The Unfiltered Truth: Wallo267 on Success Against All Odds

[00:00:00] Welcome to the MahoganyBooks Podcast Network, your gateway to the world of African American literature. We're proud to present a collection of podcasts dedicated to exploring the depth and richness of African American literature. Immerse yourself in podcasts like Black Books Matter, the podcast where we learn about the books and major life moments that influence today's top writers. Or tune in to Real Ballers Read, where brothers Jan and Miles invite amazing people to talk about the meaningful books in their lives.

[00:00:29] So, whether you're a literature enthusiast, an advocate for social justice, or simply curious about the untold stories that shape our world, subscribe to the MahoganyBooks Podcast Network on your favorite platform and let African American literature ignite your passion.

[00:00:45] How y'all feeling? Uh-uh. How y'all feeling? Good! Okay, I just want to make sure I'm in the right place. My name is Ramonda Young and I am proud to be here today and partner of MahoganyBooks with this amazing man, Derek Young.

[00:01:00] Both of us are the owners and co-founders. Been married 22 years. Clap it up, yup. 22 years married and 17 years in business. So, the creation of MahoganyBooks has been something very dear to us. We started this business 17 years ago in our one bedroom apartment in Alexandria, Virginia at that time.

[00:01:19] And the whole goal was how do we make black books accessible? As many of you know, people are trying to take our books out of our schools, out of our libraries.

[00:01:27] So, this has been something that's been important to us for many, many years. And so, when we come into spaces like this, it means something very deep to us because you took your time, you took your energy, and you took your resources to be here.

[00:01:40] So, I want you to give it up for yourselves for being here today. Yes. Yes, yes. And I'm going to turn over to Mr. Young. Did you want to say anything?

[00:01:48] Man, a few words, but a minute, much power. Come on. What you got? No worries. Thank you guys for coming out. We appreciate it.

[00:01:55] Any time that we do events like this that is for us, for our community that is speaking to us, it's very, very meaningful to me. I am from Southeast.

[00:02:06] Grew up here in D.C., grew up in PG County. So, to be able to be here to serve my community is just, it means the world to me. And I appreciate all you guys for coming out to support.

[00:02:16] Yes. Give it up. Give it up. Okay, Mr. Young from South Southeast. So, I would love to turn it back over to Bird. Bird, thank you for having us today.

[00:02:23] Sycamore and Oak. Let me see. Give it up for Sycamore and Oak, please. What? What? Just this space here for black people, black businesses, black creatives is something important to us.

[00:02:34] So, I'm going to turn it over to Bird so we can get this party started. I know we're here, but y'all came here to see Walo and Tuma. So, Bird, I'm going to give it to you. Let's give it up for Bird, please.

[00:02:43] Thank you.

[00:02:44] All right, all right, all right. The next person I want to introduce is very, very special to me. I got a bio, but I'm going to say it shortly. His name is Tuma Basa.

[00:02:54] Tuma Basa is officially the director of black music and culture at YouTube, but he's also a very good friend of mine. Tuma has had my back since 10 years ago. We have grown together.

[00:03:06] I've always spoke to him about my passion for my community, Southeast, Ward 7, Ward 8. So far, we have done free panels, educating people on how to monetize on YouTube, and amongst many of the things in Ward 7 and Ward 8, thanks to the day, in Southeast.

[00:03:22] And they both have a heart. Tuma isn't a gatekeeper. So, if you see him today and you meet him, he's a good guy.

[00:03:29] And without further ado, I would like to introduce to you, Tuma Basa. Tuma!

[00:03:36] Hello, Justin.

[00:03:39] Tuma, Tuma, Tuma, Tuma. All right!

[00:03:41] This is my workout. Thank you, Bird, for the warm words and the beautiful introduction.

[00:03:50] And I want to introduce to you who you came here to see, who you've probably read.

[00:03:55] And if you haven't, make sure you walk out of here with the book and read it, because we're witnessing history.

[00:04:03] Wallow's making history.

[00:04:05] He asked me to send him a quote for his book, right?

[00:04:10] And first thing I thought of, first I was honored.

[00:04:13] First thing I thought of was that Wallow's a generational talent.

[00:04:17] And what I mean by that is, every generation you get that one person who basically creates a spark.

[00:04:25] And we don't see the results until the next generation.

[00:04:28] Let's say Michael Jordan.

[00:04:30] Those of us who are old enough to remember Michael Jordan.

[00:04:32] He created a whole new generation, a whole new style.

[00:04:36] And it took a while before we saw the byproduct of his influence or his work or his impact.

[00:04:41] So that's why I say to you guys here today that Wallow's out here making history, we're witnessing history, we're supporting.

[00:04:48] Because we're going to see the results of the next generation.

[00:04:52] The people who live by his message, copy his blueprint, his generosity, his prolificity, his honesty, his work ethic.

[00:05:03] So I just want you guys to be present in the moment and soak up all this game.

[00:05:07] I want to introduce you to my brother, Wallace Wallow 267 Peoples.

[00:05:19] Wallow.

[00:05:19] You.

[00:05:21] Wallow.

[00:05:21] DC, what's up, y'all?

[00:05:25] My brother.

[00:05:27] What's up?

[00:05:27] You want to say anything?

[00:05:28] Where are you comfortable?

[00:05:29] No, whatever you want.

[00:05:30] No, no, I'm good.

[00:05:31] Where are you?

[00:05:31] Do you.

[00:05:31] Okay.

[00:05:33] All right.

[00:05:33] First of all, I want to thank Mahogity Books for having me, Sycamore and Oak.

[00:05:36] And I got to thank my sister, Burr, made it DC for always putting it down for me and always believing.

[00:05:42] Um, you know, uh, this right here was about us and I'm gonna get more into it, but I'm gonna let you start.

[00:05:48] No, well, actually, I have a bunch of questions for you, but I want to skip to the one question that's like, nah, I gotta ask this first.

[00:05:56] How does it feel to be an instant New York Times bestseller?

[00:05:59] Instant New York Times bestseller.

[00:06:01] You know, um, it's, it's, uh, it's, you know, it's major for us.

[00:06:10] Yeah.

[00:06:10] The black community because it, it let, it let us know how, how important our stories are.

[00:06:15] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:16] Because a lot of times we left out of, you know, we left out of, especially in the book game sometime and, um, and, and it was hard.

[00:06:22] I, well, I didn't even pay attention to how hard it was that I got on the list because, you know, it came out on the 10th and made the list on the 17th.

[00:06:28] And, um, I was going up against all these political books.

[00:06:31] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:32] Like, um, the only other people on the list is politicians.

[00:06:35] Uh, Hillary Clinton, uh, Supreme Court Justice.

[00:06:37] So for me to crack there and show you how important our stories are.

[00:06:41] And, you know, um, it's not just about how important our stories is, it's about also marketing it and working, uh, the book.

[00:06:47] But I was also thankful to have a great team.

[00:06:50] Mm-hmm.

[00:06:50] Uh, Desiree, my manager, Anne Marie, doing the PR, Maya, doing the logistics.

[00:06:54] Um, and, uh, and shout out to all the black bookstores around the country.

[00:06:59] Um, Malik Books, uh, Baldwin & Co., Uncle Bobby's, The Lip Bar, um, all the semi-coast.

[00:07:04] Mahogany.

[00:07:05] Mahogany.

[00:07:06] All the black bookstores, they supported me.

[00:07:08] Yeah.

[00:07:08] And the people came out and supported me.

[00:07:10] Our people came out and supported me.

[00:07:11] Like, you know, the numbers was crazy.

[00:07:13] So I'm just thankful for all that.

[00:07:16] Well, now let me get to the juicy part.

[00:07:19] Uh, what's the main ingredient of, uh, how you turn your life around?

[00:07:24] Uh, the, the, what's in the book?

[00:07:26] What, what's the ingredients that led to all of the stories and all the actions in the book?

[00:07:31] Well, ingredients, give us more than one.

[00:07:33] Uh, well, the main ingredients is letting go.

[00:07:35] Mm.

[00:07:36] Like, you gotta let go of yesterday.

[00:07:37] You gotta let go of friends, family.

[00:07:45] That's what I can't do.

[00:07:45] That's why a lot of people can't get ahead.

[00:07:47] And it's just like, and one of the main things is holding on to yesterday.

[00:07:51] Um, I knew that, uh, what I've been through is wasn't who I was becoming.

[00:07:56] Mm.

[00:07:57] It was just a, you know, um, warming me up to go to the next level.

[00:08:00] But I understand like me coming from the streets, it was like, yeah, I came from that.

[00:08:04] I've done that.

[00:08:04] That's over next.

[00:08:06] But it doesn't define you.

[00:08:07] Yeah.

[00:08:07] I didn't hold on to, I didn't hold on being an inmate.

[00:08:09] I didn't hold on to certain things when I was down.

[00:08:12] And I think a lot of people can't do that just to let go.

[00:08:15] It's like the hardest thing.

[00:08:16] Let go of the friendship.

[00:08:17] Let go of the relationship.

[00:08:18] Let go of the environment that's not doing you no value or adding value to your life.

[00:08:22] And once I did that, that's the main ingredients for me.

[00:08:26] Mm.

[00:08:26] Well, some different ingredients.

[00:08:29] You got a million dollars worth of game.

[00:08:31] Mm-hmm.

[00:08:32] That was Gilly.

[00:08:33] You got pure fuel energy hydration drink.

[00:08:36] Right.

[00:08:36] You got airplanes and hotel.

[00:08:39] Mm-hmm.

[00:08:39] You're the culture advisor at YouTube.

[00:08:42] You got reform.

[00:08:44] Mm-hmm.

[00:08:44] You got your, every morning I wake up, I look at Instagram and I see a post from him.

[00:08:51] I'm like, oh, Waldo's already up.

[00:08:52] He's already, you know what I mean?

[00:08:53] Going.

[00:08:54] How do you do it all?

[00:08:56] How does that, how, share with the, share with me.

[00:09:00] Like, I wanna do like.

[00:09:02] Cuz I believe, I believe tomorrow's gonna be better than yesterday.

[00:09:06] And I'm just trying to lead by example.

[00:09:08] Like, I'm trying to kill the excuses in our community.

[00:09:10] I think we got a lot of excuses.

[00:09:12] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:12] And it be like, come on man, get up.

[00:09:14] What you wanna do?

[00:09:14] You got time to go to the hookah lounge.

[00:09:16] You ain't got time to go at your dreams.

[00:09:17] You dedicate your time, your money, your energy to the hookah lounge.

[00:09:21] Why you ain't dedicate that to your dreams?

[00:09:22] Why you ain't dedicate that to what's important?

[00:09:25] I think a lot of people, they don't wanna be bored.

[00:09:27] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:28] One time somebody said, damn, Waldo, what do you do for fun?

[00:09:30] I said, win.

[00:09:30] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:31] And they was like, what you mean?

[00:09:32] I said, listen bro, I'm on what I'm on.

[00:09:35] I'm not trying to be like, oh, what's your hobby?

[00:09:38] Winning.

[00:09:38] Mm-hmm.

[00:09:39] So I go at it, I go at what I believe that, you know, and the things I want,

[00:09:43] cuz I got people to take care of.

[00:09:44] And I got people watching me that probably counted themselves out already

[00:09:48] when they never been in worse situations than me.

[00:09:51] So I gotta, you know, I gotta show them by example that winning is possible

[00:09:56] when you come from the hood.

[00:09:58] You can do anything, you can turn your life around,

[00:09:59] and you can win on the next level.

[00:10:01] You just gotta be willing to be bored sometime and put the work in

[00:10:04] and let the fun, the quote unquote, fun that's really not fun is really devalue.

[00:10:08] You gotta remove yourself away from that, you know?

[00:10:11] Mm.

[00:10:12] Wow, no, that's powerful.

[00:10:14] No, it also makes me wanna go to the gym.

[00:10:17] That's all right.

[00:10:18] Yeah, that's for a tip.

[00:10:20] Oh, they cut them up.

[00:10:23] DC.

[00:10:25] So DC's always been a great place for you.

[00:10:28] You interviewed Nipsey Hussle here.

[00:10:30] Yeah.

[00:10:32] You brought YouTube Avenues here.

[00:10:35] You spoke at Made in DMV here.

[00:10:37] I was there.

[00:10:39] Twice.

[00:10:39] Twice, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:10:40] The Bird, shout out to Bird.

[00:10:43] You collabed with Broccoli City here.

[00:10:46] Spoke at the Youth and Detention Center here.

[00:10:51] What's special about DC?

[00:10:52] How do you feel about DC?

[00:10:53] Why DC?

[00:10:55] You gotta understand this, man.

[00:10:56] Like we all the same, DC, Philly, Baltimore.

[00:10:58] It's like the East Coast.

[00:10:59] It's like, it's just all family.

[00:11:01] You know what I'm saying?

[00:11:01] Yeah.

[00:11:01] But it's the energy here that I like.

[00:11:03] It's a different energy.

[00:11:05] And it's just a lot of love I get from down here.

[00:11:07] People show me love.

[00:11:09] I go wherever the love is at.

[00:11:10] And you ain't gotta force it.

[00:11:11] Yeah.

[00:11:12] You know what I mean?

[00:11:12] It's just organic.

[00:11:13] It's a feeling you get just when I, you know, get off the train or if I'm driving.

[00:11:17] It's just like, yo, it's my other home.

[00:11:19] You know what I mean?

[00:11:19] So it's like, I just love it here.

[00:11:21] You know?

[00:11:22] And like you say, this Nipsey thing.

[00:11:25] That was a real good interview.

[00:11:28] And that was early in the game.

[00:11:30] Nipsey, me, him, I had Tony Lewis with me.

[00:11:33] We was, you know, vibing that day.

[00:11:34] It was a great day.

[00:11:35] I just saw him walk in.

[00:11:37] There he is.

[00:11:38] Yeah, yeah, there he is.

[00:11:39] You know what I mean?

[00:11:39] My brother right there.

[00:11:41] Yeah.

[00:11:41] You know, there's so many stories in DC.

[00:11:44] And I hope that my story will encourage people to put their story out.

[00:11:47] But when we put our stories out, we gotta put our stories out and be business about putting our stories out.

[00:11:53] Mm.

[00:11:54] We can't put our stories out and just say, oh, I made a book here.

[00:11:57] Come on, just, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[00:12:00] You gotta do the business around it.

[00:12:01] Mm.

[00:12:01] Do the research.

[00:12:02] Find out the bookstores.

[00:12:03] Find out the marketing.

[00:12:04] Find out the platform.

[00:12:05] Find out, make sure your book is in these certain bookstores that's reporting to the New York Times.

[00:12:09] It's getting scanned on book scan and all that.

[00:12:12] So do the business first and just going to get a book printed at Staples or somewhere with no barcode saying, I got a book.

[00:12:18] Mm.

[00:12:18] And you even got different versions of the book.

[00:12:20] There's audio book.

[00:12:21] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:12:22] There's a book.

[00:12:23] Yeah, I went in the studio three days, banged that out.

[00:12:25] Wow.

[00:12:26] But it's like, do the business of it and let's stop trying to be right now.

[00:12:33] Mm.

[00:12:33] We just want to put something out.

[00:12:34] No, put it out so you get your proper credit for it.

[00:12:37] Mm.

[00:12:37] You know what I mean?

[00:12:38] So, you know, I just think, I hope this encourages people to really put their story out in a professional manner.

[00:12:43] No, that's living.

[00:12:44] That's living.

[00:12:46] But wait, what's your idea of living?

[00:12:49] Not giving a fuck.

[00:12:52] Expand.

[00:12:53] In the black community, you got this list of all this shit you got to do to be black.

[00:13:02] Mm.

[00:13:02] You got to be with these people.

[00:13:03] You got to do this.

[00:13:05] It's a bunch of dumb shit.

[00:13:06] Yeah.

[00:13:06] You know, and once I overcame that, sitting in that cell, I said, oh, that shit all dumb.

[00:13:12] It don't even mean nothing, right?

[00:13:14] Mm.

[00:13:14] Once I overcame that, I said, I could go out here and destroy this shit.

[00:13:18] Because I understood that once I became free, and I'm not talking about physically, I'm talking

[00:13:23] about mentally free.

[00:13:24] Mm.

[00:13:24] I walked out of prison, I was physically free.

[00:13:27] And I also was mentally free, because I didn't give a fuck about all these boxes that you

[00:13:33] get put into in the hood.

[00:13:34] Mm.

[00:13:35] So I'm coming out and I'm like, damn.

[00:13:37] I came out of jail and I seen more people in jail in the free world than they was in jail

[00:13:41] because they was enslaved and they was prisoners of their mindset, they was prisoners of their

[00:13:44] fears, and they was prisoners of the black boxes in the ghetto.

[00:13:48] Mm.

[00:13:48] What's going on, family?

[00:13:49] This is Derek Young.

[00:13:50] And Ramonda Young.

[00:13:51] Owners of both Mahogany Books and the Mahogany Books Podcast Network.

[00:13:55] We really want to thank each and every one of you for listening to this episode.

[00:13:59] And if you enjoyed what you just heard, drop us a review and rate us on whatever platform

[00:14:04] you download podcasts on.

[00:14:06] We truly appreciate each and every one of you for supporting us and making us your go-to for

[00:14:10] black books.

[00:14:11] And we look forward to connecting with you all sometime in the future.

[00:14:13] Thank you again, fam.

[00:14:14] And always remember, black books matter.

[00:14:20] I said, fuck all that.

[00:14:21] I got them.

[00:14:22] And I said, I'm going to smoke this shit because ain't nobody going to get in my way because

[00:14:25] I don't care if you laughing, if you clapping, if you booing, whatever you're doing, it ain't

[00:14:30] stopping me.

[00:14:30] I got, listen, I look at it like this.

[00:14:32] You take a city like DC.

[00:14:33] If I was from DC, if I was from North Phoenix, wherever I'm, I'm from DC.

[00:14:37] Maryland, whatever.

[00:14:38] I'm from, but just say I'm from DC.

[00:14:39] Yeah.

[00:14:39] I'm the type of dude that's like, damn, this my city.

[00:14:44] Damn, you know, there's a bunch of people here, but I don't need anybody to rock with

[00:14:48] me and DC to win.

[00:14:49] I'm going to keep going.

[00:14:50] I'm going to go up to, I'm going to jump on a train.

[00:14:51] I'm going to go to Baltimore.

[00:14:52] I'm going to go to, I'm going to go to Delaware.

[00:14:54] I'm going to go to Philly.

[00:14:55] I'm going to go to Jersey.

[00:14:56] I'm going to go to New York.

[00:14:57] I'm going to go to Boston.

[00:14:58] I think a lot of times we let our cities paralyze us.

[00:15:02] We let our neighborhoods paralyze us and we let them destroy our dreams.

[00:15:05] Cause when we'll say it, hold up.

[00:15:07] I started this clothing line.

[00:15:09] I did the grand opening at my boutique.

[00:15:11] I opened up my, my, my bakery at the beginning of grand opening.

[00:15:15] Everybody supported me.

[00:15:17] That's, that's like, that's like the initial love you're supposed to get.

[00:15:20] Yeah.

[00:15:20] That's not real customers from real service.

[00:15:23] Yeah.

[00:15:24] So you double back, you come back.

[00:15:25] Week or two go by.

[00:15:27] You ready to shut your business down because you said, damn, Keisha ain't come.

[00:15:31] Boo Boo ain't come.

[00:15:32] This, you live in fucking DC, all these white people, all these, what type of business you

[00:15:35] got?

[00:15:35] You got a business or you got a black business?

[00:15:37] You only want black people to come.

[00:15:39] Stop the dumb shit, man.

[00:15:40] I like we, we not like, like we always box ourself off based upon, and we get these

[00:15:46] attitudes cause we want Keisha to come cause Keisha shop there.

[00:15:49] Why she don't shop in here?

[00:15:49] Why, why he listening to, why he listening to a little Dirk and don't listen to my music?

[00:15:54] Fuck.

[00:15:54] Go find your fan base.

[00:15:56] Stop using everybody as a measure of stick about why you the fuck not winning and go,

[00:16:00] and go put your grind in.

[00:16:01] The world is bigger than the neighborhood in DC is bigger than neighborhoods in Philly.

[00:16:06] The world is bigger than DC.

[00:16:07] You got a satellite in your pocket, but you worried about somebody that you know that

[00:16:13] didn't support you, but you ain't, you ain't even marketing enough to attack the people

[00:16:17] around the world because you don't even believe in your product or your brand or your store

[00:16:21] or your clothing on your music enough because you only promoted it five times this year.

[00:16:26] I know what you meant, but what did you mean by satellite in your pocket?

[00:16:31] Oh, the phone.

[00:16:32] That's the satellite.

[00:16:33] Yeah, there you go.

[00:16:33] You can reach anywhere you want to reach.

[00:16:35] Okay.

[00:16:36] That's why you see me running up and down the timeline cause I don't care.

[00:16:39] Yeah.

[00:16:40] Unfollow me.

[00:16:40] Yeah.

[00:16:41] Somebody is, when you unfollow me, there's about 10,000 people that's going to follow

[00:16:45] me today cause they want this energy, but I'm not going to stop marketing me.

[00:16:49] I'm marketing me a day.

[00:16:50] I didn't wait for, Oh, boo boo to repost me or what's name.

[00:16:53] I said, I'm gonna go to all these bookstores.

[00:16:56] I'm a head dev shoot this content.

[00:16:58] I'm a post it.

[00:16:59] I'm a play my favorite song.

[00:17:00] Optimist optimistic.

[00:17:01] You're going to hear it.

[00:17:03] You're going to see it.

[00:17:03] And you're going to see me from, I went from the Bronx, lip bar, Uncle Bobby's in Philly,

[00:17:11] Baldwin and Co. New Orleans, books and books, Malik books, LA books and books.

[00:17:17] I just ran my, I ran my movie.

[00:17:18] I wasn't waiting for nobody.

[00:17:19] I wasn't waiting for nobody.

[00:17:20] I ain't telling nobody to repost, do this or post, hit somebody in the DM.

[00:17:24] No, I did my own movie.

[00:17:25] I'm a run it.

[00:17:25] You got to believe in your movie, you know?

[00:17:29] Well, Bert, we have a, Bert and Amber, we have a, do the Q and A?

[00:17:38] Anybody have a question that you want to ask?

[00:17:40] We have limited time cause we have, oh, stand right there.

[00:17:49] We want to hear your questions cause I think, I think your questions might be better than

[00:17:52] mine.

[00:17:59] Go ahead.

[00:18:02] Okay.

[00:18:02] Yeah.

[00:18:03] How you doing bro?

[00:18:05] I'm DJ cowboy, uh, slash, uh, owner of sweet sports, my own clothing line.

[00:18:10] So my question is a lot of times is where do you get the, uh, how do you find a manufacturers

[00:18:19] that people that can put the labels and the different qualities of the clothes and all

[00:18:25] that stuff?

[00:18:26] Uh, cause it's saying like when you ask around everybody keep it, you know, under the arms

[00:18:32] as far as where is the, where can you get the good merch, the good hoodies, the quality

[00:18:36] stuff that don't lend up, you know, and all that.

[00:18:39] So simple one app.

[00:18:40] All you need is one app.

[00:18:42] It's called Alibaba.

[00:18:43] That's it.

[00:18:44] Cut, cut the middle man out.

[00:18:45] And anytime download it and also download an app called chat.

[00:18:50] GBT is a white one.

[00:18:51] And anything you had to do, ask that, ask chat.

[00:18:54] GBT this question, where do I get what's the name of label?

[00:18:56] And they going to give me 10 companies.

[00:18:58] It's going to give me go right on Alibaba, cut the middle man out.

[00:19:02] Stop asking people for stuff.

[00:19:03] Yeah.

[00:19:04] We live in a time where you ain't got to ask nobody for shit.

[00:19:07] No, we don't.

[00:19:07] I don't ask.

[00:19:08] I never, when I came home from jail, I didn't ask nobody for that.

[00:19:10] I was on Google all day.

[00:19:11] Google, Google, Google, my nanny, many middle room.

[00:19:14] I'm in the crib.

[00:19:15] Google, write my stuff down.

[00:19:17] Cause you asking a bunch of people that really don't know.

[00:19:20] They dealing with a middle man.

[00:19:21] They don't even know sometimes.

[00:19:23] And as black people, we always want to compete with each other.

[00:19:26] We don't want to eat with each other.

[00:19:27] So stop asking them off.

[00:19:29] Just get them out the way and just go do your own research, OG.

[00:19:32] But appreciate it.

[00:19:33] Much love, brother.

[00:19:34] Yeah, that's good.

[00:19:39] Light Skin Lou on the live on Light Skin Lou show.

[00:19:42] Waller, I want to ask you, your book, Armed With Good Intentions.

[00:19:46] For everybody who purchased the book, what's the main message you want them to receive when they read your book?

[00:19:54] You know what's crazy?

[00:19:56] We live in a time where we be on Instagram so much that we look at everybody's glory, but we don't look at their story.

[00:20:01] I needed to put this story down so you could see the similarities and all them L's I've been taking my whole life.

[00:20:06] So you could match it like, damn, I've been taking L's like that too.

[00:20:09] He ain't stop?

[00:20:10] What you mean he ain't stop?

[00:20:12] I ain't gonna stop either.

[00:20:13] Cause this book is filled with L's.

[00:20:15] It only, you know, you only get the real moments at the end.

[00:20:17] But I'm just showing you all my L's in life, all them hard days that I said, no, I ain't gonna quit.

[00:20:22] I'm gonna keep going.

[00:20:23] I don't care.

[00:20:24] Oh man, man, you can't.

[00:20:25] And that's what we all go through.

[00:20:27] But we be so, we be so fascinated with worshiping celebrities life and cheering for them.

[00:20:32] We forget to cheer for ourself.

[00:20:34] We forget that they have a hardship.

[00:20:35] That's one of the reasons if you go to my page, you can stroll all the way down.

[00:20:39] I got pictures that I was posting when I was in the penitentiary with a hot phone.

[00:20:42] I never took no post down because I want you to see the story.

[00:20:45] Don't just worry about the glory.

[00:20:46] Look at me when I was in Nanny house in the middle room on that twin size bed.

[00:20:49] Look at me then.

[00:20:50] It's still there.

[00:20:52] You know what I mean?

[00:20:52] So I want you to see it, but in here I'm breaking it down more in detail so you can be like, damn.

[00:20:58] He ain't stopping.

[00:20:58] I ain't stopping.

[00:20:59] That's what I want you to take from this.

[00:21:01] Do not stop.

[00:21:02] Don't abandon your dreams and keep going.

[00:21:05] Hmm.

[00:21:06] Yes, sir.

[00:21:10] What's up champ?

[00:21:10] My name is Nadia.

[00:21:14] I'm like many of these people in the morning.

[00:21:16] I look for you on IG.

[00:21:19] The inspiration that you give.

[00:21:20] Talking to Mike OG.

[00:21:20] The information that you give out every day is beneficial.

[00:21:25] It's motivating.

[00:21:26] And for a person that spent a decade in prison like many of these dudes in the city for selling drugs.

[00:21:34] I just want to say, man, it's an amazing feat that you're accomplishing.

[00:21:37] Keep up the good work.

[00:21:39] I'll be hitting you up for real.

[00:21:40] You would comment from time to time, but man, listen.

[00:21:45] Appreciate you, brother.

[00:21:46] And from one man to another, keep doing it for real.

[00:21:49] Thank you, Slim.

[00:21:49] I ain't going to never stop.

[00:21:52] Can I add something?

[00:21:53] You said information.

[00:21:55] Something that Walo does and I've been blessed to witness is he shares information, but he also shares knowledge and wisdom.

[00:22:03] You know what I mean?

[00:22:03] Like he's very generous in going above and beyond.

[00:22:07] You know what I mean?

[00:22:08] Yeah.

[00:22:08] That it's more, that it's that far.

[00:22:10] Well, go ahead.

[00:22:11] I'm sorry.

[00:22:11] I may not.

[00:22:12] All right.

[00:22:14] I'm here to soak up the knowledge like everybody else.

[00:22:16] Hey, Walo.

[00:22:16] Much love.

[00:22:16] How you doing, sister?

[00:22:17] Jane Pompang, spiritual advisor, content creator.

[00:22:20] I just want to ask, how do you keep going when you don't feel like going?

[00:22:23] That's a good question.

[00:22:24] You know what's crazy?

[00:22:26] All them days, a lot of them days is behind me because there was the days when I was in prison.

[00:22:30] But out here, if I have a moment, all I got to do is go on my DM.

[00:22:34] Somebody going to tell me.

[00:22:35] Because it be people in my DM pouring in me.

[00:22:38] Every day, they just be pouring.

[00:22:39] I crack that joint open.

[00:22:40] Wow, little man, I know you take some rest.

[00:22:42] Do this.

[00:22:43] I mean, go sit your ass down sometime.

[00:22:45] You know what I mean?

[00:22:45] It be real people.

[00:22:47] It's everyday.

[00:22:47] See, most of my information, most of my messages come from me for having conversations with everyday

[00:22:53] people.

[00:22:53] A lot of game I got from everyday people.

[00:22:56] Just having conversations.

[00:22:57] Because I'm a conversational.

[00:22:58] I might talk to 15 people in a day during my journey.

[00:23:01] And that'd be the pushes I need.

[00:23:03] Because somebody would tell me, you helped me with this.

[00:23:06] You helped me.

[00:23:06] I needed it.

[00:23:07] And you can't.

[00:23:07] And I'm like, I got to keep going.

[00:23:09] You know?

[00:23:10] So that's the, that's where I get to push.

[00:23:12] Hmm.

[00:23:16] I want to ask, interrupt real quick.

[00:23:18] Like, I want to know when, how was your first deal?

[00:23:22] And how did that go?

[00:23:24] Your first major deal.

[00:23:26] And what was the steps?

[00:23:27] How did you get there?

[00:23:28] What was that process?

[00:23:29] Um, well me and Gil.

[00:23:32] Um, I had, I had money offered to me several times by the ticket down.

[00:23:34] But me and Gil, when we first signed for a million dollars worth of game, I never forget

[00:23:37] it.

[00:23:38] Uh, cause we always did all our stuff by ourselves.

[00:23:41] We negotiated.

[00:23:41] We didn't have no managers.

[00:23:42] We only had a lawyer.

[00:23:44] We bring the lawyer in once we do the deals.

[00:23:46] Um, when we got it, it was so, I was so, I ain't gonna find out, I was mad with myself

[00:23:51] cause Gil was like, when we go in here, we went in, we went into a restaurant called

[00:23:54] Devins in Philadelphia.

[00:23:56] Um, the CEO and the founder of Barstoo came and met us in Philly.

[00:24:00] We got off the train.

[00:24:01] We went there and they already had some money, but we, we, we ignored the email.

[00:24:06] So we went.

[00:24:07] And so they was like, we gotta get, damn, they ain't, you know, they ain't want this

[00:24:10] money.

[00:24:10] And I was going jump on it.

[00:24:12] I'm like Gil, we gotta jump on it.

[00:24:13] I need this.

[00:24:13] He like, cuz, chill, chill the fuck out.

[00:24:16] So when we got into the joint, he said, pop it.

[00:24:18] When we get in here, you do that.

[00:24:20] Cause me and Gil got different parts we play.

[00:24:22] Um, Gil come in when shit get goofy and act like a, he get crazy when they, you know what

[00:24:27] I mean?

[00:24:27] I'm the one that come through at certain times.

[00:24:29] So I went in there and they said, well, you know, we want to make this happen.

[00:24:32] What do you want?

[00:24:33] And I said, we want boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

[00:24:35] They said, cool.

[00:24:36] He tapped my leg like, damn cuz we should ask for more.

[00:24:40] It was so easy because one thing about this is, and I always try to tell people this.

[00:24:46] I wasn't the type of dude to run up on dudes and tell them that I'm this, you know,

[00:24:49] in a lot of our times in our city, dudes always, I got the hottest clothing.

[00:24:52] I'm the hottest dude.

[00:24:53] No, you're not.

[00:24:54] Cause with you, if you got to tell you're not because you know, they already come in

[00:24:58] looking for you.

[00:24:59] So we was getting phone calls at the time from the head of Spotify to hit.

[00:25:03] And so it got scary.

[00:25:04] Then I knew we was popping.

[00:25:06] But one thing I know is that, um, it was scary because they, I never seen that, that

[00:25:12] much money get passed off that quick.

[00:25:15] So, and it was like, damn, is that easy?

[00:25:17] Oh, we really, you know what I mean?

[00:25:19] I'm like, we, them niggas, you know what I mean?

[00:25:20] So after that, it really educated me more to say, I gotta be more strategic in my approach.

[00:25:26] And if we, if they gonna give us this, this many millions, that mean we probably worth

[00:25:31] 20 times more than this shit.

[00:25:33] Cause they gonna make their money plus.

[00:25:35] So it educated me a lot.

[00:25:36] And, and, and, but it was a great feeling to be able to come out of the penitentiary and

[00:25:40] years later be sitting at the table to negotiate them type of high level deals for just, for me

[00:25:46] just being me.

[00:25:47] It was everything.

[00:25:49] Hmm.

[00:25:50] Thank you.

[00:25:51] I'm Katora.

[00:25:53] Um, I'm a content creator and on Instagram style for you.

[00:25:57] Thank you for first sharing your experiences with us and your expertise and congratulations

[00:26:03] on all your success.

[00:26:05] My question is around what was, can you talk about your process or your awakening from shifting

[00:26:12] from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset?

[00:26:15] You know, I ain't going, I ain't, jail will put a hurting on you, right?

[00:26:21] Jail will have you thinking about some shit, man.

[00:26:23] You'll get tired at the day of the day.

[00:26:24] And I said, this shit ain't working.

[00:26:26] I'm smarter than this.

[00:26:27] Because even when I was in jail, I would run around and tell people shit.

[00:26:32] And dudes thought I was crazy than a motherfucker in jail.

[00:26:36] They'd be like, wow, you, you be tripping.

[00:26:38] They'd be like, man, they'd be like, you tripping, man.

[00:26:40] You, you ain't going, you can't do this.

[00:26:41] You can't do that.

[00:26:42] You, cause I used to say some crazy, I'm going to go out there and do this.

[00:26:45] I'm going to do that.

[00:26:46] And they used to be like, this nigga tripping.

[00:26:48] Cause I would, cause in the ghetto, if you're not talking about selling no dope, killing

[00:26:52] nobody that's black, uh, robbing no fucking your neighborhood up, they don't believe you.

[00:26:56] It's like, nigga, you tripping.

[00:26:57] You can't do nothing else.

[00:26:59] Once I tapped into and I realized who I was, I realized I was a king under slave conditions.

[00:27:03] I said, when I get out is up.

[00:27:05] Cause time will help you, man.

[00:27:06] That's why, you know, I ain't going to front.

[00:27:08] Penitentiary save a lot of people.

[00:27:10] A lot of people like that.

[00:27:11] Nah, some, some motherfuckers need to go do a bit, five, 10 years.

[00:27:14] It'll save their life and it'll save their mind and to put them in position to be, to come back out here.

[00:27:18] Nobody, when I am wish jail on nobody, but that's sit down to change your life.

[00:27:23] Come on, bubby.

[00:27:25] You're my childhood friend.

[00:27:27] I first, I want to thank you.

[00:27:28] I thank you, man.

[00:27:28] I love you.

[00:27:29] I appreciate what you're doing out here.

[00:27:31] I've known you before you trained and transitioned.

[00:27:33] But my question is the power of forgiveness.

[00:27:36] When you forgiven the person that rest in peace, Steve, that killed your brother, what the, what went into that?

[00:27:42] Knowing the criminal mindset, what we come from, how did you make that transition?

[00:27:46] How did you do that?

[00:27:46] You know, my brother got killed on a Friday night.

[00:27:50] My niece, my niece and nephew came to see me with my mom on like, on like a Sunday.

[00:27:57] This is the first time I met May May.

[00:27:59] So I'm in the penitentiary and you know, it's, it's a lot going through me and I'm, and I'm going through the motions.

[00:28:05] But when this little girl came in that visiting room and started talking to me, she was oblivious to what was going on.

[00:28:11] And she talking to me from a state, oh, when you come out, we got to go here.

[00:28:14] You ain't coming back here.

[00:28:15] Don't do this.

[00:28:15] Don't do that.

[00:28:16] Just, I'm like, damn, this is life.

[00:28:19] Um, you know, and it took, it was like, and you know, it was crazy, bub.

[00:28:23] It didn't even take a long period of time because you know, you know, we know people from our environment, man, I'm gonna do this.

[00:28:28] What?

[00:28:28] Tell me what to do.

[00:28:29] Why?

[00:28:29] I'm like, man, I ain't, um, I said living for them babies is more important than trying to die or go and do something to somebody to be removed from society or motherfucker might erase me.

[00:28:43] You see what I'm saying?

[00:28:44] You see what I'm saying?

[00:28:44] Um, that was the greatest thing that I could have did is to live by example because everybody wants somebody to forgive them, but nobody want to forgive.

[00:28:52] And in the environment that we come from, bubby, revenge is king.

[00:28:57] But I said, I gotta be more powerful than this shit.

[00:28:59] Cause if I could, if I could move on and above this and really let it go, my life could change.

[00:29:04] And by me letting that shit go, it was like my chest opened up and I, and my back got stronger because I had to carry the weight around and I had to carry the pressure around of having an idea of I need to do this.

[00:29:15] So I got to do this to look like this in the neighborhood around the way, but abandoned the babies, abandoned nanny, abandoned my mom, abandoned.

[00:29:23] Fuck that.

[00:29:24] That ain't more important than that.

[00:29:25] That's why it's always shocking to me when dudes say, man, I died for you.

[00:29:28] You're a goofy motherfucker there.

[00:29:31] Fuck you, man.

[00:29:32] You gonna die, die for who?

[00:29:33] He gonna snitch on you and he gonna try to, he gonna try to fuck your baby mom when you go to jail.

[00:29:39] You know, nephew.

[00:29:40] All that, I'm a ride, nigga.

[00:29:41] You ain't ride for your mom.

[00:29:42] You believe in the homies more than your mom.

[00:29:43] Your mom gonna be paying the lawyer and send you the commissary money.

[00:29:46] You goofy.

[00:29:48] You know what I'm saying?

[00:29:48] So, you know.

[00:29:50] But that was the greatest thing I ever did in my life, bubby.

[00:29:53] Yes, sir.

[00:29:55] I love you too, man.

[00:29:57] What's up, Kings?

[00:29:58] How you been?

[00:29:59] Blessed is the more life.

[00:30:00] My name is Flex Cartel.

[00:30:01] I'm an artist, songwriter from the city.

[00:30:03] I got a question for both of you guys.

[00:30:06] Like you talk about abandonment and things that you have to go through when you're going up the scale.

[00:30:11] You have to face all these trials and tribulations.

[00:30:14] And you think back, what did I leave behind?

[00:30:17] How do you guys deal with survivors' remorse?

[00:30:21] I used to deal with it, right?

[00:30:24] I think I deal with it in a different way until I was about like 250,000 in the red from trying to help motherfuckers that they want to help themselves.

[00:30:33] I'm talking about cash money records.

[00:30:35] It's different when you're giving somebody 20,000, 30,000, 10,000 and you ain't giving them no W-9.

[00:30:41] You're doing this out of love.

[00:30:43] And then I'm realizing like, damn, hold up.

[00:30:46] You just keep coming back.

[00:30:48] Remy Martin told me some of the realest shit one day.

[00:30:50] Remy Martin said, Wilo, they don't want what you do for them.

[00:30:53] They don't want what you give them.

[00:30:54] They want what you got.

[00:30:54] They want your life.

[00:30:55] That's why it's never enough.

[00:30:57] They want to move around with you.

[00:30:58] They want to be you.

[00:31:00] That's why, you know, a motherfucker, you start winning, motherfucker, family means, damn, I just want to work for you.

[00:31:04] No, you don't.

[00:31:05] You just want to chill.

[00:31:06] Fuck you mean you want to work for me.

[00:31:07] You know we got real work, but I pay millions in taxes.

[00:31:10] You tell me I work.

[00:31:11] I got.

[00:31:12] See, the problem with us a lot of times is it be hard.

[00:31:16] So a lot of people got to get left behind because a lot of people, they don't know how to be executive stars and they don't know how to add value.

[00:31:23] Yo, I don't care who it is.

[00:31:25] Whether it's Tuma, whether it's Lil Durk, whether it's Gil.

[00:31:28] When I'm around, I'm bringing value.

[00:31:30] Yo, Durk, you need some tea?

[00:31:31] You ready to go on stage?

[00:31:31] You all right, Neff?

[00:31:33] And he'd be like, damn, no, you ain't got to do that.

[00:31:35] I said, you know why I got to do that?

[00:31:36] Because all nephews.

[00:31:38] And I told him this.

[00:31:39] I told Durk this.

[00:31:41] It was like 15 of them with him.

[00:31:42] I said, Neffs, y'all better find a position because y'all ain't going to be here and y'all lucky that I'm not his manager.

[00:31:47] Because if I was his manager, all y'all would be the fuck home.

[00:31:50] Because y'all too cool to be of value to y'all homie because y'all want to be stars.

[00:31:56] Like nobody want to carry the bag and make sure his clothes laid down, make sure the hotel booked, make sure the food he went right.

[00:32:02] Everybody, see, let me just break this down, go to this.

[00:32:04] This is why you got to leave a lot of people too, Neff.

[00:32:06] Everybody want to be you, Neff.

[00:32:07] Everybody want to rap.

[00:32:09] You know, every time I see somebody from a neighborhood and they doing music or they doing fashion, whatever, I find it weird to me.

[00:32:15] And I ain't telling nobody they can't do their thing.

[00:32:18] But you from Fifth Street or whatever you from, you rapping.

[00:32:22] You been rapping for a year.

[00:32:23] All of a sudden, your homie want to rap.

[00:32:25] Bro, you breaking down the fan base when you start this dumb shit.

[00:32:27] You know you're not hot.

[00:32:28] You're trash.

[00:32:29] Number one.

[00:32:30] Number two, you're going to break the fan base down.

[00:32:33] That's why a lot of dudes can't come up from these cities because you got 60, you got every neighborhood got 60 people to rap.

[00:32:38] Only two of them is really good.

[00:32:40] And so you got all these people.

[00:32:42] So what they doing is breaking down the fan base because you, me and his Neff, we got to support you.

[00:32:46] We can't support the dude that's really hot.

[00:32:49] We can't go buy a Keisha clothes and actually got the best clothing line in the city.

[00:32:53] Because you're going to be mad because we buy her clothes.

[00:32:55] The problem is we got this false, Instagram created this false mentality of, and this false idea.

[00:33:01] What we did in our community, we created this false positivity shit and this I can't tell you the truth mentality.

[00:33:11] And the black people got, you can't tear a black person down.

[00:33:14] No, the nigga can't rap.

[00:33:15] Fuck is you talking about?

[00:33:18] Now everybody, no you tear this dream down.

[00:33:20] You're stopping him from growing.

[00:33:21] He didn't, no, he don't, he don't really want to do it.

[00:33:24] So, so in our community now, we, Instagram told everybody a lot that everybody could be Michael Jordan when they a bench boy.

[00:33:31] You fuck is like, we got to stop playing.

[00:33:33] Like I, I be one quick to tell motherfuckers, everybody can be me and Gilly.

[00:33:37] We do this shit in our sleep.

[00:33:39] We going to do it if we, if we not, that the camera ain't on.

[00:33:41] We going to trip out.

[00:33:42] People can't do that.

[00:33:43] You can sit on the couch, but you're wasting your time.

[00:33:45] Go do some shit that you really, that you really going to do and it's in your soul.

[00:33:49] Everybody is missing their blessings.

[00:33:51] You know why?

[00:33:52] Because when God come to give them their blessings, they not living in their blessing.

[00:33:55] They bless talent.

[00:33:57] And that's the problem.

[00:33:58] We all want to be celebrities.

[00:33:59] We all want to be stars.

[00:34:00] We all want to be this.

[00:34:02] I make millions, but my manager make millions too.

[00:34:04] You don't even know who she is.

[00:34:06] She make more than most of your favorite rappers.

[00:34:09] We just want to be rappers and we just want to be popular.

[00:34:12] But we don't want no money.

[00:34:14] Throw me up on a grand for what?

[00:34:17] Like what's the, what's the end game?

[00:34:18] Where your website at?

[00:34:19] Where the merch at?

[00:34:20] Where the booking link at?

[00:34:23] So you got to understand, everybody can't go and that's not your problem.

[00:34:27] Cause they don't want to go.

[00:34:29] Cause they not bringing value.

[00:34:30] If you don't bring value to value, devalue value.

[00:34:34] I'm not dealing with that shit.

[00:34:35] And when, and reason me and Gilwin, we don't play that shit.

[00:34:38] Anybody could get cut.

[00:34:39] I ain't playing with you.

[00:34:40] Cause, cause you know why?

[00:34:42] What the fuck was you doing when I was sitting in a cell doing 20 years?

[00:34:45] You had all the time in the world to be whoever you wanted to be.

[00:34:48] Woo.

[00:34:49] You ain't want to win.

[00:34:50] It's not my duty to save you.

[00:34:52] You jumped in the fucking water with no vessel and didn't know how to swim.

[00:34:55] Stand on it.

[00:34:56] Woo.

[00:34:57] Wow.

[00:35:00] No, no.

[00:35:01] I'm gonna, I'm gonna earn my right to answer that question and write a book.

[00:35:07] That's the, so I'll come back.

[00:35:08] Once I've done putting the work, then I'll answer.

[00:35:11] Thank you.

[00:35:11] All right.

[00:35:13] Hey, open all this blessed.

[00:35:14] Hey, Wala.

[00:35:15] Hey, brother.

[00:35:15] Much love, Neff.

[00:35:16] Yup.

[00:35:16] My name's Yusuf.

[00:35:18] I'm from Columbus, Ohio.

[00:35:19] I actually came out here and heard about this event.

[00:35:21] Ohio State's playing today.

[00:35:23] Yeah.

[00:35:23] Iowa.

[00:35:24] I'll up here, man.

[00:35:25] Y'all brothers talking good talk, man.

[00:35:26] Yeah, that's the best.

[00:35:27] He's missing a big game.

[00:35:28] I do a community work for the community.

[00:35:31] We do a nonprofit work to help the youth get out the streets and stuff like that.

[00:35:35] I, my main question is I deal with a lot of youth on a daily and it's, it hurts knowing

[00:35:39] like some of the predicaments and the things they're dealing with.

[00:35:43] Sometimes you can't always be of aid.

[00:35:45] So my question is what's a, a consistent message you want to give to the youth out there that

[00:35:51] is dealing with these issues, that is dealing with the life, dealing with the streets,

[00:35:54] dealing with these ongoing issues, but they might not have a big homie or somebody they

[00:35:59] could look at, but you know what I mean?

[00:36:01] What's your message though, that you, you want to, you give to the youth though?

[00:36:05] You know, I've been, I've been, I've been giving them a message for years, but my attention

[00:36:10] is ready to shift a little bit because this would have been going on.

[00:36:14] I've been giving them a message of it costs too much to be a criminal, but then I had to

[00:36:18] look at in our community, we forgetting the kids is doing right.

[00:36:23] Cause we so focused on the kids is doing wrong.

[00:36:26] We abandoning them.

[00:36:27] We abandoning the support for them.

[00:36:29] So on some real shit, we need to start creating nonprofits to focus on the kids is doing right.

[00:36:36] Because in our communities, think about this shit in our communities.

[00:36:41] Mom would neglect Raheem cause he focused on a little boo boo and Anthony and they doing dumb

[00:36:46] shit, but Raheem is getting academic scholarships.

[00:36:49] Right?

[00:36:49] I'm gonna let you go back.

[00:36:51] And so, so it's like, I think sometime we focusing on shit.

[00:36:57] Like I, and I ain't, and I ain't saying we can't try to prevent that, but I think we

[00:37:00] got enough organizations do this is in every neighborhood is fucking 15,000 nonprofits.

[00:37:06] A lot of people get money, ain't doing shit.

[00:37:08] That's like a, like we need to be investigating these fucking nonprofits is getting all this

[00:37:12] money just because that's a new hustle.

[00:37:14] Don't tell me, Oh damn.

[00:37:15] I tell people, what do you do?

[00:37:18] I be asking people, what do you do?

[00:37:20] I run a nonprofit.

[00:37:20] You don't do shit.

[00:37:22] You using a little boo, you losing the kids money to live a lifestyle.

[00:37:26] So, um, at the end of the day, we got enough of them.

[00:37:30] We got to start focusing on the kids that's doing right and start encouraging them and

[00:37:32] start empowering them more and giving them attention.

[00:37:35] Now to boo boo and Raheem.

[00:37:36] I love you, Neff.

[00:37:38] Um, but the reality is sometimes the message that me and you going to push brother, it might

[00:37:44] be outnumbered by all the dumb shit that they seeing on a timeline, all the dumb shit

[00:37:55] I hope they make it to 22 or 23 where they mind is different.

[00:37:58] And they realize the homies that they would right now, they ain't gonna give a fuck about

[00:38:01] them when they 22.

[00:38:01] I hope that they reach to the point where the alarm clock come on.

[00:38:04] But the reality is a lot of we gonna lose a lot of them and a lot of them going to go

[00:38:09] to the penitentiary, which might save a lot of them.

[00:38:11] But as we already know that and we seeing that and we got enough organization that we

[00:38:16] need to put more pressure on them to be responsible and focus and create real programs

[00:38:20] and activation for these kids.

[00:38:21] What is we going to start focusing on programs for the kids that's doing the right shit?

[00:38:25] Mm.

[00:38:25] That's my main, that's my new direction.

[00:38:27] Focusing on them.

[00:38:29] Mm.

[00:38:30] Break that whole cycle because in a sense when you focus on the kids that are doing

[00:38:33] right.

[00:38:34] But at the same time, like with the programs we do, we bring all the youth in one.

[00:38:38] I dig it.

[00:38:38] But at the same time, there's parents, they might see the good kids and they see their

[00:38:41] kids are doing good things and they might move them away from the other group of kids.

[00:38:45] So what's your, what do you think about that?

[00:38:47] No, that's what I'm talking about.

[00:38:48] We can separate this shit.

[00:38:49] I ain't, I'm just being real.

[00:38:50] You're saying like just different.

[00:38:50] Yeah, we gotta put programs exactly for them to accelerate them, get them support.

[00:38:55] Make sure they're getting scholarships, making sure they're getting funding when they're

[00:38:57] going to college and anything the fuck they need.

[00:39:00] Cause they gonna be the ones that's going, they the owners of tomorrow and they gonna

[00:39:02] come back and take care of the community in the right way.

[00:39:04] You know?

[00:39:06] No problem, Neff.

[00:39:11] What's going on, Wala?

[00:39:12] Appreciate you for coming out.

[00:39:13] Appreciate y'all for sitting and telling you this event.

[00:39:15] My question is what strategies, principles or methods do you use to organize your mind

[00:39:21] with all the interactions and situations that you've been in?

[00:39:25] I just go, Neff.

[00:39:26] I ain't even gonna tell you, man.

[00:39:28] I don't know what the fuck be going on in my mind.

[00:39:29] That shit so scrambled.

[00:39:31] All the shit I done seen, Neff.

[00:39:32] I just go.

[00:39:34] All this, like, let me just tell you what I wasn't.

[00:39:37] I can't speak for everybody else.

[00:39:40] When I was in the street, I was a go dude.

[00:39:42] I used to just go.

[00:39:43] I didn't know what the fuck I was doing.

[00:39:44] If you call me, come on, man, I gotta move.

[00:39:46] Let's go.

[00:39:47] Come on, man, let's go.

[00:39:48] Let's go.

[00:39:49] And that was why I was able to win when I changed my mindset and went to the corporate

[00:39:53] world.

[00:39:54] Because you know what everybody doing and why I'm kicking their ass?

[00:39:56] Everybody got a plan and they super strategizing.

[00:39:59] We didn't know what the fuck we was doing when we started a million dollars worth of game.

[00:40:02] We grabbed the mics, let's go.

[00:40:04] We gonna sit here and we gonna pop our shit.

[00:40:05] And you know why we was able to do that?

[00:40:06] Because we already had people that listened to us.

[00:40:08] So we like, we gonna figure it out as we go.

[00:40:10] And I figured it out as we go.

[00:40:12] Everything I did, as we go.

[00:40:14] It wasn't about like super strategizing.

[00:40:17] I think by the time people wake up, it'd be six years and they still strategizing.

[00:40:23] They still, they said, oh yeah, I was strategic.

[00:40:26] I was so disciplined.

[00:40:26] I was this, my character.

[00:40:28] Now get the fuck out of here.

[00:40:29] You ain't do nothing.

[00:40:31] Don't be that, Neff.

[00:40:32] Don't be the super strategizer, the super, I wanna be deeper than deep, deep, deep, deep,

[00:40:36] deep, deep.

[00:40:37] Cause you gonna be so deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep, deep.

[00:40:40] You ain't gonna do nothing.

[00:40:41] You know what I'm saying, Neff?

[00:40:42] Just go.

[00:40:43] Whatever you think you wanna do, just do that shit.

[00:40:45] Start doing it.

[00:40:46] It's gonna, it's gonna, you gonna figure it out as time go.

[00:40:48] But you, ain't nothing perfect cause I ain't, I ain't never figured nothing out from the grip.

[00:40:52] I ain't had this master plan.

[00:40:53] I just pulled the trigger.

[00:40:54] You got the gun in your hand, pull the trigger on life.

[00:40:57] Do it, Neff.

[00:40:59] Yeah.

[00:41:04] Hey, my name is Anonymous.

[00:41:07] I just got one question.

[00:41:10] What does a young black man like me do in this biased society when I don't wanna be famous,

[00:41:15] but it's creating a way to feed my family and that I didn't have before where my family is dropping like flies?

[00:41:21] Go and add value to, uh, you know what's crazy?

[00:41:51] So when I'm trying to figure my voice in right now, the youngest guy's thing's gonna play the music.

[00:41:51] He was gonna play the music.

[00:41:51] He wound up, uh, Kanye told him, listen man, Push, I want you to be the biased.

[00:41:55] He said, alright I'll do it.

[00:41:57] But he said, let Steve do it.

[00:41:58] Steve ran that shit, ran it all we up.

[00:42:00] Next thing you know, Steve said, after I was done with that, Universal, everybody wanted to give me a gig.

[00:42:05] Jay-Z wanted to give me some money, this person.

[00:42:07] He wound up sitting down with Lucius.

[00:42:09] I don't know if you know who Lucius is.

[00:42:11] Lucius Green, he the most powerful man in music.

[00:42:13] He wound up sitting down with him, and Lucius said,

[00:42:15] we're going to create something for you.

[00:42:18] Number one, Neff, you got to move around.

[00:42:21] I don't know how your travel be.

[00:42:23] You got to get up out of D.C.

[00:42:25] Because what happened is a lot of times the ghetto lack exposure

[00:42:29] to the opportunities of life.

[00:42:32] Because we think the only thing that we got is rap music.

[00:42:35] The only thing that we got is clothing line.

[00:42:36] The only thing that we got is what we see as being a dope dealer.

[00:42:39] And it's like the world is waiting for you,

[00:42:42] but you got to be willing to jump on that train and say,

[00:42:44] I got to play New York more.

[00:42:45] I got to go to Miami more.

[00:42:47] I got to go to Houston more.

[00:42:49] I got to go to places.

[00:42:50] And what you can't do, Neff, and it's going to be hard,

[00:42:54] the losses, you got to take that shit,

[00:42:56] and you got to package that shit up, man,

[00:42:58] and put it in your back as motivation, Neff.

[00:43:00] The only reason I'm here and I'm able to move the way I'm able to move,

[00:43:03] Neff, because Lil Steve got killed,

[00:43:04] and he died in Nanny Harms in that house.

[00:43:06] And I turned it the fuck up,

[00:43:08] because every day that I'm moving,

[00:43:09] I'm thinking about Lil Steve.

[00:43:10] You got to, whoever you lost and whoever's special to your heart,

[00:43:13] you got to figure out another way

[00:43:16] so they ain't die in vain,

[00:43:17] and you could use that as the motivation,

[00:43:19] and you could create some beauty out of that death.

[00:43:21] And that's what I did, Neff.

[00:43:22] I don't know what you're going through,

[00:43:24] but I know you, come here, man.

[00:43:26] Come here.

[00:43:52] So I've read, you know,

[00:43:54] parts of Frederick Douglass' autobiography.

[00:43:58] Most recently, I've been reading a little bit of

[00:44:01] Dick Gregory's first autobiography.

[00:44:03] It's called Nigger, with an E-R.

[00:44:06] And, of course, in DCPS, we always read Malcolm X.

[00:44:11] So I want to ask you, like, a writer-based question.

[00:44:14] When you're going, and I know you author many books.

[00:44:17] Oh, you a teacher?

[00:44:18] Nah, nah.

[00:44:19] I just, I like writing.

[00:44:20] And, you know, I like to read, and I know you are all done.

[00:44:22] But DCPS, that's a public school?

[00:44:24] Yeah, DC public schools, yeah.

[00:44:29] So, as a writer, how do you get into your,

[00:44:34] not even your flow, but in terms of,

[00:44:36] because you've finished many books.

[00:44:38] So what's your approach to writing a book?

[00:44:40] Because I know when you're writing a book,

[00:44:42] every line matters because you want to be able to

[00:44:45] read it from the beginning,

[00:44:46] and it cohesively flow a certain way,

[00:44:49] and it's different chapters.

[00:44:50] But how do you approach, you know,

[00:44:52] creating your books when you create,

[00:44:54] you know, books?

[00:44:55] Kind of similar to the ones that,

[00:44:56] this one that you got today,

[00:44:58] which is more like, how you're saying,

[00:44:59] it's more like a story of your life kind of thing.

[00:45:01] So how would you, you know,

[00:45:02] how do you create your books in that aspect?

[00:45:05] I think we live in the world now,

[00:45:06] whereas though,

[00:45:08] the first three books I had,

[00:45:10] The Mind and Wilder 1, 2, and 3,

[00:45:13] they wasn't written,

[00:45:14] they wasn't written, I spoke them.

[00:45:16] You didn't probably pay attention,

[00:45:18] but they was all videos from my Instagram page.

[00:45:20] All you got to do is take this,

[00:45:22] put it on voice memo,

[00:45:24] and just pop it.

[00:45:26] That's the rawest it ever going to get.

[00:45:29] If you, like,

[00:45:30] like anybody can put a book together,

[00:45:31] all you got to do is sit here,

[00:45:33] put that voice memo on,

[00:45:35] and just say,

[00:45:37] cousin,

[00:45:38] cousin,

[00:45:39] all right, reflect, yeah, reflect.

[00:45:40] You got chapter one,

[00:45:42] cousin Tim.

[00:45:43] Chapter two,

[00:45:44] Northeast.

[00:45:45] Chapter three,

[00:45:47] first day of school.

[00:45:48] You, you know what's important in your life

[00:45:51] that you will want to share with people,

[00:45:53] and then there's going to be some moments

[00:45:55] where you go and battle and say,

[00:45:56] do I share this?

[00:45:57] And you just record it,

[00:45:58] but just put it over inside.

[00:46:00] But,

[00:46:01] think about this.

[00:46:04] If you look at the average,

[00:46:07] average audio book,

[00:46:08] how long is the average audio book?

[00:46:10] Sometimes it'll be like four hours,

[00:46:12] sometimes it'll be like seven.

[00:46:13] Bro,

[00:46:14] do this.

[00:46:16] If you take a half an hour a day for a month,

[00:46:20] how many hours is that?

[00:46:25] You got like two,

[00:46:26] three books there.

[00:46:28] Think about that, bro.

[00:46:30] Think about that.

[00:46:32] So,

[00:46:32] I just think you got to just be able to categorize

[00:46:35] what is important.

[00:46:36] Say if you take a beach,

[00:46:37] paper,

[00:46:37] and just wrote down everything

[00:46:38] that you wanted to talk about.

[00:46:39] You ain't got to be talking about your life.

[00:46:41] You could be talking about the music scene,

[00:46:43] you could be talking about fashion,

[00:46:44] you could be talking about whatever

[00:46:45] you want to talk about.

[00:46:46] I think what we do is,

[00:46:48] we overthink that we outthink ourself

[00:46:51] out of our plans.

[00:46:53] You see what I'm saying?

[00:46:54] I always say the biggest hater

[00:46:55] that you got in your life

[00:46:56] is you and your mind.

[00:46:57] Nobody hate on you more than you

[00:46:59] because you're all,

[00:46:59] how many ideas did you think of

[00:47:01] when you thought yourself out of them ideas

[00:47:02] in order to execute?

[00:47:04] You dig what I'm saying?

[00:47:05] You're all right.

[00:47:06] But this right here changed everything.

[00:47:08] Let the people,

[00:47:09] let the machines work for you

[00:47:10] that can work for you

[00:47:11] because once you do that,

[00:47:12] you can drop it,

[00:47:13] get it in the transcribe app,

[00:47:15] whoop,

[00:47:16] transcribe it,

[00:47:16] boom, boom, boom.

[00:47:17] You can proofread it.

[00:47:18] You can do everything,

[00:47:19] but you don't have to,

[00:47:20] like,

[00:47:20] I know you got a half an hour a day.

[00:47:23] Everybody got a half an hour a day

[00:47:25] where you could just be clear-minded,

[00:47:27] go in the room,

[00:47:28] close it,

[00:47:28] put it there.

[00:47:29] You get you a mic if you want to

[00:47:30] or whatever,

[00:47:31] but you could just talk to it

[00:47:33] on voice memo.

[00:47:34] It's going,

[00:47:35] you know,

[00:47:35] they give you a lot of space

[00:47:36] in voice memo.

[00:47:37] I think we got to stop looking at it

[00:47:38] and being,

[00:47:39] know your strengths,

[00:47:40] respect your weaknesses.

[00:47:42] Know your strengths

[00:47:42] and hire your weaknesses.

[00:47:44] Know your strengths

[00:47:44] and align with your weaknesses.

[00:47:46] Let the machine do it for you.

[00:47:48] It's simple.

[00:47:49] Appreciate you.

[00:47:50] No problem.

[00:47:54] Hi,

[00:47:55] my name is Erin Washington.

[00:47:56] I'm from D.C.

[00:47:57] I'm an entrepreneur

[00:47:58] and I specialize in making people feel seen.

[00:48:01] That was actually the perfect segue

[00:48:02] into my question

[00:48:03] because you all talked about YouTube

[00:48:06] and I know,

[00:48:07] Walla,

[00:48:07] you have YouTube

[00:48:08] and you leverage Instagram.

[00:48:10] My question for either one of you,

[00:48:11] like,

[00:48:11] are there any other,

[00:48:12] like,

[00:48:13] technology platforms

[00:48:14] that we should be leveraging

[00:48:15] and thinking about

[00:48:16] as we approach 2025?

[00:48:18] I think,

[00:48:19] if you ask me,

[00:48:21] I think all of them.

[00:48:22] The reason I say all of them,

[00:48:23] sister,

[00:48:24] because you don't know

[00:48:24] where you're going to pop

[00:48:25] and you don't know

[00:48:26] if the algorithm

[00:48:27] is going to bless you,

[00:48:28] where it is going to bless you at.

[00:48:29] You know what I'm saying?

[00:48:30] I think we be so focused

[00:48:31] on the gram, gram, gram, gram, gram, gram,

[00:48:33] but while we was focused on the gram,

[00:48:35] it was people focused on TikTok

[00:48:36] and they went to the moon.

[00:48:38] You know what I mean?

[00:48:39] While you be focused on TikTok,

[00:48:40] it would be people focused on YouTube

[00:48:41] and going to the moon.

[00:48:43] You see what I'm saying?

[00:48:43] So I think,

[00:48:44] I think what you should do,

[00:48:46] everybody,

[00:48:47] if you're a content creator,

[00:48:48] if you just want to,

[00:48:49] this is what we got to understand.

[00:48:51] We live in a time

[00:48:52] where it's though

[00:48:54] the most simplest things

[00:48:55] on social media,

[00:48:58] people is making shitloads of money.

[00:48:59] Now,

[00:49:00] who in the world thought

[00:49:01] that dudes would be making

[00:49:03] tens of thousands of dollars a month

[00:49:06] got us sitting there

[00:49:07] watching them clean their house?

[00:49:09] That's the craziest shit

[00:49:10] I ever thought.

[00:49:11] I mean,

[00:49:12] we buying,

[00:49:12] and then not only that,

[00:49:15] you be sitting there,

[00:49:16] you're watching people

[00:49:17] clean their house

[00:49:18] and then they selling you products

[00:49:20] that they using

[00:49:21] to clean their house with.

[00:49:22] You hitting the link,

[00:49:23] buying shit,

[00:49:24] they getting affiliate marketing,

[00:49:25] they getting affiliate link money,

[00:49:28] plus they getting the money

[00:49:28] for the views.

[00:49:30] Like,

[00:49:31] so you don't,

[00:49:32] like,

[00:49:32] I just think people

[00:49:33] so caught on celebrity

[00:49:34] that celebrity now

[00:49:35] is the regular life.

[00:49:38] I'm talking about regular,

[00:49:39] like,

[00:49:40] we done seen people

[00:49:41] just go places

[00:49:42] to eat stuff

[00:49:43] and blow up

[00:49:44] from eating food, man.

[00:49:46] We watching people eat food.

[00:49:48] Like,

[00:49:48] you know how crazy we done got?

[00:49:49] We newsy as shit.

[00:49:50] We nosy.

[00:49:51] We want to be in everybody's business

[00:49:53] about dumb shit.

[00:49:54] You see what I'm saying?

[00:49:55] You could go somewhere

[00:49:56] and just,

[00:49:56] you could just go,

[00:49:57] all you could do,

[00:49:58] there's no bullshit.

[00:49:59] You probably could start a page

[00:50:00] just trying on sneaks.

[00:50:02] Going from sneaker stores,

[00:50:04] finding the best sneaker stores

[00:50:05] in America.

[00:50:05] Yeah,

[00:50:06] I'm at,

[00:50:06] what's the name?

[00:50:06] I'm ready to go ahead

[00:50:07] and try on some sneaks

[00:50:07] and don't buy shit.

[00:50:10] They be like,

[00:50:10] she,

[00:50:11] she,

[00:50:11] because you're going to show people,

[00:50:12] damn,

[00:50:12] them sneaks is nice.

[00:50:13] They're going to put a link there.

[00:50:15] You get it.

[00:50:15] It's crazy.

[00:50:16] So I think,

[00:50:17] I just think you just got to create

[00:50:18] and put it out there

[00:50:19] and don't be afraid.

[00:50:19] And it's a bunch,

[00:50:21] it's like,

[00:50:22] it's 8 billion people on the planet.

[00:50:23] I think everybody

[00:50:24] could get an audience base

[00:50:25] of 200,000 easy.

[00:50:26] That's going to be,

[00:50:27] that's going to be locked in.

[00:50:28] That's going to buy your merch.

[00:50:29] You know,

[00:50:31] you could do anything.

[00:50:32] You just got to,

[00:50:32] you just got to go at it.

[00:50:33] But I think all platforms

[00:50:35] you can win on.

[00:50:36] Can I break my own rule?

[00:50:38] Go ahead.

[00:50:39] Break my own rule.

[00:50:40] Waldo knows exactly

[00:50:41] what I'm going to say.

[00:50:42] Oh,

[00:50:43] Aaron,

[00:50:44] Aaron,

[00:50:44] I,

[00:50:44] I,

[00:50:45] I,

[00:50:45] one little thing

[00:50:46] I want to add

[00:50:47] to what Waldo said.

[00:50:49] Generative artificial intelligence.

[00:50:51] Jenny,

[00:50:52] I,

[00:50:52] do not ignore it.

[00:50:53] Do not fear it.

[00:50:55] Seize it.

[00:50:56] Look at it

[00:50:57] from the opportunities,

[00:50:59] the productivity

[00:51:00] that it increases,

[00:51:02] the accessibility,

[00:51:03] the creativity.

[00:51:04] The time is now

[00:51:06] and what happens often

[00:51:08] is we get left behind.

[00:51:09] We get left behind

[00:51:11] with whatever reasons

[00:51:12] we make up

[00:51:13] saying,

[00:51:14] hey,

[00:51:14] I don't,

[00:51:15] I don't feel good about this.

[00:51:17] So,

[00:51:18] Generative A,

[00:51:18] I,

[00:51:18] I'm not going to name the apps

[00:51:19] by name

[00:51:21] due to conflict of interest,

[00:51:23] but,

[00:51:24] I will,

[00:51:25] please.

[00:51:27] Everything the Waldo said,

[00:51:29] throw Gen AI

[00:51:30] on top of that.

[00:51:32] Okay,

[00:51:32] thank you.

[00:51:35] Yeah,

[00:51:36] Tuma is like

[00:51:36] AI king at this point.

[00:51:38] Yes, he is.

[00:51:38] If y'all seen the flyers

[00:51:40] that we promoted,

[00:51:41] those were AI created

[00:51:42] by Tuma.

[00:51:43] Chat GPT,

[00:51:45] Adobe Fly Fly,

[00:51:46] and Runway ML.

[00:51:48] Tuma couldn't say that,

[00:51:49] but those are

[00:51:49] three

[00:51:51] AI programs.

[00:51:52] I'm a fan of Adobe Fly Fly,

[00:51:54] but I'm a fan of Adobe.

[00:51:56] just in case y'all want to know.

[00:51:59] Google Gemini.

[00:52:00] Yes, sir.

[00:52:00] What's going on,

[00:52:01] fellas?

[00:52:03] My question is,

[00:52:04] what's your biggest flaw

[00:52:05] or weakness

[00:52:06] that you're continuously

[00:52:07] working on

[00:52:08] to make it a strength

[00:52:09] for yours?

[00:52:13] Both of us.

[00:52:14] No, no, no,

[00:52:14] let's talk to you.

[00:52:14] I just broke a rule.

[00:52:19] Being impatient.

[00:52:21] I'm extremely impatient.

[00:52:23] My manager,

[00:52:25] she got to tell me

[00:52:25] to sit the fuck down

[00:52:26] probably 10 times a day.

[00:52:28] I burn her the fuck out

[00:52:29] about all types of shit.

[00:52:30] Like,

[00:52:31] that's like something

[00:52:32] that's major about me.

[00:52:33] I be wanting shit done like,

[00:52:34] because I always want

[00:52:35] to be hands on,

[00:52:36] and I'm getting to the point

[00:52:37] where I'm used to

[00:52:38] not being hands on.

[00:52:40] I'm used to just like,

[00:52:44] I realize,

[00:52:45] I forgot who told me this.

[00:52:47] It was one of these

[00:52:48] billionaire boys I know.

[00:52:50] And he was like,

[00:52:51] wow,

[00:52:51] are you not going to be able

[00:52:51] to go to the next level

[00:52:52] until you get a CEO?

[00:52:54] Once I got a CEO,

[00:52:55] which is my manager,

[00:52:57] my life changed,

[00:52:58] but I don't know why

[00:53:00] sometimes I just got to touch shit

[00:53:02] when it don't need to be touched.

[00:53:04] I'd be asking,

[00:53:04] like,

[00:53:05] why we ain't,

[00:53:06] she'd be like,

[00:53:06] shut up.

[00:53:06] I already got the,

[00:53:07] I got the meat line.

[00:53:08] What is she worrying about?

[00:53:10] Because I got so many

[00:53:10] different business opportunities

[00:53:12] going on,

[00:53:12] and I'm doing so much,

[00:53:14] but I'm always used to just

[00:53:16] getting it done myself

[00:53:17] to where I burn the fuck out

[00:53:19] sometimes.

[00:53:20] And you know,

[00:53:21] I'm working on it

[00:53:22] because I'm not perfect,

[00:53:23] but it's like,

[00:53:24] that's what really be just

[00:53:26] having me all over the place,

[00:53:27] and I be,

[00:53:29] I be over utilizing my time

[00:53:30] when I don't have to.

[00:53:32] You see what I'm saying?

[00:53:34] Shout out to Twin.

[00:53:34] I see you, Twin.

[00:53:35] I be seeing the videos, Twin.

[00:53:37] They go with my Twin right there.

[00:53:38] Y'all look at him.

[00:53:39] They go wild over right there.

[00:53:40] Yeah, man.

[00:53:41] Another wild over.

[00:53:42] Yeah.

[00:53:44] Go ahead.

[00:53:44] Next.

[00:53:45] What's up, Wallo?

[00:53:46] This is Wendell.

[00:53:47] I used to work with Wendell

[00:53:49] at BET when BET was in D.C.,

[00:53:51] and then he left BET

[00:53:52] to work at the White House.

[00:53:54] Yo, you know what's crazy?

[00:53:55] Hey, Tuma worked with everybody.

[00:53:58] No, no.

[00:53:58] No, but that was like,

[00:54:00] he was the plug.

[00:54:02] He was at BET

[00:54:03] before you went to the White House.

[00:54:05] Yeah.

[00:54:06] What's up, Wallo?

[00:54:07] What do you think the landscape

[00:54:08] of podcasting,

[00:54:10] and where do you think

[00:54:10] it's going in the future?

[00:54:12] Tuma talked about AI,

[00:54:13] and I tried to start a project

[00:54:14] at AI in 2018,

[00:54:16] and they niched it.

[00:54:17] But where do you think

[00:54:18] the future of podcasting is going?

[00:54:20] I think AI is always important,

[00:54:22] but I think one thing

[00:54:22] about the human connection

[00:54:23] is never going to die,

[00:54:24] because there's always

[00:54:25] going to be glitches

[00:54:25] in that,

[00:54:26] and who control AI?

[00:54:27] Humans.

[00:54:28] Humans control the computers.

[00:54:29] The computers don't control humans.

[00:54:31] I think podcasting

[00:54:33] the possibilities is endless,

[00:54:34] but we got to get more podcasts

[00:54:37] that's,

[00:54:39] one thing about us is

[00:54:40] once we tap into something,

[00:54:41] we lock it in.

[00:54:42] If you think about it,

[00:54:43] especially if you're

[00:54:45] into the book game,

[00:54:46] when I was in prison

[00:54:47] in the 90s,

[00:54:49] we took over the publishing game

[00:54:50] with the street literature.

[00:54:52] You remember we had

[00:54:52] all them books

[00:54:53] that was coming,

[00:54:54] and dudes were selling

[00:54:55] hundreds of thousands of books.

[00:54:56] I'm talking about

[00:54:57] all the books.

[00:55:00] About three years ago,

[00:55:01] I remember Shaka Zulu.

[00:55:04] He was at Spotify.

[00:55:05] He was at Spotify.

[00:55:06] He said,

[00:55:06] Walo, you know what

[00:55:07] we ain't doing?

[00:55:08] We got to tap into like the,

[00:55:09] and we didn't do it,

[00:55:11] and they done it,

[00:55:11] the True Crime podcast.

[00:55:13] You know how many stories

[00:55:14] we got in the hood

[00:55:14] nobody could tell?

[00:55:15] You know how many

[00:55:17] romantic novels

[00:55:18] we got in the hood,

[00:55:19] but nobody going to sit

[00:55:20] and tell them?

[00:55:21] Like a podcast,

[00:55:22] I think this is

[00:55:23] what we lost at.

[00:55:24] We think a podcast

[00:55:24] is people sitting there

[00:55:25] just talking.

[00:55:26] A podcast don't have to be

[00:55:27] nobody sitting there.

[00:55:28] It don't have to be visible.

[00:55:29] The podcast could be

[00:55:30] audio,

[00:55:31] though.

[00:55:31] It could be romantic stories.

[00:55:33] It could be crime stories.

[00:55:34] Like I said on Joe Button's show,

[00:55:35] I was like,

[00:55:36] when is we going to come up

[00:55:37] with the podcast directory?

[00:55:38] When is somebody going

[00:55:39] to create that podcast?

[00:55:40] Because now that our culture

[00:55:42] and people is getting

[00:55:42] more in the podcast,

[00:55:43] the first thing people ask you,

[00:55:45] what's some good podcasts

[00:55:46] that you listen to?

[00:55:47] Why is it not a podcast

[00:55:48] like Cisco and Eber

[00:55:50] that's giving people the game

[00:55:51] on a new podcast

[00:55:52] from sports to business

[00:55:53] to health to fashion?

[00:55:54] Like if me and him

[00:55:56] got a podcast,

[00:55:57] and all we doing is

[00:55:58] he look at five podcasts

[00:56:00] and we got to look at

[00:56:00] five podcasts a week

[00:56:02] and we just come here

[00:56:03] and talk about it.

[00:56:04] There's no podcast

[00:56:05] created yet to do that.

[00:56:07] I've been telling people

[00:56:08] this shit since Clubhouse

[00:56:09] when we was on lockdown.

[00:56:11] Nobody never listened to me.

[00:56:13] I'm like,

[00:56:13] yo,

[00:56:13] we got to start creating

[00:56:14] podcasts that's not the norm

[00:56:15] because one thing about people,

[00:56:17] people love to tap into

[00:56:18] what they already do.

[00:56:19] The sports podcast,

[00:56:21] they're going to look

[00:56:21] to the pivot.

[00:56:21] They're going to look

[00:56:22] to all the smoke.

[00:56:24] They're going to look

[00:56:24] at certain joys music.

[00:56:25] They're going to go

[00:56:26] with Gil,

[00:56:26] me.

[00:56:26] They're going to go

[00:56:27] with Norrie.

[00:56:27] They're going to go

[00:56:27] with Joe.

[00:56:28] People already got shit

[00:56:29] that they locked into

[00:56:30] and they got fan bases

[00:56:31] that's not budging.

[00:56:32] So where's the new stuff?

[00:56:34] Where's the restaurant podcast

[00:56:36] that just go to restaurants

[00:56:37] and interview the fucking

[00:56:39] the owners of the restaurants?

[00:56:41] Where's the book podcast

[00:56:42] that just talk about books

[00:56:44] and bookstores

[00:56:44] and shit around the country?

[00:56:47] And it's always going to be

[00:56:48] ad dollars from the markets

[00:56:52] that's going to be available.

[00:56:54] But I think we got to look

[00:56:55] outside the box

[00:56:56] and just sit on the couch

[00:56:58] and just talking

[00:56:58] to be talking

[00:56:59] when it's like,

[00:56:59] yo,

[00:57:00] it's so many areas

[00:57:01] of concentration

[00:57:01] that we're not tapping into.

[00:57:03] But the podcast game is vast.

[00:57:05] It's like right now

[00:57:06] there's about 5 million podcasts.

[00:57:09] Yeah,

[00:57:10] it's 5 million podcasts globally.

[00:57:13] Most podcasts

[00:57:13] don't last past 10 episodes.

[00:57:16] But it's 5 million

[00:57:17] as we speak right now

[00:57:18] and globally.

[00:57:19] But I just think

[00:57:20] you got to be in the forefront.

[00:57:21] You got to market your stuff

[00:57:22] and just be different.

[00:57:24] Much love.

[00:57:25] All right,

[00:57:25] that was our last question.

[00:57:27] We got one announcement.

[00:57:30] Hello,

[00:57:30] I'm Tiffany.

[00:57:31] I am the general manager

[00:57:33] of Beyond's Good Food.

[00:57:35] I just want to thank you guys

[00:57:37] for coming.

[00:57:38] I want to thank Bird

[00:57:40] for inviting you guys here

[00:57:42] because if you,

[00:57:43] if it wasn't for her,

[00:57:44] you wouldn't be here.

[00:57:45] So I really

[00:57:47] appreciate you guys coming.

[00:57:48] Thank you.

[00:57:49] Shout out to,

[00:57:50] I want to,

[00:57:52] I want to give a shout out

[00:57:53] to Bird

[00:57:54] for always having made in D.C.

[00:57:56] I want to give a shout out,

[00:57:57] I don't know if Tony,

[00:57:57] made in the DMV.

[00:57:59] It's all the same

[00:57:59] as me.

[00:58:00] I don't know.

[00:58:00] I don't know.

[00:58:01] I don't know if my man

[00:58:01] Tone left.

[00:58:02] He's still in here.

[00:58:04] Shout out,

[00:58:04] oh,

[00:58:05] shout out to Tone.

[00:58:06] Shout out to,

[00:58:07] first of all,

[00:58:08] shout out to Mahogany Books

[00:58:09] for having this.

[00:58:09] We got to support bookstores

[00:58:11] and we,

[00:58:12] listen,

[00:58:12] and it's not just about,

[00:58:14] what we got to do is,

[00:58:16] what we got to do is,

[00:58:17] and I'm telling you

[00:58:17] this very important,

[00:58:19] you got to pull

[00:58:20] them fucking tablets

[00:58:21] out your baby's hands

[00:58:22] and give them books.

[00:58:24] You see what I'm saying?

[00:58:24] You got to give them books

[00:58:26] and you don't have

[00:58:27] to buy my book,

[00:58:28] but go to these bookstores

[00:58:29] and buy a book.

[00:58:30] Like,

[00:58:30] we got the holidays coming up,

[00:58:32] you know,

[00:58:33] all the games,

[00:58:34] all the clothes,

[00:58:34] all that.

[00:58:35] Can we start buying,

[00:58:35] giving them stacks of books

[00:58:36] and start getting them

[00:58:37] into reading?

[00:58:38] Like,

[00:58:38] we supposed to be

[00:58:38] destroying these bookstores,

[00:58:40] going in there

[00:58:40] and buying them out,

[00:58:41] buying them,

[00:58:41] all these,

[00:58:42] you got,

[00:58:42] we got a bunch

[00:58:43] of great authors,

[00:58:44] we got a bunch

[00:58:45] of great bookstores,

[00:58:46] we got a bunch

[00:58:46] of great children's books.

[00:58:48] Like,

[00:58:48] could you please start buying

[00:58:49] and start using as gifts?

[00:58:51] Start using these books

[00:58:51] as gifts.

[00:58:52] Like,

[00:58:53] you know,

[00:58:53] and that's the,

[00:58:54] and you know what's so crazy

[00:58:55] about the book joint

[00:58:55] because that's what I'm gonna do.

[00:58:56] Start giving people books

[00:58:58] as gifts

[00:58:58] so you can say

[00:58:59] you're in your pocket.

[00:59:00] Oh, damn,

[00:59:00] I bought you a book.

[00:59:01] I thought you wanted to.

[00:59:02] All this eaker shit

[00:59:03] and all this extra clothes,

[00:59:04] all this expensive shit,

[00:59:05] go get them.

[00:59:05] You take two,

[00:59:06] three hundred dollars,

[00:59:07] get ten books.

[00:59:09] And then some of these

[00:59:09] bookstores be having to sell,

[00:59:11] going in and just

[00:59:11] buy the ones

[00:59:12] with the stickers on there,

[00:59:13] the half-off joints,

[00:59:14] you know what I mean?

[00:59:15] Start getting them books,

[00:59:16] send books to your people

[00:59:16] in jail.

[00:59:18] I mean,

[00:59:18] but like,

[00:59:18] we got to really start

[00:59:19] getting back into reading.

[00:59:20] And I was looking at

[00:59:21] something on social media

[00:59:22] and they was talking about,

[00:59:23] it was this one book store,

[00:59:24] I think it was in London,

[00:59:25] how they just,

[00:59:26] they killing them

[00:59:27] because so many people

[00:59:28] want to step back

[00:59:28] from the technology,

[00:59:29] they buying books

[00:59:30] like never before.

[00:59:32] You think what I'm saying?

[00:59:33] So like,

[00:59:34] I just,

[00:59:34] and I will say this,

[00:59:36] we got to be doing something

[00:59:37] if, you know,

[00:59:38] I come out in seven days,

[00:59:39] I make it in New York Times.

[00:59:40] That was us.

[00:59:41] That was us.

[00:59:42] Us bought my book.

[00:59:43] So we got to do that

[00:59:44] with everybody's book

[00:59:45] that come out.

[00:59:46] All these children authors,

[00:59:47] all these authors,

[00:59:48] Eve just got a book coming out,

[00:59:49] just came out,

[00:59:50] Travis Smiley just dropped

[00:59:51] the book.

[00:59:51] We got to support

[00:59:52] everybody that's dropping

[00:59:53] these books

[00:59:53] and start really putting that,

[00:59:55] that got to be the new gift

[00:59:56] that we give out to people,

[00:59:56] just getting people good.

[00:59:58] Yo, this is a good book,

[00:59:58] read this.

[00:59:59] You know what I mean?

[01:00:00] And buy the physical copy

[01:00:01] so you can mark them up

[01:00:02] and do all that,

[01:00:03] you know what I mean?

[01:00:03] Because it lasts long.

[01:00:04] We don't know if this digital shit

[01:00:05] going to glitch on us one day

[01:00:06] and just disappear.

[01:00:07] You know what I mean?

[01:00:08] But I appreciate y'all.

[01:00:09] I'm going here,

[01:00:10] I'm going to go in,

[01:00:10] I'm going to sign all these books.

[01:00:11] Everybody that bought a book,

[01:00:12] I'm signing it.

[01:00:13] I'm taking a picture with you.

[01:00:14] We're going to turn it up.

[01:00:16] No, thank you.

[01:00:17] Brother Wallo.

[01:00:17] Yes.

[01:00:18] I just want to say thank you.

[01:00:20] Oh, thank you, sister.

[01:00:21] I appreciate you

[01:00:21] and I appreciate the shout out

[01:00:23] that you just did for bookstores.

[01:00:24] People don't know

[01:00:25] black bookstores were created

[01:00:26] because they didn't carry our books

[01:00:28] in the main bookstores.

[01:00:30] So these spaces really are

[01:00:31] important to our communities,

[01:00:33] important to our growth,

[01:00:34] important to our knowledge.

[01:00:35] So thank you for saying that.

[01:00:36] You have no idea

[01:00:37] what that meant.

[01:00:37] And I want to say this.

[01:00:38] Amen.

[01:00:39] That's powerful.

[01:00:40] I want to say this.

[01:00:40] I got with the sister.

[01:00:41] I said, listen, sister,

[01:00:42] I need you to give me the list

[01:00:45] because I just did a tour

[01:00:46] and I went to 10 black bookstores

[01:00:48] around the country

[01:00:48] from New Orleans to Philly

[01:00:49] to Miami to all over.

[01:00:51] And we're going,

[01:00:52] I'm going to put this list out

[01:00:53] on my page

[01:00:54] of all the black bookstores

[01:00:55] around the country

[01:00:56] because your,

[01:00:57] I'm talking about your support

[01:00:58] is going to keep them open

[01:00:59] and keep them alive.

[01:01:00] And we got to keep our,

[01:01:02] we got to keep our outlets alive

[01:01:03] and we got to nurture our outlets

[01:01:05] and stop waiting for somebody else

[01:01:06] to do something for us.

[01:01:08] So, you know what I mean?

[01:01:08] I need you to get that list to me

[01:01:10] and I'm going to just post it,

[01:01:11] put the ads on there

[01:01:12] and post it.

[01:01:13] Appreciate you, sister.

[01:01:15] I'm ready to go over here

[01:01:15] and get this sign.

[01:01:16] Thank you, Wallow.

[01:01:17] Yes, sir.

[01:01:17] Round of applause for Wallow.

[01:01:19] Yes.

[01:01:19] Make sure y'all head into Dion.

[01:01:21] Shout out to Dion.

[01:01:22] Wallow 267 people.

[01:01:24] Discover a world

[01:01:25] where words ignite change.

[01:01:27] Tune in to Black Books Matter,

[01:01:29] the podcast,

[01:01:29] where we celebrate

[01:01:30] the profound impact

[01:01:31] of African-American literature.

[01:01:34] Join us as we delve

[01:01:35] into iconic works

[01:01:36] and hidden gems,

[01:01:37] discussing their power

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[01:01:42] Get ready for thought-provoking

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[01:01:53] of African-American authors

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[01:01:58] What's going on, family?

[01:02:00] This is Derek Young

[01:02:01] and Ramonda Young,

[01:02:02] owners of both

[01:02:03] Mahogany Books

[01:02:04] and the Mahogany Books

[01:02:05] Podcast Network.

[01:02:06] We really want to thank

[01:02:07] each and every one of you

[01:02:08] for listening to this episode.

[01:02:10] And if you enjoyed

[01:02:11] what you just heard,

[01:02:12] drop us a review

[01:02:13] and rate us on whatever platform

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[01:02:16] We truly appreciate

[01:02:17] each and every one of you

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[01:02:19] and making us your go-to

[01:02:20] for Black books.

[01:02:21] And we look forward

[01:02:22] to connecting with you

[01:02:23] all sometime in the future.

[01:02:24] Thank you again, fam.

[01:02:25] And always remember,

[01:02:27] Black Books Matter.