The Untold Story of Zack TV | His Brother CGB Mike Speaks for the First Time

0:00No Jumper, coolest podcast in the world. I'm in here with my man Remo today and we're bringing y 'all a very important conversation which is with Mike. Also known as Zach TV's little brother who can provide what I assume is like a crazy perspective on one of the most important YouTube content creators of this whole era and drill culture in particular. all facts i feel like ain't nobody like that close talk about bro for real i feel like bro like everybody that spoke on him like outsiders for real what people that just been around for a little bit people knew him from the industry and okay and this is blood cousin too yeah we know it should get deep you know get real deep we got that ain't it they don't know about and what's your name jay so cbg mike and cbj cbj cgb yeah can't go broke can't go broke yeah some we came up like middle school and all right and what's the age gap between uh you and zach both would be like damn he'd be like 38 by now yeah 23.

1:12all right so 15 year age difference yeah he's the oldest i'm the youngest okay yeah and and what area did y 'all grow up in 105th the state. It's like in the Wild Hunters. That shit. But he from Eaglewood. We just grew up over there. So by the time you're like five, he's already like 20. So he's kind of a grown up by the time you're even starting to remember shit basically. Yeah, but we had real deal experience though. Like seeing certain shit, you know? Growing up in Chicago, certain shit. On God, bro. So certain shit, we seeing him coming in and out. Camer and shit like, you know? we outside and shit he outside on the block with his camo doing some shit like so we we didn't even know what was going on but we seeing we seeing this shit we were watching we couldn't have processed that shit you know but so okay you're like a little kid looking at him as as as a young adult and like what's your perspective of him or like what what kind of dude was he he a funny guy he's funny as fuck like funny guy he got a heart too but he also he got that father figure he ain't had no kids though but he had a father figure like strict on everything makes your business straight like always making sure you know stand up and keep my head straight and all that yeah you stand up too okay and uh did he always have a camera or when did when did that become part of his whole uh my og bought him a camera just randomly on some uh i think around the birthday or some but she just bought it just like you know he just asked for a camera she just I ain't think nothing about it.

2:47She bought that shit. He just took that shit far. So how old were y 'all when Zach was going out doing like the first early interviews? How old would y 'all say y 'all were? I was down to like five, six. Like five, six? Yeah. Around now. He used to go around like we had this shit called like on 4th of July and shit. It was like he used to go around recording shit. Like before the interviews and shit, like he used to go around recording random motherfuckers. He was a funny nigga like recording their ass. Joking, cracking jokes on their ass. You know, talking shit. I know it's still up on his channel to this day.

3:14you can go back and watch that type of shit. Like, you know, he had Dred doing his hair and shit, tutorials, like untwisting his dreads and shit. He been doing this shit, like, wow. Just random little life shit, you know? Like, yeah. Yeah, so when he first originally got the camera, it wasn't in a way for him to profit off of making content just for like himself. It was really just vlogging. Hell no, he was in college and shit, just showing, just doing dumb shit. Just lifestyle, like vlogs and stuff like that. People started catching on. Different shit every time. So he wasn't intentionally trying to do music at one point, or was he doing music?

3:43Like when you first started? Yeah, he was doing music, but I don't think he was never taking music seriously. You know, he was cold with that shit, but he wasn't taking it as like, did some shit he chasing, you know? Yeah. But yeah, he was doing music here and that type shit. It was one of those. So from y 'all perspective, with y 'all being younger, what was the first Zach TV interview that kind of like started buzzing where y 'all started paying attention? Where it was like, oh, this is... I was on 72nd and Green on Dog Pound and shit. Oh, yeah, shit like that. He was on Love, you know, Love Duck and shit.

4:13The Sosa interview That was around Sosa was getting buzzed So he was the first nigga To pick that shit up So that shit was crazy The first one At Cheeky's grandma house Right Yup Bro I remember that shit That shit That's when it was like Okay We see he's got going on But you know He family So it was like That shit was like Damn we see it But it was like As he started bubbling more That shit started to get More crazy And more Like crazy Like Yeah I ain't really I ain't really feel his his like famousness until he like passed a lot. I started realizing like damn everybody know bro. Like I can say some shit like, oh bro we was at the gas station.

4:53I'm you know, he had me with him. Young ass nigga you know. He get out the car mufflers like Zach, Zach, Zach. But we nowhere near the hood on bro. I'm like what the, how they know him? That's what I'm starting to catch on like okay. You got some shit going. He pulling up different cars and shit. I'm like okay. He started to make some shit Like you know He started to become somebody I'm like okay That's why I started Paying attention to his YouTube So at the time When he did that Cheeky Interview That was super like Early on I think that was one of Cheeky first ever interviews Yeah How big was Cheeky In Chicago at that time To y 'all Like did y 'all know Who he was Or was that just Hell yeah Hell yeah I think he caught him He caught him right after He made a Yeah we started buzzing So started buzzing Don't like some shit Something around there Yeah Before the kind The regular one right Just with him and Reese?

5:41Yeah. All right, so just the original. Hell yeah, I remember we rolled past Sosa's grandma house. This one, Soulja Boy, trying to pick his ass up or some shit like that. That bitch was crowded like a m****. I caught on him like, damn, Sosa turned the rack up, fool. Now we can possibly, you know, we got a chance in this shit, for real. That's where I took it as, bro. I saw that shit firsthand. He was really the hope in the hood, for sure. Yeah, bro. I know Kanye ain't know shit, but Sosa really, you know, made the young niggas feel like, okay, we can do something with this shit, fool. on bro. How much was Zach like in the streets versus just being somebody who was kind of staying away from that shit?

6:16He was one of those who like he had friends that was really in that but he was like trying to keep himself out of that shit. Yeah, he wasn't pushing that narrative. He let it be known too so like that's how he got his respect from everybody. Do you think he was like concerned or conscious of the fact that doing all this content with dudes who are in the gang lifestyle could be dangerous? No. 100%. He used to call my OG and shit at night. My perspective was being at my OG crib, seeing him calling shit. He used to be like, I'm here, making sure everybody know where he at, where he doing and shit at all times.

6:54And his mind, he was cautious that shit could happen, but he was also like, I gotta make this work. He wanna help the hood. That was his goal. Hell yeah, he wanted to see everybody win. That's what it was with him, bro. you know better see everybody that's the type of shoes on what was your household like growing up

7:16that was packed that was trenchers i ain't gonna lie when you say packed how many people living in the crib mama had eight kids so same mom and dad or nah but like yeah all living in the same crib though nobody with our daddy and shit for real exactly living with y 'all yeah all in the Yeah, yeah. We was packing that bitch. But it was a decent crib and shit. It was just trenches. I ain't gonna lie. Oh, bro. Shit, I moved over there after we know how that shit go. Get kicked out. Boom, gotta move in. We over there now. Shit like that. Sometimes we all in the same crib. Yeah, literally. Shit. Me and the folks.

7:51All type of shit. Lights might be out, you never know, bro. Shit like that. Little shit though. So at the time, Zach was kind of like being a provider since him being one of the older people in your household. him out here actually you know have a success early on with YouTube did that like transcend early back to the household like was he able to do stuff for y 'all no I definitely when he started it was like around like 2016 we was able to like really make moves for us and help us and shit I ain't gonna lie and it was that shit was good I ain't gonna lie it was a blessing bro he was really the you know I hope on that shit you know yeah he's the one with that shit you making shit right trying to get shit right Did he have any like close calls early on in terms of like things that maybe sort of went left when he was out filming in people's hoods and everything?

8:40Did he ever run into any situations? Yeah, a couple of shit like that. Shit like O Block and shit. You can go back when it was all out there and shit like that. Motherfuckers trying to see, you know, what's to that interview in the ops type shit. You know, you got to put a countdown, certain shit like, you know. They kind of pressed him about why he was doing content with people they used to? I'm impressed, but you know how that shit come across. I think it was... Boss talk. It was E-Day. E-Day had something to say. Now it was the boss talk situation. Yeah, but I better put the comment down, you know?

9:08Let them know like it's not, you know? It ain't no tough shit, but it's like, hey, we ain't know that type of timing though. But they don't want no tough shit though, you know? But you know, you have to let them know like, it ain't that though, bro. Now going back in hindsight, do y 'all feel like it was risky? Because he was one of the first people to actually go to Hood to Hood. He'll go interview one block and then go interview the ops literally the same day or next day from that perspective imagine like family west yeah you know like it could be it could have been any day like you know even going to his own hood like you know you know how that that get risky that's the rack fo yeah that should get crazy for real like bro so where all any guy any of y 'all like warning i know y 'all are younger but like anybody else in your family was like warning him like oh you you might be doing too much but going to different hoods and like bro like all his brothers and because Because mom was OG the most.

9:56She was the most worried. Yeah, for sure. So how involved was her mom? Or how tapped in was she? Did she know what was going on in the streets of Chicago? Did she know that he was at risk even doing this type of job? Yeah, yeah. She used to just pray over him at night and shit. I used to come in the room. She'd see her praying and shit. Or she'd just be on the phone with her for a while, you know? Before you do another interview or some shit. Make sure you did it. That's all it really was. At a certain point, was he seeing a lot of money off of YouTube? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Was he like balling out a little bit or not really?

10:31That was around 2015, 2016. Yeah, that's when you know, bro. He started sending my mama to thousands and shit. His mama, you know, he started being able to, hey, huh. He was coming out, taking me shopping and shit. Bro, shit like that. Bro, I see it. That's when I started to know, like, okay, pulling up different cars and shit like that. you know buying different careers on my eye birdie touching some shit um bro which what's your best memory i have of being around him his ass being funny it was always funny i ain't gonna lie his ass funny as hell like real i know y 'all y 'all see that shit in the interviews he's funny as hell i'm broke troll and it's funny as a bitch but in person he funny as hell like literally funny as hell i'm bro like that nigga comedian I'm broke.

11:16No, bro. So, can you give us some more information, even though it's a touchy subject, can you like, the day that he died, he was at a club, can y 'all break down more so what? Because it was a lot of, I guess, allegations of what happened and stuff. A lot of people thought it had something to do with the Kanika Jenkins case. Yeah, it was, I'ma let that be known. It was nothing about the, it was nothing about the interview, I mean the Kanika Jenkins and shit, that shit was like. Oh yeah, that's one allegation, motherfuckers, I wanna touch on. Why do y 'all think people assume his death has something to do with that in the first place?

11:52Where was all that even coming from? Cause you know when the Nika drinking shit happened, bro was the first one to like pick up the case. He wanted to show everybody the truth to that shit. Cause nobody, they was hanging that shit, even the mother, you know? Yeah. So like he was the one to step out of, you know his cover zone, his, all that shit. to go do that shit. Yeah, he went deep into that shit though, bro. He did, bro. But his death really didn't have nothing to do with that shit for real. We see that shit everywhere, bro. I just, one thing I really wanted us to touch on, for real. Yeah, he was just getting behind the scenes of that shit for what's really going on.

12:30Conspiracy shit, y 'all cut that shit out for real. Yeah, but that case was that big in Chicago that people thought the government or something wanted to get him out the paint, or people, like politicians, because he was shedding light to some crazy stuff that could've happened to this black girl at a hotel and she was... Yeah. The thing is, though, he was getting calls, though. He was getting threats. From, like, what type of calls? It was one video that he got a call, some shit. They, like, stay out of that shit, this and that. And he got a text before somebody saying, you know, like, don't continue to, you know, like, stop that shit.

13:01Yeah. So I can see why they saying this shit, but that's not why he died. You think at the time he was scared to keep, like, pursuing it? Because I feel like he still kept, like, Doing interviews about it and he wasn't really getting straight away. That shit got real. I ain't gonna lie. But he was too deep in. So he like, you know, he can't turn back. He just did more research. I remember he called his mama, my mama and them all the ass aunties and shit. Like, you know, he used to call the ass and let them know, you know? A lot of message type shit. Bro, he was telling the ass like, this shit getting scary or some shit.

13:35Like, motherfuckers calling unknown numbers and shit like that on bro. So, it was getting, you know, he was just telling them like, you don't pray over him and shit like that, you know? Little shit. Motherfuckers just took it ass, did what he said, you know, and you know, that's how that shit go. All right, but to clear that up, y 'all saying his shit had nothing to do with Kanika Jenkins, for sure. No, at all, at all. Can y 'all break down the day that, so what was actually going on that day that he actually passed away? He went to a club? Yeah, he was at a club with his artists. He had two artists.

14:06He came, I think he was coming from Vegas or some shit. Yeah. He came in town. yeah so he took the downtown and shit so it was a club downtown it was like a little show type shit yeah he tried to get them to perform and shit put them on and uh there was some niggas in the crowd who ain't like the artists and shit yeah and they was trying to get on stage while he while they performing and shit Zach like nah he calmed it down while they was in the club so I guess they took that shit as like disrespect a little bit you know they still ain't with it yeah after the shit his artists and shit drunk as hell he telling them like get in the car he in the car he telling them get in the car they still coming out the club drunk as hell i guess people watching and you know yeah the option they watching they wait till you pull off telling what car they in they follow that car and uh not too long later that you know that should happen and the artists uh were these people that like from yahood like they from the hundreds these people y 'all know or anything or yeah they're around 100 for sure.

15:10So he was trying to put on people from y 'all block, pretty much. Yeah, that's what it was. He was trying to put people on. I don't think. Was that exactly from the 100s? No, they from the 100s, though. They from down, down the way. So it was on some shit like that. That's what it was, bro. So would you say it was a case where these dudes who shot up that car, that they were happy to kill Zach? Or was it a thing where he was just collateral damage because they really just wanted the other guys? Type shit. The other people, you know, they were the target, but I feel like they ain't give a fuck about, you know?

15:43They still like, fuck you too, type shit. Right. So, like, that's how they have. Like, you with them type shit. That's how that shit go sometimes, but when that shit, you know how that shit go. It's like, they ain't, you know? That shit ain't different, I ain't gonna lie. I'm better. Were y 'all familiar with the artists at the time? Like, did y 'all know who they were? Like, was he telling y 'all, yo, these are my artists? This is why I'm pushing? Yeah. Like, them people, he knew for years. Yeah, he trying to push them. That's what it was. He trying to push these artists, bro. That's why he even moved like that, like trying to protect them, tell them come on shit.

16:14So more so his homies slash just people he trying to do business with. Yeah. Yeah, he had a heart for them, bro. You see what he trying to do? Trying to put them in position. So, yeah, that's what it was. He trying to push them. Out of love. Like he was doing all that shit out of love. And that shit came in between that type of shit, bro. And they not from the 100s? Y 'all know where they were from? What part of Chicago was his art? Because one of the artists is fresh, right? A-M-E fresh or? Fresh. T Street. T Street, right? Yeah. All right, and then supposedly, so what I heard and what I seen, I guess some dudes tried to approach Zach and like, yo, we not finna let Fresh perform.

16:49And he, and Zach ended up like overriding it and letting him perform still. Then he went out to the car and was like, yo, he was kind of basically trying to tell bro, like the niggas in there ain't with you, that shit we need to get on down. But I guess Fresh was the one that was like overly drunk. Yeah, so you wasn't really hearing that shit, you know? He probably here bro But he won't hear him bro But where Fresh from Like what I think they from around Eaglewood or some shit Eaglewood alright for sure And then the other guy Was T Street Yeah And he Him and Fresh Locked in or whatever Yeah But not the T Street's From King Von Nah Not that Nah Whole different guy Got it But alright so I guess the video Went viral Someone filmed it From like Apartment or whatever From the top view You can kinda see What happened And a lot of people thought that it was some backdoor shit because everyone drove off and left for him in the car, all that type of stuff.

17:43I guess now in hindsight, y 'all kind of know what happened and stuff. But when it first dropped, was y 'all looking at it like, damn, what the f***? Because people were kind of mad at Fresh and Street for just leaving Zach in the car. Yeah, I ain't going to lie. The way it just blew up and how that shit happened. It looked like it. I ain't going to lie. Like, off the back, it looked like some backdoor shit. It looked like some backdoor shit at the time. Like they getting out the car switching cars and shit. That shit looked like all walking and shit from, you know? Yeah. When I saw that shit, I was like, what the fuck?

18:11Bro. But do you think that? Do you actually think it was a backdoor situation? Thinking about it now, I feel like he was just on some, like he was just in the, you know, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time type shit. Right. I don't think it was no backdoor shit. Yeah. I ain't gonna lie. Because, I mean, now when you see, like, those, because if I'm wrong, Fresh and T Street both got killed after the fact, right? Oh, are they still here? Yeah. Yeah, they both still. All right, so that's what I was saying. So I just saw, in hindsight, it seemed like people were out to get them regardless of the situation.

18:45And Zach ended up just being in the car with them and kind of just got. But when it first initially hit, everyone was like, yo, how did this homie just drive off and leave him in the car? So I could see why I thought, because everyone thought it was on some backdoor shit at first. Yeah, I ain't going to lie. I definitely did too. Everybody did. Hell yeah. um bro which which who which one of them was the ones that went to like the police station and went live cause I remember one of them like I don't know if it was live back then cause it wasn't live but he did a video where he was like at the police station kinda like trying to clear his name a little T Street oh so T Street he was wearing like a red shirt I think it was T Street break down from what was that video about cause I do it was an old video but I remember him like trying to somewhat clear it up cause I ain't gonna lie like the whole Chicago thought bro did it so like they was all you know after you got a name like that, you a target, you know?

19:40So he just wanted to clear all that shit up. He was just there for a while, you know? Just doing what he got to do. And how long was it after that both Fresh and Streets was killed? Like, was it like an immediate thing or years later? I think T Street died damn near, like, a week after. A week after? Damn, that's crazy. Then Fresh died Like Was it like months after Or some shit Months after Yeah So still in the same year It was pretty much Something around that year Everyone that was in that car Ended up That type shit Hell yeah That's crazy That's That's Wow That's Chicago for you Bro That's the rack for You see shit happen Shit like that Do you remember where you were at When you found out Yeah I was in the crib Lay it out Like my OG you know it's early in the morning she come beating on the door like i'm thinking like it was on a school day i think or some shit too school day for sure i'm thinking like she tweaking because of that or something but i opened the door she crying and i'm like she too when she told me that shit i ain't gonna lie i was just i ain't never cried i ain't gonna lie i couldn't cry none of that i was just shocked like it ain't feel real just sound like she just saying some shit you know Hell yeah, I just kept checking my feed, you know, bro.

20:59It was one of those type shit. Yeah, then I look on the internet, I see, bro, everyone like, damn. It was like, the news and shit started. It was like, this is one of those. Motherfuckers had to instantly move around. Get to the, on the phone. Yeah, I don't think I felt that shit tired. Probably to the funeral angle. I was out of town. That time, bro, I was OT. Motherfuckers on the way to the right, bro. On our way there, on the phone, the wheel pop off the car. Oh, shit. On B, I swear to God, we riding that bitch. That wheel pop off. Now we stuck somewhere else. we still put that bitch on we gone we gotta get to the rack on bro it was one of those no bullshit yeah there's a lot of shit going on does zach have you have older brothers too at the time like yeah i got older brothers where they were like frustrated with what's going on what was their uh initial response to like oh shit to the situation the second oldest he he was he was up about it for sure then like all my brothers fucked up about it but one time was Like he was locked up.

21:53He can, you know? Yeah. I think he went through the most with that shit cause he got out still, you know, feeling that shit. Talk about that shit, breaking down from that shit. But everybody was up. But I feel like bro who was locked up he probably went through the most with that shit. He couldn't see that shit, you know? He couldn't see bro in the cat, you know? No funeral, none of that shit. Oh bro, that shit up. And did the people ever get charged? I think so, but yeah, I think, I think someone got charged, they got let back out. I heard someone ain't here no more. Yeah, I heard someone passed away.

22:28But there was a trial where someone got charged and let back out. How did that? Yeah, I don't know how that shit worked. Were y 'all at the trial or? No, no. Yeah, I wasn't at the trial. How do you even move on after something like that? Honestly, that shit. I don't think I'll forever. I don't think I'll ever really move on. you just gotta accept that shit and see where you finna go next. You gotta capitalize off that shit. Is there a part of you that wants to just crash out? Yeah. I don't want to crash out. I know what he said, though. I know what he said, though. Okay, but I mean, like, either directly or to just, like, get your life up.

23:13I don't know, just get high, like, forget all your priorities, whatever. I mean, there's, like, a lot of ways to crash out. Nah, not really though, cause that's some shit he ain't gon' hear on with that type of shit, you know? He ain't want motherfuckers around him do drugs and be that type of person. So that's not shit, you know? It's tempting though, it's tempting to like, to just give up, you know? But it's like, you gotta think like, bro, that's not his type of movement, you know? What he taught us was the opposite of that shit. So why not do what he, you know, how he moving? Yeah. Get something better out of this shit, you know?

23:47who was uh so how did everyone get access to zach's account like after everything because i believe like i don't know how shortly after but someone did try to do some vlogs on the page was it you or his other brothers or it was our cousin yeah so what was uh what was the process like of like all right let's get let's keep zach name going and who was the side in fact like oh yeah you're gonna one you're gonna be the one to keep zach uh youtube channel is still going on social media. The cousins came together, like our old little cousins, they came together and shit, they put that shit together on some shit.

24:22Around that time, she was like, we got to keep this shit going. Around that time, they wanted to keep that shit going. And then they started recording motherfuckers getting certain interviews, landing like Polo G and shit, the Lizelle interview. Then shit, we thought they just going to have the ball going again, like keep that shit going. I think they did a couple more interviews on El Hiller and Don Terry. Yeah, yeah, that too. And then that was probably the last one. why do they stop doing interviews on this honestly we don't know life you know probably some life i don't know but we don't know personally but we've been telling like you know keep that shit going well you know we're gonna try to push that shit ourselves yeah so y 'all more so passionate about rap more so than the vlogging aspect of it yeah yeah yeah i feel like yeah but i feel like We're going to, you know, dibble on double today, you know?

25:08Yeah. What would y 'all, what do y 'all feel like out of all the Zach TV interviews, which one had the biggest impacts or which ones had the biggest impact on Chicago that stand out to this day? Yeah, L.A. Capone interview. L.A. Rondo, that's one of the. That one stand out to y 'all so much. That shit all over TikTok. I ain't going to lie, that shit's still all over TikTok. That shit, like shit like that, fool. It's just the theme of the shit too. You know how rare that shit was? Because they both, you know? We don't see their ass no more. Both of their first interviews rare. He been doing rare shit.

25:48That shit rare. LA pulled up. I mean, who was it? Rondo pulled up in the hot car? They shot that shit in the opps hood. That was the opps hood? The one where it was LA and Kwondo, right? Yeah, it was by LA Grandma House. She lived in the opps hood and shit. It's crazy because it probably seemed normal to him at the time. It was just like those are the rappers who are around. Just go make some videos with him or whatever. And then in retrospect, it just seems so crazy and so legendary and just so ahead of its time. Because now there's no shortage of people who want to do the exact same thing that Zach was doing.

26:27He was just on that way before it became commonplace. like literally like 10 years earlier because you know like if he was doing it in 2011 like that shit really only started to become common i think like maybe around covid type shit is when everybody started making like hood vlogs and shit more consistently and like he was just on that like way of hell bro he was living with us i'm broke he said i'm gonna start doing interviews and I'm finna push this shit. He left that bitch. Turned the fuck up. No back. Ain't no turn back. I ain't gonna lie. He didn't. He didn't look back. Oh, bro. He didn't look back.

27:08He turned the fuck up. It was from now. Like, whatever type of run he went on for, that's exactly what I needed to do, for I ain't gonna lie. Like, he did some legendary shit. Yeah, there was a lot of people making content at that... Well, not really. Like, there wasn't really people making content at that time. You know what I'm saying? Like, there was, like, people making channels wasn't like uploading music videos and shit, but there just wasn't people like, the whole dream of like, oh, I'm gonna make a living off of doing interviews and vlogs and shit, that just didn't really exist yet. People weren't thinking about that before Zach.