Method Man Wu Tang legend, NY streets to Hollywood screens, evolution from music to actor, bond with Tupac, Mary J, Snoop, and reveals what changes he made at 40 that changed his life direction.

“Self Motivation- If you want different for yourself, you gotta do different for yourself. If I can’t control anything else in this world, I can control my ways and my actions, so I’ll start there.” Method Man Hip-hop icon, actor, and cultural legend Method Man joins The Pivot for a powerful conversation that goes beyond music and making movies. From his rise as a founding member of the Wu-Tang Clan to building longevity across music, film, and television, Method Man breaks down the mindset, discipline, and pivots that shaped his journey. He opens up about navigating fame, protecting his craft, fatherhood, and the lessons learned from setbacks and success. With trademark authenticity and wisdom, Meth delivers gems on evolution, ownership, and staying true to yourself while adapting to change. He lets us in on some never-heard-before stories from studio sessions with Mary J, to bond with Snoop to final words with Tupac to relationship with Biggie... Method Man shares his experiences from a decorated life to the dark parts we didn't see. This episode is raw, reflective, and inspiring — a masterclass on growth, resilience, and redefining legacy. You don’t want to miss this one Pivot Family, please like, comment and hit the subscribe button, we love to hear from ya! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

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• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  Ooh.

• 0:31Fred Taylor?

  Ha.

• 0:32Channing Crowder?

  Ooh, that's a rich roll.

• 0:34Ryan Clark?

  Mr. Magic Al.

• 0:36Channing Crowder?

  That's a rich, that rich roll, you good, man?

• 0:39Fred Taylor?

  No disrespect, always.

• 0:41Ryan Clark?

  My guy.

• 0:43Fred Taylor?

  Uh huh.

• 0:44Ryan Clark?

  All right, well. I must admit, Freddie, to you, I'm gonna be honest with you now.

• 0:47Fred Taylor?

  What's up?

• 0:47Ryan Clark?

  You know me, I'll, I'll run up and speak to anybody. When I saw him at the Jets game, I was a little nervous.

• 0:52Fred Taylor?

  Oh, yeah?

• 0:53Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I was like, man, shoot, that's me.

• 0:55Fred Taylor?

  I'd have been too.

• 0:56Ryan Clark?

  But before I talked to him, he took 18 pictures. I was like, shoot, he can't play me.

• 0:59Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, I did. It was, it was actually Legends Day, so yeah, I got caught up in the rapture of all that craziness right there, for sure. Jets, Jets over Giants? Yeah, absolutely. I'm a Long Island guy. Oh, yeah, that makes sense. Born and raised in Long Island and shit, well, mostly. And then Staten Island, so Staten Island home, but Long Island is the foundation, really. So, let me ask you this, then. How you feel about them breaking or setting the record for zero interceptions in NFL history?

• 1:26Speaker 05

  It's disheartening. Especially when your head coach was a defensive player. Very good one, too.

• 1:33Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 1:33Speaker 05

  Very good one.

• 1:34Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 1:34Speaker 05

  And, you know, I mean, but these things happen. And people always, you know, they need stats in order to keep up. That's for simple minded people, really.

• 1:42Fred Taylor?

  Right, that's true.

• 1:42Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 2:03Ryan Clark?

  The voice you hear and the face you see is none other than the great legend, Method Man. This is Channing Crowder, this is Fred Taylor. I'm Ryan Clark. Pivot fam, thank you for pivoting with us. So this is what I wanted to ask you.

• 2:13Speaker 05

  Channing be getting in trouble.

• 2:14Ryan Clark?

  He probably tried to get you in trouble.

• 2:16Channing Crowder?

  I ain't gonna get him bad in trouble, man.

• 2:18Ryan Clark?

  Hey, he probably tried to get you in trouble.

• 2:20Channing Crowder?

  I got a couple of questions.

• 2:21Speaker 05

  Okay, love is love.

• 2:22Ryan Clark?

  Do you remember? How "I'm on a mission" started? That you wrote with?

• 2:29Speaker 05

  Yeah, absolutely. That's gonna always be dead in my heart 'cause it was like my first rhyme rhyme, you know what I mean?

• 2:34Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 2:35Speaker 05

  "I'm on a mission, don't get up because I'm taking no shorts. I shoot a cap and it's like that and I will give it no thought. Ugly girlies round the way, they try to get that rap. Don't try to riff, my name is Cliff, I'll put you out on your back. For all you suckers out there, this playin' is off. The GBK gets busy, but never gets lost." That's about as far as I can go with that.

• 2:53Ryan Clark?

  Hey, right back then it was still Cliff.

• 2:55Speaker 05

  Yeah, it was still Cliff. I ain't even have a rap name, man, brother.

• 2:58Ryan Clark?

  Still Cliff. For you, you mentioned earlier Long Island to Staten Island.

• 3:03Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 3:04Ryan Clark?

  A lot of times when you change vicinities or environments, it could be a difficult adjustment. What was that adjustment like for you at that young age?

• 3:12Speaker 05

  Well, by that time, I was already used to it 'cause my mother moved us around a lot. So I'm like, one minute I'm in New York, next minute I'm in Indiana, which is where my mother's family is based, but they're really from Tennessee. Then we're back in Long Island again. Then we're in the Bronx, my grandmother and my family out there. Then back to Long Island. Long Island was always the common denominator in my life. And then we wound up in Staten Island, which we moved to from Brooklyn. I've been everywhere, man. I went to at least, I don't know, 10 different elementary schools? Yeah.

• 3:43Ryan Clark?

  How much did learning to adjust each time help you as you got older to adapt to environments?

• 3:51Speaker 05

  Well, you know what? I didn't think about it too much. I was always pretty much alone. I had two sisters. And I was the kind of kid that when I left the house, you ain't see me for the whole day. That was like freedom for me. I don't know, I was just weird like that. I'm talking from the time I was five years old, all the way to current, I didn't know when to come home.

• 4:13Speaker 05

  And there was even one incident where the police had to come get me. I was in the park. Well, I had two spots I would usually go. I was about five years old at this time. And I remember the policeman coming. I had my little sister with me, it was dark. And he came and he was like, "You two come with me." We got in the car and we're driving back to the complex that we live in. Now, this complex was all new developments, brand new families, so everybody had little kids. So it was bustling with just a lot of kid energy. Soon as we pull on this block... I see my mother and I see some of the mothers and because it was a community of people and a lot of the kids that I knew and they're all walking down the street and my mother had a belt in her hand.

• 4:56Speaker 05

  And I remember looking at the police officer and I was like, can we stay with you? And he just started laughing. To make a long story shorter, she didn't even spank us that night. I think she was just happy to have us back.

• 5:05Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 5:06Speaker 05

  But this pattern of behavior kept going. I mean, I would just leave and after a while, I think my mother kind of trusted the process that I would come home.

• 5:16Channing Crowder?

  Mm-hmm.

• 5:17Speaker 05

  Serious.

• 5:18Channing Crowder?

  They're moving that much and having to having to be around so many different people, did that make you, you know, want to be accepted? Or just make you learn how to move around different folks? Because we've seen you in so many different avenues of life and you seem comfortable from the, from the streets all the way to the, to the boardroom.

• 5:35Speaker 05

  I've, I've never really had a problem with acceptance for some reason. I don't know what it is. I just had one of those personalities. But it can be difficult as a child to move from place to place. Your accent starts to switch up every now and then. I mean, Indiana, back to New York. You know, you, you talk a little funny every now and then. So through my journey, I learned that, um, nothing is permanent and you never know what the future holds. Just look forward to it. Yeah.

• 6:04Fred Taylor?

  Channing alluded to, you know, moving around and as we go and grow through life, we're exposed to all different types of things, right? That's what we want.

• 6:11Speaker 05

  Yes, sir.

• 6:12Fred Taylor?

  But being from Staten Island, Park Hill, right?

• 6:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, Park Hill.

• 6:15Fred Taylor?

  Right. What lessons that you learned then that still guide you, you know, through this day?

• 6:21Speaker 05

  Make sure the fiends show you the money first before you serve them.

• 6:27Speaker 05

  Just, you know, carry yourself with honor, respect and dignity. Yeah, pretty much. And people don't know that these are values that we hold in these neighborhoods because one, they can't come in these neighborhoods and two, you only get the bad of what's going on.

• 6:40Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 6:41Speaker 05

  Growing up in some of these neighborhoods, we knew we was broke, but everybody around us was broke as well. So it was like, you didn't really notice.

• 6:47Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 6:47Speaker 05

  You were just a kid having fun. I don't know how the parents felt about the whole situation. I'm pretty sure that they wish they had better circumstances. But as a youth, growing up in the ghetto, I loved that experience. Loved it.

• 6:59Ryan Clark?

  I forget which one of the Wu-Tang members said it, but they said they thought Ghostface would end up where you were. They thought that he was like the pretty boy, he was gonna end up doing different things. They said, "You were grimy, you were street, and the fact that you transcended to become all of these things outside of rap, they wouldn't have picked you to do that."

• 7:22Speaker 05

  Well, Ghost has always been the heart of Wu-Tang, in my opinion. He's always been like, every time he describes something, you could tell it's coming from inner, not outer. It's like, he doesn't just look at things, he looks through them. I mean, honestly, Ghost is the pretty boy of the crew. If you ask me, Pretty Tony, you know what I'm saying? And he don't lack in anything, as far as I'm concerned, how the game go. He don't lack in any category where he can't still do his numbers. And he has been.

• 7:52Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. Well, how did you get to become the sex symbol of Wu-Tang? Like now, now you around here lifting your shirt up when you walk in?

• 7:58Speaker 05

  Man, you know what? That is me loving me. I don't know about sex symbol, but I love me some me. Period, on that.

• 8:09Ryan Clark?

  Did you know spelling your name was genius marketing back when you first started?

• 8:13Speaker 05

  Nah, I didn't. Like, again, anybody that knows the process of how I put my hooks together and the seriousness of how I put Method Man together, you would know that I was a fan of all genres of music. And the way I pieced that together, subliminally, I don't know what I was thinking. It just felt organically correct, and it worked. And, I mean, branding-wise, yeah, that's some genius shit that I didn't know. Like, Clutz, genius shit.

• 8:42Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 8:43Speaker 05

  You know? And next thing you know, you know, you got a whole crew of brothers, but everybody spelling my name. Crazy.

• 8:50Fred Taylor?

  It is crazy. M-E-T-H-O-D, man. But the voice, though.

• 8:55Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 8:55Fred Taylor?

  Like, the raspy, like, that signature voice. People can hear you from down the room and know it's you.

• 9:00Speaker 05

  Delinquency.

• 9:00Fred Taylor?

  Like, did you ever imagine that your voice would also kinda help that compound?

• 9:04Speaker 05

  I used to sing when I was younger. I had, like, one of them... Nah, let me stop lying.

• 9:09Ryan Clark?

  That was about the same.

• 9:09Speaker 05

  I thought I could sing good, but by the time I hit puberty, everything changed. I got tall, I had a growth spurt, and the voice just got deeper. And I laid into it. It was like, you know, at that time when Wu-Tang came out, there were a few brothers that had that raspy voice. Busta was one of them.

• 9:26Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 9:26Speaker 05

  And this dude named Al Scratch. Al Scratch still spitting. That boy's still nice, too. And it was just something about raspy. It was like that raspy voice. It's just everything you said out your mouth, it sounded like you meant that shit.

• 9:39Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 9:40Speaker 05

  You know what I mean? Yeah.

• 9:41Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I'm from New Orleans, you know, and I've read, you know, you talk about when you guys first started touring with Wu and you'd kind of go to the south. It wouldn't be the same reception that you might get in a place that you had built up a fan base. When I got to college, my first roommate in the summer was a frickin' genius. His name was Subuke Akpara Odunga. I still remember it. And it's the first time I ever listened to Wu-Tang and had him, and he was explaining like, this is so-and-so, this is so-and-so. Can you explain to me, though, what in hip-hop is called a Wu-Tang deal?

• 10:18Speaker 05

  Okay, so initially, when we signed as a group, Steve Rifkin, who is a, I guess, I wouldn't, well, Steve is like, he's like my brother. But he took a chance on a bunch of guys in a group, not knowing whether it would work or not because it hadn't been done before. And the thing about, I'm all over the place, but the thing about RZA and JZA was they had had deals prior to us getting our deal. So RZA approached the game a little bit different than we all were approaching it. It was just rhymes and beats for us. For him, it was rhymes, beats, business, but not in that order. So I'm guessing when they sat down to make this deal,

• 10:58Speaker 05

  RZA seen an opportunity, not just for the group to eat, but us to eat as individuals. So we got a deal with Loud Records that said, if we will sign as a group, but we can sign to other labels if Loud doesn't match or exceed the deal that we can get. Sort of like what you guys do when you become free agents or whatever, right? My deal with Def Jam was pretty much solidified before we even finished the Wu-Tang album. Dirty's deal with Elektra, same deal. And the unique part about it was... You had all of these labels that were basically competing against each other with their artists and their lineups and all of that.

• 11:37Speaker 05

  Now, they're all working together in a sense because they're promoting us and our brand as one.

• 11:45Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 11:45Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 11:45Speaker 05

  I mean, you can't even beat something like that when it comes to do, even if you didn't mean to do it and it came out like that, that shit is just, it's beyond, you know, anything that anyone's seen before. So it marks, it sets a standard and it marks a place where hip-hop elevated again.

• 12:03Channing Crowder?

  Did that breed a lot of competitiveness amongst the group?

• 12:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, we MCs.

• 12:08Channing Crowder?

  To be the guy?

• 12:10Speaker 05

  Yeah, we MCs. We all spit like we the guy. Period. And in our minds, we are the guy. And that makes it work so much better, you know what I'm saying? And there are no real egos when it comes down to bars and things like that. Now, when it comes to creative choices, that's when things get a little iffy here and there and stuff. And sometimes dudes disagree, but the thing that keeps Wu-Tang together is we talk about things.

• 12:36Channing Crowder?

  Hmm.

• 12:36Speaker 05

  We build as men. So if you can always have that discussion, there won't be any confusion. And you know where you stand.

• 12:43Channing Crowder?

  Was it and is it now lucrative? Because it seems like it's so many, there's so many pieces of pie that's getting cut.

• 12:49Speaker 05

  Um, yeah, it still is. I mean, we just did a residency in Vegas.

• 12:52Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 12:52Speaker 05

  And that was very good. And we just came off of our, what RZA calls the final tour, which is great marketing in itself because you got a lot of people that show up with their kids. I've seen this myself, showing up with their kids and saying, this may be the last time you see a group of this stature or of this magnitude or, you know, whatever, whatever. Everybody's still eating, you know, whether it's together or separate. Raekwon just dropped an album, Ghost just dropped an album. There's more to come, Master Killer and Corrupt are doing an album together. So it's a lot of work going on. And RZA, of course, with the directing and, you know, yeah.

• 13:27Fred Taylor?

  Did all of y'all have a chip on your shoulder being that you were from what's considered the forgotten borough? Did that make you guys kind of just want to go a little harder?

• 13:37Speaker 05

  Well, we was gonna go hard anyway.

• 13:39Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 13:39Speaker 05

  You know what I mean? We always felt like we had something to offer that nobody else did. But yeah, everybody approaches the game with the chip on the shoulder. You gotta have that. You have to have it, especially if, um... You know, you're sitting in a room full of lions and shit, you know? And, and you gotta be just as evil or just as hard as they are.

• 13:58Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, Channing says that all the time, been in a room full of lions. He just don't know about beef and broccoli.

• 14:05Speaker 05

  Here you go.

• 14:05Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 14:07Channing Crowder?

  That's the New York boy, y'all keeping Timbaland alive. Yeah, we do.

• 14:11Speaker 05

  Yeah, I know he do.

• 14:13Channing Crowder?

  Where you from? Alive, Atlanta.

• 14:16Speaker 05

  Atlanta.

• 14:16Channing Crowder?

  They don't wear that.

• 14:17Fred Taylor?

  He know Timbaland, but he just don't know.

• 14:19Speaker 05

  Yeah, they don't fuck with these, but I seen people in Atlanta rock the Weet Tims, for sure, you know?

• 14:24Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, the Weet, the Weet'll make it down there, but yeah.

• 14:26Speaker 05

  They can out there, they can dress.

• 14:27Ryan Clark?

  They, they, they steal a little bit from y'all. When you and Mary make what becomes one of the classic hip-hop songs together. The, the first time you heard it in completion, did you know that what you and Mary had done was gonna be legendary?

• 14:46Speaker 05

  No, but everybody around me seemed to know. And that, and that's the crazy thing about it. For me, it was, I didn't really think about it too much, you know? It was a lane that I wasn't really trying to touch at that moment, you know? Sex symbol stuff and things of that nature, cuz it takes away from what I was really trying to do, and that's just being MC.

• 15:02Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 15:03Speaker 05

  Period. I could take credit for the record because I wrote my lyrics and Mary did her one-two, one-two on it. But the people around me are the ones that pushed for it. Because it wasn't supposed to be a single at all, you know? It was actually, it was a record on there. But, um, when Lior wanted to push it as a single, like I said, I was reluctant, but these people know what they're doing. And they were right.

• 15:25Ryan Clark?

  Why were you, why were you reluctant? Was...

• 15:28Speaker 05

  It's a sex symbol.

• 15:28Ryan Clark?

  Was it just so far away from who you were and who people perceived you as?

• 15:34Speaker 05

  Well, not really, because it wasn't from who I was because I wrote it. But it was, it wasn't what I wanted to be portrayed as. If I can control the narrative on myself, MC, just that, you know? Of course, who doesn't like, you know, um, coming out on stage, women screaming and stuff like that? You know what I mean? It's... It feeds your dopamine, for sure.

• 15:53Channing Crowder?

  That impresses the women.

• 15:55Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 15:56Channing Crowder?

  Like, in real life, because the song is amazing, but like, you don't wanna get rubbed on. "Sure, they're there for you every time." That's kinda...

• 16:03Speaker 05

  Pretty much, pretty much.

• 16:05Channing Crowder?

  I'm not listening to you if I wanna get some whoopee in.

• 16:09Ryan Clark?

  Hey, you don't put it on...

• 16:11Channing Crowder?

  No, I don't wanna hear your voice.

• 16:12Speaker 05

  But honestly, they said that's one of the hardest love songs ever. I wouldn't even call it a love song, I'd call it a real one.

• 16:17Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 16:17Speaker 05

  You know, for real.

• 16:18Ryan Clark?

  Was it, you were opposed slightly because it wasn't necessarily a big thing in hip-hop back then? Those sort of crossovers?

• 16:26Speaker 05

  That might have played a part in it, plus I'd seen others go down the road to sex symbol when it didn't play out too well for them. So, and plus, I had a lot more records on there that I wanted, I wanted to put Blood the Blood Cloud out or something like that, you know?

• 16:37Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 16:38Speaker 05

  Because it was that time in that era. But again, these guys at Def Jam, they knew what they were doing. They had a link with Puff. He plugged in Mary, who I had met previously, and she was so fucking... Mary's dope, man, like, I love my sister, man, and she was so real that day and, and, you know, I didn't know if she would do the record or not, and when she agreed to do it, I was, I was at the studio like, three hours before she even got there, ready.

• 17:02Ryan Clark?

  What was that studio session like with Mary when you guys were...

• 17:04Speaker 05

  Very relaxed, very relaxed. I had gotten, um, mouth surgery that day, so I was spitting out blood between takes. You know, extractions. Too much candy when I was younger. But, yeah, when we recorded, Mary was very cool about it. You know, Diddy was doing his one-two, one-two, and it was a cool vibe.

• 17:22Ryan Clark?

  I don't, I know you keep talking about sex symbol. You ain't look like this then.

• 17:26Speaker 05

  Nah.

• 17:26Ryan Clark?

  You actually looked crazy.

• 17:28Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 17:28Ryan Clark?

  There was nothing, and watching that...

• 17:29Speaker 05

  Well, I mean, that's what the eyeball thing and all that stuff was about. Plus, again, you know, I was a seventies baby raised in the eighties, and if you watched videos back then, it was very rare that you would get a hip-hop video, but you would get one. So, in order to see one, you would have to sit through all the rock and roll videos, and some of them shits was bops.

• 17:47Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 17:48Speaker 05

  Came in front, you know, so, yeah.

• 17:52Speaker 05

  I forgot what the question was, but yeah.

• 17:53Ryan Clark?

  Did you know that David McClain was a slimeball?

• 17:56Speaker 05

  Off top? I mean, based off of Powers history, I kind of figured he had some kind of slime in him. That was a fun role.

• 18:04Ryan Clark?

  I used to watch that show and I was like, man, I really love meth. But I hate this dude. When you got to tap into something that doesn't seem to be the person that you are in real life, is that where the acting classes and the early auditions and all those things come into play so you could create that character?

• 18:26Speaker 05

  Yeah, absolutely. But I like to think that all the traveling I did when I was younger helps as well, that adapting part. You learn to embrace different things, you know what I mean? So I had to embrace his character first, whether he was an asshole or not, and own it. And that helped a lot. So that, as well as, yeah, I paid enough for acting classes, this better work. They better work, shoot, stop playing.

• 18:51Speaker 06

  Here's your report.

• 18:52Speaker 07

  Oh, thanks, Jane. I wish I could hire someone just like you.

• 18:55Speaker 06

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• 19:12Speaker 07

  Let's do it. You're irreplaceable, Jane, but another you would be great.

• 19:16Speaker 06

  Hire right the first time. Post your job for free on LinkedIn today at LinkedIn.com/quality.

• 19:21Ryan Clark?

  And deciding on your roles and stuff, because you've played some roles that I didn't think you would play, with the glass eyeball and all that stuff.

• 19:30Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah, yeah.

• 19:31Ryan Clark?

  I guess your masturbation.

• 19:32Speaker 05

  Thank you.

• 19:33Ryan Clark?

  Do you turn down roles? Is there a realm of roles or something that you're like, I'm not doing that, I'm not gonna be this guy?

• 19:39Speaker 05

  It's very rare, but yeah, I have, I have, I have. And there's some roles that, like if I audition for something and I don't get it, I don't watch that shit. I've never seen an episode of Ray Donovan.

• 19:50Ryan Clark?

  Episode of what?

• 19:51Speaker 05

  Ray Donovan.

• 19:54Speaker 05

  It is a great show, I heard.

• 19:56Ryan Clark?

  It is actually a really good show.

• 19:58Speaker 05

  Word.

• 19:58Ryan Clark?

  When you start, though, to make that transition, you're coming from something that you're known in, you're successful in.

• 20:06Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 20:06Ryan Clark?

  But even with that success, that doesn't mean that people will embrace you on the other side of it.

• 20:11Speaker 05

  They don't know shit about music.

• 20:12Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, so was there, was there any fear in, in making that jump and having the possibility that it wouldn't go your way?

• 20:19Speaker 05

  There's always fear when you jump into a new realm. I think that's growth. Those butterflies, that anxiety you feel, you know? But I knew that if I took the necessary steps and not half-assed it, I would have a chance, at least. So what I did was, I had just came off tour again overseas, tired. It's like, gotta be something better I could do. I know I have way more I can contribute to the game than just, stage to stage, no new music. Something's gotta give. Called my manager, said I was coming to LA. Went there. And I could have rented a hotel, all that. I could have rented a place to stay and all that, but I stayed at her house. Went to my acting classes, started my workout regiment. Just, you know, things to separate myself from what I was doing to what I was trying to do.

• 21:03Speaker 05

  The auditions just kept coming, and I wasn't getting shit. But I was going, I was doing the work. I was learning as I was going along. Then I got something. And after that, it just snowballed and kept going and kept going and kept going. Now, for me, that meant, okay, they're watching, they're listening, refine it now. Get better at what you're doing, you get better roles and shit like that. So, again, I, I can't look at this genre of entertainment and say, well, because I got a name, I deserve to be here. No, there's, there's people that are still, you know, been doing this shit for years and still haven't gotten their big break. You know, Sam Jackson didn't really get his biggest role until he was like in his 40s.

• 21:48Speaker 05

  And you, you look at this and you say to yourself, you don't knock yourself for being in the position that you're in, but you say to yourself, there are a lot of other people that could be here, so make sure that you deserve to be here. Period.

• 22:03Fred Taylor?

  What do you credit to that pivot? Because hip-hop, we've lost a lot of greats in hip-hop. And then you have a lot of guys that can't reinvent themselves. And then you hear and see all these stories, but you, you didn't fall into that trap.

• 22:15Speaker 05

  No.

• 22:16Fred Taylor?

  You know what I'm saying? So what do you credit to, to all of it?

• 22:19Speaker 05

  Bills and age. My boy Billy show up every month. But I hate to say this, like, fuck it, why not? I don't think I matured until I was forty. And I'm not a New Year's resolution guy, but it was just one of these times where I was feeling like I needed something, a guide, some type of goal to shoot for, and I made these New Year's resolutions. One, get your taxes right. Two, get your GED, some type of diploma, because my kids were sophomores at, no, junior. Yeah, they were juniors, they were going to graduate the next year. The third was fitness. I knocked all of them out of the park. Now, the thing about the GED thing was, I hadn't been in school in fifteen years.

• 23:04Speaker 05

  So luckily, my loved one had taken the test prior to that. She kind of gave me the lowdown on what the test looks like. Essay. Alright, I'll look up how to write an essay. Looked up how to write an essay. The math, you're gonna need to use this calculator. Well, I don't want to use the calculator, that shit look too difficult. So I get there to take the test. Long story short, I get there to take the test. This is a test that my loved one failed because of the math part. I passed that motherfucker first time. I was so proud of myself. It's like, yeah, I'm still smart. Still fucking smart. You know what I mean?

• 23:38Ryan Clark?

  When you don't complete that at the time, right, when you make the

• 23:42Speaker 05

  My loved one is my wife, by the way.

• 23:44Ryan Clark?

  I knew what you meant.

• 23:45Speaker 05

  I call her my love one, a love of the dead.

• 23:47Ryan Clark?

  When, when you don't complete your GED or get your diploma at that time, when you make that decision, it feels like you're making that decision to never go back and get it. After being as successful as you were,

• 24:02Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 24:03Ryan Clark?

  accomplishing all the things that you had, what made that still be important to you?

• 24:09Speaker 05

  Self-awareness, I guess. You like to see yourself through your children, you know? And you always questioning whether you're doing the right thing by them or if you're the right role model, even sometimes the right fit. And then it's just a lot of self-motivation. You want different, if you want different for yourself, you gotta do different for yourself. It's more or less like If I can't control anything in this world, I can control my ways and my actions. So I'll start there. And I just followed that blueprint.

• 24:38Ryan Clark?

  If you're on black social media in any way, it'll pop up the ways that you said you kept your marriage strong. And it has been extremely private, though loving, as you just said. How has that relationship been important to your success as well?

• 24:59Speaker 05

  It's everything. And that's why I keep it where it is, you know? I'm very protective of my loved ones and my loved one. People have to understand that. The life that I live and shit, they ain't asked for. And if they don't desire it, I'm gonna do everything in my power to keep them away from it, whether people respect it or not. I don't care.

• 25:19Channing Crowder?

  You keep getting more and more jobs and careers. Wouldn't your loved one want you to sit your ass down somewhere?

• 25:25Speaker 05

  It's coming. It's definitely coming, man. It's definitely coming. I see a lot of vacations, a lot of them.

• 25:31Channing Crowder?

  I don't wanna say goals, but you really, I would assume, they call me the pocket watcher on the show.

• 25:36Speaker 05

  Go ahead, brother.

• 25:37Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I'll Google the net worth quick now.

• 25:39Speaker 05

  Yes, sir.

• 25:40Channing Crowder?

  Man, you don't have to work, but you continue to do it, why?

• 25:44Speaker 05

  I'm a firm believer in once you stop, you're dead. Period.

• 25:50Channing Crowder?

  Stop working?

• 25:50Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 25:51Channing Crowder?

  I agree with that. Can't wait to stop working.

• 25:55Speaker 05

  It's like a predator in the jungle. Once he stop hunting, he stop eating, he die.

• 26:02Channing Crowder?

  What if you have a stable of zebras?

• 26:06Speaker 05

  That you just go eat?

• 26:06Channing Crowder?

  Just sitting there, you can eat whenever you want to in the... Cause your stable of zebras is bank accounts, and there's some zebras in there.

• 26:14Speaker 05

  Philanthropy. Go help people.

• 26:18Ryan Clark?

  I love that.

• 26:19Fred Taylor?

  What's a misconception that's followed you throughout the years? That is totally not true?

• 26:25Speaker 05

  And shit, I'm high right now, nigga, but...

• 26:29Speaker 05

  I don't know, I mean, just a rapper. I don't know, I just never liked labels, so I do my best to distance myself from them or not be compared to anything, so I can be, basically, yeah.

• 26:43Ryan Clark?

  But Meth, when you and Redman make a cult classic about being high, people gonna think you high. When you were in that moment, man, because to me, that was the time, and even outside of the song with Mary, that was the time I saw you outside of everything I just knew from you being in hip-hop and being a rapper, right? Because it was funny, and it was light, and it was talented, and it was different, and so he was like, okay, this dude can go do so many other things. At the time, when you were in that moment, did you really understand the sort of really cult following you and Red were creating?

• 27:28Speaker 05

  No, but I was learning. I was definitely learning. I took the whole weed culture for granted, you know? I didn't assume everybody smoked, but I assumed everybody smoked, so we were definitely in great company. But, I mean, you have, it's just the whole chemistry of when you work with somebody else and you guys are on the same wave, and I think our common denominator was the weed, for better or worse. It made that shit work for us, big time, you know what I mean? Turned that shit into a movie, who does that? Kid and Play? But, yeah, who does that?

• 28:06Fred Taylor?

  What was the craziest thing on set? What was that, 2001? How High?

• 28:10Speaker 05

  Yeah, well, we shot it in 2000, but yeah, 2001.

• 28:14Fred Taylor?

  Like, what was the craziest moment on set, though?

• 28:16Speaker 05

  Well, the craziest moment was we shot in the Ambassador Hotel where RFK was killed, and they said that there was ghosts in there. So I take my ass, they have like this basement where the kitchen and all this stuff is. So I take my ass down there in between like breaks or whatever. And I go in this kitchen. And it's dark and it's nothing like, it's got refrigerators, all kind of metal shit in there. You can't really see anything. And then I hear, I got the fuck up out of there. I got the fuck up out of there. But we had one, there was one room in the Ambassador Hotel. Room 112, I believe it was. And if you went in there and you looked, and you went in the bathroom and you opened up the glass, the mirror in the bathroom, the whatever they, what they call it, the fucking?

• 29:00Ryan Clark?

  Cabinet.

• 29:01Speaker 05

  It was a cabinet mirror, there you go. You open that up, there was a bong in there with a little weed there and all the crew would rotate. They ain't think we knew and shit, but somebody put me on and I went and I looked and I seen this shit. I was like coolest set ever. Coolest fucking set ever.

• 29:17Ryan Clark?

  Did y'all know Mike Epps was gonna start slapping people?

• 29:20Speaker 05

  Uh-uh. I think Mike wrote all his own shit. I think him and, um, him and Scruncho was just improvising like a motherfucker. Shout out to Scruncho, he don't get enough credit for his shit too. Yeah, but yeah, I think Mike, Mike, I think Mike wrote his own shit. And they was just going off the script.

• 29:35Ryan Clark?

  Really?

• 29:35Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm.

• 29:36Ryan Clark?

  Bro, that don't, like, there, there are just so many moments in that movie that just stick out from the personalities of the people playing it. Like, it wasn't about writing or, or script. Uh, how much did you just enjoy that entire environment? To be doing something like that with a dude that becomes family to you?

• 29:57Speaker 05

  That was my first movie I starred in, so you know, every experience was a new one and it was all great, man. We got to work with, um, Bob Dylan's son, Jesse. And he was very cool. We had a very loose set, like I said, of course, if we smoking in between, whatever, whatever. But there was one moment that stood out more than anything. One of the producers, Stacy Share, right? So she comes to me one day and she's like, you know what? You guys are so excellent in the morning, but when you come back from lunch...

• 30:26Speaker 05

  Not as good. So I'm looking at her and of course I know what she meant and shit because we were smoking after lunch and shit. And she kinda looked at me and was like, you know, me, I'm a producer. I'm gonna be doing this for a very long time. Um, but that's not me on the screen, that's you. How do you wanna be seen?

• 30:44Channing Crowder?

  Wow.

• 30:45Speaker 05

  And I stopped smoking.

• 30:47Channing Crowder?

  By shooting the movie?

• 30:49Speaker 05

  By shooting the movie, yes sir. Yes sir.

• 30:51Channing Crowder?

  What, how you feel, being, like you saying, have a weed, a weed cult following type movie? And you actually, you done been in trouble for marijuana?

• 30:59Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 30:59Channing Crowder?

  Now with the, the laws and all the stuff changing, like?

• 31:02Speaker 05

  I want my lick back. Being locked up for that shit, I want my lick back. No, go ahead, I'm sorry.

• 31:07Channing Crowder?

  No, no, I'm asking that, like now, now do you laugh or do you, yeah, are you mad about, god damn, y'all locked me up, now y'all selling on every damn corner?

• 31:13Speaker 05

  Well, it's kinda crazy because now I am a, um, a brand owner of marijuana, so to have to, uh, I've done community service for it, I paid my dues, so I, I have every right to have this brand. And it, and it fits my brand, so, yeah, yeah, I mean, it's, it's funny, it's funny, but I knew it would eventually happen. Because a lot of white people do it. I'm just keeping it a buck.

• 31:38Channing Crowder?

  You know, speaking of what you and Rhea were able to do, I think a very underrated song on All Eyes on Me is, I Got My Mind Made Up.

• 31:45Speaker 05

  Yeah, that process was weird. Well, not weird, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was different after the process, let's just put it that way.

• 31:53Channing Crowder?

  Explain what you mean by that.

• 31:54Speaker 05

  Because we didn't know that that was going to be a Tupac record. When we initially did it, like I had a great relationship with Snoop, Dog Pound, the whole crew, you know what I'm talking about? So anytime they was on the east, chop it up, I go pick them up, take them to a couple of weed spots, smoke whatever, boom, I go to the west coast, same deal. On this particular day, Daz came and scooped up myself, Red, and Inspector Deck. Went to Daz's crib, wife cook, cook our ass off, boom, eating, all that, threw on the beat, Rage was there as well. Now Tupac's verse, where Tupac has his verse, that was originally a Lady of Rage verse. So we all in there, we laid our verses down, you know, now we playing NBA Live, because there was no NBA 2K then.

• 32:37Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:38Speaker 05

  We playing NBA Live, he washing everybody up. It's his crib, of course he gonna wash everybody up. But then, I say, the whole thing with Tupac coming home and all that, and he's making his album and all that, we forgot about the record. I, I personally forgot all about the record. And then, uh, he dropped, and they were playing it on New York radio. Now, people always ask, like, how did I feel about it? I didn't feel no kind of way about it, it's just a record that I had done, you know what I mean? Plus, I like Tupac, fuck they talking about and shit, whatever, whatever. But then there's the, the relationship I had with Big. Me and Big was cool. And Big was such a cool motherfucker, never even mention that shit. I never even said nothing about it, seen him many times after that, after that record and all that, because he knew it was just music.

• 33:21Speaker 05

  At that point in time, nobody knew what the process was, that me and Redman did that song for a Dog Pound album, but it was submitted for Tupac's album, and he put his verse in, and the rest is history and shit. It was weird, because I didn't get any, I had no knowledge of that happening, and I heard it when everybody else heard it.

• 33:39Ryan Clark?

  Really?

• 33:40Speaker 05

  Yeah, I'm, I'm still waiting for my plaque, too. I, I want my, I want my All Eyes on Me plaque, I'm waiting on that. Thank you very much, sir. Birthday March 2nd, yes.

• 33:49Ryan Clark?

  Hey, you heard it here, on the pivot.

• 33:51Speaker 05

  Right.

• 33:51Ryan Clark?

  Get my dog his plaque.

• 33:52Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 33:53Speaker 07

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• 34:23Fred Taylor?

  So how does it work, though? Like, who's in charge of, like, um, like royalties and all of that? Like, y'all just, it's just direct deposit?

• 34:31Speaker 05

  When it comes to royalties and things like that, you're publishing and all of that, you sign with someone who makes sure you get all of that stuff. And my publishing's been pretty good over the years and shit. It's just the streaming shit that gets a little confusing. Now, I was confused enough to think that I wasn't getting any streaming money, but then I look at my account, and I'm like, oh shit, where'd that come from? But...

• 34:49Fred Taylor?

  Got it.

• 34:49Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, i- i- it's a lot to it. I mean, you... If you're a writer, you own what you wrote. If you produce something, that's where it gets a little sticky at because sometimes dudes sample and things of that nature. But if you are an original composer of music, I mean, you eat forever off that shit, you know? So, yeah.

• 35:06Fred Taylor?

  You know, mentioning the Tupac thing, had you ever met him or had a conversation with him?

• 35:12Speaker 05

  Once, once. And this was amidst, because he had came home from jail, and it was Soul Train Awards. Anybody know anything about Soul Train Awards back in the day would always be like a pre-party at the House of Blues. Rest in peace, House of Blues. And, you know, I was in there for a minute, and, you know, it was a lot of stars going on. Because upstairs was just strictly for VIPs and shit. So, you know, I seen Queen Latifah, seen Puff, seen a few people coming through and shit. The energy felt light. I ain't gonna even lie. Nobody felt intimidating, nothing felt intimidating, nothing like that. And I was on my way out and turned around, pop. And he was talking about an incident that had happened in Vegas between RZA and some people that he knew or whatever and shit.

• 35:56Speaker 05

  And after that, he was like, if there's anybody we fuck with, we fuck with Wu-Tang. Dapped him up, walked out the venue and shit. And that was my only encounter with Tupac. But from that one encounter, very cool, brother, very cool.

• 36:08Fred Taylor?

  Is there anything different? Like, looking back, is there anything different you would do from your career?

• 36:13Speaker 05

  A lot of things, ooh, a lot of things.

• 36:15Fred Taylor?

  Like, one big one?

• 36:16Speaker 05

  One big one would be take a little bit more time in the studio, take it more seriously than what I did when I was writing some of them rhymes. And that's just me, being hard on myself and shit, you know?

• 36:27Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, because I was gonna say, like, it seems that, I mean, shit, everything you touched was damn near classic.

• 36:33Speaker 05

  Yeah, it definitely felt that way for a minute. But again, like, I've always been my hardest critic, but now I've grown to be my biggest supporter. You know, my biggest cheerleader. I was too focused on the rock star lifestyle. That shit is intoxicating as fuck, man.

• 36:48Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 36:49Speaker 05

  And you can't do both. You can't just... You have to focus on the craft that got you there. And I wasn't as focused as I I should have been. There was a lot of things going on in my life at that time, so.

• 37:01Fred Taylor?

  So that's what made you say you kind of grew up at forty?

• 37:04Speaker 05

  Yeah, yes, yes. And, well, I equated to what Redman said about his second album. He said he was in such a dark place at the time that he did not. That's not his, that's his least favorite album. Not gonna say he hated the album, but that's his least favorite. That's how I feel about it. Like, I was in such a weird place all those years that a lot of that stuff for me is throwaway. Don't exist.

• 37:28Channing Crowder?

  And music you had, is there something, something that you did that was, that was popular?

• 37:32Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 37:33Channing Crowder?

  On the album that you don't like? Or is there any time that you see, that you hear something that'd be like, I killed this?

• 37:37Speaker 05

  Mr. Mr. Crowder. No, let me stop. I mean, I always wished I would have put out What the Blood Clot. Prior to All I Need, yes, prior to All I Need. All I Need did his numbers. I loved that record. I loved what it did. It got Mary her first Grammy, got me my first and only Grammy. There, there are no regrets at all. But if I could go back and do a couple of albums over, oh, man. I wish I could do it. That'd just take me back for just maybe one of them, you know? And that's the third album. Yeah.

• 38:08Ryan Clark?

  What has that taught you about the way you move in life now, though?

• 38:13Speaker 05

  I heard someone say as youths, we look towards the future. And when we get older, we're looking more towards the past. I'm trying to balance the two. I'm trying to learn from the past and look forward to the future. It gets to a point where you, you want to fly on autopilot. But you know at some point you gotta take the wheel? That's how I feel and that's how I'm cruising through it right now and shit. Yeah. I don't know if it makes sense or not, but yeah.

• 38:46Ryan Clark?

  That makes, that makes total sense. I was having a conversation with somebody the other day.

• 38:52Ryan Clark?

  Just about like where my life is, right? And you think about things you deal with privately as opposed to the public successes. And I was like, sometimes, man, I feel like the world's best loser or the world's worst winner.

• 39:07Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 39:08Ryan Clark?

  Right? It's like I'm winning and I'm succeeding, but I feel like I'm not doing certain things in life in general at the highest levels I should be doing. Everything. And so it doesn't put me at the top or it doesn't make me as elite as I could be.

• 39:23Speaker 05

  That's your check in your balance right there.

• 39:25Ryan Clark?

  You know what I mean? But I'm also not at the bottom where I could be based on some of the decisions I've made.

• 39:29Speaker 05

  Hmm.

• 39:30Ryan Clark?

  Right? So I feel like the grace and mercy is getting me to a point to where I'm at least succeeding. And in truth, you don't, a lot of times, people don't want to disassociate themselves from things that they know are harmful to them because they're still winning. If those things cause you to lose, you'd be like, okay, I gotta cut that head off.

• 39:49Speaker 05

  That's a fact.

• 39:50Ryan Clark?

  You know what I'm saying? When you look back, like you said, I wish I'd have been in the studio more. I love the rock star lifestyle. How do you feel that affected whether or not you became everything you should have been?

• 40:05Speaker 05

  Well, I feel like I'm playing catch up now. It's always that hindsight feeling. If I knew back then what I know now, I probably would have approached it a lot different. But again, I revel in the fact that there's still time. And the clock is on me. It's not gonna stop, but how I manage that time is how I fulfill myself. We do a lot of, I call it the black hole, that empty feeling that we get and shit, right? And we fill it with so much superficial shit that we don't know the difference between substance and phony shit.

• 40:40Ryan Clark?

  Hmm.

• 40:41Speaker 05

  So.

• 40:43Speaker 05

  You, when you have that, that big hole, what you have to do is not acknowledge it. And the positive shit's gonna pour in there by itself.

• 40:54Speaker 05

  Without you acknowledging it, because as long as you focused on that black hole, you gonna feel like you gotta put something in there. You don't always have to. It'll fill itself up. Yeah.

• 41:03Fred Taylor?

  Throughout all of the changing locations and growing up and rhyming and running the streets and acting up, you've got a sports background, bro?

• 41:11Speaker 05

  Yeah, I played football in Long Island. I was a Hempstead Tiger. I played lacrosse.

• 41:15Ryan Clark?

  Ain't got no grass in Long Island.

• 41:21Speaker 05

  And I mean, I'm sitting here, I'm amongst, you know, professionals. You know, you guys made it to a place everybody don't get to go, you know what I'm talking about? So, for me to sit here and be like, "Yeah, I played Pee Wee football, what's that then?" I got all the way to junior high school, I've heard to be Gray Schultz Middle School undefeated. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, yeah, fullback. Yeah, I was a fullback.

• 41:42Ryan Clark?

  That must've been before you got to be 6'3", 6'4",

• 41:44Speaker 05

  I was, I was in transition, that's what I'm saying.

• 41:47Fred Taylor?

  Now, I say that because I was, I saw some pop up on social media a couple of weeks ago, and you was in the gym. And you was throwing up iron, bro, like, I don't know how many plates, but it was ridiculous.

• 41:58Speaker 05

  My max is 335.

• 42:00Fred Taylor?

  I didn't realize you was that strong. I didn't expect you to be that strong.

• 42:03Speaker 05

  Well, I've been working at it. Yeah, I've been working at it since 40. So, I got 14 years of dirt on my hands and shit, so I worked my way up to that. That stuff only started happening in the last five years, I'm gonna keep it a buck.

• 42:15Fred Taylor?

  Which is insane, and that's like just, you take Creighton, I'll take Creighton. See, I'm on the Creighton.

• 42:21Speaker 05

  I fuck with the Creighton.

• 42:22Fred Taylor?

  What you about to say?

• 42:23Channing Crowder?

  What y'all maxing out for?

• 42:25Ryan Clark?

  Man, if he did 220, he couldn't do 225 one time, man.

• 42:28Channing Crowder?

  Y'all are old, maxing out. What you need to max for?

• 42:32Speaker 05

  You know what, he's valid, though. He's absolutely valid. You are absolutely valid in your session.

• 42:35Fred Taylor?

  Until...

• 42:36Speaker 05

  But...

• 42:37Fred Taylor?

  Schooling, until?

• 42:38Speaker 05

  Strength training, as far as PRs and things like that, your muscles don't grow unless you move up in weight. That's how the muscle grows, and then you feed that motherfucker. So, it all plays into the same. I take my food scale everywhere I go. Everywhere.

• 42:51Channing Crowder?

  Food scale?

• 42:52Speaker 05

  Food scale.

• 42:53Channing Crowder?

  To measure your chicken breasts?

• 42:54Speaker 05

  To measure everything from my, from my intake of liquid.

• 42:59Speaker 05

  The prouder I use, everything. Everything is measured.

• 43:02Ryan Clark?

  You trying to live forever.

• 43:03Speaker 05

  Yeah, man, I even measure my mic in ice.

• 43:06Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Chan, Chan, you gotta use the triple beam to help you as you, as you, as you transition from life. You feel what I'm saying? Hey, you can still use the triple beam.

• 43:16Fred Taylor?

  RC started to mention, we were down in Jacksonville and we had a little friendly pivot, uh, weightlifting competition with 225 pound reps.

• 43:26Fred Taylor?

  Guess how many chanting got?

• 43:27Speaker 05

  Did I go and clown my G? What happened? How many you get, my guy?

• 43:30Ryan Clark?

  Man, you know, I was, I was just, I got a half.

• 43:33Fred Taylor?

  Point five.

• 43:34Speaker 05

  Point, wow.

• 43:35Fred Taylor?

  Two twenty-five.

• 43:36Ryan Clark?

  Got about there and then my body said, you old.

• 43:38Speaker 05

  But, but you ain't been active in how long?

• 43:41Ryan Clark?

  About 14 years.

• 43:43Speaker 05

  But muscle memory is a motherfucker. I ain't gonna lie to you.

• 43:45Fred Taylor?

  You said that he ain't been active and he ain't tried to be active.

• 43:48Speaker 05

  He ain't tried to be. Uh, man, you gotta live something to live. Let your people tell you I love you to life.

• 43:53Ryan Clark?

  I live to roam with my babies.

• 43:54Speaker 05

  And that's a living.

• 43:54Ryan Clark?

  I live to make some good loving to my wife. That's a good life to me. I wanna press 350 fucking pounds.

• 44:00Fred Taylor?

  Then you don't have to. I love that for you. Facts. You don't have to. Salute to you, brother. I agree with him. 100%.

• 44:08Ryan Clark?

  Nah, he is, he is a special, special human. Matt, you, uh, you know, we see you on the sidelines now with the camera, uh, but you're also the voice.

• 44:16Speaker 05

  Championship chase.

• 44:17Ryan Clark?

  Championship chase. Uh, we were talking about it as we were coming in, you know, you being the voice of the championship chase and being able to sort of put your own spin on it. Yeah. How dope is that though, to be associated with the NFL in that way? After being a fan of the Jets your entire life?

• 44:36Speaker 05

  Well, it, it's nice that, you know, as a kid, being such a fan of the game and investing so much of your time, this is a great, you know, payoff, if I could use that word. I mean, this is bucket list shit that you didn't know was on your bucket list, you know what I mean? And just seeing my name narrated by is cold as hell. Right? So the NFL people, very cool guys, they have me come and I do this championship chase. First, we do the wrap up of the whole season and the teams that have made it and the wild card teams and this, that and the third, stats, stats, stats, names. I couldn't pronounce Tua Tagovailoa's name for so long, so they would just let me say Tua. Dope. Um, I said it right? Tua, Tua Tagovailoa?

• 45:16Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. He said it like Rick Ross said it.

• 45:20Ryan Clark?

  Sagalviola.

• 45:23Ryan Clark?

  What'd you say, Rick?

• 45:25Speaker 05

  Alright, alright, so um, you know, um, it's a wrap up of the season first and then you know, you go through that whole thing and, and, and each week I do a wrap up of what occurred the week before. And, you know, as the time went on, because the first time I did it, I was right on. I'm trying to do that guy's voice that'd be on NFL Films.

• 45:46Speaker 05

  It was the purple people eaters that were, you know what I mean? After a while, I got a little bit more relaxed. They let me put my little spin on certain things and it all worked out for the good. It's a fun game.

• 45:56Ryan Clark?

  Nah, man, that's, that's super cool.

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• 46:28Ryan Clark?

  Do you think about where you start and the way that you're able to transcend and move in all of these different places? What are some of the other goals you have though? Like the, some of the, and it doesn't even have to be career, just things in life that you now want to move into, accomplish, test, and kind of continue to grow and expand who you are?

• 46:50Speaker 05

  Theater, but I'm scared to death for some reason, you know? I suffer from anxiety. And every now and then it gets a little out of hand and shit, I get the sweats, you know, that kind of shit. But theater, and that's why I want to do it so bad, because it frightens me so much, you know? But that would be great right there. I think that, um, it's an advantage, especially in an actor's field, that that's like a place where you really cut your teeth at. And I just want to experience it one time.

• 47:21Speaker 05

  What does he mean?

• 47:24Fred Taylor?

  I can't even ask a question, bro.

• 47:28Fred Taylor?

  You trying to figure out what? What theater, what player?

• 47:33Speaker 05

  Oh, I love you, Lord. Thank you, brother.

• 47:36Fred Taylor?

  Color purple?

• 47:39Fred Taylor?

  It's a dream. I need to just more.

• 47:41Speaker 05

  I don't know, but it definitely won't be Cass.

• 47:46Fred Taylor?

  Have you ever had a chance to chop it up with Denzel? Because Othello, he was amazing.

• 47:50Speaker 05

  I've never met brother Denzel, man. And you know, most of Hollywood been copying his shit.

• 47:54Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 47:55Speaker 05

  You know, he's a complex brother, you know? You can get the good Denzel, or you can get, you know, the other Denzel. But it's still Denzel, man. Love that brother.

• 48:05Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, he said something to the extent of what you were just saying about going from big screen to theater when he went back to Broadway.

• 48:13Speaker 05

  But he started there. Yeah, he started there.

• 48:15Fred Taylor?

  And going back.

• 48:16Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I would love to get in his head to know if he still gets butterflies and shit. And I'm pretty sure he does. That little anxiety and shit, we like to call it, that's just growth. It's growth.

• 48:28Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I got to see Othello, actually. Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel were amazing. It was almost... I left that theater saying to myself, in my fields of life, I need to be better. You know what I mean? Like, it was that level of inspiring and excellence, watching those two dudes, you know, work in that manner. So when you say that, like, I totally get it. When you say you suffer from anxiety, is it like, performance anxiety? Or real, real-life situations? Or just having a feeling of maybe being overwhelmed or overstimulated, just in...

• 49:07Speaker 05

  All of the above.

• 49:09Ryan Clark?

  Really?

• 49:09Speaker 05

  All of the above. I micromanage it. When I'm comfortable, I'm comfortable. I don't have to worry about it. I think it's more of a social anxiety than anything else. Like, I don't feel comfortable in a lot of different spaces. Not because I don't belong there, just because I don't feel like they tried. That kind of thing, you know what I mean? Like, right now, I'm comfortable as a motherfucker.

• 49:33Speaker 05

  Changed the game, you was tearing niggas up and shit, you know what I'm talking about? That is true. When you have these, I don't even wanna call them episodes, cuz they're not, it's human. I like to take it as like spider sense. Take heed to it, you know? You don't necessarily have to suppress it, but sometimes it ain't as bad as you think it's gonna be.

• 49:50Ryan Clark?

  I never, and I asked you that question, cuz once we started to do well on this show and get invited to certain events, that might be like Hollywood events with entertainers and actors and artists, he would make fun of me. This dude's comfortable anywhere. I've never seen him. Him and my dad are like the most two comfortable people, that's why they get along so well. I've ever seen in my life. But we would go to these events, and he would walk over to me and be like, "Bro, get off the wall." And I'd be like, "Man, I'm uncomfortable." You straight, bro? You know what I'm saying, like, and like, I'm a football player. You know, like, and that's what I'm always gonna be, and I kinda see myself as that and feel that. But when I get in these rooms, you know, with certain people, I'm like, "I don't really fit here."

• 50:33Speaker 05

  That's how I feel, yes, yes, yes, even though you belong there. But that ain't your tribe. And I'm telling you, that, that, that's a, it's a spider sense, you know what I mean? You may not see it in your peripheral or even in front of you, but something in there just ain't matching your energy. You know what I mean? I've done things, try this one time, if you ever feel like that again. I've done things like, excuse myself, and I'll go outside. Gather myself for a minute, then I'll go back in, you know? And it's pretty much subsided there. Worst coming to worst, especially like, let's say I'm on set and I'm having an episode. It starts with the sweating. So I'll get some ice water.

• 51:17Speaker 05

  Just sipping it. After a while, forget all about it. I'm cooled down too. Let's go.

• 51:25Speaker 05

  Low micro-management here and there and shit, but never try to... I won't say... You shouldn't embrace that feeling because it becomes part of your everyday life and shit and it'll trick you. And again, just live on the fact that it ain't as bad as you think it's gonna be. And I think that helps.

• 51:46Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, sure. I had my back against the wall. He come over and I was like, "Man, that's Hailey Bailey." And he's like, "That's Lil Mermaid."

• 51:54Ryan Clark?

  And he walks up to her, "Lil Mermaid." I was like, "Hey, I was like, "No, no."

• 52:02Ryan Clark?

  Am I lying?

• 52:03Channing Crowder?

  Oh, no, exactly how it was. I didn't know that little girl was Lil Mermaid. And she's little.

• 52:07Speaker 05

  Yeah, they tiny, they tiny.

• 52:08Channing Crowder?

  They tiny people. It's funny to hear y'all talk about it because every room I'm in, y'all invited me here. You're welcome.

• 52:17Channing Crowder?

  Like, I'm in this room because you sent me. I didn't know where this place was. You sent me the invitation.

• 52:22Speaker 05

  Yes, sir.

• 52:22Channing Crowder?

  I'm here. How y'all doing? Everybody okay? You know, it's just a different mentality looking at things.

• 52:28Speaker 05

  How many siblings you have?

• 52:30Ryan Clark?

  Two, older sisters.

• 52:31Speaker 05

  Older sisters.

• 52:32Ryan Clark?

  I got two. I'm the oldest. I got a brother and a sister, yeah.

• 52:35Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, five.

• 52:35Speaker 05

  Five?

• 52:36Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, six.

• 52:37Speaker 05

  I got two sisters. Well, I don't know. Sometimes it works for some people. They socialize more, especially when the family socialize a lot so they comfortable in any space they walk in, plus their parents instill that confidence in them, like, "You the shit." So wherever you go, be the shit. You know what I'm talking about? Some of us, cautionary tales mostly, went a little, was a little too outgoing and saw it didn't work for you and drew it back. And that's human. That's all human. And once we can accept that shit, it's like, we're not the only ones. You'd be surprised, like, while you were standing on that wall, there was someone standing over wanting to approach you but was scared to because you looked like you ain't wanna be there.

• 53:14Ryan Clark?

  100%.

• 53:15Fred Taylor?

  I contribute about 90% of my alcohol intake when I was drinking to social anxiety, yeah. Just gotta drink to feel comfortable and be around people. Hey, we've been talking about podcast Olympics. Like, we got called out. We called out some other podcasts and all that stuff. So I see you and Snoop, your careers and what you're doing now, I see a lot of similarities and parallels.

• 53:39Ryan Clark?

  Okay.

• 53:40Fred Taylor?

  I'd like to see an OG Olympic, you and Snoop.

• 53:44Speaker 05

  Doing what though, exactly?

• 53:45Fred Taylor?

  Just the variety.

• 53:47Speaker 05

  Snoop ain't lifting no weights, Fred.

• 53:48Fred Taylor?

  No, I mean, weights you got.

• 53:50Speaker 05

  Because I mean, Snoop is pretty athletic, though, you know what I mean?

• 53:54Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, you are too.

• 53:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah.

• 53:55Fred Taylor?

  But you're the same age, you've been in the game, you've been in acting, you know, you do the commentary, the analyst stuff, you do a lot of stuff.

• 54:03Speaker 05

  Alright.

• 54:04Fred Taylor?

  So I mean, whatever the events are, I mean,

• 54:07Speaker 05

  I would be game for that, depending on what it is, because I'm trash at basketball, you know, but I'm pretty good at a lot of things.

• 54:15Fred Taylor?

  I see Snoop shooting a little floater and talking a lot of shit.

• 54:18Speaker 05

  Oh, Snoop gonna talk some shit, Snoop dunking all that shit. Yeah, he's gonna foul.

• 54:22Fred Taylor?

  Cut your legs right from up underneath you, B.

• 54:25Ryan Clark?

  If you had to go back, before the entire journey started to get you to this point, you know, back when you met Raekwon and, you know, you guys are starting to love hip-hop, what would you tell yourself at that point to give you some guidance that you think you would have needed throughout your career?

• 54:50Speaker 05

  Wow. So this is a time where my mom's back on her feet and we're all moving back to Staten Island, and I was the last one to go. I would tell myself, after I had that conversation with my mother and I decided to move back with her from Long Island, I would tell my younger self, first off, I would say, "You matter."

• 55:09Speaker 05

  Then I would tell myself, "Take your time. This is gonna be a weird transition for you, but you're about to discover who you are and what you can be."

• 55:23Speaker 05

  And save your fucking money, dude. Yeah.

• 55:27Ryan Clark?

  Y'all ain't got no 401K, man, in the rap game.

• 55:30Speaker 05

  Nah, nah, we don't, we don't.

• 55:33Fred Taylor?

  That is crazy and it's also brilliant at the same time. A lot of us wish we can go back and say the same thing.

• 55:39Speaker 05

  I would actually say, "Stay here, play ball, be a New York Jet."

• 55:47Fred Taylor?

  That's a little bit lighter, shorter lifespan.

• 55:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, absolutely is, but shit, if any test of already can do it.

• 55:55Speaker 05

  Vinnie, I love Vinnie. You know, we love Vinnie as a Jet, man. He's a Long Island kid, so of course.

• 56:00Fred Taylor?

  Jets bounce back.

• 56:00Speaker 05

  Yeah, Rob Moore as well. Let me shout my boy Rob Moore out. He was a wide receiver for the Jets, but he made his bones with the Arizona Cardinals.

• 56:08Ryan Clark?

  He did.

• 56:08Speaker 05

  Right around the corner from Chase Street. Rob Moore, salute to you, sir. I think he's a wide receiver coach at Syracuse now.

• 56:14Ryan Clark?

  Man, that's awesome.

• 56:15Fred Taylor?

  Well, get used to the name Jordan Clark.

• 56:17Speaker 05

  Jordan Clark.

• 56:18Fred Taylor?

  I know, I know.

• 56:19Speaker 05

  Come on.

• 56:20Ryan Clark?

  That's how I met him.

• 56:21Fred Taylor?

  OK, so I'm a little late.

• 56:22Speaker 05

  He's 33, man.

• 56:23Fred Taylor?

  Shouting out nephew, man.

• 56:24Speaker 05

  You know, it's... First of all, it's hard to fill a position of someone that we revered, sauce, you know, goes to.

• 56:32Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 56:33Speaker 05

  But the kid's game. He come from good stock. And I can't wait to see what the future holds for your son, brother.

• 56:40Ryan Clark?

  Thank you, man. I appreciate that. Thank you.

• 56:41Fred Taylor?

  So, we always ask our guests, what's their biggest pivot in life? That's that one moment you can look back on and say, because this happened to me or for me, I am who I am today.

• 56:51Speaker 05

  My biggest pivot in life? My boss, Mr. Hill, rest in peace, Jim Hill. When I was leaving, when I told him I wanted to come work full-time and not go back to school, high school. And this man told me, I will let you do it as long as you promise me you'll get your diploma. He didn't live to see me do it, but I actually did it. That was a pivot for me.

• 57:18Ryan Clark?

  Dang.

• 57:18Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 57:19Ryan Clark?

  That's an amazing story, bro. That is so dope. OK, I can't let you leave. I know you love football.

• 57:23Speaker 05

  Yes, sir.

• 57:24Ryan Clark?

  Playoffs have started. I mean, you are narrating the playoffs.

• 57:29Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 57:29Ryan Clark?

  For NFL Films.

• 57:30Speaker 05

  The chase, of course, yes.

• 57:31Ryan Clark?

  Right, right. So, give me a player that you're watching in this playoffs and the two teams you think we'll see in the Super Bowl in Santa Clara.

• 57:41Speaker 05

  I'll give you two, because right now, I'm so on these quarterbacks. Caleb and Drake, right? And I'm looking for... I just like the Bears for some reason. I like the way they're playing, the whole, you know what I mean? This team is, they whooping ass, you know, in a fashion that they fighting for it. And I guess, shit, what was the question again?

• 58:02Ryan Clark?

  You gotta give me one, you gotta give me AFC team that's gonna make it. You said you like Drake, I mean the Patriots?

• 58:08Speaker 05

  Yeah, I do, I do. Yeah, just say Pats, cuz I mean Drake is on a fucking, he's on another level right now. That kid is amazing, amazing.

• 58:16Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, man, honestly, you know, when I saw you down on the field, it was one of those moments, I was like, no, I could go talk to him, but I was like, but I might not never see him again, and I went, and I immediately, I hit her, and I was like, ay, I just met Matthew Man. And like, I normally, I tell them all the time, when I meet people who I really like, who I want on the show, I was like, I try to give them a grace period, I ain't give you one. I'm normally like, man, I'ma give him like, a couple of weeks before I ask him to come on the show, I just met him, I won't be like that.

• 58:50Speaker 05

  You said that about Lionel Richie?

• 58:51Ryan Clark?

  Ay, huh?

• 58:52Speaker 05

  You said that about Lionel Richie?

• 58:54Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I give Lionel his time, you know what I'm saying? And I hit him quick, I was like, hey, bro, it's such a great time to meet you, I do this little show.

• 59:04Ryan Clark?

  But nah, man, I'm just really grateful though, man, I think,

• 59:06Speaker 05

  Thank you, brother.

• 59:07Ryan Clark?

  You know, when you see somebody excel at different things for the length of time that you have, that's not an accident.

• 59:13Speaker 05

  Yes, sir.

• 59:14Ryan Clark?

  You know, that's not an accident, and the way that, at least for me, your words inspired, also taught us some things today, and it wasn't all perfect, right? It didn't always go the right way.

• 59:26Speaker 05

  Well, I found my perfect in imperfection, so.

• 59:29Ryan Clark?

  I love it, man.

• 59:30Speaker 05

  That's what we do.

• 59:31Ryan Clark?

  Man, we appreciate you, man, that's a pivot.

• 59:33Speaker 05

  Oh, real quick, Lionel Richie, you were stalking that girl in the hello video. That was stalker shit. Hey, let's talk about it.

• 59:40Ryan Clark?

  She was blind, though.

• 59:41Speaker 05

  Stalking her.

• 59:43Ryan Clark?

  But, ay, but he asked her, is it me you're looking for? She can't see.

• 59:49Speaker 05

  So many layers to that song. Beautiful song, Lionel, we love you, brother.

• 59:53Fred Taylor?

  He said, "I can see it in your eyes."

• 59:55Speaker 05

  I can see it, oh. We could go on for days. The memes, it's on you now. Internet is on you now.

• 1:00:02Fred Taylor?

  Lean into it. People don't probably know that though, dawg, that that lady.

• 1:00:06Channing Crowder?

  Shake that little blind girl around.

• 1:00:07Fred Taylor?

  Man. He was a teacher, too.

• 1:00:09Channing Crowder?

  I know, it's a lot, it's a lot of nasty to this song.

• 1:00:12Speaker 05

  Thank you, brother. Well, you know, I mean.

• 1:00:14Fred Taylor?

  Like, you really lean into that shit, like. Man, you should be giving my dog Tyreek hell, man. Yeah. You should be giving Tyreek hell, man. Tyreek was pushing up on you, though.

• 1:00:23Speaker 05

  Tyreek was entitled like a motherfucker, if you really look at it. That little nigga been entitled since power. Cursing at his own daddy and shit. I wish I lived that life he was living.