The Kanye Episode

Dude, it just comes to the territory. That's when you're in your creative man. You're going to be crazy. You got to accept the craziness.

Do you want to talk about Kanye? I do want to talk about Kanye. Yeah. So I only watched the first episode because I have this rule.

I've got two rules. The first rule is if there's a movie that involves animals as the protagonist, protagonist, I don't watch it. I don't watch it. I don't watch it.

The animals always die. So I don't watch it. I have a rule. I don't like if there's a war movie and it's set in a period where they had horses like Braveheart or the Patriot and the horses die in the war, I don't watch it.

It's too much for me. I don't like seeing horses die. I don't like seeing the line trample. I don't watch that shit.

The second thing is if it's generally either scary or sad, I don't watch that either. I'm not paying money to get freaked out. I'm paying money to be happy. Yeah, my life sucks sometimes anyway.

I don't need to like, I want to pay money to make it not suck. So I knew that in episode two, that was when his mom died. So I was like, nope, I'm not going to watch that. So I only watched episode one.

By the way, I bought my ship. His mom does die yet, that part. So they made it. I thought they made it.

They're playing the song, Hey, Mama, like over the preview. So you haven't seen any of the scenes with his mom, because those are the best scenes. Well, yeah, where she's like, I bought a, she's like, you don't own a house, but you bought this chain and she goes, OK, but you got like the chain Kanye. It's nice.

This is nice. Yeah. Yeah, she's very supportive of him. Yeah, so I do.

So, OK, so let's talk about the mom. All right, so this kind of documentary is frankly great. And I'm kind of mad more friends didn't tell me you got to watch this. Like I can see why maybe some people don't like it.

But this is like, this is up my alley. This is this is my alley. Did you see the idea about how they're basically it was just a guy? You could just yourself.

Why is this? Why is this guy with Kanye when he's like on the street? And basically this guy was like, I saw a, I forget the movie that he saw. It was called like a movie where, yeah, who dreams it follows four young, like high school or kids or eight grade kids.

He's like, let's see if they're going to make it to the NBA. And he's like, I was inspired by that. And I thought Kanye was going to be famous. And so I just decided to follow him around.

And this is before YouTube was around. So it was weird that a guy was with like a shoulder cam boarder. Totally weird. What luck for all of us that that guy.

So shout out to Kootie, the guy who did it. He basically, and by the way, I think they explained this more later. I haven't seen the whole thing. So I might not know something that's like said in the documentary, but I can only watch the first couple of parts.

So he basically sees Kanye and he's like, this guy's cool. And then drops everything and is like, I'm going to film this guy. I'm going to film this random guy from Chicago who wears a retainer and is trying to be a rapper. And he's like a cool producer.

But like, you know, who knows, right? Like, yeah, most people don't make it. As Kanye says in the documentary, he goes, yeah, where I grew up, there's a whole bunch of guys who were just finna get signed. And guess what?

They're still finna get signed. They're just almost finna get signed. And so like, you know, that seemed like the most likely path. But like, that's amazing.

So the documentary is amazing because he's got footage from before everything when he's when he's got nothing, when nobody believes in him and he's like, you know, trying to make it. And because because of that, he's got all this footage and other people also view it as harmless. It's like, oh, I don't know why this guy got a camera. What are you doing with a camera out?

It's like, I'm filming a documentary for Kanye. All right, that's weird. All right. But I guess come on in like, who knows?

It's like you see Jay Z, you see Pharrell, you see all these like legends in the game early on because in studio because they just have this footage. It's amazing. It was awesome. I love this documentary.

It was cool that he looked up to a couple of guys like most deaf and common. And now those folks aren't even in the same stratosphere as what he is now. Exactly. He's a passive.

They asked for his autograph. And he would. Yeah. And they were like, all right, fine, Kanye, fine.

I'll come with you to this thing. And it was awesome. And it's easy to say like when I watch it now, I'm like, oh, this is so obvious. This guy like has the factor.

And of course that's easy. But there was a there was one scene where he was in a record label like reception room, I think. Yeah. And there was this woman just standing there and he was like, hey, can I talk to whoever and she kind of ignored him and then he just started rapping.

He's like, well, let me show you my rap and he plays, he plays all falls down. Right. And then eventually she just like working and she's like working and then she's like, excuse me, I guess to walk by because there's some other door and he's playing all falls down before it like became a thing. And it made me think of two things.

One, that's crazy that he kept getting after it. And two, even though all falls down is a total hit, I understand how if you heard it is just some crazy guy, you'd be like, oh, that's stupid. And it really makes me respect people, whether it's people who invest money in a product or people who find an artist or find art or a trend, people who can spot something and be like, I think that's it. And if we position it in the market this way, this is going to be a home run.

And it really shows you how hard that is because that woman and there was like three different ladies walking around the room were 100% fans of that song. They were like, they were like, they were like, young people that were in the music industry and they were working their way up. They 100% were about that song when it came out. But then it didn't click.

And that is when I try to imagine like, what, what is my all falls down today? Did I skip over anything today? And I found myself asking that after I saw the documentary. 100% because you just see people who were writing them off.

People were just too busy doing their work that they missed this absolute gold mine. That's like, literally he's putting it in your face saying, please, please, like check me out. Right. And like, and it's easy.

Like when something's popular, it's easy to appreciate. It's greatness. When something is just a random guy in your way, it really takes someone special to spot that talent and it made me want to be that guy, right? It made me want to be that parent.

So like, I wrote down a bunch of notes, which is weird because like who writes notes while documentary, but I was like, there were things that stood out to me that were like real life lessons are just amazing moments that ran this. So I'll give you one. He's rapping with his mom. His mom, his mom was an English teacher.

And she's like, what's that one used to say? Like, I was at the playground and then they said, go boys came around and then, and she's like doing it. And he does it. And she's like, oh, I love that one kind of audience of one.

It's like, all he really had at that point was one fan. And he's like, his mom, and she's like, that's a million dollars right there. She goes, I always used to tell you that. That's a million dollars right there.

And he laughs. He goes, and you got a million dollars yet. And like, now he's a billionaire. Right.

And so it's like, and she's like, no, I'm telling you that's a million dollars. And then he tells her some good news. He's like, Mom, MTV is going to film me for their like, you heard it here. First thing for emerging artists, like unknown artists, can you believe they're going to film a documentary?

I'm okay. Can you believe that? And she goes, I can believe it the way you are. She goes, you writing tracks like watching Michael Jordan shooting free throws.

And then she goes, you know, you, you work so hard, you keep going, you keep going up. It's about to pay off. So yeah, I believe that kind of people like you here special kind of like, and she's not saying it. There's no difference when you say something fake.

You're doing a really good job. Yeah, this is good. You've got me bought it. This is really good.

And so, so she, you know, there's a difference when somebody says something like, Oh, you're great. Versus like when somebody genuinely believes in you and they're not just trying to pump you up, and they just have a quiet confidence about him. Like she wasn't going overboard. And it wasn't saying like, don't worry, you're just saying like, of course I believe it.

Like, yeah, I'm not surprised. And she wasn't critical. And he comes back and she goes, Kanye, when are you going to buy a house? And she goes, I don't know yet, but check this out.

And he pulls out this chain. I don't know what was on it. But he was like, I could have bought a house, but I bought this instead. She goes, well, it's all right.

It's pretty nice. I like that. Yeah. It's just like so supportive and such a believer.

And that's like a thing that moms do, but it's just like, you know, that's mad respect on that. And most moms don't do that, by the way, I don't think most moms do that. I feel like, you know, a lot of people like, dude, I have the best mom. It's like, well, you know, trust me, there's a lot of shitty parents out there.

And then I think that most parents are just, the most parents are just are okay. It's just like a distribution, just like everything else. And she was very special. And single mom too, right?

No dad. And you know, he opened up a fridge and there's like literally like a wine and milk. There's a corner milk and a corner of Roseph. Like that, like Zinfandel.

And then like he uses that like in his song later or whatever. And so this couple of other things. So he goes, so I'm just going to read you some of these notes. I just want to see where he's, he's, or no, she goes, she's trying to warn him.

And then she goes, you have this confidence that kind of you're like, um, you know, but once you make sure you stay humble and like obviously that's, you know, but it chows for Kanye over time as he's like, I am Jesus now. And so as she's like, remember a giant looks in the mirror and sees nothing. And like I still to this point, I don't know what that meant. And technically we've also didn't know what that meant in the moment.

And then she tries to explain, she goes, she goes, don't, she goes, don't make yourself less of a star. A star is going to look like a star. You can't be a star and then say, I'm not a star. You can't have, you know, she goes, you got to have some oomph about you.

I just love that. So that's a phrase that live by. It's like, I have something about me. Like that can mean anything in any situation.

And it's the right thing. And then she goes, she goes, don't just go to the mirror and say, no, I'm not all that. Thank you very much. I'm not all that.

I'm not a star. Yeah, you'll be a star. I'll be humble at the same time. And she goes, you're saying, I don't do a good job of that.

She goes, no, you do a good job of that. But you got to make sure you keep doing a good job of that. And like those are like, you know, kind of like that's a seed that's been planted, right? And so, so there's that one.

Then there was like all these moments where, all right, the importance of identity, right? But he wants to be a rapper. Yeah, he was upset about that. He was upset.

And so he goes into this one, he's in the hallway at the record label, which, which by the way, a lot of people forget, do you realize how much he produced before he actually got famous as a artist? It's pretty crazy. Like the big one was H of the is- Right. And there's like dozens of more, I can't think of anything off the top of my head, but there was dozens more where you like, wait, you did that?

And he did it before he had his own thing. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And he was great at it.

And he's like, he talks about, yeah, people want my beats. Oh, okay, can I get one? Can I get one? Can I get one?

And he's like, oh, I heard this. Where'd you get this? He goes, that's my shit. I use that for me.

And he's like, he's like trying to like, on one hand, he needs to sell beats to pay for life. But every time he does, it's a step away from where he wants to be in a way, like to be a rapper. So he's in this hallway and this guy's trying to hype him up because he's like, oh, you got the documentary crew. So he puts his arm around him.

It's like the managing director at Rockville Records. And he's like, you know, this right here Kanye West, he's the best rapper producer in the game, best rapper producer in the game, period. And then kind of like upset. And he's like, what?

And he goes, why you guys say that, man? He's like, I'm not that rapper. And like, think about what's going on in that moment, right? He's like fighting to get a record deal where most people are in desperation mode, like they'll take what they can get.

And instead he's got this identity. And the whole world is trying to pull him to just be a producer because that's what's in it for them. Like that's proven and that helps, you know, helps them make hits and you know, why aren't you just happy patch on your head so you're a great producer? And he had this identity and his head so strong that I think 99 people out of 100 in his position would just become a producer because the whole world is pulling him in that direction.

It was a faster, we were fast to success. And the money was there and the success was there and he didn't have to grind as hard as he did to try to prove it. But he had it in his head. No, I'm a rapper and if I'm the 50th best rapper, I'd rather be the 50th best rapper than the best rapper producer.

And I just, it was such an example to me of like, people will stay consistent with their identity. And so you kind of got to ask yourself like, what is my identity? Like, if I said, what's your job, Sam? What do you do?

Right now, my job is I do podcast. I find it's like, who are you? What do you do for work? What do you do for a living?

I'm a business person. Okay. You're a business person. So if all of a sudden, it doesn't matter what HubSpot offers you, right?

Like, okay, you're investing out your deal. That's great. All right. It's awesome.

So we got this one chapter where he says you always have to reinvent yourself. And he gives a bunch of examples about that. And the reason why you want to reinvent yourself is the person who you can't peg down typically can become the most powerful because there's something about changing your self that it does a couple things. First, this whole act is if thing, it's real.

So if you like, act like you're going to be an expert artist or something and you work hard, you can eventually become that. But you kind of got to act as if second, it kind of reinforces habit. So you say, no, I'm a healthy person. Therefore, I don't do unhealthy things.

And third, it gives you this aura of mystery and people who have mystery surrounding them typically are powerful. Right. And, and there's a ton of good examples about this. Like a really interesting and easy one because she does it so clearly is Lady Gaga.

So like oftentimes she'll reinvent herself. So at first she was this like kind of just normal like white lady plane on the piano. If you see her like when she's a little bit younger, then she becomes like this weirdo person where she like puts meat on her body. Then she transforms and becomes she starts playing jazz with Tony Bennett.

You're like, what the heck? Like, what the hell is that? Now she's like just got done doing some acting and she was a great actor. So like constantly reinventing themselves.

I think Arnold Schwarzenegger has done a really good job with that. Yeah, you've got to reinvent yourself consistently. And Kanye has done that where he's actually changed himself. And I think inventing reinventing yourself, you actually need to make the decision.

Like, I am this. Now I am this. And then you're going to choose that identity. And after a while, then you could be like, all right, great.

That season was this season had a beginning and middle and now it's come to the end. What's the next season of me? And you can actually pick and choose what those inventions are. And I want I read that when I was a little bit younger.

That kind of changed my perspective on things. When I went to the Tony Robbins event, it was a perfect example of what you're talking about. So he tells the story. He's like, you know, he's like, yeah, there was a kid.

I was working with her. This kid I met and kid was overweight and he wanted to be fit. But he was talking about, you know, it's hard. I'm working so hard on time to exercise a lot.

And then he's like, he wanted to be in a relationship and we saw a woman, beautiful woman. And I said, we'll go talk to her then. And he didn't want to go talk to me. So why would she want a guy like me?

I'm too young. She looks older than me. I don't have a good job. She probably wants a guy who's got something going for him.

I'm looking for him. I'm looking for him. I don't look good. So he didn't want to go talk to her.

So he talks to all these aspects of his life, his health, his relationship, his career. He's like, what do you want to be working as a bus boy right now at a restaurant? What do you want to be going to doing? I want to be over there.

I want to run that dealership over there. For Like, I'm not stuck in all of the old ways. Like all those other sort of other like. I got fresh ideas.

I got the energy of a young stallion. I'm not like some 50 year old guy who you know, was dragging into work every day. Yeah, I got no experience. I got the best experience.

No experience. Like, why would this woman want to be with me? Really because I got that he just turns it around. around like what's the truth?

Is the truth that you have no experience or the truth that you have fresh ideas and young energy and you'll hustle harder than anybody else to prove yourself because you have this is your track record. Right. And so he does that for each one of the things. And then it's like, oh, you know, at the end, it's sort of like, you know, that kids me and he just shows picture of himself before and where he was living and how he was working and how he turned himself around.

And he says in this thing, he goes, you know, right now you guys see me on stage. And I got this, I have energy and confidence and I have all these like this inside wisdom or all these things that people praised me for. He goes, people don't realize is I created this Tony Robbins motherfucker. I created him.

And like, like, I just thought those so powerful of a way of thinking like, you can create that, that thing you want to be that ideal version of you, you get to create that and the people who've done it, they just created it. They chose that identity and then they just lived up to that day by day. And like, you know, there's a kind of example of like literally speaking it into existence. He says a ton of stuff on there, like, people are going to know me without my last name, it'll just be Kanye at some point.

And he's and I go ahead. No, go for it. When I was watching that, it also reminded me of the other thing. And here's a really small example.

So you, Sean, are your, your, I don't know what you are. I don't create, creative is one word, but that's not the most effective word. I would say your, whatever it requires to be a good like storyteller and podcast host, that's what you are. So it's like a mixture of creativity, performing and a bunch of other stuff.

And what I've come to accept is like, so I always joke that Sean is always like, usually two minutes late. He's usually always two minutes late to stuff. And at first that made me angry. It doesn't make me angry anymore now, because what I know is in order to be good, in order for you, Sean to be Sean and be good at these things, that means by nature, you're going to be the opposite of good at these other things.

Like that's just what it, that's just what it comes with. Like, so like if you want someone, like, like, so it's like, well, you know, you can't be this amazing athlete and have time to do all these other things, like in order to be an amazing athlete, you got to train all the time. So like, I just accept that like, well, I want him to be good this. Therefore I accept that maybe sometimes I'll just be too much late.

And when Kanye acts like a crazy person online, and he says all this crazy shit about Kim Kardashian and he types it on all cats on Twitter and shit, people are like, this guy's crazy. Like, what's he doing? And I'm like, well, that's what we need. Being crazy is good.

Like, that's why we got all this gold. And I love those crazy people. And you can and so what I've learned is like, in order to be great, you're going to be messed up and some other, and some other categories. The, the best piece thing I was talking about the beginning, he said something just like this.

He goes, uh, Joe Rogan asks, like, you know, what was it like? You know, what was it like? You know, what's your friends think or whatever he goes? He's like, first my friends just thought it was weird.

Like, nobody that wasn't a cop who was thinking to make videos. And then they just got sick of it because all I ever wanted to talk about was make YouTube videos. They would ask me about other stuff or try to talk about other stuff. I just didn't have any interest in anything else.

I was just obsessed with making great videos. And it's all I wanted to think about. And I remember there's a, there's an interview with Conner McGregor, he goes on BBC. It's like one of the bigger, like, he's like, not just like an MMA guy covering conner, ass about an amazing BBC world or something like that.

And they asked him some question or there was like some small talk, you know, about like, about like the news or the game. And he's like, Oh, yeah, you know, both teams play hard. He just has to be generic and then the camera cuts and his documentary crew is filming because I have no clue who those teams are. And he's like, I don't follow any, I don't follow sport.

I don't follow news. He goes, um, I don't know anything about anything and I don't want to know anything about anything. I just am obsessed with my with my craft. I have lost my mind to my craft.

And, um, and so you know, it's like this kind of inspiring thing that you see as like a common, what are the common denominators of greatness? I wouldn't say you have to do anything because there's many ways to win. But these, these things do show up often, right? They sort of rhyme with success is like this, this obsession, this sort of singular obsession with something or identity seeing yourself as becoming something, even when the rest of the world doesn't see it, having that one believer like your mom, right?

Like, so like, if I was gonna say like the lessons from Kanye, which I think is what this is turning into, it's like, you know, number one is like, you know, the power of that one believer, like his mom, number two, is like the power of identity. Number three is, um, is like, so he has this moment where he goes. Uh, somebody said something they go, um, they go, you know, do you think it's harder for you because you're from Chicago and because you have this background as a producer, people don't take a serious, just rapper. He goes, he goes, he goes, the way I feel is anything that anybody ever tells me is a disadvantage.

I'm gonna make it my advantage. And then he basically, if you watch the documentary, that's exactly what he's doing. He's like, okay, I'm pigeonholed as a producer. Well, I'm gonna make the dopest beats for myself and I'm gonna use my beats as currency.

So he's like, yeah, I supply beats to Jay Z. Guess what? I get Jay Z to do a hook on my first album, which he's not gonna do for like some random no name rapper, but because I build this credibility, I'm gonna, I'm gonna use that as my currency. Or like, he gets in this car accident and his jaw is wired shut.

And it's like, I'm gonna turn that to my advantage. How did he turn that disadvantage? Like for a rapper to have a jaw wire, rapping about his time. And then like, you know, the first line is like, you know, about drinking, insure, like other people make pancakes.

I just drink scissor, you know, just to syrup because he can't eat solid foods, right? So he writes his hit song, when he's got the broken jaw. And he also says his other heroes, I was laying there, I couldn't do nothing back there's no like cell phones or anything. So he's like, no, no, smart phones.

So he's just like sitting in the hospital doing nothing for seven days. He goes, I was laying there and I decided I'm gonna be the best dressed rapper in the game. He's like, because he was watching music videos. So they put music videos on there, but they couldn't put the volume high.

So we couldn't like bump to the music. We just watching other rappers. So we turned the disadvantage to a advantage, which was he realized all these rappers dressed the same way. And it's this one style.

I'm a different. And I was a fashion billionaire, you know, and back then rap fashion was horrible. It was just like, it was like a basketball jersey and like baggy teeth. Yeah, it was the worst.

So he said, good job. Let me ask, let me answer your question real quick. Don't say their names because you might have to insult them. But the three wealthiest people you know, what is what around what do you think their net worth is each?

About the ones I know, like I know well, like somebody, not just like somebody I've met, not someone just like a friend. Who you know about some of their personality traits and their personal life? Yeah, I'd say like somewhere between like 300 million and 7 million. Like I know them.

Like I know about their like real life, not just like the surface level. Of those people, how many of them have this trait of being obsessed and to the point where if a normal person, a non wealthy person saw their life, they would be like, you're weird or the way your handling this is wrong. You know, you're how many would say something like that? 100% of 100% of them.

One of them, they worked so hard on their business. They were so obsessed that like their family members used to come to the office and say, you've got to come home. Like you just, you're working too hard. We're afraid.

And when they sold their company, like 45 days later, they had like a heart surgery because they had like worked themselves that hard during that time. Another one, I remember the day after they became worth over $100 million, I was, I knew them well, that that same night, they were up till three in the morning working on their like new project, I had like no, no, like less than 100 customers. And like clearly they already made it. And it's like, for them to stay up fixing bugs in this like test flight product that was, you know, a three in the morning that day, like most people would be chilling hard for going to bender for a year, like wired very differently.

Third person, they're not just obsessed in their work life. They're obsessed with kind of anything. They like, it's like if they get into like some random hobby or sport, they just take it to like a level that's not like common or like they're a hardcore gamer or they just like get there, they have an obsessive personality. It's not just an obsession with work or money.

That just happens to be the game that pays out in a points called dollars. But they just be obsessed with any game that like catches their catches their their interest. Yeah, that rings for you to all the people I that I know. Do you have an example?

Yeah, so our mutual buddy, I wonder if I could, I'm actually not gonna say his name. So well, I'll say it. Yeah, I could say it. Jack Smith.

So the chair, like the building of a chair, that's an example. Well, I'll give you a different one. So he's obsessed with, if he buys anything, he'll buy 30 of them. And at his house, I've seen it, he's got a Google spreadsheet.

He tracks every item in every category of thing that he's bought and he ranks it. So if you ask him about chocolate, he actually has a spreadsheet with literally a hundred pieces of chocolate. He goes, I tested all of them. Here's the best one that I think is the best.

When we got married, my wedding gift from him was roughly $1,000 of stuff that he considered the best. And it was so weird, like the best socks, the best underwear, the best lotion. And he's so obsessed with this that Amazon multiple times has banned him from having an account. And so he has to create different credit cards just to continue getting an account.

And he's obsessed with stuff. And he's incredibly wealthy. And he probably got wealthy when he was 28, really young. But he's just crazy obsessed with stuff to the point where like, I just accept that he's just an eyeball.

So yeah, that's one example. Let me give you another one that I thought was kind of one of the lessons. The lesson number I don't know around now, lesson five from Kanye. Close mouth don't get fed.

So I don't know if you've seen this scene where he goes into, he kind of there's a point where the record label is not paying for the studio time because they put him on the shelf. They weren't sure how to put the money into promoting and getting the record and all that stuff. So he's pulling in favors some ways on the house. He goes to like, he asked Jamie Foxx, who he's made beats for before.

He's like, Hey, I want to come over. Oh, you got the studio in your house? You might have just recorded something real quick. And boom, he uses the studio and then gets Jamie Foxx to do vocals.

And that becomes the vocals on one of his tracks. Yeah, so there's one with Jay Z. He gets into the studio with Jay Z, Jay Z's recording. And he's like, you might have a referee real quick.

And he's like, okay, yes. You're not going to say no. And he just restiles on the spot with no back track for Jay Z to his face. We're like a one on one, like basically just rip one man or a poem to another man.

It's like kind of an amazing thing that's happening. And then Jay Z, you seem like start to not his head. He starts to like, he's like, I like it. He lets him do a hook on Jay Z's.

Like, let's him do a verse on Jay Z's track. And then Jay Z says out loud in the studio, he goes, I had no idea. He goes, but that shows you, close mouth don't get fed. And like, and then they catch on the documentary, the guy, the recording guy goes, Jay Z's like leaving and he shoots his shot to he goes, he goes, Oh man, what do you think about Kanye he goes, he's calling you West, man, he's got it.

He's gonna be big. And he goes, and he goes, he goes, you think so? He goes, I'll put my money on it. And he walks up with those like the Jay Z laugh and walks out the studio.

And then he captured that and they're like, yes, we got like basically an endorsement from Jay Z, that's going to help us keep going. And it's just one instance after another of in the moment of truth, he didn't sit around and wait, he shot his shot and like, you know, close mouth don't get fed. And I just think that's like, how did you remember all this? Do we literally just what the pen and paper taking on?

I would write notes, I just write like, I'd write like literally just closed loud because I misspelled it. Tapping fast, closed mouth don't get fed. Jay Z. And then I thought about it, right?

Like, this is on your iPhone apps? No, no, and you do this for all your all things. Like, I just have notes for everything. Like, I have I have a thing called jokes and I'm like slowly building a standup comedy set over time.

Like, I'm saying, I'll collect enough funny things. I'm like, I'll put it there. God, I find that to be amazing because I watched the same thing, but you remembered so much more than I did. I was just I was into it, man.

I just saw so many lessons. And I remember like, there's so many moments of my life. I bet you have one too, where it's just like, do you have a closed mouth don't get fed moment? Like, just one jumped to mine, unless I'll tell you mine.

And I bet you you have one. I probably have a few, but I, you know, as you can expect, because I got big mouth, I typically have always I've done a good job of speaking up with George. Like when I was in college, I, at the time, I thought I was going to be a doctor. So I was pretty mad.

I took the MCATs. I was ready to graduate and go to med school. And just for fun, I took a blow off class. The easiest class offered on Duke campus was called getting rich.

And obviously, I changed my life in one of the classes. So the teacher was basically she would bring in somebody who had made it in some world and they would come and just talk to us. So this guy was a, was this the most popular you told me about this part? It was like highest rated of easiness, a fun, and like the rate my professor, I'm the professor had a chili pepper next to her name.

That means she's hot. So it was like all the high scores. So I got in and I was sitting in class one day and the guy was a hedge fund guy, I think. And he was talking about his career.

He's like, I got enough about me. Like, what about you guys who's doing something cool? Who's got a business that they're trying to, who's got a business that they're running? Or who's got a business they want to launch?

And he started looking around the class. He basically scans from left to right. He goes, pitch me. Like that's what I do.

I invest. So pitch me. And he lives from left to right. Nobody's crickets.

Nobody's, you know, you never seen a quieter group of smart people and nobody's nobody's, nobody's at the very edge of the class on the right. So I kind of had the advantage of I had a moment to like, assess the fork in the room. Yeah. And the night before, me and my friends had had that dumb idea for why isn't there a chipotle for sushi?

Oh, we could make that like it was a chipotle on campus that we want or there's a subway on campus. We wanted to build a version of that basketball thing for sushi. I thought it was a funny idea. I had been pitching it that I poured to my friends where I was safe.

And now here was this guy saying pitch me an idea. Nobody's saying shit. And then I had this thing in my identity. I had this thing which was like, you know, the cool kid or something.

Not the cool kid. I mean, I definitely was a cool kid too. But I just felt to myself like, I'll take the shot. I'll take the shot like in the basketball terms.

Like, if in the moment of the clutch moment, I'm not going to be afraid to shoot. I might miss, but I'm not afraid to shoot. And so I did it. I raise my hand and he goes, all right, finally, what you got?

And I pitched the idea. He goes, that's a terrible idea. He just like blew me off. And like, but he's like, like, let me tell you, like, even if you go and do that, and he like gave this lesson, which was like, this is America, like, it's the only country on earth where you get rewarded for failing.

Like you can go fail at a business and people will give you positive credit for trying. He's like, most countries, that's not how it works. And he goes, he goes, you know, the other thing is a lot of you guys might want to work at a hedge fund someday or investment bank or whatever. Guess what?

The first resume is all going to look the same. It's only the bottom, the other section that's going to have anything different between you and the next kid who also was on a role student, did good on the SATs and then graduated with a 335 GPA. So like, that's only way that you're going to get differentiated. So you go to your sushi restaurant, it'll lead you, you know, it'll help you in what you want to do, even if it fails.

And that's like pretty much like that, I'll play it out. This was a good conversation because of how much you care. I, I clearly enjoyed this. I just, I barely said a word, but I enjoyed it.

What do you think that it's so evident when one of us is like incredibly passionate about the topic. Yeah. What do you guys feel like, is the Kanye pod in the eyes? Do you think that most of your friends are watching it right now?

Where everyone knows what it is? I think a lot of people are watching it. Like I've talked to maybe like, I don't know, it's like, you know, one of the big things on Netflix is always like, oh, you're watching the thing on Netflix at the top? Yeah.

Yeah. You haven't seen it. I have seen it. Yeah.

I watch it. Yeah. I think that I'm the only one of us who finished it actually. I watched the third part is not as good as the first two though.

So you got the first part was great. So have you guys watching euphoria? No, I've seen a couple of episodes at the beginning. Dude, that's what I got me shook.

You got much that. Yeah, apparently your parent, like, he's just like, you're not Mary Cenario. Well, it's this lady. What's her name?

She's like half white half black is a dale or something. Dale is a day. It she just knocks it out the park, man. This girl is so freaking good.

It just, it was wonderful acting. She killed it. I was really, Sarah and I both cried watching it. Wow.

And that's got like a bunch of seasons, right? Like two or something. Yeah, I think two. You got to watch that.

It's so good, man. This lady is such a good actor. Why do you ask your friends like guys? Do you think it's not or why do you ask that?

Yeah, I just like, I would think that it would kind of reach like maybe not Tiger King because I was like a phenomenon, but I was hoping because I loved it so much that this documentary would be like the thing on Netflix. And I know that like a third of my friends have seen it. That's true. It's not like as popular, but his craziness is pop.

Like the whole thing that he's doing with that with the guy who's dating Kim, what's the same? Pete Davidson. That thing is like even that's because that's kind of overshadowing it. Yeah, that could be right.

His crazy is coming out hard. I think part of the reason I liked it is part of the reason it's not like getting that big, which is essentially for the first episode, for the first part, he just like has old footage of Kanye and kind of just lets it run with like a little bit of narration. And it's so it's not that much of like a narrative story arc that sucks you in. He just kind of like lets you be a fly on the wall.

Ben, knowing what you know, you had a podcast raising a genius. Is it possible to raise a genius? Like I didn't like that podcast because you didn't do the best job of like just telling me the answer. So like I listen to that also he did tell the answer, but I feel like it was too narrow.

It was like the guy raised three chess champions. Okay, I get that you can raise a chess champion. Does that mean you can raise a genius or that you can out practice people at a game of chess, right? Like, you know, so I think those two different things.

Well, so can you can can the encouragement that Donna whatever Donna West can the encouragement that she gave him be a huge factor or a small factor? I think it's a factor. The Polgar method, this guy last up, well, had a very specific method. And I don't think it would work all that well for rapping because it is oriented towards like outcome driven, like it'd be good for raising a like a guitar player or a chess champion or a swimmer or like those kind of like very discrete, you can teach people exactly or tennis player would be really good.

But like a rapper or something more creative. I don't know if you can like, it's almost like if it's creative, it has to come from within. You can't have someone else come out and like try and raise. But do you think that her encouragement of him made him confident or he was born confident?

I think watching that documentary, it was crazy to see some of the mannerisms that were the same between her and Kanye. And I was like, Oh, there's something genetic about this. Like, yes, it was her encouragement. But it's also like whatever he has, he kind of got from her probably would have had it anyway.

I read this book called the blueprint gene and it kind of changed my opinion where like 85% of everything is genetics. That's kind of where I am now. I'm like, even if she was rude to him, maybe he still would have killed it. But she was good.

She was like, reciting his rap. Yeah, my mom would not be able to do that. She was in English. She was interested.

I mean, it's very related. And also he said he's been like making beats since like six or seventh grade, like 11 or 12. And so it's the same sort of thing. It's like, yeah, by the time you're 25, you're going to be really fucking good at something you've been doing for like over 15, you know, over 10 years, basically at that point.

And like a formative stage where, yeah, when you're 12 and you're obsessed with something, you can kind of just like do it pretty much nonstop and get really good at something because you can pick stuff up so fast. You don't have any other things to go do. Right. No, it was a good documentary.

There was, it got me thinking a lot. That was a good one. I'm just not going to, I just, I couldn't watch the rest because I knew she was going to die. And it was, I was being, it made me sad just watching them together.

I got choked up a couple of times, seen them together. Yeah, it was like touching. Yeah. Yeah.

The third part is like kind of interesting because it goes, it's like a 20 year time jump and then goes into like a lot of stuff he's going through now and kind of the weirdness and running for president and like all that. And I feel like at the end, CooD, he's just kind of like, yeah, man, I don't know, pretty weird. You know, like he doesn't really have anything to say about it. He's just like kind of baffled as well.

Dude, it just comes to the territory that when you're in your creative and you're going to be crazy, you got to accept the craziness. He's so crazy. Do you remember when he went to Trump's office to show him his version of Air Force one? Like he's like, he drew up what Air Force one should look like.

He's, he's a true genius. All right, that's the episode.