W-E-A-F, New York. Have Avalon cigarettes, please? Yes, sir. Oh, just a moment, sir. Don't forget your change. You'd never guess, but Avalons cost you less. Welcome to Avalon Time with Red Foley, Jeanette, Edna Stillwell, the Avalon chorus, Bob Strong and his orchestra, and Red Skelton. The orchestra opens the program with romance, runs and the family. Just to put Avalons in a class by themselves. They're made from the very finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos, blended to perfection. And still, Avalons cost three to five cents less per pack than other popular price brands. Three to five cents less, mind you, for a cigarette that's unsurpassed in quality. Is it anyone to then, friends, that Avalons are known from coast to coast as the outstanding cigarette value on the market today? It'll pay you well to give Avalons a trial. Why not get a pack tonight? You'd never guess they cost you less. Or because in Vaudeville, he played all the dives in Tanktown. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I feel great tonight. Say, Del, speaking of swimming, you should have been down at the beach this afternoon. Oh, there's a lot of excitement. Excitement? Well, what happened? A lifeguard got into water over his head. Boy, what lifeguards they have down at the beach? If you're drowning, they throw you a rope. Both ends. There's a big crowd down at the beach today. In fact, it's the biggest crowd I've seen since my relatives went home. Don't get me, with so many people in the water, I dove in three times and didn't get wet once. Oh, but you should see those new bathing suits the girls are wearing this year. Miss Stillwell walked out one of those new bathing suits and got a letter of protest from Minsky. Jeanette was there. She swore she had on a bathing suit and had Einstein along to prove it. Oh, you'd have to see the bathing suit to believe me. And believe me, you should see it. The bathing suit I wore was a sarong. You know what a sarong is? That's a pair of three-cornered pants that's going Hollywood. I saw some girls coming, and I struck an athletic pants out. It was a good gag, too. I surprised how puny I was until a shark swam up and took one look at me and said, I ain't that hungry and swam away. No kid and shark fell so sorry for me. Five minutes later, he came back with tears in his eyes and handed me a sardine sandwich. Oh, you meet a lot of nice people down on the beach. I met a married lady who was so fat she took a dive into the water in three, four, and five, plus she was a battleship and took pictures of her. Oh, didn't get that one out. But when she came out of the water, we sat out on a sand pile together, and I said, would your husband get sore if he caught it? She says, I don't think so. This is him we're sitting on. The only thing I don't like about... The only thing I don't like about the beach, you know, you have to be very careful of sunburns. I went to sleep, and when I woke up, I was so sunburned, they gave me an offer to work as master of ceremonies at a barbecue stand. Again, I was so well-cooked, a mosquito came over and stuck his beak in me, and I went... Well... I think I've been out here taking nosedives long enough, so I'll wait out and let Red Foley dive in with On the Sunny Side of the Rockies. Come on in, fellow, the water's fine. On the side of heaven, Bob Strong and the orchestra play the old groaners' hit tune, hang your heart on a hickory limb. Close to coast, people are learning to know and to love Red Scouts. They are? Gee, maybe that's why hundreds of people are asking for my autograph. They don't want your autograph. They want to see if you can write. Did you say they'll? I didn't say anything. That was Roger, the new fiddle player in the band. Oh, it was. Say, Roger, you can't be on this program. No, why not? Well, from now on, nobody can be on this show unless they can pass an intelligence test. Oh, gee, Skeleton, just when we were getting used to you two. Now, listen, you got to get off the show. Yeah, I'm as smart as the next guy, Skeleton. Well, the next guy must be an awful dope. Are you red? Oh, what do you want? My sister thinks you're the greatest comic on the air. Uh, she does? Say, I'd like to meet her. I think we can arrange it. Yeah? Tuesday is visiting day. Yeah. Not about him. By the way, listen, have you seen the new radio sets? The ones you know where you get the station by pushing buttons? Yeah, I saw one down at the White House when I was there at the president's ball this spring. Well, how'd you like them? Oh, swell you. I pressed one button, got Jack Benny. Yeah? I pressed another button, got Walter Winschel. Yeah? I pressed the third button. And what happened? Open a new bridge at Louisville, Kentucky. Hi, Bob Strong, a happy cadenza to you. Say, I'm throwing a party for the cast tonight. Could you loan me $3? I'm sorry, I'm a little deaf in that air. Go around the other one. I say, could you lend me $10? What? Could you lend me $10? You better go back to the $3 air. No fooling, Bob. Will you let me have $10? I'm sorry, I can't do it. And excuse me, I've got to talk to my boys. Oh, he can't do it. Why, that guy's got the first dollar he ever made. Why, do you mean that Bob is tight? Tight? He lives on soup and mashed potatoes to keep him wearing out the filling in his teeth. Why, I always thought Bob was generous. Oh, you did, huh? Yeah. Well, did you know that last week he moved next door to a church? Next to a church? Yeah. Well, how come? Well, you know, month of June, a lot of weddings, and that guy's nuts about rice pudding. Oh, no kidding, Rad. Come clean. Are you really broke? Broke? See, I can't even remember the color of money. Hello, Dale. Hi, Edna. Hello, Ed. Hi, Edna. What's going on out here? Well, uh, Rad's broke. Hey, Dale. Oh, gee. Why do you have to go tell her I was broke? Dale, has he been telling you he was broke? That's right. Well, how could anything get out of his wallet? He keeps a police dog in there. I do not. Oh, my wallet. Look, see if there's a police dog in there. For that, Miss Stillwell, you don't get that raise, I promise you. What are you laughing at? What did you say? I said you don't get the raise, I promise you. Well, there goes nothing. Oh, Edna, that's no way to talk to me. The guy that loves you. Love me? Yes. Edna, your eyes are like violets, and your lips are like rose petals.  Ah, you have to go get me out of the mood now. Say, Edna, I'm giving a little party tonight after the show. You're invited. Uh-oh, hold everything. Here comes one key straw. Hello, Edna, darling. Hello, Bob, precious. What goes on here? Edna, I'm mad about you. Will you call me Bobby? Will you call me Toodle? Will you call me when this is over? You never believe it. We get paid for this. Is that a telephone? Well, it's too early for jingle bells. Hello? Yes? Oh, you'd like to have the artist to play my old Kentucky home? Well, hold the phone. Hey, Bob, play whole tight. Okay, here we go, boys. One, two. Pass for me old Kentucky home. That was a telephone operator. I just wanted to give her the wrong number and see how she likes it. Hiya. Will. Hello, Edna. Well, if it ain't gone with the wind bowling. Yeah, that's me. Big Tommy. I'm into money now. You got dough?  Just the guy I want to see. Hey, wait. You want to see me? That's right. Could I borrow $20 from you, Red? Oh, it's a pleasure. Well, if it's a pleasure, make it $40. Okay, here. Here's $5. And $10. That's $15, $20. And $20 is $40. Here's $2. Yeah. Hey, I asked for $40. I know you did. I asked for $40. You'd take $20. And I knew you'd be tickled with $10. So I gave you $2. Well, I got to go now. So long, boys. So long, pumpkin. So long, Redsy Boy. Redsy Boy. Redsy Boy. What could be worse? Punk. I love punk. Punk. Oh, listen. I've had a bot enough of this. I'm going to look in my little best pocket dictionary and see what punk means. That's what I think it is. I'll beat you to a pulp. Punk. P-U. P-U. That's it. But now look, folks. I got to run down to the bank and borrow some money. Must you go? Yes, because right after Jeanette's things, don't worry about me.  Hooray! Now, don't get excited. Now, of course, I have a little trouble with my banker getting money out of him. So if I'm a little late, don't worry about me. Sing it, Jeanette. They're positively highest quality through and through, made with the finest Turkish and domestic tobaccos. And still, they cost three to five cents less per pack than other popular price brands. Never has a price so low bought this unexcelled Avalon quality. And you'd never guess that they cost you less. And now here's a special word to the ladies. You like Avalon's smoother, milder taste and flavor, and the way they're tightly packed so that the tobacco doesn't fall out into your purse. You like Avalon's smart, modern package, too. And remember, Avalons save you money to buy those extra things for yourself and your home. So friends, Avalon's, the cigarette that gives you so much and costs so little, deserves a trial by every smoker, both men and women. So why not pick up a pack tonight? Now as we join Red Skelton and the gang, they're walking down the street trying to find a restaurant. Did you go to the bank, Red? Yeah, I went. What happened? Well, I wanted to borrow $500. My banker wanted to loan me $2. So? I insisted on $500. He insisted on two. I said, $500? He said, $2. Well, how did he end up? I took the $2. I was no mood to dicker. Here's a nice-looking place, Red. Yeah, it's not bad. What's that sign say? The elbow. Ah, just a joint. They even print their motto on the window. Yeah, what does it say? It says, if our states are too tough for you, stay out. This is no place for weaklings. Now, come on. Let's go in. Take a stab at it. Oh, here's the table big enough for us over here, Red. Yeah, come on. Everybody sit down now. Make a show for home. Where's the waiter?  Well, I ain't a penny-gum machine. Hey, Lee, what are you doing in this restaurant? What am I doing here? Why, I own the darn thing. Yes, sir, I do. Down to the very last little old bean. Say, Hercie, I'm throwing a party for the gang, but we gotta have a lot of service now. Well, there's just me and my waitress, Daisy, but I can work twice as fast as any other waiter. You can? How come, Hercie? Well, you see, I belong to two unions. Well, look, bring us the menus, will you? An order of rice pudding, please. Well, here's the menus, the orders, please. Miss Dillback. I'll have some hash. The lady wants to take a chance. Well, what do you have, Mr. Skelton? Well, let's see.  A quarter house. That's what I'll have. Make it a steak. Say, what kind of cake is that? Oh, that's stolen. Huh? Stolen. I don't care how you got it. What is it? That's coffee cake. Oh. And now you, Mr. Foley. Well, I'll have a dozen clams, some dill pickles, five soft boiled eggs, and six steaks, some balsam cream pie, or a large cucumber, three scoops of ice cream, and a quart of coffee. What? No order? No order. Well, okay. Would you mind signing this order, please? Sign it, what for? Well, do you think I want the corner to slap me in the can? Look, with my steak, I'll have a baked potato, herki. A potato, all right. Mrs. Murphy and the seal skin. Berry pie with lots of powdered sugar. A hunk of indigestion and a snow stalk. Put, please. And I don't know. They should have cooked this steak in soap. I need something to rinse it down. Wash it down, rather. Say, herki, come here. I ordered a steak well done. I even messed up my ad-lib. The steak well done. This thing's too rare. Why, that's entirely too silly. Mr. Kelton, that steak is cooked. Cook? I've seen Charles Hurt worse than this and get well. It's on Del King's best. Well, then pass Del. Yeah. Please, bring me some rice pudding. Somebody had served that guy over there. Hello, everyone.  Yeah, I made a mistake. I went into one of those restaurants while they named dishes after people. You think they'll ever name something after me? Oh, they may.  Daisy, take the gentleman's heart. Yes, sir. Uh-oh.  Your order, sir. Mmm. Say, girl, it's a nice day, isn't it? Yes, it is. And so was yesterday. And my name's Daisy. And I know I'm a pretty girl. And I have blue eyes. And I've been here quite a while and I like the place. And I don't think I'm too nice a girl to be working here. My wage is a satisfaction. I don't think there's a show or a dance in town tonight. If there was, I wouldn't go with you. I'm from a country and I'm a respectable girl. My brother's a cook in the kitchen and played football in college and weighed 300 pounds. Last week, he nearly broke the neck of a fresh guy that tried to date me. Now, what do you have? Chicken, steak, or fried liver? I'll have two fried eggs. Listen, please. Just one little order of rice pudding. That guy? Oh, I give up. This steak's too tough for me. You mean that piece of perfect beef is too tough? That's right. My $2 steak is tough? Yes. That's a piece of blue ribbon meat. Unless the one with the blue ribbon is the highlight. Say, they got here awfully fast. I know we have to make things fast. There's only a half hour program. We get more fun out of this than the audience. Hey, girlie, this egg's terrible. Well, don't blame me. I only laid the table. Please bring me some rice pudding. Oh, I'm awfully sorry, old pal. I didn't hear you. The guy wants an order of rice pudding. Order of rice pudding? Did you say something important to me, Mr. Scouton?  Say, now, here, you look here. Are you trying to tell my customers what to eat? Avalon for us joins our own Red Foley and one of the most beautiful tunes of recent years. Little Skipper for Avalons. And don't forget your change. Yes, your friends call several cents less than others. You two can save the difference like all of us Avalon brothers. Each pack is wrapped itself. No wonder folks... Avalons cost only 10 cents plus city or state tax. Well, that just about winds up everything for tonight. Yes, Red, it's one for the book. You mean one from the books. Now, listen, Rogers, don't you come back here next week. You go someplace else. Remember, this program's my breath.  Oh, what's the use? Good night, ladies and gentlemen. This is Red Scouton thanking you for the use of your loud speaker. Good night. Be with us next Saturday night at the same time when the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Corporation will again present Avalon Time. F, New York, 9 p.m. B-U-L-O-V-A full of a watch time.


Hi, I'm Bernadette Chiton. I'm one of the associate program directors for the internal medicine residency and I oversee the research and mentoring program. I believe that mentorship is critical to a training development and as a result we try to assign mentors to interns early in their residency. I personally meet with each intern and I sign the mentors based on their career interest. So whether you want to pursue a sub-specialty fellowship, primary care or hospitalist medicine, we will help to get you there. We provide workshops on abstract writing and poster presentations and we hold a sub-specialty fair in the fall where the principal investigators can share their resident-friendly research. I am so proud of our residents and their scholarly activity in the 2019-2020 academic year. We published 69 peer-reviewed publications. We had 27 abstracts accepted to national or international meetings and we had 43 abstracts presented at our regional Maryland ACP meeting. I'm proud of the mentorship program that we've cultivated here at Maryland and I'm even more proud of our residents' scholarly accomplishments.


Wow what's up everybody once again is Brandon man Sean and I'm here with a very special guest you guys probably don't need to be introduced to this dude but I'm going to reintroduce him anyway he is Curtis King hip-hop producer also has had a rap career also is one of the best forward thinking innovative self-help producers music minds on youtube also IG he's there too he's just guys doing a lot and you can see his grime before your eyes I don't even put him in a pocket of anybody else because what he's doing is it's unique to itself and the personality brings to the game so without further ado once again it's Curtis King what's up man what's going on with you man how you doing bro appreciate you having me on sure man and that introduction too man I think that people um I understand that people love to make comparisons to other people so that they're comfortable with what they're seeing but I tell you one of the biggest comments you can never give me at least is um that I'm blazing my own trail because that's definitely what I'm here to do I you know if anything never want to imitate my um the people that I look up to or that I look for information I like to emulate if anything it's a big difference big difference so I appreciate those words I think man I had no problem with good by the way that was just right off the top because I'm straight up a admirer man so I've I've seen it and I was able to just take what I've seen and what I've observed over time but I think you hit on a very valuable subject right off the back when you talked about emulating and having those people you admire but still blazing your own path right what do you feel like when it comes to artists producers what's the difference and how do you what does that look like coming to your own in terms of the the topic of emulation or our imitation and whatnot right all right let's be realistic right we all start off imitated people even sure like what can we say we're still imitating them but what does it look like what does it even feel like when you know that you're creating your own groove that you think that that I'm strive well I you're absolutely right that that imitation is absolutely a part of the process because you know how do you know how do you know what it feels like to ride a bike without the training wheels until you ride it with the training wheels until you know like what the motion of it feels like to you know what the balance feels like you want to understand it until you ride with the training wheels and eventually one day you take the training wheels off because they become a hindrance to your growth and a hindrance to the speed that you want to go so I say from the beginning you know I I wasn't really I thought that I was blazing trails in the beginning I was like I want I don't want to copy anybody because I had influences all over the place like I was influenced by Buster Rimes by Outcast by Tupac and just those three alone um you're you're going to get a you know a gumbo part of of inspiration and so I loved Eric Abadou, Joe Scott, Chade and it was like how do I bring all those worlds together in the beginning it was very chaotic and I spent most of my time and energy in the beginning trying to do something different and then when I saw that people weren't receptive to it I started to imitate the ones that I thought they were receptive to so I started to you know kind of mimic the um the the little wings at the time or mimic the um you know the JZ's and the lyricists at the time and it was like I went through that whole journey just to figure out that you know both of them are necessary yeah so I think for artists or producer in the beginning it's it is the most valuable thing for you to copy everything copy everything until you're sick of it right that's that that's the important part when you're sick of it that's when you start to hear your sound come through right that's when you start to hear those those those subtle nuances of what your sound is people are like well how can I find my sound well you can't find your sound because you're still in a place where you need to to to ride with the training wheels so for me that that process was a good six or seven years and then when you when when I had a very casual conversation with a friend of mine that said you know what I like about your music it's very nostalgic and for somebody like myself that's you know always a marketing mind and thinking about how I can like brand myself and whatnot um a light bulb went off and I said nostalgic okay well I was like my music is nostalgic but my fashion isn't my fashion looks very modern I was like how can I like mix all this stuff together so then I then brought the flat top then brought the the thrift shop 90s clothes and it wasn't like I was trying to be anybody else except for this vision of who I saw myself to be but the moment that it clicked and the moment that it was like I can't put him in a box he just he sounds like a little bit of everything I knew I was doing something right and that's when I started to find success and get on the radars of a lot of people um that that ended up influencing my career in a very positive way and building a fan base that that's that's where it happened the fan base came when they said when they couldn't peg me with one person it was just like I had a guy come up to me and he was like he was like 10 years older than me and he was like man you know what I love about you you remind me of my of those house party days man like you know I you probably were too young but you remind me those house party days and I was like whatever experience I am for him is another experience for somebody else and somebody else and that's why they identified with me and I built the fan base as an artist and a producer in that space so um yeah copy everything until you hate it I mean that's that that's probably the most important advice in that that regard that's dope because it makes me think of two things man that you say like one always like growing up and I know a lot of people have always felt that way like when you look at visual artists right it's a very example and people will say yo man I could do that just splash on painting on the wall right but when you look at somebody like let's say Leonardo Vincci do you people still went through the process of all the techniques and then once these are abstract they you know for whatever reason that just seems to how the process goes right then you can just often do anything and then people gravitate towards it but when you just try to go a little bit too wild at first without understanding the science and that's what really building the craft is you you you build a science whether it's your own style which is your own science or the other sciences of the game which is other people's styles and cases I mean allows you to apply whatever you learn in a different way right sure sure that's one thing I think about and then just the fact that you talked about how you people are coming to you for your unique style that's the most like valuable things for an artist in my mind because if you don't bring your unique style and perspective people can go somewhere else to get it you're a commodity of that kind we and you got to think about the things that that that like that green shirt that you have on are the blue couch in the background these are things that made an impression upon you right there's dilla cover back here you know this particular size of this white board these things have an impression on you because of how different they are from everything else but how much they have similarities to things we're familiar with because that's the thing about it like it's almost like food when you're sitting down to eat food you know if you got a if you got a bunch of plates and the left side smells a little different you're likely to lean to the right side right but if somebody says nah man this is bomb right here like try this one this one has a little bit of that side with this side you will try that one and you remember it from oh what is that i've never had that before uh and i think that that's the balance that an artist and a and a producer has to um has to be able to bring so don't shod away from the things that you are you know because although people may say things about certain rappers like oh your voice you sound you sound too much like this person you can't worry about that because you can't change your voice all you can do is is flip what they consider a negativity and utilize it into a positive manner so you know i would say that if you really want to think outside the box and you're a rapper and you're like no but i take my career serious you literally could build a career and be that person if you want it if you have a voice that's like a you know like a little yachty you could literally build a career bigger than what you would have ever could build a career trying to do it yourself off of making little little uh uh little yachty parody songs because of how similar your voice is to me that's that's thinking outside the box and utilizing in a way that was like yo i can't like imagine you're that guy where little yachty releases a song and people are like ah whatever and they look at you and they're like but i can't wait to see this parody of that like somebody has to be the weird owls but the thing about it is we're so insecure about stepping outside the box and into our own destiny somebody has to fulfill that role right there's a like a million and one michael jackson impersonators in vegas right now somebody had to fulfill that role and i think that the closer that you are to walking in your destiny that's when you're going to see things ultimately uh a workout for you i'll give you one example that i wanted to share which you i forget the the uh the gentleman's name but he's he was a dad who was um you know kind of struggling financially during christmas time and um all they could really afford was to buy his son these uh these like these toys these toys that have like their own culture kind of like how pokemon has their own back stories these toys have their own back stories and mind you just do this the dad had a rap career already wasn't really going the way he envisioned it to go and um he did he just decided you know what i want to make rap songs for my son and talk about these toys well that guy did that had a youtube channel ended up becoming that the toy dad uh on youtube blew up so big that the company invited him and another music act and mind you it's like you know clear over thousands and thousands of people at this um these events that bring these like kind of like a comic con and he's up here performing he's up here rapping in a place where no other rapper would have any reason to be there because of what he shows to rap about and how he stepped outside the box i always use that example as as um you got to walk in your own destiny and a lot of people are afraid to walk in their own destiny because in their mind they're like there's only one way to make it i have to be on bet i have to be on mtv and it's like that's not fair everybody can't fit through that door right um and it's not meant for everybody to go through that door either you know there's there's a calling for you that you would have never expected just because you were willing to do the things 95 percent of the people around you weren't willing to do word man that's that's huge i've never heard that story before man but that's that's super dope because one of the biggest things that i find when i talk to so many artists and just a lot of entrepreneurs too but just so many artists these days where you see that there's all this extra opportunity out there people are still stuck in that mind frame of i have to win this this way right i have maybe that dream i saw us be some i saw a star and i wanted to be this kind of star i want people to love me for me and think i'm so unique and think i'm the greatest artist not just in the terms of musically but like in a Kanye like fashion right where i'm right here versus being comfortable with something like being a little yachty impersonator but still winning and doing what you want to do in life and you have this unique fast because i can see that right i want to see what this dude how this dude's gonna twist this song up in the same way some news might come out in the music industry i might say ah dang i want to let me let me wait i know Curtis is going to do a video on this i can't work yeah right somebody has to do it and i think there's a lot of people who here's the thing about it you know like like and i've learned this from my youtube channel and i'm sure that you've learned this too we can share as much marketing information as we want to our audience but but we can't give them their vision right and even worse than that we can't make them unlock their vision either and so i had this epiphany because i i was always about plant and seed and i feel you're the same way and that you you share something hoping that it inspires something else and that does happen but at the same time like nobody could there could have been no youtube video there could have been no conversation that could have made me see my vision clearer than my vision being in front of my face and me not being afraid to do it right sometimes it's not sometimes it's not a lack of inspiration that that's hindering us sometimes it's our fear being louder than our truth and and right there right then and right there you see it oh you see it right there in your face you know this is something that you should at least try to do but you're so afraid of what other people around you are saying you're so afraid of how it may not be hip hop you're so afraid of it may not be industry that you're literally walking further and further away from your destiny and you're pushing through what you think is your destiny and you're wasting valuable time or and i shouldn't say you wasting time your your your your lessons gonna take a bit longer that's real that's real you go off path and then eventually you came back to what you knew you were supposed to be done facts facts once you get this information quickly man when you when it that's why i love that saying you know i'm in my bag when you in your bag like nobody like there's nobody who can tell me differently like that's what sometimes like i'll snap and in a funny way on some of my my subscribers like some guy was trying to tell me you know today you know they hit you with the back backhand compliment and then they turn around and then try to give you props as if like they didn't backhand you like um you know i share my thoughts in a very fluid way and i'm always sharing thoughts that i have given a lot of deep thought too beforehand and um and some people i know on the internet just want to argue but um today some guy was like um you know because i was i was i was comparing how spotify is now thinking the way that apple thinks and that they're always they're not competing with their cut they're not competing with their competition they're competing with their with their vision they're making sure that they're bringing that for it their vision to fruition and improving upon it right and they're improving and improving upon it and this guy's like uh i think you meant to say how apple uh uh used to think and not think and i'm like and he said but good video bro no you're not gonna no that's what you're not gonna do that's what you're not gonna do with me like my vision is clear i know who i am and i think there's a lot of people in this world man that they're very lost and um they believe that their their destiny is to correct those who are doing things and um if that's if that's what you feel like is your is your natural order your natural state go monetize it you can't monetize it in my comments i would rather that person go and create videos that are reviews of marketing videos that's real you would have you would have an audience right you know i mean like yeah be the skippetist of our of our industry because you know when it comes down to with you know brand man shot and i and i are in the game we're in the game actively sweating and and passing the rock and all of that like just folks who just sit on the sideline and think that they're doing something productive by uh uh uh you know trying to negate the points of other people and it's like you're wasting your time not mine yeah man and if this that just goes back to the fact that there are so many angles for everything man i yeah just like how you talked about the steven a smith to balist how you could be a commentator there was a dude like there's all these blogs like relationship blogs and stuff on youtube obviously and there's this one guy i came across one day he looked like he was in high school but he was building an audience basically being tmz with the blogs keeping all these different relationships and all the drama going on the background where he found right that pocket and not and i loved it i really wish i could remember his name i would shot him out or whatever i just i was interested in and i want to go find go back and just find um find him and talk to him so but he found his bag you talk about that being in your bag it's so powerful because it keeps you from being distracted to commodities and through opportunities man and it makes you say no to a lot of things that 98 percent of people would say yes to right like i just this last week i got presented with about two or three opportunities that could potentially be life changing for 2015 curtis right 2015 curtis would have been all about these opportunities i'd have been like man like let's get it like i i need to keep this ball rolling i need to get more you know a streams of income i need to get my my foot in the door and 2018 curtis doesn't even think twice about it because you know there's been people who you know who have who have told me that you know what are you gonna do do youtube for the rest of your career and it's like no i got other visions of what i want to do and people who are like no you should come over here and be an employee here and i'm like why would i do that when it's i finally have something that's working for me and it's finally you know consistently and comfortably playing the bills and not just youtube all these different things that i got these moving pieces um i just think that sometimes it is human nature for certain people to to test how how confident you are in what you're doing right because if i see somebody that got something going like bramish on i know you got you got you got stuff that you delegate and you got a business that you're running what i look like coming to you and being like yo bro like you want to um do this amount of videos of my channel you know i'm saying like like it'll help you build like i don't i'm never gonna give you that spiel like yo if you're trying to build up like you're trying to you know share my audience i would never do that with you if anything i'd be like let's do an interview and you speak your piece and it would go from there but um i've had a lot of like you know former friends that that approach me with opportunities they think are going to be life changing for 2018 courageous and it's like nah like this is a family business now like my wife is working with me and um you know we we got the little one so it's like if i take time away from what i'm doing to go build somebody else's empire it better damn well but i'll bring back something home right because that's time that i could have been spending building this one right here so um you know i'm very like these interview situations are very rare these days because i'm only doing it with people that i i truly care about and that i truly believe in like this is about you it's not like no no disrespect to your audience but this is all about you you know what i mean because this is i'm about having that conversation with you i think that that's more important appreciate that bro appreciate that hey man i definitely have had those moments where i'm like man i can't believe i'm turning some of these things down and yeah that but that part of the focus is sometimes you're not necessarily in a position where it's like dang i don't need whatever is being offered however right bitter and what like the long term of what you know sacrifice or especially let's say within music like some things might become a conflict of interest of what you're doing on videos right or right there's just so many scenarios but when you just stay in your bag and not do do what everybody thinks would be a big man for you mm-hmm you're straight right just that that part is that part is supremely dangerous doing what everybody else says is good for you because most people are not doing what's good for them so for them to have this this enhanced lens that all of a sudden can dictate what's your ultimate destiny and what's best for you and what best aligns with your purpose only you know your purpose right only you know you know that there's a speaker named fair gray that broke down this three-fold system for you to find out what is your god given gift and what you're supposed to be doing in life you said it falls into three different questions that you have to ask yourself the first one being what comes easy to me but more difficult for others to do right for me speaking off the cuff comes super easy so i can knock youtube videos out like crazy right for me making eclectic beats that are all over the place that comes easy to me for me writing about raps that are not typically the the norm that comes easy because i just like talking about these things okay the second thing is what would you do and do it for free right because if you're doing it just for the money that's going to dilute the um the the amount of work or the the quality of work that you put into what you're doing right that's the second one the third one is how can you do what you're doing and give back yeah if you can answer those three questions and if what you're doing answers those three questions and i mean legitimately answer those three questions don't sleep on that last one what can i do and give back um because that ultimately is why brand man shan has such a successful channel is why i have a successful channel why i have a successful business model my business model is built about giving you know give gives i'm it's that gary v jab jab jab jab and then every once in a while we throw a right hook product that's like look i've given you and even the right hook is still a giver right the product is still giving you some kind of enhanced quality of of of your skill set or of life um but a lot of folks are into a place where they just want to take take take take take take take take take and and and ignore ignore ignore their vision and they will never never get to where they ultimately are supposed to be unfortunately i i know a lot of people especially upcoming artists man um for just in anybody in the indie world you fight fight fight to win yeah be clear on that vision because i always talk about hey do you want to be a superstar or do you want to just be a tour and artist or do you really just want to be an artist part-time and just make some money that way and would you be happy with that because man once you get to a position that you are winning right that's when shit really hits the fan at first responsibility yeah yeah and then you start to think about stuff it's a weird space right especially when you use when you're used to being an underdog uh when you're used to maybe not having money all these things that you start to get into the space where you're winning and then you start to find a little bit of unhappiness which a lot of people do there right because after they step back a lot of times you find out that you're winning at somebody else's game as opposed to yours because you had this vision of success that wasn't in line of the things that you wanted i personally would do a period like that um for when it was like oh man like i got this momentum everybody's like raw raw raw but i'm like i'm not feeling this that's not what you want to be yeah then you're thinking like why would i be thinking this when i'm obviously winning but i'm not winning right i play in a wrong game so yeah no no you you you that's to me that's that's that's the gospel bro like you you you have to be able to you got to make sure and sometimes it does take a trial run where you actually find success and you figure out that that's not the best thing that could have happened to you in the space that you're at sometimes you need that and people are like people think the ultimate destination is success and it's like no like see like people people put so much so much pressure on success and so much pressure on who they have to become to become successful that they don't realize that success is not bias success comes to the most evilest people success comes to the most genuine people success comes to liars right the success comes to fight success is not bias you know but but the quality of life that you experience the one that you feel within inside that's going to be based upon some other metrics success don't be so so so so focused on that like success can come to you you can have it and you don't like the taste of it happen to me as it as a recording artist to where i found success in kind of like toning down all of the nostalgia in my music toning down my voice being more of a accessible voice and not so animated and i released an album and hip-hop dx called it top 25 albums of the year uh in their opinion well top 25 and i'm like i should be really happy right now and i wasn't right i was making money i was generating income from my bead sales and my my business was growing into different courses and i just wasn't happy because i was not being fulfilled something that tony robbins always talks about is the six needs of human beings only two of those needs are actually what makes you happy and fulfilled and um the six needs are this we have a need for certainty a need for uncertainty a need for significance a need for love and affection and those are the ones that are low hanging fruit like we need those to a certain degree but most people try to find at least three of those and they'll become addicted when in all actuality the two needs that make you happy and fulfilled are growth and contribution contributing to something that's bigger than you and also growing at something if you're growing at something you feel alive anything that's not growing is dying here's the problem if you do drugs you have certainty you have you have a significance you know to a certain degree from your drug dealer because he responds back to your your phone calls right and third you have what you think is a love and affection from people who are always going around the city looking for you because they know that you're somewhere you know uh drugged out those three can make it an addiction however the missing pieces are growth and contribution yeah so if you're giving to say for instance you are heading up a um an organization that takes care of kids and teaches them how to market themselves you feel significant being missed mr taylor you know what i mean you feel you feel significant in that space and then on top of that you feel love and affection but you feel growth and you feel contribution you only need three of them to make it an addiction right so i don't know it's funny you said it i don't know you know but i used to be i don't know i'm just throwing it out there ever man yeah and and it's not the one it's not the most glamorous it's not you don't get you know subscribers and all that but you do get the the actual feeling of connecting with human beings of growing and also contributing to something that you teach somebody you teach somebody how to tie their shoe they will never forget who you are never they'll remember you first and last name until they're deep into their 40s they maybe may forget your last name but they will remember you forever and that's the lesson that you and i teach we teach the the the essentials of how to market yourself we teach the essentials of what will give you a more a clear picture of how to operate your business and these are things that nobody else is fulfilling because of that these lessons stick with people so i i say that to say there's a lot of people right now who feel like they're living in purpose but in all actuality you're fulfilling those low hanging fruit needs and that'll sustain you for only so much time but until you get that growth until you get that contribution of something that's bigger than just you you're going to be running at that uh their rat race and not necessarily be happy and fulfilled sure man i gotta ask how do you what happened to your arm man or your hand man did that beat pad too hard no no i wish i wish that's what it was but i wasn't even making beats at the time i just you know make an unwise decisions in the gym i'll just say like that make an unwise decisions in the gym i'm trying to get bulky i'm trying to get stocky you know i'm trying to get in here but uh yeah i'll make some unwise decisions in the gym and it's been it's been like about two months and some change that has been uh damaging so i'm like very careful how i use it especially when i got the little one i gotta make sure that i you know i pick them up the right way but yeah that's what happened with that damn man be cool out here man don't go too far try up here trying to be uh trying to be stocky i was like man i'm about to get in here and gain some weight but then it's good because it inspired my whole uh uh fight the dad by campaign over the last fifty fifty five yeah man he gonna coin whatever he doing he gonna figure out how to how to flip it i can't can't turn it off you notice you know we can't turn off the branding minds like this is part of who this is part of our dna everything can potentially be something and i knew that if i kept hashtagging it that's eventually if it's not a movement that's fine if it's not if it at least gets a brand that says hey we want to make a t-shirt and we want to cover the cost for it that's extra income that i wasn't even even banking on because i'm just literally sharing my journey and i think that there's there's a lot of rappers and producers who can learn from those very subtle things that we think don't mean anything because maybe they don't have the highest engagement there there's two different ways to look at engagement you can look at the numbers of how many people are engaging or you can look at the quality of the engagement right you can have a bunch of people who hit that like button but five people who leave you know semi-passionate comments or you can get that video that you know only has 50 likes but the ratio of comments is like 25 30 that's that's probably more quality engagement that's when you're actually getting people to get something out of what you're doing so i'm paying attention to that as well you know because i've been i used to be one that used to focus on really just the numbers of that but um i did it man 55 days in a row of just high intensity cardio since my hand was jacked up and i dropped off from about 240 to 242 pounds to about 227 and you already know how it goes man when you do something like this you get people who hit you up in the DMs like it'll go faster if you do this you start eating some fruit if you start doing and i'm like what if just just just imagine this what if i enjoy the process what if i like what if i actually like the process what if i've read read books like the the compound effect and in a slight edge and i realized that that growth that i realized that change that is forever life changing changes don't happen just overnight small pieces that build up to it right it's small increments right you tell most people right now i'll give you five million dollars out of my pocket right now or i'll give you a penny that doubles in value over the next 30 days most people let's take that five million and not think twice about it not realizing that if you have the patience to wait for that penny that penny that doubles in value over time um becomes 10 million dollars at the 30th day right so people look at that like that math doesn't make any sense if you're focused on the math of it you've already lost because the math does make sense and secondly you're missing the point of it right instant gratification is not where it's at it's that slow monotonous boring grind i remember when i was like in my 12 13th day thinking like man i'm i'm never gonna get to 50 how in the hell am i get to 50 days before i knew what 25 came before i knew what 35 came and now it's an addiction now i'm like i'm like talking to my wife about my itinerary of the day and i'm like yo i'm gonna go to the gym around this time that wasn't part of my conversation before but it took that streak for it to be a life changing decision you know so yeah that's what i wanted to expand upon that you get off those shortcuts you take all those shortcuts all the time you lose the mental age that comes from actually achieving like right you can't lie to yourself no matter what like you know and you feel so much different from actually going through the process and knowing where you can do it again that's what gives people confidence like let's say Arnold Schwarzenegger going from weightlifting to government to movies all those things because he knew he built the discipline to achieve and climb one mountain he knows he can climb another one right yeah you know what's interesting about Arnold though Arnold he brings up another another another thing that's very important too certain people are not in not in the headspace like we're talking about right now certain people are looking for the long-hanging fruit they're looking for you know the um the tangible things right Arnold said in one of his body building books that when he first started lifting waste they were like what was your motivation were you trying to compete with these people in the world he was like no I just I just wanted American women to fall in love with me and that was his that was his like his like low hanging fruit motivation and it's important sometimes you do need money as a motivation but that cannot be your soul motivation yeah right sometimes you need that little that little shallow kick in the ass for you to be like you know what you know I do want the American woman to love me and look what it did for him yeah right now at some point after that it had to become more than just that shallow reasoning but he became one of the greatest bodybuilders of all time and um it started with a very shallow reasoning you know so don't be a don't be don't feel like you have to change that's something else i'm changing i'm shifting gears on my channel i'm done trying to change negative people are trying to make people feel like they have to become something before success comes to them like we said earlier success is not biased so if that is the case you don't have to become anything you have to be who you already are and utilize that in a positive manner i'm pretty sure back in the 80s there was a guy with a little bit of an afro walking around who loves sports to death and all he did was argue with all of his friends all he did was debate all the time i'm pretty sure that man came off arrogant i'm pretty sure that man came off as argument of i'm pretty sure people were like you need to change that about yourself but i'm pretty sure that man became even a smith you know what i mean somebody gotta be that person somebody has to be that so i think it's a lot of people out here who feel like i gotta change who i am i gotta be less negative because because you know kurtis says that you know positive mindset and yada yada yada it's like forget what kurtis says on that focus on what you have right now like an orange can only be an orange a banana can only be a banana but the problem is when an orange tries to become a banana it is not walking in purpose it is not walking with what your contribution to this world is and here's the thing about it on on top of it who you are today is going to shift over time especially when you start to find success and what it is you're doing yeah right steven a smith when he first came out was spitting all over the place and he was you know boisterous and and that is preposterous and he was saying all this crazy stuff now he still gives you that juice every once in a while but it's a toned down version of it because he has changed yeah i'm pretty sure the same fire that existed there that fires for something else maybe it's for his podcasting but you will change over time you don't have to you don't have to feel like you have to be you're spending too much valuable time trying to change who you are when who you are is literally going to be the building blocks towards who you ultimately want to be yeah man there's so much meat in that right there because like charlemagne a guy he always talks about not becoming a caricature of yourself so that's what i think about when you talk about steven a smith like not just continuously he might amp up something but still not necessarily allowing himself to stay that one path and sometimes i can be a little bit more dynamic so i could be in different environments and that self-awareness like that's what i always find that's like the number one thing gary v talks about it i think that's the number that's gary v's 100 best message a lot of people miss it because they wanted to success the money to the marketing right always dropping self-awareness like one of the biggest things he says hey everybody's not a number one but you could be number 12 of facebook and make millions they made more than all everybody else most of the millionaires made today actually are working for other people it's interesting like it's an interesting paradigm it depends on what you want but it's more so also that self-awareness because if you aren't a number one or whatever like they're just making that that um was easy to think about but you aren't number one and you're being a number one it's not necessarily about the fact you don't have the ability to be it's more so about that where where does your happiness lie being a number one comes with a certain type of mindset some people it's like extrovert and introvert yeah by nature man i'm more of an introvert i can't feel and people don't realize it's not about being talkative and and quiet it's more about with your energy from like get it by yourself or do you do other people give you energy i can't for the life figure out how people being around other people gives them energy because a being around a lot of people for a long long long period of time dreams yeah it's draining but that's it that's a different type of person there are those people out there you you can see Gary Vegas amped up you know sure sure so where is your pocket where can you find that happiness and because that's what's going to continue to give you that guess yeah what and i think that's why it's always it's always good to try to find that space where you're at right it doesn't there is i mean for some people like they like to go to a to a certain park or they like to go to a certain peaceful place and that's i mean i think that that's necessary but that that may be a variable what happens if you get flown to another state and you have to now find your peaceful place so i think that you got to find that place where you're at it it's something that you can do whether it's meditation whether it's you know just having times where you don't say anything say anything the tv's off your phone's off you just sit in silence right and you just you just need to to find your silence and find that piece right then and there you got to find where that's at no matter where you go right i used to have it to where you know in past relationships where i would get angry and and and all i would see is red and the only thing that i could think to do was to go to my car and put on like one of those like those like a anger hypnosis or anger like relaxation youtube videos and it worked it worked because it got it got me focused on something else it got me just sort of just relaxing out and chilling out and not thinking about the other side of things but um but yeah man like like like i think a lot of people men are operating around here and they need to see sometimes how beat up number one is they need to go see how drained number one is they need to see how unhappy number one is they need to see how how how unfulfilled number one is before they realize it and i just i'll tell you throughout my career as an artist as a recording artist and a producer i met a lot of number ones i met a lot of people that i used to grow up listening to and was i i was like man like this i can't i can't believe i'm meeting this person they're beat up they're beat up because it's a lot of responsibility being who they are because they can't turn it off no matter where they go so then i asked myself is that what i want and do i want it to be built upon the basis of what other people think is successful for me or do i want it to be something where i determine my own my own uh my own destiny i determine my own time that's big for me like ownership is one big thing for me um time is very important to me as it is for everybody but um i don't like giving my time to entities companies people that i feel are not valuing that time um and and that was an eye opener for me within the last few years because i've had opportunities to be like you know brand ambassador for airbid and i realized that you know they have a different urgency than i have for certain things yeah right they have urgency but we don't all align and then when i saw that and i saw a million dollar company you know kind of focused in different places and and i was focused in different places it was an eye opener to me where i was like you know what not only do i have to do this by myself but i want to and i want to build it no matter how you know non-successful it may look in the eyes of somebody from the outside spectating doesn't matter to me because i the ultimate success to me is that happiness and fulfillment uh as well as the monetary gains and the abundance but i already feel like i'm winning you already feel like you're winning like you you don't you don't have time to down other people you don't have time to focus on things that are about losing it's not it's not even a mindset it's just the fact that life is just showing me too much evidence of things to be thankful for it's showing me too much evidence of abundance to focus on scarcity that's that's what's up man and i so i know you've laid down the path so and so many of your videos leading up to where you are now you're in a totally different space right but he got 100k subscribers you know just like you you're a different Kurdish and not in a bad way right right right look where are you in terms of the music industry and your personal relationship are do now that you have a little bit more visibility are you starting to do more traditional industry type i don't know meetings are you are you doing placements are you still staying where you are i am i am not anti-industry but i am pro-independence got it right i had to get into that space to where it was like i'm not i'm not the i'm not the mad independent guy who found success and now i'm looking back and i'm want to stun on the industry no i tell you this though i my channel will never again this is me personally and i'm saying i know you do a lot of industry type of content sometimes but my content my content will never ever again speak about how rappers or producers can get into this godforsaken industry because i look at i look at it and people you know and i understand the argument that it is what it is like this this industry is what it is like you just got to take it at face value you got to know who you are when you get into it but i feel personally irresponsible ushering young dudes and young women into this industry that i know is about to eat them alive and so i got to a place now where it's like i went through my my journey and i understood the beast that it is first hand then i saw the beast that it was to so many other people it's like now how like we're in the the me too era right where a lot of women are finding a lot of a lot of bravery and a lot of support and sharing these stories of things that have happened to them along their journeys in their particular industry i'm in a place now where i'm like okay i look at them and i see how supportive they are of of like the stories of like these monstrous dudes that have done crazy things to them all this support comes to them and those people like it's a witch hunt like they're gone they're out of here you think about the industry and how many people have had interactions with certain types of names like if i mentioned certain types of names people are like yep i had a bad experience with that person they actually they didn't physically do anything to me but from a spiritual standpoint and from a business standpoint they demolished me you know but thankfully i am where i'm am now but i don't know like i feel irresponsible pushing pushing pushing both independence and here's some tips to how to get to the industry when i feel like the industry is pushing towards where we're at they're pushing towards the internet so for me to tell a producer oh you need to go get placements it's how you get placements uh you know send stuff out to the to the rapper and just wait that's your response yeah hey kardis kardis you cut off all right cut out i can hear you again i'm good i'll say my bad my bad my bad yeah i'm gonna let's say now the brand that i'm pushing with them is that you can do it from where you're at right now and you can build something that is powerful right where you're at the moment that you say no the moment that you say i don't even desire the industry like that anymore get one foot because people got one foot in one foot out the moment you say i'm two feet into my independence i'm sticking here i'm right here things will start happening for you right you start to get your your confidence yourself confidence back you'll start to get opportunities because people like to to people like to support fans listeners like to support someone that they know the money is going directly to them they'll stream your music if they know the money is going directly to you but if they know it's all these middlemen they know you're getting funding they'll start to back away so now i'm in a place where like i'm not there's no way in hell like and this goes for any of my contacts from like absoul and and this is no disrespect to him but you know they literally couldn't pay me to do placements anymore i'm done running that game i'm done running that game there's no like i get i get like i get labels that hit me up all the time testing me to see right and i think in the last two years i probably fell off the track the wagon one time it was for an opportunity to work with boogie but it's because i was such a fan of boogie uh listening to him because of my my wife put me on to him uh but i sent stuff off and i was i felt and it felt nasty because i was like what am i doing i've come too far to be in this same place again that i was doing this when i was 23 24 and i'm 33 now i'm not doing it you get you like how did i get here again it felt bad it felt it felt greasy it felt like it felt like i was willing to do it you know for for i mean because i could argue that it was all about me working with that artist but in all actuality it is for i guess for lack of a better term clout you know because because people will look at that and say oh man kurtis king man he continues to dominate the game look how he's dominating youtube and he has a place for boogie and man it's so crazy which and that's like i don't that's to me those are seeds of insecurity right those are seeds of of that's you know what i'm saying because now you you're in a different mind space okay i'll talk to my wife so about that okay good you said now i'm in a different mind space i'm sorry you were saying yeah before you were ignorant to a lot of things right now you're in a different place and then when you find yourself being in the same space again you're coming from a totally different perspective like more because now you know that you're the insecurity you you can't see stuff like that in certain points of life when you have knowledge and once again you can't run from yourselves you know like run from yourself bro you know why i did that and it's like dang you know i'm trying to feel a whole why am i trying to feel this whole when i'm already over here doing my thing that question right there is the question that a lot of my industry friends that i still i'm still friends with um they had they struggle with that one they struggle with that one and i have to sometimes not even sometimes very frequently tell my industry friends like do we have a friendship or is this an industry arrangement if we have a friendship like i believe that we have we're probably going to end up not doing business right no matter what you got on the table no matter like yo curtis i got this thing on the table man it's so the game changer all i need you to do is no no because that all i need to do is going to take time from what i need to do hey man all i need to do hey i learned that this is always man all you need to do anyway all you need to okay if all i need to do why you didn't do it that's a booby trap man well all i need to do huh okay so yeah man it's a good look good look you know a good look for me is for me to show up to my business show up for the audience that i have built show up for the people who have purchased my courses a good look is for me to respond back to those emails not for me to be in a studio session where i don't smoke i hardly ever drink and i'm sitting up in a studio session and smoked out folks drunk off their ass and i'm sitting around here like are we ever gonna work you know i'm saying like that's not the environment that that for me is is fulfilling for some people they're like yo i can't believe i'm in the studio with this person man and they smoke and i'm smoking with them and like that's the culture of where they're at in life for me that's not like there's no way that i can come home and and pick my son up and i'm like even if i didn't smoke like my sweater is just reeking a weed and i'll pick my son up and i'm holding them i can't see that vision in this 2018 that makes no sense absolutely but when i was you know 2012 2013 Curtis yeah for sure i could see that because that was just me being a part of the culture let me tell you was a big part that some people are afraid to actually utilize sometimes you got to get away from people that even that you think mean you well if they're distracting you from what you knew what you know you have to do right sometimes you got to get away from people who can come up with good distractions positive distractions right that that will take you off of your path because in in their position they don't mean they don't mean any harm but they want you around if they want you around sometimes that can be a very selfish decision or bring about selfish results and i was in a place where i made myself available to so many people except for myself and who needs me more than me nobody nobody so i i tell you i got to a place where i became less because i've always been like like i should say always but i guess into my my teens and 20s i became more extroverted and because of that because i spent so much time being an introverted i wanted to like connect with people and i wanted them to like me and i wanted this when all actuality there should have been a balance and i should have got to a place where i said you know what forget all that what i'm going to do right now do you want to take on hey he's cool he's cool i'm gonna bring a little man on on the camera if you don't mind hey man do what you got to do man family man absolutely i'll be down with you to take care of the family he'll be cool he'll be cool he'll talk some marketing so say hi nice bye bye early in life yeah oh no he's gonna he's gonna definitely get his share of it but um i don't want to keep you too much longer anyway you're good bro yeah the um i want to get the mindset and where you are in life okay now right because you've already talked about that path so many times before as far as getting to those other places you've been but now you're in new air and what are you doing daily outside of working whose content does kurtis king consume if i'm going to be very transparent with you yeah um the last person that i that i really consumed on a regular basis was probably like that puts out consistent content was probably like a gary v or probably like you know a ty lopez but i stopped i say probably within the last two or three months i just stopped and and and what i started what i started to do when it came with this book that i read um i forget what the name of the book was um oh thick skinned right because uh it was a book called thick skin and basically was telling you how to develop thick skin because it was at a time where you know i did that video about how why you shouldn't pirate fl studio and how they came after me and how you know i learned my lesson and people like crucified me on the internet because they were like oh you're a snitch oh you and just all this stuff they were saying about me like talking about me talking about my family all kind of crazy stuff and it was like i needed to develop a thicker skin so i read that book and one of the things that it said was that you know um we sometimes do a lot of things out of insecurity one of which being we imitate our people we watch and consume so i had to stop i had to stop watching and consuming all those influential people to me and start to consume the things that they would consume okay so everybody's watching gary v everybody's watching all these different people i had to say who is gary v reading because if i can read what he reads or if i can read what my influence with tony robbins reads if i can read what they're influenced by i'm going to get to the same information but at the same time i'm going to be able to take it into a path that they'll be inspired by yeah right and i put it i put a tweet up i was like you know what i don't think the point of gary v sharing all this content is for us to like completely imitate everything that he's doing i mean from the text to the bar that goes across the the the bottom where it's like a one-minute bar i don't think he does that saying like this is exactly what i think he does it to inspire and plant seeds of what we could do and so i put that up and he was like this tweet makes me smile and i was like see now i get his attention when i'm being less like him yep so i'm in a place now where it's like well how do i continue to trailblaze well i continue to read things that i know for a fact for a fact that most of my music peers are never going to pick up these type of books but i pick them up and then i and then i do things with the books that i know even my my my reading friends don't do from the highlighting to the put them on note cards to going back and retyping all the parts of the books that i have highlighted so that i have those most important points embedded into my memory right and so right now i'm in a place of gathering more knowledge i'm in a place where um i'm batching a lot more of my content i got probably about two months worth of content in the bank right now that um you know my video editor shout out to j anime is editing currently right now and i'm i'm making sure that i'm not saying yes to anything that don't contribute to what's going on right here if they don't contribute to the business i can't give i can't give him any other business except for my own you know what i'm saying like that's what we said so so independence is number one right now and and not just saying independent because it's the cool thing but like really doing what it requires remember going to the strange music uh facilities about a year ago and i saw the warehouse i saw the multi levels i saw the the studio equipment i saw that they they have it to where they literally don't have to ever leave the premises all of these acres that they have they never have to leave to do music videos because they have a completely dedicated room that is a rehearsal hall and a place they shoot videos they build sets and within this room right they build stages within this room right they have nothing but like a warehouse of merchandise every single piece of merchandise that they have is within another part of the acres they have their own car wash because they got tired of having to go to different car washes um you know when they could literally be recycling that money within their own business so they got their own automated car washes okay they generated so much income and they personally got tired of having to go the long way to go get food from from their their strange land that they put in a bid and put in money to buy a bridge brand man shine they built a bridge in kansas city so that not only so that they can go faster towards where the food is at now people have a passageway that makes it easier for them to go to food to me that's power that's to me that's that's that's what i look at and get inspired by that lights a fire in the month under myself not being on a billboard charts that don't do it for me no more it used to not no more now i look at that and i say yo that needs to be done on the west coast right not how not imitating them but saying what can i do that requires a warehouse yeah what can i do because that man even seeing like bro here's the last part of it i know i'm talking a whole lot but here's the last part of it beyond all that stuff that they have they also have their own construction company because they got tired of outsourcing that so they have their own so you go through all these different you know i went on a tour you go through another room they have nothing but construction vehicles next to their like touring vehicles so they don't have to ever outsource for touring vehicles all that money is within there they never have to outsource for construction because they got their own construction company that's the tax write off i'm seeing all this happen in the same building and i'm like that's the kind of independence i want to go for it may not look exactly the same but that for me i said the stuff that we fight over in hip hop is such crumb crumb crumb crumb crumb crumbs in comparison to what we can ultimately be doing and so now i'm looking at it and i'm like okay time to step it up it's time to go even further with it so that's that's mindset that i'm thinking right now is is um much bigger than where i've been thinking before and i think that's why that's why god sometimes doesn't give you what you think you want right then in there what you think you need because you're not dreaming big enough you're right you're right that's that's what i'm at like that man i mean i knew but when you get to build the bridges like this is a whole other level man i didn't i didn't know that's not music that's cultural that's beyond that's to the point where it's like they got they got tired of buying their own beer so now they made their own brewery see yeah that that's that stuff that i love man personally like when you talk about that power and stuff like i always think education like it helps with what i do now i told you i used to teach for like a year at a non-profit i just did it right out of college right i wanted just to experience there like everything i do i know i want to be able to come back and then continue to build like just more things within education for people but because i've seen the impact that it could make in a short period of time like wow bro i'm gonna go into like that particular program that i was doing but you were basically changing lives dramatically in a year but all because we gave them right education versus that slow underserved education that a lot of people absolutely but yeah man i see that value i love that and then one one more thing that you said we talk about i mean you said a lot i might go even super deep but you're good you're good but even the competition and hip-hop fighting for crumbs right you're you know crabs and barrel but you're like you're ready to kill people over some money that won't even last you that over the next week you know i'm saying like that man has just been it repels me and i don't understand it but when i've seen certain things like what you're talking about where you see the impact can be so much greater and it's not some game me winning or you winning does not mean i lose but i absolutely i feel like successful people with that right mindset they might get in like through failure they might say i see a failure i don't want to be that but when other people succeed they don't say they don't envy other people's success that just makes them want to have their own version of success yeah yeah yeah so many people so many people view failure as a yes or no process when in all actuality it's it's it's about it's a results it's no it's no failure it's only results exactly man but i've done things and people have blocked uh like start to see me at competition not never even see uh like just things i've done see in most competitions especially when some people have way bigger backing and funding i'm like man i'm all on bootstrap and then you know it's just how you know how the politics getting things like that they don't they came match you know what they came match they came back they can't match your authenticity and that burns them that no matter how much money they have behind them and i've encountered you know i've encountered this as well no matter how much money this person has behind them no matter how much success they have they don't feel like it's brand man shan type of success they don't feel like it's kurtis king type of success and that bothers them because we can't explain it because we're not in that position and i think that's another reason why i stopped consuming like what everybody's consuming and reading what everybody's reading because it's like if we're all cycling through the same thing where does the progression happen where do the outliers occur where does the tipping point occur where does where do i say to myself okay this is where i need to separate from them from the from the herd so i've been aggressively separating from the herd in a physical sense meaning that on a weekly basis i probably only see my wife and my son on a weekly basis physically right outside of like the mailman the the you know the lady who owns the complex that you know we're renting at for the most part i'm focused on a few different things one getting my credit score somewhere crazy that has never been and it's funny how that happens when you get by yourself and your credit score starts getting increased um but i get away from that not going to shows anymore i'm not worried about networking i'm worried about making sure i build up relationships with the right people because i'm not trying to network up i'm trying to network at at face value i'm not trying to network my way up some people are in that place i'm not trying to go shake hands with nobody i'm not trying to go meet this person of influence i don't care i'm all about right now building what i have right here because i believe it is something and i believe it can be something even greater if if i have the audacity i guess to give it the time that it deserves that's what's up man hey last thing i gotta ask you guys i see the the hoodie you know what i mean i i know that you're a Lakers fan i i'm a Lakers fan as well uh squad last night um but i i gotta know your thoughts on what the Lakers are right now man what how do you see the squad i mean this is the most excitement we've had i mean last year was probably the most excitement we've had since the the the good Kobe era because the last few years of Kobe was not the most exciting era but i'll tell you this what i love the most is seeing and people don't ever talk about this what i love the most is seeing how the young guys are shifting the way that they're talking now right because the young guys can get out there and shoot baskets that's cool but all that stuff is going to fail during the playoffs because when those shots don't start falling all of that false confidence that you that you didn't build up the actual confidence is not going to uh suffice so i'm looking at Kyle Kuzma this dude sounds like he's been studying LeBron interviews and studying Kobe's interviews yeah and sure enough this is the first this is and you look at him now like last year he was like more talkative now he's like mannerisms are changing i'm paying attention to that because i'm like if they can get it in that sense if they can start emula even like Lonzo seeing him play with more heart now um it's inspiring man like i like seeing the young guns adapt and uh be be experienced on a nightly basis to to the greatest player in the game right now like that's got to do something to your game so i just hope that we can keep the majority of our young core even though i feel like either Ingram or Kuzma maybe getting pushed out i hope not you know when we try to get this free agent next year but i like what we have i feel like if LeBron was seven years younger we would we would not be looking for a free agent i feel like we would have keep this core and build it up but because of where he's at we got to you know we got to do what we got to do with father time you're right about that man i really i really rocked with the core of this team that young core last year the fact that they were able to make the progress that they made over the summer shows a lot like you can see all their skill sets rising but their interviews you're right they they speak a little bit like this like they everybody is truly on a mindset it seems of as long as we get the w man they they playing like they got something to prove man that's what i like i love i don't care what sports team you love i don't care who you doesn't matter you want to see your team playing like like they have to they they're trying to prove something like i it's got to be frustrating to be a golden stay fan because they'll play like below average for three or four quarters get themselves in a 17 17 point uh uh you know hole just to get excited about competition because the competition is so far below what they what they they're able to do i saw it a few nights ago when they faced nicks because i'm i'm part of a fantasy league squad right now and so i pitched to all these games i got the league pass i'm watching this game and i'm like bro this is not how to warriors play they're like literally playing below their competition so that they have something to get excited about 14 they're like down 17 points in the fourth quarter and all of a sudden Durant scores 25 in the fourth like come on for 41 that game all right we'll let y'all you will give y'all man where they are skill set wise man man what do you think about rondo and liza you know what i like the fact that that rondo is there i'm kind of sometimes a little bit weary about what his motives are because i feel like i feel like he's a Celtic to the to the core right he's a Celtic he bleeds green and all that so i kind of worry sometimes if like he's looking at this year as i'm about to get back at every beef that i've had throughout the year because i feel like when he swung on on cp3 i was like he been wanting to do that for a long time i think that that veteran leadership once again seeing somebody like rondo play so fast but yet under control is going to show lanzo oh i can even do this into my later years if i do the things that he's doing right so i like i like to see that veteran balance even though i think lanzo still out here playing scare a lot of the times um he's a lot better this year yeah but but then too i forget man he's 20 years old he just just turned 21 he's just 21 like i can't imagine being 21 and having the responsibility of the lakers on my back the lakers maybe the maybe the Milwaukee Bucks and the lakers come on man like there's enough pressure in the household can you imagine now going out there and getting booed and and and just being expected to be jason kid in your first year and it's like you know i i understand it but now i'll tell you man i love seeing the balance especially land stevensson i just bought my land stevensson jersey i got a lebron one i got i got a lans one and the next one i'm getting is this black uh kuzmo jersey and i'm good man lans bro you need a person like lansing your team especially when you're still developing i really hope we lock him down like he should have got the contract that kcp got kcp got 12 million this year to uh to average four points man that was that clutch sports uh you know special right there man yeah yeah well you know i can talk on a tangent of that i'm just i'm so passionate about my lakers almost like almost to the point as much as i'm passionate about music sometimes i don't miss a game and i don't care what gary v say i'm not missing my game and and i'm still getting my work done this is my getaway that that that's how i am man with the lakers man i um my last thing i'll say and i'll say particularly the lanzo i think that dude i'm actually very bullish on him man because of the pressure he had because his dad right i'm obviously he has a basic skill set in this rondo situation i think the the amount of adversity from different angles he's going through personally if he comes out of power he's gonna either be like up here man he's gotta be you know he's gotta be hot you can't play with the pressure of your dad like you said play with alongside a championship point guard like rondo and and and and also to play with lebron james and not become something all the pressure is awful lanzo they're not even looking at lanzo they're actually rooting for him now to be a starter right all he has to do is literally go in there play up to speed get the dimes out there and and do what he does hit his hit his three pointer his three pointers a lot better this year but we'll see man i think that he he'll rise to the occasion i think that him being 21 i think seeing stuff like lebron took kuzma and lanzo to the drake concert i think those things being something to the chemistry of the team like seeing them come together and then feel like you know what this guy who's the ultimate superstar respects is enough to invite us to this you know this this event i think that means something and i think that this team bro like i'll tell you this as many as much people are saying like we're not playing for a championship this year and people are look if i'm any team in the west i don't care how deep an experience i am i do not want to see the lakers for a seven game series that is going to be a hell fight because they are going to man i don't not want to i don't not want to see a team that has six files that they can waste on a michael michael beasley who's a little bit out there anyways i don't want to have to guard a javail mcgee who's a seven-foot flexible you know dunker and blocker i don't want to see a land stevenson who thinks rucker parked every single night things that end in one game i don't want to see the speed of the lakers because you gonna make me run and i and i do have court most of the time i don't want to see lebron like they got enough of those i don't want to see to the point where it's like and rondo might sock me in my in my chin if i add crazy so like let me yeah let me yeah you don't want no i think that's the best the lakers gonna ask for this year is to literally have teams like damn if the lakers are coming to town man i do not want to deal with that up and down so i think to that's that's a success this year making a playoffs and just being a problem will be a success but yeah that's it though i appreciate that i had to get that out man um hey i appreciate you as always man you're you're an inspiration i love to see people doing what you're doing and stay with the positive energy man thank you bro we're blazing that path outside the industry but we all know we all stay patient anybody stays patient it's eventually coming this way so yeah we'll stay there because the first movers are they're gonna be in a nice little position um all you artists all you producers all you whatever you do you know so keep that up but if you got anything you want to leave everybody with um uh just the the youtube obviously is curtis king tv curtis king with two s's my website it's curtiskingbeats.com producers that want to learn how to build their own website i have a website building course you can put your beat store in there you can start selling your beats today for producers that i want to learn how to use fl studio i have a course called the fluid music producer for rappers that want to learn how to build their own website i have a course in there as well so there's a lot of resources there waiting on you just come visit us um you know and if you have any questions absolutely hit me up on the social medias is at curtis king with two s's on every single social media but i'm here just the same way as brand man shaman i appreciate those kind words bro like i i you know i always am very supportive of you i brought your name up yesterday i had to interview with the letter l beats and um and and i and i brought you up because i was like he's this is another another individual out there in in a land of doing some amazing things for this culture that's building uh i'll just say this last tidbit rappers and producers that are out there that are independent just like brand man shan said be patient the tide is coming this way if it's not already this way um start making your new year's resolutions today don't wait till the clock hits zero your new year's resolution your plans for march february march april should be made right now and realize that this year they attacked the online music producer next year they're going to have to stand out of the way of the music producer they go let's try to become it and i think that after that they're eventually going to have to become in harmony with the online music producer and the online rapper right and and and producer stop disrespecting these online rappers because they're part of the same community as you regardless of how you feel about their music um they're in the same community and they are helping you have a business so that's it man thank you brand man shan for having me on bro and letting me rant for a couple it's always good man they gotta they're gonna have to start calling your uncle Curtis eventually man that's what it is they already do hey everybody everybody you guys know what to do man if you like this video go ahead hit that like button if you like it might as well share it and if you ain't subscribed you know what to do 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Hello! My name is Vinnie and I am a children's librarian at San Francisco Public Library. Today I'm here to introduce this book, Letty Out Loud by Angela Cervantes. In this story, Letty Munoz spends the summer after fifth grade volunteering at an animal shelter with her friends and classmates. She ends up in a competition with another volunteer, Hunter, over who would become the best shelter scrub, a role where volunteers write profiles for the animals so that they can be adopted. However, all Letty really wants to do is help the animals and maybe improve her English. Will she be able to do all these things and win the competition? This story is full of very strong friendships, adorable animals, and shows us that there are many ways to face our fears. Discover with Letty how you can work towards your dreams, even in unexpected ways, in Letty Out Loud. Please check out a copy at your local library or get a copy at your local independent bookstores.


Thank you for this opportunity to speak to the Commission. Our organizations share a profound concern about the health and welfare of human beings. This year, you will be preparing the 2024 midterm review of the 2019 Ministerial Declaration on Persistent and Emerging Challenges related to the global drug situation. This is a key moment. As you look back to take stock of results to date, you will also be looking forward. You will be planning what grounds should be covered by 2029 and how to do it. I encourage that the midterm review embraces full participation by civil society, including the voices of people who use drugs and by all relevant United Nations bodies to ensure that drug policies are grounded in human rights, in particular health and development. The review also provides an occasion for the Commission to renew its strong commitment to human rights as part of transformative change to address the global drug situation. According to the 2022 World Drug Report, around 284 million people use drugs worldwide. Over 11 million people inject them. We are all aware of the continued uncontrolled growth of global markets in illegal drugs, drugs and the impact on societies around the world. From violent crime to ruin and loss of life to mass incarceration, the toll is unbearably heavy. But if drugs destroy lives, the same can also be true of drug policies. In recent years, we have seen some politicians directing hatred against people who use drugs, declaring so-called war against their own people because of drug-related criminality, militarizing drug law enforcement and in a few cases resorting to measures such as widespread extra-judicial killings. In many other countries, decades of punitive war on drugs strategies have failed to prevent an increasing range and quantity of substances produced and consumed. Drug crime is one of the chief reasons that well over 2 million people are currently in prisons and other facilities of detention. In 35 countries, the death penalty is prescribed for drug-related offenses. Yet international human rights law restricts the use of capital punishment to the most serious crimes understood as involving intentional killing. I reiterate my call on states that maintain the death penalty to abolish it, including for drug-related offenses. The so-called war on drugs paradigm is detrimental to public health. Fear of arrest and widespread stigma around drug use prevent people who use drugs from accessing health care, harm reduction services and effective voluntary treatment programs. This is clearly a factor in the very high number of deaths resulting from substance abuse. 1.2 million people in 2019 according to the latest available data and the so-called war on drugs approach also perpetuates existing patterns of discrimination including against people of African descent, women and indigenous peoples. Driving the drug trade underground leads to the development of criminal networks. It is clear to many that the so-called war on drugs is not working and a number of countries have led the way forward. For example, earlier this month, the president of Colombia told the Human Rights Council he was leaving behind prohibition as a dominant paradigm in favor of drug policies based on human rights. Ghana has also been a key supporter of a human rights and public health approach to drug policy demonstrated by its recent drug law reform. Laos is taking steps to approve production and distribution of cannabis for medical purposes following Thailand's decision in this regard in 2022. We must continue this progress in all regions of the world and stop the so-called war on drugs. Instead, let us focus on transformative change, crafting drug policies which are based on evidence, which put human rights at their center, which are gender-sensitive and which ultimately improve the lives of the millions of individuals affected. I look forward to working with you in the months and years ahead. Thank you.