← Digital Social Hour
Digital Social Hour
How Chef Rush Built a Billion-View Social Media Empire I Chef Rush DSH #1216
00:46:28
🔥 How did Chef Andre Rush go from military leadership to creating a billion-view social media empire? Tune in now to hear his incredible journey! 🌟 In this episode of the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly, Chef Rush shares how his passion for...
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- [00:00]
A
And I talked about that in my book, you know, call me Chef, dammit. And I said, man, I was so mad at her for giving me that because my dad was just hard, you know, I wish I could just be that hard person. But my mom was like, treat everybody the same. Treat everybody the same. She was bringing the homeless and you know, and feed them. We were little kids and like, why is she bringing them? We don't have enough food as it is, you know, why is she bringing them in?
- [00:27]
B
All right, guys, we got Chef Rush here today. He's in town for Shasha. Man, thanks for coming on.
- [00:32]
A
Yep, yep. Love Shop show.
- [00:33]
B
Yeah. How was it? It was my first one actually.
- [00:35]
A
Was it really?
- [00:36]
B
Yeah.
- [00:36]
A
Virgin.
- [00:36]
B
I'm a virgin.
- [00:37]
A
No shot show was amazing. I've been there a few years. They social much love me being the military, doing what I do with the veterans, with the suicide awareness, with the mental health. So it was just like the whole time I've been there, I don't remember because I took like a thousand, ten thousand pictures and hug people and cry with people and just amazing, man.
- [00:56]
B
Wow. You still doing 2,000 push ups a day, man?
- [00:58]
A
2, 222.
- [01:00]
B
Damn.
- [01:00]
A
Not on the weekends though.
- [01:01]
B
Okay.
- [01:01]
A
Yeah.
- [01:02]
B
That's impressive, man. Do you just bang them out as soon as you get up or you space them out throughout the day?
- [01:06]
A
Space them out throughout the day. Doesn't work for me. That's too much time. Busy. I get up at 3 o'clock in the morning, I'll bang them out all at once. Get them an hour and a half. I'm good. 125 at time equals 1776. So everything has a mean rhyme, a reason. It's not a workout. It's about mental health. 22 vets unfortunately commit suicide a day. And I do the rest just because of their families, the kids and families who were unrecognized.
- [01:32]
B
Yeah, yeah. Mental health has hits deep for me, man. I struggled with it. My father lost his life to it. So it definitely hits me. Yeah, man. So shout out to you for doing that. That's incredible.
- [01:41]
A
Yeah, it goes really deep. I have a. I don't know, he's been taking care of me. I've had a big, big thing with it. Which things you don't know. About a year ago, unfortunately, I lost my daughter to it and her five and six year old brother and she was 11.
- [01:55]
B
Whoa.
- [01:56]
A
And another command command sergeant major and another her stepfather.
- [02:01]
B
That's insane.
- [02:02]
A
So.
- [02:02]
B
And you yourself dealt with it leaving the military, right? Yes.
- [02:06]
A
You know, I still Deal with it. I mean, this is a product of who I am. Ptsd. But it's all about who you are and what you're doing and what you're going to do into this world and what energy you're going to give out. I mean, you can get hate, you get love, you can have difficulties, you can fail and fail and fail, but that's just part of it. I mean, who cares? I mean, you gotta look at yourself in the mirror, look at yourself and self reflect and just say, you know, it's you against you.
- [02:28]
B
Right. You got to know yourself. Right? Because a lot of people, those comments will get to them.
- [02:32]
A
Comments drive me. I think they're pretty funny because they're most time they're irrelevant. You know, they'll do something that's past the narrative, that has nothing to do with you. You know, whether it be, oh, Shelby taking steroids, and which I laugh at, which that just means I look really good, or they'll say something of the sort, which I kind of laugh at, and, and sometimes I' little freaky and, and I'll come in back and troll them a little myself, and then I block them and keep on living.
- [02:58]
B
Oh, you block them, haters.
- [02:59]
A
I don't, I don't deal with that time. Yeah. If you in my, if you in my world, I want my world. This is a safe place. Right? By all means, do your comments and say what you say. Be respectful for it. Right. You know, I did a video. If you saw the food video I just did the last one. I did what I would do for Fox. It went on Fox everywhere.
- [03:21]
B
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [03:22]
A
And I also did another video and it wasn't about what I'll cook for the first president, per se. It was about what this country was built off of. You know, with the tomahawk steak, with being big, bold, like this flag on my shoulder, like, you know, our nation, about the people, about everything we've been through, which was America on a plate. Right. I want you to show where this land was built from, from the farmers, from, from the ground up, you know. But people get to confuse a lot of it because you are what you eat. If you eat like crap, you're going to feel like crap. But if you eat like respect, you.
- [03:53]
B
Gonna feel respect 100%. I was surprised you got hate on that because you've cooked for four presidents, both Democrat and Republicans. So I don't get why people would hate on that.
- [04:01]
A
Who cares? I. I don't, I don't care. See, the thing about it Is about not caring, is whether it be black or white, indifferent. I don't care about religion, I don't care about monetary value. I don't care about, you know, my people. However, when I say my people, meaning that you can be black and be white, you can be yellow, you can be anything. I'm going to treat you like a human. Regardless of the fact if you have your opinion, we're still cool. As long as you don't bring it in my space where it becomes a little bit difficult or where it becomes to a part where I know it's going to get over that we're good. Say your opinions, we can even argue. I was in military. I've had times where I unfortunately grabbed guys and I shook them around a few times. But in a day I said, you all, we good. I let's go. And that's it. Emotions or emotions for a reason. They can save lives and they can destroy lives, they can take lives and they can do things like that. But at the end of the day, it's still going to be you against you.
- [04:48]
B
I love that. And yeah, food is a universal language.
- [04:51]
A
It's a love language. I tell people now, you know, being thinking about Maha making America healthy again, you know, we need to get back into what food really is meant to be. Right. You know, people ask me, what's my favorite meal? What's the restaurant I went to? You know, my favorite meals. A meal that I'll never ever get again. That was with my mother, she's not here. And that will always be the set tone for me. It was those endorphins that I remember where you just felt that warmness and that love From Mississippi Hospitality State. So when I tell people food is holistic, medication is love, it's friendship, it's all those things that was meant to be instead of just a click and say, I went to this five star restaurant and this person cooked for me, that person cooked for me. You know, think about what it is, which I do respect because I'm that person. Also, I like gourmet food. I make pretty food. But at the end of the day, my food, like I just told you what I just did, it has to has a meaning to it.
- [05:38]
B
I love that so much. I agree though. I think there's an energetic component to the person making the meal.
- [05:43]
A
Absolutely.
- [05:44]
B
Yeah. If they're not the nicest person, you could taste it in the food. 100% agree with that.
- [05:50]
A
And I'm pretty nice.
- [05:51]
B
Yeah, you're very nice.
- [05:52]
A
Man. Man.
- [05:53]
B
Your meals are Good. I was going on your YouTube. Some of your videos had tens of millions of views. It was actually insane.
- [05:58]
A
Some of them have hundreds of millions of views.
- [06:01]
B
I saw a couple of them. I mean, that.
- [06:03]
A
That's. I have a great. I have a great crew that I. That I have fun with. Right. You know, and, you know, it's a testament, because if I look at some of the top ones I've done, you know, I was just with Nick in Boston. I was with Albert, and I do bias and whatever. I mean, we'll do one video and it'll get, you know, 6, 7, 800 million, right? And we'll do another one, do the same part of it. So is me being like a strategist, because there's a reason why I'm doing the things I'm doing, like they're doing the things they're doing. So I want to get more kids in my corner. I want to get more views because you got to think about it. The TV is going away. We have it. It's great. I want to do both sides of it with my TV shows. But at end of the day is still, we have social media, where, guess what? All eyes is on social media.
- [06:45]
B
Yeah. And you transitioned brilliantly. I was watching you on Fletcher show on the way here, and you did all the social media on your own for a while, right?
- [06:50]
A
Everything. Not on my own now, still, still, I went from 2, 250,000 in a year after my daughter actually was taken by her father, her stepfather, and both her brothers. I. I lost it. I didn't know what to do because I lost another best friend a year prior in la. And then I had lost one of my soldiers to the same. And I was just like, man, why me? Why me? So I was just. I was going, I'm not going to lie to you. And then when I finally said, okay, USA came to me to do a campaign, they didn't know anything about this, but they came to me literally that week and said, we want you to do this campaign. They had it up called facefight.org and it's about suicide awareness, you know, from Elizabeth Dole and whatever. And I was like, it was a sign. It was a sign because it happened the same thing with my brother who passed away from cancer, which they came to me. And then I just. I dove into it and went to the White House Chamber of Congress, you know, National Press Club, did a media tour. And then I got on. I got on social media and I looked at it because I wasn't familiar with It. I got millions and billions, billions of views, but it wasn't for me. It was just me supporting and helping other people. And long story short was I'm a. I'm a strategist, I'm a logistician. So cooking is actually a hobby mind people. I just became extremely great at it. Right. But my other real job was different stuff. And when I dove into it, I looked at all the social media at once. And in the first month, I'm sorry, the first week, I had a million views on everything. Subscribers, rather. Wow. On everything in a week. In a week.
- [08:30]
B
That's crazy.
- [08:31]
A
YouTube Now YouTube, Instagram, TikTok went to Facebook at a million, literally. And then the first three weeks, it was at 4 million, 5 million, 6 million, 10 million. And it just, it was just so much. But everybody was so, so much love. The great thing about it was every time I went out, even just to the day, they were all kids, like little kids, like 6 years old, 7 years old. Their parents like, wait, my son knows you, My daughter knows you can take a picture and yada, yada, yada. And it just, it made me heart. Well, it was what I needed. You know, when I say a give back, because we all have things we have to cope with, and that was my coping to. Was being able to give back. And also kids, the veteran was one side of it, but kids was a lifeline to me.
- [09:16]
B
I didn't know your gener. Your audience was a lot of kids.
- [09:18]
A
A lot of kids.
- [09:19]
B
That's interesting. So they love the food stuff.
- [09:22]
A
They love the food stuff, but they love the fun things I do. I'm known as like, kind of like the angry, gentle chef. You know, it's kind of like a. It's kind of like, you know, a balance where I got to get. Be angry. I get to hit a couple of my guys, pick them up and dust them off, and then have a little fun with them.
- [09:38]
B
I love it, man. So, I mean, you're talented in other verticals too. Oh, you got ice carbon going on.
- [09:43]
A
I'm doing one this weekend. Actually. This weekend at the FIT Expo, I'm doing. I'm a master ice carver. So I'm a. I'm a pastry chef. I do chocolate. I do. I do a lot of things. Food is. Honestly, food is just therapy for me. I mean, a big therapy. So when I dove into it, I had no idea that I would be the person that would be representing being a chef. And the reason why I wear this is. Which I made up was because it was My foundation. I didn't put on a suit and tie. I'm a speaker also. I don't put on a shooting tie. I wear. I want you to know who I am and where I came from. I could be a garbage man. It's kind of like a testament saying you can do whatever you want to be. You don't have to be that person that went to law school and a doctor or pilot and astronaut and yada, yada, yada and so forth. This right here today in ages America, where everything is great, right where you. If you get the opportunity, you make the opportunity. Don't take, take advantage, but don't blame anyone. Don't blame anyone for holding you back or saying this and that. And if you don't know, figure it out.
- [10:41]
B
I love that victim mentality. Right?
- [10:43]
A
Victim.
- [10:44]
B
When did you make that mindset shift? Was in the military.
- [10:49]
A
I made that mind shift when I was a kid.
- [10:51]
B
Oh, that young.
- [10:52]
A
I was literally that young. When my. My dad was a big brawny guy, a very dark, big bronnie guy. I was scared the hell out of him. And my mom, he. He was the one who shot, taught me how to work hard. And my mom, I said, was the one who taught me how to love. But I was scared as hell of him. I just wanted to please him, please and please and please him. But he had no expression whatsoever. And as soon as I could walk, he put us to work in. In the gardens and we would do stuff in the farms and other people's farms and they would have, you know, other people have, you know, other. It was white and black, but they would have equipment and we would do it by hand. And I'm like, why are we doing it by hand? You know, just do it. And I hated it. And now. But at this point in time now there's no one that can work harder than me. Even at my stage where I am, there's no one that can record on me. That's why I don't have anyone doing all my, my social media, because you have to know who I am, what I am. You have to walk like me, talk like, be like me. And you also have to be humane and empathetic at the same time. This is not McDonald's, this is not Burger King. This is real life. And you can save a life or you can actually hinder a life or even end a life.
- [12:00]
B
Yeah, I love that. So you got the work ethic from your dad and the emotional side from your mother, of course. So you got the best of both.
- [12:06]
A
Yeah. A little bit more my mother, which I kind of hate. And I talked about that in my book, you know, call me Chef, damn it. And I. I said, ah, man, I was so mad at her for giving me that, because my dad was just hard, you know, I wish I could just be that hard person. But my mom was like, treat everybody the same. Treat everybody the same. She's bringing the homeless and, you know, and feed them. We were little kids and like, why is she bringing. We don't have enough food as it is. You know, why is she bringing them in? And it was hard because she said, everybody needs someone, you know, and. And, you know, that stuck with me as well as my dad said, you know, two things you need to know in life. And always remember when I was young, he said, wherever you go, someone wants you to fail. Next thing was always be the hardest work in the room. Wow.
- [12:53]
B
Someone wants you to fail. That's so true, though.
- [12:55]
A
Yeah. Yeah. It could be the person that's smiling to you. It could be your friend. It could be your family. It could be anyone. And you know what? Now being Chef Rush, it is absolutely true. I've had it so much in my life, joining the military, doing this, and I was very transparent in military, in my book, and saying, hey, it's not all what it is. You know, I was sent to do a job. It's like if you were a garbage man, if you were this. They said, you know, the military gave you so many opportunities. No, you have to give your own self opportunities. It's a job. You have to make that thing happen. Right. They didn't say, put Private Rush over here so he can be the greatest leader in the world. They didn't say that. I. That that was me. I did that. Now, now, granted, I was in a position to say, okay, it's going to happen, it's not going to happen. But I'm as real as you can possibly be with that part. And I support the military a million percent. And that's what all I love. I got at the Shot show the whole time. Thank you for what you do for the veterans.
- [13:46]
B
Right.
- [13:46]
A
Because me doing this was, I said, working for all these leaders, I said, if I ever got the opportunity, I know what I want to do. And it's not what a lot of them are doing, because once they get that paycheck or get their monetary value, Pam, they gone.
- [14:00]
B
They out.
- [14:01]
A
They out. Right? I think all my vetters, I think thank you for your service, what you did, but it's what you're Doing, but also what you did. I'm not gonna take anything away from you. What I'm doing is what I'm doing. Right. You don't have to do anything. You know, I'm gonna support you regardless.
- [14:15]
B
Yeah. That's why you see a lot of them struggle after they retire. Right.
- [14:18]
A
It's true that sense of purpose is sense of purpose. And that's where I go speaking about transitions, especially in civilian. Civilian forces. So it's like bridging the gap between the military and civilians. And it's a big gap because a lot of civilians don't know what to say or how to act around military. And a lot of military can look at it. You think about them. I had 100 people that was taken care of, that was in charge of that was a leadership. And now behind a cubicle and I'm listening to this kid right here telling me what to do.
- [14:45]
B
Yeah.
- [14:46]
A
Doesn't work change.
- [14:46]
B
Right.
- [14:47]
A
Huge.
- [14:47]
B
That take you a while to kind of find yourself after you transitioned.
- [14:52]
A
After I transitioned was a hard transition. I went through a lot. I was transition. No one knew, but I was in two inpatients. I was in an outpatient for a year. And it was hard because I was going therapy, I was talking to people and I. And I just didn't like them. I didn't like them. I didn't like the medication. They sprung me up with a lot of medication, which you know, is a trillion dollar industry.
- [15:21]
B
Right.
- [15:21]
A
Get it. But at the same time, you know, I was also very aggressive.
- [15:27]
B
Really?
- [15:28]
A
I've always been very. I mean, when things are not right, right. People say, oh, he's a general giant. I'm not a general giant. I will take your head off the quickest of anything in the world. But at the same time, if there's no reason to, I won't and I'll defuse it any way I possibly do. But if I have to jump in front of a bullet for the savior life, I'm going to do that. But if I have to do other things, I'm going to do that as well. And sometimes even with the caretakers, I was extremely aggressive because I knew what they were doing. I had opportunity to see things and know things that a lot of my counterparts, whether the Army, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard enlisted or even officers didn't get to see or know. I knew them because of who I work for, how I worked and what I work for. And I knew that even at my disarray where, where I'm at Chef Rich, they say, who's taking care of you people take care of me right now. Shot show took care of me. It was a lot. I ain't gonna lie to you. I was exhausted. And the day. Right. I just left right there off stage. It came right here, right. But they showed me so much love and I would never deny any of them. I took a million pictures and I said thank you a million times and I smiled a billion times and I don't care. And I'm not going to waver on them. I'm not going to say I'm tired of this and that because they mean more than meaning anything. And with them saying thank you for your service, thank you for what you do, it's just as important that I show them they're worth it. Self worth is everything, you know, and also giving a person their praises and saying it. I don't care if you serve sir. I don't care if he was a dishwasher. Thank you for everything you've done.
- [16:59]
B
Gratitude, right?
- [17:00]
A
Gratitude.
- [17:01]
B
Man, that's deep. Yeah. That must have been frustrating knowing that. And then being on medication for a year couldn't help out.
- [17:07]
A
It was thing and then I. I finally when I had a. A moment of clarity, I literally sat on the couch for like a year in the same spot and I was on so much medication, like. But I did the worst thing you could possibly do. I had a moment of clarity and I went upstairs and I opened up this big has been a medication, just all this medication. And I remember I just looked at it and then I got it all and I just put it down the toilet and I flushed it not knowing pronounced myself that you need to whim off a minute. That was hard. That was hard. But. But I know that I didn't have the capacity to do that. You know, if I'm taking, you know, 30 milligrams or 10 milligrams or 5 milligrams and you have to be, you know, calculated to offer those little bit by little bit, which could have took months and I wouldn't know how to do it myself. So I really just struggled to do it all at the same time. And I got sick as hell. I ain't gonna lie to you about that. And it made me. I now I know what, you know, people who are going through withdrawals feel like, but after the fact was I could see.
- [18:16]
B
Wow. So how long did that last? The withdrawals?
- [18:18]
A
Oh my God. It's like over a month plus.
- [18:21]
B
Damn, it was no joke.
- [18:23]
A
It was bad. You talking about sick, you talking about your Stomach. You talking about one? Gay. I mean, terrible.
- [18:28]
B
Yeah. I had some Xanax withdrawals because I ran out. And they don't tell you to. What you just said to kind of lean off of it. They don't tell you that when they give you it.
- [18:35]
A
No. So it's addictive.
- [18:37]
B
Yeah.
- [18:37]
A
I mean, literally, your body thrives. It. It wants it all the time, you know, so imagine taking five or six or seven different drugs or 10 different drugs that are all addictive.
- [18:47]
B
Yeah. I wonder what the average veteran is on. How many drugs you think prescription?
- [18:50]
A
Oh, my God. I don't even want to guess. But if I had to think. If I had to think right off the top of the thing, I'm saying at least five.
- [18:57]
B
Holy crap.
- [18:58]
A
Yeah.
- [18:58]
B
That's terrible. Because they're like 30s, 40s.
- [19:00]
A
It is, it is. And they have them for everything. I mean, everything. Everything. And I think that's kind of like the universal cure. Put them on drugs.
- [19:06]
B
Yeah.
- [19:07]
A
Right. And so that's just part of it, you know, And. But, you know, I. I know our medical industry for the vets and the VA and whatever has been a little tainted and it's been up and down and so forth, you know, you. You hope and pray that it gets better, you know? Hope and pray. I. I met one of my guys the other night, two nights ago, and, you know, we cried together because unfortunately, something bad happen, and he had withdrawals and he lost, and he tried to do something really bad, and I hadn't seen him in a long time since the Last Shot show. We cried together, hugged him, and he's. And I. I love this guy, and he has a huge company, and he does so much for veterans, but he's had a lot of stuff that happened to him in the military, in Iraq and in life and so forth, and anything could be a trigger, you know, Anything. So I. I tell people, because everybody wants to make fun of everything today. Everybody's on social media making fun of everybody, every little thing. The only time they don't make fun of it is when it happens to them.
- [20:08]
B
Facts. Yeah. People are quick to judge, quick to.
- [20:10]
A
Bully, cyber bully, you know, of death. You know, they do it. But when it happens to their friends, their family, their loved ones, it's like, why? You know? So one of the things I do is I make a cause on everything. I don't care what it is. If it's your cause, it's my cause. Because somewhere. Somewhere someone needs it. And I've been fortunate to do that, especially with my speaking, because I've had the most craziest from Ernst and Young to all the other people from the military, FBI, medical. Speaking, speaking, speaking. Everything's relatable when you think about your mindset, leadership, transition, food, and what it does. It's a universal message, like you said. So you can go across every platform, not just the one.
- [20:54]
B
Yeah.
- [20:55]
A
Everybody has a niche but me, fortunately, I have a lot of layers.
- [20:59]
B
Yeah. We were talking about it off camera, how you're big in Korea, right?
- [21:02]
A
Yeah, yeah, Korea. You know, and I did that purposely, you know, and I'm black. If you. And I speak no Korean. And I love them, and they love me back in return. And I went from this to the huge, huge. I've done three Netflix shows there that even left me. I came back and they want me to do another one. I've done every big brand. I do all of it, and I do nothing. That's the power of. Of persuasion. Right. That's the power of. Of relevancy, of saying, hey, I want to do this and I want to show you. Because us, as Americans, sometime we're ungrateful.
- [21:38]
B
Yeah.
- [21:38]
A
Entitled, uncaring, and. But at the same time, it's like, you'll eat some food and you're looking like, oh, that's nasty. That's nasty. Why is it nasty? Because you didn't grow up that way, why you didn't do that. You don't look at other countries food, because it can be very disrespectful. You know, me, I went to. I'm an etiquette person, so I went to class, I went to actually school to learn etiquette about what to do, what not to do, how to do it. You know, what to say, when to jump into a conversation, when to jump out, when, you know, when it's too long or when it's that. How to do everything you need to do, from running the front of the house to the back of the house to the States to different places in different countries. And, you know, I teach people on that part of it, you know, and the one thing that I cannot do is just kiss ass. I need. I tell people it's kind of like the. The. The. The. It's kind of like the art of selling without selling, you know, don't go begging. A lot of people begging, and it just turns people to the point to where it's just. It's just cringe. Right. If you shine the way you're supposed to shine, everything's going to come to you. I'll tell you a True story. Since I've been doing what I'm doing, I've never picked up the phone. Not once. Not every TV show. From my Kitchen Commando, from Disney to all the Korean shows, to my show coming up now to my other show just getting ready to come out with TV one, to all my brands to all my endeavors on my business, I've never picked up the phone.
- [23:06]
B
That's crazy, because a lot of people have a guy that does that or they themselves do it, you know, Or a team, even.
- [23:12]
A
Some people have it. And even further, every team I've had that's in la, I fired them all. My lawyer, my literary, my. My publisher. I got every deal they had. Wow. And I said, why am I paying you to get you deals? Like. And I said, here you go. Now give them a quarter. I wait a quarter. Three months. I said, if you don't give me a deal, you out. I want to keep bringing you. Because they say, oh, man, Chef Rich is getting all the deal. All the deal. All the deals. Work, work. I'd rather fail on my own than for you to succeed and me to fail or you help me fail. It doesn't make any sense.
- [23:46]
B
Facts. You're in control at least, right?
- [23:48]
A
Exactly. Exactly. At least I know if I did it, I did it. I'm okay with that.
- [23:52]
B
Right? Because then it's on you.
- [23:53]
A
It's on me. It's on me?
- [23:54]
B
Yeah. I love that, man. What's some etiquette people should know about, though, as far as in Korea?
- [23:59]
A
In Korea, Korea is very different. So I go to Korea, Japan, I go to Thailand. Korea is very universal. If you haven't been to Korea, you need to go. It' a lot different than what it used to be. The people are much more open, much more hip, much more. This slurping is okay. Really? Yeah. If you see my videos, I'm slurping like, I love it. I'm like, I could be me, like, slurping to death, right? They love it. They like, whoa, Chef, you slurp better than us, you know, using the chopstick. You do use a chopstick, but you eat everything more than us, you know? And if you have something that you don't like there, don't act like it's frown upon. That's okay. But don't act like it's the most disgusting thing in the world. You know, in Korea, a lot of things are people don't know is they don't have, like, walk up to people on dates, like, go out like, oh, I see someone let me Go try to date. They have a place. They go for that. Or people introduced into people.
- [24:53]
B
Really?
- [24:53]
A
Yeah. It's none of that. It can be a million women and men in the same place. They will not talk to each other. What? They don't talk to each other whatsoever.
- [25:00]
B
It's got to be prearranged. You can't hit on a girl at.
- [25:03]
A
The bar or you'll say you're going to this dating bar where. It's a dating bar. So they say, oh, yo, you know, it's susceptible to go and say hi to a girl if you want to.
- [25:13]
B
That's actually interesting. Right. I feel like. Because it's intimidating, dating in America. Like growing up at the bar. Girls.
- [25:20]
A
Yeah.
- [25:20]
B
So now if you know there's a place that you go to date, it's kind of easier. I feel like.
- [25:24]
A
No. Well, think about LA in Vegas, you know, in D.C. or New York or all that part of it. It can be very, very stressful. I mean, hell, I don't know how to date. So there you go.
- [25:34]
B
You're just focused on working.
- [25:35]
A
I work a lot.
- [25:37]
B
What's some interesting dishes out there in Korea? Oh, they're known for. I know, Korean barbecue, obviously, but Korean barbecue, you said that's not the same.
- [25:44]
A
Not the same here? No. Oh, not even a little bit.
- [25:46]
B
What's different about it over there?
- [25:48]
A
The way they cook it. Right. And the beef. They have a beef called hanu, which is not allowed here in the us which is actually close to being wagyu, a Kobe, as far as flavor profile and riach and with fat.
- [26:00]
B
It's not allowed here?
- [26:01]
A
No, it's not allowed.
- [26:02]
B
Why?
- [26:02]
A
It's too cheap. Oh, it'll. It'll. It'll blow everybody out the box. Wow. That's why.
- [26:07]
B
Interesting.
- [26:08]
A
It's too cheap. The margin for. If you think about it, it just doesn't make any sense for the US to bring it over. But you also have those Australian wagyu and all other stuff. But then you also have the black pig. The black pig is something just like phenomenal, is something that you look eat, and it's just like. Like, what is this meat? Tender, juicy, succulent, you know, no pork, Nothing, Nothing, Nothing. But like me, I eat the cow. Be tongue, which is. They do great with their stews. I call them stews. They're not called stews, but, you know, where they just have all these flavors that have been cooking for weeks and months and just replenish over and over.
- [26:46]
B
I've seen those videos.
- [26:47]
A
Yeah, yeah. You know, kabi tongue or jaja yam, which is. They call. We call black spaghetti. Right. Which is just filled with flavor profiles. And everything is so diverse, you know? I, I, I, I, I, I. Honestly, when I go there, I'll eat about five times a day.
- [27:04]
B
Holy crap.
- [27:05]
A
And nothing's the same. Nothing the same. And I'll be there for sometimes for, you know, four, five, six weeks. Wow. Right? And I'll just eat every day because I do. I have a channel over there on the Careers. Yeah, Right. So I eat every day, all the time.
- [27:17]
B
What a living.
- [27:18]
A
Oh, my God. It's amazing. It's amazing.
- [27:20]
B
That's so cool. So you get to review the food and make it a beautiful.
- [27:24]
A
I don't even get reviewed. I just eat the hell out of it.
- [27:26]
B
Yeah.
- [27:26]
A
Yeah.
- [27:27]
B
That's so cool, man. Is that your favorite cuisine? Korean food?
- [27:30]
A
Korean is one of my top ones.
- [27:32]
B
I always ask people, like, if you had to eat one cuisine the rest of your life, what would you pick? No one's ever said Korean, actually, it.
- [27:40]
A
Was a normal one.
- [27:41]
B
I hear Italian a lot. I hear Japanese. No one says American, to be honest. No one says, I don't think we're up there.
- [27:48]
A
No, not up there. I mean, Korean is. A lot of people don't go to Korea. They don't think of it like that. But, I mean, if you think about Asian, you think about Japan. Very clean food. Yeah, very clean, very delicious. You won't get a weight. You won't gain a pound over, though. It's very small portions that you would struggle out there. I was. Yeah, I would struggle out there in Korea. But it's just so many different flavor profiles. You know, Japan has the. The ramen, which is amazing, which is depth and flavors and profiles and Korean. And just Korea just has the diversity for all flavors.
- [28:20]
B
I love it. I know you. You've done some stuff with Gordon Ramsay. What have been some big takeaways you've learned working with him.
- [28:27]
A
Takeaways I've learned with Chef Ramsey. He's. He's amazing. He's a magnificent chef and business person. He's strategic. He is a person that you can learn from, and I've took notes from him on what you do. When I did my show, I had to kind of figure things out. They kind of put me right in the show and said, here you go, And I didn't know what to do, but I want to do something that I would want to see, not what I want to do. I got a fan of everything. Like, you know, I can say Oh, I cook this great. I didn't want to do that. I'm like, what would I do if I'm looking at something on tv? And so I did that. And I also wanted to make it kind of like community based, you know, leadership based. So that's when I started doing. I put in the four P's, made it something that people can live by, stand by. And then I put into the food and made people appreciate it much more. So. So doing that, even with Masterche, when I did the, you know, the thing is to have fun, right? Me personally, I get rid of all the airline, I get rid of. I never had it all arrogancy, right. Thinking you just, I think some of the people. I was self taught and a lot of chefs honestly wanted me to fail. They wanted me to fail because they just thought I didn't belong. I mean, and I, and I'll be honest with you, I don't, I didn't belong. I don't know what that even looked like. I was different. I was black, I was young. I was, I was like, what?
- [29:52]
B
Yeah, you know, they went to culinary school.
- [29:55]
A
Yeah, but that's the part about it, you know, you did something that I didn't do or could do or like everybody else. And so you think you're better than us because you know it and you do it and you hold it over their shoulders. Don't do that. I hate people like that. Maybe, you know, say every opportunity and everybody has the whole part of it. But that's not true. Everybody doesn't have the opportunity now because somebody just don't have the capacity for it or the knowledge base for it or whatnot. But you know, it's true that if somebody, if you've done something that, you know, people have not done, teach them, show them, understand them, don't act like they're just, I use a word like dumb, that they don't know, that they can't learn. Give them opportunity. And because I know I had all my opportunities, a lot of opportunities taken away from me, a lot of them taken away from me, a lot of accolades that were taken away. And you know what? I didn't care. It wasn't about accolades. It was about being my, doing my job. And I did my job diligently. But at the same time it was hard because, you know, you do and you want to be rewarded in some type of person or mindset or whatever, but if it doesn't happen, it just doesn't happen. You know, I'll go back to my dad. When I was working with him in construction, you know, that's why I learned to work out, because I wouldn't have a gym. The YMCA you had to pay for and have any money. So I used to do construction when I was a kid. And a long story short was it was a big metal car that was there every day when I would go and help him, and he would tell me, go pick up that car. It was later on when I started working for him a little bit. I'm like, I'm a kid. I mean, I can't pick up that car. I mean, it's a metal car, like the real car, not like one's right here. And so, you know, the old heads, everybody was older, and I would go and try, try. And every time, you know, I still had school, this, that. So a long period of time passed by. And I remember the last time I went and I got to that car, and it was like, don't always try to use your strength. Try to be smart about it. So I braced myself, and I got under it, and I pull, and I went from the back part up, right, Instead of going from the front part. And I picked the car up, and all the guys started clapping and you know, going, ah. You know, And I. I had the most biggest sense of pride in my. So when I walked over to my dad, he was in the machine, and he looks at me and he just said, about time. And he went back to work, and I was like, wow, okay. And then I can say like, okay, all right. I. I didn't get the accolades. I didn't get the praises, whatever. It was like, that's life. If you do something and you do something great, that's not the end of it. Keep effing going. Don't just say, oh, I did this. I did this right here. Okay, what's next? That's what I. And that's what I tell my people. I said, ah, congratulations. Let's go. Right? I'm not gonna take that from you. But if you get caught on that one win. What about the 100 you're missing?
- [32:49]
B
Right? Some people call it tough love. Right?
- [32:52]
A
I call it tough.
- [32:56]
B
You got to be careful with entitlement.
- [32:58]
A
Entitlement.
- [32:58]
B
You're not. You're not really anything.
- [33:00]
A
You're not entitled to anything.
- [33:01]
B
Yeah. A lot of people think because they grew up wealthy or whatever.
- [33:04]
A
No, no, no, no. Entitlement.
- [33:06]
B
Yeah. My father. When my father passed, he died a millionaire. I didn't get a single dollar. He gave it all to his oldest kid. Because, you know, you're not entitled to anything. You know, but a lot of people, they would fight over that. They would sue their brother.
- [33:17]
A
Yeah, yeah.
- [33:18]
B
I just let him have it, you know, Entitled to anything.
- [33:20]
A
Yeah.
- [33:20]
B
You got to be careful with that. Did you ever confront your father as you got older? Did you ever speak up against him?
- [33:26]
A
No, I never. But I never told him I was a chef. He didn't know until later. Boy, before he passed away.
- [33:33]
B
Wow.
- [33:34]
A
And because his motto was, the girls go to school, Nick cook, and the men go to work. And when I went to the military, he was. He was against it, actually. He's like, why are you going to the military? You know, my older brothers or my other ones went to the merchant marines, my other brothers in the Navy, and I just want to do something better. I was in Mississippi. There wasn't anything there. I didn't know what that was. And when he found out, I didn't tell anybody. I just did it. And I had scholarships, right. And because he kept saying that, you know, the boys go to work. Those scholarships meant nothing to me. Now, since then, you know, I. I went on to get, you know, my PMP and Masters and business and philosophy and all this other stuff. But. But later on, when he found out, because it was old school, they didn't look at TV and stuff. When he found out that was a chef and I had all these, you know, accolades and all these other. And he asked me, why did I tell him? And I just said, because of what you said. And, you know, he. He felt really bad, started crying. He was like, I don't want to care what you did. You know, I missed all this that you have done, you know, which, you know, knock on wood was very successful. But I'll tell you, everything I've gotten. I've gotten. Oh, my God. I've gotten, you know, key to the cities. I've gotten acclamations from California. I've gotten, you know, covers of, you know, books and this and this and this and this. You know, my TV shows and all these things that you can put. They're all still in packages. They're still in boxes. And people like, chef, why don't you show. I'm like, because I'm not done. You know, I'm not gonna get caught up on that part of it, because I didn't have a lot of that support like I would think I would have. When you're doing what we're doing, it can be hard, right? Other people, normal people, don't understand. And, you know, that's my hard part right now. Just like you would know. Normal people don't understand what this is. It's not a grind or a hustle. It's part of your lifestyle. It's who you are.
- [35:43]
B
Yeah.
- [35:43]
A
So me doing all this stuff saying, you know, jeff, you know, this, this, this and this, you know, stop and wait a moment. If I wait a moment, that moment could be a decade already going.
- [35:53]
B
Yeah. Because social media is advancing so fast.
- [35:56]
A
Yeah.
- [35:56]
B
If you're not. If you're not evolving, you're going backwards.
- [35:59]
A
Of course.
- [36:00]
B
Man, that's deep, though. Loneliness. Sounds like you dealt with that.
- [36:03]
A
Oh, yeah, of course.
- [36:04]
B
It's hard to relate to people, like with your mentality. Right?
- [36:06]
A
It is. It's mentality based. It's mentality based. You have to think of it that, you know, you have to grow up and you have to grow out. And, you know, I don't have a small circle. I have a huge, huge circle, but there's no one in it. It's a few. And people say, I got a small. No, I want my circle huge because I need room for me and them to grow together so it can spread out. Right. Because I don't want to keep it knit. I want to bring in people and I give every opportunity. But if you can't perform, if you have intentions or, you know, misleading thoughts of what you're going to try and try not to do, you're out point blank. And I don't blame anybody else for anybody else. It's like having a relationship, you know, this girl did me wrong, this boy did me wrong. My boyfriend is this. So I take it out on the next person that comes. It happened. But that's not that person. Right. Even if they have the same venture, even if they say the same thing, but you gotta let them do what they're gonna do to find out for yourself.
- [37:03]
B
Yes. You move on quick.
- [37:04]
A
Of course.
- [37:05]
B
So you don't forgive people easily.
- [37:07]
A
Do I forget people forgive? I don't forgive easily. I don't forgive easily just because I'm human. I don't forgive easily, you know, And I'm not gonna try to play pretend like, oh, you know, I forgive everybody. No, I don't. I'm not gonna lie. I told you, I'm not a nice person. You know, I'm not gonna be like, oh, Chef is a nice. No, I don't forgive. I remember what you did for me. You hurt me. You did something that took something away from me. You took away money from my kids, my family, my Life, my livelihood. You wanted me to fail. You wanted me to not succeed on something that you knew I could have succeeded on. Why would you do that? I had never done that to you.
- [37:45]
B
Yeah. Does that drive you? That.
- [37:47]
A
Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. Everything. Air drives me.
- [37:52]
B
Yeah. Because it sounds like you haven't really lost any motivation, you know, despite all your recent success. It's impressive because a lot of people will get some initial success and then take a step off the pedal.
- [38:01]
A
No, no step at all.
- [38:02]
B
You're grinding even harder than ever. You got three shows you're working on right now, you said.
- [38:05]
A
Yeah, yeah. I've done three Korean shows. Zombie verse just came out. Black and white came out. Kitchen Commando comes out next month on TV One. It's number one out of 47,000 shows on TV. Yeah. And that was made up.
- [38:21]
B
Yeah. You said you got no script, right?
- [38:23]
A
No strip. It was just that. And like I said, it was something that I wanted to see for myself and do. And I have another surprise show that's getting ready to come out that everybody's gon go crazy over with.
- [38:33]
B
Some people, people like that, authenticity these days, you know, I mean, it's the.
- [38:36]
A
Only way to be. You know, I. I can smell fake people, right. I. They make me. They make me nauseous. I serious. You know, it's like being in politics. It's like, ah. I'm like, okay, okay, this is making me sick. Let me go get some air. You know, nothing's wrong with it. If that's who you are, that's who you are. But I can't be that way. And I'm very forward, I'm very direct, and I'm very transparent.
- [39:00]
B
Right?
- [39:00]
A
Yeah. And there's no harm of foul.
- [39:02]
B
Yeah. Other than McDonald's. What is Trump like eating? He loves that Mickey D. I mean.
- [39:10]
A
You know, I. I say this, I say this. You know, if you saw what I made him with the tomahawk steak, right. And I. And I cooked it, undercooked it the way I would like it. You know how if. If he goes back and says, ah, let's make it well done, or whatever. The one thing I'll say I say to people is. And I was. And you kind of reflected this right here. When people say, oh, chef, man, you know, you too big.
- [39:32]
B
You.
- [39:32]
A
This, this. I'm worried about your health. And I was like, man, shut the hell up. You don't even know me. Why are you worried about my health? Why would you even say that? And then everybody. Oh, you were just worried about. You you don't care about me because you're trolling me. I don't care. With him, you know, he has everything, you know, like with his tacos, you know, he brought the button back for, you know, the, the Diet Coke.
- [39:51]
B
He's a taco button.
- [39:52]
A
Huh?
- [39:52]
B
He has a button.
- [39:53]
A
He like the, you know, the bowls and whatnot that he does and so forth, forth, which is cool. But at the same time, he's, he, he is just simplicity. Like, I, I can't. You can't do anything but respect that. If a person just grinds like that. Me, I forget to eat all the time. And I'm a big guy and I'm a greedy guy. I eat a lot. I can eat and I can eat from, you know, a, you know, a thousand calories to, you know, 7,000 calories. It all depends on what. But if I'm doing something and I'm locked in. I am locked in. I know you are also. Yeah, I skip breakfast, but I hate it. My body's like, okay, okay. But I also have what's called adaptation. I'm an endurance trainer. You know, I haven't worked out like I'm supposed to, but my body takes care of me because I take care of it back in return. I said, okay. And I talk to my body. I said, I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you. You know, we'll go do some extra push ups or we'll go do this, I'll take you for a massage. You know that self care, self love. We'll do all those things that we need to do to make it better. But that's kind of like on that end.
- [40:54]
B
I love it. I know you used to be a running back, right? Yeah.
- [40:57]
A
I love, I love football. I love. I was. The only problem was when we've been running back, I used to hit people to try to hit me.
- [41:02]
B
As a Giants fan, I'm so upset we got rid of Saquon. Man, that was a big L. That was crazy. That was the worst thing.
- [41:08]
A
That was crazy. Actually.
- [41:09]
B
We fumbled it, you know, big fumble. I mean, now he might win a Super Bowl.
- [41:12]
A
Exactly.
- [41:13]
B
Think about that on our rival team.
- [41:15]
A
Yeah. How. How did it even happen?
- [41:17]
B
I mean, they wanted Daniel Jones. That's how it happened. And then he, he wasn't the best. They got rid of him.
- [41:21]
A
I mean, potato, potato.
- [41:23]
B
Yeah. I mean, running backs got disrespected the past few seasons.
- [41:27]
A
Oh, yeah.
- [41:27]
B
They were underpaid.
- [41:28]
A
No. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. You know, it wasn't about them. I mean, it's always been about the quarterback, of course, but running backs were just kind of like a second thought.
- [41:35]
B
Yeah. You know, who's your goat? Running back full time?
- [41:39]
A
Hershey Walker.
- [41:40]
B
Oh, not Adrian Peterson, huh? Not Adrian Peterson.
- [41:43]
A
Well, no. No. Okay, I take it Adrian was great also. Adrian was a. A complete beast. I'm going way back because I know Hershey. You know, what he went through. You know, you think about those steps on it, but Peterson was like, she's. I'm having flashbacks. I'm going through the motions of it.
- [41:59]
B
He came back from that ACL tear.
- [42:00]
A
I was like the first athlete, and that's crazy.
- [42:03]
B
And you had some nasty injuries, so you could relate to that.
- [42:05]
A
Oh, man. You know, I just had a guy I just met right before I came here who wanted to take a picture. He had an ACL tear. And I was like, whoa. I'm like. He was like standing up and I was like, one of the worst injuries you can have.
- [42:16]
B
Yeah.
- [42:16]
A
It will take you out of the game 100% complete. So I forgot about that. So him coming back from that is like one in a million.
- [42:24]
B
Yeah. Now before all the modern day, literally.
- [42:26]
A
Think about that one in a million, before all of the whole. Let me stick you here, stick you there, and put you on this.
- [42:30]
B
Before stem cells.
- [42:31]
A
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly.
- [42:33]
B
Yeah. Now you got all sorts of stuff. I know you have a fused leg, right?
- [42:36]
A
Yeah, I. I had my both biceps cut off, reattached. I had my shoulders. Both shoulders cut open. I had my right quad blown up on that part of it. Don't get it wrong. I can still whoop you at.
- [42:51]
B
People would have seen. You would never know that, you know.
- [42:54]
A
And you know what's crazy about that was when they did that. That was before, like I said anything and in the military, they would cut you for anything. And it was like, let's practice on somebody. And I was always in. Always in great shape. And, you know, as a kid, and I didn't know what my shape even meant. It was just my natural build. And so, you know, with them working on cadavers the whole entire time, if you have someone that just has no muscle, then you have someone that has a little muscle. Like, let's see what that looks like. Right. So you get to cut on someone. And so unfortunately, they cut me twice and I didn't even know they were doing it because they went in for one thing. It's something else in which I was young, in which younger, but I didn't know. And it was like, well, they didn't tell you? No. When they cut my bicep, they didn't tell me what? No, they didn't tell me after I was open. I'm like, why am I nose Lane? Why is this hurting? And they were like, oh, you need it. And I'm like, you know, because, you know, you can't sue the military. You can't do this.
- [43:50]
B
Back then. Yeah, it wasn't common back then.
- [43:52]
A
Yeah, it wasn't coming back then, you know, but at the same time, you know, he was like, oh, you. You. You know, you'll be okay, but you won't grow anymore. You know, you got enough size on you to be okay. I'm like, did you just tell me that? Did you just tell somebody that they're not gonna grow, they can't work out, they can't do this, and don't worry about that. And that just wasn't an option for me. You know, here's some stupid. You know, because you want to just cut me open.
- [44:15]
B
That's.
- [44:15]
A
You know, it was nuts.
- [44:17]
B
They're doing that to people back then. I did not know that.
- [44:19]
A
Yeah. And then even in my leg when that happened was. They misdiagnosed it and said it was, you know, like a. A spraying. And it was. It was just terrible. And so that's one of the things you kind of deal with. And that's why you kind of, like, you get bitter and you think about another person. Judges. That's why I tell people, if you have a thought, if you go to a medical personnel or a doctor, whatever, who's a professional, who say, I've been doing this for 30 years. I. I don't care. I'm just gonna take an opinion if I feel that way. Because the thing your deaf body would do is your body will talk to you. And it was like, you gotta cough. Like my. Oh, my God, my throat's at you right now. I'm like, I'm gonna cough right? It's telling me that, right. I'm not gonna hold it in because, like, no, I don't need to cough. But. But I tell people that. Don't just take the word for some people and say, hey, this is what you need to do, what you don't need to do, right. If it's with your body because you only have one revamp, go back and.
- [45:13]
B
Look at it 100%. Yeah. A lot of people value doctors opinions so much, and they start. I believe they start manifesting what they tell them.
- [45:20]
A
Yeah.
- [45:20]
B
You know.
- [45:21]
A
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
- [45:22]
B
Like, if they say, you have this disease, you have this long to live, you're going to start thinking that way instead of thinking positively.
- [45:28]
A
And then you think about things that happen where the guy who told like how many, how many people that had cancer, it was like she's hundreds that had cancer and they didn't have cancer. And he put them all through chemo and all this part of it.
- [45:40]
B
Geez.
- [45:40]
A
And some of them lost their lives and some of them, I mean, think about stuff like that.
- [45:44]
B
Yeah, that's terrible.
- [45:45]
A
Yeah.
- [45:45]
B
So it's been really fun. What's next for you and where to find you, man got going on next.
- [45:52]
A
I just fly everywhere, like kiss babies and, and shake hands and like I said, my TV show's coming out. I got some other stuff.
- [45:59]
B
So will that be on Netflix, U.S. or Korea?
- [46:02]
A
Only we're in the U.S. everything I do is in the U.S. but this one, we're looking at the network right now, so it'll be out soon. And you know, people just find me real Chef Rush. Chef rush, Instagram, YouTube, yada, yada yada, or just hanging out.
- [46:16]
B
Yeah, we'll link it all below. Thanks for coming on, Chef.
- [46:18]
A
I appreciate y'all.
- [46:19]
B
Thanks for watching, guys. Check them out. See you next time. Marketing is hard, but I'll tell you a little secret. It doesn't have to be. Let me point something out. You're listening to a podcast right now and it's great. You love the host, you seek it out and download it. You listen to it while driving, working out, cooking, even going to the bathroom. Podcasts are a pretty close companion. And this is a podcast ad. Did I get your attention? You can reach great listeners like yourself with podcast advertising from Libsyn Ads. Choose from hundreds of top podcasts offering host endorsements or run a pre produced ad like this one across thousands of shows. To reach your target audience in their favorite podcasts with Libsyn ads, go to Libsynads.com that's L, I B S Y N ads.com today.