202 Open Your Mind and Move the World with Prince Ea

"I've gotten to where I am from being who I am." - Prince Ea If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/202. Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

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

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  Episode number 202 with Prince E.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week, we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone to today's episode. We've got a very special guest. I'm super excited to introduce you to the one and only Prince E. Better known as Richard Williams and his stage name is Prince E. He is an American rapper and activist. Known for discussing topics like politics, sociality, environmentalism, and life issues. His YouTube videos have garnered over 40 million views and the guy is crushing it over 350,000 subscribers there. I first got wind of him and noticed him from videos being shared on Facebook, actually some of his videos which get more views over there on Facebook than they do on YouTube. This guy has been everywhere lately. I had a great conversation with him here in the studio in LA.

• 1:18Lewis Howes?

  Really opened up about a lot of insightful things for a young guy. Lives in St. Louis where I lived for a number of years going to a private boarding school. So we had a lot to connect on. We also went to go play some one-on-one basketball afterwards, which we've got videos for you back at lewishouse.com/202. So make sure to check out the full episode there. Share this with your friends, guys. I think you're going to really enjoy the insights from Prince E. I think you're going to get a lot out of this and I think people will love this when you share it with them. So make sure to share this episode. LewisHowes.com/202. And without further ado, let me introduce you to the one and only Prince E.

• 1:58Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness Podcast. Very excited about today's guest, my man Prince E. How's it going, brother?

• 2:05Speaker 02

  My man, I'm good. Thanks for asking. How are you?

• 2:07Lewis Howes?

  Doing great. Very excited. I know it's early here on a Saturday morning, but we're making it happen, brother. We're making it happen. And now Prince E is actually not your real name. Richard Williams is your real name, correct?

• 2:20Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:21Lewis Howes?

  Okay. Now, why, why'd you change it to Prince E?

• 2:23Speaker 02

  You know, it's a name. What's really real in a name, you know, we're all, we weren't born with our names stamped on us. It's given to us. But Prince E is, real quick story, actually the EA is Earth. It stands for Earth. So abbreviation, bridge for Earth. And the name comes from Sumerian mythology. I was obsessed with this culture called Sumer back in the day before I went to college. This is why I actually got my degree in anthropology. But the culture, 6,000 years ago, they had a lot of firsts. They first people to, to create the wheel. They first written language. They put 360 degrees to a circle. They knew

• 3:06Speaker 02

  about all the planets in our solar system without a telescope. How did they know all of these things? Well, if you were to ask one of these people, they would have said that their living gods gave them this knowledge. And a lot of anthropologists write this off as mythology, but some people on the, on the left say this might be history. They might, there might be something to it. And Prince EA, Prince Earth, was one of their living gods that actually freed them out of bondage through knowledge and wisdom. Yeah, so I,

• 3:34Lewis Howes?

  I liked that.

• 3:35Speaker 02

  Yeah, I gravitated to the name, you know, because through my art, I hope to free people or at least open their minds through knowledge and wisdom.

• 3:42Lewis Howes?

  Amazing, man. That's amazing. And a couple of facts about you and some, some mutual facts is you were born and raised in St. Louis. I lived in St. Louis for seven years, which is pretty cool. So I can appreciate your roots and your wisdom. Did you have any influence from Nellie by any chance?

• 4:02Speaker 02

  I was, I wasn't a big fan, but of course I had his album.

• 4:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course, right?

• 4:06Speaker 02

  Country Grammar, yeah.

• 4:07Lewis Howes?

  He was like the pride of St. Louis when I was in high school. He was like so big.

• 4:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:11Lewis Howes?

  Because he came from nothing essentially and just hustled his way

• 4:13Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 4:14Lewis Howes?

  to creating magic and, and bringing his art to, to the world. I remember like listening to stories about him or watching interviews where he was like, we were just going with our cars and CDs in the back of the trunk and just handing them out and just trying to give them away. You know, just hustling. Um, is there any of his story that resonates with you or being from St. Louis and?

• 4:34Speaker 02

  Man, you know, his, his music, um, it, it touches a special place in my heart. You know, I, I often just go back and watch his, his videos, uh, like every six months or so, you know, uh, ride with me and Country Grammar and all of those. It's nostalgic, you know?

• 4:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, he's great.

• 4:52Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:52Lewis Howes?

  Um, couple of facts. You've, uh, won the best hip hop artist in St. Louis. Now, did, did Nelly win that as well or no?

• 4:59Speaker 02

  Uh, he might have won it.

• 5:00Lewis Howes?

  He probably won it back in 1999 or something, right?

• 5:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:03Lewis Howes?

  Um, you're also winning an award. You're getting an award tomorrow. Now, what's the award for here in LA?

• 5:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Global Green is, uh, is bestowing upon me their, uh, environmental and entertainment award. Um, so that's, that's a really big, big deal.

• 5:18Lewis Howes?

  Nice. Congratulations. That's cool, man.

• 5:21Speaker 02

  Thank you.

• 5:21Lewis Howes?

  And, uh, you also formed a movement called Make Smart Cool.

• 5:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:26Lewis Howes?

  Right? And what, what is SMART?

• 5:27Speaker 02

  SMART. SMART is an acronym for Sophisticating Millions and Revolutionizing Thought. So we want to, it's an organization that I founded. Uh, we want to popularize the notion of intelligence. So many kids think it's not cool to be smart, you know?

• 5:43Lewis Howes?

  Why is that?

• 5:44Speaker 02

  Uh, probably their peers, probably the media. Um, you're a nerd, you're a geek and, and I think we're all nerds and geeks, you know? Deep down and we, we wear these costumes, even adults, you know, we wear these costumes to, to appear to be something that we're not. And, um, for me, knowledge just totally changed my, uh, my state of mind, my state of being. Um, information did and I had a passion for it and I'm here, you know, the little success that I've attained, I'm here because of the information and the books that I've read, the, the, the wisdom that I've, I've gained.

• 6:19Lewis Howes?

  What do you credit your wisdom to? What do you credit reaching out to learn this wisdom to?

• 6:25Speaker 02

  Yeah, um, the, the, the inception of my, um,

• 6:32Speaker 02

  I guess, passion for knowledge and information was through hip hop.

• 6:36Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 6:36Speaker 02

  Hip hop music totally just changed the game for me. You know, listening to different artists like Immortal Technique and this guy named Cannabis. And, and they just, you know, Cannabis, he had a verse. He's like alone in my room, looking through the thirty two X telescope zoom, adjusting the focus of the moon. Once you not assume the philosophy of David, David Hume is nothing more than a subjective conclusion. What is the maximum field rate application, the runaway glaciation affecting the ocean basin? Like, listening to this guy in high school over like these incredible beats. I was in the library, like researching these concepts and topics and the vocabulary, you know? And they just kind of inspired me to, to, to pursue education.

• 7:18Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So you would listen to the rap songs and then you'd be like, what is that word? What is that meaning? And then you would dive into it.

• 7:23Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 7:23Lewis Howes?

  In the library, go research it.

• 7:25Speaker 02

  Mm hmm. These, these conscious artists. Uh, cause hip hop, hip hop is beautiful, man. You know, hip hop started out as the voice of the voiceless. Um, it was very political, uh, very socially conscious and aware. And then it changed. It got more commercialized and McDonaldized than, you know, and what you hear on the radio. But, but what's on the radio is about ten percent of what hip hop really is.

• 7:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's, it's, it's, it's a culture. You know, they say rap is what you do. Hip hop is, is what you live.

• 7:54Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Man, that's good stuff. Now, did you have any influence from your parents or family to, you know, dive into education and learning as well? Or was it more just self-awareness that, hey, I want to learn and take my wisdom to another level?

• 8:08Speaker 02

  Yeah, man. Uh, you know, my parents tried to reach me, really couldn't. You know, I was a, I was a pretty bad student growing up. Just because I didn't, I didn't get it, the chalk and talk, I didn't, I didn't learn that way. I was more of an auditory learner. And I think so many kids out there, we, we, there's a vast array of learning styles and types and we only, sometimes we only confine it to one and then we, if you don't get it that way, you're stupid, you're a failure.

• 8:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 8:38Speaker 02

  Um, but for me, it was, it was listening to the music that, that catalyzed the part of me and,

• 8:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 8:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was beautiful.

• 8:45Lewis Howes?

  That's cool, man. Yeah, I'm a, I'm a big learner from doing, from, from being, from taking action. And in school, I was, uh, when I went to St. Louis, actually, to this private school. Um, it was a boarding school for, for kids. And, um, I had to take a number of tests going into the first day to like see where my knowledge was at, see if I was smart or not. And I'll never forget like how bad I felt because I took these tests and I, I felt, I felt like I didn't know any answer. And the results I got back was you have a second grade reading level in eighth grade. And so I had to go into like study, like, uh, you know, a special study class the whole time and have tutor for everything. And I always felt ignorant because I couldn't understand what was in the books.

• 9:28Lewis Howes?

  But put me on an athletic field and I was able to pick up like the wisdom and the vision and the knowledge of the game by moving and being, uh, over than just, you know, reading the books.

• 9:39Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 9:39Lewis Howes?

  Did you struggle with, uh, you know, books as well?

• 9:41Speaker 02

  I did, I did, man. Uh, you know, I remember the days my mom sitting me in the kitchen, uh, teach me how to read and smacking me upside the head and it's not good memories, but, uh, eventually I got it and now I,

• 9:54Lewis Howes?

  Now you love it.

• 9:55Speaker 02

  I read books for leisure, you know? Uh, but yeah, there's, there's so many types of, of, there's multiple levels of intelligences, you know? Of course. The kinesthetic and like, like LeBron James, I think is a genius, you know, because of what he can do out there. And that's a different type, you know, of, of intelligence. And so, um, I just think we've, we've confined as a society, we've, we've kind of just confined the definition. Um, and it doesn't allow people to be who they are and express their talents in the way that they can best, uh, help society.

• 10:27Lewis Howes?

  And one of the things I love about you and love about learning about you is you create these videos and inspire people. You know, one of the things you're probably most well known for is your videos, right? And the videos that you create to open people's minds and imaginations. We're talking about society, the things that are wrong with society, the things that need to be fixed with society, the things that we need to start looking at and focusing on as opposed to things that we're doing currently, which is breaking us. And how old were you when you first thought something was wrong with society?

• 10:58Speaker 02

  Well, it's, it was probably into high school, listening to the conscious hip hop artists, you know, because, because you know, if anybody that's listening, listens to Immortal Technique, you know, he, he goes in on government and, and tells you what's wrong with it. And, you know, he goes in on politicians and the world affairs. And so from that is probably the first time where I looked outside and say, hey, things are, things might not be going the way they should be, or the way they could be. So, but, but I've developed from there too, to, you know, after, after hip hop, I got into spirituality.

• 11:43Speaker 02

  And I don't, when I say, I, I always got to, to, to kind of specify when I say spirituality, because I don't mean like, you know, climbing the Himalayan mountains and, and, and meditating with the Dalai Lama. I just mean looking inside to figuring out who I am. And so to answer your question, now I think the world is fine. You know, I think, I think things are as they, they should be.

• 12:06Lewis Howes?

  Why is that?

• 12:07Speaker 02

  Because when we argue with reality, we lose everything that happened, should have happened, by the very nature that it happened. And that doesn't mean that we shouldn't be, be here to change it either. You know, so we, we have to live in the now and create out of that acceptance of what is.

• 12:25Lewis Howes?

  So you believe that the world is perfect where it is right now?

• 12:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 12:28Lewis Howes?

  Then why create videos to open people's minds about change?

• 12:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, because that's perfect too.

• 12:34Lewis Howes?

  Interesting. All right. I like that.

• 12:36Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 12:37Lewis Howes?

  Okay. So it's perfect where it is now, but it doesn't mean it can't improve and be perfect then as well.

• 12:43Speaker 02

  Exactly. You know, the caterpillar and the butterfly, perfect. You know, you gotta go through these steps to get to that place. It's perfect without, you know, there's been so many illnesses and negative things that have happened to people that have gotten them to the point of greatness.

• 13:01Lewis Howes?

  That's true.

• 13:02Speaker 02

  And without these things, they wouldn't have got there.

• 13:06Lewis Howes?

  That's true.

• 13:06Speaker 02

  So these things, it's all perfect. It's all, yeah.

• 13:09Lewis Howes?

  That's true. I believe that, you know, one of the principles that I live by is that we should always turn our adversity into our advantage. And that is actually one of our biggest gifts and one of our biggest callings is the things that hurt us the most can actually show others how to feel that much more love and open them up.

• 13:28Speaker 02

  Wow.

• 13:28Lewis Howes?

  And our pain is really what can create the most pleasure in the world and all those different things. Without those moments, then we may not be as impactful without those.

• 13:37Speaker 02

  That's it.

• 13:38Lewis Howes?

  And without the world probably going through where it is right now, maybe it won't be as impactful to people in the future. So I never looked at it that way with your message that's perfect right now.

• 13:46Speaker 02

  Man, there are no smooth mountains out there, man. There is ridges. You gotta climb that thing.

• 13:51Lewis Howes?

  If they were smooth, they wouldn't look beautiful either, probably.

• 13:53Speaker 02

  Hmm, that's it.

• 13:55Lewis Howes?

  If it was a smooth mountain, I wouldn't want to look at it, you know?

• 13:57Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 13:57Lewis Howes?

  It's like the ridges and the points that make it look picturesque.

• 14:01Speaker 02

  Hmm, boom, boom.

• 14:02Lewis Howes?

  I like it. Well, you're no stranger to viral fame. When was the first time you did a video that just took off? When was this?

• 14:12Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 14:12Lewis Howes?

  That you were like, whoa, I actually did something that people took notice.

• 14:16Speaker 02

  Yeah, um.

• 14:17Lewis Howes?

  And what was the video?

• 14:19Speaker 02

  Well, okay, I got to answer this question in a different way. So when I first started making videos, you know, YouTube is less, was less over saturated than it is now.

• 14:30Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 14:30Speaker 02

  But still, it was a task. How am I gonna get out there?

• 14:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 14:34Speaker 02

  How am I gonna get views? So. I started out having to kinda create false titles for my videos like so.

• 14:43Lewis Howes?

  Link bait.

• 14:45Speaker 02

  Click bait.

• 14:46Lewis Howes?

  Click bait.

• 14:46Speaker 02

  You know, it would be like, like Jay-Z versus Lil Wayne and then it would be me rapping.

• 14:52Lewis Howes?

  It's a Trojan horse.

• 14:53Speaker 02

  It's a Trojan horse.

• 14:53Lewis Howes?

  Getting him in for something else.

• 14:54Speaker 02

  Exactly. So some people would just completely go off on me. Other people would be like, hey, I'm so glad you tricked me in the finding this.

• 15:03Lewis Howes?

  Cause this was awesome.

• 15:04Speaker 02

  This was awesome.

• 15:05Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 15:06Speaker 02

  Uh, so I got a lot of views on that.

• 15:08Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 15:08Speaker 02

  Uh, but on my own Prince E, the first video that really took off, it was probably Backwards Rappers. Um, which is like a P, a palindrome sort of thing where I like the, the video and the, and the, the, the audio are both go forwards and backwards. Uh, it's tough to explain. You just have to Google backwards rappers. Yeah. And that took off. That got, you know, on a bunch of blogs. I was interviewed by like Fox News and a bunch, like a bunch of people and.

• 15:37Lewis Howes?

  That's cool. When was this?

• 15:39Speaker 02

  This was, uh, it's about four or five years ago.

• 15:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So when did you do your first video?

• 15:45Speaker 02

  First.

• 15:45Lewis Howes?

  Click bait videos.

• 15:46Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was about eight years ago.

• 15:48Lewis Howes?

  Wow, man. You've been at it for a while.

• 15:49Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 15:50Lewis Howes?

  That's a long time.

• 15:50Speaker 02

  I've been doing it, yeah, yeah.

• 15:52Lewis Howes?

  That's like, YouTube's what? 10 years old?

• 15:54Speaker 02

  10 years, yeah.

• 15:55Lewis Howes?

  That's a long time, man. Wow. You learn a lot from all those, you know, mistakes you make and just little tricks you pick up here and there.

• 16:02Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 16:02Lewis Howes?

  Um, well, I think I first learned about you from the Facebook video you did, the Mark Zuckerberg one with the, uh, that I'm talking about.

• 16:10Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can we autocorrect humanity?

• 16:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that was a great one. I think it was on Facebook and it was just like, I got shared somehow and I was like, who is this guy? Um, it was so beautiful and it was poetic and it was, you know, the tempo, the timing, the music, everything was like so emotionally captivating. I was like, this is really powerful. And I know you get that a lot all the time and people always tell you that, but it's, um, it's a gift that you have when you create this art, in my opinion. And it's really inspiring to see how you're able to open possibilities for people. And even if it's like, you know, even if it's just for a moment, you get to people to think and maybe they shift some. Something in that day. Maybe they forget about it the rest of their life, but if you get them to shift that day and to do something, one little thing better, I think it's that's worth it.

• 16:54Speaker 02

  You made a difference.

• 16:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 16:55Speaker 02

  Yeah, man. Thank you.

• 16:56Lewis Howes?

  Um, how many video, uh, how many views that one video get? Just curious.

• 17:00Speaker 02

  Um, well, it's.

• 17:01Lewis Howes?

  Different on Facebook, right?

• 17:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, on Facebook, uh, they were using the model where they stopped counting the views after like two months. And I think it stopped at like forty six million.

• 17:11Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 17:11Speaker 02

  On YouTube, uh, I think it's like thirteen million.

• 17:14Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Now, why is Facebook just blown up with video?

• 17:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:18Lewis Howes?

  Why is it going so much more viral on Facebook? It's almost irrelevant to be on YouTube, it seems like right now.

• 17:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 17:23Lewis Howes?

  Until they changed some of the algorithm again in six months, but.

• 17:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, cuz, cuz Facebook is, is still the number one most used social network.

• 17:31Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy, man.

• 17:32Speaker 02

  And, and they don't really, uh, I don't think they really like YouTube. So the YouTube videos don't get as much reach as the Facebook ones do.

• 17:39Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:39Speaker 02

  Um.

• 17:40Lewis Howes?

  Has that shifted your strategy for creating content?

• 17:44Speaker 02

  Uh, yeah, yeah. For me, it's, it's, it's about getting eyes, you know, on, on the content. And, and Facebook has, has been beautiful for that.

• 17:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:53Speaker 02

  Um, like, Facebook has been huge. It's really been a game changer.

• 17:56Lewis Howes?

  Game changer.

• 17:57Speaker 02

  Once they, they started doing video, cuz it's, it's more easily spread there. Um, you don't have to go.

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  Click and share and it goes, yeah.

• 18:04Speaker 02

  Well, that's it, yep.

• 18:05Lewis Howes?

  That's crazy, man. Um, do you feel a sense, a sense of responsibility with such a big platform? With everything you put out there, is it very intentional now? Can you just put out whatever you want? Or do you feel like, well, maybe this won't serve people as much if I do it?

• 18:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's the question, man. Uh, I gotta be who I am and I gotta, you know, I can't, I can't. Try to put out things that, uh, I think people like, but isn't something that I'm, um, connected with. You know, so I, I can only be cuz I've gotten to where I am from being who I am and not really caring about the result.

• 18:41Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 18:42Speaker 02

  Um, so I just gotta continue that, that model and, uh, everything will be okay. I can only be guided by, uh, that inner, um, compass.

• 18:52Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 18:52Speaker 02

  You know, I can't be guided by, you know, whether this is politically correct or.

• 18:56Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 18:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:57Lewis Howes?

  Whatever you feel, uh, move by. How often or how far in advance do you plan the ideas that you wanna create for your videos?

• 19:04Speaker 02

  Hmm, um. And that I don't know, it just, it kinda comes to me.

• 19:10Speaker 02

  And I might work on something and then stop and then work on something else and then come back. So it just comes together when it comes together.

• 19:16Lewis Howes?

  Sure. What's the average length, the time it takes from the idea of a video when I create to actually publishing it?

• 19:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:24Lewis Howes?

  From the music production to the setting, you know, to filming, everything.

• 19:28Speaker 02

  Yeah, um, I'd say maybe a month or two. Um, because there's so many moving parts, you know, there's the lyrics, you gotta get that right. And I'm, I'm pretty, I'm sort of a perfectionist. I wanna figure out the best way to communicate these ideas simply. Um, then you've got, I'm sitting there with my producer, I'm creating the beat. And then I've gotta figure out who's gonna shoot the video and, and, and, you know, where we're gonna shoot. I gotta produce that. Um, and then I gotta figure, I gotta add the, I might add motion graphics to it. And I gotta get that perfectly right. And then we gotta do a pre-promotional plan for it and figure out where, how we're gonna market this thing.

• 20:01Lewis Howes?

  And the press for it, how you're gonna get it, which blogs are gonna pick it up first?

• 20:03Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:03Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, wow, okay.

• 20:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:05Lewis Howes?

  It's a full-on production, man.

• 20:06Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 20:07Lewis Howes?

  And do you use local crews? Is it all St. Louis-based crews or do you, you know?

• 20:10Speaker 02

  Pretty much, um, the guy, when I shoot out in, in California, um, it's a guy from St. Louis that I, that I, yeah, that I've known for a couple of years. But everybody I'm working with, I've known for, for at least four or five years.

• 20:23Lewis Howes?

  That's cool, man.

• 20:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 20:24Lewis Howes?

  Um, if someone could make one change today to be a better human being, what would it be?

• 20:29Speaker 02

  Hmm, someone can make one change today to be a better, he was better human being. Hmm.

• 20:38Speaker 02

  Wow, um.

• 20:40Lewis Howes?

  Well, let's, let's start with you. If you could make one change today to be a better human being, what, what would you do?

• 20:45Speaker 02

  Well.

• 20:45Lewis Howes?

  Or how would you be?

• 20:46Speaker 02

  See, this is tricky because I, I believe that, that we are where we need to be. We are, we are, are perfect as we are. And the more that we try to personally develop and not realize what we are behind the person, um, we'll never be where we wanna be. You know, I think we already are perfect. And that eliminates the guilt of what we've done in the past and the, the projection of the future, the fantasy that we create for the future. So I would be accepting who you are right now at this very moment and smiling.

• 21:19Lewis Howes?

  Is the best step to? Being, improving yourself.

• 21:23Speaker 02

  Improving yourself, I think.

• 21:24Lewis Howes?

  Accepting who you are.

• 21:24Speaker 02

  Who you are right now.

• 21:26Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 21:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, forgetting about the, the, the, the past. Don't really worry about what's gonna happen tomorrow, cuz you might not be here tomorrow. I think, you know, what is motivating me to create some of my pieces is death, you know?

• 21:42Speaker 02

  I always, I always tell people, you know, if you had five years to live, if you knew you only had five more years to live, would you be doing what you're doing today?

• 21:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 21:51Speaker 02

  But what about five months? How about five weeks? How about five days? You know, and if, if you're not doing, if the answer is, is no, I'll be doing something totally different. You might need to, to, to rethink your business plan, you know, right? Rethink your life plan, because life is, is, is, is precious. You know, we have a great opportunity here to, to, to do amazing things and we've gotta be ourselves. It's gotta come from the heart.

• 22:15Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. So what's your vision? And if you only had five years, months and days, would you be doing what you're doing?

• 22:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, you're asking me personally?

• 22:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, of course.

• 22:24Speaker 02

  Yeah, man. I'm here, you know, I don't, I don't know if I'm gonna have five minutes, you know, I'm, I'm here. You never, you never know when you're gonna see your last sunrise or sunset, man. You got a limited amount of breath and, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm here, I'm happy. No expectations.

• 22:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:45Speaker 02

  I'm just being.

• 22:46Lewis Howes?

  That's great. And how do you base your decision making on anything? Like if there's an opportunity that comes your way, or, you know, someone wants you to do something, or, um, I don't know, a potential relationship you could be in, you know, with, with anyone, how do you make a decision on what you're gonna do?

• 23:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, uh, it kinda just comes to me, like, I'm very, I, I don't, I don't really, I'm, I'm a very simple man. You know, I don't do too much, I'm not, I mean, you, you, you, you amaze me all the things that you can do, but I just, I just live a simple existence, man, and, and, and I find happiness in that, in creating. You know, if somebody reaches out to me and then asks me to do something, then I, I take it from there, you know? One opportunity at a time and see what, see what happens.

• 23:28Lewis Howes?

  So what's your vision for yourself right now? What do you wanna really create?

• 23:32Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:33Lewis Howes?

  Over the next couple of years?

• 23:34Speaker 02

  Yeah. What do I really want to create?

• 23:37Lewis Howes?

  What's the result you want to create?

• 23:39Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 23:41Lewis Howes?

  Cause I know you enjoy, you know, your passion is creating this, this art.

• 23:44Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:45Lewis Howes?

  Uh, producing this music and this art and this poetry. But what's the result you want to have with people?

• 23:50Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah. Well, see, that's the thing. All these questions are tricky, man.

• 23:56Lewis Howes?

  You have some philosophical answer for me on every one of them.

• 23:59Speaker 02

  Well, that's the thing, man. Like you, you gotta, it's a book called The Tao Te Ching, Book of the Way. Some people say it's the wisest book ever written, written by a guy named Lao Tzu. You've probably seen memes and stuff on Facebook with Lao Tzu. And um, he, he, he talks about, we've got to put our all into the action, but we've got to let go of the result. We don't know what's gonna happen. And the more you worry about what's gonna happen, the more neurotic you become. The path to serenity is putting your all into what you're doing and letting go, cause you don't own that. The, the, the, you put something out to the, the world owns that. You don't have that anymore. It's done. It's over with. Forget about it. And that's how I feel when I create, like I'm, I'm, I forget about my projects. I'm on to the, I'm here.

• 24:44Speaker 02

  You know, and I'm creating, cause, cause all of that is, it's dead. It doesn't move anymore.

• 24:48Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 24:49Speaker 02

  For me.

• 24:50Lewis Howes?

  But when you have, let's say you put out a video. Do you have a vision of how many, you know, downloads you want it to have, how many views? Or you're just like, well, I'm putting it out and whatever happens, happens.

• 25:00Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 25:00Lewis Howes?

  And if it gets one view, then I did my job.

• 25:02Speaker 02

  I try, I try to reach as many people as possible, man. Like I've studied like the art of, of going viral. I've had eight years of experience trying to see, cause I, I want to reach people. I want to, I want to create content to galvanize as many people as possible to look inside of themselves. Um, so I, I put my all, all into that, but at the same time, you never know. You can try to, I, I've got a, a recipe and I try to put the, the ingredients together. But at the end of the day, you know, it might be a little off, you know, it might not taste good. Um, so, so yeah, I, I kind of let it go, um, and, and learn from it.

• 25:36Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 25:36Speaker 02

  If it doesn't do well, it was an experiment, you know, what did I, what did I do wrong? I keep it moving.

• 25:42Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, okay.

• 25:44Speaker 02

  So my vision, I want to reach, I want to reach millions, man. Like, one of my, one of my funny dreams is to create something that reaches as many people as Gangnam Style reached.

• 25:54Lewis Howes?

  That was big.

• 25:55Speaker 02

  Like, two billion or three billion, something like that.

• 25:57Lewis Howes?

  That's all? I thought it was more.

• 25:59Speaker 02

  Nah, nah.

• 26:00Lewis Howes?

  Two, three billion views on the YouTube video, right?

• 26:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah. I think it's, what is it, seven point something billion in the world?

• 26:06Lewis Howes?

  Man.

• 26:06Speaker 02

  People.

• 26:07Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. Alright, so what do you think it's gonna take from you?

• 26:10Speaker 02

  Right.

• 26:10Lewis Howes?

  What way of being do you need to be in order to create that?

• 26:13Speaker 02

  Right, right. Um, that's the experiment, man.

• 26:18Lewis Howes?

  And what's been missing from you so far in order to create that impact?

• 26:22Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:22Lewis Howes?

  Or that viewership, let's say.

• 26:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 26:27Lewis Howes?

  Curious, what do you think it is?

• 26:31Speaker 02

  Well, you know, that video, I think it actually had a very socially conscious message. A lot of people don't know that, the Gangnam Style did, but we were kind of caught up in the dance and that. So it's, it's a lot of moving parts to, to, to going viral. Something aesthetically unorthodox. That video was crazy, you know? I gotta, what makes, if you wanna, you wanna go viral, you gotta kind of look inside again and, and figure out, why do I, why do I share stuff? You know, what, what makes me want to share stuff? Usually people want to share for the same reason as you do. So that video was shared because it was crazy, it was a dance, it was, it was being shared.

• 27:10Speaker 02

  So for me personally, I don't know what it's gonna take to, to create something like that. I'm happy with, with the, the views, because I've already gotten a lot of, a lot of hits, man, and I'm very, I'm very happy with the reach that I have.

• 27:21Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 27:21Speaker 02

  Uh, but it would be cool to create like the biggest YouTube video, something that could, could really shift people, like on, on that, like, going forth of the planet would be crazy.

• 27:31Lewis Howes?

  So what do you think it's gonna take then? What's the ma, what's the message, what's the topic, what's the everything, what's the perfect recipe for that?

• 27:39Speaker 02

  It's gotta, I don't know, but it's gotta be something. It's gotta be something that that that it doesn't matter what race, what class, gender. It's just it's just on a human level. Uh, and it transcends all of that stuff. It's gotta be something that resonates with the heart.

• 27:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I would have thought that Facebook video would have been, you know, it kind of had legs to go that far. Because it was on the platform of, you know, a billion people and everything. But you didn't think it had enough? I thought it touched to a lot of different people, you know, with the technology and how we're just like stuck in our phones.

• 28:12Speaker 02

  Yeah. Yeah, it didn't. I mean, I, you know, it it didn't work. So, I mean,

• 28:19Speaker 02

  it did get a lot of hits.

• 28:22Lewis Howes?

  But not a couple billion.

• 28:23Speaker 02

  Not three billion. So I don't know what it is, man, but but I I keep trying and and if it doesn't happen, I'm I'm okay, you know?

• 28:31Lewis Howes?

  What's something in your life that you avoid? Whatever it is you're thinking right there.

• 28:38Lewis Howes?

  Cause I saw something in your heart double jump.

• 28:40Speaker 02

  That is that.

• 28:42Lewis Howes?

  That's what I want to hear.

• 28:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, well, um, I avoid thoughts that don't serve me. You know, like, we, cause, cause everything is mine, right? The whole world exists in our heads. And without without thoughts, there is no mind. Mind is a bundle of thoughts. So,

• 29:03Speaker 02

  I shift my attention from, I question my thoughts and shift my attention from from thoughts that don't serve me. So I avoid that, avoid negative thoughts about like what could happen and projections.

• 29:18Lewis Howes?

  How often do those thoughts come in? Daily, hourly, weekly?

• 29:22Speaker 02

  Oh, they're getting less and less, fewer and fewer as I as I progress and become more centered. But thoughts, thoughts just come, they come from, they come from, who knows? Nobody knows where they come from. They just come in. But the the secret is to not. Relate to them, not to always question them, to watch them come and go. Cause when you, when you, when you latch on to a thought, you, you give it energy. You know, that negative thought, it grows.

• 29:46Lewis Howes?

  Right, right. Who would you say is your biggest inspiration in your industry, the music industry? And then also, or the, the poetry industry? And then also, who is your biggest inspiration in other industries? Other walks of life?

• 29:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:59Lewis Howes?

  That, that inspires you to do the work that you do?

• 30:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, I always gotta say like Immortal Technique totally just changed me. Um, his music has inspired me to, um, to wanna make a difference and to, to, to, to have a positive voice, um, from the beginning. So I always, I would always say him musically. Um, in other ways, um, there's so many different people, man, in the, in the,

• 30:26Speaker 02

  the spiritual realm and, and that, that I've read books from and, and studied and, but one guy who, uh, who I really resonate with is, is a guy named Muji. Muji is, um,

• 30:41Speaker 02

  he doesn't really identify with, with any, any, uh, particular religions. You know, it's just the, it's just the mastery of, of the mind and the, the self-inquiry. Who, who am I? You know, I think the biggest question we can ask ourselves is, is who am I? And, and he has a lot of content on that. That, um, that, that really put me face to face with that, with that question.

• 31:03Lewis Howes?

  Huh, alright, cool. What about, um, in the sports world?

• 31:06Speaker 02

  Hmm. Um, first thing that came to mind was, uh, it was Ray Allen. Cause, cause like I was growing up, I was a huge fan. Like I spent hours in the gym every day, working on my jump shot, you know? Um, loved the movie He Got Game as well. Uh, Ray Allen is, is, is one of my favorite players. Um, so off the top, off the top of my head.

• 31:30Lewis Howes?

  And if you could, uh, only meet one person who is no longer with us? Only one person, who would you meet?

• 31:39Lewis Howes?

  And why?

• 31:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, wow, deep questions, man. Need quick responses. Ah, let's see, one person no longer with us. I mean, you gotta go with the, the, the, the greats, like the, the Jesus, the Buddha, the, the Christian, like, you gotta go with these guys, you know?

• 31:57Lewis Howes?

  So which one would it be?

• 31:58Speaker 02

  Whichever you pick. Buddha, the Buddha would be cool.

• 32:01Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:03Speaker 02

  You know, Siddhartha would be, would be cool.

• 32:05Lewis Howes?

  The original?

• 32:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 32:07Lewis Howes?

  The OG?

• 32:07Speaker 02

  Mm-hmm.

• 32:08Lewis Howes?

  Alright, I like it. Why do you think him over Jesus?

• 32:11Speaker 02

  I mean, they, they both, they say the same thing. Maybe tomorrow I'll say Jesus, you know?

• 32:16Lewis Howes?

  Alright, cool. I like it.

• 32:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:19Lewis Howes?

  What's the biggest fear for you?

• 32:21Speaker 02

  Hmm, fear, wow. I just, I just keep over complicating your questions, man, because I got these answers. Fear, false evidence appearing real. Once I question the fears, they disappear. You know, so they're not big anymore. They're, they're, they're ghosts. You know, what, what medicine do you give a ghost with a toothache? Nothing, it's an illusion. It's not real. The fear isn't real.

• 32:48Speaker 02

  So, yeah, the, the, the, there's no, there's nothing. Totally fearless right now.

• 32:53Lewis Howes?

  Right. What, um, what inspires you locally right now? What inspires you in St. Louis?

• 32:59Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 32:59Lewis Howes?

  Or do you get more inspired when you travel?

• 33:02Speaker 02

  Yeah, man, um, there's a, there's a pretty good, um, music scene in St. Louis. Pretty good underground artists, uh, MME and Teff Po and Rockwell Knuckles and these guys have been doing stuff for a while and making good, good music. Um, and you know, St. Louis was the, where the Ferguson event happened and there was a lot of, um, a lot of inspiration there. A lot of people stepped up and, and wanted to see some, some change.

• 33:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. How was that going, by the way?

• 33:31Speaker 02

  Um, it's, you know.

• 33:33Lewis Howes?

  I haven't seen as much on the news anymore.

• 33:34Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 33:35Lewis Howes?

  It's kind of died out.

• 33:35Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 33:35Lewis Howes?

  The next crazy thing that happened or whatever.

• 33:37Speaker 02

  The next thing is Baltimore and it's somewhere else. And then, yeah, it's, it's, um, you know, it's St. Louis is, is, is always, um, one of the most dangerous cities in the nation.

• 33:49Lewis Howes?

  My buddy's a cop in, uh, I think it was North St. Louis. Or what's the most dangerous side of the South Side?

• 33:53Speaker 02

  It's probably north. I don't know. I live on the North Side.

• 33:56Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 33:56Speaker 02

  That's North Side's always crazy.

• 33:58Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, he's a cop either on the North Side or the South Side. It's like one of the dangerous spot.

• 34:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:03Lewis Howes?

  He's had some stories, man.

• 34:04Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 34:05Lewis Howes?

  It's pretty nuts.

• 34:05Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah. Yeah, my, my family is, is, is full of police and officers and, yeah, man, it's, uh, it's pretty interesting. Um, but it was also inspirational to see what came out of it and hopefully to see some type of change come out of it.

• 34:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly. How dangerous is it to compare minds?

• 34:24Speaker 02

  What do you mean by that?

• 34:25Lewis Howes?

  How dangerous is it for people to compare themselves to other minds?

• 34:29Speaker 02

  Oh, man, that's, um, that's misery, you know? When you, when you compare, um, cause I've personally, I've spent a large part of my life comparing myself to others.

• 34:41Lewis Howes?

  Really? Why?

• 34:42Speaker 02

  Um, I don't know. It's kind of ingrained. It was ingrained, you know? I think that growing up, you, you, and especially as an artist, you know, you, you think you should be somewhere else. You should be them. You should be that, that guy on TV or why, why aren't I doing this and that? And, um, but you will, you know? And I think that every, you know, there's, flowers grow at their own pace, you know? They don't grow at the same, in the same time.

• 35:11Lewis Howes?

  Mm-hmm.

• 35:11Speaker 02

  So, um, just keep, keep at it and, uh, it'd be beautiful with flowering, you know? And we realize that, yeah, it's the, cause the comparing mind is, is, is, is very bad.

• 35:22Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 35:23Speaker 02

  Very bad. Cause you, cause you never, cause really you're comparing an image that you think that that person is or where that person is. You think that person is happy. That's only an image. You don't have any idea that person is happy.

• 35:36Lewis Howes?

  You just see their Instagram page or whatever.

• 35:38Speaker 02

  Exactly, exactly. So that, that leads to a lot of, a lot of inner suffering.

• 35:42Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, okay. Do you feel like you were a sensitive kid growing up?

• 35:47Speaker 02

  Uh, yeah, I think so. Somewhere, I mean, I'm too sensitive, but.

• 35:54Speaker 02

  But I was, I was probably sensitive, man. I was, I'm very sensitive to my mom's voice, man.

• 35:58Lewis Howes?

  Oh, yeah?

• 35:59Speaker 02

  Cause, yeah, cause, cause when she gets angry, it's not, it's not pretty. And it being a, not a great student growing up. It was, yeah, a lot of, a lot of yelling.

• 36:08Lewis Howes?

  What's the thing you always wanted growing up, but never had?

• 36:12Speaker 02

  Hmm, but never had? Wow. Uh, probably like a, a, a system or something, like a gaming system. Like, I mean, I had like-

• 36:21Lewis Howes?

  Nintendo or something?

• 36:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, I had a Sega and then I never had like a, then I had a PlayStation one. But between that, I think it was a time where I wanted to play some games, um, like Dreamcast or I don't know.

• 36:33Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure. Okay, cool. Um, let's wrap it up with a few more questions here. Um, how many books have you read?

• 36:41Speaker 02

  Hmm, ah, man, I don't know.

• 36:44Lewis Howes?

  Hundreds, thousands, you think?

• 36:45Speaker 02

  No, no, no, probably not thousands, hundreds.

• 36:47Lewis Howes?

  Hundreds?

• 36:47Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 36:48Lewis Howes?

  But it seems like you've read a lot of interesting books that most people wouldn't read. So my question is, um, if you could leave behind three books to the world.

• 36:56Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 36:57Lewis Howes?

  If this was your last day and you said, here are the three books that everyone has to read.

• 37:02Speaker 02

  Hmm.

• 37:03Lewis Howes?

  That represent you and what the message that you want to have come across, what would those three books be?

• 37:08Speaker 02

  Hmm, wow, wow, wow. One is the Tao, the Tao Te Ching. Um, that was, that's a great book, Book of the Way.

• 37:17Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 37:17Speaker 02

  Um, I think, uh, uh, immediately what comes to mind is the second Book of the Tao, which is a, a, a, a translation and commentary by a guy named Steven Mitchell, who just totally like, it's just, it's a great, great book. Um, he personally gave it to me.

• 37:34Lewis Howes?

  Oh, wow.

• 37:35Speaker 02

  Yeah. Um, third would be, wow, um, I, I, I listen to a lot of audiobooks, by the way. Um-

• 37:45Lewis Howes?

  Well, it could be an audiobook.

• 37:46Speaker 02

  There's a, there's a book by a guy named, that I just picked up and I don't know why it's coming to me, why I want to say it, but it's a great book. It's, it's a book of his satsangs, which is like his, his teachings, um, like almost classes and that they're transcribed.

• 38:02Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 38:03Speaker 02

  So this book is called I Am That and his name is, uh, Maharaj. That's a great, a great book. Um, yeah.

• 38:10Lewis Howes?

  Cool.

• 38:10Speaker 02

  We'll go with those three.

• 38:11Lewis Howes?

  I like it. Speaking along the lines of death, because that's coming up for me for some reason. If this was your last day.

• 38:17Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:18Lewis Howes?

  And you had, uh- Three truths that you've known to be true about the world from your experience from birth till now. And every video you've ever created somehow got erased.

• 38:30Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 38:30Lewis Howes?

  Everything, work, piece of art you've got, you've created has gone. And, you know, I say, here's a piece of paper. I want you to write down the three truths. This will be on the internet for the rest of time for people to see what you believe is true about the world. What would you leave behind as those three truths?

• 38:46Speaker 02

  Oh, my goodness gracious.

• 38:50Speaker 02

  Oh, man. What's funny is, I think it was the Buddha. No, maybe it was, maybe it was Lao Tzu again. He said, I only have three things to teach patience, compassion and simplicity.

• 39:03Speaker 02

  But for me, about the world, I would, I would tell people that the world is you.

• 39:11Speaker 02

  Reality happens from the inside out. You know, the only difference between a weed and a flower is a judgment.

• 39:19Speaker 02

  If you're a gardener and you like done dandelions, that's a flower. You know, it's, it's, it's up to you, you know, whether you want to see a violent person is angry and violent. Or if you want to see them, it's, it's, it's a lot of pain manifesting is this. It's a lot of hurt and they need compassion. So that's one, the world is you. That's the biggest, I might just, just leave it with that, man. But if I had to pick two others, just to be verbose, figure out who you are. Biggest question ever, you know, what is this being inside of this body looking at you through these eyes? Abandon your, your race, abandon your, forget about it, forget about your race, forget about your name.

• 40:05Speaker 02

  Forget about what people told you you are. Just be with nothing for one moment of your life and try to figure out what you are. Try to go beyond the mind and figure that out. Um, that's two. Um, three, just be here, just be present, you know? Now is it, it's all you ever have. Um, nobody ever, nobody's ever told you what tomorrow look like, you know? We only experience tomorrow in the now. We've only been here now and this moment is constantly, once you have it, it's gone. You know, so just flow, just be here, focus on the present moment completely. Forget about your memories, forget about your projections in the future, just be here and smile.

• 40:47Lewis Howes?

  That's great. Final question before I, before I ask it, I wanna take a moment to acknowledge you. I like to acknowledge my guests for coming on because each guest brings a different gift to the world, a different inspiration, and I choose each guest very intentionally. I don't just randomly bring someone on, it's very intentional because of what opens up for me when I think of that person. So I'm gonna take a moment to acknowledge you, Prince, for your consistent curiosity. You have a consistent curiosity over the years and for your ability to use your artistic gifts to open up imagination and change in the world.

• 41:28Lewis Howes?

  And I really appreciate the gift that you have and that dedication to impacting as many people as possible. So, so thank you for that gift.

• 41:36Speaker 02

  Thank you, Lewis.

• 41:37Lewis Howes?

  And for all that you do to, uh, to make an impact. And, you know, if I didn't see that video, whenever it was, a year ago or something, I wouldn't be sitting in front of you now and I wanted to have been following up with you and finding ways to get in touch with you and been texting back and forth for the last four months or whatever you've been doing. So, uh, I really acknowledge you for your constant curiosity and that curiosity that drives you to create magic in everyone else.

• 42:01Speaker 02

  Well, thank you, man.

• 42:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I appreciate that. Um, final question.

• 42:04Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 42:05Lewis Howes?

  Is what's your definition of greatness?

• 42:09Speaker 02

  Hmm, having the courage to, um, to find out who you are and to be who you are, to live your, your, your, your, your destiny, you know, from that internal blueprint. Not what, not what society is, is telling us, um, that we should do, who we should be, but from the inside, that's, that's greatness.

• 42:34Lewis Howes?

  There you go. Prince, thanks for coming on, bro. Appreciate you, man.

• 42:37Speaker 02

  I appreciate you too. Yeah.

• 42:42Lewis Howes?

  There you have it guys, I hope you enjoyed this episode and thank you very much to Richard Williams for coming on and sharing his wisdom. Again, share this with your friends, LewisHowes.com/202. We'll have all the behind the scenes information, some great photos from the day's interview and video as well. So head back to LewisHowes.com/202. Share this with your friends on social media, email your friends the link. Get the word out about the School of Greatness. I appreciate you guys so much. Again, thank you guys so much. Thank you to Richard Williams for coming on and sharing his wisdom. You guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.