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Good morning, good evening, good night, good afternoon.
Sometimes it's easier for me to keep going than to quit.
Life is real, you know what I mean?
You have to go out there and put the work in.
And if you've never been in the pit at a NASCAR race, do it.
The time you put in while no one is around
will be what sets you apart when everyone is watching.
Because a lot of times you'd be like,
oh yeah, that's a cool little idea.
But once they really understand where you're coming from,
the meaning behind it all in your heart,
what you really want to accomplish that's when people dive in they really get what's up what's
up what's up good morning good evening good night good afternoon whatever you're listening in
listening from shout out to the spotify listenership apple and google podcasts wherever
you're listening in from could have been any in the where in the world you know how the saying
goes but you're right here with us so we appreciate it got a little mess in the studio for the youtube
people walking in jake came by a little bit earlier so i'll get rid of this but we have
in the building today mr abstract music empire mr pa anthem mr jake supreme i appreciate you for
that welcome to the show thank you brother thank you i appreciate you having me you know quite the
intro right there you know i'm saying i appreciate it and uh yeah let's get down to business t.o
Yeah, man. So we got a lot going on. I appreciate what you do in the area. So for those that don't know, Abstract Music Empire brings on performances, music, shows, a lot of culture. Most notably right now, we got Trinidad James coming. We'll give you a chance to talk about that.
But I've seen the ups, the downs.
I've seen Jake at the highs, at the lows, where things went really well, where things didn't go the best.
And the thing is, he's still here doing it.
So it becomes one of those things where as we search for resilience and stories of bouncing back and that sort of thing, we wanted to have Jake up here, give him a chance.
We just had Red McFly up.
he's got i mean just in the culture going on right now that that french montana cokeways narcos 3.5
um and then j cole i mean we're not even gonna give a review because it dropped at midnight
right it's damn near two hours long the j cole project yeah did you get a chance to listen to
any of it yes i did yes i did um i actually really liked it there's one cut on there uh
specifically i believe it has j cole ar at an era i'm sorry abso and um daylight on there you know
that track i'm talking about no i listened to it the way through but i didn't look at what track
was track i just kind of like said this is my first time hearing it is clearly gonna age well
you know right i think so yeah so maybe it's too early to tell but i didn't have any complaints so
far nah good good good album my my girlfriend did say that uh the couple of tracks that she
listened to and i encouraged her to go listen to it again she said it was a little drakey
is what she said you know but you know i feel like you know once you get to a certain
you know he has to have some of those cuts that you know that people are gonna i guess
appreciate in different ways you know i mean it was if you think about it being made over 10 years
you got to think there was probably a time where that sound like they may not be new tracks they
may be flip the verse or did something but you know how it goes being a musician yourself i mean
what made you get into you're obviously a creator everywhere i see you dress super well but i know
you you had the graphic design and video i remember i had spoke to you and you had done
some stuff in media before you got heavy into promotion that's good tony tony's one of the
already man you gotta get the research you know i'm saying uh but also we know we've known each
other for a minute but yeah i started off as the video guy for real i went to kutztown for
electronic media um and that was my base i mean i always did music even in college even in high
school and even in high school i was doing videos so videos and music were hand in hand for me and
it's crazy how life works because now it's pretty much how it is if you want to be an artist you
gotta kind of know something about videos and you gotta be able to do the music yeah social media
and all that too but it's cool to want to give back or do something i mean it's funny when i'm
going on six seven seasons of this show every 10 or so episodes i do a new season and one of the
things that stuck out to me is like season five was a lot of directors actors i had two camera
guys and it just fell into it this latter half of season six has been you know award-winning uh
platinum award-winning producer ali a mac mcguire we have uh multiple award-winning producer red
mcfly and then we have jake supreme and i'm looking to get ant wave up so uh females i'm
sorry my whole female listenership dropped the last time i had a run of one or two rappers
oh really it just dang it faded out we get bad we get a bad rap but you know more than this listen
a lot of us rappers in here in this community in the lehigh valley are more than just rappers
that's the that's the main thing like a lot of the people that you see you see because they're
doing more than just rapping you know for sure for sure i mean i i like to shout out uh our buddy
eric we've had him up here eric rodriguez podcaster artist um he's been doing a ton of
performing and now i just saw he's starting a community garden so that's so shout out to eric
shout out to eric man he was on the last indy he was on the first indy certified that we ever did
so shout out to eric seriously we'll go on that indy certified yeah so um it started uh the nugget
happened you know through the emmaus theater grind you know as you kind of know i've been doing a lot
of grinding especially kind of happening during covid covid was like that time where it was like
well what are we gonna do you know i'm saying so um uh bobby from the amaze theater was like
you know kind of on board with me as far as my vision and helping them get shows over there
during the covid when there was no way to uh put on movies you know and um he let us like you said
like fail he let us fail there you know i'm saying he let us fail there multiple multiple times until
we could get it right um and through those through those shows uh we gained you know notoriety
amongst the artists which means the artists that got booked for those shows you know i have track
record people on video saying hey you know those abstract shows at the immense theater were some
of the most professionally run shows that i've ever been to like just being an artist you feel
like a professional we said you know that there's a you know i'm very strict you know everybody
knows like i'm very happy go lucky god but i'm very strict when it comes to the to the business
of the event and you know the game time of the event everything on time and stuff like that on
time keeping the artists separate from the rest of the fans and the audience um my goal for uh
these events is to make them feel like shows and not showcases i want to show that the indie
artists can still be professional you know what i'm saying and so i want to make sure that when
you do get booked it's not like you're getting booked like you know you're one out of 30 artists
running and gunning and performing it's not about me making money off the artist it's about you know
put it on a good show that we can make money from you know i'm saying so yeah you don't charge the
artist right you charge the you know i'm saying so that's how we started and then once we finally
getting got a name for that you know got a name you know got some recognition started actually
making money off these shows you know i'm saying uh you know i i uh and then we have we have a
history with arts quest as well doing music fest you know and a combination of doing music
for five years in a row and in may's theater starting to you know bubble up we started uh
you know they were able to um you know i talked to full circle yeah i talked to you know it's a
lot of business it's a lot of business you know i don't mean to bore anybody with the business but
it's a lot of business a lot of emailing a lot of talking to talk onto it because people don't know
what goes into it or what goes behind right people have short-term memories so you're only
the thing when you're doing events is you're only as good as your last event that's gonna succeed
that's gonna like speak what succeeds for your next event so it's a constant hill you know it's
a constant hill you're climbing it's got valleys as you go right but i don't paint a picture with
my show and my listeners no i don't paint a picture that is all i hate that instagram
entrepreneur where you're just flying all around and when you say it's business you're talking
about okay this person's been working 12 hours they got time at 10 30 like we're going to be
going out to south by southwest in about a month so that means press passes that means lodging
that means are we going to be able to eat and do everything is pretty much like going on tour
you're talking about living somewhere else for a full week so it's like we might have to have
peanut butter and jellies one day like you you can't just say all right i'm gonna travel but
i'm also eat lobster and stuff at least that's not where i'm at in the grind right i don't know
if my mindset will ever be like all right if i want lobster i'll get it i've always kept myself
in a position that if i want a steak i can get it but steak gets boring if you have it every day
100 100 yeah and i feel this that's that's real bro like you know you know we gotta as artists
and you know people as creatives you know show the show the grind show everything you know i'm
saying um and and i'll touch on it a little bit without being too long-winded i would say i have
no problem being transparent but i also don't want to be long-winded but um it took you know
besides from building that track record with well let me just bring this story so it was 2025
we're on our fifth year doing music fest i'm like i don't really want to do music fest in
year this year because it was just so much commotion behind it as far as every year you
know just like any certified i try to get people on stage and it gets and it gets kind of hectic
you know i'm saying when that year comes when it comes around or like people you know people get
offended if i don't you know reach out to them or vice versa so i was like i ain't gonna do it
if they hit me up for with a good opportunity because i've done all these little small stages
for four years four and a half years now if they hit me up with the main stage then i'll do it you
know what i'm saying yeah and it was kind of one of those things where like i wasn't gonna hit them
up and then um one of the guys uh that's on the board for arts quest was like yo jake are you
doing music fast like i'm looking to see you just you know because we've kind of gotten that track
record now and uh i was like listen you know i really wasn't gonna do it like if it happens it
happens you know i'm saying i feel you and um he was like let me uh let me send it he said no he
said send an email out because i want to see you so i sent the email to my connects up arts quest
patrick brogan patrick brogan um you know ali all the people that are involved in arts quest that
unite you guys need to know um and they're like listen like you know we'll we'll talk to nelly
and his team and see if we can you know see you have to submit your music you know we'll submit
it over to them if they allow it we have no problem because we we like how you guys did the
last four years so you know and then it was a but that was like secondary for me like at that point
did that end up getting through and approved and everything it did but what got approved first was
indie certified so it was it was it was like okay i didn't want them to just put me on stage throw
me away like listen i got stuff going on i got these amazing theater shows they're popping like
i'm sending them videos of it like let's do something together where you know you can help
we booked these bigger artists
and we can get these
dope local talent
on stage
and I kind of presented
them the vision
you know
of Indie Certified
and that's the vision
Indie Certified's all about
well Abstract Music Empire
our mission statement
is helping creatives live
helping creatives
live their dreams
if we don't follow
within that
we ain't touching it
you know what I'm saying
if it's not helping
creatives live their dreams
if it ain't helping
T.O. getting
where he want to go
if it ain't helping
you know everybody else
getting where they want to be
then we're not gonna do it and um i think that uh so i was able to explain that to them at arts
quest like hey you know you do in business because i'm also a businessman you got to find the need
right what is what's the problem what's the problem what's the problem in lehigh valley
with the local music scene it's the fact that if they are booking hip-hop which they just started
admittedly right
you've been here
for a minute
five six years ago
they wasn't
fucking on hip hop
like that
well if you're
talking about
like uh
like the
empower 610
day where the
city's actually
paying for it
where artists
are getting
checks
uh
shout out to
nice jones
at lbj
shout out to
nice jones
man working
with him too
you know
that's awesome
yeah you already
know
he's uh
he's got
he's got a bunch
i don't want to
give his personal
business out
but we'll just
uh
throw in there
he was in my
wedding
he was very nice he was in my bridal party so that's what's up around with him but um that's
super dope man i think that that idea of having something non-negotiable having like uh in in
coding we call it an invariant like every other rule has to follow this rule right it's like you
you have some leeway to do stuff but if things break this is the one that no matter what else
changes this has to stay the same right and uh you know that's that's dope it helps give an
alignment and then it brings when you bring people on the worst is when you have six people working
together and you ask each one of them what does this do what's this committee about they all have
different answers yeah you know yeah it's hard to get things done um when you do get things done
people don't understand why they're doing it you know i'm saying or what's the purpose of this and
I think that, I mean, every business realistically has a mission statement, but if you're a brand,
you should have a mission statement.
You know what I'm saying?
What do you, what do you want to do with this?
You know what I'm saying?
Like, I love this.
I will not lose.
I will not lose.
Like, I actually, you know, take that as one of my mantras.
Like, you know what I'm saying?
Like, shout out to Nas.
You know what I'm saying?
Like, we will not lose.
Like, that's just non-negotiable.
You know what I'm saying?
It's non-negotiable.
Like, there's nothing wrong.
They're going to think this is a hip hop podcast.
There's nothing wrong.
Listen, I'm sorry.
No, you're right.
you're right there's no don't apologize no but um we celebrating jay cole's draft today yeah we're
recording on the day that the fall off drop back um but hey i mean you got to be resilient out here
you got to be different you got to think outside of the box you know yeah no it was funny in the
first episode and people still do download the first episode so that's why i try to do
yeah the pre-recorded that's why i try to keep it like uh evergreen you know what i mean where
there's if it was like i look back and we were talking about music that came out that didn't
even last a year or two since but if i listen to my first episode before i have my first guest
i'm talking about i want something that'll last and worst comes to worst the name's gonna be i
will not lose. That was my invariant. I don't care if it's a gaming channel. I don't care if
we slide into like what other lane the mentality is, is that I think success for failure can keep
me going for 10 years. Everybody seems to have that in some way, shape or form where
people's lives aren't rosy. I've never had anybody up here like, well, yeah, you know,
i just had no problems my parents sent me to college i got a you know 120 000 job moved up
to 200 000 you know no like it's it's it doesn't work like that for anybody and if it does work
like that i'd have to say that you skip out on some of the chapters of like being a full human
failure builds real humans you know you know you're not lying at all you're speaking some
some crazy truths that I hope the audience is really sinking in.
You know what I'm saying?
It'll hit where it needs to hit.
Because, man, that is so true.
And I speak to my little brother.
I speak to all my young bulls and stuff like that
that are going through so hard, these hard times.
And it's like, when you're in the struggle,
like, it's so hard to see past what's right in front of your face.
You know what I'm saying?
It's so hard.
Especially at a young age, you know, when you're still trying to,
you think that, you know, remember back in high school,
you thought, like, literally, like, the problem you had in high school
was like the biggest problem in the world yeah especially if it had to do with girls or
something like and it's like yo you're never gonna remember that that problem's gonna be so
minute in three years you know what i'm saying and it's just like it's like yo like um you know
i'm a firm believer i mean life is hard you know ain't nobody gonna help you you know i'm saying
like once you come to the conclusion that you're gonna have to do this yourself and then you just
appreciate whatever help does come you know oh wow this was nice i didn't have to work i'd be
like that's enough of it sometimes i'd be like no i appreciate the help but right you know i mean
give me one hand not two right exactly but um i don't want to get used to hands helping i understand
that but also um you know it's a it's a we we live in a community and i think that people got
to understand that you need your neighbor yeah i just seen you outside helping your neighbor with
some salt you didn't need to do that
I appreciate you saying it cause I
never I don't like
I don't like to talk about it like you know
when you see on social where they be
like oh we're gonna give this
homeless person a hundred like I always
thought that was so corny like that goes against
what the bible says charity is
like there's
a level of charity and I'll let
you get back on going on a good neighbor
you know we'll stay on the whole being a good
neighbor thing but the best
form of charity is that
you don't know who gave it to you and you're allowed to do whatever you want
with it. Now, like, here's a gift card to Starbucks.
I see you're having a problem with money.
So at least your coffee's taken care of. It's like,
it's winter and my heat's not paid.
I don't need a hundred dollars Starbucks gift card. Right. Right.
You know, it'd be real. So.
Yeah, man. Truth. Truth about that, man. I think that if more,
and even in, you know,
even in this creative game we got going on in anything in life, really,
um you know help thy neighbor if they if you can you know i understand it's hard you know but uh
everybody's going through something you know have more patience for people try to be nice you know
those are all things that you know i try to do you know everybody's not perfect you're gonna have
some days where you mean yeah absolutely but i apologize to someone today don't try to be mean
you know what i'm saying wake up thinking like thank you for this day god or whoever you pray to
and let me see if I can make a better situation
for myself and others around me.
No, facts, facts.
So that's what being a good neighbor is for you?
Like just kind of lending a hand, being there.
I mean-
Listen, I think that, so there's levels to it, right?
Yes, lend a hand when you can, you know,
but I think as black and brown people,
a lot of us got to help ourselves
and in helping ourselves, we will help our community.
You see more black and brown people, you know, doing good, you know, spreading positivity, educating other people, being nice, you know, more black people lending a hand to their neighbors.
You know, you being, like, am I saying go out and try to, you know, give everybody advice?
Not everybody like that, you know what I'm saying?
Don't be like that.
But at the same time, lead by example, you know what I'm saying?
Help your community by being a good person in the community.
don't try to go out of your way to be a nice guy in the community that's not really what i'm saying
i'm just saying be you be a good guy and and that will spread out just be yourself that will spread
out you know i'm saying yeah and you never know how it's gonna affect someone like i would uh
it's funny i'm saying this right after i said i don't publicly talk about when i do stuff but
when i went and spoke at mulemberg the other day um a couple weeks ago i spoke at mulemberg as a
entrepreneur creative entrepreneur and one of the ladies reached out to me and said hey i want to
learn about networking can we sit down i said well you already got the first step like this one-on-one
you know before i podcasted i had been doing this with hundreds of people over years sitting down
you know at one point it was two to three people a week so when i say hundreds i'm probably on the
light end you know what i mean like there's probably you could probably fill a room with
a hundred people that I know and sat down with. And now I'm doing it with her. This is her first
time doing this professionally. And I'm like, well, you already reached out. I want to put you
in touch with Jack nine. We had him on the podcast. She reached out to me about the time
that he had the podcast, you know? And, um, I said, well, let me sit down with him. Let me see
what's going on you know and i wanted to connect them because i know he knows people in art
direction and what she does so who knows where that'll go right but i had nothing to get like
it's easy to show up for the cameras when you're speaking and you're the guy in front it takes the
extra step to say all right well i'm gonna go and meet with this student and kind of mentor and who
knows where that goes but you know that's that's still me being me because that's something that
i would have wanted and there were people shout out to people that kind of led me in the right
direction in business you know you know yeah no that's that's important i also think like
like to that aspect just being like having like having that constant network and growth you know
there's a lot that you can learn you know you know for yourself just by talking to all these
different people you know having them having them on your podcast or or even just lending that helping
the hand you know i'm saying so no that's for sure that's what's up so uh tell us another story
how'd you end up booking trinidad james what you got going on with that yeah so uh indie certified
one was dope you know uh we had lg team genius from the netflix show rhythm and flow 2 and she's
from philly too she's also been on a couple like she's got her songs on madden and a couple things
she was dope yeah i know exactly what you're talking about she came on after rad at that
boiler room show i was there yeah i was working that was their first indie certified and she did
her thing so that's who we booked um i knew that uh you know for that show specifically with our
undercard actually you know sold a lot more than we expected so the undercard did really well
opposed to the headliner um for this one it was important for me to i mean every and i think what
people need to understand with this indie certified thing it really is about the community because
if the community doesn't show up there could be no more certified you know i'm saying like
it really is a community thing if these artists want arts quest to take them seriously on the
local independent level and you want to get booked in front of people like trinidad james or even
you know i talked to a lot of people actually before booking trinidad and i'll get into some
of that but um you know if you want to get in front of these artists it's important to show
support come out bring your friends tell people about it so it doesn't it doesn't get disbanded
For sure.
Because this is a weird time right now in the Lehigh Valley.
We got ArtsQuest, this is the nonprofit.
We got PPL Center, right?
Their Oakview Group, OVG, you know, it's the business.
If you know, you know.
These are the biggest players in event business in the country, right?
AEG, Oakview Group, Live Nation.
Live Nation just got here on Hamilton Street right down the road.
Really?
Arts and Music Hall.
Oh, okay.
then i didn't realize that was a live nation show yes live nation um and uh and arts quest is the
only one that's been here and is looking out in his non-profit and is looking out for the local
scene and so you know i try to shout out the arts quest man stuff that mike for settle does and
stuff i don't i uh sponsor reggae fest as a vendor so i have like some connections there but not like
you have you know maybe you can introduce
me but as much as they come up
we've shouted them out on this podcast
so many times between reggae
fest and having guests
that do just like you you know I think
you said Patrick Brogan right his name
has come up on this show so you gotta introduce
me to him he's the
chief program officer
for ArchQuest so he's the
one that you know
goes through all that the one lady
Cassie she's the CEO
Cassie Hilberg
and then you know you got
you know a lot of these other guys
Ali she's like a program director there's a lot of different
people in play with ArtsQuest
but you know coming out to
these shows networking like you said
you know what I'm saying when you come to these shows
like Indie Certified these people
are there they know
what my vision is they know that
this is the feeding ground for them
to get music space people for them
to get like they're looking like if you don't think
they're looking like you're not taking
full advantage of this opportunity and for those i'm sorry i didn't bring it up earlier for those
listening in that don't know music faster don't know this area because we got listeners in five
countries hey music fest is one of the largest if not the largest free is the largest free music
festival in the nation yeah in the nation united states so it happens right here in bethlehem
pennsylvania so when you're talking about artists like nelly uh they had ludacris i've seen him
there i worked with live nation back when they had bb king when they first started the event center
okay and uh bb king had performed before the event center at um music fest yeah and uh at music fest
and i was able to see that before he passed away wow that's lit man you know that's lit rest in
peace to him man seriously it's been dope to be a part of the scene like even though i didn't
pursue music rather than having a son you know um and i'll play some old music i have and stuff
like it was it was a it was all i did like it was my identity then i got into design now i'm
the designer and i just mess with these i mean it's it's still fun stuff too yeah yeah got some
good stuff here for sure who knows what we're creating you know yeah we have to we do have to
pay some bills in a second i'll shout out our sponsor but you know it was two three years until
we attracted any sort of sponsorship right now with that comes consistency so the second I flip
my mind to we're going to be consistent I got three or four guests lined up so it's like okay
it's uh it's season to do this in 2026 you know yeah you know one of the dope things about being
part of the music scene you know originally as a rapper before I got into design full-time
is you know there's people 30 years old that have never been to a music concert
like we're so used to it that we don't realize it's a true experience for people right it's like
when you get into directing and you work behind the camera movies don't hit the same like you
appreciate the artistic but it's a lot harder to get lost lost in the story when you know what the
lights look like and you're focusing on the shots like i said i was a film guy so there was a time
and i'm not like that anymore i think after you kind of like relax from just like editing and
shooting and just being in that like especially in the college level where it's like literally
you know everything you're doing you can kind of watch and appreciate film for what it is but
there's still times where it's like okay that was a very nice shot i really like how that transition
i really like how that pan the cinematography is dope and my girl just like oh my god can i watch
the movie yeah it's like oh this is the hero's journey he's gonna go and it's like
this is the rising tension right yeah no my wife hates watching movies a bit too for the same
that's funny man serious though but uh no just being and then now having a son in music and his
big thing was he didn't want me like just laying the way out for him and be one of those kids so
he works super hard he buys his own guitars he's um you know he's got a performance coming up
shout out to them uh foxy entertainment is throwing that show at tipsy's okay i forget
the title of it but it's the valentine's john okay next friday night come by 4 or 5 p.m have
dinner shows will start my son will be performing like 30 30 40 minutes so wow he's got he's got uh
we'll see
we'll see how he does
I'll tell you
30-40 minutes
ain't easy
like I've done a couple
30-40 minutes
I've done an hour
done an hour and a half
at Music Fest before
hour and a half
is nuts
it's wild
but those are the type of things
where it's like
you can slow down a bit
it's not just song after song
it's about the
the in between
I get that
and you get
you know make sure you get
a couple
a couple of your boys
you know on stage
with you
you know what I'm saying
to fill it out
but yeah man
those
anything past 30 minutes
is a good amount of time.
I've actually,
and the original question
we kind of got away from
was how to book
Trinidad and James.
I didn't forget.
But a lot of people,
like a lot of artists at least,
like they always want
to perform last.
They always want to,
you know,
perform for like 30,
40 minutes.
And I tell people,
a lot of these artists,
they don't understand,
like sometimes it's better
to get in and get out.
Like sometimes it's better
to do your little
five, six minutes,
make it fire,
and then dip the fuck out of there.
You know what I'm saying?
I'll tell you exactly, you know who did that?
I don't even know his name.
I have to look him up.
He had a, not Axe with the Sacks.
Shout out to CP Time and Axe with the Sacks.
Yeah, those are the boys, man.
Oh, I like those guys.
They two peas in a pod over there.
They performed with my son, or they performed right after my son.
So we can say my son opened up for them at Ultimate Streetwear Expo with Paz.
Yes, I've seen that.
But this dude came out, he was like break dancing.
He had either a sax or a trumpet.
i think he had some sort of a horn who acts no oh there's another guy longer hair yeah he's like a
spanish dude he was i think he said he was from philly or something i mean he can't he was at
your show you he was at my show yeah maze talk about maze on the beat maybe i mean you have an
instrument maze i don't think you got an instrument somebody who's at my show we're gonna we're gonna
find out we're gonna shout him out if i can find footage of it i'm telling you he came out the beat
was dope he spit he pulled a trumpet out from somewhere he was playing with it no no no no
axe had the sax right right right i feel like this dude had a trumpet or something he had some other
instrument that he was playing while dancing while rapping was he the uh was he a spanish dude yeah
short guy yeah la bomba that's probably him did he have like a uh like a mask he almost looked
like hawaiian he almost looked like his hair was out ah damn i don't know i don't know it had to
be labamba if that if that's the sport but it's cool we're gonna get off there's a lot of
i know but i'm saying he uh he killed it and then i couldn't find him after the show couldn't find
him beforehand i was trying to look his music up right here but yeah i was like i was like oh man
but uh no it's cool the amount of if it's not labamba then he just got a free shout out but
somebody somebody did it obama's number is gonna run up some of the dudes probably yelling at the
screen like it was me right you know but no you you see people do stuff and build stuff in the
area and it goes through eras and podcasts go through seasons and it's just a matter of seeing
people keep going like that's the whole message behind i will not lose like after that get up
Like you want to go out on top after you win.
You don't want to go out after a crazy loss.
Right.
Which means if you lose, you have to keep going.
That's true too.
So if you keep losing, right, you can't lose.
It's like when you, you know, if you play basketball or, you know,
you can't lose on a miss, right?
You can't leave the gym on a miss, right?
You can't, right?
You got to hit that, you know what I'm saying, before you leave.
You know what I'm saying?
And it's just, why would you want to, you know, that's how you do it.
You know what I'm saying?
And the same thing with anything that you're pursuing in life.
Like, if you do fail, which, to be honest, we all fail.
We're all bound to fail.
We're going to fail some more.
But the only way you will truly fail is if you quit.
Because if you quit, you ain't never going to get it.
Ever.
Yep.
But if you keep going, you have one more chance to do something that you didn't do last time.
And then you have one more chance to do something you didn't do last time before that.
You know what I'm saying?
And then you keep going until finally something clicks.
I mean, I think quitting is a matter of like, you got to get to a certain point.
There is fall off points or side quests that you could finish.
And sometimes you got to refocus and say, this isn't part of the mission statement.
What am I doing over here?
Wow.
I need to go back to this.
And if that mentality of I can never quit is going to stop you from ever advancing.
yeah like or even getting off the bus the best thing i heard about 20 somebody said look you get
on the bus you're going somewhere but eventually that bus is going to stop and turn around and if
you didn't get off it and get on the next bus you're headed back not just that you're going
back right going backwards right so that should let that breathe for a second because i think
that was pretty profound it changed things for me and then people ask well how do you know when
it's time to get off the bus well that's where wisdom and stuff comes in right you know you don't
want to get off i know i don't know who still rides the bus i mean i have nothing against it
but i know people like it's not like new york or philly where people are familiar with the bus
routes and stuff i could be like you know take the 323 up by doherty they'd be like i don't know
what you're talking about but you really can like get off too early and now you have to walk like
you have to be attentive of where you are on the journey you can't just get on the bus and fall
asleep it's not like a tesla no you're right bro you're a hundred percent right and to be honest
it's something i haven't really thought about um as far as that analogy is concerned but it does
make a lot of sense and i'm trying to think because like yeah you gotta get you gotta get
off because you don't want to go back right you don't want to go back and i think sometimes people
think about like remember when times were good right or you remember this so one time in your
life where things maybe were under control for at least that brief period of time and you're
thinking about oh i gotta go back to that i think that is very um it's very insightful no no no it's
um dangerous language okay dangerous is the word i'm looking for because you talk about go back to
a place okay well if you say it was 2016 and you're going back well then you go back
and you're you know younger you have you don't have the same things in your mind for sure you're
trying to go back right you're trying to go back to a time that was cool but it's not better than
where you're going just because it's hard right now doesn't mean it's better than where you're
going so i think people sometimes think oh yeah like i gotta go back or you know like they're
saying make america great again well wait a second we don't want to go back you know i'm saying like
that wasn't real great for a lot of people or you know i'm saying it's just a matter of fact i'm
like thinking about the past like it should be the future right no you should remember what you did
in the past remember the great things remember things that made it great but you should add that
to the current repertoire of knowledge that you got now stuff like health like if i go back to
eating healthy i'm not gonna be like well my trajectory was to start eating cheesesteaks
again i'll be like well you know maybe i slipped off this right but in terms of me being like well
i need to go back to where i look good on stage it's like nah my son at 15 being a young attractive
male is gonna be way better for that role why don't i put my energy into getting him shows
right letting him live that you see that too much people want to be there's nothing wrong with
making music right in your 40s 50s right if you're not taking care of your kids like if i was not
taking care of my son because i wanted to be a rapper right and that was the decision i had to
make when i stopped rap like i guess this is the first time when i will not lose you'll hear us say
it's acceptable to quit i mean listen right i think what is not acceptable is you do not take
care of your son yeah so you can rap all you want as long as the sun is taking oh and he knows
that wasn't the case right you know i think for you right like just in that analogy when you're
saying like oh like say like your vision right i want to go back to looking good on stage just
just take that at face value right well at 30 you looking good on stage looks different than what
your son gotta do to look good on stage so if you go on stage on like 30 or 40 wearing the same
shit that 16 year olds wearing
then you go crazy but if you go out there
with a suit
and you got a little swag now you know
run DMC they had suits they had
those hats
there's always a level to do it I mean you got people
performing at 70 that's not
but that's what I'm saying that's how you go forward
you know when people say
oh yeah I want to go back to that right they were talking
about they want to go back to maybe a
mindset or like a time
where things are good but you can
they want to go back to a feeling not
an actual series of events or and people get that flipped up because they'll go back to the
series of events thinking that the feeling is going to be there but don't feel the same why
because you learn too much the third eye is already open it's been 15 years since you know
you've seen really what this is and who this is and all this stuff so now you should instead of
going back you should say okay let me see how i am now doing this with what i learned if this is
really want to do you know i'm saying i think that's i don't know facts facts cook it bro
that last man we got so many clips we can start to lay the blame here but i did have to take a
break on that and pay some bills we spoke about invariance earlier that is developer language
that we learned you know how by our sponsor the nexus network man exit nexus network is a group
of AI enthusiasts, primarily through discord that share knowledge, AI knowledge. Uh, I've been able
to pick up some things. I've been able to code some websites. My current website is put together
with some of the guys from there. We had them on, they will be all more to talk, but as part of the
sponsorship, I want to keep them on the top of everyone's mind. So if you are an AI enthusiast,
this is global we have people globally in every hemisphere so there's only about you know a few
dozen maybe maybe going on a few dozen active members so if you want to get in if you're an
ai enthusiast anywhere listening into this check out the website for the invite link to the dicks
the nexus network pause we'll have to i'm gonna leave that in because that's fucking funny
the nexus network ai enthusiast i will not lose podcast.com yep we'll get back to the show so i
wanted to lead on you said you had called some other people besides uh trinidad james yeah you
want to kind of go on that uh yeah um so uh you know when when i get when me and arch fest
kind of you know we go back and forth we get a budget you know my job is to book the talent and
And I started this journey with the, you know, reaching out to artists like from Indie Certified 1.
So there was a couple of artists that hit me up that, you know, weren't really willing to play ball within the scope I was trying to play ball at at the time.
But like like I told you guys, Indie Certified is like like it's up to community to keep this going.
You know what I'm saying? Luckily, the first one was good enough where it gave me enough to go into the meeting and pitch for a better bag so we can get a better artist.
I think that the main thing with us for Indie Certified and, you know, me and I say us, I talk about Abstract and ArtsQuest.
It's like, are we either going to we're going to do this or we're not going to do this?
You either go 100 or you're not going to go. You know what I'm saying?
Like, at this point, right, we already did the Netflix star.
We already, you know, we booked Red McFly.
We booked, you know, all these guys.
We either going to, you guys know the vision.
We either going to dial it back, which, you know, that's not going to lead to growth.
Or we're going to go all the way in.
And, you know, part of my conversation with ArtsQuest is like, what do you want from us?
You know what I'm saying?
Ask that.
Like, what do you want us to do?
And I think part of the reason why we have a great deal with them is because they want us to bring more of the culture to ArtsQuest, more hip hop, more R&B, more of the local scene.
They don't really have ears to that. Most of their most of the people that they have within their company are, you know, know more about rock, country, metal and, you know, that kind of stuff, which is nothing wrong with that.
and i will say they have been on that even when i know arts quest isn't completely affiliated with
the event center but people know in my 20s i worked with event center to actually with live
nation to bring a lot of the interest and part of the reason i won that design bid not only because
i was available at the time and i turned over the sample project super quick but they wanted the
college sound like they were like i remember there was a question should we bring wiz khalifa out
here i'm like yes and you should cancel the smoke like have it outside like the college will be
filled if you bring wiz khalifa down they were like well they got this guy named lil wayne i was
like listen man like and this was in the height like when you could get wayne just between and
that was a great venue in between new york and philly to book a ton of shows yeah but you know
they had incubus they had uh okay pat benatar michael bolton do your older music as well as
you know younger comedians and artists and now you know almost 10 years later 15 years later
they're still booking a ton of shows and still trying to bring that culture so yeah shout out
to those guys yeah shout out to patrick and them because like you're really taking a risk you know
they're like okay well we don't know like we don't know i know and i've been working with y'all for
five years at music where you see me bring all these people up on stage and all this type of
stuff come on now and so it's like yeah and so we got a little bit you know we got a little bit of
we negotiated for you know a better a little bit better bag and um you know i hit the hit the you
know hit the grind again you know back to hitting up my hitting up people it involves like if any i
don't know like i'll tell y'all like find an artist that you want to book or you want to
look them up look up who the management is click follow the management send them a message
you know luckily like i said if i'm able to tell you you know abstracts about making creators live
their dreams one of my one of my strengths and one of my gifts is being able to articulate
something that's not tangible to somebody that doesn't know what the heck i'm talking about
and i'm really good at doing that and i do that for the culture like i do that for the people
because you know a lot of times it's hard for black people to get into these spaces
black and brown people you know i'm saying it sometimes takes a guy like me that could
put a suit on talk to somebody like patrick and be like listen this is what we're trying to do here
be punctual all that stuff yeah i mean i don't realize like it's it it matters yeah it does so
you you and i'll tell you how i know this because jake was available 10 minutes early and called me
to see if it was okay and it's funny because i was on the phone when you called and i have to
give that person we were trying to book our south by southwest flights and it's like he knows when
you're dealing with somebody busy you can't just assume you could show up five ten minutes you know
i could be recording doing something else so i know you respect time outside of any of that and
with that i know you got something going on soon so you want to give details of the show we're at
about 47 minutes so it's probably around six ish okay yeah yeah yeah let me see okay yeah um
5 46 so let me just finish the finish the point because i didn't finish the question
no for sure you got another 15 minutes where where so um you know back to what i'm telling
you guys about booking artists right look them up you know whatever send the message i sent the
message let them know this is what we're doing indie certified big name acts local talent i'm
working with arts quest here's what i'm here's where i'm what i'm thinking like here's the number
can you do it and we had a lot of people coming back like i talked to bobby smurda most like voice
messages back and forth with bobby you know i'm saying i can show you on my phone after the pod
like i ain't capping you know i'm saying i don't got no cap in my rap but uh you know uh we talked
to uh roly from baddies who's giving us a great deal um there's a and and you know those are our
full options that you know we would still make come back around and end up booking you know i'm
saying um but the fact that and then obviously trinidad james but the fact that you know people
actually hit me up they only got 5 000 followers 5 000 some followers on instagram you know i'm
saying a lot of my my grind a lot of this stuff that i do is like my resume is popping in real
life i mean social media is social media but like if you look at like what i do for real like you're
gonna see like oh okay and i think that um and for me it was a little bit shocking that people
actually were responding to me like these managers responded to me giving me the time of day
actually when somebody some even their artists like like i said i talked to bobby directly
um talked a couple people directly so it's it's impressive to me that they're even biting on any
of this you know i'm saying and then it kind of was funny how it happened but um i ended up crossing
my wires with one of the managers who knew actually roly's manager who knew another manager or another
artist i was talking to and he she was impressed that i was even talking to them and cut her price
down and then you know and we were really gonna book i was gonna book roly but uh i think for
abstract and for the
indie certified movement
even though Rolly
is a rapper she's you know
the girl from baddies right Rolly you know
she's a rapper but
I think most of the people know her for
reality TV for sure that's
her that's her image right now right Pauly
D when did DJ afterwards
right when he was I don't
know if he was really booking shows like that
when Jersey Shore was popping they wanted
him in the club or something like that
in the venue right yeah in the venue
So, for me and for my team, we're thinking, like, we need, with the second indie certified, we need shock value, okay?
We want the city to know we're not playing, you know?
We are really trying to put big name acts to the city that's accessible for local artists to get on.
And number two, a name that most people would know.
So, white, black, young, old.
You know what I'm saying?
and
you know
that's how we fell
on Trinidad James
and his management
was mad communicative
you know
and
you know
we were able to
you know
get the contract
signed up
and
get everything going
so
it takes a while
but
March 21st
Indy Certified 2
Trinidad James
we got a lot of
dope local talent
headlining
I mean
opening up
for Trinidad
myself
you're gonna have
Manifest in the building
Jake Supreme
Exodus
You know my boy
Okay
We got Ace Live performing
Okay
We got Easy F performing
SMN Tyreek
And we got
No Gimmick Nemesis
G Moolah
And I think I mentioned Ace Live already
But Ace Live 2
So
It's gonna be dope man
It's gonna be dope
Where's that at?
That's at the
Fowler Boiler Room
At the Arch Quest Center
Second floor
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Bethlehem, PA
and that's a great venue i have been there and seen the show the audio is on point
all you videographers shoot at about uh 3200 is no yeah right no it was it was a dope room
super well lit so that's cool man and then if you just want to land a plane on what's next
what do you want to manifest for 2026 well we gotta um so for those for those of y'all that
I thought I forgot about the Emmaus Theater.
I didn't.
You know what I'm saying?
I talked to Bobby from the Emmaus Theater.
We back.
You know what I'm saying?
We back in a more official than ever.
Like, this summer, we'll be taking more of, like, a director of events role, actually, at the Emmaus Theater.
So, we're going to be doing a lot of events for hip-hop, R&B.
Bobby's really excited about, like, some of the things that we're doing.
uh we talking about like we're really talking about like rap battles sing-offs community
competitions money on the line getting people together getting the crowd hype about whoever
they're repping from the local town like i want to be like look i'm from easton i'm from allentown
i'm from bethlehem i'm from phillipsburg like i want i want everybody to come and like rep their
rep where they're from and and just have a good time with this so the emmaus theater like i see
it like in the next couple years like it could be like the lehigh valley apollo like it's really
just got that feel oh man so we're manifesting the lehigh valley apollo out of the theater it's
the perfect like it's the perfect resting place right in between allentown bethlehem jersey new
york and like you know the comedy that they got going out they got great they're doing booking
huge comedy acts like a lot of netflix special people a lot of people that's been going big on
youtube i forget the one asian lady that's really funny they had her on there they have a couple
other people on there and then um you know bobby's like yo i want you to handle the music side and
i'm like work there you go so so we're gonna you know keep on pushing keep on moving the groove
and help creatives of their dreams we will not lose you feel me it's it man we will not lose
Will. Not. Lose.
Great plug.
Alright, Jake. I appreciate y'all.
Peace, love. Jake Supreme
living the dream. Manifest highly blessed.
Abstract. Staying on
facts. Tony Ortiz
the designer. Host of I Will Not Lose.
Yes, sir. Peace.
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