Why Not You? | Ep. 58 | Unphazed

In this episode Phaz talks about how easy it is to forget how special we really are—and why it’s time to stop letting the world dictate our value.

From the WNBA’s rise to multi-million dollar contracts to the powerful perspective from Artemis II and astronaut Victor Glover, this episode is all about one message: why not you?

Faith is nothing without action—so it’s time to move.

Stay Unphazed.

🔗 Links 
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5c9vrsypsGvEG3YmlOu0tE?si=-fGkOHtUR7eQNWLy0WmEiQ&nd=1&dlsi=8d348181a80d4213

🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unphazed/id1744669614

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Unfazed family. Oh my god, it's glad to be back again. We got another great one for you today. Um, there's just a message that's been that's been sitting on my heart that I gotta get out to you guys, man. We got a lot talk about a lot of current events today, but the message today is why not you? Why not you? Today we're gonna get into Artemis 2, a lot of current events that's been going on, crazy huge contracts going on in the WNBA, and a lot is going on in the world right now. So coming up next, we gotta get into it on the Unfaced Podcast. Let's do it. Okay, so I'm starting this podcast off with a little story time, everyone. A little story time about baby Fezan. So just imagine this, baby Fezan back in the day. They called me Little Fey Fei, or whatever I was a little baby. When I was a baby, just imagine when I was learning how to walk. All mothers, all parents, all brothers, sisters. If y'all have ever experienced a baby in your life, this is gonna connect to you. So imagine that baby is learning how to walk. You gotta hold him up, you gotta hold him by his arm, you gotta help him, right? You gotta continue to help him walk. He's trying to just crawl, get up, he falls. Okay, little Faison gets up, oh, oh, falls again. Oh, wait, wait, give me another try. He falls again. And then on that next time, he gets up, he falls again, and you know what his mom says? His mom says, you know what, we're done. No more walking, you can't do it. That's it. No more walking. We're no, you're not walking, that's it. Just offer all the mothers out there specifically. At what point do you give up on that child? At what point do you say, hey, no, you you know, you failed too many times, you need to just stop. Let's just do something else. Let's just just crawl forever. No, there's no time, and you were thinking about that right now. There is no opportunity, there is no time that you would look at a child and say, Hey, no, we're just stop. We're gonna stop trying to walk. We're gonna just know you failed too many times at walking. No, that mother's gonna say, keep going, and we're gonna keep trying. Anybody, you're gonna look at that baby, you're gonna say, keep trying, and then the next day you're gonna keep trying. Next day you're gonna keep trying until that baby walks. So, why don't we do that as we get older? Where do we lose that as a people as we get older? Why as we get older, because what because I can say society, I can say the matrix all the time, but let's look at ourselves today. Why, as we get older, we stop walking, we stop trying to walk, we stop attempting to walk, we stopped attempting to chase our dreams, we stop attempting to build this life that we dream about, we stop attempting to be rich and be a millionaire, we stop attempting and we get comfortable and we why if you would not tell that baby to stop, why would you stop? Why do we stop? That that that that's what it is today, because a lot of us have we can talk about the matrix, the society, and everything for only so much, but at a certain point you have to do it. At a certain point, you might have to get up early. At a certain point, you may have to go to the gym, at a certain point you may have to tell the party people and all the people that go out on Saturdays and Sundays, no. At a certain point, you may have to get up early on the weekend. At a certain point, you may have to stop drinking. At a certain point, so it goes on and on and on. But the main point that I'm trying to say is at a certain point in our lives, as we begin to adult and we get to have a job and we pay bills and we our dreams seem further and further away, we stop trying to walk. We can't do that anymore. This today, if you see this today, this is the opportunity to stop. No. This is the opportunity to stop letting all of these other things and other ideas and ideologies and societal things and friends and family get in your way from achieving what it is you want to achieve. I'm not even saying you have to go out there and be LeBron or Wemby. I'm not saying you have to be Beyonce or Michael Jackson. I'm not saying that, but I'm just saying there's a certain life that you had in your mind that you probably still have in your mind. That you're not attacking that anymore. You're not going after that anymore. Where that light, that fire has become so dim, so dim, so dim, so dim that it doesn't even feel like we're living anymore. And why not you? Right? And I'm bringing up this thing because why not you? Because I want to start the episode off with Wallow from The Million Dollars Worth of Game. He said something and he had a motivational speech. I'm gonna let him pop it off for us so we can talk about that.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Listen, let me explain something to you. You gotta lose your fucking mind. You gotta be crazy. You gotta be delusional that you can accomplish anything in the world. Because there's a bunch of people out there, they're not crazy enough to believe that they can do anything in this fucking world, and you can be anything in this fucking world. So you gotta go crazy. You gotta stand. I'm a crazy motherfucker. I'm a crazy motherfucker. I'm crazy than a motherfucker to believe that I could do anything that I wanted to do coming out of prison. But I had a list. You gotta have a list. You gotta have a list and say, I wanna go here. This is what I want to do. When I account this, I want to buy. I don't give a fuck which one you listen. Materialistic, okay. I don't care. Write your list that's dedicated to you. But don't you ain't gotta listen to getting up AJ Freestyle? I don't know where to go. You ain't got no directional plan. The list is a GPS to your dreams. You gotta have a fucking list, but you gotta go fucking crazy. You gotta be fucking delusional. Everybody out here, oh I'm cool. Everybody's too cool. Everybody is too cool. I can't do this. I ain't doing this. I'm too cool to do this. So why you ain't too cool to be broke, though? Everything all is true. I'm true, this, I'm too tough, I'm too cool, I'm too thorough. Go ahead, your ass too fucking broke. What's up, family? You gotta be crazy. I am a crazy.

SPEAKER_02 6:56

So y'all see y'all see what he's talking about right there. The first thing he said, you gotta be delusional. You have to be delusional. There has to be something that I'm gonna attempt this thing, but as I do this, everybody's gonna look at me like, oh man, he's crazy. Is he tripping again? Oh my god, why is he? This is embarrassing. Why is he trying that? You know we don't do that. We don't we don't go out. No, that's weird. He's weird. They said everybody that was walking around with their phones and have making content was weird, but now look at him. Now everybody's trying to make content, right? They said all those people were weird at first, but you have to be crazy. And I think a weird thing that I'm seeing in my life and I'm seeing in the world is that the normal is not normal anymore. And what I mean by that is like he said in the video where it's like everyone, the normal is like I'm being too cool. The normal became nah, not to chase your dreams, the normal became just to like, oh yeah, just hang out, party, and do these things, and it's like we're all gonna get together and do that. And then when someone is like kind of out of the box and doing something different, it's like, oh wait, he's trying? That's weird. Why is he trying? Well, like he's trying to do something with his life. Oh, why he's oh, that's weird. There's no support there, there's nothing there until that person, boom. So this is that wake-up call because it's like, why not you? Why can't we do that? Why can't you pick up the phone and do that? Why can't you go reach out to that person that you've been scared to reach out to, go apply for that job that you think is a little bit out of your league, but with a little bit of work and effort and a couple connections, you may get it. Or you may fail, and even if you fail, hey, you did it. Now go back and do it again. And okay, take notes on that and just do it again. That's the only thing that I'm saying because it's why not you? Because over time, that fail, that fail, that fail, that fail, that fail, you learn something from each failure. So every fail that I just did, those five fails, I grew a little bit in each one. So when I do succeed, I didn't fail five times, I didn't learn five new things. So now what I get here, I'm more prepared at that point. If they just gave it to you on the first thing, you wouldn't, you didn't learn nothing, you just got it. You're not built from nothing, there's no foundation there, and that's what I'm trying to learn a lot from my life because we want everything to happen so fast, zip, zip, zip, so fast. But a lot of times it's like you have to enjoy the journey, you really have to enjoy the journey, and a lot of us want these things, and uh, I'm even go back further because a lot of us don't know what we want. So the first thing he said, what is your list? What is the list? Okay, let's sit down. What do I really want? What do I want my life to look like? And how can I accomplish that? What do I want my life to look like, and how can I accomplish that? I'm writing that down. Okay, what does my life look like? How can I accomplish that? I have faith that these things are gonna happen for me. You first have to believe that these things are gonna happen to you, and then you have to put work behind it. Faith without works is dead. Faith without works is dead, so you have to have faith, you have to have that plan, that vision, that once you have that vision for what your life is, what your family's life is, and it just and it's not necessarily like a million dollars, a billion dollars, a Mercedes or this or that, but it is being able to be doing something. Like we talked about before when Santiago on the podcast is like doing that thing. Like you're on, you can't be on autopilot. If you're on autopilot and you're just living in this world and you're letting the world run you, they will run you. There's so much people, there's so many people out here trying to get your attention, trying to get you to buy these things, trying to get you to do this activity. If you just sit on autopilot, the world, you will go on autopilot and wake up and be 75 and be like, oh my god, what did I just do? So that's the problem that I'm going through right now. It's not even a problem that I say I'm going through right now, but it's just something that I'm continuing to reflect on. Like, I have to make every day count because these days, and I feel like y'all notice it too, these days are going by so fast. Like, it's gonna be that it was just 2025, it's about to be 2020. Like, I remember when COVID was here, that feels like it was a month ago, and now we're about to be in 2026, so there's a lot going on, and I wanted to hit on one thing, right? It's because that consistent work, that consistent effort towards a certain goal, it may not show up right away. They may look at you and they may say, nah, nah, nah, y'all not, you're not there yet. You may do it again the next year, and you may fail, and they may look at you and say, Man, nobody, nah, what are you doing? That's not that's not there yet. Then you may try it again the next day and okay, I'm gonna listen to you a little bit. Okay, I'll uh maybe a little bit, I'll give you a little bit. But then you continue and you continue and you continue and continue, and then what do you turn into? You turn into the mother freaking WMBA that everybody knows and loves right now. The WNBA. Shout out to everybody in the WNBA, everybody part of the WNBA organization, because that is a prime example of why not you. I have a timeline here that I put together. 1997, the WNBA launches. Players receive small paychecks, um, often just a few thousand dollars. 2003, the CBA agreement sets the team salary cap at$622,000. 2008, CBA raises the salaries. 2015, Diana Tarasi skips the NBA season for to play overseas and that starts sparking debates. 2019, the players vote to opt out of their CBA. 2025, the Unfazed Podcast runs a WMA. Uh we do a WNBA series and we talk about the WMB because I love the WNBA. I'm a fan of the WNBA, and I just want a little bit of that. Just I know, like, if they could cut me a little check, like a little it don't gotta be a big one. Like, I know I didn't do that much. I don't get that many views, but it's like a hundred dollars. A hundred dollars. Asia, Caitlin, page, a hundred dollars. Okay, but 2025, we do that. 2026, y'all seen maybe it was 2025, the all-star game. They had the players boycotting wearing no shirts, demanding equity, right? And everybody's like, man, the NBA, they don't dunk the ball, they don't, it's not this, it's not that. They're not getting the views, they don't get make uh money as much money as the NBA, but that's not what they were looking for. And now we come to today where you see the first year salary for the number one WNBA pick, Azee Fud. I don't I don't want to mess with anybody say that. AZ. AZ, AZ FUD, right? 500,000. With Paige just before that was 78,000, and Caitlin before that was 76,000, and 74,000 before that, Aaliyah Boston and 72,000. So this is huge. And I just want to say congratulations to all the women because that is the work that nobody really talking about the WNBA, nobody's really too excited about the WNBA over time, but these ladies are still working, doing their best, doing the best within what they have. They're still grinding, not getting million-dollar LeBron contracts, but still pulling million-dollar LeBron effort into the game. That that's commendable. And that when you have a vision for when you know your worth, nobody else can tell you anything. You determine your worth. You don't let other people determine your worth. You don't let this society tell you how big you can dream. You don't let this society tell you what you're gonna be doing for the next 60 years of your life. You don't let this society, you don't let this world do that. You determine that. But the problem is 99% of us are letting the world determine that, and if we let the world determine that, oh god damn it, they will. They're waiting for you to just autopilot. They're waiting for they're waiting for that. Right? So, shout out to the WNBA, and I want to highlight some people, right? Um, AZ, say it again. AZ FUD, big time. That's huge. And she's in Dallas, so I'm definitely pulling up to a game. Then we had another one. Um, see if you can look up Asia Wilson's Asia Wilson. I think she had the largest WNBA contract ever at seven, no, was it five million guarantee? This is huge. Three-year five million supermax contract extension with the Las Vegas Aces in April 2026. Like, come on, she's the GOAT, man. She's the GOAT, and a lot of other people getting big time contracts. And finishing that, okay, a landmark pay agreement 2026 was reached, making historic step for the WNBA salaries 2026. Um, the team's salary cap rose to$7 million, up from about$1.5 million in 2025. Maximum standard salary jumped to$1.9 million. Wow. Aliyah Boston, record four-year deal worth 6.3 million. Man. Up from 1.5. Yeah, we talked about Asia Wilson. Yeah, this this is this is amazing. And I think this is just a testament to all the work that they've been putting in. And this this is was such a cool thing just to see because as I tapped into the WNBA and I seen the protest and I seen them stepping up, and every time they would do an interview, they would make sure to just sprinkle that in. Hey, yeah, we want what we're worth. We're worth this, we're worth that. So, how can we take that attitude? I love that attitude and take that into our everyday life. Because now we're letting people control our worth. We're letting people put our price tag on us when we determine the price value of our life and our family's lives and our livelihood, right? But that's capitalism, that's a whole nother conversation. We're gonna get into that as well. But the biggest thing, man, is why not you? Why can't you be the one to change your family's life, to change your life? Why do you have to do what everyone else is doing? Because it's hard, right? And I'm saying this, and this is all cool, and this may fall on deaf ears. This may get 20 views like the other podcasts get, but there's gonna be one person on here that I hope that you can connect with this, I hope that you can feel this, I hope you can figure out what I'm saying, because in my mind, this is not even coming out the best that I've wanted to, but I know I'm gonna get better. And every time I come back on the podcast, because I know, because why not me? If somebody is gonna give you a motivational message, why not me? Because why can't this, as I'm saying this to you, I'm saying this to myself. Every time I come on this podcast and I talk to you guys, this is me, my thoughts, things that I'm reflecting on. Me being mad at myself, me being ashamed of myself, me being inspired by myself, me being motivated, me praising myself for how disciplined I am just to be able to come here and sit on this podcast with you guys in such a crazy world. But not only just a crazy world, an amazing world. Artemis II. Artemis II was another big thing that I've been wanting to touch on for a little bit. Um, one of the um he was the pilot, I think his name was Victor. Um, I actually DM'd him to come on a podcast too. That was funny. But um, I seen the speech that he did, or it's like a speech or just a little message that he gave when the Artemis II crew um was in space, and they basically did a trip around the moon. So they didn't land on the moon, they did a trip around the moon, because I guess they were testing some like equipment, space equipment, just to make sure that was safe so they can actually land on the moon and get to Mars. I don't really know all the logistics behind it, but very cool to see, and I believe like um you can look this up and see, but I think he would it was the first black man in not in, I don't know if it was in space or like that past like a certain spot in space. Artemis Victor, astronaut Victor, black pilot. Victor Glover is the NASA astronaut serving as a pilot for Artemis 2, making him the first black astronaut to journey around the moon. Come on, man. It's not even Black History Month, man. Why are you doing that, man? Come on, boy. I see ya, boy. I see ya, Victor. Yeah, that was amazing. That was inspiring. I just want to play his message that he said on here because I think it was a super dope message, and I very much connected to that. Um, let's play it.

SPEAKER_00 20:01

Apollo 8 had a memorable Christmas Eve reading from Genesis. Do you have a message you'd like to share from Space about Easter Sunday?

SPEAKER_01 20:10

You know, I don't have anything prepared. I I um I'm glad you brought that up, though. I think these observances are important, and as we are so far from Earth and looking at, you know, the beauty of creation, I think the for me, one of the really important personal perspectives that I have up here is I can really see Earth as one thing. And you know, when I read the Bible and I look at all of the amazing things that were done for us who were created, it's you you have this amazing place, this spaceship. You guys are talking to us because we're in a spaceship really far from Earth, but you're on a spaceship called Earth that was created to give us a place to live in the universe, in the cosmos. Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we're doing is special, but we're the same distance from you, and I'm trying to tell you, just trust me, you are special in all of this emptiness. This is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe. You have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together. So I think as we go into Easter Sunday thinking about, you know, all the cultures all around the world, whether you celebrate it or not, whether you believe in God or not, um, this is an opportunity for us to remember where we are, who we are, and that we are the same thing and that we gotta get through this together.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

That was beautiful. That was beautiful. And I think um, yeah, one thing that he said that just like it really resonated with me what he was saying, because he was like, Man, we're on a space, we're on a spaceship, but you guys are also on a spaceship called Earth. And if you don't, if you really think about the the magic, the beautifulness, the like, you can't even really comprehend what it is that we really are doing, like how small we are on this galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy on Earth. That it's just it blows my mind when you actually sit and think about it. And I think that was a very he he could not have said that any better. So I think that was an amazing message. And I think one thing that he made me think of is just like we're all special, right? That's what he said. He said we're all special. And I think a lot of times we forget that. So when I'm saying this motivation at the beginning, when I'm saying why not you, right? When I'm saying, okay, you're letting the society not let you do this and chase your dreams and this and that. But I think it's just in the at the very minimal part of that, I'm just saying that you're special. Like, don't forget that you're special. Don't forget that you're unique. Don't forget that you have value. Don't let this celebrity, this Hollywood, this social media fame get to your head and make you transfer this idea of what special is only on to a certain few people. Each and every one of us, from the janitor that's in the building to um Barack Obama to LeBron James, to you know, any anybody, right? We're all special. Every single one of us. And I think over time we we forget that, or we take how special this life is, this opportunity is that we have to live for however many years for granted. And a lot of times we have to lose somebody in order for us to really figure out, oh, like, man, or we can what happens after this? And we start thinking about that. So let's not take, let's not have to lose somebody in order for us to realize we're special and the people around us are special and to treat people right and to spend more time with people and to treat your body like a temple and to work out and take care of your body and to take care of your mind, right? Why not you, but also why not now? Why not now take advantage of the life that you have? I know it may not be great financially, I know for some it might not be great physically, it may be even worse mentally, but you are special. Why not you to make a change in somebody's life, to make a change in your life, to help somebody else, even though it's so tough for you. Why not help that person? Why not now, though? I think that's the biggest thing. Why not now? Because we can say this, and I can do another episode, and I can do another episode, and I can come back a year and do the same episode again with something else that's going on in the world. And you and we we haven't changed nothing, and we just still doing the same thing. Because it doesn't even have to be a long time. A lot of people think, okay, we have to take so long to get a million dollars and build these habits and become this person. But what if out of all the years you've lived, what if it was just one year? 365 days. 365 days of just, hey, I'm just gonna try to make the best decisions for myself. I'm gonna try to take care of my body. I'm gonna try to that that that business plan, that side gig that I had, I'm gonna I'm gonna go for that. I'm I'm gonna get on stage, I'm gonna do some stand-up. I'm gonna I'm gonna ask that girl out. I'm gonna actually, you know, I'm gonna look up, use my resources, and I'm gonna see how can I get that job that I really like that I saw, or meet somebody that is in that job. So there's so many opportunities out there, but that that's the main message today, man. Why not you? Why not now? Because you are special. Stay on phase, everybody. I appreciate you guys. Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 25:49

I'm on face. I'm on face, Jeff and stack this paper on my face.