Episode Transcript
[00:00:04] Speaker A: Yo, it's effective immediately. I'm DJ Head.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: And it's your favorite homegirl, Gina Views, man.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: We got a special guest in the studio. He's no stranger to the Internet. You already know who it is. It's the independent God himself.
I didn't call him that. The people saying that LaRussa was here, you heard. You know what I'm saying? What's up, fool? You good?
[00:00:21] Speaker C: What's happening, man? I'm.
[00:00:22] Speaker A: Well, you got a lot going on right now.
[00:00:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: But first, I want.
First, congrats on the project, though. I'm a huge Lil Jon fan.
[00:00:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: And I've been trying to get him up here for, like, a year, bro. Like, I've been trying to interview Lil Jon for, like, the last six years.
[00:00:37] Speaker C: Yeah, he ain't fucking with you.
[00:00:39] Speaker A: It ain't him. We can talk about that later.
[00:00:41] Speaker C: Okay?
Okay.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: But I do want to get into this.
Where are you from?
[00:00:50] Speaker C: Niggas play too much. Yeah.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: So now there's a. You know, you said you wanted to see them, show it to you. It's this thing that's like. It's this La Russell cheat sheet. And it says here, you say the questions that I'm not supposed to ask you.
[00:01:04] Speaker C: Okay, let's see.
[00:01:08] Speaker A: Just right there. Just right there. I already put it.
[00:01:10] Speaker C: Where are you from?
What was it like growing up in Vallejo? Who is La Russell? How long have. When did you start rapping? How. Why did you start rapping? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Them lazy journalism questions.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Okay, so they lazy journalism questions.
[00:01:25] Speaker C: Yeah. I think after a nigga do a hundred and be all over the net, that if you still gotta ask those ones, it's like, we.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: We in the wrong space.
[00:01:33] Speaker C: We in the wrong spot. Yeah.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: Is there? Oh, go ahead. Sorry.
[00:01:37] Speaker B: I was just gonna say welcome back.
This is your second time on the show.
[00:01:41] Speaker C: I'm honored and grateful to be back.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: A lot has happened since the last time we seen you.
[00:01:45] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:01:46] Speaker B: I just wanna know, where are you mentally?
[00:01:48] Speaker C: I'm at, like, a eight, nine out of ten. Yeah.
[00:01:55] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:01:56] Speaker A: What is that, though? What's the metric on that?
[00:01:58] Speaker C: Like, eight, nine?
[00:01:59] Speaker A: What, like happy, successful? Like, rich. I know you rich, but what's, like, all the above?
[00:02:07] Speaker C: I'm really grateful for my positioning right now, you know, even with all that's going on, like, I got a lot of gratitude in it. And just being in a position where a nigga is worth talking about, you know, I had a call from. I was on the phone with Russ the other day, and he was like, man, this Is your rite of passage into the industry. You're now learning that what you say is more important than you thought it was. You know, and we hollered and it's like, I didn't see.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: I'm glad you said that, though. Cause, I mean, I don't. Just so you know, I don't disclose my private conversations publicly. I'm not one of them niggas. Like, if you call me, if you call my phone, you be like, yo, I want to pick your brain or holler at you. I'm not. I don't be on the air with it. But that is something that I told you as well.
[00:02:46] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:02:47] Speaker A: But I think the important part is how you handle that.
When he told you that, did it resonate to you or did you. Do you think about it as a. Do you think about it like, yeah, for sure. I agree with. That Is the rite of passage. Or you be like, man, that's Cap. Fuck that.
I'm not fucking with it.
[00:03:04] Speaker C: Yeah. You know, it's a saying that's been sticking in my head that's like, if I didn't matter, it wouldn't matter.
You know, like, all during that Lil Wayne shit, it was a bunch of niggas in my comments who like, nigga, you ass. You can't rap. Shut the fuck up. Opinion don't matter. But it's like, if I didn't matter, none of this shit would matter. You feel me? So I agree with it with the
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Lil Wayne thing, though. I know you, obviously. You spoke about it in the interview. That's where all of this stemmed from, where it came from. But looking back, do you regret the way that you voiced your opinion about Lil Wayne's music back in the day?
[00:03:37] Speaker C: No.
[00:03:38] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:03:39] Speaker C: Especially because I didn't have malicious intentions with anything that I said. Like, I know what I meant in my heart.
And anytime, sometimes the way you send a message, it ain't received. So, nah, I definitely don't regret it. It's a learned lesson. It's like, okay, I get how someone could take it that way, but this is a nigga. That's his picture on my living room wall, you know? So when I said it, I know I didn't mean no malice. I shared my truth and I said from my experience. And n, like, nigga, that's all our experience. Then, you know, like, people take your experience and your truth as world truth, and that's not what it is do
[00:04:16] Speaker B: when you look back now that you've got, like, the backlash and stuff, not the recent thing but just from. Cause I want to say, I don't know if you got backlash before crazy like this, like it is right now.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Never. No, no. This new. This new. This new money.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: You go back and, like, rewatch. Cause I know you did. Cause it was clipped out of context. I believe you have posted that it was clipped out of context, and then you posted the full clip to give everybody the full version of what you actually said versus what the pages had clipped. You know, you saying, did you go back and re Listen to it to see, like, did I say this wrong? Did I deliver this the wrong way or anything?
[00:04:50] Speaker C: Definitely. You know, I always.
Anytime shit like this happen, I go sit and I go look and I be like, am I tripping or is niggas tripping? You know, I'm not above that. And I went back and I looked and I was like, you know, that's why I did make an apology to Wayne. Cause it's like, you know, I don't never want to. To knock a nigga legacy. Like, I don't want a nigga thinking that's what I was doing based on what the interviewer was asking me. I was explaining something. You feel me? So definitely I went back and it was like, I can see how a nigga could take it that way, but that's not what I meant.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Do you believe that Lil Wayne does have songs in his catalog of substance?
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Of course.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: So you don't believe that? It's just.
[00:05:32] Speaker C: I never said he didn't, Okay? I never said he didn't. I never said he couldn't rap. I never said he wasn't one of the greatest. I never said he had no substance. None of those things came out my mouth. That's just what the Internet ran with. You feel me? They took it and they was like, this. What this nigga said, even though it was right there, you know, that's what they took.
Even though it was just a conversation last year, around super bowl with the whole world knocking him and doing this, you know, like, that's just what they took. Even though that's been discourse for the longest time. You feel me? It's the messenger.
[00:06:03] Speaker B: It's the messenger.
[00:06:05] Speaker C: You know, niggas start telling me I was unqualified and shit. And you know, the craziest thing about having a nigga tell you you unqualified is a nigga who unqualified to talk about you. You know, a nigga who's never done half of what I done could tell me I'm unqualified. And it's like, what have you done to make that justification?
[00:06:24] Speaker A: Is that. Do you. Do you look at that as an offensive thing? If people critique you who haven't done the things that you've done, if they're not in the arena that you're in,
[00:06:34] Speaker C: though, I don't think it's offensive.
I just think.
I think there's only so much that Stephen A. Can say about LeBron before it's like, all right, we hear you, but you don't do this at all. You feel me? Like, you're not. You don't do this at all. So I get it.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: You don't even. You don't rap, so you don't put out music.
[00:06:58] Speaker C: You can't even step on that court. You've never had a record that people sing. You've never thrown a show and sold it out. You never built nothing. You know, it's just words like, I've done all these things. You feel me?
[00:07:11] Speaker B: Did you expect when you said that for you to get the backlash you got?
[00:07:15] Speaker C: Hell, nah.
Hell no. Cause, you know, I'm just. You said everybody else said it last time. I'm just now getting to the space where I'm like, oh, niggas is paying attention. But N ain't even paying attention to what I'm saying. You feel me? Cause that interview was. I got 100 interviews. Well, I be talking, you know, when I get in front of a mic, I have candid conversations. I don't withhold things. I share how I feel. And N don't take none of that shit. This was just a random moment. So it's like, n really don't care. The comments was full of niggas telling me they didn't care.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: That's how our comments are.
[00:07:50] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, yeah, right. It's been a very interesting two years for me.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: So we get dragged all the time. But that's why I asked the question, do you go back and watch it to see what you said in the wrong way? Cause anytime. A lot of the times, I clickbait the people that be mad at us. Like, I cut our clips. So I cut the clip in a way that I know is going to react, you know, like, piss people off or whatever. But I do realize in some of the moments where I didn't clip it out of context and I clipped it in context where I am the problem because I delivered the message the wrong way, because I might have said a word that I wasn't supposed to say or, you know, like, you used a word in the wrong context. You know, people.
[00:08:29] Speaker C: People will look and find every reason to have a problem with you. If they got a problem with you.
No matter what you do, no matter what your intention is, no matter how your heart is, no matter how much you do. If they've been waiting for a reason to, like, have a problem with you, they gonna find it, context or no context.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: So fast forward.
I never thought I'd see the day where you and Jack Harlow would be in the same canceled box, man.
[00:08:58] Speaker C: Man, me and Jack, my nigga, I didn't see that coming.
[00:09:04] Speaker A: It's not my nigga, it's Monica.
I'm fucking with you.
[00:09:07] Speaker B: That's Monica, though. I didn't see that on my 2026 bingo card.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: Oh, God, that's my bingo. I fuck with me neither.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: With that situation, you know, recently, the Epstein and the. The Heaven Sent conversation.
Do you regret anything that you've done within that situation? Like, just as far as the song, the performance from the beginning, not listening to your engineer?
[00:09:31] Speaker C: Not at all.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: The way that you responded?
[00:09:34] Speaker C: Not at all.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: The way that you've been handling it this whole time?
[00:09:37] Speaker C: Not at all.
[00:09:37] Speaker B: No regrets at all?
[00:09:38] Speaker C: None.
[00:09:40] Speaker B: Do you think you've said anything wrong?
[00:09:42] Speaker C: No.
[00:09:43] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:09:44] Speaker C: Yeah. No.
[00:09:47] Speaker A: Is there a person who you.
I don't wanna say, like, who you look to for guidance, but is there somebody in your life that will hit you and call and, like, be like, hey, you tripping the engineer? Well, no, I'm talking about.
I'm talking about, like, after.
[00:10:02] Speaker C: Like, after the fact, if I'm really tripping. Yeah.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: Is somebody in your. Okay, what did that person have to say about this?
[00:10:09] Speaker C: These niggas stupid.
[00:10:13] Speaker A: These niggas stupid.
[00:10:14] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: You got another person.
[00:10:20] Speaker C: Nope. That's all it is. That's it. I think that it's fake outrage.
And I think I'm an artist. I can make whatever art comes to me. I don't sit there and intentionally be like, I'm going to write about this person. Anybody who makes music, you know, at a level where you really rapping about something, not just bullshit, but rapping about life, you know how that come to you? You feel me? And as an artist, it's our job to put art out into the world, however that may come. I don't have to change my art because it makes you uncomfortable. Especially if I don't have evil intentions or malice or hurt anyone. You feel me? It's my art. But like I said, a nigga gonna find whatever they wanna find when that's.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: They go, yeah, I agree with that. Now I Run into the problem often, I think. I don't know if I shared this with you or not, but I run into the problem often where I say wrong shit all the time. Like, I just. Because I'm not. I don't have a lot of empathy, I guess. And so I just say shit that come to my brain because I'm binary in nature. And is there for you.
Was there a time where throughout this process where you were like, maybe if I said it this way, they would understand what I'm saying? And then. Second part to that question is, do you understand where other people are coming from?
At the bare minimum?
[00:11:34] Speaker C: No. Okay. Because when I said free Palestine, there was people who was offended.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:11:41] Speaker C: Am I supposed to apologize to them? When I made 20 shots and I talk about them niggas killing Stevonte Clark and shooting them 20 times, it's people who's offended. I'm supposed to apologize. When I made Proud Boys, it was full of comments of people offended. It's my art.
I'm going to put out in my art. Whatever comes to me through my channel, through my vessel. I'm not gonna apologize for something that I'm not. If I maliciously meant to hurt you. And it's like, damn, that was a miss on my end. Like, I could recognize when it is. Like with Dwayne shit, it was like, damn, I could see how that is, but with this. That's not what it is.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: I used to think that too. Like, I used to think, like, when I say stuff I don't own. I literally have said that on the radio. I don't own none of the responsibility. If I say something, my intention is not malicious.
And then I had to learn, like, oh, these are human beings, you know what I mean? They have feelings and emotions and stuff like that. So I understand that. I think you'll feel differently later on. Cause I'm old now. So now it's like, whatever. I don't wanna argue, but I think also when you said, I think it's also not just people don't like you. I also think it's the. When you add the biblical reference or nuance to it, that strikes another layer of human being.
[00:12:53] Speaker C: You know what I mean?
[00:12:54] Speaker A: Because now you impeding on their core values. Do you get that perspective?
[00:12:58] Speaker C: No, because I feel like that shit be fake.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: I agree with you.
[00:13:02] Speaker C: All the niggas I see talking about all these core value and we don't believe this. It's like, bro, we see what you support, we see what your homies own. We See what your uncles own. We see what your cousins on. We see what's on your playlist.
You would be in Donald Trump comments every day, not mine, if you were serious.
You'd be outside marching every day if you was serious. But you're not you in my comments, you feel me, like, the outrage ain't real.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: I agree with you with the fake outrage. And that's why I don't think apology is warranted at all, because it is fake outrage. It's people just upset about things for the time, you know, for the moment being. But I feel like when you said. Cause you led it with. I think your caption said, my engineer told me not to put this out. And I feel like that comes off as arrogant, like, where it's like, if somebody is listening to you, somebody is supporting you, and they're, you know, they're engineering your music and they say, I don't think it's a good idea for you to drop this. And then you put it out anyway. I think you've done a great job of explaining. You wrote a long caption. You wrote a long post today, and you said, y' all support this? Y' all support this. Da da da da. You did an interview with Boulevard Kev, where you broke it down, you know, more. And like, you said, this is art. So I do think, with all due respect, as a rapper, I don't think you did a.
A well job of setting up the bar, if that makes sense. Like the way that. Cause it just the. Obviously you've been on the Internet for long enough so you know what? People are attracted to negativity. The first thing that people is going to is, oh, shit. He said Epstein. And then you mix Epstein in the box with Malcolm X. Did you say Martin Luther King?
[00:14:39] Speaker C: Martin Luther King. And then you said.
[00:14:40] Speaker B: And even you like.
[00:14:41] Speaker C: And Hitler.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Like, I'm like Hitler and Epstein. You get what I'm saying? So I think that that's where people they mind went to. Now I'm.
I never shot a ball in the gym, you know, Like, I'm just a fan of it, but I am into, like, rap and battle rap and stuff like that. So I think that if you delivered it in a different way and you set it up differently, then people would have been able to more so relate to the parts.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: Yeah. And I feel that. But it's my art.
But I do. I do feel that. And maybe somebody else could deliver it differently. But how it came to me when I sat down and I hear the beat and I close my Eyes. And I say, speak to me. What do I need to. What's coming out? That's how it came.
[00:15:20] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:15:21] Speaker C: You feel me?
[00:15:21] Speaker B: Another narrative that I've seen on the Internet, so we all Internet niggas.
[00:15:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Is that people think that you didn't understand or you don't know the actual meaning of heaven sent. What is your.
For you. To you. Like, what is heaven sent to you?
[00:15:38] Speaker C: I think heaven sent is anything that God creates and puts on this earth. Like, I've seen people, you know, niggas start using chatgpt in the dictionary all of a sudden, and posting a heaven sent means a gift from God sent to heaven. And I believe a child is heaven sent. Correct.
Like, to their definition, a child is heaven sent. Right. If you had a child, that's heaven sent. Correct. Was all them niggas not a child that's heaven sent.
So even the niggas who like, well, this the definition. It's like, bro, your child is heaven sent. That was somebody child at one point. People negate.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: The children are heaven sent, but the monsters is the devil.
[00:16:19] Speaker C: And that has nothing to do with God. What you do after I place you here is within your free will. That's what you become. The world gets you. God didn't make Epstein, the Epstein that, you know, he made that nigga a baby and put them in somebody mama and was delivered to the world. Heaven sent. A gift from God. That don't change.
But you know, when people are in uproar and outrage, even what you put is like, bro, that's what this is. Yeah, you can't.
The evil is of the world. You ain't never met no child who was racist, who just got into the world. Nigga ain't came out the womb. Like, fuck these niggas that don't exist. They have to learn that behavior. They have to be taught that that's after God's work.
[00:17:00] Speaker B: See those layers? I feel like the way that you just said that those layers are important. And I understand, like you said, art
[00:17:07] Speaker C: don't always come in that form though.
[00:17:09] Speaker B: Fab said, never trust shit. Even the devil was an angel, right? Obviously he not telling us that an angel and the devil is the same person, but it's just the way that it was set up that I think it just helps it because like you said, people are looking for shit. People been mad at you since the people. For all we know, people probably being mad at you.
[00:17:29] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, from the jump, you know?
[00:17:30] Speaker B: Cause I start sending. You know, when you piss somebody off, you see all these other shots in there, they start calling you Hip Hop Harry.
[00:17:36] Speaker C: And like, nigga, y' all was waiting
[00:17:38] Speaker B: bars off, you know, so it's kind of like, you like, you know, here, let me piss y' all off a little bit more. Let me give you this rope to hang me.
[00:17:45] Speaker C: Yeah. You know? Yeah.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: Did you find.
Did you get any of this energy from when you announced, like, the super bowl collaboration?
Any of the other accolades that you had? Like, you had. You've been. Had a crazy year.
[00:17:58] Speaker C: Yeah, I feel like it's been.
It's been this. It's been around for a little while, honestly. Like, I've seen the little sly shit for a while now. It's just more abundant. Cause sometimes a hating nigga need other hating niggas to come out to be like, all right, we can join the party.
You know, they sit back until it's like. You know how sometimes you'll get into a fight and a nigga won't jump in, but if it's 10n jumping, a nigga, they'll sneak they little punch in and they kick. Cause they know you can't get it, you know? So that's just how it is. But it's been for a minute, you know, it's been a little while. But ever since the signing and more accolades, I see it more and more, but it's like, man, T said something the other day. She was like, man, if 6 million people see you, that's 6 million opinions you gotta deal with.
And, you know, my monthly reach is anywhere from 50 to 80 million just on Instagram. So that's a lot of eyes and opinions that come with it.
[00:18:51] Speaker A: It come with it.
[00:18:52] Speaker B: How did the Roc Nation situation become a thing?
[00:18:57] Speaker C: They been.
We've been chopping it up for, like, the past two years, but I just kind of been moving. I'm like, I'm gonna just do my thing, you know, I still had a little chip on my shoulder from the first time, but it's just slowly kinda climbed. And when I did this record with Lil Jon, we been in the studio and we was talking, and he's like, man, give this the energy and effort it deserves. You know, I know how you like to drop things and you'll move on, but, like, you know, I'm giving you my time. Give it that. Like, trust me. Trust my process. And I made a commitment to him and to myself and to my team. Like, we gonna really try to work this one. We gonna really put it out there. So just in that thought, I was like, let Me find a partner that aligns and makes sense, that's gonna let a nigga do what I need to do, but also can assist.
And they've just been around for a while, like, man, we wanna do something with you, you know, if you want to and you're ready. So we kinda met and, you know, I had a list of things that like, usually when you do a deal, they give you deliverables, but you don't get to give them deliverables. But I had a list of things. I was like, this is what I want for myself. Can you meet these? Yes or no? And they was like, we can help with these, let's do it.
[00:20:02] Speaker B: So you're assigned to them or is it a partnership? What's the.
[00:20:04] Speaker C: Yeah, I have a partnership.
[00:20:06] Speaker B: What made you change your mind
[00:20:09] Speaker C: about signing?
[00:20:11] Speaker B: Cause last time we talked to you,
[00:20:13] Speaker C: I've never been anti deal, okay? I've always been anti Bad Deal. I've never been anti label. From the jump, you know, I got early interviews of me explaining to people I'm never anti a nigga helping me put my shit to the masses. I've always been anti bad deal. My first interaction with Roc Nation just happened to be a bad situation, so it didn't align.
But what changed my mind this time was just like, where I'm going and where I'm headed, you know, I built a lot independently. I've made history. I'm one of the only independent artists that sold an album for 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 18,000. I made history. I got my own ticketing platforms, I got my own infrastructure.
And now I'm like, I want to take this to the world. Like, I see people come in my backyard and they lives change, they children, lives change. I've had grannies come with their grandchildren and it's like, man, this is special. This mean everything to me. And we want to make sure everybody get that experience. Especially now in hip hop, I feel like it's necessary for a nigga who smiling and putting positivity and lighting and helping the community to be at the forefront.
[00:21:18] Speaker A: What was one of those things you said you handed them a list? What was one of those non negotiables for you? You don't have to say the list,
[00:21:23] Speaker C: but radio, that was a non negotiable for you. The first one was like, you know, I did these records with Lil Jon. I don't want to prove that they're worthy to go to radio for you to believe it. We not gonna wait until Data says. And I'm not waiting on all that. We gonna go to radio because I believe in the song and I think it should go there or we not gonna do it at all because you don't believe in it in the same way. And that was instant. That was one of the main things that. That was just my testament to see if you committed to what I wanna get done.
[00:21:54] Speaker A: Why is that so important to you?
[00:21:57] Speaker C: I truly believe that it'll be hard for millions of people to hear me every day and not find their way into my funnel and in my system. Like you gonna. You gonna find you gonna end up enjoying me in some form. You know, like after you get to hear it on the radio and your kids like it and they sing and they dance to it, you gonna find your way into my system. And I just feel like that's the biggest. It's the biggest way to broadcast. You know, I run ads, but radio is the biggest ad you can run.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: The reason why I ask is. Cause a lot of people in now digital era don't believe in radio. They think it's antiquated. They think it don't make sense for them. They think they don't need. I remember literally 10 years ago, I'm not gonna say the artist was. But they were telling me, they were telling me while I was at the radio station, I don't need to fuck with radio. And I'm like, but you here. You know what I mean? And so it's interesting to hear your perspective on it.
[00:22:48] Speaker C: I think if Kendrick's still doing it and he the biggest hip hop artist in the world and you think that you don't need to do it, you just lost.
I mean, they wouldn't be doing it if it didn't matter.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: I agree with you.
[00:23:01] Speaker C: Everybody who went in arena on the radio, I agree with you. I'm trying to be in the arena.
Word.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: Was there anything that you had to compromise with signing?
[00:23:16] Speaker C: None.
That's the beauty.
I didn't do a deal that they crafted. You know, I got to sit with Christian and Cruz and you know, up there and they was like, send us what you want to do. Make us a proposal so we don't fuck this up. Tell us exactly what you want and we'll say we can do it or we can't do it. So I didn't have to bend in no way even down to my non exclusivity. Like before this Lil Jon out, I just dropped an album a week before on my own distro, doing my own thing. You know, any song that I Make I can say, hey, I want to bring this here, or just let me rock and I'm going to work this one.
So it hasn't been nothing that I had to be in on my end. Like, I still get to do it, Everything I've been doing, but now with support and infrastructure.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: How did you guys mend the relationship if it's not too personal to talk about?
[00:24:07] Speaker C: Time and communication. Like, they explained everything that was going on during that time. The first time. Yeah. And why it went that way and how that's not how they feel and that's not what they about. And, you know, they also got a new regime. You know, the people I had that experience with ain't even there no more. You know, it's a whole new regime of, this is what we after, this what we trying to build. This is what we want to do. This is what you mean to us. And, you know, my final thing was like, I want to holla at HOV, and I gotta holla at HOV.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: So you got that? What was that? $500,000.
[00:24:42] Speaker C: Come on. In the dinner or dinner? Come on. Oh, you got both of them. Both of em. Combination in the dinner.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: Okay, wait, but before that, which one would you have taken? The dinner or the money?
[00:25:01] Speaker C: I'd probably take half a million over a dinner anytime.
Anytime. I take anytime.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: Right?
[00:25:09] Speaker C: Yeah. I realize I'm thinking in my head, like, who could be on the other side anytime. I'm gonna take half a million over dinner anytime.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: What if it's me sitting on the other side?
[00:25:19] Speaker C: Talk to you for free, nigga.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Nigga, I can talk to you for free.
[00:25:24] Speaker A: That nigga just looked at me so crazy.
[00:25:26] Speaker C: Nigga.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: Okay, so the non negotiable, we went over that, but. And then you. So I don't want to blow past what you just said. You negotiated in your deal that you got to holler at hov.
[00:25:42] Speaker C: It's not in the paperwork, but that was my stipulation. Yeah. Yep.
[00:25:46] Speaker A: And they was like, okay, well, the
[00:25:49] Speaker C: thing was like, we gonna send it up, you know, and we gon go. And then I got the call and it was like, he want to meet.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: Wow.
I remember when y' all posted that. Is there something that you could share from that conversation? Because 99.9% of humans will never have a conversation with HOV or 500.
[00:26:07] Speaker C: We documented the whole convo. You recorded the whole thing? Video and audio. We finna. I got some clips coming.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: This nigga think he's slick. He got a Jay Z interview coming.
[00:26:17] Speaker C: I got a Whole interview. This nigga did a whole interview. A whole interview.
[00:26:21] Speaker B: Oh, they about to tear four and a half hours. They bout to tear you down, man.
[00:26:25] Speaker C: Let him.
I'mma keep going up.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Wait, wait, wait, wait.
[00:26:28] Speaker C: Let em. I got two. I got a whole vendor view.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: You see, head got chill bumps.
[00:26:32] Speaker C: Hey, I got a whole vent of you.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: Okay, so. All right, so look, tell me something that he shared with you. Just one thing.
[00:26:41] Speaker C: Something that stuck out to me while we was there.
He said a lot, but something that really stuck out to me was him saying how he recognized.
It's funny with all that's going on with me, but this point that he got to. He kept saying, there's no.
He said there's no.
But what did he say with his speech? There's no.
Againstness in my speech.
And he was trying. He kept saying, he's like, you know, I try not to have no againstness in my speech. And all throughout our conversation, like, we spoke about the prior deal and prior people and the system at play. And he would deliberately try to not knock anyone or be against anyone, but really, you know, speak truthfully, but not in a way that someone will feel like they're offended or he's against them because he know how easily, you know, with hip hop, with. With his power and with his voice that they could. That could be taken that way.
And that's something that really just resonated with me, you know? And at the end, him saying, you know, I try not to have no againstness in my speech because of how mighty people see me. Not because of who I am, but who they think I am.
[00:28:01] Speaker A: I know people that talk to him.
That sounds on Brand.
I got a couple more things for you. One is, again, this Little John thing. Something's in the Water. I'm jealous because of your relationship with Lil Jon, but also you being from the Bay Vallejo, specifically.
It's 20, 26.
[00:28:21] Speaker C: Yeah, it's 20 years.
[00:28:23] Speaker A: 20 years of my Get a Report Card.
[00:28:25] Speaker C: Yup.
[00:28:26] Speaker A: I wanna know what's your favorite song off my Get a Report. Or. Okay, give me two records, your favorite song and the best song. Cause those typically are two different things off my Get a Report Card. And you can't use Tell Me when to go.
[00:28:44] Speaker C: My favorite song is Muscle Cars.
The best song is subjective, but I' ma go Yay area. Because I know what it do for us, you know, and what it mean to us.
[00:29:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I imagine that that's one of them records that, like. It's like. I don't know, it would probably be the equivalent to, like, ain't no fun to us. You know what I mean? It's just like, bro, that's one of them. I don't know nobody. I've never met anybody that didn't like that song. And they don't even have to be from California to like that song. Okay. And then also the other thing is, speaking of, with Lil Jon, did you go into it knowing that you were gonna drop this year and have that connection with him, like Valeah, or did it just happenstance?
[00:29:40] Speaker C: I try not to even get in the lab if we can't go to the world. So those was active convos. We were saying, like, we finna get this out to the world. Like when we made the first song we made was having the. And it was out that week.
We turned it around instantly. So the whole time we was like, we finna make. After that first session, it was instantly, we gonna end up making an album. I think we made five songs the first session, so we already knew we was in that mold. And yeah, I knew it was coming down the pipeline.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: How did you get introduced to him?
[00:30:11] Speaker C: Years ago, Hanny from the Bay ended up hitting me and was like, john, over here at Empire, he rock with you. He want to connect. But I didn't. I wasn't, you know, I was in a place then and, you know, they was kind of doing they thing, so we didn't really get to meet in person. But we stayed connected and he been watching and we'd tap in every now and then. And we was having a convo just about like, what's next? What's the next move? And I remember E40 did an interview and he was like, man, I was in this position where I was indy. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do. And I had a dream. And he said, call Lil John.
Really?
Yeah, this is E40. Said that. And that day I was like, I'm finna hit Lil Jon. And I shot him a text and was like, hey, I'm in la, you trying to get in? And we was in the studio the next day. Since then, it's been connected.
[00:31:00] Speaker B: Do you have any other dream collapse?
[00:31:05] Speaker C: Charlie Wilson, bro, you a old nigga. Yeah, like, definitely on the low. Definitely you a young, old nigga. That's why all this, you know, shit be throwing me sometimes.
[00:31:17] Speaker B: What you would make for Charlie?
[00:31:20] Speaker C: We got some shit.
We got some. I got some shit with Montell Jordan.
[00:31:24] Speaker B: Oh, you already got it?
[00:31:25] Speaker C: Nah, nah. But I'm saying, like, you know, when we get to cooking. Like, me and Montel made something that was just. It's just classic. Backyard classic. I'm gonna have Uncle Charlie in the backyard going, yeah, this nigga's crazy.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: Also, the house band thing.
When did you. Was that part of the Roc Nation thing? Cause people try to staple that, man.
[00:31:45] Speaker C: They gave them niggas all our credit.
They ain't even know that was happening. You know, that was the. Not at all Roc Nation does the halftime show.
[00:31:53] Speaker A: Correct.
[00:31:54] Speaker C: You know, that's one part of the Super Bowl. But the rest of it, the NFL does. Cause they own it, you know? So we was hollering at them for a few months, but a friend of mine named George tapped in with the head of the NFL at January last year. I met him when we did Sunday service. He met me. He was like, man, I really like you and what you doing? I'm finna make you need to do Super Bowl. I'm finna connect you. And I'm just like, n.
It's old. You know, niggas be talking when they get out there. But he sent the email, and it didn't really go nowhere. And then as super bowl start approaching, he kind of circled back, and he like, look at everything he's done this year. He just made the connection first. So he can go back and show him. He like, look at everything he's done this year. Y' all gotta choose. It wouldn't make no sense to do nobody else.
[00:32:40] Speaker A: Cause they were. They already gonna do a house, Ben.
[00:32:43] Speaker C: No.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: So that was.
[00:32:44] Speaker C: We were the first.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: That was crazy.
[00:32:45] Speaker C: They made that shit. Yeah.
[00:32:46] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:32:47] Speaker C: Yep. Because it was. And we went and built the demand. And even, like, through the process, it was starting like, well, we don't know. We don't really have budget. We ain't got nothing for them. So I just was like, I'm finna go campaign. I went and got with the marching band and Pittsburgh and shot my own videos. And we. I'm like, russell, for Super Bowl, I just made so much noise. We became undeniable. And then they made the connection.
[00:33:08] Speaker A: Damn. That's.
[00:33:09] Speaker C: We rallied for ourself. We advocated for ourselves.
[00:33:12] Speaker A: And. Did something happen with one of your bandmates? Did somebody got bipped? Cause I remember that was like, in the streets on the low. I don't know if I bring that up.
[00:33:20] Speaker C: Yep, yep. They did before. Before the super bowl. The day. Nah, nah, not at all.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: I was just saying.
[00:33:26] Speaker C: I don't know if I say it, but the super bowl, they got bipped. Yep.
[00:33:29] Speaker A: So, okay. Cause that's some base shit. If you're not from California, you don't
[00:33:32] Speaker C: really know, but that's hella funny.
[00:33:33] Speaker A: But, like, the street, like, I got one of them. One of them?
[00:33:36] Speaker C: Yeah, it moved around.
[00:33:37] Speaker A: It moved around. I was like, yo, if you know anybody, like, you know, make one of them. So I called a couple people. I was like, I'm not in the bay right now, but I did, you know, saying circulate a little bit.
[00:33:46] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:33:47] Speaker A: But it ended up working out.
[00:33:48] Speaker C: It worked out okay. All right, all right.
[00:33:50] Speaker A: Bet. And then the last thing.
The last thing is community. Like, you always talk about feeding back in the community. I definitely want to touch on that because I think that's important, especially with all of the money you making it.
[00:34:02] Speaker C: You know, this. Don't.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: No, no, no, no, no. Don't do that.
[00:34:04] Speaker C: Because 25.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: You document posting it.
[00:34:09] Speaker C: You document it.
[00:34:10] Speaker A: You can't run from it. You made $11,000, Linda.
The IRS got Instagram, too.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: You got that chili on you.
[00:34:18] Speaker C: You better than me.
[00:34:19] Speaker B: I would have been telling the I'm
[00:34:20] Speaker C: rich happy on Twitter.
[00:34:23] Speaker B: I'm rich.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying?
[00:34:24] Speaker C: You put my money back into what I'm doing, building, so I don't get to have no. I don't get to see no money. You feel me? I take care of the hood and do what I need to do to make sure everybody's straight. And then I go invest back into my shit. Like, my backyard.
If you see it, it's like, bro, we put a lot of money in it. The compound, everything. So I ain't got no money.
For real.
[00:34:48] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:49] Speaker C: For real.
[00:34:50] Speaker A: You understand why people would feel differently?
[00:34:53] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:34:53] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:34:54] Speaker C: All right. Cause they watching the N play.
[00:34:57] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:34:57] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:34:58] Speaker A: And then. So, okay, so let me ask you this, then. What is the purpose of you posting? Like, this is how much we made from this specific person. This is how much we made from this. I understand it's marketing, but from LaRussell's mind, what is that? What is the reason for that?
[00:35:12] Speaker C: It's history.
[00:35:13] Speaker A: It's just documented.
[00:35:14] Speaker C: I've never. It's documented.
[00:35:15] Speaker B: That's why they watch history.
[00:35:16] Speaker C: I never seen somebody sell an album for $11,000. It's documentation of history. And, you know, with that, Kyrie said, we sold 11,000 and I gave it away. I went and paid people's rent and PGE and water and school supplies, we gotta sell for 20,000. I gave it away.
I took kids shopping. I bought a grocery store. I bought a bunch of gift cards from a grocery store. So people could go eat.
I ain't sitting on the money.
I get it.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: You should have said, larusso is heaven sent.
[00:35:46] Speaker C: Yeah. Y' all know what I mean? And he is.
And he is.
[00:35:50] Speaker A: Okay, let me ask you this. What's not heaven sent?
[00:36:00] Speaker C: That's tough.
I think everything God put on this earth, you know, through his will and his creation, is heaven sent. I think what you do with your life, which was my whole point in the song and even the song, like, sometimes as an artist, when you make music and it come. Cause I don't. It's hard to explain, but I don't like, right. Music intense. Like, this shit come to you, and you don't fully grasp or understand it until the end. Like, if you listen to the full song of Heaven Sent and what a nigga talking about, you'll be like, ah, you feel me? But you don't fully grasp it until the end. But even my message in that song is like, bro, we all start in pure form as a human life.
And you could go all the way this way, or you can go all the way that way. We all come from the same source. What are you gonna do with your life? Be responsible with it. That's the message.
[00:36:55] Speaker A: I think two things that.
Well, I agree with you, however, two things that I would say are not heaven sent. One is sugar free gum. That shit's terrible. The other one, huh?
[00:37:07] Speaker C: You don't like grits. God ain't make sugar free gum, nigga, but he blessed the hands that did this, nigga.
[00:37:19] Speaker A: Niggas be. Hey, you know what?
[00:37:20] Speaker C: Niggas, right? Niggas try to find everything n be
[00:37:24] Speaker A: like, y' all play too much, right? And all the world.
[00:37:28] Speaker C: It's humor, it's light. It's everything. Like, nigga, fuck all this shit. Like, just even comedians like this nigga Mike Epps can't even make jokes without niggas. Like, how could you like everything just.
And it don't be real.
It don't be like, these niggas. Niggas be sitting at dinner tables with niggas they know did egregious shit.
And now you got a moral compass, nigga.
Yeah, nigga, for real.
[00:37:54] Speaker A: Yes. That's humanity, La Russell.
[00:37:56] Speaker C: Man, fuck them niggas.
[00:37:57] Speaker A: That's humanity. Welcome to human. Welcome to Earth.
[00:38:00] Speaker C: Humanity.
[00:38:02] Speaker A: Welcome to humanity.
But, yeah, make sure you go check out something's in the water. If not for LaRussa, at least for. For Lil Jon. Said God.
[00:38:12] Speaker C: Come on.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying?
[00:38:13] Speaker C: Come on.
[00:38:14] Speaker A: Like, not like that, but I fuck with Lil Jon. You know what I'm saying?
[00:38:18] Speaker B: But you plan on taking a break or anything from the Internet?
[00:38:23] Speaker C: You know what's crazy? When all this was happening, I didn't know it was happening. Cause I've been moving, I've been working. And then I came into the house. We came from playing pickleball. One day I came into the house, and the homie was like, man, you good? And I'm like, what the fuck you talking about? Like, I was genuinely confused. Cause like I said, I cut clips and shit, and then I just schedule them on hootsuite. So shit'll just go out. And I'm in the flow of my thing. I don't sit and be on it. So after I found out, it was my first time, in a little minute, like, oh, okay, now I see it all. But I didn't even know the shit was happening.
[00:38:55] Speaker B: You was like, I ain't gonna lie.
[00:38:56] Speaker C: I'm getting cooked, man.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:00] Speaker C: Hey. And you know, it's crazy. Cause this time, honestly, it was better than the first time. Because, nigga, the first time I was like, what the fuck going on?
But this time, I see.
[00:39:13] Speaker B: Have you talked to your engineer about this?
[00:39:19] Speaker C: Oh, God. That's a win for that.
That's a win for that engineer day.
[00:39:23] Speaker A: I want to shout him out.
[00:39:24] Speaker C: Ray.
[00:39:25] Speaker A: Hey. Shout out.
[00:39:25] Speaker C: Shout out. Ray. Ray.
[00:39:26] Speaker A: Ray.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: What's heaven sent?
[00:39:28] Speaker C: Oh, God.
Oh, God.
Hey, you know when. When. When Kanye said. When Kanye said Magic Johnson got a cure for aids and all the broke motherfuckers passed away. I'm sure it was a nigga in the room who was like, hey, and n. We still gonna go out to the world. Cause this our art, you know? And I think that shout out my engineer, but it's some other niggas, engineers who really need to step up and say something, you know?
[00:39:54] Speaker B: Shout out. Y' all don't listen.
[00:39:55] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true.
[00:39:56] Speaker C: You right.
[00:39:59] Speaker A: She right, man. Niggas do not listen, bro.
[00:40:01] Speaker C: You're right.
[00:40:01] Speaker A: Niggas do not listen.
[00:40:02] Speaker C: You're right.
[00:40:03] Speaker A: All right, well, thank you for coming through, bro.
You know, I appreciate, you know, you always being transparent.
[00:40:10] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:40:10] Speaker A: Even when n don't believe you, you always be in you.
[00:40:13] Speaker C: Come on.
[00:40:13] Speaker A: You know what I'm saying? And also, oh, last thing I wanna add. The conversation that I had with you on the phone. Can you share that with Russ, please?
Because my question to you is, can you say something about the struggle of the independent DIY approach to the music industry?
Just something that's a hardship for you.
[00:40:45] Speaker C: Sometimes being independent, going against the industry or being in the industry feels like you're the only nigga in the home run derby with a wooden bat.
And everybody else got them metal joints.
You the only nigga with, like, this, a real bat. But everybody else got the.
So when you yank your shit and it goes out, people like, oh, this nigga can't even hit a home run. He ain't gotta hit. You can't even hit. And they don't understand.
Well, theirs was funded. You know, theirs had a radio campaign, Theirs had a digital media campaign. They had paid ads. Theirs was funded. So the same song that may have went for me, that actually went viral, it just didn't get the same push and help that it did on that end. So we didn't get the same accolade. And that's how it worked with marketing and media for any product. I could literally make two pieces of merch today, put one up and run ads behind it. Put the other one up and don't run ads. And I'm a seller, dramatically different amount. So I feel like just. You're always at a disadvantage if you're seeking to have the same results.
And that's the tough thing as an indie, because you want the results. You want to be like, nigga, I sold 30,000 albums. That's more albums than some niggas sell in the system. You want the result of like, I did that. You want the affirmation. You want the result of, I did this venue, this venue. And you can't because you not within the system or the infrastructure. So you gotta understand that your results are gonna look different. And. And a nigga like me came really for. I did things independently that we've never seen done before. But there's still always that feeling of like, damn, I don't get the same result. My streaming don't get to look the same. I don't get the same result overseas. I don't have people pitching me. I don't have a staff of 100 people working my records and putting my name in a room. So I think that's the toughest thing, is just having to readjust yourself to what you see versus what you'll actually be able to yield. Cause you don't understand that it's a system at play and the game behind what's going on.
[00:42:57] Speaker A: Okay, I appreciate that. You know what I'm saying? Just something. But, yeah, go check out somethings in the water.
Are you planning on doing another tour?
[00:43:06] Speaker C: Not really.
[00:43:07] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:43:07] Speaker C: I'm in the backyard it's backyard season.
[00:43:09] Speaker A: Okay?
[00:43:09] Speaker C: So we at the crib.
[00:43:10] Speaker A: $1,000 membership.
[00:43:11] Speaker C: We at the crib, man.
[00:43:12] Speaker B: Where them free pop ups supposed to be at, Dave?
[00:43:14] Speaker C: We been doing them.
We actually about to do a dollar raffle show for the backyard. So for people, you know, who ain't been able to. But the backyard is offer based. There's niggas who still be in there for a $5, $10 now. But we gonna do a dollar raffle show just so everybody who been trying to get a chance get a chance.
[00:43:32] Speaker A: All right, well make sure you tap in for that.
[00:43:34] Speaker C: Nah, nah.
[00:43:35] Speaker A: Huh?
[00:43:36] Speaker C: Nah. You gotta do the $1,000 one you having.
[00:43:38] Speaker A: I'm not having nothing. I'm having or not. You have it or not. You know what I'm saying? The Russell was here though. It's effective immediately. Yeah, Sam.
