Aspire with Charlamagne Tha God: From Broke at 30 to Millionaire Mogul— The Steps You Can Steal

Summary

Aspire with Emma Grede: Charlamagne Tha God – From Broke at 30 to Millionaire Mogul—The Steps You Can Steal

Release Date: July 8, 2025

In this compelling episode of "Aspire with Emma Grede," host Emma Grede engages in a deep and transformative conversation with Charlamagne Tha God. Charlamagne, a radio icon, bestselling author, and cultural influencer, shares his remarkable journey from a troubled youth to a successful mogul. This episode delves into his personal struggles, pivotal moments, and the philosophies that propelled him to the top of the media landscape.

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1. Overcoming a Troubled Past

Charlamagne opens up about his tumultuous childhood and the early challenges that nearly derailed his future. Growing up in South Carolina, he faced a series of poor decisions and legal troubles, including multiple stints in jail. Reflecting on these experiences, Charlamagne emphasizes the importance of taking radical responsibility for one’s actions.

Charlamagne Tha God [05:35]: "Positive Energy Activates Constant Elevation."

He credits his father’s stern advice as a turning point, which instilled in him the necessity to change his lifestyle to avoid a bleak future.

Charlamagne Tha God [05:21]: "If you don't change your lifestyle, you're gonna end up in jail, dead or broke, sitting under the tree."

2. The Hustler’s Path to Success

Charlamagne identifies his innate hustler mentality as both a product of his upbringing and personal drive. From working multiple odd jobs—including telemarketing and retail—to securing internships in radio, his relentless work ethic laid the foundation for his career.

Charlamagne Tha God [10:52]: "There's 168 hours in a week. That's more than enough time."

His perseverance through being fired multiple times showcases his resilience and unwavering commitment to his goals.

3. Navigating Career Setbacks

Throughout his early radio career, Charlamagne faced numerous setbacks, including being fired four times. Rather than viewing these as failures, he saw them as stepping stones toward greater success.

Charlamagne Tha God [18:42]: "Every time I got fired, it was just because the new program director wanted his own team. It's like a coach bringing in his own personnel."

Despite these challenges, Charlamagne's unwavering belief in his vision eventually led him to "The Breakfast Club," a show that now reaches over six million listeners weekly.

Charlamagne Tha God [22:25]: "We're doing Breakfast Club forever. [...] And to be 15 years later and unbelievable."

4. Personal Growth and Mental Health

A significant portion of the conversation centers on Charlamagne's journey toward self-improvement and mental health. Starting therapy in 2016, he confronted deep-seated issues, including anxiety and depression.

Charlamagne Tha God [25:12]: "When you show up as the man that you need to be for yourself, then you can show up for your wife, I can show up for my daughters."

He shares his transformative experience with ayahuasca, describing it as a catalyst for profound personal insights and healing.

Charlamagne Tha God [31:35]: "Ayahuasca is like going into that closet that you think is nice and neat, especially if you've already done some work and then ripping it up all over again."

5. Leadership and Ownership

Charlamagne discusses his philosophy on ownership and creating opportunities for others. He emphasizes building platforms that benefit the community rather than just oneself.

Charlamagne Tha God [43:43]: "Ownership means that I can create opportunity for people who a lot of these corporations may not take a risk on or may not even know about."

His initiatives, such as the Black Effect Podcast Network and his ventures in audio scripted content, reflect his commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion within the media industry.

6. Family and Parenting

Family plays a pivotal role in Charlamagne's life and success. As a father to four daughters, he focuses on instilling values of honesty, resilience, and self-worth.

Charlamagne Tha God [58:50]: "The biggest thing I'm teaching my children right now is that it's okay to get things wrong."

He models healthy relationships and open communication, drawing lessons from his own upbringing to ensure his daughters grow up with a strong sense of self and mutual respect.

7. Mindset, Gratitude, and Daily Habits

Charlamagne attributes much of his success to a disciplined mindset and daily practices centered around gratitude and intention-setting.

Charlamagne Tha God [54:07]: "Everything is mental. It starts in your mind."

His morning routine includes prayer, affirmations, meditation, and setting daily intentions, which he believes are crucial for maintaining mental clarity and focus.

Charlamagne Tha God [57:43]: "I wake up with so much gratitude... My intention is always to serve and, you know, and to have God bless me with the divine protection to deal with whatever it is I gotta deal with that day."

8. Advice for Aspiring Individuals

In his closing remarks, Charlamagne offers invaluable advice to those embarking on their career journeys:

• Keep God First: Maintain faith and purpose.
• Stay Humble: Recognize the value of every experience.
• Keep Working: Persist despite obstacles.
• Avoid Comparisons: Focus on your own journey rather than measuring against others.

Charlamagne Tha God [72:12]: "Keep God first, stay humble, keep working. And comparison is the thief of joy."

He stresses that true success lies in personal happiness and authenticity rather than financial gain alone.

Charlamagne Tha God [73:16]: "For me, success is what makes you happy. I'm happy, you know, doing Breakfast Club every morning... I'm happy when my four daughters are jumping all over me."

9. Rapid Fire Round

The episode concludes with a rapid-fire segment where Charlamagne shares personal habits and influences:

• Favorite Book: The Autobiography of Malcolm X.
• Aspiring for in Business: "Massive success that benefits a lot of people more than me."
• Aspiring Personally: "Constant healing."

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Charlamagne Tha God's candid discussion provides listeners with a blueprint for overcoming adversity, prioritizing mental health, and building a meaningful and impactful life. His emphasis on gratitude, continuous self-improvement, and creating opportunities for others offers profound insights for anyone aiming to turn their dreams into reality.

Notable Quotes:

• Charlamagne Tha God [05:35]: "Positive Energy Activates Constant Elevation."
• Emma Grede [27:48]: "It's like, and only you can deal with it."
• Charlamagne Tha God [72:12]: "Keep God first, stay humble, keep working. And comparison is the thief of joy."

Transcript

[Emma Grede]

So as you know, my goal with this show is to bring you the stories and the steps straight from people who've built, shifted and shaken culture so.

[Charlemagne the God]

That you can take what you need.

[Emma Grede]

And run with it.

[Charlemagne the God]

And you can't say culture leader without.

[Emma Grede]

Bringing up today's guest, Charlemagne the God. He is a radio icon, bestselling author, empire builder, and an unapologetic truth teller. But here's what really gets me about Charlemagne. His journey is the ultimate reminder that you don't need a shiny start to come out on top. You just need grit, honesty, and the guts to face your stuff head on. In this episode, we talk about all of it. Dealing with your mess, taking radical responsibility, and being brutally honest with yourself and learning to grow without losing who you are. And he does not hold back. And neither do I, of course. And yes, we're also going to get into what it's like raising four daughters and the values that he's trying to instill in the next generation. So if you're ready for a conversation that is real, raw and actually useful.

[Charlemagne the God]

This one's for you.

[Emma Grede]

Stay tuned. I don't know about you, but I.

[Charlemagne the God]

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[Emma Grede]

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[Charlemagne the God]

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[Emma Grede]

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[Emma Grede]

Charlamagne welcome to Aspire Emma.

[Charlamagne the God]

Thank you for having Me on Aspire.

[Emma Grede]

Honestly, I'm so excited to have you here. I want to set the tone for this conversation because every time I try to film one of these, I really want the audience to walk away with something tangible and something that they can use. And you are, at 46 years of age, so unbelievably successful. You have one of the biggest radio shows in the country, which I just had the great pleasure of being on. You've got.

[Charlamagne the God]

Thank you for coming.

[Emma Grede]

Multiple, multiple bestselling books. You're a podcast host. You do so much. But I kind of want to take it back. Yeah, God is good. And you say that all the time, which I absolutely love. But I want to take it back a little bit and understand more about your childhood, where you come from. But I also really want to understand what you wish you knew when you were 18 years old.

[Charlamagne the God]

What did I wish I knew when I was 18? I wish I knew when I was 18 that everything was going to be all right, you know, that everything is part of this process called life. You know, I'm at the point in my life right now where I don't even believe in so called good experiences or so called bad experiences. I think that whatever you're going through in life is just all part of this process and that ultimately makes you whatever version of yourself you are in.

[Emma Grede]

This current moment that make it easier for you to deal with bad experiences.

[Charlamagne the God]

So called bad experiences. Because what you realize is these things aren't happening to you, they're happening for you. Because a lot of the bad experiences that you end up having are probably because of your own poor choices. And if they're not because of your own poor choices, they're because of things that you can't control anyway.

[Emma Grede]

Totally. I mean, you've had your fair share of bad experiences. And I feel like growing up where I did so many of the boys and the girls had really, like, traumatic things happen to them when they were young. They kind of made poor decisions, ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. And I feel like that happened to you when you were younger and yet you were able to turn it around. And I wonder if there's like a really formative experience from your childhood that shaped actually who you are today.

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, I had a bunch of them. You know, there was something that my father used to tell me all the time. My father would say, if you don't change your lifestyle, you're gonna end up in jail, dead or broke, sitting under the tree. So for me, I was blessed to be Able to experience enough things early on and see enough things early on to know my dad wasn't lying. So, you know, it starts with acting out in school, right? You're acting out in school, and then that turns to running the streets and doing a bunch of things that you shouldn't be doing. But then you start to see people around you actually go to prison. And then you start having your own little stints in jail, and you see people around you actually dying. And you see people that you once looked up to really sitting under a tree broke. And you like, yo, my dad's not lying.

[Emma Grede]

That could be me.

[Charlamagne the God]

That could be me if I don't start making better choices. And that's what I did. And that's why I love this acronym called peace. And it's peace, but it's Positive Energy activates constant elevation.

[Emma Grede]

Positive Energy Activates constant elevation. Oh, I love that.

[Charlamagne the God]

And see what I started doing, I started doing the opposite of what everybody around me was doing. So if they was hanging out in the hood all day under the tree, I went to night school. You know, they were selling dope. I went and started working a bunch of odd jobs and that, you know, actually putting my best foot forward to just try to create some type of positive energy in my life. It did. And it led me in, you know, it led me in better rooms with better company, with people who are actually doing things with their life. And, you know, I'm just a curious person. Like, that's my superpower. The fact that I don't have no problem asking you what you do, how you got there. I probably annoy you. Cause I'm asking you.

[Emma Grede]

We know. I just spent my morning with you, so.

[Charlamagne the God]

Cause you are a fascinating person.

[Emma Grede]

We know that.

[Charlamagne the God]

You know, you're a fascinating person for a lot of different reasons, you know, But. Yeah, so it's just like, when I started actually doing things to create this positive energy in my life, positive things started to happen.

[Emma Grede]

What was a moment that you actually found that turnaround?

[Charlamagne the God]

Probably when I was involved in the drug bust. Probably because that was the second time.

[Emma Grede]

Tell me about that.

[Charlamagne the God]

I was. I was selling dope. And, you know, I had already went to jail because I was in the car with my homeboy when he had shot at somebody. And so we went to jail for 45 days. And it was that.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, 45 days.

[Charlamagne the God]

Well, I was in jail for 45 days. My dad bailed me out. My homeboy was in there a lot longer, but my dad bailed out, bail me out after 45 days still.

[Emma Grede]

45 days is 45 days. That's enough time to think about what you've done.

[Charlamagne the God]

Especially when you get arrested fresh from high school, when you're sit, you're literally sitting in the classroom and the next minute you in handcuffs and then you in an orange jumpsuit for the next 45 days.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, you go thinking time.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yes. So it was that experience, but I still came out a little bit hard headed because you know, you start to see people around you and they making money, you know, selling dope and you know, you kind of feel like, oh, I got some stripes now. I went to jail, so I might as well like really? I already got one little toe on the street. Let me put another one in there.

[Emma Grede]

Let me double down.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yes. And so I was in a drug bus and it was like me and like 16 of my homeboys and I remember when they, you know, had us in the cold tank, I just was, I just started throwing up, like literally. Cause I couldn't believe I was. That's a reaction in this situation. I had a visceral reaction to, you know, fucking up again basically. And that was it for me. That was like, yeah, I gotta get it together. Cause my dad is 100% right. Like I gotta change my life. If I don't change my lifestyle, I'm gonna end up in jail, dead or broke, sitting under the tree. And that was terrifying because you know, Biggie Smalls had a lyric and Biggie Smalls said, being broke at 30 give a brother the chills. Right. And I was still in my 20s, but I was just thinking, you're a lot.

[Emma Grede]

That's where I'm headed.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. And I was still broke at 30, but I got myself on the right path.

[Emma Grede]

You were going in the right direction.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right.

[Emma Grede]

So what do you say to people? Cause again, I feel like I grew up with so many people that for whatever reason, right. And often out of no choice make, you know, and we all make bad decisions. So what do you say to people who don't have the best start? Like if do you have to get all the way to like getting to jail, what do you, how do you turn it around?

[Charlamagne the God]

I mean, it's not about where you start, right. It's about where you ultimately finish, you know. And yeah, there's plenty of us who weren't dealt the best hand. But you really can't let your environment turn you into just a career. You can't let your environment turn you into a career failure. Because regardless of what you're seeing, around you. Especially nowadays, man, with social media and everything else, you can see so many different variations of success. Now, you know as well as I do, Emma, there's a lot of people on social media lying, but more than.

[Emma Grede]

They'Re actually doing the thing.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right. But there's also a lot of real stories that.

[Emma Grede]

And there's a lot of aspiration. There's a lot. That's what this whole podcast is about.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right.

[Emma Grede]

We need those aspirational people that we can look up to and say, he did it and so can I.

[Charlamagne the God]

And by the way, saying somebody did it and so can you doesn't mean that you're supposed to be doing what that person is doing. That just means that success is possible regardless of what it is for you. That's why I tell folks all the time, success is subjective. Like, I know people where I'm from. I'm from South Carolina. There's people making 75 grand a year. But they got a nice house. Right. They're married, they got a beautiful family, and they're happy. And if what you're doing makes you happy, that is success.

[Emma Grede]

Yes, it is. No, I couldn't agree with you more. I feel like you are a natural born hustler. Like, you've done so many things, you continue to do so many things. Do you think that that is something that you were born with or something that you've taught yourself?

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, man, both. Because I come from a long line of hustlers.

[Emma Grede]

Because you have had so many jobs. I heard you worked in a Taco Bell, you worked in telemarketing. You had a lot of different jobs before you got to where you are now.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah, my dad. My dad was like that. My dad had a fish market. My dad did construction. My dad sold dope. Like, you know, my dad always had, like, a little juke joint where he was, you know, selling the fish sandwiches and, you know, the bootleg alcohol. Like, my dad was a hustler. My oldest sister, she's a hustler. You know what I mean?

[Emma Grede]

She a family hustler.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. I always saw my older sister working a whole bunch of jobs. And for me, I feel like it's 168 hours in a week. And still to this day, I write down what I'm doing with my hours.

[Emma Grede]

Right, you do?

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, to this day, every day, every day, I want to know exactly what I spent my time.

[Emma Grede]

Because you're upset, like. Cause you wanna be productive. Every hour I wanna be productive.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right. That's Right. And I love that on the phone now. It can tell you how much screen time you have.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, yeah, I love that because that.

[Charlamagne the God]

Lets you know how much time you're probably wasting. So my sister was a hustler. So for me, that's all I ever wanted to do. Especially when I go back to what I was telling you about. Just wanting to do something positive. Right. There was a time I was working three different jobs. I was working at a telemarketing place. I would call your house and try to sell you 20 CDs for a penny. I was working at a clothing store in the mall called Demo Demo Hip Hop Clothing Store back in the day. And I was working at the radio station as an intern. And that was perfect for me. Cause I had some money in my pocket. That's what I always tell folks. You know, deal with your reality while you chase your dreams. There's 168 hours in a week. That's more than enough time.

[Charlemagne the God]

That's more than enough.

[Emma Grede]

Listen, I did the same thing. I interned at every fashion company going. And I was working in a shop. And then I would do my internships on the other day's work, all weekend work in the deli. It's like, you just gotta do it. And I love that idea of like, you know, you're gonna have to multitask a little bit. Because it's never the fact that you can just dive straight into what you want to do.

[Charlamagne the God]

No.

[Emma Grede]

Now your start on radio. I know that you started and you were, you know, staying apparently with Wendy Williams when you had your first job in radio, is that right?

[Charlamagne the God]

No, that wasn't my first job. That was actually. Ooh, that was like my fourth job.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, really?

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. Cause I started in my hometown of South Carolina.

[Emma Grede]

Okay, tell me about that.

[Charlamagne the God]

So I worked at four different radio stations.

[Emma Grede]

How did you even get into radio? Like, where did that come from? Like your first foray into radio, wanting to rap?

[Charlamagne the God]

Because when I was growing up, the people who looked like me, that were black, that were successful, were usually in entertainment or some form of athletics. And so, like. And I was always into storytelling. Like, I love people who tell stories. So I was just like, yo, I'm seeing all of these people, especially in the 90s, you watching all these black people from all of these different places have all of this success through rap. And I was like, yo, I want to rap. And so I was in a recording studio called Never so Deep Records, and I met this guy named Willie Will. And Willie Will was a radio Personality in Charleston, South Carolina. And I literally just asked him, yo, how'd you get in the radio? And he was like, yo, I got an internship. So I was like, so I can just go down there and get an internship? And he was like, yeah. I was like, I don't gotta be in school or nothing. He was like, no, mind you, this is 1998.

[Emma Grede]

1998. Okay. Okay.

[Charlamagne the God]

So barrier of entry was different.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, totally different.

[Charlamagne the God]

Totally different. So I just went down there and I got an internship, and that's how I got into radio. And that led me to, you know, being in promotions. Cause I wasn't on air at first. I was just in the promotions. I was the guy that would help you put your posters up. And I would go with the personalities to set up their events. They used to call them remotes, live remotes. I would set up the microphones for them. I would set up the tables for them. I'd set up.

[Emma Grede]

So you know how everything works.

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, absolutely.

[Emma Grede]

I love that.

[Charlamagne the God]

I love it. I got no problem getting my hands dirty.

[Emma Grede]

And then when does Wendy come into the picture?

[Charlamagne the God]

Four radio stations later, because I quit Z93 jams, go to Hot98.9, which is also in Charleston. I get fired from there, but then I go do radio an hour and a half in Columbia, South Carolina, which is the capital of South Carolina.

[Emma Grede]

So you'll commute in an hour and a half, backwards and forwards.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right. Which I didn't mind because my wife was going to the University of South Carolina. So that gave me a reason to.

[Emma Grede]

You know, I've got so many questions about your wife. I can't wait to talk about your wife.

[Charlamagne the God]

And so when I was in Columbia, Wendy was actually syndicated on Hot 1039 in Columbia, South Carolina.

[Emma Grede]

So Wendy was Wendy back then. She was a big deal. So this was a break for you.

[Charlamagne the God]

This was 2002. So the parent company Inner city Broadcasting owned those stations in South Carolina and owned the station in New York. So Wendy actually came down to Columbia for just, like a visit, you know, to visit the market. And I'm, you know, I'm a hustler. Like, you know, oh, Wendy's gonna be in town.

[Emma Grede]

You approached that.

[Charlamagne the God]

I got my mixtapes, I got my parody songs. I got everything. Oh, she's in the studio where I broadcast. No, you're making a move.

[Emma Grede]

You're making a move.

[Charlamagne the God]

I walked in the door 100%. Walked in the door, went in the studio. She was in there doing her show. Hello, my name is Charlamagne. Hey, I got these mixtapes.

[Emma Grede]

I got forgetting songs.

[Charlamagne the God]

I would like for you to listen to these. You know what she told me? She said, get the fuck out of here.

[Emma Grede]

No, she did not.

[Charlamagne the God]

I'm doing my motherfucking radio show. Take that mixtape shit to my husband. You know what I Did you die? No. I said, well, where's your husband?

[Emma Grede]

Oh, okay. I don't know that I would have done that. I was with you all the way until that bit. I would have been like. I'd have been sad, actually. Maybe. Do you know what? This talks. This says a lot about who you are. Because I think actually I would have been so mad that either I would have clapped back or I would have been like, well, I'm not gonna give her my tape anyway. Like, that says a lot about you. You were focused.

[Charlamagne the God]

She gave me an order.

[Emma Grede]

So you went. You found the husband and you gave the tape?

[Charlamagne the God]

She gave me two orders. Get the fuck out and give that mixtape shit to my husband.

[Charlemagne the God]

Oh, Lord.

[Charlamagne the God]

So I gave. I went to go find her husband in the building. He was sitting in the conference room. I gave him the mixtapes. Guess what? He actually listened. And we had a conversation that built a relationship, a bit of a rapport. And then one day, they asked me to come up to Wendy's show in New York. They was no not to come to her show. They asked me to come to a party. She was throwing in the party. Wendy told me, hey, won't you come on my show tomorrow? Literally straight like that. And you can't tell me that. So now I'm blowing up her phone or her husband's phone. Like, yo, Wendy told me to come on tomorrow. Wendy told me to come on tomorrow. So he was like, all right. So they gave me the time to come. I went. I went on air with her for 25 minutes. And literally that night, they were offering me a position as her co host. And they told me. They said, we can't pay you, though.

[Emma Grede]

What?

[Charlamagne the God]

We can give you a place to stay. And that's what they did. And I moved up here and I worked for like, a year and a half.

[Emma Grede]

You moved without any job security and you just took that without being paid?

[Charlamagne the God]

Listen, I didn't have no kids or anything at the time. And I'm a type of person that I can recognize opportunity when it's not a paycheck attached to it.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, wow.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yep.

[Emma Grede]

Again, another place where we differ. But I love that about you.

[Charlemagne the God]

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[Emma Grede]

Talk to me about getting fired because I feel like everyone's been fired. Nobody likes to talk about it, but you were fired a couple of times. It sounds like four.

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, yeah, four times. And you know my man Donnell Rollins, he always says that if you get fired three times in radio, after the third time, you become a superstar.

[Emma Grede]

Really? Is that the truth?

[Charlamagne the God]

I got fired four times. So after my fourth year, I think I did okay. Wow.

[Emma Grede]

Okay.

[Charlamagne the God]

I think I did okay.

[Emma Grede]

But explains your success.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah, every time I got fired, it was just for.

[Emma Grede]

Why were you being fired? Because let me tell you, in any other place where like you've been fired four times, there's a problem.

[Charlamagne the God]

No, in radio, that's just the business. Hot 98. 9 in Charleston. I got Fired. Cause they brought in a new program director. He wanted to bring in his own team. It's like a coach bringing in his own personnel. When I was at Big DM in Columbia, South Carolina, I didn't get fired. They had a station, they flipped formats. When I was at Hot 103.9, that's where I met Wendy. So I was working in New York for free during the week, but then flying back to South Carolina to do my show on the weekends. And my program director, he told me his name is Chris Connor. Salute to Chris. Great dude. He said, you can't have your cake and eat it too. You know, the bigger boss wants you fired. So they let me go. And then when I. So that's what? One, two. That's two fires. And when I was with Wendy, it was 2008. It was just a recession. It was like 25 people. Literally, that was the end of the welfare. Oh, everybody got fired.

[Emma Grede]

The whole thing, everything was impacted.

[Charlamagne the God]

Wendy's whole staff, like 15 other people at the radio station got fired. And then when I was at and doing morning radio in Philadelphia, it was the same thing. They brought in a new program director and he wanted to bring in some other folks. And it was funny, his name. And I wrote about this in my first book. They told him, they said that if you fire Charlamagne, because he's got great ratings and people love him in the city. If you fire him, we're gonna send you back to where you came from.

[Emma Grede]

No, they didn't.

[Charlamagne the God]

Because he came from St. Louis.

[Emma Grede]

Did they do that?

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely. Because he got rid of me. And what he bought in, didn't work.

[Emma Grede]

Didn'T perform as well.

[Charlamagne the God]

It didn't perform as well. And then I ended up on Breakfast Club.

[Emma Grede]

But what did you learn from all of these firings? Because it's gotta hit, even if there's a. You had to have taken that personally at some point.

[Charlamagne the God]

I did. Cause I didn't know no better. So the first time I really was pissed off. Cause I didn't understand that I could do radio in other places. I was home in my hometown doing radio. I didn't know that I could be from out of town and work at somebody else's radio. I had no idea.

[Emma Grede]

You didn't have dream. You didn't think, I can go to New York and do it there.

[Charlamagne the God]

I didn't start thinking about that until probably when I got into Columbia. When I got Columbia.

[Emma Grede]

That's so interesting, because I come from a place where again, my idea of success. And I've always been ambitious, but it was so narrow. When you're from, like, the outskirts of a place, you don't really have that big idea of yourself and what it could be.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's true. And I have a good friend. Her name is Neek. You know, Neek is a radio personality in South Carolina. She works at Hot 103.9 in Columbia, South Carolina. And Neek said to me, we were just having a conversation about radio, and, you know, what we want to do next. And I remember her saying to me, when you leave the station today, just look for a sign. She said, you might look at a license plate, and that license plate might have the city where you're supposed to be in. And I remember leaving the station. I had a little gray Honda at the time, and I'm driving. And that conversation, you know how you leave a conversation and then it plays back in your head and you remember what the person said. And I was like, look at the license plate. I promise you. When I look to the left, there was a license plate that had a New Jersey license plate. And my mind goes, amazing. There's no radio stations in New Jersey. I couldn't do radio. There's no greatest city of New Jersey. But then my mind goes, oh, but New York. And I was like, how am I gonna make it from South Carolina, which is market number 93? Columbia, South Carolina, the market number one. But, God, here you are. Here I am.

[Emma Grede]

I mean, here you are with, like, one of the biggest shows on the planet. Like, Breakfast Club is so big, I think you reach, what, 6 million listeners every single week. Is that right?

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah, yeah. Like six to eight million.

[Emma Grede]

It's unbelievable. When you started the show, did you set out for it to be this type of thing? You had that type of ambition for it?

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely. Because, you know, there came a. In my life, when stuff like that starts happening to you, not only do you have a faith in a higher power, you just start believing in yourself, and you start believing in the power of intention, and you start believing in the law of attraction, right? So you start doing your vision board, and you start, you know, journaling, and you just start.

[Emma Grede]

You do all of that.

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, all of that. And you just start speaking things into fruition. So the first time. And Envy and Angeli will tell you this. When I got on Breakfast Club, I was the one saying, yo, we're going to be syndicated. You know, we're going to be a nationally syndicated show. Like, I saw the vision, you know, early, early, early on to the point where I remember Nicki Minaj had that song, Moment for Life.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, it's one of my favorite songs.

[Charlamagne the God]

I love it. And she had a line in there. She was like, in this moment, we'll be syndicated. And I used to say that all the time, over and over. I wanted to use it in promos and everything. They was like, oh, that's corny. That's corny.

[Emma Grede]

No, it's not corny. It's such a good song.

[Charlamagne the God]

And I just knew. I just knew that, you know, this team of myself and Envy and Angela Yee, it was gonna do something. You know, of course, you can never say, hey, this is gonna be this successful. You just know it's gonna be successful. You just don't know how successful it's gonna be. And, you know, to be 15 years later and unbelievable.

[Emma Grede]

Were you trying to emulate something? Could you see? Was there like a. A version or a blueprint of what you guys were saying? Okay, if we set out to do this, you know, it's going to look exactly like X, Y and Z. Because I do that all the time. You know, when I start a company, I often take aim at the competition. I will often say, and I remember at the beginning of Good America, and I was like, we are going to absolutely kill X. I won't say it, but, you know, prominent competition. And, you know, and I would be like, I'd look and I'd learn every single thing about that business. The prices, where their distribution, how they sell, like, what they put in emails, like, the whole thing.

[Charlamagne the God]

Did you do that? I had my sights set on the competition for sure. Cause you gotta think, this is New York City. So 2010 in radio, that's hot. 97, that's the big dogs, right? So all of them could get it. You know, I'm ready to come in here and just chop all of their heads off. But as far as, like, who we were emulating, nobody. The only person I would even think that we were thinking about emulating was Elvis Duran. But not because of how Elvis did things, but just because that was the big show for the company we work for, which is iheart.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah, no, that makes sense. I mean, you've obviously rose to prominence saying some pretty outrageous things, but I feel like in the last. I don't know if it's been in the last few years, I feel like you've completely switched that up. You have, like, a new way of being. You seem to, like, be operating on some very different type of vibration. Now, was that purposeful for you?

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely, 100% you know, because I saw the ceiling that existed for a lot of people in hip hop, especially hip hop media. Right. People weren't allowing themselves to grow. And one thing I know about any industry that you're in, you have to know when to pivot, you have to know when to grow, you have to know when to evolve. And I think that one of the mistakes that we make in hip hop culture a lot of times is we don't allow ourselves to just simply grow up. Like, that's just something. That's something rather new, Right? Like the Jay Z with the wife and the kids, you know, doing the.

[Emma Grede]

First rapping about being a grownup.

[Charlamagne the God]

Rapping about being a grownup. That's pretty new. Nas rapping about brunch on Sundays. That's pretty new. Like, it makes me feel good.

[Emma Grede]

Absolutely right about that.

[Charlamagne the God]

It makes me feel good to see the younger ones, like the Kendrick Lamars doing stuff like miss Morale and stuff.

[Emma Grede]

Like grown up rap.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. So it's just like we don't allow ourselves to grow up. So personally and professionally, I knew that I was gonna bump my head if I didn't grow the fuck up.

[Emma Grede]

And what was the turning point for you? Was there something that happened?

[Charlamagne the God]

No, I think I started going to therapy in 2016 because, you know, I saw myself becoming a version of myself that I didn't like. I was caught up in like the whole hip hop, you know, star lifestyle. And I got married in 2014, but I wasn't, you know, being the best husband.

[Emma Grede]

Those two things don't work together.

[Charlamagne the God]

No.

[Emma Grede]

Hip hop lifestyle and the marriage?

[Charlamagne the God]

No, no, no. So I wasn't being the best husband and I was becoming like my dad. And, you know, before I started going to therapy, I thought that I really was upset with my dad because of his infidelity, you know, towards my mom. And that made me literally, I remember just saying to myself, yo, I'm becoming what I claim to despise, what I claim, you know, to hate. Plus, I've always dealt with like anxiety and bouts of depression throughout my whole life. So, you know, imagine having the success, having more money than you ever made in your life. But on the inside you just fucked up. Like, you know, you don't feel good about who you are, right? Like, you're thinking to yourself, well, damn, why am I still dealing with anxiety when I don't gotta worry about these bills? Or, you know, why am I still having bouts of depression when I'm, you know, got this top rated radio show and, you know, I just put out this bestselling book, like, why is, you know, why am I still feeling the way I'm feeling? And so that's what led me to therapy. And you know, if you've ever done any type of therapy, you know, you.

[Emma Grede]

Go, I've done all the types of therapy, man.

[Charlamagne the God]

You go for one thing, next thing you know, you peeling back all types of layers.

[Emma Grede]

I mean, this is it. And it never stops.

[Charlamagne the God]

I mean, never stops.

[Emma Grede]

I think about one of my principles, charlamagne. And it's a principle that I have in business which is, you know, ultimately you can't be successful in business unless you're successful in life and you have to deal with all of your shit.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right.

[Emma Grede]

It's like, and only you can deal with it. And I feel like going to therapy, it's like one of many things that just starts to, you start to uncover, but you gotta then deal with it. So what does that even look like for you? Because once you start to learn about yourself, you've then gotta figure out, okay, well, how am I making progress? How am I making change?

[Charlamagne the God]

Fantastic question, fantastic question. You know, people go to therapy and they get the language right and you start to understand what the problems are, but you don't actually do anything to heal from it. And you know, I love my good sister Debbie Brown. I remember she put me on to that one time, she was like, yo, you know, you can go to therapy and get the language, but you know, if you don't really feel things changing, it's because you're not really doing no real healing work. You gotta do the work, you gotta go do that real healing work. So that real healing work can look like a number of things. It can look like, you know, meditation, it can look like, you know, plant based medicine. It can look like, you know, grounding. It can look like really, really facing those hard traumas that you've been trying to run from and just feeling them and dealing with them. And you know, I tell folks all the time, man, you get to a certain age and you realize life is literally just about healing your inner child.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah.

[Charlamagne the God]

All day long, all day long, all day long version of yourself, that 8 year old version, that 15 year old version of yourself, like those versions of yourself that was young and experienced certain traumas, you know, they didn't have the resources that you had, they didn't have the information or the knowledge that you had. And you know, you gotta go back and do your best to heal those versions of yourself. So healing is a constant thing. Like I Don't think that any. I don't think anybody ever actually gets healed.

[Emma Grede]

No. You don't get done with it.

[Charlamagne the God]

No. Because there's always something that's gonna trigger you that might bring you back to that place, but at least you got some tools and some resources to know how to deal with it.

[Emma Grede]

Have you been surprised in therapy?

[Charlamagne the God]

Surprised? I think. Well, the first time I ever had a real breakthrough was when I realized my dad used to discipline me for things that he never taught me. Right. And so that's a big.

[Emma Grede]

I feel like that's one that people are gonna go, yeah, that happened to me.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. And also to his credit, when I started talking about my issues that I was dealing with, with my mental health, it caused him to start having that conversation with me. He read my second book, Shook one. Anxiety Playing Tricks on Me. He read my second book, and I had a cousin who had just completed suicide that same week. It was the week of Thanksgiving, 2018. And he said to me, my dad, he told me, he said, yo, I tried to commit suicide 30 plus years ago.

[Emma Grede]

You never knew.

[Charlamagne the God]

Never knew. He said I was on. He said I was going to therapy two and three times a week, and I was on 10 to 12 different medications for my mental health.

[Emma Grede]

And you never knew this growing up?

[Charlamagne the God]

I never knew any of that.

[Emma Grede]

Did your mother know?

[Charlamagne the God]

I asked her, I said, did you know dad was going through all of this? And she said, I thought he was playing crazy to get a check.

[Emma Grede]

Oh.

[Charlamagne the God]

Like literally.

[Emma Grede]

Oh.

[Charlamagne the God]

And so.

[Emma Grede]

Poor guy.

[Charlamagne the God]

But when he told me that, it allowed me to give him so much grace because it made me realize he was just a man, you know, dealing with things just like I was. But that's why I always say we can't keep secrets.

[Emma Grede]

No.

[Charlamagne the God]

Because we keep secrets and it's not doing ourselves any favor. If he would have told me that he was dealing with all of this.

[Emma Grede]

No. You may have had a different appreciation of him.

[Charlamagne the God]

I would have known what I was going through 100%. I had panic attack symptoms. I was in first. I can remember my first panic attack in first grade. But my second real breakthrough. I'm gonna tell you my second real breakthrough. I did ayahuasca. You did.

[Emma Grede]

You're one of them people.

[Charlamagne the God]

I did. I'm one of them people.

[Emma Grede]

Wow.

[Charlamagne the God]

I did ayahuasca.

[Emma Grede]

I did not have you down as an ayahuasca person.

[Charlamagne the God]

I did it last February 2016.

[Emma Grede]

How did that go down? Because let me tell you, now that I live in la, everyone's on the.

[Charlamagne the God]

Ayahuasca Well, I did a whole ceremony. You know, ayahuasca is not something you can do. Just recreation.

[Emma Grede]

No, you need a person.

[Charlamagne the God]

We had the show.

[Emma Grede]

You need a guide.

[Charlamagne the God]

And we had to do it properly.

[Emma Grede]

We had all and be taken through it. Right.

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, we had music playing. But I'm gonna tell you something.

[Charlemagne the God]

You enjoyed this?

[Charlamagne the God]

I absolutely, positively loved it. Wow. 100%.

[Emma Grede]

What did it do for you?

[Charlamagne the God]

It put a lot of things in perspective. Like I always say, therapy is like, you go in a messy closet and you start like folding up things and, you know, putting things in its proper place. The clothes you've outgrown, you get rid of, you know, the things you want to keep you organized, nice and neat. Ayahuasca is like going into that closet that you think is nice and neat, especially if you've already done some work and then ripping it up all over again. And then looking at this stuff and saying to yourself, why do I even want to keep this? And it's literally, man, there is when.

[Emma Grede]

I tell you that that wasn't frightening to you.

[Charlamagne the God]

Well, I'm gonna tell you how ayahuasca gets you the first night. Cause you know, I'm a person that already deals with anxiety, so I'm like, I don't know what this is gonna do to me. The first night, it literally said to me. Cause it talks to you. It was like, everything is fine because everything is fine. It literally said that to me. Everything is fine because everything is fine. I got you this weekend. Don't worry about a thing. Whatever you experience, you were supposed to experience the next night. Oh, my God. Cause the first night I took a little bit. Second night I was like, oh, that wasn't so bad. I took a large woo. And then I took another large woo. I'm talking about when the ceremony was over and everybody sat in the circle and shared. Ayahuasca was like, nah, I'm not done with you yet. You lay back down. I laid down and I just cried. I cried to my wife like a babe.

[Emma Grede]

Did she do it with you?

[Charlamagne the God]

Yes, we did it together. It was a three day thing. And when I say I just cried and was just purging all of these different things, man. And you know the thing that came up for me on that second day was stop lying to yourself and stop sharing those lies with others. And that's what really. That's what made me write the book get on us or die Lying.

[Emma Grede]

That's big.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. Stop lying to yourself and stop sharing those lies with others.

[Emma Grede]

Are you a changed man after the ayahuasca?

[Charlamagne the God]

I think so, because it peeled back layers and took off masks that I might have still been wearing, you know, so. So I think so. But it's one of those things that, you know, with ayahuasca, like, you got to really process it. It's not even. It's not something you process the next day. It's not something you process 30 days later.

[Emma Grede]

No, that's not. It's ongoing. Right. Really?

[Charlamagne the God]

I don't even. I don't even think I've ever really talked about it publicly. This might be, like, my son. Second time, maybe, like, actually talking about it properly.

[Emma Grede]

I would appreciate it if it was your first. But. Go on.

[Charlamagne the God]

But. And then on the third night, you know, they told me on the third night, everything's okay because everything's okay. First night was, everything is fine because everything is fine. Second night was, stop lying to yourself and stop volunteering those lies to other people. Third night was, everything's okay because everything's okay. And that's literally how I just walked away from it.

[Emma Grede]

And you feel like you are still changing because of it.

[Charlamagne the God]

I'm not even exaggerating.

[Emma Grede]

Do you worry about that change? Because I wonder with someone like you who comes up? Because I know, like, even in England, we all know you for saying the most outrageous things. So do you worry that not saying outrageous things anymore means that you'll fall out of relevance?

[Charlamagne the God]

No, because the reality of the situation is, you know, there is a version of me that existed that people liked, and, you know, I might have outgrew those people, you know, because the reality of the situation is I have to be me. I can't pride myself on being authentic. I can't pride myself on living your truth. That's my mantra. Live your truth so nobody can use your truth.

[Emma Grede]

That's your brand.

[Charlamagne the God]

I can't pride myself on any of that if I'm pretending to be something that I'm not. So, yeah, I could probably continue to pretend to be a version of myself that I'm not. But why would I go back when I'm doing better than before?

[Emma Grede]

100%?

[Charlamagne the God]

I started going to therapy in 2016, and I put out my first book in 2016, which is black Privilege. Opportunity comes to those who create it. My life has done nothing but this.

[Emma Grede]

Up, up, up and up, up.

[Charlamagne the God]

More money, more opportunity.

[Emma Grede]

But also with that becomes a lot of, you know, because I feel like the higher you go, right, the more negativity that also comes your way, the more people Are, you know, out and talking about you. How do you deal with negativity and anything that takes away from all of your success?

[Charlamagne the God]

Same way I dealt with it, you know, before you got to block out the noise. Like, people are supposed to talk, like, you know. Yeah. They're supposed to have an opinion about you. Like, you know, my dad always. My dad would tell me something that I always.

[Emma Grede]

Your dad feels like a very wise person in a lot of ways.

[Charlamagne the God]

He was my dad. I come from a. We from the south. So I come. I grew up around a lot of very wise folks, you know, but my dad would always say, you're never as good as they say you are, and you're never as bad as they say you are. And my guy, Cadillac Jack, who's also a great mentor to me in this radio business, him and my man G. Spin put the Breakfast Club together. You know, Cadillac Jack said, always remember the rule of 10. Three people gonna like it. Three people not gonna like it. Four people don't even know what the hell's going on.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. This is like my rule of thirds. It's a million percent. I think about that in terms of the way I feel. I'm like, when you are a successful person, when you're chasing a dream, you're doing something difficult, you'll feel good about a third of the time. You'll feel okay about a third of the time. And the other third, you'll feel absolutely shit. And that's okay because you're supposed to not be good all the time. Everyone's not supposed to agree with you.

[Charlamagne the God]

I have. That's it. People are supposed to have an opinion about you. I'm a person that gives my opinion for a living. Everybody's not gonna agree with my opinion. I'd be a fool to think that everybody's gonna agree with my opinion. And the reality of the situation is there's people that probably listen to me more to disagree with me than they do that listen to me because they wanna agree. And guess what? The algorithm don't know the difference.

[Emma Grede]

No, it doesn't.

[Charlamagne the God]

So if you online talking about how much you don't like me, and then another person's online talking about how much.

[Emma Grede]

They love me, the advertiser's still coming your way.

[Charlamagne the God]

The algorithm don't know the difference. All they know is damn charlamagne got mentioned a million times in an hour.

[Emma Grede]

Absolutely.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's it.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. It's so true.

[Charlemagne the God]

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[Emma Grede]

You say so many things that I love, but this is one of them. It's that you say, if what you build only benefits you, it's not enough. I think that that's such an inspiring way to think about business, to think about entrepreneurship. What does that mean to you?

[Charlamagne the God]

It means that, you know, I am past the stage of, you know, just being a talent. Like the people that I've always looked up to, the Clarence Avants of the world.

[Emma Grede]

Oh, Clarence. I'm very good friends with Nicole.

[Charlamagne the God]

I love Nicole.

[Emma Grede]

She's one of the best family.

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely same, you know, Jay Z, Arsenio Hall.

[Emma Grede]

We're not friends, but I'd love to be friends.

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, you and Jay would get along well. Arsenio hall and a older radio presenter.

[Emma Grede]

I think that Arsenio is, like, your hero. Was your hero.

[Charlamagne the God]

He still is. He's one of my inspirations. And, you know, Petey Green, like, when I think about what they were in entertainment, they were very selfless people, right? Who literally served everybody else. So you already know the legacy of Clarence Avon and all the people he.

[Emma Grede]

Touched lifted an entire community, an entire generation of people in the business, right?

[Charlamagne the God]

Same thing with Jay Z, same thing with Arsenio, same thing with Petey Green. So it's like, even when I do different deals now, like, for all of my deals, people that I've been in business with for a while, it's like, for example, I heart radio. I've been doing Breakfast Club forever. Yeah. I could sign a talent deal, right, and get a whole bunch of money, but I would rather do a podcast network, right? So when your contract is up, I'd rather do A podcast network. I pitched a vision to them. They got it, and they knew that I could do this vision somewhere or anywhere or I could do it myself. And so they decided to do it with me. And, you know, five years later, we have this super successful podcast network called the Black Effect, or, you know, Simon and Schuster. I'm signing to Simon and Schuster. Yeah, I'm a New York Times bestseller, national bestseller. But it's like, when it comes time to do another book deal, yo, you know what? I really want a book imprint. I want to be able to publish other people's books. Did that. You know, me and my man Kevin Hart, we had so much success, you know, selling the audio versions of our books. So, you know, our business partners, you know my business partner Karen Kenny, and you know, his mark, they come together and they're like, yo, they could be doing this. So we create this audio scripting company called.

[Emma Grede]

I know ownership is so important to you, and you've spoken about this a lot. What does ownership mean to you? Because it means a lot to different people, but you've gone out of your way to actually, again, like you said, you could just sign a deal, but you don't. You create an imprint. You create your own platform. So what does that mean?

[Charlamagne the God]

Ownership means that I can create opportunity for people who a lot of these corporations may not take risk on or may not even know about. Right. Cause you have a lot of culturally clueless people working at these corporations. And, you know, I'm like you. I want diversity. I want inclusion. I want the equity. But I don't want it because it's some form of charity. I want it because, yo, you know, that's why I call my company the Black Effect. Cause when you put that blackness into something, it changes everything.

[Emma Grede]

Everything. And it's good business.

[Charlamagne the God]

And it's good business.

[Emma Grede]

And it's good business. End of.

[Charlamagne the God]

Black brings green.

[Emma Grede]

Yes, done. End of.

[Charlamagne the God]

And that's why when you.

[Emma Grede]

That's the whole setting.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's it. Black brings green. And so it's like, for me, you know, having that level of ownership just allows me to put myself in position to create opportunities for others.

[Emma Grede]

Here's another thing that you say, and I want to make sure I get it right. You say almost at the top of every show, you say, I'm blessed, black, and highly favored and happy to be here another day. What does that service mean for you when you go out with that at the front of your mind every day? What do you think?

[Charlamagne the God]

Purpose. Like, that's my true purpose in Life. My true purpose in life is to serve other people. That's what we are here for. Like, whose day can I make better? And, you know, it don't cost anything to serve. Like, you know, people think that you get to a certain level financially, and now you just become this big philanthropist. Nah. If you got half of a Subway sandwich, you know what I mean? And there's a homeless person that has none, give that person that sandwich and watch how you change.

[Emma Grede]

Were you that type of person?

[Charlamagne the God]

Always?

[Emma Grede]

Always.

[Charlamagne the God]

Always.

[Emma Grede]

You were raised like that.

[Charlamagne the God]

Always. I watched my mom, my dad, my grandma. My grandma was the type person, if you was, you know, playing in the yard, you just wanted the kids that's playing around in the yard. If she has some food, you gotta come in here and you gotta eat too, you know, My dad was the same way. Like, you know, like I said, he always had, like, a juke joint, so he was always serving the alcohol and everything else, made sure everybody drank. Like, that's what I come from. I come from a people who were about. My mom was an English teacher. You know, my grandmother was the school lunch lady.

[Emma Grede]

You grew up, like, reading, and, like, you had that, like, the language and the interest, like, right from the beginning.

[Charlamagne the God]

One of the greatest pieces of advice I've ever gotten in my life was my mother telling me, read things that don't pertain to me. So when I was in.

[Emma Grede]

That's a wonderful thing for a parent to tell you.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. Because it helps you to get out of your box.

[Emma Grede]

Yes.

[Charlamagne the God]

And you don't put yourself in a box.

[Emma Grede]

Exactly. And improves your whole vision of what you could become.

[Charlamagne the God]

You get out of your echo chamber.

[Emma Grede]

I love that you say that. I just did a podcast with Melody Hobson, and she said her greatest mentors were people that she'd never met. Meaning that she'd read so much.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right.

[Emma Grede]

And those people became her mentors in those books. And I just love that because, again, if you come from a place where there's seemingly so little hope and nothing, it's like, there's always a book.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right.

[Emma Grede]

There's usually always a book.

[Charlamagne the God]

And that piece of advice, you know, when she said, you know, read things that don't pertain to you, I apply that to people. You know, I want to talk to people.

[Emma Grede]

Same.

[Charlamagne the God]

That I don't. That we. That we don't share the same environment. We don't say, we might. We don't say the same race. We don't share the same gender. I want to just see what Are you on?

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. Well, you. You have a podcast with Andrew Schultz, right?

[Charlamagne the God]

That's my guy. Yeah. We've been doing brilliant idiots for 12 years. 11. 12 years.

[Emma Grede]

But this means. So the reason I ask you about it is because you are inviting, like, into you, like, a conversation, things that you might not be comfortable speaking about. And I feel like you're pushing that out in the culture, like an idea or ideas that are new to the culture. Right. This is not like the regular chat. Did you do that purposefully? Like, partnering with him? Was that purposeful?

[Charlamagne the God]

No, it wasn't. Because here's the thing. I'm really. When I say this wholeheartedly, I'm really just an energy person. So it's just like, if me and a person's energy mesh, if our energy connects, then that's just what it is. I'm sure you're the same way with your business. God will put something in your mind. You'll get some intuition, some type of download, and you just like, I need to do this, and I need to do it with that person. Like, it literally was like that. And so it's like when my guy. My guy. Chris Moreau. Chris Moreau said, man, you need to start a podcast and just talk about being snobby. When he first told me this 12 years ago, I was like, why? I do more than radio?

[Emma Grede]

You're like, what are you talking about?

[Charlamagne the God]

And he was like, yo, I mean, it's something that's yours. It's something that you own. And I started thinking to myself, yeah, I have been fired four times. You know what I mean? So at least if I.

[Emma Grede]

It's your job security.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah, if I get fired again, at least I have a voice. And so I was here in New York, and it was only two other people I even thought about doing it with. One was my guy, Lil Duvall, but he was all the way down in Atlanta. And that's. Cause me and Lil Duvall was already doing something online called the Hood, State of the Union. And then it was another comic. She was a woman. She was actually a white woman. But it wasn't. She was just. Was funny. So I was just like, you know what? Maybe her. But then it was just like, nah, Andrew. Because me and Andrew already was having relationships.

[Emma Grede]

Did you know him already?

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, yeah.

[Emma Grede]

Cause you get super political on this.

[Charlamagne the God]

Show, but that's happened over time. But really? Yeah. Me and Andrew, we all met on the cast of Guy Code.

[Emma Grede]

Okay.

[Charlamagne the God]

We were doing this show on MTV2 called Guy Code. So myself and Lil Duvall Andrew Schultz, Pete Davidson. Oh, wow.

[Emma Grede]

That would have been a funny shot.

[Charlamagne the God]

It was on air. I mean, there's episodes now they can't even put on tv. But that's where we all.

[Emma Grede]

No doubt that cast could not be formed today.

[Charlamagne the God]

We met because we were all on a flight together. I didn't even know he was on the same flight. But we were there for. I think it was the VMA weekend. And we literally got off the flight, shared a car together that Friday. And it's just like we've been locked in, you know, ever since we started doing the podcast in 2012. I believe in like 2015, 2016. We started talking politics because we always talked to life anyway.

[Emma Grede]

Yes.

[Charlamagne the God]

So it wasn't that we just started talking politics. It's just that there's more people who care about us talking politics now. We would joke and call him alt right Andy, you know, forever. And then when the woke era came, they would call me PC the God. Right.

[Emma Grede]

Well, you're a registered independent. No.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yes.

[Emma Grede]

That is your point.

[Charlamagne the God]

Registered independent. That's right.

[Emma Grede]

Neither Republican nor Democratic.

[Charlamagne the God]

Nope. At all.

[Emma Grede]

Is being a registered independent just a way for you to, like, sneakily be a Republican?

[Charlamagne the God]

No. I think I was registered as Democrat at one point, but then somebody told me something and then there's a switch.

[Emma Grede]

Clearly there's a switch.

[Charlamagne the God]

The reason I was registered Democrat is cause somebody told me you can't be vote unless you were registered as something. And the first time I ever voted was for Barack Obama. So Barack Obama was a Democrat. So I registered for, you know, I registered as a Democrat. But then as I started just to, like, really, really pay attention and dive a lot deeper into politics, I'm realizing, like, I don't really care for either one of these parties. Like, there's some things I like over here. There's some things I like over there. But I don't find myself, you know, claiming to be any of these things. And so it was just like, yo, I'm gonna be a registered independent.

[Emma Grede]

Didn't you have Kamala Harris on your show?

[Charlamagne the God]

We've had them all. We've had Kamala. I've had.

[Emma Grede]

You had Kamala. I mean, this time around, as she.

[Charlamagne the God]

Was running, I started the first time I interviewed Kamala. Cause I consider Kamala a friend. First time I interviewed Kamala was 2017, when she was a senator. So she was still a senator in 2017. Cause me and her sister Maya, we got cool a couple of years prior to that when she was working with Hillary Clinton. And so Kamala came on the show in 2017. And I've interviewed Kamala like, what, five times?

[Emma Grede]

Wow.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah, I interviewed her when she was a senator. I've interviewed her when she ran for president in 2020. I was on the campaign trail with her in 2020. I was going Brooklyn and Charlotte and South Carolina. I was in these cities with her. And then I interviewed her when she became the vice president and interviewed her when she was running for president. So, yeah, I interviewed her, like, four or five times.

[Emma Grede]

That's pretty impressive.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah, I mean, she's dope. She's a dope person. You know, that's the funny thing, right?

[Emma Grede]

I mean, she chose you. She chose to come on your show. She could have gone on Joe Rogan, for example.

[Charlamagne the God]

She should have went on Joe Rogan.

[Emma Grede]

I mean, you said it.

[Charlamagne the God]

She did. I told her that back. I told her that back in February of 2024, before there was even a thought of her being the candidate. I just knew, like, a lot of people knew, Joe Biden ain't gonna win in November. So in my mind, I was like, yo, you know, Kamala, you gotta take the shift.

[Emma Grede]

You gotta take the ship. Listen, it's about reach. You gotta go where the people are.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right.

[Emma Grede]

I mean, it's that simple.

[Charlamagne the God]

No, I told her February 2024, you need to do Joe Rogan. I told her she need to go on Fox News more just because I knew that President Biden was not gonna win in November, and the only thing that was gonna benefit that ticket in any way, shape, or form was her. And, you know, it ended up working out the way God wanted it to work out. She didn't win. But, I mean, I feel like, you know, they could have made some strides a whole lot earlier to probably change the trajectory of what we saw. You can't do a crash course, you know, when it comes to being president.

[Emma Grede]

100 plus days.

[Charlamagne the God]

She did a great job.

[Emma Grede]

She did. For the amount of time she was in. I mean, it was like. It's not a. You know, I feel like the day after the person's elected, it's almost like you start the next election. I mean, the cycle.

[Charlamagne the God]

It's crazy, but they should take a page out of Trump's book and never stop campaigning.

[Emma Grede]

Never. That's what I mean. It's like you just. You're in a constant campaign mode.

[Charlamagne the God]

Gavin Newsom, I don't agree with a lot of the things he does, but he's campaigning right now all day long. He's got his own. He's got two podcasts. He had a podcast with Marshawn Lynch. He got a new podcast. He's just.

[Emma Grede]

I listened to his podcast the other day. I mean, it's good. It's good to understand somebody's views in depth like that.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right.

[Emma Grede]

Anyway, we're not a political podcast. Listen, I'm talking about it. Talking about all the things I want to talk to you about. Mindset. Cause mindset is something that I am obsessed with, but I also feel like it's just before I even knew the word or the term mindset, I've always spoken to myself. And I just wonder when you, like, how you think and how you've trained yourself to have this very positive way about you, do you think about that every day? Do you think I'm gonna speak to myself? Well, I'm gonna project what I want in my life.

[Charlamagne the God]

When did that start for you, really? Since I was a kid. But when I really started to understand the power of manifestation, when I understood that, you know, if your mind can conceive it, you can achieve it. Like, literally, when you realize that your thoughts become things, it's actually scary.

[Emma Grede]

But can I ask you about that? Because I agree with you, but I do feel like we've got into a bit of this time in society where there's so much toxic positivity, you cannot manifest your way into everything. Right. Like, manifesting alone is not enough, is it?

[Charlamagne the God]

Is it not you?

[Emma Grede]

I don't think so. I think it's got to be harder. I mean, don't get me wrong.

[Charlamagne the God]

You gotta do the hard work.

[Emma Grede]

Right. You gotta get out.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah.

[Emma Grede]

You can't, like, sit in a chair and manifest it back.

[Charlamagne the God]

That is true. You can't just get up. Like, I can't get up and say to myself, I'm gonna win the lottery. I'm gonna win the lottery. I'm gonna win the lottery. No, you gotta actually go out there and play a ticket. Or you can't sit up and say, I need to have a summer body. I need to have a summer body. No, you actually gotta go in the gym and work out. Yes. I do agree.

[Emma Grede]

I've been trying that one for a long time.

[Charlamagne the God]

But that's the point. Right? Like, you do gotta. There's other steps. But it. With this.

[Emma Grede]

Yes.

[Charlamagne the God]

It starts. Everything is mental. It starts in your mind.

[Emma Grede]

It starts with yourself.

[Charlamagne the God]

And sometimes, man, we beat ourselves up and we complicate things when we don't have to. If you want to be in the position that Emma's in, If you want to be in the position that Charlamagne is in, you just got to start by doing something. And that something might be literally going to get a job at Chick Fil A. Because go back to what I said earlier. Positive energy activates constant elevation. You just have to spark that positive energy in your life. And I truly feel if you just keep walking that path, you'll eventually get to where you want your destination to be.

[Emma Grede]

I love that you say that. I mean, I worked at Taco Bell.

[Charlamagne the God]

I did. I worked at Taco Bell. I worked at a flower garden. I worked at a warehouse in the mall. I told you, I did telemarketing. I worked at a clothing store. And I did all of those different things just because I was trying to do something positive. And then when you start creating that positive energy in your life, you just start to see the world a whole lot differently.

[Emma Grede]

Is that where gratitude comes in for you? How do you tell people that don't feel like they've got anything that they can be grateful for, to be grateful for their circumstances?

[Charlamagne the God]

Well, you must hate your life, because if you wake up every morning, you have something that a lot of people probably wish they could get back, which is just another day to live. Think about all the people that we've known that. That met tragic endings or died too soon, too early, didn't get to live to be 42 years old. They didn't live to be 46 years old. They didn't even see their 30s. Think about all of those people and how they would literally do probably anything to just live more. So when you wake up every morning and you take that first deep breath, that's why I say, man, thank you, God, for blessing me with another day of life. Cause guess what, Emma? That's all I need. I'll figure everything else out. I'm here. I'm breathing, everything healthy, the fingers working, you know? You know what I'm saying? Like, my toes.

[Emma Grede]

You say that to yourself like you're in bed and you say that stuff to yourself.

[Charlamagne the God]

I wake up with so much gratitude. I be like, yo, thank you, God. I hit my knee. When I wake up in the morning, my alarm clock go off. I hit that snooze button one more time, and another eight minutes goes by. Then I hit it. Then I immediately roll out of my bed, and I am on my knees in prayer. First thing, straight away, straight away. I don't do nothing else. I don't check no phone. I don't do nothing. I hit my knees. Thank you, God. For blessing me with another day of life. Please continue to keep divine protection around me. Please continue to keep divine protection around my family, my friends, those that I love. And I'm ready for whatever the day brings. And then I go, you know, I take my shower. I do my morning routine. I go read my daily affirmations. I got two daily affirmations that I read out of Ryan Holiday's the Daily Stoic, Robert Green's the Daily Law. And then I try to do five minutes of meditation, which I usually do. And then I kiss my wife, blow kisses to all my daughter's rooms, and I'm out. And when I'm in the car, I'm either throwing on some 90s R&B or I'm throwing on, you know, a podcast that I know is gonna get me in that right zone. And I set my intention for the day.

[Emma Grede]

You are a beautiful wife. To start.

[Charlamagne the God]

And my intention is always to serve and, you know, and to have God bless me with the divine protection to deal with whatever it is I gotta deal with that day.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. This is why you're so successful.

[Charlamagne the God]

It's really that simple for me. And gratitude is always my attitude. I mean, it's always my attitude when I say I'm so grateful for everything. And I'm not. And it's not even just about, you know, what you have professionally.

[Emma Grede]

No, I mean, because also, I mean, you have a lot. And you and I have so many things in common. First, I mean, you have four kids. I have four kids. But you have four girls, and I'm one of four girls. So what are you teaching your kids about life? Like, what are the important lessons that you're showing them? Because I think the other thing. And I think about this constantly. Charlamagne. I'm raising my children in a very different way and circumstances to how I was raised. And I think about that all the time. And so I wonder now, like, what are you teaching your foregather?

[Charlamagne the God]

Well, to your point, and specifically, like.

[Emma Grede]

About ambition and success. Right. Because you must want that for them.

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely. To your point, our parents were raising us in a totally different world than the world that they came up in. And so, you know, when you have conversations with your parents. Right. That's why I always tell people that's very important to do. Have conversations with your parents because you realize that they had a life.

[Emma Grede]

You were saying, have conversations with your own parents.

[Charlamagne the God]

Have conversations with your own parents because you realize they had a life before they were your parents. So when you do that, you realize that they're just human. And you're not afraid to be just human with your kids. The biggest thing I'm teaching my children right now is that it's okay to get things wrong. I mean, Daddy don't always get things right, and Mommy don't always get things right. And I do something to my kids that I feel like I didn't get enough of if at all when I was young. Apologies. If I do something that I know was out of pocket, you know, and, you know, I'm having a bad day, and I might project it onto them, I apologize, and I tell them what Daddy is going through. And you can see how that is received from them. And you can see how that. How when you project on them, you see how it takes life out of them. But when you explain to them, I apologize, I shouldn't have done that. This is why I did it. You see how it brings life back into them. And that's why I found, you know, the conversation with you so intriguing. Cause I'm always observing, right? First of all, I got four daughters, so I'm always observing. Just powerful women, like, confident women, successful women, women that have accomplished a lot. You are definitely one of them. And, you know, when I hear you speak, I'm like, yo, I love that, because all my daughters have that level of security. And they speak that way, good or bad. Like, they speak that way when they got positive things going on. They speak that way when they got negative things going on. They don't back down from me or their mom, which is great, because that lets me know that we've created a safe space for. But I'm studying people like you. You're the type of people that I want them to know about because I want them just to have those examples. And then when you told me that you was one of four girls, I had a million questions, because I'm like, well, what was instilled in you? What was instilled in your sisters? You know, what type of relationship did y' all have? And when you said that y' all are still tight now, I love that because I love watching the bond between my daughters.

[Emma Grede]

It's the greatest thing. It's the greatest thing in the world. I mean, I speak to all of my sisters. Two of them live in England. But I speak to them on the chat, and we're in constant communication. Good, bad, ugly. But I grew up in such a way. I mean, we all slept in the same room as kids, right? Bunk beds and then a single little bed. And we were taught that we and our relationship was the most important thing. Never to let anyone come between us.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right.

[Emma Grede]

And I feel like that was such a lesson because don't get me wrong, there's, you know, four girls. There's always gonna be a drama. But I feel like my sisters are the most important things in my life, like, still to this day. And we are tight. There's nothing that is more important to me than my family.

[Charlamagne the God]

I'm so glad to hear that. Cause that's what I stress to my daughters too. Like the. What's the age difference with y'? All?

[Emma Grede]

So there's a year and a half between me and the first one, 10 years between me and the youngest one and one in between. So we're pretty, like, we're pretty tight. You know, you've got a bunch of girls that are early 30s and then early 40s, so a 10 year span I'd get. But you know, I think what's so unbelievable is, you know, I always think, despite growing up in the same house, I really believe in that adage that no one has the same parents. Right. You have different versions of your parents.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's a fact.

[Emma Grede]

Because your parents are on a journey. And I look at my sisters and I have no assumption about how they feel about my mom or my dad. And that's actually what's really brought us together. Like understanding that our parents are fallible. Right. And that we had different experiences in our childhood. And that's really been one of the things that I think we've bonded over.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. My daughters are 16, 9, 6 and 3. And so like the 16 year old is like the big sister, almost another mother. But then the nine year old, six year old, three year old, they all like the same age. And you know, the thing I love is that they'll tell me things like, you hear them talk about their best friends at school. No, your best friends are in this house.

[Emma Grede]

Yes, they are.

[Charlamagne the God]

Okay. They always obey, like, trust me, you know, you don't want to.

[Emma Grede]

You don't wanna hear that when you're a kid. My mom used to say that. And I'd be like, my best friend's Jenny. And she'd be like, no, no, your best friend ain't Jenny.

[Charlamagne the God]

You won't even know Jenny.

[Emma Grede]

My best friend is Charlotte, Rachel and Kaye.

[Charlamagne the God]

That's right. You won't even know Jenny after high school.

[Emma Grede]

I don't know Jenny anymore.

[Charlamagne the God]

You know what I mean? So it's like, these are the people that are gonna be with you for the rest of your life. This is the sisterhood. Right. That y' all have. And, you know, the other beautiful thing that I love is, you know, me and my wife been together 20. It'll be 27 years this year, right?

[Emma Grede]

Wow.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. We've been together since we was kids. And, you know, we got married in 2014. But just them seeing that healthy dynamic. And not even just. When I say healthy, healthy don't mean perfect, right? Like, yeah, me, of course not. Like, we might argue sometime, and then the kids are like, yeah. When we get loud with each other, the kids start getting loud with us. Like, stop. Y' all cut it out. Whatever. And you like, oh, okay. You know.

[Emma Grede]

Cause you recognize it immediately. You're like, what is that? Like, we should not be behaving like that.

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely, absolutely. But just them seeing, you know, two people in love with each other. You know what I mean? Like, I've had. I got homegirls who tell me about how they used to see, like, their dad slap their mom on the butt, or, you know, they see their mom and dad kissing and hugging throughout the house, and that's us all day long.

[Emma Grede]

For them to see, which I love.

[Charlamagne the God]

I love it.

[Emma Grede]

I love it. It's the most healthy thing to see your parents loving on each other.

[Charlamagne the God]

They hate it.

[Emma Grede]

They won' because they'll be so happy when they're older. You two are still into each other.

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely.

[Emma Grede]

How important has it been for your success, do you think, Being, like, your relationship.

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, everything. Especially when you start actually carrying yourself like a man and being the husband that, you know, your wife deserves, like, that's what. That's part of going to do the work on yourself, right? You're going to do the work and, you know, can't no other woman get your eye right.

[Emma Grede]

Have you been able to be honest about that?

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely. 100%, you know? Yeah, absolutely 100%. Like, I feel like, you know, you know, anything that's. Anything real, you know, can't be. Can't be threatened. And I think that if you really want a healthy relationship, you gotta be honest about your bullshit, right? Like, you gotta be honest about all the bullshit that you've done, all the things. Cause especially if you already got caught.

[Emma Grede]

You know, you don't have a choice.

[Charlamagne the God]

And by the way, if you get. If you get caught, you might as well just put it all out there, because you don't want nothing. You don't want nothing that's rooted in a lie. If anything that's rooted in a lie, it can grow. So, yes, I'VE been absolutely, completely, 100% honest. And I could tell guys out there this man, and I've said this a million times, and I'll say it's a million more. You remember in Color Purple when Celie pointed her finger and said, ain't no good gonna come to you until you do right by me? The opposite of that is 100% true. If you do right by your wife, your life will be amazing.

[Emma Grede]

Say it again. Prashondamaye. I'm telling you. Tell him. Tell him again.

[Charlamagne the God]

When you do right by your wife, and especially, you know, if you've been a person that wasn't doing right by their wife, you out there messing with a bunch of different women and all that type of stuff, when you cut all of that out and you just focus on your energy, on that person that you know loves you no matter what, unconditionally, your life will skyrocket.

[Emma Grede]

Why do you say that?

[Charlamagne the God]

Cause it's true. Because I've seen it both ways. I've never seen a guy, you know, cheat on his wife, you know, not be doing right by his wife and have real success. Either they're happy or they end up getting a divorce and losing everything. Or that other person they messing with, you know, ruins their life, like, literally ruining their life. And I remember my dad. My dad said to me one time, man, my dad said to me, mason, man, one of the worst decisions I ever made was not doing right by your mom. You know, he ended up getting. He did end up getting married again. But I do remember him having that conversation with me. And I remember him. Cause my dad messed me up in a lot of ways. I love him to death, but he did. I remember one time my dad said to me, when I confronted him about. About cheating on my. My mom, my dad said to me, oh, you only got one girlfriend. One day you're gonna understand. And so in my mind, I thought having one girlfriend was a problem. I'm like, I supposed to have more than one woman? Because my dad said having one girl is a problem. So then later on in life, my dad tells me, hey, man, you had it right the whole time.

[Emma Grede]

Yes, you did. You know, I'll tell you straight up. Yes, you did.

[Charlamagne the God]

You had it right the whole time.

[Emma Grede]

But of course that was you. I mean, listen, that was his experience. That was his lived experience. And that's what he understood, right? And it's only when you know better that you can do better.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah, but we gotta stop thinking we can cheat the game.

[Emma Grede]

Cause you can't no, you cannot cheat the game.

[Charlamagne the God]

You can't cheat the game.

[Emma Grede]

There is no cheating the game.

[Charlamagne the God]

No, it's like people who sell drugs. It's like, yo, you know you're gonna end up in jail. You know, you might end up dead. You can't cheat the game. And it's the same thing when you in a relationship. You either gonna be committed to that person, right? Men and women, by the way. You either gonna be committed to that person and do right by that person, or you not. But if you don't, just know, you're gonna have to deal with the consequences.

[Emma Grede]

You're gonna have to deal with it.

[Charlamagne the God]

Of not doing right.

[Emma Grede]

So talk to me. Cause this is something that you talk about a lot publicly, but are you worried about the state of masculinity in our society right now? And what are you teaching your four amazing daughters? Like, how are you even modeling masculinity for them? Cause we're in a time when there is so much toxic masculinity out there.

[Charlamagne the God]

I. Men don't even know what that is. And what I mean by that is.

[Emma Grede]

What do you mean?

[Charlamagne the God]

Because if you got to tell me that you're masculine, you probably not.

[Emma Grede]

Well, yeah, you know what I mean?

[Charlamagne the God]

Like, I'm an alpha male. I'm a masculine guy. Can you beat me up? I know a lot of guys that y' all might think are beta that'll Whip your ass, Mr. Alpha. So it's like, I don't know what that even means when people talk about, you know, masculinity. I believe in the divine feminine and the sacred masculine. And I believe that, you know, when you look at a human being, we are made out of those two ingredients. It took a man to make us, and it took a woman to make us. So whatever the best attributes are from each one of those, you know, genders, we should be applying those attributes to our life. And that is how you make a sacred soul. That is how you make. That's how you become a sacred being. Because that's what I really feel like we are. We're just spiritual beings living a human existence. Like, all that other shit. Like, you're a toxic masculine man or you're a, you know, whatever type woman. It's just like, yo, what are we talking about? Are you.

[Emma Grede]

What are we talking about?

[Charlamagne the God]

Are you a good person? Are you not a good person? Like, that's literally what it's about. Are you a good human or are you not a good human? All of those labels are just. It's just weird. To me, like.

[Emma Grede]

But they exist. They're out there. They're in the culture. You're a cultural leader. You're talking about these type of things all the time. Do you take that leadership, like, seriously? Do you feel like you have to have a point of view on. On. On everything? And do you even. Do you even see yourself as a leader?

[Charlamagne the God]

I lead by example. You know, I can't tell you what to do because the things I tell you may not work for you. I can only tell you what. What works for me. And, you know, my observations do change. I'm not a person that's, like, hardened about anything. You know what I mean? And that's one thing therapy does for you, right? Therapy makes you unlearn a lot of stuff, and it makes you realize that a lot of the things that you thought you knew and the things that you thought you needed in order to succeed and just show up in this world, you really don't. I like, just a open canvas of life, and you can just constantly filling your own pictures and, you know, you writing it in marker, that can be erased because your opinions are gonna change.

[Emma Grede]

The way you view the world.

[Charlamagne the God]

The way I think at 46. I didn't think at 36.

[Emma Grede]

I should hope not.

[Charlamagne the God]

The way I thought at 36. I damn sure didn't think at 26.

[Emma Grede]

Yeah. No, you don't think like that at 56.

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, 56. I don't know what I'm going to be on, but I look forward to it.

[Emma Grede]

I mean, I can't even imagine. What excites you now?

[Charlamagne the God]

Building. Building excites me. Creating new opportunities for people to succeed, you know, building things that people actually enjoy, Especially with the world that we're in right now, when you see, you know, so much art being taken away, like they're trying to erase our history here. Like, Right. Like, literally trying to erase history. So I feel like art is going to be, like, one of the only places you can actually get real information. Art is going to be the only place you can actually get real history. So to be at the forefront of storytelling through podcasts, through audio scripted content, you know, through books, you know, through films, which I'm getting into, you know, now.

[Emma Grede]

How exciting.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. Through all of that, just being able to, you know, tell the stories that I want to tell and just building. I'm talking about, like, when I say building, like, we're shooting films, and we're gonna be shooting some in, like, places like South Carolina, where I'm from. I'm not just thinking about the cast. I'm thinking about that woman that's gonna be bringing food for the cast every day. I'm thinking about those people that's operating the camera. I'm thinking about those, you know, young interns who are just gonna be able to be on a movie set and they can't believe that that would ever happen in South Carolina. Like, that's where my mind is. So that's what excites me, man. Just building, building, building things that I know that are gonna benefit a lot of people.

[Emma Grede]

I feel like that's so exciting. So for people that are just starting out on their career journey, and for those that maybe aspire to the type of career that you have had, what would you say to them? What are the big things that people need to know as they're starting out?

[Charlamagne the God]

Keep God first, stay humble, keep working. And comparison is the thief of joy. Like, I know that we live in this era, you know, of social media, but just know that. But when you out there getting it out the mud and you go on social media, you're looking at people's highlight reel. People not showing you them ugly moments. You know what I mean? People not showing you when they wake up in the morning and they don't got their eyebrows. Like the men ain't showing you when their hairlines is in the middle of their forehead. Right. They show you when they got the fresh bald. They don't show you when they're losing.

[Emma Grede]

No. They don't put their forefirings on social.

[Charlamagne the God]

Nah, they don't put their fore. Exactly. So it's like you have to run your race, man, and stay in your lane. And don't beat yourself up about where you aren't at any given time. Because what I've learned is there's no clock. Just because somebody became a millionaire at 22 don't mean that that's gonna happen for you. You might not become a millionaire until in your 30s. And don't let money be the gauge for what success is.

[Emma Grede]

You've never let that guide you.

[Charlamagne the God]

Never. Am I happy? Am I happy when I'm not happy doing something? But isn't that easy for you?

[Emma Grede]

Cause you've got money. Isn't that what people say? Like, of course you're happy, you've got loads of money.

[Charlamagne the God]

Yeah. But I was probably my happiest, like, literally before I started going to therapy. I was probably my happiest when I was broke, when I was on the come up, when me and my guy DJ Frosty was in, you know, South Carolina, doing mixtapes and trying to figure out what the next level of our life was gonna be like. When I was driving from my mom's house, you know, to drive up to Columbia to go do radio on the weekends and to go see my wife.

[Emma Grede]

While she was at the University of.

[Charlamagne the God]

South Carolina, those are probably some of my happiest times. Like, those are the things that me and my guys sit around and me and my homegirls sit around and we talk about those times. Like, those times made us happy. So it's just like, if what I'm doing right now, regardless of how much money it generates, doesn't make me happy, it's not success. So for me, success is what makes you happy. You know why I'm successful right now? Because I'm happy. I'm happy, you know, doing Breakfast Club every morning. I'm happy, you know, being the CEO of the Black Effect Podcast network. I'm happy when I'm sitting around with my team and we're going over these scripts and stuff like that. I'm happy when I'm at home with my wife. I'm happy when my four daughters are jumping all over me, you know, I'm happy when I can create memories that they'll never forget. Like, I didn't get on a plane until I was 21 years old and I flew to New York. A plane. My daughter's 16 and got more stamps than her passport. My nine year old, six year old, they done been to Africa. I didn't go to Africa till I was in my 40s.

[Emma Grede]

That must make you so proud that.

[Charlamagne the God]

You can give back to them. That's all I care about.

[Emma Grede]

That's it. That's all that matters.

[Charlamagne the God]

It's like, yo, where we going this year? That's literally the things that I care about. And those are making other people happy makes me happy. Experiencing new things with the people that I love, that's what makes me happy. And to me, that's what this is all about.

[Emma Grede]

Absolutely. Congratulations to you for being there.

[Charlamagne the God]

Congratulations to you, Emma.

[Emma Grede]

Now all I've got is a rapid fire round for you.

[Charlamagne the God]

Let's do it.

[Emma Grede]

First thing you do when you wake up, Pray. Knew you were gonna say that. What's the last thing you do before you go to bed?

[Charlamagne the God]

Pray.

[Emma Grede]

What are you currently aspiring for in your business life?

[Charlamagne the God]

I mean, the first thing that came to my mind was just success. I can't answer that question. Rapid fire. Other than to say just success. Massive success.

[Emma Grede]

Massive success.

[Charlamagne the God]

Massive success. That benefits a lot of people more Than me.

[Emma Grede]

It's a great answer. What are you currently aspiring for in your personal life?

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, man, Constant healing. I'm constantly on a journey of healing because if I show up, you know, as the man that I need to be for myself, then I can show up for my wife, I can show up for my daughters, I can show up for my friends, my family, my community. So I'm constantly on a healing journey. Personally.

[Emma Grede]

What is the book that changed your life?

[Charlamagne the God]

Oh, Ooh, I have to say the Autobiography of Malcolm X. And the reason I say the Autobiography of Malcolm X, because my dad gave me that when I was young. And it led me to a lot of other books that changed my life. Like, Message to the Black man by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Like, From Niggas to Gods, you know, by Akil. But then, you know, as I got so many. Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. You know, a newer one now, Mel Robbins, you know, the Left and Theory. Like, there's a lot of books that changed my life, but definitely the Autobiography of Malcolm X because it opened me up to the Nation of Islam and opened me up to the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, which led me down a path of studying a lot of that when I was younger. And that gave me a really good foundation.

[Emma Grede]

How? Eye opening. What is something that you valued when you were starting out that you don't now?

[Charlamagne the God]

Man? Two things came to my mind. Controversy, probably. Controversy. I valued controversy when I first started out. Now I don't put any value on it whatsoever. Like, you know, if it happens, I know that it's happening now because it's just supposed to happen. Like, sometimes you might say something that.

[Emma Grede]

You didn't want to, but you're not courting it. You're not going after it.

[Charlamagne the God]

Exactly. So probably controversy.

[Emma Grede]

It's a great answer. All right. What's something that you value now that you didn't back in the day?

[Charlamagne the God]

Peace. Real peace. Like, actually. Like, actually really, really seeking peace. I really just like real peace. Like, having a real peace of mind. Because that's something that I never even strived for back in the day, because we don't realize staying busy is a response to trauma. So in a lot of ways, you want everything to be. I thought I wanted everything to be kind of chaotic and always something going on and this and that, and it's like, no. What's your favorite thing to do? Nothing. I like when there's nothing to do. I know. You know, like when you look on your calendar and you're like, I don't gotta go nowhere this weekend. Like, I'm home.

[Emma Grede]

I'm like, amen, Amen, Amen.

[Charlamagne the God]

So, yes.

[Emma Grede]

Do you have it? Do you have pace?

[Charlamagne the God]

Yes, absolutely. And when I don't have it, I know exactly where to find it. But you gotta make it for yourself, right? And you get that from setting boundaries?

[Emma Grede]

Yes.

[Charlamagne the God]

Because you don't have to do everything. And I know you said something earlier that is true. When you, when you got money, it's easy to say that, but you really don't have to do everything. And even now, regardless of what financial status you're at, it's okay to set boundaries. I am very cognizant of my energy. The things that make my energy go up. I want more of the things that make my energy go down. I don't want nothing.

[Emma Grede]

It's all you've got. Yo, Your energy is.

[Charlamagne the God]

And I've always been like this. I'm the person that will be at the airport and be like, nope, not going on the plane.

[Emma Grede]

That's a very higher orbit decision to make. You can only do that when you can come up out of a situation. I don't and only make those type of decisions.

[Charlamagne the God]

I did it when I was on the come up too. You did, And I tell you why.

[Emma Grede]

I just went, went, went, went, went.

[Charlamagne the God]

It's only happened a couple of times. But when I remember having a really bad panic attack at the airport one time when I was supposed to to fly to LA and it was because there was really bad weather. And when I say every single flight was canceled except for mine, I didn't look at it as well. Maybe that's because you're supposed to be on that plane and going where you're going. I was like, nah, nah, I seen Final Destination one too many times. I'm not going. And you know what I did? I called the network. Cause I was working at MTV2 at the time. And I told them the truth and they respected it. I didn't lie. Like, yo, man, I'm be honest with you. I had a panic attack at the airport. I told the situation. They was like, all right, cool. You know, it was you and somebody else. Anyway, that person's already on the west coast. They can handle it. Great. I did that a few weeks ago. I was on the plane and I'm like, not going. All to protect your peace, all to protect my peace. Because you can't get none of this time back. Like today.

[Emma Grede]

This is it.

[Charlamagne the God]

This is it. The time we spent having this conversation right now, I don't even remember what the date is. The date. We're never getting this day back ever. So it's like I'm not wasting my time doing anything that I don't want to do. Anything that I know is not going to bring me peace. Why am I going to be in the air flying angry for five hours?

[Emma Grede]

Forget about it.

[Charlamagne the God]

No.

[Emma Grede]

Why forget about it.

[Charlamagne the God]

No peace.

[Emma Grede]

I'm so grateful that you decided to give me this time. I really am. I've enjoyed every single minute of it.

[Charlamagne the God]

Thank you for having me. Much success. Continue to be, you know, just a great inspiration to women out here and, you know, just. Just continue to do what you do. Because I love the fact that my daughters can look at you and say to themselves, that's somebody I aspire to be.

[Emma Grede]

Like, you got it in. Thank you means a lot.

[Charlamagne the God]

Absolutely.

[Emma Grede]

Thank you, Charlemagne.

[Charlemagne the God]

If you're loving this podcast, be sure to click Follow on your favorite listening platform. While you're there, give us a review.

[Emma Grede]

And a five star rating and share.

[Charlemagne the God]

An episode you loved with a friend. You'll be so grateful. Aspire with Emma Greed is presented by Audacy.

[Emma Grede]

I'm your host, Emma Greed.

[Charlemagne the God]

Our executive producers are Corrine Gilliatt Fisher, Derek Brown and me. Our executive producers from Audacy are Maddy Sprung Keyser, Leah Rees Dennis, Asha Salouja and Jenna Weiss Berman. Justine Dom is our senior producer. Our producer is Kristin Torres. Sound design and engineering by Bill Schultz. Angela Peluso is our booker. Original music by Charles Black. Video production by Evan Cox, Kirk Courtney, Andrew Steele, Carlos Delgado and Arnie Agassi. Social media by Olivia Hohman. Special thanks go to Britney Smith, Sydney Ford, My teams at Jonesworks and wne. Maura Curran, Josephina Francis, Hilary Schuff, Eric Donnelly, Kate Hutchinson, Rose, Tim Meikle, Sean Cherry, Emmanuel Hapsis and Lauren Vieira. If you have questions for me, you can DM me at Aspire with Emma Greed. Greed is spelled G R E D E. That's Aspire. A S P I R E with Emma Greed. Or you can submit a question to.

[Emma Grede]

Me on my website.

[Charlemagne the God]

Emma Greed me.