Turning MS, Music, And Grit Into A Life You Own

A touring rapper with a numb arm, a misread diagnosis, and a life that swerved—B‑Side sits down with us to share how MS reshaped his art, business, and sense of purpose. What begins as a story about hip hop and Juggalo community widens into a candid look at healthcare quality, wheelchair design that hasn’t changed in decades, and the mental battle to stay grateful without faking it.

We trace his path from early shows and near‑miss industry ties to the moment specialized care finally made sense of his symptoms. The contrast between fuzzy local MRIs and crystal‑clear scans in Rochester becomes a metaphor for the whole journey: when you upgrade your tools and team, you see what you’re truly up against. From there, we get into the hard pivots—leaving a painful relationship, adapting to an electric chair that wasn’t built for comfort, and finding the courage to call out design failures that millions quietly endure.

Then comes the rebuild. B‑Side explains why creativity is his painkiller and how shipping projects keeps him moving. He’s launching 55 Strong, an apparel line rooted in subculture grit, and teaming up with his father to teach business owners how politics impacts revenue, risk, and brand trust. We preview his slate of music releases—including a full hip hop album about multiple sclerosis aimed at anyone fighting private battles—and talk practical steps for ownership: a strong website hub, physical media, and multiple income streams that don’t buckle under algorithms.

You’ll leave with takeaways you can use: seek second opinions, treat accessibility as innovation, create daily to convert pain into progress, and keep your focus forward. Explore B‑Side’s world, support the art, and share this story with someone who needs the reminder that limits are real—and so is resilience. If this conversation moved you, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what part stayed with you the most.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello there and welcome back to the next episode of Overcome Yourself the Podcast. As you know, my name is Nicole, and I'm so excited to be here with B Side, I guess.

Meet B‑Side And His Roots

SPEAKER_01 0:12

Um Robert, aka B Side. Um, so welcome. Um I I keep wanting to say Robert. Welcome, B Side.

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Oh, that's all good. Thanks, Nicole. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Yes, I'm super excited to have you here. I want you to go ahead and take it away. We got to hear your story straight from you. Tell us a little bit about who you are and who you help.

SPEAKER_00 0:36

Sure, sure. Well, I started uh well, let's see. I was born in 1983. I'll start there. So uh, and then uh came from like a normal family. Everything was cool until my dad left us. And then we ended up moving in with my mom's mom, my nauna. And uh then what happened is uh in high school and stuff like that, I ended up getting into hip hop music. So by the end of high school, I was really into wanting to do music. I didn't do college, I didn't do anything like that. I just went full on with wanting to go do my music and have that be my way of life. I mean, I've held odd jobs and stuff like that, but you know, music that's my main passion. So uh after high school, I started managing a heavy metal band, kind of funny. So uh I got them shows and stuff like that, and then I was working on my own music at that time. So I'm like, I think it's time to come out with something. I graduated in 2001,

Hip Hop Beginnings And Early Hustle

SPEAKER_00 1:46

2003 comes around. I come out with my very first solo album, and my fan base is have you ever heard of the insane clown posse before? Are you serious?

SPEAKER_01 2:03

Wow, I was 18. I was 18 when I got I just shot him my tattoo, which I have on my chest. Um, but yeah, yeah, so I have heard of them.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

There you go, that's what's up. So I uh so that is my fan base, like that's who I promote to, and that's what I've been in since uh since my adult life is just being in involved with ICP and like the jungle culture and doing my music, and then I was uh I was doing shows so around 2005. I would say you know who Project Born is the first act that they signed on Psychopathic Records back in the 90s. I do not, I do not okay. So I they had signed a group of dudes back in the 90s called Project Born, and they had gone off on their own. They came out with one album on Psychopathic back in like '96, I think it was '95, '96. So they came out with an album, but they're still around, they still do stuff. So I was at this show with them, and one of the guys from Project Bourne, Polk, he got up to

Juggalo Culture And Industry Connections

SPEAKER_00 3:15

me after the show. He's like, yo, we need to exchange numbers. I want to do something with you, blah, blah, blah, this and that. So I'm like, oh wow, you know, that's crazy. And uh, we ended up linking up. I ended up moving to Flint, Michigan for a while. I lived out there with them, and uh it was just crazy. We went on the road, did all these shows and stuff, and uh, you know, ICP, it's always been like a uh uh two degrees of separation that I've never like been like good with ICP, like I've never like met them and chopped it up with them before, but I'm always like a degree away from them, if that makes any sense. So it's so it's so crazy to me. And we were doing shows. I've been as far as like California doing shows, and then when I what I never realized is as I was working at my normal job at Subway, my whole left arm started going numb. And I never really thought about it. I always thought I had a pinch nerve, so I I'm just like, oh, you know, damn, this pinch nerve. So I just kept on working with it, working with it. So around 2011 comes, and this is, you know, when I'm really trying to come out with an album and really trying to make my mark, it was gonna be like promoted, and I was gonna go on the road with it and everything, but I got diagnosed with MS when I was 28, it was.

Touring, Numbness, And MS Diagnosis

SPEAKER_00 4:59

So I it was 2011, and they gave me the diagnosis. The problem is the doctor that gave me the diagnosis here where I live in Utica, New York, is we don't have the best healthcare system. So the guy didn't describe it to me what it entailed. He said, Here, take these shots, you know, but you know, we've broken up since. And uh, so I was with her, and uh, she's like, Oh yeah, we'll stick it out, this and that. And uh yeah, so I mean, long story short, what happens is I start getting a little bit worse because they give me these shots, the medication's not really working too well. So um they my dad actually stepped in, and he's like, you know, there's this world-renowned MS Center in Rochester, New York, at the University of Rochester, and actually, one of my father's friends has a wing of the hospital named after his family. So he's like, I can get you in this place. So I went to this place, and just seeing this place is absolutely phenomenal just to see how much more modern and everything that it was. When I went there, they did the same tests on me that they did in Utica. And the MRIs in Utica looked like a 1950s TV, you know, in in Rochester, it looked like a 4K HD, full-on, crazy crystal clear. And and my doctor, she's able to tell me, like, oh, you know, it's in your spine, you know, you don't have that much in your brain. And I attribute it to uh the MS in my spine, is why I'm numb on my limbs, like my arms, my legs, my my torso, you know, everything but like pretty much my head. So I'm actually lucky because there's people with MS that go blind, you know, people can't breathe, people

Finding Real Care And Understanding MS

SPEAKER_00 7:16

can't talk. So I'm lucky in that aspect. Yeah. But that is that's pretty much like the MS journey kind of threw me off course, and yeah, and it and it was to the point where I I really hated life. Like my my fiance at the time wasn't really helping, she was kind of making things worse. The whole family was absolutely nuts, and it didn't help me. And what happened is she ends up telling me, Oh, I I haven't had my ring on for a week, and you haven't realized, like, I have bigger problems to worry about, and and then she's like, Oh, I can't do it anymore. This and that, and I'm like, Yeah, okay, I I can understand that, whatever. So we'll split up. And she wanted me to stay. I'm like, no, I'm calling my mom right now, and she's gonna pick me up from here. I'm like, I I can't deal with that. Now I was still walking then, like, I was still able to kind of like crawl my way up the stairs and walk with a cane, but you know, after everything happened with uh with the breakup and going to my mom's and everything, I ended up having to use a wheelchair. So kind of now I'm stuck in this electric contraption. So that's uh that's nutty in itself because I find out all kinds of things about the electric wheelchair that I don't like that uh people just have to deal with. Like I found out through some research that they haven't changed the design of it in 40 years. Wow, yeah, nuts. It's so uncomfortable. Like for me, like I can feel things. I'm not paraplegic, I'm not quadruplegic, so it's different. I can't feel this feet, I can feel everything. Those, those

Breakup, Wheelchair Life, And Design Gaps

SPEAKER_00 9:18

types of people can't feel things, and that's where they get sores and stuff, but they can't feel the uncomfortableness of this chair, and it's just so bad. Like, I've been trying to do stuff to you know, get the guy that sold it to me through the insurance to do stuff, but he's like, My hands are tied, I've told them things that they need to change, and it goes in one ear and out the other, so yeah, but uh yeah, and and then what I did is after I started living with my mom, my mom's like, you got to start getting more positive, yeah. You know, you need to kind of start getting right with God again, and you know, and and trying to push me towards being a lot more positive. She has this outlook on life where the glass is half full. I'm the glass half empty kind of guy, unfortunately. So she kind of pulled me out of that whole funk, and I had stuff written down in my in my phone, and I ended up writing this book called Milein My Shoes that I came out with about three months ago, actually. So I put this whole book together and everything, and uh I kind of made it uh, you know, the whole journey of my life and hitting MS and then still talking about what life's like with MS. So it's like people that people that don't have a disability or anything like that, they'll still be able to relate to it because you can see what my life was like before the disability, and then you see what happens with this with the disability. So it, you know, it kind of goes in chronological order for me.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

Yes. And I think it's important um that we talk about things like accessibility and like you were saying, looking

Gratitude, Fear Of ALS, And Resilience

SPEAKER_01 11:21

at things like the designs of chairs that people are literally in all day, every day. Um like that's important. And a lot of people don't realize and or don't appreciate um this is something we were talking about on another podcast episode that disability is the only minority that anyone can fall into at any moment. And you're such a you're such a true example of that. Like that was probably not something you were expecting, that diagnosis. No, not at all. And some people can even jump in and out, right? Because if you have a surgery or you know, you have something that knocks you out for a few weeks, a few years, a few months, whatever, but but it affects everybody. Um, as we get older, we need accessibility, we need things to be easy for us to access. Um, you know, we need ramps instead of stairs.

unknown 12:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Like when we're building our houses and things, we have to think about these things. Um because even when I was younger, my brother hurt his leg. And so I remember him struggling to get up the stairs. It it doesn't, it's not necessarily, you know, like you're like, oh, well, no, old people live here. Well, that's not what we're talking about here. Um, you know, disability can affect anyone at any time. And so we do have to, we do have to talk more about these things. Like you getting on this podcast and talking about your chair, that could, you know, you never know who's listening, right? Someone could be like, you know what, I'm on the design team. Let's get him in here. Let's talk about what can make this better for other people. And so I commend you for that. And yes, of course. I would like to disagree with you about you being a tough, half empty kind of person. Um I want to say you're making progress on that because it's very impressive to hear you say, you're like, oh, but I'm lucky that I have this instead of that. Um, you know, you're still like looking at something that you could be grateful for in this situation. And I have to commend you for that because that that's just a very powerful statement that you made.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Oh, thanks a lot. Thanks a lot. I try, I've been trying to be more positive about everything and trying having a nice outlook on everything, you know, and uh yeah, just just going through and everything. One of my best friends, Evan, his father actually died of ALS. So I was worried. I I was when I was getting diagnosed with this since it was a neurological disease. I told my friend Evan, I said, if it's ALS, man, I'm done. I'm like, I it's there's there's nothing, you know, there's nothing more to it because you know what the final outcome of it is, you know. And you, you know, so I I thank God that it wasn't ALS and that it was just something like MS. And you know, at least I can get through certain things. It might be tough, but I mean, I'm I'm always trying to get through things.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

Yes. And that's amazing. That's incredible. Like I said, I commend you for that. Um, and then you mentioned something in the form, you know, um, that you filled out to to be on this episode.

SPEAKER_00 14:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

Um you you mentioned something about like you had to switch your career, and entrepreneurship became like uh

Pivot To Entrepreneurship And 55 Strong

SPEAKER_01 15:02

something that you had to do. Like it wasn't just an option anymore, like this is what you're doing now. Um, can you talk to me a little bit about that? And you know, I guess like your your mentality around that and why you think it's so important um to be doing this and maybe encouraging others who might not see they they're like, well, I'm stuck here now and there's nothing I can do. I can't, you know, go to work in subway anymore because I can't stand there. So um, you know, what advice do you have for us in that case?

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Well, I'll tell you, I've always been entrepreneurial. Me and my brother used to sell things on eBay when we were kids, like when eBay first started back in the 90s.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I remember.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Yeah. So I mean, uh, we've been doing that forever. We used to uh sell our sports cards at garage sales when my mom would have it, when her friends would have it. We used to go to all those sports card shows when they used to have them in the mall and all that. Uh always sold wrestling figures, you know, sports cards, other action figures, anything that really can kind of sell on a secondary market. So the entrepreneurship's always been there. And I say I get it from my dad because he's a big entrepreneur with the way that he's lived his life, you know. So um what I did is I I've kind of pivoted and I'm trying to do clothing. I'm working on making clothing right now. It's a brand called 55 Strong, and uh I'm making t-shirts, uh shorts, hats, all kinds of clothing, and it's kind of like juggalo style clothing, so it's like ICP inspired and stuff like that. So, like right now, I've got a uh clown shirt on that we that's one of the designs that we've got up there. So, and then like I'm I'm working with my father right now, actually, to start a business that's going to

Family Business On Politics For Owners

SPEAKER_00 17:21

be uh what it's going to be is him teaching business owners how to use the political system to keep money and understand what politics can do to your business because a lot of people a lot of people don't understand politics and how it could affect their business. A lot of people don't understand what talking about politics out in the open can do to their business. Uh, you know, so we are working on something with his uh with his business called the Cardinal Center, and we're gonna be coming out with a whole thing that he's gonna do videos like teach and stuff like that. Like he he was a teacher at Jo he was an adjunct faculty at Georgetown University, uh Utica University. So he uh he definitely knows what he's doing, he's been in the government, government work for like 58 years. So yeah, so I mean, he used to work in Washington when everybody used to get along, so yeah, so I mean, we're trying to do that, and then I'm still working on all my music because what

Creating Through Pain And New Albums

SPEAKER_00 18:43

happens is when I get into a zone about the stuff that I'm trying to do, I don't feel pain anymore. I need to constantly be doing something to be creative to get my mind off the pain that I'm in. So honestly, like I have an album all about uh marijuana coming out on uh October 30th, 31st on Halloween. There's an album that I'm doing with my uh boy YC Rocks from Utica that's coming out on December 26th. Then I'm actually making an entire hip hop album about multiple sclerosis that's gonna come out March 1st, uh, multiple sclerosis awareness month. And I'm trying to get the word out about that because it's never been done. And it's not just necessarily about MS, but it's for people that face challenges and hardships and stuff like that. Like, I don't like to tell people what songs mean. Songs can mean whatever they mean to you, you know that is amazing, and we will be on the lookout for those.

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Make sure you share the links and we can add those to the show notes down below. Um, speaking of which, talk to us about staying in touch with you. What if we want to like, you know, like get to know you more? We want to listen to your music, we want to see what else you're up to. How can we stay in touch

Where To Find B‑Side And Support

SPEAKER_01 20:13

with you?

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Yeah, cool. The main hub is my website, b-cide.com, b side.com. Nice, perfect.

SPEAKER_01 20:24

And then everything's available on there.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Yes, you can listen to my music on all the streaming services. You can buy CDs and DVDs if you want to support. I have pre-orders up for all the albums if you want to support, like through hard copies or whatever. So yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Yes, yes. Let them make a comeback. Oh my gosh, that's so important. Um, you know, like having that digital media that you can open up, you can put it and you own it, like uh most importantly. Um, don't get me started. Anyway, um, I guess I'm preaching to the choir here. You are, you are. Okay, that's awesome. So make sure to check out the website. And as always, the links will be available down in the show notes. And before we do sign off, um, we like to end off with like your best piece of advice, like the best tip that you have, you know, like the the the thing

Best Advice: Look Forward

SPEAKER_01 21:20

that your clients, when they pay you, they're like, oh, this was worth everything I paid you.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Okay. Yeah. Never give up on yourself. It is definitely something that you always look forward. Don't look behind yourself. There's more in the future for you than the past. You can use the past to learn from, but the future is ahead and you always have to look towards the future.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

I love that. I love that so much. And um you know, using what you've got, right?

SPEAKER_00 22:00

Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 22:01

You are where you are, and whatever I can do from here, I can do. So do that.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

You got it.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

I love that. That is fantastic. Well, thank you so much, dude. This has been absolutely wonderful. Thanks a lot. Yes, thank you. Thank you for being here. What are you doing? And for being vulnerable.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

Yes. And what are the chances that you have a hatchet man tattoo?

SPEAKER_01 22:24

That's crazy, right? I was literally 18 when I got it. I remember it was in December.

SPEAKER_00 22:29

I was 18 when I got mine, and you probably can't even see it because I got so many. But yeah, that's uh that's pretty crazy.

SPEAKER_01 22:37

Yes. Well, you know, it comes like you know, the it's a small world, right? Like it just comes everything comes back full circle.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

So for real, for real, it does.

SPEAKER_01 22:47

That is amazing, and thank you guys for joining us. This has been a great conversation. We will catch you next time on the next episode of Overcome Yourself the Podcast. Bye.