If I don't create the best thing that I could possibly create, it's over. My life is over, this career is over. All I am is this. I'm a creator, I'm an artist. I don't got nothing else going. This is what I do. If I don't put my heart and soul into what I'm doing in this studio right now, then I won't eat, you know what I'm saying? And my life has to change based on the quality of what this is. What's up? What's up? What's up? I'm Brandon Sean. And I'm Cory. And we are back with another episode of No Labels Necessary Podcast here at the intersection of creativity and currency. And today we have a very special guest and artist by the name of Lawrence Matthews. What's up, Lawrence? What's up? What's up? What's up? How's it going? Hey, it's going great, man. Glad to have you. Appreciate you on the platform, man. I think this conversation today is going to be valuable for the artist and also your future fans, man. The ones you have already and the ones you're definitely about to gain with the music that I've heard. Let's start here though, right? You're a new artist, like super new artist. Yet at the same time, you aren't a new artist because you're rebranding, you're the middle of a rebrand. Can you talk about where you were before and why you're rebranding under your, you know, your government right now? Lawrence Matthews, what brings that about? So yeah, first and foremost, thank you all for having me on here, whatever I appreciate it. And so I would say, so for maybe 10 years since I got out of high school, I was like making music under the name Dawn Lifted for a while. And it was more this kind of alternative hip-hop kind of base thing. It was kind of based on a lot of the experiences I was having at the time and like the music I was making. And like I started that in Memphis and kind of built my career up doing that and also fine art and filmmaking. So like I had a whole career, you know, existing as that artist and kind of like worked my way up. But like literally like 10 years, you know what I mean? Like being a man where I was from in the scene that I was from and like having a lot of different firsts that had never happened and like went through that whole everything that you always hear, you know, as artists that you're trying to kind of like bring into fruition, I kind of got there. And so when I finally got there, I ended up, you know, funding my own tour and going on tour and then getting signed to a regional kind of record label. And like for me at that time, I was like, yo, my whole life is changing. Like all of these beautiful things have been to come. I finally have a shot. I've been working for years and years and years to get my foot in the door to be able to like do this. And I finally got my foot in the door and it's not to say that it wasn't like what I thought it would be, but at the same time, it was like one of those things where you just kind of lose control.  And so you kind of relinquish a lot of control. You don't really know as much, you know, what's your first go at it. You're from a place, like I'm from Memphis. So you're from a place where there's not a lot of industry. You know, Memphis has a lot of music history, but we don't have a lot of infrastructure. So you don't really learn the things that you need to learn. And a lot of times when you sign paperwork and you're doing these different things, it's definitely based in a space of desperation. And so for me, it was definitely that it wasn't necessarily like I was desperate, desperate, desperate, but it was like, yo, if I don't do this, I maybe will not have a shot. It took me 10 years to get to this place, to have one person wanna do something with me. You know what I mean? So you end up, you know, signing paperwork and I ended up putting out a record with that label. And it was cool. And then they didn't pick up the option. And so, and also even within that, I had kind of realized that maybe I didn't wanna be signed to a label. And it wasn't the way that I wanted to run my career. I'm very hands on with everything. Like I produce my own stuff. I write my own stuff. I'm recording my own stuff. Like make all my own content, direct my videos, write my videos, edit my videos. Like that's who I was. That's who I was. And so to be in this space where like, I didn't really have much control was very hard for me. And so after that, you know, it kind of just got me to this space where like I had created something and worked on something for 10 years that kind of was bringing me unhappiness to be honest with you. It just wasn't what I thought it would be, you know what I mean? And I realized how much it pulls from you and how much it takes from you and how much this game is what it is to where I was like, I wanna do this my own way. Like I wanna start this all over. And there's a lot of other factors in there. A lot of emotional things, a lot of like interpersonal things wrapped into that or whatever and what those experiences were. You know, we can talk about that more in detail, but I eventually got to the space where I was like, looking in the mirror and not really recognizing myself, not really understanding how I found myself here and like how I had lost control or something that I had built, you know, for years and years.  And so once that option thing happened, I like me and my management party ways that I had at the time, I fired my booking and I went all the way back to like square one and like was like, yo, I'm just gonna make music as Lawrence Matthews with no limits, no bounds, no boundaries on what I'm trying to do creatively. Nobody in my ear telling me what to do, trying to force me to change what I'm trying to do.  You know what I mean? When you think about trying to reconnect with your inner child and these things, like I was like, I'm just gonna do that. And so I started making music from that place. And so the album that you know, where we're gonna share with the world, in the near future came from all of that and like pulls from all of those experiences and a lot of the darker stuff that I experienced along the journey to free myself. You know what I mean? From business things, from interpersonal things, from my environment and where I'm from. Cause again, I'm from Memphis. So it's a certain type of energy, you know what I mean? And so that was kind of where I ended up starting to get to that transition. And of course there's more details and we can get into that, you know, whenever, but that's kind of the initial thing. So yeah. Man, you said a mouthful, man. You got me thinking about so many different things. I think the first place I wanna just start though is hold up, hold up. You're telling me, just say Lime Like Honey, for instance. Your track that just dropped on February 26th.  But you're telling me the music video for it as well? Like you directed it? Me and my brother shot that and directed that and edited that together. Like a lot of stuff is in-house and we ain't really got no choice. Like I learned to record the engineer. Also that song, we recorded it in my dining room in my crib. So like the album was made in my dining room because again, like we went. I mean, that's what I was always doing anyway. Like when we talk about, you know, artists and these different dynamics, like when I got my first advance, I didn't spend it on nothing but buying studio equipment because I knew that at some point these people could probably take this from me. And if I go to these studios or I get connected to they people, then I'm relying on them to make music. And I never like being rely, like I don't like relying on nobody to be able to make music. So I just bought a bunch of stuff.   Like knock on lock. Like it's actually shocking to hear and see like the quality of the video as well. Like all right, hearing dope music from artists or you wanna hear that, that's entry, that's status quo. Then you hear dope music and he produced it. Like, okay, that's on special. Then when you see the visual on top of that and you're saying that you directed it and like that's your thing and put that together, like based on the whole package of everything that we're aware of, you know, like the vibes for your project coming up and everything. Hey, we just to be real, we assumed you were signed, bro. Yeah, we had a bet on it. Obviously we lost, you know what I'm saying? But we did have a bet on it.  When we made that, I didn't have nothing. That was probably the worst time of my life when I made the album. I didn't have nothing, no management, no booking, nobody looking at me, no prospects, nothing.  And so the quality of what you're hearing is one you hear in a person who is free and can do anything that they wanna do. So they gonna do it. The sampling and all that stuff, like I didn't have no budget. There wasn't no budget there. It was just make the best music you can make right now with the resources that you have. And so I just, we went into the studio and did that. And so I had to shout out my homey C major. He did my drum programming cause I didn't know how to use an NPC at the time. But I would dictate what I wanted and we would come up with the things and he would play it for me. But I would like sitting there and really compose this music and be like, hey, we using this sample this way, chop it like this, da, da, da, da. Like, okay, let's do whatever, whatever. But I want to shout him out cause like I wouldn't, he was my only partner in making this project. It was me and him in the studio every day for, I mean, from November, 2021 to like August, 2022. It was just me and him in the studio, in my dining room, which is the studio, but we was just in there working on this project. And then also when I said, you hear the person who's free, you also hear a person is like, if I don't create the best thing that I could possibly create, it's over. My life is over, this career is over, all I am is this. I'm a creator, I'm an artist, I don't got nothing else going. This is what I do. If I don't put my heart and soul into what I'm doing in the studio right now, then I won't eat, you know what I'm saying? And my life has to change based on the quality of what this is. We made this album to free me. You see what I'm saying? To free me not only from previous business circumstances or whatever, but to free me from the life that I was in. And I'm currently kind of in, I'm in flux right now. Like again, I'm in New York right now. It's like I wouldn't have been able to do that back then. You see what I'm saying? There was nobody there. This music has gotten me here. So the fact that I even have management at this point is because he heard a song that we put out just to put it out. You see what I'm saying? And so yeah, like what you said, I ain't signed, I ain't got nothing. And you know, we still building this ship. Like we building this plan while it's flying for real, for real. All we have was the music. I want to drop a quick note for anybody who has a fan problem. And not just any old fan problem, but the type of fan problem that we encountered after helping a lot of artists go viral, have a lot of success, get a lot of streams, but still not being able to know who exactly are my fans? How do I reach them? How do I actually leverage that to excel, merge, go to a show? Because that's where Spotify leaves us without knowing who our real people are. Same for social media. If you've had this problem, I'll tell you how we've been solving it. And our agency for a while now, in the pro version is just now being released to be accessible to any artist or manager out there. I'm talking about Forever Fan. A lot of the campaigns and successes that y'all have heard us talk about on this channel have been powered by that software that's made finding and understanding your true fans simple, so they support you with their pockets. Cause we all need a little money in this music thing. And now they're making it available to our audience for only $1 at foreverfanmusic.com slash no labels, no labels with an S at the end. And you gotta put in the code, no labels, zero, two. All right? Now, look, the DSPs, the social media platforms, I think they've shown us how much they care about artists for a while now. So at this point, we can all play naive or actually do something about it. Bet on yourself at foreverfanmusic.com slash no labels. And again, put in the code, no labels, zero, two to get initial access for only $1. Let's get back to this episode. Yeah, that's hard, man. I mean, it's dope, man, cause it's a testament to some things we've kind of said where, like you said, like you're technically starting to get ground zero in a sense of positioning, but because of mentality, you're not really at ground zero, right? Like you're ahead of where the typical artist would be. But you said something earlier that I wanted to ask you about. Well, I know you're from Memphis. Are you still like in Memphis? Like you're actively out there living there and things like that. So- Yeah, I'm still back. Yeah. Okay, so I know you had mentioned when you were under the other name, you said you were kind of making like alternative rap. You built a name for yourself in the local Memphis scene. Now, you can correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I've known about the local Memphis scene based on who's come out the last couple of years, an alternative rapper being popular there just isn't something I would have kind of expected. So can you one talk about, from your perspective, what the Memphis music scene is actually like? And then too, how were you this alternative rapper able to build a name for yourself in the city that's predominantly like trap music oriented? So the city is interesting in their way. So a lot of it's perception, right? So like the people that see and look into the city, the only people who truly do make it out are trap and street artists, right? Because there's different funding and there's different come-ups that they have to deal with. They aren't maybe the traditional come-ups like you can break your record in a strip club, you can break your record in the clubs, you can break your record these different places.  You know what I mean?  That doesn't exist in a scene that I came from. So for me, I built my kind of name in the gallery. So I went to art school and graduated like Dean's List top of my class, like art star, all that kind of stuff and had like a art career, like as a painter and a photographer and I did public art too and I still do public art from time to time. But I had a career as a visual artist and was like, you know, going back and forth between that and music. So when I started building my fan base, I tried to go some of those more traditional routes where I was performing at the clubs and the places and the little speakeasies and spots that like people kind of built their careers at, right? Specifically when you like into like the outside which is like through the poetry scene and stuff like that.  Nobody liked what I was doing. Nobody wanted to give me a shot.   And so I found a spot that allowed me to rent the space for like $60 a night. And so I started doing shows at this place and then hanging my art up and curating like site-specific art installations that was connected to the music in this space. And it was one of a kind back then. They just do this all the time now. Back then though, we talking 2013, 2014, 2012 and all up in that era of time. Like I started kind of doing that in first show, 50 people, second show, 100 people, third show, 150 people to the point where we got it to the point where we couldn't do shows there no more. And then we started branching out and like partnering with like some of the larger museums and institutions that are based in the city to do shows and to do partnerships and things. So I built my kind of fan base in the arts community, not in the necessarily like the community community. You see what I'm saying?  And so you kind of either have to speak to that or be present in that world. I didn't really grow up in that world per se. I didn't grow up wealthy and none like that at all. Like I grew up lower middle class or whatever out kind of on the outskirts of the city, but I would come into the city because of my art career. And I also was a filmmaker. I used to do documentaries about different neighborhoods and different issues that was taking place in the city. So I initially was like famous in where I come from as an artist and then started making music. And I was always making music. I've been making music since I was in high school, but at a certain point the popularity and the music and the populated art start kind of going like this. And so I found myself in this intersection where I had a lot of white fans to be 100% with you. Like making the music that I was making before, the audience was mostly white folks and alt people. You know what I mean? Like alt people, but maybe street folks weren't aware of me like that. But then at the same time, I would be like undercover all the local magazines and I would get all the press and all the articles because I existed in this intersection of fine art, film, music. And of course there's like this inherent like racism that's kind of built into that. Like you're the different nigga, you know what I mean? So like there's some aspect of like being aware of that. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? Is that how that goes? Because they want to reward you when you stand out from the bunch. And so that's a thing to be real, especially where I come from, that's a big thing. But a lot of people who had ability to platform me supported the music. And then on top of that, I ended up like helping start a nonprofit that then opened the gallery space in like Orange Mount. If you don't know nothing about Orange Mount, Orange Mount was like the oldest black neighborhood, like original black neighborhood, like slaves were able to get that land and then build their communities there. So I started our gallery there with some other people that I was dealing with at the time that I don't deal with no more. But I was able to like, yeah, I was like, no, like super known for all of these different things. And depending on who you talk to, they would know me for one thing or another. But as the music kind of kept going and kind of kept going, I got more and more known, more and more successful, but not in a mainstream kind of way. It's very scene-based in Memphis. And Memphis is very territorial in terms of neighborhoods. It's North Memphis, South Memphis. You got Orange Mount, you got White Haven, Binghampton, but then you've got Midtown, Downtown, East Memphis, Germantown, Cardiffville, so on and so forth. So I was very popular in the like, Downtown, Midtown scene, but a lot of that environment, a lot of the people who were in that environment dictate a whole lot. And so when you think about, you know, what you were saying about like what Memphis is kind of known for, like that's a fact. I, if it's me, would be the first non- kind of street artists to emerge out of there. It's tons of us though. It's not just me. The Memphis art scene is just as diverse as any other scene, or the Memphis music scene is just as diverse as anything. There's soul musicians, R&B musicians, rap musicians of all different types, street folks, street like, it's chances and Kendrick's and Kanye's and all these different, it's those type of architect, artists, there's the super 90s retro kind of dudes, there's like the super, it's everything, but they just don't get no shot. You see what I'm saying? And nobody cares about them because there's a perception on the city that is projected on to us.  You see what I'm saying? So we don't validate anything. We all sit there in the city and say, we want some different, we want some different, we want more. And it's not to say we're not taken away from the street narratives or the trap narratives or these different sounds, but there is more of the story that needs to be told that hasn't had an opportunity to be told. And a lot of times the people who do get to share end up end up being producers a lot of times. They end up being producers because they can make those beats. They take Keith is Murphysboro, but that sound is a Memphis sound. You know what I mean? And they are cut through. My homie, Cody, Cody produced for SZA right now. Cody's his own artist, but he make music that sound different than what people would expect. And so when you do come up to people and you don't have a traditional Memphis sound, which I can argue with people about what that actually is, they kind of write you off. They should be like, ah, this is not that. You know what I mean? But when y'all hear the record, you know what I mean? And like even the record that we just put out, I'm like, honey, that's Memphis stuff. That's Delta, you know, Delta blues samples, soul samples, all of these things. That's Memphis stuff. But most people who are outside the city recognize Three Six Mafia is that, but there is that stacks sound. There is the music that comes before that. And that's the music that I tapped into to make this project. And so I know that's a long answer, but like it is a very convoluted thing that we talk about all the time. Because Memphians is like, how do we add to this story? How do we add to the narrative? Because the people who do know Memphis know us for very specific things. And it's not to say that those things don't matter or they don't exist, but it's more to the story. You know what I mean? And I'm hoping that I can be one of the many people who then share that with the world. Because I do think once that doorbreak open, you're gonna see a thousand artists behind me, not even behind me, but alongside of me who also have their unique Memphian story to tell. And it's gonna change the way that people view the city. And it's gonna open it up just like any other neighborhood, you know, in Chicago or LA, like when Kendrick came through Compton, it changed the way that people saw Compton. It was a thing and I feel like that's coming soon. It has to, like I'm working for that to be the case. Kendrick is a good example. I see exactly what you're saying. Cause I feel like a lot of scenes have that, right? You got something that gets popular as in your scene, but then there's all these other artists that exist that feel constricted or can't get opportunities because people are looking for that, like when I go to that particular place. And then Kendrick, as you said, breaking out, he definitely tapped into something different and helped people realize, okay, Compton can look different, feel different, et cetera. So, you know, in where you lie musically versus the rest of the scene and what we heard, man is, I mean, it's definitely that. It's different, it's interesting. So it's not like the traditional Southern, cause now trap feels Southern, right? Because that's been so popularized, right? But when you get into the blues aspect of things, and then if you think a little, and then you hear, you know, just your accent, of course, looking at your imagery. And then, even if you think about a little bit of dungeon family type vibes, it feels like that feels like the energy that you're tapping into.  Outkast is one of the first rap acts I ever heard in my life. Like when I was a kid, my dad was playing that Tupac and like a bunch of like older hip hop, like Run DMC and like all that kind of stuff. But like when I think back about like my first introductions to like rap music, it was Tupac and it was Outkast. You know what I mean? In those early Outkast records. And so for me, when I think of what Southern music sounds like to me, it sounds like when you listen to Outkast records, you hear the amalgamation of influences that come from the South.  These are essential elements. Every jazz, every single American music comes from that pipeline, whether it's New Orleans to Mississippi to Memphis. And then it goes up to Chicago. Then it goes up to Harlem. Then it goes out to South Central Los Angeles. You see what I'm saying? And so for me, what I want to do, and then again, like for me, it mirrors my own personal journey. Me tapping back into who Lawrence Matthews is. Let me take this genre that I love so much and tap back into it and take this region that I love so much and tap back into the originalness of this thing. So let me go and get these blues musicians and sample them in these like rock because it then comes into the rock like this old, because it sounds like that, but it's not really that. It's still blues. It's just like electrified in different ways. Especially for Lime Light, honey, that Hoot Your Belly song that we sampled or whatever the way it sound is like we're channeling that and pulling from that. When you think about like, and I know Howlin' Wolf is not from, I think he was from the South, but then he moved. But Howlin' Wolf, there's records where I'm referencing him just as much as I'm referencing like ODB or just as much as I'm referencing Jay-Z or just as much as I'm referencing Andre or Goodie Mob or UGK or any of these people like that album. It is a Southern album and I'm a Southern artist and my narrative is that, but the sonics of it is me pulling from everything that I love about hip hop, but building it on a palette or foundation of our Southern contributions to music. You know what I mean? And again, like you said, Outcast is that for sure. Like people, I remember when I was younger, folks were like, Howlin' Wolf is weird. I'm like, this is insane. And when you go back and look at those videos, look at how groundbreaking those videos are to this day. The representation, the way that they like pulling all of these different influences together, there is nobody close. None of us are gonna get that. Like they had something special. We can only aspire to it. And for me, that was me. Like this album is very much like me trying to live in a tradition and like live up to the tradition of the amazing, amazing music that has come from Memphis, that has come from Atlanta, that has come from Houston, St. Louis.  Like I thought DC, you know, they right there too. So definitely, definitely. What's your favorite Outcast video? Where are we on that? Ooh. Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks is crazy. Bombs over back that is also crazy. That's my number one right there. That's my number one. When you go back, it's crazy looking at video. And not to like to carry it on, but like when you ask about that, right? There's a bunch of Outcast references in the Lime Like Honey video. We were pulling specifically from like Player's Ball and like, what's that first jump that they put out? Southern Playlist, like the single or whatever. When you go watch that video, there's shots where we were like paying homage to like shots from that video because when you go back and I wrote this in one of the statements that I sent out, we wanted something that felt naturalistic, you know what I mean? And when you go back before Outcast became like fantasy and it was like all of these things happening, if you go look at those early Goodie Mob and Outcast videos, it's literally just them in their neighborhood. It's just them where they're coming from. Representing these different places and the people in those spaces. When you go back and you look at Ludacris in TI early videos, not the TI where he was like trying to like be saucy or whatever, but like that. When he kind of tapped into like, hey, I'm not ashamed to be a trap nigga. Here's the trap. You know what I mean? Like at first he was trying to do some different stuff. They had a nip to him beats and stuff.  And then you look at like, it's a few of them joints where like, it's just him in Atlanta. And I was like, niggas ain't really did this in this way in a long time. Everything has been about like glitz and glam and all this stuff. And I was like, bro, I ain't got that.  What can we shoot?  Like our family members, like everybody in that video is family, friends, loved ones, people, restaurants, and black businesses that I actually go to actually hang out with youth, youth organizations that I actually work with. Like it's all actual connectivity in every single frame of that video, whether it be, you know, what's down on Bill Street, which we had to represent that or whatever. But like everything is very tangible, real stuff. All the homies that was hooping, them are my homies we hoop on the weekends. Like it was real Memphis life for us. You see what I'm saying? It ain't everybody life, but it's definitely ours. And that was something that I like saw when I looked at the early outcast, looked at early Ludacris, the early like, even the Memphis stuff or whatever, like folks gangsta walking and all that. It's like, this is that, like let's do that. Let's not try to pretend that we got more going on than we got going on. We are here right now. And let's present here right now to the world because most people are here right now. You see what I'm saying? Most people don't have a G-Wag and most people don't have all of this rapper aesthetic stuff that works on social media. We don't, I don't have that. That's not my life, you know what I mean? But what can I, what I can do is present my real life to you and where I am in this moment, whether that's in the lyrics, whether that's in the videos and I'm gonna keep doing that. You know what I mean? Just in my own way. Cause that's what I believe in, like just representing this place that don't get to be. It's always like the horror storage, you know what I mean? But it's like, it's everything. It's a nuanced identity, you know what I mean? So yeah. I love that, bro. I was literally just talking to an artist like last week, sometime last week and he was from somewhere in the country of Georgia from the same place as Phil Mobb. And I was, I was watching his video and I was like, this is dope, but no one where you from. And then hearing the actual sonics, the sonics were representative. I was like, bro, you need to show more of where you from. Like he was trying to do like fancier videos, a little bit more fantasy. And I was just like, no man, show more because for somebody who's not in the country, like for a dude in New York, you know what I mean? Like this looks like a whole nother world.  In the same way you might be in the country watching somebody in New York and be like, yo, that feels like a different world. That looks crazy. Like show people that because that helps you stand out versus trying to feel like everybody else. And that's what I got from watching you. It definitely felt. I was like, man, you're doing exactly what I was talking to that guy about doing. I could feel the energy. I felt like I knew more about you just from watching the visuals along with the music and everything. But like just watching the visuals, I feel like I know more about this place. You know, that's what we want. Because I think it's like literally like my brother's in there, my aunt is in there, my grandfather is the pastor. That's Lawrence Matthews, senior right there. Like these are my beloved family, relatives, loved ones. You know, my auntie who like exposed me to so much music growing up is in there with the cats and like giving me the guns and like all this stuff is like, that was my grandfather's guns who passed right before he passed when we put out another record green grow. But like that was his shotguns and like all of that stuff. Like this was my like that was at my granny house. You know what I mean? Like a lot of that. And like again, like what you said, I ain't got all of this other stuff.  In terms of like what you trying to do and what walls we trying to break down. And you know, like, I was just talking to another artist from the city the other day and he was like, man, I'm trying to do this and do this. And like, and I'm like, yeah, bro, like we all need to be trying to do this. It's a concerted effort. You know what I mean? I'll be buddies or whatever. But like if you got the common goal of expanding this narrative, and I also had this common goal alongside my individual goals, it's going to change everything. Like people are already saying that Memphis is creating, adding to this much of the market, this much of the this, this much of the that. So what happens when we have more than just that one narrative? What happens then, like when we look at Atlanta and we go, Atlanta's the Mecca, is this that and the other? Well, Atlanta's had the shot. It's been able to represent everything. Atlanta got two chains, Alcat, Tia, also young, it's like they can show so many facets of who they are as Atlanta people. Memphis has not been allowed the chance to do that because our narrative keeps being spit back in our face that we just trap and we hood and we balance. And yes, we are those things, but we also are all the other people who live in and out of those things and in between those things. And they got stories to tell too. And so for me, it's real important to like be true. And that was another part of like when we talk about the transition from my previous name to where I am now, I couldn't be as true in that music. It started is that, but then you're younger and then people start to place an expectation on what you should create and what you should be and how you should present and it's doing well. So you feel incentivized as a young person in your twenties to do that. And you keep regurgitating this stuff and just trying to make it the best you can. But at some point you go, do I want to be performing this? Do I want to win a Grammy for this? Do I want to be performing this for millions of people? Do I see myself performing this for millions of people? Do I want to keep even singing these songs? They're great songs, but I got so much more I want to say. There's so much more I want to show. And when we talk about fantasy, most of the music videos that I created at that time period were all based in fantasy. They take place in my head. And it's because my real life, I felt like wasn't worth showing to be honest with you. And I didn't think nobody would care. You know what I mean? And at this point, again, you could get to this place where you go, it's so important or I'm being ripped at the scenes so much so that I'm a live and die with me.  And I say that in a song, I just might try this on my own just to see how far it gets just to see because I've never been able to fully be myself as an artist.  And now you this, and now you sign paperwork is this and all kinds of other stuff. And so now you have to live out this thing, you have expectations of something that you not even, you're not even that no more. And when do you get to evolve? When do you get to share something new?  And I learned that in the visual art space, you make a great painting, they want you to keep making that painting, make it forever and ever and ever because we get to brand you this way.  We wanna want you to do what makes us money. You see what I'm saying?  I'm gonna share this art is me, whether it fails or succeeds, my name is on it is me. So because of that, I'm gonna pour my heart, my soul, everything I got, every resource, every phone call I can make, and that's how I ended up even being back in this space again, is by being like, this is me, it's connected to me, not in a way of like, oh, this is just what I do. No, this is what I am. And so in that space, I got a call, email, get anybody I can to understand what I'm trying to do here to figure out how to fund it, to figure out how to share it with the world, to figure out how to maximize it. And that's, it is what it is, because it's me, it's literally me. That album is me, the success and failure of that is the success and life of death of me as a person is directly connected because that's the deal that I made with myself when we went into the studio to make that.  Nigga, I tell you right now, I don't, uh-uh, I'll check out, I'm cool. That's not the life of when I've done it before. You see what I'm saying? All my niggas do it. And not the rent, but all my niggas throw boxes. All my niggas work for Amazon and FedEx and this place and that place and that place. They're factory workers. That's all that get produced. You see what I'm saying? My skills are art-based. I don't got no other skills. You see what I'm saying? So if I don't do this, I don't get to live. So it's everything for me to get this where it needs to go and share with as many people as possible and to share this narrative and to share this story because it's not just mine.  They may not be as specific, but they exist and they deserve to have a voice too, just like the drug dealer, just like the drug user, just like the pimp, whatever it is, whatever it is that you are, that you subscribe to, you know what I mean? Everybody should be able to tell a story and we haven't been allowed to do that. And that's an issue, you see what I'm saying? So yeah. Yeah, I'm just curious, man, because in the creative space, the big goal of a lot of creatives is to just be able to usually live off whatever their particular art form is. I assume many ascribe to be highly successful in it. And here you talk about your art background, man. It sounds like you were moving in a pretty good direction of being like a really top visual fine arts artist. So I'm just curious, what made you step away from that world and go into music? What was the thought process there? And then two, can you walk me through the emotions and the mind state you kind of had at that time, right? Like making the decisions to jump from this thing where I'm seeing momentum, I'm making a name, it's allowing me to build out.  The easy answer to be honest with you is like, I just loved, I love music. I love music way more than anything else in the world to be honest with you. I ended up probably in the art space because it was incentivized. Like I tell people this all the time. I don't know if I was like destined to be some great visual artist or just people kept telling me to do it. And so like when you were a kid, we all draw. Y'all drew when y'all was kids. I don't know one person that didn't draw when they was a kid.  But we all kind of suck. It's just like, it's kid drawings. You know what I mean? No kid ever drew a Picasso, you know what I mean? So it's just like, you just keep drawing.  And I think I realized one day that most of that had been projected on to me. It sucks to find it out in your late 20s, but you find it out. You see what I'm saying? And so for me, I went to school for that. You know what I mean? Like that was, and for me to be honest with you, I went to school for art, did really, really well and then transferred to Maryland so I could be closer to New York. And I had low self-worth, low self-esteem. So I believed I couldn't get into school in New York. So I didn't even apply. I ended up applying to schools in Maryland. I was like, it's two hours away or whatever, I'm gonna take my time and like drive up to New York and work on music and try to get my demos to people and my mixtapes to people. And like, maybe I'll get signed. That never happened, right? I never even got to New York. I was so bogged down working and going to school and dealing with like substance abuse and women and all this other stuff that I just didn't do nothing. I got kicked out of school, came back to Memphis and locked in on visual art while making music at the same time.  I was barely in school every semester, always had some money, you know, left over or whatever, like in terms of like, I owed some money every semester and had to figure it out every single semester. And so at a certain point, it was about living up to what my mom and my grandmother and people had wanted for me. None of my niggas went to college.  So it was a lot being kind of put on me to do that. You know what I mean? And so I did it and I take it seriously, like I take everything else seriously and I was good, I'm great or whatever. And so, you know, I was doing very, very well and I'm very ambitious too. So I was like, yo, I really want to do this. I can do this. I want to be in a moma. And I felt that way for a while and like was succeeding and selling work. My work that I was selling was financing the music. Like I was able to buy my first live setup or speakers or microphones that ended that awful painting money. You see what I'm saying? So that was my day job. The fact that I was a visual artist and then I'm doing city commissions and stuff. So I'm able to like take 10K, buy this piece of equipment and that piece of equipment to record music. But everybody who knew me knew I cared more about the music than anything in the world. It just was so much harder to do and it costs a lot of money, right? And then I started getting into photography. So now at this point it's straight numbers, right? And that is probably bad to tell people but like film, I do a lot of film photography stuff. A lot of it's about gentrification and displacement, black neighborhoods in the city, specifically in the south and stuff, but in Memphis. And that's what I got popular for, like more popular for and got a lot more money for, right? So I buy a roll of film, roll of film with $5 or something like that, $6 is B and H is high, right? I take 36 exposures. I take 36 photos. If I get 10, it's good. Let's say I get 20, it's good. It's a good night. I get 20 good photos of what I'm documenting. And then let's say five of them sell and they sell for $6,000 a pop. I'm straight. And I got a little bit to live, a little bit to invest in my music. And I always invested way more in my music than I did in my living.  I was living foul, you know what I mean? But everything was going into the music because people really knew, people who knew me knew that's what I care about more than anything. And people would pressure me sometimes to be like, why are you doing so many things? Why do you da, da, da, da, da? Because they see what they deem as a successful art career when in reality, I didn't wanna do like, I seen what you gotta do to get where you need to go in the visual art world.  Like getting plucked in the way that they can get plucked, being made and commodified and taken advantage of in a way that they can get taken advantage of which I've also experienced.    And I looked at that and I said, if I'll fight through fire, flame and everything in the world to keep sharing music with people, right? No matter the cost, no matter whatever, whatever but I won't do that over here. Maybe this is what I really care about. You know what I mean?  And so you try everything under the sun because I was good at a lot.  But at the end of the day, nothing made me happier, nothing made me more excited. Nothing made me get out of bed more than music. And at a point, again, in that transition point, I go, I need to shave away every single thing that ain't really what I wanna be doing. Or it is not bringing me the fulfillment and joy that I need as a human being. So I stopped, you know, showing visual art. I still was selling some stuff here and there to specific collectors. There were people I knew. But I really stopped showing. I left the nonprofit world because that world is shiesty. And I really couldn't deal with that no more. I was just like, I'm out of here. I left the nonprofit world, left the gallery that I was with, that I worked seven years to bring into fruition. I left there. I stopped doing city commissions. I put everything to the side. Everything, if you was funny in my life, I put you over there. And I said, I'm moving in this direction because I really felt like I was asking so much of the universe and so much of this music that I could not give my all to it. You see what I'm saying? And in reality, all the years prior, I had been given 40% here, 30% here, 20% there. And I was doing okay. But the goals and the dreams that I had for what I wanted to do musically required 100%. And when I sat back and said, nigga, you ain't never actually gave 100% to music. Do it. See what happens. You've been splitting your time and your energy with all these different things for 10 years. You've been an artist, filmmaker, this and then the multidisciplinary blah, blah, blah, community leader, activist, arts advocate, blah, blah, blah, all these things were like, put all that on the back burner and give your music 10 years. Give you, and let's start it. And so like when I tell people, 2023 was the first year of my life where every single day I woke up, all I did was focus on music. Nothing else, my music and my health and my growth as a human being and a man, you know what I mean? But outside of that, it was music. And I didn't see what changes have transpired in that little amount of time. And I go, damn, if I would have been doing this, but it wasn't for me to do back then. I had to learn a bunch. I had to like go through the fire. I'm one of those people, I don't, I wanna be a person who just like has all the right things and knows what to do at the right time. But I've so far been a person that has to like be the first through the door. And when you're the first through the door, you might get booked. You know what I mean?   This to I, now's a good time to go. That's who I am. And so for me, when we talk about age, like I'm 32 years old, I ain't got no shame in that I need it all that time. I had a label meeting last year where I told the exec, I said, you wouldn't want to sign me at 21. So thank God that I'm what I am now because this nigga is completely different than that nigga. You know what I mean? And for my own personal understanding and growth, I wouldn't have wanted to get signed back then. This man here today is prepared for everything that he's trying to manifest and to bring into fruition. That young nigga was not. And he lived the life of a nigga that was not. Everything that I bumped up against was not that. So when you say like, what was the thing? It's really love.    I love, I love music. That's my nigga. You know what I mean? Like we like this with ours. And so anybody who know me, I don't talk about nothing else. I talk about the arts. But when we get to talking about that music though, and not necessarily my music, I don't believe in talking about my music. I'm talking about just music, the history of music. I'm obsessed. I love it's the greatest thing that we've done. It's one of the greatest things that we've done, but I also love film. And eventually I want to get in there too. As you know, as we see from the video, but that's all through the lens of music. I got introduced to film through the lens of music. When I was younger, my cousin, y'all seen Goodfellas. We all seen Goodfellas. But you remember that soundtrack to Goodfellas? How like holding it was? That's why I was like, yo, you get to do this. And then I started to dig into that. So music is my life at this stage in my life and who I am at 32 years old. Music means more than me to anything. I, you know, it means more than me to anything. I love it. It brings me to perform, to share it, to create something dope, to like collaborate with people, to like refashion things, to sit there in the studio and like go through samples and hear this thing and channel this energy or hear this way you can flip this. And like put these, it's amazing. Amazing. So I tell niggas all the time, people I know they be like, man, I'm thinking about getting the music. I'm like, nigga, you sure? It should take, it'll take your whole, it's obsessive, it's beautiful. You know what I mean? It's enticing. You know what I mean?  And so I choose to believe that I'm put here to do this. You know what I mean? Oh, battery. Don't worry about that. Don't worry about that. Okay.  So yeah. Now that's really, I don't know, man. Like everything you said was beautiful, bro. Like it's good to hear, you know, an artist who loves it is legitimately trying to figure it out, understands the business behind it and all that as well and wants to make that work. But again, at the end of the day, you love it, right? Because there's so many people who don't, who don't love it and they're just playing the game. One for money, cool. And then there's other ones who just feel like they're cosplaying to me, right? They like the fame or the things associated with it or they like the idea of an artist, but they don't really truly study it. And I just like, so it's like, are you an artist beyond just wanting to put something out and get people to like what you do? Like, cause you don't know too much about the arts beyond your own output. You get what I mean? And so hearing you talk about that obsessiveness beyond your own music, right? Like that's what I love to hear, which goes back to all the things that you talk about referencing over and over again. The greatest artists that we talk about are always referencing some other form of art. It's history, it's research, like, you know, I remember I got in trouble in college. I said, I said, this artist, it is niggas that make art. And niggas were so offended by that.  But at the same time, it's like, no, that's real.  I'm not going to where the money is. I want to make money because it's my life, right? But I'm going to where my soul is and where my heart and my spirit is. And I want you to feel that in the music. I want you to hear it and I wouldn't be here. Like I tell my management, anybody we can have meetings with, I say, me being right here is a miracle. If y'all knew the ins and outs of my existence in my life and everything that I done been through to keep doing this when there's been times where it's been like, oh, lost it all. Oh, that didn't work. Like, people didn't understand this, whoop, whoop, whoop. Like, boot off, stay whoop, whoop. I just kept on my first show when I was, can't remember how old I was, maybe 20 or something or whatever. Niggas walked out, a whole half the room walked out because I was performing what I was performing. It was some different shit, but they walked out, walked out through me and everything. Like it was like, it was like a weird little setup in there. Niggas was walking in front of me and behind me. I'm sitting there trying to rap. And I remember, man, I was sick. I had invited family. My girl was there. My family, I was sick. And I remember just not speaking. I just remember like going, we went to AHA. And I was sitting there. I ain't eating nothing. I was just sitting there. And I remember going like, I'm finna quit. And I was like, this is too embarrassing. This is too rough. And I remember I woke up the next day and was like, this will never happen to me again. I'm finna take control of how I do this. And I went and like saved up money for six months and bought my own microphones, my own speakers. And I started doing shows in my garage. And I was, I'm gonna do it like punk rock niggas. And then I went to the galleries.  You know what I mean?  If I wasn't making music, I'd probably be like a history professor or something. And then like with the visual art stuff, it was very easy for me to make the type of art I was making because it's so research based.  So it's research based. So I'm spending all this time researching and then making the piece based in that research. And so with the music, it's kind of the same thing. I just love the music board. So I'm sitting here diving into blues, diving into these early art forms and putting together and fashioning what this is and channeling that spirit and that energy that was present, you know, in that stuff. You know what I mean? And I'm gonna keep doing that. Like, you know, we got this album again. I said that album was done in 2022. And, you know, we're currently mixing it and trying to get the support behind it and like talking to people and meeting people and like they just taking me around, you know, introducing me to folks or whatever. But I'm six records into another project or whatever that's pulling from another energy. You know what I mean? And I know what I wanna do. But I've known what I wanted to do for years. I just don't know how it looked like. Like I don't know how to get there or whatever. But like, that's why I finally thank God got a team around me that like, I've never had a team. Never had a team. All this time, I had never had a team.  My last name was Dunliftership. But I blew it up or whatever. And so I never really got to experience what it felt like to have support. I was always carrying this thing up a hill by myself, you know what I mean? With the people that people always thought, especially back home, people thought I was way more like successful and popping than I was. And it was like, Brian got no money. All my money go to music. You know what I mean? But because I had a little bit more than other people, especially coming from the environment that we're coming from, that's enough. That's enough. It's enough to get you popped too. Which is a whole other thing, you know what I mean? So it's always been a treacherous role to like navigate just being able to live. You know what I mean? Just being able to like share your stuff, you know, it's really difficult because the bar is so low in terms of like what being on looks like when you come from where we from, just having some visibility is you own. It was like, bro, I was famous in town and was broke. And then, you know, got a little whatever, whatever. And then went broke again, like purposely when it broke, pouring my money into things. And so people don't really always know what the role to like figuring your dreams out looks like or whatever. And that's why I appreciate like platforms like this one because it gives a transparent like look for like artists to kind of detail their stories and like what choices they made and what mistakes they made and how they figured these things out. And so it's like, for me, like, that's the stuff that I look at to keep going. Like, you know, now again, I got a team now. But back then I was in Memphis. There's no infrastructure, no support, no team, no OGs, no nothing. And so your belief has to come purely from within, which ain't always sustainable. So you get on these apps and you get on YouTube and you look at the content and these interviews of the artists that are doing things you would like to do and you pull motivation and inspiration from them folks.   Okay, okay. I'm not the only one that felt this, okay. And the other platforms, you know what I mean? We ain't gonna shout them out. But like, you know what I mean?  It's like, it's been beautiful watching like Vince Staples go around and talk about how hard it was to get that show off the ground and what his career has been like, that is more akin to me than somebody being plucked out of obscurity because they have potential and given a shot. Like that ain't never been my story. I never, I never, I had people believing in me, but I had, it wasn't necessarily people that could always do something. You know what I mean? It'd be one thing to lay it to a thing, to lay it to a thing, to lay it to a thing, to lay it to a thing, to lay it to a thing. And then you could take advantage of that opportunity. You know, it just might be somebody like, this dude is dope. But it wasn't like, hey, come here, come with me and da-da-da, like I'm just getting to that space where I made something that's strong enough and locked in enough for anybody to even invest the time and energy into me in a way that's non-exploitable, you know what I mean? So, you know, definitely, definitely shout out to y'all for like providing that type of platform for niggas to like go through and talk about the stuff that we talk about, you know what I mean? So, yeah. Appreciate it, man. Appreciate it, man. Yeah, man, appreciate you having you on, man. I definitely think your story and so much of what you laid out here is gonna help. Like, just not only artists, but just people in general who are actually like struggling to achieve a dream in general, you know what I mean?  So, I appreciate having you on once again, man. Yo, everybody, this is Lawrence Matthews. This is yet another episode of No Labels Necessaries. I'm Bryan Manchean. And I'm Corey. And we out. Peace.


We're going to talk to Clal Bitt, which is the IT group, IT division within Clal, which is 100 different companies. The CIO slash CEO, Yossi Yan, is joining us. Yossi is to my far left, and then Chaim Enger is the CTO of Clal Bitt. Now, as I said, Clal is the second largest insurance company in Israel, and Clal Bitt is the IT group division within Clal that services 100 different companies within that organization. So welcome. Welcome to theCUBE. Appreciate it. Yossi, you were telling me offline that it's a common model in Israel that an IT group division is a sort of separate entity and services that many companies or multiple companies within that conglomerate, which is a little different than it is in the U.S., often times that may or may not be the case, a lot of times it's very much embedded. Talk about that a little bit. What's that model like? Well, we're working on a yearly, maybe, multiple year budget with a specific project to every company, and the decision is made by the board of the company. And then we are following a specific budget to every project during the year, or if it's a multi-year project, then we're working on a multi-year budget. The way is that actually we have an accountant that follow the budget and the project and monitor in every month. So time and budget will be exact as planned. So how large is CLAL? CLAL is less than 5,000 employees and about the same number of independent brokers that are working for us all over the country. We have two daughter companies, one in the U.S. and one in England, and we are dealing with life insurance, elementary insurance, investment house, health insurance, and so on. So very much a diversified insurance company, essentially your financial services, your health insurance, quite different disciplines. You service the agent community as well. Is that right? Yes. We are supplying the IT system for the brokers, for the agents, and they are all connected to our computer system. So what are the big apps?  So talk about the application portfolio. Well, we have, of course, the claims management for different versions of insurance, which is very unique. We've implemented it on SAP technology. Actually I think that we've been the first all over the world to implement it, but this was before my time. We have an application that is on the broker's office that they can do, actually, most of the work until customer gets his policy. Actually they are working on our IT system. That's the agent system. Very important, obviously, because it keeps sales going. Yes. Okay. So those are a couple of examples. All right. So we're going to talk a little bit about your IT environment, virtualization. You've got SAP, you mentioned, you've got Oracle applications as well. Right. Okay. How much of your environment is virtualized? Well, we actually have almost a little bit more than 1,000 servers, and only two servers are now physical. We are waiting for the next release of a Veeamware in order to virtualize those two also. So for last calculation, it's 99.9998, something like that. 4-9s. Yeah. You're 4-9s virtualized, which, of course, if that were your availability figure, you'd be in big trouble. But if you're virtualized, that's a good number, and that's the physical hardware. How about the application portfolio? What percent of that is virtualized? Well, actually, everything runs on virtualized servers. That's SAP, that's, we have Siebel from Oracle, all of our Oracle databases, all of our SQL databases, even, we even have very old legacy applications. We have an application that was migrated from a Unisys mainframe into micro-focused cobalt running on top of Red Hat Linux over Veeamware. So that's 1960 technologies running on the 21st century technology. Is Oracle friendly or toward Veeamware in Israel than it is in the United States? Or is there a lot of this going on? No, there's a lot of this going on, but in their favor I could say that when I do open a case for any technical problem, they do not ask me if it's virtualized or not. They just solve it. We did a little technical thing by, I don't know how technical you want me to get. What is technical as you like? In order to prevent a case in the future when they tell me that, okay, that database is on a virtual system. They cannot support it. All of our Oracle databases are running on Veeamware, but using an RDM file system on VMAX machines. And I left one physical server with the Oracle installed on it, just standing there, doing nothing. In any case, that Oracle support will tell me, okay, we cannot solve this problem because that database is on a virtual server. I will have to, in a few seconds, I can move it into that physical machine. The problem will probably reappear, and they'll have to solve it over there. But I don't get the state of mind of Oracle. Why do they don't declare, like Microsoft did, that they simply support Oracle on Veeamware? Well, I'll give you my perspective as because Oracle wants to own the world. Yeah. I guess Microsoft does too, but I don't know. Okay, so obviously the sales guys don't want you to do this, and that's understandable. You can understand that, but you're saying the support is excellent. Oracle is a good support organization. And so now, Yossi, you must have been involved in the original decision to go down this path, the virtualization. Talk about the business case. Why did you start on this journey to the private cloud?


Building on our understanding that LTE advanced radio incorporates some very interesting and innovative improvements which increase the data rate that meets the IMT ITUR recommendations for the data rates that go up to 100 megabits or even 1 gigabits per second over radio in mobile environment. Carrier aggregation is the most important and the strongest feature that tries to implement the high data rate through cherry picking the desired frequency components which are offering the least interference at a particular moment. So we'll start with the background definition of carrier aggregation. We'd look at the concepts and we'll have an example. So carrier aggregation actually is meant to provide higher data rates by using, reusing, adopting, and adapting the frequencies which provide the least interference and maximum data rates. Carrier aggregation is based on the concept of spectrum allocation that is we can choose the frequencies in a given range of frequencies in a spectrum either in a frequency division duplex manner that is we can pair or we can bundle the bands together or we can take a certain band and we can take multiple time slots within that band that is time division duplex. Our scope essentially here is frequency division duplex. So the carrier aggregation actually means group or aggregate multiple carrier components and take raw bit streams from each frequency band. Consequently at the data link layer and subsequently at the network layer we are going to have the resultant accumulated bandwidth which is coming from individual frequency bands at the physical layer. Correspondingly we can get bandwidths up to 20 megahertz that is the maximum specification defined by the EU trend in LTEA starting from 1.4 megahertz down up right up to 20 megahertz. LTEA also prescribes that no more than five bands can be allocated it means with five bands theoretically speaking occupying a total of 20 megahertz bandwidth we can actually have up to 100 megahertz bandwidth available. Now depending upon the encoding scheme the corresponding scheme such as any smart keying like GMSK, QPSK, QOM emery techniques we can think about achieving a very very high data rate. Now this is a consolidated carrier aggregation diagram it's not actually the minimum side it only shows the maximum frequencies that can be incorporated each having up to 20 megahertz carrier bandwidth. Resultantly 100 megahertz can be allocated to a certain connection. Let's look at an example. This example is meant to highlight that we can choose from available spectrums depending upon our requirements at will it means there is no compulsion to choose from within a band or having only adjacent frequency components. As an example let's say that in 800 megahertz spectrum we take two components each having bandwidth of 20 megahertz in the 900 megahertz spectrum that is the initial GSM 900 megahertz band we have 10 megahertz spectrum that is 5 megahertz each and then in the 2.1 gigahertz spectrum we take another 10 megahertz that is two 10 megahertz bands for two five megahertz bands then we have the resultant of up to 60 megahertz it means what we have done here is we have taken four basically components two from the 800 megahertz band one from 900 megahertz and another one from 10 megahertz so using these four components we have achieved up to 60 megahertz we could go up to 100 megahertz but this is just an example that shows that we are not limited to choosing a certain number in a certain band as such. So this leads to certain spectrum allocation guidelines that is we can choose within one band the carriers or the carrier components which are adjacent to each other we could choose non-adjacent components within the same band or we could choose non-adjacent components in non-adjacent bands at will that is the third option so you see how much flexibility LTEA Eutran provides to us


Proudly, we hail. New York City, where the American stage begins. Here is another program with a cast of outstanding players and featuring less daily. Public service time has been made available by the station for your Army and your Air Force to bring you this story as proudly we hail our men in the Air Force. It is entitled Jet Flight. I salute to the engineers, designers, and test pilots who make this story possible. Our first act curtain will rise after this important message for you young men with two or more years of college. You are urgently needed in your rapidly expanding United States Air Force. The Air Force needs men today to be the leaders of tomorrow. Men who will follow in the tradition of the Air Force and its great leaders. If you are between 19, yes, 19, and 26 and a half years of age and can qualify, you are urged to join the ranks of modern air pioneers by becoming an aviation cadet. Stop in at your nearest United States Army and United States Air Force recruiting station today. Or write to Aviation Cadet Branch, headquarters, United States Air Force, Washington 25 D.C. To fly free to follow the sun and chase the stars. To soar skyward and dwell in the lofty cloud worlds of upper space. To join the eagle and touch the hand of greatness with wings. The quiet reddish dawn light is growing about you as you top the final crest. And before you the rays of the sun and the stars of the sky, the reddish dawn light is growing about you as you top the final crest. And before you the road's long finger stretches out to touch the airport below. The airport beacon, weakened now by fast approaching daylight still continues its unyielding round. In the darkness, it was a warm and living thing. It's meaning bright and purposeful. Now it has become weak and useless. A mechanical thing without purpose. There's only one runway. A long wide reaching highway that leads to another world, the world of flight. Nervous? Silly question. Blame it on the hour. It's the right hour, Kent. Symbolic. The dawn of a new day. The dawn of the jet age. Save it, Mac. I'll settle for a cup of coffee. It would taste kind of good, wouldn't it? Yeah. You know how I feel? Like it was graduation day. Only I didn't know whether I'd graduate. You and a lot of other people. But especially you. No, not me. I have faith in her. By the time you drive through the airport gates, the light of a new day is washed clean in the sky, erasing all vestiges of darkness. You drive on down the tarmac past the hangars, the shops, the offices. Past an orderly line of planes to a smaller hangar where you pull up and stop. Hey, look. Let me bring her out. All right, you're clear. Make it easy. It's far enough? Yeah, that'll do. All right, guys. Top of the morning to you. Looks mighty pretty, doesn't she? Okay, you can then hook her now. How do you feel, Mac? Like a burden. She's a burden, all right. What any burden I know to shame. You walk out to where she sits waiting. The force of a beauty drawing you like a magnet. There's a sharp, arrow-like quality to her sleekness. The wings, swept back in tapering, silently proclaim great speed. The tail fin juts thinly upward, away from a graceful, pointed body, whose silvered skin covers but does not hide the latent feeling of power within her. She's new. She's different. She's all jet. The other guy that's got to prove she's the best fighter that's ever come off a drawing board anywhere. Let's go get that cup of coffee. There'll be another hour before the brass starts arriving. Might as well. You've been over in... You kidding? We've been at her all night. You got the easy job, boy. You got to do as the flyer. The man's comedian. I tell you, we'll let Kent fly her. You teach me how to fly first. I never could figure out what you're doing around here anyway. I'm just an innocent bystander. I like to watch other people work.  Me and about 5,000 other people. Come on, I'm hungry. The guy who dreamed her up. Now it wasn't Kent alone. Like he said, he was one of many. And as you walk down toward the airport restaurant, you think about that. You think of where it began, of how she was created, of how long it took and what it took to fashion this lovely thing of speed and power and majesty. And to begin, you must go back nearly five years. All right, gentlemen, I think we can begin. Now, you've all seen the directive on the type of fighter the Air Force is looking for. I needn't emphasize that it's going to be like starting from scratch. We've got to forget all we know about conventional aircraft. This is brand new, it's different, and it's a big challenge. In short, we have our work cut out for us. I know some of you already have some pretty definite ideas on jet fighters. Kent here may have shown you some of his. But in designing this ship, the factors of speed, range, and armament, not to mention cost, are going to pose tremendous barriers to one another. Now, taking the first two we know, speed, range, and armament. It sounds simple enough. That's what you expect in fighters. That's what you've got to have. But how do you get speed? And how do you get range with a fast-burning fuel and no room for extra fuel tanks? And armament, how can you put teeth in there with 650 caliber machine guns when the extra weight will cut down on your speed? Those are but the basic questions. And there are thousands more, each one important in its way, each one related to the other. The designers, the engineers, the technicians, they're the ones who have to find the answers. It might look good on paper, but if it won't do what it's supposed to do, you'd better start again. One of our first jobs is to provide a way for the pilot to bail out while traveling at transonic speed. He's got to eject him fast enough so he'll clear the vertical stabilizer. Much too bulky that way. Far too heavy. You'll have to cut it down. Too bulky, too heavy, cut it down. Put a half dozen men to work on the job and in eight or ten months' time you've got your pilot's seats. It's just fine, but that's only a beginning. Because before the pilot can leave the plane, his plexiglass covering has got to go. And then, when you finally got that one licked, you find... Oh, it's just dandy. Peachy. The only trouble is we found the pilot's feet. Won't clear the instrument panel. Oh. What do we do now? Only one thing to do. You can't redesign the pilot's feet. Oh, we redesign the instrument panel. Simple as that. Only it's not simple. And more thousands of hours of work go into the single task alone. It begins to sound like you're not building a new fighter, you're building a new planet. A question arises from another angle. Temperatures in the tailpipe will range around 1200 degrees centigrade. And what would happen if you got a bullet hole in the tailpipe? Good question. And the answer? The tailpipe would become a welding torch that would melt the support frames for your vertical and horizontal stabilizers and goodbye airplane. Well, how do you get around that one? Well, you'll have to make the parts out of stainless steel. The only trouble is we've never tried the process before. And to try the process you find that in the blueprint stage alone it takes about 25,000 additional man hours. Mike, come here and look at this thing, will you? Oh, what is it? Well, you know we've decided to increase the elevator surface, but we know this would increase the pressure on the elevator. That's right. Make it even tougher to move the stick at high speeds. Yep. That's what this gimmick takes care of. It's a motor that'll move the elevator control for you. Move it for you? How do you mean? Well, this motor would be hooked up here like this. It wouldn't matter how fast you would move it. You'd just move the stick and it would do the job. What about feel? What do you mean? The pilot's got to be able to judge his maneuvers by the feel of the controls. Take that away. How's he going to know how to handle it, say in a high-speed pull-out? I hate to say it, but I'm afraid you've got something, man. We'll have to figure a way around it. Figure a way around it. We're over it. Go through it, but figure it. And how many figures do you get from the day you start until the day she's an actual creation? Over 5,000 blueprints go into her building. Nearly a million man-hours of work and sweat and ingenuity add up to the finished product. And then it's your job to find out if she'll do what she's supposed to. How does she taxi? So far, so good. What about on the runway? I haven't really let her out yet. She gets going fast. I'll have a full report for you in the morning. Any date set for her first flight test? No, I'm not going to rush her. Let's be sure of her on the ground first. She looks like she could jump up and fly just standing there. And I'll tell you a secret, Kent. That's the way she feels. And then one day, with the sky blue and beckoning, you find yourself looking straight down the long runway.  And the instruments and equipment about you are the key to her heart.  What's he sitting out there waiting for? Maybe you'd wait too if you were out there. Took almost five years to get this far. What's the hurry? Think anything's wrong? Relax, Kent. Mack will make her go when he's ready. He's ready? Keep your fingers crossed. Wow. Look at that baby climb. Mama, look what we've done built. And so for you, the real... Every day you take her up and put her through her paces. She's tricky, high-spirited. She takes lots of watching, lots of knowing. And every time you bring her down, your report tells what was good and what wasn't so good. They go to work on her. They swarm over her from nose to tail. Like so many doctors, they listen to her heart, check her blood pressure, examine a nervous system that's made up of nearly two miles of wiring and make the diagnosis. Until finally, one day you bring her in and the headman says... Well, gentlemen, no one disagrees. I think she's ready to perform for the brass. Unless we're all wrong, she's got what it takes. Speed, range, armament. She's all jet. And there's nothing to match her anywhere. With less David in the featured role, the Proudly We Hail production jet flight will continue in just a moment with the second act. Here's good news for you young men with two or more years of college. The age requirement for aviation cadet training has been lowered to 19. Yes, if you are between 19 and 26 and a half years of age and can qualify, you will receive your silver wings and your commission as a second lieutenant in the expanding Air Force. There is a vitally important job for you as a pilot, navigator, bombardier, radar observer, flight engineer, or electronics officer. And there's golden opportunity for you in this jet age of air power. For full information, visit your United States Army and your United States Air Force Recruiting Station, or write direct to Aviation Cadet Branch, headquarters, United States Air Force Washington 25 D.C. That's Aviation Cadet Branch, headquarters, United States Air Force Washington 25 D.C. About 40,000 feet up. What? Yeah, that's what I mean. You want a trance? Oh, I'm sorry. You know, I was just thinking. We somehow gathered that. What's a home and all that sort of thing? You know, I was a guy who wasn't worried. You haven't touched your coffee, and you haven't said five words since we came in here. What's the matter? I thought it was all going to be a piece of cake. Well, it is. I was just thinking about the cake itself, all that went into making it. Some cake. Hey, uh, Jeannie, bring this character another cup of coffee, will you? Look, hot shot. It's all the same to you. I'm a little more concerned with the immediate future than testing her for the last 17 months. What's the matter?  No, no. You know, I don't think that, but, uh, I can't help thinking of all the millions of things that can go wrong just when it counts the most. Well, Kent, if anything goes wrong, I'll have a little bit more to worry about than you. Yeah, but it still doesn't stop me from worrying. Can't be an old woman about it, Kent. Well, not get ulcers. The trouble with you is you don't have any nerves at all. You think the guy would have a little more confidence than something he helped to build, wouldn't you? Look, I've got just as many nerves as you. And if I didn't believe in that, baby, I wouldn't go out and fly her for the brass today. But you just relax and enjoy the show. Sure. Be stout-hearted. Like me. Maybe I'll bring my knitting along. The millions of things that can go wrong. It's a nasty thought that's bad enough in a designer's head and absolutely poisoned in the pilot's.  The solid, untouched early morning blue of it goes right through your eyes and into your heart. Suddenly you're impatient to get up there. Kiss the earth goodbye and go dwell in the limitless world of flight. Testing and its importance become secondary to what lies ahead. Got everything? No. I need my snowshoes, laundry basket and toothbrush. If you could see yourself, I'm beginning to think you don't think much of your own work. Okay, so I'm nervous. That's my business, isn't it? Well, sure. But I don't want any of it to spill off on me.  I'm sorry, Mac. I'll get out of here, leave you alone. Now, she'll come through. I'll bet on it. And I never bet unless it's a sure thing. Good luck, Mac. I'll be watching. And it's all over, I'll buy you a soda. Hey, Mac, the boss wants to see you. He's in his office with the Air Force Joe's. Happy landings. Morning, Mac. Morning, boss. You feel like going in there, meeting the Air Force? I'd rather go fly an airplane. It's plenty of time to meet them afterwards. They brought a couple of their own test pilots. When it's over, you can start briefing them. They'll want to check around as soon as possible. Well, they must be eager. I think it has more to do with the air force. I think it has more to do with time than eagerness. Just as soon as they put their stamp of approval on it, we go into production. Big rush, eh? Mighty big. Other than as soon as I get flying, as soon as we get into production, how do you feel? Fine. How about you? Well, I like eating cigars. They help digest my breakfast. Let's save one for Kent. He's about ready to pop his buttons. Well, I guess maybe we all are.  Well, there's not much I can say. But, uh, good luck and take it easy. Thanks, boss. See you later. Tower to McRae. Tower to McRae. Over. McRae to Tower. Go ahead. They're all set down below, Mac. You're cleared for takeoff. Cleared for takeoff. You've got your passport to the stars. In the cockpit, the sound of her voice is muted and hushed. She purrs like a cat. And once you start moving, you leave her voice behind altogether. The sunlight gleams on the canopy, warm and assuring. The runway invites you to follow its course. It's time to go. You move the throttle forward smoothly and easily. You head back against the rest, with sudden pressure pushing hard at you. You become strongly alive in an instant.  Your blood.  And you need no indicators, no mechanical dials to announce her readiness to slip the chains of Earth. Or she tells you so herself.  She seems to get off nicely enough.  Hard to tell how good she really is standing down here. When's it gonna make a gunnery run? The time has come, the walrus said. You've shown them how she takes off, how she lands, how smoothly she rolls, and how nicely she racks up. Now it's time to get down to business and show them how much of a sting she carries.  You'll have two, maybe three seconds to cut loose. An instrument of great ingenuity and remarkable precision is your guide. You glue your eye to it as the target looms larger and the speed builds up. You flatten out and come roaring for the kill. That target practically disintegrated. He's got five more to work on. Just watch. Now they know the kind of a whip she carries. She's a nice girl but deadly on trespasses. Next on the list is speed. You level off, get lined up, and pour the cold to her pressing the throttle against the step. You were to put a covering over the canopy and block out the hypnotic swing of the airspeed indicator. You might think you were sitting in an armchair at home, where you hear nothing and you feel quite normal.  Every nerve in you is key to the bolt of lightning you ride. One minute error on your part. Steady. He's starting to vibrate. You've caught the speed of sound. Hold on now. Hold on, brother. You've left the speed of sound behind and the tracks clear ahead. You don't know just when you pass the clocking points, but after a while you throttle back, slow down, turn around, and go back and do it all over again. That's not a plane. It's a shooting star. Interesting to see just how fast they clocked him. Now I know what they mean when they say he was gone before he got here. Be coming back again in a second or two. And so the show is almost over. Her rain, her maximum ceiling, her rate of climb, those are statistics that were known before this final test. The Air Force pilots will have plenty of chance to check and prove them. Now her speed, her firepower, and her general performance have been noted. All it remains is a terminal velocity dive to find out whether she'll keep her wings on and you'll stay in one piece. It's not the going that hurts. It's the pulling out when the force of gravity tries to crush you right through the bottom of the cockpit. You take one last look around and then pull the carpet out from under her and head for the earth far below. Now timid on winds, faster and faster, the safety margin of height is whittled away in a banshee's wail. You wait for the airspeed indicated to hit a certain mark. That's when you'll start to pull out.  Come on, hurry up and get there. There's not much room left. All right, now. Start easing her back gently.  Fingers grab at your flesh and try to tear it from your bones.  Your vision goes. Your lump of stone. You can't move. You'll never pull out. You've got to, got to. She got them all, Mac. A lot more besides. Yeah, all there is. Did you see the reports on your speed? A couple of miles an hour, wasn't it? Hey, hey, hey. Bit of big day. A real big one. Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Hmm. You almost spoiled it for me with that last dive. I wasn't exactly sure you were going to pull out. Well, I'll tell you a secret, Kent. Neither was I. Yeah, I bet. Well, now the real work begins. The boss says we start production by next Monday. And then you produce it. Make it by 50s, by hundreds, by thousands. You modify it. You improve it. You start with model A. And before long, you're turning out model D. Each model a little bit better than the previous. But to do it and do it right, you need machines. You need manpower. And you need skill. Greater skill than ever before. Because this is a new job with more complexities and more demanding exactness than any fighter plane ever built. And the thought comes to you that with so many people putting their brains and energy to work on the same project, working for the same goal, you can't miss. And so with darkness once again sweeping in over the land, you leave the airport with your friend and drive on toward home, the humming wheels echoing over your frame over and over in your head. He's all jet, Mr. And you built her for young men to fly. Thank you, Les Damon, for a very fine portrayal. Now here's an important message. Can you qualify to fly in your United States Air Force? There's good news for you young men who have had two or more years of college. Yes, because today the age requirement has been lowered to include you fellows who are just 19. If you can qualify and are between the ages of 19 and 26 and a half, you can fly the mighty bombers and speedy jets of today's expanding Air Force. There's an important job to be done and there's an important future for you in Air Force Blue. For full information, visit your United States Army and United States Air Force Recruiting Station or nearest Air Force Base or write to Aviation Cadet Branch, Headquarters, United States Air Force, Washington 25 D.C. I'll repeat that address. It's Aviation Cadet Branch, Headquarters, United States Air Force, Washington 25 D.C. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with this station by the United States Army and the United States Air Force Recruiting Service. This program featured Les Damon. This is Kenneth Banghart speaking and inviting you to tune in the same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.


Hello everybody Andrea Trosky here with dental tutoring. So let's talk about why you might not want to be a dental hygienist So if you're a student, you're not really sure what you want to do You've heard that the dental hygiene profession is a good one to get into but you don't know if it is for you So let's talk about it So if you don't like doing the same thing every day then dental hygiene is not for you If you want to do something different every day then consider dental assisting because you are always doing different Procedures and learning something new whereas dental hygiene you are always cleaning teeth, you know pretty much It's not easy. You have to think about oral hygiene You have to think about and talk about many many different things. You have to know a little bit a little bit about oral pathology Pharmacology all kinds of things so it's not easy But all in all you are doing the same thing every day and it's funny because that's what I I actually love about being a dental Hygienist is that I know what I'm doing every single day So I do love that but for those hygienists that I know that don't love what they do That's something that they do always say is I wish I had more of a variety and that I was doing a little bit of both Now I do know also Um I do know hygienists who are dental assistants first and they actually like doing assisting and hygiene So that's an option too, but keep in mind as an assistant You get paid a certain amount and as a hygienist you get paid another amount. So do not expect to be paid Um the hygiene wage if you're doing assisting. So just something to keep in mind Um another thing that you might not like if you're a hygienist And it might not be for you is being a hygienist takes a lot on your back your shoulders Hips so if you're already Suffering per se from neck problems back problems hip problems Then dental hygiene is not for you because I don't know any hygienist That does not have some form of a back hip neck or shoulder problem because we are constantly hunched over Yes, you do have to sit properly But we all you know Don't always think about that if we're running half an hour behind If we're you know in a rush if we have a difficult patient where we either have to stand up or sit down a certain way Or whatever. So you can Have problems with your neck usually back shoulder hips that area now I used to work full time and I work about part time now. So I work about twice a week. So my neck Has actually thanked me. I am not sore anymore My hips tend to get sore a little bit if I do extra long days Like if I have those 12 hour shifts I am sore at the at the end of the day, but that only makes sense right because that's a 12 hour shift So if you can help it try not to work too many long shifts But that's just not always possible. So something to think about Um, another thing is as a dental hygienist, you will be asked to work evenings and or weekends Um, if that's not something you like then this isn't the the position or the profession for you Same with dental assisting. Actually, you will likely be asked to work At least one one evening and one weekend. So like a saturday if they're open on sundays It could be a sunday. So if that's not something for you, then this isn't something that you might like But having that said I became a temp hygienist about six months a year ago now, maybe Um, and I just choose not to work evenings or weekends. So as a temp hygienist, I can pick and choose My own hour. So that's kind of an option for you as well Um, another thing about being a hygienist is that so as I said before you are doing the same thing every day But you are are also on your own. So you have to deal with everything on your own You will not have somebody to turn to to ask questions necessarily You will not have some way to help you if you're falling behind So if you're 30 minutes behind there might not be an assistant or somebody else available to help you Because as a hygienist you work on your own. So if that's not something you like Then this isn't the job for you and assisting might be another option because at least if you're behind It's not your fault. It's likely the dentist's fault.  You're the one who sees the patient as they leave You have to write notes in the chart. You have to usually clean up everything set up everything all of that. So If that concerns you then hygiene may not be for you But that's about it you guys. I can't really think of too much Why you wouldn't want to be a hygienist because the main thing is is that you work on your own And you're doing the same thing every day. So if that's not for you, then you may not like it um Coming from other hygienists that don't like their job per se. Those are just simply the main things that they say um also that they they um When they work full-time they tend to get quite sore and they find they can't work as long as they want to because they do become quite sore So I'll say it again. If you have have any chronic back issues or neck problems Being a hygienist won't make it better. It will make it worse. So just something to think about and where you live um You might not get paid as much as you want to you might not get paid as much as somebody else because I For hygiene they're not paying us more They're just staying the same and even trying to pay us less So if you're new they will try to pay you a lot less than somebody who has 20 years experience And they might hire somebody who's new over somebody who has 20 years experience because they make less money So that's just kind of the thing right now. Um at least in my um area Where we're not being paid what we're used to so if you are looking for another position In another office that might be harder for you because the office doesn't know you Even if you have experience they might try to hire somebody fresh out of school So that they can pay them less. So just a couple things But all in all hygiene is amazing. Assisting is amazing, but not for everybody So I hope that helped if you guys have any questions. Just let me know