Clip Monstar on the Term "YouTube Rapper", Having Multiple Revenue Streams, and More -

I feel like competition is fun. Writing lyrics how I write them, That's the competition part of it. Can I be better than I just was? Because I I said something fire right here. Like, can I top that or no? It's a competitive thing. And when I'm competing, I'm having fun. The One More Time Music Podcast. Genuine Conversations with Genuine People. about music. Hosted by Henry with a three and playback Ben. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for another episode of the One More Time Podcast. I'm your host Playback Ben Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back for another episode of the One More Time Podcast. I'm your host, Playback Ben, here with my co-host. Henry with a three, because Henry with an E was already taken by somebody. Fuck that guy. Henry, who do we have in the hot seat today, my friend? Welcoming in on episode 56 of the One More Time Podcast. Legendary record producer, a husband to Alicia Keys, co-founder of Versus. Key part of the Rough Riders you know him as Swizz Beats.

Swizzy. Swizzy. Swizzy. Swizz Beatz. In all seriousness, we have friend, collaborator, dope rapper, party promoter, club promoter. We got clip monstar in the motherfucking building. Clip. We in the building, baby. This is a highly anticipated episode, at least amongst us. It's been in the making. For sure. For about 56 episodes. I want to know though, have you got the Swizz Beats thing before? Every day. Okay, good. Every day around like the uh every day around the music community. Sure. You know, around the basketball community, it's uh Joe Budden. Oh, okay. Oh, fuck. Joe. Budden is great. That would have been a good one, too. Who's a fucking the other dude? Uh Carlos Boozer. Oh, boozer. Oh, see, I'm a Carolina guy, so fuck that. Yeah, That would have been a really funny rose. But speaking of the fact that you are about what, 6'7"? 6'7", yes, uh. So how often do you get like, oh my god, do you play basketball?

Like is that every day. Yeah. I do play basketball. You're feeding into the stereotype. Yeah. Definitely. How much have you been hooping lately? Um at least every other day. Every other day. Yeah, you're in a league, right? I mean, he plays for real. Yeah, I was uh I was in the ABA, you know what I'm saying? So that was what the ABA, that's what the NBA was before converted to uh NBA or ABA, yeah. So uh yeah, I was in that. We lost in the playoffs, so that's over with. Um now I'm just playing in like some other league in Gwinnett. It's not nothing serious. Is it at this point? Is it like pure fun for you? Exercise, like how are you kind of approaching it? You know what I mean? Um, just exercise, yeah, uh competition. Uh I don't go to I don't like I don't go to LA Fitness because there's no competition. So it's like that's how you like you get hurt, you know what I'm saying? So there's people there though that like try so hard. And like they're they're so I hated playing at LA Fitness, I'm not gonna lie. I'm like, Yo, what the fuck are y'all doing?

Yeah, doing the most there. Right, it's terrible. So yeah, I do it uh basically for competition to get that uh let some steam off and shit. For sure. Yeah, oh that's dope. That's dope. Punish some people, get you know, get hit, hit people back, you know. It's cool. Yeah, maybe let out some steam, you know, maybe yeah, 100%. Yeah, yeah. And I'm pretty good at shooting, so I love motherfucking winning. There you go. Big man that can shoot. Dangerous. That's lethal. So can you confirm or deny the fact that you have a song from the past called Basketball-itis? That was my first song I ever made, I think. No, wait, I think it was one of the first ones I recorded. Uh one of my main ones I recorded. Uh it's called Basketball Titus. Oh, Titus. Basketball Titus. It's pretty trash. It's an incredible name. No, I heard that and I was like, oh man. He's definitely grown up as an artist. I mean, I had a whole bunch of basketball references, uh, but nothing like what I got now. Okay, well, let's not forget um Curry Flow.

Didn't drop it not that long ago. I just basketball song. It's definitely a basketball song, but like levels to the shit. Yeah, Advanced. Way more advanced. It was a little more elementary with basketball titles. Yeah, basketball is definitely elementary. Yeah. I like to hoop and I be hooping. You never you ever heard that what song was it? Curtis Blow that was redone? Um basketball. That's my favorite sport. I love the way you do it up and down in the court. It was some corny shit like that. Yeah, that's incredible. Some Will Smith hip hop. So, you know, before we do get into kind of the evolution of the bars, because they've definitely evolved over the years, you know, from you. Oh, yes. Kind of paint us a picture of like you know, where you grew up, like the circumstances that you grew up in, right? Like paint us that early clip-o, right? Like, like you know, what was your childhood like? I mean, we grew up in a trailer park. Shit, man. outside of the city, right? Outside of the city, okay. Yeah, outside of the city, so like north of Atlanta, I would say it's a spot called Hall County. So um, people call it Hell County.

Okay, because basically it's it's hell, you know what I'm saying? No one wants to be there, you get stuck there, it's horrible. You know what I'm saying? So uh, but yeah, we grew up in a trailer park, or I grew up in trailer park um since I was like 10, you know. Uh, and I was there literally from 10 to 17 when I went to college and then shit came back to the trailer park, you know. Uh yeah, so I mean, what kind of shit were you kind of exposed to, like in that environment? I mean, you know, Hall county, like, you know, what was you know, what were you seeing? Kind of like what was going on. I mean, there's a whole bunch of like regular hood activities, like drugs, uh random crackheads, uh, the gas station. Sure, sure. You know, watching people do drug deals when it's clearly a drug deal and they're trying to be like fucking slick about it. Yeah, like bro, you're clearly selling drugs, bro. So I mean, we got like we did a lot of like uh boxing with towels and stuff. Uh that's pretty cool. Well, yeah, I mean, you had friends, you know, even that you know got kind of caught up in the street shit, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Uh still to this day, they're still in jail. You know, yeah. So um, like, so like how did you manage? I mean, because you're someone that I've known you now for a little while. I mean, you're someone that doesn't drink, right? Doesn't smoke. Yeah. How did you kind of avoid getting sucked into that lifestyle? Yeah, it seems tough. I mean, yeah, uh, it's kind of tough, but it's like mental, you know, uh, it's like a mental thing I always pride myself on as far as like not smoking, not drinking, uh, but really, man, it's sports, you know what I'm saying? Basketball. I kept your mind off of it. Kept my mind off it. Um in middle school was like just a challenge of like I'm gonna be better than someone. So and it was basketball. That was that like that goal, I guess, that thrive, you know. Yeah, and you're gonna do better if you're practicing than the guy that's going out and getting fucked up. Right. 100% And you're in the gym. Yeah, 100%. Shout out basketball, Jesus. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, we had a previous guest uh like a few episodes ago, too. He's a producer for Grip and some other artists or whatever.

He talked about how football really kind of kept him on the straight and narrow. And you know, he had some football coaches that really played like integral parts in his life, like kind of mentor, like father figure types. Like you know, did you have kind of some coaches that maybe 100%, 100%? Uh Coach Adcock. So uh shout out Coach Adcock. You've actually uh mentioned him in a song. I have a whole song about him. It's the entire song about him. Oh hell yeah. It's called uh Silent Storm. Yes, okay. So that's like actually my first time speaking on it, like on a public level. Um yeah, for those that aren't familiar with the record, kind of tell us about like you know, what were you you know saying? Uh basically I was just you know talking about how you know I was on the dumb shit in high school. Um, you know, I was uh I was basically dropping out, and uh he came to my house, you know, picked me up. You know, uh I bring your ass outside, you know, like what are you doing? Like, so he picks me up, waits for me to get dressed. I'm taking my time, you know, because I'm hard headed. So I'm taking my time, like yeah, he's gonna fucking leave.

He never fucking leaves. So uh so he knocks on the door again, blows the horn. I'm like, oh, what the fuck? I had to leave. He's like, I got all day football. Basically, You got all fucking days. Get your fucking ass out of here. So uh, you know, I go outside and from that day forward, like I didn't miss one day of school. He picked me up and took me home every day for two years straight. Damn man. Yeah, man. So without that, you know, it'd been a whole nother trail, you know. Yeah. You know, different path. I just hear those stories and like, you know, I don't have the same experiences, right? Of maybe, you know, growing up with those circumstances, right? But I can imagine I can appreciate like how important that is. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And then you know, at the time you don't you don't know how important it is, you know. Like, yeah, like it's not until you reflect back and like, damn, you know. Uh and like for me with Coach Adcock, it was bad because he's dead, you know what I'm saying? Oh okay, rest in peace. Yeah, for sure. Um it was bad. It was bad.

So you didn't really realize it till after. Yeah, well, I realized it in college, but by the time so he got in a car wreck. And then when I was in college playing basketball, he got in a car wreck. He came to some of my games and everything. Uh I played in South Carolina, so he had to travel from what he was doing coaching here to go see a game in South Carolina. Yeah, so that was dope. But um, he got in a car wreck, and I was like, damn, I'm gonna come see you. You know, he called me, he told me about it. So I was like, I'm gonna come see him in the hospital. He said he wanted to see me. I was like all right, cool. And I never went, you know what I'm saying? So and then he died. So I was like that was our last conversation. So I was like Damn, does that shit kind of like haunt you a little bit. I mean, yeah, I think about it like every day. Um, that's haunting every day. Yeah, I think about it every day. Uh I mean, that's why I got like the 25 tatted on my arm, because uh he always told me to do 25 push-ups every time I cussed, which was a lot. You know what I'm saying? I would be jacked if I did that. Like I just I can't hold like weight like that.

So uh so I got to a point where he just told me to do push-ups instead of run. Running wouldn't bother me. I just run all day, and then if I do some push-ups, I'm like, fuck. But uh yeah, so I think about it every day, man. So I actually put a song out, which is literally like what, 12, 13 years after, you know what I'm saying? So just to go back in that spot and write the song, it was tough, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, man. I I've actually brought that up before with uh I think it was Jaron Benton talking about how he put himself back into this dark spot of his life, yes, so many years after he had gotten out of it on the other end of it. Yes, right. Why? Like that sounds psychopathic? Yeah. Of like, it sounds just like, you know, like you just want that. I don't know. Like, do you did you want to feel that pain again? And then like, you know, kind of flip it or something. Like, you know, what was the thought process? Well, I know it had to be said eventually, you know. It's an acceptance. It's coming to terms. with it. More than it is. Closure type of thing. Yeah, basically, it's like taking ownership for it.

You know, um, and uh, but I was having a conversation. There was a fan hit me up, one of my fans, and uh they messaged me, and usually I don't respond too much, like on a personal level. I was like, Yeah, thank you, appreciate it, boom, boom boom. You know, minor chit chat, but uh he was going through some things, you know, and uh so you know I was talking to him about it, and our conversation that we had made me think about my car like my situation. I was like, So this dude's telling me about something to a complete stranger, and I can't even say that shit out loud. So I was like, okay, well shit, I'm talking to this dude about all the shit that he's going through, and I can't even get the fuck up. Like, what I really want to say. I should be able to get out of here. You know what I'm saying? Because I all I cover all that shit with lyrics, you know, so it's like bar here, bar that, so it's just like the monster out there, but it's like I don't say anything personal. So I was like, man, it's it's time, you know what I'm saying? It's time. And literally that same week when a fan hit me, someone came into the store, uh, you know, and she's talking about how her son died, you know, he's like what 30 years old or something? No reason, No reason. just woke up.

You know, I mean didn't wake up, you know. So uh I'm like, damn. They're Like, there's too many signs I have to put the shit out there. The timing was right, yeah. So it's like it put me in that bag, and yeah, it was tough, right? It was tough. I like stayed up all night writing it, and it's just like it was easy to write, but hard to say, you know what I'm saying? Mm-hmm. So easy to write, hard to say. And it was like, damn. I think I fucked up so many times. I remember that session. Yeah, man. I was like, that was fucking terrible, bro. does a song like that mean more to you than some of your other songs that maybe even were more popular? to your fans and stuff? Like Mad Bag, for example, with fucking Lil Donald. Shout out to Lil Don. Shout out Lil' Donald. Like that song went crazy in Atlanta. Well, I was performing that shit every night for like a year, you know. Um, but I mean, I don't even fucking care about that song, you know what I'm saying? I don't even that's not even the first song I would show someone. Yeah. Yeah. That's at the very end of my fucking catalog, you know. Um, but this song is like, yo, I would definitely show the song to any and everybody, you know. Yeah, especially someone that was like going through some shit, right?

I mean, that's great. For sure. Like, yeah, definitely this is the most touching song, I would say. Yeah. No, I mean, I was listening to you know, Rick Rubin do an interview with actually Bruce Springsteen, like the boss, right? So, you know, legendary songwriter, yeah, and like him telling about like which songs he actually like favors or goes to, you know, are so different than the ones that are like commercially accepted, you know, because it's like he's got such a deeper meaning to them than maybe the average audience member even knows. They're not catching on to it. Cause you know, you know, to your point, it's not like in their face that like this is what you experienced. You're not like right Coach Adcock was there, right? And then he died. Like you're not saying this like explicitly, right, right, right. You're clearly creating it into an art form, and you can't always like dissect that shit just like from hearing a song. Yeah, you don't really know the pain that the artist might have or the you know the songwriter might have gone through and really what time in their life they were at, you know what I mean? Yeah, for sure. So like that's I just always found that really interesting, like as a fan of you know, yeah.

I mean, it was definitely tough. Like, it's tough to write, it's tough to I even want to listen to it now, it's tough to listen to. But I love listening to it though, you know, because it's like like I said, taking the responsibility, taking the ownership, like in the song I said I was a coward for not going to see him, you know. Yeah, because like I've always like I've never wanted to go see people in the hospital, like people that's terrifying. Yeah, I just never wanted to do that. So I never do that, you know. Uh so yeah, so I was like, man, like just in the song it's talking about how I should have did that, you know, everything would be better, you know what I'm saying? Like still it wouldn't have been better for me, but would have been better for him. Yeah, and he cared about me more than I care about myself at that time of my life. Oh wow, yeah. Yeah, so I was like, I I owed him the right, and I didn't do it, you know. Yep, no, for sure, for sure. So where does the rap name clip come from? Cause I think that was that was always your rap name from what I heard. Yeah, because a lot of people have transitioned, you know, they went from one one thing to another, you know, maybe three fucking things, whatever. Yeah, it was always clip.

Always what where was it first you know coming from? When me and my homeboy Mac, shout out Mac. Shout out fucking Mac, man. Like really good dude, really good dude. Yeah, we're still like best friends to this day, you know. Uh even if we don't talk, you know what I'm saying? So it's one of those. One of those. Uh so he got me rapping, so really I was just making beats for him at the time, you know. So you were producing? Yeah, I was producing. Okay. I mean, I went like a producer, no, sure, but I made beats. Beat maker. More of a beat maker, perhaps. Right. And it wasn't like I was doing it like exclusively for him. It was just something I liked doing, and if he liked it, then he would use it, you know. Sure. But he's always been, he's always been like the rapper, like, even in our school, like he was a fucking rapper. Like, everyone was like, yo, that motherfucker can rap. He's going to da da da, you know. But one day he told me to to write a song, and you know, I wrote a verse to some shit we did, and he's like, Yo, you can rap. And I was like, Yeah, he's like, You sound retarded, but you gotta, you're gonna fix that. You know what I'm saying? You haven't found your voice, but the bars are immaculate.

You know, like the line, the lyrics are there. So what the the delivery was just I mean awful you know what I mean like what you gotta find your voice what was wrong with it like how I'm talking now you know what I'm saying like slang lazy slow slurred so there wasn't that like precision that you had like it wasn't that. Da da da da da da. Fuck. it wasn't like that it was just it was just talking man and uh he's like yeah once you get out of that you know find a voice you know Sure. but yeah so anyway so he was Mac and I was clip so and everywhere he went I went you know what I'm saying so you guys were like tied at the hip yeah yeah we was always we was always solid but he always had like his own like kind of circle that he had and I always had my kind of circle that I had because I was involved in the sports and he was involved in other things so it's like I don't know we went by too deep we was always too deep but it was like just the two of us but we always had a lot of motherfuckers around us yeah you know that's pretty dope. that's cool yeah that's cool yeah that's how I got it Mac and Clip. And how about the Monstar? Let's get that story.

I like that hat by the way oh yeah you see me out here you know uh advertisement is that new I haven't seen those it is very new yeah yeah it's new um well yeah we should barter the auto tune shirt we just gave you for a Monstar hat trying to get a trucker what's up yeah I know hey is this a trucker I don't even know what it is I don't think so it is yeah yeah yeah it's pretty solid where did that come from though is it I mean obviously Space Jam. Well it wasn't Space jam right okay so that's the crazy part even though I'm basketball head I was gonna say it had to be space jam it seemed logical right for sure but uh that's not where it's from um my older brother so my older brother um Justin he damn he saw that I was like getting like making moves with the music. So he's like, oh, if you're gonna be serious about it, then you gotta do it the right way. I was like, all right, cool. So he came up with the record label. So he was the business mind. He was uh yeah, he was the business one, the professional one. The he was the bend to the H3, you know what I'm saying? So I was like, all right, cool. And you know, so it was his idea to do that and do it properly.

And uh, you know, we thought bigger people, like the bigger the brand. So we got a whole bunch of motherfuckers, like and just we had like 15 artists on fucking day two of the label, you know what I'm saying? And out of all those fucking 16, 15 people, there's me, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, I mean, none of them are there no more, you feel me? So uh there's one other person actually, uh BZ, but he don't really make music like that. Yeah, shout out Beezy. Yeah, shout out Beezy. He's talented as hell, he just don't make music. So you came out the fucking gates with that many? Yeah, bro. Cause like I knew you had like upwards of 20 over the time of Monstar, but I didn't know it was like almost all at once. Out the gate, man. 15 on day two. Yeah, I was like, yo, like 15 people a day two. I was like, Y'all making a label, I want you to be part of it. I think you're gonna be dope. Boom. And boom, that's the thing. you know, I got I got like fucking 30 Monstar shirts made. Everyone was wearing a red Monstar shirt, a green Monstar shirt. They weren't even the same logo, like I had like a whole microphone, like it was a whole different logo, but it was lit right off the back. So you tatted the old logo on your arm?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like an old microphone with a face on it. So uh he's like, fuck, whatever. It's still a memory. Yeah, it's still dope. Like I said, it's still a memory, yeah. For sure. But uh, yeah, we was lit right off the back. Like, there's never been a moment when it hasn't been lit. But where does the but where does the name come from, if not Space Jam? I don't know where he got from. I guess I liked him. he got it from Space Jam. Just monster. I think it was like Monster But a creative. way. But we're stars, yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, and uh and so that was right when you got home from college, pretty much. Pretty much. So you were hooping. Yeah, I was hooping in college. Um, but you were also like sharpening your skills there, from what I heard. Yeah, so when I was in college. What were you doing, yeah, like to improve with rap. I was making beats, and I was actually like trying to rap myself, like trying to chop. So just practicing. Yeah, I was just rapping, man. And uh, because my lyrics, every time I wrote my lyrics down, and every time I heard like a good rapper, I'm like, yo, my lyrics are better than that. I gotta figure out a way to present it. Yeah, so uh I just kept rapping, kept rapping, kept writing, uh, kept producing, kept producing.

Like I made a beat every single day when I was in college. Yeah, yeah, I'll practice, make a beat. Yeah. Uh write a song at least once a week, you know. So I was doing more than I am now. You know what I'm saying? So, but I got I ain't got time to do it now. But uh, yeah, I was going, I was going hard, man. I was going, it was crazy. Was that tough though, managing that like with practice and like school and shit? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was fun at the time, it wasn't a business. It was just it was like, yeah, it was a hobby. When it's a hobby, it's easy. When you start investing money into it, a little more pressure, and you have a fucking family, yeah, and you have bills, it's a totally different ball game, you know what I'm saying? You have to dedicate yourself to want to work, you know what I'm saying? Like three o'clock in the morning instead of three o'clock in the afternoon. Yeah, you have to work. So I said when I was in college, I didn't have no money, I didn't have nowhere to go. It didn't fucking matter. I went to the gym, class, gym, class, gym, studio. Yeah, studio was in my dorm because I had my own studio.

So that's how that was. Yeah, man. I feel like, and this is coming from the one as you mentioned, like I'm clearly more of the business, you know, mind, but at the same time, like for the business to work, you somehow have to put yourself back in that position of when it was so fun. Right. You know what I mean? Or else it just sucks. Or else, literally, it's just a fucking another nine to five. It's just a job again. Yeah. So like how do you do that? I I wish I had the fucking answers right now. But I'm just kind of like talking this out of you saying, like back when it was just for fun. Right. And how you were just going crazy and like, and it does shift when you start putting putting money up. Yeah, man. When you start having kids, right? When you buy a fucking house, when you get a pool in your house, I mean let's do this And you got your fucking phone in the pool. Yeah, exactly. When you gotta buy a new phone because your phone's in the fucking pool. Right, you know. No, but it's it's interesting to think about of like, yeah, you gotta I mean this is just talking to y'all out there. I mean, someone help us because it literally is like what's the answer?

Because when you do flip the switch into like, I'm trying to make this a career, right? I'm not just doing this to satisfy this fun creative thing I want to do. I actually want to make money off of it. I mean, how do you how do you kind of like navigate those waters? Drop a comment below. Yeah, please. I mean, like for you. If anyone's got therapy sessions ready for us, like for me, um, I there's like a a balance between fun and competition, right? So I feel like competition is fun, you know. So me just being to like writing lyrics how I write them, that's the competition part of it. Can I be better than I just was? Because I said something fire right here. Like, can I top that or no? So it's like for me, it's a comp it's a competitive thing. And when I'm competing, I'm having fun. You know what I'm saying? It's sort of like when you play basketball, when you're playing a sport, like I'm out here, I'm sweating, I'm tired as a motherfucker, but like I'm having fun out here, you know. And just the level of competition is what makes me go.

So it's like I'm in competition with myself, you know. Um that's kind of fun, you know. No, that's that's amazing. And I think everyone needs to find that thing for them because then it makes it all worth it when you then gotta go figure out okay, how much did I invest this month? How much am I making? Like, you know, what's where should I be putting money? Like, how do I get revenues? Like, blah blah blah, like all the business fucking bullshit that comes along with being an artist, right? If you can find that, like that thing that if you just look back and you're like, wait, I love this shit because the competition thing. And that and that you're clearly treating this shit like a sport. You're like a rap lead, dude. Yeah, I'll be trying to I'll be trying to tear heads off out there. Yes, for sure. 100%. Which which we talked about, like the competitive spirit of hip hop. You know, we even talked about with Ben Riley about like, you know, he he, you know, he's in a little rap group, and the reason why he thinks it's successful, even though they're kind of you know, they do their own thing, solo stuff, whatever, blah, blah, blah. But the competition side of it, man, of like, oh, someone hopped on the the song first, and like, oh, that shit was fire, but like I gotta come with it like second verse.

And you know that that's how Monstar was so big at first because everyone was not like dissing each other, but it was in competition, like it was healthy competition. So it's like, uh, yeah, you just dropped a fire song. You can't drop no bullshit. You can't drop no bullshit. So, or like, or let's say even if you go to a show or something, he went to this show, he went to your show, you gotta go to his show. Right. So now everywhere we go, we fucking 100 deep, 50 deep, 100 deep. So, but it's like the competition, like it's healthy, man. Healthy competition breeds greatness. Yeah, it does every time. Period. Just sharpens the sword. I mean, you know, steel sharpened steel, I think is what you know Ben Riley had said. And I'm like I completely agree with that. I think that applies to even I mean anything, really. If you can find someone that's like a you know, business partner, creative partner, a freaking, you know, life partner, like a wife, whatever, that challenges you and like y'all keep trying to like level up together type shit. I mean, that really is a magical, you know, thing to be honest. If there's not like a high score, like a leaderboard in a video game, then what you know, what's really the the drive to do better and top your last high score.

Like you already have that. If no one's fucking keeping track of your stats, like, What the fuck are you doing? Yeah. You know, like there has to be something. Like for sure. You can't be like, yo, he had a great game. Everybody, okay. I had a great game last week, too. But which game was better? Yeah, like and how do you distinguish? Oh, because you have fucking 30 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists. That's fucking so the game before that, he might look like he played better, but you had fucking 10 points. Are you out here dropping triple doubles? I'm on nah. You hit him with a curveball there. He's like, yeah, nah. Yeah, nah. Nah, you know it's crazy. So I don't re I don't rebound a lot. What? Yeah, man. But I'm not the biggest person on my team either, or on the court, you know. You know, I'm just gonna be. You play the we play the four? I play like probably like a two, man. Dude, like a six seven is not that tall in grand scheme of things. In the NBA, but. No, even college, man. Like, yeah, I guess so. I mean, dude, you got six, five point guards type shit. And they be fucking athletic as shit, bro. Like, yo, like, why are you jumping so high?

Like, I was supposed to be dunking. Yeah, so yeah, I just remember my buddy, you know, he he played for American University. They ended up going to the NCAA tournament one year and just like seeing even like him, and he's not like a North Carolina or a fucking Duke or anything, right? But just hanging around them, And we'd go out to the bars in DC where you know where American is, and like I'm fucking 5'11 or whatever. And I looked like a damn midget. Like he's 6'5, and he was the shortest one on his like in his crew. They were all seven footers or fucking six seven, six nine, six ten, whatever. It was crazy. And that's just like average. I'm serious. Motherfuckers is big, bro. Yeah. But so yo, okay, so I wanted to ask this because this is important. Okay. You end up coming back from school. You're like just starting to kind of, you know, really take the artist thing seriously, but you want to do this label because you know you think that's kind of what you know, to be legit, you need to, you know, maybe do that. Right. You end up working with like 20 artists almost, 15 artists. Yeah.

How are you managing the time though between yourself and your own artistry, right? And them. So that's where I took a hit, you know. Um, I took a hit definitely on myself, you know. Uh I was trying to make something bigger than myself. Because I even to this day, I still think Monster is bigger than Clip. You know what I'm saying? So the brand is always gonna be bigger than the one person, unless you're like just that thing, like Lil Wayne. And even then, he got damn young money, cash money bigger than him. Right, you know, so it's like I always put I always think the team is bigger than the individual. You know, when you think about the Lakers, like great dynasty, Boston Celtics. Like, you don't think about like, oh yeah, just yeah, just Larry Bird. No Larry Bird didn't win all fucking 30 championships, you know. So I think about the team and as a team aspect, I'm like, yo, if everyone is strong, we're gonna be crazy. Like we're gonna take over. Like one great soldier or a hundred good soldiers. I'll take a hundred good ones, we're gonna beat you up every time.

Right. Yeah. So that was that's my mentality anyway. Strength in numbers. So that's my mentality. But uh it did mess up, it didn't mess up, it slowed down my um my individual skills, you know. Uh, but it made the brand bigger. Do you think it was a bit too soon to have gone that, you know what I mean? Like kind of zero to a hundred type shit. Uh you know what I mean? Nah, cause I alright, because I know how people are, and they're gonna fucking fall off, you know. So you get 15 and hope you keep five. You know, um, even when you go like if you go to to college as a freshman, and from your freshman year to your senior year, that's four years. You might only have two more people on the same team from the freshman to senior year. This in four years, right? So it's like, even though we're on the same team now, that means you ain't gonna be here in the end. So when I got 15, I knew right off the bat, you know, motherfuckers weren't gonna be here. Yeah, you know, I just didn't know it's gonna be all fucking 15. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah, you know, so uh yeah, it was funny though. And like, you know, they weed themselves out. They say little slick shit or they say something stupid that I just don't think is smart, like business-wise, or it don't make sense to me. Like, so yeah, well, get out of here, fuck it. Yeah, so and then you just keep rebuilding as like so. As I lose one, I gain one, lose one, I gain one. And then you find a solid five, solid four, and then most talented ones aren't even the ones that are part of that core, you know. It's like a business like hiring and firing. You know, you can hire hiring is guessing, you just hope it works out. But firing is you know, you know, like okay, this isn't working out. Yeah, We'll bring in some new, yeah. You hire them because you see the potential. Right. You know, so you see the potential in it, like, I bet. And then my motherfuckers don't have no product, you're like, okay, what the fuck are we doing? Right, yeah. So obviously promoting has been a huge part of your you know story. I mean, is there any club or venue in Atlanta that you haven't, or like in the whole state of Georgia that you haven't like put on a show at?

Or like I mean, there's like a couple, you know, there's a couple of but there was a stretch there where you were damn near out every night. Every night for like months and months. Months and months and months. Because that's just the power of having a network and being able to bring people out too. Right. When you when you're that big. And you can pull have people pull up to a place that's valuable. Yeah, and you think about like, okay, it's a Monday night, and it's like you got 25 people with you on a Monday night, and they all gotta go to work in the morning, but they're there to support like what you're doing. So it's like, okay, bet. But then you have a show on Tuesday. So it's like, yo, are all 25 people gonna come back Tuesday? Or is my show Tuesday gonna look crazy because it's gonna be me out there? So it's like, all right, but you don't worry about it, you just book it. And then if motherfuckers show up, they show up. Next thing you know, you stay consistent in that five people every night turns into 10 people every night, 20 people every night. And it's like, yo, I see you making noise, like when's your next show? Then they come it's tomorrow, right? You know, it's tomorrow.

And they get and they won't it's actually right now, right? Right. It's like 15 minutes away from where you're at. I'll send you the address. Right, you know, so yeah, we got a section, and then next thing you know, like the people that come, they're now the happy because you gave them something to support, you know. So I'm I've always been big on like quit begging for support and give someone something to support. So I've always been big on that. That's a good one. That's huge, yeah. Huge. Like, like, oh my god, no one supports me. Well, fucking do something, yeah. Give them something to support you. So damn. Yeah, listen the fuck up to that one. Give them all right, give them a one more time. Say that shit one more time. One more motherfucking time. Like give people a reason. To support you. Like, don't complain about support. Don't complain about not getting paid shows. Don't complain about people not rocking with you. Just do your thing, and people will want to support you. Give them something to support. Because also, I want to say this. Like, all right, we live in a fucking internet generation, right? Mm-hmm. That you're like, honestly, probably the people that are closest to you are actually gonna be the last one to support you.

100%. They're not going to support you until you have something going on. Right. Because they- And like it's weird psychology. I don't even know if you can dissect it. I think it's because They already know that they're tight with you. So they're good. Like if they know you're tight with you, it's like it's almost like they're oh, you know, if he does his thing, then he does his thing. But people that you know, if you're not tight with someone, but you really believe in them and you want to support them, you kind of have to prove yourself more. Yeah, you have to prove your like which is messed up, but it's fucking weird. It is I I look at it as like every day is an interview, you know what I'm saying? So that's what that's what I learned in basketball. Like every day is an interview. Uh, if I go on to court and I'm fucking trash, and uh first time you ever seen me play was my trash game. That means I'm trash. You'd failed that interview, yeah. Yeah, there's no there's no explaining. They're like, yo, I seen him be shot shit off the backboard, he's not fucking good. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So every day you have to damn reprove yourself, reinterview whether it's your friends, you have to recreate new friends, whether it's the business, you gotta damn reinvent because how you're growing, they might not be growing with you, you know what I'm saying? So, and where you're going, they might be wanting to go another way.

He might be happy just chilling right here in the studio. He might not be happy in the studio no more, you know. You know, he might want to have his own studio, you know. So it's like, but the best relationships are the ones that communicate together, like you said earlier, and y'all just motherfuckers, y'all both lift each other up. Yeah, you know, so even if you're on slightly different paths, right? Exactly. Because even if you're in, let's just say like a highway, right? Right. Even if you're in this lane and I'm in this lane, if we're fucking just moving along to the same, you know, kind of general destination, even if we're in slightly different, you know, lanes or whatever, right? Like, I mean, I mean 100%. Yeah. even if it's a totally different lane, right? Totally different path. Yeah, It's a network. Like, life is all network, bro. Uh, all network, comedian, producer, actor, you know what I'm saying? Basketball player, you know. So, but when you go to an entertainment event, they're all fucking there. It's all one entertainment business. Yeah, so it's like you go, you get bigger, awesome, because now we got bigger network, you know.

You go, you get bigger, okay. Now we got bigger network, and you come together, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, I don't know No, I mean we just talked about this literally last night, about like building that network, and like it's not that we haven't acknowledged that, it's that we gotta get back to that because that's the most important thing. You literally are only as good as your network, to be honest, in in a lot of ways. I I don't want to say that, you know, I guess 100%. I mean, I like not like skill-wise, you know, like, but like but the skills I always get back to the skills are fucking table stakes. If you're not like relatively good, that's just the beginning. like fuck out of here, to be honest. So, like the skills, let's just all assume that like everyone's okay enough, everyone's good enough, right? To even be like in conversation, then it's really about like, hey, how do they remember to call Henry when something important's happening? How do they remember to call Clip and be like, oh shit, I just heard there's an opener for this artist? I'm thinking of clip. That's a network thing.

Exactly. That's not a they're gonna find you, you know, they're gonna think of who the fucking person that they know is. Right. Yep. Yeah, that's who's getting the call. That's what's getting the call. Strong community is the key unlock to anything you want to do as an entertainer, I would say. And the hardest part about that, I would say is is that like you have to nurture that shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, maintain. you can't just be calling when you need something. Nah, uh that's that's what I was saying earlier. Like, yeah, if he goes to your show, you go to his show. Yeah. Ask Clip about his uh his Twitter group. Oh, yeah. that's maintaining. Yeah, I got a whole little Twitter thing just for like Twitter followers. Yeah, you know, like the super fans kind of thing, you know. He gives them, you know, the the early previews of stuff, you know, they they kind of hear stuff first. Yeah, or I just talk to them, you know? Yeah, and just being there. I literally I'll just text my gang. And then like they're like, oh shit, gang. So like I just pop in there, say something, you know, they get stirred up a little bit, and they start talking shit about someone else, and I'm like, all right, cool, and I'm out, you know. But uh but like he just starts a rioting.

Like, gang, y'all seen that shit, that shit, trash, and then everyone's like, What who you talking about? And I'm out. I don't even know what's going on. Like, they'll figure it out, yeah. But no, it's dope, man. Uh it's dope. Community. I mean, how important do you think that like being as active as you were, you know, has been. Oh, yeah. Oh. You know what I mean? Like out and about, like every yeah, I it was very important because even though, okay, even when I was doing the label, right? And I was putting everyone in front of me, the brand was getting bigger. So now I'm uh building the brand by doing showcases and I meet other artists through engineers, through producers, you know, uh, through other promoters. So now I'm doing a showcase, I'm hosting showcases, but I'm an artist. So like now, people want to do features with me, so now I'm making feature money that meet me at the showcase that I'm hosting that they don't know I'm the promoter of. You know what I'm saying? So like that sounds like a double dip, amazing thing you have going. So like, and I might do a showcase and the the uh prize is a free feature. But really it's a paid feature.

Got me a thousand dollars at the door. Right. So I just got paid a thousand dollars for his feature. That's how you package it. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, that's creative. Yeah. So you know, it's it's just being the artist out there everywhere, meeting all these other promoters. When they when I when I go out as an artist, they see like, yo, this motherfucker's deep. He got a crazy campaign. So they want to book me again. But I tell them, like, yo, I'm not coming Let's take some money. You know, uh, a percent of the door. Cause when I brought 50 people, there was only 52 people in there. Right. My 50, the host, and the DJ. So I'm going to need some bread. it's like that. You know what I'm saying? So uh I'm gonna need some bread, or if you want, we could do a showcase together. We could do a party together, you know, and uh yeah, man. That's awesome. So, it's definitely served you well, like the only reason I'm doing parties now is because my artist run. Yeah, That's it. like if I didn't do my artist run, none of the promoters, host artists I met would know me. Yeah, so it wouldn't even work. They're like,

hey clip, how you do a showcase or how you do a party? I don't know. Fucking I ran the streets for fucking six years. Yeah. So, it's like, this shit ain't going to happen overnight. So would you recommend that for artists trying to come up that the in-person event is still very important, even in the internet age? Yeah, you have to because people have to see you. You know, they have to see you, they have to know it's real, you know. Yeah. I mean, you don't have to do it every day. Like right now, I don't do it as much. I probably do like one a month. But it's like I'm still out there, you know what I'm saying? But I just have a a value to it to where you I'm not performing unless financial shit is involved. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Cut the check. So how did y'all two meet each other? I wanted to actually start off with this, but like yeah, was it Louie? Louie and them. Might have been might have been the North Side squad. The North Side. Ill Flow? Yeah, Ill Flow, that's what it was. I was like, yeah, I know it's Caking, I know it's Louie, but what do you get with it? Ill Flow, the Northside. Yeah, a couple of the first dudes I ever I ever worked with.

And then yeah, the nature of that is just, you know, especially engineering. You start working with people, you just start meeting other people. That's the network I'm talking about. So like you're you have your whole brand and your whole path, and I have my whole other path. But it could be fucking conglomerate, you know what I'm saying? Like it could be one big motherfucking thing where you have all your artists, I have all my artists from showcases, and like bro, it's good, it's so big. It could be so big. Yeah, I think I met I think I met Gabe through you, actually, because I I believe I met you first. Might have been. It's been some years, many years now, but Hold on. I know what it was. It was it was Ill Flow. They did a song called Shell or some shit, and GA was featured on it. Yeah. And then and they're like, yo, ill flow was already telling me to come here. And uh and the GA was like, yeah, go there. And I was like, I bet, you know. But I'm stubborn, you know, I'm hard headed, I like my shit raw. I don't like any weird

weird shit on my voice. After I got my voice to a certain point, I liked it, you know. So I was like, nah, nah, I work hard to get to this voice. I wanted to be raw. Fucking cut. But uh it made yeah. When I came here, I I haven't went nowhere else. You know what I'm saying? Like even now. That's a co-sign if I ever heard one. Yeah, I haven't went nowhere else, bro. Like, I go to other studios, I get mad, bro. I'm mad, I'm there, like, why am I doing this? Because they're slow, also. That's one thing I'll say about Henry. He's fucking fast. But it's like, thank you. It's just the uh the chemistry. You know what I'm saying? It's like he knows where I want to sound, he knows what I meant to say. You know what I'm saying? Like he knows he's like, Hey, you uh it's those little things. It's those little things, bro. They have a workflow for sure. So I don't have to I don't have to come out the booth. Yeah, and explain and point at the screen. Like, no, like this part. That shit blows my mind, bro. Imagine me trying to tell someone, uh, yeah, can you flex time right there? It's on the fourth bar. Yeah. I'm like, oh you know what I'm saying? Like, they're like, what? What what fourth bar?

You mean like the eighth bar? No, it's the fourth bar. I said this right here, can you flex time it? Yes. Then I'm like, what's that? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I'm like, you know what, bro? I'm just gonna redo it. You know? So now I'm in a bad mood. Yeah, you know, and I don't record no more. Yeah, now it's killing your vibe. I mean, because you guys did a song together, another YouTube cipher. Shout out another YouTube Cypher. Another YouTube cypher. A whole lot of gang. It's a three, it's like a three-part with two beat switches in the middle, three beats, three beat in one fucking package deal. Legendary. Legendary. And it stemmed from you were like getting very intrigued by the YouTube space. Yeah, right? Yeah, uh crushing YouTube. Yeah, I was like, because I was I was watching like reaction channels to like artists. I think it was the whole Eminem versus MGK thing. And like as a lyricist, I'm like, yo, people really think MGK like outrapped Eminem? right. You know what I'm saying? I was like, am I am I seeing this right? This can't be real. So you know, I go on YouTube, I'm like, yo, let me just go to Killshot Reaction. Let me just see what they really saying.

And like there's a couple dudes. Well, there's one main dude, uh, no life Shaq. Shout out Shaq. Yeah, shout out Shaq. We love Shaq. So once I seen him, I was like, I was like, okay, that motherfucker likes bars. So I was like, and he's big, so let me just let me just send him a song. He's gonna like my shit. Yeah, he's gonna like my shit. So uh, and if he don't, I just wanna hear what he got to say because he's very because I saw him being very truthful on other songs, like he was not holding back, yeah. Like he'll say like the cypher was trash, like he'll say he was shit like that. So I was like, all right, he don't know me, I don't know him, I don't give a fuck, my feelings won't be hurt. Send it to him. But before I but he actually responded, because he has like he's big, you know what I'm saying? So I was like, I didn't expect him to respond, but he did. So after I found out he responded, I called Henry, I was like, y'all need to step a session before I respond back to him, you know what I'm saying? I gotta have something to come back with. So uh so we're here, and that's when Cody came with us. Yeah, and we wrote uh I wrote Knight Rider. Uh so that's when we had like the undertaker beat, yeah, and everything.

So that's a huge song. It's a great song. It's huge, yeah. It's big. That's probably my biggest one right now. Yeah, I think so. And um, so he made the song, and as I'm making the song, and Henry's like, you know, tweaking it, I'm fucking texting Shaq hoping he responds back, like, yo, oh, I got a song I'm gonna send to you. And I was like, Well, I ain't got no, I only got the audio. All I all I got is the audio, but that's it. So he's like, that's cool. I was like, I bet. So I sent it to him, and then when he posted it, I wasn't on YouTube at the time, but he posted it, and mad motherfuckers sent me up Facebook, Instagram. I'm like, what the fuck? I didn't know how big that platform was, just that world, just YouTube, yeah. The whole fucking They had their own little community and shit. Yeah, like you probably knew it, like I knew it of just like okay, people put their music videos up there, yeah, and then they go back to their other platforms of Instagram or Twitter or whatever. Spotify from what this. Yeah. There's people who live on YouTube. They fucking live on YouTube, bro. Yeah. Like, like and I never knew that. And like a lot don't. It's like still a hit.

Like. It's a mystery out there. You have to be on YouTube. You have to be on the YouTube. Artists still don't utilize it, I think, to the full potential. But anyway, So. it's the new cable TV, people. Like people are watching YouTube more than their Who watches cable and there's a whole YouTube TV now. Yeah, literally. So everyone starts hitting you up, assumedly, of course, from seeing or from hearing your song. Not even seeing a video, just hearing your song, right? Yeah, just hearing it, you know. And uh, I was like, oh shit. All right. And they're like, yeah, this dude named Shaq posted it. And I'm like, I was like, oh shit, everyone watched it. You know what I'm saying. like people watch that shit? You know, so uh, so he sent me the link and I watched it, you know. I was feeling myself because you know he was fucking with it. So I was feeling myself I'm like, yeah, okay, that's what the fuck. I thought people still care about lyrics. I bet you know, so that got me going back into my bag, my uh, because I I got away from it. I was like, Y'all being too lyrical, you know. And I got away from it, and I was dumbing down music and making music I wasn't very happy with, you know. So that's something we haven't really touched on, but I think it's very important to this guy right here. I mean, lyrics is easily like I mean, this guy's lyrics are insane.

You could like, I mean, I wish we had some time like to break down some of this guy's bars. We'll finish recording the song, and then he'll come out, and then I'll play through it, and like I'm like, all right, now we gotta do the you gotta explain every every double, triple, triple entendre that I'm missing, right? And it'll take like 20 minutes. We'll get like two bars in, and there's like three things that I missed, right? Right. Oh, I mean it's unreal. You you've literally called me like after a clip session and been like, dude, you should hear you should hear the shit he just said, like yes, and it's unbelievable. It really is. I mean, I've explained it to my dad, and Clip's actually my dad's favorite rapper. That's that's fucking awesome. Shout out your dad. I guess he likes lyrics. Fucking H3. Yeah. H3 senior. Yes. Senior. Yes, sir. That's it. So it clearly inspired you to get on YouTube. Yeah, yeah, uh, so I was like, yeah, I gotta put some shit on YouTube. Yeah. Cause not thinking that's a business man, just thinking like, yo, I wonder if people still like lyrics. Uh I don't have nothing, I didn't have nothing on YouTube. So like no, no channel start from scratch. I had like a basic channel that's uh it gets assigned, yeah, to your Gmail.

Yeah. Yeah. So I'm like, and that was it. And I was like, damn, I fucked up. I should put something on YouTube. So I was like, next time I do it, I'm gonna have something on YouTube. So I sent him a video, but I didn't have a lot on YouTube. So he did, but he did it. He he responded back to me, uh, and he posted it. And I was like, I fucking bet, you know. And then my following got big It. Like my YouTube following got big. Yeah. Um, and that's when I came to Henry. I was like, yo, we need to do a song called Another YouTube Cipher. Oh, no, that's when we thought. No, I think you came to me. Well, we were in a session, you're like, yo, it'd be dope if we did this. You you brought to my attention the fact that YouTube ciphers were kind of a hot thing at that point. There was there was a bunch of like YouTube rappers, if you will, that were linking up and doing ciphers, you know. And then this man who's crushing, you know, the lyrics and starting getting to YouTube, you know, hasn't been invited to a YouTube cipher yet. So I think the idea was we just make a three-part song where the cipher goes from clip to clip to clip. Essentially. That's it. How do you feel about the term YouTube rapper? Yo, I always thought, yo, so I always thought shit was corny as fuck.

So um, I thought it was like, and when I say corny, I don't mean like corny, like the the term corny just to throw it out there, but it's like yo, goofy, like you're not a real rapper. And I say that because you don't you're not in front of people, you know what I'm saying? Like you're behind the screen. Like, like you're a social media guy. Like, and that's what I was saying earlier. It's important for me, it's important to be in front of people so people could feel you. You'll know it's real. Coming from the person who, yeah, is doing shows and is in front of people all the time. Right. Cause that's how you that's how you grab, because that's how you grab someone, you know, like, yo, I'm never gonna forget that six, seven motherfucker with the chains on. Like, that's no. And the context. I'm not gonna forget him, you know. But you're looking at lying about, yo, he looks crazy. Yeah. Next. And I you you know, you just go to the next one and you forget about it. Yeah. But if if I'm over here performing a fucking Undertaker song, I'm performing it, and you're not nodding your head, I look at you until you nod your head. And you never forget that moment, you know. So I I capture them, whether it's 20 people, whether it's 80 people.

I'm gonna walk out there, I'm gonna have at least 20 fans. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to capture someone that cares about the lyrics and cares about the passion. Cause even if they don't hear the lyrics in the club, they see the passion and like, yo, you're going hard. And then I get an Instagram 20 new followers. Okay, cool. Boom. But it's legit. Like, you know, it's like they they hardcore and they start following everything, sharing everything, liking everything. So I got I push the flyer, I get like 200 likes on a bullshit ass flyer They don't have nothing doing, nothing. They're like. All right. Well. Promoting an event. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So um so you wouldn't call yourself a YouTube rapper, but YouTube is a big part of your strategy. Yeah, you know, I would say YouTube is uh it has to be utilized as a tool, you know. Like everything else, you know, right? Yeah, you use Facebook as a tool, you know, you use uh Instagram as a tool, TikTok as a tool. All this is a tool, you know, and if the tools are there and it's free, fucking use your tool. Right, it's literally free. People forget that about social media, yeah. Just use it, you know.

Um, but when you use it, have something to put on there. Like you can't just be doing a regular video all the time. It's like, yo, like let's let's see like if people really fuck with you. So post you in a real environment and see what it is. Yeah. So is it safe to say that your like opinion on a bunch of those like YouTube rappers has changed, would you say? I mean, uh where do you stand on Tom McDonald? I mean, I just don't like his music. Okay, straight up. So I mean, it's not nothing like I don't like him or I don't know him, you know. Yeah. Uh but as a business mind, I mean, he's definitely him and Dax are like probably the best business mind on YouTube that were considered YouTube rappers. Yeah. Um so you gotta respect, it. You got to respect it. Yeah, I mean, if I see him, I'm gonna shake your hand I'm like. Hey. respect. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? You're never gonna you're never not gonna know I don't like your song until you look at this interview and notice. I don't like your shit. But that's beside the point.

But I mean, we could say. say the same thing about Jack Harlow. Right, you know what I'm saying? Like, I'm always showing respect it, but I don't have to like it. We may or may not have done an album review and been a little bit harsh on a young Jack. I think we were realistic, We were realistic, Yeah. But I'm just saying that We've been doing a lot of corny shit. We would still like we would still approach him and respect clearly what he's built. Massive. Even if we weren't the biggest fans of this latest project necessarily, I'd love to work with him. It didn't blow our minds, but yeah, but I mean I would definitely get out there and out rap him, that'd be cool. For sure. So so what's coming up? Anything you want to make sure that people are like tuned in to, like you got any you know music dropping soon. I do, I don't know how soon this is gonna be out. Okay, this probably be out in a few weeks or a month, month, maybe so probably out by then. I'll have something. Uh I know I'm about to drop his deity, and that shit's crazy. Go stream deity by Clip Monster. Video to uh to compliment or what? Oh, yeah, 100%. Okay.

That's also what I learned from the YouTube thing is you have you don't drop a song without a video these days. I don't drop a video, I don't drop a song with no video. Yeah. Not anymore. Nah, yeah. So important. I think that's important. And you know, because how cheap is a video that's still good these days. You can get away with it if you're creative. you do a fucking creative video? I mean, I've seen it done with you. Yeah. I've seen some like what we would consider lower budget, meaning like you didn't spend a fucking arm and a leg. Right. And you look at the end result and you're like, it's just hard. It's so worth it. And no one would care or know that the budget wasn't tens of thousands of dollars. Right. Exactly. You know? Exactly. It wasn't, but every song I drop a party. I mean, it's expensive because you know, the studio time makes the mastering the video. Oh, for sure. The beat purchase. But I'm just saying, like, yeah, like if you're independent, and that's why you have to have so much respect for the Tom McDonald's and the Dax's. That's why I have to have so much respect for them because that's how they started. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, damn, they were putting up $800 for every fucking song they dropped.

Yeah. And now they're dropping a song like every week. It's like, yo, that shit's crazy. I'm not spending $800 a week. It's not happening. You know, so until you start pulling in $2,500 a week. Then it'll be different. That's why I hey Henry, I need like five songs mixed like ASAP. You know, I I just know that like I've seen a lot of videos done on very skinny budgets. You know, I'm talking $200, I'm talking, you know, $300, whatever, right? And I mean, like, I get it. If you might not be able to spend that every week, yeah, but like me knowing people's alcohol and weed habits, I'm just gonna be honest. You could fucking save up 200 bucks in a month. Yeah, yeah, 100%. That's like what three eighths? I don't know, four four eighths. Like fucking drug dealers over there. Like I'm just saying, like what I I haven't purchased in a while. Did you grow up in the same trailer park? No? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, seriously. Maybe just cut down on Uber Eats this month. You know, you can drop a video. Like 100%. I'm just saying, yeah, like I hear you. You know, I just I'm such a person that kind of like hates the excuse side of things.

Yeah. When I know how important visuals are. And once again, if you're just doing this for fun, then who cares? Make the music, drop the song, move on with your life. But you know, in a visual age that we live in, if you're treating it like a business, it's a very essential investment. I said, every day is an interview. That's your video is your fucking last interview. Yeah. sure. Because that's gonna be the closest thing to if you're not in person in real life, them seeing you. I mean, just like you said, like it's so important, man. Yeah, man. And I think so. Okay, so when you said something about YouTube rappers, I think that's what it is. I think they're more like hobbyist, you know. Uh so what I consider a YouTube rapper now, is this someone that makes a living off YouTube and just happens to rap. That's what I consider a YouTube rapper. Instead of a rapper, so YouTuber first. Exactly. Yeah, That's the way I look at it. What did Ben Reilly say? Um, don't be a TikTok artist, be an artist that uses TikTok.

Yeah, yeah, 100%. Same same. Same applicable to YouTube, yeah. Yeah, 100%. Because use it as a tool, you know. Like, like I know uh I know a lot of rappers are are dope and that are YouTube rappers that are dope, but they're YouTube rappers because if you pull up your channel, if you pull up your YouTube, like you see them dropping a video because that's how they get their source of income from YouTube. So you are a YouTube rapper. Like, so for me, I'm not a basketball player no more. I just play basketball. When I was in college, I was a basketball player. You know what I'm saying? Sure. Because that's that's what I did every day. That's what that was my title. I had a scholarship for being a basketball player. I wasn't just playing basketball like how people are in school. That's how they identify you. You're identified as a basketball player, yeah. Yeah, so I mean, yeah, for sure. If you're on YouTube and you rap, you're a YouTube rapper. If you're a rapper and you use YouTube, then you're just rapper that uses YouTube for a soul for a tool. Right. There you go. Boom, bang, done. Drop the mic on your ass. Yep. Boom.

Drop the mic on your ass. This has been this has been an amazing conversation, man. I mean, these ones that we get to have where it's people that we've known for a while, people that Henry's worked with, these are the most special for sure. I I I love all you other uh guests that we've had on, but it is something that to be said about like having just I mean, we would be talking about this shit just even if we were sitting on camera. regularly, yeah. So this has been amazing, man. Really appreciate it. Y'all go follow him on YouTube. If you're watching here on YouTube, clip Monstar. Don't get it fucking twisted. He's got a new video and new song, borderline every month at this point, right? Yeah, every month. Uh and the only reason it's once a month is because the timing, it takes everything to get done. Yeah, for sure. Or it would be probably like once every two weeks. Yeah, no, he's got other things he's doing, as you guys know. So appreciate you coming on, man. And Henry, until next week, what are we doing? We're getting out of here. We're getting out of here. Fucking getting out of here. Peace. Bye bye. Bye.