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the one and only Big Sean.
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Uh, one of the most successful rappers out there, multiple number one topping chart singles, albums on the Billboard.
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But what I'm fascinated about him is his dedication to personal growth, his journey with meditation, his focus on well-being, physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional.
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And today, we're going to talk about all of that right here on OnPurpose. Please welcome Big Sean. Thank you, man. That was a great intro.
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Well, it was from the heart, man. I feel it.
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Like when I started listening to your music before I knew about your personal journey, I loved your music.
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And then I saw you start talking about what you were just speaking about, the books you read, the mindset you have, the journey you've been on personally, and I thought this is someone, even before we were connected, I was like, this is someone I really want to get to know because it's not easy to talk about the things you talk about.
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It's not easy to be vulnerable in your position with the career you have, in the way you have.
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And so I can't wait to dive into it today.
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But I was going to start with something a bit different because we we have a few more things in common.
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I I was reading somewhere that you said that in another life you might have been a film critic. Yeah.
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And [laughter] and I love that because I love movies.
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So I was going to ask I pick them I like I don't pick them apart.
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You know, sometimes lately I've been watching movies just based on how it makes me feel.
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feel like I take my critical hat off and I'm just like I enjoy the good story or you know like the hero's journey or just like you know great pieces, great shows, great plots, you feel me?
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What's been a movie that you feel has like defined the way you think or moved you in a way that in the way that you're speaking about right now that left a lasting impact? Forest Gump for sure.
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That's one of the ones that like struck me hard. The Matrix.
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I had like a special relationship with the Matrix cuz Neil's name was Mr. Anderson.
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So that's my last name, too.
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So it always like struck a core with me.
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Um, definitely like I'm a huge I'm a big nerd. So I love like Batman. I love all Marvel, DC. Me too.
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Uh, anime, Dragon Ball Z, Star Wars, um, Star Trek.
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Uh that's something that really my brother kind of got me into early on is just but what I connected with like everything about those things like Dragon Ball or like Star Wars, they all have to deal with like that power within.
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And I feel like that's why I connected to it so much.
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It would be like against all possible odds, they would dig deep and go to a new level that people uh you know not only did not expect them to, but was was quote unquote impossible. You feel me? Yeah.
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So things like that I just always connected with like and I'm still the same way.
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It's like you know you think you're gonna outgrow something but I never outgrew it and you know I don't care what people think.
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Sometimes you know my girl will be like nerd [laughter] and I'll be like yeah whatever though. It's who I am. That's who I am. Yeah it's who I am.
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People don't expect it cuz you know you're fashionable and you you got swag [laughter] and then and then all of a sudden you start talking about movies.
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I could talk about it all day.
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But not just that, like I said, great movies, they they go hand in hand.
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Like when I'm in a studio creating, like I have a setup where it's like these screens and I'll play like two movies at once sometimes just for aesthetic, not looking at them, but it's just I love it, man.
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That's like definitely a passion of mine for sure that maybe I'll tap into more later on in life, you know?
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Yeah, I could see that cuz I love writing. I love stories. I love all of that. Yeah.
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Have you directed your own music videos as well, right? Yeah.
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Well, well, I have a best friend, Lawrence, who we actually did just start a production company who's directed a lot of my big videos. Yeah.
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Um, a lot of my big songs.
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We won some awards together and things like that.
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But for most of my life, music has always been my first priority, you know.
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But that is something that has also uh gotten me in trouble, you know. It's got me in trouble.
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And I'll explain that a little more because being from Detroit, right?
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And I'm from a family where they were hard workers.
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My grandma was one of the first female black captains in World War II.
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She was one of the first female cops in Detroit.
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And then later she was done being a police officer.
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She was a teacher, a counselor.
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She was like a strong woman, you know.
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And my granddad too, they met in World War II.
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And he was has a similar story of just being so strong.
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And I come from a family where it's like hard work, hard work, you know, and everyone went to college and is educated.
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And I was kind of the first in my family to go on a different career path, you know.
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My mom used to always play all these like uh Mottown like she would play Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, all these uh the Eley brothers like all always in the morning and I I kind of fell in love with the music, you know, but my whole life uh I remember when I was graduating high school and I was graduating with a high GPA.
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I was on my way with a full scholarship to college, but I wanted to do music.
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I knew and I knew I wanted to do music and every time I got excited about it, I would just I could just tell that it was real, you know, like I could just feel the connection.
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Like I don't care what anybody could tell me like, "Nah, you tripping.
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Don't like man, you know, you going to be out here with with no on living on the street, man.
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If you you know, you got to you got to play it safe.
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You got to have a backup plan and all that stuff."
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And obviously that is a way for a lot of people, but for me it was like I put all my eggs in one basket, denied, you know, my scholarship. Yeah. Michigan State. Yeah.
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And it didn't work out at first, you know.
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It didn't work out for me, you know.
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I was like, and that was the first time in my life where I hit a very big wall of depression, a very big wall of anxiety, a very a very, you know, pivotal moment in my life where I just didn't even feel like living.
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And I'm and this, you know, not to be dramatic, I'm I was 18 years old, you know, but those are they are defining moments in your life.
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your life. when you're around 17 or 18 because you around the same time when you saw that monk speak because I'm also reading your book Think Like a Monk and that's a pivotal moment you know coming out of high school and all my friends went to college
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I didn't go you know I ended up meeting Kanye West right performing this was my idol this was my number one person who I wanted to sign to and I felt like I manifested that and my mom is someone who introduced certain books to me that I was reading at the time when I was around 17. She introduced me to Esther and Jerry
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She introduced me to Esther and Jerry Hicks and and also the secret you know the secret and um you know she was like you can you know you can do it like you can manifest it and I just believed it.
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I was going to ask you about that moment from a different angle.
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People have heard you tell the story. Mhm.
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But the way you're talking about today and also I find like our generation today is so lost in like procrastination, overthinking, overanalyzing.
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But you just went there and showed up. Yes.
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Without knowing if it was going to go anywhere.
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Like you were ready to be rejected, ready to fail, ready for it to fall flat on your face. Yeah.
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Because it was like I couldn't look back and wish I would have, could have, should have, man. I just couldn't.
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I just felt like I don't know why and that that was one of the concepts for one of my albums but I just don't know why I had felt like I had lived a life already and like regretted it and I was like I just felt that in my heart as a young you know as a teenager so I was
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like I got to make it happen like that was just it was no other option you know and she presented these books to me and it's like she she's like a guardian angel it feel like it feels like when I look back on it it's like man I really am living with angels you know like my mom my grandma Come on. Cuz they would
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Cuz they would give me books I I would never read, you know, uh give me books, try and introduce me to meditation and all these things.
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But it was when I felt hopeless, you know, and I hate that it got to that point, but I was young, too, you know.
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I didn't and I was like, I might as well just pick this book up.
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I might as well just let me just see what's going on with this because this has to work.
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And my when you pick those books up and you crack it open, you realize that the book was talking to you.
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You realize that these books have energy and that it's attracting you.
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It's not just for uh it's not just because for no reason.
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It's like they it's literally there in your ends up in your hands because it's destiny, you know.
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And that's one of the things I learned soon as I cracked it open.
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I remember reading the seven spiritual laws of success and tearing up, you know, and I remember reading asking it is given by Jerry Hicks and like feeling my whole vibration change.
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And that is one of the most um that is the first time that I realized that there are two realities.
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There's a reality that we see with our um eyes and our feel and touch.
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And then there is a reality just as real where it is our spiritual world that we can create and manifest.
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And that is the reality with a capital R.
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You know what I'm saying?
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That's the real reality that you bring to the other reality.
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And so anyway, I did these exercises, man.
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Like I never read I only read books because I had to in school. That was like my thing.
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Like I can relate, you know, and some good books, right?
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Like we I remember we read Animal Farm, The Hobby, all these great books that helped me.
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But I still never read on my own time.
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So these were the first books I read on my own time.
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You know, I graduate high school.
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I ended up meet I ended up meeting Kanye right before I graduated high school.
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So I ended up rapping for him.
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It's a classic fairy tale hip-hop story.
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You meet your idol, you rap for him, he hears you out.
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And I have been recording CDs since I was 11 years old, man.
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So, I have been passing out CDs around school, selling them for $5, $3.
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I have been participating in open mics, battle rapping.
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I had gone to the radio station every Friday after school.
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even when you know cuz when I turned 16 my grandmother had a stroke and she had a brand new car.
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So, it just it was a bittersweet thing because it was tragic to see my grandma, you know, have a stroke and the strongest woman I've ever seen literally get old instantaneously.
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And then I ended up getting a car which provided me to get places that I needed to get to, you know, to make uh to make the moves I was trying to make cuz I was I had that that hustler mentality.
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I was like, I had to do it.
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like, I had to do it. You know there Eminem was the only rapper from Detroit at the time that was doing it big and just to keep it real I was I got to represent for the for black you feel me and be like and put on for my city and I just felt the
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responsibility man and I know I'm skipping around a lot a lot that's all good man that's all good yeah but um I would do this radio show every week I you know and that led me to meeting Kanye because he was at the radio promoting his album Late Registration at the time. And you know,
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And you know, I met him from doing the radio show there every Friday.
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I lied and said I left my phone in the back offices so they would let me in the back to go check cuz I knew that's where the artist would go.
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I got a chance to rap for him as he was walking out.
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You know, he was like, I'm real busy.
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How did you have the courage to do that?
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Cuz I feel like people probably see you and they're like, oh, I want to go rap for big like, you know, people want to repeat all the time. They still Yeah. Exactly.
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So, how did you how do you think you were able to even have the courage to be like, I'm just going to find a way in the hallway like you know when he's walking he's a busy guy.
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Well, because when I did that radio show every Friday we would rap on the air on the radio.
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Yeah, that was the most nerve-wracking thing I've ever had to do in my life.
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It would be like, "Oh my god, everybody who's listening to the radio right now is hearing me."
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And that was a beautiful platform, right, for up and cominging MC's to come and and display.
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And um I would I would write a new verse every week and I was super nervous.
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So I had done that for about a year straight already by the time I met him.
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So I was used to rapping under pressure, right?
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So when I saw him and was delivering it, it was just like I had so many raps in my head already and I was freestyling and I was used to delivering under pressure.
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So, I was able to um dynamically, you know, I I delivered it as best I could. Yeah. Um and he heard me.
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He heard me out and he was like, "Well, you got a CD."
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And it's like, "Well, yeah.
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I got cuz I had CDs that I was selling in high school. I had my CDs ready. I had a buy already. I had everything ready."
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And it's crazy because ever since I was 11 years old, everything single thing I had done so far led up to that moment. It all happened.
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And it was like, "Yeah, I had the CD.
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I had this, I had that, and he followed through, but it took years after that.
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That's what people don't get.
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It wasn't like I wrapped for him, and that was it.
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You know, I raped for him and thought it was going to be like that.
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That's why I didn't go to school.
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That's why I turned everything down.
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And then I stopped getting a response from him.
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And then all my friends are in college.
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A whole semester goes by and they're like, "Man, you could have came to school.
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What you you still at home?
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Like, what's up with what's up with Kanye?
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What's up with your record deal?" Like, "What's up?"
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Like, that's the hardest to hear. That's the hardest.
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That's the hardest. And I come from a family my grandma's like why you know you need to go to school like this is the way to a better life you know she grew up in poverty and made her way to that point you know and she's like education is the way and it was the hardest thing to go against
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the grain you know and my mom was really one of the only people who even though she was a teacher herself right an English teacher has her master's degree she she know she knew what it was like to have a dream and she knew what it was like to chase it you know so She believed of course education is important but you can always go back and get it. You can't always live your you
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You can't always live your you know take that chance.
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You can't do it the other way around. Yeah.
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So during that time period for like a year and a half or two, what I did was that was the first time I intentionally worked on myself and I intensely would read these books and meditate every day and you know imagine myself like living the life that I was you know trying to live and it just uh I don't know how to explain it.
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And it was like I felt like I was there.
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And what that did was it put me there. It really did.
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To make a long story short, it put me there.
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What were the work that you were doing with that meditation and visioning?
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Because I'm sure like you said, and I'm really glad you brought it up because before, like you said, I was at the radio station.
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I was I was rapping live. I was nervous.
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Like what I what I find is that with yourself and and stories like yours, there's manifestation, but there's also a ton of hard work in the background. Yes, it is.
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Tell me about that part of what were you doing in the background while you're meditating, you're envisioning, you're seeing yourself there.
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What's happening with rap music and music?
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Well, one of the things that I would do in my meditations is I would put out the like I would like let me attract the people, energy, places. Wow.
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That I need to go to the next level in my career.
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Let me attract the people. And I would meet people.
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I would meet producers and we would lock in and you know who had a common um belief as mine or like you know the same one like I'm trying to get on as a producer like you trying to get on less work, right?
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And um I would write things down.
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I would just it was just my I I treated it like it was a job.
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And also one of the things I had to put in perspective is that it didn't matter how hard I was working necessarily.
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It really mattered how smart I was working.
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You know, I had a perception it is hard work. You're right.
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But I I had the perception that it takes hard work until I realized that some of the most successful people I knew would work a couple hours a day. Yeah. And enjoy their life. Yes. Flowing.
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And at the end my and me and my mom, we grew up in debt and she worked two jobs and she was working most of her life.
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So it just didn't make sense to me, you know, early on.
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I'm like, it's not about working hard, it's about working efficiently and smarter. Mhm.
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So that's one of the things I I really learned at that age too.
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So I would a big lesson, you know, because a lot of the other people who I would see at studios, they would be like, "Man, I made eight songs today."
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Like I'll be like, "Well, I'm still I've been working on the same song for like a week and a half."
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But it's not about it's not about that, you know?
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It's it's it's about it's about the product.
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this about what you what you're doing and and and uh not about necessarily how much you're pumping out. You know what I mean?
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And that was a that was something I really had to um accept cuz your ego will not let you accept that sometimes.
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We've been conditioned, right, to to think all these things.
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And that's one of I feel like one of the things your book talks about.
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We've been conditioned to uh think a certain way.
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We've been conditioned to, you know, we we're given like a certain amount of of of uh options, guidance, options, directions.
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You're supposed to do this, you're supposed to do that, you're supposed to follow in line, you're supposed to do that, you're supposed to do that.
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Hey, you guys got to do, you know, the our whole lives.
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And a lot of that is just some of it is great, but some of it just doesn't apply to everyone, you know, and that's that's one of the things I had to realize.
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and uh redo my foundation of my whole life and be my architect. Well said, man. That's beautiful.
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I love the way you've expressed that because that must have been an uncomfortable place to live for one or two years.
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When you feel you're going to get your break, it doesn't happen.
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Your friends are now moved on. Yeah.
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And everyone's And I'm still in the same bed that I grew up in. Yeah.
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You know, I I I was sleeping in a twiniz bed, man.
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I'm 18, 19 years old, you feel me? Yeah.
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And uh it was so frustrating and it was a test of my ego, bro.
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It was a test of my ego, but I was visual I would visualize Kanye reaching out.
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I would visualize I just knew that it was going to happen. I didn't know how.
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And like I was like, I'm going to make it happen somehow. And it just it did, bro.
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And it's like something you got to trust.
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M you know imagine you being on a cliff and it's like there's no more cliff there but you like hey man there's an invisible bridge you know if you had a if you had a guy a guidance next to you like you had your higher self walking next to you and you're like bro there's nowhere to walk and he's like I'm telling you if you take a step it's an invisible bridge right in front of you and that takes a lot of faith to walk on that bridge. Yeah.
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You know that you can't even see but that's what I had to do because that's that's that's the decision I made.
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I wasn't about to go back to school at that moment.
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I wasn't about to go back to my friends and be like, "Man, y'all was right.
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Like, [laughter] I messed up, man.
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I should have just, you know, I I I couldn't do it, you know."
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And that may have been my ego, too, but I did let that motivate me.
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And um that's just that's just how it went, you know, and then then he did reach out. Yeah.
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Tell us about tell us about that moment, how it felt internally around were you like, "Oh, wow.
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this manifestation stuff works.
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Was that a point where you deepened your faith and belief in the invisible bridge where you were like, "Oh, this stuff really works."
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Or do you think you already believed that it worked and it was just about trust or was this like a confidence point? I had to trust it first. Yeah. Okay. I had to trust it first. Beautiful. Yeah.
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You know, and that's the thing in with everything you got to trust it.
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And uh then it started working.
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you know, things necessarily don't work before you trust it.
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It's kind of like you got, you know, I think that's one of the lessons I had to learn.
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You know, I had to trust in me, trust myself, trust the process, trust God's speed.
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You know, that expression is uh so popular for a reason.
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You know, you can make all these plan.
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My grandma used to always be like, "Man, God, you make all these plans, God's going to laugh at you." Yes. Yeah.
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You know, that classic saying.
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and she would say that to me and it so many sayings like that just mean so much more now because it's true.
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That's why it's so popular.
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What goes around comes around.
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You know, all these little things that we heard, they're true. They're true. Yeah.
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You know, uh so it's it's been a beautiful time.
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And when he did when he did reach out, it was just it felt like it was confirmation that that trust uh wasn't wasted.
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It's all a higher power, right?
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And that and that is guiding us and wants to support us. Yes. And does support us.
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Not wants to, does support us. Absolutely.
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Did you ask him why it took him so long?
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No, [laughter] because you know I knew people who were like 30, 40 years old that never got their shot.
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So I'm not gonna be like, man, I'm not it took took two years.
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[laughter] What took so long?
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You know, but uh you know, and it was a process after that and things I'm not going to sit here and say life is smooth sailing.
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Never, you know, it's it's not smooth sailing.
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It's like a constant unraveling experience, right?
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experience, right? and things don't it's so many times bro that things don't go my way and I've done all the work and I've like why didn't this happen how I wanted it to happen and then sometimes where I didn't expect things to do anything and it was
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turns out to be one of my biggest songs of my career my biggest moments or one of my great you know greatest experiences or things that I've like okay I put so much energy and power into this and it not do what I wanted it to do like these are things that I go through on on a daily basis. But I
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But I had to realize that it's all the the side of life that I'm on is such a unique side and it's the ble the blessed side. Yeah.
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And that anything that happens to me, anything, you know, whether I it's all it's all love, it's all beautiful, you know, and it's something to be learned from it.
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It's something to be gained from it.
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It's, you know, that you you when you win something, you learn something.
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when you lose something, you learn something, you know, you still win something, you gain something, you know.
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So, it's it's it's crazy, man. It's really crazy.
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Did you find that when you finally made it into the music industry that there were people like you that meditated that were visioning that were working from this deeper core place?
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Did you did you find that or did you find that your spirituality was almost threatened or questioned or there weren't people seeing eye to eye?
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How did you feel about that?
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Did you find like it was still natural to stay true to what got you there?
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Because you had a very different journey in terms of internal journey towards music. Yeah, I would see both.
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Yeah, I would see people.
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One of the reasons I wanted to sign a Kanye because his first album inspired me so much. Yeah, same.
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And I can tell that his whether he knows it or not, he is he's a he clearly is a manifesttor.
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He clearly is a spiritual being too.
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You know, you could call it religious.
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To me, it's you know, there are so many similarities, right?
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Um but he is he is somebody who is a manifesttor.
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He's somebody who's a creator, right?
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He is somebody who uh I've saw him wield ideas from you know the inspiration of God or you know whatever whatever he can say it is. But that drew me to him. You know what I mean?
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And yeah I've seen it in a lot of people. I've seen it.
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You know when I sit and talk to Jay-Z it's like I don't have to sit and like talk to him so deeply about it.
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I can just tell that he has this, you know, there are a lot of people who I met, even DJ Khaled. Yeah.
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You know, he's somebody who is, you know, manifesting for sure.
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A manifesttor, you know, and his story is crazy.
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I don't know if you've ever talked to him, but I haven't. I haven't.
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No, his story is crazy, man.
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And, you know, it's a beautiful, beautiful story. And we all have stories.
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And there are people who like those are people who you would kind of like be like, "Okay, I can see that."
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But then there are people who I also have met or even Jana you know you could tell Jana is like very aware for sure and um you know somebody who is spiritually in tune you know what I mean? Yeah.
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That's what that's what I love about this conversation and and all the people you're mentioning.
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I think we see a we see an external PR version of who we think those people are on the front cover of magazines or music videos or whatever it may be.
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But behind everyone there's a deeper story.
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It wasn't just like that.
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Tell us about when I'm intrigued because I feel like a lot of people listening to us right now, they may actually feel blocked from that envisioning, right?
26:00
They feel blocked like they feel like they just they're not getting when have you felt blocked or if someone's listening and they feel blocked, what's blocking them?
26:11
Like like how do they remove that? How do they let go?
26:14
What are what are they needing to let go of?
26:16
Well, [sighs] this is deep, dog. You getting deep.
26:20
I had to I had to go there with you.
26:22
You're you're giving me deep talk, so I don't want to, you know, got to dive in.
26:26
Well, one thing I have learned on my journey is that there are blocks that are sometimes placed on us from our parents or from our surroundings.
26:39
And whether you believe this or not, I believe it is true even from a past life. Mhm.
26:45
And And it makes total sense cuz I've met complete babies who were like, "This is like a old man in here, right?
26:50
He's very mature, you know?
26:52
It's like but anyway um I have worked with people who have helped me remove blocks from my life.
27:02
Marie Diamond being one of them you know and that's a whole deeper conversation but she has um in the last few years is someone who has helped um who has been a mentor to me spiritually and helped me along my spiritual journey.
27:18
And um you know honestly when I look when I just think about the blocks that I've had in my life.
27:27
So to go back to that to think about people who are feeling blocked know that you have to believe that you can feel unblocked because you're giving it power by acknowledging like I'm blocked. I'm blocked.
27:42
You're putting that out in the universe.
27:43
universe. Remember like what we said the saying that people live by that you've heard what goes around comes around what you get is what you give those are real things and you subconsciously and that subconscious mind is just as powerful as the conscious one oh I'm feeling blocked
27:59
or man I'm just I'm down bad you know I've heard people just say all these things that they put on themselves like I can't figure it out I can't figure it out I can't figure it out so okay imagine if you're in front of the universe and God And he's like, "Whatever you say, I'm gonna give back to you." Like, "I'm whatever you say,
28:15
Like, "I'm whatever you say, I'm gonna give it back to you."
28:17
So, you sitting up here like, "I can't figure it out, man.
28:19
I can't I can't make money. I can't do this.
28:22
I can't do, you know, I just I feel like I It's like even when I did feel blocked, I never and if I did think that, I never owned it."
28:32
And I'd be like, "No, okay, I got to switch that.
28:34
I got to I got to feel better."
28:35
So the first key to unblocking something is acknowledging that you are blocking yourself for sure.
28:42
You know, and I do think there are some deeper blocks that you got to work harder on to remove like blocks that may have not even been put there from you.
28:49
So you not even acknowledging it or know or know how to um remove it.
28:50
And there are special people who can do this, you know, that can help you get rid of it.
28:56
But I do feel like you're blocking yourself.
28:59
And you got to realize that stop blocking yourself.
29:02
It doesn't matter if you don't have money.
29:04
Don't say you don't have money. Yeah. Like I got money.
29:08
Money is coming in right now.
29:10
Like I It feels good to be rich.
29:14
If you keep that mentality and you you're not rich, I promise you if you really believe it, which you have to believe it because you just have to if you you know uh you will be whatever you want to be and it's never too late to be who you want to be. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.
29:31
I used to have a mentor I remember he used to repeat to me the Napoleon Hill words of like you become what you think about. Yeah.
29:39
And and he just keeps saying it to me and he told me to keep saying it.
29:40
When he first said it I was just like oh come on like you know how many times you going to say it. It's like a mantra.
29:46
When I first became a monk and they introduced me to mantra, you're saying the same thing every day again and again and you're thinking, "Oh, this ain't going to work."
29:54
But actually, what you're saying is true that when you repeat, you become what you think about and when you keep repeating it, it becomes your vocabulary. It becomes your mindset. It becomes your thought.
30:03
And then it becomes your reality. and and your spawn.
30:08
I love what you said about being in front of God and you saying, "I can't do this. I can't do that."
30:14
And God's given you back exactly what you're repeating.
30:18
He's like, "You're right, man. You can." All right. Hey. Yeah. You said it. Yeah.
30:21
And that is such a great way of thinking about it as a conversation around how we're creating our reality through our repetition. Yeah.
30:31
I can't wait to talk to you about being a monk, too.
30:33
That's like when we have dinner next week.
30:34
That's like some some But um one of the things that you that made me think about this is when I would come home and watch Bob Ross on PBS painting the pictures or when I would watch Michael Jordan and all these in or Kobe Bryant and all these inspiring people when I was growing up, Mike Tyson, right?
30:57
Or just Michael Jackson, anybody that I can think of.
31:02
Uh, I like I like all the artwork on the wall.
31:05
Few people you mentioned are up there. So, yeah, there's a few.
31:08
But when I was thinking about that, it just brings me back to uh technique.
31:14
How how much life how much of life is truly technique.
31:17
And that is one of the biggest secrets I've learned.
31:20
Um, when I was going through one of the roughest times of my life a few years ago, I had just turned 30 and I was feeling so depressed, bro.
31:30
Um, and I had just moved into my house that I've been in for a few years in Beverly Hills, right?
31:38
Slash is I got it from Slash from Guns and Roses.
31:42
You know, all these ne all my neighbors are, you know, Vanna White is my neighbor.
31:48
I'm like talking like this is like to me this was like my dream.
31:50
This is my dream neighborhood, right?
31:52
And I was in the worst condition of my life, bro.
31:57
I just felt I felt it was just too hard for me to even get through the day.
32:01
I felt like How did you get there?
32:04
Why did it get there after all of this envisioning, focus, inner work? How did it get there?
32:11
You know why it got there?
32:11
Because I lost touch with it a little bit.
32:14
Not just because of that. I burned myself out.
32:19
I wasn't paying attention to what myself was saying to me.
32:21
I was doing it for all different other reasons. I need to do this show.
32:26
I need to do five shows so I can get this money, take care of this person, do it for this.
32:33
Oh, my management, everybody is expecting me. I got all these people.
32:34
I got people who are on my payrolls.
32:36
I'm like, I'm putting everybody before me. Yeah.
32:40
I didn't know how to balance um work and work [laughter] because there's a work that you do for your career and there's a work that you do for yourself. Yes.
32:55
No one ever taught me that because no one knew. No one knew, you know. No one knew.
32:58
Like this is something that my dad didn't know.
33:04
This is something my mom didn't know.
33:06
Their mentality is you work as hard as you can.
33:07
You work as hard as you can.
33:08
So I come from a place where it's like you got to keep the foot on their necks.
33:11
You got to keep going hard.
33:11
You don't want to lose your opportunity. Yeah.
33:15
That was my thinking, but really I had already had it. Yeah.
33:20
You know, I already have it.
33:20
So now to take it to another place, I got to take care of myself so I can bring my best self to the table.
33:25
And it's something that life forced me to do.
33:29
It's something that life forced me to do, man.
33:31
And I had to stop everything I was doing and completely fall back, bro.
33:36
Completely fall back from looking at things about me from being online completely fall back from all the obligations I had to do performances money I was losing like it was just like I had to fall back from everything and
33:53
take some time and that's when I met Marie Diamond and obviously I had no I seen her on the secret I was you know I knew about her and my mom taking one of her classes emailed Marie Diamond and was like hey my son is a musician, this and this and this. And then she got an email back
34:10
And then she got an email back from Marie Diamond and she my mom was freaking out and Marie Diamond said, "This is so crazy because my son has Shawn on his vision board." Wow.
34:27
And she goes, "I've never worked with a rapper, you know, I've never done anything like this."
34:29
She's worked with big people, you know, big big clients.
34:35
But uh anyway, uh that was a serendipity, you know, that was a meant to be thing.
34:41
And there came at a time right where I needed it.
34:44
And I just I got into the technique of loving myself, bro.
34:49
Bringing it back to the point I said earlier when I would look at Bob Ross and Michael Jordan, it's all technique.
34:55
So much of life is technique.
34:55
What you do is technique because it's it, you know, I had to get into the technique of loving myself. Mhm.
35:03
I had to really make sure that I put myself as a priority.
35:05
My meditations came before anything.
35:07
Me writing down my intentions, you know, every day or every other day or, you know, writing my thoughts down, like that was priority to me.
35:18
Um, spend just spending time for myself, being out in nature, right? Working uh working.
35:23
I started taking care of myself more working out.
35:29
That's something I never did. I gained 30 pound. I gained 30 pounds. Wow. Yeah.
35:33
We got to show like a before and after. We'll get it. We'll get it for this. Crazy.
35:36
I used to look totally different.
35:38
It changed me for the better.
35:40
And it just it's just it's built my strength up.
35:42
It's given me more strength to deal with things when they don't go my way.
35:46
Before it would tear me down.
35:47
Before I used to let people's opinions about me really affect me. Yeah. Same.
35:52
And now it's like what was I even what am I even thinking right now? You know what I mean?
35:57
You could, it's crazy how we can look and see a comment that's like, "I love you. I appreciate you. You changed my life. Amazing. Man, this guy sucks."
36:06
And we be like, "Man, this dude just said, "I suck.
36:08
[laughter] I'm doing something wrong."
36:10
You know, it's crazy how our mind immediately goes there because our ego. Yeah.
36:15
You know, or maybe because something else, but I think it's just that ego. It is. Yeah.
36:20
But but I had to get into the technique of loving myself, man. For real.
36:24
But what I respect about you is is it took courage to get there, but then it takes courage to go deep again. Oh yeah.
36:33
And so the you know like it took courage for you to break through and get in front of Kanye and and build your career and then to be at the top and to be at a point where it's like oh wow like there's so much opportunity and to then go oh wait I need to do the work. I need to do the work.
36:49
I need to do the work. that takes even more courage because now you have something to lose and that's an inc I respect that a lot because I think when when I work with people and I meet people who are who are crushing it it's like when you're crushing it and then
37:05
you go no no no no wait a minute wait a minute I still need to get this right that shows an even deeper level of courage and insight and the fact that you were able to take that step back what made you comfortable and confident that you had to seek out help like your mother was obviously sending this email to Marie Diamond. When were you like,
37:21
When were you like, "Okay, I need to find a coach, a guide, therapy, like open myself up to other ways to help because you've done it fairly yourself and through books." Mhm.
37:32
But then all of a sudden, it's almost like, oh, you got to get even more. Yeah. Yeah.
37:36
Cuz it's an ongoing process.
37:36
It's an ongoing journey, right? Uh I I had no choice.
37:40
For me, it was I I couldn't get through the day without feeling terrible.
37:46
M and when you get to that point where it's hard for you to just do anything, you know, uh I knew my perspective was off.
37:56
I knew I did and I saw I sought therapy, too. Mhm.
38:00
You know, I saw a therapist.
38:00
I was spiritually working on myself.
38:02
And it was just the perspective, bro.
38:07
You know, I used to look at things like, "Oh, I got to do this today. I got to do this.
38:13
I got to do this podcast. I got to Oh, man.
38:15
And I'm like overwhelmed.
38:15
But now it's like, no, I don't got to do that. I get to do it. I get to do this. I get to be, man. I get to live this.
38:24
I get to wake up, man, and see this.
38:26
You know, I we lost Nipy Hustle. Yeah.
38:31
You know, we lost my mom's best friend just died.
38:33
Um I've lost people close to me. Yeah.
38:37
You know, uh and it's they don't get to wake up. No.
38:44
you know, and they leave behind kids, they leave behind a life, right?
38:49
And I almost felt like I was being selfish because I was not living in the moment.
38:57
You're never living in the moment when you're thinking about what you have to do. Mhm.
39:03
You're only living in the moment when you're enjoying each moment, right? Yeah.
39:06
And uh one of the things that I've learned, dog, is like holding on to grudges, that's not living in love.
39:12
You know what I'm saying?
39:15
Like love doesn't hold grudges. You hold on to grudges.
39:20
Your ego holds on to grudges.
39:20
Like you got to just move with love and live in the moment.
39:24
And when you do, everything is a pleasure.
39:27
You know, even if it's a lot, even if you can't get it all done, even if you're like, I didn't even get to that today.
39:32
It's like at least at least you're here at all. Mhm.
39:37
You know, I love that switch of what you said from I've got to do this to I get to do this.
39:43
That's that's a beautiful switch in the mindset, man.
39:45
I think so many of us are always I got to do this next, I got to do I think that is such a a great I'm de I'm going to remember that forever.
39:52
Like that's Yeah, I hope so.
39:53
That I hope people really understand that because even if you're down bad to everybody who's down bad right now, who's watching this um you know, who has no money, right?
40:04
Even if you don't have a even if you're homeless, right?
40:06
Even if it's even if it's the worst situation, you don't have a a scent to your name, but somehow you seeing this, just remember that this is your opportunity.
40:17
Every situation is an opportunity.
40:17
And you don't got to do more work than the next man.
40:23
You get to do more work than the next man.
40:25
You get to take advantage of your opportunity and see a spectrum that people don't get to see.
40:31
you know, you get to you get to live out the uh levels of life that you know, people don't get to see.
40:40
You know, people don't get to see the bottom sometimes.
40:42
Some people are born into wealth and happiness and they don't have to, you know, you get to you get to struggle. You get to be stronger.
40:50
You get to lift that weight and you know, you you'll have strong enough muscles to climb the mountain and be the master of your life.
40:58
So, I'm I'm letting you know like you got what it takes. You got it. Yeah. I love that.
41:03
And you get to be more compassionate and empathetic because when you've been there now when you rise, you're able to love and be compassionate to other people's pain because you were there. Yeah.
41:15
And you get more empathy.
41:15
And that's such a gift in life, I feel, to feel compassion to that degree is a huge gift because you've been there.
41:23
You know what it feels like.
41:23
And it definitely comes from experience. Totally.
41:27
And and to have that is is a gift in and of itself.
41:29
Tell me about uh you know now where you at like when we look at you now like you've you've given us a really beautiful deep dive into these moments on your story.
41:39
What what are you visioning today?
41:42
What are you working on today?
41:44
What are some of those techniques for love?
41:48
And I love that you use the word techniques.
41:49
I think that's such a beautiful juosition between technique and love because people often think love is just fluid and fluffy and you know but you're spot on.
41:58
It's it's a science and a spirituality. It's a it's both.
42:03
It's strategic and sincere. It's it's both, right?
42:06
Like I feel we live in this world where I was talking about it with a friend today and I was saying that the human mind needs to get better at entertaining the idea that two opposites or two things that you think are opposite actually is where the magic happens.
42:23
So like when you say love is a technique, people go no no no no love love can't be a technique because it just has to be you know pure and flowing but actually it starts as a technique. Yes. And then it transcends. Yes. Right. It starts that way.
42:37
Tell us about some of the work you're doing today uh internally and externally that you feel is in line with what you're sharing.
42:45
Well first of all I'm like going through this cleanse right now.
42:47
this four month cleanse that's um that a food cleanse or No, [clears throat] it's a cleanse um where you take certain supplements.
42:58
You know, you're definitely supposed to eat a certain way.
43:00
It's not a super strict like just berries or anything like that.
43:04
It's just like it's kind of like the the diet that I already have, which is like I don't do wheat, you know, uh gluten.
43:10
And there are times where I have no choice sometimes and I even have enzymes that are like to help help with that.
43:18
But uh so it's you know it's it's not a super strict diet but it's a diet where you know you stay in the guidelines and I'm taking notes for dinner the next. [laughter] Yeah.
43:30
And anyway uh I'm doing Jana's doing this too.
43:32
Uh it's a cleanse and my mom is doing it.
43:35
A lot of people are doing it around me. Uh four month cleanse. Mhm.
43:41
and you clean your gut and your intestines and your liver and your kidneys and you clean then you clean out parasites and the worms and all these crazy things that you know that that's the stage I'm in now.
43:54
I just I'm in just started my second month out of four months.
43:58
And um one thing I realized is that when you do a cleanse like that, right, I've never done one in my life.
44:05
And I used to I mean at one point, especially in in high school, like every night I was eating McDonald's, you know what I'm saying?
44:12
I was getting that double cheeseburger. I was getting Taco Bell.
44:15
I was getting Burger King, White Castles. Like I was on it.
44:18
That's just cuz it was just what we had.
44:20
I would be in the studio at my friend's house or we recording in the basement.
44:24
It's like that's just what it was, you know?
44:25
And I've eaten so much of that in my life when I was younger.
44:28
So I was like, I really need to do this cleanse.
44:32
So that's that's one of the things I'm doing now.
44:33
And I do feel like when you do a cleanse like that, also cleanse energetically some of that old you that you've been holding on to for years. Mhm.
44:45
You know, um, and you learn discipline.
44:47
You learn It's always like I feel like there's a there's a beautiful story that you just reminded me of from what you said.
44:52
Uh it's it's in a book called the I think it's called the zen of archery.
44:57
So it's about archery and a student comes to a an archery master a zen master who's also an archer and goes I want to learn archery.
45:09
And so the master goes okay let's let's learn archery.
45:11
So they draw a target onto a little piece of paper. They stick it on a tree.
45:16
They make a little bow out of a twig and the string and they give it to the student and they give them a little arrow made out of a twig and they say, "Go for it."
45:24
And the person just starts like shooting twigs and and they're missing.
45:30
And and then the master says to the student, the master says, "What is your goal? Like what's the goal?"
45:39
And the student says, "My goal is to hit that target, the bullseye, to hit right in the middle." Right?
45:45
And the master says, "So you're telling me that your goal is to shoot a twig into a piece of paper?"
45:52
And the student's like, "Yeah, isn't isn't that what we're doing?"
45:57
And the master says something beautiful.
45:59
The master says, "That's your target.
46:00
The goal is to be calm enough so that you can hit your target." I love that.
46:07
And and what you just said now, like your target is to change your gut and purify and detox, but the goal is the discipline. Oh, yeah.
46:17
The nourishment that what you just said, like that's what you're really achieving. Yeah. In the cleanse. Yeah.
46:23
And I think we get the goal and the target confused a lot.
46:27
We we we think that the target is the goal, but the goal is to be still and to be present.
46:32
The target's just a way of getting to that goal.
46:35
So, I love that that you're doing that.
46:36
I need to join you on that.
46:36
I'm I'm big into gut health and realizing how Oh, yeah.
46:41
It's like your microbiome and everything.
46:43
It's like it has to do this cleanse specifically has to do with that.
46:46
And I need to I need to I I want you to introduce me to that person afterwards who's who's managing that.
46:52
I'm going to tell you Mama Myra, my mom. She is she's the one.
46:56
She is a health everything I've ever done with health.
46:59
Let me tell you another quick story about health real quick, please.
47:02
And then you don't have to include this if you don't want.
47:04
I had a real bad injury on tour with my knee, right?
47:08
Went to the doctor and the doctor was like, "Man, we're going to have to put screws in your knee.
47:11
We're going to Your cartilage is completely torn down and your bones are rubbing together." I could barely walk.
47:20
My mom was like, I I don't accept that. Right.
47:22
So, let's go to This is the second time in my life.
47:25
I'll tell you the first time.
47:26
This is the second time it's happened.
47:28
She's like, "I found this place that does uh stem cell research and this is how we got hip to the oxidation of the blood."
47:36
Uh what they would do is they would oxidize this blood, put it in your wherever you needed it. Right?
47:42
For me, it was my knee and it would slowly repair the knee and then regenerate the cartilage with the uh stem cells.
47:53
My cartilage regenerated in my knee 98%. 98% regeneration. This is not a game.
48:00
And this doctor told me I had to have surgery on my knee and put screws in my knee.
48:05
Uh and this was a more holistic approach.
48:07
You know, this was a more of a uh eastern, I guess, you know, medicine. Alternative.
48:13
Yeah, alternative medicine.
48:14
And um the other time was when I had heart problems growing up.
48:19
You know, I had heart palputations and it got so bad that I couldn't walk from one side of the room to the other side of the room without being short breath.
48:27
My heart, your heart runs on electric currents and mine was like beating like this. Weird, right?
48:35
Anyway, I passed out in a shower, went to the hospital.
48:38
They were like, "Man, we're going to have to put a uh we're going to have to put a what's the thing? What is this? The shock? The pacemaker. Pace.
48:46
We're going to have to put a pacemaker in your heart or we can cut half of your heart open, scar it, and the electric currents will run through the scars.
48:54
Man, I went to this doctor who is actually my doctor now in Michigan and one of the best doctors in the world, Dr. Brownstein.
49:01
He gave me magnesium and a couple other things.
49:05
He was like, "Make sure you take this magnesium."
49:06
I go back a week later or like a week and a half later to get prepped for the surgery that we couldn't afford.
49:11
They test my heart and they're like, "Oh my god, your heart's fine."
49:16
You know, they diagnosed me with the whole disease.
49:20
They diagnosed me and said my heart I had a diseased heart.
49:22
And then when I got tested again, they were like, "Oh, your heart's really healthy.
49:25
You have a strong heart."
49:27
And I couldn't believe how different.
49:30
I told them like all I did was take this, you know, I told them like I took the magnesium and they were like, "No, no way.
49:36
That's that's impossible."
49:36
But it's like people got to open their minds up a little bit more, right?
49:41
And just I mean all of us I've had to open my mind up so much in my life. Yeah.
49:47
But um yeah those but yeah I love hearing you talk about this stuff. I think it's great.
49:52
I think it's great because I think people would externally just think oh yeah skeptical about this kind of stuff and hearing you say it and you having real experience of it.
50:00
What makes your your mom sounds like the most amazing person?
50:04
I'm not just saying this.
50:04
You should like interview her one day or maybe come over for dinner and talk to her.
50:09
She Yeah 100 I'd love to.
50:09
Like I'm not even joking.
50:11
Like everything you've just said to me, the books your mother introduced you to, the people like I'm fascinated by her story, bro.
50:18
You know, you get we get lucky, right, with our parents.
50:19
They say that we choose our parents. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. I believe that. I chose the right one. For sure. [laughter] Yeah. My dad is cool, too.
50:27
Let's not get it confused. My mom is amazing. My dad is amazing, too.
50:30
Um, in a lot of ways, just not those ways. [laughter] Yeah. Different strengths. Yeah.
50:37
different and different teachers for different lessons. Yeah. Yeah.
50:41
A lot of a lot of personality traits I picked up from him for sure.
50:45
You know, he he's somebody who loves first. Yeah.
50:50
You know, and that's something that you don't get.
50:51
He's somebody who's openhearted uh and very gentle.
50:54
You know what I'm saying?
50:57
And he grew up in Monroe, Louisiana, where he had to run for his life and he would get beat up for being black, you know?
51:05
And you know, he he's dealt with a lot of pain and trauma.
51:08
And one of the things that I inspired him to do was go see therapy, you know, and that that was one of the most emotional moments for me because it was like I know him and my uncle John as black men growing up in Louisiana and all the stuff that they've been through.
51:24
you know, they, you know, my dad told me he felt like I I I didn't know that, you know, he was like, "I I didn't talk to you about certain things because I, you know, guys aren't supposed to talk about certain things.
51:35
We're not supposed to open up about that."
51:37
You know, as crazy as that sounds, right? Cuz it's different now.
51:40
People are more comfortable talking about mental health now.
51:42
People are, you know, there are discussions.
51:44
There are people who relate, right?
51:45
But that really was a stigma.
51:47
That really was something that you couldn't talk about 100%.
51:51
You know, and it it man, it messed them up. Yeah. Yeah.
51:55
He He's still working on that right now. Totally.
51:57
I mean, can you imagine holding it in for that long and not feeling you can share it and being told you're not allowed to feel that as a man?
52:04
And I mean, there's a lot of toxicity that comes with that. Yeah.
52:09
And getting and getting beat up. Yeah. Get I mean that Yeah.
52:12
You know, he said he would run for his life sometimes, man.
52:14
Like to make it past these train tracks. Crazy, man. That's insane. That's intense. Yeah.
52:20
But that's something that you it sounds like from your journey you're not you haven't experienced like that's not something that you've seen that through his experience. Yeah.
52:28
It's all in my blood though, right?
52:30
It's like my grandma's not with me anymore but she was a female black captain in World War II. My grand That's insane. Like that's in my blood.
52:37
You know, my mom's blood is in me. It's all in me.
52:39
My grandma, my other grandma had to pick cotton.
52:41
My dad's mom, she picked cotton for a job, you know.
52:45
And my granddad's aunt was born a slave.
52:48
That wasn't that long ago. Wow.
52:51
My granddad died when I was in the seventh grade.
52:52
His aunt was born a slave.
52:55
So, that goes to show you it's not that far removed. It isn't. Right.
53:00
As I have on my uh black and proud shirt. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love it.
53:04
No, but I love I love how your experience explaining the story of your background and each person Yeah.
53:10
in your history and and you're spot on that of course they made you. So, yeah.
53:16
All All of that is is part of your story.
53:18
Yeah, just like your parents, you know what I mean?
53:20
And just like everything and you know, your ancestors like they are really a part of us for sure. They really are. For sure.
53:28
You know, you got to And I had to accept that that they guided me and that when things don't work out, it's cuz they are working out better than I could even imagine. Mhm.
53:38
You know, when it when it doesn't go the way that I planned on it going, whatever it is, it's not that it's not working out, it's that it's working out better than I can even comprehend. Yeah.
53:48
If my plans worked out the way I wanted them to work out, my life would be lame compared to [laughter] what it is today, you know? Yeah. It wouldn't even be you. No, 100%. I wouldn't at all.
53:57
Like I I think about if my plans worked out the way I wanted them to work out, my life would be nowhere near as good as it is. No. No way.
54:06
And that's the thing that you hold on to, we hold on to our little plans and we keep chasing them and we keep thinking that they're the only way.
54:13
And so when a new opportunity or a new portal comes up, we're scared of walking through that portal, but that portal is I know our our greatest journey. I know. And and you've taken it.
54:24
And now you're sharing through your music.
54:26
I read that Rolling Stone said your latest album was like a self-help book. Yeah.
54:31
And I was thinking how amazing that you know how amazing that your journey and study of so many powerful teachers and books and your own work and your own uh growth journey your own purification and now you're sharing it through music.
54:45
Do you feel now that you're at a place where your music is is allowing you to share all of that even more than ever or how tell us about that journey with music because your purpose is to change people's lives through music.
54:58
Yeah, my purpose is is to inspire, you know, through anything I do.
55:02
So whether it's music or a book, right, which I haven't written yet, but yeah, it's coming. Been thinking about it. You have to.
55:10
Yeah, it's uh it's something that I wanted to just look back on my life and be like I did all I could in a moment when people not just like me but just people whoever needed it, you know, at least I said it cuz it's a it's a lot of music out there.
55:30
Yeah, it is a lot of music out there.
55:32
There's a lot of music that sounds the same out there.
55:35
There's a lot of music that sounds different, too.
55:37
Yeah, cuz it's just tons and tons and tons of music.
55:40
So, I have to represent my mindset at least at at that point in my life.
55:46
I try and do that with all my albums.
55:48
But on top of that, I don't want to sound like I'm preaching.
55:50
I don't want to sound like true I'm talking down or you know, I want to sound like I'm talking to someone.
55:55
So, I do have records that are fun. Yeah.
55:59
You know, because I am uh you know, I am not perfect. You know what I mean? Yeah. Me includ all of us. None of us. Yeah.
56:09
Yeah. So, I you know I you know one of the things that I realized is that okay I got to make sure I have the balance of having fun in my music you know and my next album won't sound like my last one and the one before that doesn't sound like you know the next one you
56:26
know it's just it's always changing up so that's the it's like a picture right it's like you can you can like okay this one I'm going to really paint what I'm going through right now this one I'm just going to completely talk about last night when I got drunk you You know what I mean? It's like
56:40
It's like it's just it comes from all different inspirations. I I love that. Yeah.
56:44
It was I I found that even and you're reading Think Like a Monk right now, but when I was writing that, I wanted to share my weakest points as a monk.
56:54
So, I don't there's not many examples in there where I share the best days.
56:58
I share all my worst days.
56:58
I share my worst meditation.
57:00
I share my biggest criticism that I had of people around me.
57:06
I share my worst uh train journey.
57:06
I like in the book I was like I want to share the worst days. Wow.
57:13
Because the e the big days are the easy days to share when like I felt enlightened and I you know when I had a moment like those are easy to share, right?
57:21
But to share like you know what I used to wake up and I hated waking up at 4:00 a. m.
57:25
Like to share that felt like the right thing to share because of what you're saying. We all have bad days.
57:31
None of us are perfect and have it all figured out.
57:32
And people relate to that, right? Yeah.
57:35
And also you've like I feel like that was that's just the truth that we need to hear because like I was speaking to a friend yesterday and he was saying you know I feel scared about my future and my financial future and this and that and whatever it was and I was like dude I I I relate like everyone feels like that like there's there's no one who and as soon as you hear that you go oh okay it's okay.
57:59
When you hear that someone else feels that way, I know when people are going to listen to this, they're going to go, "Bitch, you felt nervous rapping." Yeah.
58:07
Like when when you hear that, that's Oh, okay.
58:09
It's okay to feel nervous and still do something.
58:13
I think a lot of people feel they have to feel confident to do something. Yeah.
58:18
When actually most of us do things when we're nervous. Yeah.
58:22
And you know, bro, I wake up still totally messed up sometimes.
58:24
I feel there are times where, you know, I do feel very like down and depressed.
58:29
My vibration is low, but I'm able to approach it and react to it differently and I'm able to not let it stick on me. Yeah.
58:40
You know, one of the things that meditation does for me, it's like it's like when you work out or like do something like go on a hike or something and you take that shower. Yeah.
58:50
And you just like are clean. Yes.
58:52
That's what meditation does for me.
58:52
It it energetically literally just cleans me and I feel like I'm ready.
58:57
It's like having a full charged phone.
59:00
It's like I'm ready for everything now.
59:03
I'm charged up and uh it's bathing your soul. Yeah.
59:08
And people have a lot of misconceptions about meditation.
59:14
You know, you have to understand that there's no wrong way to meditate. There's no wrong way. It's not wrong.
59:22
Even if your mind races and you get better at bringing it back to your symptoms, if you get better on focusing on your breathing, right, you don't you can't do it and think you're doing it wrong because there is no wrong way to do it.
59:35
You're going to get into a groove the more you do it that works for you because it's for you.
59:39
It's not for everyone else.
59:41
This isn't like something you get great.
59:42
It's not like a math test.
59:44
test. Meditation is a personal um you know uh moment that you share with yourself you know and that brings you in the moment and your mind does race right you think about things you may visualize things and but you come back to the moment so
1:00:02
meditation for me that's what it is you know and that's that's one of the mis biggest misconceptions I go to these studios I'm talking to like you know any I could be talking to Lil Wayne, I could be talking to like I'll
1:00:16
definitely be in studio sessions with people like like my brother Wayne and being like man like so you taking any vitamins or like what's the you know I'm not even playing like you know you know they look at me crazy sometimes but it's just like I do care I love that I love
1:00:31
that guy you know I love my brothers I love with Hit I'm in the studio with Hit Boy who's one of the greatest producers right and um I mean you know I'm telling he's like yo help put me on like you I'd be telling him what I'm doing. He's like, "Yo, I want to get into
1:00:45
He's like, "Yo, I want to get into that."
1:00:46
Like, and there's no wrong way of doing it.
1:00:49
I just want to put that out there.
1:00:51
There's no wrong way of doing it.
1:00:53
I love I love that you're an ambassador for meditation.
1:00:56
It's it's awesome seeing you talk about it in such a genuine way.
1:01:00
And I love what you just said that meditation is not a math test.
1:01:02
I mean, that is the problem with the the conditioning that everything's a test.
1:01:08
Everything's right or wrong.
1:01:09
everything's, you know, and and [snorts] you're so right that you just have to let go of that.
1:01:13
When I'm sharing meditation with people, often I find that especially if they're musicians, it's like they they want to get the music right or the sound right, but it's free of that.
1:01:22
Like meditation is I I mean, I'm tonedeaf and uh you know, I can't [laughter] sing to save my life.
1:01:28
I love music, but I can't sing to save my life.
1:01:30
But it's meditation's beyond that.
1:01:31
Like it's beyond the the mental verbal capacities that we have.
1:01:37
But uh it is that's that's one of the things I do. Uh write stuff down. Yeah.
1:01:44
Since 2019 though, I've also been like, "Let me do one thing every year that's going to change my life." Oo.
1:01:51
You know how people be having like New Year's resolutions.
1:01:52
So, uh in 2018, that's when I started really taking better care of myself, right?
1:01:57
So I was like 2019 my number one goal is to take care of my temple, take care of my body, take care of my mind, body cuz it's connected, right? Absolutely.
1:02:09
So I was I'mma work out and I transform my body 2019 2020 and and by the way I keep these I keep these one in introduction of something new every year.
1:02:20
I keep that in my um you know my daily practice like it's a habit at that point.
1:02:27
I create these new habits. New habits. Yeah.
1:02:32
And 2020 it was like, okay, I want to put all these things into this album.
1:02:38
That was my number one priority.
1:02:38
Like, I want to create something for people who really need this right now. Right. Yeah.
1:02:45
And while doing all the things I I kept from 2019, 2021, I've been taking voice lessons. Wow.
1:02:51
So, I've been taking voice lessons with my vocal coach, Peter.
1:02:53
And because I realized that not only do first of all I listen to my old music and my voice has changed so much. Wow.
1:03:04
And I'm like, "Okay, my voice has been getting stronger, right?
1:03:05
So, I'm going to strengthen my voice because I can harmonize. I can sing.
1:03:09
Not for real, but I do feel like I have a voice that's hidden in me a little bit, right?
1:03:15
To not only sing, but when I strengthen my voice, I also feel like it strengthens my voice figuratively." Mhm.
1:03:22
And even so, I started that in January this year and it's been helping me a lot.
1:03:29
It's just been strengthening a lot of other things because really your voice, this is a sh this chakra right here for sure has been getting strengthened you know and this chakra um which is your you know your solar plexus and uh it's just been strengthening here for me you know and meditation really strengthens here for me and it also strengthens my roots you know my root chakra uh my third eye chakra, my crown chakra, you know, a lot of that.
1:04:02
But I I needed work on my throat chakra, you know, my heart chakra, you know, that's another thing that I've had to work on.
1:04:11
So, that's, you know, that's just one of the things I'm doing. I love it, man.
1:04:14
I' I'm feeling uh first of all, I'm feeling very grateful and humbled for the generous time you've given me today.
1:04:21
Yeah, I'm feeling I've been having fun.
1:04:23
I'm feeling uh I'm feeling totally uh I I've learned so much and I feel so inspired just sitting here listening to you speak and and hearing about your journey in detail.
1:04:31
I mean it I'm being honest. I'm being honest.
1:04:33
I I genuinely do and Homer knows I don't say that all the time.
1:04:37
[laughter] So uh you know he he can vouch for me for that.
1:04:41
Uh but I mean that because I I can see how much genuiness and how real this journey is for you.
1:04:47
And hearing about your mother has blown my mind because I'm thinking, "Wow, what a what a mother, you know, to have that."
1:04:53
Yeah, she's she's she's amazing. She's amazing.
1:04:56
It's really beautiful and special.
1:04:56
But, uh, we we end every one of these episodes with a fast five.
1:05:02
You may have seen Jana do this.
1:05:04
Uh, so this is final five questions where you have to answer it with one word to one sentence maximum. Gotcha.
1:05:12
So, it's it's tight and tight.
1:05:14
You're dropping the bars already. So, it's it's it's easy. It's easy for you. All right. Yeah.
1:05:18
So, the first question for you is, uh, what's the best advice you've ever received?
1:05:22
Can be a sentence, of course. Experience.
1:05:28
It's the [clears throat] best advice I've ever received is experience. That's a great answer.
1:05:31
We never had that before. I love that. Okay.
1:05:33
What's the worst advice you've ever received? You know what? You know what, Jay? Yeah.
1:05:40
It's like I block it out. Yeah.
1:05:42
You don't even remember it. I hold on to it. Yeah.
1:05:45
You know, I've gotten terrible advice.
1:05:47
my so many times I I can't even remember.
1:05:49
You can't even remember it. I love that.
1:05:50
That's a great answer, man. We're good with that. We're good with that.
1:05:53
Okay, question number three.
1:05:53
Uh, what's something that you know to be true, but you feel other people might disagree with you on or they're not there like they don't fully get it yet?
1:06:01
What's something that you're so sure about, but other people would not really get it? I can make a list. [laughter] Meditation. Yeah.
1:06:18
Um mentioned past life, ancestors. Yeah.
1:06:23
Uh guiding you, past life, uh blocks, removing blocks. Uh that's a lot.
1:06:34
[laughter] Yeah, that's a lot. That's good. Yeah. Uh question number four.
1:06:38
What's the biggest lesson you learned in the last 12 months?
1:06:42
The biggest lesson I learned in the last 12 months. You can't kill your ego.
1:06:52
Te tell me more about that.
1:06:52
That's something we should talk about.
1:06:55
People always talk about ego death and you can't kill it.
1:06:59
Why would you want to kill a part of yourself anyway?
1:07:04
You have to just know how to work with it and how to treat it.
1:07:06
M you know people always say your ego is the most childish part of you but then I also hear that children are the most spiritual beings because they have no restrictions that have been set on them and they're just purely right from the source right so there has to be a connection between the two and I think your ego is a unfiltered um part of you that it's easily affected and very emotional, very sensitive, and it's something you should embrace. Yeah.
1:07:46
Instead of trying to get rid of it, lock it in a room, you embrace it and recognize it for what it is.
1:07:53
And when you do, and when you nurture it in that way, I think it won't be as a dramatic of a outlash and as damaging to you. If that makes any sense.
1:08:05
That makes sense to me sometimes.
1:08:06
Well, when I was listening to you, what I was thinking about was sometimes your ego just needs a big hug like like when you just embrace it like you know and I don't feel ego from you today you know from the moment you walked in to meeting my team and you know it's like you don't I don't feel a sense of arrogance or bravado in your presence at all. Thank you.
1:08:24
Which which just shows that you've just embraced it.
1:08:26
You you know you get it there and and I like that.
1:08:28
That's what came to my mind when you were speaking.
1:08:32
And also when you talk about children, I was thinking, you know, we're we want to become more childlike and not childish.
1:08:39
And I think that's the, you know, what you were saying there, like being childlike is great.
1:08:42
Like childlike is like fresh, new, but being childish is like tantrums and, you know, being, you know, being childlike is like not putting any ceilings on yourself, you know? Yeah.
1:08:55
One, like one of the things that we do as grown-ups, it's like, oh, that sounds a little crazy.
1:08:58
That when you a kid, you like, man, I want to be an astronaut.
1:09:01
Yeah, I'm gonna climb that tree.
1:09:01
Yeah, I want to do this, you know, I want to be.
1:09:05
And it's like they do it to as much to their capacity, but that's something we lose when we grow up.
1:09:10
So, um, yeah, I love that childish versus childlike. Yeah.
1:09:18
You know, and that's the same as being selfish and self-care. Yes.
1:09:22
And I used to get those confused, you know.
1:09:25
And that's one of the reasons why I felt like I probably stayed so I burnt myself out as far as like trying to do too much is because I thought that it was selfish of me to be like, "Oh, I need to take time for myself." Yeah.
1:09:39
You know, instead of doing this work I need to do, I'm going to get a massage tonight.
1:09:42
I thought that was selfish of me. But that's not selfish. That's self-care. That's self-love.
1:09:48
And you got to know the difference between the two. Absolutely.
1:09:50
You know, selfish is when it affects um the people you love or people around you or certain people um in a negative way, right?
1:09:59
Uh you're doing something for a wrong reason.
1:10:02
But when you're just taking care of yourself to to to be better for those people, Yeah.
1:10:09
then that that's self-care. Yeah. I love that.
1:10:10
That's such a great definition.
1:10:12
And I I just hope everyone who's listening and watching to this, I hope you're taking notes because that differentiation can actually change your life because when you give up your self-care in the short term to think you're being selfless, then in the long term you end up having to be selfish because it pushes you back that way.
1:10:31
So you're you're spot on that we have and I I can relate to that so much because there was a time in my life where I was just extending myself to others and I used to think that getting a massage, eating well, eating on time, all of that stuff was bad.
1:10:45
And now it's like I realized, well, I can't give myself or I'm giving people the worst leftovers of myself when I haven't taken care of myself.
1:10:55
I don't want to give the people I love my leftovers, but that's what I'm giving them because I've drained myself.
1:11:02
So, I I love that differentiation. All right.
1:11:04
Fifth and final question. Okay. Yeah.
1:11:06
I forgot we were doing No, that's good. [laughter] That's good. Yeah. Yeah.
1:11:08
No, I wanted I asked you I asked you.
1:11:10
You were following the rules, but I was like when you said that we have to kill our ego, I was like, "Oh, okay. I want to know." So, that was good. It was good.
1:11:16
Fifth and final question is, if you could create a law that everyone in the world had to follow, what would it be? To not judge. Um, yeah.
1:11:28
Not to judge because uh here's the difference.
1:11:32
Everyone has an opinion, right? And that's fine. Mhm.
1:11:39
You know, and I remember just going to church and, you know, people being like, "Only God can judge you, right?" Yeah.
1:11:45
But we are all humans and when we judge each other, uh, it it brings us down, man. It traps us, right?
1:11:52
It's like and what you put out there is just going to come right back to you. Absolutely.
1:11:58
You know, it's like a double-edged sword.
1:11:59
So, you're judging somebody like you messed up. You wrong. This is not good.
1:12:04
What you What are you doing? Like, this is not good.
1:12:05
But that's coming right back to you whether you know it or not.
1:12:08
And it could be different ways, right?
1:12:10
But to me, you can have an opinion, right?
1:12:12
And that that's that's a thin line, too, between an opinion and judging.
1:12:17
M but and judging is when is when you go out your way too to make somebody feel a certain way, right?
1:12:25
And that's something that's become so accustomed to our society is we judge each other when really I don't even know if we have the right to judge each other. Totally.
1:12:34
You know, we're all made in the image of God, right?
1:12:36
And uh I don't know if uh judging each other is productive necessarily, you know?
1:12:45
I just don't think it's productive.
1:12:46
I think that it's time that you could have spent on something else.
1:12:49
And if you don't like something that's different, you don't have to comment on it.
1:12:52
You don't have to judge it.
1:12:53
You can just be like, "Cool."
1:12:54
Like, yeah, you know, and and put the energy on something you like, you know, let it go.
1:13:00
Or I think when you bring somebody down, though, you're bringing them down.
1:13:02
But you can't bring anything down without going down yourself.
1:13:06
It doesn't even make any sense. Absolutely. Absolutely. Everyone, big Sean.
1:13:11
Sean, thank you for doing this, man.
1:13:13
You I can't wait to come back.
1:13:14
We got to do like a part two. I know.
1:13:16
I mean, I can carry on talking, but we can save it for another time if you like. Yeah.
1:13:21
No, this has been amazing, man.
1:13:24
Like, just hearing you share your heart and your uh genuine purpose with us today.
1:13:29
Like, I've loved every bit of it.
1:13:31
It's been so inspiring to me, too.
1:13:31
And I've learned so much. And I've I I mean that.
1:13:37
I mean that from the bottom of my heart.
1:13:39
And I recommend that everyone goes and listens to this again and and takes notes, write stuff down because there are so many gems in what you shared uh that can be truly powerful for people at different stages of their life because you just walked us through the hero's journey. Yeah.
1:13:55
And and your journey of course still continues as you know, but there's so many parts of that.
1:13:59
And uh I want to I want to ask you though, is there something you wanted to share today that you feel I haven't let you share or that you haven't had an opportunity to get through?
1:14:08
because I want to get there.
1:14:08
I don't want to pre prematurely, you know, give up. So, no.
1:14:13
Uh, if there's something on your mind that you're like, "Oh, I feel like I need to share this with people."
1:14:18
Well, I do want to just share that I go through terrible days.
1:14:22
I go through dark moments. I go through great days. I have great moments.
1:14:27
And, you know, it's not like I figured life out.
1:14:29
You know, I I don't think anyone on this earth has ever figured life out all the way. Agreed.
1:14:36
And I don't think it's for us to to figure out, you know, maybe there are other purposes for it, but I just want to put that out there and say that, you know, you're not alone.
1:14:46
Like, whoever, you know, whoever needs to hear that, like, you just you're not alone.
1:14:51
You know, obviously Jay Shetty got you.
1:14:56
I got like we're all in this together. Yeah.
1:15:00
And you know, I just want to I just want to end on that and just say that thank thank you guys for listening.
1:15:06
You know, to anybody who needed to hear this, like I needed to hear myself, you know, everything I said is because I it was on my heart that needed to be expressed for you and for myself and for for whatever other reason. So, thank you.
1:15:22
That is a beautiful note to end on and a thousand% I'm in for a part two. Yeah, got to do part.
1:15:26
Yeah, I'm I'm all in for a part two.
1:15:28
I could I could talk to you for like 2 three hours and I could listen to that voice.
1:15:31
[laughter] I could listen to that voice for hours.
1:15:34
So, you know, it's like it's uh but honestly like what you just said is is so perfect and exactly what we all need to hear.
1:15:42
And I I don't think you shared your story with any sort of perfection or u with any projection of you having it figured out.
1:15:51
I could hear that sincere seeker inside of you in in every step.
1:15:55
So, I I think you shared it beautifully, man. Thank you so much. No, thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you, man. This was beautiful. This was amazing. I loved it. It was. It was. Thank you.
1:16:06
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1:16:10
I'm also excited to let you know that you can now get my book, Think Like a Monk, from think like a monkbook. com.
1:16:20
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