Jeezy: Overcoming Trauma, Escaping the Streets and Working w/Jay Z, Kanye & Rihanna

the new rich is peace you can put somebody in the Rolls Royce he's still behind the same problems and I think once you become this place where you just have peace with who you are and who you become I had to give myself permission to evolve because it was almost like I wanted to grow but I couldn't grow because of my surroundings these weeds and these things that will hold me back and when I started to clean that out I started to like grow and Bloom and Blossom and I just started to understand like wow like the air is different up here I had to work so hard and do so much work on myself just to even get a taste of that I think you gotta have a dream the school of greatness yeah please welcome welcome back everyone in the school of greatness very excited about our guests we have the inspiring Jay Jeezy Jenkins in the house how you feeling good to see you man excited about this we've connected on social media for a while you have uh an amazing new book out called adversity for sale but you've been on the scene for a while a couple of decades you've been in the music scene multi-platinum award-winning all the different things that have happened for the success that the world has seen But what I think is interesting is most people we were just talking about don't see the darkness and don't see the failures necessarily they see the the money they see maybe the success they see who you're working with all the talented people you get to collaborate with but I don't think everyone gets to know about the adversity that got you to where you're at and actually how it's the failures that give us the most information on how to be successful right we're talking about your younger years where you went through different adversity um grew up your parents were separated you're in and out of Boot Camp style institutions and you had some Darkness early on yeah a lot of it now were you successful before in terms of the music world were you doing music and having stuff out there before a lot of the darkness came or no um let me give you a little uh yeah so uh my father was in the military my mother my father Mary young I have a sister my older brother died and me and my family were abroad so I lived in Japan and Hawaii too right yeah yeah so that was the beginning my parents got divorced because you know my mom was you know she my mom was a little spicy at the time you know me and my dad was how he was and I don't think they can put it together because I don't think there was therapy all those things back then uh that that I know of and they just divorced and it was like one day we was living this life and the next day I was back in the hood with my grandmother living with my grandmother and then I tried to live with my grandmother for a while and there was a lot of people in the house um so I ended up moving with my mother and when I moved my mother uh it was a really a little dysfunctional because I look just like my father she doesn't like your father no so she didn't like you no at all and so we just kept bumping heads and one day I was supposed to go to school and this is around the time I was getting in the streets and I was just like I ain't going and she was like oh are you going to school and I'll never forget it uh we got this the biggest argument we ever had and I looked up and she had her she had a little 25 it was like a chrome with a uh a little pearl handle yes I looked at her your mom yes how old are you uh maybe about 14 15. holy cow yeah I mean my 14th I couldn't have been 16. I just want to make sure I get the time sure so she puts the gun like right in your face like closer yep tells me you gonna go to school you go you're gonna die today oh my God yeah and I believe the two though because my mom went in to play with it like she was serious she was serious business and um I knew what it was so I was I was out of control this by this time I'm I'm 13 14 years old I'm selling drugs I'm I'm you know I'm I'm into a lot of things that kids shouldn't be into right but because this is where I felt like I had a place you know because they treated me different you felt more accepted there yeah yeah so that street that was yeah in the streets that at home right really and so when I left her I went back to stay with my grandmother and um that's why I say I I relate to you on the sofa thing man I stepped on the sofa a lot of nights you know and uh the thing about my grandmother she kind of let me do what I wanted to do because there was so many grandkids in the house like she didn't really have any controls I would go out stay out as long as I wanted to and come in and so I was able to start you know building my uh building my Foundation to be what I was becoming if you will because I didn't have any restraints right I was it was it was game on and you know that's not a good thing you know what's crazy I say that all the time because my grandmother lived right across the street from this basketball court right and every Sunday everybody would come to this court from all the towns around and they would play basketball and they'd be like all the hustlers and all the cars and you know all the women and you just like and I used to be so tired because I was up hustling all night that I used to sleep on the sofa so I would be asleep while they're playing ball right but I would listen to everything the conversations and everything I could hear because I didn't I had phone more I didn't want to miss out sure right and that was like my thing just laying on the sofa and just listening to everything and then one day I was just like man you know I can't wait so I can pull up in front of this park and a yellow tester roaster and hop out and be this big guy and all that and the crazy thing like that was my vision and then you know of course when the babies that was a dream yeah there you go and um I ended up doing that but my grandmother passed before she got home I see it so my point in case is everything that she thought that was gonna you know send me to prison to give me killed actually gave me the foundation to be who I was and that's why I relate when you saying about your brother yeah it's like you have to go through things to start to understand why are you here and for me it was like I can do this but it was a real game because it's like they say Pac-Man or something you're playing because if you lose you know it's death of jail Yeah man so now now I'm picking up skills because what do you have to have if the consequences are dying now I got discipline wow you know I'm smart I'm thinking things out and problem solving you learned this from the streets yeah what were the three most powerful skills you learned hustling in the streets that you still use today oh so discipline is discipline is real like it's like you can do anything in the world with discipline and if you don't have it the world can do anything to you you know discipline is key um the second one I was thinking would be it's problem solving like it can be chaotic I'm the calmest person in the room and in my head I'm already putting together I'm gonna solve the problem right and the second thing I mean the third thing would be um understanding that you don't need anything to make something right you just got to have the drive to do it it's like you don't need a product to make money right you just need an idea and the drive to get it across right yeah and I learned that in the streets like really quick you know because if your personality is good are you a good person people will do things for you that they wouldn't do for somebody that they feel like might try to take advantage of and Rob take something's almost like I really like it I want to help you but could you fully trust everyone or anyone in the streets as a 16 18 year old kid I'm going to tell you some real I I ain't never trusting nobody in my life even today you know today you don't trust anyone no I mean your wife or kids wife like nobody I know wow but let me say this from my past from your past right okay but what I had to learn and earned was to get only quality people around yes because I just kind of brought what I had with me to the table you know and everybody don't got the proper etiquette sure sure it was like it wasn't the right table right and as I started to lose people on One front I had this very dark space where I was trying to figure out who I was because these are the people that made me feel like this is my support system they accepted you on the streets they were there for you and you were struggling when your parents weren't there right so this is like they brought you in this is my support system man it's so tough right and then now I'm getting to the space where I'm making different decisions and my support system is like and by the way my support system is not like it's almost like having a pack of wild wolves you know what I'm saying let's be honest like yeah eat them every day and then when the food starts slow they get hung up looking at you they get hungry you're not saying so so now I'm having to navigate this and I'm having to uh you know separate myself so to speak but as I'm separating myself I'm losing my power because I don't have control over anything else I got control over the streets I'm not in Corporate America yet I can't make any decisions or no moves I'm I'm not right over here nobody how old are you at this time this time or this is actually after I put out my second album okay you know what I'm saying and and I just started to see things happen and I talk a lot about it in the book um this was my my say like you graded what you do right and you know all these people in this community so you got resources but if I just took you and put you in the White House you might be a little like what do I know right yeah so it was a lot of that and um as I started the transition so you brought your crew with you as you started to do music great right you started I really didn't have a choice yeah it was all you knew well no because I was still doing what I wasn't supposed to be doing oh you were still on the street this is my Corporation why you're trying to be incredible absolutely yeah yeah yeah so this is my this is my company right this is how the bills are being paid sure this is how we're staying afloat this is how I'm paying for the music yeah yeah but once I go like okay this ain't really working I gotta lean more towards music and I never forget I went cold turkey I like I just kind of like one of my friends said something to me about it I'm like you know what I don't go to prison because I'm not prison type I'm keeping real like I'm just saying I'm too fly of a guy for that I ain't got time to be wasting my time you know what I mean so yeah and I didn't want to get killed because it was like you know I was losing you know 30 40 50 friends a year like like clock really yeah still to this day right now right now I just lost three people that I know that I'm affiliated with so three people in the last two days do you know anyone who can be successful doing hustling the streets what while staying alive not not going to prison after 10 20 30 years and feeling peace in their heart no the why do people do it for so long I get it when you're like a teenager and there's you know you're getting you're getting brought up in it but why keep doing it because in their eyes that's the closest they've ever been to success and my eyes is close I've been to success I pay for just to put just to put a understanding of it like this wrong way when right before my mom kicked me out I bought a trailer a double wide or a single wide trailer as big as this room that's that's as big as it was me my mom my sister stayed in a space like this for years until she kicked me out that I paid 3 500 for wow what do you think I got the 3500 the streets all right so just like how how is that nice that's how you made it yeah yeah how's it not success right this I'm doing something for my family I'm doing something for my mom I'm not even thinking about the consequences right right I'm not thinking about what could happen I need to eat now right but let's say you know for those that stay in that game for five ten years and they see three to five ten friends what a year die or go to jail right every year right what's the motivation for saying oh it's not going to be me I'm going to be fine or I can outsmart the law or outsmart the bullets Okay so that's why I'm doing when I'm doing it yeah because I'm I'm I'm the one yeah I'm the only one that made it from what I know right and that's what I'm telling my story because I had to make a lot of decisions that weren't favorable it wasn't cool it wasn't like what you're supposed to do when you're in my position I had to go against the grain and that's when I realized that I'm a disruptor and I'm a Visionary because I see I can tell you in 10 years when I want to be like when I continue in 20 years where I want to live at you know I mean I can see it right and then I can tell you when I'm not scared to go up against to get there right and that's why I wrote the book because this success is is like we equate success with money yeah I don't care how much it is you know what I'm saying if I got more than I had yesterday I'm successful yeah but that's that's not the truth what is success for you success to me is peace is is peace of mind um it's it's being able to get up every day and live your life you know to the fullest with making memories and um doing things that you love to do uh went out you know having to be told what to do because you you earn that and you put yourself in a position where you're able to go do something that you actually love right and it has it has purpose for you right because this this book and what I do is because a lot of people get caught up in the Jeezy like the rap I ain't never been a rapper really no I'm him I hate his mother his dad his brothers cuz I'm him I'm the guy who walked out of the streets and so all these kids and this generation coming up that you can be for a while from I'm gonna leave the back door open for you you just got to get in there that's the first part you got to be disciplined you make those decisions yeah right but that's not where the game start where is the start and how you guys stay alive now you gotta stay free is going on with culture and entertainment these kids are going to jail like it's nothing they're dying like it's like like they're in Vietnam or so you know what I'm saying so that's my purpose and why I'm here when I tell my story because I had to make some painful decisions to get here and I'm still thriving and trying to get to the next level but this is bigger than me because I'm gonna have to sit there with somebody one day and tell them hey man you know you might wanna try it this way you know because it missed so many cars where I've had some kids where I wouldn't call them kids but young guys that I really respected and I would go talk to them about certain things and they'd be like yeah I could see that and then next week they're gone they don't take it they don't listen to you they don't take action well the thing is you have to package it right you see what I'm saying because I'm coming to you and I'm looking clean and button up I don't look like one of you because you know how I used to look you know how I used to be you know what used to be around me yeah you know you respected what was around me because you felt like I was Leading Men that you respect now that that's no longer around you kind of second guess what I'm saying because that ain't the idea you got for yourself right until you start to get in that place where you start to get things that you actually really care about kids white family career you know what I'm saying sure right and now you're like oh what do I do because now you have to start making those and and the thing is you have to evolve if you don't evolve even in the streets I knew they're going in and just like I'm not staying here I just need this to be you know the vessel because music is my talent which I still don't know but business has always been my passion I always always saw myself with a plain Jane watch wedding band three-piece suit really yeah that's me that's what I am a clean cut good skin smelling good right that's me and that's what I I strive for wow so I was never caught up in the stigma of the streets like I understood it but I understood what it was too you know I mean so I'm like I can't come from the streets and walk straight into the war room so how do I get there and then I started to map out this plan the plan was to go from where I was to figure some things out to establish myself establish my credibility and then started to get into this music I started as a CEO at first I spent a lot of money that didn't work my artist went to jail one of them got killed and now I'm stuck with all the studio equipment I'm like I got to do it myself why I do it myself it takes me 10 years to build it boom now I'm a success but then I got all these bad things that are coming with me because now nobody ever cut the water off you know what I mean so now I got to start a transitioning that but this is the thing they don't understand already out of vision I'm already going where I'm going it gives them absolutely I'm going there so as you start to get closer to where you're going people started to fall back and they're like I don't really like what he's doing anymore but like the music he's listening to why is he eating clean food what are we doing right no okay so is that and and and the thing is you know I think the sad part about it is you know everybody's supposed to have their own vision and my vision and your business is supposed to align so we can get to where we're going together whatever I can do to help you like we talked about earlier and whatever you can do to help me that's when the videos are lying when everybody's just kind of walking behind you just to see where you got to go and then not knowing you're going there as you get closer to it they go I don't I don't I want to be over here this is what I'm good at but I'm like we can be good here today but I don't know about tomorrow right right and that's what happens when you have people that get into the streets and stay in it they don't have a vision they just they just needed what they needed right then and as you get more comfortable with getting what you get then you get this thing and I'll talk about in the book this this mindset of I'm I'm glad it ain't me so you hear about somebody getting murdered I'm glad it ain't me here's somebody go about somebody going to prison I'm glad it ain't me but the whole time you rolling the dice it could be you any moment yeah tomorrow wow you know and and I'm not trying to paint it like this Dark Cloud because I learned so much in the streets like I give the streets everything like and I mean that like even to this day when I'm out and I've seen people and and you gotta understand like by far I'm not the biggest rap star not the biggest but in the streets I'm everything yeah I'm everything today it'll get no bigger really because they all either their fathers remember their older brother that's in prison their cousin from the Block that somebody got a Jeezy story about why they love me wow it's almost like Bob Marley if you go to Jamaica Seven Mile he's from everybody's gonna tell you a story about Bob how he helped him fight the bully at school how he helped somebody jump their car how he gave somebody bail money how you pay for kids Christmas that's that's who I am wow and I've been that and like for me you know that's what it's about and throughout the streets and streets taught me about integrity right and that's like the the the the big one to me because it's almost like if you ain't a man of your world you're not a man you know what I'm saying and it's like you want to keep your word when you play with people that are just as dangerous as you are not gonna play you know right they're not gonna play around I'm trying to break your words they're gonna break you you're right so you mentioned you mentioned your mommy this I shouldn't be laughing about this but it's just kind of crazy to think about you mentioned your mom put a gun in your face when you were 14 15. how many times have you had a gun in your face since then I got pretty slick after it I got pretty good it'll let me seeing the energy you know like escaping it yeah not putting yourself you know and I was telling somebody this other day like I think in my mind I just built up this superpower of just not getting caught up in that really yeah I just been so good at that you know what I'm saying like that my whole life like people tell you right now I still move militant like I moved militant before Barack Obama oh yes because I'm not exempting anything I'm not you know we just lost an empty hustle we just lost this one now like you're not exempt even if you've had a good track record for a certain amount of time and even if you're being an Integrity of the right things and when you get a service and we'll think about if you have Chapo Guzman you still El Chapo Guzman say wow it doesn't go away the people something from 10 20 years ago might still catch up to you absolutely really yeah it's real and I don't mean it in the sense of you're still dealing with individuals you're dealing with people emotions yeah you're dealing with people holding on this stuff and people see you moving differently right and they see you enjoying your life and they say oh I should be getting peace right or not even just that or just like oh he ain't the way he used to be therefore he's not you know or he thinks he's better than her or whatever right and and just jealousy one of my coach is is the real deal really oh yeah you lose your life about that easy I mean that's nothing even if he didn't do anything to someone but just that you came from somewhere you made it right and they didn't the crazy day you're not even make it you just gotta be there when the Energy's off and they're jealous and they mad or they're upset they got nothing to lose that's it and and I got nothing to prove right right so I know better and I think that you know I carry those lists of rules and morals as I continue to navigate the world I think people that are around me don't understand why I still think that way wow you know what I'm saying but I just know better and it's not like I'm scared I'm worried but I'm not gonna go nowhere I shouldn't be uh I'm not gonna hang around I ain't going to Roscoe's I'll tell you that roscoes I'm not doing that wow man this is my assistant you know you're very you're very intentional I'm I'm full about your environment people you're surrounding and their king would not trust in anyone wow you know what I'm saying because I couldn't you know and and people around me might look at you it might tell you if they sat down with you like that's not true because this is like nah I didn't I know how to play the game right I still love you right but I know what you're capable of right and at the same time yeah I know what's going on with the dynamic you see me moving in a different direction you don't like that you're never gonna like that how could you possibly like that you know what I'm saying so now it's like the love I have for you I can't allow that to let you know me be vulnerable in a certain sense I know it sounds like yeah you know sure but but it's like how do you have peace inner peace emotional peace and self-belief and self-confidence while also knowing that people that you grew up with or you know you're losing friends to death or jail or and still happening today how do you feel peace calm and confident what running a business running your life traveling with your wife whatever it might be how do you feel those things I feel peace because I know that when it's all said and done my kids don't know that their father was a great man I feel peace in knowing that there's no better husband in the world you know what I'm saying like I'm that guy I'm saying um because because this is something I strive for like I wanted these things I know that when it comes down to my culture there's nobody that's realer than me because I'm not a rapper like I'm not I'm I'm I'm uh prophet in my mind I mean I'm here to share what I've learned and to share what I know hoping that it can change lives wow right and save lives because that's the only thing I can do at this point you can give me a billion dollars I'm gonna live the same life of course I want it right right I want more people but I'm gonna still be the same person and for me it's like I get peace in knowing that I got good friends and I can build with you know I got I just have my homie lost one of his uh nephews and the other one lost his cousin and but it was a time whereas black men we couldn't even talk to each other about how we felt I'm in a circle people know I can tell them like man I'm man I don't know how my and we all come together right we talk about this and we ain't judging you yeah it didn't used to be like that I just had to keep all my feelings and everything that I was feeling brought up inside and deal with it myself you know which caused me to go outside of my comfort zone to find the answers which was a great thing yeah but now I can call you know one of my brothers or somebody say hey look man well you know my man my father his nephew died and next day my other man's cousin died and it's just like now I got to make these calls every night but the calls are like they're they're intentional hey bro if you need to process this you know you need to just sit down like you want to smoke a cigar let's just talk you know and and that's a different type of piece yeah right because now I got an outlet and then what gives me pieces I started getting mentors whether it was my uh because a mentor yours and Bishop Jackson yeah Bishop Jakes is one of my mentors John Maxwell well yeah I just had John on he's grabbing green Robert's amazing uh Tony Robbins yeah man uh uh you you name it you know these these are my this is my circle yeah and um and for me it's like uh these are people that I can reach out to to even help me process stuff I need to have access for the people that I love well I want to help right because now we we all got this you know what I'm saying it's not just mine right and what brings me peace is knowing that you know my decisions can change lives right because my decisions have took lives meaning like I've been a part of things why you know but now it's not like I just turn this new leaf and I'm just in a different space it's like this is who I am this is who I was evolving to be I just had to go through the fire wow right just to understand because I can't look at you with a straight face and go I wouldn't do that I don't think that's good and and I never did it I'm gonna be like yo I'll be like yo man like I I've been there and that's why when my brothers come to me if they going through some or whatever I could sit down and have a intentional conversation about you know processing it and understanding where we at and then we can and here's that street sense kicks in again oh you ever thought about this and you should sit down with such and such and y'all figure that out sure sure and that's how it works how old were you when you started to be able to open up and have these types of conversations about your emotions about your feelings about your thoughts as opposed to just with yourself because I never spoke about any of my emotions until I was about 10 years ago when I had 30. that's when I started the process and heal and and be able to talk about these things that I was like no one could ever know this stuff I would say when I was 40. really yeah it's less than five years ago wow that's when you started to be able to say all right let me start processing or opening up well what happened was I was living in Malibu um and my music was changing uh Louis Farrakhan hit me motherfairicon and he was like Jeezy brother Jesus your music is changing the enemy is coming I'm just like my enemies in my neighborhood they ain't coming where I'm in Malibu he's like I'm just telling you get off the phone with him next week I'm on tour with Khalifa um young man gets killed by my tour bus and they like me and my crew up so now I'm sitting in uh L.A County Jail 10 million dollars in bill you know I'm taking the 10 people on the bus oh I didn't do anything first time in my life I didn't do anything you're on the bus yeah well I actually I got off the bus oh wow and went to a hotel room and then I came on the bus the next morning and followed us to the next venue oh man that's where they got me at Holy Cow and now I'm sitting in jail 10 people in jail million dollars a piece 10 million dollars um and my team came to get me out the first day right and I go I can't leave them in LA in jail I cannot you know what I'm saying so let me figure out how to get everybody out and then we'll get out together so I got everybody out on bail because we still had to go to court I had to pay for all that wow flying everybody back and forth here to court whatever um shout out to my Lord Blair Blair Brash and she killed it but um the thing was that one last time I was depending on the people that was my people to make sure that my family and my people were straight and when I got home when I finally got out nobody did anything really and I was because I've been to bed for everybody I don't pay for things and ain't got nothing to do it ain't even my business right and I was just so devastated because I'm like yo what if I what if this would have been it what if I would have passed you're not gonna make sure my kids I'm not going to check on my daughter's mother y'all go do these things and they're just like I've done that for y'all right and I'm not pointing any fingers I'm just saying like I know what I would do right and that's when I started to learn I can't put my expectations on anybody right right so now I got to do what's best for me because now I feel like I'm all alone wow so that was it I cut everything and then that's when I went on my mission to just start and and um one of my business partners we used to always just sit down and talk have a bottle of wine smoke a cigar and you're like what do you want to do I was like I want to do real estate and it's just some two really I started doing real estate that did well for me I want to do spirits so this is all what we did so I'm like why don't I just do that in life so I Robert Greene I mean I call Robert Green we go to the LA athletic clubs yeah I have tea I have some seven questions and he started giving me this game John Maxwell who came and married me and my wife wow you know in my backyard that's amazing right that's one of my best friends and me and John talking he gives me this insight and I just started to move towards the light you know what I'm saying because I just wanted to get a different perspective because I didn't have anybody around me trying to give me their perspective and TD Jakes same thing and I'm not just saying it because these are established people these are men they have done well in their lives in their community and their relationships their relationships they want to share something with me if I didn't have any access to wow and that was that's what made me start to open up it started to understand and start to be at peace and start to do all these things because now I know it's okay holy cow you know that before five years ago when you would face a challenge on set when I went to do her show uh consumers and television to promote album I was working on and I told my publicist I said yo I'm gonna marry that woman but I knew that I had to do some work on myself sure sure this is the five years that I would have got myself together that I came back and I was like yo you know I'm actually ready for you like with or a cow yeah she met her right around that time five years ago or whatever wow yeah so this is fascinating because did you kind of let go of all those people in your your life around that time that was I mean I want to say let go because it wasn't that easy but I just think we we grew apart yeah and things just started to happen differently they didn't want to go on the same path as you yeah so naturally they're not going to be spending as much time with you yeah and then it just you know it got a little crazy for a while imagine man people don't like watching someone else change and doing things differently especially if you've known for a long time right and you're used to doing certain things with them well they want you to be the OU because it makes them being comfortable with yeah they knew you makes people be uncomfortable and for me I just kind of felt like the hardest decision I've ever made in my life hardest decision ever made in my life and I made some artists it's what was was to walk alone hardest decision I ever made in my life it was like I meant for the first motivation came for the first three albums up until my album the recession I had so much survivors remorse and I was so like in a bad place like I was drinking like you wouldn't believe really oh my God I was 260 pounds uh skin was bad I was just like you know because I thought I was going to prison the whole time I'm just because everybody around me started to get indicted so I'm like just waiting it's coming like if me you hanging out and you get indicted and I'm like I got Louis that's my man right right and they were just like the whole thing so a lot of the music and why I was so so strong and direct was it because I just wanted to be heard in my mind I'm just like like I'm gonna be gone so this is my only chance so I'll be focused on the music put everything in the music because I was just like I just want to leave this behind if I'm not going to make it out this and I was in such a and this is the thing I didn't have the verbiage for all these things I was going through a language you didn't ever communicate I didn't know what Depression was I didn't know what anxiety was like I didn't know these days I didn't have no well you think I can go to the next room one of my homeboys be like I'm feeling crazy I think I think it's anxiety like yo drink this smoke this hey chill out bro you bug it and on top of paranoia one of the cops coming in when someone come with a gun everybody I was seeing I was just think you know that the agents did this and that and all these things are going on I'm trying to make music and I was just so depressed I was just drinking so much and I I was like waiting waiting to the day like oh just go to sleep sometimes and be like okay if it's a day I'm prepared and remind you the whole time this is going on because I'm I'm built the way that I'm built I'm distancing myself farther away from my family my sister is and you know my cousins my dad and my mom at the time before she passed because I'm I'm preparing right because if I go I don't want to be like I can't be a weak link while you know because I missed the outside of my mom my family's on mentally disconnecting myself from them because I don't want that to affect me if I got to go to prison holy cow all that's going on and it was one day I never forget I started to work on the recession and um I was dealing with this young lady we had this this breakup she it was public she was a person we had a breakup and I just went in the studio the same night and I didn't come out until I wrote the recession and what I was doing was I was um I was reading reading books this is some new for me what year was this this was oh oh eight eight okay oh seven one two eight right reading books I was watching the news I was working out now I'm in the gym I mean I don't know how to work out because I don't like to be told what to do so I didn't want to go with a trainer and so now I'm youtubing videos you know I'm saying hey you know YouTube was my best friend and I learned how to eat clean you know how to stay hydrated grab around drinking water for like I'll go much without water oh my gosh yeah yeah it was crystal in the waffle house that was it that was my diet and I was like that and and I lost 60 pounds um and I wrote the recession which was one of the best Elms in in my opinion and I've ever written right because it was dealing with politics the world the things were going on I wrote My President is Black before Barack Obama wow right this is before he won this was like six months before he won and then he won so that made that song going crazy I had put on with Kanye West this was the first verse that he did says his mom passed and now I'm going to do shows and I used to do my shows it used to be like all the gangsters and gang members in the drug dealers in the front row now I'm down I'm like 190 185 right and I'm doing shows and it's all women in the front really yeah and I go do my first show on the uh recession tour they think they're looking at Usher right yeah and um I'm doing the show in uh uh I come out on stage and all the stuff started flying on the stage of my security guard like yo what you gonna do with this he said boss I said what's going on he said his bras and stuff I was like oh my God panties and bras yeah you know what I mean and from that standpoint on I was like oh oh I can be better I can look better I can be better and this is when I came in the stardom this is what I hear myself yeah that's the first time my third album was the first time in my whole career where I said you uh Bonafide star you have to go out here and you got to do what you got to do and you can't worry about your past you have to be what you become and that's when I fell into like cheesy right that was the first time I felt like I was worthy and then yeah because before then I'm like I'm thinking it's a fluke you know I'm like huh you know I'm selling a few records but it ain't the type of money I'm used to let's talk about that I'm saying and how long was it really Gonna Last you know what I'm saying and then you're not even really an artist so you know you can write a Hit album and be talented and can't write another one right A lot of people do that right so now I'm I'm starting the process there because I'm like okay I got one what happens now you know so now I'm trying to stay in the studio but I'm not living the same life that I was when I was writing my matches right because I'm on the I'm transitioning so I'm seeing things different and you know nobody wants to hear that so what are you gonna do right how many how many people in in the the music business that you interact with truly believe that they're worthy of love and peace and success I can't really speak because I know for me I just feel like I just feel like I'm just a grown man and help group myself in that sure sure not that I have any disrespect for it right but it's like you know it's like if I go to a golf club and everybody that has you know well off I might want to play golf but I don't want to be in their group right right and I think that it's hard to get to know somebody when they don't know themselves it's hard you know because they they're living out who they think they are yeah they told them they are a false identity yeah you know you know you can't you can't get to know them because they're going by a name that they made up and that is who they are and that's how people perceive them in the world right and you know not to say that anybody's a bad person but it's almost like you go to a wrestling match you got to know the undertaking ain't the Undertaker at home you got to know that right but I think that's the difference because I'm Jeezy at home I'm Jeezy every day like it ain't you ain't got nothing to do with the music the music just happened to be a part of what I'm doing so I mean the music you said this earlier you weren't never you're never trying to be an artist you were never trying to be a musician an artist a rapper and you weren't trying I love the music though you thought that was the thing because I learned and I talk about the Atlanta book I learned a lot from like Tupac Shakur because he had morals and values before I knew what they were he still deserved it was he was a revolution there I didn't know that you can even have an opinion about this stuff you see what I'm saying she stood on that he died for it he's like you know what's the difference between him and anybody else that was assassinated he died for what he believed in right and the things that he believed in gave people like Marcel's some type of moral accomplished because I knew I couldn't do that because Bob said you couldn't do that right then I knew I shouldn't do that because he said somebody did this to him and that's how I was starting to pull things out of the music I love the music so I was listening to like the pops and the Masterpiece and the eight ball MJG I didn't listen to the news just to hear it and enjoy it I listened to the music like sermons wow I'm trying to find the the word in there the message the message and that's why I love music so much and it was like but you weren't trying to be a musician no I was trying to be honestly I was trying to be an entrepreneur before I knew what entrepreneurship was because the guys that I saw that was doing it on a major level was the Masterpiece and the cash monies you know they were living this crazy life and I was hustling trying to get the stuff that they was getting like I bought lexuses and Rolex watches and all this stuff at that time like I I was known for that you know I mean like I people know if you know me I had the latest car I had the best watch I did and this is before music right but these were the entrepreneurs and I'm like well I can I can do this I just got to go find some Talent so you're trying to be the label you were trying to buy the talent I was dealing with some guys out of Florida that I was kind of getting some money with and uh in the streets and they um they uh they had a record company that they was building right and we went like to this black spring break in Daytona or something they had like the winnebagos stuff on it t-shirts and I was just like I could do that so I went back to Georgia bought a studio went to the neighborhood got some artists there wasn't artists then it was the homies I'm saying got artists and you know put everybody down my man was with me as well and we put everybody in the studio and we was trying to make records and we was trying to get our name out there and it just didn't go that way and then the charges came down people started getting real time yeah so on and so forth and now we stuck with this studio with no artists and everybody like well look you really lived the life you might as well talk about it wow I was a little reserved because I'm already again good over here the last thing I want to do is go over here and look corny right or because I don't really truly have talent like I'm not writing songs every day however when I went back to my childhood I had to realize my wife is going to kill me about this but it was a girl in my class when I went to school in Hawaii right and she was uh she was different than yesterday or whatever and I was just like wow you know because I had never seen this is my first time out of the hood like I've never seen this right so I'm like so I started writing their poems and then and then the more I wrote the poems my dad would come in like what are you doing I'm like running another poem he's like man come on so I wrote the poems like every day and then she ended up becoming best friends but I realized that the way I can articulate myself when I write with something special then because you you're feeling what I want you to feel yeah I'm getting the result right now right you know what I'm saying like we're connected right and I I just remember interesting and then when I started to understand how to put my life into words it started to be therapeutic for me because now it's like oh I did deal with that oh that is trauma wow I did go through that how did I overcome that and now I'm putting it in my music and that's why my music has always been about motivation it's not about inspiration it's been about how can I help you with my pain how can I prevent you from feeling what I felt and even if you do how do I make you feel like you're not alone in this right that's where the music came from because if you go back to park thug life was a movement but if you listen to it you think it's about killing the robin it's not is about standing for something right you just made it make sense to us sure because we all feel like we're living the thug life right wow so I came back and my first album was thug motivation because I wanted to set it up like a class that's cool this is something you sit down and you and then my second album was the inspiration right and then my third album was the recession so look at the you know I'm saying and the crazy thing is I got the recession from being in a room with these guys I went to this little private dinner I'm in the room with all these guys that got all this money and they were so concerned it was like you know the recession is coming I'm thinking about selling this and doing that and I gotta get rid of this business and I'm going like you guys got a lot of money like what are you worried about and he's like do you know what a recession is I'm like yeah but I didn't so I went back and Googled it and I'm like huh so I'm asking questions that uh what happens with this how does this happen so when I wrote the recession that was me running back to tell the culture what I just learned because we know what a drought is a drought at the street meeting ain't nobody working yeah but a drought on the money is totally different so that means there's no money nowhere wow right so if you think you're living bad now you're gonna live even worse right so that was my intentions when I wrote the recession to tell people what was going on and I just caught that moment in time where it hit and that music was like the soundtrack for what everybody was going through and it was the recession right yeah and it just right when I dropped it that's when they announced it and it was huge when I say huge it was crazy and every interview I did after that I started to really notice again hear those words because now I'm writing about what I'm learning instead of just what I'm doing and I'm putting it together and now my interviews are different like people asking me real questions they're not asking me well what's up with little Ray Ray them what do you think about the president have you ever met him before right and I got to tell you a crazy story about that too so my past um so after I did my president's black he won the first time right so he invites me to a correspondence there in New York go by Tom Ford suits from a crew get myself together and I fly back to New York and I go to the correspondence then I'm watching my peers go in the correspondence then and I'm getting out of the car and I see my security talking to Secret Service and there's like no he can't he cannot I'm like can't be around you right and yeah so he invited you everybody Clinton his team invited me I couldn't get in most embarrassing day of my life right now I'm told everybody I'm going like I'm telling everybody right and now I'm sitting in this hotel room in this hotel called in London in New York and I'm just sitting there and I'm going like all the good I do all the things I'm trying to like how you like I'm a good dude like how you gonna like you like this ain't even real like you know I mean my past is my past but I started to understand how big and deep my past was and if they went and dug into it what they would have found right and I never forget I was on tour maybe like uh so it was year one so this is like maybe like three years before we got back into office again and my mom called me I'm in London on the tour bus you say hey baby uh you uh see what the president is talking about too I was like what she's like yeah the president was just talking about you I said no no way she said yes because he's talking about me she said yes I said okay she had my sister sent me the clip he was at the next correspondent then he said my first term I went with Al Green my second tarot I'm going with Young Jeezy wow like playing his day and he looked at Michelle he said she likes when I sing that to her and that's when I was just like okay I get it he got some ice in his veins he seen me right um he gave you a shout out here props yeah yeah but but here we go here you go that life again I have people like that too I'm in my own light I'm doing my thing you can't be right beside me you're still in the things you know what I'm saying so that was his way of showing me I see you you know but I can't be I can't be I always right right have a cocktail bro but I see you and to me that acknowledgment not just because he was the president is because he saw me right publicly right that means wow you know I was just like okay cool which I took a page out of that and even guys that I know from the streets that you know we have some history I make sure if it's still that type of terms that I still see them because sometimes people just want to be acknowledged absolutely man wow have you got a chance to sit down with them no actually he came to Atlanta to do uh uh a rally for Stacy Abrams we got a chance to chop it up right quick that's cool I don't think the Secret Service still trust me yet it was like looking at me up and down that's just like all right wow man yeah this is fast today so how did you get the confidence knowing that you weren't a rapper or an artist or musician how did you get the confidence to obviously you're writing down your your thoughts what are really poetry in your way and sermons in your way motivation and teaching and you're putting it into an album how did you sell so many records and you get your name out there coming from the streets how did you promote yourself and build a brand or record a record glucose when you didn't know what you were doing that's the thing that's the good thing that's the golden thing about this trees you don't know what you got you don't gotta know what you're doing as long as you do it because there's no and that's like I say back to the book there's no straight path yeah after we're trying to get through you got to navigate these things I think what gave me the confidence was survival and that I knew that I was studying um before uh like say Francis when again when people just be listening to the music I've been listening for the word or I would be a young guy to go sit around a bunch of old guys and just listen to them talk to see what I can learn from them and that just kind of was my school it kind of gave me confidence because I knew more than the average kid my age right and I was learning how to move because my older cousins was in the streets before me and it was pretty big so I watched a lot what they was doing a lot of people that was around them and I was like okay and I'm just I'm sponged your brother was performing in the streets no no my cousin was in the streets couch right they was doing this they were doing it big yeah yeah they were the guys and I was just watching what they was doing so you observed and then yeah there's a sponge a sponge a sponge and that's what gave me confidence because I just felt like I knew more than everybody else right and then I wasn't scared to go ask the questions interesting and then going about building a brand I watched and studied how music worked and even from the Cash Money era to Master P you know Master P and them had the tanks on and all that stuff I'm just like what what is that for me and I had this mechanism with this big diamond across the Snowman on it right and and it was like it was the craziest thing ever because it started as a chain right and then people started calling me snowman right and now I got a brand and then when I put out my first album they took the Snowman and put it to China Ayers uh since helping me with it they took the Snowman and put it on the CD cover it immortalized it and now this snowman is everywhere and everyone wants to wear a snowman so the shirts were made for Branding and marketing I got to go back to how I branded Market myself the search was made for Branding and marketing and we only made a hundred they blew up so much we ordered a thousand more then it out of nowhere I don't I probably don't know what happened it went from some shirts that we were sending out to you go anywhere on Harlem anywhere on 125th whatever every store got different birds in the Snowman shirts this was all around the world wow so now Jay-Z calls me because he's the president of Def Jam he's like I'm going to the magic show you should come with me so this is the magic show out there the clothing show in Vegas so they got the rock rockerware Booth out there yeah and he like yo let's walk through it so me and Jay-Z walk around the the magic show what year is this this is like oh yeah yeah oh six and um we just walking around it and um people keep running up to me going Jesus with Jay-Z they were like cheesy man thank you so much we love you man it's you don't realize this is great and I'm just like so after the fifth person I look at him you look at me she's like what's going on no one said anything to Jay-Z yeah we're both looking at each other like what's going on because I don't know what they're talking about you know what I'm saying right and I actually guys what do you mean it's like yo everybody's making money off these snowman shirts because now they sell them in bulk oh man you know what I'm saying like because they're selling to all the mom and pop stores so we went to one guy shot he had them to the ceiling and one of my guys back then told me when I first did it I said trademark it yeah like that I'm like nah it's just whatever and I never trade oh man craziest thing ever and the crazy thing was but it's a double-edged sword so I didn't trademark it however I think that made my bread bigger than life Wow because everybody had access to it and they were selling and they were making money which means that I was helping them help me yeah and they were probably getting out there faster than you could of one thousand percent wow now goes back to how I started branding myself so what I would do when I was first trying to figure out um where I was going I was doing these mixtapes with DJ Drama he's like a you know big deal and the coaching as far as like Street tapes so what I would do with people would do Street tapes and like put them in stores and sell them no five ten dollars what I did was I pressed up like a hundred thousand and gave them all out wow I went to this club every week on the east side and I gave them out that we were around town gave them our beauty supply stores beauty salon barber shops and I did that that was the first take I sort of need to move a little bit in Georgia hello Georgia Atlanta yeah then my second tape was trap or die right so I pressed up 500 000 of these oh man and I just started giving them out giving them my best thing I ever done because my grandmother always told me if you want something somebody else give them something first my best thing I was I could still do those songs right now any stage wow because it was like it was like Grassroots and now I'm getting everybody starting to know who I am and then I put this DVD of all the footage of me just running around with the Trap of diet tape and that when I knew it was real when I used to walk into my we call them trap houses sure sure so I was going with my friends trap houses whatever like my homies or whatever and I go like you know let's go through the Holland whatever and they would be watching my DVD wow it'd be like 10 people in there look at the DVD you looking like y'all know me it's like oh this is crazy you know what I'm saying they're watching me and that's how I knew and then it went from there it's because I used to hang out a lot it's been all the premiere clubs whatever because I swear my jewelry drive my cars because that was my that was my marketing like I just looked like the guy who's already successful when I was trying to be successful and I never forget when the Trap Attack came out um I was walking in the club and remind you I'm a street guy so I'm not used to people just walking up on me and this is back before you can like just take this and people come up on me like yo Jeezy man I love what you do man like the six times somebody came to me it just felt like somebody was paying them to say this you know what I'm saying because it was weird I never sure you know and it just started happening more and more and I'm like oh oh this is this is this is real and then I started to like go out like the malls or whatever and be just doing regular stuff people come over to the old man I really love you man I love what you do when I'm just sitting there and I'm going like this is it I gotta Focus now wow and I started recording my debut album and while I'm recording my debut albums paying for it myself um and they they come to me about a deal so I take the deal uh with Dev Jam and when I'm taking the deal and working on the album that I'm paying for that they're going to reimburse me my money I don't know how to perform and I'm not taking care of myself and so now I do this show in Jacksonville and uh at the Super Bowl like in a club nightclub and it says the system is terrible and I have problems on my vocal oh man already and I told my mobile Court oh man so now I'm one foot in the street one foot out I got some Buzz as an artist and I gotta get surgery oh man and I don't know if I'm in the whole conversation is we don't even know if he's gonna sound the same or how he's going to sound so now I'm like it's it's going down you know what I'm saying you're like I don't know what to do you know and it was probably one of the scariest moments my life because now I gotta go in there behind you I don't even have a shirt it's all right my surgery with a brown paper bag oh my God so my swords with a brown paper bag and um so I made it through that and then right after that I want to make sure I say this word right because somebody said I didn't say it right last time I got hit with Bell's palsy and now wow my mouth is crooked in my faces and this is like the second thing after the surgery after the surgery holy cow so now I'm like I'm hiding because I look crazy and um I was scared I remember talking to my mom I was just like Mama I don't I don't know what to do but then I realized quickly too that I wasn't taking care of myself right and at the same time you don't have people around you that are taking care of themselves they're not you know yeah yeah not sleeping yeah and you can he was too paranoid like I couldn't I man how I I can go off before these days I can go up like an hour and a half of sleep oh my gosh any day that was my thing I sleep when I die right yeah because you couldn't sleep you know what I mean because you got so many things going on and your mind is in so many different places but you're trying to uh navigate it and that's why I say you know the new rich is peace it is you know because you know you can have a billion dollars you know like whatever you should say you can put somebody in the Rolls Royce he's still behind the same problems he's gonna have those problems in the Rolls Royce and I think once you become into this place where you just at peace with who you are and who you're becoming it and like I say again I had to give myself permission to evolve wow because it was almost like I wanted to grow but I couldn't grow because of my surroundings these weeds and these things that will hold me back and when I started to clean that out I started to like grow and Bloom and Blossom and I just started to understand like wow like the air is different up here like you know the the the the the the thought process is different yeah you know like I like getting up at 5am in the morning I used to be yeah I wouldn't go to sleep until 6 A.M but I love it now because it's like and even some of my friends they asked me like what are you doing now and it's crazy because people ask me a lot of things about life and I'm surprised because they're older than me right and they're like yo so what are you doing now but I'm getting up at five I'm doing this what book you reading reading that they come over my house I give them a copy of the book it's weird it's easy yeah yeah that's for sure sure you know he's the guy used to pass you the blood now you're giving you a book she's like uh but I take Brian now because my piece I love when I go through my phone and one of my guys hit me like Elmo chapter 10 oh my God it's mind-blowing you know I'm again where do you get chapter 12. all right that's my piece wow man and I had to work so hard and do so much work on myself just to even get a taste of that yeah how did you get I mean how did you get to a taste of Peace how did you start to even heal your thoughts your emotions your body because I'm assuming 40 Years of some type of psychological or physical trauma whether it be not sure where you're sleeping at night mom's point a gun in your face on the streets who knows what's gonna happen every day sleep in an hour a night doing that for 40 years yes you know seeing friends die you know seeing friends go to jail doing that for that long having surgery what there is no peace there's no healing there's no time to think about let my nervous system calm and relax let me process these memories of my past from parents to childhood friends too other stuff that maybe you haven't talked about and really allow my body to feel whole right when did that start to happen and is that still a journey for you yes still a joke I learned that when my mom passed and I didn't agree with right really because I'm numb when was this I'm a mom passed three years old yeah I'm numb like I'm I'm I'm I've been through it so much I don't feel that part like I I got to be honest like I don't know how to connect with that right you know that's something that I'm working on every day because it's like when you going through all these things you just become it becomes normal life to you right and then you have to understand this is what's going to happen you got to deal with it you got to keep it moving right and when my mom passed I knew that I didn't grieve right I was just like something's not right would send me on another mission so to answer your question is how do you get to that I'm still working on that now and that's why I'm even opening up and being transparent about what I'm going through because I think at some point it's black man we all in that space bro you didn't come from a certain type of life and for me it took me to get around other people to understand that everybody's went through something right and you got to be different Outlets of how you can um you know just start to dump some of that stuff off and the craziest thing is you know and and I'm not saying that even when I started listening to your podcast John Maxwell's and you know just different people I just respected their perspective I started to get a lot of information about how to deal with those things and what I should reach out to which is why I'm so passionate about the book because there's information in there right there's information in these shows and these episodes that you do that you wouldn't even expect people to pull that from and go man maybe I need to or maybe I should sit down with somebody and like I didn't know what processing me right you know I didn't know that something from my childhood could affect me worse in my 40s right I didn't I didn't know all these things but I'm working on those things every day I'm working on trust wow man you know I'm working on emotions like I love my kids right and I'm I'm just making sure I'm intentional about connecting with them because I know there's sometimes with me where I get caught up in my world and I'm thinking about everything that I got going on that I might not be present but then I didn't know there was a such thing of being present so now I gotta check myself on that so now you're always hustling for the next thing so no hours checks and balances oh man in in this in it's in the information and that's one thing I do like about social media at this day I hate all the other like it's terrible but there's a lot of information there if you know how to sort through it's like YouTubes like books like podcasts there's information that we need that we just can't get from people that are around us because they're searching for the same thing and and I think that's what helped me get on the mission of healing because it's a thing I didn't know I needed to heal I feel like I was Iron Man you know what I'm saying like I'm good like it can't nothing hurt me no I felt like that and then when I started peeling back the layers I'm like like wow like you know like like how somebody don't feel your devotion if they can't if you're not you know it's how people gonna feel you if you're not even being because you know by the way this is I would never talk this much look at my first interviews I'm like yeah no it's like interrogation yes or no yeah it was interrogation it was like I don't know about that but now I feel like you know it's it's my purpose and and my responsibility yeah it's beautiful because we don't make it to our 40s and 50s you know what I'm saying we don't make it there being us and still being cool and still being successful and still being like you know if it's a black man you get over a certain age nobody cares about you not even your kids really if you can't give them no money to do another form it's like you know you know you just get to a certain age it's so hard for us right so you have to put things around you and put things in place to keep you held accountable and and and that fulfill you so that you can go out here and be the best that you can be and for me that's what keeps me going and keeps me on the Journey of healing I don't got a problem saying that now because I got more people that tell me you know things like him I'm really going through this I'm like well well I mean I'm here like we what can I do right so I'm already knowing they need to heal right and I I understand that so now I give him space to heal right checking in you know let's go have dinner or something like it's beautiful out for a minute and because the thing for my coaches when you go through things you isolate yourself you know and that's like the worst thing ever because now you you know you you you win this you know in the wall is for Real yeah man you know a wall can keep people out but it can also keep you in you know what I'm saying so we can keep the bad things out but it blocks the blessings as well it does you know and I think you know we I had a wall up for you know my first probably you know like no nothing wasn't getting past that wall because that's how I was surviving like it's different to live for love and just to live for survival and if you ask me you know what was the difference I was living for survival here now I'm Living For Love did you ever were you able to experience love up until the last five years with that wall no really no what does love feel like now you have the wall coming down or at least it feels partial wall you know maybe it feels like trust really it feels like a village it feels like community feel like support I feel like understanding it feels like Grace um it feels like those things because again you never had it and not to say that it wasn't there but I wouldn't let anybody in you won't allow yourself to experience it so now it's just like knowing people because you know for a while you just feel like nobody really like really is down with you because when you go through like a lot of the summer talk about in the book you realize how people go left and right not really down you kind of just build that up in your head you're kind of like okay all my interactions are like you know they went off I'm not looking to build with you you know what I'm saying yeah yeah I already know at some point it's gonna go left and you're gonna feel away about something and there's that right but what I had to learn is like you know even when I was wrong you know I could still go back and have a conversation with somebody who's mentally on the same level as me and be like you know what man I just had a bad day bro like I was doing this now and going through and you said this and I just kind of feel like I wasn't there you know what I'm saying no it's all good that's how two men talk when you coming from a culture where if we don't agree somebody gotta go wow upstairs sure oh yeah somebody gotta go and I ain't talking about just leaving right I'm saying right that ain't happening forever yes that's how that's how it's set up and that's when and the thing about it is what I learned in this world and this world is there's no conflict resolution in this world we don't have conflict resolution we don't have uh understanding of how this is supposed to go there's a resolution it's just not a healthy one right right and and in this world there's conflict resolution is there's I'm wrong you're right you know there's you know what next time I'll try this nearest you know uh you know you knew somebody we there for you you know what I'm saying you're going through something you got help you know I'm saying if you you feeling depressed I won't be the one to call and make you laugh but tell you something crazy you know what I'm saying or if you got some issues with your business I want to introduce you to my lawyers and my friends and their friends and so on and so forth you know if I went on a vacation somewhere like man you know you should go there I'm gonna set you up with the people so now you like peeled in this this community of we all we got right and in this community you all you got all right you know what I'm saying wow you know Ain't No Way Around It with all the experience you have now from all the stuff and the trauma you went through growing up and and the process of healing and the process of trusting in the last five years and processing and all these different things what would you say is your greatest superpower now and maybe it's not what people would think it is and also what is your biggest weakness still that you're working to overcome then you want to become better at overcoming my biggest weakness would be dealing with a lot of my childhood trauma um because there's sometimes a little J still comes out and you know I mean I have to work on that because um maybe you feel slighted and and again when I had to kind of come to grips with is that what served me then doesn't serve me now perhaps you know I mean and it's like you know a violent Behavior would serve me then it protected you it guarded you and the tough demeanor is like ah you know and um was it the next one you asked what's what am I working on the greatest the greatest superpower yeah I say the greatest superpower to me is having a good heart you know what I'm saying because I always had it you know what I'm saying it just doing things for people makes me feel like it it fulfills me like it's almost like you know when somebody call me and be like yo thank you for introducing me such as you know start by my business I'm like oh nice you know I love what you do whatever now that's that's a good thing for me and then also um my superpowers problem solving like I love that like you can put it you can put 100 problems on this desk I'm scan thumbs okay this is what we're gonna do yeah that's my thing and just to add someone to that I think my biggest uh super super powers Integrity wow I I just I have to move correctly because I have to be able to look at myself in the mirror and there's been sometimes that I couldn't right because I didn't move correctly you're past my past definitely I mean you know in in based off like you know I would lie if I feel like it was going to benefit me or get me out of trouble I don't think I can do that today so I'll try not to get in trouble because I'll be like yeah I did it right right yeah yeah but I had learned that a man that's a real man doesn't doesn't lie on any circumstance he does wow when did you learn that when did you start that switch of I started that around about my late 30s wow because I was still trying to figure it out man um and I I wouldn't like say nothing crazy but if you ask me something there was like some pressure behind it like meaning like I could be in a situation or it might not go my way then I might lean towards sure which don't work for me but now I couldn't I couldn't do that like I couldn't look somebody there's no peace yeah when you're when you're always telling a white lie you're hiding something is yeah you know well also what I learned too that it it it it it worked for me because you have to be covert right you're coming from this world yeah can't tell people everything you're doing like you saw now you're supposed to tell me the next step because they could be there waiting for you right all right so that was how I lived but when I started to be more transparent I started to notice that these quality people that I was working in my life became close in me they embraced me more because you gotta think like I was the guy that talking about coming over your house for dinner oh no right it was but the more vulnerable and open and honest and integrity and your word that you are consistently the more people want to support you who have the same values and the more they want to um you know uh even give you a lot of the knowledge that they had 100 you know what I'm saying it's just like in in in not even you know like really pour into you like really lean into you and at first you know that was a little weird to me because nobody had ever helped me before so now I'm trying to figure out what's the catch right what are they trying to get out of here yeah yeah right so now I'm trying to figure out what's trying to use me to try to get something right right and it took a while and I'm like wait wait so and then you know I'm not good with time like I remember the trauma stuff but like because of course I lived a Crazy Life in and out here there so you meet people see people but then when you see people you haven't seen them in a while and they kind of greet you with that love and they tell you like I just really love you like At first I couldn't believe it right but over time so I'd be like yo maybe you know it's that's that's you know that's genuine that's that's that's real because where we come from is somebody tell you they love you you got to be watching your back really yes absolutely one thousand with them yes I've seen it firsthand you know what is the biggest lesson your wife has taught you um because the lesson she told me um in life is that having a partner is is is having somebody that is on the same wavelength of you and you guys are building better the building together is the best thing in the whole world my wife is smart super smart super savvy um you know fly let me say that and it's just like that's my partner like we can talk about things and she's there with me right and then she can also tell me things that I wouldn't take from anybody else because there's been times I've been in situation my wife was like you ever thought about I'm like no I have not let me get into that and we sit down we politic and we talk and it's just like we're coming with a plan and and I love that and she can hold her own and that's what I really respect about it like she has just as many resources and things as I have and we always put them together to do things that's amazing she's very uh well traveled and I love that like we can go anywhere and she's she she's plugged in and we we live a life together that we both sit down and I mean the first like couple months we was together we sat down we did a vision board and it was like this big vision board that was in the living room in my condo and we're just doing all these uh uh you know it's all these ideas and we looked up maybe like maybe like a year later we had done everything that's so cool man we got to do another board that's cool yeah that's amazing man um I've got a few more questions for you that's okay this has been inspirement I can share your story thank you so much brother I could hear this stuff for a long time but um I want to ask I mean you mentioned Jay-Z briefly um but you've worked with a lot of big artists yeah over the years right I mean who are some of the names that you've worked with or you've been on tracks with have they've been on your album or you worked with Kanye West to Rihanna to uh Mariah Carey too um well and this goes on I'm only for people I ain't work with and that I ever want to work with is Sade and uh and Tupac All right I think everything else I got covered wow yeah man how did you go I mean from not being an artist not being a rapper not knowing anything really about music to working with the biggest names in the world I think it's my connection to the streets and the people in the culture because again like you have your community and and you have some leadership there by connecting and collabing you get to get these people ears that you never would have got because they don't know you or believe you but they believe me right so that's that's the key to it because that's the most reason why people do collabs is to tap into whatever you got right and it's just like you know when you got people like Rihanna don't record you got Kanye West we've done plenty of Records um you got people like Jay-Z I got more records with Jay-Z than he has with Biggie Smalls like let's think about this holy cow right but that's what I'm saying so for me I think we just tap into what each other has and for me my stronghold has been the coach of the people like I am the people's champ you know and and and it's Way Beyond the music like the music is just the vessel and and and and and and the connection to the people but I think it's more like things to have because you can track and see why I was in a bad space you can see where I was trying to figure it out you can see when I started to come out of my rut you can see when I started to think different you see when I started to eat there when you see when I started the dress stuff so you're seeing that Evolution when you started to go hold up I'm from where he's from I can do that he's doing like you know in real estate in Atlanta like we're really over where I'm healing right now some always loved I mean it reminds me of my old life yeah but um is my thing and I got business people coming to me talking to me about real estate these are people in the culture that's really excited about going ahead and doing these things that they probably wouldn't have never thought that they can do but they're seeing what I'm doing and they're going like wow like and now I'm getting these calls from people that you know that I used to know in a whole another life like man I just bought this duplex man like who can I talk to about management for me or whatever whatever and it's like these are the conversations I want to have with you I don't want to have conversation with you right that uh you know that uh the old way yeah yeah I'm a big uh lesson guy I love you know I've been doing this show for 10 years whereas I haven't had so many people like yourself on the show that I feel blessed just get to ask questions and learn from so you've collaborated obviously with some of these names that you've talked about with Jay-Z Rihanna and uh Kanye what's what's one lesson from each one of them that you've taken from working with them or observing them but uh Rihanna is always be a star like she she's she's different really yeah because less is more with her um less is more meaning like you don't see her a lot when she pops out is what she does I took a page out of that book a while back like I'm gonna I'm like a unicorn you know you want to go see me when I need to be seen and I'm only going to do what I need to do right and that's that's just being around Rihanna just seeing how she moved and how she understood that um less is more and that's that's what builds up star power right and of course we're not the same thing but I took a piece from that um Kanye West would never what I learned for him is to never um compromise the art over money really yeah like he doesn't play about that like I give him that he'll hold on to the art until the right moment or not even that like he wouldn't he won't just it's not about money with him he's what I'm saying he's more so about the art the music and he won't compromise that you know to you know get some type of conversation for it he would rather do it his way right and go against all the rules because he feels like in his heart that that's right and and I'm like that so it's starting to say it too it's like if I don't feel it you couldn't pay me enough for it like you can pay me anything to do what I don't feel is right about sure sure it's not it's not going it's not worth it right yeah and Jay um Jay-Z he he how can I say it doesn't talk with this guy and Jay's like made it very few words but when we talk he just always made me understand that don't forget who you are right and where you came from and where you're going and again don't compromise who you are or your integrity for anyone right because everywhere he goes he's unapologetically Sean Carter I'll give him that [ __ ] he's not going you know he gonna get another room and be different because somebody else is in there You're Gonna Come just as he is he's gonna walk out just as he came in wow yeah I respect that I got I got three final questions for I feel like I could ask you tons of stuff but uh I want people to get your book adversity for sale yes sir you got to believe oh make sure you guys get a few copies of the book into your friends from Jay Jeezy Jenkins um this question is what I ask all my guests at the end of our conversations it's called the three truths so it's a hypothetical question hypothetical scenario imagine you get to live as long as you want to live um you know you can extend your life for as long as you want but eventually it's the last day but you've created so many vision boards you've accomplished all your dreams a thousand folds right for the rest of your life you've lived exactly where you want to live but for whatever reason in this hypothetical world no one has access to your content your information your music your books this conversation is gone everything you've ever put out is gone but on the last day you get to leave behind three lessons and this is all we have access of your information the three lessons that you would share with the world I call them the three truths what would be those three truths for you first truth would be Karma is real I've done some pretty bad things in my life and I'll tell you man the man upstairs big g.o.d he made me he made me pay he made me pay and I'll never go back down that road again so do right by people and do right by yourself you know because karma is real uh that would be my first truth um my second truth would be it's never too late for anything like you can be how old you can be in the worst situation in the world um it just never too late they turn all around it's never too late like you you you can get started today you're on your way tomorrow no matter when and my last truth will be evolve or die and I don't mean in the sense of the word but if you're not evolving you're not living and the last thing you want to do um is take that with you and they say you know the richest place in the world is a cemetery because everybody take all these great things with them and it's just like you might lose a lot evolving but you'll gain so much more right and you have a whole different respect for yourself because we only got one life and your life has to affect more than what you can see or touch your life has to affect I can never thought in the end in my life would affect Millions right and I'm still continuing to to to chip away at that right and again when I'm no longer here I want my kids to know that their father was a great man he stood for something and he wanted to help people the best way he could he not going to come in the best way right right but he wanted to help people as much as he could and I hope and I Pray by people seeing me evolve and giving myself the permission to do so on my own terms at my own time that that helps them understand that there's no judgment if you want to do and become better for yourself your family your peers your community your coaching your people you got that right because when this life is over it's a wrap it's done and what you didn't do never get a chance to do that ever Jeezy I want to acknowledge you before I ask the final question for your really your ability to look within over the last you know three to five years and say you know what I'm gonna start talking about things that I never thought I was able to talk about I'm going to start opening up and being vulnerable even though I would have been laughed at made fun of kicked out of the house or whatever growing up if I would have done these things then and I acknowledge you for allowing yourself to start to heal and transform and transmit the message that you've learned from you know the karma that you've had to deal with in the past from wrongdoings and mistakes and things that you did that were out of Integrity to being the best human you can be and obviously still no one's perfect but being on that that process of service adding value the way you can creating bringing people together collaborating so I acknowledge you for the manager continuing to be coming over seeing them the man you're you're you're healing into a beautiful mannerless like and I hope we get to play some golf sometimes yeah hang out sometimes more um and I want people again to get the book before I ask the final question is there anything else we can do to serve you today oh man just to make sure we spread this message and um you know and let's just continue to build brother like yeah man and I want to let you know as well like you you really I've turned a lot of my friends and my peers on to you and it's like they call me the next day like it's amazing because you just like a different episode of what you're going through in life you can just kind of go through it and pick what you're going through and listen to it and I listen to your stuff every morning man that's me what you can do for me is continue to do what you're doing man because I'm affecting more people than you know my man I appreciate it the final question Jeezy what is your definition of greatness um my definition of greatness is to be the best version of yourself by any means it's greatness to me that means win loses draw just be the best version you can be of you and that's all you got to get is there's there's there's nothing else like if you good up every day and you're doing the best you can do and you're being the best that you can be that's greatness you're already walking in the path it only gets better you know they say good habits good things come out of that bad habits bad things come out of that so at the end of the day if you got a habit of being the best version of yourself you're only going to get better at that and that's greatness to me I've learned like when I'm judging people Etc just sort of It kind of goes to that other one they're all interrelated but you know maybe I'm too quick to judge maybe I can understand their problem maybe if I've hired this researcher and they're not working out maybe it's because I'm not explaining

Channel: Lewis Howes

Views: 138,842

Keywords: Lewis Howes, Lewis Howes interview, school of greatness, self help, self improvement, self development, personal development, success habits, success, wealth, motivation, inspiration, inspirational video, motivational video, success principles, millionaire success habits, how to become successful, success motivation, Jeezy: Overcoming Trauma, Escaping the Streets and Working w/Jay Z, Kanye & Rihanna

Id: vwb92gdvzCg

Length: 87min 12sec (5232 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 07 2023