New Orleans rapper Dee-1 explains purpose in music, message to Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Joe Budden & how his experiences have shaped his life path from the hood to Harvard.

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast From being bullied in school to facing opposition still today, Dee-1 has learned how to look beyond his fears and realize the importance of his mission. From labels to fans to fellow artists, Dee has found his place as a realist when it comes to the rap game, and his music reflects his love of God and humanity. Hailing from New Orleans, Dee speaks on the hardships he faced while in college at LSU, such as friends getting involved in drugs, getting cut from the basketball team and losing his longtime girlfriend. Despite this adversity, he gets emotional when touching on his biggest Pivot, a moment that has evidently shaped him still today where he escaped being killed by seconds. Dee-1 knows firsthand the influence that murder music and the glorification of violence can have on society, and his lyrics provide an alternative message. He addresses the scrutiny and backlash from hip hop’s bigger names of Meek, Rick Ross and shares how he’s not worried about the Joe Budden’s of the world criticizing his approach because his message his far bigger than his ego and money. As rappers and fans continue to compare wealth, status and fame, Dee-1 preaches about the core of what makes us all human. So while rap stars may have words for the Louisiana native, he continues to make an impact his own way, by approaching the Goliaths with love. By understanding that God had more planned for him, Dee has gone on to teach at a middle school, become a Louisiana governor appointee and even write a children’s book. His eleventh album is a testimony to his journey, titled “From the Hood to Harvard.” The Harvard University Nasir Jones Hip-Hop fellow keeps it real with the Pivot crew during this episode, pointing to difficult conversations as a solution to the difficult problems in today’s world. New episodes drop on Tuesdays at 12 p.m. ET and Fridays at 3:30 p.m ET on YouTube, with audio available on all streaming platforms. 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.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an Ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 0:30Speaker 01

  Home team, you coming with a backpack? You already know, man.

• 0:33Fred Taylor?

  School in the mouth?

• 0:35Speaker 01

  Kinda look alike, man.

• 0:36Channing Crowder?

  I'm about to say, bro, light skin with dreads.

• 0:39Speaker 01

  Man, L.A. too purple. For real.

• 0:42Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, don't get this one started, though. We can deal with the purple, but this one and looks and stuff, don't do that.

• 0:47Speaker 01

  Oh, the looks?

• 0:48Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, man. Light skin with dreads.

• 0:50Speaker 01

  Everybody light skin with dreads, bro. They say we look alike.

• 0:53Channing Crowder?

  But we fine, though.

• 0:54Speaker 01

  We fine?

• 0:54Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I tell them, just don't even take pics of my clothes. Take pics of my face.

• 0:57Speaker 01

  That's how you feel?

• 0:58Channing Crowder?

  That's how it is.

• 0:59Speaker 01

  See, bro? They be calling us pretty boys, though, man. And I don't like the label "pretty boy."

• 1:05Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  You like that?

• 1:06Channing Crowder?

  I don't care, as long as they know.

• 1:08Speaker 01

  As long as they know.

• 1:08Channing Crowder?

  As long as they know. They can call me whatever they want, as long as they don't call me bro.

• 1:11Speaker 01

  I feel that, I feel that, I feel that.

• 1:13Fred Taylor?

  You need to throw him on the track with you, D. He doing everything else. He doing stand-up. He doing Inside the NFL.

• 1:21Speaker 01

  I can see the stand-up, I can see the Inside the NFL. You got any bars?

• 1:24Channing Crowder?

  Huh? No, especially on your song, because you don't cuss.

• 1:28Speaker 01

  For real? Oh, yeah.

• 1:29Channing Crowder?

  I'm a cuss man.

• 1:30Speaker 01

  That's the thing, bro. Nah, if you get on my track, like, I don't mind collaborating with anybody, but, yeah, bro, you gotta respect the mission, you know what I mean?

• 1:37Fred Taylor?

  I mean, the game hop, bro.

• 1:39Speaker 01

  But he ain't...

• 1:39Fred Taylor?

  He ain't cuss, that's what I'm saying. He ain't cuss.

• 1:41Speaker 01

  And the game sent me a message after. He said, "Little brother, this the first song in my whole career that I ain't cuss."

• 1:46Fred Taylor?

  See what I'm saying, Chang?

• 1:47Speaker 01

  That's respect. So if the game showed me that respect, you can't do that, bro?

• 1:50Channing Crowder?

  I don't know if I'm talented or not to cuss.

• 1:52Ryan Clark?

  He might be incapable.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  Incapable, okay, okay.

• 1:55Ryan Clark?

  If you're incapable, it's not something you should attempt to do, man.

• 2:23Ryan Clark?

  Dee, welcome to the show. This is D1, New Orleans rapper, teacher, Nasir Jones fellow at Harvard. I mean, you've done some amazing things. I mean, you make me proud.

• 2:35Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 2:35Ryan Clark?

  Anytime we see people from where we're from, from the 504, it means a lot to us all. This is Chan, Freddie T, I'm RC. I want to start, because right now, everybody's wondering what D1 is going to say. And when you have people like Rick Ross responding to you, I think it sort of builds a narrative on both sides that you're only one thing, right? And that now, you're in, not necessarily competition, but there's a combative energy between you and other people. And I don't necessarily see it as a combative energy, as more of an energy of, if we can all sit down and have this conversation, that conversation works. And that conversation pushes us as a people forward. That's what I see. But it has to be a genesis.

• 3:19Ryan Clark?

  You know, you released your children's book, David Found a Slingshot, and it was about bullying. You spoke a little bit about what made you write that book before, but can you tell me what now, as an adult man, what experiences you had as a kid that made writing that book important to you?

• 3:36Speaker 01

  Man, I got bullied when I was five years old in kindergarten in New Orleans, you know what I mean? And all these years later, Ryan, I can still remember that fear I had to go to school every day. Afraid to run into the bully, afraid, what he gonna steal from me today? What he gonna make fun of on my outfit today? So, the way that paralyzed me from being able to learn and being able to focus in school, I know that being bullied, whether you're a child or you're an adult, that can paralyze your ability to grow and reach your potential. So, when I wrote the book, the book is aimed at kids so that kids can understand, yo, I'm unique and I'm special. Even if I'm different, the same thing that people are trying to make fun of me for, the right people will celebrate me for it, you feel me? So, that's why I did that. And you realize that bullying doesn't stop. I mean, it happens as adults.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  People that try to bully you in the rap game, people that try to bully you if your socioeconomic status isn't where it is, if they feel like you ain't got enough money to be talking to them and all that. And it's just like, where does bullying even come from? Come from, bro, like, like, I'd never been a fan of Bullis, you know?

• 4:36Channing Crowder?

  You know what your message is?

• 4:38Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:38Channing Crowder?

  It's different than most rappers. And that's the point of what you do, right?

• 4:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:42Channing Crowder?

  But there's a line, I don't even write notes, but you got so many damn lines, I had to write down. "I don't look like what I've been through."

• 4:47Speaker 01

  Amen.

• 4:49Channing Crowder?

  What, but what does that mean? Because you say it in the song, and it's a catchy song.

• 4:52Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 4:53Channing Crowder?

  But what does that mean? Because I know you as D1. I know you, I've Instagram and see your song, hear your song. But I don't know what you've been through.

• 5:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 5:01Channing Crowder?

  What is, what is that?

• 5:02Speaker 01

  It's saying, man, when I walk around with this smile on my face, I know that I got the ability to change the temperature in the room when I walk in. So regardless of what I'm going through, y'all don't know that I ain't go to bed till 5 a.m. last night. Y'all don't know what I got going on in my personal life. All y'all know is, when I show up, dang, that man, energy was amazing. That brother showed up and he helped to make this a better experience for us all. And I'm saying, there's power in doing that. There's power in not wearing what it is that we going through. That's how you conquer it, you know what I mean? And not in a fake performative way. Not in that type of way. But when you have an attitude of gratitude, to where I'm like, regardless of what I've been through, wait, I woke up this morning? God, you still got me here? Amen, you hear me? I don't look like what I've been through, straight up. And that's just celebrating, bro.

• 5:47Speaker 01

  I don't look like what I've been through. Amen. Everybody feel that, bro. Everybody feel that. It's too many people that nowadays chanting, it's almost like we enjoy celebrating our struggle. We enjoy celebrating and glorifying our struggle with no purpose. Like, all right, what's the purpose of celebrating what you went through in the past? If you're not celebrating the fact that you're better because of it? Some people are just stuck in wanting to glorify being in the struggle when they ain't even have to struggle that much. They got some people, and, and, and I don't even have to say no names, but high-profile people that then recently said, "Man, my child ain't even struggled like that," you hear me? And they fool around and, and come out here publicly, and they proclaiming that they was in the trenches and this, that, and the third,

• 6:32Speaker 01

  but they ain't even go through that. But that's the black community. That's the black community to where we're like, dang. You know what? We want to act like we had it harder than what we really did, for some of us. And I think that's a problem. When I was a middle school teacher back in Baton Rouge... I remember my students, the ones making ninety eights and ninety nines on their tests, they was real quiet, they was real discreet when they got their grades. The ones making forties and fifties, you heard me? Man, look, I made a forty on that test. I don't care about school, man, you hear me? I'm out here, forget. And I'm like, dang. So, doing the right thing is becoming wrong, and doing the wrong thing is becoming right in our community. My best friend, who got murdered back in New Orleans, same thing. Dang.

• 7:16Speaker 01

  I'm seeing my brother get on a street car with me uptown New Orleans, and when we going home, we got dudes from other schools that's making fun of us because we got books in our book sack, you heard me? Because we got books in our book sack. So because we gonna do homework, we getting made fun of. So next thing I know, my boy stopped bringing his books home. He ain't wanna get made fun of no more. You don't bring your books home, you can't do your homework. You can't make good grades. But, he preferred that so he could fit in with certain people. So it's all about who you trying to impress in life.

• 7:45Fred Taylor?

  I'm with you on people, especially in our community, glorifying bullshit, you know what I'm saying? Like, I think it's unnecessary, but I can't be the one to speak to, you know, how they make money. There are other ways to get in, however you want to get it in. But that brought a thought to my head, your album Uno, right? One of the tracks is "Your Story Is Your Glory." And in there you say something like, "Your greatest competition is reaching your fullest potential." Speak to that for us.

• 8:13Speaker 01

  I don't know where this competitive nature comes from outside of sports, right? I don't know how all of society has turned into everybody comparing themselves. That's the main thief of your joy, is when you comparing yourself to other people. And all of a sudden, we live in this world where on social media, whether or not you trying to, every day you open up that screen and you look, You might be looking at what RC or with Shannon or with Fred just accomplished, but instead of being able to celebrate them subconsciously, a lot of people start comparing themselves to y'all. Well dang, alright, he doing that, I gotta one up him. So my next post gotta be, oh y'all was out here interviewing D1? Well I'm out here interviewing Kendrick Lamar, you know what I'm saying?

• 8:56Speaker 01

  Like, that type of energy, bro. I'm just trying to break that, man. I just feel like that's a generational curse that I'm trying to break to where we don't have to compete with one another. When God created us, does anybody, you know, because this won't resonate if anybody's like, man, I don't believe in God. Anybody not believe in God? No. Alright, bet. When God created us, he made us unique. We're unlike anyone else that he created. So our purpose is unique to us. Right. And anybody else that's trying to make us compare ourselves to our fellow brothers and sisters, that's a trick of the enemy. And I think that there's a difference between worldly wisdom and godly wisdom. Worldly wisdom will tell you, man, you gotta be the freshest in the room.

• 9:40Speaker 01

  You gotta be fresher than him, fresher than him, fresher than him. You gotta, oh you pocket watch and you gotta have more money than all them. You gotta have a better female than all them. That's worldly wisdom. Godly wisdom will show you like, look, does God care about any of that foolishness? Man, no, not at all. And I'm in a rap game where so much stuff that gets valued and prioritized in my industry, I be sitting here with godly wisdom like, does God care about this? Man, heck no, God don't care about none of this stuff. And I speak on it.

• 10:09Speaker 01

  And they act like having common sense is controversial. Some of the things I say is common sense, bro. Somebody told me, oh, you controversial, I'm about to interview you, but you a controversial dude. A lady in New York at a media outlet just told me that. I said, what's so controversial about me saying that glorifying the murder of our people?

• 10:30Speaker 01

  In your music, especially when you're not living that type of life, what's controversial about saying that that's not healthy for our community? Pushing dope to our people, it's a difference between narration of the life you used to live and glorification, as if you're still doing that and you're still about that energy. And I'm controversial? Really? Like, I just, I don't get it. I don't get it. But I won't be tricked out of thinking that I'm doing something wrong when I know I have no hatred towards anybody, artist you name, Ryan, any other artist. I have no hatred. But we're to the point now where evil has an excuse, and it's called entertainment. It might be called the USA. It might be called the, oh, the USA is definitely the coach of the evil, you know what I mean?

• 11:14Channing Crowder?

  But Dee, like you said, like you said, if they're not doing it, and you know a lot of rappers talk about what they're doing, even though they do millionaires and living in penthouses, still talking about selling dope and all that. So I understand that. What about dudes speaking on their life? Because people are gonna get murdered, bruh. Drugs is gonna get sold. You know what I'm saying? So people speaking on their, on their life, speaking on their experience, is that, is that bad in your mind? Because they're speaking on how they lived.

• 11:38Speaker 01

  They're speaking on how they lived.

• 11:41Speaker 01

  I mean, if they're speaking on how they lived, then...

• 11:47Speaker 01

  Are they trying to push you to go live the same way? Or are they trying to say, "Hey, I lived through this, so you won't have to live like this"? That's the difference with me. Like, when we get to the point where we're glorifying something, it's clear when people are, almost like a story that don't have an ending, to where it's like, "Wait, so you're telling me this story, when is it gonna take a turn to tell me, like, don't go that way"? Yeah, but if it never takes that turn, and if we live in a, in a system, keep in mind, it's a three-part ecosystem, Channing. It's the labels, it's the industry, it's fans, and it's artists. Without fans and artists, there is no industry. So, everybody say, "Well, blame the labels, blame the industry, blame the industry."

• 12:29Speaker 01

  We have to realize that we have more power than the industry, because there is no industry without artists and without fans. So at the end of the day, when people say, "Man..." I'm just feeding my family. I'm just, this entertainment, you know, I'm just feeding my family. When people say that, it's like, but at what expense? You're right. You live and work in an industry to where they're gonna pay you more to do things that are detrimental to your community. Is that money? And feeding your family of four or your family of five, is that money worth poisoning the minds of millions of impressionable fans out here?

• 13:06Ryan Clark?

  So my question would be, Dee, where does foundation come into play? Right? You spoke about, do we believe in God? Listen, man, I'm from Tarrytown. I went to regular Baptist church in Gretna, right? That's my foundation. My foundation is Christ. You are a teacher. Dee, where does foundation come into play? Right? You have a foundation as a Christian. You have a foundation as a teacher. And so now, in exploring your passions and your purposes, that's where it comes from. When you're speaking of these artists who still, in the name of entertainment, talk about those old things, talk about the way the streets were, or tell those stories from what they lived, and don't necessarily progress past it, how much do you give grace for their

• 13:51Ryan Clark?

  foundation, for their upbringing, and trying to have true, real conversations of change?

• 13:57Speaker 01

  Well, that's why I always preface anything I say by, does anyone not believe in God? Because 1 Timothy 6 and 10 says, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." So for me, I'm realizing that, no matter what someone's foundation is, if they let money become their foundation, more than their faith in God or anything, then that love of money right there is gonna give way to a whole bunch of other behavior and lack of evolution and lack of growth in their life. So what I find in the rap game is that that's the most celebrated thing, is money, money. And then, once you make the money, you're supposed to become financially free. It's supposed to be like, man, I got, I'm good. I got that nest egg, you heard me? Like, I can live off the interest from my investments now.

• 14:41Speaker 01

  That's what's supposed to happen. But what happens is, because people have fallen in love with the money...

• 14:47Speaker 01

  They're still a slave to it.

• 14:48Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 14:48Speaker 01

  And they become rich slaves. So, these conversations, Ryan, this is my, this is an honest critique of hip-hop culture. When you've evolved in every other aspect of your life, professionally, you got business investments, you got all kind of amazing business portfolios, friendship-wise, you got a whole new circle of friends, you're living in gated communities at this point, kids in private schools, you're moving different, in so many different ways. But the only time that you refuse to evolve is when you get on that microphone and you choose to say, "I gotta tap back into me from 20 years ago and still glorify this in my music." That right there, that's called cognitive dissonance. That's knowing that when I'm-

• 15:31Ryan Clark?

  That's in one of your other songs, you actually talk about that.

• 15:34Speaker 01

  I talk about it. It's called "People Don't Want That Real." Cognitive dissonance is, I know that what I'm about to do right now ain't right, and I know that it ain't the best version of who I am, but it's so appealing and it's so enchanting to my ego and to my spirit and possibly to my pockets, that I'm gonna do it anyway. That level of cognitive dissonance from artists, man, I've been, I've been, I've been in the studio, in the booth, with people who we both know, to where we having convos like this, you hear me? Outside, outside the studio, and I'm like, man, we talking, building as black men. I look up to these people. Soon as the engineer say, "Hey, such-and-such, the beat ready? You could come in and spit your verse now." They proceed to leave from with me, they go hop inside the booth, and spit the most violent, ignorant, you hear me?

• 16:19Speaker 01

  Drug dealing, murking your whole block rap. And then they hop out the booth, and they come sit back down. They're like, "Yeah, so where we left off at? What we was talking about?"

• 16:26Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 16:27Speaker 01

  That's, that, that right there, that's scary. That's scary, because that music is gonna live longer than that artist and longer than me. That music lives forever. So, all I'm talking about is what we choosing to say on the microphone. There's life and death in the power of the tongue. That's Proverbs 18 and 21, you know what I mean? Like, people wanna say that we believe in God, but we wanna have selective, you know, selective loyalty to, to the ways of God. And that's tough, man.

• 16:58Channing Crowder?

  You always talk about that, like, the love of money.

• 17:00Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:01Channing Crowder?

  And the money's root all the way. We heard all those sayings before, bro.

• 17:05Channing Crowder?

  But you gotta eat and live and put a roof over your head, you know what I'm saying?

• 17:09Speaker 01

  Alright.

• 17:09Channing Crowder?

  So like, what's that difference? Because I understand, I understand the concept, I fully, bro, I'm not, like, I understand the concept of don't love money.

• 17:17Speaker 01

  Right.

• 17:18Channing Crowder?

  But you need to make money to live, to feed your family, to, to, to live a good life, to live a legacy, to, I wanna leave my kids some investment properties. I wanna do things like that.

• 17:27Speaker 01

  Right.

• 17:27Channing Crowder?

  And money is gonna generate that, so what, what, what is that threshold?

• 17:31Speaker 01

  Good, good question, man, I really hope I'm doing a, a, an adequate job of articulating my why. I, I really hope I am, because everything that I've been hearing from media outlets or from you brothers, I wanna make sure that people are like, okay, I get it. So Channing, first of all, one thing that I stay away from is being overly harsh on the young'uns in my culture, in hip-hop culture, cuz the young'uns are still really dealing with this trauma. They still in the streets 80% of the time. They still trying to get that first real, real bag to where financially they good. They probably rapping about money they don't even have, right? So with them, you gotta have grace, like the word Ryan used, you gotta have grace with them.

• 18:14Speaker 01

  We, as, as, as people that's older than them, are supposed to be mentors to them. My brother, uh, Garrett Temple, he in the NBA right now, I think he in his 15th season. At this point, when a team brings G. Temple on, they not saying, "Bro, we need you to play 46 minutes a game," you hear me? And you gotta carry the team and drop 28 points a night. It's like, no, you're a good what? Character guy. You're a good guy for the locker room to do what? Mentor these young'uns that we just brought in, you feel me? That type of stuff. In the rap game, you got people who got the bag already, Channing. They got the bag already. So for me, it's like, wait, you got the bag already, like, like you got the bag-bag, not barely, so your family is fed. Your family is wealthy, you know what I mean?

• 18:59Speaker 01

  What's the excuse at that point? That's my issue. And now the younger artists who are looking up to you, they looking like, well, shoot, these people in their 40s and, and late 30s, and they still on that type of time, so what is my incentive to ever evolve? That's the people I look up to. They not evolving. So I only, I only feel this way towards the OGs and the elders, because in hip-hop, I feel like... Influence is supposed to trickle from the top down, but influence trickles from the bottom up. To where you got a lot of the younger people that it's like, dang, the OGs is trying to fit in with y'all. I'm a teacher, bro. I teach at a college, at Tufts University up here. I'm a fellow at Harvard University.

• 19:44Speaker 01

  When my students is saying, yeah, Professor D1, we bout to have a party this weekend, you hear me? Um, at our, in our dorm room. And if I be like, oh, word? Oh, yeah? Let me know, I'm pulling up, you hear me? And they like, boy, I'm 18 years old and you my professor? You trying to come kick it with us? That would be weird. But that's how it is in the rap game oftentimes. So that, so does that part make sense? Where it's like, bro, I'm not saying it's about people that's trying to get the bag and, and, and all that type of stuff by any means necessary, like, oh, you just trying to feed your family? You know, you waking up with roaches in your ear. These are people who made it already. What's their excuse then?

• 20:20Channing Crowder?

  But aren't you missing out on money with your approach to it?

• 20:24Speaker 01

  Bro, I love, I thank God that I'm on this podcast.

• 20:27Channing Crowder?

  How you gonna miss something you've never had?

• 20:28Speaker 01

  Thank you, bro. Hey, no, that's a great question, dawg. And you asking from an honest place, you hear me? Like, like Fred said, how can I miss something that I've never had? So we don't even know what would be guaranteed for me. I had so many people tell me, D1, you could be the light-skinned Lil Wayne if you want to, from the, from the city, from New Orleans. You hear me? You could spit, you lyrical, da, da, da. But you just gotta give people more what they want. Once again, that's worldly wisdom. Godly wisdom says, does God care about me having this much money as opposed to having this much money? You know what I mean? And I'm not even putting dollar amounts to it because people love to say, well, yeah, if you had this much, you could do, you could do more with that.

• 21:10Speaker 01

  But it's like, bro, I haven't missed a meal and, and for, for so long. You feel me? Like, I'm doing extremely well, bro. Been able to build generational wealth. Generational wealth off of rapping my way, doing it my way. So I feel like that helps me to be able to sleep at night. A lot of people, bro, they got the bag and they got money in the bank, but morally, they are bankrupt.

• 21:36Ryan Clark?

  You know, the book says, right? We're supposed to go forth and make disciples. And there are different ways to do that, right? You are a Christian. What sort of disciples are you attempting to make in the rap game? Because it said that God ate with the sinners, right? God ingratiated himself with the sinners. He didn't become of the world though, right? He was in it, but he didn't become, he didn't become of it. He wasn't doing the things that the others were doing, but he went and met with them. He went and sat with them. And so for you, how do you feel your approach can change what others are doing, right? You started with, in 09, I think you dropped J50 in Louisiana, right? And so it was already sort of a precedent that this was how you felt about the rap game.

• 22:21Ryan Clark?

  So how can your approach actually work when the first thing we get back from Rick Ross is, "Hey, I'm feeding these people in the community. I'm buying 10,000 bikes," right? He calling you Lil Man. So it's already, there's already a tension there from the way that you approached him. So how do you focus on having an approach that actually has a response other than visceral attacks back?

• 22:45Speaker 01

  I couldn't have predicted that type of response. You know what I mean? When I lead with love and when I say, "Listen to you brothers who I'm naming, I love you too much to not be honest with you."

• 22:53Ryan Clark?

  Okay, D, so on that note, like, I get that, right? It's like the disarming thing. No disrespect, but, right? And that's...

• 23:03Speaker 01

  And after the...

• 23:04Ryan Clark?

  And I know you, right? So I know your heart is different. Your intentions are different. But you also have to realize what history and experience does to us, right? More so in our lives, when you've been told you were wrong. It doesn't matter what the start is, right? It doesn't matter what the cover of the book is. It's what's in them pages. So after you say you love me, like, that's fine. But if you're spending the rest of the time telling me what you don't love about me, I now can't receive, right? I can't receive those three words.

• 23:33Speaker 01

  Okay, okay, all right. All right, fill me on this.

• 23:38Speaker 01

  When you say I'm telling people what I don't love about them, I've never in my life made a personal indictment on someone. I don't love this about you as a person. Not attacking character. There you go, it's not character. Okay. It's lyrical content, which is out there for the public. So if these are public messages, can they not receive public responses? That's like, bro, this is equivalent to athletes telling y'all, "You better not critique my game." "The fact that I had four points and one assist, you know, over the last week, over my last five games, you better not say nothing about that." What? That's what we saying, bro? That's what we saying. If we talking about behind the scenes and things people are struggling with, or things I was told in confidence,

• 24:23Speaker 01

  just the man code, you know what I'm saying? I'm not finna talk about that, brother. And I don't hate or disrespect or dislike any human being walking this earth. The dude at LSU who took my old lady from me, you know what I'm saying? Like, took my girl, football player from LSU who took my old lady from me.

• 24:39Fred Taylor?

  I wanted to get to that.

• 24:40Speaker 01

  Man, listen. Listen, when I seen this dude at the Pelicans game a few months ago, man, this dude, Daphne, shut off. You heard me, that boy asked me for autograph. He was like, "Boy, you been killing it out here." And in my head, I'm thinking, "Oh, this a rap line right now." I could be like, "Oh, yeah, I went from this to now you want my autograph." But no, I say that in a way to where it's like, at a certain point in life, you realize people are not my ops. It's the evil spirits that's working through people, which work through me sometimes as well. I'm a sinner, I'm flawed, you know what I mean? That's Ephesians 6 and 12. I'm not battling with flesh and blood, man. So, I'm being asked, because I understand everybody gotta be objective when you're in the media, bro, I'm being asked to not have a public opinion on, on...

• 25:28Speaker 01

  Public messages. Meanwhile, people will criticize Joe Biden, Donald Trump all day. People will criticize athletes all day for what's being put out there to the public. All I'm doing is talking about what messages are included in the music. So when I look at the type of response that some people come with, some, not all. You know what I mean? I'm just like, ooh, what'd they say? A hit dog is gonna holler, you know? Because if I have to self-reflect and say, dang, I was wrong for what I said or how I came at this person. That would be different. But I was just called clout chaser by, and I'm not even here to drop names, but Joe Button.

• 26:08Ryan Clark?

  It was on Joe's show, yeah.

• 26:09Speaker 01

  Yeah, Joe Button, yeah. So he called me a clout chaser, right? Meanwhile, your entire platform is built off of name dropping other people and what's going on in the culture and giving your opinion on them, on their art. You criticize Drake's album. You talk about this artist, this artist. You say you don't like this type of rap. But when I simply say, yo, my opinion on the lyrical content of some of the OGs in hip-hop is that you could do better. You've evolved every other way, why not evolve on the mic? It's like, oh, D1, bro, you gotta, come on, man, you broke the code. You said people's names out loud. Do you know that every artist whose name I have said out loud, that might be getting talked about right now,

• 26:52Speaker 01

  that every single one of those artists have said other artists' names out loud and called people out and had public back and forths with people for far less admirable things than...

• 27:03Ryan Clark?

  You know what it almost seems, though? It almost seems that it's the unfamiliarity of what you're doing.

• 27:10Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 27:10Ryan Clark?

  Right? Because a lot of times when they're calling out other rappers' names, they're calling them out with a negative message.

• 27:17Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 27:17Ryan Clark?

  Right? You had a ghostwriter, or you did this, or you did that. Whereas the unfamiliar message is, hey, look, let's be about our community.

• 27:26Speaker 01

  Right.

• 27:26Ryan Clark?

  And it doesn't have to necessarily be, hey, I need all of y'all to go forth and move in this Christian way. I need you to help our communities come up the way that you came up. But because it's not that message that they're used to and because it's not the message that gives them back-to-back, right? They see it a different way.

• 27:44Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 27:44Ryan Clark?

  And so, and when you are... Seeing like the Joe Buttons talk about you and these other people talk about you who do the same thing, how does that make you feel though? Is that, does that in any way make you rethink the way you're moving? Or is it one of those things like I often feel is like, I don't always know if I'm on the right side by the people who rock it with me, because that's my people. But I often know if I'm on the right side by the people who stand in front of me. By those who oppose me, right? Because if your message has never matched my message, and now you're opposing my message publicly, then I'm on the right side of what I want it to be. So how do you figure out and take in the information that's being put out about you and say, "Okay, this is how I need to continue moving forward"?

• 28:26Speaker 01

  Yeah, because everyone who I, I don't look up to rappers, you know? So like, I respect you as a man, but I don't look up to none of y'all. So with that being said, if a rapper, if a media personality is telling me, "Oh, you a clout chaser, or oh, you, you saying this, how dare you say my name", like, I don't look up to any of y'all. So that doesn't bother me. But when the people who I do admire, I admire their character, I admire what they represent in life, when they telling me, "Man, you ain't speaking loud enough. You need to keep going, soldier", you know what I mean? Keep doing your thing. Like, you're not doing anything, this ain't no clout chase, this ain't you having a personal problem with anybody, and you were fit for a time such as this. When that's the people that's telling me like, "Man, you doing your thing,

• 29:08Speaker 01

  and, and, and you, you are within the will of God in what you're doing", because the criticism and the, the getting chastised and getting persecuted, that's all in the word. That's gonna happen. But man, the devil so, the devil kicking, kicking back like a big dog, like, "Look, that, that hip-hop industry, I got boo coo people that's doing my work over there", like, and nobody saying nothing about it. Matter of fact, the people that's supposed to be saying something about it, is trying to fit in with them people, they trying to figure out how they can get close to them. So that's even worse. The people that's supposed to be my soldiers, they trying to be a part of that. Rap is delicious poison, bro. And everybody is like, oh, give me another, give me another bowl of that delicious poison.

• 29:51Speaker 01

  And me, I'm just like, I'm sober minded. And I'm like, hey, I would love to be able to work. That's why I work with artists who people might say, well, Dee, I would never think you would work with the gang. I never think you work with Kevin Gates. I never think you work with Juvenile, with Man and Fresh, with, you know, this artist, this artist. It's like, why not? Like, we human beings. We relate on more stuff than we actually don't relate on. Exactly. So I want people to know that this is all part of this journey and this walk, that we are supposed to be fearless in. We're supposed to be fearless. Like, man, people have made threats against me, man, at this point. You know, because of me, because of what I've said. People making threats against me, bro, publicly. This ain't no secret, you know what I'm saying?

• 30:35Speaker 01

  At this point, people making fun of me, ribbing me, you know, like we say in the city, ribbing me, you know, all this stuff. Bro, that stuff.

• 30:43Speaker 00

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• 31:42Speaker 01

  It's had no impact on me. I'm not scared. I'm not feeling played like, oh, man, I feel played. This dude called me basket head or this dude, you know, like made fun of my accent. Not at all, man, because I see what it is. And at the end of the day, who has the issue? Everybody want to talk to me like I got the issue. Like, Dee, maybe you should rethink this. But who gonna sit down and talk to some of those people and be like, man, maybe y'all need to rethink how y'all, uh? Who doing that? Yeah. But people don't want to do that because people will be like, well, that's, but that's the big homie. Or that's a person who da-da-da. Man, I'm not blinded by none of that, man.

• 32:20Fred Taylor?

  Hey, Dee, let's pivot real quick. Let's go back to how you get here. Your freshman year, you said, um, you already mentioned your girl cheated on you.

• 32:28Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:29Fred Taylor?

  You're, you're, one of your best friends, one of your best friends was murdered back in the NO.

• 32:34Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:34Fred Taylor?

  Your college roommate got jammed up selling dope.

• 32:37Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:37Fred Taylor?

  You was cut from the basketball team.

• 32:39Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:40Fred Taylor?

  And let's get back to this ex-girlfriend. She cheated on you with a fourth-string bench warmer.

• 32:44Speaker 01

  Fourth string.

• 32:45Fred Taylor?

  One thing I know is they got time and they got game and they are on the team. They can sell that to any chick on campus. How that happen, bro?

• 32:53Speaker 01

  Man, WCA, man, that's the apartments at LSU. Yeah, West Campus. West Campus Apartments. West Campus Apartments. I was staying in Kirby Smith, you heard me? Which is like really right next door. But it's like 13 stories. The projects. Yeah, it's the projects. It's all dudes, you heard me? It's the Jex. So that's where I'm staying at. So football players, they got their apartments, West Campus Apartments and all this. And it just started being something where the friends that she was hanging out with were infatuated with like, dang, these football players, they the, they the dudes that run campus, basically. You know, we walk through the choir, the football players holler at us, call us over. Like, her friends really feeling all that. So she hanging with those friends and she became a casualty of like, your friends? Okay, him.

• 33:36Speaker 01

  Damn, we the only two life-skinned people here, bro. You still there on my back, dawg? We the only two life-skinned people here, bro. I was on the other side of this conversation. It be your own people. Oh, you was on the other side. It be your own people. Yeah, so, so, so it was crazy, man, because I was in the, I was in the room playing Madden, right? And I was in my dorm room playing, my boys burst in the door. It was like, man, everybody down there in, um, what was the name of the cafeteria? Uh, I can't remember. Everybody down in the cafeteria talking about, you know, such and such had your old lady last night and da-da-da-da. Yeah, everybody, everybody talking about this. So, I'm just playing Madden, and three of my boys telling me this. And I was like, I ain't even look at him, I was like, man, I'm not tripping about that, man.

• 34:19Speaker 01

  Y'all think I'm tripping about a girl, da-da-da-da. And so I played it off while they was there. Soon as they left, oh, I started crying. Broke down. Oh, I broke down, and I was like, bro, like, it crushed me, because we had been together since 10th grade in New Orleans. Did she go to Ben Franklin too? She did, she went to my high school. We got voted, uh, cutest couple, you know what I mean? Like, all of the, all that type of stuff. So I'm just like, oh, this, this me, this, this my, this my future wife, like, everything. So, that, that shook me up in a real, serious way, man. I just started rooting for LSU football team again recently, man, because I was scarred, bro. Yeah, because that's how you got into the rap game. She broke your heart that bad. Yeah. When you jumped into the rap.

• 35:00Speaker 01

  Yeah, bro, yeah, like, like, some dudes, after that, they never shake back, you know what I mean? Like, for me, LSU would be winning national championships and all that, all my friends would be hyped, and I'd be like, man, but a few years ago, you know what I mean, that football player, bro, like, I don't really even just rock with the team, to tell you the truth. Like, that, that's how I was feeling, um, but I shook back. My roommate was selling, like I said, he started, he started selling dope. My, um, my old lady cheated on me. One of my best friends back in New Orleans got murdered in, uh, Punch and Train Park, and got cut from the basketball team. I was nice in basketball in high school. Ben Franklin, my high school, it's not known for athletics, right?

• 35:39Speaker 01

  So I'm like the first athlete in school history on the basketball side to make like the Louisiana Junior Nationals team, to make the All-Star teams for the city, you know, Orleans Parish versus Jefferson Parish, all this stuff. And I could have played at smaller schools, but I wanted to play D1 ball, and it didn't, uh, it didn't work out. So everything that I had built my identity on, this my girl, this my sport, this my best friend, this my roommate.

• 36:07Speaker 01

  All got stripped away from me. At that point, it was like, well, you gotta rebuild a new identity, David. And thankfully, that's when I found God. That's when I was like, and you know, bro, we all, we black, so we grew up like God is just a part of your house in some way, shape or form. But I had knowledge of who God was, but I didn't have no relationship with God. You know what I mean? I grew up Catholic, so we in church for forty-five minutes and we knowing like, hey, we better be out by the time the Saints game start. You know what I mean? I came here to kick off.

• 36:36Fred Taylor?

  Thirteen at twelve o'clock central.

• 36:37Speaker 01

  That's it, twelve o'clock central. So it just kinda was tradition growing up, but I really formed a real relationship at that time in life because of everything that happened to me. And I'm thankful because that's been my foundation for my rap career, for my desire to be a teacher. I was a middle school teacher first and for just how I approach the Goliaths in this world. My first name David, I don't think that's coincidental, man. We live in a world full of Goliaths and it's like a lot of people do like back in the Bible and they say, oh, man, that's Goliath. We ain't finna battle that boy, you know what I'm saying? Like now, we ain't finna battle that, that structure, that institution, we not finna battle that. And me, I'm sitting here just little, you know, little clear minded David, fearless David, like, wait, what?

• 37:20Speaker 01

  Why we intimidated to say like, cause battling somebody don't mean they gotta become your op and you gotta go to war with them and they gotta turn violent. So I've always approached it like, there's a way to talk to this person. There's a way to talk about this structure. There's a way to make impact and to ultimately be victorious, man. And that's just how I live.

• 37:40Fred Taylor?

  No, I want to ask, what, what means the most to you? Being here at the most prestigious Ivy League school in, in the whole world, in the country.

• 37:49Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 37:49Fred Taylor?

  And having the fellowship here or being appointed by the governor of Louisiana as the first rapper on the council of success of black men and black, and boys? What, what's, what's most important or what's, yeah, what's most important?

• 38:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, neither one of them. They just, that's just lines on my stat sheet. You know what I mean? That's just Miami Dolphins, two thousand eight, you know, this many tackles, this many sacks. That's just lines on the stat sheet, bro. At a certain point. I had to tell people when I get booked for speaking engagements or when I'm about to do a concert all across this country. I tell people, "Man, you ain't even gotta read my bio." They be wanting like, "Hey, did we say everything in your bio? Did we name that you've been on Billboard this many times? And you're at Harvard and you're on the governor's council?" And I'd be like, "None of that matters." Because some people define themselves by those stats. They define themselves by, "Well, y'all know who I am walking in this room, right? Y'all know I'm a Harvard Fellow. Y'all know I'm Professor Ed Tufts, right?"

• 38:46Speaker 01

  And they want their accomplishments to supersede their character or their actual skill set. You know what I mean? So my thing is always like, "Look, I gotta prove myself every room that I walk into. Who cares about what I did? If I can't spit, if I'm not prepared to spit for y'all right now and make y'all be like, 'Oh, that boy nice,' then what does it mean that I've dropped 10 albums? About to drop my 11th album in a couple of days? Like, what does that mean if I can't get up there right now and make y'all say, 'That boy beast.'" If I can't speak to y'all and be like, "Oh, yeah, I feel that that is hot." You know what I mean? What do all them stats mean? So shout out to everything you just named and all the other stuff I've done. But that's what makes me not fit in. Because that's part of what just happened with some of the figures in hip-hop

• 39:30Speaker 01

  is people were like, "Who are you? You know what I mean? Who are you? What work have you done?" And I was like, "Sometimes, Fred, it might work against me since I don't lead with my accomplishments and since I don't talk about the fact that I'm doing work with these churches and mentoring these youth and giving back these hundreds of thousands of dollars and scholarships and doing financial literacy tours around the country." Because I'm talking about, I still drive a Honda Accord. You know what I'm saying? Instead of saying, "Well, I gotta drive me a BMW or a Bugatti or something just to prove like where I'm at, da-da-da." Because I don't be caring about that stuff, people asleep on like what I'm actually doing a lot of times. But I don't mind that because Google is your friend. You know what I mean?

• 40:15Speaker 01

  Google is your friend. So when people do their research and they be like, "Oh, okay, I had no idea." So that's why I appreciate those who are bold enough to publicly stand with me when it might not even be popular.

• 40:27Ryan Clark?

  For you, you know, that... You mentioned when you talked about your best friend, talked about your roommate, you talked about your girl, you talked about basketball. All of those things being pulled from you. And you say that's why I had built my foundation. Right now, you fast forward to Fred asking you questions about things that you have accomplished. It shows that you clearly haven't built your foundation on those things now. That your foundation is built on things that aren't necessarily tangible. Right? Things that can't be pulled away from you. Things that can't be attached to your name because they've been accomplished. Because a lot of times, what we accomplished is given to us by somebody else. Right? In order to get appointed, which I was on the same board.

• 41:11Ryan Clark?

  And eventually, I was like, I just can't, I don't have the time to continue to do it. But a lot of times, you're appointed by other people with the subjective mindset of he's accomplished enough to have something to offer here. Right? So for you, how do you go from everything snatched from me? All those things I built my foundation on, which are small things, to accomplishing all of these great things and saying, I don't even need you to read that because that's not where I find my worth?

• 41:40Speaker 01

  Man, this lay down on my chest. This is my grandmother, you know what I mean? Mama. She passed away in 2020. My grandpa just passed away like two months ago. You know, it's people like that. It's people like my parents, bro, that like, I'm just, I'm in this game, bro, but I'm not of this game at all. You know, my foundation was laid by people that have just sacrificed so much for me. And they don't pride themselves on their stats. You know, my grandpa was in the hospital, last days on this earth. He about to pass away in the hour now. And he laid in the hospital with his arms behind his head, smiling, saying, man, I feel like I'm at the mountaintop right now. He's saying, I'm not a millionaire, I'm not a billionaire.

• 42:23Speaker 01

  He said, but I know that where I'm about to go is a place that none of that stuff matters when you get up there. He's saying, I spent my whole life just pouring love into people and being the best version of who I could be. To see my grandpa, 93 years old, like talking like that, this two months ago, that's my hero. So I don't look up to the heroes that constantly flaunt their network and flaunt their accomplishments and their stats. I just don't, bro. Like I was raised different. And I can't get it out me.

• 43:01Ryan Clark?

  I love that though, dawg. Like that is, I think, the, the level of peace that can come from that is priceless. Because you'll see that when you are the strong, when, when your strongest convictions are different from what the world wants your convictions to be, that love will be absent. But the kind of love you're talking about, the kind of things that last the test of times, 93 years, bro, to be able to kick your feet up and say, I, I, I at least feel like I've done it the right way enough with the right, right foundation, that where I'm going, the gold, the, the peace that's there supersedes anything worldly?

• 43:45Ryan Clark?

  I mean, I think that's a blessing that you had people in your life like that.

• 43:49Channing Crowder?

  Man, I was gonna say, you, you say that you don't really look up to rappers, you know what I'm saying? Like, the role models, like, your role model is your grandfather, your grandmother.

• 44:00Channing Crowder?

  Who, why do you choose the people that you question, then? You know what I'm saying? If you don't have somebody on the top, you, you got Biggie, you got Pac, you, you know what I'm saying? We got legends out there, Slick Rick, we got legends out there, but, hell, we saying names, Meek, Ross, uh, Jim Jones, like, why do you choose those people?

• 44:18Speaker 01

  Because that is a lot of people's role models, that's why.

• 44:20Channing Crowder?

  To be honest, I call you out. Wayne don't talk about a lot of good uplifting, godly stuff.

• 44:26Speaker 01

  What was my first big song in 2009?

• 44:27Ryan Clark?

  J50 Wheezy?

• 44:29Speaker 01

  You heard that?

• 44:30Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 44:30Speaker 01

  J50 and Wheezy, that was my first big song.

• 44:34Ryan Clark?

  Yep.

• 44:34Speaker 01

  Was talking about the brother that you're naming right now.

• 44:36Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 44:37Speaker 01

  So, like, people be like, why you don't call this person out? Why you don't call this person out? Why you don't call this person out? If y'all could name so many people that I need to be calling out, the real question is, why y'all not calling out?

• 44:46Channing Crowder?

  I'm not, I'm not, I'm asking, bro, I'm saying, why, why Meek, why Rosé, why Jim Jones, recently, like, just recently, like, you wake up, all over Instagram?

• 44:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 44:56Channing Crowder?

  And you, and I know how you do it, you smiling, you stretch out?

• 44:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 44:59Channing Crowder?

  You say, hey, this a message to, bro, I watch it.

• 45:01Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 45:01Channing Crowder?

  Why when you wake up in that morning is Meek the guy? Why when you wake up in the morning is Jim the guy?

• 45:06Speaker 01

  Oh, because Meek and Ross... Just put out a collaborative album. So for me, when I'm about to go on Sway and do the interview on Sway, I'm like, I'm listening to what's new in hip-hop. And they just dropped a few new singles. I'm a fan. I'm a fan of the culture, bro. So I could name you a bunch of songs out their catalog and all that that I have been big fans of, you know what I mean? So when I listen to the music, that's why that was fresh on my mind. Because it's like, oh, this ain't just no random stuff. This ain't no Deep Harbor beef that I got with anybody. It's not beef at all. It's me admiring the fact that like y'all are super talented and y'all are super influential. So because of that, I just heard the most recent public offering that you've given.

• 45:50Speaker 01

  And it's just like, damn, bro, like, that shocked me. They're like, this what y'all on? So that's where that came from. And then even with, uh, I was in New York. So any city I'm in, I'm always gonna think about, who the people that really got some cachet out here, that got some pull? And that's why, uh, what's his name popped into my?

• 46:10Channing Crowder?

  Jim Jones?

• 46:10Speaker 01

  Yeah. So it's just like, that's what that was. It's me understanding like, man, these are powerful brothers who I understand how many people are looking up to them.

• 46:22Channing Crowder?

  Because Jim, I don't know if you're talking about him with the threats, but Jim was like, hey, some of my little nephews might not like what Dee talking about with this. He just need to know that. You said you ain't scared or worried at all, but we've seen the history of hip-hop and how it can turn violent.

• 46:36Speaker 01

  All right. Now you about to make me get all the way real. All right.

• 46:41Speaker 01

  You're right. So with that being said, when it comes to that point and when that plays out publicly and people see that, then where's, where's everyone else who has a line on both of us? Who knows both of us? Who has the ability to say, whoa, this moment is bigger than what's going on right now? We need to make sure that it's not that, right? I'm gonna tell y'all, I'm gonna keep it all the way real with y'all. I've gotten word that Jim was down to talk to me, has been down to talk, and said I would have to come to Harlem to talk, right? I said, bet. I love that. I'll be on the first thing smoking coming to Harlem. Let's do it, right? And he wanted to have a public conversation. I think that's even better. This whole situation has played out publicly. Let's have a public conversation.

• 47:26Speaker 01

  That's great, right? I've accepted the invite. Haven't heard anything since then. So what I'm supposed to do now, bro?

• 47:34Ryan Clark?

  Mm-hmm.

• 47:35Speaker 01

  I'm, I'ma keep it all the way real with y'all. Another mutual contact. Fool around and put us on a group text together. We are on a group text together right now. I replied to the group text. It, we love, you know what I mean? With respect, dah dah dah. Looking forward to this convo, dah dah dah dah. All that good stuff? No reply. Now what, bro? Now what?

• 47:56Ryan Clark?

  You did all you could do.

• 47:57Speaker 01

  Come on, man. Now what, bro? So now, when the last thing that's been put out there is things that, that could be perceived as threats and all that type of stuff. We want to just leave that out there as the last, you know, as, as the last, that? Come on, man. That, that ain't cool. And that's me keeping it a hundred with y'all. Going back and forth in my head on, should I even, like, say this publicly that this was going on? But yes, that's what's going on. That's what's going on. And, and I'm open to that convo. I would love that. Come to Harlem. Some people could be like, oh, Dee, don't do that, bro.

• 48:27Ryan Clark?

  That's the setup.

• 48:28Speaker 01

  Don't do that. That's the setup. I'm fearless. Man, I got God with me, man. Cool, I'll come to Harlem. We could go right to wherever, bro. Like, wherever. Let's do, I think this is gonna be healthy. I'm looking forward to it. You know what I mean? So when you extend the invite and I accept the invite, how'd that go? When now it's like, it's nothing. You know what I mean?

• 48:48Ryan Clark?

  For you, man, I think it's, you know, it's, it's one of those things that we, we gain a voice by what people perceive as our success. Right? When you talk about, I don't put my success in front of me. I talk about having a Honda Accord. Well, what happens in the rap game is, if your chain's real big, if, if your car, if your house is extremely large and if you got a lot of cars, that mean you've, you've rapped well enough, or at least you're perceived to have rapped well enough, to gain all of these things. And for you, it's like, okay. Like you said, they come right back at you with, who are you? When you see the, the Meek Mills and you say that's people that look up to them. When you see the Rick Ross and there's people that look up to them. How do you combat?

• 49:32Ryan Clark?

  The feeling that people have that you're trying to tear them down. So they don't have those people that look up to them. Are you trying to work through what you say to make the community pull back from these brothers? Or for you, you just want them to change? Because I don't know if I'm saying that right, right? Because it-

• 49:50Speaker 01

  No, no, I totally get it.

• 49:51Ryan Clark?

  You feel what I'm saying?

• 49:53Speaker 01

  That's great. That's actually great. All right, let me try to make this make sense. It's, the goal is for all of my fellow brothers and sisters. Because let's not get started on the women in hip-hop too. And the direction that that's been going in. But the goal is for everyone to evolve, right? And not get to the point where we are glorifying murder music. Murder music, and we glorifying it, right? That's the goal for everybody. But if anyone refuses to evolve, then it's also like, hey, I just want the fans to not be intoxicated with this ignorance. And this delicious poison, so much to where you just following behind it.

• 50:33Speaker 01

  Because you just got like, you got an emotional attachment to certain artists or to certain type of music. To where you can't even think for yourself enough to say, I probably shouldn't be consuming this. I probably shouldn't be taking this in all day, every day. It's gonna have an impact on me eventually. So I would love for everyone in hip-hop, the artists, to evolve to a place where we are not pushing out murder music. And glorifying this type of stuff. But I would also like the fans to evolve to where you don't have a taste for the delicious poison.

• 51:06Ryan Clark?

  Right, but you are essentially trying to change the fabric of people then, right? Because it's, the people's fabric would have to change to where those words didn't intoxicate them, right? You know, when any man who is in Christ is a new creation. The old things are gone, all things are made new. Right, you're essentially trying to work to get people to do that as it pertains to music. Right, because it would have to be Rick Ross saying, "Okay, I've gotten to a point where I've accomplished enough where I don't have to be that anymore." But you know, and I know, and all of these dudes know, if Rick Ross put out an album that was just talking about what he's doing now, giving away turkeys and giving away bikes, nobody would buy that album.

• 51:50Channing Crowder?

  Jeezy's last one. Thank you. The Trapper, I'm a Trapper Die Jeezy guy. Come on, but he evolved. He evolved and that album was terrible. Oh, it was terrible, you said, no, look at this, I'm thinking, we about to be on the same page. I'm just saying, bro. No, we can damn well, but like, what?

• 52:05Ryan Clark?

  Same production?

• 52:06Channing Crowder?

  The same production, it's, it's Young Jeezy, he's one of the best ever. Trapper Die, all that stuff, man, legendary song. Because, and I, you might be talking to me when you're talking. I don't want to hear Jeezy talk about that. Jeezy talking about investments and buying buildings, huh? You don't want to hear that? I don't want to hear it. Well. Jeezy, I'm the, I got a, bro, I bought a 1983 Monte Carlo SS, got the T-top cut in it and got alligator skin put in there, because Jeezy told me to get an orange Chevy. When I was, when I, when I got drafted. Chevy same, what, Chevy same color, tropical orange juice. I went and bought one, spent 80 racks on it. Because Jeezy told me to do it. Now he want to talk about, yeah, he's a CEO. That's good, Jeezy.

• 52:48Ryan Clark?

  But Tanya, here's the thing though. You're one of, you're one of the most diversified people I know. You own fishing boats, you own properties, you're, you're, you're into, you're into real estate.

• 53:00Channing Crowder?

  Mm-hmm.

• 53:01Ryan Clark?

  Right, not only into real estate, you, you work in the media. Like, you have all of these diversified portfolios. So why is Jeezy speaking about those things in his music not something you'd want to hear? And I'm not, I'm not combating it because I think you're wrong, I'm just asking the question.

• 53:17Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, and that's what I'm saying, like, as you talk, bro, and I respect it and I understand what you're saying, but... Talking about, you know, transitioning to Airbnb to a long-term investment property, that's not good music.

• 53:29Ryan Clark?

  It's not gonna make you money.

• 53:30Channing Crowder?

  It's not gonna make money, but it's just not interesting.

• 53:32Speaker 01

  Right.

• 53:33Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying?

• 53:33Speaker 01

  So as artists, just because you got a message in your music, that's not an excuse for the art being subpar. The message, the message gotta be dope, but the lyricism gotta be doper.

• 53:45Ryan Clark?

  I agree with that. Like, the, the, the, the actual, the actual art has to be great still.

• 53:49Speaker 01

  The art gotta be great.

• 53:50Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 53:51Speaker 01

  So if I'm saying all this to y'all, and then I start rapping, and I'm like, "My name is D1, and I am on the pivot, and everybody knows you're gonna get it." Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean? I would sound like you, that's how you sound when you rap, you know what I mean?

• 54:04Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, that's some hard work.

• 54:05Speaker 01

  But when I say, "What's the point of writing all of these lyrics if I'm rapping to an audience that ain't trying to hear it? They'd rather me blow a bag than rap about building wealth. They'd rather me get some brain than rap about mental health. Don't censor me. Eventually, try to make sense of me. I don't need your dollars, I need you to think sensibly. You feel good, not that you vegan? Oh, that's funny. If you still promoting garbage, you're just a healthy dummy. My city don't even love me. I'm calling it how it is. I'm a threat to the power structure that's brainwashing our kids. I'm fracturing all the egos of illegitimate heroes. I only look up to one man, 'cause he died, then he rose. I keep it too real, 'cause life don't last too long. If everybody likes me, I'm doing something too wrong. Maybe in time, they'll appreciate my words like Nipsey.

• 54:48Speaker 01

  Till then, I'ma see how far keeping it real gets me.

• 55:22Speaker 07

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• 55:52Speaker 01

  Now you're smiling.

• 55:56Fred Taylor?

  That's dope. But it always goes back to what you said a while ago. Narration versus glorification. Jeezy has lived everything that, even now what he's rapping about. The investments, he had to go into that. Same with Jay. But Jay don't get as much, you know, that type of attention. He gets the glorification of it because he's parlayed into to become a billionaire. But as we've been talking this whole time, I've been checking out RC's shirt, you know, the whole time.

• 56:21Speaker 01

  It's purposeful.

• 56:23Fred Taylor?

  He always does this. He always does it, right? And it's always right on time. And I totally agree with it, man. And that's the reason you're here. Like, some people might think it's a moment, but you've always been a messenger.

• 56:36Speaker 01

  Thank you, bro. That's, did, anybody could do their research. I've been on this. I've been on this, and it comes from a pure place, bro. So since we've been name dropping the whole time, I would love to sit down with Jim Jones. I look forward to that convo in Harlem, or in New Orleans, or in Atlanta. It don't matter where it's at. I look forward to that. I look forward to sitting down with, or talking with Rick Ross, or talking with Meek Mill, or talking with Lil Wayne, or talking with whoever. Because at the end of the day, there's no personal issue or personal problem. But at what point do we draw a line? I just put a song out yesterday.

• 57:11Fred Taylor?

  You sent it to me.

• 57:12Speaker 01

  That, that, oh, that's messed the whole rap game up now. It's called "Lines Drawn." Because all I'm doing, all I'm doing, brothers, is drawing the line in the sand and asking people, what side of the line are y'all on? As fans, do y'all, do y'all want to support music and messages that's pushing righteousness? Or do y'all want to support? The negativity and the evil and the murder music. And guess what? I'm not your judge. So if you say that's what I want to support. If Shannon say that's what I want to hear, I want to hear that old Jeezy. You still my dog, you still my brother. Like, cool, but you say that, that's what you want to support. This might not be your cup of tea. As an artist, what side are you on, man? Because the whole game is lukewarm.

• 57:57Speaker 01

  And being lukewarm, we've been talking about the Bible the whole time. They say God spit you out if you lukewarm. He's like, man, be hot or cold, please. Either be all the way on that or be all the way on this. But that lukewarm stuff, ah. And guess what? The whole rap game, the artists and the fans have become lukewarm.

• 58:15Channing Crowder?

  But, but Dee, I gotta ask though, because I just, because that lukewarm thing, both sides, like, I do like old Jeezy, drop it down with my favorite albums of them. I love it to death. But I've given back six figures to the kids of South Florida Junior Achievement, Boys and Girls Club, 10 events a year. You know what I'm saying? Like, you can't, I don't know if I'm being lukewarm when I'm asking this, but you can't have, I guess, demons in you or not be on the side that you're on and still not be a great person doing great things. Like Ross said back to you, like, bro, I give a lot back. I do a lot. But I'm also over here with the music. It's no, you have to draw that line. You gotta pick a side every time.

• 58:56Fred Taylor?

  Let me, let me jump on that. I want to jump on what Shannon was going to be. Real quick, what's the difference between hip hop or rap and politics? It's the same thing. You gotta, there's a line drawing where people are gonna choose what side they want to be on. And they'll jump over here, they'll jump back over here. You can glorify, well, not that I agree with it or condone it, but you could, people glorify negativity in their music, but I also see the work that they do in the community.

• 59:23Speaker 01

  So what reaches more people? What reaches more people? Their music?

• 59:28Fred Taylor?

  The music will.

• 59:29Speaker 01

  All right.

• 59:29Fred Taylor?

  The music will, without a doubt.

• 59:32Speaker 01

  That part right there, that's what I'm talking about. If your turkeys are feeding people, that meal lasts for one day. But that music that you make? You've been bumping there for 20 years. That raises people. We still bumping 400 degrees in New Orleans. You know what I'm saying? We still bumping the Carter 1. You feel me? So that's all I'm saying. And watch this. They got people like us. Bro, we are, we are exceptions to the rule. To where we might have been able to hear a certain type of message in music, but it didn't make us want to go out there and do it. Yeah. And they got a lot of people who like, well, I listened to this my whole life. I ain't never went and did it. But for every one of us who didn't go do it,

• 1:00:14Speaker 01

  how many of our friends ain't where we at today? Because they got caught up somewhere along the way. And what type of music was the soundtrack to the lifestyle that they started living?

• 1:00:24Speaker 01

  Benny the Butcher just got on an interview. The interviewer said, Benny the Butcher, who are your top 5 cocaine rappers of all time? Yeah. I'm like, look how ignorant our culture is, bro. That's the type of questions that we even asking people, right? And shout out to Benny the Butcher. He responded cool. Yeah, he responded real cool. That's what I'm saying, bro. Like, because I think he get it. Like, some people could see, this dude ain't coming after me as a person. And I was like, dang. They asked him this question. Benny the Butcher's response, he named his top 5 coke rappers of all time. And he actually said, he was like, man, some of these artists that I just named, they were actually what I was bumping. They were the soundtrack to me being in that kitchen whipping up that dope. You know what I mean?

• 1:01:09Speaker 01

  So for every person that says, Fred, it's just entertainment for some people, man. Like, I just listened to it, but I was going out there getting sacks for the Dolphins. You hear me? Da-da-da. For every person that says that, there's 10 people that it's like, no, but this was my soundtrack. I was really, I was really living that life. I was really doing that. So what about those people, bro? Do we just simply say, well, it didn't impact me like that, so ain't no problem with it? I buried Carl. You know what I'm saying? My best friend. I didn't, I didn't have to bury my students who done got murdered by other students that I taught as well. I done seen both sides of the gun. You know, so like, when, when you know that type of impact that the music has, and we all know it, bro, but we just want to act like... Don't hit me with the "it's just entertainment" stuff. "What about the movies?" da-da-da.

• 1:01:54Speaker 01

  Man, y'all know how deeply rooted hip-hop is in the black community, to our lifestyle, to our upbringing.

• 1:02:01Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 1:02:02Speaker 01

  It's like, it's deeper than just a TV show or a movie or something. That stuff is in our bloodline. And it's the 50th year. What better time to reassess the direction that hip-hop is moving in and how we should approach it? And at the end of the day, I think everybody wants it to be to where, "Okay, well, we're gonna do all this talking, but nobody has to feel like they're being attacked." If someone feels attacked, is that my problem? Or is that perhaps their perception of feeling like, "Dang, I'm being held accountable." Yep, "I'm being held accountable."

• 1:02:38Ryan Clark?

  I like that's even better, "being held accountable."

• 1:02:40Speaker 01

  Accountability, bro, accountability. I think that all I'm doing is drawing the line in the sand. That song is changing the rap game right now. "Lines Drawn" by D1. And I'm telling y'all, that accountability has everybody shaken up. But what we gonna do? We gonna not, if we don't hold anything in our culture accountable, then, once again, the devil just sitting back like a big dog, like, "Yup, that industry right there, I'm gonna keep using that industry." Because they don't say anything. Because if you try to hold anybody accountable, they get called a clout chaser, or they get called a hater or something. So, I'ma keep using that industry to push out poisonous messages to the, not to the Channing, not to the Freds and the Ryans and the D1s,

• 1:03:24Speaker 01

  because they mentally mature, but to the more impressionable desperate youth.

• 1:03:30Ryan Clark?

  Desperate is, that's the big thing. So many things happen out of necessity.

• 1:03:34Speaker 01

  There you go.

• 1:03:34Ryan Clark?

  Or the feeling of necessity. "I don't have, so I have to go get." "I don't have, but he has excess, so I have to go get his." My, the thing I want to ask before we start to close out, though, is that like, listening to you rap...

• 1:03:52Ryan Clark?

  Just now, those bars, I can tell that's you. That's who you, that's who you are, that's the fabric of you, that's how you were made. Channing asks football players or athletes all the time, when he were on, he's like, what made you? Like, what, what made you this way? I can tell what made you this way because you speak it. And you're able to articulate that so well because it's truly part of who you are. I don't feel like, or I don't know if these dudes musically know how to be anything else. I don't know if they could, if they feel like they could be themselves, like they could do it well. You know, and so I, I, I sometimes feel like your words don't fall on deaf ears.

• 1:04:35Ryan Clark?

  Right? Like, you know, when you, when you do something, when you're doing something and somebody points it out and you go, damn, like, I don't really know if I could be any different. Or I don't know if I could be any different and still be successful. And for you, it's like always been who you are and you just do it so well because it's natural, it's organic, it's true. And I think that's what the blessing that you have. My question for you would be, what is your biggest pivot though? What moment in your life do you point to and you say, that's the moment that got me here? That is the moment that started to make me. That is the moment that I said, either something has to change or this has worked for me so well, I need to get more of it.

• 1:05:19Speaker 01

  My goodness. My pivot.

• 1:05:25Speaker 01

  Man. My pivot was when I, when I was at LSU and I was playing, playing on the basketball court outside my apartment complex and three dudes walked up to me and my homie and they, uh, they pulled a gun out and they asked us if we had broke into their friend's car. And we was like, nah, bro, we been sitting here playing ball, y'all see us, like we sweating and everything. Uh, Highland Plantation, that was the name of the apartment. The dude with the gun, you know, he, uh, he proceeded to like put that mug right here on me and, you know, letting me know that, uh, he about to blow my brains out and, and, you know, just telling me all this. And as I'm sitting there, you know, I got my hands up and all I could think is like, dang,

• 1:06:07Speaker 01

  this the same thing that just happened to my boy a couple of years ago back in New Orleans. I'm about to go out the same way. And, you know, during that moment, like, I was just, I was just thinking about like all of the.

• 1:06:22Speaker 01

  Missed the opportunities that I had to make this world a better place because I was afraid of what people was gonna think about me. You know what I mean? Like, I thought I was done. I thought I was done, so... I'm like, "Damn, bro, I messed up, man." I could've been a way better version of myself. Now I'm about to be gone, and...

• 1:06:49Speaker 01

  I had a fear. They had a girl walk in her apartment complex on the second floor. She looked down at the basketball court and saw this. And she was like, "Oh, my God." Like, she screamed. And everybody looked up, and they got spooked, so they put the gun up and they dipped out. And I ain't think that was gonna end like that. So, when that happened, bro, like, that was my pivot.

• 1:07:19Speaker 01

  That was my pivot. God, God wasn't done with me, and He's still not done with me. And I'm not gonna let fear... I'm not gonna let fear, I'm not gonna let no industry, I'm not gonna let no fans, no media people trick me out of doing what's right, according to God's word, bro. I'm not... My bad, bro, my bad.

• 1:07:44Ryan Clark?

  Nah, that's what it's for, bro.

• 1:07:47Speaker 01

  You feel me?

• 1:07:54Ryan Clark?

  Do you... How often do you think about that moment?

• 1:08:08Speaker 01

  I think about it...

• 1:08:11Speaker 01

  I think about it too much. I think about it too much.

• 1:08:22Ryan Clark?

  How have you shared this publicly? In your speeches, in your conversations with other rappers? In your music consistently? Because you talk about guys still glorifying what they've been through, as opposed to narrating. A lot of times, it's not the message you're trying to send to people. It's when people can understand the why you're trying to send it, and it's something that they can relate to, that's when they grab on to it. You know, because you mentioned you don't put your stats and all those things in front of you.

• 1:09:06Ryan Clark?

  When people do look up your stats, your stats don't say that you know what they know. You've been through what they've been through. But having a gun to your head, man, I don't care what anybody who's rapping about holding the gun. If they ain't been through that, they don't understand that feeling. Have you ever talked or tried to share that message with them?

• 1:09:30Speaker 01

  I'm open to the conversations, bro. I'm open to the conversations, bro. Like, that's why when I'm thinking about murder music, I'm like, I was almost a murder victim. So that stuff hit different, you know?

• 1:09:46Speaker 01

  And I would love to just have these conversations, bro. Some people act like, "Oh, you're not big enough." Like, cats acting like, "Oh, you could've just reached out to me and I would've talked to you." This what dudes saying on the radio, you know what I'm saying? "Oh, you could've just reached out and we could've talked, but now you say my name publicly, that's off limits." Man, we on a group text together right now, and you not talking. You know what I'm saying? So, like, cats act like it's just so easy. Like, "Oh, yeah, we could just have these sit downs and have these talks." But some people, bro, because of their success and their stats, they just feel like, "Nah, you're not on my level, lil' man." You know what I mean? For me to talk to? Like, who are you for me to have to talk to? So it's like...

• 1:10:31Speaker 01

  It's not as easy as you would think, bro, to have these convos. And, and at the end of the day, that's all I would like to do is just talk to people as, as humans, bro. As humans, we could agree to disagree. But I believe in the power of humanity and when you shine your light on people and when they able to experience that and feel your sincerity, that they're different when they walk away from that encounter. So sometimes I can't talk to you like this. Cool, I could talk to you through the microphone, I could talk to you publicly, you know? And, I don't know, man, like, in, in hip-hop, it's like, nobody want to talk to each other, man.

• 1:11:12Speaker 01

  Like, you got the people that criticize the culture and got an issue with stuff, and you got the people that's pushing stuff. And they never want to interact, because the only thing the culture is used to is, oh, if two opposing sides interact, it gotta be a clash, it gotta be beef, it gotta be something violent. And I'm like, it don't have to be none of that, bro, it don't have to be none of that. The dudes that held, bro, the dudes that held the gun to my head,

• 1:11:39Speaker 01

  they, they was best friends with somebody that's a very, very, very well-known public figure from that city, from BR, you know what I'm saying? With that being said, anytime I run into this person throughout the years and all that stuff, it ain't never been no ill will, it ain't never been me harboring some beef or some resentment against this person. And it's just like, I just know that I have the ability to be a bridge builder, you know what I'm saying? But, in order to solve difficult problems, you gotta be able to have difficult conversations.

• 1:12:13Speaker 01

  And nobody don't want to talk, nobody don't want to talk, bro, nobody. So we just gonna keep having these difficult problems. Man, I'm, I'm tired of people complaining and people, oh, this was wrong with the culture, and this was wrong with the culture. Ain't nobody really, like, fans selective outrage, you know, the media selective outrage. If something happened to a hip-hop artist, take off, get killed, oh, Nipsey get killed, oh, it's such a problem, oh, no, we gotta Change all this, that's what they say. George Floyd get killed, all the major record labels donating 25 million, 50 million, 100 million to, to black funding and, and helping further in the black community.

• 1:12:54Speaker 01

  Then them same labels, three months later, they right back to promoting the music that's glorifying black murder. Like, it's just all, it's just hypocrisy, bro. I don't belong in this industry, bro. But I could rap real good, so I'm in it, you know what I mean? And like, for real, so it's like, with that being said, bro, like, I'm down for the dialogue. I'm down for it, but people not really down for it, man. People not down for it, and, and all these people who got the power to, like, I don't know, bro. I don't know.

• 1:13:24Channing Crowder?

  Dee, Dee, Dee, what's your goal? Cause we, we see, we see the issues that you're speaking on. What are you pushing towards?

• 1:13:33Speaker 01

  I'm pushing towards human beings being able to reassess what they prioritize in life.

• 1:13:41Speaker 01

  And if human beings can reassess what they prioritize and say, dang, my goal needs to be success in God's eyes, instead of success in the world's eyes, then this world would be a better place. Cause instantly, when you start prioritizing godly success, you start to have a whole different set of issues that you care about, and your actions look totally different than if you're trying to prioritize worldly success. That, it is, it's that simple, bro. It's that simple. But entertainment is the vehicle that'll get used by the enemy. Entertainment will, will be the vehicle that gets used to glorify a lifestyle that'll make people say, I want that, I want that, I want that. Because the entertainers make it look so good and so sexy and so flashy.

• 1:14:26Speaker 01

  That's what I want. Damn, okay, that, like, that's what it is. And now you got all these impressionable minds that striving for something that ain't righteous at all, and that's not gonna lead you to happiness. That's the issue, bro. And entertainment is being used. So, since entertainment is being used, should I just go be a teacher? And, and just, you know, not be in entertainment? No, man, sign me up, man. Put me right in the middle of the entertainment industry. I'm right here. What's up? Who wanna rap? I'll rap against any one of y'all. You know what I mean? Who wanna spit? Who wanna have just meaningful dialogue? What show can I come on and talk? I'm here for all of it. And then when it's my time, God gonna call me home. I'll go be with my grandpa.

• 1:15:07Fred Taylor?

  D, I mean, you said hypocrisy. Hip hop, hypocrisy, that sounds crazy.

• 1:15:11Speaker 01

  Oh, that's gangster.

• 1:15:12Fred Taylor?

  That's crazy.

• 1:15:13Speaker 01

  Hip, hip hop, hip hop? Go ahead. I'm putting that in the song. Just know I'm using that.

• 1:15:18Fred Taylor?

  No, no, that's true.

• 1:15:19Ryan Clark?

  Just gonna shout out Freddie T in the song.

• 1:15:21Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 1:15:22Fred Taylor?

  Channing, Channing, actually, what your goal was, I know we gotta wrap up. You have a business degree in marketing. You, you teach a fellowship here at Harvard, teach at a tough college. Long way from Baker Middle? Is it Baker Middle?

• 1:15:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 1:15:36Fred Taylor?

  What's next for D1?

• 1:15:38Speaker 01

  I have no idea. No idea, bro.

• 1:15:40Fred Taylor?

  Got an album coming out, right? I mean, amongst other things, too.

• 1:15:44Speaker 01

  Of course, man. So, my 11th album dropping. It's called From the Hood to Harvard. You hear me? Because thanks to hip hop, I done went from the hood in New Orleans to Harvard University. And I did an album documenting what my transition was like. What it was like being a dude that felt out of place, that had imposter syndrome when I first got to Harvard. Feeling like, I don't know if I'm smart enough to be here. I don't know if these people gonna accept me. But then I realized, I was called to be the thermostat and not the thermometer. The thermostat is like, I'm setting the temperature in this room. The thermometer is like, I just gotta adjust to whatever the temperature is.

• 1:16:19Fred Taylor?

  Shout out to Steve Sarkeesian.

• 1:16:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, bro, yeah, bro. So, with that being said, that's the new album. And I'm releasing this album different, right? We get robbed as artists by the streaming platforms. We get robbed, bro. We get paid one-third of one penny.

• 1:16:35Speaker 01

  One-third of one penny for every time people stream our music. So if my album got nine songs on it, and you go listen to it from top to bottom, I made a total of three cents off of that. Dang. That's robbery, bro. That's robbery. So I'm not going through the streaming platforms. When this album come out, when this album come out, I'm letting fans name their own price. So all the fans that's like, "Man, I rock with D1, with his art and his heart. I rock with him." I'm letting you name your own price. You can go to my website, D1music.com. D-E-E, the number one, music.com. And you just go, you hit one button, you name your own price, and you get the streaming link to the album, and you get all the MP3s sent to you. And you bump the album, just like you do any other music. But, I'm not having to go through the platforms they tell us to go through,

• 1:17:20Speaker 01

  because they robbing us, man. Right. And in doing it like this, these fans, people been paying a hundred dollars for my album. People been paying two hundred dollars for my album, already. I could pull it up on my phone and show y'all. People paying five hundred dollars, a thousand dollars. Somebody just paid a thousand dollars for my album, bro. Dang. Because I'm letting people name their own price. That, when y'all talk about the success and what that looks like, that's what I'm trying to figure out. How do you not seem like you out here bragging? But how do you show people the reality of like, this what happens when you ask what am I missing out on by being in the lane I'm in? I'm not missing out on nothing, brother. I'm not missing out on nothing. I got people paying a thousand dollars for my album. You feel me?

• 1:18:05Speaker 01

  And, that is what other fans need to see, and that's what other artists need to see, to be like, "Dang, maybe I could be authentic, and just be myself, and not have to go along with the messages that they say we post to glorify in our music, and I could see success as well." That's it, bro. Shoot, that's a show, fam. That's it. That is. That was dope, boy.

• 1:18:24Ryan Clark?

  Man, appreciate you, brother.

• 1:18:25Speaker 01

  Thank you, fam, bro.

• 1:18:26Ryan Clark?

  Yes, sir.

• 1:18:27Speaker 01

  Man, y'all, boy, got me crying. Damn, bro. You ain't the first one to cry on here, D. Don't worry about nothing. No, I watch, I watch almost every episode. Yeah, you ain't the first one to cry, though.

• 1:18:37Fred Taylor?

  These are always teachable moments, man.

• 1:18:39Speaker 01

  That was good, though, man.

• 1:18:40Fred Taylor?

  There's a lot that you can pull from that. There's a ton.

• 1:18:43Ryan Clark?

  You know, how you was like? You know, they did D1, we gotta go do such and such. We don't want to get out of the space, I don't for sure, of messages though. Right? It's, your message is powerful. So why wouldn't I give you the space to tell your story, but also spread your message, without being like, "Hey, everything you say is right, Dee." Without asking you a tough question that makes you give a great answer, that now continues to spread the message. And so like, for us, that's what we don't want to do. We don't want to get to a point where you feel like, "Oh, we gotta do this guy, because everybody's doing that guy."

• 1:19:22Speaker 01

  Got you. And the fact that the brand, it's not top-heavy on just like, "All right, depending on who the guest is, I may or may not watch the show." People watching the show on the strength of this right here.

• 1:19:34Ryan Clark?

  That's what we're trying to do.

• 1:19:35Speaker 01

  The, like, the D1s of the world, the Lil' Ones of the world, we the icing on the cake, you know? Y'all bring an athlete on, that's just icing on the cake.

• 1:19:43Ryan Clark?

  I didn't even think about that though, we did. We got a D and a Wheezy.

• 1:19:45Speaker 08

  Right.

• 1:20:10Speaker 09

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.

• 1:20:20Speaker 09

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