#128 The Power of Delusional Self Belief | 2 Chainz

20:33I had once upon a time I looked at my phone and I had people who I knew were millionaires. Like I knew these people were millionaires. I never saw their account, but I just know. And I said, why can't I be one? Somebody number, why can't I be one? So I really was like realistic about what I could be. Like, I just knew it. I just knew I could crack the code. I would change. Just like when I walk in here, I walked in here, I could just change the room when I walk in. I just knew I had something. I had to it, and I just had to stay at it and not give up. I just knew I was special. I knew it was something to me.

21:11God took his time with me, and I know that. And I can't know words or comments or anything like that kind of derail what I know is inevitable. like I'm a real you know I'm a superstar.

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22:392 Chainz:Serious newsletter operators have already made the switch. Use code CODY30 for 30 % off your first three months at beehive.com slash CODY. And I was talking to this guy before this, his name's David Senra. And there's all this data that actually proves that in a lot of ways, what you believe is what you become. And so anyway, we were talking about that. Like, you know how some people say you shouldn't believe it if you don't have proof, you know, like give yourself some proof and then believe it. But you seem to believe the opposite. What if somebody like, let's imagine there's somebody out there listening to us right now.

23:12They're like, one day I want, I don't know if they want to be 2 Chainz, but they want

23:152 Chainz:to be their version of you, you know, like their most successful self. What do you tell somebody listening who wants to achieve high levels, but doesn't know how to find that belief? The voice in my head is God. Like, this is how I feel. You know, I'm not trying to like, this is how I feel. This is what I think. This is what I think. I'm individual. This is my independent thinking this is what I think and so when other people do that and then and then you get people around to understand like this is what she believes and it's okay this is her thoughts now sometimes we look at stuff we're like that's pretty wacky like something's wrong there you know I mean and I get that but with me I don't let stuff like that bother me man you know I just just came so far man I can't do nothing but just be happy you know about whatever engagement I get whether positive or negative you know I'm saying I'm still like recognized being in the game so long 15 20 who's even counting them I'm still recognized I'm still not able to just walk outside and walk down the street like I'm still like very much in it I'm still in my in my legacy phase I'm just really like putting the chairs on top for the things I did in the past with the entrepreneurial thing the music thing everything I'm doing I did I shot my own short film this book is coming out so i'm just really i'm building out the two chains you know legacy stamp more than anything yeah you know it's interesting it seems a little bit more normal now like you see like taylor sheridan owning sort of like the vertical integration of his business like he owns a ranch where they film the show and he rents out the cows and the horses that he owns back to the studio it's really smart and see see that's different that's so different and that's what we got to get in us see we got to get that i just i had to do somebody else's part and it was at their house by the pool in the attic and i was like oh you got some got some tax write-offs going on it you know what I'm saying it's like and you just like man that's information that that needs to be shared and it's just it's just smart well I think you like I don't know if you give yourself enough credit like I heard a story about how you spent money on like a tour bus and on a studio and like one of the reasons why you could record is for Nicki Minaj when she called you up because you were smart enough to already have the studio that you built inside the bus when nobody was doing that yeah yeah so i bought my tour is that right yeah before i got my record deal before i got my record deal first of all in order when i signed my record deal basically it was i was the questions that i was asking labels was i was asking about their international presence because locally i was domestically i was already doing shows so i went through three bands they these little conversions man we were just going they call it the chitlin circuit where it's like memphis the carolinas ala you just go around and you just go around this little chitlin circuit the southeast now you can become a millionaire you go to these places every weekend you pick up i don't know how much money doing three or four clubs and then a few and so i i was going through vans i said man i'm gonna need a bus because i was getting larger and i'm just going through these vans so I'm gonna need a bus and then plus I started you know what I talked about about convenience it had a stove on there it had a bed it had a studio so that's everything I need whether I had a hotel or not I could really like make it work from from there so I bought that I bought the bus I don't know it's maybe 300 a little bit over 300 ,000 you know used but it was well kept and then I would go on the road and still work like some artists not most some artists go on the road and then when they're on the road they can't work because they're not near a studio that wasn't my problem I literally be we'd be riding I'd be I'd be working you know I'd be working so the incident that you're talking about with that song she called one night was like I really need this song done by tomorrow and she offered to get me studio I can get you studio time where you at whatever i'm like no you don't have to do that i'll knock it out when i get off stage so that was that was that was one of the many stories where i literally somebody gave me something and i just sent it right back because i was in a position of just having everything i needed near me it's really smart because if you think about it like basically what you did you vertically integrated the music if you own the studio and you can rent it to other people and if you own the bus and you don't have to rent it out to other people there you go then you under You get the first dollars.

28:05You get it. You get it. Got a chef on there cooking food. Got the chef. We let the windows open. And people in traffic like, what y 'all got on there?

28:152 Chainz:What y 'all cooking? You get to putting them onions and garlic. So, yeah, this was something I did earlier. This was actually what I did before I got my record deal. I got this tour bus. And then when I got the record deal, I went on tour. Obviously, I already had the bus. Because most of the time, you have to rent buses to go on tour. And they're expensive. I saw the markup. It's like 60 percent. They're they're very expensive. So you have to get the driver or drivers depending on where you're going. You know, you got to get them room, you know, whatever. But yeah, I did that. When you reach a certain level, I think convenience is something that we can't have enough of.

28:51So when I when I reached a certain level, I, you know, I hired a driver. I hired a chef. you know you just hired you put these things in place where you can just focus on the main thing work and you have people who do what they do at a high level you know help you out in different you know areas that you need help in so yeah there's this you

29:162 Chainz:know this guy sam zell he was like this big real estate investor he wrote this book called am i being too subtle but he's kind of this cool weird old dude and uh he was a billionaire a bunch of times over, but he had this gray line that was like, the difference between a$10 million house and a$30 million house doesn't really matter. He goes, but the jet, the jet matters. The jet matters. Yeah, because it's about convenience. Yeah. I have a great relationship with the owners of the Hawks. Cool. So they invited my son and myself on a recruiting trip. We went to this Kansas versus BYU game. I mean, we took like a jet jet, like a.

29:582 Chainz:Not one of those tiny ones that I've been on before. No, big one. No, it was, you know, it was massive. It probably seated 12 to 14 people or something like that. So that was, it was cool. And it's cool for my son to experience that. But it's a difference in jets as well. It's a difference in everything, but yeah. It's true. Also, I like when other people pay for the jets. What? I like that way better. Jets are so expensive. I know. I don't want to be paying for that. I'm so happy. I'm not happy, but when people started wearing masks in the airport, I was able to cut my jet bill by more than half because I was able to.

30:33Because I would get, I don't really get anxiety or nothing like that, but sometimes people just yell my name in these crazy places and the airport is one of them. And I would be in the airport and somebody would be like, you know, two chains. And I'd be like, God, Lord, I'll just. So the next time I tell them, just book me a private. I don't feel like, because it's like one person does it, but when people started wearing masks, I just kind of put my mask on. You can't even tell. I think I'm hiding, but it doesn't work like that.

31:022 Chainz:It's not going to work. And then didn't you also buy back all of your masters? Yeah, I did that. They don't come back. I bought them back, but they literally can't give them back to you for, I don't know if it's$7 or$20. I don't know. the date but yeah I'm they're supposed to revert back to me you know soon but yeah I did that will you explain how that works because I don't think people understand it's negotiating more than anything you have to have leverage that's that's it's not like you it's not nothing that works you got to have like with any business if you got leverage then the conversation can be had if you don't have leverage in any business if you ain't got leverage you know I want to I want to do this podcast at times squarely like you know you can't just tell people you know whatever so with me in these different phases of my life I had a certain amount of leverage where I was able to get certain things.

31:54Normally for syncs and say if we were using my song here or something like that we have to go through the label because they own it until it's reverted back to me and then songs like birthday songs something I made that I'm sure someone plays somewhere in the world every day it'll just it'll just be a bigger cut at the end of the day a bigger split.

32:132 Chainz:That makes sense. Because some artists don't even have a, they didn't even have a great negotiating when they did their splits for their pub. Somebody else may have it in different. I don't, I have my pub. I have all of that. So it was just about getting the masters back. That's so interesting. Do you like the business side more or the creative side more? Do you think that they're all the same? No, no, no, nothing is the same. Nothing is the same. But I love the creative side more because that's where I get my idea. That's where I get my, oh, I can't believe. That's when I start talking to that voice in my head.

32:42That's when I get the same. I can't believe you came up with that. It's like I'm talking to somebody. I can't believe you just came up with that. Yeah, man, that's pretty good. That's a good one, man. And then, ooh, what if we do that? Oh, man, you know, that's me. The business side frustrates me, and it makes me want to go out to the car and smoke one sometimes. So, yeah.

33:042 Chainz:Not your favorite side. Even when you got leverage, it kind of makes you a little bit cockier than you should because you're like, come on, man. I know y 'all, you know, so it's just messy. Business is messy to me. You know, there's a lot of people out there today that have had a really hard life. They've struggled in their background. Maybe they're thinking, like, I got nobody but myself. It's all on me. And then they could look at somebody like you and go, well, he got out. How could I do the exact same thing? And my question for you is, like, did you always have this type of confidence in you?

33:412 Chainz:What does that look like? Well, I work every single day. So when you work every single day, it becomes effortless. So if I needed to do a verse for somebody right now, I don't need to, like, figure out a headspace to get in. I'm literally activated. This is what I do for a living. Rap and music is like a job that you never really truly clock in or clock out. This is ongoing. This is what I do. This is my professional. I don't need to have a certain candle or a certain type of water to get my ideas. I'm really dope like that. I'm really good like that. So when people ask me for things like that, they get it right back.

34:13I don't have to like, ah, it's going through, you know, I don't, I'm literally, I'm moving around. I'm ideating all throughout the day. So I have ideas. I have metaphors. I have different innovative ways to say some of the same things I've already said before, just in a different way or different patterns. So for me, it starts first. You have to be highly confident in yourself and what you do for a living. And then I think everything kind of falls under that umbrella. And for me, confidence is like I didn't fall short in that at all.

34:442 Chainz:No, you seem very confident. I put a lot on myself. So even though I'm recording songs every night, they might not see the day of light because I have a higher expectancy for a lot of my things or a lot of stuff that I'm putting out to the world. But like if I'm doing a feature, if I'm working with somebody, I'm just comfortable in what I do. I'm just comfortable in my skin. And it starts from there. I'm someone that didn't have much. And when you come from that kind of space, majority of the time, you want what you never had. You want these, you have all these screenshots in your mind of your driveway and your three-story house or what's your garage or whatever that's going to look like.

35:28So coming from where I, you know, the environment I came from, I just aspired to have larger than life things. When as you get older, you realize you don't even need all of these things. You don't need all these bedrooms because everyone can sleep in them. You don't need all these cars because you can't drive them all. And you've heard this getting to that point. But until you get to that point, you can't truly respect it and honor it. because when you're working hard, when you're doing whatever, when you're putting the work in, how else do you, I'm speaking for me in my community, how else do you celebrate yourself?

36:09How else do you, you know, I've seen people, Charlemagne, he's just reached an incredible height. It's everywhere. He's just being so, what are you talking about, 200 million? I don't know. He's making up a line on me. Everybody's lying. There's no way up 200 million. But I could tell you that if I had got a 200 million, You would know. You would know. This guy just bought a jet. This big guy. So you would know. Charlemagne, like, hey, man, y 'all stop spreading these rumors. But you would know. How would they know? You would know. It's like, Cody has got 200 million. Do these little yellow clubs, they might just suddenly be gold one day?

36:53You ain't going to tell it all. I was like, damn. And then this little table, like marble.

36:582 Chainz:Honestly. It's just small, small little changes like, you know. And so that's me. I get this money. We're going to have these chairs going to be different. They carpet. I'm going marble. They glasses. We're going gold straws. We're going to have bond candles. I don't even know. Different candles, live plants, live vegetation. It's just a difference when that money comes. Yeah. And certain people, with certain people, I don't know. You might can get the money and still just keep it nice and subtle. But I'm going to tell you honestly, like when you hear me pulling up, like, yo, change is here. I come in.

37:37You know, it's just different, man. It's just different, man. I think it's just nature versus nurture. How have you been raised, really?

37:442 Chainz:You seem like a man of faith regardless. Who knows? Like that's not going to define you, but you could have fun with it. Got to have fun. Right? Life is short. I know. Why are we not having fun for real though? I know. We're supposed to be enjoying life. I mean. Have you ever struggled with anxiety from all the attention? The things that kind of get on my nerves is people who, just drunk people. In general. Yeah. Around me. Yeah. If you're over there drunk doing stuff, I don't mind. I could look at you and laugh. But like if you're drunk and like, I don't mean like my friend drunk, like over there doing i'm like somebody that's like you know come on change man you don't know you don't know how strong you are you don't know how you don't know you slurring you don't know you spin you know i don't that just makes me be like you know leave me you know that kind of messes with me a little bit it's the alcohol but i'm not a big alcohol drinker yeah me either i like a little red wine but i've been doing my red wine thing too my friends put me on red wine some of my basketball friends so i've been trying to like cab myself and pinot myself here and there for real well now i'll know what to send you for coming on the pod you got to come on man send me whatever you you know what my secret is this is so unrelated to anything but i really am into french and italian wines and i'm kind of i'm a little bougie in some ways i mean But the fun part about those, you can get incredible wine.

39:162 Chainz:It's actually cheaper than U.S. wine often, but it's way better. It's way cleaner. There's no pesticides in it. And it's just like more complex. So we'll make a little note, David. I'll send you one of my – there's this like – do you ever do like Barolo? Yeah. Or like I love a Brunello. Yeah. But I'm actually not that cool or classy. It's all my husband. He's like kind of fancy and then he taught me because he was fancier growing up then. That's another thing. You should absolutely get with a man that can teach you something. Yeah. I think all females should do that. I mean, yeah. So that's good.

39:502 Chainz:And you're married. I am. And do you feel like, did you teach her something? What? Would she say you teach her something? She better say it. Yeah, man. I think that's what it's about. You get in a relationship with me. Of course, a dude can bring money and all this stuff. But he got to be able to put you on something. You know, I think that's important. And especially if somebody like me, I'm always traveling. I'm able to, like, I guess this is what's going on, you know? So, yeah, I think that's important. I have another business partner by the name of Joe. He's running my adult. I have a strip club in Atlanta called Candyland.

40:262 Chainz:Yeah. Be open three years this year. So Joe is handling a lot of that stuff. So in Atlanta, I don't know about anywhere else, in Atlanta, The license to have alcohol and nudity, they put that out of commission in like 93. So you have to get grandfathered and you have to actually buy that from somebody else. So just the whole process of doing that and getting this facility. I'm from Atlanta. Adore entertainment is a major part of how the city moves. It's not just for one group of people. You see all different types of people in these clubs, whether they are getting drinks, watching TV, listening to the music, looking at the girls, eating, whatever it is.

41:10And so that was something that I couldn't have planned it, but it just happened like it was supposed to happen. And it's not many in the city. It's two or three or whatever. Whoa, and you own one of them. Yeah. That is cool. That is cool. You and your husband can actually come. You can get some hibachi. Do you think I'd like it? I think you'll love it.

41:332 Chainz:Really? Everybody that's come to my club will love it. I mean, I've had friends from out in Cali. I've had friends from Germany, Russia come to my club. And you have hibachi in the strip club? Yep, I have hibachi. I have tacos. I have vegan burgers. My vegan burgers are delicious. I have vegan burgers. And that's another thing. When you have these type of places, why go out to eat when I can just call my one of my businesses is to say, I would like some salmon with some okra and spinach. Plus you want to pay yourself instead of someone else too. I would like a shrimp and chicken hibachi or a shrimp and lobster hibachi.

42:09I go get it and I watch ESPN, I watch a game and a young, nice female walks past and we speak and you know.

42:212 Chainz:No, I'm Latina. I told my husband he's not allowed to talk to women, you know. At all? I'm kidding. Oh, okay. He's a former Navy SEAL. I don't know. I hear some Latino women are a little aggressive. I have no clue. Because I'm from a place where it was just all black people. Like College Park is... I'm from College Park. Then I went to a black school, HBCU. So I went black on black. My elementary was black. Now I went to a black middle school. Now I went to my own black. Now I went to blacks. And then I went to New York and L.A. And then that's when you start seeing the diversity. And then early on, when I started seeing the diversity, I had to learn how to be, you know, this is just this is sure ignorance.

43:04Like, so what you is, you know, just don't know that.

43:12What you what are you like? What do you mean? So then then having to learn how to ask people, you know, their background. So, yeah. So I, you know, and I'm going to tell you, I'm very intelligent, but just not knowing is just not knowing. You only know what you see and what you so.

43:282 Chainz:Experience and intelligence are very different. One of my best friends that passed away, Johnny, he was from Puerto Rico, but he was like my real brother. We was the same person, so to speak. We had some of the same. We did some a lot of the same things. So rest in peace to him, too. But yeah. But so you hear different things about, you know, the passionate Latinos and then you'll see how they portray the movies and just like they do black people and everything else. So you just never know until you. We women are crazy. But I believe you. It's a certain way you just looked at me and I just believe you.

44:05And I just want to tell your husband, bro, do right. This little this girl from 11 years old, she is not playing with you.

44:132 Chainz:Yeah, it's funny. You know, but it's good because you have a son and a daughter. I have two little girls. I have a 17-year-old and a 13-year-old and I have a 10-year-old son. So I have three kids total. Yeah, because dads are super important to daughters. You know, I'm really close with my dad. Okay, quick question. Tell me. Was it a period of time that you was like smelling your own whatever or just being like, okay, cool. Oh, that was a nightmare. What was that? 13? Where age was that? Right about what you're in. I just want to make sure I'm in. You're right in the box, actually. Yeah, in fact, yeah, it was a bit of a nightmare.

44:452 Chainz:But now my dad and I are the closest. He actually works with me now, and he's amazing. I feel that with my oldest, too. Me and her are like— I'm the oldest, too. But, you know, girls are just—they go through a stage where— We're psychos, yeah. They don't want to be bothered or whatever it is. And I have to understand that and give them some of their space. because when you go through this stuff in your house, it's like technology knows it. So then all of a sudden you start getting this stuff. Teenage girls are going through, it just pops up while you're scrolling. Stop. Do you have teenage girls that are in their room?

45:24You're like, oh, so this is going on right now. So I'm learning how to just be understanding and let them develop.

45:332 Chainz:Yeah. Well, it's interesting. Does that end up coming into your music? Is your music always sort of a reflection of where you're at in life? That's a good question. Yeah, and a lot of my music is, I reminisce a lot. I use past tense. I used to, I had, a lot of it is me, like a reflection type of thing to a lot of my music. I used to, you know, so I'm not like saying I'm doing it right now. I'm not like, I'm not lying in any of my stuff. So, yeah, but when it comes to, I guess, like, something as personal as something like that I want. Although my newest album, I do have a song dedicated to my pops that has made a few of my friends cry.

46:18So I can't wait to that.

46:192 Chainz:It's very, like, just, like, plucking this heart string. I do want to talk a little bit about intuition because it's kind of the backbone of this book. Yeah, let's talk about that. I think in business, intuition is so important, but it's important in every aspect of your life. So I'm curious, like, what's your favorite point story about intuition from this book? The book is a lot of tales, a lot of stories about my journey. And when I used my intuition, when I listened to my intuition, once I discovered it and the times that I didn't. And so, you know, out of all the stories, it's just like, or how my mom or someone tried to, maybe she had the intuition.

47:07I feel like women are born with it. You know, I have a chapter in the book called Women are Superheroes. I feel like women are just born with intuition. You know, women are just like, I knew I shouldn't have listened to you, you know, or I should have did whatever. So, you know, my book is about discernment. It's about that discernment. It's about the inner monologue. It's about quieting down the outside noise, tuning in to like the inner, your inner connection, your inner Wi-Fi to the highest source, whatever you believe in. And listening to it say, man, I think you should give it another shot.

47:50I think you should go try to do this. I think you should leave that alone. I think it's time for you. It's about time for you to leave. You know, this is, I think, and that's my voice talking to me all the time. You've been here long enough. I have friends. Sometimes I don't know why. I just might get up and just start walking out the club. I just might get up and just, it's just time to go. You know, so I think I'm trying to push the narrative to have people tap into that source that they have. I'm just trying to affect one person who may have sat up and said, you know, something told me. If they've said that one time, if you've said something told me one time, then this book is for you.

48:332 Chainz:What about a time when you didn't listen to your intuition? I call that the fuck it voice. We all have had that fuck it voice. We literally have said, fuck it. And I think it's okay to have that voice, but you just got to be able to distinguish between the both. I think the fuck it voice has maybe gotten us into some trouble or maybe had us live on the edge and not even trouble. We've all had that. Man. And if you ever had a time where you're like, I really, if I had this book, I probably would have like not done that thing because I would have tapped into my intuition. I think it'll help people navigate life differently.

49:21That's my ambition. I want people to be like, you know what? Man, after reading your book, man, I realize sometimes I didn't need to be in certain places, and other times I needed to be in certain places and things of that nature. The voice in my head is God, which comes out on 3-3. I want to be a New York Times bestseller so I can add it to the rest of my accomplishments. And last but not least, I have the my audio book is a real true experience I cannot wait till you hear the audio part of this. Of course, it's me. I'm an ex Excellent exceptional reader. So I did my own reading, but I also added production So when you hear certain things that I'm describing You could hear the sound effects that's attached to this actual scene and I was listening to my audio book in the car on the way home And it's actually really really riveting and it's really cool and I think people will enjoy that audio experience as well.

50:132 Chainz:It's by yours truly, 2 Chainz. I'm here. I'm happy to be here. And just thank you for you guys locking in with us.