.png)
Family Bidness Podcast Crew
We interview artists and creators to give them a platform to speak on their journey, who they are, and give some insight/knowledge into whatever field they’re a part of.
Family Bidness Podcast Crew
TTG Louie
From the streets of Chicago to television screens nationwide, TTG Louie's journey is a masterclass in believing in yourself when no one else will. Sitting down with The Family Business Podcast, Louie opens up about his remarkable path through the music industry, acting world, and his tireless commitment to mentoring others.
Growing up on Chicago's West Side, Louie had a front-row seat to hip-hop history at George's Music Room, where legends like Twista, Do or Die, and a young Kanye West would gather. "I was just a kid on stage with celebrities," he recalls, not fully grasping the significance of these encounters at the time. These early experiences planted seeds that would later flourish into his multifaceted creative career.
What truly stands out about Louie isn't just his versatility as an artist, songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur—it's his unwavering belief that anything is possible. "I never told myself no," he explains, a philosophy that has guided him through music production, acting roles, and even commercial truck driving. This mindset has been the foundation of his success across multiple industries and his ability to continuously reinvent himself.
Perhaps most remarkable is Louie's dedication to lifting others as he climbs. Throughout the conversation, both hosts share personal stories of how Louie directly impacted their careers—teaching photography skills, providing studio time, and offering genuine mentorship when others wouldn't. "The best way you can show a person that you call your brother that you got their back is by having their back—not talking about having their back," Louie emphasizes, revealing he's helped over 65 artists create their first songs.
When discussing fatherhood, Louie brings the same thoughtful approach, advocating for patience, understanding, and leading by example rather than demanding respect without giving it. His parting wisdom for young people without guidance resonates powerfully: seek mentors who genuinely want to help you overcome challenges, and don't be afraid to make difficult choices to change your circumstances.
Connect with TTG Louie on Instagram @ttglouiee and hear firsthand how embracing possibility can transform your life. This conversation isn't just about music or acting—it's a blueprint for believing in yourself when the world tells you no.
Yo, yo, yo, yo yo. I would like to welcome you all to the Family Business Podcast. I'm your humble host, dj Trouble Kid, and to my left we have Yo, we got Marquette Wizard in the building.
Speaker 2:What we doing?
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, yes sir, and today we have a very, very, very special guest. This person is near and dear to my heart.
Speaker 1:I can't even really say you a guest man, you family I can truly say man, you, you, you, you really come through here whenever you want. I'm gonna tell you that before we even get started get going, man um, this, you know, I, I ain't gonna lie to you, bro I said tears before you walked in. Man, um, I was recapping a journey to bro of like everything you know since college. I didn't even dive into the whole photography piece of it, right, right, right, but I was just catching them up from 2020 until now, for real, well, actually 2020, like 2019 until now, right now, for real, well, actually 2020, like 2019, until now, right, um, just kind of recapping that to him and, and you know, just thinking, you know it's dope because I have both of you here. But, man, today we have ttg louis, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I'm saying. The, the artist, the songwriter, the author, the actor, man, this man wear 23 different hats. Man, my brother, how are you feeling, man?
Speaker 3:What we doing. Man, I'm feeling blessed, man. Great introduction, you know introduction, you know introducing me.
Speaker 3:Yes sir, flip them wires like that sometimes For everybody who don't know me. I go by L-Dot For people who don't know that. I go by 23L-Dot For people who don't know that. I go by Lil' Duh For people who don't know that. I go by Duh For people who don't know that it's TTG Uh-huh. And for people who don't know that it's ttgl uh huh. I like to kind of stand on business when it comes to everything I do, in every avenue I step in. Let them know, um, but I'm here today because my brother requests for me to be here today and we're gonna sit down and have a discussion about whatever you want to speak about. I'm definitely up in mind and I appreciate you guys for inviting me to your podcast.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir, yes sir, and I had to make time for this man. You know, I think one of the greatest gifts of life we have is conversation, right To be able to sit down and break bread with one another. You know, and I think right now we're in a very, very special moment in life. You know, just to be alive is a present right. That's why they call the presents, you know, that's why they call the present a gift. You know, because it's a gift right, exactly so to be able to have, you know, my brothers here with me.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying. This triangle of greatness, man. I just wanted to get us together and just break bread. Man, it's a lot to talk about, bro. I think we always have great conversations, but I also wanted to open that up to Marquette Wizard. You know what I'm saying. Allow you all to have a formal introduction right and really sit down and break some bread. Even more so too. You know, I felt like, as I rolled out this platform, I felt like it was only right to start with the guys that have been around me. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Right, right right.
Speaker 1:And when I said I was crying tears before you walked in, literally like up until the point where you like, call right, Right, you know, like I explained to Wizard bro, I say, man, you got to understand. Man, like it's not a lot of people who will see you struggling and volunteer themselves to help you Right and be willing to take on everything that comes with that. You know what I'm saying, I can come with it. And I told him I say, man, bro, you got to. I say I got real family members that run from that responsibility. I believe all of us sitting at this table do right, Right, you know, and it's not to talk down on them or anything like that, it's just the reality of life, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:It's just the reality of life. We're not perfect.
Speaker 1:Right and I had to. Just I had to stand on that and mention that, because we are the Family Business Podcast and we stand on that Right Over everything else, man, and it's so important to have you on, man, because you're not only a mentor to me in being a music artist, but just a brother in life, a real life mentor. You know what I'm saying. I could call my brother and talk to him about anything, and when I tell you, we really y'all got to hear our conversations about nothing, like me and bro can literally just have a legit like on the spot conversation about absolutely nothing and the shit is entertaining. But you know, we going to, I want the people to to, to become more familiar with you, your works and everything like that.
Speaker 1:So we're gonna spend this episode talking about a handful of things, man, and talking about what we've done, but also talking about what you're doing and what's to come, right, right, and I will say this I want to give you this on the front end too. You know this podcast, we're aiming to roll it out by summer 2024, so I'm giving you that on the front end too. You know this podcast, we're aiming to roll it out by summer 2024. So I'm giving you that on the front, on the front end. That way, you know, you might have something in the mind that you're working on right now, but by then it'll probably be out, you know I'm saying so just to give you that whole background right, and that's my fault, because I should have gave him that shit off there.
Speaker 1:But you know, we building a plane as we as we flying it right, so we're gonna get this thing going. I just want to, I want you to start by telling the people man you know, paint the picture of where ttg louis is from let's start, though, let's question where did it, where did it start for TTG Louie?
Speaker 3:I feel like TTG Louie Just kind of Kind of, was always there Right In the background Peeping things out. I think he the boss, the boss of all bosses, when it comes to you know one of my, you know Out to Eagles and shit. And the reason why I say that is because his level is a whole different level. You feel me, you got L Dot, l Dot. I feel like L Dot is more familial, more memorable when it comes to people being able to say, hey, I know this person, or I met this person. L Dot would be the person everybody be like yeah, I met that person at some type of stage of their life, right, but TTG Louie, you feel me, that's boss status. When it come to me stepping into my avenue, my lane, my craft, I feel like he just elevates everything. He makes struggle sound exciting. He makes adventure sound exciting. He makes adventure sound exciting. He makes you know stories about background, coming up in those neighborhoods, surviving those neighborhoods. He make it sound all exciting and he make it sound luxury, like it is, you know it's smooth. Like you riding around in a maybach in a backseat all day while somebody driving around and you just going everywhere with no actual destination. That's TTG Louie. That's him for sure. That's me.
Speaker 3:My journey began way before that, though. My journey growing up on the west side of Chicago began a long time ago, a minute ago, but I'm here to say I was one of them kids that was kind of blessed with a lot of opportunity. I touched a lot of stage with a lot of known faces from the earlier stage of Chicago. What people know, you know known Chicago for to be do or die and Twista and Common and Lupe and stuff like that Pre-A. You know, in Chicago 4 to B, do or Die, twista and Common and Lupe and stuff like that Pre-A, pre-kanye, early, early, early Chicago. I was just a baby, a kid. Well, excuse me.
Speaker 1:I can't say pre-A because Kanye was still producing Correct. He was still doing a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff there, so I had to correct myself on that.
Speaker 3:No, you know, in all retrospect, my homie Navi salute to Navi. Navi actually was in a group with Lupe Fiasco. You know, kanye used to be around and stuff like that when he came to produce and beats and shit. So that's somebody I actually seen when I was a shorty. He was still young, you know. But I say that to say this, when I was a shorty I was doing music and didn't even know what I was actually doing. I'm just on stage, I'm behind scenes, I'm hanging out with celebrities, people that's coming through.
Speaker 3:It was a music store on the west side called George's Music Room. All the artists. That was somebody in the music industry. They had stopped in the city and that's where they link in with everybody in the city. They meet up at Georgia Music Room. You know, you got people like when 50 Cent dropped. You got people like Snoop Dogg, bow Wow, lil Xan, 112. You got D12, you got Eminem, you got David Banner. You have the Game, I mean G-Unit. You got all of them I'm talking about. These are the people that was coming to Chicago and I'm meeting them because my homie his dad was a DJ happened to work for Georgia Music Room and we happened to be locked in with Georgia Music Room, so we was around everything that was talented we talking about.
Speaker 3:Eve. We talking about the brad, we talking about jermaine dupree we talking about everybody.
Speaker 3:You could think in the industry, we talking about dmx, we talking about all these people that's stopping in chicago. That's where they stopping. They was jobs. They was stopping right on the west side in k-town, right off roosevelt at georgia music room, and I was right there, right next to them. I didn't even actually know what I was a part of. I didn't actually see the picture back then I just thought I'm just chilling, I'm a kid, I'm around celebrities and superstars. And the reason why I didn't actually understand the breakdown because I grew up and my family, we had to struggle. We didn't have that same bread, so cable TV wasn't really a thing. I didn't understand how big these people was, that I was around on the regular. I just knew people were saying they was big and I would happen to be around them. You know what I'm saying. So you know this is something I just grew up around. It inspired me to do music.
Speaker 3:So my homie, who dad DJ for Georgia Music Room. He actually had a recording booth and studio set up in the bottom of his basement. His name's C-Note Shout out C-Note. He still recording music doing his thing. He used to record some tracks for the Twister and everything. So we would go to the basement I'm talking about. The man had a computer, he had the beat system, all this stuff. We would go to his basement and record tracks on his basement and at the time he was sampling instrumentals off of what those discs called those records. He was sampling beats off of actual records. You know the big records that you gotta spin around off of 12 right? I remember ludacris dropped he I wanted to do the ludicrous beat and he just kept spinning the intro of the ludicrous beat back and forth, recording it to loop a beat for me to freestyle on that's crazy because as a dj now I could just click a button to do what he was doing by hand.
Speaker 1:So you were around music in a space during a time where it was also too like on the verge of becoming digital and all these different things.
Speaker 3:At this I'm talking about this early stage you could go on a block and sell a hundred of your CDs and be rich and nobody even bother you. You know I witnessed people like SA Dove Soldiers at War, which is a Muslim rap group, and they run with Minister Louis Farrakhan. You know I grew up around the Mars and stuff Our Witness don't sell a million copies of CDs printed out. They hand In, they hand. So you got to think this was the time to be alive. Everybody was jumping, you feel me. Everybody was busting. It was going crazy. I'm just a kid though. I'm a kid on stage with celebrities. I'm a kid in the background, around celebrities. I'm a kid. I'm present Like outside, living a dog lifestyle as a kid.
Speaker 3:You know, the area I grew up in was very violent, very aggressive, full of crime, full of whatever you can name. It was full of problems, you know, and the best way to kind of live in a space like that is to kind of act on your artistry. You know, find your craft, find what makes you happy, find your escape. You know I didn't do drugs and I don't do drugs and never did. Growing up I grew up around hustlers, the people that was on the block around me was teaching shorties not to use drugs. They was hustling, selling, but they was saying don't do this. We sell to the people that use. Do not become the user. We are hustlers. We sell this because we're trying to make money. We're trying to bring in income that we're not allowed to bring in for our families at that time.
Speaker 3:Now if that was true or not, I can't really stamp if it was true or not, but some people don't have those opportunities to bring in the income that's going to suffice to raise a whole family. You want to put them in the best situation to raise their whole family. So they might feel like, yeah, this is how we got to get it. But I salute those type of dudes because they were smart enough to say, hey, don't do this. They wasn't promoting the use of drugs to kids. This was something that was new. Later on you will see this become some real promotional wise somewhere around 2010, 2012. That's interesting. Rappers using drugs and really speaking on using drugs, let's say 2005 on up, because it kind of slipped into that wave of rappers talking about using drugs.
Speaker 1:So you have a very interesting point of view, man, because you not only seen the music game change in terms of the production style, in terms of the way artists roll out music, right, Because these days everybody just think if they just post their album cover to Instagram or Facebook, Twitter, a million people are going to find that shit and listen to it tomorrow.
Speaker 1:It's not going to happen. I don't like that, no more. But you also, I think that the biggest piece that you spoke to is community and how the community portion influences the art Right, and how the influencers of this time was instilling principle. Right, you know what I'm saying because, at the like, I always explain to people hip-hop was founded on drug money. There's no other way to say it. Yeah, you know, and that was. That was a conversation, man, you had a while back, um, and what was interesting about that is that, you know, in this take, we all fans of music in this room, right, right, so I think we all can agree. It was a point where you started to hear this change in music where, like damn drugs is being promoted, like drug usage is being promoted. You got to think right For sure.
Speaker 3:Yeah, On the music side you got a song like hey in the Middle of the Barn. But that whole group let me think hey in the Middle of the Barn, Cultural Conflict, that whole group, that was my homie, his cousins. They didn't even use drugs. They made a whole song called Smokin' All Hay in the Middle of the Barn. So Hay in the Middle of the Barn by Kush Conflict. They didn't even smoke. They didn't even smoke, they didn't even smoke marijuana, but they made the whole song.
Speaker 1:And it kind of flashes forward to future, recently, like revealing, like what did he say? Yeah, you don't really do all that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he don't be doing it personally all of that.
Speaker 3:It's just, it's a creative mind, right. So you got a person that want to catch the attention of people around them so they might say shit for shock value, and you had everybody trying to see if they could branch off into using drugs. It's like, okay, people that want to be comfortable while they're doing it, they want to hear people that make stuff for them. So you know, the hustlers might never use it and they like they playing it for the people that use it. You got a hustler that don't even use it. He really side-eyeing you. He like man, we finna turn this shit on, we finna sell these packs. We ain't even about to use it. Because you got to think.
Speaker 2:You got to think.
Speaker 3:Hey, in the middle of the barn. For the Chicago at that time was like big Facts.
Speaker 1:Crucial conflict itself was big Facts.
Speaker 3:So it's like, when you look at the whole breakdown it's like, yeah, I'm a hustler, so hustlers start getting in that avenue of actually hustling. I've been making money for myself since I was a shorty. I used to hang out on Madison. I used to hustle ores body ores from the Maz Like the Maz would give me a book of ores From the Mars. Like the Mars. That gave me a book Of ores and the ores that had you know the $3 ores, $5 ores, $10, $20.
Speaker 3:And the dope thing About the people that was in the Mars On Madison Was they was telling kids, if you wanted to make money For yourself here, they give you a book of ores, cause they didn't want you out there selling drugs, they didn't want you out there poisoning the community. They knew these oils was natural oils. You know, you got Izzy, minya, augie, you got Egyptian musk, you got Polo, whatever these oils, right, these bottles of oil that make you smell good. They give you this book of oil and they tell you only bring me 50% back of what you make. This is they product, they bottle it, they whatever. They label it, they price it, everything. But they wanted you to make money for yourself. They give you a book of oil until you bring 50% back. This is you not having nothing in your pocket? They gave you a book of oil. They know you a hustler. Go make some plays. Boom Go make some plays. Boom Go, make some plays.
Speaker 3:I hit the block. I do the math. I'm already telling myself I'm finna short, my short. Whatever my take on it is or whatever my back end on it is, I'm going to shorten my income on it and I'm going to take cuts on what I got going on and I'm going to sell these oils for less than what my competitors are selling it for. So the $5 oil I'm doing two for eight Tins. I'm doing two tin bottle oils for $17. I'm cutting myself because I'm already doing a math of what I'm going to make off of this right. So I'm telling myself, since I started with zero and they gave me something to make something out of nothing, shit, it don't matter what I take home, as long as I take what I need to take home as long as I get something.
Speaker 2:As long as you feel me, I'm leaving with something. You know what I'm saying A book it's $300 worth of ores in here.
Speaker 3:I'm anticipating to make $150. Shit, I don't care if I go home with 120. If I got all my war sold and I used to sell out all my books I would never walk back to the mines Without having my books all sold.
Speaker 1:Everything got to go. All the war is gone. Everything got to go.
Speaker 3:I've been a hustler for a long time. So you look at the translator Doing music and being a hustler, all in the same mix. That's where I'll kind of come from. You feel me. I was always the person people was looking like he on top of his shit, so it kind of blend well, going into popularity right. So it's like you, the popular kid we used to beat on the table in the lunchroom rapping freestyling. I'm not even knowing what we doing, I'm Just doing shit, y'all having fun, man, we having fun we on stage, we at the recording studio, we around celebrities.
Speaker 3:I remember we on the block Twista and them, had a show. Kusha Conflict, do or Die. All of them had a show. We, walking I'm chopping it up with my brother my brother like where y'all finna go do a show.
Speaker 3:He like when, at? Ooh, I'm talking about A mile and a half Away from home. I'm not even 10, I'm not even 9, I'm not even. I'm barely touching 7, I'm like 6 or something. We finna go do a show All the way away From the crib. You know he like yeah. And next thing, you know he see, do or die.
Speaker 3:All of them Pull, pull up on this with they tour bus, like get in, what y'all doing? Y'all got the show. And he, my older brother, looking surprised like what the? And we hop in with them, go do the show. You know what I'm saying? The show lit. We got grown females trying to talk to us. We don't know the lifestyle, we just living it. Y'all just there. We just living it For real. So kind of speed it up.
Speaker 3:You know I got into this whole avenue of where I'm like okay, I'm going to push myself. So I hit the studio. I had C-Note, you know, lay out some beats for me. I go in there. I made my tracks, do my own thing.
Speaker 3:And then it got to the point where I'm like, all right, well, you know, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go print out me 500 CDs. I'm going to put them in cases. I'm going to have a little printout for the little front of the case, the artwork for the front of the case on it. I'm going to have my print on the actual CD with my number on it, with my picture on it and my name on it, the title of the CD on it.
Speaker 3:And I just was throwing mixtapes together and that's how I was doing it. I was pushing it out, I was selling them, I was passing them out, I was just getting them out there and this kind of translated over for when I transferred or I moved out of town and went to a whole nother location where people only fathom to do this, and I created a whole nother avenue down in a whole different area where I wasn't even from A whole different identity. You know what I'm saying Giving them a voice, giving them an avenue, giving them a line, because they never seen a person do all of this shit. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:One thing that I did want to ask you about as far as, like, the bigger picture. You know speaking on, like where you came from, you know these beginnings, you know hustling, you know working up, you know, like you said, right now, with the CDs and stuff like that, what does the bigger picture look like for you?
Speaker 3:you know in this whole thing, the bigger picture. What does the bigger picture look like for me? The bigger picture for me is people to push the brand. The brand or the idea to do what you want Right. Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself. If we all sat down here and we all voiced our thoughts on what plan we had or what direction we wanted to go in, and we just sat up here and told each other go after it, you got it and add to it one of us going to become successful in that avenue that we're jumping in. But nine times out of ten, when you pushing an idea or a plan, you're going to have more naysayers than yaysayers. You get what I'm saying. You're going to have more people saying that's not a good idea. You have more people Telling Kanye West Not to rap Than rap.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah.
Speaker 3:Now he one of the Biggest rappers on In the whole United States of America. You know what I'm saying? And wait, not just America, but the world, craig. The world, the world, craig, big facts, the whole universe, yup. But if he would have just went with the idea of people like, yeah, rapping ain't for you. People was telling that man, rapping ain't for you. People was hearing that man tracks, telling that man, nah, that ain't it. And he still put those tracks out, you got to think you got Bonnie and Clyde by Jay-Z and Beyonce. Originally was a Kanye West song. Y'all do know that. Though, right, stop it.
Speaker 1:Originally was a Kanye West song.
Speaker 3:It was his song he gave to them.
Speaker 1:But even the style of the way records was being sampled at that time, like bringing a different style into the game, right, right, and that you spoke on something here that I want to expand on briefly. You know you mentioned the naysayers who swayed Kanye to not create music, right, and as Wizzy knows, man, we've been working on a podcast with Poster Boy right, and I can say that here, because this ain't going to be out Like by the time you know 2024 or something by the time this is out then Poster Boy will be out and with, by the time this is out, that poster boy will be out.
Speaker 1:And with that being said, you know what was interesting about this relationship was that bro really like he stands by that, you know.
Speaker 1:and I have to have this moment where I give you your flowers to your face, man, because you know, I believe in people that before they believe in that part and I gotta, and I and I'm glad that you just said that for you, right, because in this lifetime it is important to say what you have to say for yourself, because nobody gonna give you your credit until you learn how to give. You give it to yourself first, and bro has been very instrumental in helping me understand that, right, right, and still is to this day. Yeah, that being said, one of the more recent things that you've done that I'm aware of because I've, you know, I've I've experienced a hand in hand man, but you and our poster boy, you know you stepped up in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in, in. And again, this was something we didn't necessarily plan. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:It was literally like it was always a plan in my head. I love it.
Speaker 1:Tell me more.
Speaker 2:So, let me tell you something right.
Speaker 3:You ever hear the conversation how Lil Baby was sitting back talking about man. Gucci said I should rap. This person said I should rap. Coach said I. Man Gucci said I should rap. This person said I should. Thud said I should rap. Coach said I should rap. P said I should rap and I'm sitting back. I'm on the side of that. I'm not even worried about none of that. Right, let's not even boom. Let's step it back into my lane. I'm sitting back, bro already. I'm sitting back Bro already. Bro already said man, I wish I could. Man, bro, you can do this, I know you can rap.
Speaker 3:In fact, next time we go in the studio we get an opportunity I got some time, I'm paying for it we putting a song together for you. Then the dope part about that is I like to step in that avenue. I don't like to talk about nothing, I like to do it. So nine times out of ten, when we about to do it, it's not even discussed before we do it. So you know, even you doing music, it wasn't a discussion that really led up to it, it was the fact you was there. I said all right, it's time, bro. And we found you a beat and I'm like, lay, this, it literally happened, just like that. I'm like, lay, this, and he went in there, he laid it and the rest was history. We got Postal Boy. Now you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:And the dope part about that is I can feel when a person don't, when a person is not believing in themselves and they want to give up. And I'm still going to try to push you past that limit, because that moment might cost you every moment moving forward. If a person ain't got your back in that early stage where you down yourself, it could cost you every moment moving forward. And what I mean by that is bro had a track that he was sitting on developing. He wasn't fully done developing it and I'm like bro, we got to get this track made. What's going on? And bro, like man, I'm not going to go. I'm like man, fuck all that shit. Bro, I got time in the studio. Man, you can have one of my albums Pull up on me. It has to happen.
Speaker 3:And that's how we got dang little, because we sat back and I'm telling myself, but this, bro, the best way you could show a person that you call your brother or associate or homie or friend that you got their back is by having their back Not talking about having their back, but just having their back, and that's the best way to be. You feel me? So me sitting back, a&r, your whole. What you got going on and moving you forward as an artist, was already playing in my head once you told me it was a thought. The best way to execute a thought is by putting forth the action to move forward, and the rest is history.
Speaker 3:Now, when you rap on stage, now when you in those studios and you record those verses, I know for a fact where it started from and where it could have ended. It could have ended before it started. Once you said you weren't going to record Dianne Lillard, because Dianne Lillard was wrote in your car, in front of my crib, in the privacy of your car, in front of my crib, in the privacy of your car, outside of my crib. That I told you once.
Speaker 1:It's time to go on the road, that's when I'm going to come, mess with you and tell them what you need to drink here you go you just chill focus and write, and I'm literally and that's when I told you, as I was explaining it to you earlier like I took a phone call but bro, literally is like more on the line bringing me Gatorade.
Speaker 3:I'm just in my truck writing so you gotta think, yes, people don't understand. Tupac say he used to go to the restroom and the bathroom, sit down on the toilet and write five, six different raps by the time he leave the bathroom. Right, we talking about Post phone. This man ain't have a cell phone and nothing he want to scroll. I know it is post phone, pre phone.
Speaker 1:Well, pre digital phone, pre digital phone Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, pagers and shit. I'm trying to think this is just a block phone.
Speaker 2:Right, they had the big ass. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:So he Ain't no scrolling on a book while you on the toilet for Tupac, he was writing rhymes. You know what I'm saying and people don't even understand, like to what dear mama, would it sound like if he wasn't in that bathroom? Or this? Would it sound like if he? That's why I fuck your get money? Would it sound probably different if he wrote it in a car, surrounded by people or in a bedroom? You never know.
Speaker 3:But one thing about me as being an artist and me doing hip hop, me doing trap, me doing R&B, me doing vice versa, me being a single songwriter, I used to find moments where if I sat up in the car chilling before a session, you know I catch that, I catch that Holy Ghost, I catch that, that Holy Ghost. I'll catch that writer's spirit. It'll uplift my writer's block. You know what I'm saying. And next thing, you know I'm in the studio.
Speaker 3:I got pressure on. I know I got to be there. I know I got to lay something, what's coming and everything that come to your head. You just start writing it down. That's that pressure. That's like when people say man, you know they messing up the industry Like that status you post. They messing up the industry, jay and Woo Opta Bam, ever since they been saying I don't write Woo, they mess up the industry. For some it did. A lot of people Are better writers Than actual freestylers, but For the people that's Way cold At freestyling Than writing Shit, the people that's way cold at freestyling than writing shit, that elevated the industry.
Speaker 3:I agree so it kind of played both sides when you think about it. But yeah, I already sat back, I already knew you was going to be an artist. I already knew you was going to be a star. That's something I believe in, that's something I push. If you're going to be around me and I believe in you, I'm just going to stand on it and we're going to move forward. And I'm just going to stand on it and we're going to move forward because there ain't no limit to anything you could do or accomplish when you got the right support around you.
Speaker 1:So let me ask you this right, right In the midst of developing artists, not only as an A&R and as an executive producer, right but even more so, just as a brother and as a man Right Off air, as we would like to say right, right, what are a lot of the lessons you like to instill in the artists and the people that you're around?
Speaker 3:I could tell you this I probably put over 65, 70 artists in the studio with nothing, with nothing written down, and helped them make a full song before they left the studio. And I could tell you this it was a lesson learned. Some of these people probably hate my guts for no reason. I ain't never did nothing, said nothing bad, just envious Because I could drop and get attention. I could say something and get the attention. Sometimes they envious of the position you hold. So my advice to that is, when you stepping in the studio in a room with somebody, make sure they're energy right, make sure they in that room with you for the right reasons and the right purpose. Vice versa than to just get them in that room Because you could put a person all the way in a position and feed their family for the rest of their life and that person might hate your soul for nothing just because you asked for the stamp, the approval, to say, hey, I got you there.
Speaker 3:A lot of artists that y'all see, that's big right now. Somebody got them there, somebody assisted them. Most of them got assistance. Cosigns, innately Cosigns, they bigger than cosigns, but money backing. You know what I'm saying. Somebody paid for their time. Paid for their photo shoot, paid for their video shoot. Somebody supplied the women that was in that video that gave them that look. Somebody supplied the cars that gave him that look.
Speaker 2:Somebody supplied you know what I'm saying, what they?
Speaker 3:say what they say. T-pain said something about Future. That was my Bugatti in that video Whoa, whoa, whoa, Mm-hmm. So why would you be mad at T-Pain for saying that? Because you needed a Bugatti for that video and it was a Bugatti for that video.
Speaker 2:You got to give the credit where it's due, right Dang.
Speaker 3:You can't say that was that man Bugatti. Now you can buy five, six, seven, ten Bugattis. How'd you get there? You know what I'm saying. It's a process.
Speaker 3:People don't like to salute people, people don't like to thank people. People don't have the manners that you need to suffice what you need to move forward. You know what I'm saying. To elevate that humbleness will elevate you more than anything you could imagine in your life. People don't like the nod that they had to Kanye for doing so much for the artist that's in Chicago right now. You feel me, but in the long run that never plays against him. That plays against them. You know what I'm saying. An artist is going to be an artist at the end of the day. Best advice I could give you if you're going to step in that room, make sure you step in the room with a person with the right energy on the right type of time, because that person might leave out that room still envious of you.
Speaker 3:I didn't put people in the studio, pay for studio time. Put people in music videos all type of stuff. Put people on the radio all type of stuff, and those people probably never will salute me, never did salute me or never did like me and I ain't got no problem with that. I ain't got no problem because God keep blessing me. I didn't do that just to help people out because they told me they wanted to chase their dreams. I didn't did that just to help people out because they told me they wanted to chase their dreams. I didn't do that because I just woke up one day like, hey, let me call this random person. I don't have moments like that. But most of the people I did help out, they said they wanted that man. If I ever had help, they hit you with that. If I ever had the back and the support I got you Say less Pull up. I'm at the studio with people. They don't even expect me to pull up. I didn't pull up on people's sessions While then they excited to see me. It's interesting because the way I'm describing it, you would think I was a superstar, a celebrity, the way they react to me.
Speaker 3:See, I didn't have record deals on the table. I turned down record deals. I knew it was shady. You know what I'm saying $150,000 on the table, $175,000 on the table, $200,000 on the table, and these is 360 deals. And they want you to give up all your rights and whatever and become a slave to their system. I understand it ain't nothing wrong if you could do it deals and they want you to give up all your rights and whatever and become a slave to their system. Man, I understand it ain't nothing wrong if you could do it and make it make sense. But some people can't do it and make it make sense. That one moment might get you the little luxury that you want for that one second, but might not get you nothing past that.
Speaker 3:And the reason why I say that you got people like Meek Mill side-eyeing the deal he signed but it never clicked. To look up and be like damn, ross ain't never struggled. Didn't y'all all sign that deal together as MMG Maybach Music Group? Wasn't that you, wale and him? Wasn't that deal was a group deal? Wasn't that a joint venture deal? Who spearheaded it? Oh, ross did what Bross money look like? Oh, he get paid all his residuals.
Speaker 3:Why you feel like you ain't never got a check, but ross always got his check. And then next thing you know you not around him for a long period of time, the money ain't coming through or nothing. But when it's time to sell your house, that cost a million plus Two million plus Three million plus, he got a million for you. That's the same. He could write that off on his taxes. That's crazy. When you need to sell your cars or you need to sell all this, he got another 900 for you, or 700,000 something for you. Why you got to do all that this, your man. He put you on you in position.
Speaker 3:I mean that nigga ain't starving for nothing. Excuse my language, but I don't think Ross starving for nothing. He trying to figure out how many more horses he going to buy or fire trucks or something. But he ain't messed up. But you a dream chaser, when do you wake up and say, damn, wait, something ain't feeling right?
Speaker 3:Once the money stopped coming as fast as it was coming, cause when it was coming you wasn't thinking about the deal that you signed. You started thinking about the deal that you signed when it started slowing up Raw ass rapper Mean Mill Cold ass rapper Cold that nigga raw started thinking about the deal that you signed when it started slowing up Raw-ass rapper Me and Milt cold-ass rapper Cold that nigga raw Can't. Nobody, can't. Nobody sitting right here could test that man or go against that man when it comes to his lyrics as far as saying, hey, he's not a dope artist. That's what I mean. You know what I'm saying. He's a dope artist. Most definitely he not a dope artist. That's what I mean. You know what I'm saying. He's a dope artist. Oh, definitely he's a dope artist. But when it come to business, business is business. You got to be on top of your business. You could be the rawest artist in the world and fall short. That shit been going on.
Speaker 2:I kind of wanted to pivot a little bit. We seem to be talking about different values and stuff like that, so my question is love?
Speaker 3:or respect? That's a great question, right? Some might equate love to be respect Because in the midst of receiving love, a person might be giving you their flowers and that equates over to respect. Right? I say love over respect because a person could respect you and not love you and not even care for you. They might respect a certain thing that you provide for them, but they have no love for you. They don't even respect you, they don't even you know what I'm saying. They don't really respect you. Past that moment, past that opportunity, love for real. If a person love you, they might give you their last. They might stand out in the rain with you, they might weather the storm with you. That person might get out the car and push your car when it break down with you. That person might know you need a spot to sleep at and open they door in the middle of the night, sneak you in and have you lay on they floor with pillows and everything around, and provide you full love will probably last longer than the respect.
Speaker 2:Rob Markman, that's real. Another question that I would have, we were talking about all these different hats. You know what I mean. That you wear that. You've been doing the music, the skits, the acting. What would you say pushes you the most when it comes to jumping into all these different avenues or fields? You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:You know what? I don't know, man, it's me, that shit ain't me. I don't know man, it's me, that shit ain't me. I always told myself if I think I want something, or if I think I want to do something, I'm going to do it. And what I mean by that is one day I might wake up and say I want to learn how to drive a boat. I'm going to go find the class. I'm going to sign up for the class. I'm going to study what I need to study. I'm going to go find the class. I'm going to sign up for the class. I'm going to study what I need to study. I'm going to get my license. I'll go drive a boat One day. Shit.
Speaker 3:One morning I woke up Say I want to drive an airplane, I want to fly an airplane. And I contact these people and that people. I'm like man, how many hours I got to put in. You put in a certain amount of hours. You could drive a private group of people. You put in more hours. You could get paid for driving a private group of people. You put in more hours. You could get bookings to drive private jets. You put in a ton more hours. You could become a pilot Cost a lot of money too.
Speaker 3:But one thing I'm a believer. I'm a make something out of nothing person. I did an interview where I sat down and this lady was like you're a glass half full of people. You're a person you don't never see the problem. You always try to find a silver lining, you always trying to find a good in the situation. So if I wake up and you know my brother say man Lou, I want to act. Man, okay, boom, I'm going to find an acting course to be in. Take the class, sign you up with an agency. You know what I'm saying. Do your head shots, put it in. We finna figure this out though. Let's do it. Yeah, let's do it. Come on, I do it. Let's come on.
Speaker 1:I'm more of a let's do it person and when I tell y'all like I could speak on this firsthand because I went like I went through and still going through the louis boot camp, so to speak you know it happens, bro.
Speaker 3:Bro, you know what I'm saying, bro, hit me up one day. Pops, just seen you on tv. Yeah, that's the goal. The goal is just to have fun, do whatever you feel like you can do. I'm told. I told pops about a tv show a minute ago. Man, hey, check this tv show out, it's funny. Just a year later I'm on the tv show I cannot make this shit up. You know what I'm saying he watching the show.
Speaker 1:Can we speak on this experience, man, Because you know a part of around the same time I said, man, you know, I always thought I could, like I always thought I'll you know make music or something like that. Because you also remember at that time he was like bro, I really want to get into acting. Yeah, and you did it, yeah. So can you talk about that journey and what that's been like for you thus?
Speaker 3:far. Hopefully, by the time this airs, it'll be bigger than what it is. You know what I'm saying. It will be, it'll be bigger than what it is, and the reason why I say that is because I'm still going through it. I still get offers every day to be in TV shows. I just want offers. That's going to get me seen and heard a little bit more.
Speaker 2:You got to make sense.
Speaker 3:Right. I want it to make sense a little bit more. As a kid growing up, I couldn't even decipher the difference of Chicago from St Louis to New York. I thought everything was in one area. I didn't know the suburbs exist. I thought the suburbs were unreal. As I started growing and becoming a little older and paying attention a little bit more, I noticed knowledge is everything right and what could hold you back in life? Ignorance, ignorance, right. I'll give you that. And another thing that can hold you back is not believing in yourself, not understanding. We live in a world that's designed for you to do whatever the fuck you want. Y'all wanted to do a podcast. We doing a podcast, we putting the time and energy and preparation whatever it is.
Speaker 3:Let's be honest. You might not have the following you want in the city that you're in, but it don't matter no more. Y'all might become the biggest podcast in Arizona and y'all in Illinois chilling. Y'all might become the biggest podcast in New York City all these other places not in your hometown, not around the naysayers and then y'all going to look up one day and be like, hey, our fan base is over here, let's do a live show over there, book a plane and go over there.
Speaker 3:One thing about me the reason why I'm the way I am is because I never told myself no. The reason why I'm the way I am is because I never told myself no. I would never tell myself I can't do something and I would never tell you you can't do what I'm doing. If you ever meet me. From the moment TK met me, I was doing something that he wanted to do and he asked me for advice. I said you could do whatever the fuck you want to do and I said you could make what you have work for you, and can I pause and interrupt on that too?
Speaker 1:Yes, because I want to go back to two examples of that. Right, right, so that's really how we met Around the time I was a junior in high school. I was a junior going into my senior year. I was really interested in getting into photography and I hit up a handful of photographers that I crossed paths with that I looked up to, or videographers and whatnot, and I hit them all up and I asked them the same question like hey, man, like you know, this is something I'm interested in. What do I need to get involved in is what would I need to get a start?
Speaker 1:And some of them, you know, open a message, see it, and some just didn't open it at all. But bro took time to actually respond and give a valid answer. You know he was just like, because it was guys that was like man, go get this two thousand dollar quick. Like it's like bro, I'm a high school student just starting out, right, bro was like man, look, man, go get. He's like all you need to start is this. Right, got straight to the camera already.
Speaker 3:He had a camera, the quality one, what he wanted to be, and I want to make sure I make sure I say this very specific, right, be very specific when I say this. The quality wasn't at the quality that he thought he needed. But I explained to him, see, what people don't understand about videographers the camera he had with the settings inside of it. If you understand the camera, you know how to work the settings with the sentence inside of it. If you understand the camera, you know how to work the sentence and the coloring inside it. Add that to a actual editing program. It could become bigger than what he thought he had. He actually had what he needed to start to actually get to that quality that he wanted.
Speaker 2:Correct Facts.
Speaker 3:Because if he start right there and build from the ground up, from what he has use what he have to get to where he want, it was nothing going to stop him Too easy. But I'm happy I was the one that was able to tell him.
Speaker 3:You know, because he's not the first person I told that to and wouldn't be the last. I told that to seven other cameramen in different other areas. The difference was I told bro he was going to be my brother for life and I got him. And whatever he need, hit me up. That's the difference. They didn't have that access to me. Bro had unlimited access to me. He got it to this day. If he need me, he call me, I pick up and I got him and I'm going to always tell bro to believe in himself and I'm going to always tell him knowledge is power and whatever he think he could do, he could do it.
Speaker 1:And when I tell y'all, whatever one day I called bro, I say bro thinking about driving trucks, he said oh yeah. Once you hear that once you hear that come from bro like he's already like bro like a pamphlet of steps ahead of you by then, semi trucks, semi trucks, semi trucks at this right. So I pull up on bro.
Speaker 3:We just casually chopping it up, we in my semi-truck, in the semi, in the semi, this motherfucker nice.
Speaker 1:Bro, just like.
Speaker 3:It's the same yo.
Speaker 1:Bro, just like, hey, matter of fact, hey, let me show you something real quick. Jump in the driver. I'm like, huh, same way we did with the rapper. Shit, bro, I cannot make this up. Bro. He like, hey, man, hey, do what I tell you to do. Don't do nothing else other than what I tell you to do.
Speaker 3:I got you. I got you you going to be safe. Ain't nothing going to happen? I will never put you on hard work.
Speaker 1:And guess what I did that day, bro? I drove a damn semi truck around the damn block, bro.
Speaker 2:Learn how to drive a semi.
Speaker 1:I learned how to drive, I say I'll be damned. Mind you, I come from a family of drivers. Everybody always said man, you should go drive, you should go. None has ever took me to their job site. None have ever. And I'm not saying that to knock these individuals, I'm not, but it was the reality that bro understood the assignment. Let's do it. It's not my job to do the work for you, but it is my job to Position, position you to learn how to be the best at what it is you say you want to do.
Speaker 2:That's a different type of brother, bro. Yeah, I'll just say that Different type of person.
Speaker 3:I appreciate it, mm-hmm, you know I've been blessed, god been blessing me. I'm alive, I'm well, I'm living, I'm breathing, I can talk, I can walk. You know I done been. I would never stop chasing whatever I want to do in life until I'm not here. You know what I'm saying. That's the best way to be. Now. What we looking like on this next move? What's the next question?
Speaker 1:Rob Markman and that's and that's. You know and see that's funny, because that's really what my question was for you. You know what I mean. We've seen you release your own music. We've seen you rebrand yourself, start pushing new artists and helping those rollout guys including myself, right. We've seen you dive into that acting. We've seen you dive into the skits. What's next for TTG Louie that you can discuss with us?
Speaker 3:You know what? I could discuss everything with y'all. It's going to take a couple episodes For y'all to get actual the breakdown of everything, but I could discuss whatever y'all want me to discuss. Right, I'm still trying to. I'm still trying to venture Into a professional Style of acting, a professional avenue of acting. I'm still looking to Find a script and lock in as one of the main characters. That's what I'm looking for right now. I want to become a professional actor and now I have a goal to push that I'm going to make sure I stand on that, all while being in college, all while trying to get my license to become a licensed barber, which I will have by the time this air. It's no limit to what you could do in life if you believe in yourself. You know there's no limit.
Speaker 2:How we looking. Well, I'll kind of pivot again a little bit. You recently became a. Well, you've been a father, Correct, but you recently had another child, bless.
Speaker 3:Yes, definitely, and one question that I have is what advice would you give someone when it comes to being a good father? Be patient, be loving, be understanding, be open-minded. Be loving, be understanding, be open-minded. Make sure you educate, educate, educate with no, no, no, no, no, no, no thought or mindset to think my child's supposed to know something, because I talked to him one time. See, people have this thing where they boss their kids around or they yell at their kids or they discipline their kids in a valid manner, in a violent manner, by abusing them with a belt or abusing them with their words, and that's not the best way to be a father. My kids respond to me in a respectful manner because I respect them as well. My daughters might ask me a question. I might say yes, you may, or yes, ma'am, to my daughters I'm their father, but I'm telling, I'm showing them I'm not just preaching to them to use their manners and be respectful. I'm actually an advocate. I'm an actual walking testament of hey, being polite to get you further or carrying yourself with respect to get you further. So the best advice I could give to a new father is to be patient, be understanding, be understanding, be open-minded, don't be forceful and educate, educate, re-educate when it comes to teaching your children. We live out in the world full of you, know shady people, and what I mean by that. A person might smile, tell you they love you everything, shake your hand, hug you and go right behind your back and be like fuck that person. So being able to teach your child to kind of watch out for those troubles or them traumas, to try to get them to avoid it which they not gonna avoid everything but being able to help them through them and guide them and become somebody they could love and appreciate and respect and look up to, is very important, because now half of the problem of your child not coming to talk to you won't be the issue, because that child is going to come to you and tell you everything. And you got to be willing to listen before you speak sometimes. You got to be willing to understand.
Speaker 3:See my daughter. She was playing outside today, my oldest daughter, and she broke something. I told her don't lie about what transpired, what happened. Just come tell us. You did this and it was an accident. Just tell the truth Because, as a parent, we understand accidents happen. Because, as a parent, we understand accidents happen. You are not going to automatically get in trouble for something that you couldn't avoid. That was an accident. So I want you to understand I prefer for you to just tell me the truth and don't make up a story, because I can't help you if you make up a story. I can help you if you tell me the truth and by me teaching her that at an early stage, when she become an adult, it might avoid her a lot of problems. Right, because as parents we could be ignorant to our child's ways, bad ways, right? So let's say, when our child do something bad to another kid at school, if you don't stop certain behaviors with children, they will grow up and believe shit, my parents got me, no matter what, even if I do something wrong, they got my back. That's not the best way to be, because you, you programming your child to say right or wrong. I'm staying with you. Yes, we supposed to do that. Right, but you can't tell a motherfucking child. You can't. You can't tell a kid. You feel me, you can't tell a kid. Yeah, my son robbed the bank, it's okay, he'll be out in 2000. I got his bill yeah, yeah he
Speaker 3:robbed the bank because he, every time he stole cookies out of somebody lunch or lunchbox at school, you was okay with it. Every time he stuck up a kid with a BB gun in the neighborhood while he was a kid, you was okay with it. Every time he stole a bite, you was okay with it. You were creating a criminal, you creating a mindset to say I got your back, right or wrong. So us as parents, we got to sometimes dial it back and be like hey, treat people how you want to be treated, carry yourself with respect and love yourself. Never allow people to mistreat you so they can have an understanding of hey, my parent is only teaching me to love myself and be able to take care of myself. If I'm ever in a situation, I know I'm going to get through it because my parents got my back, because I'm only going to put them in situations where they can have my back, because if your child go on the killing spree, you just can't. You can't bring that person in your group. You got to call the cops.
Speaker 1:You see it all the time nowadays may be a young person that's listening to this that don't have the brother in a TTG Louie or the parent of a TTG Louie. I'm sure it's a young person out there that's finding their way, saying, well, I had to go through life and find mine and still searching and finding right, as all of you are. What advice do you have for the young people out there that don't have the best guidance, that don't have the best resources?
Speaker 3:That's a good, great question. Fuck good, that was a great question. Reason why I say that? Because I can identify with it. Right, I used to hang out on 68th and Prairie on the south side of Chicago.
Speaker 3:There was a lot of crime going on. And there was a young man over there which was only like two to three years younger than me who used to seek towards me or come to me for advice. His advice was only to figure out, to put himself in the best situation, and what I mean by that is he was trying to figure out a way to get away from this crime lifestyle, right, but he was limited. And the reason why I say he was limited? Because his mom was a prostitute and his sister was being whored out by the gang that he was affiliated with. So his mom was a prostitute for the gang, his sister was being whored out and he was a foot soldier for the gang and he was trying to figure out a way to get out the gang. And I told him I said, look, I'm going to be 1,000% honest with you. We got to figure this out. I said let's do some research, right, let's figure this out. I said let's do some research, right, let's figure this out.
Speaker 3:He said I don't know what to do. I said who can you go live with? I said do you got any aunties? No, I ain't got no aunties. What about uncles? I ain't got no uncles. What about cousins? My big cousin? He live out of state. He live in Indiana.
Speaker 3:I said what about your grandma? He say my grandma live in the West Suburbs. She'll probably let me come live with her. I say you need to reach out to your grandma and tell her the life that you living right now. Now you don't want to live and if you keep living it this way, you might not even stay alive long enough To even see her on her next birthday.
Speaker 3:And he reached out to her and she told him he could come live with her. And not only that, he told her, him and his sister could come live with her. And I told him I said leave. I said take what you can carry, leave, get away from them. Could come live with her. And I told him I say leave. I said take what you could carry, leave, get away from them. And he did. And he was able to kind of, you know, change his life around, and that's a blessing.
Speaker 3:So my advice for people that is looking for somebody they could come to and ask questions to, I say seek guidance in the rarest form of people and the reason why I say that. You might not know exactly who you could get that guidance from, but nine times out of ten, when you are around a person that wants you to battle your situation, it's going to show, it's going to shine. And if you can't reach out to me, shit. Hit me up on my social medias. Hit me up on Facebook at L space, D-O-T, space D-A-V-I-S LDavis. If you want to hit me up on IG at TTGLouie, ttglouie.
Speaker 1:And that's two E's at the end of Louie.
Speaker 3:Two E's at the end of Louie.
Speaker 1:Yes, sir.
Speaker 3:T-T-G-L-O-U-I-E-E.
Speaker 1:My brother On IG. It's been an absolute pleasure. You know we gotta have you back. I'ma just put that out there Bro.
Speaker 3:An honor bro, I appreciate it. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:It's so much. I feel like we only Touched the tip Of the iceberg With this conversation. We didn't even scratch the surface, bro, like we didn't really.
Speaker 3:We really can't and shit. I be talking for Two years straight, but but you know though, it's one of them things.
Speaker 1:Man is like this bro I wanted to just again just get the conversation started man like this is hey, man, it's work to do. You know what I'm saying? It's definitely, and y'all broke bro walked in to like, hey man, look, this is what we're gonna be doing, you know. So, with that being said, you know we still got duties we got to adhere to outside of this, so we got to stop it in a timely fashion.
Speaker 3:Sound like a great plan.
Speaker 1:man With that being said, we pray that y'all have a great, whatever it is you have, whether it's a day, a night. You know what I'm saying. Go love on your people, you know. And with that being said, y'all we out of here, peace.
