- No, I think the biggest
thing, like I said, as far as being a players' coach, is just tell 'em the truth. And I think a lot of people respect that. - But are there coaches who
won't tell players the truth? And are they lying to them or are they just
withholding the information? - Well, it's some coaches
that'll talk around. - [Maverick] The problem? - [Chris] Talk around,
like they'll show video. - CP'd turn the ball
over five times in a row and I come and say, "Hey,
we need to stop turnin', no, CP, you need to stop turnin'!" (all laugh)
- That's real. No, that's real. That's real. (smooth hiphop music) (smooth hiphop music) (smooth hiphop music) (smooth hiphop music) (smooth hiphop music) - [Maverick] Here we are, season six. The first one in Toronto. 2018?
- Yeah. - Feels like a long, it actually does feel
like a long time ago. - Here's to season six. - Let's make some more
unforgettable moments. - Only in the shop. - Cheers.
- Cheers. (glasses clink) (smooth hiphop music) - Now Mazzulla's ****** up what he said. He should have, you never
say I lost the locker room. - [Ty] What'd he say? What, he said that? - They asked him if he'd
lost the locker room and he said, "I think so, and that's why I gotta
try to get it back," or something like that.
- You don't say that. Coach, you know, you never say that. - Yeah, I mean, I'ma die before I, yeah, I'm going to the
grave with that one. I mean, but he's done a
hell of a job, though, man. It's his first year. - [Maverick] It's his first year? - And, like you said, to take over a team that
went to the finals last year, EMA did a great job. First time coaching, come
from behind the bench, he's done a hell of a job, and
just, they don't talk about how many mistakes a
player make in the game. Like I said, the coach makes
one mistake or two mistakes, he gets fired, but a player
can have seven turnovers, four for 15, four for 19. Nah, I'm saying, like, it don't make sense.
- That's real, that's real. - It don't make sense, like you just keep firing good coaches and keep blaming the coaches. Like, everybody gonna make mistakes. I don't care how you look at it. - [Maverick] I agree. - You can go into a series
and be prepared, boom. But, like, you're gonna make a mistake. That happened to us this
year against Sacramento. I think it was 157, 150,
whatever that crazy score was. - [Chris] Crazy game, yeah. - We supposed to foul
at the end of the game, but we didn't foul, you know? - [Maverick] You called for a foul? - We supposed to foul. (all laugh) But then again, it's the coach. You know what I'm saying? So you look at it, you
know, we a foulin' team. We're supposed to foul. We didn't foul. We're supposed to stay at
home. We didn't stay at home. But then you look at it, you know, I go to press, I take the blame. - [Maverick] Just take the whole blame. - Yeah, I don't care. I don't care what people, I don't give a-
- Exactly. - Mav, I don't know if you, I hear one coach here
in the shop speaking. I think I hear another
coach here speaking. - No, he got too much money to coach. (all laugh) You made that kinda money, you don't want to coach.
- You don't wanna coach? - [Ty] No, why? For what? - I'm an AAU coach. - You love your AAU coaches. - CP, no interest in being an NBA coach when you're done playing?
- No, no. - [Maverick] Zero interest. - No, I can't. Honestly, I'll tell you, I
don't wanna travel like that. - Got it.
- Man, the great players, they don't have patience either. Like the great players, they don't have- - I think great players can't, I think great players like him can't identify talent, 'cause they just go, like, he can't play.
- They have no patience. - No, I can't. - If you're sittin' here, talkin'
to him about who can play, who can't play, you're like, what the **** are you talking about? - [Chris] Whatever. - Of course, that guy can play. - No, no, no, no, no. - [Maverick] Because he can't
do the hardest thing ever, you're like-
- No, I don't think I- - It's very hard for great players to evaluate other players. - I don't think I'd look at it like that, just because I'm on the
grassroots level, right? Like, it's a kid, y'all probably, it's a kid that played in my AAU program. Might be one of the favorite
kids I ever coached. It was a kid named Altariq Gilbert. He never played in the league. He went on to Yukon and
played, but he just, especially when you're a guard,
T, you know what I'm saying? Like when you're a guard
and you're a coach, you just want somebody that
got high basketball IQ. - Right.
- You know what I mean? You want 'em to have that
and you want 'em to have dog. You know what I'm saying? You want him to be a go-getter, you know? And so, I think that's, but that's why I love AAU, 'cause you get a chance
to actually mold kids at an early age, 'cause
when we get to the NBA, we ain't trying to hear none of that ****. (all laugh) For real, you get to the NBA, I mean, I can't imagine coaching us, 'cause we feel like we know everything. - [Maverick] No chance I could do it. - I've met a great player. He's actually my favorite player. I gotta call, besides you, of course. But you wanted to play
with him, he's dope. He's a guy named Kobe
Bryant, God bless the dead. I get a call from Tip in
the middle of the night. He's like, "Hey." I'm like, "What's up?" Actually, it's like just evening. He's like, "Hey." He said, "Hey, *****,
get down to the studio." I was like, "For what?" He said, "'Cause Kobe here and
I know you love him, *****." (all laugh) I got up and I took my wife, I made sure, I hated
when we took the picture. I was like, "LeBron's
her favorite player," so I was like you like tall ******. I ain't taking no risk. (all laugh) - He said she likes tall people. (laughs) - I remember asking
Kobe, I was like, "Yo," I say, "You finna retire on me." I said, you know, "I don't really know
who I'm gonna be like, 'Yo, this the man. He's the gold. He's gonna take it all this year.' Who should I look to to follow?" And he said, "I'm gonna tell you." He said, "It's this kid,
if he can stay healthy, 'cause he's skinny." And I'm looking at Kobe like, if nobody on the television side, y'all never seen him in person, he physically wasn't impressive. He was thin, rail thin. I used to wonder, like, "What the **** you be
doing out on the on court? You look like a god on court. It look like I could take
you in a street fight." You know what I'm saying? And he was like, "Man, it's this kid." He said, "I'm watching him." He says, "But I think he's
who you should follow." And I was like, "Who?" "He's this kid named Steph Curry." And that's when I started
watching Steph and Golden State, and he is not just pointed out. I was like, "Oh, my God."
- Of course. - So Kobe is one of those
greats who I think identified, because he reminded me of Hercules. Like, you know, he knew he wasn't, at some point, the god Michael Jordan, but he's one of the
players that I really saw have the desire to defeat his idol, and that's admirable to me. It's like, as a rapper, every time I get on with
a Andre 3000 or with a Hov or even with my rap partner, El, my goal is to be the most bad***
mother****** on that track. - Always, always. On the track, you wanna
deliver the best verse. - But when I see it in
a younger dude, too, I walk up to him like,
"Hey, *****, you got it." Like, "I don't give a **** what
the record company's saying. I don't give what your manager's
saying about it, *****, you got it, and don't lose it." - Also, talk about AAU, you don't just coach,
did I read correctly, you got 12 NBA players
from your AAU program? - [Chris] Yeah, we got 12. (all clap)
- That is insane, man. That is insane. - It's a legacy thing. - Wow.
- It's crazy, 'cause I don't like to
say kids, but they are, 'cause I coach 'em. I be with 'em during
the summer or whatnot, and it's nothing like it. You know what I'm saying? One of my teammates, kid Josh
Okogie that play with me, you know Josh that play.
- Yeah. - In Phoenix, he used to catch
a Greyhound bus from Atlanta, 'cause y'all know AAU, whatever, the states just gotta touch.
- They gotta touch. Right, yeah.
- You know what I'm saying? He used to catch a Greyhound
bus to come down to my gym to come to practice.
- Wow. - You know what I mean? Like the dedication of it. And so, my thing with my AAU kids is I just be trying to
give 'em an opportunity. - It's awesome for you to do that, because, you know, we need it. Like, we had Lamar Jackson
on the show a while back and he was saying, which we all know, he was like, "Yo, there's so
many guys from where I'm from that some could have been better than me, definitely played on the level, but because of the people around them, just didn't get there," right? So when you look at somebody like what Ja is going through, right? Who's reached the top
already, making money, but can't seem to, I don't know if it's the people
around him or figure it out. What is it that worked for all of us? Mike, LaKeith, what? - I think Monty Jones had
an interesting perspective, that you don't blame the people. Like, if you look at that incident, I don't talk public, I'm a gun guy. I'm very pro-Second, and I
think that part of the problem with guns in the Black community is, I'm from the deep south. Like, I'm from Atlanta, but my family's from Tuskegee, Alabama, Eatonton, Georgia, places like that. You get given a gun at 19 years old. So you're already accustomed to it. First, you get a BB gun. You go out, you learn how
to shoot something small. Anything you shoot, generally,
you're gonna eat, you know? So if you shoot a raccoon or a squirrel, you better be prepared to eat it. Otherwise, don't shoot it. So I believe when you
look at a person like Ja, 'cause his friend tried to save him. His friend saw it and
was like, "Oh, ****, man. You're doing some stupid ****. Get the phone out the way." That's a good friend, indeed,
but I think that, honestly, it's hard to tell a 23-year-old with $100 million what to do. But, to me, it's easier to get him in a Bass Reeves Gun Club or NAGA, which is National African
American Gun Association, things of that nature, because,
you know, you are excited. Boys are excited by warrior culture. Every boy doesn't play baseball
or football or basketball. Some boys need to enjoy
fishing and hunting and things of that nature, so I think if Black people as a culture, if we get quiet about
commenting on each other every time we make a **** up, and then we focus on
nine- to 13-year-old boys, getting them acclimated to being outside, getting them acclimated to
doing **** like turkey hunting, things of that nature, the
guns won't seem so exotic. So I think we need to embrace the **** up, say, "Okay, it was a **** up," but now this is how
you direct that energy. So, for me, if I had a
conversation with Ja, I'd just like, "When you come to Atlanta, let's go through Stoddard's. Let's let these old white guys
teach us how to hold a gun, 'cause you should never
hold a gun like that." That was the stupidest **** I ever saw. (Maverick laughs) I'm like, "He gonna drop that ****." - Yeah, that was the part that scared the **** outta his friend. - Yeah, that's the part that
scared the **** outta me. I'm just like, "This ****
finna shoot hisself." (all laugh) - You know, having success,
being polarized, being famous is something that requires
a certain level of maturity, understanding, and
experience to deal with. And it's the same thing
with weapons and guns. It's a respect and an education thing. And I think we should be
instilling within our youth what that education is,
what that looks like, what responsibility looks like, yielding these tools that
can be so devastating or can save your family. It's all about the person wielding them and the psychology within
that person, I think. - I understand exactly
what you guys are saying, but there's also, like,
he's a part of the NBA and there's an image that
the NBA wants to have that he has to think about that part, too. So, Coach, when you have young guys, is that like a conversation
in the locker room with guys sometimes, about like, "You're now a part of the NBA. You play for the whatever
team, the Clippers." - That ain't your job. - Do you think that's
part of your job or not? That's a good question.
- Well, I do. I think it's different. I think, you know, as an
ex-player and being a coach now, when you see younger guys
that you can try to help, I think that, like, "Okay, I saw some things
that wasn't right." You know, just trying to
help that younger kid out. When you get to older thirties, like CP, I ain't, you know, they grown. You know what I'm saying? (all laugh) But, like, you know, you got
Bones Hyland, Brandon Boston, those type of guys.
- Young guys. You pull 'em aside. - Yeah, pull 'em aside. Like, "Listen, man, you
grown 'cause you're a man." Once you make it to the NBA, you become a man fast. - [Maverick] Whose job is it, CP, then? Like you said, not his job. Whose job? - You know, it's crazy, 'cause T Lue is unique in
that he just a players' coach. You know what I mean? It don't matter if you 35 or if you 20, you just gonna respect
T Lue because he played, because of the way he come at guys. But I tell you, it's so crazy, 'cause I'm a big Ja fan, right? Little Chris had a-
- You know him well? - So Ja came to my basketball camp, right, when he was in college,
and he came into camp. Nobody really knew who he was like that. And after camp, everybody knew who he was. That's when he blew, that's when he blew up
and all the NBA scouts. And I'm gonna tell you, Little Chris just had a
AAU tournament this weekend and he was playing in Ja's shoes, so I always say like me,
Bron, some of the older guys, we have a unique perspective in the league because we still play, right? So we in the locker room
with the younger generations, and we got kids that's they age. You know, I got teammates
that's closer in age to Little Chris than they are to me. - Of course.
- You know what I mean? But it's so dope, 'cause
it keeps me young, and what I say about Ja and just me being in the league
and my position as president for the union for so long is that everything that you guys
just said is so real. But it happened so fast. I came in the league when I was 19. I had $151 in my bank
account as a college student. I declared for the draft, got a agent. The agent offered me a hundred
thousand upfront money. Luckily, I had two parents, and they was like, "That's
too damn much," right? But they said 25,000, cool, right? So you know what happened? I was at Wake in Winston. I went to the bank right up the street just so I could see what the
statement looked like, right? 'Cause we young, we don't know. We ain't never had no money like this. I went and got the statement. That **** said 25,151. Right there, though. No education came along with it, right? First thing I did, I went to the mall. Took my girl to the mall. Jay Gray, his girl went to the mall. We went to the-
- Ball. - [Chris] What? - Ball. - Ball at the mall.
- Went to the clothing store. We went to the clothing store, I said, "Everybody get you something." (all laugh) At 19, now everybody looking at you as being the head of your household. - That's what I said, you grow up quick. - Or your family, you
know what I'm saying? And now, also, you want me to try to be the best basketball player I gotta be. And I gotta learn how
to deal with the media and I got everybody asking
me for this and that. You know what I'm saying? So, like, I mean, I
would love to talk to Ja. - But whose job is it to help him? - Huh? - Whose job is to help? Whose actual job? It's not the coach. It's not really the GM. Is it your family? Is it your agent? - [Killer Mike] It's your
job to seek help, too. - Yeah.
- That's a good point. - Yeah, you gotta, even
though you're young, you gotta understand, you don't have to have all the answers, but I do have a responsibility, 'cause you have people
that are looking at you and you have people that you are gonna be responsible to lead. So I think you're supposed
to seek mentorship, and I think that older
Black men in particular should offer mentorship, and mentorship to people who
are on the internet and on IG is not some mother******
charging you $30,000 to give you advice. Mentorship is free. The $30,000 is a consulting fee, and if I pay you a consulting fee, I'd better damn well see some results. - [Maverick] You better deliver something. - [LaKeith] Listen, financial literacy is- - Nah, go ahead. Go ahead, man. - It's so important. It's so important for our youth
and young Black men to know, and mentorship is a real thing. I was walking out of the mall one time and this dude come up to me. I think I was like 20-something,
like 25 or something. He come up and he is like, "Hey, man, you know, I
appreciate your work. I'm an actor and I want
you to be my mentor." And I thought it was weird, because I was like, this ***** grown. Like, why are you telling me? But I just had never had
that happen to me before and I didn't know what a mentor was. I didn't have one. I didn't know that that was a
thing that could be a thing. And after I ruminated on it and thought about it for a while, I was like, damn, I could be a mentor, and I understood what that
connection actually meant. It's exchange of information
and us helping each other and being a stepping stone for each other to get the knowledge before we
gotta learn it the hard way. And I think our community
could use a lot more of that, like, interchanging and
transferring information, especially upon the youth when it comes to being
financially literate. I remember I got my first check, it was crazy.
- How old were you? How old were you? - I was growing at this
point, I was like 20, but I hadn't seen that
kind of money before. (Maverick chuckles) And it was like, you know, I got, it was like maybe $130,000 in the check or something like that,
and it was just crazy. And it was like this car
that I really wanted, it was just like.
(all laugh) That was the only thing
that was on my mind. Like I had to get this car, and, you know, I didn't have
credit, I didn't have anything. I walked into the dealership with a duffle bag full of money and just set it on the counter, like here is an exact amount
for how much the car costs. And then they counted all the **** out, and I'm sitting there
watching them count it out, and then I drove off
the lot and I was broke. So I had my car.
- But you had your car. - And I, of course, learned the value in learning how to spend
and use your money, because then I'm struggling for the check. I mean I'm struggling
for my rent the next week and trying to figure it out. I was like, this has to be backwards. But if I had someone that was a mentor, someone to tell me, someone
to just reach out to and say, "Hey, that's not
how you spend your money," that would've been very, very helpful. - But here's the challenge, you don't know what you
don't know at that age. - The other thing, too,
you gotta be vulnerable. You gotta be willing to tell
people what you don't know, because some people will just talk to you, but they haven't done the
homework or done the research. T, what year was that, when
we was with the Clippers? - [Ty] '13, I think. - It was a while ago, but
me and T Lue got real close, like real fast, and when
you got a coach like that, that you respect his opinion, and what'd they say in the league? They say that's like
the furthest two inches between being a assistant coach
or a head coach or whatnot. But T Lue, man, our team changed
drastically when he left, 'cause he just shot it to us straight, you know what I'm saying? Regardless if you wanted
to hear it or not, whatnot. T Lue was like that
and I appreciated that. I respected that. I mean I ain't played
for him as a head coach, but I'm sure he's still the same way. ****, you can see the way he's sitting over there on the sideline. T Lue leanin' up against it. - I think the biggest thing, like I said, as far as being a players' coach, is just tell 'em the truth. You know, a lot of times they be like cuss you out, whatever, might be mad, but if they real with themselves, tomorrow they come back
like, "You know what? You was right." And so all I can do is
just tell you the truth, and I think a lot of people respect that. - Is there some coaches who won't? - [Ty] Oh, yeah. - I've heard Bron talk
about these coaches, they won't hold a guy accountable. - It's a lot. - [Ty] I hate that word. - What is that? Tell me what that means to you. But are there coaches who
won't tell players the truth? And are they lying to them or are they just
withholding the information? - Well, it's some coaches
that'll talk around- - The problem? - Talk around, like they'll show video. - CP turned the ball
over five times in a row and I come and say, "Hey
we need to stop turnin', no, CP, you need to stop turnin'!" - No, no, that's real. No, that's real, that's real. - [Ty] CP turnin' the ball over to 'em. - Some coaches show films
and stuff and be like, "Look, our defense gotta be better." Well, coach they just going to his end, to tell you the truth. But T wasn't like that. - [Ty] You don't do it like that. - I've had teammates, and T know, I had teammates, too, that,
when he was like that, they ain't like it. They didn't like it. - Well, 'cause you
talking straight at 'em. Like, "Mav, you ****** this up." - But it ain't personal like that. It ain't always at you
either, you know what I mean? But I'm also a player that's like that. I'd much rather have a guy
on my team sort of tell me, like, during the game, if I get three turnovers
or something like that, be like, "Damn, C, take care of the ball." You know what I'm saying? I like that energy. - But sometimes you do, I know I can get in. I don't know, I never played
on a NBA team with you, but I can watch the film. Sometimes, it's also like
if you turn it over twice, and I'm like, "Damn, C,
stop turnin' it over," you're like, "Mother******,
I know I'm turnin' it over." - You're exactly right.
- "Relax, I know!" - You're exactly right.
- You're stating the obvious. - You know what? - I don't wanna turn the ball over either. - It might not have to
be about a turnover, but I want a guy that got that same energy that I got, and I done always said this as a player, I never asked my teammate to
do something that I won't do. You know what I mean? So if I'm some bull**** on
defense or something like that, I want a guy who passionate
and who gonna tell me, you know what I'm saying? Book like that. You know, that's why I think
we've gotten along so well, because we competitive, and I
know that person want to win just as bad as I want to win. And T was like that as a coach, but everybody ain't necessarily like that. - I think what you sayin'- - Yeah, coach.
- I'm sorry. Players' coach, like,
you can't pull nothing. You can't get nothing over on me. I'm from the streets. You gonna just be like,
you going to the club. All right, cool. Just be ready to play tomorrow. You got some coaches,
"Oh, they went out last," I don't believe in that. - We grown. - 'Cause you played, you
mother******* go out. - I'm saying what's the difference between the front office people
going out the night before, going to dinner, drinking wine all night, and then come back to the
hotel, 12:30, one o'clock, and the guys go to the club. It's the same, y'all drinking,
you doing the same thing. It's just you didn't go to the club. So I understand what y'all
doing, so don't try to lie. Don't try to get over on me. So when they say players' coach, it's like I think more so
can relate to the guys, be truthful with the guys, but I ain't gonna never say don't go out. Like, you gotta enjoy it. It's a short window, and
people think, "Oh, NBA." Man, it's a short window. And the biggest thing I hate
about the word accountability is you got 15 guys in the locker room. Where's y'all accountability? Don't keep saying the
coach, oh, the coach didn't. You see the same thing I see. (all laugh) And you make $50 million a
year and you can't get fired. You understand? I'm gonna call a guy, like, y'all in the locker room every day. You see a guy messing up. - You tell him, too.
- You tell him. (smooth hiphop music) - All of us are grown enough, we could actually be
coaches at a high school or something like that, so why don't we talk about what we see? And then, when the coaches come in, they gonna talk to us, too. It's best when it's collaborative, man, anything that you do. - Is it the same thing on the
set with actors and directors? - It is the exact same way, and there's so much about what athletes do that I identify with,
being an artist on set. There's just so much internal
competition with yourself to be better, and it
requires a certain regimen of getting your lines down, getting the character down, study, you know, just a relentless
effort and dedication. But it is teamwork. It's a set of hundreds of people, and everyone has their
expertise that comes together to pull off the illusion,
to create the magic. And everybody has to
be on their Ps and Qs. It is absolute teamwork, and we gotta be able to
pass the spiritual rock. I wish I knew so much more about sports. (all laugh) - No, no, no, no, no. No, no, I'm listening, man. I do commercials and stuff, too. - I'm with ya.
- It's the same! - I'm over here, trying to learn, too, like how he gonna remember all the lines? - [Maverick] You should go to
work with Coach Lue one day. You'll realize it's the same thing. - It's the same. It's the same. - Hey, LaKeith, Chris said he knows when he's had three turnovers. Do you know when you're
turning the rock over? When you're filming something.
- You're messing up lines? - You're like, "I'm messing
this thing up, man." - Yeah.
- In the moment, do you know that? - Yes. Yes. You know, a lot of times,
it's much more than lines. What it typically is is
you being prepared enough to be sort of situated in
the story the correct way. And we all gotta help each other, and sometimes you'll
stumble and not be prepared, but part of what it means to
show up is to be prepared. You gotta know your lines. If you're showing up to set with papers, I don't even know how you got here. (all laugh) I'm very confused, if that's happening. - That would be me. I'm like, I don't know
what the **** I'm doing. - [Ty] I always wanted
to go to a set, man. - [Maverick] You never been to one? - Never.
- Oh, it's trippy, man. - I always wanted to go check it out, Mav. - It'll trip you out.
- It's trippy. - I mean, I ain't did
all the movies and stuff, but I've been doing these commercials for a long time, right?
- Very different. - For a long time.
- Funny as ****. - So it's crazy.
- Played a lot of roles. - But, for me, it's crazy to hear that, because everything you
just said was so real, because I've been on set
now, doing all these things, and people come on set and they be like, "Mr. Such and Such, can we talk to you?" What? Like, I'm a human. Talk to me like a human. But what he just said was crazy, because this is the
thing that makes me mad, like when you're on set, you'll be in between shots and the director or something
like that'll be right there, and then the talent agency, they'll come over and tell the director, "Can you tell him that we need him to talk a little bit louder?" I'm standing right there.
- Just say it to me. - I'm standing right there, and I'm like, "Uh, excuse me?"
- The ad agency. - Yeah, the ad agency. That's what, "Excuse me, can you tell me? I can hear you." And then I asked questions and they said that there are
some actors and actresses who will be on set and only one person is
allowed to talk to them, to give them feedback. You need me to talk louder, just tell me. - It's really crazy the
lengths people will go through to be passive aggressive in certain fields and not be able, not directly
tell you what they're feeling, but in some roundabout
way, get it across to you. This is a very, I feel like it's contract
language translated in real time. - That's what it is, actually. That's a good way to put it, it is. - Yeah, it's the fine print, and people will, they'll allude to things without telling you directly
what it is to save face. This is a very fear paradigm, like, you know, being an
artist and being an actor, you exist in a fear paradigm. I started at the bottom of it
when I first came into acting. I was playing smaller roles. No one knew who I was, really, and so you're kind of at the
bottom of that pecking order, and as you work your way up, you start to see the way in
which people interact with you. It sort of changes and you
become the special person and you become the person that is coveted and held at the top at a certain point. And because I've been through
all of the different layers, I can see the stark difference, and it doesn't feel good to me to have preferential treatment. And it doesn't feel good to me to have people being fake in front of me or treating other people wrong
and then treating me nicely, and somehow I'm supposed to
feel that that is a good thing. But I feel like the entertainment industry can sometimes be a place where there's just a lot of ******* going on. There's a lot of, there's
a lot of fake ****. There's a lot of things where
people aren't being direct and being honest, and I wish
that there were more people that would be honest, but it's all about the
people who populate it. - We also gotta say entertainers
are frail as ****, too. Like, you know, at a certain
point, you know we... - [Maverick] That's part
of being an entertainer. - So my man, Bear, is
with me today, right? People always assume Bear is my security. I'm like, nah, I mean, he can fight. We gonna make it out. You know, he's been a kung
fu practitioner and boxer. Like we gonna make it
outta whatever jam we in, but I keep Bear with me because
he's my you ain't *******. You know what I'm saying? Like, when I leave out of somewhere, "Oh, Mike, you were ******* amazing. Mike, you were so articulate. Mike, you were." We get out by ourselves. "*****, you ain't **** but
a ol' west side *****." - That what he said to you outside? - But you could be bold.
- Exactly. Chris, yeah, for real. And I love that about him, because, oftentimes,
the most valued person in the king's court is the jester, 'cause the only person who
could tell the king a joke, I mean, the truth, 'cause
he's telling him as a joke. And I know there's a lot
of times, as entertainers, you have to inflate,
you build a character. See, Killer Mike is a character that a nine-year-old boy
named Michael created. So I drop a record next month, right? It's called "Michael." It's me, a goofy-*** nine-year-old kid, flyaway collar, buck teeth, but I created this
character based on Scarface, based on Ice Cube, based on
Ice T, you know what I mean? I created this. So there have been times
where I've let my temper get the best of me before a show, and I have to walk back to
security after the show like, "Hey, man, I'm sorry, y'all, I was being a ***. I just wanted to make sure my sister could get to the stage," and
me and security dap it up. Now, growth is shown, 'cause last night, shouts out to Brian, who was security working the door. I'm like, "Brian, we can't
be, some of these people, these white folks paying
me a lot of money, Brian. We can't just turn these people away. I need some grace from you. What are the rules? If there're 10 people in the room, then I'll exit three out if
I need to bring three in, but I need you to let Brian know that it's okay to show me some grace." Within an eight-minute conversation, man, by the end of that conversation,
me and Brian were ace. Now, the 27-year-old Michael. - Feel disrespected, a little crazy. - Yeah, I'm like, "*****, you don't know what the
**** you talking about." (all laugh) And I've had to come back
like, "Man, I'm sorry." I got tired of saying I'm sorry. So I said let me get
this on the front end, and that was one of those times
where the growth is shown. And right after that,
Bear came to me and said, "*****, you still ain't ****." (all laugh) - Yeah, but you gotta
kind of not be ****, too. You gotta have that part. You gotta be **** and not be ****. And we come to multidimensional packages. - [Killer Mike] Absolutely. - How long you been rappin'? You started rappin' at nine? - [Killer Mike] I'm rappin'
since I was nine years old. - Wow. - Yeah, I started rapping
professionally at 27. I knew I could do it for
real at about 14, 15. I remember the first time my
homies took me to a studio. - What made you know you
could do it for real? - The first thing I
realized was all my friends were better than me at something, so I had to find something
to be good at, right? And at about 15, I remember rappin', and the studio owner
said, "Who is that kid?" And that's when I realized, I said I finally found my football, my basketball, my baseball. Like, I'm that good at it. And, man, they just kept pushing me. My friends kept pushing me. When I first wanted to
press up my first mix tape, my friend Robert Hicks had got drafted by the Buffalo Bills, '97. I can remember Rob, Rob knew
if I had it figured out, I was gonna get a pound of weed and I was gonna go figure out
getting by, just equipment. - [Maverick] Dime for dime. - Yeah, yeah, he knew. He hit me. He said, "Hey, big fella," and he'll still hit me to this day, like, "Don't ever complain about your job, 'cause God gave you what you
wanted, so don't complain." But he said, "I'm about
to send you something," and he sent me a few grand
just to press up the tape. I remember the going to the bank to get it with the check he sent me, and the lady sitting back there like, "Ooh, your friend got a lot of money." I was like, "Yeah, that ***** rich." (all laugh) And not understanding that
he wasn't at the time, so it meant even more
to me that he did that. But after that, I just never looked back. I just never looked back, because my friend who had
used his talent to go pro gave me financial aid to
use my talent to go pro, and I never took that for granted. - Mike, if there's one thing that you could tell young Mike, that nine-year-old, what would it be? - Boy, this **** gonna work. Boy, this **** gonna work in a big way. Brother, you gonna have a big house. You gonna have all the
awesome cars you ever wanted. Boy, fine-*** women
gonna come to your shows. Your girl gonna be so hot. Like, it's hard to convince a
child something's impossible. - It's hard to convince a child
that something's impossible. That's true.
- Yeah, it's hard. You can't convince a
child that they can't fly. Otherwise you don't have
the Wright Brothers. So just eliminate the impossibility and let the child figure it out. Let the child fall. Let 'em stumble. Let 'em have to figure
it out, but encourage. My mother didn't put me in the studio. She just said, "Yeah,
you wanna be a rapper. **** it, you a rapper." (all laugh) 'Cause she was only 16
years older than me. She was like, "Nah, you can be a rapper." So when I got the opportunity, I didn't think it was impossible. I thought possible, so
that nine-year-old kid, I'm just gonna say don't stop, but don't turn down
opportunities to do other things. - Right. - Don't turn down the opportunity to learn to do something else. Even if you aren't the best at it, you've been exposed to it,
and that's a beautiful thing. There's nothing more beautiful than a well-traveled human being. - What about you, that question for you? - Yeah, it's interesting. I resonate a lot with the
imagination of the child. When I was young, I mean, there was nothing I
thought that I couldn't do. I was just very curious and mischievous, and I had people in my life. I didn't have a father, but I had a lot of women in my life who allowed me to be
expressive and allowed me to, I would throw on my aunt's wig and dance around in the mirror
when I was really young, and told me that it was okay and it was a safe space to be expressive. And that was really important
in my formative years, to know that it was okay to do that. Kids, kids don't have all
of, like, the jadedness that we come along with, the failures and the years of trying to do things and not following through. They are balls of potential, and you gotta, I kind of wanna
say you gotta pass that rock, but I don't feel like
that's appropriate to say. (all laugh) Looking for sports reference. - You gotta encourage
them to shoot the ball. - [Maverick] You gotta encourage
them to shoot the ball. - I do want to ask something. You know, I'm hearing a theme here, right? It's probably safe to say every
single person in this room has been blessed to make more money than you ever thought you were gonna make when you were nine, right? But I hear the desire to help, the desire to share information. We've talked about organizing,
you know, the word activism. Why is that important to you all? You guys have made your money. You don't need to do anything. You can sit back and do the thing. - Well, I still gotta rhyme. I'm negro rich. I ain't white-folk rich,
but I'm on my way, you know? (all laugh) I live below my means. - It's crazy, like, when
you're a kid or whatnot, and I know a lot of stuff come
back to financial literacy, but when you was a kid growing up, you always said, "Man, if
I get a million dollars, everybody gonna be good."
- Ooh, we ballin'. - Back then, you were, though. Back then it was close. - [Maverick] It was close. - Back then, you get a million dollars. - And so, now.
- I agree. - Knowing the people that you know, everybody I'm sure here
know billionaires, right? - Absolutely.
- That work every day. That work every single day. And so, I think, at a certain point, too, exposure is the big word that I'm hearing. That's what you learn. - Yeah, the key word in
activism, I think, is active. You want to be active. You know, a lot of people figure that posting something online, an update, a tweet or something like that, and that's how, that's
your form of activism, and by the way, that has its uses, but I think being on the ground floor, talking to people, really
spreading knowledge across, spreading wealth across,
and doing that in a way that can help people mobilize and get up on their own two feet, I think is what's important. So experience is really an
important part of the activism, and taking people out
of their comfort zones and putting them in places
where they can learn things. I remember, when I first came to LA, I had never had wine before, and I think I was like 19, 20. You know, I came to LA, and I was sitting at
a table full of actors in this movie that I was in. and the waiter came over
with a bottle of wine. You know, they show you the wine. I never knew that they showed you wine, so when they showed me the wine, I grabbed it and took it to the head, and everybody was looking at me like what the hell going on? I'm like, "Why y'all ain't?" 'Cause where I'm from,
we used to steal bottles, and then we would break the lock off and then pass it around
and everybody drinking it. So I'm thinking like, oh, you
know, let's hit the bottle. You passing me the bottle. - Big boy's a 40.
- And I learned the hard way. - I would have been pissed
off, I ain't gonna lie. I would have been like, "What the hell?" - [Killer Mike] It's like
your mouth all on it. - Yeah, that's the other thing. Get a straw something. You put your mouth all on it. (all laugh)
- Yeah, it was crazy, but I literally didn't know no better and I had to learn different etiquettes. I hadn't had sushi before, so I was like, "Y'all eat raw fish?" They're like, "Yeah." You know, you dip it in the thing, and chopsticks, I'm using them like this. But it's like learning and
being exposed to those things, you find out they're not
really too much different than what you know. The game don't really change.
- Don't know what you don't know. - It's really just molding
into a different game, so, oftentimes, I'll bring
some of my homies in, bring 'em on set, act as
an assistant or whatever, but you haven't acclimated
to the climate yet. As I told you, the climate's weird. - How important is that, right? Like spreading the knowledge. You have a book coming out, lessons, like how important is
spreading the learnings, the failures, the lessons? - Man, it's timing, too. It's timing, figuring out when you ready to sort of tell that story. I wrote a book, man, and I tell you, if anybody else didn't ever did that, it's one of the craziest
processes ever, ever. And I literally went on an
emotional rollercoaster, 'cause it's called, "Lessons from Papa." My grandfather got murdered
my senior year in high school by five teenagers, and my
granddad was my best friend. I mean, that was my right hand man. I lost my grandmother when I
was eight, and my grandfather, he had the first
Black-owned service station in North Carolina. So in my book, I'm talking about that, and through the process of writing a book, some of the stuff I hadn't talked about. - You had to relive it a bit. - I had to relive it, and I
did the audio for my book, too, so it was one thing writing it. - And speaking it. - I got videos of when I
was doing the audiobook of like just breaking down, you know, 'cause it's like therapy, right? They tell Black people, "Don't, man. You don't need to talk
to it about nobody." But this was like therapy
for me, you know what I mean? So in my book, I talk about all of that, so it's dope to be able
to tell your story. You know what I mean? So people, you know what I mean, get a chance to see the
the good and the bad. - [Maverick] That's
amazing. That's amazing. - And you mentioned therapy. Everybody get a ******* therapist. Everybody do therapy. I think it's really important
and gives you perspective. Literally, what my therapist
does is she's amazing, and I wish I could plug her but I can't. (all laugh) But she will lead you, she will always lead me back to myself. I'll say a bunch of crazy, a bunch of things I'm going through, the things that I'm thinking I'm thinking, and she might even just
sit there and be like, "Now, what do you think?" I'll be like, "Now that I said it, there's another perspective
that I have about it." And there's something nice
about having that bounce board that's skilled and has the tools to bring you back to yourself. And that's what I like
about the book, too. It's like you open up that
chamber of being vulnerable, and I think you reap a lot of
dope benefits from doing that. And the more we can encourage
each other to do that, I think the better. - Before we get outta here,
LaKeith, I wanna ask you, you obviously, he talked
a lot about Atlanta, he talked a bit, you played Atlanta, you're obviously on the show
that represents Atlanta. What does that place mean to you? - Hmm. The first time I went to Atlanta, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that everyone there was Black. I didn't know such a
place existed in the U.S., and you know, I'm from San Bernardino, which is right a little
hour-thirty north of here, LA, and it is, you got a lot of
different influx of cultures, but you don't see Black people populating. They're bankers, they're
working at the airport, you know, everywhere you go, there's a Black person
that's employed there. And I just thought it was really beautiful and it made me feel like, wow, the potential of
what Black people can be when we're congregated together, and what we can accomplish together. And to be on this show that was a real, you know, we're taking
the Black experience and kind of trying to polarize it and make it digestible and understandable to people that may not understand it, and also lend voices to those who feel how it feels to be Black
and exist and be Black. And what I was really inspired
by was Donald, you know, having come from the
area and having been able to get to a point where he was
able to bring his city back and express his city to the
masses through his perspective. And that was something that
I thought was real special and that more of us should be doing. It's taking ownership of our narrative, and him being the one that's penning it, it's like nobody else is telling us what Blackness looks like. This is coming uniquely from a Black man. You know, you get a lot of scripts and it's written by other people who don't live our experience and they want to tell
us what being Black is, which is also why I think it's
important to be selective. - We need to get your
point of view on Atlanta. - I advise all players and athletes and artists that I meet, I say buy something in Atlanta. I say buy a house for
your baby mama, your mama. - Why? Why Atlanta? - I have a house in Atlanta. - Why Atlanta, 'cause you not playing
from a defensive position. Atlanta's more than just a Black city. It's a city, 1906, there was a huge riot there, right? Something gets worked out
between the white class and the Black class to say, "Hey, we are going to be a southern city that destroys itself," and at this time, it's known for trains. Trains are coming through here, all the commerce that come
through the southeast, all the freight was coming through there, and they're like, "Yo,
we can't do this again." So the the the first
Black millionaires people like Alonzo Herndon, who
started with barbershops that was all Black barbers but only served white businessmen, and then he learned about insurance. He said, "Well, we don't have
life insurance and insurance." So it just became, and he start becoming
a broker for insurance. Built the largest, and this is, now again, this is like 1900, early 1900s, built the Atlanta Life Insurance Company. Atlanta has always been this precarious, this peculiar cooperation
between Blacks and whites. William Hartsfield, white mayor, understood that aviation was the future. Trains weren't gonna be the future. Gave Delta like a 50-year
contract at a dollar a year. They ran him outta town, ridiculed him, but that contract made
us a huge Delta hub. You see Black people
leading, from the woman that put me on the
billboard at Delta up there, who leads their marketing, to the woman, to people who literally, when you land a plane, unless you're going to Jamaica or Africa, you don't see all-Black crews. And I would like to see more Black people and white people who are truly
allies and co-conspirators to bring your *** to Atlanta,
make a real investment, and help this city grow so
that we may be the prototype for what we want to see other cities throughout the south become. - Telling you.
- Love that. Love that. - And can you please, can you talk about all my
businesses with the same passion. That was beautiful. No, really, that's like put
your money where your mouth is. - You talked about being selective. Your next film is "Haunted Mansion," which is a scary, very scary movie, right? What was that like? Because that's kind of different than most of the things I've seen you do. - Yeah, yeah, it was great. It was a Disney movie, so, for me, just the scale was different than anything I had experienced before. On day one, I'm taking a
walk with the CEO of Disney, the guy who is the Mr. Disney guy. One thing that I found quite striking was that his shoes were, they were just some dusty, like old Nikes. And I was like, he's wealthy.
(Maverick laughs) If there's any indication
that you're wealthy, it's that you're not worried about what kind of shoes you got on, 'cause it really don't matter. They're used specifically for utility. And it was a really beautiful
gift, the experience. I'd never experienced anything like that. And it was really beautiful, working with all these great
people, like Danny DeVito, I grew up watching him.
- I love Danny. - I never would've thought. - He's a great man, by the way. - Yeah, he's so cool, man.
- He's a cool dude. - Yeah, so fun. And it was just, you know, Owen Wilson, all these dope people, Chase Dillon, working with all of them. And Justin Simeon, who's our director, who's Black, it was like, dope. We was both, I'm cast as
a lead in a Disney movie and I'm Black, and he the
director and he's Black. So we go into his office one day and we're just looking at each other. We're like, "What the hell is going on?" But it was dope that we
had got to that position, and we wanted to try, if we could, maintain some integrity in
Blackness in them spaces, because we know, in a lot of times, it's just not represented that way. So we wanted to make
sure, everywhere we could, put a little bit of Black in there. So when I came in to do the role, they said, "What you
want your hair to be?" And I said, "Dreads," you know? And at first, people
kind of like, "Dreads?" And I'm like, "Just trust me." And so, they put the dread wig on me and they're like, "Oh, dreads. It's dreads." And I'm like, "Yeah." It's the little things we gotta do to put ourselves in positions to be seen in our many multi-faceted ways. I don't even really
like to call 'em dreads. I'd rather call 'em locks, 'cause that has a negative connotation. - I get to ask one selfish
question every episode, and it's for you, Mike. You have a project coming out. - Yeah, I have a project named "Michael" coming out on July 16th, interestingly enough, on pop. - So, first, congrats on that, and rumor has it you got
one of my favorite artists, one of your favorite artists, Andre 3000. - [Killer Mike] Yeah, Stacks
and Future jumped on a record. - Talk to us about that. - I'm Dungeon family,
we're Dungeon families. I'd always wanted Dre on something. I sent him stuff over the years. He'd be like, "Kill, that's
hard, man, that's hard, but I just don't feel
like rapping right now." I'm just like, "Goddamn, Dre." Saying like, "I just done
lost my thing for it, Kill, you know, but you know." And he said, I came out here, I flew, no idea, executive
produced a project, and I learned so much working with him. - [Chris] That's our man right there. - It was like playin under
a players' coach, you know? It truly was, Ty. And Dion says to me, he says, "I got to show you how to use problems." And I'm like, "What the ****
you talking about a problem? I got the hottest mixtape in Atlanta." "Nah, we gonna make this a album." So he says, I asked him, I said, "Can Dre come in here with us?" He say, "Yeah." Dre comes in, hears it, and this time I'm like,
"I'm not asking Dre. ****, I can't take another no." You know what I'm saying? And Dre comes back, he say, "Kill, I wanna leave you something." I said, "What?" He left a bunch of records. He said, "Pick what you like." I said, "That I like for you?" He said, "No, for you, for your." I said, "You're gonna get on my project?" You know, I turned into, like, a girl. "You gonna get on my project?" - He left you you like beats? What was it, beats? - Beats and verses, just
different ideas he had. As an artist, you never stop. - Yeah, of course.
- You always have ideas. But he sent two, Scientists and Engineers, and he sent another that
he ended up taking back, and then we did another record that's going to drop in the future. But Scientists and Engineers, he dropped it and I'm
just like, "Oh, ****. Um, okay. It's some Dre 3000****? Okay, I'm gonna have to rap this beat? Okay." My cuz looked at me and said, "I don't give a ****
what it sound like, cuz. We doing this record."
(all laugh) (smooth hiphop music) - It was funny, because there
was evacuation protocols that essentially made sure
the essential cast was safe. - Y'all was gonna be good. It was the white folk that had to worry. They was gonna be like,
"Man, I had him in my house. We protect him, man. We didn't let nobody kill him, shorty. No, go on. LaKeith, tell him what's up, bro. - I'm like, "Just do what he says, man." (smooth hiphop music) (smooth hiphop music)
