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even just the way like I would grab the ball I miss a shot and you know Justin come Pat me on the back and be like it's all good bro next next shot you got that and like that's not how I played basketball with my friends you know what
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I'm saying like it was like that's not how anybody plays basketball with their friends but it was so but it was so cool there was a playground in the world where that's going on outside of Justin Bieber's house if I went down to the
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Grove and tried to jump on the courts and did that some stranger who never met me would be like trash right right literally try harder bro I thought benx was restrained he only used one Ben X ID normally it comes in about 12 times ex I messaged him he's he's so funny man he's so cool I I I really I really like him I've never we we've only linked one time in person and it was at a party and I couldn't hear him but we spoke on FaceTime a couple
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times and like he seems like a really fun guy cuz like I I sent him something like um I don't know I mocked a I was like yo can you can you save this one for me and then he sent me like a a photo of like it was like a meme that he created of his head and it was like spinning and it had like Superman music in the back or something and I was just like this is exactly like something I would send somebody and we had just like met and I
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was like that's really cool he jokes I mean on the social medias too you know he's all serious in the studio but I think everything else he realizes is all just part of the fun of life I love that and I hear on this album a lot of a lot
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of emotion lot of honesty yeah but it's good hearing you have fun it's good hearing you on a song like that even though you know there isn't really a song on this album that isn't reflecting on some loss it's true I mean
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relationships your youth the redefinition of of what family and friends have become over the last few years it's all growing pains this album feels like growing pains to me it is I think that's I mean that's why I named
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it the first time you know I think like that's um kind of a big theme in growing up is loss right I mean that might be the biggest theme at least for me it has been um you know losing you know um whatever it may be whether it's yeah
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people relationships um even just identity even just you know the sense of who you thought you were 1,000% um and just yeah going through or like yeah losing you know like your thoughts are constantly changing and growing and
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you're gaining New Perspectives and you know you're looking back on like old versions of yourself and being like yo what the hell that's crazy I can't believe that was me and you know it's like but you got to be kind to yourself
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because you found this voice and this desire to express yourself at an age where most kids would never ever have shared that they would have protected it at all costs until they felt they had something they could stand behind in
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years to come you didn't have that as an option you you you moved at a young age and everyone got to know you pretty fast that's why I am hard on myself right because like everything since I've been like whatever it is 15 or 16 has been
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like relatively like public right it's like and you know that's just because like that's what I chose to do as a kid and I love doing it and it's not that I regret it or I wouldn't do it hang on it's a byproduct of what you chose to do in my opinion right yeah it comes with the territory of finding a passion so you it's yeah I love that I I I I I I I love that cuz I I hate please don't feel like it's your role in life to be to be
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in front of everybody doing things for to be judged it just comes with the territory of doing what you love I don't and that's why I hate that's why I hate the whole um oh well this is what you signed up for well because it's like
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that's not what I signed up for actually it's fine I'll do it and I'll accept it yeah I'll take it on that's great like because I have to you know cuz that's what comes with doing that's what comes with doing what you love but and I'm not
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speaking for you bro I'm speaking for every person who's sat in that who I've interviewed who struggled with this I've heard it for 30 years I don't know how to respond to people when they're like oh you should just be happy that
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you get to do what you love and that stuff is just a part of it it's like well cool yeah but but life's still life life still life you know life's still life and life is tough you know no matter what you're doing no matter who
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you are no matter how much money you have no matter you know um what it is there's still things you know like obviously become relative to your life right and like the more you keep like growing and changing and moving different things become you have different problems and different things start coming like you know I mean when I thought you know simple things that I was able to solve simple problems that when I was younger that I was able to
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solve with success you know those are solved but then a whole new batch of problems come that you know maybe it's cuz I'm growing older and you know I I think when you do grow older you feel problems a lot more right
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like you feel the weight of those problems a lot more at least I do when I was younger it was always a thing I mean dude you met me when I was like 15 or something and like there was no telling me no you know right like and that's how
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I felt about everything was like I could do anything that I wanted to and it doesn't matter what situation I'm in or what's going on you know like this is temporary and then as you get older things start to become a little more
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real to you right you become protective of what you build around you the relationships the stuff you acquire the stuff that makes you feel secure yeah you become protective of it and that's when the fear kind of kicks in you know
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when you're what do you got to lose fear that is like a that's a big thing dude for me is like I talk about this with my friend um Billy all the time I have a friend Billy who's a lot older than me um and we make music together and he one
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of the big them themes that we talk about is like fear that fear of like losing everything right you know of like up or like you know making the wrong decisions or like doing even it's like the littlest things like doing the
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wrong things with your money or like making a fool out of yourself right um and that's like something that I think I don't know I haven't I don't know maybe I'm looking in the wrong places I haven't heard a whole lot of people talk about this but I think like a lot of things that you know even when I talk to other artists and stuff like I like a big theme is like yeah fear like fear like when you get successful like fear
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of like losing that you know is like a real thing I think it is and I think this I think there's a lot wrapped up in it and I think from conversations I've had with some people in the past who' have been open about this as well like
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you are right now and I and we appreciate it it's good to talk about is that um you also kind of when you start and you you are searching for things that are exciting that you love to do and you probably think like you touched
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on before they're going to solve a bunch of problems mhm and it becomes this kind of costume this some armor this superhero outfit you put on yeah and then what happens if you lose that and you stuck back with the person who has
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the problems and the only way forward is to deal with the problems and to a point the music the success the travel the attention the distractions never going to get to the root of the problem and you shouldn't be in any hurry to fix
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them either it's it's a life's work a th% well and the thing is you're never going to nothing is ever going to be fixed you know you're never going to be fixed in life and I think like that's something you have to accept at um at some point is like we're all you know work in progress we're all broken people and we might never be fixed you know cuz that's just how life is right like what there's always going to be stuff going
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to have to worry about like things like anxiety things like you know those things are always going to be in our lives it's just about how we deal with them and how we address things and how we like like take care of those things
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right i' been doing a lot of like therapy and stuff recently and one of the things that when I talk when we talk about like anxiety right because I deal with a lot of anxiety stuff I like constantly every day and one of the
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things was like we talk about like what feeling you get in your body is it a feeling in your body body like where do you get it do you get it in your head do you get it in your chest and I feel a lot of my anxiety like right here and
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something that um my therapist told me to do was to almost like instead of like trying to fight it right and push it down you kind of got to like take care of it right you got to like put your hand and like talk talk to your talk to
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that feeling right talk to how you feel and like take care of it and nurture it and I think I think that was such like a cool thing cuz like Yeah the more we try to like fight that stuff and like run away from it and act like it doesn't
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exist like the bigger it grows and like sometimes there is kind of like a beautiful thing in just accepting that all right this is going to be a part of my life forever and like maybe like we can make friends you know maybe we can
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like be cool to a certain extent well to some degree it's trying to protect you it's like another version of you right that's like that's like living there who whoa whoo don't do that whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa I'm scared I'm scared I'm freaked out and um yeah I totally get that I've been doing therapy for years I relate to what you're saying and I think it's important that we do look at at these things these experiences that
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create these feelings of of uh immovability depression anxiety um In a Different Light we don't look at them as enemies and to some degree we accept them as who who we are and figure out where they come from over time music
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helps it helps for me to listen to same like I I go to music for so many reasons I get emotional talking about because it's been the it's been such a constant in my life as a friend and sometimes it's the friend I don't even want to
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listen to because it's too painful it's like no you have to listen to me you got to go through this right now got to put me on listen to me like listen to this right now do you have a go-to I have a playlist I have playlists for the like let it all go playlists I got a playlist which I'll share with you which is called uh not going to lie these songs will you up that's what's called I love that and it's just a feeling right where do you go what
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what's let's let's pick a few moods and pick an example of something that you love and let's let's stay where we are and then we'll move into into the upbeat yeah there's a few things um but recent over the past year and a half the most
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consistent thing when I when I'm like there there's a lot of different music a lot of different artists that I go to when I'm when I listen you know um but I think the one arest whenever I feel like so you know you get into those
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states where you're like so disconnected and you you feel like you're almost floating and nothing really is going on the one artist that I always put on that like sometimes you don't want to listen to any you know you have to find the
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right thing and Elliot Smith for me has been so big for like put and it's like it sends a different like frequency through my body that just is like okay like it's like so soothing right it's strangely soothing given we the the
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amount of pain in the music 100% strangely soothing just like his voice and the way like he's so like it's like he knew that if he if he built a song for the most part because there was sad songs too Arrangement wise but if he built music that was as immersive and consuming on a Melancholy level as what he was saying and singing about it would be too much it's like yeah it's like somewhere and I never met him but I'd imagine listening to his
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music that he was like the only way I can really help somebody is if I make them smile while they're listening to this song yeah it's interesting right there's like a few songs like there's this that song um Twilight that's that I
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love but um there's a one off the either or record say yes yeah that is like it's like it's so I don't know how to describe this cuz technically you know it's a it's a it's a sad song but it's like kind of like makes you feel good
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like there's something about it that like there's like other songs on that record that like really are like heavy and then that one is kind of like it even though it's like there's something about it that makes you that you know to
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the sadness but it's like it's celebrating Mel Melancholy in a weird way it's it's saying it's totally cool to say what to acknowledge what I'm saying and feel the same thing but we can also get up and get on with our day
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and yeah it's so crazy I put on that song sometimes and it just like it it you know when you're like in a crazy thing and then it just kind of like everything clicks and it's like oh okay dude I'm listening to a lot of ambient
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and very deep piano related music but on the contrasting level like there's this Duo which I'm raving about called a winged victory for the Su and they've been around for some time and they make beautiful beautiful ambient piano driven
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music with strings it's incredible but then they call their songs Aqualung that's OD I got to check that out or adios Florida like adios like they have real like sense of humor in their that's cool but their music is just and I just sit there and lose hours to that like I'll stare at a plant for like 90 minutes just listen to that like where the time go yeah that's like my sweet spot I love you know I'm moving around so much every day so I
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love when I'm driving in the car I'll just put my window down just put something on just like Let The Breeze hit my face you you know like de tones is my driving music oh wow de T you know what's crazy I've been I've been
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listening to to a little bit of De tones recently I've been I've been just getting in I'm I'm yet to do like I'm yet to really go in but like I've been listening to a few songs there's a few songs that I really love Yeah you got to
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put me on I got your in I got your introduction playlist I got I got the one that's going to be like every song is like and not even the hits not even the hits yeah just the Deep cuts that are going to make you be like oh this is so deep I want to hear them this so deep want to hear well anyway that was a really great little kickoff to what is a conversation which is by Design ready to focus on what I think is a remarkable achievement bro I think
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this album top to bottom is you did your job thank you you did your partk you have left everything on the floor man it's like there's nothing left I'd imagine for you to say right now because you know there's a lot of music when I
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pressed play on it I was like nah I can't be that consistent like only scissor and a couple other people right now can think of make albums top to bottom that by way scissors album top to bottom incredible unbelievable like
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we'll check it out so it's yours thank you I think it's amazing man it's it's an amazing modern diverse really like adventurous record there's things I just don't think people were expecting I loved hearing you getting back in your
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bag MH you know on the Benny record and like deserve you I love hearing you bit again but I love hearing you with an acoustic guitar in your hand just like thanks man I think yeah I mean it's funny you say like do you have anything
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you know you probably have nothing more to say and um it's funny because I do I'm already thinking about the next record right because you probably made this off a lot of old feelings exactly and that's the funny thing is like
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there's so much I think the the the thing about right now in my life right I'm going through so much stuff a lot of change you know I think that's like the biggest theme right now is there so much change in my life and so much like
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uncertainty and like I'm moving around a lot so I'm like getting to experience a lot of different things and it's been really overwhelming and like I've been in you know this interesting space to be quite honest where like some days I'll
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feel feel good some days I'll feel terrible and but the beauty about that is I'm riding so much more than I ever have like that I've ever had the chance to and and again it is like really it it is a release you know to be able to
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write all that stuff down and then be like wow this is really cool so I I already wrote like like what I think is maybe even the intro for the next album was something because what I what I'm thinking is like after this record I mean I'm not trying to really you know take a take a break for that long again I mean if it I mean if if it needs be like obviously I I obviously don't want to drop you know the quality of the music that's never a
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thing right like if I think the quality is not there I'm not going to put something out but I think I'm in a place where I am making so much stuff that I do think is really good with a lot of like thought and meaning more thought
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and meaning than it ever has been before you know more more vulnerable I think than it's ever been pretty vable on this record I mean I I get it but it does feel like a purge I feel like there was a lot of um a lot of accountability that
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you took on this album in terms of like changing relationships but also acknowledging that some people weren't right for you is just a of fig out your boundaries are yeah I mean that's been my life yeah you know yeah it's been like it's it's yeah it's been it's been crazy it's been really crazy well let's talk about it bro as as much as you feel comfortable I mean let's talk about boundaries begin at home you're a young person you're
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trying to figure out what your voice is you're talented there's no question no one's going to deny that amazingly talented kid um back then and still today as a young man so um how do you start to factor that into the family
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Dynamic um there's pre kid Leroy and then there's the kid ly so how does that how did that sort of change and alter the way that you relate to the people who raised you and that know you best I have a lot of you know family but the
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family that I've always had my entire life like we've been on the move a lot even before I was like anti making music and an artist right we moved around quite a bit and um you know it's always been me my mom my younger brother you know I'm a stepdad and I think you know that was kind of like I didn't I didn't grow up necessarily with a whole lot of like friends even you know cuz like because we were moving and changing stuff like
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you know you have like certain friends for like you know you're kind of like bouncing around different schools and stuff or doing different things or like whatever so my closest people were always like my people at home it's a little bit us against the world when it's like that right to some degree yeah and you know I think like the the interesting thing is um it's kind of it's kind of like interesting cuz a lot of you know you see a lot of
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different yeah Dynamics change even just how like communication and stuff like that I think that's been a big thing is like um there was a time period where like I think you know I say on one of the records you know when I'm talking
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about my mom on on on the Lost song incredible thanks I say um I love you even though sometimes I forget to text right I think sometimes it's you know I love my family and I love my mom more than anything she's like my best friend
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but when you're living your own life right and when you're like becoming a young adult and you have so much going on in your own life I think it is sometimes hard for family to like understand that like what you're going through right and
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they don't necessarily need to but like I think recently what I've been working on is trying to bring them closer to to what's going on and how I'm feeling right being a little more vulnerable cuz I think for a long time
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for the past like two years maybe even three years like yeah two and a half years whatever it's been um I've been very like you know I never want to let them know like like I'm not good you know or I'm not okay or like I'm feel
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because you feel a responsibility yeah exactly I feel a responsibility to like adding to the balance of things rather than and also being like a leader for my family you know I feel like I want to be a leader for my family and like I am a
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leader for my family and I think like I don't know I've been working recently on trying to just like involve you know talk to my mom more about like how I'm feeling and like being a little more vulnerable and which is hard because you know you don't as a Young Man you don't want to be um it's hard to talk to your mom about things like that no matter who you are you know when you when you feel like you absorbed a role whether you
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realized it or not that is by its very nature strong it's strong and like I have to be you know and I've always felt like all right like I've always had that feeling of like I have to be good so everybody else is good right um and like
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and that I think is what happen that's what tends to happen right like sometimes when like my mom's texting me and I'm not responding and you know I think some times she thinks it's like oh damn like you're forgetting and
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sometimes I'm just so overwhelmed and I don't know how to approach things right um but at that same time it's it's always for me in my head I've always thought like okay family which which is by the way not thinking that I cosign
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I'm working out of it but you know for the longest time it was always like okay well you know what let me attend to all these other people because they don't know me they don't know my heart I'm going to tend and try and make everybody
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happy cuz I tend to like be a big people pleaser I I want to please everybody I want to make sure everybody's happy so you know let me let me go and attend to like this person over here and this and let me make sure these people feel okay and these people like don't think I'm rude or like whatever and I'll get to my family because they they love me and you know we have a love that's like unspoken and and you know what you realize is
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that like family needs just as much attention as everybody else if not more you know people still you know your family still wants to feel loved even though they like yeah even though there is that unspoken love it's like you
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still have to you know you still have to go and like put in that time and put in that like no question no question but the question is on top of that is where's the time for you cuz that sounds exhausting yeah I mean making sure that
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everybody that you meet over time that you want to forge a relationship with of any foundation that they're okay being a fixer I am can relate to that dude I can relate to that yeah 100% And when I read when I got to a point in my life cuz I'm
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much older than you was I just was tired yeah I was like it has been an exhausting time doing that 100% well I think I think that's why I get in those like states where like you know people will try texting me and I just won't be
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responding to anybody cuz I just get so overwhelmed and I'm like this is too much let me just like be in my own for a second um but like again what you realiz is that like you do have to just address things head on it's better to address things now than like later down the line because it just builds up and it just like grows into biggest stuff that like you don't want to you know have to deal with the line so I think that's
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something I've been working towards is like just like trying to like you know like really pay more attention to like being more vulnerable with my family you know as opposed to being like the guy that like has to like be like the leader
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and the strong guy and nothing's ever wrong with me you know like I think that's where I'm getting at with all this is more so I'm trying to be more vulnerable with them because I'm trying to encourage like my younger brother to
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be more vulnerable I'm trying to encourage my mom to be more more vulnerable my mom is like the toughest cookie I know like she doesn't crack you know like she's like she's like always my whole life and I think the reason I do this is cuz my whole life I've always seen her no matter what it is she's always good and she's always telling us we're good you know she has strong resolve yeah you know it's always like there's no worries we're good you
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know and I think that's and I think now what's been really cool is like meeting people like you know my friend Cali my old friend Callo like my friend just who's like been really good and all this is like one of the things that
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like and I tell Justin this all the time is that like when I first met him one of the things that was so from Australia or Justin Justin Bieber and I think one thing that was like so jarring to me at first but something that was so
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beautiful that over time I've like picked up and I've like implemented into my own life because of him thanks to him is when I first came to his house to play basketball with him and his friends right they was so positive and so loving and so open and so vulnerable and like I and I just hadn't I wasn't used to that you know like even just the way like I would grab the ball I miss a shot and you know Justin come Pat me on the back
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and be like it's all good bro next next shot you got that and like that's not how I played basketball with my friends you know what I'm saying like it was like that's not how anybody plays basketball with their friends but it was
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so but it was so cool and there was a playground in the world where that's going outside of Justin Bieber's house if I went down to the Grove and tried to jump on the courts and did that some stranger who never met me would be like
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trash right right literally try harder bro right and make you feel like but here's the thing right is like and that's some and I remember like leaving there and just being like whoa were they trolling me like is this real like I
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just remember being like just J like I don't know what's going and over time as we kept hanging out and just like the way he was able able to like showcase his vulnerability and open up to me and like encourage like that encouraged me
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to to want to be more vulnerable and open up and want to own my feelings more and own the way I feel and how honest he is about who one favorite things about him as he's grown up from an observational point of view and someone
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who spent a few hours with him on camera having a pretty deep conversation a few years back was that it seemed to me that he got to a place where he was like how can I be um truly inspirational to people if I'm not being honest yeah and
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that is his thing he is so honest about who he is and how he feels even if like even if you know I mean whatever it is he really owns that and I think that's something that I took and I was like wow that is so admirable and I saw the
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effect it had on me just being around that and so I I want to take that I want to encourage that around my brother I want to encourage that around my mom and I think like we're actually getting to a place where that's starting to happen I
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mean me and like me and my my my my young bro you know like we go to you know I try to go to breakfast with him you know at least three or four times a week and like we have some really good talks and like the way you know at first
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the first time we did it you know he's like hard shell like what are we doing here and now we get to a place like we're on FaceTime the other night and we're just like talking about like feelings and just stuff that like I
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never thought we'd get to a place where we could do that and I think that's like a really beautiful thing I love that that's um that we're like working on I think as a family is like being more vulnerable and whether like that's a
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like it's not something that we've got on the board like let's work on this but it's like just like encouraging each other to feel a little you you know I think that's like very it just gives doesn't it give it purpose at the end of
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the day right you were just chasing a dream something was in you that you realized like everybody who finds this thing that inspires them like I don't know how I'm going to do it yeah how I'm going to get there but I'm not going to stop until I do yeah and it sounds to me from the conversation we're having right now and I'm just kind of reinterpreting interpreting what you're saying to me there was an element of that drive that
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was about trying to heal and repair the family situation like if I can just get success if I can just get us out of this predicament we can address all these things from a on an even playing field without all these other hardships around
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us that make it impossible for us to find the time to do that and that's what's happening 100% but I must know it's incredible it doesn't fix everything you know um it does give you more um it does give you a better
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environment and a better space to like be more open to things like that that's one thing I will say right is like like we can be more open and like it we have more time to like figure stuff out but it definitely hasn't fix anything um like you know like it like I guess what I'm saying the money and success thing that hasn't fixed anything directly you know it's like in indirect ways you know you're able to create spaces and stuff
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but like there's also a lot of things that like again doesn't need to be said about like that you know when you gain that there's a lot that you like give up and lose when it comes to like certain Dynamics with relationships and stuff and like um so again it's like a it's like you know just like with everything in life you know it comes with its it comes with its man it's like it comes with its all of it comes so it's funny my mom just texted
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me right now cuz I it's it's a my stepdad's birthday and I and uh they were trying to go up and ride motor bikes and I was telling her I was like I have a have a bunch of stuff but can we do dinner tonight she was like yes let's
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have dinner I'm I'm going to see if we can do a Habachi but but even just that like I like I feel really good about that you know like I don't know something like when I'm like texting my mom now I'm like texted her which you know it sounds
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like crazy cuz it's like dude of course text your mom back but like yeah like when you when I get overwhelmed dude I'm like bro that no one can reach me like it's crazy and I get into these I used have panic attacks I would go for time
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without without texting or calling my mom cuz I was so busy and I was at a point in my life where I felt like that's what I should be doing just focusing on my journey yeah and I would have panic attacks at the thought of
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calling her because I felt like too much time has passed and I just can't deal with the guilt of not spoken to her in a in a of all that so it's man it's it's like relationships are tricky and they require real work and they require self-awareness and that's a big part of this album as well I think they also yeah they also require like work from everybody you know I think that's another thing I've learned with relationships is right is like I
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the way you know I've been my whole life is like if I like think I know something you know I want to share that with people I want to like I want to you know I want to like tell them about it and like I think there just like I've
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learned that that sometimes is not the approach you know cuz sometimes it's overbearing there needs to be like it needs to all be like a working you feel like you're too much of an open book sometimes sometimes yeah I think like
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what with with people that I love and people I'm close with you know like I I definitely like I like I have been you know definitely like you know I think this is this is the right way you know because like you get so stuck on things
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especially when I was younger and then something I've learned like just like being you know in different um you know whether it's family relationships whether it's po like friendships relationship what like whatever it is um is
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like learning that like you know there's just different approaches and ways to like um instead of like being like I think this is what it is you know and getting into an argument sometimes like there's just different ways of of of
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doing things like like I said the encouraging thing of like maybe it first takes me to be around my family instead of saying hey guys I'm having a really bad day today you know and this is why and then they'll be like oh you
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know like maybe like we feel comfortable to talk about this as opposed to being like guys like we need to start talking about our feelings more you guys don't understand like this is really unhealthy for us to to just be like you know like
31:18
CU that's sometimes I guess like how I've how I've been is like you know sometimes you just got to do it first and like let you trying to fix it and now actually might need you to come and help me fix thing and that draw that into a
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different conversation yeah totally there's so many moments on this record because there's so there's so many stories sometimes wrapped up in just one song multiple touch points on your life MH um hands down the most honest thing you've ever applied yourself to yeah I mean I feel like probably when you came out here you were just trying to figure out what you were doing creatively great songs great Melodies great Concepts
31:54
great ideas but not like this yeah no I agree not even I agree I agree I agree I mean there was no kids of Growing Up 5 years ago no no no no no not at all I just didn't have that I also didn't have that perspective and I also didn't like
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that's the other thing right so why would you arrive in America and then be like let me talk about my Uncle Wayne yeah 100% I need to find a place to do that and not only that just even just musically like I think that's other
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thing I I've opened my I brought in my music taste a lot I listen to a lot of different stuff and I'm just I'm down with trying more things now I think that Robert Glasper song is amazing with the with a YB right yeah yeah yeah
32:36
so let's just be very clear about Robert Glasper I was joking to your team about it before Robert Glasper go insane he he might give you a g and he might give you an f and he may even give you a like pretty great minor transition core but
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then he's going to give you something that I've never heard before in a place I thought could make could sound as beautiful as it does and this is a great example of that yeah great beautiful oh lovely that makes sense that even makes sense but where are we going now oh there it is what is that what the I thought we were going here but we're way over [Music] here listen to you dude you know what is so funny about um someone asked me this
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they're like how did how did the Robert Glasper thing come about and like out of everybody on the record they were like yo how did you like how did you and rubber glass and I was like well it was funny I wanted him to come and play piano um at Coachella with me um because I think wonder who had showed me rubber GL maybe my buddy Omar had had put me on musical dudee oh yeah I had someone reach out to him cuz I obviously didn't know him and he said
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yeah and he came and he was like man like the reason I'm doing this is yeah like you're great but like my kids they really they really they really with you and I was like that's guy he's a smart guy the moment that you realize that your kids have better taste than you and and and you and you reject it you're a right the smartest thing you can do is get out of your own ego and get out of your own way and be like he hell yeah put me onto that tell
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me all about it the list is long and prosperous for me it changed the way I do radio in the way and the kind of artists I talk to my kids are hugely responsible for that yeah no I really I really I really thought that was really
34:39
cool like it also made my day too you know been like oh that's really cool well it's because because it's a double win because not only to the to the kids that you know that to the new generation of music fans appreciate you and they
34:50
get they've been raised in a very musically driven household right I would imagine that in the glasa household Stakes are very high in terms of taste so they like you which is great but then of course you got Robert Glasper who goes the extra mile and says look I'm really stoked that my kids dig you but I'm also now going to show up and I'm going to commit myself musically to your story and he gave you some chords but I want to get back to your
35:12
singing for a second on this and if you're listening to this in a podcast environment then put on the song right now um as we're talking uh it's called cor me instead dude you you stepped up Let It Go [Music] head I'm really proud of how my voice sounds on this song un unbeliev that was one thing when I was cutting this I was like but it's one thing to double yourself up maybe even triple vocal by the sound of it but listen to the single
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listen to the single [Music] take next to you said that you get it but you never do what you going do when the changes it's never true Here Comes so now your turn between letting it in and getting revenge something do I with
36:03
your closing your heart and keeping it open yeah no these decisions don't get easy I told you I would not disappear you I'm praying for a lifetime Miracle cuz the taste of love in your mouth got sour sour sour oh don't trip I'll be
36:23
that within an hour the past yours but the future is dude man dude shout out RIT shout out douge shout out shout out everybody who walked on that track that's a dude shout out you you Michael Uzi one too all of them out U brought
36:43
you to the studio today shout out the guy who brought you made your coffee two days ago best flat white you've had since you left Sydney but shout out all those people you like Sydney coffee it's good shout out shout out we
36:56
you didn't claim stop claiming the flat white though that's not acceptable New Zealand is New Zealand has made the flat don't clim anything whatever bro I'm here anyway shout out you like that's what I'm saying like the writing and the
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performance on this album man you went for it thanks man thanks I think um I'm very I'm very proud of it I'm I'm you know it wouldn't have been been possible without everyone who worked on it so um I think that's been the coolest thing
37:24
is like having you know like my base of people like me om Blake Tony um and them being able to like have our base and then like bring people in and like well they believed in you from they knew this was coming yeah 100% I mean you know I om and I we met um when we were both like when we both well I when I first came to LA and when he was just like just got out of high school um and you know we were both like nobodies you know we were both like
37:55
trying to trying to get it and it's been really cool seeing like and then stay both of us come I mean you know together yeah there's a lot there's a lot of songs now in the Omar song book and the Blake song book and your song book
38:08
there's a lot of songs but that song I mean dude you Lu if you get one of those you're going to have a ton more Justin's already had a ton of them and we'll have more to come even with an album as accomplished as this over the course of
38:23
20 plus songs you must still think about that moment in time as being magic like a magical moment when stay was made because it doesn't sound like anything other than magic yeah I mean that you know I think about the day that song was made and just like it's funny how everything just kind of like fell into place that day looking back you know I came over to Blake's um I think just to hang I don't even think I was actually we weren't even supposed
38:54
to do a session I came to Blakes to hang or like to go see him for something and um I went there and Charlie poth was there with Blake I don't know if they were working or if they were just I think they were just hanging too and um
39:10
and yeah he Charlie poth was on the was on the like you know I have you you got a chance to speak with Charlie so you first time I ever met Charlie poth he walked and we were playing Casey Musgraves high horse for the first time
39:21
ever on the radio we had a first play yeah no one had heard it apart from Casey musg Graves no way Charlie poth could have heard that song before and we had a little keyboard hold hold your thought please had a keyboard sitting on the table cuz we know that he's Pitch Perfect and can play anything and he sat down he went he looked up and he saw it was Casey musk I really like Casey musk and he started just adding like piano cords and solos and
39:44
live on the air over high horse I'm like does that so you know how he is right so tell me this does this sound unbelievable to you we're meeting for the the first time and he's talking to me and he pretends like the keyboard's here and I'm he's
40:02
looking at me here oh yeah man that's like really cool so like tell me about your day and he's like just playing the keyboard and he's like just playing like the stay yeah what is what is like like the the the
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the synth line I just remember being like yo what what is that what are you playing he's like oh I don't know I was just like he's like that is a guest house my friend I was just messing around and I said well we should I was
40:26
like we should pull I said we should you you should record that we should pull that up he was like oh like really like like this like no I swear I swear right hand you know him well enough now to know what he's doing I love that you know that of
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course he's so funny that's why I'm like charie you're not slick he's not slick he's too talented to be slick yeah that's a fact he's a very talented man and anyway so Blake pulls it up and I just went to the mic and the first thing
40:57
I did was the hook right I do the same thing I told you and that I think the first take that we did of that that I recorded is the take that's on the record I think I have to double check with Blake but I think that's it and
41:10
then all the and then everything and the whole thing we made maybe in like I don't know like I want to say 15 minutes I just like me going off the top it's funny like cuz that's like a pop song and it's a song that like you know how people imagine pop songs being made usually is like you know there's a whole bunch of like people scheming and coming up with things and then like it's given to an artist and then they're cutting it
41:32
and then they build and the way that that happened was literally the way that I would record like like a rap song right we just put the headphones on and just started going line for line you know that whole Magic It's Magic It's
41:42
Magic It's Magic it presented itself to you for a reason it wanted to be heard it wanted to be created you were the vessel and you got and now you you get to be a part of that song Story yeah and then I remember the the one thing that
41:54
um after we recorded the song um after I'd done it it was funny like Charlie was like had a had a thing on the on on my hook he's like damn I really love the way you did this hook he's like let me just move one note and he like pit
42:14
shifted the last um so he goes I need you to stay I need you to stay yeah yay originally was I need you to stay need you to stay yay yay or something like that went he pitched it he he literally moved it up one and it was just like oh
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that's that's how you do it that's cool yeah that was great and um can tell you a story about um Drop It Like It's Hot please an engineer wied on that song told me that apparently they had it Snoop Fel they had it Sno it's all
42:52
there it's all there right everything's there and they're all like and they just in the room listening to it on Loop nonstop for like an hour like oh we got it we got it we got it we got it we got it and Chad walks in the room for the
43:05
first time cuz he's been working on s store and everything's always on yeah so he's like listening to it in real time for the first time and he's listening to like Drop it like it's hot Drop it like it's hot and he's listening to it he's got the structure in the real time he's like presses record on the session and goes wow and then it was it and then that's it then that was it there it is yeah once yeah Loop it put it in done did it in
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real time wow didn't even like think about it just felt it and I I mean imagine that song without that dude I'm I'm obsessed with stories like that or like I love when people tell me like print stories you ever heard any good
43:46
print stories well I mean you know I've got yeah yeah yeah a bank yeah I I've I've I've I've heard a couple too that like I I I obsess over here and that stuff that's me I mean we've lost some greats and every time we lose someone
43:58
who gives us the gift of music and we both know this you know um it's it's just it's so much loss and it's different even when you're friends and family and I've lost friends and family make music too but even just as a fan someone who never met that person you just feel this immense sense of loss yeah when Prince passed man I was like and the world will never be the same like I mean you can say that for everybody but I mean it was just this
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moment of like what do you mean like what are you talking about like I felt like he was going to live forever I definitely felt like he was going to out live me yeah you know what I mean it was a crazy thing there's some loss on this record for sure yeah there there is We Touch we touched on that a little bit at the beginning um there's one song in particular which is very very moving I think and you handle it beautifully which is where does your
44:42
spirit go uh as Journeys go as a song it being a journey it starts very contemplative you know you repeat yourself in order to establish a trust and then you really open up and you start telling the story MH can you be as honest about that song as possible I wanted to just capture how I was feeling I mean obviously that was the first step and I think what comes with a lot of death death and and and grief is um is obviously sadness but anger as
45:18
well right um not like not only just anger for you know the events of of death but like like anger towards yourself and like regret of like damn I wish like I had told this person this or damn I wish I did this differently I wish I had you
45:37
know so and a lot of that you know you can tend to project and I think that was the thing was like you know like um like like when I say in the song like how could you how could you how could you build me up just just to leave me now
45:52
it's like how could you how could you get me get me red up and and hyped up like you know how could like we have so much to do with so much to do and then you're just going to you're going to leave like you know and
46:02
obviously that's like not how you know but that that's a feeling that you feel at some point you know as as as wrong as you know like as as not accurate as that is you know some someone's not like just trying to dece out on you but like it's
46:17
valid you have to live with the loss yeah but like that's how you feel I think at at like at at points of like grief is like like you feel anger right and then just that thing of like I mean I always say you know I was talking
46:28
to um a friend recently um who uh you know this this this song was you know about about juice and about um my other homie sake um we both POS who sake was actually there that night when we first met um which is crazy and I have him
46:47
tattooed right here but yeah the song is about is he one of the guys on stage with you that night yeah um and uh yeah that one yes so it's about it's about juice and sake and I was talking to um I was talking to to a friend who knew
47:05
um who knew Jews as well and I think one of the things that I was saying to you know one of the one of the things that I was always saying was like you know I was so young when I was around him right and like I was just
47:20
happy to be there and juice and I you know that was like big bro but like I was 15 and he was like 20 so you know there's like a there is like a a dynamic of like you're not like you know you're just as a kid you're a fan and you're like damn now I get now this now this guy gets to be like big bro and like now I get to like travel everywhere and there's just like that sense of like you're kind of just happy to be there and moveing with the
47:48
flow and that and one thing that I always wished I think was that I was like damn I wish there was was it in in Another Universe like I met juice now you know with going through what I've gone through and like knowing what I
48:05
know or like having the people like you know like my boy cie for example who I was talking about like I'm like damn I wish like I wish like you know I could introduce juice to cie because cie would be able to you know I think provide so
48:21
much or like or like knowledge or like understanding you know and cuz he's quite a special guy we don't have to get into it now but he's a guy who's helped me so much you know he's had you know um friends and stuff who gone through this
48:35
and and and not only just the fame aspect but you know like drug abuse and um depression and anxiety and I'm just you know there's there's always that part of me that that's like I can't control it but I always feel like I
48:50
really wish like I was I was able to offer or provide something more than just being a 15-year-old kid who's basically just bum off bro you know like that's how I always felt when he passed away was like damn I never got the chance to like really like I don't know like you you kind of know what I'm saying right I was like a kid and like I just like to offer your true value on on an even on on an equal level exactly I felt I felt like
49:17
really I've I've been I was dealing with that for a long time that's something I've obviously had to walk through but I was feeling that for a long time and that's I think where a lot of that song comes I feel it into perspective as well
49:28
is like you know it's like sometimes I you know it's it's crazy like I like yeah I I sit it sometimes and I I um I just think about all that stuff like damn I wish like I wish we were able to get on on I wish I was able to
49:45
meet him now and we were able to get on a on a level where like I could yeah provide some type of thing for him and and I think like I just was never you know a equipped to do that then and I and it wasn't even it wasn't even a and you know that was something that I yeah it wasn't even option wasn't even that were looking at you going hey you know what's your take on this yeah oh no one no one was looking to me on my my take
50:09
didn't matter again you know that was a funny thing I was like 15year old kid I'm an artist and like you know like living in bro's house I'm just like grateful to be here and grateful to be around you know everything and grateful
50:23
to be around these people and and and grateful that you know my life is changing you know that was what I was grateful for at that time and it's just funny how you get older and perspectives change and you just like damn I really W
50:35
like I cuz that was the other thing I guess that was the other thing right I used to be like you know there would there would be times and this is like very honest and very vulnerable you know there were times when I was a kid where
50:44
like I wouldn't I didn't understand what juice was going through and I'll be the first one to say that right now I didn't understand what he was going through when it came to fame when it came to all this other stuff I didn't understand
50:55
that at all you know and so I used to put put it down to sometimes you know as much love as much he like damn like this guy's like the best in the world sometimes he'd be like damn like what like what's going on with bro like what
51:08
like why is he you know like why is he feeling like this or why like you know why is certain things happening you don't understand that and it was funny when I started going through all this I like I had a I had a day where I
51:21
just broke down and like it gets me emotional even just thinking about it cuz I was like holy dude I get it now like and I'm so like and that was one of the things that I I regretted was not being able to understand him properly you know was not being a able to really understand like why he was feeling this way or why he was and it's only something that you know not a lot of people can understand it's very unique to to that situation and that's
51:50
why it's so tough when it comes to like dealing with that stuff because this situation is so unique right it's like it's something that's like so yeah it's like that's like um that's kind of you know all of that is like in that song you know s powerful frustration sadness I wasn't even sure I was going to talk about it because I knew it was going to be a tough one to talk about I think you've done such a beautiful job of conveying very
52:18
clearly what it takes to grieve through into a a new clearing and that's not just say you leave it behind but where you get out into an open space again and to me that's what that song represents is like accountability on all sides like
52:35
how could you but how could I and how could all of us and it is what it is and to acknowledge that is all part of the process and the only reason I want to talk about the song is because it's rare that one as honest as that shows up on a
52:47
record like this and I think the song deserves that credit and you wrote it and so do you and I can't even imagine what you've been through but I'm glad you're here and I'm glad that whatever you're sort of figuring out it feels
53:02
like you are coming to terms with the journey up to this point and they acknowledging that there's a lot more to do a lot more to do and exactly and that's but that's what's cool right about like life is like I don't I don't
53:19
want to be the same way forever you know I I want to keep learning I want my perspective to keep changing I want to be you know like almost like proven wrong or something you know like not even proven wrong I want to you know I
53:31
want to be able to have Healthy Growth I think that's most what it is right not be proven wrong it sounds so negative like I want to be able to have Healthy Growth and like look back I want to be able to look back in like a year two
53:41
years time from now and be like oh damn I'm happy that like my perspective change on certain things how old do you know 20 I just I just don't 20 yes sir happy birthday thank you thank you thank you thank you I told the story so many times we've talked about so many times man it's it's even more poignant now that your friend is sadly no longer here to experience this with you but that night in Sydney bro holy that was crazy it just
54:07
doesn't happen you just don't meet someone that immediately and go like this that was and that was like really that was you know you really like you really made my like my life with that to be honest you know i' like any like it's funny
54:22
like I think that's another thing that we underestimate I think as um people of like you know whatever it is like stature or like success or influ whatever the word may be right is like how much like we can impact somebody
54:37
just by like being nice you know just by being kind you know and I just remember walking away like that motivated me so much being like wow Zan low Believes In Me that's really funny I told this to your team before we started this cuz
54:52
this will be the first of many conversations we're going to have we've been been waiting to be able to spend an hour just to kicker with you so we we only have to talk about this once but I but I said that um to your team when I
55:01
left that that night and the two minutes that you had to tell me what your plan was which by the way has all worked I think you get one for that uh it's all worked um I walked out and uh me and my friend JJ corini uh who
55:24
was with me that night we looked at each other and we said damn if we were ever going to build something together we build it around that guy that's what we said because because it wasn't just the Talent dude I mean you know I pulled
55:37
your record up cuz the music was on point and you were sick on stage and it was a great energy it's because of you it's cuz of who you are inherently now I think you're just realizing it on this record I think you're just realizing what what people have seen and now you get to kind of control it a little bit from your perspective does that make sense right oh my gosh yeah dude totally I think that is the thing right is like now I'm
56:00
in a I feel more like creatively open than I ever have and I think part of that was feeling before that I needed to fill a role right um I don't feel like I have to fill a role anymore I feel like I have to my job and my duty is to give
56:17
people who I am and like do whatever the I want you know and like and that was just a me thing before was feeling like damn I need to fill a certain role right now and now I just don't feel that way anymore I'm I'm much more
56:32
comfortable with like talking about you know being a little more vulnerable I'm just more comfortable with like who I want to be moving forward you know and I think that's something when you're young you don't know who you want to be moving
56:45
forward I'm I'm still figuring it out when especially when you're in the house and you you've taken on the role of a leader why would you then try to build the same world for yourself yeah yeah in your job yeah totally