we've been set up to fail AI didn't do

that people did that here's a tool for

us to solve our problems ourselves now

here we go

get the producer singer rapper this man

does it all seven time Grammy winner one

of the industries's biggest names man

that's lyrical and we started the Black

Eyed Peas no one believed in US

now we're playing Super Bowls World Cups

Grammys you have to be hyper creative

you can't grow anything without it but

there's a cost to creativity right

what's it like to be in your head are

you always thinking analyzing everything

get it get it go go make it make it

that's not good that's not healthy why

you make errors you hurt people I

remember I got into like a a dark period

when I

felt something that I've never felt

before just like

distortion

people want you to fail but the anxiety

comes when you're worried about what

people think when it's things that are

happening that you didn't control

you have to be optimistic

you have to arm yourself with optimism

and purpose

[Music]

that's what it's about that path was the

hardest path in my life

[Music]

this is a window into the mind of a

creative a Divergent an entrepreneur

artist and visionary someone we all know

but at the same time someone we don't

really know at all if you're a creative

an artist an entrepreneur or someone

with big ideas for the future or just

someone that's struggling to balance

your professional Ambitions with your

personal Pursuits

this conversation was meant to find you

enjoy

[Music]

I am fascinated with people that is why

I started doing this many years ago

because I have I've come to learn about

myself that I have a real desire to

understand people because from that I

think I can understand myself because I

think at the kind of foundational level

we're all quite similar as human beings

because we're all related if we go back

far enough so in a pursuit to understand

you I guess my first question is

um what is what is the context of will

that I need to know to understand the

man that sat here in front of me today

the earliest context the kind of kitchen

that Will was

um

was was conceived in was was cooked in

at the earliest age

you write songs no I don't I write a lot

but I don't write because you like uh I

get interviewed a lot but

very rarely do you get interviewed by

wordsmiths

um the kitchen I was stewed in I cooked

in it's pretty uh

I like the visual of that

um because the chef would be my mom

and the kitchen will be

the ghettos of East Los Angeles Boyle

Heights specifically

and that was encouragement

acknowledgment

of our individual I say our my family

like we all have our little superpower

and my superpower was creativity

and creativity has always been my

currency when I had no money I clearly

was like oh look Ma look what I made

Willy that's really good you really like

that mod yeah and I would she would

encouragement goes a long way

and then that type of encouragement from

a mom that helped create self-belief

fearlessness to express to share to go

in class and solve problems or raise my

hand I got the answer to that

um

that's really what fueled

fueled me is my mom

let Willy solve it

will he try to fix that

you know this radio is broken try to fix

it

that type of stuff my mom

salute did she know that you were

creative or was she just um putting wind

in whatever so you'd pulled up my mom

was creative my mom still is creative

she had her sewing machine she would

make her clothes to go to school

that's why most of the clothes I make is

still

um you know one-offs two of two offs I

like wearing

things that no one has because that's

how I grew up

we would go to the thrift store buy

dollar clothes or 50 Cent shirts there

will always be too big for me my mom

would fix them and turn old into new

that's that's how we lived you know will

he go to the store take this food stamp

buy me a 25 cents bubble gum

um get 75 cents back

um and then you go to different stores

do the same thing so now my mom has

coins that she could go and buy other

things with food stamps because with

food stamps you only could buy food you

can't buy needles you can't buy thread

you can't buy fabric you can't buy

appliances you only could buy food so

take this dollar give me 25 cents gum

which is food 75 cents chains back go to

different stores and do that now let's

go and buy other things

and so she'll buy those other things and

she'll make stuff for us so my mom has

always been like super ultra creative so

my mom is my biggest inspo

I've heard you refer to her as being

your mum and your dad

yeah in your household

so when you when you grew up in a

in a household whether there's only the

mom I'm like every Father's Day Happy

Father's Day Mom

thank you Willie and happy Mother's Day

Mom

in those contexts it's easy for a kid to

go one of two ways though

and I think that's what people often

don't realize is when you're in a

context where outside of the house

there's a lot of Temptations either way

but inside the house it takes a really

really strong mother if she is a single

mother to make sure she creates her own

universe so that those kids can end up

in a different place and that's what I

kind of read from a lot of the stories

of your mother is that rigor and

discipline and those values yeah there

was a we had this next door neighbor in

the projects and she couldn't read or

write

and then

people used to make fun of her

and my mom was like

now if we all went to Japan

and we had to go out there and survive

are we not smart yes we're smart

could we survive out there yes we could

can we raise kids and raise families to

go out and do awesome things in Japan in

Japan yes we could

but we will all go to Japan not being

able to read or write

so the stigma that we put on folks that

can't read and write

could they read people

yep

can they write a path to

raise folks to go out into the world to

do awesome things yes

so we value

my mom always valued

Humanity at its purest and people's

intents

um and the things they want to

accomplish before like you know cliche

setbacks or and it's it was awesome that

we were raising all Mexican neighborhood

right so most people didn't redirect

which was beautiful it was beautiful you

know

I love I love being raised in in East

L.A

and uh We've

we fit we fit it in is that right fit it

in we because I was going to say fat in

it's like it's a fit there you go there

it goes read it right for me

no I'm joking

what was your your yourself yourself

story at that age like what did will

think of will who did you think you were

and where did you think you were going

in life when you were like 14 oh 14 it

was said yeah 14 I wanted to do music

I had these wraps that I used to write

and I had these demos that I used to

make and I would go to school and I

would give my demos to my my friends

uh one of my friends his name is Stefan

Gordy his dad was Barry Gordy from Old

Town and I'm like yo give this to your

dad check out my demo

my sister had Teddy Ruxpin it's like

this little teddy bear that had a

cassette in its belly

and my mom gave that to my sister for

Christmas and for me she gave me like a

boombox

it to play the cassettes

and she got herself a stereo

and that stereo had two cassettes and

came with headphones

and so I got my mom's records and I had

a record player and two tape debts and a

headphone

and I don't know what told me to take

the headphone put it in the microphone

Jack

take my sister's Barbie rockers tape

put tape over

the left side of the cassette tape

record over it get my mom's record play

the favorite part press unpause record

pause it when my favorite part was over

play it again and make a loop put the

tape and the play put another

sisters um my sister's Teddy Ruxpin tape

put it in there do the same thing record

over it now press play on my Loop that's

for three minutes and wrap over it

take the the Teddy Ruxpin tape with my

newly

formed song over Loops stereo Loops put

it in Teddy Ruxpin press play and make

Teddy Ruxpin rap so my mom was like you

did that boy I'm like yeah Ma look

she was like you should take that to

class for your for a show and tell

they were like wow William uh at that

point in time I was William wow William

that's really cool you did that yeah I

did that the song was whatever

um for a 10 year old

um so

then you graduate sixth grade

at 12.

so from from 10 11 12 it was clear that

my elementary school

I had like a different level of

creativity so when I went to Junior High

School

um it was clear what my superpower was

I was creative and I wanted I wanted to

uh express myself in that in that realm

were you confident whatever however you

define that and what I guess what I mean

by confident is like securing oneself

and

confident in their abilities and social

um value I guess

it happened in in three steps I didn't

know we were poor

and then I found out we were poor

and I found out we were poor when one

year my teacher Miss Rich she said you

got to come to school

with canned food and box food so we

could give to the poor families

and I come home I'm like Mom my homework

assignment this tonight is to go to

school I gotta pick through the

cupboards and give canned foods and

boxed foods from a homework assignment

tomorrow

she's like well you ain't going to

school with no food like Mom but I'm I'm

gonna fail the class

I'm gonna I'm gonna get a fail on my on

my grade I have to turn this in well I

guess you gonna get a fail because you

ain't leaving this house with no food

so I go to school empty-handed I don't

you know complete the assignment

then I see my the rich white kids coming

up the corridor I'm like hey what's up

Brent what up Brad what you guys doing

here yeah we came here to bring the food

to the poor family

I'm like oh really so I started walking

with them and we go to my house

make weight

that food's for us

we qualified

and the school

gave us that food

and that's when I realized we were poor

so I go back to school

and they made fun of me for a couple of

days William he's William's poor we

dropped the food off in his house

this one girl comes up to me she's like

William are you poor how can you be poor

if you always wear suits to school

because my mom used to make us wear

suits so it wasn't like a uniform school

it was like dressed the way you want to

dress but my mom put me in suits every

day

and so the kids were like why do you

always wear suits to school how could

you be poor

and my mom would say you ain't going to

school with no play clothes you're going

you ain't going to school to play you're

going to school to learn so you put on

these like you go to church to learn

about God you're going to church to

learn about

you know life and so put the suit on

so although there were like four or five

people

that were saying I was the poor kid that

got the food but then the rest of the

kids were like no William's not poor

look if you always wear suits to school

you guys are lying

that became my cloth to express yourself

because

that that drape

that attire

um separated me from the gang separated

me from your poor you're not you're

you're part of the have-nots

um

and uh expression

just wanted to express sometimes mom

used to say uh

Willie what you doing nothing get your

butt over here what's wrong ma what did

I say about saying the word nothing

even if you sit there breathing say I'm

breathing or you're thinking about

something you don't got no business

saying you doing nothing

so we would have to say what we were

doing we couldn't say nothing

because you're never doing nothing even

if you're breathing even if you're hard

speeding whatever you're thinking of

you know what you thinking about nothing

well you need to start thinking about

something

we could she didn't settle for that

you know so let's talk about creativity

then because this is what you're really

I mean this is one of the many things

you're really really known for so is it

possible to become more creative

and how does that happen

okay

let's say it's 1983.

yeah

let's go to the past now I was minus

nine or if you're 1993 okay I was one

if you're in 1993 and you're a musician

the way to be more creative is to look

at Prince

look at Prince

because Prince was like the ultimate

creative Force

and the way Prince became creative is he

looked at Stevie Wonder

he's like wait he plays the keyboards

the drums the bass he writes the songs

okay and

Stevie Wonder was Ultra creative because

he looked at Marvin Gaye

he looked at Ray Charles

but looking from a different perspective

obviously because Stevie Wonder can't

see

but he he uh

felt

he was inspired by he was motivated by

so if you want to be creative

more creative

you have to one compete

you have to be

super analytical on yourself

and who you're competing against you

have to be elevated

you have to take yourself from where you

are now and position yourself and see

the terrain

you have to be

curious

humble

and a predator all at the same time you

have to do all those things

to be ultra hyper creative

you have to be humble till you walk in

the room and you attract because nobody

wants a freaking sin

you know perspectives to a dick

to an arrogant ass no at some point in

time if you're too arrogant people stop

sending you information

people don't they want to see you they

want you to fail

and they start sending you information

for you to fail

when you're arrogant so you got to get

rid of that be humble

you have to be you have to be a predator

you have to walk into a room

ready to eat

but

but you can't eat everything

because then

you have to be selective on what you eat

what about hard work hard work hard work

is relative because to some well this is

not hard work this is just what I do my

pinky to my lung

my pinky thinks my lung is working hard

because I have to tell my pinky when to

move

my mind

my mind ain't have has no control over

my lungs

my lungs are working involuntarily

if I tell my lungs to stop

I could do that

but then it's gonna kick in on its own

my heart is even more involuntary I

can't will like okay okay stop stop now

stop you've been beaten for freaking 48

years I mean you need to take a break

that's what it does

you cannot yeah you can meditate you

could slow your heart rate down but you

can't make it stop bro

so hard work is relative

to watch Oregon or who or what

environment you're working in

and then there's

tools

what tools do you need to be hyper

creative

you need humble heart

you need a fierce competitive Predator

type of

um Vibe as well

you have to be disciplined because you

can't eat everything

you have to be elevated you have to see

everything

and you have to be magnetic you have to

attract everything

what about failure and then also the

goals of creativity because one of the

things I think the two things are kind

of linked to fear failure and then what

is the goal of creativity because if I

if my if I set myself I've just started

learning to DJ about a year ago and if

my goal is to become the biggest DJ in

the world that might make me fearful

it's a huge mountain to climb and that

might make me scared of failures so I

might not start but real creative scenes

from what I've observed they don't seem

to really give much of a [ __ ] about the

outcome as much as other people do

and I've so what is that you know what

is the right goal for creativity and how

does what role does fear and failure

play in being a good creative

the reason why you're fearful is because

you're worried about what people think

it's true

and if you're worried about what people

think

then maybe true creative is not what you

are

you just got the costume of creative on

because creativity

when you're creating and it's like a

a rinse

whether the rents a sponge absorbs

and eventually you got to rinse it out

so it can absorb more do you think a

sponge is like oh man I don't want

people to judge how I'm rinsing myself

out oh I'm gonna make a mess

sponge ain't thinking about that people

like are you talking about SpongeBob

well like no bro I'm talking about just

like the metaphor of absorbing and

rinsing or let's say

vomiting

it's powerful

you can't control it

and that's creativity

and some people would be like yeah

that's right will you'll the stuff you

make is like vomit you make me no if

that's what you think I don't care I

have to let it out

it's like [ __ ]

now people could say yeah well I am your

[ __ ] is like [ __ ] but I'm gonna ask you

which farmer

does not need manure

to grow and cultivate

you need it

you cannot Farm without it

you can't grow anything without it

it's like cycles of life

and creativity is that

the more the moment you start worried

about people's opinion then you

definitely by default are not a creative

you're doing it for the wrong reasons

what is the right reasons

to let it out

to rinse yourself

it's like you absorb you rinse nothing

you said is about the impact it then has

on the world or others well no that's a

different tool right

and then once you once you really once

you master it like I absorbed I rinse

and that becomes therapeutic and you see

in how that helps you

then you're like wow wait if it's

helping me

well then I can

be strategic

and I could do something to help others

first it has to help you

you make sense of the world and whatever

it is you're doing whether you're

painting you're cooking you're teaching

you're tutoring you're making songs

you're making dance you're writing films

you're doing journals whatever it is

you're doing you would have absorbed the

world and rinsed

and contributed

in some

way that brings progress to yourself and

others quick one before we get back to

this episode just give me 30 seconds of

your time

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all of the things you love about the

show

thank you thank you so much back to the

episode relationships

what role do you because I I didn't get

into relationship until I was like

really until I was like 28.

again I thought it was a hindrance on my

chances of professional success and then

at some point I felt lonely

I didn't know what loneliness really was

but I just could feel something what's

the point

you know

when you have this Mission I'm I'm

Mission driven

I'm like what are we trying to

accomplish what am I trying to

accomplish

10 years from now

what's my Five-Year Plan was my ten year

plan

how did I do my last five year tenure

and uh

if there's someone that can help you

that you could

relate to

to help you ship this vision from the in

your mind

to the Future

I have a different understanding of

relationship

It's like because you want to relate

with someone

that you could ship things with

whether you're shipping in a PCU to the

Future

or you're shipping a piece of you

to the Future

and if you could relate to that person

and help you on your journey

that's awesome

it all depends on what you're shipping

what's it like to be in your head I know

that's hard because you've never been in

someone else's but you know you probably

figured out from conversations that you

think in a different way

yeah so

thinking a lot I think a lot

I'm always thinking

not about nothing I'm always thinking

about something

like

it's very rare that I'm just sitting

around like

oh wow look at that Chandelier

I'm thinking like I wonder how they made

how much that weigh what a material is

that like I'm always thinking and

analyzing everything I'm like a scanner

every time

every moment

and

that can be overbearing

to somebody you're in a relationship

that could close them up

that can like wait wait

that

that's not good

That's not healthy

and uh

and I realized that

took a long time for me to realize that

where

I gotta turn that off

I didn't know there was an off switch is

that one no there's not an off switch

but there is like a volume nah volume

number okay

um but uh

I don't know how to not

like wait that say that again

I don't know how to just take

especially with somebody you're in a

relationship with

I don't know how to take like

oh we're just we're just at the beach

the whole time

you don't want to go down to explore to

see how deep this ocean is

you just want to chill here on the beach

I can't listen let's go down to the

let's go to try to find the crevices

let's go down deep deep deep and that's

saying no let's just sunbathe it's just

stay on the beach

and that's cool

if I'm not a beach guy

I'm a deep diver

I'm a freaking

I like the abyss I like to be like yo

look what in the what look at that I

like that I like to freaking explore I

like to research

I like to explain microwave this doesn't

make any sense at all let's try to make

sense of it all let's try to make sense

of it

like I like that

I love that

you have ADHD right you've referred to

it as the gift of ADHD it's funny

because I'm trying to figure out your

relationship with Stillness and silence

doesn't seem I mean from what you said

we're assuming that an electron and a

proton and a neutron all have the same

tasks and goals

so the electron that I am

the concept of Stillness and silence

is you have no purpose

because the whole purpose of an electron

is to do that does it close to that

though that seems exhausting the cost of

that if you're coming from the

perspective of the proton looking at the

electron was around it

but you got to know who you are in the

equation

I'm the electron

that's cool you kick it there Neutron

State it's cool you still but the proton

has something the electron doesn't have

in the Pro and the electron has

something the protein doesn't approach

yeah have but they're not supposed to do

the same thing and they both have costs

and like they have a good like a light

side and a DOT or a cost and a gift do

they so I think of like I've been I'm I

would say I'm more whizzing around

electron generally so I'm just playing

devil's advocate here because when I've

when I've come into my girlfriend's

proton world where things may be a

little bit Stiller there has been gifts

to that there's been gifts to that and I

hear everything you're saying about to

be in a relationship you need to be able

to lay on the beach I can't lay on the

beach but I know that's what my

girlfriend wants of me she wants me to

be present with her and not to think

about the future and to think about

where we are right now yeah but there's

a way to do it from an electronic

perspective how

um

is to really look at the word

relationship and relate

even though you can't relate

you have to uh

have empathy

understanding of what their contribution

is and support and

and be there

so it from the perspective of the

electron it is still

for the electron you think the electrons

like man I'm tired I'm tired of whizzing

around you the whole time that's not

what what's going on in the electron's

mind yeah to the electron I'm still and

I am still going around

it's all the perspective of the word

steel

there's Steel

and then there's constant still

which still are you are you the one

that's still

and you're just like Steel s-t-e-e-l

and your Steel

or are you still

and that is still moving

still at in it no matter how you look at

it it's still still

because from the perspective and the

empathy of that electron moving

it is still

from the from the POV of what who's

viewing it it's moving

but the electron I am still

and I will still be moving and

gravitating around you and I could still

think and add to your life

as I do the things that I do to add to

life

but the moment you stop doing what

you're doing

then it's no longer a relationship

because they can't relate to what you're

doing and what you're adding and now

you're conforming and changing

when Maybe

that's not what you're supposed to do

or maybe you didn't you weren't candid

and forthcoming enough to make true

understanding to stand under

the circumference

and know the ledge of what it is you do

together

you speak of almost like a recent

Epiphany when you say like realizing

that there was this off button

even though you don't think the offense

necessarily there

where do you sit now with the concept of

finding like a life partner and getting

married and having kids and all that

stuff and is there work to be done is it

finding the right person or is it an

inward piece of work that needs to be

done in your view and is it something

you you want

I want to have kids I I'm I'm going to

be an awesome dad

if you were to ask me this uh

10 years ago

I would have a different answer really

why has it changed and what is it now

and what was it then

that you don't do a family until you

completed the ultimate

or my version of ultimate

my my version of ultimate is to

be able to be of assistance

and

help

and provide

and service

folks that resemble

the lifestyle

that I live the hardships that I lived

without having to ever raise money ever

again

10 years ago yeah yeah

what I know now

I would have had a kid you would have

had a kid 10 years ago if I know what I

know now yes

why I was moving too fast and I thought

the only way to get up the mountain is

to move the way I moved when I was at

the foothill

to get to the middle of the mountain

and now that I'm up the mountain

you're thinking that I'm doing I'm gonna

do it by myself still

and

the purpose of me getting up the

mountain was to take care of my mom

and that was my motivation that was my

guess that was my electricity that was

my energy

to take care of my family

hunter-gatherer

to go out and bring back to the Village

I didn't know

what I didn't know then now that I know

would I be able to get up the mountain

with family and Offspring to take the

information that I have and pass it on

have knowledge here

have knowledge of my DNA

who do I pass it to

if something were to happen to me

like it's like different type of

knowledge that you just don't say

someone it's like it's in me it store to

me somebody gave me this your mom

and my grandma and my Grandma's Grandma

and my grandmother's grandma

that person had a different life

my grandma was born in 1920. my

Grandma's Grandma was born in 18

something

that means it hadn't wow

that person was working in the field in

somebody's Factory in some unknown

company

but in America just called it slavery

like that wasn't that long ago so but

that information was passed on to me

passed on to me resilience tolerance

hope living in a different world

so your Offspring can have a different

life

I'm a recipient of that

but when you're hustling and bustling

you think

that oh no I gotta wait to the ultimate

was I wrong

now that I can look back at my

he was wrong

but I was right

still wrong

would I be a

would I be further along in my journey

a little bit more organized

yes why because something would have

forced me to be organized

it's not just for myself now

even though it was never for myself

it was always for my mom and my family

I would have had even more regiment

I would have even more streamlined

aerodynamics

so that could you know you know cut

through corners

you know

and uh

make tighter turns keep the downwinds

it would be a little bit more

aerodynamic

had I you know so yeah

nothing will stop you if you have kids

probably just going to motivate you more

but I couldn't see that back then

um

but I'm gonna be an uh awesome dad when

I'm when I'm a dad

but I want to be a full-time dad

and I realize that I don't have to be

the

the the the the the juggler

um anymore

before I had to do it all because no one

really believed and so I always had to

prove

I had to like

be the creative understand business sit

in the business meetings co-manage

come up with the artwork execute the

artwork learn illustrator learn

Photoshop do the album artwork hand it

off to somebody else to fine tune what

you sketched up

um

plan the tour with your man like I had

to do it all

but probably because a part of me didn't

trust

that someone cared as much as I cared

but

now

I don't have to do it like that anymore

I've got to a point where now I could

assemble teams and fun teams

now I'm the financier

I don't have to worry about somebody's

financing me

that's a different that's like that's an

exhale

and so with that exhale if I when I'm a

dad

I could be a

I could be

um a full-time dad

as my understanding of full-time which

I'll still be I'll still be working just

not working the way I'm working now

I don't know I don't I don't want to

work the way I used to work why uh not

anymore

not anymore

I was a proton for the planet and just

going around the planet

um

the longest I've been home

since 1998.

was all of the majority of 2002.

and then the majority of 2020 like

everyone else

outside of those two years

the longest that I've been in one place

it's been two months

since 1998

oh gotta go oh I'm here for two months

see you later be back two weeks gotta go

got and I've been doing that since night

like I don't want to do that no more so

you're speaking to a change perspective

and I'm wondering because for me in my

life there had to be a symptom there had

to be something I noticed where I go do

you know what I'm doing something not

right here so for me I talked about it

being that kind of almost this feeling

of loneliness that I didn't realize was

the feeling of loneliness it was this

emptiness in my chest when you go to the

office seven days a week and then you

look at your phone and go who are my

friends like who is my partner like

tuning out of survival mode tuning out

of that and tuning into like Thrive like

how do I thrive as a human being is what

made me shift so really I'm curious

about the symptoms that you notice in

your life that made you go I don't want

to do that anymore no but I never had

that really what's your explain no I had

my best friends that I grew up with

and we lived our Dream to the highest

level

imaginable

kids that were broke

Apple my best friend who came from the

Philippines who I Started Black Eyed

Peas with

he comes from a province in the

Philippines where he pumped water out

the ground he washed his clothes on the

riverbed

he farmed rice with his pet bison

he did he experienced a different level

of poverty

taboo single mom

his dad was in the gangs

and we started the Black Eyed Peas

and we live the what wait how how do we

do this guys no one believed in US

now we're playing Super Bowls World Cups

multiple Grammys

taking care of our families

no bro like this is

the biggest blessing

one could imagine loneliness how can I

be lonely I'm with my best friends

so why change

because I live 10 years from now I've

always seen 10 years from now

always

I don't know what it was

but when I was 13 I'm like I'm gonna buy

you a house

how old was I when I bought my mama

house

a little off I was 20

6.

I wanted to do it well I still did it

well then 10 years from there

I was like Ma how about everyone else in

the list we still our aunts our uncles

and our niece or my Grandma we're still

at the projects we're still going back

to the projects on holidays

we need we need to do a whole Exodus she

was like that's what you want to do

twink moved everybody out

um

and when I got everyone else out I'm

like well I gotta go back to the

neighborhood because there's people that

we grew up with

and they have kids now

let's start a robotics program there

start a computer science program there

so that when they in a college prep

program so that when they graduate

college they have skills that are needed

not just send kids to college so that

when they graduate they have debt at a

diploma

so we did that

and there's purpose so I want to be

purposeful so if I could see 10 years

from now okay

at some point in time my tenure

looking around the corner

one day I'll be 70.

one day I'll be Tom Jones age I'll be

80.

I'm like I I just stopped

I don't pass it on

that's what happens here

no that's not responsible

you know it's not it's not that's not a

responsible thing to do

so you gotta pass on knowledge you got

to pass on

gifts

for me it's a gift

the little kid on the bike

you know have good intentions I wanted

it's all for the good

um

and I wanna I wanna pass it on

you said you're living 10 years in the

future of five years in the future there

must be a cost to that when people talk

and you know spiritual people talk about

what pieces and happiness is they talk

about presence you strike me as someone

from what you've said that is my

struggle with the concept of being

present when you're five years in the

future and this kind of leads into a

point where people talk about the

tortured creative that is like very you

know cognitively

um active how does how does one square

being a creative that's living five

years in the future with peace happiness

presence and calm

and and what's your story in that regard

like I said

we're assuming that a proton a neutron

an electron all should have the same

role

to make an atom

in actuality they all have different

roles

and the moment an electron acts like a

proton

then an atom's not an atom anymore

so I got out of my predicament

because I didn't live in my current

reality

had I lived in my current reality I

would still be in my reality that was

constructed for me so I had to live in

this realm that was dreamed of

and my whole premise was to manifest

that dream with strategy so I had to

I had to

live as if it was real

I had to live like I already moved my

mom out to projects I had to live like

this gang doesn't want me

I'm no use for this gang

why even get initiated in being

and live that gang life

let me just keep wearing these suits

because these suits that my mom made me

I was my attire for the world that I'm

going to be living in

you have to live you if you living in

some place that you know that you don't

belong you know you don't belong there

why are you stuck in that

so in my mind I have to

always been that way unfortunately I

can't change how my makeup is

so I'm constantly if it got me out of

that it's gonna get me out of this and

where we are right now my people that

live in communities that reflect where I

come from are still in some version of

that

so in 2008 I started my Foundation

started with 65 students and I and my

gut was like yo

let me surround them with robotics and

computer science skill sets so I went

out in the world absorbed these these

skill sets these tools met

um Jack dangerman from esri met Dean

Cayman from uh Deca and first robotics

Lorraine Powell jobs from college track

my vision was to take these three

independent entities

duct tape them together to make a

cluster to give a new type of

project-based learning to kids 65 kids

that's 65 kids from 2008 to now now we

serve 15 almost 15 000 students in Los

Angeles we've sent kids to Dartmouth to

Brown to Stanford to Georgetown because

in 2008 I was living right now

I knew that because the way technology

was going

that kids in the inner cities are going

to be

super

um conflicted with the way the world's

going and the amount of jobs that are

going to disappear

I thought I was just going to be like

blue collar jobs I don't think it's

gonna be white collar jobs

I don't think kids in the suburbs were

going to be you know impacted by

you know this nude

this new digital age

like we've seen the last one but this

generative stuff yo bro

thank God we were doing what we're doing

in 2008. thank God we have you know

a fleet

um

a herd of amazing

Engineers out of the out of you know the

inner cities of LA and now we want to

scale that so 2030 yeah I'm living there

right now because there's still work to

do

I was listening to one of your songs um

before you arrived here and it was very

curious

man that's just literally

it was something I think this one was

called be nice

oh yeah it's called be nice and when I

started looking into the song Looking

about what you'd said around that song

you said I was on a dip in the low part

of a roller coaster

and you wrote that song because it

helped you to change your vibration but

also to help other people change their

vibrations the dip on the low part of a

roller coaster what are the things in in

your life that have caused that dip in

the lower part of the roller coaster I

think men but particularly black men we

don't always talk about are mental

health or the dip in the low part of the

roller coaster so I was super

I thought it was wonderful that you um

you've made a song about that but also

you were speaking so openly about that

oh I was reflecting all night in my 1993

18 year old so

fat fat uh

that path was the hardest path that I've

in my life

18.

18 was the hardest

because it was uh 30 years ago

this time 30 years ago

it was March when I had like a

it was March of 1993 when I

felt something that I've never felt

before just like

distortion

I felt uh that's a perfect word for it

dis-ease

and disease vibrationally

is this is

like a disease

on a vibrational level

like the word disease is really dis-ease

of molecular cellular

where you're vibrating

um

there's no Harmony

or since of your vibrational field

no matter how you look at it

and in this case you have a vibration

and thought

and I was vibrating off

and when you're vibrating off you're

dark

you're vibrating off you panic inks

you're hypertension your hyperactivity

is

um

off tilt

um and so from March till about

August

was a very very turbulent time for me

when I was 18.

and there's nothing wrong with being

emotional

and when you're creative you're always

sensitive like you're hyper sensitive

that's a part of creativity like you

feel

you feel too much

um and I feel too much I empathize

hardcore

um

I'm the guy in the aloe vera that talks

to strangers I'm the guy that's like

some I was walking down the street came

out of Tesco somebody's like well I am

I'm like hey what's up

oh I don't mean to bug you I'm like

that's cool but straight up conversation

for like 30 minutes with random

strangers I like that because I don't I

don't ever want to

ignore

folks that

I could shed light on or

they could shed light to me you never

know what little nuggets that you give

or receive

um

so that song that lyric was just

remembering reminding myself of like

what that

what that period was like for me it was

a very very like

coming of age

I was

and I didn't have a a man in my life but

do a father in my life to guide me

through that my mom did that which

probably made me even

Ultra feminine

which is no I have no shame of being

super feminine

you know I remember in the 90s

we we don't have

to support in the LGBT community like

now than we did then

so growing up in the 90s we're like are

you gay like

like a lot of people question

if I was because I was feminine I'm

still feminine

I sit the way I sit I act the way I act

my mannerisms are my mom's

but it was a it was a very uh

and I'm strong with my my femininity I

think it's a superpower

but um

that and when when you know who you are

when you when you love who you are how

you are how you vibe

that's what it's about I like girls

um never was attracted to men

I'm attracted to females

but I'm feminine

what caused that chapter in your life do

you know what that that dark chapter in

your life was there a clear causal

Distortion is a better word distortion

that chapter in your life where you had

distortion

what weed weed okay

yeah it was the uh

it's chemicals you said shame and guilt

as well you said use those words yeah I

was shameful because

I did something that I knew hurt my mom

right

you know like

you were smoking

and that her head hanging low like did I

do it what is my son out there doing

you know but trouble is he getting into

what is it going to lead to I saw her

panic I felt her panic I felt her worry

I felt her concern

do you still do you still have have you

had moments of distortion since

it's usually when um when you make

errors you hurt people

indirectly

um clumsily

irresponsible

when you when when you let people down

that you love when I let people down

that I love

I distort

is Distortion different from depression

and your definition

is there a difference oh yeah big

difference

Distortion leads to depression okay like

um

let's take this water

right

and this metal cup

if I fill it up to the top

um

and I don't move this table the water is

still

no matter how I fill it up it could be

straight to the top

if you don't interrupt the table the

water is not going to spill

Distortion is when I start to shake the

table

and if I shake the table fast enough it

could shatter the glass

it could crack it if I shake this at the

right frequency

that doesn't disrupt the table

but can mess up the object

shattering the glass or or obstructing

with the form of this is depression

shaking the table causing it to spill is

distortion

have you experienced anxiety before a

lot of creative speak to anxiety and

when are you thinking about that shaking

table it made me feel of

it gave me that and the the thing that I

could liken it to was anxiety

unfortunately it comes with the

territory of

um

futurist futurism

you are experiencing something that

hasn't happened yet

because your imagination is already

created

plausible

like

realistic

scenarios

and you're already feeling the emotion

so that unfortunately comes with the

territory of having a hyper imagination

and living over there does not mean that

you live in anxiety Then no

if you live in the future because once

you're aware of that

then you know that's what it is

it's like

the difference between the shower and

the rain

people run in the Wayne and stand in the

shower it's the difference between

bikinis

and draws

people go to the beach

when nothing on

but get afraid

when you see them in their underwear

expectations right it's expectations

it's like once you're aware of you

getting wet you ain't tripping once you

wear that you're going to the beach with

nothing on you're not tripping

so once I'm aware that I'm thinking over

there

I don't have to have emotions there okay

so the moment I start having a motion

for future casting then I'm doing it

wrong

the the anxiety comes when it's things

that are happening that you didn't

control

and you're now having emotions because

your imagination is now thinking of the

outcomes of things

that are out of your control

now when you're future casting and

you're seeing stuff you are controlling

looking around the corner I am purposely

looking there and then putting my

imagination to work on thinking what do

I have to do now strategically

between now 5 10.

FYI FYI is world's brand new app which

is launch now and the whole purpose of

the FYI is to help creators organize

collaborate and communicate in one place

rather than having all of these

different communication channels and

digital assets spread across all of

these different products that we might

use today yeah I had this problem last

night I was on like Monday over here to

do list over here I'm on Google clouds

over here Google Sheets here and I and

when I opened up FYI this morning I can

see from where we're on the road map

looking into the future how having all

of that in one space with AI as kind of

the the agent to power a lot of the the

knowledge work I guess is a really

special combination

um FYI is now available on the App Store

I got it this morning

um everybody should go and check it out

and I'm really excited if you're

starting here what the roadmap looks

forward for the future because I can see

the mission

um so fyi.ai is like we're at 1.0 4.0 I

do you understand how awesome of a

platform FYI is going to be it's also

equipped with

elliptical curve cryptography

methodologies because during covert nfts

and blockchain told us that you know

protect your assets I mean here's the

key but why isn't the same type of key

architecture and and product structure

how come it's not for my data on

Messengers

why am I not given the key to our own my

digital assets

when my digital assets are the data

itself

why is it just for nfts and crypto

so on FYI yes there's Messengers that

are encrypted end to end but where's the

key

if you're not issued a key

that the company itself

doesn't have

we ensure that your data and your stuff

is your stuff

what is yours is yours

how you speak is how you speak

and when it comes to Ai and mimic

machines

none of us own our face and none of us

own our voice I own the publishing to my

songs you could copyright and you could

create ndas to protect your IP but when

it comes to you

every human being

walking in the age of AI

who owns our Essence and our likeness

then why aren't we talking about that

enough

the Drake AIS yeah it's it's it was a

buzz and it's still going to continue to

buzz

but shouldn't Drake own his likeness in

his essence

why is that legal

why is it legal that Biggie Smalls is

wrapping a Tupac verse that was actually

about him

like why

is that I can't take a Nike Swoosh

Nike owns a swoosh but I don't own my

face in my voice

Beyonce don't own her face from her

voice but Adidas own stripes

something's not right for people

so as FYI grows that encryption key 1.0

versus 5.0 the vision that we have what

we want to go how we need the community

to help us get there

I want to build the people's tool

I want to build a company that where

people own their data a hundred percent

of it I am not my identity to my

driver's license and my my uh social

security number and my passport I'm my

data on my searches I'm my freaking

spell check I am my voice I am my facial

unlocked with the Machine Vision I am

all that stuff

on my location on my address book

it could predict me

but why can't I have power of that

why why I could say I want to weigh 194

pounds by

November 24th 2024. I currently weigh

210 pounds

which app would you like to use you

can't do that right now

there's no aspirational GPS

and for aspirational GPS that means the

system has to be mine not me have access

to a system

I have a record deal

because at one point in time it was

expensive to record now recording is

ubiquitous everybody could do it so why

do I have a record deal so what is

luxury when it comes to

what's premium what's the highest way of

creating at some point in time making

films and recording music was the

highest level of creating painting for

the freaking for the uh for the for the

monarchy or for the church was the

highest level of creating

now you can just do it on your phone but

the highest level of creating right now

is building models to build models and

compute expensive

so tomorrow people are going to be

training their own models

right that's an unheard of deal right

now like we we know the folks that are

spinning out models of these companies

but soon

compute's going to come down

and there's going to be new models

that are going to be just as powerful as

GPT

some 15 year old right now

it's dreaming right now when they're 25

that person

is going to have his own motto

and his own company

and it's going to be

morally sound for people in the

communities

because greed not not saying that the

models right now are greedy I'm not

saying that but watch what happens in

2023

we're going to be driven by love because

the concept that we had and that we're

baking it off of with Terminator that's

not sustainable

that's not that's fear

and if you're going to base it off of

movies then go Star Wars not Terminator

Star Wars there's multiple models

there's multiple robots they all speak

different [ __ ] languages but there's

Jedis

and Jedi is a different yes there was a

dark force yes there was siths but

there's [ __ ] Jedis yeah and if this

is gonna take us to where we are better

humans to one another then [ __ ] bring

it

because we can't get any worse than we

already are with one another

and I'm speaking that as a black person

we've seen what people can do to people

it can't get any more worse

so bring it the optimism bring it let's

be better people let's love better let's

empathize better let's freaking serve

better let's care better

right let's use the tool for that

because if we're mimicking

that's what they're fearful of people

are fearful of what people do yeah

people are gripped by AI at the moment

um they're terrified they are excited

where do you sit and if you if you were

talking to those kids in the inner city

about Ai and what they need to know

about it

um what would you be saying

if I go to the inner city

I'm telling kids

hey

our whole entire life has been set up

for us to fail

our investment for education has that

they've undermined our investment to

where other neighborhoods are getting a

bigger investment for their education

than us

the way they've zoned our communities we

have liquor stores next to check cashing

next to bad food next to bad food

our teachers are not being you know

invested in to teach us the things that

we need to learn we have no financial

literacy

so when we get our checks we cash our

checks and then we spend it on bad stuff

our understanding of money is to spend

it to pay bills we're not even taught to

grow it

we've been set up to fail

AI didn't do that people did that

now here's a tool for us

to solve our problems ourselves now

grab it

while you can

and we are now our own Calvary

right because the people that are afraid

are not the people here

we've already went through the worst and

survived the worst conditions of life

are these folks afraid

oh

oh those but the ones that are

responsible for our zoning and got it

okay cool now let's let's build a better

world

let's educate ourselves with this tool

let's understand that it is a tool let's

understand that there's these biases

there let's try to solve those biases

so that what is the ultimate dream my

Ultimate Dream is like wow we all know

this wave we see it coming

it could be good or it could be bad

it's going to be good when we're mindful

of what our contributions are to prepare

people for this wave

we have to prepare folks

and got to do information inspiration

preparation

motivation

and um

you know

mentorship

so that they can activate their

creativity

to unearth tomorrow's Industries because

this wave is going to topple yesterday's

Industries today's Industries

if you're a lawyer

and you work at a law firm and you do

redlining on contracts that's not what

you're doing in 2030.

if you're an accountant and you're

counting

counting beans

and

penny pinching that's not what you're

doing in 2030.

if you're a cashier

at a at a retail you're probably not

doing that 2030. if you're a bus driver

Uber driver taxi driver

that's not what you're doing in 2030.

because you're seeing

the construct of what tomorrow is now

you're dealing with machines that could

go and pivot from subject to subject go

deep to subjects in ways that people

can't

writing songs making pictures mid

Journeys freaking crazy

it's the most amazing tool that ever

like yo mid Journeys nuts for people

that don't know mid journey is a tool

that uses um text to create generative

images of whatever you type in in

seconds so if you're a marketer

if you're like a artist that works for a

brand

if you're an agency

that works for brands

this technology is going to give super

creatives agency so why do they need

agencies

just the vast

transformation and for hyper creatives

that now they just need

a new tool to help them like and just

birth stuff

it's a new Renaissance

the ultimate

the Ultimate Dream if you're preparing

up a section of the world that's whose

problems have always been ignored

to now go out and solve those problems

with this tool

are you using this tool to make songs

you know it's gonna make better songs

than you

it's Pac-Man right now we ain't even got

the Halo

it's we're in freaking Super Mario

Brothers we even got to Call of Duty yet

this thing's gonna make better songs

than you soon bro the song's out already

a pretty dope I've talked about that in

this podcast before that Drake song with

the no but the Drake song Still required

somebody to sing it and then they layer

a plug-in over it to make it sound like

Drake oh I heard a song that didn't I

heard yo this new tech

out of here but more importantly I saw

it in 2010

in my mind's eye I was like yo no no no

if I'm in this computer that means it's

compute wait what

I'm in the computer

making music

I'm not I'm not a musician like Prince

or freaking Stevie Wonder

I make music because I can make the

computer make music

and with machine learning that means

eventually the computer is going to

remember how I made it to make music

and eventually just make it itself maybe

even publish it itself

maybe even not even tell you no no no no

wait like

say if you're making something on Adobe

you're also Pro you're making Adobe

smarter at creating

records so you know why does why does

Adobe eventually need the person hitting

the buttons or with the ideas when it

can learn from a million of those and

then it can also track the outcome does

that become a Smash Hit and it's going

okay so when they did this to me you

know what I mean the film oppenheimer's

into Cinemas shortly and the Oppenheimer

was the guy who was in the world war was

told to go out to make the nuclear bomb

and that is almost what I'm scared about

in this current AI race where

China or Russia or another country

versus the US they're all in a race to

create the most powerful artificial

intelligence system but also to use it

for defensive purposes but also

attacking purposes

um offensive purposes and when an

intelligence is a hundred times smarter

than the smartest human that world is

the world where I go

are we do we realize what we're getting

ourselves into is this another up and

Homer moment where we create something

that has the capabilities to destroy

Humanity

um

that's what's I haven't figured out yet

but for everything that we create

a hammer we don't make hammers a hammer

can kill how many you know a screwdriver

a vehicle an airplane electricity

um lights

everything that we advance hmm

the first caveman that found a freaking

flame on a branch

imagine all the folks at some point in

time when they first had a branch with

flame on it they were like yo you can

burn the village down and some Villages

burned down because that was the

capacity of that weapon the capacity of

this weapon is it can think for itself

and take down civilization and that's

the the difference is like going from

the hammer which can probably take a

couple people out can't think for itself

and then you go right up to artificial

intelligence where it has a propensity

to be smarter than all of us

and you know if programmed with

malicious intent

I like your optimism yeah but but at the

same time like

who's responsible for the people that

are living in villages in Africa that

are clearly living under an abundance of

resources but can't benefit from those

but is that hey I did that no that's

humans humans at that so what you're

saying it's not it's not the AI that

you're afraid of 100 yes it's people the

people it's the people maybe AI is to

push us to love

because we can't outlogic logic if Will

I Am has it that's what will happen if

Putin has it I'm not sure

like a hammer like if you would create

something dope with a hammer Putin might

hit me with it like

I would create something like MC Hammer

yeah exactly but can't touch this

but yeah we have a closing tradition on

this podcast where the last guest leaves

a question for the next guest not

knowing who they're leaving it for and

the person that's left this question for

you I think you know them

um the question is what would be your

superpower if you were if you could be a

superhero and why

it feels quite somebody asked me that

yeah should I say who is Rita Aura

oh Rita Ora that's uh she's my fave I

love Rita but she didn't know it was for

you get the frick out she just writes it

in the book I didn't tell her who's

coming next oh wow so usually I don't

tell people who's written it but I

figured you might know her so yeah I've

worked with her many years and recorded

songs that we never released but yeah I

love Rita she was sat there yesterday

she's awesome

it's gonna sound super like uh cheesy

or corny

I would be Particle Man

my my superpower will be

I could

I can influence

particles to vibrate

harmoniously

because that's the concept of love

it's when everything's vibrating

harmoniously

and there's uh that would be the

ultimate superpower are you vibrating

harmoniously right now in life

and life at the moment

no

um

because I feel too much

and when you feel

it affects your vibration

um and then it takes a while to

make sense of

what you're absorbing

you rinse out and that and you repeat

but in that process of absorb rinse

repeat

um

you learn more about environments that

you're in people that you're around

and your curiosity my curiosity

um

and search for knowledge

like why did I go to CERN

I'm gonna go next in two weeks and then

they send me emails all the time hey

Will we're here you're going to be in

Geneva you want to come down to

CERN

um just come see our

you know advancements and learn more

I just like to know as much as possible

I don't

and when you in my pursuit of knowing

um causes some distortion

oh

there's nothing wrong with a little bit

Jimi Hendrix

there's nothing wrong with a little bit

of distortion

can't just be consumed by it

sorry with amplification comes some

Distortion as you amplify

and to get the word out or to get the

vibe out

you know just got to be aware of of how

you're amplifying

um

not turn up too loud or too fast

and that's you know double entender is

on turnout

um but uh

yeah so no I'm not um

that would be my superpower is though

but the name particle man's whack

particles but

um yeah vibration manuals I don't know

Vibes man I don't know yeah um super

Vibes yeah yeah super Vibes on a

particle level

and that will be like as soon as as soon

as as soon as a [ __ ] wants to

[ __ ] around and do some wow [ __ ] he just

like zapping with some super Vibes and

change

alter the particles because that's where

we're all made of that down every

molecule every cell

um and if you could

and if you could put Consciousness on a

particle level

that's a uh some awesome sauce

well thank you um in many respects you

are super Vibes because you've created a

lot of awesome stuff and you've brought

um brought people's Vibes into harmony

certainly mine with your with all that

you've created with your art with your

creativity walking through your studio

your office in Los Angeles was a real

trip into

a decade's time it was a glimpse into

the future in many respects I remember

looking at some of the stuff you'd

created in there the backpacks and I

remember all of these dope inventions

and that I saw in that space and

to meet you it kind of makes sense now

when you talk about living in the future

with that of course comes

um a disharmony I think like and that's