Inside the Bricks of South Jamaica Queens: Leadership and Brotherhood

In this episode, Elliott Carterr meets Studda Diamond in person inside the South Jamaica, Queens projects — the buildings locals call the bricks. The conversation takes place right in the hallways and courtyard where he grew up, walking through the environment that shaped his mindset long before reputation or titles ever came into play.
As they move through the neighborhood, Studda reflects on the principles he says defined real leadership: unity, discipline, and responsibility to the people around you. He explains how those early morals carried into the brotherhood he later became part of, where leadership meant serving the team — making sure everyone was safe, fed, and moving with structure.
The discussion also touches on how the culture evolved over time, the difference between living the code and just speaking on it, and why the original focus on loyalty and community sometimes gets lost when history becomes content.
Recorded on location in South Jamaica, Queens, this is a firsthand walk-through of the places — and the mindset — that helped shape the story.

Transcript

Reporting From Southside Queens

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Reporting live from the governor, it's your boy Elliot Carter, LFTG Radio. I'm here in Southside Jamaica, Queens. Who I got with me?

SPEAKER_00 0:09

The McDonald's South Jamaica Queens, the bricks, we'll all started at. This is where I want to bring out to my hood. So y'all can see everything started at. Like people know the blood story and the blood history, but before it was returning blood, this was the family that made me bring the morals and values I had as blood to blood. You know what I mean? So this is where all started. And your big bro, come on the camera, big bro. Yeah, this the one, this is the one that gave me the principles, the values, the rules of how to be a comrade, to be a follower leader. It's my big brother, Doc, biological brother.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

Okay. The big bro right there.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Same my man dad. Doc. Yeah, so yeah, Doc, because you just spiced shit up, you know what I mean? But this is where it all started at, you know what I mean? So when I made the transition to blood, I actually used the same moral that I had from this block right here. Plaza. Yeah, the plaza, you know what I mean? See, see, see, see, top Dodge gave an interview and mentioned my name. It was a very good interview, but when he failed to realize that when they appointed me as, you know, being the face of blood in Elmira, the leader is actually the servant of the people. You know, had to do the count, make sure the bro was good, make sure no violation, make sure nobody's being oppressed or dudes, dudes in their positions to mislead the little homies and use them as stunt dumbies or missiles. So when I came under the toolist of LG, the bro George, all these dudes, they showed up, man, one man, one team. Nobody's bigger than the family. So that's when, you know, I use these morals as blood. But no, no, I mean, because all are probably the same thing. It was the same rules, same morals, but different teams. When I turn blood, I turn all my niggas blood. Because this is the movement, this is what we're doing now. Like we transcended from the LF to the cliques to the Rockaways, to now we GKB, EHB, UBN. I mean, all became one. That's what a family is. A family not about your cousins over here or your brothers over there or your nephew over there. Now we're gonna come to the family union every day in the family we don't.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

Understood.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

So that was about, man, you know, unity. You know, truly speaking, man, like I be seeing a lot of dudes touching on broadcasts. I'm not knocking nobody's history. No, I'm not knocking nobody's history. But dude just taken away from blood. See, like, I never big myself up. Yo, I did this, no, no, I did it in the name of blood. Yeah. I made my team look good. See, like, why when I went out of town, I never got body. Because I'm like, yo, nigga, you're gonna need me on your team. I'm gonna show you how to get money. We get money together. And when I was in VA, DC, Albany, Bingleton, I made sure that everybody ate. It was no your law, nigga. I don't care, even the littlest nigga on the totem pole, and I mean, recognition-wise, he's still one of us. You represent our name. No, no, no, no. I mean, if you touch a comrade, you're not touching him. You're touching all of us. We all bleed. If one bleeds, every last one of us bleeds. This is why we react the way we react when one of us got touched. It wasn't nothing that said, yo, he asked for, no, we'll deal with that later. If he's wrong, we'll deal with that later. But if he's in violation, you come to us, we rectify, we take your own, we display our own. You don't touch one of ours and think it's okay. So if he's wrong, we'll deal with that after we retaliate. Because as you've been our brother, you don't put your brothers in bad predicaments. You don't overuse your team to make yourself look good. That's one thing that we never did,

The Morals Behind The Flag

SPEAKER_00 4:10

or I never did for that matter. We all moved as one. So when y'all see me coming here in the bricks, this is my family. This is what started me as being blood. See, like most people's history started at being blood. Remember, I was like fucking 12, 13, 14, moving packs, getting money, hustling. Then when I got older, I ran my own block. Well, when I'm my own block, Big Road Block, I ran his block on 145. So you know, uh eventually you're gonna see that block too. But I just wanted to touch on the foundation of where I became me. See, like, stutter is a protion of many people's characteristics who I took from, say, a nases, took from Prince, took from this nigga, and made myself that. Because I seen the way they move and how they handle difficult situations. Being a leader is handling tough times.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

So you took bits and pieces of everybody that you Yeah, yeah, who I idolized, who I looked up to.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

I see, yo, there's a good characteristics. He handled that shit real good. Let me take from him, let me use this to put my own little spin on it and make me me. Yeah. But I'm just a character, well, I'm just a well, but I'm the person of multiple characteristics who I took for my elders. And I just utilize that shit to make me who I am, to follow their morals, their guidance, and plot me their footsteps.

SPEAKER_02 5:32

Well understood, I understood. So, around what year would you say those activities started occurring?

SPEAKER_00 5:43

Well, before that, it was the old sound named Billy Boy. Ain't nobody mocking me know Billy Boy is. I mean, Billy Boy was the epitome of a gangman, Billy Boy. Stick up kid. God bless him, man. Billy Boy was the epitome of a gangster. That was like the first. I'm like, no, man, I'm jacking his nigga style.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

He'll rob his friends.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

I'm not gonna jack his nigga style. No means the fly nigga had all the bitches. No, no, no, no, me. He had all the all the money, all the clout. I'm like, yeah, man, I got jacked his nigga style. But then I realized that Billy was a foul nigga. So I don't know what to be like that.

SPEAKER_01 6:16

Straight up, stick up kid.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

He hang with you the next day. Yeah, so I know Lola was a jack billy boy style. Cause I see Billy was a foul nigga. But on the outside looking in, you see niggas don't mean coming through Bob thing. Hand skills crazy. Yeah, hand skills crazy. That's the old little bob when you walk, hand skills crazy. Man, I respect you. Like, yeah, I'll be like all the girl. Hey, Billy Boy, hey Billy Boy, I wanted that. No, I'm that was a hey, he's still the hayfrench, I wanted that. But then I'm like, nah, Billy Boy's a foul nigga. I don't think that nigga trades too much.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

You know what I mean? Yeah, South Side Brad, a lot of soldiers, man. A lot of fallen soldiers. Yeah. Billy Boy Carlton.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, God bless Carlton Mark, man. Called another knockout audit. And no, I touched on Cotton when Zip was talking about 118. Carlton got killed in that shit, actually. Caught in the one who got bodied to that 118th park. And I touched on that with Pimp, talking about the shit because, you know, we was there. And you know, like one thing I don't do is get anybody to beat myself up. Yeah. But you know, Zip wasn't there. We was actually there in the park when it happened. We actually shooting in the air, get the crowd away from us when it happened. But Carlton the one that got bodied first. When they shot the nigga and had him and um his eyes came out, that was actually Carton, who we speaking about. No, that was actually him. God bless him. He was another South Side legend on Rockaway.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

Rest in peace.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

Yeah. But you know, man, but then when I got down with the team and everything, that's when I really think I transitioned to who I was becoming to be. Just sitting around watching. Because like it's certain niggas men who I be around even to this day. I just listen and be like, yo, that shit makes sense. And I'm soaking up their energy. Because like, like, like, dude, you could never get too much energy or knowledge from small motherfuckers. So I'd be to sit back, like, yo, man, you know what? Even at the age that I am right now, I still take from people to make me grow. Because like I was telling somebody last night, like, we go from male, boy, preteens, adult to adulthood. Adult hood is different from adult. Adult, mean you're only 18 or 21, but adulthood, you constantly changing. You evolve and you constantly change. Like, I'm not stuck in my ways. You can't be stuck in your way. You gotta grow as time grows. You gotta transcend as time. Like, remember, we went from Cortez to Deodorus.

Brotherhood Means Protecting Everyone

SPEAKER_00 8:40

I'm not wearing that shit in no 2026. I'm not wearing no Cortez. So I'm transcending with the times. You know what I mean? It's a constant evolvement as Medelho.

SPEAKER_02 8:52

Adapting the time.

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah. Constant. And and yeah, and little thing, right? What top dollar said, I want to just expand on something that would mention interview. Well he left out over the fact that him and Shogun, when he mentioned, they had words. He said his pussy gave suck my dick. So niggas wanna see how I would deal with it. That's the bro, that's the comrade. So you know what I say? He says, Y'all can't get along. The next four places are. Y'all niggas wanna be together every day. Make four places y'all. I never picked anybody's side, I picked blood side. That was a real blood gonna do. We don't see, yo, who said the first valley? No, no, no. Both of y'all niggas is blood, both of them violating, so both of y'all they're gonna be dealt with as the blood motion. No what the next four places are. And they both shot. And in defense, both niggas shot. But everybody wants to see how I was gonna deal with it. Like, yo, who's leaving, who's getting shot? None of them begin shot. They blood brothers argue. Now we're gonna transgress our anger on a ricket. Y'all gonna be, yeah, y'all gonna be the source of uh of all negative energy. We're gonna pop y'all niggas now. And I ain't playing with that boy playing with that bad nigga. You ain't painless. Okay, the night four play. Y'all, you take two, you take two. That's it. But top dollar got not on the second plate.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

But but that story was definitely true. He just left out the main intimate part of what made me who I am. Like anybody could bust their guns. But like OG Max said, man, it's 85% mental, 15% physical. See, that was the part that dude leave out. See, anybody can bust their gun and get their name up, but how is your hood being ran? If it's a good hood and say, hood, like you should be good to come into a 9-11 and relax with the guards again, because bro, but like you saw we all right now? We relax, nigga. We chilling. You know what I mean? Nobody moving, no snake shit going on. Like when y'all come to my hood, I told you, niggas is safe. Nobody's moving on nothing. We getting shit done because this is a brotherhood. No brother should not feel safe around their comrades. You know what I mean? But I just want to touch on that story more just to give light of leadership. Because the leader actually serves the people. The people don't serve the leader. The leader gotta make sure that the hood is right, the food is right, everything is good. That niggas actually eating and everybody doing good. Now, if a plate pops up, niggas begging, yo, that's my deal, yo, that's my deal. Because niggas wanna because we love our team so much. And we know if our team get locked up, we're gonna do the right thing. Send them magazines in the box, send them letters, send a picture, because you put on for the team. Like when I got locked up, my team put up 20,000 for my lawyer. And mine, we're talking about 9,5, 9, 6, 20,000 a lot of money. The bro was there, he's sitting, niggas stay going on vigilant because my team made sure I was good, because I put on for my team. So that's the so that so that's the brotherhood of blood of any team that you're a part of. And again, I love what the nation did. I don't like what blood necessarily became because we're taking away from the nation and bigging ourselves up. I bigger blood first, then me. I'm just a soldier of blood. I'm just a soldier of the community. But I'm on front line. And when dude points me in the position of leadership, the face of anything, that's a heavy responsibility. That's a that's a heavy, everything falls on you. Even if the little bro do something wrong, I'm the blame for it. Because you're under my tutel. I'm the blame for it. I can't say, oh, he's a little young, dumb nigga, he crashed it out. Nah, that shit falls on me. And most people nowadays don't know what blood is. Blood is based on the community. Now we have to bang on the kings and the attack to get our names up because we've been oppressed as black people. Don't know what I mean. So we bang, and somehow people miss the

Borrowing Traits To Become A Leader

SPEAKER_00 12:55

mentally part. Yeah, they miss the they missed the mentally part, the 85%, and only do the 15%. And it kind of took away from the structure of blood. You know, the second generation and all these branch offs and all these other nations that came about, and it's no longer, you know, the 30 rules. It's no longer, you know, the history. It's all about yo, me being eight, me being stoned. And again, I'm not knocking anybody's movement. I'm just making an example of what happened, of how it's taken away from our brotherhood. Like, like, like up north right now, it's crazy. Now, a lot of these dudes not tapping in. You see, my security nigga, I got like damn near 50 niggas on my security. I make sure everybody is right. I make sure everybody's right. Dudes tapping in, dudes calling in. I'm making sure they're good. Even if I can't sit, like, it's hard to send nine, ten niggas 30 lives apiece, let a little hundred dollars apiece. But as long as you do what you can, the brother wanna appreciate that. Never mislead the soldiers, never mislead the people, never mislead the family and what called these, don't take advantage. That's the that's the narrative that we forget about blood. Everybody tell their war stories. And nothing wrong with that. You put on. Accept your awards for your movies. Accept that. But at the end of the day, what are we talking about really? Are we talking about yourself? Are we talking about blood? That's the thing that we got a foamish on. Bang or blind, yourself or blind, your history or blood history. Like, like, like all these dudes, like, again, I would never, when you're talking the truth, you're not talking bad about nobody. A lot of these dudes that I hear about or see on these podcasts, they dropped their flags. They was in blood for the past 15 years before they got released. Now I said they didn't put on in the past, but when we came, you know, in 2000, 2005, 2010, we still behind these walls, banging, missing our business, missing our passions, because in the name of blood, y'all fell back. So why is y'all coming home now, capitalizing off blood? When you when you didn't hurt or face the pain of blood, you probably heard it for like what five years? You know they say, but it ain't easy, but it's so it's fun. We carry that to the full degree. And again, when niggas drop their flag, I'm not knocking them. Drop your flag. But don't come home now. Yo, yeah, I did this. No, you wasn't around in 2010. You wasn't here in 2015, you wasn't around in 2020. So why are you still talking about some 96 shit that over and do it? Niggas did way more than that shit. Niggas did way more. Like, where you at? Now you want to come home and shoot at this nigga, shoot that nigga. None of y'all niggas blood. I mean, none of y'all blood. Well I mean, you said yo, he fell back, he's a bitch. You do the same thing. You can't like a nigga for smoking cigarettes, nigga, and he's smoking black and mouth.

unknown 15:57

The same thing.

SPEAKER_00 15:58

Yo, he spoke new force. I smoke cool. Yo, he vaping. No nigga and me both getting our lungs dirty. So we all in violation.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

Yeah, that's a fact.

SPEAKER_00 16:05

Yeah, so you fall back and you talk like he's the bitch, and you fell back. Both of y'all niggas fell back, but now y'all niggas come home and you want to shoot at uh Jim Jones, Joe Little Wayne, and all these dudes. Now again, let them bang the way they bang. Again, you can bang by showing up clothes. You can bang by ironing clothes. That don't make you the bitch, that makes you a part of your team. That's what that makes you. That makes you part of your team. Yeah, you can't say he's a bitch because he wanna rat. Go do your little songs. But always remember you steal blood, take care of your team. Make sure they right. You can't you can't point the finger at somebody because he banged differently. Along he's not banging wrong. Yeah. That's all that matters. He ain't out there fucking chumps or writing on people or dry snitting. You can't say he's wrong. If that man wanna make margaritas and sell it on a boulevard, he's putting in work for his nation. You just can't say, yo, yo, he ain't cut nobody. When you look at the Marine Force, you got techs that be in the computers all day, looking at satellites and pimple, and they play a real big part on the niggas who are in combat.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 17:13

They play a real big part. So you can't say, yo, he ain't no real army figure. You ain't no real no, he played his part.

Settling Beef Without Picking Sides

SPEAKER_00 17:20

This is what I did. I made sure the field knew where the air was coming from, where the gun was coming from, where the enemy lines at. I did that. And that's a very big part of playing part of your family. Playing it simple.

SPEAKER_02 17:33

Everybody got a role. Everybody got a role. But this is this is your building right here? This is where you're from?

SPEAKER_00 17:41

See, no, see, I lived on the back block. Okay. Yeah, like I lived on 145 on the back blocks, but it was so much fun in these buildings. Don't know. Anybody know how the project was in the 80s and 90s, they know what I mean.

SPEAKER_02 17:54

Yeah, so this is more like it's stomping ground.

SPEAKER_00 17:56

Yeah, yeah, like I never lived in these buildings. I just stayed in these buildings so much, like my guard brother lived down there, my right hand lived over there, and you know, and and the female treated me right.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

This building right here used to be like Blue Jack City. Yeah, like when that guy was hustling, they had shifts.

SPEAKER_02 18:16

Oh, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:18

They had shifts. Yeah, like a real job of security.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Yeah. This lobby, the other lobby, I'm gonna show y'all the other lobby, like all this, like it's not a real big building, but it was a very lucrative, dangerous building. Yeah. Could it come through half-stepping, like we all about getting money? But come through half-stepping, we will give you the business. Straight it down.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

If you wouldn't live here, don't come here. Well, that's basically what it was. Yeah. Unless you know somebody.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Yeah, what it was. That's that way. And you know, you got a lot of up and coming rappers right now who's doing videos here like Dana. He's stepping his game up. No, no, no, no. He's definitely doing his numbers. So I support the young brothers, although I just met the commember. I just came home like three or four years ago. So I definitely pushed their music, Jackson, because again, we want to see everybody win. Yeah. So we want to see everybody win. Now they're 27 years. 27 straight. Let's go. Alright. So tell just tell us a little bit about where we're walking. Uh, this is the inside of the bricks right here. It's the inside of the building, one, two, five. And again, you know, went to the lobby, all this right here, where it's all at right here. I mean, so as I point out earlier, I don't mean to no backtrack, but again, this where the moral started. See, I turned blood in 9-6 as he pointed out. Raw blow did bring me home. But when I turned blood, it's only like seven, eight, nine sets. It wasn't too many. You know, so we was all a brotherhood. You know what I mean? We all did, we all moved as one. You know what I mean? Like that was like I called the golden era of blood, because we love each other so much and we just met each other. That's the main thing about it. Like we, like, nigga, be from Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx, Staten Island, and you claiming blood, we didn't care about that set set. You blood, that's all that matters. You be in, nigga. We bang as a gang, that's the national thing. We bang. So that was so that what we was doing. You know what I mean? Putting on for the team, make sure she was good. Now, you know, when Mac went home, you know what Mac did when he did, you know, everybody used that as a forum or an excuse, whatever you want to call it, to do their own thing. You know, with the Brim Army, the NY, BBA, all that shit. So dudes just use that and did what they did at a Cypriot nation. You know what I mean? And we all got caught up in a power trouble, a power strip, you know what I mean? And we started flipping

Who Gets To Tell The Story

SPEAKER_00 20:55

on each other to get our nation popping. And like, yo, it's not about your nation, it's about blood. Because you're saying you're moving this at what you're moving, so let's build. But you know, as black people, man, we always dealt with tribalism. We always dealt with some type of separation or some kind of diversion to make us bigger than each other. And even now, we look at the podcast. This podcast be from this podcast, this podcast be from with that podcast, this dude saying he's the bitch, this dude saying he's the bitch. And again, if you're speaking the truth, it's not propaganda. It was the truth. You know what I mean? It ain't any, it's no propaganda about it. And you speaking the truth. Like, it's a lot of people I know, it's like yo, where you was at. You know what I mean? Like where you was at, and even 2015, where you was at. You wasn't in the Bash, it wasn't the south, it was in the upstate. You was Ramadan somewhere, and they wrong being Muslim, but don't come home fronting like you on front line. That was the beef that I was saying. That's my Whole story. And again, I'm not gonna lie on anybody's name. I was front line. I was the big homie. I went from having NYB to growing to even being on paperwork of having UBN. When Mikey B fell back, I was the one put everything together. Yo, you on this L, yo, yo, everybody give me, yo, send me your L U. Get it together when Goo niggas, McGul, Frank White, Ornobe, they went to the feds. I played the part of put everything. And truthfully speaking, big bro right there financed the movement. Him and Mad B. Yo, go see this nigga. Go see that nigga. That was a lot of money, man.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Oh, big bro right there. Yeah, doc. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:38

Yeah, he put money, send the bitches up there. Yo, go see this nigga, go see that nigga. All I got the again, I got the uh the um, what do you call it, the um clout for it. But it wasn't my money, you know what I mean? Yeah, it was my money.

SPEAKER_02 22:51

I was just so you was living good on big boy.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It wasn't my money. I would just put everything together to make sure we all get on the court because we can't write or talk. Like when they did it out of communication, that kind of fucked us up as well. Because you know, a lot of brothers in jail is not doing what we're doing, hustling, getting money. And when you do get money, you send it to your girl to get your visit or your kids. So I'm like, you know what? Go up there, see the bro, tell them this, tell them that we need this. This is the front base that we need where every male goes to and make sure to get out actually paying niggas in Oklahoma, little niggas, to take phone calls, to to to send letters out to make sure that niggas was on the same accord of to get the found the get the family running up and jumping. Yeah that's putting it work. That's that's loving your nation. That's called brotherhood. See, these dudes are again, I can't emphasize enough how you take away

Golden Era To Power Struggles

SPEAKER_00 23:45

from blood. Don't take away from blood, man. Blood is a beautiful thing. This is why we turn blood. This is what attracted us to blood. And somehow a name got too big, where now we're feeling ourselves. Like, yeah, I did this. Nah, nigga, you because and you notice when most dudes get kicked out the whip or fall back, you don't hear their name. You don't hear their name. Now, I'm not gonna lie, let's be honest. I was not chopping block mad times. I was fooled like at least four times because I'm not jacking these false calls. Just because you the big homie don't mean I'ma submit to you or jack you. No, nigga, that's not that's not blood. You're not gonna do this to this nigga like when dudes trying to get me to pop on raw blood. We told about 98. And you know how hard it is to go against niggas who you love or niggas who you trust, but now I can't trust none of y'all. I don't know what's going on. You know what I mean? So eventually it got rectified. Eventually, but at that time, nigga, that was a serious business, nigga, being fooled on Rikers Island at 9.8 because you're in the right. I like I can understand if I did some foul shit, okay, yeah, I was taking this punishment. But people, and like little Victors told me years ago, man, he said, yo, it's not what you know is what you could prove. And even if you could prove it, that don't always work.

Staying Loyal Through Internal Trials

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Yeah, because you can prove something right. So I had to beg against my own brothers to get off the wall. I can't say y'all falling back, fuck y'all niggas. Nah, because blood is in my heart. I'm not gonna leave this nation because y'all niggas don't find them niggas. Y'all not blood. That's how I felt. Yeah. But if y'all niggas not blood, I'm doing the right thing. You're gonna label me because because y'all in Valley said, so that's what nigga, we're gonna bang and see who wins, nigga, because you gotta kill me, nigga. Hands down. That's how I felt about blood. And again, man, that was a tough time. So eventually, you know, I mean they're like, yo, not study. It's right. That's his man right there. He didn't see no P double that nigga. He don't none mean, he don't shoot him.