How 85 South Built a Comedy Empire with No Script & No Filter ft. Karlous Miller & Chico Bean

26:55So just being able to build those relationships that, you know, a quality relationship that lasts and, you know, you treat people the right way and you do good business and you know. You gotta do good business. That nigga sued me. Did he? No, Blake sued you. He sued you? Yeah. Why? I didn't know that it was a, this is what happened. He had another, this is it. He had another partner and they split and I didn't know they split and his partner didn't tell me that they split so he sent the paperwork and made it look like they were still together so when I signed to do the shit with his partner he was like bro what the fuck is you doing I don't fuck with him I was like nobody told me I don't even know this other name and then he served you the paper he sent the shit to the crib yeah look I got the certified letter the big shit you know the shit that come in the big shit he was like well what we gonna do I was like, man, you going to sue me?

27:55I was like, man, fuck this lawsuit. Let's just do these shows. We on the phone, right? I'm going to do half of them with him, and I'll do the other half with you. And then after I do these, I'll never fuck with him again. Yeah, we ain't even going to talk about it. I don't know if I was supposed to tell you. Yeah, but we all going through that. We just was going through it with this one. This nigga's thing with me. It's still my dog. Man, what the fuck you people, man? I'm like, hey, Blake, man, I love you. I feel like I made it. But, you know, the first thing about it is you can always call him and talk to him directly.

28:25He'll tell you exactly what he did. That's the good part. A lot of people, you don't have that relationship. You can't call him. I'll put something in the mail for you. Hey, Blake, man, what was that shit you said, man? Talk to my lawyer. No more. You ain't going to book me yet. Nah, I mean, not right now, but I'm going to tell you why. So it's like, all right, Blake, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, you got to appreciate that, though, man, because, you know, we done been doing this for a long time. And I think that, you know, as long as we done been in the game now, it's easy to, you know, have those relationships where people look at you and be like, man, fuck them.

28:55So that was a great lesson in business, though, bro. You got to get some. Let me just say, because you guys did something that was, because you've been in this space for so long and you've grown a following, we watched it on YouTube, we watched it on Instagram, but then y 'all decided, you know what? YouTube may not be the way for us anymore and created Channel 85. Talk about the transition into that because even at the peak, right, We got YouTube and Google as billions of streams or billions of views every month. Y 'all said, no, we're going to do our own thing. What was the thought process going to that?

29:26How's that been going? It was quite simple. You know the YouTube game. One minute, they'll fucking pay you all the money you're supposed to get. Then the next month, they'll be like, you ain't really do shit. I ain't never got the same amount of money from YouTube from month to month. And they can show who sees your video. Exactly. Yeah, and there's no way for you to really know what your reach is until you can centralize your crowd in a space where you can determine how many people are coming in and out and utilizing the space. And that's what Channel 85 does. It allows us to really be able to see how many people are willing to, you know, go behind a paywall because that's dangerous when you've been giving it away for free for so long.

30:13that was a big risk because we was giving this this content away for free for years every week two three hours of free comedy you know i'm saying and then the podcast and then all of this so when you take that and put it behind a paywall it was an adjustment period for a lot of people because they like man it's hard to give money to something you've been getting for free that's with anything you've been getting it for free then all of a sudden you it's like i tell people all the time If tomorrow we woke up and Instagram costs$12 a month, ain't nobody going to be on there because nobody wants to pay for something that they had access to for free.

30:48So it was really us just saying, you know what? I believe in our consumer. When a lot of people didn't, you know, they look at our consumer and think, you know, those are the people you can overlook. Those are the people that aren't going to be, you know, that those are people that are throwaway people. They ain't going to pay for nothing. So we believe differently. We believe that our people will come to where we were. And they will. and they will. How's that? Just a quick follow-up, because I'm wondering now, when you have the behind-the-wall, right, the paywall, are you using those analytics to now look at how we're going out on tours?

31:21Right, because if I know I got an audience here and I didn't know prior, now we know we can do a show? No, I don't think so. I think that individually, that's probably a better analytic for us because we go all to these places individually and as a unit. Like, there have literally been times where I'll have a show, Then the next week, Lowe's will be there. Then two weeks later, Fly will be there. And then another two weeks, we there together. And all of the people that are there are telling us that they're coming to each other. So that you can't, that's real life. That's in the field. Analytics that you're getting for people who are paying physical dollars to come see you three times within a month.

32:00You know what I mean? You can't, you know, that's something you can't really dictate unless you see it. There's nobody would believe that's possible if you say that. You know what I mean? Like nobody's coming to see the same niggas three times. But for us, we've seen it. We've literally seen it from going to these different comedy clubs and cities and then coming back and doing it again in an arena or in a theater. And then, you know, it's like those really let us see that people are supporting what we're doing. They like them. They know we're giving. And they mad if they miss one of them shows.

32:33You know what I'm saying? They don't want to break up the set. So how was it? Let's talk about this. So the streaming service, right? What was the process of actually getting people to buy into Payne? And then, like, what's your model as far as to make it? Because you're still on YouTube also. Yeah. So, like, you know, we've seen a lot. Joe Button, Patreon. So what's your model? Like, y 'all have certain episodes that only go on streaming services? Yeah. Like, how do you do that? Both. We got a lot of exclusive content that it ain't going to be nowhere else. It's only for the streaming. Yeah. The live show.

33:05being one of the specific ones. All right, so all your live shows are on the stream now. And that's the bread and butter as far as like the thing that, you know, people gravitated towards initially. So we took the live show and said, you know, we can't get you out. We gave this away for free for five and a half years. Now you just pay, you know, for a year subscription and you get to see them all immediately as much as you want. and then people still take them and put them on YouTube anyway. But, you know what I mean? And a year subscription of the app is cheaper than a ticket. Yeah. It's cheaper than the cheapest ticket you can get.

33:46It's like$10 a month? If that. It's actually like$8.50 a month. $85. $85. So how did you get people to buy in, to move over, to actually? Promotion. Just promote it. Just keep letting people. Let them see the progression. We get, you know, we try to keep updated equipment and HD cameras and better audio. It's just keep climbing. Any pushback? Did you get any pushback? Yeah, of course. But you got to be consistent to be able to push past that. You know, it's no different. I look at that no different than the, it's like the comments on videos that you put up. You know, if you ever go in to read no, then fuck your confidence up.

34:27You know what I mean? Yeah, if there's too many good ones. Oh, man. You ever go on the read knows, and, you know, that's pretty much the same push. You're going to have people who are going to be like, ah, man, people come up to us, and that's the thing. We're all approachable. Like, people see us out. When we go to these cities, like, we are known to be out in the mall at the soul food spot. Or, you know, just you might catch me walking up and down the street. You know what I'm saying? And people will come up and let you know, hey, man, what's up with the, man, why y 'all ain't putting this show on YouTube no more?

34:57And then you got to explain to them like, hey, man, this is the reason why I'm a motherfucker. I've literally seen people download the app in front of me because they got an explanation directly from me as to why they should be on the app. Like, you know what I mean? If you fuck with us and you support us, we need this$85. You about to get us the Foot Locker. We both in Foot Locker about to give our money to the Foot Locker. You don't know that nigga. You talking to me. So it's a direct to consumer. Just making them know that there's no different than what they're getting on YouTube. It's just actually more personable than what they actually getting and making them understand.

35:28Get more. Is a live show that goes on Channel 85, all three of you? Or do you guys put like your individual sets maybe that y 'all do? We haven't done that in a while. We used to go out and do a set and do a show. Like all of us would do a set. And we'd be like, man, we're just going to go out and hit them with a little fire team. Then we'd do it. Then everybody end up doing 30. Then we end up coming on stage and doing another hour and a half. You know what I mean? And it made more sense to just do it together. You know what I'm saying? And once we started doing it together, we saw that it was the same thing.

36:01We just, and it's, we able to do it off of each other. You know what I mean? And bounce off of each other, pause, with the jokes. You know what I mean? I can see this nigga looking at me like he's waiting to say. Your wordplay is crazy. He's on fire. I mean, you know what I mean? But, yeah, we all different. I just had a special come out on Hulu, a Hulu special. and you know Lowe's did one with Laugh Out Loud a couple years back so we always nobody clap for that can y 'all clap for that you know what I'm saying like we always doing stuff you know that's you know individual but this is this is something different this is you know this is ordained like you've never seen this before and that's at this point I feel like we earned it too we really cause we put out between the three of us we put out so many hours of comedy.

36:55And once you add up the time, bruh, if you go back and you look at some of the older live shows, bruh, where, you know, we see like Chico go out and he in a pocket and he'll do a 35 off, but it seemed like when you ask him, it's like, bruh, it felt like 10. The energy was just crazy. You said three things and they just keep making you talk about these things and then DC go out, then he find that pocket, then he do another 30. And then I come out and I do a 25 or a 30. It's been shows where they literally had to just walk out and be like, bro, do you know you've been out here for like 40 minutes?

37:34Come on, bro. Yeah. With the mics and knowing even back, I think that was, that's crazy you say that, Lowe's. Now that I think about it, I think that was the inception of us knowing or getting that chemistry of being together because me and Fly would be staying because he would always go last. and me and Fly would be standing there and kind of just waiting on the right moment to walk on stage and we would always find it. He would say something and then we would just come right on stage. So that's how we was learning. We literally were learning as we go in front of people. Most people don't do that.

38:06You know what I mean? They learn away from the crowd and then bring you the finished product. We let them see us build the product from the beginning to now. So let's talk about this touring. So you got Diddy. Yeah That's his name right there We're gonna call him Brother Man We got Brother Blake and the Brother Man That's the name That's the name Blake and the Brother Man Blake and the other guy So they run your touring They run your touring Is that correct or Well yeah This This Specific run Yeah You know what I mean But we Been working with them For a while For literally years Like Blake does The We Them Ones That's why I was so shocked When the niggas sued me No Don't worry about it.

38:49You can't take it personal, man. That's my dog. I'm going to keep bringing it up. Yeah, we had too many conversations. No, one thing about Black Dope is like. How'd that come about? How'd that relationship come about? Bruh, it's. Nigga, man. He do good business. Do great business. Besides suing you. I mean. But I'm saying, besides suing me, he do good business. Nothing personal. I was just business. Yeah. And another. He ain't never. He ain't never mess the money up. Ever. Ever. He always get. whether it was$1 ,500 or whatever the hell, whatever he paying, he going to have it. Yeah. And he ask you if you want it in cash.

39:20I don't know how they do that, but it's always legal. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? He do good business. It's always legal. And he'll sue a motherfucker. You need that type of go-getter. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's always, and then the thing is, man, you know, he had conversations with you. He'll let you know when, you know, we done had conversations. He'll let you know when shit ain't right and when it is, he ain't keeping, he ain't making it seem like it's all good if it's not. They're making it seem like it's all bad if it's not. And I feel like his integrity is there, bro. It ain't just about a money play.

39:51Like Chico said, bro, when it's there, it's there. When it ain't, hear Carl and say, bro, it ain't there, but I still fuck with you. So if you still fuck with me, we can make it up somewhere else. But if you fucking with me, I'm fucking with you. But if you don't want to fuck with it, I completely understand. How important is that? Because we do events, right? So we understand putting together an event from a marketing standpoint. We understand every aspect because we've done every aspect. Y 'all do a whole festival. Yeah. You niggas be having niggas come in and talk from Budapest. We got the richest man in Budapest coming to talk about how he made money off grains, makes a billion dollars a year off of that grain.

40:27Yeah, y 'all got some crazy exes. Yeah, man. Y 'all is all, y 'all, man, for real. And then it's crazy to see how much y 'all, because when y 'all first started coming to do the show, the podcast, it was like y 'all was really just getting off the ground. Now y 'all got Budapest connected. You can teach it, bro. Yeah. Now you on safaris. This is true. Educational safaris. Exactly. So, yeah, like, how important is that to have the right team in place when going on tour? And, like, how much lifting do you guys have to do? I know you got to promote it, but, like, talk about that because people don't know how difficult it is to put together these events.

41:03It is because you got to keep in mind, somebody going to have to be, like, responsible. It ain't just fun. Somebody got to do the shit that nobody want to do. Somebody got to be the person to get up at 3.30 a.m. and make sure all the cameras is there. And somebody got to make sure that the bills are paid. And somebody got to make sure that the next city is, you know what I mean, booked out and everything. And don't nobody get left in the city. You being responsible for, yeah, like being responsible for 35, 40 grown people who having too much fun. That's the hard part. That's like y 'all traveling with 40 people?

41:40Yeah. You look up and then it's like, the circle was like five, six people when you started. Then you look up and you've been in there. It's like, bro, it's 100 people. You be like, yeah, this is my apprentice right here. You be like, where you come from? You got an apprentice? Yeah, that's my understudy right here. You got an understudy? All right, what's up, bro? How you doing, man? Yeah, man, I'm teaching them the ropes. I need you to hold the ropes. Yeah, I'm teaching them how to hold the rope better. You know what I'm saying? But that's the type of environment that we have. We want to see prosperity.

42:15You know what I mean? It ain't no— It feel good. It ain't no, you know, as they say, big eyes and little you. What's the hardest part about being on the road? The hardest part? Getting to the next— Yeah, travel. That do bus will fly. We usually fly to make sure we get there. I drive. You know what I mean? And he'll get off stage and drive. Yeah, and drive. You know what I mean? Anything less than six hours, he driving. Blake, what you with? He would do his set. So I meet you and touch it? Yeah. But me and him started there a long time ago. A long time ago. We would do the shows because we would drive to the shows.

42:49Do the show. With your own car. Yeah. Hell, yeah. Do the show and drive home. He would be like, Lose, why you doing that? I'm like, bro, it's different when you wake up at home. Yeah. You ain't got to spend all day driving. It's just like you went to work at the house and woke up with the money. Yeah, I mean. So we would always leave. We'd be on tour. Blake would be like, man, I don't never see you. He caught me at the, we stayed at a lot of the same hotels. That nigga would be checking in and be like, yeah, caught your ass, nigga. Caught you, nigga. I knew I seen you on the fifth floor. I knew you caught you.

43:19I'm like, yeah, man, I just drove down. 11, 2 o 'clock in the morning. But, you know, that's the hardest part is just figuring out your routine and making sure that it's in pocket with the routine of the totality. Routing the tour. Yeah. hard. That's what I say. Totally of everybody. Just the logistics from it. Yeah, like trying to make a weekend out of it. Right. Like you're picking the cities and trying to figure out the routes that would make sense. Yeah. The other part is that y 'all been doing it for so long. Y 'all been to these cities. When you talk to the venues, right, are you negotiating different terms every time?

43:53Because 10 years ago, y 'all not the 85 South that y 'all are now. Well, you know how the venues are. Sometimes they call All of us are going to be like, what you got available? When can you come to this show? And then you hit some of the cities, you know, the L.A.s and the stuff like that. And you go and they got a whole new theater. Then they got a whole new set of rules. They got a whole new set of securities and deposits that they want and different insurances and stuff like that. That's the part I don't know about to ever talk about. And then you get there and you just want to see it. You know what I mean?

44:25Like you get to the venue with all them deposits and all that. You're like, y 'all ain't checking up under the car? Like, y 'all ain't got the dog? Where the dog at? You know what I'm saying? Y 'all just letting everybody through. You ain't letting everybody through. You ain't running the dog up under the car. Y 'all ain't got the, you know. So those type of things, you know, the learning process throughout. Because we started in comedy clubs. Right. Like, we started out doing it in comedy clubs. Then we went to theaters. That's basically like, to put it in perspective, the comedy club is like a bowling alley.

44:54And then you go to the theater, the biggest one, or the arena in your city. It's two different worlds. The comedy club will let anybody in here. This security guard ain't even in shape. But then when we go downtown to Mercedes-Benz or whatever, we got to make sure we got security that can actually move and walk, and they might have to get active. Now it's a different atmosphere. It's from Ticketmaster, the larger venues, comedy club. You're just selling tickets hand-hand. Yeah, they're printing them joints out. They get a ticket. did y 'all and we've spoken to people who've done events sometimes they work in the deals where it's like we're getting a piece of concessions we might get a piece of the bar we might if you're lucky sometimes they like hey we're getting a piece of parking but think of how many people don't even know to ask for that that's why we about to educate them right like is that part of the process too that nigga Blake wanted to say something I see he set up on that one like nah nigga chicken strip motherfuckers the hardest niggas to deal with most people know that they gonna sell merch at their event.

45:56Yeah, see, they ain't giving you none of that. But see, another part about that, a lot of people don't know, some of these venues, you have to pay to do that. You have to pay to do that. They want a percentage of that. Even merch, sometimes they take a percentage. Yeah, merch. And that's the structure of most comedy clubs, is they really don't care about the ticket. It's that two-drink minimum they're trying to make. So they are paper to room. they'll give away the ticket just so they can get you in there buying the quesadilla and the lemon drop. $15! Yeah, you know what I mean? So that's a whole other part of the game.

46:34But it's very few people who get to monopolize that part. Like, you got to be, you know. A lot of comedians don't get to that part. Yeah, you know. They don't even get to that. John or one of them, you know what I mean? Yeah, they don't get to that part. They take the flat rate just so they don't have to, just so they can say, hey, this is going to be, you're going to guarantee to make this, because they don't want to take the risk of having to promote it. And then if it don't sell, now you don't get no bread. But we all collectively at the same time of our career start, like we made the decision to say, hey, we going here anyway.

47:10Why not take a chance? Why not take this chance? All right, bread, cool. Now it's working. Let's put this up for some security and some safety. Then we're going to put this, and then we'll put this over here, and then we'll flip this, and then we'll go independent. And then that's when it started making sense. We just had to keep taking them chances. How do y 'all figure out which cities? Because you go to a lot of cities that people might not hit. Like y 'all in the deep south, like Columbus, Ohio. Y 'all go to major markets, and y 'all go to small markets too. How do you determine? Because we've been there already.

47:45He went to college in a small market. Yeah. And we know that. Tell him. We know that when you're in a small market and you pick the right weekend, this is the event of the weekend. That's the only thing that's happening. It's there. Ain't nobody else coming here. And plus us having love from them little pockets of, you know, small town, we know that it ain't a lot of people who gonna even think to go over there. Yeah. And these people, they want to be seen too. They want you to come to their city and turn up. one. Man, I seen Chico Bean at the Walmart right here, bro. The one my sister work at.

48:24Ended up buying some t-shirt, bro. Cool nigga. I'm talking about took a picture with my kids and everything. Bro, that sells more tickets than anything you can promote. You can imagine, man. What city surprised y 'all the most? Man, that's kind of, you know, for me. It wouldn't necessarily be the city. It'd probably be like, where we at? Or how far somebody came. You get what I'm saying? It's people who fly from Miami to go to the Cleveland show. He was like, why would you come to Cleveland? I missed the show. I know one that surprised me or the ones that surprised me are the ones that we go to that you don't think that is going to be the demographic that is like Minneapolis.

49:10The first time we did that, I was like, yo, look at all these niggas. It ain't never, it's never the city that surprised me. It's always the people who show up, bro. Yeah. It's just, and it's like. Like people you, I didn't even know, like, it's, we got a lot of people that fuck with us that we don't even be knowing, bro. Like, like one that stand out to me. You remember when Paul George came to the show with his family and they just kicked it backstage? Oh, yeah. Oh, we done had a lot of that happen. And then it's like you, you see people that you think it shocks you. Like, y 'all know who we are?

49:43Hell yeah. yeah, we watching my daughter. And it's just like people who look nothing like you, who you know you have nothing in common with other than what you're doing. And that's the part that is like the most shocking is when you see the reach that you have, when you're not even, you know, targeting certain demographics. We're just doing what we're doing. But you never know the reach that you have until you end them live shows and you see people and you like, I'm talking about rows and rows of people. And you like, bro, what are y 'all doing here? We fucking love you. we had sugar free come out and perform and like I don't know if he knew exactly like the magnitude of the show where were we at at the farm so he backstage right he hear all the chaos but he don't know that this whole joint sold out so we were like before we go on we going over the joint like yeah I do this song and then I probably do the hook on this one then I just managed to end up performing like four, five records.

50:45He's like, fuck that. And that nigga walked out. The concert. We seen the moment. He looked. He was like. And all them motherfuckers was going crazy. He was like. We going to share this. That nigga took his button off his shirt. I'd rather give you my bitch. Yeah, it's about to go down. He's like, oh, it'd be those type of moments. Yeah, it'd be those moments. Like, even like in Chicago, you know, that's what, you know, Blake and them from Chicago. But going to Chicago and being able to rap with Twister in Chicago, But it ain't just Twister. It's Twister's in there. Shauna's in there. Do or Die is in there.

51:18Crucial Conflict. Chance the Rapper. The whole city is out. Just to be able to see that connect that you have with the people who are from there. And that's the thing that I love about what we've been able to do is the connection that we have with these people. Like, I just went to the Essence Festival for the first time. I've never been. and you know I was supposed to get credentials and all that but the shit fell through so I was just like fucking I'm just gonna see what my face card get me and literally man we was everywhere because the people who were working the venues and the people who were working the event hey man you came and performed at my college when I was in college hey Chico remember y 'all came through here man y 'all took pictures with everybody you know so those relationships that's what prized for me the biggest pride is how we've treated people along the way and they remember that and they be excited to see us.

52:14And they know we're not faking it bro because we get so, we get love in places we ain't even supposed to get love man bro like when you get up and you got the 4am flight and then you drop in the rental car off and then everybody who worked there will come out and be like bro Chico I am bro call him, they ain't get a picture with me dog. Or do you see the nigga on the grill at the airport in McDonald's. He's like, hold up, bro. I'm coming. I'm coming. Yeah, without question. You bring your car from here? They don't get that shit. I got you, bro. I got you. Yeah, or tell him like there's never a time when we come through.

52:50Hey, man, yeah, just seen your boy. Yeah, he just left, man. He got a Nissan. Man, he got a Nissan, the big truck. The Armada. Yeah, he wasn't supposed to get it. When the manager of Enterprise come out and say, look, when you come to Dallas, call me. Don't. I got you, bro. You know what they finna put you in? Three up, Greg. Yeah, like, that's real. It say, come on. XL, you got XL. My name D, but my car is Derek. Call, you know what I'm saying? LaMere, bro, put my number in your face. Yeah, whatever you need. And they mean that. You know what I mean? But when you go to, like, Waffle House or something, and they like, can't let you pay for this, bro.

53:32Can't let you pay for this, bro. I fuck with you too hard when I'm in hell on the grill you know what I'm saying I'm listening to y 'all bro I don't fuck no music

53:45I'm telling you we not lying on you end up standing in the mall holding hands with a nigga like this my sister got pregnant I don't see listen to 85 South he had babies the baby ended up being twin my nephew your real name My nephew, his name, D 'Anthony. She named D 'Angelo and D 'Anthony. That's because her baby daddy, D 'Angelo. She named D 'Anthony because of UBC. You know what I'm saying? Y 'all two together. You know what I'm saying? D 'Anthony. Put that shit. Look at that front of the flick, bro. Not real shit, bro. I'm gonna come fuck with you tonight. My girl getting on half done. Gonna run downstairs, get them shoes.

54:27I got my outfit already. What time you going on? Uh, man, we, you know. Man, what Carlos at, bro? Carlos, that nigga crazy for real. Hey, that boy DC really like that, ain't it? That boy crazy in here. Hey, boy, hey. Hey, they can't follow you on the album. Nah, man. Hey, you know what? Boy, you crazy in hell for them brains. Cut that shit off. I know. I'll be there tonight. I'll be there tonight. Appreciate you. I'll be there tonight. I'll be there tonight. Hey, what time? What time? What time? Hold up, hold up, bro. Hold up. Yeah. You not going to believe it? I'm in here with your boy I'm in here with your boy Yo I'll call you right there Alright bro Hold up There you go Chico I'll call you right Hey nigga the whole city I'm telling you Y 'all, that's a fact.

55:27That's a hundred percent. And you let it do this shit 30 times, bro. That's a fact. Easy. I'm talking about easy, man. That's a fact. I'm talking, me and this man, man, we done been some places and had some stuff happen, man. We had a, what was we in? L.A.? Man, we had some niggas run from the one side of the mall. Third floor. We looking at them niggas, bro. Full speed. By the time he got to us, he couldn't even speak. He was like, hey, man. Hey, man. Hey, man. Hey, man. What about El Paso, nigga? Oh, no. We was in San Antonio. Yeah. Bro, we in this. The Whitehead's in there for real. These young niggas ain't got no direction.

56:11In San Antonio. They literally just sprint through the mall, fucking with the people at the mall, bro. Full speed, running, knocking shit over, laughing. Niggas just running right past us, right? Bro, what the fuck? What's going on? This is the strangest. But we seen the niggas outside running. So they was going from outside, just running around, fucking with shit. Them young niggas ran right up on her sweatiest hair.

56:36Y 'all, Chico B. in Colum Hill. Told you, boy. Took off running again, bro. Yeah, man. Just had to make sure. So that's when you had those type of experiences and being accessible enough to be able to have those type of experiences. is because, you know, like I said, going to the Essence Festival gave me a good gauge of how people react to, you know, the general public. And we're still a fan of this shit, too. You know what I mean? The general public. You see, I saw so many people doing what I guess is normal for a celebrity to do. You know what I mean? No pictures, you know, four or five people in front of them blocking them off.

57:15Don't come and you can't get close to them. And, you know, like I said, I would assume that that's protocol, but that's so different than what we've done. Because we, on the way up, we had interactions with these people. So now when we go back, who will we be not to stop back past the soul food? They know us in there. They got pictures of us hanging up in there. So it's just like the way that our journey has went, like we've always been in touch with the people to where they feel like they know us. It's ground rules. We just seen them come up from trying to get backstage to hand off a plate. now you got oh you went from you had the food truck now you got the brick and mortar bro that shit dope and they do know you that's the thing like 10 years even for us it's like people feel like they know us because they do know us they watch us in the dining room table like I watched y 'all when y 'all had the the wooden table that y 'all was when y 'all started the show so they've grown with y 'all and that's the beauty of it yeah how does it feel for y 'all though like being as though y 'all coming up on what year of InvestFest now this is year five year five of InvestFest and it's bigger every year you know what I mean like how does it feel for y 'all to be able to put on something that before y 'all, that really didn't exist in our community.

58:28Y 'all be getting this, having them same moments too, bro, where it's like when you see people that you fucking with fuck with you. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, definitely. It's just the people who you grew up in with, bro. That's my dog. So two different questions, but to answer your question first, you be trying to be tough, but I can see it in your eyes. You know how I look at it. you done had a few moments where you're like I can't even let it fall extra smooth bro he don't even like joke on him like that he'll look at you like yeah alright nigga we had a moment with Nas I did so like Nas it was a moment where like we're sitting down with a with a hero of ours I would say like Nas is like the guy for us and I told him to his face I wanted to be you like when I was 11 years old I had that red disc listen to him I wanted to be you it was like a moment to me to tell him everything thing for 42 years of my life that I wanted to say, we had the opportunity to do it.

59:22And when it was over, I was like, when people ask me what's the greatest hip-hop moment, it's gonna be this. I actually got to tell one of my heroes exactly everything that was on my mind for however long I knew him. And the fact that he was receptive to it, and the next time I saw him, he said my name. I was like, yo, that's crazy. Now it's not my name. When I walked in, I was talking to the producer. He was like, yo, if I met Nas, I would cry in front of him. That's how much he means to us. That's a great experience. It's ew, man. We had that experience. Now it's fucked up, man. My man's cut it.

59:53You know Mark is his barber. You know the comedian. No, I swear to God, man. Wait, wait, wait. I'm not bullshitting, man. That happened, man. We met Diddy, man. That nigga came out the office. In my line, he came out the office, walked straight up to me and was like, Chico, man, what's up, man? You look good. You been working out, man. That's what it is. And I was like, oh, shit. This nigga know me. Damn. Yes, God. Wow. This guy's crazy. Wow. Fucked up, man. How'd the rest of the meeting go? No, it was dope. You know what I mean? It was dope. It was dope. You know what I mean? We had a good time.

1:00:28No, but in VestFest, to answer that question, I mean, it's just dope to just have that idea. And y 'all could appreciate this, right? Like, you have an idea in your head, and then to actually see it come to fruition, and then to see it even bigger than what you even envisioned it, like, you know, it's a very humbling experience. but it's almost like it's hard to really even explain. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I even, like, you go to, like, Dallas. Like, when I go to, like, I seen, like, the stadium, and I'm like, damn, for somebody to think about that, like, Jerry Jones, that's in his head, right?

1:00:57And then to actually have it there, and it's like, yeah, that's just dope. So for us, it's like everything that we've been doing is really, like you said, there's really no blueprint before us because it's not like we was following somebody else. So whether it's in VestFest or going to Ghana or doing a tour or doing, like, different, like, stuff that we're doing, it's just like everything is just like actual history that's happening has that been a favorite part for y 'all along the way thus far so many bro so many like for me it's traveling i love to travel so you said i just came back from China, we was in Ghana, we was in Kenya, we was, we've been all over Nigeria, London, Toronto.

1:01:35So to be in different, and us, we're talking about financial literacy and business. So it's like, you know what I mean? Like it's, it's, it's a whole new genre that at least our culture has appreciated. So for us to, like how y 'all, I, I, we've experienced that same thing, but nobody would have ever thought that we'd be experiencing talking about stocks and crypto and real estate. Like, you know what I mean? Like, so to see people have that same level of appreciation, like you said, the security, the guy on the, like, yo, in between joints, I'm watching your joint because, you know, I just graduated.

1:02:05I'm trying to get off the ground. You know, like, I done had experiences where it'd be like real live street dudes at two o 'clock in the morning come up like, yo, look at my portfolio. Am I in the right joint? You know what I'm saying? So. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, hold on, hold on, son. Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, at it for you. Yeah, that's so fast. Just show me something. That's what I said. Every moment, just, hey, man, I got money on there. Hey, buy something, bro. If I can give you 40, what can you do with it? That's so fast. Like, when you say what's the greatest moment, I think every time an encounter like that happens because that's never happened before where it's like, yo, you changed my life.

1:02:39And you're like, yo, I appreciate you, man. They're like, no, no, no. You changed my life. Like, I've never had this much money in my account. I didn't have the knowledge. I started the business. I did this. I went into real estate. I got these properties. I wouldn't have known that information if it wasn't for what y 'all did. So every time you hear it, it's just like more reassuring, reaffirming. Is it pressure? It's the best. Like as a comedian, when people come up to you and they say, am I going to holler you real quick? Hey, bro. Comedians, when we around and we riffing and we just talking about whatever, we're not having no concept of what we're seeing.

1:03:12We're just in the moment and we vibing, right? But when people pull you to the side and say, man, that clip that I seen y 'all do man bro that bro I hadn't laughed in eight months bro my sister got killed my brother got killed that's real that's the only thing that I can watch bro that's a fact I hadn't laughed escape from reality all the time like man I was in such a dark place I was in a hospital. I had just went through this, that, and the third. And the only thing I can watch was y 'all. Y 'all took me out of depression. Y 'all raised me before y 'all. And I couldn't, you know, I thought it was over with.

1:03:57I didn't have any inspiration to, you know, do anything until I got put on to y 'all. And I just watched it every day. And it just took my mind off of whatever it was that was going on. When you get to be a part of somebody therapy, bro. That's real. You said that people grew up on you. And that's, think about that. Like, I wanted to, do y 'all look at that perspective? Whereas we grew up, we watched In Living Color. We watched Martin. We watched Fresno. We watched all these shows. And now in reality media. That go back to the thing, though. That's the full circle. Yeah. All our heroes, when Chico called me and he on the road with Martin, and the first thing you say when they see me, one of the funniest niggas in the world.

1:04:35Crazy. Bro, you can't tell me shit after that. Yeah, I mean, I'm talking about. I didn't have to say, bro, when you get with Martin. No. Please. You don't have to do that. I'm going to do that regardless. And I, cause I want, you know what I mean? That confirmation to be able to know like, bro, like this is where we, that's the best part for, for us. Like even better than the money sometimes. It's like to be able to be amongst your heroes and they know who you are. Like, it's like not only know who you are, can quote what you said. And man, it's like, and they like what you do. What the, where am I?

1:05:07You know what I'm saying? It's the best, it's the best feeling in the world because you, you don't account for that, especially coming from our generation, like celebrity was a world away. It does not what it is now. Like now celebrity and fame is so easily accessible. You can just pull up your phone and go talk directly to whoever, you know what I'm saying? And when we were coming up, you had to write a letter. You had to, you know, it was just so far away. Celebrity was inside that box. And now to be able to come in contact with these people for me, and we talk about it all the time like it still feels like you that young nigga like you said like when you run...

1:05:46When Nas call you and be like hey man what you think it is right here? Where am I right now? Right you know what I'm saying? It's just one of those things where you and then in full circle like he said to get to a point where now you have people coming up to us like man I've been watching you since I was in the fourth grade. So crazy. It's like, damn. You know what I'm saying? Like, you don't even realize that you've been doing it that long. It's hard to realize your impact when you're still impacting. When you're still impacting. You know what I'm saying? So is it pressure on y 'all? Like, being as though, you know, we comedians.

1:06:23So people come up to us and tell a joke. Be funny. Like, is it pressure when a nigga come up, hey, man, I'm about to lose my house. That's a fact, though. What am I supposed to do, nigga? So you want me to buy some more crypto? All right. I'm saying like, I'm saying like, I'm saying like, no, that's a good, that's come up to you with problems. yeah, like what? No, that's a good, you know, it's crazy. That's a, that's crazy. Cause I literally just had that situation. Like I was out with my son a few, few days ago and it's like 10 o 'clock at night. I'm outside on the street and somebody came to me like, not that same as that, but it's like, yo bro, like, you know, I'm in between two jobs right now.

1:07:01Like, you know, I'm kind of down on my luck. Like what, what can I do? And it's, it's like it's pressure like you know what I'm saying because I don't have a magic answer that could just change your situation overnight but I don't want leave me at the bank at 10 in the morning bring two forms of ID I don't want to give you like a fluff answer easy I don't want to disappoint you because you know what I'm saying so I had to really think about it and try to really craft a reply that I thought would be helpful but now that does happen for sure it's like people that happens a lot even in DMs like yo bro I'm down what can I do like you know what I'm saying like that's kind of like They just flat out asked me for money.

1:07:39I told you this lady. A stranger? Just straight. What? This lady hit me in my DM and told me. For me, for sure. That's good. That I needed to help her buy a van so she could travel around United States and do holistic medicine. Strangers are asking for money. Yes. People that know us like. In person or DM? Both. Because the DM, people with the DM, that's a little bit more. You could just say anything in the DM. You got to be bold to ask a stranger for money. Yeah, that's pretty wild. No, you don't have to be bold. You have to have a DM. That's all you have to say. You can look at my life and be like, what did I do to make them think I had some money?

1:08:18Because y 'all know I'm so anti. That's a fact. Money. We're not talking about streams. Bruh. I'm so anti. I don't have nothing. I got a G-Shock. A G-Shock. And an 85 South shirt. I am. And a few colors. I seek meager accommodations. I'm Prince of King. Don't make my shit look too good. To invest. Because I got to still be believable. Yeah. You got to resonate. Yeah, don't.

1:08:48Yeah, I'm just going through 90s. People can help me pay my rent. I got two kids. But then I'll be like, what you going to do next month? That's a fact. Yeah. I don't want to get involved in this country because then you're going to be needing help all the time. sometimes when you help you ain't really helping you're not some people go I mean as harsh as it sounds somebody gotta get put out to know how serious shit is you need that experience so you can feel I thought you wanted me to read it out loud don't read it out loud cause they might be watching and then they'll know that I read that shit so just read it may I be a pest that's crazy

1:09:27damn and you left it on red I didn't know that's no you can't even reply because like you said what are you going to do if you set a president okay yeah stranger like I'm going to do this for you and then what you know I mean like there's no consideration for the people that you are required to do these things for all of those people me and this niggas have conversations all the time we were talking about just how much I asked him one time I said man how much you think you'll have if you never gave nothing All of it. All of it. All of it. I have all of it. I have all of it. All of it is a grand deal.

1:10:06Do you set like a, okay, this is how much I'm going to. Like for me personally, it's like I know. If somebody asked me for money, right, that I know. I have a max amount. Depending on who it is that I'll be willing to give. And then after that, I'm like. I got a max amount too. And I know if we exceed this, if I go here or above, I know I'm gonna cut you off Right That's what I'm saying That's what you're not gonna do right I'm not even gonna ask I just know this is how much It's gonna cost For me to never have to deal with you again Hypothetically right This is hypothetically Somebody says Yo I need 5 ,000 right Me and that person Relationship might not be At 5 ,000 level I'll be like I'll give them$500 Because I do know you But that's it I can't help you anymore And now I'm not expecting you To pay me back So you can't really ask me For money again Yeah I don't give anything That I need back I mean That's always been my mentality There's no borrowing money.

1:11:00No, it's no borrowing money. And I've been somebody who's been getting my own money for so long in my life. I've always been somebody who had at least a dollar. You know what I mean? So somebody going to ask you for a dollar. And you learn that wanting that dollar back is the worst thing you can do for relationships. Because when I need it, it's the most humble. And man, I just, man, thank you. But when you need it back, it's like, dang, you need a dollar. my rule is I can't I can't give you more than I could ask you for oh then that's rough you can't give more than you can ask for if somebody's asking you for money they don't got money what I'm saying is like if you were in a position you was normal most times they're not going to be in a position if you was normal, it was just you working and it's Friday you got your check I can't let you ask me for more than I could ask you for see I just look at it I just had this conversation.

1:11:58We're all blessed to be in a fortunate position. Who said it? I'm fucked up. I'm fucked up every time. I'm not claiming that. Every time. I mean, I don't know. You're not fucked up. What did I turn to say? I got some clothes. I got some jewelry. But all the rest is tied up in investments. Tied up investments. Everything else tied up in investments. That's all I got. That's all I got. I got no liquid. Nothing liquid. I look at it like people just, when you get to a position of, like I said, it's doing the impossible for the ungrateful. People love to hold you to a standard. that they don't hold themselves to.

1:12:27Fact. It's just, that's all it is. People will hold you to a standard that they don't hold themselves to because the standard that you're holding me to to want to do these things for you, if you held yourself to that standard, you wouldn't need me to do it for you because you would be able to do it for yourself. That's why money's not the issue. No, money's never the issue. That's why we can't give it to them. Yeah, I mean, it depends on who it is. There's certain people that are grandfathered in, like, that you just got to, it's your people, your people, you know what I'm saying? Like, and it's just certain people that you know that because you're so close to them or because they are these people to you, I can see that you're really trying to figure it out and shit just ain't working out for you.

1:13:04So I'm not going to let you bump your head and I'm not going to make you feel like I'm doing something for you in the process because I don't need that to be an extra thing that you need to worry about and trying to figure it out. But everybody else is like, come on, Slim. Like, stop. But even if I do help, I'm not doing it on your terms. come on Lose I need it by the 13th I ain't giving you that shit till like the 14th just cause just to see if my rent's due on the 15th I'm gonna give it to you on the 21st you gotta exhaust all other options first did you try don't never let me be your first call call everybody else first I'm creative for you so I can so I can be the hero I'm like man Lose you came through with that that little 400 I needed the last four nigga you call me when you need that last spoke.

1:13:54But even when I give it, I'm going to act like, I'm going to act so tight with mine, like I'm fucked up. Like, I'm going to act like whatever you asked me for, now we switching positions. Like, man. Mm. This thing is terrible, man. When you going? All right. Do me a favor. Like, before I give it to him now, I'll be like, call my phone. You see how it went through, right? So you see, when you press this and you hit the call me, you can get in touch with me. You see that? Okay. Don't act like that shit didn't happen once I give you this. You know what the most ironic part is? Me and this nigga was having a conversation one night.

1:14:35It was like of all this stuff that we've done and do for people, we ain't never ask each other for shit. That's the most, like, and there's no doubt in my mind if I asked him for something, it wouldn't be no question and vice versa, but we ain't never ask each other. me and him. We've never asked each other for money. Never asked each other for money. No money, no monetary, nothing. And it's like that's what you find the soul that said. At least I get to talk to another nigga who understand what I'm going through. That's all you get, you know what I mean? But at the end of the day, you look at it, and I just always like to look at the bright side of the bullshit.

1:15:10Like, I'm grateful at the fact that I can have these conversations with somebody who understands and ain't looking at you like, man, I don't want to hear about your money problems. I got a question for everybody. But that's the beautiful part. I got a question. You never ask him, but the first person you would call, possibly would be him. I mean, without question. Because you know that if it get down to that, then that's going to be the last thing a nigga worried about. You know what I'm saying? And me being the type of, I'm the shirt off my back type dude. So you ain't. That's my question. Everybody on this show.

1:15:41Y 'all talk a lot about responsibility and saving and earning interest and all that shit. what's the next thing you know for a fact you're going to fuck some money up on? Not no investment. Not some shit that's going on. Not no assets. When you say fuck money up. Not an asset. That's what I mean. Not an asset. The next thing you know, your next bad investment. Your liability. Yeah, what's your next liability? That's my show. Earn your liabilities. Yeah, mine is. That's easy. People. You know what I mean? Human beings. human beings I think it's got to be that right like we we our minds are so fixated on not doing that that the only thing that we can't control is the people that are in our lives but you know you got to spend some of this shit every every dollar you spend ain't gonna make you so that's a fact yeah but you think differently about money right like we think I guess like I think differently about money we've done the you know we've had the cars we've had what like some of the frivolous shit We've done it already.

1:16:44So the next thing, you're always thinking, like, how can we put money in a position to make more? Yeah, mine is always the pitch over the fireplace. He ain't answer yet. The biggest, the next liability. The next liability. What's your next liability? The next, all right. Buying a home is a very tricky situation. We fucked the internet up with that one story about you bought that spot. That's a fact. and I'm still and I'm still putting money into this huh? yeah I was in yeah he lived down the street it's a fucking bottomless pit yeah it's never ending it's never ending and even when you get there you gotta pay I don't want people to kill me like that's irresponsible I encourage home ownership but when you actually when you gotta spend like$8 ,000 for your toilet to flush right that's some bullshit and then you got taxes then you got the school tax then you got the fucking the floors don't come up bro we had I had a fucking plumber come and tip Like the toilet was fucked up.

1:17:43It was working before. These motherfuckers came and dug up my whole yard. And Blake basically said, there's no way that toilet should have been flushing. The way it is, it ain't level. The motherfucker had 92 degrees and shit. Blake was like, man, I'm not fitting to buy this shit and had to put my ass on coal. It's the worst fit. Because at least if you got, let's say, because a lot of people say like a girlfriend, you could end a relationship like that. Right? That was a good mood. My boy, I saved so much money. You? your relationship that is the single switching back to me yeah oh you're you're single oh you didn't know no so you want to answer I'm single baby what's happening what's happening what's happening oh you was you was playa earn your leash earn your love earn your love I'm about to get you you feel me oh yeah earn your love dang it yeah you was you was you was doing the whole love tour I was in love okay Love tour, dealership tour.

1:18:43We have all the time. Just know I've always been the voice of R.I.E.L.D. Man, keep your eyes open, nigga. I ain't saying you wrong. I support you. I be so scared for Chico when he be talking about a relationship because he be so anti-relationship. Oh, Chico. I remember him in the back of my mind. I be like... I saw that on the Angeli E. Live show. Angeli E. Live show, yes, he was like, I'm never going to... But like, I know, because he's standing on it, right? Yeah, yeah. He's standing on it. So I'm scared. He gonna move in and get an apartment with a stripper. Is that a trauma response? No, it's not a trauma response.

1:19:19It's an understanding myself response. The thing is, I think a lot of men don't do the necessary insight within themselves to figure out who they really are. Just because you don't want to be a bullshit nigga don't mean you are automatically supposed to be somebody's husband or boyfriend. and then the unfortunate part for me is niggas love to be a real nigga everywhere but in the house. They own house. That's a fact. In their own house. You stand on business everywhere else but you go in that house, that woman asks you something. So what's stopping you from being in a relationship? Because it's the terms and conditions.

1:19:53They make no sense. Monogamy? None of them make sense to me. Like when I think about who I am as a person, there is no way as a man that I can have a woman somewhere thinking that the decision that I made that best suited me in whatever moment I choose to make it is somehow violating her. That's unfair to me as a man because I'm not doing anything that's wrong. I'm a grown man. I know how to make decisions. You don't get to dictate my decisions based on a what do you call it? Social construct that we didn't even have a hand in creating. We going off of what everybody else is supposed to do or says you're supposed to do.

1:20:29What if you could do it your way? I do do it my way. That's why I don't want to be in a relationship. What if you have a relationship and it's a woman that completely understands? I do. Every relationship that I have with a woman is exactly that because I'm explaining to them who I really am from the beginning. So that's what I'm saying. People are confused when they hear me talk to think that I'm saying I'm anti having a relationship with a woman. No, I have relationships with every woman that I deal with. is just not the way that you respect it or you think it's supposed to be. It's non-traditional.

1:21:03It's non-traditional, if you want to call it. And everybody has to put a title or a term on something. So if that's what you need to do to help you define my life, then go for it. But as far as me, I'm not, no, that doesn't make any sense to me. It's like an investment. It's like you look at. He's like the little boy in the third grade on the playground. They all my girlfriend. But what I'm trying to say, all right. Because we travel a lot, right? So in different parts of the world, like we went to Kenya, right? And like we went to certain parts of Kenya, like it's socially acceptable to have five wives.

1:21:38Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. If I really wanted to be married, I can just move to Ghana. You know, I can move to Ghana. But it's not even about being with different. You just don't want to. It's just who I am as a person. It doesn't make any sense to me to go into a situation and set standards and rules based off of emotions that are temporary. Love is one of the most temporary emotions. It's the worst thing you can base a relationship off. Because what about the days when I'm not feeling love? Do I still look at you and see value in you in those days? And how do you establish that? And if we're going off the rules and regulations of how it's set up, then it's hard to be able to keep that in line.

1:22:16because now you're looking at me like I'm doing something wrong to you for doing something right for me. And I just don't understand that process. I choose me. I choose me. Huh? Without question. I don't have a choice because, and I'm raising a daughter. So you got to understand, like, this is not just something that I'm doing on my behalf. I have to explain to my daughter my perspective. And I have to, people ask me all the time, well, how would you feel if your daughter was with a man like you? I'd be overjoyed because at least she knows what she's doing. And if that's the decision that she wanted to make, she made it based off of reality.

1:22:48And that's all I can ask for. At least you're real enough not to lie to it and be like, look, it is what it is. Honesty is the best policy. No, it ain't. It's not. No, no. I never said that. It's not? No, hell no. Why not? Hell no. Bro, if you be out here telling the truth, you ain't never going to have shit. That's the worst thing that you can do. I just never going to have shit. I just ask. Like, this is a gauge that I do at all my shows. I always ask women, make some noise if you just want a man to keep it 100 with you. Majority of the women make noise. All right, fellas. So do that. But I would never say, hey, men, tell the truth.

1:23:19They don't, hell no. That's the worst thing you can do. And it's coming from somebody who tells the truth all the time. It doesn't work. They don't. Don't do that. It doesn't work. So you would advise people to lie? No, I would. If you a nigga that's trying to be in a relationship, you better lie. Well, there's two different things, though. There's a lie, and then there's just not saying something. That's not a lie. No, that's a mission. Yeah. But that's just, that's a. You don't ask, don't ask, don't ask, don't tell. Yeah, that's the light lie. Me, I just choose to operate outside of the matrix.

1:23:46Is that a lie, though? No, no, no, not at all. Because... No, I'm saying... Omission a lie? Is omission a lie? Omission... No,

1:23:56no, but what I'm saying is that, all right, let's say, hypothetically, you're doing something, whatever. It's never really asked of you. You don't volunteer the information. Yeah, that's... That's dishonest, though. That's a whole different thing. Was you with her last night? That's you asking me a question, but I'm saying is answer that. That's why I don't ever want to be. Because you're conditioned to immediately say anything but yes or no. You know what I'm saying? I don't I can't do that. But I wouldn't advise men to do that because the reality is most in my experience, I can't speak for everybody.

1:24:35But in my experience, most women have never had a man keep it 20 with him, let alone 100. it. So how do you know that's really what you want until you run into it? Ben is a man that tells the truth and don't lie. I know that it doesn't breed you any type of benefit. It just keeps you from dealing with all of the consequences of being a lying ass nigga. And we've all been there. We've all, and that just, you are just, she's justified to do whatever, knock you upside your head, knock your house up and all that. They need to meet him so they can appreciate the niggas that's like me. I will tell you the best lies you ever heard.

1:25:14But no apologies. No apologies. We both lying. You don't even like me like that for real. I'm sick of you. You don't like me. We lying like we happy until we happy no more. Now we free. Now we free. Now we about to both hit these streets and enjoy these streets. in this freedom like we never have before. Streets is different now, though. Nigga. When it come to these hoes, I'm DMX. I'm gonna let them say whatever the fuck they wanna say. Say whatever. I did it all. Fuck these hoes. Yeah, whatever. I don't know no fucking Kiana. You know I know Kiana. Why are you asking me how you know her? That's the question.

1:26:03That's the better question. Why are you asking me who I know. You got reverse engineering. That's all they're telling the truth keeps you from having to deal with. I don't know how to have that conversation. Yes, you do. I know how to have that conversation. You a great bullshitter. And me not, not, no, I'm not, no, not when it come to a woman. I'm not. I'd rather have a conversation of who the fuck deal with dad? Do you mean to tell me somebody accept that shit? I'm like, yeah, yeah. That be the one that's gonna give you some hair later on that day. Next one. The same ones who want to sit there and break down the dynamics of that for two hours and suck some dick right after that.

1:26:45But Noah Piley. I know this. I mean, hey, there's some truth to that, too. There's some truth. Because why are you so inquisitive if you don't fuck with what I'm doing? Let it go. Let it go. Come on. I'll tell you all about it. Put your hands. You ball up. You know what I mean? I thought you said you ain't walking away. I be lying I be lying Yo Loser Tell the truth Tell the truth Don't get some head Lying against me I'm lying I'm a liar That's the truth The truth is I lied You want the truth So fuck it man Let my lie go through You ever swipe your card And that bitch Take a little minute You know it's the money On that bitch Hold up Yeah see that's a terrible I thought the fuck so That's a different I'ma tell the truth Let my lie go through I'm going to tell the truth, not get the head, and just tell myself something to make myself feel better.

1:27:37That's when a nigga like me show up and tell us some good lies. Yeah, nah, that bitch breath's naked. Get that head. Nah, I'm good. Yo, before we leave, I want to ask y 'all this. Because y 'all always been like, y 'all always stay, y 'all just like keep it solid. But a trend has been happening over the last 18 months with comedians. I guess it's been happening for a long time. Whatever. There's a lot of beef between comedians. I didn't know that. Man, them niggas can't fight. But is that always been part of the comedian culture? That's because a lot of them niggas can't fight. Man, listen, let me tell you.

1:28:08That's the reason why? Yes, comedians are not good fighters, but they always fighting. I have played sports and been in all kinds of other shit. The only group of people I've been around that fight this much are comedians. Comedians stay in some shit. Why? Why? Because they don't like each other. Limited resources. They don't like each other. He told me this early, early in the game. Because Los is our elder. He's been doing it for longer than all of us, especially when we came into getting notoriety. And it's always been my partner. So he was like, man, let me tell you something, man. These niggas don't fuck with each other.

1:28:48They hate each other. These niggas really hate each other, man. He said, and everything you're going to see when you're around these niggas is going to be in the vein of that. So don't be surprised when you see it. And from that point on, I've never been shocked. Like, I ain't never tried to be friends with nobody other than my partners. Because I understand. I see it. Like, when you see it from that vantage point, that's where the beef come from. But these niggas get around each other and be. That's the thing, though. They don't be around people. Fake love. Yeah, it's a lot. A lot of these niggas are just.

1:29:22When you think about it, a lot of these niggas be in their own world. So in your world, you the king. Mm-hmm. so none of this you the baddest motherfucker in the world cause you ain't never gotta see nobody you don't never have to interact with them you might never even get to see these motherfuckers face to face if they don't want you to but it's just, it's a lack of resources and opportunities man, and ego everybody's fighting for the same spot a lot of these people have ego because they do have flashes of greatness but the world ain't gonna never get to see it on the ground. They don't like each other because they like all that nigga do is that one shit.

1:30:04That's what I'm saying. So like when y 'all watch it from your perspective, right? Because when we think of comedians of this generation, obviously y 'all are in that pathion of greatness. Do y 'all watch other comedians and say that dude's fire or that chick is fire? Who are those people right now that are not 85 South affiliated? It'll take us all day to tell you. You know, Mojo Brooks, I mean, you know what I mean? Nav Green. Nav Green. Money Bag Mafia. Bubba Dub. Bubba Dub. You know what I'm saying? The list goes on and on. Like, we show love to everybody. That's why the beef shit be funny.

1:30:40Because I think on the outside of people who are not comedians, they always be missing a little part. It's always a little piece of the beef that's missing that makes it make sense. But as far as just not liking each other, these niggas don't hate each other. They just got some disagreements that they can't work out. Yeah, and I think— And that's everywhere. That's everywhere. And then when you come from certain environments, like, we really from, like, different—our background is real different. I'll tell you right now. Any beef between comedians is a few—it could be solved with a couple dollars.

1:31:15Not even a lot. Just a couple dollars. Dollars. Yeah. A couple dollars. A couple dollars, probably. And then, like, for me, I always looked at it like I ain't got time to be having no problems with nobody doing this. I come from where problems were daily, you know, and really grew up in that environment. And that was normalized. So I refuse to get that energy now. So it's always been easier having that mentality moving through the game. And I always say I've been blessing the game. We can end the beat with all the comedians. Everybody. Wow. Every time I get on the platform, I'm going to start telling people, hire comedians.

1:31:48It don't even have to be me. hire some comedians. Watch how much of this beef just dissipates. Hire them. Whatever y 'all got going on, bro, hire a comedian. Go grab a comedian that you know from your hood, grab one from your hood, throw a little bread on them, and keep them working. But that's the good thing with y 'all. Y 'all don't have to be hired. You can get hired, but you created your own. Nowadays, you got a cell phone. We still accept jobs, though. No, no, for sure. But I'm just saying, I feel like the days of, like, like struggling actor, right? Or a struggling comedian. But it's not like that for everybody.

1:32:24It's not like that. It's just as difficult. That's what people don't understand. There's a lot of comedians that don't want to do sketches or do skits or be in a movie or be in a show. There's a lot of them. Comedians just want to tell jokes. Yeah, and some of them just want to do this. And, you know, it's just a different mentality. You got, you know, it's kind of like the mentality of the young hating on the old, the old hating on the young. It's just people paying attention to other people. It's two different worlds. It's two different worlds. They don't even do the same thing, but if you're a sketch comedian that do skits and things like that, people always say, man, you so funny.

1:33:00You need to do stand-up. But they never tell funny-ass stand-up comedians. You need to do sketches. You need to do some sketches, boy. Hey, you need to start fucking with them sketches. They'll tell you, you need to do movies. Yeah. But now that's the world that we live in. You know what I mean? You look at the way that the consumer consumes media now. You got the I Show Speeds, the Kassonats, the Drewskis, and all of these different people who have innovated the way that people consume. And Dizzy Banks. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Don't say Dizzy. Y 'all does it. Y 'all does it. And see, that's what I was about to show you.

1:33:35That's how simple it is to start a beef with a media. Yeah, you leave a nigga name. That's why when you said, who's some of the upcoming comedians? we ain't even really get to go into a whole list or you got somebody like Country Wayne who literally started his own show I felt slighted by y 'all well them niggas don't never mention me them niggas don't fuck with me like that buddy sit there and ask him who he fuck with he said three niggas I bet that's how comedian beef start you said something about doing movies and you alluded to it as well I know you got the partnership with uh Kevin Hart. You do?

1:34:14Who told you? Heartbeat. Who told you? I mean, you talk about the highest level of comedian working with y 'all. Talking about partnership and working together. How'd that deal come about, man? What's that? What's the plans for it?

1:34:31I don't know. Yeah, me neither. I don't want... See, now he brought up the comedian beef. What if we don't answer the shit right? And then KFC the shit and be like, Oh, yeah, y 'all didn't give enough grace. That's why I don't help nobody. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't even understand why you guys didn't give enough. No, the thing about it, though, is I've been working with Kevin Hart for a long time. Yeah. Like, I've been knowing Kevin Hart since Laughapalooza. And he's one of the guys who, he's great when it comes to the business of entertainment. Smart guy. And like you were saying earlier, he saw us grinding and building our own stuff and selling our tours.

1:35:07and sometimes he performing at these same venues that we perform at. And he know what it takes to sell these joints out. I'm like, okay, y 'all doing this or y 'all doing it. And looking at the numbers at the end of the year, and he saw the progress. And he worked with all of us individually. And he came on Wilder now, and we've had real conversations. And then, you know, just in the process of moving around the entertainment industry, people start to fuck with you when they see you in places that ain't got nothing to do with work. Oh shit, we in Vegas. Oh, look, come over. Come holler at us. It ain't the job for them to call you and say, come to Vegas with us this weekend, but if we see you, you good.

1:35:53Come over here and see what this superstar shit hitting like. Between me and him and DC and all the entertainment circle, that's how a lot of stuff happens. It ain't just the Kevin Hart shit. It's not a lot of opportunities happening. It'd be something simple. It's like you said when I came in, the first thing you said, something about the watch. I've had so many conversations just from this. Somebody said, oh man, that's a nice... We're in the same club. Then you end up having a conversation and find out this nigga own mustard. Right. He was like, you own mustard. Then you saw this nigga again at the Super Bowl shit.

1:36:29He was like, he got another one. Oh! Oh, you do this shit. Yeah. Have a seat. Switch your watch up. Shout out to Kevin Hart and Heartbeat Productions. He produced the stand-up special that I got on Hulu, Heartbeat Productions. Laugh out loud is his company. See, that's the thing. He works with us. Kevin Hart gave me one of my first big checks. Yeah, for real. Like, big one. For the LOL stand-up special. I'm talking about it. The same thing I did. No questions asked. Do the shit. As soon as you finish, it's the latest thing right there with an envelope, with a chick. Right? I'm talking about for a comedian, there's life-changing money right here.

1:37:08You don't, like, it's right there. Soon as you finish, ain't no wait, ain't no two weeks, ain't no check your mailbox. Kevin Hart just real like that. And he has always shared his success with the rest of the comedy world. And that's why I said I've been blessing the game because all of the OGs that I've had those experiences with, you know what I mean? Like, all the guys I've been around, the D-rays, the Duvalls, the Quakes. You know what I mean? Pretty much everybody who had that paper when we came around. That was the guys when we came around. They all showed us love and gave us game. And we ain't never been, like, shitted on by them niggas.

1:37:46And that helped. I haven't. You know what I'm saying? I can't say, you know, you've been doing it longer. I've been saying a few times what these niggas is. not those people you named but I'm saying motherfuckers in the industry and I've told you them stories oh yeah no that's why I say I've been blessed cause I ain't never had to deal with none of that personally and I'm glad because I don't know how I would like I don't I'm not really set up like that you're not gonna be able to you know chump me off like that like you nigga you know that's why I always say I'm nervous to meet Mike meet Jordan cause I would hate for Jordan be like man take no pictures nigga It's why you got on things.

1:38:25Look at your jeans, nigga. I'm going to say something. The day you meet them, you ain't going to have on no jeans. It's going to be a nigga you don't fuck with. Like, Adidas, nigga. Right. But I got to ask y 'all before we get out of here, man. What's y 'all opinion on Bitcoin right now? Like, what's you guys' take on it? It's unstoppable. It's very resilient. You know, they about to pass this legislation. That's why it's been going crazy right now, over$120 ,000. So I feel like for the future, Bitcoin is very volatile. It goes up and goes down. But for the future, the trend is leading up. Now, if you look at the past 10 years, since it's been started, right?

1:39:03And it's something that once you start to see mass adoption, that's what we've seen. So you've seen BlackRock. You've seen Fidelity. You've seen it's traded on the stock market now as far as the ETF. So it's almost like just normalized at this point, right? Yeah, but that's why I ask because with regulation comes, you know, that changes the game. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, but regulation brings institutional money. Yeah, exactly. So once institutional money comes in, like you said, it's tough to stop. And you got an administration right now that is in favor of it. And so it's going to be easier to pass legislation than it would have been in the past.

1:39:37I'll put it like this in terms of value and market caps, how companies are valued, they're worth. right now Bitcoin, if it was a company, would be the fifth wealthiest company in the world. It's valued at over$3 trillion. They're projected to be at$6 trillion by 2030. Okay, well. So what's up? There you have it. What's going on? I just wanted to get their opinion, Ben, as though we talked about this years ago, years and years ago. I mean, everything from Bitcoin to chat GPT. That's a fact. You guys, you know, we done had no on camera, off camera. We got to start doing this quarterly. Yeah. Remember the ChatGPT?

1:40:20That was the first time when y 'all did this. We came in here. And then now it's like. Yeah, now it's this. Every five-year-old got you. Exactly. It's the new Google. It's the new Google. I'm not using the Google. That's a fact. Yeah. I'm not using ChatGPT. I ask dumbass questions. Like what? What makes nipples pink? This nigga's crazy. I ain't used it for nothing positive yet. It answered it, though, didn't it? The melanin in his nipples. You'd be like, oh, shit. I done figured out how to turn myself into a Sesame Street character on that. I done been on there taking pictures, man, in the air.

1:40:55Like, man, turn me into SpongeBob. True story. It's going nowhere. We've had all of these conversations, you know, in front of the people, man. So, you know, salute to y 'all and thank y 'all for always having us and always being able to. Y 'all got to pull up. Progressively push the conversation and not hide the information from the people, man. I need me some tickets to invest. Yeah, we got to come to an investment. I need a land that make it look like I got a lot more to do with it than I actually do. Production. That's what I was looking for. The Essence Festival, man. They ain't giving me nothing.

1:41:30The VP production. But I want to. When I see y 'all. With the headset. You need a headset. Not necessarily. But when y 'all, like, say for instance, you get me a lanyard. Yep. When y 'all give me the shit, I'm just going to act like I'm always looking for y 'all. What do you say, Rashad?

1:41:50Come on. Let's run it. Let's just run it. Let's just run it. He's here. We got the talent here. Let's just run it. Let's just run it. Let's just run it. Mic's up. If you ain't got one of these, that's what I want to do. That's it. Get me one of them. You ain't got to worry about shit else. I ain't coming to fuck the bread up. But I want to just come and act like I'm real important. And when people ask you, I'm like, what the fuck is that? You don't know who the fuck that is? That's the nigga that invented black GPT. That's black GPT. That's the black GPT dude. Oh, black GPT. Yeah, black GPT would be dope.

1:42:24The type of shit you could ask black GPT would be amazing. Like a black person. Give us an example. When is Bitcoin going up? child I don't know it's going up directly going up to the ceiling what should I do with this money well if it's in the Lord's will you'll always have it if I live and don't nothing happen I'm going to invest all my money in the investment like GPT the Lord's will you know it's legit It's going down. We need to come up with that. What's a blessing? Everything that you got that the Lord wants you to have. Then he about to trademark this. I know. That's why he's still there.

1:43:19Waiting on this shit.

1:43:23Yo, we want to appreciate y 'all brothers, man. Is tickets on sale right now? Go download the app. Channel 85 is in the app store. You can get tickets off the app. Or you can just go to channel85.com. You can go to Ticketmaster. You can go to 85SouthShow.com. What's the website, Blake? BMNShows.com. Anything 85 South. Follow us on social media. Chico Bean, Carlos Miller, DC Young Fly. Shout out to Nav Green, Moneybag Mafia, Clayton English, Poor Minds. And BMN stands for being magnificent niggas. Just in case you didn't know, BMN is being magnificent niggas shows. I thought that was an SUV. That's the hybrid.

1:44:13Oh, man. But make sure you get your tickets to come see the Spin the Block Tour, man. We coming to see y 'all. Yeah, and when y 'all come for EYL, bro, we going to send some people back there and get some exclusive BTS scene. That's my young dog, Marco, right there. Yeah, we got to, man. He need a lanyard too. That's easy. Send us. Hey, man, what day is it, Best Fest? August 22nd through the 24th. So we going to get the package of lanyards before that? We come to see y 'all. Put my shit in the brown envelope with the clasp in the back. Send me a few over. Let me know which one mine. I want one that don't nobody have.

1:44:49Give me like, if I wanted the EYL with like an orange trim or something. I'll agree. Put leather on my fucking. Make my shit. All right, y 'all got it. put leather on my shit and I don't want no fucking laminated shit like have somebody hand stitch that bitch with like one of these Africans in Harlem or something you know what I'm saying some shit that I get that's gone you know what I mean don't send me no cheap shit bro I'm telling you like bro we been friends this is true we got too much money for me to nail that shit off and shit we gotta stop being humble yeah bro get my I'm just getting me an iced out lanyard or something, bro?

1:45:28Nah. Got you. I'd take a watch. I don't like that. That's the one I want. I love that one. See, that's... People don't know about that one. See, these is... The Prezies is dope, but that one, that one is the one. I'm with Los, man. Nah, nigga. See how he is? He's trying to figure it out. He's trying to figure it out, bro. Nah. This ain't even a real Rolex. It's a vitamin, isn't it? Nah. Timex. Timex. It ain't not. You ain't about to do me like that. Come on, funky man. I think you got a swat. Waiting on y 'all night. With the Harlem Nights, man. But appreciate y 'all, man. Always love. Congratulations on everything.

1:46:09Always love. For real. That's who we have. Alicia, 85, 7. An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child in Massachusetts. An MS-13 gang member from El Salvador accused of murdering a Texas man. A Venezuelan charged with filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President Donald J. Trump's leadership. I'm Kristi Noem, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded. And over 100 ,000 illegal aliens have been arrested.

1:46:53If you are here illegally, you're next. You will be fined nearly$1 ,000 a day, imprisoned and deported. You will never return. But if you register using our CBP Home app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. Do what's right. Leave now. Under President Trump, America's laws, border, and families will be protected. Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security. What if mind control is real? If you could control the behavior of anybody around you, what kind of life would you have? Can you hypnotically persuade someone to buy a car? When you look at your car, you're going to become overwhelmed with such good feelings.

1:47:31Can you hypnotize someone into sleeping with you? I gave her some suggestions to be sexually aroused. Can you get someone to join your cult? NLP was used on me to access my subconscious. Mind Games, a new podcast exploring NLP, a.k.a. neurolinguistic programming. Is it a self-help miracle, a shady hypnosis scam, or both? Listen to Mind Games on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom Podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's broken. But what if the real work isn't physical at all?

1:48:09I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the valley of despair is realizing this has happened, and you have to make a choice whether you're going to stay in it or move forward. Our two-part conversation is available now. Listen to The Mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows.

1:48:46and make real progress. That's right. Yeah, each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence, listen to How to Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.