JW Ep 195 - Dumbfoundead

Can you hurry up? Can we speed this up? I'm so anxious. I don't do that.

What are you doing there? Can I open my eyes? Can I open my eyes? You may open your eyes.

All right. Take off. I'm good. Yeah.

That sucks. I can't do the farmers congersions. I'm kind of the way that I'm actually thinking about that. I'm all like, what's that become a famous actor?

I might want that farmers indoors. I think we're in it. We're in it. Oh, we're in it.

That's how we just jump in? Yeah, we just jump in. Nice. No intro.

No, no, no. No intro. No, no, no. I think we're just in it.

I like that. I like that. Yeah, sometimes you just got to go for it. What's up, man?

Thanks for having me. Yeah. Thanks for coming on the pod, man. I appreciate you being here.

Yeah. Yeah. Right after dinner. I know.

Right after that dinner, I had some Italian dinner. Told John I was like, yo, can you come a little bit later? Have one of those salad and then the dinner and then you guys want coffee? I'm like, no, no, no.

No, I'm good. Yeah. That's some grown shit right there. Yeah.

I just did some very LA shit. I went hiking at Runyon around Sunset and then ate at Arrowan in a deli section. I know two motherfuckers are going to really judge me. They're going to be like, yeah, you came from the battle wrap world and now you're hiking at Runyon and eating at Arrowan.

Yep. I'm trying to take care of myself. And he still got bars. That's crazy.

Yeah, exactly. That's the thing. I think the tone is changing for rappers, man. We're trying to get healthier.

You know what I'm saying? Like rappers are out here dying of... Physical and mental wellness. They're dying of natural causes out here.

Now, that's my guy. Open Mike Eagle. He got an album called Rappers Dying of Natural Causes. Or something like that.

I forget what that was. Right. Yeah. Yeah, man.

Dude, I saw your hat when you walked in. I don't know where you got that, but that is a thing of the UT. Edd. Shout out.

Edd. I forget what it says for some employment. Employment. Employment.

It's not disability. Because I don't think it's what it says here. This is like some... They made up some shit.

Employment. Development department says that. Is it? That's what it says there.

Oh, okay. Maybe it is now. I guess. That would make sense.

That would make sense. Yeah. I mean, you know, during the pandemic, I feel like everybody's been scamming the government. Oh, dude.

You know what I mean? Like... I was thrilled to be a part of Edd. So shout out to Edd.

I mean, it's helping a lot of people, but people are also just like taking them money. Like, oh, let's spend it on all types of wild shit. Oh, dude. I knew some comics who just like immediately...

I was like, they had new shoes on. I'm like, oh, that Edd. Like you knew right away. Like when you ran into them, you're like, you checked just came with me out there.

Yeah, yeah. That's just a quick satisfaction kind of thing. You know, like you just feel good. Like retail therapy or something.

Yeah. But you stoke fucked, you know. I had a buddy who... He's like, you want to go golfing?

I was like, when you go golfing? He's like, I got this unemployment money. You bought like a whole set of clubs and everything. That's what I'm saying.

It's like your life's shitty, but then you're like, look at those clubs. A little flash. Yeah, yeah, or some kicks. You're like, fuck life sucks.

And you look down and you're like, at least it looks fresh. I look like there's hell circles of fire, like spinning below. We're like, I got the new Jordan's. That's awesome.

I was talking about earlier how we got slides on right now. And when you start wearing slides, it just ruins your relationship with sneakers I feel like. Yeah. Because you're just like, you know, LA's so comfortable like the weather's nice.

Sometimes just like hop on which is slides and just get going. And it's acceptable because athletes have made it cool. Yeah. So it used to be like, I mean, when I was a kid, if you were wearing slides, you better be had just come from a soccer game or a basketball game, that's it.

Right, right, right, right. But now it's like everybody, they're just wearing them in public now. You can't wear slides in like New York. No, why would you?

That's what I'm saying. You're like walking around the city and slides. Are you crazy? Dude, you're tempting fate.

Yeah. That's why people wear a Timon boots and shit. They're wearing straight up construction footwear. Just walking down the fucking street, you know?

You're a brave soul. Yeah. Over here, it's like, crocs, un-boots and slides. Like anywhere you go.

I just treat it like my backyard. I just throw in some slides and just walk around anywhere. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, yeah, New York can't do that. It's like, no, I'm in a wheelchair. Yeah, I mean, there's some hair. We got hair we need to do out here.

That's true. That's true. We should have actually been walking. We gotta be careful a little.

That's where the socks with the slides in. I know. We're not insane. You're insane.

If you're rocking those socks and slides. You're going wrong. It's like, just raw open toes. You're never going wrong.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, but you were just talking, born and raised here, essentially. But born in Argentina is a weird story. You just, I'm not really weird.

Just like my parents met there. You go back in, I mean, you go back and visit? Nah, nah, my grandparents, my mom's side moved there when she was 15 and they passed away. So there's like really no family there.

But I should have really visited. It would have been a great thing to experience. Yeah. But my mom, yeah, she grew up there.

She speaks Spanish and she's full Korean. And she happened to meet my dad who was Korean. Is that throw people off when she's fluent in Spanish? And she's Korean?

Yeah, and it's funny. She never learned English because you're in LA. And you know Spanish and Korean. Oh, if you can get my real town, you're good.

You're good. You're so you're good. So her English is still not great. But it's whatever we got in Cape Town.

Yeah. That background is really insane. And by having a career time my whole life, I'm more Cape Town than anything. Yeah.

More Cape Town than even Korean. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, Cape Town's great though.

I mean, do you go to Cape Town a lot? That was one of the first times where we hung out the night at that place. Yeah, we got fucked up that night. At that place.

Or I did at least. Yeah. I mean, you're having a good time? Yeah, I just get louder when I get drunk her.

And it was fun because we had the show at the Laugh Factory. That was a fun show. That was a fun show. You had a good set.

Everyone did, actually, everyone had a good set on that one. But you were riffing off of the front row, Homie. Russell, shout out Russell, who is currently the red Power Ranger on the Power Rangers. Yes.

And that's pretty crazy. Oh, dude. As soon as I found that out, which I don't even know who established it, but I heard it in earshot when I was watching PK said or somebody else's said it. And I was like, I waited for a while.

I was like, is this real? Like, because if this is real, I'm going in. Exactly. I think everyone said something about him.

Yeah. He's in the front row. How could you resist? In three, two, one.

I could have picked any elderly woman in the audience to do that. He just did one of these, like, girl. And he was like, this chiseled dude who I'm like, oh, this dude would be the red Power Ranger. Yeah.

I call it. And I was like, of course, the Gen Z Rangers. He's like a mixed guy who's black in Asian. I was like, that would be the current red Ranger right now.

Oh, totally. Yeah. Yeah. Totally.

But that was amazing. And you were riffing off of him for like a good 10 minutes. It felt like. Oh, yeah.

I look back at my recording on my phone. And I checked. It was like nine minutes of riffing with that guy. Fucking hilarious.

And then I saw him. PK said that it was like a movie when we all showed up in K-town. And he and I saw each other afterwards. He said, PK said that you and I looked each other like, what's hot dude?

And I was like, did I really do that? He goes, dude. It was dying laughing because it was like this old spaghetti Western that you guys were like, oh, I didn't think I was ever going to see you in my life again. And there was just like, oh, we're going to these parts.

Wait, you're in Kreetown? OK. It's been a ritual lately. I feel like when I do shows with PK and West LA or whatever.

And like, like, Fajim. We chilled with Fajim in K-town too after our show in K-town. And we just got wasted. And it just like bringing all the comics into my career town world.

And it has been great. It's cool. Because I mean, the only time really, I'll go to Kreetown every once in a while. But really, the only time I've eaten over there has been with Bob or Steve.

They've been like, you got to try this place. Or like, we went to Monsu Green Barbecue. What's your favorite spot in Kreetown? And it was probably hard to.

It's hard because it's top like three to five. I mean, I think like when people ask me, you can't go wrong with parks, like parks is always good. I think I eat there with Bob. Yeah, Bobby goes there all the time.

They go there all the time. But that place is good. All the other shit is like super hard to pronounce Korean shit that I don't tell any of my white friends or shit, because they're not going to figure it out. So I'm just like, you're never going to find it again.

I just like go to parks. It's just easiest to deal with. And it's the place called quarters. And I only recommend these places like quarters, because it's just like so easy to say.

Sure. I don't want to do the spelling out for you. And just go to quarters and stuff. Sending me the symbols and stuff.

I don't know why person treasure my half-life for your career. I should be giving people the spots, but I just don't want it. I've always been a lazy host. Right, right, right.

Like, I've traveled a lot, you know, touring. And you always get that like host who takes you around in different cities. But when people come over here, like, isn't that interesting how in some cities and other countries that that is required by the embassy? Have you noticed that some of that?

Oh, what do you mean? So like in Australia, they force you to use a guide. It's literally part of their tax program. So you have to use a local as Americans if you are on tour over in Australia.

Otherwise, you can't do the shows there. They're like, no, this is your liaison. They're going to keep you on track. And they're like, we literally, when I was over there, this nice lady, she was our liaison.

She went and hopped hotel with us in every city that we went to. Flew with us and everything. And it was just their thing. Oh, I always, it was always been like a promoter or something for me.

But they always do a great job, you know, taking care of you. And I feel shitty because I don't get me up in the coming L.A. It's like, my bad bro, I just got this thing. Yeah, yeah.

I'm just at the worst house. I'm not a great host. Well, I feel like as entertainers, I mean, I think that we're so used to just being in show mode that we're like, oh, wait, we're not used to like putting it on for you. Like, we're just doing the thing.

We're not like the mechanics of like, you should do this and then that. And like, anytime family's visited, like my uncle came out here from Iowa. He goes, what are all the hotspots? What do we do?

I go, do you want to go to a copy club or? I don't know what to suggest. Do you want to take a picture in front of the pink wall on Melrose? Like, do you want an angel wing picture?

Exactly. But I think I'm also traumatized because I used to have like relatives visit America, like from Korea or like Argentina. And my parents would make me go with them to universal studios all the time. So I sometimes in one year, I'd go like six, seven times on the same ride, same shit, everything.

And it would just traumatize me. I'd go out and tram like the jaws will pop out. I mean, I would have flinched. You're like in three, two or three.

Oh, man. Yeah. I don't know. At least it's one of those weird places to host a guest, I feel.

I don't know. Yeah. So I'm from Kansas and I didn't grow up with the whole Disneyland thing. Did you go to Disneyland?

I've been a few times, but it's been a long time since I've been. So my thing with Disneyland is if, in my opinion, if you're not drinking the Kool-Aid at a young age, then you surpass it where I finally went as an adult and I was like, this is wack. I just didn't like get it. And I think it's all like looped in on nostalgia and stuff like that.

If you went there as a kid or that it was like a good memory for you, yeah, it makes sense. It's kind of like how certain restaurants when you're a kid, the food wasn't really that good, but you have great memories attached to it. So you're like, that food is the best. And then you try to introduce a friend and you're in there like, dude, it's not that good.

How about all the new shit though? Don't they got like all the new, because now they own like Star Wars and Avengers. I'm one of the Star Wars, right? That was pretty cool.

That was cool. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

The Star Wars, it's called Star Wars or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Cause I was like, I think curious lately because they just bought up all that IP now and that Disney world is bigger. Yeah.

They have everything. They have everything. Right. I'm excited about this new Spiderman movie that's coming out.

Yeah. I'm hauling version and all that. Oh dude. I love how they're about to get like real wacky with it.

Yeah. Yeah. Like crossing over the universe is of the previous Spider-Man's like, that's what they're hinting at. I'm freaking.

Told Maguire just pop out. I'm fine with that. I mean, people. I think it has to happen.

Yeah. That'd be so amazing, bro. Cause I'm a huge, I mean, those still Spiderman 2 is probably one of my favorite superhero movies ever. I've never been mad at the Toby Maguire.

I love that shit. It was so goofy and he was so goofy. Yeah. I just liked it.

It's just a different flavor of Peter Parker. It is. Yeah. I'm a Spiderman and Batman and different comic books and stuff like that.

I grew up on comic books. Yeah. I grew up, you know, Justice League to DC kind of, I don't know what happened with DC. We're trying to- What is up with their movies?

They just cannot get it together. Get it. Get it together. So frustrating.

Everyone is just, I really couldn't even get into the Suicide Squad Loki. I just watched it. I just feel about it. Did you like it?

It's all right. But that's how I feel about most DC movies is I feel like Marvel has set the benchmark so high that they are knocking out of the park so hard that it's hard to compete with. Yeah. But I will say the Dark Knight's related.

That's the one. That's the one. They killed it and- But they can't recreate that. No, no, no.

They killed that one though. Yeah. So they have at least one on the boards, you know, but man, they can't get their shit together. Like I don't know what in the world is going on because they got some dope ass characters, you know.

Of course. They literally have like, if you think about it, kind of the more mainstream one. The mainstream Golden and Batman. The Golden Age comics.

Wow. Yeah. All those. Yeah.

I don't know. I don't know. Marvel's just, they got it figured out. Yeah.

I've seen Shang-Shi already. Heard is good. Fire. Yeah.

There's really went in. There's really so much shit in that fucking movie. The mainstream, like the main first string Marvel characters, you know what I mean? Not to integrate the bench war.

The bench war. Yeah. Yeah. So I mean, I'm not to take away from those heroes.

Like, you know, I'm sure there's a whole world. I don't know. But there's all these Marvel heroes that are listening to this podcast. Oh, come on, man.

We got the bench war. They're heroes and they're like, oh, man, these superpowers aren't doing anything for all. Oh, my God. Yeah.

But I mean, I know the first string of this wave is supposed to be Shang-Chi and like the turnals and everything looks promising. Like both of them. Yeah. But both of them seems promising.

Steve and I, for Steve's birthday, David Cho, he came and we went and saw Candyman and then we went like the canners afterwards. And Cho was like, I wanted to hate Shang-Chi. Yeah. And then he goes, but they did it because they made it dope somehow.

Yeah. I saw him at the premiere. I was at the premiere and he said he went in with super low expectations because he was like, oh, he's like, they're trying to like force and like, and he's a superhero movie right now and like, I don't know, man. It could be really cheesy.

Yeah. I mean, everyone was, I think all the Asians were really worried in that sense because Asians are always worried about that because we're getting this first wave of like crazy and Asian Renaissance. So like every new Asian show were like, uh, yeah. Like we want to ruin it for the next one.

Yeah. Yeah. So they're always on that shit. I mean, so I know what feeling he has.

It was funny though, David came, I saw him at the premiere and you know, I didn't get to hide him. I just saw him walk in, but he was dressed like slides, like no socks, slides, you know what I mean? Shorts, like a sweater with graffiti on it. And I was like, oh, David, like really doesn't give no fucks.

I just got to give a fuck because like artist or whatever. But my boy sat next to him and he was, they were talking and apparently my boy told me that he thought it was just a screening. He didn't know it was the premiere. Like he would have actually dressed up for it.

That's hilarious. That was like one of those free screenings. Yeah. It was a full on red carpet.

Like so, did you watch the red carpet? He was there. I was worried about being under dressed because I don't have a lot of nice shit that it's like just puts together something decent. I mean, dude, red carpets, people literally spend so much money on hiring people to make them look perfect for those events.

Oh, perfect for those events. 100%. And I saw David and I was like, fuck, I should have worn my slide. That was my first thought.

I was like, damn, I could have worn my slide. That guy's so cool. He was like, fuck, he really didn't give a fuck. Why did I give a fuck?

He was like, do you have your coupon? Exactly. Yeah, it was really dope. It was super dope.

I'm excited to see that. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, man.

I feel like you and I, we have had friends for years like and been adjacent in the comedy scene for so long. I literally have been seeing you on flyers and stuff for years, but this laugh actors show happened to be the first one that we did together and I was like, oh, okay. Finally, like this is crazy. Yeah.

I've really been going harder with the stand up in this past like two years, but like, you know, I did my first stand up show through PK at the laugh factory like five years ago. Yeah. I was like, I got nervous to finally do it. And it went well, but I didn't get into the loop of like doing it regularly, you know?

I just, whenever I get an opportunity, I just did it. But in the last like year and a half, two years, I've been trying to just go out every week and you know, I know you out here doing three shows and nine shit and I'm just trying to get into that community and that shit. But yeah, we crossed a lot of the same paths, even with Stevie. Like I've known Stevie since I was young.

How did you guys meet originally? And the LA rap scene. Oh, that's right. And then before I even knew he was like Bobby's brother or nothing, like we were just doing shows together and then like when he was doing mongchies stuff or no, it was way before this was literally, I'll say 2005, 2006.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Like I was right out of high school doing rap shows and battles and he was in the underground rap scene too. So he was in that scene and we would do shows together one day.

Someone's like, oh, you don't have to Bobby's little brother. I'm like, what? Like after knowing him for a while, you know, they mentioned it and I was like, oh, that's cool. Like a while after, but I've known Stevie early on.

Like it was so random. We have this ongoing joke now that's become its own kind of monster that on all of Bob's posts now, people are commenting like, oh, hey, are you Steve's brother? Yeah. Like we flipped the script on it because he's been obviously called Bob's brother for like 20 plus years since Bobby's been on that show.

So we did a thing on Sizzibra's where we were like, let's flip it. I've been seeing the comments too. I don't like this little throw in for it. Yeah, I like this little trolling situation.

But yeah, it's been cool kind of seeing. I mean, I just did Steve's podcast recently and it was like, we're reminiscent on those days, man. It was like my space where promoting our shows on my space and things like that. So do you remember your like your friend count and stuff on my space back in the day?

It wasn't that pop into the on. It's like my music career didn't like blow up off of my space because I remember some of those musicians like, yeah, they're like the big MySpace guys. It was like Mickey Avalon and like dirt nasty and that. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's like my space.

I think he was actually signed to MySpace Records or something. Oh, really? Yeah. He had like a record label or something, but yeah, I was one of those guys.

I did promote my shows on there. I remember I felt good like adding so many shows on that list. Like it felt good. Like you feel like a real performer, like a real entertainer.

Exactly. Like I'm doing stuff like I'm, you know, manually entering like another one. Another one. That's how I would get shows actually.

So I would go on other rappers, MySpace pages and I'd see their shows, click on it, see who would promoting it and I would ask them if I could open up. So that's how I would just get Matt shows and also we would have physical flyers too. So every time I'd be on a flyer, the promoter would link up with me and they'd get me a stack of flyers. So if you had like four shows in one month, you just have all these flyers and just felt good being like passing out four flyers for somebody being like, I'm on all four of these things.

Yeah. So it was cool. Yeah. I've done a little bit of like parking and stuff for stand up shows and it was always so rough because it's something that people, you can tell right away when you're handing someone a flyer like either this person's interested or you see them throw it in the trash can like right in front of you.

Of course. Of course. Yeah. That builds up your skin real real real quick though.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, do you remember like back in the day just you'd come out of a club or something and that people would be like a row of people passing you flyers for shit like festivals and everything. Yeah.

Like I just I mean just talking about right now I just realized damn that was really a thing that does not exist anymore. Yeah. I don't even know because I've been to Vegas since the pandemic like you know those guys like with the cards and stuff like that. Are they still out there now?

No, like probably not. Right. It might be passing out like a quick flyer to a strip club or something like right then and they're like go there right now. Yeah.

But I don't think it's like I don't think it's like this festival two months from now. Yeah. It's gonna like put that in the pocket and now thumbtack it to their fucking wall. You know.

Yeah. I was always into kind of getting those flyers because I like I was a big scrapbooker kind of guy. That sounds so weird coming from a rapper like a scrapbook but like all my first like a couple hundred rap shows. I put him in like a book.

But I mean that's pretty dope for you to look back on that. I love that I did that. I mean as nerdy as somebody might say like oh you scrapbook is like dude you have like the documentation. Like that's awesome.

Yeah. I wish I had some of the lineups of some of the early shows that I went on like at the Comedy Store in the improv and stuff like that because I have some friends who saved some open mic lists and it's amazing to see who was signing up at the same time and then who you see on billboards and movies and like it's incredible. Like that it gives you hope at the same time because you're like everybody who's in the same class here. Everybody just needs to keep working.

That's really dope. I did that a few times too. I saved the open mic list at this rap spot I used to go to and I have a few of those and that's always a cool thing. I actually wish I did more of those because there were so many artists that signed that shit that would have been a cool collectible kind of thing.

Oh dude. Absolutely. Because I feel like it's either a learned behavior of like a very specific learned behavior from media and different things or like did your parents and still a lot of confidence in you as a kid? I had a lot of confidence like comedically I think growing up just in my classroom.

I was always a class clown. Yeah. But the confidence of when you're at a rap open mic and not even on stage but on the street like Cyphers and freestyling and that environment is like way more aggressive than like a sign up sheet. Oh yeah.

You can like sign up on an open mic list and go up the performance and just wait your turn. And on the block where you have a say a circle a cipher of like 12 rappers and everyone's just trying to get their voice in real quick and you're just trying to like double that your way in. Yeah. It's hard you know because everyone's so aggressively like bold you know so for me it was always like that took a while where I would be freestyling I'd wait my time I try to like just interrupt to get in and all of a sudden when you go in another person goes in at the same time we're rapping over each other and then it turns into a battle you know like because no one's backing down like you know of like no one stops rapping right so we're rapping over each other and next thing you know like the raps turn into a disc is like yo shut the fuck up let me get my bars out like you then and they start saying that and then all of a sudden it might be a joke they say like some Asian shit or whatever and then my blood just starts getting boiled like I started boiling a little bit and it just comes out where and then that's how the battle parts started it was more like of a defense mechanism at first because I was never really the aggressor in battles like I wasn't the one calling somebody I was almost like just that retaliation I was like I had to retaliate because it was the same old shit all the time you know I'm coming you know from one of the few Asian guys out there it's always the same old joke so I think that's how it started for me because the retaliation thing and then when people reacted to it was like ooze and ahh like you got high off of that and of course you just kept doing it especially they're like oh this Asian guy just got you know especially if they're throwing hacky stuff at your level it felt really good kind of coming back on that but also on the other end of that I've gotten hit too would be from people where they're getting crazy reaction to like getting killed you know it's all part of the game but they're any bars that like still have stuck with you that you're like that person got me good yeah there's tons I mean I can appreciate good yeah Asian jokes like especially in the rhyme form because it's not like you know because there's been a lot of Asians that defend me under the YouTube comments of battles I've been in being like man they only used Asian jokes I'm like I battled an Asian guy and I use only Asian jokes you know so yeah to me I have no problem with that it's like in a battle there's no rules you fucking do whatever it takes like long as you get the reaction and when you say you could say a hacky Asian joke but in a creative like you know we all know stereotypes like oh Asian's driving bad and all that stuff but if you do it in a very hilarious witty way then it works and also if it's spontaneous like I was one time we were battling outdoors and there was like a daycare center for dogs outside okay and we were just he we were all these are all freestyle battles he's like prepared and he was he was doing I was battling the sorris he's a friend of mine too he literally pointed at the spot and was like you see that doggy daycare you probably ate there it was like a perfect like right scheme everything so you know that's a thing like when things are in rap form and rhymes the rhythm of it hits so perfectly because it rhymes so perfectly that there's a different effect you know than the joke itself it's like and I've just hard good jokes like that and this dumb shit you know like it's a dog eating joke that's like could be considered very hacking nowadays or whatnot but it's the spontaneity sure and it's literally you're pointing it and it's right there you know that everyone who's there is like what the fuck it's the same thing with crowd work at a stand-up show when people see that it's gonna get bigger pops than anything that you spent time preparing because they know that you just created that right in front of them that's why things don't age well I think when you rewatch things on video you know because there are there is an element of live performance that you miss just a context of the energy and not even the content itself yeah the context of the energy that's there when you're feeling those jokes are well you know what I mean so there's a whole element there that I think people don't understand and that's why like people like oh they'll rewats something like that's not funny like you had to be there you know I mean I have to been there yeah especially sometimes when it's improvised especially to like you're saying it's so specific to the energy that night like oh we everybody was in sync because that's the thing like with like comedy and music once everybody gets on that same same wavelength then it becomes this higher thing where it's like whoa I can't believe that just happened and that's when like people's minds are like being blown and stuff like that exactly I mean I always feel like that's the one thing about freestyle such like I remember being in so many open mics where I've heard some legendary freestyle sessions and I've been in somewhere I was feeling it and I was going in zoning out rewatch I'm like oh that was actually not that I was like that I thought I killed it way harder than that I see there's a strong B yeah yeah like I'll replay for the I'm like you gotta watch this night I was on damn wait nevermind I was bad I was checking out some of your music videos and stuff and I really like I don't know how many different directors that you work with but I like the direction a lot of your music videos I don't know how involved you are oh yeah I'm always co-directed every music video it's awesome thank you man every every independent artist pretty much co-directs all their shit yeah I have to have you know your voice in it sure and especially if you're working with budgets and people doing things for free you have to kind of drive the creative vision on that yeah I like a lot of the color scheme the stuff that you put together and a lot of a lot of those videos is cool thank you man I really wanted I think I've always liked being colorful in large it like there were most recent videos colorful like that oh yeah super colorful yeah because you know a lot of rap videos and even stuff that I did when I was back in the day I just it was like so dreadful oh yeah you know it was like everything was like I'm wearing a black hoodie all the time that's it like I wanted it like in the last couple years I really wanted to just be like yeah I want to get colorful you know and so that's all it's been it's just like I mean that's part of why I like making songs it's the visual part of it too I like making music videos for it yeah well it gives you the full scope it's like okay this is what you know I'm think this is what I'm coming to life from the perspective of when I wrote it not just on like you know black ink on white paper now I'm gonna bring it full circle yeah color this is what I imagine this on my head now you get to see that to outside of your imagination of if you're just listening on Spotify or whatever sure and then although also I've always wanted to direct so to me this is like a way to do it where instead of having a script you have the three minute song or form whatever you tell a lot of story and that's on your script you know so you already have something to go off of you know but eventually I'd like to go into actually writing a full on movie or something yeah that'd be cool yeah yeah how often do you would you say you still freestyle like how often do you you still do honestly I've slowed down a lot like I was a freestyle addict like anyone will tell you anyone who followed my career is like they know that was my thing yeah you know I'm then I'm in like I was a house party's open mics YouTube videos hanging out friends and you know I would I go to parties with like surrounded by mad hot girls start freestyling to be impressed for like a good 30 minutes but I'd go on for three hours and all of a sudden I put lift my head up and every girl is gone it's just me and my boyfriend's telling like you know what I mean it's like like and we've even I've made pack sometimes with homies like yeah when we go to this party like no freestyle don't let me freestyle yeah don't let me freestyle like let's hang out with some cool girls like three days like you have a beard on something like four is go up like yeah I'm gonna stop freestyle but I saw that a lot I think just because I'm going to less situations why freestyle like if I wanted to keep freestyle I'd have to just be at home alone freestyling you know I don't even hang out with a lot of friends on a regular basis like I feel like when you're younger you do that a lot right like you have your homies or more parking lots when you're younger is that exactly what I mean I mean that's what we literally used to do like in Kansas before I even knew what it was we would riff for hours yeah just trying to make each other laugh in circles or like skateboarding parking lots and between skating we literally just be telling each other dumb stuff or like have somebody has a guitar and we're trying to just riff lines off of that and stuff that's the thing so if you freeze if you want to keep exercising that freestyle improvisation you know muscle you have to be in environments yes with people chilling of course you know and unless you chill the less opportunities you have to do that right so it's like sometimes I'm gonna freestyle and I'm like it's not the same as being at the crib putting on a beat and just like freestyle let me go like it's your yoga stretches or something let me freestyle for me just freestyle alone real quick yeah it's not the same energy but oh man I know some freestyle legends in Los Angeles who still freestyle and they're under like mid 40s to almost 50 years old and they're amazing what was the first like song or music video you did where you where you felt like you know that sensation like times 10 I guess of that my space feeling you know like oh like I'm a rapper I'm doing shows and stuff did you release something or what was the thing where you like you start feeling like this is me like did you win a freestyle like like did you win a battle or something like well the first time that I what you had that sensation of like that like I'm like I've arrived kind of like I'm feeling like I'm a legit rapper so I think it I think it's it's the first time that like yeah like people come up to you or something you know like randomly like I saw you in this video yeah you know and a lot of that was the battle stuff you know people really got drawn into my battles and seeing the numbers growing in like all of a sudden these videos getting a million views or what not like and now a lot of them are like crazy yeah and that's when I felt like oh shit and I think it's always just when you start feeling like you have a fan base because I always tell people like just had no matter what number of fans you have it could be a little or a lot just having fans is a blessing like so many artists don't even get the opportunity to have a few fans you know what I mean so I feel like if you have fans that buy your merch your support you like you got to be grateful for that no matter what most people don't even get that chance you know that's the only way to look at it it really is no for sure like it's a blessing bro and that's why you know my career has always been up and down it's never been like super steady or nothing but it's always appreciated the fans that rode with me for this long you know oh dude any time I get to just go out on the road to do shows even if it's a weekend of maybe you know not good paying gigs or whatever I'm like I'm still doing the thing that so many other comics are just trying to get to that point of just going on the road to be able to perform for people in different cities so I'm always grateful my okay this gig might not be the best but I'm still doing the thing that I set out to do that I've been wanting to do like this whole time so yeah I always feel super grateful even like if it's a little city where where I'm like I'm gonna turn out might not be good or whatever and then like some of those are the best shows ever because those people are the most appreciative that's all you got to see it as you know I'm saying you got to be grateful for this like what you gonna put on a shittier show because there's like what 20 people in the crowd never understood that mentality that's so stupid like how then the 20 people who bought tickets get asked out you know dude I always go I if anything I go extra hard for those people exactly dude if anything they might as end up getting a free t-shirt or some shit right I thank you for being here exactly you're some of the few people that are interested in that mentality too it's just oh dude it pisses me off so much anytime I'm on a line up and then you know it's towards the end of the night or whatever and somebody just pisses away their set because they're ah there's not many people here yeah these are the people who are here for you do exactly these are the ones who stuck it out give them the show that they deserve yeah so yeah I'm always like Adam and about like I'm gonna give you guys a show for sure yeah for sure I want to get this next segment it's called fanning out this one comes from my buddy Gage D.

Rina he helps me produce his podcast he never asked questions of the guests and he was stoked that you're coming on okay he wants to know your top three unknown artists that you'd recommend and a genre or an artist that you're inspired by that might surprise people oh that's good three unknown artists yeah can also be one or two if that's too hard feel it's like insulting to like name artist that you think are unknown also unknown can be you know that's a gently unknown you know it doesn't have to be it's more like who you think should be super super mainstream let's put it in a more positive light like you think they should be a household name but they're not quite a household name yet but they're all come up let's see who do I like Duckworth is really dope Toby Wigway he's pretty big though at this point um shout to my boy satire I'll give him some love you know he's not I'm not not just because my friend but he's putting out some dope shit yeah those ones you guys can check out okay perfect heck yeah is there an artist or a genre that might surprise you that you are inspired by that the people might be surprised yeah I just like the simplicity of it and it's just like pleasant and there's like just honest like lyrics and shit you know so I like it I like I like the that kind of movement of like kids just making simple beats at the crib or something sure and you know so yeah I like I like bedroom pop okay dope this one comes from uh and when I write comedy or like any kind of non-rap related stuff I just listen to jazz do you ever this was something that I was just curious when you got brought to the stage of Laugh Factory do you ever feel like since you have rap for so long and you and your stand up comedian as well when the host mentions that you are a great rapper do you ever feel any kind of pressure like that you need to rap or do you have comedy rap so you ever do on stage or do you keep them completely separate I keep it pretty separate like I never got into doing comedy raps and nothing against people do it like there's people kill that too um yeah it's never been my thing I mean if anything I've been implemented comedy into battle rap you know and I've done that um but not like there's humorous things inside my raps I wouldn't consider comedy rap it was more it'd be more like an honest kind of moment in rap you know where it's like I'm more like kind of just you know talking about aging or whatever or things like that just more honest moments but yeah no I don't you know and that's why it's tough for me I think as I get older or not just me but any rapper who gets a little bit older to maintain that same rap energy you had when you were young because rap comes with that it comes with that youthful energy you know and for me it's been tough because all my like favorite rappers that are out right now are like young dudes you know and I'm just like I'm not the same cat like so it's like would I listen to myself when I was that age and that dancer is probably not you know so it's a really conflicting feeling I think aging as a rapper and and that doesn't stop me from making music yeah but it is a conflicting thing where like yeah like I don't make the music of the shit I listen to like my favorite rap shit you know like that's it's not the same style of stuff you know well what's stopping you from from doing that though I just can't do it because it's not it wouldn't be authentic you know if you like it's too forced it would be forced for sure like you're trying to be doing their style you know what I mean and I feel like and people do like people you know like just trends and stuff of patterns and everything you know oh yeah you see it all the time yeah yeah yeah and I think when I try to do it like I can feel like it's not authentic okay so I think because I've tried it like I like experimenting but to feel comfortable like I'm gonna put this out like not it's a different story okay and I think yeah it's like I think everyone's different for me it's a little bit of a conflict and you know what I mean like I just feel like how to how do I be an older rapper who is going into his like later 30s a more refined version of it a past version of it because you have like say like a Jay Z right and he does like more grown raps now because he's like a mogul who's like in his mid 40s you know yeah you can't I mean it doesn't make sense for Jay Z to be talking about chasing paper in the same way because he has the paper but here's a thing though I think it's easier for him as an old rapper because he's incredibly rich as a mogul because people always gonna fuck a raps about like being hella successful so but it's harder I feel like when you're like an older dude with like maybe those aren't your interests you know yeah you know it's like this cool responsibility you know it's like responsible raps you know so it's like I'm trying to balance like how do I talk about things like as I get older but still like maintain like a relevancy all around in all age gaps too you know all so I think for me has been like I want to implement the music into these other things that I'm doing too yeah with tv shows and film you know not the same the same exact thing that like Lin-Manuel did with Hamilton but like in that way like do something what you want to do something like direct a movie and then you're also a big part of the soundtrack yeah like I would love to do the soundtrack scoring stuff and even like musical shit you know and I think it's about that like how do I figure out like a this new interest of things that I'm trying to do and also bring the experience of like coming from a world of like battles and making songs yeah you know so that's kind of like yeah what I'm working on right now is just like figuring that out and that's why I'm at my with my life you know and you know for anybody watching that like I think there's a lot of people go through that like especially in this generation where it's so youth driven like every industry is like you have like a 13 year old kid making millions of dollars off of unboxing videos on youtube and so it's like he turns 21 he's like I'm washed up he's like yeah he's like snorting lines of coke off of his toy boxes and stuff no but it's just like I think a lot of young people are gonna go through that I think in this generation we live in you know like they're roasting anybody who's like turning 30 you know like it's just like how are you gonna deal with that when you turn 30 sure like that kid who's roasting the guy who's turning 30 you know so I think people if you want to have a like if you want to be mentally prepared like you got to be okay with becoming older you know you got to be okay with letting go of certain things you know and that took me a while because I was a big kid you know like and this lifestyle kind of makes you a big kid a lot of times you know like you just become immersed like if you imagine you're touring since you're a teenager yeah you know like you know like yeah like I became I got my nickname dumbfounded when I was 14 and a lot of people were like that's a stupid nickname because I'm 35 now and introducing myself is that it feels sometimes weird but also like I just I've accepted it because there was some ridiculous nicknames too like of rappers that we've adapted into regular language like ludicrous it's like of course fabulous like under dope rappers yeah like now it's like everyone just says it like regularly you know what I mean of course but I had a little bit of identity crisis with that so have you ever thought about like or did you ever try to to go buy your actual name I actually tried to change my name like five years ago and it didn't my fans were like not yeah I changed at a Parker interesting it was like so my last name is Park yeah and I just wanted to like like fuck with it and just have like a one like share like kind of one name kind of thing off of that so I don't know what where this idea came from so I was like I'm gonna be Parker and it's simple you know and I put it all this merch stickers went on a tour as Parker my fans was like not with it like I have like a warehouse like with 16 boxes of Parker merch that never went anywhere so it's like so those are those are rare collector's items now yeah yeah so I think when I see uh yeah when I when I uh when I tried that it just didn't happen and I was like you know I gotta embrace this this is who I am at this point sure you know I'm dumbfounded I've been dumbfounded for 20 years no pun intended but I've been that and uh I'm just gonna rock with it you know what I mean yeah um but yeah it's uh it's it's an interesting point in my life that transition but it's liberating because it's brought me back to really just kind of making music for like not being in the cycle of just like I don't have to work it as my thing I still make music for fun and like I love that you know um that was a real honest moment right there that's good though I mean that's what I was looking for I have to do it hey here's the thing that's what's great about this podcast is like I told you before we started I go there's no expectations and where it goes it goes I'm going through stuff right now where I'm literally on stage talking about having a son for the first time and I'm like literally I'm working out that out on stage yeah and that's like a whole new you know that's a new chapter of of like versus like dude the material that I was doing 10 or 12 years ago it couldn't be farther apart from from this stuff that I'm trying to work into my voice and stuff like that and it's it's a it's a cool like rewarding thing because some of the jokes they hit sometimes and other times I'm like ah it's not ready yet it's not quite in my voice yet so I'm like constantly trying to tinker with it and stuff like that yeah I mean it's like you're tinkering with just being a father right now because it's so literally identity yeah so even like all the shit you're talking about is you experimenting with being a father like yeah I'm trying this father thing out uh yeah it's it's let me try to joke about it as well yeah yeah I think it's it's cool though I feel like that's why I felt like adding this new thing of stand-up of expressing myself was great because yeah and people always talk about that right it's like oh um you don't become a great stand-up it's so you're older and it's not that's not true but I feel like it's it's because you do have more experiences at least to talk about you have more things to share you know like and I think that's why people say that you just have more life that you can talk about yeah the more life you have the more opportunities you're gonna have to connect with people on different levels yeah they can relate to you and that's why I think going back to rap it's like you can do it right because when you have more like you talk about the problem is you have to make it also fun mm-hmm because to me I I'll be real like I like fun rap music yeah that's why I got into rap shit like everything I was listening was fun I mean it was like conscious shit too I like too but you got to find that balance of fun you know it's like no one wants to hear no preaching she wants to be lectured yeah nobody like especially through music yeah you know music is supposed to escape yeah exactly exactly so that's that's how I feel yeah yeah um I got a buddy um who he's actually a battle rapper who does a lot of king of the dot oh who uh a ward oh yeah yeah I know other I don't we don't know yeah he said that um that uh I think he saw you like at a show like back in like a long time yeah I might have met him like in the circles back in the day or so he said he said you he saw you like you mentioned once back in like I think we're not at when you did a show with Watsky yeah yeah I was on tour I think um was it in Toronto or um I think you know Toronto or I know he's a Kansas City yeah yeah yeah go now I got I remember now yeah yeah I remember yeah um he uh because I texted him I go hey I'm having done found it on like is there any questions as a battle rapper that you would want to ask him and he goes okay um he said um if you were to ever come back to battle rap who would you battle that's tough because I don't I've been keeping up here and there yeah I don't know who the current guys are yeah like I haven't followed like everybody there's so many now it's like there's a crazy amount of leagues and and shit but damn there's some people that I wish I had battled yeah yeah I feel like I wish I battled more of the the URL guys a little bit because I just wanted to see how I would do in that arena you know sure because it's a different style of stuff you know and those guys are amazing that the load it luxes that hollowed it down I look up to a lot of those guys and I would have actually liked to have battled one of them just to see how I would have done in that style of shit that's a little bit more aggressive and hard like instead of just jokes it's like you come at him like really crafting like double triple entendres and shit like you know and I would have really liked to kind of challenge myself in that way because I really respect battle rap I respect battle rappers like I really look at it as a whole another thing away from just making songs and and rappers in in the industry of making music you know this is a whole nother thing I know bad rappers that don't even like making music like their shit is just battling and it's okay like people don't get that people think like you're like doing this for a record label deal or something it's like no people like to just do that too yeah it's like some stand-ups just want to stand up they don't want to go on a tv show they just want to come yeah they don't want to you know so and you got to respect that I respect someone who's just like this is the thing that I do oh yeah Brian Regan Jim Gaffigan right even Sebastian Maniscalco they just want to do stand up right like that's like right you know they want a tour and they're at the top and they don't figure it out you know every new special they know what to do Philip the arenas and shit yep he said how did battle rap shape your comedy career because you were on an MTV joke show for a while I mean roasting is like I love roasting you know with friends and and also in a more serious like like what he's talking about was I was on this all-deaf digital thing with like a bunch of comedians and these guys are like good roasters you know oh was it the roast me guys on all that digital yeah roast me yes I've been on a few episodes roast me and I was a big fan of that show and I just said oh my boy worked that all-deaf and I was like yo can I just get on this oh that's fine and I just started going like every week just I literally was like I don't care I don't want to get paid let me go I just want to be there so I started going and I had jokes but the thing about these dudes they're like fast they're real fast that's the thing they're they're everybody thinks they're like funny like you see the comments they're like oh I want to go on this I can kill these fools or whatever it's like that's not just it like you can get some jokes on but these dudes are fast and good you know I mean so I really respected that like I knew my jokes were good but I was not as fast as them so their recovery rate is crazy crazy yeah crazy so you got to be ready for that I've seen internet dudes without they were funny and internet comedians go on that show and get destroyed bro I've noticed uh the first time I went out to New York uh and people were like roasting each other back and forth yeah I got eaten alive because I was like oh New York comedians are like this with their jokes and I was like oh really yeah yeah it's really damn okay just like just like the way because they're so punchline driven with their delivery got you that the way that they roast they'll do three quick one-liners to one LA version where it's just like a longer like here's the payoff at the end of this long thing you know what I mean yeah where they're like I'll tell you one thing though battle rappers like a lot of them can't roast in real life yeah like they can create punchlines and kill you in battles but a lot of them I'll be chilling like I go to a bad rap event I just be chilling all together grabbing a drink or eating and I'm just like roasting like everyone's gonna hop in like people are quiet like they don't have a roast like you know I mean they're getting that writing and I think but just just amongst friends riffing like a lot of them were not that great at roasting that happens I mean it's a specific thing true I'm not sure it happens to stand up to dude I know people who are some of the best joke writers like on stage but you take them outside of that comfort zone and it's it's a night and day difference yeah like you put them in a writer's room they freeze up and I'm like dude you're brilliant you're brilliant on stage though it's a different thing it's a different thing yeah it's a complete different thing um yeah man I just and I know that for even for myself like as I'm jumping into these different worlds whether it's like writing rooms you know writing show stuff comedy like writing down comedy or doing stand up and everything like I come in so humbly to these different new things that I'm exploring and and I've always been like that I come in humbly because I know how long it takes you know on even a musical level to perfect your craft yep you know start making songs and keep making them better and better I'm you know I'm still on that journey you know like I got into making music a lot late because I was into freestyling and in battle rap for a long time you know so that that was like a that's something I take to all this knowing that this should take so fucking a long time yep just respecting it's like I've been there but in a complete different field yeah I mean honestly most of the time when I get on a comedy show I never tell him to build me as dumbfounded I tell him to build me as John Park but he can't build me as dumbfounded I don't know why he did that but just because I wanted to kind of work on it more before I start like really promoting stuff yeah yeah that's fair yeah then that way also it doesn't get muddy too like if that way people aren't showing up thinking that they might see dumbfounded rap exact comedy show it's like boo rap for us yeah and there's like yeah yeah I feel it yeah let's close it out with this segment I call sax talk all right so this was about 15 years ago when I was like rapping on the side I still had a job because I wasn't able to fully support myself as a rapper so I worked at farmers insurance and I happened to work at farmers insurance with an ex-girlfriend of mine and we were together at the time but we both worked as customer service representatives at this office local branch office and it was only like two other employees that were like above us and it was her she was the broker and then we're there one day and then the broker leaves the office for the day and it's just me and my ex-girlfriend there so we're just like yo let's like let's have sex because you know we're just like corny couple in this office space we I locked the door and it gets real freaky like we're just there and she like my girl like tapes my arms with like fucking masking tape on the on the office chair and then she like just pulls my pants down and what goes down on me and we just have sex there and this goes on for however long I'm pretty sure it wasn't that long but we're literally having sex like in the office on the boss's chair and then just afterwards clean ourselves up open the door and then the boss comes back like two three hours later and act like nothing happened I don't know if that was sexy but we are farmers I probably shouldn't even set the insurance company's name but yeah that's what it is oh man John goes dick with a gecko at least those farmers yeah yeah it feels a little bit more yeah low class I don't know maybe because they have a mascot yeah yeah yeah I thought the get go yeah yeah yeah got weird but yeah it wasn't like full on it was it was a local branch it's fine yeah dude it wasn't like a bad it's not like you're still working there yeah that's true it wasn't bad quarters wait why would it be more problematic if it was at the headquarters no no no you don't want to either one because you could open up a local branch anywhere feels like you know I guess though so more discreet is what you're saying yeah yeah I don't think it banned me from the insurance for that or something nah you good I'm good yeah that sucks I probably can't do any farmers commercials anymore kind of lame that I'm actually thinking about that I'm all like damn like did I fuck up my farmers endorsement because a lot of action stuff go on that shit and you know that guy from whiplash right you know you got paid probably yeah JK Simmons or a milestone I'm literally thinking like damn what's that become a famous actor I might want that farmers endorsement like that's so stupid that I'm actually worried about that I'm like bro you don't work there anymore you're like no dude there's a deal that could be falling into place at any moment at any time but what I was saying it's like this invisible fantasy deal yeah that I'm I think dreaming about right now um yeah I mean I guess that's why I'll never disparage and we talk about Taco Bell because you never know this player over here wants to get into Taco Bell commercial yeah if I yo if if I ever have any potential deal on works you're gonna have to delete this pod okay is that a deal okay this is the one thing I'm worried I'll clip out the sax talk yeah yeah exactly we'll figure it out we'll figure it out um yeah that's it right yeah man is there anything you want to plug anything uh no man I think uh just follow me on my IG and my socials to see like what I'm up to next as I'm kind of uh you know starting this new chapter of some projects I'm kind of I'm kind of happy that I caught you at this kind of like cool transitionary phase where you're wanting to get into more directing and stuff like that that's kind of cool that I don't know like I love when I'm then when I get to see artists spread their wings in different ways you know what I mean yeah like you're doing more stand up you're you're doing more directing you're talking about like making music in different ways and uh it's just yeah it's exciting you chapter man I feel I just I just really respect all all these different crafts when I get into them I feel like even with rap like sometimes that respect comes from playing a different role in it in the culture you know what I mean and that's always a hard thing to admit for certain people um but I'm learning to kind of you know figure that out like where do I fit in the culture you know yeah it's exciting exciting to like oh I can fit into multiple things yeah fit into multiple things and even even in hip hop like how do I play a different role that might right you know put the culture forward to push the culture forward it might not be you even just rapping it might be a different thing you know make like helping cultivate a new artist could be yeah more of a dray producer role like by next yeah so it's just all that um I still I still hear me on verses and stuff it's not like yeah of course yeah I always thank you brother yeah appreciate it thanks for doing the piper yes sir appreciate you