else, even though we were all living in bumfuck Alaska, like just out in the woods. um I don't even remember that. what like I think the one thing that turned me off on Alaska was Anthony Bourdain went up there. Oh, did he? And he ate like...
Speaker: Blubber or something. Yeah, like raw though. Yeah. Oh yeah, I got tricked one time. they used to have They used to have speakers coming into the class and they'd be like telling us about, it's called muck tuck. And they were like, oh yeah, it's really healthy. And they were like, well, we'll give you a lollipop dipped in with one. And i was like, oh yeah, have a healthy lollipop. Let me try that. And they dipped it in whale blubber oil and I put it in my mouth. was like, ugh.
Speaker: Like instantly I had to throw it out and the teacher's like don't be disrespectful. it if For me it was not, a my pal my palate was not yet developed. yeah is that yeah Nowadays I'm sure i'm sure like there are ways to consume Muktuk that would be fire as hell. Throw a little adobo on it. Yeah, you know what I mean? but um Or you you know use it to fry eggs or something, I don't know, like whatever. yeah but yeah i Point being is that my scope of Alaska, very small. Like it very small. And I moved out when I was 19 to go to school. And so I didn't really see that much of the state. When people tell me like, oh, we went up on the cruise. I say, you've seen more of Alaska than I have been. You went on the cruise, you saw all the cool stuff that I've never seen. so
Speaker: yeah. You're seeing the seals. That's it. Yeah. The workers and all that. You're seeing all the cool shit. I'm landlocked. Yeah. So, Alaska that looks like this and I'm like from the middle. So yeah I'm like as landlocked yeah as Phoenix, Arizona. So like, you know, ah not to go back to surfing, but when I first moved to California, people would be, oh man, there's waves in Alaska. You ever surf up there?
Speaker: I'm like, man, I live six hours from the ocean. No, I did not. I'm not a fucking gnarly like surf guy who's going to like go surf a 30 degree wave, yeah you know in know, in a dry suit. So you freeze to death. battling the orcas for the fucking swell like no good. You're just there freezing. Yeah that was not me I was ah I was doing the other stuff the wood in the woods you know. I was always curious because I don't think I've ever heard you talk about this but what did you go to school for? So i I went to I ended up going to college for photography. Okay so like when you see the videos and stuff and you see the visual presentation that's all that all stems from my college experience and then working on sets for so long you know what i mean so
Speaker: I just kind of recently stumbled on a visual language for my social media that like works for me and is something that can be sustainable as far as like I can do this in my backyard and and make it look cool every time. No, yeah, your videos are great. yo Thank you. And all all of that is literally just from doing stuff like this and being on sets for, um you know, since, I don't know, 2006, 2007. Yeah. yeah What is it? Because now we've seen the the yeah landscape of photography change crazy. Sure. But like were you pursuing that out from the jump or were you doing music in both? placess So I i um tragically fell in love with making music while I was in college. right like when When I first moved to California, the first college I went to, um I met a guy in his dorm room who was making beats and and had a Radio Shack mic. And I was like, oh, I could do that. Let's let's make a group. Yeah.
Speaker: And then by the time I moved to Santa Barbara to go to this photo school, I was like fully in it and I was driving down to him to to um you know make a second EP. yeah but And then I put the second EP in in um like record stores around Santa Barbara and that's how Equilibrium found it. he emailed me and there was two of us and he was like, he's like, man, I hope it's this guy with the high voice. And and that was me. and and so And so I went to his house and And like we started making music.
Speaker: I'm getting back to the question. No, I know. Yeah. Yeah. First of all, i wish you know how ah insane that sounds? I know. It's crazy. mean, he's from Connecticut. It's insane. It was before MySpace. Yes. I literally, there was a DJ, a that shout out to DJ Manaboo at ah Morning Glory Music in Santa Barbara in the two thousand I went up to, yeah he he was like my hip hop dealer. You know what i mean? He would be like, oh yeah, Aesop Rock just dropped. Oh, this new, whatever, this new merch just dropped. You got to check this out.
Speaker: And I said, hey man, I make music and like, this is a CD. I'm going to give you like 10 of them, right? They're burnt CDs. yeah And I said, whoever buys like any of the albums that you tell me to buy, give them one of these for free. Cause I wanted to start playing shows in Santa Barbara. And so he, and so Mark went in, Equilibrium went in and bought one of the record or well some cd yeah and he goes here take this my email address was on the back and then i got an email from him and i said like hey man this is tight like i make beats and i live ah i live out here out here in santa barbara and like you should come over let's live and uh and we did and so while i was in photo school i was playing shows i'm driving to la all the time to play shows i'm throwing rap battles i'm i'm uh
Speaker: doing all the things i'm going to the bay i'm going to san diego i'm going everywhere to like throw shows and play shows and then santa barbara became this little hub because it's kind of like it's kind of halfway between la and the bay so people from you know people from l la like the project blow dudes would come up yeah and people from like um like there's this crew thunder hut and like i don't just do awkward and all these guys they would come down yeah we would all we would all link in santa barbara and um And so photography kind of became the back burner. I was like doing it because my mom was on some like, you need to get a degree type shit. And cause I was like, look, I've gone, I've learned as much as I'm going to from this school in the first year and a half. And like the second year and a half is all just kind of like pay to experience and like find internships and shit like that. yeah And my, my heart was already not in it at that point. Like, so I, I, after school, i like got jobs as a retoucher consistently or a printer or whatever, like, cause I was like,
Speaker: I started to kind of realize the dream of being like a famous photographer, or like even a working photographer. It's a pipe dream like rapping is. like to To be successful in the creative industry, like if you don't have if you don't have um that safety net of like rich parents or somebody that's gonna like pay the bills while you go do all this work for free, you're kinda fucked. yeah and Damn, that's a real ah real real yeah real that's a real thing. And so I kinda figured that out in my 20s, my early 20s of like, oh, the people who were getting work,
Speaker: They were like the snobby rich kids at school. Like why are, you know, my friends and I who like are good at photography are not getting any work or opportunities, you know, cause we don't have like, we're not from l LA. We're not, we're we're like from out of state. Yeah. You don't got the network. My parents are blue collar people. My mom's a teacher. My dad's in the military. They don't know about creative, creative shit. like they, you know and They don't have anybody that can call and be like, Hey, can he like come digitech for you whatever? And so i um I was being very practical about it and I had like jobs in the industry that were very low level. And and then um eventually I started, my my one of my best friends got this great opportunity um early on. He he was ah he started working for in the skate industry kind of like shooting shoes and stuff. And then that branched out to where he was like really doing it as an independent photographer and like getting a lot of business. yeah So for about 10 years, I worked with him as his Digitech and first assistant and we traveled everywhere and just shot like so many people. like I got stories about that for for days and days. and like god Well, who's who's like somebody? Oh, I mean, like we used to shoot all the like ah big baseball players back in the mid Yeah. So like from Bryce Harper to to like Big Poppy, everybody and Manny Machado, like all all these guys. We shot a bunch of musicians from, you Big Boy and Cuddy and all these people. And then you know lifestyle stuff like we were doing for for just crazy brands you know like we shot we've done nike shoots we've done all kinds of stuff is there like something in that process yeah of working yeah in that capacity is there something that like you think uh like and come because i do have photographers listen to this like an up-and-coming photographer should take into account as they're like trying to work with people like that on that type of level
Speaker: um I think one of my biggest mistakes was a lack of humility as a youngster. Because i like went to school and studied it for three years really intensively and and got a BFA in it, it was like, I thought when I got on set, like I know all this stuff. There's still tiny tricks of the trade that you're going to learn from everybody that you work with, and you really have to Go in humble, as generic as that sounds. yeah But also, yeah, it's it's networking. like the The reality is, like if you have an opportunity, to take an opportunity. If you don't have an opportunity, make an opportunity. um Because it's not going to fall into your lap. And unfortunately, in the state of the industry right now,
Speaker: ah the nepotism is crazier than ever. You know, the guy who's shooting Rolling Stone covers is the son of the owner of Rolling Stone. Really? i didn't know that. The guy who shot a little Wayne cover, it's like the guy who started Rolling Stone's son, you know, he gets like all these huge campaigns. So it's like,
Speaker: nepotism in the creative industry is really at an all-time high. you know what I mean? The same thing with everything. Like, in the NBA, in two generations, there's not going to be anybody whose dad was not in the NBA. You know what I mean? You're 100% right. yeah Yeah. And so that's, like, that with everything. So I think um as far as, like, advice for a photographer goes, like,
Speaker: maybe don't call yourself a photographer until you truly know what's going to come out of that button when you click it. You know what i mean? Like, like if you don't know how to light, you're not a photographer. yeah If you don't know how to, um, I don't know if you, if you don't understand what F stops and shutter speeds do, you're not a photographer. Like just because you have a the digital camera, it doesn't mean anything. Like if you want to be a photographer, go out, be on set, offer to work for free, pick it up, be a good guy. And and hopefully people keep hiring Look, yeah you hear, this is sage advice. Because ah so there's this thing in like in sneaker photography. Sneaker photography is starting to take off. yeah Well, not starting to take off. It's been a big thing as of late. And so like a lot of the people that are in it or are currently trying to navigate it have not gone to school. Have not done the...
Speaker: oh, let me intern at a photo studio. And table top stuff is some of the most technical photography. And sneakers in particular are so hard. And the guy that I was working with, like I said, he got his start working at DC Shoes. He was shooting the shoes for DC. So he is like a phenomenal sneaker shooter. Yeah.
Speaker: And even still, the market is so saturated, it's just hard for anybody to find work right now. So if you're not fine at work, don't get down on yourself. Everybody's hard up right now. The landscape has changed. And now anybody with a white box they bought off a Timu and a fucking iPhone, can take a good picture. Yeah. Just set it on portrait mode and you get to go. You know mean? Yeah, that's it. But it is, yeah, it's an art form that takes years and years to master and it's hard. Sneakers are really hard. I mean, it's like pursuing that, pursuing rap, like you are definitely the creative endeavored out. The illest pipe dreamer of all time. Like, You're snowboarding in your career, bro. Bro, the whole reason I even got into photography was snowboarding. My first thing was like, once I realized, okay, I'm good at baseball, but I'm not going a pro baseball player.
Speaker: i was like, oh, I'm good at snowboarding. I'll be a pro snowboarder. And then my friends started doing way crazier shit than me. And I go... I'm not going to be a pro snowboarder. Let me pick up a camera. I'll be a pro snowboard photographer. right And then I got to photo school and I went, that shit's too easy. I'm going to be like a famous portrait photographer. And it's like, I just keep going like, let's make this harder for myself. You know what? Nevermind. Not photography. Let's be a rapper. yeah Wait, nevermind. Not a rapper. Let's be a podcaster. It's like, dude, being tragically artsy fartsy is so difficult.
Speaker: I wanted to talk to you about this because you pursued so much. You pursued or pursue. Pursuit. Yeah. I am in pursuit. Yeah. Of everything. Yeah. Yeah. Constantly. We need that as a shirt. Yeah. Because. But it's like, like, how do you. Because my biggest thing was I've always been like, oh, obviously I went to. Well, not obviously. Yeah. I went to school for print. Yeah. Like I've done graphic design. Yeah. Amazing. I've also done photography. Amazing. Like I've done that. And now I'm doing this. I work in advertising. worked at Time Inc. and I worked in the entertainment industry. So I've done a myriad of things. So I've always been like...
Speaker: like either jaded of like the idea of being a jack of all trades. Yeah. you know, and but I think, you know, the word, this new word I heard as of late is a multi creative, multi hyphenate.
Speaker: Yeah. Multi hyphenate. Yeah. I'm definitely a multi hyphenate. You are definitely are. Yeah. And the thing is people say jack of all trades, master of none. Fuck that. I've mastered hella shit. yeah Like I'm fucking good at a ton of stuff. And I hate to say that, but nobody will say it about you if you don't say it yourself. But like, I am not like a hobbyist at any of this stuff. Like I started a podcast and a YouTube channel and it got a half million subscribers. You know, I started rapping and I got fucking, you know, I didn't put out a record for 10 years and I still have 60,000 listeners on Spotify every month. like ah Like I do these things that like become successful, but it's also some amount of like, um,
Speaker: When you make it to where you want to make it, you got to make it somewhere else after that. yeah And so then I and so I go, oh, let's try something else. or Or in my case, I stumble into a lot of stuff. It's kind of like some Forrest Gump shit where it's like because I had put so much work into networking in the Los Angeles rap scene when I got hired by this company to like do stuff for them, they were like, oh, you should start a podcast.
Speaker: And I like accidentally realized that I'm this like good curator and good at talking to people and I kind of understand how to read the scene and know who's about to crack off. You know what mean? Like none of my friends thought that Breezy Lovejoy was going to become Anderson.Paak. You what I mean? But the first time I heard him performing No Drawers, was like,
Speaker: this guy is yeah famous. He's like the second person I ever did a podcast with because I heard him and, you know, introduced him to all the people in the scene and everybody was like drooling over him. Yeah, that's crazy. I mean, yeah he knew he don't I'm not trying to take any credit. Take all the credit. No, no. But he knew a ton of people in the scene. Don't get me wrong. Like he knew people like in the industry that were like already drooling over them, too. But like people in my little scene, that was the that was the moment where everybody's like, oh, this guy. You know? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: The, the way that that's what I really loved about that too. Or like, yeah you know, get up on this and, yeah and kind of meet where was just like this, you should, I've found this, you should check it out. yeah That's the best, like, it's one of the best feelings of like, yeah, I've never heard of you. I've never heard of this person. And you, and I, I found them through you. yeah And like hearing that is like, so dope, but I think like, put me onto that. thank you, man. Like I hear that all the time. The, the curation though, I've always been curious about that. Like, how did you find these people? So that's the thing. what Like I'm saying, i being involved in the scene so much, to me, pre-social media, the way that you were grinding was to have your name on flyers. The way that you were grinding was to be at shows trying to sell CDs to people. The way you were grinding was being everywhere and shaking hands and kissing babies, making sure that
Speaker: even if you weren't on stage, you might be in the photos afterwards or whatever, and you're shaking hands with the right people. You're meeting the person who's performing and saying like, hey, out here, the dude. I'm that guy. Yeah, I'm that guy out here. If you need anything next time you come to LA, my friends and I know, we can get you stuff. It's not the check in with me. No, it's not check in with me, but it's just like, hey, you want to play a show? We throw shows. You want to that? You know what I It was like- Community. Yeah, it's community. That's really what it was, is I've always had this sense of wanting to create community, I think. And so as far as the curation goes, it touches on what we were about earlier.
Speaker: rapping over your own tracks is nothing new. People have been doing that forever. So part of the curation when I was doing Kinda Neat or Knock Steady or even ah later on when I was doing Uproxx stuff was like, was like you gotta find people that can perform. And so to do that, you'd have to go to a lot of shows. You know, the biggest episode on Kinda Neat, the YouTube channel, is this dude, Ghostmane. And coincidentally, he raps over the track on there and i was kinda like, oh shit, this isn't gonna do good because he's rapping over the track. But I mean, amazing, a huge, huge huge episode.
Speaker: I went to a show week before. went to a Suicide Boys show that my friends were DJing at. I felt old as fuck. I was like 33 at the time. Yeah, everybody was like 13, 14. Everybody was kids. It was at the Rocks. Or no, it was...
Speaker: Yeah, I was at the Roxy and it was insane. Like ripped the roof off. And I was like, these guys are not underground. These guys are enormous already. Right. yeah And um he came out during my friend's DJ performance. it did one song and I went, oh, man.
Speaker: That guy's got energy. Like the crowd went crazy for him. They already knew who he was. So I'm not putting on. ah He had his own scene that I already knew about him. I wasn't putting them onto him, but like it put the rest of the world onto him and it put him on notice. And that guy is huge now. Right. But it was just this feeling of like what he did on stage would translate well on kind of neat. And so when he walked up the stairs afterwards at backstage, I say, hey, man, That was pretty cool. like Who are you? where like you know Do you live out here? I just moved out here two one two weeks ago. He had just moved there two weeks ago. He was on there early. That's what I'm saying. is like A lot of it, people say how. yeah A lot of it is like luck, but luck is that like the harder you work, the luckier you get. and so like Leaving the house on a night that I didn't want to leave the house to go to a Suicide Boys show and feeling insecure there that I'm too old and like the new guard is taking over and I can't do what these kids are doing on stage was this moment where I accidentally made the biggest episode of my show because I met this guy and I just had a feeling about it, yeah you know? And how you, because you you are also an artist yeah and a creative, yeah like how do you stay away from being like super jaded and like, you know, like, oh, I don't hate it. I
Speaker: Okay, I am jaded. Don't get it twisted. i I am a jaded person, but I don't get jaded about music. yeah and And I am so a hater to an extent, but I will never hate on black music, right? And I will never hate on young people's music because young black men in America are responsible for all music, all Western pop culture. You know what I'm saying? So if I see something and I go, ah, this this isn't for me, that does not mean it's bad. That just means that I'm getting old, right? That's all that means. And so um for me to not be jaded about music, it's like,
Speaker: scientifically they say when you're 33 years old, your brain starts reverting to what you're more comfortable with music wise from your teen years. Right. yeah That fortunately for me didn't start happening until I was like 43. So I had an extra 10 year run there, yeah you know? And so now that I'm like back to making music and I'm not curating anymore for, for, for a podcast, I'm not seeking out new music the way I was, but when I was actively seeking out new music for the show or for companies or for whatever, like to make money, yeah it It wasn't hard to not be jaded about music because like you just have not have to not be a dork. You know what I mean? like If you're a fucking old man complaining about young person's music, like you're just a geek and you became what your parents are. And that was my argument all the time. all Music isn't like it was in the 90s.
Speaker: Nah, you were just a teenager in the ninety s yeah exactly Kids that are that found music in 2013, they're going to be saying, hey, people didn't make music like 2013. when they're 40. You know what I mean? That's ah that is your your genesis. that's a continuous That's a continuous thing throughout life, you know?
Speaker: And so to not be jaded about music, I think you just have to remain open-minded and you have to know that like, I have this line on the new record, don't ever let them tell you that it's not art. And that's because like, as soon as somebody hates it and says like, this shit is whack,
Speaker: I could do better. Why didn't you? yeah Why didn't you do it? yeah You didn't. So it's art. You know what I'm saying? like You don't like how it sounds, but like that just means it's not for you. like Rage rap, I can't understand it. It's not for me. i dont know But I know that it speaks to teenagers, and therefore I know that it's important.
Speaker: Do I want to take the time to understand it? Probably not. But if my kid wants to get into it, I'm not going to be like, turn this shit off. Right, yeah. I'm be like, hey, let's go to a show. Let's figure it out. You what I mean? Like, that's the kind parent that I want to be. But mean, yeah, but that's like, but you're open to that. Yeah. You know, think the like it's because you said that, like, you know, you people definitely go backwards once they turn 33. Yeah. Yeah. And so like, I always avoided that. Right. I was always like, oh, I need to listen to newer music, newer music. Right. Or even because like.
Speaker: There are people that make new music, but it does sound like, you know, that ties into that shit that we started off the podcast with. like that scene of like the 40 plus rappers, it is important. and Everything that they're making is beautiful to me.
Speaker: At the same time, it's kind of similar to like listening to Tom Petty when mary when Last Dance with Mary Jane came out. You know what I mean? he That's 20 years after he was in his prime as a songwriter and he like recreated his career. It became popular again. But contextually, it's kind of the same thing where like dudes like me, dudes like the guys we talked about, they were making music in the early 2000s. Yeah, yeah. It just caught on better this second time around because now ah they have the infrastructure and the understanding of how to do it better and make it make it last. you know what I mean? And um but...
Speaker: you're still listening to music that is based in like that sound that where they learned how to do it. You know i mean? Like, yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah. Cause you're saying it's like a loophole. it It kind of is. Like, I always think about like, I think about, for example, i used to use, i used to use this analogy, like when LP and killer Mike got together as, as run the jewels.
Speaker: I mean, I've been into killer Mike and LP since the, late 90s you know what mean like I knew about them yeah right and I loved them and when they got together i would hear all these people oh man have you heard of Run the Jewels have you ever of LP I'm like bitch have you heard of Company Flow yeah you know what mean like have you heard the whole world like have you heard Killer Mike when he was like you know Dungeon Fan yeah exactly and so like um I would always say like them getting together and learning how to market themselves better because now they have this culmination of everything they've learned as an artist for the last 20 years. That really is not that different from like my dad had Tom Petty records back when Tom Petty was trying to rip off the birds. You feel me? And then in 94, when last dance, when Mary Jane came out, I memorized that shit. And I was like, yo, you're not up on this. And he's like,
Speaker: I have every Tom Petty record. You know i mean? It was like something that we shared in together. But really, I'm listening to classic rock. Like if you're listening Makami, you're listening to classic rap. You're listening to Boom Bap. It's new and it's beautiful and it's fucking ascended. you know it's it's It's next level. But that shit is still the shit that I fell in love with in 92. I get that.
Speaker: i I get that. i get yeah You're breaking my brain, but I get it. yeah You understand? So now I got to... What would you... ah you yeah Have you ever listened to Red Veil? i Yeah, I fuck Red Veil. So would that be considered like newer sounding?
Speaker: To me, I'm not. Okay, look, I'm not extremely familiar with Red Veil. Okay. well when I'm just trying to just pick an artist. like when i When I listen to a newer artist like that, I'm getting more of that like It's 2026. He is a throwback um early 2010s artist. Like okay he gives me those those, like when I first heard Chance the Rapper, when I heard Ask Rap, I went like, this is scary. This is so much better than anything I'll ever be able to do. Like, why am I even doing this?
Speaker: the old guard is gone. new guard is here. And so think a lot of people were inspired by Chance. I think there's a lot of people that are his sons and not saying that Red Vale is one, but Red Vale definitely is somebody that I think comes from that tree like, you know mean? Those guys who grew with- I would say actually, I think he's more of Tyler.
Speaker: You think Tyler? Yeah, I could see that too. Yeah, that like odd future shit. But it's like those guys grew up listening to these crazy outlandish alt dudes like Smino, like just mad stylers. You know what I mean? Smino's new.
Speaker: Smino's, yeah, Smino. Okay, so there there we go. That's my... Yeah. Because I was going to go, my next thing was going to be like, ben new i was going to be like, what do you think about the new Danny Brown? I haven't heard it. Oh, okay. You gotta listen to that. Yeah, I will. He's like doing raps over like hyper pop. Yeah. it's like a whole different amazing thing. Amazing. Yeah, yeah. But like... Well, like when when Rico Nasty works with the with like 100 Gex, like I love that kind of shit. Like the hyper pop rap mix. and that And that's something that like... i used to go to these... Shout out my boy Adam and Romo. They they threw these parties in LA, Ham on Everything. And they were real early on the hyper pop shit. Yeah, yeah. And so they... um
Speaker: I've been hearing that stuff getting DJed in warehouses now, you know, for a decade. yeah And so like to hear rappers be influenced by it, that's amazing too, you know? That's, yeah, I don't know. That's the the first part. Like I used to be into like Japanese, like yeah anime. So like you'd get the crazy intros in the beginning. Well, not into, I am into Japanese anime. So you get the crazy intros. And that's when I started going down this like rabbit hole of finding like, you know, different type of like cyber pop. Yeah. You're just like people just experimenting crazy. It's so funny, like the difference between micro generations, because I feel like I'm just like two or three years too old to have gotten into anime or SpongeBob. Yeah. And so I feel like I miss out on so much pop culture just because like I didn't get those things. Yeah, I didn't get, I wasn't there. Like I was like, I was like, you know, out trying to fucking meet chicks at that point. You know what i'm saying? Like I wasn't in the house still. And so, um yeah, like my wife and I are just like, we're a few years apart and like she knows everything about SpongeBob and don't get any of the references. Cause like, you know, she was like 13 and I was like 16 something. You know what I mean? like yeah Yeah. Speaking of that, because I did want to ask you, yeah like, I do think, And i don't know if maybe I'm wrong on this, but like, I think kind of neat was very early yeah in the, the wave of like podcasting and music. Sure. It is right. Like I'll take that. i think that's true.
Speaker: But like, we've seen it evolve. Like, did you ever feel like, Oh, I am early. Like, did you feel like, or would you, did you feel like you were actually, you know, yeah so i had ah i had a very wise friend um shout out all city jimmy uh used to go by no can do he shout out shout out yeah he used to tell me look man it's not about being first it's about being second and loudest and really what i look at that now is like it's about taking what somebody did first and being able to put infrastructure behind it yeah because i did not have that i did not have
Speaker: I didn't have the safety net. I didn't have a budget. Everything that you saw with Kind of Neat was me and one other guy and no budget. We did all of that for free in hopes that it would pay off, you know? And so to see people be inspired by that, because I know some of the like performance, I've heard word of mouth that some of the biggest performance channels on the internet were inspired by Kind of Neat. But they were able to like have the creative side and a business partner and turn it into something, you know. And I was never I'm just not a business savvy dude. But when I say I'm tragically artsy fartsy, I like that's um I can create. I can tell you what's cool. I can tell you how to get eyes on it. But I don't I'm not great at monetizing. You what I'm saying?
Speaker: I'm starting to figure it out. Like I'm starting to realize, oh, to be a musician, you need to be like a t-shirt factory. You what I mean? Like you need to play shows. You gotta put up the merch. Yeah. You gotta be like trying to sell ketchup to a woman in white gloves after the show, basically like, oh yeah, buy all of these. But, you know, yeah. So did I ever feel like I was really...
Speaker: Yes, absolutely. Because when I started, it was just me, kind of tiny desk, but it wasn't that big. Yeah. And KEXP. But like, that was kind of it. Yeah. Colors didn't come till much later. Right. You know, frigging on the radar didn't start until I'd already quit. and Yeah. You know what mean? Like, or like almost. And so like, to see that putting one of these in front of people and putting a camera in their face has become the industry standard for marketing. Like,
Speaker: sometimes I feel like old man yelling at cloud or like, I think people who just meet me would think that I'm delusional when I say like the thing that I was doing starting in 2011 became the standard for the internet now.
Speaker: you know They're like, yeah, right. And i'm not I'm not taking all the credit for it, but I was there doing it and people saw it. And whether they realized they were influenced by it or not, anybody that puts a fucking rapper in front of a mic was influenced by somebody who was influenced by somebody who was influenced by me. You feel me? Because we were that early on. Yeah, for sure. I i can't disagree with that. I think once I found your page, once I found Kanye, I was like... Well, even just like you shot it beautifully. Thank you. you the The uniqueness of No Can Do's or All City Jimmy?
Speaker: Yeah, he's All City All City Jimmy's ah studio with the with the comic books. Yeah. And Daddy Cab. Shout out Daddy Cab. That's his studio too. yeah And so that... Like just the aesthetics of everything and it played into everything. everything And you could... you had passionate musicians that are really in the hungry yeah in order to like, one, ah get people to connect with them and then also, you know, get people to really tap in with their music. So you knew, they they knew it was a platform that wasn't just like, this gonna...
Speaker: This doesn't make or break me if I fuck up on here, but I know that I have a moment to to kind of connect with yeah a new fan base. I know I have a moment to connect over music over on both both ways, and I think that's like a huge service, right? Thank you. Sucks that... like Well, back then, YouTube monetization wasn't like as easy as it is now. Oh, no. I was monetized. Yeah. No, but I'm talking about like- My channel is one of the channels where YouTube figured out how to start fucking people, basically. like When I started, all my videos were monetized and I was getting no copyright strikes. And there was a while where like it was making money. Yeah, yeah. Like money, money. And then all of a sudden, when like ah particularly when Spotify started getting more popular- Right, yeah.
Speaker: anything that had been distributed or existed on spotify boom instantly the publishing which was the youtube video money would start going to them so like my channel if it were making the money at its peak that it should have it would have been bringing me in like 10 grand a month yeah right as is as because every video was copyrighted it's like it was nothing it was like 200 300 bucks it was horrible so people always wow you have half a million subscribers like why why aren't you still doing that It was because I was doing it for free and I got to make some money. So, um, but,
Speaker: To go back to the the actual question. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think when I started Kind of Neat, people didn't really understand what it was. Like Chuck English was the first episode that I had. and he Shout out Chuck. Shout out Chuck English. He was kind of like, what are we doing? He's like, I'll do a snippet. you know what I mean? Like he didn't want to do a whole song. He's like, I'll do a snippet. And that one instantly, the first video started getting some views. And then by the fifth video, we went viral. You know what i mean? And we got monetized.
Speaker: And at a certain point after the first year, because the first year I did one episode per week, 52 episodes, I always had a new video up. And it and it went from like zero subscribers to 40,000 subscribers in that first year or whatever. Right.
Speaker: By then people started realizing like, oh, I can like this is ah this is an opportunity. that is Right. yeah And then by the time I'm getting dudes like J.I.D. on, hu he's going, I'm going to take my shirt off. Like he's rapping like the rent is due because he knows like this is going to get out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He didn't have it. he they had They had just started, I think, preparing him to kind of like blow up how he did. And so he had his, the internet was scrubbed. I had didn't heard i hadn't heard any of his songs except for the one he performed. hu and And yeah, he came in and he had clothes on and he was like, nah, I'm taking my shirt off for this. Like, I know what this is. yeah You know what I'm saying? yeah And I was like, oh.
Speaker: He understands, like, this is my moment to be a fucking rock star. And because of that, that video lives on to where, like, every, you know, every day there's comment, oh, this is the first video I ever saw J.I.D. You know what I mean? Like, that type of shit. Yeah, yeah. And so I think at a certain point, after it gets to the consistency remains for some years, people start realizing, just like they realize with... Tiny Desk or now with On The Radar that it's like this is my moment that I have to like stand out, you know. Would you do it On The Radar?
Speaker: Would I do it On The Radar? Yeah, I would do it On The Radar if I got invited. I don't know. Like, I'm not great at like reaching out to people and asking for stuff. But if they were like, oh, hey, you know, I would love to do it On The Radar. Yeah, think that's the hardest part like your, as a creative, that is the hardest part. I feel like people who make stuff and are able to do that, yeah they definitely get a ah get further, yeah but like, I don't, it's just like, I don't know. It's like, ah I don't know if it's a personality trait where it's just like, I don't want to i don't want any i don't want to owe anybody anything. Yeah.
Speaker: And I don't even look at it like that. I just don't know if that if I, like I'm an old man, you know what And I can do that stuff at my house and and get the views on it. So like, I just don't know if they would want somebody like me on there if I fit their curation. But like, if you're asking like, do I have any hard feelings towards everybody? Like, no, I think on the radar is dope you know what i mean like when i first started seeing on the radar i instantly was like this is going to be huge this is going to be like they clearly have something going on to where like they're able to make this consistent and steady and reproducible and they can get an episode they were getting episodes out like every fucking day every day yeah i've been in there it's like a they have it yeah it's probably like a cattle call i'm sure yeah i was gonna say was gonna say something else. yeah But yeah, they got it like a conveyor belt. Like just like in, out, in, out, in, out. And so I was doing, so I was at Uproxx for a while doing a show called Sessions and we did a few, we had a few viral moments with that. Like RXK Nephew went big. We had Kevin Gates went big. The dude Smiley from like, that was Drake's dude. Like, He was he was funny, man. He had a moment. And so like we had a lot of like viral moments. Hook hook goes like viral every other week still from her episode of Uproxx. But it was kind of the same thing where we might shoot two times a month, but we would do eight episodes in a day. We would have people coming in. There's one's leaving another's coming out. And we had it dialed in to where like me and the crew could like boom, let me coach them, get it how it is, and then like two takes and we're good. So I understand the process behind it. And I understand that like once you get money behind it, you need to be efficient like that. Right.
Speaker: With my personal projects, I never had that kind of I never had that kind of backing. never had the ability to have a bunch people helping me. So like for me to do try and do one episode per week, that was like a majority of my work week. You what I mean? Like because I was I know it. Yeah. And then I was doing post production and all that shit. So, like, it's not... You can't scale something like I was doing because it was, like, my fingerprints were on everything. I mean? Like, the way... It's your baby every week. Your baby. The way the video was shot was the way that I like to shoot photos with a flash right somebody's face on some, like, old Terry Richardson shit. Don't cancel me for shouting out Terry Richardson. but, you know, like...
Speaker: Yeah, the the way the audio was mixed was the way I like my raps mixed. You know, all that stuff is like my fingerprints were on it. And um once you start having that 20 person crew helping, like you start to lose that that like ability to vouch for the quality control and all that stuff. Because it's like, yeah, you're you're far removed at this point. Now it's like whatever now it's whatever is on the screen is now you're right. You know. Yeah. Yeah. So with the up rock shit, like it was nice to just like go in and all I had to do was direct. Right. Like all I had to do was be like, OK, hey, here here's the camera movements. I'm in a microphone going, OK, go left, go left. And then yeah in between takes me like, oh, man, you killed that. Like, let's do one more and lift up the energy a little bit. Or like, oh, you're stuck on this. I know that you're stuck on this line. Make sure that when you get to this word.
Speaker: big breath and then get ready to yeah people be like, Oh my God, how did you like teach them to rap? Right. And then, you know, it was like during COVID. so it was like a lot of kids have never been on stage before. I'm like teaching them how to perform live. That's crazy. Yeah. it was funny. Um, that's crazy. Cause you know, speaking of your, the up, get up on this, like Jensen hired me as a rap coach at one point on the drop the mic shit. So like I had already been coaching people to rap. That was a hell of a show. It fun it was fun. ah the yeah the um so like you know You talk about how you know you're editing your stuff yeah and now you had a video that just went insane. yeah
Speaker: like You're used to, i would say, like you know kind of neat doing this thing and now it's like your own shit. yeah How did that feel, like the differences?
Speaker: It was great. It's very validating. you know I'm somebody who... um I didn't post on Instagram like on the on the timeline for like six years something. know i mean? At a certain point, I read i like archived everything and people were hitting like, yo, are you okay? like They thought I got soft canceled or something. I'm like, yeah, no. Soft canceled? Yeah. I'm like, nah, I'm working. wore a red hat on one picture? Yeah. I'm like, nah, I'm working on a record. So I'm just like kind of resetting my social media shit. and to see To see that video in particular go so big was very surreal. Yeah.
Speaker: and Mind you, this isn't guesswork. like I know what I'm doing. I've gone viral 100 fucking times over the last 15 years. right not Maybe not in front of the camera, but behind the camera. like I've had these moments. it's nothing new. Not to sound like overly confident, but like I know that if you keep doing it, something's going to hit. a hit The thing about it is... you'd never know which one's gonna hit. yeah And some of the ones that you think absolutely will not hit, go crazy. And the ones that you think are gonna fucking, that are a sure thing, they're farts in the wind, right? And so that particular video you're talking about is the one with my son on my lap. and
Speaker: that song was sort of sitting in obscurity for six months on the album. It was one of the lowest performing songs on the album. yeah And I think it's because maybe people didn't quite understand what it was about um until they saw that it was a song that I was raping to rapping to my son. yeah I wrote that going like, this is something I want you to listen to.
Speaker: it, when you can no longer hear my voice. Yeah. When I'm not able to pick up the phone for you anymore, you can listen to this. And this is the kind of person that I was. Right. And I think that translates a lot better with a visual. And so to watch that go so skyrocketed, it was a litany of emotions because for one,
Speaker: Like I said, I didn't expect that one to go. yeah That was the third attempt I made at that video because I kept trying all these different outfits and everything was like, ah, this doesn't look, your this isn't is boring, this doesn't look right. And finally, i just went like, you know, Mia, should I just put Ozzy on my lap? you know And she's like, oh yeah. And so the initial idea was that I was like, I don't want to get accused of exploiting my kid. Yeah. Yeah. So we have a bunch of masks at the house. Like he had just gotten this Velociraptor mask and stuff. and i was like, hey, Ozzy, like, let's do we'll do a faraway take when you're in one mask. We'll do a mid take when you're in another mask. And then another one when you're in when you're in a third mask, you know, because oral masks. So then, like, I'm not exploiting my kid. His face is covered, whatever, like modern Internet etiquette. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: And we did one take with the mask on and he went, don't like the mask. Let me just be, let me just sit on your lap. And I went, all right. and My wife is stressing because she's like wanting to get it done before sunset. She's helping push the button. She's like, Ozzy, behave. And I'm like, it's fine, babe. Relax. Everything's good. And we get it done.
Speaker: And um I was just like, I had this same shirt on, actually. And I fucking... And I went inside and I went... And I started editing and I go, man, I should have buttoned my bottom buttons. I look fat, dude. I'm like, my legs look stubby. Like, uh... But then I started editing in it and I went, ah, this is there's something here. and And I didn't... like you know, people, oh, how many takes did you do to get him to sing along and stuff like I didn't know he was going to do that. my kid The reason that he sang on that song that you said, you know, made you choke up a little bit is because he was there during the process when I was writing, when I was recording and demoing, and when I was mixing and mastering it. So every day I would get a mix as an email, we'd be listening to that song and I'd be taking notes on it and I'd be saying, oh, Ozzy, I got a mix back. Do you want to hear it? And by the time we were done mixing it,
Speaker: He knew all the songs by title. we Oh, Dad, let's listen to Abiento. Oh, Dad, let's listen to Dying Every Day. And there were certain parts where songs would be stuck in his head. And so he'd be walking around going like, Dying Every Day. He's four years old. Dying Every Day. Dying Every Day. And so Equilibrium was like, yo, yeah We should get something where he's like, you have Ozzy on the album. Every fucking rapper. They have a kid. You got to get your kid on the album. You got to get them producer credit. From Jay-Z to Intuition, everybody got to get on the record. Blue Ivy's on the record. So is Ozzy. I said, hey. I just put a mic in for him. said, do you want to sing? He's like, yeah, yeah. want to sing. I said, okay. Sing Dying Every Day. didn't have the beat on anything. He starts singing it. said, what's my rap name? He goes, Intuition. I go, what's Uncle Mark's name? He's like, equal. He started stumbling. I was trying to get like drops and all this stuff. And so I just sent Mark, you know, a wave, you know, a couple minutes long of him riffing on the mic.
Speaker: And he was like, oh, this works great as an outro and put it in there. And oh, man, when I heard that, I'm like, oh, fuck. Like, that was it. yeah And I was keeping that song hidden from my wife, too. The the Dying Everyday song. Not the one from not not the the one that went crazy, but the Dying Everyday song. I was keeping it from my wife because the second verse is about her mom. right And I was like,
Speaker: She can't hear it till it's like 100% done. Oh, man. When she heard that the first time and then Ozzy's voice comes in, oh, fuck, we're crying together, bawling, yeah listening to that, right? But the thing about that outro being on that song, it goes... it goes i say I say, that was awesome. Like, you did awesome or whatever. It's my voice talking to my son and then it goes into the song on the album about like, yeah this is my song to you, you know? And to to me, regardless of if people understood that, I was like, yo, this...
Speaker: this great fucking album pacing. This is like the perfect song place, man. And so, you know i didn't think that video was gonna go, but when it started to go and I started to see other people's reaction, because to to me, that's a happy song. that's ah That's a song about how much I love him and how much I wanted to know that I'm there for him. and how much I want to be able to like continue to communicate with him when he's an adult. like he's ah He's a baby still right now, but i want to I don't want the love that I have for him now. I don't want him to ever mistake that that has gone away when he's an adult, right? Because that's how it can feel with dads. You feel me? And that's how I felt with my dad, not his fault, but because he got sick when I was so young that like I just never got to have that guy that I could call and be like, dad, what should I do? By the time I needed that advice,
Speaker: he couldn't remember my name type shit. You know what mean? man and so And so, when I started, like to me, that's a happy song. It's a joyous song. It's a celebratory song. It's it's a beautiful song. It means a lot to me, but when I started seeing that, people were like, oh my God, I'm crying, thinking about me. Oh, I gotta call my dad. Like I started seeing the comments come in and I'm like, This is like insane. yeah This is going crazy. yeah yeah And I always say like, ah you know, my, my, because of that singular video, my Instagram following quadrupled, right. Um, or no quintupled five times as big as it was. Right.
Speaker: I had had that my first 5,000 for 10 years. You know what mean? I couldn't seem to break it. I thought I would never get over 10,000, right? But those first 5,000 have held me down. Those are like my people. know I mean? Like sometimes at shows, I meet people that have DMed with me for years where I'm like, oh my God, it's you. Like I know who you are because Instagram.
Speaker: They're like, what the fuck? I'm like, yo, I'm a bigger fan of you than you are of me, bro. Like you've been following, like I fuck with you. yeah You bought shit. um and And so like to see those 5,000 turning 25,000 is like,
Speaker: It's crazy, but I know those those first... like The viral fans, they're fleeting. They come and go. You can't rely on them. Having 20,000... You end up in the bottom of their homeming their feed. I got friends who got 300,000, 400,000 followers. It doesn't mean shit. like you still It doesn't mean shit unless you can get those 150, 200, 300 people to come to your show. right And there's a lot of people who can't get that to come to their show. right And so um um The point is, is like when it started to take off, I went, this is amazing. yeah But i got to like I've got to have a continuation plan. And you know like it it was more of like instead of resting on my laurels, it was like yeah I need to continue going and and staying on it because like this is something that could blossom into yeah you know, something more sustainable over time, you know, which is all I'm trying to do. i'm just trying to make a small business that can contribute to my family. No, yeah, man, that's super important. who We're towards the end of the podcast. Oh, yeah, my bad. No, you're good. We're towards the end of the podcast. i I got one last question for There was a little visualization. want you think back to to young Lee yeah yeah in Alaska. He's about to get those farachis strapped. He's hyped.
Speaker: And now you're older, you, behind your younger self. What would you tell young Lee if he opened that Invest in Bitcoin. Yeah. I mean, I would just tell him like, be you, you know, you're different and that's okay. And just be you. Like I was always a fish out of water as a kid. Like I didn't feel like I had connection. I didn't feel connected to people. You know mean? And well, you changed that big time. Yeah. Well, thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker: um So, i you know, I would just tell him, don't be scared to be different. You know, that's it. Yeah. Fire. let everybody know where to find you. ah My name is Lee. Some of you guys might know me as Intuition. You can find me on all social media at It's Intuition. I-T-S-I-N-T-U-I-T-I-O-N. Got shit on YouTube. Got shit on TikTok. Got shit on Instagram. Got a Twitter. like You can find me everywhere. I've been...
Speaker: My internet ah footprint is massive. I could never run for aive yeah or for office. i mean um So yeah, it's a very if you're just hearing about me through Haas, it's a very deep rabbit hole to go down, which it sounds like you went down the rabbit hole and I i appreciate that. um So yeah, like if you're just finding out about me, just like,
Speaker: Google me and just go down the rabbit hole, man. There are so many years of content that you can like catch up on and be happy to hear the story. Big time, big time. And you know where to find me, who is Hassel. Also, it's me to follow the podcast at My First Kicks Pod. Hit me up for shirts, info at My First Kicks. I'm trying to get rid of these shirts. Please help me. You got a Shopify or what? Where are you selling them out? I'm just selling them out. selling them out of the trunk. Out of the trunk. Yeah. So just hit me up because it's $40 plus shipping. Patreon.
Speaker: Sign up for the Patreon. $5. One tier. you get the day You get the episode a day early. um And you get to, you know, chat with the community as well. So that's what I'm going to end on. I'm gonna hit my, I'm going to toss it to myself to do the outro. Peace.
Speaker: I hope you enjoyed this week's episode with Intuition. Man, this is a long time coming. Me wanting to interview Intuition dates back to one of the previous podcasts that I put out ah back in the day. It was like right before the pandemic. I did this podcast called Get Up On This 2.0 with Patreon subscriber Derek Lipkin, who's been a big supporter of mine since back then. You know, he really motivated me into buying a ton of podcast equipment, much like this arm that you have here, which I really do need to replace, and my first mic.
Speaker: But i used to listen to this podcast called Get Up On This, and it was with Matt matt Robinson and Jensen Karp. I almost fumbled up their names. But It was a really dope podcast, and I implore y'all to check it out as well, ah which really was ahead of its game when it came to finding what was going to be the next big thing. And that was something that I was always really into when it came to just music or art or you know sneakers anything. Anything that I thought that, you know, I think people should literally be up on. And i kind of really fell in love with that community. And me and Derek decided to do our own spinoff.
Speaker: I took it very seriously. He took it as a joke. But... ah ah We ended up doing like 10 episodes and they live on Spotify. It's called Get Up On This 3.0. Check it out. ah It's a very old version of me. It's a very old version of something that we really try to, you know, do with like research and and things that we we wanted people to really check out things before.
Speaker: you know, they blew up into the mainstream and I thought, you know, what better you know, guest to kind of revisit that than intuition, especially in this outro, because we really didn't get to talk about his appearances on there, but I really wanted to, you know, focus on the, just his presence and, and how he really motivated me into, you know, fighting, like really staying with like finding new music or really staying with, um,
Speaker: You know, presentation and doing cool things. And and i always felt like he was like, you know, a really good rapper. And i think he pours himself into a lot of things that he's pursuing. And so this conversation was really dope because.
Speaker: I felt like it was a long time coming because I've been listening to him for years. Like if you've never listened to kind of neat, I implore you to also check that out. That's that was his podcast. And he got to really, and we talked about it on this episode, but he really got to find a lot of these rappers before and anybody knew who they were and and invited them down to display their music and, and to talk about their path. And I'm like, you know, this is kind of a sense of that. Like I'm tapping in with people who are, you know, may not may or may have a love for sneakers. Some people don't.
Speaker: Some ah some people aren't as in depth. Like, you know, i I would like to have people. of all walks of life who, you know, have a chance to kind of just talk about their story through sneakers or, you know, we'll use that as like the launching pad and it will go from there. And, you know, this is one of those instances where it's like.
Speaker: I wanted to know more about like the journey that he's been on, because he definitely took some time off just to, you know, be with his son go through these life crises and kind of find himself. Now he's back to putting out music and touring um and like doing a ton of cool stuff. And so, you know, getting the chance to talk to him and like being like as a person that's been following him for so many years, like it's crazy. Like I don't,
Speaker: I don't think I've ever thought about it. Like when I first was listening to his first album with intuition and equal equilibrium, I used to run that album to the ground. Like if you put it on right now, I'll probably wrap the whole, well, minus the last song. I usually skip the last song because it doesn't get me very sad. And if you haven't listened to that, I implore you to definitely watch like listen to that whole album. And then,
Speaker: run the his newest album that dropped last year um and so i think like he has been this voice that's in my head ah his music has always been inspirational to me and i've been following him for so long and i i can't believe i've ever gotten a chance to you know full circle this moment where i got to talk to him and and you know we continuously talk after since that day and I'm pretty like, I'm still kind of in awe about the whole situation um because i really like, I'm hoping, you know, my little fan base of people that listen to me each week. And I appreciate y'all for tuning in every week, ah really give him a chance and, and really check out his music because, know,
Speaker: I think what he's saying has been something that needs to be heard or what he's spitting about is is things that that need to be heard, especially during his current day, because I feel like and I've always felt like this for a hot minute, where its like, you know, you really have to dig.
Speaker: for music that reaches past the surface level and his music is pinpoint accuracy. You're hearing, you know, his trials and tribulations, you know, and he's also swaggy over every beat. Like it's, ah it's insane. So,
Speaker: Please check out all of Intuition and Equilibrium's music. Equilibrium is the producer on all his tracks, and we talk about him a little bit, but they are like a match made in heaven. And hearing how them two finding each other on this episode...
Speaker: Crazy. So I also wanted to touch on like as we as we segue off of that, um I also want to touch on my most recent ah adventures to the BlackFullware Forum New York chapter meetup and.
Speaker: i I have to say and that was such a fun time. ah We definitely need more people to come out. If you are person who is within the sneaker industry or are intrigued about the people that are in the sneaker industry and you are a business professional, I implore y'all to really sign up for Black Forward Forum or blackforwardforum.com, the and NYC chapter. If in York, they have different other chapters. There's a meetup when this comes up. This week that is coming.
Speaker: There is a meetup DMV. And so if you're in that, there's a bunch of meetups and you don't have to go to Detroit in September, but you do and should partake in their community meetups because it's a different atmosphere. It's more built around community.
Speaker: kind of professionalism and networking and creating careers versus like going to a sneaker event and getting a chance to get a free pair of sneakers, right?
Speaker: What's going to give you more longevity? What's going to give you actual money in your pocket is if you go to the networking events and you actually network and you talk to people. And it's very important that we actually show up because as soon as that we have less and less people showing up, then the less and less, it's more likely that these networking events will happen. And we have to really call out that it we like as much people complain about what,
Speaker: or who is not representing you know people of color within the footwear industry and why there's so much disconnect we have to change that and the only way we can do that is by talking to people that have had those journeys it is by talking to those people that made the transitions into the fullwear industry it is taking that initiative and putting your best foot forward to get your foot in the door so that you can work and make changes within a company that you have been buying from for, you know, however long it could have been your your entire life. Your whole family loves Nike and you want to step in there, but you don't understand how to get in there. This is a meetup and an actual, you know, collection of people that can actually get your foot in the door. So I think it's very important. I think Black Full Wear Forum, that's why I always push it every year.
Speaker: You know, it's in September this year. It's in September from 10th to 13th. I will be there. i book my tickets. You will see me there. if you have If you want to talk to me about advertising or the sneaker industry, I will be there in a professional and podcast or creative capacity because, know,
Speaker: The one thing I did wrong last year was not open up my advertising professional career side so that I can actually help people, especially within a corporate structure. So I will be way more you know forthcoming because last year, all I did was talk about my podcast. And at this point, you know within the footwear industry, I feel like I have some sort of name. It's not a crazy name. it's not you know There's not like a lot of weight behind it currently. um but
Speaker: I do feel like the right people are listening to this podcast, the right people are sharing this podcast, and it's getting in front of people because people are talking to me about it. So when it comes to my career professional side, I do feel like I need to open that up because I believe and I have seen that we what we're missing within you know sneaker content creation, sneakers, or just people who are...
Speaker: Really wanting to, you know, create and make and do things within the sneaker industry. There needs to be a sense of professionalism. And i think that's missing. And I think that we aren't as aware of how.
Speaker: open everything is now and how easy accessible everything is and how much of, you know, words are getting spread around about, you know, people that can actually, you know, mess up opportunities. And then, you know, sometimes the audience feeds into that because it's a lot more fun to see drama than it is to let said person move up in the ranks or said person to have some sort of voice. And so, I don't move that way. i always move in a professional way, especially within this community, because I feel like that's what I want to see more of. And I'm going to continuously do that as in terms of just like, I just want to see growth. I'm i'm big on,
Speaker: community I'm big on helping anyone. I'm big on you know, being the person that people want to have conversations with or kind of being the person that wants to seek advice or professional, you know, career questions and.
Speaker: i'm I'm always open to having those conversations. always open to you know, helping anybody and giving words of wisdom because not many people have done that or are openly willing to do that. But...
Speaker: I think that mentorships, and if you listen to my episode with Bima or you listen to my episode with Trey, we talk about, you know, mentorships and the openness of trying to seek that or find that and and have those conversations because these these are important things. Like, we can only do so much with the time that we have on this earth. And so if you want to see change, you have to make it yourself. You can't wait for somebody else to do it. And...
Speaker: you know i've really put myself onto that you know i'm i always leave doors open i always leave room for people to change my mind and that needs to be more available to everybody else within this because people change people do things and they regret things later people ah have no awareness sometimes people are just moving forward and not thinking about you know, the people around them. And there's always going to be mistakes there. It's, I think, you know, people need to give grace. and
Speaker: and I think that's how we build better community, better communication, especially within a community and better communication within a niche so that It isn't so very, you know, gossipy and and it isn't so, you know, people don't take us seriously. People don't take us, you know, like, oh, we don't see, you know, a future working with you type of situation. We want professionalism because that takes those liabilities away. would be It makes it easier to be a person that you know somebody wants to work with. it makes It makes it easier for people to show up for other people, especially if they you know put on an event. I mean, it's hard for me even to put on event, especially within in New York City, and get people to come out. and so
Speaker: It all brings and breathes new life into the things that we are doing, especially within this niche that we all love and are ah all passionate about.
Speaker: So I'm trying to do my best. And if anybody's listening to this, I hope you're doing your best as well. But let's jump in to the Patreon shout outs. And you too can be a Patreon member by signing up for patreon.com patreon. dot com slash Sign up for patreon.com slash myfirstkicks. And it only is one tier, $5 tier. You get the episode a day early. And I'm saying this again, like I said earlier, you really want to do that for next week's episode. Once you see who the guest is for next week, I'm telling y'all, it's crazy.
Speaker: It's crazy. All right. We're starting off the road to 300 off with a banger. All right. So I really appreciate y'all for tuning in and tapping in each and every week. if you want to jump If you want to be part of the Patreon shoutouts, you have to become a patron. So let's start it off. We have Adam Neustetter. We have Ross Adams. We have Derek Lipkin. Shout out Derek Lipkin again. um We have Jesse, Jesse G. We have Clox. We have Derek Hawkins. Hope to see him out at Blackfoot War Forum.
Speaker: And in September, we have Jordan Kaiser. We have Samir Grandpierre. We have Sean Haitu. And we have Brett. We have AD Sneaks and MDOT to round us out.
Speaker: I'm looking for more patron members. Please sign up for the Patreon, patreon.com slash myfirstkicks. It really goes back into the podcast, helps me pay for the studio time. Studio time is not cheap.
Speaker: And it also helps me pay for hosting. It also helps me pay to get more merch. Like I would really love to get more merch. If you want to, you know, cop a My First Kicks t-shirt, hit me up info at myfirstkicks.com.
Speaker: It goes a long way. And I want to make more merch. I will. I have dope ideas in my head. I just got to get them out. Help your boy out. Hit me up. $40 plus shipping. We can figure that out.
Speaker: $40 plus shipping. Help me get rid of this box. All right. So I think I got off everything that I needed get off. I, uh, there is, if you're on Patreon, there is an extra episode that is coming out.
Speaker: Uh, whenever I get the time to put that out and that will be hopefully this week or next week, whenever this episode drops, well, this episode drops next week, this week. So I'll I'm to try to get it out. It's been very busy.
Speaker: Got wedding season. That's been happening. I got one more wedding to go to. Then I'm free until Black Forward Forum. So please bear with me. um But if you are new or you are a returning guest, ah returning guest, if you are new or a returning listener, please check out these two episodes here.
Speaker: Hit that subscribe button if you're on YouTube. And of course, you know, what we say each week, wear your kicks. Peace.
