Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Yo. It's effective immediately. I'm DJ Head.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: What up, Hip Hop Nation? It's your favorite homegirl, Gina Views.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Yes. We have a special guest in the building. This man has been kicking up dust and causing trouble all over the Internet. And, you know, a world famous record exec, multiple hyphenates.
I. I wouldn't get into the nickname a little later. Ray Daniels that's pulled up on us. Welcome to the show.
[00:00:27] Speaker C: Thanks for having me. Thanks for having me. I appreciate y'all for having me here. Effective immediately.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Effective immediately.
[00:00:31] Speaker C: I made it in life. I mean, I see the brand everywhere. I'm like, okay, I'm here now. Let's go.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: I mean, I wouldn't say made it in life.
[00:00:37] Speaker C: Nah, man. Listen, you guys, usually I would be here where Big D is sitting in the corner while my artist is talking. Now that people want to talk to me, in my world, that mean you made it.
[00:00:45] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:00:46] Speaker B: Take them flowers.
[00:00:46] Speaker C: They want to talk to you.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: I appreciate you.
[00:00:48] Speaker C: I appreciate you, man.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:00:50] Speaker C: Let's go.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: What's up? What's up with this era? Niggas don't know how to take their flowers. Take your flowers.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, bro. But, yeah, like, I've been. I've known who you were for quite some time.
And for the people who are. I think that people are just starting to understand who you are to the game. But I think that you've made it your business to allow people into your world a little bit into your psyche, your mentality about things that you think about the music industry with independent artists. And then we get into the different business ventures. Shout out to Dame and 2 loss and everything you got going on. But just brief, for the people who don't know who the fuck Ray Daniels is, go ahead and give me just a little. Just a sentence I got you.
[00:01:34] Speaker C: The easiest way to say is, I have the number one song in the world right now eight weeks in a row. Okay?
I'm a guy that does this every day of my life. And, you know, it saved my family. So when you realize the weight of what you do and, like, how many lives that just me went and affected, then you start realizing you got bigger work to do. Like, you know, it's not enough that your mom don't work and your mom is okay, you should. If you got some information to help another person that look like you or just a person that's from the same background you from, you should give it to them. So that's kind of why I Talk crazy. I was always. And anybody who knows me know I was always crazy in the rooms anyway. I will always say crazy stuff. And then it would kind of like. That's how I built my reputation. I would say wild stuff. I remember being in a room with no ID and like, this, right when Drake came out, I was like, he gonna be the biggest artist in the world? He's like, no. And it was like, no way. He just dropped like, bro, I know he's gonna be the biggest artist in the world. And then he became that. So a lot of my stuff was saying crazy stuff in the room. And people be like, what? And I'm like, okay. And then it wound up coming to fruition. So I'm just a, you know, fortune teller. You know, I don't think it's that. I just think that guys like us get paid to see the future. You know, like, when you black. Well, you know, I don't want to say fortune.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: Tell me. Tell you why rebrand the shit out.
[00:02:41] Speaker C: Cause the future might not have a fortune in it.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:43] Speaker C: It might not have a fortune in it. It might be a misfortune. So for me, it's like, I just see the future and I get ready for that. That's how it works.
[00:02:49] Speaker A: I got you.
[00:02:50] Speaker B: That was a bar, though.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:02:52] Speaker A: Oh, no. They gonna come. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He got him all day.
Okay, before. Before I dive into, like, you know, some. Some stuff, I definitely want to get your thoughts and opinions on why the cultural referee. Like, where does that come from?
[00:03:04] Speaker C: Okay. Funny. I'm at the table with Shaka Zulu.
[00:03:08] Speaker A: Shout out to Shaka Shaka.
[00:03:10] Speaker C: And the mayor of Atlanta is Kasim Reid, right? We in this private room, and we talking, and I was just arguing like. I'm like, who's the most powerful black man in America? And I was saying, it's Jay Z. And then, you know, they was. And then Kasim was like, no, it's Barack Obama. I know that to be a fact. I'm like, how? Like. And I'm start breaking it down. And I would just be at the table arguing. Like, I thought Kanye was the number two rapper of all time. This is before he hit a billion. I'm like, I think he's the future. Like I said, I've always said crazy stuff. And then Kasim was like, man, you like a cultural referee, bro. Cause you were unafraid to talk about anything. And, you know, that's how I made my bones. So when he said it, I was like, man, let me embrace that, you know, like, I'm not a moniker guy, but, you know, the mayor of Atlanta said it. I'm gonna take it.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: Do you feel like what you do? I mean, I know you have multiple businesses which, like, I mean, your website, you have multiple services available for everybody for all walks of the business, right? Yeah, but would you say primarily you dive into consulting?
[00:04:03] Speaker C: No, no, no. You know, that's another thing. Like, I'm the person that understands it. 360. Like, this takes care of my mother. Like, my mother is a New York mother from the Bronx. I ain't working. I'm living my life. My son rich. That's it. When I realized that how many people depended on me instead of just, like, enjoying it, I learned the business, right? Like, a lot of people, how many dudes, you know, in this game right now making money that have no idea how the money comes, what they doing? They just. That's my point. So for me, it was like, because my mother survives off this, I felt like I needed to learn more about it. So, like, like I always say, bro, like, you wanna know who I am? I built my company with the guy that blocked for Tom Brady. I didn't build my company with Tom Brady. Right? And what I mean by that is, like, Tom Brady is known all over the world, right? But if you gotta be in the football circles and know who his center and his left tackle was that blocked for him, but they was the second highest paid person on the team because how important they was, they was only important to the world of football. So for me, when I started realizing that it was limited, I'm like, man, I built stuff that most people don't even know. Like, I built stuff most people don't even know how to do. And I did it with someone who no one in here knows. If I said, Taron Thomas, who is that? Oh, okay. He was the Grammy songwriter of the year last year, right? We got the number one song in the world that for eight weeks in a row right now, number three in the country, right? But he didn't want to be known. So for me, when I started realizing, like, I knew more than most guys. Cause, you know, in our business, you a star if you got a star. Like Scooter Braun is only a star because he had a star. It's not like he was a fucking star. I'm sorry, I'm cursing.
[00:05:28] Speaker A: No, you good?
[00:05:29] Speaker C: Okay. It wasn't like, say whatever, shit off. Exactly. So. Exactly. So, you know, so for me, when I started realizing that they only cared about who had the stars. It would piss me off. Cause I'm like, I'm smarter than these dudes. These dudes don't know how to build business. They just probably was next door neighbor to somebody who got hot. The cousin of somebody who got hot. The street dude and the neighbor. Somebody got hot. And they just follow that. But for me, January 2025 makes 20 years in the industry for me. And like literally 20 years and still having. Being this like where I'm at right now proves, like, what I'm saying is real. You just, it's just radical. It just might not sound like someone you heard, but like, I'm a part of the 85. That's why I like to tell people, like, you know, like in. In school, bro, like, they invested in the athletes. If he was an athlete, they invested in you. If you was played music, if you was musically gifted, if you was academically gifted, they pulled you out. I was just regular. I wasn't tall. It was like, nobody said. And I could be anything. It was like, damn. But I feel like I can be like, I could be something. But what I did was talk. And what the one thing they tell you to do in school not to do, don't talk. So I never was encouraged to be anything. And then once I finally figured out what I was gonna do and I figured out I made it, it was like, damn, I need to help as many people as I can because it's nothing like I thought it was. So that's why I started talking crazy.
[00:06:42] Speaker B: Can you take us back? You said this year will be your 20th year. Can you take us back to 2020? I'm sorry, 2004.
[00:06:49] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:06:50] Speaker B: What was the goal then? Cause you didn't. You started in 2005.
[00:06:53] Speaker C: So I was broke. I was broke. I was living with women off women. Like, Like a gigolo. Yeah. Like I had, like, I lived out.
[00:07:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:07:01] Speaker C: I lived out of a suitcase. Right. And I had these two chicks who took care of me. They both knew I knew about each other. I would go from house to house and hold em down. Huh? Yeah. I mean, listen, in Atlanta, black man is like gold, you know, if you're black in Atlanta, baby, I mean, if you're a man, I mean, it's guys that work at Chick Fil a that got girls in the club fighting over them. Because in Atlanta, black men is gold.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: So Chick Fil A make a lot of money though.
[00:07:23] Speaker C: Yeah, I worked at Chick Fil A before. That's how I learned it. Taught me a lot.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:07:27] Speaker C: Yeah. Like I'm like, That's what I'm saying. Like, what I realized is that everything that I became, I became. Because I just learned lessons, like. And I was like the kid that got the hard lesson. Like, I wasn't a kid that they was like, hey, man, you could do it. I see. I was a kid that was like, you're not gonna be shit. All right, so go to the army. Go to the. Go to. Go. Go get a job. And I was like, I think I could be more. So I just went for it, and here I am. And, like, literally, I didn't have anything. It wasn't like I had extraordinary things happen. It was just. I kept going. I did not quit. And what I learned was that successful people, like, people like that. Like, people be thinking that when people get rich, they don't want poor people around. No, they don't want the poor mentality around. But if you out there trying to get it, they. They would love to have you around because they. They see themselves in you. And everybody wants to help someone that reminds them of them. So I just started talking, man, you know, and then, you know, I was really trying to get a job. That was all I wanted, was another job. And then I realized that I had more people following me for what I was saying than the people at the labels.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: What was the first job not in the industry?
[00:08:26] Speaker C: Oh, first job was McDonald's. Then I left McDonald's work for Chick Fil a. That taught me everything about life. It's crazy how most of my lessons in life I learned. Like, I could just tell you. I put it like this. I worked at McDonald's. When I worked at McDonald's, they literally tell you, listen, we got one goal is to get the customer in and out. That's why. Have you ever noticed you go to McDonald's, when you pull up to the drive through, they make you pull to the side because it's a weight thing. And they just want to, when you pull off it, look like another customer was served. And that's how they keep their ratings up, right? So McDonald's whole thing was get the customer in and out. Chick Fil A, when they hired me, they said, hey, look, how much did you make at McDonald's? I told him, and he said, look, we're gonna pay you $2 extra. And I'm like, I'm 16. I'm like, that's amazing. Yeah. I'm like, that's amazing. He said, but you wanna know what? I'm paying you extra for you smile. I need you to smile. I don't care if you cooking. I don't care if you. If you where you at and if you mopping the floors, you need to smile. So then it starts. You. You start understanding, like, why Chick Fil a is like a restaurant that everybody still goes to and no one makes fun of it. Like, they say that people love you. That's because they trained you. So when I started realizing. So when I got in the music business, I just brought Chick Fil a mentality to it. Like, you know, y'all been around this. You know how you meet somebody, they feel like they're God, right? Like, I remember being in a room with certain songwriters and they'd be like, that's the record.
I said it. Or producers. That's the record. Trust me. And if the artist say, yo, what can I try? No, that's the record. I was like, nah, we not gonna do it like that. I told Teron, I said, we gonna be Chick Fil a. Like, everybody who comes to the studio gonna feel like they was Beyonce or Usher when they left. I don't care who you are. Like, working with new baby actions like, yo, you wanna change the lyric here? No problem. Change the lyric. I put 10% of the record to the side for you to change the lyric. Now that artist likes you and they treat you. So. Most of our hits came from new artists that just kept coming back. So, like, we got Lizzo biggest hits, our first hits. We got lotto hits. We got the Rosie hit right now, the apt record with Bruno Mars. Like, most of our records came from new acts. It wasn't like we was working with, like, we didn't get the call for Usher. We got the call for one chance and then we gave one chance to wreck it. And Usher was like, come work with me now. But I was cool with that. Cause I'm like, shit, I'm not trying to. Like, they'll make you think you gotta go their way. And I'm like, oh, there's other ways in the room. You just gotta figure out what makes you comfortable. Some people might feel like they wanna walk in a room and show everything they got. Some people feel like they don't. Whatever works for you. Just figure out how to make that work. And that's what we did. So, you know, here, 20 years later, so, 2004, I was just trying to figure out how to get some money. I'll never forget, I got my check December 24th. I couldn't put it in the bank. I couldn't put it in the bank. I never forget. December 24th, 5:15pm the mall closed at 45 minutes. Check came. He sent me 5,000 cash and 32,000 in a check. I called my whole family. You talking about homeless for two years. Tell you a funny story. I worked at. I was really sick. I was sick the whole 2004. I was sick because I was passing out flyers. Rain, sleet as snow. So I was so sick that I was like, man, you might die if you don't go to the damn doctor and get some healthcare. So I went to Grady Hospital. That's the broke man's hospital in Atlanta, you know? And I applied, and the lady was like, well, where's your. Bring your latest paycheck? I remember forget. It was November. Like, November right before Thanksgiving. And I brought it. And she was like, sir, I need your real paycheck. Like, you didn't make $2,200 this whole year. I was like, yes, I did. And I survived. Like, I had a chick paying my phone bill, everything. So that's how broke I was. So when I got my first check, like, even now, like, I'm cool now, but I wasn't cool in my twenties. Niggas in their twenties was getting money and going to magic, fucking with strippers, traveling. I bought my mom a car, bought my mom a house. Like, I was that guy. I'm like, I'm taking care of everybody in my family. Before I bought. Like, I bought my mother a Benz, before I bought myself a Rolex. I built our kids a pool before I bought myself a watch. Cause I'm like, bro, if you working as a man, why you not taking care of your family? I feel that that's the only goal that a man should have. So when I realized that I was. It wasn't cool in the 20s, but now I'm in my 40s. Everybody loves it now. We love the man you are. When I was in my 20s, it was like, I was lame as hell.
[00:12:12] Speaker A: Like, I did the same thing.
[00:12:13] Speaker C: Yeah. Like, I did the right. I always wanted to make the right decision, bro. Cause what I never wanted to do was go back home, and the people that told me I couldn't be shit laugh at me. I knew you wasn't gonna make it. You weren't gonna. Why was you trying? I knew that was gonna happen to me, and that wasn't gonna happen to me.
[00:12:28] Speaker B: Was there any pressure at all to keep up with the people that were in your age group that was fucking their money off and going to the strip clubs and Doing things like that?
[00:12:37] Speaker C: Nah. Because I'm from Atlanta. And, you know, in Atlanta, you know, like I said, a black man is worth a lot of money there, so you don't have to do that. They just chose to do that. I didn't. I never was into that. Like, I don't like, dog. Like, I don't understand. Like, I always tell people, you wonder how much. You know how much your environment controls you. Like, if I tell anybody in this room right now, yo, bro, go to the ATM for me. Get as Max you can get out $500 out and just throw it in the air. What? Why would I do that? But we do it at the strip club. Y'all niggas are stupid to me. Y'all followers. Like, y'all are literally doing it because everybody else is doing it. And I ain't never. I'm not. I've never been that guy. I didn't smoke my first joint till I was 42. Like, I just always did what I wanted to do. If it worked for me, I did it. If it didn't work for me, I just didn't have to do it. And I wasn't. I was always that.
[00:13:19] Speaker A: I smoked one time.
[00:13:20] Speaker B: I did not know this nigga smoke ever.
[00:13:22] Speaker C: For real. And my first time smoking was with Wiz Khalifa. Wiz Khalifa and was on my show. And I was like. And I literally said to God, if we win the Grammy, I'm a smoker joint.
[00:13:30] Speaker A: But this is different. I did it at the Usha village, Dr. Sebi village. I did it.
[00:13:35] Speaker C: Oh, you did it the right way.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: I didn't think you're better than us.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: It wasn't like. It was like some holistic. Like, let me try this and get out the way. But I get it.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: What kept you from staring into the wrong direction?
[00:13:47] Speaker C: My mother. My mother would tell me, I ain't shit.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: She told you that?
[00:13:51] Speaker C: My whole life. Like, my mother.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Did you ever believe it?
[00:13:55] Speaker C: No. And I just couldn't believe that she thought like that about herself, because why would you tell her to your kid if you didn't think that about you?
[00:14:01] Speaker A: Was your pops around?
[00:14:02] Speaker C: He was in and out of jail, but, like, he was, like, just a really nice guy. Like my dad. He died in 2002. My dad dying is what made me say, fuck everything. I quit Delta. And I was like, I'm just gonna go for my dream. My dad died because I remember after my dad died, my mother was like, you. You know, like, you. You don't have no talent. Like, you wasn't Gonna make it anyway. Cause my father died March 3, 2002. I worked for Delta. September 11th happened.
[00:14:24] Speaker B: You didn't have some good jobs.
[00:14:25] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a good job.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: Delta Chick Fil A. Yeah.
[00:14:28] Speaker A: You didn't have that buddy pass cracking?
[00:14:30] Speaker C: Hell, no. Don't that come with benefit? That's how I got in the music business. I was known as. I was known as the buddy pass guy. That's how I got in the music business. So I was like, the buddy pass guy. And that's how I met, like, Jamie Foxx, manager. I was meeting everybody. I was rated the buddy pass guy. And, you know, my dad died, and my mom was like, just go back to work.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: You.
[00:14:45] Speaker C: You don't have no talent anyway. And I remember thinking, like, man, if Bill Cosby was my father, I wonder if my mother would be saying that to me. Like, if Bill Cosby was my dad, I wonder if my mother would be encouraged. Like, people would be like, why do you work at Delta? Your dad's Bill Cosby. And I'm like, damn. It hit me at that very moment that the expectations of all of us is set on who our father was or is. And I just was at that moment, I was like, my father not gonna determine who I am. And after we had the same name. And I was like, when this Ray Daniels goes, it's gonna matter. And that was my only goal. So it was really, like, everything I am is to avenge my father's life. Cause he was just treated, like, so bad by people. Cause he was so nice. But I was like, I'm gonna be the one that take it over. So that's, like, my only goal.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: I never realized, watching, listening to you, how similar we are in the same. Well, I'm the opposite of my dad, like, Junior, but I wanna do what he didn't do. You know what I'm saying?
To what she's saying. As far as, like, it seemed like a lot of your motivation came from negativity, right?
[00:15:40] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: So how do you then take that energy and convert it into fuel? Like, Because, I mean, we have a lot of artists that watch this. The nose gets. I'm always talking people off the ledge.
[00:15:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: How do you take that negativity and fuel your desire?
[00:15:55] Speaker C: Well, if you heard everybody's story of success, they always have the same story. I was rejected. I was told, no da, da, da. So I just thought I just needed to get to my nose. So, like, I jumped up and knocked them out. I was just like. I was running up on people. Like, tell Me? No. But I had one thing that was different than everybody else. Tell me. No, but can you just tell me why? Because if you could tell me why. So then they'd be like, oh, yeah, nah, we not messing with your artists. Why? Oh, the production's not good. Okay, I could fix the production. Oh, we don't like this. Okay, cool. So then everything they would tell me, I would go fix it. Go fix it, drive to New York. Like, drive my infinity to New York and play music for D Dot. And he would be like, that's it. That's not it. That's it. And for me, it was like, I looked at it like this. Like, I would say this to any man listening, learn a skill.
Learn a skill. Learn something that you have value, like my skill. I could talk, and I wasn't afraid to hustle. And you could tell me I was ugly. You could tell me anything about me. And I never took it personal because I heard that my whole life in the house, like, my mother never told me I was handsome. My whole life. Like, she'll tell my little brother in the heartbeat, oh, my God, my son's so handsome. What about me? Girls like you because you got money. I guess, like, that's kind of like I grew up in a project. Like, if you. Like, if you ever watch Paid in Full, Like, I grew up like that. Like, nigga, I could smell the money. Where the. So for me, it's like, when you live in that world, this world can't break me. Like, I remember L. A Reid cursed me out one day. Like, first time he ever cursed me out. Then he was like, if you got.
[00:17:11] Speaker A: A problem the first time.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: First time, first time.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: That's a flex.
[00:17:14] Speaker C: Yeah, by the way. By the way, it might have been like two or three more. But, like, this time, he cursed me out. Then he's like, and if anybody got a problem, get the fuck out my company. And I remember just sitting there like, okay, I'm not going nowhere. N. I can't believe I'm here. Then he whispers to me like, yo, you know I love you, right? And I was like, la, don't ever take it easy on me, bro. You don't got to tell me you love me, bro. I've been told I ain't shit since I was a kid. You can't break me, nigga. And he just smiled at me. He was like. He had this thing with him. He always say, are you Kobe or you AI? Cause AI was just as good as Kobe. He just didn't win no championships. Right. Kobe understood championships over everything. So that moment, he was like, you might be Kobe. You know, that was like our little thing. You might be Kobe. I'm like, well, he's a Virgo like me, so, you know, you just don't see it.
[00:17:51] Speaker A: I like that. I like that. That's dope.
[00:17:53] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:17:53] Speaker B: Who's the.
[00:17:54] Speaker A: Go ahead.
[00:17:55] Speaker B: I was gonna say, who's the first person that gave you a shot and took their chance on you?
[00:17:59] Speaker C: DD Angeletti, the mad rapper. I just want to say that, like, he literally was the first person I remember being. I remember, like, I said, driving my car, being that bad boy, hanging out in the outside, the front, waiting for him to pull up, going upstairs. Like, bro, like, he gave me the chance of a lifetime. Like, he taught me A and R. That's what I'm trying to say. Like, a lot of people want to be in music, but, like, DJ head, right? You still have a skill within music. I could dj, right? Marketing, right? Or whatever it is. Like, a lot of people come in this business and they want to win, but they don't understand you got to have a skill. Like Big D. No matter where he work at, he's gonna have a. He got a promo guy. He's good. So it's like, you got to understand it. And that's what I had to figure out. Like, most niggas was enjoying the money trying to be puff. I'm like, trying to be puff, nigga. I'm trying to figure out how to keep making money because I want to be here 10 years from now. I want to be a. Like, I can't believe I'm here. 20 years.
[00:18:45] Speaker A: Longevity.
[00:18:45] Speaker C: That's all I wanted, bro. Like, I had my first hit in 2007 and ain't had a. Not had a hit since then.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: 2025, when you say you had the hit, you.
[00:18:53] Speaker C: You meaning people. Meaning people that I developed or people that I signed, Right? Like, in our business, you know, like, yeah, yeah.
[00:18:59] Speaker A: I'm just clarifying it for the.
[00:19:00] Speaker C: Sure. For sure. So the guy who's. Who I managed, who I've been with since day one, Teron Thomas, who won Grammy of the year, he wrote the apt record that's out right now with Bruno Mars on it and Rosie.
[00:19:09] Speaker A: So I want to dive into some music stuff, but real quick, but. Well, actually, we can start with that.
Why do you think. Why do you think hip hop doesn't get the same grace that other genres of music get for collaboration, man?
[00:19:23] Speaker C: You know what, man? That's a good question.
[00:19:25] Speaker A: Because you have writers and people. Like, I open. Like, I had. You know, we had people on the show. Sean Garrett, whatever. Like, oh, I wrote this for Usher. Oh, I wrote this for Beyonce. And that's celebrated in hip hop rap.
[00:19:37] Speaker C: It's not because rappers are celebrated when they write their own lyrics, but I mean, just. Cause you wrote a song. Like, for example, we did. We did Rules for Doja Cat. And we also did the one with her and Gucci. It's my favorite record we ever did. Like that, right? Doja wrote all her verses. Really? Yeah, Doja, all the verses. Taron. Like, when we did Nicki Minaj, only we did the hook. Nicki wrote a verse. So it's just a lack of understanding, bro. Like, it's just a lack of understanding of the role. And until we learn, that's another thing. Like, when I learned the difference between how black people did music, how they business, how white people did, it was.
[00:20:11] Speaker A: Like, yo, what's the difference?
[00:20:14] Speaker C: Prime example, Usher. I'll tell a story. This is the real story. We did this record for Nicki Minaj only, right? Nicki, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, but real Nick, we did that, right?
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah.
[00:20:25] Speaker C: If I did that record with a black producer, I would have had to fight for 10% of that record. I would have had to fight. I mean. Cause you gotta look at it like this. Nikki's on it. Most of the time, rappers come in and say, hey, here's like. So if you put a rap on the record, they'll say, hey, My fee is 250,000 and I take 17.7% of publishing no matter what. So we would have been caught up in that. But because Dr. Luke did it, we wound up walking away with 27%. Because Luke was like, no, it's seven writers on the song. Everybody gets an equal percentage. Then I was like, on a black side, it'd be like, nah, Jeannie, you wrote three words. So here's your 3% compared to, like, white people. They in the room, they like, yo, the record never suffers. Because now instead of Gina trying to figure out how to get her shit on or head trying to get his shit on, we in the room just saying, let's make the best record. Because it's four of us. And no matter what any of us do, we gonna split it 25% each.
[00:21:19] Speaker B: So that's like splitting the bill at dinner.
[00:21:21] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:21:22] Speaker B: I only got an appetizer.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: See, I gotta. Yeah, I got a problem with that. Cause I don't drink. Yeah, N be ordering drinks. We got bottle service. Like, I ain't fucking with that.
[00:21:29] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: I'm just being honest. I'm part of the problem.
[00:21:31] Speaker C: Yeah, see, that's different, though. But, like. Like, you know what? I' I get that, but I'm talking about, like, how we make our money. Because I've told this to black producers. Because you wouldn't believe how many black producers, like, y'all want to work with Tehran. I'm like, yo, he gonna do pop slits. No, dang. Oh, shit. I'll give him half of my. I'm not giving no new writer. That's why you ain't gonna be around. So watch this. Watch this. Now, look at every. Look at songwriters, you said, right? The one thing that black songwriters don't do, that white songwriters do, is they don't collab with each other. Max Martin is the biggest songwriter of all time. If you can add to a song, he wants you in the room. A big black songwriter is like, I'm not writing with you, giving you a piece of my puff. Why the fuck would I do that? That's the difference. You don't realize that one day you're going to be old and they're going to be young. And if you start training them, what you know, by the time you get to that. That graceful age, like, Tehran is 42 years old right now. He's the hottest he's ever been. Name a black songwriter that's in their 40s. That's hot. A songwriter. It don't happen. It don't. Like, we use it because black people, we magic. They extract our magic. They extract our magic. When I figured that out, I was like, oh, that's how it goes. Like, they extract our shit. They take from us. It's just so. It's like, if they take from us, then we can take from our goddamn selves. We just gotta think, like, how to make a record. So you start learning. Like, black music is muddy. Pop music is empty. Black music is sort of direct and all about lingo. Pop music is about concepts, right? So you start understanding the difference. And once you get that from my position, ain't no nigga. Look like this. In my business, taught like this. Like, I'm a nigga that every nigga call, but I'm also a nigga. Every white boy call every nigga and every Spanish nigga, every fucking country, everybody calls me. I'm the one person that everybody call because I understand the importance of a lyric and a song. Because that's how I make all my bones. That's how I made My money. So for me, when I learned that, I was like, damn. And that's the only way I do it now I'm like, yo, look, so like, we did. I got some writers that we did. Sierra, how we roll. Chris Brown. I got writers on that record that got seven, like 18%. They would have never got that, but it was like, we do pops for this, bro. That's how we do it. You might win some week, you might lose some week, but at least we know no one walks away feeling like I got fucked.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: Are there other execs in the business who are teaching what you're teaching to the newer?
[00:23:37] Speaker C: No. That's why I don't call myself an exec no more. That's why I retired from music. I'm not doing music no more. I'm a worker who I work with. But I can't do it. I can't. Like, you gotta understand something. For our white counterparts, this is like, as simple as selling fucking laptop to them. But for us, this is our stories. This is our life. This also has residue that sticks around.
I remember I was about to sign this. I was about to sign this kid. He recipes to be king when he had that record shout out to beat King. I was chasing to sign his record, and he got the I ain't gay, but I let a bitch eat me out. I thought that was the hardest shit in the world. Until I'm in my house on a Saturday Sunday, and my nieces are swimming in the pool, and the song comes on and they sing it word for word. Then I'm like, fuck. Like, fuck. It was like 13 saying it. I'm like, damn, this is what I'm doing. So you start realizing the residue. So then you start, I know how to make it better, right? I know how to make clean pop music. Like, I know how to make clean urban music. Like, that's what we've been known for. So then you start realizing that Noah has an interest in how the music affects the minds of people that look like us. And that's my problem. Like, they'll put all the money behind the ignorant shit. All the money behind the ignorant shit. But if it's some educated shit, they don't want to hear that. They don't even like smart niggas in the room.
[00:24:54] Speaker A: I seen you had a controversial thing speaking about when you was talking about. I think you were talking about you were taking your daughter to school. And I think WAP came on.
[00:25:04] Speaker C: Yes. And I turned it off.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: Meg Thee Stallion and Cardi B. Yeah.
[00:25:08] Speaker C: No, it was a new cardi b record. What she said, like. Like, take it out. Like, I ain't trying to have no babies to take it out and put it on my stomach, right? And I'm looking at. And I'm seeing my little.
[00:25:18] Speaker A: I'm like, yo, how old was your daughter?
[00:25:20] Speaker C: She's 14, okay? So I'm looking at that. I'm like, yo, like, you start realizing the residue. And then when you start realizing that, then you want to clean up a little. Then they look at you like, we here to get this money. We don't got. Ain't no conscious developed in music, especially black music. But then you start to realize how they treat our people and compare to how they treat their people. Like, they give their people a chance to go on tours and, like, get your guitar and go on the road for six months and just perform in different cities. But black artists, they'd be like, give me a hit. Give me a record. Now put it out. Like, they don't give us that grace. So when you start realizing that, it just changes how you see things.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: So my question. Sorry. So my question is based on that. Based on that premise of the records and stuff like that. The record just came out. Bruno Mars, Sexy red.
[00:26:05] Speaker C: Terrible.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: So I just had a. I just got into some shit. Cause I love the record. I think it's amazing.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: I don't know if I'm playing. No, no, it's hard. No, the record is hard. But Bruno Mars saying what he said in the beginning is terrible.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: Okay, for what?
[00:26:19] Speaker C: For culture, for the world. For the world, for the world. It's like, what are those lyrics?
[00:26:24] Speaker B: Exactly. That's terrible for you.
[00:26:25] Speaker C: I don't know. It's like. I just know I would listen to it, and I'm using the car, and I was like, is this Bruno to my fat, wet pussy or something like that? I'm like, what are you talking about, bro? But when you trying to be down with us so bad, you just do whatever we. To me, what happened with Bruno at that moment?
[00:26:38] Speaker A: So you don't think that. So the. The. I guess the conversation that I was having is trying to figure out who is the police of the art, right? And I think that's a good question. Me personally, I think it's up to individuals to police their own communities based around the art. You have your tribe, your wife, your whatever. I think it's up to you to police your household, but not necessarily control what gets put out there into the ether, if that makes sense.
[00:27:01] Speaker C: For sure.
[00:27:02] Speaker A: So who then is the Governance over like what's trash to be put out to the world versus what's dope art versus what's a slap or a bomb.
[00:27:10] Speaker C: I'm saying something very unfortunate and it's not gonna be popular. But as long as the black community allows money to determine our wins, nobody as long as Gina can mess with a 85 year old man. And they gonna say he rich though. As long as we put money over morals in our community. As long as you say, Gene, I just had to use you cause you're.
[00:27:33] Speaker B: You know, don't even go over 40.
[00:27:34] Speaker C: Thank you, thank you. But you understand what I'm trying to say? But I'm only using that because it's like when Russell Simmons daughter got with this old, it was like the Shade Room comments like, girl, get your bread. And I'm like, as long as we're putting money over morals in our community, we never gonna get far.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: But we're not the only community that does that. Every community does that.
[00:27:50] Speaker C: I don't think so. I think we're the only community that expects us to be responsible to each other. That's the difference. Difference. White men are not. White men don't. White men don't see another white man and be like, damn, he's setting us back.
Like we expect like, well they never.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: Were back in the first place.
[00:28:05] Speaker C: Well that might be, that might be. But whatever the reason is, my point is that exactly. But that's how it works, right? So for me it's like I just don't, I just understand what it is. So as long as we put money over that. So when I'm in the room and you know, I remember I signed Nlee Choppa, right? And when we signed Choppa, I remember he found, you know, he, he got woke, right? And he did analy and you know, they was calling him Nle Chakra. He was talking about the sages and herbs and everything. And I remember being on my conference call with the company at the time and they was like, you know, I mean, I couldn't wait. I just like to see white people squirm when they try to talk to us about culture because it kind of lets you see why you need us. So we on the call. So you know, the CEO, the CEO was like, hey Ray, yo, Choppa's not like, what do you think? I mean, what are we gonna do? And I was like, what you mean? I'm like, what do you mean? I think. Well, you know, he's kind of, I want him to say it. He's like, he's kind of woke. Oh, okay, cool. Yeah, well, I think that's cool. Tupac said, keep your head up, but he also said, I get around. Like, he said, brenda got a baby. It's like, you. Like, you don't limit him to what he is. He's 17. Like, we need to let him figure out what he wants to be. And, you know, it was just funny because, you know. You know that they really want to say the street shit that he does. Oh, oh. So we know we signed street shit. We know we signed Poison. Oh, okay. You just want to keep it that way. I said, I'm like, I summoned up like this. A major record label had a Jewish rap kid signed to them a major label that we all know, and he did a record where he was using a word that was disrespectful to his people.
The label dropped that shit, and record never came out. You ain't gonna disrespect us. But I could do a song saying, kill a nigga, kill a nigga, kill a nigga, kill my nigga, killed my brother. They wouldn't give a fuck.
[00:29:44] Speaker A: I'm gonna offer a counter to that, though.
[00:29:45] Speaker C: Let's go.
[00:29:46] Speaker A: Umg oversees, obviously. Interscope.
[00:29:49] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:29:49] Speaker A: Interscope was the parent label to Eminem.
[00:29:51] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:29:52] Speaker A: Eminem said all kind of inflammatory shit about everybody.
[00:29:55] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: They put the records out.
[00:29:56] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:29:57] Speaker A: So it's just a counter to that argument.
[00:29:58] Speaker C: Yeah, but. But Eminem didn't say anything about.
Eminem did what white people do, which I like.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: Eminem, he didn't spare nobody.
[00:30:06] Speaker C: But he.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: He said, fuck his mama.
[00:30:07] Speaker C: When he said, fuck his mama, that's what I say. Do what white people do. Like when you gotta remember, I say.
[00:30:11] Speaker A: You wanna know black slurs that replied to other groups?
[00:30:14] Speaker C: Bro, Let me tell you something, bro. You wanna know who black men are and white men are. You wan difference. He had a record saying, I'm sorry, Mama. You. I hate you. And they still supported him. Let a do that to his mama right now. Let A do a song about his mother. You are we supporting it, y'all?
[00:30:29] Speaker B: I think the culture will hold them accountable. I don't think the label would.
[00:30:32] Speaker C: That's my point. But there's two parts to it. Culture and the corporate. So the culture will hope will say no. Yes. And that's my point. White people don't. Because they don't feel like you. Like, when you say, fuck your mama, it's almost like saying, fuck my mama to me. And what we gotta do is black people is gonna remove ourselves from that. Because the one problem we keep having is we wanna also get on the same fucking page. We're never gonna be on the same fucking page. And that's not even the. Wow, how could we. Like, we all got different backgrounds. Like, when everybody's getting on Nelly, I'm like, you never know how Nelly looked at the flag. His father was a veteran that served in the war. They probably looked at it differently in his house. But the way we look at it is like, we don't give a fuck. We don't like him. So you don't like him. It's like we're gonna keep losing until we allow black people to be what they wanna be and as free as they wanna be and not have the responsibility to each other. We have to change that. Because this Trump shit gonna divide us. It's gonna divide us and it already is. And it already. That's what I'm saying. So it's gonna divide us. So for me, it's like we have biggest shit to worry about. You know what I mean? That I've been focused on rather than like. Cause I don't wanna see my people do bad. And I feel like if I know better, I should say it.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Have you always had this perspective or did fatherhood change it? Cause, like, in both situations, when we mentioned the song, one example was your niece and the other example was your daughters. And you said, you talked about the residue. And I remember seeing this documentary about crack. And this has nothing to do with your family, but it was like a documentary about drugs. And I remember them saying they didn't know how powerful cocaine was until years later that they saw it. So being that you've been in the industry for 20, you know, 20 years, the 90s was crazy.
[00:32:02] Speaker C: Y'all had some crazy shit. Thousands and everything. I wasn't 90s. I was in high school. I wanted to.
[00:32:07] Speaker B: But I'm saying as a music consumer, though, you know, like, what we're hearing now from, like, the sexy reds and the cardi Bs and stuff is nothing different from what Kim and Trina was doing back then.
[00:32:15] Speaker C: But here's the difference, though. The difference is, is that while Kim and Trina was doing that, you had Lauryn Hill, you still had a voice. You still had. It's like, there's no balance in our community. And to me, when you start realizing the music, how much of a weight it has, you start realizing it needs balance. It does. Like. Like, we got Rhapsody women. That's what I'm saying. Women have always Been a better version of us, like, in history. Like, you'll never see a man say, man, my wife, man, I'm better than her. Like, you guys have always been a better version to us. So what really hit me was when I realized women started acting like men. And it was like, when women started acting like men, being, like, putting the money over everything. Like, women have always been like, you know, did they thing. But when I started, me and Teron's in the club 13 years ago, I swear, the true story. Teron's in the club. He was like, ray, we left the club. We was at compound, and he was like, ray is just standing on couches like niggas now. I'm like, they are. And he was like, yeah, nigga. He goes right to the studio and he writes, I'm in the club high of perp with some shades on, tatted up, mini skirt with some Js on. Like, we saw the scene and just painted out y'all. The women want to stand on couches. We're gonna give you an anthem to stand on couches. I just didn't know women were gonna start saying it too. That's when it was like, yo, it's like, you know, it's like we curse around our kids and then you hit them. It's like, yo, that shit flowed too easy off your mouth. Like, I gotta chill out. How easily I curse in front of. It's kind of like that. It's like when you start realizing the residue from the things you've done, then you start really getting responsible now. And here's the hard part for me. The hard part for me is that I know I can go make 100 million and just be the vulture of all vultures. But I'm like, bro, I can't do that to people that look like me. I'm like, so it's like, I'm gonna go try to make 50 million just giving them the information now because I can't sell my people out no more. I'm just like, as much as.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: I'll take 10 if you. If you.
[00:34:04] Speaker C: Nah, let's do it. Let's. That's what I'm saying. Like, even you. Like, like, look at what you're doing. Like, look at you guys. You guys are the new stars. The star. The artists are not even the new stars. Their songs are the stars. Like, their songs are the stars, bro. Like, I like Jay Z. I like Ye. Like, I like them niggas. I like Kendrick. I like Drake. I like them niggas. Whatever. They Stars to me, Like, I like them. Like, these niggas ain't stars. They just sexy. Red's a star. Yes. Glow. Is a star. Glow.
[00:34:28] Speaker A: Really?
[00:34:29] Speaker C: But like, every girl that wants to rap about, you know, how good she sucked dick and everything, Cardi's a star. She's crashing out a little bit now because her personal relationship or whatever, but she's still a star nonetheless, right? Huge star. So for me, it's like when you start realizing and what I thought about. And I'm gonna ask you ladies this question. I thought women aren't meant to be what these women are. And I think that's why they're so unhappy.
Like women, naturally.
[00:34:54] Speaker A: Hey, listen, you skating on thin ice.
[00:34:56] Speaker B: What you mean?
[00:34:57] Speaker A: I'm gonna get you out the pain.
[00:34:58] Speaker C: No, I'm say what you say. I'm gonna use a prime example.
[00:35:01] Speaker A: Oprah Winfrey.
[00:35:02] Speaker C: He could get it off Oprah Winfrey.
[00:35:04] Speaker B: It's only two gingers.
[00:35:05] Speaker C: Now, he can say what he want.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: Say whatever you want.
[00:35:08] Speaker C: Oprah Winfrey, right? Oprah Winfrey is a billionaire. Stem ain't got as much money as her. She ain't never disrespect him. She ain't never put him down. She ain't never treat him like he was any less than a man based on the money he had in his bank account. That's the world that I come from, where it's more about, like, we have respect for each other, but these new women, like, Cardi has more money than Offset. She should at least, right? So it's like, why you not doing. It's like. It's just. It's almost like you starting to lose it because you can't believe it. But to be honest with you, no woman wants a billion dollars without a man.
[00:35:40] Speaker A: So I have thoughts on this conversation without a man. But I'm gonna.
[00:35:43] Speaker C: Unless they don't like you.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: I want that motherfucker right now.
[00:35:45] Speaker C: Unless they don't like men. But unless. Act like a Billy right there. Gina. Gina. Gina. I give you a billion dollars today, but you can never have a man. You can never be in a relationship. You can have sex, but you can never be in a relationship. You can never have a man. You can never get married.
[00:35:56] Speaker A: Don't.
[00:35:57] Speaker B: I've been abstinent for a year.
[00:35:58] Speaker A: Gina, the wrong one.
[00:35:59] Speaker C: I fuck with you, Gina.
[00:36:00] Speaker A: Gina, the wrong one.
[00:36:00] Speaker C: She different.
[00:36:01] Speaker A: She different.
[00:36:01] Speaker C: I like you, Gina. This one right here, Now I see what it is. That's what you gotta be, though.
[00:36:06] Speaker A: She don't understand how. She different.
[00:36:07] Speaker B: Different.
[00:36:08] Speaker A: She different. Different.
[00:36:09] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:36:10] Speaker A: This ain't all that. Yeah, you wasting your time.
[00:36:14] Speaker C: Yeah, okay.
[00:36:14] Speaker B: Be crashing out like them hoes.
[00:36:15] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:36:16] Speaker C: But it's so weird to me. Cause I'm like, you got all the money in the world, and you got all the access in the world. But as a woman, women don't just want money and access. They want money, access, and a man.
[00:36:25] Speaker B: Because. Well, I don't know. Well, I can't say because. Because I feel like the women that we're speaking of don't reflect on the entire gender for sure. But when you are somebody, like I said, I'm single. I've been abstinent, and I've had conversations where I'm looked at less than. Because, oh, shit, we gotta get Gina a man. What's wrong with her? She don't got a man. What's wrong with her? It almost seems as if the American dream is you have to be a strong woman with a family. You have to have a husband. And if you don't have these things or you're not educated, you don't have, you know, financially stable, then you are looked at as less than the next woman who is married, who does have a family.
[00:37:03] Speaker C: But by who, though?
[00:37:05] Speaker B: Your culture. The culture.
[00:37:07] Speaker C: By the people that look like you in the culture. Like, as a man, I don't. Like, if you say you single, you could say you single and married. I don't see you any different. Like, I'm like, okay, cool. Like, a billionaire could walk in this room and he could be like, I'm single. I'm having the time of my life. Me and head. When he walk out, the men in the room ain't gonna be like, that nigga really ain't happy. That nigga need a wife and kids. Gonna be like, he living. A woman walks in here and says how successful she is, and she ain't got no man. Every woman is gonna be like, but she ain't got no man.
[00:37:33] Speaker A: Like, I definitely.
[00:37:34] Speaker C: Nobody wants her.
[00:37:34] Speaker B: Like, why she don't have no kids?
[00:37:36] Speaker C: Why she had no kids? Like, what's wrong with her? Boom. And that has to stop. That's what I'm trying to say. Like, I'm not attacking anyone. I'm just saying, you. Sometimes you're hard on yourself for no reason. Like, Cardi is a shit. Like, you the shit. Somebody's gonna love her no matter what. Like, stop letting this nigga piss you off so much that you go into the Internet showing it. Like, that shit stays around forever, bro. Your kids gonna see it 20 years from now. 10 years from now.
[00:37:57] Speaker A: I have one more thing I want to touch on before we wrap in a second, but I saw you say something about the DSPs. Like, you tired of people blaming Spotify for the detriment.
[00:38:07] Speaker C: Spotify saved the music business.
[00:38:09] Speaker A: A lot of people.
The consensus is that streaming ruined the music business. You're saying that the streaming saved the music business.
I saw a lot of conflicting opinions about this.
[00:38:23] Speaker C: But these people don't understand capitalism. They don't understand money. They just don't. And the bottom line is this is that when I worked at a label, 2012, 1314, I'm talking about, like, I was trying to sign K Camp when Cut that Bitch off was the hottest record in the country.
[00:38:37] Speaker A: That shit was hard, nigga.
[00:38:38] Speaker C: Hottest record in the country, nigga. The deal wasn't even a million dollars. And we was. Cause that's where the game was. Cause remember, I had to. You had. I had to sign you. And hopefully they had to buy into you. They had to physically buy into you. They had to press a button or go to a store and say, I want your stuff. When you start seeing it from that standpoint, like how the game changed. So here's what happens. So streaming is over, right? Then Spotify comes to the music business and say, hey, look, we feel like we could save it. The first person that tried to save us was Napster. And they called him a criminal. He was like, no, I'm not a criminal. I made this technology. He really put it. He really put it online, wire and stuff, to show them it works for them to find a way to own streaming. But labels is full of old heads who don't want to change, so they don't do it. Daniel Eck comes. He comes. He creates Spotify. He figures out where the guy that created Napster went wrong. He didn't have rights. He goes to the label, he cuts the label 70. The labels get 70. In their initial deal, they got 70% of all the money Spotify made. Stream or no stream. It was all based on market share. When you look at it from that standpoint, the label sold us out. And also, if you have a platinum record, say if you have. I wrote and produced your record. It's. You own the master. I wrote and produced it. Your record goes platinum. I make.
On the platinum record, I make $90,000. I wrote and produced a record. You made 540,000.
To me, that ain't fair. Like, it ain't fair. But when you look at who set the tone, who owns the most masses in the world labels. The labels. Who owns the most publishing compositions in the world? The labels. Warner Chappell is Warner Records and Universal Publishing is Universal CEO. Still answers the Universal Records CEO. So they cut a favorable deal to themselves. So now when writers and producers are complaining about the lack of money, y'all can't complain to Spotify. Spotify gave the labels the power. And they said six to one, every master, we gonna get six, six cents, y'all gonna get one cent. Songwriters, they fucked everybody. So when you starting to get mad at the Spotify and everybody's blaming Daniel X. Let me tell everybody here something. If I created a tool that saved an entire industry and y'all mad that I got a couple billion, y'all don't get business. I'm gonna get some money. I'm gonna make some money, bro. Like, that's the game. Like, nobody is. These artists are just mad. But guess what, artists, you cannot put your stuff on Spotify. You could put yourself on even so many different ways to get your music heard. But y'all are lazy anyway. Y'all don't even know how to fucking do it. So why y'all mad at anybody else? Everybody complaining about the wrong thing, man. Focus on you and your win. That's all I tell people. Stop worrying about everybody. To my listen, Daniel X saved the music business. Saved it, y'all. I went from doing like, like I said, that K CAM deal, 8, 900,000 bidding war, bidding war to like, that's the bidding that was a bidding war before streaming to now. You talking about I was giving niggas three and a half million like it was nothing.
Five million, like four million, like it was nothing. Like, what is going on? Streaming. They was just giving you the new money they was making from the old money.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: So you're saying that a lot of people who blame the streaming services for their. The small amount, the percentage that they get of their own music being played, it's the label's fault, not the streaming.
[00:41:48] Speaker C: The label cut the deal.
[00:41:49] Speaker A: Got it.
[00:41:49] Speaker C: The streaming don't like. How can I determine how much you sell your product for? Right? All I could tell you is, look, I'm give them access for $10 a month. That's it, right? So now when you start going to the point zero, that's to protect them. That's in case Everybody was paying 1099 up $10 a month listening. Like, you don't listen to $10 worth of music based on how they pay out. The labels get most of the money. But look at it from this standpoint, remember back in the day, you used to have an album. DJ Head had an album drop. His CD was 17.99. You was new, your CD was 8.99. Now, a stream is a stream. Whether I'm streaming Taylor Swift or I'm streaming an AI version of her, it's the same money. So when you look at it from that standpoint, it's like, stop focusing on the game and how they playing up there. Make your noise. Cause artists are making more money now. We never heard an artist getting half a billion in a deal. That was impossible before streaming. It saved the business. Now, did it hurt creativity? Yes. Did it fuck economics up? Yes. Cause look at it like this. If you produce a record on Usher's Confession album and you produce a album filler, if that record sold 20 million copies, you got paid 20 million for 20 million copies sold. If you did like, if you did a record now, and Heads record was the record that got 80% of the streams, you ain't getting no, you can get a plaque. You're on a platinum album, but you ain't getting no money like he getting. Because now everybody gets paid according to what they bring to the table. So that's what changed it. That's why you gotta have an aggregate of shit going on. You gotta stop arguing. Like, you gotta have records dropping every day now at this point to kinda keep it on. Like, that's the only way we gonna be able to survive this.
[00:43:22] Speaker B: When you look at just how long that you've. Everything that you've seen and you've experienced and you look at the artists that we have today of this era, and then you see, like, how we're losing so many artists, whether it's like overdoses or, you know, they're getting killed or they're going to jail. And then you see, like the downfall of what we would look at in black entertainment is one of the biggest moguls.
[00:43:47] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:43:47] Speaker B: Do you think that this era has any future hip hop moguls? And if so, who do you think those people are?
[00:43:54] Speaker C: I think the future hip hop moguls in this era are gonna have to be one or two people either fucking brilliant, like Top Dog and punching them like brilliant, like them where they got six, seven acts breaking at once. Or you gotta just be a nigga that don't give a fuck about nothing but money. Damn. And you can be a mogul, but if you gonna deal with people, it's really hard today's market, because another thing I heard it like, is that it was too much music, right? So, like, I interviewed Bryce Wilson from Groove Theory on my podcast. And Groove Theory, pretty famous groove, everybody knows. Tell me what you want me to do. I interviewed him and I said, yo, in the top of y'all career, how much money did you make in one year? He said, man, we was lucky. We made a million dollars, nigga. Now you got niggas with gold singles making fucking five, $10 million. Playing games. So many things. So it's like, there's no more urgency to be Beyonce. Bro, Beyonce ain't Beyonce. Because she wants to be the richest woman in the world. She's Beyonce. Cause it's something in her that wants to be the greatest. And that's gone now. Cause everybody just wants to be the richest. And it's not about greatness no more. And to me, that's the scariest part of what we have in society.
[00:45:01] Speaker B: Before you go, you know, we gotta be a little messy. A little bit.
[00:45:04] Speaker C: Whatever you wanna.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: Just a little bit, a little bit messy. We are seeing something new transpiring rap beef today. We got Drake suing MMG over umg.
[00:45:14] Speaker C: Mmg?
[00:45:15] Speaker B: What'd I say? Mmg.
[00:45:16] Speaker A: Why you suing Ross?
[00:45:17] Speaker C: My bad. Rick Ross, white boy, my bad.
[00:45:21] Speaker B: He might need to throw Rick Ross in there.
What do you think about that? Just the overall. What's your overall perspective?
[00:45:28] Speaker C: To me, it's all the residue. It's all residue. It was like. It's like. I think for us, if you was around when Big and Pac got killed, you knew that how real this shit was, right? Big was around. Big had three years to run, Pac had five. Think about that. Big been dead almost 30 years now. Almost. Almost 30 years. And literally only had a three year run. And he's still relevant today at this moment. So for me, I think that where we are right now is now we're in the era where it's like, you ever seen them videos where they say your first child gets hit by the door? They like, oh, whatever. Second child gets hit by the door. Like. But that third child, why did the door. Like, that's what we are now. We're in a society where they've been given everything. So when things don't go their way, they want to do this. Right? Like I've been saying. Like, I think this is the worst career move Drake could ever make. I think this is the worst move he can ever make. And I don't think he recovers from this. And I think he doesn't know that. Cause he didn't grow up in a black household. Damn. So when you didn't grow up in a black household, you don't understand how we think. Right? You didn't grow up in, like. It's like Snoop knew.
[00:46:29] Speaker A: Hell, yeah.
[00:46:29] Speaker C: He knew what the fuck the red dude was gonna come from him doing. Like, and Rick, they all knew. That's why I was like, that's what we are right now. They knew. But Drake, I don't think he. In his mind, I think he's still thinking like, this is business. But I look at it like this. Drake is. I always said this on record. He's the cheat code. He's the greatest cheat code in rap history, right? He could say nigga, he could wear yarmulke. Right? He could say nigga could wear yarmulke. Which means that when he's with us, he get access to how we think and everything else. And he's with them, he got access. I think they revealed to him the things they do because he. He's like, them too. And then he's basically bringing it back. Like, you know, sometimes they let you in. Like, dog, if I want to light the music business up right now, how much shit, I knock a light it up, but I won't, because that's not. I know how much residue that's going to do to other people that work under these people. But all these individuals are pieces of shit that just wanna. That just predators that just want what they want. Everybody knows that. But to me, Drake like, bro, and that nigga is. So you took an L. My. And our community is like, I would just tell them to watch Friday. Yeah, when hey, bro, you fight, but you lived. And I. And right now, he got the shotgun and he looking for somebody to die. And I'm like, we all know that you only want to kill him because you lost.
[00:47:39] Speaker A: That's it.
[00:47:40] Speaker C: That you still got in. You get up and fight. Like, we have to. Like, for the ancestors that's still in you, bro. Like, you acting like them now and then wonder why everybody's excited playing a song celebrating you not like us. You showing us you not like us every fucking chance you get.
And that's why it's working. Because it's like. It's like it's being. It's like this, dog, I'm telling you, 100 years from now, this shit gonna be studied. Yeah, 100, a hundred years from now, they're gonna study. The way Kendrick attacked Drake. Like the whole. Remember rap history was, you drop a record, I drop a record. Now I'm gonna go drop a record. This nigga, he came with some west coast war shit, bro, and just dropped we. I'm listening to Meet them, meet the Grams. And then all of a sudden they say, no euphoria. Just dropped. What? And then all of a sudden the next day it's like, not like us. It's like, oh, he is here to kill you.
[00:48:28] Speaker B: Yeah. He still ain't said two words.
[00:48:30] Speaker C: And he ain't said a fucking word. And to me, that's what I say. That's why I like, I'm so happy to be a black man because of this. Because Kendrick is everything black America celebrates.
Like he got a black wife. You could say she. I don't give a fuck. He been with us since they was kids. He love his kids. He got, he got his around. He's solid as they come. He ain't nobody over. You ain't seen my head running around like Drake. Basically what happened is, is that you.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: Stayed in high school.
[00:48:55] Speaker C: You stayed in high school other that was in your class grew up and they called you out and the high school kids are laughing at you. Now you want supposed to be in high school anyway, that's why they would say, why you 38 messing with 22 year olds.
[00:49:06] Speaker A: You hanging out at the college, you're.
[00:49:07] Speaker C: Hanging out in colleges. That's my point. So to me, it was like everything Kendrick exposed of him was just who he was. And I think that that really with him because in our community, dog, if you was around in 1998, you was around when was went from saying I'm a no limit soldier till I'm a cash money hot boy.
I was there when hot boy. We were soldiers out until we're in fatigue and everything to the hot boys came. And now everybody want to be hot boys. Like it's the world we live in, bro. That's why you got to innovate or die facts. And he ain't innovating right now. He's suing people. It's like they will forget about you. They will forget about you. And to me it's like. And black women don't like lame.
[00:49:47] Speaker B: Hello.
[00:49:48] Speaker C: One thing about black women that they don't like. You could be rich, you could be whatever. But I'm talking about lame. Oh, nigga. You literally are showing every black woman on earth that you are lame.
[00:50:01] Speaker A: We don't get you an apron.
[00:50:02] Speaker C: And that's why. And that's why you literally on my shows. The girl, the host of my show, they don't even black women, women Ain't even laying it out on him no more. They, like, fuck him, and that's all. That's not cause you lost the battle, homie. That's not cause you lost the battle. Everybody lose the battle. It's because of how you acted when you lost the battle. You not acting like us. So the song becomes more significant because he's saying it and you're mad about it. Like, it's like. To me, it's like Kendrick is the fucking man for that. I pray for Drake, but I think he's done.
If he doesn't drop this lawsuit and get the music, he's done. And I honestly think he want to be done. That's what I believe.
[00:50:34] Speaker A: Oh, this is his ticket.
[00:50:35] Speaker C: I believe this is his way out. I believe that in his mind, he, like, this is. By the way, he might drop music, but this, this moment takes him out of competition.
[00:50:43] Speaker B: I think everybody forgets, too, that he did mention retirement before.
What was it for, My Dogs? Before he dropped that album, he talked about. He said he wasn't gonna do me.
[00:50:52] Speaker C: You know what I told him? Let me tell you something. I'll give you a little quick something that he should know. When he got half a billion dollars. Drake's catalog is worth about 2 billion in Universal. When they gave you half a billion, I knew. I know the game. See, let me tell you something about this business, right? I'm gonna wipe my head. I'm sweating a little. Let me tell y'all something.
[00:51:08] Speaker B: Preaching right now.
[00:51:09] Speaker C: No, no, let me tell you something. This business has. This business has one goal. Everybody listening labels have one goal. It's to keep you in debt.
[00:51:18] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, same.
[00:51:19] Speaker C: Because the more I could keep you in debt, the less I gotta pay you, right? And so think about it like this. So when Drake drops his, he gets a half a billion dollar deal. I said this on my pod. I was like, he gonna have a burnout because they didn't give him half a billion and say, keep doing it the way you're doing it. They gave him a half a billion and said, can you give us more music? That's the trick, nigga. They gave you what they owed you and tricked you into giving them more. And then that's when he burned out. Remember? He was like, ah. Now, see, it was like. I think what happened was he got bored and he needed some action and he started a fight with somebody who beat him up.
[00:51:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:51:48] Speaker C: And now he's like, hold on. I mean, I was just doing this for a little entertainment to get back in Shape. I didn't. No. My career was gonna end behind this shit. And that's where the suit comes.
[00:51:55] Speaker B: He thought this was his victory lap.
[00:51:57] Speaker C: Yes. And by the way, and he you. That lets us know you didn't grow up around niggas. Cause if you grew up around niggas, I know black women. Black women do not fuck with lames. They do not fuck with lames, and they do not fuck with niggas that run. Even if you. Even if you got beat up in culture, in our culture, if you showed up the next day, they still got respect for you.
[00:52:15] Speaker A: I owe you dinner.
[00:52:19] Speaker C: I ain't lying, though. I think for the first time in Drake's career, black women think he's lame. And that is a dangerous place to be in. Because black women don't come back unless he go gets with, like, some sister, like, with twisting the hair, like, from a booyah tribe, and he treat like. Then they might be like, okay, nigga, but he ain't that. Yeah, he don't understand, bro. You are lame to black women now. It's not about how I feel. I can't save you. Damn, I can't save you. And he knows that. That's why I think he's suing. Cause at least you could blame it on something. It's like an athlete that didn't make it all the way. It's easy to say, I got injured.
Yeah, nigga, you ain't gonna make it anyway, Nigga, you ain't gonna. You weren't gonna be great anyway, nigga.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: But okay, I have nothing, nothing else to offer to this.
[00:53:02] Speaker C: Hey, I fuck with you, bro. That's why I watch you talk, man. And you know what? Can I tell you what I like about you?
[00:53:07] Speaker B: I'm a nigga. Been cooking Drake for a year. He loved this shit.
[00:53:10] Speaker A: No, no, no, no. That's not. I respect authenticity.
[00:53:13] Speaker C: Let me tell you what I like. I love. And I'm saying this. I hope west coast people listen this. If you from the west coast, this is the moment. This is 94 in Atlanta, when Outkast came out, like, the west is the hottest it's ever been. And it's a sound right now that we all know that Kendrick is not gonna stick with this GNX album. Kendrick is. He's an artist. He goes to where every album, like, no album sound the same. If I was a nigga from la, I would take that album and use that as my blueprint and drop record after record after record. We need a record to follow night like us in the club right now. Only person gave it to us with Kendrick when he got squabbled up and the door. Yeah, TV off, right? So it's like, if I'm a West coast, that's why I like what you're doing, because you putting on for the West. But this is the chance now celebrate no victory laps. We need 10 little young dropping records like Squabble up. Like, nigga, he would be the biggest rapper in the world. Because the west ain't had nothing since Kendrick. And now that. Now they are like. Shakazulu told me that he said, yo, Kendrick. This Kendrick moment is the most dangerous moment in. In hip hop history. Why he united Bloods, Crips, hoods, coast, everybody. It was almost like the song of America. Like, it was almost like. It was almost like that. It's the new lift. Every voice is saying, my nigga, it's the new black national anthem. It is how we feel good about ourselves celebrating other. That's not like us, Drake. You can move on just going on.
[00:54:36] Speaker A: It's not even about you no more.
[00:54:38] Speaker C: It's like. But the more you get mad you making it about you and what you're doing, is it exposing yourself? It's like if a girl said where the little dick sat? And I'm like, don't say that. What you say that I'm a suit is what. Oh, well, we know who has a little dick in here. You know what I mean? Like, it's like we know got a little dick, but little dicks at niggas. Like, I'mma sue that.
You know, you tell everybody your dick small, right? My like, you know, that's, you know, it's done right? That's what's happening right now.
[00:55:02] Speaker A: Nigga.
[00:55:02] Speaker C: It's okay. We don't even think about. We don't even coordinate you to this all. We just don't think about you no more. We just like. You just so mad.
Black women are like, do not like a. That's soft. They. They don't like a soft bro. You got you showing yourself, bro. And I that so hard, bro. And he's like, just stay in your power. Yeah, but you exposing yourself. And he think because chick's still him that it's not what's happening. Listen, let me tell you something. Everybody gonna run one behind somebody that got some money, but they laughing at you when they leave the room. They used to believe them stories.
I know so many girls he messed with. That was like, how we call up rp. It's like, oh, okay. Like that Shit goes away. Now, you see what I'm trying to say? It's like the coolness goes away. Cause you suing. Like, we really want to see you fight Kendrick one on one. Even if you lose, we still gonna be like, at least he a real nigga. And there's one thing he better do in the fight. He better swing first. That's the only thing. Like, just. Just swing first, nigga. Just show us that you're here to fight my nigga, and we'll love you again. But he grew up in a Jewish household.
When niggas is in trouble, what do we do when we got some beef? We fucking you up. We put where you at? We on you. When white people have beef, what do they do? They sue. And they call the lawyers. They call the cops.
Now we see you not like us, my nigga.
[00:56:15] Speaker A: I just. Well, thank you for that.
[00:56:17] Speaker B: On that note, thank you for that.
[00:56:18] Speaker C: Hey, brother. Hey, brother. I'm just happy to be here, man. Like, I've been a fan of your shit, man. So I love this. I didn't know who you was. Cause I always see y'all two on tmz. And I'm like. And I ain't gonna lie, Gina, I thought you was his girlfriend. I was like, yo, that's some real nigga. He let this girl just talk and shit. And then the second time I figured it out, I was like, oh, that's his partner. Cause she was like, gina, what you think? I was like, oh. But the first couple times I saw her, I was like, oh, man. I like that. He moved like that with his girl. He. Yeah, what my wife think? Like, you could ask my wife what she think any day. I ask her anytime. She dope as fuck. So I just thought that was dope of you. Then I was like, oh, you work here? Okay.
[00:56:47] Speaker B: I find out this nigga fucking it up for me. What other niggas think I go with you now?
[00:56:51] Speaker C: We just solved out the celibacy thing. Now we know why.
You might wanna say, you should buy a shirt. Say, a head is not my man, bro.
[00:56:58] Speaker A: People always think that we have a thing. I'm like, bro, that's like, the homie. Like, it's my sister for real. Like, you know what I'm saying? This ain't that.
[00:57:05] Speaker C: So I know it now. But I'm saying when I didn't know, I was like, oh, okay. That's dope.
[00:57:09] Speaker A: But, yeah, but thank you for the flowers. Yes. And I really. I received that.
[00:57:14] Speaker C: Thank you.
[00:57:14] Speaker A: I appreciate that. You know what I'M saying. I try to always represent a certain way.
[00:57:18] Speaker C: Yeah, you the west, nigga. Hey, nigga, you. Your shit, your Scott, your stock. You as smart as a motherfucker. You took a hook, you put on that shit, you like, I'm from the west, nigga. We going up, nigga. What up with it.
[00:57:29] Speaker A: But, yeah, thank you. I appreciate that. I'm a big fan. And I love the game that you always kicking. I'm a fan of authenticity. I mean, to me, you one of the ones that ain't afraid to take the phase online and stuff like that, which I'm no stranger to. So I appreciate that.
But, yeah, I owe you dinner. I mean, that. That ain't for entertainment.
[00:57:50] Speaker C: When you come to Atlanta, I got y'all come to Atlanta, I got y'all anything y'all need. Y'all good with me.
[00:57:55] Speaker A: For sure, man. City. Hey, man, Ray Daniels is here, man. We appreciate you.
[00:57:59] Speaker C: I appreciate y'all having me.
[00:58:00] Speaker A: It's effective immediately on Hip Hop Nation.
[00:58:02] Speaker C: Let's go.
