- [Mark] All right, Minister Seamore. - Yes, sir. - [Mark] Minister Seamore,
where are you from originally? Where'd you grow up? - [Minister Seamore] From Chicago. - [Mark] And you're still based there? - [Minister Seamore] Yes, sir. - [Mark] Tell me about your childhood. You had both of your
parents when you were a kid? - Yes, I have, when I was a kid. My mother died when I was a little boy, I was about seven, eight years old. - [Mark] I'm sorry. And how would you describe your childhood? - Well, it was rough coming up, coming up. The babysitters used to
keep me and my brothers, as you know, folk find out. Daddy used to go to work. - [Mark] What did your dad do for work? - Daddy was a minister at his own church. So sometime the babysitters come over and trick me and my
brothers into bed with her. So what could we do? - [Mark] So your sexual
activity started at what age? - Well, about seven to 10. The babysitters, the women, they wanna play with the little boys, when the little boys go
through things in life. So it changed their life too. - [Mark] How far did you go in school? - I finished school and two
years of college. Yeah, yeah. - [Mark] Did you have dreams
of doing something in life? - Well, I did, I had dreams
of doing a lot of things. When you was a disturbed, like I said my mother, she passed
when I was a little boy, I did finish school, but I was something like the preacher kids in the neighborhood stayed
in trouble all the time. Broken the telephones, took all the dimes out the
telephones and nickels, and back then, I'm in my 60s now. So we're talking about years ago, it would cost 15 cent
to make a phone call. So 10 cent. So when they made a phone call, I used to bust all of the telephones and take all the cash out
the telephone machines and take it home to me and my brothers and feed me and my brothers. - [Mark] And how did you get
introduced to the world of? - Well, I wound up going to school too, I suppose I've been doing my homework. I wound up at my English teacher house. So hey man, I had to do
what I had to do to survive, to put food on the table, which I came from a good family, but they say the preacher kids were some of the baddest
kids in the neighborhood, and I was one of 'em. - [Mark] And did you have
someone to show you the ropes or you just figure it out? - But I had some great uncles,
one name, Richard Tidwell. One of the greatest player, he was a boss player,
gambler, dress a lot. I used to watch him
stay sharp all the time. He used to wear hats. That's where I got my
hats and my dressing from, one of my mother's brothers, his name was, they called
him Peanut Tidwell. - [Mark] So he was one
of your role models? - One of 'em. And I had an uncle named George Beard. He was one of my mentors too. And on my daddy's side, my daddy thought that
he was a great player, and I always watched them two coming up, and they was good dressers and had some of the fanciest cars. I watched 'em with my cars and my clothes and I got a lot of
knowledge from my family. - [Mark] Your sense of
style, the way you dress, your attitude, that's a big part of-- - Yeah, I got it from
my, one of my uncles, like I said, his name was
Peanut, we called him Peanut, but Floyd Tidwell was his name. - [Mark] But that ability to attract a female is a big part of-- - Well, attracting females is
just like what attract you? Become that way. If you see a woman shop,
looking good and real clean, looking beautiful, when they
see the same thing in a man, if he looking good, dress,
got his nice hat on, his shoes shined, a nice
suit on, a neck tie. They love that, you know? - [Mark] And that opens the
door for opportunities to-- - Well, it'll open up a
lot of things for you, just not no door. It'll give you a place to lay
your head, it'll feed you, it'll do a lot of things for you. Keep money in your pocket. - [Mark] Yeah. And have you been married? - Man, I'm married now. I've been with my wife 45 years. - [Mark] Congratulations. - 45 years, and living in one
of the biggest, pretty houses. I got business, construction business, beauty shops, barber shop, Afro company. I customize cars, I'm
doing great for myself. It's how I did things in life. When I made money, I put it to the side. I never drank, I never got
high, I never smoked in my life. My friends did all that. I
just didn't choose that life. - [Mark] And tell me
about some of the girls that have worked for you, how many? - Well, it's not only
the girls work for you. It wasn't that. It was just, man, I always
been a superstar in my game, always been a superstar, not no pimp. People look at you is
'cause you're dressed. And when they see you with
a big hat on, you's a pimp. No, uh-uh, I always
been a great superstar. If somebody wanted, a chick
wanted to give me some cash, I'm gonna accept it, you know? So a lot of times you, you
get with the fast girls, they don't wanna go to bed. A lot of time, guys look at
them, they'd be prettied, they want some knowledge,
they're disturbed, they've been abused, they've been raped since they was babies. So they need somebody to
encourage them and keep 'em, tell 'em what to do to
get on the right road. So that's when you gain your points, by putting it in their head and telling them what they need to hear. Hey man, being a friend
is some of the best things you can come up with,
being a woman friend, instead of being a man
laying down with her. Man, I played hide the
dick on a lot of chicks, I didn't have to do all that. Like I said, I've been a superstar, and I got paid for what I knew. And I shared the game with them. - [Mark] And you're giving them guidance. - So much guidance, that's what I did. They pay for knowledge. A lot of guys, no, no, you ain't got, whatever those guys want
to do, that's on them. Like I said, I've been a
great superstar all my life. I've been a boss player. I dress, I look good wherever I went. - [Mark] Have you done any prison time? - Just a little bit. About four, five months,
or something like that. - [Mark] And the girls that you would, that would help you, that you would guide. - I'm a type of dude,
when I was coming up, it ain't girls, girls I may have had one or
two chicks in my game have had problems, came to me
for a name to be behind them, 'cause a lot of guys come on them strolls and come on the sets,
jump on 'em and beat up, they can use my name or use
the next boss player name and want somebody to stand with 'em, 'cause they checking all this money. But if they can use your name, they can share that money with you, man. - [Mark] And you're married, but would you have sex with the girls? - No, I ain't had to,
I play hide the dick. I didn't have to do that. The little head that make
a fool out of the big head. I never did that. See, the little head can make
a fool out of the big head. I never had to do that. A lot of dudes did it, I guess.
I didn't have to do that. - [Mark] Right. How do you handle your girls
if they got out of line, if they got a little
headstrong, anything like that? - What I'm telling you,
it ain't the girls. It's when a person come to me, if a girl come to me, needs
some acknowledgements, some encouragements,
I'm gonna give it to 'em straight off the top. They can talk to whoever
they wanna talk to, be with whoever they want to be with. Hey man, I always been a
superstar, I'm your friend. I can be your friend
more than be your man. - [Mark] So you give 'em freedom. - Hey man, they came in
free, they can go as freedom. You respect people. To get respect, you gotta give it. You gotta be a gentleman out here, man. I feel sorry for a lot of brothers when they mess with the underage girls and get in a world of trouble. Hey man, I just don't live like that, man. Like I said, I had to
play my game way different than a lot of brothers did, man. I always been a loner,
I'll ride by myself. I hang by myself, I don't need all that. You don't need nobody to
help you count your money. You need somebody to go with
you to put it in the bank? No, you need your money by yourself. - [Mark] So the laws have
changed in this game quite a bit. - Oh man, super, super game. - [Mark] It's become much
more dangerous, right? - Well, it's been dangerous all the time. Girls have got their throats slit, men have got their throats sliced too sitting in the car, dating a chick. - [Mark] No, no, I'm not talking of the danger on the street, I'm talking to danger
of the police and the-- - It's dangerous, it never changed. It just got, took it to another level, but that murder have been going
on from beginning of time. It's just to sharpen it up a little bit. That's all 'cause the young generation don't know what to do,
they do what they wanna do. - [Mark] What is it about the street life that makes it so addictive
to so many people? - Man, the drugs, the
drugs done took over. That's the pimp. If you wanna know the
pimp, that's the pimp. The drugs is the pimp. I'm gonna tell you something. Niggas be thinking, a guy will think 'cause he is a pimp 'cause
he got a suit on, nah. The chick looking for
somebody to encourage them. They don't know how to master their money. So you just there to help
them to master their money. A chick don't need you.
What she need you for? To fool you, to make you think
that you this and that? Nah. Hey man, I always stayed on the line. Like I said, I always been a superstar. If a chick wanna give me some money, I'm gonna accept the money, because I'm getting 'em all
my game, all my knowledge, telling them what to
do and what not to do. - [Mark] What personality traits
do you look for in a girl? What personality traits
do you look for in a girl? - Man... It don't make a difference. It's kind of hard. It's really hard, but it
don't make a difference bro. - [Mark] You can work with whoever? - Man, it's like if you
go in the grocery store, if it's somebody you can encourage, you'll work with 'em
and you'll talk to 'em. That's all. You there for the money.
You're not there for the honey. I'm there for the money. I don't want the honey. I want the money. - [Mark] What's what's more
important to you, love or money? - I'd rather be loved. Love come first. I love to love somebody
that who wants to be loved. And you gotta understand that, you know? I love the money, I ain't
gonna be crazy and say money, but hey man, everybody wanna be loved. - [Mark] How many years
have you been doing this? A long time. - [Minister Seamore] Man, I've
been doing it all my life. Since I've been in the street,
riding slick, looking slick, have my hand out for some bread. - [Mark] I'm sure you've
seen some crazy stuff. - [Minister Seamore] Man, I
seen a lot of crazy things, but some things is not to be
told, talked about, and seen. Sometime you gotta be quiet. - [Mark] And what are your thoughts on how the game has changed? - [Minister Seamore]
Well, the way I dress now, you got new generation
guys come around now. No wonder why I wear some
blue jeans with a belt, knowing better than wear my pants down. Hey man, my granddaddy was
a dressing man, he dressed. He wore hats and wore overalls. And he never wore pants with no belt. Man, I couldn't even walk in the house around none of my people, my granddaddy or grandmama
with my pants down. You couldn't have did neither. That's what changed things. Who wanna show they behind? I look, you walking,
I'll come to your house, and I got my draws down and
showing your wife my butt. That's disrespectful. And it's disrespectful for you inviting me over to your house and telling your girl I'm your friend. He got his, showing his behind. - [Mark] Dressing the way you do, right, like here today, you command respect. - Man, through the week, I
wear a lot of work clothes. I dress down. I clean up, I sweep, I paint. I have to go behind the
guys that working for me. I'm working on cars. I
love to work on cars. I got a trade, man. I learned to work on cars. I learned to do some positive. I know a lot of brothers
don't know how to do nothing. I got a friend now, don't
even know how to change a tire if he catch a flat. All he know how to do is
just put gas in the car. - [Mark] How many cars you got? - Man, I have a lot of cars. - [Mark] I saw you what pulled up in here. - Yeah, I got a lot of cars. - [Mark] You were at the
Players Ball here in Atlanta. - Well, I must be here just only, we've been doing these Players
Ball over 40 something years. I must support my friend
on his birthday because he, they just gave me a big
party, my wife, my sons, they just gave me a big party in Chicago. I mean, you couldn't even get in. And my friend, he was
there for me as usual, and I've changed my life. God gave me a chance to change my life. I'm in church a lot, man. I pray a lot, I'm singing in
the choir, I'm playing music. It's a big change in my life. So hey man, I love the Lord, and I'm gonna stay with the Lord. I'm gonna go to church every Sunday. I got grandchildren, I got
great grandchildren in church. So I marching with my grandbabies. - [Mark] Some people listening to this would have a hard time reconciling the fact that you're a
religious man, and yet you're. - Again, like I said, I
was the preacher's son. The preacher kids was the
baddest kids in the neighborhood, breaking people's windows out they cars, fighting all the time,
starting a lot of mess. Hey man, I'm a way better
young man than I used to be. Everybody wanted to be in the game. Everybody wanna be a gang leader, everybody wanna to be fighting, everybody wanted a Cadillac. Every man I know right
now want a pretty Cadillac and want a woman to
put some gas in his car and buy him a suit. So that's nothing new to the
community and the neighborhood. 'Cause everybody want their car no pay, not just the only the men, the women want their house no pay. They give you a piece of that potato pie. They want the house no pay,
they want their car no pay, they want their nails did,
they want their hair did? So for the lawyers, the
doctors, the police officers, the judges has been supporting
the players and the pimps, (Minister Seamore applauds) welcome to the club. 'Cause if it weren't for y'all, we couldn't have been looking this good. - [Mark] What's the most important lesson you've learned in all your years? - Man, the most important
lesson I learned, if you got a family,
if you got grandbabies, if you got a wife, you got
children, respect your home. Whatever you do out in that
street, don't take it home. Leave it in the street. 'Cause your grandbaby, your son, your daughters is watching you. The best thing I can tell you
to do, get in the Lord house. I'm in church, man. Out of 30 years of God
have changed my life, I've been a great... better father for my children. And I can say, hey man, I've been out here with some
of the greatest brothers. I used to see some of
the greatest gamblers have shopping bags of money. I see 'em today, they only
have shoes on their feet. So hey man, I can say I thank
God for changing my life and give me a chance
to get myself together. I just wanna say that the
ones that's out there, try to show love in your house. Where the rapists come from,
the girls getting raped, your nieces and nephew, it comes from somebody
out of your household, your mama brother, sister, uncle, or somebody that mess with that baby. So question them babies and actually see if
anybody had been downstairs tampering with them. And tell them that you love your babies. When you tell them that you love them and spend time with them and don't bring anybody around your house, you're gonna hit jackpot, if you know what I mean by jackpot. But respect your house. That's what I learned. My daddy told me, he said, "Man, I wish I would've
stayed home with your mama." And I used to hear him
say that all the time. If your family, you and your
wife is not getting along, you go in one room,
she go in another room. Learn how to shut the hell up. I'm talking to the men today. Learn to be quiet, learn
how to take some mess. 'Cause a woman, all she got for you is she can cook for you
good, wash your clothes, and spread eagle for you across the bed. That's what she got for you. And when she spread eagle for you good, that's like heaven, it must be heaven. So if you have not learned
anything I have said today, you are lost. I'm gonna respect first.
Then she must respect you. You the man of the house,
you the king of your house. You are the man. In the street, any pimp or
player, you are the king, but you got the respect your products. You can't your products 'cause you're not gonna get none back. You grow beautiful grass, you're
gonna get beautiful grass. So that's what I learned. Respect will take you a long ways. Do not let the little head make
a fool out of the big head. Respect your home, that's number one. Do not bring all your
friends over to your house. Number two, respect
your mother and father. If you don't respect
your mother and father, you're not gonna respect
your sisters and brothers. And then if you don't respect home, you're not gonna respect the street, and then they gonna kill you. You gonna respect the streets, the streets got something for you. Street got something for you. The devil got some for you. You keep knocking on the devil door, he got something for you. Stop knocking on the devil door. Go find you a job. When I was coming up, I used
to knock on my neighbor's door to take their garbage out. I used the shovel their snow. I used to clean up their backyard. I used to go in the grocery stores and help everybody who need
groceries taken to their car. I would do that. There's always a way of making money. You ain't got to rob,
you ain't got to steal, you ain't got to lie. You can win, like I won. I won 'cause I played the game fair. Respect. Don't steal from your best friend. Don't steal from your best friend. That's the point today. You killed your best friend in school, went to school with, you killed him, you shot him in the back because he was getting more
money than you was getting, the drug dealers I'm speaking on now. But it pays to do right today. If you don't have to go
outside, don't go outside. Go look for a job. And somebody got work for you. But remember what I said again, respect will go a long ways for you. The same thing what make you
laugh, gonna make you cry. - [Mark] What do you think
the biggest problem is in the poor communities, the inner city? - Well, in the poor
community today, like I said, then child abuse, it's child abuse, and no respect in the home. That's why the young peoples are doing what they're doing today, 'cause the mothers and fathers
ain't got time to train 'em. The mother and fathers,
majority of 'em in jail, but grandmama can only
do what she have to do. She can only do so much.
These kids so bad now, man. They taking pills. The ADI homes is fuller
than the penitentiaries now. The ADI homes. It's kids killing their
mothers and fathers. They're killing their grandmamas. There's one kid from the
West side where I come from, the mama told him, if something
was to ever happen to me, I got a half a million
dollar policy for you. What does she tell that kid for that? He set his mom off and got her
killed and collect the money. Now he in jail. So stop telling your children so much. Right now, put the prayer
back in your house. Put the Bible back on your table. Sit down and talk to your kids. Whooping 'em ain't gonna help. Mothers and fathers gotta spend more time with their children. Now, when you don't wanna spend time, do not bring different
men around your children. I don't care what you do. Don't bring 'em in your house. Do not bring different
spirits in your house. And I learned that, man. I thank God for changing my life. If God can save me, He can save you. If you can walk into church and
say, I wanna change my life, God will change your life. It's what you wanna do with yourself. You ain't got to be out
here selling your body, laying down with this man,
laying down with this woman, laying down with this woman today, laying down with that man,
you ain't got to do that. That's no good. That was a poor thing that
happened to me when I was a kid, where the babysitter used
to take me and my brothers and take us in the room. When you grow older, you think
of it, you think about it, you think about it, you think about it. It do something to the children. So pay attention to your children. If you ain't got a lot
of money, keep 'em clean. Keep 'em clean, comb their hair out. Go to thrift store and
find 'em some shoes. They got some cheap shoes in there. But wash 'em and keep your
kids clean, comb their hair, keep 'em in clean clothes,
and you will feel good inside. And someone would see you doing right and someone give that person a chance. But you out there acting
a fool, it's no good. Say no to drugs, them pills. Don't let no man give you no pills. Don't let nobody give you no alcohol. Don't let nobody give you nothing. If you're doing wrong, stop! Taught yourself and say, I'm not going back out there no more. I'm not gonna do it. I don't care if I don't have a meal today. If you go over some of your friends that you say don't like you,
and knock on their door, and say, listen, I've changed my life. Whatever leftovers y'all have
at home for me and the kids, please call us, I'll come and get 'em. We're looking for help right now. If you ask, but you're proud, you got too much pride,
you don't want the help. You don't even wanna ask
somebody for to help you. That's what we need today. You gotta open up and ask for help today. If you ask for help, you're
gonna see what you gonna get, 'cause somebody's gonna help you. If you said, man, please, I'm hungry. Man, my babies, we ain't ate today. When you cook, would you put
up something to the side? I bet you they put something
to the side for you. 'Cause the first thing they gonna say, that girl came my house and she said the kids and
they was, us was hungry, and I put them something to the side, and I feel good, and I'm
gonna help 'em tomorrow. Respect. But you gotta get yourself
together, starting today. Not tomorrow, right now. But you got to look up towards
heaven and call on the Lord. Almighty Jesus Christ, He will help you. And learn to be quiet, talking so much with that pink tornado will get you in a world of trouble. Learn to be quiet. If you got a mother, father,
sisters, and brother, call 'em and tell 'em you love 'em. They don't know about love 'cause you ain't never
told 'em you love them. So now you tell them now, 'cause
they ain't never told you. So you pick up that phone and call seven peoples in your family, and say, look, I just
wanna say I love you. Do that every day, it's
gonna come natural. Your children gonna hear you say that. They don't know what love is. They don't know 'cause you don't know. - [Mark] What if squares not understand? 'Cause what you're talking about, you're talking about a lot of religion, you're talking about believing
in the Lord and all this, but then you're also doing
things that a lot of people, a lot of squares would say,
well, how could you do that? - Well, I'm gonna tell you something. I was on the site
working with Nick Cannon, and I got to talking about the
Lord, they told me to leave. I was shooting the video. Some of his peoples told
me it wasn't time for that. So I'm talking to the square peoples too. Don't you know the girls in
the church, the square girls, don't you know when they
at home sometime at night, they put on their daughter's
skirts and look in the mirror. They wanna look like that too. So you gotta watch the square girls too. They got it in 'em too now. And then, what makes it so bad? You girls don't even have time
to entertain your husbands. So that's why the men run away from home, 'cause you can't satisfy your husband. Study how to satisfy your husband. But what you do, you get into bed with them old holes in your draws, when you're supposed to have
kinky panties or something on. No panties for your man? You women don't know how
to entertain your man. So that's why they run in
the street all the time. But what I was trying to tell him, I'm talking to the squares
and the street people. Respect go a long ways. So if you respect yourself first, you ain't got to stoop down level. But call on the man upstairs,
that's what saved me. I'm in church. I'm gonna stay on my bending knees. I don't care what you
got to say bad about me. Everybody done done some wrong in life and got a dead skeleton
still in their closet. Me, I'm not 100%, but I'm
65% of trying to do right. May God bless you and may God keep you, but don't forget to pray. Get on your knees and pray. God bless you. - [Mark] All right, Minister
Seamore, thank you so much. - Okay. May God bless you, do the right thing, and God will cover you.
