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Hello. What is up?
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So first I want to say thank you so much for coming out.
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I think this is Hot Ones fourth ever Complex Con, but this one to me it's the most special because it's here in Chicago, Illinois, a place that I consider home.
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Let's make some noise for the best damn city IN THE WORLD. ALL RIGHT.
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SO today's guest, in addition to headlining the weekend's event, he's a platinum-selling artist and his latest album Death Race for Love debuted at number one on the Billboard charts earlier this year.
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Let's make some noise for Chicago's OWN JUICE WRLD.
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HOW YOU FEELING, BROTHER?
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ALL RIGHT, YOU'LL BE ON THIS SIDE. I'll take this side.
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And it's a time crunch, so we'll just jump right into it.
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With our first wing, which is the classic.
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We'll start at the handle. How you doing?
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What's your mindset like right now? I heard about you, man.
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I'm going to start drinking lemonade now. That's the way to do it. Coat it.
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So we'll start right there. Oof.
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All right, so I want to start off with your gearhead side because I know that you have a garage that's full of motorbikes.
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And then even your latest project, the cover art, it pays homage to that demolition derby video game franchise Twisted Metal. Mhm.
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Have you ever suffered road rash or any kind of injury messing around on those things? Hold on. No, no, no.
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I'm not high yet, I swear.
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I'm not I ain't going out like that, I swear.
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I just had a mouthful, you feel me?
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So you know, it's polite to chew first, you know?
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Um we're riding up and down the street.
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And there's like this part of the street that it's not really a sharp turn, but it's you kind of got to slow down for it, you know? A little tricky. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
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And it's, you know, my my girl outside, all my homies outside. I'm trying to show off.
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So I hit the uh I hit the turn and the bike stays right here, but I go flying off.
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And I'm hands first and it was all bloody and stuff, but It can be a dangerous game.
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All right, well, there it is.
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Are you ready to move on to wing number two?
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Might as well, yellow, right? the Sauce Bae wing. The what? It's called Sauce Bae.
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Oh, I don't know what you said.
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It didn't sound right, though.
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So Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
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Is rappers really out here crying over these?
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Well, we're only the second wing in.
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Let's all remember that Juice WRLD said this. You know. Yeah, remember.
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So, a lot of people obsess over sneakers or jewelry, but here at First We Feast, we're more interested in which rappers have the rarest, most exotic cereal collections.
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Have you ever had that uh cereal that's just powdered Hostess donuts like Yeah, we have that one, too. Yeah, for sure. That's a classic one.
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And I ain't going to lie, that stuff I fell in love with that cereal.
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I was eating it like every day for like 2 weeks, probably.
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And then off the topic of cereal, but still on food.
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I know that you're a Chicago guy.
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Are you a Shark's guy or you a Harold's guy? Harold's. Harold's guy.
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Shark's is like the You know how like it's Versace and his Versus?
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Shark's is like the Versus version.
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I knew where you were going with that.
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I knew where you were going.
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And even all Harold's not good, though. Some Harold's be Versus. USPA, you know? All that.
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Excellent food take from Juice WRLD.
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Are you ready to move on? Third wing, Shaquanda's. Shaquanda's, huh? It's good. I got It's good. Um it's not hot though. Not tested yet. Oh.
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So, sticking to the topic of Chicago, I think that it's only right here at Complex Con that we shout out Chief Keef.
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What does that name mean to you? Shout out Sosa.
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Um I mean, it's just crazy to see that somebody shooting a video with their friends on their block where they from could end up you know, being on charts and going platinum and having songs with, you know, Kanye.
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You know what I'm saying? Everything.
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And and and me being a music head that I was and still am, I studied the stuff.
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Like, music been my life for a long time.
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And then, Chicago has obviously left an enduring imprint on hip-hop from the sounds to these new flows that have eventually taken over the whole genre.
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So, on the topic of Chicago hip-hop, who's your top five dead or alive? Man. Top five dead or alive. Kanye.
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I got to give it to Chance, too. Modern day.
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Man, I'll put me on the spot, dang.
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The wings might not make him sweat, but Right, but certain certain questions, you know?
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Um I'd say Kanye, Chance.
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MC Juice, you know that is?
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He's the only He a MC a old school MC, the only person ever beat Eminem in a rap battle, if I'm not mistaken. There you go. So, MC Juice.
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I mean, I have to say Herb, too.
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People be sleeping on Fredo, but that's one one of the more influential people come out of Chicago, too.
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All right, well, there it is.
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Juice WRLD's top five dead or alive.
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Are you ready to move on?
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Lucky Dog, Year of the Dog, our fourth wing. Yeah, all right.
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Thought you was just struggling there. You all right? I'm okay. I'm going to hang.
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I'm hanging so far, so far.
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So, from what I understand, maybe not. Um it's MY SHOW NOW.
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WELCOME TO HOT ONES FEATURING JUICE WRLD.
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SO, from what I understand, you travel with three pieces of luggage.
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One for your clothes, one for your sneakers, and then one for your video games.
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What is the mobile gaming setup like for Juice WRLD?
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Um, the setup is me praying that the TV got a HDMI cord or Right.
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the little three little, you know what I'm talking about?
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Little uh, if it's the older system, the red, white, and yellow cords.
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Which video game do you think has the best soundtrack of all time? Tony Hawk. Tony Hawk? Yeah.
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Tony Hawk I got a question.
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I got a question for you, though. Sure.
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So, I heard that you carry around three pieces of luggage.
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One for your clothes, Facts.
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um, one for your shoes, and then the third one for your hot sauces.
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You you have to have it ready, you know?
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If you're running into Juice WRLD at ComplexCon, you have to have that third bag ready so that you can pop up the show for the people, you know? Told y'all this my show. I'm That's how it goes. That's how it goes.
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All right, are you ready to move on to the halfway point?
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Here we are with Los Calientes, number five. It's good.
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Not hot, it's good, though. Light work. Light work.
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All right, so here at the halfway mark for the Hot Ones fans here, you know, we do a recurring segment called Explain That Gram.
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Juice WRLD, we've done a deep dive on your Instagram, pulled interesting pictures that need more context.
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I love doing this at ComplexCon cuz we have monitors.
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It makes this feel like a real production. It's so exciting.
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Y'all finna put me on blast.
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So, let's put up the first picture.
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It's you throwing out the first pitch at a White Sox game.
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I actually threw out the first pitch at yesterday's Cubs game. Airmailed it.
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Air- airmailed it and hit a staffer. And hit a staffer.
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So, I was wondering if you have any notes. How did this go for you?
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Uh, I actually grew up playing baseball, so and grew Me, too. But, you know what?
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It's a different story when you get that first pitch.
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I mean, I pitched towards the end of my baseball career, and I had speed, but I ain't had no control.
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I had throw two strikes and then like get all up in my head and then end up hitting dude in the face or something.
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Like It happens like that sometimes.
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It be like that, don't it? Mhm.
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All right, let's pull up the next picture.
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Here you are with a Japanese face mask.
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Can you break down the skin care routine once and for all for the people here at Complex Con? Yeah, I got one word. Exfoliate. Exfoliate.
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Words to live by from Juice WRLD and let's pull up the final picture.
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Here you are playing chess. Yeah.
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Are you a chess guy because you do have that song Chess King?
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I just really I wasn't one of them students that could just sit in the classroom and just you know what I'm saying? Just lock in.
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Like I couldn't learn that way.
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So it's some kids that thought they knew it all and every time we would get into like a little you know how kids get into altercations? Yep. And you're so dumb.
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And you're so So I started beating everybody in chess.
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They couldn't call me dumb no more.
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And you don't never do your homework.
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I'm like you just lost to somebody that ain't never do a homework assignment in their life. Checkmate. Checkmate. Checkmate.
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All right, Juice WRLD, you ready to move on? I'm bored already, sir.
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All right, this one we have Detroit Hellfire.
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Is that this from 8 Mile, huh? It's good. I'm good. Not hot.
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So you have a reputation for being like you struggling though, for real.
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You know, I've been doing this now many for a long long time.
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Nine seasons to be the guru, right? Yeah, but you know what?
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You put those city miles on you.
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Eventually the car starts to break down a little bit, you know? Yeah. All right.
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So you have a reputation for being a beast in the studio, from doing these one-take freestyles to completing albums in a matter of days with these manic from dusk till dawn studio sessions.
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And then you know, critics they have a lot to say about SoundCloud rappers, but when you break it down, it really is like the best sink or swim platform in music right now. Yeah.
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What do you critics get wrong in your opinion when they pigeonhole either the artist or the songs that pop on SoundCloud?
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Um I think where they go wrong is a person may make a song or a project and anybody who's criticizing it takes that song or project or whatever, you know, piece of art that was and then label that artist to say, "Okay, all that music is going to sound like this.
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All that music No, just making an assumption based off one piece of art they heard.
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The artist is somebody that that expresses themselves not necessarily in one way.
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You know, like me for example, I can make a rap song, right?
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And then and within the same hour uh have somebody set up a guitar, hop on drums, and make something that sounds like it came from I don't know, Warped Tour of 2005 or some [ __ ] like that.
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That's, you know, I think that's where critics are wrong. All right.
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Juice WRLD, are you ready to move on to number seven, Trinidad Scorpion from Wiltshire Chili Farm? Yeah.
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That tastes like it's going to be a problem in like 30 seconds. Oh, hell no. Yeah. Uh-uh.
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So, we've talked about video games and your Chicago roots, but I want to take a wing to explore some of those larger influences of Juice WRLD.
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Give me like 5 seconds, bro. Sure.
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And maybe you can just think about this while you take down the lemonade.
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Are you still into Percy Jackson novels? Yeah.
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Um I started reading them in like third grade.
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Couldn't put them down after that. Damn, bro.
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What the [ __ ] For the uninitiated, why is Percy Jackson better than Harry Potter? I don't know. Hold on. All right, so look.
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Harry Potter could look intimidating to certain people cuz it's like a big series and you kind of got to read a little bit to get into it, you know?
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Percy Jackson, the action start right away. Bro, my [ __ ] on 10. Hold on.
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Why do you think that there's such a strong connection between rap and anime?
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For artists like you and Denzel Curry, the interest, the connection to it goes much deeper than Dragon Ball Z.
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Yeah, I mean, it's part of my escape as a kid, you know?
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So, it's always going to hold a special place in my heart.
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I can tell you my anime though. Hold on. Okay. [ __ ] Damn.
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Um You ever heard of My Hero Academia? No, no.
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It's like a high school for superheroes.
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I want to maybe do that, but a high school for like super villains.
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I like the sound of that.
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I like the sound of that.
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A high school for super villains.
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Let's make some noise for Juice WRLD going into the bomb, which for the Hot Ones fans here is a moment they've been waiting for. Wait.
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I still got more left, bro. Damn.
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Here's the bomb Beyond Insanity. Well, this ain't right. Be careful here.
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You can get a small bite. That's it, man.
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This [ __ ] too hot, bro. You know what? No, it's not. I take that back. On top of it. All right.
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So, one of the crazy byproducts of the internet age is that rappers they can build this massive cult following before ever even taking the stage.
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Do you remember your first show and whether or not you got paid for it? Yeah.
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Um my first show I got paid $100 for at a rec center in the South Suburbs. here.
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And then I know that you just finished Wireless and now you're about to hit this UK tour circuit.
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What are some of the challenges of now going to these massive festival stages?
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We were playing in front of fields of thousands of people.
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If it was out the country, the only challenge is finding good food to eat. I ain't going to lie.
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Which is tough to do, right? Very hard to do.
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I I was living off McDonald's every day. Hey man, it's not funny.
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I don't know why y'all laughing. Y'all was up.
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Ooh, oh oh, I wish y'all could feel this, G.
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I've heard you say that you don't enjoy performing Lucid Dreams, which is a Billboard number one hit with a bajillion streams. Yeah. Can you unpackage that? I still love that song.
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That song is part of the reason why I blew up, but I get I mean, you perform the same thing every day.
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You want to show the people something new.
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So Give the people more new music. All right. Are you tripping, too? Yeah.
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You and me were in this together.
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Juice WRLD, this is a buddy cop movie with chicken wings that we are now taking towards the end. How are you doing?
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I don't want to talk about it. All right.
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So, this next one is the Chocolate Plague. The what?
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The PuckerButt Pepper Company Chocolate Plague. this?
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We we found this in the in the suitcase in the luggage bag full of hot sauces.
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Do you know Y'all Y'all ain't see that name and just figure why why pick this?
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Well, we saw the name and we're like, "That's the sauce that we need to put on the show." ice or something?
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Do we have any ice in that? I need some ice, bro. This ain't right.
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[ __ ] That's the wing that makes the rappers cry, you know. I ain't crying yet. I was good. I'm going to be honest. Look, y'all.
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I was good all the way up until You see how the bites start getting smaller and smaller?
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Yeah, I I definitely noticed that. Jesus Christ. LET'S MAKE SOME NOISE. WOO! ALL RIGHT. OH, WE ALSO WE GOING. We're out. We're going.
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The moment for the last one, right? Mhm.
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Bro, my lips is on fire, bro. Yeah. You and me both.
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I can't go to hell cuz I can't even take this home.
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I can only imagine how it feel for Uh-uh. All right, so look.
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All y'all that's clapping, I expect all y'all to be patting my back when I'm in the bathroom going KEEP THAT SAME ENERGY, BRO.
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SO, when Blink 182 announced that they were going out on tour with Lil Wayne, there were a lot of music bloggers that were like, "Oh my god, that's such a random pairing."
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But my guess is you were not one of them.
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Do you see a connection between pop punk and rap? Um yeah. Hold on.
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I'mma tell you why in a second. Yeah. Woo sah.
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Um a lot of rappers are kind of putting different genres in their music, and I feel like one of the first genres that people reach to is pop punk.
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And then that rap rock crossover, it has a deep history going all the way back to Run-DMC and Aerosmith.
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Beastie Boys did that, too, didn't they?
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Beastie Boys and now here with you, Juice WRLD, and it has varying degrees of success.
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Like we just talked about very successful projects, but there are some with, you know, mixed results.
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Why is the rock rap crossover What are the challenges there?
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Why is that so difficult?
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I mean, cuz no offense, but sometimes it be coming out corny.
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You can tell when some when somebody really has it in them and when somebody is just reaching.
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All right, and it's not them.
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Speaking of reaching, I'm reaching for this last bottle and shaking it up.
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You're probably wondering why.
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Oh, [ __ ] And the reason why is because this is the last dab.
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We call it the last dab because it's tradition around here to put a little extra on the last wing.
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You don't have to if you don't want to. Let's make some noise. Hey, it's not easy.
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It's not easy in a live setting with all these people out there. Damn, Skip. Good.
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That's a good That's a good dab. That's a good dab. Careful.
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All right, ice cups coming in God.
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and at just the right time.
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Let me get a ice cube out your [ __ ] Here you go. Good luck, my brother. There we go. All right.
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Let this sit here for a second. Yep, yep. All right, here we go. Bottoms up. 10th wing. The last dab. Boom.
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What the All right, Juice WRLD, here we are at the end of our spicy wing journey.
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The fourth in ComplexCon history.
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Most impressively of all is that Juice WRLD is going to hit the main stage shortly.
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And that is the real wing 10 challenge here.
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But before we get you out of here, how do you think taking down 10 scorching hot chicken wings might affect your live performance?
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Oh, I guess we'll see, HUH?
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WE WILL FIND OUT IN JUST A FEW SHORT HOURS.
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Let's make some noise for Juice WRLD.
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And let's make some noise for yourselves.
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Here we are, fourth ComplexCon in Hot Ones.
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ANOTHER ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS. Hold up.
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You want to launch a shirt? We got shirts. We got shirts. There you go. YOU GET A LAST DAB. YOU GET A LAST DAB. YOU GET A LAST DAB. HERE, HERE. YEAH, YEAH. Pass them out. There you go.
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Starting a feeding frenzy. Thank you very much. Good job. Okay, okay. Going vegan.
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Hey, what's going on Hot Ones fans?
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This is Sean Evans checking in to say thank you so much for watching today's episode.
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But, I have a stern warning for those of you out there who've been watching us now for nine seasons and have still not subscribed.
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This is your final warning. Subscribe or else.