Jeezy on Selflessness, Survival, and His Top Secrets to Success

[Music] hey what's up guys welcome to the next episode of wide open the podcast so I'm Tony Gonzalez and my guest today is somebody I've been listening to his music for a long time getting height before games go crazy was my hype song talking about Jeezy what up the really appreciate you coming on the show man am i appreciate you Evan yeah you guys tell you that players ever tell you like hey listen music yeah it's crazy because um it's always like me and Dione we we talk all the time and each everybody he listens to my music you know when he runs and stuff and then some of the other guys always like you don't before the games me it was like really and what we're really um was a crazy one with Kasim Reed won his first when he became mayor uh-huh that was a song he actually walked out to go crazy no to put on but on foot on yeah and and when I saw him you know I was you know excited to meet him cuz he's the mayor and I'm like okay he's like you know cheesy I was like what's up you say man I love put on any what you expected from the mayor would you know from Atlanta you born in South Carolina but you moved to Atlanta as a youngster right right and what was that like growing up what neighborhood that you welcome I'm gonna put the blood is applied to it so a lot of people don't notice um so my father was in the military that's how I was born in South Carolina so I went back to live with my grandmother right then we went back to me with my father uh when my father my mother got back together and at the time my father was in Japan okay now doesn't Japan for all of what or Hawaii Honolulu I lived there all over a year then I went to Japan and I lived there for a while as a young team but I actually got kicked off the island uh-huh because I brought a lot of the things that I was doing in Atlanta Japan I was like Street stuff and you know the the distilling you know because I was stealing things off on base and off base and sending them back to America for money my dad's wonder why I was getting all his money from it I was my hustle uh-huh so then when I got kids I got kicked off the island I was actually had to go back and live with my grandmother which was in Georgia and that's how I got back to Georgia oh okay so I was in Georgia most of mine okay okay but they kicked you off the other ya know like you're not even now you get it they go I was that uh that is gonna court-martial my dad so he was just like you know yeah yeah go get back to LA so what was it like going through all that ready some sounds like it's a lot of moving around yeah it was cool because I mean one thing I pride myself in even now to this day help me out it helped me for my vision to be broader because just coming up for when I was coming up and it was it was you know just the neighborhood so you didn't see anything so when I came back to the neighborhood I already knew there was another world out there uh-huh lot of my peers and you know uh guys I was growing up with they just knew the hood and what we was doing I'm which I knew well but which gave me a upper hand on them because I understood how the world works because I had seen it then I came back is almost like you going to college and get a dose of it and coming back to middle school and being like yeah so you know and these guys are still trying to work to get to that but I already seen it so um to me I feel like it gave me upper hand because a lot of people looked up to me it seemed like I knew a lot yeah but I wasn't afraid to listen and I learned that about being a broad or just being in a different um just a different atmosphere where people didn't mind helping you and I'm saying that you come back to the hood and everybody's for self thought would help people that comes in so that made me seem like the guy to be around you yeah yeah so um when you're when you're growing up who's who's helping you who's around you well did your grandmother yes Father like what kind of roles were there uh my dad was you know he's a good do man like he you know he did his thing you know he was in the military of course which just I think it was bye he was forced because when my mother was pregnant with me I'd do something so the that's the town they were they were living in he was you know either you get a factory job or you know you go through something out in the field and I don't think he wanted to do that so he chose the military which was cool I'm saying so cuz he all about discipline so I just really put him in a different space and from the rest of his brothers and sisters so he's able to travel the world and I'm for me it was just different because I don't think my mother she was from her hood like me so it was like you know she she didn't adapt to it well so you know it was that but just to answer your question for me like dealing with it was uh I think a blessing you know I'm saying because it's like even like with some of the turmoil and some of the things that have learned so much just by how broken my family was cuz I was forced to be an adult at a young age huh yeah yeah I was fourteen years old like running my entire house huh yeah so when you're doing that dog you said are you figuring out out on your own or is there somebody that you could talk to a mentor anybody like that that was usually for athletes it's always like okay well I had this coach cuz I didn't get it from my house so I had this coach or I watched television shows and I'm watching television who was that mentor or that that adult voice there was two things it was it was definitely the older hustlers in the neighborhood which who took to me because I was like a sponge and I listened and I would just sit around them but I went I was know stuff that they didn't know you know just because I was witty like that so they asked me questions and I would have answers as I was sitting around more adults so that was like my end that I had knowledge yeah I always had this thing this knack of helping people like now I just do it like cuz I think logical and a lot of times when people under pressure they're trying to figure out how to get from A to Z they you know they make it um complicated instead of making it simple and that's my talents make things something huh so that was that and getting knowledge from them and taking it to the other homies and to be honest with you I got a lot of my knowledge phone which was music uh-huh you know I listen to you know all types of music in by Tupac was one of my greatest influences because I felt like he was before his time and some of the things he was saying like really resonated with me because I feel like they were like rules and laws and and it gave me like a like you know if that was my version of thinking Grow Rich back then this gave me mine in my playbook yeah I can't have this I should do that I got to live like this I got to stick to this code and I just exercised it until I just got great at it and then I will learn from other music like you know just like The Master P's and those guys how they was hustling I'd be like well if they can do that then I can and so it was easy for me to like understand what they were saying and put it in my everyday life because I was living the life they was talking about uh-huh I was in the streets I was going through the turmoil I was doing the things but it wasn't one person that you can actually go to and be like hey what do I do about this because they might can tell you like a piece of fraction of it but it's a whole bigger picture so even if they tell you to do this then what happens when you do that you can't call them back and like so I did this or what do I do now yeah you got to learn on y'all so he was music conversations and it was always my uncle telling me a long time ago listen more than you talk thought were going rooms and just sit there oh listen and see you've said that about a bunch already like what it's listening what and you know there's a lot of kids that that that you grew up with I'm sure that that we're listening to the same music around the same experiences that you were but they're not listening like what do you think it's about you do you think it was just like hey I was destined for the foot for this that I'm a learner I'm curious like why he's out sinus I learned is this is crazy with me I have if I can't go in the situation and walk away with something like if I can't sit down with somebody having a conversation to feel like I walked away but some more if I can't be in a relationship that I feel like mentally I get somehow I can't just I just can't deal with it I'm already clocked out is like sapiosexual [ __ ] is like I got it you know me I got to have to meet in the mind cuz that's where is that for me everything else is what it is so just like I can sit down with somebody and having a conversation with them and hear their struggle was well and be like you know cuz I got a lot of friends now that a you know pitying there's me and there's whatever but if you listen to everything that you talked about they all had a struggle and what I thought my struggle was real sometimes it was really and I go I started one of my guys other day I was like I was like sir what you do anymore he just started telling me his ritual I know what mine is but he telling me doing Tai Chi tap-in I'm like what so what stamping so I'm just listening to what he does to set his self up because I know how he thinks so evidently his morning rituals are on another level but I want to hear that I'm saying because mine are here I need mind there so I got a you know see out it but imagine if I just had a conversation with him like how you make your money and then it stops there yeah I don't know what it does to make the man yeah so that's the part I want to listen to because that's the connection cuz we all can get money yeah obviously but it's just like what do you do that I'm not doing how do you see things what happened to your life there was a game changer for you like what happened when you were just like and he was telling me a story about him and his wife went through something in their company and they both decided at the same time that they was gonna put everything to the side and focus on their company and that's when they took off but I wanted to know that moment because I know what my moment was you know I'm saying but I want to hear that because that puts me in a puts me in a mind state to know just going forward like you know how to think if I'm everything that situation mm-hmm later on tonight now this is game from them yeah so they're the older hustlers now you know instead of it being like the guys that was on the block these are the guys I'm gonna talk to it cuz they're doing business I'm like huh you doing this you don't saying so just listening for me yeah that that's that's a client that's why I do this show that's the keeper like movers and shakers like yourself I always say that phrase movers and shakers know what they're doing things are it usually it starts with listening listening is the first thing you can do you better be curious before you're anything else absolutely they want to learn so speak into that then how did how did you become a rapper like wow were you were you writing down poetry at first cuz that's that's what lyrics are maybe I did though so this is this short but sweet so I had this this Filipino girl that was in my my class she was in my class my first three periods I was going to school in Japan in Japan beautiful girl and uh she wouldn't talk to me so I started writing poetry and leaving on her desk all over you at this time maybe like 11 blocks the end right poets really good at this and then she started to write me back and I got her engaged but I started realizing like the more the better I got at it the more she would engage in to the point like she became my girlfriend one you know saying it was like you know I had this thing but I just saw how powerful my words weren't yeah sounds like wow so when I moved back to the states I kind of got away from it but I love music so I listen to music every morning I got off for school you know every time I did something and I was just sitting there one day I was like my life is real like why can't I do music so I didn't want to be a rapper so I went out bought all the studio equipment and I got some guys from the hood and put them on then they end up getting in all this trouble one of them got life I've owned some crazy stuff at Mattoon and it was just me and my my partner we were stuck in the studio that I spent all my money on I was tapped out having more bread he was just like Shh you got to do it and I was like you know what I think I can I just started making records making records making records I believe you me it was it was it was terrible in the beginning yeah oh my god well that's normal yeah and you think the easy story was bad right had it bad had it bad and out were you at this time now I was in my I was about nineteen nineteen and this past yeah that's when you finally started to really take it seriously why started ticking I started taking it seriously um around the time that I saw a lot of my peers start to get real prison time mhm and the time was just too great for me man I just had to really just like and actually I got a a book that's coming out the end of this year it talks a lot about it but I got in a place where no I saw the opportunity but I had to go cold turkey all my other life which was kind of hard because I was taking care of my mother in front of my sister school and taking care of myself off in the hustle I know but I had to put that to the side to actually focus on music that wasn't promised you know so it was kinda like the biggest risk I ever took and um I just kept working at it and just trying to find my niche in my anger and then I went back to what I knew just thinking 20/20 hindsight I my words from the young young lady that I was trying to they had that affected her how when I was around older people they asked me for my opinion on things so I was just like well if my words can touch people like that why can't it touch the masses and and and if I'm gonna do music I want to do motivational music I want to do something's gonna touch people and make them feel away not to be cool but to have something to actually say and to spray in my story and that's just how I started I just started to talk about my real life and that dad just clicked yeah it was almost instant I know I started just wouldn't mean click like like instant success from other people or LinkedIn you like like this is what I need to be doing this is it like it was like my purpose that was my purpose as my calling is just like I bet my grandmother passed she raised me so she passed when I was about but she passed when I was about 22 and so she never seen any of this but she used to tell me all the time you know all the stuff that you're doing is gonna you know you're gonna go to jail you're gonna get killed out here but then I flipped it so all the stuff that I was doing actually helped me with my life because I understood it but they just opened up so many doors for me because I knew it so well but at the same time I was again I was logical I was like I don't wanna go to jail here saying I don't aim for me and I don't want to not be here for my sister and my mother I can do this and I'm saying but how can I do it in a way that you know like I said I go back to to parking those guys that was really bringing something to the game I was like what's my niche like Who I am I like work what do I had to bring to the table how can I make people's lives better and it was the motivation thing and it clicked and it was corny to a lot of people refers today and get it there's like you know why you wrapper like that I want to talk about I'm just like I don't understand that I know this is like I'm not a carpenter you know a I'm not a mechanic I just know life and I know about telling people how to overcome things because that's what I was doing to myself I was like I gotta overcome this it wasn't no playbook so it's the music for me so it's like how how does my music affect other people if I'm that kid and I'm 14 15 I'm sending my mother's you know my mother's trailer wasn't bigger than this room I'm saying imagine six people live in you know I'm saying so how do I get my mother out of this trailer so I was doing the music and it was like when I would be out like one person would be like y'all and you really touched me I was like oh then it was like teen then it was like 20 then it was 100 and then you just you sitting there you going on so now this makes you want to go harder and do my music but the thing was for me it was I had one foot in one foot out of the street so it's like I didn't know if I was gonna be incarcerated so I really gave it everything I had just so I could be heard uh-huh that was my thing like I'm just don't give everything cuz I didn't know uh-huh you know cuz those things take time I mean you could be free and clear then come knock on your door five years later so I had no idea so I was doing it everything I could do just relentless about it putting everything in it and I just remember waking on one dam being like damn I'm sitting I'm doing New York summer jam and there's 60,000 people in the crowd you know we do this at my house that was chica talking at the one time with chica yeah ha ha you were saying you said all of a sudden you looked up you know where I was Summer Jam 60,000 people in attendance mm-hmm and my special guests that I brung out was jay-z and Drake okay yeah you know and this is a guy that came from a little you know dingy studio in the basement just trying to figure it out but my message was clear you know and even like now when I hear people say you know you told us to trap or dyes it's like nah just the message was you have to believe in yourself you got to like nobody else is gonna be your biggest fan you got to understand like for me it wasn't just the music there was the journey like the me I could make music in my sleep but it's what goes with it you know what's the story behind it like you ever seen somebody with a product you know um you know just blows off the shelves and you like but then they got this backstory behind it you know like it's just I don't know like Tito's its gluten-free we don't know that but it's just like sounds like it's amazing you're like but is his backstory so well my music the backstory was I've been through all these things but I'm just sharing what I've learned with you to tell you that you still have to believe in yourself sort of music but music when they ban the Snowman my my emblem the snowman and seeing them banded and all those things was crazy because it was like there was nothing about that snowman that was abandoned for middle schools and high schools but it was not on 40 shows but it was nothing about that that was disrespectful is the power they saw it and I never forget my mom coming and I was on tour and um in London and I was London in Paris and all these things you know she's like baby seeing the news I was like nah like you know Obama shouted you out at the Correspondents Dinner and I'm like oh you could have done that I would heard about it she's gonna sing it to you and when I saw it i sat there and I just shook my head I was like man that's what's up you know he shouted me out but you know I did a lot to help his campaign with my president is black song yeah and a lot of stuff that I was doing in Atlanta and when I flew out to go to the Correspondents Dinner in New York The Secret Service wouldn't let me in huh you know which is crazy to me because I feel like they should have told you that beforehand uh-huh so um I don't know my team dropped the ball whatever but I just had this like thing like name and I had white hair do all this for Obama and here we've acknowledged and when he shouted me out that then I was just like yeah um it was like one of those things like you know you can't stand close to somebody because of their past and that's just my past you know it comes with me yeah but he shouted me out from a distance but I couldn't help but to think about all the casted on they see me and my endeavours to see me you know just that militant a discipline determined young cat that was on the block and now you get to see the President of the United States that the most powerful man in the free world shout out your homeboy yeah you know just this based on yeah right just based off the way he believed it cuz it crazy cuz even when I go back and I visit you know I just see a lot of cats and I used to um you know just be right beside on the same block on the same pavement and the only thing that's different between us is you know our dreams and how far we was willing to go to get it done and I just feel like my music is my soundtrack to those dreams and those goals yeah yeah so when you're going through that door duh you said you have to believe in yourself um poor for the people out there listening especially when when things like I mean how are you making money while you're out there working on your craft and how do you maintain that belief in yourself when when maybe it doesn't look so good well you know how do you how do you maintain that that hardcore because I believe that - I'm not kidding if you don't believe in yourself first of all why the hell I was shooting by Ellis yeah I believe in you and second of all I just don't I don't think that's how you manifest anything I don't think it comes with the negative attitude I think you have to absolutely say it's it is me and this is my purpose and I found it I'm gonna make it happen well two things the first thing is being a black man especially in that time and this time you had you already up against so much you have to believe I had people all the time tell me like you too positive I'm like I already know what the other option is so I rather for this I'm a I'm a prepare for the worst I'm expect the best but prepare for the worst like I know that's gonna happen but I also know I'm good at that you can say I'm good at adversity it's like my hi like if it don't work I'm gonna learn something but then I'm gonna try something else I'm not gonna let that to round me but I'm gonna think positive because I want to think as far as I can think so that's my man tell me about just life period yeah just you know you have to be relentless but at the same time if you're not positive well at least you can see both sides cuz a lot of people like to know what am I facing what's to fear cool I get it but if you've seen the type of things that I've seen then you know fear is what it is is an emotion like it's nothing else but you know you know it's there you know I mean so it's just like I'm gonna be a risk taker because if I don't take the risk then nobody's gonna take him for me so I gotta believe in myself and and the second thing is like what I was doing to get money I had to be honest like you know I was doing some pretty major things man like some things departed with a guy like I like all the guys that I was running with and they were running with me at the time nobody probably got less than 20 years and the rest got life uh-huh so you know I was lucky and I tell people all the time um you know that they're not really close to me like when they asked me I would like you know god I feel like and I do believe in God but I feel like God put me in this position for me to touch people the way I touch them and this is my purpose because there's so many times I could have been in either iron box or wooden box so many times like he's I can I can count on two hands you know times I slip death dependant into me and I'm just like how did you know and it's crazy because then up into the recession um which was like my fourth studio album yet maybe fourth I was still under the impression I might go to jail and I just woke up one day and I was like I'm free I'm gonna make it how am I gonna make songs and that's when I really started you know reading up on politics and it's understanding how the world works outside of my neighborhood and just write my music a little bit more for the world but it you know it it takes time to get to that process and here go again about listening I started going to other rooms and realizing that I wasn't the smartest person in the room and I was cool and I'd have to control the situation to try to control the narrative I'm here to learn I'm here to understand I'm here to see I'm here to see what pushes other people I'm here to understand how you put these things together cuz a lot the whole time like music for me was uh I looked like the streets was a stepping stone you know musical is a stepping stone um business is something that that I wanted to do back then but I just couldn't come off the streets and just do business so all these were stepping stones for me to get to where I wanted to go because those are the guys that I respected cuz I always wonder like if you're sitting on the block and you're doing these things and you you know you got people go in dial for $100 you know all the time you know I'm saying padeen you got somebody that can you know go out here with their mentor and make hundreds of millions of dollars just by their resources in their relationships and they don't do much and their lives are so different even but we put in the same amount of time so I'm like what do they know that I don't know yeah I want to go stand beside them not because they're successful but I just want to know what makes them tick because if I'm gonna risk my life for this why would I risk my time for that you know I'm saying it's like I'd rather not I'd rather be a you know almost an intern I want to learn G like how you doing this you know me and if you look at anybody from the music industry that successful now they all started in turns yeah you know as far as like the executive people like the cat allows and LA Ruiz and all these big guys they they've learned from somebody else and then they just took what they learned and Kevin pushing so my thing is how can I am I'm in a position where I'm safe enough to be around these people how can I go learn to take this back to my culture take this back to my culture so that they can see that this is possible so where the music was a tool to get people to see how far they can go you know that's not even far enough anymore now I have to not have to show him with my accents like what can I do with my accent when you seem to do these multi tech deals or these spirit deals with Ivy on tequila and sell it to preneur card and this defines fuel you know that we're working on selling to one of the major Koehler companies right now I was like I'm taking what I learned in the streets yeah and applying in boardroom because I listen the whole way so now I was like I'm still on point so when I'm walking into these rooms I don't have the pressure I don't have to win I just have to learn yeah you know I'm saying and I just have to use my tactics of being cool and not making any sudden movements yeah it's like looking at everything is what it is they oh we should do that huh then it works and they look at me like a genius but it's just what I learned in the streets I think there's something be said about being authentic Ryan like you said this is the same way that you built your your career as an artist but I always look at it with with me that this is what I forgot when I got done playing football it's like all that that all those rituals and and mindset the mindset that I had when I played football was one like you said like this self belief this this the you know loving and having a passion for what you do like it never turned off for me when I was playing and then when I got done playing and I'm making that transition into the next stage of my career which is which has been television it's like I forgot all about that [ __ ] I was just it broke me for a while where I was depressed then was like what and what am i doing it's like then I finally woke up one day with the help of my wife where it was just like now you you got this like you need to have that same attitude when you show up there's no doubt in your in your mind and you will go through those hard times but you know it's our first of all quitting is never an option it is about perseverance and pushing through it and I want to ask you a question about that was was there ever a time while you were coming up still trying to be an artist still rapping where you hadn't made it yet that that you thought about quitting or or what was it was there a pivotal moment that you said I'm gonna push aside that that old life and I'm gonna I'm gonna go for it like what was it was there a specific moment because I feel like a lot of people they can relate to something like that where it's like okay but tell me how what happened and how you got through that mentally okay with three things there's always the wife the getting back on track yeah it's always that um the second thing is a friend told me something long time ago older gentleman and he was like I was playing basketball on the court it was teaching me about my jump shot or whatever and he was just telling me his long and you meant it was all in your mental and I had a boxing coach they did the same things all of your mentors honor you mentor and what I learned from them but there was trying to teach me because my boxing coach office eight be the same thing out there that you did in the gym you know he still says that to this date and always was like whoa and what I learned from that and what she was just saying about that transition what you forgot is you know we even myself on the Block not to remind myself that that's who I am I'm saying but we can't forget you know we got it we can't learn all these things inside the lines as they called it did like the field you know made the basketball court the boxing gym inside the lines the block and then when you get outside of the block you forget him or you get outside outside of the basketball you forget it you got outside of a football field you forget it because those are the fundamentals of life is just the game is just different so if you apply those same tactics to your life you can't lose because it's like football like if you if you love it and you give it everything you got you know and you do like the same you can't lose and that's what I had to learn it's just like I'm changing that I mean I have to change who I am in my core like I could still take these skills that I learned and apply them to this and that's how I was able to keep pushing and to answer your question about being in on music never having a chance a time that I want to quit I had a time world I was probably in a great area and I didn't understand how to be an artist meaning like I just knew how to hustle that's what I was guy I was they're not gonna like you could have more talent cuz I've been in sessions and I was like no he's he's gotta really you know have you ever been in a session with jay-z and just call [ __ ] my versi go to the corner you like a real rapper and I'm not you know saying like I never went in I got never had a backpack I never like broke down rhymes in middle school I never you know freestyle at the lunchroom table but now you're in the room with jay-z and you got to write a verse you know no Wayne you got to write a verse you know I mean you're in Hawaii with Kanye he wants you to help him with his album and you're going man I really don't know what to [ __ ] him look I understand who I am so I just had to stay with me and the thing that I had a you know and I had to realize like they want a piece of what I am you know I mean so just stayed true to myself say what I would say do what I would do and every time it worked for me but always had that moment where I was just like am like okay I'm here now so what do I do and I never forget it was like um the one time I could say I actually fluked like that I really like flut flut was armed what's this man the last days it was a Beyonce song man it was drunken love huh oh jay-z Beyonce and I'm just popping you know and I'm telling me I got bars I've been right in the shower I'm crazy with it the day I just I woke up I'm just only oh yeah pull up his owner they put up drunk in love and it was so many people in the room and I'm like I've been sipping a little bit I'm like man that's I'm just gonna freestyle you know exact I was going to boot freestyle verse don't know what I was thinking about you know cuz there's so many people I just wouldn't get it done and normally I would have went in my little corner and wrote write it but I it was so many like Braille this one out so I didn't want to I didn't want to write so I go and knock it out freestyle I get home that night and I should have wrote that first I could have killed it yeah I didn't do that I can't stick to my guns we played a jay-z called me what are you doing I was like chilling it's like oh drunken love song by the way so don't worry about it I was like damn I missed my chance for Beyonce features not sticking to my guns so you know B if you're listening we need to recoup get it back together but um dance you of course and how do you deal with something like that though you ever look at you those those type of things that I think happened to everybody right like that could knock you down a little bit a little bit well it made me feel like I was getting lazy uh-huh yeah I really had to check myself so you look at it and you say you know what I wrote I wrote yeah I wrote everything after that and I just took it serious because I'm to be honest with you like I was in the place where I really had a writer's block cuz I didn't know what I really want to talk about even for myself I just could have said that you know I mean like you let me just get it there because that's what I do like if I love something like let me get even live with it and I just take my time and katikut and do that I didn't do that you know I mean that's my and that's my formula yeah so I find myself so that means I got to get back on my former like you're getting a little axe out here you shouldn't do that and it's always happen at the time was something that could be life-changing yeah you know I'm saying that's what Millie makes you go back it's almost like you know you got to check yourself yeah I'm saying like that was the opportunity you don't get a lot of those so like I missed an opportunity because I wasn't sticking to who I was and in doing what I learned inside those lines outside of the lines yeah yeah lesson lesson right there um you were so you're in boys in the hood yeah and then from there you decided to go solo No so I was so no I was I was just getting my buzz up I put out all these mixtapes so I got my mixtape career I should go to this club on the east side of Atlanta and pass out my CDs at this club the same Club Sunday night for like six months until they booked me for showing us the first show I got same Club for six six months beep out there listening to that yeah I press all the time it's Italy every don't take no for an answer huh and I was passing out CDs and I actually pressed up and this was streets is watching I pressed nurses tripod I pressed up maybe about 300-thousand goodness it is and gave it out and I will go to all the big music events and just pass it out and that's how I was getting my arm my buzz on so around that time Jeff Jim called and um Kevin Liles called me which was a great friend of mine at the time you know Shakir Stewart he passed but he's got Oakland one of my good friends to me he actually committed suicide around the time so they called and they were like yo la wants to meet you so they took me to Def Jam I got the def jam deal so I'm working on my album getting everything together and around that time Kim Porter she's passed which is um Puffy's our son's mother um she was friends with one of my guys and they had this group and they wanted me to come to a feature because I was warming up in the streets and the first feature was the song dem boys so Kim called me up to the studio I went over and I did just did the dumb boys and I already had a Def Jam dealing play and I killed it like it was just one of those thing I took my time you know me because everybody was in the room was a group and I was like I want to write my verse and I went to decide and it took me a long time because I didn't really know who they were at the time but I just know how I wanted to kill it so I had this formula I wrote my my verses back then and it took time cuz I wanted to cater says to be right whatever I just remember everybody in the whole studio like oh man take it took long y'all want him in the group and I remember I came out and I did it and uh and they played it and I went the hallway to listen to the first and everybody in the studio ran in the control room like what the front like this is crazy so boom it was on and I just remember there's like yeah we got to give him the group cuz it started off a feature sounds like well I don't know if I really want to be in the group but then mob marketing my kick down I was like when y'all gonna drop down it's like whenever you want to drop down so puff call me office like y'all I gotta have you in this group I gotta had in this group I never forget I was going to Magic City and you know anything about Magic City what are the biggest rip clubs in Atlanta big right he's a big that's that married tolerate this big you know and I was walking in and he called me like 10 times but I'm at his puppy calling you ten times back to back yeah you like your GZ I was like I'm going to Magic City man this is like a ritual we go to Magic City through all this money make it rain that's how I was getting out our records broke and I'm saying and I was like I'm going to match sitting at this new song I'm about to go premier it he's like no I need you to go to Kinko's I need you to sign his paperwork and go to Kinko's and send it back to me I was like yo man I'm not signing a contract and send it back through Kiko he's like no you got to do it I'm like yo man I saw coming to New York next week so I flew to New York sat down with puff and at the time Kevin Laue assigned me to Def Jam with LA Reid and he left two weeks after he signed me so he left and went to Atlantic Records and it was crazy because he was he was the president so now I don't have any allies mr. president and lo and behold I'm going to Def Jam I see this Maybach pull up and I'm like man door opens jay-z what up is jay-z mm I'm like what's up man he's like yeah man you know say you're going up come on walk up with me I was like what you doing here he's like you know I was like nah he's like I'm a new president we good I was like oh are we good good he's like yeah so I'm walking up I'm telling Jay I was like you're a performance to do this deal I want to do it but I just want to do a 1-up can you help me with it he's like yeah we do it so I had a Def Jam deal and this was unheard of so I went in I negotiated myself a deal with puff to do a Boyz in the hood album for one not like me and I would just do one out with the group and so in my mind I set it up I was like when you don't want to drop anyone to drop it I think like July something so I pushed my album back to July 26 and let them drop two weeks before me so I could use that for promo yeah and that was my plan so I went said I'm puffing he's like what'd he want I wrote it on napkin and slid it over - that's like did you do that we got a deal he's man I goo and we did it and I just remembered I'm going to 40/40 club after with Jay and I'm puff and we all sitting there shooting pool and I'm just thinking to myself like that I just negotiated a deal you know cuz I negotiate the whole deal and call my lawyer like just look at everything straight cool sign it's done he was like who did this for you I was like me you know me and I was like my first time seeing my pilot but here again what I learned on the block I was able to use that in my real life and able to get with two power players um that you know pretty much ran the music industry at that time and have a relationship with both of them you so I can achieve the goal that I was trying to achieve which was be in the group you still have a solo album I think boys in hood came out and did like 500,000 which was gold my album came out two weeks later so 2.4 million well the reason I was gonna ask you that is I mean going solo looks like you already had that belief it's not like you had to use that group not to get reps and to get your name out and like it was already gonna happen anyway it's not like I was I was really buzzing like the group to me was um the song was so big I kind of would it I kind of would give myself a no dis justice not to be it a part of the group cuz his legacy yeah yeah I'm sayin yeah yeah and but I got I want to talk about that the fear of going off on your own like having that belief but you've kind of already answered that question you you uh you it seems like you always yeah in that there's a little uh what do you call it um there's a cycle here there there there's a way of doing things and for you and it sounds like this constant belief and it seems like the right place at the right time you get nothing long yeah I was what do you say to a young artist out there who's trying to come up and say no yeah I feel like I got the skills I have the belief but how do I go make something like that happen I mean you gotta really have you gotta really have purpose behind and like you gotta have because making music as you see now is so easy mm-hmm but it's like who's gonna stay the last did you know did the test of time because you have to contribute something nobody else brings to the game and so I would just you know I would just tell anybody that's up and coming like just stay true to you and do what you feel good music is art is an expression you know it's like if you wrote a book it would it be about your life you don't know what you've seen through your own two eyes so you can't get into this game and get caught up on the smoking mirrors and what's going on because and I even did that like I took a job at Atlantic Records is a vice president of A&R and I was sitting these meetings and maybe like 10 hour meetings about making songs I'm like okay well if you're gonna sit for 10 hours I could help your artist make a hundred songs in ten hours in the studio now what we're doing so I was just sit there and listen to it listen to how they would like try to oh we got to put CeeLo with this one and put Bruno Mars with Dadon if he's I'm just like how many y'all have even wrote records like I don't understand like you know how did this work and when I saw that it just made me um be more rebellious about art and letting people interfere with it because at the end of the day it's like you have to be an artist you know you can't let people tell you what's gonna work for you based off of analytics and what they think you know my way that's not true to you and if you ever find yourself like you know you were saying in your situation when you was making that transition and you felt a little lost like who you gonna go back to if you don't know where you're going it's like a mental GPS like if you get lost and on track you gotta at least be able to go back to yourself say okay well look I was going this way anyway let me just keep going this way and whatever comes with that I'll figure it out but I'm not gonna listen my tell me I said go to the left and in the 500 feet take a right and now and now only know where I'm at you know I'm saying and that happens with success because people will come around they'll tell you all these great ideas what I've learned throughout my career is just like you know just make scissors don't make abrupt decisions but make quick decisions and just know they either way is consequences they could be good it could be bad but you just got to be ready for whatever come with that but stick to you because people get around people and become what they want them to be but imagine if you're hanging around six different groups of people you six different people yeah and then when these people gone you'll even know you are more like you lost yeah I mean so just stay you because that's why they want to be around you in the first place nothing yeah in the music industry since you came in with 90 97 96 97 96 97 it's it's changed right just because of me everything's changed for everybody televisions changed movies have changed since you've seen it from whatever 20 20 something years ago now how is how has it changed do you like the way it's changed with social media with all these different platforms do you think it's harder nothing is now or easier and easier um I think it's easy to get on harder to stay um I will say with anything that the culture brings to the table um somebody's gonna try to find a way to monetize from mm-hmm so I think now is being exploited more like it just it's not it's peers he used to be you know he's just calling the streets it's not it's been stepped on but you gotta respect it because it's a hustle now so it's not really an art you know I mean you found more people to get a niche and they can go and you can't really knock that because you got to look at you know Michael Jordan those guys when I was playing like and not these new guys they got you know 10 15 other outlets of revenue it's not the fact that they look you know they look marketable so you can't you know you can't hate on it but you got a you know you got to pause there for even putting it in the game where they have the power now so well I had to go out and pass out five hundred thousand CDs you know 300 thousand CDs you know saying they can press one button and reach it you know millions of followers and it's just like you know the game change it is and it evolves um my thing is just like you know let's let's try to keep as much integrity about it as possible because like any great thing once is you know over consumed people don't you know they don't care as much yeah and to me I think it's a great way for these young cats to get out of hood for them to find things there but didn't even become you know entrepreneurs and put other people in power cuz you know they have to have a team they have to have management they have to have you know you know tech people with all these different things so they're doing they're just do I respect the fact that the labels on it is volved anymore that's the fact that that's what I do cuz a lot of these guys are going independent they're doing well but it just shows me that they don't need the label as much as the label think we just need them yeah and I'm just gonna be real only took a record deal cuz I don't wanna prison like point-blank period I like I gave my mom my house and I figure this out but had nothing not that not been the circumstances oh man she's yeah the powers back to the RO yeah all the way back but I love how you said that um it's a lot easier to get on but to stay yeah yeah can't be a flash in the pan Hong arm and it put an eye if you really think about it's probably you know thirty forty fifty thousand records coming out of date yeah yeah it's a lot and in order to really stay I mean you gotta have something special yeah you talked about your collaborations with uh with jay-z with with Beyonce you mentioned you mentioned P Diddy mmm and you worked with with a lot of people what has been the one do you think was most pivotal for your success success um definitely say I would definitely say the jay-z thing was big because New York was really riding with me at the time and for a southern cat to get jay-z on his first album that was a big deal also Kanye West when he gave me my verse for my album for put on that was um the first verse he had wrapped since his mother had passed which is probably one of his best verses ever he probably begged the different that was a that was a turning point in my career because I just really felt like the world accepted my message different you know because I was able to put together a song that resonated with everyone that was about my city you know I'm saying and I think everybody went with that and the one I was saying most was definitely Soul Survivor a con huh that changed everything that took me from being this kid that was passing out mixtapes to a worldwide sensation I mean I would be an airport African kids your mind was it comes easy and I you know I didn't even know who they knew who I was but I was like yo and I didn't it beiongs I knew con you know I'm saying like being around the wait I didn't realize you know this is saying can I stand beside in the club cuz I knew when I was in the streets huh and um I didn't realize how big he was over there I had no idea and to that song came out I was just like wow like he is huge you know I mean and that song to me just shooting that video in the middle of Brooklyn and everybody coming out for Jim Jones camera and this just in that era of time like I don't even think it was getting along and then you had jay-z out there you had meet you out there you had the whole BK beanie sigel played in it it was just you know I did the paid-in-full remake it was just it was phenomenal it's electrifying you know I'm saying and I just remember um when the video came out and the song really just hit I just remember the shift you know me I remember his shift for me being able to just go to the mall and just walk around buy me some sneakers it hit me it was like he was having to set them all down uh-huh you know and it was like night and day he was like it happened so fast it was like one song can do that and I never knew how do you how do you handle that success yeah because that's a lot of people believe it or not right I you know I've seen it in sports you see it in every it doesn't matter what industry I don't care if you're even in business you you get that quick hit well not quick hit you've been working their ass off your whole life to get it but then it happens a lot of people can't handle that did you have somebody that was mentoring you or that you were listening to as you go through something like this well not because for me like you know I was I was naturally like a superstar in my in my neighborhood like I was always the guy that had the nice things I did you know the fly stuff but I think I went through a lot of survivors remorse that was my most part because a lot of the time around that time a lot of my friends were getting concentrated about the things going on my life changed I was you know I was on tour I would come back to all these bad stories about people I loved I knew I didn't you just see them and I just you know saw different things and my health then I would just notice too like you know you see people when you go and I'm getting didn't work and I'm you know I'm getting a tea cleaning every three you know I mean just taking care of myself you come back and you see your people and you know they've missing teeth and they got the scans back you just like damn like was you know what's going on because you might not see him for like six seven eight months and I went through this phase where I was just I just want to help everybody so I've literally moved my whole neighborhood at my house my first mansion I had my whole neighborhood stayed there I wouldn't had three two of buses I went down I got everybody there's literally a cookout or some type of party in my house every day and it was like everybody was living in my house and I just thought that cost a lot of money that's there I mean that's a lot of that's what I mean like me with that type of success yeah that's where that's what a lot of guys go broke about you get people you know under the goodness of your heart but then some people might take advantage just yeah I went through all that that was the hardest that was the hardest part of my career because making that transition from who I was and who I was going to be was like the most painful this thing I ever went through like cuz it was just like you know hit out the hit after you know just situation that the you know and it's just like you you want to be you want to be everything for everybody but you can't and then you have him people telling you that you shouldn't be there and then you're looking at dim light but she wasn't with me from the beginning you just work with me now yeah and then it's like he's been there and I've been through this with him in it and they're just like all that and I gangling he sit up in a lot of you like that's part like the darkest time of my life cuz I was like drink when I say drinking yeah dream king when I wake up champagne all day [ __ ] all day and it's like I was number whatever I had to do the number yeah and it got to the point where like you know things started happening and it just got chaotic it was just like a dark cloud was like I was getting all these crazy incidents you know shootouts happening around me like it was like life or death I have some time I leave the house I you know if I came back I was like I'm just gonna wear some nice clothes in case it happened today I'm saying me someone looked good I mean I was not meant out really at that point yeah I just saw guaranteed and I'll guarantee you could be dead like the dead yeah then when I left the house that's all I was just like I cool so let's go do it and it would got to that point cuz a lot of the cast that I was you know even cool widowed or I was entangled in with the streets there was even outside cuz you know my why I came from was very gang-related you know I'm saying so all that came with me and then the cast I was gentleman in the streets that was making jokes about me doing music their stuff wasn't working out for them you know they was coming to prison and coming up going to prison and coming home and then seeing me and then when I be out it's like all this tension all these crazy things were happening I just didn't understand cuz I'm like I love all y'all like we'll be doing like what like you know I mean like it's been a point where we've all been hanging out and toasting and celebrating we love you and and it got to that point and it was just really dog for me so it was just survivors remorse but here again I had to believe in myself that I would be okay by myself you know I'm saying like just I'd be okay and it was like the last incident that happened in California but some actually happened in Oakland where I'm somebody where I was on tour with Wiz Khalifa and somebody actually got you know killed in front of our tour bus on the tour at the venue and I'm just like I wasn't even there I left the stage and went to my hotel room and I was actually on my way back to the venue to get on my tour bus and my tour manager called me she's like don't come back this happened so boom that happened so they canceled the next day so we end up coming to Anaheim but the last show of the tour twenty thousand people know like twenty five thousand in attendance and it's my time to go on the stage and I'm pulling up to the venue and the police from Oakland came to Anaheim with the detectives and pulled me off my bus lock me up for what happened at the thing and I wasn't even there you know saying yeah and what I experienced is I get in there they like my bus driver of my cameraman he's they're not even guys from the block I was actually just my cleanest tour ever like I didn't do anything and and um it's like eight of us locked up and he's just gave us a million I was bill to pee and I'm just sitting in like with that like I'm in house for what that's eight million dollars yeah so I'm sitting there and my team come to get me and they go we got to get you out first and I go man we in LA County Jail I cannot lead these people here by yourself they they don't even know nothing about what's going on and without me they're gonna be they're gonna be fooled in here like you know I gotta at least be here it's like a you know politicking and that was my first unselfish moment ever I'm saying because I wanted to get out I was more so embarrassed about you know anything because I had a job in Atlantic Records had Ivy on Skeeter pop I already stinking on me and now I'm locked up when I was on two and I didn't do anything and all these people did was living them you know my house and being around all these things nobody been to the finger and that taught me one thing I was ending by myself when I got everybody out and I end up you know eventually beating it because I had an in the doorway that I wasn't there it was that was like the end of my that was the end of the journey I was like me as the man understand by myself I mean anybody I'm saying my employees do your job and my friends that I had for you know over decades that are stealing my friends um we're cool but they know how to keep your distance because they know the things they into I can't be into them yeah and then the people that I you know did I associate myself with or do business with you know we have a real relationship but it's like me as an individual I just had to put all that behind me because as much as I gave when it was really time for somebody step up and be like I got you mm-hmm nobody was there ya know in it like Maureen that hurt yeah and that happens so much and like I said it doesn't matter what genre where you're from get that when you achieve that certain level success and when you said you've seen it all that's one of the question I want to ask you you know Mac Miller little Pete juice were all pop smoke Wow people that have lost their lives either through drugs or through violence and a lot of that comes off of off of well the violence is usually jealousy some somebody's out there not happy for you or you're going through all this success you're finally you know everything you've worked so hard to get and then you see that when you get there the pressure that comes with that and so people start using drugs they started they start you know really ruining their lives what's your advice to these young have you have you mentored some of these young guys that are coming up now well I try to I try to just give him the gain without them feeling like cuz I've been that young guy to of people like trying to tell me something like man what are you talking about only in it so I just be like you know I just keep a cordial with him not you what you doing ain't it you know I just kind of can't tell somebody who's the captain of their tank you know how to how to move but you can just kind of put it out there pulling the seat I think the thing with pop smoke was was um tragic because you know and I spoke on it on my social media not because you know that it was any of my business but it's just like I'm confused like how do you move out of one of the toughest cities in America which is Brooklyn New York and then you get your life ticking and Hollywood Hills like it doesn't make sense obviously he was trying to do the right thing but it follows you yeah so that means that you know he left his environment is habitat and then you know the the the dark cloud falling on this light that doesn't make sense to me it's backwards you know I'm saying you know when you see somebody make that movie I let him be he already made it he already made his move but that goes to show you know what I was saying about the game is just like 5% of it is talent when it comes to our coaching what we do the other 95% of survival and that's the part you got to be good at we all could make a song she can make a song you know I'm saying you know but you have to know how to survive because these are the things that you bring with you just being from that and that's the hardest part because you know bankroll fresh Dobby just a lot of these guys they passed like that you see the potential in them you see they had a star power but the thing they did thing that they forget the most is you got to survive through this you know I'm saying like you can't you can put out records you can have songs and you can be successful but how do you survive so that you can sit around and be the guys that you look up to the jay-z's and these different guys that you know dr. Dre is it they made it and they still making money and but they have a you know like Eva nice cute I love I like ice cube you got an if you ever saw I probably talk to him he parties and [ __ ] we would never believe because he went through it when it was real but look how he turned out you know same thing is true and people see them and be like oh the old was like no I'm and he survived yeah you know same a different war veterans man they still out here enjoying life can you you you would hope that you can say yeah then you got that down you can hope you you would hope that you could say that in your day and still look at life and not be mad and like it owes you something um and that's my thing with that but my thing with like juice world and Mac none of those guys just like you know I've never had an addictive personality and I couldn't because of what I dealt with in my past and how hands-on and close I was to that type of stuff and I made a decision a long time ago that I wouldn't you know quote unquote get high moral supply and probably best decision I made because I seen friends fall to the wayside from heavy drug addiction and and then you see them now I need look they wait you know 70 pounds and you're talking guys it was 250 solid because they chose to you know go that route oh these young guys that you know put it in their music which is cool you know I get it but at the end of the day like if you need all that to survive are you really surviving like are you really are you really living if you if you take that much time out of your day to be in that state like do you even know who you are like so many people probably look in the mirror don't even know where they are cuz they're high all the time and it's coming through the music you know I'm saying so it's just a message you know but at the end of the day like my sister she's a nurse and she calls me all the time and tells me about you know already situations where these kids are coming in and dying because they're taking um these perks that are that are not real percocets there's something people are making on the streets yeah they killing them and I'm like wow like people are actually dying to get high like that's crazy to me but at the end of the day just like IIIi that's that's when I grew up my error was to make money you nuns and vice versa doing it the other way in this era is to get high you know I can't say I'm right I can't say they wrong he's got to find that happy medium you know I'm saying cuz I did a lot of bad things too so I can't come in and be like yo you yeah I just be like yo man you know just be take care yourself I'm safe at least you know be safe I read that you said you have to lose what you have in or get what you want and what do you uh what do you mean brother I'm in life um I had a wise friend that told me that man and just like I was sitting now making some life decisions and then something I really wanted I really felt like I wanted to be an addition to my life and I was really like pressing for I was relentless about it but some of the things that I've acquired or some of the things that was attached to me I was like I don't think it's gonna make it and he looked at me and said yo to get what you want you gotta lose what you got and that's that stuck with me deep because I wanted this I had to lose my friends I'm saying I wanted this I had to lose a lot of things that came to my path you know I wanted this you know and I want more so you know it's gonna come a time when I have to cut ties with something that I love because I want to go to the next level yeah and it's like everybody ain't gonna be able to come with you on that journey and if you really want it you got to be able to accept that and live with it you know I mean sometimes it's hard you know cuz you get there and you like down is the last thing you want to do is to UM actually be successful and then feel like you lost so you gotta accept that you know cuz you can get that last thing you wanna do is achieve something and you don't get that don't get that feeling it's like that's that's like the ultimate loss so that means you wasn't ready for the next level you just thought you was so my mind said it's like you know to get what you want you gotta lose what you got so if you're willing to do that then you can move to the next level because you can't look back like that was a regret cuz there do you lost yeah I love it I love that and as you gain as you keep leveling up like you just said is what uh what at least what I try to be all about you're also taking time to get back button toys in the hood and other charitable is what you do why is why is that so important to you I worked with the will to me I love kids man kids are always been like the future and I can only imagine of Tupac woulda came in gave me a bike I started this uh street Dreams Foundation back in the neighborhood back in like oh five and what I would do is I've written out the local gymnasium and I went around to all the hustlers you know all the guys out there you know banging and keeping the block occupied I'm like yo man I got five thousand you know you get five hundred from you cut punch from you that's when I got money from everybody and I went about the the kids like bikes and clothes and shoes and all these things and I ended up in the gym and had the kids come in and start getting it and I did that for a couple years and then I did that pretty much most of my career in child had a friend put me to the sides like you know we can get you some help cuz I didn't know that and then I started doing this our annual thing called the snowball that's why I have all the big Atlanta heavy hitters come out from the mayor to all my business friends and they come and they um they don't need and they bid on things and to help out um but to me man the community is like we all we got you know you know like when it comes to you know leadership and you know give him back and I think about all the time like sometimes I leave the crib I might move around especially in Atlanta and I might just go to a side of town I haven't been been in a while um to do something and you look and you look at home you know cuz sometimes you get caught up in your own world out something where you live and then that reality hit you backward you know how people are still out here going through things and ain't about um the money it's about what you can do to help them to put them in position because a lot of these kids want to go to college a lot of these kids want to go to school a lot of these kids want to learn you know wanted by these kids when mine being in school programs they just don't have the funding or the transportation or the know-how so for me I just feel like you know that's the least I could do because those those my people like at the end of days like that's my tribe like anything else fails those gonna people gonna be the people that hold me up high and I see the with kids when I'm out like I could be out see kids that them up you know your dad like yo that's Jeezy they don't know they don't even know this one give me a hug because they feel like that's somebody that I can trust and um I feel like that's been my purpose my purpose has been to motivate my people my purpose has been to UM lead by example you know I'm saying my purpose has always been to think outside the box and keep pushing the envelope my purpose is to make sure that I'm here and that I can show these kids a great example not that I'm a role model but like I came out of the fire and I wasn't scared to get burnt and I'm saying I'll put some ointment on it and I'll jump back in there again but I'd do it better this time yeah yeah yeah and you do that with everything in your life yeah so like like now I had heard and correct me if I'm wrong that your your you're retiring right from wool game or you know you're moving into entrepreneurship or at least one more into the business well you could hear my guys side keeping hard with you so I had a lot of quarrels with my labor at the time and I just wasn't into it so I was gonna go independent at the time and uh I just felt like that was the best way to back away from the label um so that's why I was then I don't know why I'm at now with it I'm more so um focused on entrepreneurship because that's like music is my talent but business has been my passion like my whole life like I'm rich I love business like I just that's just is a form of hustling that you know it's just like I love to be productive and it's just like that's just a high for me like taking something that was nothing making it something and then selling to somebody else for more so for me um I've been focusing more on entrepreneurship and business ventures that I have from figures Wireless a telecommunication company which from Defiance fuel which is a sports water in sports drink - um you know my real estate ventures you know to produce and you name it he's just the list goes on and on but that's what keeps me going because I can only make so many songs you gonna get so many touchdowns or you like ooh yeah some doing so that's what keeps me going and music is is is is something in us it's always gonna be a part of me but um you can definitely look for some for some stuff coming soon yeah yeah well you talked about uh snoop talk about Ice Cube I'm sure jay-z all these people the thing that they all do and it looks like you're following that to it to a tee is they keep evolving they keep adapting again they keep looking for more they keep leveling up and that's part of the purpose of the show it's like you cannot once you get to it but just could you accomplish your first dream it's not over it's out it's time to get going now it's really time to be let's take it to another level it's on you execute it you move to the next uxq you move to the next you don't you don't even take time to tip the kool-aid you said the kool-aid is a rap kool-aid is rep you are switching final questions here - I want to know about your routine we talked about the top of the show do you uh do you get a lot of sleep that bit sleep is one of them yes sleep is some man listen I'm keeping real man I used to be infatuated with my cars man that was my bed yeah so you get like six seven eight hours of sleep I try I try like I try like a on a perfect day I try to get at least about just eight hours good sleep just because I normally go hard the next day and I want to be a wanna be well-prepared like I don't want to be but it's been times wide only get like to get one you know I'm saying something like that and I'm cool with that but if I in the picture perfect worth I can get six to eight I'm good money huh workouts stuff a workout every day every day so you're doing free wait till you're doing cardio liking so so out a part box three times a week my morning routine starts with um definitely uh wake up I call it you got to read this book is called the American warning never get a miracle morning yeah okay so it talks about routine so I do you know our routine every morning so I get up first I do is meditate meditate then I do my grateful period well I'm great before then I go to my informations then um then then I go to my vision board and then I think of five things that I'm grateful for and I pray then I do my ab routine which I do like maybe for like 15 20 minutes every morning 15-minute halves yeah get it yeah gotta get in there and then from from from there on I check my emails and then my Daystar so I go to the gym after that probably get like a hour hour and a half here then it straight to business no saying is likely every day but that keeps me balanced you know that just keeps me in the place where if I don't do that I'm weird yeah I'm saying yeah if I don't you know the same way yeah you got every right in am Oliver calm you do I infrared sauna cold therapy I kind of keep I kind of keep it to the the grassroots what I know like I've heard about all that stuff uh-huh but I kind of like because cuz at the time I have so it was just like that's in a lot of time like I got enough time to work out I gotta have time to do my my my my routine I gotta time enough to you know listen this stuff I wanna sit some podcast if I want listen to all you know some Tony Robinson Les Brown we don't know I mean we're all those guys - yeah always tried on son yeah motivation yeah uh what about food you man you fast or anything like that uh I will if I got like if I if I like sometimes I might go on Bin's why Mike you know just eat a bunch of crazy while eating and crazy so we're like but if I do like I'm not really like working out fast before I get back right and just kind of do a whole cleanse and then go back in but I'm a pescetarian so I just pretty much--he pretty clean huh yeah don't you better past care maybe about eight years now eight years no me no I don't mean wow that's tough intermittent fasting people go wow that's tough and weight yeah yeah you get used to it but I was a nice meaty I was in the studio with the homies other then I walked in and it was all he needs buffalo wings I was like damn what that was that things like yeah when you see some buffalo wings or some ribs when you smell fried chicken we smelled it yes mo don't go nowhere that's where o pescetarian good for you man I don't know about that that I don't know if that ever happen yeah and me um okay well let's keep it raw food here's the some final questions last meal what would it be and who would you share it with oh man you get three people all right I look he's my favorite question oh that's good but what would you uh what would be your last meal my last meal would be uh sushi sushi yeah I'm sure would uh any particular city like what like a California roll or you are you know like the real Z I want the thing I want this to see me you under I want the plan throw every delay out I need that debt that mighty suit Nobu special yeah it'll be with the people I love man like the living or dead to this anybody else looking sorry yeah okay definitely uh my grandmother I doubt she would eat it though um and um hmm my closest my closest cousin mm-hmm and uh I just have to say that one last seat for somebody special I gotta figure that out who would that be throughout history anybody I got I got hold I hope they're gonna be reserved on there okay so they saw yeah they're good okay who's your arms I know you've had this question before who's your favorite rapper of all time ah man to pot to pot all day any what's rap song do you wish not wish but did you like do you admire the most written rap song that you like man that would have been a good one for me to write or song yeah when you admire the most like it was beautifully written it was hit all the highs and lows okay dear mama to [ __ ] dear mama to pop mmm a part ways yes it's probably the best song he wrote uh-huh yeah that was a good song um dream company to invest in then company to invest in will definitely be something tickets like you know I know apps are popping right now but I would look I would have loved to been in the first round over I take that right yeah yeah looking for that like related um what's your what's your definition of success happiness man like fulfillment um just being full and just having good people around you they love you and just being able to do what you love every day you having you know just a great network of people cuz that's what it's about you know the end of the day you can have gazillion dollars not you know do that that's not gonna do it you have a hundred cars ain't gonna change anything you can have you know 50 houses is the same if if if you're not good in the inside like none that stuff is really gonna matter you know it might be a good heart for a couple of months but then you know you back to the basics so happy to meet happiness to me is waking up every morning and you know that's that's being successful like just knowing that you're happy if things are good around you yeah and you feel it you know you're not concerned and when things come you deal with I mean you keep moving but they're not bogging you down you know when you wake up you look at life the way it's supposed to be mm-hmm oh yeah yeah what's uh the legacy you want to leave for me I just want to touch and um reach as many people as possible and just hope my actions and my words just hope my ex has always matched my words and you know I look at somebody like Kobe Bryant and just you know looking light you can only wish to head you know been as great as Kobe but like the legacy he left he was a great basketball player and we all saw that and he was one of the most relentless people we probably ever saw but what he became after the fact is what we are striving for it be just a hundred percent all the way around there just a great man and that's that's that's why I want to be in it with it just like it's a great human being individual yeah love that love that last question what's one area of your life that you'd like to improve in that you're wide open to learning more about proving just more learning for me I love to learn yeah like that's my thing like I love it ain't scared about he's like you know some people just like you know this is cuz when you sit down and talk to people man it just got all it's whatever they specialize in it like this so passionate about it and just I just wanna learn you know because if you get a little piece of everybody and you just understand you know how important that is to them and you bring that into your walk of life it just helps you expand the way you think you know I'm saying my mom my only regret is my younger years I just start my new and I just never want to be in that space I always want to just keep over mine yeah nice thank you DZ appreciate you come so I appreciate you Nike and saw yeah I got a son sweep about six

Channel: Tony Gonzalez

Views: 113,653

Keywords: tony gonzalez, wide open, podcast, learning, leveling up, motivation, inspiration, self improvement, self help, personal development, interview, jeezy, rap, music

Id: A-f8r330vo0

Length: 78min 35sec (4715 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 19 2020