Jeezy evolution of his music, pain, pressure and why he never folded in the darkest times| The Pivot

We hear the phrase, it's lonely at the top. You know, that shit real. You got to get comfortable with your own company. It's messy in the beginning. It's tricky in the middle. But it's beautiful in the end.

So they lock us up. And I go to jail. And they don't let me finish the last show. I'm looking at my stage set as they putting handcuffs on me. What was the transition of growth, I made a decision to leave the streets and what I knew I made a decision and I stuck with it even when it

Got hard even when I was lonely even when I was confused You know I come from a culture where in an era where you couldn't really plan for Christmas because you didn't know if he was Gonna make it what's one thing healing taught you that trees could never I've lived nine lives My only defense mechanism was just to be able to become numb. That's the beauty of it all, because I was really depressed. Three songs in, and I just see shit flying on the stage. And I'm like, yo, man, I'm telling my security.

I'm like, yo, they throwing stuff at me. He says, sir, those are panties and bras.

I was like, oh my god.

Do you have any idea how much money you done thrown at the strip club?

I regret none of it. My family, my kids are my joy. They're like my life. Just like anything else in life, the minute that you start wanting to be accepted is the minute you lose yourself.

Hold up, limitless, niggas in me got a pen in it I find the head to witness it Young my people feeling militant When I'm finna get me up On a mission, get me up Knowing me, I got the key

On the vision, I can trust, trust ♪ ♪ Limitless, nigga still me cop, pen and ink, I fought the head to witness it, know my people feeling militant ♪

I brought Yeezy to Gainesville.

Make him dare to do it. My boy.

Man, pleasure, man.

Pleasure, brother.

Yes sir, yes sir.

Already. with him though. That's what happened? You said, oh five, man, I got to college in 02, was in Trap or Die.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

And the Mississippi, Del Monte,

they say, bro, what's that?

Don't worry, I'll burn you one, I ain't buy it.

Yeah, no.

They weren't for sale.

Hey, you say you brought him to Gainesville. This is real life story. Before Super Bowl in Jacksonville, you came down and did a show. Bam, promoted. That was my homeboy.

I actually gave him the bread to bring you to Jacksonville.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, I was in a wheelchair on crutches. I was a little banged up. But you did your thing.

OK.

Left.

He was good, or you straight away?

He just passed away, heart attack.

OK.

But you, legendary for sure. You know what's crazy about that story is that's where I lost my voice at. That show. Wow. That's when it actually happened. Nobody taught me how to perform, you know, because I'm coming straight from the streets, you know, and it started to work over the years and now I got to do these performances. And that was like the biggest show I ever done.

Right. Because before then, all the shows I was doing was like in these hole-in-the-wall clubs that even have stages, you had to stand on the speakers. And I was so excited about coming to Jacksonville for the Super Bowl, show up about 100 deep, three tour buses, we pull up all black, going there mobbing, I get the mic,

the sound system a little hot, I'm yelling, screaming, and I get back to the bus after the show and I can't talk. And I couldn't talk for like maybe almost eight months after that.

That's crazy.

And I had to get surgery. Coach K had to take me to get surgery. I was embarrassed to tell him I ain't have insurance. You know what I'm saying? I had two Ferraris at the driveway.

You ain't got no insurance.

You got car insurance though.

You ain't got no insurance. I didn't understand the concept, you know what I'm saying? But until I had to do it, so I had to get surgery. And that was right around the time that I signed my first deal with Def Jam. So I was hiding out from them. Because they was looking for me to do a promo run, but I couldn't talk, but I didn't want the label

to know that. So we was all concerned that once I got the surgery, I might not sound the same. So that was the kind of feel, but that's Jacksonville. That's what I do, Ball County. Well, if you heard the voice or see the face, you know exactly who it is already. Yeah.

Jay-Jeezy Jenkins.

Jenkins.

Jenkins, as they probably call him in Atlanta. This is Fred Taylor. This is Chandler Crown.

I'm Ryan Clark.

Yes, sir. Pivot family, man.

Thank you for pivot the UPS.

Yeah, yeah.

Tell us that story.

So this was around the same time.

Yeah.

So I got everybody living in my house with me. Like mind you, I got my whole neighborhood. Everybody living in my house in Alpharetta. And after surgery, we come off the road because I can't perform. everybody's just at my house, and I gotta do vocal lessons to get my voice back. Shout out to Miss Jan, she's the best.

She was Justin Bieber's and Selena Gomez's vocal coach when she come to be that. And she had me play these CDs and sing along with them. So it'd be like, fa la la la la, la la. So imagine being in the house full of people from your neighborhood, and you singing in the shower

trying to get your voice back. So it was crazy. And then we was in there rehearsing one day, going through the different notes. And I guess the UPS guy normally just drop packages off there, and it's like, you know, he just come in,

hi, Jay, how you doing? He came in, dropped the packages off, hey Jay, how you doing? He got to the door, he was like, is that Jeezy? I was like, oh man. Probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do because you know, my ego was, you know, yeah, because I had to get better.

I was scared, I lost my voice for good, but I was finally getting it back. But man, it was hard, man, because you know, the homies get to cracking jokes, man. I mean, you know, it's crazy. Being the meal ticket, like you said, when did you have to stop that? The meal ticket?

Yeah, you can't have the whole hood live with you forever. When did you have to stop that? No, I did, I did, man. I moved to Malibu. I got a place in Malibu, got a place, put a studio in the basement, I was recording. But at the time I was kind of away from Atlanta, so I just started seeing things differently. I would like, I was doing little remixes and hearing stuff there, but I was changing what I was saying because I was reading a lot more and I was just more exposed to other things that were going on in the world than just in Atlanta. And I get this call from Farrakhan. He calls my phone, shout out to Farrakhan. And he said, Jeezy, you know, you know,

your enemy's coming because your message is changing. And I was like, with all due respect, Mr. Farrakhan, my enemies are in my hood.

You know what I'm saying?

Tell you, no one in Malibu, I'm gonna be all right. I didn't understand what he was saying. He was basically telling me that my message was changing and there was other forces that were working against me. And what happened was, I was on tour with Khalifa, sold out tour, we were doing 40,000 people a night, great. The whole tour run was great. I only took the right people. I didn't have any extra people.

It was everybody that was working, my assistant, my drivers, my security. I had one of the homies with me because he just was good on the road. And I get off the stage, we get to a bay, and we do the show. And normally I stay and watch Wiz perform

because I go on right before he does. But it was so many people backstage that I opted out and I went to the hotel. And when I got to the hotel, one of my guys called me and told me, don't come back to the venue and I didn't understand why and somebody had

Got killed in front of our tour bus backstage and they thought we had something to do with it We went through that whole thing and they finally came and got me the next morning and they cancelled the next show Which was in San Diego and now we got a free day off So now I get to LA before the last show that's in Anaheim and Chris Brown calls me and asks me to come to his album release party. I go to his album release party and this is the night the shooting happened with Suge and everybody got shot up. I'm standing

right there, you know what I'm saying? And just so happened when we leave there, I go to the hotel room. Now I'm exhausted and I'm tired and I tell my man, hey, in the morning, just call me a car service and I'll get on the car instead of the bus, because I've been on the bus the whole time. My guy looks at me and says, hey, man, you should just ride the bus so you can rest. I say, you know what, you right.

Get on the bus the next morning, go to the venue. Guess what happens? Call DJ drama. Hey everything cool at the venue. It's all good It must be light-skinned tendencies because he was like, it's all good. Everything. Everything's fine. Yeah, just a little extra security Man, we get there. I'm laying in the back of the bus and we sit at the gate for like 30 minutes I know I go on in like 45 minutes. I'm like what's going on? So I'm sleep So when I get up I hear somebody knocking on the door, and it's the police. But it's police from the back of the bus where I'm at all the way to the front.

So all the police that came from the Bay and all these detectives about what happened in the Bay. But they know that the firearms was on the bus because my security was on the bus, but they're not on the bus now. So it's just us on the bus, so they lock us up. And I go to jail, and they don't let me finish the last show.

I'm looking at my stage set as they're putting handcuffs on me. Everybody's standing backstage. When stuff like that is happening, and you feel like you moved away from not only that life, but physically took yourself from where you were doing certain things, did it feel like your past was almost chasing you in a way? It was. And to answer your question, why did I change, is because I didn't do anything

wrong that time and it still came and found me. And I knew right then and there that I had to make a change. And a lot of people that I loved that was around then, I just had to make a decision to let that go because it was just bringing things into my life that didn't even matter. If I did the right thing, it was there. And the only way that I was going to put a buffer between that and me is if I just created my own space

and I knew that everything around me was in good energy.

But how did people see that, though, bro? You know, for us, when you make it, we all supposed to make it.

Hardest decision I ever made in my life. Hardest decision I ever made in my life. You know, I love everybody. I'm never gonna, I got love for anybody that ever had love for me. But I also understand what my purpose is on this earth as a leader.

I understand that truly. Like, I take solitude. I go by myself. I do the things that other people. And it took years of giving myself grace, allowing myself the space to evolve and understanding this is my path,

this is what I gotta walk on. And when you hear the phrase, it's lonely at the top, that shit real.

It's really real.

But there's a reason for that. You gotta get comfortable with your own company. You gotta get comfortable with your own discipline, your own sacrifices. And got to get comfortable with your own discipline, your own sacrifices. And what I will tell anybody at first is like everything is messy in the beginning, it's tricky in the middle, but it's beautiful in the end. The space I'm in right now, like

I had to battle myself. Nobody, it was nobody else. I had to battle, you know, my vices. I had to battle my mindset. I had to battle me wanting to do what's easy, because I just thought that was going to make life easy, but it actually made life hard. And I had to also battle what I'd known, because I've always had this safety net of knowing that I can go back to what I knew if this didn't work.

And I had to kind of throw that out the window. So now I'm out here. Hardest decision I ever made, bro. Because it's like, when you really look at it, you're right. When we make it, we all supposed to make it. And then, you know, when you hear that, man, he ain't looked out for me. But when I start to look at the world,

I see everybody go through that. Actors, lawyers, doctors, it ain't just us anymore. You know what I'm saying? Athletes. So once you see that, you need to be is if you continue to evolve. Because it took me, I was in my 40s to have real friends.

You know what I'm saying? People that I could depend on to hold me accountable. People that do things for me without me even asking or check on me when they ain't heard from me in a little bit. You know what I'm saying? Or guys that support me instead of saying, I don't know if that's gonna work. They'll call you, like I had like 10 calls this morning

where guys were just like, man, congratulations on the residency. Me and wifey got tickets and we coming, we supporting, we pulling up. It wasn't always like that because, you know, sometimes your success may make the people around you look at you different. Not because you did anything to them, but because now the new you makes the old, well, that makes them feel uncomfortable, right?

The new you. And it's just like, the money is good, the success is good, but what I thrive for most is the peace. You know what I'm saying? And if it ain't aligned with my peace,

then I gotta choose me.

You know what I'm saying?

It's unfortunate, man, but it's the sad truth that you don't really hear other communities talk about looking back. In our community, if someone makes it, and then you've kind of changed your life and you've expanded and you've grown, it's frowned upon almost.

Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And you'll get more toxicity and negative comments because you've done your thing and the expectation is you gotta pull us together. But it's usually just our own community.

My question would be if your old self, trap or die Jeezy era, were to sit across from you right now, what would you respect the most in this journey of you? And it's funny you say that about our community, but just as I look at you brothers, you can

tell y'all like-minded. You just had to find your tribe. You know what I'm saying? And that's how you dial in on your tribe. I think it would tell me that, you know, he's very proud because I chose myself for a change. I've always been a provider, a leader, somebody who really, you know what I'm saying? My sister and my mother, you know, we grew up in a trailer that wasn't bigger than this room.

You know, when I had to move back to the States with my mother and I bought her that trailer, it was $3,500 for the trailer. Now you from Tampa, you know. I think he would tell me that he's proud because I made a decision and I stuck with it even when it got hard, even when I was lonely,

even when I was confused, even when I was unsure. You know, and it's just like, I've done that before. I made a decision to leave the streets and what I knew when everybody thought it was funny because I was in the studio. And now when people starting to get indicted

and go to prison, my career's actually taking off. But I made that decision a long time ago. People were buying new Ferraris and new chains, and I was just like, I'm just gonna sit in this somewhere. I'm gonna put this 200 into the studio. They're like, why would you do that?

And it worked, but I did that, and then this life came. But my uncle used to tell me back in the day, you gotta work on you because you may gain all these accolades, you may be the guy in the Rolls Royce, but if your mental ain't right, you're gonna just be somebody in the Rolls Royce

with some problems, or the same problems. So I took pride in working on myself, and I think he would tell me that he's proud of that because that's the biggest battle that anybody gonna go through, especially being a black man. Like, you know, you coming out of depression, you coming out of pressure. You know what I mean?

You going with the world every day. You coming home, you looking at your wounds and you trying to figure it out. And you know, like all of us, we're making something out of nothing. We don't have a physical product.

We don't have something in our hand that our family created and built and we're taking it in and we're just enhancing it, you know, we gotta get out on the field.

So it's not generational wealth handed down.

We gotta get on the field, we gotta get on the stage, we gotta get in the studio, and it's like we're creating or we're pushing our bodies to the limit to take care of people, and that gets heavy on you, man. You know what I'm saying?

Talking about trap or die-jeezy. Uh-oh. He be like, hey. No, he said, hey, man, I ain't talking to her about none of that. But we got to settle up, man.

With that black bandana.

Wired, ACA, just Venmo, whatever. You know, we can just settle up. Because you owe me $100,000.

I do?

Yes.

What happened?

You promote it?

You promote it for her?

No. that I have to get a Chevy same color Tropicana orange. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You told me that. That's me and you both though.

We got to put it together.

Because I had the two. Right, I got my check as soon as I signed. I ain't even have no check, I got a credit line. Before I bought my mama something, before I bought a pair Monte Carlo SS. You know what color I painted? Tropicana. Tropicana on his shoes. Alligator skin interior.

JLW12, I had to go to Juwan, because you told me that's why I get my sound right. Yes, that's why I got to get my sound right.

So it was a terrible investment.

Shout out to Juwan.

Shout out to Juwan, man.

But did you know that young, like, honestly me, I was so influenced by you that as soon as I got money, I had to go do what Jeezy told me to do. You know what it was, was I had a vivid imagination because I used to be in these different places trying to get my money up. And the first time I went to Florida,

which was Fort Lauderdale, and I got with some guys down there, I saw the culture of that you know I'm saying like the purple Chevys with the gold like it was like I couldn't believe it you know I'm saying and when I went back to Atlanta you know I was like man I'm gonna get me a you know say I'm just bring me one up Chevy like I didn't know that about Chevys like that cuz you know Atlanta we did like old schools on button it's like we did like like the classic 442s or Chevelles.

But I'm bringing this up to Georgia from what I learned from Florida. And people were so receptive to it. So when I was rapping about it, I was speaking my truth. But in my heart, I was kind of hurting because I couldn't afford a Rolls Royce.

You know what I'm saying? So this was the next best thing.

You know what I'm saying? So this was the next best thing. You know what I'm saying?

And when I made Trap or Die, I knew that was going to be an anthem, but I did not know that somebody else was going to paint their cars orange. So I'll tell you that right now.

Some people, hey, some people you can mold into what you want to be. Channa was coachable. He did everything you said. He would have gotten a cracker down skill. You know what I'm talking about? Obviously, man, in 2005, July 26, I believe it was, Thug Motivation changed, in my opinion, it changed rap. Because you look at what Atlanta was, obviously Outkast is the greatest duo of all time.

TI was already giving us Atlanta trap music, and then it was just totally different. You kind of became like the true godfather of trap music that led to what Atlanta was to be. And I think that was a soundtrack for all of us in 05. But I want to move to recession and recession too.

And because I think now some of the things you did around meeting with Joe Biden in 2020, my president is black, right? On the first recession spoke so much to you being more socially conscious in your space. What was the transition of growth

that took you from trap or die to in those two moments thinking outside of yourself, even to record My President is Black, four months before

he won? Well, let me say this. From Streets is Watching to Trap or Die to Thug Motivation, I was in a very dark space. I know it looked good on paper and everybody thought, but I was battling what we're talking about. I was battling the fact that I was having to choose myself

over what I knew. I was having to make real decisions, like, you know, because Thug Motivation, it was one foot in, one foot out. Like, I was really, like, literally trying to balance it. You know what I mean? And that's when Tip came in and told me, you know, you can't do both.

And I didn't understand that, because I'm like, ain't y'all all doing both? So I was in a dark place, drinking a lot, partying a lot, you know what I'm saying, just into vices, because I was trying to cope with what was going on. I didn't know if you was going to make it. You know what I'm saying? You can't plan for certain things

because you just don't know. Like, people are going to jail and dying around you every day. And it's just like, that's your reality. I would wake up and have these nightmares of just things that would happen. And I would get these phone calls from people

that it was just like, they just picked such and such. I'd be like, damn. And in your mind, you're like, they're coming to get me next. Because that's the only thing I could, what was next? And I woke up one day, and this is around 2008. And I woke up, and I was, you know, because I had been drinking, so I was overweight. I saw myself on TV.

My skin was bad. You know, I wasn't really just on point. And I just was like, you know what? I'm done with everything. So I just stopped drinking, stopped, you know, hanging, partying. I put my cars up, put my jewelry up. I just started to get in shape, drinking more water,

because I was like, I was drinking more Cristal than water for sure. You know what I'm saying? I just started to get healthy. led to me having time for myself and to start working on my mental. And I just started to work on my mental, and I started to get back outside of the box

and talk to people who was outside of my world. And I was at dinner with these guys one night, and they was talking about the recession. And I didn't really know what it meant at first, but I know these guys were wealthy. And for me, I was like, why are they concerned about money

if they already got money? And I asked him. And he told me, he said, hey, man, this is real. This is going to affect the whole world. And my first mind was, I got to go tell my people. So how do I tell them? So now I'm doing the research, and I'm watching the news, I'm reading books. I'm taking the time to ask questions and I'm putting together this

project in the back of my mind and I'm going and it was crazy because I literally went in the studio like two days and Pick beats like I've never done this before because I normally like do a song here do a song I went to studio two days and pick beats from like midnight black I think it was D rich and a few more people and I instantly went in the studio and I stayed in there about ten days And I knocked went in the studio, and I stayed in there about 10 days, and I knocked this whole album out. And then I called my partner Kool, shout out to Kool, and I said, yo, come listen to this. And we listened to it together. I ain't let nobody else listen to it.

And he's like, this it. And I said, I know. And I said, you think he's going to win. He's got to win. Look at what's going on. And so I fought with the label, put it on there.

And another magical thing happened around that time, too. Kanye, his mother had just passed. And I had gave him one of the records me and Tip had. And it was called first verse he did since his mother passed. And like he went in. And when I went to the label, I was like, this is it. And everybody got behind it. I dropped it off to the radio station Greg Street in Atlanta. Played it like a thousand times and it blew up from there. But my thought process

was from that to that was I woke up one day and I was just like, man, I'm a star. I'm alive and I'm free. Like, I can't even think about this no more. I gotta lean into, and I ain't gonna lie, like, you know, I see all fellas been in there working out. I got the working out. And I had the first show of the Recession Tour in Boston,

and I'm literally on the stage. I'm in three songs in, and I just see shit flying on the stage. And I'm like, yo, man, I'm telling my security, I'm like, yo, they throwing stuff at me. He says, sir, those are panties and bras. I was like, oh my God.

I'm like, wait, what?

And I'm like, yo, I'm never, like, meaning, like, I'm never not gonna be healthy. Because I never, like, you got to think, when I was doing my shows, it was always the gangsters in front.

Yeah.

There was really no women there.

It was like 70-30. Now, everything's changed. It is flipping. It's like 30-70, you know what I'm saying? 30% guys, 70% women. when you hear the word sex symbol, you like, you never think it could be you. You know what I'm saying? He's like, they calling me handsome.

Right. Unless you him.

Oh, unless you him.

Yeah, unless you him. Oh, boy.

But it changed my whole mindset about things, and it also gave me the freedom to still tap into the culture, but do it in a way that I was giving them information instead of just telling them about what I did before.

You keep mentioning the dark place and adversity for Sel. You said you didn't have, like, you're talking about not having the words for depression. You eventually said publicly that it's just like you wake up and you just want to go back

to sleep.

Yeah.

Yep. What was the hardest for you in those moments to be depressed, not be able to understand it, but know as a black man, especially where you come from, mental health is not a topic, right? We aren't taught to live through that, to understand that,

to know that people saw you from the outside as Jeezy,

the snowman, but every day you have this internal battle. Because I was dealing with a lot of things at one time. You know, trauma for sure, a lot of post-traumatic stress, you know what I'm saying? A lot of not being able to connect with my emotions because I think at some point, after you lose so many people, and when I tell people the number, they look at me like I'm crazy,

but it's like, yeah, that's real. I mean, I've lived nine lives. I mean, I'm being honest. I've lived different lives with different sets of people. So I've been around a lot of people that's been into some things. And I've seen a lot of losses. And I just think at some point, my only defense mechanism

was just to be I didn't have any emotions. I wasn't attached to anything, and I could like cut things off. And like what they say, if you can't walk away from it in 30 seconds, like they say on heat, that was me for real. Like I could literally be like, oh, I'm good.

And not even, you know what I'm saying? And it was like, I was operating from scarcity. And I think in this season of my life, I'm operating from abundance. And it's totally different because, you know, it's like I feel real, like I didn't have feelings. I didn't have, I just knew that I thought something was wrong with me because I didn't understand why I was anxious all the time. But if you got to look over your shoulder every day, you're worried about this, that, and the third. You don't know, like, you're dealing with this every day. And the depressing part, I think,

came because I was also lost, too. And they say a man without a purpose, he's not even really a man. He don't know what he's doing. You know what I'm saying? And you definitely can't lead nobody else

because you can't lead yourself. It's like you're waking up every day and you don't know where to start. And I think that when I found a name for it, that helped me understand there was something that I could fix. And I would have to be willing and brave enough to step in and fix it.

And I tell people all the time, you know, I got a lot of my guys I talk to, like therapy helped me out a lot. You know what I'm saying? But that was a thing. I can afford it now. So why wouldn't I? You know what I'm saying? Whatever it may cost. And I got some of my guys like,

I'm not telling nobody what I'm going through. But once you start to go back and start to figure out why these things affect you, why you feel this way, it's like you get into this space of you're learning yourself, you're learning yourself, you're getting confidence in certain areas, you're learning how to not, like, you know, where I came from, you know, the most aggressive, violent person

is the one who everybody follows. Now it's like I'm having to get out of that and get into, like, I got to think like a thinker. Like, how would somebody who has wisdom, how would they handle this? Like, I can't look at my kids and get the same aggression that I was if somebody pissed me off in the streets because I don't know the difference between the two So as I started to get into that space where I was learning the names for things why these things happen What can I do? Like I didn't understand like you can calm yourself down by breathing I didn't know that you know, you got to take a walk sometime to get some stress off

You know I'm saying I didn't know that it's okay to like Open up to somebody that you really trust because I could be going through hell and I'm not going to tell nobody nothing. But now I got friends, I can call and be like, yo man, you ain't going to believe this. And they be like, what? And you tell them and it's like there's no judgment there. That gives you the freedom to be open. Like me and you was talking about my brother. You know what I'm going through something like, I got the information, like, let's talk, because I actually know what it's like to go through that. To me, that's the beauty of it all,

because I was really depressed. I was depressed in a way that when I was going to, you know, talk to people about this, physicians and the people in this field, they didn't understand how I was even operating with this amount of stress.

Like, my nerves was shot. My nervous system was bad. Like, I was in fight or flight for almost 15 years with no pause, imagine that. My whole body was tired, you know what I'm saying? Because I'm always on point about everything.

And now my life is like, it's so peaceful. And I choose peace over anything. Peace over any money, peace over any relationships, peace over any traveling, any friends, you know, even the stuff we're doing now with my team. It's like I'm choosing to do this. I don't have to do anything. I want to choose to do this deal. I want to choose to spend this time.

You know what I'm saying? Like I want to choose to take that solo. I want to choose to spend this time. You know what I'm saying? I want to choose to take that solo trip at least twice a year to go somewhere I'll never be in by myself. They're not going to even know who I am just because I want to roam

and I want to have that freedom and not have to feel like I've got to talk to everybody I see. And it's all love, but I could never do that in a depressed state because I was really depressed and I didn't understand that. And depression makes you mad at everybody.

You know what I'm saying?

Like everybody, for no reason. You know, I was literally walking down, I remember one time I almost missed my flight in Atlanta. These the same people that take care of me every day, man. I had to go back and apologize to all them folks like six months later. I'm like, I'm so sorry.

Yeah.

You know what I'm saying?

Because I lost it. You know what I'm saying? All because I was depressed and not really in a great space. But as time went, and by the way, let me say this too, because I made it my business to take some time and just go back and try to reconnect and smooth things out with people and tell them,

like, hey, look, man, I was really in a bad space. Like, what I said or what I did had nothing to do with you, bro. You know what I'm saying? I need you to know that. You know, you always been straight up with me.

You always been a good person, I was in a bad space and in hope that they understand that's where I'm at now. Cause it would be literally people I would walk up on the street. They'd be like, hey nigga, what up? You know what I'm saying? Cause they probably feel like I'm about to be on something crazy. I'm like, nah, brother, it's all good.

Baby, how you?

You know what I'm saying?

What's one thing you can How to love, man. How to love unconditionally. You know what I'm saying? How to understand that people are who they are. Like I'm not in putting this world to judge anyone or to change them. You know what I'm saying?

And it's just like, it's okay. You know what I'm saying? It's okay for you to be the way you are. And it's like, I can respect that. We all are different. And I think the hustling taught you just to make everything about what's good for me. In the state I live in now, it's like, what's good for us?

You know what I'm saying? And I think hustling teaches you how to be focused, but it also teaches you how to be empty. You feel what I'm saying? Like, you can operate with not being full of love.. It's just like when you come off the road or you get that spare time,

there's some people you just want to build with, man, because they just make you feel good. You know what I'm saying? Just to see them, just to talk to them. And I think hustling just puts us in a place where money is the motive.

And that's cool when you surviving, but when you living out of abundance, like, that's love, that's good times, that's breaking bread, you know. I grew up in the era, like, you know, some of my good friends, they come and stay at my house. They might fly in from out of the country,

like, we just gonna come stay with you for a couple days and hang out. You know, you know where we come from, you searching to make somebody steal nothing. You know what I'm saying? Like now I go out of town, leave my, I'm like, yo, I gotta go to Italy tomorrow, but y'all come in for two, three days, you know what I'm saying?

Y'all can stay at the house. We'll eat breakfast, hang out, you know what I'm saying? Go kick it a little bit, maybe play some golf, but I'm gone on Friday, you know what I'm saying? time, that's a different space, but these people are coming and bringing good energy and bringing good, and I got real love for them and they ain't got to just be for my walk of life. And then it also gives me love for my brothers. It's like when I see guys like y'all doing this, like this is love, bro. Like guys are

actually pouring back into men. So it's like I ain't got nothing but respect for that, but that's love because I don't look at that as a direct threat or any type of competition. It's more so like, how can I help you guys add value to that? Because I know y'all adding value for me just being here, to me, you know what I'm saying? But it's just like, I think,

and then I'm gonna say this and end it. I think hustling, and it's good because we all gotta hustle at some point, hustling gives you the excuse to be selfish. Mm-hmm. But that hustle you talk about.

Look out, he ready.

We know what.

No, no, no, that's real.

We know. What about them hundreds on the table,

20s on the floor?

No, we know what trap or die means. We know when you say the snowman, you ain't talking about winter fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that's the streets you're talking about. But without those streets, if Lil Jay had a mother and a father living in a nice house out in Roswell his whole life, you wouldn't have had the content for your music. Like the double-edged sword of that.

No, no, no. But this is the thing, and that's what I want to clarify. I regret none of it. I promise you, I tell myself that every day. I regret, like I'm humbled, man. Like I live the best of both worlds.

And like you can't tell me, like that's why I don't get into arguments about it, because what you gonna tell me about me? I done it. I ain't his brother, his cousin, his daddy, his uncle.

I'm him.

Like nobody can tell me that. There ain't nobody can tell me that. You can go any place in the world, Fort Lauderdale, this place, D.C., Atlanta, they're gonna be like, nah man, he solid. He 1,000. And I love that because people see me struggle, they see me grind, they see me hustle,

and they see me also allow myself and give myself permission to evolve because I don't need anybody else's cosign for that. But I don't regret nothing because this is one thing I do know. We all know how life is. You're up, you're down, you're left, you're right. But I do know if anything was to ever happen,

I know what I got the skills to do to get myself back to where I need to be. And that's to get focused. That's to tighten up my shoes, tighten up my belt, and do what I gotta do as far as like, if I gotta go grind, if I gotta go create a business. I done been to the bottom before. So now, it's like, to be on top, yeah, but imagine these people that come from these families that just gave them a will or a trust or whatever.

You know, they get this money and they pull through it. They don't know how to get back there. I got a mental GPS. You know what I'm saying? I know what's up. And then when I'm talking to the young brother, I be like, yo man, because the crazy thing is everybody act like they done reinvented the wheel. You gotta look at them and be like, man, there's nothing you done I ain't did.

That is crazy right there. Like when Hovdan used to tell me certain things, I thought I knew everything. You know what I'm saying? But now I be like, yo, he was right. He was right. He was absolutely, I ain't never been to this part in my career where I'm 20 years in.

He done done that.

So if he give me some game, what I look like telling him, he don't know what he talking about. Same thing when you come from the streets and you was, and you still are, and you are, that's where you get the respect from. But where I get my motivation from

is knowing where I don't want to go back to, and why I don't want to be. Yeah, but you right though. Yeah, yeah. But talking about 100 on the table, 20s on the floor.

Yeah. Ha ha ha ha ha!

We were in strokers together, you didn't know it.

Oh, yeah.

Was it a light night, or was it a dark night?

It was a night night.

Okay, okay.

Yeah, and there was a woman called Amazon, the big six foot four light skin girl. Yeah, she was by me. Oh, she was?

And I had my 500.

Okay.

And then you walked in with garbage bags for the money.

Okay.

Cause that sound about right.

Do you have any idea how much money you done threw in the strip club?

Okay, so let me say this. I do not, but I'm quite sure my accountant and my CFO will probably lose their minds after hearing this interview. But I think where I get a pass at is I was actually, in my head, y'all would call it a tax write-off these days.

You're giving me a pass.

Because you're working towards something. I actually thought I was marketing. I really thought I was like, if I go out here and throw $100,000, how how they not gonna like my music? So I'm doing that like every time I get a chance. But you know I wear the jerseys with Jeezy on the back. I have my chain because I'm looking at like a marketing

because I'm like I'm getting my name out there because the one thing that I did understand, and you're right, I never been in struggles and did anything less than a 40. I know that for a fact. Jesus. Yeah, and that's less than a 40. This is a $100,000 night in there for real. And we don't wanna even get into Magic City.

That's a whole nother, you know what I'm saying? But the one thing that I understood is that everybody that was in these clubs, especially in that time, is they were from either a different city or a different state, but they were the who's is who's. So if they heard your music in there

and saw how people reacted, it was nine times out of 10, you gonna take it back to where you from, you gonna take it back to where you from, you gonna take it back to where you from. And then the people that rock with y'all

would be like, oh, this, this, okay, this is what's up. And that's how it was Jeezy was here.

Right.

Because I was like, this is such a good story. I don't want to stop the story. And I was like, when he finished, I'm not going to have to be like, hey, y'all, that was a fire truck. Right, right, right, yeah.

You got to tell him it was a fire truck. He got, he don't do that stuff no more. Listen, I'm gonna be honest with you, my nerves are great now,

because back then, boy, I would have been up out of here.

You know what I'm saying?

It makes sense that he had sirens at some point

during the Gigi show, though. But yeah, so it was, I looked at his marketing, and then my man used to tell me, he's be like, yo, we support single mothers. I was like, I like that too. They all in nursing school. That makes sense.

There's so many nurses in Atlanta, cause everybody in nursing school.

You put everybody through school?

Everybody.

Going back to Jay, you mentioned Hov kind of skimmed over it. When I look at you two guys, right, it sees so many different parallels. Yeah. In the way you've gone through the game from the streets to the music. But there's so many parallels. How much of an inspiration he was to you?

How exciting was it to sign to Def Jam? I believe he was the president or he was over it at the time. Kevin Louse signed me and L.A. Reid signed me. And then Kevin Louse left two weeks later. And then I was kind of like flipping out. And he told me, he's like, you're going to be good. The next guy coming over, he's going to take care of you.

And I'm going to the building one day. There's this parking thing where nobody's supposed to park. And I see a Maybach there. And the door opens. And he's walking in the building. This Hove.

He like, jeez. I'm standing outside, walked over to him, left my people there. We got on the elevator. He was like, man, I got you. You know what I'm saying? But me and Hov, like, a lot of people are not going to understand a lot when you're in that position

because you're thinking about the future and setting things up for the decades to come. So a lot of the moves he does, people are not going to understand it right now, but they will later. And that's one thing I respect about him because I call him like all the time. We still talk, you know what I'm saying? Like, oh, my man, I talked to him the other day.

And I commend him on that because I know how hard that is for just me and the people who rock with me, meaning like the people who believe in my movement. For someone like his self, you're thinking world class and globally about this. So that's a different type of pressure and a different type of understanding. I always tell them, like, nah, that was the right move.

We didn't never really talk about music. We talk about life. You know what I'm saying? We talk about life, we talk about, you know, inspiring to do things, like what our dreams are. And Jay, to me, is like almost one of the guys, it's almost like, you know, if you ever had those guys

who'd been to Vietnam and they did like three tours and they made it, and they just kind of just talk about life all the time, because they just know the experience and they just know that they're there together and nobody else is really going to get this. That's the type of conversation we always had.

And it's crazy, because Jay had called me, asked me about stuff all the time, like, what would you do? And I'm like, yo, I'll do it like this. He'll hit me back, oh, that was it, done. Same thing with me. I'll hit him and be like, yo, check this out. And it's always honest, real advice. And it's coming from a grounded place,

because I trust his judgment what I'm saying, on every level. And even as he continues to evolve and to grow into different things, that's still carving space for myself. But I look at it like I'm still here connected to the people. So whatever information I get, I can pass it down through the culture. And that's got a lot to do with how I move, the way I move.

Because there's other people out there in the world who are doing things that I'm looking at getting inspired. You know what I'm saying? Going like, okay, I can see that. You know, so that gives you something to work towards or for, but at the same time as I'm moving, the people behind me looking like,

okay, I see how Jeezy moving, because you gotta know some of the younger artists are calling me about certain things. And I'm like, yo, man. Like, I think with this is when you know somebody come from your walk of life, you just got this different connection with them. So it's hard for me to see them get in these places and these situations and just give it all away

and throw it all away. It's about making decisions based off their, you know, their anger or what they're going through or their environments. And it hurts, but, you know, the people who listen, you see how they evolve, right? And the same thing I feel like with me and Hov,

we always listen to each other because I'm closer to it than he is. So if he got to check the temperature, who he gonna call?

His man.

If I got to check the temperature up there on the top of Mount Everest, I gotta give him a call, baby.

Like, yo, what it look like up there?

You know, you speak about evolution, and I think that's really what could be the name of the residency, probably. It could be the evolution, right? Because it's all these things that take a person from where you started to where you are now. And you move from the streets into the studio,

into the boardroom, right? And also, too, like with family. We live in a place now where everybody wants to know everything about you. That's not how we grow up.

No.

Right? Like house business is house business. Family business is family business. And after being so in the public, what did it teach you about the way you love your babies, the way you take care of your family, and being able to do that on your own terms?

Two things. The first thing is, you know, my family, my kids are my joy. They're like my life. Like, I love my babies. But I also understand the difference in what you do. Like, if you are a general, you're not

bringing your babies to war. You know what I'm saying? You're not putting them on the front line with you. They're home in a secure place, and you're fighting for them and for their future, and that's how I feel. And also with my friends. You know what I'm saying?

I'm very, I'm like, we laugh about it all the time. I'm the most public, private, you come to my house, we kicking it, we having a good time. It's none of that, you know what I'm saying? Because that's how I live my life. But I also understand that I have to let people see what I'm doing that's in line with my purpose.

But when it comes to my personal, that's what fuels me. So I don't let people into that purposely because I feel like that's not for them. Like I don't have to prove that I'm a good father. You know what I'm saying? I don't have to prove that I'm a good person what I do in my community. I don't have to prove that I'm a good friend

or you ain't got to see what I'm brushing my teeth or when I'm eating, drinking my coffee or when I'm eating, to know what they need to know and that's it. And then you gotta always keep some level of mystique. I mean, and I say this wholeheartedly because this is not the things, I'm all the things, I'm a father first, brother, son, all these things.

But I actually came from an era of the streets and I still live by that code. It's like you protect what you love and you go do what you got to do and that's that. I'm not succumbing to what the industry feels like I have to do to be a part of them because I'm not, I'm of this world but I'm not a part of it. Like I don't like, I got my friends,

of course I got tips and the J's and the people that I actually know, but I'm not like trying to stay in the in crowd and stay relevant, you know what I'm saying? I'm trying to keep it low key. Like you see me somewhere, you ain't supposed to be there.

You gotta look at yourself and be like, This is a private club, man. You know what I'm saying? They don't let you take pictures in here. But that's how I live. You know, and I'd rather than to go hang out, you know, at a club, a nightclub. I'm going to go play golf with some millionaires, man, that I love. They love me. We're going to smoke some cigars.

Was that hard for you, though, Jeezy, when things happen so publicly a piece of it though, because you come from a world that, you know what I'm saying, you don't let your left hand know what your right hand do. Right. Right? And it's also a world where you talked about hustling, like it is selfish, and so you don't feel like you have to give yourself to everybody.

Well, two things. The first thing is, when you live by the code, that's just the code. Ain't no exceptions. You make the rules. It's like if you, like all the custlers that I know that came up,

when they started to bend the rules, that's when they got tripped up. Every time. The one thing that they did that they knew they shouldn't have done, boom. Same thing with artists.

The same, the one thing like, I don't want to be a part of your club, bro. I'm cool with that. I could be on the island by myself. Trust me, you know what I'm saying? I'm already naturally an introvert. And by the way, if they saw what I did every day, it'd probably trip them out, you know what I'm saying?

Because I live a different type of life for somebody who has the reputation that I have. It's very grounded. It's very real. And it's just like I don't want to get caught up in the melee. I don't got social media on my phone. You know, I don't get into all this stuff that's going on in the industry. I'm out here trying to, you know, sit down with some of my mentors and go talk to this person and go hang out here

and, you know, go see what this is like and do all those things. I feel like the minute, and it's just like anything else in life, the minute that you start wanting to be accepted is the minute you lose yourself. The second you start wanting to be a part of something that's not even yours, like, this is not our industry, this is made from somebody else to make money, and they don't look like us. You know what I'm saying? And we out here dying about this shit every day and killing for it,

and we don't even own it. You know what I'm saying? And we out here dying about this shit every day and killing for it. And we don't even own it. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, it doesn't even make sense. I'd rather go over here and build where I know if social media was wiped out today and the streaming service was gone,

I still have some feet to stand on because I'm creating a life for myself that's outside of this. You can't counsel me because I don't need this shit. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't need it. You're like, you can't come back to the block no more. Okay, nigga, I ain't got shit to sell over here no way.

I got it.

I'll be all right.

You got it.

You know what I'm saying?

And I pride myself on that, because I don't got to answer to nobody. I'm keeping it real with who? I'm keeping it real with me. Have your experience tainted the way you see relationships,

whether they be friendships, romantic relationships?

All that. It is integrity driven. It's healthy. Ain't no more trauma bonding.

Ain't no more.

You know what I'm saying? It's healthy. It's like, are you adding on to my piece or are you taking away from it? Am I making you a better person? Every time we hanging out, do you leave me feeling like you learned something or are you just hanging out with your man?

It was like, that was up, man. I caught up with Jeezy. We went and did this. We went and... Am I showing you new experiences? And I feel like that's where the quantity, you know, gets thrown out the window and it's more about quality.

I'd rather have less because less is more, but it's real. You know what I'm saying? There's nothing like walking away from somebody and knowing that they have your best interests. It's not nothing like having people that work for you that you know they're working when you're asleep because they believe in what you're doing. Yeah. you know they're working when you're asleep because they believe in what you're doing. And they got your back and they gonna call out stuff

that you don't even see or people and be like, we not doing that. And I might be like, well, you know, that's my man. We're not doing that. And let me tell you why. And once you hear that thought process,

you gotta go, man, okay, that's real. Same thing with friends. took me to be in my 40s. I love my partners. We got a guys group called The Summit. It's about 40 of us. All different types of races and people and backgrounds. There's nothing we can't. We got relatives, lawyers, doctors, CEOs, you name it. All of us, and we communicate at least once or twice a day.

Check in. We take golf trips. We support each other. We pull up at each other's family function. They from all around the world. They'll come fly in, whatever they got to do.

And these guys hold me accountable. But just think about it, though. And even if I'm not in town, they might hang out with another brother. You know what I'm saying? And all of us know each other do everything, but these are like my real friends. And I've heard people

say, well, why you ain't hanging out with, you know, such and such and such and such. But I'm like, yeah, because you're looking at it because publicly they are somebody. That's cool. But behind the scenes, these people keeping me together. They hold me accountable. They checking in. They making sure my kids straight. They, hey, did you check the mail? We said, you know, little mama's up for Christmas. And they doing those things that for me,

this ain't transactional relationships. You know what I'm saying? This ain't no relationship where I could just be cheesy and be like, you know, like I don't really, you know what I mean? I don't really kick it like that. But you know, you with Jay. You know what I'm saying?

That's different.

Yeah, it's different.

You in my space.

We together. That circle you have, your homeboys and your babies, your relationship, your real love relationships, you have a lot more time to do that if you stop working.

Yeah.

Is there a finish line you're chasing? Is it a financial number? You just got the residency going. Like you still working, why?

But, but, well I love what I do. I want to continue to elevate the culture. What I've learned, and I'm glad you asked me that, is you make time for the things that you want to make time for. And that's, it's traveling. That's your self growth, that's your family, that's your kids, that's your purpose. But what I've learned in the last few years is how to plan that first, then plan work around that.

And not only plan work around that, work smarter to the sense of, I'm gonna work for these four months right here. The rest of my year I'm gonna need that because these three months I wanna take my kids to Europe or Africa or whatever. These three months I want to go do some solo traveling so I can journal, get my mind right

and think of some more ideas of things that I want to do. So when you say that, this work is aligned with my purpose more so than the money because my purpose is to elevate the culture and I have to do that with what I have right now because the music is the vessel. So when I see brothers like yourselves pull up in bow ties and looking good and feeling good

with your girls, I'm doing my job because you used to have an orange Chevy. I can't just leave you out here.

I can't leave you by yourself.

You know what I'm just leaving it like that, you feel what I'm saying? I gotta continue to do what I do, but now I'm doing it in a way that, one thing I know, any of my mentors, any of the people I really like, really like, you know, the Tony Robbins, the Robin Shermans, the T.D. Jakes, all these people that I talk to,

they understand what their purpose is, but they also set their schedules. And the thing when I stopped hustling is when I was able to control my schedule. And I get to say, hey, we got these four, five, six months, that's it. The rest of the year I'm going to be and work on being a better version of myself. And I'm pouring into my kids and I'm pouring into my growth, into my self-healing, into me, because I want to come back better for my culture, but also I'm not chasing money.

Because when you hustle, and that makes you even selfish towards yourself. You're not taking care of you when you're out here and you're trying to get every dollar that's out there. And I remember like I never remember like yesterday, I had one of my homies tell me like back in the day,

I was 14 years old. And something happened to somebody on the block, and he looked at me, he said, yeah, old money ain't good money. And I remember that. He was right, because when you're chasing and chasing chasing money, it's like being on the treadmill, man. The first time you decide to do it for yourself and bet on you

and do it in a way that it still makes sense at the end, and now you out here running in the Alps, maybe in the Swifts. Have you ever run in the Swiss Alps?

That's what I'm trying to tell you. Fresh air, the water tastes better.

You, Alpitude, are killing me.

You free.

You free.

You not stressed. And it's like, once you get on that hamster wheel, man, I don't care what nobody say. get the bag, get the bag, get the bag, do do that. Sound good, but if you get that bag, your body is tired, your spirit is tired, your mental is tired, you ain't did nothing but got some paper as a tool.

Right, yeah.

You know what I'm saying? You would've came out better just taking care of yourself and come back on your expenses.

Hey, simplify your life.

Also, he don't realize how much of a rich man's statement he just made. No! You ever run through the Swiss Alps?

No, Gigi!

I have not!

But what I'm saying is, I haven't either.

I run through Baton Rouge!

But what I'm saying is, you're free. The air is fresher up here.

The water tastes better.

The champagne is colder.

You know what I'm saying? you're free. The air is fresher up here. The water tastes better. The champagne is colder.

You know what I'm saying?

You get there too, G. You said earlier, it took a minute to get there. No, no, but what I'm saying is, get your money, but take care of yourself. But it might not be the Swiss house.

Correct, correct.

It might be Stone Mountain.

It might be Stone Mountain. But like, but get to the place where you're not draining and taking, because this is the thing, that discipline I was talking about was where once you discipline yourself, simplify your life, when you go out and you're making these relationships like you guys have been talking about and you're working on yourself, the one thing I do know, and you're right, that's a rich man's statement if you look at it that way, because everybody don't got the finances. The one thing I can tell you, I ain't got no billions of dollars, but I

can tell you it's getting closer every day by the fact that I fell back on a lot of things that I was chasing because at some point when your spirit is right and your soul is right and your energy is right, it comes to you. You don't gotta go out here and look for this shit. Like all the opportunities that happened like in the last few years, they came to me. They all things that I wanted.

But I put myself in a space where I wasn't chasing. And you know if you chase something, what it's gonna do?

Keep running.

There you go.

Can you tell us a little bit about Legend of the Snowman? Yes. Because the coolest thing about, and it wasn't as Guinness Book of World Records largest orchestra, but also too, it was you, but the way I saw people dress up and get excited to go to a hip hop concert. And now you have this residency at Planet Hollywood.

How did that all come about? So we did a shout out to Adam Blackstone, Derek Hodges, and the Color of Noise Orchestra, and my team, of course. We took it on the road, an orchestra tour on the road, for the 20-year anniversary of Thug Motivation. And we did 23 cities, and then we ended it

in Vegas for a residency. We got a Guinness Book of World Records. We set a Guinness Book of World Records, 101 piece orchestra, the biggest orchestra with anything that has anything to do with hip hop. To me, again, setting your time, setting your attention, setting your goal.

I wanted myself and culture to be aligned with the greats. So when you think about Frank Sinatra, you think about Adele, you need snowman right there in the middle of that with the culture with him. Because we got to align ourselves with the greats. That's what we're doing.

Like when you see, you know, the brothers and sisters showing up suited and booted and, you know, dressed to the nines and enjoying themselves, you got to think about it. Could you imagine if you, I mean, I know you wouldn't know because we around. Could you imagine if you went to see him, Tupac? All eyes on me at a black tie affair with your partners

and your girl.

Could you imagine that? Right.

And that's what this is. We're bringing it to showing that culture can evolve. It can be where the greats are. It can be on our terms. And it's like, y'all ain't got to invite us in the rooms. We'll make our own. You know we might not be in y'all rat pack but we're gonna create ones

ourselves. You know I'm saying and we're gonna come and we're gonna show up show out and celebrate and I hope everybody know what this means. This ain't just another show this is an experience but it's us it's for us. It's in a place that is the capital the music capital of the world and we're going there full force and showing people that we can dress up too. We like orchestras, we like the vibe, we like to kick it, and then I'm bringing DJ Drama with me, so there you go.

You know what I'm saying? You do it.

They're your affiliates.

I'm bringing DJ Ace with me, so you've been to a G's and so you know what that is. And I'm creating this space where we can unapologetically be us and enjoy an experience. These records that we grew up on, and the difference between this one and the last one, the last one was the 20th anniversary of Thug Motivation. This is the legend of the snowman. This is the whole gamut of everything. This is the legend of the snowman. This is all, this is the whole gamut of everything. This is the story. This whole catalog.

Yes, whole catalog. And this is going to be an experience.

I'm going to be so clean right away.

Y'all already know.

I can see.

I'm going to get a tuxedo made to go. You already know that Dre, I'm letting you know.

I already know. I see the desire, he's like, yeah, because I ain't coming to play.

He, uh, I don't know if I told you, I told you briefly coming in, the opening night, Miami. Oh, yes.

We was right there on the first row, suited and booted. I was proud of the city. Everybody was decked out, dressed up all black.

It was beautiful, man.

Miami set the beautiful, man. I couldn't believe they actually did it, but because of who you are, they showed up for you. Yeah, Miami set the tone. Miami's magical. And for me, like, you know, again, I'm not perfect. I just understand what my purpose is. It matters to me, but also, it's like, I just can't give up on us, man,

because I don't think nobody's tapped in enough to want to see us do better. I think that everybody wants to make money and that's all good, but like, who's out here leading by example? Who's pressing the envelope? Who's, you know what I'm saying? Not to say that it's just me, but I'm one of the people on the front line for us and it's like, we deserve that. You know what I mean? You guys have played in the league and you good now, it's like you deserve to be able to go out and kick it too. Like, why you gotta sit at the crib

and not be able to experience art and culture and fun and a date night and some time out. And it's like, it's for people like us. Because we here, we made it. You know what I'm saying? We want everybody else to continue to make it too,

but we gotta lead by example. example, because you know a lot of these kids, they don't see the future in what they're doing. They're just in the now. They're not even thinking about, you know, what it's like when you've done everything you needed to do, and now you're just maintaining taking care of your family and living. What's that going to be like? How do you maintain that? And how do you sustain that? And it's like, you still got a life to live, but you don't have to bring all this trauma and all this bad energy and depression into the space where you don't work so hard

for you to have some peace and have some fun, man, and live life and not even be worried about what they doing over here. They ain't even your business. Ain't none of my spiritual business. I don't give a damn what these niggas do.

Cause I'm like, who he tell me about? I don't got enough phone calls to get the street up and done. This shit is over. But I feel like I can't let us down, bro. I think when people get to a certain level, they good. They good on us. They gone.

We gonna pick a show and pull up in June. No, y'all done. It will definitely be there. Throughout this entire interview, the one thing, one of your songs that was stuck in my mind

was Therapy for My Soul.

Oh, yes.

Just to see the growth, the elevation, you know, the teachable moments that everybody's watching, hopefully they can learn from. I pulled from that. But I do wanna ask you one question we always ask all of our guests, which is your biggest pivot in life. My biggest pivot? Yeah, that's that one moment you can look back on

and say, because this happened to me or for me,

I am who I am today.

I think the biggest pivot of my life was with Nat. And I don't know if I explained the whole story, but when I got locked up, Ferricon and everybody, and Ferricon was the first call I got when I got out because they had locked everybody up. So we all went in. And he called me. He said, Brother G, I told you. And I said, damn, you was right. I looked at everything I lost, because I had brand partnerships, Ditas, Belvedere, this, that,

and third, all these deals, and even a job at Atlantic Records, it was all gone. And I walked out of that jailhouse and I told myself, I will never again align my brand, my likeness, or my purpose with somebody else's vision without having ownership in it or me owning it. And that was my biggest pivot.

From that point on, everything I did, I invested my money and my time and my energy, and I didn't take any of those situations that if something were to ever happen again, God forbid, or anything. You know how it is out here.

You can, you know, people can, you know, accuse you of some shit that you had nothing to do with. But I'm not losing anything again based off of my surroundings. I didn't do anything, but I'll take that. You know what I'm saying?

I'm going to take that. I'm not going to complain. I'm going to do better. And my biggest pivot was saying, you know what? Just bet on yourself, man. Right.

Move at your own pace. Move at your own time. money out here trying to figure it out because that makes you liable and then it also makes them feel like they can control how you move and what you're doing and what your message is. So my biggest pivot was just starting to bet on myself. And believe you me, like, you know, and I still do it to this day, but believe you me, you know, in the end it all pays off.

You know what I'm saying? Because you have your freedom, you have your creative control, you're building something that you're invested in, and you're not concerned about how another board member or people on the board are thinking at this and telling you you should do this and you know you're not gonna do that. And they can't never take it away from you. It's yours. So my biggest pivot was believing in myself and really leaning into being an entrepreneur, for real, for real.

Like, my real estate portfolio is a very great one. And all that came from, I grew up in a trailer, like I said, the size of this room. But I always told myself I was gonna buy dirt. You know what I'm saying? But I was believing in myself,

because if we ain't got nothing else, we're gonna have somewhere to stay. You know what I'm saying? But that was a pivot because this is something I own. You can't take this away from me. You know what I'm saying? Even when I heard the name of the show, I thought that was genius because, you know,

I'm curious how many people just had to really understand what it truly means to pivot after COVID. You know what I'm saying? Because it was like, you had to do something. Everything stopped. Wasn't no shows, wasn't no games. You know what I'm saying? Everything stopped.

So how are you pivoting? What are you going to do different so that you can sustain, maintain the life that you're living or to take care of you and yours? And for me, it was like, if I had food on my table, for me and mines, and I did something

that caused you to take it off my table for me and mines, and I did something that caused you to take it off my table, you're not just starving me, you're starving my tribe. And I felt like pivoting was the best thing I've ever done because to your point, I got my own time now, I ain't working for nobody. I ain't on nobody's clock, bro. That's what y'all see.

With the fire truck, we got time, I ain't in a rush. I got time today. But I got my own time and I got my own schedule and I got my own life and I got my own interests, I got my own hobbies and I got a great team and to me, you know, pivoting got me there and And I didn't have that before. Like I was stressed out, you know,

I'm trying to do 10, 11 things. It ain't none of it paying it out, but I'm working for other people. They don't care. You know what I'm saying? They want you there, photo shoot, this, that, and the third.

You gotta do this. You gotta speak here. I had time. I was only because I had time. And that was another thing when COVID happened. It's like, I sat there and I was like, what can I do to make this make sense? I'm going to finish this book. That was pivoting for me. You know what I'm saying?

Because you wasn't writing songs, you're writing a book now. You know? And when COVID was over, the book was done. line it up, boom, next thing you know, New York Times bestseller. But if I ain't take the time and pivot, I'd have still been there.

I felt like I walked a mile in your Air Forces today.

Yeah, yeah, today you did.

You did, you did.

You know what I mean?

I felt like ... But man, just coming from voice, I was like, yeah, this is going to be different, man. So from Boys in the Hood to that, man, to where you've progressed, you truly are what, from street hustling and corporate thugging to becoming a man of honor, integrity, someone who can show what loyalty is, and still take care of where you started while you grew your tribe.

I think it's a blessing for us to be able to watch, man, for us to be able to witness. And the fact that you're still doing it for people like us, you know, who started there with you, it's such a blessing, man. Such an inspiration. I received that love.

I received that. So we appreciate you. Legendofthesnowman.com. That's right. Get your tickets. Yes sir. Vegas, Planet Hollywood. Let's get it.

You don't want to miss it. And I'm telling you, if you going tonight that I go, don't worry, you will not be the cleanest there.

It's going to be me and Jeezy and everybody else.

That boy.

Appreciate you, dog.

Appreciate you, brother.

Yes sir, man. You know dog, that was amazing. That was amazing. Legend for real. That was awesome.

Legend for real dog.

That was great.

Yeah man.

That was amazing.

That was the first time I heard that though.

It means easy to everybody else.

Hold up.

Limitless. Nigga stomach high, pinning it.

I find the head to witness it. Got my people feeling militant. Got my people feeling militant. Way I'm feeling be back.