C (2:48)

The suit. The only one with not wearing a suit.

D (2:50)

But they probably don't make a jacket big enough.

A (2:53)

But yeah, like the bodybuilder store, the big and tall.

C (2:58)

Yeah.

D (3:00)

If you guys see Matt, you understand why I talked to him. Surreptitiously talked him out of the push up competition that night so I could win. I tore my shoulder that night and I'll never do another position.

B (3:13)

That, that's a good word Mike.

A (3:15)

Tore your shoulder.

D (3:17)

If, if it comes up to Another push up contest. I did. I'll never participate in another one.

C (3:22)

I'll take your place. Don't worry about it.

D (3:24)

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I passed it. I'm the. I'm the reigning, defending, undisputed, undefeated.

A (3:30)

Oh, that's a good point, Mike. You shouldn't have to do another one until you're challenged.

D (3:34)

I'm not gonna participate, especially if he's.

C (3:37)

I'm.

B (3:37)

I'm about to get back after it, so.

D (3:39)

Oh, Jimmy's getting back in it.

C (3:42)

Let's go, Jimmy.

B (3:43)

Crunch front. Got the crunch Fitness. What do you call it? Membership today. I can use any crunch anywhere on the planet. Of course, they're probably not in Venezuela.

C (3:53)

Oh, you got over.

A (3:54)

You got the crunch. I still got to do the crunch thing and then we'll be good to go.

B (4:01)

Based on our conversation yesterday, it. It was one of those things where it doesn't sound like it would be nice. It sounded like a directive. So I was like, okay, better go do this.

D (4:10)

Jimmy's listening. 2026.

A (4:13)

Hey, Jimmy.

D (4:15)

Dude, them shades are bad to the bone, dude.

B (4:18)

I know, dude, but look, look.

A (4:22)

Nice.

B (4:22)

I went full Miami Vice for this one.

C (4:25)

What is beautiful?

B (4:27)

It's not cocaine.

D (4:30)

Oh, you were. You're sniffing. You're sniffing sugar just to get into the roll.

C (4:34)

Yes. Pre workout, vitamin B12. That's what they do in Hollywood.

B (4:40)

I mean, honestly, man, like, I don't know how we haven't done a Miami Vice skit yet.

A (4:45)

Yeah, no, that's a good point. I feel like Nick Fuentes or one of those guys that dress up in a suit to do a podcast.

D (4:53)

Your beliefs are very similar.

A (4:56)

Well, we're similar in some ways, but yeah. So Matt, I mean, obviously we've been putting it out there left and right on social media, but Matt has been brought onto the team as our manager slash brand. What's the right word?

C (5:10)

You could just say growth strategist.

D (5:12)

Bodyguard.

A (5:14)

Bodyguard. Office. Yeah, Well, I mean, yeah, we're just. You can't wear a suit. You have to wear that when we go out. So that way people are like, damn, dude, perfect. Yeah, we can run our mouse like that youtuber and then just have you.

C (5:25)

Beat them up like away from any bitch laps or anything. I'll step into it.

A (5:32)

Yeah, just kind of get to know for you guys especially. Turn the comments back on. But yeah, a little different of a format. We got two people in the studio now, two people remote, obviously. Tomorrow we'll be back with the Thursday broadcast. We'll all be in Studio. But yeah, today we're gonna get to know a little bit about Matt. Have you guys asked some questions? Get into his. He's got kind of a crazy story. Significant at best. Like it's, it's. You wouldn't believe it unless he told you. Yeah. Yeah.

C (6:10)

Shall we get started? I guess, or.

A (6:12)

Yeah, you were born. I'm just kidding.

C (6:15)

What's the definition of man? Yeah, I'm born and raised in South Florida. Was born in Sarasota, Florida. Lived there until I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school at 18 years old. Went to good old Parris island, old 3rd Battalion. I must say that old 3rd Battalion and graduated from that. Went to comm school, went to my unit, went to the fleet. Not a glamorous Marine Corps unit, a MWSS unit. So a Marine wing support squadron deployed in 2011 to Afghanistan. Came back around and got out and found out. Ended up stumbling into entertainment. Spent a lot of my 20s just figuring life out, you know, typical 20 year old Marine. Got out, partied a lot. And then what'd you do when you got out for So a job, man. So when I got out, I got out and I was engaged. And man, like within 30 days of getting back to Florida after I eased, found out I was having a kid. So found out she was pregnant and that kind of changed things for me. So instead of going to like college or whatever, I just jumped straight into it. I got some IT certifications and did that.

A (7:50)

So it's funny is like we were having a little bit of tech trouble. That's why we were a couple minutes late. And he goes, yeah, I don't know any of that stuff. I remember thinking like, you told me you were I. T. But that's more.

C (8:02)

Like passwords, email, you know, more on the network side and like software support. But like, as far as equipment goes, even in the music side, like, I don't know about that.

A (8:15)

Tyler is gay. I. I know he put that there so I have to read it, but he asked what kind of juice was in those crowns. Now. I was looking at pictures of you.

C (8:23)

Yeah.

A (8:24)

You weren't always built like this.

C (8:27)

It was like. No, it was off and on. So, I mean, obviously in the Marine Corps, like, I was big on pt. Let me ask anybody I served with, you know, Angel's been on the show. You guys know Angel. And that was my. Was, you know, getting my boots in the gym, training with them, doing the whole, you know, if you up, I'm gonna run you till you die.

A (8:50)

Yeah. Oh, you were a Runner too?

C (8:51)

Yeah, I mean, if I had to be, you know, But I mean, I just wanted that, that perfect fitness score. So like run time was big for me, especially with angel speaking to him. I mean he was just like 17 minute 3 miles. So having him as a sergeant out running me every day and talking motivated me a little bit. But yeah, when I got out, I definitely did not go to the gym, you know, find out I was having a kid and being in Orlando and around the UCF student body, naturally I kind of fell back into partying ways and things like that. And then I got back into it heavily when I split with my fiance at the time.

A (9:34)

Is that your. The mother of your child?

C (9:36)

Yes.

A (9:36)

Okay.

C (9:37)

So I got back into it heavily and just fell back in love with powerlifting and you know, met sir. I wouldn't say the right people, but certain people that helped me excel in that and I got real back into it and then I tore my pec. So I was. My numbers were significantly high. I weighed more, I was bigger and I was trying to go pro. I wanted to compete and at a high level in powerlifting. I was on a, A team and one day benching, I just, I popped my, my pack, my left peck. So it was a, it was a second degree tear and you know, black and blue. Did you feel it when it happened? Like, it's, it's like you hear the pop and you know, you're, you're moving the bar and then the, just stops moving and you hear the pop.

A (10:28)

Oh, so you heard it?

C (10:29)

Yeah, so it's, it was thankfully not like a super heavy set. Surprisingly at the time, no lie, I was benching 455 right. Like consistently every day. I could hit that number. And I was warming up for it at, I want to say, dude, I think maybe 225ish. And I was on a decline and I was, you know, I just wasn't taking the warm up seriously. I had someone right here and they said something to me. So I looked and like I looked impressed up and I just remember when I did that, it was like a pop. This went limp. You know, they helped me get the bar off and yeah, I was in a sling for a little bit. Black and blue, couldn't raise my arm. I couldn't lift for like six to nine months. So I just stopped for man, I'd say probably the next five years. I didn't, I didn't lift weights at all. Really. Yeah, probably good four years. Probably around that.

A (11:27)

Holy crap. Yeah. Yeah. So you get out you are, you know, you kind of ventured into, into the weightlifting part. But then you, you've always had an interest in rap music culture.

C (11:42)

Yes, very much so. You know, I, I didn't, I. I won't say too much, but, you know, the way I grew up, I didn't see it until I was. Till recently and with the help of therapy and things like that. But I just, I didn't know the environment that I grew up in, the household I grew up in, how much it impacted me growing up and how it affected me mentally and my development. And so when I was like seven or eight, simply put, I mean, I grew up in a, you know, neighborhood where a lot of people listen to rap music. So I was put onto rap music or exposed to it early, but. But, you know, like artists like Tupac, Nas, the Deeper artists, they kind of reached out to me, you know, through their music. And I got obsessed, man. It was my escape and how I kind of regulated myself. So like, since I was like seven or eight, I've just been. You were like huge hip hop head. Yeah, dude. I mean, Eminem too. Eminem came out what, late 90s? I mean, that was pretty much right on time for me. And you know, a lot of Eminem story in those first couple albums is scarily similar to how I came up. So it, it kind of just made me feel like, okay, I like other people have been through it and they made something of themselves. And so like I can do that too. And I can, you know, feel less alone with what I'm going through. And so I clung to it. So in my 20s, I was going through a time it was like what, 2010, something like that. And you know, there was a lot of just garbage music, man. And you know, I was one of those like, haters, I guess you could call it, where it's like, if it's not 90s rap, then it's, you know.

A (13:25)

Dylan wants to know, yeah, what are your five top five rappers?

C (13:28)

That's a tough one, man. Not in order top five, like favorite because I skill. It's. It's a. That's a tough one. I'll say my favorite. So number one got to be Tupac. Number two, I love Fitzy Mess, dude. Fitzy Mess is awesome. And he does a lot of stuff with my guys on the west coast with Underground Hip Hop Blog that's ran by veterans too. And Bastards Canteen, I think had Fitzy Mess on there for, I want to say the Marine Corps birthday party they had. Bastards Canteen is a like A hangout that was started by 2 4. So guys from 24 and my buddy from underground hip hop blog was a corpsman with 24 in Ramadi, so that's how I know all them. But Fitzy Mess is awesome, dude. I love his birthday song. Every year he does for the Marine Corps. Would love to do. Love to talk to him more about. About doing some. But I know he's really reserved. But anyways, top five, right? Pac's gotta be number one. Damn. Two. Number two is definitely zero from Houston. Number three, pimpsy from P.A. basically Houston. So the Atlanta in me here, number four is probably future. And number five. Oh, I'm gonna give it to him because he's like family at this point. West side gun. I'll probably say that's my top five.

A (14:58)

Joe wants to know what you think of 50 methods. I don't know who that is.

C (15:01)

Oh, no, that's what I was just talking about.

B (15:02)

Yeah.

C (15:02)

I love Fitzy Mess. Yeah.

A (15:04)

All right. You can clearly tell I try to run the show.

C (15:07)

You're good, man. I just looked up and saw it.

B (15:09)

I.

D (15:09)

The number one is number one. The number one is my number one as well.

A (15:13)

Hell yeah, Mike, for sure to address the chats. So, okay, the Patreon Tuesdays are available at some places. So obviously we have to do certain things Monday through Friday of on the audio side to get where we want to be. Patreon Tuesdays is on YouTube for Patreon to engage. So the only people that are able to engage in the show and watch it physically are to like. Like watch it is. Is Patreon. You guys help me out because I feel like the bad guy here, but I don't want to tell everybody where it's at. But you can find other places. But most people only know YouTube and.

D (15:55)

That'S so well, it goes after the fact. So the point of the Patreon Tuesday is live interaction. Tyler's thinning. Hairline down. Hair down. Just. Just being normal. Just say, you know when you let your hair down. Go on, let your hair down. So when you let your hair down, that's what it's for. It's Patreon. But yes, audio wise, we have to be consistent on the audio platform. So you're gonna go listen to it somewhere else. But you didn't get to interact. You don't get to ask questions.

A (16:26)

You're not going to be part watch it.

D (16:28)

It's not a up. It's just that to stay in the algorithm consistent, we have to put out a product Every day in every platform. So the.

A (16:34)

And everybody knows that's our running joke in here. We're trying to get on the radio, and we want to be able to prove that we can consistently do audio Monday through Friday. So that's.

D (16:44)

You can go listen to it. You can go listen to it after the fact. But in order to engage be brought on Bre be, we're giving T shirts away, we're giving stickers away in there, we're doing giveaways, all that stuff. It only going to be available to Patreon members who are involved in the chat.

A (16:59)

All right, so you are a young man in the rap game or not in the rap game, listening to rap. Yep. You get out of the Marine Corps, so it's always been. Did you know that while you were in the Marines, you wanted to get into the entertainment industry at all? Or were you like, am I I'm just gonna be a radio guy the rest of my life?

C (17:20)

No, I. I definitely. I mean, since I was a kid. Right. I think it starts kind of naturally. It's something we say, especially in hip hop, which is like, everybody in hip hop at some point wanted to rap. Right. I think I knew, like, I have the whitest voice ever. I'm white. And, you know, I. I just think I knew rapping wasn't right, but I always wanted to be involved with it somehow. I just didn't know other jobs existed. Like, I knew you could either make beats.

A (17:50)

You didn't know there was an industry behind it.

C (17:51)

Yeah, I just was like, okay, well, I can't rap or make beats, so how am I gonna do this? But, you know, I mean, I listened to a lot of rap music during my service and even found new artists that I later worked with and could tell them, like, dude, I listened to this when I was in Afghanistan, and I was like, really full circle for me. And a lot of times. So, you know, I always knew I wanted to do something with it. But being like a white kid from South Florida, not really knowing anyone in the industry at all, I just didn't see it. And then plus, you know, having the kid, right, it was like, well, dude, I'm 22.

A (18:30)

You gotta have a stable.

C (18:31)

Yeah. And that's, of course, like her mom. And everybody, you know, was just like, okay, get a job, and, you know, we'll figure this out. Yeah, of course. Right?

A (18:40)

The band's gonna make it.

C (18:42)

So. But I mean, I wouldn't say I was pursuing anything at that time. I just didn't know how to or even you know how to get started. So I kind of fell into it through becoming a fan of Griselda Records. Like, I got out in 2013, and I found out about them in 2015. And at this time, I was just. It was probably the end of 20, probably 2016, I think maybe I just moved back home. So I was in Jacksonville. I came to Orlando, lived in Jacksonville for a couple years, and then I moved back home. And I had some buddies that they. You know, nothing big, but they had, like, a little studio at their house. I go over there, you know, smoke weed, drink, freestyle. And they were like, have you heard this. This new music? And of course, I was like, well, you know, if it's not 90s or, like, a select few artists, like, I don't even give a shit. And. But because it's. You guys saying it, like, I'll, you know. Yeah, let's listen to it. And I thought that was crazy, man. And it was, you know, west side. I think the first song I heard was west side guns off Hitler 2. Yeah, no, Hitler Wears Hair Maze. That's the mixtape.

A (19:56)

Whoa.

C (19:56)

Yeah. Song called Never Coming Home with this. And it was. There's a singer on the hook named Tiana Denise, who I now manage. That's like a sister to me, which is just crazy to think about. That was probably the first time I heard it. And I just got obsessed, man. And I followed them real closely. They signed to Eminem, I want to say, that year, the year next, which was, like, a huge deal. And I just started going to all their shows. You know, they were small. They were doing small shows. It was really easy to get in front of them or, you know, interact with them, whether it was on social media or not. Started buying the merchandise. I mean, it's funny. Like, I'll go out to dinner with their manager, D. Jack, and stuff, and D. Jack will tell me, like, dude, you know, like, I remember writing your name on the envelopes, and when I'd send them out to you, you know. Wait, was that nine years ago?

A (20:44)

Yeah.

C (20:45)

So, long story short, I ended up. I go to Art Basel every year, and I end up going to Art Basel.

A (20:53)

What's that?

C (20:54)

Art Basel is a international art festival, but it takes place in select cities across the world every year. So every year in December, it's in Miami.

A (21:05)

Okay.

C (21:05)

I think that's been going on for at least 15 years at this point. It's gotten insane now. And gun was out there, and basically, me and a friend, we took Gun around Wynwood, which is like, the art district, where back, back in 2018, I think that was the year it made 2017. That was like the epicenter of Art Basel. So it's like live murals being painted, a bunch of art on display, select performances, things like that. Big sponsors will come out, like Monster, they'll have like a little skate park. They'll take over that. They'll have like famous people, DJ and whatever. And we just showed GUN around. That's where I like got to actually know him a little bit personally and his people and you know, just continuing to go to their shows. Like I just made relationships with everybody around them. And it, I don't know, man, it just hit me like I could do this, I could just get into this, you know, Like I, I mean, I already knew. Yeah, you're already kind of seemed fun. Yes, it did. It seemed fun. But you know, it was real cool because, you know, they, they embraced me and appreciated my fandom at least and support and that was, that was really cool. That was probably like the first time I had like favorite artists, whether they were big at the time or not, that I actually could build some sort of a relationship with. You know what I mean? They knew who I was. They saw me, oh, it's Matt, man. Come over here. You know, whatever. And from there I'm trying to think of how it all played out really from there. I had some buddies in Miami that I won't go into detail that I had done other business with for a little bit before that. And they were starting a promotion company doing shows in Miami, like rap shows. I was like, oh. Like they were like, hey, dude, you. You know how to somehow get around these people. You're a friend, like, come on the team.

A (23:01)

Is it just because you weren't. I'm. Is it being white? I know it probably hurt you, but it also helped you in a weird way that you're there. Like they, you're different.

C (23:12)

So they can kind of double edged sword, man. It's a double edged sword. I think the white thing, it's kind of like all of our favorite topic now, right? Like Jewish people. Right. Like, if you're Jewish, you probably may have certain connection. May your uncle's an entertainment lawyer maybe, you know, I don't know. Right. Or CEO. That's what people think. So being white, even though I come from absolutely nothing, like not anything, it's just like, oh, that's a white boy right there. Like he gotta know some people. Yeah, well, yeah, so, you know, there's that, but then there's Also, like, I get called one online. I mean, even in the. The lives on Thursday, sometimes there's the wigger, there's the culture vulture. That's the other part where it's like, okay, you know, we don't fully trust you, but, like, maybe you can earn your way in. And I wouldn't say that's everybody. In fact, I'll be honest, that's not the majority of the experiences I've had, but that's absolutely a thing. And then it's funny in hip hop, like, you'll go into like a studio session or something, right? And like, as a white boy, like, you're like, I'm probably gonna be the only white boy here. And then you look across the room and there's another white boy. You're kind of. It's. It's not even that, though. It's like you hate each other. You know, it's.

A (24:31)

Oh, you're the token.

C (24:32)

Yeah. It's like, wait, what? There's another white boy here? Like, who the is that? I gotta outwork this.

D (24:37)

Do you guys compare? Do you guys compare credit scores or something?

C (24:40)

Like, hey, yeah, man, I mean, I, you know, I. I don't know, 90.

A (24:46)

Just.

C (24:47)

By the way, I mean, that, that's actually been a. A cool thing sometimes seeing the only other white guy and he's like in his 40s. He's in a polo shirt, chinos.

A (24:59)

What was he doing?

C (25:01)

He wasn't doing nothing, man. He was just hanging out. But I don't want to put his business out there. But that guy ended up being, I'll be honest with you, man, the richest person I've ever met in my life. Really? By far. By far.

A (25:12)

Was he a financier?

D (25:13)

His last name Lindenberg or Steen?

C (25:16)

No, that's the crazy part. It's the crazy part. And I'm pretty sure he's got a little tism to him, but he. I've ever met, man guy owns. I'll put it like this. Last time I talked to him on the phone, he was buying a petroleum company in Dallas.

A (25:33)

So, yeah, I had to recruit Justin Donut Shop podcast. If you don't see him in the comments, he is running the comments now. I've never done a show where I had to produce and have a guest before, and it was super distracting trying to produce the show like the comments, because somebody will ask a question for you, and if no one's looking at it, we'll never know. So Justin's in now. Donut Shot podcast is producing what's up, man.

D (26:01)

He's producing from. From a remote location.

A (26:05)

He can do everything but switch channels in studio. So that's why me and. Me and Matt are sitting next to each other. One camera angle. Because switching the cameras in studio has to be done physically. That's the only thing Justin can't do. But you guys have any questions for him so far? Like, Jimmy's just being very patient.

C (26:26)

He's got cocaine on his nose. Somebody's got to talk to the cops. That's. That's so true.

A (26:32)

Hold on. Wait. I can't hear you, Jimmy.

D (26:36)

The drugs caused his microphone to stop working.

C (26:38)

Say, man. He clogged up the mic.

A (26:39)

Jimmy, we can't hear you.

B (26:42)

I was slowly adding more to see how long it would take before somebody.

C (26:47)

You did it.

A (26:47)

Like, the french fry thing, you just kind of like.

B (26:50)

I was like, I'm gonna add a little more. I'm gonna add a little more. And then I was like. I was, like, getting ready to, like, do, like, a whole handprint on my face. It's like, these guys are not noticing.

A (27:00)

My bad, man.

B (27:01)

No, no, no, no, no.

C (27:02)

That.

B (27:02)

That's the. Yeah. I mean, like, I. I told you on the phone, I was like, I'm very excited to wear this suit. I got a whole.

A (27:11)

I was an actual street cop, so I never wore suits. Mike's got suits for days.

D (27:15)

Yeah, well, when you put people in prison for the rest of their life, you got to go to court. Like, yeah, there's a lot there. There is actually a whole life outside of that Parking Lot 69, and eating Chipotle, man. There's a whole. You get out on the road, dude, and there's guys driving around with drugs and selling. It's a wild world out there in law enforcement.

B (27:34)

So, I mean, first I wore a.

D (27:36)

Suit a few times.

B (27:38)

I. I'm really. I'm really happy. The reason why I haven't said anything is because I really love Matt getting to tell his story. I've had the opportunity to interact with this guy probably on a personal level, probably more than anybody else, or at least as much as everybody else. And I know his story, and I want. I. I'm just so excited for him to get to say it, because here's the thing. Y' all don't know. Matt does not like being in front of the camera. He doesn't like it. So, like, I want to, like. I don't have any questions. I just. I want him to just tell his story. And, man, he's. He's the man. I love Matt. I, I'm so glad we have him. Without him, the, the anti hero broadcast would be a lesser place.

A (28:25)

Yeah, I mean, I talked about on an open mic a little bit, but I mean, you know, Matt came, he came as just someone seeing the anti air studio back when it was the old podcast era. And, and he's like, hey, man, I know a lot about, you know, the media side of the industry. I think I could help you. And at the time, we just, we, we were exactly what he saw. It was, was we were on the top and we were like, we don't need to be wasting money on all the strategy, bro. We'll just have a beer, enjoy the ride. And you're like, okay, yeah, joy with you.

C (28:58)

But.

A (28:58)

And then obviously, you know, some things happened. There was a big movement and the only hard, the hard part about going from the podcast to broadcast is all the algorithms on the media side are up. Everybody that was used to a once a week podcast is now trying to scratch their head on how to expand and grow as a broadcast. And so, I mean, Matt was helping us out so much for free that I was like, we might, you know, might as well get our, get our money's worth and actually bring you on the team. So. And we, we were talking about this. We don't want anybody. You're the fourth guy and, you know, that's it. We don't have a big team.

C (29:37)

Proud to be the fourth guy, man. And Jimmy, love me, brother. Thank you.

B (29:41)

I mean, it was at the point where it was so evident that like, we needed him. That, like, I, I was, I, I looked at myself and went like, Jimmy, do you actually bring as much as that guy does? Like, he's so good at it. And if you like, say like one sentence to Matt, you will get a 10 minute soliloquy and you're just like.

A (30:07)

You understand about 1% of what he says back.

B (30:10)

You're like, yeah. You're just like, huh, huh?

A (30:12)

Yeah, I trust you.

B (30:16)

It sounds awesome, bro. Like, let's do it. And then of course, like, not only is he like a super nerd when it comes to this stuff, but like, dude can, like, I think he could outlift everybody. I'm positive he can.

A (30:30)

Everybody. You mean to cut you off, Jimmy? Go ahead.

B (30:36)

No, no, I, I didn't mean to cut you off your. So. But like, I just. Words cannot describe the, the, the amount of respect that I have for his intellectual capacity when it comes to this stuff. And Lord knows we needed it because we were three talents without. We were Kind of like a rudderless ship. And Matt kind of like cut through all the. And was like, okay, you, here's the deal. Does that make sense? Yeah, I mean, I'm totally wrong.

A (31:08)

I know I've always been intrigued in the music industry. Not so much rap, but like rock or, you know, and really I, I like a lot of rap. I love, you know, early 90s rap. And like watching that, watching the early 90s rap in general was not managed well at all as a culture and a scene. And it just, you know, it went away. And, and so I was like, you know, eventually we are going to need somebody that knows this industry that can guide us because we're, we're raw blooming onions. And so we need somebody to facilitate it and strategically move it to where it needs to go. So we're not just like everywhere.

C (31:46)

Yeah. And a lot of entertainment is a, it's a predatory industry. So, you know, it's, it's structured in a way to keep talent chasing. I mean, right now, today's world, it's to keep chasing the hype numbers, the vanity metrics. You know, if we can get an artist or even a podcast, like it doesn't matter if any platform or any talent, if we can get them chasing numbers we can manipulate for money, then we keep them hooked on paying us to get them these numbers. When that money stops coming, the numbers drop and then it's. You freak out. And it can be, I mean, it just, it just creates burnout. That, that's the main thing. I mean like the music industry, entertainment industry, podcast industry, it doesn't matter what it is. If you don't have infrastructure, you will burn out. It's just going to happen. And that's not just talent. I have been through that in the worst way where I'm doing a lot of stuff for free at a high level or for way less than I should or whatever it is. And you know, you just think like, okay, I got to do more, I got to do more and then I'll get to this point or a lucky break's gonna happen. And then the lucky break does present itself. And I've been still unable to control that. Right. I mean, I, I have so many non disclosure agreements, I don't know what I can talk about, but. And I don't want to get sued by certain people because they will sue me. But I've worked with some of the biggest estates in music history, like by far, and trying to think what I can say here. And you know, looking at it's crazy to even say out loud, but it's true. You know, I'm looking at the potential to make millions of dollars on these, some of these deals. And you know, you have one other party that's involved break that NDA. You know, companies like, I'm not saying specifically I was working with them, but you know, but like Sony, right? Like Sony's not going to tolerate that, right? Or you know, certain big name artist estates where the artist has passed, they're not going to tolerate that. So once someone breaks an NDA and when we're trying to do like let's say like a master copyright licensing deal or like a master copyright ownership deal for a back catalog or something that pretty much run, you're out of contention for it.

A (34:11)

So also what does contention mean? Mike wants to know.

C (34:15)

Contention, it just mean like, you know, so a lot of the ways that at least they've worked for me in my experience, if I am trying to hustle a catalog or a percentage of a catalog or unreleased music that's, you know, the artist passed away and you know, you'll get like sales rights, right? Like you'll get an NDA from the estate from whatever entity owns whatever everybody that owns the music, right? And let's say that's like, okay, we own 100 of the music, but we want to sell 25 of this. For this amount of money, your Commission will be 5%, 10%, whatever it there. You're not the only one selling like working that. There's other people working that. So it's like a race. It's like, can I find the right buyer, the right situation? And then you know, with, depending on the situation. But I've been involved where there's got to be an escrow and there's got to be millions of dollars put into that escrow and that freak people out. So what they do, and this is why the NDA exists, they will back channel, they'll go contact the music publisher or something and they'll be like, hey, I'm freaking out because this is like an amazing situation, but I'm being asked to put millions of dollars into this escrow. Can you verify that's breaking the NDA right there? Because they're, that publisher is not supposed to know this. They'd have nothing, you know, and not nothing to do with it. But they, they, it's just not. And depending on the situation, it's just not correct. Right? When that happens, you know that entity is going to be like, you guys just broke this NDA. We're a very private estate or whatever, and this is a very private matter. We don't want this getting out. So, you know, they just kind of. You just don't hear from them again, pretty much. And, you know, if you find another buyer, then you got to do tons of work to get back to that point. And, you know, things are very fast in music. When you're working with a team of people, everybody's got 50 things going on and other things that can pay them. When those type of situations kind of fumble or crumble, a lot of people just move on. And so if the whole team's not like, okay, let's read, you know, restructure, let's reorganize, and let's try to get this deal going with someone else. If not everybody's on the same page with that, it kind of just goes away. And that can be super defeating because, you know, you, you work. You know, I've been in this shit nine years, almost 10. And I still don't have, like, the financial means that people think. Like, I go home, my friends know who I'm around, what I do. I have a lot of access. I have a lot of free trips if I need to, you know, stuff like that. But, you know, I'm not sitting on millions of dollars and financially rich. So you're going to have your family and people back home that are like, well, how are you still driving a Hyundai? You know, and you're around all this, and it's, it's the smoke and mirrors thing, right? Perceptions, currency and entertainment across the board. And, you know, people get lost in that, and people get lost in the image. And, you know, I'll be real honest, I'd say 90% of the artists across. I don't care what genre are not making what you think. They're not, not even close. Hard to say on that. What they portray depends on how they're set up.

A (37:40)

If I watch somebody pull up in a 300,000car wearing $30,000 in jewelry, I'm going to perceive them as very, very rich. But do people spend? And I don't really knock it. I think if it's done right, like, from, like, I mean, for, for anybody. It's like, I, I, my image is part of my selling point, so I do need to take care of that side of the house that, like, fitness is. Obviously doesn't cost you any money, but it takes up your time. Yep. Tattoos, jewelry, clothing, like, it's part of your image.

C (38:13)

So it is the rapper costume.

A (38:15)

Yeah. But I mean, if it's part of your image, you can't go out there dressed like a schmuck, as the white guys industry would call it. And you know, no people, because there's relation. Like a lot of our supporters and listeners, we rely on the relation part. They relate to us, we relate to them. But at the end of the day, another totally different type of program or music might require them to look up to that person and kind of like fantasize about being like a special force. I mean, sorry about a non skin, so. But it is, it's just the way you handle your business, if that's what you're doing. I learned things like if you can monetize becomes something, it's like you almost gotta write it off.

C (38:57)

Yeah, I mean, well, for to, to the point on the chains and cars too. I mean, if you have your own label or publishing company, then you can start writing that stuff off. So I mean, you know, it changes things a little bit. I mean, obviously chains are a big part of hip hop culture. An artist gets signed to a label, traditionally they get a chain with that. Labels, you know, I guess, logo, emblem, whatever you want to call it. But yeah, I mean, that all goes to brand awareness right at the end of the day because there's plenty of rappers that are super successful that aren't about, I gotta have 10 chains on, I gotta have designer everything. And they're making good money. And their brand though just is. It's more relatable on a street level or something where it's like, you know, I, I don't, I don't need all this to sell records. But then you got guys like my guy, west side Gun, who. Gun is the flashy guy, man. I mean, but he, he has the capital to back it. I mean, Guns doing very well for himself. But I mean, Gun's got a bracelet that's like. I don't know how to explain. It's the biggest bracelet I've ever seen. It's bust down, freaking jewels all through it. Thing weighs like 20 pounds probably, you know, so. And he's got 10 chains on. He's known for fashion.

A (40:16)

I love it, dude, I love it.

C (40:18)

Yeah, and it works for him.

A (40:19)

And I love knowing, I love knowing he's not breaking the bank or borrowing it.

C (40:23)

No, he's not. He takes care of his whole family too, man. That guy, like, whole family, grandma, every cousin. I mean that. Yeah, he does a lot, man. I have a lot of respect for him.

A (40:32)

Some of the people are asking, they're joining Us kind of late, so we'll recap. Matt came on as our. As our manager slash brand.

C (40:43)

You can just say manager and growth strategy.

A (40:46)

Yeah, manager and growth. Strategist. Strategist. And so he comes from the industry. He comes from the rap industry. The.

C (40:54)

The.

A (40:54)

The back side. He's not really a camera, although he's been on the show a lot. He's not really the guy that likes to be in front. He supports everything we do. He knows that. He knows more about our show than I think me, Mike, and Jimmy know about our show and its potential. Like, when it's good to have somebody be able to say it's.

C (41:13)

It's.

B (41:14)

It's not even that. It's not even that. Matt will. Matt will come to you and go, hey, Jimmy, dude, I see this potential here and what you're doing. I want to sit down with you and talk to you about this, this, and this. Like, I have a whole plan. And, like, you didn't even think about it, but Matt's got a whole thing written out, and it's like 15 paragraphs and three emails, and you're like, oh, oh, okay. Like, yeah, I should probably listen to this guy.

A (41:40)

This nerd just emailed me a page. So we joke. We call him the Suit, because he is. That's why we're all wearing suits and not him. He is going to gym after this. He's also a power lifter, if you missed that part. That's his one hobby that takes about 17 hours of his day.

C (41:57)

Yep.

A (41:57)

And so. But he manages to make every meeting. All right, so we're. We're come. We're in. You're in the industry. You know, you're. You're. Let's say you're at the good point of the industry, because I know there was some revelations about yourself and, yeah, you know, where you wanted to start branching off and not focusing solely on that. But, like, let's say you're. You're prime time in the rap industry and everything is going good.

C (42:23)

That was probably 2021, when I really, like, got a real opportunity to kind of run a program for an artist, like their. Their team, their label, everything. We had kind of a. In my opinion, the greatest opportunity anybody could get. It went to shit. But, you know, I'll get to that. I mean, we had an investor who was a fan who came out of nowhere. He. Dude was a software millionaire. All right? He. He. What do you do? He developed a cloud security software or something, and it was purchased by Capital One, so It was like $60 million around. I'm putting all his business out there, but I won't say his name. So hopefully that's good. Yeah, so, I mean, yeah, he's a really cool guy, big fan. But you know, when people get into this industry, you know, there's, there's a lot of, and it happened to me. It's, there's a lot of nostalgia, there's a lot of the, the positives, right? You know, whether you're white, black, Hispanic, whatever pop reaches you, or music in general, right? If music speaks to you, it's going to get you through hard times, it's going to get you through good times. It's going to be a soundtrack to your life in a way, right? It's a big thing. So a lot of people get into it and they think, okay, I, you know, especially, I'm sure him, right? Like I have all this money. Everybody's gonna, you know, everybody's kissing your ass because, dude, they, you know, hey, let's go to the mall, man. Like, I'll, you know, drop $10,000. You got a music video coming up. Like, you know, like, that's nothing for me. Like, yeah, I just see you win. And that goes into the smoke and mirror though, right? Where image and everything starts taking leaks of like financial leaks. And you know, let's just be honest here. $10,000 for an outfit, for a music video is not going to do compared to $10,000 reinvested into like a good marketing strategy and brand awareness campaign, right? So we got into it.

A (44:19)

We can't buy ten thousand dollar chains.

C (44:21)

I mean, if you guys wanted to, I don't know how it would help right now. But we can talk about it. I mean, it'll be cool. That little anti hero chain, man, why.

A (44:30)

Are they talking about getting some grills, some spins?

C (44:33)

Yeah, dude, the grills. But yeah. So long story short, I got to work with one of my best friends still to this day in this industry. One of the best people I've met in my life, Brother Doe. And me and him got the spearhead, this label. I'm not, I'm not gonna name anything because it's gonna create problems, but for, you know, a lot of reasons. But long story short, man, we were able to sign artists and start to develop these artists underneath this imprint. And it was led by one artist that was, you know, obviously more recognizable. He had more going for him. And through that, right, like there were trips to la. This guy's getting us like a castle, man. Like Airbnb, like The nicest still this day, the coolest I've ever stayed in Entourage. It was, it was like an Entourage trip. Like it was, it felt like that. Like it was, you know, we get. I flew in Uber to the spot. It's the biggest house I've ever been in in my life. And it was like 20 of us. We had a show that I had set up that weekend, I guess, like whatever Saturday night that we got there, like Wednesday, did some media stuff, you know, obviously shopping, like that, you know, that's part of it. And it was, it was like, wow, like, this is gonna work. Like, Holy. And you know, they were talking to me about salaries and, you know, even insurance, like benefits, like just taking care of me across the board. Damn. Yeah. And it was a six year.

A (46:07)

You're like, hey, I'm white. I have to worry about health insurance and a retirement.

C (46:12)

Well, that was the. Funny. That was the, that was the money guy's whole thing is he's a business guy, so he was like, you know, we had a Skype call, zoom call, whatever. And he's like, yeah, I can give you a signing bonus. That's, you know, like, I think it was. I gotta do math, five figures and then, you know, a six figure salary to follow that up. And then this is the artist benefits or this to me.

A (46:33)

To you?

C (46:33)

Yeah, to me.

A (46:34)

Just to do what you do for the artist.

C (46:35)

Yes.

A (46:36)

Holy.

C (46:37)

And it was like too good to be true. And that's the, that's the main thing. It wasn't the intention that was, that was bad. But it was the fact that in this industry, man, I swear to God, you will get too good to be true, offer offers and, and it will make sense. You'll feel good about it and then something happens and it goes to. And so that's kind of what happened. And I don't want to put all the business out there because that's still something I gotta kind of deal with in my life. But long story short, it didn't work out. The label crumbled, the investor, I'm pretty sure, man, that guy just quit. I mean, he was making beats. So he was, he wanted to make beats and get his favorite rappers to rap on him. That's essentially what he wanted.

A (47:19)

So this guy sold a software to Capital One, but he also did beats.

C (47:24)

Yeah, he built a whole crazy ass studio in his house and everything. And I mean, he made good beats. Like, he was, he was pretty dope.

A (47:30)

That's like how we let Mike think he's a podcast. Yeah, we're just like, hey, man, you.

C (47:34)

Know, you're good, bro. You.

A (47:35)

You're really good at this, Mike.

C (47:37)

But yeah, so. So that didn't really work. But through that, right, I was able to make, you know, really good connections with media and I was doing all kinds of, like, going out of my way. Like one time I found out bootleg Kev was going to be in Miami. I wanted to get an artist on his show that we had. So I just drove down to Miami and crashed his. He was doing. Doing an interview with someone I knew, so that was refreshing. But, you know, just crash that. And then ended up getting his attention and locking in the interview and, and stuff like that. You know, that's like a three hour drive on a whim. But that's just what you got to do. You got to strike while the iron's hot in entertainment always. And like, that's probably the best advice I can give anybody. But yeah, so that kind of, that kind of up. And I had already moved to Atlanta after I got that offer, right. So just little thing, I got in some trouble. I was on probation, misdemeanor probation. I'm crazy. And as soon as I got off, I moved to Atlanta. It's like, literally, I want to say the next day and I got to Atlanta. And long story short, like, two months in Atlanta, I went to an event where there were other people that these people didn't like, even though on the surface it was supposed to be all good. And I got fired because you attended.

A (48:57)

An event that was fun and the.

C (48:59)

Artist they didn't like wasn't even there. But yeah, his people were, so it didn't matter. True story. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's. So that. So that kind of, kind of me up a little bit. But I had enough going for myself at that point. I had enough relationships and I was doing enough on my own to where, you know, I just kind of pivoted. And that year in Atlanta was probably one of the best years I've had, just surface level wise. But just, you know, I got to work with atl, Jacob and his manager ig, who I have a lot of respect for. And Jacob was on top of the world. Super Gremlin with Kodak. It came out, it was number one and on Billboard. And then, you know, he was working on Futures album and Future dropped that project that went number one and Wait for you with Thames and Drake went number one. He produced that. So I was there for a lot of that time. And we were working on his solo album. Jacob wanted to rap and all this. And he ended up signing a big deal and then parted ways. So back to square one again. We tried to rebuild Wicked Money Family and it just didn't take off how we wanted it to. And I'll be honest though, like, I wasn't as seasoned as I am now. I look back and there's a lot of things that I know I could have done differently and I could have, you know, infrastructure wise and systems wise implemented and that probably would have helped a lot more. So like, I take full responsibility on that myself too. If IG you watching, man. Love you, bro. Like, I, I take, I take my own accountability for that too. But. So during that time though, yeah, I was just able to get in the studio with a lot of different artists. I built a. You know, it's funny, man. Full circle moments 2017. I came to Atlanta with the same friends with that home studio and we just visited studios and just drove around Atlanta. We didn't know anybody. And I did a, an in studio tour of Patchwork Studio, which is without a question in my mind. I've been to most of all the famous ones, I'd say, of all the studios I've ever been in besides May Quad or, I don't know, Circle House maybe in Miami. Like, Patchwork is like, it's just so much music history in there across the board. I mean, it's just crazy. So I toured it, you know, I was in awe. And I remember, like I said, like, well, one day I'll, I'll work, you know, I'll do some work here. And through my relationship with, with Jacob and some other people I met, I was able to do a lot of studio sessions there. And then they became like family and they gave me a place to have meetings in one of their lounges. And their media manager, Keyshawn, is a close personal friend of this day. I love that guy. One of the best people I' ever met. And so that was really cool, man, being able to build a relationship with that studio and just kind of go in there. I could just show up and like, you know who's in right now, you know, oh, Chance, the rappers over there. Oh, you know, little Boosie's in here. And I can just go sit in on these sessions and like be a fly on the wall, you know, Even Pac Man Jones, I'm a huge football fan. Pac man was one of my favorite players when I was a kid. I got to work with him. So that was really dope. Yeah, he does. Oh yeah, he smokes More weed than anybody I've ever met either.

A (52:19)

Man.

C (52:19)

That dude smokes. Holy. Yeah, so, you know, that was really awesome, man. So being in Atlanta too, it's like, it's. It's surreal because, you know, you're going to, like, sacks or going with the mall, and, you know, there's just rappers every where, man. So he's just running into TI randomly, stuff like that. And then, you know, you see them in a work environment and then you see them out and they know you. It's kind of crazy.

A (52:48)

A thug or is he just a guy that got caught up in trying to be a thug?

C (52:53)

Oh, he's from Bankhead, man. I think TI Definitely knows what time it is. I didn't know him super well. I've, you know, definitely met him more than a few times and everything. But I. I would say, yeah, he's pretty valid. What is my perspective?

A (53:09)

What is TI versus Is what is Tip? Was that a Tip attempt at a brand changed or change?

C (53:16)

Sort of, but. So I can't remember the exact story. Basically, when he came out, I think Tip was Q Tip, and he was signed to a label that Q Tip was on. I want to say he was probably getting this wrong. Well, you know, Q Tip, right? So Q Tip is a legend. He's from New York. He was part of. Oh, my God, dude, Low end theory, man. Tribe Called Quest. And then he went on to have a soul career. He dated Janet Jackson and stuff like that. He had. He had a pretty good solo career. He had a couple hit records, produced a shitload of hit records. I mean, legendary producer. He produced on Illmatic by Nas all the way through, of course, Tribe Called Quest. And when, I want to say when TI Signed, he was going by Tip. And then. And I could be wrong because I, you know, I didn't look this. Looking at this. But he had to change it to T.I. so I think, like, you know, like the album T.I. versus TIP. Yeah, I think that's more of him. It's a. It's a brand thing in a way, but I think that was more of him just identifying himself, you know, like showing both sides. Like, Tip is like the street. TI is me, the. The successful entrepreneur.

A (54:22)

Okay.

C (54:23)

You know, rapper. So.

A (54:25)

All right, so you're in Atlanta. What about. Did you ever think about getting into the pod podcast space? Or was it just kind of like something that you fell into or.

C (54:35)

It's funny you say that. Every one of my friends back home, every single one of them, especially my very close friend Alex, I mean, she said it more than anybody. They all are. Like, you need a podcast, dude. And I just hate being on camera. I hate it. So, like, I just never did it. And I've been invited on a lot of podcasts and things, just working in the entertainment space, and I would turn it down. I didn't start probably even entertaining the idea of doing any sort of, like, video recording until Patchworks invited me to do theirs. And I did. I did one of their podcasts, and it was probably that and my friend Sophie, who's a, like, man, you guys think I'm good. Dude, Sophie shits on me. She's amazing. Just watching her do, like, real content and. And her own podcast appearances and stuff, even bringing her on the Patrick's one, I had her do one with them. And just. I mean, it just. It's just a part of the game that I have to do at this point. And so I'm. I'm getting there. But, yeah, I never really thought about it, man. I always wanted to be not seen, not heard in the background. You know, I've had the opportunity to be in music videos for exhibit and people like that. I'm on set and I'll get out the way, dude. Like, I'm like, nope. And I just. Where's the camera? Not okay. I'm over there. Like, all right. Like, oh, there's the snack bar. I'm over there. Just leave me alone. So that's always what I wanted. But, you know, like I just said, right? Like, entertainment across the board is a image thing, and you got to get your face out there sometime. It's not the only way. But at this point in my career, I feel like it's something I got to start doing. So I'll be doing, you know, music industry, real content at some point, and I'm starting to get used to fitness content.

A (56:26)

May. May I. May I suggest something? Oh, shoot.

C (56:30)

Yeah, man. I'm all ears.

A (56:31)

I would. Podcasts become such a job, and sometimes it. It's. If podcasting isn't your main job, it's a great supplemental source for your actual income. Yeah, I used it. I started a clothing line. That's how I started with everything. And. And I use the podcast as my free advertising arm. And so I would suggest a YouTube channel.

C (56:56)

Yeah.

A (56:57)

Where you can talk and you don't have to release anything if you don't want to. You could release four episodes a week. You can release one every two weeks because you're not on any random day. Yeah, but, you know, YouTube channels are different than podcast. Podcasts. You just have to be so routine in so many things to get, to get like the traction that you need. Because one of the biggest things, consistency is routine. So I would love to see you have a YouTube channel.

C (57:26)

I'm, I'm in the process of like mentally preparing for that.

A (57:30)

You should wear a suit, but with the arms cut off. Yeah, like Fred Flintstone.

C (57:34)

That's actually. Yeah. I mean, that's good imagery, dude. Yeah, I'm in the process of it. I'm like getting my feet wet with like fitness content right now. It's super sloppy. And my phone, I've dropped the weight on it like six or not six months, like six weeks ago. And it's like shitty, but I'm just getting my feet wet with that. And then yeah, I'm, I'm all about aesthetics and I need to not be, I need to take my own advice. I give the artists. Right. Like you build your confidence by getting started. By putting stuff out. You build that, you know, if you don't put a song out, you can't really have the whole thing come together.

A (58:11)

Yeah.

C (58:11)

It's just simple. You can't wait until, okay, I need to sound perfect, have the chain look, look however I want to look and then have the aesthetics, you know, video. Why, whatever. Just not going to work out. You got to start. So that's the advice I'm taking myself now as I move back to Florida and I've removed myself from being at on the pulse of hip hop in Atlanta for, you know, like four and a half years now. I'm kind of coming into my own and separating from that world. Still in it, still working in it.

A (58:44)

Actively, but just your world paralleling that world, not you. Yeah, encompassed all around.

C (58:50)

Exactly. Because it, it, that's what it did, dude. It just swallowed me whole, man. Pause. But was, it's like, dude, you get lost in that, man. And it's, you know, is fast. So my day to day in Atlanta ended up being man, like wake up at like 1pm Hit up everybody. What we doing? I love it. Blah, blah, blah.

A (59:16)

Wake up at one.

C (59:17)

Yeah, like wake up at once. I'm not getting home till like 8. So like then it's, you know, what we doing today? Maybe there's like an event. There's always a studio session. So you're doing an event. Studio session. It's 2am well, Magic City's open. Go to Magic City. Throw money. Go to Blue Flame. Throw money. Go to the club, drink, you know, whatever. Go to the after hours spot and Then go to Waffle house at like 7. And then every day I'd say, swear to God, man, five. At least five times a week. Yeah, it was probably like, for years it was like that.

A (59:52)

Yeah. All right, we're gonna take a quick commercial break, guys. We'll be back with the tail end of Matt's story. We'll get into some other things. Jimmy's got. Jimmy's got some business to attend to. You. We're gonna. We're gonna set the record straight. Jimmy, I don't hear you. Oh, yeah. Still can't hear you. Still can't hear you. Wait, Mike, you talk.

D (60:20)

Hello?

A (60:21)

Hello?

D (60:21)

My name is not Jimmy.

A (60:22)

Okay? I think everybody can hear you. We can't. We just got to do that audit. Little audio reset, but we're going to take a quick commercial break. We'll be right. All right, what about now?

E (60:29)

Over a century ago in 1910, the Flexner Report, funded by John D. Rockefeller and the Carnegie foundation, re engineered medical education from a holistic whole body approach, which appropriately treated the body as an interconnected system, to a compartmentalized approach under the guise of specialized medicine. They shut down or consolidated medical schools, marginalized naturopathic, homeopathic and chiropractic medicine, replacing them with symptom management and synthetic drugs. Allopathy is a monster marketing strategy rooted in fear and manipulated science. This philosophy carried into veterinary medicine resulting in over vaccination, unnecessary surgeries and manufactured food. Just like they did for people. They call it care, but it's predatory and based on profitability.

A (61:14)

The truth.

E (61:15)

Toxicity, compromised immunity and chronic inflammation. They're not fate, they're engineered. And so is your power to undo them. We built three targeted formulas to return the body to homeostasis for pets and people to detox, defend and restore. We are the correction to decades of corruption. We are vengeance.

B (62:01)

And we're back. All right, so we're back. Gonna be.

A (62:05)

Can you.

B (62:05)

Can you guys hear me? Can you hear me?

A (62:07)

I can hear you now. Okay.

B (62:10)

Hey, we're second hour is going to be brought to us by.

A (62:13)

Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. They gotta pay to play, bro. Can you hear me?

B (62:20)

Yeah, I can hear you.

A (62:22)

Nope, just. We'd have no mid sponsors other than vengeance on Wednesdays. Oh.

B (62:26)

Oh, okay. So like, I'm sorry. I'm used to like.

A (62:33)

I love it.

B (62:34)

Yeah.

A (62:35)

All right, good. Back to it. Yes. Yeah, they are a new sponsor of ours. They just don't have reads on. On Wednesdays, so.

B (62:45)

That's okay. I'll give them. I'll give Them one for free because I like their product.

A (62:49)

Yeah. Goon tape is the ship. All right, so we're back. So again, we're here with Matt, our manager and strategist. Yeah, you got it. Something. It was something. Strategist is growth strategist. Oh, great. Hold on. I gotta fix. I gotta fix his mic now. Growth strategist.

B (63:14)

Yeah, I was paying attention.

D (63:16)

Not to be confused with growth hormone that.

B (63:19)

No, definitely not. Hey, so, you know, while. While he's doing that, you know, Matt, like, can I ask a question, man? Like. Like, I mean, because you kind of hit on it, but you never really talked about it on here.

A (63:32)

Like.

C (63:33)

Yeah.

B (63:33)

What was the thing that kept you coming back to us guys? I mean, you have this diverse, like, background, and, like, we could go deep on, you know, hip hop. But I'm gonna be honest with you. Like, I want to know why you went for. You pivoted from hip hop and all the craziness and all the, you know, the glamour and the. And the chains and, you know, all that to, like, I'm gonna go hang out with these knuckleheads.

A (64:03)

Dudes.

C (64:05)

I mean, so in the beginning of my little hip hop journey, whatever you want to call it, right. One of the main things that I was going for, and I think I alluded to it, I didn't really say it or spell it out, was like, a sense of belonging, something bigger than myself again, something I missed from the Marine Corps and something that I. I just, you know, you don't get it in civilian life, right? And when I started pursuing music, it. It took, like, everything from me, like, my focus ever. I mean, that's it, right? And I just fell out of touch with a lot of the guys. And then there's. I'll be real honest. Like, there's a level of shame in a way where it's like, you know, I'm going to these reunions, and I have all these crazy stories, and I'm around this guy or whoever, you know, famous people, whatever. People see that on social media and everything. But then it's like, you know, like I said, like, I'm still driving a Hyundai. Like, I'm still, you know, renting. Like. Like, huh.

B (65:11)

You're still Jenny from the block.

C (65:13)

Still. Still Jenny from the block, man. Still Maddie from the block, dude. So, I don't know, I just kind of was like, you know what? I'm gonna wait till I'm successful or whatever, the. To come back. And then, you know, you get. You go through all kinds of. Right. And I Just lost touch with the guys, man. I lost touch with that part of myself, you know, I always. I still, to this day, obviously, will always have so much pride and appreciation for the Marine Corps and being a Marine and, you know, deploying and all that.

A (65:52)

It.

C (65:53)

But I just moved far away from it. And, you know, I thought I would find that same kind of feeling in music, and I didn't.

A (66:03)

It.

C (66:04)

I can't stress that enough. Like, you know, in music, everybody's your friend, everybody's family. Hey, we're family. You know, this, that, and the third. But as soon as you don't do what we want you to do, or you go against the grain or you want payment, like, it changes because it's like, well, family. Well, I don't have to pay you for that, bro. Yeah, I have bills. Like, all right, so.

B (66:33)

So, I mean, like, you've laid it out. I mean, you've given us a.

C (66:37)

A.

B (66:37)

A fantastic primer for how up the movie, the music industry, and the entertainment industry as a whole is. So what brings you back to the veterans, the first responders? Like. Like, and you go. And you looked at Mike and Tyler and you went, these. These are. Are it.

C (66:59)

Well, it was. It was. It was me, like, so I was getting there, man. I got you. So, you know, you just heard what my lifestyle was like, for, like. Yeah, drinking, bullshitting, smoking weed 24, 7 and. And eating, like, chicken wings. Right. So I got fat. I got out of shape. That was the worst shape I've ever been in. I was probably. I think I was. And this isn't that long ago, man. This is like mid 2024, dude. Like. Or.

A (67:26)

Yeah, was.

C (67:27)

Last year was 2025. Yeah, the mid 2024, it was like, I was like 267 pounds.

A (67:32)

What?

C (67:33)

Yeah. Swear to God.

A (67:34)

How tall are you?

C (67:34)

Five seven. And I was fat as I was a 40 waist.

A (67:39)

That's fatter than Mike was.

C (67:40)

Yeah. And I promise it's not why I wear the big sh. Larges. I just like oversized clothes. But yeah, man. Like, I just. Bro, it just. I got to a point where I just felt like. And I ended up just quitting drinking. That was the first thing I did right? I was like, I'm gonna stop drinking. That was August of 2024. I was at my homies crib. We're watching college football. It was the last time I drank. And I went home, woke up the next day and said that. So the next thing was, all right, let me get back in the gym. So I get in the gym And I start working out and great, right? Like, it wasn't the same as it is now. I had to force myself in that and rebuild everything. I mean, I was benching like, 135 pounds and sore for five days, right? And then from there, once I started getting in better shape, like three or four months, it was like, okay, I need to talk to somebody and, like, figure out why I am the way I am and why I have these. You know, I just noticed I have all these habits that I don't like about myself, how I interact with people, etc, and on top of that, too, like, I know that's bleeding into part of the reason why, you know, I'm not as successful on paper or whatever the hell in real life as I should be, despite the image. Right. So I. I did that. I started unpacking my. My family history and. And all that, you know, what I went through as a kid and all that. Right. How does that apply to today? My military service included? Right. And it just kept coming back to, you need, like, you need that camaraderie again. You need something like that again. Right? And it's funny because, like, you know, I just gave you the timeline, right? So that's like August of 2024. Well, what happened with Anti Hero around that time was, you know, the Tim Kennedy stuff. Right?

A (69:32)

Right.

C (69:32)

So, no, so I think it was like November maybe of that year. And I. That's how I was starting to reintegrate with, like, my veteran side is I wanted to find, like, just veteran media. But all I kept finding, and I'm a huge fan, so it's nothing. I love. I love Sean Ryan, dude. Like, I love that guy. I love his show. But it was all like, Sean Ryan, Joe Rogan, special op. I was a PO Com Marine, dude. I didn't go kick down doors and shoot people in the face. So it was like, dude, I can't relate to any of this. It's cool. And then all of a sudden, here's this show highlighting how, you know, obviously we don't need to go into it, but, like, highlighting Tim's book, right? And I was like, okay, what's this show? And, yeah, okay, you know, you got a special Forces guy on there. But then there's Tyler, right? Tyler just. He served. He's a grunt freaking cop. Like, he's someone I could relate to. And then I would watch the show and I'd be like, man, I. With Tyler, dude. Because, like, that's how I'd be handling this. Like, I don't Know how I'd be handling, you know, this conversation as someone that wasn't Special Forces. So, like, I could just relate to it, man. And what the really got me though, was the Thursday night squad cast. So I would watch the squad cast and it was, you know, I'd be driving a couple miles or some like that, or a couple hours, whatever, and I'd be listening to it.

B (71:00)

Can I. Yeah. Can I just stop you real quick?

C (71:03)

Yeah, man.

B (71:04)

Yeah. So you and Joe both said the same thing, and I'm really tired of hearing this. If you were in the Marine Corps and you say that you're a pogue commo guy, just shut the up. Like. Like that's. That's the wrong mentality. That's not the mentality that Mike has. Mike never even deployed. And I know he doesn't feel that way. Tyler doesn't feel that way. None of us feel that way. Like, yeah, you went out there, did your job.

A (71:30)

That.

C (71:30)

Amen. And I. Am I wrong? Mike?

B (71:33)

Am I wrong?

D (71:34)

No, absolutely.

C (71:35)

No, you're absolutely right. And that's something therapy helped me realize too, and take pride in again. Because, you know, the more you're just getting hit over the head with all this combat and, I don't know, special op, the more you start to feel like, well, dude, like, you know, and people don't, you know, let's be honest, right? Your civilian friends at home, the more time that goes by, they don't care. And that's. And that's fine. That's nothing to slide against anybody. But it's just, you know, at some point, a barrack story, they don't care, dude. You know, like, they don't. They don't get it.

A (72:04)

Yeah. No. So they actually think you're retarded when.

B (72:08)

You'Re like, dude, isn't that funny?

C (72:11)

We had a three foot three, a three story beer bong and a. Over the whatever above ground pool. And we'd hit the beer bong, then jump down, you know all that, right? Jump over the balcony into it. But you know, for them it's like, dude, we do that in college, right? So anyways, and then the brawling. Dude, that's one thing that no one ever understands, dude. The Friday night bar brawls, bro, that.

A (72:34)

Or the company versus company one. Yeah, they're like 85 full on real. Maybe 90. Like people are. You're not fighting to kill them, you're fighting to win. Yeah, but it's emotionally driven too, you know, it's. It's. That's a good time.

C (72:52)

If we had.

B (72:53)

Had social media and phones that did that stuff back in the.

C (72:57)

I kind of. Yeah, I kind of wish. But I'm kind of glad we didn't.

B (73:01)

People would be like, that was what was happening. And you're like, yeah, I'm not with you, dude.

C (73:06)

Yeah, man. Man. I mean, anybody that was in the Marine Corps in Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina, knows. Do you go to Hooligans on a Friday night? It's about 99.9. Chance gonna be only two women in there. Someone's gonna dance on her. It's someone's wife. And now you're all lot. And you're going at it, right? So anyways.

A (73:24)

So anyway.

C (73:26)

But, you know, like I was saying, right? I would. I started just listening to Anti Hero and as I drive, you know, Atlanta, dude, you're in traffic for an hour if you're. No matter what, basically. And especially if I'm driving to North Carolina or back to Florida, you know, I go to Miami a lot to, you know, do. And so, you know, that's like a 10 hour drive. And it felt like, oh, dude. Like, this is. This is like kind of what I was missing. This feel. It just feels like just some Garrison dude. Not in a negative Garrison way, but like, you know, these are guys that were in the fleet that were, you know, they did their job and I can relate to that. And they're talking about that. It makes me feel. It helped me regulate, I guess is the best way to put it, right? And then, you know, I'm listening and it's like, hey, we're in Orlando. Like, you can pull up. You know, there are always guys on the couch just chilling. And I was like, dude, that's really cool. Because that enforces community. And I'm big on that. I'm big on that in music and I'm big on that. And I'm just big on that. Entertainment, I think that's one of the lost things in entertainment, is community. And community building. We call it world building in music.

B (74:39)

Justin was your first bro, right?

A (74:42)

Like, oh, outside in the parking lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

C (74:47)

You.

A (74:47)

You and Justin and him out there.

C (74:51)

That approached me when I came out. You're the first person that approached?

B (74:55)

No, no, I was second.

C (74:57)

It's okay. Jimmy was the first person that approached me and had an actual conversation, asked me about my service, gave a. About what I had to say about it. And that was. That meant a lot to me, man. Thank you for that.

A (75:10)

That.

B (75:13)

Justin. Justin's the man.

C (75:15)

Like, I. Justin, I I noticed, like, I was talking to you about what I do, like, you know, and Justin, I kept noticing, was looking over at me, like, listening to what I was saying. And then that's when he and I started talking, and Justin was awesome. Dude, I love Justin, and I need to see his ass again in person, dude. But, you know, we keep in touch. And so I came on and obviously things like you guys were, you know, killing it, and, you know, I had prep to come in here and. And just, you know, just have, like, a light conversation. Not something crazy, not even a pitch, but just to be like, look, man, like, I've. I deal with this. Like, I've seen it a million times in music. An artist gets. Goes viral and blows up, and everybody's on their dick and everybody's throwing money at him and everybody. It's. It's the way that works. It's intentional, though. On the business side, when this is a predatory industry, it is to confuse the talent. Confuse the talent and then get your money out of them. That's what they.

B (76:13)

Tyler said this really well. Tyler said this really well. It's like, you peak too early and you're not paying attention, right?

C (76:21)

Well, the. Happens fast, man, and money's coming in, and it's. It's really hard to stay grounded and. And. And just, like, be strategic and slow. That's when you want to slow it down, believe it or not. But when everything's going fast and money's coming in and you don't see that ending anytime soon, right? The thing with the entertainment industry is it will end. It. It'll end when you don't expect it, and it'll be like that. But, you know, so I just saw that stuff going on, and I was like, dude, I can definitely help with this. This is in the veteran sphere. This would be great for me, you know, just, like, me, like, emotionally, dude. Like, you know, as a person to get back into that sphere. And I mean, dude, I've done things. I've applied for the Sean Ryan show, dude. Like, I mean, I was trying. So all that being said, that's what brought me here. And then, you know, it was. It was still, like. Even though Tyler was busy as hell, I knew he was stressed. Brent was, you know, prepping for the show. You know, obviously we had our conversations and stuff.

A (77:22)

Stuff.

C (77:24)

But, you know, it wasn't about, you know, any of the headlines or Brent or any of that. I'll be honest. And I really look up to him and respect them, but, like, I don't really Care to meet Brent? Like that. Like, it was just, like, cool. Like, you know, like awesome. Like, which.

A (77:39)

Which I wasn't used to. Yeah, I know. I mean, a lot of people that walk through those doors were here to see Brent. They were like. It was like seeing Matthew McConaughey on set. Like, I. That they talked to me. But then they would follow Brent around the studio, and I'm like, damn, dude. This dude's like, straight up just fanboying out. Which is fine. I get it. You know, they were nice to me, but at the end of the day, they were not there to be part of the brotherhood because we really didn't have one made. I unknowingly had kind of with the squat. Well, that was the whole point of squad cast.

C (78:11)

Yes, for the boys and.

A (78:12)

But I saw Anti Hero was taken off in a really, really negative, appease the masses trajectory, and I hated it. I hated every second of it. And so that it was really refreshing to. To make it more about the boys again.

C (78:31)

Yeah, that was. That's my favorite part of everything about the Thursday lives. And, you know, I think I came back. I think I had to run to Miami. I was to going talking to a girl down here, all kinds of. So I might have been doing it. I don't know what it was for, but I was coming through again. And I just hit you up. You're like, yeah, man. Come through like, hell yeah. Like, you know, and I think you guys offered me a seat that night. Maybe it was the third time, I don't know. But long story short, you know, Brent was gone, and I, you know, it didn't like, it was the same energy for you guys, right? Like, come on through, you know, and I had more fun. The, like, as I came back, I had more fun. You know what I mean? So being welcomed and appreciated, not on any official business level, not on, hey, I want to manage you guys, or I want to be a position or anything, just to be appreciated and welcomed. Not as you could do something for me in the entertainment industry, but as, like, you served, bro. You're pretty cool. Like, we could, you know, we could tolerate you being around, I guess, like, come on through. And that's where it hit me. Like, now this is real. These guys are for real. They actually care about this community and want to build something for this community. And that, to me, is so rare in entertainment. I could probably name on. You could probably cut three fingers off my hand. I can still name on one hand where I found that elsewhere. So that's to Me really special. And I think there's a shitload of potential in what we're all doing together collectively. And, and I'm here for it, you know, I'm here to help build it. So that's what brought me into it, man. And it. And it has helped me feel closer to my service again, feel closer to the Marine Corps, but not just the Marine Corps, but all of us who served during or participated in the gwa, right? And you know, as I was listening to Anti Hero, right, One of my favorite ones was the Pat Tillman. Because I think, you know, I was like 10, I'm a big football fan. I remember when Pat Tillman went and served and I didn't know, you know, I never looked into it. I didn't know what the hell happened. So I'm listening to these episodes too and you know, doing other. Just looking back and thinking back even on my time in Afghanistan and stuff and what was going on, you know, in 2011. And it was, it was, it just like kind of hit me like, wow. I think a lot of GWAT veterans are in a space where, you know, we had to pull out in 2021. I think that's where, that's where it hit me. I think it made me start thinking about things even though it took me years to really dive in. But, you know, we're all asking questions about why the did we do what we did? Why did certain, you know, why did certain levels of engagement change, right?

A (81:19)

Like, yeah, yeah.

C (81:19)

Like, you know, and then you have the Internet, right, Where no matter what, people are gonna go on little comments and, and be like, you guys did for nothing or use for Israel or whatever the. And it's like, no, dude, dude, it's. It's at the end of the day for the boys, right? You get over there, you gung ho Rambo. And then happens and you're like, this sucks. I want to go home. And then you look to your left, right, and you're like, well, dude, the guy jacking off next to me every day, Yeah, I want him to come home too.

A (81:51)

That's not me, by the way.

B (81:54)

I mean, like, I. I'm looking over at Tyler and. And this is the fourth time. No, man, like the platoon. External hard drive.

A (82:04)

Dude.

C (82:04)

We had a dude.

A (82:05)

We had a dude that would build his. What would we call him? I don't know, Jimmy Jack. We were in a blown out building, but somehow we had like a lot of bunk bed frames and we found some mattresses. So we built like. And he had his Lit. He was on the bottom shelf, dude. I remember my buddy opened it up and he had. He was putting hand sanitizer in his. When he was driving.

C (82:25)

That's crazy, dude.

A (82:27)

He was a weird dude, though.

C (82:28)

That's.

A (82:28)

That's in a room full of, like, 13 dudes. So he thought, like, poncho was enough to.

C (82:35)

Yeah, I remember that. People hanging up the poncho liners. And.

A (82:40)

Before I Forget, Joe Saunders. $5. Said. Honest question. So the music industry is and is a emotional and financial roller coaster. I know from experience how the Marines can be much of the.

C (82:52)

The same. Yeah, there's a lot of similarities that I find between military service in the industry and even fitness in the industry. But, yeah, it's a. It's an emotional and financial roller coaster for sure. On every single level. Because you got to think about it, for one thing. Artists, I don't care how much money they make, they sign a label deal. They have to recoup. So we'll put it like this. If I sign an artist to a label and I, let's just say, give them a million dollars, here's an advance. You owe me one album, right? That million dollars is recoupable. But then on top of that, you're gonna have to have some sort of marketing budget and other things, right? So let's just say at the end of the day, you might owe one and a half mil. That's recoupable. So that artist has a million dollars tangibly in his hand. But if that album doesn't sell and recoup that money, there's issues you can buy out, but then there's like an extra, usually 10 to, I don't know, anywhere 10 to 20%. That adds on to it. So that's where things get weird because, you know, the. Whoever's in charge, if you're working with an artist, right, like you're managing them or doing whatever, you're on their team, you know, they're paying you, maybe, but that's money that's in their mind is like. I mean, there's. There's all kinds of. Man, there's. There's hustles. There's guys that'll walk artists through deals, get them. Get them deals, get them signed. They'll pocket 20. Say the artist gets 10, just for math, $10,000. I. You know, the guy's getting 2,000, and then they're like, peace, dude. Like you. And then they dip. And the artist still has to recoup that 2000. That guy just walked off of 2000. And deservingly, you know, it's agreed on, but now the artist is left with no help and doesn't know how to recoup. They don't get the numbers they need. The label shelves them, writes them off.

A (84:38)

Is it on?

C (84:38)

It can be difficult.

A (84:39)

Is it on the artist to just ensure that they have someone like you with them. So you can say, we need to hire this person. We need to do this because as an artist or a creator, as knuckleheads like us, as Jimmy put it, but it's smart. We don't know what we need. So the first thing ever, when you're doing something and you're seeing some success, I would advise you get someone like Matt because Matt can tell you you don't need to hire this person. You don't need to hire there. We do need to hire this. We do need to pay for this. We do need to like you get an extra chunk of change. Hey, we all want to, we all want to take this payout. Like I would. Hold on. That we've been talking about needing to do this. Now you have that extra chunk of change. You know what I'm saying?

C (85:21)

Yeah. I would say this especially in entertainment. Nothing is cookie cutter. So there's like nothing that I think is applicable across the board in any facet. And there's so much nuance to this that it's crazy. So. But, but I will say it is probably more important initially if you're an artist and you're putting out music and you have any sort of setup, do a little research on your own first. Right? Do the smart things. Right? What is a pro? What is a performance? Right. Organization, ascap, bmi, register with that. Then look into sound exchange, look into the MLC for publishing. Get set up. Those are things you can do yourself. They don't cost money. You should know how to register your music. But there are people like myself, like my good friend Sophie, like other people that we do consultations. Yes. It costs my consultations to 250 bucks though. I. I just wrote a freaking label not infrastructure audit for an artist literally this morning. And you know, I applauded him for knowing like he didn't get management too early. Because, you know, some artists feel like getting a manager is like awesome, but if they don't have any motion or they're not making money, the manager is not going to make money, right? Because he's going to make a commission or they're going to pay him monthly on a retainer. There's nothing wrong with that in my opinion, if the situation fits. But now you're just drowning yourself because you're kicking this guy whatever amount of money per month when you should be reinvesting that into yourself. So, like, I like to start artists off when they're talking about, like, I have no money. Can you save $5 a week and put that towards music? Let's just get the habit started and we could scale that upward, but I don't care. 50 cents, dude. Like, you can't tell me that you can't do that. So I. I mean, yeah. So, like, yes, management's important. Having someone that can help guide. I consider myself an infrastructure architect when it comes to music. I got wrongly labeled a manager in A R for a log part of my career. What happens with that is other managers in A R think you're coming for their job, and I don't do. I don't want to do most of that. Management, to me is a very personal relationship. It's. It's important. You need to be like brothers. I say this for, you know, artists I currently manage an artist that even I have literally walked away from managing that I still am in touch with and still helping because I realized me as a manager is not going to work for this. But I love you, man. I believe in you. You know, let's figure out another way to. To make happen. So, yeah, it. I think it's important first do your research on what the basics are of what you need. That goes for. I don't care if you're podcasting anything. What are the basics? How do I monetize on a baseline level and at least build some sort of platform and then start seeking out people that are, you know, I guess experts in the industry. Consult with them. Like, if. I mean, and this is the thing, like, there's so many people. But if you, like, always trust your inner authority. That's your. You know, my. To me, that's. That's gut instinct. If you. If it feels off, if the conversation. Even if you paid for it, the consultation feels off. Take the notes that you think are applicable and then don't go down that road with that person if they're trying to hook you into.

A (88:42)

That's.

C (88:42)

You got to pay me, man. Okay, we're gonna get off this call retainer then.

A (88:47)

True. Like a consultation is free info for you.

C (88:49)

So you take it.

A (88:50)

You take it. I don't think it's gonna. You now you have all that info to go to another consultation.

C (88:54)

Yes. And go. Yeah.

A (88:55)

Oh, wow. This is different than this.

C (88:57)

Exactly, exactly. I mean, and, and you're not gonna pay so much money where you're broke, man. Like, I mean, the, there's people out there that are very effective that I work with. They charge 500. Waka Flocka told me, Charge 500, but I charge 250. And, you know, they charge 500. Some charge like a thousand because they're, you know, just bigger names in the game or they have more experience. But at the end of the day, just find someone that resonates with you. If their content or their demeanor resonates with you, you feel like, I feel good about this person. And you can afford the consultation. That's probably the first step that I would recommend as far as spending money on a, On a, you know, strategist or manager. If you're making a ton of money, though, if you're signing a deal, if there's paperwork involved where there's, you're getting compensated, but you have to do X, Y, and Z. That's when it's a little more important to get the consultation and find representation.

A (89:50)

Matt.

C (89:51)

Yeah.

B (89:51)

You're, you're going too deep, brother. You're giving away all of your good stuff. You need to hold on to that. Okay. Like, Matt, look, if you learn anything, it's that Matt is really smart.

C (90:02)

Smart.

A (90:03)

Yeah. He is, right? Really talented.

B (90:04)

You know, we gotta, we gotta keep it. Yeah.

A (90:08)

It's nice to have you as part of the team because you're, like, you nailed it. You're. You're one of the boys. Like, you're, you're, like, you're, you're one of us four now. Everybody's got their roles. And you, you can tell when we talk to you that you have nine, 10 years experience. Just doing this because it rolls like we're trying to write down words. When you say them, we don't really know what the hell you're talking about.

C (90:29)

Yeah, but buzzwords.

A (90:30)

I've learned a lot in, like, working with you, Mike. How long we work with, like, a month?

D (90:35)

Yeah, just under two months when he, when he came around more full time.

A (90:40)

And we've learned so much.

C (90:42)

So good, man.

A (90:44)

It's awesome. And what. So as far as Jimmy, do you want to do your thing today or do you want to wait until tomorrow? It's up to you. We need it.

B (90:54)

This is about Matt today. I, I, but, you know, I don't really care about that. We could do that tomorrow when we have time. This is a matte day, and I, I want to make it very much like this. Is why, you know, Matt is here and he's. God, he's so smart.

A (91:11)

Yeah, dude. And we're gonna. We're gonna be. He's just gonna be. I mean, I'm excited that we don't have a manager or strategist that's, you know, out in California that we meet with once a week. And, you know, they do. They put us on the back burner because they know we're new. They know we don't have any expectations. We don't know what to expect, and they just kind of give us the general thing, and then they go work with the more artists that pay them the most. Matt's here a lot. You don't even see that he's here. He's here a lot. He. You know, we ask him to sit on the night shift to. To kind of like have that. That smoke pit vibe when we're out there. But, you know, it's. It's cool that you're here. You hang around, you come to meetings. You.

C (91:52)

You know, I'm invested, man. And a big reason why I'm invested that I really want to say is how you guys, man, it has been kind of like a mind in a good way, because my experience in. In rap and entertainment has been so. I mean, I don't want to make it sound so negative, but it's just, you know, it's a lot of, like, you. You feel like you got to work harder and harder to get a more of appreciation. You're not appreciated.

A (92:20)

The.

C (92:20)

The better work you do, other people on those teams will try to phase you out. They'll make up narratives. It's just hard to feel accepted. That was my hardest thing with hip hop still to this day, is feeling accepted. You guys embrace me. You guys build me up, and you guys also listen and respect what I have to say. But it's not just that. It's. It's the fact that you guys have welcomed me in as a brother, and that means much, man. You know, across the board, man, that. That means a lot. And that just motivates me to just go all in with this stuff. And it's crazy how things work out, right? I was already planning on moving to Orlando before I even really knew what this show was. Oh, I know. You know, I got family in Tampa and Jacksonville. It's the middle. The middle ground. And I used to live here before, and I got friends here, so it's just funny how it works, right? Like, you know, to me, that's. That's where God comes in And I think, think, you know, that that's another thing I. I started going back to is, you know, my spiritual health as well in the last. I'd say, like six months. Really. And I gotta say, like, that I just look back at a lot of things, like, you know, that that's God, man. And a lot of them are lessons learned. And I think I. I learned all these lessons and then found this opportunity. And you guys are the ones that brought me in. You know, at the end of the day, like, I didn't really pitch y' all when we.

B (93:47)

When you and me talked. Right, right, You. You talked about. And I don't want you to go too deep into it, like, go as far as you want to go. But, like, you were like, dude, I had to get out of Atlanta, and you got. You got here and it was like God just lined everything up for you. So expound on that.

C (94:06)

Well, yeah, I mean, you. I mean, I don't know how much detail I could even go in other than, yeah, man, Like. Like, I just. I realized just. I had to get out of Atlanta, right, And just kind of breathe, I guess. And, you know, part of that whole going to therapy, freaking, working out, stopping drinking, you know, it just gave me clarity at the end of the day. So, you know, I. I got clarity and I started thinking about, instead of living for external validation like I had been doing in music, like, hey, look at me, look, I got Balenciaga on, or I'm with this artist or I'm at this spot or whatever the. You know, instead of that, let me just chase alignment. Let me, you know, I figured out who I am, what I represent, why I am, how I am, and fix certain things about myself to hopefully make myself a better human being. And then, you know, now seek like minded individuals that are going to see that in me and not only give me opportunity, but, like, celebrate that. And I found that here a hundred percent. Like, you guys didn't have to offer me a chair. And honestly, most of the time I would have, I swear to God, turned it down, but I felt comfortable with y', all, and that's why I'm doing this now, dude. Like, I don't do this. And that's just a level of comfort being around you guys, man.

B (95:29)

Well, when I. When I first started talking to you, you were like, hey, my bro's here. It just happened to be that way. He just happened to have this thing happen in his life that allowed me to. To slide in with him. And he lives this far, like, you know, that whole story of when you move to Orlando and how it just all sort of aligned. Yeah, I. I love that story, and I want you to tell it.

A (95:56)

That was Jimmy's second attempt to get.

C (95:58)

It out of you.

B (95:59)

Yeah. Wrecked now.

C (96:03)

I mean, it just. Yeah. I mean, do you want me to just go by the story of it, like, simple, man? I was thinking about moving back to Florida. Didn't want to go back to Sarasota. I hate Sarasota. I just don't want to live there. Tampa. Wasn't too sure about my buddy, you know, had. You know, who cares, right? He got divorced, and he hit me, like, hey, I'm back in Orlando, dude. You know, it's funny. Like, he went to college here, and I lived here when he was going to college here. We've been friends for 20 years, and I would go and stay at his place when I'd come down here and stop through Orlando, you know, so, like, if I was going to Miami a couple times, I come back, I go through Orlando, come over here on a Thursday night, I crash over at his pad and then just do whatever the next day. And it just kind of hit me, like, well, I might as well make this move. So I actually moved back to Sarasota for a little bit. I had just family things going on that I had to be there for. I'm not gonna go in detail on that. But that settled down, and I just kind of realized, like, what am I still doing here? And I came up here and, you know, I. Just. Crashing with my buddy, and, you know, we're. You know, we'll figure that out. But, yeah, I mean, I don't know what else to really say about that. It just. It just lined up. It's. You know, and you look back now and. Or I look back now, and, I mean, everything happens for a reason, man. Everything good and bad. And as long as you can reflect on it and take the lessons and apply them in real time or to future endeavors, you know, that that's where I believe God has a say in all of this, right? I'm a little weird with. I'm a nerd with God and stuff. I love quantum physics and, like, all those laws of the universe. So, like, I kind of fold God into that in a way. But, you know, at the end of the day, dude, I feel like, you know, we're all conscious beings, and our consciousness is a weird connection to God, and I feel like, like God's gonna give you certain visions or thoughts, and it's just on you to to absorb them and act on them. And I can say this a hundred percent. The more I've worked on myself and learned to love myself and be better with myself and establish boundaries and all that, the. The more I felt closer to God and the more things have just came in, and that includes you guys, dude. So I'm just really grateful for it, and it's just good to be here. And I'm excited, man, for the journey we're on and for building this into what Tyler originally envisioned it to be, and. You know what I mean? And. And just. And just going with it, man. It's gonna. You know, it's. It's gonna be slow roll, gonna be hard at times, People gonna argue, things are gonna fall apart. It. But as long as the core is there, it'll always. You know, the foundation, it. It'll all. We can always build it back up, man. And I don't think we're on a trajectory where we have to even think like that. I think it's just slow and steady wins the race at this point. And we'll get there. You just wake up one day sometimes in this, and it's like, wow. It all came together, dude. Wow. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

B (99:08)

Here's the thing, everybody that's normally on the show, Mike has a story, Tyler has a story. I have a story of the first time you realize that, like, oh, Matt's awesome. Matt's awesome.

A (99:24)

Like.

B (99:24)

Like, this is a guy I want in my. Like, not just in my professional life, but in my personal life. I want this, dude. Every single one of us have that story, right? Am I wrong here?

A (99:35)

No. Yeah, it's perfect. That's why it's. I don't really know without the personal connection. Dude, if we would have made a job, I really don't. I don't think we would have. Even if we needed to, we wouldn't have made the jump to bring on an outsider because we were just so, like. I mean, we're going five days a week now, and we're just. We're full send with our eyes closed. Yeah. And we're like. We're. We're live on X now. At. Where. I mean, like. Like, it's showing the. It's showing the. It's double what it's showing on YouTube. So only YouTube can see, like, X amount of people are watching. But then on X. X, it's double what the YouTube watches.

C (100:10)

Oh, yeah.

A (100:11)

It's our first time on X. No, we people are like, you should stream on X. And I was like, oh, yeah, well, if you could get on X, you can get it on YouTube, but a lot of people trust X. They don't trust YouTube, so that's pretty cool.

C (100:23)

Diversifying the portfolio, man. Yeah. And two, like, it's your baby, right? Like, you had a vision. You set out to create. Make it something tangible. You created something, right. You're gonna be protective over that. It's. That's completely understandable. So when you have, like, an outsider, someone that wasn't in there, you don't know him personally coming in, like, hey, you know, I can do X, Y and Z. Or have you thought about this? Or this might help.

A (100:52)

It's gonna sound corny.

C (100:53)

It can be weird.

A (100:53)

Check this out, right? So me and Mike are the grunts in the foxhole.

C (100:56)

Yeah.

A (100:57)

Fighting. We need specific. Like, we needed something more. We needed more precision, more accuracy in our info.

C (101:03)

Yeah.

A (101:04)

In comes Jimmy the sniper with his parachute, even though he wasn't airborne. Accurate informational, like jabs that, you know, we have something we're going to cover tomorrow where somebody who thought maybe they were a little bit more.

B (101:18)

They thought they were smarter than us.

A (101:21)

It's actually. It's gonna. It's very verifiable that. That person anyways. So, Jimmy. And then here comes you, The.

C (101:28)

The.

A (101:29)

The guy connecting us, the comms, connecting us to the rest of the world. Like, yeah, you guys need more support. You guys need. There's my little military tie in. Everybody with all of our occupations.

C (101:40)

Perfect.

B (101:41)

Yeah. I mean, man, I. I love. I. I love. There's only one job I loved more than this, and that is, you know, being in the infantry. And. And, you know, it's sort of analogous to the same thing. I loved that job because I loved the people that I worked with. I loved. I loved those dudes. I really did. And. And that is why I enjoy doing what I'm doing right now. I'm sure that Tyler and Mike can, you know, talk about the same things. Like, I just. This was. This was where I wanted to be. And so when Matt came in, it was like, like, oh, this is a. This is our guy. He's our guy. Like, what? Like, why are we not. Like, am I, you know, am I crazy? I think I feel like he's our guy. And it was very evident, without any conversation between Mike and Tyler and myself, it was like, oh, yeah, Matt. Matt's the man.

A (102:38)

So.

C (102:40)

Thank you, man. Yeah, I think when it's organic, it. It's always better. You know, I'm a big believer in that. Even in the Music industry, especially when it comes to being a managerial type of situation or I mean, even what I do now, if I can't gel with the person, if we're not seeing eye to eye, if our vision, you know, alignment, right? Like I'm not, you know, I've turned down clients right now. Right now I'm trying to make as much money as possible and there's certain clients that hit me up and I do a little intake on them and I'm just like, you know what, man, this is not gonna align correctly. I can give you references if you want to try someone in my work, but it's just not going to work with me. I think that's really important, especially in entertainment because when things behind the scenes are chaotic or people don't like each other's CI to whatever the hell, right? When it's not organic is my point. That does start to bleed into the product over time and if they're not addressed and things like that, then it can, it can do it. So I, I, you know, I appreciate that, man. That was, that was really important for me, especially on this side of things, you know, with rap and I can play the game all day and put the face on and you know, whatever, but with this, this is a lot more personal for me. So it was really important to me that we could gel as people before anything like business wise or whatever the hell, you know, happened. Like, that was super important and I felt welcomed by all of you guys. Mike, you, Tyler, from day one, you.

A (104:16)

Know, so when you, when you say when you were in the, the, when the rap industry and you, you put the face on, what face did you put on?

C (104:24)

I mean, there's obviously people that I am close with that I love as family in that world.

A (104:29)

So you didn't do blackface?

C (104:30)

Hell go, They would have smoked my ass, man. There's no way.

B (104:39)

So what, what do you, what are you most looking forward to? Or like what, what, what's your strategic vision for where we're all going?

A (104:50)

I think we still have to have that meeting we haven't even talked about.

C (104:54)

Yeah, that's the roadmap meeting, Jimmy. That's tomorrow, man.

B (104:57)

Oh, my bad, my bad.

C (104:59)

I mean, really, man, like it's not a crazy industry answer to that. It's pretty straightforward. Like my goal is to enhance Tyler and Mike's vision of what this is, what anti hero is and every other, I guess what, you know, expansion of that branding exists. Right? So like for you, Jimmy, with Shadowcast and stuff, like it's Just helping your visions, helping enhance your visions and be like, help you get to a point where you don't have to do anything else but make that vision happen, if that makes sense.

A (105:38)

So I'm, I'm.

B (105:40)

I'm unconcerned about me like, right, because the main effort is. Is the anti hero broadcast. Right? Because like when the antihero broadcast goes up like everybody else.

C (105:52)

Yeah, yeah.

A (105:53)

I was explaining. I was explaining to. Was it, Was it. Were you here? I was explaining. No, it was on the show. I was like a lot of people kind of when they get into what we're doing, they're like anti hair broadcast with counterculture. I'm like, all right, hold on. The easiest way to explain express this. Yeah, Counterculture is G unit. Anti Air is 50 Cent. Like Antire obviously is a little bit more up there than all the shows on counterculture, including all of our other shows. But they're Anti hair is the ones breaking through. And then once, you know, we can turn around and give back to all the people. Donut Shop, you know, our individual podcast, unfiltered on phase. You know, we have Counterculture Network. It has a lot of good shows on it and they, you know, they're extremely underfunded. And so that's our goal is to, to get some recognition to those shows. Those people help us out tremendously. They don't ask for a dime. And so there are back in their support. And then of course the 99.

C (106:52)

Hell yeah.

A (106:53)

Self proclaimed. That was made in the chats. We didn't make it for him. There's a 99 Instagram page.

C (106:58)

Page.

A (106:58)

There's a 99 Facebook group and of course there's our Patreon that, that obviously it's grown since Tuesday. A lot of people are intrigued what we had to say. We did a lot of talking on that show. So precision. Oh, what did it say? I missed it. Awesome. Y' all are doing good work. Keep it up. Yep.

C (107:18)

Thank you.

A (107:19)

So we got a lot of supporters, a lot of listeners. What's Lloyd Bank? Who's Lloyd Bank?

C (107:24)

Lloyd Banks, man. G un it. As long as you ain't young Buck, man, you're good. I only know 50 cent or game, but I love Game though.

A (107:34)

That's our show, man. Where can everybody. I obviously work. You have a couple different. We didn't even get into your fitness stuff, but let's talk. Let's recap that real quick.

C (107:44)

What fitness?

A (107:45)

Yeah, like what you plan on doing what you're able to offer.

C (107:47)

Yeah. So I created it kind of as like a culture builder. I did pro minded for the, the music and entertainment stuff. That's just me giving out, you know, real things. Another thing about me I didn't even mention was that makes me unique in the music world is, you know, I was actually a junior agent with Central Entertainment Group. I was hired on. I didn't go to college for that. I just did good work and they saw me, my senior agent at the time and, you know, gave me an opportunity and I learned a lot of real industry from that experience stuff. You're not gonna learn from doing the music because it's, it's built to keep that from you. Right. And so pro minded is that it's infrastructure. It's things that you probably, if you're an artist, you've probably heard some douchebag in a suit say it like world building. But what the is world building? Oh, your fan funnel. What is a fan funnel? You know, all that kind of stuff. So I break that stuff down there. I also have pro minded performance. That's my raw gym videos and I, I like to give, you know, fatigue management sleep. I like to highlight all the things that, that changed the game for me. In fitness. We all know go to the gym, lift heavy, eat a lot and you know, whatever. Right. But we don't know how the body works on a scientific level. So that's where pro minor performance comes in. And I will hopefully soon be, you know, getting certified as a trainer and nutrition coach. I'm working a coach. I'm working on that now. So I will be looking to do some online coaching and things like that that in person, even better if you're in central Florida. So that, that's where I'm going with fitness. And then my goal, as long as I don't get hurt, is to compete. I want to compete. I'm training to get to certain spots where I feel comfortable going back into competition and that probably just a local federation or something. Nothing crazy. Just see where I stand. And I want to do strong man. So I gotta find a strong man. Jim Gym. But that's kind of my, my goal with the fitness stuff.

A (109:46)

All right. So if anybody out there is looking for representation in the media side, I mean, obviously you're, it's, you've opened up, up a lane for podcasts.

C (109:57)

Yeah.

A (109:57)

You know, just because it's very, it's very apparent that in the podcast industry it's very raw, it's untapped, it's unregulated. So we fell victim to that. That no More. If you need representation, if you need growth, strategy, match your man. And if you need a dude to just hang out with, he's also really cool. So.

C (110:18)

Thank you.

D (110:19)

My microphone. My microphone worked. Just everybody else. And Matt, I, you know, I stayed very quiet on this episode, honestly, because I think the world of you and what you've brought to us. So I think it's about you, and this episode was about you. And.

C (110:31)

Thank you.

D (110:32)

I'm a vibe guy, and I'm a. I'm a atmosphere guy, and. And since the changing of all this from where it was a year ago to where it is now, I'd like to. You know, that is. That is what makes me most excited about having you, Jimmy, Tyler, and I together just. I enjoy walking into the building. I enjoy being around you guys. I enjoy the mind and the vision you have. Listening to you on the two phone calls about the marketing strategy shows that you're in it for the right reasons. And I've learned and been burned by many, many people throughout my life. And when you get around people that have that same connection and it doesn't have to be talked about, we don't have to sit there and tell each other how great, you know, we like each other, you just kind of get in the room with everybody and it all kind of goes together. And that's how I feel that this group has come together. And I really appreciate you bringing your talent to us and wanting to work with us, and I look forward to it more than you can ever.

C (111:21)

Thank you, man. Absolutely. Likewise there. And I did want to just throw something else out there just to add on what Tyler said. Even if you're not looking for representation, even if you're just looking to be pointed in the right direction. And Jimmy, dude, you're to going. Going crazy looking like scarf because we.

B (111:42)

Were coming to an end. I was like, all right, I gotta make it funny.

C (111:45)

Wait, what is it?

A (111:46)

Because you are eating it.

B (111:48)

It's powdered sugar.

D (111:51)

And something for tomorrow's show. Before we get too far, Jimmy, research the U. S. Marshals or. I'm sorry, the ICE was involved in a shooting in Minnesota that's developing right now.

B (111:59)

Oh, no, no.

D (112:01)

ICE agent shot. But Tim Walls got on, so. So tomorrow, that's probably going to be a hot topic.

B (112:06)

He's not running for re election, just so you know.

D (112:08)

But ICE was involved in some type of shooting in Minneapolis, and I'm curious.

B (112:11)

To see how the local government broadcast.

A (112:14)

Maybe. Maybe. All right.

B (112:16)

I was gonna go. Oh, sorry.

A (112:18)

Well, Matt. Matt was saying if you're not looking for representation.

C (112:21)

But yes, just real quick, you know, even if you're not looking for representation or not, sure, you can absolutely give me a follow. You can absolutely follow pro minded. It's a lot of stuff on there for artist, but it's interchangeable and I'll be getting more into podcasting stuff on that page as well. But shoot me a dm. We can do a consultation. If you're a veteran, I'll do a consultation with you for free. It might take me a little while to get to you because my schedule is crazy, but you can ask. One thing I pride myself on is, is always following up and just not leaving you on red. Just reach out to me and we can at least talk about things or I can at the very least give you a written out. Audit it. If you're a vet and you're trying to do something in entertainment, that's really serious to me and I have no problem giving you at least some pointers and helping at least send you off in the right direction. So I just want to make that clear. Follow me if you want or even just DM me. I'll get to it and we can have a conversation and see how to go from there. If you are looking for representation or like ongoing strategy and infrastructure, definitely reach out to me. That is 100 where I specialize in. I'm a long term guy. I don't like the whole just cookie cutter do this. You're going to find that a lot on your journey. But I try to make it to where at least you're not going to get tricked into spending your money. That's the most important thing to me.

A (113:45)

All right, Jimmy, I didn't mean to cut you off. What were you saying, bud?

B (113:48)

I, I, I can't remember. Oh, I was just gonna say like, if you guys had noticed, I was gonna do like the full on like Sauron white handprint on my face from Lord of the Rings just because we were coming to the end and I was like, okay, I've gotta, I've gotta make this as funny as I possibly can, man.

A (114:04)

But she ate it all instead.

B (114:06)

No, there's still plenty in there.

C (114:07)

Look. Still eating on the podcast, man.

B (114:11)

Hey, I didn't eat anything.

A (114:13)

Is this, hey, Mike, is this emergency broadcast worthy?

D (114:17)

It's kind of happened early earlier. I don't think it's emergency, bro. It's definitely something to talk about as it develops. There was a shooting. I'm interested to see how the local government is assisting or not assisting the feds in Minneapolis. No, nobody in the feds was shot. Shot, but somebody was shot during ice raid.

B (114:33)

Yeah, yeah. I mean, like, we're gonna have. I, I think that there's going to be some movement this Saturday or Sunday in Venezuela.

C (114:43)

What?

A (114:44)

I was reading the comments. Somebody said, sarge, I got fries.

C (114:49)

Yeah, man, what is it?

B (114:52)

Fries and nuggies. Shakedown. Instead of Jimmy was the guy with.

A (114:57)

Skittles in his butt stock. Mike had an M16. He doesn't know what that is, but it's okay. What were you saying, Jimmy?

D (115:07)

Oh, blackout and swat.

B (115:12)

I, I think, I think, I think we're gonna have, we're probably gonna have to be ready for an emergency broadcast this weekend because I think some things are going to happen very quickly in Venezuela over the weekend because it's, it's rampant up quick and, you know, just the way humans work. It's like, okay, it's Wednesday, probably by Saturday, this is gonna bust loose.

A (115:37)

Is it gonna happen at 2 in the morning on Sunday when I, I.

D (115:42)

I would think you won't answer if so me and Jimmy will be ready if, if.

B (115:46)

I think what's probably gonna happen is that there's probably going to be a massive protest on Friday against the current government in and into Friday night. And you guys know this. Like, as the night goes on, things start getting crazier and as it, the energy builds like it gets worse and worse and worse.

D (116:05)

So yeah, I got, I got Efren's care package. Gary, go out. So make sure you join our, our friend. I got, I got something for him too, right here.

A (116:16)

It's going out that he ordered like a million years ago.

D (116:20)

And I, I got stuff going out too. So join the Patreon. We're doing giveaways. We're keeping our, our people getting free. So that's part of the program.

A (116:28)

Give them back effort ever in your counterculture package has already gone out. It's out.

D (116:33)

Your cop. The one's going out today.

A (116:34)

Mine will beat it there.

D (116:36)

No, it won't. I overnighted it. Jimmy's driving it there. C4 and cocaine. Jimmy's getting there.

B (116:42)

Jimmy, Jimmy is sober as a judge these days. So, like the, the cocaine is a joke.

D (116:50)

Me and Matt are the sober ones of the group. And then we get the two alcoholics, so it's, it's.

A (116:55)

I enjoy a beer. Mike, let me enjoy it.

D (117:00)

Don't forget, you get tonight, 7pm tonight, 7pm Domizzo and Copville on Hot Topic live. Jimmy, are you going live tonight or you one more week.

B (117:10)

I'm gonna go live tonight.

A (117:13)

8 oh. Shadow cast going live.

D (117:15)

Okay, you'll have dom and myself, 7pm on counterculture. And Copville and Jimmy will come in right near the end. And we'll segue into the first ever live shadowcast broadcast tonight as well.

B (117:27)

That's right.

A (117:28)

All right.

C (117:28)

Hell, yeah.

A (117:30)

All right, guys, tune in those shows tonight and tomorrow. Anti Hero broadcast, 11:00am Eastern Standard Time, will be available on YouTube X and Facebook. So we'll see you then. Matt, thank you for joining us, giving.

C (117:43)

Us me guys, Max.

A (117:45)

Gotta get to the gym.

B (117:46)

Does my shirt look weird to you guys?

A (117:50)

It looks tight.

D (117:51)

Everything looks weird.

C (117:52)

Snazzy, bro.

A (118:05)

Sav team for life.