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Full Transcription:
[0] Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert.
[1] I'm Dan Slathers.
[2] I'm joined by Maximus Mouse.
[3] Having a little microphone issues over there.
[4] Yeah.
[5] Getting Cicuated.
[6] Get it, girl.
[7] Mine's good.
[8] Mine's just sitting over here and I swing it out when I get out.
[9] Good.
[10] Good for you.
[11] We've got to get yours in a little bit better shape.
[12] That should be very stable for you.
[13] Okay.
[14] Do you feel good?
[15] Yeah.
[16] Okay, great.
[17] Wow.
[18] Whoa.
[19] That was close.
[20] Really close.
[21] He almost lost me. He almost went down.
[22] We have a very exciting individual with us today.
[23] It goes by the name of Fitty Sen. His name is Curtis Jackson.
[24] Does it make you nervous when I say Fitty?
[25] Very.
[26] Yeah.
[27] But that's what he says.
[28] I've got to be respectful.
[29] 50 cents is here.
[30] Curtis Jackson, better known as Fitty Cents.
[31] He is a rapper, an actor, a producer, and an entrepreneur.
[32] He was in Get Rich or Die Trying.
[33] He also produces.
[34] power, the epic blockbuster.
[35] And for life on ABC, he, of course, wrote and performed Get Rich or Die Trying the album, which was the anthem to my early popularity, as we'll find out.
[36] Oh, boy.
[37] Yeah.
[38] And he also has written a new book, Hustle Harder, Hustle Smarter, which we will talk about in great length.
[39] So please enjoy 50 cent.
[40] Wonderly Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now.
[41] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.
[42] Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.
[43] He's an up chair expert.
[44] He's an out of time.
[45] Good to be here, man. What's going on with you now?
[46] Well, I'm just really flattered that you wanted to talk to us to begin with.
[47] Yeah, man, you pop in.
[48] Really exciting to talk to you, for real.
[49] I've only seen you once in real life and you wouldn't have known it.
[50] And I went to Saturday Night Live with Ashton.
[51] And you were the musical guest.
[52] Yeah, yeah, I remember doing that.
[53] And I was watching you like there was a fucking wild tiger in the studio.
[54] I'm like, ooh, there he is.
[55] Oh, he's got the bulletproof vest.
[56] Ooh, he's jacked.
[57] It was exciting.
[58] You know, it's funny.
[59] I saw your material, a lot of stuff that you done over time.
[60] You have a ill way of humor that it's not understanding?
[61] Oh, sure, sure.
[62] To plain dumb.
[63] Yeah, when you don't understand it, for me, for me personally, it is the funniest shit.
[64] ever when you go like you don't understand what's going on I'm really enjoying myself oh thank you thank you you know I was just talking about this with someone else the other day and I bet you I mean clearly you would have to run into this but it never occurred to me that the message I was sending out in the acting work I did that people were right to assume that's who I was in my first 10 jobs I had I played a dumbass and I think just regularly people would meet me and be like oh I thought you were stupid stupid Like I thought you were And I was like Oh, I guess that makes sense But I would have never thought of that Yeah, they do that Even to me, right Because a lot of times I played characters to speak To the aggressive side Of the 50th presentation Yes, totally I play a bad guy a lot A lot of times If the television show Wants just to bring you in For a cameo It's because I'm the guy To be shooting up things Yeah, yeah A disruptor Yeah So it's easy for them to buy that because they've been sent that messaging through those programs, and they start to kind of expect that.
[65] Like, I watched, it was Eddie Murphy.
[66] Eddie Murphy did a drama.
[67] Yeah.
[68] And I was like, what is this?
[69] Like, I was waiting for him to make me laugh because I laughed at him so many times in his other projects that I was like, yo, this is not right.
[70] Yeah.
[71] Well, I think that's why I've always had like a pretty deep interest in like meeting hip hop idols of mine because in general what that movement was selling is the same as the punk rock movement which is like fuck this system yeah it's not benefiting me and fuck everyone let's burn this place down which i loved because i was into punk music and then i was into people like ice cube saying fuck this whole thing everything yeah but then what's really funny is that we all become the institution like you're an institution and it's a funny transition isn't it yeah yeah it's because I think, like, hip -hop culture particularly, right?
[72] They love things that are damaged.
[73] They could offer, like, a distorted perception of things.
[74] Same thing, rock and roll.
[75] Yeah, oh, yeah.
[76] Hip -hop is taken from rock and roll the whole, in the midst of everything that's going on, the enjoyment never stops.
[77] Yes, yes, yes, yes.
[78] You know what I'm saying?
[79] You're so right.
[80] Like, when I think about even, like, the 90s, like, all the 90s West Coast guys were like, okay, we're living in a war zone.
[81] The fatality right here, is 10 times the national average, life expectancy for a blackmail this.
[82] And look what a good time we're having.
[83] It's the ultimate, like, I won't let this own me. I'm going to celebrate in spite of it.
[84] Yeah, and you have what you have from the journey, from the experience itself.
[85] You spent your time in that the whole time.
[86] So they're going to watch you go up and then watch you come down.
[87] Uh -huh.
[88] Because how could you possibly be able to sustain it unless you learn and information and adapting and evolving to do something different.
[89] So I wonder if you've had this moment in life.
[90] I've had it where I was like, oh shit, the thing that got me into the party isn't the thing that's going to keep me at the party.
[91] Yeah.
[92] You can't.
[93] You can't stay there.
[94] Look, I stay in it because I love it and around it, but I think it's to only put what's missing in, not to try and be at the forefront of all of it.
[95] You know what I'm saying?
[96] Because you still need the new entries.
[97] The guys that were influenced, by your material, they've got a special take on it.
[98] Youth coaches likes to find things.
[99] They want new, new, new, right?
[100] Yeah, like, it's always out with the old and with the new as far as that coach is concerned.
[101] And you look and you go, the guys that can sustain being relevant is because they've learned over the time period how to diversify and be in it.
[102] Yeah.
[103] Look, when my music comes out, I say, because of music culture, that point that you would define maybe your core audience would be people experiencing college.
[104] At that point in their life, they're having the adult experience for the first time.
[105] And if you were going out and you were in college in 2003, I absolutely was a part of it without being in the room.
[106] The momentum was so high that the music was being played whether I was there or not.
[107] Can I tell you personally, where you're at in my emotional memory, it's so profound.
[108] So I got famous one second after your album came out.
[109] and I was going to nightclubs in New York City with people that I didn't think I'd ever say hi to me and your song was playing at 100 % of the nightclubs I went into.
[110] Like, I can't even explain to you how wrapped up my first feelings of celebrity and in access.
[111] And making it, yeah.
[112] Is you.
[113] I mean, it's you more than anybody.
[114] This is what I'm talking about.
[115] This would make you my core.
[116] My poor audience.
[117] Uh -huh.
[118] Because whether it's that pivotal point, that success is here, and for a male, it makes him even more attractive.
[119] I'm pointing out of mail because tradition would say that the man's supposed to be a protective security and support for his family.
[120] So him having the success and financially being in a good position because you see the projects and you see the person being famous would say that he meets her criteria.
[121] Survival.
[122] Because he could be gorgeous.
[123] He could have arms like we just picked his arm out.
[124] His chest stands up exactly the way she wants his chest to stand up.
[125] And his neck has these little things in it.
[126] It makes head look like it's a mountain.
[127] But if he doesn't figure out how to go earn something, she would be so upset with the pretty motherfucker on her couch.
[128] Oh, you can't be hot enough to live on a chick's couch.
[129] No one's that hot.
[130] Maybe Brad Pitt, but other than him, no one else can live on a couch.
[131] You couldn't have had the awareness.
[132] It's so funny, I'm just thinking of this now for the first time talking to you.
[133] I've never thought about this, but I'm watching as I'm sure you are, the last dance.
[134] Are you watching it?
[135] Yeah, check it out.
[136] Oh, my God.
[137] Oh, oh, oh, oh.
[138] We love it.
[139] We're drinking it like it's oxygen and we're on Mars.
[140] I mean, it is like, I can't believe how good it is.
[141] But at least, like, all athletes enter that occupation going, okay, there's a shelf life.
[142] Like, right.
[143] Now, I can't imagine, though, as a musician, that you enter that going, hmm, I'm not seeing a lot of 60 -year -old rappers that people are fucking putting the top down to.
[144] Like, were you aware of that at all?
[145] Creatively, the guys had to precondition himself to write the music.
[146] When it starts to come out easy, he feels like I can do this, period.
[147] Right.
[148] Because it comes out easy.
[149] So now, when you go, go shorty, it's your birthday, it's not rocket science.
[150] It's just what's coming out organically to the music.
[151] And your first thought is the right thought when you're making music.
[152] So it's like, okay, you made that one, make more.
[153] Just keep making them until you become conditioned and making it and you're saying the right things on the record.
[154] Now, the difference in professional athletes is the ball player may be absolutely conscious of the shelf light, but he spent so much time in the fantasy of what it's going to be like when he makes it.
[155] They try to fulfill a fantasy when only three players on each one of those teams can actually live the fantasy.
[156] Yeah.
[157] Because of the additional money from endorsements and from other ancillary income that's coming in, those people can do whatever they want.
[158] Not only what they're going to do for them, but what they're going to do for the people who offered moral support.
[159] Look, most professional athletes, the ones that live like athletes, they don't care about champagne.
[160] They don't care about the sparkles on the bottle and stuff like that.
[161] But when they go out, the sparkles come over.
[162] Because they have the people around them that absolutely care about that.
[163] So they'll spend the money so they can see them happy.
[164] Like in the book, I told them, sometimes I'll finish the bottle of champagne, I'll pour the bottle of champagne out, and other people's glad.
[165] and then send the bottle so they could bring it back to me with gingerling.
[166] Ah, uh -huh, uh -huh.
[167] And this is because I'm such a lightweight drinker.
[168] Okay.
[169] That I would drink a little bit and I will be hit.
[170] I'll be like, eyes and mother, drunk out of my, like, you know what I mean?
[171] Because my tolerance is super low because I just never touched it.
[172] When I drink the bottle afterward that I had them bring on the side, it kept everyone partying and enjoying themselves the entire time.
[173] because people kind of watch me and they start slowing down when they see me slow down and they're not doing what they would regularly do because they see me not engaging.
[174] It's a lot of pressure on you.
[175] It doesn't feel like a lot.
[176] Only thing you require it was for me to talk to the bartender.
[177] But to be aware of other people's needs relying on you.
[178] Like I have to act a certain way so that other people can feel free.
[179] Or advice theorists, If I steer us into a ditch, they are all driving in after.
[180] Right.
[181] That's what on some levels, that's really true.
[182] Like, they'll spend the money, like, when you spend the money for them to have a good time, it's for them.
[183] Like, when I bought Mike Tyson's home, 55 ,000 square feet, 37 bathrooms, 18 bedrooms, full indoor fitness facility, you know.
[184] Think ballets.
[185] Oh, fucking recording studio, nightclub, nightclub.
[186] in the middle of the place, industrial kitchen, indoor basketball, all of this stuff.
[187] Tigers?
[188] Did it come with the tigers?
[189] Did they have any tigers behind?
[190] No, there was no tigers.
[191] That was in Vegas where he had the tigers.
[192] They let you have those exotic pets.
[193] But in Connecticut, all that stuff, outdoor pools, outdoor basketball, everything out there.
[194] And then you go, I'm still sleeping on one bed.
[195] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[196] When you pay for a place like that, that is a party facility.
[197] You see what I'm saying?
[198] It works really good in the beginning.
[199] in your career because you want to bring everybody, want to have a good time, you want to have your people around and still have the ability to be by yourself.
[200] But you're still living in a really nice one bedroom because if you leave the one bedroom, a house like that has a staff.
[201] Yep.
[202] You can't walk around naked.
[203] You walk outside of that one bedroom, that master suite, and somebody's going to see your butt ass, you butt -ass naked.
[204] Isn't it funny?
[205] Like, even you look at Mafioso in the 80s.
[206] actual real crime families in the 80s in New York they started imitating the godfather right like they're replicating this thing that they saw that was fake to begin with right and then you got people who like they idolize scarface and then they're all just kind of replicating this shit they saw and then you saw at some point some music video that you go to the club and then you do and then it's interesting that you just inherit this definition of success of wealth of the finish line, and then you insert yourself into it or you manufacture it because it's what you were told is the finish line.
[207] Yes, look, watch this.
[208] Music culture, the things they would point out and say were negative in music culture.
[209] They'll point to them and say, understand that these things are actually grown on in the environment that the artist is coming out of and then be upset when it bleeds its way into the actual culture.
[210] Yeah.
[211] I go wait, because they can place standards on music that they don't place on film and television, Everything that they would say was wrong with music culture is fine to put in the film.
[212] Yeah.
[213] The violence, misogynistic energy.
[214] Oh, you could have a movie about a guy who goes around kills cops.
[215] That's fine.
[216] But you have a song called Cop Killer.
[217] We got trouble.
[218] Yeah.
[219] This is the thing.
[220] They said it's influencing the youth to do that.
[221] And I'm like, when was audio more influential than video?
[222] Thousand percent.
[223] When you look at Scarface, the time that Godfather and Scarface came out, The drug trade was vibrant in New York.
[224] I don't think anything done more damage to the inner cities because they would look at Scarface and say, insert me here.
[225] Well, I think the appeal of those movies and why I love him and my wife, this drives my wife nuts.
[226] She's like, why do you read books about Pablo Escobar?
[227] Why are you obsessed with this guy?
[228] He's evil.
[229] And I'm like, he is.
[230] But what I'm obsessed about is someone going, I was born here and fuck that.
[231] I will get whatever I want.
[232] I can bend the universe around my desire.
[233] That's what's appealing.
[234] And I think a movie like Scarface is like 95 % of the country doesn't have access to any of that shit.
[235] And they watch a movie about a guy that's them.
[236] He just comes over on a boat.
[237] He's got nothing.
[238] And through his will, he forces himself to have something.
[239] And so people get hung up on the violence, but that's not even the emotional appeal of it.
[240] The emotional appeal is I can transcend my situation and I can get out of this and I can be huge.
[241] Yeah, I think when a person can have an idea and believe in it, it can happen.
[242] Right.
[243] Even the professional athletes, they become passionate about what they're doing, then they can do it long enough to become good enough.
[244] Some of them are talented, so it takes no time for them to actually get it.
[245] They can just get it.
[246] The other ones, hard work or beat talent when talent's not working.
[247] And those guys will work because they love it so much, they'll work hard enough at it to make it happen.
[248] But it's falling in love with an idea and actually believe in you can do it.
[249] That's the only way you can work hard enough for it to actually happen.
[250] Now, people who have success, I believe that they have repeated success at points because they already believe they can be successful.
[251] Yeah.
[252] After the first time that it happens, they go, yeah, you're doing this and do that.
[253] And they expect it to be successful so they don't doubt themselves.
[254] Well, look, when we were watching the last dance, I said to Monica, the shot at North Carolina, that's his whole.
[255] life right there.
[256] Yeah, yeah.
[257] Three seconds left, down by one.
[258] He takes the shot.
[259] If it goes in, he's Michael Jordan and he's a clutch player.
[260] If he shits the bed and ruins the whole thing, who knows what his life is like after that?
[261] Right, right.
[262] People in the leagues, they play like their paycheck.
[263] They don't pick bums on the draft, but they got bums on the bench.
[264] Right.
[265] Because they identify how much those three players are getting.
[266] Because they're not receiving that, they start to play like.
[267] You're right.
[268] People rise to their expectations.
[269] Right.
[270] We've had a big debate over the past couple days about last dance and about Scotty Pippen because he was so drastically underpaid.
[271] Right.
[272] And how it eventually caught up to him and the rest of the team because he was like, I'm not going to play.
[273] I'm going to get the surgery now instead because I'm not getting what I deserve.
[274] And Scottie was necessary.
[275] We needed to.
[276] Right.
[277] They shouldn't.
[278] make adjustments for the players at that point.
[279] Yes.
[280] At one point, they were in a sea of 10 ,000 student athletes.
[281] Right.
[282] And then they entered into a pool of, I don't know how many people are in the NBA.
[283] Let's say, you know, 800.
[284] Now they're one of 800.
[285] The peak of the mountains even closer, yet some people put it neutral at that point.
[286] Right.
[287] Because when they get there, an excitement of when I'm going to make it to the league has been the dream the whole time.
[288] Yes.
[289] So when they get there and it doesn't feel like they expected it to feel?
[290] Yeah.
[291] Oh, here we go.
[292] Fuck this.
[293] Well, that's, I want to explore that a lot with you.
[294] And first, I just want to say, so your book that you have out right now, hustle harder, hustle smarter.
[295] I loved what you said.
[296] You said, I had been offered many times to write a book.
[297] You said, yeah, I've sold a bunch of albums and I've made a bunch of money, but I don't really think I should be advising people on how to be a human.
[298] It doesn't mean I'm a success as a human or that I'm not failing on all these other levels.
[299] Who am I to write some book?
[300] and I just thought, what a great admission to start with.
[301] Yeah, because it's honest.
[302] My expertise is in the things that work for me and the mistakes that I made because I learned from those mistakes that as long as I'm offering both.
[303] So I had to start with that statement so you would see both.
[304] Yeah.
[305] And by the way, I think there's a lot more to learn from somebody that's sharing their mistakes than their victories.
[306] I'm never going to write, get rich or die trying.
[307] That's not in my future.
[308] It ain't in 99 .99 % of people's future.
[309] But maybe fucking over a friend is in all of our futures.
[310] Like that's actually I can relate to you on or anyone else could relate to you on.
[311] Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare.
[312] What's up guys?
[313] It's your girl Kiki and my podcast is back with a new season and let me tell you it's too good.
[314] And I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest.
[315] Okay, every episode I bring on a friend and have a real conversation.
[316] And I don't mean just friends.
[317] I mean the likes of Amy Poehler, Kel Mitchell, Vivica Fox, the list goes on.
[318] So follow, watch, and listen to Baby.
[319] This is Kiki Palmer on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.
[320] We've all been there.
[321] Turning to the internet to self -diagnose our inexplicable pains, debilitating body aches, sudden fevers, and strange rashes.
[322] Though our minds tend to spiral to worst -case scenarios, it's usually nothing, but for an unlucky few, these unsuspecting symptoms can start the clock ticking on a terrifying medical mystery.
[323] Like the unexplainable death of a retired firefighter, whose body was found at home by his son, except it looked like he had been cremated, or the time when an entire town started jumping from buildings and seeing tigers on their ceilings.
[324] Hey listeners, it's Mr. Ballin here, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast.
[325] It's called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.
[326] Each terrifying true story will be sure to keep you up at night.
[327] Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts.
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[329] Okay, so the ride, we've never interviewed anyone.
[330] I don't think that has anywhere near as, on the surface, at least, a traumatic childhood.
[331] And we've interviewed some people in traumatic childhood.
[332] But dad's not around.
[333] Your mother got murdered at eight years old.
[334] Yeah.
[335] Do you go to live with grandma and grandma?
[336] at that point?
[337] Yeah, yeah.
[338] And then is this very well known about you.
[339] You sell drugs for a while.
[340] I am curious, and you kind of said it already, you never are into drinking or anything.
[341] How lucky do you feel that you just, you weren't, because I'm an addict, so I'm 15 years sober, and I smoked a lot of crack.
[342] I wish I had bought some off you.
[343] I'd be a great story.
[344] A, how lucky are you that you didn't have a pension for addiction, apparently, or maybe just addiction in another way?
[345] My experience, I kind of caused all of this.
[346] My mom had me at 15.
[347] So at that point, teenage pregnancy wasn't as common.
[348] It is now.
[349] And they didn't have these programs set up where you can go to satellite school and go to work, have a part -time job or something.
[350] So her options following having me were to hustle or to go on welfare.
[351] She has me. She has to figure out how to take care of me. She just wasn't the kind of person that would accept the welfare part.
[352] The welfare's base, you never go nowhere.
[353] You've got to accept you're going to be right here, maximum on the lowest level.
[354] growth in the welfare system.
[355] Right.
[356] So, and hustling had all the upsides and no requirements.
[357] So she got involved in that lifestyle.
[358] And then the people that I saw that represented financial freedom that had expendable income that they could do what they wanted were all from my mom's life.
[359] So after she died, I'm my grandmother's house.
[360] When I come around, I know that person.
[361] That's what's the name from a little Sabrina?
[362] They already know, hey, what's up, little Sabrina?
[363] They already know me, but from my mother.
[364] Uh -huh.
[365] So it gives me the opportunity to be closer to it.
[366] And my grandfather was very, he represents tradition to me. It was real old school.
[367] He'd go to work, come home, get my grandmother's check.
[368] Uh -huh.
[369] So I know if I caught him between getting out the car and getting to the actual house, he would give me something.
[370] And that started at eight when I was figuring out how things really work around full -time living in my grandmothers.
[371] And he was so conditioned to sacrifice for us that he kind of gave her everything.
[372] I didn't understand it.
[373] Later, he said, I didn't make the same kind of money you made and told me, you couldn't see it as you was a baby.
[374] But when I gave your mom with money, it stopped her from looking at things that I couldn't give her.
[375] She may require a pair of really nice black pumps so she can look nice because when we look good, we feel good.
[376] If you've made the pressure of your responsibilities, her responsibilities.
[377] So now if she has all the money, she has to pay all the bills.
[378] Yeah.
[379] So now she see it.
[380] And when those shoes, she goes, no, I don't need that.
[381] Give me this.
[382] Like, because she already is aware of it.
[383] But if you keep the money, she can feel like when she see those shoes that you're depriving her or something and not give it to it.
[384] That's what he was escaping by doing that.
[385] And then when I interacted with those other people, they looked at me and said, boy, you're young, why your clothes look so old?
[386] And I'm like, well, there's no one there to give me that stuff anymore.
[387] And it starts by, they got me the Reeboks, some soft leather, the classics, the Reebok.
[388] Oh, sure.
[389] running, and you're stopping, and you're running, you're stopping, and then you can see your knuckles come out of the front of that and shoot you.
[390] They come back and they see that and they go, God damn, boy, I see I can't give you fish.
[391] I need to give you a pole.
[392] Uh -huh.
[393] I mean, it's not enough to get you a pair of shoes because get you a pair of shoes and you're going to fuck those shoes up and these shoes again.
[394] Versus if I give you a pole, you can go get your own shoes.
[395] Yeah.
[396] So it's give you three and a half grams.
[397] You know what to do with this?
[398] Anybody bother you.
[399] You tell me you got it from me. Yeah.
[400] So when I said I started hustling at 12, I was only hustling between three and six.
[401] I had to go through this whole process to stop my grandmother for walking me home from school.
[402] I had to tell because I was big.
[403] I was like, Shelby, I weighed with Floyd weighed at 12.
[404] 150 pounds at 12 years old.
[405] Floyd Mayweather.
[406] Yeah.
[407] He fight 154.
[408] Now, I'm looking going, yo, I was that at 12.
[409] Like, I remember because I had to tell her, my, the kids, they're smaller than me. I don't need you walk me home.
[410] school, they think I'm slow.
[411] Yes, yes, yes.
[412] I had to make her feel like she was doing something to me by wanting to walk me home.
[413] Right, right.
[414] You're making me look slow, Grandma.
[415] Yeah, they're starting to think I'm slow.
[416] Right.
[417] Because I'm big and you're walking me home every day.
[418] And then she's like, oh, no, he's growing up.
[419] And then it was me coming home from the school and giving the slip, the after -school program, that you'll be there to six instead of three.
[420] Uh -huh.
[421] But I never turned to slip in, so I only had three hours to hustle.
[422] I was always being my grandmother's baby while being involved in the street.
[423] And those are the two sizes when you're talking Kurdish versus 50 cents.
[424] It made clear to me that you can serve a demand.
[425] If the man is there, like the very first experience hustling, we were selling pantyholes.
[426] We were selling pantyhoes at the train station, tube socks, white t -shirts, and these little curts I was working for Dobby and Larry back of these different guys was hustling there and they'd make a few dollars and it was just it was something to do that I could actually have something from doing and let me ask you what did it do to your opinion of just people in general like did you have a division there's like there's these zombies and then there's normal people or just everyone was a liability because I lived in a household that my grandmother had nine children my mom died the one of her nine children I come into the household So I'm the new number nine, I'm their first grandbaby.
[427] Uh -huh.
[428] As they got older, they was all drunk.
[429] The whole place, except my grandmother.
[430] Me and my grandmother was the only one didn't drink.
[431] Uh -huh.
[432] So it was like, it's an option to get higher or to drink versus get what you want.
[433] It became either or.
[434] You couldn't have both.
[435] It was seeing the people who I knew to sell drugs have all of this nice stuff.
[436] Uh -huh.
[437] Then seeing the people make the choice.
[438] to actually use it.
[439] So I'm looking, going, no, I'm on this side.
[440] Like, when I wrote, Give it to Diet Trine, I wrote, I'm high all the time, because I knew that there was an audience that would like to hear that.
[441] Right, right.
[442] I was mirroring the environment that I came out of.
[443] Do you think it lowered your overall assessment of humans?
[444] Like, some people grow up around supportive, helpful, generous people.
[445] Right.
[446] Like, those are the people in their life.
[447] And then other people grow up around takers.
[448] And I just know it fucked up my view of humanity.
[449] I would have said the wrong percentage of like what people on earth I think are scumbags and which percentage are good.
[450] I had a warped fucking percentage.
[451] What you said is 100 % correct.
[452] Some people grow up around people who are good people and want to give.
[453] And people grow up around people that just want to take.
[454] And to my experience, because I've only had one experience, there's that they will take.
[455] Right.
[456] So it make me a little defensive to that and aware of that immediately.
[457] And then you're never off guard that are there.
[458] So there's points that good people will come around and I'm still going like this.
[459] Yes, yes.
[460] And yeah, and it's because I don't know exactly what that is.
[461] Better stay away from me and I'm fine with not understanding what it is.
[462] And it's just that's a defense mechanism developed from coming out.
[463] out of that environment.
[464] And if a person hasn't been exposed to it, they're vulnerable to it.
[465] Yes.
[466] Well, my wife and I mean a new dude, any new dude that comes around in any capacity.
[467] The first four minutes, even if I'm trying my hardest, it's like, okay, let's just see where this dude's coming from.
[468] I just can't, you know, I've gotten better over time.
[469] But yeah, my first thing is like, no, you're in an evaluation phase right now.
[470] I'm not giving anyone the benefit of the doubt.
[471] Now, look, but I'm trying to shake it.
[472] that.
[473] No, for the person that doesn't have that, they have to learn by going through fucked up experiences because they're going to give the person the benefit of the doubt out the gate that they're good people and find out they're not so good.
[474] But you know, it's interesting.
[475] So my wife, somehow she's never been taking advantage of, even in ways you and I might think she got taken advantage of, if you really talk to her, yeah, she saw that.
[476] That doesn't affect her.
[477] And I was like, oh, so when I met her, I went to her house and there's like five people living at her house.
[478] She got this big old house, all this five people.
[479] And they're like, you know, within 10 minutes, I'm like, what are these people paying in rent?
[480] And she's like, oh, no, he takes the trash out and she feeds the dogs.
[481] And I'm like, girl, you're getting, you're getting taken advantage of.
[482] Okay.
[483] Cut to, you know, five years later, the highlight of her life on planet Earth was living with those six people.
[484] Sure, they didn't pay their way.
[485] but she had like this great community she loved them they loved her and i'm like oh sometimes i thought i was getting taken advantage of but i missed shit the way i grew up i would assess why a day around right and i look at it and go oh it really just here because you're getting free food and shelter right so now if she can look past that and enjoy the person there's there's moments.
[486] They're going to have good moments.
[487] When you've come from nothing, the nightmare's groundholds day.
[488] Yeah.
[489] You don't want to go back to that.
[490] The worst experience would be for you to go all the way to time and feel like you've triumphed, you made it, and then go right back.
[491] Yeah.
[492] You know, so for the most part, like in that experience, when she's free -spirited and can have these people come in, because some people can appreciate it and not do things to you.
[493] Other people will look at you and say it wasn't me. It was the drugs.
[494] Yes, yes, yes, yes It was something else But they'll do the foulest shit to you You ever could imagine Let's just add That her group of friends Actually wasn't like my group of friends So if I have five people living at my house They would be taking advantage of me And they'd be trying to get more than I was even given That's why he would assess it that way From the beginning She may be able to draw people That are good people Right, which I didn't know existed until then But don't you think it's a loop That it could be a loop that if you feel that everyone's bad or could take from you, that you draw people who will.
[495] And if you think everyone's good, you might draw people who are innately good.
[496] I think that if you sit around and you think that people are good, there's a high probability that you get fucked over in a really bad way.
[497] Now look, I'm going to tell you, let me say this, right?
[498] Look, because it's not only what you go through.
[499] It's whatever you're close enough.
[500] to feel.
[501] Let's say your girlfriend is going, she's with this guy, and it just does it just does it completely wrong.
[502] So your shoulder is the shoulder that she cried on being someone close enough to her for the confided.
[503] You didn't experience it, but because you feel for her, you went through that too.
[504] Right.
[505] If there's a point that you see something similar in someone's behaviors to remind you of that scenario that she went through, because you have that information, you would look at it and react like they're trying to do exactly, like I already know what they're doing.
[506] If the things you go through don't make you who you are, how do you become who you are?
[507] I think on your journey, the things that you experience, the things you see, it creates energy.
[508] And when we talked about your upbringing and being a damage, having a damaged background, that's for people who can actually assess damage.
[509] Yeah, yeah.
[510] I didn't grow up not feeling love at all.
[511] I had my grandmother to be my mother.
[512] I had my grandfather to be my father figure.
[513] The fact that my mother and father was, I wasn't there.
[514] It's like, I didn't look at it like it was a disadvantage.
[515] Yeah, and it sounds like, you know, in so many ways you were unlucky and then in so many ways you were crazy lucky, like to have had that profound, you know, love from the grandparents.
[516] And just not having an assessment of a bad hand.
[517] Right, right.
[518] When you get dealt with a bad hand, you feel like it's a bad hand, you start to, because you feel like that, how do you get out of it?
[519] You play it like a bad hand as a bone.
[520] Yeah, like it's a bad hand.
[521] So, look, Tupac's mother used drugs.
[522] M &M's mom used drugs.
[523] They both wrote records about it.
[524] Tupac says, you know, you were crack fame, Mama.
[525] You always was a black queen, mama, right?
[526] M's is a little more angry.
[527] Sorry, Mama, I never meant to hurt you.
[528] Never meant to make you cry, but tonight, I'm cleaning out my closet.
[529] And the same subject, both, my mom's getting high.
[530] But one is angry, and the other one is, like, It was fucked up, but hey, he's still my mom.
[531] M being white while growing in black culture, it's probably the person that doesn't receive the credit for the growth.
[532] But when middle America is purchasing hip hop music, a lot of the faces look like amps.
[533] Uh -huh.
[534] They don't see where they fit into the culture.
[535] Why would they buy it?
[536] Yeah.
[537] You want to be able to identify in some way.
[538] Right.
[539] You're not going to find anything more than they're down.
[540] Yeah.
[541] And the circumstances of poverty will allow you to accept anything other than law enforcement.
[542] Right.
[543] We don't care if you white, if you're brown, if you're purple.
[544] Just do not be blue.
[545] You're going to take us to jail.
[546] Other than that, they look at it, they accept it, and they get past it, and they go, you know what?
[547] Nah, he's dope.
[548] So here's my big question for you.
[549] So I just fucking coveted money.
[550] I wanted the fucking money so bad.
[551] And I had a fantasy of what it would feel like to get the money.
[552] And I was like, okay, I'm here.
[553] I thought I was going to feel a certain way.
[554] Where's the magic feeling?
[555] Like, I'm grateful for it.
[556] But where's the magic transcendent feeling of being famous and rich?
[557] Did you have a letdown?
[558] Yeah, look, it's an incredible experience because it's like, look, my record, if I had one wish, I would have wished that it was a success.
[559] That's it.
[560] Uh -huh.
[561] And if I knew as much as I know about myself now, if I had one wish, I would ask for more wishes.
[562] You know what I'm saying?
[563] Now, look, at that point, there was the only thing that mattered to me, and it came out as the largest debut in hip -hop album, sold 13 million records.
[564] You can't ask for anything else.
[565] Yeah.
[566] The process that you go to, look, for a male, and I keep pointing this out and creating a separation between males and females, because women are kind of trained to be selective.
[567] We have to be for safety, yeah.
[568] Yeah, just they have their train to be selective.
[569] So they, let's say traditional women, right?
[570] Because holes do what they, whatever.
[571] Look, look, let's be fair and say, when I say, use the term hole.
[572] Yeah.
[573] It's the same thing as me using a reference to a single male.
[574] because a man could be on a taste test and taste as many batches cookies, did he like?
[575] He tastes a cookie.
[576] He said, this is my motherfucker cookie.
[577] This cookie right here.
[578] Now he said, and he wants to do that.
[579] And our society kind of accepts that.
[580] Let's say the male was dated five attractive women in a 10 -block radius.
[581] He would be probably loaded.
[582] He would probably be the kind of person that was comfortable enough with himself, did he had a sense of humor?
[583] His timing was good when he was talking.
[584] He could just have start his way at the top and trickled his way down because sometimes people don't know what they like that they see somebody with it.
[585] So he could have been able to have those five women because of the women that he chose to be with first and the other women saw, and in envy and numb, they changed their perspective.
[586] They looked at them different because they saw him with her.
[587] Now, that man could be with him.
[588] with those five women in a 10 -block radius and over time, people would identify with his personal life, right?
[589] He would be popular for being in that.
[590] And it would just mean that he's a cool guy.
[591] Now, if a female slept with five guys in a 10 -block radius, when the man met her and talked to her, he was enamored by him, he's excited by her.
[592] And then you talk to your friends about it.
[593] He said, yeah, oh, you're my man used to mess with him.
[594] Right.
[595] Oh, for real?
[596] Yeah, yeah.
[597] And then you find out from him that somebody else used to mess with her.
[598] And you're like, oh, so she fucks everybody around her?
[599] Oh, my God.
[600] Changes the whole scenario for you.
[601] And somehow she would be damaged for the same behaviors that the single male would do.
[602] Oh, it's a total double standard, yeah.
[603] Yeah, yeah.
[604] This is what I mean by women would be selective.
[605] They're trying to be selective, so that doesn't happen.
[606] You see what I'm saying?
[607] So we were just talking about all.
[608] only having the ability to do things when you believe you can.
[609] Yeah.
[610] You know what I'm saying?
[611] Early on.
[612] And when those things are happening, you might not be paired at that point to embrace the idea of settling in because it's early in that early in the run.
[613] So you're running around and they're doing everything, have all experiences, period.
[614] You can think of what you could run into all of those things and have the experience.
[615] And it wasn't what you actually thought it was.
[616] was because it was self -servant.
[617] Yeah.
[618] Masculinity for me in my neighborhood was you could kick ass.
[619] You physically could beat ass.
[620] You fucked a lot.
[621] You got rich.
[622] And you, what was the fourth one?
[623] We watched this great documentary on the definition of, yeah, you can consume crazy amounts of alcohol or drugs, right?
[624] These are the four ways a man proves that he's a man. This is like the playbook you're given.
[625] at 12, where I'm from, and I bet your playbook was similar.
[626] You can kick ass, get yourself to a point that you could actually do that.
[627] Financially, when you get yourself into a decent space, the first things to change are the clothing that you have, this shifts to presentation and perspective of how people see you, which provides the ability for you to find that female attention or energy that you would be interested in.
[628] So you and I are the same age and we're the product of the same masculine playbook.
[629] My question for you is, if I had a son, I'd be going, man, is that the definition I want him pursuing?
[630] Do I want him to go getting a bunch of fights like I did?
[631] Do I want him to go fuck every girl through hook, crook, or scam, and then, you know, manipulate and do all this shit to get approval from other dudes?
[632] Do I want him to have to have all this money that I think is, I'm grateful for, but it's not what I thought it was going to be?
[633] Like, is this the playbook I would pass on to my son?
[634] Nobody passed me that.
[635] It's what happens organically when those things are at your exposure.
[636] But I'm just saying you nailed all of them, man. And the question is, did it result in satisfaction for you?
[637] Does it result in satisfaction for you?
[638] Or do you now, after you check those boxes, are you like, oh, there has to be something else?
[639] There has to be something I got to pursue.
[640] No, I have, I think when you live within an entrepreneur spirit, And, like, I've never deemed myself anything other than a hustler, right?
[641] Uh -huh.
[642] So it's adapting a behavior or a viewpoint and say, I'm going to make it happen regardless to what it is now.
[643] You know, people don't never have to look at me and say, yo, that was a long time ago, bro.
[644] Because I'm saying that was a long time ago.
[645] Uh -huh.
[646] I'm saying, what am I doing now?
[647] And it's easier to make things happen from a position where you have your resources to financially supported and a track record that would allow others to come for the ability to bet on you right so I have to imagine for you that the reward is the process because you've from the outside at least it looks like you crushed music you couldn't have had a bigger album and then you're like okay what's next I want to build to me it seems like what you love in life is to build the results really are irrelevant already fell in love with the idea of the process That part is what we're going to be, period.
[648] It's going to be in process, en route to something new until there's not much more to go.
[649] Yeah, and the results are an illusion is what I'm getting at, right?
[650] If a person is looking at success like it's a dollar amount, they're wrong.
[651] Right.
[652] Can I ask you one quick question?
[653] This is something I'm ignorant on.
[654] I'm only kind of aware of it because some of the guys I follow are really obsessed with him.
[655] Nipsey Hustle, right?
[656] He seems to have spoken to black.
[657] entrepreneurship in a way that really resonated with a lot of folks.
[658] People will post on Instagram like him and then his like rules for hustle.
[659] And I guess I was just because your book is about hustle and you're clearly a fucking ball or hustler.
[660] I mean, I just, for anyone that doesn't know, you've got like multiple hit TV shows.
[661] You've had multiple branding successes.
[662] You've had multiple albums.
[663] I mean, you really just, you've hustled like no one else.
[664] So what is he saying that's connecting so much and resonating with the black community?
[665] What are you saying that's carrying that same message?
[666] Or if maybe it's not the same message?
[667] Nipsey, it is the same message because the same influences is not having and trying to make it from that.
[668] And that hustler mentality lives in the environment.
[669] All those things that he said in the music, I understand where that comes from.
[670] He's someone who's had more popularity than success prior to his death.
[671] Come with when there's limited success.
[672] When you have huge amounts of success, you get the fuck away from that.
[673] Because they kill you absolutely you're going to get killed.
[674] If you stay there with that much success, it's too much magnitude connected to who you are and it's going to fuck with the whole infrastructure or how the neighborhood works.
[675] Yeah.
[676] If you hustle and you earn too much money, they kill you where I'm from.
[677] Right.
[678] Yeah.
[679] You see what I'm saying?
[680] Yeah.
[681] The reason why earlier on in this conversation I said to you that people love things that are damaged when it comes to hip -hop culture.
[682] When Nipsey stays in the environment, look at hip -hop like it's a safari that allows kids in Middle America and people in middle of America that are not subjected to the circumstances to safely get a chance to check everything out without being in danger of being hurt by it.
[683] Yeah.
[684] Because Nipsey also, was killed in the environment where there were cameras.
[685] We live in a period now where the internet allows you the ability to see.
[686] Oh, there's no secrets.
[687] There's no secrets anymore.
[688] Yeah, to see the thing that happened.
[689] That shit has been happening.
[690] It sounds cool in a song and there's enough of a barrier that it's cool in a song.
[691] But yeah, when you see it, it's like, oh, no. I guess I don't like that.
[692] No, the reference that he made in the music is just what goes on in the environment.
[693] So when it happens to him, and you can, go to listen to the music after the fact, you hear the things that go on in the environment that match up to what you just saw.
[694] It makes you feel like he was a visionary.
[695] My album is very similar in interest.
[696] Why was it the largest debut in hip -hop album?
[697] I got shot nine times.
[698] I came back.
[699] I'm saying the same thing.
[700] I'm not saying anything different, but because I'm saying the same things I was saying to you prior to that, you go, I believe him.
[701] Yep.
[702] This would be a good time to change.
[703] if you weren't that.
[704] Well, right.
[705] And that's, by the way, that's what we said 30 minutes ago is like, what got you to the party is not what's going to keep you at the party.
[706] You're going to die at that party if you don't change.
[707] In the book, we talk about being open to evolving.
[708] You have to.
[709] Well, listen, man, you're so great.
[710] I really hope you and I will chat in real life one day.
[711] Oh, we're definitely going to get together.
[712] As soon as we could get corona out of the air.
[713] We're doing dinner.
[714] Yeah, so everyone should get hustle harder, hustle smarter.
[715] I don't know whether to call you Curtis.
[716] When you and I become best friends, what will I be calling you?
[717] You can say that motherfucker, whatever you want.
[718] We're best friends then.
[719] Okay, good, good, good.
[720] You say whatever you want.
[721] Well, this motherfucker was so entertaining, so interesting, so smart.
[722] And read this motherfucker's book.
[723] And I definitely hope I get to see you and break bread with you in real life.
[724] Well, we got to get together.
[725] I'll make it happen.
[726] Okay, good.
[727] All right, guys.
[728] Thank you.
[729] Stay tuned for more.
[730] or armchair expert, if you dare.
[731] And now my favorite part of the show, the fact check with my soulmate Monica Padman.
[732] 50 cent.
[733] 50 cents.
[734] 50 cent was here.
[735] I wish he was here.
[736] Well, yeah, he wasn't here, but he was here.
[737] I want to see if he's as big as he is in my mind from seeing him at Saturday Night Live at his height with the Bulletproof vest.
[738] Because he's pretty enormous in my memory, A mountain of a guy.
[739] Yeah, I don't know.
[740] I don't know his stats.
[741] Anyway, my neck popped.
[742] It just did.
[743] Yeah, five minutes ago.
[744] Oh, we're just jiggling around trying to get your computer out and whatnot?
[745] No, that's the thing.
[746] So my neck has popped a few times.
[747] It happens, like, out of nowhere, which feels strange.
[748] No warning.
[749] There's no warning.
[750] It's a pop.
[751] And then there's a pain.
[752] Okay.
[753] Which doesn't happen when I, like, pop, crack my knuckles or something.
[754] That feels like a relief.
[755] Generally, that's associated, yeah, with relief.
[756] So it's a little odd.
[757] Yeah.
[758] On the rare occasion, my neck gives me a nice pop crack.
[759] It always feels good.
[760] Yeah.
[761] I'm always like, oh, thank God.
[762] Do you do any back cracking habitually, chronically?
[763] No, I don't.
[764] I've done.
[765] My friend used to crack it a lot.
[766] Oh, that's nice.
[767] Which was nice.
[768] That felt nice.
[769] It didn't feel like this.
[770] Right.
[771] Yeah.
[772] When I lay in bed at night, I immediately, I'm laying on my back, and then I throw a leg over the other, like, really far and twist my lower back.
[773] Yep.
[774] And always in one direction, I get a nice loud pop.
[775] That's nice.
[776] I love it.
[777] Yeah.
[778] Yeah.
[779] When my friend used to do it a lot to me, we were told we shouldn't do it.
[780] It's not good for your body.
[781] That's what they tell kids when they're little, but I've never heard a biologist tell me that.
[782] But parents always go, don't crack your knuckles.
[783] The reasons we're always like, they'll get looser, you'll get arthritis when you're older.
[784] They'll get bigger.
[785] Now, this may be the case, but I've just never heard it from a physician.
[786] You do have arthritis, to be fair.
[787] Not, though, anywhere where I crack.
[788] Yeah, but maybe it made its way.
[789] To be fairer.
[790] It could have made its way.
[791] I don't think so.
[792] I don't think so.
[793] No one said the arthritis had to happen to where the pop was.
[794] Oh, well, then that makes even less sense.
[795] It's just that cracking causes arthritis in general.
[796] Implant or fysheitis.
[797] Say that word for me?
[798] Plantar.
[799] Plantar.
[800] Flashitis?
[801] Flashitis?
[802] I don't know.
[803] Planner fasciitis.
[804] Planner fasciitis.
[805] Oh, my God.
[806] Oh, my God.
[807] I think I can get it.
[808] Planner fasci.
[809] Oh, not so funny now.
[810] I don't know it.
[811] I've never even heard this word.
[812] It's what you'll get if you crack the knuckles in your hands a lot as a kid.
[813] Planner fasciitis.
[814] Yeah, fasciitis.
[815] Planner flashier.
[816] Took me one time.
[817] It took you too.
[818] You had a run up.
[819] Until I read it, then I could read it.
[820] Plantar, fasciitis.
[821] Well, okay, you're really leaning on the air.
[822] Planner flasciitis.
[823] No. Phasciitis.
[824] Yes.
[825] Planner fasciitis.
[826] It's also called policeman's heel.
[827] Oh, that makes sense.
[828] Like a beat cop on foot.
[829] I bet there's a common thread between a correlation between hookworm and plantar fasciitis.
[830] I bet they're inversely related.
[831] I think it's proof that you're in shoes a lot.
[832] Oh.
[833] And hookworm is proof that you're not.
[834] Wait, why can't you get planter fasciitis from wearing barefoot?
[835] Well, cops aren't barefoot.
[836] If they're calling it cop disorder, I think of a big black, uncomfortable shoe.
[837] That's great question.
[838] Great, great question.
[839] It's late.
[840] Yeah, it's a Friday night and it's late.
[841] We screwed the pooch and we painted ourselves into a corner where we had to do it on a Friday night.
[842] Yeah.
[843] Okay, so 50 cent.
[844] You said the fatality rate is 10 times the national average.
[845] Yeah, young black males have a really high fatality rate.
[846] Yeah, it just says mortality estimates show black death rates to exceed white rates up until ages, mid -70s.
[847] Up until mid -70s?
[848] Huh.
[849] Yeah.
[850] That's a long time to catch up.
[851] Yeah.
[852] Yeah.
[853] Okay.
[854] I thought that this part was so interesting when he was talking about.
[855] being at the club and how he doesn't drink.
[856] And so he gets a bottle of champagne, pours it for everybody, and has them fill it up with ginger rail for him to drink.
[857] So it looks like he's drinking a lot so that they'll keep drinking and they'll be happy.
[858] Oh, no, I took the opposite.
[859] He's not a drinker.
[860] He's a lightweight.
[861] Exactly.
[862] So he's filling everyone else's cup with the bottle.
[863] And he doesn't want them getting drunk because he's not going to get drunk and he doesn't want to be around it.
[864] That's his way of controlling how fucked up the people are.
[865] around you get.
[866] Oh, that is not.
[867] The opposite interpretation you have.
[868] Yes, because his whole point is he wants them to be happy.
[869] He's supporting the people who supported him.
[870] But he doesn't like drinking.
[871] So he taps the bartender and says, he says he fills everyone's up and then he says, I want ginger ale in here.
[872] I thought he said then he has them bring out another bottle, but it's full of ginger ale.
[873] And then he's filling everyone's cup with now not booze so that they don't get fucked up around them.
[874] I mean, that's how I interpreted it.
[875] Got it.
[876] Yeah, I don't, I think his whole point was that when you get to that level, because I said, I said, that's a lot of pressure on you to have to do that so that everyone else around you can be happy.
[877] Yeah, to live the dream.
[878] You have to pretend kind of that you're something you're not.
[879] Well, we were talking about living like the music video dream, right, in the club with the bottles, like that we're all, we've seen it So when we arrive, we replicate it to demonstrate that that's like the right of passage that you've made it, is to have that experience where you're at a club.
[880] Yes, I think that he wants to give that to people, but he himself doesn't partake in any of that stuff.
[881] But he says if they see him slow down, they start to slow down.
[882] And he doesn't want that.
[883] So he gives the illusion that he's keeping up.
[884] Well, your argument makes sense.
[885] Do you think mine makes sense?
[886] I think it makes sense.
[887] I think I'm right because I did.
[888] Well, I'll re -listen to it.
[889] You can re -listen.
[890] Anywho.
[891] His friends that he brought to this club, they're not buying any booze.
[892] He is.
[893] Right.
[894] So where do you think they're getting their champagne?
[895] He's buying it for them.
[896] So he's bringing out a third and fourth bottle?
[897] Yeah, like that's his bottle is the ginger ale bottle so that people feel like he's consistent.
[898] And he's engaging in it.
[899] Yeah.
[900] But he's not.
[901] I think he's like, I'm not paying for 10 bottles of champagne.
[902] I don't want everyone fucked up around me. I'm a lightweight.
[903] So all the other bottles are just ginger ale that he just keeps bringing out ginger ale so he's not buying bottle after bottle and everyone's getting hammered.
[904] But he didn't say anything about not wanting people around him to be hammered, not wanting, the whole purpose of that portion of the conversation.
[905] Because we were talking about basketball and then those people who support the people around him.
[906] Like you want to give back to the people who have supported you.
[907] Oh, I thought he was making a point of you.
[908] want to be taken advantage of by that whole group oh and then he said like that's why he had the huge house because really it's a one -bedroom apartment but you get that because you get it for the people mm -hmm anyhow so you said that the mafiosos are imitating the godfather which I do think many are but also the first the genovese crime family originated in Harlem I think it's the Genoves.
[909] Oh, Genovese.
[910] I think so.
[911] Originated from the Morello gang of East Harlem, the first mafia family in New York City.
[912] In 1892, Giuseppe Morello arrived in New York from the village of Sicily.
[913] And that's 1892.
[914] So before the Godfather.
[915] Oh, yeah, I meant the style.
[916] So, like, John Gotti was the first of the generation.
[917] of New York mobsters raised on that movie.
[918] And then he wore these really flashy suits and walked around like he was in Goodfellas.
[919] And, you know.
[920] Yeah.
[921] I've heard, I watch a lot of these mob documentaries like the Iceman, people who've been imprisoned or have taken witness protection.
[922] And then they are part of an interview.
[923] And many of them have commented on this.
[924] how mobsers started imitating this movie image they saw.
[925] Do you don't think the movie was based in some reality?
[926] No, I don't.
[927] I think Sopranos is really accurate to the mobs.
[928] They don't live in crazy houses.
[929] Like Godfather, that house on Lake Tahoe, this like famous house on Lake Tahoe, you know, it was like 30 ,000 square feet.
[930] The opulence, the scale of the money, all that.
[931] None of that was ever really historically accurate.
[932] Like El Capone had.
[933] that kind of wealth, but they didn't live like they did in the Godfather.
[934] What was the point of mobs and stuff if it wasn't to like spend money?
[935] Well, they just didn't make the kind of money like in Godfather.
[936] None of these guys really figured out how to make this, the level of money that was on display in the Godfather.
[937] I see.
[938] Interesting.
[939] Okay.
[940] How many people are in the NBA?
[941] You said about 800.
[942] During the off season, the NBA may have as many as six.
[943] hundred players, 20 per team.
[944] During the regular season, the number is cut to 450 plus players who are on two -way contracts.
[945] That's not a lot of spots.
[946] Although, way more spots than Formula 1.
[947] Formula 1 is 20 spots.
[948] Per team?
[949] No, in the entire Formula 1.
[950] That's it.
[951] How many is on each team?
[952] Well, many teams have two cars.
[953] Oh.
[954] Yeah.
[955] So you're only looking at 10 teams, really.
[956] Wow.
[957] 20 drivers, that's it.
[958] That's what they're fighting for.
[959] And it's a global, the U .S. is just, they're the only ones playing basketball as a national pastime.
[960] And then there's 400 and.
[961] That is.
[962] It's rough.
[963] Rough.
[964] Those are rough odds.
[965] Well, the U .S. is the only one playing basketball.
[966] No, it's not currently.
[967] You're right.
[968] But basketball is kind of new to a lot of places.
[969] And it's not being played all over Africa and Latin America and all these countries.
[970] It's just being played in Europe a bit.
[971] Yeah.
[972] I mean, it's a sport in the Olympics, so there has to be some international element to it.
[973] I mean, the United States wins a lot, I think.
[974] Yeah, they're pretty good.
[975] Yeah.
[976] I'm just saying they drive in every country.
[977] They do drive, but I would say, like, if you take America, the amount of people who play basketball versus the amount of people who race cars much, much higher.
[978] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[979] That's true.
[980] So it's an interesting comparison.
[981] It is an interesting comparison.
[982] I'm wondering if there's any stats on, like, youth go -kart racing, because that's where it all starts.
[983] Every one of those guys race go -karts when they're at Lincoln's age.
[984] But then what's the next step?
[985] Like, you'd have to do the next step, because people...
[986] Well, no, this is people starting playing basketball, right?
[987] That's what you're saying?
[988] Well, I mean even play on some fairly high level, like not even high, but like high school or college.
[989] Well, let's say if you're racing go -carts, you're pretty much on that.
[990] high school team in that respect you have like a race go card and a spare parts and a fire suit and a helmet and all that yeah i think you're you're at the jv level at least the organized team to use the basketball analogy okay that's pretty much it for 50 cent all right i love you and i love hip -hop music and trap music and i love that funky stanky dirty Atlanta who Oh, cute.
[991] Oh, no. Don't do that.
[992] Yes.
[993] Oh, fuck yeah.
[994] Bye.
[995] Bye.
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