Mind Over Matter: Mindset Development
Venting about life while trying to navigate through it and sharing what I’ve learned with the world through enlightening conversation. This podcast was made and carefully curated in the essence of myself Deja Wallace. I will take you on my journey of self-discovery through a video journal-type podcast that guides you to self-discovery as I evolve with every episode. Mind Over Matter is the power to govern how you feel internally through mindset development. This podcast is essentially for dreamers, deep thinkers, optimists, and anyone who’s on the journey of self-discovery. RATE COMMENT SUBSCRIBE
Mind Over Matter: Mindset Development
Music's Healing and Manifestation Power ft. Osyris Antham | Mind Over Matter Podcast
We explore how our repeated words and the music we consume directly shape our realities with Brooklyn-based MC Osiris Anthem, discussing everything from hip-hop's cultural influence to the power of mental fortitude.
• Hip-hop has evolved from its storytelling roots while maintaining core elements of self-expression
• Social media has both diluted music's impact and created new opportunities for artists to connect globally
• Artists who speak about death in their lyrics often manifest those outcomes, while others manifest success
• Music releases endorphins and serves as a healing force when we need grounding or emotional support
• Hip-hop profoundly influences how people speak, dress, interact, and make life decisions
• Osyris won the End of the Week world championship by using mind over matter to overcome previous failures
• Preparation is crucial for success when unexpected opportunities arise
• Hip-hop directly reflects people's lives - "Hip-hop is going where the people are going"
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DEJA @deja.waja
My podcast is big on like speaking your reality into existence. I truly believe that if we all were to like have a transcript of the things we said and the things we even heard and the things we repeated, we will see how that life is. Music does have that power of like. Writing that transcript, I still feel like it still plays a factor into like the manifestation process.
Speaker 2:There are rappers who spoke about death in their music and they passed away. Music will usually have a representation of a person's actual life in that music and then, if you could relate to that, maybe those affirmations are creating something in your life as well. You know, whether negative or positive.
Speaker 3:Mind over matter is magic, I do magic. Mind over matter is magic, I do magic.
Speaker 2:Yer, yer, yer, yer. What's up?
Speaker 1:What's good. Thank you for joining me, Osiris.
Speaker 2:Of course, of course. Thank you for inviting me.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Mind Over Matter podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:If this is your first time joining, welcome. I'm your host, Deja Wallace, and I have a lovely guest. As you can see for everybody on the visuals on YouTube, Explain, like what you do and who you are. Let them know, Get a little feel of who you are Osiris For sure for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my name is Osiris Anthem. I am an emcee from Brooklyn, new York, and that's what I do. I rap, I emcee. You know a little bit of poetry here and there, you know, but that's what I'm known for. That's how I made my name here in New York City and in different parts of the world by rapping my ass off, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he be going crazy, he be going in a dictionary like onomatopoeia encyclopedia.
Speaker 4:He be wildin' ice. Hope it melts. Uh devils in the subtleties. My level can't fuck with me. Music lovers study me like flight of the bumblebee. You can know the ins and outs of everything culturally, but can't change shit cause you're living too comfortably. Give you a little game, boy. You need a little pain. Matter of fact, you need a lot if you try and make a stain. Matter of fact, you need a lot if you try and make it. Rain has been like a while in the making. God in my body is the pinnacle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but thank you again for joining me. This has been like a while in the making, so I'm just excited to even have you in this conversation. I know it's going to help a lot of people, enlighten a lot of people, the listeners. So we're going to get into just like the power of music hip-hop, rap, specifically, because that's what you're into and we're going to just talk about the power of music music in terms of just like healing, okay. So, yeah, that's something y'all interested in. You could kick back, grab a snack and we're gonna get right into it. Um Osiris, what's the meaning behind that name? It's a powerful name.
Speaker 2:I appreciate you. Yeah, osiris Anthem is, you know, my full stage name and basically it's an anagram. I took my real name, which I'm not gonna say on camera because you know, like my students would say, that's federal, that is, um, I took the letters in my real name and then I flipped it around. At the time I was reading this book called the Da Vinci's Code and, uh, the Da Vinci's Code is an anagram in the book, and so I was like, at a time I didn't have a rap name, and so I was like you know what, let I didn't have a rap name and so I was like you know what, let me play with something. And I came up with Osiris Anthem and I liked how it sounded, you know, and so I just stuck with it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's how I came up with it. Yeah, Because I'm when you say Osiris I, Egyptian gods, yeah, no.
Speaker 2:I wasn't thinking that highly of myself at the time, but I'll accept the the, the connections that people make with that name, for sure. You just like it sound, I was like it sound dope, and we know.
Speaker 1:Cyrus, I was like, all right, cool, we'll rock with that, yeah, so give people a feel of what your music is like and how does it speak to like the current state of hip hop right now.
Speaker 2:You know, I think, in the vein of us being on a podcast right and having this conversation, I consider myself as an emcee to be a more modern version. You know, podcasting is a modern version of like radio or communication, right, and I think the way I exist as an MC is a very modern version of MCing, and what I mean by that is, you know, I haven't released a project in seven years. I had a project called the Purple Color Theory that I dropped back in September of 2018. But most of my career since then has been performances outside, has been social media content, has been competitions, and so I say all that to say when I talk about what my music is and what it does and what it means.
Speaker 2:My music arrives to people in a lot of different capacities, you know. So music might be. Somebody might be a fan of me and it's because that they heard me freestyle in a bunch of different places. Somebody might be a fan of me because they saw me rapping words from the dictionary on social media, right. Or somebody may have come to the shows that I do with my crew. Lay A Rhythm, which is a dance crew, was created by a woman named Malay. It's a very fire dance crew. I'm one of the emcees as a part of it, and so somebody may have seen me there rapping right, and they may be a fan of me.
Speaker 2:And so when my music is arriving with people, it's not just tracks, you know, it's not just what you pull up on SoundCloud or Apple Music, and so I say all that, that's a big way or a big lead up to answer your question, where I feel like what people get from my music is I try to be thoughtful, I try to communicate wisdom, I try to communicate reality, I try to say things that people connect with. I try to make sure it's not just about me, and if it is about me, like there's something that people could feel in that and that could either be things that they can relate to directly from my life or that could be, you know, in the vein of hip hop, something that I'm bragging about that people sometimes like to hear. Sometimes we like to hear somebody bragging about something because that makes us feel good, like yeah, talk your shit yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I grew up on Jay-Z Jay-Z, that's all. He was known for bragging. But it was inspirational to hear that black man from Marcy Projects talk his shit. You feel me, and so I try to come at it from all of those levels.
Speaker 1:Yeah um, when you even go back to like the origins of hip-hop, I feel like, from what you're explaining, your music relates more to like the foundation of how it was started, kind of storytelling. Um, using it more so as an outlet of creative express. Well, it's still used as that, but just being more so like intentional when it comes to like making sure that the messaging is of substance Right, and how do you feel like that transition of what mainstream hip hop is now compared to like when it just started I know you wasn't alive for that long but like even in the nineties it still had like some substance to it. How does that make you feel, seeing that transformation?
Speaker 2:That's a that's a three hour question Um yeah time.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's three, three, three. That's how true it is.
Speaker 2:That's crazy. Um, how do I feel about that? Uh, hip hop. I think there's a misnomer where people feel like storytelling was really the only thing that mattered in the beginning. For hip hop, storytelling was always the key. It was always about a poet coming into a space and speaking about things that people could feel and relate to. But you know, hip-hop also started in party and celebration spaces, and so you know the de facto earth time birthplace of hip-hop is 1520 cedric avenue, august 11, 1973.
Speaker 3:In.
Speaker 2:Cool.
Speaker 4:Herx Crib right, Talk that, talk, spit that. You feel me, and so that was a party. He knows his history.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah that was a party, and so I think when you come into a party, you know, as people who are Caribbean, we go to a party and we're going to turn up to some music A lot of Jamaican music that we hear. It's either going to be knowledge, or it's going to be somebody talking hot, talking a shit, or it's going to be something to wind up your waist.
Speaker 1:You feel me yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think reggae dancehall does a good job of having all of those elements, and I think all those elements are necessary in hip hop to an extent as well. What happened over the last 20-ish, 30-ish years is mainstream music, the corporations, the major labels. They've done a good job of learning what is going to do well in the market and what's going to sell easily, and so those things that sell very easily have tended to dominate the market. And so, yeah, there's a lot of storytelling that doesn't happen at a level that I wish it did, but it doesn't mean that these things that people are talking about in music don't have a reality to them or don't have a validity to them. I was actually just listening to this Megan Thee Stallion song on the way here, big N Texas.
Speaker 1:I didn't expect that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know I used to be a fan of Megan Thee Stallion when she first came out. Then I kind of fell away from her and I kind of fell away from her and then when I heard this Big N Texas song I was like nah, I feel like she's getting back to the origins of what made me a fan of her when she was first popping. And I say that to say Megan Thee Stallion will probably be viewed as somebody who makes that music. That's not in the storytelling vein or the origins of hip hop. But I like the way that she was just talking her shit on that song and I feel like that's part of hip hop, like coming in, talk your shit, make it sound good, make sure the writing is fire.
Speaker 2:And so hip hop has definitely fallen away from its origins on a mainstream scale, for sure. But I think hip hop only continues to thrive because some of those elements are still present in the music. And then now we're lucky that because of streaming we have access to different artists in different ways. So even though I listen to Megan coming here or somebody may listen to whoever's the big, famous rapper now on a regular basis, most of the hip hop that I'm listening to is not what's super mainstream, and so I get to still feed myself while the mainstream still does what it does. You feel me?
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure. Do you think that the oversaturation and just the easily accessible streaming platforms have kind of diluted the market when it comes to just hip hop music?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, yeah to that point, yeah, absolutely, it's definitely diluted.
Speaker 1:I feel like, even like when I'm listening to music now, sometimes I feel like it's almost like fast food.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, compared to like when I had like my iPod or something or my PSP back in the day, I had to actually sit down and wait for the song to download onto my console and then like enjoy that song over and over again. It felt more like fulfilling yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And what's even crazy now too, is if you go on social media, you'll see that fans, if they like an artist, their relationship will be sometimes even less to do with the music and their relationship with the artist will be even connected to how many streams the artist has or how many awards the artist has. And so it's like people. People are more worried about what the market wants. You feel me, and it's like it's more about like, imagine me saying I like McDonald's. I don't like McDonald's that much, just for the record. But imagine me saying I like.
Speaker 2:McDonald's. You feel me, and then I'm my. My relationship with McDonald's is so strong that I'm asking the manager at a McDonald's how many burgers he sold this week. And then I'm excited because McDonald's sold more burgers than Popeye's sold. You feel me Like. Fans are connected to how many, how many views you get, how many streams you're getting as a part of their relationship with the music, and so it becomes less about the fulfillment of the music and I think like, subconsciously, the artist is also now creating for an algorithm, creating for that streaming you can take the sub consciously facts yeah, consciously too, yeah, but a lot of them don't acknowledge it like oh no, it's just like coming from my heart.
Speaker 1:But, like you, you're singing about this because you know that this is popping and you know that this is going to go viral.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent. Sometimes I listen to songs and be like why are you rapping about this right now?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Like is this really? My mind automatically went to Jello.
Speaker 2:Jello Ball, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Like he's a good example. You know like his songs go hard and they viral, but it's like sir right, but you know that's.
Speaker 2:I think he comes from a funny part of the market as well, where he I don't know his history, but I'm gonna assume that he didn't come up emceeing.
Speaker 2:You know him as a baller right as a basketball player, um, and so he was able to find this lane to become a famous rapper, using, like the caricature and the aesthetics of what we've already known from rap and hip hop. Not to make any any judgments or make any assumptions about what his life actually is, but it does feel like he is a fan of music and has the ability and the talent to do a good job, imitating some things that have done well before, and then he was able to walk into that lane and make. Like you said, the music is fire. Can't take that away from him.
Speaker 1:About to swerve in the corner. It's good, it's good stuff you know.
Speaker 2:But he didn't have to come up as an MC and the Cyphers fighting for his life, rapping, battling, putting songs out, because the market already exists for him to come in, right, you know. And then, because social media exists, he's already famous for something else, so he already has like a built in fan base.
Speaker 1:So if the song is dope you good because you already had a million people watching. So how have you like leverage social media as an artist, because it's not all negative. You know what I mean. Like you could connect with people worldwide, like somebody in Germany listening to you. You know what I mean. So how, how is you use that to your advantage and not like become a slave to the algorithm?
Speaker 2:I just try to do what feels right to me. I'm privileged enough where I don't necessarily need hip-hop to pay my bills. You know what I mean. I'm a teacher, so I also have a day job, you know what I mean. And then I've also been privileged and blessed enough that the work that I did before social media became really popping gave me a fan base and gave me people who are supporters of me. And so when I'm putting stuff out, I already have fans and you know in Europe or people who have been checking for me in these different countries, and so, since they're connected to me on social media, I'm putting content out so that you can continue to build that relationship with me. Like you just know, you know, Osiris is putting these songs out. Osiris is putting these raps out. He's still making music and so social media is my way of connecting with people, whether they're here in New York, whether they're across the country or whether they're in Belgium, Paris or whatever.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But that's beautiful. You already had that fan base before it. You know what I mean. That's very rare.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah To actually have that.
Speaker 1:I want to go back into the influence of hip-hop. I know you don't really hate on people that are just doing it for fun. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:They're not taking it too seriously because it's still like a form of expression, right right, but do you think there's like a thin line where it's like Some sometimes it feels like they do have the youth watching them, so they do have the youth watching them. So, um, do you think it can influence the youth in certain ways to like just have certain mannerisms or like even behave certain ways because they, that's all they listen to?
Speaker 2:100 hip-hop. Hip-hop is the most influential music in the world. Hip-hop has taught people how to speak, how to dress, how to interact with the world, how to interact with each other. Hip-hop has given people confidence. Hip-hop has taught people what to look for in their life.
Speaker 2:Hip-hop is a huge influence and sometimes that influence has negative outcomes.
Speaker 2:And you can even ask young like I said, I'm a teacher you could ask young people who live in certain places how you, you could ask them that same question and they'll tell you yes, I believe that hip-hop has had a negative effect on me.
Speaker 2:You know, um, there's young people who I had, a young student who one time, one time, told me he stopped listening to drill music because he felt like listening to drill was having a negative effect on his decision making. You know, and then, even if we're speaking about drill as a part of hip hop, we know for a fact there are things that happen in drill music that have real life consequences or real life outcomes. You know, but that's obviously just a small part. In general, hip hop does have a effect on people and if you're saying things in music that a 12 year old who's still trying to figure out the world is hearing and they already love you. That's going to influence how that person makes decisions um the rest of their life, especially if there aren't other influences in their life who have as much influence as you do. You know, all of us grow up listening to different things in music, but it doesn't mean that we made decisions based on those things, because we also had other influences.
Speaker 1:I think about, like, even growing up in Brooklyn, like it's at default, you're going to know music. You know what I mean. Like it's undeniable, you're going to know music. You know what I mean. Like it's undeniable, you're going to be some type of tapped into music. So like, even like going to high school, I learned about Chief Keef.
Speaker 1:I learned about a bunch of drill rappers. I learned about a bunch of like just Chicago drill rap, just by, like the Kids that would Play music mad loud in the Lunchroom for no reason At 7am they coming in blasting Chief Keef mad, just like Arrogant. And I Knew the lyrics because, like, after a while you just start knowing the lyrics. But Thank God I had that foundation but a lot of them didn't. And I'm thinking Of this specific kid who would do this like every day he will blast music, like drill music, and it will be, it don't matter what time you'll come in, 7 am blasted music. And it's crazy because he got kicked out of school, because the first day of our senior year he brought a gun into school. Wow, and it's like he was always like a very problematic kid. He was always very like the word staticky.
Speaker 3:But I can't think of it right now, but like he was always ready to like fight somebody.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. And it's like that music can bring you into a trance, because he was one of them kids that he does not. He's not listening to the teachers, he's blasting his music, he's like he thinks he's chief keith you know what I mean and like that's like real life example of me seeing that happen. I'm like, yeah, the music definitely has a stronger influence than a lot of us acknowledge absolutely and just shifting gears. How do you feel like music has power to heal people?
Speaker 2:I believe it does. Yeah, I think, on the other side of that token, hip hop can influence and then music just in general has so many healing properties. There's so many times in our lives where we'll listen to music while we're going through something, or we'll listen to music for the memories of a thing, you thing, to kind of give us center when we don't have center, to give us grounding when we don't have grounding. I think music is extremely healing. I mean scientifically, music releases endorphins in you, which is like the healing chemical in your body.
Speaker 1:It's funny because even when I think of, like everybody, life being like a book, almost like we're all writing the story to our lives. My podcast is big on like speaking your reality into existence. So I truly believe that if we all were to like have a transcript of the things we said and the things we even heard, and the things we repeated, we will see how that life is based on that transcript of what we read.
Speaker 2:What do you mean by how that life is? What do you mean by that? So?
Speaker 1:say that, um, what I'm saying repeatedly, like, if I'm always saying like I'm tired, I hate my job, um, and even when you like listening to certain frequencies from the music, I feel like you could see the quality of that person's life based off just that, if I'm explaining that, yeah, that makes a lot of sense and I think that music does have that power of like writing that transcript as well, even though we're not speaking.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Even though we don't know the lyrics, I still feel like it still plays a factor into, like, the manifestation process.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I can agree. I think, if you listen, there are rappers who spoke about death in their music and they passed away. You know what I mean A lot Tupac is an example.
Speaker 3:But then there's also.
Speaker 2:Right, there's also MCs who spoke about success before they were successful and then they became successful. You know what I mean, and so music will often have, or usually have, a representation of a person's actual life in that music. And then, if you could relate to that, maybe those affirmations are creating something in your life as well. You know whether negative or positive. And so, yeah, those healing things. You know, if Mary J is on a song saying I'm not going to cry, and you know you're surely going through something, you're like you're right, Mary, I'm not going to cry, I'm not gonna cry, and you know you're surely going through something.
Speaker 4:You're like you're right, mary, I'm not, I'm not gonna cry.
Speaker 1:I'm not gonna do it exactly, so yeah um, and that's really like the essence of like, why I created this podcast is to speak my reality into existence and like have other people speak their realities into existence. What does Mind Over Matter mean to you?
Speaker 2:I mean I love the title Mind Over Matter is the truth of our lives, what we think can be to a higher extent than we even consider sometimes. It means that whatever's in front of you doesn't have to be an impediment if you don't want it to be, and that you have more influence on your world than it feels like. I think we, it's natural for us to feel fear and a lot of times, growing up, we get taught a lot of fear. You know, especially in certain communities and certain you know, black homes, caribbean homes we get taught a lot of fear and so sometimes we don't always get taught about the power of our mind. And, you know, you grow up and then you learn more about the world if you're blessed and your privilege and you really realize the power of your, what you could do up here. So, yeah, that's what I think it means. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Facts Word. Is that why you named it? What made you name it? Mind Over Matter. I named it that because, yeah, basically that you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I felt like I was going through a hard time and I had to use my mind to get out of it Word, that's gangster. Yeah, i's gangster. Yeah, I love that, thanks.
Speaker 1:I want to get back into this. Makes me think about like monks, like I'm always impressed at monks. I love monks.
Speaker 2:Like how they could just be in a silo by themselves for a year.
Speaker 1:I don't know if you know Jay Shetty.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:He's a podcaster but he always talks about, like, his journey as a monk and I'm like can females become monks?
Speaker 3:Because I feel like I would do that. Yeah, why not? Hell yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, who says you can't be a monk? I always see male monks. I never see female monks.
Speaker 2:Well, you're going to be the first Jamaican female monk. Nah, that's, you'll make it happen.
Speaker 1:Can you remember like a specific moment in your career where you did use mind over matter or speak your reality into existence?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to say probably one of the more significant moments in my career. So they have this organization of hip-hop conglomerate thing called End of the Week. It's an international hip-hop, I don't know what to call it. Call it international hip-hop situation. It's a bunch of guys that started here in New York city in the year 2000.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, a long time ago, oh wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I was just a kid, but it's a long time ago and, um, they started it here. It spread out to like 15 different countries and they had competitions every single year and, um, I joined, I did the first competition in 2014. Didn't do well in it. One thing that's significant about the competition is a bunch of things I could say about it, um, but one thing that's very significant about it is you're not allowed to diss anybody. So you're battling other MCs, but if you diss anybody that you're battling, you end up losing, and so it's about what you are doing on stage in comparison to the other person, rather than you rapping at them. It has five different levels. You have to write a verse or a song, then you have to do an acapella, then you have to freestyle and then you have to freestyle again, but over a whole bunch of different beats. The first time you freestyle is with random items that they give you, that you don't know what the items are. And in the fifth round, you have to be in a cypher with a bunch of other rappers, and so it was like whoever can execute all of these styles, all of these levels of hip-hop, the best ends up being the winner in the competition. I did it in 2014. I didn't do well In 2015,. I didn't do well 2016,. I didn't do well. And then I was like you know what, I'm not doing this no more, because I was just like I failed at this too many times. 2017 comes, and it was so random.
Speaker 2:I went to the competition to watch a bunch of other friends perform in it. Somebody had gotten sick and then one of the brothers who was there was like yo, can you please come on stage and be in the competition because we lost so-and-so. And I was like I don't know, I don't know. I jumped in. I ended up winning that night. I didn't expect to. And then I had the national championship coming up, and if I won the national championship, then I would go to Prague and Czech Republic to battle, to compete for the world championship.
Speaker 2:And in that moment it was really like a mind over matter situation for me, because, number one, I didn't want to continue doing the competition and I was kind of going against what I had already said for myself. And then I had a lot going on at home at the same time, um, and so I was in a tough spot in life and I was kind of going against what I had already said for myself. And then I had a lot going on at home at the same time, and so I was in a tough spot in life and I was just like I'm just not feeling it and I also don't even want to continue doing this. But you know, the guys who were in the competition, they kind of convinced me, and so I was like you know what, if I'm going to do this, I'm doing this to the highest possible level, because the competition has judges and so you have to get voted on.
Speaker 2:And I was like I'm going to do this a fourth time. I'm leaving no doubt that I'm the winner. Like I'm not. It's not going to be close, like y'all, y'all niggas going to have to choose me. And so I just put in a lot of work, just writing, coming up with different concepts and practicing a whole bunch of different things that I was going to do on that stage, and I ended up. I ended up winning by two points that night. And then I went to Prague and, uh, we all were out in Prague for an entire week and then I ended up winning the world championship in Prague, um, in 2017. Um and so, but yeah, it was really a mind over matter, because I had so many things that were like roadblocks for me and I had to tell myself I'm not, it's not going to be close. We got to make sure this shit happens, else I'm not doing it. You- know.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's beautiful. Thank you, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and for the record, that was my first of then. I ended up winning in Paris the next year.
Speaker 1:Oh, ok, yeah, yeah, yeah, appreciate you the next year. Oh okay, go off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, appreciate you. And I went to belgium the third. I didn't win in belgium, but I, yeah, but you know that's nice, yeah, appreciate you. Um, what?
Speaker 2:was your? What has been your most proudest moment of your career as a mc? Um, probably, probably one of those um I mean, if I want to be, I've had a lot to say I um. So there's a famous rapper. His name is Lupe Fiasco Um and uh you know he's a legend Um and um I.
Speaker 2:In the second year no, the third year that I did that competition, he ended up being a judge for one of the comps and he loved my performance. The death of Marjorie Lupe Fiasco is my favorite rapper of all time and I had never met him before that year, and so I went on that stage, did my best performance I possibly could, found out that he was going to be. I prepared one of my best performances possible, found out he was going to be the judge, like the day before, and then he loved my performance to death, and so that was one proud moment for sure meeting him and impressing him. I think really.
Speaker 2:For real, though, I just like the idea that I can be to some people the MC that I grew up loving, like sometimes I'll do certain things in rap, and then people who are from New York, people who are from Brooklyn, people who are fans of me will take pride in what I did. The same way I took pride in MCs that I grew up listening to being great and that means a lot to me that I could represent. I could represent Brooklyn, I could represent the culture of hip hop and even just represent black culture in ways that makes people happy.
Speaker 1:And that's so, fire, that you were even prepared for that moment. You know what I mean, because a lot of moments like that come and it's like you have to show up and the work is going to speak for itself. You know what, if he had showed up to the first um competition that you had done? You know what I mean. You weren't prepared. You know, and I feel like in life a lot of times opportunities. It's inevitable that the opportunity is going to come.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it's whether or not you're prepared. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's what I've been learning a lot Is that, like yo, you got to be prepared for moments like that, and I'm glad you was prepared, because now it's like y'all got that connection.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, that's so real. I never even thought about the fact that, because imagine you flop now. Right, right, you know what I mean. Yeah, that's so real.
Speaker 1:I never even thought about the fact that he could have, because imagine?
Speaker 2:you flopped Right, or if he showed up to one of the earlier ones where I didn't do as good. There would have been no reason for us to be cool because I wasn't ready yet, but I was ready. Yeah, that's a know, yeah.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, that's fire Lupe Fiasco. He has been like where is he? Like what is he doing right now? Like he needs to.
Speaker 2:He does a lot honestly. He teaches at MIT, okay, and then there's another school, john Hopkins, that he started teaching at recently as well.
Speaker 1:He's not rapping, he still raps.
Speaker 2:I think he just finished the tour or he might still be on it. Okay, but he still raps. He dropped an album last year and, yeah, he's still out here. He's still MCing. So he's that guy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's dope Word word.
Speaker 1:But is there anything you wanted to highlight before you hop out of here? Anything you want to let the world know right now, right here?
Speaker 2:Keep loving hip-hop, keep loving up the game. You know what I mean. It's going through its ebbs and flows, but don't feel too down on the game. It's going through it's ebbs and flows, but Don't feel too down On the game. If you want to follow me On Instagram, I'm Maroon Waters, m-a-r-o-o-n, w-a-t-e-r-s, and then you can keep up with me and everything that I'm doing On there. But yeah, just keep you know, keep supporting Deja.
Speaker 1:Mine over Mata. You know I love what the sister is doing Facts. Oh, where do you see hip-hop going? I want to finish you off with that.
Speaker 2:You know the great, most deaf now named Yassin Bey. Yassin Bey, he said back in the day on his album Black on Both Sides in 1999, he said they always ask where hip-hop is going. Hip-hop is going where the people are going. So wherever you're going is where hip-hop is going and that's a fact. You know, hip-hop represents the people and wherever they at, it's going to be in the music.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's some food for thought. I got to think about that a little.
Speaker 2:Word.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, thank you for joining me.
Speaker 2:Appreciate you, deja. Thank you for having me. Yeah, of course.
Speaker 1:Of course it's a good one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, word.
Speaker 1:And if you reached the end Of another episode, appreciate you, make sure you subscribe, make sure you comment, make sure you show love and thank you and make sure you tell a friend To tell a friend, mother, dog, sister, auntie, that it's mind over matter. Baby, yes sir.