Dame Ritter Interview: Managing a Top Indie Hip-Hop Label

It's not money. Very few artists I run into. The problem is funding. Funding is an excuse to me. Artists look for excuses that aren't their fault. So the reason if they do end up failing is out of their control and it feels better. You know, it wasn't me, it was them. It is my great honor to be welcoming in on the One More Time podcast. Legendary heavy hitter in the music industry, co-founder of Rockefeller Records is Dame Dash. Wrong Dame. Wrong what? Wrong Dame. I told you Dame was coming on the podcast. It's not Dame Dash. I thought you knew we were friends with Dame Ritter. Dame Ritter. Dame Ritter is on the pod. Let's go. Co-founder of the late great funk volume records. Defunct volume. Defunct volume, right? Rest in peace. I do want to say though, one of my favorite concerts, though. I did I went to uh all of the artists on Funk Volume performed at the old masquerade, and it was a amazing show. Just watching all of them back to back.

I was fans of all of them at the time, and wow, that show blew me away. Rest in peace, old masquerade, though. Yeah. And funk volume. And funk volume. And funk volume. Host of independent living podcasts, the ad odds podcast, the Blackbusters podcast. He's a manager, has made his way into the comedy space. Um, and really director of communications at two loss distribution. I mean, this dude wears so many hats. I love it. Um, so you know, formerly known as the Music Entrepreneur Club, uh, which I know we're you know, we're hoping to get that that back under under your wing, but I feel like there's there's similar audiences between like the ad odds podcast that you know you co-host with DJ Payne one and uh Aaron, um, and and and ours, right? So we just posted to our Instagram uh community or sorry, what's it called? Broadcast channel. Yeah, I'm still don't even know what it's called. Yeah. Uh but so we started a broadcast channel. It's called the One More Timers. So I like that. Work in progress name, but um, but no, so we posted to our audience being like, what's the thing in the music industry that you struggle with the most? Right.

And I feel like you, as someone who's had a long career in music and obviously, you know, hosts a podcast that is geared towards I feel like a similar audience to ours, like people that are just trying to figure this shit out. Yeah. What's like the most common or some of the most common complaints about the music business that you get? Um, I think a lot of artists just still uh because so much content is required, it's kind of required for you to be present and to kind of be on. I I think artists have a hard time kind of keeping up with that pace. And and you know, some of them say they don't want to be content creators or they don't want to post a TikTok. And you know, I think the ones that are winning are the ones that are consistently being present, creating content, telling their story on a consistent basis. And if you can't keep up with that, or you find that you know, you you have other things going on, um, then it's gonna be typical, it's gonna be very difficult to you know grow some momentum these days. Yeah, so like it is then in your mind, it's a requirement almost at this point, right?

Like to to be heavily engaged with your audience online. I mean, it's it's almost it's it's a rule at this point, I feel like. Yeah, I mean, unless you have some other way to be consistent that doesn't require you to be present, so maybe you have a significant amount of resources or just a team that pumps out content on your behalf, which not very many independent artists have, or none that I know of. I haven't heard of them. So I'm I'm still looking for them. So if that's what you're waiting for, you're probably gonna be waiting for a very long time. Right. Yeah, yes. Damn, yeah. So, you know, we definitely got the like marketing or content creation. That was like a very consistent theme. Um, you know, from our community. I feel like another one that we got a lot was funding. Yeah. Nah, that's an excuse to talk to us. That's an excuse. Speak on it, bro. Now we just talked about this on our podcast. Oh, you did. I know or I've seen so many content creators like just create an audience with their phone, right? You have Mr.

Hotspot, who I thought was from here. Aaron said he might have been from somewhere else, but Mr. Hotspot is a young creator that basically grew his audience smiling. He smiled, encouraged other people to smile, was just a positive person. If you if if you go to Mr. He's got, I'm sure he has at least a million followers at this point. He's like, you know, he's been working with all these brand brand, um, all these brands. Well, with like white strips or something, like you know, I'm just thinking of like what more product. But I think people just appreciate the positive energy. Oh, for sure. And he's he started putting out music, you know. So if somebody can start an audience by smiling, you know, then you can figure out a way to build an audience. It's not money. Like very few artists I run into, like the problem is funding. That funding is an excuse to me. Artists look for excuses that aren't their fault, so they can, you know, so the reason if they do end up failing is out of their control, and it feels better, like it's a better you know, it wasn't me, it was them. Yeah, so I mean that kind of reminds me of a uh topic that we discussed recently with actually with Taron Thomas, Grammy nominated, hopefully soon to be Grammy winning.

He's winning. Songwriter of the year, first black songwriter of the year ever to win the Grammys is my prediction. Absolutely. I mean this is a lot. So when he was when they were, it was Rock City was his group name. Exactly. Yeah. They used to have some fire music. They have fire music because when I I know I don't think I ever think I actually ever met them, but I knew that Jaron knew them really well. So you know, the time around the time where we signed Jaron to Funk Volume is where I learned about their music. And I was I was always like, why isn't this taking on? Like this it's very good music. Yeah. Um, but anyway, no, no, it's it's amazing music, and I think that he, you know, him and his brother both well, they actually just dropped a new R City album. So they dropped the like OCK, and I guess it's just R City now. Okay. But they just dropped a new album. It's also really fire. But I think like him just finally getting his flowers as far as like the songwriting goes, because I mean, he's been pumping out hits for years and years, but it's like it's crazy. So, like he was dropping serious game.

But one thing he talked about, which I think is a similar like situation to what you're describing with regards to artists kind of being uh fearful of failing and wanting to almost like you know avoid situations where they can be the ones where they're at fault, right? And if you fail, it's you know, you gotta look inward and like why am I failing? Not like why is the world making me fail, right? It was about artists that get into studio and maybe him as a songwriter comes in and it's like, yo, let's make a hit. And every artist is like scared to try and make a hit because if they fail and the song that they make isn't a hit, then they're a failure in their minds, right? So I think it's it's kind of similar to what you're describing, where artists are very careful and and they don't want to be in those situations where like it can turn right back on them as the reasons why maybe something didn't work. Well, these days it is all on you. I know that um you know, Rock City, they they came up in a time or or they played more of like the the major label game. Like there's there's different games to play.

Like I don't know too much about the major label game and the politics involved and things. That's that's more Ray Daniels, Rock City, you know. Me, we've always built things from the ground up. You know, whether we eventually would have major label conversations or not, we knew that we had to build it brick by brick, fan by fan. So that's what I know. That's what I prefer, and that that's what I think will always work. And that's all on us. We can't point the finger at anyone else. Yeah. No, I mean, you guys were I I guess when it comes to funk volume, like y'all were almost in my mind, like some of the pioneers of making like independent be cool and be possible. Like, is that is that a fair or we're like No, I don't think that's fair. I would say that we like we were one of the first labels that were kind of born on the internet and like actually built out an infrastructure from the internet. Okay.

Right. So it wasn't just one artist, you know, we had ultimately four artists, you know, started with with my brother Swiz and Hobson, and then we eventually signed, you know, Dizzy and Jaron. You know, we we actually built an infrastructure that started on the internet. And I was hoping that, you know, not to, and I don't definitely don't think we were the only ones, but I thought it was going to be more just more labels like that afterwards. Like maybe start with a flagship artist and then just kind of build out the infrastructure around it. And I understand why that probably hasn't happened as much, but I was hoping to see more. Like I was hoping that Joey would build out Pro Era. Yeah, me too, man. Like I was hoping that Logic would build out his label. And like even ASAP, I feel like they kind of all like, you know, only a couple of them, of course, like Ferguson success. Yeah, but but still almost like always has been upstreamed to majors, right? Like, I mean, you guys never did the upstreaming deal, did you?

No, it wasn't an upstream. It was, it was still just a label services deal. Like we only, you know, it was a deal where we still own our masters and we we gave them 17% of sales. Okay, who was it? Which we worked with Warner. Okay, you were a Warner like partner at that point? Yeah. Okay. Okay, yeah, no, it's that's interesting, man. Um, all right, so you know, kind of moving back to you know, some of the similar uh, I guess, issues that a lot of our audiences have with like the music business. I feel like one that we always get is like, I can't find the right team. Like, I don't know how to build the right team. So I feel like you talked about this recently, but you know, I wanted to get you on here to talk about it as far as like some tips for people that like are looking for team members, specifically like looking for a manager, right? A lot of people think like a manager is gonna save their life. Like just had a manager. Yeah, like do you think that that's true? Like, is a manager gonna come in and you know make all your problems go away? No, definitely not. Um I think you're gonna find the people when you invest the time being really good at what you do, being consistent and starting to get a little momentum on your own. Um you're gonna find people when you start to learn how to become a good AR, and not just for like other artists to work with, but like you have to identify those graphic designers early that have the talent that can grow into eventually exactly what you want from them, that creative director, right?

You need to find the producer uh and and the manager, because early days, you're probably not gonna have access to an experienced manager. But do you have access to somebody that's dedicated to eventually being the best person for that role? And are you willing to allow them to grow into that? Right? Yeah. So other than kind of the the like super connected executive, you know, type of manager, like for those independent artists that are finding someone to be at that like ground level with them, what should they be looking for, right? Because a lot of them just turn to their homie, and like I'm not gonna say that's right or wrong because sometimes maybe the homie does have XYZ qualities. So what would be those qualities that like the just entry level has never had a success managing a real artist before? What what are the, you know, what are those qualities they need to have? Are they dedicated to learning the business? Like, are they constantly understanding how the music business works and how it continues to change? Change.

Um are they networking? Are they getting out of the house and you know, building with other people? Are they pitching you quality ideas? Um, those are some of the, those are probably some of the main thing. Are they reliable? Do they communicate well? Um sounds so basic when you say it, right? And I think a lot of it just boils down to like, do they believe in you in their core? Do they really think that you are a superstar? Because if they do, they're gonna learn the business, they're gonna communicate with you, they're gonna do these things because they just know that you are that guy and they were will wake up and think about what they can do that day to help you win. Yeah. So to me, it's just that belief. So someone that believes in you. I never like I it wasn't I never wanted to get into management, but that was, and I still don't look for creators to manage. Even the comedian that I work with now, Big Ja, like we went to college together when I had funk volume, he was our he was our security. So I used to see it.

I used to see him work on his sketches. So I don't love management. I love people. You know, I love Big Ja as a person, and I want to see him win. And I feel like I have a skill set that could be a catalyst in him winning. So that's why I dedicate the time. I'm always thinking about how we can push things forward. I'm always push pitching him ideas, but I don't, I don't love management. I just want to be successful. I want to see him win. Yes. Man, every manager, even those that have done it at the highest level, like no manager actually likes management, bro. It's kind of a thing. God damn, bro. No, like even like Barry Hefner, like managing one of the biggest superstars in rap right now, JID, right? It's like he literally seems like he hates management like all the time. Like so it's not necessarily hate, but when we talked about this on our podcast, the the at odds podcast is like the economics, like we I pour everything into you know management. And the way that it's set up is like I I'm I'm the industry tells me I'm only a should get 15, 20 percent, right?

So most smart folks want to build something and want to own something. So I was literally just at a dinner with you know a couple former managers, and they've gone on to start like big things. Like they don't want to deal with the day-to-day of an artist that's you know maybe cranky that day or doesn't want to do uh something like that's huge. They want to build something special. So, you know, smart folks that are managing typically have aspirations to do something much bigger, and when they have to deal with some of the things that suck about management, that's what that's what kind of encourages them to work on that project that's gonna get them out of management. Literally, every manager's like always looking for a way to get out of management. Even if they're really good at managing. That's the sad part is that they're clearly really good at it. You're tied to the hip at this for this person. Yeah. A lot of artists chase them out. And I that's why I tell artists, like, look, show the people that support you appreciation, understand what they do on a day-to-day basis, so that you know, you can appreciate what what they're doing for you. Like, you know, typically a good manager is extremely valuable to an artist.

And sometimes, a lot of times, artists um don't recognize that value. A lot of times. So as someone who did a very short stint as a manager, I learned very quickly that I do want to build my own thing. Hence why we're here on the One More Time podcast, co-owned by yours truly. Because I just couldn't do it either, man. I I did a very short stint working with you know a few artists. Obviously, like Henry and I are still locked in, like, I help him as much as I need to or can like with his production and like engineering career. Um, but I've like pretty much taken like the full step back from management because of that exact thing, right? Like something that I struggle with most is I'm an ideas guy, right? Like we spend count, like we talk all the time. All you know, my wife is like, Jesus Christ, you're still talking, you know, talking to Henry again. Like, well, what the fuck? And it's because we're always just constantly bouncing ideas back and forth, right? And I feel like someone like that should be more entitled than just like you know, a shitty salesperson commission or something, right? Um, so for me though, the the the brick wall I was running into with uh at least a couple of the artists, you know, I you know, I honestly the majority of the artists that I worked with was um them not being very like I guess you know, accepting of my ideas.

Uh and I and I don't think I did a good enough job delivering my ideas. So I think I had a lot of room to grow, and I think, you know, I didn't really want to figure out how to grow in that realm. So I was like, you know what? Fuck that. I'm just gonna do my own thing. But I feel like they weren't very receptive of my ideas. Did you run into that? I mean, yeah, you gotta be careful. You just gotta be careful because every artist is different. You know, some might be super open out the gate, some, you know, you have to build that trust. Um, so I don't think the expectation should be like, you know, you start this relationship, and then very rarely have I seen like just somebody just start saying a bunch of ideas, and the artist is like, oh yeah, I love that. Let's do it. Like there's it's gonna be some time to kind of build that trust for sure. Yeah, I think I moved too quick. I think I was trying to fuck them on the first date, kind of. I mean, I'm just saying, you know, it's also how you present. Or like metaphorically speaking, y'all, like I wasn't trying to fuck my artist, but it's also how you present it. You know, you could you could either say, like, you need to post a TikTok that does this, promote your song like this.

Or it's like maybe if we do a TikTok that does this, like maybe more people will listen to the song and you'll make more money. Just a thought. But that, but that's also why people don't want to manage. It's like, why do I have to like sugarcoat is the bullshit? Like trying to talk to you at a certain time of the day. Have you had your weed? Have you not had your weed? Like you have to, you know, tiptoe around a bunch of shit, and it's just like, yo, we should just be able to just say things candidly and get the job done. See, I I would say, like, that's what works about us, bro. Yeah. Like, we each have our days. He, you know, I'm I'm like, you know, you'll want what do you call me sensitive Sally, or I call you sensitive Sally and you call me some bullshit. Like, just basically, we all have like our our weird, you know, times, you know what I mean? And like we don't want to talk about certain things. Negative Nancy. Negative Nancy, sensitive Sally, whatever the fuck. But I mean, bro, at the end of the day, I say whatever the fuck I'm gonna say, and Henry, you know, takes it like a fucking professional. Like, I just feel like there's maybe lacking of like professionalism amongst a lot of the independent artist community, but I think the ones that win, and I feel like this is a good segue into like the independent living, you know, podcast, which like I want to see you keep.

I thought you were about to say it's a good segue into funk volume because ultimately because ultimately funk volume failed or blew up because I told Hop he didn't work that hard. Like that's that's so that's the real story. That was his trigger. That's the real deal. So if I can't, after seven years, I can't even tell you that you don't work that hard. Like that that's the book, that's that bullshit that managers have to deal with. Um, and you don't know how like if you say something the wrong way or at the wrong time, you you don't know what the blow up is gonna be. And in my case, it was the demise of everything that we built for seven years. So yeah, anyway. So y'all were supposed to do like a reunion podcast. Did you ever do that? Yeah, it's on okay, it's on YouTube. All right, I saw like something about that, and then I had to like change a diaper or something, and then I didn't actually end up finding like looking, you know, hard. Okay, yeah. So what you know, how did that go? What did y'all talk about? So he hit me like three years, it was it was right before the pandemic.

So it was like the the Christmas before things were on lockdown. Yeah, and he just apologized out of the blue. Wow. He just apologized. Did you ever think you'd see that day? Nah, I was already, I was already kind of just doing other things. I was not expecting the call. Yeah. Like, you know, I hadn't seen Hobson in my collar ID in three years. So I was like, yo, this is this is wild. So I picked up the c I picked up the call. He, you know, said it was just on his heart to apologize. And you know, I felt like it was genuine. So we had like a maybe like an hour long call. And then we met up in front of a Whole Foods and had a comp conversation in person that I thought was pretty positive. So that's when we decided to do the funk volume podcast and and and tell the story a little bit more accurately. And but then the pandemic hit. So then it took us a while to actually record it. So did did people think y'all were gonna bail on it? Like had you announced like that this is coming? No, no, we didn't know. Nobody knew anything about it.

Oh, okay. Cause I was like, if I was a fan and being like thinking I'm getting this reunion podcast, and then it's not how like you know, that'd be like, I don't know, my favorite band getting back together and they don't do an album like fuck. There was no social media, there was no like picture in front of Whole Foods. Okay, I'm thinking everyone has to post everything, uh Dave. There's nothing like Podcast Me and Hop back together. Let's go it was weird because at that time too, the guy started talking about making music again. Like all of them. Oh. Um, so you know, we were potentially uh gonna put together like an album, a funk volume album that would kind of drop out of the blue, but that didn't come to fruition, obviously. Okay. So I was like, is that out there too? And I missed that. Like, goddamn, I researched it. Forget the podcast. But but the podcast is also why I haven't talked to Hops since because you know, we did it, and then he was supposed to post it, and then he didn't. So because the disrespect was hella loud, I felt like the apology should be pretty loud as well.

If you're not willing to post it, like how apologetic are you? And I and we just haven't talked since. Wait, so you did the podcast, it's out. Yeah. And he just didn't promote it? Right. Yeah. Not even once. It sounds like people coming on our podcast. Hey, man, we've had plenty of guests that didn't do a single share. So I get it, bro. And I haven't talked to them either since to be fucking honest. So shout out to you guys. So yeah, so but it's there. If anybody wants to watch it, something a little close. I mean, it's it's been so long, people are like, what the hell is funk volume at this point? But if anybody it it's it's a it's a healthier conversation, and there's definitely some education in there. So if you're an aspiring artist, I would encourage you to watch that. And we have an independent living documentary that we did before the label crash and burned that I think is pretty dope as well. The label crashes burning. It was kind of crashing and burning, bro.

It was up there. The internet was like aflame with that that whole beef. But but no, so now perfect segue again into the independent living podcast. So you interviewed uh Nic D recently. Yeah. And he's done a couple of interviews with like Adam Ivey, who we had on the podcast as well, and like Kyle Beats, I think just interviewed him too. So I think he's been doing kind of like some you know press runs, I guess. Um, but like something that he said, man, that I thought, I mean, he said a lot of things that actually, you know, we can either talk about an hour or off camera too, but like he basically said, you know, you don't need a manager. He was like in in the one podcast I saw, he was like, I don't have a manager, I don't think I need a manager. He's like, that's his his perspective, right? Do you like agree that I mean he's operating arguably at the highest. I mean, you had him on your podcast for a reason. He's arguing arguably, you know, operating at the highest level of independence, and he is very vocal about like, I don't have a manager and I don't think I need one. Um it depends where you want to go. Like he's comfortable where he's at, and obviously he can manage what he's doing by himself.

Yeah. Right. Um, but I would say a couple of things to that. One, he has a business savvy that most artists don't have. True. You just I called up. He said that too. I get it, yeah. And two, but also two, uh, he's never had a man, he's never had a good manager. So he doesn't really know what they do. What a manager, not what they do, but the additional help that they could provide and potentially get him to another level if there is another level that he wants to get to. However, if he's comfortable where he's at, then I for him, I would say you don't need a manager. You're proving it right now. Yeah. However, if there are other things you want, I've had a similar conversation with Echo, because Echo doesn't have a manager either. He's pretty uh self-sustaining. But I do feel like, you know, again, if you if you want to get beyond where you're at, I think a quality manager can help you because just the value of having somebody like constantly thinking about your business and who we can talk to or what we can do to kind of get it to the next level. Um, you know, my mind doesn't turn off.

Like, so with Big Ja, the comedian that I work with, like I'm constantly thinking about different things we can do, different, better, new, you know. Um, and if you have somebody that's savvy that um, you know, maybe has some research and if you're a position that has some resources to execute execute some of these creative ideas, and you know, I I don't think you can say that just blanket for any artist, right? It works for Nick because Nick is comfortable where he's at. He's at a high place, and I don't think he wants to be much bigger. I think he just wants to keep doing what he's doing. I think he likes, you know, I don't think he he's the kind of cat that can still go to the grocery store. He's not, I mean, maybe I'm sure he has some fans that recognize him when he goes out, but I'm sure he goes out with on a problem, you know, most times. Like no, he like lives on 27 acres or some shit in Virginia and he's like ducked away, and he definitely I I agree. It's not that comfortable sounds like negative, but it's not.

It's really just like he's reached a point where like his goals are different now. Like he's super family oriented and he doesn't want to be, you know, this so he actually said it, I think like he doesn't want to be this celebrity, right? So it's like to your point, if you can achieve that, like by all means great. But he did say something that kind of rubbed me the wrong way, like on behalf of all my manager friends that do the damn thing, right? Like whether it's Dame here or you know, other people I know. He said something like, I mean, yeah, if you just need them to like check your emails and stuff, then just pay like an executive assistant $15 an hour. Like, why am I giving a percentage of my business away? And I was like, bro, that's not like clear. Like I think he knows he knows better. So I think he does, maybe he doesn't. He's never had a manager that maybe did anything more than check emails. Yeah. There's such a, you know, just like there's different quality artists, there's different quality managers. Maybe you've only worked with managers that were kind of lazy and that were only in it to say that they were a manager to whoever artist that was. Like there's a ton of matter of fact, I would say most managers aren't that good.

Say it again, but like that one more time. It's it's probably the truth. Like, you know, I don't I probably have, you know, maybe 15. I mean, I know that there's more than fit, and I'm just talking about in terms of my network in terms of who like there's only certain managers that I'm like, okay, yeah, they're locked in, they have a lot of experience, they know what they're doing. Um, you know, so I know I go in on artists a lot, but you know, managers need to get their shit together too. Yeah. Very true. There's definitely no, you know, requirement for just waking up one day and saying that, you know, you're a manager. So there's also no manager school, you know. There's no like I mean the one more time podcast. Well, like it's the closest you're gonna get, bro, or the at odds podcast. I mean, God. I had the same conversation with with LaRuss, because LaRussell doesn't have a manager either. Um, you know, and it works for him, but he's another one where I would say, well, well, you haven't had anybody really locked in. So, you know, don't cement your belief until you know, maybe you have a little bit of the the experience.

Um, but I do I also think that like what like some artists believe that once they get a manager, like they lose some of the ability to like call themselves the CEO. Like they want to be the boss at the end of the day. Like they, you know, so and the and and maybe they feel like getting a manager kind of takes away from that because now there's somebody else that should have some input. I mean, at the end of the day, it's it's it's it's your vision. Like you you tell me where you want to go, and let's figure out the plays to get us there. Um, you know, but I I think that's sometimes maybe an artist reason for not like locking somebody in. It's like, oh, they kind of, you know, I'm the CEO, I'm the boss of this. Yeah. Yeah, but for me, I I I just kinda liken it to a consultant working with a CEO of like a Fortune 500 company, right? It's like, you know, you bring in a consultant who like is gonna have those ideas, who's gonna bring you shit that you might not have thought of because you're so fucking locked in with it, you can't zoom out and be like, hey, you know, what are some other ways for us to grow this business or to cut costs or to like make this thing more profitable, right? So it's like if you think about it, even 15, 20%.

It's like, can this person make me 20% more money? Right. Like if the answer is yes, I feel like it's a clear win, right? And I feel like maybe they're not thinking about it, you know, about it that way. But it's weird that Nick's not because I feel like, you know, he he he basically said the reason why he hasn't signed a label deal, even though he said he could get 50-50 label deals because of like how well he streams and his fan base he's built, and I'm sure he can. He was like, if I do a 50-50 deal, I have to make twice as much money as I'm making right now by myself for it to make sense, which like I get it, right? You're giving up half of your business, you gotta make twice as much to basically pay them their half and me keep the same half that I've been making, right? But for me, I'm like the manager, I'm like, you don't think that someone who's just like humming along on your behalf, who's like hungry, experienced, connected, whatever like qualities you want to make sure that they possess, it's like, can they not bring you 20% more money? Like I I I just it seems like they could, you know, like if their full-time job was basically to go get Nic D 20% more money, I feel like I feel like even I could go do that. Like, you know, just with like what he's built.

Also, just the value, you both kind of touched on it, but the value of literally just being able to talk to someone at any time and bounce ideas is so big. We've talked to we've been like bouncing around the idea of trying to create like a group. We just don't even know a lot of people that are doing podcasts and posting interviews on YouTube and trying to grow shit like we're trying to grow. And um, I always think about Mr. Beast, who's you know, biggest YouTuber in the world. He talks about how he had early on, he found like six other dudes who had the same exact goal as him. We just want to make the best videos possible, and we want everyone to see them, and they're just on each other's ass every day. What do you think of this thumbnail? You know, like how's the beginning of this video? How's this outro? And just that value alone. Like, yes, everything else is great, but yeah, having someone just who is waking up and thinking about how can we move this forward is so valuable to me. Yeah, I mean, like, do you know other platforms in this space? Like, besides you guys, us, um, obviously, like Ray, but his is like slightly more culture and like, you know, he can touch on like more personal stuff and like life stuff. It's maybe less like super music business, like advice and tips and and stuff like that.

But like, you know, who are some of your, you know, for your community, even who else do you recommend that like people go check out? Um, my the best education like sources that I always refer to. Um Indiepreneur, they're solid. Uh Digilog is not a oh yeah, it's not a it's not a podcast, but you need one. You can sign up for their newsletters. They're just an amazing organization. I always shout them out. Yeah. Um now that's Drew DeLeon, right? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Fire. Um, and then you know, there's some good newsletters, like new agency has something called Beats and Bites that you can subscribe to. This is how I keep up with well, like Jesse Kirschbaum New Agency. Yeah, oh my God. I used to promote uh uh fucking concerts in college, and I booked Wale through Jesse Kirschbaum, I'm pretty sure. And he taxed me, bro. I was a 20, I was a 20-year-old college kid, and he was like, Oh, okay. See what I'm about to do with these kids that know nothing about booking fucking talent.

God, we got just absolutely just blindsided by Jesse Kirschbaum. They were our first new agency was our first booking agency for sure. Because when we started out, I we I put together our first tour and a lot of our first shows by myself. Okay. And then when we got a booking agent, it was new agency. Uh so that's how I met Jesse. But then, you know, I the the newsletter that he puts together is is a one. Um Ask Cap has a a newsletter. Yep, I've been getting that one in my mail every week. Pro long time straight going straight to spam or you're reading that. I read the headlines, and if and if one grabs me, yeah. You never send me any. Gatekeeper over here. But it's it's tough to get people to collaborate. I'm a big fan of collaboration. Yeah, you know. Um, I hope that we do continue to rock and and figure out a way to support each other. Yeah, we need to. I'm talking about early days. Like, I've always been a fan of collaboration. Like when we had when we were on Facebook and we had a hundred thousand likes, Hobson's page had a hundred thousand fans. Um, I was like, bro, we need to reach out to nine other artists that have a hundred thousand fans and just lock in and just and just agree to support each other's stuff.

Cause, you know, theoretically, now we have a network of a million fans. I mean, you gotta earn those, you know, through cross-promotion and whatnot. And when I so I reached out to artists that had uh around a hundred thousand, and literally the only person, the only person that hit me back at the time was RA the Rugged Man. Shout out to R A. Okay. He was the only person. He was the only person that and we weren't he said sign me up, or he was he just the only one to reply. He was the only one to reply and was potentially interested in the city. Potentially, he wasn't even like in full it never got off the ground because I couldn't get other of when we started really popping, then people wanted to wanted to cross-promote. Yo, sorry, I just saw your message. Yeah. We've got that before, bro. Like, so like it's not like our podcast is popping, but like we definitely hit up a bunch of people. And now that we've caught you guys are doing your thing. We definitely caught some motion, and we've had so many people come out the woodword be like, sorry, this was buried in my messages. And I'm like, God damn it.

Yeah, well. But we still we still hit him back, obviously. But we might not get him on the show. Yeah, we got Dame Ritter and Sunny Digital. Like, you know, you got time for that. You love Sonny, bro. I love Sonny. It's it's it's tough, man. Like the I'm I'm a huge fan of collaboration. We actually have a contest going on right now called Collab for the Crown. Too Lost is sponsoring a contest. We're giving away $20,000. That's crazy. Yo, can I submit? If you got a song, I'll I'll have one. He doesn't have one to do it. You gotta collaborate with someone with someone else. Yeah, will you make me a beat? Yeah. And then T-Pain requested that it have some kind of automotive erasing theme. Okay, we can do that. Okay, can we do that? Um, I might have a throwaway beat for you. Hey, man. Yeah, yeah. Sometimes those are the best ones. You have until February 5th to get your entries. Okay, fuck it. Yeah, nice. I'm winning that 20k. I'm all about collaboration, man. All about like it's just you got you gotta work with other, especially in music and in the creative space, there's no reason not to collaborate. Like it's music.

Independent does not mean alone. But what but what's up with the DIYers, bro? Like the super like love. I recorded myself, I produced the beat. I I am the artist. I mixed it myself. I mastered it myself. I shot my own music video. I I hate that, bro. I hate it. You gotta respect it at least. I really don't that much. They haven't found anyone to do it yet. So why? But it's got to get done. They're doing it. If it's out of necessity, then I applaud that. Like because you can't wait. You can't wait for somebody to send you beats. If you if you want to learn how to make beats, I think it's amazing that you uh you know uh added another skill. You can't go to beat stars and find a fire beat. I mean, you can't. As like a former beat starrer, right? I mean, I think I think you know, until you find the people that you really lock in with, then you should acquire the skills if you have the desire to do so. I don't get mad at it. But at the end, it's also knowing the job so that you know what to look for in the person that's gonna do the job. It's harder to find that person if you don't even know what you like or what you're looking for or how to do it, you know.

But know the job. But but to maybe more to your point, yeah. Come on, give it to me. Give it to me. You're gonna get you're gonna feel way better about that than any fans will at the end of it. Like, oh fans only care so much about you doing everything yourself, they only care if the song is good, right? They literally only give a fuck if the song is good. Right. They don't even know how to look at the credits on Spotify. I just found it. No, I'm just kidding, but like but like majority of people don't even know what that even means, like song credits in Spotify, and they're definitely not going there, right? They either like the song, they like the content you make, and that's it. Like that's it. No one cares if you recorded it yourself, if you produced the beat, if you mixed it yourself, if you mastered it yourself. I just don't think anyone cares. So, and and then I think you're your art's suffering, probably. If you're doing it, like just because shit, even you, bro, when you produce a song and you mix it and you tracked it, right? That's okay.

You're doing a lot. Yeah. You even admit that like you might not be. You don't listen to it the same way. You might not be bringing your A game with some of that stuff because it's too much. You get too close to the record. Exactly. Yeah. So think about the artist that's doing all that themselves. Jesus Christ. You at least didn't write the song, you know what I mean? And and and perform the song, right? Like, I don't know. I I think it's basically like the ultimate multitask. And like as good as people think they are at multitasking, you're clearly not as good as if you were to actually focus on one thing at a time. Like it's just when you're spreading yourself, I think when you're spreading yourself across like all those different roles and like wearing all those different hats, I just feel like the art is gonna suffer. Even even if you do think that, like, oh, no one can record myself like I can. It's like, no, someone, someone can, or probably better, or maybe like maybe collaborate with someone to help ramp them up, you know what I mean? And this is something that I feel like you know, we need to drink our own Kool-Aid because we we were talking about off-camera about this. Is like we have been struggling to find editors, right? Like we're we're a content platform, right?

Like content is is our primary product, right? That that we sell pretty much. And I feel like we haven't found the right person, but I also feel like we haven't given ourselves enough time to maybe like find someone who's good enough at the at the beginning and really like coach them through how it is that you like things to be done. And I feel like you were kind of alluding to that earlier, where it's like you find that producer who maybe is at the ground level who's not fully, you know, like their skills aren't fully sharpened, right? But maybe you can grow with them, you know what I'm saying? So I feel like I don't know. I I just don't like the idea, and I just don't think it's as fun. It can't be as fun. Yeah, it can't be as fun making music by yourself in a vacuum. I do think that maybe Hobson was an exception to this because hot hop would, you know, do everything himself. Wow. Where he where it hurt him is like he never learned how to play with others. So when he got opportunities to do bigger collaborations, or you know, I don't even think he knew how to do it, or he was uncomfortable doing it, so he couldn't do the collaboration. Like he was supposed to do a collaboration album with Travis Barker that could have you know brought us out of like the underground niche of the you know that he could have he could have done he could have done a collaboration with Rag and Bone Man.

Oh wow. Um so there were opportunities that we had, but because he was so uncomfortable, like what was it? Uh what do you mean? Well, what was the what was he uncomfortable about? I just think he got used to being in a space by himself, like just you know, so to that, but in terms of like producing the music that was for him, he did it really really well, yeah. Like he understood this, and he had he had the talent to produce the beat for him. Now, you know, ask him to produce a beat for Dizzy is probably gonna sound like a beat for Hobson, like you know, um and I feel like he's just I feel like there's exceptions to every rule though, right? So a lot of artists use that same idea around like, oh, well, you know, Playboi Carti doesn't post a lot of content, so why the fuck do I need to? I hate that. I feel like it's the same thing there where it's like, yes, there are examples like Hop, and there's plenty of other examples. I don't want to sound like Hop's the only person either who has been able to like produce for themselves, maybe record themselves, even mix some of their own records, et cetera.

Like there's people that can do it for sure. But like if you look at the majority of successful records, there's gonna be multiple people involved almost every single time, and just from a time standpoint, there's there's too much shit to do when you get to a certain, especially when you get to a certain point where you're touring, you have PR responsibilities and things. That's so true. I mean, we're gonna songwriters aren't even writing your all your own songs anymore. I mean, people hate on, you know, we had Quentin Miller on the podcast, and we talked about you know him writing for Drake. And you know, some people think that's funny in the world of hip hop, but like Drake is Drake, he's got better shit to do. It doesn't have to write all every one of his songs. Right. Look at any number one song, there's probably 10 plus writers, you know? Yeah, for sure. So, you know, obviously you guys were successful. I think you kind of alluded to like building it brick by brick, fan by fan, which I love that that like method and that approach. And I feel like independent artists today need to still do that.

And I feel like we we even get away from it sometimes where we get caught up in the numbers, right? Because it's very easy to get a TikTok that goes viral, right? And you think that those are like fans, and they're not, right? So I feel like still, you know, embracing that like individual communication with your fan base, right? Like that one-to-one communication and like really focusing on like, did I gain one true fan that you know today? Um, you have the independent living podcast, you've obviously, you know, you now work at a distribution company that obviously is home to a lot of independent artists. Um, is there like common themes? Like, are all successful independent artists doing certain things? Um, I mean, being consistent and like what do you what do you mean by consistency? I feel like everyone has their own like definition of that. What's yours? Um so let's just look at it from you know, when we had a label, it was just much easier to be consistent, right? Because somebody was always doing something. Right.

So hot would be putting out an album. So there's a bunch of content around that. And then the guys would be supporting it, not only supporting it, but they would probably be featured on the album. Yeah. His album cycle, you know, comes to an end, and Dizzy's putting out an album. And then Dizzy side and then hops on that. So there's always a reason for us to talk about funk volume in some kind of way. Or we're doing our community service initiative because we did community service once once once a month. And then I started Funk Volume Fitness. And then we toured. And then we had a documentary. And then we were doing the funk volume virtual conference. Like we were always doing something to tell the story about funk volume in some kind of way. So we're hitting you so many different ways. So I know that one person maybe not will not be able to do all that, but it's the same concept, right? Like you you don't always have to be putting out music, but what else of what else is a part of your brand? Can't do you is football a part of your brand? Can you go live and watch the Super Bowl? You know what I mean? Like there's so many ways to tell your story.

You just have to figure out what are the different elements of your world? How do you want to create your world? What kind of content at what cadence is it going to be released? And you know, I know artists aren't very, you know, they want to be creative and free, but there needs I I always it's always helpful to have some structure, right? Can you can you can you just say that one more time? No, I agree. You're just the structure guy. Yeah, we don't both have to be the structure guy. I know, but I feel like sometimes you fight me on the fucking structure. No, I mean, you know, I get it. Do we try to live in that world? Do you fucking get it, Henry? I get it. Don't just lie in front of Dame right now. But it would never. But it'll make your life easier too once you I tell myself that. Once you get into it. Yeah, you know, and yeah, again. Yeah. To for me, the non-music stuff is huge. Um, just being a person, you know, like it's not like in the social media era, people want to know who you are as a person. They almost fall in love with you and your personality before they fall in love with the music. So having other things that you do and posting about other things that you do in your life is just a key to bring people in.

If they decide they like you, and then boom, that third post is you know a new music video, and they're like, Oh, I like this guy. Oh, this is the cool looking video. Oh, I like this song. You know, now they're adding it to the playlist, and the cycle kind of repeats, yeah, right. And I definitely don't mean for this to be like a we love Nic D podcast, but I just have watched a couple of his interviews recently, and he is, you know, once again, like, you know, one of the biggest independent artists, like doing it right now. Um, and he he did the same thing, man, where he has like the the uh Freddy podcast or whatever, and he said that like people that ended up finding his page, right? Like if he were to come up on someone's for you page, the amount of comments that he was getting of like, is this the guy from the podcast? Right, was astronomically high. They found him there first. They found him there first, or like once again, even if it was 20%, 50%, whatever, some significant percentage of people were coming into his world on his artist page because of shit he was doing outside of the music realm, right? And and he did it very much like you know, his approach was separating separating it completely.

So he didn't he only posted music shit to his music page, he didn't ever cross promote. So I I I go back and forth on like that strategy, it clearly worked for him. So, like, maybe try it, where you know, everything you do outside of the music is over here on this page, this channel, whatever it's about. If it's a football page because you're super into football, then you do that. But then, like, if someone does stumble across your music page, they're gonna be like, Oh, I fucking love that guy. He's so cool when he talks about football and he's making you know football content, like, oh, that's so dope. Like, yeah, maybe I'll give his music a shot, right? So I feel like he did it really well where he actually just like didn't do any cross pollination of like his platforms, um, but just the point being that like he had other things going on that he was building community around that then trickled into his shit that he actually cared about, which was the music, you know what I mean? Yeah, um I mean if that worked for him, I think that's amazing. However, you know, I I typically see it where you do kind of interweave like everything and you kind of create this world, it just has different entry points. But when as soon as some people get in your world, you know, they can visit different parts.

Uh a good example is my guy Propaganda. I use him as an example a lot because you know, he's not only putting out music, but he's a public speaker, he does spoken word, he has uh a hood politics podcast, he has a coffee. Um, so he has merch, obviously. So there's just different ways you can become a fan of him, uh, but he doesn't section it off, right? He might use his music in the hood politics um podcast, right? So I that to me makes more sense. Now, if you have a reason or an insecurity and you need to section them off, you know, to me that kind of if you section it off, it kind of defeats the purpose of like the comp they're not complimentary anymore. Yeah, yeah, you know, they're kind of their individual things, and maybe that's how you want it to be, but you know, one of the reasons why I suggest people do that is so they can be complimentary. Yeah, yeah. No, it was interesting when I heard him say that like he didn't ever like he said he never posted a front a uh Freddy clip to his like Nic D page, for example. Which I thought was you know, yeah, I don't agree with that either.

But it worked, obviously it worked for him, so whatever. Well, I mean, so you you have to be intentional about the attention that you receive, right? So if if he felt like his music page, like people were there for the music, people did weren't here to for him to talk about relationships or whatever the hell he talks about on his podcast. Yeah. So it's kind of so it's gonna sound like I'm contradicting myself, but I'm really not. Um so Big Ja has his main page, and then we started Blackbusters, uh, which is a podcast that celebrates uh black cinema. So there's a we review a different black film every week. Um we know that all of the people that show up for the comedy aren't going to be invested, but there's going to be a sliver of them that want to learn more about Ja as a director mind and how he reviews and critiques movies. So, you know, but we're not we're not delusional in thinking that his that Blackbuster's page is gonna be as big as his comedy page because people show up for comedy. You know, I think a lot of artists just want attention, right?

So, you know, they might go out and do pranks and do stupid stuff just to grow a page, and then they put their music on there, nobody's checking for it. Well, that's not why they signed up for the page. Yeah, right. See, we we struggle with this man on our TikTok. Yeah, we just had this literally that was one of our our talking points on our internal call today. It was like, bro, our our game style content where we're doing like drafts or we're doing like you know, guessing the top 10 Atlanta rappers according to ranker.com, like we're doing these kind of like TikTok y fun, like game style content. All those videos, like crush, bare minimum five figures, usually six figures. We've done, you know, millions of views on those types of videos, right? Then our interview clips on TikTok. We're giving out free game, and no one gives a shit. No one gives a flying fuck on TikTok about our. I mean, once again, we've had outliers that have done well on TikTok. Don't get me wrong, we've had some clips do well from the interviews. But I we go back and forth of like, are we just wasting our time posting the interview clips to TikTok?

Because like our TikTok following came there because they want to see us two motherfuckers draft the top five Atlanta rappers according to us, or you know what I mean? Like, so I don't know what's your thoughts on that. It's like if we know what works. I haven't yeah, I I personally like haven't cracked the code on TikTok. Like Ja's page does really well, but we're just essentially, you know, he he grew his fan base doing kind of longer form sketches, so like five to eight minutes. So he grew an audience that is willing to wait for the funny. It doesn't need to happen right away. Although that has kind of changed as newer fans have become fans of his page. So basically, what his TikTok page is is I just find the funny moment and clip it, make it a TikTok, you know, or make it a real um, you know, so uh would whether you want to turn your page into like a top rapper page or an education page. I don't I don't know, it's tough.

Yeah, I think because we enjoy both. Yeah, that's the biggest problem is we enjoy both. So you gotta like what you do, yeah. So you know, so someone like a rapper who is doing pranks and really just did that for the only purpose of like getting views, right? Then, like, maybe that would get old, and that's not really true to them, and like maybe that was just a tactic to kind of try and get some clout, whatever. We like seriously, like we have fun doing those videos. Well, I would keep doing that then because it it all depends on what your end goal is. Yeah, right. So if you if your intention is to grow the page, make it a fun page, eventually get some brands involved so you can monetize it, then I would keep going with what works as long as it's fun and that's what you guys really want to do. So it really just depends on what your end goal is. Like, I've I've said no to some ideas on the music entrepreneur club page because like I want the people that are there just for education and are serious about education. So if our page doesn't get a million followers, that's fine with me.

I want people tapped in that are serious about music that are really trying to get to the next level in their careers. Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, Dame, we we've entered a final segment of the podcast. Have we entered it? We've entered it. Oh shit. Let's go. Yep. Just like that. Just like we're already there. I didn't get through half my shit, but I was like, we'd pull a Joe. We pull a Joe Rogan episode if I if I actually got through everything. Great, three hours. Dame, this is the rapid fire rampage. Okay. It's gonna be three parts. I'll explain them as we go. Just start off with some short answer questions. Okay. Here we go. Because I figured you had a couple couple good ones. A couple good ones, yeah, in the tank here for sure. In the chamber. Loaded. Tucked. And I'm gonna start with the craziest, you know, most philosophical, really get you to think here. Oh shit. In the first one. Okay. Okay. How are you doing? I'm feeling good.

This week has been amazing. Hell yeah. Welcome to Atlanta, my friend. Got that out of the way. It's cold as shit out here, though. Dude, you came at a crazy time. You came, you came to Hotlanta at quite possibly the coldest part. This will be the coldest week of its existence. All year. Yeah. It's not gonna get colder than like tonight. Literally tonight. The whole year. Yes, for real. Dame, give us your three maybe like rarest gems for succeeding as an independent artist. So not like your top gems, but just stuff that people don't hear often, maybe. Can you rattle off a few of those? Stuff that people don't hear often. What's something that just you don't hear a lot of people talking about? Give us some rare gems. I'm always talking, so I feel like people have heard me say these things. Well, not on our channel. So they're not the life of a podcaster. Right. Always talking. Not as rare to me in my mind at the moment. Um what's something you learned recently that maybe like, or you know, that kind of was a light bulb moment for you? Don't change my question, Ben. I'm just trying to help add context.

This is my segment. This is my segment. God damn, Henry. No context necessary. Man, I just think at the end of the day, default to being a good person. Okay. Like there's gonna be opportunities in this industry to sacrifice your integrity. And please don't give into that because it's very short-sighted. And you know, you might lose a few folks in the near term, probably folks you needed to lose. Um, you know, but if you maintain your integrity and you do what what's right over the long term, you know, it's gonna be much better for you and your career. Major. Watch how you talk to people. Like the words, matter. Um, you know, your tone matters, um, the words you select matter. Uh, we talked about this recently on our podcast, but when you say like, oh, he's just a manager or he's just my assistant, like that's gonna have an effect on people because it lets them know how you really view them. Yeah.

Um, so be careful of your words. Get more control of your words, expand your vocabulary, um, and be intentional when you speak. Um, because words are powerful. And if you want to build the team that can support your vision, um, you're gonna need to learn how to communicate with them. Boom. Gems. Damn those aren't actually ones that people talk enough about. They're not. That was good. He, he, he got there. Check he got to your question, bro. We got a lot, man. I've had a lot of practice. I know you have. We drop a lot of gems on the At Odds podcast. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Y'all go check that out, by the way. Of course. Dame, invent an app. Invent an app. Um an app that uh relieves stress from dealing with artists or getting artists to do what they supposed to do. Uh damn, we need that app.

Is that is there an app for that? I don't know. Um that's it. I'd pay for it. And an app that teaches managers how to get paid more than 15%. I don't know. We'll call it kick-ass. These could all be part of the same app. Yeah. Um could be like different, you know, tiered subscriptions. Yeah. What do we need an app for? Those things. Yeah, I mean, that's all that that's like a a you know, three wishes of a genie in a bottle. Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Well, we didn't say there was any limitations, so now you got it. It's invented. There it is. There you go. No more headaches from any artist, Dame. It's done. Dame, you have exactly 100 to roll out a single. Yeah. Give us a very quick breakdown, like how you're doing it. Oh. I'd probably just put it all in. I mean, because again, going back to what we talked about earlier, it don't cost money to be creative with content in your phone. Um, so I'd just come up with a creative idea and you know, put most of it in ads.

Yeah. And buy some type of sandwich. Get Jersey Mike's. Dude, we don't do any ads. I know. Why? Dude, not everyone. Okay. We've gotten like two comments in the history of the podcast that have been like bot followers and like you have you have you seen the like those two commenters that we've gotten bot followers? Yes. And I was like, I would never. Bro, if y'all only knew that we don't even run an ad. We've never run an ad. I would delete the followers that were bots and bring our followers down Yeah. we haven't either. But I I think the the more important gem to come out of this is like, you know, if you have $10,000, right? Or even if you have $100, right? I would spread the money out over the long term so you you can like build consistently. A lot of artists like throw all their money at one thing for a short amount of time as opposed to you know a smaller budget a month, you know, and just kind of build and learn, you know, what what the reaction was to that money spent, you know, how you can spend it better the next month or double down. Um, so Damian, you just hired a personal assistant who's with you 24-7.

Mm-hmm. What are their main jobs? Um I'm getting them involved in everything that we're doing. So, you know, we're right now we're shooting season three of the lesbian homie, so there'll be stuff to do with that. Uh might be some clips they gotta edit for the At Odds podcast or the Independent Living Podcast or the Blackbusters podcast. Uh I might need some help running the collab for the crown contest that's going on right now. Uh that I'm gonna win. Yes, that you're going to win. Thank you. And there won't be any nepotism involved. Dame's gonna be I'm I'm gonna run a clean race, folks. T-Pain is not gonna get contacted about me. He's gonna just hear my submission and know that I'm the shit. Good luck. I do need it. I do, I'm gonna get an assistant this year. I do need an assistant. Um but like I I you know, they gotta get involved. I mean, I don't I I wouldn't, yeah, they would have to do some things that are more just kind of errands, but coffee runs. But I I'm not a coffee guy, but the smoothie run. Something like that, yeah.

But I definitely would like somebody that like wants to learn the business, like is and excited about you know, understanding how you know the things I'm working on, uh how we can make them bigger, better. Um so yeah, but uh hopefully I can hire somebody this year. Okay. Damn you're managing a brand new artist, and social media has just been wiped off the face of the planet. What are your first couple moves? I gotta send uh send our text message out to our text list. It's got the text list, see Smart man. Or email. See let them know that social media is not working anymore. So we will be contacting you through this medium now. Yeah. Or like what? Double down the website, like make your own little website. Everybody should everybody should have a website and they should have some kind of way to go direct the fans. I mean, this is old. Like, but we've been this is the thing, like, you know, major labels and you know, bigger platforms have caught on to this. Like, we were one of Ryan Leslie's guinea pigs for Superphone. You know what I mean?

Like, we've we've been preaching this for a long time. You know, it's the these these vets of the industry that catch on to what the independent space is doing, and now it seems like it's new stuff. Yeah, it's a lot of this stuff is not new, man. Independent artists have been doing a lot of this stuff for for years, man. Last one of the short answer. Dame, what is your favorite curse word? Shitballs. I love shitballs. First one, though. I knew an Australian chick who uh I think that's her name down there. Her name was Shitballs. Shitballs. Okay, be a big thing. Like, so I started saying it. Yeah, love that. That's the first shitballs we've gotten. This shit. I I figured because I was gonna say just shit, but then I was like, yo, I say shitballs sometimes, so way better. Rocking with that. More unique. Nobody gave that answer. No one's gonna go. Yeah, no one's giving that. Memorable. There you go. This part too is the this or that. You get two choices and you pick one. Okay. Starting with.

And this is just kind of a well, anyway. Record deal or independent? Independent. West Coast or East Coast? West Coast, but that's just because of where I'm from. Okay. Delegate or DIY. Uh DIY. Tupac or Biggie? Tupac. TikTok or YouTube? YouTube. Rock or RB? RB for sure. Ten platinum records or one diamond record. Ten platinum records. Star Wars or Marvel? Marvel. And finally, become a rapper full time or leave the music industry. Fuck. Leave the music industry. Oh damn, bro. He's going full send into comedy. I'm not rapping. He's going into comedy. I don't have that skill set. Full time. That's my brother. That's, you know, I'll leave that to other people. You would have all the resources.

Like ready to go if you decided. He could go try it for you. Yeah, there you go. Nah, I'm I yeah, I'm not gonna Stop. zero percent chance. Okay, the final section is the word association. I'm gonna say one word and then you just give me the first word right back off the top of your head. All right. There are no correct answers. You are only judged on speed. Got you. Starting with hip hop. Um great. I don't know. Smoke. No. Hot. Cali. Bass. Rob. Heart. Kevin. Heart, Kevin. Concert. Um. Enjoyable. February 9th, in Atlanta. The one more time concert. Uh-oh. Presented by yours truly. Throwing a plug in there. Yeah.

Come on, bro. I thought that was what you were. I thought you were alley-ooping me that. No, but I'm okay with it. Church. Sunday. Chimney. Uh Santa. Yes. Google. Uh me. I did. Google me bitch. I did. Strip club. Not interested. Caveman. Uh early? I don't. This is not making sense. Only a few more. Floss. Daily. Lil. Wayne. Two Pac. His employer doesn't need to know. Oh, lost. Too Lost. Let's go. Your favorite distribution company. To be fair, two could be like, you know, taking a lot of things. I know, bro.

Yeah, I know. Definitely check out Too Lost for sure. Absolutely. No, our audience for sure needs to check them out because I feel like they're, you know, one of the like newer cats that are like making a lot of a lot of noise in the distribution space. So shout out to you guys for doing your thing. So yeah, Too Lost distribution. This has been Dame Ritter. As always, please like, comment, and subscribe. Follow us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. And until next week, Henry, what are we doing? Get out of here. Get the fuck out of here. Peace, y'all.