So recently, I made a video talking about how I'm going to be taking my privacy a little bit more seriously this year. Specifically, I was starting to think about that after the last past breach and how maybe it's not such a good idea to trust people with my data, given the fact that I don't own those servers. Now, obviously, I can't host a huge server farm and do everything myself. So I'm going to have to become a little bit creative when I start thinking about how I want to protect my privacy and protect my data. The first thing on the list this year for this series that I'm doing is search or web search. Now traditionally, I am a Google search, I'm kind of a Google search fanboy. I don't like the fact, obviously, that they take all my data. That's horrible.  Also, my Android phone is over there listening to me right now. And it's listening to me here too. That's great. Thank you, Google, for proving my point. You listen way too much. But anyways, the point is, is that I like Google search because it's really good. It does its job very, very well. You search for something you're almost guaranteed to find the result that you want, at least in the most part, right? But obviously, all of that goodness comes with a huge downside of that you can't trust them with your data. So I have to find an alternative. And today, I'm going to be talking about the four that I've narrowed it down to and the one that I've chosen. So let's go ahead and talk about the four best alternatives to Google. Let's jump in. So the first one on the list that I considered was brave search. Now, this is of the four that I'm going to be talking about. Brave is the one that I've used the least. But there's a good reason behind that. So first, I don't know whether or not you can trust the corporation behind Brave or not. Most of my feelings on this are just that they're feelings. And they all come from the fact that I don't enjoy the Brave browser at all. Like I really don't. I don't like their enthusiasm about crypto nonsense. And that's just a personal opinion on my part. Don't come at me crypto bros. I don't care about your fake money. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But anyways, the point is, is that I'm not sure if I can trust the corporation behind Brave. Therefore, I'm not sure if I can trust the Brave search. Now, like I said, most of that is 100% feelings on my part. I have no proof whether or not they're trustworthy or not. But that corporation has always come off a little bit shady for me. And I don't think that in my brain that I can trust them. Now, in terms of actually being a search engine, Brave is actually really good. It brings in results from multiple search engines. It does a good job of ranking them. It's really nicely designed. It's really fast. So it does a good job. So Brave is an option. If that's something you're looking for in terms of a private search engine. But it's not for me. So that's one that I looked at, but decided to not go with. The next one on the list that I considered was DuckDuckGo. Now this is the OG, the big daddy of private search engines out there. And it's been around for a very long time. And it is known for being a very private search engine. That being said, their search results are terrible. Now I'm going to guarantee that there's at least one person in my comments section right now typing, but Matt, when I use DuckDuckGo, the search engine results are just fine. And to that I say good for you. But we search for different things. And they just aren't as good as any other results on any other search engine that I'm going to show you today. They're just not. And that's disappointing. It's just, I want to like DuckDuckGo because they are a proponent of privacy and not stealing your information. And of the search engines that I'm showing you today, this is the one that's the most likely to be around in 10 years. I think that they have a sustainable way of making money and they've been around for a long time already. So I trust that they're going to be here. The problem is, is that their results are just not good enough. Every time I use them, I always end up using the bang system to go do a Google search. If I could type like so, and I just end up doing that all the time and just end up using Google anyways. And if I'm just going to use Google anyways through DuckDuckGo, I might as well just use Google. If I'm going to end up sharing my data with Google, why involve a third party in the first place? Right? So from previous experiences, DuckDuckGo just was never going to end up being the search engine that I chose just because I know from experience that the results are not good enough for me. I always end up using the Google search anyways. So that's one that I considered, but decided not to go with. The third one on the list is StartPage. Now, StartPage is an interesting search engine in that it's not actually a search engine at all, but instead is a front end for Google. All it does here is it does your searching for you and obfuscates your data so that you don't have to worry about Google stealing it. That's really all it does. So of the ones that are on this list, it has the best search results out of all of them. That being said, I don't really care for it all that much. I know it's it's it's silly, but honestly, I just don't really care for it all that much. Despite the results being really, really good. There's just something about it that I don't like. I can't even really enunciate what it's all about, why I don't care for it. Some of it is that this stuff here never goes away. Even if you add it to Firefox, you're always getting prompted to add their StartPage to your browser, even if it's already there.  OK, I don't like that. I don't like pushy in my search engine. I really don't. So that's one of the reasons, but more than that, it's just if you search for something like something really creative here. It just feels this is what I'm talking about. It just feels a little slow, right? I don't know why, but it feels slow to me like it's still loading, by the way. And that's not a great experience. Now, honestly, speed is not that big of a deal because the one that I end up going with is actually slower than this. So that's not a big factor in it. But the reason why I think it feels slower is because some of the assets load slow, right? It's not it's not like the web page itself was overly slow. It's the extra frills they had to put on here. Like, you know, this part here showed up last. And these really odd anonymous view icons showed up absolutely last. And I'm not sure why, but, you know, they did. But it's so there's something about star page that I just don't really care for all that much. I know there's a lot of fans of it out there. And it was really close to being my selection because they do a good job of search results because it's just Google search results. That's all this is, right? And I would say that I'm probably going to still keep it around, even though I don't care for it, because it does a fantastic job of images, right? Of the ones that I've showed you, this one does a fantastic job of images. DuckDuckGo does OK as well in terms of images, but I like start page just a little bit better. So if you search for images as often as I do, which I do in a ton, starts page is probably the best option. So that's one of the reasons why I'm going to keep it bookmarked so I can go there first to search for images. So that's this is the runner up. It was close, but there's still something about it that I just don't really care for all that much. So what did I go with? The one that I ended up with is called Sirks. Now, the reason why I've decided to go for Sirks is for two main reasons. One, the search is very customizable. So if you search for something like so, you can change how your search engines are ranked, how they show up and everything. You can also choose which ones that pulls from completely. So if you only want to pull from, say, some random search engine that you'd never heard of before, you can do that if that's what you want to do. Or you can search through all of them if you want. It doesn't matter. And you can, like I said, you can rank them so that they can you can search through them as you want. And it's really good. And you can do that by type so you can so you can turn on different searches for images, videos, news, all that stuff. And it's very, very customizable. There are a ton of options here. And basically what it means is that every person who has their own search gets different results based on which search engines they've chosen. It's really quite fantastic. Now, I will say this, searches by far the slowest of the four that I've shown you. And really, that's only because of where this particular server is hosted. And it really is going to depend on what instance you choose. So some instances are going to be way faster. Some of them are going to be super slow. Now, that leads me to the second reason why I've chosen this one is because it is open source and you can host it yourself. Now, I have obviously not done that yet. This is just somebody else's instance. So I'm going to be working on that in a video for February. But the fact that this is open source and you can host it yourself means that you're going to be in full control over your data. Now, obviously, that's going to open up a whole can of worms in terms of making sure your server is private and all this stuff. But that's tomorrow Matt's problem. Right now, the reason why I've chosen this is because it's open source. At a later date, I can host it myself so that I can have full control over it. But also that customizability just it really cannot be beat. There's no other search engine out there that has this many options when it comes to where it gets its data from and how it presents the results to you.  And the reason why I say that is because there are very few options for searching for different formats. And when I say very few, I mean none at all. Like you can't choose transparent. You can't choose anything like that. Now, it's possible that those are options are in the search engine here. It's possible that those are here. I haven't actually seen that it's possible, but I haven't seen them. So the fact that those options are here make this a less than desirable image search because I'm always looking for a transparent background on my images for the banners that I make for the channel.  They just would be a complete waste of time for me. So the biggest downside of search is that the image search isn't all that great. Unfortunately, I should take that back. The image search is actually quite fine. It just doesn't give you options like everything else does. So for image search, I'll probably use start page for everything else. I'm using search. And like I said, in February, I'm going to be making a video on hosting it myself. One of my longtime patrons has asked me to do this like a year and a half ago. Like I'm really slow with requests. I'm sorry. I'm really bad at it. But that video is now in the is literally in my book planned for middle of February. So that will be happening then. So yeah, I went with Sirks and I am quite happy with my choice. I've used Sirks before many times and have been quite happy with it. There are still instances where I cheat a little bit and end up going to Google. Anyways, it's usually when I need an image like because the image search in Sirks is not any good, or at least in terms of, you know, options. When I know I'm going to be needing a needing an image, I usually end up cheating and going to Google. But this time I'm going to cheat and go to start page. That will eliminate the Google cheat and just kind of solve my problem. So I went with Sirks in the comment section below. If you've made this decision yourself, choosing a different alternative search engine, let me know, I'd love to hear from you. You can follow me on Massage on our Odyssey. Those links will be in the video description. You can support me on Patreon at patreon.com slash the Linux cast links for the YouTube support and Libre Pay will be in the video description as well. Thanks to everybody who does support me on Patreon and YouTube.  Without you, the challenge should not be anywhere near where it is right now. So thank you so very, very much for your support. I truly do appreciate it.  So thank you so much. Thanks everybody for watching. I'll see you next time.


Check it, check it, check it, it's a unique hustle, it's your boy, E-C-E-O, and I'm here with the lovely official, Mr. Jamaica. What's going on? None of them a day I walk by. Man, it's another day, another dollar? Yes, sir. Need to be a little bit more, if we're going to be going on all these trips, we're talking about taking here in a minute. Tell me about it. Say, man, we got a special guest in the house today, guys. This guy here, man, he been working putting it down in the city for a long time, man. You know, I definitely, it was a breath of fresh air to research him, to listen at the lyrics, to hear somebody really talking about something, man. My God, Jason Lyric is in the building. What's going on, baby? Real, what's up? Billy Goh, Cashmird Dom here. Hey, man, so, yeah, man, I was looking you up, man. You know, yeah, yeah, I'm watching what you're doing, man. I was trying to figure out if, I said, the nigga sound a little bit like Drake, did he change it? I said, I don't know, the nigga sound like somebody else, okay? So it's just been, but at first, you know, because I was like, man, he don't talk about no guns and all that in his music. Then I went to his old music. I said, oh, I hear a little bit of trap. It might be a little trap. Just a little bit, just a little bit. But I definitely enjoyed going down that hole and researching what you've done, man, in the Dallas market.   How was it when Jason Lyric, before Jason Lyric? You know, he was always Jason, but you were Jason Lyric. He was always Jason Lyric. You weren't Jason Lyric though. I don't know Jason right now. Maybe I was Jason Lyric. I just had to figure out that I was Jason Lyric. He was predestined to me. You know what I mean? I had to tap in to me. But as far as childhood, man, Oak Cliff is my stomach ground. You know what I'm saying? I grew up in the Bielfield area, so on Linfield Street. Oh, okay. I went to Maynard Jackson. That ain't a good thug, man. That thug streets over there, man. There ain't no games over there. It's the slums, but I think... Oh, you fighting a little bit over there? No, no, no. I wasn't outside like that. Oh, you didn't go outside? I was outside, but I'm just not like that. You know what I'm saying? No, I'm not shouting. You got to be a shouting man. I had a good two-headed monster that raised me. Your mom and dad? Yeah, yeah. That's good. My mom and pop, they kept me away from a lot of stuff. That's good. Yeah, yeah.  You know what I'm saying? I hear it. Don't you get no tattoos? Don't be Christy your ears. Still be hearing it. Yeah. So I think that's Emmy still.  I will say. I will say. Definitely got more relationship with my mom. Are you the baby? Huh? Are you the baby? I'm right in the middle of town. In the middle of town. Like old boys. And I'm the boy? So on my mama's side, yeah, I'm the only boy. You know what I'm saying? Who I grew up with. I grew up with two sisters. But I got another brother and another sister. That's what's up. That's what's up, man. It's a mama protective. Let's get back into it. Okay, so coming up. You know, we childhood stage. Is you going to different cities? Or you just stayed planted in Oak Cliff? Nah. Well, as far as me, I moved around a lot. Okay. With my moms. My pops forever stayed in Oak Cliff. And so I was between two homes. But my moms, we moved around everywhere. You know what I'm saying? But I think that helped my diversity. I look at life like a lot of different. Because I've seen it from so many different perspectives. Like, I stayed in Nebraska for a year. Whoa. You know what I'm saying? So when Tuck saved me and Big took up to Nebraska, you know, that hit a little different. Because I know how it is in Omaha. It's a black city. You know what I'm saying? That drug infested it, everything like that. So, I mean, we stayed in Allentown, Addison, Pleasant Grove. I'm really real around there. I know a lot of people. You know what I'm saying? But I think you hear that in my music. Yeah. Like you say, you hear some track. So you adopt really easy. Yeah, I do. I do. Yeah, because a lot of kids usually be like, no, I don't want to move. I'm tired of moving. I want to stay here with my friends. You know how kids are? Right. And on a deeper level, growing up as an adult, I had to grow out of that though. You know what I'm saying? I was so used to moving around. I had to learn some stability. You know what I'm saying? And so that's another story that I had to grow out of. Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? It made me who I am. So, which one of them schools, when you got that one of them cast check you and then y'all became best friends after y'all roughed it up a little bit? Man, I know. So, I went to VELP. I went to VELP. Ninth grade year. And I remember this dude named Black. Shout out Black. Get on it then. Whatever. But he was definitely trying to bully me. Like, you know what I'm saying? But I wasn't the only one. You know what I'm saying? Okay. And then next thing you know, you know, he was getting bullied like the next year. Oh, it goes around the corner. We talked about the universe got out of him. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But that's my only like situation. Like, Roosevelt, I tell everybody, it's like going to the movie lean on me. Okay. It was like that. It was Black vs. Mexican for sure. Really? Yeah, you know, the school with no windows. Wow. You needed Mr. Clark, baby. Security, security check in at the door and everything. They had a process of, you know, rebuilding Roosevelt right now. I was over by there the other day when I went over to my cousin's house right there. That was Roosevelt. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, we was over there the other day. My cousin, I got some land with a cat out of town. Nice. He lived right there by Roosevelt. And I said, boy, that's, oh, I'm glad I didn't have to go up in that thing right there with me. Right, nah, for real. It was the trenches. You know what I'm saying? Like, oh, man, freshman knockout, all types of stuff going on. You know what I mean? Back in the days, I remember, we used to, I ain't going to talk about that. It used to be bad, though. You know, you could get it. You'd be walking outside and you might get knocked out. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Just cause we trying to see if we could knock you out. Exactly. Wrong street. It was bad, man. You know, like, kids was different. And they grew up in time periods changed. But yeah, they started doing it a few years back where they was knocking different people out. But I think they was hitting more old people. I went down with that. I didn't. No tell. I didn't get it. But I'm just saying, they would just walk up and bam, just hit it.  Yeah, yeah, yeah. We needed the same two-headed monster, whatever we had. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were bad.  It's pretty bad coming up here. I go to Houston. I'm frequent in these places. And really, I'm a child, but I'm not really trying to hear it. At 13 or 15. No, I feel you. But, you know, Jason Lyric, let's get back to you. So how old were you when you started writing? Writing or rapping. Writing. Because most people always start writing first before they really started rapping. He got a poetic side to him, it seems. So my mom and pops were songwriters. Okay. You know what I'm saying? They both were organists for different churches. Okay. So I did grow up in a church. Okay. I played drums for my moms and my pops. Wow. But, you know, when I got home, all I heard was church songs being written and sung. You know what I mean? So that carried over to me. I became a songwriter, as you say. I started writing when I was 12, 13. Did they help you with it? No. I wouldn't say, like, help me write, but they supported me. Like, my mom bought my first rhyme book. You know what I'm saying? Do you still have it? I don't have it. I wish. But she bought my first rhyme book. Man, I remember some of the raps. I ain't going to rap them right now. They trash books. No, no, no. We're going to have to get something out of you. Yeah, yeah, yeah.  That's cool. That's cool. I just, it's got to be some fire.  Anybody mic'd for nothing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You one of the best lyricists in the whole, really, in Texas, maybe in the south. We don't even know. That's right. That's right.  Tasteful. Like, you can listen to your music and vibe out. And I don't have to be worried about, okay, my kids might hear something. Usually they don't. The music is blended so well to where it doesn't sound distasteful. Right. And we were listening to it on the way over. I get that. Usually everything else you trying to turn down are the thing I can really, really attest to is when you listen to the sound that you have. You know what I'm saying? It's a respected sound. It seems like it's already commercialized. It seems like you should already, I don't know if you're in a deal or what, but it sounds like everything's already put together. Are you independent? I am independent. That's dope. We're working on a few deals. Okay. And just to speak to the sound, I'm a producer as well. That's why I knew it. I create music from a producer standpoint and an artist. And people don't know. That's why Kanye who he is. That's why Travis Scott who he is. That's why Tyler the Creator who he is. You know what I'm saying? I don't create music. I don't know. Nobody give me a canvas. I create my own. And then I, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah.  I mean Dallas? Come on man.  Right. And then you seen the different guys that was basically, I like the road though. I always said that his sound sound commercial, I don't, it seemed like it would have went their way even more. So afterwards being able to appeal to different, you know, commercial, like Ty Field. Yours for sure. All right. You know, once it go, it can go anywhere. I feel you gotta even go back even before then. You know what I'm saying? You think about the neo soul and how deep Ellum used to be. Oh, you talking about Erica Badoo and all that time when that first took off. You know what I'm saying? For me, that's where Dallas really hard is. You know what I'm saying? As far as music, you know, it's real soul. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And of course, dance comes with soul. You know what I'm saying? It just elevated to another level. Let me ask you this. When you first took off, man, what made you know that I got some and people are dealing with it? What song was it that made you feel like this is the one and people are loving it? The one that hit the hardest. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I would say it was a project, man. Which volume? Was it a volume? No, it was coffee table. You can't even find it. Really? Yeah. I didn't see it. I seen volume one, two and three. I seen some volumes that they kicked off that they talk really highly about. Yeah. But, yeah. Oh, that's my guy here. What up, baby? What's up, baby? Yeah, but yeah, I didn't, that's what I seen. So this coffee is a coffee table. Coffee table. Coffee table. So it was heavy in the mixtape era when you had Dad Pilff and a lot of mixtapes going crazy, you know what I'm saying? That was really my spark into like Dallas music scene. Where I really seemed like, you know what I'm saying? Fruits on my label. And you know, everybody crowned me for being this great lyricist and all that. First show, man. Yeah, so. That's the whole game, man. To get that applause, man. To get that confirmation, my hard work pays off. And I am good at this, right? Well, for me, I never really needed validation to be honest with you. Yeah. So I don't really do it for the applause. Yeah. I mean, it's good, but like, I know in my heart, I know this is my purpose, you know what I'm saying? Okay, okay. So that's why I really go hard. So you never got caught up in a moment where it was an eight mile moment where you froze up? Oh yeah, for sure. Okay. But it was more so lack of preparation than more than anything.  Yeah, you know, it's just me not understanding, hey, the level you own, you really got to like treat this and practice every day. Like no matter how good you is, you know what I'm saying?  Speaking of neo-soul side, it seemed to me when I look at what you do, it would be dope in a live music setting. You know what I mean? So most shows I do, I do perform with a live band. Okay. It's just, I guess in Dallas, the circuit is as far as like, when they trying to book me, they don't always have a budget for me to pay my band and myself. They got to have that budget. You know what I'm saying? Because I got to take care of the band. For a show. But I love live band, bro. If I could do all my shows live band, I would. Oh yeah. For sure. Yeah, yeah. So what you got for Jason Lear? Come on now. I want to go back again. Uh-oh, we going back. That's good. Because I love when I have to go back. Way back. Not way, way back. Okay. But I want to know, so you were writing this song, writing first, but how long did it take you to start actually rapping after you started doing a song writing? Well, I say this, I realized shortly after I started writing that like, hip hop was for me. Okay. It's funny that you say eight mile. Mm-hmm. Because that's one of my biggest inspirations. Oh, yeah. That's like chasing rap, yeah. I had a guy to try to get at me off that movie. One of them cast not on through Instagram when it first popped out. Oh, okay. Yeah, this girl dropped in my DM's. I was married, but I told you, I sent a picture back and I never forget it. It was a little bit crazy, I met her here. Mm-hmm. And it was two twin girls. I remember the one that I was going to be on the show. And the old man got at me real tough, told me, man, don't ever do this. And I'm thinking, man, he got real serious. Hey, internet gangsters are bad, man. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? He told me, he said, I looked up all your stores at the time I had about five, man. He said, I'm burning everyone up. I said, what the hell, man? You going to come all the way to Dallas and do that? He know where to find you too. The location, you know, it's all on Google. I pulled up. I said, hey, man, no disrespect, man. I hollered back, man. I got to go, you know. And it wasn't even, it didn't go there. He took it there before it even went there. See, he was serious about his girl, man. That's all right. Got you. But yeah, 8 Mile had you going. 8 Mile, yeah, that was one of the, like, that song, Lose Yourself from Eminem. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, his story, man, how he came from nothing, how he had a daughter. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? People didn't believe him. Yeah. How he dropped the ball, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. When he got on stage and then he came back, revenge himself, it was just, I don't know, it was inspiring. So, I first got in the studio when I was... And he came back, didn't he? Yeah, he came back. He came back. I first got in the studio when I was 16. Okay. As far as, like, really recording my first rap record. Did you sound good off the bat? I'm sorry.  You know what I mean? We all think we put out the hottest style. Now, when did you discover your style? Hmm. Because I know that you did not have this style when you first started out. Right now. When I first... And how did you discover, like, were you at first? Because sometimes people start to imitate someone else before they actually find them themselves.  Imitating. Imitating their favorite artist. You know what I'm saying? Like, for me, I thought I was Wayne. You know what I'm saying? I thought I was Drake at times, going back to the Drake comparison. Yeah, yeah. But when I realized I had my own sound, it's for me when I was... I dropped an album called Lyric Show. And I was like, yeah, this is me. To me, I don't sound like nobody else. Like, we know when we sound like other artists and we're like, ah, okay. Maybe I imitated too, too much. But Lyric Show, that was like 2017. I was like, okay, this is my pocket. This is where I was to see that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when did you come up with the name Jason Lyric? Jason Lyric? Hmm. How old were you? 2008. 2008? That's dope. Okay. Early on. Yeah, early on. And I just... Two first name, last name thing was pretty big. From Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco. And I was like, man, Jason, what's the last name that really just like sums me up? This is my view. And I'm a big songwriter. Like, I write R&B. I write country songs. Like, you know what I'm saying? So I was like Lyric. Originally, it was Lyric's. But I took that song. Did anybody ever tease you about that movie or ever mention it? All the time. All the time. And, you know, it was partially filmed here and in Houston. So they think that's where I got it from. A lot of people, I was like, yeah. I had only seen the movie once and maybe not even thoroughly on BET. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Because it would make you very curious. Like, you know what? If everybody keeps talking about this movie and my name is... Yeah. Let me go watch it. And so now, one of these days, I'm gonna play off of it. Why not? Maybe one of my videos, I'll do a visual there. Yeah. Yeah. I think that'd be hot. That'd be dope. Do you think that... You know what I'm saying? You think you're the best in the state, in Dallas? What do you think you... Yeah. Are you the best? I don't like to say best. Yeah, yeah, I said, are you the best? Are you gonna stand on it? No, I'm one of the greats because I feel like you can be great in your own lane. Yeah, well, there's a lot of cats coming here. Say that everybody thinks they're a good rapper. I'm trying to figure out if you're the best. But I don't care about Dallas. Say it. What? I don't care about Texas. The world. The universe. Yeah, like... Do your numbers reflect the universe? Like when you push it out there to the waist? I mean, but that's money. That ain't based off skill. No, but I'm just saying, but the people, the internet tells you who you are. Do they? In a lot of ways. Do they? Because we don't like it. We're reaching the world through the internet. I mean, but I'm saying it's people popping off TikTok that's just like... Yeah, they just come from anywhere, don't you? You know what I'm saying? Yeah, but I'm talking my fars on the music side. Do you ever try to channel a song for TikTok? Do what now? Like, do you... Make a song for TikTok? Yeah, Old Boy Prince came on. They specifically got little things they do, him and little Runny, or whoever is doing this to try to get into that niche market. And some people just fall into it like he could be. Some people just fall, but some people are actually gauging to be there. I wouldn't say purposely TikTok, but when I write, I do have to consume in mind.  You can't just make music for you. I mean, if you want to make music for you, don't put it out. And who is your consumer? Who do you consider your consumer to be? So, and I only know this because in my meetings... You're looking at your own living. You know what I'm saying? My marketing... Young professional. You know what I mean? 25 to 35 college graduate. Man-woman? Both. Both. Honestly, right now it's... Equally for now. I can see that. It's even because men respect me for, I guess, you know, motivational purposes or you know what I'm saying? Of course. The content I speak on or they just respect me as the lyrics is. And I don't have a problem with talking to women so women love listening to me talk. You know what I'm saying? You know, you don't have a Dallas sound. You write. You sound like... I told her that when we was listening, I said, he don't sound like he from anywhere, but I get it because with the internet now, you never know what you're going to hear. But I can say that it's a dope sound, but you don't... But he wants to reach the world. You got your own sound. That's the reason why. Because he wants to reach the whole world. Well, I think a lot of artists get caught in chasing a sound. And for me, I just create... I just create from a blank canvas. So that's why you might hear some trap. You might hear some... I don't know, some dance music. You might hear real conscious. You might hear like a love song. You know what I'm saying? I'm just creating like experiences from my life. But your majority of your songs are what? Honestly, it's a balance of everything. One of my biggest singles is Vibes. And that was Catering to the Women. My next one is No Edits. I like that one. That's a message to the women. Yeah, I like that one. I guess it's still Catering to the Women. And then my next one will be Corner Pocket, which is like the opposite. It's really like on some hustles. I like Corner Pocket. Go get it. Thank you. Thank you. So I guess in the industry, you got to find a niche because that makes it easier for the people around you to sell it. Like, hey, we know we got to sell this particular audience. We know we got to dress you this certain way. And so maybe right now, that's why I'm still figuring out who I really want to protect. What is self-love with? It's hunting Nevea. Yeah, Nevea. Okay, Nevea is... I was a dope song, but I didn't see a video to it. Not yet. Not yet. It's such a big song. I don't want to rush it. Okay. That song is a double meaning. So I had one of my friends make a song about women having sex with themselves. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? But me, I was like, okay, let me put a spin on it. Let me give a message of self-love. You got to love yourself but literally at the same time, touching on yourself. Yeah, yeah. So when she said, you already know how I'm coming. It's a play on words. Whoa. Yeah, you young folks quick, boy. You niggas boy, I can't stand them. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, they evolving quick, man. Man, tell them what that little dude is going to be saying in there. Y'all got something else going at all time. But I like the way you think and process the whole. And I wrote the whole record. You wrote it. Yeah, even her verses, I wrote the whole record from a woman's perspective. Really? Yeah, she wouldn't have told you that. Me and her have a big deal on here. People don't tell people when somebody wrote for them. They usually don't say it. It'll be somebody like him. Because a lot of times. Little running might say it.  He wrote it for me and she wrote it for me. And she asking everybody, could you write it? One person would say that and you were like, it only happens in R&B. Most of the time. Nah, it's every word. No, I'm talking about for somebody admitting it. Oh, admitting it? Oh yeah, yeah, it only happens in R&B. I ain't trying to really Rappers that and say somebody else wrote it for me. That's what I'm saying. But it's all, you know, public records. Correct, I get it. I get it. But I'm telling you, nobody ever, this is one of her favorite, when my wife sits here and see that person, she's like, did you write it or did someone write it for you? I don't do that. I don't do that. Not every time. She done stopped after. Now some of the biggest songs, let me think. Kevin Gates, Two Phones. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? DJ Charles wrote that. You know what I'm saying? I got two phones. One for the plug. I got two. Maybe even three. You know what I'm saying? I get it here. And I get it too. Once you get to a level of you touring and you really don't have time. Don't have time to do it.  Oh, here we go. Okay. I don't mind having writers. Drake probably said the same thing until they called him. Well, that's the thing.  But just to completely take a full song from somebody like, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. You know what I'm saying? Once upon a time a writer wrote a song and when they were writing a song they're having you in their mind. They say that every time when they get that money. This song is made for you. And you read it and you love it. You wouldn't take it? No, I wouldn't. No, and they ain't going to give it to them for free. You bring me a concept I wrote with it. You know what I'm saying? I have homies all the time. Like I say, even the self-love, that wasn't my concept. You said that at first. But you wrote it. Yeah. Right. But I don't consider, like in his case it was his song, he wrote the whole lyric and then say, okay, I need for you to sing this part. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. You know, but I've heard the flip where you write your side and then you wanted this person to be on a feature on there. So they wrote their own side. I've heard it both ways. I've heard that a lot. That's the way posts go down. There's no order. Get in there and write your own. Get in there and do it. Bang it out. You know what I'm saying? Is there a certain order you have to go in? You don't get in there. No, there ain't no. Because you say you're supposed to do it like that. Well, if I go to the studio and I'm with you, okay, me and Jason Leary going in there, he get his part. And I'm over in the corner and I got a rep for doing my part. They ain't going to go over to Jason and say, will you write mine? But I'm not. I'm not doing that. I'm going to try to bang you all the way up out of there. You know, if that be like us on the stores, you know, Mike and all these people in the malls and Abraham, let me get two of your shirts. You know, we just don't do it like that. You know what I'm saying? Basically, you do yours and I do mine. We're professional about it. But I get it. Some people do have writer's block and all that. But I have it on me. We had a guy come here one time. And he was in here with Prophecy Films. I don't remember his name, but I got the footage. And he was doing a cipher in here. And him in 7th grade and all of them was in here and he could not get his part together. It lasted for almost two and a half, three hours. He could not. Every time he got in, I said, what? Is he going to get it together? And some of them did on the spot. The employee was laughing. She was right in here. I got the footage. I wasn't here today, but was it on the spot? They knew he was coming to do a cipher, man. You know what I'm saying? He couldn't remember it. I know he couldn't remember it. Oh man, it was a bad thing. He was nervous. Probably the cameras were there and everything was nervous. He said, dang, dang. That's a dang. He was here. We talked about it because you couldn't forget it. He was like, man, he never did get it. But 7th grade, 8th on heels. But he was young. This one, they just, I mean, he was 7th grade.  He wasn't great. I hit him up. I'm going to have him on the 7th. Wait, you talking about 7th? Yeah. Oh, 7th was the one that came? No, he wasn't doing that. Oh, OK. He didn't know. He was lyrical. He jumped up there and did it. And there was another dude, a Hispanic dude. I got the footage. But the one guy, probably why I don't know his name, he wasn't memorable. You know what I'm saying? If Jason, you ever choked that bad for two and a half hours, you couldn't get it together? I mean, I've choked before. Two and a half hours? Yeah, yeah. Like you couldn't get it. No, not two and a half hours.  You wrote it. He couldn't remember it. And yeah, you just like, dang. It's been plenty of times.  No, that part I get. Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I think that, Jason. So how do you cover it up whenever you cover it up? He said, about it, about it, about it. How do you cover it up? So what I've learned to do is if I'm on stage and I forget lyrics, I'll start freestyling.  And know your songs. You know what I'm saying? But it'll be plenty of times I'm like, hey, DJ, cut that short, man. You know what I'm saying?  Yeah, yeah, yeah. They not move on. Yeah, but... Is that after the drinks? Man, so one incident is when I had a lot of drinks and that's why I try not to drink for my shows. You know what I'm saying? Because I get to slurring words. You know what I'm saying? But this time I blacked out. Oh, Lord. And I didn't know how to deal with not remembering your lyrics on stage. So I'm just up there like staring. Look at that. I had them start the song over. I did it again. You know what I'm saying? I think we might have started it one more time. I did it again. Wow. I know what I'm saying. You just go to the next song. Oh, yeah, yeah. Let me get out of that, man. I'm blocked off right here, man. That's dope, man. Sometimes I think that's why some rappers or some singers be like, I know y'all know my song, go in there and have them sing the song. I don't like that part. Nigga, I ain't paid for that. You better pick up. I got my money on the line. Either that, but sometimes you need breaks on that stage. You know what I'm saying? Especially if you're doing 30 minutes in a second. I seen Jay go and Jay didn't play. He did the whole thing. I told this nigga Jay Z, that's what he like. He talking about the goat. I can't even get up to that part. I know. The goat, the goat, the goat. You just gave one of the reasons though. He can get on stage for an hour. No, but he sound exactly. I don't like people who don't sound like themselves when you go to see them perform. Jay Z sound exactly like his song. Oh, yeah. Nobody else does. Lil Wayne be hollering the scream. I don't care how y'all say he do it so good. I don't like that. No, I want to hear what you made when I come to see you perform. I don't, and Jay Z was like that. They come from that era. There's a couple of them that's just like that.  Performing now, they go over the original song. A lot of people don't even take the lyrics off and rap to the beat. A lot of people ain't performing with bands. You know what I'm saying? Jay Z, you just come from that era. What's the longest you've ever performed? I'd say probably about 35 minutes. That's it. How long you think you can perform for? Probably about 35 minutes. That's it. If I, that's just like maybe I got two weeks to prepare. But you know what I'm saying? A lot of these concerts they be doing, like they prepare for months. You know what I'm saying? If I really had time to just meditate and get mentally prepared, I could go probably as long as I want to. Sika, when I go see a performance and you're the headliner and you are who I am coming to see. I want you up there for like an hour, two hour.  If it's 60 to 80 bucks we paid, we want our money. But that's the thing. I know I didn't cut my, I ain't going to say cut my show short, but I didn't done short shows just because they didn't pay me to go that long. You know what I'm saying? And people be like, damn. Yeah. And I'm like. And they'd be mad because they want to hear all your and they'll be shouting out songs because they want you to sing that song. I feel it. I feel it. I feel it. Why you ain't performed such and such. Yeah. And I'll tell them straight up. They ain't paid me though. See, I like when they come off the stage and then because the crowd is so hype they come back on to give us more because you kind of got to be real good when you do this. It might be a strategy because say you're going up there for 35 minutes to perform. You can look at your watching and say, OK, I'm going to act like I'm coming off at 25 but turn around and come back on to make it feel like I'm giving you more. But really, I'm still up only for about 35. Take your time out. Talk to them. Yeah.  How outside of being on stage is there a way that you connect with them? Like clients connect with girls like different. Like I see. I see you actually even I'll even go as far as saying have pain connects with his people when he's doing it. You got to learn how to connect with your people.  That's a good question because I was wondering about it. I wouldn't even say that's a struggle. That's what makes them numb. You know what I'm saying? I feel like if they become that vulnerable, maybe it will take away from the art because I'm that way. You know what I'm saying? I'm very, very private exclusive. I go live. You know what I'm saying? Right there. Yeah. But you got to get there right. You got to get there because if you get there fast enough you're able to adapt and then your people able to enjoy you on a whole another level. Because I've been doing it so long. I'm like, okay, now I need the money to come back. So, you know what I'm saying?  It takes time. You know what I'm saying to myself. Like I need to become a salesman at the same time. Man, I talked to Haldi. I think he's the only one that I seen on here and I've talked to a guy out of the music hand to hand. And I think that's something and I speak about this all the time. We got to get back there some kind of way. I was thinking about doing some type of movies and trying to do something to try to make it to where people had to come through a certain way to get to you to give you back your value because of your talent. You know what I mean? But this is something else. This is way out there but we need it. I think that's what shows come in. The meet and greet. I know the shows give you that. You try to wrap it all up in there but I just like to hustle. I like to get right in there on my team. I like to have a team out there pressing. But I guess that's what you got though in a sense. They just don't deliver it in a way to where it's quick return. It's coming back but it's like a mirage of things happening. It just takes too long. It takes too long. I can do a better job myself. I think a lot of us sleep on guerrilla marketing. There you go. It's still like a good-ass market. To get in the streets and touch people for sure. That's why the older crowd are always because that's what we're used to. We still, every time we go to the mall or anywhere, we're always like, hey, have you followed Boston? Yeah, we be doing live. I was doing it before with the clothes. That's what we're used to. Don't go up in there. I got some nikes right here. Why you going in there? I got the same shoes. Same barcodes, same skew number. You for going there and spending there? Give me $150. Man, no tax. I can't be shy about it. But a younger generation is so used to the social media scene. Not home being on internet. But it's fun. I didn't interact with people on Twitter and they see me in person and they don't say nothing. They weird or what not or they think whatever the case may be.  I am quiet, but if you get me going or talk about something I'm worth talking about, I'll talk to you. But it's fun, man. You know that? Social media fun is hell, man. People don't want to admit it. All this stuff is fun. But when you get up in the morning, you look on your phone, man, ain't no telling what you might see and she's asleep. I'm looking.  I don't need to be looking at this. But he's a talker. I'm not. I like to be on a one-on-one basis talking in person. On social media I look and I have things I'm thinking but I won't say it. You know what I mean? I'm saying it. I'm saying it. I'm diving right in your DM. He will. He will. He is still like it's still a matrix so I really don't it's fake to me. You know what I'm saying? You think so? I know so. I don't think so. It's proven. I think that there are certain parts of it's fake and I think there are certain parts of it's real. But how can you decide the difference? Real recognized real but I'm just going to be real. It is real and it's fake on there. It's real. It's fake. It's all type of stuff.  It's just people projecting different things in different parts. You got to treat it all kind of the same. You can't be too high on the love. You can't be too high on the hate. You can't just be DMing everybody back that got something bashful to say about you. And then you can't just be over friendly with people that are showing you love. Don't get mad at everybody because you end up dealing with a stan like Eminem had on that song. I didn't deal with them song. That stan is out there. We know that. I've had the stan. I had the stan for social media to get you. The woman I had dealings with, she put a note on my truck and told me she was going to do this to me.  This stuff is happening before social media.  I say it's all kind of ways to look at it. But if you think it's all fake, man, you can get stuff out of it. You know what I'm saying? You got some real stuff on there, right? Yeah, of course. Everything I post is me. Okay, so it's real on there. You represent the real. But at the same time, you don't see all the bad at the same time. You know what I'm saying? Even I use social media to make money. Simple as that. Simple as that. And to expand my brand. I guess that's making money. You never met a lady on social media? No. Ah! Ah! No, he's like, ah! No, like, are you being in a relationship the whole time? Maybe you've never been without... I've had to meet her in person. You never met a girl on... Yeah? They be having them pictures online. Because they look one way and in person, they look something totally different. Girlfriends, like girlfriends that I was locked in with, I ran into them in person. You know what I'm saying? Introduced like that way. I'm not that type of person. No. Yeah.  That's a new world order, man. I mean, it's different. Not facts, but at the same time, I mean, it is what it is. You know, I'm filtering out at least 100 women before I even... You should because they all filter now before they get you the picture. Everybody filters, you know? Facts.   All them live to be getting them. That's the one for me, boy. When I see that live... That's you. What do you mean when you see the real thing? Yeah, I like that live. If they don't have no filter on them, that's what the song no edits is about. What it looked like. What it looked like, no edits. What it looked like. Yeah, that whole jamming, too, boy.  I said, boy, I hear a man. I tell you, like I said, we need that. We need things that fit, man. We got so many people that want to be so gangster.  All kind of stuff is going on. You know what I'm saying? We got to wake up, bro. It's a lot of, you know, because it's very influential, you know what I'm saying? And a lot of people feel like they live that thug life just from social media. Just seeing it. Or even the music. Yeah. Not even social media. Music they hear, you know what I'm saying? That's so true. You know what I'm saying? You are what you eat. So if that's what you consume, it gets to you. You know what I'm saying? I just like to beat. Nah. You subconsciously listening to them. You know what I'm saying? That's going to affect like how you think. You know what I'm saying? But not always. I'm telling you that because like for me, on music, I hear the beat before I hear the words. We all do. A lot of music. Not everybody, because I've heard some people say the opposite. A lot. But I will, it could be for six months a year. And I'll be hearing the song and hearing the lyrics and then all of a sudden one day the blue, I'm like, oh, that's what they saying? Yeah. I can just register. I did not really realize that's really what they were talking about. Yeah. But I enjoy the beat. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you know. That's why I say subconsciously.  You produce those beats. Yeah. You definitely enjoy the beat. It's all about emotion. I had some guys on here that night. I like to bring the producer on, do listening sessions. I need you to come back and do one with me when you make some beats. Okay.  That's the homie, too. I like to do something different. You know, sorry. He just called me one ago. Do you make all your beats? Who, sorry? No, he made me. No, I have like a producer team. No, let me get on your team. Because I see you got your in-house beatmaker. Yeah. In-house beatmaker. Yeah. In-house beatmaker. October 1st beatmaker and Dangerous MC. Yeah. Now, who is that? Because you making the beats, you say it now. Is you making the beats or they making the beats? Well, I mean, it's more than one song. Let me know what's going on here. Ain't making every song. But they don't. That's still out here. Yeah. Now, October 1st used to be signed to Maybach Music. Okay. Yeah. He's also my engineer. He got out of it. Got out of his deal. Yeah. I guess whenever it expired, they didn't renew.  Who? Me? Me. You're having a hard time getting out of here. What? I'm just saying, man. You know what I'm saying? I just listened to what I hear on the... Yeah, yeah, yeah. From my understanding, what's the group? Warner Brothers no more. Okay. Maybach Music. So I think Ross still promotes them. Yeah. But they not on Maybach Music, like on paperwork. Okay. Okay. Well... From Wale to all of them. Really? Wale, I could tell he left, but as usual, Meek, you know, he threw a rant some kind of way and he let him know. What was this? It was reasonable. No, I heard it through the grapevine. I'm just saying like that. I met Meek. Shout out to Meek, man. He like shoot them dice. Shout dice with that boy one time. Now, Philly is different. I went up there. Yeah. They different. My sister, she just moved from there, but she was there like 10 years. Did you like it? The streets was dirty. That's in New York too. Don't try to hold back. You Jay-Z fan you. I only been to New York once, but... I went a lot of time. It's dirty. But the culture though is what's the best thing about it. No, this culture down here good. It is. Yeah, I'm going to stop all that. This Southern House title to something else, bro. Really? You know, I go there. I'm from here. But we talking about Philly. You go up to Philly.  You in a whole different world. I mean, Philly is very artsy. You know what I'm saying? The women are different. They like real like strong. You know what I'm saying? I like to hustle up there. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. That's what I like. It's different. But it's different down here. You asked them because they know me. Call them. They going to be like... We got all the flavor. I'm talking about the hustle. When I went to New York, it was like, you remember when I went up there in the old seven, old six, I was up there. I was hustling. I could get my money. And then I was like, damn, these niggas hustle hard. Every second these niggas in my ear. Every five seconds I walk out the door and say, man, you need this. Say, man, you need that. I'm in Manhattan. You go to Flatbush. They're like, these niggas are hustling. So it made me look at things. We do it different down here. But them niggas hustling up there. I like it because iron sharpens iron. So when I met my partners, a lot of my partners, they really stomped down. They really deal with the whole industry. My dudes do. They be like, when I look at your Instagram or when I come to Dallas, man, I know you getting it in. I don't know what everybody else doing. So I make them respected. You know what I'm saying? You got to. Yeah, but they look at us different. They really do. And the music, you could really, you could blend anywhere. But how would music, they call it mumbo rap, all kind of stuff. I don't play like that because I know it's good down here. They learn to respect it now. Oh, no, no, no. They still got something.  No, they can't. But look like Roddy Rich. You know what I'm saying? I thought he was from Atlanta. You did? He was from Caughton. I didn't think he was from Atlanta. Just hearing the music without seeing him. No, I thought, I liked it, man. I thought he was a, I thought he was a California nigga, to be honest with you. You can tell, like future thug, they all had an impact on his sound. Of course. Yeah, I get where you come from. I want disrespect him and say he sounded like him. But you can tell, you can tell he came up on that. I get it. I get it. That's your era. Like, these are your people. They are your age. So I can't really just plant it in like I want to and say, no, no, you just your guy. These are your people, man. Yeah. You know, I respect that. I respect each generation, man. So do you consider yourself an all around businessman or just an artist? I'm an artist first. You're an artist first. My, if I had any... Get my paperwork and get in science. If I had any weakness, it was getting on to the business late and really caring about the business. You think it hurt your brain? It hurt my pockets. That's your brain. That's what I'm saying. But more than anything, you know, because people love my brain. You know what I'm saying? They speak highly of it. But the whole thing is wrapped up in a bow and your finance is in it. True, true, true. Because when I look at your YouTube and I see that on Vivo you only have like 240 something subscribers. But then your views are like in a thousand. I'm like, why is nobody subscribing? Like, you know... It's marketing, like running ads. You know what I'm saying? The ad game is crazy. I got ads running right now for like four videos on Instagram. Really? Yeah. I don't be doing it like I should. I be so organic with me. I'm like, didn't you gonna love me?  But I need to work hard. I know what you're saying because I used to do it. I used to do it when I was doing the commercials and stuff. I would post all the commercials and show VRM and what we were doing with different businesses. But after I started this podcast I've been like just doing interviews. No, it's because we have... It's really just us. That's all it needed right there. And running a business, there's so many different components, especially with marketing and doing this and doing that. People don't realize how many different aspects. That's why you have a team. Right, right, right. Our team is just two. Right. So we're trying to do it all. I can speak to that, too. But ain't that by choice, too? Because we got money, Mike. Don't leave Mike out. Shout out Watts. You know what I'm saying? I can call certain dudes that's gonna do what I tell them to do. So up until October last year I've been managing myself this whole time. Whole time. You know what I'm saying? And so, but that's me not caring about the business that I can deal with by myself. You know what I'm saying? So, at this level in my career I need a business manager. I need somebody that's only about copyrights, whatever case. Am I getting BDS pins on these stations? You know what I'm saying? Little stuff like that. So that's why I say it. It's dope. Yeah, nah, I need it. But I understand because COVID made you wake up. That's what you just said. That was one of the things for sure.  You remember that? Because we didn't stay in the house long. Yeah. I went out. Y'all stayed at home. Yeah. You had a lot of time to think COVID might be locked up in prison. COVID messed up my summer. I had the summer all planned last year. I had some things coming. All the shows, everything. Yeah. Like, for me, 2020 was going to be like even bigger. Were you nervous when it hit? Was that COVID? Man, I love COVID. I'm already a homebody. So you're like, I don't never have to see the EPS. But it hurt your pockets, though. COVID, no. If you were smarter about it, like, because I'm already working from the internet, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. And in Dallas, they don't book you that much. And if they do it, it ain't for like crazy numbers. You know how, like, Atlanta got their system where they start you out out of certain numbers.  Why is that so? Because I realize not only you saying that, but other people say that, they're from Dallas, but Dallas don't book them a lot. Why you have to go everywhere else to get all these better shows, but Dallas won't do it. Because, man, we laid to the party. You know, if you look up, there's a lot of people every other two weeks. If it's Money Bag, Yo, Boosie, $42, you know what I'm saying? We book in the same people. And they, because they seen, they make money, so they don't care about like pushing anything forward. You know what I'm saying? They just see what works and let's do it. I saw that you had a write-up in Dallas Magazine in 2019. And I thought that was pretty big because I love that magazine because they put light on a lot of local but big businesses. You said Dallas, Dallas Magazine. Oh, okay, Magazine, gotcha. You know, and they put shed light on a lot of businesses and a lot of influential people in Dallas. So to see you in that magazine, I'm like, that was a big deal. Yeah. And that's showing that Dallas is showing you love some sort of way. Right. Shout out to Rodgers. Shout out to Rodgers. That's where all his analytics at. Black people support people. We support this, you know what I'm saying? We love you. Yeah. You know, we definitely love hard in Dallas. We don't. Y'all ain't going to tell nobody because we family. Yeah. To an extent, You heard what I said. We ain't telling nobody. Here you go on the mic. To an extent, I knew you were coming. I knew you were going to do it. I'm not blaming the people. Okay. I'm blaming whoever selling it. You just got to find your audience. Okay. You know, everything for everybody. So where can people find you performing at in Dallas? Live performance. Live performance.  You know what I'm saying? Yeah, we going to see Jason Lear. Because it's past month. I don't have any coming next month, but we putting together my own show. I never put together my own concert. You got to let me know. You going to come back and let everybody know. Give me about a 10 to 15 minute run and say, hey, we here because I'm getting more and more subscribers before coming in, man. I'm liking it. You ain't got to sell it to me. I need you here, man. I believe. Yeah, I want you to come in and say, hey, man, we going to be in such and such and then we going to get that dress head on down and check him out. Okay. Now let's do it. I'm going to be crazy. I might even have, you know what I'm saying? My people, man. I see them back there with you. But I mean, I found a gym that that's in that same, you know, industry that's putting together events, et cetera. That's dope, man. So who's your top three artists of all time? You don't watch that. You know how we do it. Any genre. You know what I'm saying? Top three artists all time. Man or woman. Yeah. Number one. Let's say Jay-Z. I knew that. I knew that. I told you that in the car on the way up here. I knew it. I'm going to go there. But let me see. It's not from popular opinion. No, no, no. We're just going to go on through them. Then I'm going to ask you about number two. Number two. Rick Ross. Okay. Number three. I can dig it. I like that one. I throw Jasmine Sullivan in. I love that. He didn't say him. Who you thought he was going to say? Drake. I knew if that's what she wanted me to say. I thought he was going to say Drake. So let's talk about it, man. Drake is fourth man. I want to see, I want to hear why you say that. I love Jasmine Sullivan. I love Jasmine Sullivan. I can't contest that Jay-Z is not one of the guys that, when I went to Atlanta, I was at Stroker's. Shout out to Stroker's down in Atlanta. And I was at Stroker's and this girl came out with a New York hat on. She had on some pumps, nigga. And they play, my name was Ho, and she started banging that out. I said, oh man, I guess you were from New York. They serious about it. They people up there. You know what I'm saying? I get it, man. But the dude, I went to that concert. And man, I ain't never seen nobody really sound so much.  Just like the record. You should have ended up syncing up there. But the nigga really was doing it. For me, man, Jay-Z, the way he told stories, the way he carried himself, I studied Jay-Z to the point, like even when I rap, you know, it's a lot of subliminals. And for me, Jay-Z was like a book. He had a lot of gems in his raps. That's what helped you lyrically. Yes. I feel finding like rubies in his raps to this day, that I didn't catch when I first got on him. Like Jay-Z, he dropped them gems. I go to Ross, man. Ross, I just respect him as a boss. And I think he's under-appreciated from his albums. He dropped some of the best albums. But because he from the South, because he got in the game at an older age, like people don't respect him as a lyricist and all that, but from his production to working with the Incredibles and Jay-Z, like the man's and then like the boss moves he make, you know what I'm saying? Yeah. I seen him live too and that's the only like dude I fanned out for like a concert. Like I lost my voice that night. That's dope. You know what I'm saying?  I love her. I wasn't even going to I hate she takes That's the first Jasmine Sullivan that we have. Because they ain't got that soul in them. No, no, no. I get it, man. You know, I see the move, I see the crowd. I haven't met her. I haven't met her, but Hotels is like my favorite album this year. Like out of everything that's dropped. That's a classic album. You know what I'm saying? And we need more from Jasmine Sullivan. Like every six years they're going to work. You're going to get it. She's going to come on with it. COVID woke up. Yeah. Not facts. COVID woke up. You know, people take life for granted. You know what I mean? And every day is not promised to us. You know, we got to start being serious about our time. I always say that on this show. We don't know. Our children hug them a little bit tight. I remember when COVID first died and I remember we started then COVID and we pushed back and waited a year. But that was one of the shows I remember the day when that happened as it was happening.  I made my partner from New York call and he was like, man, you know what I'm saying? You don't need to say stuff like that. But COVID, man, you know, when I think about how we started off and how this whole thing started, man, to where we at now, thank God for it. You know, time is something else, man. You don't know when you're going to leave. That's the reason I said that. You know, and we got to hug our kids a little tighter. Love our wives a little longer. Our friends, our girlfriends, shake hand, hug your brother. You know what I'm saying? I think a lot of time you know, not even just hug them a little tighter, but especially where kids are concerned, let them know that there's no day promised to you because I've had friends who had kids that lost loved ones and they had mental breakdowns from it because they don't know how to handle death. Nobody spoke to them about death. They're thinking, you're going to be around forever.   That's real. That's crazy. I'll say that on the way here I was thinking to myself, I'm not afraid of losing anything because I know it could be gone. You know what I'm saying? But to speak to even the kids, you got to make sure you talk to them every day because as much as they sin and taken in, you know what I'm saying? You got to influence them just as much if not more. Yeah, you got to raise them, man. A lot of times we let the phones raise them and we let electronics, social media raise them. We have to raise them. Let me ask you a question. If you could speak to your younger self. Yeah, 15 years, 16-year-old self to try to get you in motion to get into where you at now and do a better job at it, what would you say? Honestly, I just grew up fearful a lot of things. So I just tell myself jump off the cliff. I like it. I go do it. Because I was the same way. I get that. What's your way now? At first, like people... I don't ever see you fearful. I should have went harder, I should have went harder. Faster, quicker, harder. You know what I'm saying? I'd have been boom, you know? It'll tell them where we'll be. Right, fact. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, I want to go... I heard about too many opinions. I know you over there. You thinking, well, yeah, he already a handful. No, I could have went harder. You know what I'm saying? You're like, oh my God. Okay. There's more. So what you about to say? Nah, just back to the fearful thing. It's a lot of things I held myself back from. Opportunities, whatever. Even becoming more of a people's person. You know what I'm saying? How many relationships I could have built along the way. Okay. You know what I'm saying? How many rooms I could have been in and made my presence felt. You know what I'm saying? And then miss out on something. What is the one thing during your career from the beginning to now that you can look back on and saying that was the biggest mistake I've made. It might be something small, but that's the biggest mistake that I've made that I wish I had went a different way with it. And it probably would have gotten me a little bit further. Get a better position, yeah. That's tough. Maybe just trusting people. You know what I'm saying? Trusting people with my career coming in, you know what I'm saying? Trusting my surroundings. I grew up, I was disappointed in my whole life. So I was always scared of being disappointed. You know what I'm saying? And that held me back from a lot of things. Now where are you disappointed in your whole life growing up? Because I never, I never from, I didn't have much. You know what I'm saying? You talking financially? Financially, love, to this day, not to bash my daddy, but he was more like a brother to me. You were talking about with him because I know you said your mom, she was always there and stuff like that. I'm talking about everything. Family, you know what I'm saying? Cousins I trusted. Are they still together now? No. They weren't. They was never together. Oh, so you told them? Well, they were, I'll take that back. Yeah, they were together. They divorced. Oh, they were together. Yeah, I'm saying that. They were divorced when I was one. Oh, wow. Yeah, I never seen them together. Wow. You know what I'm saying?  It's just functional and that's a good thing to talk about. What could you say to a kid that's going through that same thing right now being detached from his father and mother and having to work between two homes? How could you tell them to face that and be more successful? Make sure your kid doesn't go through the same thing. And I was just about to say that. I was about to ask that. I was about to say, Howard, because I know you have kids. How are you making sure that your kids don't go through it? I make sure my daughter knows that I got as much as love for her mom as I do for her. I don't let her, you know, I don't let her get into none of the drama stuff we have. And I make sure she just has that open communication where she can talk to me. How old is she? She's 10. She'll be 11 next month. So, you know what I'm saying? And that's that age where you're getting a teenager. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? And I've seen a little bit of... Rebellion? Not rebellion, but sadness in her. Like, you know what I'm saying? A few years back and I can just tell it came from, like, she wanted us in the same household. She probably still does. Yeah, I was about to say, are y'all together or not? Y'all are together. No, we're not together. But, you know, I've seen her now. She's a lot more happy. And that's just me, you know, instilling her with, like, love. Yeah, you know what I'm saying?  Yeah, yeah. And one thing I always say, because in life as parents, this is what I've learned. You know how growing up, there's always something you're lacking, right? So you always, when you have a kid, you always divulge all of that into that child that you're not a perfect parent and you will never be a perfect parent. So when you give them all of this because that's what you were lacking, there's something that you're still lacking because you're not. So always ask your kids, baby, is there something that, you know, you wish I would do or say, not daddy, I want you to buy me X, Y, Z and stuff like that. Ignore all of that. But just, like, get real personal. Is there something that you're lacking? Am I not saying I love you enough? Am I not at your football game, basketball game, whatever, enough? Different things because kids hold things in. Right. As much as you think that they have such a great relationship with you, they hide some stuff. They don't say certain things because they don't want to hurt your feelings. They don't want to, you know. So always try to ask these questions because a lot of times we as parents don't know what to ask. We ask simple questions. And I learned that with, when the kids go to school and one day they, I saw an app and because when your kids come home, you say, how was school today? How was class? What happened at school? And that was it. And I saw this app that showed detailed questions of how to ask your kids certain questions. And when I was trying that, you get so much more out of them and you get that open dialogue coming back.  They'll get more in detail of what actually happened. But we don't think these things. Right, right. I make sure I ask my daughter every day, is there, you know what I'm saying? You can tell me anything.  You know what I'm saying? Even if I get mad or what, I promise not to, like, hold that against you. You know what I'm saying? Because I want that trust to be there to where you can tell me everything. Even when she started her little cycle or not. You know what I'm saying? She was all that. She was trying to hide it from you. I'm like, nah, I got you. What you need? You need to get some pads? You know what I'm saying? No, no, no, that's baby girl. Let me ask you this, though. Well, no, I'm going to add to what you see. Okay. You know, basically, I think that not only do kids have communication problems, I think adults have communication problems. To talk to you a lot of times over the years, I've seen myself grow in certain ways where we've... So I think it's something that we all go through for us. And so we have to make sure that we implement our children to help that we are giving ourselves. I think that. Communication is definitely key to any relationship. Yeah. And it's the hardest thing. Yeah, it's the hardest thing to have those tough conversations. Conversations, you're right. To be able to be open about anything. And to be able to listen. Right. So if I'm out of there, bro, you know what I'm saying? It's my job to tell him that. Yeah, exactly. For him to know that, hey, he pissed me off. Nah, let me communicate with him. Hey, bro, I don't like that. You know what I'm saying? You know what I mean? One question I don't want to get off of here without asking you is, if you could work with anybody, anybody, who would that be? You don't say Jay-Z. Come on.  He don't rap. You've got to make him rap. People, you don't need that same... Male and female. Female and female. But what you don't need to say is Andre 3000, Jay-Z, a certain one, they ain't really rapping. They were tired. We're all seep and slowing down. I'm watching all these cats. Yeah, yeah, they are. So I'm talking about your era. I don't want to think, because hip-hop, we always do that. People get to a certain age. We feel like they, you know, don't make music anymore. No, no, no. I love them. I'm just saying, no, no. They don't make music anymore. These country guys. Did you hear what I just said? I hear you. It ain't that they don't make music. It ain't nobody... No, they not making music anymore like they were making. They're not as aggressive as they were. So now I'm asking you, in your era, who would you like to work with? Hold on. I'm going to take it off. Jay-Z trying to get to Jay-Z. One thing Jay-Z did best was staying innovative. You know, even 444. No, no, no. I love the music. 444 was when my grandkids born. When was that? They five now, ain't it? Five years ago. You know what I'm saying? I mean, but that's not... All I'm telling you is, when did you make your last music? Like put out my last project? Yeah. Last album, 2019. Okay. When did you put out your last song? Two, three, four songs. Give me three or four. Valentine's. Okay, okay. Now when did Jay-Z do Hill? He did one with Nas the other day. There you go. But he barely sipping out. I don't want to hear Jay-Z, okay? But my guy's 50. Yeah, I get it. But I respect him, but I'm just saying, in your era during your day, is it Drake? Is it Lil Wayne? Is it Rick Ross? No, he's saying anybody now. He's asking you. I'm asking you. I would say Lauren Hill, if it had to be anybody. You know what I'm saying? I can't even say that. I know, though. I knew he was going to say that. Let me just tell you about her. She dope, but she went through a lot here. She's going, I already get all. I know what you're going to say before you say it. But he can bring somebody back and have re-innovation.  No, nobody expects it. I'm going to say Chance the Rapper. Chance the Rapper. I see that. I see that. I rocked for Chance the Rapper. That would be an awesome collaboration. He got a lot of gospel influence in his music. Man, that'd be a dope collab. You'll get that nigga though. You'll get that nigga though. You'll get that nigga. I mean, yeah. Shout out to him. He ain't going to get over me. That's a lyrical. That's a lyrical from Dallas. Old Cliff, Texas in the building. Bring the smoke. We look at all of it. Do you already have a song written that you think that he could get on? Chance. I'm sure I got some stuff. No, he come with it. We all got some stuff.  Write it out. Write it out. You have to have it said, okay, this is a song for him. He going to get on this song. That's real. You have to have purpose with it. Yeah, it's going to happen. How can people reach you? How can people get ahold of Jason Lyrick? Jason Lyrick, one word, at J-A-Y-S-O-N-L-Y-R-I-C. That's on everything. From a website to TikTok to Instagram. Funny you say TikTok. A lot of people sleeping on TikTok. Hey, but not TikTok. TikTok is the biggest thing right now. It's bigger than radio. People will take 100,000 to the radio when you can take 5,000, 7,000 and pay in the fluency that has like 3 million reach. Don't we talk about that all the time? Yeah, that's where it's at. And they'll tell you that in every meeting you go and talk to these labels. They'll tell you. And I don't ever just watch one person on TikTok. I just go on there and scroll through and find the most hilarious things. I got a little TikTok volume. Every time they use that song, you getting paid too. Yeah, I got a few things going on. You ain't no slouch. Look, I started cooking on TikTok. You're cooking? Yeah. I'm going to have to tip you out. Are you going? Yeah, I'm learning. I'm learning. I got a great teacher though. I really got a great teacher. Shout out Slim. Slim, go hard. Okay. We can have a cook. My wife will kick her down every time. Not for real. Let's do it. I ain't tripping her. What's her favorite dish? She got so many because she... We ain't backing down. We taking all competition, nigga, every time, man. I don't know. Man, quiche, stuffed chicken breast. A lot of stuff, man. What's your favorite dish that she cooks? That she cooks? I stay senses on my mind of stuffed chicken. Stuffed chicken breast. For sure. For sure. Okay, well, we ain't holding back, but we don't disclose anything until the day of the competition, nigga. Come on with it. What we made the other day, some shrimp frittata. That was pretty amazing. Yeah. Well, like I said, man, I see you dropping your dimes and all that. No, no, no. There ain't going to be enough, brother. I got to taste the food first. Don't try to celebrate too early. She went to culinary school. That don't matter. That don't mean nothing. She used to be a chef. She used to be a chef. Here it is. She do it for a hobby now. Listen, my grandma, if she was still living, she ain't never with no chef. She come through, man, cooking them homemade biscuits.  Granny's a different story. Same thing. Same things you can't teach. My granny's from Louisiana. She's from Alexandria. Already. So, as you know, man, mine's six miles from Louisiana. We just sneezed. We ended up in the cattle lake, nigga. You know what I'm talking about? My granny baked cakes for the community church. My granny baked teacakes, nigga. Don't let me keep going. Well, hey, man, we love you, man. And we thank you for trying. You know, coming on our show, trying to... How we looking over here? Always ask everybody. How we looking? I love it. I love the name Boss Talk. Man. The whole shout-out to y'all, man. Thank you so much, man. Made it easy for me, you know, real conversation. Ah, man. We just love hard. That's all.  Like I said, man, be sure to call me, man. For sure. We'll call you, man.  We're gonna be like, yeah, we going tonight. I don't know if we're gonna make it. We old now. That's cool. That's cool. Like Jay-Z. That's cool. That's cool. But we definitely love you. Speak for yourself. Well, you coming. You coming. It'd be the chill spot. It won't be too turnt up. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't like a lot of noise. Yeah, I don't like a lot of people around. I like to be in my own VR. I'm real spoiled. I pay for it. I'm not coming out unless I got someone to sit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be where I can just chill and do my thing. I'll hold this little section right here. Yeah. They usually set us up when our goal plays down there. Yeah, yeah. You set me up in Jamaica though. I'll never forget that. Shout out to official Mr. Jamaica for setting E up in Jamaica. I'll let you boy. Yeah. Thank you so much, man. We love you, bro. Thank y'all. Jason Leary, man. Yeah, yeah. Get y'all rhyme right up here in Dallas. Y'all know y'all hear this man coming with you. You know, I'm real arrogant on this thing, man. I love good music. Yeah. So, man, y'all better go check Jason out, man. If you want to hear something that's really popping, I'm definitely going to be looking for that next project. I didn't get to ask you about the volumes though. See, I'll go right back in. Okay. What was it? One, two, and three. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Brick by brick. Yeah, brick by brick. So, that's my motto. Brick by brick. Because like I say, I know y'all spoke about team, having the team. Yeah. For the most part, I've been doing it by myself. Okay. So, I've been building it brick by brick. It's going to take me a little longer, you know what I'm saying? But as long as I continue to build, I'll get there. So, I'm building my empire. I see you, they focus on those volumes, so it means something for you to do that. Yeah, not for sure. Right, because there was a good distance between the first one and the second one, but then the third one came like the following year, like right after. So, originally I started out with DJs. So, the first one I did with DJ Duffy. Man, shout out DJ Duffy. Shout out DJ Duffy. I talked to her one time on the phone. I'll never forget that. That was cool. DJ Duffy. She a Virgo too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was on some business before I started putting my own cameras up. It was like, I need somebody to come through. She was doing some visual work there one while. Early on. Like what she was like in front of the camera? No, like she was doing some visual work. Oh, okay. Yeah, she did photography first. I remember that. Yeah, I remember that. I don't know what I called for. One of the homegirls at LinkedIn was like, call Duffy. I'll check out. Okay. But go ahead and finish this. Volume two I did with Mr. Rogers. Okay. But like I said, that was during the mixtape era while our mixtape stuff was booming. Then came in the streaming sites as far as like Apple Music stuff. So, we took the DJ off the third one. Wow. And so, I started it with my producer Bezzie. It's one more producer I ain't mention. Bezzie. Shout out Bezzie. Shout out Bezzie. Really, it's like 10, 15 producers in the community that I work with on my albums, bro. But those are the main three that would say they house. Okay. Which is what I call in-house. So now, I started that in 2015. I plan to keep it going. I drop every Friday to the 13th. Okay. That's like my theme. So, I let y'all figure out when the next one might drop. Wow. You know what I mean? Yeah, I like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's a connecting factor. Right, I'm going to keep that. Friday to the 13th, you know it's bad luck for everybody else, but it's my day. You're going to make that thing right. Yeah, you're going to flip the script. I like it, man. It's my day. Man, thank you so much for coming on Boss Talk 101, man. For sure, for sure. Thank you, man. Save me. Been another great segment of Boss Talk 101. And we out. I thought so.


Besides knowing how to register a callback function to a hook, there are a few other things you need to know about working with hooks in WordPress. In this lesson you'll learn about hook priority, hook parameters and hook order. Let's start with hook priority. If you take a look at the documentation for add action, you will see two additional function parameters after the hook name and callback function. The third parameter is the hook priority, which is an integer which defaults to 10. This means that if you register an action in your code without specifying a priority, it will be registered with a priority of 10. The add filter function also has a priority parameter, which works in the same way. Hook priority allows you to determine the order in which your hook callback is run, relative to any other hook callbacks that may be registered on the given hook, either by WordPress core or other themes or plugins. Hooks run in numerical order of priority, starting with one. It's usually safe to leave the priority to the default of 10, unless you specify you want to change the order in which your callback function is run. For example, in the after setup theme example from the actions lesson, you may want to make sure that the registered callback function is only run after any other callbacks registered by WordPress core or run. Because WordPress core registers any hook callbacks with the default priority of 10, if you specify a priority of 11, you can make sure that your callback function is run after any core callbacks have completed. Alternatively, if you want to make sure the callback is run before WordPress cores, you would set a lower priority, say 9. Often you might see callbacks being registered with a higher priority, like 99 or 9,999. This is because the plugin or theme developer in question wants to be sure that this callback is run after all other callbacks. However, one can never know at what priority other third-party plugins or themes might register their callbacks. Now let's look at hook parameters. The fourth parameter in the add action and add filter functions is the number of accepted arguments the callback function can accept. In order to better understand how this works, let's look at a content-related filter hook called get the excerpt. The filter is defined in the wp-includes-post-template.php file inside the get-the-except function, which in turn is called from the the excerpt function. This function is typically used when displaying search results, where it is useful to show the post excerpt and not the post content. The apply-filters function is registering the filter hook with two variables that are associated with the filter, the posts-post-exerpt and the post-object. When defining an action or filter hook, any number of possible arguments can be added. However, the number passed to the accepted arguments parameter determines how many of them are passed back to the hook callback function. If you look at the documentation for add filter, for example, you will see that the default value for a number of accepted arguments is 1, which means that if you don't specify a value for this parameter, the first argument will be available to be passed to the callback function. In the get-the-exerpt filter, there are two possible variables to be accepted. If you were to register the callback without setting the number of arguments, only the first will be available to the callback function, in this case, post-exerpt. In order to accept more of the available arguments, you need to specify the number of arguments to accept. And then you can use the additional argument in your callback function. Being able to determine which arguments you need for your callback function and setting the number in the hook registration is a valuable skill. For example, let's say you just wanted to add a simple piece of text after the excerpt. In this case, you would only need the post-exerpt, so you can leave out the accepted argument setting. Notice how the priority has also been updated. You might do this because you want to make sure this text is amended after any call-filter callbacks assigned to this filter have been run. Now take a look at the results of a search, and you'll see the verified by search engine at the end of the excerpt. However, what if you wanted to include something from the post, say the post title? In this case, you would update your callback to accept both arguments from the hook to get the post title from the post object. And this is what that would look like in the search results. You'll also notice that this code is using the same variable names for the arguments being passed to the callback, in this case, postexerpt and post. This is not a requirement. You can call them anything you want when you register your callback function, but it does make it easier to remember what each variable is if you name them the same. Depending on your specific requirements, you may first need to determine which action or filter is the correct one to use. Fortunately, the WordPress developer documentation has a page on hooks in the common API section, which contains a list of all action and filter hooks and the order in which they are run during different requests on a WordPress site. You can use this list to check when the hook you want to use is run and then use this information to determine if it's the correct hook for your requirements.


The Industry Training Authority is the organization that oversees the apprenticeship system in our province and will be playing a leading role in skilled trade certification. Future generations of skilled trades professions will really benefit from this for a few reasons. The apprenticeship learning experience will be more enriched by having the right oversight and guidance from somebody who is highly skilled in their craft. Additionally, we're raising the profile of skilled trade careers for what they should be seeing in our society, which is well-paying, highly skilled technical careers.


President Muhammad Buhari has promised to intervene on the issue of flood ravaging states across the country. Floods in several states have recently caused significant damage. The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, claims that as a result over 300 people have died and numerous people have been displaced. The president has received complaints from state governors about the effect of the flooding and they have requested that the government step in and provide special funding to solve the issue. Buhari urged the governors to consult with the minister of water resources and come up with long-term solutions while speaking at a state house gathering in Abuja. In order to improve the situation of those affected by the floods, he suggested that the federal government be informed of the remedies, promising that the government would act as soon as the report was submitted. The governor of Sokoto Aminutemboal said the flooding has created a frightening scenario for food security in the country. The flood change and the release of the Lago Dam in Cameroon is said to have resulted in flooding which has had a significant impact on communities across the country.