Nightly Strange Podcast
We speak on random topics with guest as we help navigates different aspects of life, one person's journey could be another's motivation or of caution, thanks for coming!
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Nightly Strange Podcast
Nightly Strange Podcast - Dyrect Interview Pt.2
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Yo, welcome to the nightly strange, range, range, range.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to the nightly strange, ladies and gentlemen. I'm your host, D Mac Uno. Special guest back in the building, Direct Man.
SPEAKER_00How you doing? How you doing? Doing alright, man. Grinding every day. You already know what it is, man. Hell yeah. Hell yeah. You've been traveling a lot. Where you been at? Uh recently, what did I do? I did some things. I went to Hawaii. I was there like two weeks ago. We went to um two islands. We went to um Maui. Uh kicked it there. Uh it was cool, man. My uh it was just it was it was a dope experience, man. I've never been to Hawaii. I've been to six out of seven continents, never been to Hawaii. So Maui was like beautiful, serene, and then we went to Oahu, which is like you know, Waikiki and all that. I mean Honolulu and all that. So it was uh it was it was more city like, so that was dope. And then I went to Atlanta uh last week uh for work, which is crazy, man. So that's dope.
SPEAKER_02That's dope. That's good you getting out and traveling, man. So last time we talked, you know what I'm saying? You you you had me bring back the podcast. I was busy doing other stuff, you know what I'm saying? So I'm I'm I'm honored that. And you dropped the album, man. How was the album received?
SPEAKER_00Man, um, I ain't gonna lie, as an artist, you know, you build up. I feel like um, you know, when we talk about artists, I really do the full the full rollout. Like yeah, radio shows, podcasts, um what else did we do? Uh I think we had like four or five videos or something, something crazy. It was we did videos all over the world for this project. So, you know, for me, I thought it was going to be, I think as artists sometimes we go, oh, this is gonna be just ah, everything. And uh and I think it was um for me, I was a little let down on the actual day that it released, to be honest. I was just like, I thought it was gonna be a little bit more um hype than it actually actually was on the day of the release. And then like uh it's crazy how blessings working. My boy was just, you know, I was just sitting there and then it was like a week later or something, that shit just started going. People, you know, hit me up. This is the best project, you know, that I had heard of stuff. So sometimes as an artist, you know you gotta give it time, right?
SPEAKER_02It was uh and and we live in a different time now, you know. Like, you know, like when you go to like hip hop sites or the blogs, they'd be like, Oh, this person's first week sales were low, but it don't work like that in streaming. People are gonna get to it when they get to it, you know what I'm saying? It's not like we're rushing to the store to go buy the album, you know what I'm saying? It's like, and like and back then, people you wanted to be the first one to hear it, and nowadays people are like, Okay, someone drops something cool, I'm gonna get to it. You know what I'm saying? And then when they start listening to it and it resonates with them, it works out. It was a dope album, you know what I'm saying? I like the production was on key, your lyrics was uh everything was crisp, man. You had a great rollout on that. So I appreciate that. How was you how was you received by the peoples in your city? Because you know they're funny, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh for me, uh, the people that I talked to and stuff, whoever actually listened to the album, it was great. For the people that didn't didn't didn't listen to it or whatever, I can't be too too mad about that. Yeah, as you know, we're we're from uh it it's clicky, so either you fuck with it or you don't fuck with it, but I didn't make that album for for where I was from necessarily, right? Yeah, um you know when I look at things like Shazam and stuff, we getting Shazam's in in Japan and Shazam'd and in different places. So I'm doing it for the people that are seeking a certain type of rap. Rap is it almost should be different genres right now, right? When you listen to hard metals, hard metal. Yeah, we listen to certain type of country is country. They have new, they get a whole new era country award because country's so different, right? They got two, they have multiple.
SPEAKER_02Remember, they had the two things at Grammys, they got like a contemporary country and then like original country. Because Beyonce came in, they were like, all right.
SPEAKER_00Exactly. So they can't, they didn't they need to do that with rap, honestly. There's so many different types of uh raps. Like for people that are looking for that, yeah, it definitely did what people were just supposed to do. Uh and as artists, people like when you drop it again, I'm not gonna lie, bro, when you really do it, when you're not just saying uh my album name is I mean my song name is Get It Up. Uh I need you to make me a cover for Get It Up. And if you're not just saying that the Jab Steve Jab G Chat GPT and putting it out, and you actually love the shit from your heart's hole, it's exhausting. Right? It gets it's just like, damn, because you know, you don't necessarily, I'm not paying everybody to do everything for me. I'm I'm um, you know, you can if you can save money, cut a corner, when I get my cash check and my royalties, I want all my stuff. So I'm not, I'm not uh if I can do it, I'm actually doing it. You know, uh we do hire people, I do believe in the 10,000 hour rule. So I I'll shoot a part of my music video, and then for certain things, we gotta bring in the pros. And then for the editing, I'm not a 10,000 hour editor. So I don't need it's even with the studio. I can record my own music. Yeah, you can record it. But this missed in the mastering, you can tell when somebody didn't trust somebody who actually does that to do that, right? And so that's um really what I'm what what I was focused on for this project. And you know, um learning, you know, I'm I'm uh I'm passing the game on to my to my to people that really want to, you know, learn this stuff. Uh uh, you know, it's kind of like uh when you see online, I don't know if you'd be on X Dall, people be like, uh, and and you feel this is an artist at work, they'd be like, Chat GBT is a lazy man's way of looking like he's working like the passion before. And somebody was saying that like a thing. Yeah, that's really what it is. Like even in school paper, yeah, you got somebody really writing the essay, and teachers are catching it now because we it's the way that the vocabulary is said. Remember that uh that song that came out swiping cards and stacking chips. The dude tried to say you didn't use AI. But he did, but he did, and then when people found out he could get no show, it was almost like Millie. I'm not saying that he is, he got other talent, but that song was almost like Millie Vanilli, because there's really people out there. Like Tiger stuff wasn't real well.
SPEAKER_02It wasn't real, and then there's the new artist too. He made that one song, I just wanna dance. I just that whole the whole thing was written by AI. You know what I'm saying? Like I was playing this dude out here, I gotta, I gotta meet him in person because I'm playing this music to this girl, and I'm like, yo, this dude's dope, but she's like, nah, that's AI. I was like, how do you know? She's like, because I listened to AI music, and you can tell it's the same voice that they keep using for it. And I was like, damn, and she played it, I was like, damn, that's crazy. And it's just like, you know, people, it's it's kind of like video games, man. You know, people aren't good at video games, so they're gonna cheat any way they can to be good at it. And so, how do you how do you feel about people complaining about the AI like um thumbnails and the posters and stuff?
SPEAKER_00Um, it's kind of like what you said with the songs. After a while, you look at it and it all looks the same. All these people's posters look the same, all these people's albums. I understand using, like I said, you could use it for the base of shit, like like for some of the stuff, but yeah, you know, actually care about what you're doing, and that's the difference between you know, people that are gonna be around and some people that are not gonna be around.
SPEAKER_02And you know, um and I use AI for my thumbnails, but I put thought into it. Like, you know, I'll take a person, I'm like, hey, make this person blah blah blah, and I'll take them, take that, make it transparent, then I'll make a background. You know, for me, I can make my own, you know, artwork. I I do art, but this for me, it just saves me time. You know what I'm saying? But like you look at some people's flyers, bro, they all look the same.
SPEAKER_00It's exactly they're not customizing anything. Make me a flyer for uh event that is um us playing basketball on the waterfront, you know what I'm saying? It's gonna give you the same font, the same everything. Um, even if you change it, like like it it starts. I'm not saying that I've never, I like I've used it for a starter on some stuff for sure. Uh uh, but like I said, you could tell the difference between the cats that's really doing stuff and putting the passion into it. You know, that's why, you know, like I said, some people can move a needle and some people can't move a needle. And I'm not saying that I'm one of those people, I'm just saying in general, people can tell who who has passion for things.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, no, and that's true. You know what I'm saying? The more work you put into it, the more you're gonna get out of it. Like, I was thinking about it the other day, like how hard it is, how hard it used to be an artist in Bremerton. Like, for me, it's like I had to make my own flyers, I had to record my own music, I had to do all the stuff myself because some people just ain't dealing with you, you know what I'm saying? And so it's it's it's a hard thing. And I had to I had to go to Seattle to go get my my props and stuff, which worked out, and it's it's kind of funky like that. So last when we first, you know, we started we first our last interviewed you, right? It was the whole Kit Tab County rapper list, everybody's coming out, hoopla, I'm the best. This, this, is that and so now we're here months later, right? The summer's the summer's almost over. How do you do you feel it's it's kind of fizzled out? And um, do you feel like kind of you're like one of the last men standing?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, uh, I mean, not even one of the last men standing. Uh, I think it's uh I've been a rapper. You know, I said I've been a dude that's doing it. So whether they're I'm passionate, really passionate about music. So it's like whether they're doing it or they're not doing it, I'm always gonna be a person that doesn't. What I was a little disappointed in is I thought there would be more music in albums. Like there's been some singles, but there's not been that many albums. Like who who is dropping full album Shadow Freeze? Freeze is Freeze is doing that with full rollouts and stuff like that. I thought that there would be uh more of that. I kind of wanted to see that from the city. Um, I also wanted to see people that were starting stuff and you know, that weren't actually rappers that were hyping stuff, that say they do this and they got their platforms and that to give some opportunities to these artists that they were pumping up to. You know what I'm saying? Whether they were active or not, you know, they was giving shout outs to people that might not have been that active, you know, give them a platform to be active. You know, I was I was looking forward to see uh what happened with that. Instead, it turned into it, it just seemed like it turned into like a fizzling out uh bitterness contest. Like some people were bitter about certain things instead of just talking and talking and being cool. A lot of us grew up together, bro. It's not uh no real problems, and and you know, it turned into, you know, who you know, I I don't know, people saying there's certain relevance and things like that. And I'm just like, do it with the music. That's why, you know, I um one person I did see, you know, of course cutthroat and mace, they're letting out songs. Yeah, every month. Every month. Wanted to see why a little bit more YB.
SPEAKER_02YB drops, he's he's been dropping a lot more. Ever since he did um, every ever since I did the uh the interview with him or whatever, he's been now. I'm not saying I did it, you know what I'm saying, but he's been dropping more. You know, I was just gonna say that.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna say that, but it wasn't like you know, before that and stuff like that. So I'm just like, I want to see him just stay. He he lists out dope things.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, YB's dope artist.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, Jada Sales' been releasing uh some stuff. I seen what she was doing with that, you know what I'm saying? So it's you know, stay, stay, stay on that. You know, if we're talking about, you know, instead of you know, it it's not a popular contest, just stay on your music, you know. Uh yeah, it's crazy how people talk about it.
SPEAKER_02My account got taken. Yeah, my account got taken away. My original Facebook, my Instagram, and stuff. I was doing too much. But you know what I'm saying? I had to go back and go get the Kidsap County artist page, you know what I'm saying? And like nobody, they don't post in there. And there's there's the there's one place where at least on Facebook, everybody can post their material in, and people don't utilize it. You know what I'm saying? Because people like, hey, I don't want to be a Bremerton rapper. And I get what they're saying, right? But you're from Bremerton, you know what I'm saying? Like, this is what made you. Like, you can't just dip off, like, where you from? Oh, I'm just from Washington. You're gonna claim Seattle, like, Seattle won't claim you. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00Like, they don't want they weren't even gonna let you allow you to claim it, claim yourself. And then how you know a lot of these people, I don't know, it's it's just a weird thing. Like I said, it it's it's been like a relevance contest. You know, you don't too hard, like you said, you you brought back up the music page. Um, what I like to see is action, like I just said. Uh what are you actually doing with your stuff or you know who who's making something happen? Like, one thing that I was happy to do is see you do a lot more interviews. Like, I was I was on your early Kids app county thing. But you know, if we are talking about relevance, it hadn't been done for a while, then Dive doesn't, and then it's back. Everybody's trying to do their thing. That that's real. So if we're talking about who's doing things of relevance right now, yeah, or the leader right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I appreciate you for that. Because you know, it's uh I do the strange bro, but like I take breaks from it. Like I just took a break for three weeks, like because to me, when it feels like work, I don't want to do it. You know what I'm saying? And like it was feeling like work, and I'm I'm tired of I don't want to, I'm not gonna chase an artist down, you know what I'm saying? Like, there's there's people that they're hitting me up, they're like, Hey man, I want to interview. I'm like, all right, cool, I'll set up two with them. You know, they miss the first one, they missed the second one, and then I'm talking to um Wayne about it, and he's like, Yo, it's like bro, it's like I'm not gonna chase you down so you get to promote you, you know what I'm saying? Like, if you don't want to do it, you don't want to do it. Like, I I got thumbnails of people that I already made, I sent to them, and they're like, Yeah, let's fly, let's do it. And I'm just like, and now some of them still ain't they ain't making music no more. So I'm like, you know, what can I do?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you gotta be pushed. Yeah, don't do it, don't do it because somebody else is doing it. You know what I'm saying? Do it because you that's what I was saying about the thing, do it because you're you're doing it, do it because you have a passion about it. So yeah, and that's the thing about when you talk about your grinding away hard in these a lot of these artists and you're pursuing them for an interview, even though I did the first one and everybody and it got back hot again. I still tell people, D Matt didn't reach out to me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, you hit me up. You was and I was like, I was like, man, I was like, all right, cool. You know what I'm saying? You told me what you had going. I was like, because you know I'm over here doing the I'm doing I'm doing the news, you know what I'm saying? And the news is popping, you know what I'm saying? So I'm like, it's cool, whatever. But yeah, no, I appreciate you for that, man. Because I was I always been thinking about I should be doing the strange, but I was just I'm busy with other stuff, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00But yeah, and for me, it was like, for me, it was like I just got off the Portland radio, but I am from, like you said, those people be like, Well, you're not gonna make it to Seattle. I'm from Bremerton, though. Even though people from Portland be like, you can rep it because I've been here for years and years and years. It's like, oh, I'm from Bremerton. So I want to do something with somebody that I feel like is relevant and doing stuff in Bremerton. So that's out of me just really trying to promote my music and really doing that. And that's what I wanted to see from the let me get one of those too. Let them need one of those after. Uh, that's what I wanted to see uh from this little situation with Bremerton because I know what I'm doing. Yeah, if you know Direct, you know what Direct been doing. Direct is a that's like with concrete, you know what concrete been doing, you know what I'm saying? He's making music. So that I known Aaron since I was little. So when you say that.
SPEAKER_01Out of the concrete, too. Out of the concrete, he's a hard working man.
SPEAKER_00Hard working man. And so that we're not gonna worry about the freezes, the concrete. The divers. I'm not, I wasn't worried about that. I know freeze is gonna drive. Me and Freeze got some cooking up, you know what I'm saying? So it's like we're not worried about that. I really wanted to see these young artists. Don't just do a chat GPT cover, do a full rollout, do yourself a favor and finding fans. Don't just, you know, ain't nobody supporting me, ain't nobody buying nothing. You know what I'm saying? Really invest in yourself, and you'll be shocked in what you can do.
SPEAKER_02Or go find your fans. Like a lot of artists, like, I'm not gonna lie, like I had the issues and I had to get over it myself. Like, you want your peers to respect you on top of everything, which is like, and you gotta look past that, you know what I'm saying? It's like you gotta be like, fuck the peers, bro. Like, that's cool, they're gonna come, that's gonna go. You need fans, but you to have fans, you have to be consistent, you have to put out material, you have to go live, you have to be present on social media. You can't like I went to a hip-hop show. Every time I go to a hip-hop show, everyone's rapping over their song. You know what I'm saying? Like, I performed at um Whalen Days just off a whim. I was the only artist that rapped all, like, had had like just my background track and me rapping. And then you know, people are like, yo, I love I respect that. That's how you're supposed to do it. But I mean, for me, it's just like I talk with Doc, bro. It's like I'm not gonna say nothing to him no more. You know what I'm saying? I'm just gonna be like, hey, keep going, keep going. Because we've been doing this for so long. But speaking of music, we have the uh Bremerton first ever annual Bremerton Hip Hop Festival that you're putting together. So can you can you tell my audience um what gave you the idea to throw this advance?
SPEAKER_00Well, you know, I was um talking with the uh Doc Black Wellman, uh, and uh, you know, that that's my men's. And I was just like, man, you know, I really want to do something for the real artist in Bremerton to just try to do something to promote, you know, rap in Bremerton. Like I remember there's been some shows in Bremerton, but years ago I came together. Um I was thinking the same thing. I forget what year this was. What year was this? This might have been like 2015 or 16. Uh, and this ain't no back then stuff with Directs done plenty of shows then, you know. I mean recently, like, like, like, you know, so we got that this is just uh a memory of a show that wasn't at, you know, like a small nightclub space in Bur in or a small bar at Bremerton. And uh we we we came together with David Olivas and did the show at the Charleston.
SPEAKER_01And that was Olivus, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That was a huge show that we did in Tensor. I was like, man, I want to do something maybe forget that. This is Bremerton, like let's do it at the Paramount or the little theater, the Admiral. Um that the Admiral downtown?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh the Admiral's downtown, yeah, downtown. Because the Charleston is on Calow.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Charleston Admiral's that big theater on the water. I'm like, we should do it there, and then you know, Doc's been doing all the stuff, and he, you know, he was like, I don't know, something something different. I was like, cool. Well, at first it was uh, you know, like I always said direct show. Uh, and it was supposed to just be direct, you know, and friends, you know, bring out super homies uh expo the town, uh, some of my close ones. Then I was like, you know, there's artists in Birmingham that are that are working hard. So I want to showcase some of the artists that are from Birmingham to show love. It it gave me the idea because there was, you know, people saying that they give opportunities or they move certain needles, and I'm like, I'm actually from Birmington. Let me actually try to see what I could do for the city. Not saying that they're not, but you know, I'm saying let me see what I could do within my power. So then it turned out to be like, okay, well, we have nothing like this. They used to not let us um, you know, this, uh, they didn't let us get spaces in Bremerton. No, not at all. That's all we have to see. Shout out David Olivas, but uh, you know, he's a white man and I happen to be the right man to get the opportunity in the Charleston.
SPEAKER_02We wasn't 1,000, right? They'll they'll let Olivis throw shows there. The rest of us, not so much. They're not so much. But let's let's be honest, some people have gone, and it's crazy because one group will go there and they'll fight or do something, right? But they blame us all for it.
SPEAKER_00And the people that's fighting wasn't even that, but it's crazy because the same thing happened in these other shows, it's just not broadcast it as loud, right? And so um, you know, I was like, what can we do to do that? And this is a whole process, and I ain't gonna lie, like I just thought about it. Like, let me reach out to you know, certain artists. I don't have everybody's email, I don't have everybody's number. Another thing is, you know, um, I don't know if people notice, but if you don't talk to somebody, social media has a thing called um what is it called? It's like you only reach like 20% of your fans.
SPEAKER_02I think it's like you only hit like yeah, it's only 15% on Facebook.
SPEAKER_0015 or 20% of your uh people that actually follow you. So I could follow you, and but if we don't interact, you don't like my stuff. I don't see what you do. It's the same thing with me, right? So that's why you said a long time ago, you'll be surprised if you go on somebody's like, go comment on people's wall. Like just go because you're unboxing an algorithm. You said that in a and that's a fact.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, but a lot of people did that one time. You just start going if you go through your friends list and just comment on everybody's most recent post, they'll pop back up on your stuff. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00It's crazy, and so people don't exercise a little bit, a bit of that, and and so it's tough to reject everybody. And then another thing is like there's people that watch your story, and I'm not saying anybody's there's a person that will watch a story on your birthday, not tell you happy birthday when you're celebrating this stuff, but then when you get into a space act, like you're supposed to reciprocate that. You know what I'm saying? It's like like I I have to do that.
SPEAKER_02You see him watching it too. Like I saw another lady, she was saying, like, she's like, Y'all watching my story, but you can't move your thumb. Like, for me, it's like if I see it, I'm liking it. I throw hearts on everything. So I love to see people living their lives, doing their best. Doing their thumb. Some people, I mean, in my mind, I'm like, if you can't even move your thumb to show somebody just a little bit of love, like how are you expecting people to reciprocate that to you? And then you can see it reciprocate that back to you. You know what I'm saying? And then, like, for me, it's like I don't expect anybody to do anything for me, but don't come like, I mean, I so I know what I do for people, but I used to get mad about that. I'm like, look, bro, I'm sharing everybody's stuff. What do you want? And I throw something out, and then no one wants to share it because they're too cool for school. And I'm like, you know what? It's fine because I'm gonna find my audience, like I have. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00You can find you can find who who likes you and stuff like that. But it's like those people act like you're supposed to cross back over the line and make it come. Like you could tell, I could, in like other words, I could tell you don't fuck with me. And it's fine. I don't have a problem with you. But when I'm doing something, it's like that that does it. You're not gonna be the first person to pop on. I'm not even thinking about you. You know what I'm saying? It's not, it's not a different, it's not like I didn't I was like, I'm not including that person. It just didn't even cross my mind. Another thing is I'm a businessman. So I'm thinking of what is a return on investment. So I'm gonna go to your YouTube page. I'm gonna see how many videos you recently have posted. I'm gonna go to your Spotify. I'm gonna look at some of your listeners, I'm gonna look at if you're actually releasing and actually pushing music because I'm gonna spend thousands on this event to make it an event for Bremerton. I'm not gonna spend money on somebody that wouldn't spend money on their self. Period. If you took a picture with your cell phone, hit chat GBT, that's not enough for me. I'm just I'm just keeping it real, bro. That's not enough for me to be like, oh, come over here. You're you're not even pushing your songs. You haven't even recorded your cell phone on a quick video to just do a rap of your stuff and post that with an edit of your song in the back, girl. Like the baby and everybody else. The top rappers is doing it. Why aren't you doing it? So that's that's my whole thing. It's like I'm not even, I don't even consider. Um now I'm looking at, you know, that's why Nino Norris, he's working hard on his music. He's he's he's paying for certain things, he's rolling it out. Freeze is always doing those things. You know what I'm saying? Of course, me, you know, I'm saying, uh, as Doc said, he, you know, in his interview, I'm one of the people that's gonna stand out and actually do something, just like I am with the festival. I've always been that way. So that's the people that I was mainly reaching out to. Uh, wanted Camp Hana in there. Uh, he's one of the hottest. Can't deny it, deny his numbers and his work ethic. So people that I look over and be like, man, they're working, bro. They're actually doing things. And I'm not talking about the the reason I feel like this last thing has resurrected some artists from the dead. Like they not from the dead, but they haven't released in, you know, saying since Nipsey Hustle died type chef. Nipsey just released and they released.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying. And there was a lot of people popped up. You know what I'm saying? But I get what you're saying with the criteria stuff, because it makes sense. It's like no matter what you're what's happening on social media, numbers don't lie. You know, if we go, if you go to your YouTube and you only got 100 plays on a video from two years ago, or where you're supposed to be super hot, and we go to your Spotify and you you don't have 20 plus listeners at least. You know what I'm saying? It's like I get what you're saying. You know what I'm saying? And like I get.
SPEAKER_00So it's like, oh, he didn't hit me up, he was supposed to email me. I mean, there's the if you don't got above five songs, release music. Like, and I'm not even, you don't even got we're doing 20 minute sets. Like, like, like, like, that's a real artist. Like, you got I'm not trying to be funny if you don't think and this isn't directing it at nobody because there's some people that weren't releasing songs that I've seen that recently release songs. Like I said, I'm not a fake dude. That's what I hoped that it did. But you still don't got five songs. Or or somebody that, or somebody that hasn't released, you're not performing something in 2016. You're not with Khalifa where you're about to perform in a cut, in a cut, everybody do me. Oh, this was oh, this is what it's dropped. That's not what's happening. So if you just started releasing music again and you haven't released five songs straight. You get what I'm saying? It's the same criteria. If you haven't released songs since 2016, and then you just started releasing songs, you haven't had five singles that people would know, then you don't have enough for a set. And if you've been and if you just started making music, it's like credit. If you don't use it, you lose it. If you credit and I haven't used credit in years and years and years, you have a bad credit score. And you fucked everything up and haven't paid it, you have a bad credit score. Those two people have that in common. You know what I'm saying? And it's so it's not dissing the rapper that put in the work for a long time and just hasn't done it in a while. I I I love, like, for instance, like one of my favorite rappers that you heard me always say is Cash, but I don't know if Cash will go up there and do a set right now. That just I don't know if that would make sense with current music unless we're doing like a classic, like, you know, for unless they, unless he actually no, that's crazy. Cash and him because they could do it, how what I'm thinking. Like, they could be like a we did music in Bremerton, classic Bremerton show, bring everybody out. But Cash has that type of cachet. But you know what I'm saying? Like, somebody that has done it a long time ago that people didn't really know like that. Like, it would be hard to do that. So that's that's all I'm saying is I was looking at, you know, those artists I didn't know would have such backlash um from from from whatever had, but you know, a lot of these people still haven't done their own shows in Bremerton. And that that, you know, you gotta throw your own, if you throw your own show in Bremerton and do that and then draw a crowd, you'd be like, hey, this is what I'm talking about. And that would make that would be dope, right? That's the type of stuff that I want to see from the city. It's not when I say this stuff, I don't want to see it. I I actually want to see it. Like, I actually want to see artists like that.
SPEAKER_02No, no, I totally get that, you know. And so, like, uh to bring that up too, like, so you had made you had made a post, you're like, hey, I'm trying to do something big in Bremerton, tag all the artists in it, right? And artists were tagged in it, and so you know, a couple artists, I can name them if it doesn't matter if you want me to or not. They were they said they're like, Well, you know, I was tagged in the post, but he never hit me up. You know what I'm saying? But in my mind, I'm like, well, why didn't you comment on the post? You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00They didn't even like the post.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00A lot of these artists didn't even like the post, comment on the post. And I and I ain't gonna lie, I was going off. I really wanted somebody like young talent from like the high school. Like, I really wanted to bring up somebody that was, but we don't even got a younger generation of rapper. It's scary in verbatim, right?
SPEAKER_02There, there is, I know, I know them because like when the youngest, I mean, like these kids are in high school and they're calling me, they're like, yo, D Mac, hey, you know, we're down at Boomhouse. Can you come down and listen to our music? And I will I rolled in there, you know what I'm saying? There's about like 12 of the little dudes. So, oh, let me know who they are. See, that's 12 of them, right? You know what I'm saying? These there's raw talent, bro. Just raw talent. Like this making they ain't no hooks, no nothing, just straight verses, you know what I'm saying? But they rapping like Sacramento rappers, you know what I'm saying, which is fine, but they're still doing their thing. Um, I had one in my man, but he's going through some legal trouble right now. Um, shout out to Exotic Breezy, you know what I'm saying? Like, but to me, that that's that's the dude I be messing with, right? But he's he's him, and then yeah, but like you know what I'm saying, getting the high school kids involved, like for me, it's like they all know who I am, you know what I'm saying? So I deal with them and all this stuff, but I felt like people felt like your post wasn't flashy enough, and it's your opportunity is never always gonna be flashy.
SPEAKER_00It's never and then another thing is is uh if Don posts something, I'm gonna take it seriously. I'd never be like, like me, like me. I don't know if you you know this, but I'm a real professional in real life. Like I'm not a uh I'm a real businessman. So if I post something, hey, some something you should take it. I I mean I like I said, people get it.
SPEAKER_02Anybody does, right? So they just did a show out here with Jay Stylin and Little Blood, right? They posted the they posted the flyer before, and you know, shout out to Swoopy through the show. Before I knew any of that stuff, right? Me, the artist in my head, I saw the flyer, I just saw the main two artists, right? And they're doing it in Bremerton. I instantly hit up the guy that put up the flyer and I was like, hey man, um, are you putting any um you're doing a show here in Bremerton? Um, I was wondering, are you getting any local talent on there?
unknownRight?
SPEAKER_02And he was like, Yeah, man. Actually, he's like, I'm actually looking for local talent, right? You know what I'm saying? So I sent it to YB and I sent it to Freeze because he gave me the rundown of what he needed, so I sent it to those two, and I told them, you know what I'm saying? But that's just the that's just the intuition in me to see something and to go like, okay, well, let me ask this question, let me go for it. Because if you sit down and you wait for people to keep asking or throwing stuff at you, those opportunities aren't gonna come after a while.
SPEAKER_00They're not they're not never going to hit you up. That was the confusing part to me. Like, like, literally, what opportunity ever has hit you up unless you were overqualified for unless you're Jalen Davis playing at Bremerton and a scout seeing you. Guess what's gonna happen for college? You're gonna have to go try out and hit up them colleges to hoop. Or what are we talking about? Like, you could be a really good basketball player in Bremerton. Unless you're Jalen Davis and you're overqualified to where they've seen that, them colleges ain't gonna hit you up. Nobody's gonna hit you up for opportunities at school. I've known dudes that have made it far in basketball that literally have to go up there on their own dime, find a practice with that team, and go practice with that team. Like, it's that that's every and that's the basketball. I'm I'm talking music, it's even worse. It's worse.
SPEAKER_03It's hard to get it.
SPEAKER_00You literally have to hit people up. Like, you literally have to hit people up. Like, my like I get for the Portland Radio City Time now, but my first couple times I had to find a way to get on the radio of Portland. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's it's opportunity is never going to hit you up. And that's what I was, you know. I want the artists that really want that stuff. As far as people saying, hit me up and all that is I don't even have all these people's information. There's one Rob, uh, they see me post my stuff, they watch my stories, they've seen those things because they spoke on it. A lot of these people spoke on it. And so instead of, and I knew that they seen it because I seen somebody's gonna watch it. So it's like you've seen it and you did me up. To me, that's as not interested, or I don't rock with you in a way. And it's and you know, and that's how Burmington's a pretty faction. That's why Burmington kills itself sometime, you know.
SPEAKER_02It's like we need to go it we always we always do. It's the competition. It's nobody wants to watch anyone else come first. And I used to be like that, but then I had a chip on my shoulder because nobody used to fuck with me musically. You know what I'm saying? And I had to push myself, you know. Back then, but back then I printed my own CDs, you know what I'm saying? I made my own flyers, I got out on the streets, handed stuff out, made my and it it's not and people, it's crazy. They wait until they see you doing something or big prize, then they're like, oh man, you know, I was always here, I always rocked with you and all this stuff. And for me, it's like I've seen I saw people that wouldn't even talk to me in the streets, you know what I'm saying? And now I'm in Seattle taking pictures, doing whatever I'm doing, doing podcasts, interviewing people, and now that hey man, how you doing? You know, just checking ain't long time, no talk. And I'm just like, yeah, you know, I'm being friendly, but I'm like, I know your character. You know what I'm saying? And it's shocking, it's sad too. It's like, you know, I I interviewed Wayne Ayers the other day, and he was like, Look, he's like, I'd love for Bremerton artists just to get together and try to go on tour or do something. You know what I'm saying? But I'm like, they they can't do it, you know what I'm saying? It's it's too much ego involved, which is sad. It's it's it's hella sad.
SPEAKER_00But one thing that he said is I I would love to see him in LA. This is what I'm saying about Bremerton, brother. You said you was informed. You said that means you have the plugs in LA. Yeah. If you have a top to to help your brothers get a show, and we and we're not talking about people that haven't released. Like, I much respect to any of those people. Some of those people are hot. Release music. I'm I'm very fond on release music. Like, people are, I'm a good basketball player. Go hoop with real hoopers. Like, like I'm I'm like that. I'm talking about give it to the even if they're your friend friends. But this is what people don't this is what people don't understand about music is if you don't put real talent in front of them and you just put your homeboys, then people in LA don't give if you know them or not. Right? They want to see the the the the the the the the the top talent from your city. And so it's like yeah, if you can give them opportunity, give them opportunity. Don't just say, hey, go on do this and or go on toward do this and compare it to Beyonce and then they got people doing that for them, right? We're talking about creating the opportunity as we see in the in the movies and stuff, and that's not a disda tell boys. Like, we gotta share the resources, and that was my point of doing the Birmingham Festival. Instead of just doing this as a direct show on the waterfront, trying to, because I was, you know, working with the city and all that, which is hard to do. I ain't gonna lie, like buried entry is real. Like, like that stuff is real, bro. They had some ADA, we tried to do, they're talking about having security guards at the stuff, reapplying for a burnington city license. They're scared, all type of stuff, bro. They was talking about having like the real police there. So I understand why people don't do certain things, but it's like if I know that I could do it with my business acumen and my background, why not try to do it for the city? And that's what I want. If we all start doing that, we should do that. Like, like that'd be dope.
SPEAKER_02And and and as an older man for me, I'm a little wiser. And like I see what I've seen what the city was because you know how it was, like, we were doing Kit Tap County Uncut, city was popping musically. Yeah, popping. I mean, people from we all we all knew each other, we may not got along, but we all knew each other, but the city was popping musically. Popping. If we would have had a festival back then, would have blew us out of the water. You know what I'm saying? And then let me ask you this. So I had made after you said, hey, everybody submit your music. If you couldn't be on the show, whatever, we you already covered that part, you know, why you picked who you picked, but you still gave everybody an opportunity to send their music in and you know, send it into the festival. Now, after after I made my comments online, have you got more music from artists?
SPEAKER_00Uh, a little bit, but it's nobody, uh, it's it's it's like cats that weren't even I never even heard of some of these artists before. So I got and this I got a dope song or two, which is which is dope.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh but it's the same thing with all those people. If you didn't hit me up, don't play to me. And that's and that's fine. You know what I'm saying? There's there's there's nothing wrong with that. If you if you truly feel that way, then then you know, God bless you. I you'll make it as far as you try. And then that's not Rob Low talking shit. Hollow back at me in 10 years. Holler back at me in 15 years when D Maguno done built one fan, one fan, one fan, one fan, uh Bong Marley done uploaded his stuff every day. That's my boy, Jessica Holliday's little brother. You know what I'm saying? A lot of people didn't really talk to Bong. He he just literally put all of his thoughts in there. And now he's like, oh, I got a million views. It's because he did it day by day. The reason why he answers my inbox is because I really was I really was a dude that would say what's up to him, every blue moon. And when I seen him tap in with him, I was never like that. You know what I'm saying? So when you see the people like you and him doing one fan, one fan, it takes one fan a day, and then you're mad that you didn't do those things, you know, you you you didn't reach out to nobody. D-Mac wasn't afraid when he seen Sway to say, Hey, how do I do a joint interview? I wanted to bring up Sway real quick because you know, Sway was doing stuff with Tupac and stuff when he was alive. Sway the MTV interviewer, Sway who we used to do a little sway in the morning. Sway is from the Bay. Yeah, so when he got all his says doing interviews with Tupac and stuff, he went back to the Bay and started doing local stuff with all those people, and I know people that know him personally. Bremerton, we just don't do that. We just we just have not done those type of things, and so um, you know, like I said, I I I hope that we do it, and that was my point of just reaching back and trying to be hard. But I I understand from this process why people be like, nah, bruh. Like it makes you fully aware because you become a bad guy for not reaching out to people that would never reach out to you, and you become a you uh or or it and and just trying to do something for the community, and it has nothing to do with them.
SPEAKER_02But the thing is, like, people can only be mad at themselves because you put the opportunity out there. People were tagged in the comments, you know what I'm saying? And so if if it's I just and I just keep saying it to all the people, I'm like, it wasn't shiny enough to them, you know what I'm saying? But you never know what opportunity you're gonna get. Like, for me, it's like when I was an active artist, bro, I was looking, I'm looking for everything. I'm on Twitter, I'm on Instagram, Facebook, I'm on Google Plus. I'm looking just looking. Opportunity anywhere I can put my music, anywhere I can connect with people. You know what I'm saying? Like, you have to try to and some people they just want to hand it to them. So it is what it is. But on the festival, what can we expect um from the hip hop festival?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so from the hip hop festival, for me, you could expect quality. There's gonna be good food there, first of all. Uh, second of all, we're having a lot in between the performances, we're gonna be having DJing. So it's just gonna be a good family time, right? It's not gonna be uh the most vulgar music, but it's not gonna be the music where you ain't gonna wanna be there. Uh it's gonna be just an experience where you can get some food, hear some some music that you that you wouldn't normally hear in downtown Bremerton, see performances. In between the performances, we are we're gonna be having raffles. One of the raffles is gonna be uh a free raffle. We we got a Sea Hosh just won a championship. Sea Hosh championship t-shirt. Then another raffle that we're gonna do for like a dollar or two is these designer jeans that we bought in Miami that are dope designer jeans, somebody will get those. Uh we have uh a good to go second hat, which is my brand, which we're just gonna do that uh for a free raffle giveaway. And then we got some all-white Air Force ones brand new in the box that we're doing a raffle giveaway. So just for being there, uh you you can get something, right? You're you're there, you're you're actively there. Uh, and then of course we're gonna have artists, uh, vendor booths where where you can buy some good to go second gear. I believe Freeze is coming there with some stuff. So that's gonna be what the event is, is just you know, uh boom uh is the host where you're gonna hear some funny stuff about being from Bremerton. Then we got a good DJ that's playing music where you'll hear the host, hear the music, uh, have your raffle giveaway to where you're not just gonna be too every you know, 10 minutes, 15 minutes when you're not talking and stuff is hey, back to the stage, and we're gonna show them how we do with some of the highest level of hip hop that comes from Bremerton. So uh I'm pretty excited about it. Um Doc's gonna be there, of course, with his Doc Letter kids, uh doing some community giveaways as well. So we're always trying to put back in a community. And so that's that's really what we're doing with the show. And you know, I hope people um just relax. It's not gonna be like a traditional show where it's like every well, actually shows are always like that. If you've been to a hip-hop show between, there's there's little intermission. So, but at the in-between the intermissions, we're having good DJing and not just DJing, hey, buy you some raffles in a couple minutes, we're gonna be doing this. Boom, cracking a couple jokes, boom, we got another artist back up there. Uh, we were looking for some breakdances that there's any that we had some actually. Um they had to pull out the shelf. So we were looking for somebody that could actually do that in between the sets, uh, which is hard to find. So uh yeah, yeah, it's hard.
SPEAKER_02It's a it's a lot, it's a it's an old art. I mean, like, there's still people that do break dance, but it's not like how it used to be. You know what I'm saying? Like, because I know all the Filipino kids up Sip County, they used to break dance a lot, but you know, it's just I mean, I tried to break dance, I never had the upper arm strength to do it. Yeah, that's if I could if I could probably be doing T flares. I'll I'd do I I could pop lock, but if I could break down, I'd be doing T flares in the middle of Fred Meyer. I don't care what nobody said. Come on now. I'd be like, oh, the pineapple's on sale? Let me get that.
SPEAKER_00Nah, yeah, and that's the and that's the and and to me that's you know, that we did have some um some Filipino cats uh that was supposed to do it, but like I said, a lot of stuff happens, you know, so we just trying to we just really trying to have a good time showing. Uh one thing that is, you know, uh competing with it is I know that they had the um some of the alumni gang, but Bremerton ain't playing all day, man. So come come come come come to the festival. Uh I know it's going on Saturday and Sunday, so uh come to the festival. We've got some cats that are actually working with that game that's gonna be there too. So it's gonna be um it's gonna be a good time, man. Like I said, I've got to be a good one.
SPEAKER_02It's gonna be a great time. I'll be down there. I'll be down there. I'm gonna try to live stream a little bit. If you give me a little booth I can set up, man, I just need some electricity. Let me know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. If you got a 10x10, let me know. We can put you on the vendor, man. So it's a 10x10 tent. So just let me know. Uh, like I said, we're carrying so much from where I'm coming from, so I don't know if I'll be able to put maybe dock or something like that. I'm driving up in Portland. I gotta I bought a bunch of things that that's gonna um help out with the with the uh the the scenic view of the show. So it's like I said, I'm I'm I'm looking forward to just having a good time in Bremerton. That's what we want to promote uh to where in the future, like I said, really why I did this is so like um I say a YB wanted to do a show in two years or something. They're like, we've seen a successful hip-hop show. Like I'm telling you, bro, they was like, you gotta have this there, that there, and I'm like, bro, if we if I don't do it, who's gonna be able to do it then? You know?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they said we need real police, security. Because they're only time they they don't because the way hip-hop, they they look at rap like they're like, oh, this stuff is violent, da-da-da-da-da. But when it comes to hip-hop, there's elements to it. You know what I'm saying? Like got graffiti artists, you got the dance, you have the music. Music is just a part of it. So I I'm pretty excited about it. I'll I'll be down there all day, and they're gonna play my music, and I'm gonna be looking at the ladies like, yeah, that's me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and we're gonna have the hip-hop, and that's why I called it a hip-hop festival instead of a rap, that's right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's why I called it a hip hop, because I didn't think the rap the rap would pass at all. So um, you know, that's why we called it hip hop festival. So we're just trying to get it uh to where and I really what I really wanted is the artist to get in the same space. Uh, how Freeze did that. Yeah. Uh, but if you look at his stuff, only some artists showed up to that. You know what I'm saying? It wasn't every artist how it should be. So I really wanted to try to get, you know, that's why Freeze is on the card, Nino's on the card, I'm on the cart, cutthroat's on the card. Um, and then my boy Scooter Rogers from Portland is on the cart because we really wanted to try to get all of us in the same space, like, hey bro, there's there's really no problem here. If we if we start, you know, supporting each other and and and doing those things.
SPEAKER_02And um, I went to Freeze's thing. I went to Freeze's, I popped in there, he had left, and so I was like, Oh, I gotta dip. And there was some dude in there, we had little issues, and so I didn't want to cause a ruckus there. So I kind of dipped, but I popped in there, you know what I'm saying? Because like for anybody, anybody that does a show out here, they know like I'm gonna pop up. You know what I'm saying? You're doing something out here, I pop up because I just I fucks with everybody, bro. Like, I'm I want to support everyone, but you know what I'm saying? You can only bring the people that that want to do it with you and stuff. So, like, I'm excited about this festival. My bad to cut you off. And then um, before I let you go, direct, yeah. You you got any shout-outs you want to send to anybody?
SPEAKER_00Um, man, I want to shout out David Lewis for helping with the show. Um, he he has been uh somebody that has been instrumental in reaching out to people. Uh, he just did it out of the kindness of his heart. That's my boy, man. Uh yeah, I want to shout out Doc uh for just giving the game. A lot of people uh have a lot to say about that dude, but um who is actually helping, bro? Who's actually putting into the community? Because I would have done this a whole my I mean I I did it, he he he's not gonna hand you. I what I love about Doc is he's not gonna hand you nothing but the knowledge is there if you want to ask for it. So I I rock with Doc and he's gonna tell you, he's a he's the type of dude that's gonna tell you, I found it in an encyclopedia in the in in the Portland downtown, and you gotta learn how to find where the encyclopedia section is. So you're learning as you go. Instead of some people, like we said, they want you to uh text them the thread that you had that you had in the book, right? So he's gonna tell you the encyclopedia in the in the in the in the North Portland library. You gotta go in there, which encyclopedia? There might be 15 encyclopedias. He told you the encyclopedia in North Portland. There's only 15. Look through it, find the index, find which one that you want if you really want the knowledge, right? So he's gonna tell you that's what I that's what I mess with, Doc. Uh, I want to shout out my brother Boom. My brother Boom runs a rap battle league. He's about to battle at the hip hop awards, so he don't really got time for the Tom Foolery. Boomer has his own following. ABL is one of the biggest. ABL shout out, Alliance Battle League. Biggest platforms for rap in the in the Northwest. Like they've got videos that have done crazy amounts of views. So my brother don't got enough time for the Tom Foolery, and it's not just because I'm his brother, he didn't have to do it. Uh, you know, Rob Streets. I want to shout out him because yeah, he's a good one.
SPEAKER_02Shout out New York, bro. I didn't know he changed his name. Yeah, New York, man, Brim City. I saw him and I was like, man, you look familiar. He's like, Rob. I'm like, yeah, for sure. And I keep watching, he's like, nah, man, New York. I was like, motherfucker. Sure. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah, shout out to homie New York, bro.
SPEAKER_00He's Bremertonian damn near. He's not yeah, he lived in Bremerton for years. And so, yeah, uh, shout out him. Uh, I want to shout out you, Matt, because you've done uh a few things to just say, shout out the show, man, and things like that. Like, yeah, uh let people know it's a it's an effort thing. I think that people don't know that I just be genuine. I I don't got I want to really say this to people, and this isn't being cocky. I'm a grown ass man. Yeah, I I I should have never I think I um got out of character a little bit with the little Wayne stuff last year and got into it. That's not even I don't really even do that, but for me it just kind of I feel like he was perpetuating certain things that if you actually are feet on ground in Burmerton, have we have to be you have to answer for some of those things, and I just didn't like that, right? But as a grown ass man, I should have probably never got in back and back and forth with that young man. Shout out to that that dude for doing what he does. But outside of that, I want people to this miscusion. I'm a grown, I don't really care. Uh I'm I've I've I've worked hard to get to a place in my life where I I made it out the hood in the struggle, so I'm actually doing well in life. And this is to try to I I always try to phrase it to where it's not tooting your own home. So I don't I don't really have time.
SPEAKER_02Nah, bro, toot toot your own horn.
SPEAKER_00I think everybody should.
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, you should. Because from what everyone else, when when from what people have come from and the lives we used to live back in the 90s and the early 2000s, look, I'm proud of you. You know what I'm saying? Like, I talked to Boomer. I was like, I was like, yo, bro, I don't, you know, what's the name of the what's the name of doing fuck shit with him? I was like, bro, we ain't even gonna bring his name up on this. I was like, I want to celebrate you and what you're doing, you know what I'm saying? And that's why I do my show like this. Like, it's about a celebration of your life and who you are. I got a couple special guests coming on that I watch them, you know what I'm saying, just just be terrors in the streets. You know what I'm saying? And now, now they're they're you know coaching kids baseball games and stuff. And so you know, it's like we grow up, man. It's it's yeah, we should be celebrated. To toot your horn, you know what I'm saying? I just bought my son a car. I'm I feel I feel great, you know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00I come from humble beginnings. So for me to be able to be able to travel the world, see six out of seven continents. I I'm not bitter about nothing in life, bro. Uh do do your thing. I'm happy. If you are happy with what you're doing, I love it. And so I wanted to get rid of this miscus misconception. Like, Rob could care less because Rob is too focused on his on his own things in life. And and and and another thing is uh if somebody was making for realm from I'm proud just to see somebody that lived on the same soil and had to break through the same plastic that I did. So I want to see them do those things and and and and and and and I'm doing and and I'm too blessed to be stressed. I think I thank God every day. I'm too I'm too blessed to be stressed from what I come from. I'm too blessed to be stressed. So I I hope, you know, I just wanted to get rid of that misconception. Like, Rob, Rob, don't do your thing. And if and if I got a chance to support you and up you like somebody I mentioned in this interview that you know didn't have the nicest thing to say about me, I'm I'm I'm gonna do those things because it don't really matter in real life. Like Nipsey also said, this is a this is after the music stops, what are you doing? You know what I'm saying? It's not it's about that when everything ends, it's a marathon, it's not a daily. We he said it's on a new album, it's not a daily or a monthly, you know, physical check. And this is when everything ends, how are you doing? And at the end, and I'm and I'm proud to say that I'm working towards the space and in a space where I know what that's gonna look like, and I hope everybody get there.
SPEAKER_02Hell yeah. And with that, ladies and gentlemen, direct, I appreciate you coming on to the show again. We're gonna have to have you come back on in a couple months. You know what I'm saying? I appreciate you on here, everybody watching and listening. Um, if you make music, you do art, you own a restaurant, um, you're doing something positive in your community, or you're just having like a field day, let me know. Send it to our email, nightlystrange at gmail.com. If we like it, we'll post it. Because out here, our love is free. Once again, ladies and gentlemen, direct in the building. I am D Natino Nightly Strange. Until next time. Until next time. Appreciate you, buddy.
