all right here we go French Fontana welcome back to Vlad TV big Vlad man how long it's been baby it's been 12 years [ __ ] man it's been 12 years since our last interview man and you know something me and you I feel are like the same Freshman Class yeah yeah yeah right like me and you started around the same time matter of fact now that I think about it when you had cocaine City uh DVD I had hot and here DVD we used to wait at the labels side by side waiting to interview artists yeah yeah for sure 1 million per. right and then when Vlad TV started you were one of the first people that was was kind of like a regular guest you're one of my first regular guests on the show yeah actually one of one of my biggest videos was um with you was I'm so special right yeah yeah that video is what started my career people like everywhere I go they like y perform I'm so special yeah I like we roing with each other early on yeah and we back full cycle yeah many millions of dollars later you had a few more Millions than I did but I got a few Millions you know now you live 5 minutes away from me man we got the same Millions baby hey man listen we live in similar neighborhoods for real eat the same food wear the same clothes for real man hey man we're we're both happy and I'm glad that you are where you are right now thank you man I appreciate it and I've been I and you know what and I was listening to interviews and I was like when you the interview you had with Yayo and I was like I got to go see Vlad they speaking highly about me over there yeah and that's my guy since day negative one yeah you know bash you never never never never appreciate that of course man of course well we've done a lot of interviews but I want to get the whole story this time yeah so I want to start in the very beginning so you were born in Casablanca Morocco yeah okay and at the time it was you your father your mother and a younger brother yeah and you were there until you about 13 years old 13 yeah do you remember Morocco at that time yeah I remember my father um I remember my father working I remember he was he was selling gold and he was just in and out the streets cuz when I when I was born he was locked up so he was in and out of jail the whole time locked up for what um I don't know I don't even ask okay know what I'm saying so he was locked up he was in and out country he was doing his thing so I remember I remember him my mother just used to be a stay home on and he used to be in and out the country getting getting his money and when I was 133 I just remember like yo um you know we got we got Visas so maybe he got the visas to get out of you know what I'm saying to get out of country for some pair of reason or whatever it is but I didn't know what the what the cost was but I know he he saved up enough money that he can go to the United States and and and try to live the American dream and take his kids over there cuz honestly there wasn't no opportunities and and in North Africa like that well me and you were both uh immigrants yeah I was born in Ukraine it was USSR at the time so for both of us English wasn't our first language no so you speak Arabic and French yeah okay do you still speak French well when we came from um Morocco my mother my mother never spoke French so um I just I just kept on speaking to her in Moroccan which is like broken Arabic it's like Jamaican English huh like a pwa kind of yeah yeah yeah if I would speak to somebody from from you know from Dubai or from Iraq or from the people that really speak the the the real Arabic they won't they won't even understand what I'm saying so it's like yeah so like it's broken Arabic Moroccan speak so um you know my mother came back I was speaking French to her but I lost like half of my French but I'm I'm still fluent in Moroccan okay so when you go to Paris do you understand people speaking French yeah I I mean I can understand I just yeah yeah but it's just like being away from somewhere for so long it's like you lose you lose that Lango okay and you guys s on the South Bronx yeah okay so you were in the South Bronx for two years when your Dad decided to go back yeah when my my Dad decided to go back he uh he kind of came and he kind of tried to do a bunch of businesses you know he started the first business it it it went bad on him the second one it went bad on him the third one it went bad on him the fourth one he took me with him to pick up some money that some people owe him we went there they didn't have the money he broke the whole store it was just getting bad at one point so he just it got to a point where he submitted for his papers and they Deni him so he went back to Morocco okay your mom was pregnant with another baby yeah at that time yeah that's a little weird if you ask me mhm leaving three kids well two kids with one on the way behind defend for themselves yeah to go back to your original country cuz like I said I'm an immigrant also I can't imagine my dad leaving me and my mom and going back to Ukraine like that sounds crazy to me yeah yeah it was crazy cuz he told he told my mother he he told my mother he said let's leave kareim behind which is me like like let's leave French behind and let's take both um the kids and go back my mother was like I'm not going back you were what 13 at the time yeah I was like yeah like like like 16 okay at that time like two years we was there like yeah like two three years and she was like I'm not leaving my son so he was like if you want to stay stay with him I'mma leave well how would a 16-year-old survive I don't know doesn't make any sense doesn't that's a weird question right because you got to remember but I don't have my papers so I came here on the I20 Visa so I20 Visa it burned out after 6 months so his his plan was like once we get to the states we figure it out we got to the states the I20 Visa burnt out so basically now I'm living like an alien I'm like I can't get no job because I don't have my papers I can't go to college because I don't have my papers you know what I'm saying I can't do nothing normal that every American can take for granted I can't do nothing normal so basically it's like I'm locked up without being locked up so a kid that's 16 years old like what what is he supposed to do but sell drugs you know what I'm saying that's the only thing you you can do or just hustle anything I mean you know what I'm saying like you just got to and when you sell drugs you can't really sell drugs cuz if you get locked up one time you get deported so so it's like you it's like it's like it it's an impossible situation to make it out huh you know what I'm saying so I was 16 he left when he left I basically became my mother's husband and my my my my brothers was became my two kids yeah so I had a family before I even think about having my own family right you had three kids or two kids basically yes and a and a woman to support mind you my mother don't speak English so she never picked it up never picked it up she still don't didn't pick it up until now huh she don't she doesn't care about it she just here for us she's like you know she know a couple words here and there we be laughing at her still but she never she never picked it up you know what I'm saying so she's she basically just sacrificed okay what year well how old were you when you started hustling around that time around 16 17 okay what did you start with [ __ ] man everything everything you could think about weed coke crack anything you think about I mean that's a treacherous lifestyle yeah I know I dabbled in it and got burned and said this not for yeah yeah yeah hell yeah I mean you know it was it was just it was it was crazy and we was we was doing the right in front of a post office like a f on East treamont like me my all my guys we was just like hand in hand we was you know then you graduate to different things and you know but it was it was the only way you know what I'm saying like we would see everybody doing that out there like the whole time I'm living there I'm going to school coming back there's somebody hustling in front of the building so after a while just they became my best friends you know what I'm saying so well I know there was a serious situation that came a little later we'll talk about that but during this time yeah what were the craziest situations you were getting into [ __ ] a whole lot of [ __ ] ducking robbers you know what I'm saying just it just every night you out there every day you out there you're liable to get you know locked up you're liable to get shot you're liable to you know shoot at somebody you're liable to get robbed it just and things like that was happening every day you know what I'm saying like my home booys will grab a AR and just go rob the restaurant right across the street come back in the building while I'm still selling crack in front of the building you know what I'm saying like things like that you know then they go to the roof they letting shots off while we hustling in front of the building making a block hot it just it was it was it was just so many things you know I mean everybody out there dusted out smoking angel dust and it was it was just crazy which is PCP yeah and we had a and we had a um a restaurant that was moving weight while we was hustling three buildings down so it was it was like that block was definitely like snowfall yeah the movie okay okay at what point did you say h maybe I'll be a rapper um point where I said I'm be a rapper it was when I got locked up for what this time I didn't get locked up with with no cocaine with no crack they catch me on the Block they I got I got locked up with like 20 pounds of weed it's a lot of weed yeah I think I I it was like 20 20 between 15 20 pounds of weed but you told me earlier you have no papers so if you get locked up you get deported yeah so I got so I got caught with like 15 20 pound but it was it was weird as RNR you know what I'm saying like it's not it's not really like a serious crime but still you're an illegal alien yeah I'm an illegal alien but so don't they just Deport you over anything or no but ice wasn't that serious back then ah okay see ice ice is serious now you know what I'm saying cuz my brother now they'll send you back yeah yeah my yeah my brother went through that so ice ice is serious now but back then if you ain't get caught with nothing serious like you know like no cocaine or like no murder or nothing like that like you get it you can get your one pass you know what I'm saying so I got my one pass so basically back then it was just it was just that I got once I got locked up for that one of my homeboys said they was going to take the case for me oh okay so they was going to take the case for me so we we go to the courthouse so my homeboy so he was with me this is like a funny ass story I ain't going to say his name but so we was in the car and get caught with the weed so my homeboy is like nah I can't let you get deported we I'm going take this case for you you know what I'm saying weed is is it ain't that serious is you know me I'm going to get a slap in the r there's no time so I'm like all right I'm like yo this is the realest [ __ ] ever so I'm like boom so the court dat come we all go to court this and that he's up there so the judge is reading him his rights like oo this and that wo he talking to him he's like yeah man so it's a possibility of 30 days he was like hold on Judge can I talk to you for a second this the middle of the you actually the courtroom yeah this is in the middle of the courtroom he was like yo French can I talk to you for a second so I'm like oh man so he was like yo he's like yo y an can I speak to him outside for a second he go I said like bro you told me it was no time this and that yo bro it's [ __ ] weed it's 30 days if you do some real time so you know long story short I went back inside and I had to take the case oh so he was like I'm not going to take this for you they was like it's only a month though that's what I'm saying like n he was like I can't I can't get you still friends with him yeah yeah yeah yeah okay forgave him for that yeah I forgave him man you got to forgive man if if God could forgive us we can forgive man we we ain't bigger than the LA okay so did the rap thing start after that yeah so the rap rap thing started when it was just like is either you're going to do this or just go back to Africa it's like oh just like go get a job which is 12 hours like a Mexican and and get paid $10 $5 an hour you know what I'm saying it's just like it was less so basically that's when I started I went to my man crib but I always had love for music say I always had love for music I would always you know buy everybody CDs I would pick up I would catch myself trying to make beats this and that so I went to my man crib we recorded right in the middle of his living room it was a recorder I remember exact the exact beat it was lyrical exercise Jay-Z which that he sampled from car Mega mhm and and it was just like I'm I used to just have my my headphones on I used walking around the block where everybody's selling whatever they like y you like this joint like these joints I just putting it on everybody head then I just met some cats that had little thing going on then I was just like let's make it happen okay and you were a young French back then yeah okay started out battle rapping battle rapping for sure all right so right there in the Bronx you would just battle dudes yeah cuz rapping is one thing but coming up the era that I came up it was just like yeah you could rap but he could rap too he could rap too he could rap too how do we know which one is the best you know what I'm saying so people would come like shout to Fred the godson he used to come with Virginia slim peace rest in peace he used to come with his partner they used to be they used to be two in the group him and Virginia slim they used to call loose cannons they used to come shells uh o it was like it was a whole Bronx culture that we all used to meet up we would end up in the back of we would end up in the back of Ru Riders videos shoots with d and Y and it just like yo drag on to be in the it was just like it was raw it was it was that type of raw and everybody was just like start battling you know what I'm saying and that was just like kind of a way to just see who's nice cuz just rapping wasn't going to get you a buzz it was just like all right he could rap you know what I'm saying but you had to eat people face off and that's how DMX got his name that's how Cassidy Cassidy got his name it was it was a wave of you you had to go wherever there was the illst rappers you had to prove yourself and we had to do that millions of times what are some known rappers that you felt you beat that I battled that you battled yeah when me and Mur moo was supposed to battle like like 10 different time we would catch each other we just talk mad [ __ ] to each other and we set it up then I would have to battle somebody else I mean I've battled like what who who I batt i b scar child I battle like I batt like a bunch of I battled The Fight Club oh yeah shout out the international p and Fight Club shout out to Jay and them we went up there we put up like $15,000 and we we battled somebody got somebody got cut while we was battling oh slic so yeah in the middle of the battle so we had yeah it was it was just like every Hood was in there and I guess somebody saw somebody back then we was like on the second round I think I think it's in is in it's in one of the cocaine City DVDs huh okay cuz I met you after the battle rap Montana yeah right okay so at what point did the battle rapping turn into cocaine City DVD well things like this used to happen right I used to be on my block chilling and I used to know like Boo be the boxer which one of my homeboys Big Pun will pull up on us Big Pun will pull up on us he'll play us capital punishment you know what I'm saying he used to have these BS the silver bands that he used to have his custom made seat in there he'll come he'll hop out play as the joint you know ks1 was down the block Slick Rick was in gunhill it was just like everybody Fat Joe used to pull up all the time dipet Luca brzy and dipet used to always pull up to the block because Luca was doing Taliban thing with him so I used to see everybody so the reason why rap became such a reality for me is that I could touch everybody that was famous so it was a time where every DJ had a rapper uh K slay rest in peace had Papo green L had uncle murder clue had Fab yeah um um um Envy had um red Cafe yeah you was not going to make it into that radio unless you sign to a DJ uh you know what I'm saying yeah I remember that ER yeah yeah so for people like me and for people that coming from the Bronx it's already hard to make it we didn't have no Outlet you know after all this battl and after almost getting ourself killed and everything we still have no buzz so I was watching um Smack DVD me and my boy um at in the crib we was like yo we know all these artists but what can we do that if we do a DVD it can't look like smack we G we're going to we're going to jack the idea but let's add our own twist to it you know what I'm saying so I knew Peewee Kirkland we knew the the the you know all the all the drug dealers around around away so it was like how about we call it drugs on music where we need a message right we come from this life of negativity let's show the artists or the rappers that's coming up that this is the real drug dealers that the rappers rap about you know what I'm saying so this how you going to end up this how this stories is this whatever it is so you know like so we called it cocaine City because just a negative just spreads faster than positive so we called the cocaine City you're going to grab it but once you grabbed it and you watched it you're going to sit back and be like oh wow this what happened to PeeWee Kirkland this what happened to God Fisher this what happened to this person this what happened you know so we always had a message with it so we grabbed the drug dealers and we grabbed the artists and we I used to put myself in the middle of the DVD so instead of paying smack $225,000 to get on his DVD we created our own DVD that we going to promote and by the time I know by by the time the the the the six mix saap came out with DJ Clue we was like who Fab is by the time the six DVD came out with me in the middle acon called up i' be like yo who this kid is you know what I'm saying so my idea worked right right but what you're not mentioning right now yeah cuz I had a DVD during this time also I went for the mixtapes the mixtapes were going away because the mom and pop stores were going away CDs in general were going away so I I kind of pivoted into DVDs MH kind of like smack and I had my own thing of it I get freestyles and interviews I was more on the interview side yeah but every every brand has a a a thing that makes it different yeah exactly right smack definitely had a thing that made it different I was still trying to figure out my thing yeah but what made you different with cocaine City cuz remember I was right there yeah yeah was that you had a level of drama that other DVDs did not have yeah it was like the craziest [ __ ] ever cocaine City had a level of crazy everyone else was a little worried to touch ban like banned from TV it was I remember there was a couple moments yeah there was Lil C's naked yeah sh yeah yeah when I say naked it was like him like in a hotel room he kind of like had like a a towel on he took his towel off and you could see everything not that you wanted to see it oh my God but unfortunately you did shout out to little C's man we we we cool as [ __ ] now right and then there was the I think what kind of you know cuz you always need that one big thing yeah that kind of gets everyone talking about you and it was Jim Jones and Cameron getting jumped at Rucker Park yeah you put that out I'm saying this cuz you and Jim and cam are cool now yeah yeah of course but the history is the history yeah yeah yeah but but cocaine cocaine city was basically everything that couldn't be out on BET MTV it was even Wilder [ __ ] than that you know what I'm saying so what some of the crazier stuff that I'm not mentioning right now what's crazy what's crazy if you're not mention it cuz those two stood out to me but what else am I missing because I didn't get every volume but I was watching I would have to go back and check okay but there was always a level C was always something crazy it was yeah it was definitely crazy but there was this this guy named sunkiss yeah I remember that used to have people with the Terror Squad or yeah that he used to have people battle and whoever wins the battle get the [ __ ] a bad [ __ ] from the back now that what we we used to have some wild [ __ ] going on so if you if you win you get to you get to pick whatever bad [ __ ] you want you go out the dinner with her you get the [ __ ] her then he films it he puts it out that was that was one I remember he came on the DVD after maybe you can play his clip right after I'm you permission to play it yeah yeah yeah you can play his clip of course and he's like yo this is sunkiss I do battles and Bubbles if any of y'all [ __ ] take my ID I'mma kill you I'm going throw all this [ __ ] away and I'mma kill you that's what stood out to me out of all the joint look my name is Sun kiss Bronx Nation B you know what I mean and um I want to make a little disclaimer right now be I got this [ __ ] called battle for the bottles and the bubbles rappers battling the win [ __ ] a [ __ ] a big bus [ __ ] be I'm going to say one time I'm not trying to be gangster I'm try I'm not trying to intimidate nobody I'm dead serious if anybody come out with my idea of rappers battling and [ __ ] I'm going murder you strap him down I'm going to [ __ ] murder you no I'm not trying sound like no I'm not trying to make it scare you or trying to emphasize no gangsterism and all that but I'm dead serious be I put everything on the line for this this is my creation I created this idea and I will murder you dog I don't give a [ __ ] if you a cocaine [ __ ] Kingpin crack Kingpin murderer got 80,000 wolves going to come after me after I murder your ass I'm ready to take the consequences for that this is my food be sun kids battle for the bottles and the bubbles and it's going to be just like that no other [ __ ] coming out with battle for the bottles and the booty and all that I'm going to murder you and understand I'm going to I'm I'm take the consequences of going to jail or getting 90 [ __ ] to murder me I'm all good with that the long as I murder your ass sh shoot you in your [ __ ] skull I'm ready to take the repercussions after that this word to my mother I'm not trying to impress you with gangsterism and all that and Flash letting you know my sun kiss is not playing this is my [ __ ] don't bite my [ __ ] that's what it is okay so here you are still living in the Bronx Kan city DVDs getting a little bit of Buzz then in 2003 you had a situation mhm a serious one yeah let's talk about that I think I think I was I think I spoke about it on your [ __ ] let's let's go ahead and um no I think I was just getting too too big so basically it was almost like the nipy situation you know what I'm saying I was getting I was getting bigger than my bridges and I was still living in the hood you know I think and and I was making money people and I was making money I was I was I was you know I was bragging around the wrong people and I think um it was one night that I got up leaving a studio yeah leaving a studio I got lined up by these two guys I got sh and one of them died and you know and that night was was was one of them kns that made me realize like you know I could never be too accessible you guys shot in the head yeah where the back of my head right here okay did it just graze your head no it actually went into your head yeah they went and it came out through the top some [ __ ] like that it went through your actual skull did it hit your brain at all I don't know I don't know I don't but I mean was there any sort of like brain damage or I know I know it was I was stapled up for like for like a long time you got lucky cuz a slightly different angle a couple of is over yeah no one would know who French Montana is man let me tell you something have a grieving mother grieving uh so many so many blessings that you know Allah helped me through you know but that that that that's that's definitely one of them well and you actually got set up by someone you knew yeah do you still is this person still around the guy who set you up um I'm not saying name him I'm just I'm just asking you if this person is still around well when when when the situation happened one of the guys so I left it there okay yeah got it did that completely change your life cuz had you been you hadn't been before no it just it just it just made me realize this made me realize that I can never be accessible you know what I'm saying like I people can never see me when they want to see me you know I mean I got to see people when I when I when I want to see them you know what I'm saying it's just like you just got to move on your own time and nobody can get in touch with you it's like you can't you can't make money and go back to where you came from where everybody was broke with you I feel like that's that's that's never that never equals to a positive outcome do you feel you know like for example I've interviewed a lot of people since our last yeah last time like shakas andore he got shot and he got PTSD mhm and then the next time you know he unlike you he went right back on the Block and started hustling again and he was paranoid he he was didn't want to get shot again so when a drug deal started going a little weird and he felt like the guy might pull out on him he pulled out and killed him yeah you know what I'm saying went to prison for it got out and wrote a book and went on opra whatever but but we talked about that where it was just like when you get shot once you don't want to get shot again you know me OJ the juice man had the same kind of conversation you're you're quick to pull out because you just don't want to get shot again so did you feel that level of paranoia I I rolled around with a and a on me for like the next next five years after that yeah that's what I'm talking about yeah I was I was just I I will ride around so with so many guns on me that shout to my boy Schoo you know scdo yeah he just he borrowed one of my cars he's like he he need to go to [ __ ] North Carolina and he goes he drove all the way to North Carolina he called me and he was like he like yo bro you know you left the gun like inside the vibe and was like but that's how it was was like Mass situations like that where everywhere I was I needed a go but once you get and you get skinny and you go through that thing and paranoia and you traumatized is just I just think that it's just just normal you know what I'm saying for you to for you to think like that you just realize your life ain't yours and and and you better off you know get caught with it than without it okay well and I'm just kind of setting up a timeline Yeah couple years later in 200 six Jim Jones drops we fly high AKA Ballin yeah which was written by Max B I don't know if it was WR Max well Max B worked on that song though didn't he I don't know I don't I don't know this situation well Max B was down with they were working together during this yeah however you want to however you want to uh you know describe it Max was part of bird gang which was Jim Jones's crew yeah did you know Max during that time no no okay because a year later you came out with French Revolution volume one 2007 um was it a year later that your friend reolution yeah I remember dropping I I I remember the exact year I think it was that year yeah all right yeah and that had Straight Cash on it yeah uh that was your first song that kind of started to buzz yeah and by this time you've been putting in years of work yeah yeah you know this is not something they came overnight for you yeah yeah I was putting out a bunch of freestyles on the DVDs but I never really put out like official songs of mine right and straight cash was the first song that really started to you know Buzz and people started playing and everything else like that and you started getting some shows around this and from what I understand uh Connecticut was the one that first showed you love Yeah shout out to my man Jake he book for your first show I think he did yeah I think he booked me for my first show was me Max B and Ma zerati Fox rest in peace got it is that around the time you met uh Max B I think that is the time I met Max B okay and what was it about you two that really got you tight um I had motion in the Bronx he had motion in Harlem um basically it was I had the DVDs going this this what happens I had the DVD game unlocked and I had my music thing going he had music on lot and I was like yo bro I said if me and you put a mix saap together with a DVD I think we'll be the biggest thing in the city I had that Vision I was like yo bro I see you putting out your mix saap I'm putting out my mix saap I put out French Revolution I did all this he had Million Dollar Baby I forgot what other mixtapes he had I'm like yo bro we got a buzz like we we there but if me and you get together and do Coke Wave and we slap the cocaine City brand and do like we was like ahead of Our Time DVD with a mixtape so when we did that oh hell broke loose yeah I think uh me and game did something like that around that time as well on the west coast y copi y copied it for me possibly yeah no no I'm joking proba maybe you know I all of us were kind of you know we all we were the same Fishbowl trying to figure it out out to have yeah you know what I'm saying shout out to Chuck shout out to everybody man we were all trying to figure it out yeah yeah yeah we was all yeah we was all trying to Furey devil he did it with me as well yeah um yeah but that that was kind of like the wave because like mixtapes were kind of in transition and DVDs were the hot thing so to put a DVD in a mixtape made a lot of sense back then put both worlds together yeah exactly exactly um but that same year 2007 maxby gets arrested for murder mhm allegedly well he gets arrested for it yeah yeah there's no alleged about that whether he did it or not who knows but he gets arrested yeah now he makes you know makes bail so he's still out yeah but he has that hanging over his head mhm you also get married that same year mhm and uh you end up having a son a few years later yeah so then that next year you put out your second mixtape live from Africa yeah how did that one do um I don't remember how it do but I did but it all my mix saves did good because people love when I drop mix saves right and then you start working with Max B you guys put out the song wavy yeah and then like you said I think it was around 2009 you and Max B dropped Coke Wave yeah how did people really react to that man was you can't go to a car that wasn't playing in the city like it was just it just took the city about storm I mean New York love movements so yeah you know when we got together and we just dropped Coke Wave it was just like you know the biggest movement in the city right and then you guys dropped uh Coke wve 2 Co relatively quickly yeah Coke Wave 2 and Coke Wave 3 right this is when me and you meet right around that time I had the studio in Chinatown yeah no we kind of we we met we met before uh cook wve Oh no you're right yeah yeah we met while doing DVDs but I'm saying Vlad TV when did do um so special I'm so special right around 2009 yeah so I did that before I got with Max be okay right yeah yeah you're right I'm trying to the timeline's a little fuzzy a long timeo but yeah Vlad TV launched in 2008 in La I moved back to New York then right around 2009 I had that studio in Chinatown and then me and you started doing interviews and we started filming some of your music videos and putting them up on our YouTube channel and it was like okay this is one of the hot DS in New York this is you know this is this this is very important for young artists coming up and young entrepreneurs to hear our story though yeah it's just it's just because it's so many so many entrepreneurs and Rappers that's coming up in the game that even even like you know when you look at everything that's going on it's hard for them to fit in so what we did was kind of something that's so special when we was ahead of our time so now if you a young artist you got to really pay attention and and and always try to go through the window when everybody's trying to get through the door that's what we did you know well it was a bunch of dudes dud that were like in their late 20s early 30s that were hustling in New York trying to figure out yeah where we fit in none of us had deals yeah none of us had money exactly shout to fendy fendy had to come upy had to come up DVD there was a bunch of different DVDs Terrell Blair and um shot the um tone in them they had um streets um they started doing a documentary they started doing um I forgot what they call but they had all the documents shout Subzero Subzero that was another came yeah we were all the same Fishbowl yeah we created we created like a like like like a whole movement right this is before YouTube yeah yeah right no YouTube was start no YouTube was very early in the process YouTube actually was around at that time it's 2008 when shout out to smack man he's he he he was the king of it all he created he created something they got us all out the hood they got us all like situated you know what I'm saying I think all of us benefited off of that exactly exactly uh and then you hooked up with Harry Fraud yeah and you guys put out New York minute yeah featuring Jus so the thing is with Harry Fraud is when Max B got locked up I was the most black boiled artist you know what I'm saying and and and nobody wanted to [ __ ] with me because you know it I was just you know we was beefing with everybody right well Max B was beefing with Jim Jones yeah and you were line with Maxx Max B so that's how thing happened yeah but it's like I was the most black boy artist so everybody counted me out it's like I was just about to get my deal Max B about to get his deal was just about to take off Max be is 75 years well he's not locked up yet but he's facing 75 years yeah yeah yeah no this is this this is after he got locked up I mean no we haven't gotten there yet okay yeah he he he got arrested but remember he was still out he was fighting it he was fighting he was dropping music dropping music I remember Max during this time man like you could tell how heavy it was Weighing on him CU he was always drunk cuz we was drinking gallons of heny every night gallons like I remember I went to this to Dame greas Studio I met you that's where we did that one interview we talking about the shooting we were trying to do something with Max and Max was just falling down drunk was right but I can imagine if I had a murder hanging over my head I'd probably be the same way yeah it what yeah I remember it was it was in M Verna exactly yeah exactly so New York minute was a song that started a buzz and mace jumped on it mace jumped on it he M mace wasn't rapping at the time right he was Pastor mace yeah and I like and he just loved the song he just you know we we got the Govern and he just did a verse on it and Nicki Minaj jumped on it right yeah yeah Nikki actually I remember Nikki came by my studio well the studio I was renting a table from essentially in Chinatown just to do a verse crazy and I remember we were sitting around and no one knew who she was and she got in the booth and everyone was like who is this yeah damn like you know certain people are just so good that you just have to stop and notice she was one of those early on yeah exactly right now you end up hooking up with Gabby from SRC yeah he introduced you to Aon yeah and then you signed like a shopping deal with acon yeah Aon was signed me to [ __ ] 10year contract The conf Gabby was my um he was my manager at the time he pulled me to the side he's like bro you know you're not signing that right so Gabby was already up on Kanye I mean on on acon he was like yo we're going to sign a shopping deal let's see what he can do right he end up not getting you a deal yeah right is this around the time you gave you the fake watch nah came later that came way after that came way after that matter of fact it was like two a year matter of fact it was it was around the time yep it was it was me and Max you went to go see him yep right he end up giving you a real watch later on I don't know I got to check shout out to a that's my man you understand like I love acon he I love Aon he always does interviews let me tell let me tell you something what people don't realize is the opportunity he gave me meant more than any watch he could ever give me more than anything me and him always joke around like this is like like this is like I joke when I see him I be like yo what's up with the watch we laugh but him giving me that opportunity kind of you know you know when you believe in yourself but when somebody else believe in you it just takes it somewhere else and that's what he did for me so to to Aon I tell my hat to him he's like you know one of my favorite people in the world and here's where things are going full circle and this is like I said this is like a master class on how you come up in the music game this is me and you are showing people how this actually works yeah right around that time Vlad TV was around but we hadn't really had that one big video yet m and Joe bun and Ransom started beefing yeah I was kind of in the middle of that in terms of interviewing Ransom and everything else like that and Ransom gave me a video of him slapping Joe Bun's man por when he like go get that [ __ ] yeah yeah yeah yeah we put it out and gby I remember later on told me how they watched that video hundreds of times no I was yeah me and Max used to watch all it was viral before viral was was a word yeah and I remember right around that time the situation in that Chinatown Studio was was getting dicey for me I wasn't getting along with a dude that owned it me and him start arguing he was getting jealous because I was always have all these artists coming through and I was starting to come up and I was like man [ __ ] this studio and I remember Gabby told me that you got in gb's ear said yo you got to get Vlad over at SRC you got to bring him over there this is the next hot dude right now 1 million Gabby approached me yeah we packed up our [ __ ] yeah and Vlad TV moved into SRC in the Universal building and became part of the we became I mean this was a big deal for us we went from a a grungy little studio in Chinatown to now being really having desks in the biggest Music Company in the world which allowed us to have access to all types of artists yeah one and you're being managed by Gabby and it was like this just shows how relationships are important how everyone is helping each other out and you know what I'm saying like everyone is playing position 1 million you weren't trying to be a DVD guy anymore I wasn't trying to be a rapper yeah everyone is every Everybody stepped in what where go exactly exactly right around that time MH maxby gets found guilty on nine of 11 counts M including felony murder mhm and he gets sense to was it 75 years yeah 75 when you heard that what you think think I mean I was in I was inside the um I was inside the courthouse damn when he just he just turned around looked at me I looked at him and it was just like yo he held it down like there's hope you know and and man I mean I was with him the whole time when he was thinking about it and it's crazy situation you know what I'm saying I mean you heard you I mean you heard people get 3 to n 10 even 25 25 sounds crazy yeah when you you hear 75 you in you you're in unbelief you you you think you somebody speaking Chinese or something like you think like like this can't be real you know yeah I can't imagine that number because people don't live to 75 years old sometimes he was already maybe 30 at the time yeah so so talking about getting out 105 years old like it's not a realistic number it's basically he got life yeah basically he got life and after he died is still going to own his coffin basically that's that's that's what it is pretty much pretty much and you got to understand that this is 2009 it's 2024 right now he's still locked up yeah I've been hearing oh he's getting out this is happening yeah he be he he he he got his um his thing cut down he gave the elbow back and now he's looking like he's going to come home this year or next year the latest right but he's still locked up yeah right now as we speaking yeah he's still in the jail C so everyone needs to understand how serious this [ __ ] is it these are not slaps on the wrist this certain types of things there are some heinous consequences he he he could have been with you the whole time blowing up and living in mansions and fly that's saying about this rap [ __ ] is like this is all we know like you know like for me to for me to lose everybody to it from from from you know my you know my brother getting deported to Max be getting 75 years when your brother get deported to Morocco and to chinks what are the deportation happen that happened later yeah I mean that time it just happened like two years ago okay got but to chinks dying to everything it's like we'll get into all that it's like it's like we gave this hip-hop [ __ ] everything that you know what I'm saying that we love like you know what I mean like say this this game is like is in you it's like this is all we know it's like yeah you know what I'm saying so yeah yeah that that that's that that was definitely something that stunk when Max B got 75 of course of course you know like your dog I got all these plans this and that and just like crushed right cuz I'm sure he had deals on table and so forth but who wants to sign someone who's about to potentially get yeah life in prison when they snatched everything away from him they snatched everything away from me too yeah cuz you're you're lumped in with him yeah okay so that next year 2010 you put out mac and cheese 2 Nicki Minaj is on it with Khalifa big sea currency yeah nipy hustle yeah how are you praying all these relationships cuz this I feel is like been your super power since day one yeah I mean honestly Nikki she just loved the song you know what I'm saying um I met Nikki I think a couple times with because she was with findy and I think we we met around that time and I was like y I need a verse on this song cuz she did that she did the freak song on my first album oh I mean we always had a great relationship you know what I'm saying we always had a great relationship um nipy hustle he used to come to in New York we used to go to my man Austin studio and uh Austin used to have um shout to Austin he's um at this moment he's post Malone manager so shout out to my guy Austin he used to have a studio called electric field in the city on 54th Street and I used to just go there and record and um I met Whiz Khalifa there I met nipy hustle there um was Khalifa had brought in big sea I didn't even know Big Sean but wh Khalifa was like yo just let him do a verse on this song real quick so it was a song called I'm on it it's me nipy Whiz Khalifa and big sea on that record yeah so yeah they and and honestly all these guys was just at that time they might have been mainstream but I had more buzz in the street uhuh you know what I'm saying and I had the East Coast so um whiz used to be you know still is a big fan of Max big fan of the wave always listen to our [ __ ] you know what I'm saying nipy hustle was from the West Coast so it only made sense for him to do a record with me in the east coast like we always try to expand so we all it wasn't like I was getting features with like a Kanye at the time or like a Jay-Z at the time it was just like me and my peirs was like underground rappers in their yeah this is like the guy French signed yeah or or unsigned but buzzing yeah yeah yeah so like this French monana he got the Coke Wave mix saves and mac and cheese he's in the studio y'all want to do record but hell yeah let's get in the so it was like that everybody was just like this close to each other right cuz then you put out uh you know Coke Boys mixtape which had 36 mafia Gucci mang yeah acon Fat Joe I drove down to Memphis drove I drove to Memphis what is that like a 15 hour drive yeah like I had three people that was on the run in the car with me we was getting blasted on the road we got pulled over we went to go see Juicy J um Project Pat yeah and and we did the co U cocaine Mafia mix saap right exactly and then you drop Chopper chopper down yeah with Waka Flaka yeah and that became your first hit down south down south yes New York was not playing my records right so I went down south and I went I did the mixtape with with with three Six Mafia mhm then I went then I went down south and I dropped Chopper chopper down yeah and I dropped Chopper chopper down the record was so crazy then um Ross jumped on it and down south was just like I remember Flex calling me like yo I'm asking him was the biggest record in Miami they're like is this record called Chopper chopp it down I was like by who they like French Montana and he Flex was like yo we're not even playing him up here so that's how that went like was this rather the time that you signed in terms of a management deal with waca fla's Mom de Deb bney yeah right she was man managing Gucci May was Nicki Minaj was being managed at the same time or she was managed before by Deb um Nicki Minaj was managed before okay she had already left by that time right later on things went real south Deb she end up suing you I think she won a $2 million settlement or or or payment or something all that got worked out eventually yeah all I got worked out just miscommunication gotcha I know Deb Deb's cool people yeah yeah shout out to Deb man I mean look like I like I said same thing with Aon you know these people they all gave me opportunity you know what I'm saying like family fight yeah friends fight Brothers fight everybody fight well then in 2011 you Dro shot collar yeah was that your first like kind of hit song in a way in terms of like they was not trying to let me make it there was not I I was fighting since 2002 at this point when I dropped my first cocaine City DVD that's cocaine City the deal with acon the mix saap with the 360 we still un sign at this point still un sign the Straight Cash I'm doing shows I'm have to chop it down I was getting 15,000 20,000 a night cuz I had that I had Straight Cash I had the mixtapes with Max B I had my Mac and Cheese mixtape I had New York minute I had like a full a full clip so I was I would get 20,000 a night I'm saying that people knew who I was you know what I'm saying no deal no deal no nothing no real radio play no nothing New York wasn't playing me I had to go down south make Cho it down I do I did three remixes to it I had Wago on it I had [ __ ] Ross on it I had three6 on it so when when when when Shak Cola came out it it had to be an undeniable hit that people was like this guy just don't give up just let him in and that's how that moment was it was just like look we counted him out he locked in this this and that and that was the moment that was the moment when I was like okay I'm in the game now right after that that's when the Real Deals start coming on the table Yeah cuz I remember I was at SRC mhm I remember we were sitting in Steve rifkin's office Steve was out of town like usual yeah and you were tell telling me about the various deals that were on the table it was like puffy had a deal on the table Kanye had a deal on the table Rock Nation J deal on the table and I'm sure there were some other ones also that were Flo I came I came to Steve riffkin when I had Chopper chopper down I walked in the office it was him and Gabby and and Gabby was manager I like yo Steve give me $200,000 let me go make music you know what I'm saying just let me St like I'll give it to you I give it to you never got it never got it I Dro which funny because gobby's the president yeah of SRC Steve is like the CEO but yeah so I don't know what type of Steve makes the final call yeah yeah yeah so I asked for 200,000 you know what I'm saying and and it's like and and I dropped shot Cola like like three months after that like I was like my my rid was like this like little by little but going up going up right but everyone has to understand that right around that time Drake had a chance to sign SRC and I think like he wanted like two million and they gave him like 1.5 and he was like nah I don't remember what the exact numbers were but it was there was a lot of people that I'm sure Steve riffkin regrets not signing but he also signed a lot of good ones so he he signed Aon wuang wuang Big Bun 36 mafia David bner Remy right you don't you don't really know yeah hindsight is 2020 you could kick yourself but you could also say who who knew there's also a lot of people he signed that went nowhere exactly so I'm not going to I'm not going to name them but a I got to see so many artists get signed I was going to get the red carpet because gby was my manager so and he was the president yeah it I mean well because it's a big gamble when you sign somebody yeah because not only do you sign him that's why I came to him with 200,000 it's like bro like this is like nothing it's like [ __ ] tax right off you right but he also probably has to spend about a million to promote you to yeah to get to a point so it's it's a big it's a big play it's not just, but then it didn't make sense I asked him for 200,000 fast forward 10 years later now he works with me helping God manage me right funny right so it's it's like yo bro you didn't want to give me the money now 10 years later you work with Gabby to manage me it's like bro I believe now yeah I feel you so shot collar comes out like I like we said and now you have Real Deals on the table and out of all those you go with Diddy um that's not how it really went was it did he was it bad boy MMG yeah I went to go see Ross and Ross was like I got an opportunity for you I don't have the money for you but I got the opportunity I guess cuz the same thing Meek did the same thing W did I guess whatever the way his the situation his his labor was it he wasn't trying to give me the money I wanted and I wanted like a whole bunch of money and but he was like look let's do it like this let's co- puff and let's get him to give you the bag you can still be MMG slash you know what I'm saying bad boy Coke Boys yep right how much way did you get 2 million okay yeah from puff from from um in scope inner scope yeah bad boy yeah MMG the whole [ __ ] how do that feel to be grinding because at this point this is 10 years in I mean by Honestly by the time I got it I didn't even it was just like overdue you know like when you you know Allah always give you things like when you when you ready for them never when you want them you know what I'm saying when I got it I was ready to work right but I'm glad I got it at that time because after shot caller I had missiles yeah so maybe if I got it before I'd have probably you know I had chop it down then I would like it it just happened at the right time exactly and you puff became very close over the years yeah yeah I mean he called you like his Guardian Angel and stuff like that no he was my dog he was my I mean we was was doing a lot of business together you know what I'm saying doing a lot of business together and and you know he was he was somebody that was making money without rapping yeah a lot of money and I kind of took a lik to that because who the [ __ ] wants to rap their whole career you know what I'm saying even you know when I see artists not not taking No Breaks cuz it comes with a lot you know what I'm saying rapping comes with a lot especially when when you dropping albums clearances this that videos this it's like like about it's like dropping an album is like having a baby you know what I'm saying and that's that's that's what what it basically is so I was taking a lot of liking to not to not raping so I was learning that's why I got the French vanilla sck with him and all the other things that I was getting done so I was taking a lot of notes and you know right around the time that you're signing SRC is essentially closing up shop yeah so we had to move out yeah and I Vlad TV had to go to this next chapter yeah and uh you know that [ __ ] never gave me credit for bringing you there well I'm giving it to you now oh thank you thank you my brother appreciate absolutely appreciate absolutely so it was like me and you at that point had kind of weren't around each other on a regular basis and you're doing your career I'm doing my career and so forth and that's when I feel things started to just take off for you yeah stay scheming was the first Monster record um I think as soon as I signed my deal yeah I went to Ross crib we recorded right and state scheman came out of that so I think that was right and Drake is on that record Drake is on that record I remember um I remember um um Ross Ross um telling me to come by the crib and um I went and he was like yo I played Drake the whole album and he was trying to get Drake on another song but when Drake heard that stay schem and he was just like this is like a street record but with a hook but you know but when we did it me and Ross did it we wasn't even like it was just like like in the mood like it wasn't like me and him were just talking out [ __ ] this and that so it wasn't we wasn't expecting it to be that big put it like that but then came your single pop that right after you Drake Lil Wayne and Rick Ross again the song goes platinum mhm and you're Off to the Races so go platinum then I drop iron wor about nothing yeah like like like two months right after right right I remember there's a little bit of drama behind the pop that record because you sampled Luke yeah on the hook yeah and I remember Luke publicly came out and was like yo I never got paid for this this is illegal yeah but what people don't understand was that Luke had file for bankruptcy a few years before that oh I know that yeah Luke had file for bankruptcy and had to essentially sell his whole catalog to somebody else he got picked up by this by his Jewish lawyer yeah yeah yeah crazy so he owned that whole catalog so you just licensed it from the owner yeah I see I didn't even know all that yeah see I a even I didn't even know all that so I think Uncle Luke has said something about it and I didn't even know and I asked puff and puff called Uncle Luke like yo but you got remember I'm a young kid in the game right so I'm like chink's drugs gave me the song So chinx gave me the song in the studio and I just I just hear a sample I don't know about Uncle Luke so we just used it and I guess he had said something publicly yeah and I was like yo po I don't know like he like I called him he called him I they they strained everything out well right cuz I remember you did an interview around that time yeah and he you were like I remember this this was just a ill ill little statement you said we paid for that record yeah paying for something that you don't own that's extortion yeah you know like what do you want me to do pay for twice I already paid for yeah yeah you're not going extort me yeah exactly that's probably that's probably how I looked at it cuz I didn't know I I didn't know what it was exactly yeah but now you have a platinum single yeah your platinum single yeah featuring other people featuring essentially the biggest rappers in the game at that point yeah and now yeah and and yeah to this day they still are pretty much the biggest rappers in the game then you make it on the double XL uh Freshman Class 2012 which includes future Kid Inc Danny Brown M lore Don Trip Hopson IG iselia Rosco Dash and MGK mhm some of those are still very prominent some of those are kind of underground some of them AR rapping anymore but yeah was an interesting little lineup you know how go we we used to see that dou black C cover was just like how how how cocaine city was like so I knew that I was like every time we put rappers on it by the time the next volume come out like 20 out of 23 rappers don't even exist no more so I kind of knew what that double XL cover when I was on I was like yo next year man half of these people probably not even be like you know yeah man I mean shout to them all man yeah I mean staying in the rap game is one of the hardest jobs to do yeah but that's how it was with me though like when I did Cho it down I did shot Cola Shak Cola was a song that I did by myself then when I did stay scheming and pop that people was like these songs too big he can't do a record by himself then I dropped I worry about nothing boom so I've been going through that [ __ ] like my whole career like you know but but you are I mean to be fair every every artist is different you're someone that gets a lot of features yeah some people don't want no features yeah right some people are like my record you know jcole for example J Cole doesn't is not feature heavy you look at his albums it's jcole all the way through no other rappers like Rich the kid is every song got two or three yeah hey man listen whatever works but people always like to poke whatever they do it to me they do it to you that's of course and then I remember right around that time you went back to Morocco for the first time in 17 years your dad didn't even know you were coming yeah yeah he did so what was it like to see your dad who essentially abandoned your family yeah for the first time and you brought your your younger brother with you also yeah yeah what was that I mean the same thing I told you when I walked in here earlier I like if Allah can forgive us then who am I not to forgive you only get two parents I seen I seen a lot of my friends that never forgave their parents and when their parents died it was too late to forgive you know and and you know um and I'm a student I'm a student of life you know what I'm saying I learn life I I try I try to do it all because I'm I everything I do is not for me I do everything for the higher power so you know if if if I live for me then I'm not I'm not on the right track well didn't you mention at one point that your dad tried to hit you up for a bunch of money yeah yeah he try hit me for a bunch of money I mean it happens to everybody that's famous you know what I'm saying but he was I guess he was uh with a he started going out with a female that was telling him why your son got you living like this but she also don't know that how he left us you know what I'm saying so but when I went back as soon as I seen him I dropped money in his bag I made sure he was good I you know yeah you know that's that's your father man you ain't going to get another one right 2013 debut album comes out excuse my French featuring Diddy Nikki number one hip hop Drake Ace Hood Lil Wayne Birdman weekend yeah RI cross two chains Max B Neo Machine Gun Kelly rayquan Scarface Snoop Dog uhhuh remember what I said about the feature heavy exactly it's your thing Rock lean into it yeah that's what I'm saying like you know I'm a cool cat man everybody like me yeah you know what I'm saying I love I love I love bringing magic out of people you know number four on Billboard yeah number one hip-hop album number one hip-hop album yeah how did it feel this is man how many years 11 years since you started yeah bro cuz you think decade cuz you think CU you think about it when you first start rapping you just want people down a block to know your name you know what I'm saying you're not really thinking about platinum albums and and and and Platinum singles and things like that so it was an excitement and you know I miss my brother so much I dropped it on his birthday Max B birthday I dropped it on Max B bigy Small's birthday I remember it was it was May and had the biggest singles the album came out it had the biggest single on it and it was just it was it was it was a great time to be alive was it around this time you signed little Dirk to cokeboys um around this time Dirk was around us I never signed Dirk I remember that because I remember when we you know I done a bunch of interviews with d later on he goes I was never officially signed so then after the death Jam thing you signed with French yeah okay and what happened with that cuz you're no you're no longer with French either oh yeah like through the situation it was just like um it was just like brotherly love you know what I'm saying and um he he didn't Build Me Up know what I'm saying like did [ __ ] for him that ain't never like Jets and man I and open up his career to me you know what I'm saying but I was young at the time so when it was like time for contracts I had like people on my ear um like no I think then it was just so confusing that the time span just just watered down and he was just like damn bro I explained to I talked to him every day still and I was just like yeah just young and dumb that's all okay so you're saying you never really signed the Coke Boys then no okay you guys were just Affiliated yeah but it like if it came down to it like my head was on right I would have yeah yeah he was a sign but you had seen the potential early on yeah I saw the potential I remember um Dirk got I don't know if he had got I think Death Jam dropped him or Death Jam didn't want nothing to do with him and and he was he was he was at the space where you know where all you know like when like when you get in that space and you kind of like don't know what's your Niche and you don't know if you're going to stay with Death Jam or go your way or do this or do that but you know just I met d and I took a liy to him I just you know I treated him like he was one of my brothers and and and you know with chinx with chinx also I never had to deal with him ah okay yeah I never I never signed him it was we were just brothers it was just us against the world type [ __ ] you know what I'm saying so I never I never made money off chinx I never made money off Dirk you know what I'm saying like everything I did I did out of love I spent hundreds of thousands on chinks you know what I'm saying and and and I put I put Dirk on his first jet when we shot the V video like he'll tell you that like it was just like I always believ the movements you know what I'm saying like yo we G to get on we're GNA have our own movement going to be the Coke Boys movement Dirk dropped his mixtape OTF Coke Boys we was running for a couple years you know what I'm saying yeah yeah I was running a CP like now look where Dirk is now yeah but I seen it I seen it early so so now just like I told y'all you know what I'm saying chins is going to be the same way yeah Dirk is still mad at me man why uh we accidentally put out a part of his video where he talked about like the gender of his child it was a it was a mess up by my crew you know by my staff wasn't something we did on on purpose but he he's still mad this is why I don't [ __ ] with Vlad was one on one of his albums yeah yeah but I had apologize publicly you know when I found out that's what it was about yeah I'm like Derk I'm sorry this wasn't this is we're not in the business of exposing babies like you know this is not what we do yeah I have a big staff they [ __ ] up so you know it's too bad because I was rocking with with Dirk heavy his early inter you know I mean if you got a number on him just no I got you just text him and say I'm sorry I got sincere you know if he's mad at me I could take it you know what I'm saying but it was it was an accident was it wasn't intentional with the success problems start and I think that same year your tour bus got shot at and one person ended up dying yeah can you talk about that situation um I think we was just in at the wrong place at the wrong time and um I mean look man we in we in we in a hip-hop game is that's not the first that that wasn't the first one and it wasn't the last one after that you know who died exactly it was it was a friend that came with a friend that came with a friend that you know entour you didn't actually know no I didn't I didn't really know he came with somebody and I felt so bad so I bet yeah yeah yeah I mean you you know I mean but honestly it's like when people come around you don't know who they have problems with this person had problems with this person not say that he he was the one that had the problem but it might have been other people that had problems with other people or this and that so you never know like that's why I stop hanging around with so many people because oh yeah you got to keep a small circle yeah nobody's telling you about their problems when they come around you yeah everybody's think they escaping their problems and you end up getting shot at because you know that's that that's the number one thing I had to learn all right so you were in the tour bus when this happened um yeah I was on the tour bus y so you were actually seeing the bullets fly hit the bus and anything else like that yeah yeah that's crazy yeah yeah was crazy yeah okay so that next year 2014 DJ khaled's They Don't Love You No More MH featuring you MH cross me Jay-Z that was my first feature with Jay-Z you have a song with JayZ now yeah how did that feel when that really sunk in I mean it was just a blessing you know it's like it was a blessing to have a record with Jay-Z um at that point at that point I was on I was on fire so I was just like you know it is what it is you could be on fire and never get a Jay-Z feature I'm just saying Jay-Z is you can't buy a Jay-Z feature yeah right you can't go how much for a verse yeah there's no price tag on that he has to want to do that record yeah yeah yeah for sure so that's what I'm saying and and and and the hook is the most important part of the song So if the hook ain't right that mean you know I mean I was on the hook of the record so yeah he had the hear and he was like you know what this is this one of those mhm now I remember I interviewed Trina yeah and you guys were in a relationship at some point yeah we were cool at that point yeah she said that when you came to Miami you would stay with her yeah now now it was real cool at that it it was a real a real thing she spoke highly of you no I speak highly of her every time too yeah well me in French was never in a relationship we were friends he was a great friend of mine were and um I just think sometimes in a friendship you need to learn the friend you need to build with that person to make sure this is a person that you really want to be around and a person that you're giving your energy and your time to you're with almost every single day for almost two years uh she introduced you to the Kardashians hell no no hell no that's not true okay hell no I um I met I met Khloe when I went to uh to studio session with Ross okay Chloe was actually in the studio her and Scott D with Ross and Meek Mills that's how you met Chloe yeah because at one point you started dating Chloe yeah how I met I met I met her that night actually I met her that night this how it happened met her that night with um with Ross and meek cuz she had went to like a Ross concert or something earlier in that day M um and I went there I didn't get her number at the studio I went back to um I went back to my crib and I had a puff I'm like yo I saw Khloe I want her to come with me to this thing that that I had cuz when I when I saw her in the studio I asked her I like you want to come with me to the show she was like yeah but I never grabbed her number right there m I hit a puff I'm like you got her number and puff sent her a text like yo French want your number she was like give it to him then I got her number I text her and we start you know we start kicking it yeah I think uh you and me were at a puffy son's birthday party in La yeah and the two of you were hanging out I remember you guys introduced us yeah yeah at that point I was like okay can I take a picture with her and you're like no no no she don't take pictures like things are real you know serious with the Kardashians and pictures it was lowkey was very lowkey but yeah I remember the only time I met her was was with with you yeah uh that one night um and it seemed like you guys got a little serious I think she even said that you know she'd love to marry you at one point yeah what happened I don't know I don't know what happened you were going through a divorce at this time yeah no this is way after oh is it because well I think you settled the divorce right around that time yeah yeah yeah think I was I went through my divorce then you know I think I was just I was just having fun you know what I'm saying I I was having fun with life and and and you weren't ready to settle down yeah I think I just came from a fiveyear relationship and I was just you know I was moving this and that but you know for for the for the time I spent with all of them I know you know I appreciate every moment of it but I was just I yeah I was just I had too much things to accomplish too much to do now at one point right around 2015 you and 50 cents start going at it mhm what was that over cuz I never quite understood it I don't even remember that's what I'm saying I don't even remember but but honestly like after he dropped that BMF like I told him I said me and him Ain got no problems man you know that's my favorite show right I feel like 50 kind of went light on you compared to what he did to other people yeah yeah I mean but you know when I was coming up me and fif had a had a you know had a friendship you know what I'm saying so it was cool it wasn't we just be joking around here and there listen there were times where 50 was mad at me yeah and now from what I understand me and 50 are in a decent place CU you know me and Tony yo rock with each other he's a regular on my show yeah you know what I'm saying yeah shout out to yo man yo man yeah he shouted you out video that made it rounds on social media he's definit he's yo was definitely one of them people that when me and Max B was doing our thing he showed up record early on he he yeah he's he definitely one of them people that got his ass to the streets early and he definitely called me a Max B and he was like yo pull up let's let's do this song he he he actually was on the first cave yeah before everybody started jumping on the wave he was he was one of the first people he hit us before we was we was here so you know we always appreciate that you know what I'm saying shout out to Yo listen like everyone has a superpower right everyone's great at something and yo superpowers loyalty yeah like when when the AO [ __ ] with you yeah he will go to the ends of the Earth yeah he will let you know if anyone has a problem with you he will he will not let anyone around slander your name he stand up like you know yo rocks with me now and like it's interesting what our relationship is now at one point M had problems yeah but people get over [ __ ] yeah you know what I mean like a lot of these a lot of these beefs get sort of blown out because they get into social media and whatever but yeah most times the conversation and business on top of that usually fixes all that yeah but you got to remember like back in the days like cocaine City like I used to be in the office on 30th street right Closs street from the garden I used to go in there and kick offic yeah yeah I used to go in there and just kick her with kick her with you know what I'm saying kick her with them and fif used to be doing the pimp and curly and and yo was in there rest in peace Maserati Fox it was just like we all we all you know I was on a come up when it was flaming hot right 50 was a superstar by the Yeah Yeah Yeah it was it was just you know just a lot of memories there exactly exactly well Ching's drugs was your man yeah you guys were always real tight and I remember we did an interview with him in 2015 mhm and I think that ended up being his last interview yeah I realized I had to gift for raap and I was saying like Junior High School I started taking it seriously yeah about seventh grade you know what I'm saying I started to take the money that I was hustling with you know what I'm saying I was making off a hustling and I would take that money and put it into the studio and you know what I'm saying put my money back into myself and you know what I'm saying I started that at a young age and I never stopped since then cuz he ended up getting killed that year mhm what was the situation around that man nobody knew really yeah no so no one ever got convicted or anything somebody got convicted but but until then nobody knew it was a situ situation that he had in the past that had nothing to do with like by of the time it's like things like that in life just because you changed your life and you and you decide to do positive things and switch your whole life around it doesn't mean that that kid you you know you stole that candy from in [ __ ] junior high schools not forgot about it and it like you know it's like this we do we come from a long life of negativity that certain [ __ ] going to catch up to you yeah and it's like just because you changed your life for the past 5 years doesn't mean you ain't spent 20 years doing dirt so I guess it was early situations I don't know about I still don't understand I don't know what's going on you know and and and that's when I got to the bottom of it that's that's what I got to find out I mean I interviewed Daryl strawberry recently you know who has like three World Series rings and everything and he said something that really stuck with me he said you could pick your sins but you can't pick your consequences yeah so you could do whatever you want to do yeah but you don't know what's gonna happen afterwards yeah just keep that in mind as you go through life you don't know when that thing from 20 years ago is going to catch up yeah you you you've forgotten about it gotten over it you're a different person you've moved on but exactly there might still be a consequence attached to that exactly ler because the way it happened it didn't make sense you know what I'm saying it was just like him chilling at 4:00 a.m. with with security leaving the way it happen it just sounded like somebody had it out for him yeah you know what I'm saying then when we got we got to the bottom of it it was how how bad did that hit you when you found out come on dog it's like first you lose Max then chains like your right hand is like you lose all motivation to make music F just [ __ ] the music you lose you lose all motivation in life in general CU you're like if somebody could just snatch my right and my left hand off of me then yeah what you know what I'm saying like you got left yeah yeah so it's like I'm still standing it's like I'm losing everybody around me yeah it's like it's like that [ __ ] crushes you you know what I'm saying you crush cuz now the people that motivated me to make music and not here so what like and these are my do that chew with me every day like when I wake up I call Chin like yo pull up this Max the same thing we damn need to live together so it's definitely a tragic yeah man sad situation I always like the guy we had him on Vlad TV yeah right I would if I was [ __ ] with him been through L yeah sad sad I mean and it's like was that the first person we interviewed who died violently after our interview it it may have been MH it may have been I mean and since then you have young greatness mhm you have FBG Duck no you you have a lot of people man you have a lot of people who died violently did you have an interview Maserati Fox uh I knew him but I'm not sure if I interviewed him but yeah another one who someone I knew he was probably on VL TV at one point I mean I've done the interview myself but yeah a lot of people man a lot way too many yeah that's what I'm saying way too many well that year Kanye's all day M end up getting nominated for Grammy yeah are you on that record no I produced it you produced it yeah exactly so there's a lot of producers on there right I remember like it's like I looked it up there's yeah shout out to Chloe on that record we went to go see Kanye and me and her okay me and her went to go see Kanye he had he had a crib on a um in Beverly Hill somewhere and he was he was he was recalling I'm about winning out and me and her sitting down and we we were supposed to do a song me and him yeah and chlo and I was playing beats chlo Chloe told Kanye she was like take one of these [ __ ] beats and do them like she how she was talking to she was like she talking to like that in front of everybody she like take one of these [ __ ] beats and do them right now I'm like y you whing she was dead serious and he went and he wrapped over three of those beats that I had on the computer and one of them beats ended up being a single that's how crazy it is right I'm looking at this song yeah songwriters and producers is like like a mile long yeah Kanye Paul McCartney yeah uh Sean comes Mike Dean yeah he you yeah he every Travis Scott plain Pat no but yeah but I I walked in and I gave him the beat right no I I'm not I'm not downplaying I'm just say that by the time it was done but he does that but I could easily like be like no I don't want nobody on my [ __ ] yeah but I you know I'm not I'm not I'm not one of them people that need money just like all right just give me my credit is that when you met Kanye around that time no I met Kanye when I when I dropped shot caller oh when he was trying to sign you back then yeah he called me and he Deb was trying to get me to sign with Kanye ah would have that could have really worked out that was that was Deb choice for me Deb was like yo go with Kanye don't go with puff you know what I'm saying but I remember when I met up with Kanye he invited me to breakfast it was mad early I want to go meet him Matt early so I I was I was sitting there talking to him and he was just like the whole time he was talking about his vision this and that he had good music this and that but then at the end of the conversation I realized I was just sitting there and and and and Kanye was just talking about like the fashion and everything that he was going to do and I was like yo how am I going to hit you up he was like here's my email he do have a phone yeah like here's my email this and I was like all right I for me it was more especially how it was coming up it was more me and Ross had like a real friendship me and puff me and you know Wayne Drake everybody was like real friendship and he was talking about he was moving to London when I was talking to him like I'm about to move to London I'm g go real hard on the um you know and all this stuff this and that like he's going to move and I was just like email you like I don't I don't even have a email you know what I'm saying I'm like but but throughout the time from that time I sat down with him to now we became one of the closest friends so yeah shout shout out to Kanye I just dropped the album with two Kanye records on it so exactly yeah exactly and like I said that song got nominated for Grammy that was your first Grammy nomination was my first Grammy nomination right yeah that next year you dropped one of my favorite records you've ever done figur it out yeah it's wave Gods wa the name of the song is wave gods no the name of the album is wave God the album is wave guys the song is figured out yeah figured out featuring Kanye and Nas that was like now that see now now you see so after doing the song with Jay-Z Nas n um um hit me and he was like yo I'm working on this movie This and That w w I need a record I just sent him a record he knocked it out and I was like yo I need to make this my single and he was like all right let's do it so this is this is a snappo fact so Kanye and Nas always knew each other but that day in the video I remember hopping out the trailer and NZ was outside he was like you really got both of us to come to a video shoot it was like it was one of those moments where it's was like yo young man you should be really proud of yourself you got me and Kanye in the desert and I was like that's one that was like one of my you know my most proudest moments you know what I'm saying I was like yo I got the biggest they was like the biggest at the moment absolutely and it was like right by where they shot KH a at so nobody had shot video shot to EAA he found a spot like a overnight thing like we had to do it Kanye was like I'm flying back from Paris that's when I took like one of kany yees that never dropped and somebody stoen from me yeah but that was like one of the moments and after that after that song Kanye and Nas got together and did their album so I feel proud of putting them together right well and then that same year all the way up oh yeah you fat Joe Remy Ma Jay-Z jumped on the remix right yes so that was my second Jay-Z exactly yeah and that song gets nominated for two Grammys yeah so now you're back yeah nominated for Grammys again didn't win unfortunately yeah but it was like Anthem yeah yeah exactly in New York exactly right around that time some pictures came out where you were on vacation with igalia oh my God I was living my life man you living your life was that a a longterm thing or just a man shout out to Iggy she's a beautiful person we was kicking it for a little bit yeah I mean it was last a couple months there you go but shout out to Iggy man she's one of the best people yep so I guess right around that time you're supposed to drop album but it got leaked so you end up just dropping on a mixtape yeah I was supposed to drop an album but it but it got leaked I was supposed to drop Mac and Cheese 4 mixtape yeah it got leaked so I scrapped it uhhuh and I just went straight to Jungle rules exactly that's your second album that's my second album number three on Billboard number three on you kind of yeah jumped up a spot yeah for the last one yeah that had future Travis the weekend yeah Fel Young Thug quo TI sway Lee so you had a few singles on there uhhuh no pressure was one of the singles yeah featuring Future mhm that did pretty well mhm but then Unforgettable mhm featuring swaye yeah did you have any idea what you had on your hands yeah okay yeah I defin I definitely knew what I had right anybody I tell you anybody I tell you I was like this who produced that um Mike Will and a couple of other people yeah sure Mike Will is your best friend right now yeah yeah shout out to M shout out to sway Lee man we shared we shared an incredible moment in hip-hop 3.5 billion streams yeah diamond yeah 13 million 13 million albums I mean singles sold yeah this is something that very few artists yeah in the history of Music have ever done you spent 300,000 on the video yourself mhm you flew out to Uganda yeah and filmed it with the kids dancing at that at that moment when when when I grabbed that song I was at my lowest I was like you know chins had just died Max B was locked up um I was just drinking I was just like I was confused I was try I was trying to find my motivation to make music you know what I'm saying so that was that was the time where I got where um was out I got was out and and uh he was like yeah you just got to go in the studio I went in the studio for like two weeks and Jeremiah happened to come in and just play me that record sway Lee on it oh and I was just like what the [ __ ] is this soon as I heard it I was just like all right this is it this is it now I locked in cuz Jeremiah had his single and other people have records and I had records in there don't get me wrong like that album got a bunch of like crazy joints but that right no pressure AE famous tiptoe yeah it was crazy but that that moment that right there was a whole different atph that moment was like a l came to me and he was like you just went through a lot your F best friend just died this happened to you this happened to you here's a gift that's that's how it felt like right yeah it just like well because that that record was bigger than hip-hop yeah it was literally like a universal Anthem in a way yeah I remember at one point I think you had done an interview and you had talked about the structure of the record and sway Lee said that what you said wasn't true and you know what I'm talking about there's a little bit of not serious back and forth but a little bit of back and forth between you and wayy yeah yeah what what exactly was that about um I don't I don't remember but I know but I know after that we became the best of friends though yeah I mean yeah after that we became the best of friends it it was I forgot I for it was so long ago but but what what he did on that record I think he just caught the Holy Ghost on that record that like what he did on that record was just was it was just Immaculate well yeah between that record and sunflower yeah backst Malone uh sway ain't got to do nothing else yeah he could just sit in his house to watch TV old and gray man that kid is like young Blanket Jackson man yeah sh that crazy crazy congratulations on that man when I saw that I was like CU like I said you and me are in the same freshman class we came up together doing our thing and to see someone that I knew from the very beginning yeah and from the DVD because we thought that shot Cola was a big moment then then stay schema came was a big moment then pop that came with AIG moment compared to we thought those was like the ceilings of where I could take you got to remember popat is 4 million too yeah so it's like those records was is is is still culturally in the hip-hop you know what I'm saying but when you think you don't have another record in you cuz you just dropped so much then you catch your biggest one right well you dropped a major pop record that was not a hip-hop record yeah it was a pop record it was afro before afro took over yeah there you go yeah there you go well then that next year you and Drake dropped no stylist no it was no we dropped no shopping before that I caught I caught a big wave with me and Kodak me and Kodak dropped lock jaw which was crazy it's like three three times Platinum right now okay me me and um I went to Dominican Republic with Drake and we did no shopping it was right it was right before that you have no shopping and no Styles yeah okay sorry I mies so so before uh I don't know if it was after or before I think no it was before no shopping was before um Unforgettable and um a lock jaw was before un Unforgettable and that's when I was like you know every year I was like dropping something but when no when when Unforgettable came I hit a ceiling I was like all right this what artist talking about that they can't come back from yeah you Dro something so big that's like what are you going to do next yeah you know then me and Drake got the government we didn't know stylist and it was just like another monster right on no stylist Drake takes a shot of Kanye I didn't even know like he I didn't even know he did that I didn't even know like what that was he said uh yeah keeping a g I told her don't wear no 350s around me Drake was doing that on Travis record doing our my records Kanye with this do this and that it was like not my problem y' it was just you know Kanye didn't give you a call after that be like yo honestly that year everything was so blur right that year everything was so blurry he might have I don't remember that year we was getting so lit and lifted we was like and honestly it's like we come from such a long life of negativity bro it's like I don't even people know I don't like dealing with [ __ ] like that it's like y bro you're a grown ass man whatever you say stand on whatever he say stand on whatever that's between y I didn't diss you on the record yeah as long as I'm not dissing nobody I can't control that right I remember right around this time you said how that's when the big checks start coming and when your accountant told you how much you're about to pay in taxes oh yeah yeah you just got sick yeah I went back to sleep yeah and you ended up moving to Las Vegas where you have to pay income tax yeah yeah I went to Vegas yeah smart move Big Move yeah I was one of the smartest things I ever did in my career right you saved how many millions by then many many yeah yeah yeah crazy yeah um and you became a US citizen around that time so now you're not that was like that was like one of the yeah one of the moments when you're like damn do I do I even care it's like you became like the American dream from an immigrant and you standing there like this like you know immigrant too yeah what I'm saying I I became a citizen early on still yeah cuz I have my green card and every time you come through this security they always pull you in that office yeah so I I remember that one time I had my blue p I they didn't pull me into that office that's when I felt it I was like yeah Dam I'm really American right now did you and Tommy Hilfiger bet a a diamond AP watch playing pingpong yeah who won I did he never gave it to me he never gave you there no okay so Tommy help for if you're watching this I need my AP so then the third album comes out I got a lot I got a lot of watches uhh stories oh yeah yeah you're you're the the watch story King yeah yeah a lot of watch story and you wor I'm nice the the the rose gold protect today yeah you know what I mean I got this as a gift too oh okay duai friend of I'm rocking the Platinum president too we doing great man life um so third album comes out Montana uhhuh Post Malone sway Lee Kodak Black cardi B Chris Brown party next door ASAP Rocky yeah number 25 on Billboard yeah didn't quite get the heights of the last one but still a very but but but it it went platinum went platinum yeah exactly uh writing on the wall featuring cardi B post bone the Russian lock jaw like you mentioned no shoppings on this yeah so lock jaw came after that yeah yeah exactly uh side doors featuring Gunner yeah uh around that time some health problems started coming around uh you had cardiac issues M you end up in the ICU yeah for six days yeah ICU is no joke ICU is not going to urgent care yeah that's Intensive Care Unit that means you might die yeah what what exactly caused that well I remember I got booked for a million dollars my first show making a million dollars I got booked you got a million dollar for a show yeah that was my first show for a million dollar where think in Dubai okay something like that shout to Dubai I was just there last year yeah so I went there and I had to go perform for the uh Queen Sister something like that in Egypt I went there then I had to go to Morocco and it was my birthday and I had just came off tour with Whiz Khalifa So that tour I was I was bopped I was smacked every night drinking a a bottle 1942 every night I went straight from the tour over there I remember at the time I'm popping per I'm at drinking every day do you feel like you were a drug addict at that point yeah okay I mean I never sniffed no cocaine I never did no hard I mean I come from the Bronx so when you you [ __ ] sniff that is not you I've never tried you're a junky you know what I'm saying I've never tried yeah but I'm glad we come from you know what I'm saying where we come from cuz to us is not to to to to people here they look at it as as as a rich man drug us we looking at as crackheads you know what I'm saying right so so you know but I I was taking so many ad I was taking ad for like six years yeah so I never stopped never took a break how about this I never took a break from 2002 so when Max was on trial and we was drinking gallons in Hennessey and I felt like I was going to like I was going to trap for the same thing I never stopped yeah and I hav I ain't stopped for 20 something years it caught up to me right cuz you're 35 at this point yeah and your body is not the same as a 25y old no let's do quick so finally you just crashed it it caught up to me cuz I was trying to get off per so I was taking o um sa so now I started mixing sa and since it's my birthday I start taking per on top of it and I was drinking oh man I just collapsed yeah yeah they said they had to inject me with some [ __ ] my heart and this and that yeah I almost lost it yeah you almost yeah was that when you just stopped cold turkey yeah stopped drinking yeah cuz I had so much money in the bank and I haven't even wrote I a write the will to my mother like you know what I'm saying like I I was just working so hard to save all this money yeah and this and that I was just about to end up like you know dead yeah it was just with a bunch of history and and and haven't even lived my life yeah I'm glad you made it through yeah yeah thank you yeah I mean I've I've lost people yeah drugs left and right shout out to uh my girl gangster Buu yeah I mean bro I was died from fentel last year bro like see you almost got lucky yeah cuz cuz had you been you know had you kept going you would have been part of the fentol wave and then I stopped as soon as the fent hit ah okay was that the Wake Up Call well I mean go to ICU plus the fental yeah yeah so so that was like a year after when everybody start falling off the F but you got to remember I was drinking lean with MC Miller I was [ __ ] like I was I was all over the place you know what I'm saying right another person who that's what I'm saying so I was I was getting high with the best of them yeah another person I interviewed yeah who non violently but as an overdose yeah I was drinking one I'm telling him to chill and this and that but there's still footage of us out there like yeah well that same year nipy hustle died yeah got killed you guys had songs together yeah I remember you said that was the reason why you didn't want to go and buy up your own block yeah cuz you saw what happened when you just immerse yourself in but I went through what nipy went through when you first asked me about getting shot but getting set up by my own people yeah I guess nipy probably never went through that I went through that so I knew that I couldn't trust nobody in my neighborhood to build nothing yeah he he felt that everyone loved him and he was doing so much and and this is the safest place on Earth for him being the most dangerous place on Earth for him yeah there's nothing that I would build there's no amount of money for me to build nothing in the Bron yeah man I feel like I always give back don't get me wrong yeah I mean you could give back but I feel like man you you you got to progress you got to move on you know like shout out to Drake but the whole No New Friends thing I've never subscribed to like you get older you get you you you elevate you get new friends you get into new environments and so forth and and yeah man it was it was sad because I had interviewed him we we we run into each other have conversations a cool dude man it was it was a sad day in LA because I was living in La you know at the time and it was it was sad yeah you were live in LA I think at the T exactly you know it was it was a sad day it happened in front of everybody was it was it was the year of the viral it was it was awful yeah it was around a time where everything started going viral you bought a Bugatti that year mhm 1.5 million M you still have it yeah I still have it okay yeah it's in the garage somewhere okay I got the uh I got the Tesla plaid let me know if you want to race one day from what I understand my joint's a little little little faster than yours I can't I don't a like driving were you and Tiffany hadish a thing around this time me and Tiff not we was always cool we was never a thing never just friends okay so that's just a rumor that's my dog okay fair enough and in 2020 you and Jim Jones piece it out yeah you know what I'm saying got together laugh it off and now you two are cool yeah that's great man hell yeah man was considering all the [ __ ] that happened and everything we shot the video me and Jim it was like 150 people with him 150 people with me and we was just right by goutos and it was like if something would have happened no no cops is secure nobody could have done nothing about it right and they just felt all the love because most of the people that knew him knew me yeah so most people that knew me knew him it just felt good to bring everybody together yeah I think Jim is still mad at me over some of the interviews I did with you about him back in the day yeah so the fact that you two are cool now why is he still mad at me you got fix that you got to fix that one I tried to yeah I tried I've talk to people around him was like yo have him come in like I throw some money like yo it ain't that serious I don't have anything against Jim I like Jim like it was an artist mean you're a journalist you you know I mean you should exactly Jim come holler at me man come on exactly were you and Young th kind of going at it around this time yeah we had a little something but me and him cool now okay yeah no big deal yeah it was little back and forth and I remember right around this time 2020 you said that uh you did a video shoot with Kodak Black and he growled at you yeah to my guy Kodak he's he's the illst because what does that even mean like describe to me what happened it's B it's called bite down it's called lock Joe we did a song called lock Jo and me and my boy used to always be we we we used to always be high you know what I'm saying and he's he's a legend man like you know Kodak Kodak be rapping about where he where he live oh yeah like he's one definitely one of the realist he lives the [ __ ] that he raps about yes just got out of jail recently yeah so yeah and I hope that at some point because I feel like like Kodak is one of these dudes that has had drug problems for a while yeah but I don't think is a drug problem I just think it's the same thing I went through I think we made it from nothing we millionaires we got money yeah and it's just like we having fun I mean it's G it's gonna come a time when he gonna stop whenever whenever Allah want him to stop I think he gonna stop yeah I don't think there's nothing that people could tell him to do you know I mean anybody could tell him I just feel like we all go through it as young millionaires you know yeah you get all that money and is like he's trying to have some fun like what the [ __ ] did I almost kill myself to get to this point for like let me just have a little fun with it but he's smart yeah well that same your pop smoke gets killed yeah and I remember hearing interview where you would just talked to him like maybe a couple days before yeah yeah we were supposed to chill that night yeah I spoke to him like two days before yeah he was supposed to have a party at his careb that night in the Hollywood Hills where he got killed yeah yeah man one of the like we literally like I had his phone number we you I call him be like yo let's do this interview where you at like I want to do it to him you know do it with him in person I want to be like a remote interview and every time I would call every time I'd be in New York he'd be in La I'd come back to LA he'd be in New York and it just just kept going for months in retrospect I should have just said [ __ ] it let's just do it remotely but I never did it cuz I remember congratulated him on the jackboy's album I was like yo you on the jack booy with Travis Scott who was the biggest thing at the time yo congrats oh thank you so much he got gave me that song to get on it and I was so drunk that like my verse I'm like I stuttered throughout my verse I was slurring he was like yo do your verse over this is this by the time by the time I got a chance to do it it was already out yeah so and me and him were supposed to have a tape together it's crazy yeah I mean he he was the the king child of Dr the New York drill yeah absolutely all these dudes came of drill there's nobody be getting him a drill yeah I mean he put Dior on the map meaning that yes Dior was a brand but no nobody in hip-hop was wearing that [ __ ] now everyone is Dior out yeah no he's the king of drill he's the king of drill rest in peace man it's sad and I remember me and his manager I remember I barked at him real bad this one time because he reached out to me to interview pop early on and then he stopped answering his phone yeah and I was like I was like you're the reason why popm smoke doesn't have a story about his life yeah cuz you know you know how we're doing the interview now I would have done something like that with pop smoke he died without having one of those so no one really knows who he is exactly in terms of his story yeah and that to me is one of my yeah know it's crazy yeah it's one of my regrets I mean rest in peace rest in peace so then that next time comes out they got amnesia yeah on Epic now did you leave bad boy at this point yeah okay so you this way this is this is me leaving leaving bad boy in Epic okay so it's not on Epic it's on Epic but it's my last album last album on yeah this is me leaving leaving everything right this is me becom this is me becoming a free agent right did you and puff part on good terms or yeah yeah great terms cuz you you fulfilled everything yeah fulfilled everything I make sure everybody got their money I made sure you know Ros got his money I made sure P got his money made sure epic got their money yeah epic still making money know I'm saying everybody brother shoulders with made money right you know what I'm saying and and and and and had a chance to have a great time you know what I'm saying and when people say bad boy curse you're you're the exception of that I'm blessed on a different level I came from Africa I made it out the I made it out the jungle right I'm like a whole different I made out the Bronx Africa first the whole night everything man it's all up Legends on it Kodak Black rip pop smoke yeah doat sweetie 5o Fab Coy La Ray 42 Doug Ty Dollar Sign Lotto Yeah Lil TJ moneyb yo Tory Lanes yeah me and me me and Kodak Black had another hit over that too yeah mopstick exactly yeah now right around that time your driver gets robbed uh-huh for was it your watch no no no it was his watch I don't even know about that situation I wasn't even with him $300,000 Richard Mill watch I wasn't even with him yo you weren't there okay but it was your driver no do you know who the person is that's what I'm saying people just be around this is just a madeup story yeah okay it crazy I was I'm in you know what I'm talking about though right yeah yeah it was we was by The Dream hotel and somebody came with somebody that came with somebody or came with somebody again and it's just like you know they they it's like it's like this man man this how life goes everybody want to be around but as soon as something happened everybody want to blame and everybody want to do this bro this this this is a [ __ ] that Hip Hop come comes with you know what I'm saying like you don't you never know what's going to happen yeah yeah now I remember right around the time of 2021 you said you were trying to end the beef between Jim Jones and Max P yeah is that squashed I put it in the air it's up to Jim and Max you know what I'm saying well Max is locked up man I mean at the end of the day when I speak to Max Max tell me he's he got more [ __ ] to worry about when I speak to Jim you know what I'm saying Jim is is on his own time so I mean they both grown men yeah but I mean Max is locked up he's been locked up since 200 early yeah yeah so I don't think honestly I don't think nobody tripping I think Jim is is is doing great man he's been dropping a lot of great music yeah he's doing his thing I don't think nobody's even thinking about that I think everybody's just doing their thing whenever situation come is going to come exactly so that next year 2022 somebody gets bit by your dog at your house sue me for a million and something dollars it's crazy like what the who who bit you a dinosaur were you even there no I was there so someone just came to your house while you weren't there you somebody came to my house to clean my pool and I wasn't there and the dog yeah we we got the dog signs it's supposed to say call before you come in he never called just he got B and he wanted $2 million yeah crazy settled for $130,000 I don't even know cuz I got insurance oh the insurance paid it yeah yeah I got insurance isn't that crazy though what $2 million I mean even 130,000 sounds a little crazy that was the actual number man everybody everybody becomes a shooter when you becomes a Target you know right so everyone becomes a shooter when you become the target you know what I'm saying so that's that's that's how it is man everybody hey I want to I mean for him to walk in he Brave what kind of dog was it um um a German Shepherd oh okay yeah yeah uh booy's dog just bit me crazy you suing him no of course not it's my man it wasn't even a s it wasn't even a serious bite it was a Kane Corso are you lucky yeah no it was even if it was a serious bite luy I wouldn't sue him one of my dog my man it was my own fault I he I was painting the dog the dog seemed a little tense it was waging his tail so I thought well it'll warm up to me you know what they told me you're the third person this dog is bit this week oh wow oh wow man he probably yeah he probably need that dog for the crab just yeah need to keep that dog outside yeah but no I'll would never see booy man [ __ ] I never see anyone for a [ __ ] dog fight especially if I'm the one petting the dog yeah you know what I'm saying like come on no it's not that serious man I hope everybody was like you I wish hey well not everyone got money so you know if you a Millionaire's dog suddenly bites you when you're making minimum wage yeah what 1 million per. exactly now I remember at one point uh Diddy and Drake have a physical altercation and you said that you actually were the ones that got him to squash their beef um yeah they had um they both came to my birthday party and I guess they haven't spoken before that I don't know what happened between them but me and Drake we're like brothers me and puff like brothers so when that tication happened I was kind of mad that wasn't there to prent it mhm but when I did my birthday party Drake Came IG igy ailia threw me a birthday party on on the yacht and Drake came and uh puff came on the on the boat then they just sat down and they just spoke like grown men and they you know and after that they were they they were just you know they were just friends back friends again nice you and Ruby Rose were seeing hanging out yeah you guys a thing or no we would out for a little bit shout out to Ruby shout out to Ruby I interviewed her early on yeah yeah she dope man she dope Prett girl yeah yeah she real dope and and she got the rap thing going yeah I heard she just got Soo I hit her up I was like yo Soo look good on you you know what I'm saying but shout out to Ruby right she making a lot of only fans money too so yeah yeah she Mak she yeah she be cashing in Ruby Ruby is like the leader of like the new wave of females that's like you know that's like mixing the whole um only fans with music and and and getting paid off she know she knows her worth so shout out to Ruby yeah and last year you dropped your documentary no I didn't drop it well it got it got premiered oh Tribeca at Tribeca but it's not out yet I tried to find it com out it comes out June this year aha so we just signed a deal uh with paramont oh so it's going to come out on paramont plus paramont plus yeah okay and Robert dairo hosted the uh yeah hosted the thing yep Vin Diesel came big deal yeah came yeah shut to everybody show up I got to see it yeah it's crazy I got to see it everything you asking me that's what I'm saying it's almost like you watched it no I didn't watch it give me a copy of it I check it out I got you I'll send you a link before you drop yeah I'm not going to leak it out you know me got you know what I'm saying but congrats and uh Drake and did uh co-executive producer also right dope dope so a Kendrick song leaked out yeah and it was a different version than the song We all heard because on this version there was a line says French Montana speaking on me in interviews very cynical dry hating something I don't approve and people are saying it refers to a Breakfast Club interview you did in 2016 where you basically said the industry the industry is pushing Kendrick as a new face of Hip Hop I I was just hated I ain't wi to Grammy for for unforgettable that's what it was yeah but Kendrick is my dog like Kendrick actually Kendrick actually was one of the first people to rehat to me when I came to LA and um he told me to come by the studio I went to the studio I kicked it with him I had Chloe with me I played him don't panic and I was try to get him do a verse on there but me and him never really had a problem and it was just that one year when Unforgettable didn't win and I was just heated at the at at the radio station he kept on asking me so it's basically it's like you know like yo bro how he wins how how he went all this Unforgettable he went nothing don't forget it was like 13 million sold now I was basically passionate about my [ __ ] yeah and I was just you know I was just talking about him cuz he was the winner at the time so he got a bunch of gramys by yeah but at that moment he was like they he that that night was like basically his well this is what I've realized about the Grammys and this is what me and like other high-end music professionals have had conversations about yeah if you just look at the Grammys and who wins yeah it often times is not the ones that sell the most yeah it's more of like The Artsy projects mhm you see what I'm saying mhm they may not sell the 10 times Platinum yeah but there's a strong artistic bent to this and you can't deny how artistic Kendrick is he doesn't sound like any other rapper he doesn't use the same producers he doesn't get the same features yeah I heard he doesn't even have a cell phone you know everyday life no but I [ __ ] with Kendrick cuz you got you got to understand 2013 um I had to do Summer Jam so as I'm driving down the Summer Jam I got the radio on and they interviewing him and they was like yo who you want to see tonight I remember Kendrick like yo I really want to I really want to see French Montana perform I ain't worried about nothing tonight he always showed me love you know what I'm saying so I got nothing but love for Kendrick but just just that one one one day at the interview I was just so heated I win and he was the winner and I was was like yeah but I [ __ ] with kji I I [ __ ] with the whole um with the whole team man listen you'd be hard pressed to find anyone in the entertainment business that doesn't feel underappreciated yeah that doesn't feel like they're not properly paid you know yeah you watch my drink Champs interview and I you know I take shots at other media outlets and stuff like that yeah because sometimes I I get in my feelings too like how the [ __ ] you know for example this artist does an interview with dou XL but not with me I'm 10 times bigger than dou XL right now exactly yeah okay yeah 30 years ago they were the the Bible of hip or not the Bible but the biggest name in Hip Hop but that's not the case in 2024 my numbers are a 100 times as big as them and this artist is doing here so I might feel some type of way but exactly that's just life yeah yeah for sure that's just life man we all feel this way sometimes we lash out and yeah sometimes people catch St I I lashed out but it wasn't even like towards him it was just towards the situation he was in you know what I'm saying but like I said Kendrick man when it comes to these situations with the Grammys almost like you know when you see like the MGM the lion you know it's art for art sake I feel like a lot of times it's it's artists choosing other artist and they're not necessarily looking at the record sales it's not it's not like the the viewers Choice Awards where all fans get to vote the fans don't vote for the grand exactly it's a bunch of other artists exactly so you can't always take it critically we made it you made it come on you can't be mad you can't be mad um I remember you had posted it was an offer for a show where you get a million dollars yeah and another artist gets 9 million yeah cross the name of the other artist yeah my guess is Kanye oh tell Swift oh Twi yeah okay exclusive of GL you that makes total sense yeah I mean so you were supposed to perform with Taylor Swift and they had a show offer for me and T her her 9 million me 1 million this was where in Dubai somewhere yeah somewhere in in in that area Emirates yeah okay how many million dollar shows have you done in your life not a lot I need I need some more not enough got to get those Taylor Swift numbers man not enough you can't you can't front that Taylor doesn't deserve it that's what I'm saying saying but you know what I'm I'm I'm just blessed that 20 years down the line I'm still getting million dollar offers you know right like I'm I'm just so happy that I built my career and my name to the point where it's like you know it's like people just they put you here and they don't keep zigzagging you no more it's like all right he's here to stay you know what I'm saying so yeah over the years I've heard that you really built up your Investment Portfolio yeah yeah particularly is most of your money in real estate yeah how many homes do you own oh like nine nine homes yeah but they ow 5 million and better okay so I I don't want the addresses obviously but the cities Jersey Vegas okay Jersey Jersey New York New York Morocco Vegas uh I said New York Hidden Hills Hidden Hills I said New York you said New York yeah so that five three in Morocco three in Morocco yeah that's eight yeah like close to that like eight and not eight why do you open to me in Morocco I mean that's why that's why I was born so you can still go back there yeah okay which house or property cuz some of these are are condos right yeah which is your absolute favorite um La aha the Hidden Hills yeah the Hidden Hills one okay and that's worth about how much um what the the guy cross street sold his for 40 million you know what I'm saying so around that yeah you know if if I put 3 million into it I think I can sell it for 40 million oh cuz this is Selena Gomez's old joint no this the Selena Gomez I've been sold you've been sold yeah okay so you bought it for how much uh I got it for a good price from poor George it PA George's old house but now it's worth 40 is it's 177,000 Square ft oh that's big yeah 17,000 square that's like yeah my joint's about seven yeah that's what two two and a half times size of mine yeah yeah 17,000 square feet okay do you have your money in the stock market as well yeah okay but it's not as big as your real estate portfolio no okay what was your worst investment stock market really yeah stock market and FTX FTX that's crypto yeah I mean I I woke up and lost $5 million yeah cuz I didn't take my money out on time right so now I gota wait for me the guy's in prison who was running it so but still I mean for somebody for somebody that's an artist like me to wake up and lose $5 million a lot lot of artists don't even got that to wake up to so it's like for me to wake up in 5 million is gone like that I never experienced that yeah I mean crypto's a I never touched crypto just because I felt that's my that's my worst investment to wake up and lose $5 million like I C but that's not stocks I Cry tears like I I I I bet I sh two tears well yeah I mean because yeah but that's not stocks yeah but crypto is not stocks it's a gamble it's same thing you think stocks and crypto are the same thing yeah I mean if if if you invest in you know Amazon or app like that's the kind of companies I invest in yeah yeah but you're not you're not going to wake up but if you don't invest in those which is probably like 5 to 10 then the rest is all you know what I'm saying go down the hill tomorrow right well this is why I invest like my companies are like Amazon Tesla Google I'm not going to wake up and be 5 million the there's there's those 10 that you could that yeah well even the S&P 500 no cuz I I don't want people to think you know because I really have always pushed Stock Investing i' I've made people like little baby Millions just by having conversations with them and telling them how I do it and they've sh around and you know bought Apple stock and made a ton of money yeah you know what I'm saying so I don't want people I made yeah I made a couple millions in stocks yeah but I lost I lost money too so yeah I mean listen uh two years ago I on paper lost over a million dollars in in my portfolio but then the next year I got way over a million yeah but I never touched it but that's how it go though yeah that's say that happened to me I lost a million I won a million I lost five million yeah just it just exactly like you gotta the trick is is to really know how to leave the money and wait for things to go back up not to panic you have to have emotional maturity yeah 1 million if every time something goes down you panic and sell and say I'm never going to buy again yeah one 1 million per. right because honestly investing has changed my entire life I would not be where I am today without investing in stocks so you got to teach me some tricks then of course so let's get to where we are right now uhhuh mac and cheese five yeah number four top alum the features are insane let's list them out Kanye jid Durk um Bryson tiller Jeremiah man the list goes on you want to keep going yeah keep going uh St John bju Wayne little baby Ross uh d ross Westside gun yeah uh Kyle Rich Jen Carter yeah 41 41 that is um Mickey Eko you pretty much got most of the big names yeah in hi not was supposed to be even more names Drake was supposed to be H this right yeah but we doing something I think for the documentary okay was there like 126 songs like what's this whole 126 song thing I keep hearing this album um so the 126 songs basically five versions right which is the instrumental the spread up the slow down and the um Acappella right now right now if you look at Instagram top five um most songs that's most used on on the reals whatever that [ __ ] is the um the charts there's there's my instr inal up there just from me putting on an instrumental CD yeah if you look at cardi B new single if you look at JT new single everybody is dropping these five versions you know what I'm saying like for the fans cuz fans won those versions if you look at anybody that's doing these new drops yeah but people thought I was doing that so I can get first week numbers not knowing that I did that for my fans and those five versions don't even count TOS first week numbers but you know me I'm not even going go on the internet and say all that because well right but it it does count for your total streams no it don't oh it doesn't no okay cuz I I remember like for example like ddg yeah he he has like slowdown versions yeah I remember I think I I speaking to someone about this he has slow down versions of some of his songs yeah and someone explained to me why he puts that on there because Tik Tok will use slowdown versions to try to get around the copyright you might as well just put out those slowdown versions like it's aird we place right now where it was music so the so the label idea was drop all these for Tik Tok for this inst rappers like to rap over your beat sometimes do this you know what I'm saying so it was just an idea to put them out like it wasn't an idea to put them out to get first week sales they don't go towards first week sales so that was never like part of the plan but since they want to keep talking about that we're not going to do them no more that people go to the to the end of the [ __ ] SE song and loop up the two bars they want to rap so ultimately with all the different versions and everything else like that the album Still debuted with number four yeah number four hip-hop album Number Four hip-hop Al and this is not really an album This is a mixtape yeah it's a mixtape that's what I'm saying number four for mixtape is like [ __ ] Immaculate you know what I'm saying just drop dropping a mixtape but you know what's the biggest part about it is independent okay so you're fully independent right now fully independent okay so so t was like people with labels and not even doing [ __ ] 10,000 right you know what I'm saying what what was the first week numbers on it well it was supposed to be like [ __ ] 70,000 but they took away some some some [ __ ] but still ended up at number four there you have it yeah is there an album coming out yeah coming out what's the name the end of this year it's going to drop with the documentary okay is there a name um I haven't named it yet okay but I'm waiting for it to come to me I think it might be Casino life aha yeah okay and you signed D thing yeah right when he got out of jail yeah okay and that was cokeboys 10K projects yeah cokeboy 10K yeah exactly exactly I remember he did the uh the Gilly wallow interview yeah we had him right there shout out to D thing he's next hottest thing smoking out of there yeah he's dope yeah he's dope like who are the artists right now in Coke Boys uh is D thing is kenobe cheese is um that's about it for now okay building a roster that's what it is man we went through the whole story 12 years later 12 years later 12 years later and the first time we really get the whole the whole story yeah from start to finish and like I said in the very beginning man you and I were right there shoulder toosh shoulder holding the video camera ourselves yeah waiting to interiew the hot artist of that day for our DVDs something that kids today don't even know what that is we never understand we'll never understand the grind of of starting from the very bottom we were both broke mhm you know wearing clothes that the clothing labels would give us for free cuz we could afford all the the Louie and Gucci that we're wearing these days hell yeah merch exactly wearing other people's merch hell yeah bro living in you know small apartments with hip-hop dreams not knowing how we're going to get there yeah and now all these years later man we're comfortable we don't have to worry like both of us can stop working if we want to yeah and uh man listen I've always been happy for your success man thank you bro show cuz you talk about it when I'm not around and that means more than even telling me you know what I'm saying exactly yeah exactly man so man looking forward to this documentary likewise looking forward to that new album you I I feel like you have a long business career ahead of you that's probably going to be outside of music yeah of course you know what I'm saying cuz now you're sitting on a serious Financial base with all the properties and Investments and stuff like that you've actually created multigenerational wealth yeah you know what I mean and uh man music is just the passion you know exactly some exactly two two immigrant kids who weren't born in this country man know what I'm saying sometimes we go to the beach we don't make no money by going there but that's what we love to do exactly that's what music is for me at this point Y that's what it is man until next thank you for having bro
