TCB Infomercial: Nicky Jam

Summary

The Commercial Break – TCB Infomercial: Nicky Jam

Podcast Hosts: Brian Greene & Chrissy Hoadley
Guest: Nicky Jam, reggaeton superstar
Release Date: September 10, 2024

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Episode Overview

This TCB Infomercial episode features international reggaeton superstar Nicky Jam in a candid, hilarious, and moving conversation with hosts Brian and Chrissy. The episode covers Nicky’s extraordinary journey from his early life in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico, his struggles with addiction, the rebirth of his career in Colombia, the honest truth behind his recent “retirement” rumors, and the upcoming album "Insomnia". Peppered with comedic asides, real talk about fame, family, trauma, recovery, and the healing (and unifying) power of music, it’s both an uplifting and brutally honest interview that showcases Nicky Jam’s humility, humor, and humanity.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. How Music and Reggaeton Entered Brian’s Life

• [02:06–11:11]

• Brian shares a personal story of traveling through Spain with his now-wife’s Venezuelan family, his first exposure to reggaeton, and how Nicky Jam’s music unified two very different families on their wedding dance floor.
• The “La Ora Loca” (the crazy hour) was a highlight:
  • “It was so much fun. You do the conga line. You know, everybody's dancing, and it doesn't matter who you are, your butt needs to be on the dance floor.” — Brian Greene [08:45]
• “Music is the international language of love, really.” — Chrissy Hoadley [10:10]
• Sets the emotional stage for how much Nicky’s music means in people’s lives, including Brian’s own.

2. Introducing Nicky Jam & His Humble Roots

• [12:36–14:27]

• The hosts gush about having Nicky on the show, with jokes about “insta respect” at Venezuelan family gatherings.
• Nicky quickly sets the tone by crediting his father for his humility, stressing:
  • “You can't really learn to be humble. It’s just what you are. If you're humble, you're humble. If not, you're not.” — Nicky Jam [14:00]

3. The Power of Vulnerability & Telling the Whole Story

• [15:27–18:08]

• Nicky opens up about embracing struggle as a source of strength, not shame.
• “Some people think that they know about you, but they don't really know about you....I'm not just the superstar with the Lamborghini...I came from starving. I came from packing groceries so I could...make $20 a day...I come from nothing.” — Nicky Jam [16:31–17:32]
• He underscores the importance of sharing the whole, unvarnished truth of his journey, including drug-addicted parents and growing up during the crack epidemic in Lawrence, MA.

4. The Move to Puerto Rico & Birth of a Reggaeton Star

• [18:53–24:16]

• Father flees pending charges and moves the family to Puerto Rico, which Nicky credits as life-changing.
• First taste of fame: discovered as a kid “freestyling with the groceries”—literally rapping about chicken, tomatoes, and ham for tips as he bagged groceries.
• “I came [to be] like a small celebrity. It was like, yo, you heard this kid, that he be, you know, rapping about the food." — Nicky Jam [20:56]
• The story of signing a predatory record contract as a 12-year-old and becoming a mixtape legend despite the setbacks.

5. Downward Spiral & Hitting Rock Bottom

• [25:41–34:10]

• Reflects on fast fame, rebellion, absence of his mother, life in the streets, and beginning of drug addiction.
• “I was a young kid, so I did a lot of bad things...I didn't care about living. Like, I didn't give a [expletive] about living. I would do anything.” — Nicky Jam [25:41]
• Partnership (and divergence) with Daddy Yankee: “Daddy Yankee tried everything in his power to make me a better person. But...you have a whole bunch of street kids next to you giving you the wrong message. There's no way you're going to listen to just one person… Sometimes you just gotta hit bottom.” — Nicky Jam [29:26–30:03]

6. The Remarkable Colombian Rebirth

• [34:11–41:29]

• Broke and barely holding on, Nicky takes a random booking for a show in Colombia, acting as his own manager.
  • “They were like, well, we want to do a show with Nicky Jam. I'm like, well, let me put my manager through—and I just changed my voice.” — Nicky Jam [31:14]
• Unexpectedly discovers his music is legendary in Colombia. The outpouring of love at a show for 50,000 people gives him a “phoenix” moment:
  • “When I come out and I feel all that love...I was singing my songs, and people—It was overwhelming.” — Nicky Jam [33:32]
• Stays in the country, loses 70 pounds, focuses on music—his track “El Perdón” (The Forgiveness) becomes a viral hit, igniting his comeback.

7. Lasting Struggles, Fame’s Double-Edged Sword, and Relentless Generosity

• [41:30–45:29]

• On fame: “When this fame pops up, you start enjoying it...there's nothing better than having, like, privacy...When you become that...[famous], that goes away...But do I enjoy being famous? Of course…I go out and I don't have a Mika line in a restaurant.” — Nicky Jam [42:16–42:51]
• On wealth: “Everybody looks at you like a money symbol.”
• On generosity: “If I have 20 friends, we all got motorcycles...I’m the type of guy that I would read DMs where people from Venezuela will tell me, Nicky, I don't have a fridge—and I will send money to that person to get a fridge...” [44:10-44:28]

8. Album “Insomnia,” Retirement Rumors & The Truth About Recovery

• [45:29–54:49]

• Nicky describes the darkness that inspired Insomnia, confronting both substance abuse and depression:
  • “The problem with alcohol is it's so legal that...you don't even think that you're doing drugs. And it's everywhere you go.” — Nicky Jam [46:09]
  • “So dark of a place that I even thought about retiring...But I'm not really retired. That was just me...depressed, and that's what alcohol does.” [47:44–48:14]
• Newsflash: “I am not retiring. So that's one thing. And this is the first place I'm saying this.” — Nicky Jam [52:02]
• On honest storytelling in music:
  • “That's what music is for. It doesn't all have to be 'I love you, you love me'...I think it's one of the best albums that I’ve done because I sat down with this album with so much passion...” — Nicky Jam [52:56–53:25]
• On mental health, trauma, and why weed is helpful:
  • “I struggle every single day...I smoke weed now because of anxiety...I was going through alcohol a lot until the other day. I ain’t lying. I’m being 100 with you.” — Nicky Jam [51:32–51:44]
• “If you see where I'm from…and the people that got shot in the situation that I live, you would say, oh, this guy’s okay. He should have been worse.” [50:18]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On being humble:

  • “You can't really learn to be humble. It's just what you are. If you're humble, you're humble. If not, you're not.” — Nicky Jam [14:00]

• On sharing struggles:

  • “So life is too short to be an asshole.” — Nicky Jam [15:24]

• On being discovered:

  • "I used to freestyle with the groceries that I had...I would just freestyle about the food." — Nicky Jam [20:46]

• On rock bottom and self-awareness:

  • “You gotta hit bottom so you can learn, you know, and thank God...I became the human being that I am today...everything I am today.” — Nicky Jam [30:03]

• On generosity:

  • “Millions of dollars that I've spent...helping people. And I have, like. I'm the type of guy that if I have 20 friends, we all got motorcycles and we all go out on motorcycles. I'm not gonna leave one. None of my friends without motorcycles.” — Nicky Jam [44:10-44:27]

• On the new album:

  • “This album is called Insomnia because it represents all these dark moments in me. But still the music is amazing. Because the reality of everything is, sometimes being in the worst situations comes the best music.” — Nicky Jam [52:02–52:30]

• Breaking news:

  • “I am not retiring. So that's, that's one thing. And this is the first place I'm saying this.” — Nicky Jam [52:02]
  • Brian: “News flash, which we never get. Breaking news first. News flash. He's not retiring.” [56:01]

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Important Timestamps

• [02:06] – Brian’s introduction to reggaeton & family story
• [13:34] – Nicky on humility, learning from his father
• [16:31] – Sharing about addiction, starting from nothing
• [18:53] – Why Nicky moved to Puerto Rico, early break
• [20:46] – Grocery store freestyling, early fame
• [25:41] – Street life, beginnings of drug problems
• [29:26] – Daddy Yankee’s attempts to help
• [33:32] – Rebirth in Colombia, “Phoenix moment”
• [44:10] – On his generosity, helping strangers
• [46:06] – Alcohol struggles, descent into darkness
• [52:02] – Nicky sets retirement rumors straight
• [54:25] – Brian thanks Nicky for uniting families with music

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Closing Thoughts

Brian and Chrissy express awe at Nicky’s honesty and generosity:

• “How honest could someone be? I mean, yeah, I was struggling with alcohol there for a minute, and out of it came this album and news flash, which we never get. Breaking news first. News flash. He’s not retiring.” — Brian [56:01]
• “You may not be into reggaeton...but Nicky Jam is a fascinating human being. And I think my personal opinion is he is really changing the narrative by sharing his story.” — Brian [57:06]

The episode closes on a heartfelt note, crediting the healing, uniting power of music, and the importance of men sharing their emotional struggles. They urge listeners to check out Nicky Jam’s new album, reassure fans he’s not retiring, and give thanks for a genuinely illuminating conversation.

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Recommended Next Steps:

• Listen to Nicky's new album Insomnia for the raw, personal stories referenced
• Follow @nickyjam on Instagram to support him
• Check out The Commercial Break’s social channels for more episodes and live show info

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Transcript

[Nicky Jam]

Oh, come on, Justin. Sing Animal offended. Oh, we love you, Justin. On this episode of the commercial break, I used to freestyle with the groceries that I had. You know what I'm saying?

[Brian Greene]

Were you talking about, like, the chicken?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah. The tomatoes and the things.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah. This is Mickey Jaron. You know, I don't play, though, but, you know, we got the sauce with the tomatoes. The next episode of the commercial break starts now.

[Brian Greene]

2:30 in the morning. Yeah. Cats and kittens, welcome back to the commercial break. I'm Brian Greene. This is my sister from another, Mr. Kristen Joy Hoadley. Best to you, Chrissy.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Best to you, Brian.

[Brian Greene]

Best to you out there in the podcast universe. Delay not. Because today is a very special day here at the commercial break.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yes, it is.

[Brian Greene]

We have an infomercial unlike any other, or at least we hope it's going to be like any other. Nicky Jam, international crossover reggaeton artist.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Star, star.

[Brian Greene]

The godfather of reggaeton. Some will call him. Me, I'll call him that. He is amazing. Like, the amount of musical influence that he's had, quite frankly, all over the world is too. Since the 90s. He's been doing this since he was like 13, 14 years old. His story is amazing. I'm not going to step on the story. I. I'll let. I'll let him tell it. Hopefully, hopefully we can convince him to talk about it. But Nicky Jam is really, quite frankly, a superstar, like in the upper echelon of superstars. And how he ended up here on the commercial break, I have no idea. But we are grateful to have his time. He's. I think he's being very gracious by.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Decreeing to come on the commercial break.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah. But we are very excited about this interview and so we do want to get to it relatively quickly. But I'll just share how I understand Nicky Jammer. My in might, I guess the way that Nikki Jam came into my life, how he came into my life. The story of our love. So the year is 2015, I think it is, and Astrid and I have just started dating and I am going to Spain for the first time to see her outside of the United States. And so I fly into Spain and.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

They let you in?

[Brian Greene]

They let me in. I can't. I don't know that they'll still let me in, but they let me in then.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That was a good first step.

[Brian Greene]

Well, now I've got. Now I might have Nicky Jam on my.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, that's right.

[Brian Greene]

Rolodex. So I think they have to let me in now. And so we go to stay with her uncle who lives there, her uncle and her aunt who live there. And unbeknownst to me, they have planned this 10 or 11 day road trip around Spain. We are going to go all around Spain. We're going to drive the entirety of Spain. We're going to have like one big circle and get back to Madrid, right? And one of the places we're going to stay in all these castles that have been renovated into hotels like castles owned by the government, then taken over, then managed by a hotel company. It was an amazing trip. I'll never forget it. Best of my life. One of the best of my life. But one of the places we are going to stop outside of the whole castle thing is we're going to stop in the Pyrenees mountains one night. And I think I've told this story about how we were driving in the middle of the night to get to this hotel at this ski resort and we were like literally out of the movie on the side of a cliff, it's snowing. I'm driving in a new country, you know, it's just like it's craziness. And right as it's one of those roads where you're driving and if you misstep by two feet off the cliff you are going 180 meters down. Right. It's very scary. Yeah, I was like glued to the windshield just watching. Anyway, that's not the point of the story.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Of course it isn't.

[Brian Greene]

We get to this hotel. It's beautiful. It's lovely. We're there on the 30th of December and on the 31st, my uncle and Astrid have planned and my aunt have planned the night and they have gotten tickets to this hotel. New Year's Eve party in this beautiful hotel that we're staying at that this is the place where I played the piano for my in laws. And they quickly learned that I am not a Nicky Jam. I'm far from Nicky Jam.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Don't you do Guns and Roses?

[Brian Greene]

I'm not even the. No, I did. I did Motley Crue, Home sweet home for 12 minutes and then some 14 year old kid got up and did like Beethoven's Ninth, all parts. He had five hands. I didn't, I couldn't even. I was so embarrassed. But I was pressured into it because of course I told him I was a musician. And that was a total, not a total lie, but definitely a white lie. So anyway, so we all get dressed up. I've brought a astro, told me to bring a suit for the occasion. I Do. Everyone's just lovely. We get down to this hotel party. It's one of those things where you have dinner and then you go into the ballroom that's overlooking the Pyrenees mountains. It's just. It's like a scene out of a movie. It's unbelievable. And then they have a DJ and then the champagne and the whole nine yards. And you toast and you eat your grapes and you do the whole nine yards. So the DJ starts the night off pretty like what you would expect being very close to France. Right. You would expect, like a lot of French pop music and American pop music and, you know, some oldies, but some goodies and Frank Sinatra in there for good measure. Just kind of starts off that way. But as the clock ticks toward midnight, it gets more and more. The music gets more and more, like, rowdy. And after midnight, it becomes almost exclusively reggaeton, which at that time, I don't have a lot. I know what it is, but I don't have a lot of experience with it. Right. It's not something I had on in the car. And so, as if anybody puts radio.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

On in the car, anything. Like when your mom had. What was the soundtrack of the movie she.

[Brian Greene]

Phantom of the Opera. Yeah, Phantom of the Opera. That's right. That's right. I was listening to my Phantom of the Opera. And so they start playing this reggaeton. And my soon to be brothers in law are freaking out and they're dancing and I mean, they are good dancers because they are from Venezuela, where your hips are born moving. Like, they just know how to do it.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Exactly.

[Brian Greene]

And everybody is going crazy, like all ages. Everybody loves this music. And they're playing like 10, 15 songs in a row. Reggaeton. And were you dancing? I was trying to, but they were. It was not going well. It was just not going well for a white guy from Chicago. I was doing like a picture now. Yeah. I was doing like the noodle. Like the white man noodle, you know, waving my hands around, bouncing my butt up and down. My hips refused to move from side to side. You know how it goes.

[Christina]

Yes.

[Brian Greene]

So the. So the guys are trying to. Danny, Gustavo. They're trying to teach me how to do some of these moves they got. They're trying to teach me these steps. Right. And I'm. I'm kind of getting it, but not really. You know, there was a video, and I'm sure there is. It's embarrassing for everybody involved, but I said, you have to, like, this is. You know, some of these songs are great. What is this? And they Say the name Nikki Jam. Right? Daddy Yankee Nikki Jam. Nikki Jam. And I'm like, oh, okay. I know. Daddy Yankee Nikki Jam. Oh, curious. And they're like, he's huge. He's a huge star. And, you know, at the wedding, you got to play this song. You got to do this thing. And we hadn't even talked about. I mean, we. I don't even think we're engaged at that point, but there are. We're already talking about the wedding. And I say, listen, if we have a wedding, I'm paying you to dj, and I'm paying you to teach my. My white brethren how to dance, right? And it was a joke. It was like a running joke in the family for a while. So first time I hear the name Nicky James. Then we get to the wedding. You were there, and it was a fun wedding. One of the things that I really felt almost that I feel sentimental about at this time is you have these two families from disparate sides of the world. You have the Venezuelans, and you have the, like, straight up Americans. It's split down the middle. It's about 75. 75, right? 75American. 75 Venezuel. And everybody is just having a good time from the get. It's a really great vibe. But then we do something called La ora loca, which is the crazy hour. That's what it's called. And the crazy hour is a tradition in some Latin communities, in a lot of Latin communities, where at a wedding or whatever, at a party, you do la ora loca. Everybody gets crazy. You break out props, like big hats and all this crazy. And it sounds corny and kooky, but it's so fun. It was so much fun. You do the conga line. You know, everybody's dancing, and it doesn't matter who you are, your butt needs to be on the dance floor. And my wife, with help from Gustavo, put together a playlist for the DJ because she felt it was really important to get this one right. And of course, please do. Right? I was all about it. And that oral loca started. And I'm telling you what, there was not a but in a seat. Everybody was.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Everybody was going crazy.

[Brian Greene]

And if you were sitting down, the Venezuelans were going to grab you and pull you up, because that's not allowed. It doesn't matter if you know how to dance. Try move your. Shake your butt. It doesn't matter. You know, move your hands, do the noodle, whatever it is. We'll teach you how to dance. Or it'll be fine. At least for this hour. It's fine. We're not going to make fun of you. It's like a. It's like a free pass. Do your noodle. You don't have to move your hands. You'll be fine. And. And Nikki Jam was on that playlist. Oh, yeah, quite a bit. And when I talked to Gustavo a couple nights ago about this interview, he said there were probably five songs there. And the most beautiful part of that wedding to me was that La Ora Loca, because I really felt like everybody was just. It didn't matter if you spoke English or Spanish or some mix thereof. Whatever it was, there was like a communication going on in the room, on the dance floor. And that was, these two are in love. Let's celebrate by just showing some love. Right? Everybody was getting along and having a good time dancing. No matter the age, the race, the color, the language, it didn't matter.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And that really, music is the international.

[Brian Greene]

Language of love, really. Of every celebration, it doesn't matter. You can like a song and not know what they're saying. It doesn't matter. Matter.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Half the time I don't know. I'm singing the wrong. I'm singing the wrong words.

[Brian Greene]

I still don't know what Eddie Vedder is saying, but I like his music. I still don't know what he's saying, but I like the music. Cool, dude, whatever you're saying. But Nikki was. Was a presence there during. During that hour, which I really cherish in my heart and always will. And in the wedding video, you can see it like they're playing his music. It's there, right? And so when we got this opportunity to interview Nicky Jam, of course I was going to jump at it because I just felt like he may have played a small part in the wedding, but he played a big part of the. The feeling that I took away from that. Yeah. To bring the togetherness of that. And of course, all this will give me insta cred with my Venezuelan family. They no longer will laugh in front of my face. Now they'll do it behind my back. So that is good news.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yes. Anything you can do on that front.

[Brian Greene]

Yes. So Nikki has a brand new album coming out. His album is Insomnia in English. And we're really excited that he's here. He's going to talk about the new album. And of course you can find him on social media at Nicky Jam, I think is what it is on Insta. He's on Tick tock. He's on YouTube. He is everywhere. This guy is a, a big presence in the music world and we're so grateful to have him so generous with this time. So let's do this. Let's take a break. And through the magic of tele podcasting, we will have on an amazing guest, Nikki Jam.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Let's do it.

[Brian Greene]

Okay, Ready? We'll be back.

[Christina]

Oh, my God, Christina, you're an icon and a legend. That's my impression of you when I tell you that you can officially get tickets to come see us in Florida. We'll be at Daniel Beach Improv on September 24th and the Funny Bone Orlando on September 25th. And both of those links are already in the show notes. So come see us and giggle your way into our little hearts. If you can't make it to Florida to win our love, don't worry, we're easy. All it takes is to follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTokCBpodcast. Or you can text us at 212-4333, TCB and check out our website, tcbpodcast.com for all of our audio, video, content and any sneaky links. We.

[Brian Greene]

Thank you, Nikki, for being here with us today. We really appreciate your time.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Very grateful.

[Nicky Jam]

Hi. Hi. Hi. How y' all doing?

[Brian Greene]

We're doing good. I'm very grateful to have you here because I think I will now have insta respect in the family gatherings with the Venezuelans.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Oh, yeah. This is going to give you cred for years.

[Brian Greene]

My brothers in law are absolutely in love with everything Nikki Jam. And they couldn't be more excited that you're, you're joining us. And I can't either because I've done a lot of homework on you and I find you to be a very interesting and self aware human being which sometimes when you think of somebody that kind of has a level of success and a level of fame, you might at least a stereotype might be that they're so disconnected from the audience or people, real people, that you don't believe they might be that self aware. But I dug in, I listened, I read, I watched. You're, you're a very humble and aware guy. And I think that only comes from struggle. And I know you've had some.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, a lot. I mean, I, I, I'm very humble because of my dad. My dad was a, is a very humble guy. He's always been and he, you know, I've always saw that as something that I wanted, like, I wanted to be just like my dad. And he was always the Type of guy that, you know, he would, like, stop doing anything to help anybody else or give a little. A little that he had to other people. So I appreciate that from my dad, and I learned that from my dad. And it made me be, you know, very humble human being. But that just part of me, you know, I'm saying you can't really learn to be humble. It's just what you are. If you humble, you're not. You're not. Yeah, but is when somebody admires a humble person, that means that you're humble. That's what I think. You know, I mean, if you admire somebody that's cocky and jerk. I don't know what kind of. You can still use that word.

[Brian Greene]

Absolutely. We use it all the time.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah. Well, if you, if, if you, if you admire people like that, well, that's what you are. So I admired humble people and. And that's what I am. And I just like to be that kid that everybody likes. I like to be the soul of the party. I like to be the guy that makes everybody laugh. I like to be that person that, when people see me, feels a good energy. So that's just. That's just me the way I am. And it didn't matter in any situation that I was. Even if when I was in drugs or I was in jail or I was in the World cup singing Will Smith, doing a movie with Vin Diesel, it didn't matter in any of those situations. I was always the same guy. I would drink Coca Cola sitting down on the floor, but then I also could eat lobster at the finest restaurant I don't have. I don't care about anything. I just. I just. I just. I just like, you know, enjoying life and, you know, life is too short to be an asshole.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah. Hey, man, I totally agree with you. And I tell my kids this all the time. There is plenty of. I mean, I don't say this word, but there's plenty of shit in this world. We need more shine. Right? So. And I think, And I think you're right about something, and I never thought about it this way, is that like attracts like. So if you are a humble person, you admire humble people. I admire what I've heard from you specifically and read from you because I think you're also not afraid to share the struggle.

[Christina]

Yeah.

[Brian Greene]

Which is also something that I think for men, for maybe the men in, in my family specifically, like, it's hard to share the struggle because they see that as weakness. Where I think when you. When I hear it from you, it's a strength that. Is a strength that you're able to share that struggle.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

You've learned from it because you've learned from it.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, I mean, I had a lot on my shoulders, and I needed to, you know, get it off. And we. And I'm still gonna have all these problems from the past. You know, they catch up sometimes. You know, I ain't gonna lie. I'm not a perfect person. I'm a human being. You know, I have my days where I just, you know, my past catches up with me.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

But. But, you know, doing the series and showing my life helped me a lot. It was. It was. It was very good for me. And at the same time, some. I'm always thinking people were always misunderstood in a way. I don't know if you can relate to that totally. Some people think that they know about you, but they don't really know about you. They don't know who you are, where you came from, and what you represent. And this series shows the people that I'm not the superstar with the. With the Lamborghini and the planes and all this stuff. I'm. Not only that, I have that. I'm grateful for it. I worked for it. But I came from nothing. I came from starving. I came from, you know, being waiting in the back of Dunkin Donuts so they can throw away the donuts to eat anymore so I could take to my sister so she could eat, you know, came from, you know, packing groceries so I could, you know, make $20 a day and, you know, buy cigarettes and milk and bread and ham and cheese so we could eat at the house. You know, I come from nothing, and I come from, you know, a house where my dad was a drug addict, my mom was a drug addict, and the whole environment where I was living in Lawrence, Massachusetts, everybody there was on drugs because it was the crack era. And the crack ever really messed up that the city.

[Brian Greene]

Early 90s was this early 90s.

[Nicky Jam]

It was early 90s.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

Late 80s.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And it was. It was ugly. It was. I mean, it was like living in the street with a whole bunch of zombies. But. And in my house, I had two zombies. So imagine that.

[Brian Greene]

I can't. I can't. And I think that's part of when you share your story. When I heard you share your story as I'm doing my research. I think that's the part, like you just said, is people think they know you. Right. Even if you share your entire story, it's still. Your perspective is still unique to you. And so the person you are is like a. I think, is like a fabric of all of those different experiences that you've had, and no one can ever do that again. It's not repeatable. Right. I mean, it's just one of those things that becomes you, and I think that it. I think it's so telling that you're so open about all of this. Your mom and dad were drug addicts, and then you moved to Porter. Like, take it back a little bit. You moved to Puerto Rico when you were 10, 11 years old. Is that right?

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, I moved to Puerto Rico when I was 10 because my. My dad, he caught a case. They caught him with a. I think it was like, 20 kilos of cocaine. It was an undercover cop that was with us, like family, and, you know, he was dealing, and they caught him, and then he went. He was. He posted bail, and he was supposed to go back on trial. So he knew that my mom wasn't in a good situation, you know, being in drugs and everything. And he said, if I. If I go to jail, who's gonna take care of my kids?

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

So my dad just. In those days, you know, the, you know, the TSA situation wasn't so strict, so you could have, like, traveled to Puerto Rico with no problem. So my dad, Trav, traveled to Puerto Rico with us, you know, to escape this situation that he had so he could be with us and, you know, be a. You know, be a father and take in. And I'm very grateful for that, because he did stop doing drugs, and he did. He become a, you know, the dad that I needed and especially in that situation. So, you know, I. I.

[Brian Greene]

That's a hero move, bro. That's a hero move. Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And he stayed. He stayed. He stayed, you know, he stayed with us, and he did what he could. He could do in. And that's why we live to Puerto Rico. And, you know, it's. It's. I'm very grateful because thanks to living in Puerto Rico, you know, I learned about this, you know, reggae music and all these Caribbean sounds that made me fall in love with it, you know, and. And that's my story with Puerto Rico.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah. You. For those that don't know, in our audience, is it. You've described that you get found because you're bagging groceries at a grocery store and you're rapping and you're just kind of doing your thing. You're freestyling story. That's incredible. Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

I used to freestyle with the groceries that I had. You know what I'm saying, so were.

[Brian Greene]

You talking about, like the chicken?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah, the tomatoes and the things, you.

[Nicky Jam]

Know, I don't play though, but, you know, we got the sauce with the tomatoes. I would just freestyle about the food. And I came like a small celebrity. It was like, yo, you heard this kid that he be, you know, rapping about the food and everything that he's packing. And everybody would love to go into my aisle because they wanted to listen to me rapping. In those days, rap was something new in Puerto Rico and especially see a kid so young to rap. So this lady came to me and she was like, I wasn't feeling like rapping that day, so I was just, you know, packing my groceries. She's like, so you're not gonna rap for me? And I'm like, I mean, if you give me the right tip, I'll probably do. So I just, I, I gave, I, I, I, I rapped.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And she, she liked what I did. And then from that came to, to.

[Brian Greene]

Just like a series of coincidences that ended up with you and the.

[Nicky Jam]

She wanted to sign me. And because she said she wanted to sign me, I, she told me she wanted me to get in the car with her. I'm like, hell, no, I'm 12.

[Brian Greene]

Weren't you 12 or something?

[Nicky Jam]

Even though if I was 12, I had street smart, of course, yeah, I'm from the hood. I know not to get in the cars. But she, she was like, no, you know, my, my husband, he's a, he's a producer from MP Records. In those days, I was like the big record label in Puerto Rico. And I got in a car and I went with her and he, I rapped for her, for her husband. And they, they went home that same day, they bring me like a huge ass contract like this. My dad, my dad, you know, my dad's from the hood too. He's like, he don't know, he don't even know how to read none of that. He was like, and I did that. You don't gotta read. She just signed that. I'm ready that.

[Brian Greene]

Are they giving us money? Sign the contract, right?

[Nicky Jam]

Dad just signed that. No, they ain't giving me no money in those days. You know how it is, man. Know when it comes, when you sign in today, they'll give you money if you already have a platform, you know, I'm saying, like, today you have Instagram and all that, and today you can make, like, people want you already. So when you go to a label, you could be more like, like, yeah, well, I already have followed. Like, what could you do that I can't do for myself? But those days, you needed the record label, like 100%, so there was no platform. So they didn't give me no money. But they fucked me in that contract anyways. I didn't do shit. I didn't make no money. But I'm sorry if I cursed.

[Brian Greene]

No, you can curse. No, please. Half the show is cursing. Feel free. Let it fly.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, they, they me in that, in that contract. But I, I. What helped me was that album did not sell because how creative could you be when you're 12 years old when it comes to album? You know, like, you, you have no minds for it. But the good thing that happened was the street DJs was listening to my music and they liked it. And the street DJs was the one that was taking over. They was doing these things where there was like, these mixtapes where they put like 50 singers from Puerto Rico and everybody would, like, drop like a verse.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And they would become famous. So I was like the youngest kid on that, on those mixtapes, and I became famous. I became a celebrity just because of the mixtape. So the album didn't do good, but mixtape took me to this underground world where I became one of the architects of reggaeton music.

[Brian Greene]

You sure did. You're like the God, the one of the godfathers of reggaeton. Okay, so fast forward, fast forward. I'm not trying to date you, man. I'm just saying. Well, you come to me on the commercial break and you tell me your age.

[Nicky Jam]

You come to my wedding.

[Brian Greene]

I see your Grammy and I Gatorade.

[Nicky Jam]

You come to my wedding.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That's a good one.

[Brian Greene]

That's actually pretty good. I know.

[Nicky Jam]

You don't respect me.

[Brian Greene]

By the way. People ask me what my favorite Christmas movie is of all time. I say, the godfather 1 and 2.

[Nicky Jam]

Is that a Christ?

[Brian Greene]

It's not. But all of a sudden, they started showing it in the States. They show it? Yeah. Like 24 hour marathon. So now, you know, my kids are watching and whatever, the Grinch. And I'm like, I'll be in here.

[Nicky Jam]

Watching the Godfather, asking you, what's your favorite Christmas movie? You're saying Halloween one.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah. So fast forward a little bit. So you have the kind of this, like, huge explosion to popularity when you're in Puerto Rico in this, like, early part of your career. But then you admittedly say at some point, and I'm quoting you here, I feel like an embarrassment of the reggaeton industry at some point because I Just kind of fall off the platform. Tell me about that. Like 2007, 2008.

[Nicky Jam]

Well, that's very. Yeah, that's very fast forward. I mean, obviously I had a huge career before that. And then of course, I mean, you know, I was a young kid, so I did a lot of bad things. You know, I'm saying I, I was a rebel. I didn't have my mom. So in my mentality, my mom, you know, she left me. So in that. In those days, I didn't care about living. Like, I didn't give a about living. I would do anything. I was in the hood with the kids. I was like run around like, I was literally like doing anything in the streets that you shouldn't do. And you know, daddy Yankee wasn't a part of that because I was with him. You know, we was, was like, yeah.

[Brian Greene]

You guys were together? Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

But he was like trying to, you know, like, you know, he's like, he has kid, he had kids. He was way more mature than me. And he, and he had a. He already had a focus. I like the whole street thing. And the reason why we got into the street thing is because. Well, I was raised in the streets anyways, but is because this guy wanted to kill us. And you can see that on the series, you know what I'm saying? This guy wanted to kill us. And because this guy wanted to kill us, we had to run to New York. And then we went to New York and one day I tell Yankee, like, yo, Yankee, we've been having people trying to kill us our whole life in Puerto Rico. Like that's part of. That's normal in Puerto Rico because we're from the hood. When you from the hood, that's not a new thing. You know what I'm saying? It's not normal in normal environment. But we're not from normal environment from the hood. We're from the. It's like you could say from the projects in Puerto Rico. So. So I'm telling them, bro, we've been through this shit and we're not gonna hide here in New York. Let's trap. Let's get two strats each other. Let's go to Puerto Rico and let's keep doing music. And if somebody comes through, we ready?

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

You know what I'm saying? And he's like, fuck it, let's go. So we went to Puerto Rico, we got strapped in. For some reason, this guy, obviously, if you mess around in the streets, you know what's gonna happen? You got two, you got two Ways in jail or death. And this guy, you know, he had a lot of problems already and they killed him. So just because they. It made our lives easier because we didn't have to like, you know, stress about it.

[Brian Greene]

It didn't look behind your shoulder. Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

Stressed about it anymore. So Yankees like, yo, I'm giving. I don't want my gun anymore. I don't need it. And I said, I'll take it. I'm ready. I want to. I like the streets. I wanted to keep going in the streets. So that's, that's what, that's. That was the beginning of my fuck up. Because instead of going daddy Yankees route, he was going to a route where he was like, you know, preparing himself, you know, psychologically, mentally and physically for his new career where we was already successful to be bigger and bigger. I was going to self destruction because I just wanted to be in the streets with the kids, my boys, because for me, my family was the kids from the hood. You know what I'm saying? So I just wanted to be that. It went from that to doing drugs and doing more drugs and mood on drugs. And it came to a moment where I wasn't even a street dude anymore. I was just a junkie.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And from a junkie, obviously I caught my case. I went to jail for attempted murder and all that. And when I came out, it was even worse. In 2005, in 2006, it was like I was doing more drugs and more drugs and people will see me like.

[Brian Greene]

You know, like tweaked out on the street and.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, stuff like that. And like, they will get me in a car that I haven't paid like for seven months. And they're like embarrassments. There's like a whole line of embarrassments that you could only get when you were a junkie.

[Brian Greene]

Sure. Can I ask you a question? Can I ask you a question? When you were in that period of your life and you and Yankee were together, Yankee ever like, try to get through, like, hey, you know, we can grow, we can do this, but you got to settle down a little bit.

[Nicky Jam]

100. No, we was already successful, sure. But, but, but he was looking for more.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah, he wanted to take it to the next level.

[Nicky Jam]

He wanted to take it to the next level. But of course, Yankee tried everything in his power to make me be a better person. But when you were. When you stubborn and you young and, and you're a rebel and you don't care and you have that street mentality and you have a whole bunch of street Kids next to you giving you the wrong message. There's no way you're going to listen to just one person. You know what I'm saying? And, you know, sometimes you got. Sometimes you just gotta hit bottom.

[Brian Greene]

That's it.

[Nicky Jam]

You gotta hit bottom so you can learn, you know, and thank God. And it sounds weird for me to say thank God to hit and rock bottom. I became the. The. The human being that I am today and the superstar that I am today and. And everything that I am today.

[Brian Greene]

When you were, like, addicted to. To. To drugs, when you were on the perks and you were doing blow and all this, you at some point get called to Colombia, right? You say, I. I got to get to Colombia. I'm interested to know what drew you to Colombia. Because. Because let's be honest, right? When you think of getting clean off drugs, Colombia maybe isn't the first place you think about, but. And that's a stereotype, but it's true, right? It's, you know, cocaine capital of the world. And, you know, I'm sure that there's a lot of other stuff available there. And what. What draws you to Colombia? What makes you say, hey, I got to get there?

[Nicky Jam]

Well, the reality of everything is it wasn't that I went to Colombia because it was something that I thought it was better for me. They just called me for a show, and I. I was broke as. And. And I even. I remember when they called me, they were like, well, we're calling from Columbia. We want to do a show with Nikki Jam. Like, well, let me put. Let me put my manager through. And I just changed my voice.

[Brian Greene]

Like, hold up. No way. Being your own manager?

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah. I was trying to act like I was important, you know what I'm saying? Because I didn't want. You know, I was embarrassed that I had. I was managing my own self because I didn't have a manager. I was just. Nobody wanted to manage me. So I got. I got the show. I remember the guy was like, so we need the 18th. And I'm like, whoa, let me check if I have the 18th. That's so funny. It's the only day we have free.

[Brian Greene]

Hey, Nikki, can I tell you when your management calls and says, we got the 10th, I go tell them, give it. Give a minute, and we'll check and see if our calendar is free. Of course we got the 10th free. Yes.

[Nicky Jam]

You have to do that?

[Brian Greene]

Yeah, of course.

[Nicky Jam]

So when I go to Colombia, I'm. I'm like, I'm weighing. Like, I think I'm weighing like, almost £260. I look horrible. Because the problem with perks is it's the only drug you take, and it makes you fatter. It's not like. So you're a junkie and you fat. Because I'd rather. I would have rather been a junkie and skinny.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

But the weird thing is you're a junkie and you fat. Because perks make you eat. They make you eat.

[Brian Greene]

They're late. It makes you, like. Like a little with euphoric and lethargic, and it makes you want to eat.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah. It does not give you the. Exactly. It does not give you the typical syndromes of. Of a drug addict that normally drug addicts are skinny because the drugs they take, like crack cocaine. Well, I did cocaine, but. And then perks were, like, the most that I would take. And all these other drugs will make you skinnier. So I. I went to Colombia, and there was this show. The show that they. They. They. The 18th show, they took me over there, and I. And I'm over here embarrassed that I didn't even want to go out, you know, because I'm thinking, man, like, I don't even have a hit song right now. I haven't had a hit song, like, in years. And all these kids are, like, young, and they look so good, and they ready and they got hits. How the fuck am I gonna go on the stage? Funniest thing in the world is, these kids come out, they do their show, and I'm thinking over here, I'm like, yo, why you guys saving me for last? I mean, you know, like, you should have put me, like, first, because these kids are the one popping, right?

[Brian Greene]

They're up and coming. Yeah. They're new. They're fresh. Why are you putting me on? Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

Ramona's like, what are you talking about? Like, you're the biggest star here. I'm like, what do you mean, the biggest star, bro? I just came out of jail a couple of years ago. The you talking about, it's like, nah, bro, you're a legend here. Like, you. First of all, when you hit the songs that you hit, you didn't even come here, so people didn't get a chance to see you. So for them, I was, like, the biggest headline. So when I come out and I feel all that love and people screaming, there was 50,000 people on the stadium and that came out, and I was singing my songs, and people. It was overwhelming, of course. And in that same. That same week, I did, like, nine shows.

[Brian Greene]

Oh, wow.

[Nicky Jam]

In a week, I Said, well, not my stadiums, though. But I did like small shows. I needed the money. So this one trip to Colombia made me like, come back and buy me a car. I didn't have a car. And I bought and I paid rent for a whole year. And then I had a couple of money inside and I said, what. What the fuck am I doing in Puerto Rico?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Greene]

To Colombia. Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

So that's, that's, that's how it started for me to go to Colombia because just, it was working. I was just working. And I still had, I still had the perks problem. And the problem is Colombia don't sell perks.

[Brian Greene]

Oh, interesting.

[Nicky Jam]

They don't sell perks.

[Brian Greene]

How'd you get it?

[Nicky Jam]

Columbia. I would have to buy a whole bunch.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

You know, and it was like the worst thing in the world. So that's when it happens that I go over there and I clean myself. Obviously I did so much drugs there in a moment in Colombia, because I partied and I did every crazy, crazy thing that you would think that you would do in color.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And I, I had a brain problem.

[Brian Greene]

Like a motor skill problem.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, I had a motor skill problem. I still deal with it sometimes, you know what I'm saying? Sometimes stuff like that doesn't cure. You know what I'm saying? Like, when it comes to a brain thing, you're.

[Brian Greene]

And rewires your brain a little bit. Right. And, and I understand this struggle. Having done a lot of drugs in my own life, in my young life, I understand this struggle. And a couple, couple times, high on lsd, coke, whatever else I put in my body, I just started to, like, my motor skills started to shut down. And it was the scariest thing in the world.

[Nicky Jam]

The worst.

[Brian Greene]

When you can think, you can't move your hand. When you're thinking about it, like, move your hand. You can't, you can't do it.

[Nicky Jam]

It's the worst thing in the world, I'm telling you. Is the scariest thing in the world for sure. You know what I'm saying? Because you feel like it's like you're going to be, be in a coma. It's like being in a coma, but alive, you know? I mean, I don't know. I just, I just said that. That, that doesn't. It's like being in a coma, but not in a bed.

[Brian Greene]

That's right. That's right. Yeah. It's. It's a disconnection from your body. It's a disassociation that is really weird and very scary. And obviously there Are, you know, lots of people have worse problems than that. But it's still scary when you don't. When you've never experienced it before and starts creeping up on you in these different weird ways when you're really up up and you can't think straight and you're having a hard time putting it all together. When you were traveling with the perks, did you like get nervous? Like, was it nerves or just back then, it didn't.

[Nicky Jam]

It's always nervous. Yeah, he's always nervous. I mean, I mean, you know, going through the airport, like, I remember I used to buy like buyers aspirin bottles.

[Brian Greene]

Oh, Bayer's aspirin. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

Bayers. Yeah, Bears aspirin bottles. And I will put them in there and, and because they look alike. Like the end of the 602 endo perks that I used to take, they look like aspirins. So I would put them there and then and just pass it like nor, like nothing. And I didn't have a problem.

[Brian Greene]

What was. When you get to Colombia, what is the moment where you're like, first of all, it's got to be amazing to be in Puerto Rico and feel this level of, I don't know, embarrassment and shame about all this shit you're going through and people seeing you on the corner and you know, just kind of tweaking out with the, with the street kids, kids. And then all of a sudden you get to Colombia and you're like, like you say a phoenix, right? You're like, holy. There's this whole audience. These people appreciate and love and, and understand my music. And they're holding it like the, I mean, I imagine they're holding it up like the Holy Grail. I mean, it's amazing that 50, 000 people are screaming your name. How much did you get paid for that show?

[Nicky Jam]

Like 2500.

[Brian Greene]

$2500? 50,000 people screaming your name. That must have been like something, some switch must have flipped in your head like this. I, I got it. There's these people, there's something there I gotta follow.

[Nicky Jam]

The thing is, you know, to make the long story short, in this time that I'm in Colombia, you know, I, I, I not only like to, you know, I, I stayed, I stayed in Colombia. I moved to Colombia and I took a whole year to lose weight. And I think in a whole year I lost like, I don't know, probably like £70, something like that. I got skinny and skinny and people were looking at me different and they were like loving Me more. And everybody was like.

[Brian Greene]

Even the.

[Nicky Jam]

Like, the approach of the promoters and singers that would come from Puerto Rico to do shows would look at me different. Like, that changed almost 60% of my situation in.

[Brian Greene]

In.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

That's discipline.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

In Colombia and in my. In my career. And I. I went to. I did. I did a song called at the Inside Me. Right. I did a song called the Inside Me. For some reason, I. I moved to this. This. This house in. In. In. In the countryside of Medellin. I was alone. Like, it was. It was a porn. It was like a farmhouse. It was a very beautiful farmhouse. It was cheap, very cheap to live there. I remember it was like probably like 500amonth, and. And I just moved there alone. Yeah, I didn't want. I was. I wanted to distance myself from the people because of the situations that I had with the motor.

[Brian Greene]

Motor skills.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, motor skills and all that. And I felt like I was getting anxiety, panic attacks with the people. So I just hide myself there. And I lived there almost like for seven months. I think it was like, yeah, seven, eight months. And the song was a hit. And I didn't know because I was just hiding in that. That's insane.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

On the farm.

[Nicky Jam]

I was hiding in that farm. So one of my. My manager. Who's my manager today, comes to me. He's like, bro, you're popping right now. Like, what the you talking about? Like, bro, you killing the game, bro. You have the biggest song right now on the radio.

[Brian Greene]

Unbelievable.

[Nicky Jam]

And I'm like, what do you mean? I'm like, yo, that song you remember. Like, yo, bro, I dropped that almost a year ago. I was like, nah, man, check on YouTube. So I look at YouTube and I saw all the views that had, like, millions of views already. And I'm like, yo. So they called me, and they called me in a show, a radio station show that. Where there was like, more than 60,000 people. Because those radio shows are like. Like festivals, like, huge. And I go up there and I start performing and. And. And when I finish performing, everybody was asking me for that song being. And I'm like, bro, like, I look at the dj, like, do you have the beat? Like, I don't have the beat, but I have the song. And you can just sing over it. I'm like, it. Go ahead. When I. When the beat comes out and I start singing the song, the whole crowd went crazy and started singing a song. And that was like. Like the first time, like, I felt that I did a hit after so many years. So I started Crying, obviously, on stage, I couldn't even sing. I had, like, you know, tears.

[Brian Greene]

Like. Like a throat thing when you cry.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, yeah, it was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was a beautiful and weird feeling. And so to make the long story short, after that, my mentality was this country has 60. More than 60 million people living here. If I can make more than four or five number one hits in this country, I can make so much of views on YouTube, where I could bounce all around the world and do a comeback.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And that's what happened. I did five number one songs in Colombia and made millions of views. And from there, I jumped to the world, and here I am today.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

What an incredible story.

[Brian Greene]

I mean, Nikki, you really do. Incredible story. I have one more question, then we'll talk about the new album.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Greene]

And we're gonna. And I might argue with you for a second, so I might argue with you on behalf of my. My. On behalf of my family. Okay, so one more question. So when you're. When you're at this level of fame and success, obviously there's good and there's bad, right? There's things that come with it that are fantastic, and there's things that come with it that are irritating and sometimes scary. Do you enjoy the fame, or is the fame just part of you expressing yourself and getting the message out there? Like. Like probably you were born to do.

[Nicky Jam]

I mean, it's like everything at the beginning, when this fame pops up, you start enjoying it. It comes to a moment where it catches up with you. Because the reality is, you know, there's nothing better than having, like, you know, privacy and, you know, intimacy.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And when you become that. The fame that I had accomplished, it comes to a moment where that goes away. You know, I'm saying. And then you feel like. Like. Like. I don't know how you say it in English when you feel, like, invade. Like when you feel like people are.

[Brian Greene]

Like, yeah, they're invading your privacy. They're like. It's.

[Nicky Jam]

I feel like they were invading me too much, you know, And. And. And it became to a moment where, you know, it messed me up. But do I enjoy being famous? Of course. I mean, I'm famous. You know, I go out and I don't have a Mika line in a restaurant. You know, people give me love everywhere I go. And, you know, it's. It's good, but it has its bags too, you know, so it's like. It's like. It's like, do you, like, how do you feel having money like, well, you know, it's a good thing, but it's a bad thing too, because everybody looks at you like a money symbol.

[Brian Greene]

It's a cash register. Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

So everybody wants money. Everybody wants a loan. Cousins that you never had.

[Brian Greene]

And. And get. And tell me if I'm wrong on this. Tell me if I'm off base on this, but I imagine you're the type. Type of person because of the human being that you are and the way that you've grown up and the struggles that you've had and the empathy and self awareness. You probably are one that says yes a lot. Right. That probably says, I don't.

[Nicky Jam]

I. I don't say no.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

That's my problem. And I can be honest with you. If I've lost, I can't say I lost money. If I. If I. How do you see this? If I. If I spend it, Okay. I could say 50 of the money that I've spended is helping people.

[Brian Greene]

Wow.

[Nicky Jam]

You know what I'm saying? And I'm talking about. I'm talking about millions of dollars.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

Millions of dollars that I've spent it helping people. And I have, like. I'm the type of guy that if I have 20 friends.

[Brian Greene]

20.

[Nicky Jam]

We all got motorcycles and we all go out on motorcycles. I'm not gonna leave one. None of my friends with motorcycles.

[Brian Greene]

Yes.

[Nicky Jam]

I'm the type of guy that I would read DMs where people from Venezuela will tell me, nikki, I don't have a fridge, and I will send money to that person to get a fridge. I need a ticket because my man's whooping my ass. He's in Texas and I live in Colombia. Please help me. I will send a ticket or send money to help him. I will stop living for me to live for the people, because I didn't have anything. And I'm the type of guy that I see a movie and I see people struggling in the movie, and I cry, and I'm like, I wish I could help that person. I have the money now. I wish I could be in a situation where I can help people. I just love helping people. That's just a human being.

[Brian Greene]

Me, too. I think that. And I think that speaks volumes about the person that you are.

[Nicky Jam]

And, you know, it's like when I saw the movie. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's like when I saw the John Q movie with Denzel Washington when he needed money. Yes.

[Brian Greene]

To help. Yes.

[Nicky Jam]

I was like, I had the money. I could help him. You know what? I'm saying, like, he didn't have to sell this truck. I would have gave you money.

[Brian Greene]

Yes.

[Nicky Jam]

That's the way I think.

[Brian Greene]

That's crazy. Okay, let's get to the new album. Tell me about the writing. I want to argue with you for a second because you're saying that this might be your. You might be. I mean, I think you've said this. You might be retiring. It might be your. Your final script. Is there an impetus for that? Or you just feel like, hey, man, I've had a long career, bro.

[Nicky Jam]

You want me to be 100% honest with you?

[Brian Greene]

Please.

[Nicky Jam]

I went through a moment where I was my past. Catch it up with me. And. And I had, like a. I got. I had, like, a bad alcohol moment in these last. This. This last year.

[Brian Greene]

Very honest.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah. And in. In. In.

[Christina]

In.

[Nicky Jam]

I was. I. You know, it made me. It took me to a dark spot.

[Brian Greene]

Yes.

[Nicky Jam]

You know what I'm saying? And, you know, the problem with alcohol is it's so legal that you. You don't even think that you're doing drugs. You know what I'm saying? So. And it's everywhere you go, you know, like, you have a meeting, they're drinking wine. You have. You go to a restaurant, they're drinking. You go to anywhere, people are drinking. It's like, it's normal for people, right?

[Brian Greene]

That's with alcohol. And I think it's. One of the worst drugs that I've ever done is alcohol. Because, yeah, you get all the giggles and shits, but then it. It can really take you, like you said, to a very dark place.

[Nicky Jam]

So it took me to a dark place. So dark of a place that I even thought about retiring. And I got depressed. And I did this last album called. I don't know how to say it in English. It's called Insomnia.

[Brian Greene]

Insomnia? Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

It's the same shit, but with the eight.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

Okay, we got it. So the reason why this album is called Insomnia is because all of the songs talk about stuff that I went through this. This whole year. You know, if you listen to it, you will listen to everything that happened to me. Like every. There's a hope. There's so many songs that will talk about my situation in this year with the alcohol, with my relationships, with my. You know, with my darkness and all that. And that's why I announced that I was. Was retiring. But I'm not really retired. I'll be honest with you. I ain't retired for good.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I'm glad to hear that. Yeah.

[Brian Greene]

Make a lot of my family members happy.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah. So, no, no, I'm not retiring. That was just me. And if you see the post. The post that I. I put a post on, I edited that video myself. Like, my retirement and all that.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And I. I erased that post.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

Because I. Then I really. Once I got better and. And, you know, my. My. You know, mentally, I got better.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

I cleared up and, you know, I was like, what the am I doing? What is this? I'm retired. I'm still. I'm still young.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

I'm 43, but I look like I'm 30.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

You do.

[Nicky Jam]

Why am I retiring?

[Brian Greene]

No reason. Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

So. But it was me depressed, and that's what alcohol does. And, you know, now I'm smoking weed.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

There you go.

[Nicky Jam]

Hey, listen.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah, listen. I think of any of the drugs, the weed is the friendliest on your Persona.

[Nicky Jam]

Hey, hey, hey. I'm being honest. I'm being honest. I've always been honest with people. You know, no one can fault you. There's been a lot of drama because of the weed thing, because they see me do weed and they think that they like, oh, my God, he went back to drugs. I'm like, bro, I never had a problem with weed.

[Brian Greene]

It's just a little weed. Some weed. Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

No, no, no, no. My problems were with perks. You saw the series. Yeah, it was perks. I was. I never said I had a problem with weed. Weed is not my problem. I could smoke weed until I die. I'm good. But Marley did Snoop still smoking weed? Nobody tells him.

[Brian Greene]

No. He tried to quit for a while, and then he said it like. I just. I just like it. Right? Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

100%. 100%.

[Christina]

So.

[Nicky Jam]

So to be honest with you, the weed helped me a lot with the alcohol.

[Brian Greene]

You know what I'm saying?

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

And made me control my anxiety and. And all that. Why did I got to the situations? Oh, we all do. We're human beings. You know what I'm saying? And. And if you saw my past. Look, I tell people this. When people go to the war, they go to Iraq, right?

[Brian Greene]

Yep.

[Nicky Jam]

They come back with ptsd, Right. Okay. So I was in the hood, and I saw friends get blown their head off, shot a whole bunch of stuff. My best friend died in my face, and I saw him. Died his last minutes. My uncle died of AIDS in my face. And I saw the worst things in the world and a whole bunch of people that they killed in my hood because I'm from the hood. Hood.

[Brian Greene]

Hood.

[Nicky Jam]

You see where I'm from, if you see where I'm from, from in Puerto Rico and the people that got shot in the situation that I live, you would say, oh, this guy's okay. He should have been worse.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

So the reality is people don't, don't think about PTSD when it comes to human beings that was born in the hood.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

You know what I'm saying? They think, oh, because he didn't go, he didn't go to Iraq, so he don't need that. He has no problem. No, no, you wrong. If you from the hood and you see people getting their face blown and, and stuff like that and your best friends and getting shot and people getting shot in their cars and their heads and you know, stuff, all that, all that could up your head.

[Brian Greene]

Of course.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

So, yeah, I got strong minded in a lot of situations. But there it catches up with you. It catches up with you. And, and sometimes you make money and you become, you know, you start getting in relationships and stuff like that where you don't even understand if people are with you, with you because of the money or with you because they really love you. You understand what I'm saying?

[Brian Greene]

Yeah. That's got to be a, a mind.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Yeah.

[Brian Greene]

And I also have to say that I think sometimes when people assume, yeah, you came from the hood, ah, he's fine now, he's got money and he's got cloud. Well, that, that, it doesn't work like that.

[Nicky Jam]

Hey, I struggle every day. I struggle every single day. I'm telling you. I smoke weed now down because, because anxiety.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah, yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

You know what I'm saying? And I was going through alcohol a lot until the other day.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Nicky Jam]

You know what I'm saying? I ain't lying. I'm being 100 with you. So this album is called. The reason why I said I was retired was because I was on this alcohol, darkness, crazy trip.

[Brian Greene]

Yep.

[Nicky Jam]

I am not retiring. So that's, that's one thing. And this is the first place I'm saying this.

[Brian Greene]

I love it. Thank you.

[Nicky Jam]

Number one. Number two, the reason why my album is called Insomnia is because it represents all these dark moments in me. But still the music is amazing. Like amazing. Because the reality of everything is you could be. Sometimes being in the worst situations comes the best music.

[Brian Greene]

Yes.

[Nicky Jam]

Sometimes being in the best situation comes the best music. I understand people happy, make good music. That was my situation. And all these global hits that I made, I was in a happy place. These songs that I'm making, I was not in a happy place. But I was in a creative mode, you know?

[Brian Greene]

Yeah. Being.

[Nicky Jam]

I was being real to the people, and I'm just talking to the people through my music. So that's what music is for.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Exactly.

[Nicky Jam]

You know, that's what music is for. It. It's not. It doesn't all have to be. I love you, you love me.

[Brian Greene]

You.

[Nicky Jam]

You got to make music. You got to make music to, you know, like, talk about yourself and, you know, like, it feels good. So that's why the album was calling Insomnia and I. And I think it's one of the best albums that I've done because I sat down with this album with so much passion, because it made me. It was.

[Brian Greene]

You could say it opened you up.

[Nicky Jam]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's. It's Nicky Jam, 100%. It's not like a whole bunch of producers in the room, you know, doing music for you. No, it's just me telling my stories. And all these songs are really badass and the melodies are crazy. And even when I was drunk, I would go in the studio and drop some crazy ass melodies. Because I'm not gonna lie, when you, You. When you. When you. When you doing and you're drunk or you're high, you'll be creative.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah. Listen, you take the drugs and alcohol out of music at, like, all catalogs of music, all famous artists, you're gonna find a really boring set of music.

[Nicky Jam]

It'll be only like 20%.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah. 10%. Maybe.

[Nicky Jam]

Probably. Probably.

[Brian Greene]

All right, Nikki, I know you have a tight timeline today. You got a lot of stuff to do.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

What a great interview.

[Brian Greene]

Thank you so much. I would do two hours. I know.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I just think forever.

[Brian Greene]

You're such a fascinating human being. And congratulations. The honesty is what makes you so relatable, so damn relatable yourself.

[Nicky Jam]

Thank you so much.

[Brian Greene]

Wonderful. You were the soundtrack to my La Ora loca at my wedding. And you brought a bunch of gringos and Venezuelans together on the dance floor. I love you. My family loves you, man. Mad respect. You can come back anytime. Everyone get the new album. And he's not retiring. Breaking news here on the Never. I'm turning that Instagram. I'm turning that Instagram reel around tomorrow, buddy.

[Nicky Jam]

God bless.

[Brian Greene]

Thank you very much, Nikki. We appreciate it. Talk to you soon.

[Christina]

You already know who it is, Christina, here to keep you actually informed. Unlike some people we know, Brian, I've got certified, verified factual information about our Florida shows. So listen up. We are coming to Danya beach improv on Tuesday, September 2020. Fourth and the Funny Bone in Orlando on Wednesday, September 25th. And links to those tickets are in the show notes, so go get em. In other completely new and interesting news, you should follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and on TikTokCBpodcast. And, of course, go to our website, tcbpodcast.com for all of our audio and video content. And finally, if you want to tell Brian and Chrissy that I am a princess, pretty princess, or that you hate me, text us or leave us a voicemail at 212-4333, TCB. That's 212-433-3822.

[Brian Greene]

Bye. Oh, my gosh. Wow. Everything that I wanted and more. I mean, the guy could not have been nicer.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Nicky Jam, full of passion and energy and his stories.

[Brian Greene]

You need to go watch this on YouTube because he's kinetic. Like, you can tell that he's just full of energy and passion for life. And how honest could someone be? I mean, yeah, I was struggling with alcohol there for a minute, and out of it came this album and news flash, which we never get. Breaking news first. News flash. He's not retiring. Yeah. It's amazing.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

It's amazing.

[Brian Greene]

You said that.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I'm telling you guys first.

[Nicky Jam]

I.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

In my head was like, oh, my God.

[Brian Greene]

I was like, we've never. We got something first, we always get it last. Yes. He was an amazing guest for sure. And you remember when he said that Venezuelans will text him, I don't have refrigerator. Yes. Can you please send me one? And he'll send them a refrigerator. Sorry about my family, Nikki. They'll. They'll stop. I'll tell them to stop. I can. Of course. All right, that one's for. That one's for everyone. Wow. I mean, you may not be into reggaeton, and maybe you don't understand the language, but Nicky Jam is a fascinating human being. And I think my personal opinion is, is that he is really changing the narrative by sharing his story. Yeah. Because, you know, sometimes guys in. In our culture, in certain cultures, they don't like to share that kind of stuff because they see it as a shortcoming. It's really not. I know.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And people need to connect.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

And let them know that they're not alone and what they feel if they're going through dark times, too.

[Brian Greene]

You're so right about that. And so. Well, that's it. I'm speechless, actually. I had a really nice time with Nikki, and I hope someday he will come back. But if he never comes back, I will have enjoyed It's a great moment in time. Mark your calendars. This is going to be a changing day in your life, as Dr. Phil would say.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Thanks to Nikki.

[Brian Greene]

Yeah, thank you, Nikki. We really appreciate it. Thanks to Nikki and all the people who helped set that up. We really appreciate it. Azalea, the line pr, all the Trixie, Astrid and ctb, of course. Thank you so much for making that happen. Okay, here's the deal. Chrissy and I are gonna go and we're gonna go do some dates live and we would love to see you there. We'll share all the dates and the ticket information, where it's going to be, when it's going to be. We're going to share that with you very soon. So keep an eye out, keep an ear out. We'll post it on social media and we'll put it on the website when that time comes. Also, we would love it if you would give us a ring. 2124333 tcb 212-433-3822. Please do text us your questions, comments, concerns, content, ideas. We would love to hear from you if you want to go to one of the shows. We'd love to hear your feedback on the Nicky Jam interview. We love it all. Just keep it coming. You can also leave a voicemail there, if you dare leave a voicemail. We've actually gotten some voicemails, so that's good. There you go. I think one or two of them might be airable, so. So let's see how that goes. Please do us. Hey, by the way, you came through at the commercial break on Instagram. A lot of you came through and started following us on Instagram. Thank you much. If you haven't done it, please do it. TCBpodcast.com is where you find everything else. Okay. That's a lot for one day, Chrissy. But I love you.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

I love you.

[Brian Greene]

Best to you.

[Chrissy Hoadley]

Best to you.

[Brian Greene]

Best you out there on the podcast universe, including our new friend, Nikki Jam. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Until next time. Chrissy and I always say. We do say and we must say goodbye. Sa.