Dame Dash Shares His SECRETS For Success, Philosophy on Life, & Overcoming the Odds | Impact Theory | Transcription

Note: This transcription is split and grouped by topics and subtopics. You can navigate through the Table of Contents on the left. It's interactive. All paragraphs are timed to the original video. Click on the time (e.g., 01:53) to jump to the specific portion of the video.

Introduction

Intro (00:00)

I think we're here to live, we're here to learn. You know, and I hate to be perfect. We're supposed to embrace all our imperfections. And I think if we find and can imagine the bright side and anything that will become a reality, but you can't think anything is going to be given to you other than opportunity. And the only way to show appreciation for opportunity is to react. Not to say thank you, but to actually do so. - Hey everybody, welcome to Impact Theory. Our goal with this show and company is to introduce you to the people and ideas that will help you actually execute on your dreams. All right, today's guest is one of the most legendary figures in the world of hip hop. He co-founded the seminal label Rockefeller Records and his aggressive streetwise approach helped turn the company into an unstoppable juggernaut that put out no less than nine number one albums. His storied eye for talent helped him launch or shape the careers of some of the most enduring artists on the planet, including Jay-Z, Kanye West, Kevin Hart, Lee Daniels, Cameron, Beanie Siegel, and countless others. His Midas touch with talent saw him named by Complex as one of the 25 greatest A&R people in the history of hip hop. In addition to his unprecedented string of successes in music, he also founded a litany of other high profile companies, including Rockawear, which at its height was doing more than $500 million in revenue, and the Rachel Roya Paralyine, which has been worn by everyone from Michelle Obama to Kim Kardashian. He's also an accomplished multi-hyphenate in film and TV, having financed, directed, produced, or starred in such films as Shadow Boxer, Honor Up, The Woodsman starring Kevin Bacon, Kira Sedgwick, and Eve, and he's also launched his own studio and streaming service, proving that he really can be totally independent. Driven by more than just money, however, his legacy is also one of service. In addition to his extensive mentoring and financial support, he recently launched Dash Diabetes Network, aimed at providing tips, tools, and solutions for the tens of millions of people actively battling with the condition. So please, help me in welcoming the author of Culture Vultures, The Groundbreaking, Hip Hop Impressario himself, Dame Dash. You get the best intro. I've never had such a thorough intro. Dude, your life is about as easy as it comes to make into an awesome intro.

Success Mindset And Strategies

Starting your Career Strategies at a Young Age (02:47)

What you've done is astonishing, and from a terrifyingly young age, so what I want to talk about is you talk about you have to be really strategic in your movements. When did you start planning your career, and what does it really mean to be strategic? I mean, I started planning my career almost the day I realized, you know, my name was Dame Dash. Like, I was like with a name like that, I got to do something great. So I automatically started thinking about what I could do that was great, and also measuring my competition. I think after my mother died when I was 15, you know, it was like not only do I want to survive, I wanted to survive and still live well. And my mom taught me not to ever be told what to do. So I knew they're having a job, or having someone tell me what to do probably wouldn't work for me. And I learned how to make money at a fairly early age. I ate off the land, you know, whatever was available to sell I sold, and did it in a way where you had to have a brand that would be consistent, your quality of what you were selling had to be good. You know, at the end of the day was quick money, but it wasn't sustainable because I saw the collateral damage that came with it. So then I started looking for another plan, you know what I'm saying? So how do I live like this without the collateral damage, without the exposure, something that's sustainable for not only me, for maybe someone that I may want to love at some point, you know, like I'm having a family. So when the music business presented itself I was like I could do just that. I thought it would be easy, but it wasn't easy. It ended up being a lot of work, but you know, with the right perspective and learning how to monetize it correctly. And this is back in like '91, you know, as far as the music business goes. If you do it correctly you can monetize it for life.

Importance of Personal Discipline (04:16)

If you don't do it correctly it could be very temporary. So I had to get my perspective together very early. I love that. And one of the things you talk about a lot that I think is insanely powerful is perspective. And those to me go hand in hand. So talking about perspective, you've said that I know every perspective from the smart perspective to the dumb perspective. One, why is that so important? And two, how do you do that? Okay, so what I'm able to do is if I want something I go into the future in my brain, which is powerful, and I visualize exactly what I want. So I'm there. I'm in my future. And then I think about every single thing I need to do to make that happen. And every single thing that could stop that from happening or what I need to avoid, and I go right back. You understand what I'm saying? Like I was just in the future thinking about watching myself on my television network. So because I do that, that means I have to think what would be the worst case scenario. And then I have to think what would be the best case scenario. And then I eliminate every single thing that I think could happen, which I call art detecting. And then I put everything and every single attitude and person around me in my vision that's going to make me get to what I want. And also I try to get the people around me to think about the same exact vision. So you inspire people and all that energy is focused on one thing that they can visualize in their head, then it becomes a tangible reality. And I know that to be a fact because it's happened. It's a fact for me. So I continue to do that. I know that anything I can imagine I can make happen. So I am really careful about how small my thoughts are. Because I don't feel like wasting time in a 25 hour day making this much. And I could spend the same amount of time with the same amount of energy if I architected right, I had this much. And with this much, I can help so many more people that I love. You understand what I'm saying? So that's how I look at all perspectives. It's the only way to prepare yourself. It's like when you watch, you look at tapes, so you see where that person punches. That's one perspective. You look at it from another. You might want to fight from a left from right. You might want to fight from South Pole. It's just studying. And the more you're prepared, the easier your time is. What I tell my staff and everyone that works with me is the more you care, the more you prepare. Period. And thinking is a part of that. You'd be surprised how many people are scared to think. Most of my arguments don't come from me pushing somebody physically. It's from me pushing them to think. How about, "God damn, you don't want to think?" Like, that doesn't eat. It's harder to run a fucking mile than to think. So why is it less scary to work out than to just think? And it doesn't take any physical effort. It's about a perspective.

Being Scared of the Unknown (07:03)

Why are people so scared of the unknown? Just because you don't know an answer. Like, Google was so foreign to me up to a couple years ago, surprising as that may seem. But Raquel, who's wifey for life, he remembers the moment that I was like, "Holy shit! I could find out everything all this time." You know, all I would have had to do was look. And I would have seen how easy it was. But because it was unknown in the moment, I thought it was complicated. How many times do you get a remote control? It does three million things. But just because you don't know how, you can't figure it out. You're like, fuck all those other things. Even though if you look at it, it will make life a bit easier. You've reinvented yourself an astonishing number of times. I mean, it's really pretty crazy. The number of legitimate businesses you've founded. How do you go into each of those unknowns and begin to make them make sense? First, that's to inspire me. It has to be fun. It has to be something I'm dreaming about. You know what I'm saying? Anything that I enjoy, I figure out how to monetize. There's nothing that I've started as is something that I haven't been a customer. Like, I would not do anything that I'd get paid for that I wouldn't do for free. You understand what I'm saying? Sure. So, just like we hear, we talk, we talkin' for free. If somebody would pay me 50 racks to do what I'd do it to. But I'd also do it for free. So, I've been able to monetize talking. I've been able to monetize thinking. I've been able to monetize getting fresh. I've been able to monetize dancing, liking music, movies. Everything's entertaining, laughing. I was able to really hit a certain amount of success relatively early. To where it didn't make me say what I'm gonna do next. It just made me say, where's the next fun? I don't like being upset. I don't like being mad. I only got mad for business. If it doesn't yield the profit, it's a waste of time being mad. Emotion is not profitable, really. You know what I'm saying? Unless it's positive and it's love that comes. But like, anxiety and all that other shit, fear, I ain't got time for that shit.

The Code of Honor (09:02)

You talk a lot about honor code. All I know. Talk to me about the growing up relatively hard. I mean, at one point you're selling crack. That does not sound like a stress-free life. But how do you develop that honor code? How does that come about? And I watched Honor Up. So walk me through how you were shaped in that time period of your life, being around those people, how they had a code that they live by, and it has influenced your life massively. You know, I decided to hit the street because I just wanted to buy a Suzuki. They cost 10,000 and I didn't have a license that my mother didn't want to buy it for me because it wasn't legal. So I was like, "I'm just going to have to get that myself." And you know, crack came out. So I was watching a lot of people my age have things that adults had which gave them a certain amount of independence. Like, if you're paying your own bills, I don't care how old you are, no one can tell you what to do. Period. And that's what I tell anyone of my children. The minute you pay your own bills, all I could do was give you advice, but I can't control your environment. So when I got to this place, the only way to survive was Honor. And what I witnessed, I admired. I admired the strength and honor because Honor isn't convenient. It's not, "I'm honorable when it's easy." Honor comes when it's not easy. That's your definition. That's the test. That's what defines you. It's when you have the choice to not be honorable and it would appear that you'll get something and life may be easier. And if you choose Honor and you choose a harder path, you know which you really are. And that's what that is all day. It's a test all day. There's always these shortcuts. But the thing about being in that life is you make one mistake, you die. You make one mistake, you lose your life in jail, your freedom. You make one mistake. People you love get hurt like kidnap and torture. So logically speaking, to survive that, you have to be honorable. And I saw the things that the Honor, the respect that came with it, the strength that came with it, and how cool it looked. I just didn't want to be anything but that, no matter what. And everyone that's practiced that my friends, 20, 30 years later, like in Honor Up, that's really my OG. That's really the guy that told me those friends, "Well, that's the voice I heard it from." And imagine 30 years later, him being able to say, "I told you, be honorable and you'll get this." And it happened for him, it happened for me and all the other people that have lived honorably. So there's truth in believing in Honor and I can say it by experience. And I also can see the lack of Honor, the things that I came up on that are so different, that how much people look the other way. How many people actually fail that test and the recourse of that. The unhappy life that comes with the perception of being happy, of looking like you have more than you do. Or that you're smarter, tougher, richer, funnier, anything that you pretend you are on your night. Because it tortured that person they all look for and escape. Whether it's a drug or any kind of addiction to just not facing look in the mirror. To not to be able to look at yourself in the mirror or take that shower, that must suck. But I don't know how that feels. I know I feel that no conscious of looking in the mirror, be alone and be like, "I'm real happy about every single decision I make." So you said once that you can see the future and if we want to know just to ask you.

Predicting the Future (12:24)

So what is that ability? So you've talked about with visualization, you project yourself out to the life that you want to live, the thing you want to manifest and all of that. Do you have a strategy that you use for thinking through where businesses and trends are going? What's your strategy for how you want to use your own time, what you want to envision, how you get the most out of that? What is that process for you? So in life, I just look at whatever there's a demand for. And as me as a consumer, because I usually represent the masses, because I feel like I'm a regular guy with regular emotions and things like that. If I want it, everyone will want it. If I like it, everyone will like it. I just know I represent the masses. That's all. But everything that's going to happen in your future is going to be dictated by what you do right now. So I'm always thinking about what the fuck I'm doing in the future, because it doesn't matter about the past other than to learn about not making the same mistake in the future.

What Considers One Wealthy? (13:23)

Define what you consider wealthy. Well, this happiness completely is how much you laugh and how much the people you love laugh. And that's really what love is and how much time you spend. Like sending money back to somebody like a child that's not considered love, because kids don't care about money. I remember when I was a child. All I wanted for Christmas was for my parents, for my moms to get back with my dad. And I wasn't able to give that to any one of my children. So I still have work to do. You know, I haven't hit that wealthy-ness because I haven't been able to take that most important pain to a child and take that away from my children. I fucking haven't broke that cycle. That would be wealth. If my children don't have to pick a side, if they don't have to watch us fight, if they don't have to tune out, because they don't want to hear us argue. You know what I'm saying? What's going to be the secret there?

Equal in a Relationship (14:16)

What do you learn from the people that apply? Finding the right woman for the right reasons. So it's great because I was really able to recognize it in Raquel, but I was like, "Nah, this time. I'm staying. We're doing everything together. Fuck all that. I enjoy this too much." So it's always looking at it from my kid's perspective, my woman's perspective. I think I've learned to take my eyeballs out of my head and put it in there for a second to see what they see and what would make them comfortable over me. As a boss, your job is to think about your business and your staff before you think about yourself. It's the same thing a dad does or the head of a family. So I guess me being conscious of these things at 47, being involved enough to take the time to appreciate that, to me, is wealth. You know, uncompromised, great quality of living. Like, I prefer not to have to live in a house that's not big and all the luxuries that I've worked so hard to get. But I think every circumstance Raquel is what I've been in, we've been equally happy, whether it's a big house or a studio apartment. But I do think that finding your other half and appreciating that bond that you have and understanding the strength because when you get in a relationship, regardless if you're the breadwinner or not, you still are equal. You know, there still has to be an equal amount brought to the table. So it was just I had to find someone that brought equal with soul, not just perception, but just in your heart. Someone that is as kind as me, someone that knows how to look out for people other than themselves, like I do. Finally, I feel like I can give and also pause, receive, as opposed to just give and get smacked in the face all the time, which is, you know, generally what happens. I think the test and the reason why I continually keep getting tested with people keep treating me unfair is to see if I will lose faith in people, but I'll never lose faith in people. I'll always try to invest in things and people that inspire me regardless because my agenda is not really to rob you, it's just I'm actually getting something out of it.

Living a Life of Wealth (16:26)

So shit, what are you getting? It's pretty interesting because you've had the experience, like I said, if somebody makes a record and it's a historic record and I was in there while it was made, how many people would pay to be in a room with Jimi Hendrix when he made Purple Haze? Would you? Yeah. I would. So I've been in that room a lot. I've been in a room people. I got paid to be in a room that people would pay to be in while history was made. Like, you know, Biggie Smalls is a friend of mine, still is. He said my name in raps. Wouldn't you have paid for that? To be in the studio with Biggie or old dirty bastard?

Why Do People Fail (17:03)

I was in the studio with them or being in the studio with Puff when he wrote when Source wrote every step, it's a thing record. I was there. There's so many historic moments. The money doesn't mean shit. It's an experience. You've architected a lot of really historic moments. Because of that, there's an entire generation of entrepreneurs that follow you. Why do you think so many people fail to make their dreams come true? What are they missing that you figured out? Finishing? They think that it's supposed to be easy. They quit. They don't look at things as a learning experience. They think that it's supposed to happen in a day. They don't understand that building a brand means being consistent. What are three principles do you think any entrepreneur has to have? No one has to lead by example. And they have to work really hard. They have to know that their product is going to be in competition with other products unless it's a new product or an invention. But that means you have to work either the product has to be as good, better, or you have to have more money to promote. I'm saying how someone on the crowd of block is really hard. I think courage never looking at anything as a failure unless you quit. An entrepreneur can't quit. You have to see it through. You just can't quit. You are a fascinating person to really tease out and understand how you think. One thing that I think sits is like a linchpin and all of this somehow and I don't quite understand it yet. Why did the death of your mom affect you so much and exactly how did it affect you? Well number one at that age it was the only thing I was scared of and it happened. So once... Why did it scare you? I love my mother more than anything. A kid that went to camp and was homesick. When she went out and came home late I would be like, "You all I had. My mom was only a child from my mom." So when she died and for a child, what more do you have to be scared of? So when she died I had faced my worst nightmare. So right there I was fearless. I just wasn't scared of nothing. I just felt like if anything happened to me I would just get to my mom quicker. And at the time I had no kids so it wasn't really like I had anybody to worry about but me. But then also I was like, "But if I'm a bee on this planet I'm gonna have to take care of myself just as good as my mother took care of me." So at that point I had no choices. I had to make money to eat. I had to make money to live and buy clothes. You know what I'm saying? There was no option. Either she was gonna make me great or I was gonna make me great. Either way I was gonna be danged at. So I took a lot of the responsibility out of her hand and put it on myself in that moment. And how did you make yourself great? By living, by sustaining, by making children that I take care of, by making history, by consciously trying to evolve the culture. Like making that, not like a buckshot or an accident. Like it's like, "Yo as I learned I tried to teach." Even being conscious of the mistakes I made when I was younger and the way that I made put the wrong ideals into the world. By saying it's cool to disrespect women in porn, champagne or women's heads. Like before this whole Me Too movement happened ten years prior I apologized for that shit. I've been feeling guilt since I had daughters. I was like, "Oh my God." You know, once you get daughters and again logically you say, "Okay, what would be the worst thing that someone can do it?" And you think about any of those things that you may have done. You're like, "If I've ever done anything to a woman that I'd have to hurt someone that they've done to my daughter, then I shouldn't be doing it." And then logically speaking, who would suffer if I disrespect women? My daughters. And then also the man that they see is the man they're gonna want.

Dames Honor Code (20:47)

What are some key elements of your honor code that one are just absolutely central to it and that two, if you could pass to the culture in an instant, what would you pass? I mean, if you have an agreement with somebody, if me and you have an agreement, I don't care what the rest of the world looks at as bad or good. We have to honor our agreement period. So honor means that when you agree and you guys have as men or a professional, an adult, your world got to be more than anything. If you say you're gonna do something, you gotta do it. And that's what the street kind of was. It was like even though the rest of the world doesn't believe in certain things that were going on, there was this code, no snitching, no messing with your homies' girls, no serving anyone pregnant. Just things that were laws that were unwritten. That was honor. Honor means more than anything, bro, and it protects you no matter what. And I could just say that based on my experience. There ain't no street shit. That's just some real shit. The street might have, like, I'm a guy that maybe I need to see some fucked up shit to learn honor. And maybe that's the reason why I was put in that situation, because once I learned honor, I'd be able to affect the rest of the world. You never know why things happen. That's about perspective, right? On one hand, my mom died, it broke my heart. But on the other hand, it made me great. It's about perspective, what I learned from it, how I choose to look at it. Sometimes I'll talk to somebody and they'll be abusive and shit, or they'll be drinking. They'll be like, "Why the fuck do you do all that drinking? Why are you so abusive?" "Oh, my dad was drinking. He was abusive. That's all I know." Then you ask somebody else, and they're like a straight square. They don't drink. And they're not abusive. And you'd be like, "Yo, how come you don't drink? How come you're not abusive?" "Yo, I saw my dad." It's just about perspective. And that's how I look at things in my pops. I'm like, "I'm a good dad, because everything he did I didn't like. I ain't doing to my kid. I'm not gonna pass the cycle." But some people might look at it and say, "I'm just gonna pass the cycle, because he passed it to me."

Culture Vulture (22:55)

Perspective. The book Culture Vultures was really fascinating, but went way beyond just going down the road of Culture Vultures and seemed to really talk about your philosophies on life, your philosophies on business, relationships, everything. And there's a very clean through line, at least for me as a reader. If you had to sum up your message about life, what would you say? I mean, oh, shit. My name is Dame Dash, right? And what does the dash in between the beginning of when you born, you died at Dash? That's the life. That's your life. I think we're here to live. We're here to learn. And I here to be perfect. We're supposed to embrace all our imperfections. And I think if we find and can imagine the bright side in anything that will become a reality, but you can't think anything is going to be given to you other than opportunity. And the only way to show appreciation for opportunity is to react. Not to say thank you, but to actually do something. And not everyone gets opportunities. So I think appreciating those opportunities is really important because the next time those opportunities will not be presented, and I think every single day for everybody, there's a lesson. There's a test. And if you don't pass the test, you do not move forward. You stay in the same place. And then that test becomes a little harder. And if you don't pass it again, you actually go backwards. And then instead of the test being in front of you, where you can look at the test, it's in back of you, and it's smacking the shit out of you in the back of your head, and it hurts, and it's embarrassing. So I always advise people to look out for those tests, not the ones when people are looking, just when no one's looking.

Where can people find you on the internet (24:46)

Alright, before I ask my last question, tell these guys where they can find you online. Well, I'm Dusco Poppington on IG. I'm launching a 24 hour television network. So there's movies like Honor Up that went out theatrically. There's a docuseries like Anthony Bourdain like, but like me going into different places with my crew getting high and making music. But living lavish, whole B went to in the season as Jamaica, but we've done China, and Thailand, and all those different places. Health is important to me. You know, I'm 47. I'm diabetic, vegan-ish, plant-based. Raquel, wifey for Lifey, has a show health as well, where she shows you how to be healthy without being corny. And, you know, there's the culture vultures class and the Q&A, so there's information, and then there's the Dash Diabetes Network, which talks about, again, you brought it up on Type 1 since I was 15. So again, as I learned things, I like to teach and talk about perspective.

Exploring The Impact Theory And Unleashing Potential

The Impact Theory (25:46)

Alright, my last question. What is the impact that you want to have on the world? In the world? Yes. I want to figure out what's going on off of this planet. Interesting. Like space travel? Yeah, I'm curious to know what happens if we get that, because we only got 12% of our brain, right? What happens if we got that other 80? What are we not seeing? You know, it just doesn't make sense to me that we're the only people in this universe. And it makes no sense to me that the moon is where it's at. Like how strategically placed it is. Like, if it wasn't exactly where it was at, it couldn't exist. I just, I want to think about things that people don't think about. You know, if you're asking me what answers I want to give, like, I don't want to say some shit or discover something that's already been discovered, right? So what's the biggest mystery? Death? And out of space. And I'm not so worried about death right now. I'd rather live. But I am curious to know. I think if I find out what's happening outside of space, I'll probably know what's going on with death. But that's, you asked me what I'm curious about. So do I, if I could be known for something, I'd probably get, I'd like to be known for something. And I just believe that once we know what's really fucking going on, all these illogical things, we'll sort themselves out. But us fighting each other, like being adults and killing and thinking that, um, hate, makes love is not logical. Hopefully I can be conscious when certain things become revealed. You know, I want to be able to be here for that. When we get on that, get off this planet. You're not curious about that?

What happens if we had endless brainpower? (27:35)

I'm very curious about that. Yeah. And like, what do you think would happen if we had access to the rest of our brain? Well, what do you think we'd see that we don't? I think the honest answer there is that we probably have unconscious access to our brains already. I don't think that it's that we're not using our brain. I think that our brain is largely under subconscious control. So there's certainly something interesting. And I don't know if you know Wim Hof, but there's something interesting about gaining conscious control over the auto-nautism. Well, with that said, you know, I always say like, I know my brain could do something. And I know that the things I wanted to do, I try to make it do. But I just think there's some things that we have no ability to even fathom or understand that even if our subconscious is triggering it, whatever is triggering, we can't see. Like, I believe that if there's a person, there's a part of our brain that maybe even a dog might see, we're like a whole 'nother thing with us. We're like a whole 'nother thing would be happening. You know, it just has to be. Well, if you really want to fuck yourself up, do you know the double slit experiment in quantum physics? Mm-hmm. Alright, so this is bananas. So the double slit experiment is a particle of light is both a wave and a particle at the same time. Nobody knows how that's possible. But if you take a slit or a piece of metal with two slits in it and you shoot a single photon through it, and it's going to go through either one of the slits, if you have a camera on it, or both of the slits if you don't have the camera on it. So A, how it knows that there's a camera on it, I will never understand, but it has to do with quantum mechanics or basically probabilities. So you only collapse something down to an actual definitive state by looking at it, by observing it. So if you take this single photon and you shoot it at it, no camera, the interference pattern on the back of the wall that you get, it looks like a wave, meaning that it's going through both slits. So if on the other hand you put a camera on it, then it goes through one slit or the other. It's so crazy that that's true, I literally can't believe it. So that's where A, I'm not smart enough to really grasp what's going on. Well that would probably be the other part of your brain. Well, so is there another part of my brain that I could tap into? Maybe, or am I just not operating at that level? You wouldn't know. You wouldn't know. We don't know. Quantum mechanics are insane. A lot of your brain is working. You see, you know, you got that shit going. But that's what I think like something like that would be easy if we understand.

Wim Hof (30:00)

Here's, you should go, you should look at Wim Hof. So Wim Hof is a guy that claims he has control over his autonomic nervous system. So his immune system, he can control it, his body temperature can control it. People said it's total bullshit. And he said, put me in a bucket of ice, like a gigantic bucket of ice that you can stand up in, fill it with ice, and measure my core temperature in a scientific setting. For two hours I think he maintained his core body temperature. It's not possible people die at like 40 minutes. So he says through this breathing technique and practice he's been able to grab a hold of his autonomic nervous system and instead of your core temperature will normally lower, but you can raise it if you can increase essentially your metabolic rate. So that you're kicking off heat. I don't even think he can, by breathing, he has a class and he teaches it. I think he can about it. Yep. How he actually does it, I'm not sure. But they even ask him to send the heat to one hand, which he can do. Come on. So here's where it gets really fucking weird is they, he said I can also control my nervous system. They said bullshit, we're going to inject you with an endotoxin, which they use to form of E. coli. And he said I'll shut it down, I'll have no reaction. So they bring him into a hospital under scientific conditions, hit this motherfucker with an endotoxin, and he shuts it down. He doesn't get a fever, nothing. How? So they're like, you're just a genetic freak. What's his process? He is a class. I can't teach it. He can't. He's like, what's he doing? What's he doing? What's he doing? He does breathing exercises leading up to it, and then he does breathing exercises through it, how he grabs a hold of using the breathing techniques and cold exposure to actually get a hold of the autonomic nervous system. I do not understand. I haven't taken the class yet, but I plan to. But his whole thing was everyone's like, you're just a genetic freak. So sure, one in, you know, nine billion people can do it. He taught 12 more people to do it. What? So they're like, no one else can ever do this. And four days, he taught 12 more people to do it. They injected them with the same endotoxin. They all shut it down. You can take his blood out. You sit me? I am not. We had him on the show. He'll give you a vial of blood, and up to four hours after being taken out of his body, it will still squash an endotoxin that's injected into it. That's so fucking crazy. Really let that sink in for a second. So this all started because his wife committed suicide, and he was so bereft. He like couldn't fathom moving on with his life. He finds himself staring at this fucking pond that's frozen ovaries from Amsterdam. And he's staring at this pond. It's frozen over. And he said it was calling to me. And I just had to smash through the ice and sit in the water. So I get to know why I just had to do it. So he goes over, breaks the fucking ice, gets in the water, and of course it's insane. And it, like he said, it's like a thousand stabbing needles. And he sits in the water and he trains himself to do it, and now he can sit in the water work. So he had on the spot training? Literally on the spot. Just starts doing cold exposure, putting himself in water. He's now set the record for swimming under ice covered seawater. So when it has salt in it and get below freezing, so the water's actually below freezing even though it's liquid, he swam in it. His corny as froze, so he goes blind, ends up having to be saved by a diver on his first attempt. His second attempt he wears goggles. Has he happened to find the one that she? Do you have to meet this guy? He's unbelievable. But is it fun being cool? Because I'm black. I like being in the hot tub. He's like over the top, but he'll tell you that the actual moments of cold exposure hurt and they suck, but being able to control your nervous system is unimaginably cool. He loves his life. That's how I feel like mushrooms. Like when you take mushrooms and I can control myself from that. Now I'm really having the real interview. Why do you smoke weed? It calms me down when people aren't catching up. Is that, that's not the only reason.

Why do you smoke weed? (33:32)

I saw you smoking would be real. That's not why you were smoking. You were just having a feel. I like the way it feels. Yeah, like when you feel. So walk me through that. I hate it. I hate it so much you can't imagine. Because you get paranoid. That's mildly part of it. The other part is it makes me feel sluggish. I like being, I mean that's the part that I like at times. So if I have to get into like a fight or something physical, I prefer not have to push through the fog. But sometimes the fog makes me relax because I have so much anxiety and so much I want to do that a lot of, you know, it's hard for people to kind of keep up. You talk so openly about what I'll call traditional flaws.

Traditional Flaws, (34:08)

Is that born of self confidence? Like you make no attempt to appear cool. And there is something in that that is very cool. But you don't pose. Posing is not cool. I just, I just don't see the reason for being mad about making mistakes. Like I just, I don't know man. I think I got yelled at one time when I was four and I felt embarrassed. And I didn't like that feeling. So I did what the guy did with the cold. I figured out how to never be embarrassed. You know what I'm saying? Teach me how. You just don't give a fuck. Once you don't give a fuck what people think, like logically speaking, why would you care about what someone's opinion is that you don't love that doesn't love you that's not even playing the same game you're playing? That's only, you know the only reason why they have something to say is because they're insecure. Like I don't, I just, I don't see why I would be concerned about some insecure asshole. Like I think one million lanes combined cannot equal one cool person. And meaning someone that's just honest about who they are. Like being, it's not relatable. It's not realistic to think that anyone is perfect and anyone that is, is evil because it's just not true. You know what I'm saying? And the good thing about imperfections is what makes you cool is how you deal with them. That's what makes you cool. You know what I'm saying? So I've never been afraid to be wrong. I don't know. I love that. Dame, thank you so much.

Conclusion

Close (35:45)

Thank you. It was amazing. Thank you. Guys, this is somebody I'm telling you you're going to want to dive into this man's world. It is absolutely extraordinary. The amount of advice that he puts out there is just mind boggling in the quantity, but the amount of it that is life changing that will become a part of you. The quantity who speaks about having a code of ethics and living by that, having honor and living by that, knowing who you are, architecting your future, knowing what you want to do, that he defines cool as actually being yourself and not being afraid to make mistakes. All of that, like it is so powerful to adopt those things in your own life. And I was literally mind-boggled. All I knew going into this interview was the persona. I knew him as the brash, cocky, charismatic and ultra successful hip-hop impresario. I did not know the soulful, well-thought-out person who has created his life brick by brick to be exactly what he wanted, bucking trends when it didn't match with who he wanted to be, who he saw himself as, and the code of ethics that he talks so much about. It is extraordinary to see somebody be that consistent with that. He said that a brand is all about consistency. And if that is true, the one thing that this man is beyond consistent on is he's never afraid to admit when he's wrong. And because of that, he's always evolving. I found it so fascinating, things have to either monetize or evolve his soul. It was not an answer that I expected. It is one I deeply respect. So I highly encourage you guys to dive in his world wherever and whenever you can. You will not regret it. It will change you if you let it. All right, guys. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And until next time, my friends, be legendary. Take care. Hey, everybody. Thank you so much for watching and being a part of this community. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. You're going to get weekly videos on building a growth mindset, cultivating grit, and unlocking your full potential.