Emm Interview: Managing A Boogie Wit da Hoodie Rise to Superstardom

You can't fake hard tickets, man. You can't fake the reaction when they touch that microphone where you're the headliner. Like, we have Madison Square Garden coming up. That's pretty much sold out. Can't fake that, man. When that guy touches that stage, it's gonna be pandemonium in here. I am so thrilled to be welcoming in on the One More Time Podcast legendary American actor. It's Taye Diggs. Taye. Have you ever gotten that? Never. Never. God damn it, Henry. Fucked up again. Who have you got? Uh I've got an Akon. That was on my list. Jesus. So much better. It was on my list. I had Akon, but not Taye Diggs. Oh my god. All right. All jokes aside, we have artist manager at High Bridge, the label. You know A-Boogie, you know Don Q and many more. We got M in the building. What's up? What's up? What's up? I don't even want to butcher your last name, bro. Can you just tell me how it's how it's

said? So my parents are from Ghana, so it's pronounced A-Champong-Boateng. Mm-hmm. I would have fucked that up so bad. Boateng, I feel like I've seen that name on like FIFA. Yep. There's some uh soccer players, right? That are pretty good. That name is pretty popular out there. It's like Williams or Robinson Robinson or something like that. Yeah, I've I've made some mistakes thinking that just because you know, I think it was a Nigerian last name that two people in the music industry have that I just ignorantly assumed that they were brothers, and it was a it was a bad mistake. So we're not gonna go there. You just did. Well, I mean, you know, they're not gonna know who the fuck it is. Um, but no, man. So the better off alone, I would say the the bulk of the better off alone world tour from A-Boogie is about to kick off here in April. I know you've had a couple dates so far, but you guys are heading out to New Zealand and Australia, and then you know, making the trip around the globe. I thought I'd just I I thought I would just start off by like, obviously, A-Boogie's world tour right now has to be at least a little bit, if not a lot different than like the first A Boogie tour. Like let's let's go back down memory lane a little bit.

Like what's your memory of like the first Boogie tour compared to what we got coming up? Because I feel like they have to be like pretty different. Uh the the word that I that uh that's coming to mind is scale. Everything's been scaled up, you know what I'm saying? We when we started, it was just to track with a DJ Boogie, and you know, I had PM, and you know, we were just scraping it, just trying to figure it out. Now I got a you know, pretty large staff, and you know, just more delegation, everything's bigger. We're playing big arenas, the production is bigger. It's just bigger now, you know, and it's just like you know, it's been a we've been real methodical in in building it, taking the right steps to build it and not skipping any steps. And you know, that's led us to where we are now. So, you know, pretty thankful for that. What what kind of prep goes into like this upcoming tour, for example? Like, how you know how many months in advance have we been preparing?

Like, how much staff is there, right? Like, just talk to us about the scale, because I feel like that's pretty interesting. So, you know, we've been preparing, you know, we did, we did a we did a big tour last year, yeah, North American tour, and we did some European dates. He's he sells crazy tickets, by the way. Yes. Like, like I was looking at some stats that I got sent by our our uh mutual friend Rachel Jackson, and I was like, this dude sells motherfucking tickets. Like, I was like, say what you want about Boogie if you're not a fan, if you are a fan, whatever. One thing that's undisputed is the quantity of tickets sold around the world. Like it was it was mind-blowing. Yeah, he's uh he's a special guy, man. You know, you know, this business revolves around the artists and the talent, you know. If uh, you know, you can have the best team, but if the music doesn't hit, you know, then you know, it's not gonna work. So it's it's it's it's artist centric. And you know, he's been able to touch fans in a way that you know makes them wanna come out and see him in person. And then, you know, obviously we give them a show and they come back.

You know, anytime we decide to do shows, they always buy tickets. And you know, again, it's been something that we've been real uh we've been we've been real deliberate about. Because when we first came in, you know, a lot of artists and managers make the mistake of just taking the brown paper bag money. And you know, going What do you mean by that? It's just uh, you know, for for for lack of in layman's terms, just going to the club. You know what I'm saying? You you know, when you got a hot song that's buzzing across the country, all the promoters are calling you, and you know, you just go to the club, go to the club, go to the club. Quick licks, quick licks, you know, 20, 30, 50, whatever the number is. And then what happens is when that song cools down, you outside of the money that you might have made and some of the content that you would have captured, you don't really have a ticket history, a touring base to lean on. And uh, you know, you know, you can't you can't remove the club from the culture, like, you know, but you have to pick and choose, you know, which dates, and then you know, the way we've been, the way we've we've been, we've built Boogie's business is album tour, album tour, album tour.

And then clubs typically serve as the after party. You know and then when we're off cycle then we'll pick up a few club bags just to stay in stay in, in, in in at the top of people's minds but for the most part it's about selling tickets and selling out these venues was was the club bag like bigger than the initial touring bag in the beginning the club bag is gonna be bigger right so you know your first let's say you do a promo tour you probably play between you probably play in front of 200 to 500 people you know they're selling tickets 10 20 there's really no money there right and yeah just doing the math even if the promoter gave you the 100% of the sales, you're still not making no money there. And then, you know, and then you go to the club, you might get 10, 15, 20 grand, 25,000, and you could do that, you know, across the country. And it's easier, it's easier, so much easier, it's a walkthrough so how hard is is it like when you're dealing with like did boogie understand this or was he kind of like bro yeah I mean you know he, see the guy has vision he's always envisioned himself you know he sees himself at one at some point becoming like The Weeknd playing in front of stadiums you know what I'm saying Beyonce like you know one of the greatest show on earth type of thing so you know he understands in order to do that we have to take the steps you do your your small club shows really small 200 500 and you go to you know the ballrooms you know you graduate to the next step house of blues type venues and you go into your arenas and amphitheaters and stuff like that. And then hopefully you get to that level where you could go into these these stadiums. And then in between that you play the festivals.

So we've noticed a lot of people mentioning that a lot of rap shows these days are not that interesting. A lot of people are just playing their MP3s, rapping over the song, jumping around. Are y'all you know considering that at all or do you take what kind of steps you take to keep the show fresh and interesting? So he has a he has a band, he has dancers, you know, we are we have pyro and special effects. That's already that's already way better than that. I was like, okay, like yeah fuck us. Just a band. It's like it's already getting into band and dancers and pyrotechnics. I was like, okay, well this is fire. Yeah, It's just and then he has, you know, you have the the big LED walls behind you. Sure. You have props like the last tour set up had hot bridge behind them. Cool. You know a blow up a high bridge. Oh like the neighborhood so the actual bridge. Oh it's okay it is an actual bridge It's an actual bridge. Not just the, yeah. in New York City I mean now it makes now it makes sense. There's an actual bridge in New York City called High Bridge. All right.

It's pretty high I assume Yeah, it's a tall, pretty tall bridge. Okay. It has a bunch of arches just while we're on like things that are being very literally taken right now. Okay. It's a high bridge. It's a high it's called the High Bridge. I believe it was the first bridge in New York City. Oh wow Wow. Yeah. it's in the Bronx it connects the Bronx to Manhattan. Okay cool. Oh yeah. So um so you had that in the background and shit. Yeah so you're really thinking through like yeah and this is all him you know he's a creative and you know he's he's you know he's one of those guys that thinks about his career and business from A to Z. You know you know we have a team that goes in and executes. Do you feel like every successful artist of his like stature does? Like is that a consistent theme, would you say? It all depends, you know. Like, like one of the misconceptions that I've that I've that I think, you know, folks that aren't necessarily, you know, in the rooms with the artist camps and stuff, like they think they think, you know, people every little thing is methodically like, you know, we thought about, no, sometimes it's luck, you know, sometimes it's timing, you know what I mean. Sometimes you just catch a lightning in a bottle and then you re you you react to it.

You know what I mean? So, you know, some artists, you know, they start off maybe not like that and then they grow into that. Some artists are are never like that. They have a team, they just deliver the music and the team kind of like puts the play together. It all depends. Everyone's different, you know what I mean? So, you know, it's it's hard to say, but in I in my case, in Boogie's case, he's somebody, he's a he goes off a field. So, you know, he depending on how he feels when he wakes up in the on in the morning or in the afternoon, whenever he decides to get up, you know, that's gonna dictate how the day's gonna go. Bro, what you just said is so important. Everyone does think that like everyone in the music business that's operating at the highest level is just like geniuses. And I'm not saying that like people aren't smart and good at what they do because we've obviously sat with a ton of people who are very intelligent and are very good at what they do, right? But but we've also sat with a lot of people on here that have kind of said a similar thing of what you just said, where it's like, not all this shit is like as scripted as you guys saw it play out. Yeah, because I think the big word you said was react.

Yeah, a lot of the shit just happens and luck. And luck. But like seeing what happens, recognizing a moment, and then plotting around that, you know, reacting properly. There has to be, you know, number one, there has to be talent. And the talent has to resonate with a fan base. Right. Then you have a team that helps, you know, cultivate and you know, exploit the talent for lack of a better term. And then you kind of, it's everything else just fills in, but it's just all about the talent. You know what I'm saying? And then, you know, the executives play a large role too, because you have to, you know, some guys are raw and you have to kind of coach them and develop them. You know what I mean? And then once you once, once you've given them those, that skill set, then they could go out on and do great things. But, you know, there's a, you know, there's the the task is really about the talent. You know, and then sometimes one distinction to make is, you know, there's a lot of talented people that, you know, they haven't been successful in the business. It's talent, but then the people have to react to it.

You know what I mean? Like if you don't have a fan base that's that's fucking with what you're doing, can I curse on here? Oh, fuck you. Fuck no. No, you better fucking do it, man. Yeah, if you don't have a if you don't have a fan base or a group of people that that are that are intrigued by what you're doing, it's not gonna work. Isn't it great that he asked if he could curse and then he replaced fucking with with? intrigued by. He gave you permission, yeah. No, I just love that. Yeah, um, is there one or is there at least one example that you can share of maybe something that y'all did that was like of that reaction, you know, type of thing that we're describing, you know what I mean? Just for our audience to understand, like in boogies, just for example, is is there something that y'all saw or something that was happening that then it was like, let's react to this. I think, you know, when everything started, you know, it's just you know, you put music out, and you know, the people mess with it. You might put a song out that the the reaction might be lukewarm, you throw something else out, and it goes.

You know what I mean? So it's just, you know, when it's going and it's cooking, you know, and you you you fan that flame, you know what I'm saying? And you just and you just keep going. Like, you know, there's a record that that he did, it's called Secrets. Oh, yeah, I love that one. I didn't understand the record when he made it. It was there's no drums on that song. Yeah, you know, I've told this story before. There's no drums on that song. I was like, bro, but you know, you have to give the artist space to be an artist. So I said, all right, if you if you like it, I love it. Like, you know what I mean? That song ended up having a moment. I I think it's platinum now. Oh, it's got like half a billion streams on Spotify alone. So yeah, I would assume it's platinum. Like, you know, I I don't, I never I never understood the record. Do you get it now? I still don't get it. You still doesn't get it. he's like, I fucking told you, Em. Yeah, I still don't, because you know, obviously the guy's lyrically inclined, he can rap. Yeah, you know what I mean. I mean, you know, I I there's a there's an expectation anytime I press play on his music for it to be at a certain level. You know, even the stuff that we don't use is at the level.

Yeah, right. So it's it's it's is I know it's at the level, but I'm like, you know, what's this? But it ended up, you know. This is going to be dope when you finish it, right? Yeah, one of those. Like, bro, where's the drums? You know, you know. He's like, it's done. It's similar to, to Look Back At It, which is one of our biggest records. Yeah. There's really no drums on that record. There's no hi-hat. Yeah. There's like a kick in the snare, but there's no hi-hat. And that's a testament to how he, his recording process, because he, uh, the guy, Um he records to the melody. And then the producer comes and builds the beat around it. I like that. You know, I'm a big fan of that. I love having an acapella to produce around. Yeah. Or just an idea, a concept to go with. I think more artists, especially like in our community, so most of our audience is probably like aspiring artists that are, you know, maybe earlier on in their careers or not where they want to be, obviously, you know, long term in their careers. I think some of them do need to maybe listen to a lot of these like recording techniques. I think some of it is like the recording process.

Like, you know, we've had some pretty interesting ideas on like ways to spice up or like, you know, try something different when it comes to the actual like making of the music, right? Because I think what you said is is so true. Is that like if the music ain't hitting, I mean, like, yeah, people can say what they want about like bad music is still, you know, becoming popular in some ways, but like it's not it's gonna be here today, gone tomorrow. So like the real good music, the fact that Boogie's still streaming shit from 2016, 2017, these are like hits, right? Like drowning is still played. Like everywhere I yeah, oh, it is about to go to that. Oh my god, nine times platinum on that one. That's one of those ones I was like, that's I used the word addicted for that song for a while. From the time that I knew we were having this interview, I probably listened to it 20 times. Like I kept wanting to be like, all right, I'm gonna get to the other stuff, you know, like doing more back to Drowning. And I was like, no, three records is drowning, look back at it and swerving. Yeah. That are on their way to like, you know, within the next years. I think drowning would be it might be diamond by the time this album releases.

And uh my shit has to be up there. My shit is I think it's like five or six times platinum. Yeah, God. Shit. Boogie goes crazy, bro. But no, I just think like it's important for our folks to uh like understand what you're saying about how he's recorded some of these songs that have resulted in like the not so traditional, but yet the fans fucked with it, right? And so who are we to who are we to say? I think it's easy to get into habits in the creative process. Like, this is how I've always done it. So if you don't if you're not inspired or you don't have any idea for the day, you know, it's easy to just go like start going through the motions that you typically go through. And I think that's never a good thing. Well, I also don't think our community, and like this is generalizing, so like fuck you guys who are already on my ass about this comment, but like I don't think that we're appreciating producers enough. Well, yeah, I mean it starts with the track, you know. It starts with the track. Like, you know, QP, you know, my partner, he is all about the music. He's big, he's like, he's like AR executive, right?

So he's involved with all of the music that comes out of Highbridge, and you know, always starts with the music. Yeah. If the beat is not hitting, it's not right, then you know, it's like it's like it's like um, it's like a tool. Like, you're only as good as your man's only as good as his tool. And the rap is only really as good as his production, you know. You look at you look at all of the top rappers, they have top-notch production. Do you have any involvement with the music? I try to stay out of it, man. I'm 41 years old, man. Those studio nights aren't for you anymore, huh? No, man. And what sounds good to me may not resonate with the younger crowd, you know what I'm saying? So I try to, I let them kind of, but I I I know a hit when I hear one though. You know what I mean? That's where I'm at. Yeah. That's where I think I kind of like sit in the whole like A&R-ing and like being involved in the music thing. It's like, I don't think I do want to be in the studio, and like I don't think I want to be finding the like weird ones that are gonna maybe be the secrets and the ones that do come out like super successful. But like, but like you play me a hit record, I'm gonna know, I'm gonna know what it is.

I do, I do take credit for one record Which did me wrong. Okay. Why do you take credit for it? That song came from an old Isaac Hayes song, the production. And Mary J. Blige redid it. It's called a song called It's a song called I Love You on her. I I want to say what's the 411 album. It's one of my favorite songs of all time. So I I sent it to Boogie and Don Q, like, yo, y'all need to rap over this beat. I sent it to them like three, four years ago. He's gonna, you know, these dudes, they don't, they didn't know whatever. So I I was more proactive. I called the the producer, his name is S Dot. Shout out to S Dot. Okay. I called Dot, I said, look, take this beat, sample it, and make it. So he called me and he played it for me. I was like, put the drums. See, I told him to move it. Oh, you were A&R-ing a little bit. I don't even want to say it. Executive producer. But come on, him. I don't even want to take that credit, but I told him. You know, I told him to move a few things around. It's one song, bro. We can give you this credit.

Come on, man. Like just one song. I told him, I told him, ah, it's good, play it for him. And then, you know, Boogie ended up laying down that song that we hear now. So you know. Hell yeah. Every time I hear it, I feel pretty good about it. Cause I knew because he's a guy, you know, when the piano and the guitar they go well with his voice. Yeah. Yeah, Boogie. For sure. And that piano, that piano is just so it's so powerful on that record. Yeah. And I knew he'd be able to do something with it. Oh, too. For sure. He just needed a little modernization of it. Had to give it to a producer to update it a little bit. So how quick was Boogie's rise to fame? Ah man. It feels like it happened quickly. Like, yeah. You know, I remember because at the time I was living in, I was living in the DC area. And QP and Bubba, you know, my brother QP, he called, he said, yo, I'm gonna start a record label yo I need an LLC what I do this and that because you were the like corporate guy like you and I talked about this like yeah like tell the people what you were doing back at the time at the time I you know I had a nine to five corporate guy you know I was in finance analytics so they're calling you because they know you you might know something about an LLC they're like yep and then I had friends in the business as well you know I learned the game from a guy named Jay Class he was with Cardi B early on okay so you know I just by hanging around with just by hanging around him I picked up a lot of you know a lot of managerial skills yeah yeah you know what I mean so I get I like you know my brother would call I'd point him in the right direction asked for a lawyer said yo call this person call that I asked Jay Jay would say yo call this person so I I'll pass it I'll pass the info along and then you know I remember I took a trip to New York and he was playing me uh the music and uh he played me Bando which one of the first records Boogie and Don Q did and when I heard it I said man you might have something here like you know it just so happened like after he left me they went to shoot the my shit video right so I went to I went to mom's house I was hanging out and they went to the club and shot the video wow so this was this was maybe February Marchish something like that. And then you know by the end of the summer they had a joint venture with Atlantic see I don't want our audience to hear that story Bro. I know, like, no, but it's, but I did want them to hear it because I think it's it's important though.

Like, do you think that that was good for his, you know what I mean? Like, how did he react to that like quick rise to fame? Like, were there any hard adjustments for him? Because I'm I'm thinking like money had to be like pouring in at that point, right? So it's a couple things, right? You know, we're pretty religious. So, you know, just as a collective, and I think, you know, we all believe God doesn't make any mistakes. It was meant to happen the way that it happened. Okay. And um, you know, the second point is this is talent, man. Like, you know, you know, I hate to sound like this, but if you've been rapping for five, ten years and nothing's kind of is nothing's working out, then you should you don't have to leave the music business, but you should try to probably pivot. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, look at Sexyy Red. She came, it feels like she came out of nowhere. She probably been rapping for a few years, but she's smoking right now. And it doesn't take that long. If you if there's something, if there's a spark there that's that resonates, it's not gonna take long for it to, you know what I'm saying?

It's gonna connect, and then you're gonna be off to the races. Like, think about all the all the people that are that are doing well, you know, they you know, they've always like they they didn't come in and it was and it was like um how do I say they didn't come in and and and and and you it might not have worked right away, but there was there were signs that there was something there that they should keep going. But if you're not getting that positive feedback and you've been doing it for a long time, then it's probably not it's not gonna work. It's interesting. What do you think about that take? I have I have some comments. I think I think I feel like you would have something to say. I think there's a lot of practice and and you know, preparation and try. I think once it happens, it appears to go overnight, right? Right? Correct. But I still think there's a lot of behind the scenes work, you know. I mean, he was obviously making music for a while, so it might look faster than it actually was right I and I just I would usually be the person that would like wholeheartedly kind of disagree with what you're saying but I think something you hit the nail on the head is is like if you've been doing it five ten years I mean it just goes back to the like the definition of insanity right like doing something over and over again the same way thinking you're gonna get a different result right you got to change something something's gotta fucking change either it's the music has to change the image has to change like the branding the name whatever the producer I don't give a fuck something something has to change guys and that's where that's where I think he's right is that we have a lot of people that I look at and I think oh they they've been doing it this long and it's like why hasn't shit started to move and it's like well maybe it's because what you're putting out and the way you're putting it out isn't resonating with the fans. The market is gonna dictate you know what's good the market the market speaks in in the absolute truth.

Yes. You know why wouldn't it? There's no incentive for them to not just like what they like and not like what they don't like. You know we have a lot of discourse out here about the quality of music but bro you know if you look at if you look at the music business as a whole it's the most profitable it's ever been the market is talking you know what I mean yeah no I mean that's that's something I I always think about is like you know we we've talked about this in several different ways about like why is the quality of music bad in a lot of people's you know minds and it's like well no like fans are dictating what they like, and everyone starts to pull the conspiracy theory cards of like, no, we're getting served bad music. It's like you don't have to go listen to it. Let's know whatever you want. You don't have to buy the tickets to fucking sexy Red's sold out. She's selling out like arenas, borderline right now that's another thing too. Like, if if an artist is streaming and you don't believe the streams, just look at the shows, man. That's it.

Yeah. You can't, you can't fake hard tickets, man. You can't. You can't fake hard tickets. You can't fake the reaction when they touch that microphone. Yeah. Like, you know, like, you know, and then and then there's there's two types of tickets. Like, you have the festival, which is, you know, there's a built-in audience there already. Sure. But then a hard ticket where you're the headliner, like, you know, you know, we have we have Madison Square Garden coming up. Oh, you know, that's pretty much sold out. Damn. MSG. And you know, that's something that I'm proud of. You know, we we've been we've been working toward that ever since we started. Oh, that's a dream for sure. New York guys. Yep. And you know, you can't fake that, man. When that guy touches that stage, it's gonna be pandemonium in it. Yeah, bro. You know what I'm saying? So, you know, it's just, you know, the market is gonna tell you what they want, and they're gonna talk to you, you know. If you and to your point, if you're doing something and it's not working, and you and you if you if you're able to change it to something that is working, and I'm not saying change it to and copy somebody, but you just gotta find your voice, you know. Yeah, I also think adjusting your expectations is something that nobody does because it's like, yeah, maybe you're not gonna sell out Madison Square Garden, but if you can work to find you know a thousand core fans, correct that spend a hundred dollars on you Correct. every year, correct?

You know what I mean? You're making six figures, like 100%. There's not enough people that are willing to like everyone wants to be the super blown crazy superstar. 100%. You can make a decent living, like making music, that's pretty awesome, right? Yeah, I 100% agree with that. I think you know, ultimately in business, you know, is revenue minus expenses equals profit. If you're if you're if you're if you're in the green and you're doing this, you you know you've won. You know what I'm saying? You you might not your profits might not be, you know, 30 million dollars a year, but I mean, if you if you know Is that what you guys make? I was like, bro. We we do pretty good. Did you see the whip you pulled up then, bro? I did. I pulled up right behind him and I was like, fuck. I don't like doing this. You know what I mean? I don't like it. I like to be parked and inside, so I don't even have to look at what comes into the the parking lot. Um, but no, man. So I you know, like I said, I assume that money started to come in. And and there was a uh former podcast guest and friend of ours, Najmullah, who is a super dope AR and and you know, creative.

Um, he tweeted something recently about this concept of like financial like hardships that plague like artists that get like big bags. So I saw this. So yeah, exactly. So like, you know, an artist, you know, an artist signs, they get a big advance, and oftentimes they're blowing the advance, right? That's just like the classic, it's the classic athlete story, it's a classic rapper story, whatever. So his hypothesis was hey, maybe we should treat them like you know, a W-2 employee or something and give them biweekly paychecks of their advance for the year as opposed to like this lump sum of money. So, what what are your like initial thoughts on I don't agree with that? Okay. Well, what what's your what's your thought there? Treating us, treating someone that's famous as a W-2 employee doesn't work because I mean ultimately, you know, these guys, a lot of guys are coming from a rough neighborhood, you know. You know, you want to get that money and move out. You're not the same guy no more.

You know, you don't want to, you know, we've you know, we've seen plenty of artists that have that have unfortunately lost their lives in the in the place that they grew up. Oh. You know what I mean? Why would you why would you, you know, treat him like he got every two weeks get a check, like, come on, man. You you you you you know, you know. Now that's very true. Prodigy Prodigy says something, you know, when he was alive, God bless the dead. Yeah. Rest in peace. He said, fuck rap. I ain't your average cat. I'm trying to make cream and that's that. You know, ultimately, you know, sports and entertainment, the the reason why these young kids aspire to be rappers and athletes is the is the riches that come with it. If you remove that, then you know, the pool of people that actually aspire to do that, you're gonna, you're gonna, you're gonna disincentivize them to kind of chase it. Yeah.

So I think, you know. Do you do you uh do you think that's a good thing? No, I don't think so. I don't I think because like it hurts me to even like hear that, even though I understand it, right? Because like as someone who didn't grow up in like extreme, you know, poverty conditions or or you know, something like that, I can still appreciate like, yes, wanting to chase a career path because it's going to make you, you know, certain amounts of money, at least you think it can, right? Yeah, but I do hate that for like music or like athletics because I don't think that people should be there for those reasons, really. I mean, look, it's one of the greatest rappers, if not the greatest rapper, that's ours, Jay-Z. I knew he's gonna say ho, bro. I knew it was ho, bro. I'm gonna tell you he's a hustler. I knew it was ho, bro. I'm gonna tell you flat out He's a hustler, bro. Like, if imagine, imagine all the great music we would have robbed, been robbed of if a record label tried to put him on a W-2. Yeah, no, I know.

No, it's a good point. I'm a I'm an employee, homie. I'm an employee. You know what I'm saying? I think I think I think I think you know, there's the flow of funds in the music business could be better, you know. But I think I think slowing it down to the artist is not the answer. Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, you have to put you have to put uh vehicles in place to get them up to speed as it pertains to financial literacy. You know what I'm saying? Because, you know, I I have a master's degree in business, right? You know, so you know, I was doing well before I moved into business. So my lifestyle hasn't changed that much since I moved into music. Yeah. You know, but I'm you know, I've I was financially literate, I was financially literate before I started. A 19, 20-year-old kid is not gonna have that, he's not gonna have the luxury of experience. Do labels need to have like financial planners or accountants that they can like put their artists in there.

You can't put that on a label because now if an artist goes bankrupt, they can blame the label and say, you put this person with me. Like, you know, you it has to be independent. And there's, there's a conflict. Yeah, there's already enough blaming the label. They're not gonna assume any more risk than they already are. Exactly. So I just think you know, you know, mentorship is important. Yeah, you know, I've had some great people that I that I've had the the luxury of being, being able to talk to, you know, Kareem Biggs Burke from Rockefellers. Shout out Biggs, bro. Biggs is legend. Legendary guy. And you know, I don't speak to him often, but when I do, I always grab something that that's helped that's helped me in the business. I talked to I talked to Yo Gotti a couple of times. He's a really brilliant guy, Birdman, Steve Carlos, Steven Victor, you know, Gabi. You know, there's a couple, a lot of guys that I talk to that have been doing this for us for a long time, and and just it's like, you know, still sharp and still, you know, iron sharp as iron. So just by being in a room and talking to these guys, you know, you don't even, you know, it's just like a mistake, you're gonna just pick up some game from, them. you know what I'm saying?

That's the best. I love just and that's why I love doing the podcast. It's really so selfish, borderline of meeting. We do this for us. We literally do this and we can just soak up as much game as possible, bro. Because it's exactly like you're saying, is like you can't help but get better. Yep. you just can't help but be smarter by being around the people that are operating at like the levels that you want to you know, either operate in because you're not there yet, or just continue to elevate, right? Depending on where you're at. 100%. And yeah, no, that that's so true, man. Um, all right, so describe what like in your mind a perfect artist manager relationship looks like, right? Because I feel like I know there's different flavors, so I want to kind of just take like a general look at this, right? And just be like, these are the things that should be in place for like the best case scenario artist manager partnership. I think um it depends on the individuals, right? You know, what works for me and my one me and one artist might not work for me and another artist. So let's actually contrast maybe two of your most different clients.

So the way you work with artist X, if you want to say who it is, that's cool. And then artist Y, right? So let's so all of my artists, all of the artists that I deal with, they're of age, right? Then I have a younger artist who's not of age, Booba Savage. Oh, how old? Manage Booba? Yeah. I love Booba. Booba, you know, Booba, shout out the booba. How old's Booba? He's 17. He'll be 18 this year. Okay. He was blowing up like years ago, even when he was nothing. Really? 13. Booba signed the high bridge. Okay, no, I knew I knew of the name, but I didn't, you know, you know, dive in and see. Booba's a character, man. Yeah. He's a real charismatic guy, man. So you're tapped in, you know Booba? Yes. Okay. Okay. I feel like I'm fucking up here, but okay. All right. All right. So tell me how you work kind of like how that plays into it. So the the big difference there, right? I'm dealing with an adult that can make decisions for themselves on this hand. Yeah. And then on a booba side, I have to deal with his his dad, his parents. You know what I'm saying?

That just sounds messy, bro. A little yellow tape. I'm not gonna lie. So it's just like your approach. Not red, But yellow. Your approach has to be different. You know what I mean? Because this is an older African gentleman. You know, I when I sat with God Yo Gotti one time, he he told me something that helped me a lot. He said, you know, you have your way of doing business, right? You have a way of doing business. You in your mind, you know you're you're not gonna do bad business with anybody purposefully, you're not gonna fuck nobody over anything like that, right? And then, you know, but this person might have a way of doing business that doesn't necessarily match your way of doing business. So in order to get things done, you may have to go over there and understand how he's doing business, how he sees things from his point of view, and adjust your way of doing business in order to get things done. That's such a pride hit, though, right? Or like E. Nah. That's that would be hard for a lot of people. I'm just gonna tell you what it is. The way you just described that, I was like, yeah, some people would not be able to like, you know, change the way that they operate. In business, you have to be nimble though.

Yeah. You can't be rigid. You know, every like whatever, whatever the mission is, then you tailor your strategy for that mission. Oh. You know what I'm saying? Bars. Yeah. So, you know, spitting. Yeah. Cooking, bro. when you get to that point, you figure it out how you're gonna get to where you need to go, and then you you execute, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, and it I just think uh, you know, if if you find yourself being rigid and just you're not gonna you're not gonna last long in this business, you know. You know, there's a reason why the captains of this industry are the captains of this industry. People that have been doing business in this people have been operating at a high level for 30, 40 years. Music has music is constantly evolving. How are these people able to stay stay in the top positions? You know what I mean? They adapt. They adapt. Yeah. No, it's so true. You have to be adaptive. You have to be nimble. Yeah. So which part of the business do you find yourself like most passionate about? Is there like something, you know?

Because obviously, I know you're an artist manager, like by default, that's like what your title is. But you know, that can mean a lot of different things. So, like, you know, what do you find yourself wanting to be most? There's a few things. You know, I think the the executive role is really intriguing. You know what I mean? I I'm for the most part, I'm a an executive, right? Right. It's like embarrassed to say like you're a fucking executive, man. let's go. I mean, the thing is, is is I'm about the work, right? I'm not really, I don't care about the titles. I I want to put the work because, you know, in in this in this era of social media, everybody's celebrating losses and not you haven't accomplished anything. You celebrate. I want to put work in that can that can match up with the greats. And I, you know, in my mind, I have, and as a collective, I feel like we have a long way to go to get there, right? So I don't want to, you know, be patting myself on the back. But, you know, to answer your question, as it pertains to the different, the different parts of the businesses, you know, the executive part. Because when you come in, you're you're you're you're wide-eyed, you're you're just trying to be hot.

But then when you realize how much how much how much revenue is being generated off of the music, then you then it's like game theory. You start to you start to look at, you know, how are the pieces on the chessboard being moved? How do you position yourself to to make the payday? Like, you know what I'm saying? We've built the you know, two, three hundred million dollar enterprise. But being, being, being being being how the business was was set up, we were unable to pull out that value because of because of the way we came in, you know. When we had, you know, compared to a lot of people that came in when we came in, our situation is pretty good. You know what I mean? Meaning like the deal that you negotiated with Atlantic. Yeah. I'm just gonna like say it. You know, for the time, the deal was pretty good. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Man, Nobody, nobody was getting that deal, that type of deal. And you know, Atlantic, you know, they're you know, they get a lot of flack, but I mean, they're great partners for the most part.

They spend the money, they market the artists. They put their artist music on TikTok. Yeah, they do. You know, I mean, you know, ultimately you have to look within and take accountability for the success or failure of your enterprise. Yeah. You know what I mean? So, you know, the executive portion and just, you know, the positioning, that's exciting because I know if we're able to apply what we've learned over the years, you know, we'll be able to really pull out a lot of revenue from this business. And then Yeah, so like signing new artists and then their deals would be a lot, you'd be smarter, or like you just would be more experienced and knowledgeable. And more leverage. Right. Well, yeah. true. You have more leverage, you have the experience. You know, it took us, you know, we've been doing this six, seven years to build the boogie's touring business to where it is. We might be able to do it in less time with another act. Yeah. Because of all the experience and in the institutional knowledge that we've been able to amass over the years, right? Yeah.

And then, you know, another part of the business that's exciting is, you know, the peer group and the amazing people that you run into on a day-to-day. You know what I'm saying? When you talk to these people and they have a respect and and and they also share some of the experiences, like, you know, that some of the some of the difficulties that you're feeling, you know, they're telling you, don't worry about it. I went through it the same way. Like, you know, when you're when you're operating in this business, you know, the experience is gonna be the same. A lot of a lot of artists managers and executives, they all have the same problems. You know, and we, you know, we relate. It's like it's like an alcoholics anonymous meeting when we get together and start talking about some of the problems and trials and tribulations that we have. And then Hi. I am. All right. All right, let's let's do this. Let's do this. So we're at a managers anonymous meeting right now. Okay. You're you know, you're about to share. I don't know if you've ever been to an AA meeting, I have, but like, you know. So I haven't smacked my artist in two weeks.

Yeah. No, like what, you know, what is like an example of a problem that you feel like all managers have been through. I think, you know, you know, the artists, you know, they have person, they're not just artists, they're human beings. Yeah. So there's a human element, you know, these guys have girlfriends and mothers of their children. They have, they have mom, dad, cousin, brother, they have a bunch of friends. They have so many things in their lives that can affect their mood. And it that can affect whether they want to get out of bed and do some work. You know what I'm saying? So that's that's one piece, you know. They, you know, that's huge. You know, it's been the biggest piece. I did management for a very brief stint, and like that was my hardest thing, It's just like all the other shit that comes, like, if we could all just you know, operate and like do the job every day, I feel like I'd be very good at that. But that's the part that I found. Yeah, and then you know, you have a lot of artists that they're they're they're okay with being famous, and not necessarily in it to get the money. So once they become famous and then, you know, they've been able to have a few girlfriends and stuff like that, become lazy.

They don't want it as much anymore. You know what I'm saying? You so you know, there's there's different levels and there's different things. Then you have the artist that's really ambitious and really want to do it, and you know, they get they're excited. Like, it's two, it's two sides to everything, right? Yeah, but and then you have you have the business part of it, like you know, you're dealing with promoters or dealing with producers and record label, this, that, you know, and the experience is the same, you know what I'm saying? So, you know, when you when you're talking amongst your peers, you know, like for instance, when I talk to Biggs, right? Julie Greenwald, who's who's who's like, you know, she's like high up in Atlanta. I don't even know the exact title, but she's pretty much the boss. Her and Craig Kallman. Yeah. Julie was at Def Jam when Biggs and Day Jay and Dane. So Biggs knows Julie, and he, you know, he's dealt with her. And is like he can, he can, he can, he can give, he can give insight into his dealings with her. And Julie's great.

You know what I'm saying? She she just wants, she just wants great music. She wants to be able to market it. And she wants to, she wants to have successful artists on her roster because, you know, now these these record labels are publicly traded. And you know, the books are they're they're out there, the SEC filings, and you know, you don't get points for having, you know, flailing artists. You know what I'm saying? She wants the same thing we want. Yeah. So it's just, you know, when you talk to people that that have these dealings, you know, it's similar. Everyone has similar dealings. It's so funny what you just said though. It's like, I think if people just understood the perspective of like record label executives, of that they only want the exact same thing as you do. They do want you to be successful. Why would they not? Tax write-off. They're incentivized. If you make money, correct. So if they're not willing to invest into you, maybe we just start to look a little inward for a second. Like just for, and I'm not saying every situation is is perfectly like black and white, meaning like, oh, because they don't want to invest in you, that means you're not worth investing in.

There's differences in investment strategies like any other company. Like maybe you're just not the right label. That's fine. But like maybe we should at least just be like, what you know, where are they coming from, at least? You know what I mean? Um, so all right, so we got the peer group, uh, kind of like the camaraderie amongst your peers. I feel like that's good. Um, and then the executive side of the thing, anything else that you're like most passionate, you'd say about like the you know, role you're in. I think uh the fan reaction. Oh, yeah. You know, when that's gotta be the best. That's one of the that's what's the most rewarding. That's the only that's the best, right? I swear, man. Boogie has a song called Jungle. Anytime he performs this song, you get chills, man. Like, because the fans love this, like a it's like a spiritual experience. The fans love that record when they hear that piano and that piano drop, it's like boom, and it's like, man, like you know, it's like the undertaker, like man, it's crazy. Dude, me just looking through Boogie's like show footage. Oh my god, he's got to your point, such a crazy fan base that's just singing every fucking word, lights up, like the fucking sold-out shows everywhere. I mean, it just has, you know, he's a he's a special guy.

Yeah, it gave me fucking chills just like watching some of the videos. I was like, damn, bro, these people are there. And then you think about you know what you had to go through during the recording process, the the rollout, the release, and then when once it's received a certain way by the fan and they're showing their appreciation at the show, that's just rewarding. Like, I I come out for certain like most of the time I'm in the back, just exhaling because the guys on the stage, you know, hard part's over. We we've made it. You know what I'm saying? Did we get Boogie on stage? Okay, he's on there. I'm cool. Now I'm cool, you know what I'm saying? So, but you know, some certain parts of the show I come out just to feel it. Yeah, you know what I mean? Because that's what's gonna give me the motivation to keep going. I was about to say, it's gonna remind you why the fuck you just stressed out so much to get his ass on stage, right? Like, we were in wait, wait, wait, where were we? We were in uh Montreal. Yeah, forget the name of this arena, man. There's probably like 15,000 people in there, man.

You could feel the crowd, like, when he screamed, how you feeling it? you feel it, you feel the energy just touch you like it's crazy, man. We did the Barclays last year, same thing. You feel that energy. Yeah, you know, just Toronto, like, oh, we're going to Australia, like there's so many places that you know, you you know, when you're in the bubble, you get used to the guy, like you know what I'm saying. But then, you know, when you go to these places and the way the fans react, so you realize God's special guy, man. No, it does probably remind you of like why you're putting in so much work for this artist or like for this creative, because to your point, sometimes you I feel like you know, people get too close to it, right? It's like you you know Boogie on a way different level. And I'm not saying he doesn't give his fans like access to like who he is as a person, but like you're there for the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between, right? And so it's like sometimes it's tough to remember like from a fan's perspective, right? What what are they loving about this guy?

Because it is so much, it's work still at the end of the day sometimes. So, like that's gotta be beautiful, man. Just like getting that reminder that has to be like that dose of I'm telling you, of motivation, like you said, you know. You know, when you're when you're going through it, when you're in the doldrums and you're going through it, and you know, you have a show and you feel that energy, the excitement is like, man. And and and if if if I'm management, right? I can only imagine how he's feeling as an artist. Right. You know what I'm saying? Because these are his songs. This is his music, you know what I mean? And you know, I can only imagine the feeling to be up there rocking 15,000 people. They singing your shit work for an hour, adrenaline. rush, bro. An hour and 30 minutes Going crazy. You know what I'm saying? It's a... That's a drug. You know, yeah. Yeah, it is. No, seriously, man. Like, you know, the the the you you tear away the financial part. And I, you know, earlier I mentioned, you know, you do it for the money, but that part alone, you know, I'm sure people would do that for free.

Oh, you know what I'm saying? They pay to do that. Like, that's a feeling that you seriously. That's a feeling that you is very, very difficult to duplicate. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Nah, absolutely, man. Um, all right. So you mentioned kind of like the behind the scenes stuff that that leads up to these like big shows, right? Like, there's the there's the recording process of the album, there's the marketing and rollout of the album. What's what's your favorite rollout that you've been a part of? Um is there one that comes to mind of like your favorite? Yeah, not that enjoyable, man. Because oh shit, don't say it, Em. to be honest with you, man. Don't say it, Em. Because you know, the rollout, the rollout is, you know, it's work, man. Like, and you know, you have to go get up early, go do interviews, go do this, go do that. It's just it's work. And you're saying you hate interviews? No, I mean, I don't hate them. I don't hate them. But you know, it's... I know, I was like, this is awkward, man. Jesus Christ.

This guy, what are we forcing him to come? Jesus, man. He's talking about Boogie. I guess Rachie must have been like, yeah, you really gotta go do this interview. bro. The the the just the marketing aspect, like, you know, you know, it's just it's a it's a process that you know it all also again, it depends on the artist. I know, you know, this guy, he don't like interviews, you know what I'm saying? He don't, he just want to do his music, put it out, go on tour. You know what I'm saying? So you can't just put music out without some type of intentional rollout. What about content? With making it. Do you have to kind of force him to make content? Yeah, man. If you look at his Instagram, he barely posts. You know what I'm saying? I wasn't gonna say shit because you know, because he's he's he's he's a he's a musician. He's a artist, his real name is artists that was insane to find out, by the way. I was like, there's no way his mom had a fucking crystal ball and was like, I'm naming this kid artist. Yeah, and then I'm stamping that shit, and here he goes. The guy's an artist, man.

He's about the music. He's about the art, you know. The money comes secondary, but he's a he's a he's a creative. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. So I think, you know, and and creatives are not, then they they're not the most, they're not the easiest people to deal with when you're a business person. Yeah. Because they think with the left side of their brain, and you think a certain way. Him and I are the same sign. So I understand him most times. But it's just like, dude, we gotta do this or we gotta do that. And it's like, let me know what you need so we could kind of get through this and do what we need to do. So how often do you guys get into it? We don't. Really? You know, we're both Sagittarius. We're we're like, we're like, we're like conflict averse. Oh. Because if a Sagittarius starts to speak their mind, it's gonna be piercing. So we don't, you know, well, we both could feel like, all right, I'm gonna give him a few days. You know, he's gonna give me a few days.

You know what I mean? And then we'll come back when we're cool and like, yo, oh. And I don't force. I just yo, what you need, what you want to do? You want to do this? Yes, no, alright, cool. And then we move on. You know what I'm saying? Because at the end of the day, if it's if if if, for him in particular, if it starts to feel like a job, then it compromises the the his creativity. You know what I'm saying? So I try to be as easygoing as possible with him. It's interesting though. Like what? So it was like 2016 when First Project released, right? For him. What what era was like what was going on? Was that like because it wasn't clearly like the TikTok era? It's like what was happening. SoundCloud. Okay. Did he see a big was he big on SoundCloud? or like? The big, One of the biggest. Okay, cool. So that was a big He was he was the SoundCloud, one of the top SoundCloud rappers. Okay, okay, yeah. And and so that's where I feel like our audience also like loves to just be like, well, Boogie doesn't post his fucking Instagram, and it's like, guys, he he built his career in a totally different like if you're building an artist now, if you're trying to break an artist now, don't you feel like, or I guess how important do you feel like them being willing to and eager to post a lot on social media? Do you think that's like a a prerequisite now or or not even?

I think I think it depends on the artists, it depends on the music, and then what what type of artist you're trying to be. If you're trying to be like, for instance, you have like the backpack rappers or the real uh uh you know lyrically inclined guys, lyrical miracle guys. Yeah, so you know, those guys might not necessarily, their fans might not necessarily discover them on TikTok. You know what I'm saying? Or they might not discover them where you know a lot of the contemporary popular music is being discovered at, you know what I'm saying? So to force them to do that is kind of intuitive because their fans are not there. But if if your fans are, you want to go where the fans are. So if the type of if your target market is on TikTok or if they're on Instagram, Reels, YouTube shorts, and you want to, you want to service that. You want to service them there because that's that, you know. Look, you take Instagram for, for, for, for an example.

When we started, Instagram was just, you know, picking up. It was no real Instagram algorithm. Everything was chronological order. And it was who you followed. Who you follow and who follows you. Yep. So if someone follow, if if you have two 10 million followers and you post something, 10 million people saw that post. That doesn't work like that no more. Nope. So how are you gonna reach 10 million people on online? Yeah you know, you have to you have to figure that out. And it depends on what type of music you're making, you know, it depends on how much money you have to spend. There's so many factors. I don't, I don't want like what I'm I what I'm trying to, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you know, there's no, there's no, there's no rhyme or reason, there's no textbook way to break an artist. Because if there was, the labels wouldn't need Highbridge, the label. They wouldn't need QC, they wouldn't need, you know, Top Dog and those guys. They would, there's like all the, all the production houses, CMGs, and if they if they knew how to do it, then there would be no space for guys like me.

You know what I'm saying? But you know, you grab the artist, you figure out, you know, how the fans reacting to them, and then you chase it. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, I I think I think I think, you know, I I'm a reference sexy red again. I think she's doing a great job, you know, on her social media presence is is amazing. And she's using social media to sell the music. Some people use social media to sell their celebrity. She's using social media to sell records and tickets. I think she's doing it the way she it's meant that you should be trying to do it. But someone else trying to do what she's doing might not work for them. Yeah. I guess I still just like I in my brain do feel like even me, I come across like backpack rappers that have crazy views on like TikTok, for example. So I even I just feel like any genre has like found its home on social media in some way. So that's like the only way, and this is me just not having been doing it since 2016 either.

I basically came in to the music sphere during this like content era, you know what I mean? Like, you know, you've even been doing it like before I came in. So like maybe you have a different perspective. But for me, it's all I know. So that's why I'm so passionate about it. And people do always like come at me and be like, and then you know, content's not the only way to break, you know, music and shit. And I'm like, I don't know any other way. Like for free, anyway. Yeah. Let me let me tell you this. That's the way you do it, right? There might be another platform or another thing that's that that's gonna let people in through the back door. Because when you when SoundCloud popped up when we came in, that was new. Yeah, that was the back door. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So you don't want to limit yourself to what's everybody's doing. There might be a back door somewhere that you can exploit that nobody's been able to exploit. Damn it M. You know what I'm saying? Damn it M. Yeah. It's like it's like you you do need to place bets elsewhere. I guess it's kind of what you're and you might you might you might get lucky, yeah. You might find something, you know what I'm saying?

Like, it all comes back to try everything. So so see what sticks. So QP says something to me all the time. You know, him and I, we talk all the time. And he's like, there's who did it first, and then there's who did it best. Best, you know, bars, bars. So if you're if you're if you're gonna do TikTok, Instagram, you know, the the first person is long gone. You gotta do it really good at a really high level. Yeah. What does that entail if you don't have the resources? You know what I'm saying? So, you know, maybe there's a back door somewhere that you could sneak in through and be the first there. You know, but again, it it it's gonna be reliant on the music. If the music ain't here, it has to be good first. Nothing else has to be. good first. The music has to be good, y'all. And on that note, anything we say, it's like start off with good music. On that note, Henry, we've entered a final segment of the podcast. M, buckle up, my friend. Damn, so many fucking bars, bro.

Gems, for sure. I knew this one was gonna be good when Rachel hit me. I was like, okay. I'm gonna see if we can get a couple more here in this final segment. This is called the rapid fire. Rampage. Greedy. We didn't get enough, bro. Just getting more. Okay, that's greedy. We got him here. He's not coming back. You're right, you're right, you're right. Hey, why not? Maybe. Uh so there's gonna be three sections. I'll explain them as we go. Just start off with some short answer questions. Starting with, how are you doing? I'm well, man. It's a good convo here. Hell yeah, man. Appreciate you, bro. Indeed. And what are the three most common mistakes that you see young artists making who are struggling to advance in the music business? This is difficult to answer. Yeah. Because, you know, I wouldn't call it mistakes. You're just trying things. You're trying to find your voice.

You're trying to find your place in this thing. I don't, I don't want people to, I don't want to say something that people don't try things. And maybe that experience will help them find their voice and find where they fit in in this in this in this culture. That's a bar. So you know. Can we reword it? I love that non-answer. No, that was beautiful. Yeah. It was beautiful. You gotta try shit. That goes back to what he said. Not trying shit, man. You got to, bro. So not trying enough shit, maybe as well. Yeah, just just it goes back to what you were saying earlier about like if you're doing the same things and it's not working, then you have to try something else. You have to pivot. Try shit, man. Try shit. be like be, you know. There's a reason why the guys at the top of the genre are there. You know what I'm saying? It's the guys are creative as fuck, man. Like, you know what I'm saying? They they write songs for themselves, they write songs for other people. You know what I mean? They just, you know, and and and and some of it is God given, and some of it is repetition and just trying shit, like, you know. Sure.

It's just just be a creative man. It's huge. All right. And you can sign any three artists that you want to hybrid right now. Who would you bring on? Oh shit. Unlimited budget too. Yeah. Whatever advance you need. People that are anybody that are like already out there. Well, yeah. Should we say he can snipe someone off their deal? Oh, yeah. I mean, you can just sign anybody. Anybody. Anybody's on the table. Any three artists. Any three artists. Could be people we know, or if you you know, want to manifest some people we don't know. Taylor Swift, Beyonce, weekends. The three most revenue generated. This guy's a business, man, bro. The company's going places. and they're amazing, too. Like they all make such good music. Yeah, man. I'm I want to be at the top of the food chain, man. That's gonna get you. Same, bro. Same. That's definitely gonna get you too. I'm signing the Swifties immediately, too. And the beehive. I swear.

Um this uh segment, I'm calling matchmaker. Okay. We're gonna take Boogie. We're gonna take Don and who's the third artist that you mentioned? Yeah, Booba, Booba Savage. Booba, and then I think there was one more. Trap Manny. Trap Manny. Um pair each of them up with a producer that you would love to see them work with. Hmm. So Boogie, I put him with Jahan, Jahan Sweet. Heard of him. And the reason why is because Jahan produced two of our biggest records. He did Jahan didn't look back at it, he did Drowning. Yeah, I just saw that credit. Yeah. I put Boogie with Metro, put him with Jahan, I put him with London on the track. Yes. Um just the people that he's found, he's found a pocket with. I'd put him with those people. Have they worked since? Like you know, have him and Jahan worked since those two. It's been a while. That's insane. Jahan's a big deal, man.

I know he is. No, no, I get it. He does Taylor Swift. No, I get it. Travis. So is it like uh just like schedules, don't schedule two ships passing in a night. Okay, okay, yeah. You know, but shout out to Jahan, man. at least send a pack, Jahan. Nah, he sends packs. Oh, he does? He doesn't send packs. The magic's in the room. Always in the room, bro. It's always man. fuck the pack shit, bro. Drowning wasn't sent in a pack. Yeah, bro. All right, yeah. So Don Q, who we pairing him with? Oh man. Anybody. And this is manifesting right now. This could happen. That's what I'm hoping for. Mm-hmm. I'm with you. I put Don Q with um, I put Don Q with just Blaze. Okay, just Blaze. All right. Booba Savage. Who we pairing him with. I already know I'm gonna put him. I'm gonna put just Blaze... I'm gonna put Booba with Rico Beats. Okay. That's because Booba has like that drill. Yeah.

And Rico Beats, shout out to my man Rico. He's the guy that did pop smokes. He kind of curated Pop Smokes all of his whole sound. Oh wow. And you know, like drills kind of It's kind of morphed into different things. But Rico is like the, he's like the essence. This he has that sauce, like you know, that grittiness. Oh, that New York drill? Yeah, yeah. For sure. Rico is amazing, man. Shout out to Rico, man. Okay, who was the last artist? Trap Manny. Trap Manny, yeah, yeah. Who we putting him with. Ah man. I'll put Trap with probably like Southside. Okay. Hard. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Dope. All right. Okay, my last one. I look forward to all those collaborations. Yeah. Will they happen, yeah, they will. We're gonna make a clip. They will from this. It's gonna be great. Uh-huh. We spoke that shit in True Existence. This last part is also a new segment. Oh god, this guy's I didn't approve these segments anybody, just so we know. I came up with this on the golf course today. It's called How Many Times Have You Said It Today?

And your word is fuck. Uh, maybe like three times today. Three times. All here, I would say. All here, yeah. Yeah, I say it a lot. Yeah. I try not to say it in front of my two-year-old son because he's starting to repeat stuff, but uh, he's gonna be saying it. Don't worry. It's all good. Yeah. It's okay in 2024, I think. Um is it? Yeah, it's fine. The next session is. Things coming from a non-parent. The next section is called the this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. You should pick one. All right. All right. Starting with rapping or singing. Hmm... The age old debate. Think you can't have one without the other man. They go so well together. That's why it's a good question. That's why I'm asking. You have to pick one. I mean, I'm from the old school, so I would have I would have to say rapping. Yeah, cool. I do it, bro. Come on. Drums or melodies. I need drums.

Yes. SoundCloud or YouTube? YouTube. In the studio or on tour? On tour. America or Africa? America. Discover new artists or binge your favorites. Binge my favorites. And finally, become a full-time rapper or leave the music industry. I'm leaving. He's going back to corporate, bro. Can't do it. I don't know. You had some bars, bro. The way you spit that prodigy lyric. Yeah. I felt that shit. bro. Even just some of the gems. Like if we made them rhythm. Got them with the right producer. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. I think it's very possible. Yeah, I mean. The lyrics are there. The lyrics are there. The last part is the word association. I'm going to say one word. You just say the first word off the top of your head that you think of. Here we go. Starting with hip hop. God bless it. Gambia. Home. Cake. Good.

Album. Platinum. TikTok. I don't get it. Garbage. Stinks. Strap. There's one nearby. Diddy. Next one. Lil. Wayne. Hi. Bridge. Let's go. This has been M High Bridge, the label. Artist manager, A Boogie, Don Q, Trap Manny. Dropping gems on your head. And more. Thank you for sharing, man. Thank you, bro. Thank you for coming on. Rachel Jackson, shout out to you. We still need that Rachel interview, though. It's like, was this her way of just like, you know, she's like, M, can you do this interview? Yeah. No, this is amazing, man. Seriously, appreciate you coming on, bro. So much fucking gems on this episode. Good shit, man. Yep. As always, please like, comment, subscribe, follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Podcast, leave us a five-star review, or keep it fucking moving. Until next week, Henry, what are we doing? Get out of here.