SPEAKER_01 0:27

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to another episode of Artist to Artist. We have a very special guest today, Conway the Machine. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What up? How you feeling, my brother?

SPEAKER_04 0:37

I feel good, man. I feel blessed.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

You looking good out here, man.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Yeah, man. I'm stepping.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

You stepping, you stepping in, you stacking. Yeah, yeah. You heard? And you're not letting nothing stop you. Right. Your resilience is unmatched. You know what I mean? Like you don't let no obstacles stop you from getting to your chicken or getting to your craft. I can say how many years ago was that? Was I performing? Was that in Buffalo or Rochester I was performing? That was Buffalo. That was Buffalo?

SPEAKER_04 1:10

When we had that first show. That was probably 20, what? 18? 17? 18? Something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

That was when I want to get this right. Was that was that the day you performed at a show that I was performing at? Or was that?

SPEAKER_04 1:29

Yeah, you had so you was performing somewhere and and I was there. I just like pulled up. It was on joint my man had through. I think they was responsible for for the party, but you were all wilding in the VIP and shit. Yeah, yeah. Then we, you know, went from there, we went to the, you know, you know what I'm saying? Went to the stool and all that. Yeah, yeah. But that was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 1:58

How does it feel to be an MC from Buffalo to get this much recognition?

SPEAKER_04 2:07

It feels, I ain't gonna lie, like it feel like, you know, honestly, I I always felt like I was gonna be, and this ain't no arrogance or cockpit or none of that. I just always felt like I was gonna have to be the guy to like spearhead this movement, you know what I'm saying? I don't I don't want it to end, you know what I'm saying, with me, Wes, and Benny. I want like, you know, the doors cracked open now a little bit, thanks to us. But, you know, let's let's let's go crazy, you know what I'm saying? Because it's it's it's other it's other it's other assassins out there other than me.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

That's why I said Buffalo, because I want the people to know like most people when they think about New York rappers, they think about New York City. So I know with that alone, that made it that much tougher to actually crack the concrete when it came to Buffalo rappers being recognized inside of the rap game. Yeah. When did you start first rapping?

SPEAKER_04 3:08

I've been rapping since like um as long as I can remember, honestly. Um I was like, you know, I probably was under under 10 years old. And like my uncles and shit was like always having me like entertain him and his homies while they in their salary, or you know, doing the the things that they was doing, which I learned as I got older what they was doing, you know what I'm saying? But I I can I can vividly remember being like eight or nine years old, like, you know, freestyling for them. Like, yo, they used to call me fresh, you know what I mean? Like, yo, come here a little fresh. Come here, son, you know what I'm saying? But they smoking, they refer, and I would just, you know what I mean? So I just know for a fact I remember just rapping since at least back since I was under 10 years old.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

So this is something that you wanted to do for a long time. Absolutely. Absolutely. And when did you start to take it serious?

SPEAKER_04 4:08

I ain't gonna lie, like, so it was two parts of me taking it, realizing I wanted to take it serious. I was taking it serious in a way of like just battling, just wanting to battle duels and just like, you know, have a like a local name, the local fame. And that was around, that was before I I went to the I went to the county in I want to say 2020. 2021. I went to the county. I went to county jail for like two years. And when I came home, that's what I was on. But then after I got shot uh in 2012, that's when I was like, yo, I really gotta like a gift, and I I'm really like nice. I got a chance and an opportunity. I got a second chance, really, actually. Like it's time to stop playing. I was 30 when I got shot. So I'm like, you know, bro, I ain't it's time to stop playing, it's either now or never. So that's I I I uh acclimate when I turned 30 when I got shot after I got shot to when I took it serious. But before I got shot, I was always on some like, yo, I'm about to go crazy, I'm the I could be the best. But it was only on a local level. It wasn't, I wasn't thinking long range. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I mean, not to say I don't want it to sound crazy on it, but I think you understand what I'm saying. Sometimes we find the blessing out of some of the worst things. Do you think that you going through what you went through with being shot was a blessing for you in your life?

SPEAKER_04 5:49

Yeah, it turned it turned out that way. Hell yeah, because you know, I feel like my story is just like, you know, people people tend to tend to enjoy the like an underdog story. You know what I'm saying? Like, like, damn, that nigga went through all that shit, especially coming from like where we coming from. Ain't nobody, not no rap niggas and none of that made it, made it there, you know what I'm saying? Like got made it out of that shit. It's like so people kind of like look at that and like applaud that and stuff too. Of course, you gotta be actually good at it, but you know, people kind of applaud that when I look at stuff like, you know, I got murals and I was I was touring overseas and I seen like a building with my face on it and like Romania and shit like that. Like I seen a train in in Paris with my spray painted on in my face. Like the shit that I when I got shot in the head, I'm like, you know, I didn't think I would even be able to, I didn't even want to leave the crib, you feel me? So like to see that shit in it, I was like, yo, it's actually it was like you said, it was a blessing in disguise, kind of. Because now they it's it it created a character. It gave people something to cheer for, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 7:08

But it also gave you something to live for. It gave me something to live for. Sometimes we gotta go through the worst things to understand what we what we have in life, you know what I mean? To take shit seriously. 100% before it's it's too late, and you know what I mean? So it's like and God got his hand on people. He said God gives his uh toughest battles to a strongest soldier, and you said be very strong. So Griselda, yeah, I did y'all grow up together? How did how did how did that start?

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Nah, we was always we was always together, you know what I'm saying, just cooking and you know, doing our shit, you know what I'm saying? Was it music? It was music. We family, so but like everybody was like, you know, I'm I'm the oldest out of everybody. So everybody was looking up to me. I was already like 14 years old having battles with niggas, with like grown men. And it was already kind of clear in the city, like, yo, it's this little nigga from overall Dolton Burgard Street that's like crazy. And I was like making my business to go see about niggas, like whoever was known was supposed to be that guy, like, you know.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

You wanted to smoke.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

Yeah, because I was uh I was up one of the older niggas, like the older homies, and they were like, you know, man, niggas can't fuck with my little man type shit. You feel me? So I was just like, I'm pulling up to every hood, every nigga, nigga proud, everywhere, wherever niggas at. I'm pulling up and we gotta, we gotta, we gotta, you know, throw darts. And I was always on that shit, so I sharpen my blade. I'm a little older than niggas, so like, like Benny and them niggas was kind of like, you know, like a couple years under me, younger than me, so they looking at this shit like shit. If I'm 14, Benny like 10. You know what I'm saying? Looking at this shit. Like at that age, that's a big that's like a 20, 20 year old at that age. Like, yo, this nigga crazy, this nigga nice with that shit. And uh, yeah, man, it just started kind of from that and then.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

So your group grew up with each other around and shit like that. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. So when y'all start forging the group?

SPEAKER_04 9:13

Well, we always I mean, because we was always together since back then. Like we was always um rest in peace to machine gun black. My cousin Machine Gun Black, you know, that's Benny older brother. Like me and him was kind of in the same age bracket. And what, you know, you know, he was the guy who kind of niggas couldn't fuck with Benny or fuck with Wes or fuck with, you know what I'm saying, because they know they had to deal with niggas. They had to like, you know, you gotta explain that to the Shane Gun Black. And, you know, that would, you know, you know what I'm saying. He he you you ain't want that type of spanking.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

So what about Buffalo? Was it was it easy coming up? Because I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

Nah, because it wasn't easy because, of course, I'm sure it ain't the only city that have the crab in a barrel mentality, but you also don't, you have the lack of resources. You know what I'm saying? You don't have uh record labels like downtown in the city, you don't have ARs, you don't have people pulling up to the city to come to the open mic nights or come to the the battles, or you know, to just you know, even just looking for talent. You don't really, you don't really have that, you know, yeah. You just got a bunch of dudes that's just out here just like figuring it out, hustling and what about the streets?

SPEAKER_01 10:36

What about the street side of it? Like like the the side that people want to know about like because I'm from the city, so I don't know too much about Buffalo, but I know where we from. We hustle and bustle all day, and yeah, it's a lot of crime going on. What like that's what I'm trying to figure out. How was your journey coming up?

SPEAKER_04 10:51

Yeah, nah, I said the same, the same shit, bro. Niggas had to bro, I I I came up out of trap spots, bro. Standing on the corner before the trap spots, you know what I'm saying? Like, I was born in 82, you know what I'm saying? I'll be 44 in February. I I you know I grew up, I know I saw a crack in the 90s. I that's why I say, like, I said that shit in a song or something, like, or I was responding to some nerds on the internet. Like, you you can't relate to my music if you ain't sell crack in the 90s, you know what I'm saying? Like, niggas been through all that, or everything. Like, I've been in and out of that jail. Niggas sold, it was, it was that's what Buffalo is. Either you going to school for like medical school or something like that, because it's we got some of the best colleges in New York State. In Buffalo. In Buffalo, right? But it's either that or nigga, you coming up here and getting grams for the low and shit like that, and and making that drive back to the town, or you you busting your move, going out to um, you know what I'm saying, uh Humboldt County, you know. I don't want to keep giving, I don't want to get the plays out, but you know, you busting your moves, you know what I'm saying? But that's where real niggas come from. Like my whole shit was founded by, you know, guys who, you know what I'm saying, had to figure it out and just made different investments and different things and made it out of that shit into a legalized form. And we just took, you know, the little resources we have monetarily and put it into this shit. You know what I'm saying? But it's the same thing, bro. I got shot in my head three times. Nigga, I've been in and out of jail. You know what I'm saying? I got I got a zipper on my stomach from you know, some shit happening, you know, with my moms and some domestic violence shit where I got abused through that way. Nigga, never knew my pops till I was a grown man type shit. The whole, all that the same story, you know what I mean? But niggas just kept it hip hop and just focused on that because you know, I seen that as a way out after I got shot. I was just like, yo, niggas too nice to just fuck around and just you know the story, let the story end like that. We gotta go crazy, bro. Like, Benny, you nice. Like niggas, we nice, bro. All we need is the right people to hear us shit. We we out of here. You know what I'm saying? So that's what that's what really we was on.

SPEAKER_01 13:11

So with all that being said right now, do you regret any of it?

SPEAKER_04 13:15

Nah, I don't regret nothing. Anything I've been through or anything uh, you know, happened to me, or none of that, I don't regret none of that shit. It is all part of the story. I'm a I'm a true believer, and like a lot of everything in life is preordained. You know what I mean? My story was already written, I feel. You know what I'm saying? So everything that's happening for me, even though it happened to me now, you know what I'm saying? Like right now, I'm 43, like I'm saying, I just dropped, in my opinion, in a you know, arguably according to all the all the commentary I'm saying, I just dropped like the best project of my my tenure. So, you know, I feel like this was already written in my story, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 13:57

So what what what would you say was your first big break of being uh, you know what I mean, like notoriety, like with like of people just know like when you knew it was on, like we about to really be in the game, coach.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

Right. So for me, I ain't gonna lie, I'm real like a hip hop nigga. Like, so my first like when I real and I thought like was when uh let me see that drink, King. So when I thought, I seen it was uh when Alchemist reached out to me, you know what I'm saying? I was I was like on my girl coverage, I woke up to that shit. I seen a tweet, like, yo, it was like a freestyle idea. Yeah, I forgot them niggas' name them platforms because I really want to shout them niggas out. Because that was the first like kind of like internet platform I made it on. You remember that when I did uh dunks? Yeah, Namarite was there early too, but it's another, it's it's it was two black dudes, bro. We went and shot that rafle video. I forgot these niggas' names, and I would love to shout them out on a platform like this. I just can't think of their name. But anyway, when we did that, you know, I was already did that. But I woke up and I got a tweet like Alchemist, he ain't even know my Instagram, my Twitter, and none of that. Like, yo, I need like 20 more of these shits. Whoever this is, this dude crazy. And I'm like, oh my god, I'm like, yeah, it's up, it's on from there.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

So was it a solo effort first, or was it always the group, or was it whoever gets there first, then we all we all in?

SPEAKER_04 15:30

Nah, so so Wes, so this how this how it kind of transpired. Like Wes had put out uh, he put out a tape called Hitler Where's Hermes One. But it was like a, it didn't really get like the legs, like, like all like that, right? So it was like, you know, just passing around, giving it to people, taking trips, you know, out the pocket, you know what I mean? Like just coming to New York, going to LA, going to places and, you know, passing that shit out. This is when, you know, I'm just leaving the hospital from getting shot in the head. Like, so I'm still like trying to recover, trying to, you know, I couldn't even talk. Like, my mom had to have me help me brush my teeth and shit, like, and stuff, and feed me applesauce for a couple months, like to get insurance so I can get my my shit together. But in that in that time, Wes made that tape, and he had met Derringer already. Wait, so you know, so he met Derringer a few years prior. But I wasn't, I didn't know that because I was locked up when he met Derringer. And then he had already like introduced, kind of like, yo, when my brother came home telling my brother to go, listen, da-da-da-da, conway, listen, you're gonna see da-da-da. But he ended up going to jail when before I came home. So when I came home, I'm cooking, you know, like on some shit like that. But anyway, uh the Hillary Herman's tape came out, and that's when kind of, you know, Planet Asia, it was like people that was big to us, Paul's, like, you know, these was like, we looking at these niggas like these is the motherfucking legends and ghosts, you know, dirty digs, uh, tri-state, planet Asia, um, shit like that. My man A.A. Rashid, you know, and then to my knowledge, Planet Asia played this shit for Alchemist, you know what I'm saying? And then, like, ironically, um, Mob Deep and uh Smith and Weston had a show near close near Buffalo. So we went to this shit. I had already had a relationship with the nigga Tech from Smith and Weston, so he like, yeah, pull up, we pull up, fuck with him. And I met Mob, but Prodigy already had knew me. Like, yo, you crazy nigga. And I heard some. I'm like, you know what I'm saying? He took my number, yeah, we gotta do some shit, took my number. So that happened. So that that was all at the same time, right? And then when that alchemist shit happened, it was just like, yeah, nah, this shit about to be crazy. And then when I finally talked to Al, he was like, Yeah, Prodigy, Planet Asia, like niggas play me your shit, yo. You crazy, bro. We gotta, we gotta cook. You know, Al don't really usually do that shit for people. Like, he ain't just opening his doors and just fucking with anybody. And like when that happened, that's when I knew, like, yeah, nah, we all the same. And then the nigga Mac Miller, like, I'm gonna keep it a buck. That nigga Mac Miller had hit me up out of nowhere, DM'd me on Twitter, like, yo, I heard my man Triple Black. Shout out my man Triple Black from Detroit from the D. That's my homeboy. Um, he was fucking with Mac Miller. He put Mac Miller on to my shit. So he Mac Miller DM'd me, like, yo, I had asked my man, like, yo, who the hardest nigga in New York City right now, rapper and shit. He was like, the hardest rapper ain't in New York City. He in Buffalo, Conway the machine. And then so he reached out, I pulled up on Mac Miller. We did some shit. He made the beat on the scratch and all that shit. Then we hung out one time, and he like, it's like he died right after that. You know what I'm saying? God bless him. But to answer your question, that's when I knew, like, okay, this shit about to take off.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

This shit about to get crazy. So when did uh Rock Nation take notice to y'all?

SPEAKER_04 19:24

So yo, it's a crazy story. Like, so Rock Nation, so by that time, so as shit, you know, going forward, um, we wasn't really looking to see the interesting thing, Jones. Like, we weren't really looking to sign no deals or really to fuck with nobody on some, like, we want to sign, we looking for a late, we looking for a deal. We was just like, it was getting so crazy. We selling, we selling merch, we selling these CDs off the off the off the dining room table. We really hustling, we really getting to it. We really haven't, we really having traction in this shit. We really weren't knowing that, you know what I'm saying? We really never ever really wanted to sign nothing. We was trying to, we just were like, yo, we need, we need, we need, we need management now, bro. Because we doing it, we know we some street niggas hustlings. We like, we need some management, you know what I'm saying? And we went from, so we going taking meetings and shit with everybody. We we I remember we came, I took a gray hunt, I took the bus. We came up here to New York, uh, we were just taking meetings and shit. We took a meeting over there with Paul Rosenberg, and uh, you know, Paul has a management company. He was managing Danny Jim Brown, Danny Brown and Action Bronson, and you know, motherfuckers, you know, the homies like that. And uh, you know, we we just wanted some management and shit, and like, you know, shout out Mike H, you know, and the niggas took that shit and they like he played that shit for for M. And it was just like he played the cow, that joint I got called the cow. It's like, yeah, nah. I got something better for them. And we signed the JV with them instead of the management. That was when I knew, like, oh yeah, we got him. Got him.

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Get some business out of this shit. You feel me? Yeah. So then West, so they rock nation is do you have do you have a management deal with them?

SPEAKER_04 21:24

So yeah, so so we signed that, Wooty Woop, right? So Wes and Benny, you know, if I'm not mistaken, you know, I don't I don't really, I'm not really privy or I don't really know niggas' business and all that shit like that, but uh they was they was managed being managed by Rock Nation. Okay. Like when we had did the what was Shane Gun do um album and all that shit, the group that um we did together, they were managed by Rock Nation. You know what I'm saying? I got sent the management contract too, but I'm gonna keep it above. Fuck it, I'm drunk, chat. I seen that look you just gave me. I'm tell yeah. I sign that shit.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

Straight up. It's all good though. This ain't we ain't here to place no it's not it business is business. Sometimes you don't feel comfortable doing things, and it may seem odd when you in a group, but your safety and your sanity is what you're doing.

SPEAKER_04 22:19

Well, I'm gonna keep it a bug, Jones. It wasn't even about it. It was bad paperwork, or it wasn't like I didn't want to or I wasn't comfortable. I was, but I was just like, you know what, bro? See, I ain't gonna lie. I'm a I'm a this shit, you you know, you understand that you've been doing this shit, dog, and getting in them chairs and sitting at them tables. You made that a priority of yours for, you know, I've been following your career from there to there. You know what I'm saying? You know, it was just like, you know, you understood this is a thinking man's game. You know what I'm saying? And a patient man's game. I'm like, shit, he already, they already, they already got two of the three. Shit, they still gonna work the tape. We just dropped this album. We all three on an episode.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

So whatever they gonna do for them niggas, this album, I'm gonna just sit back and see how it goes. That's that's why I didn't care when Dame said he wouldn't sign me. Yeah, because they already signed the diplomats. The deal was done. I'm part of it. Y'all still gonna mark it and promote me the same way. And I'm still an artist to you dig no matter what. So, and I like how you think that's that's maximizing your business under the under that circumstance. And it gives y'all more chances because if they're over there, and then you still have the freedom to go somewhere else, wherever you're going, it's gonna be a powerhouse also. So now it's you got two powerhouses working for two powerhouses, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 23:35

So that's how we finesse the rock nation, or they helped it. Stadium Rock Nation, 100%.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Shouts to the rock, they helped, they helped me out tremendously and my reassurgence to the game and things like that. Oh man. No, man, I mean, uh I just like your vibe, bro. No pause don't like like just watching you climb through the game, and then you know, we got so many people in common and shit like that. Shouts to shooter. Yeah, you got shooter, yeah. You know what I mean? Like, so the the respect is there, things like that. How you feeling though? Like I seen uh you just won't stop. You had a had the accident with your leg, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Didn't let that stop you, didn't let that stop you at all. You was working while you was recovering and rehabbing and things like that.

SPEAKER_04 24:20

As soon as I was able to stand on two feet, I was out on the road, went to Europe.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

It seemed like you always on tour.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

Yeah. Europe loves me, man. Trying out to you.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

They must be having you must have got that bag out there because you like you damn near live out there.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

No question. The bag and the love. That's like real more important to me. Like, the way they treat and and uphold motherfucking the hip hop niggas and the the real soldiers of this shit, the real ones who do this shit the right way, is is is unmatched. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 24:54

Do you prefer to tour overseas as opposed to in the country, in the United States?

SPEAKER_04 25:00

I mean, right now, I ain't gonna lie. Like, I absolutely do. I absolutely do. You know, it's it's just it's a different energy. The energy is so different, it's so crazy. I mean, I ain't gonna say I would do it for free, but it don't even be about the money. I just enjoy the love I get, bro. The meat and grease, they buying all the merch, all the vinyls, all the tickets, they pulling up, they fucking just, I'm telling you, it's the electricity that comes from that crowd, bro, that's just unmatched.

SPEAKER_01 25:33

With the bow.

SPEAKER_04 25:34

I have some great shows domestic. 100% I wouldn't take nothing from that. Just I don't that don't mean I don't love performing here, you know, in America. I absolutely do. Uh, but something about overseas, man, I'm sure a lot of MC, a lot of artists and hip hop can attest to.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

100%. They definitely show you different. The love is definitely different. They definitely treat you like a king out there. Yeah, yeah. So performing, so you're a solo artist and you're also part of a group. Yeah. Which one do you get more excited to do? Perform with the group or perform by yourself?

SPEAKER_04 26:11

I get more excited to perform with the group. I ain't gonna lie. Like, you know what I'm saying? You know what I mean? Hold that shit on it. You know what I mean? I'm the big homie of this shit. Yeah, but uh, I get more nervous, honestly, than overseas and shit. And with my solo shit, Dolo. Because, like, you know, my show, my show usually about an hour, hour and 20 minutes, hour and 30 minutes, and I I rap over just the instrumental. I just throw the beat on instrumental and do all these songs, and uh I hydrate with Don Julio, you know what I mean? And it's like, yo, this nigga must got an extra set of gills or something. How is he doing this? No water, no height, man, no, and he just going crazy. But the nervousness don't come from me thinking I'm gonna kill this shit or not. I just come from like, damn, so I'm a member of this shit. I done smoked like five motherfucking shits.

SPEAKER_01 27:15

Bro, it means I be giving, you know, balling is almost 20 years old. I still be sometimes going there, bro. You better not forget balling.

SPEAKER_02 27:26

You got balling before me?

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Nah, I'd be like that. Like, yo, bro, I remember listening to this shit before I go on stage because the nigga be so hot and paranoid sometimes. Like, this shit just be bugging with you, oh man.

SPEAKER_04 27:36

How the fuck you get through like when motherfuckers want to hear the B-sides, hear them grind, hear them ill joint, right? They want you to dig that catalog.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

But you know what's so dope about that? Because I I'm not great with remembering all of my music. Got a lot of music.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

You don't write a lot of that shit, right?

SPEAKER_01 27:52

And I've I've never wrote any of it. That's even worse. After I record most of the records, I don't remember them. So if they're not on my shoulders, nine of the ten. Right, right. I mean, unless it's one of my favorites, but nine of the ten, if they do start playing those, the crowd usually reacts pretty good to some of the some of the L of B side records and things like that, and I feed off that energy. Uh so touring, since you talk about touring, you and I know you came up as a trapper. Do you consider uh touring a form of trapping?

SPEAKER_04 28:21

100%. 100%. I ain't gonna lie. You know how much um goat milk and shit I done sold on tour? You know how much drum work exotics I sell one tour. I love the tour just for that. Yeah? Nah, like I love the tour, bro. You know, them shirts, them shirts and shit move, them the merches, like the hats, the vinyls, the CDs, th, you know, we was able, we was blessed, actually, not just able. We was it's actually a blessing that, you know, what we what we kind of, you know, contribute to this shit is resonate with with the with the real hip hoppers and motherfucking B-boys and those stoppers. They the vinyl collectors. Niggas collecting cassettes, CDs. So we, you know, I make the most money out of all of my incomes off of selling vinyls and CDs and shit still. Cassette tapes. Niggas don't even got a cassette player or a CD player, niggas. It's all about the nostalgia. You gotta create, you know, my shits, and that's how I always attacked it. Even before I started making money off this shit, Jones is like, my shit is an art piece. This when you get it, it's not just, and that's what I be trying to tell like the my niggas be f out and be fucking with me or wanting me and wanting to do this shit and be wanting advice. Like, treat your shit like a piece of art. It's not just 16 bars and a fucking beat, bro. It's it's it's nigga, it's a it's art. It's not just music. You can make shirts off of this, hats, you can make a motherfucking nigga, a show, a movie, a this, and that, and this, an ice cream sandwich off of it, a hamburger. You can do everything. Yo, yo, this is your nigga. This just this your brick. I I translate it like that to, you know what I mean? So I said, this your brick, nigga. You can sack this shit up, you can sell it whole, you can sell ounces, you know what I'm saying? You can sell motherfucking 20s, bag it them, sell fifties, bag that shit up, nigga, in five eights, nigga, sell 20s, whatever it is, it's no end to it though.

SPEAKER_01 30:35

There's no seal in the music is just a brick, you know what I'm saying? You could you can bust that shit down, cut that shit 93 different ways. Right, so I see that you really love the culture of hip hop music, right? Yeah. So coming up, and I don't want to be like, who your top five, but name me some of your favorites that you came up admiring.

SPEAKER_04 31:02

Shit. Helter Skelter, nocturnal album. 100%. I remember being a little nigga like 15 or something. You know? Um outside though. You know what I'm saying? Sean Price and Rockness was just like different for me, bro. Especially what's in the shining, it was different for me. Um Red and Ghost and Method Man, just different for me, bro. Bustar Rise and Red, man, it was just different for me, bro. This is these is the niggas who I learned how to really rap from, bro. I'ma keep it above everybody and then Prodigy, Cool G Rap, different for me, bro. You know what I'm saying? Uh Reasonable Dougho. It was red automatic nine. All these type shits, homie, was just different for me, my nigga. Uh just you know, early on. I'm just talking early on, my nigga. Uh the chronic and the doggy style, you know. This was just me honing my skill and just like, yo, looking at looking up to niggas like, yo, this is how I gotta do it. If I'm gonna do this shit, I gotta do it. This is a bar, this is standard. I gotta do it ill in this. Or at least here. I gotta be at least here with it. You know what I'm saying? So facts like shit like that. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Do you have a favorite MC of all time? Is this your favorite?

SPEAKER_04 32:38

Favorite MC of all time. No pressure. Why do you just choose one one person?

SPEAKER_01 32:48

Like your favorite, like a Michael Jordan, you know what I mean? But then you got Kobe, then you got LeBron, but well, see, that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 32:55

Is it who we am I choosing the who I think the best all time or my favorite?

SPEAKER_01 32:59

Your favorite? No, no. We talk about sports is Jordan. I'm not putting it.

SPEAKER_04 33:03

But my favorite niggas, I was saying niggas like regular.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

To me, my favorite is the best. You heard?

SPEAKER_03 33:10

Oh, okay. See, that's definitely. I talk about my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 33:12

I don't like sometimes I get confused with statistics. I talk about my favorite music because that's what it I know they've done something for me.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:19

You heard? Like, we all know it's Michael Jordan, but Michael Jordan was it was like having Avison for me. Yeah. You heard? Like, that's who that's.

SPEAKER_04 33:25

I'm gonna say the if I had to say like World Time, my all-time favorite, it'd probably be Marshall. I'm gonna choose three Marshall, Buster, and DMX. Fire. I'm gonna choose fire, Ghost from Ray. I was done right down. That's fire.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Yeah, that's fire.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Now see, people need to hear shit like that. Cause you are definitely one of the top spitters right now. You know what I mean? Like, they just put me, they do I had a little, they just asked me a bunch of questions and I just named you. But I've been watching your craft. And it's funny, and not to put you up against anything. They was like, they wasn't asking like uh they did like Cam Mace, uh uh Benny Conway, uh uh Drake and such. So it was like like don't be just picking your favorite and shit like that, and not to take nothing away from Benny, because we all know Benny goes absolutely crazy like on another level. But was this my my favorite? Yeah, like you did, it was it lean source you and things like that. Takes nothing away from Benny because I listen to Benny just as much as I listen to you and shit like that. But you you know how it is, you got people on the same team that you that you on basketball teams like uh the Splash Brothers. No question, no question. But then it's like after Splash Brothers, I might like clay a little bit more than I like Curry and shit like that, you know what I mean? So and that's how I take it. I know people are sensitive in this game.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 34:49

Speaking about that, so um and I don't like to go on the news. I hate gossip and shit like that. I will ask you this how how is the brotherhood between all of y'all right now? If you even want to get into that. You don't have to get into it because I do not know what's going on. I'm not you just this is not what the show is about.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

Exactly, nah, but you know, I'm gonna keep it above, cause, you know. All in all, like I'm gonna keep it above. I consider you like a real friend outside of any of this. Like, I ain't here just on a press or promo around. Like you, you know, I was pulling, you know, I every time I come through here, I hate you to put you on, type shit. So this ain't a a PC answer or none of that shit. You know what I'm saying? Uh but at the end of the day, bro, it's love, bro. Like, you know, niggas is family, it's love and all that. And I just I just dry it up like this. You know, we got we this is another chapter, you know what I'm saying, right now that I'm on. That we all on, you know what I'm saying? This is a different chapter. That Griselda shit was, you know, we've been on this shit for 10 years, man. You know what I mean? It's my 10th year in this bitch. I signed the M and I signed the Shady M M and M in 2017, 2016, I think. You know, it's just another chapter, bro. I'm on, I'm on a whole nother wave. Everybody, you know, we we you know niggas doing their own thing. You know, Wes just dropped the, you know, that that the raw ass Saconey, the sneaker, he getting that sneaker money. I'm not getting money wrestling money, you know, Benny on the road doing him, and and you know, he touring and doing his doing his thing and shit, and and I'm just trying to do something different, kind of with the drum work shit, and working with the artists and shit I'm fucking with.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

But the family value still remain the same between y'all.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

I mean, that's always gonna be remain the same, you know what I'm saying? Uh, you know, I feel I feel like just things is just this shit just ain't it ain't I ain't on that right now, you know what I'm saying? Making fucking group albums and all that shit right now, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Like, nah, it's it's respected as a man. But the the the the the foundation that you built is something that you always could go back to. 100%. And that's what I would just want to put out there, because I would I would want people to use us as an example and others that came before us. You dig that scene something so beautiful could be destroyed by things that probably could be, could have been fixed over a simple solution. So I just want to put that out there for you. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 37:30

Exactly, and there ain't no need to like for real, for real, like uh no, like, you know, make a big, big deal out of the nothing. It ain't nothing. I, you know, look, bro, like I was saying, bro. I'm about to be 44 in February, bro. I ain't thinking, man, and I'm sure they ain't, bro. Wes got about seven kids, my nigga. You know what I mean? Benny doing this thing. Everybody, like, we came into this shit. We've been, and before y'all known us, or everybody got wind of us or knew our name, you gotta remember we've been doing this shit since we was fucking 14, 13 years old anyway, together. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 38:09

And that's what people don't see.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

But the what time don't permit us to be able to be in a stool and be. I sent them niggas, I sent them niggas joints for this for this album I just dropped. You can't kill God with bullets. I sent them niggas uh, I sent West joints, Benny joints, and all that. Like it ain't even, you know, people kind of accolate that to like it's smoke or it's an issue or some other shit. It ain't that. That's what the I look at it as niggas busy. I hope it ain't no smoke. You know what I'm saying? Nah, if you want to do the tape, we'll do it. I ain't thinking like that. Well, I just look at it like shit. We old, we now we're getting older, we busier, older and busier.

SPEAKER_01 38:46

No, you ain't say nothing wrong, because the the most important thing out of that is that y'all started together with a mission and a goal at hand, and that was to put yourself in better positions, and y'all did that, and y'all all made millions together. So I think that no matter what happens from here, y'all paid each other's debts to each other because you're you'll finish the first part of the mission, and now it's to get paid, yeah, put get life together, and you're you think so. I don't I I'm not mad at that type of shit. I don't think so. I want you to kind of explain that because for the media, they so quick to tear people down, or any bit of negative energy that they could feed off or think is negative, they blow away out of proportion. So naturally, or if they don't see you hanging out, or naturally they be like, yo, so that was like I don't do that here.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

That's what I was saying. That's what I was about to say. Like, you know, I felt like I'm glad I was able to kind of, you know, I didn't think it was nothing to even kind of not saying like with you or with anybody, because I've been hearing, you know, I see like the little comments and little stuff, people tagly and like maybe I don't know, because we not having as much songs and making much music as much as it's just the media, man. You can't just translate that into like what's going on with them. Like, ain't nobody did nothing to me, bro.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

The internet doesn't the internet runs off of negative energy. That's what the internet runs off of.

SPEAKER_04 40:14

Man, they take a positive situation floating and all that shit, but I'm just on my on my on my time right now. That's all nothing wrong, bro. I be hating like to have the like the when the internet just runs with this, like, you know, what happened in Paris? What's what's this? What's that? You know what I'm saying? Sometimes niggas get drunk, gotta squabble. Sometimes niggas gotta talk shit. I talk shit. I ain't gonna lie, I'm Conway the machine. You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna tell you about yourself. You do something to me or any of that. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 40:46

So with that being said, right? And you on Conway's Machine's journey right now. Yeah. What are some of the some of the things you're looking to accomplish along this journey in your career?

SPEAKER_04 41:00

I'm looking for real, for real. I feel like I already did it. What I was looking to accomplish. You know what I'm saying? Um, I never looked to accomplish anything monetarily. I didn't have any monetary goals. I always wanted to be like, I just want to get the nod of approval and respect for niggas and MCs that I look up to and respect and this shit with their pen and they crack. And I feel like I did that. You know what I mean? I've been nominated for five grannies and BT Awards and all that shit. I've seen that side of it, but that shit means a lot to me with Raekwon and Ghost and You and Buster and you know what I'm saying? DM. I was on DMX album 40 pass. I'm, you know, with Rack Nation. I was signed with Eminem. I'm I'm all I'm everywhere like that. That to me, them, them my Grammys, and that's what I'm in that shit for. Because I once I'm in, I'm gonna know how to figure out a way to get some money out this shit. You know what I'm saying? And that's the thing, most most artists don't figure that out.

SPEAKER_01 42:02

They think that once they get in the game, all the money's gonna come to them. And if you do have a bunch of money, it's way easier to get it than to keep it. You know what I mean? So if you don't have no hustle in you, this definitely ain't the game for you. It's not, but it's not, man.

SPEAKER_04 42:15

You gotta have you gotta have a you gotta have a hustle and you gotta be willing to to to to listen, you know. Nigga told me, man, it don't cost you nothing to listen, man. But sometimes if you don't listen, it could cost you everything. You know what I'm saying? So I'm always a listener and an observer, and I'm just like, look, this is what this shit about, man. You need to figure out a way to, you know, you know, monetarily capitalize in this shit. Of course, ain't nobody in this shit to do it for nothing. You know what I mean? But you gotta be a sponge. Ain't nobody gonna teach you the game, ain't nobody gonna, you know, do nothing or none of that. Cause if you paying attention, a lot of niggas who trusted and gave that, you know what I mean? I'm gonna just follow your lead, ended up getting like, you know, played. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't on the up and up paperwork and and none of that shit. That go back to the beginning of time. So you have to be willing to just, you know, outside of the blunts and stuff, still be able to do the education and and get get right, bro, so you can get what you what you you know, not what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

What y'all did business wise is incredible, especially coming from the standpoint of not your conventional rapper per se, because I wouldn't call y'all the backpacker, but y'all rapping your ass off. Yeah. And a lot of artists who are dope MCs don't get the notoriety that y'all have gotten in these past five to six years. You know what I mean? And a lot of that's because Music is not listened to the way it once was due to lyrics. You know what I mean? And a lot of people seem to take it easy way out by maybe dumbing down your lyrics. And I don't see you doing that or have done that. And do you feel that that could help you if you was a dumbed, or have anybody ever told you you should dumb down your lyrics or maybe take the uh average rapper approach to gain rapper success?

SPEAKER_04 44:30

I ain't gonna lie. I think it helped us doing the opposite. I know that's how I approached it. Like, yo, them other niggas is chasing the fucking radio and the sales and shit and the hit records. I ain't really get that's why a lot of our music, if you listen to it, bro, we barely we ain't even got no hook on that shit. A lot of that shit wasn't mixed, that shit wasn't nigga. We on there, we just talking, and we just went when everybody was going right, we went left on niggas. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, nah, we just talking and drop that, though, bro. I'm telling you, bro, like West one Catherine, bro, when we was doing them tapes all them early, them early Hitler wear her man's part three, part four, all them shits, don't get scared now, go reject two, all of them. Nigga, we was right, we was recording them shit the same day, bro. 12, 13, 14 song, drop that shit. Get the fuck out of mixed song, anything. You know, we about to step on these niggas. We stepping, bro. Drop that shit. I think that was the opposite. I think like where everybody was chasing a hit and chasing a formula, I think it was refreshing to hear some guys like, man, they just being themselves. They just, you know, they talking that shit they just being themselves.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

It was it was the essay.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

Niggas like, yo, they we was actually making money, but you know, no no niggas don't know because the average person don't really know the record business and how that shit go. But like people just seeing us having motherfucking VS on our necks and you know, and and cars, and we living that we was good. They thinking, they just putting it like, oh, them niggas got another meal. But nah, we was hustling, it was a way we hustling. I sold that shit off my kitchen table. Like that shit was 50s of cocaine, nigga. You know what I mean? Like I nigga, I was hands-on the same way I'll be seeing, you know, this is what this is who I looked and watched. So I heard my eyes.

SPEAKER_01 46:24

From hustling off from hustling off the table to going inside some very big offices to strike some pretty big businesses.

SPEAKER_04 46:34

And this how I talk, and I'm offices too. I mean, you know what you want to help me, you can cut me a check or help me with the infrastructure. Other than that, we got it from here. You know what I'm saying? But you can't talk like that if you ain't got the product, bro. You ain't got the shit and the education. You know, I'm just talking to the young homies who are.

SPEAKER_01 46:55

How big is ownership to you since you had the product? Man, ownership.

SPEAKER_04 47:02

I'm gonna keep it on, I'm gonna fuck niggas up with this. Ownership don't really mean nothing. If what if it ain't if it's nothing, what are you owning? You can get 100% or zero. Or you can partner up with somebody who can take your shit further than and possibly and get you a nice little chunk, 50% six and tee up. Sometimes we get caught up in that. I want to own my own masters, I want to own this, that, this, that, and these be the niggas that's still on the train, you know what I'm saying, and stomach having pains.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

A lot of people don't understand that about business. You can own 100% enough and the 1% of a lot.

SPEAKER_04 47:36

Yeah, 100%, bro.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

Which one would you rather? But people, people don't equivalate that to real business, or they don't think about it because they ain't really got no vision, they got short sight and shit like that. But having a great partner is way better than owning some shit outright that you probably won't profit the way you would if you had a good infrastructure support system. So I'm definitely thankful for that. Who do you who you think uh got the best of uh the battle between Drake and Kendra? And I'm talking about not from the commercial and media side. I'm talking about from the rap side.

SPEAKER_04 48:15

Uh I ain't gonna lie, I think Kendrick, I think Kendrick got the best of it. I do my favorite of the battle was um that one Drake shit though was was definitely my favorite of the battle. But just all things in totality.

SPEAKER_01 48:32

It was like all things in totality, but I wish I wish I could have hit Drake.

SPEAKER_04 48:36

I wish I could. I was like, man, nigga, what the fuck is you doing, bro? Step. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_01 48:43

I mean, I'm I'ma still I'ma say Kendrick is dangerous, but I think the everything everything happened was it was whatever.

SPEAKER_04 48:53

I just wanted to ask you that question just because I can't take nothing away from him, but uh Drake was stepping too, but I feel like Drake is a stepper, man. I wish I was I wish I was with Drake, bro. I think I can't say to get the party lit. Nah, nigga, I'm trying to, I'm stepping.

SPEAKER_01 49:13

I would say this stepping. That that battle has put a dent in the hip hop pop culture, I would say.

SPEAKER_04 49:26

We ain't seen a battle on that on a mainstream level like that, probably after.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

Okay, so people, people or the media got what they always want was two powerful people going up against each other, and somebody gotta be the winner, somebody gotta be the loser. Now, the aftershock of that is down. None of these dudes that were battling are putting out any music right now. We haven't heard no music from none of them in in how long? And this is the music that we've really been listening to for the past 10 years straight. Which Drake had the temple of this motherfucker knocking, and and it's a lot of that missing and shit like that.

SPEAKER_04 50:02

From I ain't gonna lie, I would love I need some more Drake music.

SPEAKER_01 50:05

This is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_04 50:08

That's what I'm saying. I wasn't gonna be I want to wanna home.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

Just like I I know, bro. But this is where society got what they want, and this is where we at. We had a we had a dry spell right now.

SPEAKER_04 50:22

Kendrick, Kendrick, he put it on.

SPEAKER_02 50:26

He's he did, he's he did, bro.

SPEAKER_01 50:28

But Kendrick Super Bowl, yeah, that's cool. All of that shit, bro. And then when we go outside, there's no vibe. Kendrick never provided the vibe inside the spots that we had every night. Yeah, but we get he does what he does for the hip hop culture, and yes, he's a god, and nobody can fuck with him on the level of rap. That's what they was going Drake back and forth. But he ain't the guy that provides the vibe that we go outside to. Now, yo, put the guy that provides the vibe that we go outside to, and he decides to stay inside. And he's so rich, and he don't have to come outside ever again and just look and laugh at the game because he's up a billy. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 51:05

And now we might we might be missing a vibe for a long time. Cause who's the next person that's gonna come provide the vibe?

SPEAKER_04 51:11

We'll never get another person. This is what I'm trying to say, bro. He's that.

SPEAKER_01 51:15

You heard?

SPEAKER_04 51:16

Yeah, he had. I agree 100%. We didn't have a lot of time.

SPEAKER_01 51:18

And taking nothing away from from none of them, but the vibe is needed because we outside more than we battle rapping.

SPEAKER_04 51:24

Yeah. But all I'm all I would say to that is like, at the same time, though, bro, we can't just like because that'll do away with niggas like me. Niggas like, you know, other niggas, bro. I'm not mad. I'm not the vibe. We ain't gonna we can go anywhere in New York with none of them. I would love to tell them, I don't make that. If they did, then that's I'm not the correct me.

SPEAKER_02 51:50

Like, we can't we made that. We need the vibe. I didn't say that's not the parameter.

SPEAKER_01 51:58

That's not the parameter, it's nice, man. That's not the I did not say Kendrick isn't that's this is not about Kendrick not being nice. It's not about Kendrick not being nice, and we are from the East Coast, so it is a little bit different. I will not say not you go anywhere in the West Coast that is slapping the shit out of Kendrick music, slapping that shit hard.

SPEAKER_02 52:19

But for the provide for the vibe that I know on over here, and south East Coast is it is it's a lot of drizzy missing out here, bro.

SPEAKER_04 52:29

It is, man. That's what I was saying. I didn't need me in the locker room like coach crime, like you think what was we go crazy, Drizzy.

SPEAKER_01 52:39

Oh man, shouts to Jersey, shouts to Kenneth, man. The people what they wanted to see, and I loved it. Nobody uh ended up getting hurt from it from what I could see.

SPEAKER_04 52:52

Friction is we need a friction is always the connection needs to be shaken up.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

I can't say that sometimes shit gotta be shaken up. That's what it is. You heard it. I'm I'm sad it had to be that came from that shit.

SPEAKER_04 53:04

Look at all the dope music that came from.

SPEAKER_01 53:09

There's a lot of things that came for that shit out to the whole West Coast, one of my favorite places, you know. That's where I started my career at in the West Coast.

SPEAKER_04 53:15

And speaking about starting my career, I'm gonna end up co-hosting a show with Jones, too. I'm just manifesting this sidebar, y'all. We'll go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 53:22

We'll just co-host a rap show, yeah. Like about bars and shit like that. Anything we could do it up, we gotta think about what the what the scenario would be. We could do, we could, we could start critiquing niggas bars. You know what I'm saying? I mean, we could definitely do that.

SPEAKER_04 53:37

I appreciate critique from niggas who really do this shit. Yeah, and I'm just a nigga who on my toe, like, nah, you could have gone better with that. You could have went ill. That wasn't that. Some niggas' skin too thin, they can't take that.

SPEAKER_01 53:49

You gotta be able to everything, you gotta be have a little bit of tough skin. But I don't come from a place of hate when I critique. Yeah, you heard it's it's I'd rather not even talk about it. You heard? But yeah, if you need to be critiqued, that means like you got something that you you you should be critiqued on.

SPEAKER_04 54:03

You heard that should be in itself is is a is a is a salute.

SPEAKER_01 54:07

This is what I'm saying. Yeah, you heard like it's a lot of people that do some of these platform and just go for the the hate and use it for the clickbait. That shit was whack. Oh no, that's just boy. No, I'm not, I don't, I'm not into tearing people down like that. You heard? Like something, but I am into critiquing people. If you got something that's worth it, and I feel like you're I'm gonna let you know where you where you can step up and shit like that. But even with that, currently in this industry, how do you feel about where we at?

SPEAKER_04 54:33

We good. We we we in a good place as far as creatively and musically, we in a good place. Like people is dropping some great music, and we had a lot of resources to just facilitate and drop our own music and do our own thing and shit like that. Uh, but it's just like, and I don't wanna say this because I just dropped this album, and I don't want to get myself in any uh backlash or anything, but like we gotta figure out the way this streaming stuff works. You know, we gotta be able to the artists who make these incredible projects and shit, we need to be able to eat a little better off of the stream shit.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

See, what's going on is I'm well this is my analogy, because you know they hate when I start talking about this. There was a chance, there was a time when artists were getting label deals and they were getting penis off of label deals because they didn't understand and they were getting raped. Naturally so, because if you don't know, what could you do? And then the artists start smartening up and understand how the record labels started to work and they started to gain control and started to get ventures and 50-50 deals and record labels started to really understand the real side of the money inside of labels where they're coming from. Yeah, right. Moving forward, the labels have changed to something called streaming. Naturally, the labels have to get paid way more than the artists, so they're in total control of something called streaming that we don't know the total ins and outs about. But I do believe in the near future we'll be catching up to speed the same way we learned about 50-50 ventures and all of these things, because the labels are getting a way more load of money from these streaming companies than they're paying out to us.

SPEAKER_04 56:15

Yeah. Yeah. You heard? Yeah. They're not just paying us out. Make sense. Makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 56:20

You heard? They're paying us our dividend that they owe us.

SPEAKER_04 56:23

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01 56:24

But we never know what they owe the record label and what the record label gets paid on their dividend.

SPEAKER_04 56:29

Right.

unknown 56:31

Right.

SPEAKER_01 56:31

Right, right. Somebody somebody gotta get paid something.

SPEAKER_04 56:35

Somebody gotta get paid somewhere. You heard?

SPEAKER_01 56:37

And I doubt it's the small percentage that they're taking from the distribution side. Yeah. You heard? Yeah. And until we start to smarten up and learn what they know that they're not telling us, just like what we didn't know about these labels when we started getting it, we'll figure that out too. But I think we damn near there though. We got a lot of smart individuals.

SPEAKER_04 56:54

Would you equate was is this kind of similar to like, you know, I don't know, you you was there. I wasn't there, I wasn't on yet. Like the ringtone when that came into play. Back like that.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

Ringtone was ringtone was was, I think that was a pretty fair number.

SPEAKER_04 57:08

Was y'all getting paid good? Some of y'all still eating off the ringtone money, nigga.

SPEAKER_02 57:16

Balling had a lot of ringtones.

SPEAKER_01 57:18

Yeah. Balling, the balling, balling beard. Balling had a lot of ringtones. It was way more money than the streaming money, though. You're getting like a dollar off of off of everybody that was using your ringtone, dollar fifty, some shit like that. And it's millions and millions of people that got phones out there, like that. And remember, it's a ringtone, it's not even a whole record.

SPEAKER_03 57:42

Let me ask you this. Why they can't figure that shit out with the streaming shit if they figure that ringtone out quick.

SPEAKER_01 57:47

I just told you they have figured it out. We just haven't figured it out.

SPEAKER_00 57:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:50

You heard until they need us, like they needed us for this for the ringtone.

SPEAKER_00 57:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:54

They needed us for the ringtone. They just couldn't take the ringtone money without including us. Yeah. Because we were already too smart. That's why we got paid off the ringtone money. Yeah. You heard? That's why they're feeding us penis now off the streams. Until they really need us to make a I mean, so I mean, that's just how I feel about it. That makes sense. That's just me talking because I don't know about it. But I do believe we need to know more about it because somebody's getting tremendously paid.

SPEAKER_04 58:18

Yeah, where's the education at? Because, you know, we we we sponges, we want to learn.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

I don't even know where to even a lot of these power, a lot of these powerful people that ran the record labels. I'm talking about the big ones. And I'm not saying names a lot of the uh but they all switched over to streaming platforms that they're now running. Yeah. So what that tells you, these are people that was making the hundreds and hundreds of millions at the head of the biggest labels, and now these same people have switched over to now running the biggest streaming platforms ever. So what that tells you. You heard they want a whole new game with making billions and shit like that. They made millions and hundreds of millions in the regulator. They about to make billions off the off the platform switch. You heard? We just gotta keep up and keep up, and you gotta see, you gotta see the whole playing field. You know what I mean? Now, with that being said, man, I ain't gonna keep you too much longer. We've been here talking a lot. But you are one of my favorite MCs. I definitely want to give you your flowers. That's like what they say. I appreciate you who you are inside of this industry. I appreciate you standing on the ten toes and what you believe in. You don't bend fold, you know what I mean? You you do what you do, you do what you love to do. Y'all started for nothing, and you'll and you'll gain a lot, not only a lot of notoriety, a lot of money, you know what I mean? And I wish that the brotherhood continues to be as tight as it will ever be. You know what I mean? And continue to get your bag, stay away from these suckers, stay on top of your business, keep putting off a buffalo, and keep opening that door a little wider. Yeah. Because I believe there's a lot more people like you, and a lot more people like y'all that come from outskirts that uh are way past city limits that people don't believe that you'll have it. Yeah, you heard so it's not about a buffalo. That door you opening is for so many kids out there that's coming from different corners of the United States that we don't see, but got that. You dig? So I just want to say you keep stepping, and I appreciate you for coming on this platform. And ladies and gentlemen, that's another episode of Artist to Artist. I got a gift for you, though. Uh before we get out of here. I got guess from the cable, man. Artist to artist, ladies and gentlemen.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:35

Guess from the cabo. Oh, yeah, I needed this. I needed this. Know what it is. Fine, that was a good one. Yes, sir. Thank you, King.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:50

That was a good one. That was a good one.