Mixed and Mastered
Mixed and Mastered is the podcast where the untold stories of the music industry come to life. Hosted by Jeffrey Sledge, a veteran music executive and former VP of A&R at Atlantic Records and Jive Records, each episode dives deep into the journeys, challenges, and triumphs of the people shaping the sound of today. From label executives and producers to artists, songwriters, and managers, Jeffrey brings you behind the scenes to meet the minds driving the industry forward. There’s a gap in the marketplace for these voices, and Mixed and Mastered is here to fill it—one conversation at a time. Because the best stories are told by those who lived them.
Mixed and Mastered
Damon DeGraff
In this episode, Damon DeGraff joins host Jeffrey Sledge to trace his journey from his musical roots in Bermuda to the heart of New York’s nightlife and DJ culture. Damon opens up about the early influences that shaped his sound, the rise of celebrity DJs, and the challenges he faced building a career in music management and nightlife. They dive into his experiences at Cheeba Sound, pivotal industry connections, and the evolution of DJ culture in the social media era. Damon also shares insights on mentorship, the power of cultural growth, and finding purpose beyond the spotlight.
Listen now and get inspired by a true pioneer.
Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studio, and hosted by music industry veteran, Jeffrey Sledge. Tune in to the discussion on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you catch your podcasts. Follow us on Instagram @MixedandMasteredPod to join the conversation and support the show at https://mixedandmasteredpod.buzzsprout.com/
This week on Mixed and Mastered, we welcome Damon DeGraff, the visionary behind DGI management and a driving force in global DJ culture. From managing icons like Mark Ronson and DJ Cassidy to producing events with ESPN and Valentino, damon has built an extraordinary career in music, culture and entertainment. We dive into his journey and how he continues to innovate worldwide. This is Mixed and Mastered with Damon DeGraff. Welcome to Mixed and Mastered, the podcast where the stories of the music industry come to life. I'm Jeffrey Sledge, bringing you real conversations with the people who have shaped the sound of music. We're pulling back the curtain on what it takes to make it in the music business. These are the stories you won't hear anywhere else, told by the people who live them. This is Mixed and Mastered. Alright, mixed and Mastered with my man, dame DeGraff. How you doing, man? Yes.
Speaker 2:I'm good brother. How's everything?
Speaker 1:Long time Looking, good looking healthy, looking prosperous, looking rich yeah you know, you know, you know, you know.
Speaker 2:Let me hold something, Dame.
Speaker 1:Let me hold something to tomorrow.
Speaker 2:That's where it starts, you know, I start with the health aspect and everything else falls into play after that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely health aspect and everything else falls into play after that. Absolutely, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you, brother, absolutely. So let's start at the beginning. You're born and raised in Bermuda, correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, to be honest, a lot of people don't really know this. I was actually born in Cincinnati, ohio. Really I know nothing about it, though, okay, my mom was there. My dad lived there when she was getting her master's, so I was pretty much I don't even know if I was conceived there, but I was born there, which was a blessing. It allows me to have have state citizenship but I was raised in Bermuda. So, that's like pretty much all I know.
Speaker 1:Tell me, tell me a little about, a little bit about being raised in Bermuda, like. What was it like? What was it like in general?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's great, I mean island life, you know. I mean it doesn't get better than that Sunshine, you know running, playing soccer, playing football, you know friends that I still have from today. I mean it's just a different energy, kind of growing up in the Caribbean, I think. You know it's look, I mean there's hardship everywhere, but I guess you know, things are probably a little different when there is sunshine and palm trees, right, you know?
Speaker 2:Fresh fruit and all these other things you know, and also just the mindset. I think it's a lot different as well, just because it's not like not saying that people aren't ambitious and don't want to get it. But I think because of that setting, it's a lot easier than, like you know, new York, which I love, but it's a jungle, right, you know what I mean. Like it's concrete, it's hard hitting, like you got to get it, you got to do it, you got to be it. So, yeah, man, I mean island life, it's, it's actually beautiful and I mean it's actually brought me back to a lot of the things that I'm doing now are in that space as well.
Speaker 1:So it's kind of brought me back full circle so tell me about um what sparked your interest in music so I've always been.
Speaker 2:I'll say my mother's side and my dad's side were both into music growing up, right. So I think between my mom's mom being the premier piano teacher on the island, my dad's family playing in like the drum corps, you know also being in church, you know kind of Black Caribbean churches it's so that's where a lot of the kind of harmonies and the soulful things of whatever come into. So you know, I remember, you know being in little choirs and this and that and it was the harmonies and you know all these different things. So it's always been a part of me, right.
Speaker 2:Like for as long as I can remember. And then you even think from the cultural aspect. You know, know, it's like you're hearing dancehall, you're hearing soca, you know you're hearing. I remember it was this station, fam 89, which played, like phil collins and paul simon and like you know, all of those era of music which a lot of the dancehall guys would remake those songs right so I would hear the dub plates the the Sanchez version or the Frankie Paul version in the club and hear the FM 89 version afterwards and I'm like they just redid Sanchez's song when it was the opposite way.
Speaker 2:So yeah, music's just been a part of me, you know, like it's just something that's always and I've always loved it. I'd always gravitate towards it in every way.
Speaker 1:That's dope. That's dope. And I did a little research and I saw you were a DJ for a bit too correct. You had a sound system.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, so I had a sound system. We were called Nasty Boys.
Speaker 1:Dope.
Speaker 2:And we were, like you know, cutting dubs and you know, like young island kids, that you know ties back into the growing up on an island, right, you kids, that's you know ties back into the growing up on an island, right, you know, it's kind of like what were the things? You know you played sports but then you had a sound system looking up to like the stone loves and bodyguards and eddies of the world. So, yeah, and I mean it even you know I still dj some now. So it's just a part of my life that I speak to, but didn't because it's just kind of what I love, right, it's just the essence of music and vibration. So wherever I can give that energy to, it's pretty constant.
Speaker 1:That that vibration thing you say is interesting, because I didn't. I didn't grow up a um, a dance hall or a reggae fan. I didn't hate it, I just no, it wasn't part of um, of hated, I just, you know it wasn't part of um of my world. It was my world. You know hip-hop and r&b and stuff and but it's interesting because when I've gone to the islands, I'm to jamaica, um, I went to the bahamas for a bit um as well, and hearing that that music in its, in its space, it makes sense, it makes so much sense, if you're there, it's like, oh, this is because everything you said, everything around you, you understand what that rhythm comes from and what that you know those feelings and those vibes this is cliche, but those vibes come from.
Speaker 1:And it's like I remember I went real quick and I'll move on because I went to Junkanoo in the Bahamas and I remember it was so interesting because we were there, it was New Year's and we were there and I remember we were standing in place when the parade was going by and I remember it was interesting because each element would go by and then another element would go by and another sound would go by and I was like, oh, this, now I understand. They're like building it.
Speaker 1:Now you get it right, yeah, I get it. Yeah, it was really interesting. It was really interesting. So tell me about coming to New York. What made you do that and what was that about?
Speaker 2:I wanted to be in the music business, just to give you the short side.
Speaker 2:I had a cousin. I was in boarding school and I had a cousin who was a year ahead of me was in boarding school and I went, um, I had a cousin who was a year ahead of me was in college in Alabama and his roommate was this guy from New York, I want to say his name was Rob, but Rob was a rapper and my cousin was a rapper too and I was like, oh, I'll just be your manager, because I think I always wanted to be in music, right, I didn't know what I was really doing. I was just like I will be your manager, yeah, and um, I think, like that's when like puff was getting going and jermaine dupri in atlanta and like freakneek and all that stuff was happening, right, um, not to date myself, but like you know, we were there and I remember seeing like biggie at one freakneek and just like just the energy of all of that and I was just like yo, that's what I really want to do, right.
Speaker 2:And it's funny.
Speaker 2:I was talking about this the other day in my high school yearbook. You know when they do those pictures and the images and like, what do you want to be when you get? I was like, yeah, I want to be a music promoter. But at that point I didn't even know the different like levels or tiers of the music business. I just knew that sounded like something I wanted to do or be. So I was like, yeah, that's it right. So it's funny being in it. Now you know, when you talk about manifestation or things that you speak to not even knowing that that's what it was, but speaking it into existence, right. And I remember I ended up being in college for two years and I said to my mom and I was like you know, like I don't really want to do this anymore because I love sports, but I was doing like physical education, Right, and I was just like like can you see me being a I'll probably be a dope physio teacher, just to be?
Speaker 1:honest, you'll be like a gym teacher or something. Yeah, a coach or something.
Speaker 2:So anyway, my mom says give me a proposal, because my mom is in education. She's like give me a proposal, and if you give me a proposal then I'll let you do it. I don't think she thought that I was going to do it, to be honest. And I researched and I found this school in New York called the Institute of Audio Research, and I don't know if it still exists, but they had courses. And you know, I've always been smart, probably more like street smart and like, or more just like, I don't know like I'm lost for the word but education wise, I knew I could do it, so I would skate by right, you know what I mean. Like I wasn't running to say I'm trying to get A's and B's. I knew I could get A's and B's, but I was just interested in other things because I was a creative, right, and I mean that's something else to talk about at.
Speaker 2:Another point, too, is how the creatives aren't ever really celebrated or really harnessed at that age, when not everyone's going to be a doctor or a lawyer, right, but that's a whole other thing. But I did the proposal. I came to school and I flew through the school because it was something that I really wanted to do. So that was my first entryway into the music business and New York, because I actually wanted to be an engineer. So I was going to school to be an engineer and then it just so happened that they do job placement or intern placement and my first internship was at ASCAP. It was under Bill Brown and I want to say Tina somebody, not Tina Davis, but it was, or maybe Audrey, I don't remember. It was a very long time ago, but I remember Bill Brown and yeah. So that was my first introduction to the music business and to New York City.
Speaker 1:And so, after the ASCAP internship, what happened after that point?
Speaker 2:So it's funny and I think I mean you spoke about this earlier and I kind of forgot this part, but this was a very pivotal part when I really think about it, because I always go right to the me at Sheba Sound and Mark Brunson and D'Angelo, but in between that I don't even know how it happened. I think maybe it happened through a temp agency, but I ended up at it was Dallas Austin's label Free World.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, okay.
Speaker 2:And this was early Free World. This is when Free World had a deal with Zumba. And this was early Free World. This is when Free World had a deal with Zumba.
Speaker 1:And so Free World had. Kenny Burns was there, Slim Pickens was there, and my man, Leonard Brooks had a little corner office where he was doing like.
Speaker 2:LaVert and all of that, yeah, because he's from Cleveland, yep, exactly. And all of that, yeah, he's a piece of cleveland, yep, exactly. So that was my first when I think about music business. That was my first real like like these are guys that are a little older than me. I think kenny had like 26, 20 at the time. So we were just kind of moving and I felt like I was a part of something. You know, I the artist. I think the girl's name was Lizette, I think was the singer's name.
Speaker 1:Sounds familiar, you might be right.
Speaker 2:I think the song was Young, wild and Free.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say don't quote me, but I'm sure that it was that A very long time time ago. But yeah, that was probably my next, you know, kind of step into the music business and I mean that opened up a lot of, I would say, connections and doors and just meeting a lot of people that were like me and that were just of our culture, right.
Speaker 1:Coming in and out the office and hanging out Right.
Speaker 2:Like I was a young kid from Bermuda. You know ASCAP was a performance rights organization, bermuda. You know ascap was a performance rights organization, so you're not really seeing the sauce. No, you know, like you might get to an event and it's cool, you meet some people and but you ain't really in like the mix of guys that are like shaking right and so, yeah, dude, I was running and I mean a lot of the guys you know, obviously we're still all friends. But you know I had met, like you know, the chuck bones at motown, the bobby springsteen's, the, you know, byron kirkland's, you know andre harrell god rest his soul neil mcknight, like all of those guys. So we were just in this motion of just like shoot, it's like this is the music business right, we out here, we like out here right, you know so, to a young kid from the islands.
Speaker 2:You're like yo, like I'm at Howard's Homecoming, I'm at these places, and you know you felt like you were a part of something. And then I think you know Freetown, I don't know. You know things happen, deals get lost, and then I was running with Kenny for a minute and then we were moving and I think Kenny either moved to LA or back to Atlanta and then I was back on my own. But the level of experience that I learned in that time, and even just the level of hustle hustle, you know what I mean like, because it's like I wasn't learning that at s cap, right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Like it was just kind of like yeah, just kind of pushing papers and moving with that. The s cap is a paper push your job and respectfully, I'm not saying it to be disrespectful but you're at your desk and you're doing your work. It's, but you're not. You say you're not in desk and you're doing your work, but you're not. You can say you're not in the mix, you're not going out at night, you're not. You know, you're just going to the gig and you're doing your thing and you're meeting people who come into the office, but you're not flowing. You're not flowing.
Speaker 2:And if anybody knows me like I flow, so that would have killed me, Right, you know what I mean. Like that's just was it my energy. So I feel like you know, God put me in this position to one, learn, right, you know what I mean and be in these spaces to really get, because think like I'm not supposed to be where I am and not giving that story about like where I'm from, but we're really where I'm from, from a little island where I came to America and I knew no one. From a little island where I came to America and I knew no one. Right, so everything that was connected was based off of the places and positions that I were in to meet and to learn, but then to use each step of you know, or what I gained to connect that next dot, Right, so you know, yeah, so that was and I'm glad you even asked that or we even tapped on that earlier because I had forgotten about those moments just because people always talk about the next level, right, because I think the next level for me was what really put me into the space to really be able to like make a name and like really kind of create a company and do those things.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I definitely want to shout out those guys man Dallas, Kenny, slim, Leonard, like you know, like those are, those are some real pivotal points in my life of foundationally like moving me forward, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. And good and good dudes too, you know yeah. So from forward, you know yeah, absolutely, and good and good dudes too, you know yeah. So yeah, from that, I'm assuming the next step is to chiba sounds next step was chiba sound.
Speaker 2:Well, it's so funny and I don't tell. Well, it was a real. It was a day kind of dot connector which I learned. I ended up at um through the same temp agency. I ended up being d DeVallier and Jocelyn Cooper's assistant for a day. For a day, though, and this was prime cash money, nelly, all of that right Dino was flying.
Speaker 2:Flying. So I got that through a temp agency. So if you can imagine and to be honest, I wasn't even there long enough probably for them to know who I was right, you know what I mean. Like it was like that quick, it was literally a day. But you know, because I had that hustle in me, I had a couple of groups that I'm working and I had some producers. You know I'm hustling, so I'm in the building, so I'm like, well, I'm in the the building, so I'm moving floors and I'm like trying to meet guys and you know they don't like that, right, they're like who the fuck's this kid? You know, we, we don't know him. He ain't come through the door, he ain't ushered in in no way. He's through a tap agency, the tap call medium. Next day and they were like, yeah, like don't come back. I was like they're like, oh, they said you were taking CDs or something. And I'm like, but you gave CDs away, but a dozen at that point, right, whatever.
Speaker 1:You need CDs or collateral back then. Come on, bro, you was like.
Speaker 2:So I ended up on one of the things, though, that ASCAP used to have this book called almost like a music book, like a Bible. That had pretty much every label and every label executive in here, from, like the president to you know pretty much the mailroom down there, and I had taken one of them, and so at this point I'm like, well, I need to get back in the system. So I had, like my girlfriend at the time was sending out resumes to her job and I was just like, oh, oh, you know, like I just wanted in, right, nobody would respond. I was calling and you know music business, especially in those days, it was a coveted position, right. So guys ain't really giving you too much phone time or energy to like not like who's this guy calling me with an accent, and like, nah, dude, right, you know what I mean and you can feel the energy, right.
Speaker 2:So I was like all right, cool. And one day I randomly just hit chiva sound. I didn't even know what it was right. Um, obviously, you know, you knew def jam virgin, you know Elektra, all those things at that time. And um, I remember Charles Wright. I don't know if you know Charles Wright.
Speaker 1:I don't think so not.
Speaker 2:Charles like wrenchy before a while and then went on to go run Steve Stoltz Venture. What was the one right, right, right before United Masters? I think it was like the advertising agency oh, yes, yes, yeah, yeah, what was it?
Speaker 1:I forget the name of that. I know exactly. Told me I forget the name of that agency, though.
Speaker 2:Translation, translation, yes, yes, yes, yes so charles was cool, trump's like hey, you know, like. So I was like okay, cool, you know you get that little bit of in, you know you got some game, so you're just trying to keep the conversation going, right. He's like all right, we have an internship available, come in for the interview, come in interview. Didn't get it Right Back to square one moving, moving, moving, moving, moving. And then one day, I don't know, I mean, I think, just having the hustle and being resilient, I just called again one day and he's like yo, do you want the internship? And I was like, yeah, and he's like well, can you come in today? And I was like, of course, and I was there. And that's when it all started took off from there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, with the, with the phenomenal, phenomenal and greatly missed dominic trenear yeah, man, that's my god, yeah I think I met dom through gary harris back, yeah and um, I was like we had that gravelly voice and you know he was like I heard an interview you did and you you nailed it.
Speaker 2:he was one of the early downtown guys, the guys who want to hit, hit all the clubs downtown and dating models and just being and for me, you know, look, I always and it was nothing against the record industry at all, but I think, as you get to and I think this was the beauty of like you know, when I talk about that Kenny era and there's like Kenny and at 2620, like they kind of govern themselves, right, so it wasn't ever like I'm just at this label or the label like makes me this guy. So I have to feel like that's like that governs who you are, that defines who you are. It was like it was all fly cats that were doing what they were doing and would have been fly with music or not, right, you know what I mean. And I feel like that's how me and my friends were at home. It's just like you didn't have to be axed to get girls or to do whatever, we were just fly. So that's how we rolled.
Speaker 2:So when I met dom and got into that system like, I remember one meeting like or one like I showed up I forget the name of the bar, but it was on um, one of those like marcel or one of those side streets and you know walking in and it was like wesley snipes and like lisa lu and like, and I'm just like wait, like what is, like you know what I mean, like because that's what it was. These are people you see on tv, but then it's just like we're there and they're welcoming, and they're welcoming me in because I'm part of what that is, and that's just the energy. And I was like this is it right? Like I, I was like this is my world and my life, because now it feels like, you know, it wasn't, let's say, the aggressiveness of, let's say, hip hop, right, or it wasn't like so white as in pop, it was like this real middle of the road sector. That was kind of like inclusive of everybody.
Speaker 1:So that was everybody who was cool.
Speaker 2:Everybody who was cool, right. So from that everybody who was cool. Everybody who was cool, right, yes, from that it was like you know, we had D'Angelo and we had Mark Runson at the time who was a young producer, okay, and like DJ, and you know I was the young buck, so, like I was, I would have to take D'Angelo like money times and do whatever play playstation with them for a minute and then be like, all right, I'm like but I wanted more.
Speaker 1:Is this before d'angelo's first album, or had the first album dropped?
Speaker 2:so I I think the first album was with kidar yes, and this was the untitled album when he had his shirt off and like that's the one that went crazy.
Speaker 2:And there's so much buzz around that, right, and I was just like I'm really going to get my due in this right now, right, Like it's a lot happening. And so I was like you know what I'm going to rock with Mark because we're in the same age. He was in the clubs, you know like it was all those things that again were of me, right, and obviously still associated with the movement, because I think everything that we were doing was fine, right, you know, like that's what we were doing, like D'Angelo and Armani parties and this and that, and then you know like, but Mark was also doing like, you know, gucci parties and these things at a time when DJs in that time really didn't have that, right, you know what I mean. Like you had Funk, flex or Kid Capri or those guys that were doing whatever, but what was the event? Dj at that time didn't really exist, because the events were just starting to do like pr coming into the mix of things and you're, you know, kind of having a event just for clothing, you know. You know just that whole kind of energy of things.
Speaker 2:And but also at that time you had puff was coming in too and was mixing his worlds, right, so he was bringing hip-hop to downtown, and hip-hop with martha stord and hip-hop within, like you know, richie and those guys, clubs and life spa and all those other things, right. So, and within that mark was the dj of choice, yes, so then I'm running with him at that point and I'm starting to look at the business different because I'm like, well, instead of being a fan of, like I'm just out partying and doing whatever. I mean, I had an amazing time in that era. But I also saw an opportunity, because no one else was doing it at that time and no one else was doing it in that magnitude at that time I mean, it was at one point mark was doing like three or four jobs a night, right, because there was nobody else. So then I'm like, well, okay, this is a business.
Speaker 1:then this is a business now.
Speaker 2:So I'm like and then with that you know I would have friends. You know I started to build my own relationships with, like the PR girls and all those other things.
Speaker 1:With the Grubman and Jessica 100%.
Speaker 2:And all that and you know, like the Harrison and Triffmans, and you know Noah and Jason and all of them were starting like their things.
Speaker 2:This is before. Obviously they built a massive conglomerate at this point, but we all were in that same space of growth and kind of moving the culture forward in that way. So I was like, well, you know what, this is kind of my duty as, let's say, the music guy right, or the DJ guy at that point, to continue to connect those dots but also give it a level of service, right. So it wasn't just like, yeah, this is the fun guy, but he's not waking up to handle business or take calls or do the things to steal the business along right, like I'll be out to four but I'm up in the office at nine because I loved it.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Like I loved what I did and I knew that I really had an opportunity because, like I said, everybody was with D'Angelo Right, and I knew if I was there I just would have been the like yeah, look at me with Mark. It was an opportunity to say, oh well, let's really build this, and I think from that I was really able to like build out that whole division for chiba at that point. So it was like mark, and then it was his sister, samantha, then it was beverly bond yes, and then it was dj cassidy right, okay, you had the big four.
Speaker 2:Bro, there was nothing you could tell me at one point in my life, but still being cool and humble because that's my spirit. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:But it was just like.
Speaker 2:I had built that in a way because I saw the opportunity and I actually said this in a talk the other day but I was like all of the misfortunes and all of the things that didn't happen for me prepared me for what was now Right. Because if I didn't have those things, I wouldn't have been able to appreciate what and where I was and the opportunities that were given me, to even have the mindset. One, to see that there was build and there was growth, but two, also to see how to help or how to understand and deal with those people that were in positions. Because I treated that like any other business, right, I'll call, I'll check in, I'll do drinks, you show up, you dress well, you do all of those things while being steal this fly guy amongst whatever. But hey, I just can't give merit.
Speaker 2:Yes, the DJs did good and yes, they were the talk of the town, but anything could happen at that point. Right, you know what I mean. So I felt like I had my duty to still be there, to really be that representation, because you know from being in the business, your representation is probably more than even your talent sometimes, because that can mess up many a deals or many things for you 1,000% 1,000%.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, so that was my Chiba run.
Speaker 3:And we'll be right back Ready to launch your podcast. Merrick Studios offers comprehensive services, from concept development and seamless production to strategic marketing and monetization. Let your story take the mic. Visit MerrickCreativecom slash studios and let's get to work.
Speaker 4:Master the art of lyricism with Pendulum Inc. The first school for rap. Learn elite techniques through immersive lessons, real world exercises and guidance from hip-hop icons. This is where mc sharpen their skills and glow boldly on the mic. Ready to level up, visit penduluminccom and start your journey today and now back to our show so um a couple quick personal facts.
Speaker 1:Beverly bond and I used to live in the same building in harlem really yeah, yeah, yeah, 150th and riverside 730 riverside. And she used to be. I used to live in the same building in Harlem. Really, yeah, yeah, yeah, 150th and Riverside 730 Riverside. And I used to see her because she had a friend, a pretty friend, I forget her name now Charisse, probably.
Speaker 1:She used to run the steps in the building to stay in shape. You know, I actually want to get Beverly on the show at some point, because I think her story is also very fascinating 100%.
Speaker 2:Bev has an amazing story Very fascinating, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then, secondly, you and I really linked to her and I'm skipping around a bit, but you were doing a place in New York which is gone now called Table 50, which is on Broadway and Bleecker. You had to go down the stairs. It wasn't a really big space, it was again, but it was one of those really cool spaces.
Speaker 2:We had that place, you would walk past it.
Speaker 1:You could walk and you wouldn't know. You would just walk past it, you wouldn't even cause. It wasn't like lights and shit outside or whatever. And um, I did a birthday party. I went there with cause.
Speaker 2:Q-Tip was DJing and yeah, it was me. Q-tip Mark and Blue Jams. God rest his soul.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm, and I remember running up on you and I was like, yo, my birthday is coming up, I want to do a birthday party here. And you were like so cool because you just said yes, I thought it was going to be like you know, well, let me think. And you were like, yeah, okay, win. I was like, yeah, I just want a list for the party. You're getting no problem, just send me the list. I was like shit, that, that was it. So I sent the list. I don't know if you knew this, but I was working at jive at the time and when my party was the same time, jive used to have these annual meetings every year where, like the sales staff and everybody used to come into town from the bmg labels at the time and they, the artists, new artists would perform and we present new music. Oh, the new R Kelly's coming out here's the first single and this type of thing. And it happened to be then.
Speaker 1:So everybody was like what are we going to do tonight? And it was like we should all go to Sledge's party. Sledge's having a birthday party and the whole staff. I don't remember party and the whole staff I don't remember it was. They all came to my party and that party was. That party was like the talk of the town. Man, I'm with them and I was an amazing. I probably got you a raise. No, that was the hottest nigga in the game yeah, party boy.
Speaker 2:No, honestly, that was a. That was a really good time. It was like that that, you know. I mean thinking back on it's. It's funny. I don't know if Mark talked about it, or I think you might've mentioned it in a post on Insta or something.
Speaker 1:I didn't. What happened with Mark? Mark did a podcast with my guys the road podcast, with goldfinger in them, and he talked about it and I mentioned, I commented under there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, talked about it and I mentioned, I commented under there yeah, yeah, and I had just walked by it that night, so it just really brought back memories. Yeah, we had a. I mean we used to have that place jumping you know, man yeah so so I want to ask a question.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna skip around a bit. I want to get, I'm gonna get back to, but I want to ask you your quest, your feelings on, because, like you said, you were the first one that I know of to do the celebrity dj thing like it was you know it wasn't.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't. I feel like so maybe something in la that I know about. But in new york you were the one like so you imagine, the big four and those in your big four were doing literally the hardest, hardest parties and functions in the city. Like if one of those people was spinning a function it was guaranteed to be fire. It was like there's no question it was going to be crazy and like to see the evolution of that to this celebrity DJ kind of thing that we have now. How do you feel about that? Like, you know just how do you feel about it in general, you ain't got to hold back too much, you know you don't got to throw nobody under the bus, but you know, tell me how you feel.
Speaker 2:I should probably be getting some residuals or something like that. I agree.
Speaker 1:I agree. No, no, no, no, no, I agree.
Speaker 2:Honestly, as you know, as simple as I was like, give me your list. I think everything that I do, you know, out of love and I move it forward in hoping that someone else can take from it and run with it and create it right, I would say, from you know what mark. In no way would I say that I've created any sort of DJ form or culture by any means. So let's just state that because obviously, the foundation of what that was and what that is, we know where that comes from, right, but I would say that I've had, if not was the early one to really move that side of it to a place that has now created people's lives right, literally, and that's with the utmost respect. You know what I mean Because, as I said, we all should be learning from the things that other people do to create and for people to be. But, that being said, like everything evolves right and I think when you know something becomes popular, somebody thinks that they can do it right.
Speaker 2:Somebody is going to say that I could sing better than her, and they're going to go try it and do it. Not everyone has the chops to really do or be, but at the same time it's also like the game to my. In my opinion, now it's so wide open that you could do, kind of like whatever you really want to do, and I think that's with what social media is now, that's with what rap is now, that's what singing is now. You know there's AI, that's there now. So I mean, look, if you can do and I say this to people all the time, I don't knock anybody for doing what it is that they want to do the one thing that I would say is just study and give back to the craft, right. Just don't be like, oh, I think that I could do this, and there's an ox cord and there's whatever, and you're not really studying, and you're not really studying the music, you're not really studying the craft, you're not really studying trying to a mix. And look, you don't have to be the greatest DJ on earth, but at least attempt to give to what it is that excited you to be here. It just can't be the money, and I always say, like you build it right, the money's going to come, right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:But if people and I think that's in some ways like the event game, it's not what it was, because it's like everybody thinks that they could do it. So if you think that you could do it, what was the benchmark for money that was being made? I mean, I would honestly say too, like we set the bar for what you should be making as a DJ at that time, right, like guys who are making $3,500 or $5,000 to DJ for two hours at that time, guys who are making like $10,000 at those times, that just didn't exist, right, you know what I mean. So for now, I'm sure people hear that or people see that, but with everyone doing it, a lot of people are now cutting less. I'll do it for 500 and a collab post, right, you know what I mean. So that kind of hurts the game somewhat too, because for the people that have put the work in, for the people that have the integrity you know, and for the people who really give back to the craft, it's like, well, now you're going to take a job because of that and look, there's a lot more to it now too, because now it's a social aspect. You know it's.
Speaker 2:The game has just changed so much within that way that I get it right. Like if you want your brand to be seen more so by the masses, you don't really care that much about the music, unfortunately. So you might hire somebody who is going to give you impressions but isn't going to give you vibe. So when you speak back to the things that we were doing in that time, we were like moving the needle culturally, because you have to be able to play, you have to be able to set the tone, you have to be able to set the vibe, because there was no social media, right, you know what I mean. Like, so there was no. Like I can act, like I'm doing it, but this is it. And look, this is no hate by any means. I think it's just a true reality of the era that we came from, where you had to prove yourself Right, because guys are looking at you like yo, right, you know what I mean. Like I'm dancing with this chick, like that mix is kind of crazy.
Speaker 1:You're killing me right now.
Speaker 2:You're just killing the vibe, right? You know what I mean and so that's my take on it, right? You know like I'm thankful that, look, the DJ culture is probably at its biggest that it's ever been, right? You know, I'm thankful that it has given, and still gives, people the opportunities to have and make a living. But, yeah, it has changed, but you know, but I've changed and I've evolved and I'm doing different things now within my life, because I've had to, so in no way am I going to be like, well damn, you shouldn't hire that girl because or that guy because it's not whatever, you know.
Speaker 2:I mean, mean it's kind of like somewhat survival of the fittest. I guess you know, yeah, it's like. But I would say like, give back to the craft like you know, like, just because it's it's a special craft and it's a special art that I think people kind of don't sometimes misinterpret it and think it's just someone's up there pressing buttons. But it's, it's a special job to be a dj you know.
Speaker 1:So tell me, tell me one crazy dj story new york city, based off the top of your head a party, party, party story. It doesn't have to be the dj, it was like a crazy party. You know, tell me, tell me one dude snake.
Speaker 2:What is a crazy, awesome, crazy party stores outside. I, I, I mean new york just feels so broad because new york was like where we like lived right. So I feel like in those things and what we were doing, like it was regular, right, it was like, you know, like table 50 or you know, I mean bev used to do like joe's pub, right. So you know you would have, you know mary j or you know maxwell or whoever just passing through because was the energy at that time. So I don't know a real standout like meaning. I I feel like everything is, but I always say that probably one of my most kind of monumental like achievements, well, it was two, it was um, with mark. We did john travolta's, I want say, 60th birthday party at the one and only in Cabo and this had probably the lowest celebrity there was Scarlett Johansson.
Speaker 1:She was the lowest. She was the lowest.
Speaker 2:Lowest totem pole. So I'm there. But we're cool, we're from New York and I'm just looking around I'm like wow, like this is heavy right. I mean sylvester stallone, you know, like denzel, his wife oprah, like it was just kind of like whoa, like this is, you know. Yeah, that was probably a massive highlight. And then we left there and flew to la on this jumbo 757 and pretty much had a comedic show by Robin Williams the whole way back.
Speaker 1:And it was on a plane.
Speaker 2:On a plane. I'm just like, bro, like you just can't with all of these people on the plane. I'm just like, wow, that's like that's a real moment and just something that was outside of what was because, like New York was our norm right at that point we're running downtown, we're doing parties, we're whatever we're doing. Events like that was some LA next 1% type thing, right. And then the second was probably we did Oprah's school opening in South Africa with DJ Cassidy.
Speaker 1:Oh, you did that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that was the second part, like that was almost like as equal, but this was like the black who's who, right, you know, you had like tina turner and chris rock and quincy jones. What was the guy? The guy who they just did the movie about at that time, like will smith played him. I forget the name of him, but I I think he was homeless and then he became oh, um uh, pursuit of happiness.
Speaker 1:What is it? Chris? Chris, something?
Speaker 2:I can't remember his last name he was there and it was just like and again it's just like cicely tyson, sydney portier, I'm just like dude, like this, is it right because those aren't the average people you see on a regular basis, right? Like yeah, we see the guys in like the club or the models or this or that or some crazy thing, yeah, but at some point it's just a regular night at the office, right.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, but to see and be in.
Speaker 2:That was kind of like Crazy, all right, like we really moving the needle and culture and we've come a long way from, you know, sending or taking D'Angelo money and doing and creating these things. It's like you know, like we're the heartbeat of sound and kind of culture from a DJ standpoint, and giving them and curating these experiences for these people, right, you know. Or, like you know, in Dubai with Naomi Campbell for her, you know, like you know, in dubai with naomi campbell for harvard, you know, it's just all of those type of things is where I felt like we had really moved and those were the things that I was like oh, like we're getting on a plane to do what?
Speaker 2:like oh you know what I mean. So it was like those are probably my biggest highlights when I think about and, look, I love New York, like New York is what truly made me and I think there's a ton of you know probably great experiences that, if I really thought about it, that I could speak about and can speak about Right, but I think that was the foundation of all of us that were in that time, in that era. So Absolutely.
Speaker 1:It was somewhere to go all the time and, like you said, if you were going to the cool stuff you know, the Moombas and the Bungalow Aids and those type of places you know you never knew who you were going to see and you just never knew where the night was going to take you. It was just like yo Q-Tip told me to come to something I didn't remember where it was. Man, half these places and I'm with some downtown joint and the Spice Girls were there and I was like yo, what's going on? It's like you said, you run into these things and I'm sure with you more because you were managing marks, you were out more than me, but it was incredible.
Speaker 2:It's not like that anymore, though, you know, no, it our day. But I truly think, as I mentioned earlier, that because of social media, because of how things are so easily accessed, I think at that point the accessibility wasn't that easy, right? So you had to create or be a part or know somebody yeah, you weren't getting in. You know kind of know, those things and know henry, and know all these guys that you know were still in cool, no yeah, exactly like.
Speaker 2:Nah, that ain't it not tonight right and you're frazzled right, because you couldn't even have the photo of now. Looking at your phone, I was like, ah, that's whack anyway. It's just kind of like you just saw four baddies walk in and you're like dude.
Speaker 1:Dude, come on B.
Speaker 2:And he's like nah, not tonight, not tonight.
Speaker 1:Step to the side, brother. Exactly so you're managing, mark. You're doing this, so tell me what that evolves to. After you have that run with the Big Four and some others, what do you go to next?
Speaker 2:So of course, I'm in these rooms now because now, you know, as I said earlier, I felt the music business would have just limited me, right, Because it was just almost like a cooler ASCAP in a sense. Right, it was all about them With this. I was playing in a field with everyone, right. And so, because I'm moving and shaking and it's music stuff, it's fashion stuff, it's PR, it's all these other things, you know, I had some amazing opportunities that came to me right, Like a friend of mine, Rex Amore, I think now he's like Yo Gotti's right hand or doing that with Gorilla and all them.
Speaker 2:He had got an opportunity to manage Pretty Ricky when they were signed to Atlantic and I think you know he was just starting in like the game and you know, me and him were friends or friends and he was just like dude, like come and like help me, Right, and I was just like, yeah, cool, Like you know, cause we were moving Right and I was in it, and so it was that we managed them for about, well, for like the first album, you know, Okay, and then after that I ended up managing Kat DeLuna.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So we had done her deal at Sony, at Epic, and then moved her over to what was it at Universal with Sylvia. Okay, I did that for a few, but then I was like yo, this music business, I need to get back to my energy, because I felt like it was pulling me too much out of my vibe.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So then I went back to doing that. I was doing a few producers and things in that space, but then just really kind of hunkered down on building more DJs. And then that's when we bought in DJ Kiss and MOS and we had DJ Ruckus and just really started to build out really what was that kind of DJ platform? Right, you know, like I'd worked with D-Nice early in the beginning, so it's like because that's what I knew and that's what I really felt great at. You know, like the like music business stuff I like, but it was just like it was too much going on in there. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like it was this department and that department and this level of red tape and that I was like bro, like I'm downtown flowing, like you know what I mean. Like we ain't got time for that, right, you know, like we're out and we're moving and we're here and we're on planes and we're doing all of that stuff. Like you can't cut me short because I'm gonna deal with this and look, I've I'm not knocking the music business by any means. It just wasn't for me, okay, right, you know what I mean. Like it, it just wasn't where I was supposed to be. I mean, I have great friends that were in it, that are still great friends.
Speaker 2:You know I mean me and you a great friend, you know like, and I've met you through all of those spaces too absolutely it just wasn't for me and I think I understood that like very early yeah so is this when you built dgi, or was this, or was dgi already in? Motion. Well, dgi was I kind of got ousted from chiva because I think I had a little too much power at one point.
Speaker 1:You were popping. You were too popping.
Speaker 2:I was too popping and you know people don't really like that they really don't. And you know it was a very interesting time because you know, like Dom is my man 50 grand. God rest his soul. Right. And you know I was doing something, almost having my man's back in building this, because I'm looking at it like, well, we're building this together. It was, I've got your back, I'm here to support you. Do whatever you need, because Mark needed to be managed at that time he did.
Speaker 1:He had too much going on possibility that might have got lost.
Speaker 2:I don't know. But just saying, right, like people come into your lives at certain times and when they can understand their position, I'm like, yeah, you're the boss, but I'm still gonna be fly. You're not taking my flyness because, as I said earlier, like when running with kenny and those guys or running with my guy from Bermuda, we're all flies. So, no matter where we are, we're still going to be that guy. Right, but that still doesn't mean I have to be disloyal, right? You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And I think he partnered with some people that I think didn't really, in my opinion, want to give me what I thought that I was worth At the time. That deal might have been good. It just didn't seem good to me based off of what I had built, and so they were like, yeah, well, you know you kind of got to go. I was kind of like, oh, really, all right. And you know I say this with the utmost love that if it wasn't for Mark, in all seriousness, I don't know where I might have been at this point Right now. Would I have been a success in something? Of course, because I'm a winner, but, at the same time, for what I was doing at that point and the level that I was in and what I was giving to him in his career at that time, because he could have said, nah, I'm just going to let them handle it.
Speaker 2:Right, then I would have had to figure it out and not saying that I couldn't have figured it out with a Beverly or with a Cassidy or with a Sam, right, you know what I mean. But to have that, which was at the pinnacle of where he was breaking into the next stage of his career in producing it, really gave me fun. Look, everybody wants to feel like respected, right, you know what I mean. Like. So everybody wants to feel like, ok, this work that I've put in, this work that I've done, I've put in this work that I've done Because most times, as you know, managers don't get respect or managers don't get thank yous. It's always like, well, you should be doing this, yeah, and if it's wrong, it's your fault, right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:And when it goes right, it's never your fault.
Speaker 2:When it's right. It's never your fault, never, and it's just you know, and so to me that was my thank you Right.
Speaker 2:In a sense because he could have just been like all right dude, like yeah, kind of got to go there Right, and it would have been cool too. But I think just that even put another battery in my back of like I really did create something. That was this. I really was good at what I did. I really was really, in a space of now, like I have to go even harder to create and be, because I didn't know how long that window was going to be Right, but I knew I had it now. There was going to be, but I knew I had it now.
Speaker 2:So, while I had it now, I had to maximize that to its outmost potential and not take that for granted, because, as you know, within this business, we're all growing. I mean in life, in relationships, if anything, you can't date a girl or meet a girl one way and then four years later you're thinking you're acting the same way. It's kind of like no, if you're both, both evolving, then you need to keep evolving, get to that point of where it's maturing the relationship and maturing what those things really need to be. You know so. But yeah, dude, that was those were great times, man. Those were like really good times. So I was forced to like have to start dgi. I had no business plan.
Speaker 2:I had no money meaning not money to start yeah, yeah, yeah it's kind of like all right, well, this check is continuing to move this and it's rent and this goes to whatever. But again I think, because of all of what happened and I'm a huge, I think, especially now within life, like that I'm a huge believer in God and his timing right and the things that we learn, and sometimes we're not even understanding what those lessons are at that time, because we think this is what we want for our lives at this time, right, and not knowing that those disappointments and those things are life lessons and are leading you to where we are within our lives now.
Speaker 2:Exactly Because even to have these conversations, like thinking back on that, even with who I was as a person or as a man. I mean, I think I'm the same, but I'm completely different. Right, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And it's like any of those things, or any of those turmoil, or any of that man, like somebody else, is starting a DJ company. Like I'm a little nervous now because you know, like I don't know, because you know, like it was just me, right, you know what I mean, like so it's just all of those things as you're kind of moving and continuing to build, to even bring you back to yourself of like well, nah, I'm that guy, like I did this yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So let's continue on that path of what you did to build and create and continue to move things forward, to have that self-confidence, to have that love and that honor within yourself to know that I can do it again. I can build, I can do whatever it is that I need to do you know. So yeah, that was the beginning of um DGI dude, just thinking back on that, just giving me so much kind of memories of that time you know.
Speaker 2:So tell me, tell me what's going on now. Tell me so much kind of memories of that time you know so tell me, tell me what's going on now.
Speaker 1:Tell me what you're doing right now, what you're working on, what you, what you I know you're building growing.
Speaker 2:What you're doing yeah, I mean now it's. I'm in an amazing space in my life, right, I know I actually call it my paradise suite. I ended up in bermuda for um covet. I thought not a bad place to be. Yeah, I thought it would be two weeks it ended up in Bermuda for COVID.
Speaker 3:I thought COVID would be two weeks. Not a bad place to be for COVID.
Speaker 2:I thought it would be two weeks, it ended up being two years. Total reset Really kind of got me in a space of truly understanding, because the business didn't really exist at that time so the money wasn't flowing like it did or you know. I mean, obviously, you know, fortunately we're in better positions within our lives. So, you know, I was able to maintain right and still be in spaces and let things be, but it just really kind of like reset me and like really pivoted me in a way of being back with family, being back within our Caribbean culture. And I'd started to manage an artist by the name of Cass kind of right before. So Cass is probably in my eyes the number one soaker artist in the world and some people he could be two, he could be whatever, but he's doing amazing things within the space.
Speaker 2:And I started managing him because I think they were at the pinnacle of success within Trinidad right and kind of wanted to kind of move and kind of break through culturally or move the culture to a different space. And, yeah, I started managing him and we did a bunch of amazing things within the COVID time, from just giving things to the culture and to the people to make them feel good. We did a live album, you know, but through all these things we're just kind of strategizing on where we're moving him and his music to. And yeah, it's been an amazing journey. It feels very purposeful, I think, you know, being able to tap back into Caribbean culture, right, and being able to help, kind of I was telling somebody, it almost feels like me again with the early DJ culture, right. I kind of have that feeling again because it's like we're breaking new ground, right, because so-called artists tour, tour but don't really tour, doing ticketed shows, right.
Speaker 2:So it's more you're caught in a carnival loop you're kind of caught it kind of bases from trinidad carnival, and then you kind of cycle through the carnival or the diaspora promoters where you know you're kind of making money but you're not necessarily building career right. You know. You know you're kind of making money but you're not necessarily building career right. You know what I mean when you kind of think about the music business. And so I think we were able to start to tour differently, start to release music differently, start to present differently, start to talk to brands differently, start to do pretty much all of the things that I did when I was in all of those early eras of building DGI and the D'Angelo things and the losing the job things and the connecting of all these things and people, because now it's like all right, I can really do that for my people, but then also wanting to show by example that and in hope that others learn from what we're doing as well, to want to do that same thing right Because as you
Speaker 2:know, you know the power isn't just in one man, right. So I like to speak about we's and the culture in we's, because I want us to be able to grow as a culture. I want us to be able to grow as just a unit overall, right, you know what I mean Just in terms of us, like, not just Caribbean, but even Black. But I speak more to the Caribbean side of it because there is some separation between, like, dance hall and reggae and this island and that island, and I'm just like, if we can unite in ways it helps everybody be successful, right? So, like we just sold out, we sold out central park summer stage last year wow in like 24 hours.
Speaker 2:This year we sold it out in four. The first show added show and we sold it out in pre-sale.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Did a second show that we announced. It sold out in an hour and a half right. And so when I look at and when I speak to, oh damn, when we look at the moving the needle culturally and being able to show people it and see what we're doing, like for me that's a metric right. That's showing like the proof is in the numbers of what we did. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Like and when we look at now. We're selling hard tickets and we're moving things in that way, like the proof is in what we're doing.
Speaker 1:It's black and white. The numbers are the numbers. You can't fake it. It's like black and white.
Speaker 2:But it's also it wasn't that the first year that we did it, the first year we did it, we took a loss, right, but it's the understanding of where do you see it going and where do you see it being. It's building, it it's the building. And then with that, I fell off the first year because that's you know, that's just yeah, so, yeah, so it's that you know, and I just think it's, you know, just still being me within that space now, right, but still I mean, I mean I'm everywhere now still, but it's just now, it's in a better form.
Speaker 2:And I think the biggest part for me, honestly, is that the work feels purposeful, right. You, you know what I mean Like it truly feels like it's of me, right, because it is me in that sense of like I was raised on the islands, I was raised to that style of music, I was raised to these things and a lot of us, as a lot of people in small American towns, don't have the opportunities to be able to connect the dots and do these things in higher form. So you know, it's my goal to, you know, help be an ambassador for that as well, to the people that we're representing through that. So that's one. And then you know I'm doing my little DJ stuff.
Speaker 2:You know well, I mean I don't want to say little because I'm enjoying it, but, um, you know, I'm like releasing music and producing music in like a kind of house, afro house type space, um, mixing some of the caribbean elements in with that as well, um, the kind of djing that, and you know, started a small label of my own that I'm kind of distributing my music and some of my friends' music and just kind of again just creating an energy and a vibration, because that's you know, that was downtown, right? So I'm technically still downtown. We're just putting those elements of downtown into the spaces that I'm vibing in, right, you know what I mean, and the people that you're around and the events that you're curating and the things that you're doing. But yeah, man, it's a really good time.
Speaker 1:You sound good man. You sound happy man. You sound good, you know. Well, that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 2:It's probably happiness more than anything right, yeah, you know.
Speaker 2:It's being able to stand and kind of love myself in the ways that I probably didn't previously, and that's allowing me to see all of these things clearly right. The things that I want to be a part of, the things that I don't want to be a part of, you know, were before, and I think that's probably where a lot of that, all that unhappiness, was, before I ended up back in bermuda it's because, yeah, you were making great money and you're doing all these things, but how fulfilling was it right?
Speaker 1:how much did?
Speaker 2:it really serve me in that space, so to shut down 100 and really be in. You know, I was in my childhood bedroom, you know, on a. You know on a full-size mattress, right? You know, like with just me and my parents. You know what I mean. It's like that's some real like not knowing if the world is ending, right.
Speaker 1:You know what I?
Speaker 2:mean, yeah, absolutely, that was some real, like thought-provoking stuff that I really got the time to really meditate and hone in on. Like, well, who is Damon, you know? Like, what are my whys? Like, you know what are the things that I really want to do for this next hour of my life? You know what I mean. Like, do I still want to give the same energy to the same things, even though it's making me great money? Right, you know what I mean. Like, is that giving me purpose? Is that giving me fulfillment to want to teach the next generation of kids or people who are watching? Right, because I always say they're always watching, right. But, like, what are you doing to kind of be that person, to be a role model or to be a leader within this space, because the money just can't make you a leader or a role model? Right, because the money drives you to do things that you might not want to do thinking you have to be that right.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. Like I want to be able to teach and show you game by example and then be able to speak to those things so you can say, yeah, that dude might not drive a lamborghini, but his fly is fucked and he's able to really speak to me in a way that feels like I'm of him.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean and I think those are the things that you know, I'm really kind of like basing. So I thank you for having me on here because, you know, I think part of what I'm doing now too, is even wanting to speak more and speak to those things, just because it's needed. And it's needed, yeah, and it's definitely needed for our people, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah and honestly, and we'll wrap it up, but that's you know. My main motivation to doing this is like and I know so many people who have done so many great things and I want to give them yourself included, obviously a platform to talk about it, the highs and the lows, because it ain't all sweet, it ain't all bad, it's just it's a ride and hopefully you know somebody hear this and listen to it and be like okay, I learned something yeah what to look for in my journey.
Speaker 1:So we're in the state we're kind of doing the same thing, different, but with the same kind of mindset. That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's our duty to teach you know Exactly and it's our duty to share the knowledge in ways and forms that allow or to make it palatable for people and kids to understand it Right. You know, because if not, it can go over their heads. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Or, you know, I don't want to preach to you I want to be able to talk and reason with you and ask me questions so you can see how to maneuver better within your life to make it better, because I want you, as you should want me and everybody else to be successful. It just can't be me and you, right, right, but why keep the game to myself?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Why keep the game to yourself if you can teach whoever how to get it? That just makes it better. You know what I mean. Like I was telling somebody earlier and then I actually have to go because I have a call at 3.
Speaker 2:But you know, like I've had some really great executives come from under me that are doing great, great executives come from under me that are doing great and that makes me feel amazing because it means that, like I've done something right to instill the energy, or how they should do, into them to be For what. I'm not going to give that knowledge because I don't want you to be successful, because it should be all me. It can't work like that, you know what I mean. Like we have to share the knowledge, yep, we have to share the knowledge, gotta share the knowledge.
Speaker 1:Thank you, brother. I really appreciate it, man, I really appreciate it. This is a good interview. I can't wait to put it up. This is really good. This is really good. Thank you again.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no Slash. Thank you, brother. It's been a minute but I feel like in chatting with you it was just like yesterday.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I felt like we talked last week, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the beauty of friendship, you know.
Speaker 1:Exactly exactly. You can catch Mixed and Mastered on Apple Podcasts, spotify, iheart or wherever you get your podcasts. Hit that follow button, leave a review and tell a friend I'm your host, jeffrey Sledge. Mixed and Mastered is produced and distributed by Merrick Studios.
