Pote Baby Interview: EarthGang Tour, Love for Savannah, Blockbuster Dream Job and More -

I always been like a, I'll say a hustler. Even with like 15 cents, I can make it feel like a dollar. I can make the most out of whatever. Even if they give me like a small pinch, I'ma make that shit work. 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 Bemo Coops to Pants off. 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, aka The Trap Jack Black. Trap Jack Black. Who do we have in the hot seat today, my friend? The Shemaine Man, P.O.T.E., Poe baby representing the 912. Never disrespect it, never neglect it, because I'm always gonna rep it. What we talking about, fellas. That was fire. that was amazing. I was supposed to introduce you, and that was so much better than what I was gonna do. Well, and he was gonna roast you with someone that you aren't.

So that really fucked that plan up. Can I still do the roast? Yeah, sure go ahead. Welcoming in on the 61st episode of the One More Time podcast. Three-time NBA All-Star and NBA champion, Chris Middleton. He's not impressed. He's not impressed. Oh shit. You could have said Draymond Green or something. Like Chris. The facial hair. The facial hair. I respect it. You know? It was mostly about the beard. Well, damn, he already gave a fire introduction, but this is the first thing. The roast didn't hit because of your intro already. This is the one and only Savannah's finest. We got Poe Baby in the building. Poe baby, indeed. Thank you for having me, fellas. Of course, man. Thanks for coming. Yeah, you are fresh off the EARTHGANG tour. Indeed. How'd that go? Just, you know, what were your thoughts on it? Oh man. People have been asking me this since like I got off the tour, and it's been like, I don't know, I'm running out of words. It's like, a blur. Cause like when you in it, it's like you don't like, you don't get a chance to like really be aware of what's going on. But like as far as like crowd and like uh uh like accepting like me and my crew of a bunch of Savannah kids, like that shit was amazing in every city.

Any like standout cities that the fans went crazy? There's two there's two ways I can answer this. Like as far as like crowd engagement, Austin and Atlanta. Austin, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia, like had like the best like crowd engagement, but like as far as like buying merch, Dallas, Dallas sold me out of merch. Okay, they spent the most money but did not do like all the whoa, whoa, whoa, Poe baby going crazy. They didn't do all that, Which is so bizarre. What do you prefer? Would would you rather sell the merch or have them going crazy with you, you know? Well, I gotta have my recap footage. So which by the way, that that did show. I'm not sure if that was Austin or Atlanta. Oh no, that was like it was a light show in every city. Okay, yeah, because I mean they were got their phones out rocking with you, man. And I was the first opener, yeah. I was the first opener. Shit was crazy. Which is incredible. Yeah, when we rehearsed it, we honestly didn't know like if people were actually gonna put their cell phone lights up, but like after the first city in St. Petersburg, we was like, oh no, we got this.

Like, if we if we set the show up right to where like we put enough energy throughout the whole set, it's a 15-minute set. So, like 14 minutes of just straight up energy and like engagement by by that last minute where I'm doing that's me is the last track for my set. Like, yes, putting cell phone lights up ain't shit. Yeah, because I mean they've bought into what you got going on, right? Exactly, exactly. Yeah, for me, I would almost be scared of like just late motherfuckers that aren't there. Like for the first opener, for sure. People are fucking still drinking in their car or like smoking weed at their house and late to the show. Like, I don't know. I I just was surprised as to how packed out the venue was. Yeah, the opportunity, like, Shout out to Zeke since the 80s. Um the opportunity was set up for us to where like when we got on stage, it wouldn't be just 30, 40 people out there. Like we go on, I think the flyer would say like 7:30, but like we wouldn't go on until like eight, 8:15. Yeah. So like it'll already be a wave of like 200, 300 people already in the crowd.

So like when we was out there, we wouldn't be out there having a recap full of 15 motherfuckers. Yeah. Even though I'm cool with that shit too, because like that's where I started at, where it was only like 15 people, nine of them were like rappers, and then the other six were like regular people. So, like, yeah. But doing that shit was fun. Yeah. I was excited for that. Now, Surf, who we had on the uh, you know, the podcast recently, he talked about doing shows like that where there's like 10 people, most of them are other artists because it's a fucking showcase or something. Right for those five regular people, you gotta treat that shit like you're rolling loud and like you're headlining Madison Square Garden type shit. Is that is that how you treated like early shows too? Yeah, that's what, like I mean I really like performing because I really like what I do, so like it don't matter. That's key. Yeah, it don't matter if it's three, four, fifty, now five hundred or however many. Like, I come out there to have fun with my friends on stage and put on a good show. So that's what we did. Beautiful. So for an artist that gets the opportunity, they get that call from you know, since the 80s saying, yo, EARTHGANG's on tour, we want you to open up. You know, looking back on it, what advice would you give someone like that?

Right? Like, if you could have taught talked to yourself before the tour, and maybe you did some of the things that you would also recommend, but like what would be some of the like pointers you'd give, right? If someone gets that opportunity. Uh rehearse. You gotta rehearse. That sounds silly, but the amount of artists that don't rehearse, yeah, is astronomical. You gotta rehearse. It don't matter. Even though you rehearse into an imaginary crowd, to what you putting your best foot for it, you hoping like you're gonna have this amount of people and this amount of energy in the room, but like you gotta rehearse. Because if you don't, man, when the shit is on, oh you're gonna flop. You're gonna flop, or the energy not gonna match the music, bada boom bada bing. Your breath, your breath control gonna be ass, like all that shit. Because for for a room full of strangers, that's how they're judging you. They're judging you like the industry. Like, what is it that you're about to show me that is different from the next opener and then the headliner? So, what are you about to do? And if you ain't figured that shit out, oh yeah, they're gonna kick you off the tour after your first date. Really?

Yeah, they're gonna kick you off. Wow. For sure. So come major. Come on your A-game. Or they're gonna you're gonna be playing. B-game. Do you rent out like a space to rehearse or anything? Like rent like studios. out? Luckily, um, we did rehearsal in Savannah, Georgia. Um it was the only city that that would allow me to rehearse at a venue for free. Oh wow. Yeah, yeah. Shout out to Island Breeze. Shout out. Shout out to Island Breeze. Shout out to Island Breeze. That was the only place, like out of wherever all the emails and calls we did that would let me rehearse for free for an entire week. All I had to do was come in before they opened up shop. And I could I could have the room and have the floor to be as chaotic as I wanted to. Damn. And you had like a nice loud sound, We had some PAs and whatnot. Yeah. Yep. Did it go like to plan? Right? Like, you know, like was the rehearsal like it, or or you know, like like how much improvisation, I guess, was there? Uh the only the only reason I would have to improvise is when like like the crowd would like yell something at me. Like, like I think the first no, no, no. It was Houston.

In Houston, a kid yelled at me, do a flip. Can you do a flip? No, I can't. I'm not, I'm not about to do no flip. So, how did you handle that one? I told him I'm not about to do no. flip. Okay. I said, I'm not about to do no flip. And he was like, Damn, I was like, damn, bruh. White people flagrant, man. White people flagrant as hell. I take no responsibility for people of my color. That was one, and then one time this is another. It's always the front row of motherfuckers. I thought he was gonna say it's always the white people. I mean, maybe. He didn't not say it's always the front row. This kid, he seen my shoes. It was my favorite pair of shoes. I bought it for tour. It was some white Air Force ones with like a green like bandana swoosh to fit with the whole green like aesthetic and shit. I've been rocking them out at every show. I get to that show, and this kid, he's probably like 12, 13 years old. He's like, Give me your shoes. Fuck no. Fucking white people, man.

I'm I'm in my mind, I'm like, I wanna say no, but this is a sold-out show right here, and I don't want to be that the the first opener, and I'm an asshole. So I'm like, let me think about it. After the set, after the set is over, you get some time to like go out and talk to the front row. And like the kid, he's with his dad. He he he tapped me on the side, he said, You gonna give me your shoes? Straight up. His pop was like, You said you was gonna think about it. I'm like, fuck. We got Da Vinci, who is like capturing the whole, like recapping and doing the videography and shit. He got me on camera and shit. I'm like, fuck, I'm gonna give him my shoes. I gave him my shoes, and like what happened after the show? I was hurt about it. After the show, after the show, I told every well, after the show, I told everybody to meet me at the RV. I'm gonna be standing on top of it. That's where we're gonna be set selling merch at. The same kid that had my shoes, he came out, asked me to sign the shoes, and then he bought five shirts of merch. There it is. Instant Karma.

That works. That worked. Yeah. So you broke even on that probably. For sure, I broke even. It's a winning transaction. Shoes are like $107. $107. So like we sold like you bought like four or five shirts. We was going for $30, $40 a pop. Yeah. Okay. So yeah. We should do that every stop. Yeah, hell yeah. I'm giving out everything. There you go. And it's not even break-even because you know, maybe break even financially, but you just gained a true fan. A true fan. He's never gonna forget you. He followed me on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and kept commenting, bro, I'm the one you gave your shoes to. Yeah, this is legendary. It's a great story. I still want my shoes. Hey man, one of these days, I'm sure you'll be able to buy all the pairs of shoes you want. I'm not complaining. There you go. So you rehearsed in Savannah. Yep. And your IG bio, for example, you know, says unapologetically from Savannah. Indeed. So everyone can assume that's that's where you're from. From Savannah, Georgia.

But like paint us a picture for those that aren't familiar with Savannah and even where you're from specifically, like kind of paint us that picture of like where you grew up, the circumstances you grew up in, you know, kind of early on. Okay, so for people who don't know where Savannah, Georgia is, um, it's three to four hours like southeast of Atlanta. Like it's right on the coast. Um for me, like I can I can I'm gonna answer this a couple different ways. For me, I grew up in the same environments as like drugs, sex, rock and roll, all that bullshit. But like for me, like I had a ball. I had a ball in my childhood. Like, my mom had me at 19. Um, for the for the times that she was not at home to like be hands-on with me, my life was TV. TV, video games, MTV cribs, San Andreas, shit like that, or going outside and playing football, or getting into my light shenanigans. But like, yeah, no, my time in Savannah was beautiful. Like, and that's how I try to like put it into my music. Like, it's bright and like gloom, like glamorous, and shout out to Fergie.

Glamorous and like all the pretty. shit. I was gonna say Jack Harlow. Shout out to Harlow. Shout out to Jack Harlow. Like, I try to I try my best to implement like the pretty aspects of where I'm from and the beautiful side. And there's some tracks where I tap on, like, kind of like doof, where it's like there are people that like feeling I love doof. Thank you. It's a hard track. There are some people that feel like the stresses of like being from a small town and trying to like move to bigger cities or feeling like they have to move to bigger cities to like make their goals like possible and shit. So you can speak to them without kind of compromising who you are, right? And not trying to fake anything. Exactly. I don't I don't have the luxury as most artists do to like come up with a story, like some made up story and make it sound beautiful. Because like I said, my mother listens to my music. She'll call you out. She'll call that ain't true. When you start doing the da da da da da da da. Man, nah, I don't, yeah. you never sold drugs, did you? No, no, I'm so yeah, like my mom comes to my shows.

Like, that's dope. She can attest by every word I have ever written in a song. Ever, whether it's the love song, the rappity rap shit, the the ignorant shit, like doof, like all that shit is like, even in the hook and doof, I'm saying my mama is aiming at your starter cap. Yeah. Not me. I ain't I got shooters around me. I ain't gotta shoot you. Right. So mom was a shooter. She she is what she says she is, man. Well, I don't know what she says she is. She's a lot of things. She's a she's like, I don't know, my mom is like, not to go on like a deep tangent, but my mom is like, my mom had a thing for a drug dealers. Like, she was the she was a girl who really, really like like roughnecks. Like, that was her vibe. Which is crazy because our grandma, really, like a whole like side of my family is like straight up Jehovah's Witnesses. Oh shit. So wow. Swear to God. So like for my mom, like she was like the rock star of the family. Cause she was with all the bullshit. But still, like she didn't like lose herself in it. Like, I don't know.

Like, my mom is like a I don't know, she's like a sponge. But everyone else in your family was very like straight-laced. Man, fuck yeah. Hell yeah. Definitely like by the book, like Bible Thumpers. Like, we going, we going to the Kingdom Hall on Thursdays, we reading Watchtowers, like all that shit. Like, we they only listen to Jehovah Witness music. Like, my grandma just left the house like two days ago. Like, I might have seen one of them at my doorstep, like asking me to. I'm telling you, out there in service, like doing the shit. Not, not, not do you like Jesus? Like, for real, for real. So damn, that's crazy. So, you know, you mentioned that being from a smaller city, you kind of touch on that with elements of your music and lyrics sometimes. Do you think it's an advantage for you or a disadvantage? Like being in this in this music game. There are some disadvantages because uh there's like a umbrella of like themes that go over like being from Savannah, Georgia. A lot of people think like artists that come from Savannah are like naturally super violent and like like super violent. And if you're a young artist, like especially for me, because I don't I don't really smoke or drink, like they assume like I'm going to be either late to shit or like just not on my A game and shit like that.

But I think it also come with being from a small town where like we don't have like a bunch of opportunities, so they might think I'm not prepared for the opportunity that's given to me. So it's it's a little shit like that. But for me, like I always been like a like a I'll say a hustler. Like, even with like 15 cent, I can make it feel like a dollar. Like I'm one of them kids that like even to this day at 24 years old, I can eat peanut butter and jelly and be fine. Like I can make the most out of whatever. So even if they give me like a small pinch but it won't bother me, I'm gonna make that shit work. Make a stretch. Every single time, man. Yeah. That's interesting. So for you, how important? Obviously, you mentioned rehearsing back in Savannah, but like how important is it to stay connected to your roots for you? Shit, man. For I I for where I'm from, uh, artists get killed. Like at the pre pre-Quando Rondo Rondo, uh, whenever artists try to make it, or as soon as they got their big, like, their big spot, they got shot down and killed. Like, every single time.

So for me, for me, and I I would I would assume for other artists, that's where I'm from. Like, being able to like still be in touch with your, you know, with your home base while you're leveling up is like that shit is you can't even put a dollar amount on that type of inspiration and like you know, really touching the people and giving them something to be hopeful about and something to dream into, especially for where we from. So, yeah, because I mean, for you, I feel like you actually practice what you preach and that you've got the third annual, if I'm not mistaken, Pote Day coming up. Third annual pote day. So that sounded exciting to me when we you know spoke about it earlier. Tell the people like what that is, what the mission is behind it, right? Like, you know, give them kind of the insights. So for whoever don't know, Pote really just means Savannah. Like the port. of Savannah, right? Yeah. So uh Pote Day really just means Savannah Day. And I always said, like, like the reason I would like take rap serious is because I could bring everything back home. Like bring all the opportunities, bring all the brands.

Like just give, just give shit I wish I saw growing up to now. So that's, that's been my biggest thing. And Pote Day, what we do is last year, um, we partnered up with LRG, Jack Daniels, and just throw it throw a free event for like a weekend, like three days. But each day is a different is a different element that we give into the city. Uh one is education. So for this year, we're gonna be throwing like a panel and a workshop for like people who want to get into the industry and don't really know like the ins and outs or how they really want to navigate it and shit like that. Um doing a live show. I haven't done a live show in Savannah and not like a real one, like so. This one is gonna be crazy, especially coming off the EARTHGANG tour. Homecoming. Homecoming, man. Light show, man. We're gonna sell that motherfucker out for sure. Yes. And then um, yeah, we're gonna throw a block party and let people just come out and have a good time. Like to kick, kick, kick the dust and just chill for for three days. They know how to party in Savannah, too. Oh, for sure.

I don't know if You, you've ever been there for like St. Patrick's Day. Oh, yeah. They go crazy, yeah. For St. Patrick's Day. We're gonna throw a party on uh we're gonna we're gonna do all the major shit in Savannah, man. I promise you. So yeah, this Pote Day is gonna be the biggest one because we're partnering up with SoundCloud. Uh I'm pretty sure Vans is gonna tap in a little bit. It's gonna be tight. Like, it's gonna be super tight. Y'all more than welcome to come down. Oh, when is it? Yo, I got family outside of Savannah. Right now, tentatively, we're looking at September 9th to the 11th. Because we always try to aim around September 12th because the area code is 912. Oh, I like that. Yeah. 912 day. Yeah, you feel me? We always try to aim around that. So, like, yeah, September 9th to the 11th. And uh, yeah, it's gonna be flat, man. That's dope. Super flat. Let's go. I'm definitely down. Cause like I said, I got family that's like right outside the city. So it's gonna be clean. Last year the mayor came out, all type shit. Like, wow. Man, we got big days. Hell yeah. So, you know, making it in music though wasn't always your dream. And I thought that this was hilarious.

I'm curious, But tell the people what your original dream job was and what you wanted to do. Sushi Chef. Nah. Originally I wanted to work at Blockbuster. You wanted to work at Blockbuster as a as your career. I swear to God, I wanted to be a GM. Like that was my You wanted to run the Blockbuster. Yeah, you like movies. Yeah, I love movies. Like I to this day I go to the movies every weekend. It don't matter what city I'm in. Like, even to the I bootleg movies. Like to because we on the road and touring so much, like I got so much shit on my hard drive. I got four decades of movies and TV shows. I swear to God. Wow. but yeah, my dream was to work at Blockbuster. Cause like I said, I love movies, and it would be amazing to get paid to just be around movies. So there's a number of reasons that didn't pan out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Netflix. Netflix got hot. So the physical copies and shit, that shit kind of became obsolete. So what I what I did, um I decided I was gonna make music. Yeah, was that was you know, because we're kind of laughing about like you wanted to be the GM of a blockbuster.

That's all I wanted to do. Was that, you know, I'm just talking out loud, but like, was that kind of a result of that like small town mindset of almost like that was like what you thought was the biggest thing you could be? Not even not even that. Not even a small town mindset. That's fair. That's fair to like assume that though. For me, because like all my father figures sold drugs. So like all I ever wanted, like, all my aspirations stemmed around having stability. Mm-hmm. That's all I ever wanted. Like, and seeing that that mom, that my mom was like not like, you know, like she dated these kind of people, she was never like truly involved in none of it. She worked hospitality for 19 years. So she worked at hotel, she worked a regular like nine to five, and like moved me and and three of my little brothers to the suburbs, like off her dime. So like that's that's where my mind went at. Like, oh, this trap shit ain't like, like, it's real up and downy, like people die behind this shit. Like, I just wanted some simple shit.

I wanted a normal nine to five, a dog, a wife, a nice car, a decent car, like a Tesla now. That would be a Tesla. I still want me a Tesla. Yes. And um, yeah, just a normal life, bro. That's all I want. Yeah, I just feel like that takes a lot of maturity to realize, like, because most people, let's be serious, that are around drugs and drug dealers, right? They fantasize about that life. Yeah. So to see it as something that like isn't for you because of the reasons that you outlined, I feel like that takes like a very like mature approach almost. Yeah, and I mean, uh uh, I'll say for for not to like truly speak for those people, but like a lot of what I I know from the kids that grew up around me, like they only glamorized it from like a money side. Like the realness of it, nobody want that shit. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Nobody want the missing out, missing out on time with your kids because you was trying to make an extra lick or bada boom bada bing. It's the material aspect, yeah.

Just the material aspect to like feel like a king for a day. Yeah, that's all they ever want is to feel like a king for a day. But like the downside of that shit, don't nobody want that shit for real. And you had TV and GTA and stuff like that. Yeah, we had yeah, we're gonna be able to do that. Christmas was lit. Christmas was lit, but Santa never missed a year. You feel me? But it was days, it was days where I had to learn how to tie my shoes by myself, or I had to ride the bike by myself, or like I had to really like go through life and navigate life like alone because all my father figures were locked up behind like chasing, you know. I granted you feeding your family, but like you chasing being a king for a day versus like the village feeling like they ain't got nobody to like help them really steer this crazy thing we call life. That's a good one. Damn. Yeah, yeah. It's that's that's uh a very, you know, real perspective on it. And yeah, it's it's true as far as like no one hopefully does glamorize the pitfalls of the of the drug dealing, but they almost like play blind to that because they see the other side and like that almost outweighs it, you know, the other stuff. Which I understand.

Who don't want a, a nice ass Cadillac? Right. Who don't want a nice ass Cadillac, man? Nice clothes, big old booty girls, like everybody like that shit. I get it. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So on the movie tip, what kind of movies are you most into? Stoner comedies. Those are nice. too. Really those are nice. Um I really like animated movies, but I also really fuck with romantic comedies. Cause I'm like Wow, wouldn't have guessed that. Oh, for sure. Like Friends with Benefits, No Strings Attached. I love you, Beth Cooper. Oh, my God. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, all that all that type of shit. So amazing. I love it. I love that type shit. But I'm I'm, you got so happy so happy. describing it. I'm like popcorn movies. I swear I'm like a hopeless romantic, bro. Like, I'm one of the rappers that really like going on dates. Are you dating anyone right now? Not right now, but I did go on a date recently. We went to the movies. She was bad as shit. So did it go well? She was bad as shit.

She was bad. Oh my God. So is there a second date on the horizon? Yeah, when she takes me back. Right now, she's going through a healing process from her previous situations. So it's like Can I Can I just go on record and say going to a movie is an awful date. It's one of the worst things you can do on a date. Is that because you can't talk? You can't, you don't talk to each other, you don't learn anything about each other. You're not looking at each other. You're in the dark eating, smelling like butter. Don't do it. It's a bad date. Playing devil's advocate. Some women really like the idea of a man just being around and they don't actually. Just the presence? Just the presence. I promise you, I could go through my text right now and it's been Brandon. I'm tired of like when you come over, you always want to cuddle. Sometimes I just want you to sit in front of me. Be there. just be there. But is that but is that a good way to find out if you can be with them the rest of your life? Oh yeah, for sure. Because if you can't, if you can't be quiet around someone, oh my god, bro. You're gonna feel like you're being damn bombarded with energy and just bullshit all day.

If we can't just sit in peace for once, maybe like a 15th or 47th date. No, but I feel that. I know I definitely feel that love going on dates to the movies, and I love like I ain't gonna hold you going to the beach. Love the beach. I love the beach. Going to the beach and having like pool dates and like Yes. It's friendly like Piedmont Park. I'm a Piedmont Park bandit. I'll be out here for real. Like, if you see me, you see me at Piedmont Park with my green on in a fine little thing next to me. Mind your business. What do you do out there? When you fly kites? Nah. The fuck. Nah, I don't fly those kites. I give me a nice little blanket, little crochet blanket. My grandma probably made it or some shit, or I got it from Goodwill. But I'm gonna tell you, my grandma made it. So Exposed. Savage. Get a nice little crochet blanket, little fruits and bada boom bada boom. A picnic. Little picnic. Little picnic. We free eating strawberries to each other. All that.

Nice. All that cool shit. I bring me a little Bluetooth speaker, play some Brian McKnight. On the JBL. On the JBL, man. Shit is a vibe for sure. That's hard. Take notes, gentlemen. Take notes, man. This is how you get that bad ass bitch. That bad ass bitch, man. You get the roses, you spray your cologne on it. That's crazy. She going to text you, she going to text you after the date and be like, it smells like you. Very yum. Cologne on the roses. Cologne. Cologne on the fucking roses, Oh my gosh. All right, let's get back to it. So I don't know, man. Like these fuck the music industry tips. Actually, Yeah, I mean, if we had more dating tips. We have more dating tips out of here. This is heat. I got. It's not where I thought the conversation was gonna go. I have plenty. I really love women. I like being around women, man. Yeah. That's my that's my rap shit is cool. Don't we go, we could talk about more rap shit, but like being around women, like that shit is like. But do you think you like the the hopeless romantic and the dating so much that it's gonna hinder you from finding like that one like are you gonna be able to settle down? I man, I tell my group chat all the time, bro.

I just want me a girlfriend. But they be telling me shut the fuck up. They don't believe you. They don't believe that shit. And because like the hotter I get as a rapper, is more like options come my way. But it's like, man, when I get stuck on one, like I be stuck until she really fucks something up. Yeah, like I mean, did you get a bunch of tour pussy or what? No, I didn't I didn't, I didn't I didn't do shit on tour, I promise you. Like I didn't do shit on tour. Like I was like, I I really did the work. I swear to God. Like it at most, I asked one girl to come to the pool. And she came to the pool, and that was it. Wow. Okay. That was it. I did, I did the work. When the cameras are off, we'll talk about this. It's your real story. Leave your opinions in the comments. Did he get tour pussy or not? I didn't get no tour. pussy. You got no tour. That's even worse than saying you got all the tour pussy. I really just wanted to perform. That's it. Man, he's really trying to paint this picture of that girl he's trying to date. Okay.

She's gonna watch this interview. We filmed the whole shit. We filmed the whole tour. It's a it's a thing we're gonna put out called Turtle Tales, where we filmed the whole thing. Turtle tales. And you're not gonna see not one bitch around me. Okay. It's gonna be work and it's a good one. Well, now I'm just judging you that you're a loser. Okay. So you moved from Savannah to Atlanta. Pope gets no bitches. Yes. I moved from Savannah to Atlanta. Pope gets no hoes. no hoes. No hoes for Pope. Okay, so you moved from uh Savannah to Atlanta Indeed. towards the end of high school. Mm-hmm. Toward uh junior year. Yeah, so junior year. I mean, that had to be tough uprooting from you know somewhere you knew your whole life and then going to Atlanta, right? I mean, was that was that a difficult transition for you? Uh it was a little bit, but I'm good with people. But like, yeah, it's different when you go from a small town when you know everybody or know at least of everybody, and then you come to Atlanta, and there's so many like different types of cultures and people from different backgrounds, and like even like all the way down to the to the way kids dress. Like, I come from a place where they wear uniforms and it's not a private school.

Yeah. Like I said. Oh wow. Yeah, like it's Chattel County School District. Like, you wear like, like niggas feel good for their first day of school when they come with a white polo, a white polo shirt, some khakis, and some brand new white Air Force Ones. Like, that's like the the you clean as shit outfit. Okay. When you come for the first day of school in Savannah. My first day of school in the A, I'm seeing bald manes, Ferragamo pants, Prada shoes, all type shit. I'm like, oh, I don't know if my mama make that much money. That hotel paycheck is not paying for bald man. It's paying for the house. It's not paying for the bald man. Yeah. So like what I would have to do is like work around like figuring out like thrifting. That's where thrifting came in when I came to the A. I really started to figure out like thrifting and like how to put on like vintage or baggy shit with like just a really nice pair of shoes, whether it's Air Force Ones, some Jordans, some some I think it's Clear Waters or like Pumas, whatever, like, and just really like styling around that. So like save on the clothes, but spend a little bit on the sneakers. Yeah, spend a little bit on the sneakers. You feel what I mean? Because they- That's smart.

It don't matter what culture you're in around, whatever world, they're gonna look at your motherfucking feet for sure. Vintage shoes, yeah, aren't really yeah, that's not that's not a thing. Nah, that ain't a thing. No, please don't shop at Goodwill for your sneakers. Not for your sneakers. Not for your sneakers. You could go for pants, shirt, whatever. Yeah, that's funny, man. Yeah, definitely shit like that. So did people like welcome you, or was it already like clicked up and shit? Where it was tough to like, you know, kind of work yourself into front groups? Oh, no, it was Small stuff because you know, you going into a city where people already like grew up around each other and shit like that. And they're halfway through high school already, so they've kind of clicked up at least. They clicked up, Like people were already like starting to do music and shit like that, and that wasn't even my interest. Uh by the time I left from Savannah to the A, I was I was uh my uh what do you electives? One of my electives was uh doing theater. Okay, wow. So like that was theater kid. Yeah, theater kid for sure. Like, that's the first thing I I signed up for as soon as I got the chance to go to McEachern High School. That's the name of the high school.

Okay, wow. And one of the one of the greatest programs ever, I got like an MVP trophy, all type shit. Like that was that was that's when I really felt accepted when I like got into the theater class. And like kids from like because like traditionally, people that do um theater is like those are like the the weird kids of the school. I wasn't gonna say it, but thank thank thank you for saying that. Yeah, those yeah, quote unquote. Those are like I was like, so you made friends with a bunch of theater geeks. Yeah, it was A bunch of thespians. Real thespians. Real thespian. Yeah, the word thespian is so underrated. Such an amazing word. Okay, yes, you may make friends with a bunch of thespians, but that's like when you felt, you know, kind of accepted. Yeah, because I already already felt like a weirdo, like not in a bad way, but but like in Savannah, I felt like a weirdo because I was one of those kids who were really into like television and like shit like that. So like getting going into a room full of people that are also like geeked out on anime and shit like that. Like, oh yeah, fuck yeah.

This feel like home. Yeah, this is where I need to be at. Yep. So you end up not starting to make music until literally like my graduation week. Yeah, like the last week of school. My last actual week of school. Who or what inspired you to do that? Um, like I said, uh once um, because they closed down, it was a blockbuster around the corner. Uh once all of the blockbusters in the nation closed, he decided to give music a shot. It was a blockbuster around the corner from my house from where I was from the house I was standing at the time. Yeah. That shit got shut down and it got turned into a game store. And I was like, Which then got shut down. Yeah, that shit got shut down too. Shout out to Secret Game Shop. That shit got shut down. too. Wow, okay. I was kidding, but yeah, that's I was working there for store credit. Yeah, oh yeah, store. Um wow. But yeah, that got shut down, and I was like, man, I need to find something to do in between working a nine to five. I don't want to do.

So, like, yeah, I just I it was a bunch of kids already doing music. I just did a bunch of emails and did my research on like who I could record with. And like, like the first the first person that actually let me uh record was Suave. Wow. I was just throwing that name out there as someone who'd been on the podcast. I had no idea. I didn't know that you actually Yeah, it was the first guy that let me record. Shout out Suave. Shout out Suave. Shout out Suave. One more time alumni. It was the first guy to let me uh record anything. At the time I was going by a different rap name. Yeah, what was it? Let's hear it. It was Mojo Yeti. Ooh. We've heard worse. There's worse. What's the worst one you heard? I don't know. Oh man, we've had some uh actually Deshaun, who's an AR at Sony Music Publishing, his name was D Boss. You thought that was cool. I thought that was terrible. D Boss I thought it was simple. D Boss, yeah. I'm not mad at that, because in TLC it's T-Boz. Oh I'm not mad at that. Damn, maybe he didn't mention that that was like I don't know if he meant to do it that way. Yeah, Ain't on talent. Ain't on talent. Yeah, but yeah, Suave was the first

was the first guy to let me record and like hanging out with him and like working on like my craft. I ran into kids like Zaya, Cam the Artisan, like there was a whole like hub around Cobb County. Yo, Zaya, I want to get you on the podcast. You gotta pull up for sure. Zaya vibes, yeah, Zaya is dope. Yeah, for sure. Gotta pull up. So yeah, so you're already like get, I mean, those are very talented artists. I didn't realize how many folks were coming out of Cobb County like that. Yeah, that's dope. Yeah, yeah. It was it's like a whole like renaissance. Yeah, exactly. So you start recording. Um, other than Mojo Yeti and Po Baby, rattle off all your nicknames right now. Oh my nigga. All right. So you got uh Po Baby, Baby Po, Yamacraw Yeti, Skidaway Scholar, Tucson, hold on, hold up, hold up. Skidaway Scholar, Skidaway Scholar, Tucson Tender, um White Bluff Woadie. Um East Side Shouty, Brand Brand, B.

B? Just a letter B. Yeah, B. It's for his name. Bucket. Bucket was my first nickname ever. Bucket is hard. Bucket was crazy. That's a crazy nickname. Is Bucket a rap name? Like of anyone? I don't think so. That's kind of dumb. I'm thinking I'm gonna name a project after it. Oh shit. I'm thinking about it. That's good. You gotta drop a bucket hat for merch. Yes, sale us. Say I'll take two and a half percent of that of all bucket hat sales in perpetuity. Bucket and Mr. Wilson. God. Uh do you actually get called those at some time, like throughout still life? Hell yeah. Just randomly, you'll hear one of them. There's one of them, and I'll be like, yo. So yeah. I'm definitely calling you Bucket from now on. Bucket is hard. That's the first nickname I ever got. Like growing up, like they called me Bucket because like they said, I cried so much I could fill up a bucket. Oh wow. I love the origin of nicknames. That's not what I thought you were gonna say. That's fucking amazing. Like he gets buckets. Oh my god.

I don't know what I thought, but it was not that he cried so much. I'm gonna combine two of them and call you Mojo Bucket from now on. Mojo Bucket. Yeah, so that sounds like a superstar. So you know, kind of being around these other, you know, talented artists and whatnot. Obviously, you start making moves. What what did you actually start doing to like progress your music career forward? Because I mean, you said fuck college, school was not for you. You went kind of headfirst into this shit. So, like, what did you actually start to do? And like for an artist out there who's maybe about to graduate high school and they want to try this music shit. Like, what would what should they actually start doing? Uh, for me, I did a couple showcase, a couple showcases, but as far as like marketing, like I couldn't afford to do a music video. So, like, what I would do is I would Google or like YouTube um Savannah Sky Drone footage and just put my music on top of it. Oh, I would splice it up. Clever. I would splice it up, and then um I would pay um travel, like travel blogs and shit, like two, three hundred dollars to like just post it. Like, it'll be a very nice scenery of Savannah, Georgia, and then it's a nice song rapping about Savannah Georgia.

That's when I was like really, really like rapping, rapping about Savannah for like three projects straight. And then um, yeah, I paid like two, three hundred bucks, and then that shit would go viral. And I did that for like eight months straight of like just splicing and like looking at travel marketing and shit like that. Like that's like advanced level, finding you know, people that would actually use your music in their own content and getting it. That's like next level. Huge. Yeah, like most people sleep on that type of shit, like finding, that's the last thing people get to do. Exactly. usually starting with that. No, that's huge. Yeah, that's huge. But obviously, you do the showcase thing, that's where you meet your manager, I think, and and uh business partner. Yep, I'm in my manager, my business partner, and my um and my DJ. Oh word. at the same showcase. Uh, funny enough, he was coming to see a whole nother artist. Like, yeah, I mean, that's what we talked about. Like, showcases are basically artists watching artists They're networking, with like a sprinkle of real people in there. And Donnie was one of the regular people, the regular degular. the regular degular that happened to be.

Okay, and like I performed this, I had dreads. I was wearing like dicky suits and shit. Like I was like super like in a deep savannah culture campaign. Okay. So like I performed and like after I performed, he he pulled me to the side and he was like, hey bro, um, right now I'm working on my marketing firm, but like when I tap back in music, like I would like to work with you. Not like as like a like a like a manager and artist. Well, not just as a manager and artist, I would like to be a partner with you on a business. And I was like, shit, let's do it. damn. Like, I didn't for me it's always a vibe thing when I work with people. Yeah. Like even like even to yeah, energy. Even to this day, like, like it don't matter what number you throw at me or like what opportunity. If I feel like it's something shaky about this shit, I'm not doing it. So with him, with Donnie, Donnie Slater. Donnie Slater. Donnie shout out. Shout out to Donnie Slater. Um when he pulled me to the side, like he, he he he spoke to me almost like a nigga I had to grew up with. Like almost like a just a man to man, like, hey bro, like I don't know where this shit is gonna go at, but like if you're down to try it, we could figure it out.

And then we met maybe a month later in Atlanta um at the gathering spot. At the gathering spot, he was like, hey bro, you in Atlanta? I'm like, nigga, I live in Atlanta. Like, nigga, I live in Atlanta. He was like, oh shit, well, um, pull up on me. Let's chop it up. And then we had one more meeting. I ain't said too much. He said a bunch of like cool fly business shit. Like, hey man, like I'm I KPIs and ROIs and Yeah, yeah, yeah. Return of investment, all that type of shit. Like, all that shit. Sweat equity. That's we still be working on sweat equity to this day. Of course. So, like, yeah, like he was like, Man, shit, I don't know where we're gonna go at with this shit, but like I'm confident in what you got going on, and I'm confident in myself. Him speaking about himself, I'm confident in myself, like we could figure something out. And I was like, shit, you keep talking, like, let's just go do it. Right. I love these stories, though, man. I mean, there is something to be said for like if you gotta, you know, evaluate it for so long, or like if you do feel that like hesitancy at all, right? I'm not saying just dive fucking into anything and everything because you think someone's cool or whatever, right?

But like, if then they if they pass the vibe check and then they pass the like they sound like they know what the fuck they're talking about, they're willing to put in the work for you. They stand on their word and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, man. That shit is it's it's beautiful and like a miracle because a lot of people don't run into like them kind of people in the industry. So, like, yeah, shout out to Donny Slater, man. Yes, sir. We made time. We made Clubhouse, man. And it's important, it's important. Like, he kind of showed me this early, like uh when we first started working together. Like, it's important to like for artists to be an owner versus like just being an artist. Like, it's important now, like being like in it after a couple years now, I've realized how important it is to be at every marketing meeting. Like, every like, and I've counted every single marketing meeting. I've been in 28 marketing meetings. Wow, 28 since since working with SoundCloud. So before that, we were still figuring out marketing on ourselves. And then before, before he came along, I was figuring out my own marketing. So like I can only imagine like being an artist that doesn't even like that isn't hands-on with that after being hands-on with it for so long. Like, I can only imagine like the gray, the grayness, like in your head of like of like not knowing what's gonna happen next.

Other people figuring out how to market you, yeah. that shit is how it's not gonna work. But it is crazy. Like artists that have a good deal of success, also sometimes literally don't even want to touch that shit with a 10-foot pole. I mean, we know people that's a fact that you know do pretty well that also have no fucking interest in any of those meetings. No, that's a fact. they want to be actually as far away from those meetings as they can be. I feel that because it is stressful. Like it's cool, it's cool to like be on a podcast and say, like, hey, I own such and such and such and such, but like putting the work in behind that shit is oh man, bro. I be having to take mental breaks, like every month. Yeah. Every month, especially like after doing tour and shit. Like, the more we level up, the more shit we gotta do. So it's like we be having to like take weeks apart from each other, whether it's me and Donnie or like us just like taking a week from each other to just decompress and like come back with like a level headed and like knowing what we want to do next. So, like, yeah, don't ask for this title if you don't actually like want to do the work.

Now we talked to Rico Brooks, who manages Sunny Digital and Metro, you know, he used to manage Metro and Southside and whatever. Rico came down to the second pole there. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, he's from like Albany and shit. Something like that. He's like somewhere in middle or like southern Georgia. Yep. Um, he talked about in the early days of managing um Jody Breeze and the uh um boys from uh boys in the hood, excuse me. Yeah, he was managing them and like scheduling days apart, like literally taking taking time, like you go do whatever the fuck you want. I'm gonna like when he was scheduling their tours, he made sure to like add like open dates of like two days, and they wouldn't even talk to each other for those two days. Literally, they'd be in the same hotel or city. Yeah, but like you go do what the fuck you're gonna do. I'm gonna go do what I'm gonna do because we're gonna kill each other Yeah, if we if we if we too bottled up, like man, we gonna fucking like fight or some shit. We're gonna fight or some shit, yeah. And and don't get it twisted.

Like me and Donnie, like we go back and forth like a lot, like a lot between. Which is healthy though. That's very healthy, because I know like I'm working with somebody who's willing to fight for it with me. Even though it may be different fighting styles, but I know you willing to get in the ring and really like try and figure this shit out. So like, yeah, but sometimes like it's just best, like, hey, bro, like you go do your thing with whatever, whatever badass bitch you got, I'm doing whatever. I'm doing whatever badass bitch I got if I got one. If not, if I got one, if I'm not maybe a thespian chick or something. If not, I'm watching the movie and I'm crying and making Instagram stories. There you go. Yeah, no, I mean, because you don't want yes men around you. Not at all. Like, that's the worst. That is honestly, I would say, like, one of the most toxic things that a lot of rappers deal with is their fucking homie in the studio with them, saying that shit's fire when it's not. And and like same idea of like, yo, what do you think about this, you know, video or whatever? Right.

Not good, but they hear yes all the time. And like, you know, there's something to be said for a lot of times, like managers in a managerial role, we work for the artist, though. So but but at the same time, like it's gotta be that partnership, though, where like we have healthy dialogue. That's a fact, and like you're gonna get into it. Yeah, for sure. But being fucking okay enough and trusting the other person to know that, like, yeah, they have their opinion, but we're gonna butt head sometimes, but that's okay. Yeah, to to hopefully level up the end goal. That's it. Because we all we all got the got a similar like agenda and like milestones in mind of like, you know, bringing all this shit back to Savannah. So, like, whatever small shit, like it's just we could brush that shit off, bro. Yeah, for sure. When you think back to the bigger goal, yeah, for sure. And yeah, Donnie just, you know, he gets me and I get him. So yeah, definitely we'll get the shit done. Was there like a record that popped? Like, is there one that you point back to that kind of like really helped you get, or has it been very gradual to get where you are today? The biggest one still to this day is uh in the kitchen.

Okay. I dropped in the kitchen top of top of 2021, right after the pandemic. Um, yeah, that was that one. I dropped that shit. Like, we got new music Friday, all types. of shit. Really, all of like 2021, I kept getting new music Friday and kept dropping consistently. Like, so I would say after in the kitchen, just keeping it up and keep dropping shit consistently. Like, that's what made it feel gradual. But like in the kitchen was like the first big like that was a spark. That was the first opening for sure. Did you do anything different? Uh I just always love to try and give artists knowledge as far as did you do anything different, or was it just putting in the fucking work and eventually you caught the break? It was work, but it was also my first time like understanding like playlisting. Like for like to get you know the best opportunities and the best playlist, like you have to send in your music as early as possible. The best time is sending it in like six weeks ahead, six really eight weeks. Wow. Yeah, they don't tell no, it's really eight weeks. You put that shit, you send it, put that shit in the system two months early, and then like when it's time, you know, if it's and if it's not ass, it gotta not be ass too.

Of course. So if it's not, if it's not ass, then yeah, you get a better shot at um getting pitched to the right playlist and then you know the DSP showing love, and yeah, that's what happened for most of most of 2021. I just kept having lead time every time I dropped. Wow, yeah, it's so fucking important. Listen up, artists. for real. Just because it's possible to upload your song the day that you want it to be out, does not mean you fucking should. Yeah, because you trying to, you man, you trying to compete with, even though like, even though you could be a smaller artist or whatnot, you are competing with with a nigga like Drake or like an Amine or Vince Staples that's like, they send their shit in maybe six months ahead. Yep. Six months ahead. So you out your rabbit ass mind. It's Barely, it's barely if you not them to think like, oh yeah, I'm a I'm gonna drop it and not send it in one day, and that shit gonna end up on whatever playlist or like, yeah, like fuck no. How long y'all think the uh surprise Drake album was submitted before it came out?

Yeah, I don't know. Could be an exception. Now Drake is Drake, of course. I'm not gonna hold you, Drake is Drake. So like some shit you could get away with when you hit like when you hit that level. I can't wait to hit that level. Oh my god. Yeah, you're on your way, man. I think so. So Turtle Crossing is the most recent project. Indeed. Shout out Turtle Crossing. I want to dive a little deep into it. The chain is fire. Thank you. man. Did you get that for the project? Oh shit. Oh shit. We got both of them for the project. This the Clubhouse one. The Clubhouse one, the Clubhouse. one. Yeah, That's and then this is the turtle one. Okay. So let's start with the name. What is Turtle Crossing supposed to mean? Like what what you know, what's the I'm gonna give you two answers. Okay. So when I'm from, Savannah, Georgia, it's a huge like turtle population. Okay. So like it's like There's actual signs. It's signs that say turtle crossing. It's like a bunch of turtle crossing signs because like it's becoming such a thing. Like people are like, kind of like deer. Like people are starting Yeah, here, exactly. yeah. Oh god. The worst. The worst.

Man, we can get on that later. Yeah. But like for for turtles, yeah, like they just be out in the middle of the street, and like sometimes they get hit, and like, especially with turtle shells, it's dangerous. Cause if you hit one and it and you don't get a clean, like run over that shit, it'll ricochet and it's like a bullet. So it'll run through like a windshield or like oh shit. Holy shit. Yeah, that shit is that shit is I'm like hearing this and being like, this makes sense. Yeah. Oh my god, it's dangerous down there. Be careful. You gotta be careful. Do not run over. try not to hit the turtles. Like, what's been going on now? I'm gonna get to the second answer. What's been going on now? Um, people have been seeing turtles, they'll pick it up and take it to water and then tag me. Like that shit is that's amazing. That shit is crazy. Wow. We almost Campaign. It's the weirdest, like you know, impact to have on the people, but we're saving the turtles. We're saving the fucking turtles, man. Yeah, we're saving people from stray shells. Like, good lord. So I didn't even think about that.

The deeper answer is. Yeah, the second one. Second one is uh for those who don't know, uh, sea turtles when they're they're uh born on the shore and they use the moonlight to uh navigate to the water, and the water just symbolizes the journey. So with Turtle Crossing, that's what I wanted it to feel like. Every emotion that you feel going on a journey to like reach a goal or a milestone or like chasing your dreams. So that's why it's every song is different from the other, but that's the emotion that you can feel, like chasing something. Yeah, man. I mean, sonically, right? The production is all over the place. It is very smooth stuff. There's some darker stuff, some lighter stuff. There's like a West Coast kind of sounding track. There's a there's a Pharrell uh Neptune's influence, uh, you know, like uh, you know, bass line and shit that's that's in, I think move. Yeah, that's move. Yeah, and like that one's crazy. Yeah, but then you go to like, you know, you got brown sugar, brown sugar exactly. Brown sugar's like super like RB slick poppy.

Yeah. And then you got doof that's like southern Ignorant, yeah, and then you gotta set it up where it's like turn up gym music. Oh yeah. And then you got Do Me, which is like house music, like Majid Jordany. Yeah. It's like, It's the one. Yeah, it's the one, two HM shit. Like. And then you got Dash Me, which is like just rapidly rap shit. Yep. So like that's crazy. What's been going on now? Like, well, what I was planning, uh, was that everyone would have a song that they like. Yeah. Different songs, different song. Yeah, it's a song for everybody. So that's and that's what's been going on. People, when people talk about like Turtle Crossing, like they talk about the whole project. Sometimes they talk about they pick a song, at least with my previous projects, they'll pick one or two songs. But everyone that like the language around the project has been like, bro, you dropped an amazing project. So you don't worry about people like maybe connecting with some and not connecting with the others by it being different? Not no more, because that was the plan. Like I mean knowing that I'm planning for like someone to like something, whichever one it is, which that means I'm cool with you picking one and not the other eight.

Or I'm cool with you picking eight and not fucking with one. Yeah, yeah, but to me it sounds kind of risky, right? Because what if the one they want to get to sonically is buried in the track list? Right? Like, did you feel like you were taking a risk by doing it this way? It's nine songs. Yeah, it's not it's not overwhelmingly long. It's not overwhelming. True. I think it's it's only like a 30 minute play, or what is it? I don't think it's 30. I think it's like 23 minutes. Let's just put it this way. I listened to it on the way over here. I only live like 20 minutes away. I think it's like 20 minutes actually. It's like 20 something minutes. And like I I know, like for me, when I when I make music, I have a different like awareness for like when I make music. But because it wasn't my first dream. That also means like me like taking it serious means like I'm not going to cut corners on any of the songs. So like I'm confident in all the songs. No matter what setting you put it in, I know one of these bitches gonna rock you. Or one of them could at least pull them in to then be able to experience the rest. Mm-hmm. Because they do, as different as they are, they have a a weird cohesiveness to them. it's not jarring at all.

Yeah, going from track to track. It doesn't like jerk you. or anything. I didn't go full because it's levels to like having a bunch of sounds on one project. There's like you can go uh Kanye with Yeezus, whereas like that's a lot of like just left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right? And it's like it lacks cohesion because he was trying to show like the frustration of like trying to enter like a culture and a type of business field and not being accepted in like how that shit hits you, like left to right, left to right. And then there's like there's like I would say like a Vince Staples' Summertime '06 or like a um like a 50 Cent Get Rich or Die Tryin', whereas like it's different sounds, it's different sounds, but it like it meshes for some reason. I don't know why it meshes for some reason. I sequenced this motherfucker a million different times. I sequenced it a million different times that way I I felt like if I fuck with one, I didn't have to skip the rest. So that was my planning behind that.

Yeah, do you make a fuck ton of songs that you think, you know, like what's your approach to making a project? Did you make a fuck ton of songs that you thought were gonna be for this project, or had you already had a bunch? Or is it more like Cam the Artisan who I had a session with the other day, he has this whole pick. His next album. He already knows how he's gonna roll it out. He knows the different sections of it. He knows everything, he knows all what the videos are gonna look like, how it's gonna feel, but he hasn't made any of the songs. Oh no, I ain't dealt with that. He sounded serious. He seemed so on board with everything you said. Until the last one. Until the end, he was like, Oh no. That's the kicker. Oh no, I ain't dealt with that one. Uh but yeah, how do you approach making a project? Well, how I approached Turtle Crossing was a little different from the rest. I was much more intentional. So, like the beats that I chose, the beats that I chose, I knew I was gonna work on these sets of beats. Like, that's it. I'm not touching nothing else. Like exactly the nine, or did you cut some? Exactly the nine. Literally. Wow. Exactly the nine. So you were gonna make those fucking songs.

These shit was gonna have to do something. That's rare. These are the ones I chose, these are the ones I was dedicated to. These are the ones I knew, like, yeah, I'm gonna arrange these bitches from bass to hi hat to keys to vocal notes, whatever. Like, I knew like this is the set of songs that I'm going to work on. And that's shit. That's how it went. Other projects I've done before this, like, it's been like kind of just kind of like how you were saying, like having a bunch of songs and then like trying to like make it fit a narrative or like all that type shit. But like, no, I was much more. You had your narrative first. Yeah, I already knew like I wanted to make I wanted a project that felt like a journey. And do you think I mean this has been the most well-received body of work so far, right? This is my best one out of the three. Yeah. And so, I mean, so would it be your recommendation to try and approach it the way you did this one? Yeah, for sure. I would, I mean, but some people, I'm not gonna hold you.

Some people can really do the Depends on the artist. Just close their eyes and pick the fucking songs and then some people call it something. Some people are much more like studio, like studio rats than me, to where they're in the studio for like 10, 12 hours, just making a whole bunch of whole bunch of different songs on some Tupac type shit. For me, I'm in the studio two hours at a time. Wow. Yeah, I'm at I'm at the studio two hours at a time because you know exactly what you're gonna do when you go in there. I know what I'm gonna do because I like I was saying, I come from a place like when I was recording with Swave, like I knew like I'm paying for this amount of time. Yeah, so I'm basically paying for this amount of work I'm about to do. Was he engineering you? Yeah, he was an engineer. He was making money off engineering. For sure. He didn't tell us that. Yeah, he was that's awesome. I didn't we knew he engineered. I didn't, I don't even think I remember talking to him about that. Yeah, no. I'll have to go rewatch the episode, but I I don't know. Yeah, he was engineering. Okay, wow. And, like, well, We started recording right after his um Trap Atlanta mixtape. Okay, yeah. Or Trap Atlanta mixtape. So, like, yeah, he he engineered me.

He was also making his own beats and like kind of still to this day, he still makes his own beats, yeah, and all that shit. Like the kid he was then, he's still that kid, but like his mind is like yeah, like he done figured out how to navigate this industry shit. Like he's an interesting dude. Yeah, for sure. Really, really cool conversation we had. Go check out that episode for sure. The Swave A episode. We'll put a link to it on the top right right here. Ben. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm in the studio for two hours to this day, even though I don't have to pay up front no more. I don't have to do that no more. But like, yeah, I've that's that's the routine I've built for myself to be in the studio for two hours, know what I'm about to put in, know what I'm about to get out. If I don't fuck with it, I can I can take some time away from it, like a day or two, and then come back and then do two more hours and then polish whatever I did. Is there a song off the project that meant the most to you? Brown sugar. Brown sugar. Easy. Because why? Uh me, me being uh for I'll give I'll give some backstory for it. Is this like the lady man in you or like the ladies man in you?

Not lady man. That's a different meaning. It's 2022, Henry. He could be a lady man if he wants. But I am not a lady man. The clickbait is trans rapper, uh Poe Baby. Shout out to everybody though, man. Shout out to Gay Straight Bi, trans, black, white, yellow, yellow tan, I fuck with everybody. everybody. Shout out to Green People. Shout out to the green people, turtles. I love y'all. Shout out to the turtles. But for me, um, one, uh, kind of like before we uh cut the mics on shit. I really love Fergie. Like, that's like, I love Fergie. Like, the Dutchess album is like, I like hopefully, like, I'm gonna make a well, I basically did make a project with, like, a bunch make a project with like a bunch of bangers on it. So, like her debut album is uh Fergalicious, London Bridge, Glamorous. Wow. Just those three alone. That's like records. Big girls don't cry. Yeah. Oh wow. Like that's on there. They're all on there. Yeah, the makeup song.

She got a song called Finally. Like, she got shit. She got like bangers on that bitch, right? So like that's always like I always wanted to make a project that felt like I was stat stuffing. So like I was stating just making like banger after banger after banger. But as far as, like, patting the scorecard. Patting the score, you feel me? But as far as like the Sonic, like I always loved the groove her and the Black Eyed Peas had. Yeah. So with brown sugar, it's really for like the music I was making prior to um Turtle Crossing, like I've always wanted to tap into that and like really push myself into being into something I'm not like usually doing, which is like basically like trap bass and shit like that. A bunch of deofs and set it ups and shit like that. So making brown sugar is like a really like pulling myself out of my comfort zone and like kind of like kind of like how the how the project is symbolized, like chasing after your dreams. Like I really wanted to chase, like, chase something I've never done before. So with brown sugar, and as smooth as it came out in the like, like the the way like the people, people received it, like man, that shit, like I love brown sugar. Is Zaya on that one?

Zaya is on it. Um kid named Daniel Novello is on it. Uh my friend Simi is on it. Like, like I wrote and arranged all of that shit. Like that was like, it's really like I I'll tell you how many versions of that song it is. It's 27 versions of that song. Jesus. It's 27 versions. Yep. I know what that's like. He's a mixed engineer, also. So it's like he hears 27 versions. He's like, that's light. Yeah, that's light. oh man. I ain't even got the time to be like, well, I don't know. I ain't got the time yet to do like 80 versions of a song. But like for me, it shouldn't get there. There's no point. But I'm not gonna hold you. Sometimes It's, it's it's never done, man. Art is never finished, it's only abandoned. And at some point you gotta let your little children go, live in the world, and then so another one. I stopped at 27. Let your turtles get to the ocean, you know, them cross. cross. Yeah, exactly. I stopped at 27, and that's the version that came out. There it is.

Well, it sounds fire, man. Thank you, man. Yo, no, the project is incredible. If you haven't already, go stream Stream Turtle Crossing. Turtle Crossing. Oh, yeah. Amazing, amazing, amazing body of work. Thank you, man. Is there anything that people should look forward to? Uh, you know, another project that's already in the works or you know, anything else? I'm always working on the music. So um, I'm gonna give y'all a one more time exclusive. Yo, we love the one more time exclusive. One more time. So I'm working on a project right now. It's it's beautiful. I'll play some of it for you when we get off Please. when you get off the camera. Um, it's probably my prettiest project. It's titled G-I-G. Gig. Gig. It's clearly an acronym. Yeah, I'm not gonna tell y'all what the acronym is. Damn, but come on, bro. It's gig G-I-G, and it's uh girls and something, girls and girls. Girls in girls, God I'll tell you this. It's 10 times better than Turtle Crossing. 10 X Wow. 10 times better. Easy, sonically, uh uh vocally, like lyrically, performance-wise, like arrangement, is like conceptually, conceptually, all that shit, like it's

10 times better. So, is this gonna be your Fergie project? As far as what you're trying to say, like banger after banger after banger. Oh, yeah, I'm doing banger after banger for every project after this. From now, yeah. That's the new blueprint. Yeah, that's the blueprint. I'm going banger after banger. Wow. Yeah, for sure. Okay, G-I-G folks. Any any like time frame they could be looking forward to this? St. Patrick's Day 2023. Ooh. So, wow. So you gotta be in Savannah when that drops. Spending some time on it. Yeah, yeah. Definitely spending some time. Probably the most time I ever spent on a project. Yeah, I mean, oh, I'm giving myself this time too, because I didn't want to. It's some songs I felt like I rushed on Turtle Crossing, but it still came out fire. But I mean, can we get some Lucy's between now and then or what? Oh, yeah, for sure. I'm gonna be dropping. Okay. Thank God. he's done some of like the waterfall type of rollouts, which I love. You know, you can drop a song, you drop a little EP that has that song, plus a bonus, extended versions. I love that type of stuff.

Oh, I don't think you're doing it. I am dropping a deluxe for Turtle Crossing. There you go. Shit. I am there. You go. There's going to be four new songs on there. Amazing. Amazing. I love that. Yo, new song. Great conversation, amazing story, man. And I love the way that you're really doing this shit to like give back to the community that you came from, man. I mean, you want to pay homage to Savannah. Indeed, and that's amazing. Um, you know, there's not enough artists coming out of the city, I feel like. I can't wait to, you know, see who comes out of there next, to be honest. It's super dope. It's a lot of kids, man. I do this, even though I do do do this for Savannah, like it's a million other, a trillion other small town kids that, you know, get overshadowed by the big cities and feel like they can't do anything. And I'm here to say, oh, you can fucking do it. You can do it. It's beautiful. You can fucking do it. It's beautiful. Well, Poe, baby, we appreciate you coming on the podcast. Appreciate y'all, man. And Henry, until next week, what are we doing? Getting out of here. Peace out. Hop up in a fine skirt.

Yeah.