Lefty Gunplay talks Kendrick Lamar, Grammy win, rehab & building Black-Latino coalition

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2:07I was talking to all of them and I told them, you know what? Fuck it, I'm gonna go to rehab. And then I called Top Dog and Kendrick Lamar and they said, that's the most dangstest shit you ever said.

2:30Yeah, yeah, what up, y 'all? This is Joe Crack, the Don. It's your boy Jada. You know what it is. The niggas came with the outfit change. They tell me.

2:43Hey, nothing off. I'm not that. I'm not that. I'm not that. I'm not that. You nigga. West Side. He's lost now. Y 'all start 2026. You love that. You never know who might pop out through the curtains. You never know. You know what I mean? It's the Joe and Jada show. Every show legendary. Every show iconic. When you think of today's guest, you think of somebody who's able to overcome adversity. Somebody who's about changing their life. You know what I mean? Getting to the bag. Getting the mental health together. Doing the right thing. Getting the music. Popping. Grammy winner. You've all been nominated, but not.

3:26It's hard to win one of them things. Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for Lefty Gunplay. Thank you for having me. What's up, my brother? Brother, it's an honor to have you, man. We in L.A. Yes, sir. And we said it don't get no more L.A. The Gunplay Lefty. right now at this moment, and my brother game, and so we touched the story. This is the Joe and Jada show. We about the culture. And we said, let's bring our brother on. What's crazy is I didn't see the Grammys. My wife saw it and she called me. She was like, yo, this Latino guy screaming Latino on the Grammys. This is my wife calling me, telling me that you won the Grammy.

4:14So you win the Grammy. What's so important about you saying and yo, Kendrick put a Latino on. I just want the homies to understand it. He gave me a platform, and it's been something that's so hard to do in Los Angeles to, you know, break into the rap game as a Latino. And, you know, Kendrick really, you know, black and brown unity at its finest right there. It don't get no bigger than that. And I appreciate him for giving me that platform. I got the bond. I'm running with it. I ain't looking back. That's right. You know, one of the living legends, So many kids, they look like me in the hood, you know?

4:49And just, I'm glad to represent the people in the right way. There's one of the Latino legends from out here one time. I don't want to say his name because he's beyond a legend. But he come and I take him to the Bronx to hang out with me. You know, we in the Bronx. So it's very different. But this is what I want to talk to you about so people can visualize and understand what's going on. Very different in the West Coast, unfortunately, between the Latinos and Blacks. Like in New York, everybody's a mixed baby. Everybody's black and Puerto Rican. And so he comes with us and I'm just showing him a good time.

5:24We at Jimmy's Bronx Cafe and he asks me, yo, you fuck with the black people? And I looked at him like, because I might as well be black. I don't know how to explain it to you any other way. So I looked at him. I said, yo, what you mean? He said, out west, we don't fuck with the black. I said, well, I can't fuck with you no more, my man, because that's not what we on here. Right? And I didn't even understand. that's Sojo time or some shit like that. I think I know who you're talking about. Well, it don't matter. Yeah, he's a legend. But he told me, yo, we don't fuck with the black dudes. I said, well, I can't fuck with you.

5:57That was the last time I ever rocked with him, even though he is a legend and he's a pioneer and somebody who started it. But that's when I started to realize that there's parts of the country that Latinos and blacks ain't connected like that. Yeah. You know, and so that's what you meant when you went up there, you said, yo, this brother gave me a chance that's unified. Yeah, stronger together. And you ain't going to get nowhere and rap if you ain't cool with no blacks. You know, it's their culture. You know, and they allow me to, you know, make money off this and more homies are following in my footsteps.

6:31You know, and I appreciate everything Kendrick Lamar did for me. He changed my life. You know, I always said that the biggest rapper on earth is going to be a Mexican rapper if he finds a way to let... I always tell you that, Steve. Steve Lobel's here. The biggest rapper on earth is going to be a Mexican-American rapper that fucks with black people, fucks with everybody, and just makes music for everybody. He's going to have the whole world. Yeah. In a sense. You leading that in the footsteps, and we already got that. Big point, his song was more than that. I mean, Latinos and blacks together.

7:12So I've always been about that. You pay the way. Good looking, brother. Tell me about the Mexican experience in LA. Bon Park, a lot of gang gang, you know? I got jumped into my neighborhood when I was 13 years old. Juvenile Hall, prison. Live the real life. You know, really about that life. And I was sitting in Pelican Bay, and I'm like, man, you know, it's just a revolving cycle. I was in Cork and Shoe, Pelican Bay, Shoe. and I seen OGZ, he's a rapper out here. I said, I can do that. And I said, man, I'm going to break the cycle. I'm going to be a rapper. Fuck it, you know? And then the rest was history.

7:52I manifested everything. I seen it in my head. I ran with it, you know? But just, you know, real Latino neighborhood, La Puente, Bomb Park, West Corvina, El Monte, you know? Just ain't nothing coming out of there. Just gang bang, you know? Try to make a change. Do you see that you're influencing the young Mexicans to start rapping and start trying to definitely change and be positive. Yeah, definitely, man. Follow your dreams. Anything's possible. That's real talk. Not only did you win a Grammy, you won it after getting released from prison. Yeah. How does that feel? What kind of space did it make you want to?

8:27Man, it's a dream come true. It's a trip. It still hasn't really hit me yet. Nah, it's amazing. You look great that night, too, boy. You threw that shit on. Threw that shit on, boy. Yeah, I appreciate y 'all, man. Yeah, I've been in the last six months, I've been in rehab. Shout out to the Haven Detox, Frank Sid and Carrillo. I've been right there getting my mind right, you know? How hard is that, right? Like, how long you was on drugs and I'm glad you're not ashamed of that because that's how you really inspired. Yeah. Fuck music, fuck all that. That's your real purpose to turn that shit around.

9:01Somebody like Jelly Roll, you see how he ain't scared to say, yo, I was fucked up, I was using drugs and he inspired so many people and now he the biggest in the game. You got to realize more people relate to that. Like, I lost a brother to drugs. He wouldn't get off drugs. When did you start? How did that come about? And when did you finally say, yo, I got to stop doing this? Man, I've been doing drugs since, like, I was 13. Just in that gang culture, it's just something that's always around in county and prison. And I became dependent on it. And, you know, ever since I got sober, but I was blowing everything.

9:37I was blowing all this opportunity. I got in a car crash, got into a lot of trouble. What kind of drugs? Everything. Everything. Crystal, heroin, coke. What's more addictive? Crystal, heroin. Heroin, huh? Yup. Liquor. Balanced it out. I was just blowing all my opportunity. Everybody's all like, man, you got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You're throwing it away. I was at a Cheney concert. It was a Cheney Eve Daru concert. And I was talking to all of them. And I told them, you know what? Fuck it. I'm going to go to rehab. and then I called Top Dog and Kendrick Lamar, and they said, that's the most gangsta shit you ever said.

10:14You know? So I flew out to rehab in Miami, you know, stopped cold turkey, knowing that I was Grammy nominated, popped up like a boogeyman, everybody tripped out. Nobody thought I could change my ways, but I did. A day at a time, brother. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I'm telling you. The hardest thing about it is trying to write now, sober like I'm very trying to I made all my hits sober all the lean backs make it rains all the way up any fucking hit you ever heard in your life sober don't let nobody tell you you gotta be high to right not true if you can do it I can do it yes you got this that's what I'm saying that's exactly what I'm saying it's gonna take a minute but then once you get it yeah you know what I mean it's a trip sitting here with you guys I was just bumping down New York last night.

11:08Oh, no, that's love. Yeah. That's love right there. I told you on West Side Terrace Squad, man. That's what's the Terrace Squad. Get him a chain, man. Get him a chain. That motherfucker ain't... If you saying that, then you bought that life, nigga, because we bought that life. Shout out, Steve, I tell you. Shout out, I think of you because you Mexican. I think of hip-hop. You know, of course, Cypress Teels inspired me and Punt. Yeah. They the first ones to inspire us on the major level. Shout out to J-Rail. Shout out to J-Rail. We will send all of Mr. Cartoon. Yeah. Do you know Mr. Cartoon? Legendary, yup.

11:45Yup, shout out to Mr. Cartoon. What a fucking legend, Mr. Cartoon. Hell yeah, West Harden. You know, me personally, every time I came to LA, you know I was more towards Inglewood, shout out, you know, MAC-10. I do believe, and this is something that everybody can argue with me, but we had something to do with the East Coast, West Coast. Connect. Connecting. Because it was at the time Big E-Poc died. There was a couple of more New York and West Coast beefs going on. And me and Mac 10 met each other. And we became brothers. I came out here and shot a movie with them called Thicker Than Water in Inglewood.

12:28Okay. And then he came to my hood. And what's crazy is, I never knew there was bloods in New York. When I grew up, it wasn't Bloods. It wasn't Crips. It wasn't none of that. He came to my projects. And when I tell you all them kids started running outside with the red suits on and hats, and they was like, yo, OG, OG. That's when I knew we had Bloods in New York. I didn't even know it. And I was in the street. So I brought them to my projects and everybody running out the building like, yo, OG, OG, OG. I was like, oh, shit, we got Bloods in New York. Yeah, I've been in New York. It's a trip. the trenches out there, just projects.

13:05They tell me, whatever you do, don't walk up in. What's the difference between that? Don't walk up in there. Between L.A. and here. Man, out here, every block's a gang. You know, pretty much every block's a gang. You be somewhere nice right here, you make a right. You know, you be with some Crips, some Bloods, some essays. You know, I'm a Sudano, so, you know, I'm a South Sider out here. I represent, but yeah, New York, they drove me around the projects and shit. Towers. Don't walk up in here at midnight, Lefty. I said, for sure, you know? Looking out. We're so fucked up that if you was on drugs, you would walk up in there anytime to get the drugs.

13:42Yeah. So when you on drugs, you in the most dangerous neighborhood, you don't give a fuck. You got to get the shit. You're right. It's the same thing with places like Miami, too. Miami, you could be a South Beach, you make a left turn, you in fucking... Pompano. Pompano, you in Pompano, but you in Liberty City, all that shit, Overtown. Yeah, Liberty City. Man, yeah. I lived, my last crib was 50 ,000 a month. A penthouse. I went walking two blocks. I was in Overtown, nigga. They was out in the middle of the street. It's so crazy how you got places that look like paradise, but you make the wrong turn.

14:27You in hell. Yeah, hell yeah. I feel that. Plus, talking about I'm bailing some states right now in Texas and Cali. So I've been doing the right thing, trying to stay focused, you know, fighting a gun, charging, fighting some shit in Texas. I learned my lesson. I don't mess around in Texas, you know what I'm saying? Shout out to my brother, Baby Bash and Frankie J. You heard of these guys? I know Baby Bash. I met him personally. Sugar, he gets so fly. Sugar, he gets so... Those are my guys. and every time I went to Texas, man, they showed me the best time in the world. These are beautiful guys.

15:06Yeah. And they Mexican, man. They put down for the Mexicans, legendary, those guys. But Texas is weird because you got a gun charge, but I don't think you need a license for a gun charge. So is it because you're a felon? Yeah. Because I'm out of prison. When they said that, you was like, yo, everybody can have a gun. And then they'd be like, not you, my man. Yeah. Snatched me off ASAP. Mm-hmm. At this point, I don't think you're thinking nine to five, right? You're thinking rap. You're thinking, yeah, rap, rap, rap. Entrepreneur, get money, get this, get that. So invest. Did you think about taking your tattoos off your face at all?

15:43Never. Never. Uh-uh. I represent you. Well, that's why they stopped you in Texas. Yeah. The story of my life, though. What? Bro. You ever thought about a cop? We so criminal minded, we never think about the other side. The other side, a guy driving in Texas, he seen him, that's how he knew he had the gun. He seen the tattoos, he said, hold on. This nigga from the other side of town. Let me pull it. Yo, my man, what you got there? Right? So, it's part of your image, it's part of everything. It's a disadvantage every day. Yeah. Legit, you got to get him real security. And a couple of dollars. Yeah, we got real security.

16:26Get the real guys with the real guns and leads you. Okay, no, my guy shoots your face off. Yeah. Okay, thank you, Steve. Shoot your face off. But that's how you got to move. You know, you got security. You got legit security. Be legit that way because if you bring the crew, they think that they're impressing you. They shoot the place up. Come play lefty on the news. It happened to me one million times. I've been in jail because of this rap shit, D1. I've been in jail maybe 30 times and shit I didn't even do. It was just like... Bringing all the homies... It's that joke. It's that joke. It really ain't me.

17:06When you bring the entourage and something happens, it's on left. No matter how you cut in stuff. How about you don't even bring the entourage? You in the soul house and you run out of here and they be like, lucky lefty beat everybody up in here. Yo, this, this... You're always going to get the blame. Guess what? We was talking about a story. behind the scenes. You know, we had Sham Gard and Jalen Rose. You heard? I was with Jalen Rose last night. Mm-mm. He was with Jalen last night. So I asked my man Sham Gard, right, there's a guy, you know, I used to coach basketball in the Rucker, one of the big, the best coaches ever, actually the best coach of all time.

17:49Yeah. Six chips. And I get to talking to Sham Gard and I bring up a player. so there was a player who was in high school that was going to the NBA from New York City who? I don't know if I should say that right now because I don't want to I don't know what kind of life he's in I don't know I'll say it his name Richie Parker oh Rich Parker Rich Parker one of the best basketball players out of New York he was supposed to go to the to the NBA there was no question no doubt that he was going Some girl allegedly got raped by some guys he knew. And because he was the star of the basketball team, allegedly she accused him.

18:38Almost like some Tupac shit. Tupac ain't raped that girl. But some guys, they might have did something too much and then he caught the blame. So this is what I mean that, you know, people could do shit and it's always our fault if we're famous and we're on the forefront. And one day, it's crazy because how about I never met a better gentleman in the street basketball league or in the park than Richie Parker? I never met a nicer guy in my life. And his mother was a fan. She come to all the ruckers games. And I remember one day I sat next to her. I said, yo, mama. I said, how you doing this? I'm still watching the game.

19:16And she just looked up and she was like, we supposed to be bitch. I said, how, mama? She said, we supposed to be. Bitch. Bitch, he didn't do that. We would have been in that. Could you imagine? We would have been in matches. We would have been. Yo, that shit hurt me when that lady. Yeah, I thought that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And so, you know, that's why it's so important that we got to move militant. Life happens. I wasn't signing with OTR. Oh, man. I signed with them my first week out of prison. You know, they gave me the money. and in the beginning I thought they was stupid giving me that money because you ain't the only one yeah we all felt like that yeah like shit I'm about to go back to the pen and then I took that money and next thing you know I'm right here Grammy nominated won a Grammy blowing up you know through the roof so I'm getting my contract situated right now but yeah it's bigger things ahead you know what happened when I signed the terrorist squad deal with Atlantic Records I turned It was$10 million.

20:24We negotiated all night. Yo, Steve, why you laughing? Because we negotiated all night. They wouldn't let me leave. It was like, you can't leave. Leo Cohen's outside. Every other record label exec is dying for Fat Joe to come outside. Because I just put out Big Bunny. He's going double platinum. They like, yo, this nigga got the Latino explosion. Yeah. We got to sign whatever Spanish got. It was like that. So they wouldn't let me leave. We wind up getting$10 million. Shoot it. I felt like I stuck that nigga up. Like, you ain't never seen your life. I was like, yo, me and Raul was up in there. I thought we stuck him up.

21:04The man gave us that money and jumped on a subway train. Like, nothing. He walked in the subway. I'm like, yo, this nigga gave us this paper and walked on the subway. 12 midnight. But I know the feeling because you've been doing shit so much for a dollar. Yeah. or$2, motherfucker give you a real check. You feel like, who did we call? What do we got to do? What's going on? Because ain't nobody giving us no shit for nothing legitimately in the hood. I was riding around the hood with like 200 bands in a duffel bag. Straight 50-step moment. Went to the car place, looking in the Maybach. Cash. First week out, pushing the Maybach in the hood.

21:49Straight out the trailer park. That's gangsta. We got to clap it up for that. You know, that's what we all about. We all about big life. We all about celebrating life. We all about, let me tell you something. Ain't nothing like that feeling when you get that first whip from rapping and you're on the freeway and you're just by yourself like, man, this is my shit. You know, for me, that was like when I caught that vaccine for COVID. I was stuck in that house. for a year and a half. And when they gave me that vaccine, I was like, looks like we made it! I thought I was going to die. Niggas was dying in the hood so much.

22:33When they gave me that vaccine, I ran over there so fast. I had my hand out the sunroof, like, looks like we made it! But I know the feeling, and there's nothing like doing something legit. Yeah. There's nothing. We all made money. you know, illegally, but legit. There's nothing like it feels good and you in your car and you feel like, damn, and that's what life's about. Breaking on my mom and my grandma. You what? Breaking on my mom. First thing I do is buy her a car. Let me tell you the next thing. You're going to buy your mother a house. Yeah, that's coming. That's where it's at.

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25:34Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy. Not quite. On Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends, me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guests, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer Streeter Seidel help an acapella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to Humor Me with Robert Smigel and friends on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're watching the latest season of the Real Housewives of Atlanta, you already know there's a lot to break down.