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For Good
Hip-Hop, Hard Lessons & Healing: Dr. Sahpreem A. King’s Journey of Redemption
01:03:08
From producing platinum records to surviving bankruptcy — twice — Dr. Sahpreem A. King has lived a life of highs, lows, and powerful transformation. A hip-hop producer for legends like SWV and Wyclef Jean, he went from the top of the music...
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- [00:00]
A
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B
No one ever tells you about being a jack of all trades. It's better to be a jack of all trades than the master of just one thing. I'm out here in this world trying to make impact. It's not a matter of what I have or what I can do. Is me absorbing what God has put in front of me in order to push it back out for other people.
- [00:49]
C
I want to talk about your book. Gotta get signed.
- [00:53]
B
Okay.
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C
Legendary as the first ever on a hip hop production.
- [00:56]
B
Wu Tang said, protect your neck. I'm out here telling you, protect your positivity. The song that I did on on SWV's album was never a single, but it was a lot of people's favorite.
- [01:06]
C
Twice in your life, you lost it all financially, yet you came back stronger. What do you think failure taught you.
- [01:12]
B
That success could be humility. So the first time I did it, you know, was in the music industry, made, you know, made a couple of million dollars. I didn't know anything about taxes. I went from watching domestic violence in my home and then being the abuser myself. What I learned as an adult was I had a choice and control.
- [01:40]
C
What'S good, everybody. It's your guy, JoJo Simmons. And this is the For Good podcast where we focus on the good, never the bad. Where we're measured by what we do, not what we have. And today I'm sitting down with the doctor Supreme A. King, a multi platinum hip hop producer turned author, educator, army veteran, and founder of Solar Astronauts. From producing hits from artists like SW Feet and Wyclef John to survive in bankruptcy twice to earning multiple doctorates and building a platform for healing and transformation, Dr. King has lived through breakdowns and breakthroughs. Let's get into it. What's up, Dr. King? I appreciate you coming out today on the Four Good podcast, brother. I really do appreciate your time, man.
- [02:24]
B
That's what's up, yo, brother Jojo. Much Love and appreciation. I'm so happy to be here.
- [02:30]
C
Of course, Much love. So let's jump right into it because I know that you got an amazing story and I'm trying to get. We got a few questions. And I want the people to really understand who you are and what you do and all the things you've done. So you've lived so many lives. Producer, soldier, educator, authority. When people ask, who is Dr. King? How do you introduce yourself today?
- [02:54]
B
You just came out, right out the gate with the hard question, right? I think everybody is a cornucopia of competing concepts and ideas, right? Nobody is one thing. And for me, I kind of look at myself. I call it a joke, right? Joe at Jack of all trades. And one of the things, you know, when I was a kid, I really hated that term because people would all, oh, man, you all over the place. You must have adhd, which is a whole other story, which I found out in my, you know, mid-30s that I actually did. But no one ever tells you about being a jack of all trades. It's better to be a jack of all trades than the master of just one thing. I've never been a one trick pony. And, you know, shout outs to my people, De La Soul, you know, on one of their songs, they said, well, hey, my dad hates driving the bus, but he loves five kids, right? I have five kids. I don't really enjoy working per se in the terms of like, you know, going out there and having to kill myself to make a living. I enjoy being able to provide for my family. And at that same time, the mindset is I, I am all of these things, right? So I'm everything that I choose to be in that moment. And 90% of that is about positivity. And why I say 90%, and I'm going to go ahead and talk about the Jurassic beads is because 10% of my time I'm fighting off negativity, right? And you got to, you know, Wu Tang said, protect your neck. I'm out here telling you, protect your positivity. And, and if I had to say who I am, I'm your friend, I'm your brother, I love you. You know what I'm saying? I'm a positive force in life. I'm out here in this world trying to make impact. It's not a matter of what I have or what I can do is me absorbing what God has put in front of me in order to push it back out for other people. So, you know, again, if I had to really say who I am. I'm. I'm a jack of all trades. And I'm proud of that.
- [05:03]
C
Yeah, I love that because I think about that. It's like some people are a good man or a good leader or a good this, but then you can be all of that, and that makes you a jack of all trades. Like a good father, a good husband, a good man, a good leader. You know what I mean? A good example. And to me, that's what a jack of all trades feels like to me that I do all that. I'm like, yeah, you right. Like, I'm not a one trick pony. I don't just bring one thing to the table. I bring it all to the table. And it's because I come with, you know, I come to it with positivity, so. So I love how you broke that down.
- [05:34]
B
Yeah, yeah, you gotta think about that. You know, in the world that we live in, there's just so many things out here pulling for our attention. And to be a positive force, you have to have intention. And that's really what it's about. It's intention.
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D
Mm.
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C
So before all the transformations, it all started with hip hop for you. You worked with artists like SWV and Wyclef John. Was there a particular artist or a moment in the studio when you first realized, damn, I'm really good at this, I've made it as a producer.
- [06:06]
B
Wow. So you just hit me with the hard stuff. So here it is. I've been doing this since about. I mean, I've been interested in hip hop since about 1979. I had a cousin shout outs to my cousin dawn, who. She was my babysitter. She was a teenager and she had brought me to a party, a block party in Amityville where I'm from, in Long island, right? And I'm watching the DJ and I'm like, wait, the hardest thugs at the party are giving him respect. All of the women are giving him respect. He's controlling the party. And you know, you know, from growing up in hip hop and the work, you know, your dad has done that. Back then, you were the rapper and the DJ simultaneously, right before, you know, in the. In the very beginning. And I'm like looking at this guy now, keep in mind, I'm about nine, ten years old, and my cousin leaves me at the DJ booth. And then it reminds me of like that SpongeBob. Three hours later, right? I'm still there, and I'm mesmerized by the control that this, this cat has. And I'm thinking, To myself, that is the career that I want. And then another, another pivotal moment was 1983. I was at Amityville Day and it's the first time I heard Sucker MCs. I was about 13 years old. They played it about 100 times. By the day was over, I knew every word and I'm like, that's what I want to do. So I say that. To say is that being good is a state of being. Your only good is dynamicism.
- [07:37]
D
Right.
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B
It's not static. There's never been a point in my music career that I'm not learning something right. I just finished up an EP that I've been working on for about a year. That's house music. That's you know, dance more kind of like pop. Edmund. And I look at the body of work and I go, wow, I did that right. And I'm always amazed at being able to tap into the potential of being a human being and learning and growing and understanding. Right. I never say I'm the expert. I try to stay away from that because at the end of it, you know, we all kind of feel like a fraud sometimes because there's always going to be something that you don't know. So for me, I try to be, I call it abl, always be learning. Go into a situation like I'm a first day freshman, I don't know nothing. And even to this day, after the things that I've accomplished, I still feel like I'm just, I'm just starting, I'm just beginning. And that's what keeps me open minded to do other things.
- [08:44]
C
I feel like. So it's safe to say that your, your I made it moment is every time you get to work on things that you love to do is your I made it moment, is you're in awe that you were able to be inspired by something and end up in that space. Work with artists, but not only work with artists, but just work on music and be in that space. So I love that like you have this humbleness and graciousness of every day is like I've made it. It's not like you're comfortable. It's not like, hey, yeah, I've have, I've worked with all these big artists and yeah, I've got this ego. It's more like I'm waking up able to do everything I love to do because you followed your dreams, you know, so that's, that's bro. That's amazing. I want to talk about your book. Gotta get signed.
- [09:25]
B
Okay.
- [09:26]
C
Legendary as the first Ever on a hip hop production. Why was it important to you to put that knowledge into a book when no one else had that?
- [09:34]
B
Wow. So, interestingly enough, back in those days, I started off as a rapper, right? And it's funny, long story that the song that I did on, on SWV's album was never a single, but it was a lot of people's favorite, was called Black Pudding. It was the single from my rap group back then, right? So we were touring and doing things in Atlanta. We ended up breaking up and I ended up selling the song to them on RCA bmg. And now I get thrusted from DJ rapper to music producer. And then it was a. I was a hip hop producer now working with an R and B group. And my first breakout, like large scale production is, is R and B. And I'm like, well, what, what the hell is a music producer? Like I had, I. All I knew was being in the studio sampling beats. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was focused on that. So now I'm in this space and this is 1991. No one can tell me how to be a hip hop producer because the term kind of was, you know, in its infancy stage, right? So I found out that, you know, all the information out there was based off of, written by lawyers, written by, you know, people who've had education. I was a college dropout, man. I went to like a bunch of schools. I didn't even graduate the first time from college until I was 40. So all I needed to do was find out this information. So I'm out here seeking, I'm asking questions, I'm getting on people's nerves, you know, hey, what's this, what's that, what's this? And, and what I learned along the way is that I got it. But translating that into common speech, right? Because I realized that the average dude that's making beats in his crib or sacrificing, you know, borrowing from his girl or living in his mom's basement, trying to put this stuff together isn't going to read the book written by the lawyer or the Harvard graduate or the executive. He wants to know in plain language like, yo, what's up? How do I do this? So it came out of two reasons. One, my quest for knowledge and then the rationale of you take it in to give back. But secondly, I wanted to know what a hip hop producer actually did, right? And then let me pay it forward so the next cat who has a dream, right? Because I was told, yo, you're dreaming, man. This ain't never going to happen for you. Like, I don't play no instruments. When I was in elementary school, I hit a kid in the head with a drumstick because he was way. I was scared of him. And that was the end of my music career. Like, I don't play any instruments. So what is a hip hop producer? There's no school for this, right? How do I get there? And so I wrote my own manual as if I was going back in time and saying, here, young brother, here's. Here's. Here's the blueprint. That's really what I was looking to do.
- [12:34]
C
Dope. Yeah, you. Some relatability. Some people, you know, a lot of, you know, you were putting out knowledge that you wish you once had. And once you learned that knowledge, you put it out for the other people to. To kind of consume that and take that in and do what they want as they please. Sounds like you was rolling and rocking. You know, you was working with big artists, you dropping big books, but twice in your life, you lost it all financially. I want to talk about.
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B
Oh, yeah.
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C
Yet you came back stronger. What do you think failure taught you that success couldn't.
- [13:05]
B
Humility. Humility, right. So the first time I did it, you know, was in the music industry. Made, you know, made a couple of million dollars. Didn't really know, you know. Now keep in mind, you take a young dude who. Who's. My parents never made that kind of money. I mean, my first royalty check was like $75,000. You know, that was more at the time.
- [13:27]
C
At that time, that's.
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B
That's a lot of money that my parents were making. I didn't know anything about taxes. The only people I knew that had money was like, my grandparents. And they're giving me old people advice. No. You know, much love and respect for the advice they gave me. I was grateful, but it's like, hey, throw it in a cd. And then when you. The lesson they don't teach you in the music industry is that all of this money that they're giving you is not taxed. You need to understand what tax bracket you're in. You need to make sound investments. You know, and then when you come from the hood, you. And you're around people who've never had that kind of money, you get that kind of advice, right? Don't ask a person who's never had a thousand dollars how to manage $10,000. They're not gonna know how. And again, no disrespect to them. It's just where people are at. And you get the information at the level that you're at. So for me, it's. And the first time it was understanding, you know, taxes, finances, proper investments, who to trust and not to trust, right? You put. You put, you know, time and energy into people and you think, oh, they got you, but they don't, right? So I think the key lesson there was, and I was in my. In my twenties, was know enough to have the right conversations and seek the right help. You don't have to go out and become a financial witness wizard, right? But you do need to know enough to have the right conversations. Now, the second time this happened, I was in my 30s and this was in real estate. And I became, you know, I started investing in property, flipping houses, rehabbing houses. I got caught in the market because, you know, you think that you're awesome, right? The first time I do it, I go, okay, well, I did it with the absence of God.
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D
Right.
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B
Second time I did it, I think I'm God, because here it is, I am this guy who shouldn't be doing this. No college degree whatsoever, and I'm succeeding in a big way in a totally different industry with no help, no mentor, just off of grind and sheer positive energy, right? But then God took it all away from me and that happened through the market shifting. And, you know, we all, you know, remember the mortgage crisis and housing crisis of 2008, I got caught in that. But it taught me a valuable lesson of, you know, understanding the industry that you're in.
- [15:54]
D
Right?
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B
So here I'm better at finances, but I don't fully understand the industry because what God did for me just kind of like in the music industry put me in a situation to give me tremendous growth in a fast amount of time. But. But not the knowledge. The test was understand what it is you're in.
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D
Right.
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B
And don't, you know, it's not a good idea to just be a baby pool of knowledge, right? So, you know, mad shallow, you want to be deep at something. And that's what it taught me, to stop, look and listen and say, okay, well, if you are going to be in this industry, you need to know what the pitfalls are. Right? Right. So I think the biggest lesson that I learned in failure was humility. But also I embrace failure. I look forward to failing because the faster you fail at anything, the faster you're going to get through those 10,000 hours of becoming, you know, an expert or at least knowledgeable in anything that you're trying to do in order to achieve that goal.
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D
Right?
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B
But I feel Like God put me in this situation to, to say, wait a minute, there's something bigger than you, right? There's something greater than you. And there's a reason why I'm putting you through this turmoil. There's a reason. You know what I'm saying? And still I'm a work in progress, right? Like everybody else, I'm on this journey. I'm trying to understand that making decisions in my life should never be fear based, right? They say fear is false evidence appearing real for me, I look at it, every decision I make is from a place of love, right? Lifting a vibrational energy. If it's not lifting my own vibrational energy and the vibrational energy of other people, I'm not in it. So I'm super grateful for the lessons of failure. I get up in the morning and go, I want some more failure. Because that's how you understand where you're at and where you want to be.
- [17:53]
C
You know, I agree, you know, I look forward to failure as well as obviously I look forward to success more than I look forward to failure. But I never look at failure as failure anymore. I look at it as a learning curve. I look at it as a lesson case study. As you will. I did this the wrong way, so let's not do that again, you know, and okay, I might do it the wrong way again and let's not do it that way then. Right? But like failure is. Just means that you're trying to me, right? I think people can't fail if they're not doing anything. How do you fail if you have. You have no intention on doing anything? I think the people that have intention on winning and the people that have intention on doing something in life always fail. They fail first and they fail hard, Right? Because that's how they find out how to win and that's how they find out how to pivot and that's how they find out how to be successful is learning from all those failures. So I don't believe anybody that's ever been successful or anybody that ever wants to be successful wouldn't have failures, right? The people that aren't doing anything won't fail and they won't succeed at all. They won't do either either, or they'll just kind of just stay stagnant, right? And I think that the most failures give you the biggest wins, right? I think the people that failed the most understand both sides of the coin. So like, like you, I look forward to failure at times because it means that I'm learning and that's the best part about it.
- [19:16]
B
Yeah, you're right. You can't fail if you don't get out of bed.
- [19:19]
C
Can't fail if you don't get out of bed. Can't bump your head if you don't get out of bed. You know, that's what they say.
- [19:25]
B
Nice.
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C
So you've described learning later in life that you weren't broken, but wired differently with adhd. How did that shift your self understanding and approach to learning in life?
- [19:39]
B
I think what was pivotal for me was recognizing that in some of my children, right. Understanding that, you know, we're taught in school, and this is primarily why I became an educator, is that we're taught that you, you know, that you learn a certain way.
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D
Right.
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B
You know, you're taught in school, especially as young black males, we're taught that, you know, by a left brain learner who's. And it's funny because growing up, I never really. I had one male teacher and I. And he was a white guy.
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D
Right.
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B
You know, and that's cool, but I didn't see anybody in that space that thought like me, you know, saw the world like me. So, you know, part of that is learning from people that look like us, right? Which is important, think like us. And what I realize is that when you go to school, you're indoctrinated in a way that. I get it. We're trying to teach people how to be in the middle. And if you're an outlier on this side of being, okay, you're smart, you're, you're accelerated. But what determines smartness, Right. And if you're on the other side of this, you're, you know, okay, you're in that slower group. So the focus is always on the middle. So if you fall in one of these places on the opposite sides of the bell curve, then, you know, we're either going to fast track you or we're going to like, put you in this failure mode. And what that does to children emotionally is, is, is mortifying.
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D
Right.
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B
And I watched my son go through this because he didn't learn in the same way. See, if you take, you know, you. Let's just say we, we did a parallel of him and I in the same age group in the same time. I didn't have all the distractors that he has, right. All the social media and all the things and, and all of that. I had none of those things. So it was kind of like you're forced to learn in this way and he's either you comply or you do not. I was able to mask, you know, my adhd, so to speak, because I could perform in other ways. I can hear it. And what I learned in this journey from watching my son is that there's multiple ways to be smart. And that brought me to a guy named Dr. Howard Gardner. And he has a theory called multiple intelligence theory. And it's just a theory, but it's based off of seven different ways of being smart. So you can be, you know, you can have body kinesthetic smarts. When we watch people dance. I was a breakdancer, right? I would watch, you know, I would watch all the hip hop, you know, break dance movies as a kid that you can get on VHS and learn those moves. I learned how to be a public speaker by being a rapper and memorizing rap lyrics, right? So when I wanted to become a real estate agent, I took the test and I wrote it as a rap and remembered everything. So what I was able to do in that, you know, in that time with my boy was look at multiple intelligence theories, look at where he was strongest in ways of learning. And for example, like, he had to write a book report so he could read, and he could read well, but he didn't. He didn't have the confidence for public speaking. So what we were able to do was create an animated presentation using some tools online. And he created an animated book report and then just kind of added in commentary where. But now he went from being a failing student to being an A student. So in the school system, where it becomes problematic is we have like 30 kids and one teacher that's overwhelmed. And now I can't give this personalized attention to everyone. So that's kind of how I got into the learning, development and design space and then the learning sciences.
- [23:17]
D
Right?
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B
How do we teach people? How do we improve human beings by giving them what they need? And that's where the personalization comes into learning.
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C
Yeah, I love how you took your experience and obviously, you know, were aware of, you know, what your son and everybody else around you has got going on. So that's dope. And I wanted to talk about some of your earliest memories, speaking about you being younger and having the teacher and all that. So you shared in your earliest memories your father, you know, what your father was filled with violence. How did that environment shape you and how you saw yourself as a young man? I didn't mean to go this deep.
- [23:59]
B
No, no, it's okay, brother. I appreciate that. So what we learn as children. What? See? What? What, what? As A. As a parent, as a husband, as, you know, a mentor, you know, community leader, you. The one, you think people aren't watching and listening. They're watching and listening. You never know when someone is looking at you as the, you know, the plan or the, you know, the prototype for what their life is going to be. And as small children, we mimic what we see, you know, and if you are, you know, I hear people say, well, oh, my kids can't hear me arguing because they. They're in two rooms away. That's not true. Because they can feel that emotional pain.
- [24:51]
D
Right?
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B
And that's something that transcends, you know, the space you're in. It emanates through the walls, right? And growing up as a child and, you know, seeing domestic violence in my home impacted me in such a way that, you know, as a young man, I was handsy with women.
- [25:10]
D
Right.
- [25:10]
B
I thought that was the way to be.
- [25:12]
D
Right, right.
- [25:13]
B
Being disrespectful, you know, putting your eye. I mean, I went from watching domestic violence in my home and then being the abuser myself.
- [25:23]
D
Right.
- [25:24]
B
And, you know, in my first marriage, I had an unfortunate incident. And what I learned as an adult was I had a choice and control. Now, as a child, I had no control. I had no power. Because you. You know, as children, we give our parents so much agency. And, you know, I've forgiven my parents a long time ago because they were two people just trying to figure it out.
- [25:50]
D
Right.
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B
But at the same time, I forgave myself and, you know, my younger self for not being able to understand adult behavior.
- [26:00]
D
Right.
- [26:00]
B
One, two. Not having the power that was out of my control. There's nothing that I could have done differently. But I give myself the grace for being able to, one, forgive me first. I forgave myself because there was nothing I could do. And then giving myself the kindness of saying, well, hey, when it was your turn to do something about it, you chose to get help. You chose to heal. You chose to, you know, to make an impact so that you don't give that same disease because. Because it is a disease to your children.
- [26:37]
D
Right?
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B
And I think, you know, that's kind of one of the superpowers that I believe that I have, that everybody does, is the power of kindness, forgiveness, and gratitude. Because I'm very grateful that I got to understand this as a man, because what if I didn't?
- [26:55]
D
Right?
- [26:55]
B
What if I'm here today and I'm still, you know, I think domestic violence is okay. I think that's the way you should treat A woman, you know, and my children and my, you know, my four sons and my daughter grow up seeing that, and then they repeat that same pattern.
- [27:12]
C
So I love how, you know, you're very open and vulnerable to talking about what, you know, you become what you feared most. You said you were on your first marriage. It was, it was violent, there was some domestic violence. But you also did the work to change. What gave you the courage to take accountability and start that healing journey for yourself? I hear you spoke about it a little bit just now, but what really gave you that. That courage and that accountability to say, you know what, I have to change. I can't. This is not right.
- [27:38]
B
After a traumatic incident. I looked into my son's crib, my oldest boy, and he was about. I was a little younger than a. Than a year old, and I burst out crying because I could remember, you know, as a four year old, you know, peeing my pants with, you know, being in fear of my dad. Although I wasn't the, you know, wasn't the target, but, you know, him kicking in the door and, you know, just the, the rage, right? And I remember the fear. And I looked into that crib and I was like, it's gotta end with me. This has to die with me. And that was, you know, that was the moment, right? And, you know, back in those days, and keep in mind, this is the 90s, right? No one. There wasn't a lot of help. There was no online, there was nothing. So I'm calling up hotlines in New York, like, hey, and I'm talking about women, you know, battered shelters. Like, hey, I'm a man. I know this is not what y' all do, but I need some help. I need to talk to somebody. I'm not living the right way. This is not what I want to be. And I mean, I called this. This poor woman probably like 20 or 30 times, man, and she finally broke down and said, hey, I knew you was gonna call back. I found some help for you. And I went out and I found a program, and I started going to this program and understanding the circumstances that I found myself in, what I can do about it, and that it was a choice and I had control over myself so that it would never happen again. And the crazy part about it is I'm in this program and there's a guy to the right of me, a guy to the left of me, and to this guy. And these are people of all, you know, walks of life, races, colors, et cetera, financial brackets. There's dudes Bringing it, coming in and, you know, Brooks Brothers suits, guys being drugged in handcuffs, right? To the guy to my right, his story, I might look at him like, damn, he's a monster. But to this guy, my story, I'm a monster to him. And I realized that we're all human beings trying to figure this out. And when we're not taught properly how to govern ourselves in a relationship, how to manage our emotions, how to talk right, communicate right, which is extraordinarily important. And then to know that violence is never an answer to being hurt, because hurt people hurt people. That light bulb came on and I said, you know what? That's it for me. Like, I can't have this life. I don't want this life. And it's mine to choose where I'm going to go next.
- [30:21]
C
Yeah. Speaking about your past and watching, you know, the man that was. That was violent, your father, years later, you found out that that man who raised you wasn't actually your biological father. How did that discovery shift your sense of identity and maybe even help you in your sense of your, you know, maybe even help you in your sense of your past?
- [30:42]
B
That's a. That's a funny story. So. And just, you know, for full disclosure, my dad that raised me, eventually, you know, he was a Vietnam, you know, not. I'm not justifying his behavior at all because he's the first person, you know, he became a therapist and accountable, and he's kind of like a model to me because when I was about 24 years old, my dad went into rehab, you know, cleaned himself up, went to bat, went back to college before online college, earned a degree, you know, multiple degrees, became a therapist, and him and I had a much better relationship.
- [31:17]
D
Right.
- [31:18]
B
So fast forward to. I'm about 48 years old. I take a DNA test, and I'm going To tell you, Ancestry.com is probably threw a monkey wrench and a lot of people's understanding of who they are. I take this test, I find out that not only was my father not my biological father, but that I was like 47% Caucasian. And I'm like, wait, what? So it was a lot of. There was a lot of shockers there. But. But you got to think about it. Here it is. I'm almost 49 years old. I'm a grown, grown man with, you know, some of my children are adults. I've transcended the need to have a father in that way. So for me, it was kind of like, oh, okay, this explains a lot of stories that just didn't add up, you know what I'm saying? As the kids say, the math wasn't math. And a lot of stories in my life. And my thing is like this. My parents were, you know, my dad was probably in his early 20s. My mom was a teenager, you know, almost 20 years old, I think 20 when she had me. I look back at my life at that age. I wasn't making the best decisions, right? I don't think anybody really is, because that's the time of discovery. That's when you're supposed to screw up a little bit, right? So I didn't, you know, feel that. Any anger towards anyone. It was kind of like, oh, wow, that explains a lot, right? And now I'm interested in understanding, well, where did I get this face from?
- [32:51]
D
Right?
- [32:51]
B
Who do I look like? Like, who? So I, you know, I sought out. I met my biological father, got to understand who he is as a man, as a person, realized he grew up. I mean, I grew up like, 20 minutes away from him. He didn't know. I didn't know. But my parents that raised me both knew this. And, you know, they have conflicting stories, but at that time, it was like 50 years. You know, I don't know if I can tell a story from 50 years, from 50 years ago with much accuracy, right? But, you know, again, I gave them the grace, the kindness, forgiveness, because I'm like, well, hey, now I got another person that I can call that, hey, now I got more family. So I looked at it from a point of positivity, like, wow, okay, this. This is more family, more people to love.
- [33:42]
D
Right?
- [33:43]
B
More things to do. And that's kind of really where I'm at with it.
- [33:46]
C
You know, I love how you came at that. Like, you didn't come at it in an angry way. You came in and like, oh, good. More love, more people, more advice. More, More. More education. Right? More to learn, right? So I love how you came at it. Now here at the three at four Good podcast. Three is for. We're big on mental health, and I know mental health and accountability played huge roles in your transformation. What tools or practices keep you grounded now?
- [34:15]
B
Two things. One of them is called ho', oponopono, right? And ho' oponopono is an ancient Polynesian or Hawaiian practice of forgiveness. And it's really premised off of saying four phrases, right? And you can say them in the order that makes sense to you, is, I love you. Please forgive me. I'm sorry. Thank you. I love you, Please forgive me. I'm Sorry. Thank you. And here's the thing, Jojo. You're not talking to someone else, you're talking to you yourself. And what I like to do is I carry a baby picture of me with when I'm about four years old, right? Because that's the first time I felt trauma that I could remember, four or five years old. And that's who I'm healing. That is one of the chief practices that I do. And I think it's very simple. Even when I do my speaking engagements, before I get on stage, I get up and I do that. It helps me cleanse myself, but it also cleanses the room, right? Because who's going to fight with love, right? Like I said, you know, my phrase is, love is lifting a vibrational energy. That's what we're here to do, love ourselves. Because you don't. If you don't love yourself, you can't love anybody else. You are incapable of the maturity that it takes to love someone else, because love is kindness. So you're being, you know, kind to you, you're forgiving you, you're being grateful that you are, you know, you have the air to breathe, the food to eat, that you're here right now in this moment so that you can make a difference. The second practice is I'm a big fan of binaural beats, right? Binaural beats are. It's called brain entrainment. It's vibrational frequencies, alpha, you know, beta, delta and gamma. And what happens is you're playing a tone in this ear and a tone in this ear and your brain makes the different tone in the middle, right? So say, for example, I wanted to do, let's say, 5 hertz. I might do, you know, one on this side and then in my brain, it'll make 5 hertz. And you might be listening to something like ocean or, you know, something that sounds like the forest or. Or it can just be something like, cool with like a pan flute, singing bell. I mean, singing bowls. I like to do mine with kind of like a lo fi hip hop. So I create them because it don't have to be corny, right? Like, it don't. I don't need. It's cool. Sometimes I, you know, I want to go full namaste, right? I want to, you know, be there. Peace and blessings. Sometimes I want to vibe a little bit because, yeah, I want to bop my head and then it's going to relax me. And if I listen to it, what it's going to do is put me in that Vibrational frequency. Because, you know, the world is governed by vibration, frequency and energy, right? So this is energy that I can control. So I put on my headphones, I listen to the binaural beat. I get. I'm grounded now. I'm relaxed. I'm in that again. People say, well, Max, you know, everybody's like, yo, come with that same energy, right? But the energy typically they're trying to match is never the right energy, right?
- [37:21]
C
So come with that same energy.
- [37:24]
B
Yeah, come with that same energy. How about I'm a lower the frequency, and I'm gonna flip it over to a positive frequency, right? And how you can get there fast is through binaural beats. The last thing that I do is called tapping, right? And it's. You're tapping these pressure points in your body. It's called eft, Emotional Freedom Technique. Why that's important is because we go through life with a ton of mini traumas, and I'm talking. It does havoc on our cognitive load, right? So how much information we can take. But think about this, right? You get up in the morning, you get out of bed, you stump your toe. Everybody stumped their toe out of bed or got up and somehow your back, you caught your back. You don't know how it happened. You know, this is. You notice around 40, you start feeling these things, right? You're already not having a great day, okay? You go to get some breakfast, your kids done. You know, they finished off the box, left a sip of milk in the carton. Whatever it is, whatever it is. Now you go out to the. You know, to the. To the car to get in the car to go out to wherever you need to be. You pull out the driveway, your neighbor's not paying attention, they almost hit you. So that's three. That's three traumas. Four traumas right there. Now you sitting in traffic, more trauma. So if we keep going through these little mini traumas, right? They're all accumulating in our body. How do we get out? How do we get out of that space? Well, what typically happens is, okay, I go into the office, someone says something I don't like. Now I'm being nasty. Or my wife calls me up and she says something to me that I don't agree with. I'm taking it out on her, or I'm taking it out on her friend. And I'm not just saying just me. This is human nature, right? Because we'll kind of do a trauma dump. So what this does is that by tapping these different pressure points in your Body. We're releasing this physical pent up trauma that has accumulated and it can happen, but it could be things like, hey, you know, maybe when I was a kid I fell into a pool and I felt like, you know, almost drowned or something. Whatever it is time does those traumas accumulate. This is why people get set off by things that you're like, well, all I said was hello, wow. And you never know where it came from because we're walking around like loaded guns of built up tension and trauma. And that's what EFT does.
- [39:54]
C
I love that, I love all of those. So I hope that the listeners are tapped in and try to try. I'm gonna try a few of those that you spoke about. I love, you know, putting the music on. I kind of get into music too, but you know, sometimes it's all different type of music. So maybe I check out what you got going on. Or you can send me a soundtrack or something.
- [40:12]
B
Oh yeah. Oh, most definitely. Maybe I'll make one for the audience, man. And like I said, you put it on, you tune in and you spend about 15 minutes because it'll play the music in the beginning and then it breaks down. And now you're just hearing the tone and what it's doing by the end is it puts it change the chemistry of your brain and change your vibrational frequency. So now you are vibrating. You're matching that same energy that people talk about with what, what it is that your intention is something positive.
- [40:43]
C
I love it. We're getting out of the deep waters for now. Or probably.
- [40:47]
B
Well, I mean, you got me, you got me. You got me on the Titanic. I mean, you know what I'm saying, I might as well play the violin. And let's, let's, let's.
- [40:55]
C
I want to speak a little bit more about your impact and community work. Tell us about, is it solar astronauts?
- [41:02]
B
Solar, Solar, yeah.
- [41:05]
C
Okay, I see now. I'm seeing now. I got it. I like that, I like that. So tell us about solar astronauts. What inspired you to create it? And what kind of transformation do you hope people experience through it?
- [41:17]
B
So solar astronauts is a, it's a platform, it's a movement, not a religion. It's a mindset of awareness, right? It's focused on transpersonal psychology and transpersonal psychology is what they call the fourth wave, right? Kind of builds on the human potential movement from the 60s. It's rooted in consciousness and awareness of something is greater than this. We are spirits having a human experience at this time and moment, right? And we are these, you Know, everybody talks about your spirit, right? Because your body dies, but your spirit, your soul continues on, right? And these are astronaut suits, man. These are space suits, right? I know when I was, you know, probably your age, JoJo, I was like, you know, I don't look like that no more because my spacesuit changed, right? It's gonna. It's not made to last forever, right? I don't. You know, I got wrinkles in my face, you understand? I'm going to have more. And that's a sign of age and life. But at the end of it, my spirit remains the same, right? And what we're focusing on is understanding two things. One, God is out there. God is out there, right? God is all of this. And I don't. Wherever you want, Buddha, Allah, Christ, you name it. We're all talking about the same thing, right? And where everybody goes wrong is they're searching for this connection outside of the spacesuit I need. And why I love what you're doing, brother, is because you said it's not about what you have. It's not about what you can accumulate. It's not about any of those things. It's about that impact that you have. But you first have to begin by impacting yourself. Yourself, right? Understanding. What I'm looking for is inside of here. First healing this spirit and then going outward with that, right? So how am I moving this spacesuit in time, right? In space, which is the world that we live in. And understanding all of that. The other part about that is when we talk about being a solar astronaut, it's focused on deeper consciousness beyond the ordinary, right? Transcending this. How do we get there? Meditation. That's what those binaural beats are for, to meditate. Think about this, right? Meditation and prayer are the exact same thing. It's communing with God, right? How often do we take a moment to just to clear our heads, you know, I believe that every day we start from zero. I don't take what happened yesterday.
- [44:11]
C
That's.
- [44:11]
B
That's gone. I can't get that back. But, you know, we live in a world now where these young folks especially woulda, coulda, shoulda, might, could. You know, that door is closed, man. That's a brick wall. You can't go back. This door isn't open. So this is where. Where. Where anxiety lives. Worried about the future. That hasn't happened yet. But being present is the gift. Being in the moment of understanding that I am here right now. And if I shift my vibrational frequency by meditating and you Know, taking time to clear my head. I can think clearly, I can make better moves, I can make better decisions. I could be more spiritually mature. And that's what being a solar astronaut is about, is understanding how to move. And out of all of this, I mean, you know, not to get into politics, but Uncle Donnie is out here, you know, playing dictator, and it's got folks panicking. I talk to young people all the time. They're. I'm like, I'm a grown man. I'm not worried about half the things y' all are worried about. But then I had to check myself and say, wait a minute. They. They're from a different world. They're seen in a different. They're thinking. They're not thinking about, you know, hey, I might have. If I'm lucky, I might have 30 more summers. You know what I mean? They got 50 summers, 40, you know? You know what I'm saying? And they're thinking like, okay, what can I do to make sure that I have a future?
- [45:39]
D
Right?
- [45:40]
B
So they're panicking about that. They're panicking about this. They're in the middle, and all the stimuli that's coming at them, the best thing that they can do is be a trans. You know, be a solar astronaut and focus on right now, what's happening right now. What do I have control over in this moment? The only thing I got control over in this moment is how I'm thinking.
- [46:04]
C
Yeah.
- [46:04]
B
And then how I'm feeling. But also, you got to think about this, right? This is an antenna. We have a spacesuit antennas. We're pulling in information. The type of information that you're pulling in makes a difference on how you think, because you pull in the information. You think about it, then you feel on it, right? You feel about it, or this is how I feel about it. And then it's. You act on it. And if you keep acting in a particular way over time, that becomes your behavior and it becomes your personality. So what happens is, as a solar astronaut, you got to understand, where am I vibrating to? Where is my antenna tuned into, Right? So what am I tuned into? Oh, wow. Maybe I need to stay off of TikTok right now. Maybe I need to let the algorithm switch up. Maybe I need to take a social media break. Maybe I need to go out and stand in the yard on a patch of grass and ground for 20 minutes. Maybe I need to clear my mind by meditating, relaxing, taking a moment, right? And that's really what it's about. It's about awareness. Beyond self. And then the stimuli that you being bombarded with. 24, 7Amazing work.
- [47:19]
C
I love it. I love it. It's all about where you, you know, what frequency you're on. You know, you can't control anything but yourself and how you think. And that's how I, that's how I attack life too, is like you can, you can be bothered by so many different things, but the only thing that could, that should stay grounded is you. And if you stay grounded, then nothing truly around you can bother you. It can only, it can only. It can only bother somebody that's bothered. And if you're not bothered, you won't be bothered. You know?
- [47:44]
B
No, that makes bad sense. You get it, brother. That's, that's really what it is, is like, you know, at the end of the day, I'm. I can control me. I can't control these people out here. I can control how I think. I could control what I'm tuning into, how I think about it, how I feel about it, and then how I act upon it.
- [48:05]
D
Right.
- [48:05]
B
I tell you know, my kids all the time and their friends like, yo, y' all are fighting battles on every single front. Everything. If everything's a 10, nothing to 10, right? Nothing's a 10. And that just tells me that you are not in tuned with your inner self. Because the search for what you're looking for, it's not out there. It's in. You got to go in before you go out. Yeah. Because God is in all of us.
- [48:31]
C
So to stay on your community work for a little bit more, I see you've trained thousands through organizations like the Army, Toyota and fema. What's the most rewarding part of seeing your story help others grow when.
- [48:45]
B
When it clicks? Because at the end of the day, and you know, it's funny because I look back at like all the things that I've ever written, whether it was hip hop, you know, real estate, all the my 50 million and one, you know, jobs, right. Or anything that I wrote about, talked about, spoke about always goes back to the same thing. And this is kind of to circle back of how I ended up in this place was that it was always about healing and positivity.
- [49:13]
D
Right.
- [49:14]
B
And what is most rewarding after I do something is that I see turn on in people's eyes. I see that light bulb, come on, like, wow, you know what? This is only work. I'm not defined by this paycheck. Because at the end of the day, right, you know, when, when it's time to go as they say to the upper room, you. Nobody cares that you had, you know, a lambo. No one cares how many accomplishments you have. What they care about is the impact that you had. They care about the love that you poured into them without. Without wanting something back.
- [49:54]
D
Right?
- [49:55]
B
That's what they care about. So when we get caught up in all of this, it's not necessary. So when I go out and I talk, even though I might be teaching you how to, you know, level up in your career, right? Because, I mean, I have a new book coming out called no one Starts at Zero how to Using Life Experiences to Level Up. But it's only about connecting the dots. And I say that to say, not as a plug, but as of, hey, we always are close to the tools that we need to grow spiritually in order to grow in other ways financially. Work wise, learning wise. Whatever it is, your hustle, whatever you're trying to do in life, you got to understand it starts with spirit first. If your spirit isn't right, if you're not settled into that, none of that's going to happen. So when I see it, click. And I always judge how well I do and the impact that I have after I'm done, it's not about the applause, because I know all the. I mean, I learned the game. I know all the tricks in the book on how to get a standing ovation. In fact, I was doing this thing one time in Philly, and I had, like, about a thousand people, and I got a standing ovation. And there's one cat, this old cat comes up to me after what he was like, yeah, young. Youngblood, you don't think I saw what you did, huh? I said, what do you mean? You know, I'm plotting flight. Corey, right? I'm like. He's like, yeah. You know, you told everybody to stand up on their feet and commit to this pledge of self improvement, and then you ended the show and you got a standing ovation. I was like, all right, my bad. You know what I'm saying? He caught me. But the point is, is I learned that how many people want to pull me over to the side and have a conversation and say, hey, you know what? I was in a crazy space today. But what you said resonated, and I'm going to take this little piece. And what I learned in that was that you never know when your personal testimony is going to impact someone in a way that makes a difference for them to have the strength just to get to the next moment, because we're all really Trying to get to the next moment. We're all living now for this future thing to happen, right? And sometimes just that little bit of, I understand where you at. I acknowledge who you are. I felt what you felt. You know, I see you makes the difference. And I think, you know where I get my high from is walking away going, you know what that person just said? They shared a personal story with me. They were vulnerable. I showed them love, they showed me love. And that's really it. The trophies, the awards, you know, people always want to ask me, like, yo, dude, you got like, nine college degrees, how come they're not hung up? I went to one graduation. Because it don't. It. It wasn't about that. It was about me getting what I needed to push it this way, because that's really at the end of it. That's what it's all about, man. We got to love each other, lift each other up, and help each other understand that we're just. We're spirits having this human experience, and none of us is getting it right. We're figuring it out as we get along. I mean, as we go along. And if we get something, we go, hey, here you go. Maybe this can help you.
- [53:10]
C
And it's. What this podcast is all about, is talking to people like. Like you and other ones that, like, you know, it's relatable, it's real, it's vulnerable. It's not, you know, like, everything you just said is what this podcast represents is, you know, you know, having people listen to inspirable stories and really see themselves in the guests, see themselves in my. See their mistakes and our mistakes. It's fine. You know, I always tell people it's fine to understand that you're not the only one going through what you go through or been through what you've been through. There's so many others that. That have. Speaking about your 151jobs with all you accomplish, producer, author, educator, veteran, what's the next mountain you're climbing? I know you spoke about this new book dropping. If you want to speak about that, please do plug that in. But what is the next mountain that you're climbing?
- [54:03]
B
Two things, right? So the first thing is building my practice solar astronauts into more of a movement, finally settling into this for myself, right? Because I've been so many other things, right? But now it's about the, you know, the big push on impact at the highest level, right? Two big projects for me is one is my new book, like I said, is it's no. 1 starts at zero using life experiences to level up. It's career advice, but it's seeped in spirituality, and it kind of is the bridge in between where I was at in the learning development space and where I'm at now in the spiritual and transpersonal psychology space. Very passionate about that. I got a new house music EP out with Big Time Diva. You know, she's been in the game forever. Tamara Wallace, really dope. I'm looking. I put a lot of love into this music, so looking forward to that. And then the biggest thing now is. So I have a animated kids television series that I'm working on. I'm trying to. I was trying to take it to pbs, but again, we already know what's going on with PBS and funding and things like that. But it's really important that it's educational tv. It's called the Systemic Flow Force. And what it is, it's an animated kids TV series that combines STEM and hip hop. So it's about three African American school teachers who teach hip hop. So breakdancing, you know, the four core elements. Break dance and rap and graffiti and DJing, and to, you know, do science, technology, engineering, and math.
- [55:45]
D
Right?
- [55:46]
B
And to open up the doors, to show that it can be a cool and viable career.
- [55:52]
D
Right?
- [55:52]
B
Because that's where the world is going. Technology, mathematics, and understanding that hip hop can be more than just, hey, I got this chain, I got this car, I got these clothes, you know, And I'm not a major fan. I love hip hop. I'm a love hip hop to the day I die. Not a major fan of some of the transitions it's made, but, you know, it's like anything. It goes in cycles.
- [56:15]
D
Right?
- [56:17]
B
But I want to have my magnum opus, if you will. Hey, this guy bridged the gap between STEM and hip hop. And use the animated kids television show to demonstrate these things and teach them.
- [56:32]
D
Right?
- [56:32]
B
And the characters look like us, they sound like us, right? The kids, the population of students are diverse, but they're at a urban middle school. And that's where we really need to hit kids in terms of teaching them. There's other things that you can do than be a, you know, social media influencer or an athlete or a rapper or, you know, this and that. There are viable careers. Like right now in stem, there's a ton of available jobs, but not enough folks that are qualified to do this work.
- [57:06]
D
Right?
- [57:07]
B
But we produced these types of people as a community and in the past, Right. I mean, if you look at black history, you have, you know, you know, like George Washington Cabrera, that's stem. You know what I'm saying? Benjamin Banneker, that stem. But now let's look at it where we're at now in 20, 25 and beyond. How do we take hip hop? Because here's the thing. If I teach you how to do. Teach you how to break dance, I could teach you physics, because breakdancing is physics. Breakdancing is also geometry, right? If I teach you rapping, I could teach you how to be a public speaker. I'm. I'm. That I get paid to speak around the world because I was a rapper first, and I built up the confidence and I built up the ability to freestyle, you know, off the. You know, and go. As I say, go off the top, right? These are all skill sets that we could teach and use to, you know, to impact these kids and teach them about science and, you know, in technology, engineering, math. And that's really what my big goal is, to get this project funded and see it, you know, to fruition. So that's like. That's the mountain.
- [58:20]
C
I love that. That's a great, good mountain to try to climb and keep on climbing. So before we get out of here, you know, you've had such a great journey of a life and so much that you've learned, and that seems like you want to give to the world. If you can go back to that young producer in the 90s, what's one piece of advice you'd give him from where you stand now? This may help a lot of people right now. So what's one piece of advice you'd give your younger self in the 90s from where you stand right now?
- [58:53]
B
See, that's a trick question, because that guy, I'd like to just like, ah, dude, listen. He probably wasn't gonna listen anyway, right? Because I see, if I. If I. If this cat goes to that cat, oh, it's. He's gonna like, whatever, old dude.
- [59:07]
D
Right?
- [59:07]
B
Like, whatever. So it would probably be. The first thing I would say is be humble. I was not humble. Not humble, right? Arrogant. Arrogant. Arrogant. But arrogancy came from fear.
- [59:22]
C
Yeah.
- [59:23]
B
Of not being good enough. Not being. You know, this fell into my lap. I don't deserve to be here. And the thing is, I would tell that dude is that, yo, you deserve to be here. It's not. God doesn't put you where you need to be by accident. That's on purpose for you to learn something. And the biggest advice that I would say, career wise, is learn how to be a musician. I'm in my mid-50s, right? And I didn't learn actually how to be a musician. Into my mid-40s, like learned music theory and all the money that I made, I never took lessons, I never learned how to play. I still don't know how to play. But I know music theory, right? I know what to put it, you know, as a producer, I know technology, but I know how it's supposed to go mechanically. I used to do everything just off of ear. So I have a good ear. But I didn't know that. This is A, E, you know, e flat minor 7. Right now I can hear it. I could say what I want to do. So learning music theory and investing in my career because the other thing I could have done. Now keep in mind, Jojo, back then they didn't accept you in those schools if you weren't a musician. I wanted to go to those schools, but they're like, well, what do you play? I'm like, yo, I told you about the drum thing, okay? Everybody played the recorder in second grade, right? You know what I'm saying? Like, they're not taking me into this school. There was no music business school. So I learned that on my own. And I'm proud of that. But what I didn't learn was musicianship. And that's what I would say, hey, you know what? I would have had more fun. But now the stuff that I'm creating, I still do hip hop. I love boom bap. I'm going to be boom bap to the day I die. I still make hotbeats, but now it's. I'm making really good house music, really good house music. I'm making good lo fi, hip hop. I'm making, you know, I made a lot of R B. I made. I've done records in Latin music. I've done records in reggae, reggae tone. So it's the open mindedness, you know, you come from New York and at that time is blinders on. It's like, yo, it's boom bat. It's, you know, I mean, I grew up, you know, around these ra, epmd, all of these dudes. That's what it was. So being open minded, learning musicianship, and most importantly, be humble because I was arrogant, man. But I'm grateful for that, Jojo, because at the end I learned it wasn't about me. It was never about me.
- [61:52]
C
Yeah, I feel the same way. It's funny that, you know, in two sentiments, the older me would want to choke me and be like, whatever old dude. And secondly, be humble is definitely something I would have told myself because I think, like yourself, I was arrogant and excused it for confidence out of fear of not believing that maybe I didn't.
- [62:17]
B
You just said it. You said it.
- [62:19]
C
So love that you brought that to my attention because that's exactly how I felt. But and I love that how where we stand now, we can be vulnerable and accountable and say, hey, this was what that was. But I'm no longer that way. And if somebody is that way, this is what we're telling you it is, right? It's not confidence. It's fear confidence. Confidence isn't loud. Confidence is confident. You know, and that's kind of what what it is.
- [62:43]
B
You know, it's quiet.
- [62:45]
C
Confidence is quiet, people. You don't need to yell to the mountaintops that you're the greatest at anything the work shows. But I do appreciate you, Dr. Supreme, a king, for coming on the For Girl podcast. This was an amazing conversation. I know the viewers will love it. We, we're looking forward to that little soundtrack you're going to make for us so that we can listen in and meditate. But yes, I hope that we link sometime in the future in person and get to, you know, catch some lunch or something and really chop it up. I really do appreciate your time. I appreciate you sharing your story and your vulnerability. This is the For Good podcast, everybody, where we focus on the good, never the bad, where we're measured by what we do, not what we have. And we are signing out. Until next time, it's your boy, Jojo Simmons. My guy, Dr. Supreme, a king. We out. Peace.
- [63:36]
E
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