You can't be afraid to verbalize your ignorance.
That's holding you back.
Give me an example.
I can give you several.
Like, investing.
Like, you're telling me that if I put this money in here right now, I get 30x, 20x.
What the f*** is a f***ing scam?
I know a scam when I see one.
Go find you another idiot, because it ain't happening over here, buddy.
But when you go, you say, I don't know what that means.
How does investing really work?
I don't know where to get it.
Now you're a part of the right conversations.
You're a part of the right opportunities.
But you get there by being the dummy in them.
And now look at what I'm able to do.
Kevin, it took 13 years from where you did your first stand-up to you having your moment.
But why didn't you quit?
Because of the lessons that my mom gave from being very scarred from my brother.
So let's go back.
I grew up in North Philadelphia.
My brother sold the drugs.
My dad was always in jail, out of jail.
My mom wasn't gonna let that happen with me.
So we had an agreement.
I had a certain amount of time to make comedy work.
And in my mind, it wasn't gonna be hard because there was no other option.
I will figure it out.
So I was driving from Philadelphia to New York every day.
I wasn't coming home until 4 a.m.
I was doing 25 to 28 sets a weekend.
Worked at for a very, very long time.
And the struggle left you with days of, what am I doing?
Can I pay my rent?
F*** this, man.
But my mom's biggest lesson was you're not quitting.
And not many people are going to do the 13 years of hard s***.
Most people opt out at year two and want to go find a quick return.
When you keep quitting to start something else that you think is the idea, it's just a cycle.
You're never completing anything.
You got to make a choice of the thing you're going to do and finish.
I made the choice that stand-up comedy was what I was going to.
Because if I focused and did it well, that would open up the doors for me to do everything else that I want to do.
But they say that you can't have everything in life.
So what is the cost?
Have you struggled with your mental health?
What advice have you got for young men in terms of what it takes to be a good man?
It's a weird thing that's happening where the definition of a good man is so foggy.
It seems that in this time today, more men are being forward, wanting to express and talk.
But the fear of being judged after...
Do you have that fear?
Just give me 30 seconds of your time.
Two things I wanted to say.
The first thing is a huge thank you for listening and tuning into the show week after week.
It means the world to all of us, and this really is a dream that we absolutely never had and couldn't have imagined getting to this place.
But secondly, it's a dream where we feel like we're only just getting started.
And if you enjoy what we do here, please join the 24 of people that listen to this podcast regularly and follow us on this app.
Here's a promise I'm going to make to you.
I'm going to do everything in my power to make this show as good as I can now and into the future.
We're going to deliver the guests that you want me to speak to and we're going to continue to keep doing all of the things you love about this show.
Thank you.
In so many ways, you're clearly an anomaly.
For you to be the way that you are, there must be some kind of early context that people need to be aware of, a certain wiring or a cauldron that has sort of shaped you into who you are.
What is that context that I need to understand?
I am a very driven individual and I'm driven off of ideation.
I like the fact that you can have thoughts and if you're in love with the thoughts that you're having, you can be energized to bring those thoughts in.
Like into a bigger reality.
That's like, that's the real fuel to the brain for me.
Do you think at the very core of you, that's what's motivating you?
Absolutely.
That's like a process, but the outcome of that is success in all its forms, its material success.
Or failure.
I mean, like there is no success without failure.
They go hand in hand.
And with the failure comes amazing lessons, adjustments, right?
And you get sharper because of the shit that you've done wrong or that you didn't know to approach a certain way, that you now know how to approach.
So I embrace the concept of failure just as much as I embrace the win of success.
Had I met you at 10 years old or 15 years old, how similar would you have looked in mentality?
Not even close.
Not even close.
Not motivated to do the things that I didn't want to do.
Not a good student, kind of fucking off school, the opportunities to come with school, the extracurricular activities that I didn't want to do, that I was doing.
That my mom made me do.
Hanging out was the thing.
Hanging out was the luxury, it was the fun and it's.
It wasn't available.
My mom was strict so I didn't have the luxury of doing all those things, which is why I wanted them more.
I found this photo of your mother yeah, me and Nancy Hart.
She was strict, very strict with me.
My older brother, he had a little more leniency.
Freedom.
Curfew, late at night.
But my brother did all of the other stuff.
My brother sold the drugs, did the smaller tiers of crime and stupid shit as a teenager.
To her own mind.
It felt like she wasn't going to let that happen with me, so she was much more protective because of the mistakes she saw that she made with my brother.
You see what I'm saying?
So I got the short end of the stick.
So I didn't have the curfew.
I wasn't able to go hang out.
I wasn't able to do all those things.
And that's why I wanted that so much.
So I rebelled in the spaces where you have to do this.
And I was like, well, you don't let me do this, so I don't want to do this.
So I kind of fucked off a lot of those opportunities.
And your father?
Yeah.
Henry Witherspoon.
Spoonie G's.
My guy.
You know, a fuck up in the eyes of most.
But my dad, you know he didn't necessarily do the right things in life.
Gang, crime, all of the shit, jail, in jail, out of jail, drugs.
I mean that environment that we were raised in.
It's not like the best environment for anyone, but it's an amazing environment for those that live in it, because it's all we know.
And the normalcy is the low.
My mom strived for the higher side of it.
My mom was education, degree, trying to get another degree, trying to get a master's.
My mom was always wanting to get better, always wanting to educate herself more, because she felt that it was the biggest strength that nobody could control but her.
And they separated?
Yeah, they were never married.
Never married?
Never married.
And did they physically separate at a certain point?
I mean, I think my dad, my dad, only lived in the house with me like my really younger years, like maybe from like five to seven, maybe eight, if I can remember.
Like I didn't have, I didn't grow up with like my dad home.
You know, so when my mom was like, fuck that, you're out of here, it was over.
My dad, he was a weekend dad or every other weekend dad or, you know, during the week stopped by.
Then he was in and out of jail.
Then we got on drugs.
We didn't see him at all.
How did you understand that as a kid?
Like, how does a kid understand the dad coming and going, being in jail, drugs?
You are a product of your environment.
And in that environment, that's the norm.
So when you say, like, how did you understand that?
Well, nobody had a dad.
Yeah.
Right?
Like all my friends, our dads, like we see them when we see them and we love them, because that's what we thought that it should be.
It's not like I'm going over a volume of homes where I'm seeing the father sit with the family and the mom and they're doing dinner and they're having conversations and you know it's this – happy household.
I only had a couple of examples like that.
I remember when I went over one of my friends houses from the swim team and I remember he had his own room.
It was like crazy, you get to close the door and shit like this is your space.
Yeah, this is my room.
I had a hallway.
We didn't have a god damn room, we had a hallway.
My bed was in the hallway.
You could always see me.
This is where.
This is where I am, Me and my brother, right here in the hall on these bunk beds.
My friend had grass.
He had a backyard.
This is fucking crazy.
Yeah, we don't have none of this where we live.
So because that is the norm, it never affected me.
I was never taken back by the obstacles of our household.
My mom and dad just didn't get along and it didn't work.
All right, it is what it is.
Did you have male role models at the time?
I don't think that I was in the space of no when it comes to role model.
At this time, I didn't have the mindset of what a role model is or should be.
I just had good people around me who acted as parenting aides to my mother to help her because of her schedule.
But I never remember at that age looking at other families like oh, this is what I want and this is what I'm striving to get or gain, you know.
Like, it was shoulder shrug, a lot of shoulder shrugs.
It wasn't until I got older that I think the lessons not I think I know the lessons that my mom was kind of laying down started to click in differently.
I mean one of those lessons that your mother was trying to lay down can be seen In the Bible a thousand percent.
With this.
There's a...
Best story ever.
Best story that I'm able to tell.
She put something in the Bible that's hanging out there, as you can see.
Checks, man.
I couldn't pay my rent.
I cannot pay my rent.
I needed help.
And she was like, well, I'm not helping you until you start reading the Bible.
And I was like, Mom, I'm reading the Bible.
I was lying.
Just lying.
I'm reading it.
Come on, Mom, this is real.
Mom, they're going to kick me out.
Are you reading your Bible?
Yes.
Yes.
When you read your Bible, then talk to me.
And she did this for like a while.
And one day I was like, you know what, man?
I was literally by myself.
And I was like, what am I going to do?
I said, let me get this Bible.
Read the Bible.
And I opened up the Bible.
And like my checks, rent, like multiple months of rent checks had fell out.
And I was like, you know what?
It's pretty amazing, pretty amazing.
And then i had to actually open a bible one and start reading the bible.
But that was her way of, of course, knowing that i'm lying first of all, and b giving me like one of the best lessons ever.
You know, somewhere along the lines, the gems that she dropped started to click, and the idea of not starting things that I'm not going to finish that's what really resonated with me the most.
So like, I started a lot of stuff that I didn't complete in the younger years.
That was me and my mom's battle.
No, you're going to finish it.
And she would make me finish it.
No, I want to quit.
No, you're going to finish it.
So I ended up doing a lot of things with an attitude, which is why I half-assed it.
And as I got older...
You realize.
Well, why are you putting time into something in the beginning that you don't want to see through?
Why?
Or just because you have a rough moment or a rough patch, why is it so easy for you to quit?
Why is the idea of quit so quick to you to come up with and why are you so comfortable with the results of that?
I shouldn't be, and that shouldn't be my motto.
So we don't stop.
If we start something, we see it the entire way through.
At the end of it, even if you don't like it to the highest level.
You know that you put your time energy, into something that you're at least proud.
Proud that you did, proud that you were able to put a period on that sentence.
And now you can start the next thing.
But it's not until you complete something that you can honestly sit with yourself and go.
That's what life is.
That's called seeing things through the entire way.
What was it that changed in you?
Like what happened that made you suddenly start to take opportunities more seriously?
When you saw the opportunity, you fucked off.
I remember my big dummy moment and I've had a lot, so I don't know how much time we have to go down, but I got a lot of dummy moments.
But my biggest dummy moment was We hooky school to go and have our senior day.
We go to Great Adventure theme park on the East Coast.
And there was a moment where we're done and we're talking, we're like eating and hanging out.
And all my friends were talking about the college that they were going to go to.
They had already been accepted.
They had already had letters and shit.
When did y'all do this? when did everybody apply?
When did everybody, when did you guys take the SAT?
I just, I took mine, but I rushed it because I wanted to get here.
I wanted a hooky.
Wait, how do you guys know where you're going already?
I had no knowledge, no idea.
All my friends went on to the next stage.
They let me be the dummy by myself.
And that's when it dawned on me that, like Nobody cares about you more than you should care about yourself.
And nobody is giving you the roadmap to, like, the wins.
You have to go find that information.
You got to go discover it.
You got to want to get it.
You got to want to do it.
And with the right help, the right world of knowledge, it can better help position you.
But ultimately, you have to want to do it.
And me and just not wanting to do shit kind of put me in a really fucked up position early on.
Was it finding the thing, your thing, that put some wind in your sails and made you more of an apparently sort of motivated individual?
Because at some point you go from being that Kevin to the Kevin that can't stop working.
Yeah, well, that was my light bulb moment.
Okay.
My light bulb moment was looking what not applying myself got me.
I feel like the dummy that doesn't know what he wants to do with his life.
And now I'm at community college.
I'm working as a lifeguard.
I eventually went to go work for City Sports, which is a sneaker store.
And I remember I started working at the sneaker store.
Talked about this for years, too.
I was like, oh, man, this is cool.
This is what I want to do.
I got the thing that I want to do.
I was so excited that I went and got a job, found a job.
I'll do this forever.
And I'm going to make it to the highest level.
So I can have a career.
So I become the manager and after being the manager, I work for corporate and this is something that I can build like.
I was already inspired because I was like I gotta figure out what I'm doing with the rest of my life.
What is my life?
Now I'm panicking.
And I was flourishing in the space of sneaker sales.
Right?
Education and college degree I don't have.
But in the space of personality and sale I was able to Maneuver.
This is it.
This is my calling.
That's where the real beacon of light presented itself through ideas of my friends.
You should do stand-up because you're funny.
You should try stand-up.
Do you remember where you were when they said that to you?
At my workplace.
I'm working every day.
I'm on the floor.
And someone, a colleague of yours at work.
Alice, colleague of mine that I work with.
What did your brain think when she said that?
Was it just blowing on a fire that was kind of already there, or was it lighting the fire?
No, I think the fire was lit.
I never thought about pursuing stand-up comedy prior to.
The idea came up.
I was always funny, but I wasn't like, man, I got to figure out how to become a comedian.
That was never a thought.
I knew that I was very funny.
I knew that I was entertaining.
I knew that I could make people laugh.
I love being the center of attention.
I love...
The idea of a stage and a light.
But that wasn't the thing.
I wasn't like, I got it.
And this is what it's going to do.
It was presented.
And then I went and did the amateur night.
And that's when I fell in love.
Why did you like the stage and the light?
And why did you like performing?
The laugh.
Why?
There's nothing better than the laugh.
There's nothing better than...
Being on stage having the bright light, and the only energy of good that you're able to take away from what you're doing is the laugh.
Ha!
Ha ha ha ha ha!
Hearing people laugh, I was like, oh shit.
That feels different.
Why?
This, this is, this is energizing.
This is like, How does it make you feel about you?
I feel like I'm doing a service of good.
If I can make people feel better, if I can brighten up your day, it's a service of good.
That means I'm like a shepherd of some sort.
I am responsible for making people feel better.
Oh, my God.
That means it's success.
I can bring people to one destination.
Everybody can share a moment and a laugh and all relate that it came from me.
Oh, my God, this can get global.
This can get bigger.
Well, this is starting to change now.
Oh, wow.
Wait, this has opened up doors for me to do this or that or this or that.
It all started with the laugh.
It all started with the stage.
So you went to that comedy show.
I was looking at some of those early clips of you performing.
It's funny because I think this is the early 2000s.
Okay.
But, I mean, you probably... Oh, my God, Caroline.
Caroline, this right here, my best set in the beginning of my career.
Everything I say up here tonight is a joke, okay?
It is nothing else.
I don't want nobody taking none of this stuff too serious.
I don't want nobody coming up to me after the show saying, who's the funny one now?
Yeah, yeah.
That tape, so that was when...
You know, the thing I needed was a tape.
And the reason why I needed the tape was so that I could send it to the other comedy clubs so that they could have an example of me, my talent, and then dictate or judge if I can get a live audition in person.
And how old were you at that point?
Oh my God, right there, I'm like 18, 19.
That's crazy.
18, 19 years old.
Because you're so, that clip is so funny.
I watched it this morning and I was dying.
Yeah.
If you could understand the feeling of getting off that stage having a good set and then them putting the tape in my hand it was gold.
I got it.
I got a good tape.
I got to go make copies of my tape, and I just got to send them to everybody.
I just used to.
Because it was value.
It was value.
Started getting in comedy clubs, started getting auditions, started getting more.
Oh my God, Kevin's up for an audition, a movie audition, cast of directors.
They all got that tape.
Everybody got that tape.
From that period onwards, from 18 to, let's say, to early 20s, you were, at this point, a very motivated individual.
You're working hard.
You're focused.
Very.
And when you speak to your mom and your dad at this point about comedy, do they think that's a serious career?
My dad, not as much, because I didn't really talk to my dad through these years.
That's when my dad was kind of dealing with his...
His world of issues.
My mom, we had an agreement.
I had a certain amount of time to make comedy make sense and figure out a way to support myself.
If I didn't do it, then I had to go with my mom's idea, which was education and getting a job while getting my education.
My plan didn't involve college.
I'm out.
I'm done.
I'm done.
I'm done.
No more community.
This is what I want to do.
I got it.
I've never been more excited about my future.
This is it for me.
How are you going to make your money, Kevin?
I'm going to figure it out.
How are you going to figure it out?
I'm going to figure it out, though.
I'm just going to go down to the comedy clubs.
I've been winning the amateur nights.
I think the amateur nights helped me pay for my rent because I was winning the amateur nights.
I won a bunch of them in a row.
In my mind...
It wasn't hard.
It wasn't going to be hard because there was no other option.
All my eggs were in this basket and I was very happy with that choice.
I put every last egg in this thing.
Nothing else matters but this.
I promise you, I will figure it out.
Can you draw me a picture?
If your career was a graph.
I'm going to say here is 18 years old and you're 46 now.
So you're 46 now.
This is the axis of this graph and on this axis we have, let's say success, and on this axis we have age.
Can you draw me a pitch, a line that shows how, how success in age okay, so success for me knowing what i want to do in life comes here.
Yeah, all right now figuring out how to get to like money revenue just Supporting yourself through telling a joke.
Man, let's go here for a second.
We flatlining, okay?
Like, I mean, I'm making people laugh.
I'm getting in some comedy clubs.
But you only get paid with food.
But then something weird happens where you start figuring out oh wait, here's kind of where the spots come in.
I can make money on the weekends and I can get $20 to $25 a spot.
So rather than doing one spot, I would do, let's just say, in a weekend.
I got to the point where I was doing 25 to 28 sets a weekend.
Wow.
Well, I started making $500 a week, $400 a week.
How many years in is this that you've been making $500 a week?
18, let's say 22.
Two, yeah.
So I was driving from Philadelphia to New York every day.
But because of that, now you got to get into a comedy festival.
All right.
So now let's start to go here because we did these spots for a while.
But then I got a comedy festival.
Oh, shit.
I got a comedy festival.
That's when the industry saw me.
Who's this new guy?
Who's this guy with all his energy?
Who's this fucking guy?
This guy here, he's got something.
All right.
So I start meetings, general meetings.
And now I get a holding deal.
So let's go up a little bit.
I think it was ABC.
They gave me like 250 grand.
So they're holding you in hopes they get something.
Nothing happened.
So we're flat on here.
Now I'm just waiting for the phone to ring.
That's how this works.
What if I want to create my own thing?
Create a show.
Oh my God.
Show gets picked up.
I create something else.
They decide to do it.
Oh shit, there's a pattern.
I can do that as much as I want.
I can treat that.
Just how I was treating the spots and stuff in New York.
I'm out.
I'm moving to LA.
No plan on nothing.
Flat line.
I'm here.
I just did it.
I just came and moved out.
Fuck, man, this is weird.
I don't like this.
I'm not getting to work, man.
This shit is real stagnant.
I'm going on the road.
I want to work the road.
I'm going to be a headliner.
I'm going to do colleges.
So I'm going to get college money and comedy club money, and I'm going to do it.
I worked that for a very long time, right?
Very, very long time. to the point where now I'm selling out comedy clubs.
And after I started selling out comedy clubs, my person at the time was like yo, we can probably do theaters.
You're adding a lot of shows.
Are you a millionaire at this point?
No, no.
I'm just an active comic.
The next stage of success, right, was let's go from comedy clubs to theaters.
All right?
Boom.
Let's go here, then let's go up again.
Theaters start selling out real quick.
Oh, fuck.
Let's go from theaters to arenas.
Oh, shit.
Will Packer, he was like, I got this book that I want to make a movie.
It's called Think Like a Man.
Steve Harvey wrote it.
I think you're funny as hell.
I've been tracking you on tour.
I want you to be the star.
We film it.
Think Like a Man comes out.
Think Like a Man did $90-something million in the box office.
And Will says, hey, man, working with you is great.
Let's do something else.
I got this movie called Ride Along.
You on Ice Cube would be great.
Boom!
Ride Along does 140.
Like, the movies just started.
The pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.
Get Hard, Central Intelligence, Me and the Rock.
I mean, it just happened so fast.
So now, because the movies are working, I'm like, this is so cool.
But while this is happening, I should figure out like, how to kind of create my own source of like opportunity.
Like, People keep bringing opportunities to me.
How do I create my own source of opportunity?
I'm going to start a production company.
I need to start developing.
But now I'm like, I created that.
Let's create something else.
So then I say, let's go like Heartbeat Ventures and let's do a VC.
Oh man, I'm creating a bunch of stuff.
Hey, these entities around me, it's all happening because of my likeness.
My likeness allows me to get in these rooms and start relationships and put myself in a position to make deals and Create long-term revenue.
How do I get more of that?
Wow.
Like NASCAR, people attach themselves to the car they think is doing the best.
I'm a car.
I should have brand partnerships.
Chase, DraftKings, Fabletics.
I should have my own brands and businesses that I'm building where more opportunity for long-term revenue can present itself.
Grand Cormino, wine, spirits.
Now, oh wow, I've grabbed this concept of business control, ownership and mirrored it with Kevin's drive and entertainment and visibility leveraged that to get me into the rooms where I may not be as visible or as strong, but once I'm embedded into these environments,
I can bring them value.
I can help amplify or uplift their brands, their products.
So my case study of Fabletics, of DraftKings before I got there versus after I got there, Chase financial literacy like C4, like these are things where I'm now well, I'm not just a partner.
I'm an owner.
I'm an endorser.
I'm an ambassador to, oh wow, this is where the real money is made.
The ecosystem of life.
How do you put yourself in a position to be a part of everyday movement in life?
You're looking at things at a much granular scale.
And now I go way back here to when I was like not really focusing, not thinking about life, not thinking about how things connect.
I'm now able to tap into the lessons that my mom gave.
And I'm like, all good things that happen, happen when they're supposed to.
But now I'm poised and polished enough with a mindset that understands.
Well, I don't want to start something that I'm not going to finish.
So if I'm going to put myself in position to do these things, how do I make sure that my partners know I'm willing to give my all?
How do I show that I'm not going to quit?
Which, back here, my mom's biggest lesson was you're not quitting.
If you start it, you're going to finish it.
So how do I make my partners that I'm now saying you should work with me?
How do I make Netflix secure in knowing that when you get me, you get 100 of me and I'm never going to quit?
I'm going to finish it all.
How do I make my other studio affiliates understand that, working with Heartbeat, it is in my best interest to bring you great product, great material, So that you understand what we do, so that we can continue to drive a business that has the best interest for both of us.
How do I sell you on that?
So now my business of sell mirrors and matches my business of grow.
Nothing that I'm doing doesn't go hand in hand.
And I should be able to embed the products or the partnerships that I'm now operationally like attached to into the ecosystem of entertainment.
So if I have a C4 can and I'm doing an activation in health and wellness, well, C4 is my partner.
I should integrate you in this opportunity.
Hey, my movie, we have an opportunity to basically wear a product.
I should be in Fabletics in this scene because this makes my partner feel valued and positioned.
Oh, wow, this is what I do.
I elevate that.
I basically navigate my space of ownership in a way like only I can to elevate my partners so that my partners go and say you're different.
This is different.
And this is what we need more of.
That's my graph.
I've got some questions about the graph.
So I guess the parts that I'm curious about are this initial period when you're 18, where like nothing's really happening.
Because so many of my listeners probably most of them are in some pursuit or sort of professional endeavor in their life, in this kind of stagnant moment where maybe they enjoy it but like it ain't paying the bills.
No one believes in them.
Maybe some of their friends are rolling their eyes when they tell them what they're doing.
When you look back on this season of life, like what is that season?
And how'd you, how'd you get through it?
Nobody believed that I was funny when I said I was going to be a comedian.
Like they were like, you funny, but not comedian funny.
Like my friends were like, Yeah, but what do you mean you're going to get on stage?
What do you mean?
I'm going to get on stage.
I'm going to be a comedian.
Yeah, but like how?
Like Eddie Murphy.
I'm going to be a comedian.
Yeah, but you're never going to be Eddie Murphy.
Yeah, I know, but I'm saying I'm going to do it.
I'm going to be a star.
No.
I don't know, man.
I don't know about the whole star thing.
I think you're tripping.
I don't think that's it.
Nobody has the confidence in the decisions that you're making for yourself like you do.
So if you're waiting for that to connect in the beginning stages, it may or may not.
If it doesn't, it shouldn't prevent you from following through on whatever the line of go is for you.
The money is never coming fast.
We're in a time today where this generation has found ways to make money in an entrepreneurial manner.
That we've never seen before.
Like the social media machine and how this generation navigates that machine to find revenue and to own is unbelievable.
That didn't exist.
We didn't have that.
Like in my time, we didn't have that.
We just had the struggle.
And the struggle left you with days of like literally sitting in the living room going what the fuck man?
So why didn't you quit?
Because no money, everyone's doubting it.
What were you believing in?
I was believing in the idea that I finally found the thing that I want to do.
So it was passion that was really anchored to you.
I found the thing that I want to do.
And I'm not going to quit it because I love it this much.
And I strongly believe that the sun is at the end of this dark tunnel.
But I got to be willing to get there.
And I just don't know how to get there yet.
But I'm going to figure it out.
That's why I'm going to L.A.
I was in New York, but after New York, they say go to L.A.
I'm going.
What are you going to do when you get there?
I'll figure it out.
I can always get on a plane and fly where I got to go for stand-up if that's the case.
I can always go and make money doing stand-up if I have to, but I'm not going to get to the star by just doing that.
I got to go there.
I got to get close to it.
I got to smell it.
I got to feel it.
I got to find out where the people are that are trying to do it too.
I got to get acting classes.
I got to get around Hollywood.
Like, what is Hollywood?
I got to get there.
And what happens when you're there, it fuels another, like, another appetite of hunger because I'm there in real time.
I'm seeing people better.
I remember I tell this Cat Williams story and I don't even think – told Kat this.
There was a moment where I was opening for Kat Williams and I remember I remember being at the BET Comedy Awards and I'm in, I'm in attendance and this is like you know.
I had a couple of shots at some things, but they just you know, it wasn't the.
Things weren't sticking like the the, The pilots that I thought were going to hit weren't going to hit.
The things that I thought were going to happen, they just didn't seem like it was adding up, right?
Like the roles are little small roles or little small cameos, but like it wasn't the thing.
And I remember Cat Williams' set during the BET Comedy Awards.
He had like a leopard suit destroyed.
Destroyed the Comedy Awards, destroyed this moment.
And audience goes crazy, stands up.
I remember being in the audience and I was like, that's it.
I said, like, that's the thing.
That thing, that reaction, that roar, that moment.
I got to be patient because my moment is going to come.
I witnessed his moment.
And he, after that moment Friday, after next, you know, I mean, he went on and started to do crazy things in his career, right?
But I witnessed the moment.
And in that moment, my takeaway was that he was ready for the moment.
His material, the jokes, everything.
It all hit.
And I didn't watch it in a manner of like jealous or angry.
I was like, that, that's it.
Like he's, probably out of here after this.
I mean, it's the BET Comedy Awards at the time.
I'm like, this is the biggest thing ever, right?
This is the comedy awards.
By the way, they never did the comedy awards again.
I think this was like the last one that they did.
But that moment, if the ball is dropped in that moment, then the moment goes.
You don't know when the moment is presenting itself.
But I'm staying with the thing because I know that the moment is going to come.
And when I'm in the moment, if I knock that fucking moment out the park, all things will change.
But you may not know it.
You may not know when the moment comes.
When did your moment come?
Shaq's All-Star Comedy Jam.
The reason why I equate it with the story of a cat.
I believe it was Tommy Davidson.
It was D-Ray.
Saturday the Entertainer was the host.
I headlined it.
I end up having one of the best sets that I've ever had.
And at the end of the Shaq's All-Star Comedy Jam I say goodnight and they do like a slow motion walk off.
It's a slow motion thing.
And it's like I'm walking.
The crowd stands up.
And they're going crazy.
By the way, I don't know the slow motion walk off is going to happen in the edit of the special.
But I remember in real time, crowd standing up.
Stars were there.
Everybody was there, right?
And in that moment, show you how fucking crazy the world is.
This is why I hate that, like, me and Cat went through our stuff and we're much better now.
I'm going to show you how the world aligns.
Cat was in the audience at the Shaq's All-Star Comedy Jam.
And Cat was watching the show.
He was just there as a fan.
But at this time, everything big is happening, right?
And I had a moment.
And that was the moment that then took me and shot me out the cannon.
And if I wasn't prepared for the moment, then I wouldn't have known all the things to come.
Okay, but that then set up.
I was releasing my special.
My special, Seriously Funny, I was taping in two weeks.
So Shaq's All-Star Comedy Jam goes.
They rush to put it out.
It crushes.
I then tape my comedy special.
Seriously Funny was my next special.
Seriously Funny destroys, but it only destroyed because of Shaq's All-Star Comedy Jam and the audience that watched that.
And I was like, oh, my God, this guy showed up in droves for Seriously Funny.
And then Seriously Funny was like, oh, shit, this big-ass special.
And then the arenas and everything, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
So about 12, 13 years from the moment you did your first sort of stand-up event, you having your moment.
And I find that fascinating because those 13 years, most people aren't willing to do something for 13 years without their moment showing up.
Like when you hear like I don't know shit on Instagram or quotes, or you watch motivational videos and stuff.
If they told you that it would take 13 years for you to have your moment, almost nobody would take part.
Nobody, no.
But those 13 years of your training.
I mean so?
Scooter Braun took me one time.
He was like what makes him different is the work that he's willing to do in something.
And he was like you know, if they were giving out like a million dollars for somebody that can hit a fastball pitch, you know from the best pitcher in baseball, right.
And this thing would basically require Everybody everybody's going to go and try to hit this, because everybody wants the million dollars.
So the first day of the announcement, the line to hit this pitch is going to be droves, right?
Like millions of people.
Who knows how many people will be in this line?
And people will go up and strike out.
And after that, they will go, damn, it's over.
I missed.
I missed. not many people would miss and then go stand back in line to go hit the ball again.
He was like, I'm going to keep getting in line.
What you'll find is that the line will get smaller and smaller because of how many people are dropping out and optioning not to wait and do the hard thing again.
That comparison and that World of understanding is like something that equates to life.
Very well, right.
Not many people are going to wait through the 13 years of like bullshit, hard shit.
Most people opt out at year two, maybe three, no money, whatever.
I need to figure something else out.
Year six, fuck this, man.
Stupid.
What am I doing?
Why am I doing it, right?
I'm going to go find the quick avenue or the quick return, because money is the.
That's what it boils down to for most people.
Where's the money?
Where am I making the money?
When the money comes, it comes.
What you find is that it's not hard to make money.
Once you start making money, you learn how to make money.
Like you, it comes with education.
It comes with, and it comes with a better resource of mind that makes you go.
No, I'm going to do this and I'm going to build this and I'm going to go here, I'm going to meet, I'm going to present, I have an idea, I'm going to pitch it.
You're now a much better machine because you understand.
Money is no longer the thing that you think it was when you get to it.
But getting to it, to get that understanding...
You lose the pack.
You lose the pack because the pack is like, I want it here.
Because it didn't show up here.
I got to go figure out a new thing to do that's going to give it to me here.
And they got to recycle like... They lose focus.
Yes.
You're never completing anything.
You never finish nothing.
So the thing that you think you're focusing on, you keep quitting to start something else that you think is the idea.
And it's just a cycle.
It's a cycle.
Don't you notice that people come up to...
I noticed this a lot with young entrepreneurs, especially those that aren't having success.
They start one thing.
When they come and tell you what they do, they tell you 17 things.
None of them have ever worked, but they say 17 things.
And they think that more, doing more things is increasing the probability of success.
1,000%, where it's the opposite.
It's the opposite.
It's the thing that you actually thought of, that you are going to put 100 of your mind and focus into.
To complete.
And then after that you're able to pick it apart and take the good, the bad, the whatever and either restart that thing again to improve it or make a decision to do something else.
But you finished.
I made the choice that stand-up comedy was what I was going to finish.
I made a choice that becoming a good comic and a good headliner.
If I focused and did it well, that would open up the doors for me to do everything else that I want to do.
If I don't have that, How do I expect to get in?
I was speaking to Evan at Snapchat and he was talking about T-shaped people.
So you have like a broad understanding of a lot of things, but then you're like really deep on one particular thing.
And that one particular thing is almost.
I guess you could see it as like screw that gets you into the industries.
So for me, mine would have originally been marketing, but I was able to use that like deep expertise, then launch this media business, because it's still the same game of marketing that i did for 15 years.
I was able to go into, like the stock market because they really needed to understand marketing, and it was that deep expertise in one thing that was my leverage in all of these really interesting rooms.
And it's kind of what you were saying at the start, like you had this deep expertise, this deep ip experience, value that allowed you to like break in as an investor and then to production and all these other areas.
I mean the value.
The value for me it was self, but the value of self, an understanding of how to truly control and operate that and navigate that correctly, that's a world of its own.
So the bigger that the star gets, the brighter that the star shines.
If you are paying attention, it's only positioning you to go in places where people say, oh my God, I know you.
And where you can shake a hand, and But the interest of just knowing you because of the place from the star, it allows a moment for the conversation of.
So what is it that you do?
Oh, my God.
Like, that's so cool.
I would love to learn more about that.
And what you'll find is that the resources of opportunity over there are endless.
Oh, my God.
Are you serious?
We would love to partner with you in something like this.
I mean, in this space...
Are you talking about mental health, wellness?
Listen strong voices and confident voices or inspiring voices.
There could be a lot for us in what we do here.
Hey, maybe there's a partnership that we can form.
Oh my God, man, back to school.
Kids, I love kids.
I'm thinking about doing more.
Here's something where I think I can have a very, very good cadence and a very good energy towards getting kids hype about School education, because it's not something that I took serious.
How do I help?
Where did you learn?
So when I look at this graph here, I see this sort of moment where things go up and to the right very quickly, where you start to get into entrepreneurship.
But at this moment that comes before it, you didn't know this stuff.
So at some point, you acquired information.
So for the people that are listening now, that are thinking like, how did Kevin go from a kid that was in this rough area dad wasn't around much, his mom was raising him to a guy that knows all this stuff.
Mm-hmm.
You get there now by being a sponge and not being afraid to ask questions.
I'm very secure in myself and being the dummy in the room.
I'm extremely secure in saying I don't know what that means.
Explain that.
Give me an example of a context where you... I can give you several.
Like venture and investing...
I was a firm believer that nobody's stealing my money.
I'm giving you nothing.
Yeah, you're going to go and put it where?
Yeah, no.
My money's going to stay right here under my bed.
I'm not doing that.
So give you, You want me to give you money and you telling me, you're going to get, You're going to take that money, and then that money is going to turn into what?
Yeah.
Okay.
Go find you another idiot... because it ain't happening over here, buddy.
Get your scamming ass up out of here, okay?
I come from the world of everything is a scam, okay?
It's a fucking scam.
I know a scam when I see one, all right?
But when you go, you say, well, how does the stock market really work?
Or how does investing really work?
Or what you mean you making money while you're sleeping?
What does that mean?
What do you mean by that?
How does this brand partnership shit really work?
Like you, you can't, be afraid to verbalize your ignorance.
And the bigger problem, which I'm sure a lot of your viewers have, is insecurely just being quiet about the shit that they don't know.
As if you're going to figure it out Because someday, one day, somebody's going to go.
Hey, you look like you need to know.
It'll never happen that way.
It's never going to happen.
You're never going to run into a person who's randomly going to talk about the things that you wish you had more knowledge in.
It will never happen.
And what you'll find is that information is not free, but it's available.
It's not actually hard to obtain.
It's only hard to people that are very insecure about just verbalizing.
I don't know where to get it.
Look at how many how-tos, help-tos, all of these things today.
The success that we're seeing in entrepreneur and influencer, streamer and all of this stuff in entertainment is the same success that you're seeing in.
We can call them motivational speakers, how-to experts, step one through five and what to do.
The idea of I'm here to service you and give you the information that you don't know is available.
So let me tell you how to get it.
Here's where I'm going to help you.
Three easy steps to making sure that you can.
And I don't care if you want to go to the world of athletics or you want to go to corporate or you want to go to entertainment.
Like you can break it down.
Golf, do you know how much money is being made in a game of golf?
Because you got millions of people that are trying to give people information on how to better improve your golf swing.
Because I don't want to say out loud that my swing ain't shit, but I don't know, man.
I keep coming down on top of the ball.
Why the fuck am I coming down on top of the ball?
I don't know what's happening.
And some people would rather go out in their backyard every day hit the same ball than just ask somebody.
Hey man, any way that you can tell me how to come?
Like, how do you get that bitch in the air?
So now people online go, well, we're just going to put it out here.
And that person is struggling quietly.
Well, they're going to discover me.
And in silence, they'll watch and they'll look to improve because nobody knows.
And they still get to be quiet.
Just give me a minute of your time and I'll tell you about a device that my team has been using that they won't seem to shut up about.
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There's also unknown unknowns, which you would have experienced.
I remember you talking about.
You got to see behind curtains and you didn't even know.
People were behind there.
And when I heard you say that, it was the perfect metaphor and analogy for exactly what I had experienced in my life, coming from a kid that came from a very normal background, was born in Africa, moved to the UK mother's Nigerian, dad's English,
And... didn't know that all these, like, rich people were back here playing money games.
I thought the way you make money is you like work in McDonald's, you like work really hard, you might become manager, da-da-da-da-da.
And then at, like I'm going to say 27, being sat in a billionaire's kitchen and watching him on the phone and he's calling his boy and they're doing 50 million just before the IPO happens so that they get a better price.
And I'm thinking, fucking hell.
It's all... The thing that I've realized...
When you look at your biggest investors, you'll find that they're all together.
None of them are investing in the new thing alone.
They all are like, well, it's better with you, so do it with me.
Well, what about Gary?
Yeah, call Gary too.
Let's see if we can get him in here.
What about Michelle?
Yeah.
Hey, Michelle, what about Melissa?
All right, you'll find that this group of 10 people all who would easily do something on their own do not believe in the struggles of self when you can combine this machine of great minds to provide another great opportunity.
And in success, well, this thing works.
The company gets bigger.
Well, let's use our resources to go out and make sure that we understand, align the personnel they already have with more amazing individuals, create more jobs, more opportunities for new minds to become successful.
And then in those minds building and that personnel like elevating well, now this person that was at the bottom here we then go and ask this person to run this thing.
And now, underneath this thing, we get another version of a downpour of New minds, new personnel, new things.
Okay, this whole business of venture, this whole business of company build, whether it's tech lifestyle health well, it doesn't matter what it is.
You will notice that the people that started from the bottom are now running the new companies of today.
And now the source of personnel that's underneath it will be the minds running the company of tomorrow.
It's not like rocket science once you're behind the curtains.
Once you go, oh, shit.
I remember when I first started investing it was oh my God Kevin, your money in this would add a crazy amount of value.
Well, I ain't putting in what y'all put in.
No, but the fact that you're involved in it at all is just big, that you believe in it.
We're able to say that you believe in it with us.
It's huge.
What do you mean by that?
You're trying to fucking steal.
What are you doing?
What are you doing, man?
You're talking too fast.
Say what you said again and slow down so I understand it.
Don't talk fast to me, because I'm so insecure, because I don't know what you're saying and it might be some shit in here.
But it's no.
Well, we know that you're doing well over here and your movies and all that stuff is cool, but this is different.
This business, Kevin, could be different for you.
It's a business of multiple.
So we play the game of multiples, of X. X.
So what your money is today?
Well, we think in success.
If this is a light bulb or a bottle, rocket you 30X, 20X.
What the fuck?
You're telling me that if I put this money in here right now and if my voice is attached to the thing that I think it is, which is a crazy, crazy venture, a crazy opportunity well yeah Kevin, I mean.
Look, we all believe that.
But with your voice, we may be able to say it a little louder.
Oh, my.
Oh, my.
Okay, well, I did it.
Oh, my.
I won.
I got a return.
Oh, my.
Oh.
Oh.
So now I figured it out.
Now you're a part of the right conversations.
You're a part of the right opportunities.
But once again, the information is discovered online because of the opportunity to be the flower on the wall in the spaces that you never imagined yourself being in.
But now look at what I'm able to do.
I'm able to take this information, take all the shit that I know, come and have these fucking organic conversations, like I am now, and we're sharing it.
And some people that are watching this are going to take that information and go.
I knew it and I'm doing the right thing.
And it's a matter of time before I get around them.
And when I do, oh my God, the things that I have, the stuff that I have on the table, the things that I have created, the opportunities I'm going to be the next person to bring, the thing that everybody else is involved in,
I'm going to be the next person to be the fucking energy source to tomorrow's future, future within.
People just need to hear how fast it happens, quick it happens, and when it does what you're supposed to be ready for.
And you were able to invest in lots of great companies like Function Health.
That's valued at 2.5 billion now.
Eleven Labs.
Everybody knows in the tech space knows Eleven Labs which were valued at 3 billion now.
Moonpay, Yoga Labs, Sweat Pals, Radiant, Nororganics, Palter.
Tons of stuff.
Stuff that you would never expect me to be in.
How much of this game have you learned in hindsight is about people, about like getting, because even when that person was saying to you that analogy you gave of, they're telling you to put your money into this thing and you're going fuck me, are they stealing?
You're going to have to lean on someone you trust, like someone in your circle that you know.
And I'm wondering because people don't talk about it enough how important it is to like collect the right people.
And can you think of moments where you like met a person and that was like game changing and you understanding a whole new world and what was behind the curtain?
All of my people could see this.
I'm just going to be extremely transparent.
Like you, before you get to the right people, you run through wrong people, and with wrong people you can go like they're wrong.
They don't work, I gotta get somebody else.
Or you can grow with people.
I'm a believer of the grow right like.
I think it's dope when we can all say we started a certain way but we're ending up in a completely different space and Along that journey of growth some people won't make it.
You can be patient and you can want the best for some, but they might not want the same for themselves.
So because of that, the fall off presents itself to be a little more consistent than what it should be right.
But in business, what you'll find is that the emotions can be your worst asset.
Having emotions in business attached to business can be everything but beneficial to the business.
So the more that I was able to detach my emotions from the world of want and understand that the things that I'm doing are to better position the business and the people that have worked so hard to help this business get to where it is today.
I have a service to them as well.
How do I bring in the right valuable assets to put us in a bigger position to win?
Sometimes you got to let go of things that you thought would be the thing, but you can climax.
You can get to a place where it's a ceiling.
We're not getting past the ceiling unless we go get the right people, unless we go get the correct personnel.
So I'm a firm believer in talent.
I'm a firm believer in rewarding those that do a job And that can do a job at a high level.
But the only way that you realize that is to get out of the way.
I had to learn to stop trying to control everything, stop trying to do everything, stop trying to be the one with my hands in everything.
And put people in a position to do the thing that they've been hired to do and do it well.
But the patience that you have to have in learning people and dealing with people is a talent within itself.
I want to say, like you're at this stage, I'm more I'm more of a hard drive of other people's issues or problems than I am a person I am a hard drive of.
Can I talk to you?
I want to tell you what's going on.
I have an issue with hey man.
Look, I'm trying to do this.
I don't know what they're trying to do.
Here's what I'm trying to do.
And you have to be a positive source of solution all day, every day.
Because if you're talking and you're talking to do anything but solve, then you shouldn't be in the chair of control.
So I am solution driven every single day, because I am faced with a new problem, attached to the ecosystem and the community that I've built underneath me, of how to navigate, or how to better navigate in the world, because everybody's trying to do something to prove that they're worthy of the seat or seats that they have or that they want.
So every day you're dealing with a board of shuffle and a new board of opportunity.
And drama.
And every day you're telling people not now and time, slow up.
I hear you.
We'll deal with it.
Let's all talk together.
Communication is key.
Let's table this and make sure everybody's on the same page.
You're saying things five and six times because you have to make sure that you're the best example of what you're speaking.
So every day, the thing that you never thought would come into play is communication and the ability to fucking give great dialogue in the hopes of getting the return of effort and work.
So now you're going back to ground zero, when you were with your mom and you were with your friends in the early days of life.
What was the thing that I told you I did very well?
I connected with everybody.
In the lunchroom, I was at everybody's table.
Didn't matter who you were, what you were, what race, didn't matter.
In this space of now, business and corporation, if everybody doesn't feel like they can trust or believe or follow my direction, my vision, something about what I'm doing is wrong.
How does one build an empire that relies on people when they naturally don't come from a place of that information?
So they might have trust issues.
Like you were referring to these kind of trust issues like wait a minute, you're trying to steal my money.
You've got this big empire of lots of different verticals within Heartbeat and your companies and your personal IP.
You're gonna have to be trusting a lot of other people with your wealth, with your business and with your children's inheritance.
And I hear so many of these stories of, I trusted a guy and I lost everything.
Especially, honestly, especially in the black community.
It's a major fact.
But we're also a community that gets taken advantage of because of the lack of knowledge.
Right, we get fucked over more than we don't because, all right well, it says here that you're a lawyer and that you have my best interests.
All right, it says that you're my manager and you have my best interests.
All right, well, you read the paperwork.
All right, you read the contract and it's good and I'm just signing, right?
My ignorance doesn't mean that I'm lazy.
My ignorance means that I believe you.
And I don't know, to second guess or second check, or to hire or onboard people to second guess, to second check, to show me fine print, fine line, because it's impossible.
I can't get fucked because you said well yeah, I can't.
But you said, go back to the emotions.
And And why I say emotions have to be removed.
I'm going to have somebody look at this just so I know that it is what it is.
I wouldn't lie to you.
I know.
But it's in the best nature of business, just for me to make sure that my eyes, that I have lay eyes on it and they can just say what you just said.
Just make sure I understand it correctly.
Yeah, but you don't have to do that.
It's nothing against you.
It's just a practice that I have within the way that I now approach business.
And anything that you do, it's never personal.
I don't take offense to anything that you want to check or background check on me.
You should.
It's business.
I think that we don't get a fair level of understanding for our fuck-ups, for our mishaps, of how the road presented itself for somebody to take from me.
So when I'm recovering from the take.
Well, you got to start at a safe space, for My space was never safe because they're sharks, so they focus on the fucking prey.
The young talent in the music business is prey.
So the sharks see the young talent.
Whichever one gets there first has an opportunity to fucking give me the presentation of the world and make it bells, whistles and candy.
Well, if I get there right and the prey doesn't have the right people around him...
I'm going with the shark every time.
I guess there is an element of responsibility here which people don't like to acknowledge, that you've got to take responsibility.
I signed bad contracts in my career.
And I was like, I look back at 20 years, I go, fuck, I mean, I lost a lot there, but that was on me.
And if I don't take responsibility, then it's going to happen again.
But there's also, you'll know a lot of people that become victims.
I don't think it's the worst thing, right?
Like it's when it happens early on, like I got a lot of friends that are in the music business, a lot of artists that are now independent artists that control and own their labels and are doing much better at this position than they were when they were signed underneath the big thing and they were getting taken.
But after finding out how it was and why it was, they said I'm going to go create my own.
When you look at the biggest labels that are independent and you look at the artists that fall underneath these independent labels, you'll look at a blueprint of people following the person that was like in front of them and what they said.
But it was only because they learned the business of the business, right?
Like so being a part of a business that's just succeeding and you being embedded into it and just being the work for hire that just follows suit with what they say.
Well, that's not smart if you have an opportunity to mirror what they're doing and create your own.
So what I do like within a culture is a lot of the artists that are independent or that are that are now able to say I have my own version, whether it's studio production, company label, independent label, whether it's own line of product that they share ownership with.
People are now learning to follow and repeat what the conglomerates are doing.
I can use a conglomerate and I can take your machine and create a small version of a machine underneath yours and partner with you and give you a piece of my machine, but it allows me to own, I can leverage the bank of opportunity and consumer that you have here under this brand.
What's the cost though?
Because, you know, you're incredibly successful.
You've got all this empire of companies and businesses and ventures you started.
They say that you can't have everything in life, especially not at the same time.
So what is the cost?
Of this pursuit.
Time.
Time.
Is your ambition like insatiable?
Yes.
It just won't, you couldn't switch it off if you wanted to.
And does that not make you feel like you're being dragged versus being driven?
You for sure have your days.
I'm absolutely stressed out.
I'm stressed the fuck out on the daily, but I operate within stress.
Are you happy?
I'm 1000% happy, but I'm stressed out with the concept of I have to do.
If your life ended now, God forbid.
Do you think if you found out today that it was ending, you would reflect on it and say do you know?
I think I might have had things in the wrong order.
Would there be any misprioritization in hindsight if today was the day?
If life ended today, I could cross my legs comfortably and be okay that it's time.
I did it correctly.
I made sure that I... applied myself to the best of my ability.
I tried my best to put those that I loved in a better position, so that they could see more and do more.
My last name and my family name is much stronger today than it was yesterday.
The idea of the world is something that I was able to see and understand better in Because I was blessed and fortunate enough to travel and meet so many.
People are made to like, we're here to embrace, we're here to love, we're here to like share.
I was an energy source of good to bring people closer together through all things that I've done.
So it all connects and I'm okay.
I'm okay with If it stopped, it stopped.
What I'm not okay with is, while I have the bandwidth of good health, fucking great mind strong, fucking like mind concept and I can go, I can do it, I can get there.
I'm not okay with wasting that time.
I'm not okay with with wasting my time of good and I can do and I'm strong enough to connect at a very high level.
My star is bright, which allows me to go and get into these spaces.
If I wait for this to dim out and I try to get into these spaces, what if I can't?
Is there always a fear because of where you came from?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Like you can't be unrealistic.
Nothing is going to last forever.
Nothing.
Nothing.
I don't give a fuck who you are.
It's not true.
You can recreate and you can figure out ways to find success again and again.
But the one thing that you are winning in, you're not going to win in it forever.
Right?
Like, I love talking about my guy, man, Hov and Ruben, Michael Ruben.
Like two great friends, but two good examples together of recreation, amplification and step repeat right.
Successful rapper, albums.
Some albums Hov will never make again.
Some will, you don't look at them all like they are all the best.
Some you think are better than others.
But the fight to be the thing that you were when it was at your highest level is a driving factor to get you.
But then, as a talent, you let go of that because you become comfortable with knowing that I'm never going to create that again.
That was my lightning in a bottle moment.
I'm never going to create this again, but I can have fun doing what I'm doing and I can create a variation of versions of this that still display my talent and that I'm doing it at a high level.
Man, you know what?
This right here, It could cap out, but boy, oh boy, did I find fucking momentum.
And now the movies, or in Hov's case, as the example I was using, he then found momentum.
And well, this thing, the Rockefeller thing, him, Dame, created this thing.
And then the artists underneath the thing and the progression of the artists underneath that brand.
It started to go pow, pow.
Kanye, pow, pow.
State property, Beanie Siegel, pow, pow, pow.
Rihanna, all these people, pow.
Now this thing was so dope that we were able to create other people.
That's more energy.
So now I don't need the fucking, I don't need the rap.
I'm looking at the product of a valuable asset that we created that's premium enough to display that the talent that comes from underneath us is strong fucking talent and we do amazing things.
Now my business, because of this business, well, this business becomes great too.
Ace of Spades and Ducey and all.
Oh, shit, the value, the exit, the return.
He keeps finding more energy in these other things.
Oh, shit, 40-40 club, more assets, more brand, likeness, partnership, ownership.
But the backdrop to it all is the artists, right?
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Your show is called your new.
Well, it's not new necessarily.
I actually saw it in in London, me and my Acting, My Age in London.
The show was absolutely hilarious.
We were dying of laughter.
And it's coming to Netflix Monday, the 24th of November.
So if you're listening now, you've got to go and watch it.
But the title of the show, Acting My Age, what do you mean, Acting My Age?
And why now?
You know, you've got to grow up.
I think it's like one of the toughest things in life is just realising...
What grow up actually means.
You can be an adult, but still not embrace what being an adult actually is.
And when it's time to grow up, you start sacrificing the shit that the younger version of you, with less responsibilities, thrived and flourished off of and in.
You...
Realize that a lot of that shit gets thrown on the back burner and is no longer important, because you're fucking getting older and some shit just isn't the same.
I just made a decision to let go of a certain version of life and embrace my age and all the fun that comes with it.
What about being a man?
It's confusing.
I think it's more confusing than ever for many to be a man.
And we often talk about this masculinity crisis where...
Men have less male friends than ever before.
The stats are pretty shocking on this.
Suicidation is 300% to 400% higher in men.
There's a college degree gap for every two men who earn a bachelor's degree in the U.S.
Three women do.
There's a workforce dropout rate, which is pretty terrifying.
Millions of prime-age men between the age of 24 and 50 are no longer in the labor force, representing an almost 10 drop rate.
Being a man is tough these days for a bunch of different reasons.
You got a plethora.
A plethora.
It's not straightforward.
Yes.
Polluted waters, is what I call it.
Extremely polluted waters.
What advice have you got for young men in terms of what it takes to be a good man?
You know, I think the definition of a good man is so foggy today.
Right?
And...
I'm a firm believer that change comes within time.
So I'll start by saying that, and I understand that, you know, nothing should stay the same.
Everything should evolve when it's evolving.
The conversation of a man and what makes a man a man is weird.
It's like it's not evolving, right?
And, you know, I was raised on a foundation – of a leader or leadership.
And I think, you know, rest in peace to my dad, it's fucked up of a road that my dad had.
My dad's like later years were driven from accountability.
I'm aware of what I didn't do.
I'm aware of the mistakes that I made.
And I'm aware of what I should have did much better.
I can't change those things.
But I would love to try to be the best grandfather or grandparent that I can be.
Kevin, I love you and I love your brother.
But I can't go back.
I can only say I'm sorry.
And I wish I could.
You don't have to.
Like, the grandkids are your focus.
And if you can be the dopest example of a grandpop to them, then...
That's the win for me at this point.
But his accountability in that moment is what I remember the most about my father and love the most, because leadership, or lack thereof, put me in a position to say I don't want to do that.
I want to do this.
And not because my dad is like the worst, but fuck man.
If he didn't do these things wrong, back to tying shit in.
I wouldn't know how to do them right.
So now I got two boys.
I want to make sure that my example of man to my sons is leadership, responsibility.
It's accountability.
Emotions.
You know, I'm not against emotions, but I am also, I am a student of everybody has problems.
There's not a shortage of problems.
So the weight of the world that you feel is the heaviest for you may not come close to what the weight of the world is for you.
And I think, in sharing your emotions and having an opportunity to voice or offload them, extremely important.
But you also are in a world where you know weakness can, at some point in time, be taken advantage of.
Right, you are in a world of like prey and sharks, as I presented earlier.
And it doesn't mean that your emotions don't matter because they do.
It means that you also have to be smart and aware, right?
And what are you ultimately trying your best to become?
And what are you ultimately trying to be the best example for yourself first and then others for?
I don't mind being weak, but I talk to my kids.
I talk to them in a voice.
Your dad deals with struggles that you'll never know about, because I don't want you to have to feel the burden of them.
It's my job to try my best to make life easier for you, so that you can go on and do way more than I ever have.
It's my job to give you the opportunities to learn shit that I never knew, that I could learn at this stage.
But I'm going to make sure that I communicate with you differently than I was communicated with.
I'm not going to let you fuck off and take advantage of the things that you have as resources at your fingertips.
I'm not going to let you tell me the things that you think you should do because you feel, when I know right now, at this stage in your life, what's best for you,
That's my format of parenting and it doesn't mean it's the same for others.
But for the man that I am, I know the type of man that I want my kids to be based off of what my outcome was and is.
And I think that, If I correctly position them to simply understand, in your older age you make whatever decisions you want.
I'm your father.
I'm going to love you regardless.
It has no care or worry to me.
I want to know that I did my job for what I was supposed to control.
And I want to know that our conversations and our dialogue was always straight up and straightforward enough to where you were comfortable to talk to me and you were comfortable in feeling like your father has your best interests.
For me, that's my makeup.
And in the time today, my makeup doesn't have to fit yours.
And I'm okay with that.
And I'm okay with yours being whatever it is for you.
But I think we're in a time today where society wants to fight with one another about It's just too much of like.
Well, if you don't see it my way, then you're dumb.
Yeah.
And I think that's why the conversation has gotten so... inconsistent, and polluted.
That's my personal opinion and my side of information attached to it.
So hopefully you know your viewers can hear that and understand that and know it's okay with not being okay with my choice.
It's okay.
Kevin, we have a closing tradition where the last guest leaves a question for the next, not knowing who they're leaving it for.
The question left for you is what is the advice you got as an adult that had the most significant impact on your life?
I'm going to go to best.
The best piece of advice came from Chris Rock.
Where Chris Rock told me early in my comedy career he says his exact word is you don't just want to make niggas laugh.
The world is so much bigger than your block or your neighborhood.
He said get out the country.
Get out the country and figure out a way to make the world laugh, and comedy will be so much better.
At that point, I was very, like, specific in my material.
You know, we got these.
The drugstore is crazy.
You ever had a guy in the drugstore in your block?
And it's like, well, everybody doesn't relate or can't relate.
How do you broaden it?
How do you open it up so that you're never changing your material or who you are?
Everywhere you go in the world, people can laugh and you never have to adjust.
Get out the country.
Get bigger in the way you're thinking about your craft.
I mean, you've done that across the board and across industries now.
You've been willing to be the person, the outsider in lots of rooms.
That seems to be really central to your success.
And what Chris Rock said to you there was, get out into the unfamiliar.
Go put yourself in an unfamiliar place.
And when I look at your career and the empire that you've been able to build across business and investing, it's exactly that.
It's you are willing to be in unfamiliar territories.
For some reason.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what you just made me think about too?
And I want to backtrack before we leave.
One thing that's like kind of crazy, just when you were talking about the conversation of man, like it's a weird thing that's happening where you do have men that are opening up more and talking more about, like the struggles of a man.
But then those things are like being used against them in the conversation of man.
Like When you get to talking about the things that you're dealing with and the emotion and stuff like, of The mental health.
The mental health and the weight.
It seems that in this time today, more men are being forward and wanting to express and talk.
But the fear of being judged after... Do you have that fear?
No, I don't get shit.
I don't really care too much what people think.
Have you struggled with your mental health?
No.
No.
I think I told you, my shit is like more...
More stress, but it's not a struggle.
It's like... Is that anxiety or is it... No, it's just like I know I do too much.
Yeah.
I know for a fact... What's the symptom of that?
How do you feel?
You have to shut down.
So what I'm getting better at is in a day, there's a time where I just don't... I'm off the phone.
I got it.
I know I told them I would do calls.
Just tell them I'll start that tomorrow or the day after.
But there's a time where...
I get to a point in the day where I'm like, okay, that, oh, that's it for me.
You're done.
That's my, yeah.
Like, and I'm, I'm literally, I'm done.
I don't want to, I don't want to talk about anything else.
I don't want to, I don't want to hear.
So you're pushing yourself right up to the edge over and over and over and over again.
I get to a point in a day and that timeline of when I'm shutting off has gotten earlier and earlier.
Whereas before it was, you know, we hours of the night and I'm still on the phone figuring it out.
And all day you just been racing and racing and racing.
So I think the, older than I've gotten, I've realized more and more that's not healthy.
The healthy side comes with silence for a second.
You need some silence.
And riding a car by yourself, no music.
Sounds a bit like a disease.
You need silence.
Do you know what I mean by it sounds a bit like a disease?
Because this is something that's taking you to a point where it's kind of hurting you a little bit.
And I can relate, so it's not like I'm passing judgment because you just described my entire life.
Mm-hmm. you're not going to be as present with your loved ones.
You're not going to be as present in your relationship.
I know you're married.
You've got four kids.
How are you ever going to be like truly present when your brain is like... Yes.
But also, how do you become comfortable with being okay with people not understanding?
That's the trick.
Like, I hate to say it bluntly.
Yeah.
I used to have such a high level of give a fuck attached to how you felt about my decisions that were best for me.
God, I don't want to say it because then they're going to feel like I'm not doing it.
It's going to be crazy.
I don't know.
I'll just do it.
Because I'm thinking more about you than I'm thinking about me.
Right?
I'm putting everybody before me.
I'm putting everybody's needs, everybody's wants, everybody's reasons all before me.
Nobody is thinking about the volume of dialogue that I'm delivering on a day-to-day basis and how much of that happens over and over again.
Nobody's thinking about it.
So the day that I became comfortable with going, I don't really give a fuck if they understand or not.
I'm done.
I know, but they feel it's really important you got to do it today.
I'll talk to them tomorrow.
Nothing's going to happen.
Nothing's going to change from this time to that time.
You have to get to a point to where you actually get that and are okay with that.
Because, if not, you're constantly putting all of this shit from outside there on your table and, like your plate's always full.
You're never finishing your fucking plate because you're just constantly.
People just keep coming and dumping more shit on it.
So imagine that.
Imagine if people just keep telling you, keep eating.
You just keep getting full.
Like eventually you can't fucking breathe and you bust.
It's no different from your mind.
And more today than ever, you're seeing more people pop from mental overload, man.
Like, people aren't crazy.
I hate this whole crazy.
You crazy, motherfucker?
You crazy.
It's like, motherfuckers are just popping.
Like, it's too much.
When they snap, they snap.
That's it.
That's enough.
I'm sick of the chick.
You're like, goddamn, man.
You crazy?
No.
Motherfuckers just popped.
But you got the money to go chill in Bali.
I'm going.
But you don't.
I have the money to not go chill in Bali.
I have the money to say, I'm not talking anymore today.
That's the difference.
It's not about the vacation.
It's not about the trip.
It's not about... I'm not talking anymore today.
So the people and the resources that I put around me to help me do your job.
What happens next for you?
We sit here in 10 years' time.
It all went well.
What happened?
I think in 10 years' time, if I'm able to sit on a stool at a comedy club with 30 people and do material.
And enjoy my craft.
And it's little small hole-in-the-wall comedy clubs wherever I'm living at the time.
I do it maybe twice a week.
And I golf.
And I spend time with my kids and hopefully their kids.
I'm a grandpa.
And we're able to look through photo albums of Remember When.
And mailbox money is attached to things that I've built that are operating and functioning on its own.
That's my version of success.
Kevin, thank you.
Thank you, man.
Thank you so much for all the –.
You talked about how you've made people's lives happier and made people more connected, et cetera.
And that's exactly the impact you've had on me.
I remember the first time I watched –
One of your comedy specials and watched you on stage was when I was going through a very tough part of my life.
I was lonely.
I was in this room in Manchester.
I'm probably 18 years old at the time.
And I'm trying to figure out my career and my future.
Things are hard. pirating your comedy specials was that little moment of escapism.
It was that little moment of joy in my day.
And so you're that for so many, many millions of people that you'll never get to meet.
You brought so much joy to families.
You brought families together.
You brought me and my girlfriend out to come and see you in the Royal Albert Hall.
And also I've seen you in New York City when you did, I think it was Madison Square Garden here as well, on that square stage, you're a source of joy and connectivity.
And if the world ever needed that energy right now, it needs it now more than ever.
I humbly appreciate you and thank you.
This was amazing, man.
And I think you're doing a service of good.
And what you're providing for the masses is necessary.
So don't stop.
Keep going, man.
Thank you so much.
Thank you so much.
Appreciate it, brother.
Thank you.
Make sure you keep what I'm about to say to yourself.
I'm inviting 10,000 of you to come even deeper into the diary of a CEO.
Welcome to my inner circle.
This is a brand new private community that I'm launching to the world.
We have so many incredible things that happen that you are never shown.
We have the briefs that are on my iPad when I'm recording the conversation.
We have clips we've never released.
We have behind the scenes conversations with the guests and also the episodes that we've never, ever released.
And so much more.
In the circle, you'll have direct access to me.
You can tell us what you want this show to be, who you want us to interview and the types of conversations you would love us to have.
But remember, for now, we're only inviting the first 10,000 people that join before it closes.
So if you want to join our private, closed community, head to the link in the description below or go to doaccirclecom.
I will speak to you there.
