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Host
Um, I think I just won my taxes. Yeah, I just switched to HR Block.
King Randall
In about one minute.
Host
All I had to do was drag and drop last year's return into H and R Block and bam.
King Randall
My information is automatically there so I don't have to go digging around for all my old papers to switch.
Host
Nope.
King Randall
Sounds like we just leveled up our tax game.
Host
Switching to H and R Block is easy.
King Randall
Just drag and drop your last return.
Host
It's better with block.
King Randall
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Host
King Randall, welcome to the show, man.
King Randall
Man. Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.
Host
It's my honor. I love, love, love what you're doing down in Albany and I've been really looking forward to this interview, so.
King Randall
Yes, sir. I appreciate it. You got a lot of fans in Albany too. I mentioned it to a couple of people and they were like, you on where?
Host
Really?
King Randall
Yeah. Got fans down there? Yes, sir.
Host
Damn. That's cool to hear. That's cool to hear. Well, I'm gonna start introduction here. King Randall, you graduated culinary school at age 17. You are a former United States Marine, a leader in your community, and a role model and mentor for many young men. And you're only 25 years old. In 2019, you founded the X for Boys program to fight back against the high crime rate in your community by stepping up to mentor young men. This is the only rehabilitative program for juvenile offenders in South Georgia. That's surprising. Man In August 2022, you founded the Life Preparatory School for Boys, the first free all boys boarding school in South Georgia. The school's motto, let's make Men, reflects your vision. You earned the 2019 Larry Sanders Legacy Award, the 2021 B1 Education Award, and the 2023 Dreamstone Award from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. S family. Wednesday. Tomorrow, you'll be going to the White House. And most importantly, probably out of every. Not probably out of everything, you're a father to three boys.
King Randall
Yes. Yes.
Host
So, man. And you're a Christian?
King Randall
Yes, absolutely. Born and raised Christian.
Host
Really?
King Randall
Grandmother was a preacher. Grandfather down in Florida, my dad's father preaching. I played the drums my whole life from about. My grandmother used to have church at home, so we used to have people come to the house. And my grandmother had me this little Drum set, and I started playing the drums there. This was before my grandmother could afford to get us a church. And I started out playing the drums there, and I played the drums all the way up until I was about 17 or 18, right when I went to the Marine Corps, that's when I stopped. But other than that, I spent my whole life at church.
Host
You still do it?
King Randall
Play the drums?
Host
Yeah.
King Randall
Nah. You know what? I've been wanting to get back into it. I've been considering buying a drum set. I've been missing it lately, apparently, because I find myself still doing it a little bit. But I played my whole life, man. And it's weird for me to go to church now. It's interesting. It's so weird for me to be at church. I literally spent every second at church behind the drum set. So it's so hard for me to actually just sit at church and pay attention, because I'm used to listening for cues. We had to worship differently. We couldn't just sit there and just pay attention. We paid attention, but we worshiped in our own way. So I'm used to listening for cues. I'm watching the musicians, seeing what they're doing, watching the number chords they're calling out, because I'm listening, watching the bass player because that's the guy I had to watch calling numbers out, calling hits, all that stuff. So I'm used to that. So every time I go to church, it's super weird because I'm staring at the musicians the whole time. So it was just interesting, man. It's very weird for me to be at church now, but I love it. I love it.
Host
Do you take. Do you take your kids to church?
King Randall
Absolutely. Yeah. They go to church. So their grandfather on their mom's side, he's a pastor in Cuthbert, Georgia, and they love to go see him preach. And he'll bring them on the pulpit because they want to sit by him before he's about to preach. So his name, Pastor Vaughn. And they love him. I love him, too. He's a great man. But my sons love their grandfather, their maternal grandfather. They love him to death, so.
Host
Oh, that's good.
King Randall
They listen to him preach often, every Sunday on Saturdays. They're like, dad, can we go to Magani's house so we can go to church with them? They ask every Saturday, you know, to go to church. They ask. They beg to make sure they're going. They get mad if she can't come pick them up or something like that. So it's pretty.
Host
Pretty neat, right on you know, we had a conversation downstairs about fatherhood and it sounded like maybe, I don't know, maybe your audience or somebody sounds. It sounds like the way you raise your boys is maybe a little controversial.
King Randall
Yeah, man.
Host
Certain people's eyes. What, what's what? Why I wanted to save it until we were on the podcast.
King Randall
Yeah, man. So my son's very good at baseball. He's six years old, but dude is like the best six year old baseball player you ever seen. But we spend a lot of time practicing. My sons are also homeschooled too. They're homeschooled. I have a private teacher for them also. My mom takes turns, you know, teaching them different things. So they're very intelligent. And he also boxes and he does gymnastics. My oldest son, my younger son does gymnastics also. He's just not old enough to participate. But he's already training in baseball and so they'll see our videos. I also post the videos where they're crying and upset also because I'm trying to show the part of fatherhood that's just not the sweet stuff. For example, my son was about to get ready to spar for the first time. He'd been boxing since he was 4. He was practicing, he's just, you know, doing. They teaching him everything, all the punch numbers, et cetera. So he's been doing that since he was about 4 years old. And so this is the first time to spar. He's Gonna Spar, this 10 year old kid. And he'd never been hit in the face before, never been punched, never had any competition in front of him. So we got home, I put his gear on at the house in the garage. I got on my knees and I put my gloves on and I told him to put his hands up and I told him to remember everything that coach Dino had taught him during practice. So I hit him in the head. Not hard, but I hit him in the head. And he was like, dad, you're punching too fast. He just starts crying. He just ah, you know, he's just ah, he's just crying. And I'm like, put your hands back up. You know, focus. I'm teary eyed just thinking about it, but I'm like, put your hands back up, son. He put his hands. I'm like, remember what you were taught, son. And so he started remembering the different moving out the way and throwing punches. I'm like, this is why you were taught for this whole year. This is what you were learning. This is to put into action now. And so then he Started getting confident, he started getting aggressive. Like he started punching back and moving out the way and dodging and weaving. So we get to sparring the next day. And he got a couple great licks off the 10 year old. He's a good 10 year old boxer. Not saying he was like really fully boxing them, but to get a couple licks off of him, like some really good licks. I posted the videos and he was so happy that he did it. He was like, that was easier than I thought. He was like, I didn't know I could do that. And so I posted those videos and people just like, oh, this is too much. He just needs to have fun. And oh, you're not letting them have fun and fun, fun. It's everything everybody says, just a fun, fun. I'm like, but what if this is fun to him? He enjoys baseball. He enjoys practicing. Does he enjoy every practice?
Host
No.
King Randall
Does he always want to practice? No, but I teach them also that. I asked him a question. I'm saying, son, when do we work? He always say, when we don't feel like it. Exactly, that's when we work. But then we'll go to the baseball field and we out there with the other kids and he'll notice that he's better than everybody else. He enjoys that. He is now proud. I teach my children not about happiness, but about being proud of themselves. Because being happiness to me. Being happy to me is where the devil resides. Because being happy is hanging out with your friends and going to do little stupid stuff. It's fleeting. But when I'm proud of myself, when I do something that I could accomplish, you know, and I accomplish a goal, like I'm like, okay, I want to. He's like, I want to hit a home run this year.
Host
Okay, he's 6 years old. He's 6.
King Randall
He's 6. Yeah. And he's like, when did you start this?
Host
I mean, when did you start baseball? I think it's. I mean, it's intense. Yeah, it's intense.
King Randall
Yeah.
Host
But I mean, I like it. I mean, you're pushing your kids to the limit, you know, I do at age 6. And you're teaching them the, hey, if you want to accomplish something, it takes a lot of work. And I mean, it sounds like we both can agree. I mean, you just see people today and they think everything's a fucking handout. It's not, you know, and they don't want to work for it. Very few people. So, I mean, hold on, so when did this start? Does it start at age 6. Did it start at 4?
King Randall
It started about 3? 4. My son knows a lot of my. I call my quotables. He'll tell people my quotables too. Like, for example, like, we don't try. We do. I always tell him, I know we don't going to try anything. We're going to do it. So he tries his hardest to do everything. And I also do things like make him keep his word. For example, I don't allow him to change his mind often if he said something, I'm like, well, you got to do it. No, that's what you said you were going to do. So you have to do it now because you're going to be a man one day and your word is your bond. So you have to keep your word. So that's what you said. So he'll remember, like, ah. So he'll think about things before he say it now, you know, and that's important because you're teaching them to think through things before you just say it. And so now he's thinking about what he was like. He was like, mm, never mind. You know, he'll think about the things he says versus just blurting something out or just saying anything. And so that's very important to instill a lot of these little character traits now so when they get older, they won't miss it. Like, he knows, like I said, a lot of my quotables. He'll tell people my quotables and say, well, my dad says, you know, xyz, and this is why we do xyz, this is why we practice. I always ask the question every time we go practice on the baseball field. You see anybody else out here, son? No, sir. Why? Because they don't want to put that work in. That's what he'll say. They don't want to put in the work.
Host
At age 6.
King Randall
At age 6, he will tell you that they don't want to put in the work, dad. And so again, he'll go out there, you know, to the field when everybody's there. We just had evaluations the other day. He destroyed evaluations or whatever. And to me, you know, he'll still critique himself. I teach him about accountability also. For example, like, he'll hit off the tee, right? And I don't think it's a good hit. And then he'll say, that was a thumbs down because I hit the top of the tee a little bit. So let's try that one again. I taught him about, about critiquing himself. Cause I shouldn't always have to Be here to tell you what you did wrong. You should critique yourself, you know right from wrong. So I put these videos up and people just like, oh, well, what about fun? I'm like, he has fun all the time. Damn, dude.
Host
Most 25 year olds, which are 25, most 25 year olds don't even get this concept.
King Randall
I feel like, yeah, but I tell them, I'm like, I teach them to earn everything.
Host
Are you a perfectionist?
King Randall
No, I'm not. And I wish I was, but I wish I was a perfectionist. My chef told me back in school, he say, man, he said, king, you would be fantastic. He said, you're good, but you'll be fantastic if you learn how to finish. Because I'm just not, I'm just not a perfectionist. And I'm trying to get there because I want to make sure that my sons see that we gonna finish everything that we do. So it's like my sons are making me be better too. I critique myself often, you know, with them being just so young and they're remembering everything, they're watching everything you do. I'm watching him with my mannerisms and stuff. So it's like I have to be almost perfect to make sure that my son are following in the right footsteps. So that's important to me. So even teaching them to earn everything, like for Christmas he got the shoes, the toys, et cetera. Ask my son, when can he play with that stuff? When you give me something, you have to do something to wear those shoes. So my son, for example, I get up every morning at 6:30 and go work out in the gym. Every single morning they'll hear the music. For the first couple of times I started doing it, they would be like, dad, what you doing in the morning? I'm like, daddy's working out in the gym early in the morning. And so they were like, well, can you wake us up so we can come watch? I'm like, why not? Okay. So I got out, I get up in the morning, I go wake him up, I'm like, hey, daddy's gonna go work out. And they'll get up, they go put their clothes on, they go brush their teeth, and then they'll come outside and come in the gym and watch me work out. I turned the garage into a training gym. And so then after a while he starts saying, daddy, can we do the workouts too? Why not? You know? So I have him doing things with their push ups and pull ups or whatever like that. And so my son is very pretty strong now and he went viral on Instagram during. He was learning how to swim and they were talking about his physique. He got like six pack and he looked like he's been to prison, man. He's six, you know. And so people were talking about his physique and they like, how's he get like that? I'm like, bro just likes to work out. He likes to do pushups. He can do more push ups than I can, you know, so it's really cool to watch it, but kids mimic what they see. But it's fun to him. He enjoys it. And so like when we go out of town or we go to Chuck E. Cheese or whatever like that, he just has to do something for it. So he has fun all the time. We just don't give. He always will tell you what I say, we don't have fun for free. We earn it. He always will tell you.
Host
What age does that start? What age do you start making him earn it?
King Randall
As soon as they understand right from wrong. And that's early even. My younger son, William is three right now. But he also understands right from wrong. So when he wants to watch TV or play a little video game or something like that. Okay, son, you have to learn how to read better because he wants the Nintendo Switch like his brother. And so he tries. He plays it with him sometime, but he wants his own. I said, okay, cool. You need to learn how to read this book by your birthday, which is May and I'll get you the Nintendo Switch. So he's working at school like trying to learn how to read better because he really wants to learn because he has trouble playing the game because he can't read everything that's on the screen or like, you know, play now, continue, whatever. He's not understanding everything. So he's working now to read better because he really wants that game. So I'm just making him earn it all. I mean, I think that's important because if you just give them things, I believe it's important for me to create hardship for my sons. They're not gonna want for anything. I do well, they do pretty good. They're not gonna grow up in the hood with me like I did or whatever like that. So I have to create hardship for them. So I do that through sports. I do that through making them earn things. I do that through saying no. I say no often. I say no for sport. And I say that cause no's a character building where you're not gonna always get what you want. So I don't Care what sad face you want. I don't care if it's just something simple. Dad, can I get a bag of chips? No, like no for what? What you need a bag of chips for? No. So I say no often and it used to cry and get upset, but now it's just like that's it. No, whatever, you know, like that or dad, can I get something to drink? They try to trick me sometime when they ask for something to drink, they really want a Juicy Juice. I got the little Juicy Juice drink. So they'll be like, dad, can I get something to drink? I'm like, yeah. And they'll go in there and go get some juice. They're like, you didn't specify which drink you were talking about. I'm like, you know, I meant get some water, son. Don't play with me, you know. So now I'm just like, you can go get some water. And they're like, mm, nevermind, I don't want them to drink anymore. That's what I thought, you know, like, but go drink some water anyway. So it's a lot of different things that I do with them and it's very particular because it's building those little small character traits. Even with training practice for baseball or boxing. If the coach tells us to be to practice at 4:00, I'm like, sometimes we're going to practice three. He like, we have to get there an hour before everybody else does so we can get some extra warmups in and get some extra practice. He knows this already. He'll tell his mom the same thing. His mom take him to practice. He like, coach said we gotta be there at 4, but we need to get there at 3. So I can get out there and hit off the tee a little bit and I can get some ground balls in before practice actually starts. So he's already warmed up when everybody gets out there. But he knows he internalized it already. So he doesn't know understand it all the way. But he's internalized that now. So when he gets older the work ethic is going to be crazy, you know, because work ethic is in his system now. I hadn't given him fun. People try to wait till they're like 10 and 11 to just to get on them. I'm like, no, you need to get on them as soon, as early as possible. At one year old, nothing's cute anymore for me. I started disciplining at one after that nothing is cute. Everything you do wrong is not cute anymore. I don't do the. Oh, he threw something. Ha ha ha. No, I'm gonna say no, you don't do that. Or he hit me today. No, you don't hit. You know, like it's discipline early is nothing's cute anymore after one year old. Start raising your child. That's what I believe in.
Host
Damn. Were you raised like that?
King Randall
Yeah, my grandmother was pretty straight.
Host
Yeah, we'll get into that. We'll get into that. This episode is sponsored by Roka. Roka is a performance eyewear brand for people who want to invest in themselves. Roka manufactures premium sunglasses, prescription eyeglasses and readers and cuts all of their lenses here in the US at their headquarters in Austin, Texas. ROKA recently partnered with one of my favorite guests, Dr. Andrew Huberman, to launch a new line of glasses called the Wind Down Collection. Guys, I've tried these. You know, I have problems sleeping. I absolutely love, love, love these frames and lenses. They're available with and without prescription and have a proprietary red lens that helps filter out short wavelength light. Short wavelength light is in pretty much all artificial light and it' terrible for your sleep. Roka, let me try a pair of these things and I can feel the difference whenever I wear them. I wear em in the evening after the sun goes down. I pretty much start it at dinner and I wear it until bed. And let me tell you, these things work. With so many options and eyewear and wellness products out there, it's a relief to know the glasses I'm wearing help two things I really care about. My vision and my sleep. And as a business owner, with all the decisions I already need to make every day, wearing a pair of Roka's glasses is one of the best ones I've made. Check them out for yourself@roka.com and use code SRS for 20% off site wide at checkout. That's roka.com with code SRS. When your metabolism is working properly, you can feel it in every part of your life. More energy improves sleep. It's connected. That's why I started using Lumen, a powerful tool that helps me see real time insights into my metabolism. Lumen is one of the world's first handheld metabolic coaches. You just breathe into it and it lets you know if you're burning fat or carbs. Then the Lumen app gives you a personalized nutrition plan to help optimize your workouts and even manage stress. I check mine first thing in the morning. It's best to check it first thing in the morning. It's like a status report for my metabolism. It's best to check it first thing in the morning. It's like a status report for your metabolism. Plus, you can test before and after meals or workouts to see what Lumen says about how your body responds in real time. Take the next step to help improve your wellness. Go to Lumen Me SRS for 20% off your Lumen. That's L u m e n me SRS for 20% off your purchase. Thanks to Lumen for sponsoring this episode. These statements have not been evaluated by the fda. Lumen is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. It's seeming more and more like we're about to hit an inflation cycle like we saw in the 70s. President Reagan once said that inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber, and as deadly as a hitman. And I couldn't agree more. The price of gold during the last inflation cycle during the 70s was a saving grace for a lot of people that were trying to protect their savings. That's why I want you to go to seanlikesgold.com to learn more about my partners over at Gold co. They're a great company, impeccable customer service, and for my listeners, they're going to give you a free gold and silver kit where you can learn about how precious metals could help protect your money. And lucky for you, you could also get up to a 10% instant match in bonus silver on qualified orders. To learn more, call 855-936-Gold or visit shawnlikesgold.com that's 8, 936 Gold or visit Shawn likes gold.com performance may vary. Consult with your tax attorney or financial professional before making an investment decision. How do you see your oldest treating your younger ones?
King Randall
My they love.
Host
Is it rubbing off on them?
King Randall
Yeah. So William and Baby King, which is my oldest, William, is very different from Baby King. They like night and day. William does not like school. He's not fond of it. He's his own child. He does not get excited about things that Baby King gets excited about. We go to an amusement park or something. William's kind of just sitting there. Like the other day we went to this ice cream shop with nitrogen ice cream where you can get the dragon's breath and stuff to breathe a little smoke and stuff. He was like, I don't wanna do that. He does not like the pool. He does not like the beach. He does not like. He's super. Like, he doesn't deal. Like, for example, Baby keen. He'd come in here, shake his hand, you know, introduce himself. William does not. He will not talk to you if he doesn't know you unless I tell him, say, son, introduce yourself. And he'll say something. But he just, like, like, like. So they, like night and day.
Host
Very standoffish.
King Randall
Yeah, very standoffish. They're night and day. But I will say something different about them both. I've had to teach baby King what I call that dog. I have to. I had to teach him aggression. I'm like, son, you have to learn how to turn aggression on and off. So sometimes during baseball practice, I would purposely frustrate him so he could see how good he does when he's upset. When he hits that ball. When he's upset, I'm like, that's the furthest you ever hit a ball. See how you using that aggression right now? He'll cry. I'm like, okay, now use that and hit the ball. Get mad at the ball and hit it. And he like, oh, I didn't know I could hit the ball that far. I said, exactly. So make your angry face and hit the ball and turn it off. I said, daddy could get angry right now, and I could turn it off. I said, you have to learn how to control that aggression. So he's learning about controlled aggression early. William hadn't had to teach aggression to him. When he go hit the ball, he's angry already. When he's boxing, bro is already angry about it. Like, he's in there practicing with his brother. So he watches his brother often. They get into it like, you know, normal siblings about sherry and stuff or whatever like that. But for the most part, baby Kenya is always leading. He's like, no, William, you need to brush your teeth. Right? You need to make sure you're getting the back of your teeth. You need to make sure you're doing this right. William, put your shoes on the right foot. Grant. William doesn't always listen to him. He gets upset with him, like, no, leave me alone. You know, whatever, like that. But he's always leading him. I taught him about that. I'm like, listen, your brother looks up to you. He may not want to listen all the time. He'll participate in the bad stuff you're doing, but he doesn't want to participate in the good things that you do.
Host
What about. I mean, are they observant of other kids?
King Randall
Yes.
Host
In the work ethic and, I mean, six years old.
King Randall
Damn, dude. So he does.
Host
Taking notes.
King Randall
Yeah. He watches the other kids at practice not go as hard as he Does. So next year baby Keen will be playing up in baseball. He's going to this eight year old team next year. A team called about him because they've been watching his videos online. So he's gonna play up next year, but that's only because the kids his age are not giving him any competition. But he watches the kids his age. And it's not no fault to the kids and not even necessarily to their par. It's just that we all raise our kids differently. And so like during the games, you know, sometime people will be like, oh, just well, why he going so hard about it? Or whatever. I'm like, well, this is why my kids are great and your sons suck. Like, because we believe in what we're doing, you know, and like, I just, it's important to believe in what you're doing. If we're gonna do something, we're gonna give it our best. We're not just doing anything just for fun. Like, if we're gonna do anything, I don't care if we're making our bed, we're gonna make our bed the best way we could possibly make our bed. We're gonna brush our hair, we're gonna brush our hair, possibly can brush it, like, do it all the best. I'm like, you want to be the best at it all and if you are the best, find somebody else that's better and then go after them. So like last year during baseball, he wasn't the best on the field yet or whatever last year because like I said, we've been practicing and we found we wanted the kid who was the best. And so when he came up to the plate, I'm like, baby King, get him out. And so he hit the ball, he caught it. He played second base, he caught the ball, threw him out. And he was so excited about it. I'm like, that's what I'm talking about. Care nothing about that. Like, we don't care about him being that good. We want to find the best and we want to be. That's what we want to do.
Host
Damn, dude, I love what you're saying already. We're only like what, 10 minutes, 20 minutes into the interview?
King Randall
Yeah. I mean, so.
Host
This is fantastic.
King Randall
I appreciate it.
Host
I'm serious, man. But you know something that you're describe, you're describing how I think all the time. I think if I'm not working, somebody else is. They're going to be better. I mean, I think it came from the SEAL teams. If you're not training the enemy's Training. And they're gonna kill you?
King Randall
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Host
And I've carried this mindset into business. I've carried it into my whole life, and now I'm hesitant to. With that mindset comes a tremendous amount of pressure that you put on yourself. It can be debilitating. It's very. It's a life of stress.
King Randall
Oh, yeah.
Host
And so I've been careful on. I don't know if I want my son or my daughter to carry the amount of stress and responsibility that I feel that I have. And so I guess. Do you think about that at all?
King Randall
Yeah, I can push back at that a little bit, actually. Stress to me is good and not necessarily saying, like, the stress you put on your body or something like that. Stress, worry, doubt, et cetera. It causes you to work a little bit more. When I'm worried about, if I can't take care of the light bill this month, I might go do a little extra work to make sure that I can take care of that. But why am I not thinking like that all the time? It's like, we'll get comfortable, and then we'll stop doing what's needed or whatever. Or we'll get comfortable and stop doing what we could be doing. So it's like, I don't ever want to get comfortable. I'm like, okay, if there's children, like, for example, again, talking about my son, there's this kid that we interact with on social media. His social media is called Sense Diapers. His dad's been training him in baseball since he was literally almost a newborn. He's got the videos. This kid is 5 years old now, and I kid you not, this kid is sliding, doing all types of crazy catches. Like, he is world worlds better than my son. So when people see my son on the field and they're like, oh, he's fantastic. I'm in my mind thinking about Malik. I'm like, no, Malik is gonna destroy my son. Like, he's great with it. So we plan to have them practice together and stuff like that to make each other better or whatever. But I'm always thinking, like. Like, just like you said, the enemy's always waiting to kill you, you know, and not just in regards to sports, just in life in general. There's somebody making the money that I want to be making. There's somebody successful, more successful than I.
Host
Am, you know, fat and happy. Yeah, the next guy's training.
King Randall
Yes, the next guy's training.
Host
He's innovating. He's developing.
King Randall
The stress is important. You need it, you need the worry. You need it because it causes you to want to work a little bit harder. And so even like working out in the morning times, I ain't going to lie to you. I hate working out in the mornings. It gets on my nerves. But I do it anyway because I need to put myself through something I can accomplish in the morning. It makes me feel great. I did this thing I really didn't want to do and I know my sons are watching me too. So even though I don't want to do it, I do it anyway. Because I know they're going to get up in the morning and look for me the morning that I don't get up. Like there's some mornings I may not do it or something like that. Maybe every once in a while I get upset at myself because my sons come and ask me, hey, why didn't you wake us up this morning to go work out? To me, I just told them that it's okay to not do something. I just told them it's okay to not do what you're supposed to do.
Host
You're a pressure on yourself.
King Randall
Yeah, I do, I do. I critique myself and it's important, but I don't mind it. Cause I'm proud of the results. In the end, the results is what make it all worth it. And it makes me. That's what makes me happy. After I see the results, after I see that I've gotten a little bigger or my suits are getting a little tighter, I gotta buy new suits or whatever like that. I'm getting training better. I'm doing better in boxing. Yeah, it's annoying at the time, but once I finally see those results, I'm like, man, man, like, now I want to do it some more. But all that success you're looking for is going to come through the dangerous, the treacherous going through the minefield. It's going to be the treacherous going through the crazy river just to get to the other side. So as a man, I like being Batman to my kids. I like being Batman to those around me. Like, man, King's always doing all this great stuff. People think I do fantastic. I think I'd be doing more. I'm just like, I just left Nigeria back in August and those kids are out working. Everybody I know, you know, their dreams are to come to America. But I'm just like, when I got there, it almost removed empathy for me, you know, for anything that, you know, people claim they're going through. I'm like, these kids don't even got Sewage and running water barely eat every day. And they are working circles around us. So it made me want to come home and do even more. So when people are impressed with me, I'm not impressed with me at all. Like, I'm like, this is nothing. You know, I'm like, I could be doing a whole lot more. I could still be getting up a little bit earlier. Like, I still critique myself about that. Like, why am I getting up at 6:30? I could easily. I wake up at 5:00 in the morning and I just sit there and scroll on my phone. Why don't I get my butt up and go on the computer and do something? You know, do something else other than sitting here scrolling on my phone. Like, you know, I could be making other things happen. So Elon, et cetera, all these billionaires, et cetera. We got the same 24 hours in a day. And it's all what we decide to do with it. And it's gonna come with the pressure. So if I'm comfortable and sitting around and nothing's happening, I feel like. I feel like a failure. Cause I'm just like, something needs to be happening. Something needs to be shaking right now. Something needs to be moving. I critique myself for not training my son as much sometime. Like, I feel like we could train more. We only train like an hour a day sometime, but a day we miss training. He ain't thinking about it, but me, I'm like, dang. Like it's another kid somewhere training right now and we missing it. Like, you know, it's interesting.
Host
So who picked baseball?
King Randall
Say it again.
Host
Who picked baseball on box?
King Randall
He did.
Host
He picked it.
King Randall
He picked baseball. He asked me. I had never played a. Listen. I had never caught a baseball in my life. I had never played. I played football my whole life. And I stopped football in high school. Cause one of my friends got paralyzed on the field. I was very good, but of course I was running back. I'm short. But anyway, man, he asked to play baseball. I remember he was 4 and he was like, dad, I want to play baseball. Because he got his little tee, this little tee for his birthday. And I was like, sure, why not? So I signed him up for baseball. And me, when we do something, we're going to be the best at it. So I had to learn how to coach him because I didn't know what I was doing. Like, I had to go watch videos. Cause at first when I was just rolling them balls, I'm thinking, he's catching the ball, riding and stuff like that. We're doing everything wrong. So I'm watching all the videos, I'm doing it. So we've traveled to different places to get some coaching from other coaches. So they'll coach him and I'm coaching myself watching them, I'm watching them coach him. So that way, okay, that's what we can do when we get home. So I'll go train with these coaches in different cities or whatever like that. We'll train with them. And I'm subconsciously watching what they're coaching so I can go back and coach at home or I'll watch what the boxing coach is doing and I can do it at home. So now we don't necessarily need y'all all the time. We can do this at home. So it's very important. The training is very important for me. But he picked baseball. And so I told him if we're going to do something, we're going to be the best at it. Or boxing. He's had times where he said he wanted to quit, no doubt because he asked me to play. But he didn't want to do the work at first. He's just like, oh, we got to go practice, you know, whatever, like that. Now he wants to practice at 6 because he understands that he's good now. He likes being good, so now he likes to practice. But before when he was like 4 and 5, he like, I don't wanna play baseball anymore, I wanna play something else'cause he thought it was easier. So I let him try another little sport out. But we went and practiced a lot with that. And he like, dang, I thought this was gonna be easy. Nah, ain't none of it easy. Even gymnastics. I got him doing pull ups in the house, you know, like. Cause he has to pull up on the bar and stuff. Like all of it is hard work. I don't care what sport you choose, whether it's school, whether it's reading a book, et cetera, you have to put the work in to be the best. Cause if you want people out here beating you. Cause he hates to lose. I'm like, well if you hate to lose, you gotta best, you got to practice. And the only thing that's going to keep you winning is practicing. And so now, you know, as he's coming of age, he's understanding to practice now. So he'll get in there like at 6:30 in the morning. We got a tea and a net in the gym made it for him. And while I'm in there lifting, he got the tea and he's hitting off of it before school every morning, you know, before he goes to school, he's in there hitting off the tea in the morning Times. Yeah. So I love it. But he picked baseball, man, so I never played at all. So I just take him to the game, let him watch the other players. He loves Shohei. That's his favorite guy. He loves Shohei. But we go to the Braves games, et cetera. He loves it. So I just try to hone whatever he asked for. He asked to do that. So we're going to hone it.
Host
Wow, that's fantastic. Well, we're going to get into your story too here. So we got a Patreon account. Patreon, It's a subscription account. They're our top supporters and a lot of them have been with us since the beginning. And it's turned into to quite the community over the years. One of the things I offer them is to ask each and every guest a question. So this is from Eric Alger. How do you handle the unseen pressures that come with being a young leader in a world that often doubts people of your age and background?
King Randall
For one, through God, and then for two through the work. At first, when I first began, it was a lot of, oh, you're too young. How are you gonna teach boys how to be men, Et cetera, et cetera. I was 19, so people had stuff to say, but once I started doing the work, it's like there's nothing you can say because I'm doing everything that I said I was gonna do. I said I was gonna open the school. I said I was gonna start an after school program. I said it was gonna all be free. I said I was never gonna charge. I said we were gonna take care of kids, we were gonna make sure they got haircuts, we were gonna make sure they got uniforms, gonna make sure they got clothes, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrush, underwear, et cetera. I said I was gonna do it. And people didn't believe it at first. People like, where are you going to get the funding? Where are you going to get the capital, et cetera? I don't know where I'm going to get it from, but we're going to do it. And I said it over and over again. And as I've done it, people started getting quiet. And as I'm working, I've really asked people, name somebody else, you know, that's doing the type of work that we're doing for free. You can name the Boys and Girls Clubs, et cetera, et Cetera. They're not doing the type of work that we're doing. Not in mindset changing. Most other programs are aimed at giving children something to do. I'm not aiming for that. We're aiming at trying to change their minds. I could put 30,000 basketball courts in the city of Albany, and they're gonna kill each other and fight each other on the basketball courts. Because there has been no mindset changing. So our goal is to actually fix and train the minds of the child. When we say, let us make man, making a man ain't about teaching them how to fix cars or painting the house or whatever like that. Sure, that's great stuff to know, but for us, making that man is all entailed in their character. I always say we. We make habits with them. We make them do things over and over again. Just like when we're in Marine Corps boot camp. I always say, habits build character, and character makes the man. Routines build habits. And so we make routines, which forms a habit, which forms their character. So that's how we make that man. Teaching them to hygiene, clipping their fingernails, making sure they smell decent, asking them why they didn't have this today or why they didn't, why you smell funny. I ain't got no deodorant at home. Okay, cool. We send you home with a whole package of soap, deodorant, underwear, et cetera. Had kids have holes in their underwear, holes in their socks. What's going on? My mom ain't been able to buy me such and such. Okay, cool. We'll take care of that for you. People don't know. We help moms take care of light, bills, et cetera. But it's incentives for that. If you make sure your son is coming after school on time, if you're making sure he's doing his work, if you're making sure he's studying, if we see you trying your best and doing good with your son and making sure you're raising him, we will incentivize that. And I'll say, hey, mom, we're going to take care of your rent. For the easy work. We do that through our donors that help us take care of that. But it's important for morale, too, because moms need to see that somebody believes in them. Mom needs to see that somebody sees them trying, and it helps them with raising their sons. Because today she may not be as angry when she gets off of work, you know, and actually wants to come watch a movie with you. You know, it's all these little tiny Things matter. We don't post that. We don't say those things. We don't readily post whose funeral we helped take care of. Like one of my students brother passed away and a cold murder, you know, we paid for his funeral or whatever, but we didn't share that. We took. We talked to the family about it, but it took her to share that online, you know, on her own, because she was just like, this is what this program means to us. Like, this program is for families. Like, yeah, we help boys, but we've helped so many families. I mean, I could go on and on, but that's how we combat that. And to a point now I've had so much negativity said about me. I mean, it just rolls off my back. I'm used to people having something to say. Even like now, like, we record everything we do with my sons. Like, we record our whole lives. Me and my mom, we have it out sometime and she's upset with herself because she didn't take as many pictures growing up. So we have a few photos and things like that, but we don't have many pictures of anything. I don't have any photos from playing football. No videos or anything. I played football my whole life. My mom's just like, I'm so mad because my grandmother used to force her to take pictures all the time. So she thought she was doing me a favor by not forcing me to take pictures all the time and things like that. And she didn't realize what was happening. So we have footage of my sons from when they were like 1, 2 years old. We record every single thing. So the guys posted online the other day when we were out at evaluations, you know, I got the cameras taking pictures of my son or video, and they like, imagine having some egotistical guy out here taking pictures, you know, and y'all out here trying to play baseball. I'm just like. So when you go to the MLB game and they got cameras out, you can't watch it then. Cause they're recording it. I'm just like, it's the same thing, but people just want something to say. But I'm just like, we post this stuff and for my son's brand, because this is going to help him as he gets older, you know, people are watching him already, you know, watching his content, et cetera. So we're building on that early. And plus, we just record their content anyway. So when they get older, we just got all this stuff we could watch. You can sit down and watch old family movies, whatever. Just from conversations in the car. I mean, we have everything. Sometimes my videographer will send me stuff I don't even remember he recorded. Like, he'll send me like old videos of me holding them when they were babies. He's like, hey, man, I was just going through the vault looking at some old stuff or old videos of us in the after school program back when I was like 20, you know, reading the Bible to or something. He'll send me that. I'm just like, man, this is crazy. I don't even remember this day, you know, but he's sending me, you know, this content and it's important. But yeah, that's. That's how we combat it. We just keep doing more work and we let God do the rest. Eventually, people just have to be quiet because, I mean, what more can you say?
Host
So I guess, you know, they say if you don't have any critics, you're not doing it right.
King Randall
Correct.
Host
Well, got you a little gift. I'll get you some more for your kids. Sure, sure. Vigilance League. Gummy bears.
King Randall
Love it.
Host
I swear, some people just come on the show just to get those.
King Randall
Really?
Host
Yeah, I'm done.
King Randall
So, like, are they like special gummy bears or.
Host
No, there's nothing weird going on. There's no cannabis. There's no cbd. It's just candy.
King Randall
You know, it's funny. I love. I love gummy bears. Yeah, Yeah, I got some in my bag right now. I love gummy bears.
Host
Nice.
King Randall
So this is going to be a hit for me. So if they good, I'm definitely just going to order some.
Host
Yeah, yeah.
King Randall
I am a gummy bear fan, man.
Host
Cool, cool. Well, let's get into your story. So where did you grow up?
King Randall
I grew up in Albany, Georgia, born and raised. Born July 1999. So technically a 90s baby. Almost made it to 2000, but July of 99, I was born in Albany, Georgia. My mom had me when she was, I think like 18 and a half.
Host
Real quick. Albany, George. Sure. High crime rate. Chance of being a victim of crime is 1 in 43. The neighborhood scouts. The neighborhood Scout ranks in the top 100 most dangerous cities in the U.S. yeah, that's. Yeah. Can you tell us a little bit more about other than just statistics, you know, what Albany is like?
King Randall
I love the city of Albany. I think the city of Albany is what you make it. It's important to mention also the population. It's only. Well, now it's only about 66,000 people that live in Albany. So when you hear about the High crime rate. It's off of the ratio of people there. So it's not like somebody's dying every single day or anything like that. But there is murder pretty often. I would say we do have a lot of murder happening, stabbings, a lot of domestic issues. And I tell people, I attribute that to it being impoverished because you gotta think, because people always talk about all the that are in Albany and people just constantly having children, but also the domestic issues. I'm like, guys, let's be honest here with ourselves. If people are broke and don't have any money and there are no jobs, there aren't any many jobs in Albany. There people are broken, don't have any jobs. What all they have to do all day, argue and have sex. That's it. So that's what's happening in Albany. You constantly got a lot of children being had in Albany, but also a lot of domestic issues. Because most of the time it's always some woman stabbed a guy or the guy shot the woman, or it's just some domestic stuff. Always domestic disputes. It's never like a stray bullet or not. It's always domestic stuff. We get some gang related stuff here and there, but it's mostly girlfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend, girlfriend, these guys arguing about something. It's always domestic stuff. And I attribute that to again, being impoverished. Even mentioning how people raise their children in the city of Albany. If somebody, for example, I look at some of the things that I get mad at and I don't get mad at based off of what I'm able to afford. For example, like my sons sometimes want to draw on their shoes. I don't have a problem with that. Have fun, I don't care. Draw on your shoes. Whatever. They want to make little. I see it as them being creative now specific shoes I don't let them draw on, but other shoes, I'm like, have fun at it. But then I can also understand why one mom would want to spank her child for riding on a shoe. Because for one, she's maybe, to be frank, she's taking out a little of her frustration being for real, she's taking a little frustration on him. But also, dude, I paid 40 bucks for those shoes. I barely had that $40. And you drawing on your shoes like, oh my God. And she's ready to kill them, you know, like about that. And it's just so much happening around her, you know, she's doing it by herself, dad's nowhere around, vice versa. With maybe a couple of guys that's raising their sons by theyself or raising their kids by themselves. I know this one guy, he got like nine kids, bro. Just got too many kids. But he raising them all. Moms are nowhere to be found. He's frustrated. All the moms make him upset. He goes to jail. He calls me Mr. King, you know, is one of my students, dad, his mom, he calls me Mr. King. Can you help me? You know, I went to jail. One of the kids, mom, you know, made me upset, and I did such and such or whatever like that. You know, he's barely making it. And I'm just like, guys, like, this is why this is happening. People need jobs here. And so this is why I started getting into the politics of the city of Albany. Cause I at first, people know me. People, you know, hear me saying this now, but back when I was younger, I would say, man, bump popping. I don't care about politics. We just need to do for ourselves, do stuff for our community and everything will be fine. We bump the politicians or whatever like that. But as I got older, I started realizing, notice some of the stuff that they're passing, and the mayor and the city councilman and the commissioners, they're passing stuff that's directly affecting these kids. And not only passing stuff, but not doing stuff to actually affect people having money here. People need money.
Host
I'm like, how did you get involved in politics?
King Randall
I started in Albany, maybe in this last year, trying to figure out politics in my hometown, because I'm seeing stuff not happening in my hometown that should be happening. Stuff that seems common sense. And so I'm just like, okay, let me just start going to these meetings. All the meetings are open for the public to come to. Nobody's there. The mayor is in their meeting. They're having meetings about all this different stuff that's happening in the city. 67,000 people live there and nobody there. The last mayoral election, only 7,000 people voted for the mayor, and we have 67,000 people there. And I'm just like, how exactly are we expecting the city of Albany to change? And we don't know what's going on.
Host
What are some of the things you see that's affecting the community?
King Randall
Well, for starters, mentioning the lack of jobs. There are no jobs there. And on top of that, they're not attracting people to want to come to the city of Albany. And I will mention that our city sucks at marketing. And just in general, from. And I'm a big fan of the school system, but the school system does not do a good job at marketing the police Department does not do a good job at marketing. Fire department, the city of Albany, et cetera. They do not do a good job at marketing. The reason I say that's important is because everything you hear and see about Albany is always negative. If you go type Albany, Georgia in on Google, it's always negative. It is important that people in the city know that these people are actually doing their jobs. I told them this before. Our police department is doing a fantastic job. But all you ever see online about people talking about them is just negative stuff. But these. These people actually are solving murders. They're actually taking care of things. They're making things happen for the citizens. They have these new equipment, et cetera. They're really doing good. But I had to go take a private class to learn about our police department. I'm like, why aren't you guys posting this stuff? People should know that you guys are doing your job, that you are trying to make things happen. Or our school system. Our school system is doing a phenomenal job. And I have to almost apologize for the things that I was saying about them previously because I didn't know what was happening. Not because I wouldn't go on to look, but also because they wouldn't say anything about it. Our school system has health clinics, dental and vision clinics, et cetera, for the students to go to for free. Because the parents in Albany cannot afford the insurance for those kids. They've gotten the grants to make sure the clinics are at school.
Host
You never hear anybody today give props to the public school system.
King Randall
No. And I'm going to do that, because they are doing. They are trying. I've had them tell us stories about kids who didn't even know this kid didn't even know what a toothbrush was going to the dentist. Like, these are real stories. And so I'm listening to them tell us. I'm like, why aren't y'all talking about this? So I offered with my team to do a small documentary on the school system and the things that they've changed in the city, especially since COVID They also have this program called Level Up. The Level up program is where they have parents sign up for the program. They'll go pay for these parents to go to school to get their forklift license, nursing license, bulldozer, whatever. They'll pay for them to go to school to get these licenses. And they'll say, oh, well, I don't have any care for my child. They'll go get your kid from school and pay for the daycare and everything. For your child while you're in school, getting your license to go get whatever degree you're trying to get or go get whatever certification and get a job. So this in turn turns into these parents now being able to parent their children because they don't have to work three and four jobs anymore, and they don't have to keep sending the kid to the auntie's house and sending it to whoever's house house to be raised by God knows what. When they can raise their own children now because now they have a livable wage job. This is impactful. Like, I'm just like, why aren't you guys saying anything about this? Like, where's the marketing team? It's important that people know because all people hear is the negativity surrounding the city of Albany. And it's important that people know that. Like the commission I'm on now, I just joined the historic preservation commission. It's important that people know about the history of Albany and why these buildings are important and what happened here and things like that. And they just like, we wish people would, you know, get involved with the historic preservation commission, et cetera. I'm like, okay, well, you guys should probably make like, a Facebook page and explain what's going on. Make some tiktoks, make videos, et cetera. So me being the youngest person on the five different boards I just joined is going to help the city out a whole lot. Because they've been looking. They're like, hey, how can we market? Like, you're marketing. Listen, let me help take care of those things for you. So we're going to show these different stories that the Doherty county school system has helped with these parents and their kids and in the free dental and vision. I also didn't know that our school system has a hydroponics garden where they are growing all of the green vegetables for the entire school system. They are feeding these children fresh vegetables from a garden that the students manage.
Host
Wow.
King Randall
And I'm just like, why aren't you guys showing this stuff online? Because all people do is talk trash about our school system in Albany, Georgia, including myself at one point, and I didn't know all these things were happening. I didn't know that they were answering the questions that people ask at the school board meetings. I went to the school. They're in there answering the questions. They're in there saying, hey, no. They're like, oh, the kids can't read here. But what they're saying is, look, Covid stopped us. These kids couldn't come to school. But as Covid has left or whatever like that, they're showing the trajectory going up from the statistics. I'm like, these people are trying. These people are trying to do their jobs. Granted, everything ain't. But this is something that needs to be shown. Why aren't you guys showing it? I've even spoken to the city about it. They're paying this company in our hometown. I won't call them out, but it sucks. I was at the city commission meeting. They're paying this One Video Co. Six figures over six months for marketing for the city of Albany. I go on their city of Albany pages, the couple videos that they've done, maybe got one like if or some got no likes, no views, et cetera. I'm like, so they're older, so they don't understand how social media and marketing works. So I'm like, have y'all asked them for any deliverables? Ask them how many people have seen this stuff. Y'all paying them six figures, and this is maybe our third time doing it. And they've only done like maybe two or three commercials for, like, the hospital or something like that. Why are y'all paying them all this? My team don't even make that much money. And we're pushing out more content than y'all ever have. Y'all releasing one or two videos every couple months, and y'all paying them six figures. So why haven't y'all asked them for any metrics? How many people in the city of Albany have seen these things? You know, the regular person in Albany doesn't even know who the mayor is. They don't know what ward they live in. They don't know their commissioner. Not saying it's completely the citizen's fault, but I think it's the mayor's fault. I think it's the city commissioner's fault. Why aren't you in people's faces? Cuz people still thought that our mayor from two mayors ago was still the mayor. The other day. They had no clue that we had a new mayor. And I'm just like, why aren't you guys trying to show people who you are? I talked to our city commission about this because I think that you guys maybe are just doing stuff that y'all don't care for the public to know about. That's what I think. I think you don't want people involved so you can just keep passing little stupid stuff up here that's not causing the city to advance. You're just giving contracts to your little contracting companies. That you know, and passing little stuff for people that you know and your homeboys and your family and your affiliates, and people don't know what's going on. So I've been at every meeting, so I can just keep jotting down notes.
Host
Is that happening?
King Randall
Yeah, it's happening. So I've been at every meeting, and I've joined five different boards. I am on the Historic Preservation Commission now. I'm on a planning commission now. I'm on the Southwest Georgia Housing Task Force. I'm on the Albany Police Department Civilian Review Board. So I know all things happening with the police department. Every. And mind you, every board I'm on, I'm the youngest person there. Everybody else there is extremely older. But mainly because they don't even get applicants for these boards, and people don't know these boards exist. So I'm telling people these boards are actually making decisions, too. The Historic Preservation Commission is so important. They make decisions that the mayor can't make. We make decisions to say, hey, you cannot do this certain thing in this historic district. You cannot do anything over there because you're going to mess with the historic preservation of this building, or you can't do this thing to your house because you're going to mess up the historic district. It's important. The Planning commission is important because everything that comes, comes through us, is what people want to rezone something for. Do I want to open a liquor store over on this side of town, or if I want to open up a new bar over here or whatever? We have to approve of those things. But that's important because we can think about then what's the demographic on that side of town that you're trying to open a liquor store on? I don't think that side of town needs a liquor store. We don't need another liquor store on that side of town. It's already high crime over there. We're going to give them more liquor over there. That don't even make any sense, you know, whatever. So they're trying to monetize, you know, people that's coming into town trying to open business. They're monetizing. They're monetizing the debauchery in our hometown. They're monetizing that people are drunks in Albany. They're monetizing that people are obese and overweight in Albany. So they're opening tons of restaurants on the worst sides of town because they know people can't afford to go buy healthy food. So they got Popeyes and all these. This stuff. That's causing people to die. I went and talked to the coroner not too long ago. I said, Mr. Coroner, why people dying? He said, heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes. He said, I'm picking people up every day for it. He said because of the food, people don't want to get up and exercise because they're scared to walk in the neighborhoods, et cetera. He said, this is why people are dying every day. Nobody knows that. And I'm just like, this is stuff that needs to be talked about. And so this is why even having your platform, when we share these videos and stuff, I'm going to share it to our city because people need to know that our school system is trying their hardest. They are doing their job there. Granted, some things could be better with maybe disciplining the kids in certain ways, et cetera, but that's free. Free health, dental, vision, y'all giving kids glasses, et cetera. Y'all trying to make a way for these kids to just even live, you know, for free. Making sure their parents got forklift licenses, et cetera. They graduating kids with truck drivers, simulating all this. I mean, it's crazy what they're doing and nobody knows about it.
Host
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King Randall
I wish I had my phone with me. But I mean it's gas station jobs, McDonald's, these ten twelve dollar hour jobs for the most part. And if you're like me and or maybe just a regular person who probably needs a lot more money than that, you either have to drive an hour away to go to another city that you know does pay a livable wage job and then come back home or whatever like that, or eventually just have to move to there. Which is why our population's declining. Over the past 10 years, our population dropped 10,000 people because people are leaving because there's no growth happening in the city. But there's no, no like no factory jobs. No like we got factories. Have you ever tried the combos? Little crackers, little combos food? Those are exclusively made in Albany, Georgia. They are made nowhere else. Eminem Mars makes combos in Albany, Georgia. They have a secret little recipe thing and everything. I love combos, but they're all over the country. But they're exclusively made in Albany, Georgia. Why isn't that a thing? Like that's a. People eat combos all the time. I go and they're sold out. Why aren't y'all talking about that? But these are like the little small jobs we have. Factories have left. We used to have Bob's Candy. They they left. We do have a Marine base in Albany. The logistics base is probably one of the most important bases for the Marine Corps. But if Lo and behold, they ever decide to move the command somewhere else, we'd be effed. To be frank, we are one factory away from Albany becoming some real bad town. We do have Procter and Gamble, like they make tissue and things like that and laundry detergent and stuff like that. So we do have a couple factory jobs. But most of those factories have people that work there that come from other cities to come work because they won't live in Albany. So, I mean, what would you bring then? I would think about. So this is long term what I would think. I would think about trying to bring car manufacturing or something like that to Albany. The reason I would do that is because we have so much open land in Albany, so much space for factories, warehouses, whatever. Even closed factories. We got just some just abandoned, just sitting there or whatever like that. But I would do that because, for one, we could bring a livable wage job to some of these people that are in Albany. But also, these jobs require you to work a long time. They require you to work at least 9 to 12 hours. These kids out here on the street that ain't got no job and y'all could do the training on site. You give they butt a job, they working 912 hours making livable wage. But also they ain't got time to go do nothing stupid outside. You working them to the bone. And now they sleepy and ready to go home and maybe eat some food and that's it. They not getting into any trouble. Cause they sleepy, they tired.
Host
Have you thought about how you would incentivize an auto manufacturer to move there?
King Randall
Only way I could do that is selling the city of Albany. And at this point, if a manufacturer were to look at the city of Albany online, they're like, absolutely not. This is where relationships come in. This is why I'm grateful for my traveling through the country, talking about the extra boys and building relationships. Before I started working in the city of Albany like I am now, I have so many different relationships. Now I'm right now I'm in contact with a professor from Yale, and we were working on this private project that he and I are working on to bring to the city of Albany. Because they're like, albany is the perfect pilot project. But they would have never known that Albany was a great place for this project. I can't talk about it, but for this project, unless if it weren't for me going to talk to them about it. And I'm like, dude, Albany has so much potential. I call Albany Potential Incorporated. We have so many empty spaces. So Many downtowns beautiful, no businesses at all. It's like all these empty buildings down there. So much history, so much rich history in Albany. From Dr. King coming to Albany during the civil rights movement to all these other different things that happen in Albany. Like, they don't preserve a lot of things. The house that Dr. King used to stay at in Albany is currently boarded up. I'm like, why Isn't that like some landmark or something that y'all add to like some tour people do? We have Radium Springs in Albany. It's a natural spring in Albany that has like this fresh water that comes out of it or whatever like that. It's just. It's really cool. But I'm like, why don't you guys do like boat tours or something down here? Like, it's just. My brain's turning, but I'm just like, why aren't y'all monitoring the true good history in the good life city? Ray Charles is from there. We got a Ray Charles Plaza, but that's it. Like, we don't really do anything for Ray Charles. We got a couple NFL players from Albany or whatever. Granted they won't come back or do anything or whatever like that, but we got a lot of things that have happened good from the city of Albany. But why aren't we, like pushing those things? Why aren't we showing people how great the city of Albany can be? We have a lot of great mom and pop restaurants who make great food, but why aren't we showcasing them on TikTok and through the city of Albany website or through the city of Albany social media pages or whatever. I've made this stuff mentioned, but again, you know, these people are older and they don't understand. Don't even have an app, you know, like most cities got an app you could download, you know, to. To, you know, talk to your commissioners or, you know, report stuff or whatever like that. We still got a dial 311 to call by the pothole.
Host
What was it about your childhood that. That just got you into this? I mean, you started. Was it 17?
King Randall
Yeah.
Host
Professional chef.
King Randall
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Host
So you're only 25 years old. I mean, what was it about your childhood that motivated you to kind of start turning the city around, becoming basically a father figure to all these people, young men.
King Randall
This is going to be a long winded little part. When I was younger, when I was a kid, I told you. My grandmother's been very spiritual my whole life. She's been preaching, having Bible studies, prayer lines, et cetera. She's big, she's huge into God, she's. I mean she doesn't. When I was about 3 years old, I'll never forget we were riding in her car. She had this old green Lexus she had when I was like three. And I remember the car seats at the time were these little things you had to pull over your head. And I had to learn how to strap myself in. It's this little circle inside my car seat I was to play with all the time. I remember, just remember little things. I remember we were riding on the street called, I think it was Johnny W. Williams Road. And we turned to South Madison, she stayed on South Madison, she street. We got to the stop sign, I told my grandma, I said, grandma, I said, you know how it is like when something's about to happen, like you feel like something in your stomach like that. And she was like, yeah, I know, you know, like what you mean. I told her that I was here to finish what Dr. Martin Luther King started. And I told her as I got older that I don't know if we like maybe watched a Dr. King video at preschool that day or something like that. I don't remember anything from that day but that conversation, I remember it vividly. I never forget it. But as I got older I took. My grandmama would always tell me that often but I'm like grandma, like can you stop saying that? Like cuz she would like tell like people at the church what I said and stuff like that. Cuz like as a testimony, I'm like grandma, can you stop saying that? Like I'm like I was a kid, I'm like whatever. Like I, I was maybe watch the Dr. King video or something. Like I'm not trying to do that. I want to cook. Like cuz my, my, my biological father was a great cook. He would cook at like different restaurants. He you know, had, didn't, wasn't like a professional chef or anything, but he would like cook. So I wanted to cook because that's what my real dad did. I just wanted to be like my real dad. I didn't spend a whole lot of time with him, my stepdad raised me, but anytime I interacted with my father, I just wanted to do things with him. And my mom, thank God for her. She purposely fostered our relationship to the point where I never hated him, even if he wasn't around. And so my mom would literally go buy me Christmas gifts, go bring it to my dad, pick me up and then bring me to my father as if he gave Me, the gift like my mom is, that's something special. So I loved my dad. I still love my dad, you know, my Bible. Even if he ain't like just there all the time. My biological father, I love him. I'll call him, we'll talk. Maybe every couple months. He's been sick lately. I just visited him in hospital. He had an enlarged heart or something. But I love my real dad, so I started wanting to cook because of that. And so I joined a culinary team at school. We had a culinary team in high school. And it's culinary class with Chef Sly. He's gonna watch this. He's a big fan of yours too. But Chef Sly, he taught me everything I know about cooking. And I started with him and I started cooking things at home. I started baking different things. I would sell like different things to bake at home. I would sell to the community. I made like cupcakes and everything. I was really good at it. And then I also did this program called Move On When Ready, where you could take college classes in high school. So I took the college classes at the culinary school that we had in Albany, at Albany Technical College. So I was there every day. I was cramming classes. I went to high school in the morning and then I would leave there at about 12 o'clock. My grandma had bought me a car when I was younger, but I eventually started driving it. And I would drive to the college and go take those classes. They would allow me to leave school to go take the college classes, and I took those classes. And people don't realize culinary classes are long. These are six to eight hour long classes. Because you gotta think, things have to bake, things have to cook. It's not a quick class. Then we also did catering events. So I would sometimes come home at like 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning at like 15, 16. Cause I'm out cooking. And my grandmother would just make sure I was okay. Make sure I had everything, everything I needed, make sure I ate food. And I'll tell a little story about her later. But yeah, she would make sure I had everything I needed. You know, my grandmother, if I opened my phone up, I got prayers every single day. She's sending me these long scriptures I read every morning. I don't text back all the time. She knows I read them. She'll send me these videos, motivational videos. But that's what she used to do when I was in high school. Same thing, would send me prayers, make sure I'm okay, call, make sure I'm Good. And I graduated college before I graduated high school. I walked across the college stage first because he had springer graduation, and then. Yeah. And then I graduated from high school right after that. Yep. Wow. Yep.
Host
I mean, were you always a straight and narrow motivated kid?
King Randall
For the most part, until I got to eighth and ninth grade. I tell everybody you have to go through your first heartbreak. When I was in 8th grade, this girl I was dating in 8th grade, I had planned my whole life out with her after I, like, started dating her. And when we were about to get to high school, she broke up with me this summer when we were about to go to high school. And I was confused. I didn't know what she broke up with me for. She was just like, well, I just want to go explore. At that time, I didn't know what that really meant. I'm like, what you mean you want to go explore? She was just like, I just, you know, I don't want us to just, you know, worry about each other, mind you. I had to. We done named our kids and everything. I'm like, want to go live my whole life with you type deal. She was all I thought about, you know, like, that was my first, like, girlfriend, girlfriend. So I was my whole ninth grade year, she would like, going to talk to these other guys and I'm like, seeing this stuff. I'm like, just like, what? So my whole ninth grade year, I chased her. Like, I just chased her. I would just try to figure out what I could do to get her back and I would get mad at the guy she was talking to and things like that. I tried to meet her at her locker and leave her letters and stuff like that. And I'm just this lover boy kid. Like, I'm just trying to get my girlfriend back. I spent my whole 9th grade year doing that. I lost all my grades. I was so upset. I just. I lost all confidence in myself. On top of that, you know, I was just trying to find myself in the ninth grade. I was trying to dress like everybody else. Because when I was in middle school. I'll tell this story too. I was in middle school and I'll get back into the first question in a bit, but I was in middle school and my sixth grade year, I wore a suit to picture day. I love suits. I wore a suit to picture day. I always did it in elementary school, too. I wore a suit to every picture day. I wore a suit to picture day in middle school. In sixth grade, I got to school and everybody picked on me the entire day. Day from front, like, top to bottom. Cause I had on a suit and oh, they picked on me the whole day. Like, I mean, just picked on me. I took my jacket off, like, to just try to alleviate some of it. Like, they picked on me from like my shoes, everything. I had a cool. I had a decent suit on. It was a pretty nice suit. And they picked on me the whole day. I never wanted to wear a suit again, ever. Like, I just never doing it again. So every picture day after that, I just wore regular clothes, you know, like everybody else did. And people would pick up me still because I didn't wear like the different name brands that they were wearing. Like, I would wear Beverly Hills Polo, what I wanted to wear. My mom wouldn't like poor or anything, so she could afford to do things. She drove trucks sometime. My stepdad worked at a marine base. So, you know, it ain't like I need it for anything. So. But I wanted to wear Beverly Hills Polo Club. So everybody picked on me for that for a long time. So then I started. I had my mom buy me some of the merchandise that they were wearing. I get to school, everybody's like, well, about time you finally buy some. You know, this stuff. They still talking about me. So I get to ninth grade. I'll never forget. There's one of the cheerleaders. I still remember her. I'll never forget. I always thought I was maybe uglier or something like that. Cause nobody ever wanted to talk to me. She was a senior cheerleader. And she told me I looked as sexy one day. And I was like, you talking to me? And she was like. And she was like, yeah, you, you look good. I was just like, thanks. From that day forward, I got all my confidence back. Never forget it. She probably doesn't even remember that right now or whatever, but I'll never forget. They say many remember all their compliments. Cause we don't get many. But I got all my confidence back. I started back wearing suits. I wore a suit to school every single day from 11th and 12th grade year. Every single day.
Host
Every single day.
King Randall
Every single day. A suit. And if I. If I didn't have a suit on, I had on like some type of nice sweater with a tie on, like if it was too cold or something. And I had a briefcase. I never had a binder. I had a briefcase. All my schoolwork was in my briefcase. Every single day. I cut my hair off. I had like a box, but I cut my hair. So I had a low haircut. And at that time, like I was like the school mascot at the time. Like, my principal would allow me to go speak at different schools. Like, they were so impressed, like, just how I carried myself. Like, my principal, like, hey, can you go speak at this elementary school on behalf of Westover? And things. Like. So he'd always announce me over the intercom, like, hey, we're gonna have King round to go speak at the elementary school. You know, let's congratulate him for a job well done. So I would do that, be going to do my college classes. It was great. So I. I found myself. So I left high school, I graduated high school, and I got married to my son's mom, and we got married immediately out of high school. I went to the Marine Corps right after that. I originally wasn't going to do that, but I found myself, like, not having anything to do. I just. I just didn't feel accomplished in life. And my best friends at the time.
Host
You didn't feel accomplished graduating college before you graduated high school?
King Randall
I didn't feel accomplished. I was working at Chick Fil A. I was working on trying to find a good cooking job, but I just didn't. Nothing was hitting for me. It just. It just wasn't what I wanted. So my best friends, all my best friends had went to the Marines. Every last one of them, all of them went at the same time. And so I'm just. They writing me letters. I'm writing them letters, but I'm just like, let me go see what they doing. So. So I'm on YouTube looking at boot camp. You know, I'm just like, I could do that. Like, why not? You know, Like, I ain't doing nothing else. So I went to the recruiting office, talked to the recruiter, and off I went to the Marines. I got married. Off I went to the Marines. I met so many brothers there that we are still, you know, super close to this day. I was a reserve, so I was able to be stationed back home. A3051 supply. But anyway, I got back back home after combat training and things like that, I get back home and my grandmother, while I was in boot camp, was sending me those letters reminding me of what I told you previously about me finishing what Dr. King started. So I took a second to sit down. I said, okay, let me just figure out what exactly that's supposed to mean. So I did research on Dr. King for, like, a month straight. Every single day. I had deleted all social media off my phone. I had no social media at the time. Time anything. Like, I was just Studying, studying, studying. I'm like, what exactly did Dr. King. Like, I'm not understanding what's happening. So I'm studying. I'm listening to speeches, I'm reading books. I'm going through stuff. I'm trying to figure out what exactly did Dr. King. Not finished. I don't get it. Like, I'm not understanding this. And I don't tell this story often because people think it's weird. But I always tell the story privately. But I want to share this with you. So I'll never forget. I was studying him. I'm listening to speeches. I started listening to Malcolm X, and I'm listening to Malcolm. I'm just like, this sounds like 2020. Like, well, 2019, 2020. Like, this is crazy. It sounds like now he's basically advocating for us doing for ourselves and opening up schools and opening up banks and opening up stores. And I'm like, why aren't we doing that? You know? So anyway, I went to the Dr. King memorial in Atlanta because I'm like, well, maybe I'll find something here. I went there. I'm looking at all his old cufflinks, and they got old shirts and stuff and old letters he wrote. And I'm just in there looking around. Just nothing's. Nothing is hidden. I'm just like, I don't understand. Like, I really didn't understand. Like, why would I say that? Cause I remember saying it. I can't lie and say I didn't. I remember saying it, and I'm like, I don't understand. Like, I don't get it. I'm going through the museum still, and I get to this room in there. My ex wife at the time, she was with me. And I'll never forget, I get to this room where the carriage carries the casket that brought him through Atlanta. When he was in the casket. And in this room just like this one, it has on all over the walls newspaper articles from when he was killed, all the headlines from Dr. King. I was walking through there and I was looking at the headlines, and I'll never forget, there was this newspaper article from The Pittsburgh Courier, April 20, 1968. It said, Will a new King emerge? And at that moment, I realized that Dr. King didn't train any replacements. And that's where I had the idea that we need to work with young people. And before I ever decide to figure out what it is that Dr. King was trying to finish, as I'm still figuring it out now, I'm in the city that Dr. King failed in for one and my name is King. If you look at all of my social media handles, they all say, new emerging King. And I reached out to the Pittsburgh Courier because they're actually currently trying to find that original newspaper for me because I don't put it up on my wall. But that meant something to me. And so that's when I started working. I originally started taking them on field trips.
Host
Now, hold on. How old were you?
King Randall
I was like, 19.
Host
19.
King Randall
Yeah, I was 19.
Host
So basically the motivation came from your grandmother.
King Randall
Yeah.
Host
Telling you you need to finish what Dr. King had started.
King Randall
Yep. I told her that, and she never let me forget it. I told her that I think I was about three years old. Yep. So I've known for a while what I was here to do and living in Albany. Dr. King mentioned Albany and the failures that he made in the situation of Albany. And till this day, he mentioned the mindset of the people of Albany. And still the same to this day. And I mentioned on a video yesterday I hadn't released yet. But as I've been maneuvering through the city as of late, I've been going to different volunteer workshops. I've been going to different, smaller things in the city to show my face. The reason I've been doing that is because ever since I've been maneuvered, I used to not go out to the grocery stores unless it was early in the morning or never go out to eat because people would see me. But I've watched people in Albany almost look at me like they don't believe in anything else, but they believe in me. And it's been so special to see, like, just going to the grocery store and people just like King. Like, it's so good to see you. Like, I love everything that's happening. You inspire me to be a better father, you know, to my kids or, you know, moms. I really want my son to join your program or kids who are even recognizing me. Like, that's Mr. King Randall. Like, he be on Instagram, like, helping the kids. Like, it's. I try my hardest. Like, I've been all over the world. I've spoken to the biggest celebrities, whatever, and I never want people to feel like that I've gotten too big for our small hometown ever. I still go volunteer at the smallest places. I still go to all the mom and pop restaurants that I've always frequented since I was younger. I still give $100 to every waiter that I run into in Albany, every last one, even if they did good or bad service, because I don't Know why they gave me bad service. They may be having a bad day. Their mom could have died, anything, you know. And I do that. And so people, you know, remember me for small stuff like that. I never. And speaking of the waiter thing, I was going to get my. I got a pet snake. My kids wanted a pet snake. I was going to get him a gerbil to eat or whatever. And the lady that was working in there, she said, you look familiar. I'm just like, you know, of course, I mean, most people, you know, remember me as king around. She was like, you're that guy that gave me $100 two years ago when I was wa. At the Fire Grill, which is one of our mom and pop restaurants. She was like, I. She was like that, like, meant so much to me. She didn't even know my name, but she remembered my face. I have no clue. I did not remember who she was. I don't remember giving her the $100. But I know I did it because I do that for every waiter. And even if I don't got it, I won't go out to eat unless I got $100 to get a waiter. Because I remember when I used to be with my ex wife, we trying to get pennies up in the car to go just have us a little ice cream date. Like just. We don't even have money. Like just go get some ice cream. We getting $50, trying to figure some stuff out, you know. So I remember all that stuff. Or like now I give to local businesses now. I do a scholarship now for kids in Albany because they can't afford, you know, like to go to school and stuff. So I do my own scholarship just for kids in the city of Albany. The only condition is they have to remain in the city of Albany. You have to put back into our city. Because that's what I believe in. But I give to local businesses. I've given to some of those mom and pop shops or whatever that have fed me, you know, for so many times. So most times people try to, you know, around Albion, they want to give me discounts on things. Like my tailor before I got here, the guy who tailored these pants before, he used hem and tape. And so when I was about to put them on, the hem and tape came off. And I didn't have a hem in my pants anymore. And this was like one of the only suits that I could fit until my new suits come in. Cause I've been working out and so. And I had this new shirt that came in. I was Like, I need it tailored. Like, I gotta go tomorrow. Like I need to take him to come out. She's like, I got you. But he tried to give me a discount. I'm like, no. I text him, I said, listen to me. I don't ever give me a discount ever. Because I'm just like, I want you to have all your coins. If you gonna charge somebody else, you know, that's not me, charge me the same thing. And I still tipped him. And I'm like. And I told them to make sure you add where they could tip you on your little square account. And I tipped them too. The guy who washes my cars or whatever, he's a great guy or whatever like that. I tip him every single time he washes my vehicles and I tip him nicely. And he, he's just always grateful for it. And I do small things for so many people. I never just share, but I really love my city and people believe in me like no end. People believe in me more than I've seen them believe in themselves. And that's a charge I got. So it's like now I'm like, okay, let me do what I can to help fix my own city. Even this older lady, we're about to help her fix her house in the historic district. She called me when I got a historic presentation and she was like, I've been trying to get somebody to come help fix my house for the long. She's like 80 something. I go to this lady's house, it's the worst house I ever seen in my life. And she doesn't even have pipes under the ground. The water she runs goes straight to the ground outside. The house is so unlevel. Like you're. It's walking like this, she's cooking and her food's like this. Wow. It's insane. So. And then she can't even get in her tub because she's had a hip replacement. So she can't get. So she's having to sponge bathe because she cannot actually get in her tub. And I get to this lady's house and I'm like, how long you been living? Like the house is sitting on some two by fours under, like it's sitting on some wood and the wood's going to rot. I'm like, this house could fall in at any time, you know. And so I called my contractor friend, I'm like, listen, can we get this fixed up in any way? He like, yeah, we got to start with it. Because at first she called me just about the Bathroom just so she could have a walk in shower. I'm like, sure, why not? We get. I'm just like. The contractor was like, dude, we can't do nothing until we like, first of all get some plumbing in here and also level this house out. So he gave us a quote for that. And I was able to share that on social media. But when I get there, this lady's like, Mr. King, it's so good to see. I see you on the TV sometime, like on the news, like doing the things with the kids. And she was like, I didn't know you were so young. You the commissioner on the historic press. I'm like, yeah. She's like, I didn't expect you to be so young. But these people believe, believe in me. And it's heavy sometime. It is. It's a little pressure, you know, here and there, but I don't mind it. Bruce Wayne got a lot of pressure, you know, to keep the city fixed. Everybody don't like Bruce Wayne either, you know, but my son loves Batman and we love the Joker and so we always use that. But I have like a call and there's this old Baptist song, you know, when I grew up in the Baptist church. You may not know it, but it's an old devotional song called HR A charge to keep that I have a God to glorify and to serve this present age. Like, that's the song that we sung all the time growing up. And I never understood it, but now it's like, I have a charge to keep in this present age, you know, to fulfill for God.
Host
How did you decide that you were going to go after the younger generation?
King Randall
There's this one time where I did try to work.
Host
I'll tell you what's interesting.
King Randall
Go ahead, go ahead.
Host
What's interesting is it doesn't sound like you grew up in a poor broken home. No, it sounds like you grew up in a very good home with good parents, good grandparents, maybe surrounded by people that weren't as fortunate as you. And so where did the vision come in? Is it who you grew up with that made you want to go after the younger generation?
King Randall
So going after the younger generation, I'mma mention what I started out doing when I started. When I first started working in the city of Albany, I originally started working with older men. Like actual men, not kids.
Host
But then like, what age?
King Randall
20S, 30s, just men. I just invited men to come to these different barbershop events.
Host
I would have at age what, 19?
King Randall
Yeah, I was 19. Yeah, I was 19. And so I started out working with these men.
Host
How do you start out working with men at 19? How do you influence older men? I mean, you're dealing with egos.
King Randall
Yeah.
Host
Dealing with people that don't believe you.
King Randall
I mean, that's why I stopped working with them. So originally it was. I was working at the barbershops. And I'm telling them, like, look, like we could do all these different things to try and help fix the city of Albany. But for one, because there's this kid who's telling us what we could be doing with the city of Albany. So I stopped working with the men. Cause they stopped coming to the events that I was doing, trying to encourage us to go. Go do things. I took these kids on a field trip to the center for Civil and Human Rights and African American History Museum in Atlanta to hear these kids asking these questions, to hear them not wanting to be in their condition. That's where I knew I had to work with kids. And immediately after that, I started working with them. I started doing oil change workshops, I started doing brake repair workshops, teaching them how to work on cars, et cetera. And these workshops were a hit. But I was still working, driving a forklift at the time. And I'll never forget my job told me that I fell asleep at work. I was working a graveyard shift. They told me I fell asleep at work. And everybody was trying to call me over the intercom, et cetera, and I wouldn't answer. I don't remember falling asleep, but they said I fell asleep. So they let me go. I asked my wife at the time, I say, can I do a summer camp at the house? She was like, yeah, you can do a summer camp at the house. I was like, okay, cool. And mind you, baby King wasn't even one yet. My son. My son was a couple months old. So I posted this flyer online, and I said, I'm going to be offering to teach kids how to grow their own food. I'm going to. And I learned all this growing up, by the way. So I'm teaching them how to grow their own food. I'm teaching them how to work on cars. I'm teaching them how to work on houses. We're going to do math, we're going to read, et cetera. I found a couple tables. I turned my dining room into a classroom, and I got this little small dry erase board from stables for like 20, $24. And that's where I started teaching. They brought their kids to me every single day. I was still 19, had 20 parents bring their kids to me, every single day, 20 parents.
Host
Right off the get go.
King Randall
Right off the get go. And I'll never.
Host
What's the literacy rate in Albany?
King Randall
If you would have asked me, I could have been able to tell you. I will say that our kids that came to work, maybe 17 out of the 20 of them could not read on grade level. And I had maybe like five of them who couldn't read at all. And mind you, these kids were 11. Starting out at 11. 11 to 17 was the age group. And I mean, I had a kid who couldn't read catdog. And I'm like, son, how exactly are you in the sixth grade and you can't read at all? Who exactly passed you through school not being able to read? That's where I got the idea at the time. I said, well, I'm gonna open up a school. So I don't know when I'm gonna do it, but I'm gonna open up a school. I know where we're getting money from, but we gonna open up a school. But that's when I started truly working with kids after I discovered that kids don't wanna be in their condition. They just want somewhere in an atmosphere where it's cool to do the right thing.
Host
Hmm. And how did you find 20 parents right off the bat?
King Randall
Facebook. I just posted the flyer online, people. Yeah, I think when school's out, we have a lot of poor parents and stuff. They can't afford these summer camps. They can't afford to send their kids out. So the kids are just stuck at home.
Host
It was a summer camp.
King Randall
Yeah, it was a summer camp. So the kids were stuck at home. So the moment somebody's online saying, hey, you can bring your kids over here, they don't really care at that point. They just want their kids somewhere where they think something constructive is going on while they at school. I mean, while they at work or going to school, whatever they're doing, they just don't want their kids just at home. So that's where we got the 20 parents from.
Host
How many hours a day were you spending on this?
King Randall
Nine to three.
Host
Nine to three? Yep. How are you making money? Did you have an occupation?
King Randall
Yeah, I was a skilled tradesman. So my brother came to live with me. He was about 12 or 13. He was losing himself at the time. He's in military school now in Marion, Alabama, at a military institute or Marion military institute. But with him, he and I would go around and fix people's cars off of. I learned how to do that off of YouTube I had previous experience working on cars, but obviously, you know, working on. On different cars, you have different things. So when people would say, hey, I need my car fixed, I ask them, you know, what exactly need to be done? I need my starter change. Send me the year making model. I got a 2009 Chevy Malibu. Cool. YouTube. YouTube. How to change starter on a Chevy Malibu. I basically determined what I felt like the labor costed, and I told them, I'm like, hey, this is how much I'll charge for that. We'll go and do it. That's how I got a light bill paid. Then I learned how to cut hair while I was in the Marines, while I was in the barracks at camp. What was that? Camp Johnson. I think I was at Camp Johnson. But I learned how to cut hair in the barracks because the base barbers were trash and everybody got tired of their haircuts being janky. So I was like, look, how about y'all just let me practice on y'all head? I watched a couple YouTube videos and I went and bought some little cheap clippers from Walmart. And everybody would just come like, I don't care if you practice on my head, to be frank, because it looks like they practicing, so why not? So I eventually got good at it. I got. I got really good at cutting hair. And so that's what I started doing in the city of Albany, too. So whenever I went fixing somebody's car, I would do house calls. I didn't care what time it was. I would have to go out at 12 o'clock at night to go cut somebody's hair. And I would do that because I didn't have a regular job. So I had to go put up somebody's door or go put in a window frame or go change a ceiling fan or go paint somebody's wall. Because that's how I made money. That's how I funded our field trips to take the kids different places. When I wanted to take the kids somewhere, I would find something to do. I mentioned to Wyatt earlier the way me and my brother made our first thousand dollars. Granted, it was cheaper at the time, but we made our first thousand dollars. We were at Home Depot, and this lady, while we were in there, we were actually looking for some paint for someone else's. The inside of somebody's house, they wanted a room painted. So we were looking for the color paint they wanted. And this lady came up to us and she said, hey, do y'all paint? We like, yeah, we paint like that. And she was like, well, do Y'all paint houses? I'm like, yeah, we paint. Yes, ma'am, we paint houses. She was like. She's like, I mean, like, the outside. Like, y'all paint the outside and stuff. I'm just. I look. He looked at me. We had never painted outside of our house before. And I was like, yes, man. We paint houses. We paint houses. You need to come give you a coat. She was like, yeah, come by my house. This is the address, and this is my phone number. I said, okay, cool. We hadn't painted a house a day in our life, but we went out there because I wanted to make sure the house wasn't too big. Like, it wasn't nothing crazy. It was actually a nice, small, perfect home that we could paint. It was perfectly square, not no crooks and crevices. It was perfect. She wanted painted a completely different color. So we said, okay, cool. We'll charge $1,000 for it. That's because we didn't have no experience. So we sat on YouTube for like, three hours watching videos of people paying houses from all the equipment we needed, et cetera. We went and rented all the equipment. So we had her give us a deposit. All deposit went to all the equipment. Basically. We didn't know how much equipment cost it. So we went and rented a paint sprayer from Bob White Rents and Albany. They got rent all this stuff out. So we rented a paint sprayer, et cetera. We painted our house in maybe like a week. And that's how we made our first thousand dollars. And from then on, we started pressure washing people's driveways. Cause we had to pressure wash the house first. And so I had to learn how to operate a pressure washer. So then I started. Hey, we can pressure wash a drive. We can pressure wash a house. I just made it work. Me and my brother would just hop in my grandma's truck and we would figure it out. Like, that's what we did. My grandma would allow us to borrow her truck to go put stuff in the back, and we figured it out. So I never got a regular job. I just wanted it. And that's what I believe in.
Host
Wow. So nine to three, you're teaching kids how to grow food, how to do math, how to read, how to write.
King Randall
Yep.
Host
And then three to whenever. You're basically an entrepreneur.
King Randall
Yep. Absolutely. Yep. I did whatever I could. Cause I didn't want for one. My son was a baby baby. And I never did like my wife working or anything like that. She had to go get a job, and I didn't like that, like, I just. It just messed with my psyche, you know, I was at home with a kid, you know, it's kind of just messed with me a little bit. And that was for a very short amount of time. I literally picked up my business fast. Like, I started posting on Facebook about me fixing cars or whatever, and people started booking me to come do their different things. So she eventually was able to leave that job after like a little while and so she could get back home. And I was out with my brother. We were again, you know, just doing whatever we could to make some money.
Host
How fast did you get 20 people to show up to your program originally? 20. 20. How many kids?
King Randall
Yeah, it was 20 kids. So when I say 20, they all had parents, so it was 20 kids. But yeah, it was pretty fast. I probably had that post up maybe about two weeks and we had everybody signed up in that two weeks? Yeah.
Host
Did you think it was gonna happen that fast?
King Randall
Nah. Everything that you've seen happen for the Exoboys program outright, I never thought would happen as fast as it did.
Host
Did you have a curriculum lined up or were you just winging it?
King Randall
I winged it for the most part. I had like an idea. I had a layout. Okay, I'm gonna teach this today. Going to teach this, and Wednesday I'm going to teach that. And we, we grew squash and cucumbers and all that stuff. You know, during that time or whatever. I just did what I thought was best for that time. You know, during that day, of course, I've matured a lot. I've learned about, you know, everything. I didn't have a llc, non profit. I didn't know nothing about any of that stuff. I'm just helping some kids.
Host
Strictly volunteer, right?
King Randall
Yeah, it was strictly volunteers. Like, I. I just did what I could, you know, with the kids and what age. Now we're here.
Host
What spread?
King Randall
It was 11 to 17 at that time.
Host
11 to 17. So you're teaching. I mean, how do you. 11 to 17, that's.
King Randall
I attribute.
Host
That's a big range.
King Randall
It is, but I attribute the discipline that I was able to give them to the Marine Corps. I believe if I never went to the Marines, I'd never. The program wouldn't be as successful as it is. People have asked me, like, how am I able? Like I used to have. I had 40 kids at one point and it was just me and people, like, how do you control them? Like, how are you able to get them? I said, you gotta think. We have like three drill instructors and like 90 kids. But I remembered what they did to control us, and so I did the same thing with them. So when we go out, they're just like, man, they so mannerable. And they saying, yes, sir, no, sir. They giving the proper greeting of the day, et cetera. Like, how are they doing this? I'm just like. I just attribute it to what I learned in the Marine Corps. I just taught them that I don't allow a lot of mistakes. When they mess up, they get in trouble for it. High knees, mountain climbers, push ups, et cetera. That's how we did it. And they respected me, for one, because I was younger. A lot of them didn't know I was 19 at first. I didn't tell them till I. Around the end of camp. And they was like, Mr. King, you're 19. Like, I had a.
Host
And your mentor and kids are only two years younger than you.
King Randall
17 years old. You know, one of them turned 18 while he was there. But they respected me so much because they saw I had my own house, I had my own car, I was raising my son. I had a wife. You know, like, they saw all of that, so they obviously thought I was older. But then it became inspiration to them because, man, I could be young and helping people and doing okay for myself.
Host
Is that uncommon in Albany?
King Randall
Yeah. Mm. It is. It's uncommon. Yep. It is uncommon.
Host
How fast does it spread X for Boys program?
King Randall
Yeah, fast. After that summer camp, we became the most popular program in the city. To this day, we're still the most popular program in Albany.
Host
Where'd you come up with the name.
King Randall
The X for Boys? X equals unknown. And so we're trying to give these boys the unknown variance.
Host
What are some of the success stories out of there?
King Randall
You know what this is? I was hoping you got here. I probably have. Out of maybe a couple hundred kids that I've worked with, I probably only have, like, four success stories. True success stories.
Host
You only have four?
King Randall
Absolutely. This is why I dig into the failures of the program. So for the past six years, I've worked with kids at ages 11 to 17, and I'll dig into the success stories in a second, but I have to talk about it while I talk about. About their success. I work with kids ages 11 and 17, more teenagers than not. But during my time working with these in the program, I had this rule. Like, I was like, I'll never kick a kid out of the program. We're gonna do what we can. Even if they don't want to be here, we're gonna Try and make them do it. And different things like that. I'll never turn a kid down, et cetera. So during that time, I had many kids that I working with that just didn't wanna be there. They were constantly unruly, didn't wanna be there, messing up the experience for other kids, et cetera, et cetera. And at the time, I didn't realize, you know, that that was actually affecting teaching. Because I spent so much time disciplining versus teaching. I didn't realize I was wasting a lot of time of those kids who actually wanted to be there. Because they got to get in trouble too. Cause they acting up, they can't go somewhere because they acting up. They can't get the teaching because they acting up. So I spent years doing that, thinking that I was doing the right thing, like by just trying to make them do it and trying to discipline them as much as possible, et cetera. And I'll never forget when I realized it all, I had a student named Bryston. I had started allowing some younger kids to come in just because. And I was still having the older kids come in too. But I had some younger kids start coming in also. And I'll never forget, Bryce is a great kid, honor row student, whatever. And he told his mom, he said, mom, I love the program. I love Mr. King, but I don't know if I can stay that long. Cause them other kids so bad. And I thought about it for a second, and I realized that I got a whole lot of kids in that room who want to be there. And I spent half of this class period fussing at kids who didn't want to be here, who were unruly, who have said they don't want to be here and I should just send them home. From that point on, every kid who didn't want to be there, I told their mom they didn't have to come back because I have children here. That we are messing the experience up. We're ruining the experience for those children who could actually be changed. Then I realized it hit me again that I don't have that many success stories. Because all these children, they have had to get punched in the face by life for them to call me and say, Mr. King, I appreciate you. But they have already. They have already had a child too early. They already, you know, have went to jail. I've had kids call me from jail and say, Mr. King, like, I hadn't talked to you in two years. Mr. King, I appreciate everything you're trying to teach me. I realize it now, life had to hit them in the face first. Our program.
Host
Why would you say that's a success story?
King Randall
I can say it's success, but what I mean by success is it definitely.
Host
Impacted hundreds of kids.
King Randall
Yes, I impacted them. Yeah.
Host
Now, to the degree and what level they achieve in life, that's, you know, that's out of your control. But you show. Shown them. I believe you've shown them in.
King Randall
In.
Host
I mean, look, you've rerouted the. The norm.
King Randall
Yes.
Host
You've rerouted the norm or shown them that the norm. That the, you know, the normal path in Albany, New York, can be rerouted. And there's another side of life if they choose. Yeah, right.
King Randall
Yeah.
Host
And so, I mean, I would. I would say, oh, that's gotta be a lot more than four.
King Randall
Yeah. So impact to success. Thank you for mentioning that. Cause I can start using that, because that's important. So when I mentioned the success stories, I have about four students who embody everything that I've taught in the past six years. The reason that they embody it is because I had students that I allowed to be blessed in the program. If they had older brothers. So if they were younger, the only way they could come into the program, if they had an older brother, brother that was there. Those kids started out maybe seven, eight years old. Those children now literally live by the rules of the extra boys, because they started almost as a baby in the program, watching me tell them to get a proper green of the day, watching me tell them to keep their hygiene up and making sure they bathing, et cetera, et cetera. So now these kids are, like, 13, 14 years old, and their teachers are calling like, hey, I just want to tell you I appreciate, you know, this student because he said he's been in the S Voice program, and this is why he says, yes, ma'am and no, ma'am, and comes in every morning and tells me good morning, and, you know, does his work and tries to make sure he's doing the right thing. And it's four of them. I got one of them painted on a mural outside of our building. His name's Bryson Pitts, and he is the number one example of our program. Bryson Pitts, he's a fantastic kid. He's playing trombone at his middle school. He's about to go to high school soon. But he is fantastic. You know, he does everything correctly. He keeps everybody in line, et cetera. I can't say the same all the way for his brother or whatever, or even Kendarius. He's one of My other success stories. Great kid. Can't say the same for his brother either or whatever, because again, I started with them for so late. And I can say that about him because I called their brothers and tell them the same thing. I'm like, you know, you could be doing a whole lot better. I taught you so much, so why aren't you doing, you know, what I taught you? But, you know, again, that's life, you know? But their brothers, fantastic. So those are some success stories that I could talk about. But that's why we've shifted our age range now to 7 to 9. So we begin again in March next month.
Host
You've shifted the entire program from seven to nine?
King Randall
To seven to nine?
Host
Yep. So seven to nine or seven.
King Randall
Oh, ages 17. No, ages seven through nine. That's it.
Host
That's it.
King Randall
That's it.
Host
No kidding.
King Randall
Yep. We have switched it now because I believe that those children now. Well, children now are losing themselves a lot sooner. I've had third graders smoking like, this is what's happening now. And being in the city of Albany, these kids are learning so much from other children, just from what's happening in their homes, even from molestation, et cetera. That's a huge issue that I've run into that a couple times working with kids. The molesting and family violence, huge issue. And these children are losing themselves a lot sooner. And I believe that, again, so many kids are hearing moms say, make sure you do the right thing. And everybody's saying, be good. And the tears are saying, be good, but everybody's punishing you for it. I'm being good and everybody's picking on me. I'm being good. And everybody's no want to be my friend. I'm trying to do the right thing. I'm trying to do my work. And everybody's being mean. They need an atmosphere where it is cool to do the right thing. And so they need somewhere they can come where they get praised for great grades. They need somewhere they could come and be praised for having intellectual conversation. They need to come somewhere where they can be praised for making sure they keep their hygiene up, et cetera. Kids will pick on you for. Because all the other kids don't know how to iron their clothes. They'll pick on you for looking nice again. So we wanna give them an opportunity in an environment where it's cool to do the right thing. And if a child does not wanna be in our program, they don't have to be there.
Host
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King Randall
Yeah, I just critique myself a lot, you know, so it's just.
Host
Not everything has to be a grand slam.
King Randall
Absolutely. But, you know, if we gonna swing the bat, we're gonna swing it hard, so definitely. But, yeah, I appreciate you even saying that, because I could. I could definitely use that from now on.
Host
Absolutely. I mean, what's the response from the parents?
King Randall
Response from parents is always great. Granted, I ain't got the best reviews from all the parents. Cause again, I discipline a different way, and I hold kids accountable. So I've had parents accuse me of lying on their kids. Like, I'll tell them, hey, your son did such and such. No, my child didn't. He didn't do that. You're just lying on my son, et cetera, et cetera. I'm just like, that's fine, ma'am. I don't see what reason I have to lie on your child. I'm like, what does it benefit me? But whatever. But for the most part, parents adore the program. Again, we've done so much for parents. We've done workshops for parents themselves, you know, parenting workshops. I had people come in, help them repair their credit, different things like that. I just try to help, you know, parents as much as possible. And because they have to go home to these parents, so I could be giving them teaching all day, then they go home and go right back into the stupid stuff. So we try to incentivize parents also teaching the same discipline at home. You know, we try to make sure we incentivize them. Making sure they're doing the right thing at home too. Cause even though we have them for quite, quite a bit of time, we wanna make sure those kids are doing the same thing at home. Cause we hate to have to keep reteaching the same thing. Because you're allowing them to go back into who they used to be. But response from parents is always great. We've had a lot of videos with parents giving testimonials and different things like that. So definitely happy about the parents who truly support our program.
Host
Are the parents pretty receptive to the information you're teaching them?
King Randall
You would think not, but they are. I haven't had any parents that got mad at me for telling them they should do better with. Cause I will tell them. I'm like, listen, like, I remember one time this parent came to me about her son's attitude. She was like, oh, he always, you know, turning his nose up at me. And he doing this and that, et cetera, et cetera. But while she was saying that, I'm looking at her face and she's doing the exact same mannerisms that he does. I said as soon as she finished, I said, hey, Mom. I said, listen to me. I said, you were just talking to me about him and you were doing everything that he does. He gets that from you. You should stop doing that stuff. And maybe he'd stop it. Cause he's only watching you. And she didn't even recognize it until I told her. And she was like, I didn't even realize that. Cause I am doing the same movements. I am turning my face up. I'm like, exactly. He does that here and he does that at home. But he's doing it because you do it. And so it caused her to critique herself and caused her to stop.
Host
I mean, here's some stats that we got from you. 0.01% recidivism rate, 82% proficiency in general contracting, 86% increase in reading comprehension, 91% improvement in grades, and 93% proficiency in automotive repair. I mean, dude, this is a huge success. This isn't like four wonder kids out of hundreds that. I mean, you gotta give yourself more credit.
King Randall
I will.
Host
Like, what?
King Randall
You know me. You know, I mentioned mindset earlier. And like I said before, I mean, yeah, the kids, you know, we've done firearms training. We've done all types of different training, welding, et cetera. So, yeah, they've learned how to do a lot of different things I think are beneficial for their lives. But at the same time, you know, I'm bigger on fixing their mindsets and the character that they have. Because I could have a kid, you know, who's. He could do all that stuff on the list. He could go change the oil for you. He could paint a house, he could do firearms training, et cetera. But he could still be a terrible person. And it's important for me to make sure we're creating better people. And that's what I believe in. So, yeah, definitely. We are big on teaching the trades. Just showing them that there are different ways to make money. No doubt. But we wanna fix on that character. That's the bigger thing. And let us make man.
Host
Where do you think some of the problem stems? I mean, we talked about fatherhood at the very beginning. Do you think fatherhood is a major problem in that area?
King Randall
Yeah, I mean, yeah, absolutely. The lack of true male presence is probably one of the bigger. The bigger issues. In order to be a man, you gotta see a man. That's it. And people will try to say, oh, well, my mom, you know, raised me by herself and I ran. I was a good man. I said, if your mom raised you by yourself and you became a good man, it's because you was on a football team, you had a gym coach somewhere, you had male presence in your life. Your mom wasn't the sole person raising you completely. And you never ran into any other men that had any impact on you and you. No, absolutely not. And moms will be honest about that. But I'm like, just do not sit here and tell me that your mom never put you on a football team, never let you play basketball. You never had a male teacher anywhere. You never had no male presence business at all. And you became a great person. I believe you have to have that balance. Any single moms that have raised good men is because they put them around good men too. Yeah, they might have done it by themselves, but they also put them on football teams. A lot of single moms will make sure their kids are in sports. They will make sure their kids have some type of male around them, you know, good moms, anyway, to make sure that they become something successful. Because most moms who refuse to put their men. I mean, put men around their sons use usually end up some gang banger, et cetera. Like, I guarantee it and I've seen it, and I can say this because I've worked with children for so long, I can guarantee that that's what's happening? Like, every time and again, some parents, they don't want to parent. They don't want to be a parent. They're just having sex and having kids and don't want to parent. Some people try to use us as a second parent, and so they don't have to do nothing. Granted, I try to, you know, do what I can with their sons, but it's hard because I need your assistance, Mom. Like, I really need your help, you know, with him. You know, you can't just throw him off to me. Cause the program's free. You know, you can't just throw them off to me. But, you know, coming now in March, we will have rules for parents. And as much as I don't want to, we will kick some children out of the program because of their parents and because I want the parents to be accountable also. And I have to be a little cutthroat like that. As much as I may love that child, as much as I may have built a relationship, if that mom does not assist us with her child in a meaningful way, we will let him go from the program.
Host
Wow. Wow. I mean, so with the lack of fathers, where are the fathers? Where are they at? What are they doing?
King Randall
Let's get into the realness. We got a lot of moms also that have fathers that do want to be dads, but they are so vindictive and bitter with the dad that they'd rather their son fail than have the father during a child's life.
Host
Are you serious?
King Randall
I'm dead serious. I am dead serious. I've had conversations with moms where they tell me, I'm like, where the daddy at? I'll make contact with a dad. Dad say, you know, I live in North Carolina or I live in this city. But she never wanted me. They done moved on, got kids of their own with their new wife or whatever like that. She never want me to see him. I'm like, mama, send that boy to go stay with his daddy. He don't need the X avoidance program. He needs his dad. Send him with his father. What are you doing besides sitting up here complaining about you doing it by yourself? It's like moms have this new thing now where they proud. It's like they have to say, I'm doing it all by myself and I'm trying and I love my child. And putting them on Facebook and pretending you was a parent at graduation and they turned out to be some terrible person because you was too proud to keep their father in their life. I've run into that so many times with moms who didn't just want. Just send the child to stay with his father. You don't need him. You don't need to be trying to raise. Raise him by yourself. Send him with his dad because he needs his actual father. He don't need somebody trying to get the play father. He needs his real father. But because they are so bitter. And the court system, which I hate, you know, benefits mothers more than fathers who want to be dads. It hurts kids. It hurts children. They send, you know, these kids to stay with moms or like, I never forget, it's a few cases where moms will be on drugs and they'll give it to the mom before they give it to the father. Like, I watch these court cases and I. I have said before that custody court needs to be a jury. I have said that over and over again. It does not need to be a judge because it's based off of how this judge feels today. What if they don't like you today? Or what if they mad or whatever. It needs to be a jury. I believe a jury of our peers needs to decide where custody goes. We need to be able to prove why I'm a fit parent for my child. I have said, if we have a custody battle, let's talk to a jury about it. It does not need to be one judge or I'm trying to prove to this judge while I'm a good dad, et cetera, I don't understand why that isn't a jury trial. And that's something I wanna fight for. Because I ran into that issue, you know, in divorce at one point or whatever like that. Like, the lawyer was telling her to keep the kids away from me. And so because she didn't have any knowledge, she, you know, thought she was doing the right thing because that's what the lawyer told her to do. And she told the lawyer, she was telling me after it was over, she was like, well, I told him he was a good dad and everything. I didn't understand what he was telling me to tell. To keep the kids for. But I was doing it because that's what he told me to do. I said, don't you ever in your life let somebody tell you to keep your kids away from the dad? Like she said, that's what the lawyer was telling her. And I was like, well, why wouldn't he be looking out for the best interest of the kids? Cause I had already offered, you know, multiple different things. You know, when I got a divorce, you Know, for her to be okay. I left the house, left her the car, et cetera, like every. I just, you know, I just wanted out, you know, at that time. But I just wanted to make sure I had, you know, proper custody with the children. Because I wanted to make sure I'm raising my sons. And he was telling her to try to get full custody at some. And so of course, we ended up working it out privately or whatever like that. And we eventually worked out our own custody agreement or whatever like that. But I'm just like, man, imagine if I wasn't able to afford a lawyer. Imagine if I wasn't able to afford these different incentives for her, et cetera. Like that. The regular guy get railroaded and can't see his kids for no reason. No matter what happens in a marriage, et cetera, et cetera. If both parents are fit, both parents should be able to see their kids at an equal amount of time. It shouldn't be, oh, well, you can't see them because this is the judge society. Like, that's insane. You know, so it's. It's. It's a little delicate line to walk.
Host
So who are these kids? Who do they look up to then? If fatherhood's a major problem, who do they find as role models, if they have any?
King Randall
They look up to whoever's close to them, around them, whether that be mom or grandma, you know how that turns out. Or they look up to their football coach, they look up to the basketball coach, you know, as much as they can. They don't have that. They're looking up to the rappers, they're looking up to the gang members who. The gamers come around with the cool cars and the nice chains or whatever. Like, hey, how you get that? And so they get them into their lifestyle now. They want to be gang bangers or whatever, because they think this is the life to live or whatever. Well, this is how I'm gonna make money. This is how I'm gonna take care of my family. You know, I gotta sell a couple drugs or whatever like that to make some things happen. I'm like, bro, do you see me selling drugs? I'm like. Cause I had a red Corvette I just sold a little while ago. The reason I bought the car originally was. Cause I wanted to get to see that you could just be a giver and be a great person and be a great father and get what you want still or whatever. And so I showed them that. And the kids were like, Mr. King got a cool car, you know, like, it was Cool for them to see. Like, it was interesting to just witness them, like, have a. It's like their mindset shifted when they saw me with the car. Granted, I'm still the same person. I'm still the same Mr. King. I'm still the one who feeds you all the time. But when I got the car, it's like, so I can.
Host
So you're finding what these kids value, what they look up to by possessions or whatever. And you're showing them that they can get these possessions by taking a different route in life.
King Randall
By trusting God, which is. We do Bible study all the time. By trusting God and giving. I told him, you're going to receive by giving as much as possible. Because that's what I do. I give as much as I can. Like, I never stop giving. I give every single day, but that's how I keep receiving. That's why I keep telling people. I'm like, how are you so blessed? Because I give. I give as much as I can. Like, I never stop giving. I just help random people. I sometimes have to stop myself. Like, I'll help anybody who needs it, and that's important to me. But, yeah, that's how I figure out what the kids love. They look up to people. They look up to possessions. Unfortunately, that was for the older kids, and now they. The younger kids that I'm about to start working with, they're not really interested in possessions at the moment because they're just living life, you know, they're just alive. They're not like, oh, I need to have a cool car to look cool or whatever. They're just elementary school young kids, but teenagers, all they care about is the scat packs and the cool cars and this and that. That's all they care about. Literally, that's all they talk about. Coming in. Oh, I seen the scat pack yesterday, y'all. It was cool as purple. Like, they come in there talking about that or some NBA young boy or some beef they got some rappers they saw on YouTube or some streamers or whatever like that. That's all they talk about, the teenagers. But the young kids, they just be talking about toys or talking about playing like they're young in the mind. So it's like, I don't need a cool car to impress them. I don't need none of that. They're not even trying to be impressed. They just want a cool environment to be in. And so as I hone that, and I'm never talking about cars, and they were talking about the cool stuff, they're not interested in it like my son. They don't. I mean they seen cool cars and whatever like that, or they see, but they know every day they just wake up, put some T shirts, some gym shorts on and they out the door like that's me. I wear a T shirt and some jogging pants every single day. Or some shorts in the summertime, blank T shirt, nothing on it. I got cool shoes. I wear them every blue moon. And that's only for the kid. Was only for the kids to see the cool shoes. Cause they like them. So I'm like, okay, let me get some cool shoes. So they can see that Mr. King got on some cool shoes today, you know, so they can understand that Mr. King's not. And I got the cool shoes that the rappers got, you know, like so that's why I would do that stuff. But I don't have to do that anymore because like the kids are younger now. So it's like I could be me and I can show them like, you know, this is a cool way to live life. And that's what I believe in now.
Host
How are you funding this? You don't take any government funding.
King Randall
I refuse. I won't apply for any grants. I won't do anything that's tied to government. I won't do it. Our donor base is completely private. Donors from social media, et cetera. We have been exclusively funded from here inception from private donors. And I am wholly grateful for everybody that has watched us that has shared videos. Cause I tell people all the time, they're like, well I may not be able to give, give a share, give a retweet. This is just like giving. Because again, everything that we've done has been funded exclusively from donors. Every single thing. We have an Amazon wish list. When Elon Musk shared my video maybe like a couple months ago, we had an Amazon wish list. They went and bought every single thing off the wish list. We got all type. We got like 20 different tables and whole bunch of chairs and we got tools, equipment we needed, et cetera. They bought every single thing off the list. Camera, equipment, everything we needed. Pencils, calculators, tape measurers, markers, kit, stuff for the toddler classroom, et cetera. Like they bought everything off the list. So again, this is why we share everything we do. This is why we always got a camera with us, et cetera. Because we who want people to see where their money's going. I wholly believe in not being one of those non profit that you never know what's happening after. Nope. When we Were renovating our school building. I posted receipts for the toilets. I posted everything that people could see because it made people want to give. And the wish list is different too, because it's not like they're giving money, they're giving an item. So that encourages people to want to give too. So we have an Amazon wish list and we have just like people that can regular, regularly donating.
Host
Damn, man. All right, let's talk about the Life Preparatory school for boys that started in 2022. Sure. This is a totally separate thing.
King Randall
Yeah.
Host
What is this?
King Randall
This is the school that I opened outside of our after school program. We originally opened in 2022. We were completely boarding, completely free. We fed them every day. Obviously we. It was very, very particular what we did with our students. And at that time, every day I ran it almost just like Marine Corps boot camp. Had to get up at a certain time of the day. You had to make sure they live here. Yeah, they live. They live there. We had to make sure they brushing their teeth. They had to make sure they ironed their clothes. I had kids who didn't know how to put on a belt. We had to teach them how to put on a belt. We had to teach them how to brush their hair, et cetera. Like teach them how to bathe. I had to show them, like, teach them like, this is what you do when you get into the shower.
Host
What age group is this?
King Randall
This was all sixth graders. They were all age 11 at that time. They were all age 11. And so it was a beautiful thing. When we first started, I miscalculated how much funding we were gonna need to keep that operation going. I did my best to fundraise and we kept it open. Even with us being in the red. I kept it open. But then the summer after our school opened, we came. We had a summer camp going with more kids and we came to the building to play basketball. We had a big school building we purchased. We came to play basketball. I remember I opened the door and I looked in and it was stuff everywhere. And I'm like, what in the world? Somebody broke into school because we hadn't been there. It was the summertime, so we hadn't been in there. It was stuff everywhere. I come in there. It was doors ripped off the hinges. It was. Our uniforms were ripped up. Our school shield on the wall was ripped up. I mean, we. It was sinks torn out the walls. Like doors were like beaten ripped in half. I mean, they had like, took a couple things, but all the glass in the building was destroyed. Like they pulled all the wires out of the power box like so we could. It was no power in there. I mean the destruction that was. I was floored. So of course, you know, I was to pull my weapon out immediately. Cause I'm just like, what the world? Like, this is crazy. So I pulled my weapon out and you know, I had. My videographer was recording like it was insane. Put a weapon out. And we caught two people in there at the time. And you know, I held them at gunpoint, called the police, you know, they got there extremely fast. They took them to jail. And they were just trying to figure out like, what was the reasoning, you know, behind this, like why. And at the time, you know, we couldn't get insurance on the building because the building was old and we didn't have to funding to get certain things fixed that they wanted fixed before they insured us. So we looking at a million, $2 million worth of damage on top of the stuff that we already had to fix in general that we were working on by project. And so right now the building's boarded up. We ended up having to turn the after school building into school. But we eventually closed. We shut down the school portion last year. We shut it down last year because we just went able to keep it up as far as funding. But this last year, as I was having an after school program after Elon shared our video, we did have a donor reach out to us and basically just asked what all did we need to take care of for our after school program in the school. And so I just told them everything. I was just like, this is what all we would need to really thrive. I said we need vans to go pick the kids up. I said I never had vans, so we've never been able to go offer pickups for kids because that was a big problem we had. The kids weren't able to to be picked up. I don't have any staff. I said every time I have to go somewhere, the program have to shut down. Like I have to. Everything has to close. We can't do nothing. Everything's closed until I get back. Like, I don't have any staff. I don't have any, you know, back of the house staff at all, anything. So they were just like, look. So we called me back and was like, look, we're gonna give you this small amount of funding, small to them, a small amount of funding to take care of everything for the entire year of 2025. So we just hired operations manager to operate the program. While I'm not there. And three, they told us to get 25 kids. They've already signed up. They bought us two vans and made sure they were completely fixed. And they renovated the inside of our as a school building to make it more school friendly. And they're currently being renovated right now while we're sitting here actually. So they basically told us, look, you deliver on this year, if you deliver this year, this will determine whether I'll continue funding y'all more in the coming years. But show me what you could do this year. Give me the data, show me what you're doing with these children. Don't just talk about it, show me numbers, show me what you can do. And then this will determine whether we're able to continue funding the program and reopening the school and rebuilding the whole school in the coming years. Wow. Yeah. So social media.
Host
Social media, 25 kids, you have.
King Randall
Yep, we just signed up 25 kids. They start in March and they live there. No, this is for after school.
Host
Oh, this is the after school one.
King Randall
It's after school program. Yep.
Host
Man, you got a lot of stuff going on.
King Randall
Yes, a lot of stuff. I just started head coaching my son's T ball team now. So that's gonna be fun this year.
Host
What's your daily routine?
King Randall
I mean, sure, I love to go into that. I wake up at about. I wake up, my eyes open about five, but I don't get out of bed, which I should though. But I get up, my trainer gets to the house, he comes to train me. It's a 19 year old kid. Well, he just turned 20 actually, but he's a bodybuilder. He trains me every, every morning at 6:30, I get up, wake my sons up. They go put their clothes on, Baby king goes in there, does a little baseball. I lift till about 8 o'clock, go take a shower, take them to their teacher at about 9 o'clock. They're in school from 9 to 3 during the day. Depends on which commission I'm on. I may have to go to a historic preservation commission meeting. May have a county commission meeting. May have a city commission meeting. Depends on what's happening. May have a task force meeting. I'm on the YMCA board of directors. May have a meeting. Those, those meetings are in the afternoon. But anyway, I go to whatever meeting I have to go to. I go check our PO box, I go deposit checks that donors may send. I send over the addresses to those donors to my assistant so she could send thank you letters to those donors. After that I may go get me Some food. And right now I've been going to check on the building right now every day as they're working on it, I pick my sons up at about 3:00. We go do some training, whatever it is that we're doing, whether it be gymnastics, boxing or baseball, we go do some training with them for maybe an hour or two. I get home, make sure they got some food. Remember I told you I support everybody around me. There's this new guy in our hometown who's been cooking and he cooks really well. So I've been having him come cook for us. Sometime during the day when I don't have time to get food, I have him come cook for me and my sons just to support his business. And it also gets him content too, so he can, you know, share for people to continue supporting him. So he'll come cook for me during the week and after that I'll get the kids in the tub maybe about 7:00. The reason I do that is because we were big WWE fans. So we watch wrestling on Mondays and Fridays. So if it's a Monday or a Friday, they get him in the tub about seven. Wrestling starts at 8 o'clock and we'll watch wrestling until it's time to go to sleep and they got their own rooms and they go to bed and repeat, just depending on what I gotta do for the next day. And then I'll go over my calendar or whatever just to see what I gotta do. So some days are busy, some days are not. But yeah, for this past couple of days I've been extra busy. So yeah, that's kind of what a daily schedule looks like. And then right now I'm about to coach the T ball team. So that's about to turn into getting practices together for them. And on weekends we do a lot of practice with my sons. I take weekends to dedicate to my son. So we'll go to the baseball field and we'll get it in. You know, we're just out there just getting it in, doing iq, learning about the bases, what to do, your different assignments, et cetera. Boxing, wow, they enjoy it.
Host
Is your middle son boxing too?
King Randall
He just started. Yep, just started. He's about to turn four. But he was already practicing watching my his brother. So when he was practicing, the coach was just like, well, I'm just go ahead and get started with him because he's already watching the punch numbers and he would go practice on the little mannequin thing. So he would just be over there just doing his Own little thing over there. And so he just started with him, too. I'm gonna get him in Jiu Jitsu soon. Only things my kids don't have a choice in is doing self defense. And, yeah, any self defense, they don't have a choice. Every other thing, they have a choice with sports, whatever, they can choose. But self defense, they have no choice. You will box, you will do Jiu Jitsu.
Host
I think earlier you had mentioned you traveled to Nigeria not too long ago. What prompted that?
King Randall
So it's a foundation called the Mega Impact Foundation. They sent me an email originally and just asked me to do a little video because their students had saw me online. They just sent me a video, I mean, excuse me, email, and asked me to send a video over via Zoom so I could interact with their students. Something in me I'll never forget was just like, go ask them, can you come? And I'm like, ain't no way. I'm like, absolutely not. I never wanted to come. Like, I never just wanted to go to Africa or anything like that. Like, not saying I wouldn't go, but I just never was like, I'm gonna go to Africa or something like that. But something was just like, go. And my conscience was like, absolutely not. Like, no. Anyway, I sent them an email. I was like, is it possible for me to come? So they thought that maybe they didn't reach the right person because there's no way this guy wants to come Nigeria. So they want to set up a Zoom call. So we set up a Zoom call with them and the leaders of the organization, and they were surprised it was actually me. They was like, we thought this was going to be fake. So. So you want to come to Nigeria? But they needed me there in three days. So I was just like, look, this is what I'm going to do. I said, if I'm meant to come to Nigeria, everything will go right in these next three days. My videographer didn't have a passport, and we need to give him a passport overnight. And it's possible to do that. You just have to go to where one of the overnight passport place is. Only appointment they had was Buffalo, New York. We flew to Buffalo, New York to get him his passport. Mind you, everything has to go right. We cannot miss a flight, cannot be delayed. Everything has to be done, done on time. While he was getting his passport, we was in Buffalo. We had to get overnight visas to even go over there, because we had to get visas to even go get into Nigeria. So we had to get visas, got those approved I forgot we had to do some other stuff. I can't remember just off the top of my head, but everything went right and I was hoping something messed. I said, please God, something needs to mess up because I really am scared to go. I was. That's my first time really being a. Afraid or something because I didn't know what to expect. I'm like, why am I going to Nigeria guy? Why? Or whatever. So he got his passport squared away, flight was ready to go. The only thing that happened was our flight was late, about like nine hours. We was just sitting at the airport. Other than that, we flew to Nigeria. Everything happened right. We was able to get straight through customs, et cetera. And the stuff that I saw in Nigeria, it changed my life, man. It changed my life. Who they're 10 days. I let the whole little summer boot camp they had there. The kids were so excited to see me because to them I'm famous or whatever like that. So I got there and they were just ecstatic, asking a whole lot of questions and they were so articulate, so well read. And just the questions that they were asking, it's like wouldn't adults here wouldn't ask those questions. Like they were really well thought out questions that they were asking me in regard to the sessions I was teaching. And I posted those for people to see on Instagram or Facebook. But I posted all those different sessions and just teaching them about character and just proper greetings and how to shake hands. Some of those issues they were having there, like how to shake hands, looking people in the eye, talking to people in a stern voice.
Host
Confidence.
King Randall
Yeah, confidence. Making their presence known. And so I taught them a lot of that stuff. And as I've left, they were sharing how the kids were still are trying to do what I taught them. So I'm supposed to be going back in May, but I told them I would come once a year to come see them and you know, just interact with them and do the little boot camp thing that they had going on. But man, we rode through Benin, Nigeria. We weren't supposed to go through there originally. We were supposed to take a flight from Asaba straight to Lagos, Nigeria. But the flight, our flight from Delta got delayed. So we ended up having to drive two and a half hours through Benin, Nigeria to get to Lagos. Benin, Nigeria was probably the poorest thing I have ever seen in my life. I felt like I was in a movie or something. I didn't believe it. But the one thing that was weird was I had every bar while I was there. On my phone. I had service the entire time. Didn't understand how. But so I was sending my family video and pictures and it was scary and to the point where I'm like, how are you? Like, the roads were so bad. I'm like, are we gonna make it all the way there? It was like, yeah, we're gonna be fine. Like, I. It was crazy. I had kids that are younger than my son, like my middle son out selling stuff on the side of the road. Wow. Like, actually selling, like trying to sell stuff to get money on the side of the road. Wow. It was crazy. And I'm like. I'm like, what the deal? Like, well, they selling things, you know, to get some money, you know, to go get food and stuff like that. I'm like, okay, well, their parents. Their parents are probably working. They probably won't see their parents maybe. But seven days at a time, I said, so they don't see their parents like every seven days? Like, yeah, so what? They. So they just by themselves? Like, they just sleep by them? Yeah, they take bathrooms. They may, you know, try to bathe wherever they can. They may or may not eat. They may see their parents, you know, in a week, you know, because they gotta go work to make money, to make really pennies. And I'm like, are you serious? I couldn't Even imagine my 3 year old selling something to make. It was insane to me riding through there. I mean, it was. I don't know how to explain it. I just only could have video. I got video, but I could only just talk about it. It was insane. And it made me so grateful. When I got home, it took a minute for me to even just register that I was back because I was just grateful to just go get some water from the fridge. We had to organize to eat while we were there. It wasn't just, you could just go grab a snack or just go get an apple or eat a banana. We had to organize to eat. It had to be a thing. We had to make sure everybody was squared away, et cetera. And of course, there's not a lot to eat there either. You have to kind of eat the same thing over and over again. So it was. It was a little harsh, man. Like, it was. It was a little harsh there. The beds were so hard, like, and we were at a nicer, you know, hotel for them. I mean, I feel like I was sleeping on a metal box. Like, it was bad, you know, like my back was killing me the whole time I was there. But I was just grateful to See those kids, man, they made me so happy. And we were racing, had a little barbecue. The last day we were racing and having a good time playing soccer with them. I got all this on video. It was the most beautiful experience I ever had, just interacting with them. But the.
Host
You think you'll be back?
King Randall
Yeah, I'm gonna go back. I'm gonna go back once a year. It'll be better this time. I'll go with a team and stuff like that. This time it was just me and my videographer last time, which was not the smartest thing, but God told me to go, so I had to go. But this time when we go, we're definitely gonna have like a full team, you know, and stuff, you know, just for protection and things like that, you know, just to make sure things go okay. But it was definitely an experience. And I'm actually excited to go back. Not because of the experience, but because of seeing those kids. Yeah.
Host
Yeah. I'm just, you know, we're wrapping the interview up here, but do you. Do you plan on expanding your. Your vision, what you're doing outside of Albany, or you gonna stay in Albany?
King Randall
People have asked me that so many times. I don't mind giving advice. I don't mind giving people inspiration. But my job and my goal and my duty is to fix the city of Albany. I never wanna stray away. I have been offered to come other places. I've money to open the program somewhere else and to move. I won't do it. The city of Albany is my charge. And I believe I'm responsible for fixing it. And so while I believe that I'm responsible for fixing it, I'm going to do my hardest to make sure I do that. That's what I believe in. People believe in me in the city of Albany. People have hope in me. People see me in. They think I'm the hope. And I believe in Jesus. And so I guess God's working through. Through me to help fix our city. That's what I plan on doing.
Host
It's amazing what you're doing. And then, you know, I have another question. You know, we've talked a lot about being a father, becoming a man. It's the lack of. The lack of male role models actually everywhere. And, you know, and so I'm just curious. You really resonate with me, especially at the very beginning. And what do you think are the most important attributes to becoming a man?
King Randall
We have different pillars in our organization. Accountability, courage, commitment, consistency. We have, like, I think three more, but those are the main ones. Ones. And I think all those are what makes a man. Being able to be consistent, being able to be accountable, having courage, all those things are important. And really just being able to have endurance. Pain is going to be a gift and I have to explain it all the time, you know, it's a gift for pain. Pain is what teaches you, you learn with pain. What do we say? Pain is a weakness, leave, you know, so that's important to me. And if we teach, I teach the kids, you know that when you're going through things, you're just being built. And so it's almost like always looking at the glass half full. As a man, we cannot afford to be sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves or not wanting to go through something. No, what you're looking for is through that pain, through the stress, through the worry and through the doubt. You have to get through it in order to be proud of yourself in the end. And continuously setting goals, that's important I think, not setting goals and just wanting to be stable. And I will say maybe everybody don't have a big chart. Everybody don't have big visions and things. Like some people do want to just live the American dream, have their kids that, you know, have a wife, barbecue on the weekends, go on vacation once a year. Some people do want to live that life. But for those, you know, men who are aspiring to do a whole lot more, there's going to be trial, there's going to be tribulation. And I promise you, a lot of those people that you believe in and you have seen their successes, they had more failures than you can count behind closed doors. They've been through a lot behind closed doors. I have been through a ton behind closed doors, especially just having this organization. From personal life issues, bad decisions I've made, et cetera. I've had to learn on my own just what I'm doing now. So really being able to be teachable too and being able to look at the glass half full. Cuz you have to learn that stress and pain is a gift. I promise it's going to build you. And I look for it. I look for the pain, I look for the stress because. Because I understand on the other side of that is the gift that I was looking for, the goal that I was looking for. So I know when I come up with a new vision, I already know. Here we go. It's about to be some hell I gotta pay to get through there because God has to teach you. You know, in that time we be thinking, we be ready for something. God Knows we not ready. So he gonna put you through the trial and tribulation to get there. We can't just put the meat in the oven. You have to season it. You gotta beat it, you know, so you gotta tenderize it, you gotta season it, you gotta get rough with it, you know, et cetera. Same with a pizza. You can't just throw the dough in the oven. You have to make the dough, you gotta knead the dough, you gotta beat the dough, you gotta toss it up in the air, you gotta turn it all types of. You gotta put it through the fire, you gotta put all this stuff on top of it, and then you finally get a nice pizza, you know, so it's very important to realize you just gotta go through it. People think you don't gotta go through it, man. You're living the wrong life. But as a man, that's what I believe in. You gotta gotta go through the pain. Pain is a gift for you.
Host
Yeah. You know, you said something else at the beginning. I think this is one of the most important attributes, if not the. The most important attribute. And, you know, be a man of your word. Say you're gonna do something, you do it.
King Randall
You gotta do it.
Host
Because if you're not worth your word, then you're not worth.
King Randall
Absolutely.
Host
And I think that is one of the main things, if not the main thing, but yes. Well, King, man, you are a very impressive man.
King Randall
I appreciate it. Thank you.
Host
I'm just so thrilled. Thankful we met.
King Randall
And me too.
Host
I hope to see you again. Yeah, I want to see you again.
King Randall
I would love to come back. And maybe when my son's a bit. Maybe like seven, probably, or eight. He's done a few interviews before, but I think when he gets a little bit more competent to be able to give an interview, I would love for you to sit with both of us and talk to us because he's going to give some gems. He's very intelligent.
Host
That would be amazing. I'd love to do it.
King Randall
Yes, sir.
Host
Ari King, best love.
King Randall
Yes, sir. Thank you so much.
Host
That was awesome.
King Randall
Thank you. I appreciate it. Michael Rosenbaum and his small Bill co stars take you behind the scenes of one of the greatest shows of all time.
Host
We're gonna watch every episode.
King Randall
Join us. It's big talk. You remember when I had to show shave my head?
Host
Oh, I think I was angry with.
King Randall
This one on Smallville. Yeah, I mean, I get it.
Host
The scene you did. And this is the one that got me fired. Okay.
King Randall
What? Here we go.
Host
I love the excursions with me and Welling.
King Randall
It's everything that Superman stands for. It's talk ville talk, though we always talk about it.
Host
It's a great thing.
King Randall
The Smallville Rewatch Podcast Follow and listen on your favorite platform.
Shawn Ryan Show Episode #182: King Randall, I - Rescuing a Lost Generation from Gangs, Crime and Chaos
Introduction
In Episode #182 of the "Shawn Ryan Show," host Shawn Ryan sits down with King Randall, a dynamic 25-year-old community leader from Albany, Georgia. King’s impressive background as a former Marine, culinary school graduate at 17, and founder of impactful programs like X for Boys and the Life Preparatory School for Boys sets the stage for an insightful conversation about combating crime, fostering leadership, and mentoring the youth.
Background and Early Life
King Randall’s journey is deeply rooted in his Christian upbringing, influenced by his grandmother and grandfather who were both preachers. From a young age, King played drums in church, immersing himself in a faith-driven environment that shaped his values and commitment to community service. “[I] spent my whole life at church,” King shares (02:46), highlighting how his early experiences instilled a sense of discipline and purpose that he carries into his current endeavors.
Parenting Philosophy and Practices
A central theme of the episode is King’s disciplined approach to parenting. Homeschooling his three sons, King emphasizes the importance of teaching them to earn their privileges and develop a strong work ethic. He recounts an emotional moment where he physically guided his youngest son through his first sparring session in boxing, illustrating his belief that true growth often comes through challenging experiences. “[I'm trying to show them that there are other options out there],” King explains (07:32), underscoring his dedication to raising self-reliant and resilient young men.
King’s methods have sparked mixed reactions, with some viewing his approach as controversial. However, King defends his philosophy by stressing the long-term benefits of instilling pride and accountability over fleeting happiness. “I teach my children not about happiness, but about being proud of themselves,” he asserts (08:11), advocating for a mindset that prioritizes enduring fulfillment over immediate pleasure.
Community Leadership and Albany, Georgia
King Randall is deeply invested in revitalizing his hometown of Albany, Georgia—a city grappling with high crime rates and limited economic opportunities. Serving on multiple local commissions, including Historic Preservation and the Albany Police Department Civilian Review Board, King actively seeks to address systemic issues by promoting positive initiatives and fostering community engagement. He criticizes the city’s ineffective marketing strategies that only highlight negative aspects, advocating instead for showcasing the genuine efforts of local institutions. “[We're aiming at trying to change their minds],” King states (43:15), emphasizing the need for a mindset shift to foster lasting community improvement.
Through his programs, King provides essential resources such as free health services, educational workshops, and vocational training. The "Level Up" initiative for parents, which offers financial assistance for education and job training, represents King’s holistic approach to tackling the root causes of crime and instability. “We help moms take care of their rent... helping families thrive,” he explains (43:15), illustrating his comprehensive strategy to uplift the entire community.
Challenges and Program Implementation
Despite King’s passionate efforts, he faces significant challenges in sustaining and expanding his programs. Funding remains a critical issue, as the Life Preparatory School for Boys encountered severe setbacks due to vandalism, leading to substantial financial strain. King shares the harrowing experience of negotiating repairs and seeking renewed donations to keep the school operational. “[We just shut down the school portion last year because we couldn’t keep it up as far as funding],” he admits (120:10), highlighting the vulnerabilities that non-profit initiatives often encounter.
King’s commitment to avoiding government funding in favor of private donations reflects his desire to maintain autonomy and transparency. He proudly states, “Donors from social media... bought every single thing off the wish list,” showcasing the community’s support and the effectiveness of his fundraising strategies. This reliance on private contributions underscores the grassroots nature of King’s mission, driven by genuine community investment rather than institutional backing.
Success Stories and Program Impact
While managing large groups can be daunting, King recognizes the profound impact his programs have on individual lives. Despite encountering numerous challenges, including unruly participants and limited resources, King celebrates the transformative success stories of a few standout individuals. “[We impacted them],” he acknowledges (95:55), emphasizing that even a handful of success stories can inspire broader change.
Transitioning to younger age groups, King aims to prevent the early onset of negative behaviors by targeting children as young as seven. This proactive approach seeks to create a foundation of positive habits and character traits before adverse influences take root. “We truly believe in teaching the character... that way we create better people,” King affirms (93:05), reinforcing his commitment to long-term societal benefits.
Philosophy on Manhood and Character Development
King Randall’s philosophy centers on developing attributes essential for manhood, including accountability, courage, commitment, and consistency. He stresses the importance of enduring hardship as a means of personal growth, likening pain to a necessary seasoning in the process of becoming a strong individual. “Pain is a gift for you,” King declares (136:53), advocating for a mindset that views challenges as opportunities for building resilience and character.
Throughout the episode, King highlights the significance of being a man of one’s word. “If you're not worth your word, then you're not worth anything,” he states (139:55), encapsulating his belief that reliability and integrity are foundational to true manhood. This emphasis on character over mere skill acquisition underscores King’s holistic approach to mentorship and leadership.
Motivations and Personal Story
King’s motivations stem from a pivotal moment during his time in the Marines when he visited the Dr. King memorial in Atlanta. Witnessing the realization that Dr. King had not trained replacements galvanized King to take up the mantle of leadership in his community. “[I] realized that Dr. King didn’t train any replacements,” he shares (61:12), inspiring him to dedicate his efforts to mentoring the next generation.
His experience traveling to Nigeria further solidified his resolve to make a global impact. Encountering extreme poverty and resilience among Nigerian youth reinforced King’s commitment to providing resources and mentorship to empower young people both locally and internationally. “This was the most beautiful experience I ever had, just interacting with them,” King reflects (128:51), illustrating his dedication to fostering change across different communities.
Conclusion
Episode #182 of the "Shawn Ryan Show" offers a compelling glimpse into King Randall’s multifaceted efforts to rescue a generation from the pitfalls of gangs, crime, and chaos. Through disciplined parenting, community leadership, and unwavering commitment to character development, King embodies the transformative impact one individual can have on their environment. His story serves as an inspiring testament to the power of dedication, faith, and proactive leadership in fostering lasting societal change.
Notable Quotes
This summary encapsulates the essence of Episode #182, providing a comprehensive overview of King Randall’s impactful work and philosophies. It includes key discussions on parenting, community leadership, program challenges, and personal motivations, enriched with notable quotes to highlight pivotal moments and insights from the conversation.