Rise of Afrobeat & Supporting Jidenna on Tour ft. Kelechi

I think that like the first 10 years of any artistry is just finding yourself. As an artist, think about it. If you've been doing it for three years, which sounds like a long time, you're a fucking three-year-old. You're a toddler. The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine conversations with genuine people about music. Hosted by Henry with a three and playback Ben. We're from bimacoupes to pincel. So part that one more time. Part that one more time. Part that shit like one more time. Hey, part that one more time. One more time. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for another episode of the One More Time Podcast. One more time. This is gonna be a good one. I can already tell. I have a good feeling about this one. I do too. I'm your host, Playback Ben here with my co-host. Henry, but where the E used to be, we put a three to make it unique. What's up, Ben? And Henry, who do we have on the podcast today, my friend? Welcoming in on the 28th. 28th, I think your math is correct. Episode of the One More Time Podcast. You know him from Hit Singles. I'm in Love with a Stripper and Buy You a Drink.

It's T Pain. Oh, that's a good one. T-Pain in the building. I've gotten T Pain before, so I like that. Thank God. And he's a legend. So I'll take it. Legend. You know, I'll take that. I task Henry with these, you know, celebrity lookalike, uh roasts. And sometimes he delivers, sometimes not so much. This one I think was a good one. Life is hit and miss. It is. And today you hit. Thank you. There we go. In all seriousness, folks, we have recording engineer, mixed engineer, producer, artist. What else? Yeah, the list goes on and awesome human being. Oh, man. I appreciate it. The list goes on and on. We have Kelechi on the podcast. Kelechi. What up? What up? What up? What up? So Kelechi has already made an appearance uh just without him actually being here. We have Faye in the building as well. Shout out, Faye. Shout out, Faye. Hey, Episode God knows what. I honestly can't remember at this point. But we may be back. Kelechi, we appreciate you coming on, man. Thank you guys for having me. We're gonna dive right in. So you are also a first-generation American. correct? Yeah, I'm a first-generation Nigerian American.

Awesome. So with Nigerian parents, there there is some stereotype of them being- straight to it. Yeah, exactly. Let's get straight to it. Let's talk about it. They're they're they've been known to be strict and all about education and very, you know, school focused. What what are the three career choices that your parents probably gave you as Nigerian parents? This is a rhetorical question. He set you up. For those that aren't familiar, it's honestly just one career. It's doctor, Lawyer Engineer. Like it's just one thing that you're doctor, lawyer, engineer. Yeah. Dr. Lawyer, engineer. Yeah, yeah. That's that's awesome. You are none of those things. So hopefully they uh a little bit. I'm an engineer. So I mean I guess I didn't know. Correct. I didn't technically totally audio engineer. I'm not sure that's the engineer they meant. It was not. It was not. It wasn't what they were going for. That's funny. But yeah, so we shouted out Faye, who's in the building. You guys met in middle school. Yes. According to the tale he told. So what what bonded you guys together? Would you say?

Um in middle school was just we had the same homeroom. It was Mr. McRoberts. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yo, there, hey, there were some Cobb County legends in that homeroom. Seventh grade. Same homeroom, but also very much so class clowns, I believe. And and you I think you guys bonded over like making a teacher cry. It was a teacher, we both like tag teamed. And it's so I feel so bad about it. How do you feel about it now? Now I've poor Mrs. Bruner. She was just trying to the worst part about it, she was just trying to go to work. Right. And there were two And there you guys are, 12-year-olds making her life miserable at work. At work. And there was nowhere she could. go. It's the worst. I feel so bad about it. But yeah, that was like our first uh that was the first Tough friendships are. First mission, making teachers cry. We go through shit together. So so you had the physique of a linebacker. Okay. Right. But you you weren't really a sports guy. Uh yeah, I'm I played three years of football, sixth grade through eighth grade. I played uh linebacker?

Nah, I played offensive line and like uh think eighth grade. They up they put me on D line. I was not good. I was not good. I was whatever I was like exactly. I was like three steps below me. You were that sound effect. Exactly. I wasn't good, but I was just large. That's half the battle. Like basketball. you gotta be tall. So you were more into like artsy things. Yeah, right. Oh, yeah, 100%. Like, you know, what were some of the things you'd you'd be into? Uh growing up, we played with Legos, we drew a lot, uh a lot of drawing. Um I um what kind of like like pencil on paper or like markers, paper? Mostly, mostly I did pencil. It's crazy. I used to from elementary school up through, I would draw like Dragon Ball Z characters, and then that started getting into me drawing like my own characters that I've got to do. So anime guy. Not really, and only strictly Dragon Ball Z. Dragon Ball Z. guy. Just strictly Dragon Ball. The only one. Yeah, the only one. And then I would do um, but then I started like making up my own characters, and I started making comics and all kinds of things. Yeah, you were you were doing comics for like the paper and stuff, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. When I was in high school. Yeah, was it like political cartoons, or like what were you doing? I I was actually a young revolutionary. Um I got um this is my my favorite thing I did in high school. There was um, so I went to a new high school in the county, and it had gotten built, and there was like a bunch of kind of like new ish rules, like in it's hard to explain. Like, there was like rules like you couldn't like uh have holes in your pants, like you couldn't wear jeans with holes in your pants. Like, it was like, yeah, wow, it was just like elitist, and I uh I made a comic of something making fun of it about how it was stupid and and they printed that in the school newspaper, school newspaper and changed. the rule. That was progressive of the, that was, that was viral back in the day. They changed the rule. I freed the I you freed the whole- I'm the Nelson Mandela of that school. Wow. That's incredible. That's incredible. So you start making music. Wow. and you were part of the group that you know Faye talked about standard, yes, the standard, yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, and you were not rapping under the name Kelechi at the time.

What was your name? Uh pre-standard, it was Submit. Submit? That was my old rap name, Yes. And and Submit had some Christian origins, right? Yeah, yeah. I was a Christian rapper. You were a Christian rapper. Yeah, once upon a time. So was it submitting to Jesus? That's exactly what it was. That's precisely what it was. Good job, Henry. Thanks, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hey, yeah, that was it. I'm on, I'm here. That's wild. Yeah, that was so long ago. That was like twenty it's like 15 years ago. So were they like Christian bars? Like about mostly, mostly, uh not most. honestly, it wasn't mostly. It was like maybe like 40 to 60 percent. Okay, all positive messages. Mo, yeah, all positive stuff, or like, oh, I'm sad, you know. Oh, okay. And not that all I'm sad is like uh a negative thing necessarily, yeah. But I think that it's just like I think back then I I didn't I didn't have like the ability to like articulate uh I didn't have the ability to know how to make that interesting. That make sense. I didn't. Yeah. Yeah. I hadn't gone how to express it in a way you felt was adequate because it wasn't

it wasn't like not to say it wasn't real for me, I just didn't I didn't have the words yet, yeah. You know, it was just a feeling, but so uh so I assume you grew up in the church then. Like you didn't just, you know, pop out a Christian rapper for no reason, right? I'm gonna try this out too. Yeah, exactly. So Christianity was a big part of your life growing up. Yeah, I went to uh my church, man, like probably three times a week all throughout from elementary, like the end of elementary, like fourth grade all the way up until I graduated. Uh but um, yeah, and it was it was like an all-encompassing thing because it was like like we had social lives there. It was like church was like we had like we were going trips and like had social lives. Like people dated people, it was like very, very encompassing. Yeah, I feel like they should make like a TV show about that. There 100% could have been a reality, right? Because I I've heard similar stories of like my friends that were big in the youth group scene. Man. Like I am a youth group.

I'm a youth group, legend. Ask about me. I'm a youth group legend. I will. A hundred percent. Kelechi, the youth group, legend. A hundred percent. submit the youth group legend. Uh submit is a youth group legend, ask about me in these streets. I'm telling you. That's funny, man. So so Kelechi also has some Christian connotation, right? Yes, it does. It does. Tell us what the meaning is of your name. Kelechi, My name is Is that your real name? Yes, that's my government. Um it it's uh Igbo, which is tribe in uh Nigeria, and it's it means uh we thank God or thank God. Yeah, so yeah, yeah, there it is. That's Beautiful. Yes, yeah. My mom went off with the names. Yeah, shout out moms. I just also find it fascinating when artists do choose to use their you know, government name as their artist name. Yeah. I everyone has a different story of why, right? So, like, you know, why for you? I think that it was like the music had started becoming very autobiographical and just being about my life, like especially from when I dropped probably my first project. Uh not that I wasn't telling my story before that, but I I I go back and I listen to my old stuff, and it's like it's I think I was doing my best impression of what I thought an artist was.

Yeah, Wow. you know like the authenticity wasn't necessarily yeah, yeah, exactly. And and not even in a I think I listened to my old stuff and it was a lot more contrived, and not in a bad way, like you know, you go through phases and you have to grow it was growing pains. Yeah, it was growing, and figuring it out, figuring it out the like creative that word contrived has been a huge part of like my like beat making career. That's when I'm making beats, and I'm like I'm like, am I just doing this to do it, you know, or is it adding to the overall thing? I think that I think that like the first 10 years of any artistry is just finding yourself, like you're not you're not you're not yourself too. I mean, as an artist, think about it. If you've been doing it for three years, which sounds like a long time, you're a fucking three-year-old, you're a toddler. You know what I'm saying? Like, you're an artist. You're an artist. It's it's not like you you don't like. I think like you're not a mature artist until like you gotta be like seven years in it to where to where you're and and not, and this is just my experience, but to where you're like your influences start to not be as apparent, like you know how when you're doing something that like is influenced, and you know that because you've you've created your own voice, but like I think a lot of times I think about it. This is a lot with like childish gambino, his old stuff sounded like Kanye mixed with Drake, you know what I'm saying?

It was like Kanye and Drake, Kanye's funniness, Drake's honesty, and like you know, uh like emotional intelligence or whatever. Sure, and then uh he evolved, and then yeah, now it's just like he just sounds like himself. Like his voice on on uh Redbone is like who sounds like that? That's a great project, you know, what I'm saying? Exactly. And I think that you time is the only thing that can really like get you there. It's cool because we've talked about that a bunch as far as like in the beginning, you have to emulate people. You have to. There's no yeah, that's how it starts. It's yeah, it's I mean, it's no artist starts without you have to be inspired. To produce, when I started producing, I was reverse engineering Kanye West beats. Yeah, I would play his the beat, figure out what he sampled, listen to the drums, and try to hear drums that sounded kind of like and what you and I would just make the same beat again. You know what I'm saying? And it's like as that's the definition of contrived, you know what I'm saying? So it's like being contrived isn't even necessarily bad.

It's like it's a tool that you need to do just to like learn the language of creativity. You have to know what it that muscle memory in your head, you have to understand that. And then it's like, okay, cool, I know these rules. How do they apply to me? And then exactly, and then here's certain things that your own brain and like creativity is is birthing, right? Versus just the the pure copycat, which unfortunately, I mean, that's just how you have to start. I mean, it just is it's just part of the process. You gotta get it. And also like the stuff gets made that like speaks to you and it makes you be like, Oh, you know, it's like you have to know what what about this beat did you like that made it appeal to you enough? You know, you have to understand that, and like I feel like copying people is the best way to do it. Good artist. Just steal like an artist. Just steal. Yeah, we did a, we did a steal. I have a whole YouTube video. Yeah, I guess you did a YouTube video about that. Yeah, 100%. I'm big on that. So was there like a specific time? Because I mean you were doing music up through middle school and then high school and whatnot. You know, was there a specific time that you can kind of reference where you were like, okay, I'm I'm all in now? Yeah, this is 2013. 2013.

Uh yeah, what happened? Dropped out of school for the third time. Uh and uh give me two more for the That was school, yeah. Boom, boom. That's three answers. Bam. Yeah, dropped out of school for for the third time, and for the third time, and then like I had a like a real like uh honest talk with my brother. He was like, look, bro, like you gotta do what you care about in life. You care about music, just do it. Like that's all you do, you know? And he was like, I'll help you out. And then from then he was like my manager, you know. Like I and he still is now, right? He still is, yeah, That's awesome. That's so cool. it's wild. And it's like it's a family business. It's it's quite literally a family business. Yeah, yeah. So like he he he like he was like the the the catalyst to make me be. Yeah, he was like the battery in your back at that point to put my to put the other foot in. I had one foot in, he got me to put the other one. I do have to ask though, what was telling your parents like I it's crazy because I know it's from what I know about you know you know exactly. what they said.

It's wild, it's because in the moment my mom was extremely dramatic about it. Not that she was like uh she the she was just like she didn't even get mad, she got sad, which hurt my face. Which is that worse, so much worse. But then like I'm not mad, I'm disappointed. Yeah, you know, she's like seriously. She goes, she goes, uh I'm gonna hurt every day until you go back to school. Oh my gosh. Yeah, but just for the people out there, was the was what it was at first, and then like at first three days later, she came around. She came around, she was like, Yeah, it was it wasn't super long. I thought it was like two and a half, two five year process. Like, I'm sure it was still gradual, though. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. She was probably still waiting for you to fail. The wild maybe. No, not even. The wild thing is she the wild thing is she was like, she's like the my biggest fan now. I think that's the moment it was like she but you're also very successful now. Or like, you know, have built I mean I appreciate that.

Uh but uh yeah, like I think that in the moment, I think that in the moment she was sad because you know, she wants something stable for a kid, and then the thing she comes around to is you know, life's about doing what you want and trying to be happy or whatever. And uh my mom also used to I went to uh college from my freshman year, I went to college from home. Uh I wrecked my car, and then there was a point to where she was having to like pick me up from school, like off of work, and like we were and I remember a moment where she was like she had looked at me like it was after school, and I got in the car, and she was like, You you really hate this, don't you? Like, I think she like saw me as like a person in that moment, like not just like her kid, like I think that it's easy for parents to think that like when their child is like drained from doing something, it's like oh you're lazy, or you're rebellious, or it's like, no, it's like not into it. I hate this. Like, like this, this this kills.

Yeah, she could tell you were trying, but it was just like because I was still doing it, yeah. You know, and then because you could have been skipping, you could have been yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, whatever. I'm sure you were skipping. No, earlier than that, I was skipping before that. I was skipping, I was like skipping shit. But like, yeah, I remember. But at that point when she was like picking you up, she she saw the hatred exactly in your like wearing wearing me down. She knew in order for me to be like, I'm not doing this anymore, and knowing that I was going to hurt her feelings, then it must have been important to me. Right. Yeah, and I think that's the thing that brought it around to her. She was like, Well, you care about this, and it's like, you know, and you care about her, so it must be super important. Yeah, so there was a contest that kickstarted it all, I would say. It's so funny. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Tell the people like what contest you won and kind of what that whole experience was like. Yeah. So in 2015, uh Mountain Dew had put on this contest. Do the Dew. Yes. Mountain Dew. This guy's like a kickstart fiend. Oh, well, there you go.

That's his. My dad got, my dad got me addicted. I blame him. Shout out to Mountain Dew. Um, they were doing they were doing a contest. Uh it was called the Open Call Contest, and they were like giving away 50 grand to an artist uh to make an album, and you just entered a song and they listened to the song and picked somebody. Did it have to be about anything in particular? Just like the song. Literally any song a song. The dopest song, we did. and I had a s I had a song that was on SoundCloud already. And so you just submitted it. You didn't even have to make it. I didn't even submit it. My brother submitted it. Shout out your bro. Wow. Shout out Yukon. Yukon is the fucking dude. Yukon asked me to submit it minimum twice, maybe three. Could have been up to five times. That's a good manager. Yukon sounds like a major player. Now listen, asked me to. I did not. Yeah, but he emailed it. He was like, he's not gonna be able to do it. So yeah, that's a good manager. Um, submit me in some contests. I got you, bro.

Yeah, that's that's so he puts it in. Uh it gets to like the semifinal. It gets to like the semifinals. We're like, we might win this, and then we win it. Uh yeah. So from the time of winning to the time of like uh like actually getting the money and then actually making the album was probably over a year because like those contests are legally is it like a record label that doesn't pay for like a year? No. So like it's okay if you don't want to burn a bridge No, no, not even. Was there accounts payable on top of it? No, no, no. There are accounts payables on top of it. What happened? I could talk about it. What happened was what happened was like I ended up having to give like the producer of the song. Oh god, almost I gave uh a five-figure amount of money. Oh gosh. Immediately off the top of that because you didn't get exclusive rights to the beat. No, not well, didn't get exclusive rights to the beat. He I remember when I remember when the song got done, I was like, Oh yeah, let's do the thing.

He was like, All right, cool. Uh I was like, What's your manager's information? Send it to me so we can get the stuff uh taken care of. Oh, okay, y'all do it. Didn't months went by, they never come around. And then he sent it back, and then it was like, Oh, sorry, I switched I switched lawyers, let's do the it was like a bunch of like things that were of note. Now it's like, oh now, iron all that shit out up front. Iron all that shit out up front, but it just wasn't iron out up front. And then it was like his lawyer was so good. Because it was like there was a moment. Got him a five-figure deal off a Mountain Dew contest, he had nothing to do with it. He just woke up and five figures, richer. Yeah, that happens. That's that showed me that that happens. Let's learn a lesson from this. Let's hit him with it one more time. Let's I just wanted to like talk to the artists that are listening real quick. And this is coming from a producer, artists. If you don't have exclusive rights to the beat that you put out, or some form of agreement, no, I'm talking about exclusive rights right now. If you don't have exclusive rights to the beat of the song you're putting out, you're exposed. The the and the song blows up, the producer can ask for any amount, any percentage that they want.

And if you don't agree, they can remove the song from everywhere. I mean, they can they can remove the song from anywhere. They are just in front of you and the money. That's just what it is. Like the producer can just step between you and the money made from To get your fucking paperwork straight. That's it. But also on the other side of the coin, you know, Juice WRLD sampled Sting, blew up, became Juice WRLD, and then yes, Sting came back and took 90% of that song, Lucid Dreams, but he still became popular. So I don't know. Maybe steal too. It's up to you guys. Yeah, I mean, it goes it goes so many ways. I mean, all things considered, like was it worth it? You know, like, yeah, you had to get to pay him, but yeah, I still and it's not like I it's not like I came out of that situation, like, you know, no, yeah. So tell us what yeah. So what did result from that, right? So I mean, yeah, so I ended up. So tell us kind of what you did with with the money, cash prize and they finance an album. Yeah, exactly. So I I I did an album, um, I got some features on it.

Uh yeah, tell us about the BJ Before the Quarter, the Chicago Kid feature, how that one happened. He was on tour with Big Crit. He was in Texas. We're trying to get the album done. I forget what it might have been November of like 15 or 16. 16. It would have been 16 because the money didn't come for like eight months. Because of that legal situation, I link up with him and huge with uh BJ in Houston. Like you fly out there, yeah. Just for this, right? Yeah, we're gonna be able to do it. You're like, where are you right now? Initially, I'm on the way. There was another singer, there was another singer we were trying to get on the song, and like I think he was busy or like the budget wasn't big enough. He was like, Yeah, but like, you know what I'm saying? I love BJ. I could introduce you guys, and like he introduced us. BJ was cool, ran it, did the record, flew out there, linked up in a hotel room, and went for it. Yeah, that was it. And he was, he great. Yeah, he just laid the verse down in the hotel room with you. Yeah, laid it down. Um, I engineered it. Did you record it?

I engineered it. That's Awesome. Yeah, yeah. And that's the cool thing about like artist engineer stuff. It's like you we me and him really just like like really talked it out, like how we want it to be. So like it was like a real collaboration. So it was cool. That's dope. So that was the prequel to Quarter Life Crisis. That was That was called Before the Quarter. Before the Quarter. Yeah, yeah, that album. Before the quarter, and then you ran with your follow-up project was Quarter Life Crisis. Yeah, it's wild because like I didn't even realize Quarter Life Crisis was like the final in kind of a bit of a trilogy because it was like loose change into Loose Change had want on it, want won the contest, want uh, so the contest kind of leads to uh before the quarter, and before the quarter is a prequel to quarter life crisis, yeah. And so I mean, that's a lot of marketing and branding around this idea of quarter life crisis being 25 years old, I assume, right? Like, were you experiencing like was there any truth to the name? Like, were you feeling that way? You hear all that shit that I was just talking about. Yeah, so all of that was happening before I was 25. I kind of viewed like turning 25 as this.

I just didn't know if it was a catchy name or if you were like embodying like it was real. I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed and yeah, life and shit's tough, even though I'm only 25. But yeah, it was very my idea of tumultuous, you know. Sure, and and uh it's all you know, it's all perspective, yeah, yeah. And like uh I I think that I had an ex expectation of what like adulthood was. I've completely let go of expectations of adulthood now. Yeah, It's different now, man. It's not the same. Like yeah, it's it's a wild thing. It's what people think. But I think that what uh what quarter life crisis kind of was retrospectively was like a kid's idea of adulthood, uh, and the disappo the disappointment in that disconnect. There's a disconnect between your kid, the kid's idea and the adult's reality, and the crisis occurs when you're like, well, fuck this. You know, like, and it's like you know, all the things that happen in that. There's like crisis of purpose, there's crisis of relationships, there's crisis of familial relationships, romantic relationships. Like these things happen in the age, and uh, you know, and they're not what you expected them to be.

They don't happen in the ways you expect them to happen, happen in rigging real regular life ways, which end up being stranger than fiction. So at that point, you kind of already mentioned the fact that you were clearly recording, so I mean, you were recording, producing, yeah, mixing your projects, right? Like those first, those first, I guess, three. Yeah, I yeah, I'd I'd record them. I did I would do I do production probably about like 40 to about 40 percent of the time, 40 to 50 percent of the time. At that time, I was doing more. I'm I'm trying to do less. Uh you like take beats from people and produce around their beat, you know. I'll do a lot of that. Um, now is more so what I would do with beats that I get. Um, and then um, but at the time I was like producing most of my own stuff, and yeah, and I was probably doing the cover art. You had to feel a little overextended. Did you see that? Yeah, did you see that as a blessing or a curse? Did you like being able to do that? Or is it kind of to him to Henry's point? Was it a little bit?

It's much. I think I'm yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot, it's a lot, but like preferably I would like I'm and I'm getting to the point where I'm doing less and less of that. Um, but yeah, it's it sucks. Like, yeah, it sucks. When the more you know, the more you can help, even when you give away uh start delegating. And the more creative you can be, just knowing that certain things are an option. If you've never produced and you never engineered, you don't even know what the possibilities are, so you can't even express like to a person what you want. So dabbling gives you the knowledge to be able to do that and dictate it to someone else. Yeah, but like talking about the more you know, I mean, you're a big I mean you love to learn, I feel like. I mean, you've taught yourself everything, uh, you know, from the engineering side, you know, to the producing side, of course. Yeah, no, yeah, no, it's wild that like YouTube university. It's wild. I dropped out of college to go to YouTube University. Um I got a doctorate in YouTube university, Deadass. He's a PhD.

I know so much. Shit, YT PhD, mostly even the stuff that I've taught myself. Yo, let's start handing out diplomas that are just like PhD, YouTube university. To the nth degree. I'm I'll get you one and frame it for you. I need that. He needs that I need that 100%. Yeah, YouTube taught me everything. I would watch just Blaze make beats, and then I would just like figure it out. And that shit that like taught me like the mechanics of it. Yeah, but and you're not afraid to like share the sauce too. Some people are kind of like they kind of hoard it. Oh, that's so funny. Yeah, of course. but I feel like you're someone that is almost like overly excited about like, yo, check out this new shit that I learned, right? Like, yeah, I I a lot uh sometimes I'll find myself nerding out about something I've learned and wanted to share, and realizing that the person I'm sharing with does not care. Like, I'm like, oh nah, but like you can it's wild. And they're just like, oh, they weren't. Yeah. They don't care. The people that are afraid to share the sauce, your sauce is limited, fam, and your days are numbered. So don't be afraid.

Like, you gotta have like an open mind. I know I can't run out of this shit if I tried. I can't I can't spend all this sauce. I have so much sauce. I sauce wallet full. Yeah, that's funny, man. I mean, so you you were quick to see success, I would say as far as I mean like your projects early on, like every release was getting picked up by playlists and and whatnot, right? I mean like yeah Quarter Life crisis was playlisted really well. I think that um like yeah like it was like every single from the project and wow if not everyone, I think there was 13 songs, it might have been like 11 out of 13, yeah, which is amazing. editorial playlist which was which yeah yeah that was a blessing huge blessing. Did you feel like you knew what to do with this success I mean uh the the I think the coolest part about that was when your manager is your brother Yeah. they care about you to not have to for that to not stress you out like I have like my mind on those things and when I find myself becoming obsessed with them like you kind of like I got that part. I can you know so it's like in that capacity it wasn't it wasn't necessarily stressful but like there is a bit of like kind of a I don't know if pressure is the right word but it's just like you know it has to be yeah yeah there's yeah I mean shit you're getting 11 out of your 13 songs picked up by editorial playlists there's got to be eyeballs on you that are like what the fuck are you doing next yeah and I think what I mean luckily I think what happened is we ended up being able to like tour that project a little bit like um we ended up doing a couple shows with chance and we did a couple shows with Wale. And I think that that was like people saw like, uh, the kind, you know, like a degree of ascent.

So it's like, okay, cool, there's something there. But like, yeah I I don't know I I it's hard to know what like if you're doing it right You know what I'm saying? he's on the inside. It's hard to know. Yeah, it's hard to know that. Yeah, at the time, but now you're sitting here. What do you think that you could have done better to maybe capitalize on some of that success? I mean, I assume you do have some, you know, you're a little bit older and wiser now, right? Like, what if there's a younger person in a similar situation? Watching. Yeah, exactly. We're always trying to give people the sauce too, right? As far as like if you start to see yourself catching a buzz on editorial playlists and getting to open up for people, whatever. Yeah, get on a road, stay on a road. and like reach out. If you if people are fucking with you on the internet and you're getting on playlists and stuff, you gotta start using your relationships to ask how hey yo, what tours can I get on? Like, and people and how do you do that? Like tactically, tactically, I mean, I'm gonna be honest, just so you know, there's gotta be luck involved. There's no there because uh the what worked for us with getting on uh getting on the road with chance is that like I had been cool with Pat for four years before that because he had a blog in 2010 that I sent music to once at like midnight, and then we became Facebook friends.

You see what I'm saying? So it's like I can't control that. Like, like yeah, there's a degree. But you can improve your chances, you can improve your chances and you can improve your skills, and then you can make attempts to get on the road, but it's like you I can't I can't give someone advice who's who's who's uh Facebook friend, not Facebook friend, who Facebook friend turned real friend, ends up being the manager of the biggest independent artist in the world. Like I can't, you know what I'm saying? Like I so it's like there's a degree of skill and and dedication and that, but like I'm also very lucky. Like, you know, like, and that's a thing that like like I mean, or lucky, blessed, favored, you know what I'm saying? Like I I I believe that that there's a there's forces beyond all of our control. They give us all our particular context, you know what I'm saying? So it's like try to get on the road, like reach out. You know, if you have some motion and you have your songs are getting playlisted, then yeah, so that wasn't artist to artist like communication, or or sorry, me, maybe manager to manager, artist to manager. That wasn't through a booking, uh you know.

I'm I'm literally trying to give people like tactical things of like if you want to get on the road, That's just, someone's got to think you're dope, and you got to know them. Yeah, what I it doesn't matter about booking agents necessarily, especially the first time you get on the road, because it's like, what do you have to prove? I mean, if you're doing shows in your hometown and people are coming out, then yeah, somebody will probably be like, Oh, when I come to Atlanta, you can open for me, you know. That's that's advantageous to them. But like sure, other than that, you know, it's relationships, and like you when you start a relationship, where it ends up being is totally you have no control over where that person's gonna be. Only thing you have control over is being a good person to them, shouting them out on their birthday, being funny, being being charismatic, being a good being a good being a real person. Like, that's the only thing we really have control over. we've talked a lot about that. Is like just be a genuine fucking human, like stop being a clout chasing robot. So you mentioned a couple of artists that you've opened up for or supported on tour. Go ahead and name drop a few more.

I mean, you mentioned Chance, you mentioned Wale. Who are some of the other folks that you've you know been on tour with or supported? Yeah, shout out Chance, shout out Wale, for the Shine Tour, uh Jadena in 2019. We did the 85 to Africa tour with Jadena, and then uh earlier uh late September, we just got off the road with Omale, artists out of Nigeria. Shout out Omale and the Ijebu Hustlers Hustlers. You dig, yeah. So let's let's talk about Jadena though. Of course. Because for those that don't know Jadena, you're living under a rock because he's fucking dope. That's the guy. he's Nigerian as well. Jidenna is Nigerian as well, he's from Enugu. Yep, yep. But he's he's also got ties to Atlanta and everywhere. Yeah, he's like a worldly guy from what I can tell. He's from the Midwest. I think he was born in Wisconsin. I might be messing up, but he might be born in Wisconsin, but he has like ties in like New York and Boston. He's big and like he's yeah, because it's like he's because he went to college, he's a collegiate guy. So you know, like people go to college that have like one home in their like college place, then they have their home of where they grew up in and then ancestry, exactly.

So he's like, he's like from everywhere. But yes, that's the guy. Shout out to Jadena. Yeah, because I mean, you know, not only did you support him, but I mean he's become I would say like a mentor of yours. Yeah, it's wild because like when I think of like rapper friends, I don't be thinking of Jadena, but then I'm like I, he feels like he doesn't mean it, Jadena. No, but what I mean is he feels like Jidenna, we'd love to have you on the podcast. Yes, we would. He feels like a distant cousin, is what I mean. Like, when, like, when he's like when he met my mom, he like called my mom auntie. You know what I'm saying? Like, and I think that like the kind of cultural similarity there kind of like makes it be like a it doesn't feel like a music friend. That makes sense, he just kind of feels like a homie. So on the Jadena tour, that was kind of I would say where you got inspired to tap in more to your Nigerian roots. Yeah, sonically, I think that um it was um it's wild. So I made Waiting for You, which is like one, maybe maybe one of my biggest like Afrobeats Records, but like I'd made that in July of 2019. Shout out to um DJ Poison Ivy.

She sent me to beat uh DJ Poison Ivy, yes. We'd love to have you on the podcast. If you're around. Let's get it. If you're ever in Atlanta, stop by. And um, so I made waiting for you. This is July 2019, I believe. And we went on that. We ended up going on that tour in end of September. Uh no, October to November. Um, but uh it was um like I think that what happened on that tour is like I've always like tell people like I'm Nigerian, like I'm like, like it's but I think that in my like day-to-day life, the culture felt more like it was my parents, if that makes sense, because it's like the things that I attributed, it's like it's food, which you know is mostly cooked by your mom and your aunties, it's events like weddings, um graduation parties, wake-keepings, christenings, these things that are like these are a culture, but like there's things that you go to with your parents. I think that with the eight with the 85 to Africa tour kind of did, and I didn't notice it at the moment, but like it took like all the like Nigerian and African shit, but like it fit into my current adult life, like and your music shit. Exactly.

It was in music, it was in my life. This culture applies to not just my like exactly. It wasn't something that I just weddings that I went to for my cousin, my friends, or like my mom making some dope Nigerian food. Exactly, exactly. These are these are my things. It's mine, it was for you, exactly. So yet it was Nigerian influenced, and I think the wild thing is that like That's cool. my mom had always been like, Oh, you you should make Afrobeats. Like when I first started making music, she was like, Oh, this is cool, like rapping's cool, but you should make Afrobeats too. Like, she said it like 10 years ago. And she was progressive, yeah. Yeah, but she's different. She knew She knew that Afrobeats was about to fucking blow. I'm telling you, these these these labels need to hire her. But uh, yeah, like uh shout out Kelechi's mom, the A&R. But yeah, no, it was, um, we uh, I think that it being like a part of my life and it being like natural. Natural. and like like all throughout that tour, we bump it, we bump it Rema, we're listening to Dumebi. we're listening to Fireboy, we're listening to like these Nigerian artists. So I'm like, oh, this is what I'm doing.

You know what I'm saying? Like rather than it being something that like happened out of like trying to do it, or out of necessity? It was just natural. Not contrived. exactly. I love that word. It was just like it just smooth, you know. How many stops was it? 31 or 32. 31 or 32. That's big, yeah. Yeah, it was a lot. We found out we were doing that tour six days before we did it. That two three or three months, probably, right? Uh a month and some change. Yeah, probably every night, back to back almost. Some. Yeah. It would be like, most days in a row would be four. You can't really do more than four shows. Maybe like five a week before you pass out five or six a week. Um, pretty much like five a week. Yeah, an average of about five a week. But yeah, so waiting for you was I I mean, it was very well received, I feel like on on tour, right? Yeah, people love that song. Yeah, People really like that song. Let's go ahead and play snippet. Let's do it. Nice. I'll be right here waiting for you, nothing but patience. But my heart is racing. So no more chasing.

I'm right here waiting for you. I'll be waiting for you. I'll be waiting for you. I'll be waiting for you. I'll be waiting for you. Oh. My hip to town with him. Been fooling around with him. Been hooking up, but I won't never settle down with him. They want to roll with me, won't take control of me, but you the only one who ever getting close to me. So that was a snippet from Waiting for You. Yes. And that was off uh That was off Going Home Going Home, which is your most recent project. Most recent project dropped at the top of 2021. Yeah, so go stream that shit. You should. Um indeed. But yeah, I mean, you know, because I heard like the crowds were, you know, learning the the hook by the second hook, and they were like getting getting into it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I think that's like the mark of a I won't say a good song, an anthem. You know, what I mean? a good live performance song. Exactly. There's lots of songs we all love sitting in in our houses, in our cars, whatever that we don't need to sing the hook. Exactly.

We don't have to. Yeah, but at a show. But at a show, you want that participate. Repetitive, catchy, you know, the shit you can learn by the second time you hear it, right? And people liked it. You know, people still like it. So yeah, yeah, it was cool. It was definitely uh Yeah, like how many cap rooms were you playing? Um, I think maybe the smallest room we did would have been like like 500. Uh the biggest ones went up to like probably like 2000 type. 2500, 3,000. Yeah, like a tabernacle type. of venue. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's dope. Nice. That's dope. So, you know, mentioning that you tapped in a little bit more to your you know, Nigerian roots. How many songs would you classify that you've made like that are Afrobeat centric? So you've been doing it for what, two or three years now. Yeah, no. Because that's one, but like you said that we got all me, we got the word, we got thank you. I'm trying to think of what else on Ongoing because I mean going home was the first tape that you had leaned into. Yeah, exactly.

That was the first time that I had like messed with any like Afrobeats or Afropop, uh vibes. So yeah, it was like I think on it's what 13 songs on there, 14 songs. It's like six. Oh, really? Yeah, on that album yeah about half yeah yeah and and what I kind of did was since it was called going home I tried to take the like sonics I like started them it's like rapping, rapping at the beginning, you know what I'm saying, it's like it's uh the nigga's really on tour and then you go home and then I go home so I like take it there. I'm with you. I take it from the raps and it like slowly goes from like road life and waiting for you is kind of like and then it gets into like on me and it gets more and deeper in there and then I like bring it back to like going back to Atlanta. So do you feel comfortable doing it? Love that now like how do you feel right because it's it's a pretty I mean it's not like it's not like going from country music to rap or something right it's you know but it's a it's a left turn right like how do you feel making it you know what's wild it's I don't want to say easier in the sense that I'm like insulting an art form but it's more natural for you more natural. Yeah like this is this is like music that like I've been listening to since I was a kid.

So like that is this the kind of things that I do there like are way more there are verses that I didn't write you know like and I'm a writer writer like I have all my Freestyle. every verse I've done on my phone is you know there but there are some verses that I was really like oh I can just get in get the waiting for you not yeah waiting for you I still have the rough of waiting for you that the structure of the song I did in one take. You know I just went in there I'm like, wait and view. I think the music, I think the music that every artist should be making is the music that they make easiest. Whatever comes easiest to you is probably what you should be making. But on the same token, challenging yourself is also fun. Try stuff. And I've heard a lot of artists say that some of their best songs have come from when they felt like really outside their comfort zone. Do you think that's true? Oh, I'm trying to think of when I'm outside of. I think that um, I think that in the cool thing about like the the the Afrobeats tinged or like the, my more Afrobeats records is I won't say I'm out of my comfort zone, but I don't feel like I don't feel like one of the greatest, if that makes sense. I feel like I have the potential to be.

Yeah. And it feels fun, and it feels like I'm like you ever see like a I won't say I'm like I'm getting it wrong per se, but like if you see like a skateboarder trying to get a trick right over and over and over, they get obsessed with like yo, I'm like sharp like trying to sharpen this thing that they that is somewhat new to them. Like they they may have done a million ollies, but they've never done uh an ollie blah blah blah kickflip over that particular set of stairs, you know. And it's like, let me figure out how to do that one right. That's the fun thing that's happening with I won't say that like I won't hip hop is a beautiful art form, and not to say that it's like simple or that like any one person can master hip hop, but I've been doing that for more than 10 years, you know. Like I've been making music since I was 14. Put in the hours, you know, and and I think that it's fun that something feels like new again, and I feel like a beginner again, and I feel like almost a new artist right now. So I think that's the more that's dope. Yeah, yeah, that's that's kind of the fun part about like like really reaching out into different like genres and sonic zones, you know. Yeah, it makes me think of on uh TikTok, there's this whole wave of people going on TikTok live and doing like trick shots.

You've seen like the dude perfect and doing like crazy trick shots, so they bounce like a ping pong ball off of like five pots and it and I lands in a solo cup that's like spinning. Or was trying to make a new one, a new challenge, and then it takes hours and hours of like sitting there. This is what Henry does in his spare time. Yeah, he watches these people perfect these uh ping pong. I understand organic reach and I know where the eyeballs are and I'm absorbing and understanding the platform, so yes, I am on TikTok. It's market research. Follow me on TikTok, Henry with the three. Thank you. Don't enable him, Kelechi. But no, so so going home is kind of perfect. You, you're going home. Yeah, I'm going home very soon. Yeah, like by the time this episode drops you might be on a plane. You might be home. I don't know I might be in the middle of Nigeria by the time this shit drops. Yes, yes, you're going to Nigeria. Yeah, um, you know, what are your plans, what you know what are you getting into while you're there um so um of course going to see family of course touching down you know what I'm saying, uh, in the village of course, but also I'm doing a show, um, at Ultima Studios, December 4th, uh, and it's to really take that whole going home thing and bring it home. Yeah, so, uh, that's super dope. Yeah, doing a show. And did you know you were gonna plan your trip to Nigeria when you released Going Home? No, okay, I did not, I knew that I wanted to it was not literal at the time of releasing it wasn't and this happens with my songs all the time They start as metaphors and they become real. They shatter your own shit and then you're like, fuck it, I'll do it. It's a weird thing. It's a manifestation, it's a weird manifestation. Yeah, prophecy fulfilling thing that I keep doing over and over on accident. That's funny. yeah no that wasn't a part of the plan we yeah it wasn't a part of the plan but then it just kind of developed as we were going we were like we might be able to do this and then you know we got contacts there and you know I had to meet my family over there was like can we do this? Is this your first time going home?

Yes. This is first time. That's gotta be special, man. Yeah, man. It's it's are you like nervous kind of like of course I mean you can't, you know, there's there's like a bit of nerves, and then there's like the understanding that hundreds of millions of people do this, you know. So it's like I'll be fine. But like the flip side of it is like it's an environment that like I'm not used to. It's like I'm going to do something I've never done. So that's so cool. I love that. It's wild. It's it's really it's it's crazy. But yeah, you know, yeah, and so your upcoming project that you've hinted at, teased, talked about online, yeah, at Lagos. At Lagos, yes. It is A T Lagos. Yeah, so it has meaning. exactly. Some some you know, kind of homage to Atlanta. Yeah, of course. Where you're you know, kind of you know, born and raised, and then of course, Lagos in Nigeria. It's it's to me, um I like I think it's funny when people be like, am I a rapper? Yes.

It's like am I an Afrobeats artist now? Yes, you know, like I I experiment with global black music, like that's my thing, and and and and and I think that there's a um that's a cool way to put it. Yeah, I think there's a blurring of like hard lines right now, and um with that it comes unification, in my in in in my like best case scenario seeing it. So, like in trying to like unify cultures um of black people globally, it's like there's rap, there's Afrobeats. Um elements of these two things exist in both, you know what I'm saying? There's really good, like Burna Boy raps really fucking well, you know what I'm saying? And then on the flip side, uh uh you're not gonna go to a good party in uh on the states and them not playing the Afrobeats. You know what I'm saying? Like that's where we are as cultures right now. Like the the the things are things are combining in ways that people did not kind of foresee.

It's like the Pharrell, he gave like the speech at like Harvard or something. It's like the he's like, You got something great like chocolate. You got something great like peanut butter. But when you put them together, you know, it's like the two great things coming together. Yo, I feel like hip hop is the lines between hip hop, you know, slash rap music. It's doing that with a lot of other genres right now. Yeah, I think it's it's been doing that with like the rock and punk side of things, right? You got the like machine gun Kelly's, and just you know, you know, even like the you know, juice world and like you know, other people like that, and then you have to your point the board line that's with kind of the Afro beats, you know, genre. And I I just as a hip hop fan, like I love that shit. Yeah, I'm consistent. So cool that. And pop music, even of course, country. I mean, a hundred percent. And we'll what we've watched is and we've witnessed something that not every generation gets to see. We've saw we witnessed peak rap. Yeah, it's the new pop.

It's the new pop. It's literally pop music. Rap is pop, popular music. Now country music has trap drums in it. Right, yeah. Uh K-pop will have a rap verse in it. Yep, like, like, just now, we, like, we saw that happen. And as cool as that is, that's amazing. Like it's amazing. But the other reality we have to understand is that the only place that a genre can go from number one is down, down. It's the only way, that's the only place it can go. We gotta get ahead of that. Saddest thing I've ever heard anyone say about it. I mean, I think that the like all right, Mr. Glass half empty. Jesus. He's right though. Less about it being sad, but more so just like the reality of it is like it's let's embrace it now. Let's celebrate it. What's gonna happen is it hits its peak and then it proliferates throughout the rest of everything until one day we look back and we're like, oh, I remember when real hip-hop was real. You know, that's what it's gonna be. That's funny, man. but you know, there's trap drums in everything. Yeah, you know, it's not going anywhere. No, for sure. Henry, I think we're at a final segment of the One More Time Podcast. It's my favorite segment.

It's everyone's favorite, Henry. Are we ready? I think we're ready. Oh my gosh. Here we go. Kelechi, if you're not familiar. Okay. This is the rapid fire rampage. Rampage! Rampage! This is an attempt to uh kind of tap into your subconscious mind and just get some quick answers. There's three separate parts. I'll go over them as we get there. Okay. Just buckle up because this is uh this is gonna be a ride. And I've got some great questions. I'm actually really looking forward to this rampage. He was touting how good this rampage is earlier. today. I don't want to- might be my best set of questions. So much pressure. For all you other guests where he just half-assed it. He claims he put his whole heart and soul into this rampage. So you guys be the judge. Let us know in the comments if Henry has a good rampage this time. Let's get it. And and how Kelechi does with his answers. Well, it's really about Kelechi. Oh, wow. Let's be real. No, it's about judging your rampage, actually. Thanks, Ben. Sorry, Kelechi. Part one of the Rapid Fire Rampage. I'm just gonna ask you some short answer questions.

That's it. Short answer, one word. Like, just you can like, you know, riff for a couple seconds. All right, cool. Do you? You know, but um, but it is supposed to be rapid fire. Okay. I'll get to it. And Ben contributes a lot to making it not rapid. So we're gonna try and breeze through this. I'm going to try and zip it. Yeah. Rapid fire rampage, episode 28 with Kelechi, starting with a short answer. Here we go. Rampage! What is the most important thing that you would say you learned from your parents? Ooh, um, my dad always says when you're driving, you have to drive the car in front of you and behind you. And my mom has always taught us that uh even if I have four three siblings, there's four of us. If we have one grain of rice, we split it in four. Ooh, fire. God, mama killed that one. Yeah. Now that we got the that nice touch in question out of the way, we can get a little ridiculous here. Okay. An obedient and well-trained Tyrannosaurus Rex has appeared in your backyard. Okay. You can't give it away or sell it.

What do you do with it? Oh, that's mine. It's your new pet. That's my pet. That's my homie. Raise it. I'm riding it to places. It's obedient. It's like a logo. whatever you want. There will be a period of time in which my trust will take time for us me to trust it. Sure. And once I can, that's my guy. Kalechi, you've got a thousand dollars and you have to double it in 24 hours. What do you do? I have to double it in 24 hours. You must. Or what? Bad things. Okay. I gotta double. I gotta double a thousand in 24 hours. Uh the fans are listening. Shhh, Not legal. That'll do. Good answer. That'll work. That's illegal. That'll work. That's an acceptable answer. Kelechi. And this is why people turn to drug dealing kids, because they feel like they have no other options. Kelechi, if you were an emoji, what would you be?

Um, probably the brown heart emoji. Uh, because I'm brown and filled with love. Kelechi, if you were an app, what would you be? Um, if I was an app, uh, I'd probably be uh one of those news apps that tells you what's going on, except just not bad stuff. Unbiased news. Yes. I mean, uh, might be nah. A little bias. No, it's biased. It's biased towards good things. Like, I don't really like Telling people bad stuff. Okay. Okay. Kelechi, in 20 seconds or less, teach me something that I don't know. 20 seconds less teach something that you don't know. Um, so um fertilizer is uh one of the main elements in it is phosphorus, and that's a non-renewable resource. And uh Morocco has like 70% of the world's phosphorus. So in the next hundred to two hundred years, we are slaves to Morocco. Damn.

Or everyone's. Bro, this guy just came out of the woodwork. No one's answered that question better. That was that question stumps everybody, phenomenal? Yeah. Kelechi. How many raccoons would fit on a blimp? How big is the blimp? There's no additional information. It's a bad question, bro. Agreed. Is that your answer? Disappointing. Kelechi, how do you like your eggs? Uh scramble with cheese. Part one of the rampage. Scramble with cheese, more salt than pepper, more pepper than salt. More pepper than salt. Interesting. Yeah, that sounds fire. Scrambled with cheese all day for sure. That was part one of the rampage. All right. It was great. Flew through it. I'm not. I mean, I I mean, outside of your shitty question that you threw in there, like that was a really good rampage I need to know how big the blimp is. It was meant to be difficult. I need to know how I need to know how big the blimp is. No, you don't have to be a big thing. There's no time to ask questions. You have to react. This is a rapid fire rampage. This could be a Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards blimp. This could be a whole blimpy blimp.

This could be a like military-sized blimp. You're not supposed to try to. Interpret the questions, you're just supposed to answer them. So that was the only blip on an otherwise spectacular short answer segment. We're moving on. This is the this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. I'm gonna pick the one that stands out more to you that you feel more gravitated towards. I can do that. This or that. Here we go. Episode 28, Kelechi. This or that. Rampage. Here we go. Lyrics or flow? Flow. FaceTime or voice message? Voice message voice message. Good answer. Underrated. Dogs? Dogs. Or babies. Dogs. I said what I said. What if I said or you get a million dollars? Dogs. Netflix Netflix or YouTube? YouTube. Zoo or Aquarium. Uh they're both animal prison.

I'm gonna go. I don't fuck with either anymore. That's an acceptable answer. I'll go with aquariums just because like the water feels a little more distant, but like they're both, they're all they're all institutionalized. Bro, I in my like older age am like sketched out by both. Like hands down. For what? Yeah. Either a 99% chance of winning 100,000 or a 50-50 chance of winning 100 million. 100 million? 50 50. Ooh, that's crazy. I love this question. That's crazy. Man. 99 for 100. I'm gonna go 99 for 100. Guarantee. I'm gonna go 99. I'm gonna go 99 for 100. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's close, though. You it almost jumped out at me. Good one, right? Yeah. Lupe or the game? Lupe. BMW or Mercedes? BMW. Purple or green?

Green. Instagram or TikTok? Instagram, sure. Not a social media guy. Not at all. Unimpressed. Not at all. I'm getting there though. I'm trying to take that part of my identity away from the city. I'm sure you kind of like on your ass about it, right? I'm trying to stop claiming that. As all of us managers are Get on TikTok, bro. If you want people to discover who Kelechi is. Pet pig or pet goat. Goat. Smart or beautiful. For myself? Like what I would choose to be, or what I'm trying to understand. There's no additional information. Being smart Being smart is a more valuable skill. Mini golf or bowling alley? Uh bowling alley. Pirates or ninjas.

Uh ninjas. Part two of the rampage. Part two. That was pretty flawless He's depending on how this last section goes, he could be in the hall of fame for Rapid Fire Rampage. Let's get this shit. Let's get the shit. Top of the morning. Last part of the rampage is gonna be a word association. I'm gonna give you one word. You give me one word back off the top of your head. Alright, I gotta close my eyes for this. That's right. Less you think the better. Here we go. Episode 28 with Kelechi Word Association. Rapid Fire Rampage. Rampage. Snake. Grass. Base. Mint. January Fourth. Mountain Dew. I'll take it. Social media. Alright. Okay. Emotion. The ocean. Lil. Nas X. A&R. A&R,

He's not. I don't know I have no idea why I said that. And that's why we do this people. That's why we love this. Absolutely. I don't even know where that came from. It's a PR's nightmare. That's why this is the best segment. College. Bye. Meditation. Need that. Faye. My boy. I was giving you a chance to clap back at him from his hand. I know. And I was the high road. It's wild Cause I knew. I knew that I was gonna get Faye, and like I just I love that motherfucker, bro. I can't help myself. He took the high road. Faye feels bad now. Politics. As usual. Going home. What a rampage, folks. What an episode. What a rampage for real. I told you that was gonna be a rampage. I'm impressed. I'm impressed. Wow. You know, after obviously we got to speak before Faye's episode, but really, you know, having you here today, man, to tell your story. It's an incredible one.

You've come a long way, but I love the fact that you're like embracing this new sound and kind of like tapping into this new, you know, space for you. Yeah. Because it sounds like it's like gotten you going again, right? Because reinvigorated. Yeah, exactly. So I'm I'm looking forward to it. I wish you safe travels, you know, going home. I hope that your trip, you know, to Nigeria is everything that you want it to be. I hope the is packed to the fucking, you know, brim. Sure, man. I told my brother, I said, if we get 20 people in there, it's Madison, Madison Square Garden. And that's the kind of attitude he has on everything, folks. So really appreciate you coming on. And Henry, until next week, what are we doing? We out. We getting the fuck out. Peace.