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Kings welcome to my podcast what's up man so good to see you here yeah man nice nice crib thank you so much thank
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you so I really appreciate you being on my podcast um there'll be a lot of people that um aren't familiar with the
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name but I reckon there would wouldn't be anybody listening to this or watching
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this that doesn't know your song right now because of um the way podcasts work
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U and with Spotify and stuff I can't play any of the song here yeah that's
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right you don't even flag so if only the uh the singer songwriter was in the room
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right now hey I could talk to some people so um yes so your song don't worry about it the uh most successful
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single in New Zealand history number one for 33 weeks that's the one that goes um
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Run free boy Run free is what I would have said to the young yeah man and it just it's got that sound it starts ooh
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ah and you just feel good when you hear it yeah man I felt good when I made it so that was um 2016 that don't worry
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about it came out yeah um and from like outsider's perspective it felt like um
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you were just this thing that came from out of nowhere um but as I've discovered
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with this podcast doing this almost two years speaking to some amazing people that is very rarely the case it's like
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um the iceberg sort of picture where that's the tip and people don't see
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what's underneath the water yeah um yeah what was life like pre 2016 God pre 2016
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[ __ ] I can't remember that far back how long like how long were you making music pre don't worry about it so
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yeah I was making music for man close to seven years by then um I was producing for ads so like TV commercials things
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like that and um hey Kanye hey he very excited and um yeah so was about seven years of kind of commercial work um and
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I've been writing and producing for tons of different artists um but I'd never
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given myself that shot you know so um don't worry why why was was it um was that a self-esteem thing a self-belief
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thing that's a good question uh I think it was like navigating the the scope of
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things like I wasn't even sure who I wanted to be I knew what I looked up to
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I looked up to like Timberland producer Kanye as we were talking about earlier I
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looked up to these people but I was like what do I bring and I did think it was production for a long time um so yeah it
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wasn't so much confidence I think I was just trying to navigate the waters and
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then when I did finally get into writing I loved it I really love writing music um and I would say it was like
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accumulation of the seven years of production mixed with the love for songwriting and the marriage yeah um and
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yeah two you mentioned tv ads um yeah 2011 you had like an ad in Malaysia for KFC yeah that's so Random what was it
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just a just a beat yeah so uh I was working for an agency and they send you these briefs and it would be like KFC or
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McDonald's like happy brief and you have to make happy music in 30 seconds with
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the KFC in mind and so um yeah I was making [ __ ] like that all the time bro like random like random sound bites and
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and the money's good for for those sort of things uh it was good for what I was
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doing which was getting paid nothing you know so to get like a couple hundred bucks to do that was was awesome for me
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um and again it was another chance for me to hone my skills get better at what I do and yeah yeah it wasn't like it
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wasn't mess of money bro no I think now it would be yes so I'm trying to get my H around
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this was so why why did you stick with the music and not get like a a 9 to-5 job because you're you're young young
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dad at the time yeah uh you became a dad at 18 yeah no uh 19 19 so teen teenage dad there must have been like immense
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and and you're um we'll get into this later but you're like the the so hero
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like you've been Mom and Dad which is um it's so cool um cool one one one of oh
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no I'm sure it's um I'm sure there's so many challenges but uh but it's like um
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yeah I mean there there's so much to to unpack and Chip Away out with you but um
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you've got a complex relationship with um with your dad and your from a broken
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family and the fact that you've taken this path where you've been like a soul
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carer for your daughter um it's bloody cool it's breaking the cycle yeah um but
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I'm guessing like being a a young dad with a daughter and all the pressure that comes with that um must be pressure
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to like get a normal job and get regular income for sure bro yeah I I do remember
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the conversation uh vividly I was literally you can't do music anymore you have to go this is my mom talking to me
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by um if you're going to have this kid you need to go get a job uh you need to take care of this kid and
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I was like I do want to take care of this kid but I want to do music I was like I need I need to do music you know
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it was at a time where I was like if I don't do something creative I'm going to
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murder myself you know what I mean and it got and was that quite serious um and you know I stuck to my
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guns I I didn't get a job I ended up going on the benefit you know thank you
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labor was it labor back then whoever whoever it was back there uh and and I was able to do a music course I learned
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how to produce music shout out to ad kill I don't know if you know she she's
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a nan mystic's first manager yeah so some love Nan Mystic yeah yeah yeah actually fun fun fact when um me and JJ
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got married in 2004 they played at the wedding play the we just went to his wedding one of the wedding uh don Donald
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Donal yeah we just went to his wedding oh how good you know they were they were massive Radio band at the time and they
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were like oh hey we'll play your wedding on the house on the house and then um
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one thing I didn't realize it's like just how much cat they had and stuff so
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we to fly six six of them to Queen for the wedding on the house but you got to pay for all
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TR yeah was so good though so what would you have done as a job man i' I'd had
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jobs here and there I was folding boxes for Target at the material company so I was folding boxes I got pretty good at
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folding boxes bro um cuz you literally do that for about six hours a day um I did what else did I do paper
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route I was a laborer I was taking care of my friends like I feel like I taking care of my
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friend's like gear and like holding it as like a storage for music gear and like anything I could do producing music
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for ads whatever I could do to kind of prove to my mom I don't have to get this
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job like yeah I'll do anything but get a job you know that's so and and hindsight
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it's probably good that she like applied that like pressure on you breathing down
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your neck or whatever you want to call yeah bro I think it's yeah for sure like
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she there was a reality to what she was asking she was actually asking me to be a a good father you know yeah um and
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bless her you know like I I I was selling her a pipe dream I'm like I'm going to be a paid musician and it's
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hard to see that when it doesn't look like that you know so um yeah she she's
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awesome she's a huge supporter of mine now obvious obviously she loves me dearly I love her dearly yeah and you
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you I mean you kind of manifested this didn't you I feel like I feel like I did
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yeah um yeah my run this morning I um you're you're a hardworking dude so
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you're a [ __ ] hardworking Runner bro I feel like all you're doing is running
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every time I see you running on stories I'm sure a therapist could have a field down it like what what are you
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running from what are you there's got to be some um some some thing behind it
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but yesterday we were going to do this podcast and it had to be rescheduled cuz you had like a writing session then I I
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was listening today on my run to your new album that's just come out your fifth album which says your your final
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final rep what why so you've just put out a new album what are you working on
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writing now man I'm doing are you just always writing yeah man it's funny my
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partner kind of snicking at me just because she she understands like not many people get a behind the scenes to
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what it's like to be with someone like that it's not all fun like a lot of it
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is difficult to deal with someone who's like present and not present in the same
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time um so I understand it is difficult but yeah I'm always writing bro I'm
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always writing stuff I got a new project called Sergeant Nick which I won't get
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too much into but it's a it's a dance project and it's not rap it's like the
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complete opposite yeah cuz you've said that this fifth album uh dad's son is
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your last rap album um yes as I said listen to that on my run this morning is it sort of like it feels like
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it's almost like your autobiography and something that you've done for your
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daughter for sure yeah so your daughter's how old now uh she's now 13 12 12 13 so the there's there's a song
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in there where you talk about the um finding out you're pregnant and uh you're going through do I keep the baby
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do I not keep the baby yeah like um how does she feel about that oh man that's F
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that's funny you say she um she doesn't like you know I'm still the not cool dad
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I'm still on the same I'm still on the same TR as everyone else yeah so when I
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release song she's like it's not that cool even though like maybe her friend's
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like he's so cool she' be like Noah it's not that cool and so I'm I'm still
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dealing with that you know um so she has heard those songs and I think she she gets a cool perspective because it's
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like it's not me talking to him literally rapping so um yeah she doesn't
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have too many thoughts about it though I think I think she just laughs and she's
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like oh see you drink like see see you drinko you're telling me when I grow up
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I'm not L to I'm like yeah well it's the takeaways that kids can get from these
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things and and there's um I don't know what the what what the name for them is
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whether it's like a skirt or an interlude or whatever you call it there's a couple of spoken bits in there
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um that's how the album opens and it's you it's young you talking to you today
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um as as a therapy session is that true you you were sing a therapist when you were 11 man from 11
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to 17 yeah how often like weekly fortn nightly yeah weekly every Friday from school for Anger Management anger
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management um I I had trouble kind of sitting still um my mom did think I had add and I think I was diagnosed by the
00:10:10
school person they said oh you know exhibiting ADHD I'm still not sure if I do but the counseling was kind of a
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place to go where I felt safe to talk uh about things are happening at home or like just creatively have a talk
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sometimes we sit and do nothing you know like just I'd be drawing um but it was
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just a space for me and I had that space for years yeah that's a lot of work yeah
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and and at a very young age too yeah why why were you so [ __ ] up that's a great
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question bro I don't even I still feel like I still hav very much that way no no well well can I just say you
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you may still feel that way but the um um like the kings that I've got to know
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and this is only since 2016 um is just like hardworking disciplined reliable uh always on time always courteous always
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polite always nice I don't know I don't know I I don't know what what you what
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you see when you look in the mirror but from an outsider's perspective he's he's
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a good man maybe it was all that work maybe yeah it's it's a lot of work it's
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a lot of work but it's like what I I was like in my mid-40s before I went to a
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therapist for the first time and really yeah yeah yeah I probably should have done it a long time I don't know if 11's
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already either but I mean yeah maybe in between why why so late for you I I think I was just scared yeah and I uh
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when you you're like where do I start like like where do I start but you as soon as you get to that room you realize
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all they trained professional they they'll they'll lead for sure um so that's that's a yeah that's a lot of
00:11:44
work why why were you so angry man I would I don't know if anger was a fair assessment of what I was I
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think the frustration from not being able to communicate effectively like so I could only it's like the equivalent
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of a baby trying to yell like I'm hungry right and like all they can do is cry so
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for me all I could do was Punch walls and like be exert anger it's not that I
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was necessarily angry it was just frustration of being able to say like like I youy again shut up Sir oh
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still angry yeah yeah exactly smash that [ __ ] phone um yeah yeah so it was yeah the frustration
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of being able to say things like like I miss my dad you know not not being able to say those words as a kid
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cuz you don't even know that that's what's going on um so yeah again when my
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dad wasn't around you know I'm like yearning for a male uh energy that I
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don't have and I don't know how to say that so I'm punching walls and throwing
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rocks at windows and all this kind of stuff yeah oh that makes sense yeah that that makes a lot of sense so so you're
00:12:58
just angry and you just don't know how to articulate for sure for sure and yeah
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like I mean man as a kid but I look at Kids now and I think they're so advanced
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in some ways and then I think they're also silly in a lot of ways you got tick
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cuz they can read anything they can Google things now they they seem smart uh even my daughter like she'll she'll
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tell me things that I I didn't know about emotions like she'll say oh dad
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you know this feeling comes from this and did you know that if you talk about this I'm like how are you this young and
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um so it's it's a new world where back then I think it was a lot more about
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shut up just shut up and get on with it you go for a run yeah CU how how old are
00:13:39
you now I'm 33 33 yeah yeah see I'm I'm 50 I'm a I'm like I'm almost like
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another generation like a like older than you and yeah yeah yeah yeah so you must think the same about us you got
00:13:51
[ __ ] no no no I'm guessing there's been like just just huge like seismic
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leaps like in the last in the last generation in terms of technology and information and everything for sure so
00:14:02
yes so go back to the real early year so um yes compl your relationship with your
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dad's good now but it was comp so your mom and dad broke up when you were a young age yeah young dad dad's moldy
00:14:13
mom's some mine but was adopted out to a pangy family did some research good man
00:14:17
yes yeah yeah yeah so they broke were they ever together with you or did did he b i I got a couple years uh I think
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with that I want to say five age of five or six so I remember him like there's memories for
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sure and I see photos so he was around um but like do I like as a kid you don't know you're
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making you're piecing it together as you go you know so all of a sudden dad's not
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there and you just think oh he's probably just gone to the shop like you know you just you don't know you're just
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like oh he'll be around soon and then you see him in a weekend and you're like
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oh he's back and you you piece it together right um with very horrible tools you're piecing together like a
00:15:01
[ __ ] clay thing that you have no idea how to do so um bad an allergy but yeah the the absence was I wasn't sure if I
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knew he was around or not I just felt he was absent yeah and and your mom that was a nasty breakup right so she she
00:15:20
[ __ ] about yeah I don't think they liked each other too much and my mom for fear
00:15:25
reason you know I I think about these there's so many kids that I know that have gone through the similar thing of
00:15:31
having a broken home and sometimes the mom will react in a in a way because she's been hurt you know um
00:15:42
whether it be cheating with physical whatever it is and the reaction without her
00:15:48
knowing could affect the kids you know but but I have to forgive her knowing that she didn't have the tools to
00:15:55
communicate that either so um yeah she's just proba just like projecting her
00:15:59
anger angry yeah and fair enough I'd be pissed off too you should have sent her
00:16:03
to anger me yeah maybe she was sending me because she was secretly like what did you
00:16:08
learn what but um did she she you look back now from the perspective of um a guy that's been you're doing the solo
00:16:17
dead thing did she do a good job is I think she did a great job man yeah she raised us well like she raised us well
00:16:23
man I'm I'm a curious guy I respectful the woman for the most part um she's
00:16:28
taught me how to be lovely she's the lovely side of me yeah when you for the
00:16:34
most part what do you mean yeah like saying please and thank you something you know she was she ingrained that and
00:16:40
meant to be courteous I pull chairs out I four people glasses of water and just that's innate in me from her yeah my my
00:16:48
dad's taught me how to be a businessman and how to be a man more recently um but yeah my M my mom lives
00:16:56
within me and my dad how do how do you mean what I expect speak about being a man
00:17:01
Walking Tall yeah being able to walk tall and I don't know if you remember when we first started uh when I 2016
00:17:09
when I first started doing radio runs bro my shoulders are hunched back I see photos and stuff of it I was really
00:17:14
nervous scared to be in a room and take up space um so he tryes to make himself small yeah yeah yeah just naturally
00:17:22
doing that and um I I I never I never I never noticed that I I just thought you were a humble guy oh
00:17:29
like like a guy that was you know how we talked before about the iceberg thing and it sort of felt like you were just
00:17:34
suddenly in the spotlight like a like a deer on the spotlight that's what happened yeah and I guess for someone
00:17:40
who I would consider myself an introvert which is awkward because I'm a performer
00:17:44
right but yeah it did feel I did feel like a um a daring headlights is a good way to put it and so my my dad kind of
00:17:54
being in my life taught me how to pull my shoulders back take take the space and and own it yeah [ __ ] so you're still
00:18:01
doing work hey yeah you're still a still a work in progress yeah yeah yeah yeah
00:18:05
oh bro forever man yeah yeah yeah like I mean until we're gone you know yeah well
00:18:12
no that's cool I I um I fully agree it's like it's like a growth mindset but I
00:18:16
think a lot a lot of people just sort of give up and they go well this is how I am you take it or leave it um you think
00:18:22
so I think a lot of people like that but I think it's a it's a it's a great way
00:18:25
to be to you know always have um work on and always be tweaking and trying to create yourself yeah I actually never
00:18:32
thought of it like that like I I I figure everyone's trying to do the right thing and get better but maybe you're
00:18:37
right every every everyone wants to wants to be the best version of themselves but it does take it does take
00:18:42
work it does take a lot of work yeah so you can't you can wish it but that's not
00:18:45
going to make it happen yeah that's not going to do [ __ ] yeah like I I I'm I
00:18:49
feel like I'm better at communicating on this podcast than what I am with some of
00:18:52
my personal relationships and I know that's something that I'm trying to work
00:18:55
on you know just get a camera in between you going to do chat just get a microphone
00:19:01
in between I don't know and uh yeah yeah and and I'm um I'm I'm obsessed with
00:19:06
like pleasing people and I I'll sometimes say yes to things then afterwards I'll be like [ __ ] why did I
00:19:10
say yes to that wow okay I want to know is that why you were here today no bro that's actually quite that
00:19:17
that that was never a thing weirdly I know what you mean because I think I don't know if it's a human thing like we
00:19:24
like to just go yeah bro yeah I'll see you you know but I think for me when I
00:19:29
started doing business that attitude isn't always great like if you start saying yes to everything you burn
00:19:34
yourself out I can't be there for my daughter because I'm doing 300 other
00:19:38
things yeah and so I actually learned by being a dad and a business owner that the power of know is actually
00:19:44
a lot stronger than um the power of your yeah absolutely say know a lot more these days it's got it it's a powerful
00:19:50
word hey yeah no and to mean it like no I still love you you know like hey bro no but I love you and yeah yeah I think
00:20:00
people respect that Honesty okay so so yeah so your mom and dad split when you like say fiveish or so so who's in the
00:20:05
house it's you and your older brother me my older brother my little sister and my
00:20:08
mom yeah so your um your older brother he was kind of like your male your male figure in your life he became it yeah he
00:20:15
kind of was thrust into it I guess just by by way of default um strong dude man very very strong
00:20:22
character and was he he was he was a bit of a loky bad dude yeah oh not Loki he's just a he's just a gangster man I
00:20:31
think for my for people like me multi Polynesian it's not uncommon to have a man thrust into that
00:20:41
role early and then to have to wield the responsibilities of a young father brother yeah or cousin yeah but I
00:20:52
feel like I'm doing this a lot feel like we're having having a route like every time I laugh sorry bro
00:20:58
that comes on your thing sorry bro no that's good that's definitely not being
00:21:01
edited out so so so you were from what I've what I've read you were sort of
00:21:05
hitting down that path as well like um yeah you you Street Smart so you never got in trouble but what what you doing
00:21:11
just like dealing weed yeah bro oh it's so funny like it's funny cuz I know my
00:21:16
daughter might watch this like yeah like bro survival survival is a best way to put it like it wasn't that I was
00:21:26
doing one thing or anything it's just survival like you do what you can at that age um I had a big chip on my
00:21:32
shoulder around blaming the police and white people for problems that I think that
00:21:37
just comes in with The Narrative of being in the Hood um so I had these kind of chips on my shoulder and to fall into
00:21:46
line you play ball you know what I mean you you go with your cousins to these places and you go to these House parties
00:21:53
and you do these things that they do because there's no other no one telling
00:21:58
you don't do that you know so you're just rolling with the punches um yeah
00:22:04
yeah so yep I was I was doing stupid [ __ ] for sure when I was young you ever get caught or get in trouble or I think
00:22:11
the worst thing I got caught was like spray painting um and it was literally caught red-handed like I spray painted
00:22:17
and there was red paint in my hands the cops come and they're like who's been
00:22:20
spray painting I was like not me check my hands [ __ ] red actually yeah there's a line about that in that um
00:22:26
that album we're talking about Dad son yeah exactly so so then what happens they they you get diversion you get in
00:22:33
trouble they just take you home take you home they tell you to clean your [ __ ]
00:22:36
you clean your thing it was lucky it was wet so it came off and then I got home and I'd get a get a hiding yeah from
00:22:42
myom from your mom yeah for being nor was she um it's funny does sound like I'm from I'm from a middle class white
00:22:49
family but it was the same sort of thing I remember being like 14 15 me and my mates like um this is when you used to
00:22:54
get like little double happy firecrackers oh like tiny little Dynamite sticks so we'd go and um me and
00:23:00
a bunch of mates we go like knock on people's Doors Light one and then run off and then the police gave me a ride
00:23:05
home and I remember they dropped my mates off first and then I was last I was like please can you guys just drop
00:23:08
me around the corner like my dad's going to give me a going smack and it was like
00:23:12
um it was never it was never like a beating or anything it was always like a done in a in the terms of a correctional
00:23:17
sort of environment like put me over the bed and give me the belt and he'd say
00:23:21
this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you absolute [ __ ] I see the Bel but was was your
00:23:27
mom yeah was was it a controlled yeah it wasn't like I think a belt is probably your dad being nice you know
00:23:37
he's found something that's kind of like I think my mom would just I'm P her out
00:23:41
to be like horrible is no no because it's um and I I like I share my parents
00:23:46
story as um you know like I suppose a vulnerability Exchange in a way because it's like you know your parents do the
00:23:51
best they can tools they've got at that time yeah F and so well if you imagine
00:23:55
like a growing young boy a a slap's not going to work anymore so you got to find
00:24:00
other things so how old were you then with the the spray oh man [ __ ] that's
00:24:05
quite young to I want to say 13 14 yeah it's kind of a bit of a blur but it's it's all in
00:24:13
that young teenage um era I was even drinking at that age where I was drinking at 12 um yeah Hennessy I
00:24:20
believe according the my here today it's gross man it's gross it's gross to think
00:24:27
like my daughter's to bro you know I look at her now and I think [ __ ] I could
00:24:30
not imagine her drinking a bottle of a 40 oz in a park yeah but what what were you do you just trying to numb the pain
00:24:38
or just like escape yourself or I would yeah it wasn't even that conscious to be
00:24:42
honest it it was again following the pack and just trying to just kick it with with my friends and they were all
00:24:48
into the same thing we all had similar upbringings similar childhood so we all it was just the way it was yeah so when
00:24:55
was the when was the last time your mom disciplined you I would have been around that AJ cuz I
00:25:00
was just too yeah I'm too big and she was like oh well [ __ ] Fu just start saying mean things stupid
00:25:08
yeah well I mean it's yeah it's hard we'll get to this with you know your
00:25:13
journey with Parenthood as well but it's like it's hard when you're fulfilling
00:25:15
both roles like you can't be it's hard to be the nurturing loving mom and also
00:25:20
the disciplinarian of the househ some way with boys for sure as I am older now and I look back at it I do I do
00:25:27
understand and she had two roles to play yeah um and she had to exercise uh what
00:25:33
she did um for the bman of us you know yeah yeah um there's there's a massive
00:25:39
article I read about you in one of the papers earlier this year um I think it was when the TV show The Traders came
00:25:45
out ah sure um you you said in this article um you didn't think you'd do
00:25:49
very well on a show like Traders cuz you trying to live your life with um Integrity now ah yeah yeah I that
00:25:56
interview was that was a while ago was that this year was this this year but that that line resonated with me because
00:26:02
I feel like I'm on the same same path now it's like um I feel like in the past
00:26:07
like my my sort of like playful nature like if I like someone I'll take the piss out of them or give them a [ __ ] and
00:26:13
now I you know I know there's a lot of people that are hurting and I don't I
00:26:16
don't want to make anyone feel bad so I try and live with Integrity as well but
00:26:20
what what do you mean because it's like um I was quite puzzled when I read that
00:26:23
line because as I said I've known you for like the last six to seven years orever and you've always seemed like a
00:26:28
dude with Integrity to me that's really that's nice bro thank you I appreciate
00:26:31
that um it's easy to wear mask in front of people for 30 30 seconds um I think when when all the
00:26:39
cameras are on I can anyone can you know you can put on a face um and I think what I meant by Integrity or at least
00:26:48
being a man of integrity was to to exude it not only in my life but in my professional life where I feel
00:26:56
like in my professional life I was i' hit this stroke of success that I'd never hit before and and no one in
00:27:04
my family had hit with that kind of actually no I lie my Uncle Slade mcfallen was a rugby player he had a
00:27:09
mive thing of success but um i' hit the success from coming from the streets
00:27:14
where I was telling you about and then to to have to navigate the business world with like corporates and talk
00:27:21
percentages and like lawyer fees and all the [ __ ] was like was quite scary for me
00:27:26
so I I I pretended like I knew hey go yeah I pretended like I knew I put the face on like fake it till you make
00:27:37
it for sure okay and um and so that Integrity line was like I'm done with that I'm going to just be who I am yeah
00:27:45
awesome yeah yeah so yeah hey so oh so yeah so you you became a dad at uh like eight you got pregnant
00:27:55
at 18 dad at 19 19 yeah um um yeah in this autobiog autobiographical album you sort of like sing through that and you
00:28:03
talk about um how it was sort of unplanned and how you got told um what was your relationship with the mom it
00:28:09
was like a just like a one night stand a fleeting sort of a brief relationship yeah the way the song kind of
00:28:15
interpreted it it was like it was like a one stand and kind of kind of like I I won't you know for her respect and I've
00:28:23
actually never spoken about her too much on these things because um um because we
00:28:29
didn't in in a great manner we talk now of course for Nali sake but um I'd
00:28:34
rather safe face for her so I won't say too much other than we we um we were way too young to have a kid
00:28:44
together way too young way too young yeah and in the song you talk about the um it's it's funny because you're adults
00:28:50
but you're just very young adults at the time but a [ __ ] we were adults bro 19 is
00:28:55
I I I consider myself now a late teenager at this age like even kind of you saying you you're going into um
00:29:02
therapy at this age like your mind must be blown with like what you didn't know
00:29:07
about yourself like you must feel that way yeah yeah I I do and it's exciting
00:29:10
learning the stuff about yourself like oh that's why I do this thing yeah yeah
00:29:14
for sure and so like that world I feel like I'm still doing that today so I do
00:29:18
feel like a teenager in a sense that um of learning yeah and just like what we were talking about before about your
00:29:24
integrity I think um yeah the fact that you don't really want to say too much
00:29:27
about um the baby mama I think that speaks a lot of Integrity but you made the decision to to keep it how I don't if
00:29:36
you don't want to get into this St fine but how did how did you end up being the
00:29:38
so Kira yeah so that that was uh I can only relay my version of what happened um we had an arrangement that we were
00:29:47
going to do a split custody thing um and she felt she had opportunities somewhere
00:29:53
else uh for her career um she took those opportunities and I stayed with Bubba and that just went on a lot longer than
00:30:02
I think was anticipated that's my version of the story I'm sure she'll
00:30:05
tell you something else and that's fine yeah but you're not talking [ __ ] about
00:30:09
her or anything no no of course not yeah everyone's got their version but um that
00:30:14
must have been [ __ ] daunting so you got this baby um there's a saying like it takes a
00:30:21
takes takes a village to raise a child or whatever was that that the case with you did you have like family support I
00:30:26
man I was so grateful of my family man like I talk it up like I'm solo dad but Solo
00:30:32
solo to me is that I was a soul career but man my my mom and dad came to the party they looked after me and my mental
00:30:39
health they allowed me to pursue music so whenever I had a gig or like karaoke night I'd go to these uh gigs and that
00:30:46
would watch them for the night and I'm grateful for that man honestly grateful
00:30:50
I if I was actually myself and a baby in a room who know like that that's my solo Journey was with my family yeah
00:31:00
and I'm very grateful yeah that's really cool yeah yeah what so how old is she
00:31:05
now yeah 12 13 bro yeah yeah what's your what's your relationship like really
00:31:11
really tight yeah tight bro yeah too tight you know too tight we're best friends almost to a degree and it's not
00:31:17
good when you're trying to discipline someone and then she you know you'll be
00:31:22
like hey go do this you're be like nah I'm like [ __ ] hell you know and um
00:31:26
I've Al I've also tried my best to not go down beating just because it happened
00:31:32
to me I'm like well I know the benef not the benefits I know the not benefits of
00:31:37
having that happen um so I've tried my best to not ever physically thing with
00:31:43
this so we talk so much bro we'll spend like two hours talking about if she's
00:31:48
done something at school you know and I have to explain to what she's done and
00:31:51
it's such a long process where and I even think like oh no wonder mom smacked
00:31:55
me cuz it's like it's easy like Oh shut the [ __ ] up like I got to go to work you
00:32:00
know yeah that's I I noticed in the um in in the early days of you I say early
00:32:05
days of your career but after don't worry about it came out um you you'd
00:32:09
have her on your social media platforms for about you don't anymore no is that a
00:32:13
conscious decision bro I had a [ __ ] man you don't know Fame I don't know if
00:32:20
you had that with being on radio all the time but people recognize you on the street you you probably get that St now
00:32:24
yeah people to see you out and hey so I started getting that which was a new experience and I was cool with that but
00:32:30
someone went up to my daughter and I wasn't there like I was at the food court she was in the mall like up up by
00:32:37
the ice cream place and someone went up to her and was like I love your dad's
00:32:42
music tell him I see it hey and so she comes back from the ice cream shop and she's like Dad some guy came up to me
00:32:48
and said that he likes your music and that was the moment I was like how the [ __ ] did he know that you're my daughter
00:32:53
this is yuck and so I took her off everything I had a panic moment and I was like [ __ ] that I don't want
00:33:00
anyone going up to her and she was too young for that I felt like yeah how yeah how old at the time man she was she was
00:33:08
she was in school so five five or six that seems really inappropriate it's creepy as [ __ ] broy were you were you
00:33:15
wild like where is he I really did do that yeah but I don't want to say that
00:33:19
on your thing but I was like where the [ __ ] is this guy smash him like don't
00:33:23
ever talk to my to me it's just gross like yeah it seems really weird you could
00:33:29
just recognize her and go oh cool you know but the fact that he went up tell your dad like bro yeah so anyway I I
00:33:36
took her off all my socials I I have her on now because she's a lot older she
00:33:40
understands a lot more but back then I was I was very very nervous to have her outl about yeah so um so 2016 rolls
00:33:50
around don't worry about it comes out what's the so what's the what's the
00:33:54
story with that because the the the music video which which is um up to like 3.4 million views on YouTube [ __ ] is it
00:34:00
that's um yeah [ __ ] that's awesome yeah I I want to get into the finances and
00:34:04
stuff and how what sort of money you get from from a clip like that I made Millions um but that that video so so
00:34:12
the video was shot before the song came out and it shows you at like um one of those blue sky parties or whatever it is
00:34:17
so so you were performing pre don't worry about it you know generally yeah yeah he does the brickfish on George
00:34:23
good dude good friend good friend of mine like I I he's a family friend actually so he was helping me get into
00:34:30
the music scene um I dropped a few songs with Dan Ox from Georgia fil as well and
00:34:36
Jim Lee was like bro do you want to come to Fiji and I was like [ __ ] like [ __ ]
00:34:39
yeah let's go uh sweet and like they pay for the tickets and everything and I MC
00:34:45
and I thought while I'm here why not cuz I'm so MC as in like rapping rapping
00:34:49
yeah yeah like Rapp singing and see there as a performer but no one really under mate yeah for sure I was not Kings
00:34:57
at the time and um yeah so I I just thought I'm never going to be in Fiji again I should film a music video here
00:35:03
and um that was inspiration literally I was walking around with the camera Lee was kind of like bro you're a bit like
00:35:07
what are you doing come and chill with us I'm like nah Noah n this is my only
00:35:10
opportunity because I'm never going to make it to Fiji again you know um and I
00:35:14
shot that music video there so so then how does this how does the song get out like do you Geor yeah yeah okay so you
00:35:21
put it on Soundcloud or whatever or you just give like Lee a copy or Dan a copy yeah I chucked it on SoundCloud um which
00:35:29
for anyone who does a SoundCloud or thing anymore I don't even know if yeah SoundCloud kind of like before Spotify
00:35:35
um yeah I checked it up on my Spotify page oh [ __ ] sorry my SoundCloud page Georgia fim gave it a couple spins
00:35:42
because I was J's friend and Dan ox and um nothing happened bro to be honest
00:35:47
three months go by nothing happens it gets like maybe 2,000 spins I'm thinking
00:35:52
that's a lot of spins for me 2,000 um and I would say in the 3 four month Mark [ __ ] just started getting
00:36:01
crazy like i' would get an email from Capital Records being like hi did you release the song tomor about it I'm like
00:36:06
yeah like would like to talk to you about a deal and I'm like what like Capital Records and Island records and
00:36:12
Warner and Sony and just from just from being played on George just being on yeah just being out
00:36:18
was was there a moment that you felt the sort of ground swell like oh I don't
00:36:21
know where this is going to go going it was about 3 four months in yeah yeah so again like a normal release you just
00:36:26
drop a song and then you hope for the best right um and that's what I did and
00:36:29
I just did not expect it to do what it did and yeah really yeah that's interesting because I feel like it's
00:36:36
it's one of those songs as soon as you hear it as soon as you hear those opening oo and as's just makes you feel
00:36:42
a certain way I feel like you know it just Rigs of a head yeah yeah RI I me yeah did did you not feel that I can
00:36:48
confidently say no I didn't think it I was I was sure I liked it that was all I
00:36:54
knew I knew I liked it and and I knew that I was happy with the beat and that's it bro yeah so you just
00:37:01
had no expect I suppose you had nothing to go on like no yeah I didn't even know
00:37:04
what exactly bro I didn't know what a hit was so yeah so yeah so um so play plays on George and then other radio
00:37:11
like um The Edge where I jumped on that's where we got to catch up yeah our ZM they they jump on it as well and um
00:37:18
yeah how fast do you think that was from there cuz I feel like that was quick like once I got on the edge and ZM cuz
00:37:26
you guys were the at the time the stations like the mainstream we hit you guys it's like game over cross over
00:37:33
exactly yeah do do is Radio is still important does it still have a place oh man it's hard to like because the reason
00:37:41
I bring this up because I I noticed um when I was researching this interview um so don't worry about it massive on
00:37:48
Spotify but you've got a song called six figur which i' hand on heart never heard
00:37:52
of yeah right that's got more listens on Spotify that's had no radio play that
00:37:56
did pretty well too yeah uh mym jumped on that actually oh but but I don't think it was the success of that song
00:38:02
was um I guess the same thing bro like I really enjoyed the process of making it
00:38:07
I like the song it was the first time I'd seen six figures in my bank account
00:38:11
that was literally why I wrote the song six what was that from like an advance from uh uh it was a deal that I did yeah
00:38:17
wow a deal and it was yeah just it was over six fig it was a six fig deal um [ __ ] from from who uh yeah without
00:38:25
getting into too much detail it was just like a a couple contracts one after the
00:38:30
other I can kind of say what it it was like a so the in New Zealand thing was like a big thing we we don't have to
00:38:35
talk about that but I did it oh the safety video that was a pretty big that's right I forgot about the safety
00:38:39
video yeah you and was it Julian Dennison Julian Dennison and um another rapper called uh oh I forget the name oh
00:38:45
mayard mayard [ __ ] no way you got like 100k for no no no I want exactly I I would say that um but I will say it was
00:38:55
a culmination of things in that time right okay so you just had the money just started piling up did it yeah you
00:39:01
look back now did feel like it happened quite sudden suddenly quite quickly from
00:39:05
don't worry about it yeah like just like an exponential curve yeah yeah bro really did yeah yeah yeah
00:39:12
for sure I don't think anyone could be prepared for something like that to be
00:39:15
honest CRA I put I put on a bunch of weight yeah it was crazy I remember I remember not being sure who to trust do
00:39:24
you know what I mean like even some of my friends that I had talked to in a long time time popped up again and I was
00:39:28
like how cool but then I'm thinking like wait why are they popping up I didn't
00:39:32
even ask the question cuz you don't and then you kind of see them hanging around
00:39:36
more and weird things and you feel like they're always saying your name like oh
00:39:41
yo yo bro the bro yeah and I'm like we weren't this close I don't remember
00:39:46
being this close yeah I mean I I I I can't relate but I can imagine that's a
00:39:51
level of um sudden Fame could be quite isolating yeah it was isolating that's
00:39:54
actually the right word I felt alone in a time where I was surrounded by people um I never get it at well I think I
00:40:02
think yeah so um here number one for 33 weeks how how does that happen so the previous uh longest stay at number one I
00:40:11
think was Lord with Royals which was like 16 weeks how does it I and I I went back through to look at some of the
00:40:16
chats and it's it's not like it was a dry spell in music where there was no
00:40:19
competition you know there was some big names bro yeah it was probably when Justin Bieber was at his Peak U chain
00:40:25
smokers were at their Peak there was a lot of competition how do you start is that from like radio airplays or
00:40:30
spotifly listens or I'll give a shout out to Warner for that one what Warner
00:40:34
I've signed to Warner for that single um huge shout out to Warner shout out to
00:40:37
Marty shout out to Phil uh they they orchestrated that whole thing they actually taught me how to create a hit
00:40:45
the song was a hit like as you said you heard it as a hit but there's a machine
00:40:49
behind it bro and it's like it's so exciting to watch you know you got this
00:40:55
radio on to at this time we going to do a photo shoot here that n's going to
00:40:58
talk to Nike and Nike's it's like this beautiful machine uh that I had the
00:41:02
privil privilege of watching them do for don't worry about it and I emulated it
00:41:06
for six figes yeah see so so how did Warners come along so they hear they hear it on George or the E whatever and
00:41:12
then yeah so shout out to Matt hland who was my first manager my first proper manager oh was he yeah you know mat I
00:41:18
love Matt oh yes he's a good he looked after me he's the one who started my my
00:41:22
thing I don't know that of course you would know him actually from no no met
00:41:26
him when he was at um maybe at Warner and um we we went on a trip to beach came roll in Fiji with fur Patrol he was
00:41:33
looking after fur Patrol at the time yes he's been looking after a lot of artist
00:41:36
and so I got a um email from Jay bulletproof has passed away since p and he said yo you got to talk to Matt hund
00:41:45
um he will look after you with all these emails coming in he's the guy so got on
00:41:49
a call with Matt I think he was on his honeymoon uh with step and he goes well I'll call you back next week and he
00:41:55
calls me next week we do a deal and within a month he's like got a deal with
00:42:01
w a good deal too like a really cool deal and don't worry about it comes out
00:42:06
and the rest is kind of history from from there on like but don't worry about
00:42:09
it was already out right yeah yeah sorry no no no sorry no yes don't worry about
00:42:14
it was already out on my SoundCloud but it hadn't officially been okay uh released to radio yeah and and did they
00:42:21
they try and were they okay with the music video no no they [ __ ] hated it cuz like I mean it's um you look at it
00:42:29
now and it's like there's there's apps on your phone where you can put a video
00:42:32
like that together but um was the first one to do it yeah I was going to say that you were the innovator no one else
00:42:36
was doing this at the time I feel like you know so funny say that a lot of people thought that it was corny cuz it
00:42:43
like if you look at it it looks like a home style video it's like quite Hy almost but I remember thinking like this
00:42:49
is cool cuz it encapsulates what it was it was a dude on holiday in fij like it wasn't a music
00:42:56
video with a super budget but yeah Warner hated it Warner were like ah this [ __ ]
00:43:03
sucks what did they want to do did they have like a treatment that they wanted to do yeah yeah they
00:43:09
did it was [ __ ] um they wanted me to be around some pretty girls and be singing
00:43:15
on a beach in camera and I politely turned it down I just thought it because you don't like beaches you
00:43:22
don't no I just bro I just was dumb felt dumb where where did where did that
00:43:28
confidence come from to say no to that cuz you know what I was saying before that where my dad came in that's I'm
00:43:32
saying that's the walk walk T stuff I came around there cuz my dad was was around and he used to ask me questions
00:43:39
and that's kind of how he fathers he'll be like he won't even say no he'll say
00:43:43
what do you think and like you know so similar with the music video is like do you want to shoot another video and I'll
00:43:48
be like not really you be like why and I'll be oh I think the videoos go the
00:43:53
South okay cool that's your answer so then I'd go back and say I think the video is good
00:43:58
by itself but that that that takes a lot of confidence I I think to to stand up for that you know because you're like
00:44:06
the this is their job they know what they're doing what the [ __ ] do I know
00:44:10
yeah um to have I think that's his um says a lot about you because it' be easy
00:44:13
to just just Buckle yeah confidence is a cool word like ignorance could be another way of putting it like stupid
00:44:20
and ignorant like I mean POS as confidence I uh I appreciate the compliment bro yeah I I like to think
00:44:28
now I'm more confident but I think back then there was a lot of ignorance and probably me thinking I
00:44:34
knew what was right like you said in front of someone who's done this for years I thought I knew what was right
00:44:40
and a bit kind of me I think Kanye wiy of me to to try to do that oh no that's
00:44:46
really cool and then um so so when a song goes to number one it stays there for 33 weeks do you get much money from
00:44:52
that no no so the money comes from like like the deal live shows yeah yeah yeah so what do you what do you get like it's
00:45:02
the biggest song ever you know gets played on the radio every 3 hours or whatever for couple of months you get
00:45:08
you get like some money from that yeah for sure it's like a royalty um how much
00:45:11
is it just [ __ ] all no it's just it's a bit way to say it is like it's quarterly so so it's in the
00:45:20
long term it's actually a lot of money but in the short quarterly period it seems like not much you know um for a
00:45:26
number one hit song like everyone saying yo you got the number one hit I'm like
00:45:29
do I kind of get guess so yeah it's if I could put a figure on it back then I can barely
00:45:37
remember but it was I want to say 1,500 every two months yeah yeah it's not a lot a no it it doesn't sound like
00:45:47
much but like still today it's kind of like that right so like since six years
00:45:51
ago that's plus the other hit songs plus the other songs it starts to make sense
00:45:56
but um at the time it's like I got a number one song and this is this is all
00:46:00
you get in roties yeah okay so so that's um from Radio the money that radio p and
00:46:05
then um so SP Spotify it's like 25 million listens or something you get much money from thato it's
00:46:11
0.008 cents per Stream So I mean do the math I don't even know what that is I
00:46:16
think it's like 257 streams for $1 something like that bro yeah wow that's crazy so if if you're Ed here and
00:46:25
think out loud it's fine yeah you're good yeah [ __ ] you're you're all good
00:46:29
and and then and then YouTube is you YouTube all right so I think is a bit better yeah but um yeah it's all again
00:46:36
little pieces of the pie it makes a nice pie yeah um it's it's still chicken feed
00:46:41
though is it isn't it really from the the song itself for the for yeah to to
00:46:45
be called the number one hit guy for sure like you would think because everyone's like yo you're the dude and
00:46:50
um yeah I'm grateful for all of it though bro I don't I don't want to sound
00:46:54
like I'm not oh no it's just just an interesting interesting Insight because
00:46:58
I suppose there's this um yeah I mean through my years in radio saw so many people that you know were very good
00:47:04
musicians and bands whatever and they end up just giving up because it's just
00:47:07
hard it's hard bro it's hard it's hard [ __ ] workout there like for every for
00:47:10
every I don't know 660 or Dave doin you know there's uh there's someone that's
00:47:15
struggling to put food on the table 100% so so then so the money comes in from other things so you do like a live show
00:47:21
you get five grand 10 grand yeah live shows are cool you get a couple grand for that and then you also get um the
00:47:27
royalties and also on top of that sponsorships so like you know I might do a deal with I haven't done with with
00:47:32
Nike but like Nike might approach me into you heard of Nike yeah you know those those little
00:47:38
guys so yeah and like so a combination of those things you end up being able to form a bit of a business yeah and merch
00:47:45
selling merch and yeah yeah have you done all right are you doing all right yeah yeah good bro yeah yeah you managed
00:47:51
like did you buy a property or anything or no there a [ __ ] the one one thing I should have done I um So Co happened
00:47:59
at a weird time bro for me I was about to tour China um I'd been doing a bunch
00:48:03
of stuff in Hong Kong um and we sit up with like man it was a 15 show tour in China um which was going to be real
00:48:10
lucrative for me and for the people and I set up an alcohol company there as well so we're going to sell the liquor
00:48:16
as well so we're going to have Monopoly on the the gig um Co hit and everything we've done
00:48:24
up to that point just crashed bro I couldn't go over there to see the agents
00:48:27
we they couldn't come here um it was a mess and so up until that point I really
00:48:34
felt like I was on this high of like I'm going to be in Forbes one day like you
00:48:39
know I I felt that way where after Co humbled me in a way where I was like I actually got to get smart with my money
00:48:45
and that was when property came in and I was a bit too uh what's the word excited to to
00:48:52
look that way um now I have the wisdom I I definitely would think a lot smarter than I do yeah yeah oh yeah speaking of
00:49:00
Co so um your partner's here today hello and you guys um you guys got together
00:49:06
pre just pre-co oh yeah so just on the verge of the bubble right ah she she doesn't she actually
00:49:14
doesn't know who I how long how long has it been like four years yeah three three
00:49:19
four yeah oh 2020 yeah 23 yeah yeah is this is there a long relationship for you are you you a relationship guy are
00:49:30
you yeah yeah it's is quite short the only thing it's 3 years long or short I
00:49:34
re it's getting it's getting quite long um you know I wanted to bring this up
00:49:39
because of um I'm just like intrigued about the um like the complexities of um
00:49:44
having a partner when you're you know you're raising a child as well like she
00:49:48
also has a child oh they would make things easier yeah that's a good question I
00:49:54
think in terms of the understanding side like oh yeah actually yeah so so so you
00:49:59
when you're when you're dating like when like did you you say it on the first
00:50:03
date or like hey I'm a dad I've got a daughter no no unless I know that they
00:50:08
uh how do I say this [ __ ] out if I know I'm just going to have fun I tap and G yeah yeah then then no not
00:50:17
at all like what's the point yeah yeah yeah yeah but um well it's transactional
00:50:21
at that point isn't it they don't need to know care where I think were were you were
00:50:27
you a bit of a Manor and and and they don't worry about it D no no no don't
00:50:32
worry about it D no it's just when pre don't worry about it yeah yeah when I'm
00:50:35
no when I'm single bro so I was actually in a relationship during don't worry
00:50:39
about it and um when I'm single I just get get uh excited yeah and so when I
00:50:47
was actually single during after my breakup with the don't worry about it partner I was Kings for the first time
00:50:54
and I'd had money for the first time yeah so there was a lot of fun to be had
00:50:58
that I hadn't had I suppose it goes back to like what you were saying before
00:51:02
about you when don't worry about it came out how you didn't know who to trust or
00:51:05
whatever I suppose it's the same with with with women as well it's like are they just using me and if if so
00:51:12
I'm fine with that but that's what the relationship is yeah yeah I don't yeah
00:51:15
that's actually I don't think I ever looked at it that way because like you
00:51:18
said it was transactional it was always like ah [ __ ] it we'll go out on a cruise
00:51:22
or whatever it's all good um yeah yeah you're you're right it's kind
00:51:27
of transaction was such a yuck way to put it but it's the right way to put it
00:51:31
it's like we we know what we're doing you're getting something out of it
00:51:34
they're getting something out I'm say everyone wins yeah yeah so that that was
00:51:37
definitely it was a fun transactional period oh gosh well so so so with with Partners it's like I suppose you got to
00:51:48
be like super s of protective of your of your daughter like at what at what point
00:51:53
do you did you introduce partners to them I think what you said was cool actually like with us we that
00:51:59
understanding of like School drop offs and like um I've got to do this thing
00:52:04
with kid my my son's got soccer my daughter's got Nall like it's not you
00:52:09
don't have to explain it you know it's just like yeah got it cool I'll see you
00:52:12
later um where I think with someone who doesn't have a kid will be like School
00:52:16
drop off every day at 3:00 oh so I yeah you never have any time for me exactly exactly so um there is definitely a
00:52:23
benefit in that um parenting Styles comes up like we've talked about our parenting Styles we have different she
00:52:29
has a son have a daughter um so we have different ways of communicating you know
00:52:35
and um that's been challenging for us but it's it's it's all like it's all in
00:52:39
stride bro it's all actually like quite if you got the fundamentals communication anything's all good and
00:52:46
and what about what about your daughter um wanting to call anyone mom has that has that ever I know what you're talking
00:52:53
about yeah [ __ ] oh yeah she's she's had too many moms over the years oh man that's I heard you on
00:53:05
another podcast tell tell yeah yeah that's the uh see so yeah you want to retell it or no not really we don't have
00:53:12
to no no well like let's just say during the transactional phase of my life she
00:53:18
accidentally said hey you're my mom to someone after after she walked in and
00:53:24
you horizontally next okay um yeah I'm in the dog box now because I'm walking home I think you you
00:53:36
you seem to be um one one of these one of these people and I I can relate to some of these traits like you're feels
00:53:42
like you're always looking forward you're always looking at what's next
00:53:44
what's next what what's next but have you have you had like chance to like
00:53:48
pause and reflect about some of the accomplishments and some of the pinch myself moments and it was bro Co like I
00:53:54
said was the thing that did it like only by the grace of God that that would happen you know otherwise I would have
00:54:00
keept sprinting I'm just that way wir so Co kind of forced me to sit down look at
00:54:08
my life look at my family look at my finances look at everything and have an honest chat with myself um so yeah but
00:54:16
honestly if I didn't if Co didn't happen I probably would be in China right now
00:54:22
being a touring artist and having a whole different life to the world yeah yeah well could you go to China now
00:54:29
or you just not interested it's wasn't it was just there was a time yeah there
00:54:32
was a time you know a time for it rap wasn't really a thing in China well now
00:54:37
it's actually a lot popular but we were kind of in the precipice of it becoming
00:54:40
cool so um yeah I I don't I just think it's the timing probably wouldn't be
00:54:45
great now yeah there were some amazing things way that happened as a result of that like um you Financial reward and
00:54:50
whatever else aside like um opening for TLC did you open for d I no I got to meet Julie P you at the
00:54:58
edge I feel like I met her I met her at Warner and I think I met her at the edge
00:55:01
as well right she come to the edge okay yeah yeah yes she did yeah yeah yeah oh you just made it there like as a you you
00:55:07
just waiting outside with your phone for a selfie it was that time and then at Warner she was at Warner and Ed Sher um
00:55:14
was there as well yeah that's kind of the beauty of being with Warner like an
00:55:18
label sorry you get to see all these famous people yeah I so so what happened there so Warner's um sort of like smed
00:55:25
you or and and that they got you to sign and you've got your own thing now Archangel Archangel record Archangel big
00:55:31
fun so so you got out of your recording contract with Warners how come uh I think it was for me a matter
00:55:42
of I I can't say anything mean about them because they actually taught me the game and I
00:55:50
got huge huge love for Phil Jeremy everyone that was up there um you can be mean if you want that Mitch James was on
00:55:55
here and he shared on Sony pretty hard Mitch is a good s yeah yeah no no no I appreciate him and I I appreciate
00:56:03
you and um yeah and it's quite funny like um you you really do like like walk
00:56:10
the you walk the walk don't you like you talk about living with integrity and
00:56:13
then you you just never you never waver from that no man you're not [ __ ] on
00:56:18
anyone there's no need to you know people are [ __ ] on everyone bro the world sucks sometimes um yeah I don't
00:56:25
like to Aid in that but I will say I was a young a young upand cominging kid and I felt
00:56:34
like again you might think it's confidence but I did feel like now looking back I might have been just
00:56:38
ignorant that I was like I can do this I don't need you that was really the thing
00:56:44
talk to my manager I was like look I want to get out of this contract I think I want to do it myself I want to take
00:56:48
complete ownership um and my manager got in with them and we we got out the contract then I started our yeah so for
00:56:58
for the naive like what is the what is the pros and cons of like being an independent artist versus being on a
00:57:04
label that's that's a [ __ ] awesome from from like a perspective of someone
00:57:07
that's been in radio for many years it's like they have people called pluggers
00:57:10
that come in yes and their job is to basically speak to the radio they do that yeah I believe so yeah so they'll
00:57:16
they'll come in and they'll be you'll be like what's known as a priority artist
00:57:19
yeah yeah so they'll be like oh you know Warners will come and say they'll be
00:57:22
like oh new Ean song new DOA song and if you edit the King song and they'll they'll they'll be like a you know like
00:57:27
a squeaky wheel that gets the oil they'll push you hard I do remember that that I I wondered if that was still
00:57:33
thing now just because of Spotify but it probably is um yeah so during during the label days
00:57:42
you have everything taken care of I don't know if you've probably done this
00:57:45
all yourself for the most part right yeah so the label would do it I'll would
00:57:49
just be like I want two microphones this I want two cameras they'll be like gotcha and they would do it whereas
00:57:54
dependent you're the one [ __ ] hanging up the chain you're the one getting the
00:57:57
sign writer emailing so it's literally having a team that's really the benefit
00:58:04
um also the the downfall is you're paying that team so you're paying them
00:58:09
you know yeah and often you don't yeah I mean it's a trick for young artists
00:58:13
isn't it like you don't realize but it's like the advance that you get it's not
00:58:17
it's not a gift it's coming out of your potential future earnings for sure and
00:58:21
so that as well when I realized when I had successful six and a couple other solo songs um I
00:58:28
realized the work that goes into it but I also realized the revenue that comes from it um I almost like texed my money
00:58:35
I honestly just from that one move yeah wow my royalty checks changed they a lot
00:58:40
bigger my you everything changed like yeah was was it um was it a you know a blood bath at the time was it a nasty
00:58:47
split or was it no man no and that's why I say i' love to war it because yeah it
00:58:51
was kind of this thing where it was like well I'm going to stay here and be miserable you're going to hate me or we
00:58:56
can just end this and it was it was amicable I still talked to Phil who who's part of Warner and I got love for
00:59:01
him man he's man who's that Phil howling yeah yeah good dude they all they're all
00:59:05
nice people everyone's just doing their best and doing a job bu and and um so
00:59:10
did they have the rights to don't worry about it I think they still do now or it
00:59:14
might just be up now so I it should be back in my ownership right yeah yeah was was was that a tussle to get it back or
00:59:20
oh just contract in the contract yeah so now I could yeah re-release it with the
00:59:24
who knows might just hold it for a little bit and just like ah come back baby welcome home otherwise otherwise
00:59:30
you could have you could have let them have it and done like um King's version
00:59:33
like Taylor yeah yeah yeah true that reminds me so you what so that song don't worry about it what so um you
00:59:41
you played it to your dad when you first wrote it and your dad was like H the lyrics are a bit [ __ ] or something like
00:59:45
that no no no so we're in um we're in fakat and it was just a Christmas thing
00:59:52
and this the story that that is kind of the most common story and it it's the right story but there
00:59:58
was another part to I had I was sitting on the beat for months from I just love the beat I was like the beat sick cuz
01:00:05
you know the O as that that's the song in itself makes you feel a certain way
01:00:09
as soon as it starts yeah yeah there's a few songs like that like another one
01:00:12
that Springs to mind like for me personally music so subjective is um would be clocks from Coldplay as soon as
01:00:17
you hear that piano at the begin D D D D D just makes you feel a certain way your
01:00:21
your song has the exact same effect on MEC how that's another yeah sick yeah
01:00:26
the guitar ding ding ding ding yeah so that was it for me I was like the beat I'm sold um and then as I was writing
01:00:32
the lyrics uh we just had no cash I had no money at the time and it was kind of like a don't worry about it like my dad
01:00:40
was just like oh don't worry about it it's going to be cool and my daughter's
01:00:43
on the playground and run free boy runfree that's what I would have said to the young me was literally the lyric as
01:00:50
I'm looking at her on the playground um that's what started it um um yeah bro
01:00:56
and like I said you never know it's going to be you never know maybe there are people like maybe Michael Jackson
01:01:01
knew he was going to be a hit record guy but I I you just don't know like I still
01:01:05
release songs now that get a lot of love and I'll be like [ __ ] cool so that's the
01:01:09
one like you can never really know since then have you had like a had a thing where you write a song and
01:01:17
you're like is this going to be is this going to be another don't worry about it
01:01:21
ah right you mean like the um like almost like chasing chasing that game prob you know what I feel like I've
01:01:27
done it like I've done it enough times to not be scared to release what I want
01:01:33
now like uh six figers had massive success you you do which was another single um helped me out yeah help me out
01:01:41
some mess for yeah yeah so I've had some I've had that success enough times for
01:01:45
me to go like cool now what do I want to release like now I've done the commercial success route um as an artist
01:01:52
whatever I want to say and I think that's where where I've been at for that
01:01:54
album anyway this the most recent one yeah yeah and um oh there there's another really good song which um had a
01:02:00
little bit of radio play it's probably my favorite song for you like the rebound one rebound oh oh um with the
01:02:05
whistle I feel bad for your rebound temporary me temporary me yeah that's right that's a great how did you
01:02:11
not remember a couple a couple songs yeah how many you're quite a prolific songwriter right yeah bro over a
01:02:18
thousand man for sure wow yeah but that's in this span of how many years we've been doing long time yeah so so
01:02:25
yesterday when you couldn't come over and do the podcast because you were writing do you is it because you're like
01:02:30
I've got something I need to I need to put pin to paper or do you like have no
01:02:34
tomorrow at 10:00 to midday I'm writing and you just sit down with a blank what
01:02:38
are youing it's a it's just in and out yeah yeah it's like bro like it's a bad thing actually
01:02:46
I think so like when inspiration hits I'll kind of just hit it like on like straight away and sometimes that will
01:02:52
take me out of being a dad you know like I'll have a commitment that I'm like
01:02:57
[ __ ] and I'll get stressed and feel things so it's like that's like an ADHD
01:03:02
thing Hy yeah I wonder if it is I wonder if like yeah my mom was like yeah you you were diagnosed and I was like [ __ ] I
01:03:10
don't know because the way I understand ad ADH is you can't focus but then I can
01:03:16
very I can hyper Focus yeah well that's a that's the confusing thing about it I
01:03:20
I reckon I've got it as well but these things were never diagnosed when I was
01:03:23
when I was a um but yeah you find it hard to focus but then you can you can hyperfixate on
01:03:28
something when you hyper fixate on something apparently it's you're like a
01:03:31
dog with aw toy and you just want to get it done and you lose hours that's another form of yeah yeah it's a maybe I
01:03:39
got it bro [ __ ] I know what does it matter it doesn't matter oh you so so what what were the original lyrics that
01:03:46
you d challenge you on I wasn't that he CH it was just that I was writing it in
01:03:49
here he just he came up with the he was just like oh don't like don't worry
01:03:52
about it it was literally the lyric that stuck like don't worry about that we didn't
01:03:56
have money don't worry about that everything's going to be okay and that
01:03:59
was the thought that stuck with me right but I was I was writing just just writing yeah and how
01:04:06
did how did you sort of meend your relationship with your dad it was it was quite badly fra today it was bad I feel
01:04:12
like you you were quite like burned or scarred from the experience for sure yeah I think I think any young boy is
01:04:18
you know uh who doesn't have a a male role model um we how did we start that I was still doing counseling and I
01:04:31
did a course called have you heard of landmark bro landmark forum no I don't
01:04:37
think I have okay so it's like a communication course or like a tools of course and
01:04:43
um that really helped me heal a lot of that relationship like just that course um the course kind of
01:04:53
forces you to to to do things that have always been on your mind a good example is like if I
01:04:59
ask you is there someone in your life right now that you you need to have a conversation with and if whoever the
01:05:03
person is that just came to mind call them so that's kind of what the C oh my
01:05:07
god there so many people yeah and so that that's what the course does it's
01:05:10
like gives you a list and it's like call them all and say exactly what that thing
01:05:14
is like boom boom boom so I call my dad in the course I'm like I [ __ ] hate
01:05:18
you you know you you were never there blah blah blah blah blah and and then I call my mom and I'm like
01:05:24
don't hurt me please don't beat me up but I don't like you either you
01:05:29
know is that kind of I know you're kind of joking but is that sort of like the
01:05:32
tone of the convers a bit of that you know of course you're always going to be
01:05:35
especially when you're kind of I was 15 around then yeah yeah supposed you had a
01:05:39
lot of stuff to get out for sure and so yeah so I called my dad and I'm like you
01:05:43
know you were never there and all these things and then he just replied like it's all good I love you and so it was
01:05:51
gone like kind of in that phone call like obviously there was a lot more to heal but that
01:05:56
initial bridge that we couldn't cross for so long was was obliterated yeah and
01:06:01
from there just cuz he sort of like neutralized it he didn't come back and say well [ __ ] you you don't know this
01:06:05
[ __ ] story your mom didn't let me do this it wasn't competitive it was very
01:06:09
like understanding it was a it was a man listening to a kid crying yeah it wasn't
01:06:16
like a dad telling a son it was just like a man listening to a kid and and that was really the the starting point
01:06:22
to yeah SH now and and You' got a great relationship with both your parents now
01:06:27
yeah I love them both man yeah very grateful man do you know how hard it is to be a parent bro it sucks I
01:06:34
don't yeah yeah no I kind of do like when joj and uh myself were together we
01:06:39
had like family adoption yes um one of her nephews came to live with us from the age of like four years and 11 months
01:06:44
I thought you had kids yeah no I know you have kids I had a tumor I've been unable to have kids oh [ __ ] [ __ ]
01:06:52
weird it's quite it's quite funny so I had this I had this tumor which was um
01:06:57
diagnosed and then taken out probably in my early 30s I guess and it was just around about the time that JJ and I we'
01:07:02
married a couple of years and we were starting to have a family like you start to wait for everything to be perfect
01:07:07
like and then um the way it worked out for you like you're being like a teenage
01:07:11
Dad it's probably there's never the perfect time no no that wasn't the
01:07:16
perfect time I just you know that's not the one yeah I don't know if you know I
01:07:21
I think of people I almost get slightly envious of like parents who have done it
01:07:27
you know the way that you you and JJ were going to do it like thought and and carefully thought out um my mind was
01:07:33
literally like a a thing in a park you know and I I I almost don't like that um
01:07:39
because my daughter's legacy is so much bigger than that and yeah it's like a
01:07:45
damn I wish I took more thought into it you know sometimes I wish I was a [ __ ] virgin bro honestly I'm like man
01:07:50
the amount of people I've been with that have like we' given each other energy
01:07:53
and gross like I feel like how many what's your number you nothing orgon one
01:08:00
just the one on the like your song six figers yeah oh no I'm definitely walking out
01:08:08
yeah all right this is a a bit umit maybe a bit sort of woo woo but like yeah do you think when you've when
01:08:14
you've slept with someone you like you give like party your soul now I do bro
01:08:18
do you yeah I think back in the day of course not I was just flanging everywhere but now it's like and even
01:08:24
before now it's important bro like let's say I come into your house right and I I
01:08:30
just have a shitty day and I'm [ __ ] energy up as soon as I leave it stays it
01:08:34
lingers I believe that you know and you might have a bad attitude and then the next person you interact with you [ __ ]
01:08:41
them off and I believe that and so if you're doing something as intimate as engaging and [ __ ]
01:08:49
six surely that leaves something bro like that can't just be like sweet art TI next week like there's something that
01:08:55
we've left in that space and I I just don't like that I was so oblivious to
01:09:00
who that was growing up yeah but I think I think that's that's good though way if
01:09:05
you can grow if like if you get to your mid-30s and you don't have any regrets
01:09:10
then I think that's a little bit sad yeah um as long as as long as as long as
01:09:13
you do stuff and you learn oh for sure oh yeah sorry yeah no yeah for sure yeah I guess I said that in a negative way I
01:09:18
mean no no no no you didn't said in a negative way I'm glad I'm glad I've done
01:09:22
it for sure like I I the the people that I met are beautiful as well you know um
01:09:26
but yeah that is that's it's I don't know bro just sex is [ __ ] weird and well and is it something that
01:09:36
you've thought more about I mean you're you're you're very content in a
01:09:39
long-term relationship at the moment but also I've always been bro having always
01:09:43
been I've always wanted long-term relationships yeah like I'm always in them but but but are you has your like
01:09:48
opinion or thoughts on sex changed like as your daughter gets older and older and you're like that's a probably a big
01:09:53
part of it too I think that's probably the main part of it you're freaking out
01:09:56
right now like oh my God yeah and like and yeah bro like yeah exactly I I think as I mature you know I realize these
01:10:04
things and yeah yeah how yeah how are you going to how are you going to navigate that like are you going to be
01:10:09
protective or you just going to be like a good communicator and conversationalist and yeah I is the
01:10:15
angry the angry Kingdom going to come back it's it's already come up you know
01:10:19
to a degree like she's had um more like she's 12 13 so she's said I've got a
01:10:24
boyfriend and like they're kind of young in thing and I I have for the most part
01:10:30
not been what I thought I'd be which was like this angry dad with a shotgun kind
01:10:35
of thingy yeah if anything I'm just like oh how's that Bob like I'm like just
01:10:40
encouragement encouraging her to be happy um so yeah I mean there's nothing Sinister happening yet I think maybe at
01:10:47
18 when some guy takes advantage of it then maybe I'll lose it but um for now
01:10:52
it's it's love Andy happy and light and exciting yeah yeah I can't imagine what
01:10:57
that'll be like like when like if someone breaks her heart like just as as a dead because it's like I mean you
01:11:05
there's Proby part of you that thinks well I'll go and I'll go and smash him
01:11:08
but the reality is you won't like you just want to fix your broken daughter for sure for sure I even think that
01:11:14
traditionally like if you think about marriage that that whole ideas doesn't
01:11:18
seem that that prominent today like I feel like marriage we what was the stats it was like
01:11:24
it's a decline in marriages oh I heard that the other day yeah but like um 40
01:11:27
years ago or something by the time a woman was um 25 over 50% of the population was married and now it's [ __ ]
01:11:33
off that's none bro yeah and that's where she's growing up where I've I've
01:11:37
kind of always been traditional like I I like the the role of like male female marriage kind of thing so my daughter's
01:11:45
in just a whole new environment so I I wonder polyg polygamy polygamy like that's where you can have more than like
01:11:54
four Partners or some [ __ ] and I'm like man what if she turns into a polygamy
01:11:58
I'm like oh [ __ ] I don't even know how to doal with that Jesus and do you
01:12:03
um do you want to get married at some point yourself I bro I would I think I think it's what we got to do
01:12:10
right to vote how do you but how do you know when how do you know when when it's
01:12:15
the right one man I don't think you can is it just a case of doing it and then just making
01:12:21
it the right one like doing it and then making it yeah [ __ ] I probably sound like a old
01:12:27
dude but like BR I've read so many books on like woman and and trying to be not so many
01:12:35
books I've read books on on relationships and and it is kind of a matter of picking someone and just choosing them
01:12:44
um as opposed to finding the perfect one that that just does it's a myth isn't it
01:12:48
it's a unicorn yeah BR you change every 3 years I think it's three four years is
01:12:51
like a Cadian bro I'm getting too [ __ ] technical but every couple years you change your interest like you run
01:12:57
now and you've been running forever but there'll be a year where you have a
01:13:01
different interest and then you're a different person from that interest you
01:13:04
just your mind changes yeah I'd agree with that I haven't I hadn't thought
01:13:07
about it from a psychical perspective like the amount of time or years but yeah you're you're changing and evolving
01:13:12
all the time for sure um yeah or you're hitting the gym you know when you know
01:13:17
when you hit the gym and you have a good stint of it and you go for like six months heart out and then there's a
01:13:20
stint where you eat [ __ ] for six months yeah totally different person oh yes speaking of eating eating eating [ __ ]
01:13:27
eating [ __ ] I your album oh no no no no no your music is unquestionable but um I
01:13:34
don't know if you want to get into this or not CU it's it's very personal but
01:13:37
yeah yeah what happened with um quite big for a while I don't worry about it yeah yeah I put on she my heav
01:13:44
was like 189 kgs yeah big bro what are you now uh [ __ ] I don't know 120 140 130 yeah sh
01:13:53
what what what happened was it a psychological psychological eating or I think kind of what we're talking about
01:13:58
the isolation yeah um when you hit this like huge strike of Fame early or not early but quite
01:14:07
fast do you have to like release the stress somehow and so for me it was eating I just would eat um also
01:14:14
celebrating which was kind of funny cuz in our culture M you celebrate um you eat when you celebrate you eat when
01:14:20
you're at a tongy you eat all the time like it's kind of this is what you do
01:14:24
you're eating a lot and so you know I'm winning these Awards so I'll celebrate I
01:14:29
open for TLC I celebrate and and then when I'm feeling low I I eat and it's
01:14:33
just this vicious cycle of [ __ ] eating bro and um yeah it got to the point where was just too big I was too
01:14:39
big I was struggling to bend and do things and uh so I actually got a um the operation the um oh like a gestri sleeve
01:14:48
or something gestri bypass sleeve yeah sleeve the one where it's cut in half
01:14:52
you you so so what do they what do they do they they make your stomach smaller yeah there's three different versions of
01:14:58
it this I'm I always confused there's like a sleeve where it's like they cut
01:15:02
half of your stomach off there's a bypass where they remove your stomach and there's another one where they rub a
01:15:07
tire rubber band to it um so I'm pretty sure I got the sleeve and essentially it's half your
01:15:15
stomach so you can't eat as much you so you just have like a little snack and
01:15:18
you feel full kind of or the alternative is what I was doing for a long time time
01:15:23
still kind of struggle with today is you purge uh you vomit because it's it's too
01:15:28
big unreal yeah so my my mind will still be like you're hungry because of the the
01:15:34
way I am and my stomach's like you can't eat so then that message to my brain to
01:15:39
my stomach sometimes doesn't match and I I'll end up having a vomit yeah did you
01:15:44
have to pay for that or was that uh yeah yeah I pay for that price how much like
01:15:48
20 20 yeah 23 20 yeah was it was that a big decision or sort of a no-brainer it was a no-brainer for me because I
01:15:55
couldn't [ __ ] bend like I couldn't do [ __ ] I was like this sucks and going to
01:15:59
the gym was was definitely a viable option but it was also I had money at the time and there
01:16:05
was an opportunity and I was like see seiz the day you know and get it done yeah no no regrets about it no bro my my
01:16:14
only my only regret is that I didn't get the mental sorted because like I say the
01:16:18
purging stuff is is difficult oh so have have you still got like a complex relationship with food yeah yeah yeah
01:16:24
yeah yeah still now um what is it what what's your weakness is it like K fried
01:16:28
or [ __ ] no it's actually like bro I love Asian food e Asian food Japanese food is
01:16:34
actually my favorite food so it's handy that she's Japanese always eating out ah that was
01:16:43
stupid and a snacker a violent snacker so when I'm in the studio I I I'll have something hand
01:16:52
like Packa chips or right right yeah well I mean what other viic did you ever lean on like alcohol or drugs no bro no
01:16:59
no never been much of a party dude no like I've had fun for sure but like no
01:17:04
it was always food and punishing myself with like no sleep so like I'd work I'd
01:17:11
work like till late hours of sometimes two days straight I'd work yeah that's have you seen the um aichi
01:17:20
doco no yeah it's it's on I mean it's sad demise of a V and the end he took
01:17:26
his own life but um same same sort of thing like he's just on his computer working and it has people around him are
01:17:32
bringing him forward and he's just he's just head down yeah there's some some
01:17:36
parallels there for sure that's that's got to be an ADHD thing yeah [ __ ] I
01:17:41
fixating okay um well have I'll take it have you got any um therapy about the
01:17:47
food or anything or have you talked to anyone about it where's yeah like well
01:17:50
during the during the operation you have to eat jelly bro it's kind of like this jelly
01:17:57
[ __ ] that's [ __ ] horrible um and during that time you kind of have to manage your food because you actually
01:18:04
don't you can't Purge it because it's like your vitamins and minerals like
01:18:07
everything um in these small packets so um I got good at one point and then I went
01:18:15
through an adjusting period and then slowly it just started to to get worse again um yeah so
01:18:24
yeah I I don't know if I've done the work but I definitely I know what it
01:18:27
takes to do it the right way um and it's a matter of doing that God life's exhausting hey there's
01:18:33
always something to work on I love it bro do yeah for sure man yeah has your mental health meanly you're in a good
01:18:40
spot good bro yeah has it always been I yeah yeah I want to say yeah I think I have a lot of tools from all the
01:18:48
from all the um all the angry management all the therapy uh I think the hardest time was
01:18:54
Co but I think that was everyone like it was just kind of like a big thing for everyone you you're probably in a better
01:19:00
position the most because of all that work you've done I mean the like the teens suicide rates in New Zealand are
01:19:05
like just alarmingly high and I think it's because people get angry and frustrated they don't know how to
01:19:09
communicate um yes if if if you weren't forced to do all that work during those
01:19:14
years I mean who knows who knows where you'd be or even if you'd be today bro I
01:19:18
was going to say it's like a catch 22 I talk about it heaps like you know there's like 8 hours of sleep there's
01:19:23
all these rules to have this perfect kind of life and it's like bro if I didn't punish myself and stay up two
01:19:29
nights in a row I wouldn't be here so there's a level of like responsible talk
01:19:34
to your friends and then there's a level of shut the [ __ ] up and get busy like
01:19:39
it's it's a double thing yeah you can't have too much like oh today I had a
01:19:43
yogurt and like you can't be too that and you can't be too aichi you have to
01:19:47
kind of find the balance find that sort of happy medium yeah yeah and so what about the traitors so the trailers is a
01:19:53
a TV show uh it was on um early in 2023 can ask yeah grab Bott water out of the out of the
01:20:03
fridge SP like one of these one of these bottles um you see on the on the the Traders which is the reality TV show
01:20:09
hosted by Paul Henry um given the stage you're at in your your life now where
01:20:13
you're living with Integrity um why did you go on a a show like that oh like the Traders yeah why yeah like
01:20:21
it's it's basically all about lying a who who's got the best poker face
01:20:26
really bro I I actually got so I got pitched at um I want to say by Warner actually it was like a Warner TV show
01:20:35
and the concept was so cool I've been I've been pitched for like celebrity Tre
01:20:39
Island and all those other ones I've just turned them down I don't know like
01:20:42
do you it's all good do what you want to do but for me I just felt like I I didn't want to be on those shows this
01:20:48
one was the first one I was like this is interesting like what a cool concert um and that's a that's what got me on it
01:20:55
and um I did it and I kind of it was hard bro it was very hard thinking it's
01:20:59
hard to sit there knowing people are lying to you you got people like Brook Smith who's talking 100 miles an hour
01:21:05
and then you got like Colin Colin who's like always Smokey looking you and like all these personalities so
01:21:13
it's um Colin loves that sort of stuff loves the game actually actually feel
01:21:18
like we became friends on the show yeah yeah yeah what what are your Recollections of that so tune up when do
01:21:24
you find out who the other contestants are on the day yeah right yeah yeah so we you you would have known of most
01:21:30
people I guess yeah yeah like um Mike Peru i' seen him I've seen everybody
01:21:35
around but I I didn't know them um so yeah now we're locked in this [ __ ]
01:21:39
cabin and we got to know each other so it was cool but again I'm getting to know a version of them that's highly
01:21:45
paranoid you know I'm not I'm not getting to know them um but like like we
01:21:49
we're still we we all talk now we all got a group chat and we all chat and talk [ __ ] to yeah well I mean yeah there
01:21:54
there's no animosity with you got to separate like a reality TV show to real
01:21:59
life you never know like like some of the stuff that was said like it felt real you know like there was a point
01:22:05
where I got real heated and they took it out of the edit which is probably the right thing to do but I was like GNA I
01:22:11
was angry man like properly angry and um yeah so it was real it was real there was a lot of emotions but we all came
01:22:20
out the other end happy I think yeah so yeah what other shows have you been asking on Celebrity Treasure Island
01:22:25
Dancing with the Stars Dancing with the Stars twice I've been ask that why um
01:22:28
why did you say no to that like celebrity trasure on I can understand because it can it can portray they can
01:22:33
portray you in a negative way or I think it was just the shows I was like I don't
01:22:37
want to do the shows CU tra is it's the first time it's been done where I feel
01:22:40
like I would have been like like the ninth version of any of those other shows so I was like I don't want to do
01:22:46
that um Dancing with the Stars also as well I like um I can't dance for [ __ ] so
01:22:50
I'm just like why do you guys want me I was like and I was big when they first
01:22:54
asked me I was like bro who's going to lift me up no one's Lifting me on the Tango
01:23:03
bro yeah yeah oh that's fun any um any regrets anything that you you've said
01:23:09
yes to or no to that you're like [ __ ] why did I do that nah no I mean there
01:23:14
was a time where I felt alienated with the um the E New Zealand video but to be honest now hey how do you mean uh the E
01:23:21
New Zealand video when it when it first came out yeah it's funny cuz sh was actually a flight attendant so she had
01:23:27
to watch that video over and over again and when we finally called up she was like yeah so you know how I [ __ ] hate
01:23:33
that video the safety video I'm have to re I forgot all about that I'm going to have
01:23:38
to rewatch it so so you rapping it yeah yeah did you write the rap or I wrote yeah we we all wrote a version of it
01:23:45
yeah what is it can you remember the lyrics oh no even if I did I'm not [ __ ] doing what were you raing like
01:23:52
like a safety thing like the put your Bel on and Stow your yeah so your bags on the high I can't
01:24:02
even remember the rules yeah why um why why do you regret that oh it's not that
01:24:07
I regret it was just that during that time it was um it was considered one of the worst like it got pulled down the
01:24:13
fastest that any other a new C video had been taken down oh because it was like unpopular or annoying or like 7 minutes
01:24:20
long I think it was like Ultra long right um there was a lot of things about it people didn't enjoy so it came down
01:24:26
quick but um yeah so there was a moment we went we going to Homegrown in Wellington and all of the artists are on
01:24:32
the plane and they all kind of turn around and look at me and they're like you [ __ ] dick and I was like oh no so
01:24:39
oh were they looking at you like your [ __ ] dick or there probably there's probably like a little bit of Envy there
01:24:45
a lot of them were like good on you for getting getting the bag on you for getting your work done but a lot of them
01:24:50
were looking at you like [ __ ] so um um you can't tell me that that anyone else
01:24:55
given the same opportunity would turn it down oh maybe they would I don't know I
01:24:58
I again I didn't have management so I I was doing that deal by myself bro just
01:25:02
like a Hy dude pulling up in this meeting with all these executive people and I'm like I want this amount of money
01:25:09
and they were like oh should we talk to your team I'm like I am the team like
01:25:13
you know so for me it was and that way it was like the coolest thing I've ever
01:25:18
done that's why I can't really I don't regret that I did it is it still on YouTube no no no from
01:25:26
what I hear it's totally all right thanks so much the the the lights are still on so
01:25:39
you have to remain seated so so your your relationship so we we we did you were you a fan of his music prior to
01:25:46
meeting how did you guys make you didn't really know my oh yeah I'm like&
01:25:57
yeah so she really just like knew you for for don't worry about it in the safety video Yeah
01:26:03
horrible I didn't even know oh really oh you just knew that you hated it and
01:26:11
then you found out yeah yeah how how did you guys meet uh yes it was during the co co pandemic
01:26:18
I'd seen her on Flavor the radio station um tled my fancy I guess oh you present on
01:26:26
Flavor it was like a Sunday show right culture sep right yeah yeah yeah cool when when you
01:26:38
came into interviews with the edge you never cracked on to me it's the look The Look wasn't there for me though
01:26:46
oh that's cool and um so so what's next so you got this new album out dead son
01:26:51
your fifth album last what how can you say it's your last rap album uh when I
01:26:54
say I mean last rap project is in that took two years to write and it was really deep and there's
01:27:01
probably I want to say 40 songs on The Cutting Room floor that didn't make the
01:27:05
album so just to give you perspective of how long I I wrote it and um it was texting bro it was like really texting
01:27:13
to go back to my childhood and like remember like all this pain and try to write from it and on top of that I have
01:27:23
a new found relationship with God um quite recently and I I want to be able to bring light and positivity to my
01:27:31
music as opposed to not that it's negative just like I felt like I was in a negative space
01:27:36
writing it so um the the music from now on not that rap is negative either I shouldn't say that it's just the art
01:27:42
form of that for me was was hard hard to navigate um so the music that I'm doing now is just stuff
01:27:50
that makes you you can put put it on and listen to it with your family and like you just feel good just feel good music
01:27:56
um and put a bit of light in the world that is currently a very dark place yeah yeah I I agree I agree like if yeah if
01:28:05
you can make someone's Journey a bit easier yeah why the [ __ ] not for sure
01:28:09
and what was the what was the journey with God how did how did that come about were you were you ra raised religious no
01:28:15
no no I I I've always believed in a higher purpose would it be I used to call it the
01:28:24
Universe um but quite recently yeah I um I needed something to help make sense of
01:28:41
everything yeah um again so in terms of mental health I've never been that's
01:28:46
actually been fine for me but it was just something my daughter's at an age now where she can look after herself she
01:28:52
is you know talking to me normally she's not a baby anymore she's she's growing
01:28:56
and so I'm like what's my purpose now I've raised this beautiful young girl
01:29:01
and she's cool and we're financially in a cool place um what's next and so the relationship
01:29:08
with God is really something to keep my head firmly on my shoulders instead of like oh now I
01:29:17
want to go do something else or now I want to do something else just stay focused and stay being a great father be
01:29:22
a great partner be be a great man you how does that start as an adult like I can understand if you get into a
01:29:28
relationship and your partner's religious and you're like oh I might tag
01:29:30
along and see this or you got some friends yeah but do you do you you Google you know what is the church for
01:29:36
me or I see how did it actually come come to my you feel like I need something else in my life but then like
01:29:42
no no no so it was it was the relationship needed strengthening that's a bit we put yeah I knew I've always
01:29:47
believed in a God Like I said and it was just to strengthen that bond with something
01:29:52
uh that I believe is is um important you feel confident that you know we talked before about um you human beings like
01:30:00
changing and evolving every so often do you feel confident at this stage that this is going to be you like locked in
01:30:06
for you for life yeah bro yeah and like yeah I think it always has been um as I said my interest has always been there
01:30:14
um I'm not massive Drinker I'm not massive there's not too many challenges
01:30:19
I mean apart from Ramadan that I can see that changes my life and getting up at Early times to pray like it's a pretty
01:30:26
small price to pay for for love continuously yeah and and what about you like do you love yourself yeah yeah yeah
01:30:36
probably too much yeah probably too much no it's instilled in me now but I can say I I
01:30:45
struggled with that yeah but yeah bro I love myself I love I you can't love somebody properly until you love love
01:30:52
this stuff yeah yeah I I believe that this has been a hell of a chat [ __ ] yeah
01:30:56
it's it's it's quite cool and this is one thing I'm loving about doing this
01:30:59
podcast it's like I don't know how many times we've we've um interviewed before
01:31:03
like maybe 10 times never deep no no no each time it's um yeah that's like we
01:31:09
talked about some sexual relationships being transactional like a I feel like a radio interview is sort of transactional
01:31:14
it's like it's a five minute chat yeah we ask you some goofy questions you give
01:31:18
us short answers um but you don't get to like scratch beneath the Surf and you
01:31:22
know there's one one thing I remember with you at the edge is you were always
01:31:26
very nice to me bro you're always really nice to me and I even remember when you
01:31:29
left radio and we caught up kind of about just social socially and you always you always had the time of day
01:31:35
for me so I appreciate that bro yeah oh likewise likewise yeah I mean when I read that article about you earlier this
01:31:40
year and you talked about living with more Integrity it was a bit of a head scratcher for me because I thought oh
01:31:45
the the the the kingdom that I've got to know which is only very briefly over the
01:31:49
years um was always like a like a standup guy very obliging that's why I asked if you had a problem saying no to
01:31:56
things we'd ask you to come in and judge some stupid [ __ ] parody song contest
01:32:01
or whatever and you'd come was really good at you well bro I love that stuff
01:32:05
like that was a that was one thing that never fit me with the rap thing like there's an element of really coolness to
01:32:12
to hip-hop and I'm a dad first so like I'm going to be a clown to my daughter
01:32:19
on the swing and like I'm going to be the goofy first so hip-hop was always secondary to that so when I do a Jon and
01:32:25
Ben skit or something I did used to feel like hip-hop would be like that's corny
01:32:30
bro and i' be like bro my daughter means more to me than all you [ __ ] and that was what
01:32:36
the vibe was I love that geez your mom must be really proud of the son she's
01:32:41
raised I hope so yeah has she said I don't think yeah I think no I think she
01:32:46
said but I also don't she's a woman who I don't think she needs to say it it
01:32:51
comes out in just you know what I mean yeah actions rather than words yeah for sure yeah yeah and by by saying that I'm
01:32:57
I'm I'm meaning nothing about the music at all yeah yeah absolutely nothing
01:33:02
about the music or the success or any of the trappings that have come as a result
01:33:05
of that I'm just of the the boy that she's raised yeah I hope so man yeah
01:33:10
that's cool hey thank you so much for coming around and being on the podcast
01:33:12
man epic man thanks for having me love your work and you as a person thanks oh