My First Million: The Kanye Episode

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Dude, it just comes with the territory.

That's when you're in your creative band.

You're going to be crazy.

You got to accept the craziness.

I feel like I can rule the world.

I know I could be what I want to.

I put my all in it like no days on.

On a road, let's travel never looking back.

Do you want to talk about Kanye?

I do want to talk about Kanye.

Yeah.

I only watched the first episode because I have this rule.

I've got two rules.

The first rule is if there's a movie that involves animals as the protagonist, I don't

know where you're going with this.

I don't watch it.

Lion King?

I don't watch.

The animals always die.

I don't watch it.

I have a rule.

If there's a war movie and it's set in a period where they had horses like Braveheart or the

Patriot and the horses die in the war, I don't watch it.

It's too much for me.

I don't like seeing horses die.

I don't like seeing the lion get trampled.

I don't watch that shit.

The second thing is if it's generally either scary or sad, I don't watch that either.

I'm not paying money to get freaked out.

I'm paying money to be happy.

My life sucks sometimes anyway.

I want to pay money to make it not suck.

I knew that in episode two, that was when his mom died.

I was like, nope.

I'm not going to watch that.

I only watched episode one.

By the way, I've watched two episodes.

His mom doesn't die yet in that part.

They made it.

I thought they made it.

They were playing the song, Hey Mama, like over the preview.

So you haven't seen any of the scenes with his mom because those are the best scenes.

Yeah.

Well, yeah.

Well, she's like, he's like, I bought a, she's like, you don't own a house, but you

bought this chain and she goes, OK, I like the chain Kanye is nice.

This is nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She was very supportive of him.

So I did.

So.

Okay.

So let's talk about the mom.

All right.

So this kind of documentary is frankly great.

And I'm kind of mad.

More friends didn't tell me you got to watch this.

Like, I can see why maybe some people don't like it, but this is like, this is up my alley.

This is my.

Dude, did you see the idea about how they're basically it was just a guy because you asked

yourself, why is this footage from why is this guy just walking around like he's got

a cam.

It's like a camcorder on his shoulder.

Why is this guy with Kanye when he's like on the street and basically this guy was like,

I saw I forget the movie that he saw.

It was called like a.

There's a movie where.

Yeah.

Hoop dreams.

It files for young, like high school or kids or eighth grade kids.

He's like, let's see if they're going to make it to the NBA.

And he's like, I was inspired by that and I thought Kanye was going to be famous.

And so I just decided to follow him around.

And this was before YouTube was around.

So it was weird that a guy was with like a shoulder camcorder.

Really weird what what luck for all of us that that guy.

So shout out to Cody, the guy who did it.

He basically and by the way, I think they explain this more later.

I haven't seen the whole thing.

So I might not know something that's like said in the documentary, but I can only watch

the first couple of parts.

So he basically sees Kanye is like, this guy's cool and then drops everything is like, I'm

going to film this guy.

I'm going to film this random guy from Chicago who wears a retainer and is trying to be a

rapper.

He's like a cool producer.

But like, you know, who knows, right?

Like, you know, most people don't make it.

As Kanye says in the documentary, he goes, yeah, where I grew up, there's a whole bunch

of guys who are who were just finnig it signed.

And guess what?

They're still finnig it signed.

They're just always finnig it signed.

And so like, you know, that seemed like the most likely path.

But like, that's amazing.

So this documentary is amazing because he's got footage from before everything.

And when he's when he's got nothing, when nobody believes in him and he's like, you

know, trying to make it.

And because because of that, he's got all this footage and other people also view it

as harmless.

It's like, oh, I don't know.

Why is this guy got a camera?

What are you doing with a camera out?

It's like, oh, I'm filming a documentary for Kanye.

All right, that's weird.

All right.

But I guess come on in.

Like, who knows?

And so you see Jay Z.

You see Pharrell.

You see all these like legends in the game early on because in studio because they just

have this footage.

It's amazing.

That it was awesome.

I love this documentary.

It was cool that he looked up to a couple guys like Most Def and Common.

And now those folks aren't even in the same stratosphere as what he is.

Exactly.

Yes.

And he surpassed them.

They asked for his autograph.

And he would.

Yeah.

And they were like, all right.

Fine, Kanye.

Fine.

I'll come.

I'll come with you to this thing.

Right.

And it was awesome.

And it's easy to say like when I watch it now, I'm like, oh, this is so obvious.

This guy has the factor and of course that's easy.

But there was one scene where he was in a record label like reception room, I think.

And there was this woman just standing there and he was like, hey, can I talk to whoever?

And she kind of ignored him.

And then he just started rapping.

And he's like, well, let me show you my rap and he plays.

He plays all falls down, I think.

And which is like the hit of hits.

And he's rapid.

And she's like, get cameras up for a minute.

And then eventually she just like starts making phone calls and she's like working and then

she's like, excuse me, like has to walk by because there's someone at the door and he's

playing all falls down before it like became a thing and it made me think of two things.

One, that's crazy that he kept getting after it.

And two, even though all falls down is a total hit, I understand how if you heard it is just

some crazy guy.

You'd be like, oh, that's stupid.

And it really makes me respect people, whether it's people who invest money in a product

or people who find an artist or find art or a trend, people who can spot something and

be like, I think that's it.

And if we position it in the market this way, this is going to be a home run.

And it really shows you how hard that is because that woman and there was like three different

ladies walking around the room were 100% fans of that song.

They were like, they were like, they were like, look like young people that were in the music

industry and they were working the way up.

They 100% were about that song when it came out.

But then it didn't click.

And that is what I try to imagine.

I'm like, what, what is my all falls down today?

Did I skip over anything today?

And I found myself asking that after I saw that documentary 100% because you just see

people who are writing them off, people who are just too busy doing their work that they

missed this absolute goldmine.

That's like, literally he's putting it in your face saying, please, please like check

me out.

Right.

And like, and it's easy.

Like when something's popular, it's easy to appreciate its greatness.

When something is some random guy in your way, it really takes something special to spot

that talent.

And it made me want to be that guy.

Right.

It made, it made me want to be that parent.

So like, I wrote down a bunch of notes, which is weird because like who writes notes while

the documentary.

But I was like, there were things that stood out to me that were like real life lessons

or just amazing moments that were in this.

So I'll give you one.

He's rapping with his mom, his mom, his mom was an English teacher.

And she's like, what's that one you used to say?

Like I was at the playground and then they said boys came around and then she's like

doing it and he does it.

And she's like, oh, I love that one kind of like an audience of one.

It's like, all he really had at that point was one fan.

It's like his mom.

And she's like, that's a million dollars right there.

She goes, I always used to tell you that, right?

It's that that's a million dollars right there.

And he laughs.

He goes, ain't got a million dollars yet.

And like now he's a billionaire.

Right.

And so it's like, and she's like, no, I'm telling you that's a million dollars.

And then he tells her some good news.

Like, mom, MTV is going to film me for their like, you heard it here.

First thing for emerging artists, like unknown artists, can you believe that they're going

to film a documentary?

Mom, mom.

Can you believe that?

And she goes, I can believe it the way you are.

She goes, you write in tracks like watching Michael Jordan shooting free throws.

And then she goes, she goes, you know, you you work so hard, you kept going, you keep

going up.

It's bound to pay off.

So yeah, I believe that Kanye, people like you, you're special Kanye and like, and she's

not saying it.

There's no difference when you say the way you're doing a really good job with this.

Yeah.

This is good.

You've got me bought it.

This is really good.

And so so she was, you know, there's a difference when somebody says something like, no, you're

great versus like when somebody genuinely believes in you and they're not just trying

to pump you up and they just have a quiet confidence about him.

Like she wasn't going overboard and wasn't saying like, don't worry, you're gonna make

it.

She was just saying like, of course, I believe it like, yeah, I'm not surprised.

And she wasn't critical.

So he comes back and she goes, Kanye, when are you going to buy a house?

And she, he goes, I don't know yet, but check this out.

And he pulls out this chain.

I don't know what was on it, but he was like, I could have bought a house, but I bought

this instead.

And she goes, well, that's, it's all right.

It's pretty nice.

Good job.

I like that.

Yeah.

I like this.

And she's like, again, so supportive and such a believer and that's like, you know, a thing

that moms do, but it's just like, you know, that's mad respect on that and most moms don't

do that, by the way.

I don't think most moms do that.

I feel like, you know, you know, like a lot of people like, dude, I have the best mom.

It's like, well, you know, trust me, there's a lot, I think that there's a lot of shitty

parents out there.

Right.

And then I think that most parents are just that most parents are just are okay.

It's just like a distribution, just like everything else.

And she was very special and single mom too, right?

Single mom and a, you know, he opened up her fridge and there's like literally like, like

wine and milk.

There's a quarter milk and a quarter, a quarter of rosé or something like that.

Why Zinfandel and then like, he's, and he uses that like in his song later or whatever.

And so there's a couple other things.

So that, so he goes, um, uh, he, so I'm just going to, can I read you to some of these

notes?

I just, so there's one scene where he's, he's, um, or no, she goes, she's trying to

warn him.

And so she goes, you have this confidence that kind of you're like, um, you know, but

once you make sure you stay humble and like, obviously that's, you know, better challenge

for Kanye over time as he's like, I am Jesus now.

And so, and she's like, remember a giant looks in the mirror and sees nothing.

And like, I still to this point, I don't know what that meant.

And kind of clearly also didn't know what that meant in the moment.

And then she tries to explain, she goes, she goes, don't, she goes, don't make yourself

less of a star.

A star is going to look like a star.

You can't be a star and then say, I'm not a star.

You can't have, she goes, you got to have some oomph about you.

And I just love that.

Like that's a, there's a, that's a phrase to live by.

It's like, I have some oomph about me.

Like that can mean anything in any situation and it's the right thing.

And then she goes, she goes, don't just go to the mirror and say, no, I'm not all that.

Thank you very much.

I'm not, I'm not all that.

I'm not a star.

Like, yeah, you be a star, but be humble at the same time.

And she goes, you, and he goes, you're saying I don't do a good job of that.

She goes, no, you do a good job of that, but you got to make sure you keep, keep doing

a good job of that.

And like those are like, you know, kind of like that's a seed that's been planted, right?

And so gosh, he's great.

So there's that one.

Then there was like all these moments where, all right, the importance of identity, right?

So he says from the beat.

So at the time he's known as a great producer, he produces the beats that Jay-Z uses on his

big blueprint album and people know him as that.

Everyone loves him as a producer.

Everybody wants him as a producer, but he wants to be a rapper.

Yeah.

He was upset about that.

And so he goes into this one.

He's in the hallway at the record label, which, which, by the way, a lot of people forget,

do you realize how much he produced before he actually got famous as an artist?

It's pretty crazy.

Like the big one was H of the Izzo.

And there was like, there's like dozens more.

I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but there was a dozen more where you

like, wait, you did that and he did it before he had his own thing.

Yeah.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And he was great at it.

And then he's like, he talks about it.

He's like, yeah, people want my beats.

Oh, can I get one?

Can I get, I need a beat.

Give me a beat.

And then they, then they hear my song, like, you know, I didn't heard this.

Where'd you get this?

He goes, that's my shit.

I use that for me.

And he's like, he's like, trying to like, on one hand, he needs to sell beats to pay

for life.

But every time he does, it's a step away from where he wants to be in a way, like to be

a rapper.

And so he's in this hallway and this guy's trying to hype him up because he's like, oh,

you got the documentary crew.

So he puts his arm around him.

It's like the, the, the managing director at Rockefeller Records and he's like, you

know, this right here, Kanye West, he's the best rapper producer in the game.

Best rapper producer in the game, period.

And then he's like, kind of like upset and he's like, what, he goes, well, you guys

say that, man.

It's like saying, I'm the best kid rapper in the game.

He's like, wait, man, I said, you're the best rapper producer in the game.

He goes, I'm just a rapper.

If I'm the 50th best rapper, just say he's the 50th best rapper.

Don't call me the best rapper producer in the game.

That's whack.

All them a whack.

I'm not that I'm a rapper.

And like, think about what's going on that moment, right?

He's like fighting to get a record deal where most people are in desperation mode.

Like, they'll take what they can get.

But instead he's got this identity and the whole world is trying to pull him to just

be a producer because that's what's in it for them.

Like that's proven and that helps, you know, helps them make hits and, you know, why aren't

you just happy?

Pat you on your head and say you're a great producer.

And he had this identity in his head so strong that I think 99 people out of 100 in his position

would just become a producer because the whole world was pulling him in that direction.

It was a faster and easier path to success and the money was there and the success was

there and he didn't have to grind as hard as he did to try to prove himself as a rapper.

But he had it in his head.

No, I'm a rapper.

And if I'm the 50th best rapper, I'd rather be the 50th best rapper than the best rapper

producer.

And I just it was such an example to me of like, people will stay consistent with their

identity.

And so you kind of got to ask yourself, like, what is my identity?

Like, if I said, Sam, what's your job, Sam?

What do you do?

Right now my job is I do podcast.

If I just say, like, who are you, what do you do for work?

What do you do for a living?

I'm a business person.

Okay.

You're a business person.

So if all of a sudden it doesn't matter what HubSpot offers you, right?

Like, okay, you're vesting out your deal.

That's great.

But let's say any company comes to you and say, Sam, we'd like to make you the vice

president of marketing operations at biggest company in the world and you're going to get

this and that.

You're not going to do it because it's not consistent with your identity.

You're like, I'm a business person.

I'm an entrepreneur.

I have to be an entrepreneur.

Yeah.

So entrepreneur, I can't be an employee if I'm an entrepreneur.

They're just not, they're two separate things.

And like in the same way, you know, if you're not going to do heroin because you're not,

you're somebody who doesn't do heroin, you don't even have to weigh the pros and cons

of it.

It's just really not a discussion for you.

It's not part of who you are.

It's not like I'm trying not to do it.

It's no, I just, I don't do that.

I do do this and I don't do that.

And so those lines you draw for yourself are so important on identity.

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And I would argue, so there's this book called 48 Laws of Power.

Have you read it?

No, but I've heard of it.

All right.

It's awesome.

So he's got this one chapter where he says, you always have to reinvent yourself.

And he gives a bunch of examples about that.

And the reason why you want to reinvent yourself is the person who you can't peg down typically

can become the most powerful because there's something about changing yourself that it

does a couple of things.

First, this whole act-as-if thing, it's real.

So if you act like you're going to be an expert artist or something and you work hard, you

can eventually become that.

But you kind of got to act as if, second, it kind of reinforces habits.

So you say, no, I'm a healthy person, therefore, I don't do unhealthy things.

And third, it gives you this aura of mystery.

And people who have mystery surrounding them typically are powerful.

And there's a ton of good examples about this, like a really interesting and easy one because

she does it so clearly is Lady Gaga.

So oftentimes she'll reinvent herself.

So at first, she was this kind of just normal white lady playing on the piano.

If you see her when she's a little bit younger, then she becomes this weirdo person where

she puts meat on her body.

Then she transforms and becomes, she starts playing jazz with Tony Bennett.

You're like, what the heck, Lady Gaga's doing that?

What the hell is that?

Now she just got done doing some acting and she was a great actor.

So constantly reinventing themselves.

I think Arnold Schwarzenegger has done a really good job at that.

We just can't.

Yeah, you just you've got to reinvent yourself consistently.

And Kanye has done that where he's actually changed himself.

And I think inventing reinventing yourself, you actually need to make the decision.

You're going to be like, I am this.

Now I am this.

Exactly.

And then you're going to choose that identity.

And after a while, then you could be like, all right, great.

That season was this season had a beginning in the middle and now it's come to the end.

What's the next season of me?

And you can actually pick and choose what those inventions are.

And when I read that, when I was a little bit younger, that kind of changed my perspective

on things.

When I went to the Tony Robbins event, it was a perfect example of what you're talking

about.

So he tells this story.

He's like, you know, he's like, yeah, there was this kid I was working with or this kid

I met and kid was overweight and he wanted to be fit.

But he was talking about all, you know, it's hard.

I'm working so hard on time to exercise, blah, blah, blah.

And he's like, he wanted to be in a relationship and we saw a woman, beautiful woman.

I said, well, go talk to her then, and he didn't want to go talk to her.

He said, well, why would she want a guy like me?

I'm too young.

She looks older than me.

You know, I don't have a good job.

She probably wants a guy who's got something going for him, looking at my clothes.

I don't look good.

So he didn't want to go talk to her.

So he talks about all these aspects of his life, his health, his relationship, his career.

It's like, what do you want to, you're working as a busboy right now at a restaurant.

What do you want to be going and doing?

I want to be over there.

I want to run that dealership over there.

You know, why don't you go apply for it?

Well, why would they hurt me?

I had no college education, right, like coming up with all the reasons why, like labeling

himself all these identities that he's not, right?

I'm overweight, no college education, too young, too dumb, too fat, too whatever, right?

And people do this all the time.

And so he's like, he basically talks about the turning point for this kid.

He's like, he drew a line and he said, no experience, like, no experience, what do you

talk about?

Yeah, no experience.

Yeah, yeah, I don't have, I'm not stuck in all the old ways, like all those other motherfuckers,

right?

Like, I got fresh ideas.

I got the energy of a young stallion.

I'm not like some 50 year old guy who, you know, is dragging into work every day.

Yeah, I got no experience.

I got the best experience, no experience, right?

Or like, why would this woman want to be with me?

Me?

Because I got that, you know, and he just turns it around.

Like, what's the truth?

Is the truth that you have no experience or the truth that you have fresh ideas and young

energy and you'll hustle harder than anybody else to prove yourself because you have, this

is your track record, right?

And so he does that for each one of the things.

And then it's like, oh, you know, at the end, it's sort of like, you know, that kid's

me and he shows a picture of himself before and where he was living and how he was working

and how he turned himself around.

That's good.

And he says in this thing, he goes, you know, right now you guys see me on stage and I got

this, I have, I have energy and confidence and I have all these like this insight, wisdom

or all these things that people praise me for.

He goes that what people don't realize is I created this Tony Robbins motherfucker.

I created him and like, and I just thought it was so powerful of a way of thinking like

you can create that, that thing you want to be that the ideal version of you, you get

to create that.

And the people who've done it, they just created it.

They chose that identity and then they just lived up to that day by day.

And like, you know, there's a, the Kanye is like a, you know, a great example of, of like

literally speaking it into existence.

He says a ton of stuff on there, like people are going to know me without my last name.

It'll just be Kanye at some point.

And he's, and I.

Go ahead.

No, no, go for it.

When I was watching that, it also reminded me of this other thing and here's a really

small example.

So you, Sean, are your, your, I don't know what you are.

I, I, I don't create creative is one word, but that's not the most effective word.

I would say your, whatever it requires to be a good like storyteller and podcast host,

that's what you are.

So it's like a mixture of creativity, performing and a bunch of other stuff.

And what I've come to accept is like, so I always joke that Sean is always like, usually

two minutes late.

He's usually always two minutes late to stuff.

And at first that made me angry.

It doesn't make me angry anymore now because what I know is in order to be good, in order

for you, Sean, to be Sean and be good at these things, that means by nature, you're going

to be the opposite of good at these other things.

Right.

Like that's just what, that's just what it comes with.

Like, so like if you want someone, like, so it's like, well, you know, you can't be

this amazing athlete and have time to do all these other things.

Like in order to be an amazing athlete, you got to train all the time.

So like, I just accept that like, well, I want him to be good at this.

Therefore I accept that maybe sometimes I'll just, he'll just be two minutes late.

And when Kanye acts like a crazy person online and he says all this crazy shit about Kim

Kardashian and he types in all caps on Twitter and shit, people are like, this guy's crazy.

Like what's he doing?

And I'm like, well, that's what we need.

Being crazy is good.

Like that's why we got all this gold.

And I love those crazy people.

And so what I've learned is like, in order to be great, you're going to be messed up

in some other, in some other categories.

The Bistro Beast thing I was talking about at the beginning, he said something just

like this.

He goes, Joe Rogan asks like, you know, what was it like, you know, what did your friends

think or whatever he goes?

He's like, at first my friends just thought it was weird, like nobody that wasn't a popular

thing to make videos.

And then they just got sick of it because all I ever wanted to talk about was making YouTube

videos.

They would ask me about other stuff or try to talk to me about other stuff.

I just didn't have any interest in anything else.

I was just obsessed with making great videos.

And it's all I wanted to think about.

And I remember there's an interview with Conor McGregor.

He goes on BBC.

It's like one of the bigger, like, it's like not just like an MMA guy covering Conor asking

about MMA.

It was like BBC World or something like that.

I was going to interview and they asked him some question or there was like some small

talk, you know, about like, about like the news or the game and he's like, oh, yeah,

you know, both teams play hard and he just has something generic and then the camera

cuts at his documentary crew is filming because I have no clue who those teams are.

He's like, I don't follow any.

I don't say I don't follow sport.

I don't follow news.

He goes, I don't know anything about anything and I don't want to know anything about anything.

I just am obsessed with my with my craft.

I have lost my mind to my craft.

And I've seen that.

And so, you know, it's like this kind of inspiring thing that you see as like a common.

What are the common denominators of greatness?

You I wouldn't say you have to do anything because there's many ways to win.

But these these things do show up often, right?

They sort of rhyme with success is like this obsession, the sort of singular obsession

with something or identity, seeing yourself as becoming something, even when the rest

of the world doesn't see it.

Having that one believer like your mom, right?

Like, so like if I was going to say like the lessons from Kanye, which I think is what

this episode is turning into was like, you know, number one is like, you know, the power

of that one believer like his mom, number two is like the power of identity.

Number three is is like.

So he has this moment where he goes, somebody said something, they go, they go, you know,

do you think it's harder for you because you're from Chicago and because you have this background

as a producer, so people don't take you seriously as a rapper.

And he goes, he just goes, he goes, the way I feel is anything that anybody ever tells

me is a disadvantage.

I'm going to make it my advantage.

And then he basically, if you watch the documentary, that's exactly what he's doing.

He's like, okay, I'm pigeonholed as a producer.

Well, I'm going to make the dopest beats for myself and I'm going to use my beats as currency.

So he's like, yeah, I supply beats to Jay-Z.

Guess what?

I get Jay-Z to do a hook on my first album, which he's not going to do for like some random

no name rapper.

But because I build this credibility, I'm going to, I'm going to use that as my currency

or like he gets in this car accident and his jaw is wired shut.

And it's like, I'm going to turn that to my advantage.

How did he turn a disadvantage?

Like for a rapper to have a jaw wired shut through the wire, he creates a song called

through the wire, rapping about his time.

And then like, you know, the first line is like, you know, about drinking and sure,

like, you know, other people make pancakes.

I just drink scissor, you know, just the syrup because he can't eat solid foods, right?

So he writes his hit song, when he's got the broken jaw.

And he also says, as other heroes, I was laying there, I couldn't do nothing back

there.

There's no, no, like cell phones or anything.

So he's, you know, the smartphones.

So he's just like saying, sitting in the hospital doing nothing for seven days.

He goes, I was laying there and I decided I'm going to be the best dressed rapper in

the game.

He's like, because he was watching music videos, so they put music videos on there,

but they couldn't put the volume high.

So he couldn't like bump to the music.

We was just watching other rappers.

So he turned the disadvantage to revenge, which was he realized all these rappers dressed

the same way.

And it's this one style.

I'm going to do that.

Then now he's a fashion billionaire, you know.

And back then rap fashion was horrible.

It was just like, it was like a basketball jersey and like baggy jeans.

Yeah.

It was the worst.

So he did a good job.

Let me ask, let me ask you a question real quick.

Don't say their names because you might have to insult them.

But the three wealthiest people you know, what is, around what do you think their net worth

is each about the ones like I know, like I know well, like somebody, not just like somebody

I've met.

Yeah.

Who you know about some of their personality traits and their personal life.

Yeah.

I would say like somewhere between like 300 million and 700 million.

I like, I know them like, I know about their like real life, not just like the surface

level stuff.

Of those people, how many of them have this trait of being obsessed and and to the point

where if a normal person, a non wealthy person saw their life, they would be like, dude,

you're weird or the way that you're handling this is wrong.

You know, you're, you, how many would say something like that?

Oh, 100 percent of 100 percent of the water or examples of yeah.

So one of them, they worked so hard on their business.

They were so obsessed that like their family members used to come to the office and say,

you got to come home like you just you're working too hard or afraid.

And when they sold their company, like 45 days later, they had like a heart surgery

because they had like worked themselves that hard during that time.

Another one.

I remember the day after they became worth over a hundred million dollars.

I was I knew them well that that same night they were up till three in the morning working

on their like new project that had like no no like less than a hundred customers.

And like clearly they'd already made it.

And it's like for them to stay up fixing bugs in this like test flight product that

was, you know, three in the morning that day, like most people would be chilling hard for

it to go on a bender for a year like wired very differently.

Third person, they're not just obsessed in their work life, they're obsessed with kind

of anything.

So they they like it's like if they get into like some random hobby or sport, they just

take it to like a level that's not like common or like they're a hardcore gamer or they just

like get there to have an obsessive personality.

It's not just an obsession with work or money.

That just happens to be the game that pays out in a points called dollars.

They just get obsessed with any game that like catches their catches their their their interest.

Yeah, that that rings true to all the people I that I know.

Do you have an example?

I'm trying to.

Yeah.

So our mutual buddy, I wonder if I could I'm actually not going to say his name.

So well, I'll say it.

Yeah, I could say it.

Jack Smith.

So the chair, like he the building of the chair, right?

That's an example.

Well, I'll give you a different one.

So he's obsessed with if he buys anything, he'll buy 30 of them.

And at his house, I've seen it.

He's got a Google spreadsheet.

He tracks every item and every category of thing that he's bought and he ranks it.

So if you ask him about chocolate, he actually has a spreadsheet with literally 100 pieces

of chocolate.

He goes, I tested all of them.

Here's the best one that I think is the best.

When we got married, my wedding gift from him was roughly $1,000 of stuff that he considered

the best, and it was so weird, like the best socks, the best underwear, the best lotion.

And he's so obsessed with this that Amazon multiple times has banned him from having

an account.

And so he has to create different credit cards just to continue getting an account.

And he's so he's just obsessed with stuff.

And he's he's incredibly wealthy.

And he probably got he probably got wealthy when he was 28, really young.

But he's just crazy obsessed with stuff to the point where like, I just I just I just

accept that's he's just an oddball.

So yeah, that's one example.

Let me give you another one that I thought was kind of like one of the lessons.

The lesson number, I don't know what we're on now.

Lesson five from Kanye, close mouth, don't get fed.

So I don't know if you've seen this scene where he goes into he kind of like just like

he the there's like a point where like the record label is not like paying for like the

studio time because like, you know, they're they're kind of like put them on the shelf.

They're like, they weren't sure about them.

They don't want to put the money into like promoting them and getting them to record

and all this stuff.

So he's like pulling in favors some way, somehow.

So he goes to like, he asked Jamie Foxx, who he's like made beats for before he's like,

hey, I want to come over.

Oh, you got the studio in your house.

Yo, you mind if I just record something real quick and like, boom, uses the studio and

then gets Jamie Foxx to do vocals and that becomes the vocals on one of his tracks.

Slow jam.

Yeah.

Slow jam.

Then there's one with Jay-Z.

He gets into the studio with Jay-Z.

Jay-Z's recording and he's like, yo, you mind if I write for you real quick and he's like,

yeah, okay.

Yes.

You know, I'm not going to say no.

And he just freestyles on the spot with no back track for Jay-Z to his face like a one

on one like basically just one man or fighting a poem to another man.

It's like kind of an amazing thing that's happening.

And then Jay-Z, you see him like start to nod his head and he starts to like, he's like,

I like it.

He lets him do a hook on Jay-Z's like, let's him do a verse on Jay-Z's track.

And then Jay-Z says out loud in the studio.

He goes, I had no idea.

He goes, but that's, he goes, that just shows you closed mouth, don't get fed.

And like, and then they, and then they catch on the documentary, the guy, Cootie, the recording

guy, he goes, Jay-Z's like leaving and Cootie shoots his shot to, he goes, he goes, oh,

man, what do you think about Kanye West?

And he goes, he's a Kanye West man, he's, he's got it, he's going to be big.

And he goes, and then he goes, he goes, you think so?

And he goes, I'll put my money on it.

Haha.

And he walks up and it's like the Jay-Z laugh and walks out the studio and they capture

that and they're like, yes, we got like basically an endorsement from Jay-Z.

That's going to help us keep going.

And it's just one instance after another of like, in the moment of truth, he didn't sit

around and wait.

He shot his shot and like, you know, close mouth, don't get fed.

And I just think that's like, how did you, how did you remember all this?

Were you literally just with the pen and paper taking notes?

I would write notes.

I just write like, I'd write like literally says closed louth because I misspelled typing

fast.

Close louth.

Don't get me.

Don't get fed.

Jay-Z.

And then I, and then I thought about it.

Right.

Like, because this is on your, on your iPhone apps.

Notes app.

Yeah.

Note.

And do you do this for all your, all things like that?

Yeah.

I just have notes for everything.

Like I have, I have a thing called jokes and I'm like slowly building a standup comedy

set over time.

Like eventually I'll collect enough funny things and I'm like, oh, that could be a joke.

I'll put it there.

God, I find that to be amazing.

Like, because I watched the same thing, but you remembered so much more than I did.

I was just upset.

I was into it, man.

I just saw so many lessons and I remember like, there's so many moments of my life.

Like, I bet you have one too, where it's just like, do you have a closed mouth?

Don't get fed moment.

Like, does one jump to mine?

Otherwise I'll tell you mine and I bet you you have one.

I probably have a few, but I, you know, as you can expect, because I got big mouth.

I typically have always, I've done a good job of speaking up with yours.

Like when I was in college, I, at the time I thought I was going to be a doctor.

So I was pre-med.

I took the MCATs.

I was ready to graduate and go to med school.

And just for fun, I took a blow off class.

The easiest class offered on Duke campus was called getting rich.

And obviously that changed the direction of my life and one of the classes.

So the teacher was basically, she would bring in somebody who had made it in some world

and they would come and just talk to us.

So this guy was a-

Was this the most popular?

You told me about this.

Was it the most popular class?

Hardest class to get into because it was like highest, highest rated of easiness, of fun.

And like the, on ratemyprofessor.com that the professor had a chili pepper next to her

name.

That means she's hot.

So it was like all the high scores.

So I got in and I was sitting in class one day and the guy was a hedge fund guy, I think.

And he was talking about his career.

He's like, all right, enough about me.

Like, what about you guys?

That's something cool.

Who's got a business that they're trying to, who's got a business that they're running?

Or who's got a business they want to launch?

And he started looking around the class.

He basically scanned from left to right.

He goes, pitch me.

Like, that's what I do.

I invest.

So, so pitch me.

And he looks from left to right.

Know what it is.

Crickets.

Nobody's, you know, you've never seen a quieter group of smart people and nobody's, nobody

has a hand.

I'm at the very edge of the class on the right.

So I kind of had the advantage of I had a moment to like assess the fork in the road.

And the night before me and my friends had had that dumb idea for why isn't there a Chipotle

for sushi?

Oh, dude, we can make that.

Like there was a Chipotle on campus and we want, or there's a, there's a subway on campus

and we, we wanted to build a version of that fast casual thing for sushi.

And I thought it was a funny idea.

I had been pitching at the night before to my friends where I was safe.

And now here was this guy saying, pitch me an idea and nobody's saying shit.

And then I had this thing in my, like back to identity.

I had this thing which was like, you know, you're the cool kid or something.

Not the cool kid.

I definitely wasn't cool kid in school, but I just felt to myself, like, I'll take the

shot.

I'll take the shot.

Like you're in basketball terms.

Like if in the moment of, in the clutch moment, I'm not going to be afraid to shoot.

I might miss, but I'm not afraid to shoot.

And so I did it.

I raised my hand and he goes, all right, finally, what you got?

And it pitched the idea.

And he goes, that's a terrible idea.

He just like blew me off and like, but he's like, but you know, let me tell you, like,

he's like, even if you go and do that, and he like gave this lesson, which was like,

this is America.

Like it's the only country on earth where you get rewarded for failing.

Like you can go fail at a business and people will give you positive credit for trying.

He's like, most countries, that's just not how it works.

And he goes, he goes, you know, the other thing is a lot of you guys might want to work

at a hedge fund someday or investment bank or whatever.

Guess what?

The first three, four to your resume is all going to look the same.

It's only the bottom, the other section that's going to have anything different between you

and the next kid who also was honor roll student, did good on the SATs and then graduated with

three, three, five GPA.

So like that's the only way that you're going to get differentiated.

So you go do your sushi restaurant, it'll lead you, you know, it'll help you in what

you want to do, even if it fails.

And that's like pretty much exactly how it played out.

This was like a conversation because of how much you care.

I thoroughly enjoyed this.

I just, I barely said a word, but I enjoyed it.

What do you think, Ben?

It's so evident when one of us is like incredibly passionate about the topic.

Yeah.

And what do you guys feel like is the Kanye pod in the zeitgeist like, do you think that

most of your friends are watching it right now?

Everyone knows what it is.

I think I think a lot of people are watching it.

Like I've talked to maybe like, I don't know, it's like, you know, one of the big things

on Netflix is always like, oh, you're watching the thing on Netflix.

That's at the top.

Yeah.

Like I am.

Yeah.

Wait, Ben, you, you haven't seen it.

I have seen it.

Yeah.

I watched it.

Yeah.

I think that I'm the only one of us who finished it.

Actually, I watched the, the third part is, is not as good as, as the first two though.

So you guys, the first part was great.

So have you, are you guys watching euphoria?

No, but I've seen, I've seen a couple of episodes at the beginning.

Dude, that shit got me shook.

You got to watch that.

Like, yeah.

Apparently if you're a parent, like it's just like a nightmare scenario.

Well, it's this, this lady, what's her name?

She's like half white, half black, Zedalia or something.

Zedaya.

Zedaya.

And she just knocks it out the park, man.

This girl is so freaking good.

It just, it was, it was wonderful acting.

She killed it.

I was really, I was Sarah and I both cried watching it.

Wow.

And that's got like a bunch of seasons, right?

Like two or something.

Yeah.

I think two.

You got to watch that.

It's so good, man.

This lady is such a good actor.

Then why'd you ask if it's in the zeitgeist?

You think it's not?

Or why'd you ask that?

Yeah.

I just like, I would think that it would kind of reach like maybe not Tiger King because

that was like a phenomenon, but I was hoping because I loved it so much that this documentary

would be like the thing on Netflix and I found that like a third of my friends have seen

it.

That's true.

It's not like as popular, but his craziness is pop.

Like the whole thing that he's doing with that, with the guy who's dating Kim, what's

the, what's his name?

Pete Davidson.

Pete Davidson.

That thing is like even that's because that's kind of overshadowing it.

Yeah.

That could be right.

His crazies coming out hard.

I think part of the reason I liked it is part of the reason it's not like getting that

big, which is essentially for the first episode, for the first part.

He just like has old footage of Kanye and kind of just lets it run with like a little

bit of narration and it's so it's not that much of like a narrative story arc that sucks

you in.

He just kind of like lets you be a fly on the wall.

Ben, knowing what you know, you had a podcast called Raising a Genius.

Is it possible to raise a genius?

Like I didn't like that podcast because he didn't do the best job of like just telling

me the answer.

So like.

I listened to that also.

He did tell the answer, but I feel like it was too narrow.

It was like the guy who raised three chess champions.

Okay.

I get that you can raise a chess champion.

And he played chess.

Yeah.

Does that mean you can raise a genius or that you can out practice people at a game of chess?

Right.

Like, you know, so I think those are two different things.

Well, so can the encouragement that Donna, whatever, Don DeWes, can the encouragement

that she gave him be a huge factor or a small factor?

I think it's a factor.

The Polgar method, this guy allows the Polgar, had a very specific method.

And I don't think it would work all that well for rapping because it is oriented towards

like outcome driven.

Like it'd be good for raising like a guitar player or a chess champion or a swimmer or

like those kind of like very discreet.

You can teach people exactly or a tennis player would be really good.

But like a rapper or something more creative, I don't know if you can like, it's almost

like if it's creative, it has to come from within.

You can't have someone else come out and like try and raise.

But do you think that that her encouragement of him made him confident or he was born confident?

I think watching that documentary, it was crazy to see some of the mannerisms that were

the same between her and Kanye and I was like, oh, there's something genetic about this.

Like yes, it was her encouragement, but it's also like whatever he has, he kind of got

from her and probably would have had it anyway.

I read this book called The Blueprint Jean and it kind of changed my opinion where like

85% of everything is genetics.

That's kind of where I am now.

I'm like, even if she was rude to him, maybe he still would have killed it.

Dude, when she was rapping, she was good.

She was just like reciting his rap, well, yeah, my mom would not be able to do that.

She was an English teacher.

So clearly she was interested, I mean, it's very related.

And also he said he's been like making beats since like sixth or seventh grade, like 11

or 12.

And so it's the same sort of thing.

It's like, yeah, by the time you're 25, you're going to be really fucking good at something

you've been doing for like over 15, you know, over 10 years basically at that point.

And at like a formative stage where, you know, when you're 12 and you get obsessed with something,

you can kind of just like do it pretty much nonstop and get really good at something because

you could pick stuff up so fast you don't have any other things to go do.

Right.

No, that it was a good documentary.

There was it got me thinking a lot that that was a good, that was a good one.

I'm just not going to, I just, I couldn't watch the rest because I knew she was going

to die.

And it was, I was being, it made me sad just watching them together.

It made, I got, I choked up a couple of times seeing them together.

Yeah.

It was like touching.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The third part is like kind of interesting because it goes, it's like a 20 year time

jump and then goes into like a lot of stuff he's going through now and kind of the weirdness

and running for president and like all that.

And I feel like at the end, Cody's just kind of like, yeah, man, I don't know.

Pretty weird.

You know, like he doesn't really have anything to say about it.

He's just like kind of baffled as well.

Dude, it just comes with the territory.

That's when you're, when you're creative, man, you, you're going to be crazy.

You got to accept the craziness.

He's so crazy.

Do you remember when he went to Trump's office to show him his version of Air Force One?

Like he's, he like drew up what Air Force One should look like.

He's, he's a mad man.

He really is a genius.

He is a true genius.

All right.

That's the episode.

I feel like I can rule the world.

I know I could be what I want to.

I put my all in it like no days on.

On the road, let's travel, never looking back.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.