0:00 [Music] Do you have a favorite like who's your favorite um least favorite artist? Yeah. Yeah. Least favorite artist like that growing up? Uh like Bob Ross. Anybody? Anybody? Bob Ross. Bob Ross. Wendy Houston. Bob Ross. You said artist. Not painter. Or how about this? If you could be like could be this person and make that music, who would it be, bro? Uh, honestly, probably like James Brown, or you know, or like uh which song? Curtis Mayfield, you know, the most soulful, you know, like Yeah, those are my two favorites of all time. But James Brown,
0:50 he kind of invented funk. Yeah, he did. He did. Yeah. Period. people get down with my girlfriend. That ain't right. That's so hard. It's so tight. Do you like Do you like what um like uh what Bruno Mars did with like bringing back the Morris Day like type of I love it. Yeah. I love I love what he does. I love what uh Anderson does. Yeah. I think it's what I really like about it is it's not easy to take something like sort of these older styles and make them current and catchy. Modernize it. And then be a number one hit single. That's crazy. Yeah. In in in a way that you're not like this just sounds like some retro ████ You know what I mean? Right. I mean, I think
1:44 he probably does it the best. Yeah, I think so. That that situation that I just described, I mean, he probably does it the best. So, Oh, yeah. So, um Yeah. So, we're here with Lyrics Born uh talking music stuff. We wanted to get your uh perspective because back in like the '9s, early 2000s, um you know, we used to listen to underground uh rap, underground hip-hop, and we always imagined that it was a big like them versus them, like underground versus pop, mainstream. What was it actually like like being a part of that scene from the inside? Um you did have that, you know, you did have those feeling like a lot of people did feel that way. A lot of it though, I got to be honest, came from the fans. Like the fans wanted something to keep for themselves that
2:37 was sort of untouched and and just noture pure and not corrupted, you know. So the fans actually put a lot of pressure on the groups in that way. That's interesting. I think about that. But the groups were like, "You have no idea how hard life is. I'm trying to pay my mortgage. Yeah. So, they're trying to keep you guys unsuccessful and broke because they they're there they're they're that's like their cool like I know something you don't know. This is our music. It was a point of pride. this is mine, you know, and there's a certain part of that that I do understand, you know, that cuz we all want the best, you know, we want what we want, you know, but it's not realistic, I don't think, or sustainable for
3:28 artists over time, I think, to feel that way, you know, in my opinion. During that time though, I remember there was such a big thing about like selling out, right? Now you want your artist to ball out cuz it feels like you won through them. I don't really if you grew with them. Yeah. But but back then though, like every scene was like that. It's like once you're um a part of the system, you're you're with the man. You're not real anymore. You're not of the people. And then people hated you after that. We we even went through that as YouTubers. Yeah. Cuz they they thought we were sellouts if we had advertisements. Yeah. We do brand deals. Like no brand deal. But then now they'll be like, "Oh, go get that bag." You know, they'll put like the ████ bag emoji, whatever. But that was 2000 that was 2008 YouTube though, they still had
4:18 those vibes. And I think it wasn't until after where it's like different. Do you think there's a there's a way to make the transition? Because like I'm surprised that even to this day, you go to like a Black Eyed Peas uh video that's like new or they have a new upload, you still see a dude from the '9s going like, "Ah, this s███'s whack." their old joints and jams is better to this day. Like that's the joint. That's the jam. What's different about how what happened with them that like alienated their original fan base? What's different? Okay, repeat that question. What's different with what happened with them? Yeah. Like like uh versus versus like artists that gracefully go to the mainstream and take takes their fan base with them. Yeah. Um I I think values just changed, you know. I think the the as the audience got
5:08 younger, it's like you said, I mean, you know, the whole get the bag mentality is just pervasive, you know, and I'm not saying that that's good or bad. I'm just saying that's a fact, you know. And I think also with the decline of the music industry in terms of like the power that the labels once had, yeah, you know, I have no choice. I gotta go out and get the bag. Nobody's gonna pay me, you know. So, suddenly everybody's independent, you know, 90% of the industry or whatever it is. That's a good point. So, you're like, listen, man, if I don't go out and get the bag, I can't continue to make music for you tomorrow. You know what I mean? So, we got to figure it out. You know, same thing. I mean that as as podcasters, YouTubers, I mean, how how are you gonna
5:59 make all this happen without getting funded and people can watch for free, you know, you got to make that that doesn't add up really, you know? So, you got to make that work somehow. And I and and frankly, you know, I celebrate and embrace anybody who can creatively find ways to finance their projects and their endeavors and not have to be rellyant upon some larger machine, you know, but you know, it's it it's like with anything, it's nuanced, you know what I mean? There's there's third rails and there's fine lines here and there, you know what I mean? But you you know I I personally love this era that we're in. I I really do. And I think be I I don't feel like there's ever been a point in history where the and I've been through
6:49 obviously several different areas. I can't think of a time in history where artists or creators or creatives have had this kind of power. You know, it's not easy still. It's still really hard, but it's right there. You know, it's upload upload up. You know, it's it's cool. I like it. You know, a lot of people that aren't on board with it, they're kind of used to maybe previous and older models and methods, you know, and that I can't do anything about that. If that's where you want to stay, that's on you, you know. I don't have control over that. I just know that if I want to continue to do this and do it at a high level and continue to live in my purpose, I have to accept the fact
7:40 platforms change, methods change, you know, culture changes, values change, the world changes. And I accept that, you know, I accept that. And so you I think Jay-Z had the best line. He said, "People want my old ████ Buy my old albums." That's the simplest, most poignant way to put it. If you like the old ████ listen to the old ████ You know, I ████ I listen to Kday. I love it, you know, but I don't expect those artists to come out ex I if I if I'm those guys, I am one of those guys actually, you know, I am from that era, but and I can't expect for those old platforms and those old methods to continue to work for me. That's just not how the world is, you know. So, do you like uh Kanye's new
8:31 ████ His new, you know, I got to be honest, his new evolution, the newest song, I got to be honest. I haven't heard a Kanye album in Oh, you got to hear this new d new. Yeah. I don't even remember the last time I listened to a Kanye album. You know, it's been a while. Maybe. I don't I don't know. The newest song is wild, dude. I haven't heard it. You shouldn't listen to it here. Okay. To be honest with you, I'm not knowing, you know? I I just Maybe that's a good good stance. It is good. Stay underground. Yeah. Yeah. For that one. You don't need to be mainstream on that one. Yeah. How do you how do you feel about the like the music culture in general in terms of like what is successful? What like people or artists or groups that are like you know top charting radio hits touring bigname celebrities like how how do you feel like that m music culture is?
9:22 I don't pay attention to it man to be completely honest. I don't pay attention to it. I mean what I realize now in this era there was always a way and there was always a solution. You just have to find the right one for you that aligns with what you do your vision and your values and I don't care. It doesn't matter what somebody else is doing. It doesn't matter what somebody else's opinion is. I see now that, you know, it it's getting harder and harder every year to get cancelled. You know what I mean? No matter who you are as an artist that what you say, you know, it's getting harder and harder every year. Why? Because for every one person that dis
10:12 I'm not saying it's good or bad. I'm just saying I'm just looking at the state of things. For every one person that says something is bad, there's another person that says it's good for, you know, and and the internet is full of opportunity and also opinions. You know what I mean? So, it doesn't really matter, you know? I don't know. I mean, I have my opinions on these things here and there, but I understand that I'm just one person at the end of the day. You know, it's not like, you know, back in the day, back in like the the the 2000s, like if Eminem dissed you, that was the end of your career. You know what I'm saying? Now, it doesn't matter who disses you, there is no end because you have access to your people and your fans. That's true. You know what I'm saying? Back then, there were gatekeepers. Like, if
11:02 if you're if you black balled or whatever, you can't access an audience anymore. Yeah, that's in fact it might even help you now if so and so dissed you. Well, Machine Gut and Kelly did change genres. That was That guy disses himself. He got dissed out of his own MGK. Ah, okay. Have you seen his most recent music video? No. He disses himself. Yeah, he disrespect disses himself. I feel like now there's no such thing as underground anymore. Like I think so. You know what? For bands there might be. Uh maybe. But well, the way I I think about underground is like well for one everything used to be very culturally like uh regional. So if you think about even music, right? Like there were distinct sounds, distinct things all over the world, but now we're
11:52 so connected. We just borrow from each other. So like if you remember back, I mean even 10 years ago, right? Like styles in Asia was so behind. So like their fashion and everything, they're like they're like 20 years behind copying the West and then like maybe they'll do something cool, but then now everyone's up up to speed with talent and style and everything. And then not only are they not cop, they're not copying, they're innovating now. Whereas like I remember growing up watching content in Japan and I'm like, dude, the pop artists here are just copying Western musicians. But they're not innovating anything. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I feel like underground style is always like a bunch of people that were broke. They they didn't know
12:42 what to, you know, they just mis mix mismatch a bunch of clothes together. That's their fashion. And then like it grows from there. Whereas like now it's like it doesn't seem like it's it's is a coincidence. No. Now it seems like everything's like commercial. As soon as it is something gets popular, there's a big business that'll like swallow it up. as soon as something's popular. Exactly. But back then it had time to marinate as a culture because like these group of kids over here didn't have anything to do. They're bored, you know. It got further along before it got overexposed. Exactly. So maybe that's that's what I'm trying to say is that it's everything gets picked up hella quick. So there's no time to marinate as its own little culture. Everything that we're seeing right now is things like millennials and before created. That's just on steroids. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Did you uh do you have like since since you just like kind of hit this like crazy explosion in
13:33 popularity, do you have like some homies that you came up with that are like, "Hey, what's the secret?" Yeah. Yeah. All the time, man. Are you able to like help them find their own like version of how you did it? I hope so. You know, just tag Snoop. Just keep tagging. I'm Snoop. Just tag him 20 times. the doggy dog cuz I'm sure you got like that many people in your life for that long. They've all got to be asking you. So So um before I came here I had lunch with Dom and Rick. Oh nice. And Dom was like bro are these videos helping you, you know, like just the ████ because he's like I'm seeing it's exploding. I'm like yeah that's exactly what's happening. you know, and I think I've had that conversation
14:24 privately with probably 10 veteran artists. Oh, wow. you know, and I think for me, one of the things that's been so fulfilling and inspiring about this particular moment in my career is that I'm able to show people hopefully that, you know, being 40 plus in this business is not a death sentence, bro. You know what I mean? like we can go as long and as far as we want as long as we are committed to new methods, you know, and open to new methods, you know, and I I'm going to date myself here, man, but I don't know why when I was a kid, I was a boxing fan, you know, when I was young, I was a boxing fan. I don't know why this stuck with me, but I remember watching, a lot of people may not
15:16 realize this, but when I was probably a teenager or so forth, George Foreman, y'all remember George Foreman? Yeah. He had this big career resurgence, you know, and he wouldn't sit down in between rounds, you know, he wouldn't sit on the bench. He just lean on the ropes standing up like this, right? And he was winning every single ████ fight as a 45 year old he I don't know what it was. He was older heavyweight. He was old, bro. You know, and this is after Rumble in the Jungle, which would have been a career killer. He lost to Muhammad Ali. Probably one of the biggest fights of the century. You know what I mean? But here he is 20 years later, 15 years later at the height of his career when probably most of his peers had quit long ago, you know, for
16:10 better or for worse. Here he was, he was winning every single ████ fight. And he said, I remember him saying, you know, they they when they talked to him after one of his many, you know, sort of late career victories, he was like, I just want to let everybody know that being 40 in this business is not a death sentence. You know, that's exactly what we said and that's exactly how I feel now. You know what I mean? There's still hope for us, guys. We're over 40 and we're ready to go. You know what I'm saying? Second win. Second win. We got to sell some grills. And then he went on to do the grills. Yeah, dude. Right. killed it. Killed it. Named all his kids George Foreman. I I had one. He's How can I lose? Loved it. Oh yeah, the former bill was dope. I guess like your trajectory has it brought any of your old homies out of retirement. Um
17:00 I don't I don't know if it's I I don't know if you ever really retire from this ████ man. Uh in the sense that um you know, if this is what you do, it's what you do. you know, you may not put out as frequently as you once did. you know, maybe who knows, life takes over, you know, and you figure other things out or, you know, you have other opportunities or or but one one thing that um has been inspiring is a lot of veteran artists have have, like I said, I've been having these private conversations like via text or on the phone or whatever and people are like, "Wow, how how are you pulling this off?" And I'm like, "You see it? you see what I'm doing. You know, it's not a secret, right? You know, you got to be down to do the work and you got to be
17:51 and you got to be open to again new methods. And I, you know, it's not just music. That's anything if you want to keep going, you know. All right, guys. We're shut down YouTube and we're going to go get on Tik Tok. That's your new method on Tik Tok. Do you do you do you know or talk to Booya Tribe? No. Damn, they're one of my favorite too. They were hard. Booyah Tribe was hard. One of the first concerts I ever saw was Boogie Down Productions. So, okay. I was in high school. I was in high school at the time. I saw Boogie Down Productions at the Berkeley Community Theater and Booya Tribe open. Damn. Were they Booya Tribe at the time or were they doing the dancing? All that. Oh, wow. All that. It was what? Gangster Rid and um I forget.
18:43 I don't know all the guys names, man. But I've never been so scared but so entertained and had so much fun at the same time. So scary cuz you're like, "Dude, are they going to kill me?" First of all, it was like it was like 20 guys on swole. Giant dudes. Yeah. I never seen such big guys move so smoothly playing instruments. A lot of people don't give them credit. They were probably the first hip-hop band I ever saw playing instruments and I think they were at that time they were just getting started. They might have had Raid, you know, which was the Lakeside, you know, cover. And I'll never forget it. They they went on kind of early cuz Caris one was the headliner. And so like not everybody was in the theater at the time yet. And they were playing Raid. And I was like, "These are guys playing real ████ I was blown
19:34 away. I was like, "These are guys playing real ████ instruments." And there was one dude in second or third row, you know, Pacific Islander dude stood up and was like this the whole time. Stood up. Only dude in the whole crowd was like, and I was like, "See, man, that's the kind of fans I want, bro." You know what I mean? Like those those guys that just ████ ride for you, you know, and feel like just this kind of sense of pride, you know? It's like I don't give a ████ what everybody else thinks, you know? Those are my guys, you know. And yeah, I'm glad you brought that up, man. That's Yeah, that really that was that's like a core memory for me, man. Is seeing Booya Try, man. Is Booya Drive, you know their Eminem security? Really? For real? Yeah. What the ████
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