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Trenches 2 Trophies Podcast
Trenches 2 Trophies is a relatable, insightful podcast that blends humor and real-life lessons, aimed at helping urban youth find their path from struggle to success. Hosted by 3 young black men from St. Louis are who have now relocated to Houston, we dive into personal growth, leadership, and navigating life’s toughest challenges.
Trenches 2 Trophies Podcast
Hustle Hard or Hardly Hustling
This episode is all about hustle culture! We explore its complexities, share some outrageous quick money stories, and reflect on how hustle shapes our lives and decisions.
• Defining hustle culture through personal anecdotes
• Exploring the pressure and rewards of hustling
• Discussing the balance between hard work and self-care
• Personal stories about quick money and creative hustles
• Reflecting on cultural influences on our work mindset
• Learning from the experiences of individuals in different hustles
Keep hustling smart and stay tuned for more stories and insights!
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What it do. What it do, family. You're now tuning into Trenches to Trophies podcast. I am unique. Check it out.
Speaker 3:Check it out.
Speaker 1:Check it out, check it out, check it out, all right y'all.
Speaker 3:So welcome back to the Trenches, to Trophies podcast. Today we're going to be discussing that hustle culture, and what are we talking about? That's that no days off that get it out the mud type mentality? Yeah yeah, but before we get into it we're going to start it off a little light for y'all. So I got some what we call stir the pot questions. That's going to hopefully keep the energy up a little bit for y'all.
Speaker 1:Stir it up.
Speaker 2:Dan.
Speaker 3:So I got some scenario questions or like some, some little icebreakers. You know I'm saying that's what we'll call it today. All right, so what's the craziest thing that y'all have done for quick money, like something you had to do real quick just to get like a, uh, a little piece of the? I'm gonna go first so I give y'all a little bit of time to think, right, all right, so I never forget I was trying to go to the movies with this little chick right now mind you, I'm in high school broke his head, didn't, didn't have a lick of none to my name, bro, why I go through? I go through. Somebody close to me's belongings found me a bag and sold that motherfucker. It was some niggas outside the house running around doing some fuck shit, but I know them from from school, so I know they, I know they blow yeah so I was like, hey, yo, I got this, anise, bro, mind you, that shit was stale, it was pale, it looked horrible, bro, disgusting.
Speaker 3:But I sold it to me. They bought that shit, and I had enough to buy me, motherfucking, to go to the movies, bro, like that shit was the craziest turnaround ever, nigga. My heart was thumping fast like I ain't know how I was finna get no bread and I this the thing, though I ain't tell you she was coming to get me, so, mind you, a nigga also didn't have a whip, bro, so she was on the way to come pick me up so that we could go to the movies and I had no money so I had to literally I really went through there, found me a dime bag and pushed that whole thing.
Speaker 1:That boy had no business even messing with her bro, and that's the thing that bro had no business mess.
Speaker 3:But I had no business messing with her in the first place, just period off gp. Yeah, that's just so. That's like the craziest thing I did for some quick bread.
Speaker 2:For me. We used to work at this place in the airport. I forget the name of it, it was a little candy kiosk in the airport. So the quickest thing that I did for money was weigh up some cashews, charge a motherfucker $10, and put it in my pocket. But after that 10 it became a hustle. It became a hustle like I was. I was making more in a week than what I would. My check, bro, like quick money bro, like that's hey look, they couldn't tell, cause I wouldn't.
Speaker 1:I wouldn't sit in there hustling see, that's similar to me, and when I got this, I had the same type of thing, cause I really haven't had anything that was crazy grimy. I think that's the difference. I mean. I think it was grimy for long, short when I worked at grimy. I think that's the difference. I think it was grimy for long, short, short, but not worth that footlocker.
Speaker 1:Man, yo J's was $100. You know what I'm saying. Tags was like $112. I'm charging $122. You know, pocket $8. That was it Because at the time we didn't have the thing on the register that you could be able to see how much you're paying as a customer. So it was really all on me.
Speaker 3:So that was some grimy shit. It's like a charging niggas extra tax.
Speaker 2:I mean.
Speaker 1:Trump ass nigga Charging niggas extra tax. It was dirty, you know you know.
Speaker 3:So that was good, that was good. I got another question for y'all, though. All right, that was good, that was good. I got another question for y'all, though All right. So if you had to say so, let's say you had to give your hustle up because it wasn't working. What hustle was it Music, really? Why you say that, though, nigga.
Speaker 2:Because like my brother he'd be like he the one who put me on auto-tune. I was stubborn. I was like bruh, I can rap, I don't need auto-tune. But that's what today is. It's people using auto-tune and doing different stuff that I just wasn't willing to do. So I felt like my talent I can still rap, but my talent kind of fizzled out with the new stuff. Bro, like I'm just not going to do it bro.
Speaker 1:You feel like you wasn't adapting to the times.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that's one of my little hustles that I kind of gave up, bro, like I ain't really want to give it up at all, like I still feel, like I still be in the car rapping and shit, like, but I just I can't lay down on music because I don't feel like it's worth it, it ain't worth my time and you ain't generate no, uh, enough money anyway, that's interesting though.
Speaker 3:so so you feel like just to just to build on what just said you feel like if you get a hustle, if you feel like you need to stop, what's going to make you stop is if you feel like it's not worth it. So not that you don't feel like you should be doing it, or if you're even good at the shit, if you just feel like it's not worth your time.
Speaker 2:Nah, because it wasn't working. It wasn't working, it wasn't doing what I wanted it to do. You see what I'm saying. And then I wasn't putting in the necessary steps that my brother would put. He going to the studio, big studios, I make my studio myself, you know what I'm saying, and then I try to engineer it myself. So I feel like I don't need all of that.
Speaker 2:But in actuality I should have been doing what he was doing and marketing my stuff a little, a little better. I could have, but the money that I saved in not going to the studio was the shit that I was using for my marketing. So I put more marketing in my shit. You know, he's just doing his a little different, you know. But man, it wasn't working, bro, like, yeah, I was getting fans and shit like that, like people, when I, when I did a show and I um, excuse me, when I, when I did the show and I I uh rap, uh, go up. Bro, when I tell you I've never felt that feeling to where I just I had to turn up bro, because they was vibing to my shit, I was like, oh, yes, it's going down in this bit. That boy got he got all that.
Speaker 1:Uh, um, what's the word he's looking for? Euphoric? Yeah, yeah, it's a euphoric experience like I.
Speaker 2:I started walking around in a crowd and shit like that. I was having fun at that point, but at the end of the day, did it equate to any streams? Did it equate to new fans? It was probably three people that was like man, show me, like what's your name, and shit like that.
Speaker 1:So what you do? You feel like you run out of time. Nah, because people still tell me to this day like they like, bro, you can still do it, you tripping but I remember we had a conversation before like um, you know, nowadays and this, a lot of things, occupation, they want guys and people who's younger.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, they look at oh, as you get to a certain age, you not supposed to be rapping, no more yeah you're supposed to be going into like engineering and doing something else I mean, but tell that to jelly roll, who just won like some rap. I'm telling the killer, mike, who just you know what I'm saying, like yeah, I get.
Speaker 2:I get that. However, they jelly roll. Now he's in a different category. Now, if Killer Mike came out today, no, and that's where I would be I would be on a fresh. I'd be a fresh start you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:Like I don't think what Killer Mike saying today. Somebody will be like oh, who is this nigga? Like who is this new nigga? I'm finna, listen. Nah, they gonna play us because they. But it all depends because he's a very talented artist and it depends on what he puts into it. Like I don't, I don't think at this point I'm willing to put in what I was willing to put in back in the day. I don't even have that much time to be sitting there writing this shit like that.
Speaker 3:But so you got to have a heart for the hustle, and I think that I think that that's important, right. So, to bring it back to the, I think that that's what we have to remember, because I say, niggas, I can speak for myself. I picked up a lot of hustles growing up. I tried a bunch of different types of shit, right, and so there was certain shit that worked, certain shit that didn't work.
Speaker 1:Such as Like for me something that I stopped.
Speaker 3:My shit's a lot less serious than my boys here, but it was like Like flipping snacks in high school, so like we used to go across to like the BP or like a Schnucks, and my dumb ass got caught one time Old school candy. Yeah, used to go grab all kind of shit though Starburst and I like the Skittles, Jolly Rancher Chews.
Speaker 3:Tootie Fruities, all the shit that people fuck with Yup Fruities in a bag. You know what I'm saying? Da, da, da. And we used to go my cheetos funyings when them shits first came out and shit like that's because we was getting for 10 cent. Yeah, but that's what I'm saying. But a nigga was flipping it and I wasn't making no money. I was making an extra 25 cent. I was making an extra, so it wasn't worth it because the niggas was stealing. Like I had homies who was doing it the right way shout out to my boy jojo but like I always had homies who was doing it the right way going to get like having their parents buy it from the store or whatever.
Speaker 3:Like flipping it like fundraiser type candy you know what I mean. But like that's how I knew I wasn't cut out for it. I'm like, bro, I'm risking all of this. And then I got caught. Once I got caught, I was like all right, this is a dead mission. I was like, yeah, this is dead.
Speaker 2:I lesson one time. Well, it just was for me I was like ain't no point, because I'm not getting no bread from it. So it's like this hustle is dead. If I'm finna be getting caught, I mean, that's where that's what I mean. Though if it's not generating what you want it to, then it's not worth it. You know, I'm saying whether it's money, whether it's streams, whether it's um likes anything, if it's not generating what you want, don't the hustle ain't worth it.
Speaker 3:Abort mission, you know? Or at least change it up. You know what I'm saying. Try a different approach. But before we get to the next question, what about you, unique? You got a hustle that you tried to start and then ended up like, yeah, this ain't it.
Speaker 1:Honestly. Nah, you know, I was just living.
Speaker 3:Yeah, existing. I wasn't necessarily. I ain't had no side hustle, nah. Nah, I went straight to it. I'm cool with that, though, but all right, so let me get into this next question. So when you think about the hustle mindset just the mindset of like going to get it, getting, getting it by any means necessary who taught that to you and in what way did they teach that to you? You know, I'm saying do you remember the actual lesson that happened, or the conversation?
Speaker 1:For me. I don't think it was taught. It was something that I was able to watch and I wouldn't even my father, so my pops. He worked on the railroad. I remember times where we'd be out and he'd get a call you know what I'm saying and plans would get canceled because, he got to go get the money.
Speaker 1:I was very fortunate to see and understand to a degree at that point what sacrifice was, because he would sacrifice his time with his family you know what I'm saying at certain points to put food on the table Right. So I was fortunate to be able to see that at a young age and and watch that. It wasn't taught. So I had an example visibly to see that and I don't take that for granted because I know a lot of guys, especially my age, did not see that at all. Like you know, I'm saying y'all, y'all can speak on it whenever y'all feel. But but I mean just to piggyback on what you said.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna go ahead and ride that. So my mom's was the one who introduced that to me, right? So, like I always used to hear growing up, if you don't work, you don't eat, you know what I'm saying. So like that was something I remember hearing like all the time. So it wasn't necessarily like a situation where she sat me down and was like this is what hustle mentality is.
Speaker 1:I do remember her having a with one of her friends one time and literally said out loud like I wish my son was a hustler and I ain't gonna lie, I think that hurt me to a core, to a certain point, to where I was hearing that all right, like I was like. All right, they hurt you like you know what I'm saying. You in the room and you said it was like, and I ain't gonna lie.
Speaker 3:It was like you know the mattress like one of them, like pillows so it was, but I ain't gonna lie and I was young bro, I might have been like somewhere between 9 and 11, type stuff, but at that point it just like I started working at like 14, 14, 15. And I've been working ever since. You know what I'm saying. But what about y'all though? Like Monte, do you have like a story, or did you have a specific person who taught you about like hustle?
Speaker 2:or grinding Hell. No, it was everybody. It wasn't a specific collective.
Speaker 2:Yeah, cause it was. It was my dad first, because, same with unique, my dad was a truck driver. So my dad would be gone all week. I see him on the weekends. You know, I'm saying it was a repetitive thing um, and my mom, um, before the divorce, my mom probably was working just a steady job. Um, after that my mom would work like two jobs, go to school, like you know what I'm saying. So I saw, I saw the hustle, I saw that grind, I saw her, I saw her do it, I saw the steps, you know what I mean. And then my family, um, like my big cousins, I mean they hustled, you know what I'm saying. He hustled by any means necessary. He going to get that cake, you know. So that's, that's, that's all I was surrounded by. So that's where I got that hustle mentality, like I got to get it by any means. Any means, bro.
Speaker 3:I rocks with that, though, cause I'm everybody downloaded differently, you know. With that, though, because I'm everybody downloaded differently, you know. I mean because, if you think about it today, I think that's what we think about with this generation. We like, they don't hustle like we used to, they don't. They don't like working like they don't. They don't get up and go get it.
Speaker 2:The same type of way, you know what I mean. Just like with the tiktok shit niggas just crying, crying on the internet talking about oh?
Speaker 1:they lost it all bro y'all don't have no.
Speaker 2:y'all don't have no hustle, Y'all don't have no hustle.
Speaker 3:That's the one app, bro. Youtube didn't go nowhere, instagram didn't go nowhere.
Speaker 1:So, nah, I think they ain't got no grind.
Speaker 3:What you mean. So they got a hustle.
Speaker 1:Right, they got a hustle, they ain't got no grind.
Speaker 3:But the grind is they don't know how to get it up out of there. So there hustle and grind right. So your hustle is what you do, your grind is how you apply it. You know what I'm saying and I feel like you're the one who taught us that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the grind is the footwork pretty much.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying I thought, I thought about this too.
Speaker 2:I kind of off topic because I was listening to grinding I said these niggas I said these niggas, this is perfect example. You know what I'm saying. Um, when I was thinking about the podcast, because I was like damn, they already got their hustle. They talking about their hustle, but they grinding.
Speaker 3:But I think that's why we rocked with it, because it was like a feeling. Like subconsciously, you rocked with what he was saying before you even knew what was going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but back to topic. You know, I just feel like they did, I I don't know because that you say they ain't had no grind, um, but they, I feel like they didn't have no hustle because they one hustle stopped, so they felt like that was the end of the world, so they ain't got no hustle to me, you know what I'm saying they, they was grinding, but when you run, if you're gonna find another way to make sure that hustle continues we and look so perfect, so perfect.
Speaker 3:Example do y'all remember the chick-fil-a girl she was on?
Speaker 2:yeah man shout out to her man. They fired her. You hear me?
Speaker 1:y'all know her name. No, I said, shout out to her, shout out to her, you know who she is right, you know she's doing interviews.
Speaker 2:Now she's doing big celebrity interviews sitting down with folks so that's, that's an example right there.
Speaker 3:When one, when one grind stops or one hustle stops, you gotta grind hard enough to find you another hustle, or like put your hustle in another lens because she's doing similar things ah see, this is where I prove the point what you mean.
Speaker 1:So check this out stop right, there stop right there.
Speaker 2:So old girl, right, what's up? Her hustle never stopped, right? You see what I'm saying. So she kept grinding, these niggas. The hustle stopped, they couldn't, they felt like they couldn't grind anymore.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying, so so that's gone for like 24 hours. 24, that's it. It wasn't even like I was like it was like 16 that she was gonna be going for like a day I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:And then they just went off the hinges, bro, like crying, calling the police right. You said they were calling the police. Right, you said it was calling the police calling the boys hey, no, check this out, check this shit out.
Speaker 2:I'm scrolling on facebook like the other day. I see somebody saying anybody with tiktok on their phone, I'll buy it right now. I said what.
Speaker 3:Nigga, so they are selling on eBay for $5,000, $6,000, bro For phones with TikTok.
Speaker 1:I got one. I got an iPhone 11 Pro. That's gold iPhone 11 Pro right now, that's gold.
Speaker 3:Oh man, Look at that $5,000.
Speaker 2:I can replace this phone, no problem, I do. Replace this phone Shit, no problem, I do not need TikTok, it ain't in that shirt.
Speaker 3:Fuck a TikTok. I don't need it. I bought a new one. No, look, look To be honest.
Speaker 1:No, to be honest, because I ain't going to lie. I know it's out of topic, but we can go back to it.
Speaker 3:The one I am pissed off about was using cap cut for other things too they were saying that's the real, that was the real target you want to buy my phone? I got on my ipad, nigga but they said but did you see? Trump said he'll put it back on the app store when they sell it to somebody in the us.
Speaker 2:So his stance is just like if the us don't own it he don't own us like utilizing it, but why would you do that when there's so much shit that we use from?
Speaker 3:other countries, bro, bro, that's. We could go down a rabbit hole with that, because we, if we gonna get on trump's hustle culture, nigga, that's a whole different episode, bro nah, that's gonna be a motherfucking series of episodes.
Speaker 2:Nigga, I don't want to talk about that shit that's all right, so bring it.
Speaker 3:To bring it back around, cause it's supposed to be like fun, right? I got a question for y'all what's the pettiest hustle that you've ever heard of? So, whether your homeboy did it, y'all heard about it online. What's the pettiest hustle that you ever heard of? I'm gonna let you think, so go ahead.
Speaker 1:You got one like it ain't it ain't petty. It's really smart, but at the same time it's. I mean I ain't saying it wasn't smart because I got one that arguably I know a new person that was using his girl feet on that OnlyFans and all that On that FeetFinder?
Speaker 3:Nah, that's smart bro.
Speaker 1:That's what I'm saying. It was smart Bro took pictures of other girls. He was like hey send me pictures of your feet real quick, and then. And was running it up on her feet.
Speaker 3:That's wild, that's funny, that's pornography man I just gave somebody some idea, bro, bro, that's, that's human trafficking it is for real.
Speaker 2:No, that's not human trafficking that's, that's that's wild like what do you call a feed.
Speaker 3:Ain't nothing getting passed around All right, all right, what you got, what you got, ant.
Speaker 1:What you got, ant, you was going to speak on it.
Speaker 3:So the pettiest word I ever heard of was bro.
Speaker 1:So it was this dude at Cis Flags and he was charging people to skip the line, but he didn't work there this nigga was just standing there with a clipboard so he was like that one dude, that osha dude that was going around bro, yeah see, yeah, that's a good he was like that before that, bro Bruh, that mug is hilarious bro. He hilarious.
Speaker 3:Look you stupid.
Speaker 1:So, lon, that's funny because I wanted to spin it off into this. I feel like we glorify the hustle, depending on what the hustle is.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:In our culture we tend to glorify the trapper over the 9 to 5 hustle.
Speaker 3:But that's because and I think Monte said it earlier he's quick money. So we don't. We don't believe in the like the long term investment. It's always been black people problem, Right. We're not able to hold on to stuff long enough to invest it. So what we got to do is we want the quick turnaround. I'd rather go steal five hundred dollars than wait for a hundred dollar check. They come. Then wait for an $800 check that come in two weeks.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know what I'm saying, Like it's quick money, I can go get that $500, put it in my hand right now, today. But I got to go put in work for two weeks to go get that $800 check and I ain't willing to do all of that.
Speaker 1:I think that's what we got to change.
Speaker 3:I mean absolutely Absolutely. But I think that's why we get so many entrepreneurs now Nine to fives. Traditionally they ain't really built for us, Like, because we, we, we don't grow up in the same environments that people who successfully like navigate nine to fives grow up in. Like you're usually taught how to succeed in a nine to five based on the neighborhood you grew up in. A school you go to shit like that. Most of us. Our first hustle was something else. And then we go to a McDonald's or we go to a quick fast food joint that don't have no fucking rules and parameters anyway. So we start off wrong you know what I'm saying Going into the workforce.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying not the path that you're taking per se, I'm just saying the fact that the people glorifying it and putting it out there we give the flowers to the people who are in that lane but, the people who are doing the 95, the 95s, or entrepreneurs. We're not glorifying them, we're not giving them their flowers, they're not getting the exposure they should. You know what?
Speaker 2:I'm saying. I mean it's a it's for the street people, like it's a cop-out. It's a cop-out like you can do any. You could be an entrepreneur and do something that you want to do, but instead you going to that job and working for the man type shit. That's what they thinking.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but if y'all watch the movie the uh the water boys on tubi with um and I am not sponsoring this- you know what I'm saying like, but it's a it's a good movie because the the main character, he they was um, they were selling waters on the corner right and making bank right. They was. They was getting people like p from uh qc and all of that. They was pulling up, giving them hundreds of dollars and uh, benjamin crump I remember that, I remember them uh, them scenes right.
Speaker 2:So they was getting money right. So his mom wanted him to stop. No, you need to stop doing that. I don't want you to to continue doing that because it's dangerous. They was like uh ti son, uh demani. He was on the other corner but they was gangsters. They were selling water but they had the heat. You know what I'm saying. But the other little dudes across the street they ain't, they ain't, they wasn't on that. So he went and got a job. He said man, I can make more than this in like an hour. So he went back to the corner. So it makes sense when you're making so much money in so little time and you go to this job and you're working eight hours, and if you're making minimum wage, bro, in eight hours and you making, if you making minimum wage, bro, you ain't even making a hundred bucks a day when you go out there and you could sell something for a hundred dollars.
Speaker 1:That type of hustle that type of hustle is, it should be glorified yeah, you know, I'm saying, that's what I'm saying, that that type of hustle should be glorified, not the tropics yeah, but okay, so you'd have to.
Speaker 2:You'd have to go um and be in a situation like me and aunt, where we go into jobs and we elevate quick. So when you think about that, um, you don't have many that have our type of experience. You got people that have been cashiers for 10 years you know what I'm saying that have just been been looked over and sometimes, sometimes, those are the people that these people that we trying to talk to, are listening to. So they hearing them. Man, I've been working here for 10 years, but they ain't gave me no raise, they ain't did this and did that. But you look, on the other hand, and be like man, I was there for what? Maybe a year, and I became stockman.
Speaker 2:Then I was, you know, after that I was this, and then I became manager, you know you know they, they ain't hearing that type of elevation, so of course they don't want to glorify it at this point.
Speaker 3:I think that's the thing we all right. So we got to get them more paths. So I think that the good thing about our generation is that we opened up the entertainer path right. So now everybody wanted to be a rapper, a basketball player or not actress, right youtuber yeah, like all these things.
Speaker 3:So the good thing is we're opening up more pathways, but I do agree with unique and like outside of that, we we still kind of stuck, because we still stuck in either sports or entertainment and we need to realize that there are, like you can go to school and be a geneticist, like go, you know, I mean you can go to school and be a pharmacy technician like that's all.
Speaker 2:That's okay you know, I mean like these trades, yeah, yeah, like I. Yeah earlier man he wanted to take a trade, you know it like be a welder man like we.
Speaker 3:Those positions we need six figures, bro, but think about things like war right, and I hate to bring bring it down a little bit, but think about these things. We're gonna need people who know how to rebuild, you know how to organize, who know how to plan and design things like. We're gonna need people who to step into these roles. Those are the type of jobs we talk about technology and shit right, and how they taking so many jobs away, but we're going to need people to feed in all of that information and technology.
Speaker 3:So it's just a matter of knowing what your hustle is, because I think that's another part of what Monte was saying. At first he was like you got to kind of not everybody got the same level of experience, so you got to learn at an early age that I, outside of being able to sell this, what else can I do? Like, what else am I good at? Type shit, you know what I mean. Like that's. I think that's partly on the parents, right, you should be helping your kids figure out what they good at. But even if you weren't in that type of situation, try some shit.
Speaker 1:Like we should be playing all the different types of sports. We should. I think that's the thing you just you just said, but I kind of ran over it's like you, spending time with your kids and knowing your kids to be able to um see what they're good at and put that in their face, feed into it. You know I'm saying so. Like you see your kids good at building stuff, put things together. You need to be putting them to engineering, yeah.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying? Don't just go sit them in front of the TV.
Speaker 1:Bob the builder ain't gonna help you build shit. You know what I'm saying? Go to the Y, do some engineering camps and classes.
Speaker 3:Hey, but for real Cause, my oldest sister she put her, she put my youngest niece and nephew Through those classes. They are legitimately Getting like certifications and stuff and like stem work and stem research and stuff like that, so they're able to be able to take those things into not only high school but college and be able to be prepped for college early on.
Speaker 1:If you see your kid like to draw on the wall stuff like that. They artistic yeah go put them in some painting classes or something yep, I agree.
Speaker 3:Stop beating the talent out your kids because they didn't drew on your wall or they didn't did something. They got extra energy and they running around the house. That means they got. They should be doing something else. Get in my outlet in some type of way. That's why I wish with me and my wife was talking about it. Like we need to be thinking how we live. Can your kids go outside and play anymore? Yeah, like you know, what I'm saying is it is your neighborhood safe enough for you to have a front or backyard where they can just go play?
Speaker 3:like are you encouraging those, those types of things, like that's important.
Speaker 3:I don't know, man, I think I think that there is like a when I, when I think about hustle mentality right, and I think we've been touching on it a lot there's like a good side and there's a bad side to that shit. Like there's a good side because obviously you learn how to go from point a to point b, get what you need or what you want out of a situation. But also, on the bad side, that shit is exhausting, bro, like you know what I'm saying. And then, depending on your type of hustle, you can isolate yourself, you know. I mean, you could cut everybody off around you, you could do all kind of shit. So I think it's important to talk about how, yes, have a hustle right, have a grind mentality, like make sure you're going to get what you're out there to get, but take some time for your motherfucking self you know what I'm saying like make sure you you balance and shit out like everything ain't about the grind we was talking about no days off.
Speaker 3:I don't believe in it. Y'all believe in it, no hell, no, I because I, I was, like I used to say shit like that growing up, but I don't believe in no days like I mean, I get somebody in this room like I get no days off.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's no days off. But then what do you say when you're getting ready to take a two-week vacation? That means you're taking days off. So there is no no days off. You know what I'm saying like, even if you on vacation and you take a couple calls, okay, I get it, no days off, you're still taking calls, but you're on vacation, right, so you're good, you know. So you're taking time off, whether, whether you're taking a day, four hours, you're taking time off. You know I'm saying any little time to yourself.
Speaker 1:You can't say no days off when you're taking time to yourself so I think there's people also say that it's a mentality, it's not a physical thing.
Speaker 1:They they really trying to say, they trying to put that in their head as a mentality like a, like a amount of focus that they have about shit because I, I this is why I often go with it with this, like you're in a place where you like doing what you want to do, you're doing what you want to do in your life and you don't have a problem going to work. It's real easy to work every day, you know, um, because I'm I'm pretty much at that point. Um, I've been fortunate to kind of do what I want to do because I did what I had to do. So I'm fine with working every day. I see I work earlier.
Speaker 1:I work every day you know what I'm saying and I'm cool with it because I enjoy it. I'm talking with other people, networking, you know. So I have a conversation. It's become therapeutic. Yeah yeah, but the days I take time off because I I got into this hustle for the time to be able to have more time, you know.
Speaker 3:So that's, that's why I'm able to, I respect it. I think that's why, like having a trade right just to give more of the perspective that you're speaking from, like having a trade where you can control more of your schedule, where it it's like and I feel like a trade has always gotten a bad rap. Like them, people make less money. I want y'all to Google how much plumbers make. I want y'all to just look that up one day.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying. It's crazy. If I'm wrong, is that a certification?
Speaker 3:For plumbers? Yeah, I think so, but I think, it's short, though. I like six to nine month class.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:Like it's something, don't worry about it. 2026 yeah, I mean, but for real, bro, like because even this year probably, because why not even just to learn to fix your own stuff?
Speaker 2:you know what I'm saying? Like yeah, the um, what, what is that shit? Hvac that's the shit that, yeah, I thought about doing but we already talked about that, you being in the motherfucking attic in the summertime, bro Woo.
Speaker 3:Them attics in Houston.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no sir.
Speaker 3:That ain't nothing to play with.
Speaker 2:Nah.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. And everybody attic ain't the same bro.
Speaker 2:But I mean, these are the perfect skills, like if your shit ever go out, you good.
Speaker 3:Bro, and not just that. Ever go out, you good, bro, and not just that. Look at all these disasters we'll be having, bro, how much money you could be making on the side, or if you had a business you know, think about it from this standpoint say I got hvac, you got plumbing you got electrician.
Speaker 1:We don't need nobody to do that extra type of work around the house. That's money that we all saving and the family and the family.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we helping each other, help, bro, making sure. But and why you saying that, bro? I think I am gonna uh go get a look at like electricity and stuff, like uh being an electrician, because that stuff dope, bro, and you make a lot of bread, I like for projects, like I don't think people understand this ain't like a nine to five every day of the week. These people work on projects that might last weeks to months, but like so y'all niggas just gonna leave me to plumbing. Hey man, hey man.
Speaker 3:That's how y'all feel you gotta play the cards you was dealt. Brother, Play the cards you was dealt brother.
Speaker 2:What did you desire?
Speaker 3:my friend hey man.
Speaker 2:I'm sitting here like, yeah, I wanna do electricity and shit like that.
Speaker 3:He like yeah, I wanna be an electrician, Damn sitting here like, yeah, I want to do electricity and shit like that. He's like, yeah, I want to be electricity damn, nigga took it. No. But like, come on. But in my opinion, bro, that's because originally I was thinking about going to barber school with unique and I'm like, I think I don't think there's anything wrong with us learning some of the same trades and being able to, because then we helping each other in that respect too. Like let me teach you something I know or something I picked up from this person same thing we do at nine to five jobs. To bring that conversation back around too, like, how many niggas do we need with business administration degrees?
Speaker 3:like there's like, like you know what I'm saying, like there's a bunch of people out here who know how to run a business you think it's saturated at this point?
Speaker 1:I think that what jobs are saturated?
Speaker 3:we should layer it. What jobs?
Speaker 1:are what career paths you think are saturated in our community?
Speaker 3:In our.
Speaker 1:Our yes, ooh, mm-hmm, Look at him.
Speaker 3:He like, damn, why you playing fast food workers? I'm so sick of people, bro, and this the thing Retiring there. I'm cool with you being there in the beginning of your career. I'm cool with I think that we got to get people out of like feeling like that's the security blanket. I feel like we consistently feel like that's just. Oh, we can go work at mcdonald's or we can like we, we run there first. Instead of, bro, you could go get a quick admin job and make twice as much.
Speaker 1:You say that, but say that's that person that we get tired. Tired of seeing pandering, uh, not pandering. Yeah, pandering on the corner. Say that, but say that's that person that we get tired of seeing.
Speaker 2:Pandering, not pandering yeah, pandering on the corner.
Speaker 1:Say that's that person. We get tired of seeing we saying man, they can go get a job.
Speaker 3:Technically they could. They can go get a sales job where they'd be outside on the corner anyway.
Speaker 1:That was really insensitive.
Speaker 3:But I just want you to but I just look.
Speaker 2:I don't know who that was, that said that I don't know who that was.
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 3:They could be the sign spinners, though To that point, bro, I think that, depending on who it is, I know some of them people are autistic. I know some of them people are veterans who don't have it all together. Some of them people are ex-cons who can't get another job because of depending on the nature of the crime that they committed. So I get that there are some people who can't fight that situation. However, there are a lot of people, unfortunately, who can, like there are people who choose to because they don't feel like they want to fit into the norms of society. You know what I'm saying like. So there, I think there's two sides to the coin and I'm not going to point out who's who. Just there are opportunities that people could take, but if not even just people on the corner, just people in general, All right, fast food workers.
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell you what do you think, what type of career path you?
Speaker 2:think is saturated for our culture. You know, like Stockman and people working at Walmart and shit like that.
Speaker 3:Bro, I'm so sick of niggas with them vests on on the motherfucking forklift nigga.
Speaker 2:I'm so sick of niggas on forklifts, bro like, and I know I know they try to make it diverse and shit like that, but it's a lot of black people in there. But it man, it's, it's the people, it's not, it's both, it's both because, depending on who you are and what your credentials are, your resume, um, you might not be able to get a job at some of the places that you want to get a job at. But it takes a. It takes. Like me, I didn't necessarily I wanted to get into data entry. Like when I was I was doing retail and shit like that. I was working for AutoZone and you know, I worked at Walmart too. So, like those type of jobs, I was like all right, I'm cool with that. But then I realized, like at all of these jobs I was on a computer doing data entry.
Speaker 2:So I was like man, all right, right, let me, you know I'm saying, let me, let me highlight that in all of my jobs, you know I'm saying so, that's what I was looking for. So people need to, to highlight what they, you know, the job that they like they need to do research on the actual occupation that they're doing yeah, see how they can task that they love doing at that particular job. Put it in there like highlight that's what you like doing and something that you.
Speaker 3:That's a word, bro no, that's a word like I want to make sure that people are understanding what the fuck you're saying right now. Because, like, look at what you are already doing, dissect that shit. So you, because I couldn't tell you how many times I explained what I did to somebody else and they was able to kick some shit back to me and be like oh on you do. You will be good at this.
Speaker 2:I'll be like what I never, even thought about that shit before you know what I'm saying and that's why I got with data entry when I started looking for jobs and shit and I saw data entry, I was like entering information what the fuck?
Speaker 1:that's one thing. They that's one thing they teach us when we get out, the military veterans, when we transitioning, and they, they look at your job, your mos for the uh, you know my veterans out there, your mos, occupation, and then when you get out, they see how it translate to civilian life. So, whatever job, so like with me. Um, I drove. It's something simple. I drove big trucks and vehicles. Truck driver translates boom right there.
Speaker 1:It would be easy for me to go get a truck driving job, easy for me to get that certification quick, or somebody like people that's in cyber security you're doing in the military yep translate directly into the civilian world. You know what I'm saying. So you got to break down your terminology of your job and see what translates. Like you said, highlight it yeah, yeah so do you go research on your jobs you currently doing so you can break it down and potentially move up into a better career field I fucks with that.
Speaker 3:And for my folks who like to google shit, look up transferable skills. That's what we're talking about, right?
Speaker 3:now we're talking about shit that you do. That's going to transfer from job to job to job. If you know how to speak real, real well, you want them. People who know how to code, switch and shit communications customer service being at sales. A lot of people sleep on the sales field. These people make six figures easily, selling whatever you can fucking think of. Every job, every company that you think of, has a sales department, and I want to highlight something.
Speaker 2:These are all hustles, hustles. Every single one of them are all hustles.
Speaker 3:Especially if you already selling. It's literally a quick transfer, bro. This is one of the ones. Outside of what we were talking about earlier. You would be able to make quick money in sales. People don't trip off that, bro. You can make a bunch of money real fast. I hated them. Jobs, though.
Speaker 2:I hated commission, bro. I hated it too. Hold on, hold on, because my lazy ass my lazy ass wasn't willing to work For that commission, and that's what it was. I wanted to be able to just work.
Speaker 3:Yeah, just put in what you. You want to fill out the bubbles. I want to check the boxes and get my money.
Speaker 2:I ain't trying to hoop and holler and jump through all these. When I push carts, I wanted to go get carts, take them in the store and get my money. I ain't trying to hoop and holler and jump through all this. When I pushed carts, I wanted to go get carts, take them in the store and go home. Yeah, yeah, that's it, yeah.
Speaker 1:So are you saying you didn't have no grind?
Speaker 2:No, I didn't no, because I did lots of other shit bro. Like the job for me was it's like all right, I'm going to this place, I'm getting this money, but I got so much other shit that I'm thinking about doing outside of work, like I got other hustles outside of work that I was kind of focusing on. So I want this to be easy, because what I got to go do is hard as fuck. You know what I'm saying. So that's kind of where I was at.
Speaker 3:I don't blame you. I think it's mixed with what unique said earlier. I think you have to find some shit, you. You like like a little bit. You know what I'm saying because, for me, transitioning I want to make sure we talk about transitioning, because I worked in food service for a long ass time sleeping on my skills that I could, that I could have been making money with over here a long time ago, right. However, I started there and built a lot of my skills there and then transferred them into corporate america and now I've been successful there for the past, you know, seven years or so. However, there's a lot of people, bro, that they don't know what, that they got that skill. Right, you know what I'm saying? They don't know, they just sitting there, kind of sitting on it.
Speaker 1:So I want to make sure we talk about, like, how y'all go there, how you gonna be able to help them identify that like for me personally, so I.
Speaker 3:So I'll give y'all my story like I remember the first. My first job was six flags, working at papa john's my guy.
Speaker 1:I remember that boy bro.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like I worked at six flags bro bro, and like I was running that mug bro and my hustle was that, bro? They had me in there by myself, right? So I'm like I gotta do everything, but I'm one of them people In my head.
Speaker 1:I compete with myself. He hated Going there, cause then you had to Like catch a bus or something.
Speaker 3:Bro, this the thing I used to have to pay my bird To take me to the station To catch to the work. But they used to charge us to catch the bus to go to work, so I used to pay my bird all the time he in the black.
Speaker 1:He ain't gonna be in the black bro ps.
Speaker 2:Everyone.
Speaker 3:A bird is a mother sorry guys, the person who birthed me, um, but yeah, but for me, like it was, it was stressful, but at the same time that taught me some hustle. Like I was getting up, I had to get somebody to get me to the station, to get up to go ride this bus, bruh, bruh, like that was. That was different, bro, but I feel like for me I learned what I was good at. Like at that point I was good at talking to motherfuckers. People just like to stop and have a conversation with me, so I it kind of started right there and then every job I had they was like, oh, we love the way you talk and I ain't trip off of it till literally nigga, all of maybe four, five years ago, that this is what I'm supposed to be doing with my life. Like, oh, nigga, I'm actually supposed to be communicating with people.
Speaker 2:Like this was a natural skill that I had, that I was, you know people was already telling me did you figure that out when we was working at uh this?
Speaker 3:but uh-uh, so I so, before I left st louis, I was working at a job, and that's where I like, that's where the seed kind of like sprouted. It was kind of like because I started talking for a living, like I literally had to train people how to do stuff for a living and they were like I love how you walk me through and they would refuse to talk.
Speaker 1:You want to know when I saw it. You know what I'm saying. When it's crazy, when you can really sit back and look at people and lives and you know the term or the the phrase. Yeah, people see it in you before you do yeah I saw it in you when you was interviewing for putting edge oh yeah, nigga, what was I?
Speaker 3:what? 17, 16, 17, that's when I saw it in you, because you had to do various things.
Speaker 1:It was various tasks yeah and in that interview process and you were the last one standing out of like a hundred people I went there, you know, I went there me and tables went there with you. You know, I'm saying it was really for you. They had. You had me interviewing going through this bs.
Speaker 1:They had us making up songs on the spot like literally making up raps and stuff on the spot I was just doing it for my partner. You know what I'm saying, but it was. I saw it then the way you was able to. Just, you know, I'm saying I'm moving to those different guys, bro.
Speaker 3:It's so crazy, bro, but to your point, it's some shit that you do, naturally, some shit that you, that just comes out of you, bro, talk to your friends, talk to your family, talk to motherfuckers around you. If you really feeling lost and you like, man, what's my hustle? I don't feel like I got a hustle, I feel like I ain't got a grind. Talk to people around you, bro. They'll literally pour into you without you knowing. Like, what am I good at? What do y'all count on me for you?
Speaker 2:know what I'm saying, but it takes you to find it though, bro. I telling me before I gravitate to it yeah, because you got to find it because you can't, like you have to try different things. Man, you got to see what you do and don't like Like I don't like working in fast food. I will never do that again because I don't like smelling like fast food.
Speaker 1:What was your last fast food job? I don't like doing the task, huh. What was your last?
Speaker 2:one, jimmy Johns, I ain't gonna lie. See, that was my hustle. I was hustling sandwiches.
Speaker 3:But Jimmy Johns Felt like cool, cause you ain't got no grease, like ain't no, you ain't smelling like. Nah, jimmy Johns was cool.
Speaker 2:Jimmy Johns was cool Bruh like I was the manager Up in there, but yeah, I got a client that work at Jersey Mike's.
Speaker 3:But I rock with that Like cause. I feel like you should know your limitations, right. So I point though, because you made a really good point try a bunch of different shit to know what you good at, because, like now you know, cashier ain't my thing, don't put me, I'm not taking your deposits nowhere. Leave me the fuck up out of that type of conversation. So now you know, but not, but you've seen yourself succeed in other areas, so you legitimately know like, okay, yeah, but this is so I think that's the thing too just some slight, like you find.
Speaker 1:Identify your hustle, but make sure you versatile with it, because if, if something happens, you have to have a backup plan yeah like with me. I have to really think about it, bro. I can't be out here just boxing and doing all that I work with my hands yeah you know what I'm saying? Very smart bro. Yeah, I can't like doctors and shit bro, they don't.
Speaker 3:Like you think about it, them niggas could Probably break your fucking neck. They know all your Pressure points and shit, but they not finna engage with you, cause they hands Are their business, bro Like. Like A doctor could fuck you up. He knows where Everything is bro, and he's like bro, like you gotta think About that shit like a scalpel. He'll fuck you up, bro, man. Like he know exactly what what part of your temple does he hold it just like he's a fist, and boom gonna hit the ground like leave them people alone but uh
Speaker 3:but for real, bro, like I think that that's important to talk about the, the hustle culture, but I also want to talk about how we. We talk about our individual hustles, right, but we also kind of come from a bigger picture. So, with all of us being black men, right, especially with those of us who have kids, right. So you're, you're raising black children. Let's talk about the hustle like mentality, because we just talked about how that shit could be positive and negative. What are you, what are you trying to pass on? Like, what do you feel like is gonna be part of the black experience? Like I feel like for us, like what I said my mom used to tell us all the time like if you don't work, you don't eat. Like I feel like, culturally, son, daughter, niece, nephew, regardless, that's something I'm gonna instill in them. Like you have, like even, uh, biblically, faith without works is dead right. So everything that life is telling you you got to get up and go get it. Do not sit back and let life happen to you.
Speaker 2:All I want to teach is like it's the grind. You know what I'm saying. There's plenty of hustles, but you grind for it.
Speaker 3:So whatever it is.
Speaker 2:Whatever it is, you grind for it, because grinding equates to hard work. So you know you got to grind. I don't care what you do, just make sure you do it to the best of your abilities. You know I'm saying I don't want you to slack off and feel like, oh, I could chill this day. No, put your best foot forward and everything you do, flat out I rock with that, I rock with this, so I want to.
Speaker 3:I want to focus on our experience as as black folks, though I want to focus on our experience as black folks, though I want to like I'm curious on how y'all feel about our culture. Do you feel like the culture, the state of the culture now? Do you feel like it's positive? Do you feel like the black culture or whatever even if you want to call it hip hop, right, whatever the culture is do you feel like that shit is helpful?
Speaker 2:in general. Say that one more time. The black culture, so okay. So I want you to think about shit like this.
Speaker 3:All right, I'm gonna break it down a little bit.
Speaker 3:Uh movies if you watch friday temptations fire heartbeats, right, like you. That's the black culture. You raise your kids up watching south central, whatever the case is, that's black culture, right. Um, drinking out of the water holes or going spending the night over your cousin house making a pallet on the ground Shit like that is black culture. The music that we're listening to, glorifying the Trappers that is black culture, right. So there's a whole bunch of shit that encompasses what we consider to be black, because if a nigga walking here today say, hey, how are ya? What's the first thing we gonna say? That nigga sound white, right. So what I'm saying is, when you talk about the black culture and what qualifies you as being a black person per se quote unquote do you feel like it's positive? Do you feel like it's something that you like? Yeah, I want my kids to fully walk.
Speaker 3:Welcome the black experience on the outside from the other on the outside the other coaches.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's um no.
Speaker 2:Interesting it's not.
Speaker 1:What we're doing now is working towards it being a better visual presentation of it. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Um, we're trying to put out that positivity, trying to highlight different things that other people in the culture are doing, you know, but now it's tainted.
Speaker 2:It's too much confusion in the culture right now yeah and mostly everybody want to look like a gangster, no matter what if you're female, if you're a male, no matter what you are. Everybody trying to look gangster tattoos on their face, dreadlocks, wicks.
Speaker 3:You know, I'm saying braids well, that's what you really want to get they just want to get tatted at 15.
Speaker 2:They want to get their sleeve done already already you know, and the thing about that is it's like at 15 you don't even know what you really want on your arm. So when you're going to get all these skulls and shit like that, you don't understand that those are demonic things, you know.
Speaker 3:But I ain't gonna go spiritual like that, because it's just symbols, symbols in general, what you get a swastika for, you don't even know what I mean bro everybody that go and get these, uh, japanese and chinese letters. You don't even know if that's for real what I mean. Like I, a lot of culture. You cannot read that shit, bro.
Speaker 2:I literally got this shit on my arm and it's supposed to be Japanese. I went to a Japanese lady. She was like I don't know what that is. Oh well, okay, that's not, it's just a design. Then, huh, that motherfucker say earth, wind foam, but.
Speaker 3:But I and I feel like that I'll rock with the word that you use, though as far like it's tainted, right, because I think that there's some beauty in the black culture. I asked that question just to get your mindset on or your perspective on it, but I think there's some really beautiful shit about the black culture. However, it is tainted. There's a lot of things that we need to kind of nip in the bud. I think that there's too many chiefs and not enough indians. I think that we need to learn how to listen, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, these things start getting exposed on a regular for real.
Speaker 3:But, bro, we need leaders, bro niggas is getting mad at rappers and sink. We mad at nelly because he performed, we mad at snoop dogg because he performed. As for trump, why? These is entertainers? These are not political leaders, right? These is not niggas. Who are we talking about? Are the gatekeepers of our culture. Why are we upset? Because we put out but we have nobody to actually count on. That's the problem you know.
Speaker 2:But you know why they upset though. Why one hey, love snoop. But when you said what you said before and then did, it contradict yourself that you know, that's's it you know that's not standing on your team.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and people look up to Snoop. You know what I'm saying. It's the OG. You know everybody look up to Snoop bro, like he's a legend in everything he does. You can say he's up there with Shaq, you know what I'm saying Like damn bro. So it's just that. Like I, damn bro, like, so it's just that. It's just that you can't go and say something eight years ago and then today you like ah, fuck that, I'm going to do exactly what I told other people not to do.
Speaker 3:What if he was like shit? I just hustled his ass. That was just part of the grind.
Speaker 2:Well, hey, and honestly, it could be.
Speaker 3:It could, but that's what Nelly was kind of saying and honestly, it could be it could, because that's but that's what nelly was kind of saying. He was like nigga it's. And that's what soldier boy came out and said too, he was like nigga. Obama ain't called me. Kamala ain't never tried to put no more fucking money in my pocket. Trump called me, them people called me and put money in my motherfucking pocket I don't respect it.
Speaker 2:I don't respect it okay, but here's one point that I have to make. They didn't call you, but when this man calls you and has a history of calling people for those type of optics, y'all ain't understanding that. He doing it for y'all to grab our attention, like you they. Oh my God, I don't get it.
Speaker 3:To confuse the masses. And I get you, I agree, but that's why to quote Malcolm X, right? That's why we wasn't supposed to believe in these entertainers. They too fickle. They going to go where the money is. Yep, that's what they hold. That's what the whole thing is they're entertain you for money. So what are we upset with these people for? For doing what the fuck they were getting paid to do in the first place.
Speaker 2:I'm not upset at them, but you know the culture.
Speaker 3:The culture. But that's what I mean by being like because there's certain shit I want to make sure my kids know. I want them to be familiar with knowing how street culture works, but I don't necessarily want them to be anywhere near that shit. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Like, I feel like I benefited from being around it, but I also feel like that was just the environment we was in. If I never have my kids next session in the first place, they don't necessarily need to be worried about how to navigate that shit, do they? No, not at all. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:So it's a If they ever go there. Nah, so all of the good kids always have ghetto friends. You know what I'm saying? That's a fact, though, nigga, so they're going to end up going back where they live or something like that.
Speaker 1:You want them to be able to adapt.
Speaker 2:You know what I'm saying, like my kids, I'm sorry they probably ain't even going to adapt. You know what I'm saying, like my kids, that I'm sorry they probably ain't even gonna adapt. You know, I'm saying when they go back home, uh, to st louis, and they kicking it with my cousin, my cousin be looking at them like they are very proper, yeah, yeah and well mannered, goddamn me like they ain't gonna be running all over like you, heathens yeah
Speaker 3:but that's the thing I realized, bro. Like even going back home or talking to certain people, I'll pay attention to their mannerisms. I'll be like nigga, damn, I forgot that shit is acceptable to me Like you know what I'm saying. Like you actually that shit cool with you. Like I don't move, like that no more bro why?
Speaker 1:I feel like you looked at them like they was the smallest peasant.
Speaker 3:That's why I don't fuck with people. I be in the cut because I know how I talk and I'm going to sound like I'm above you, but that ain't it. But I want to know why you ain't swept your flow in three weeks Like I want to know.
Speaker 2:Like.
Speaker 3:I'm going to be over here vacuuming my shit, mugging the shit out of you because you should clean up, Like you know, but it's just me, so that's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3:Or even going, like riding through certain parts of illinois, I see how we was living and like the houses that niggas wanted, like I went through some of them neighborhoods and I look at them now and I'm like bro, these are worse than what we living in now, than the houses that we will rent down here. You know what I'm saying. So the perspective just changed. But bringing it all back, I think that that hustle, I think that your grind it all based on your exposure. I think people who grow up around multicultural motherfuckers know how to deal with multicultural shit. Right, if you grow up around a motherfuckers who all look like you, you don't know how to deal with nobody who don't fucking look like you. You know what I'm saying. So I think your hustle depends on your motherfucking exposure to whatever it is, and usually good exposure comes from that two parent household Normally, Usually when well well not even.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, a two-parent household, whether you, it's ideal, yeah, no, whether you are separate, but y'all come together to raise them kids that's a two-parent household to me like. You know what I'm saying, if y'all, if y'all on the fritz, and y'all I said on the fritz. That's what happens when you move away from street culture nigga.
Speaker 1:Nigga start saying shit like on the fritz. We keep showing our age with every episode.
Speaker 2:If y'all having an issue with you know what I'm saying your ex or whatever and you have children, you know, then y'all ain't coming together. But I feel like that exposure comes with that. You know the two-parent thing, because when you pushing your kid not even pushing them, but showing them different things, like you were saying before no, I said that's funny, you're talking about the two-parent household.
Speaker 1:So I feel like we we could, we could have talked about this the relationship portion of the grind and the hustle like being in a relationship with a person who doesn't necessarily have the same grind as you. If you're in a grind mode and you are someone who isn't of that same ilk or mindset, that can do that could be a detriment or a downfall to you, you know hell yeah but on the other hand, if y'all are cut from the same cloth, it could be a beautiful, lucrative journey. You know what I'm?
Speaker 1:saying Now Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Now if I'm in grind mode and you got a hustle and you grinding, but your grind ain't doing what mine doing, I don't want to hear no complaining. Don't come complaining to me about what show your hustle ain't doing, because all I'm gonna say is you see what I'm doing, I'm grinding, I'm I'm. You know, I'm doing this every day. It's hard work. You got to go find you know if you're doing her. You got to find clients. If you couldn't right here, you got to. You have to find clients. You have to put that content out, grabbing people's attention, letting them know that you can do hair.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying? Advertise yourself, market it.
Speaker 2:That's all you got to do. It's hard work. It's hard work. And that's what people don't get. They don't get that. It's hard work. And you know a lot of people like content creators and shit like that they do. They show people, oh this, it looks easy, but they ain't showing them the grind. They don't show them all the thousands of hours of editing and content that they didn't put out.
Speaker 1:You got to set this up, delete it. Keep doing it over and over. How many takes you think it take?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like they not telling them that, they not putting them through the process. They're telling them oh, this is how you do it and it's easy. This is how much this costs. It's easy. No, that shit ain't easy. Because one thing for sure we're doing a podcast, but y'all behind the scenes, nobody will know how long we've been recording. Nobody will know how long it takes us to edit an episode or anything like that. It takes us to edit an episode or anything like that. It takes hard work. Grinding. This is a hustle in itself. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 1:We all still got three lives to live at the same time, at the same time.
Speaker 2:But we're not hustling for money, we're hustling for our ears, because it's a lot of people out there that's like man, I don't know what to do. We just told y'all early in the episode figure it out. Not even figure it out, go ask somebody, but try some things. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:We just trying to give y'all these trophies.
Speaker 2:You know, because those are trophies that we done had I rise with that, though, I rise with that.
Speaker 3:So, like, whatever your hustle is, I think that it's important to one, identify that shit right and then execute. Don't forget to execute. So a lot of us tend to sit back and we react. I heard you say earlier, bro, well, they ain't never give me no raise. Did you ask for one?
Speaker 2:Yes, did you have a review. Not you personally, this nigga. I'm not interviewing you.
Speaker 3:I'm telling the people I'm saying like right yo, I did it nigga. I checked all the boxes, but look they told me real quick.
Speaker 1:Can they be the problem too? In our community we get, we don't know how to take constructive criticism.
Speaker 3:Listen bro and I it's so actively listening, which is taking constructive criticism. Break down what they said, but what was the intention? Not even the actual words that came at you. What was their intention on what they tried to say? I didn't take Not even the actual words that came at you. What was their intention on what they tried to say? And then take the mean potatoes out of that shit and apply it to your life.
Speaker 3:We so motherfucking bro, we want everything to be respectful. We don't want nobody to come at us sideways Like everything got to be perfect and accurate. Bro, the hustle itself is going to beat you the fuck up, even if you good at the shit, even if you good at the shit, even if you you bless beyond measure. Bro, I speak for a living. I think I'm pretty fucking good at it, and I begin my ass with filler words, stuttering, forgetting what the fuck my point was. Like that shit comes with practice. I have to sit up and look at bullet points and look, I'm literally looking in the mirror.
Speaker 3:You ever read some shit or looked on a TV show and it was like practice, your speech in the mirror, work like it really do, like you sit there and you really repeat what the fuck you're trying to say or the energy that you're trying to get it'll. It'll become better over time, but we got to be scared. I mean, we got to stop being scared of failing. You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 3:One of the dopest things I ever heard of in my life was the ability to fail forward. Like get your ass up, fail, fall on your face. Just don't fall on your face like you did the first time. Like, get get up and keep trying, bro. Like and that's something for me with my hustle, I've always been a trial by fire type of nigga. Like I have always got up and had to learn some shit. Fuck it up six times and then eventually on that seventh, eighth, ninth time, then I get real good at it and now I'm finna compete with the top niggas because I'm not scared to lose the first six times before I get that shit going.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm saying so I think that's, that's the, that's one of my gems, and if I could leave y'all with anything, it would definitely be to say keep going, bro. Like I understand, like evaluating where you are in life and saying like, okay, I don't think this is worth my time at this point. But if you love it, if you good at it, if it's some, if people are telling you that they want that thing from you, dedicate yourself to it, man, study, put some time in, put your 10,000 hours in and then see what's on the other side and I guarantee you'll see some form of success. May not be the biggest and best thing ever, but it will definitely be something that you can be proud of that you can show other people about the trophy hell yeah
Speaker 3:you know I'm saying, all right, but that's my gym, that's, that's what I'm gonna leave y'all with today, anything y'all want to leave with the people to make sure that they hold on to I believe true success is doing something you enjoy doing.
Speaker 1:It takes the minimum amount of effort, but you receive the income you desire. So you got to do what you got to do until you can be where you want to be in life so keep striving, keep grinding until you where you can do what you want to do. You know I'm saying so keep that grind mode. Um, it's gonna work out in there. Keep pushing.
Speaker 2:I would say let your hustle live. So, just like a human being, it has to grow and you need to grow with it. And just make sure you keep grinding, always keep grinding, and if your hustle stop tick tock, keep grinding. Find you something else to do, grind I rocks with it. Alright y'all. So we've talked about the good TikTok keep grinding.
Speaker 3:Find you something else to do. Grind. I rocks with it. All right, y'all. So we've talked about the good and the bad of hustling, all right. So just remember, keep that hustle alive and everything you do be real, be authentic, and you will see success. All right, catch y'all next time on. Trench the Trophies. We out the trophies.
