Full Show: Stephen A interviews Rapper/Singer Cordae, then "Iron" Mike Tyson

Summary

The Stephen A. Smith Show - Full Episode Summary: Interviews with Cordae and "Iron" Mike Tyson

Release Date: November 9, 2024

In this riveting episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show, host Stephen A. Smith delves deep into the worlds of music and sports with two illustrious guests: Grammy-nominated rapper and singer Cordae and legendary heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. The episode seamlessly transitions from Cordae's insightful perspectives on the music industry to Tyson's contemplation of his upcoming bout against YouTube sensation Jake Paul. Below is a comprehensive summary capturing the essence of their discussions, enriched with notable quotes and timestamps for reference.

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Interview with Cordae

1. Cordae's Career and Achievements

Cordae begins the conversation by expressing gratitude for his current success. At 27, he reflects on his achievements, including selling 12 million records and embarking on multiple sold-out tours.

• “I feel great, bro. I'm really blessed.” [03:17]

Cordae emphasizes his relentless drive, always seeking the next challenge and striving for continuous improvement.

• “What's next? What's the next barrier to through. What's the next level?” [03:17]

2. Navigating the Music Industry and Podcast Epidemic

Cordae shares his concerns about the proliferation of podcasts, highlighting issues of misinformation and lack of originality.

• “They're stealing other people's content. They're not doing any research.” [08:48]

He criticizes the oversaturation of the podcast market, pointing out that many lack the necessary knowledge and dedication, especially in niche areas like hip-hop.

• “You haven't earned the right to make a hip hop podcast.” [10:02]

3. Handling Negativity and Social Media

Discussing the challenges of fame, Cordae outlines his strategy for dealing with negativity, primarily by focusing on positive feedback and minimizing exposure to hostile inputs.

• “I try to just focus on the love.” [19:24]

He contemplates eventually distancing himself from social media to preserve his mental well-being, though he acknowledges the current necessity of maintaining an online presence for his audience.

• “My goal is to get to a place in my life and my career where I don't have to entertain [negativity].” [20:22]

4. Formation and Impact of YBN Group

Cordae recounts his experience joining the YBN group, highlighting the organic manner in which the collective formed through mutual friendships and shared interests.

• “Namir just threw me in, and I called it and slam dunked it.” [21:31]

He credits the group with providing crucial opportunities during his early career, paving the way for his subsequent successes.

5. Upcoming Album and Artistic Vision

Anticipation builds as Cordae discusses his forthcoming album, Crossroads, slated for release on November 15th. He emphasizes the album's thematic focus on social issues and personal growth, striving for authenticity and positivity amidst prevalent darkness in the music scene.

• “If I had a time machine and I go in that time machine and play the music back for 16-year-old Cordae, would he be impressed? Yes.” [37:14]

Cordae highlights his meticulous approach to songwriting, ensuring each track resonates with depth and meaning.

6. Personal Life and Relationship with Naomi Osaka

A heartfelt segment unfolds as Cordae touches upon his relationship with tennis star Naomi Osaka, shedding light on the challenges they face in the public eye. He reflects on the isolation and pressures Naomi endures, especially as a Black athlete.

• “It's hard because it's like when you're like... you can't escape that.” [26:11]

Cordae expresses empathy and support, acknowledging the complexities of maintaining privacy and mental health amidst fame.

---

Interview with "Iron" Mike Tyson

1. Motivation Behind the Fight with Jake Paul

Transitioning from music to sports, Stephen A. Smith welcomes boxing legend Mike Tyson to discuss his upcoming fight against YouTube personality Jake Paul. Tyson reveals his primary motivation for the bout: personal growth and challenging himself beyond comfort zones.

• “I want to get out of my comfort zone and I want to test myself.” [48:18]

Despite recognizing the lucrative nature of the fight, Tyson emphasizes that the financial gains are secondary to his intrinsic desire for self-improvement.

2. Training and Preparation at 58

Tyson provides insights into his rigorous training regimen, which includes boxing eight rounds daily and focusing on strength and conditioning.

• “Sparring? Get a sparring partner... just do the basics.” [53:22]

He underscores his confidence, attributing his readiness to disciplined training and a clear mindset.

• “My advantage is that I'm just a better fighter.” [53:43]

3. Reflections on Aging and Lifestyle Changes

Discussing his life post-boxing, Tyson credits his sobriety and responsible lifestyle changes for his current physical and mental state, which bolster his confidence in the upcoming fight.

• “I've stopped doing drugs. I stopped drinking liquor. I took my life serious.” [52:37]

Tyson attributes his transformation to a pivotal experience eight years prior, which marked the beginning of his disciplined approach to life.

4. Perspectives on Jake Paul's Evolution

Tyson acknowledges Jake Paul's growth as a fighter since their first encounter, recognizing his increased skill and dedication.

• “I think he came a long way as a fighter from when he first came.” [49:08]

However, Tyson maintains that his own prowess and experience grant him the upper hand in the match.

• “He’s a guy with 10 fights and I just think I'm gonna have to handle this situation.” [50:21]

5. Social Media and Personal Branding

In a brief promotional segment, Tyson discusses his investment in a plant-based food company, reflecting his commitment to health and self-awareness.

• “I'm just a strong believer in self-awareness and taking care of yourself.” [54:08]

6. Future Aspirations Post-Fight

Looking ahead, Tyson expresses openness to future endeavors, highlighting that age is not a limiting factor in his ambitions.

• “Sky’s the limits, brother.” [54:35]

He hints at potential future fights, positioning himself as ever-ready to challenge himself further.

---

Concluding Highlights

The episode masterfully intertwines Cordae's introspection on the music industry's pitfalls with Tyson's relentless pursuit of personal challenges in boxing. Both guests underscore the importance of authenticity, resilience, and continuous growth, offering listeners profound insights into navigating fame, adversity, and personal evolution.

Notable Quotes:

• Cordae on Podcast Saturation: “It's too many podcasts... spreading misinformation.” [08:48]
• Cordae on Positivity: “I try to just focus on the love.” [19:24]
• Tyson on Facing Fears: “I want to test myself. Whatever I'm afraid to do, I do it.” [48:18]
• Tyson on Fighting Jake Paul: “My advantage is that I'm just a better fighter.” [53:43]

This episode of The Stephen A. Smith Show serves as a compelling narrative on overcoming industry challenges and personal barriers, enriched by the candid dialogues with Cordae and Mike Tyson.

Transcript

[Hunter]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You you'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus Talkspace works with most major insurers and most Insured members have a zero dollar copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code SPACE80 when you go to talkspace.com Match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com Save $80 with code SPACE80@Talkspace.

[Greg Rosenthal]

What's up everyone? It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL draft season. From DJs mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Cordae]

I love Jim Carrey, but don't with yes Men. I need honest ears when in the studio Turn down the movie roll to finish the album. I pray the outcome is good. Clayton Biggs be y'all done Took him out of the hood carrying water chopping the wood but you gon have motion if the product is good Lord knows it's crazy how I can just text HOV and run plays on the weekend it's more than just XO's when I dropped my first album was nervous my chest froze Plan's gonna be executed like on death row Bought a new cribber that is an escrow cause my credits go low as my self esteem but I grow it's a yellow beam when I glow I have mellow dreams when I smoke to my fellow kings keep the hole I think elohim dog woke up this morning actin wild like a black amount we smoke the opponent I prayed and hoped for this moment and if I post it, I own it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, that's fire right there. Yeah, yeah, that's fine right there.

[Cordae]

I appreciate that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I like that.

[Cordae]

Yes. I appreciate that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

What's going on? The one and only Cordae is here in the house with yours truly, Stephen A. Smith. Man, that's Saturday. Is that what that was?

[Cordae]

Yes, sir. Saturday morning.

[Stephen A. Smith]

All right, Saturday mornings. First of all, it's good to see you, my man. It's been a while. How you doing?

[Cordae]

Likewise, brother. I gotta say, too, man, you know, I've been. I would like to think I'm an early guest of the Stephen A. Smith show or early friend, you know. Did quite a lot of upgrades in this thing, my brother.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Thanks a lot, man.

[Cordae]

It looks amazing. It was great to start off with. Don't get me wrong. It was already amazing, but now I was like, oh, shit. Like, ok, I appreciate it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I appreciate it. I aim to please. I aim to please. Talk to me about you and where you feel you are right now in your career. Things seem to be going real well for you. You just 27, you making things happen. How you feeling about things right now, man?

[Cordae]

I feel great, bro. I'm really blessed. And I'm sure you can relate to this of like, I've always had this mindset and still do about just like, all right, what's next? What's the next barrier to through. What's the next level? It's just even something amazing should have just happened and I'm already thinking about, like, what's next? How do I take this to the next level? But, like, right now, I think I've been finding that balance between just, like, staying consistent, working really hard, but just also, like, being present, you know what I'm saying? And just like, yo, I'm just really blessed. Like, I set out and did a lot of things that I wrote down that I wanted to do. Still a lot more to do. But I say all this to say just presently, just very happy. Like, my manager was just telling me, he's like, yo, you know, you sold like 12 million records.

[Stephen A. Smith]

12 million. I was getting ready to throw out that number. 12 million won an award is what won a Grammy, right?

[Cordae]

Emmy.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Emmy. M sorry. Won an Emmy. Emmy. My bad, my bad, my bad. Won an Emmy.

[Cordae]

Nominated for Grammy.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Nominated for Grammy. Won an Emmy. Sold about 12 million. I mean, most people ain't doing that right now. How do you think you've Pulled that off.

[Cordae]

You know what, bro? One, I give all glory to God, honestly. Two, I don't know, man. I'm blessed. Cause like selling music and tour, even more than like the 12 million records sold, I'm really proud of like being able to sell out a tour, you know what I'm saying? Because now with streaming and streaming to numbers equivalent, it get a little tricky. I don't really know. Back in the day, it's like when niggas sold 12 million records. Cause 12 million motherfuckers went to the store and bought the shit. Now it's like streaming equivalents is weird, but with a show, it's like a five step process. In order to go to a show, you gotta pay for the tickets, they gotta wait in line, they gotta, if they got kids, they gotta find a babysitter. So when somebody actually shows up at your door to come to a show to see you perform, that's real love. And I've been blessed to be able to perform in all corners of the earth. And so I'm really proud of that. So I say that to say just being myself and lately my model just been pushing my pen, bro. Just pushing that pen, Pushing the pen.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Did you take, and I say a break? I'm thinking mentally, yeah, of course. Did you feel at any point in time over the last few years, just with the climate that we're living in, the kind of stuff going on in this world that you needed to take a step back, reflect, think about the kind of things that you wanted to do moving forward? Or has it always been about the grind for you?

[Cordae]

I don't think I've earned the luxury to take a break, but I got a break. We all did in 2020. And that was my time to where I was just thinking about like, what do I really want out of this entertainment thing? What is my goal? And just being more intentional about everything. Just being more intentional about like my brand. What's the message? What's my mantra? What's my ethos? You know what I'm saying? And so I kind of gathered that in 2020. But in 2020, I was 23 years old. I'm 27. Like, I'm a whole different nigga now, you know what I'm saying? Like, same person, same value, same morals. But just like, you know, I have a kid. Like, yo, it's all of these things transitioning, you know, even for the average American, for average person from age 23 to 27, there is a certain amount of growth. So my bad, I'm going on tangents.

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, you're not.

[Cordae]

But thank you. Thank you. Yeah, appreciate it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Appreciate it. Thank you so much.

[Cordae]

All right. Thank you so much.

[Stephen A. Smith]

All right. Take your time.

[Cordae]

Thank you. Thank you. But I got that break kind of in 2020, so I don't think. I haven't taken any breaks. Like, it's time in between albums. But I wouldn't even count it as breaks because let's say my last album, I dropped it January 2022. I toured all of 2022 and 2023. And then as soon as I get off tour, I'm in the studio 24 7. And so there hasn't really been a break since I started it. But again, I feel like I haven't earned the luxury or the right for a break.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You talked about having a list, at least a mental one, if not a literal one, where things that you've done and you're looking ahead to what you've wanted to do. What have you done in your mind that you can reveal to the audience, what is it that you had on your list? And you said, all right, I want to do this. Check. I've done it. What has that been?

[Cordae]

You know what? I had get in the studio with Dr. Dre on a vision board. And I was able to do that early on. Shout out to my boy Anderson Pack. He actually introduced us.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know how I feel about Dr. Dre.

[Cordae]

That's the goat, bro.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah, yeah, he's something special.

[Cordae]

No, for real.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He's something special.

[Cordae]

Nah, the goat. And it's funny, too. I had, like, double XL freshmen on the early vision board of mine. I had Grammys on my vision board. And I actually had, like. I put EGOT on my vision board. And so, like, it's funny that I've won the Emmy first. Cause that's the E. So it's like, I'm assume. Not assuming, you know, Grammys next, then Oscars, then Tony. So, you know, the Lord is wanting me to do it on his time and in that time. And so that was one of the things, you know, being on the Stephen A. Smith show, you know what I'm saying? One of my 20, 24 goals. You feel me? And yeah, bro, just one step at a time. But I feel like, you know, when you write things down, it becomes. And you're looking at it every day, it gives me personally, like, that extra motivation to keep it going, but just a reminder of, like, what I'm doing this for. Cause, you know, this entertainment shit is, like.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's treacherous, bro.

[Cordae]

How Treacherous.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How treacherous is it now compared to what it was, let's say, even four or five years ago?

[Cordae]

Man, you know what? It's completely different even now. Like, I'm still fairly new to this shit. I only been in it since 2018, but it's completely changed. Like, even the rise. I feel like this is one of my points too. We are in a podcast epidemic right now, okay?

[Stephen A. Smith]

Like, too many of them.

[Cordae]

Yes, nigga. Like, we don't need that many more podcasts. Like, straight up, like, of people that's misinformed. They're spreading misinformation, you know what I'm saying? Like, people like, you've been doing this, obviously been doing this a super long time. Like, you've earned the right to have your own platform and to speak on things that you speak on. Most of these motherfuckers is starting platforms, not doing any research on the topics.

[Stephen A. Smith]

They're stealing other people's content.

[Cordae]

Stealing content is unoriginal. They're not doing any research. They're not fact checking things before they're speaking. And they're actually getting platforms and audience that are. But we're in a very, like, sheep, like a groupthink world and system. So you got kids who might not have even heard anything about a certain subject, and they're getting the information from this podcast who may have millions of subscribers, and they're giving them the wrong information. They're not fact checked in, like, even like a lot of these music review podcasts. And it's like, yo, it's this little like. And it's not a race thing, but it's just more so about a culture and a research thing. It's like, yo, you got this white boy who don't know, who can't tell you when Illmatic came out. But you wanna make a hip hop podcast, but you don't know when Illmatic came out, you know what I'm saying? You don't know when Ready to Die came out. You don't know.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And you ain't willing to admit and acknowledge what you don't know. You trying to pretend like you do.

[Cordae]

Know, you know what I'm saying? So you haven't earned the right to make a hip hop podcast. Again, not a race thing. But you haven't done your research, you haven't done the education, you haven't done the programming, you know what I'm saying? Like, I love this music shit. Like, I. I done studied the greats, you know what I'm saying? And so, yeah, people, yeah, I feel like we definitely in the podcast epidemic.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay, everybody, you know what time it is. It's time for Stephen A. Sports picks. Look, just to let y'all know, I've been on the road, I've been traveling, so the setup might look a little bit different, all right? That's the way it goes. But it doesn't matter because I'm still here for you, all right? And that also means you need to hear about prospects. In case you didn't already know, Prize Bits is the largest fantasy sports platform in all the land with more than 3 million members. Where you choose two, three or even up to six, count up six players of any sport you love to watch and pick more or less when they reject the stats for the game. All right? Pick from the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, and everything in between. And the good news, by the way, just keeps on coming. Because now with prize picks newest feature live squares. You can make picks on real time player projections after a contest has started. So now you can run your game. During the game, just look for the red live indicator on the upper left corner of active squares to see the player's full game projection alongside their current progress. They didn't pick more or less to add the square to your lineup. All right. But the offer doesn't stop there because prize picks will give you fifty dollars instantly when you play your first five dollar lineup. You don't need to win your lineup to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. All you have to do is play a five dollar lineup on prize picks and you'll get fifty dollars instantly. Now let's look at my winning picks. All right, I'll be picking from this weekend's NFL games. First up, Giants quarterback Daniel Jones facing the Carolina Panthers secondary more or less than 207 and a half passing yards. Carolina Panthers are the worst team in football. I know that Daniel Jones ain't the greatest quarterback in the world. Hell, he ain't anything close to the greatest quarterback in the world. But it should be hard to pass for more than 207 and a half yards. Okay? Especially when Napers is back going up against the Carolina Panthers. It should not be hard. I'm going with more on this. More would be the answer to this question. Next up, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young going up against the Giants secondary more or less than 178 and a half passing yards. Kids had it rough. He's looked nothing like the dude that started Alabama. Yeah, I know that. But at some point I gotta have a good game. Something's got to work for You. So I'm going to go with more on this too. I think he's going to pass for more than 178 and a half passing yards. I'm going to go with more on this question in regards to Bryce Young, quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. Finally, Minnesota Vikings signal caller Sam Donald facing the Jacksonville Jaguars. More or less than 246 and a half yards passing. Trevor Lawrence is not expected to play. I don't expect the Jacksonville Jaguars to do much because of it offensively. Which means the Minnesota Vikings will have more bites at the apple offensively themselves. Because it's Jacksonville Jaguars defense. I have to be on the field to stop them. I'm still going to go with Lesto. I'm still gonna go with less.246 and a half passing yards. To be honest with you, I don't need. I don't think that Sam Donald is going to need to do that much in order to beat the Jacksonville Jaguars. So with this particular category, I'm going to go with less. Let's recap. Daniel Jones against Carolina. More than 207 and a half passing yards. Bryce Young, quarterback for the Carolina Panthers. More. Less than 178 and a half passing yards. I'm gonna go with more. More on that particular question. And last but not least, Sam Donald for the Minnesota Vikings against the Jacksonville Jaguars. More. Less than 246 and a half passing yards. I'm going to go with less. That's more. That's more. That's less. Hey, at least I said more than less. You hear what I'm saying?

[Hunter]

This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange childcare. You'll meet on your schedule wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with a relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner or just need a little extra one on one support, Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers and most insured members have a zero dollar copay. No insurance, no problem. Now get $80 off of your first month with promo code space80 when you go to talkspace.com match with a licensed therapist today at talkspace.com save $80 with code [e-mail] I'm Hunter, host of Hunting.

For Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission. Save our girls. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You got a new single out? No. Mad as Fuck.

[Cordae]

Yes, sir.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's the title of it. Is that one of the things you mad about?

[Cordae]

Absolutely.

[Stephen A. Smith]

What else?

[Cordae]

Let me see.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because I imagine you're a deep thinker and I imagine you're mad about more than one thing.

[Cordae]

Yeah, absolutely. I'm a quote good brother. James Baldwin, he said to be black and I'm paraphrasing it, but to be black and politically, not politically aware, but to be black and socially aware is to be enraged all the time. You know what I'm saying? And so I'm gonna take that quote as the genesis of mad as fuck, but mad as fuck isn't. It's not that my song isn't that deep, but yeah, just a bunch of shit. Just like, I mean, we encounter things every day that make us mad. You know what I'm saying? Whether it's traffic, whether it's, you know, a bunch of shit. You see some stupid shit people are saying online about it. Don't even gotta be about you, about whoever, you know, the spread of misinformation. These bullshit podcasts that we going about. Yeah, a bunch of shit. You know what I'm saying?

[Stephen A. Smith]

A bunch of people have asked me, they said, stephen A. How do you do it? How do you do what you do every day? You on television, you know, you doing your YouTube show, you got your podcast, you got all of this going on. They coming at you all the time. Stephen A. How you deal with it? I said, first of all, 99% of the time, I don't know what the hell they talking about because I don't read it. I don't pay any attention to it because I know the objective is to distract me from what I'm trying to do.

[Cordae]

Absolutely.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Every now and then, I might listen to it just to continue to develop my alligator skin, to show myself I can take it, you understand? And you march forward. Sometimes the haters inspire you more than you realize. And you could use it. You could utilize it that way. But sometimes, damn it, you just ain't in the mood to listen to that negativity because it can mess with your spirit, et cetera. What do you find yourself doing in order to get through it? Because I imagine I don't give a damn who you are. If you successful, somebody got something to say. And obviously you a successful brother. So people got stuff to say, appreciate you.

[Cordae]

It takes success to know success, my good brother.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How about that?

[Cordae]

But what was I finna say? You know what it is, too? I feel like our brains as an artist, entertainer, anybody with a platform, just human being, our brains are more centered and engaging to negativity, unfortunately, especially when it's about us. So you may have 10,000 comments that's like, yo, Stephen, that you the man, you the goat. You done did this. But your brain is automatically gonna pay attention to the 500 comments that's like, whoa, this nigga sucks. But you know what I'm saying? And that's for every entertainer, artist, whatever. So I say all this to say. I try to keep that in mind. Like, fortunately for me, it's been a lot more love than negativity. So I try to just focus on the love. And then two. Like you said. Like, I don't even pay attention to that shit. Like, I have Instagram on my phone. I upload it. I get my news. Like, it's like, you read news and shit. I read the news. If I gotta upload a song or post, whatever, do that, and I delete the shit. And I try to only have it on my phone, like, for that purpose, to read the news, get updated on what's going on in the Zeitgeist and the Earth post if I got to, and then just delete it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You don't get as much hate nearly as some other artists who will remain nameless. I'm not gonna throw no shade on them because they don't deserve. Yeah, but you get a lot more love than hate. Why do you think that is?

[Cordae]

Because that's what I pay attention to. This is from my synopsis you know what I'm saying? I'm sure there is like, you know, like you said, haters out there, negativity, but I only try to pay attention and give energy to the love, you know, so I'm not going to just say it's just all love and everybody just love Cordae. Everybody fuck with me. I know it's obviously it's not going to be that. That's impossible for any artist, but I just try to stay focused and give energy to the love versus like the negativity because I've given too much energy and thought to the negativity and it make me like second guess myself, doubt myself, overthink. And like, when I just delete Instagram, Twitter, social media and I just live my actual life, it's like, nigga, like, I am super.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Are you a proponent of folks getting rid of their social media accounts not even having anything to do with it? You ain't got no social media account. You don't know what the hell is going on. You don't receive any of you. You don't pay attention to any of it. Are you a proponent, at least in some cases of people just having absolutely, positively nothing to do with social media?

[Cordae]

Man, my plan is to do that. I feel like I'm not quite there yet where I want to be and it will be behoove of me and not behoove. It would. I'll be a fool to do that. Not a fool. But it wouldn't be wise if I would do that right now.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Because your audience is there.

[Cordae]

Yeah, my audience is there. And there's other ways to, you know, direct to consumer ways. But yeah, my goal is to get to a place in my life and my career where I don't have to entertain that at all.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Gotcha.

[Cordae]

You know. Cause it has positives, but, you know, I feel like the negatives is pretty large.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You originated YBN group. I mean, it was filled with rappers, record producers, social media personalities and promoters from different parts of the country, if I remember correctly. I want to know how all of that came together and was that the key to the group's success? The fact that everybody came seemingly from a different genre?

[Cordae]

Well, you know, I was like probably the last member of ybn, honestly. It was started by ybn, Nymir and ybn, Glizzy and YB and Almighty J. And they started off on the Xbox like they were all friends together on the Xbox and shit. And you know, they came up and came together and I was just cool with Namir. We had a Mutual friend. And whenever we was in the same city, we would link if you would.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right.

[Cordae]

And so, you know, I gotta be honest, like, Namir just threw me that. Oops. He honestly just threw me the crazy.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Oop.

[Cordae]

And I called it and slam dunked it. So I'm like forever grateful. Like, no matter what Naomir got to say about me, I don't got nothing but the absolute highest things to say about him. Cause he shined that light when he didn't have to, and he owe me that. So I got nothing but love for him and that group and what it's done for me. And just not even more so what it's done for me, but that time in my life, you know what I'm saying? The Ushers being young, making music, traveling the world and stuff. So that was really like Namir and them that constructed and construed that whole thing.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay, you talk about what was done for you. What do you believe you've done for the music industry, for hip hop?

[Cordae]

Hmm. I feel. I don't know. This is gonna sound narcissistic, but, you know, fuck it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'm asking you.

[Cordae]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know what I'm saying? All you're doing is answering the question.

[Cordae]

That's true.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's all. Don't let that blame me for that. Damn it, blame me.

[Cordae]

Well, since you mention it, brother, there we go. But I feel like. I feel like I bring a much needed balance to music because it's a lot of dark shit, you know what I'm saying? And you know, that's cool, like how you express yourself, you know, Edgar Allan Poe is dark, you know what I'm saying? Langston Hughes had some dark poems every now and then, right? So it's a lot of darkness in music and that's fine, you know? Cause that's how you're expressing yourself. And you got to talk about your environment. I mean, I got a song called Mad as Fuck. I got a song called Broke as Fuck. Sometimes you got to let that get out of you, you know, like. Like how Mad as Fuck came about. I don't really complain too much, to be honest. I don't like. Well, I.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Just because you ain't complaining too much don't mean you ain't feeling it in your soul.

[Cordae]

Yeah, exactly. I would like to say I am. We just talked about this earlier. I'm a. If I complain, I like to be solution based. I'm a solution based complainer. Like, I was at my homie's crib and shit. We was Playing a game. And I was thinking in my head like, damn, this nigga TV small as shit. But I didn't want to see it. We in there playing the game. This shit like a 30 inch TV. I'm like, damn, this nigga TV's small.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Not today's day and age. Got to be at least 75.

[Cordae]

That's what I'm saying. So I was like. I was thinking about it and I was just laughing. Cause I was like, yo, this TV's small as shit, nigga. My boy was like, what? What you laughing? I was like, nah. He's like, what? The TV's small? And I was like. I was like, nah. But I say that to say I end up and I'm not. I don't wanna say like, oh, I did this for my homie. But I didn't wanna bring up that TV until I got them a new one. I got him a new one as like a housewarming gift, you know what I'm saying? Because it's like, yo, I wanna. Let's be solution based. So wrapping back to your question of what I'm needed for in hip. Not needed, but what I think I've brought to hip hop is just like just positivity amongst so much dark shit. Refreshing sound amongst so much dark shit. Authenticity and just realness. I just be myself. I can't be compromised. I'm gonna always say what's on my heart, whether right or wrong. I'm gonna always say what I feel, whether right or wrong. I'm not on no politically correct vibes. I'm not for no huge corporation, you know, I'm not here to like, oh, you know, entertainment, you know, you gotta be smart. Right. Don't be a fool. But I feel like we owe it to the general public and the fans to still, like, speak with our heart, say what's on our mind, and not be too afraid to burn bridges that we're robots, you know what I'm saying? And so I feel like what I bring to music is like, authenticity. Me speaking my full truth and nothing but the truth, whether right or wrong. And a fresh sound and yeah, just some light.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I could be wrong. I don't recall hearing you much. And I'm going to bring this up and I'll only go as far as you want me to because this is your business. But congratulations, you got a baby.

[Cordae]

Oh, thank you.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Naomi Osaka. I mean, she fantastic. Tennis player, fantastic. Okay. But we know her story in terms of what she had to go through with fans.

[Cordae]

Yep.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And what she had to deal with. What was that like for you as the man in her life, Seeing her go through that and thinking to yourself, what could you do? If anything at all, in light of the fact that she's in the public eye and you had people that were just coming that up just because that's what people are gonna do. You got fans and you got people that want you to lose, and everybody wasn't rooting for her. What was that like for you?

[Cordae]

Well, to be honest, when she was going through all of that stuff, like, I'm on tour, while she's on tour, I'm on tour, you know what I'm saying? So it's not the best when you can't be there in person for somebody, you know? So it kind of sucked that she had to go through that by herself. And it's funny, my first time going to a tennis event regardless was at the US Open. I was just like, I saw you. I felt uncomfortable, you know what I'm saying? Like, I was just like, damn, like, yo, this feels like a lot of classism, you know what I'm saying? A lot of racism. I would say more classism than racism, but I just felt like a black sheep, if you would. And so I can only imagine, as a black tennis player, I'm just a bystander in a crowd, and I felt like, hella out of place, you know what I'm saying? Like I said, I myself in every venue where I'm at, so I'm like, let's go, nigga. At the US Open, it's all quiet and n's like, what? You know? So I say all that to say, yeah, man, it's hard, man, because it's like, when you're like. And it's not like a team sport either. And I don't want to speak for her because I don't know what she truly felt, and I don't want to be. I ain't her pr and I'm not her spokesperson, so I don't want to misrepresent her, of course, but I can only imagine what it feels like when you're out there by yourself. You don't got teammates. You can't even. Damn. I think they can just now start talking to the coaches. So, yeah, it's easy for them to feel alone out there. And that's a whole nother layer. When you add you're a person of color, you know what I'm saying? And you're a loud person of color. When you speak your ideals, your truth.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It Broke my heart to watch her go through that. And this is the last thing I'll say about that, because you have a right to know where I stood on that issue. On one hand, I felt incredibly sad for her for having to go through it. But I cover sports.

[Cordae]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And it seemed very normal to me what people were doing. In other words, she's great. We don't want her winning. She busting people ass left and right. Tennis court, anything that we could do to distract her and to stop her from continuing to bust out. You know what? For the athlete that we're rooting for, that's what they were going to do. You're a Washington Commanders fan in football, right?

[Cordae]

Yes, sir.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Well, you go to you at MetLife Stadium, ain't nobody rooting for them. You go to Dallas, ain't nobody rooting for them. So I was saying to myself as a sports fan, as wrong as it may be, there's no way to escape that because nobody is going to stop. How do you continue to move forward knowing that the world that we're living in, you're going to have people rooting for you, and then you're going to have people rooting against you. And those who are rooting against you will do everything they can to derail your success. I'm like, what do you say to that? I'm asking you as a sports fan, more so than anything else.

[Cordae]

Yeah, of course.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How do you deal with it?

[Cordae]

Well, I feel like with tennis is different because it's such. The culture at a tennis match is like nobody don't say nothing. You know what I'm saying? It's very like, you speak when. And I might be the wrong representative because I've only been to not too.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Many, you know, same here. But I feel like covered sports.

[Cordae]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. But the culture is just like quietness, you know what I'm saying? It's like quietness. You know, it's a club sport. It's a very elitist sport is how the vibes that I get from it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So hecklers, everybody don't feel invited. I say the same thing about golf.

[Cordae]

Yeah, exactly.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Everybody. I don't necessarily feel invited.

[Cordae]

Yeah. So hecklers aren't as often in that sport as it is like basketball, football. And whether, you know, heckler is right or wrong. Like you said, it's a part of the game. But it's just much more of a standout in tennis sport. It's super rare versus basketball. Niggas like, hey, nigga, you suck every day. You know what I'm saying. And so just going back to just athletes in general and how they should deal with that. I feel like everybody has their own process. I mean, you got headphones, I guess where you playing? You can't put on headphones. But I don't know. It's like everybody. I don't have. I'm not gonna. I'm not an athlete, you know, So I don't want to give athletes advice on how they should deal with fans, hecklers and things of that nature. Like, when I'm performing, it's all fans in there.

[Stephen A. Smith]

That's where I was going. Is it all fans when you're performing?

[Cordae]

Yeah, because they had to pay for a ticket. Like, when I'm doing a cordae headline show, like, that's what I'm speaking of. It's all. They literally pay to see me. It's nobody else there but me. So it's like literally, like, all love and admiration. Now, let's say when we do a festival, like a Coachella, Like Coachella, it's like 100 other artists, right? You know, it ain't gonna be. I haven't got any, like, booze, Fortunately, I haven't got. You know, I feel like I put on a really damn good show.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You would do if you did get boos. How do you think that would affect you?

[Cordae]

Honestly? So the equivalent of boos to me performing is a dry crowd. You know what I'm saying? If they're just not energetic, reacting, they ain't reacting.

[Stephen A. Smith]

They ain't giving it back to you.

[Cordae]

And in that case, brother, I put in both of my in ears, and I just treat it like it's TV performance. I just put on my in ears. I still give them a great performance. I rock through it, and I get my money.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You address a lot of social issues. I'm thinking About Crossroads, your third album's coming out November 15th. I ain't forget that.

[Cordae]

Don't worry about it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I'll be pumping that over in the days and days to come. Make no mistake about that. But I want to ask you because you address a lot of social issues.

[Cordae]

Yes, sir.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In your music. How do you decide what issues you're going to address?

[Cordae]

Just about what's most important, what connects with me the most? On the day I dropped Saturday mornings, it was when the police killed this black woman.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay.

[Cordae]

I can't think of the name off the top of my head, and I don't wanna sit down and research, but I say all this to say I had to drop a single the same day that that happened. And part of me was like, yo, this is crazy. This is fucked up. Like, yo, we gotta protect ours. We gotta protect our black women. Like, this is like, oh, this is crazy, right? This is crazy. You know what I'm saying? And part of me was like, I didn't wanna post it. Cause I didn't wanna seem like I was pandering on the day I dropped the single. It just happened to occur the same day. But I'm like, nah, I know where my heart's at. This really affected me. This really fucked me up. I was raised by all black women. I got eight aunts, you know what I'm saying? My mom, like, so I say all this to say just things that connect with me personally, you know what I'm saying? Things that connect with me and move me personally is what I try to speak on.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You fly under the radar?

[Cordae]

Yes, sir.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In a lot of people's eyes, you're pretty much under the radar. Number one, is that intentional? Number two, how do you pull it off considering the level of success you enjoy?

[Cordae]

You know what, it's definitely intentional because even this is my first interview for this entire, like, album rollout, you know what I'm saying? And because we have a relationship, we've been locked in for years, you know what I'm saying? I felt like it was important to do it on, on this show.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I appreciate that.

[Cordae]

No, I appreciate you for giving me the space to speak and. But yeah, just being very intentional because I don't wanna oversaturate myself and I don't wanna mince and waste words, you know what I'm saying? I feel like a lot of people just be talking just for the sake of talking, you know what I'm saying? And like, I was going back earlier of like, it's too many podcasts, like, can it really be that many opinions about other things that's going on? Like, so I just try to offer a unique perspective on things. Going back to the music, question, whatever. I feel like I can offer a unique perspective on something that hasn't been said before. And also things that touch me personally and with me just like, you know, laying low. It's just for my peace of mind too. Like, just for my personal peace of mind, I like to live like a fairly normal life, you know what I'm saying? High level, of course, you know, but.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You are with somebody who's one of the greatest players in the world. How you going to live a low profile life when you got somebody that large?

[Cordae]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And you large.

[Cordae]

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It ain't like she out there doing her thing and you home, you know, working a nine to five.

[Cordae]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How you pulling that off, man?

[Cordae]

You know what's funny? She moves even lower than me, like, in the sense of, like, low Keyness. You know what I'm saying? And so, yeah, man, just. I don't know. Just being intentional. I feel like just being intentional about everything. Like, even when I go out in public, like, my hair is the dead giveaway. When I wear my hair, when I'm, like, out like this, I walk. I got to take a hundred pictures, and I'm fine with that. It's super cool. But, like, y'all just wear a durag shade, you know, mask. So just being intentional, you know, I'm.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Gonna throw something out to you. I want to get your opinion on this, because you brought up the, you know, like, the invasion of the epidemic, the podcast epidemic and stuff like that.

[Cordae]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Here's what I detest about it, okay? Like, this shit here is earned. It ain't giving. No, I put in. I put in decades before I decided to. To do something like this.

[Cordae]

Absolutely.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's not the fact that people have podcasts. It's exactly what you pointed out. It's what they doing with it. I'm seeing cats. And. And. And again, you put in work. Yeah, I put in work.

[Cordae]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And I'm looking at people with podcasts, and it's like, all right, let me. Let me tell you what happened. And they're playing a clip of somebody else's work, somebody else's interview. They're putting it out there. They sitting at the same desk, ain't moved. They ain't traveling. They research. They do any of this. Well, let me tell you what I feel about this. And for some reason, that's a podcast. And as a result, they're getting paid off of that. And the way I view it is you want to get paid for not working, because we could tell the difference between those who's putting in the work and those who don't. That's what appalls me about the podcast business, because I'm in it. Right. It's supposed to be a form of journalism.

[Cordae]

Yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

All right. A form of commentary. And to me, that's not the case in a lot of situations. As a musician, as an artist, how does it make you feel if you see somebody out there that ain't putting in the work, but for some reason is getting a little bit of shine even when that Work isn't there.

[Cordae]

Honestly, I'd be like, man, get your money, bro. I don't got an ounce of hater in me. Like, yo, get to it, bro. That don't got nothing to do with me. It is enough, fan.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Like I said, it's enough for everybody.

[Cordae]

It's enough for everybody. I am blessed, bro. I've done three headline tours across the world, all of them sold out, you know what I'm saying? I do very well for myself. It's like, okay, I don't get it. Even when I have friends and family that do music and they play it for me and I'm like, yo, I'm gonna give you my opinion, but I am one human being, bro. It's artists out there that I think are garbage juice, bro. Straight garbage juice. But they doing they thing you can find the audience. We're in an age now, just find your niche audience, cater to them and they're going to tell their like minded friends about it, you know what I'm saying? And so 7 billion people in the world, so when I see an artist that's like garbage juice and they're like going crazy and blowing up, it's like.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yo, get yours, get yours. White people, get yours.

[Cordae]

Absolutely. Because gold don't get old and like longevity. Those that's supposed to be here always stay here.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Got you. That's a good point. That's a good phrase to live by. Crossroads. Back to that. What can fans expect?

[Cordae]

My best work yet, like my whole model, like I was telling you earlier, has just been pushing that pin, you know, like production wise. I think this is my most tasteful beat selection out of all my previous projects. And I just been pushing that pin. Like there's some songs where I rewrote the verses eight times and I might end up just going back to the very first verse. But the fact is I at least wanted to push my pen to see if I can take it further. Some verses I. Out of the eight verses that I wrote, I take a piece of this, piece of that, piece of that, piece of that and that becomes the verse. But because once music is out, it's out, bro. It goes into eternity forever. Once it's in the zeitgeist, it's there, it's no going back. And so I just sleep a lot better at night knowing that I put my all into it. And I tried my very best to push it, to take it to the highest level I can, like creatively. And my motto right now the last year has been, if I had a time machine. And I go in that time machine and play the music Back for 16 year old Cordae. Is he impressed with the music? Not with oh my God, I made it. I got Emmys and Grammys. I done so millions of records. Like nah, it's just like I just go back in the time machine, play him the music. He needs to be impressive. Like yo, I was able to get that good. Like I was able to create something that's good like wow. And if I don't think it impresses 16 year old Cordae, then it's gonna stay in the vault.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I wanna take a second to make sure everyone knows we are smack dab in the middle of the NFL season and with games being played Thursday night, Sunday night and Monday night, I couldn't be more excited. But what's even more exciting is that Prizepix wants to help you cash in on all those big time games. You see, Prize Picks is a daily fantasy app where you can pick two or more of your favorite players and then you simply select more or less on the projected stats for the game. Pick a player's yards, rushing yards and total touchdowns. The list is absolutely endless. And the good news just keeps coming because with Prize Picks you can choose from any sport you love to watch. Basketball, football, hockey, soccer, even mma all in the same entry. I make my picks and submit early, all in less than 60 seconds. And now with Prize Picks Live Squares option, you'll be able to place mid game picks on full game projections. Just look for a red light indicator on a square in the app during games and pick a player's game projection after their game has started. And if you sign up now with Code sas, of course, Prize Picks will give you fifty dollars instantly when you play your first five dollar lineup. You don't need to win your lineup to receive the $50 bonus. It's guaranteed. All you have to do is play a $5 lineup on prize picks and you'll get $50 instantly. Pick more, pick less. It's that easy.

[Hunter]

I'm Hunter, host of Hunting for Answers on the Black Effect Podcast Network. Join me every weekday as I share bite sized stories of missing and murdered Black women and girls in America. There are several ways we can all do better at protecting Black women. My contribution is shining a light on our missing sisters and amplifying their disregarded stories. Stories like Tameka Anderson. As she drove toward Galvez, she was in contact with several people talking on the phone as she made her way to what should have been a routine transaction. But Tameka never bought the car and she never returned home that day. One podcast, one mission. Save our girls. Join the search as we explore the chilling cases of missing and murdered black women and girls. Listen to Hunting for Answers every weekday on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Stephen A. Smith]

When I smoke weed, I get lost in the music. I like to isolate each instrument. The rhythmic bass, the harmonies on the piano. Sticky melody.

[Hunter]

Careful, babe. There's someone crossing the street.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Sorry, I didn't see him there.

[Cordae]

If you feel different, you drive different. Don't drive high.

[Stephen A. Smith]

It's dangerous and illegal everywhere. A message from NHTSA and the Ad Council. I've never met an artist that don't have an opinion about sports.

[Cordae]

Come on, before I let you get.

[Stephen A. Smith]

On out of here, let's do this. What the hell is on your mind about the sports world? Let's get that out the way. First of all, what's on your mind? Is it NFL? Is it NBA? What's on your mind most?

[Cordae]

Both of them, man. I'm tapped into the NFL. I see the jets just got Devontae Adams. Yeah. LA GM. You know how they say that about LeBron?

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't know what it's going to do for them with Baltimore, Kansas City, Buffalo.

[Cordae]

Buffalo just got Mario Amari Cooper.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah, that's a big pickup for them.

[Cordae]

Yeah. Nah, Commanders. I see the Panthers. You know, my dad's a big Panthers fan, so I grew up heavy on Panthers.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Really? My condolences to your dad.

[Cordae]

Yeah, man.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Damn.

[Cordae]

Yeah. Horrible franchise.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Yeah, horrible.

[Cordae]

Yo, we have the worst GM in sports. How the fuck. Excuse my French, but it's the only way to say it. How the fuck I'm saying excuse my French 30 minutes in an interview. Right? But, yo, how the fuck do you trade away Christian McCaffrey for two second round picks?

[Stephen A. Smith]

How do you miss that? Badly on Bryce Young compared to CJ Stroud. Now, I know Bryce Young coming out of Alabama was all world, but damn, you see how small he is? And you look at the offensive line it's supposed to protect. I mean, I spent in front of a million dollars.

[Cordae]

They spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the offensive line.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And then they want to talk to me. Like I can say something different than what I'm saying. I'm like, I can't help you. I mean, it's just that damn bad. Now, I will say this about your commanders. Jaden Daniels. Yeah, Jaden Daniel. True. I'm trying to lay low because I don't want to jinx him. I don't want him to get hurt like RG3 got hurt.

[Cordae]

Don't bring up that cornball brother, man.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't. Oh, don't stop.

[Cordae]

Don't do that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't. Don't bring up my man Rob Parker like that. Don't do it. Don't do it. We gonna let that go. But I tell you, this, RG3 was big time until a Lodi Nada nearly.

[Cordae]

That cornball brother was throwing that thing.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Brother was special. No doubt about it.

[Cordae]

For sure.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Jaden Daniels, you believe in him?

[Cordae]

Absolutely. 100%. I rebuke all RG3 energy. Jesus Christ. Nah, Jaden Daniel is the one. You know what this reminds me of? Like, just that excitement. They didn't do what they were supposed to do. But I remember just being in sixth grade, we had, like, Jason Campbell, like QB Santana Moss, Clint Portis, Albert Hworth, you know, before the season started, John.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Taylor, God rest my soul.

[Cordae]

God, what a monster.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Monster.

[Cordae]

Oh, my goodness. But that squad just had me so excited before the season started. Now they went 8 and 8, right? God rest Sean Taylor soul. But I say this to say this Commander's team, man, it's looking real good for us.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I think they could win nfc.

[Cordae]

We got rid of Dan Schneider, man. We had to get.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Ain't that something?

[Cordae]

Yeah, we had to get. He was cursing.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I don't even know he in the country. He won't come back in the country. He over in England somewhere.

[Cordae]

Yeah, he was cursing, man, like, we good dog.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I know that. Listen, Josh Harris, a billionaire, he paid over $6 billion for the franchise. But part of that ownership group is Irving. Magic Johnson. How you feeling about that?

[Cordae]

I love it, man. I love it. This is. This is great. Now they need to buy the Wizards, too. They don't own the Wizards.

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, they don't.

[Cordae]

Okay.

[Stephen A. Smith]

No, they don't. You do know this. They almost as bad as the Carolina Panthers.

[Cordae]

They might be.

[Stephen A. Smith]

They might be worse. Yeah, but I mean, the only thing you could say is that at least Carolina only puts us through 17 weeks of misery. The Wizards put us through 82 games of this year.

[Cordae]

Yeah, man, the Wizards is bad.

[Stephen A. Smith]

All right. So who you got in the NBA this year?

[Cordae]

NBA? I like the Mavs. I think the. Come on, Let me tell you. Let me tell.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Go ahead, go ahead. They just got their ass whipped in the finals and you bringing them up.

[Cordae]

Cause they got Klay Thompson, man. I think he got a bone to pick, man. He got A point to prove, man. I feel like people been playing with him.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I feel like, oh, he's big time.

[Cordae]

You know, he's big time hall of.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Famer, one of the great shooters. But they think he lost the step. Golden State thinks he lost step defensively.

[Cordae]

And now he's a third option versus the second option.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay? If he's open, he gonna make shots.

[Cordae]

He gonna hit that. He got shots. And Kyrie handing it off to him.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Man, here's my issue with Kyrie Irving. Spectacular, spectacular throughout the years. Put on a show in the playoffs and was absolutely sensational in the finals, in Dallas, in Boston. He forgot how to play.

[Cordae]

No, no, in.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In Boston. In Boston.

[Cordae]

We ain't gonna do that. Look, I'm gonna tell you, that's my brother in real life. I'm a little biased.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay?

[Cordae]

I'm a little biased. I'm a little biased. That's my tribe. For real. For real. That's my main man.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I got a lot of love for him, despite what people think. We had our disagreements, but I respect the hell out of him and I got a lot of love for him.

[Cordae]

And going back to the point of, like, that courage and that willingness to speak his truth. He did no political correctness.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He did.

[Cordae]

And I feel like the entire world. And you said this publicly owes him apology.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Right?

[Cordae]

You know what I'm saying? Like, people owe this man an apology because he stood on his beliefs and his morals, and we gotta reward that as a community.

[Stephen A. Smith]

In fairness, with you sitting here, I'll look right in the camera and I'll say this, okay? I got on him. Yeah, But I got on him because I got tired of him missing them damn games. He's too great for me not to watch you watch you play. He's too great. But I was never of the mindset, yo take the vaccine during the COVID pandemic because it's the vaccine. I was of the mindset, yo, they Katie in Brooklyn because of you. James Harden in Brooklyn because of you. Do what you gotta do to make sure you winning the chip in Brooklyn. That was my position. But I do owe him an apology. So does everybody else in this regard. What we've seen, the politicians turn it into, what we've seen revealed about COVID the vaccine and all the stuff that comes with it, the conspiracy theories and beyond the inconsistencies, the statistical lies. Kyrie look a hell of a lot better now than he did years ago. People like me and others need to shut the hell up about that issue. We can't say anything against him at this point.

[Cordae]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Did I do well?

[Cordae]

That was great. Was that good? I appreciate it, brother. That glove right there. Right there.

[Stephen A. Smith]

My man. I'm proud of you, man. Keep making it happen. Crossroads drops November 15th. All the best to you, man. Always home here for you, my brother.

[Cordae]

I appreciate. Appreciate you.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Thank you.

[Cordae]

I'm going to take this couch with me, too, man. It's real.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I need the couch, man. I ain't got your money. I don't feel like buying another one.

[Cordae]

We ain't going to talk. We ain't going to do that, brother. But you know what? All right, we good. We good. We going to do that.

[Stephen A. Smith]

All right. All right, y'all.

[Cordae]

Yes, sir.

[Stephen A. Smith]

My good guest is one of the greatest heavyweight boxing champions of all time. He returns to the ring in an official capacity to take on YouTube, a turned professional boxer, the one and Only Jake Paul. November 15th at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, live on Netflix. Please welcome the man, the myth, the legend, Iron Mike himself, the one and only Mike Tyson. What's up, big time? How you doing, bro? How you doing?

[Mike Tyson]

Everything's great. Thank you. Thank you for asking.

[Stephen A. Smith]

The fight was supposed to be in July, was postponed because of an ulcer flare up, according to reports. First order of business, how are you feeling for this fight?

[Mike Tyson]

I feel great. Everything's fine.

[Stephen A. Smith]

So I gotta ask you, what made you want to fight Jake Paul? I mean, there's a lot of money, and that's always an incentive for all of us. But I get the feeling that it's not just that with you. What's up?

[Mike Tyson]

I could use a buck like everybody else, but this money, believe it or not, is not going to change my lifestyle. And, you know, it's not going to change my lifestyle. I'm going to be able to do what I'm normally able to do if I didn't have this fight. It's just the fact this is what I want to do. I want to get out of my comfort zone and I want to test myself. Whatever I'm afraid to do, I do it. That's just my mentality. If I'm afraid to do something, I do it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You're attacking your fears. I remember years ago, Cam Chancellor for the Legion of Boom with the Seattle Seahawks when they were winning Super Bowls, told me, the great ones always attack their fears.

[Mike Tyson]

I never heard that before. That's pretty heavy.

[Stephen A. Smith]

He told me, Iron Mike, he said, listen, I said, how do you ultimately end up being so successful as a team? He said, everybody that enters this locker room. We find out what their fears are and we make them face it. That's how we do it. That's why we win. And that's what he said. Having said all of that, I want to say this. The fight's going to be live streamed on Netflix. Okay, tell me how you feel about Jake Paul. What do you think about him as a fighter and why you took this fight with him.

[Mike Tyson]

Hey, listen, I think he came a long way as a fighter from when he first came, first showed himself on Roy Jones Mike Tyson card and he built himself up to be quite a sensation. And I think it was only right. It was a no brainer for me and him to fight. I started him on my card and said I'm finishing.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How much pressure, if any at all, do you feel to win this fight? Even though you're twice his age and you haven't been in the ring in an official sanctioned bout since 2005, how are you feeling pressure wise about needing to beat him?

[Mike Tyson]

Well, I feel a great condition. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday I box eight rounds and I don't know I'm ready. I don't look at it. I'm some old guy that's decrepit gonna fight this young guy. I'm fighting a guy with 10 fights. You know, he's sensational and he's hot, but I'm fighting a guy with 10 fights and I just think I'm gonna have to handle this situation.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You gonna knock him out?

[Mike Tyson]

I think I'm gonna hurt him, yes.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know, watching Jake Paul, I really respect what he's done for his career. I really respect what he's done for the sport of boxing. Because he's one of those guys that's saying I don't have to depend on promoters to do this for me. I'll do it myself. Having said that, I'm tired of seeing him go up against boxers we don't know or strikers from the UFC or basketball players of the. I like the fact that he's in the ring with a former champion. What do you think you're going to bring to the table that he has not seen?

[Mike Tyson]

My whole existence. It's everything. Listen, I hope he's taking this very seriously because his health depends on it.

[Stephen A. Smith]

I was getting ready to ask you, why did you say that? Because his health is. His health depends on it. What, watching? I'm imagining that you've watched him fight. What have you seen from him as a fighter that makes you so confident you can take them out?

[Mike Tyson]

Well, I'll Keep that to myself.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You ain't gonna tell me, Mike? You ain't gonna say. You ain't gonna say anything. Just go, keep it to yourself.

[Mike Tyson]

I whisper to your ear when I see you in person.

[Stephen A. Smith]

You know, I'm looking at you right now. The last time we saw you fight in an officially sanctioned bout was in 2005 when you lost to Kevin McBride. You lost to Danny Williams before that beat at the end. Before that. When you look at yourself and how you've aged, people look at you and they see you sparring and they say there's still a lot there. This is iron Mike Tyson. Mad respect for him. What do you believe that you've done since retirement that has you so confident that this is a fight that you could win against somebody half your age?

[Mike Tyson]

I've stopped doing drugs. I stopped drinking liquor. I stopped just throwing my life away, and I took my life serious and I became, you know, basically a responsible family person. That makes any sense.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Okay, well, when do you. When did you stop all of that? When would you say you stopped all of that?

[Mike Tyson]

Probably eight years ago. Might be nine, but I'm giving eight.

[Stephen A. Smith]

And what happened that made you stop eight or nine years ago?

[Mike Tyson]

I had some experience with. I had a psychedelic experience, EMT experience at age 58.

[Stephen A. Smith]

How do you train to fight an opponent like Jake Paul at age 58? What's different now compared to, let's say, what you would have done in your younger heyday?

[Mike Tyson]

Sparring? Get sparring partner to spar, train, get in shape, get strength and conditioning. Just do the basics, you know, give it the best you got. Give it everything you have three times a day.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Mike, do you think your ultimate advantage is the fact that he hasn't been in the ring with a true, true boxer who's a power puncher that has really, really tested him?

[Mike Tyson]

My advantage is that I'm just a better fighter.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Period. Look, man, before I let you get on out of here, it's a couple of things that I wanted to bring up because I wanted to promote this for you. Quick service plant based food company you invested in. Mr. Charlie's told me so. Yes. What got you involved in a quick service plant based food company? You eating some of that stuff to train for this fight?

[Mike Tyson]

Absolutely. I'm just a strong believer in self awareness and taking care of yourself. What people put in their body is what they are.

[Stephen A. Smith]

If you win this fight.

[Mike Tyson]

When I win. When I win.

[Stephen A. Smith]

When you win. When you win this fight, in a lot of people's eyes, especially if you do it by knockout. Are you one and done? Or are you the type of person approaching, approaching 60 years of age that's gonna think you could go back in the ring and do it again?

[Mike Tyson]

Hey, listen, sky's the limits, brother. Sky's the limits.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Good luck, my man. It's good talking to you, my brother.

[Mike Tyson]

Thank you very much.

[Stephen A. Smith]

No doubt the one and only Mike Tyson himself. Right here with your boy Stephen A. Smith on the Stephen A. Smith Show. You can check out the long awaited Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight. Streaming live and free on Netflix. Remember Friday, November 15th don't miss, miss it. Don't miss it. Geico's motorcycle expertise gives me the coverage.

[Hunter]

I need like 24. Seven claims I'm on cloud nine.

Clouds are wholly unable to support the.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Weight of an adult human. What's happening? Furthermore, clouds are not numbered.

[Hunter]

Even if you procured a jetpack and.

[Stephen A. Smith]

Searched, you'd find no cloud numbered nine. However, at that altitude, you'd likely befriend a flock of migrating snow who'd encourage you to leave your 24.7geico motorcycle claims insurance behind as they would take you in and even share their dinner of crickets and clovers with you. GEICO assumes no liability for any indigestion that may occur from a clover cricket dinner. Geico expertise for your motorcycle what's up everyone?

[Greg Rosenthal]

It's Greg Rosenthal and I'm teaming up with the King of Spring, Daniel Jeremiah. He requires me to say that we're going to be bringing you 40s and free agents, the only podcast you'll need this NFL Day draft season. From DJs, mock drafts to my top 101, free agents will have it covered for you with all new episodes every Thursday keeping you up to date as we head to the NFL Draft. Listen to 40s and free agents starting on March 6th on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.