Come on. We be on fire. We be living. It's a unique hustle.      It's a unique hustle.       I love it. Check it, man. Check it, check it, check it, man. It's your boy, E.C.O. And I'm here with the lovely official Mr. Make-Up.  Hey, man. We got two special guests, man. Yeah, man. We got two special guests, man. Hey, man. We got OG Big Red. Right, man. Hey, man. And we got my boy A-Town Mike in the building, man. Yes, sir. Say, man. Say, man, what's up, man? I'm in ATL, man. We pulled up a little, you know, late y'all. Everybody was in Miami at the loud. What is that thing called? Rolling loud. Rolling loud. I pulled up and rolling loud and took a lot of the people and Tray Day in Houston. You know, Tray Day. You got Tray Day down. I'm like, man, worry about that. But then it still was going down. You know what I'm saying? This city don't sleep. It's like Vegas, right? That's right. Up on a night. Yeah. That's what he do. Up on a night with ATL Mike. So that's a good question. Like, so ATL Mike, how do a dude go out on a Tuesday night? Oh, man, Tuesday night is one of the longest running nights that I've been having going on with a bunch of members of my crew. Tracy Big Deal and Blue Flame Lounge. So Tuesday night in the city is like Blue Flame. Untouchable Tuesday. Blue Flame. Blue Flame, man. Bro, when I put up with Blue Flame, that was about, what, seven years ago? What? I'm going to check this thing out. You know what I'm talking about? And I pulled it up, man. You know what I'm saying? I got out. I was like, man, it's going down up in here. But I, you know, at first I thought, because I heard that these rappers made it so big, I thought when I got over there, it was going to be humongous to be honest with you. But it wasn't that big. But the vibe was right. The vibe was right. The vibe was right. But then I went back then, they said, what they said is now King of Diamonds? No. No. I'm talking about the V-Live. The V-Live changed the King of Diamonds. Yeah. So, so I was like, that was real. I had three floors in it. And I was like, I'm trying to figure it out. But my main thing was in old seven or eight when I was at Club Stroker's neighborhood. That was my spot. That's what you're saying? Yeah. You're saying, man, miss it, bro. I heard about Shorty Red on the track and everything when I was in the thing. I'm like, man, he knew. They jamming in here. And in the biggest thing that I liked about it, cause I was coming from Dallas, everything was dark.  I said, man, they got the lights on in here. That was crazy, man. They want you to see. I don't know. I don't know. Like we were used to the lights being off. Yeah. Ain't nobody. Yeah. We didn't know. I'm like, man, the lights on in here. That was a new world for me. Booty Club. You got to see something. Yeah. In the regular clubs, you just grind. You don't need to see. Yeah. You go to any regular club. You need to have them like load. Yeah. Booty Club. We got to have them have way for sure. Yeah. Magic City got them have way. They didn't have unless they changed. Cause that was about, that was about three, four years ago I went there. And it was darker in there. Yeah. Everything that changed though since the pandemic. You got to come out now though. Since seven years ago, blue flame and remodel. Wow. Magic City done did a little change inside. Wow.  So what? Okay. Let me tell you a little bit about how you came up on. I'm going to go to you next, but on your side of town, how you grew up as a young stuff in a town, man? See me, man, my name ain't a town. A town might. And I grew up around the city. Like I lived in so many, I moved around a lot growing up. I lived in so many sides of towns, all different zones. You know, and I experienced like a lot of different levels of growth and just size of town and how things go. I live, I'm from the East side. I spent a lot of time on the North side over there. Like Pufa Highway area. And there was a little area that was still like hood.  So yeah, man, it was a, it was diverse. You know what I'm saying? It was wonderful. You know what I'm saying? It was diverse growing up. I love that, that North side of town. Because it was like, you get to meet people that was not on the eastern line of that wasn't in the hood. They scared to come while I'm really far. But don't be for highway. You could mingle a little bit. You might catch JD studio around the corner over there while there was a lot of people on the rise in that area. And it really helped me build like relationships and character early and hustle for myself. Wow. Wow. That's dope, man. So, hey, OG Big Red, what happened, man? How you get that name? First of all, I want to know what, how did you get that name?  Straight up. You got to stand on your tent tall with a name like OG Big Red. That's what I'm saying. So originally my name was Dirty Red. So everybody in the city know me as Dirty Red. It's like my rap days in front of the neighborhood. So I'm from 325 Monroe. Okay. Adamsville, right around the corner. Okay. So growing up, my name is Dirty Red.   So that stuck as a kid, if I'm not saying so.  I feel like that title didn't fit me no more. Because everybody didn't get it. Like everybody didn't get that.  They didn't get the story backdrop. Yeah. If I don't need the backdrop, you don't know. Exactly. I'll make it soon. So, you know, I started dipping into that with my nonprofit kids in the neighborhood. And one of the kids, one of the kids was like, man, you OG Big Red. And it was like, boom, that's it. That's it. That's it. That's it. I represent the community. I represent the kids where I'm from. I represent escaping an environment that's hard to escape. You see what I'm saying? So that's what OG is supposed to do. Come back and teach you the way out. Yeah.  Come back and teach your way out. Okay.  Oh, man. So tell them just to give us a little bit of background. Man, I don't know where to start. 3Dub. 3Dub. 3Dub. 3Dub. I grew up in one of the worst environments in the 80s in the 90s. Yeah. My mother and my dad was on crack cocaine. You feel what I'm saying?  Then she got convicted of armed robbery. Wow. When the prison for 20 years died in the cell after 13 years. Wow. You know what I'm saying? Three years she died in the cell. You feel me? I don't let be that. You know, me and my mom were doing time together. I was facing 30 years at one point. She in one prison. I'm over here. We writing letters. You feel me? Yeah, sure. So it's the time I'm taking my life away. My freedom away. But luckily, you know what I'm saying? Because I was in the street doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what it is. Luckily, I was smart enough to have some old years around. That told me what it takes to play this game. You know what I'm saying? It's like a whole lot of bag. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You gotta have some money. You want to go home. You know what I'm saying? I had a little money to go home. It changed my life at that period. Yeah, yeah. It just totally made me be like, okay, I got my kids, my daughter, my son. So, okay, you got your daughter with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, I can't be in prison. That's it. That's it. I can't do that. Man. I swapped it out. I had to swap it out. So, if I dirt it right, if I would you be great. Here we go. All right, man. Where was your dad doing all this time? So, pops wasn't gonna do. He just was struggling with things. So, my dad is, both of his brothers killed themselves when I was like eight, nine. I'm gonna jump off to it. If I got to it fast to get the junction. The other one shot itself in the head. My mom wasn't even correct.  I understand. Like, that's a lot to take on as a man. So, pops, you know, he did with him there with the drugs at first.   So, him, and I was in the foster home growing up too. Wow. So, I was in the foster home from birth. So, until I was nine, I didn't really know my real one was my mama. You know what I'm saying? So, the crazy thing is they all died six months in the same year. In six months. Wow. Foster mama died first. Daddy died second. Then my mama died. It was back to back to back. Yeah. So, 2017 was hard. Wow. And I was right, that was hard. That's right, that was hard. And we always had this thing in common because me growing up, my mom was in prison too. Straight up.  I was like different from everybody in high school because you know what I'm saying? I was like somewhat of a foster kid too because I went from home to home. Every year my uncle took care of me. My mama, this person took care of me. Every family sibling that I got all raised me some point in my life. You feel me? So, like that goes back to being understanding like diversity and upbringing. Because you know, when you raised by one parent you're going to get that one's, you know how it is, but they won't do it this way. Grandma going to do it this way. Mama ain't having this. Sister ain't having this. You feel me? So, you got to respect multiple personalities of ways in life and just growing up. Just like my brother said, you know, having like foster mama not knowing, you know, we both had parents in prison. You feel my mama. You feel me? That was different growing up, you know, just having like day ones with you like that as you really want, but it made her stronger. It made you stronger. It made you stronger, but all the things that you've been through and then seeing your parents going through what they went through, how are you trying to change that trend and not have your kids fall the same trend? So how I'm trying to change that narrative, that's what Summer Safe come in. So Summer Safe, that's my non-partful organization with the kids. So we deal with any city youth and it started in my neighborhood that I'm from.  So long live Dirt Slip. So I feel like it was my duty because if I made it out and my mama didn't make it out, I got to go back over and get them something. I can't keep giving them destruction. And to me, my rap music was getting bringing on destruction. You know what I'm saying? So I packed up. How can I bring on inspiration? How can I do that instead of inspiration? Big fat man. And then it was like, one of my partners, LeBank here from 94.5, he's one of our business partners. He called me like, yo, I just seen the kids throw a school bus in your neighborhood. That way. Youth from over there, they respect you. Let's go over there and do something for the kids. And boom, it sparked from that one to this. You know, just doing everything for the love. Summer site. Summer site, yeah. You see, I like that because a lot of times people tend to want to do, make a change in the communities, but not being from the community or not anybody in the community knowing you, you go to the community and say, hey, stop the violence, stop it. They look at you like. You don't know what's going on. You don't know. Right. I got to feed my family. I got to do what I got to do. You know what I mean? Because you don't want the violence. You don't want kids getting innocently killed or you know, certain things happening. So it's like, how can you change that? Because the dope dealers or people who are doing the shooting or whatever, they're like, well, I got to do what I got to do. Exactly. So how are you putting money in my pocket to help my family? How are you going to show me a way out? And that's the thing. So we come in these neighborhoods, we got a program called give a kid an option program. Well, we got a financial literacy program, skilled building. I'm talking about. Yeah. You name it. Shoot film. Shoot film. Shoot film. I love that Haupt battle. Yeah, sure. The flip. Go ahead. Okay, but with doing that and giving them options, do you also bring in counselors counselors for the parents, because for the main fact that you're telling these kids that they can do that, but when they go back home, the parents say, I'm you ain't nothing. What you think? Because you think you're better than me, because a lot of parents feel like if their kids start to strive and doing better, that they're gonna feel like they're better than their parents, because their parents can't give them something that you as a stranger is allowing them to have, you know what I mean? And these kids look up to their parents more than maybe even you, all that peer pressure, their friends saying all sorts of stuff because he's went to juveniles and talked to them about when you get out, you have to kind of share your mind before you get out. Don't just say, when I get out, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. And like I've told him, I said, let me tell you, you have these programs that go out and talk to these juvenile kids once a week or every day, but as soon as you finish that call, their homeboy called them and said, man, I got you when you get out. I got that this, I got that that. I'm gonna put this work in your hand. So you fight in all of that, you know what I mean? But how can you fight that? Yes, you're doing that positive for them, but you still need to educate those parents, talk to those parents or those influencers. Those are the ones you need to get on your team as well. That's real. Man, it's so real. I mean, what you were saying, Charleston White is the one that gave me the opportunity to go over there and talk to those kids. And he's one of the guys that I looked to and when I'm trying to help somebody because he bring a lot of kids, that's his thing that he does. I don't know if you guys have heard of him. Yeah, I follow him. But me and him, we rock out a lot of times and a lot of people see one side of him, but the side I deal with is the side where we always venture in to try to help them kids. And what we start to see is like you said, the parent, not just the parents, it's one guy we had to get out because we promised all these kids they would have somewhere to go when they came. They're guardian really, whoever their guardian is. Whoever their guardian is is his mother and the father passed away. He's a young kid that's locked up and then they come out and I'm looking at a chance and I'm like, I'm gonna say, man, this is gonna be great and let's give them some clothes and let's do this. Let's put them on a show. If they wanna wrap, let's give them. And he's like, man, we're gonna lose him. I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, I've been doing this for years, man. And he said the biggest thing is they're not having that support system. When they come home, the mother, one kid we just had, his mother and dad passed away and he's with his sister, his aunt. His older sister. Is this his aunt? His sister, that's older sister. And she really like going through, you can tell she has mental issues and she's fussing and mad and angry and she's still needing counseling herself as you was alluding to. And that's the stuff that you start dealing with when you're dealing with trying to help, really help. Because what I found in Charleston, and I hate to keep bringing him up, he's the type of dude that what happens is, he really out here trying to figure out a way to help. And so he engages in it strongly. Not come take pictures and say, we've done something. But really, he'll go back today, tomorrow, the next day. And see, that's what I'm saying. I'm there like that. And that's the difference. And then, so let me go back to your point with the parents. See, I feel like the kid's the seeds. So I'm getting the seeds before they grow. Parents are already grown, they're the trees. They don't like to listen. That's true. Nothing you don't want to do. But if I get these seeds, and I just show them a little something, boom, my water a little bit, boom. That tree gonna grow. That tree is growing already. Your tree already grown. But appearance can be either be the water or the poison. But no, that's what you got. That's what you got to grow, though. So you got to grow no more. Like, it's not gonna grow so far.  But this tree is still growing. So feed this tree, it's like a computer. Man. You know what I'm saying? Don't, don't, don't. Things like that. No, no, no. What I'm about to say, I said- We're not disagreeing. I know, I know, I know. But what I'm saying is that don't think like that because as long as you have life, you can grow. I agree. I understand that some people are harder to change because they're stuck in their ways. Don't ever give up on anyone. It's easier to convert a child than it is for an adult.  And when she do certain things, I always say, you're not too old to change.  Because, you know, they always say, oh, I'm too old to change. I can't, that's a lie. If I stay consistently on her, she will start to change because we as human beings, a lot of times we do things and don't see our own faults. But if you keep saying the person, keep telling them what their fault is, they will start to take awareness. Like example, maybe I don't even think I stutter because I don't hear it. But then somebody say, you know what you stutter? And then somebody else say, you stutter. So every time I'm talking, I'm listening to myself and I'm like, dang, I do stutter. I practice to try to change that. You know what I mean? You have to first be aware of what your faults are. Yeah, I think association brings about assimilation. That too. I think that you wouldn't like, like even Charleston, you say you follow, but a lot of times people tell them, they don't like him. I don't like him. And I don't want, you know, why are you around him? But they forget about the power of God. You see what I'm saying? And because if I know, if I'm around somebody, I'm a hustler, I come from the same thing. I've done some worser things. So I don't forget where I come from. And I know that God used me to lead somebody out of darkness. It don't matter who it is. It don't matter how many people are being influenced by whoever. It doesn't matter what happens is the goodness in me, the love in me, a cover of multitude of sins. And I know it's real. So I don't play with it. The power of God is more powerful than any man. Anything that you could ever do, anything that you're not bigger than God to me. So I feel like God can use me. He uses whoever he will to influence whoever he will. So I am that one that can help another. And I'm going to always be. All them brothers you've seen come through here today. The thing that God does with me, I'm just going to rock with you. And you're going to find my balance in the way that I carry myself is going to be influential to a positive change. I really know that. You see what I'm saying? That's how I feel. And I've seen it. So that's why. And then I've been in a trap. I got busted with keys of cocaine. You know what I mean? I understand what it is to face issues and face things in life. So who better? Yeah. And that's what I feel. Who better to tell the story? Who better to come out here? Who they going to listen to? Right. And even if they don't, I'm going to give it a hell of a shot. Because I did everything else to my fullest. I've never done it. I'm extremist. I'm either in or out. I'm either with you or against you. I ain't no in-between with me. You know what I'm saying? I'm either turned all the way up or I'm just turned all the way out. You say Charleston White was your boy? Yeah, yeah. He's the same way. I can tell. I see the vibe. He's the same way. You used to always tell me when you're growing up, you either how to do code or I'll never be in-between. That's right. And that's how I always lived my life. When I was in the street, I was fully in the street. I was saying, I used to always equate myself back then. Like I'm in this society, I was an old dog. The reason why, because an old dog, the only one that lived, if you pay attention to him because he knew who he was. Everybody else was juggling. Everybody was straddling the fence. Kane don't know what he wanted to do. Sharif over there hanging out, he was going to play football. Everybody there was unsure about Keele. Except for old dog. I like that. Because he was sure about who he was. I like, that's dope. They're real. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that old dog stayed with Deep. Yeah, what I'm saying. A lot of people don't get that when they watch that movie. They don't get that. They get that old dog, no, no, no, no. He escaped the jail and all that other stuff because he knew who he was walking and who he was. So God bless them and who he was. And then he was- He didn't go to jail for murder. He didn't get killed.  That's it. And I think that's dope. And he'll be the guy that changes and helps so many people. Come on, man. That's the one right there. That's the one. That's like me. I feel the same energy because they give up on you. You the one everybody talking about. They don't expect you to live past 20 or 25 years old. They say, you that boy, that's the one right there. Everybody in the neighborhood, the old folks look at you and they say, he the one, he ain't. And I was that guy. And now I'm the guy who they look at now and be like, we so proud of you. God put us through situations. You changed. As examples, you know what I mean? Because if you didn't go through those things, you wouldn't be able to touch some of these kids who because then if you've never been through, you know, been on the street or whatever and you don't tell a kid, man, you can't just do that. They're like, who are you? But when you tell them, man, I did time, I did this, I did that, they look at, okay, oh gee, what's up? You know what I mean? So it makes a difference. Yeah, you can relate. You really can relate. You not just most people trying to talk about them and I talk to them anyway. Most people not gonna go in the neighborhoods because they don't understand. When you've been in the neighborhood, that's why when I go wherever, if we go to Chicago, if we go to Vegas, if we go wherever, I'm trying to find out what a hood is. You sound like a hood cat. You know what I'm saying? He did it every time. Every time. Yeah, yeah, what a hood. That's what a problem is. You sound like, oh no, man, we going through the hood. That's right. That's why I'm people. They just calling it hood because there's a lot of people there. That's it. We ain't looking for no problem. We just actually wanna love our people. That's it. When you get older and you evolve, you like man, you know what I'm saying? I know what that mean now. This is a stigma, it's a stereotype. It's just something they saying just because it's us and it's people like me and you that basically can make the difference to help our people, man. Amen. Period. A hood, what does a hood do?  That's it.  You got a bunch of things in the engine. You got all this going on. It's just people in the meltdown together, but it always go up. Yeah, yeah. All the hood only goes up. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Okay. So what's up with, when I come to Atlanta, I'm gonna tell you what the biggest stigma I was here and I wasn't around for the faith. So I'm not even gonna play with it. BMF, I hear about these guys. Wow. Yeah, I'm just telling you what I hear. You hear the stories, man. If you'd have been, you know, man, or you see it on the internet, man. That's how a guy in the mall wearing a T-shirt, BMS. Yeah. What is this? I mean, explain this. Jack Marvio family. No, no, I mean, just basically it seemed like a brotherhood. It seemed like, see, because people, let me tell you something, man. People will take something and they look at only the bad out of it. They won't even remember the good out of it. I'm being real. And I don't play those games. You know what I'm saying? I try to flip the narrative to say, you know, what came out of this good? What came out of this positive? Were anybody buying any bikes in the neighborhood? Was somebody helping any kids during that time in the neighborhood? You know they were, because our heart is like that. That's what we do. Think about that for a second. It don't matter what, even when I was hustling, I'm still going to take care of whoever the young boy is. And he ain't hustling. I'm just like, here, go get you this. So go do that. That's what we do, man. So where was those moments at when we talk about this BMF movement? All those moments was always. See what I'm saying? Now that's the part.  That wasn't even, back then you couldn't televised. Back then there wasn't no phones. Like it was phones, but it wasn't on Instagram. But it was a billboard out there I heard about. Yeah. I feel like me being around it as well, because I'm from that era like, well, like the nightlife. I was a part of it. I've been in the nightlife business so long when I was a jit back then coming up. I was probably 17, 18, getting in the 21 and up clubs and those guys had the city on smash. And at the same time, what I feel like they did for the people was made them, us feel like we could all have this. They made us believe that you could be rich. Like you never had a Rosé Perrier bottle for. You never had one today. You never had, you never hear it, take it. Just this is like, they showed us if you really paid attention like, and then when Evie is a hater, you would have took that motivation as, but I can have it too. D-Boy's showing that this is obtainable. Like we ain't never seen niggas do nothing like this. That that one rapper using corporate money or some money that came that was owned by somebody else. You feel me? D-Boy was self made. And they were doing mega things that I'm some of the biggest rapper. Diddy, who owned, who you is in the club? And no boy came in, they don't, but did he just pump fake y'all with a name? I don't do that. But he might've, you know, him being him. Diddy got them bottles, sent to him. Them boys came in and bought all they bottles. They did all the honey bottles, every black man in the club, in a crew with a, no cups. We empowering, yo, that's saying that in a bottle, but it's just whatever we have, if I got it, you got it. And I liked it that. If you don't ride a lamb, somebody ride a BMW or something, we all got something. You feel me? Everybody can't have it. But they ain't nothing less than what everything about me. Good subject to talk about. Like, do you think that's also had an effect on what we're dealing with today, boys and what Atlanta developed into? Most definitely. You see where I'm coming from? Cause you don't hear it. You don't really hear that a lot, but it is, it birthed a lot of stuff. Entrepreneurship is all you talking about. Right. Me, she just had a way, you know what I'm saying? Like he just had a way to tell history to make you believe. And then when you see it from somebody that's coming from, they come from where you come from, you're gonna do, you're gonna believe it. And you're gonna put that same action he put forward.  So if you don't see that and see the light in the city glow in it and not get riled up and be like, oh, okay. Yes, you know.  It was something that everybody down here respected. I don't care who he was and not down here across the world. I was gonna say, man. Across the world, the United States for sure. Like you could not deal with anything without talking about these guys when they was on the streets and when they was locked in and they was at the peak. I call it the peak. That's right. Because there was a peak. Anybody have a DMF Star or what you think about it? You tap into it, you gonna be watching it? Yeah, I'll watch it. You watch it? I mean, at the end of the day, I don't really watch a lot of TV because I'm out here living, you know, and living a real life. It's real, come on man. Right, so we have TV. I don't be watching it like that. I think after the pandemic is when we stop. That's right. Because during the pandemic, you had to re-evaluate your life and see what you're giving too much attention to and what you not giving enough attention to which need to have more attention.  We don't even watch news that much anymore because news always be like bad news and stuff. Like if you want to see the news, just jump on Facebook, Bill. If it's something that needs to be known, they're gonna tell you. They're gonna tell you first.  If you just like once a month, you're like, okay, let me see what's going on. But other than that, TV is so addictive where you sit down and watch show after show after show when you really turn around and look at how many hours you just wasted that could have been something progressive. Like what did you get out of watching TV? How did that benefit you? Well, let's go deeper. Or benefit somebody else. It benefited them by making money off of your views. That's about it. But it's not helping nobody. It's the same thing with these bad boys right here. Ain't no different. It can cause you, you have to remember, we've had moments where we like just leave the phone at the house, don't take it. Because you just want to see how life feels without it. We got to have balance. This even is, if you got too much of this going on, there's a lack of balance. I feel like the number one TV consumer in the world is senior citizens, older people and people in prison. Yeah, right now, just like the radio, just like the radio, just the same thing. Without a doubt, without a set up of them. So networks are still going to make, they're going to win. Just like they, you know, they were winning even more because everybody's watched TV and it wasn't so many resources to watch whatever you want to watch. But now it's like, they know, okay, look well. Okay, that's cool. We just going to get our money off people, the older generation and the people in prison. But even where TV is concerned, do you notice that everything is going from regular TV to they're putting all the movies on Amazon, on Hulu, on Netflix because all those apps are where? You're streaming on your phone. On your phone, Netflix, okay, quickly watch a movie. I can watch my episode, I can this, I can that. You know what I mean? If you're not easily access to a phone, then you're not making it nowadays. Nowadays everybody's making their own apps. If you have a business, you need to make an app for yourself. For a website, right. Even websites as much.  Too many steps to get to the source. You have an app, you download the app, click the app, boom. You're already there. Yeah, so do you feel like, do you like where music is at right now? Do you got? I love it. I mean, it's evolution. Put it like this. Where I'm at now, right? We're good in the universe. I judge nothing and judge no one. So what you do is what you do and how you do it is how you do it. My old self would have been this. I hate it. I can't stand it. Yeah, you feel me? I'm crazy. I mean, I love it. If you love it, that's cool. Cause that's for you, it's not for me. So I don't have to listen to it to like it. It's not for me, you feel what I'm saying? But I can listen to it and hear something that I like. Like, man, this is on my mama bro. Like this.  You feel what I'm saying? But now when I come home, I remember my daddy used to come back to you with me. May I ask you a question about my pops? So pops got his stuff together when I was about 14 and 15.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was trying, but I was verbatim. Don't hang in the hood.  Nigga, I get taken off the basketball game cause I'm hanging in the hood. He didn't have moved to a white folks neighborhood at this time. So I got to experience the hood and something different, don't get it twisted. But my mind, everything is a mindset. Like you were saying earlier before you leave jail, you got to be started here.  Nothing you can say, nothing you can say.  And God know that, you know what I'm saying? But you're hurting yourself more than you're hurting them. Of course, you know what I'm saying? So boom, I'm going in about back and forth. My daddy like stayed working in this neighborhood and I couldn't see it then. Couldn't not see it then. Now I see it because now my daddy used to be saying, well, cut that rap music off. I couldn't see it then. I never thought I would be the father that walk in my house and tell my son to cut a rap record off. Man, I'm about to walk in and he listen to King Vaughan the other day. Man, boy, it was just so destructive.  But it brought me right back to what my daddy called me listening to Master Pete, to the true album. It's how I'm not selling crack cocaine.  And I was like, okay, get it. These same niggas you running into in the hood that said they love you, got your mama head turning tricks for this crack cocaine for this rock. And you smart, you love these niggas. But they don't love you like you think they do. And I'm like, whoa, that was the irony of it because I'm going to hang with some niggas. I think quote unquote love me but these niggas selling my own crack on the low was to destroy my family.  That's right. You know what I'm saying? That's right. But it took me a while. It's all about feeding their family. They do what they have to do. And a lot of times you have some people, they'll feed the poison to the masses but their own family, they won't really. I mean, that's what the government do. So that's why when I got older, I seen that I couldn't hold my own people accountable for something they learn or something they was taught. The government taught them to do that. So guess what?  You've been taught by the television that tells you a vision.  Because all of these words mean something. They all have a spell. You know what I'm saying? Spelling is spelling for a reason. Look for the underlining reasoning behind everything. Exactly. When you're talking about spelling, it's speaking stuff until you say something. But you're talking about positivity and you're talking about feeding the youth with something positive to hold on to. But then I know that you are in acting right now, right? Yes, ma'am. Okay, the show that you're doing, how... It's very contradicting to what I'm doing. That's where I'm getting to. It's very contradicting to what I'm doing. But it wouldn't be acting if it wasn't. Exactly. I'm acting. But then even these rappers and stuff like that, they can say it's acting because people always tell these kids, it's not real, it's not real, but these kids look at all the rap music and be like, oh, I want to do that. I want to be like, da, da, da, da. It's not real. It's not real. But the kids are not looking at it like that. The kids are looking at it like, that's what my life, I want that life to be.  Nah, that's not the same. Music and acting is different because people don't grow, want to be like the Terminator. They don't want to grow up being like Rambo Pharrell. But music can kind of do that sometimes. So it's like, you got to be careful with the music because music is actually like a different vibe. It's a different spiritual connection. I can't agree because you just... Let me tell you why I can't agree with that, what you just said.  And who else did you say? A lot of people don't... Whatever. Everybody wanted to be JJ there while I was dynamite and everything else back in the day. Okay, no. I'm just saying, I did, honestly, want to be Rambo in my life. I just... So sad. I don't know what I'm talking about. I really want to be like the Terminator. I was like, Rambo, who... I was really coming at him about to factor the two white guys and no black team. That's why I went to the left team. I said, I went left for a reason too. But I ain't say, Jesus, shit, I was in. Mom, when I look at it, but I think it's a difference between those big movies compared to the smaller movies. When I say that, like when I was asking the young lady earlier, she ever watched the show Money in Valence. That was my favorite show. Okay, and I loved it. I hated it when it stopped. But we were hooked on watching that show. Yeah, we watched that. But watching that show, and I seen those guys, I'm like... Robbing. Be a killer. In my mind, the way how they were so good at it, and maybe because it was a lower... I'm like, nah, they do that for real. They do that for real. That ain't actually, they do that for real. Let me give you this. Just like you have a past, you got a past. Everybody got a past. So my character reflects not only my past, but those around me, past that I have seen growing up. So when I'm acting, I can act like any character against them.   I done seen it all. I didn't have to do it. I done seen it exactly. So even if I done it or what I ain't, I can just put myself back when I was nine years old. And I remember Lil Tre Tre shot Lil TT in front of everybody in the neighborhood. Or I put myself back when Lil Tre Tre robbed Lil TT in front of everybody in the neighborhood and made him take off all his clothes. She put myself in with Miami boys were coming to Atlanta trying to rob us. And my brothers and my sister all live with my brothers and sisters at the time.  And I don't know, we used to always have these house parties. It's funny that I'm into parties now and doing events because I was the life of the party as a kid. 12, 11 years old, we have a house party. So I'm coming outside, coming in there, sneaking out the room.  Been a star since I was a kid. And at the same time, we had been doing so many house parties and turning up that some, some out of towns was coming. This was when the era, when the out of towns was coming up here, thinking Atlanta was sweet and they tried to come out. And these guys didn't even get nothing. But going up as a young jit, having a gun in my head, watching my brother get shot. I can't, I know how to act that type of thing out.  Even though they didn't get it, thank God, because my neighbor came out and things happened in the way they happened because it was in God's hands. But he, I understand we coming from, we've seen it in our life and we know how to portray things. I just know that the things that you guys are speaking on is what happened in a lot of black neighborhoods. Oh yeah.  I like DJ quick when he say, it's just like Compton. That song meant a lot because as he was speaking about these different places he was traveling to, he starts seeing the fact that everything he was looking at was reality of the hood and the black people he dealt with in his neighborhood. It's the same. That's why you go to the hood because it's like everything's the same, man. And you can, anywhere you are at, I hated when I seen Nipsey. I met Nipsey a few times, but I hated to see him in front of the store because I own a store.  You know what I mean?  It's more stronger. Being who Nipsey was when you say you a snitch, it takes on a whole another level of what you say. And then my whole story, I always say about that guy that had done that. His whole story was, man, I know Nipsey. That's his story. Man, I know Nipsey, but Nipsey take that away that day really.  If you ever been to Cali, you know how these niggas talk too. They really get hype about what they say to you. Ain't no, hey man, don't come in the neighborhood. It's like, hey homie, you know, it's different, bro. It checks. I know, they get straight with it. Yes, sir. I just left there. So you know I'm telling the truth. It's New York in the same way. And then people are like, no, you just see them say nothing really to them like that. No, bro, people don't talk like that. When they out there, they really bring their passion what they say. And then for me to say, see that Nipsey or something could say something like that to a regular dude cause he was just a regular dude, snitch, whatever it may have you expect. You know, it's still I got dudes. I can't say that. I can't say nothing to dude cause they looking at me. I'm rolling up in the nicest cars with my family and I'm doing my thing to these people. Am I right? Think about it. They look at you on a whole another level. You doing it. You doing what they would wish they could do. Right.  Exactly. But it amplified, man. I think we're just being who we are as kings and the good as we are. It's about knowing how to watch your mouth. So I'm big into the universe. I'm big into what you speak is your existence. I'm big into what you think is your existence.  Let me give you a prime example. My best friend and one has just got killed last month on his birthday. He woke up that morning at eight o'clock of his own Instagram live.  By 11 o'clock he was dead. He was shot by the nigga there. He was talking about he was shot by an old man to stay downstairs with a woman over 20 years. Wow. Because he put that energy out there. He put that energy out there.  Because he been up all night. But it's the hood. That's it. I need to shot him for that.  His daughter, everybody was outside in front of him on his birthday. Wow. Boom. You see what I'm saying? It's the energy. Yeah, it's the energy. It's the energy. So that's why I tell the brown people around me, watch what you say. Watch what you think. Wow. Especially once you start realizing your power as your gods you are. Oh, the more you realize it, the more gods start making happen instantaneously. Boom, you think about this to happen. Now I want the police to get behind it. Boom, there they go. He should tell me what I'm talking about. If you think about the police, they gonna pull it back. I'm gonna stop talking about them for a while. Man, I'm not even moved. My OG used to tell me something. I was back in the street so hard, man. Get caught doing what you're supposed to be doing. Wow.  What is he talking about? But I was always in the trap getting locked up. He's like, nigga, the record label ain't coming to the trap by dope, none of that. Why are you in the trap?  Wow. And I'm like, but I'm from the hood. I'm god damn, I love my hood. He's like, all right, cool. Boom, back in jail. Come home. You wanna rap now? Look back to the hood. Back in jail, boom. And I was like, it was repetition. Over and over and over and over. I was still doing good in the music. Don't get it twisted. So who was, I gotta talk about that. Who was some of the people that you work with? Aw, man, everybody. Everybody. Okay, so Rick Ross, we been on Twitter together, two chains. I'm from originally from the Atticru and Dungeon family. That's who killed me since I was a kid. You know what I'm saying? All of them, C-Lo, Big Boy, all of them family members, you know what I'm saying? OG King, Floaty. He like Dungeon family third generation, right? Yeah, I'm fourth generation actually. I'm fourth generation Dungeon family. Atticru and all that.  I can't even name one, it's some of these new people. I can't name nobody that went on my tour before they got big, you know what I'm saying? Titty Boy, all of them, that was on my tour before they got big, you know what I'm saying? Wow. I brought these folks out, spent a check with them. Feel them up, yeah, like. Promote an artist. Oh yeah? My boy, yeah. Go in. 19 years old, I don't know, I don't know everything. Killing the country time. So who influenced you the most? Got to be outcast. Again, outcast. Is it because we're in Atlanta, everybody is saying outcast? In Texas, it's UGK. Yeah, because out here, it's like everything is outcast. That's real. It was UGK, it was outcast, it was in the G8 ball. It might have been my top threes. And then, you know what I'm saying? We were about to ask you your top three. He already named it. He can't do that. He already named it. You just named your top three. He already named it. So is it in that order for real? See that order just like that. Outcast, UGK. Eight ball MJG. That's real. He already named it. That's dope. I love the fact UGK got in there too. Eight ball MJG out of Memphis here. Outcast for show, big boy. I knew she was gonna say that. Andre 3000. Oh, three stacks, that's the homing. But I'm gonna be. I love Andre.  I'm telling you, Andre's my guy. I love the fact that that was dope choice. I gotta get yours now. I would love to interview you, Andre. Your big boy really started out, Cad. Don't get it twisted now. You ain't got it. I ain't got it. He's just an incredible artist. Big boy, here's the song. When you come out and see Big, Big has got the... He the big boy. He the big boy. Yeah, he the big boy. He the big boy. And he rapped on everything. He's big. No, he was good, but I was like... I like unique. That's right. I like different. And because of that, that's why Andre is about to win. He's like abstract. Give me your top three of all time. Top three of all time. I would really give, like what he said kind of, I had to go with what he said. I did.  Yeah man, that was real. I could go there, but outcast definitely... Oh, did we not tell you? It's any genre. Any genre, just my top three. Any genre. It can be R&B. It can be Calypso, Reggae. See, that's the different you gotta see. You gotta be like your top R&B, your top. No, no, no, no, no, no. Top 10s, man. Yeah. Number one would really be this Dungeon Family period. Right. Number two. You with your cake? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ice cube. That's what I'm saying. What's yours? I would say... Ice cube, bro. That boy said ice cube. We had that before. We had ice cube before. Because ice cube, like when I first started, like when I was a jet, I always used to write, you know, I used to write people raps down He was one of the first people raps I ever wrote down from like seven, eight year on count. I was under 10. I know I'll write ice cube lyrics down in the crib with my sister who was writing down all the R&B, who can you run to, or whatever they were writing down. I seen them writing lyrics. I'm like, I'm gonna write these raps down. Ice cube. Number two. I'm gonna tell y'all some two people don't realize Snoop Dogg is really one of the biggest rappers. Do you want to move to West Coast? No, I'm just not there. But I'm gonna do, this is because I just want to throw an honorable mention in. Snoop Dogg is really like, he is like the most popular rapper of all times. He's going to see- So that's not his number two. He's just trying to throw that rap in. He's a throw, he's gonna throw him in. Okay, then. Snoop Dogg is one of the most popular rappers.  Look at him doing Corona commercials. His last hit. I gotta agree with that. What do you think? You know what I'm saying? I love Snoop Dogg. Look at him and Mark the suit. Knife about lyrics just about all over. That was all over. But he's not in your top three. He's all over. Okay, so who's your number two? My number two. And what are we talking about again? All the time. All the time. All the time. All right, it's energy. Male or female? Anybody. Man, let me just say like Michael Jackson or something. Yeah. Okay, that's number two. Number three? I remember, I've just gone off what I remember as a jit the most. And... See, y'all didn't give me that question. I just kind of said, I couldn't win the genre, man. Pop. I knew you were gonna say that. I knew it was you. I know all the West Coast too. You y'all didn't give me that. That's what I'm choosing though. I don't understand you. I like big too though. Nah, nah, nah. I'm with my boy right here.  And stay right there with good and mob. No, no, no. You want to change his. You want to change his. I just missed the prince. Man. He wants to change his. So what is your top three? Come on. All around, then it would be down to the family. Uh huh. All prince. Uh huh. And then, let's see if it's just diversified. Yeah, diversified, right? Diversified. One of my favorite songs, I can break your heart and run up. Wait a minute, hey man. Don't break my heart. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's it. Really dumb. So easy, number three. He had to be number three just because it was so different. And I was like 10 and I just captivated me. You don't even know why. Some of you remember the most. So who got bummed out of that top three, right? You know, if we was going to go for just all over the, if I was going to top what you said on my achy breaking heart, it would be, I would go steel hood. It would be pop hood. It would be for real cause I'm happy. Yeah, all the way across the world. Tell my producer. No, let's not. You tell my producer. I'm talking about just the fact of the biggest song that's made, stayed in your mind. So let me tell you something that you, did you know that they offer C-Lo that song first? For real, I didn't know that. Yeah, I heard that. I heard that. And see, that's one of the, shout out to my big brother, C-Lo man. Man, I wish I could have got him on here while I'm back. I'm coming back. I ain't nobody here. I'm living here in Atlanta. Yeah, that's it. I'm going to come back. So the next round, you got to help us get all them folks. Relaxing though, we're going to come back. I can promise the Lord, say the same, man. Thank you so much, man, for coming on the show, man. Thank you for having us. Man, we love you guys, man. It's big love, man. Before you go, exactly. Big love, man. I wish I could stay the Friday. Friday, we got a celebrity basketball game. We do, man. Back to school drive that we do every year. Why? We give away everything for it. Got all my celebrity friends coming out. Yeah, you do it. Summer safe. Oh, it's your big brother, man. Not going to worry, king. Summer safe, can't worry a king. We doing something big for all the kids. We do this every summer. We take care of give back. That's what it's all about. How can people get a hold to you? Summer safe at Atlanta.com. Summer safe at Atlanta.com. That's the way of saying things. Summer safe at Atlanta.com. OK, man, that's it. It's Summer safe at Atlanta. That's dope, man. But thank you guys, man. We love you, man. And it's been another great segment of Boss Talk 101. That was Boss Talk.


She is gifted, she is so filled with the spirits and she is an actress, if I am not wrong, she is a TV host and she is everything around her for God's glory. Nishaana, how are you and welcome to JCC. Thank you, I am fine. Did I get right, you are an actress as well? Yes? On what show? I have acted in like adverts. Adverts? Yes. Adverts. How old are you? Eleven. Clepkais. Yes. What were you doing when you were eleven? Miki nili kwa sigi klaswat? I can't even remember. My goodness. Eleven is just ten plus one. Oh, it's ten plus one but it's eleven. Yes. Okay. At eleven years old. Yes. I imagine when did you begin singing? I began singing. Professionally releasing my own music videos when I was nine, but just for fun when I was two. When you were two years? Yes. My goodness. My two, you're already talking fluently and singing. My goodness. First of all, have you done your assignment?   Yes. Get you in trouble. The teacher will see you here like, Shana, I saw you on TV and you know, you've not done your homework. Can you submit your homework right now? So you've done your homework. Well, we didn't have homework because like it was the end of the exams. End of exams. You need rest. You need to. Thank you for everything. So during the whole day, is the time you spend doing more about music? Yes. When you're in school, how do you balance it? Well, when I'm in school, first like I finish all my stuff, all my classwork there, my first writer. So it's easier when you can do it quickly. Okay. Yeah. And there's a specific time you can like finish your homework in school before you go home. So that's the time I finish it. Then when I go home, I have time for anything. I shower, eat supper. That's the time I have any time. So you do things according to their timeline. When you're done with this, you go to the next thing and you do it perfectly. I just want to know, how do you write your music? Or do you have someone who writes your music? Well, my dad writes some music. I think he used to write songs when he was young. Wow. So he runs in the blood. Come on. I don't know. You haven't asked him? Yeah. I think he was around 19 to 25. I don't know. You'll ask him after the show and come back again and tell us his age. Yeah. Okay. This song, God Will Listen, I really love it. Actually it just played before we started the interview. Yeah. That song, it has really touched me and I want to know what is, oh he said your dad writes this song but I want to know what inspire that song. Did you have a prayer request that God had it and actually answered it for you? Well, like if you have a prayer request, it's like God will listen. He will listen to your prayers and all your prayers to the sound of needy hearts, the cries of wounded souls. You just need to believe. Can you remember one prayer that you have ever sent to God and he answered? Like what do you pray for every morning when you wake up? For a good day and so that I don't get punished in school, I pray over and over again. Then he answered. That got answered? Yeah. Oh okay. Well, God only has three answers. Yes, no or wait. Wait. Sometimes he gives me, but this is okay. Has he ever answered you a wait? Yeah. He has. Yes. So you speak to him.  Yeah. Okay, tell people that actually God listens to your prayers. God listens to your prayers.  Yes. Your Sunday school teacher must be proud. Which ash do you go to? Well, I go to Mamalaka Hill Chapel. Oh. Yeah. In Sunday school, class word. This is my class. This is my class. It's a level. Just Sunday school. Levels. Okay. Sunday school. Sunday school levels. In level five. In level five. Yeah. Okay, that's amazing. That's amazing. I want to ask you. Yes. Because I've seen you interviews. Have you learned to speak Kisahili? At least one word or two? Because I am waiting. Yeah. I'm waiting for a song in Kisahili from you. Shana, that's a challenge. Right. Well, I have learned words in Kisahili. Sentences, yeah. Like greetings. Greetings, Abari. Yeah. Jema or insuri sana. Wow. She has made it. She has made it. You are good to go. So expecting a Swahili song anytime soon? I don't know. You don't know? Well, it will come. It will? It will just come. Sure. This is a challenge to dad. This is a challenge to dad. Here is the song. Yeah. This is a challenge to him. Right, a Swahili song for us. I hope you are waiting. I hope you are waiting. I hope you are waiting. I hope you are waiting. I hope you are waiting. I hope you are waiting. Swahili song to be long here. Apart from that, do you have any other projects coming up? Labuaren. Like music, because you released God Will Listen like 11 months ago or 7 months ago? Above. I think it was. 7 months ago? Yeah, I think. Sure. 5 to 8. Around that. 8 months. Yeah. So do we expect more music? Yes, we do. Yeah. Sure? We launch it here? Yeah, I don't know. But we will. We just have to. We just have to. We can launch it here. We come apart of us. We launch all your new songs here. Yeah. And every time you release your music, how does your friends respond to it? How do they receive it? Do they always call you and tell you it's good? Some of them ask you if they can join to dance in your video. Have you ever had this? Actually, yes, I have. Even on the internet get many. Can we have a collab? Can we have a collab? And like in school, in school, well once I come into class I like, Shana, I had your new song. Wow. Yeah. How does it make you feel? Well, it makes me feel happy that at least some people are like wanting to listen to the word of God through music. And when people ask you for collab, how do you answer them? Well, I have no problem. You are going to wait. You are class with us for collab. And you do a collab with the whole class. I'll say, I haven't really started collab yet. I need to perfect my music and then I can start collab. Wow. So is there any artist you look up to? Who? I have three. Three. Francesca Batseli, Jamie Grace and Travis Green. No local artist? I like the songs, but yeah, that's all I'm going to say. Thank you, Adi. The spirit will lead you. I'm just imagining a collab with you with Travis Green. Wow. How do you feel? Very happy. Excited and happy. We will send this clip and you know, we'll tag him when you see how it will come out. Yes, yes, yes. So we prophesied on the show through the spirit that has led us here and has been able to do this show. We prophesied that Shana and Travis Green will one day do a collab and he will remember this day. And all the church members say, Amen. Praise the Lord. So, how can people get your music? Well, you can get my music on YouTube and you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, that's Shana Mantiru. S, H, A, N, A, H Amen. Wow. That's so amazing. And what do you have for those little young who are watching you? Perhaps on Funga Shule, they have closed their schools or rather they are closing the school next week. What do you have for them this Sunday? Okay. So, I would say don't hide your talent. Show it out to the whole world because there's nothing to be afraid of. Everyone has a talent and they just need to use it and God will be very happy with you. This is actually much special. Yes. And I challenge to our parents to start supporting your kids as much as young they are. Support them all the way because you never know kuno alo natesanga bo that those who are good at singing that those are good at dancing, acting and everything. Just support your kid. We see on natesanga you will be like, ah, you go to school fast. They can go to school like Shana does. Go to school, do your more work and still sing or still dance or still act. They can do all that. With your support they can do all that. So, let us bring up our kids by supporting them. Yes. And we say to your handles your Facebook handles. Facebook, Instagram, YouTube.   You said your teachers, did you? Ya, I did. Because when you open school you ask, you did mention us. And you get punished because of that. Or you had teacher. I had teacher. You know me? Those who are in charge of the school. Ya. Yes. We know you will be performing. Also God will listen here. Ya. How does it make you feel anytime you go on stage to perform and maybe which is that one performance you will ever remember so far. Okay. So well, there is one I was really happy about. Let me try. What's this thing called? It was an interview at Churchill show. Wow. When I was in class 2. Wow. Ya, I think. You're in class 2. Ya, it's in class 2. Wow. Ya. It was awesome. How did you feel? How did you feel it? Well, happy. It was actually, I think my second interview I had ever done. Wow. Nice. That's amazing. Thank you so much. I was proud of myself. Ya. And you are always proud of me. We are proud of you. We are. I didn't know when doing all this. That's amazing. May God continue using you. Thank you. Continue listening to you and sending your requests. Yes. Yes. Continue, may He continue using you as well. Apart from singing, apart from singing, are they, you said you are acting and hosting a show. Ya. I just want to know which show before we end. Well, it's on KBC Channel 1 and it's called Big Minds. Big Minds. At 9.30 a.m. Every Saturday. Every Saturday. Catching every Saturday. I'm your biggest fan. I watch. You can watch as well. Thank you. Yes. Okay. Thank you so much, Shana. Thank you. If you have new music, bring them here. Yes. Lodge them here. Yes. And thank you so much for making time. Thank you, father. And dad and mom. Thank you so much for bringing Shana to us. Yes. We live with Shana performing her song God Will Listen. Ya.


Does Alianica really deserve the moniker the Barolo of the South? I'm gonna pit some Taurasi against an Alianica del Voltore.  Hello, hello, hello. Welcome back to Exotic Wine Travel. I am your host, Matthew Horkey. Welcome back to the show where we help you drink adventurously so you can expand your palate and expand your mind. And we're going to be expanding palates and minds today with the red grape Alianico from Southern Italy. Alianico is considered to be one of Italy's greatest red grapes, but it doesn't really have the cachet or the brand name like San Giovese or Nebbiolo. We're going to hopefully change all that today. At its peak, Alianico is capable of producing rich, complex, age-worthy wines to rival those grapes. But you know what? There's a lot of really subpar examples and I think that's what gives the grape a bad name. Alianico is a red grape that flourishes in volcanic soils, probably most famous from Taurasi in Campania. And also Alianico del Voltore in Bicillicata. You'll also find it in Puglia. I think you might find a little bit in Calabria as well. You know the well-regarded wine writer Ian Diagra, the author of Wine Grapes of Italy even said, along with Nebbiolo and San Giovese, Alianico is generally believed to be one of Italy's three best wine grapes. But in my opinion, it is far more. Does it really deserve the moniker the Barola de la South? I don't know. I think it's because the grape has high tannins, high acidity, late ripening, just like Nebbiolo. But with bottle ages, the two wines can start to resemble each other. If you don't know what Barola was, you probably do if you're watching this show. One of the great wines of Italy, one of the most coveted wines of Italy in Northwest Italy, Piedmont made a hunt from the 100% Nebbiolo grape wines with big-time tannins, perfumy floral, just really beautiful wines. My story for Alianico is a little bit different. It's a grape I really tried to like. In theory, I really wanted to like it. I tasted lots of examples. I even judged a few flights and competitions, but nothing really spoke to me until. We were out in Singapore out at dinner and we ordered a 2002 Feudi di San Gregorio, Piano di Mante Verginin Tarasi Reserva. I know Italians and their wine names. Obviously 2002 had some age and I remember putting my nose in the glass and saying, oh wow, had some of these tari notes, had some of this tobacco. It really, to me, smelled a little bit like a Barolo. Just a few days after that, I did a big blind tasting of Barolo from Castiglione Folletto. And then just a few days after that blind tasting, I had another blind tasting where I smelled the wine, I tasted the wine, I could have swore it was Barolo. And then when it was revealed, it was a Mastro Berardino Rediti Tarasi with some age on it. And that's the first time I really got it. In wine, you have these aha moments. That's why you have to keep trying things. The two regions where the grape is probably most well known are Tarasi, like I said, in Campania and Alianico del Voltore in Basilicata. In Tarasi, the wines need to be at least 85% Alianico. You can blend other stuff into it. In Tarasi, you'll see wines that are just labeled Tarasi, which need to be aged for at least three years after the harvest, one in oak. And then you'll also see Tarasi Reserva, which needs to be aged for four years, two of those in oak. Alianico del Voltore. You'll see that DOC, those wines can be released one year after the harvest, unless they say Alianico del Voltore Superiore. That means they need to be aged for at least three years, one of those in oak. And then beyond that, you'll see Alianico del Voltore Superiore Reserva, which are aged five years, at least two in wood and two in the bottle before release. I know Italians and their Appalachian rules. Okay, let's taste a few wines. I am much more familiar with the wines of Tarasi than I am Alianico del Voltore. But let's start with the del Voltore first. On paper, it's an Appalachian I feel like I should love. It's way down south in Basilicata. They only focus just on Alianico. Really hard to get to value-driven wines, kind of under the radar Appalachian. It's a place that I feel like wine rangers really try to push up, and it's a place that I hope to go to once the world clears up. I have here the Denato d'Angelo, Alianico del Voltore 2017. This one Trey Pikieri at Gimberaroso recently, so good job by them. Alianico as a grape, you're going to get some darker fruit. Think of a dark plum, dark cherry. Sometimes when the wines are too overdone, they can become a little bit too jammy or pruny. This one's a little bit different. Alianico del Voltore is a category. The wines can be really good value for money. I've seen a lot of them under 20 US dollars widely available like this Denato d'Angelo. Just I think it's tremendous value for money for a wine that can age and develop in your cellar. In general, the wines from Alianico del Voltore that I've had are a little bit more softer and more finessed, but I've also had a lot of poor examples too. This one's a good example. This one you're going to get smoked meat, almost like beef jerky type flavors. Red plum sweet cedar, tobacco type notes. Bigger in body, but has acidity and some grippy tannin, but not tannin that's ripping my face off. So one that definitely needs meat, but I think this is tremendous wine, especially for the price. Denato d'Angelo also makes a lower level Alianico del Voltore called Calice. And I've seen that wine for under 15 bucks. I don't have it because I drink it all. I think that's tremendous value for money. It's an exceptional wine. It's something that I think I would buy by the case and throw it in my cellar. Let's move on to some Tarasi. And this is a brand new producer. I don't know very well, Baladia. This is the Tarasi 2012. This is the current release. So it's a wine that sees significant age.  It really needs bottle age to develop those notes. And for smell, this is a big wine. You can smell the wood. There is wood, but it's well integrated. This is a little bit more darker fruit, a little more plum. There's still some smoked meat type flavors, tobacco. Wow.  I'm tasting it right now and it tastes better than I remember actually. Really good wine. Full body, a lot of fruit. Oh, and the cannons hit really hard. This is a wine that you need a lot of braised meat, some steak, some kind of food or cheese or sparkling water, something to wash your mouth of. I'm surprisingly good wine. Beautiful label too. I had to get up.  Next up we have a producer Tenute Cavalier Pepe. This is the Opera Mia Tarasi 2014. Not a great vintage in Europe, but this wine is surprisingly good. Like I said, I tasted all these wines prior to this. That's why I wanted to quality control check so I show you the right stuff. This one is a Southern Italian Red Thru and Thru. I feel like it's a little bit more traditional tasting than the Bologna, which is a little bit more modern. Sweet cedar for days. Like I don't know about you. I used to shed cedar trees in my day when we would chop wood, all types of wood, and that smell really stuck with the chewing tobacco. This is even more of a red cherry, kind of black cherry type flavor. Really complex wine. More medium body, more under control than this wine. The tannins are still hitting hard. They're not as big as this wine. This is a wine that's just really, just has a delicious factor. I think a lot of fans of Central Italian Southern Italian Reds are really going to get off on this wine. Tenute Cavalier Pepe sent me a couple of the wines to taste tonight. I really enjoyed all of them a lot. They also sent me this. This is the Reserva. This is the La Ligia de Cavalier Tarasi. Now this is a bigger wine than the Upper Amia. It's significantly bigger. This one actually has some tari notes starting to develop. Tobacco again. I know I'm sounding repetitive. Mocha even. Really complex wine. Even a little bit of smoke. Full body rich. You know, sometimes I don't always agree with taking the top wine of the steak or sometimes they're just too concentrated, too overpowering, too much wood. But I definitely see a step up in this one. Both are outstanding wines. Really. I mean, this is a good showing. Thank goodness. This is a good showing of what Alianico can do. You know, I think the problem with Alianico, like I said, there's a lot of poor examples being made. And when you hear the moniker, the Barolo of the South, you expect it to taste like Barolo. And Alianico to me doesn't when it's young. However, as it starts to gain bottle age, as you start to put 10, 15 years on it, that's when you start to develop the tari notes. And since the acidity is still there, and since the tannins are pretty tight, I can really see why people say it's the Barolo of the South, even though that irks a lot of Southern Italians. They might want to say, you know what, Barolo is the Tarasi of the North. I think one place where Alianico de Voltore and Tarasi is a little bit different than Barolo for me at least, is Barolo has, when it's great, has these perfume and flower notes that make it just really a pretty wine. So I'd like to know, do you like Alianico? Do you have any favorite producers? Drop it in the comments below and I will see you at the next episode. Hello, thanks for watching. Hey, you made it to the end. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, click the bell so you know when new videos are out. If you like content like this, check out our Patreon page where you get some behind the scenes exclusive content. Thanks for watching. Cheers. Cheers.


Just want to make sure that you're comfortable. This is about you, this is your moment. Okay, thank you.  And so I want to respect you and honor you in this moment. So that's the most important thing for us today. So just tell me, tell me where you're at, what's going on, what brings you here, what's up? Well, they're gracious enough to be accepting me into their family. And I want to be a part of their family and learn the culture and you know, join your song. Beautiful, beautiful. You know, so God interacts with us in subtle ways and calls us through different ways. You know, and some people find God, you know, after a tragedy. And so you're finding God in a very pleasant way. So you're, inshallah, you'll have two, you're falling in love twice. So you'll fall in love, inshallah, with your wife and falling in love with God. Very grateful though. But so it's to see, to see, you know, a gentle call, inshallah. And so this is definitely, you know, I see, you know, what brings you here is the family.  This moment, just to put some context, what we're doing here is more significant than any other moment in your life, even more than saying I do, than saying I love you. So this is the journey of the soul. And the soul is in the vehicle of the body, right? And the soul exists before the body and will exist after the body. And so this moment of affirmation is basically saying that I acknowledge that I have something in me that's more special than all of this, that's bigger than all of this, bigger than the mansions and bigger than the millions and bigger than this and that. And there's something greater. And that's my heart, right? It's my heart and my soul, which what you say right now transcends time and space. What I mean by that is right now, you know, we have the physicality, we have this table and this chair and this, you know, throne and this carpet and these walls, but what you will say it will transcend the space because it goes to another realm that we can't see with our eyes, but we can see with our heart. And so some, you know, in today's time and culture, we we only believe what we see. But after this moment, we see what we believe. Okay. So there's something inside of you, Michael, and inside of me and inside of each of us here that is so much more beyond anything that we do in this world, you know, pay the bills or have relationships or graduate, you know, this moment, this graduation, the spiritual graduation that we're about to commence like a commencement ceremony, the spiritual graduation is more valuable than graduating from any institution or any Ivy League or with any degree. It's much more valuable, much more valuable. And if we don't, if we don't taste that value today, we'll taste it one day. And one day, one day, I promise, I promise that this moment will be the happiest moment ever of existence, affirming God, acknowledging God. It used to be where humanity, the default was, the default was acknowledging God. Now it's the opposite. Now God is irrelevant. We live in a desert of godlessness. And so to come today and acknowledge, yeah, yeah, there's something, there is a creator. It didn't just all come and happen by itself. And that creator created me and put something in me that's so special. And so we're aligning with the divine.  Those are details. Your essence is here. And now today we're coming to affirm with our essence and to say la ilaha illallah, to say, I have a creator. I do have, I do have someone who made me and I'm going back to that creator one day. So that journey, so now it transcends time, what you say transcends time, because what we're going to say, these words you're going to utter are so big, so huge, so significant that they go to a timeless time. They go, we can't even comprehend that, but it goes to the next life. It goes to our afterlife. So it goes to the unseen realm and space of angels and God where we can't see it and witness it. And also it transcends time. So what you're doing today, Michael, you look like a young man, solid man, beautiful man. It's, it's, it's a new beginning of in here. I acknowledge you God. I acknowledge you where it's not popular to acknowledge you. It's not, you know, I'm not going to get rich or famous, but I acknowledge you. I acknowledge you. And that's, you know, I, it's, it's, it's a powerful thing. It's a very powerful thing. And it's a beginning of a new journey. It's a new journey to acclimate ourselves and to, and to get slowly. So we have a body, mind and soul, three dimensions, right? We have our body, we have our mind, right? And we have our soul. And so the idea of Islam, Islam means the surrender to surrender our body, mind and soul to God's way. And when we surrender, we experience Salam. We say Salam, which means peace. And so the idea is when we align with the divine, when we surrender through Islam, then we experience the Salam of peace because they say, God is the author of Islam and God is the author of you and me. The same author. God's the author of the world and the universe, the author of Islam, the way of life, and the author of us living in this world. So when those all come together and they all align, us using the light from God and the guidance from God to live in this world, then there can be this harmony, right? This harmony.  I just, I want to do my part to serve you and do justice to this moment. And so that's why I'm sharing this so we can, so we can all appreciate this moment and congratulations to the family where, you know, God works in his ways and sometimes we understand it and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we comprehend, sometimes we don't, right? And, and so we have this surrender to God, right? And insha'Allah it'll be all right. Insha'Allah it'll be all right. Insha'Allah you're going to be all right. Insha'Allah you're going to be all right. Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. So it's, and I, and I'm grateful to participate and to serve you, Michael, and it's an honor, it's an honor to be here. Alhamdulillah. Finally, this last thing I'll share, Michael, is if you've ever done anything wrong, you probably didn't. If you've ever done anything wrong, this spiritual awakening, as a gift from God, erases and pardons any mistake, any sin, any error that we ever did wrong in our life.  And to appreciate that for a moment, because that's the ultimate victory. That, that is the true victory. Returning to God with a clean sound heart. And that's the journey we're all on. That's the journey we're all on today.  And I, and, and, and so when we do this and utter these words, and we'll do it one time in English, and we'll do it three times in Arabic. When we utter these words, imagining, you know, imagine, it's called mindful, you know, mindfulness, whatever you want to call it, God consciousness, mindfulness, meditation, but imagining the erasure, the erasing of any sins I've ever done, imagining my soul connecting, aligning with the divine, imagining the light of God in a manner befitting, entering into my spiritual heart. These are realities that we don't perceive with our five senses, but they're real. And one day when our soul leaves our body, all of these things will manifest and we'll see them all. It all makes sense.  It's also a birth. Just like we died from our mother's womb, when we left it, we were born here, we continue to, to travel, our soul continues to travel with different vehicles. And then we go back to our Creator and we say, I acknowledged you.  I didn't worship anyone except you.  And I followed the messengers that you sent and I followed the messenger right to the best of my ability as much as I could. And when I couldn't and when I lapped and when I made a mistake, you're the forgiver and you can forgive me. Right. And you can forgive me and I ask you to forgive me and God loves to forgive. And so Michael today, today, you know, with that in mind, you know, again, I'll say the last thing I'll say, although I've said that before. Islam came to elevate, to elevate us. What does that mean? Islam came to bring the best, the best out of us, the best possible Michael I can be, the best neighbor, the best son to my parents, the best employee to my, to my employer, the best employer to my employees, the most gentle to people who are close to me or far to me, the most generous Michael I can be, the most compassionate Michael I can be, the most forgiving Michael I can be, the most honorable Michael I can be, the most humble Michael I can be. And that's the point. Allah, Allah, God designed this to elevate us. The best husband I can be, right?  They say the spiritual warrior is the one who breaks an idol and everyone's idol is his ego. So we have to break that, that, that idol and ego and stop being so impressed with our own selves and our own ideas and accepting God in our life. Trusting God more than we trust ourselves, right? And it doesn't mean turn off our mind. God doesn't want us to turn off our mind or intellect. No, we use our mind and we use revelation and they say revelation is like light. You see these light bulbs and our mind is like our eyes and we need both. We need the light bulbs and we need our eyes to see and we need God, God's revelation and we need our mind to live. We need both. And if we turn off one of them, it's dark, we bump into it, we trip, we hurt ourselves, we hurt others. So if this room had no light, we have perfect 2020 vision, I can't see anything, I'm going to hurt myself and others. Or if this, or if I don't have eyes and there's perfect light, I might bump into people. And likewise the same thing, I can be the wisest human, the smartest human. But if I turn off access to God's divine light through the Quran, through the prophets, through the messengers he sent to us, then I might trip over myself and hurt myself and hurt others in this journey called life. And likewise, if I, likewise, if I use all of God's guidance and divine light, but I turn off my intellect, I will also trip and hurt myself and hurt others. And there are people that do that. And that's called misguided religiosity. Someone's so religious in a misguided manner. And so they use something so beautiful called Islam to do ugly things, right? And that happens, you know, in many different ways.  And the first word that God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was, read, read. And that's my, that's my, that's my message to you when I leave today and I go back to my life and you, Michael, go back to your life, read because knowledge in our mind leads to love in the heart, which leads to devotion in our actions. That's the order. And you can't just jump to devotions. I want to pray five times a day and I want to fast, rumble down, I want to get my church without having some love in our heart and some knowledge in our mind. So read, read, find teachers and we have teachers in this community and we have very relevant books and material to help you on this journey. You're not alone. You're not alone. You know, the wolf eats the lonely, the lonely sheep. You're not alone. And it's a blessing that you have this family. It's a blessing. It really is. And for you to honor each other, inshallah, honor each other, right? And we are always here for you. If anything, listen, Michael, if anything doesn't make sense to you, if anything wouldn't be approved by your gracious grandmother, whoever, you know, that grandmother that we all know, that old school grandmother, if she would say, you know, this doesn't feel right to me, you know, what is, this is, it's probably, it's probably a little, it might be a little different. You see what I'm saying? Like the timeless truths of good should, are all the timeless truths and universal truths of good and right. That's what Islam brings to us. And it brings it to us in a manner not, not that I designed or a person designed, but God designed. We couldn't be designed better. Sometimes we comprehend it. Sometimes we don't, but we trust it nonetheless. And so as you go in this journey of Islam, of learning and growing, you might have some questions or, or, you know, doubts and that's okay. That's okay. You know, that's okay. Finally, I'm going to end with this for the third time, I say that.  And what did he do? He built a boat and where did he build it? He built it in a desert. There's no water. So when he was building the boat, they're like, they're making fun of him. What's wrong with you? What are you doing? It doesn't make sense. And likewise today, Islam is our boat. And when we're going to do Islam, they're going to say, what's wrong with you? It doesn't make sense. Why are you doing that? Because we're in a desert of godlessness. And those who got on the boat, they landed and they were safe. And those who didn't drowned. And today, we don't want anyone to drown. We don't want anyone to drown. No one to drown. But sometimes people drown in their misery or in their, in their unhappiness because of certain things they do. But what we're going to do is we're going to say, people might mock me. I'm going to get on the boat of Islam and the waves are going to come. We're going to stay on the boat and then we'll dock in heaven, inshallah, in paradise. And this is reality. And one day we will witness it, inshallah, and we will be together in heaven. And we'll still look back at this moment, Michael. And we'll be like, thank God I did that. Thank God. Thank God. Thank God. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. So this is a magnificent moment, magnificent moment. Alhamdulillah. So Bismillah, Bismillah, Bismillah. Any final thoughts, Michael? I just wanted to say thank you for your words and the feeling behind them. It's very beautiful. And I just feel very grateful that you're here with me on this day as I start my journey. And I know I have a lot to learn, but I'm looking forward to it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So imagining the significance of this moment, I'll invite you to bring the microphone close and then repeat after me so everyone can hear. Michael, repeat after me please. Bismillah. I bear witness. I bear witness. I testify. I testify. I declare. I declare. I affirm. I affirm that there is no one worthy of worship, that there is no one worthy of worship, except Allah. Except Allah. That there is no God, that there is no God, except Allah. Except Allah. And I also bear witness. And I also bear witness. And I testify. And I testify. And I declare. And I affirm. And I affirm. That Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. Is the messenger of Allah. Is the messenger of Allah. And I also bear witness that Mohammed is the messenger of Allah. The messenger of Allah. I also bear witness. I bear witness.  Ash hadu Ash hadu an la an la Illa ha illa ha illa Allah illa Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the Messenger of Allah. Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. There is no god but Allah.  Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest, Allah is the Greatest. There is no god but Allah.   Congratulations Michael. Bismillah we can pray together. Bismillah, Alhamdulillah, As Salaamu Alayhi wa Salaam wa Rasulullah.  We acknowledge you with every cell in our body.  We acknowledge you with every atom imposed in us. We acknowledge you and we submit to you. And we align toward, we reorient. We repurpose ourselves to obey you, to follow you, to love you, to trust you. And we ask you in this moment that you heard, that you saw, that you witnessed in a manner befitting to you, to accept Michael, Amin, to bless Michael, Amin, to give Michael openings and victories and illumination and blessings and guidance and to fill his home and his life and his family with joy and happiness and success and to make easy for him this journey called life and to pour in him wisdom. Ya Allah, we ask you to pour in him wisdom and to pour in him joy and happiness and to give him Muhammeden character, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, to give him beautiful character so that wherever he goes, he shines. Wherever he goes, he brings joy and he brings smiles. We ask you to make Michael a vessel of beauty inwardly and outwardly, mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, and to take care of him in this journey of life and to give him openings after openings after openings after openings and bring them and let them come.   Let him taste the sweetness of submitting to you. Let him taste the sweetness of your proximity. Ya Allah, we ask you Ya Allah to make easy for him whatever he's going through in his career and in his life to make it easy for him and we ask you to make him always honouring, take care of his family and his relatives and make him more beautiful as a Muslim than before Ya Allah. As he's abandoned, as he's abandoned that path and now it acknowledges you through the way of Islam we ask you Ya Allah, we ask you Ya Allah to bless him, Ya Allah. We ask you to take care of him, Ya Allah. We ask you to take care of him in every possible way that you know is good for him. Ameen, Ameen, Ameen, Ameen, Ameen, please accept Ameen. We ask you for everything good that our Prophet Muhammed Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam asked you for and seek protection from every harm that he sought protection from. And we conclude with your words in the first chapter of the Quran Al-Fatiha. Insha'Allah. Insha'Allah. Congratulations Michael, congratulations and now with a super clean slate with God I ask you to pray for me. I mean it, I really mean it, I'm desperate for your prayers right now. I know all the wrong I've done and all the mistakes I've done right now in this moment you are pure like a baby like the day you were born from your mother. Pure, sinless, pure. And I ask you to take advantage of this moment and pray for the world and humanity and harmony and to pray for me and my family and we're expecting a little baby any day now so thank you, so I ask you to pray for me. Promise me you'll pray, promise me, thank you. I mean anything you'd like to share in conclusion with anyone, with the family, with anyone. Bismillah. Just again I just want to thank everyone here at the beginning of this journey for me and my life and I just want to, I'm just very, very grateful for how accepting everyone is of me. Bismillah, Alhamdulillah. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you. Congratulations.