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Let us know your thoughts about Milwaukee businesses or businesses in general.
You know, your cousin business.
You know, how do you feel?
You know, there's nothing more than I take.
There's nothing more I take pride in than being able to shop in the inner city of Milwaukee.
Last year, I did last summer.
It wasn't even intentional, but I wish it would have been.
I wasn't living here and I came back home to visit and I was staying at my home girl house, which was on the east side, like closer to the river west.
I was like, yeah, we should just spend a day just walking around Brownsville.
You know what I'm saying?
Just like.
Going to eat going shopping doing this doing that I'm not driving but like walking uberin and it was the bomb like I'm talking an Amazing feeling you can go here and go eat you can go here and go shop you can go to the museum You know they're baby you it's the same thing and baby you third Ward like there's just so many I love to see the influx of businesses that we have in the city and how it's consistently building up
what I would love to see more of is diverse.
I feel like we have enough restaurants, we have enough lounges, we have enough estheticians, and you know, I would like to see things
that- I'd like to see more street vendors.
I would like to see more street vendors and more clothing boutiques.
Like just, you know, you go out of town, you know, like outdoor markets, you able to buy stuff.
Yeah.
you know, like random stuff, like anybody able to set up a booth.
I think having areas like that, a kind of infuse the community a little bit more rather than just waiting on the festival or waiting for a holiday to be able to offer, you know, like them type of things, you know what I mean?
Or just a special event to have vendors there.
Like I think it should be an area to where we know and like vendors be at, you know what I mean?
You able to take, I'm able to, you know, build my daughter or sons up.
Through a business as a vendor, you know, I mean
after the pandemic the brick and mortar Didn't really like exist like that and it's really kind of not safe You know because anything can happen.
So to your point having pop-ups with multiple vendors like I think that's more realistic and more modern versus just
People who start in businesses and automatically think they have to go find a retail space Yeah, you know there should be opportunity to where you know that this particular business and they may be a home-based business But they have whatever it is they the supply they have is something you need But you know on this date at this time almost like the farmers market.
Yeah, they're going to be there selling whatever
I mean something like that like give it a feel of the farmers market to where like I see a vendor a
or two while I'm riding and it just be like, you know, if there was more, I would have stopped.
Instead of just that one, there was more, you know, four or five, maybe 10, you could stop and check them out, you know, or it just even where somebody could just like...
If you is one rummage sale, if it was a block full of rummages, you'd probably be like, okay, let me stop and see what they got.
You
know what I mean?
So what is something we don't have business-wise in Milwaukee that you would
like to see us?
I mean outside, but I mean like a specific type of business or a specific?
A specific type of business?
That we
don't have enough of?
No, I think we, I mean, it's just maybe so far.
I mean, maybe...
not in Milwaukee, it's probably in the metropolitan area, but it's not in Milwaukee.
But I just feel like we need, we need more of just a well-rounded option instead of like, you know, the mall style stores.
Or fashion.
Yeah, mall style stores or even like the third street market is kind of a perfect example of what I'm talking about, but just more outdoorsy feel.
I seen this idea where it was just like,
a food truck, um, a food truck, um, like a food truck part.
Yeah.
Like how they have on, um, South Fifth Street.
Yeah.
That's fire.
And that they have that at, uh, the Cool Bridge too.
I think that's dope.
That's dope.
I think I should, we should have more of those.
Shout out to the chat
and shout out to Anita.
She said, you have to bring a corporate mindset when running a business.
Absolutely.
And that's the thing.
A lot of people who are starting businesses.
So again, I have grace because I understand that, you know, they could be doing something else.
It's just the fact that it takes a lot to even start a business and try to learn how to, especially when you are not business savvy and don't come from it.
But
my, so the thing, the issue is in starting the business, the issue is to your point, Anita, having that corporate mind frame, professional development, personality.
test, you know, figuring out how to properly lead and who's great at this and who's great at that, learning how to delegate, learning how to properly do accounting, learning how to market and brand, you know, like having these people in these positions is the only way you're going to have a successful business.
So, yeah.
I mean, but at the same time, we got to know our people.
We got to know we are the disadvantage.
when they come to school, the resources that we're putting out here, we not even receiving them back
through
the government, through whatever channel we giving it to, you know what I mean?
So, I mean, whether it's through your district, through the government, through the state, it's like we're putting so much out as a community that we still don't get or receive enough back to even kind of like,
Flourish these ideas.
One thing I will say is I think what separates Milwaukee from other cities and states when it comes to being able to own a business is the accessibility of the elected officials in the seat.
Like you literally can, not all of them, but majority of them, you literally can contact them and have them assist you with opening up your business where there's not a lot of red tape unless you're in certain parts of the city.
But for the most part, um, it's one call away.
You're able to sit down and have the conversation and they can tell you whether or not they feel like it's going to be successful
in
their district because they know their constituents.
Yeah.
Then it's like, uh, you know, we see all the businesses closing down, you know, all the big company, big name companies, like do that, make it more difficult for you
to open up your
business, open up a business on that side of town, or say if we want to open up a grocery store, like, would they even allow that?
Like how much of that process we gotta go through based on pick and save, removing four of them.
Now we gotta have even more validation that we're gonna keep ours here and y'all just let them remove theirs.
To that point, right, you just sparked something in my brain.
To that point, all of these pharmaceutical companies closing, war grains then closing, all of the inner cities, not all of them, but majority of them.
Even Dr. Carter's, rest his soul, his story that has been a pillar in the community for so many years is gone.
When you go inside of a CVS of Walgreens, I'm gonna keep it funky.
Majority, and I used to be a pharmacy tech, majority of the pharmacy techs are black women.
Why are we not opening up our own pharmacies?
I mean, because you have to open up your own drug company.
Why aren't we doing it?
Dr. Carter did it.
I mean, it just, to Black folks or to our community, it just kind of, you know, we kind of with the quick book.
We kind of take too long to get whatever we got to get to do that.
That's just in my mind.
That's how I'm thinking.
It takes too long.
Yeah,
but
does it take longer to work collectively to do it?
No, because you're right.
You have to go to school to be pharmacists, right?
And this is the play that I'm setting up in my head, right?
If you...
What is what takes longer to work a job and then team up with other people in that arena to open up your and this is just an example the pharmacy store to open up your own pharmacy store or To work your entire life as a pharmacy tech at Walgreens waiting on Social Security in your pension and retiring from there.
You get what I'm saying Why not utilize that to if you see that there is a demand and you're already in position.
That's what I'm saying
And that that's across the board in any arena.
If you're already in position, if I am a pharmacy technician, again, this is an example, but it's it's facts as well.
If I am a pharmacy technician and I've been on my job for more than two to three years, I'm around a pharmacist, so I know what it takes to become one.
Not only that, I have my peers that I'm cool with, right?
Somebody should be going to school to be a pharmacist.
Somebody should be going to school for real estate development.
Somebody should be going to school for business management.
Somebody should be going to school or investing learning how to invest or stocks and bonds and you put it together and that's how you're able to defeat because you have the money.
The only thing that really stopped us is not the education.
It's the money.
We don't never really have the funding like our own funding to open up companies like this.
We always have to go outside and find an investor that does not come from where we come from.
So if you're again to the point.
If you're in position already and you see that there is a demand in your community, act on it.
Build towards that.
You know how if how many people that's a pharmacy technician, if they had all of this planned out by the time all these Walgreens clothes and Dr. Carter's clothes, they could have got got those builders and started their own.
Yeah, I mean, we've been knowing they was closing for a minute to where it's like, you know, all these complaints or people mad in our community about.
them closing or this and that.
How are we supposed to get food or this and that?
Yes.
Ain't nobody go to the farm and start their own little grocery store.
Ain't nobody really figure out, okay, how do we get drugs or how do we do the insurance thing from the pharmacy?
Ain't nobody really doing the research.
They just want to complain.
They just want to complain.
Which is cool.
On
top of that.
I'll complain too if I was.
There's multiple contracts, transportation contracts.
in the city of Milwaukee for people to transport pharmaceutical items to and from the hospitals, to the store, so on and so on.
So again, it's just a hypothetical analogy.
However, it does apply because when you are throughout the entire city of Milwaukee, you see this.
So to that point, again, anyone who's already a business owner or wants to become one, look at the demand.
There's such a huge demand in Milwaukee.
And if you're constantly open up, I want to be a lash tech.
I want to be a musician.
I want to be a part.
We got enough.
We got to listen.
When I got back here, I gained like 20 pounds because there's so many restaurants.
I don't need no more food.
I don't need no more food.
We need other options.
Like what a fitness
fitness.
Like a fitness outreach thing.
For people that's coming from out of town, that's moving here.
I'm just saying.
Don't fall for
the truth.
Where's the gym?
Where's the gyms?
We most definitely need more businesses as it pertains to fashion.
And shout out to Chrissy.
She used to own, I think it was called Rose, the boutique.
And it was so fly.
And I was like, I wish we could have more of this.
So again, when you starting a business here, think about the
demand.
That's going to also help you get funding statewide, county-wise, city-wise.
And then put your people through professional development because I'm telling you, if I walk in your business as a customer, I don't care if I know you if you black.
If your customer service is off, the reason why I go to Covers, I don't even like fast food.
But if I want some ice cream, I go to Covers because they so nice and Chick-fil-A.
They customer services, they get you in and out.
I don't like waiting.
I mean, it's mostly youth.
It is.
Which is crazy.
It is.
But they're so kind.
They are very, very kind people.
I would spend my money any given day in an establishment where I feel like I'm having a great experience, right?
Do not touch that, Dad.
We got to go to break the pay some bills.
It's your girl, Jazz Tyler Digi Meach.
We are live in Zalrec.
101.7 is truth.
One-on-one point seven the truth is your girl jazz Tyler did you meet we are live and direct We are talking businesses Preferably Milwaukee businesses black and brown businesses professional development the man is supply all of the above Shout out to the chat.
Shout out to Anita Nicole.
We got Anita on the line.
Are you there?
Hello, how you all doing today?
We doing good.
Thank you so much for calling in we always see you on the chat, but it's good to hear your voice
Yeah, yeah, so you kind of my wheelhouse of discussion today, so I figured I would call in on the topic so So I appreciate you all with this topic Absolutely, so really yeah, so when it comes to you know businesses I always tell people
It's two type of businesses and it's two types of pursuing whatever it is that you want to pursue.
And I always say, it's the corporate mindset or the hustle mindset.
The hustle mindset is to make a quick dollar, hurry up and do it, you know, try to have some longevity rolling the dice.
But if you have a corporate mindset, you go on.
You know, you will lay out the strategic plan and try to figure out longevity in terms of where do you want to go?
Where do you want to be?
And I always say, just in my own experience, what was important for me is to always have a seat at the table and to shadow everybody and anything in a corporation.
Learn all the crafts and crevices.
Be a fly on a wall.
And, you know, those that know me,
they know that I'm usually the only black woman in the room, the only black person in the room.
I really don't really talk about what I do too much because I like to always keep my seat at the table, bring information back to the community so we can build and grow.
I don't hang my hat on, oh, you know, when I ran a business, I already have another business.
I don't say, you know, I'm a black on this, I'm a black on that.
like you all were talking about me, like you said, that's just a given.
So you have to present yourself in a diversified format because when you go out saying, I'm black this, I'm black that, then you put yourself in a box.
Then you can't think bigger than just being in this box.
And I know it sounds crazy how I'm putting it, but I'm trying to just say it in the most shortest format possible for the sake of time.
But what I would encourage people to do is to learn how to follow first, find that person.
Someone approached me one day, they said, I want to raise, I want to raise, I want to raise.
I said, did you ask for a raise or did you ask to learn more?
Because sometimes you need to ask to learn more before you ask for the raise and then the raise is a given.
But if you grind it out and say, I want to learn more, teach me how to do this, I want to know the company.
from the bottom to the top, and you really get into the intricate weeds of a business, then you can take that information, you can get your raise, and then on the side, you can start working on your own business, but always keep a seat at the table, always have a mentor, always try to learn.
If you look at the restaurant industry when it comes to chains of restaurants, what you're going to find is that a lot of people who branch out and have a franchise are people that worked at the restaurant, worked at McDonald's.
learned it all the way from mopping the floors all the way up to management position.
And now they are they own a franchise.
Absolutely.
It's a long game and a short game.
You just got to figure out what your passion is.
And are you going to grind it out in the trenches?
So with that, I'm gonna cut myself off.
But you all have a beautiful day.
I appreciate you all.
Thank you so much, Anita.
Thank you so much for saying that.
And just to kind of double back off of what she said, right?
The importance of that is I've worked in both corporate and as an entrepreneur.
And working in corporate subconsciously, we're always, like we don't understand, we're always building someone else's company.
We're always, like she said, starting from the bottom to the top.
And it's a given, it's natural, because you wanna move up.
You wanna move up promotion-wise for income, financial reasons, but also titles, and just because you wanna be successful, right?
Why can't we do that when it comes to our businesses?
Again, not just calling yourself a black-owned business, but why can't we want to do that for our people in our own businesses as well?
It make it make sense.
I don't want to spend my whole life, or I didn't want to spend my whole life, building up someone else's brand, someone else's business, right?
That I can't leave my family.
I can't leave my children, someone else's brand.
I can't leave my children, someone else's money or business.
So whatever, what you need to do is, if you are in corporate and you want to be an entrepreneur, what you should do is,
Utilize that opportunity as a way to gain those skills.
You take those skills and then you apply those skills to your own business.
That's how you win.
It's free game.
Whatever training they have, every time when I worked for the corporate office of the cause of president, I worked for a waste management for the city of Milwaukee.
Whatever training and certificates they offered, I wanted.
Teach me everything because I know that this is going to be beneficial when I part ways and start my own business.
And then what that does is it excludes you having to pay out of pocket for certain things because now you're already in the position to be certified in what it is that you do.
So finesse their system and make it work for you.
Don't spend so many years working and working and building someone else's business up.
And then by the time you look up to start your own business, you ain't got nothing.
It's too late.
I mean, that's what black people do anyway.
That's the fact.
That's the fact.
So talking about black-owned businesses and entrepreneurship, I am excited.
We have another special guest in the building, Edwin Lee, who is actually one of my students at Howard Fuller Collegiate, Dr. Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy.
I will let him introduce himself, but just know that
This is a highly intelligent and talented young man who has such an amazing head on his shoulders.
And he is a music producer, but he's also a young entrepreneur.
He's an engineer as well.
He takes time to sit there and learn the business so that he can be successful.
What's up?
Thank
you for having me, Ms.
Jazz.
This is a crazy.
Crazy opportunity.
I never ever thought that I would be doing this.
It's
so dope.
Scoot up to the mic just a little bit.
It's okay.
I'm not gonna lie.
I never ever thought that I would be doing this.
This is like crazy to me.
It's like, you know, when
I
was your age, we used to listen to Doc Love on V100.
And I remember he came to my middle school and we used to think he was famous.
To your point, it was like a big deal.
So that warms my heart.
that you are, you know, excited to be watching you every day.
Majority of the time during the school year, but it still warms my heart to see that you're excited to join us today.
So
I don't get to like do stuff like this.
I'm normally like I'm normally in the house and when I do get out of the house, I'm out with my friends or we going to the mall.
Yeah, we just get food, look around for the next thing we want to buy next time we go up there and leave.
Yes, I don't get to do stuff like this.
And this is like really.
This is really like, this is shocking to me.
I never thought that I would be here.
And what you hear?
Never thought that I would be here and I give thanks to God for giving me the opportunity to be here.
Absolutely, absolutely.
So we are talking businesses and before we go into some of the things that I teach you all when it comes to music and just the business and entrepreneurship, I want you to tell the listeners who you are, your age, your grade.
what it is that you do and how you got to where you are.
Okay.
So my
name is
Edwin.
Edwin.
And my artist name is Mae, but it's spelled M-2-Y-E.
I got that name because I'm born in Mae on May 2nd.
Okay.
The second day of May.
How old are you?
I'm 16.
16.
I just turned 16 last month.
So you're going into your junior year.
Yup.
Okay.
I had got into making music.
I had got into making music from a class mix-up on my first year of school, freshman year.
Got into making music
from a class mix-up on the first day of school.
A class
mix-up?
So you wasn't even supposed to be in that class?
Not at all.
Not at all.
On the first day of school, freshman year, I had two classes.
I had two of the same classes back to back.
So I had one to the I want to have had one to that class the first time.
And then the bell rang, but I had to class right after that.
So I just sat in there and then she did attendance again.
She said, you're not supposed to be in here.
So she said, you got to go.
So I'm like, OK.
And then a teacher, a teacher had got me.
She said, you're not supposed to be in that class.
I said, no, she just told me to get out.
So she said, come with me.
So we walking around the halls, collecting students and she like, you want to go to the studio?
I'm like, sure.
So we meet, we go to the studio, we meet the studio teacher.
It looked nice in there.
And he's showing us stuff that we could do in there.
And I'm like, wow, this is nice.
Before
that, were you doing music?
Not at all.
I was just listening to music.
I never thought that I'd be doing this.
And I got into this from a class mix up.
Yeah.
That's how you know that I was God.
Absolutely, absolutely.
So what is your, some of the things that...
So what do you do first and foremost before we go into the business aspect of it?
What is it that you do in the studio?
Um, I'm a producer and engineer.
I make my beats from scratch.
I really don't sample like that.
And I also record myself and I record others too.
Absolutely.
Yep.
And fire.
So do you know, do y'all know who this is?
So who is that?
Me.
Me.
Absolutely.
Right.
So meet fire.
I mean fire, right?
What is your experience so far as a producer and engineer when it comes to the business side of things?
Like
what's something
we've done at Knows For Knows, some people we brought and some things that has happened.
So the first big thing that happened for me was when Cuckoo Cow had went up there and.
I'm showing off beats, and I'm making these beats for another student.
I'm making these beats for Darius.
He
can
get on
them.
It's my partner in crime when it comes
down to music.
I'm making these beats for him.
And I'm like, this beat's tough.
I'm gonna show it to Cal anyway.
I show it to him to let him know what I can do.
And at the end, we take a picture, and then we walk out.
And then I'm in my class.
I get pulled out of class.
And he said, he said, cow on one of your beats, man.
It's gonna be big, man.
Cow on one of your beats, man.
We the
hallway.
He said, man, Mike, we on.
Basically.
Oh,
man.
Like, I'm talking amazing.
Listen, we got special guests in the building, Edwin Lee, A.K.A.
May, and Baby Debo.
Darius Ashford is in the building.
Students at Howard Fuller Collegiate Academy, stay tuned.
Do not touch that dial.
We will be right back, 101.7 of Truth.
We
got some we was talking business some business we got some young entrepreneurs in the building you guys met
And when Lee, AKA May, we got Darius Ashford, AKA Baby Debo in the building too.
I like that
name.
I do too.
Yeah.
I like that name.
What's up, Darius?
What's up?
It's so crazy because Darius is so silent, right?
But when he played the song in the studio, I was like, this can't get right.
Ain't no way this the same person.
Yeah.
Talk about it.
Walk us through the process of how you started Darius and how you ended up linking up with Ed.
Well, I started doing music.
Actually, because I was seeing him go to the studio every day after school, it kind of motivated me and wanted me to kind of see if I could do the same thing he was doing.
And really, it just went from there.
So do you think that...
Well, first and foremost, that's dope.
Because that means that your friend inspired you.
And it all happened on an accident, right?
And
it all happened on an accident.
On a mix-up, right?
And he, wait till you hear it, you will see what I mean.
Like, they are so talented.
How did you, so prior to that, you didn't do music?
Uh, no, ma'am.
No, you had no interest in it.
Uh, no, ma'am.
See?
Man, and he's so good.
What is it that you love the most about doing music?
Being able to express myself being able to Really show how I'm feeling through my music and not really through because I'm not really a Social person so it's kind of hard for me to explain my Emotions or show my emotions to people so I do it through my music
How important is that do you think for your age your generation?
I think it's very important especially the way with my our generation is going now
Like, I think it's really important.
Absolutely, absolutely.
Meet.
I was gonna say, uh, where do y'all think the generation is going?
Um, with all the violence, I think it's headed in a, in a bad, in a, you know, a bad direction, but also there's some...
people in our generation who actually found light in our generation, who found the good aspects of our generation and was able to make better lives for themselves doing that.
So do you feel, or both of y'all, do y'all feel programs like this can help bring light to the generation?
Yes, 100%.
Definitely.
Absolutely.
So look, this is what I want to do in a real time, real moment.
I want to pour into both of y'all.
And not just because I know y'all, but I was listening to what you both said.
And I want you to know that I heard you when you said that you're not a social person.
But you speak.
When I say you speak well, it's not proper, right?
Like how someone would say, oh, you talk good to be a young black.
No, you speak well, meaning confident.
Both
of y'all do don't ever be afraid to express yourself because the way that you guys are sitting here across from us today This is practice, but it also shows a your upbringing the people that you're around Your friends your peers and how you guys influence each other So never be afraid, you know, your story is your story and your story may inspire somebody else
So
whenever you whenever you go somewhere you sit down Keep doing it man for real.
Yeah, and I think
y'all showing what delight you're talking about.
When you say that, it kind of resonates, it should resonate with our listeners and the rest of y'all peers and y'all generation and that, that you write.
Yes, absolutely.
So, we're gonna play Pape, but I want y'all to walk us to introduce it.
And then when we come back from listening to it, we're gonna have y'all walk us through the process of how it was made and what your process is.
Introduce Pape.
Well, when you say introduce, what do
you mean?
So when you introduce it, you say your name, the name of the song, and the producer.
Oh, well, the name of the song is Pape and the producer is Mae.
And who is it?
Who's song is it?
It's my Diva.
Let's go.
That's right.
Let's go.
Come on.
So deep in black trucks like the president I bought this rally from an angel, my watch heavy seen Get rich or die, try it like I'm 50 cent Black van, roll up, I'm with many men I'm the type of c***, I don't like to argue Babe, I'm a manipulator, I ain't mean to start you Baby girl, you know I'm still young, I broke a heart or two Bet it's love that get you drunk, something like Bacardi do I won't be protected, baby, I want my girl in it Mean money's paid, baby, that's a disadvantage They tried to knock me down on my back, but I'm still standing These diamonds don't
You ain't catchin' me, see me on the E-ray, even though I'm speedin' Ayy, go against the grain, it's like a million trees And stood it like a million, it's just me and E in there
You ain't catching me, see me on the E-Rave, no I'm speedin' Ayy, go against the grain, it's like committed treason, stood it like a midi Tryna run it up and buy a culley truck, I'm bootin' up I've seen you with this license, you gon' know what's up You bless me in that top 10, you know I'm one Boy, I got my education, so I can't be dark I cannot mess this up C-A-V, you know I'm smashin' hard at my own land You gon' have some consequences if you try to touch my chain Right hook, then the left towards y'all, out of frame Circle X square, I got the cheek
Cause to the game, I'm starting up a business I'm getting to these banshees, you give me out your mention We won't have no issue Con, cause I took his jake, do you need a tissue?
Feeling like I'm chump, I'm droppin' head just like a missile Is this me or E?
N-S-R-T Switchin' lanes, trackhawk, B-D-G Yo ain't catchin' me, see me on the A-R-A, you know I'm speedin'
Let's go!
What on 1.7 in truth?
That's Pete, my baby Deebo, produced
by May.
Man, listen, I'm not gonna lie.
That's what the generations like right now.
I mean, hey, look, I know exactly what's going on.
Fire.
How old are you?
There is 17.
All right, check this, right?
You have someone who just turned 16, someone who just turned 17.
And they both have mentioned what this process has done for
them.
They could be doing a million other things, but instead they in the studio.
They could be doing exactly what y'all don't want them to do.
That's what I say.
I mean, I would keep it real.
They could do exactly what you don't want them to
do.
That's right.
So Meach, as a legend in this city, especially working with young artists and discovering young artists, what is your take on what you just heard?
I
mean, I know what's going on.
I mean, it's fire.
It's fire.
I mean, especially for that generation, it's exactly what they listen to.
You know what I mean?
It's not in the context, it's in the feel of it.
You know what I'm saying?
It's the way it feels for them.
You
know what I
mean?
Now, somebody older than us might not even care for it, but they gotta know, like, it was artists that, you know, that we liked, that was given off the same, the same vibe, the same vibration.
Absolutely.
And we didn't know they background, how they came up as kids.
These young boys is telling you exactly.
what they think and
how they,
how they, how this changing like where they could be, you know, the light that's in a generation where it could be versus like what this program or being in a situation has done for them.
Like
coming like off an accident
though.
Off an accident.
We're not an accident because nothing is coincidence.
But yeah, like without it being intentional, it just happened.
And then it happened to be just raw talent that they stumbled upon from.
From my stance, and I've said this to you guys before, but the quality, like the quality of the music that they're making, it's top tier for them to be so young.
The way that he know how to place the drums, where to place them,
the
way that he actually rise the beat, because a lot of artists here sound, and it's not like they sound the same.
But his cadence, and for me as a artist, is always the delivery.
So
when you said that,
You don't know how to, you know, you're not social, you don't know how to really express yourself.
I could tell in your music, because that's when your delivery is the strongest.
And you have a very powerful voice in that beat.
Like you two are like Zay and Gucci.
You know what I'm saying?
Like it just match.
You know what I mean?
It matches.
And it's important for y'all to understand that if y'all don't know anything else, I want y'all to understand this.
I'm glad that it happened.
I'm grateful to have y'all as my students, and I'm eager to see where y'all go from here, because y'all still young.
This ain't even, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Yeah, so when people in the older generation question the influence of music, this is what it does.
This is what it does.
It gives them something to do.
Come on.
It doesn't matter the context of what they're making.
Yes.
What they could be doing besides music is what the issue is.
And to your point, Meach.
I'm gonna piggyback off of that, right?
When I piggyback because I don't like pork, but I'm gonna double back off of that.
Me personally, I get tired of the criticism because if you want them to make different music, change the environment.
As adults, we have responsibilities to change the environment.
When I was their age rapping, I'll rap about certain stuff because that's where I grew up.
That's what I've seen.
It's just like easy and everybody else were reporting live from the streets.
And let's be clear.
Nothing was wrong with what they said.
I actually think it's dope.
And I think that it matches their persona.
His name is May.
He got that vibe.
Baby Debo, he got that vibe.
And
he's not, they're not doing it in a way where they're
you know, is overly threatening or overly offensive.
I don't think the music, the context or what the music even, it doesn't matter.
If they was working on cars trying to be mechanics and they was listening to the gangsta rap music, would it matter?
Come on,
come on now.
You know what I mean?
Like with the type of music they listen to or the type of music they influenced, it would matter if they was doing something else.
That's the only thing that we're concerned about.
That's hard.
Those are not actually...
taken upon with the music that we don't want them listening to, you know, taking upon the actions of what's in the music.
That song I love, I listen to in my car.
It don't make, as an adult, it don't make me feel like a way it makes me feel like Jacket.
It makes me feel good.
It makes me feel youthful.
It makes me
want to have fun.
It goes right along with the rest of the music.
With
the rest of the music.
And I'm 38, right?
So.
Again, this is just a moment of clarity because this platform is for the youth.
Let's be clear.
And I want them to be able to A, like the number one thing that saved me and made me successful was I never stopped dreaming.
Okay.
No matter what you go through, no matter how dreaming to you delusional, because I promise you one day is going to happen.
Keep dreaming until you delusional, block out all the nonsense.
Every generation never understands the generation under them.
This ain't new, you know?
But either you are a part of the problem or the solution.
I try to understand y'all, and now I do because I sit down and have these conversations,
which
is why I invited y'all on this show.
So I want y'all to know I'm proud of y'all.
For real, I'm proud of y'all.
And we gon' get into how this song came about.
We gotta go to break to pay some bills.
Do not touch that doubt.
We got Edwin Lee, AKA May, Darius Ashford, AKA Baby Deebo in the building, 101.7 of Truth.
I had made that after
school.
I was just sitting there, Darius, in my after school teacher, Nick.
It was just talking, and I was sitting there.
Shout out to Nick Grace.
Shout out to him.
That's my God.
He the reason I made it this far.
I can't believe I ain't give him no shout
out.
He the reason I made it this far.
Shout out to him.
But him and Darius, they were sitting there talking, and I'm sitting at the big station.
I'm just putting down a melody.
And I'm like, man, this low key sound like baseball a little bit.
So I had, initially, I had a name to be MLB.
It do sound like the bass.
Wow.
I had named it MLB because it sounded like a bass ball interlude.
When they mid-game, you hear that sound?
And as they talking, I'm like, the melody done.
Time to throw some drums down.
I throw the drums down.
They
shut up.
Now they're looking at the screen.
Now
they see what I'm doing.
And I had made
that beat in like 30 minutes.
And after school, we in there for like two, three hours.
About like about two hours about two hours.
I'm ready to be in like 30 minutes while they talking and Soon as I get done with that beat He hop on and start spitting
Come on now.
Yeah,
what's your process?
Really that whole song was It was from off the top of my head and Nick had to
At first I was kind of, you know, nervous of rapping in front of Nick and it, but Nick just, he just sent me straight like, hey, it's only us in here.
So I wasn't as nervous to really rap in front of them
and,
you know, it just came out how it came
out.
Before then, have you rapped in front of anybody?
Besides...
probably freestyling on the bus in middle school my friends know but that was kind of different because like it's we all was doing
it
yeah yeah
fun yeah
that's telling raw talent natural like you can't you can't make this up how important so we know at
how we're full of right that there is you guys have a support system set in place with the adults to make sure that y'all have what y'all need.
Not just at school but outside of school.
How important is it for you guys to get the adults and the older generation to understand what you're doing and that
you
need the support?
It's very important because with the reputation that
This new younger generation is setting.
A lot of old people don't want to support.
And we have to be.
And it's it's it's hard for the ones who are different and are trying to stick out to stick out.
Because we we we like imagine in a room of kids putting their hand
up.
Yes,
teacher asked a question in a room of kids, all of them putting their hand up.
All the kids in the front got the wrong answer.
But you in the back and you got your hand
up.
But everybody he called on before you, they all said the wrong answer.
Now he getting tired of them saying the wrong
answer, so
he not going to call on nobody else.
So you in the back, you got the right answer, you know you do.
But he ain't calling on you because he tired of everybody else giving the wrong answer.
So
somehow we have to stick out and make sure that he called on us.
so that we can show him that we know what we're doing.
We got the right
answer, you know what I'm saying?
Let me ask, what does, I can say, what does the adults get wrong about your
generation?
I could say that they say that we too violent, but, you know, there's some truth to that.
But I feel like they see the violent, you know, they see the violent.
group of our generation and they group us with them.
It's like, how do you separate?
We can't separate ourselves.
They just group us all in one bunch.
Five group of kids over there, they way too violent.
These two kids right here, they the same.
They just like them.
We gonna bunch them together.
There's no
separation.
Yeah, there's no separation between them.
They look the same, so we're gonna put them in the same group.
Exactly.
Man, listen.
I appreciate that because that helps me understand y'all more as well.
Like, not just because y'all are my students, but the perspective, the analogy y'all gave is fire because that's exactly what's happening.
And we try so hard to have platforms like these so that the world can hear it, right?
Even outside of this, my call to action would be for the listeners and people out there to, whether it's them or another youth, to really take heed to what's being said, because everybody likes to talk about the problems.
This is going on.
This was on the front page of the news, da-da-da-da.
Nobody's going to the direct source.
Do y'all even consider yourself YNs?
No.
No, not at
all.
I consider
myself far away from that community.
Because I don't do the stuff that they do that puts them in that category Wearing wearing certain clothes Doing wearing certain clothes talking a certain way Talking to people a certain way and like stealing cars Being a hothead.
I'm one of the chillest people you're going to meet.
Yeah Going out being aggressive and acting like you just so arrogant you
Can't nobody touch you.
Just because you have a weapon or you got plenty of people, you could call up to handle something to me.
That is so lame.
Mm hmm.
Like if you if you can try to be grown and you know you're not, that's that's how I look at me.
If you got a problem with somebody and you can't handle you can't handle that problem one on one and you got to call people up to handle that person for you.
Yes.
Lane.
Yeah.
Like if if you want somebody fight.
or y'all threaten to fight.
And you say, I get 30 people to come up here and do you right now.
That's the way.
You can't handle it yourself.
You gotta get other people to do it for you.
Before we head out, y'all want to get some shout outs?
Definitely shout out to Nick.
Shout out to Nick
Grace.
Shout out to Nick.
Shout out to Mr. Derrick, the old studio teacher he had
gotten me in
there before.
He the reason I'm doing this now.
Shout out to God definitely.
Shout out to my big brother.
Shout
out to
my mom for even trusting me to go to the studio over the summer because if she ain't let me do that, I wouldn't be where I'm at right
now.
That's right.
Come on, man.
Let's go.
Thank you all so much for joining in and know that we're going to continue to support y'all however we can.
All right.
Tapping in tomorrow, every day Monday through Friday, 4 p.m.
to 7 p.m.
with Meach and Jazz, 101.7 to Truth.
Y'all have a safe
night.
I'm boo, never seen you with this eyes, and you gon' know it's up You place me in that top 10, you know I'm one Boy, I got my education so I can't be done I cannot mess this up C.A.
Vape, you know I'm smashing hard at my own lane You gon' have some consequences if you try to touch my chain Right hook, then the left towards y'all, out of frame Circle X square, I got the cheek cuffs to the gown Starting up a business, I'm gettin' to these binges You keep me out your mention, we won't have no issue Con, cause I took a jake, do you need a tissue?
Feelin' like I'm chump, I'm droppin' hitches
Just like a missile, it's just me and E in the SRT Switch of lines, track arc be the Jeep You ain't catchin' me, see me on the E right here, you know I'm speedin' Ayy, go against the grinders, like I'm made of treason Sewed it like a meter, it's just me and E in the SRT Switch of lines, track arc be the Jeep You ain't catchin' me, see me on the E right here, you know I'm speedin' Ayy, go against the grinders, like I'm made of treason Sewed it like a meter