Real Hustlers Vs Imitation CrabMeat

Everybody says they are a hustler. Then life asks for receipts. We get raw about the difference between real hustlers and “imitation crab meat” people who talk big, chase attention, and fold the moment pressure shows up. If you have ever dealt with loud confidence on the phone that turns into silence in person, you will recognize exactly what we are calling out.

We also take it past the tough talk and into relationships, work ethic, and day to day support. Our 50-50 mindset is not about splitting bills down the middle, it is about taking 50% of the stress off your partner so they can be 50% better. That can mean money sometimes, but it also means showing up with effort: helping with school goals, handling the house, doing the unglamorous stuff, and building a real team instead of a pretty situationship.

From the 90-day truth test to spotting leeches in your circle, we break down mission alignment, boundaries with family, and why “it will fall into place” is not a plan. We even use a simple growth metaphor gardening, patience, and consistency to show why real results only come from real work. If you are serious about personal growth, accountability, healthy masculinity, and building a life that matches your talk, this one is for you.

Subscribe, share this with someone who needs to hear it, and leave a review if the message hits. What is the clearest sign someone is a real hustler?

Transcript

Cold Open And The Mood

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to phone. But this is the only podcast that will tell you to sit down and step a step. I mean, our numbers been going crazy right now. But I mean, what else do we know how to do other than be a stamper? I mean, shit, this might sound like I'm going through puberty for a little bit. Cause I'm just not waking up. But like always, we gotta give y'all a little entertainment before we start it off. Cause I'm gonna let y'all know how what kind of mood I'm in. Cause I mean, everybody don't would know this song, but everybody don't understand the mood, the temperament, or the temperature of this song. Hey, what's poppin'? Uh-huh. I don't fuck with these bitches, cause they say these bitches didn't wanna have my baby. Born in the 80s, crack baby. Mama's guess who's in the streets, who guess who raised me the streets? But that's what's coming up mindset. I'm in today. We're talking about real hustlers

Real Hustlers Vs Pretenders

SPEAKER_01 1:20

versus imitation crab me. Alpha males versus them, you know, them them beta bitches. Most of y'all females know what the hell I'm talking about. Them dudes that walk in the room, they just be loud, flamboyant, and this, that, and the third. Trying to trying to gain the attention of everybody that's in the room. Other than with us alpha males, we ain't gotta say too much, we ain't gotta do too much. We here, and you know we here. And we ain't going nowhere. But with that being said, I mean, we even hear people that like like a lot of folks talking about something like I've been, I like I done I done ran into dudes talking about something. Oh, I don't do this, I don't do that, I don't I don't cooperate with this, I don't I don't agree with that. Sometimes we just want to tell y'all shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down. And if that's you, that's you. I mean shit. Everybody got a phone say, everybody think because they got a voice, they need to say something. I mean, some of y'all will listen to me, some of y'all won't, because guess what? At the end of the day, it is what it is, ain't what it ain't. I mean, in my mind, we just move accordingly. Um, but when we talk about imitation crab meat, it's like those pretenders. They pretend to be this, they pretend to be that, they think this just because they exist, or they got a little bit of money in their pocket, they just top tier. Um, or let's go ahead and be a little biased. They think because they got they got them, they, they, they, they up top done or they bottom done. You know, them BBLs and them them beta beta lemma lemmas or whatever the fuck you want to call it, um, where they get built like an ant. It don't really set the mileage on the pussy though. I mean, well, let's just be honest and let's just be clear, because we're not asking how you got there. We just asking, do you still stand for what you what you're doing, what you're portraying? And a lot of individuals, let's go ahead and say these males out here. I know I might get canceled for this shit, but I'm I'm just gonna say it because this is raw, uncle, non-edited. Some of y'all females being whole lesbian relationships with a male, they don't realize it. Um, because a lot of these dudes act more tender than y'all do. Oh my god, I feel this way. Oh my god, I do this, I don't feel like working. Oh, I'm in emotional distress. Man, shut the fuck up and get with the get with the program. Do what you gotta do to survive. Because I mean survival is the fittest. Because a lot of people will jump into a realm that they understand and don't understand. Let's let's go ahead and be frank. Once upon a time, when I was going through my divorce, uh my ex's new boyfriend got on the phone. Boy, I swear to God, that motherfucker was popping hot shit. Hot shit. Hot shit. I mean, like, let's go ahead and be honest. Um he was he was to the point where he was talking about something, oh me and me and my partner to pull up on you. Shit, we'll give you straighten. Bro, if you really, if you really about that life, I I want to warn. I wanna see what you about. I wanna hold you out. I wanna bring out a I wanna bring out the tenderness in you. I want to see if you can drop a tip. Because, I mean, shit, let's see, let's do it like gladiators do. Shit, we get in that square and we're gonna handle this. Like men. Let me see what your hands like. Because let's go ahead and be honest. I done had my ass beat before. Shit, I remember the first time I ever got into a fight, it was from my cousin Chai. My cousin Chai goddamn popped me so hard, man. I saw the little spots. And, you know, I mean, you're gonna win some, you're gonna lose some. But in my at my age, I understand that. It's a humbling factor. In my line of work every day shit. I got no two pieces. I'm saying, boop, boop. Oh. And guess what I'm doing? I'm getting right back up in that bad boy. Because I don't want to understand the laurels of what I stand on. So back to this imitation of crab meeting for the real hustles. When I was raised, my daddy always told me a man is not worth what's in his pocket. It's his word of what he is about, is what matters to anything and everybody more than anything. Because a lot of people ain't worth what they say no more or the images they portray. Because so many people portray the wrong image about themselves, and it comes off as fake, fraudulent,

Tough Talk Online Vs In Person

SPEAKER_01 6:06

or anything else in between. And I mean, let's go ahead and behind this. We see so many of these people that got all get portrayed as tandem, and then they try to act tough on the internet. They Twitter fingers get acting all tough, or they're trying to text you some tough shit. But when you see them in public, they got down going tough, they got down, you know, they little meat sticks between their legs and just trying to hide in the corner and ain't got nothing to say. But you'll popping real shit on a phone, or you'll pop in real shit through a text over a phone call where you feel safe in your dumb inside your home, or you're trying to pull it on for somebody around you, which ain't clean. So, I mean, I guess you have this little song about spit that shit. And let's go back to real hustles and imitation practice. Real hustles take care of those that they care about. I mean, they're gonna spin that cheese to take care of the individuals that they care about, regardless, can told down. Regardless. Because I mean, if let's go and break this shit down. This is where I'm gonna look at this shit. This is the way I treat shit. If I care about you, I'm gonna I'm gonna take care of you. I'm gonna look out for you. I want to see you happy. I mean, everything's not about monetary value, but if it's something that that I wanna I wanna get you because it'll make you happy or you've been talking a lot for a while, or it just makes you a little bit more satisfied and happy about whatever you're going through at the time, I'm gonna take care of you. Um because in reality, if I take care of you, um I feel like we can go some further because it takes the stress off you. But that's always monetary. Take care of you also might mean to help you and push you to check your dreams and ambitions. Um that's like, oh, you work at you, you don't, you, you're trying to juggle school and work. Shit. So you ain't so you ain't gotta worry about the pillars, hey, let me work a little bit overtime to take less off your plate. So therefore, I can help you check your dreams a little bit more efficiently and see how far we can go and how far we can take it. Because if you sh if you're working overtime, you can't focus on school also. If you're working overtime, you can't focus on everything you need to focus on. If you're working overtime, you can't focus on the house also. I'm sorry, my dog made a weird noise behind me. Um, but it's all about that we're gonna go back to 50-50. 50-50 is always about if I can take, I come into your life to take 50% of your stress off you to make you 50% better. And a lot of people fail to realize that when it comes to relationships, situationships, or anything else in between. And they think that, oh, only thing I gotta do is be present, or I gotta drop some D off, or I gotta just spin some cheese. That's not that's not about being a hustler. That's not being about being on your shit. That's not about being on your grind. Because that's like like I was giving somebody an analogy the other night. We were talking about um relationships. And I told them, I said, there's a there's a big philosophy that came out when I was when I was married, I'm divorced now, um, that if I can take 50% of your stress, I can make you 50% greater. But also, whatever is thrown our way, as long as we conquer it together, we don't, we, we can conquer anything. Um and that ideology came from me being in the service, me in my personal life, me at my work jobs, everything. Because a lot of people fail to realize how much effort we put into things and we chase bags, but when you got support and a team behind you to chase those dreams with you, and we're all on the same mission, it's a lot easier for us to get that mission accomplished. Um, and a lot of people fail to realize that when they chase these dreams, or they find a spouse, or they find

What Taking Care Really Means

SPEAKER_01 10:35

a little situationship, or the person that makes them happy. And it's it's it's shocking because a lot of people just jump into situationships just because they thought somebody was cute, but never knowing what's up here, never knowing what's in here, and never know if they're if they're on the same mission to get things accomplished, or if they're on the same wavelength. And a lot of people fail to realize that. So, what do we do? We entertain those that don't need to be entertained. I say, let's talk about hustlers. I mean, because real hustlers, you surround yourself by individuals that are hustlers, also. And with those individuals chasing that same dream, same bag, what else do you do? Do you just, hey shit, I'm fucking with such and such, I'm fucking with such and such, I'm fucking with such and such, just to say you fucking with them? Why? So most of the time it's a waste of fucking time because they ain't on the same bullshit you on. And why should I continue fucking with them if we ain't on the same wavelength? Same mission, same goal. Because if we ain't on the same mission, why the fuck am I fucking with you in the first place? Because in reality, in reality, if your mission is different from mine, shit, bro, we we bound to fuck up. We bound to we bound to slip up, we bound to get distracted because they mission is different from ours, their goals are different from ours. The reality is different from ours. And it's hard to chase your mission if the other individual ain't there. So what so let's go back to imitation crab me. So that's like I I was telling somebody that shit. I usually give a motherfucker 90 days. Let's go ahead and be honest. I give a motherfucker 90 days. The reason why I give a motherfucker 90 days is because you can only fake and fake for so long until the true you comes out. That's with anybody. Friendships, family, anybody. Because you can see which individuals support your dream, your mission, your goals, anything that you you're trying to chase at a certain time. I mean shit. Like I tell like I tell people, like my my father told me, blood doesn't make you water. I'm sorry. Blood does not make you family because family will fuck you over quicker than anybody else. Let's break that down. Does your cu is your cousin your biggest supporter? Some of mine are. Some of mine aren't. Some of my people I don't even fuck with. Because they might have fucked up views, fucked up vision, and of sorts. But what do we do? We still base it off of their beliefs? Nah, that's just who they are. Because I mean, let's let's go ahead and and keep it P. Because just because somebody was is your family, don't mean y'all were raised the same. Just because they're your family don't mean they they they goals are in line. Some people come in your life just to be a leech. Some people just hate in the background. They hate to see you got on make it. They hate to see you, you in your grind. They hate to see that you go in a certain direction, and they might be in a hate Olympics. They might be I don't know why he's doing this. That's shit. Let's go ahead and be honest. That's like everybody else was hating on, like they were saying, why you want to start a podcast? That's that's because I went to therapy and that shit ain't worked. This is my therapy now. Can I talk about shit without talking about shit? I can introduce you to my life without giving you every little aspect of my life, and it's a lot more common than just being out here, shit, just lashing out at everybody. Because we might go through the same thing, we might go through different things. You might kick some some stuff to me, and I might kick it back to you, and our views align because we've gone through the similar things, but we've never met. So, I mean, what do we do based on our behavior, our mission, our goals, and everything else? What do we do? Do you do you base it off of that individual? Do you base it off of everything else you've been through? I mean, shoot, like I told somebody, shoot, I I've been through a lot. Through wars, military, jobs, COVID. I lost my job during COVID. And shoot, my biggest fear was going home to tell that my significant other that I didn't have it. But guess what? I was cooking, I was cleaning, the clothes were washed, my my son was taken care of. I became um domesticated. I was already domesticated, but I did things that at one point in time to make things easier on my spouse. And a lot of people can't grasp reality. I don't want to do no dishes. Oh, she when she gets off, she still gotta cook, she still gotta clean. Nah, bro, what you doing at home all day? Shit, bust some dishes. I don't like doing dishes. I put this shit in a dishwasher. But guess what? I eat my I eat my pride to make sure things are things fall in line. To make your day easier and my day easier, we handle certain things. Um, because I was I was we were having a conversation. It's like a group of us. And she was saying that this one this one female was saying, she will go work an eight-hour job. He he's a mechanic, da-da-da-da. And once he once she got off work at nine o'clock at night, she she still had homework to do. She would go home, cook, um, wash clothes. I'm like, what time's your man get off? She said, Oh, he's been off since like four or five o'clock. Why can't he take care of some of that? Why can't he make your load lighter to where you could focus on certain things and then have to focus on so your plate wouldn't be so full, full and overwhelming. Why why couldn't you take some of that? Why couldn't he take some of that pressure off you? Her first response was, I don't know. So I'm like, I'm my my place ain't to judge your situation because your situation would be different from mine. Because I like my significant other, no, I got your back. No matter what the fuck we go through, I got your back. But that's whatever, but that's what we come to when we talk about imitation crab me. I

Same Mission, 90-Day Truth Test

SPEAKER_01 17:45

pretend like I care about you. I can pretend that I care about your well-being. I pretend that I want the best for you. But do I really want the best for you? Do I really push you to be the better you for us, our family, to where shit, if I'm if I make this shit smooth for both of us, we can take those trips a lot easier. Because guess what? Shit, you could you could be at home doing laundry and I can be in my bag. I can work this 16-hour day. Tomorrow I'm off. So I can help you out by you goddamn being in the bag too. But that's where it comes back to real hustles and imitation crab me. Y'all gotta be on the same page, we gotta be on the same wavelength because if we ain't, shh, we we ain't gonna make them goals that we set for ourselves, our family, our situation. Why? Why could why would we make them? Why how could we meet them? And a lot of people just say shit's supposed to happen. Oh, if it's meant to happen, it'll just fall in place. Boy, you sound like you, you sound you boy, if you ain't open tender, if you ain't got an imagination, it's amazing for you. It's amazing because if you don't put in the work, if you don't put in the effort, if you don't, if you don't get out there and grind like you a hustler, like shoot, like hey baby, hey, this trip got down 2300. Shoot, we gotta take care of our bills, plus make up some play money, plus do this. So shoot, we're gonna be in our bag for a little bit. But next thing you know, you still spending. You you playing the role of imitation crab meat because you want to reach this goal, you want to reach this mission, you wanna get this shit accomplished, but your shit ain't lining up. So you imitating a real hustler, you imitating that you that you want to that you want to do these things, you want to read that reach that goal. Stop pretending. Shit, saying, I really want to go, but shit, my my my my grind ain't there no more. Then you don't want it bad enough. That's like you saying, shoot, I want a new car. Shit, what you what you trying to do, bro? I want this house. But do you put the effort behind it? Oh, I want to I want this new job. Did you apply? Did you fix your resume? Did you put yourself or learn everything that you could at your current job so you can move up? Did you did you so or that you can go to this company and make even more? Let's go ahead and be honest because a lot of times people just talk to talk. And that and that's the difference between uh like we say, imitation crab meat. That's that crab meat that's already in that pack, that's already cut up, that's already done all that shit to, and you and you really not chasing that goal. Are you just are you just saying it to say it because it sounds good? Bro, you imitate you imitating the real hustlers because shit. If I want something bad enough, I'm gonna go out there and get it. I'm gonna eat. Like Wayne said, if I don't do nothing, I'm a ball, I'm counting all day, like the clock on the wall. Now go and get your money, little duffel bag boy. But I mean, shit, like we say shit. I'm I'm chasing that bag, I'm chasing that duffel, I'm chasing that grind, I'm chasing that hustle. I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm hungry. I'm I want to eat. Because if I I mean if I'm pretending, I'm not shit. I don't want my I don't want no better for myself. I'm I'm happy for where I'm at. I'm content. I'm satisfied. There's nothing that you can tell me that will change my vision on anything. Except for shit, I'm existing. Man, I don't want to exist. I want to chase that bag. That's like, okay, like this is a little secret about me. I like plants. I like my I like my lilies. I just order some elephant ears. And it's like, if I if I was out there earlier in my garden, yeah. My little ass in the garden, got them using my fish fertilizer and all that because I want to see some future of my labor flourish. I want to see them grow. I want to see them explode. I want to see them so I can see what my energy that I put in flourish to where it's like, shh, that's

Put In Work, Watch It Grow

SPEAKER_01 22:10

dope. I like that shit. I like to see it grow. I like to see it goddamn explode. I like to see like the fruits of my labor flourish. But that's like a job. If I'm if I'm grinding, grinding, grinding, trying to make myself better, taking this train, taking this training, taking this class, taking that class, shit. Next thing no, a position open up to where I can apply for and I get it. Shit. Hell yeah, I did that shit. I did that. It ain't always gotta be monetary. That's like my son today. He called me yesterday. Told me my son, Daddy, you gonna make it to my man? I'm I'm sitting up here conflicted because I wanna be there to watch him play baseball. I wanna see you grow. I want to see you flourish. I want to see you chase that bag. But I can't be there because he knows I gotta work, I got bills to pay. He's playing football. That's like my other sons, my other kids. I want to see them flourishing whatever they f whatever they chase. That's like I'm on my son, one of my other sons' ass, um because he is trying to start a clothing brand. If I learn something, the easiest way for me to learn is to push it to you. Because knowledge is more valuable than anything. Knowledge, time. It holds more value than money. You just can't spend it. Well, I mean, you can spend time, but you can't put a price on it. I mean, shit. I mean, sometimes we put a price on shit. I mean, just like prostitution shit. I'm gonna I'ma used to spend $40 for a little da-da-da-da-da. But it is what it is. Nowadays, motherfuckers want $200 for a goddamn quick out. $200? Shit, I'm just trying to figure out what the fuck you about to give me so I can end up in this clinic. Um, but that's where we're at. And a lot of realization comes when you meet individuals when they are pretending and or they're true hustlers. Or let's let's go ahead and break it down. They pretend they want you, but don't really. But that's all I gotta say for today for the episodes. Let me go get my ass in the shower. But thank y'all for listening to four steppers only. We out. Peace.