K-Way's Lyric

We trace how a classic R&B moment from Black Men United and Jason’s Lyric turns into a real warning about how pride can trap you and how humility can save you. We tell the true story of graduating with no plan, spiraling into struggle, surviving Phoenix, and rebuilding through faith, community, and relentless work.  
• The Jason’s Lyric “trouble sticks to you” metaphor as a life lesson  
• Pride and ego after college graduation leading to bad decisions  
• Refusing to ask for help with money, planning, and career moves  
• Returning to teach at the old high school and connecting with at-risk students  
• Leaving home to chase growth and choosing Grand Canyon University  
• Phoenix survival story, including homelessness and working multiple jobs  
• Balancing track and field training with high-stress sales work  
• A serious health crash as a wake-up call about stress  
• The laminated resume move and the interview that changes everything  
• The long-term lesson for Black men about community, faith, and humility  
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Remember, please put value in yourself. Let’s put value in each other, and we might fuck around and have a value society  

Transcript

Opening Monologue On Trouble

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Yeah, let me tell you about shit. They got shit in the world. Shit that travel and it stick to you. And it grows in your mind. It grows in your mind and in your soul. They got shit like that. Shit that won't let you forget. Shit that'll clog up your mind and make everything nasty. Shit that won't let you. Shit that won't let you. You can't rip away. You can't rub away. You can't rub the way.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

A few months ago, more than 40 talented RB artists got together with a very special mission. They recorded an inspiring song for Jace's lyrics and on sweet. Sounds like young things coming away.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

When I was a young boy, I had visions of pain. They were wild, they were free, and they were blessed with my name. And then I grew older and I saw a sea. But the world is full of pain. And my dream they left me. And then I got stronger. That's when the bitches, bitches, and I forgot. And it all seems to be a little bit like a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Had to take it back to 1995, the American Music Um the American Music Awards. Man, that was a crazy performance. I remember that growing up. And it was off of one of my

The Song And Film Behind It

SPEAKER_00 3:39

favorite movies of all time, the soundtrack. A very underrated soundtrack. I would, I would, uh, I would suggest that is Jason's lyric, the romance dramedy from 1994, starring um Jada Pinkett, Bo Keen Woodbine, and uh Alan Payne. Uh and Tretch from Naughty by Nature. Really, really, really dope film. Today is the second installment of the Heavy on the RB podcast. I go by the host of K way. I am your creator, your proprietor, your editor, your professional, inappropriate commentator. All the URS, that is me. He is I, I am him, the H N I C. Really appreciate anybody that is listening to this podcast, man, whether it's on uh Audible, Spotify, Pandora, Apple Podcast, Apple Music, YouTube, whatever. This is available everywhere. Uh, like, share, subscribe, and uh welcome to the platform, share with everybody. So, like I said, that is Black Man United. That is from a live performance in 1995 at the American Music Awards. And prior to that, that was a scene from um Jason's lyric, and that is what we're gonna be talking about today. Well, K-Way's lyric. And, you know, I got kind of got a story about how this song affected me and got me through a lot of things. Um, and also that scene in the movie, um, you know, basically he's saying shit is is everywhere, it's like trouble, it's easy to get into, but it's hard to get out of. And I don't know if anybody's ever stepped on, you know, some dog, you know, turds or whatever, but it's it ain't it ain't a pleasant experience. Or in in real life practical things, have you ever you made one little bitty mistake, and next thing you know, it it cost you months, sometimes even years. Hell, I remember Wild O267 saying his crime was about five minutes and it cost him 20 years. Um, you know, my story's not that heavy, but it is it is a story about um letting ego get the best of me. And it can in today's current times, I think a lot of us we kind of go through that, especially black men. Uh, you know, pride comes before the fall. That's that's scripture that that was written before any of us was thought was thought of, and I think we see a lot of that today. So that's what I'm basing this episode of, you know, episode two of Heavy on the RB podcast. This is uh K-Way's lyric, and you know, we took it back to 1995 at the beginning of the podcast. Let's take this back to 2012. I believe

Graduation And Ego In The Way

SPEAKER_00 6:16

that's when this happened. Side note bring back groups. You know what? No, I'm gonna save that gripe uh for the end of this. So the year was 2012. I graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2011, December 16th, 2011. I was a winner grad because I transferred from Texas AM. Um had a good time. Um, you know, I ran track, played multiple sports, uh, won a couple national championships. Um you know, just a good college experience. I I left AM because for one, college station is probably one of the more racist places I've ever been to. And my journey didn't start there. I went to a junior college first, a JUCO. We'll talk about that on uh on the athlete podcast. I can you know really tell y'all how like getting it out the mud, I really got it out the mud, but I had the talent to do so. Uh one thing about being at Texas AM, I I learned just in my short year there, I learned a lot. I've the I think the thing that sticks out the most is I learned courtship with women. And you know, I can't wait to get into that conversation about how I met my now uh fiance. Um, you know, any even the the exes and things, um, you know, I think I think Texas prides themselves on respect, and that's one thing that I I took from my time there. Also, I learned um white people in Texas are a lot different than white people in Indiana. So, yeah, we'll talk about that. But, anyways, the year is 2012. I'm freshly graduated uh from the University of Kentucky. I I had a really great time at Kentucky. You know, I pledged, I Otified Theta, shout out to my bros. Um, all SEC athlete went to the NCAA Nationals, didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to. This go around, but I had a lot of momentum. You know, I was um 2008 Provisional Olympic Trials qualifier, and then 2012 I did qualify. Um, didn't end up going. Something happened with the money, the sponsorship, and that um I was too prideful to ask for help. So we're gonna we're gonna hear we're gonna hear about that word pride a few times throughout this. So I said, forget it, you know. I I'll this is stupid. In hindsight, this is very stupid. I would never suggest anybody do this. If you it my daddy always says there's nothing wrong, um well, in fact, he says there's there's a difference between asking for a hand up and a handout, and it ain't like I was asking for a handout. Had I did ask, you know, for sponsorship or fly me here, you know, pay for my lodging and things like that. This is a a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So then end up going, um, graduated, moved back home. I remember probably immediately after walking across that stage. I had already had my my apartment packed up. My parents helped me move stuff to the um, you know, back back uh in in the car, and we drove back home. And I just remember thinking to myself, damn, just maybe a semester ago, I had a Yukon Denali on 24s. Uh, I had TVs in there, I had uh 18s, I was getting noise violation tickets. I I had women, um, you know, I I was getting ready, I was I was taking 20 hours, but you know, I was doing pretty well. I had A's and B's, like everything was cool. And remember what I talked about last episode, that shortfall from Grace. This is this is that shortfall, because man, maybe no, I don't know, three, four months later, graduated from college without a plan. I didn't go see my academic advisor, I didn't go, I didn't go uh attend the resume writing classes that they were offering. I didn't network, I was just a very um egotistical athlete driven by pride because I thought I could do it on my own. And it was humbling to graduate immediately with no plan. I go home, I'm looking for a job. So, first job interview. Uh, because I think once you got college graduate at that time, once you had that on your resume, um, you know, you kind of was getting interviews. No, that's not how that works. The interviews I was getting, they wanted me to sell vacuum cleaners and shit. Want me to go door to door, and I I was past that. Them cut code days are over. Shout out to anybody that got hired for cut coat in high school. I still think it's it's it's not a legitimate business, but hey, who am I? I don't know. I don't want to speak too negatively of them on these Al Gore internet waves, because you know, I don't know how powerful they are, but so yeah, man, I said no to selling the the Kirby vacuums, and you know, my pride was just it was getting the best of me. I wasn't asking for help. The one thing I knew I could do was go back to my high school and teach. And that's the one thing I did not want to do having graduated and telling the administration to fuck off because really, you know, there was a lot of politics at my high school, you know, shout out to Ben Davis High School, West Side of Indianapolis, Indiana. We were more one of the one of we're one of the more illustrious high schools in in the country, not just the state. Uh, we used to be the largest high school in the state of Indiana, but I'm not sure, I'm not sure how it works anymore. Like, you know, people count vocational and things like that. But I know in my graduating class, it was it was a lot, man. I want to say almost 1,500 people, some some crazy number like that, maybe even more. It was nuts. So I short long story short, um, I bet on myself in high school. And I don't know if this was driven by ego and pride, and God was just looking out for me because I was young and dumb, and for little you know what. But I didn't I didn't want to play football anymore. And like there's a little known fact. If you know me, if you're from where I'm from, you knew I I was crazy on that field and on that basketball court. Football was probably my best sport. Um, you know, I remember going to 707 camps and getting recruited by Notre Dame and uh University of Tennessee, Georgia, uh, and even Kentucky. And I didn't I didn't really take it, I ain't gonna say I didn't take it serious. I just knew that the way that the system was in my high school, they beef you up, you know, they they really try to kiss your ass and put you on top of the world as long as you win in games and catching touchdown passes for them. But I've seen it time and time again. The moment you fall short, and this happened to a couple homies, RP, RP, they're not here no more. Um, you know, they they they give up on you. And it's kind of like really they was preparing you for the for the real world. They they use you to they they use you up, they can't use you no more no more. So I never wanted to be the person that wanted to just play one sport. Um so it came down to it. I wanted to run summer track, they wanted me to do 707. I said, nah, I kiss my ass. I'm not doing that. And um that going into my senior year, I didn't play football. Um my fun fact, my sophomore year, I quit, came back, and started, and um, you know, we won a sexual championship, won regionals, I caught, you know, many touchdown passes. We ended up not going to state that year because uh our entire defense got high. So yeah. It was it was very stupid. But nonetheless, I bet on myself, and it worked out for me. Worked out for me. Killer senior season in track and field. Um, I was a Nike national champion in long jump, USA Today All-American, Nike All-American, Indiana State Champion, Midway State Champion, uh in long jump in the four by four. Um, you know, and and I was ranked 19th in the country in the 300 hurdles uh coming out of high school, something like that. Um, and this is verifiable. You can look this up on Track and Field News. Anybody got the clip-ins and things like that, 2006? I'm not putting 11 on 10. There ain't no extras on this shake. I'm telling you how it is, and what I did, I was that nigga. So um, so, anyways, I knew I could go back there and teach, but I really didn't want to because I knew the same administration that I told to kiss my ass and really was doing me dirty. Uh, you know, a little simple shit. Like when I quit quit football, college coaches, or not college, the high school coaches there was walking past me and I saying nothing, didn't want me to have advanced PE, even though I was in another sport. Advanced PE is like when you lift weights and shit like that. So it was it was a lot of politicking going on. They could because football is king at that school, just like at a lot of schools. But I I just I don't know. I think God gave me discernment. He had to, he had to give me discernment to not just limit myself to that. Uh, because otherwise I would have been, you know, a local kid staying in and I don't I don't know if I would have gone to the SEC and played football. I mean, I damn sure I had the talent, but I don't know if the circumstances, because I know a lot of athletes at my school that had SEC talent at that time. Now it's different, people are going everywhere, and I think because of me, I opened up them doors. But that's neither here nor there. We'll uh we'll talk about that another day. Um, so yeah, I think uh I think I had a conversation with my mom, you know. She she and this is like one of the rare times my mom showed affection. I graduated, she rubbed me on the back and gave me and she gave me a kiss on the forehead.

Swallowing Pride To Teach

SPEAKER_00 15:49

And anybody that know a uh Demetri call, God rest her, so she ain't that type of person at all. So she just knew I was stressed, man. And at that time, I was like, you know what, forget this. I'm gonna uh I'm I'm gonna swallow my pride, I'm gonna call my coach, I'm gonna call my my high school coach, Coach Davidson. We still have a good relationship. And he hooked me up with a job there being a paraprofessional. Um, and then that turned into an emergency teacher certification because they needed, they needed teachers at the at that point in time. So um they put me back in a career center teaching vocational classes. I was teaching life skills, but that's that's basically the back of the high school. Like, if you fuck up in the main high school, like you, you at risk youth, you coming back there because this is like, all right, we're not gonna send you to night school yet, but you on your way there, buddy. So I had a good time though. I impacted a lot of lives. I still get emails to this day. Um, kids thank me. I remember one of my classes, uh, we watched uh well, we read the autobiography of Malcolm X, and then we watched a movie, and then I had them do a black history project uh project on Mantamusa because I know, but white administration don't know black history don't start with slavery. You know, we were royalty before the royalty was even a thing, let it be told. So, you know, doing stuff like that, showing them movies like 30 Days on Minimum Wage by uh Dustin, I forgot his last name. He passed away, but he was the guy that did supersize me, you know, just preparing them for the world because I knew some of these kids didn't really want to go to college. You know, mind you, I've I've at this time I had taught kids out of beating up other classmates, beating up other students, even sometimes trying to kill other teachers, you know, or breaking in their car. Like these are extreme, extreme cases that I'm dealing with, but you know, from I don't know, from from a young age, I've always been able to connect with other people. I don't know if it's just the my genuineness or just like is I'm the Dr. Doolittle of humans. Like that's just that's just what God gave me, man. So so yeah, everything is going well, and then you know, they trying to they they sister my curriculum, they didn't want me to to teach on certain things, and you know, I said, all right, fuck it. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna get out of here. I'm gonna figure out a plan to get out of Indianapolis. I really don't want to be here. I don't wanna I don't I didn't go to school five years to work at LA Fitness, um, you know, because I'm a former athlete. No shade to anybody that's doing that, but my major was uh community leadership and development with a minor in public service in the school of poly sci in agriculture. I didn't take them hard, I didn't take agriculture law, I didn't take legal statistics, I didn't, I didn't take um logic, which is a crazy class. If you've never taken logic, yo, or if you have, please leave a comment uh on one of these platforms and and I'm sure you'll verify it is like one of the hardest classes ever. So I didn't I didn't take these classes just to be, you know, another person that's just getting by. Like I don't know, man. I I think I think I have a little more pride in myself, and I think I deserve a little more than that. Not not no shade to anybody else, because if if uh if athletics is your passion and you you cool with working at you know the gyms and things, then then you know, more power to you. But that wasn't me. So I ended up quitting. Um, mind you, I was teaching in the summer too, man. I think I last this was about two years. No, about a year, year and a half. Um, I was teaching at a summer camp. I was teaching fifth grade, third and fifth grade science at Jewel Christian Academy, which is attached to Eastern Star Church in Indianapolis. Great, great, great church. Shout out to uh Jeffy Johnson Sr. Uh and Junior, who was my um elementary classmate. Uh, we we grew up together, so shout out to you, bro. Um, you still going? Love what you're doing with the church, keep going, bro. So I I just had an uncomfortable conversation with myself, and I knew I had to get out of nap. I had to get out the city because I I believe growth comes from uncomfortable environments, and I never seen myself growing in the city that I grew up in. Even though I moved around a lot, you know, Nap is my

Choosing Phoenix Over Playing Safe

SPEAKER_00 20:10

claim. That is my my hometown because I spent my my formative years there from eight to like 20-ish, eight to eighteen twenty-ish. So, man, I said, all right, I'm gonna go back to school. Now, had I not had ego and pride, I would have just sought out some courses locally and then moved and saved my money. And I went and tried to do another bachelor's degree, which is very stupid. Um, took out more student loans, um, didn't need that because I didn't have that many because I was on a track scholarship. So it came down to two two uh schools: Morgan State, which is where my fraternity was founded, and Grand Canyon University, which is in Phoenix, Arizona. And I went to JUCO in Arizona. I had some familiarity out there, you know. I got a couple partners that was in the city, you know, what I thought could have my back and whatever. So, no. The first visit I took was to Morgan State. I drove out there, it was about nine hours from Nap, and it was cool. It's just I I couldn't I couldn't see myself there. I don't perhaps it was just the East Coast, and I'm not necessarily an East Coast person, or it was Baltimore. I don't need to say much more. I'ma just I'ma just it was Baltimore, you know. If you know what Morgan State is, it ain't in a well, it's in an okay area, but you ain't too far from not being okay, if you know what I mean. So, yeah, man. I decided to to take my talents, in the words of LeBron James, to back back to Arizona and attend Grand Canyon University. So, um Was it was a crazy, crazy time. My mom and my dad were so against it. They was like, no, like, why are you going? You don't need another bachelor's degree. Like, just go find a master's program. Like, it's stupid. But nah. Man, I was so eager to get out that city. Um, me and my mom got in a really big argument. Really big argument the day I left. And this was like December 30th. Yeah, I think I left December. Yeah, how did yeah, yeah, it was uh no. Yeah, yeah, it was. Yeah, it was December 30th. And I was dealing with a I was dealing with a woman um who was in a uh Greek letter organization um at the University of Tennessee. She was like older though, and she came and picked me up because I was I was I was flying out of Knoxville. Why didn't I just stay put? I have no idea why. I had a homie that had a buddy pass uh hookup because he worked at United Airlines. He hooked it up. So I went down there for a few days just to clear my head. Her objective was to get me to stay and not go. Um you know, so we ended up getting the argument. So if you keep a score, there's two bridges burned. My mom and this and this woman that I'm dealing with at the time. Um, but nah, I said, nah, I'm I'm I'm out of here. Man, I I moved to I moved to Phoenix with two bags and $48. Uh my homeboy, my cousin, actually came and picked me up from the airport. I'm not using no names, but you know who you are. I'm sorry, my cousin's baby mama picked me up from the airport. So I didn't know his living situation was what it was. We she picked me up, you know. We exchanged pleasantries. I'm thinking everything good. The sun is shining, it's Phoenix, the palm trees, the mountains are beautiful, the visibility is crazy, it ain't too hot because it's January. Um, nah, nope. Got to the house, there's her and three other kids. I I knew about one kid, I knew about one little cousin, and and then there's another his homeboy staying with him as well. So my it's a two-bedroom apartment, it's not that big, it's crowded everywhere. So I'm sleeping on the couch. I wake up to Cheerios in my face, and you know, kids jumping on me and them arguing, him and his baby mama going back and forth. It was just a terrible, terrible, terrible living situation. But that it gets worse than that, man. So I go and register for classes, and you know, at that time, if you know how financial aid works, you don't really get it right away. It takes about a month or two. So that was like the longest month ever. I still ain't talking to my parents. I got a uh a busted cell phone. I'm living off like just the money that I had made prior to working, you know, as a high school, whatever, which wasn't a lot. It was in hindsight, it might have been a few hundred dollars. Matter of fact, it was. I had I probably had like I had $48 on a prepaid Visa card, and then I worked it out to where um I deferred like some of my little 401k money from teaching. I took all that shit out. It was only like $400. So I moved with two bags of $48, took the other money out that gotta last. That has to last until the financial aid comes in, you know, refund checks and things like that. So I go to campus. Campus is beautiful inside the gates. Until you get to campus, it's hell. 27th Av like in Phoenix, West Phoenix. Uh, shout out to the homie Jalopi uh Bungus on YouTube. Um, y'all subscribe to his channel. It's it's uh, you know, he's he's uh great content. He's he's a he's a native, he lives there, so he knows. We've chatted about this in the uh YouTube chats before about just how crazy and how real it gets over there uh in West Phoenix. There's a lot of trafficking, um, drugs, humans, sex, gasoline, whatever. That that strip back then, 27th Ave, until you get to those gates on the right hand side where it says welcome to Grand Canyon University, it's hell, man. So, you know, I I made my way to campus and the grind

Arrival, Crowded House, No Money

SPEAKER_00 26:27

started. I registered for classes, I found me a job, washing towels inside of the uh student center, still not asking for help. That pride is eating at me, it's eating at me, dog. Um first night there, or first night at my job and on campus. You know, I went to class, uh, everything is cool. Mind you, GCU is a private Christian university, so we used to have chapel on Fridays, and where everybody would go to the gym and have Bible study. Looking back at it now, I needed that. I needed those prayers, I needed God to protect me from the stupid shit that I was just just getting myself into all because I didn't want to ask for help. So, fast forward, you know, I got my footing. Um, this is this is the first day of class or whatever, because I think class started around the 15th or something like that. And you know, I complete my shift, I complete my classes, I take the bus home. I didn't know for one, I took the long way. I should have just took the bus to the light rail station and took the light rail all the way back to my cousin's house. I didn't know I took the bus the opposite way. It let me off on, I want to say, like the 77 bus line on baseline. Now, my cousin lives on baseline, he just happens to live on the other side of baseline. So I'll never forget that bus driver looking back at me. He was like, Hey, this is the last stop, bro. I'm like, what? I'm I'm I'm way down here. He said, Nah man, like I'm sorry, you gotta get off. I had to walk through anybody that's from Phoenix, I had to walk from um the South Mountain part of baseline all the way down there by uh Arizona Mills Mall. That's where my cousin lived. He lived by that golf course on the right hand side. So I had to walk all the way down there. Mind you, it's like nine. I don't know what you know what hood I'm walking through. I don't I don't know where the coyotes are, it's dark as shit. I get to the house, nobody's there. My things are on the doorstep. My cousin moved, got evicted, didn't know. There's a slip on the door, he left, he went back to wherever he was going back to in the middle of the night, didn't tell me, ain't talked to this bitch ass nigga since. Um, I hope this, I hope this gets to you too, by the way. So I got my bag, I go back to the um to the station or whatever, the the uh the transit station, which is like it's it's it's on the campus of Arizona State University. I feel like it was kind of lit, so I was like, I'll just chill out here for the night. Man, that one night turned into three, that three nights turned into a week or so. Um, and then I you know I'm I'm homeless at this point. This is like the lowest I ever been. I'm still not asking for help, I'm still prideful, and I'm still saying I'm gonna get out of this.

Homeless Nights And Campus Survival

SPEAKER_00 29:27

This is like probably dumb nigga shit 101. So I worked it out to where I changed my shift at GCU to where I can work late. And I worked so late that I knew when the teachers were leaving. And I used to stay in Fleming Hall room 103 on GCU's campus. Um in the the back of the lecture classroom, seven rolls back. I would I would pull the chairs out and I would sleep under the desk, and then I would wake up the next morning and go to the gym locker room where I was washing the towels and stuff in the rec center, take a shower, and you know, I had my bag in there. I had a locker, so I stuffed all my stuff in that locker. I had a lock. Uh somebody gave it to me. I was bumming meals off of the freshmen. They they they meal swipes, a lot of them wasn't using them. Um, it was just a bad time. It was a bad time, man. Um, so I went through that for like I want to say like a month and a half, two months. So fast forward to my uh refund check comes. I got a I got a pretty nice amount. I got I got some stacks, and now I ain't talking about just one or one or two, and I should have known this was stupid, you gotta pay it back. But I got some money, I talked to my frat brother. Uh well, I met one out there. We got a we got an apartment together, and the grind started. I ended up moving up from um washing towels to walk um working in a call center where I would help people that forgot their IDs and their passwords to their login credentials, and then you know, uh from there I saw an opening. I saw an opening at the actual Grand Canyon University Online Center, which is what GC used to be known for, uh, online university. And you know, I'm making eight dollars an hour working um in the in the student call center. Mind you, I was also working at press coffee, I was uh at uh Sky Harbor Airport in the United Terminal. So I was a barista, I was a comedian, I was working at Register, I was working at Paninis, all of that, man. So so I did that. Um, you know what? Yeah, let me back up. Let me slow down. Let me take my time. This might be one of them lengthy episodes. Uh sorry. So, yeah, so before we get to me actually going uh from the call center to the actual GCU online university, I had several jobs. Yeah, like I said, I worked at Press Coffee, I worked for uh Defender Security, which is a uh installer of ADT. Um, I I got my ADT license, uh my uh installer license. I was installing alarms and systems and things. I remember one time I start an alarm in Flagstaff, Arizona. It was snow on the ground and it was like 20 degrees. I get back to Phoenix because that's like two hours away, and it's 85 and sunny. That was one of the craziest days I got sick. So I did that. Uh ended up quitting because I wanted something better. So then I started selling insurance in Scottsdale, Arizona, and that was a lonely time too. Like they gave me a chance, they were paying me better. Um, then from there I worked at Zoc Doc. Zoc Doc is still to this day an online app where you can um find medical providers and things like that. But and it this this is where I picked up the game. This is how corporations like Zoc Doc keep you in one environment all day. Very nice office, they got pod to take a sleep or take a nap in. They got catered lunch every day. Next thing you know, you're working 12 hours. You when you leave, it's dark. So I'm doing that. I got tired of it. Um, what happened with that was I was training full-time as well. Uh, so I started training at the World Athletic Center. I found an agent. Um, shout out to Don. He was he was cool, but wasn't for me. Started getting good again, started winning track meets. I mean, these are big-time track meets, you know, Sun Angel Classic, Coca-Cola Sun Angel Classic, the Adidas Invitational at UC Irvine. Uh, you know, I still got talent, but the problem was I was doing too much, so I got real sick. I had uh went to the ATT ATT store and passed out. Didn't know what the hell was going on. And mind you, that earlier that week in church, I just I don't know, I just felt weak. I couldn't stand up to you know praise and worship. And I passed out. Long story short, they said I had ulcers.

Overwork, Track Training, Health Scare

SPEAKER_00 34:00

One of the most humbling experiences of my life was when they had to do a rectum test, and the lady was like, Yeah, your blood is black. There's blood in my stools. It was, you know, sorry, TMI, but they had to give me blood transfusions. And man, I was um, I think I was like 198, 205 or something like that. I came out, I was 160. I was skin and bones, I almost died. They was like, if you didn't come in, you were on your way to not being here no more because I kept passing out. So they told me that it was a combination of stress and also the training that I was doing, and one had to go. I knew I couldn't. This is a high sales environment. I was working in at exotic at Exoc Doc. I couldn't, I couldn't do them 12 hours no more, man. That shit was killing me, literally. And I'ma always choose track because uh truthfully, that's what saved my life. And for me, track is more than just a sports and metaphor, man. If you just once I line up in between them two lanes, I don't hear nothing else. To this day, I go to the track almost every day or some kind of running activity. You know, once I'm in them lines, can't nobody bother me. You can't fuck with me. You can't, it's just is is only runners and former track athletes probably will understand this, but it's it's just a different feel. So left Zoc Doc and things are looking up. I started working at a place called Amia, which is a tech company, and um my my coach, Coach Cash, hooked me up with that job. He was one of the sellers there. It was cool, you know, for the for the time that it lasted, but ended up getting let go because the boss that I had really didn't want to be there no more. He didn't know what to do with me. So, you know, first one hired, you know, or last one hired, first one fire. You know how that goes. So here I am, I'm back at square one. I don't know what to do. But the whole time, life is getting better though. You know, uh, I'm still at the bus stop. I'm still every day I wake up before I go train, I'm still job searching and job hunting and and whatnot. So that's and I've and I still had my job at Grand Canyon University, uh, part-time. You know, I was getting my little 20 hours going there, answering calls and and resetting passwords and things like that. They were very good to me. Um, shout out to GCU. I ain't got nothing bad to say about GCU. I don't have nothing bad to say about Phoenix. I'm I'm from Indianapolis, Indiana, by way of South Bend, by way of Michigan, by way of Chicago, by way of Houston. But the place where I grew up the most, I owe any eternal debt to Phoenix, Arizona. I love that place, I love the people. Um, I had a great church community. I was a youth pastor at first institutional Baptist Church. So shout out to them. Um, because when I didn't have nothing, I still had my community. I had God, I had men's um in real basketball on Thursdays at the church. I had young adult Bible study Wednesdays, I had young adult Sunday school Sundays, and then main service, and then I taught my kids um why they why they had second service. So, you know, they really looked out for me. That is like real where I really grew up and where I learned to be patient and not to be driven so much um by ego. So things are looking up. I'm listening to um you will know by black men united every day. I'm listening to uh optimistic by sounds of black blackness. I'm listening to um Lauren Hill tell him because most people don't know that is a gospel song, and she's talking about God, not a man. I don't know what Lauren Hill is going through now, you know, showing up to Kanye West concert and things like that, but not my business, um, not getting my support. So, anyways, um I see a post and there was a job opening for Grand Canyon University online as a um kind of like an online, I don't know what was my title there, uh recruiter or academic counselor. Basically, I was answering folks trying to enroll students, pretty much, and the salary was $42,000. I'm making $8 an hour now. I'm I'm making it stretch because you know that's that's

The $13 Resume Play

SPEAKER_00 38:21

my consistent job. But I had you know, Defender, Zog Dog installing ADT and all of that. So, you know, I had some money coming in and had it saved and whatnot. But this is this to me at this point in time, I'll never say this now, but at this time, this was life-changing money for me because it's it was going to change my life. So I went to I took my last like $13. It was $13.8. I took my last $13.8 for the week because I already had my bus pass. I went to Kinko's, I got my resume laminated, and I knew where the office was, where they were hiring at. So I just went to the office and I started um sliding my resume under just random doors that had nameplates on them because I knew it was gonna get into the right hands. And I sat in the lobby and I waited and I waited and I waited for about three and a half hours for somebody to come out, and nobody. I mean, people came out, but they didn't say nothing. You know, I couldn't see around the corner who was picking up my resume, who was tossing it, who was throwing it away. So I waited to the very last, the very last moment till the security guard was like, Hey man, we shutting, we shutting this down. It's like 6 30. Everybody had gone home. There's no more work for the day. So sorry about that noise in the background. So I get uh I'm walking out, I get to the bus station, I get a call from an unknown number on my phone, and I just knew it. I knew it was somebody, uh, and it was a guy named Dan who was one of the recruiters for the position. He said they were having open interviews this coming Saturday. So man, that was music to my ears on a bus ride home, black man united, you will know. Uh, so uh sounds of blackness, um, optimistic, and and Lauren Hill tell uh tell tell him I'm listening to them songs over and over again, and it was it was sounds of blackness that stuck out to me because there's a there's a bridge, there's a lyric right before you get to the hook in the in in the bridge in the second verse. It says your dreams ain't easy, you just stick by your plan. You just stick by your plan to go from boys to men. You must act like a man, and when it gets hard, you just grab what you know, stand up, and don't you fall, and you will know. And to me, that's just spoke volumes, man. I just I stuck to my faith, I stuck to my my tenacity, my triumph, my roots. I knew it. I went, I I went into this interview Saturday morning knowing it was mine, and I ain't never been in an interview like this in my life. It was it was like four rounds of rapid fire, and I'm sitting at the table with other candidates, it's like eight of us, and it's like rapid fire. They call on you and what do you do in this situation? How would you handle this situation? What separates

Getting Hired By Telling The Truth

SPEAKER_00 41:03

you from the other? And the last question was, Why do you want to work here? And I was honest as fuck. I tell them, Listen, I spent my last $13.08 on these laminated resumes. I came up here on a Monday afternoon and waited till Monday evening until you guys left to get my resume in the right hands. I work at the call center for $8 an hour. I take a bus up and down 27th AV, and I walk in the sweltering heat, because this is Phoenix, knowing that I am not my circumstances. I'm not saying I know everything about sales and academia, but I'm promise you, ain't nobody gonna work harder than me. And she hired me right on the spot. Lady named Mary Wolf, probably one of the best managers I've ever had in my life. Shout out to Mary Wolf. Um, you are a guy saying I appreciate you for just showing me the ropes of professionalism. So, next thing I know, you know, the start date is January 5th, uh, yeah, January 5th. So this is like the second year that I'm there in Phoenix. Um, you know, so looking back at it, man, I survived that whole year. Just man, just hustling, job to job, the hospital incident, training, still going to track meets, you know, paying for entry fees and spikes and things like that. Uh, I even had a food stamp card. Um, you know, just man, just really scratching, scratching the surface, man. That's a whole year of just hustling. Long story short, and this is how I get to Houston. If you if you refer back to last episode, this is how I get to Houston. Um, I set the record for most dials in the day at 512 and the most talk time at like 12 and a half hours. They had an opening in

Hustle Pays Off And Houston Opens

SPEAKER_00 42:48

uh Houston, they also had one in Tampa and Louisville, and they wanted to move me to open up a new territory. They to ask me what city did I want to go to. I said Houston. I said Houston for two reasons. I went to Texas AM, and at the time I was at AM, I dated a woman that was from Houston and also a Houston Rocket Cheerleader. So I was also you know familiar with the city. And shout out to my boy Kid and Charles. Um, we had gone up there for one of the holidays, so I I was familiar with Houston, and then the other reason is my uh now ex-wife had just taken a job in Houston, and I wanted to be you know closer to her. But the more important thing is, man, I bust my ass. Like when you talk about getting it out the mud, that's literally getting it out the mud, and it sucks because I created the storm and I didn't have an umbrella to shield me from the weather, but I really, really, really, really, really do admire myself and pride of myself for making it through all of that. And I think the last important thing of that is it could have all been avoided had I just not been led by. Ego and pride, and I just asked for help. Man, when they say pride comes before the fall, I thank God that He wasn't done with me at that time because it's a lot of brothers like myself that have let pride come in their lives and just like rule it, and they didn't get the grace that God gave me. They didn't get any second chances, they didn't get any um handops or handouts, and they still struggling to this day. So I don't I don't know what it is, Lord, about me, man. But you did your big one, and I appreciate you, and that's why I I try to live a life that glorifies your name. Um, you know, even though I can I can get ratchet, we all can't. I think that's the duality of man, but you know, just looking back at that time, man, people, brothers, especially, don't let your pride get in the way, man. Now, it worked out for me,

Final Warning About Pride

SPEAKER_00 44:53

but the world is different. It's different right now. Y'all not getting the same chances that I got. I'm a man, you know, like I'm a I'm a man's man. So, you know, I went through some shit in Phoenix. I done I done had to get niggas off my bags and you know, and and really had to chin check a couple people, but I'm not a person that you can just run up on, you know what I'm saying? I'm not saying I'm big and bad and things like that, but you know, I'm not a I'm not a small dude in stature. So I had that going for me and also had hustle. Some of y'all are out here just bare-necked ass with no plan. You like five, six, a hundred pounds, you don't have no skills, you you wasting your life away, dog. All because you too prideful to to stop doing what you're doing, you know, and go back and really get it out the mud. Um, I pride myself just on taking the elevator, not the stairs. Because if you you take the elevator, man, easy up, easy down. Them stairs, man. I remember the journey more than anything because I climb each each one of them stairs. And you know the old quote, it says, Um, every journey begins with a single step. And this wasn't easy. This wasn't easy at all, man. These first two episodes, like, I'm I'm really giving y'all the game on like just everything that I, you know, I kind of I kind of been through how I got here to San Diego, and it's been triumph after triumph. And man, you just gotta keep going and you know, find you your song. For me, it was Black Man United. You know, your dreams ain't easy, you just gotta stick by your plan to go from a boy to man, you gotta act like a man. And when it gets hard, you just grab what you know. Stand up and don't you fall. You will know. That's been another edition of Heavy on the RB with K Way. Man, I really appreciate anybody checking this out from my voice to your ears, man. Remember, please put value in yourself. Let's put value in each other, and we might fuck around how you value society. Peace.