How To Turn Wounds Into Wisdom w/ Jeezy

If you've ever felt like your dreams are just too far out of reach, or you're not cut out for an extraordinary life, hold up! Get ready for a story of raw transformation, of turning the tides against all odds, from none other than a rap legend and cultural powerhouse, JAY "JEEZY" JENKINS. Let's face it, Jeezy didn't have the red carpet rolled out for him. Growing up with the bare minimum in Georgia, dropping out in 6th grade, he's the definition of self-made. He transformed his life from the gritty streets into a blazing path in the music industry, laying the foundations of TRAP MUSIC alongside T. I. and Gucci Mane and skyrocketing to the top with DEF JAM. Jeezy's latest masterpiece, "ADVERSITY FOR SALE: YA GOTTA BELIEVE," isn't your average success story. It’s a blueprint, a series of hard-knock life lessons, and a journey to becoming a multi-platinum artist, entrepreneur, and a man of impact. So, what can we learn from Jeezy? Buckle up because this is where it gets real: The street smarts that became Jeezy's armor in the wild music industry. Inspirations from rap legends like TUPAC and MASTER P. Why staying humble and thirsty for knowledge is your ticket to the top. Jeezy's raw, unfiltered experiences with the law, and the hard truth of PTSD, depression, and the cost of fame. His pivotal moments of healing and self-discovery. The enigma of success versus personal happiness. Staying strong when life takes away those closest to you. Navigating life with a “MENTAL GPS.” The role of faith and divine guidance in Jeezy's life. Choosing ADVERSITY as his book’s theme and the reasons behind it. Jeezy's journey is more than inspirational—it's a roadmap for anyone feeling lost. This is REAL TALK from the streets to stardom. 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.

• 0:00Ed Mylett?

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• 1:01Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company, for me, of the explosion on our rig.

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  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under 17. Not a minute without parent.

• 1:36Ed Mylett?

  This is the Ed Mileage Show.

• 1:40Ed Mylett?

  Welcome back, everybody. I've been talking to this man about having him on the show here for, I don't know, like, six or eight months. And you would think, well, you want to have him on because he's this, you know, Grammy-nominated artist that everybody knows. And it's not really why I wanted him on. I wanted him on because this man has dimension and depth. He's a really unique person because he's obviously very talented, sold millions and millions of records. But he's got this dimension and depth because of his life experience and because of his work on himself in personal development. He's also got a book out called Adversity for Sale and it's really, really good. I read the entire thing in two days. So, Jeezy, Jay Jenkins, welcome to the show.

• 2:17Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  What's up? How you doing, my brother?

• 2:18Ed Mylett?

  It's so good to have you and I'm doing very well.

• 2:20Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  It's an honor to be here, man.

• 2:22Ed Mylett?

  Well, thank you. I'm honored to have you.

• 2:23Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I listen to your show every morning. Well, I do, you know, you put episodes out like every couple of days, so I check you out.

• 2:29Ed Mylett?

  Thank you.

• 2:29Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 2:30Ed Mylett?

  I want to ask you, I told him off camera, I said, "I'm gonna ask you stuff that's gonna push you today."

• 2:34Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 2:34Ed Mylett?

  Because there's things I want to understand about life and how things intersect and are connected, so.

• 2:40Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Okay.

• 2:41Ed Mylett?

  Some of it'll be in the book, some of it won't be.

• 2:42Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Oh, good.

• 2:43Ed Mylett?

  So, you had an interesting upbringing. Those of you don't know, kind of a military upbringing, so you lived in Japan for a while. You've seen the world as a young man.

• 2:51Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Japan, Hawaii.

• 2:52Ed Mylett?

  Hawaii too, right? So abroad, right? Not in the mainland. And we're gonna get to that a little bit. And by the way, crazy upbringing, had his, I think it was your mom pulled a gun on you at one point?

• 3:02Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yes, she absolutely did.

• 3:03Ed Mylett?

  We need to get to that. But you end up kinda like living in the streets, so to speak. There's a point in your life where you're really living in the streets.

• 3:10Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 3:10Ed Mylett?

  And I had different guys on the show. Like, I didn't live in the streets, but I grew up with dudes who lived in the streets because I lived really close to those guys. So I went to a school where like half the dudes lived in the streets and half of us kinda lived in the kind of the suburbs. And here's what's interesting, now that life's happened, now I'm 52 years old. The guys who lived in the streets, a lot of them went the wrong way, incarcerated, you know, or have been killed. But the most successful dudes, the few, are the dudes that lived in the streets.

• 3:39Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 3:39Ed Mylett?

  Not the dudes who lived on the good side of the tracks. It's really interesting.

• 3:41Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah. It makes sense though, when you think about it.

• 3:44Ed Mylett?

  Why?

• 3:45Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Because when you're coming from the streets, like you have this, you're living for survival, right? And you're navigating, you're actually...

• 3:55Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Navigating life, like I just came back from a fishing trip and I was telling you. But when you look at that, there's nobody out there that's teaching those guys how to be fishermen. Or to to be captains, right? It's something you see, you adapt to it, you understand, you grow through it, and you just become great at it. And when you come from the streets, you either fall to the wayside or you come become great at survival and evolution. And as time goes on, you just get in these different situations and these different rooms that enable you to be your best version of yourself, which is a survivor. And as time goes, you start seeing different goals that you want to accomplish. And some of those goals take you into a wealthy space. Right? Because the average street guy, his his whole, the good ones, the smart ones, by the way.

• 4:39Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Because you have some people that's in the streets and they stay and they end up there and it's. They just stay knuckleheads. Yeah, and it's it's all bad. But you have some people who understand that the streets is a stepping stone, as you will. Like me for myself, like I knew that

• 4:55Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  the streets, I knew I couldn't walk from the streets into a boardroom. So I had to figure out that path and that path came with me understanding who I was, where I was going, and then what can I put in the middle of that to give me some um to to to put me in a place where my reputation is solid, right? Yeah. As far as like business, because I made good money in the streets, I really did. You know, I ran a Fortune 500 company, you know what I'm saying? Tax free, but I did that. Right. And I saved my money and I did I did good things, but I know I couldn't just walk into a boardroom uh just straight from the streets. So that's when music came about, because I like if I can figure this out. Right? I can get credibility and I can take this uh newfound stardom

• 5:39Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  and figure my way into business, because I don't think a lot of people know that music is about talent, but business has always been my passion. That's why I wanted to end up there. You love business more than you love music, is that fair to say? Yeah, one thousand percent, because I I enjoy music. And I love it, but I was never the kind of guy that grew up with a notepad, writing lyrics or being in a band. I just I wasn't musically inclined. I just listened to music to learn. That blows my mind. Right, you know, because that's how I learned. It was like I listened to Tupac. I kind of learned the rules from the streets from there. Uh but to answer your question, it's just like. When you come in and you're coming from the streets, you have this insight that most people don't have, meaning that you can perform well in chaos.

• 6:21Ed Mylett?

  Yes, okay.

• 6:22Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And I started to understand that. So as I got into business, that was my gift. Because these things would happen and people want to keep their job. They want to keep their position. You know, they're emotionally tied to this. I'm not. I'm a problem solver. That's my gift. So all I gotta do is sit back and look at it and go, okay, this is what we're gonna do. And be assertive about it because I do believe that that's the solution for this, right? Because I came up in a place where I don't want to hit a problem. I want to hit a solution, right? And if, you know, the consequences are dire. So you play a little bit better. What's the game, the Squid Games? It's like, it's like, it's like in the streets, you're gonna either die or go to jail

• 7:04Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  or you're gonna be one of the 1% that make it out, right?

• 7:09Ed Mylett?

  So, by the way, that's one of the best answers on the show ever. And I'm like really glad I asked you that question. I've always wondered this. So Master P sat right there.

• 7:17Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 7:18Ed Mylett?

  And we had a similar conversation off camera.

• 7:19Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 7:20Ed Mylett?

  And I said, why you? Like, why do you think you got out and other guys didn't? And so you said a few things. One is the ability to learn to survive.

• 7:29Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 7:29Ed Mylett?

  Ability to operate in chaos.

• 7:31Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 7:31Ed Mylett?

  Let me ask you one other thing. I think just like millions of people want to know the answers. Because you always hear this, now that hip hop's become so popular the last 20, 30 years, the streets, the streets, the streets.

• 7:39Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 7:40Ed Mylett?

  And it's one thing to hear it. It's another thing, like, someone lives in this environment.

• 7:43Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 7:44Ed Mylett?

  You think about your own children. You're a 12, 13-year-old young boy.

• 7:47Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 7:48Ed Mylett?

  And basically, the way that I read your upbringing is there became this point where really you didn't have a lot of rules governing you in the home. You could kind of go out as late as you wanted. So you're seeing these guys that become mentors to you. What makes someone become a leader in the streets? So I get that you function. Because so far, change the word streets and call it business.

• 8:08Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 8:09Ed Mylett?

  And guess what?

• 8:10Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  101.

• 8:10Ed Mylett?

  Someone who wins in business has this unbelievable ability to survive.

• 8:15Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Correct.

• 8:15Ed Mylett?

  Through all of the lean years.

• 8:17Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Correct.

• 8:17Ed Mylett?

  And they have a crazy ability to operate in chaos.

• 8:21Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yes.

• 8:21Ed Mylett?

  That most people don't have. In fact, I don't have a lot of abilities. But one of the things I always say is, one of the things I hold my hat on is, I operate well in chaos. Now, there's a negative to it, that somehow I keep wanting to produce more chaos in my life. Cause I'm so comfortable in it. By the way, you got a little of that bug too. No matter how things go, I'mma find a way to create chaos.

• 8:40Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Gets cool, I'm like, oh.

• 8:41Ed Mylett?

  I'm not comfortable when things are comfortable.

• 8:43Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right, cause it almost feels like you know when something's gonna come. But to your point, when you ask how do you, someone become a leader?

• 8:50Ed Mylett?

  Yes.

• 8:51Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  It's funny because Master P was in my, he was, he was my therapist before I even knew who he was. Because I listened to him and I watched him and I saw him move, because you gotta think, coming from where we come from, those are the only entrepreneurs we really knew that were very successful. You know, all our parents were either hustlers or worked in factories. My mom cleaned houses, you know. You know, just minimum wage stuff. But then you seeing Master P and these guys, and he's mobilizing all these people and putting them in positions, you know, to, to, you know, live out their dreams. And, and you'd sit back and you go, okay, that's a leader. And then you see someone like Tupac, who's, who's a revolutionary, he's going against the grain of the fabric

• 9:33Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  of what they're telling us where we're from. Like, you can't be this, you can't do that. He's going against all that grain. And that, to me, that's a leader. You know what I'm saying? So, these are the people that I'm listening to every day, because they're my therapists at this point, right? So, like, how people listen to you as a podcast, some people like just to be entertained. But you have some people out there that's listening to your show that are hanging on your every word, because they know that you know the way, so they would consider you a leader. And the thing I learned at an early age is, I didn't mind sitting down being a fly on the wall, listening to the older guys. You know, the uncles, the cousins, you know, just the guys in the neighborhood. And a lot of my peers didn't see the value in being around older people.

• 10:16Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  It's kinda like, ah, you know, that's your uncle, it's your granddad. But I, you know, older people always had that wisdom and that knowledge. And I had a thirst for it at a young age, because...

• 10:27Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  When I came back from living abroad,

• 10:31Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I started, because my palate was different. I was eating sushi. You know what I'm saying? I was tuning to Gary. You know what I'm saying? Yellow Tail. Now they throwing me back in the hood and my palate's different. I done seen the world and it's, you know, I know there's beaches and there's all these things out there. And I gotta go back to this town with the population is three thousand, maybe thirty-two on a good day. I mean, we got two, two red lights, you know, and, and I'm trying to explain to my friends in, in, in school like, yo, there's beaches out there, there's, you know, there's this and that. And everybody's kind of like, what are you talking about? Never seen these things in person. So it sounded like you was, you know, just making all this up. And I, and I got in my mind at that moment that I have to get back to that because that's my life.

• 11:15Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And the reason why that, that life was taken away from me is because my parents separated and divorced. My dad was in the service, so my mom went back to the hometown and my dad continued to, you know, um, do his, his, his tour as, as a, as a staff sergeant in the Marines. Staff sergeant. Yeah, and so when we went back to there, you know, of course, my mom had her things and all that stuff going on. And it's crazy, Ed, because the trailer that we grew up in was no bigger than the studio room. And it was, I paid thirty-five hundred dollars for it, right? And that's what we lived in. You know, and my room is probably, you know, the size of a bathroom in a, in a, like, you know, you can barely even breathe in there, right? And for me, that was reality.

• 12:00Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  So it's like you taken out of this life where you got all this opportunity and you put in this place. And I'll never forget it, like, my whole mindset switched from being a kid to survival. I gotta survive. I gotta figure this out because if I don't figure it out. This will be my life for the rest of my life.

• 12:22Ed Mylett?

  Unbelievable.

• 12:23Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 12:23Ed Mylett?

  This explains to me, I really introduce you the way that I view you. There's a dimension and a depth to you. And now that I'm understanding your life story a little bit more, it's because there was dimension and depth to your early life. Like you really had two really different lives when you were a very young man. And now you had multiple lives as an adult.

• 12:40Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 12:40Ed Mylett?

  The other thing you have after meeting you, it's the thing that I have in all my friends that I admire the most. And I'm just unpacking for everyone, success traits. Cause I really believe to a large extent, the streets, so to speak, which I don't understand, that's why I'm asking you, is a metaphor for life. It's just an exaggerated, compressed metaphor.

• 13:02Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 13:03Ed Mylett?

  And you have another thing that I think the guys who make it out and also women and men who make it in business have. You have a very unique nuanced combination of a lot of presence and confidence with a ton of humility still. You're not arrogant. You don't think you know everything. You have a thirst for knowledge. You listen to my stuff. You, you read, you still have that thing. That is a combination. You show me someone with a bunch of humility and they're humble with no confidence, I'm sure you someone, life's gonna run their ass over. You show me somebody with a ton of, and you've seen this in your business too, ton of confidence, but no humility. They eventually believe too much of their own press clippings. You agree with that?

• 13:41Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yep, absolutely.

• 13:42Ed Mylett?

  They crap out because they, they don't have humility. They don't wanna keep growing and learning. They think they know everything. They think they're never gonna lose or make a mistake.

• 13:51Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Well, that's, that's the issue because, you know, I've learned and that's one of the reasons why I really wrote the book, because I wanted people to understand that I was selling millions of records, like millions and millions of records, right? Some of the biggest artists in the world, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, all these different people. But I was at the lowest point of my life. You know what I'm saying? Like I was at the lowest point of my life.

• 14:15Ed Mylett?

  You look at photos, you can kinda tell, right?

• 14:16Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 14:17Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, explain.

• 14:18Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Because, you know, God works in mysterious ways. It's just like.

• 14:25Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  He, he helped me figure out that this was the thing for me. I kinda got forced into it because I tried to do what Master P did in the beginning. Cause I tried to sign people and put people on. I wanted to be the CEO, the boss, so to speak. And it didn't work that way. And I was left with a studio, no artist, and you know, not a lot of money, right? So I had to figure it out myself. And I began to do music myself, but, cause I always had a love for it. And I started to work my way um through that. And what I realized is like, I wanted to bring everybody that I could. Because that's just what you're told, right? You're told that you got to keep it real, like you gotta be. And that's what I, I went by, you know what I'm saying? Because that's what's in my heart, to do the right thing.

• 15:11Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And when I started to get some success in it, um, and started to move around the world and see different things. Now mind you, the life that I was living before that was serious, like, serious.

• 15:26Ed Mylett?

  What do you mean?

• 15:28Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Put it this way, everybody that I was running with, either got life for thirty years, which is probably one of the biggest stories since, uh, I mean, since El Chapo.

• 15:39Ed Mylett?

  And you were waiting to get arrested yourself, right?

• 15:41Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 15:41Ed Mylett?

  You're like, everyone around me is going down.

• 15:43Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I was, I was, I was, I was depending on it. Like I, I had it in my mind, like I, I, I got myself, when I walked out the door.

• 15:51Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 15:51Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I made sure that I was looking good, cause if I felt like if they got me, I just had to look the part. You gotta think I'm selling million, millions of records and I'm waiting to go to prison in my mind.

• 16:00Ed Mylett?

  That is crazy to me.

• 16:01Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And I'm drinking, I'm drinking, I'm self-soothing, I'm doing all these things. And I was like the most depressed I've ever been because a lot of those guys that didn't go, started to see my success. And this caused an all-out war. So you gotta think I'm, I'm this hot new artist, I'm moving around the world, I'm doing all these things. But I'm at a real war with real people, that have real finances, real resources, and they're a state, the state, this is not local, right? And I'm dealing with this everywhere I go. So normally when a person goes on the stage and performs in front of, you know, uh, you know, I'm, I'm on tour with Jay-Z. You know, we're doing sixty thousand people a night.

• 16:44Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And he has no idea what I'm dealing with, you know what I'm saying? It's like, I'm like, you know, when I get off the stage, you know, I'm, I'm back in Baghdad. I gotta get ready for whatever. I gotta make sure, like, and I have to move militant, right? So now I gotta make sure, because now instead of just being an artist, I have to be, you know, damn near a general. I have to give my troops orders and tell them how to move and what to do and how to, and it's like, this is every day of my life. You're worried you're gonna be a Tupac at any point. Are you gonna get incarcerated, or are you gonna be a Tupac? Yeah, I have to one thousand percent.

• 17:17Ed Mylett?

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• 18:00Ed Mylett?

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• 19:22Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And the thing, it took me, and I was, I was, I was depressed and didn't know what depression was, right? I had post-traumatic stress and didn't understand what that was. I had a level of anxiety that was unreal. I didn't even know what it was. I just knew that all I had to do was keep drinking and keep smoking, and that's how I was gonna deal with this. And you're talking about somebody who was getting up at 8 a.m. I'm popping a bottle of Cristal. That's how I'm starting breakfast off. You know what I'm saying? By lunchtime, you know, I'm drinking tequila. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, at night, I'm, I'm still going out and I'm doing all these things to self-soothe. But I, I started to realize that like, I'm running. And I can't, I can't run that fast anymore. Like, I'm, I'm, I'm thinking I'm getting away, but it's catching up.

• 20:05Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And it wasn't until my third album, which was The Recession, that I woke up and I was just like, "Hold up. I'm not in prison, right? I'm alive, and I got a chance to be a superstar." And let me embrace that. So I immediately went in, started YouTube-ing about health. Now I'm drinking water, I'm, I'm exercising. And by the, mind you, I couldn't get a trainer, because I, you know, I don't like to be told what to do. So I was, I was taking YouTube myself. And I lost, I lost 60 pounds.

• 20:38Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, we're gonna put a photo up right now for the YouTube.

• 20:40Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah, I lost 60 pounds. And, and it was crazy, because I was doing this show for the Recession Tour. The first show I had was in, uh, Boston, in the House of Blues. And, uh, it was funny, because normally when I did all my shows, it would be all, and, and I don't mean this like, you know, like, I mean, like, it was, in my shows, it was the gangsters, killers, and the robbers. That was the front row. It was no women. You know what I'm saying? And when I dropped that 60 pounds ad in my first show in, in Boston, I remember it like it was yesterday. I came out, and by the second song, I looked at my security, like, "Yo, what are you doing? They're throwing stuff on the stage." And he looked at me, said, "Boss, it's bras and panties and stuff." And I was just like, "Oh."

• 21:24Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  So I'm like, "Yo, this is different."

• 21:27Ed Mylett?

  That's awesome.

• 21:27Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And, and I promised myself, like, I wasn't gonna go back. And then I just started to get on this journey of just trying to, like, I did what I did in the neighborhood, which was start to sit around older people, get outside of my comfort zone, and just have conversations with people who... I wouldn't normally have a conversation with.

• 21:46Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 21:46Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And just ask some questions because I started to understand they they wasn't biased, right?

• 21:50Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 21:50Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And they would give me honest answers. And I started my journey to healing around that time. Of course, I didn't have, you know, podcasts like yours and stuff like that. But I just was getting little bits and pieces of information and trying to figure it out, right?

• 22:04Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 22:05Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And that started me on my journey. And that's when I started to really come into my stardom and start to understand. But mind you, the whole time I'm doing this, I'm like, OK, this is cool. But I don't think this is a life for me. Like, I I gotta figure out how to establish myself as a businessman. Because with this, one thing that I did understand, and I don't think a lot of people understand, is that the the music and the reason why rap was one of the biggest genres last year is because music became the streets, right? And that's why so many people die in it. And that's why so many people are incarcerated in it.

• 22:39Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 22:40Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Because all the street guys, after me started to figure out Jeezy was in the streets. I know him. I know Lil J. I know he used to be over there. I'm going to do that.

• 22:49Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 22:49Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right? And so everybody started to get in music, music, music. And then you next thing you know, the music was more violent than the streets. But I saw that coming. So I'm like, I gotta figure out how to do business because I don't want to go through this again.

• 23:00Ed Mylett?

  Oh, my gosh. Brother, that that uh, that's striking what you just said.

• 23:07Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 23:07Ed Mylett?

  Because now that you say it, I've obviously observed that happening. But you to be on the inside of that. I'm picturing you walking out, you're you're touring with Jay-Z in the beginning, and you're looking at the front row, and you don't know if any of these dudes are there for you.

• 23:18Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Oh, right.

• 23:19Ed Mylett?

  That night. That's amazing to me.

• 23:21Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 23:21Ed Mylett?

  And then the fact that dudes like you then brought guys into the business who were already living that type of a life. And it sort of transformed the industry from guys who talked about this stuff because you actually lived this stuff.

• 23:30Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And this is the trip part. This is where it came in at. I knew early on that I was in a position of leadership, right? I I understood that more so than the artist. That's why I never claimed the rapper role. Like, I was like, I gotta figure out how to do this to be an example for the people that come from where I come from because I'm not going to stop here. It's like being in the street. You don't want to start, you, you know, petty hustling. And then now, all of a sudden, you got this connect and you just stop there. I don't want to go to jail there. You know what I'm saying?

• 23:56Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 23:56Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  So what what I started to notice is that And even now, you know, the and and the reason why I feel like it's more my purpose and I have to lean into my purpose to show this generation behind me, how do you evolve in it because just imagine when I got in, it's just like Jordan versus LeBron. You know, and things like that. You gotta know that the this generation is getting a way different type of money. So that comes with a way different type of power. So they're able to do things that we couldn't even do and they're able to, you know, to to um like just say for instance, when you got money to throw around like that, you can make a lot of bad things happen.

• 24:35Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 24:35Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  You feel what I'm saying? And if you if your mind and and if your mindset isn't to lead people the right way, then you already know what that is. And I I and I do wanna say this because I don't wanna sound like that I just had it figured out. Before, everything before the recession album, which was maybe like four years, five years of me doing music, I absolutely led hundreds of men the wrong way.

• 25:00Ed Mylett?

  Right.

• 25:01Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right? They would do anything for me, right? They would jump off a cliff. They would do anything. And I was out of control and I didn't know where I was going. My GPS was not working. So I led them to where I started to figure out if we keep going straight, we're gonna fall off a cliff.

• 25:18Ed Mylett?

  Gosh.

• 25:19Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  So let me figure out my life. Now, mind you, when I started to figure out certain things about myself and start to change things about myself, I don't think everybody around me was a fan of that.

• 25:30Ed Mylett?

  Sure.

• 25:30Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  You know what I'm saying?

• 25:31Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, cuz people probably benefit from some of it, right? The other thing too is that I just wanna acknowledge one thing about you. It takes a lot of, I mean, it sounds like an overhyped word, but like it takes a lot of courage to say what you're saying, to decide to make these decisions cuz you could have continued to go down. It's hard to change things when the external results of your life are going pretty well.

• 25:50Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yes.

• 25:51Ed Mylett?

  It's so difficult to do, but. The internal part of your world was terrible. But the external part of your world is going so, it's so. It's so difficult. Listen to me, listen to this. When the external stuff's going well, but internally, you know, this is not right. I'm not happy. I'm not living right. I'm not. This is not my legacy I want to have. It takes major you-know-what. To go, I'mma stop this right now, even though it's producing money, it's producing fame. It's changed a lot of things and sometimes things in life that are working for you. You think, well, that's why I'm successful. But maybe you're successful in spite of some of the things that end up making you win, right? I was thinking about the violence thing. You said, a really good friend of mine.

• 26:35Ed Mylett?

  It's kind of a well-known thing, was renting the house to Pop Smoke when he got killed. And they were the owner of the house that he was renting. And I was thinking about, when you were just talking about that, how the. That industry that you're in still, to some extent. Is really dangerous for these, for these young people still. I mean, it's a real thing. This is not for the cameras, is what you're saying.

• 26:57Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And social media makes it different because it's easier to track people, it's easier to.

• 27:02Ed Mylett?

  That's exactly what happened in that case.

• 27:03Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah, it's different. And I don't, I remember I had a party one time for Puff in my, in my, in my compound in Atlanta. And I didn't even know Papa. He was standing like maybe where you are right there. And when I heard it, it just hit me different because I can only imagine this kid who's getting out of Brooklyn. Who's got this chance to start them and then you die in the heels of LA. Just think about that. It's almost like, it's almost like backwards. You would think you would die where you was at. And the reason why I lean into it so much is because they have to see. An example of someone grow up in this because when I sit back and I think about Tupac. Like, it's confusing because he was before his time, but I can only imagine what he would have been like if he would have still been here and made his 50s or wherever he's at.

• 27:47Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And I've been one of the lucky ones that, that have. You know, and I'm not going to try to dumb it down or nothing. Like, what I've been through, I don't think. The average man can go through that. You know what I'm saying? And not just from the things that I was into, but just. All the people that I've lost over the years. I can go into the thousands. You know, peoples, you know, the hundreds of funerals, the, the, just so much. And, and, and what it did to me is, and what I've been working through now is, and we were talking about Louis earlier, like me and him, we really talked about it, just like. You know, it it numbed me, like it it it, you know, I I couldn't really understand what emotions were, right?

• 28:29Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Because once you lose people, and I talk about in the book a lot, you just get this thing like, well, yeah, it wasn't me, so I gotta keep going. Because you're running, you're just trying to keep running and staying alive. And over time, I just got this thing where I felt like people were complacent. You know what I'm saying? Because it was, I just tried not to get too close.

• 28:48Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 28:48Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Or try not to show too much love because it's almost like you just never know, right?

• 28:54Ed Mylett?

  Brother, in a weird way, this conversation's happened at such an interesting time. Without being personal, I will say Andy Frisell is a really good friend of mine. We were talking this weekend about, not the same thing, but connected to it. And we're both talking about how even at this stage of our lives, like, we're just running and and we're running and running and running and running. And although, not for the same reasons, but all my relationships, I feel like, as I'm in the middle of this run, have just become really surface. There's no depth to my relationships. And it's just like, I'll get around to it, I'll get around to it, I'll get around. We were both saying, hey, man, like, we're best friends, we don't even see each other anymore. Like, it's on the phone, you all right, bro? And then, like, a year goes by.

• 29:35Ed Mylett?

  And it's a part of life, like, everyone's got to evaluate in a different way, not the same thing as what you were going through. But like, how much of your life are you putting on hold because you're in this run that maybe like, some of these other things may matter more? Your friendships, your relationships, your, the things in your life that matter. You said GPS earlier, you got this thing that you write about, about your something GPS.

• 29:54Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  My mental GPS.

• 29:55Ed Mylett?

  This is so good. I know what it is, but I wanted you to be able to say it.

• 29:57Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  In my former job, I've been very successful, right? And and and and we call them plays, and one play, you could be almost, you could you could have millions of dollars in one play. You send your money to the wrong place, you could be broke again. Right? And and um. I went through that so many times, so like having it, not having it.

• 30:16Ed Mylett?

  Did you?

• 30:16Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Having it, not, yeah, having it, not having it. I never robbed or took anything from anybody. I always was prided myself on like getting out and figuring it out. And when I started to notice is like, even when I lost things, I would get it back like tenfold, right? Because I, I, I always had integrity. My grandmother raised me. She's a Christian woman, very serious, Sunday school, the whole nine.

• 30:36Ed Mylett?

  You're such an interesting man. You're so interesting to me.

• 30:39Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Easter speeches, the whole nine. And but she, but she, you know, I really had a good heart. I just got caught up in the streets, right? And, and one thing that I started to realize is if I just keep my integrity and I don't, and my name is good and my reputation is good, I can always figure out how to get it back around. Cause one thing that I did learn about like in business, if your reputation is good and you're a good person and, and you, and you pour into people, no matter what it may be, even at your hardest times, somebody might just point you at the right person or send you in the right direction because they know you're good. And the reason why I call it mental GPS, you know, I feel like there, there will never be a time in my life where if I lost it all tomorrow, that I couldn't get it back, right? Because I, I know, I understand it and I know how to get back where I left, right?

• 31:22Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And then to keep up on that, to keep on that path. And when you from where we from, when you lose it, you know, people go bad. You know what I'm saying? Not like Wall Street where they jump off buildings, but they'll rob their brother. Like they'll, they'll, they'll take from their, you know, they'll take from their best friend, you know what I'm saying? They'll, and, and not just take, I've seen, you know, situations where people murder their closest friends. You know what I'm saying? Or, or, or kidnap, you know, kids or whatever. And it's just like, when you're in a life like that, you know, it's hard not to, cause the sad thing is like, the culture respects violence, you know, more so than money, you know? And it's just like, e- either you're gonna be a leader that i- i- leads with evolution

• 32:06Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  or you're gonna be a leader that leads with violence. And that's how it works, you know what I'm saying? So there's not a lot of leaders that lead with evolution, right? Because those are the ones that, you know, some, you ever heard like when we talk, we say, wow, the good guys gotta go. Those are the ones that get killed.

• 32:22Ed Mylett?

  It's interesting you say that. The ones that lead with evolution end up experiencing the violence.

• 32:26Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 32:26Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, you know, we're both thinking, I was thinking of Dr. King, right?

• 32:28Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Same thing, yeah, yeah, same thing. And even some of these kids in, you know, in, like Nipsey Hussle.

• 32:33Ed Mylett?

  Great example.

• 32:34Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  One of my great, great, you know, Nipsey Hussle, we used to trade books. Nipsey was, he had a heart of gold. And. When you look at his situation, you can't help but think like, how could, you know, like, this was somebody that was pouring back into the community, but he was leading with evolution.

• 32:49Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 32:50Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right? And the guys that lead with violence, you know, end up being in these situations where, you know, they, they, they live longer. You know?

• 32:59Ed Mylett?

  As a result of that, I watched an interview you did. And you said, I really don't trust anybody.

• 33:03Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 33:04Ed Mylett?

  And then the host pushed you a little bit and you're like, well, that was my former life. And I watched, I said, nope, he still doesn't really trust anybody. Like, if we're being really, really honest.

• 33:13Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 33:14Ed Mylett?

  Like, let's just cut the, to the [BLEEP].

• 33:16Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 33:16Ed Mylett?

  I don't think you really completely trust anybody, even right now.

• 33:19Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  You're absolutely right.

• 33:22Ed Mylett?

  Okay.

• 33:22Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  But I find myself opening up more and being transparent, but I still have to keep, you know, what kept me, even though it doesn't serve me that much in this life. I'm learning to trust and to understand and to get only quality people around. Because when you have only quality people around, it's easy for them to show you that they can be trusted to a certain extent. But I will tell you that 98% of people that I've led in my life have burnt me some type of way. You know what I'm saying? And to the point where I'm just like, I already knew that was gonna happen. Why did I even go there?

• 33:59Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 33:59Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And my reason, I think, for not trusting is I've never, outside of my grandmother, I've never experienced someone who gave me unconditional love.

• 34:13Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 34:13Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right? And I never experienced someone that gave me, like, full transparency.

• 34:18Ed Mylett?

  Yep.

• 34:19Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And, you know, I used to live out of survival and fear, you know what I'm saying? But I try now to live more out of love. But, you know, I still can't, like Nipsey Hussle, like, I can't think that I'm exempt to what is going on because I'm still a part of that culture. So I have to still, it's almost like being a soldier. You know, if you go to, you know, you know, Afghanistan or whatever, and you come back, you still have that mentality that I gotta protect myself and my family if something happens, because I know how to do that.

• 34:51Ed Mylett?

  I knew today was gonna be good, but it didn't wanna be this good. No, I mean it.

• 34:56Ed Mylett?

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• 35:41Ed Mylett?

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• 36:24Ed Mylett?

  I feel great and I bring energy to the entire day. Go to im8health.com/ed10 right now or click the link in the description and use code ED10 for a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets, plus 10% off your order. That's code ED10 at im8health.com/ed10. Code ED10 at im8health.com/ed10. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. And I'm gonna tell you something like you pull, when you're this honest, you pull honesty out of me and other people. And here's the truth. So I'm not a part of that culture,

• 37:06Ed Mylett?

  but I'm a part of life. And I think that, again, I think that culture is a, like a microcosm, a compressed version of what the rest of life is about. And if I'm being really honest, if I'm being really honest, same with me. I think even saying 98 is a generous number.

• 37:27Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right, right. It might be like 99, right?

• 37:29Ed Mylett?

  9.7324, right? Like, and I think what I landed on was, I'm gonna be trustworthy, but I'm pretty guarded with my trust. And, and, and life has proven to me that, and by the way, what's cool about that conclusion is that it's caused me to try to search for where can I trust? And for me, that's God. Right? Like, I don't put my faith in a man.

• 37:50Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I gotta tell you about that, too.

• 37:51Ed Mylett?

  Please do. Cause that's what I've reached to. Please, go ahead.

• 37:53Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  No, I mean, I, I, you know, I, I must, I must say, like, I don't know what's been going on with me lately, you know what I'm saying? In like, the last year. But I, I used to pray all the time, cause my grandmother taught me to pray. But I never heard anything, right? I never, but like lately, like, I might be like, meditating, and he talks to me constantly. And I'm, I'm serious, like, to the point, like, it almost scares me sometime, right? And, you know, I, nobody's perfect, right? So, as long as I walk with God, I

• 38:32Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  know I'll be good, right? But people, and, and, and the type of people that he's brought in my life, like, it's, it's, it's crazy. Like, you wouldn't believe the type of people that, you know, call me, check on me, or whatever. And a lot of them don't understand where I come from and what I've been through. So, you know, they might not understand some of my mannerisms sometimes, but I make sure when I'm with them, I let them know that I, I'm really there for them. And, and, and they're there for me. But what I, what I've noticed, and you said about trust, is like, I trust that God is gonna make sure that it's good, but I still gotta watch the front door for us. You know what I'm saying? I just can't let anybody in the front door. Cause that's our sacred space. And...

• 39:17Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  You know, it's so, it's so interesting because you look at any part of life. I'm quite sure anybody can say that they don't really have people that they can trust. And the thing about coming from like where we come from, especially where I come from. I can't even say that about some of my closest family. You know what I'm saying? And it's just like, you would think you can trust your uncles. You would think that you could trust, you know what I'm saying? And all these different things. And my older brother died when he was younger. So I had to be the oldest, right? So I had to kind of jump out their hair first. And my experience with it just put me in a place where I just put up all these boundaries, right? And what I'm starting to notice lately is that, you know, that wall that I put up, you know,

• 40:03Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  it, it, it, it protected me. It kept everything out, you know, kept everything out. Well, kept everything in, but it also kept a lot of stuff out. So a lot of my blessings that were supposed to come to me, they were out by the wall because I was blocking them, right? So I didn't take the wall down. I just took like the first three layers off so I could see over the wall. So I could see.

• 40:26Ed Mylett?

  That's such a perfect description. By the way, that is such a perfect description. Because if you don't have let people in, you are keeping out so many blessings in your life. I think it's almost like for me, like, by the way, taking a few of those bricks, those levels off the wall is exactly what I've done. Like, you're saying things that either I haven't had the confidence to say or the ability to say that I totally agree with. I love when I'm talking to somebody and I'm like, because it makes me, it hits my heart, like, that's truth. Like, you know what I mean? Like, that's truth, what he just said. That's what I've done too. And almost a little bit, other than with God, I trust but verify. I don't have to verify with God. That's already been verified for me, right? And I also trust God will bring people into my life that can get close to me.

• 41:11Ed Mylett?

  But I also believe there's free will, there's free choice. And he's going to teach us lessons in life. There are Judases in our lives, right? That's part of the stories of the Bible, or whatever your faith might be. There's that. There's also though, it's really interesting, you could have written a book about a lot of things. You wrote one about adversity.

• 41:30Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yes.

• 41:30Ed Mylett?

  And I'm like, because this is a ton of topics. You could have done about, you know, overcoming limited beliefs, overcoming your environment. Because you had, you transcended an environment, which is very rare in life. Why is adversity the topic of the book? And why did you think, this is the thing I want to talk about?

• 41:47Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Oh, wow, that's a great question.

• 41:50Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  That's what I pride myself in. You know what I'm saying? Like, I would be that adversity specialist, if you will.

• 41:57Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 41:58Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  That's what keeps me going. That's, that's, that's my purpose. My purpose is to continue to evolve, no matter what. But to continue to give that information back to my culture and to my people. And to be an example of what it's like to, to come out of that. Because every situation that I've been in, and it's funny that we was talking about God. I don't care how crazy it got. He always puts somebody in my life around the time that I needed some information. Or a ear, or a connection, or just the process. It never fails, right? And I believe, I truly believe that he does that for me.

• 42:43Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  To show people that you can maintain your integrity. And, and, and be a solid individual and still survive, right?

• 42:52Ed Mylett?

  Love it.

• 42:52Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  You know, without, without doing anything that would go against who you are as a man. And then your legacy. Because, you, you know, you, when you think about some of the great leaders, they did great things, right? But their integrity is what kept you locked into them, right? Because you got people that's successful, but they did a lot of foul things. And when you hear people talk about them, you, you're like, wow, I never knew that.

• 43:16Ed Mylett?

  I know.

• 43:16Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And, and adversity to me is that small.

• 43:22Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Clear of hope, because if I tell you what I went through in this book, your life might be totally different, but you might be up against the same odds.

• 43:30Ed Mylett?

  I can tell you that that's the truth. My life is totally different than yours. But I see, great storytellers tell me stories with a you meaning.

• 43:40Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 43:40Ed Mylett?

  So as I read your work, I didn't grow up like that, but I have my version of it in my life. And so the lessons in the book, the lessons in this conversation. I don't care what someone's life story is. These are facts like. You said something so important that God has sent you that person when you needed him. The information, the insight, whatever it might be. I want everybody to hear this man said this, and the reason that I want you to hear it is, he does that for you too. The difference is, you need to be in expectation that he's going to and aware that he's going to, because he has probably sent those people to you previously in your life. And if you're not aware he's doing it or open to the possibility he's doing it, you will miss them.

• 44:19Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 44:20Ed Mylett?

  You will miss them. It's like that analogy of the people that are sitting on the roof during the flood. Someone comes by and says, hey, jump on the boat. Nope, I'm waiting for God to save me. Somebody else comes by in a boat. I'm waiting for God to save me. A third guy comes by in a boat. I'm waiting for God to save me. Then they drown and they get to heaven and they go, God, I thought you were gonna save me. He goes, I sent three damn people in a boat.

• 44:38Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Three boats.

• 44:39Ed Mylett?

  Get in the damn boat, right? And so there's a, there's some, there's, you have to be in expectation that God is gonna send you a blessing at some point. But if you're not looking for it and expecting it, you don't hear them or see them or feel them, and then you miss them.

• 44:53Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  You have to be in a good place too, though. You have to be in a good place with yourself. I really realized that, because there was times that I wasn't in a good place for myself and it was just a bunch of noise. I let things on the outside of me control my emotions, how I felt, you know what I'm saying? I, I just had to come to a place where, and I'm not there yet, of course, but I just started to understand what, what peace was like to get a little taste of that. And I started to understand what going inward was about. Because the minute I started going inward, everything changed, right? Because now I'm not, I can't fault anyone in my life for what they done to me.

• 45:33Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I have to look inside and see what, how I reacted or what I've done to contribute to that, right? And, and I can't blame anyone else, right? And for me,

• 45:46Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  When I started to understand that is when things started to slow down, right? Cause I wasn't present. I go have conversations with people. It's all on the surface. Yeah, it's all good, whatever. I'm gone. But then I started taking time, like to look people in the eyes and be like, are you alright, man? How you feeling? Like, what's going on? And I started to have conversations where I wasn't, you know, leading all of the conversation. Like, you know, just tell me, you know, how you feeling? What's going on? And when people came to me, I, you know, you know, and I pride myself on having a lot of advice. That's just like my thing. You know, I think I'm like, you know, the therapist among the crew. You know what I'm saying? But I ask them. I ask them now, though. I say, you know, one is, you know, do you want me to just listen? You know what I'm saying? Two is, do you want me to tell you what I think? Or three is, do you want me to side with you? Cause I could do that too.

• 46:29Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  You know what I'm saying? So I could be like, oh, that's crazy. That shit would never happen. And I started to understand because, you know, where we come from, it's hard for somebody to tell you how they really feel. It took me until I was forty to tell somebody I was, I was, I was sad, or I was depressed. You know what I'm saying? Think about that. Or, or, or I don't, I, I, I don't feel confident about this. You know what I'm saying? Or, or that I, I'm, I might be, you know, concerned.

• 46:53Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 46:54Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Because when you're that guy, you have to.

• 46:56Ed Mylett?

  Can't show weakness.

• 46:57Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah, you can't show anything.

• 46:58Ed Mylett?

  You said earlier, I'm depressed, I'm drinking.

• 47:00Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 47:00Ed Mylett?

  I'm drinking a bottle of champagne in the morning, moving a tequila in the afternoon.

• 47:04Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 47:04Ed Mylett?

  You're eating, you're heavy.

• 47:05Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 47:06Ed Mylett?

  Right? You're stressed, you're worried, you're running, you're running, you're running. Is there any one thing you did? Or was there any one moment? Or was it just an accumulation of things where you're like, that's enough. I can't do this anymore?

• 47:14Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I would say this. I didn't have a purpose before then. I was just chasing money and trying to get out of my situation. And he did that. God did that for me. He took me out of my situation. And I'm four albums in, about eight million records sold.

• 47:29Ed Mylett?

  Crazy.

• 47:30Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Like, but what am I doing for him? What, what, how am I continuing his message? What, what am I doing? He, he, he took me out of a situation where I could have had a life sentence. It was there. I, I still don't know how it stops that, by the way. I, I think about that all the time, but it was there, right? And I've lost, you know, so many people and I sat there and I'm just like, yo, like. You know, right now, I'm the issue. I need to work on myself because the things that I have going on inside of me is no way to lead anyone, right? And I'm making music, so I got millions of people listening to me and listening to what I'm saying. I'm not a saint, but I do got common sense, right? And it's just like, I'm saying things that might affect people in different ways.

• 48:15Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  But I'm like, and my thing is the audio gotta match the video, right? So I'm saying, you know what I'm saying, I'm saying this stuff, but I'm doing something else, right? And I gotta get online with what I'm saying, right? So now, I'm walking into, and it was the scariest thing in my life. And by the way, just so we clear, like, I was met with a moment where I knew it was a moment. Meaning I was, I was, my first album came out, I was selling, um, and this is, uh, Statue of Limitations, by the way, anybody listen, I'm good. I talked to my lawyers about it.

• 48:51Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And I had to make a, I had to make a decision, uh, which was one of the biggest decisions. I had to make a decision what I was gonna do because I was trying to balance the streets and music. And I had some small piece of success, and I had to walk away cold turkey from the streets. Now, mind you, and that mean depend on music, right? And when I did that, I had three of those Nextel chirp phones, that's what we used to talk on. And all those phones had a lot of money on them, like, people owed me money. And I woke up and I just said, I'm not doing this no more. Put the phones in the bag, threw them in the trash bin in my building, and I walked away, right? And that was like my first, like, okay, I'm gonna do this music stuff.

• 49:35Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Now, mind you, about eight months later, I'm performing at a show and tear my vocal cords. Now, I can't talk. Oh my god. I got a record deal with a major label. Oh my god. I can't talk, I got shows booked up from here to two thousand, whatever. I can't go on the stage, and that was the first time he humbled me. He humbled me, he humbled me. He humbled me and I had to really look at this and go, I'm so close. This could happen. What do I need to do? And that was just a lot of praying, a lot of confusion. And then he let me live. I got a throat surgery that I didn't have insurance at the time. Imagine, I had Lamborghinis,

• 50:16Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  all this stuff and no, no health insurance. Imagine that. So I had to pay for my surgery with cash. And then I got back out there and I started the same, same thing. And then that's when he hit me again with Bell's palsy. He hit me with Bell's palsy in my face. For real? Yeah, my face. Got crooked and my mouth was, and it was like my eye was shut. Was that from stress? That was God. Cause he, he, he let me live again and I went back out and started doing the same thing. And was going about it the same way. And after that, I was just like, you know what, man? I gotta change something because I've been too blessed. You know what I'm saying? And, and, and now I'm, I'm looking at it and I'm going like, the next thing might not even be something I can recover from.

• 51:01Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And that's what started me to just start to understand that I gotta start fixing some of my ways. And it first started with like a lot of my personal stuff I would do, like, you know, just, you know, I, I came from a situation where if you sit down with somebody, it's like sitting down and you're being interrogated. I'm not gonna tell you the truth. You know what I'm saying? I can't. You know what I'm saying? It's like, it's against the code and it might get me in a lot of trouble. But then I started to notice that a grown man should never lie. Even if it's gonna get him out of trouble. You know what I'm saying? So now I gotta change this, you know? And that wasn't easy to do because I was taught to say whatever I had to say to get out of any situation. And now I'm having to work through this. And that was like the first step. And then it started going on different steps, different steps.

• 51:42Speaker 01

  Mr. President, my company tore me of the explosion on our rig on October 2nd. Causing massive water displacement and triggering a tsunami. They all heap the blame on me. Tom Cruise is.

• 51:53Speaker 02

  Digger got us into this mess and Digger's gonna dig us up. From the director of Birdman and The Ravenette.

• 51:59Speaker 03

  What would happen if I stopped drilling? You stole, you freeze to death, that's what.

• 52:03Speaker 02

  With great power comes great deniability.

• 52:06Speaker 03

  I'm not the first then.

• 52:07Speaker 02

  Digger. See the trailer online. Only in theaters October 2nd. Rated R. Under seventeen. Not a middle without parent.

• 52:14Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And when I got to a place where I started to, to answer your question, when I started to realize that I gotta, I gotta do some work, right? I didn't know where, I didn't know where to start. I just started YouTube and stuff, talking to older people, telling them I had my business partner, now he's been my business partner for like 20 years. I would just go sit with him and tell him what's really going on. I'm like, man, I got about five people trying to kill me. I got beef with these guys over here and that, and then this is happening, that was I was in the shootout last week, and now this is that, and I gotta go to California, and this is happening, and he's just like, okay, okay, just calm down. Okay, what are you, what are you concerned about most? And then we started to like, work through problems, and he's like, okay, well, you, have you ever thought about reaching out to them and, you know, just having a conversation?

• 52:57Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  But my thing was, you know, they're the opposition, so I gotta, I gotta, I gotta press. Cause I can't, I can't let my guys think that I'm trying to sort all these things out. And, and I just started to understand that there is a such thing called conflict resolution. So that started to help me out a little bit as far as my life. And now, I got in the space where I started having a little peace, and I was able to start like, working on myself, like my health, and reading books, and just all these different things. And that thirst for knowledge kicked back in, cause I hate learning in school. When I was in school, like, I dropped out of school in the sixth grade. I got my GED when I was in bootcamp. That's crazy. Right, and then when, and like, in, in around that time, it just hit me again, I just had this thirst for like, knowledge, and I just started going around asking people

• 53:41Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  questions, and think about this now, it went from me asking, you know, somebody that I knew that worked at a restaurant, that I just felt like was, had some type of prestige, from that point to me calling John Maxwell and going, hey, uh, I got seven questions I need to ask you. You know John, he like, shoot them at me. To that, to Robert Greene, you know, to Robin Shermah, to all these different people. Tony. Tony Robbins, and all these, and not to like, name drop, but it's just like, I'm getting this information now to give back to the culture. Yep. Because I'm able to go outside of my comfort zone and get it. But this stuff helps me with my life as well, like, we was talking about Louis earlier, like, but I've always been that type of person, so, to answer your question, I got the information

• 54:25Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  from the people that I respected at the time, that I was able to mingle with, and I don't come as a, you know, my reputation exceeds me, meaning like, I don't come, and by the way- The most gangsta's guys where I'm from are the coolest guys you ever see. They're not loud, they're not boisterous. They're like Denzel in American Gangster. They're real smooth. But they will reach out and touch you.

• 54:49Ed Mylett?

  I gotta tell you, this is like an all-time great conversation. It's all-time great conversation. A lot of things about you that I noticed. One is like how self-aware you are. Just driving out here. It's like, I think you're here today, like, there's millions of people who are gonna be like, "Oh my god, this is unbelievable." But, at the same time, lately on this show, God sends me the right person in that seat for me. Like, I was, I've got some stuff going on in my life right now that's not great. And, um, some of it's betrayal stuff with other people, like we're talking about. However, I was just talking to somebody, actually, someone that's producing a TV show I'm doing right now. Literally, before you got here, I was driving out here. And I said, "I wanna figure out what God's trying to teach me with this lesson." And that's one of the things you said earlier, is like, "What am I supposed to be learning from this? What am I supposed to be..."

• 55:32Ed Mylett?

  I'm not gonna get nothing for, Eric Thomas says all the time, "You better get something for your pain."

• 55:35Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 55:36Ed Mylett?

  You know? And the other thing you do very well is a lot of times, when you begin to teach things you're learning, you begin to own them more. So, a lot of you that are learning things, listening to this show, you don't teach it enough to other people. And the more you begin to teach it, the more you actually begin to live it. People think, "I can't teach any of this until I'm living it." No, you could say, "Look, I'm not good at this yet, but, this is what I'm learning." And the more you begin to teach something, I've found in my own life, like, not everything I've taught all the time I was doing at the time, but I was honest enough to say I wasn't. This isn't me yet. But let me tell you, this is what so-and-so gave me advice on, or what I know I need to change about me. And the more I taught things, the more I owned them. The other thing I've always wanted to know about you, because, and I know the answer, because it's in the book and in interviews you've done.

• 56:20Ed Mylett?

  But of all the people you collaborated with, one of the other things that holds people back in addition to, and by the way, I wanna step back. You play such an important role in culture right now, because of what you just said. There are not enough people reaching people in the communities you come from, or young people.

• 56:35Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 56:36Ed Mylett?

  With this knowledge and information, the world's different. This isn't 30 years ago where you could just get a Tony Robbins tape.

• 56:42Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 56:43Ed Mylett?

  There are dudes like me, guys like you, people like John, that this information's there.

• 56:48Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 56:48Ed Mylett?

  But it's not what most people from these communities are consuming on their feet every single day.

• 56:53Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 56:53Ed Mylett?

  And the fact that you're saying, hey, listen, I come from this, let me teach you this. And this could be someone from a particular culture, particular age group, particular part of the world.

• 57:02Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:03Ed Mylett?

  That's why I do this. This isn't, podcasting is not a big source of revenue for me.

• 57:08Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right, right, right.

• 57:08Ed Mylett?

  I mean, like, I got businesses.

• 57:09Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  That's real.

• 57:10Ed Mylett?

  Right? But what it is for me is, and by the way, serious, no, I'm just kidding.

• 57:15Ed Mylett?

  I'm just kidding. We're in the middle of a negotiation right now, that's a whole other story. But having said that, um, but, but I, I want to make sure to acknowledge you and the role that you're playing. And again, this combination.

• 57:25Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I received that, brother.

• 57:26Ed Mylett?

  It's a fact, and the combination of your humility with your confidence is crazy. Having said that on the confidence thing, always wanted to know this.

• 57:32Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:33Ed Mylett?

  You find yourself performing with Jay-Z, or you're in the studio with Kanye, or whatever.

• 57:37Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Mm-hmm.

• 57:38Ed Mylett?

  And I know the answer, because you, because I know, but I want them to hear this. You had, and then, and then you didn't really start in music, it's not like you. You had to have some massive imposter syndrome at some point. Like, do I belong with these dudes? And then, didn't you have stylistically a little bit different routine in the studio than other people would use, right? Like, so, because a lot of people listen to this, they're like, I, I don't relate to the story, but I relate to the emotional part of it, of chaos, of, of behaving a way that doesn't serve me, of creating more stress in my life, and I also relate to the imposter part of this thing. You sold millions of records, you, you've literally collaborated with like, the best of the best, which makes you one of them.

• 58:20Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 58:20Ed Mylett?

  So like, did you suffer from that? Like, what am I, dude, that's Kanye right there, like, what am I doing? Did you have some of that? And stylistically, I think in the studio, like, not everything you did was the way they did things, right?

• 58:30Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Well, I, I recorded unorthodox because I was never taught how to record, right? So I didn't really. I knew music, but I didn't know how to actually put it together. So a lot of what I was doing, it's like being on the golf course and you see a bunch of people here. You just pick up some type of swing. They're like, you're not holding your grip right. So I'm doing that and but but the thing about it was the soul was in it, like the truth was in it. And I realized earlier that ain't it ain't what you say is how you say it, right? And and and I wanted to flag on another point too. What I realized early is that a lot of these people are very talented. Like they can put words together, put songs together that you could never believe, right?

• 59:14Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  But for me, it's the way that it's packaged up, right? And like you were saying earlier about all these people that I've met. They have the word, but I'm I'm the vessel, so I'm the translator. So they give it to me, then I I I process it and then I package it up. And then I give it to them to something that they can digest. So that's with the knowledge, but with the music, I understood that I was talking to a specific group of people who really were the tastemakers and the ones that really had influence before influencers. These were the street guys that were running their cities and their town. And we all had this code that we spoke in because we couldn't let, um, you know, the the authorities

• 59:56Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  into our culture of how we talk because that could get you fifteen, twenty, thirty years just for talking on the phone. So I can have a whole conversation with you right now and we can we can make a play from Mexico to DC to Chicago and we and we could just be having a regular conversation and nobody else would know that. But what I knew going into it is I knew the code, right? I I knew this unspoken language, so I figured out how to put it in the music because I'm talking to those people who understand it. And they're the tastemakers, they're the ones that know, they're like, oh, he's one of us, he knows exactly what he's talking about. And Jay-Z and them understood that because Jay-Z used to be from the streets as well. And a a lot of things about Jay that I like is that

• 1:00:39Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I I saw him on the road because I was a Jay-Z fan, I'm not gonna front like when I was in the hood. But what I what I loved about him was that he was always evolving. So when I met Jay, when he became the president of Def Jam, I didn't look at him as an artist. I looked at him as, as, as somebody that I can learn how to survive from. Cause the music part didn't even matter. He's surviving, like he is in a place where he's got outside of rap. He can do whatever he wants to do and he's growing up in this. I never seen anybody else grow up in this and keep their integrity and build their brand. That's what I wanted to learn from Jay. So I understood that.

• 1:01:20Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Now Kanye West was different because Kanye was more so an artist and I knew that. But he respected what I done because I brought Kanye West out at this thing that we call um, uh, uh, Birthday Bash, it's like the biggest show in Atlanta. It's like twenty, thirty thousand people and I, we had a record together called Put On. He never been in front of that many people that, that, that are, that are like street people. You know what I'm saying? His, his audience was, you know, was more broad, but he wanted that, you know, we all do. You know what I'm saying? And, and I put him in front of that and I noticed that when um, he was working on his album, Heartbreaks, Eight O Eight's Heartbreaks. He called me, he's like, yo, I need you to come out to Hawaii and I was like, what for?

• 1:02:02Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  So when I get out to Hawaii, he has this chalkboard out there and it said, what would Jeezy do? And he had all his songs on there and he was playing the songs. He would watch what I would bob my head to and he told me, he said, you understand how to talk to them in a way that they understand and it's simple. Because it is, you know, you have a conversation with somebody, you gotta mean what you say, say what you mean. But there's a way you talk to them where they feel like, okay, he, he, he's with us, right? He, he's not, you know, and I was able to do that in a way that they understood that that was my win. Cause it was my win, that was my win. I was basically talking to the streets. Everybody understood what I was saying and if you didn't know, you, street lingo, you was kinda out of the conversation and everybody wanted to be in the conversation.

• 1:02:46Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And imposter syndrome, I don't think I've ever had imposter syndrome. I've been around.

• 1:02:54Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  People that I felt like they wasn't who they say they are. And that's what confused me because I was doing everything that I said I was doing in my music. So I felt like everybody should be that way. And when I started to get around certain people, I'm like, oh, this is a persona. This is, this is an act. This is like WWF. Like, I didn't realize that, but I'm like, oh, what does that mean for me then? Am I doing the wrong thing? Or am I doing the right thing because I'm living this? Like, I would live and die for this. You know Nelson Mandela, like, this is it. And this is all I know. And, and, and I started getting places like that where I, and, and this probably was a bigger mistake than anything. I kind of isolated myself from the culture of music.

• 1:03:37Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Probably the only person that do this that people don't really know. Like, the people that I hang around every day are like regular people. You know what I'm saying? Or people that I, you know, that I, I respect as far as their, their mental state. But you're not gonna catch me in like a, in an entourage of like rappers. Like, that ain't what I do, because I don't consider myself a rapper. I consider myself a man that's on a journey. You know what I'm saying? On the journey of healing, on the journey of learning, on the journey of understanding to show my culture. Like, you can't let people box you in and just tell you. Like, when this is all said and done, I'm not gonna just be a great musician. You know, I, I could be a great father, brother, cousin, uncle, whatever. But I just can't be this one thing. And once I started to understand that, I just put myself in a, in a, in a, because I, I want people to understand this is what a grown man from the struggle is supposed to look like.

• 1:04:22Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And, and, and you take your wounds and you make it wisdom, right? And, and for me, it was just like, that was the only imposter syndrome. I was feeling like they wasn't like me. You see what I'm saying? They wasn't the real deal. Like, that's how I took it. Because it's almost like, you, you don't even believe in that, which is you're saying. You like, you like, you know, it's almost like a costume. You're putting these chains on, you're putting these things on, and you're going out. But you wasn't like that in your former life. I was like that in my former life. I bought a Rolex at fourteen years old. I had Lexus's back then, like, you know what I'm saying? Everybody that was from where I'm from knew that that's how I was really living. And that's how I was really, you know, conducting myself, right? So when I got into the music, the music was just a way to, you know, to amplify that.

• 1:05:08Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  But I still had what it takes to survive in the streets. And if you go to any penitentiary, any neighborhood, anywhere that anybody congregates on survival.

• 1:05:19Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  They know who I am.

• 1:05:20Ed Mylett?

  They know you.

• 1:05:21Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right. And they know we, when, and nobody sees me out like, yo, I loved the last album you did. None of it. It's just like, hey, bro, you changed my life. I love you, man. I'm praying for you. I just, you know, I just want the best for you, man. And, you know, protect Jeezy at all costs. And that's the part that I can't let him down with. So that's why I refuse to give up that part of me that's who I am as an authentic person, just to fit in somewhere. So when you see the music thing going around, like, you might not see me there.

• 1:05:49Ed Mylett?

  I started out by saying, um, I introduced you with, I said, this man has tremendous dimension and depth.

• 1:05:55Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 1:05:56Ed Mylett?

  Uh, you're, uh, uh, am I right, everybody? Just, am I right? This is not what you would have expected, just from this conversation. Let me ask you one last thing.

• 1:06:03Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Hmm.

• 1:06:04Ed Mylett?

  By the way, I've enjoyed this so much. Do another book so I can have you back.

• 1:06:07Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Oh, for sure.

• 1:06:07Ed Mylett?

  By the way, you really need a book to come back.

• 1:06:09Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Come back.

• 1:06:09Ed Mylett?

  But I would, I would like to continue this conversation because I feel like we're just scratching the surface.

• 1:06:14Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  For sure.

• 1:06:15Ed Mylett?

  Of you.

• 1:06:16Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  For sure.

• 1:06:17Ed Mylett?

  I also have a funny feeling that if I see you, we're gonna be friends now.

• 1:06:19Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  For sure.

• 1:06:20Ed Mylett?

  We've been in each other's phones, but we're gonna be friends now.

• 1:06:22Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Like it, yeah.

• 1:06:23Ed Mylett?

  I have a funny feeling that in a year, there'll be an even different version of you sitting in front of me. That's the thing that I'm most excited about with you.

• 1:06:30Ed Mylett?

  You, is this all worth it? So you had, you've been through a lot, like, take someone into success, lastly, like, what, if it was worth it, what parts of it are worth it? Like, you know, obviously, for you, if you didn't get out of where you were, you're probably dead.

• 1:06:50Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 1:06:50Ed Mylett?

  So in that sense, it's definitely worth it.

• 1:06:51Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 1:06:53Ed Mylett?

  But do you know what I'm saying? Like, is success, let people on the inside of success, so let's just be, look, here's what most people look at success. They wanna have some fame. They wanna have famous friends. They wanna have a bunch of money. You were just down in Cabo fishing, doing your thing. You've had all the cars. You've probably dabbled in, had some nice experiences with ladies in your life.

• 1:07:10Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yep.

• 1:07:12Ed Mylett?

  You've been up at a party and do whatever the heck you want. You've had to do a lot of sacrificing and stuff too, though. So was all of it worth it? And if it was, why? Like, what parts of it are worth it? And what parts of it aren't what you would think it's all cracked up to be?

• 1:07:28Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Good question, huh? Good, great question. I think when you say worth it, I say absolutely because everything that I've been through has molded me and shaped me to be the person that I am, right? The man that I am. And, you know, when you're in the wild and you see a lion and you see his mane and you see his eyes and you see the way he protects the pride, right? He's been through some things, he's been fighting his whole life, but he's there to protect them. And in a weird way, I feel like I'm here to protect my culture. Because there's no big homies. Everybody gets rich and they go. Nobody gives back, nobody like, and I don't mean like money. I mean like, nobody pushes hope and knowledge and, and all this stuff into these kids. They just go get their money and go live their life.

• 1:08:14Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And the reason why I say it's worth it is because if I hadn't went through what I went through, I don't think I would know the type of people that I know. Right? And, and, and able to have those conversations, right? And if I didn't go through that, I wouldn't have enough credibility to even speak for us. You, you feel what I'm saying? It's just like, how could you? You, you know, it's like being a where you're like a, a general, but you went to college and you never had any wartime in? And then you get on the battlefield and try to tell people how to do? That doesn't work. The only part that I think that I feel like I'm still struggling with, was it worth it? Is because when I was in the streets,

• 1:08:58Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I put a wedge between me and my mother. Of course, we had a toxic relationship, but I put a wedge in between us because I loved her. And, and my sister as well, but I always felt like if I went to prison, I, I don't, I don't, I don't know what that was gonna be like if I truly like was connected to them the way that I was supposed to be. So I, I, I kinda, you know, That's interesting. Put a wedge in between us and just went and lived my life. Like I was just doing the things that I was doing because I felt like if I go to prison, at least I'm not gonna feel, I'm not gonna tell on nobody because I can't, but I'm not gonna be in there like going through it because I already done compartmentalized, you know, my family, which I had started doing that a lot, like

• 1:09:43Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  compartmentalizing things. And I was, I was, I was good at it, right? It worked for me. Keeping it cold, almost. Right, keeping it cold. Yeah. So that's the only thing I feel like for me. And then I think the only other part is like You know, life is, life is, life is crazy, man. Like, it's, it's like, it's so real when you from where we from, man. And I just think that all the people I lost, I wish I could have loved them better. Right? I could have gave them more of me because, you know, I just lost one of my friends.

• 1:10:14Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Maybe about last year, was it last about eight months ago? It's one of my great friends, and he was a good dude, family guy, four kids. And he owned a local club in the city. And I've lost, you know, thousands of people, you know, just through people I know and other, you know, just over my lifespan, right? But that one hit me the hardest because I'm like, how is somebody in my age bracket very successful and still being murdered and killed? And it hit me different because I'm like, I, I, I talked to him about maybe a couple of weeks before this happened, and I didn't even think to ask him how he's doing, is he straight?

• 1:10:57Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  So, when you say worth it, I think what I'm able to give back is worth it. But I think that the relationships that I danced over, I don't, I don't think that part was worth it because these are good people, right? And now, you know, I gotta live with that. But going forward, I make sure that I'm connected, talking to people and, and, and doing the right things. But I can definitely tell you this, because I want to end on this one. The girls weren't worth it. The cars weren't worth it, you know, the money wasn't worth it. The lifestyle wasn't worth, like, none of that stuff is gonna matter when you gone, bro, like.

• 1:11:38Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  And the way that people idolize and put these things on a pedestal, none of that can compare to like, real people and real love and real friendships and just really building, bro. So, I'ma leave that there, you know?

• 1:11:58Ed Mylett?

  I, uh, you're a good man.

• 1:11:59Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Thank you, brother. Thank you, I receive that.

• 1:12:01Ed Mylett?

  I, uh, admire you. I'm really proud of you, too.

• 1:12:06Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Thank you, brother.

• 1:12:06Ed Mylett?

  I, uh...

• 1:12:09Ed Mylett?

  I really enjoyed today a lot.

• 1:12:11Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 1:12:11Ed Mylett?

  Thank you for letting us into your world too.

• 1:12:13Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Thank you, man.

• 1:12:13Ed Mylett?

  Because the vast majority of people listening to this don't understand that world.

• 1:12:16Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 1:12:17Ed Mylett?

  And I do think, again, I'll say for the third time, I think there are some parallels that are unbelievable to the rest of life.

• 1:12:22Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  1000%.

• 1:12:23Ed Mylett?

  I was picturing you talking earlier, and I was just thinking about this, like, we started out with your mom with, you know, having a gun to your head and all that stuff as a young man.

• 1:12:32Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yep.

• 1:12:32Ed Mylett?

  And I'm just picturing, because there's this clip I think of when I think about you, which is when Obama did it a couple times, but Obama shouted you out like at the Correspondence Dinner.

• 1:12:40Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yes, yes.

• 1:12:40Ed Mylett?

  And just thinking about how remarkable life can be, that this young boy, this young man.

• 1:12:44Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 1:12:45Ed Mylett?

  Who's living in this situation where he's in the streets, he's surviving, he's buying a Rolex at 14, his mom's got a gun to his head.

• 1:12:51Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Right.

• 1:12:51Ed Mylett?

  Somehow that young man ends up having, as a young man, but particularly a young black man, having the first black president shouting him out and saying his names, like, if that's possible, anything in life is totally possible.

• 1:13:02Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yes.

• 1:13:03Ed Mylett?

  And then to go from what you were doing and how you were living to now being one of the most, I think, important men in culture, influencing a part of culture with your message, your wisdom, your insight, paying it forward, continually to pull from one world and giving it to the other is just awesome, man.

• 1:13:18Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Thank you, brother. I received that.

• 1:13:19Ed Mylett?

  So, you're a blessing and I'm grateful for you.

• 1:13:21Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  I received that, brother.

• 1:13:22Ed Mylett?

  Yeah, it's a fact. All right, everybody, I told you.

• 1:13:25Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:25Ed Mylett?

  This is one of these, I started out with an intro, and then from the very first second, it just did better than what I told you it was gonna be. I'm so, this happened when it was supposed to. We were supposed to do this a while ago, and I couldn't do it, and you couldn't do it. The timing was absolutely perfect.

• 1:13:38Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Thank you, Ed. Continue to do what you're doing, brother.

• 1:13:40Ed Mylett?

  Yeah.

• 1:13:41Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  We love you, we're listening. Just keep, just keep pouring in, brother, we here.

• 1:13:45Ed Mylett?

  Likewise.

• 1:13:45Jay "Jeezy" Jenkins?

  Thank you.

• 1:13:46Ed Mylett?

  Likewise, brother. Love you. Hey, share the episode, everybody. God bless you. Max out.