How Ben Baller Lost Everything | Wealth, Jewelry, Relationships.

I got arrested for the first time in 1981. I was eight Ben Baller is your true rags to riches story growing up from Los Angeles gang cultures I'm saying representing that play selling some of the most expensive jewelry to the most famous people in the world this includes people like Drake Kanye West Mariah Carey Justin Bieber John Mayer Mac Miller Kid Cudi and many many more at Tupac there DJ to pick its birthday there NFL Stars I met tons of NBA players met Dr Dre there and got my job from there all while being featured in some of the most recognizable rap lyrics of all time however all of that recently came to an end when he decided to abruptly quit today he's exposing everything from growing his Empire spending money and the secrets behind all of his success on today's episode of subscribe but first we're really excited to announce today's sponsor HubSpot look I could say from experience that running a business could often feel like juggling a whole bunch of things at the same time and one of the most overlooked aspects that 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digital marketing volume is key and when done right newsletters can drive thousands of visitors straight to your website HubSpot provides the tools expertise and strategies you need to make your newsletter stand out and again I'll tell you from first hand experience having a newsletter is so important because the people you reach that sign up with the newsletter are the ones you really want to reach out to so don't put this off don't just think oh I'll do it later take your business to the next level with HubSpot so click the link in the description to check out your free newsletter building guide again it's free that's f-r-e-e it's in like zero dollars thank you so much HubSpot and now back to the podcast I am so excited to have you on because I gotta say dude when it comes to jewelry hip hop I feel like you're a legend at this man like immortalized in in rap lyrics too I feel like in a sense dude I had like this marketing company from NBC that did this thing and I was like [ __ ] I don't even know I've been mention like 100 songs I was like wow you've been mentioned in 100 songs yeah there's actually a huge K-pop start I was looking at the door and it was like a dress because make sure and someone's name is Jay Park here whatever Jay Park is like the Diddy of Korea he's you know K-pop is obviously enormous you know BTS all that stuff he was in a K-Pop group he was huge so he has like three record labels now and everything else in his last album she has a hit single the name of the song is Ben Baller so the only the hook is about it just I was like what I feel kind of weird about that bro and then we shot the video up my story it was just [ __ ] weird just I always forget about like things like that you know but where'd you come up with the name baller at the end where did that come from um it came from playing basketball because that was that was the term on the street if you're a baller yeah it was like right before being a baller it's like a dude on the streets who had money who was hustling and getting you know getting bread or you had bet but really baller was like in that mid late 80s you were playing ball like you actually haven't played yeah you had skills playing basketball baller shorts this and that and it was just not and it changed completely to a different thing you know which it all transitioned correctly so that's interesting uh what where did you get your start you grew up in Los Angeles right I was born and raised about probably get real geometry uh um I would say what about four or five miles from here yeah um yeah I was born and raised in Koreatown that's probably one of the biggest gentrified areas and it was really about a square mile Cape Town probably occupies more area than Hollywood now it's like it's it's ridiculous how far it stretches born and raised there um predominantly Latino community always been predominantly Korean owned businesses but then the Koreans really started moving I saw this thing the other day where people didn't believe me and I've been saying it for a decade at least maybe even two decades Korean food in Los Angeles now in Koreatown is better than Korean food in Korea there's certain soups and stews and certain recipes and certain things in Korea that are going to always have that that you know I'm saying that sauce but the money here is so big that all the best chefs and all the best cooks have come to LA and um you could just go to any random place it's hard to get bad Korean food here Koreatown they want to make it look like Korea there's certain things infrastructure wise they can't do here like for instance you know when you see a billion that's four or five stories tall now there's three or four stories underneath as well and you could be on the fourth story basement like you'd be on 4B and have five bars on your phone like how the [ __ ] is this happening you know what I mean like the Wi-Fi is incredible you walk everywhere but just a weird thing like I love it and sometimes I'm like I want to go I could never live there what was your childhood like my childhood was very weird um dad's professor also a pastor at a church what do you teach Asian studies UCLA my dad was had an Asian history there for um 30 plus years my mom was a dress contractor she sewed dresses in a factory um both of them working early uh either one that were able to take me to school sometimes after the while they didn't so I was a latchkey kid at an early age I was probably a latchy kid I might be even as early as six or seven we did have a nanny when I was born my mom and dad came here poverty stricken um I think my mom came out 20 bucks or something like that I had said 200 one time in an interview and then my sister was like what [ __ ] you mean 20. and I guess my brother had told me that my dad went to jail for moving violation because couldn't afford to pay it and like even to the point where I remember going to Candy getting candy in the store I'm 50. Snickers Twix whatever the [ __ ] it was I remember when Twix came out for the first time I saw hold on you know I remember seeing these candies and seeing like a Hershey's bar or something and I remember it was 25 cents I remember going when gas was like 19 cents like that I remember going and seeing like a soda was 30 cents like a Coke and you start seeing different things and so if my brother is eight years older than me can you imagine how cheap a piece of gum or something was then and my brother ate a piece of gum because he'd never been in a store before he was like tripping and um he uh didn't pay for it just ate a piece of gum and my parents were having a panic attack because they couldn't afford to pay for that which is crazy right and I've had this fascination with liquor store since I was a kid and one thing my wife and my mother-in-law noticed like took maybe a couple years my mother-in-law had said Ben has a fascination with like liquor stores and I always had because I was a kid walking the streets so I was going to liquor stores always used to be video games in there arcade games and 25 cent I would go there and that was like arcade games Raised Me In the Streets Raised Me I got arrested for the first time in nineteen 81. I was eight you know I'm saying how did you get arrested for it I was stealing 82 so I was nine I was stealing ColecoVision video games out of Sears and they had um a tent they had like a thing where they were doing a renovation inside Sears at the Cerritos Mall in Cerritos California and they moved everything outside and the security was terrible what I would do was I would see all these video games I loved legal Vision [ __ ] right I would take the video games and shine them under the tent then we go into the parking lot and go on the other side and grab the [ __ ] things and I got away with it our dumbasses me and my my boyfriend we got on a bus and we're bragging about 200 something dollars I didn't know that was Grand Theft Larson I had no idea actually it was probably more than that because it was Grand Theft Larson I think maybe it might have hit it hit a certain point whatever Grand Theft Larson was in 1982 and a security guard from Sears was on the [ __ ] bus with us oh man and then by the time he goes hey man you guys are like he wasn't aggressive he was a big dude much bigger than us we could have ran and then we did so I was so scared because my dad was such a bad he was a big [ __ ] he was like oh [ __ ] he's a Korean King Kong Bundy I don't know if your King Kong bunny was that's like a faint like Andre the Giant like he was a famous wrestler so I stayed in jail overnight because when you were nine yeah they were asking me hey what's your phone number what's your address and I was like I don't know what's your phone numbers I don't know that's how scared I was to go home because jail was going to be better than me going you know what I'm saying was it like a holding cell or something no I was gonna sell I was in a holding cell with actual [ __ ] adults and everything and every time new people would come in they'd be like like there's one chick it was like partying just a white blonde chicks like what the [ __ ] are you in here for you know because tell you the truth back then I look like a good kid you know I had like long hair whatever boom I looked like you know I had decent clothes so they were like what the heck and then at a certain point there are some drunk dudes there was some like pieces Pisa dudes like you know dudes are just fresh off the boat from Mexico there's a bunch of random dudes there's some other there's there's like a couple like there was like maybe one Thug and I was cracking jokes so I had to jail cell crack in there laughing and stuff and I'm nine the sheriff came in and he goes [ __ ] it's so funny I was a man go [ __ ] off I remember him grabbing the back of my head and slam my face against the wall and I was like [ __ ] you finally my boyfriend kind of caved in his mom found out she came to pick us up they called my parents and my sister called the police station remember this is different times this is rotary phone no call waiting there's a thing called emergency breakthrough if you guys I'm familiar with that there's no call waiting so if your phone's busy they will call the operator and they'll do emergency breakthrough to your phone in fact this emergency breakthrough someone needs to talk to you because remember I always think about now like what would you do like you're trying to reach somebody yeah you just didn't you missed out or whatever like if you know you'd be like oh [ __ ] there's someone there they took off what are we gonna do go call their cell phone there wasn't cell phones I mean there was but it's like there was I think maybe like in the early 80s mid 80s but like was like 19 a minute wait hold that thought for a moment Ben because we just teleported all the way back to our studio to talk about something that's extremely important and that would be data privacy so we live in a digital era which obviously is great for making money but not so good when it comes to your personal information now I didn't tell you this Graham and it's a crazy coincidence but just last week one of my housemates Kevin had his identity stolen and the thief has been trying to use Kevin's identity to buy TVs and I kid you not is destroying Kevin's credit score don't end up like Kevin eliminate this risk entirely and use today's sponsor delete me delete me helps you protect your personal data and keep it private they specialize in removing your personal information from data broker websites so that you could have more peace of mind knowing that your sensitive Financial details aren't floating around over the Internet delete me even has a team of privacy experts who take care of everything for you so all you have to do is sign up so go to jointheletme.com ich20 or use promo code ich20 to get 20 off all consumer plans again that's code ich20 at join deleteme.com protect yourself stay private and Safeguard your financial well-being with delete me today and now with that said let's get back to the podcast what was it about the streets that you gravitated towards what was I gonna do it was really not nice for me to do so play basketball and do that right your parents are cool with that because they weren't they were super strict thing of like a professor would be he'd probably be pretty buttoned up wanting his kid to go down maybe the right path not like hanging out so I was the youngest of three my brother and sister both went to boarding schools our brother went to school with the candidates my brother went to school with the most elite of elite there's no school in Beverly Hills or even Stuyvesant like in New York or I'm just trying to think of any high-end level school it doesn't get you know I mean it's up you know it gets to the point where it's like even Harvard and Yale and those Ivy League Schools they're still in Ivy League there's so few schools in a high school system that have a history of Andover or Exeter of Phillips Academy you know what I mean my brother was there he was brilliant you know he was a genius like Beyond genius yeah almost to the point where I didn't understand what the Spectrum was until I started having kids and you start realizing what like um Asperger's is or certain things you know like finding out Elon had it I almost feel like my brother in Elon are a lot a lot alike um and my sister was also very brilliant so they're in boarding school so I was at home just [ __ ] up and I think that I was smart enough to get good grades but my homework wasn't very good so back in the day you would get graded on tests you know your grades but you also got great on conduct so I could have an A in a class end up getting a c or a d because my conduct was so bad like I would be in school and I remember you know the teacher would call the principal like pick up the phone again you know phone with the wire [Music] and I'll be like [ __ ] this I go get scissors from arts and crafts and cut the phone lines hello hello hello hello because I know I was gonna get in trouble like I would do silly like like I just do I caused a lot of trouble how did you not just get continuously is yes well my parents got divorced when I was 10 okay and I think that right there was the end of everything and I think I was really happy as a kid generally yeah we ate dinner every night was my family we um it was a very big thing we had had dinner we had to go to church we had to do certain things it was a weird thing then for like a little bit my mom ghosted I don't think my mom ghosted because she didn't like my mom was getting her ass whooped every day like my dad was whipping her she was the breadwinner you know my dad made I think at one point I think he was making maybe up to 30 000 a year as a [ __ ] Professor you know that ain't and um my mom was just over it she's like [ __ ] this I can't do this anymore I think she was sleeping at the factory my mom worked 80 to 100 hour weeks and she took off for a little bit and it's like [ __ ] this she left everything like her clothes everything she's like did someone start over and in a way I I feel like man me and my mom was so alike me and my dad I really like my dad he would tell me stories that he was really wild as a young kid um the crazy part is my dad was born in Pyongyang it wasn't North Korea then Korea was one country how [ __ ] crazy is that that when the war happened my dad walked across the [ __ ] border you know what I mean and then now at that point there was no going back so North Korea so that's a weird thing I don't know if I've really even I've talked about on my podcast I've never really talked about it on a public podcast Forum you know a platform but um yeah man I grew up in the streets and everything else and then I met this dude Eric Holmes and um he was like six two at like 13. and he was from a [ __ ] gang and I was just fascinated with Crips Crips you know I actually live in a blood neighborhood surrounded by essay neighborhoods right by all Mexican gangs and I was fascinated with the culture I don't know what it was I was obsessed with hip-hop I was break dancing I was winning break dance contests you know in the early 80s I was able to go to New York as a young kid you know what I mean go try to find Rocksteady crew and beat street and all that stuff and just doing I was completely submerged in hip-hop culture from the graffiti aspect to the DJing to hip-hop in every possible form but I also love basketball and there was a park one block away from me called Ardmore Park I can't tell you how many members must have happened at this [ __ ] park right create towns is still a pretty decent area but if you go to some CD Parts you'll see some [ __ ] you know and then there's an area called Chateau Park where it's like it could get real ugly right there that's kind of like almost at a border I don't even know if you would call it Koreatown but you could because it's like across the street and it was just like this little area that we grew up in so I think my parents got divorced I had transferred so much from fifth grade sixth grade to my freshman year in high school I went to six schools that's a lot I remember getting transferred to one school first day didn't know anybody there was affiliated with like a little gang and this and that and this was a school where and most people know that live in la la I don't know how it works anywhere else because I think that this is like that this was a capital gang culture you know when it comes but like our school had like you know when you see like valedictorian whatever Boom the principal's office there was areas in office where they actually had all the gangs that were there and they had the people line up and they had [ __ ] gang pictures are updated every year yeah if you're in 18th Street whatever boom you know you're from the hell rats you're from The Rockwood Street you're from The Rascals whatever Diamond Street they had all the gangs lined up my first week at this school I've been there on the first day and I kicked this kid in the style game with Charlie Horse I don't know who the [ __ ] kid was kicked out right there why why'd you why do you have no idea why I just felt like I didn't want to remember why you kicked him don't even know I honestly think that he really had no I don't think he had a reason to be kicked you just I gave a knee right to his to his thigh the game of Charlie horse and he fell down and he started crying my transcript was already bad any of these transcripts get sent here and there I think after three days they're like yo you're out of here so finally I went to a Catholic School Catholic School it's like you know they're not gonna [ __ ] around at all and there's like you know Sister Mary this blah blah there's nuns and I got all the way through the year battling through [ __ ] all this other stuff wearing a uniform on the last [ __ ] week of school I got caught flipping off the nun why did you flip off the nun I didn't know she was she was such a [ __ ] so what'd you do man ready she was just she was she was a miserable they call my dad's office at UCLA my brother's a lot older than me yeah my brother happened to be home from college picked up my dad's office phone and acted like my dad and worked out a deal with the school because only one week of school left I said let him do all this this that's normal brother's genius yeah he got a 1580 on his sat at 14. in the my dad put him in the hospital because he didn't get a perfect score like put him in and every time I think I got my ass beat every single time like I think about getting hit by a belt like 450 times like cruel like he would do like put me in the bathroom turn the lights off maybe sit on my knees for 30 minutes by the time you get up I don't care how young you are or how resilient you are you can't walk because you're like sore you know you have cramps or anything then you get up and you get smacked like you would just do crazy [ __ ] my dad was like you know I would have to wear long sleeves on a hot day because I have so many lashes on my arms and stuff my brother got beat worse than I did and I regardless like imagine getting knocked the [ __ ] out how do you want you're not gonna you know someone else gets it worse it's like Jesus Christ you know yeah my brother was able to work out a deal where I would still graduate seventh grade was it eighth grade I forgot seventh grade I think and not go to school turn my homework every day and he would do it and my brother would just basically every morning act like he was taking me to school he would take me to Venice Beach to go work out at Gold's Gym boom whatever this he would do the homework and he's like I should kick your for being a [ __ ] up I can't believe this what we understood like I was the youngest I was [ __ ] up finally my dad was like look I don't want to pay for Catholic school anymore move into a 630 square foot apartment one bedroom [ __ ] apartment me my dad my sister part-time my brother one but this was a [ __ ] tiny place never forget 360 South Rexford Drive in Beverly Hills so I could be in the Beverly Hills School District so I went to Beverly Vista at that school um there was a kid a Russian kid that was a child maker and I was like [ __ ] [ __ ] [ __ ] Beverly Hills is [ __ ] [ __ ] but I live in an apartment building you know what I'm saying so it was like it was a weird thing Russian kid was a graffiti artist I was like who is this clown now mind you most graffitios you'd be 16 17 18 or something like they're not going to be many graffiti artists are 13 or 14. but I ran with the older crowd always so I was the guys were driving you know what I'm saying when I was getting kicked out all the schools and gang banging and stuff I was hanging out with one of the most notorious graffiti crews in the world this dude ended up actually joining a rival group because he's from the west side I'm all the way you know you know anywhere from Boyle Heights to downtown L.A to like Koreatown and um he's right rescue and he was Russian and I thought he was like whatever anyways fast forward this dude end up being in a massive hip-hop group called House of Pain DJ lethal then after that he was even a bigger rock band called Limp Biscuit yeah so you know like me or me and litho always been cool and it was like a weird thing and we've always been cool like I connected with him there then when you know I finished there I actually like that school there was hot chicks I was like damn these chicks if there's like girls are just beautiful people are rich even if you weren't you were still privileged or didn't drive whatever and I'm like wow this is kind of all right it was cool I went to school with rayman's Eric's son Pablo rayman's Eric was one of the members of The Doors the most famous rock bands ever so it was like a really cool thing I don't care we're poor and then we live in this little small place so now I go to Beverly Hills High Menendez brothers Monica Lewinsky's one of my closest friends and his brothers were there yeah they were there in my mind I got in a fight with [ __ ] Lyle or Eric like like my first week there so how did you get into a fight with Eric Menendez I was a freshman playing football remember just walking past and um even though it's a big school now Beverly Hills High School is the only High School in Beverly Hills yeah there's like a small private school like there's a couple Jewish academies and I remember passing through going to the swim gym which is the gymnasium that has a swimming pool for water polo and for swim meets and has a basketball gym on top of that like an opening one this is a pretty dope school I'd end up getting in a fight with this dude like oh I shouldered him you know freshman was kind of senior didn't realize later I was like holy [ __ ] like later later like all that happened in real time you know what I mean it was crazy there was kids driving to school and Porsches BMWs and things like that and I was like whoa anime and some really cool people at a young age at 15 I met Nicole Eggert and she was already on a hit TV show called Charles in Charge and I was like obsessed with I was like in love with this girl my friend was dating her she ended up being the other girl outside of Pamela Anderson on the number one show in the world called Baywatch me and Nicole Nicole just sent me a picture the other day it's like I've known you a long time like I saw the other day I saw her like three or four years ago when I bought my new house and had a Fourth of July party and this and that anyways me and Monica Lewinsky had like four or five classes together one kid that was in my class that was always quiet was on my football team I saw him get dropped off in a black Testarossa now mind you in 1988 this is Miami Vice a black Testarossa that's literally like that's that's as cool as me dropping off my kid in a [ __ ] in a La Ferrari it was a big [ __ ] deal and the kid's name is James purse it's enormous designer yeah we were talking the other like a couple weeks ago now think about how many kids went to school David Schwimmer Richard Dreyfus Lenny Kravitz went to my high school and there's so many different people so obviously because I was in hip-hop I gravitated towards you know any of the black kids I went to school there one of the kids I went to school with me is doing named Chauncey she ended up being a famous rapper named loon on Bad Boy no Tammy had a couple of really big hit songs and um it was crazy like when I think back now like CW has won the number one shows which was Netflix's number one show called All-American it's still on the air now the show All-American is based on my football team on my coach and my boy you know what I mean his dad was crazy like that whole show was based on that it's kind of like why do you think so many people graduated from Beverly Hills High School do you feel like it's it's the money do you feel like it's the connections everybody in the same place do you feel like it's maybe just coincidence I think that one you get a great education they had a really high return I think it was like 70 something percent went to college um if your family worked for the city whether it be in sanitation what you know you could be poor person yeah if your family worked for the city my boy Greg Holmes his dad was in sanitation and you know you look at sanitation like dude yeah it's a trash man dude [ __ ] what up I never knew Trashman made six figures in the [ __ ] 80s these guys get paid you know they're getting money firemen whatever and um I just think that people wanted to go to a good they want they rather be in a good school you know back in the day Westwood was the place to hang out in Westwood now it's like whatever there's you know there's the Grove there's this but you want to go to Westwood to see a movie that's why everyone cool was going to Westwood all the movie premieres were in Westwood all the celebrities going to Westwood the Olympics were in town in 84 and all this that was going on but yeah you know I ended up getting kicked out of Beverly why'd you get kicked out of Beverly I was running a well two things I was smoking cigarettes and I was running a gambling uh a bookie you know I was a bookie the dude I got kicked out of school with his name is Tommy Woolfolk lucky I am from a very big hip-hop group that was like a legendary group there's a dude named Murs from his group and like Murs was really famous he was doing commercials and everything well it got kicked out now I'm thinking [ __ ] what am I going to do how do you get caught I mean people are losing money and they're reporting no because they lost money yeah now were you taking a rake on that or like were you getting paid or were you just facilitating maybe Realty man yeah there was a couple kids I knew I could Punk and like they'd lose and I would obviously collect and then one kid I remember one year in the Super Bowl he won and I just thought I said [ __ ] you man no yeah I was like I think that's what what ended it um um was it like a negligible amount of money or was it something like it was a couple hundred bucks that's a lot of money back then you understand how huge that was so there was a kid that lived in the borderline of Beverly Hills I don't know how he went to school there he was always hustling he was always fast talking he was always this he today is probably one of the biggest Moguls still in music and everything his name's gal Siri guy is a part owner of Maverick manages Madonna he uh created board API Club one of the founders of yoga Labs all that stuff and I can't even imagine Uber like so many different things I gravitated to him because he was always down to hip-hop he was throwing parties he didn't come from like Beverly Hills Beverly Hills and he was like you know he was a Jewish kid but he was like it was a trip and half my family was Jewish so it's like it was like a weird thing that was going on in my family and me and guy always cool when he said he was gonna start a record label there was uh at the time Madonna was the biggest star in the world female wise she was enormous her manager Freddie the man she his daughter went to our high school so like he became really friends with her later on met ended up being a big dude guy straight out of high school had like three groups one group was a Beverly Hills West Side rap group called proper grounds then he had a group called The rentals and then he had two guys one group that was [ __ ] their their legendary the Deftones like legendary rock band but he found this girl named Alanis Morissette and she sold [ __ ] like 30 40 million records and just off signing her alone he became filthy rich and to this day I know guy you know a guy's still killing it and everything but I think I made so many connections there you know when I got kicked out I was like [ __ ] what am I gonna do like my only chance is to play ball I end up transferring thank God I was um All City all CIF Allstate I didn't make All-American but I was good enough to wear you know I had 11 touchdowns my sophomore year then my junior year I had 17 touchdowns which is a record and I was a wide receiver and a free safety I had [ __ ] up so much I got kicked out of my school in junior year my new school did I had to move to this small little tiny area how did you get kicked out of the school as a junior what did you do this time it was everything you could think of smoking weed you name it just all that [ __ ] now eligibility for the NCAA was 2.0 800 SAT score I did pretty bad in the SAT bro I got like a 1060. which of my family was like disgraceful I ended up getting um a 1300 after that and when you when the score jumps up 200 points now you know they do a review because that's too high even if you're going through you know all the programs and stuff anyways I was beyond academically available I think I ended up graduating high school with like a 2.7 which was a disgrace because my brother's like a 4.9 and my sister was like a 4.2 I didn't get to play football my senior year in high school at this small little town called Albany in California it's just an outskirts suburb of Berkeley my brother was going to school at Cal I still end up getting a scholarship at Cal now I didn't want to leave the Bay Area I didn't want to leave la and I beg my family I was like please like look you have no other chance you know dude which want you to go to school my dad had the dean of [ __ ] of of the Asian studies at UCLA write me a letter recommendation we're willing to pay you know my dad had a certain fee I think it would have been like 700 bucks a semester so it would have been like 1400 a year which is insane for UCLA I think UCLA is probably 20 something thousand now but it was amazing I was gonna walk onto the football team I had a guaranteed prefer to walk on I couldn't even get in UCLA because like 900 000 applicants that had 4.0 were Asian you know I know this affirmative action thing is really big right now but that's the real thing if you go to the UC system school you know right now it's like I'm not joking you I would say if you gathered all the UC system schools right now it would be at least 72 Asian it's that ridiculously high and they're turning away millions of people so yeah man you know I end up uh playing ball um I always say if I never went to college I'd probably be I would have been a multi-millionaire early my boy got it offered me a job when I finally finished school you know I'd connect with some people got back into scene I feel like I was four years late now my boy blew up he's got a couple bands a lot of more sets about to come out he's getting things going and I hit him up and he's like hey what's up dude how you doing bro hey I gotta go man I'll talk to you later kind of shine me and I'm saying just kind of just wrote me off and I always kind of resented that but at the same time like I might I probably would do the same thing like he was doing big things I was you know trying to play ball thought about trying to go play Pro in the overseas didn't even last in 30 days it was in Beijing was like [ __ ] this I couldn't live here you tried you went yeah and uh why didn't you like Beijing though oh Bro Look Beijing today I'll never go back to imagine Beijing in 94. like I'm being serious like it was like you could eat breakfast there for like eight cents that's all I need to say like I'm just trying to let you know like the soup in this it just wasn't where I was I was in Beijing last five years ago and I said to myself I'll never come back here ever again I remember being stuck in traffic for three and a half hours to go 32 miles yikes and then I asked them to get me a helicopter I was like I can't be in this dude I can't be in this printer you got to get me a helicopter I don't give a comment your costs I ended up was able to to get out get to my destination in 22 minutes everyone else that was stuck there and I won't name their names because it's [ __ ] up and some of these guys own famous clothing brands you're not ready for this where are you from Ventura where are you from here all right so think about it so you exit Highland next as it's uh Universal or Barham because after that is Ventura X after that is Vineland Laurel Canyon Coldwater Canyon Woodman Van Nuys Sepulveda Haskell dude good memory man I'm just thinking just think about his face you're hitting them all exits in China were like 10 and a half miles mind you it was an hour to get you know a mile and a half these guys who didn't get it with me in the helicopter had a nine and a half hour drive back they dude missed the exit and it was a 10 month I make a U-turn these guys were Snapchatting while they would take off walk to an exit seven eight miles get cigarettes get a drink whatever boom find whatever they could come back and the car moved like half a mile like like that like it was crazy why is traffic so bad it's just been terrible and you know everything's controlled by the government so like on certain days white cars can drive certain days license plate just depends so really rich people have different color cars and different license places like that but anyways you know I came back was able to meet Denzel Washington was able to connect with some other people got a job gotten a music business how do you connect with these people and get a job like that so from being in high school at Beverly there was a radio station at Beverly called kbev what's crazy is dude I mean Mike Karen ran the label Mike Karen today is probably one of the most powerful people in music Still he's the president of Atlantic Records I can't even begin to tell you how many but he's enormous and he's been there since you know back then this radio station produced you know some major [ __ ] it was a weird thing she's like Beverly Hills man [ __ ] that but there is a group that will sign a soul assassin Soul assassin's disciples and Cypress Hill was huge house of pain was [ __ ] huge Funk dubious was huge at this time they're a group called The Hooligans Hooligans consisted of two people well three a DJ but Alchemist my boy Alan who still to this day is one of the most prominent probably one of the most prolific producers in hip-hop history and a dude named Scott Khan yes his dad James Khan late great James Khan one of the most famous actors in the world they were in a rap group together and they were killing it and so there was like a buzz going on on the west side so there was this club that we had in Hollywood my boy Nick Adler my boy Dave Faustino who at the time had the number one TV show on the first you know I love him man So Married with Children was no one show in the world Not only was the number one show in the world even after that it was the longest running syndicated show in the world so residual checks were just insane for him so Dave Faustino my boy Dan Einstein went to Beverly with me my boy Nick went to Bradley for a little bit my best friend of my life is Dallas my godfather they created a club called ballistics and they're still making a documentary about it I don't know what's going on with it I filmed for it but this club had Easy E exhibit we'll we'll let you know Will I Am was will win X back then NWA countless hip-hop dudes that were going to this club at the Whiskey A Go Go so I met all these people there Nick Adler told me that his dad was gonna be a small investor in this restaurant a Jamaican restaurant called Creek alley on Melrose and um he couldn't really plug me the way he wanted to but he can give me some ideas I saw Denzel Washington on Melrose Avenue walking out of Georgia the other restaurant that he owned and um it's right there on Martel well Alta Vista and Mark so it's literally right down the street from here he's on Melrose walking and his car is parked in front of Spike Lee's store which obviously at the time Malcolm X was one of the biggest movies in the world walking out of the the Spike Lee store um 40 acres of mule and I've been waiting for him and I had a tape and I was like yeah here's my tape listen to my tape a week later the assistant Tish caused me a call and I get a job there from there the rest is history what was on the tape my mixtape I want a DJ at his at his restaurant he's like we don't do details like no in New York that's the style let me set the vibe let me do it for a hundred dollars a night which was way under like you know I was like look I'll work seven nights a week I'll set the music up I'll play jazz I'll play Vibes I'll play this this and this there's a point in time where it got a little too hoodie felt like because it was like a really upscale place it was only it was amazing Jamaican food I met Tupac there my DJ Jada Pinkett's birthday there I um met NFL Stars I met tons of NBA players I met Dr Dre there and got my job from there I met sug what was that like meeting Dr Dre I met him like seven times and I've told this story several times he would frequent Freak Alley he'd love this place you know I sit at the bar there's so many girls there this and that and the DJ booth was on the top of the restaurant so I could see everything and one night Denzel Nick Adler's dad all the owners of the restaurant went on a private jet to go watch Oscar De La Hoya fight and they told me I said no [ __ ] hip-hop tonight no [ __ ] imma shoot this [ __ ] here this out of there and I was like yeah don't worry about it it's all good my boy Grant was a manager I was like Grant I will give you everything I have I'll give you some coke I'll give you anything bro please let me do my thing tonight he's like what I think you were like talking to five different girls at times again what the [ __ ] you want to give a [ __ ] all the TVs in there it was a sports bar too yeah I turned all the TVs to black exploitation films the Mac [ __ ] you know what I'm saying like um um um shaft all the crazy movies yeah Dre gets there early like 9 45 this place jumps off at like 11 30 remember La last calls early I started vibing out all 70s 60s James Brown 70s start going through 80s I get to you know in its mid 90s so I get to the late 80s starting to kind of dabble in the hip-hop classic [ __ ] more East Coast stuff I go down to get a drink and I get a drink where he's sitting instead of going to the where I'm like opposite side yeah and I know he's gonna talk to me because I'm [ __ ] murdering this place and um now I forget so crazy dude named Arthur was a bartender I was like Hey Arthur man let me get a Long Island Iced Tea I had heard the people that that was Dr Dre's favorite drink I think to this day it still is so Dre is like probably about as far as he is and he goes and Dre and my brother are born in the same year hey youngster what you know about that Music Man [ __ ] you mean I grew up on that [ __ ] he was blown away that Asian dude had known so much about hip-hop and stuff and I was born and raised in the hood and everything so we started talking he's like all right man he's like you [ __ ] my mind up right now and I was like oh we ain't even got started yet now 11 30. I have it cracking in there like everyone they mother you know a week later he Pages me I end up at Can Am Studios death row Studios and I mean start working with them what were you doing with them at the time scratches inserts bringing breaks brakes are like samples and music and stuff like that going through things whatever boom so it was a scratch like a like an actual like yeah like literally there wasn't like there's not the things are going now you know what I mean I scratched like [ __ ] you you know what I mean wow hell no you know whatever it was just scratch into inserts and stuff and like really to tell you the truth almost any DJ that was decent could do that but if you Vibe well you know like why not put somebody on how many how easy is it for an extra to say hey not even saying like one line and they get their sag card right for acting whatever it could be so easy like oh just walk on a bus how [ __ ] hard is that for you to do you know like Brad Pitt he worked at [ __ ] El Pollo Loco panning out flyers I mean anyone just about who you can you're connected to right I was lucky I was there and then that led to a job of priority records in two years I was vice president and then there left there we got Jay-Z to Jay-Z's first album did all Masterpiece [ __ ] ice cube was huge left started off with entertainment with Dre and when you do these jobs with these artists what exactly is your role in them are you giving feedback to like you know on a music level yeah so a r means artist and repertoire yeah back in the day prior to my time now I can't even know what the [ __ ] annoy does now a r is a full spectrum you don't just go find the talent you groom them you can actually play an instrument you understand and I was a DJ I was in the music you're going to the studio you're listening to sounds you're part of the marketing plan you have the whole Vision to sales everything now there's to be 60 deals back in the day labels could never touch your tour money could never touch your merch money is that whatever it's all connected you know it's different times then publishing whatever so I was coming up with marketing plans I was coming with Styles coming up with who to collab with do certain things it would be different things for everyone you know on Jay-Z's album I connect them with the only R B group that we had at the label that was a group on their mind I connected writers I would do everything you could think of I was literally put everything together a damn near manager in a way yeah I was that connected to these groups and I was so passionate about it that I fell in love with every group that I was I was representing how was the money on something like that for me to make six figures in the early 90s at you know [ __ ] 24 years old like that's insane you know I'm saying 23 I was the youngest vice president of the company like that was crazy to drive a Lexus to live in a ball and ass [ __ ] apartment building I lived in on a broadcast Center I lived on top of arawan market and this is when everyone wants oh everyone's so cool in that [ __ ] I was going and I wanted [ __ ] the 90s Tupac lived in my building how much [ __ ] cooler is that yeah Russell Simmons Tupac Bone um one of the Bone Thugs dude in my building Sally Richardson was a really famous black actress back then I had a lit ass life the only thing was I was living Way Beyond my means and I really appreciate the fact that I went so [ __ ] hard and lost all that money I went I went broke three times before I turned 30. how much were you spending it wasn't that it was just like you know you don't understand taxes you don't understand this you're like all right [ __ ] this you know all right I'm gonna claim three I got no kids yeah like I wanna take three or four deductions no you know boom whatever you ever audited then yeah of course what is that like I mean you just go through stupid [ __ ] you know you're just like it's just dumb you owe the IRS money here and boom and but again that's small potatoes you know it's like this is nothing it was like you know and then you know I was DJing so I had cash money and had this and just it was until around 2001 or 2002 where I started finally having like five grand in the bank six grand started saving money and then finally you know 2004 I became a millionaire and not from any kind of work I'm [ __ ] selling sneakers from a hobby that I had that was a passion again you know so explain this how you made a million dollars selling sneakers so you're collecting these sneakers over time and you sold the collection so I've been a sneakerhead since the 80s even when I was getting arrested at Sears I was always wanting to be a fresh sneakers around my time at the record label I started to collect sneakers so in the mid 90s I was collecting sneakers throughout that time I was collecting rare sneakers that weren't being reproduced they barely started retroing Jordans around 2002 I got a marketing job with Nike minority had been David in the sneaker Community now it's Discord but back then it was forums you know and I was heavily part of a world famous legendary Forum called Nike talk and I just created this buzz and I was doing all these things and I was planting Force marketing that people didn't realize I was doing this [ __ ] I get crazy rare shoes a couple pair of the shoes that I sold flight 20 grand I was like damn I got 20 grand for a pair of shoes and all four million dollars a pair right now you know like stupid [ __ ] I exited the sneaker game early I had a falling out with Nike my shoe was supposed to come out it was going to be a Nike Terminator I was super excited didn't work out didn't happen I said [ __ ] Nike [ __ ] them I didn't wear Nikes for eight years I only wore bands and Adidas and everything else I was that and it was to the point where they were telling people from high-end Nike accounts hey if Ben Baller is at your store and promoters on the internet we're gonna pull your Nike account that's how much drama there was funny thing is they end up sending me the most rarest pair of Yeezys when no one can get a pair to like as a good faith like hey we've changed you know blah blah whatever but anyways I end up selling all the shoes they gave me all the shoes I collected about 1800 pairs of sneakers and it was two different auctions one for 2.9 Million another one for like 330 it was like 3.2 million dollars two questions one where do you store 1800 pairs of shoes and then two why sell so I had three bedroom apartment in Sherman Oaks California right by Whole Foods never forget this place my boy meth amphibian who we had a sneaker customization company with lived there and we just stacked them on top like a [ __ ] Warehouse it was like crazy and I remember my boy we had a crew called Air Max crew me DJ AM rest in peace was one of the most famous DJs ever spawned the queer so many people and DJ homicide who was in a rock band called Sugar Ray and he had been killing it each of us all had 600 pairs of shoes I just went mental in a certain point each one of our parents were like you know how to pair of shoes a lot of pair of shoes 300 400 pairs is ridiculous right five six hundred you know maybe something's wrong with you like seriously people think something's slow off with you 1800 bro I can't even you know we can't even talk about that right um would you wear these shoes or did you just buy some did you if I didn't like a pair of shoes I would buy two three pairs if I loved them I had five pairs no way yeah did you think these would be an investment or you just yeah I know immediately I know immediately I knew why just because they were so hard to get the man was crazy when I was typing Nike dunk on eBay yeah in the early 2000s like 2001 2000 whatever you would see 47 [ __ ] results and out of 47 maybe seven were actually real dunk results if you do it now there might be something Millions like I was early in the game and I didn't want us [ __ ] why would I want to hold Nikes you know it wasn't going to be like a bubble or like maybe for like a few years someone was gonna that was the only thing I was assured thing about really I was a sure thing I was a fair I was a huge advocate for that I started like these rooms called stock room picks and this and that and the reselling [ __ ] like I was literally like at the Forefront of it you know I was a Pioneer in that whole game and all the OG people who were still alive and this you know sneaker resale space like they're like damn man you got out of that great time I wish I got out around 0.607 sure I got a little tour with that have been worth had you just waited a few years you could have never told me because I never I never had a million dollars before you know like that was a big deal for me you know so um do you think though if you waited you might have like three million bucks you're like well I had 3.2 yeah I would have had eight if I waited L6 oh wow okay been a huge difference yeah I was going through a lot of my life at that point it was the first time I was ever engaged in my life I think I've always been the same person but that enhanced you know having money I remember going to the ATM and I'm at the Times 500 is the most you could take out at an ATM I would take out 500 every single day and I thought that was a big deal for me I was like oh [ __ ] this who cares man let's go have fun blah blah see a chick like [ __ ] that I got you don't worry about it drinks I got it boom whatever it just you know just being Hood Rich being stupid and that's after you got the 3.2 million yeah Ferrari you know what I'm saying so you bought a Ferrari yeah what Ferrari about a 360 challenge for Dolly oh no way yeah in real time too so that was like oh that was crazy yeah and that's must have been when the car just came out just came out I love that car yeah of that money did you think like hey I got to invest this I got to play it smart or was it like this is so much compared to what I ever thought I would make well I knew at that point I was good for a little bit at least and pretty early on the engagement was called off I got caught cheating and she didn't even catch me if that makes any sense she was so tied into me and she was in [ __ ] Germany she's a supermodel and she would call me like at midnight or like 11 pm when she'd wake up for a shoot and one night I didn't pick up the phone and she just knew and we were that we were that aligned and I think she just knew I was out with Little John and at a party whatever boom and I'm going to Vegas and um she felt the vibe off and I think she was also going through some [ __ ] in a way I was a great [ __ ] thing that happened I don't think I was ready to get married and then anyway so um at that point I traveled the world and that's when I knew that like seeing the world and become more worldly that's when I knew that I didn't need a lot of money to just really soak up a lot of game and then came back was like all right I need to figure something out because I can't do this forever and that's when I transitioned and pivoted into a jewelry I got a question about the cheating if you're cool to answer about it so what was your how did you rationalize getting with somebody else when you had a fiance at the time did you think oh I could just not get away you know what it was funny I'll tell you this right now I never really worried about cheating because I never really stayed with a girl long enough you know that was the longest relationship I've been to my entire life and how long were you with her two and a half years maybe that was a long time for me and she was so beautiful and I think everything else was so right that I was so in love with her mentally and everything else I think her being away so much to Europe and all this other [ __ ] and gone I just got horny it was simple as that and it didn't really mean anything but did you think oh she's gonna find out it's gonna cause complications I had zero that didn't think twice about I was like [ __ ] this this is going down why get engaged at that point though like isn't it better just not get engaged I thought I was ready I thought this was a good but then it just you know impulses came up and you just yeah it was just you know again look if I think about who I was at 31 who I am tonight now that was 20 years ago right of course of course you know I was a [ __ ] I was that was stupid as [ __ ] did did you think about her when making this decision to sleep with this other person or were you just like no this is she was in the back of my mind for sure in the back of your mind and especially when the phone rang when the phone rang I'll never forget we had two phones and one phone me and her had a phone together the Sprint phone and I'll never forget this silver little flip phone and when the phone rang I was like [ __ ] was like damn and I remember like I went to bed I woke up it was like maybe 9 A.M so that's what like 6 p.m their time and I called she's like hey what's up she was already weird I went to go visit her mom drove to her mom's house and I was like damn man I miss her so much you know blah blah whatever this and that and she's like yeah it's crazy and then a door opened up and she flew in La without telling me instead of her mom's house I was like what the [ __ ] are you doing like the [ __ ] going on I was like oh my God I was so shocked I took her I was like let's go get some food you know boom went to [ __ ] Marina Del Rey to get some food we were talking and then she was trying to tell me that things ain't gonna work out I didn't understand like we lived together like what the [ __ ] going on you just went to your mom's like you're staying there it was weird and it was like a weird vibe now I really still couldn't get it and then I remember um at a Porsche 911 at the time pulled over in the middle of the road and I was like yo are you trying to say you like that's it and she's like I'm trying to say yeah that's it at the time what was crazy was she had fallen in love with another dude like an older man hmm because I know her well enough to know like she was dressing slightly different she was walking Cartier stuff which she had money but it was like it was weird and I was like wait a minute and then I was like all right it's time to go so I went through a pretty I was sad because it was my fault I felt bad and the [ __ ] up part about it is I never admitted that something was wrong I just you know what I'm saying she never knew yeah funny part about it was when me and my wife first started dating 14 13 14 years ago I ran into her and I felt obligated to say something and then um it was awkward I was having dinner with my brother my sister my dad my wife and I think the two boys were alive that was it she was in the same Korean restaurant with three friends of mine my boy Jerry Lorenzo who owns fear God it's a really small circle you know whatever another guy I knew and then her husband and her kids it was like a really weird thing she walks over because my dad a big hug because my sister a big hug gives my brother a hug my family's like why would they have a problem with her because it was me being super right my wife had kind of known my wife was real weird about it so it was like a weird thing so I was like ah [ __ ] it it is what it is sure so did you admit later and say hey I screwed up I did I told her like I told her like I was like Hey listen I just want you to know do you remember that night you called me and she was like yeah I was [ __ ] some stupid ass [ __ ] in in Vegas and she was like I know you was doing something off and at that point though at that point it was already in my mind I was already like yeah you weren't the one and I was like she was the one for me as [ __ ] up as that sounds but yeah it was the one so um it is what it is so how did that lead then to you getting into jewelry I was thinking about opening up a small little random One-Stop shop Barber Shop buy some cool books maybe get a couple pairs of cool sneakers but like Basics like white and white Air Force Ones it was like a just essential things white teas certain things are you coming in town all right boom this was like a um a destination store sure like think about going to LAX or going to JFK or whatever boom but like no go here you're gonna get a haircut you can get some cool little trinkets get some yt's and Ben Baller owns it with you know cool people so I thought about that 'll be a few other things I was like nah that ain't gonna work I had an exotic car like really unorthodox Exotic Car Rental thing that I was doing and then my cousin hit me up and I asked him I said what kind of money is Joy making the time he had a Corvette he had like put all this money into it he was killing it we had been always talking about Joy until I needed jewelry I get it from him I had a long talk with him and his dad and then he started Joy business how do you just start a jewelry business like well they're all Jewelers but how do you even know like what looks good and what what's I always had an eye for jewelry you know what I mean and I was like Hey listen you guys are Jewelers and I just know what sweat you know what what what what what looks right how's everything about this nah that ain't cool it's like no [ __ ] you don't get it I'm gonna make this cool I'll bring this back this is lit you [ __ ] weren't you while you guys were out golfing and doing other [ __ ] you were not in the streets like me you know what the real hood [ __ ] is I'm talking about universally what we could do yeah yeah sure whatever next you know like Mariah Carey Travis Barker like you know the game Nas I'm just sort of gathering big names how do they find you I was in the music business so you know I would start reaching out to people my boy was dating Mariah Carey at the time he produced her album it's crazy because he was going through it he's just he just finished his divorce it's like six months before me and it's like a crazy thing but um Mariah Carey is enormous she's you know gonna be top three biggest female stars ever in history right so like that was a big plug so how does it work do you make something specific for them yeah of course she got an MC chain her logo do you give it to them at that point because them wearing it like Mariah Carey yeah you know I was good I was one of the people that was really good at doing very little promo yeah like I wasn't gonna just cop [ __ ] 25 000 30 40 000. I was able to just build this brand out of the hood and like get people attracted to it and I built hype and I built the marketing thing behind it so who's the first famous person to take a chance on you and say you know I'm gonna buy something from Ben Baller Travis Barker Travis Barker yeah and how did you get connected with him was it just music I've known Travis Forever yeah he was him and DJ and we're in a group together you know so Travis and you know whatever and just we were always I've known Travis Forever so what was the piece you made for him it was just grills it was grills the first chain I made for a famous person was Fat Joe and Fat Joe was always known for jewelry he was always here and there whatever boom he introduced me to so many other people then the game then the game made his [ __ ] song about double game change and I'm saying on his second album his sophomore album that was enormous still went you know two or three times Platinum and it just literally steamrolled from there and how much what's up what's a profit margin on something like that like how much does it cost to make what's the time involved and like it depends I was able to make a chain in like three weeks to a month which is like really fast I can make a chain in 10 days if I needed to scientifically like get one but it was just I didn't want to put myself without stress I have four deadlines for TV shows and stuff but let's say for instance if I'm gonna charge somebody 50k for a chain back then I would say my profit and me and my cousin will spending 50 50. I would say like maybe like 10 to 12 000. okay so it was a pretty good profit margin you know what I'm saying like now if I make a change for 50k today I'd have to take at least 10 or 15 just by myself sure because it's my name alone right so like when I was doing minimums for like 200 000 250 whatever some people wouldn't have an idea for a chain that was that was gonna cost more than 60 70k so that right there you got to give me 160 just because my name's on it yeah how did you connect with people like Justin Bieber Justin reached out to me through I kind of feel Sean Kingston if somebody someone reached out to me amen just me wants to meet you that was a long time ago bro this was a long time ago and funny thing was Justin had like a like a low-key crush on my wife and at the time a lot of people were Googling Asian Kim Kardashian and a lot of people even said even I remember me and my wife were going to the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills and I ran into Kim Kim just finished having a gym she's like hey what's up blah blah and then Kim was like oh this is your girlfriend I was like yeah boom Kim I told Rob her brother I was like Ben's girlfriend looks [ __ ] a lot like me it was like a weird thing you know so then I remember a studio engineer told me he was like yo and Justin when you left Justin Google Asian congratulations that's not a good thing right but yeah me and Justin just connected I ended up making grills for him for the first time and then we just end up I mean I took Justin to Korea for the first time like we've always been cool yeah been friends with Justin for 11 12 years I think something like that yeah it's been cool for a while so I'm curious when people mention you in uh their lyrics like Ferg is the name Ben Baller did the change they reach out to you ahead of time and so ask her it just shows up when Dan you're surprised first time I heard playing I heard playing Jane was like in January 2016 2017 sorry this song didn't even Scorch until like summer mid-summer 2017. by October it was like already major Platinum yeah and like it's one of what four songs of hip-hop history in rap history sorry it's one of the only four rap songs of gone diamond 10 million sold so I'm like whoa like to this day you go to any nightclub that song is being played not away I don't give a [ __ ] if you're in Tuscaloosa you could be anywhere I was in Shanghai and that [ __ ] was playing and I was like what was your initial reaction to that I was like all right cool whatever no big song it blew up and got caught catchy still even when it was starting to get hot in the summer I was like you know whatever cool ah cool whatever no big deal when it became that big it was like monotonous I was like oh [ __ ] this is big turned into a brand name you know how did that impact business afterwards because for me that's one of the most recognizable lyrics of that song yeah it took things to a whole different level I I skyrocketed after that it's like who reaches out to you afterwards everyone you could think of really yeah and then how do you pick who to because you obviously don't have the capacity to give it you know whatever random people here and there it was cool it was it was a good run it was a good run it's still you know it still trickles off now you know you mentioned that you're friends with people like Justin Bieber I mean you went to Shanghai with him how do you Korea or Korea sorry why do you go or how you go from like a business type relationship to an actual friendship type relationship with these people I think that just happened organically you know what I mean he just wanted to he just [ __ ] with me you know like he was he just knew like I was a big I was in his dad by a year I'm older than Jeremy by here um I just think that he thought I was wise I was cool had a lot of style and um trusted me he was going to Korea same time I was and I was like all right pull up on me sure enough he pulls up like hey bro you gotta chill the [ __ ] out you way too wild right now you know like it was a trip I've been always been cool and then you know he started golfing not that long ago I started golfing pretty recently he's actually been golfing way longer than me but he got the bug again and we started golfing and stuff and um I think either I click with you or I don't like ASAP Rocky like we clicked you know off top certain people click and I own a company with that with with Rocky and you know you just uh again if alignment you know how seriously do you take Marketing in terms of your own name and business you've built a brand I don't think I don't think you could take it more seriously not take it honestly and what do you do specifically because it seems on my end it's very effortless and it seems like more of a relationship based business it's got to be effortless because it's like golf yeah the harder you try to swing the club the shorter the ball is going to go the distance won't go the same I never understood that concept because if you punch somebody soft in the face it's not gonna land hard scientifically it won't when you hit somebody you know you you throw a ball at a glass at a certain point depending on how the class is you'd have to throw it pretty hard or it has to be a lot of ball speed and pressure yeah with golf this dude named Bryson D Shambo start really breaking down the science of a ball the way you hit it you could hit it so soft and the actual Club head speed meaning how hard the how fast the club was spinning she was getting the ball to go further than people who had much higher Club head speed and now there are people who have very high club and speed very high ball speed what I'm saying is like it was just it was effortless and you could play better golf that way if you're more relaxed I think if I don't go out there and try so hard with marketing if you're out chasing somebody hey man you're gonna get a chain hey bro I'm hurting you in a few weeks you come in here you're doing it all right boom you could be annoying like that in certain things where people owe you money whatever and it just makes things worse and and generally it does sometimes it works for people sometimes it doesn't for me I think that's the point where I retire I just completely just stop or do something different you know like if I have to chase somebody down to get a job or get something that's like it just ain't gonna work yeah you know either I think at this point that's why I say it was like 10 15 20 years in the making where I am now so as I gather along and gather all these [ __ ] you know all this game and and all this um knowledge and experience I'm only getting better as time goes by I'm not getting worse you know I mean I'm not getting my memory is a little off here and there but you know um it would benefit you to to you know what I'm saying [ __ ] with me on a marketing thing sure can you say what the nicest piece of jewelry is that you've commissioned you know that's a whole always a hard thing to say but I think that Kid Cudi has to have the the he had he holds the the top dog rain like I just think the murakami collaboration and the cause collaboration that these are official actual artist pieces that are Museum pieces you can't beat that you know these would be forever this would be forever how much is something like that worth I mean I think his cost piece is probably up in the couple million now it's you know how do you Source diamonds that's easy I mean that's crazy millions of dollars yeah that's easy no is it because of the cut and Clarity or is it because there's so many of them it's a combination of the cut and Clarity and all that I think the actual piece itself it was melted down in a pawn shop you know be like maybe five six hundred K sure but the fact it's one of the most famous street artists you know in well-known artist period you know cause has paintings that are out there in the millions already you know so it's like his fan base that and everything else now this is a commission 101 piece there's actually in his book you know he has an artist proof of it you know Takashi murakami same thing you know these things are being shown in museums like this is a different level of what we're doing here so that right there is a big deal now I heard you say recently I think a year ago that you said that you're doing fewer pieces now but you're making more money overall than doing you know like what you were doing like five six years ago well I'm not doing jewelry and I haven't done jewelry in a year so so I'm just not doing Joy at all I've pivoted in the call full time you know what I mean in podcasting so I mean if there's a favor for somebody and they want me to make a ring for them sure I do it if more call me or calls want me to come out of retirement and make something for them I'd do it but I'm not doing jewelry anymore so why'd you decide to get out of jewelry and Duke off I had no passionate anymore what happened it's just like I just I think I just lost I just another thing too is I'll be honest with you Instagram ruined it for me social media ruined it for me I think seeing all the thirsty Jewelers out there just want to become famous from it I'd rather be well known for the pieces the quality and then being known for celebrities or whatever else you know I could have made [ __ ] XYZ for literally XYZ if they're fresh they're fresh they don't got to be tied to a [ __ ] celebrity's name you know when I had my reality show they're like it shows gonna be celebrity driven and I'm like it should be [ __ ] character driven and I'm the celebrity because I'm funny and all these [ __ ] right but that's cool let's just keep it rocking when it finally came time you know to be on my time and my clock and um I just felt like seeing where the jewelry world was going I was like I can't do this [ __ ] ain't for me what direction was going just do you say it's mostly it's just saturated and it just yeah just it is all Cloud all this other [ __ ] it's all cap it's all [ __ ] it just literally just lies man you know what I mean it's just like oh this piece was amazing shut the [ __ ] up bro no it's not you know what though great I'm not gonna hate on you go do your thing I just didn't want to be a part of it anymore sure I'm curious how difficult was it for you to walk away from I guess the notoriety the money uh and the fame that came along with making such high-end custom jewelry and deciding that you know I'm tired of it was that a difficult decision for you or were you at a point financially where it's like hey it doesn't make sense no I I think to be honest with you let me get brutally honest yeah I think I actually hurt my marriage right and it and it created what's going on now with my life with uh with the um um what's the [ __ ] word you see it when you get through the divorce I forgot dissimulation or whatever or just a solution yeah it had um a decent part to do with the dissolution of my marriage right so um I think I truly fell out of love with it you know now the thing is I've never counted out and said I'll never do it again that's not at all I could easily go back and come and be Top Dog and whatever um if there's an opportunity for me to do something that makes sense I got no problem come back to it but how much I fell in love with golf was like you can't compare like it's ridiculous yeah so you found something else that you love more and then it's like well between the two I love doing this I'm gonna be honest and you saw the way that the jewelry culture was going and you didn't really it was been going to [ __ ] it been going to [ __ ] and why I see where golf is going I was like look I could enter this place and change the entire landscape of golf and the stigma behind this old rich white Country Club you know reputation and open the game up what is it about golf have you ever golfed before I have yeah what'd you think I'm not that athletic and I gotta say after 18 holes of golf you are exhausted but I'd start early like you get there there's no golf muscles yeah so think about that there's nothing natural about a golf swing yeah so you're going to be so regardless yeah there's really no muscle memory I could do nine holes yeah that's where you bow out it's a little too much I've done 18. right did you have it harder or did you walk I had a cart it gets it gets a lot to it now you know but I think one of my marketing things with my golf merch and stuff is golf will always be there for you I wish I did it when I was 12 11 10 with my kids you know how they're playing now I wish I did it during the pandemic even found it so late in life but the thing about golf is there's so many [ __ ] parallels to actual real life getting in trouble in golf getting out of trouble you find out so much about yourself in a golf course when you're by yourself because there's no one else to save you there's no one else that's going to help you you know what I mean you cheat golf all right you cheat in life you cheat yourself there's so many different ways of doing things I don't like walking the course I would say I've walked a course less than 10 times mostly for a prom or tournament right when you do walk a course though you get to think about your shots you gotta have a short-term memory in golf you have a bad shot if you think about that [ __ ] you're [ __ ] you know gotta keep it moving I think when I turn 50 I was like all right the front nine was pretty decent it was all right there were some rocky Parts there's some good parts in there's some double bogeys or some triple bogeys there's some quadruple bogeys I had an ace I had some birdies had an eagle I'm on the back nine of my life now so let's [ __ ] go let's turn this up you know how do you find it what do you mean golf George Lopez had asked me to come to his tournament a couple times I never really cared and I was like you know what [ __ ] it I'm Gonna Come Taylor me reached out to me I ended up having a deal with them later and just they all everything came together and when I say it came together I was like imagine like playing Lego or something everything's just like oh there's oh that piece is right here okay everything just felt together this might sound stupid but when you're there by yourself are you listening to music or is it just like no phone just like silence just you and your thoughts I think a lot of times there are times where I do play music here and there I think I just think about my life yeah and I go back and go about all the pain that's been happening and I think about um I think for most of my life I ran from the pain and ignored it and now I'm all about let me get the feels let me not sweep anything under the rug all that [ __ ] ends up being bigger problems later right like a cavity don't let that [ __ ] get into a root canal don't let that [ __ ] end anymore say more serious right and I just think that on the golf course I'm just sitting there just really just marinating going over things going over life like all right but at the same time you can't have any of that [ __ ] in your swing thoughts cause you're gonna [ __ ] shank the ball chunk it thin it whatever you got to be out there and really just be disciplined and be pure so it's a lot man and what about having kids very curious because you've mentioned several times how having children has really affected the way you view life I'd love for you to talk a little bit about that like like having your your firstborn how does that shift your mentality when it comes to business and motivation and like your priorities one it's not about you anymore yeah I think I've been selfish for most of my life also been a very generous person it's kind of weird right imagine a dude who toxic gang of [ __ ] like imagine Donald Trump it doesn't matter I'm not going to talk about left or right at all because people think I'm something else and I actually am right as far as politically I'm really down the middle I think now right I don't really care I don't think Biden's a great president whatever we're not going to get in politics but what I'm saying is imagine if Donald Trump was actually a really good person in general as well though he was doing a ton of Charity doing all this stuff there booming it just with a kid it's not about you anymore people feel to realize that they did not ask to be be here in the world they are complete your responsibility for at least 20 years or so right you have so much true responsibility can't leave a kid in the car you can't you know what I'm saying certain things at least until like 13 or 14 right to be homes alone and like you think about all right well that's another mouth to feed then you have a second kid [ __ ] then you have a third kid not only is it three miles to feed it's to be clothing it's this women you know girls are twice three times the price of a boy tuition [ __ ] like that if that doesn't light a fire under your ass I don't know what will because now you've put you know more Rent One Mortgage whatever the [ __ ] it is you know so it's a lot schooling is expensive in La yeah so how do you balance that you just find like a good private school yeah they've been prep school since they're born so yeah okay it sucks it's it's it's you know I wish they could go to public school yeah I wish like you know I mean I thought about being in Beverly Hills and being like you know at least they go there but I don't even know if I want to go to Beverly Hills you know I don't know man is there any part of you that's worried in the sense that you've become so successful that your children have to live up to that nah I'd like them to I tell you I want my kids to be happy man I think about it you know um I don't want to put it out there like that like it's a negative thing but like you know people in their family have been like oh your dad's rich like no we're not I can't I never think like I'm rich I've never told anybody I'm Rich As [ __ ] Yeah never said that before I've done that before when I had like ten thousand dollars in the bank you know what I mean I'm like I've got money done it wasn't where I was yeah I'm like nah bro we all right we do cool what's quarter million dollar watch black so what it's for sale you want it do you get what I mean like I just wasn't there and I think early on I remember driving him to school preschool Nursery School they get dropped off at a Ferrari Lamborghini or something when they start going to school school even my wife was like yeah why don't you just being a McLaren go take it like you know [ __ ] it like these kids are flossing their parents flossing Ferrari and stuff like yeah they've never even picked up anything crazy at school so just like that ain't that I don't want that I don't want that they're already right now for the first time now their kids are starting to realize that their dad's popular mm-hmm we're on vacation in Hawaii and we've been up they see people asking all the time for pictures I don't protect their PR I'm not super proud about their life I just don't post my house on certain things before they go to school but like we're walking in downtown Waikiki Beach and we can stop 40 times in an hour they know their dad's like you know I'm not Mr Beast but they know what time it is you know so yeah that's pretty cool I mean think about it like Drake and Bieber and all these people since they were born I've been giving them birthday shout outs and doing videos and coming up to their birthday parties it's like you know it's like they kind of know sure like randomly like two months ago well this one was like Dad listen you know Justin Bieber I was like yeah of course what do you mean he [ __ ] came to your birthdays he does birthday videos for you and stuff and so finally went to his Instagram page like this is you and Justin right here he's like oh [ __ ] kids are trying to really be like oh wow that's crazy yeah like my middle son's obsessed with Michael Jackson I was like Daddy made all his Joy last year of his life he's like whoa what was Neverland like you know it's like they're super sharp man you know so that's kind of it's got to be kind of cool to be able to share that with them now yeah for sure and Mr Beast was gonna do something with me for my sons they're obsessed with them as well and I was a big I'm gonna ask you I'm gonna be honest with you out of every favor I could think of from a celebrity whether it be Drake singing at my wedding whatever it is that was probably the hardest thing to get that was harder than anything I've ever done in my entire life that was harder than anything and I think about it now yeah she's so big at this point that he could ask Apple to do something for him that's how big it is he's trying to do that right now with streaming platforms no I mean like he could literally have a Mr Beast that guy he's that powerful I think it's like you know so like just so it's just it's just crazy you know yeah it's crazy now that uh the power that YouTubers have had at this point I wouldn't even consider Mr Beast a YouTuber yeah yeah and I'm not a huge fan of YouTube but yeah my kids are have you found though that after having kids maybe you've been safer in your own life and more conservative in terms of like your Investments and what you spend and like definitely for sure I think I think not even in in even in a political term if you really think about having kids how do you not think conservatively and I mean that in all aspects of the term of the definition of of conservatives yeah even from being a Republican or whatever just as far as like what you want for your children and stuff right um and again I'm not a political person I'm sure I have been Ultra cautious about what it is so you know if someone sees me spending a bunch of money here know that either someone paid for that or there was a lot saved to [ __ ] off that one little thing here and there you know I wasn't those dudes in the pandemic was like look [ __ ] this I never really see outside again we're gonna spend all our money I was like what the [ __ ] are you doing but um financially last year was a bad year for me and no one would ever know unless I'm telling you now you know but I think also me pivoting into a whole different world it's going to take a little time I've never been a patient person I'm like all right cool I'm gonna start a company all right two weeks gone by all right are we a billion dollar company yet not what come on you know like I understand it takes some time and even what I'm doing with golf yeah what I've done in a year and some change people don't do in seven years so why was last year A bad year financially because I completely stopped making jewelry the jewelry was the sole driver of your income because at that point I'm just saying like it's it's a lot of money even jobs based off my jewelry was getting me jewelry you know what I'm saying like whether it be a sponsor with it with a brand they want to tie it to some jewelry thing you know and I was like let me just did you reach like a net worth or something where you could say I'm comfortable walking away from this that you know no matter what I now I have the freedom to do whatever I want to do in life I think a few years ago I did okay and then it wasn't like it wasn't enough because of what's going on now do you know what I mean you realize it's like you know I mean honestly yeah you know I thought I'd be married forever so that's also a weird thing but at the same time I've never spoke about this because it's still so fresh and new I have no idea what's gonna happen yeah you know what I mean the Incas and try it I have no idea and I'm not even opening a possibility because my mind is not there but I never know what's gonna happen because the last two and a half three months have been so [ __ ] insane that who knows you know what happened if that's insane there you know what happens now I don't know at what point did you decide to go through also with losing losing weight what fed into that May June last year I was like look I got 214 during the pandemic and I just this is just not it I think also a certain point again my wife was like yellow man your belly is too [ __ ] big it's like this ain't sexy this ain't this and she was like can you just one time before you know blah blah whatever and I think she was a big driver to it but I think about like what's going through my life right now if I was 200 something right now I would be probably in a way way worse place fact that I feel great that I'm walking on the course and I'm slim I can take my shirt off I'm like tripping like when I was in Hawaii like two months ago or so like I I just feel quite slim you know like I was like look this is really where I need to be yeah how'd you do it intermittent fasting straight up just amazing about that I was doing um 1410 not stuck with that for a while I'm at 12 12 now what does 1410 mean 14 hours I do not eat nothing 10 hours I eat so pretty much let's say for instance 8 P.M is my last meal after that I can only have water or tea nothing that would break a fast and then my first meal would be at 10 A.M the next day so at 10 A.M I have my coffee with milk with sugar with cream whatever the [ __ ] it is have a bagel have a pizza for lunch have a burger have steak have french fries have some candy drink soda all day long APM is gonna stop I kept that I couldn't believe it now the thing is it come it's very slow you might not see any results for like four or five months whereas I could do a [ __ ] Atkins or you know carb free diet but I could lose 25 pounds in three weeks the thing is this as soon as you [ __ ] up that way it's coming back instantly it's water weight it's [ __ ] right now it'll take me like five six months to get the weight back it'll take me even longer now I'm talking about just eating like a [ __ ] piece of [ __ ] I was eating at 1am I'm smoking weed eat all day night one two in the morning and just like eat whatever the [ __ ] I want now I just do it within that schedule yeah why was that like stress eating or was that like the habits because you're crazy just bad habits just bad habits throughout life I think if you really added up how much you stacked throughout the day you'd be surprised no late nights I know exactly how bad it was yeah because I look at myself now you know interesting yeah how are you keeping yourself calm collected right now with everything going on do you meditate is it golf is it do you find an outlet through business you know man I've asked all my friends who are very successful in business I've gone through divorces and they're like I just drowned myself in work and I know that wasn't it because I'd be too emotional at work so I think one thing about me is I'm a homebody but at the same time it's different when you're at home alone right or you don't have the kids that week or whatever and um I've never been through this this level of mental toughness in my life um so again going back to the kids yeah I don't really have a choice you know because they need me and um that's where the toughest struggle is and I think I haven't lost it I've had the I think there have been times where I lost it for way less reason I think talking to the right people has helped me a lot but I went through the darkest time of my life probably two months ago I probably hit the the rock bottom of all 50 years of my living on this Earth I don't think I've been to a darker place in my life and then about a week ago it kind of came back a little bit and about two months ago I was drying my kids to Dave and Busters I looked over to all three of them and I said I would die for you like what I was like I would literally take a bullet for you guys I understand you know like it's easy to say but I like you know you really mean it like I would die for you guys I would sacrifice my life for you my middle son Rider looked at me and he goes I couldn't [ __ ] believe it was coming out of eight-year-old's mouth he was like but then Dad who would guide us through life and I'm like going through a parking lot and I stop dead and I pulled over I was like wow because he knew it couldn't be his grandfather he knew it couldn't be his uncle he knew it couldn't be anybody that his mom's friends with or anyone I'm friends with you know could it be maybe his mom he's trying to be a man he meant it deeper than just saying like you know because he elaborated a little bit more and I was like [ __ ] man he's like you know we know how hard you work you know what we know you were gone a lot I think early on for a long time you know my wife my wife's been a stay-at-home mom for 10 plus years so like you know of course they're with her so much and I was gone a lot there was one year I was gone 190 180 days out of the year I was going and then you know right when the pandemic finally opened up I was starting to go again I think that definitely [ __ ] some things up but right now I have the strongest relationship with my children I've ever had in my entire life like when I say strong I'm talking like it's a different level yeah you know like they'll go psycho without me you know what I'm saying like they're they're like heavy with me right now so that right there is really the only way to keep calm because I think about that yeah you know they seem great by the way they're so polite oh my gosh and they walked and they're they're they're in a bad they're they're they're they're they're they're kind of acting bad today man but yeah I I don't see it oh my gosh I was so shy as a kid they're coming up like introducing themselves like seems so confident yeah yeah that's fine and that's it's a rare thing because my oldest one has gone through so many health issues you know he just came out of his shell like this past year I mean up to I mean eight months ago where he didn't really speak at all that's incredible so you probably gotta go yeah I gotta get okay hey thank you so much thank you really appreciate it appreciate it this was an honor man you have no idea thank you so much man appreciate it man I told him to be 40 minutes oh [ __ ] sorry sorry yeah