Dame Dash Shares His SECRETS For Success, Philosophy on Life, & Overcoming the Odds | Impact Theory

I think we're here to live, we're here to learn. You know, we're not here to be perfect. We're supposed to embrace all our imperfections. And I think if we find and can imagine the bright side in anything, that will become a reality. But you can't think anything's going to be given to you other than opportunity. And the only way to show appreciation for opportunity is to react. Not to say thank you, but to actually do something. Everybody, welcome to Impact Theory. Our goal with this show and company is to introduce you to the people and ideas that will help you actually execute on your dreams. All right, today's guest is one of the most legendary figures in the world of hip-hop. He co-founded the seminal label Roc-A-Fella Records and his aggressive, street-wise approach helped turn the company into an unstoppable juggernaut that put out no less than nine number one albums. His storied eye for talent helped him launch or shape the careers of some of the most enduring artists on the planet, including Jay-Z, Kanye West, Kevin Hart, Lee Daniels, Cam'ron, Beanie Sigel, and countless others. His Midas touch with talent saw him named by Complex as one of the 25 greatest A&R people in the history of hip-hop. In addition to his unprecedented string of successes in music, he also founded a litany of other high-profile companies, including Rocawear, which at its height was doing more than $500 million in revenue, and the Rachel Roy apparel line, which has been worn by everyone from Michelle Obama to Kim Kardashian. He's also an accomplished multi-hyphenate in film and TV, having financed, directed, produced, or starred in such films as Shadowboxer, Honor Up, The Woodsman starring Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, and Eve. And he's also launched his own studio and streaming service, proving that you really can be totally independent. Driven by more than just money, however, his legacy is also one of service. In addition to his extensive mentoring and financial support, he recently launched Dash Diabetes Network aimed at providing tips, tools, and solutions for the tens of millions of people actively battling with the condition. So, please help me in welcoming the author of Culture Vultures, the groundbreaking hip-hop impresario himself, Dame Dash. I like the best intro. You get it You get the best intro. I've never had such a thorough intro. Dude, your your life is about as easy as it comes to make into an awesome intro. What you've done is astonishing and from a terrifyingly young age. Yeah. So, what I want to talk about is you talk about you have to be really strategic in your movements. Yeah. When did you start planning your career and what does it really mean to be strategic? I mean, I started planning my career almost the day I realized, you know, my name was Dame Dash. Like, I was like, with a name like that, I got to do something great. So, I automatically started thinking about what I could do that was great and also measuring my competition. I think after my mother died when I was 15, you know, it was like, not only do I want to survive, I wanted to survive and still live well. And my mom taught me not to ever be told what to do. So, I knew that having a job or having someone tell me what to do probably wouldn't work for me. And I learned how to make money at a fairly early age. I ate off the land, you know, whatever was available to sell, I sold and did it in the way where you had to have a brand, you had to be consistent. Your quality of what you were selling had to be good. You know, but at the end of the day, it was quick money, but it wasn't sustainable because I saw the collateral damage that came with it. So, then I started looking for another plan, you know what I'm saying? So, how do I live like this without the collateral damage, without the exposure, something that's sustainable for not only me, for maybe someone that I may want to love at some point, you know, like if I'm having a family. So, when the music business presented itself, I was like, I could do just that. I thought it would be easy, but it wasn't easy. Ended up being a lot of work, but you know, with the right perspective and learning how to monetize it correctly, this is back in like '91, you know, as far as the music business goes, if you do it correctly, you can monetize it for life. If you don't do it correctly, it could be very temporary. So, I had to get my perspective together very early. I love that, and I one of the things you talk about a lot that I think is insanely powerful is perspective. And those to me go hand in hand. So, talking about perspective, you've said that I know every perspective from the smart perspective to the dumb perspective. One, why is that so important? And two, how do you do that? Okay, so what I'm able to do is if I want something, I go into the future in my brain, which is powerful, and I visualize exactly what I want. So, I'm there. I'm in my future. And then I think about every single thing I need to do to make that happen, and every single thing that could stop that from happening, or what I need to avoid. Then I go right back. You understand what I'm saying? Like I was just in the future thinking about watching myself on my television network. So, because I do that, that means I have to think what would be the worst case scenario, and then I have to think what would be the best case scenario. And then I eliminate every single thing that I think could happen, which I call art detecting, and then I put everything and every single attitude and person around me in my vision that's going to make me get to what I want. And also, I try to get the people around me to think about the same exact vision. So, you can inspire people, and all that energy is focused on one thing that they can visualize in their head, then it becomes a tangible reality, and I know that to be a fact cuz it's happened. It's a fact for me, so I continue to do that. I know that anything I can imagine I can make happen, so I am really careful about how small my thoughts are cuz I don't feel like wasting time in a 25-hour day making this much and I could spend the same amount of time with the same amount of energy if I architect it right, I have this much. And with this much, I can help so many more people that I love. You understand what I'm saying? So, that's how I look at all perspectives. It's the only way to prepare yourself. It's like when you you know, when you box, you look at tapes, so you see where that person punches. That's one perspective. You look at it from another. You might want to fight from a left from right. You might want to fight from Southpaw, you know? It's just studying, and the more you're prepared the easier your time is. What I tell my staff and everyone that works with me is the more you care the more you prepare. Period. And thinking is a part of that. You'd be surprised how many people are scared to think. Most of my arguments don't come from me pushing somebody physically. It's from me pushing them to think. I'm like, "God damn, you don't want to think?" Like, that doesn't eat Like, it it's harder to run a [ __ ] mile than to think. So, why is it less scary to work out than to just think? And it doesn't take any physical effort. It's about a perspective. Why are people so scared of the unknown? Just cuz you don't know an answer like Google was so foreign to me up to a couple years ago, as surprising as that may seem. But Raquel, who's wifey for lifey, remembers the moment that I was like, "Holy [ __ ] I can find out everything!" All this time. You know, and all I would have had to do was look, and I would have seen how easy it was. But because it was unknown in the moment, I thought it was complicated. How many times you get a remote control you it does 3 million things, but just cuz you don't know how you can't figure it out. You're like, "Fuck all those other things." Even though if you look at it it will make life a bit easier. You've reinvented yourself uh an astonishing number times. I mean, it's really pretty crazy the number of legitimate businesses you've founded. How do you go into each of those unknowns and begin to make them make sense? First, it has to inspire me. I have to It has to be fun. It has to be something I'm dreaming about. You know what I'm saying? Anything that I enjoy, I figure out how to monetize. There's nothing that I've started that isn't something that I haven't been a customer. Like, I would not do anything that I get paid for that I wouldn't do for free. You understand what I'm saying? Sure. So, just like we here, we talking, we talking for free. If somebody would pay me 50 racks to do what I do, I'd do it, too. But, I'd also do it for free. Right. So, I've been able to monetize talking. I've been able to monetize thinking. I've been able to monetize getting fresh. I've been able to monetize dancing. liking music movies Everything's entertaining. Laughing. I I was able to really hit a certain amount of success relatively early to where it didn't make me say, "What am I going to do next?" It just made me say, "Where's the next fun?" I don't like being upset. I don't like being mad. I only got mad for business. If it doesn't yield a profit, it's a waste of time being mad. Emotion is not profitable, really. You know what I'm saying? Unless it's positive and it's love that comes. But, like, anxiety and all that other [ __ ] fear I ain't got time for that [ __ ] You talk a lot about honor code. It's all I know. Talk to me about the growing up relatively hard. I mean, at one point you're selling crack. That does not sound like a stress-free life. But, how do you How do you develop that honor code? How does that come about? And I watched, um, Honor Up. Yeah. So, walk me through how you were shaped in that time period of your life, being around those people, how they had a code that they live by, and it it has influenced your life massively. You know, I I decided to hit the street because I just wanted to buy a Suzuki. They cost 10,000, and I didn't have a license, and my mother didn't want to buy it for me cuz it wasn't legal. So, I was like, "Well, I'm just going to get that myself." And, you know, crack came out. So, I was watching a lot of people my age have things that adults had, which gave them a certain amount of independence. Like, if you're paying your own bills, I don't care how old you are, no one can tell you what to do. Period. And that's what I tell any one of my children, the minute you pay your own bills, all I could do is give you advice, but I can't control your environment. So, when I got to this place, the only way to survive was honor. And what I witnessed, I admired. I admired the strength and honor because honor isn't convenient. It's not, I'm honorable when it's easy. Honor comes when it's not easy. That's your definition. That's the test. That's what defines you. It's when you have the choice to not be honorable, and it would appear that you'll get something and life may be easier, and if you choose honor and you choose a harder path, then you know what you really are. And that's what that is, all day. It's a test, all day. There's always these shortcuts. But the thing about being in that life is you make one mistake, you die. You make one mistake, you lose your life in jail, your freedom. You make one mistake, people you love get hurt, like kidnapped and tortured. So, logically speaking, to survive that, you have to be honorable. And I saw the the things that the honor the respect that came with it, the strength that came with it, and how cool it looked, I just didn't want to be anything but that, no matter what. And everyone that's practiced that, my friends 20, 30 years later, like in Honor Up, that's really my OG. That's really the guy that taught me those principles. That's the voice I heard it from. And imagine 30 years later him being able to say, "I told you, be honorable and you'll get this." And it happened for him, and it happened for me, and all the other people that have lived honorably. So, there's truth in believing in honor, and I can say it by experience. And I also can see the lack of honor. The things that I came up on that is so different that how much people look the other way. How many people actually failed that test and the recourse of that. The unhappy life that comes with the perception of being happy, of looking like you have more than you do, or that you're smarter, tougher, richer, funnier, or anything that you pretend you are and you're not. Because you can it it tortured that person. They all looked for an escape, whether it's a drug or any kind of addiction to just not face and look in the mirror. To not to be able to look at yourself in the mirror or take that shower, that must suck, but I don't know how that feels. I know how it feels to have no conscience to look in the mirror, be alone, and be like, "I'm real happy about every single decision I made." So, you said once that you can see the future and if we want to know, just ask you. So, what is that ability? So, you've talked about with visualization you project yourself out to the life that you want to live, the thing you want to manifest, and all of that. Do you have a strategy that you use for thinking through where businesses and trends are going? Do you have a strategy for how you want to use your own time, what you want to envision, how you get the most out of that? What is that process for you? Mhm. So, in life, I just look at whatever there's a demand for, and as me as a consumer, because I usually represent the masses, cuz I feel like I'm a regular guy with regular emotions and things like that, if I want it, everyone will want it. If I like it, everyone will like it. I just know I represent the masses. That's all. But, everything that's going to happen in your future is going to be dictated by what you do right now. So, I'm always thinking about what the [ __ ] I'm doing in the future, cuz it doesn't matter about the past other than to learn about not making the same mistake in the future. And define what you consider wealthy. Wealth is happiness, completely. It's how much you laugh and how much the people you love laugh. And that's really what love is and how much time you spend. Like sending money back to somebody like a child is not considered love cuz kids don't care about money. I remember when I was a child, all I wanted for Christmas was for my parents for my mom to get back with my dad. And I didn't I wasn't able to give that to my any one of my children. So, I still have work to do. You know, I I haven't hit that wealthiness because I haven't been able to take that most important pain to a child and take that away from my children. I [ __ ] haven't broke that cycle. That would be wealth. If my children don't have to pick a side, if they don't have to watch us fight, if they don't have to tune out cuz they don't want to hear us argue. You know what I'm saying? What's going to be the secret there? What have you learned to apply? Finding the right woman for the right reasons. So, it's great cuz I was really really able to recognize it in Raquel. I was like, "Nah, this time I'm staying. We're doing everything together. [ __ ] all that. She's I I enjoy this too much." So, it's always looking at it from my kids' perspective, my woman's perspective. It's I think I've learned to take my eyeballs out of my head and put it in there for a second to see what they see and what would make them comfortable over me. As a boss, your job is to think about your business and your staff before you think about yourself. It's the same thing a a a a dad does or the head of a family. So, I guess me being conscious of these things at 47, being evolved enough to take the time to appreciate that, that's to me is wealth. You know, uncompromised great quality of living. Like I prefer not to have to live in a house that's not big and all the luxuries that I've worked so hard to get. But I think every circumstance Raquel is and I've been in, we've been equally happy, whether it's a big house or studio apartment. But, I do think that finding your other half and appreciating that bond that you have and and understanding the strength because when you get in a relationship, regardless if you're the breadwinner or not, you still are equal, you know? There still has to be an equal amount brought to the table. So, it was just I had to find someone that brought equal like with soul, not you know, perception, but just in your heart. Someone that is as kind as me. Someone that knows how to look out for people other than themselves, like I do. Finally, I feel like I can give and also pause receive as opposed to just give and get smacked in the face all the time, which is, you know, generally what happens. I think the test and the reason why I continually keep getting tested with people keep treating me unfair is to see if I will lose faith in people, but I'll never lose faith in people. I'll always try to invest in things and people that inspire me regardless cuz my agenda's not really to rob you. It was just I'm actually getting something out of it. So, [ __ ] What are you getting? It's pretty interesting cuz you've had Experience. The the the experience. Like I said, if somebody makes a record and it's a historic record and I was in there while it was made, how many people would pay to be in the room with Jimi Hendrix when he made, you know, Purple Haze? Would you? Yeah. I would. So, I've been in that room a lot. I've been in a room people I got paid to be in a room that people would pay to be in while his history was made. Like, you know, Biggie Smalls is a friend was a friend of mine, still is. He said my name in rap. Wouldn't you have paid for that? To be in the studio with Biggie? Or Ol' Dirty Bastard? I was in the studio with them. Or be in the studio with Puff when he wrote when when Sauce wrote every step Eat the Sting record? Mhm. I was there. There's so many historic moments. The money doesn't mean [ __ ] It's the experience. You've architected a lot of really historic moments. Because of that, there's an entire generation of entrepreneurs that follow you. Why do you think so many people fail to make their dreams come true? What are they missing that you figured out? Finishing. They think that it's supposed to be easy. They quit. They don't look at things as a learning experience. They think that it's it's supposed to happen in a a day. They don't understand that building a brand brand means being consistent. What are three principles you think any entrepreneur has to have? Number one, they have to lead by example. And they have to work really hard. They have to know that their product is going to be in competition with other products unless it's a new product or an invention. But that means you have to work either product to be as good, better, or you have to have more money to promote. You know what I'm saying? Like hustling on a crowded block block is really hard. And um I think courage, you know, never looking at anything as a failure unless you quit. An entrepreneur can't quit. You have to see it through. You just can't quit. You are a fascinating person to really tease out and understand how you think. One thing that I think sits as like a linchpin in all of this somehow and I don't quite understand it yet. Why did the death of your mom affect you so much and exactly how did it affect you? Well, number one, at that age, it was the only thing I was scared of and it happened. So once Why did it scare you? I mean Cuz it's what I I love my mother more than anything. You know, I was a kid that went to camp and was homesick. You know, when she went out and came home late, I would be like, you know, she was all I had. My mom's you know, I was only child from my mom's. So when she died, you know, and for a child, what more do you have to be scared of, right? So when she died, I had faced my worst nightmare. So right there, I was fearless. You know, I just wasn't scared of nothing. I just felt like if anything happened to me, I would just get to my mom quicker. And at the time, I had I had so it wasn't really like I had anybody to worry about but me. But then also I was like, but if I'm going to be on this planet, I'm going to have to, you know, take care of myself just as good as my mother took care of me. So, at that point I had no choices. You know, I had to make money to eat. You know, I had to make money to to live and and and buy clothes. You know what I'm saying? It was no option. Either she was going to make me great or I was going to make me great. Either way, I was going to be Dame Dash. So, I took a lot of the responsibility out of her hand and put it on my on myself in that moment. And how did you make yourself great? By uh by living, by sustaining, by making children that I take care of, by making history, by consciously trying to evolve the culture, like making that not like, you know, a buckshot or an accident. Like it's like, yo, as I learn, I try to teach. You know, even being conscious of the mistakes I made when I was younger in the way that, you know, I may have put the wrong ideals into the world, but, you know, you know, saying it's cool to disrespect women in pouring champagne on women's heads. Like, before this whole Me Too movement happened, you know, 10 years prior I apologized for that [ __ ] I've been feeling guilt since I had daughters. You know what I'm saying? I was like, oh my god. You know, once you get daughters and you again logically you say, "Okay, what would be the worst thing that, you know, something someone could do it and then you think about any of those things that you may have done?" You're like, "If I've ever done anything to a woman that I'd have to hurt someone that they've done to my daughter, then I shouldn't be doing it." And then logically speaking, who would suffer if I disrespect women? My daughters. And then also, the man that they see is the man they're going to want. What are some key elements of your honor code that one are just absolutely central to it and that two, if you could pass to the culture in an instant, what would you pass? I mean, if you have an agreement with somebody, if me and you have an agreement, I don't care what the rest of the world looks at as bad or good, we We to honor our agreement. Period. So, honor means that when you agree and you guys have as men or professional, an adult, your word got to mean more than anything. You know, if you say you're going to do something, you got to do it. And that's what the street kind of was, you know, it was like even though the rest of the world doesn't believe in certain things that were going on, there was this code. You know, no snitching. You know, no messing with your homie's girls. No serving anyone pregnant. You know, just things that were laws that were unwritten, you know. But there was honor. Honor means more than anything, bro, and it protects you no matter what. And I could just say that based on my experience. It ain't no street [ __ ] That's just some real [ __ ] The street might have Like I'm a guy that maybe I ain't need to see some [ __ ] up [ __ ] to learn honor. And maybe that's the reason why I was put in that situation, cuz once I learned honor, I'd be able to affect the rest of the world. Like you never know why things happen. That's about perspective, right? You know, on one hand, yeah, my mom's died, it broke my heart, but on the other hand, it made me great. It's about perspective. What I learned from it, how I choose to look at it. You know, like sometimes I'll talk to somebody and, you know, they'll be abusive and [ __ ] Or they'll be drinking and they'll be like, you know, why the [ __ ] you do all that drinking? Why you so abusive? Oh, my dad was drinking, he was abusive, that's all I know. Then you ask somebody else and they're like a straight square, they don't drink and they're not abusive and you'll be like, yo, how come you don't drink? How come you're not abusive? Yo, I saw my dad. It's just about perspective. And then that's how I look at things with my pops. I was like, I know I'm a good dad cuz everything he did I didn't like, I ain't doing to my kid. I'm not going to pass the cycle, but you know, some people might look at it and say, I'm just going to pass the cycle cuz he passed it to me. Perspective. The book Culture Vultures was really fascinating, but went way beyond just going down the road of culture vultures and seemed to really talk about your philosophies on life, your philosophies on business, relationships, everything. And there's a very um clean through line, at least for me as a reader. If you had to sum up the your message about life, what would you say? I mean, you know, [ __ ] My name's Dame Dash, right? And uh what does the dash in between the beginning of when you born you die, that dash? That's the life. That's your life. So, I think we're here to live, we're here to learn. You know? We're not here to be perfect. We're supposed to embrace all our imperfections. And I think if we find and can imagine the bright side in anything, that will become a reality. But you can't think anything's going to be given to you other than opportunity. And the only way to show appreciation for opportunity is to react. Not to say thank you, but to actually do something. And not everyone gets opportunities. So, I think appreciating those opportunities is is really important because the next time those opportunities will not be presented. And I think every single day for everybody there's a lesson. There's a test. And if you don't pass the test, you do not move forward. You stay in the same place. And then that test becomes a little harder. And if you don't pass it again, you actually go backwards. And then instead of the test being in front of you, where you can look at the test, it's in back of you. And it's smacking the [ __ ] out of you in the back of your head. And it hurts, and it's embarrassing. So, I always advise people to look out for those tests, not the ones when people are looking, just when no one's looking. All right, before I ask my last question, tell these guys where they can find you online. Well, I'm Dusko Poppington on IG. I'm launching a 24-hour television So, there's movies like Honor Up that went out theatrically. There's docu-series like Anthony Bourdain-like, but like me going into different places with my crew getting high and making music, but living lavish. Hopefully, we went to in the season is Jamaica, but we've done China and Thailand and all those different places. Um health is important to me. You know, I'm 47. I'm I'm diabetic, veganish, plant-based. Raquel, wifey for lifey, has a a show Health is Wealth, where she shows you how to be healthy without being corny. And um you know, there's a Culture Vultures class and the Q&A. So, there's information, and then there's the Dash Diabetes Network, which talks about Again, you brought it up. I'm type 1 since I was 15. So, again, as I learn things, I like to teach and talk about perspective. All right, my last question. What is the impact that you want to have on the world? In the world? Yes. I want to figure out what's going on off of this planet. Interesting. Like space travel? Yeah, I'm just curious to know what what happens if we get that and we only got 12% of our brain, right? What happens if we got that other 80? What What are we not seeing? You know, it just doesn't make sense to me that we're the only people in this universe. And it makes no sense to me that the moon is where it's at. Like how strategically placed it is. Like if it wasn't exactly where it was at, it couldn't exist. I just I want to think about things that that people don't think about. You know, if you're asking me what answers I want to give, like I don't want to say some [ __ ] or discover something that's already been discovered, right? So, what's the biggest mystery? Death and outer space. And I'm not so worried about death right now. I'd rather live. But I am curious to know. I think if I find out what's happening outside of space, I'll probably know what's going on with death. But that's you asked me what I'm curious about. So do I if I could be known for something, I'd probably get I'd like to be known for s- you know, some- I just believe that once we know what's really [ __ ] going on, all these illogical things will sort themselves out. Mhm. But us fighting each other like being adults and killing and and thinking that um hate makes love is not logical. Hopefully I can be conscious when certain things become revealed. You know, I want to be able to be here for that. When we get on that get get off get off this planet. Like that that that you're not curious about that? I'm very curious about that. Yeah. And like what do you think would happen if we had access to the rest of our brain? Well, What do you think we'd see that we don't? I think that the honest answer there is that we probably have unconscious access to our brains already. I don't think that um it's that we're not using our brain. I think that our brain is largely under subconscious control. So there's certainly something interesting and I don't know if you know Wim Hof, but there's something interesting about gaining conscious control over the autonomic nervous system. Well, with that said, you know, I always say like I know my brain could do something and I know that the things I wanted to do I try to make it do but I just think there's some things that we have no ability to even fathom or understand that even if our subconscious is triggering it, whatever is triggering, we can't see. Like I believe that if there's a pers- there's a part of our brain that maybe even a dog might see, where like a whole 'nother thing would be happening. You know, it just has to be. Well, if you really want to [ __ ] yourself up, do you know the double slit experiment in quantum physics? Mhm. All right, so this is bananas. So the double slit experiment is a particle of light is both a wave and a particle at the same time. Nobody knows how that's possible, but if you take a slit with or a piece of metal with two slits in it and you shoot a single photon through it, and it's going to go through either one of the slits if you have a camera on it or both of the slits if you don't have the camera on it. So, A, how it knows that there's a camera on it, I will never understand, but it has to do with quantum mechanics or basically probabilities. So, your you only collapse something down to an actual definitive state by looking at it, by observing it. So, if you take the single photon and you shoot it at it, no camera, the interference pattern on the back of the wall that you get, it looks like a wave, meaning that it's going through both slits. If on the other hand, you put a camera on it, then it goes through one slit or the other. It's so crazy that that's true. I literally can't believe it. So, that's where A, I'm not smart enough to really grasp what's going on. Well, that would probably be the other part of your brain that would Well, so is it Is there another part of my brain that I could tap into? Maybe, or am I just not operating at that level? I don't know. You wouldn't know. We don't know. But yeah, quantum quantum mechanics are insane. Is it A lot of your brain is working, we see. You know, you got that [ __ ] going. But uh that's what I I think like something like that would be easy if we Here's You should go You should look at Wim Hof. So, Wim Hof is a guy that claims he has control over his autonomic nervous system. So, his um immune system, he can control it. His body temperature, he can control it. People said it's total [ __ ] and he said, "Put me in a um bucket of ice like a a gigantic bucket of ice that you can stand up in, fill it with ice, and measure my core temperature in a scientific setting for 2 hours, I think." He maintained his core body temperature. It's not possible. People die at like 40 minutes. So, he says through this breathing technique and practice, he's been able to grab a hold of his autonomic nervous system, and instead of your core temperature will normally lower, but you can raise it if you can increase essentially your metabolic rate, so that you're kicking off heat. I don't even think he can By breathing, he has a class and he teaches it. Yep. How he actually does it, I'm not sure, but they even asked him to send the heat to one hand, which he can do. Come on. And they measured it. Here's where it gets really [ __ ] weird is they he said, "I can also control my nervous system." They said, "Bullshit. We're going to inject you with an endotoxin." Which is they used a form of E. coli. And he said, "I'll shut it down. I'll have no reaction." So, they bring him into a hospital under scientific conditions, hit this [ __ ] with an endotoxin, and he shuts it down. He doesn't get a fever nothing. How? So, they're like, "You're just a genetic freak." his process? He He has a class. I can't teach it, he can. But in that moment that they were shooting, what was he doing? Was he like He Basically, yeah. So, he does breathing exercises leading up to it and then he does breathing exercises through it. How he grabs a hold of using the breathing techniques and cold exposure to actually get a hold of the autonomic nervous system, I do not understand. I haven't taken the class yet, but I plan to. But his whole thing was everyone's like, "You're just a genetic freak." So, sure, one in uh you know, 9 billion people can do it. He taught 12 more people to do it. What? So, they're like, "No one else can ever do this." In 4 days, he taught 12 more people to do it. They injected them with the same endotoxin, they all shut it down. You can take his blood out I am not. We had him on the show. He'll give you a vial of blood and up to 4 hours after being taken out of his body, it will still squash an endotoxin that's injected into it. That's so [ __ ] crazy. Really let that sink in for a second. So, this all started because his wife committed suicide and he was so bereft. He He like couldn't fathom moving on with his life and he finds himself staring at this [ __ ] pond that's frozen over. He's from Amsterdam. And he's staring at this pond, it's frozen over, and he said it was calling to me. And I just had to smash through the ice and sit in the water. He was like, "I didn't know why. I just had to do it." So, he goes over, breaks the [ __ ] ice, gets in the water, and of course, it's insane and it like he said, it's like a thousand stabbing needles. And he sits in the water and he trains himself to do it, and now he can sit in the water for on-the-spot training? Literally on the spot. Just starts doing cold exposure, putting himself in water. He's now set the record for swimming under ice-covered seawater. So when it has salt in it and get below freezing, so the water's actually below freezing even though it's liquid. He swam in it. His cornea's froze, so he goes blind, ends up having to be saved by a diver on his first attempt. His second attempt he wears goggles. Is he having fun doing this [ __ ] He Do you have to meet this guy? He's unbelievable. But is it fun being cold? Cuz I'm black. I like being in a hot tub. He's like over-the-top fun. But he'll tell you that the actual moments of cold exposure hurt and they suck, but being able to control your nervous system is unimaginably cool. He loves his life. That's That's how I feel like mushrooms. Like when you take mushrooms and I can get control myself from That'd be That'd be kind of the high. Now that we're really having the real interview, why do you smoke weed? when people aren't catching up. Is that That's not the only reason. I don't know. I saw you smoking with B-Real. That's not why you were smoking. You were just having a good time. I hate it. I hate it so much you can't imagine. I hate it. I That's mildly part of it. I like being I mean that's the part that I like at times. So if I have to get into like a fight or something physical, I prefer not have to to push through the fog. But sometimes the fog makes me relax because I have so much anxiety and so much I want to do that a lot of you know, it's hard for people to kind of keep up. You know. You talk so openly about what I'll call traditional flaws. Is that born of self-confidence? Like you make no attempt to appear cool, and there is something in that that is very cool, but you don't pose. Posing is not cool. I just I just don't see the reason for being mad about making mistakes. Like I just I just I don't know, man. I think I got yelled at one time when I was four and I felt embarrassed and I didn't like that feeling. So, I did what the guy did with the cold. I figured out how to never be embarrassed. You know what I'm saying? Teach me how. You just don't give a [ __ ] Once you don't give a [ __ ] what people think, like logically speaking, why would you care about what someone's opinion is that you don't love, that doesn't love you, that's not even playing the same game you're playing. That's only you know the only reason why they have something to say is cuz they're insecure. Like, I don't I just I don't see why I would be concerned about some insecure [ __ ] Like, I I think 1 million lames combined cannot equal one cool person. And meaning someone that's just honest about who they are. Like, being it's not relatable, it's not realistic to think that anyone is perfect and anyone that is is evil cuz it's just not true. You know what I'm saying? And the good thing about imperfections is what makes you cool is how you deal with them. That's what makes you cool. You know what I'm saying? So, I've never been afraid to be wrong. I don't know. I love that. Dame, thank you so much. Thank you for your time. amazing. Thank you. Guys, this is somebody I'm telling you you're going to want to dive into this man's world. It is absolutely extraordinary. The amount of advice that he puts out there is just mind-boggling in the quantity, but the amount of it that is life-changing, that will become a part of you. Somebody who speaks about having a code of ethics and living by that, having honor and living by that, knowing who you are, architecting your future, knowing what you want to do, that he defines cool as actually being yourself and not being afraid to make mistakes. All of that, like, it is so powerful to adopt those things in your own life and I was literally mind-boggled. All I knew going into this interview was the persona. I knew him as the brash, cocky, charismatic, and ultra-successful hip-hop impresario. I did not know the soulful, well-thought-out person who has created his life brick by brick to be exactly what he wanted, bucking trends when it didn't match with who he wanted to be, who he saw himself as, and the code of ethics that he talked so much about. It is extraordinary to see somebody be that consistent with that. And he said that a brand is all about consistency. And if that is true, the one thing that this man is beyond consistent on is he's never afraid to admit when he's wrong. And because of that, he's always evolving. And I found it so fascinating. Things have to either monetize or evolve his soul. It was not an answer that I expected. It is one I deeply respect. So, I highly encourage you guys to dive in his world wherever and whenever you can. You will not regret it. It will change you if you let it. All right, guys. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe. And until next time, my friends, be legendary. Take care. Hey everybody. 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