Kind: captions
Language: en
everybody Welcome to impact Theory
you're here because like me you believe
that human potential is nearly Limitless
but you know that having potential is
not the same is actually doing something
with it so our goal with this show and
Company is to introduce you to the
people and ideas that are going to help
you actually execute on your dreams
today's guest is a musical Legend who's
been shaping the world of music for more
than 20 years he sold roughly 9 million
albums as a solo artist 22 million
albums as the founder and guiding member
of the seminal group The Fuji and
collectively over 100 million records
when you tally everything he's produced
for himself and others he has worked
with a ridiculous list of artists
including avichi TI Michael Jackson
Shakira Whitney Houston Santana
Destiny's Child and Tom Jones to
seriously name just a few along the way
he's racked up three Grammy Awards seen
the Fuji album The Score certified six
times platinum and ended up on the cover
of Rolling Stones top 50 hip hop players
Edition and to top it all off his song
hips don't lie which he wrote for
Shakira is the most played song of all
time but what makes him really
fascinating to me is that his impact has
been felt well beyond the world of music
not only has he been a Guiding Light to
millions of immigrants and aspiring
artists but he's put himself on the
front line of Aid work in Haiti by
creating a foundation designed to
empower Haitians to really understand
the ground level gritty ass impact that
he and his team have had you must must
read his jaw dropping autobiography
purpose an immigrant story it is [ __ ]
crazy all right having returned now his
sites back to music he is hard at work
crafting his latest solo project out
this summer titled Carnival 3 road to
cocation please help me in welcoming The
Immigrant Son of a Preacher who once ran
for president of Haiti the incomparable
wlef
John thank
you
man thank you Superman lives man
Superman lives in you my friend Superman
lives man well thank you so much for
being here today thank you man and
really it's one of those things I'm sure
you get this as an artist there's
sometimes a a feeling that you have
that's really really hard to put in
words and the gratitude that this entire
team has when Christopher announced that
you were coming on we started blasting
the the Fuji until November and like the
whole house was just like everybody was
really excited in the crib crunk exactly
got you man exactly the thing that
resonates with us and I think the thing
that will really resonate with our
audience is the basement years and you
know coming here at 9 sort of on the
cusp of 10 from Haiti having lived
without your parents who had come to
America almost 10 years before you right
yeah um that had to just be brutally
difficult and what you've turned out of
that is is incredible what was that like
um being an immigrant and then trying to
make a name for yourself well I mean I
was born in Haiti in a small um Village
um and the imagine a place so no El
electricity uh no running water and
similar to the movie um SLO Slum Dog
Millionaire um we have what's called a
ravine a ravine that's where you use the
bathroom so
um one uniform for the whole year you
feel me wow one pair of shoes at times
you take a donkey to school for me it's
it was a a culture shock right cuz you
go from that and then uh the next thing
you know you land in the middle of
Brooklyn m um it was the it was just a
different reality cuz my parents left me
at a young age when I was one I was
raised with my aunt so they come and get
you like N9 years going on 10 years
later and um and me and my brothers at
an airport for the first time in our
life so can you imagine that what that
plane looks like to us cuz from the
village when we used to see that plane
so high in the air we used to think that
it was giant Birds yeah one of my
favorite stories from your autobiography
is when you were saying that so your
aunt would say hey these presents are
from your mom and dad in America and you
didn't believe that you actually had a
mom and dad it was easier for you to
believe that your parents were Santa
Claus yeah than that you actually had
parents in America oh yeah definitely
cuz when you in the village and they're
like okay this bicycle was sent to you
by your mama in America in your brain
you
thinking um imaginary friend you're like
yeah yeah yeah yeah my mom in America so
almost like you're thinking like they're
saying this because in your reality in
your brain if you had a mom there's no
way that your mom would have you
basically in this Village um you know
growing up like this so um so you're
thinking maybe your aunt or maybe your
mom who's your aunt basically got you
this gift in trying to make you feel
good yeah right yeah yeah that I mean
that really gave me a sense of you know
how um different it must have been and
because you don't have an accent I think
it's easy for people to forget that you
spent a long time before you came to
America yeah you know I I do have an
accent but the problem is I don't put
the accent on you know but when I first
come to America I can't speak English
this is the accent this is how the Asian
talk you know we come and this is just
how we talk you know we don't know how
to speak English the way you know I
learn how to speak English is you know
when I'm in the projects I sit in the
projects one day I hear out outside and
I hear this thing
go you know and then you're trying to so
I'm trying to hear the words and then
you know the words are like
hop you don't stop
direct and literally you start to learn
English through the slang that you
hearing coming out of the music of the
streets walking around you know what I
mean and um and then eventually like as
the years get older it's not that you
don't have an accent but there's a way
where you can pull it out or pull it
back in because you've lived here so
long most kids I would say if you're
north of seven or eight when you come
you're almost certainly going to have an
accent so when I heard how old you are I
was really really surprised in the
beginning did you feel like you were
putting on an American accent yes
because I used to watch television like
my dad in the hood in America was in a
project he had one television with a
antenna in it you know what I'm saying
uh the antenna was a clothes hanger you
feel me we was only allowed to watch at
times cowboy movies and uh uh Sesame
Street so the the the TV stayed on PBS
and every show we learned so um I
learned like watching like the Muppet
Show hey my name is Kermit so I learned
how to do the Kermit voice and talk like
Kermit so automatically you learning
this you're watching this and
subconsciously like you're picking up
the language it's really interesting one
of the notes that I took about you as I
was doing the research is you have an
uncanny ability to do Impressions do you
think that's tied your musicality like
it's very interesting and very unique so
I was always like the kid that no matter
how bad the day is I'm going to make
everybody feel good um I I just loved
the characters playing them back for my
friends and making them laugh it was
sort of like when I came around it was a
way of making everyone forgot where they
were at and that they were in a good
place subconsciously you know it's
interesting because watching that play
out one of the things that I would say
is your Hallmark is you're so eclectic
right so your sound is global uh it's
impossible to put you in a box you
listen to an album you're going to go
everywhere sonically um which clearly is
uh you had said you know after um the
score sold 22 million albums you were
actually tense because now you were a
pop star and you wanted to get to
something really really artistic again
um and did the carnival was the next
right so one walk us through that
mentality of the of bringing all these
disperate things together which you seem
like you watch a lot and then assimilate
all the different useful pieces yeah
definitely so so the the musicality
aspect of it it's it all starts in that
small village you know so you wake up
every day um you can hear so the rooster
wake you up and the rooster has a note
you know what I mean then you you go
outside the wind has another note and
lightning and thunder has another note
so you adapt to Nature so then by the
time I got to the states I always say
like the orchestra lived in my brain so
my daddy started a church in the hood so
basically in the apartment where he
started the church um I was one
Christmas he bought us um a bunch of
instruments my dad did not want us
listening to rap music because he felt
that his exact words was it was drug
dealer music and I didn't want y'all to
get involved in it um he did not want us
listening to pop music so anything that
was on radio we could not listen to it
the station we could have listened to
was called family radio so Family Radio
was playing everything had to be God and
church related so then we fell in love
with a band called Petra cuz Petra yeah
a Christian rock man yeah for sure and
if Petra is watching this it's too
late for Annie like they're like holy
crap our music so so Petra started this
whole eclectic thing being that we
couldn't listen to nothing Petra was the
closest thing to the police
synchronicity that we was going to get
at the time cuz we Ain know who the
police was so in the church we was like
yo so if Daddy let us listen to this
maybe we could start off with a
Christian rock
sound and we was like okay now that we
start off with a Christian rock sound I
said I got an idea nobody in this church
speak English anyway so what we'll do is
we going to learn all of the pop songs
that Daddy don't want us to listen to we
going to learn Michael Jackson liono
Richie the police and then they don't
speak English all they know is a few
English words so every English words
they know it's four of them we'll put
them in the song so we put Jes Jus
Allelujah Devil's a liar and one other
so the thing
is so it's like so it don't matter where
you going the rule that I came up with
is every eight baross just make sure one
of them key words is in there so we be
like um so you say I got a ugly face man
I got no
worries
Hallelujah for
Jesus you know um we had another
one all night long all night all night
for Jesus
chist so we
was that's awesome so we came up with
this format where now from this my
brother his uh name is Samuel the second
one he started getting hold of these
cassettes and he started bringing them
and he was like yo this is it was a
white tape with with black markings on
it it was a cassette and I was like
what's this he said yo this the police
synchronicity he said they better than
Petra but don't let Dad listen to this
so my first CD was like police
synchronicity then he bought me Pink
Floyd so while all of this is going on
um I was taping sneaking and taping
stuff off of KISS FM DJ R alert and
making these tapes and then at night I
would be listening to the
rappers so while all this is going on
outside on the Block because you're
going to leave the house now you're
going to walk down the street Maro
projects was the most craziest project
at the time bodies on the roof every
month there's a body on the roof so
you're automatically going to be part of
a gang so my man Jeffrey used to be on
the street and I used to see him battle
rapping and I just was like yo what's
that cuz it looked like two guys
literally was about to
fight he was like nah it's called battle
rap and so I fell in love with the idea
of like wow war of words so then um
being that I couldn't speak English I
could memorize things so I started
memorizing everybody's Battle Raps like
I would listen to like Coogi rap cuz
they're being recorded no because they
had on the radio they would be playing
coochi Rap so I would record all this
then in a battle rap competition I would
show up and then I would be it was like
what is the English word called plagi
ISM when you take someone else's so I
basically was doing COI rap and everyone
was like yo this this kid's a spitter yo
like oh man he that young and that mean
um and I got away with it for like two
months
till till of course you know there was
another kid
who obviously he was listening to the
same stuff as me yeah he was
like yo
man you biting man
and I'm like uh what's that biting you
you biting man you bit somebody else's
lyrics that was my first time
understanding oh that means biting means
you're taking out somebody else and yeah
that's Coogi rap man get out of here man
you a fraud man so now I'm kicked out of
the cipher you know now I go back in my
house I'm devastated at this point you
know and then I take up my little pencil
and then I start to write my name is
Nelly Nell in the place to be I'm
rocking on the mic so viciously you know
you
start and so this started this this this
obsession with just words and constantly
wanting to write words and then I would
put the pen down and just start to
memorize and while all this is going on
my mom's in the house on Sunday and it's
like you know the Devil Went Down to
Georgia to find a soda stale and she's
listening to Charlie Daniels you know
and so all I could couldn't even it was
so much different kind of music um by
the time I got to high school now I was
playing like seven or eight instruments
wow and um and then I was s all self
taught yeah all all just like I could
just hear it in my brain you know what I
mean um and I tell people this is a a
funny story I said if you want to know
how deep I am in the culture the first
person who did my demo was Curtis blow
wow I was like 15 and then I said the
first music video I ever appeared on I
was an extra for Eric being and rockim I
love that don't sweat the technique so
when I show up at music videos I spend
one hour talking to the extras about how
important your role is because I was
like yo if y'all go back in rock cam
Rock cam a even know who I was but I was
such a good extra I think I got more
shots than Rock
so so so you got all of this stuff going
on in high school
I got introduced to Jazz and I felt deep
into jazz and became like a jazz major
and I would say the Jazz shaped my brain
up in the form of a Orchestra now I was
learning the discipline of the music and
when people was listening to Michael
Jackson I was like who's Quincy Jones
wanted to be like Q so by the time I'm
17 I just have so much music in my brain
where it's not categorized like I didn't
understand this has to be hip-hop this
has to be country this has to be Ro I
didn't know what that mean it's sort of
like I I I grew up like my daughter's
growing up right now at 11 where she can
go from Jay-Z to cplay cplay to Dylan
Dylan the aait Gerald and it all seems
normal for her you know yeah that it's
really fascinating one thing I don't
want people to lose sight of is that
during this time as you're collecting
all this eclectic music as you've got
all these instruments in your hands and
you're you know beginning to to dabble
around that you're really going hard and
you're learning theory and you once said
to um to all the young producers out
there you don't need to want to play an
instrument but you need to learn the
theory yeah the theory is important I
would say I spent a little time with
Michael Jackson right so so let me take
you into Michael Jackson right so this
is this [ __ ] is really cool like this
is so I get a phone call
and the phone go off and as you can see
right now you could tell I'm a prankster
right I like to punk my friends I'm the
original Ashton cusher right tell so so
my phone goes off and I pick it up so
keep in mind it's them old school big
drug dealer phones you know what I mean
them El Chapo phones you know like yo
what's up man you know what I'm
say it's like yo he's like um hi can I
speak to W like yeah this W this Michael
Jackson
man the [ __ ] out of
here yo dude I hung up on Michael
Jackson man this is not
good so the phone goes off again man and
bang hello yo yo stop
playing and as he starts to talk holy
[ __ ] Michael Jackson real Michael
Jackson how do he convince you he was
Michael Jackson cuz it's that thing
right because reality is going to strike
you by what he starts to say because
he's like yo I'm sitting here in Asia
and I'm looking at this TV and I'm
seeing this song and out of nowhere the
airport and the violins come out Bob
Dylan's on his side wow okay and I'm
like as he starts to talk I'm freaking
out and he's like yo this gone to
November thing and um and he's like yo
I'm coming to New
York um we got a rock session you know
what I mean and it was the most incred
one of the most incredible sessions
because Michael Jackson was sitting
there right and literally as he's moving
his body it's Theory the the entire
Orchestra was in his head you know now I
encourage kids to do the same I need you
to know what Dorian means
ionian frian
melodian this right now they going to
look it up and they when they see me
they're going to be like Uncle clef I
know what Dorian is I really need you to
study this now why is this important
this is very important because music is
so vast I don't just want y'all to just
do records that's going to last 30
seconds and y'all disappear cuz that's
what happens right Quincy Jones gave me
a lot of information Stevie Wonder gave
me a lot of information so when I'm in
the studio with young
thg my job is to give him the
information it's so important that I
pass that information if I'm doing this
uh if I'm rocking with little Wayne I
got to give him that information a is
the information about the music the
theory of Music longevity in general in
the industry the information is to
understand your position within the
industry and how it's vast you can be
doing tracks for other people tracks for
yourself tracks for movies scoring films
like don't limit yourself to the
possibilities of one thing these kids
got to make a living they make a living
on what's working for the time right
that's how they moving but at the same
time I tell kids that every day the
technology changes every day the music
changes so if you want to be in
contemporary music you have to know what
is the modern software so when I was in
the studio with a vichi for example now
it's years later I never leave home
without my guitars right I'm always got
a guitar with me you know and my mom
I'mma change this cuz I used to have a
gun you feel me cuz I used to watch them
cowboy movies you know what I'm saying
to you so my mom was like you know like
if you could have a guitar it' be much
better you'll get more accomplished
right so she good tip yeah good tip
right so so now I always have a guitar
with me can you believe now I show up in
the studio with a
vichi i play live and then I mix it
aichi shows up with a
computer whoa
this is deep now it's going to be the
clash of the worlds this is information
now now we're doing a record and aichi
goes man I'm hearing a
voicing I'm hearing a Ray Charles
voicing wait wait he's on a computer and
he's telling me he's for those who don't
know what that mean by he's hearing a
voicing so if you so this is like a
voicing right so you can say 1 2 3 right
1 2 5 so together you have y do
that right I did not expect to be seen
today check that out right so that's 135
so that basically means right door right
door is one right so we have door that's
one R 2 3
me Sol so he was saying 1 3 5 and I was
like she said I'm hearing a r Char's
voicing I know no R Char's voicing is
135 cuz 135
is you got to know when to hold them
know when to fold them you know that
that's country music so he said I'm not
expecting this dude to say Ray Charles
voicing now we getting into it because
that's like you know one37 what it gets
and he goes on the computer he pulls up
the r Char's Channel and he starts to
break down the theory now through the
software and he plays the Ray Charles
thing and he goes this is how I'm
hearing it so once again he's doing the
theory but it becomes modern so if a kid
is just sitting in the school and you
just learning that and you not
understanding that the theory is
constantly changing every day then
you're going to be stuck so this is once
again I commend kids and tell them learn
the entire game you know which is very
important as much as I love the fui as
much as I love what I did one of my
favorite things was when I got a call
from Brian
graser to score the movie Life for Eddie
Murphy and Martin Lawrence then I was
able to use the side of my brain from
high school these are going to be
violins you're going to bring the
emotion so once again it's a
360 thing that I want the kids to
understand um I remember I got a call
they was like Hotel Rwanda we need you
to do the theme song I did the theme
song for Hotel Rwanda I got nominated
for a Golden Globe I was so excited I
showed up at the Golden Globe with my Tu
I was like
yo I'm about to get this Golden Globe
and um and MC Jagger beat me and um and
I was like yo if anybody's going to beat
me it has to be MC Jagger you know what
I'm saying to you but once again that's
what I want kids to understand like yo
don't limit your imagination like really
push it push it push it as far as you
can no yeah now I want to
recontextualize you because what I want
people to to see cuz this is such a
powerful story you're uh an immigrant to
the country by this point you're you
know barely speaking English you're
trying to fit in You' said at one point
I was going to learn American Music
better than the Americans so that I
could get acceptance and fit in but you
really push it hard and become truly a
student of the game like really drinking
it in and it's you know the quote from
Malcolm X knowledge is power right and
once you once people really understand
what that means and that that applies to
no matter what you want to do in fact
the first piece of business advice I
ever got from my father-in-law which I
totally ignored he said no more about a
meeting whatever that you're going into
than anyone else and I have since echoed
that with the concept of whatever you
want to do whatever your passion is to
know if it's your passion you need to be
able to answer yes to the following
question do you want to know more about
it than anyone else in the world like
once you're prepared to go down the
rabbit hole like that once you're
prepared to really 360° like you're
talking about
and get that world of knowledge in your
brain in fact this is how I interview so
I get asked all the time how I interview
and what I'm trying to do man I'm so
take you for instance I'm reading your
autobiography and you'll mention where
you grew up okay well I don't just go
past that I've never seen it before so
now I'm going to Google Earth I zoom in
I look at the blue tarp roofs in the
areas you know that are the hardcore
slums and I really get a sense of where
you grew up okay so now I come back out
you mentioned a song I actually haven't
heard that song so now I'm going to go
play that song right so that by the time
you and I sit down like I know your
Universe I know the Impressions that you
can do I know what your dad sounds like
I know about the rap battling and you
know so that now it's like wherever you
want to go right so I'm in this umelt
that is you wherever you want to go I'm
right there with you I know where you're
trying to go because I understand that
now we can take it somewhere useful
because I can go in any direction I know
the theory so anybody who's watching
this and there's so many people that
they want to be successful at whatever A
lot of them I'm sure want to be
successful in music but that's certainly
not the only
thing what are the secrets to getting
great when I bring an artist to the
studio whether if it's Shakira who I
have a real simple question whether if
it's Whitney us just tell me what you
want if you want to hit song just tell
me cuz a lot of people ain't honest with
their self about what they really want
so anything you want you can get but you
you have to be honest about it and this
is really what I encourage people to do
and in order to be successful at
anything it has to be what you truly
love cuz if you don't love it and you
ain't willing to die for it don't do it
right sometimes you have to do these
transitional jobs to get you where you
have to go to but it's okay if you got
to sell bed sheets sell these bed sheets
do what you have to do do it with pride
but at the same time do not let any job
that you do kill your dream
because the only thing that can make you
feel alive is your dream very important
I love how hard you've worked for your
dream that's one of the things that I
found so amazing we were talking before
the camera started rolling that friends
used to call you a tech nerd I believe
was the term they Ed and they got that
because you were able to break apart so
you couldn't afford sort of the
mainstream equipment right but you
didn't let that stop you uh you had one
quote where you said um we created the
score in my uncle's basement we couldn't
afford the Best Equipment but nothing
could limit our souls and Imagination
and I just thought oh my God like that's
that's the vision that I have of that
album then going on to be as exceptional
as it is you called it a a a damp Smoke
Filled basement you know where I can
just see like this dingy basement and
the three of you like knowing what you
want to bring to the world right knowing
what that piece is that you want to
create and not letting anything stop you
to the point where you are breaking the
equipment apart rebuild building it
right most people they stop it I can't
afford it right think about that they
stop it I can't afford it they don't
become you because they're not putting
in the work right they're not putting in
the work to say this is a machine that I
can afford I'm going to disassemble it
learn it figure it out listen sonically
you talked a lot about that knowing that
okay this thing that I can't afford
makes a similar tone if I do this I can
put it back through a midi and really
create this Sonic landscape yeah man I
mean one thing no one could take from us
is our mind right so
basically if you have a piece of
equipment that you want to buy that's
$25,000 you can't afford that but you
have the
brain and this thing makes sound you
automatically in your mind you has to go
well that's just
vibration he's making me pay
$25,000 for a piece of vibration so what
happens is inside of the
studio you cannot afford a fender roads
because a fender roads was too expensive
okay cool but then when I go to Sam
Ash they can't kick me out for reading
the
manual oh my God that's so smart you
know what I'm saying see you can't kick
me out for reading the manual so by the
time you figured out I don't want to buy
nothing I done computed all this
information in my brain you know what I
mean and um so there was a piece of
equipment called an aai
s900 and it's just a tone it's an
oscillator what is an oscillator it
sounds like
this wow oscillated so that means that I
could trick the human mind because if
the tone is already going
and I shorten the frequency I could
go once I midi the oscillator back now I
could cheat by using the midi and then
the oscillator is just going to register
a vibration to the human cuz the human
being don't know what the hell of Fender
roads is they don't know what that is
all they know is they can relate to a
vibration m and as long as I could bring
them that
vibration that's when I know I got them
so for every part of the score where we
couldn't Fe feed that afford that piece
of equipment I just recreated the
vibration it's amazing so take us back
to the the basement your first album is
people aren't ready for it right doesn't
hit how do you guys have the courage to
put out the second album to DARE so I
mean to you created one of the most most
memorable albums of all time like how do
you have the foresight to pull that off
coming off of what was a commercial
failure so a product manager gets us in
with this gentleman by the name of Salam
Remy this is an important name because
if you're watching the Amy Wine House
documentary Amy calls up Salam Remy and
she's like Salam I got these ideas in my
head and she calls him the Sensei so me
and Salam we meet each other young at a
young age Salam is doing all the hits
he's barely 20 wow looking like a baby
and he heard about me and he was like
look this is the
problem y'all just too
talented like we what do we what's the
target this is so important when you
enter in a market you have to have a
strategic point that you want to hit and
be able to grow that's what any form of
business it's just logic and salam's
like y'all hip hoppers y'all rappers
this dude's from the Hut you from the
suburbs you
from this [ __ ] got to be some
knucklehead [ __ ] first we got until we
until the Knuckleheads understand that
y'all Knuckleheads we can't go past this
point so by the time it was time to do
the score
now it was just like we knew where we
had to be M and we knew that so Fuji is
short for refugees
and we just knew
that whatever we did we made this oath
got to be bigger than the music it has
to be a movement so in that basement we
knew that we would create a movement so
that's why we call it the score so we
said we was coming to settle the score
because you missed out on the first
album you missed on what we was trying
to say so we'll be back to settle the
score and then because of of the touring
the traveling the experience expences
everything that we went through we just
put all of this stuff the passion you
know the the the times I'm happy at
times I'm sad you know all of this we
just put all of that inside of one album
that's how the score came about wow it's
incredible album did you ever like
what's your advice to kids who think I
don't have access to the right things I
could never make that happen like what's
your advice to them well well if if
there's a kid that's saying
that they don't have access to the right
things then that kid will never make it
why do you say that do not have that
mentality do not say you don't have
access to the right things cuz that's an
automatic excuse right say that I do not
have access to the right things but
after I heard this interview if this guy
can go into Sam Ash with absolutely no
equipment and use the the manual I will
never repeat those words again I am
going to figure it out that's what I
want them to say because that is that
mentality dude where we come from you
don't have we have no time for no losers
mentality no time for no moping because
it's like if we came from
nothing and we turned it into something
we do not expect nothing less from y'all
so we are going to give you the words we
going to inspire you and because
remember right when the legions are
going to their death that night the
commander speaks and he says tonight we
all going dying in hell right if there's
one Legion out of the pack that's
like I ain't ready to die tonight you
know like you ain't going to be in that
pack so I need you to understand that
you have to make that decision and say
I'm going to do this
not I'm thinking about doing this that's
why I say you have to love it do you
love it as much as you would die for it
cuz once you do that then that anything
that you're thinking about whether if
it's writing a book whether if it's
creating invention whether if it's
flying through the air like LeBron
anything if you love it you going to be
that how did you get that
attitude you get that attitude right
there's a a a philosopher by the name of
confucious mhm confucious is deep
because the the idea of you don't know
what it's like to walk unless you you
fail like basically because I have
fallen so many
times that I appreciate walking right
cuz if you fall down and every time you
fall down you get back up and you keep
moving you fall down you get back up you
keep moving this is how we go from
crawling to walking we didn't just come
out our mama womb and was like I am
walking I am walking unless we aliens so
basically we come out and we crawling
and from crawling we walk mom was
like bang you fall right then you get
back up you fall you get back up this is
life this should be a lesson in life so
if we don't come out of our Mama's womb
running why should we think things are
going to be easy then not going to be
easy we're going to crawl we're going to
walk we're going to fall we going to
we're going to fall but man once we
figured out the balance with the right
feet and left feet nothing can stop us
that's what I want them to understand my
man yeah man how have you had the kind
of longevity that you've had how do you
stay
fresh I stay
fresh because it's all in the pulse of
the youth you have to be a culture bunny
right so if you are a sponge so if you
are a sponge for what you love you don't
have to be constantly in the Limelight
right so even if I take seven years off
in a commercial space it don't mean I
don't got Kendrick Lamar's first mixtape
you know it don't means I'm not tuning
to battle rap it doesn't mean that um I
don't know what trap is it doesn't mean
that I'm not in tune to the dances
that's going on if there's a new book or
an old book if I hear somebody talking
about man it's something called the The
Alchemist you should read it because
once you stay in tune with what you love
that means that you stay in tune with it
when you you you're inside of the
culture you do not lose the pulse
because you basically have the passion
for it the worst thing is you're not on
the
billboard your music ain't playing on
the
radio you're sitting around in a bar
you're telling people you know I used to
be that guy you know what I'm
saying [ __ ] these
man I don't even understand half of the
[ __ ] they
saying nah I mean it's like listen you
[ __ ] hasb been you have to be in the
culture to be part of the culture it all
boils down to passion passion and
understanding the cuz Quincy Jones
taught me this my defr Godfather if once
you lose the pulse of the youth you've
lost the pulse of
yourself whether if it's your greatest
philosopher or your greatest quote my
daughter she's 11 she knows about
Einstein and Einstein done been dead
long time ago what is it that makes her
want to read this cuz once
again everything whether if you're
looking at Jesus
Muhammad
Buddha Nelson Mandela Martin Luther King
Malcolm X Man it could even be a quote
from from from Kennedy it it be what we
remember is the simple stuff it's that
one line that takes us from here to
there and that one line that's the pulse
of the child and we can't never forget
that that's really powerful so one last
question
what's the impact that you want to have
on the
world well I mean the impact I want to
have on the world
is just let the tombstone read you know
that I was one that was
responsible for helping bring people
closer because at the end we're so far
apart and I felt what we continue to do
which is great is through the music
through the sports through the
technology it doesn't matter if you're
in India if you're in Africa if you're
in Brooklyn it's like as much as they
want to divide us now the Millennials
keep getting closer and closer and
closer and um just for me world peace
world love the idea of all of us living
in harmony is um perhaps the most
important thing and every human being
has to remember right so within your
existence if you are not looking out for
the next person then all you are is just
a
body right so if you're not looking out
for your next person you're just a body
because before we even was in existence
there were those that sacrificed their
self so that we can be here talking so I
just want people to know that as this
world move and it seems so
divided the Millennials are actually
getting closer and closer through the
world the the women are getting closer
there's a movement that's going on and
we all should embrace that and just keep
getting closer and closer I love it man
where can these guys find you online oh
y'all can find me online on uh wf.com
this is an exciting time so we have the
EP it's called Juve so Juve is a an
appetizer to what will be the full
length Carnival album so the best way to
explain Juve if you can't make it to the
Caribbean you know what I mean like you
like man I don't think I'm going to make
it to the Caribbean no problem just get
that juvet throw it on grab yourself a
Guinness catch a Vibe wear the Mickey
Mouse shorts with no shoes on you know
and a broomstick and a broomstick you
already so let me get them a free
concert oh my God please
um here we go so you just pick a topic
man pick anything in your head a topic
yeah I'm like David bla wow if you're
really going to let here's the one thing
I'm I'm very sad we didn't talk about in
the interview which was you going to
Haiti after the earthquake all right
let's
start going to Haiti after the
earthquake man a lot of Courage man it
took me trust me I'm that true MC after
the earthquake I landed in KT my life
started out in a small village I ate
dirt from the floor homie no kidding I
ain't had no kitchen grandma said pray
to Christ this Jesus baby bely had a bag
of rice my life started out I was bely
too Papa flew to the states searching
for the Golden Goose no work papers
officers ra the underground they came to
get a man he took off like a greyhound
his life he got hunted like a groundhog
sting operation in the legal alien in
New York like the king my daddy had a
dream 10 years later I was sitting up in
Brooklyn fast forward the earthquake hit
the H picking up the dead no Mass up on
my face on Oprah when you see me weep
that's cuz I seen a little baby brain on
the concrete seen little boy blue lose
his legs no hospital around I watched
them bleed to death you would cry too if
you had Scarface eyes never seen a man
man CED till I seen a man die me and
Dave Chappelle I said I wanted to be
president it ain't no joke man I wanted
to be president of Haiti I wanted better
policy started yell at Haiti they tried
to J edar Hoover me those with a third
eye can see the truth through the lies
you know how it go you baptized crucify
then you rise this is my resurrection
freestyle why cleed like Tupac they
tried to get me at the intersection
satisfaction like the Rolling Stone
yeah I'm in the zone I'm in my home I've
been freestyling ever since 13 when Rock
was the microphone yeah why C I flip the
language y'all heard this before but let
me fliping in
Spanish Americans say how you doing
German people say V when I go to Germany
they say vs if you love hip hop let's
have some SP tell me baby girl V listen
my little biggie Shooters they little
like Kim man I ain't no joke but I rock
Kim I used to slap box in front of the
project elevator the way I rock a fella
you going to think I'm Sean Carter yeah
the people they like cleffy going in who
writing my [ __ ] ghost writers from
within yep told me y'all should be
reminded I'm a mother [ __ ] Fuji and
my skull has not been broken listen you
dudes are local on the Block rewind I
mean I used to be local on the block now
in My Views I'm World Star Hip Hop
rewind I used to be local on the block
now My Views World Star Hip Hop Q rest
in peace why C je I'm in a place well
known getting busy on the microphone
girls on the side and they all night
they head some love the ballhead and
some miss the dread
that was [ __ ]
incredible
wow
wow that that was amazing man I cannot
thank you enough for sharing with us
that was incredible thank you um I've
got to give you a proper outro here I've
got to tell these people what I hope
they just saw is the same thing that I
just saw boys and girls this is the Quin
essential immigrant story of somebody
who picked himself up by the bootstraps
when he didn't even have any boots who
saw a drum that his grandmother wouldn't
let him play that had a [ __ ] snake in
it they took it away God if I could keep
rhyming I
would but they really did take the drum
from him he sneaks out in the middle of
the night goes grabs that thing that
began his obsession with music and
Obsession that would take him to the
absolute Heights of the universe but in
the middle of all of that he has a quote
where he's talking about the day that I
show up and say I've already written 50
songs that I already know how to play
the piano I already know how to play the
guitar on that day if I ever say that
know that I'm finished and that is
something that you will never hear him
say but hearing the Tale in his
autobiography about his time in Haiti
about picking up so many bodies that his
hands started to burn from all the
toxins that were coming off because they
were decomposing but he kept going how
he lost friends that he knew and loved
how people in the middle of the chaos
we're getting shot and through all of
that he comes out the other side wanting
to be the president of Haiti how many of
us have the balls to say that is it a
surprise that this man with that mindset
wrote one of the greatest albums of all
time from a basement certainly not
surprising to me you guys can do
anything you set your mind to he is the
American dream he's proven all you need
to do is go read the manual and then put
your ass to work
boys and girls please help me one more
time in thanking this man y clef Jean
for showing
up amazing
man hey everybody thanks so much for
joining us for another episode of impact
theory if this content is adding value
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[Music]
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